Through The Trap Door
After a few weeks Harry's resolution to keep his head down was put to the test. He was walking past Quirrell's classroom when he hear Quirrell whimpering.
"No no not again, please…all right all right" he heard Quirrell sob.
Quirrell came rushing out of the classroom, pale and holding back tears. The classroom was empty, but the other door stood ajar, he knew Snape must have just gone through it…he stopped himself following, he wasn't supposed to meddling. He rushed off to find Ron and Hermione, telling them what he's heard.
"Quirrell must have finally cracked." Said Ron.
"There's still Fluffy though," said Hermione hopefully.
"He might have figured that out himself."
"What do we do?" said Ron
"We should tell Dumbledore, like we should have done ages ago." Said Hermione
"But we have no proof," said Harry, "He'll say the same thing Sirius and Hagrid said, that Snape is helping to protect the stone. We should stay out of it, we've done enough meddling."
"Snape want's the stone for Voldemort, not himself," said Harry, "and Voldemort's hiding in the forest!"
They had just returned from their detention in the forbidden forest, where they had been looking for a hurt unicorn, when they finally found the poor thing, it was dead…but that wasn't all they found. They found something drinking the unicorn's blood to stay alive, that something was Voldemort! Harry had been rescued by Firenze…if he hadn't, Harry didn't like to think about what might have happened.
"Bane was furious at Firenze for saving me…saying he was interfering with what the planets say should happen. They must show that Voldemort is coming back and Bane must think he should have sat back and let him kill me."
"Don't say the name!" said Ron
"If Snape steals the stone, Voldemort will be able to make elixir of life and come back," said Harry, "and then he'll kill me."
"Harry, Dumbledore is the one wizard that You-Know-Who always feared, he won't dare touch you with Dumbledore around!"
When they finally went to bed, Harry pulled back his sheets to find the invisibility cloak with a note: Just in case
The next week, they came out of their final exam relieved…except for Harry, whose scar was hurting. It had happened before but never this bad, it must be a warning…that danger was coming.
Harry suddenly realised something, he took off for Hagrid's hut, followed by Hermione and Ron.
"Don't you think it's weird that Hagrid wants a dragon and then suddenly meets a stranger who happens to have one? How many people wander round with dragon eggs in their pockets? Why didn't I see it before?"
They made it to Hagrid's hut, and he told them of his encounter with the hooded figure.
"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?"
"O' course he was, how common do yeh think three headed dogs are. I told him a dragon would be easy after Fluffy, the trick is to know how to calm 'em; take Fluffy for example, yeh just play a little music and he'll fall straight to sleep."
"We need to tell Dumbledore," said Harry as the three ran back to the school," Snape knows how to get past Fluffy, it's only a matter of time before he tries to steal the stone! Where is his office?"
None of them had any idea where his office was.
"All right you three?" came Sirius's voice "Why are you inside? I'd think you'd want to enjoy the sunshine now your exams are over."
"We need to see Dumbledore." Said Harry
"Why?" asked Sirius suspiciously.
"It's a secret."
"He's not here, he's at the Ministry on urgent business."
"But this is important…this is about The Philosopher's Stone. Someone's going to try and steal it"
"How did you three find out about the stone?" He asked calmly, "and what have I told you about meddling in this it's dangerous."
"But Sirius-"
"The stone is in safe hands," he assured them, "No one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected. Now, why don't you three go back outside and celebrate the end of exams like everyone else? If I catch you poking your nose in again…I don't want to…but I'll have no choice but to take points…and Gryffindor can't afford to lose any more can they?"
"It was Snape," said Harry as soon as Sirius was gone, "he got rid of Dumbledore…he's going to go for the stone tonight! We need to keep an eye on Snape, Hermione, you wait outside the staffroom and follow him if he leaves."
"Why me?"
"You can pretend to be waiting for Flitwick…worried about your exam results or something."
Meanwhile, Harry and Ron went to the third floor corridor, no sooner had they reached it did they run into McGonnagall.
"This corridor is out of bounds!" she said to them, "if I catch you here again Gryffindor will be losing more points!"
Hermione had no luck either.
"That's it then," said Harry, "I'm going to have to go and get the stone myself."
"But Harry, you'll be expelled!"
"What's worse, being expelled or Voldemort coming back? I'm going through the trap door and nothing you say will stop me, Voldemort killed my Mum, remember? "
"Do you think the cloak will cover all three of us?" asked Ron
"All three of us?"
"We're not letting go alone Harry!" said Ron.
Harry looked at the tiny bottle.
"Are you sure this is the one?" asked Harry.
"I'm positive," said Hermione, "that potion will get you through the fire."
"And this one would get you back through the other one safely?" he said pointing to the bottle in Hermione's hand.
Hermione nodded.
They had made it through all of the other protections that guarded the stone. They'd gotten past Fluffy, Professor Sprout's devil snare, the room of flying keys, the troll (well actually the troll had already been knocked out by the time they reached it) and finally the human sized chess board. Ron bravely allowed himself (playing as a knight) to be taken by the queen so that Harry could checkmate the king. Now, he and Hermione stood in a room full of potions with only a riddle as a clue to get them out.
"You drink that one, get Ron and go straight to the owlery and send a message to Dumbledore."
"But Harry," she said, "what if You-Know-Who is with Snape."
"Well I got lucky once," said Harry pointing to his scar, "maybe I'll get lucky again."
After Hermione made it safely back through the flames, Harry drained the tiny bottle and walked onward, through the black flames.
