Snakeheart: A Harry Potter Fanfic
Disclaimer: AS BEFORE
Author's Note: Some readers may see a similarity between this story and my earlier fanfic: Snake Eyes! THIS IS INTENTIONAL! Enjoy!
I would like to thank Kage Mirai for the inspiration behind this story: I strongly recommend reading her fanfic, Shades of Black, to anyone who enjoys this story.
Normal Speech
(Thought)
/Parseltongue/
(Voldemort? He's coming back? And he's after the Stone? I have no choice…)
He looked around before using his Veiling power to take him to the dorm, his body weary from the pain he'd felt that night:
(I'm going after the Stone…)
Chapter 10: Through the Trapdoor
In years to come, Harry would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.
It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-Cheating spell.
They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox - points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Severus seemed to go easier on Harry than the others as, when he was examining Harry's work, he wasn't breathing down his neck while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.
Harry did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into the forest. Theo thought Harry had a bad case of exam nerves because Harry couldn't sleep, but the truth was that Harry kept being woken by his old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.
Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Harry had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Draco and Gabrielle didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Harry. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Weasley, Voldemort or anyone else might be up to.
Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Harry couldn't help cheering with the rest.
"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Gabrielle as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager." She always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Draco always complained said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree.
Harry noticed that his other first-year companions Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.
"No more studying," Draco sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet." Harry was rubbing his forehead.
"I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting - it's happened before, but never as often as this."
"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Gabrielle suggested, before she added, "Or send an owl to Uncle Lucius; maybe they can help."
"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming..."
Draco couldn't get worked up, it was too hot. "Harry, relax, Gabrielle's right, the Stone's safe as long as we can tell that the dog's still guarding it: and, every time you Veil into the shadows, you hear it snoring or growling softly, so let's just enjoy the warm sunlight."
"I would have to agree with him Harry," Gabrielle told him, "Besides, we all know that if we're caught going after that thing, then Severus will have your head and then Lucius will skin you alive."
"Gabrielle," a familiar voice exclaimed, and Harry's blood ran cold, "That's no way to talk about your uncle."
Looking behind where they were sat, the Slytherin trio found Snape watching them, his eyes almost trying to read them, before he looked to Harry and asked, "Are you feeling all right Harry?"
"Fine Sev," replied the Slytherin, although he knew it to be a lie, "Is there something we can help you with?"
"Actually yes," Snape told him, before almost looming over Harry as he added, "I believe I promised you a Fire Training session."
"Oh," Harry nodded, "Yeah, I guess you did; so, when shall we do it?"
"Harry," sighed Snape, rubbing the bridge of his nose before asking, "You seem to think that you can hide secrets from me? I know what the three of you are planning; all I'm going to say is that I hope you're doing this for the right reasons."
"What other reasons apart from the Stone could we be doing this for?" asked Harry, a soft frost descending over the field as his emotions spiked.
"Maybe to get more clues about your past," Snape told him, before adding, "And keep those emotions under control Harry! Now that I'm going to be teaching you Fire Magic, the last thing we need is for you to burn Hogwarts to the ground."
(No matter how tempting that may be,) thought Harry as he looked to his godfather, those cold eyes almost piercing Harry's skull, before a twinge of pain crossed Snape's face, his magic reminding him of his oath.
"I suggest," Severus added, "That we begin our lessons in the last week of school and that we continue these lessons within Malfoy Manor: that will you time to…deal with your other demons, if you get what I'm saying?"
"I do," grinned Harry, before he asked, "But when?"
"No time like the present," Severus told him, "It has to be tonight!"
"Tonight it is," Harry nodded, watching as Severus turned and left the trio alone.
"Are you sure about that?" asked Gabrielle, noticing Harry's eyes shining with energy.
"He sure is," Draco told her, "Especially since Sev told us it has to be tonight, which means that whoever is going after the Stone is going to do it tonight: but Harry," he looked to his brother before saying in a firm voice, "Don't you dare think that we won't be coming with you: you've been practicing Veiling and transporting other things with you: so…here's what we'll do…"
The other two leaned in close as Draco began to explain their plan, neither of them noticing the frost melting away now that Harry was a lot calmer.
()()()()()
"Well, there you are," Harry said quietly, "Whoever is after the Stone has already got past that dog."
They were standing outside the third-floor corridor, Harry shivering with the other two after emerging from the Shadow Realm: when they had veiled out of the shadows, they had found an open door, which somehow seemed to impress upon all three of them what was facing them.
Gently stepping through the door, Harry turned to the other two, his emerald eyes flashing into his Riddle violet look as he spoke to them, "If you want to go back, I won't blame you," he said. "You can take this," he reached into the shadows and pulled out his dad's cloak, "I won't need it now."
"Don't be stupid," said Draco.
"We're coming," added Gabrielle.
Harry pushed the door open.
As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their ears. All three of the dog's noses sniffed madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them.
"What's that at its feet?" Gabrielle asked.
"Looks like a harp," said Draco. "Our opponent must have left it there."
"It must wake up the moment you stop playing," said Harry. "Well, here goes..."
He had brought an old flute that he had found in the Riddle Library to distract the dog; putting it to his lips, he blew. It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Harry hardly drew breath. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased - it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.
"Keep playing," Draco warned Harry as they slipped out of the cloak and crept toward the trapdoor. They could feel the dog's hot, smelly breath as they approached the giant heads.
"I think we'll be able to pull the door open," said Draco, peering over the dog's back.
"Want to go first, Gabrielle?"
"No, I don't!"
"All right." Draco gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the dog's legs. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open.
"What can you see?" Gabrielle whispered anxiously.
"Nothing - just black - there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop." Harry, who was still playing the flute, waved at Draco to get his attention and pointed at himself.
"You want to go first. Are you sure." said Draco. "I don't know how deep this thing goes. Give the flute to Gabrielle so she can keep him asleep." Harry handed the flute over. In the few seconds' silence, the dog growled and twitched, but the moment Gabrielle began to play, it fell back into its deep sleep.
Harry climbed over it and looked down through the trapdoor. There was no sign of the bottom.
He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked up at Draco and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"
"Right," said Draco.
"See you in a minute, I hope..." And Harry let go. Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and - FLUMP. With a funny, muffled sort of thump he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.
"It's okay!" he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!" Draco followed right away. He landed, sprawled next to Harry.
"What's this stuff?" were his first words.
"Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on, Gabrielle!" The distant music stopped. There was a loud bark from the dog, but Gabrielle had already jumped. She landed on Harry's other side.
"We must be miles under the school , she said.
"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Draco.
"Lucky!" shrieked Gabrielle. "Look at you both!" She leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall. She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around her ankles. As for Harry and Draco, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.
Gabrielle had managed to free herself before the plant got a firm grip on her. Now she watched in horror as the two boys fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them.
"Stop moving!" Gabrielle ordered them. "I know what this is - it's Devil's Snare!"
"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Draco, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck.
"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Gabrielle.
"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.
"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare... what did Professor Sprout say. - it likes the dark and the damp."
"So light a fire!" Harry choked.
"Yes - of course - but there's no wood!" Gabrielle cried, wringing her hands.
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Draco bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"
"Oh, right!" said Gabrielle, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of bluebell flames at the plant. In a matter of seconds, the two boys felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth.
Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free.
"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Gabrielle," said Harry as he joined her by the wall, wiping sweat off his face.
"Yeah," said Draco, "and lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis - 'there's no wood,' honestly."
"This way," said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.
All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward, and Harry was reminded of Gringotts. With an unpleasant jolt of the heart, he remembered the dragons said to be guarding vaults in the wizards' bank. If they met a dragon, a fully-grown dragon...
"Can you hear something?" Draco whispered.
Harry listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.
"Do you think it's a ghost?"
"I don't know... sounds like wings to me."
"There's light ahead - I can see something moving."
They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.
"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" asked Draco.
"Probably," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once... well, there's no other choice... I'll run." He took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms, and sprinted across the room. He expected to feel sharp beaks and claws tearing at him any second, but nothing happened. He reached the door untouched. He pulled the handle, but it was locked.
The other two followed him. They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Gabrielle tried her Alohomora charm.
"Now what?" said Draco.
"These birds... they can't be here just for decoration," said Gabrielle.
They watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering – glittering?
"They're not birds!" Harry said suddenly. "They're keys! Winged keys - look carefully. So that must mean..." he looked around the chamber while the other two squinted up at the flock of keys. "... yes - look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!" "But there are hundreds of them!" Draco examined the lock on the door.
"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one - probably silver, like the handle." They each seized a broomstick and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.
Harry, who knew about his skills in the Shadow Realm, had a knack for spotting things other people didn't. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, he noticed a large silver key that had a bent wing, as if it had already been caught and stuffed roughly into the keyhole.
"That one!" he called to the others. "That big one - there - no, there - with bright blue wings - the feathers are all crumpled on one side." Draco went speeding in the direction that Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and nearly fell off his broom.
"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing. "Draco, you come at it from above - Gabrielle, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"
Draco dived, Gabrielle rocketed upward, the key dodged them both, and Harry streaked after it; it sped toward the wall, Harry leaned forward and with a nasty, crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand. Draco and Gabrielle's cheers echoed around the high chamber.
They landed quickly, and Harry ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned - it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.
"Ready?" Harry asked the other two, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.
The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.
They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Harry, Draco and Gabrielle shivered slightly - the towering white chessmen had no faces.
"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.
"It's obvious, isn't it." said Draco. "We've got to play our way across the room." Behind the white pieces they could see another door.
"How?" said Gabrielle nervously.
"I think," said Draco, "we're going to have to be chessmen." He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Draco.
"Do we - er - have to join you to get across." The black knight nodded. Draco turned to the other two.
"This needs thinking about he said. I suppose we've got to take the place of three of the black pieces..." Harry and Gabrielle stayed quiet, watching Draco think. Finally he said, "Now, don't be offended or anything, but neither of you are that good at chess -"
"We're not offended," said Harry quickly.
"Just tell us what to do." "Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Gabrielle, YOU go next to him instead of that castle."
"What about you?"
"I'm going to be a knight," said Draco.
The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words a knight, a bishop, and a castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving three empty squares that Harry, Draco, and Gabrielle took.
"White always plays first in chess," said Draco, peering across the board.
"Yes... look..." A white pawn had moved forward two squares.
Draco started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Harry's knees were trembling. What if they lost?
"Harry - move diagonally four squares to the right." Their first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.
"Had to let that happen," said Draco, looking shaken. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Gabrielle, go on." Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy.
Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall.
Twice, Draco only just noticed in time that Harry and Gabrielle were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.
"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think let me think..." The white queen turned her blank face toward him.
"Yes..." said Draco softly, "It's the only way... I've got to be taken."
"NO!" Harry and Gabrielle shouted.
"That's chess!" snapped Draco. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me - that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!"
"But -"
"Do you want to stop the person behind all this or not?"
"Draco -"
"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"
There was no alternative.
"Ready?" Draco called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go - now, don't hang around once you've won." He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Draco hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor - Gabrielle screamed but stayed on her square - the white queen dragged Draco to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out.
Shaking, Harry moved three spaces to the left.
The white king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. With one last desperate look back at Draco, Harry and Gabrielle charged through the door and up the next passageway.
"What if he's -." "He'll be all right," said Harry, trying to convince himself. "What do you reckon is next?"
"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's." They had reached another door.
"All right." Harry whispered.
"Go on." Harry pushed it open.
A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making both of them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in fDracot of them, a troll even larger than the one they had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.
"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe." He pulled open the next door, both of them hardly daring to look at what came next - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.
"Snape's," said Harry, a part of him realising why his godfather had been so helpful.
"What do we have to do?" asked Gabrielle.
They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward.
They were trapped.
"Look!" Gabrielle seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles.
Harry looked over her shoulder to read it:
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Gabrielle let out a great sigh and Harry, amazed, saw that she was smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing.
"Brilliant," said Gabrielle. "This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."
"But so will we, won't we?"
"Of course not," said Gabrielle. "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple."
"But how do we know which to drink?"
"Give me a minute." Gabrielle read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them.
At last, she clapped her hands. "Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire - toward the Stone." Harry looked at the tiny bottle.
"There's only enough there for one of us," he said. "That's hardly one swallow." They looked at each other. "Which one will get you back through the purple flames?"
Gabrielle pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.
"You drink that," said Harry. "No, listen, get back and get Draco. Grab brooms from the flying- key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy - go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Lucius or find Knight, we may need them. I might be able to hold this person off for a while, but, even at full power, I'm no match for them, really."
"But Harry - what if You-Know-Who's with him?"
"Well - I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."
Gabrielle's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him.
"Gabrielle!"
"Harry - you're a great wizard, you know?"
"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.
"Me!" said Gabrielle. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!"
"You drink first," said Harry. "You are sure which is which, aren't you?"
"Positive," said Gabrielle. She took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered.
"It's not poison?" asked Harry anxiously.
"No - but it's like ice."
"Quick, go, before it wears off."
"Good luck - take care."
"GO!" Gabrielle turned and walked straight through the purple fire.
Harry took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He turned to face the black flames.
"Here I come," he said, and he drained the little bottle in one gulp.
It was indeed as though ice was flooding his body. He put the bottle down and walked forward; he braced himself, saw the black flames licking his body, but couldn't feel them - for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire - then he was on the other side, in the last chamber.
There was already someone there - but it wasn't Voldemort: it was the last person he expected to see:
Professor Quirrell was standing in front of the Mirror of Erised…
Chapter 10 and the mystery of the Stone has finally been answered, but why Quirrell? What could he gain from all this?
Keep Reading to Find Out...
Next Chapter: Harry meets the man behind the trouble and is given the chance for power, but why is the man so insistent and why does Harry feel like he knows him?
Chapter 12: Tired of all the mysteries and secrets, Harry uses his mother's memory and discovers the truth about his life, but will he like what he sees?
Chapter 13: Harry meets Luna as well as Ginny and gets everything out in the open with Severus and Lucius; plus, a gold-haired pillock makes his debut and Dante returns…
Please Read and Review...
And finally, thanks to everyone for voting on the BIG revelation: the winner was "Summer of First Year" which, personally, I find to be PERFECT as I have a good idea on how to write it: HERE'S A HINT: go and read Padawan Lynne's "Dark Apprentice" and you'll have your answer. (ALL THANKS TO HER FOR THE INSPIRATION)