Hoping he wouldn't have to face too many challenges on his own, Harry proceeded onwards with his task. The second he stepped harmlessly through the fire laden door he realised he'd reached the end of his journey. He was now in a large, cavernous room and more importantly he wasn't alone. Standing in the centre of the room, muttering to himself, was Professor Quirrell.
Quirrell was one of the last people Harry had expected to see. He'd dismissed the bumbling Professor as being the one helping his grandfather mainly due to the elder wizard's ineptitude. As a Professor, Quirrell was useless, and Harry would never have thought he was capable of being any use to Voldemort. Then again, maybe his grandfather had picked Quirrell because he was so useless and would fly under people's radars.
Quirrell quickly realised he wasn't alone and whirled round to face Harry. Harry was shocked by the change in his Defence against the Dark Arts Professor. Quirrell's normal nervous disposition was gone and was replaced by someone who looked calm and calculating. As the professor stared at him, Harry got shivers down his back. Either Quirrell had been superbly acting all year, or he was under a very strong imperius curse.
"Potter," Quirrell greeted with a smirk. "Fancy meeting you here."
"I have to say, you're not who I expected," Harry admitted.
"Let's guess, you were expecting Severus," Quirrell replied with a low laugh. "I admit, he does seem the type doesn't he? Alas, Severus is innocent."
"Why are you trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone?" Harry demanded as he tried to come up with a plan of action.
"You know what it is?" Quirrell raised his eyebrow and gave Harry and impressed nod.
"Yes, I know all about the stone," Harry replied. "I know what it can do for you."
"Not for me, dear boy," Quirrell cackled. "For the Dark Lord. The stone will restore him to power."
"You support Voldemort?" Harry questioned.
"You dare say his name," Quirrell hissed. "You're not worthy of saying his name."
"A name is just a name," Harry replied with a casual shrug. "Not saying his name only increases people's fear. Well, I'm not scared of him. Not one little bit."
"Then you're a fool," Quirrell snapped. "A fool I'm willing to give one chance to. Turn round and go back the way you came, or suffer the consequences."
"I think I'll stay," Harry replied as he cautiously began to move forward.
"I will not let you stop me," Quirrell insisted.
"Then go ahead, carry on," Harry said with a friendly smile.
The fact that Quirrell had stopped to talk to him, indicated that something was wrong. The Professor had to have had a bit of a head start on them, so it made no sense that was he was still standing without the stone in his possession. If Quirrell was able to get the stone, he would have been long gone.
Snarling at Harry, Quirrell turned his attention to the place he'd been staring at when Harry had entered the room. Now he was further into the room, Harry could see there was a shelf on the back wall and sitting in the middle of the shelf with the Philosopher's Stone. From where Harry was standing the stone looked unguarded, but there had to be some sort of protection around it if Quirrell didn't have it.
"What's wrong? Can't you break past the spells protecting the stone?" Harry taunted. "I thought you were supposed to be clever. Aren't Professors supposed to have brains?"
"There is no protection spells on the stone," Quirrell snarled. "At least there's no spells that I've ever encountered."
As if to prove his point, Quirrell stepped forward and reached for the stone. The second his fingers came into contact with the stone he screamed in agony and when he pulled away Harry could see the blisters on his hands as though he'd been burnt. Judging by the state of the Professors hands, he'd tried to pick the stone up several times and had failed miserably.
"Now why am I risking my safety?" Quirrell mused, looking at Harry with an evil smirk as an idea began to form in his head. "I have a volunteer right here."
"I'm not touching that stone," Harry said as he backed away. "I'm not stupid enough to touch a stone that I know will burn me."
"You don't have a choice," Quirrell snarled as he pointed his wand at Harry. "Try and get the stone, or I'll kill you."
The dangerous gleam in Quirrell's eyes told Harry that the Professor wasn't bluffing. He definitely looked unstable enough to try and kill him if he refused to do what he wanted. Trying to work out a plan to knock Quirrell out, Harry edged towards the shelf that held the Philosopher's Stone. When he felt Quirrell's wand pressed against the small of his back, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around the stone. After what had happened to Quirrell, Harry had expected the stone to burn him, but it was surprisingly cool to the touch.
"You did it," Quirrell declared with glee. "How?"
"I just reached out and grabbed it," Harry answered, looking down at the stone in his hands. He had no idea how he'd bypassed whatever security charms had been placed on the stone, but he had and now the stone was in his possession.
"Give it to me," Quirrell demanded.
"Hell no," Harry replied.
Sliding the stone into his pocket, he turned to face Quirrell. In the heat of the moment, Quirrell had momentarily dropped his wand and Harry used that to his advantage. Using all his strength, he shoved hard at the older wizard, sending him sprawling to the floor. While Quirrell was on the floor, Harry turned and ran towards the door. However, before he reached the door a jet of light whizzed past his ear and sealed the door shut. Pulling out his own wand, he tried to unlock the door to no avail. Whatever spell Quirrell had used had sealed the door and there was no way out.
"Give me the stone?" Quirrell ordered as he got to his feet.
"Never," Harry replied.
Turning round he pointed his wand at a rapidly approaching Quirrell, who shot a stunning spell at Harry. Even though he was only eleven his grandfather and father had taught him enough magic that he was confident he could defend himself. Quirrell of course didn't know just how skilled Harry was and he entered their duel underestimating his opponent.
Spells were hurled around the room as both Quirrell and Harry battled for the upper hand. Even though Harry was more skilled than most first years, he was still no match for a fully grown wizard and Quirrell soon had the upper hand. Stumbling backwards as a stinging curse hit him, Harry tripped on his feet and went sprawling to the floor. Quick as a flash, Quirrell had dropped his wand and had his hands wrapped round Harry's throat.
Struggling for breath, Harry's hand reached down to his pocket. His wand had been whipped out of his hand moments earlier, and the only thing he could think of to help was the Philosopher's Stone. As he began to see spots, Harry summoned all his strength and thrust the stone into the side of Quirrell's head. Instantly Quirrell let go of Harry as he howled in pain. Pushing Quirrell off him, Harry sat up gasping for air as Quirrell lay on the floor writhing in pain. The side of his face where Harry had hit him was red and blistered, but Harry couldn't summon any sympathy for the older wizard.
Stumbling away, he picked up his wand and stunned a writhing Quirrell. Keeping his wand clutched in his hand, he slid down onto the floor, resting his back against the wall. Hopefully Quirrell would remain unconscious until help arrived, but just in case he didn't plan to take his eyes off the older wizard.
C.O.T.D.
Wishing she could help Harry with what lay ahead of him, Hermione reluctantly returned to where Ron was still sitting propped up beside the wall. Much to her surprise when she entered the room, she found the chess pieces had tidied themselves up and were back in place.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"We had to solve a logic problem," Hermione answered. "Harry carried on, while I came back. We need to get back up into the main body of the castle somehow and get help. Who knows what Harry's facing down there."
"He'll be okay," Ron said with confidence as he struggled to his feet.
"Are you okay Ron?" Hermione asked, noticing that the redhead was holding one of his arms against his body.
"My shoulder hurts," Ron admitted. "I think it may be dislocated. But other than that I'm fine, well apart from a few bruises."
"Considering the way you fell, it's lucky that's all you're suffering from," Hermione remarked. "Although speaking of the chess game, what happened to it? It looks like we've never played."
"After you and Harry left the room, it just started to put itself back together," Ron replied.
"I guess we should have expected something like that," Hermione mused. "Someone's clearly passed through here before us, so it makes sense they would have played the game."
"Maybe Snape bypassed the game somehow," Ron suggested.
"He couldn't bypass any of the other obstacles," Hermione argued. They'd seen evidence that someone had been present in several of the rooms, including the room with the knocked out troll, the room with the kinked key and of course Fluffy who was asleep.
"I don't suppose that really matters now," Ron said. "We should just head back and get help for Harry."
Nodding in agreement, Hermione fell into step alongside Ron as they made their way back towards the door they entered from. Luckily the chess pieces didn't try and stop them and they were able to leave the room without playing another game of chess. They were also able to pass straight through the room with the flying keys without incident. When they entered the room with the troll they entered cautiously and when they found the large creature still passed out on the floor, they darted across the room at top speed and returned to where they'd fallen from the Devil's Snare.
"Now what?" Ron asked, looking upwards.
Because Hermione had used magic to release Ron from the Devil's Snare the plant was all withered and they could see upwards into the room where Fluffy was. They could also hear the giant three headed dog pacing about above their heads and occasionally growling softly. As they continued to look up they even saw him looking down the hole a few times, but luckily he was too big to fit down the trapdoor.
"I have no idea," Hermione replied. Her plan was to have Draco send Severus to help them, so they would probably have to just wait for her big brother to arrive.
"Can we levitate up?" Ron asked. "You mastered that spell really quickly in charms."
"You seriously expect me to levitate you up through the trapdoor?" Hermione asked in bewilderment. "You're not a feather, you know."
"Are you calling me fat?" Ron frowned.
"No, I'm pointing out a growing boy is a lot more difficult to levitate then a feather," Hermione retorted. "Unless you want to risk injury, there's going to be no levitating."
Ron fell silent after that and Hermione guessed he was trying to think of ways they could get help. A few minutes later, his eyes lit up as he came up with an idea. They could go back and get the broom from the room with the keys. Hermione had to admit the idea had merit, and she was more than happy to agree to let Ron go and get the broom. Unfortunately they hit a hitch when Ron went sneaking back past the troll to the key room, only to return empty handed.
"Where's the broom?" Hermione questioned when Ron returned empty handed.
"It wouldn't leave the room," Ron muttered as he slumped against the wall. "We're stuck."
"I'm sure we'll think of something," Hermione said as she slid down onto the floor beside Ron.
Now all they could do was wait for Draco for come to their rescue, and hope that while he gave Harry enough time to save the stone that help arrived before something happened to him.
C.O.T.D.
When Hermione grabbed him before dinner and told him that they thought tonight was the night, Draco had made sure he was alone as much as possible. After dinner, he'd retreated to the boys dorms citing a headache, and when he made it clear he wanted some peace and quiet no-one dared to disturb him. Once it got later and the other boys headed up to bed, Draco snuck down to the common room and settled himself in front of the fire with a book.
That was where he was when Mitzee, Hermione's personal elf, appeared in front of him. Mitzee quickly passed the message on from Hermione, before disappearing before anyone saw her. Draco wondered how much time Harry would need as he snuck out of the common room and made his way to Severus's office. Hopefully Severus would have some sort of idea of how much Harry had to do to get to the stone.
Severus answered his door almost as soon as Draco knocked and the blond boy wondered if his head of house had been expecting him. It certainly didn't look like he'd aroused Severus from his sleep, or even from his private quarters that were attached to his office.
"Hermione and Harry are down with the stone," Draco told Severus as he entered the room. "Hermione sent a message saying they need help to get back up to the castle. She also said we needed to give Harry time to find the stone and save it."
"Getting through to the stone will be time consuming enough," Severus replied. "By the time I reach him, Harry will hopefully have succeeded. But if not, I'll have to help him and wipe Quirrell's memories of the incident."
"Quirrell?" Draco gasped in shock. "He's the one working for The Dark Lord?"
"Yes," Severus replied with a nod. "Or at least, I'm fairly sure he is. I just don't know if he's genuinely a supporter or if he's under the Imperius curse. Either way, he's a very different man from the one I've known all these years."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked with a frown. "I thought this was his first year at Hogwarts. One of the older students was complaining about how the old Defence against the Dark Arts Professor was much better than Quirrell."
"This is his first year teaching Defence," Severus explained. "For years he was the muggle studies Professor, but a few years ago he said he needed a break and he went travelling. Dumbledore offered him the Defence position as he was supposed to have faced all sorts of dangers during his travels."
"If he'd faced all sorts of danger, he would be dead," Draco said with a snort. "He's useless."
"Useless or not, he's with my son," Severus said. "And I need to get to him."
"How are you going to explain finding Harry and Hermione with the stone?" Draco asked.
"Easy," Severus replied with a smirk. "I'm going to go out for a walk and just happen upon a door that should be closed. I'll investigate and find they've breached the first line of defence. From there, it's my duty as a Professor to save the day."
"Can I help?" Draco asked, eager to be a part of things.
"I'm afraid not," Severus said, giving the young boy a pat on the shoulder. "You should go back to bed, Draco. I'm sure Hermione and Harry will tell you all about it when they can."
With a disappointed sigh, Draco headed back to the Slytherin dorms while Severus headed off to the third floor to make sure Harry and Hermione were safe.