A/N: Thank you very much for the overwhelming response to the story. I will do my best to keep it entertaining and beg to bear with me. I finished uploading all the chapters that I have already written and now have to work from scratch on the rest of the story.
Special thanks to all those wonderful reviews and hopefully more will be coming through.
Declaration: I write for my own pleasure and not for profit. I do not own Harry Potter Universe.
With You by My Side
Chapter 13-Trick or Test?
Returning back from holidays and before they get back to their routine, Harry and Hermione decided to relax for a few days. They, surprisingly found that with their confinement to the house and working on the computer, required a few days of just school work to unburden their brains and recharge themselves.
Professor McGonagall gave them the news that she sent the finished manuscript forward to the 'Transfiguration Monthly' much to their delight. She was pleasantly surprised to see them relax or help their classmates with their school work instead of taking up more extracurricular work. Both Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were amazed at their mature thinking as they knew the need for discretion in the amount of work that they took upon themselves and approved of their decision whole heartedly.
Scene Break
As promised, Mr. Lupin himself brought the glass boxes with near vacuum inside them into the castle a few days before the end of January. Due to them being charmed against magic, he made quite a spectacle getting the boxes into the caste by muggle transport with the help of one of his friends who was a squib. Despite the objections from Mr. Lupin Harry gladly paid for not only the materials and construction of the vacuumed glass boxes but also the transportation.
All their theories on Transfiguration and Conjuration proved to be true when they failed to conjure the required tea cup in the glass box devoid of any air. Even professor Flitwick as a neutral party could not conjure anything inside them. Even the size of the box did not matter as no air was inside the box for use in conjuring the tea cups solidifying Harry and Hermione's hypothesis that conjuration is nothing but air being transfigured into solid objects.
This according to Professor McGonagall was a major breakthrough, "Well done you two. I am proud of you; this piece of work would forever change our world and understanding of magic. I hope that once we get this published and accepted by the masters in the field, the enthusiasm for dissecting magical theory using practical demonstration would increase."
Professor Flitwick was right behind the deputy headmistress in heaping accolades on the two students who were basking in all the glory. It gave Harry and Hermione immense satisfaction that their enthusiasm and the work they put in this project was not wasted. They knew that they could not get something practical out of the work but if they could ignite the spirit of inquiry in the sleeping masters of the trade, it would be a fair accomplishment.
"Thank you professor; we could not have done all this without your support and your belief in us. Now what do we do with the solid rubber ball in vacuum? We do need the proof that spells do pass through the glass and they still work in vacuum" Harry wanted to wrap up the experiments so that no one could refute their work and then start on writing it up for publication.
All the other three occupants of the 'den' had a blast when the stern professor transfigured the solid rubber ball into a solid rubber duck. When the box was unsealed Hermione was the first to grab the rubber duck, "I would be very proud to display it on my night stand for everyone to see our achievement" she announced.
Just to err on the safe side, a small hole was made in one of the glass panes of an intact vacuum box to allow air to fill up and resealed, the air inside was used to conjure tea cup which was similar in size to their earlier efforts.
Unwinding from their exuberance of a successful project, McGonagall gave her two students some good news, "I got a communication from the publishers; they told me that our paper would be published in the copy that would be released by the end of this month." This was certainly good news for the couple and they celebrated by pumping fists and high fives. Harry and Hermione lost their inhibitions before the two professors by now and were used to expressing their emotions freely before them while the professors were still a little aloof, it does take time to change over decades of reserved emotions.
"If you can finish the latest manuscript by the end of March; we could probably have that published before the school year ends" Professor McGonagall finished.
With a specific deadline before them, Harry and Hermione were looking forward to get back to a hectic schedule. Both were not used to prolonged periods of leisure and were itching to meet the target.
Professor Flitwick was appreciative that Harry and Hermione decided to include his name in the latest manuscript just for his help in charming the glass plates. In return he promised them that he would teach spells for curse detection or detecting enchanted objects using magical residue that is left on the objects, a necessary skill for all ward construction work. As soon as Harry learnt that Professor Dumbledore erected special wards around the house at Privet Drive, he and Hermione were intrigued by the concept of blood wards and intent based wards. They hoped that once they learn about the wards, they could improve on them or replicate them around Hermione's house. If Harry is protected behind the best wards, then Hermione should too.
Scene Break
With two weeks already gone in the month of February, Harry was growing impatient to learn why the third floor corridor was out of bounds. Endless discussion with Hermione led them nowhere as to a decision about it. Even the Weasley twins made an attempt to get past the three headed 'Cerberus' in the room but without specific knowledge needed to get past the animal, they had to beat a hasty retreat from the barking Fluffy. The ruckus made brought Professor Snape to investigate but the twins managed to evade getting caught. They said that they had a mysterious artifact that helped them and refused to answer any questions regarding their easy escape from the scowling potions master.
"Hermione the only way we are going to know if anything valuable is being guarded or if it's just a diversionary tactic is if we made an attempt at overcoming the obstacles. If, even the twins who are just third year students made an attempt then I am sure that the sixth and seventh year students would have already tried it out" Harry brought up the subject of the hidden object in the out of bounds room on the third floor corridor. Hermione was cuddling into him with Harry's arms around her and pulling her into him, on the couch in front of the fire on a Friday night. Harry put up a few privacy wards around them to prevent eavesdropping, those charms were the first that they learnt on their own and were not taught in the first year curriculum. Their desire to keep their discussions private especially those concerning their 'project' motivated them to learn these specific charms the quickest.
By now Harry's incessant speculation on the subject wore down Hermione's trepidation to go against authority figures. She was always of the opinion that if someone told you not to do something then you should refrain from it, especially if the person telling you was someone in authority. She could not fault Harry's logic too, that if the authority figure announced to the whole school on the possibility of something valuable being hidden in the school, then it certainly is not a very good secret but probably more of a challenge. Harry's sense of adventure soon managed to catch Hermione too and broke down Hermione's resistance and so they decided to tackle the challenge, whatever it was.
Besides, with the rumors of a very dark creature roaming in the forbidden forest flying around the castle, there was a distinct possibility that the object may be stolen from the school and used for mischief or even something dangerous. The source of the talk was Hagrid who apparently found a dead unicorn in the forest and everyone knew that Hagrid could not lie to save his life.
"So we agree that if it is something that does belong to Nicolas Flamell and very valuable, and if we manage to break through all the traps, then we return it to him with our apologies?" Hermione did not want to leave nothing for speculation.
"Yes Dear" Hermione blushed at the endearment "I am not interested in being called a thief. Look at it this way, if Dumbledore did hide something of value but put a welcome sign over it, we will be doing a much better job of protecting it for Mr. Flamell."
Hermione could not fault his logic. Even though they were unsure if they were taking part in a test or if they were going to find something of value that belonged to Mr. Flamell at the end, it felt like stealing to them both. Harry's reasoning that Dumbledore did a poor job of safeguarding Mr. Flamell's property by announcing its whereabouts to the whole school and so probably to the whole of Britain, agreed with her. After they learnt from Mr. Lupin that Dumbledore blocked all of the friends of Harry's parents from visiting Harry, they both agreed on being a little vary around the headmaster. They decided not to trust him blindly but use their own judgment around the headmaster.
They agreed to tackle the problem the next afternoon and retired to their dorms for a good night's sleep. They wished that if nothing else they would earn an extra credit for their efforts if it was just a test for the more adventurous students.
A couple of hours after their lunch on Saturday, Harry and Hermione got ready to enter the room on the out of bounds corridor. They did not see the headmaster for lunch and learnt from Prefect Percy that every Saturday Professor Dumbledore goes on his duty as a Chief Warlock for Wizengamot.
Harry dressed in jeans and T-shirt grabbed the invisibility cloak and met a similarly dressed Hermione in the common room. "What! He did ask me to use it well" Harry answered Hermione in response to her raised eyebrow.
"Yes, that he did" she giggled before grabbing his hand and led him out of the portrait hole. Harry and Hermione found out that the cloak was given back to Harry by the headmaster. The fact that it was a Potter heirloom was confirmed by a note to Gringotts after Christmas and also by Mr. Lupin who Harry wrote to. That again begged the question as to the headmaster's interference in Harry's life and further questioned his motives.
The couple walked nonchalantly towards the doors of the great hall giving the impression that they were going out for a walk like usual. Immediately after passing the doors, they doubled back but this time under Harry's invisibility cloak. They had little trouble reaching the third floor corridor and the locked room even passing a trudging Snape with his cape billowing impressively behind him.
Hermione was horrified when the door opened to a simple 'alohamora'. "Couldn't they make it any easier" she whispered to Harry while still hidden under the cloak.
Entering the room they saw the enormous dog like creature which raised itself on huge legs and began growling while sniffing in their direction. Even though Harry and Hermione were hidden behind a cloak of invisibility, they could not mask their scent, 'maybe something they could do the next time' Harry thought.
Whatever else they might be, Harry and Hermione were not singers which was needed to get past Hagrid's pet as they surreptitiously learnt that music was like a sleeping pill to the giant three headed dog like creature. Harry gently squeezed Hermione's hand that was in his and getting her cue, Hermione wound up the key on her non-magical jewelry box. When the music started to play Fluffy began to doze off and it was then that the two treasure hunters noticed the trapdoor on the floor near the 'Cerberus' enormous paws.
Still holding the playing box, Hermione helped Harry in lifting the trapdoor. Peeking into the abyss, they could not see anything below and without even a guess as to the height that they would have to drop. Clutching the box tightly, 'to charm Fluffy when they come back' Hermione followed Harry who jumped down with a quiet shout of "Geronimo".
In total darkness they landed on something soft and squishy, but their relief was short lived as they felt a few 'tentacles' begin to wrap around them. Harry pulled his wand out from the holster on his forearm and his 'lumos' lit the room. "Devil's snare!" both of them exclaimed and with a simple nod of her head Hermione removed her own wand from the holster on her forearm and spoke the spell "incendio" which was very quickly followed by Harry with a "Lumos Maxima".
The combined assault of light and heat was too much for the plant which withdrew its tentacles and immediately shrunk in size to hide in a corner away from the two students. Exchanging a grin and a quick hug, Harry and Hermione walked towards the door with their wands drawn. This prevented Hermione from reaching out to grasp Harry's right hand but took comfort in his near presence. Harry surprised himself when the thought 'maybe I should practice casting with my left hand allowing Hermione to hold my right' flared unbidden in his mind.
Entering the next room, they were quickly assaulted by loud buzzing noise and they instinctually ducked in the fear of being attacked by Bees or Wasps. Their fears were unfounded as nothing came near them and only circling around in a perfect circle near the roof were winged insects larger than bees or wasps, 'maybe dragonflies' they thought. They spied another door with a large keyhole and proceeded cautiously towards it, "Let me guess, they are keys and a simple spell would not open the door?" Harry pointed at the buzzing things and looked at Hermione when her attempts did not work.
Hermione nodded her head, "A large old-fashioned one, probably made of silver."
They could easily identify the required key and even a few tries at 'finite incantatum' did not bring it down. They rode the brooms in the room and immediately the ordered pattern of the flying keys quickly dissolved to chaos. The couple bravely fought through the maelstrom and under their combined assault very quickly cornered the key. Harry grabbed the key and landed with Hermione hot on his heels. Opening the door, they quickly rushed into the next room and met a sight that stopped them short.
The entire room was occupied by a chess board and all the chess pieces turned to face them implying that they should probably win a game of chess to pass through the room. Both Harry and Hermione were housing an analytical brain and though they did not have much experience in playing the game were confident that they could beat the white pieces.
On a hunch Harry took his wand and cast a few diagnostic spells and immediately grinned at his partner. They could identify the handiwork of their mentor anywhere and she was so thorough in her teaching that they knew not only how to transfigure objects but also identify transfigured objects and also cancelling the spells. The only problem they could foresee was that each and every piece was individually transfigured and so will have to be undone individually. That is hoping that the pieces would stay immobile as some of them had nasty looking weapons in their hands.
Taking a deep breath, Harry asked "Ready?"
"As I will ever be."
They clutched their wands tighter and fired off the spell to cancel the transfiguration at two of the black pieces. One of the rooks and a bishop immediately turned to rock and a tree branch, but to their consternation, the other pieces became animated and moved towards them. Thankfully it was not at a rapid pace giving them some breathing space. Watching each other's back they quickly and accurately fired off their spells at the approaching black pieces which were the closest. The pieces which had weapons in their hands like the pawns and knights, did not hold back in using them resulting in a few scratches and bumps to them.
Thankfully their morning exercises kept them in the top of their form and stamina. Only once did a knight came close to impaling Hermione but her quick thinking saw her hugging the floor and easily turn it back to a small boulder. It took them about five minutes of continuous running around and dodging to finally reduce everything to rubble.
Hardly breaking any sweat they shared a hug, the extra-long and extra tight version, before smiling in relief at ending the battle in their favour.
"I am surprised that Professor McGonagall did not notice anything about size and mass of the original items when she was transfiguring the rubble into chess pieces" Hermione opined.
Harry gave her a grin, "Yeah! Maybe with the other professor's on her case she did not have the time or the mindset to even think about it."
Hermione turned pensive, "What next?"
Harry took her in his arms again, the feeling of having her close was nice and he wished for the contact more, "I guess we moved through Hagrid, Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall's obstacles. Snape and Quirrell are left."
Hermione moved out of his embrace and gave a little nod before saying, "Don't forget Dumbledore."
"OK Dumbledore too" Harry acquiesced.
Opening the next door, they cautiously poked their heads out only to gag on the stench and slam the door close.
"Now I know where the Troll came from on Halloween" Harry deadpanned.
Hermione was furiously trying to rid her nose of the smell, "Wish we studied some air freshening charms."
They did have a larger than normal lung capacity, their morning runs ensured that and so taking a deep breath they steeled themselves. Opening the door they quickly fired off a sleep spell aiming for the Troll's eyes. They did have thick skins but the eyes are vulnerable for anyone, even a Troll. They managed to overpower their spells which usually gives an advantage against larger opponents and to their elation, it worked to a T. The big lumbering Troll came down with a crash that jarred the floor they were standing on, but they did not have time to congratulate themselves. They did not want to take the chance of being in the same room if the troll woke up.
Passing through the door to the next chamber, the 'vibrant couple' did not see anything mysterious or dangerous to impede them and so they confidently walked to the only object in the entire room, a long bench with a row of vials of varying sizes filled with multi coloured potions. As soon as they reached the bench, their access to the doors that would take them either forward or back were quickly blocked by a wall of flames. The door forward had purple coloured flames dancing with a life of their own while the door back to the room with the unconscious Troll had black flames burning calm.
They could feel the heat coming off the flames and thought it was not stifling, they instinctively knew that any attempt to either go forward or back without the help of the potions lined up on the bench in front of them would not be in their best interests. The only clue as to a way out of their predicament was a parchment lying on the table with something like a riddle written on it.
"It's a logic puzzle" Hermione stated the obvious.
They both grabbed at the parchment but Hermione was a little faster and giving Harry a triumphant grin began reading the puzzle with Harry looking over her shoulder and trailing his eyes on the parchment following her spoken words.
After a couple of minutes of traded discussion, Harry and Hermione decided on the two potions that would take them both ways. The potion for going back was in a larger amount, enough for more than four people, but the potion to take them forward was to their disappointment in a single dose vial.
Hermione took a deep breath, "So does that mean that only one of us will be able to proceed?"
Harry also did not like the implications of that, he would like for Hermione to be there with him till the end. He began contemplating the alternatives and thought out loud for Hermione's benefit and views, "Till now whatever we faced could be overcome by a single person but was much easier if two people were working in tandem. So I would think that this would be the same way too and maybe there are two different puzzles in this." Hermione instantly agreed with that logic. The only obstacle that probably did not have a benefit with two people present was Fluffy. Professor McGonagall's challenge especially reminded them of the phrase 'the more the merrier' and it was true for both the numerous chess pieces trying to block their way forward as well as for the number of people required to overcome that particular obstacle quickly and efficiently.
Thinking that the best way to find a way to defeat Professor Snape's test was to try and figure out the type of potion that would get them through, Harry tried to pick the vial up. He was surprised when the vial felt heavier than the size of the vial implied and nearly dropped it back due to the unbidden weight, this caused the contents of the vial to slosh around and some of the potion spilled out of the vial.
Hermione was upset they had so little potion to start with and Harry managed to spill some of it. "Must be a highly viscous fluid" Hermione managed to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
To their utter amazement the vial filled with the same potion to the brim. They could not keep the relief and laughter inside them, "Ever filling vials" they exclaimed in unison.
Harry removed a slightly larger empty stoppered bottle from his 'mokeskin' pouch and poured off a little more than half the vial's content into the bottle and after the vial refilled, he transferred the whole lot this time. As they expected, the vial did not refill this time around. Exchanging a broad grin, Harry poured back some of the potion from the bottle into the original vial till it was just about half full and allowed it to refill.
They now had two complete doses of the required potion. Clinking the two containers, they looped their arms through the other's and with a "Cheers" downed the potion in one go. They shuddered at the bitter taste but chuckled at the feeling of cold in their stomach, they felt as if they have gulped down some ice. The feeling of ice permeated very quickly through their bodies as if their very own blood was cooled down to near freezing. Giving the potion a few precious seconds to travel throughout their body, Harry and Hermione scampered through the purple flames which immediately robbed their bodies of the cold, but allowed them to pass through unharmed.
Entering the next room which was much bigger and higher than even the room with the flying keys, they were treated to the singular sight of what looked like an open iron safe with its door removed, hanging in midair about eight feet from the ground. The only other object that caught their attention was a large mirror in an ornate frame standing close to one of the walls.
"Do you think that the two objects are somehow inked?" Harry asked eyeing the mirror with some fascination. The etchings and carvings captivated him; it did not look like it was made by human hands. The mirror had an almost ethereal quality that told them it was something to be revered.
"No idea Harry. Let's see what the mirror is" Hermione replied before moving to stand in front of the mirror only to gasp.
Her involuntary reaction was loud enough for Harry to almost sprint to her side and he too was entrapped by the scene in front of him.
"What do you see Harry?" Hermione asked in a whisper after staring at it for what felt like a few minutes, though in reality it was only a few seconds. It felt wrong to talk aloud and disturb the serene moment.
"I see our family a few years from now" He pulled his eyes away from the mirror and gave her hand a quick squeeze, "a very happy family. I see your parents and my parents too, I recognize them from the photographs that I have" Harry said when Hermione whipped her head toward him with a question in her eyes. "There is another black haired man that I do not recognize but more importantly I see acceptance and love everywhere" he finished.
With sparkling eyes Hermione returned the gesture, "I see the same thing Harry; me, you, my parents and our kids with happiness written on all our faces." Harry mouthed "Kids" and was mortified at the thought of having kids and even Hermione blushed brightly as the implication of what she said finally registered in her brain.
"What is this mirror?" Hermione asked rhetorically moving a little away from the mirror. The image was pretty powerful and enchanting. She then continued, "Erised, it is desire spelled backwards" looking intently at the word written in flowing script at the apex of the mirror's design, when the realization finally dawned on her.
Taking the hint Harry read the other inscription, "I show not your face but your heart's desire". They exchanged a broad smile, "a very useful tool" Harry finished. They shared a quick hug; the image they saw in the mirror could not be truer than what they hoped will happen in a few years from now, before moving their focus to the suspended iron safe.
Running her hand through the empty space below the suspended safe, Hermione commented, "I am not sure that a simple finite would work; even if it did the safe would fall and probably damage whatever is inside. Do you think that the mirror has something to do with this?"
Running his free hand through his hair Harry commented, "Not sure Hermione. I think that we should see what is inside the safe before we do anything."
Hermione agreed to it and so Harry gently raised her using a levitation charm so that she could look through the open side. A few seconds later Hermione asked Harry to put her down.
"There is a blood red stone a little bigger than my fist Harry. I think that it is the Philosopher's Stone" Hermione said a little awed. They knew about the stone as they studied a lot about its maker Nicolas Flamell. They could not help but think how foolish it was that such a powerful object was brought into a school full of children especially with the looming threat of Lord Voldemort.
Harry was enthusiastic now, he wanted to end the quest soon, "What are we waiting for let's get you up and grab the stone."
Hermione recovered from her surprise, "There is a very sharp double edged blade that moves from the top to bottom and back. There is only a gap of about five seconds when the blade is resting at either end. The stone is also on a pedestal; I think that the weight of the stone is also keeping everything in its stable state."
Harry let out a sigh; this was much more complicated than anything they faced. 'No' he thought, 'each and every obstacle they faced was complex in its own right they had the right tools to get over it, this was the same'. Aloud he continued, "I think that we will have to replace the Philosopher's Stone with something of a similar weight."
Hermione's face lit up, "Just like in that Indiana Jones movie." Harry shared a grin with her, who said that movies were not educational. "I think that it has to be you to get the stone. You have the quickest reflexes of the two of us."
Harry nodded his head and passed his money bag to Hermione. She removed quite a few coins out of the bag and tried to estimate the weight of the bag to make it nearly the same as that of the stone. Harry slipped the remaining coins into a plastic bag that he had in his 'mokeskin' pouch and took the dummy stone back.
Hermione cast a perfect levitation charm to slowly float Harry to the suspended safe. He held the money pouch in his left hand and taking breath, waited for the guillotine blade to drop. As soon as it rested on the bottom Harry shot both his hands into the safe and grabbed the stone while simultaneously replacing the money bag in his left hand onto the pedestal. Hermione was struggling to hold Harry up, not due to her ineffectiveness to continue casting the charm but afraid for Harry. She exhaled loudly when Harry let out a cry of triumph and showed Hermione the prize.
At the end, the relief at overcoming the obstacles and the implication of what they have done overwhelmed them both. Harry and Hermione could not help feel a little frightened at Dumbledore's not so strong defenses put up to guard the stone and shudder at the thought of the Philosopher's Stone in the hands of someone like Lord Voldemort. If they could breach the defenses and get the stone that practically ensured eternal life, then any grown up wizard or witch could easily do it. They finally realized that what they did was not a crime or a mistake. The onus is now on them to safeguard the stone and return it back to Nicolas Flamell and who better than two innocent doe eyed first years to do the job.
The palpable relief and giddiness at defeating the professor's obstacles spurred Harry and Hermione forward. They instinctively moved towards each other and their lips met in a sweet kiss. The kiss did not last long but cemented their relationship further and moved it to new heights. Neither Harry nor Hermione ever worried if they were too young or moving too fast. They knew that both of them were mature enough and respected the other to not take any undue advantage. Their pact of 'no more secrets' also ensured a fruitful relationship and besides, they were just two preteens. What could happen?
With wide grins on their faces, the couple moved towards the door leading out of the 'mirror room' with entwined hands but not before Harry put the stone in the 'mokeskin' pouch on his belt.
"Do you need to go to the hospital wing Harry?"
"If there are no visible injuries on my face, I think that I can skip it. But my bruised body is protesting at even the thought of not receiving treatment, so it may be a better idea to get our injuries treated."
Hermione gave him an impish grin, "We can tell Madam Pomfrey that you got trounced in a snow ball fight with me."
Harry very maturely blew a raspberry but joined in her laughter. The purple flame that blocked them from gaining entrance to the last chamber was out but the black flame was still raging and so they drank from the big bottle that held the potion to pass thorough the flames. Harry and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief to find the Troll still knocked out and ran through the door. They grabbed one of the brooms that they dropped in the room with the chess board and quickly flew out of the open trapdoor, easily evading the now recovered 'Devil's Snare and with the music from Hermione's jewelry box knocking out Flufffy. Hermione refused to ride a different broom, the acknowledged relationship with Harry gave her the reason to wrap her arms around him while flying on a single broom, not that she needed a reason to do it even before, but who's keeping an account?