Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter characters or any major plot developments. I can only claim to own Lily-Rose, not to mention any plot twists.

Chapter 13: Through the Trap-door

We are now coming close to the end of the term. Hermione is making use all revise like crazy. I don't honestly know when I've had a spare moment alone with Ced in more than two weeks. I am getting increasingly irritable. I can't really be angry with her, she does want us all to do well on our exams. We've worked so hard this year, that to tank our exams would be very discouraging.

I was looking at the Map today, and noticed something very strange. Quirrell was going up to the owelry. Oh how that would change our lives forever. Throughout the day I kept tabs on things with the Map just to make sure that nothing bad would happen. It was when I checked the Map after Potions and saw that Professor Bumbledore was missing that I knew Quirrell was going to try to steal the stone. I told Harry, who told Ron, who told Hermione, who told Neville, who couldn't find anyone else, so it was just us five. I told Harry to tell Neville to go up to the Owelry and to send Archimedes with a letter to Bumbledore telling him that whatever had taken him out of the school was a trick and that Quirrell was attempting to steal the stone. After that, he was to send Hedwig with a note to Padfoot and Moony telling them the same thing, without the bit about the trick.

After that was done, we all went to find Professor McGonagall. We tried to tell her that the stone wasn't safe, that someone was trying to steal it. She blew us off, and told us to go back to our common room. We didn't go to our common room. Instead, we went to look for Professor Flitwick only to be received in much the same manner. We didn't even bother with Snape because as much of a rapport we had developed in private, it had to stick to private because there were still Death-Eaters about that could harm him if they thought his loyalty was questionable. We were forced to go save the stone ourselves. Harry already had the Map, so as to make it easier to locate Professors. We just needed something to put Fluffy to sleep, which was something that Hagrid had given to Harry, a hand-carved wooden flute.

We quickly made our way up to the third floor corridor to the locked room. Fluffy was already asleep, so we knew that Quirrell had already had a head start. There was a charmed harp playing in one corner of the room, so we didn't need the flute for the moment, but I kept it ready just in case. Doing that proved to be prudent, because as soon as Harry was down the trapdoor, the harp stopped playing. I started playing something I had learned while in primary school. It was similar to those eery songs that snake-charmers are often coupled with. I kept playing through the rest of them and didn't stop until I had jumped down the trapdoor.

When I landed, it was on some kind of plant. Neville told me not to struggle with it. I knew then that it was Devil's Snare, nasty little plant, but quite useful in potions. Hermione was panicking a bit, so I lit up my wand with a strong lumos solaris. I think she was mainly panicking because Ron was still in the plant at that point. Then we heard a strange noise that sounded like wings. Harry and I both picked up on the sound, so we followed it. We came into a big antechamber with a few brooms, an old looking door, and little bird-like things up in the air. I knew this had to be Flitwick's challenge, so the door couldn't be opened with a simple alohamora.

I looked at the door, it had one of those old-fashioned locks where the keys look like little stick people. Harry was looking at the little bird things, and said that they weren't birds, they were keys. I looked at the door again and told him that he needed a key that was big, old, and silver. He, Ron, and I grabbed all grabbed a broom and we took off in search off the key. Of course it wouldn't be that simple. Flitwick had to charm them to attack while looking for the key. Harry spotted the key faster than I did, which makes sense with him being the youngest seeker in a century. We all pursued it, and Harry wound up trapping it against a wall. After Ron and I dismounted, Harry threw the key to me, I unlocked it and we all went in with him following on the broom.

Then we were in another antechamber. This time it's dark with weird statues. Ron sees it for what it is first, a chessboard. A giant, life-sized chessboard. I'm we thinking that we are going to have to play our way across. Which is what ensues. I won't plague you with the details because I was so hopped up on adrenaline at that point that everything beyond big picture is a little hazy from now on. Ron ends up sacrificing himself in order to let Harry checkmate the King. Hermione was beside herself, but was a little reassured when Neville volunteered to stay behind to look after him. We came into a room where yet another mountain troll has already been knocked out, if not killed. We quickly went through the room to try to escape the smell.

Then came Snape's challenge. It was a logic puzzle. The riddle goes like this:

Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,

Two of us will help you, whichever 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.

I'm sure I could have figured it out eventually, but we didn't have that kind of time on our side, so I let Hermione tackle it. It took her less than a minute to figure it out, only problem was that there was only enough for two of us to take the needed potion. She let us go because it was our "destiny" to rid the world of Tom Riddle a.k.a Voldemort. Then came one of the most horrid encounters of my life, and just as predicted it was Quirrell, only he wasn't so alone.