Chapter 21 Trials and Errors

A/N: Life sucks, been busy, yada yada. I was a bit discouraged from writing for a while after some unfortunate incidents, this was meant to be the start if me writing much longer chapters and nearing the end and climax of the chapter and story, my writing was deleted through an unfortunate computer accident. Don't keep pets and drinks near your laptops. So this is a re-write I've been working on, I'm trying to keep it as close to the original as I can remember. Without further ado, enjoy. -Vaine

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Harry blanched as Professor McGonagall marched them to the Slytherin dungeon. Dumbledore was gone. This was the perfect opportunity to get the stone. He wasn't sure why, but he felt almost certain that it'd happen tonight.

"...And furthermore, you could all be facing expulsion for this. This has been a massive breach into the castle security and would not be tolerated. When the Headmaster returns, you four will have a lot of explaining to do." McGonagall said sternly. Her voice was level, but undercut by notable worry. First years had found out about the stone. It wasn't a long stretch that more advanced students could piece it together.

"We understand, Professor." Daphne said, trying to get the instructor to relax, if even slightly. The aged witch stared with eyes that showed no apathy.

"We shall see. Now you four. Into your House. I must speak with Professor Snape." She said, walking to Snape's office. Grumbling, the four went into the common room, nervous.

"Oh man... I can't be expelled yet! I haven't learned enough." Tracey said with worry. Zabini raised an eyebrow, even Daphne looked at her funny.

"Yet, Davis?" Zabini asked, confused. Tracey looked at him like he was the one being odd.

"Think of this year and all we've been through. This was just the start of our education here. You really think things will just be rainbows and normality after this?" She asked incredulously. Her three friends looked completely shocked. To be honest, they hadn't thought of things this way. "And face it." She said, adding a grin to her explanation. "I'm part of the Weasley Twins' plans now." At this, her friends sighed and frowned. They all had their reasons to disagree with her relationship with the twins, but didn't comment on it. They knew she was trying to lighten the mood.

The door to the common room slammed open, making every student there jump in shock.

"Potter. Greengrass. Davis. Zabini. My office. Now." Said a deathly looking Severus Snape. Harry shrank back, noticing how he looked like an angry, beckoning reaper. The foursome walked slowly out, their teacher glaring.

"Potter and his group got in trouble? Big surprise there from the House Outcasts." Malfoy said with a smirk, having waited for the door to close before opening his mouth. A couple of people chuckled and agreed.

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"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Snape asked, glaring at the four students before him. He had no idea what to say. He was utterly enraged by four of his charges having done something so thickheaded and stupid. They had to have violated several school rules to get the information on the stone, and to know it was there. They knew about the cerberus.

On a quite opposite side, he was also proud. Of course his students would be smart enough to unravel the secrets of the staff and the Headmaster himself. Not only that, but they had gone looking into this without raising any alarms. Not a word from teachers or support staff about students asking questions or looking into where their noses didn't belong. He was impressed. But he was also a teacher.

Decisions, decisions.

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"Master. The old man is gone. Should we move now?" Asked the man, sitting in his darkened chamber. He was in meditative pose, gathering himself for the mission at hand.

"Yes. Now is the opportune time. There seems to have been a report of students on to the castle's scheme." The man's master said, pointing to the opened magical invoice they got from Minerva. "They'll have the teachers checking their fortifications." Said the disembodied voice.

"So we can go in pretending to do the same, and stay behind." He said to his master. His response was a nod he knew was there. "Let us ready then."

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"Double summer assignments." Tracey groaned as they sat in the common room. "Detentions for the rest of the year."

"Exactly. That's rather mild, considering." Blaise said. "We got off easy. I wonder why." Harry and Daphne nodded in agreement.

"McGonagall did say this was an easy expulsion. What Snape did is considered a mere slap on the wrist. Tracey sighed.

"Yeah, I know. But still this seems like so much to do." She grumbled.

"Summer assignments haven't been given out yet." Blaise said with a shrug.

"What if he gives us an extra load just because it's us?" Tracey asked, frowning at her contradicting friend. He merely shrugged.

"Guys. Focus." Harry snapped, little annoyed and worried. "We haven't got much time. Curfew is in less than half an hour."

"So?" Tracey asked.

"So, we need to get ready. Whatever is going on, someone is going to try and steal the stone." Harry stated. Daphne nodded.

"How are you so sure?" Blaise asked. "We ratted ourselves out. For all we know, they'll move it right away."

"No, they won't. It'd be too much work, even with magic." Daphne said slowly. "They'd make sure their defenses haven't been breached."

"And if some of the teachers have plans to steal the stone..." Tracey began slowly.

"Then this is an even better time to go for it." Blaise finished, surprised he hadn't thought of it.

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Harry carefully maneuvered his friends into a side path, unseen unless you walked through the fake wall.

"Thank the Weasley Twins for this." Muttered Tracey, eyeing the teachers leaving the forbidden room.

"Let's get through this one alive first." Blaise said, looking uncharacteristically worried. Both Daphne and Tracey wanted to tease him for it but decided against it. They understood his worry too well to be mean.

"Is that everyone?" McGonagall asked, frowning at Snape, who was the last one out. He nodded and said something, just quiet enough that the hidden students couldn't hear, but loud enough that McGonagall gave a curt nod and walked away, Snape trailing her.

The four of them waited, listening to the receding footsteps. Soon, a silence loomed around them, forming a thick tension. With a small sigh, Harry dropped the invisibility cloak, letting his friends look around and stretch quickly. Daphne quietly walked to the corridor and peeked out carefully. There was no one in sight. A small breath of relief left her lips. She understood what they were about to do. She had to admit. She was nervous, and more than a little scared.

"Remember. Hagrid, Sprout, McGonagall, Flitwick, Quirrell, and Snape." Harry said, listing the people who had a hand in the defenses. "And obviously, something planned by the Headmaster." He finished, feeling more worried about that last one than the others.

"We know Hagrid was first. We could hear his music from here. He'd obviously be behind an animal that size." Tracey said. She had practiced a spell for this, at Daphne's suggestion. Her friends nodded and walked through the door.

Harry put a hand on the handle. He took a breath and looked at his friends. They nodded and he opened the door, revealing the monstrous dog before them.

Its three heads seemed to simultaneously glare, and began growling, making the floor shake.

"Tracey. Now?" Daphne urged, shaking her stunned friend. Tracey shook her head and pointed her wand and a discarded animal skull on the ground, transfiguring it into a harp that began playing a calm melody. The dog stared at the musical instrument, bowing before it to see it play, quickly yawning. It was a mere matter of moments before all the heads were snoring loudly.

Harry signaled his friends to silently follow, carefully pushing the cerberus' massive paw off the small wooden trap door. "Lumos." Daphne muttered, lighting her wand. The door dropped down onto what looked like a rough carpet in the darkness. With a moments hesitation, she jumped, followed by Blaise and Harry. Tracey went last to make sure her spell stayed in place long enough. She jumped down, landing in something weirdly viney.

"What is this?" She asked, a bit disgusted. She heard her friends struggling a bit, Daphne having turned off her light to not bother the beast above. She squealed as she felt something wrap around her leg. "Guys?" She squeaked, feeling more somethings wrap around her arms and legs slowly.

"It's a Devil's Snare." Blaise said. "Struggle and it'll grab you more. Just relax."

"How am I supposed to relax?" She said, fidgeting worriedly. She heard shuffling noises and a few loud dropping sounds.

"Trace, relax and you'll go through. It's only a layer." Daphne's voice called, right as a vine slowly began wrapping around her friend's neck.

"It's on my neck, hel-" Tracey shrieked, her voice cutting off suddenly as the vine suddenly squeezed.

"INCENDIO!" Blaise roares, setting the plant on fire near to Tracey. With an eerie shrieking sound, the plant panicked to put out the offensive burning, dropping the thing it held. Tracey coughed loudly, trying to catch her breath. Daphne and Harry went to help her as Blaise burned the plant away.

"What... the hell... kind of person keeps that?" Tracey asked, gasping for air.

"Someone trying to keep others out. Are you okay?" Blaise asked, kicking a blacked vine away. Tracey nodded and stood.

"We need to get going." Harry said, his friends agreeing.

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"Who do you think is next?" Harry asked, walking along the corridor under the Devil's Snare's room. By now they must be somewhere in the second floor.

"Let's see...Hargid very clearly left the dog. Sprout was the damned plant." Daphne ticked off. "That's two of seven." Blaise and Tracey nodded, walking to the door at the end.

Harry carefully opened the door and gasped. Inside were hundreds of keys fluttering around on various kinds of wings. Some were bird-like, some where insectoid. Others were draconic or bat-like. The room itself was rather expansive, but otherwise empty and oddly lit. It was as though there was plenty of natural sunlight, but it was night time. On the far end was a door, no doubt locked.

The four walked to the opposing door, looking at the keys in wonder. Daphne tested the door, locked as they assumed. She drew her wand and tried the lock opening spell to no avail.

"The door is protected. We need the key." She said, eyeing the keys. "But which one is it?"

The four of them looked around, trying to figure which key it was. Checking them all would take ages.

After a moment, Harry pointed. "There. Near the center, and at the far left. Those two have hurt wings." His friends nodded. If those two were hurt, then it means they'd been grabbed.

"So..." Blaise began with a slight frown, "how do we get the keys?" It was a good question. Other than the keys and two pillars, the room was barren. Harry and Blaise walked around, trying to see some way up.

"Maybe this was supposed to help." Harry said with a frown. He found a broken broom hidden by one of the pillars.

"A broken broom?" Daphne asked. "Very helpful, don't you think?"

Tracey gasped. "If the broom is broken, someone has already passed through." Her friends looked shocked. It was true.

"But who? We saw everyone leave!" Daphne said, trying to figure out who could have passed them.

"Yes, but we didn't see who walked away." Blaise said, unhappy with this development.

Harry muttered a curse and thought for a moment. He cursed again and sighed. "I have an idea. It's a bad idea, but it's worth a shot."

"What is it?" Daphne asked curiously.

"After breaking my glasses several times, Cyrus taught me a repairing spell. But he warned me it wouldn't work as well on magical items because of their own magic." He explained, trying to get the pieces of the broom as close together as he could.

"What could happen, Harry?" Daphne asked worriedly. Harry gave her a shakey smile.

"It's not gonna be a smooth ride, I can tell you that." He said. His friends nodded. It was their best shot.

With a quick spell, Harry checked the broom. The cracks were there, but he mounted it well enough.

"It actually flies." Blaise said, impressed as Harry rose slowly. His friend nodded.

"I'll get the keys and toss them to you." He said, rising a bit more.

"How will you toss them if they have wings?" Tracey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why do you think of this now?" Zabini asked with a small frown. Tracey looked at him in disbelief.

"Right now is a bad time to not be using your common sense." She said, turning to Harry. "Can you fly and use your wand?"

"Well enough." He said, unsure as to why she'd ask.

"We don't exactly know what's gonna happen if you get the keys. Just catching these keys doesn't seem too difficult. You could always stun them, but who knows what'll happen if you do." She said, slightly warning him to be careful. Harry got the message and nodded, flying up the keys.

"Why did you warn him about the keys?" Daphne asked Tracey.

"Because she's right. It's too easy. With a broom on hand to catch a few keys seems easy, even if there's a lot of them." Blaise said, drawing his wand. "I don't know what they'll do, but be ready." The girls nodded and drew their wands.

"Here goes!" Harry called, stunning the first key.

It fell to the floor, and Daphne ran for it. As it fell, the other keys became a flurry of movement, suddenly chasing the boy who attacked them.

Harry screamed in pain as a key buried itself in his leg, suddenly fleeing as he realized all the keys were swarming him. The shaking of the broom didn't help, and he felt it threaten to break under him.

"Hurry!" He yelled, flying from the darting keys, pulling the one out of his bleeding leg.

Daphne ran the key to the door. Much to her dismay, the key didn't budge.

"It's not this one! She called, fearing for her friend who was fleeing the shining steam of flying keys.

Harry cursed and tried to locate the other hurt one, before noticing a key that was flying away from him, rather than to him. His seeker institutions kicked in, and he chased it down.

"Harry, the hurt key is behind you!" Daphne cried, wondering what he was doing. She watched him follow a key and grab it, gasping in surprise. The moment he caught it the rest of the keys fell, clattering to the ground below.

The moment of relief was shorter than expected, as the broom finally had enough, breaking apart under the young wizard. Daphne watched helplessly as Harry fell, his face frozen in surprise, rather than fear.

"Wingadrium Leviosa!" Blaise and Tracey shouted, catching the falling boy. They slowly lowered him.

"Thanks." He said sheepishly, holding the key tightly as he landed softly. "I thought in was done for."

Surprise and shock met him at once, with just a bit of pain as Daphne tackled him to the floor with a rib crushing hug. He smiled and hugged her back.

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"Flitwick. He definitely did the keys." Harry said.

"No way. It was McGonagall." Blaise said, smirking slightly. "The keys had transfigured wings, and the broom? She was a seeker, you know."

Harry stopped and turned around. "Come again?" His friend nodded.

"Yeah, she has a shield in the trophy room, right along one James Potter." Blaise smirked. Harry looked pleasantly surprised by the revelation.

"Guys. Door?" Daphne asked, pointing at the opened door before her.

They all walked in and gasped. Before them lay the largest chess board they had ever seen, taking up most of the room. The parts sides that weren't part of the board held enormous troughs of fire, illuminating the room. But what was most surprising was the massive chess men, or more, the shattered remains of the chess men on the other side of the room. They could see the door on the far end, torches on either side. Just slightly ajar.

"We have to be getting closet to whoever is ahead." Blaise said simply.

"How do you know?" Harry asked.

"Because I am willing to assume that this is like Wizard's Chess. And in that, the pieces repair themselves. These are still broken. Let's not give them time to repair." He said, taking off on a quick jog through. As if on cue, the shattered chess men slowly began piecing themselves together, causing the four friends to run through.

"I hate it when you're right." Tracey said, teasing her friend. Blaise smirked in response and opened the door.

"Ladies first." He said, smirking her. His smirk slowly faded into confusion as Tracey's face because a look of stark horror. "What? What is it?"

"Troll!" She cried, pulling Zabini from the door, just as the creature's massive club swung at the spot he recently vacated.

The monster's roar tore through the silence as it smashed through the doorway.

"Run!" Harry yelled, grabbing Daphne's hand and following Blaise and Tracey.

The angry troll stomped by, angry and hungry. It could see four small edible things running away. It saw a lot of things that looked like the edible things standing still. Those ones were big. They might be a threat. With a roaring challange, the troll swung into the chess men who went up in arms as he approached, the troll smashing them.

"Quick, while it's busy." Daphne said, pointing at the gaping door. The troll roared in anger and pain behind them as they ran into what they assumed was the next room. It wasn't very large, probably to give the troll a better chance to catch an intruder.

"Guys, the door is closing ahead." Blaise said as they entered the next room.

The door was gone, but what seemed to be stone wall was slowly lowering into place. They ran, Harry sliding just under the door as the slab fell into place.

"Harry! Harry!" Daphne cried, hitting the wall that blocked him from her.

"Daphne, you're going to hurt yourself!" Tracey said loudly, getting her attention. Daphne cried for moment, Tracey holding her. "We need to get Harry help."

"Do you see an emergency exit somewhere here?" Blaise snapped, trying to figure something to help out. "In case you forgot, there's a damned troll back there, not to mention a giant dog, or a twenty foot jump back through a trap door."

The boy paced angrily, trying or get his bearings. "This is Snape's challenge." Zabini said.

"You think so?" Tracey asked sarcastically, helping Daphne up. Blaise ignored her and pointed his wand to the wall, lighting it with a quick lumos. He frowned at the writing that appeared there.

"Is this a riddle?" He asked, not sure he understood. "One of these will open the door, the rest will...Tracey that's it."

"What is?" She asked, walking to read the instructions.

"Only one of these potions opens the door. I'm assuming it's the one that is empty. The rest of these take us to the start." He explained. The girl nodded.

"So we can can get Harry help." Daphne said nervously, hoping her friend was okay alone.

"It's the best we can do." Tracey said, grabbing a potion. Her friends did the same. With a quick breath, she drank down and gagged, feeling like she was suddenly being pulled apart. It ended quickly as she realized she was now at the door to the three headed monstrosity.

Her two friends quickly appeared by her.

"It worked!" Daphne cheered. "Quickly, let's find help!" She said, running for the end of the corridor. She suddenly froze up as he neared the door, seeing someone there. Her friends caught up and gapsed, equally shocked.