Harry hardly got any sleep the following week; he was too on edge at the threat of Voldemort bursting through the door to kill him.
None of his other friends were much better off, also finding it difficult to focus on their exams, but at least they didn't have the habitual nightmare that Harry did of listening to the hooded figure taunt him mercilessly standing over the body of his immobile mother, before firing the killing curse at him.
Harry couldn't be more relieved when he walked out of his last exam. Thankful that now he wouldn't have to focus on two tasks at once.
"No more revision," sighed Susan happily, stretching out on the grass underneath a large oak tree down by the lake, as Hermione sat beside her mentally fretting over any possible answers that she might have gotten wrong.
Neville was smiling cheerfully, though Harry didn't look at all happy. They knew he was still troubled by what he had seen in the Forbidden Forest the week before.
"You could look more cheerful, Harry, we just finished our first year at Hogwarts!" said Hermione, trying to get her friends attention off of the looming danger of Voldemort. She was well aware that Harry hadn't been getting much sleep since the night in the forbidden forest, seeing as Neville had told them that he often woke up in the middle of the night because of his screaming. Whatever his nightmares were, however, Harry never seemed to want to talk about it, so there was little he could do to help.
Harry was rubbing his forehead.
"I wish I knew what this mean!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting – it's happened before, but never as often as this."
"Go to Madam Pomfrey," suggested Hermione in a worrying voice.
"That won't help, I already had every healer in St. Mungo's take a look at it when I was a toddler, nobody knows what type of scar it is, only that it's definitely a curse scar as a side effect of the killing curse. Besides, I think it's a warning… it means danger's coming… that would explain at least why Dumbledore seems to think the scar might be helpful… whatever that means."
"Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof that Snape found out how to get past Fluffy." Said Susan trying to lift her friend's spirits.
Harry could just sit there looking out across the Hogwarts grounds as his friends tried to think up as many reasons as possible for him to relax.
He couldn't relax, though, his scar was burning like never before, and he knew it was like a warning signal that danger was coming. The only other times it ever hurt, was when he had a nightmare about Voldemort or the time he'd met him in the forest.
He had come to the conclusion that the greater the pain, the more realistic the sense of danger, and judging by the eye watering pain he had been feeling all day, he had a very good reason to be on edge. Snape would be going for the Stone, and soon.
He knew that the protections wouldn't hold up forever, it was only a matter of time before Snape figured out how to get past Fluffy.
Harry suddenly jumped to his feet, running to Hagrid's hut as fast as his legs could carry him.
He heard his friends shout after him, "Harry! Where are you going!" but didn't slow down for them, he didn't even pause to look over his shoulders to see if they were following, all he knew was that he had to get to Hagrid's to ask him something, and fast.
It wasn't long before Harry had reached him.
Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.
"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time for a drink?"
"Can't in a hurry. Hagrid, that night you won Norbert, what did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"
"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn't take his cloak off."
Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas.
"What did you talk about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"
"Mighta come up" said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah… he asked what I did, an' I told him I was a gamekeeper here… He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after… So I told him… an' I said that I'd always really wanted a dragon… an' then… Let's see… yeah, then he said he had a dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted… but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home… So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…"
"And did he – did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
"Well – yeah – how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep –"
Hagrid stopped, dropping his bowl on the ground with a horrified expression on his face. "I shouln'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out, as he turned around to face Harry again. "Forget I said it! Hey – where you goin'?" but Harry had already taken off running back to his friends, who were only just coming over the hill now.
"Harry! What are you doing?" shrieked Hermione. She was not in a good mood, Harry was avoiding them, running off, and there was the threat of a revived Dark Lord resurfacing. What in Merlin's name was he doing going off by himself?
"We've got to go to Dumbledore," panted Harry. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy in exchange for the dragon egg, and it was either Snape or Voldemort."
If Harry had stopped, he would've seen the colour drain out of his friend's faces, but he was already off on a run towards the castle, desperate to get to Dumbledore.
It was by some stroke of fate, however, that the first person he ran into as he reached the castle was Professor McGonagall.
"Professor!" shouted Harry, "I need to see Professor Dumbledore."
"See Professor Dumbledore?" repeated Professor McGonagall, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"
Harry swallowed nervously – he knew he could trust McGonagall with this information, she was practically family after all. He just didn't know what she'd do if he told her.
"Um… We need to talk to him about the prophecy," said Harry, knowing it wasn't the full truth but that he wasn't necessarily lying. If the stone really did concern Voldemort then this was a matter of the prophecy after all. He felt horrible not trusting his aunt with the whole truth, but he couldn't risk her preventing them from making a play for the stone if they had to protect it. "Please, it's really important that we speak to him as soon as possible."
McGonagall stared down at them for quite some time, as if she was trying to gauge whether or not they were up to something. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity she signalled for them to walk with her.
"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said as she continued to walk down the hallways, confiscating a Fanged Frisbee from a pair of Hufflepuff fourth years. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off to London at once."
"He's gone?" said a very pale Neville, like the other three children he was having to walk exceptionally fast to keep up with McGonagall's swift pace.
McGonagall, however, came to a stop at these words and turned to face the boy that had addressed her. "Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Longbottom, he has many demands on his time – "
"But this is important," said Susan, trying to back her friend up.
"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Ms Bones?" McGonagall questioned with a hint of a smile on her face.
But while she seemed to be enjoying the friendly banter, Harry was hesitant to waste time and decided to cut straight to the chase.
"It's about the Philosopher Stone."
Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms but she didn't pick them up.
"How do you know -?" she spluttered.
"Professor, I think – I know – that Sn – that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."
She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.
"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."
"But Professor –"
"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "Now I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."
The four Gryffindors stood there, utterly crushed that their aunt hadn't believed them. The adults may not take the threat to the stone seriously, but they knew trouble was just around the corner, and with no-one else prepared to do anything about it, it looked like the responsibility would be left to them.
"It's going to be tonight. He's going to steal the stone tonight," said Harry, his face pale and his eyes glittering. "I've got to stop him, I'm the only one who can stop Voldemort, but I'd rather stop Snape from getting the Stone first, so tonight, I'm going down there to get the Stone first."
"You can't!" cried Hermione.
"Harry, think of what the family will say," said Neville.
"You'll be kicked out of Hogwarts if you do, we've already gotten into enough trouble this year, this would surely put the nail in the coffin," reasoned Susan.
"SO WHAT?" shouted Harry. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Manor and wait for Voldemort to find me there. It's only dying a bit later than I would have otherwise because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you hour can say is going to stop me!"
"You're right, Harry," said Hermione in a small voice after a brief silence.
"I'll use the invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map," said Harry. "It's just lucky I got it back."
"Well which of us are going to be disillusioned?" asked Susan.
Harry just stared at her as if she'd grown a second head.
"Oh, come off it Harry, you don't think we'd let you go alone?"
"But… But you'll be in danger" sputtered Harry in a failed show of protest.
"AND WHAT?" shouted Hermione. "We're just supposed to let you face it by yourself?"
"Harry you might be stronger than all of us, but that doesn't mean we can't help you," said Neville in a quiet voice.
"But if we get caught, you guys will be expelled too."
Neville just grinned and clapped his friend on the shoulder before saying, "we're family Harry. If you go, I go."
His other friends just gave him an encouraging smile and nodded their head in agreement.
After dinner that day the four friends sat nervously in one corner of the common room.
Hermione could be seen skimming through all of her notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments they were about to try and break, while Neville and Susan were on the floor playing a game of Wizards Chess to try and distract themselves. Harry just sat there watching his friends, wondering what he would have to do to make sure they made it through this safely.
Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.
"Better get the cloak," muttered Neville, as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and yawning. Harry ran upstairs to their dark dormitory. But when he went to pull out the cloak and the Marauders Map, his eyes fell on the flute Hagrid had given him for Christmas. He pocketed it to use on Fluffy – he didn't feel much like singing – or worse listen to the others try to sing.
And with that thought, he ran back to the silent common room, grabbing the cloak and the Marauders Map. He decided to let his three friends use the cloak while disillusioning himself.
Taking out his wand, he once again performed the advanced spell as his friends watched his body disappear before their eyes.
"When this is over, you've got to teach us that spell…" muttered Susan under her breath.
Neville actually lets out a light chuckle at this. "Yeah Harry, it's more useful than anything else we've learned all year. Who would want to make a pineapple tap-dance when they could make themselves invisible."
"You've got to work yourselves up to it," explained Hermione, irritated that she too had yet to learn the spell. "The disillusionment charm is a 6th-year spell, and even then few people can master it."
Harry ignored them as he cast a few more charms on all four of them to silence their feet and remove their scent. They were going to make sure Filch didn't catch them sneaking out after curfew this time.
However, before his three friends could throw the cloak around themselves, a light flickered on from the bottom of the boy's dormitory. There standing at the far side of the common room, was an angry looking Ron Weasley.
"So that's it eh?" accused Ron, marching over to them with his wand drawn. "You're just going to leave and lose Gryffindor more points then you've already lost us? Don't you even care about our house? Or do you think you're better than us because of your fame?"
Neville, Hermione, and Susan looked at each other as if to decide the best course of action to take.
Harry, on the other hand, thought they had wasted enough time with this little charade.
Ron never even saw the stunner leave Harry's wand and hit him in the back, as he dropped onto the carpeted floor with a soft thud.
"You know you didn't have to knock him out," reasoned Hermione, slightly appalled that Harry had resorted to violence as his first resort. "We could have just deceived him or something."
"We don't have time for that," said Harry, levitating Ron's body over to one of the couches, and conjuring a blanket over him to make it look like he was simply sleeping.
Susan just grinned and rolled her eyes at her friend's casual display of magic. Some might find it scary, but there was no denying the fact that Harry was brilliant with his wand.
With the threat of Ron removed the three friends concealed themselves under the cloak and took out the Marauder's map to check to make sure the coast was clear.
If only they were two minutes earlier they would have seen the dot of Professor Quirrell and somebody named Tom Riddle enter the 3rd-floor corridor.
The walk to the forbidden corridor was a quiet one. They were able to avoid Peeves or anyone else, with the only close call coming from Mrs Norris who was waiting at the bottom of one of the staircases they passed.
When they finally got to the third-floor corridor, the door was already ajar.
"Well, there you are," Harry said quietly. "Snape's already got past Fluffy."
Seeing the open door somehow seemed to impress upon all of them the danger they were about to face.
"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," said Harry.
"Don't be stupid," said Hermione.
"We're not leaving you," said Neville.
Harry just shook his head and 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?" whispered Susan.
"Looks like a harp," said Hermione. "Snape must have left it there."
"It must wake up the moment you stop playing," said Harry. "Well, here goes…"
He put Hagrid's flute to his lips and blew. It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note, the beast's eyes began to droop. 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," Neville warned Harry as he slipped off the cloak and crept towards the trapdoor, Hermione and Susan following right behind him.
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 Neville, peering over the dog's back. "Anyone want to go first?"
When no one answered the call, Neville was left to grit his teeth and do it himself. He stepped carefully over the dog's legs, bent down and pulled the trap door open.
"What can you see?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"Nothing – just black – there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop."
Harry, who was still playing the flute, pointed at himself.
"You want to go first? Are you sure?" said Neville. "I don't know how deep this goes."
Harry nodded, as he started to walk closer to the other three so he could climb through the trap door. He was even able to withdraw his wand from his robe pocket and cancel the charms that were placed on them.
"Honestly Harry put the flute down and just get over here," growled Hermione.
Harry grinned embarrassedly and put the flute back in his pocket, happy to see that Fluffy was still fast asleep.
He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked up at his friends and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"
"Right," said Susan.
"See you in a minute, I hope…" said Hermione reaching out to touch hands with Harry.
Giving his friend a warm smile, Harry grabbed her hand, before letting go, and falling backwards into the black pit.
Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and –
PLUMP. 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 OK!" 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!"
Susan followed straight away. She landed sprawled next to Harry.
"What's this stuff? Were her first words.
"Dunno, sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall."
Before Neville and Hermione could join them however they heard a loud bark from above. Apparently Fluffy must have woken up and Harry, who was already through the trap door, was the only one with a musical instrument in his possession.
The two looked at each other terrified that their friends were going to be ripped to shreds, only to see them scamper into the hole before the dog could get to them. They landed, still holding hands on the far side across from Harry and Susan.
"We must be miles be miles under the school," said Susan, looking up at the dim light of the trap door where she could still see Fluffy's jaws lashing out.
"Lucky this plant things here, really," said Harry.
"Lucky!" shrieked Hermione. "Look at you both!"
She leapt up and struggled towards a damp wall. She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twists snakelike tendrils around her ankles. Neville was also able to scurry out of the plant's reach and get to the safety of the wall, but the plant-bound both Susan and Harry tightly.
"Blimey! It's Devil's Snare," said Neville.
They could only watch in horror as their two friends 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!" ordered Neville. "It only fights harder, if you move!"
"Well how do we get free then?" asked Harry, who was now almost fully submerged by the plant.
Neville was in his element. "We need fire, Devil's Snare likes the dark and damp – Hermione light one of your blue flames –"
Hermione, being of muggleborn descent, was currently having one of those moments where she momentarily forgot she was a witch, as she began frantically looking around for a pair of matches or anything to start a fire. It wasn't until she saw Neville taking out his wand to burn the tendrils closest to him with the same flame charm that she had used to set Snape's robes on fire during the first Quidditch match that she clued in.
She too took out her wand and began casting the charm, but it wasn't enough to save Harry and Susan, who were now almost completely submerged by the plant.
As soon as he saw what his friends were trying to do, Harry started to burn the plant around him, his skin erupting into flames, burning the plant on impact, as it dropped him through to the ground below.
"Harry!" shrieked Hermione. "Are you okay! What was that?"
"I'm fine Hermione, that was just me using my elemental abilities. I didn't get hurt or anything, the drop isn't far," called Harry as he incinerated the rest of the plant, allowing Neville, Hermione, and Susan to fall through.
Not stopping to ask any questions, the group carried on through a stone passageway, which was the only way on.
On and on they walked, following the dimly lit passageway, listening to the faint sound of buzzing getting louder and louder, as they became more and more scared of what lay ahead.
"Do you think it's a ghost?" asked Susan.
"I don't know… sounds like wings to me," said Hermione.
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?" said Harry.
"Probably," said Neville. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once… Well, there's nothing for it… I'll run."
And before any of them could stop him he did.
Covering 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 on the handle, but it was locked.
Seeing that it was safe, the others walked cautiously across the room. They tugged and heaved at the door but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hermione tried her Alohomora charm.
"Now what?" asked Harry.
"These birds… they can't be here just for decoration," said Susan.
They turned their heads upwards to look at the birds. They were soaring high 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 others squinted up at the flock of keys.
"…Yes – look! A Broomstick! We've got to catch the key to the door!"
"But there are hundreds of them!"
Whirling around, Susan examined the lock on the door.
"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one – probably silver, like the handle."
"But there aren't enough broomsticks for all of us," said Harry.
"Harry, we're rubbish at flying, you're the one who's the youngest seeker in over a century, you can catch it," encouraged Neville.
Harry coloured a little at his praises but nonetheless proceed to grab hold of one of the broomsticks. As soon as he wrapped his hand around the handle, however, the keys ceased fluttering. Now they were screeching through the air at a speed so fast you could hardly see them.
Hermione, Neville, and Susan tried to help out and scan the swarm of keys for the one that would unlock the door but they were having no such luck. Or at least that was the case until Hermione had one of her more brilliant moments and realised they could cast the immobulous charm to slow them down, making it easier for Harry to find and catch the correct key.
It still took a little while, but eventually, Harry's seeker reflexes won out, as he was able to catch the large silver key with a clipped wing.
His friend's cheers could be heard echoing around the chamber, as Harry landed and passed the key to Neville who jammed it into the lock and opened the door.
The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. Only once they stepped inside, did the lights flare up, revealing a large ornate chess set.
"Wicked!" whispered Susan, but the others were all shaking at the thought of having to play a chess piece in a game they were horrible at, and the losers found themselves killed.
"Right," said Susan, turning to face the other three. "We've going to have to play our way across to get to the next room… Now don't be offended or anything, but you're all pretty rubbish at chess – "
"We're not offended," said Harry quickly. "Just tell us what to do."
"Okay, Harry you take the place of the king, Hermione that bishop, Neville you can be the castle next to her, and I'm going to be a knight."
The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words a bishop, a castle, a knight, and the king turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board leaving four empty squares for the kids to fill.
They were all terrified at the prospect of having to participate in such a deadly game, though they had complete faith in Susan. She had proven time and time again that she could compete with the very best in Gryffindor castle in Wizards Chess, and they had no doubt that she'd be able to find a way to pull out another victory here.
Susan, on the other hand, wasn't as confident. In fact, she was looking quite pale, something that didn't go unnoticed by her three friends.
"Come on Susan you can do this," cheered Neville.
"We believe in you," agreed Hermione, smiling up at her from her spot on the chessboard.
"It's just that I'm not sure I can get all four of us across, there's a chance one or two of us might get hit…" said Susan, trailing off nervously towards the end of his statement.
"We'll be okay, just do what you have to do, we trust you," said Harry, trying to replenish her confidence.
Susan just nodded her head and started to direct the black pieces as the game began. They moved silently wherever she sent them, not asking any questions or showing any hesitation, thought their knees were trembling furiously.
Neville was the first to go down, his castle was taken on a play that allowed Hermione to move into a position that would corner the Queen. He stood strong until the very last moment, his bravery never wavering as the enemy knight approached. His very last words to them were to keep going.
The knight that took him out smashed into him hard, throwing him off the board as he fell to the ground hard without a sound.
Susan was distraught at that, coming very close to dismounting her horse and rushing to her friend's side, but Harry wouldn't let her.
No matter what they had to keep playing. If they were going to have any hope of making it through the next door, they needed Susan to be focused on the game.
She was trembling like mad, while Hermione had tears in her eyes for their fallen friend, but they knew they had to keep going.
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, Susan only just noticed in time that Harry or Hermione was in danger and was able to get them to safety at the last possible moment. She herself darted around the board taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.
"We're nearly there," she muttered suddenly. "Let me think – let me think…"
The white queen turned her blank face towards him.
"Yes…" said Susan softly, "it's the only way… I've got to be taken."
"NO!" Harry and Hermione shouted.
"That's chess!" snapped Susan. "You've got to make sacrifices! Look at Neville, he got taken out twelve turns ago, but he did so without hesitation because he knew it would help us get to the next door. I take one step forward and she'll take me – that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Hermione!"
"But –"
"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"
"Susan – "
"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"
There was nothing they could do. They could only watch in silence as she was taken, leaving Hermione to move forward to take the King.
When the white king took off his crown and threw it at his feet, the two remaining friends wasted no time in rushing to their friend's sides.
Harry's head was spinning, two of his friends were now injured and they didn't even know what other protections they had to surpass before they got to the stone. They had already gotten past Hagrid's, Sprouts, Flitwick's and now McGonagall's, which means that all that was left was Quirrell's and Snape's, plus whatever Dumbledore did.
He knew they had to keep going, but by the looks of it, Susan and Neville needed help. He tried to focus on his magic and will it to heal his friends, but he was unable to recreate the golden glow that he had done when he was a baby. This frustrated him to no end, and he resolved that he needed to dedicate time to working on healing spells this summer.
"Look they're in no danger here, we should leave them and go on, they wouldn't have wanted us to stop now. They did what they did so we could go on," said Hermione. "We can come back for them once we've destroyed the stone."
Harry nodded his head sadly, as a few tears fell down his face while he held hands with each of his two fallen friends.
"They'll be okay Harry, I promise," said a teary face Hermione as she attempted to pull him up and lead him through the next door.
Harry could only follow her as he looked back at his two friends that had sacrificed themselves so that he could get to the stone.
Whatever it took, he was going to make sure their efforts weren't in vain.
It took a while, but Harry regained his composure, the only thought that was going through his mind was that he wouldn't allow Hermione to be hurt as well because of him.
It wasn't long before he was able to clue in on what their next task would be. The tell-tale stench could only be one thing – a troll.
What Harry didn't expect, however, would be for that troll to already be lying dead on it's back in the middle of the room.
"Snape must've already been here," Hermione muttered.
Struggling to breathe with the stench of the room, Harry pulled open the next-door revealing a small room with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.
"This one must be Snape's," grumbled Harry, his fists clenching at his sides as he accidentally released a bout of magic that lashed out and smashed one of the statues at the side of the room.
As soon as they stepped over the threshold, a fire immediately sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either, it was purple, and Harry couldn't move it with his elemental abilities.
They also noticed that black flames shot up in the doorway leading onwards.
The two friends just looked at each other, each realising the same thing; they were trapped.
With nothing else in the room, the two Gryffindors had no choice but to consort the parchment on the table in the middle of the room for answers.
"Brilliant," said Hermione. "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."
This actually brought a smile to Harry's face. "I guess it's a good thing we've got you then, right Hermione?"
Hermione, of course, blushed at Harry's praise and was quite pleased that he had so much confidence in her, and set out to solve the puzzle.
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 hidden 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 who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards, 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 left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
It took a few reads, but eventually, Hermione turned around to face her friend, two bottles in her hands.
"This one will take us through to the next room, and this one will lead us back to Neville and Susan."
"But there's only enough in that for one person." Said Harry, pointing to the potion that would take them onwards.
"You're right," said Hermione. "Which is why you've got to take it." She said giving him the small flask.
"But what about you?" asked Harry, very nervous at the idea of splitting up.
"I'll go back and get Susan and Neville, take them to the hospital wing, and send word to Dumbledore," said Hermione as if it was the only logical solution.
Harry didn't seem very convinced, however.
"Harry it has to be you, remember the prophecy, only you can do this, everything we've been through has been about getting you to this point. It doesn't matter if I were to go through with you or not, or Neville, or Susan. It's you that matters. You can do this," said Hermione passionately.
Harry didn't move, he could only stare at her as he felt tears come to his eyes. Gritting his teeth and giving a stiff nod, Harry told her to drink first so he could make sure she got across safely.
Hermione did so, taking the time to say good luck to Harry; her lips trembling before she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around Harry, pleading with him to be careful and to come back safely.
Harry held onto her tightly and promised that he would, before he let her go, watching her cross through the purple flames with a sad smile on her face as the two Gryffindors waved goodbye to each other.
One to take Neville and Susan to the infirmary and send word for help, the other to stop Snape from getting his greasy hands on the stone.
Downing the ice cold fluid in one gulp, Harry dropped the bottle and let it smash to the ground beside him before he crossed through the black flames in front of him, his wand drawn and ready for the battle that surely awaited him.