A/N: A huge thank you to everyone. I've been very sick as of late, so I appreciate your patience as I get the chapters updated. I truly hope to be able to continue posting them regularly.
Chapter Thirty-Six
"Ominous"
April 29th, 1992
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
With the students in their common rooms, the castle was dead silent other than the sound of shifting staircases, murmurs from the portraits on the walls, and an echoing sound of Peeves several floors above them, sobbing apologies as the Bloody Baron scolded him for something.
Newt and Cassie slipped up the stairs, catching one just before it shifted away from them. Briefly, she wondered if it was pure luck or if Newt had cast something, as the case directed them straight toward the forbidden third floor. Once there, she stretched her neck and shook her arms out to loosen them up, preparing for any type of attack.
The corridor was pitch black, all the torches lining the walls had been snuffed out.
"That's ominous."
Newt gently shushed her as he stepped forward, sure-footed. "Do you hear that?"
Listening closely, Cassie could pick out soft notes of what sounded like a harp. She held her breath as the music stopped, fading into absolute silence. Newt glanced back at her, and they shared a worried look. Both jumped when the silence was ended by a low growl followed by a creaking door.
Newt quickly brought the flute to his lips, just as three sets of eyes, glowing in the dark, stared at them from the end of the corridor. Before Cassie could cast a Lumos or Newt could make the flute utter a single note, the cerberus charged. Faster than expected after being cooped up for months, the beast launched at them, mouths open and drooling with blood-lust.
Cassie grabbed Newt by the arm, pulling him out of harm's way just in time for the beast to barrel into the wall behind them. One of the heads bashed against the wall, cracking the stone and splitting it clean up to the ceiling above them. The front left paw clawed out, catching the hem of Newt's robe and jerking wildly. The man tumbled to the ground, losing his flute in the process.
The instrument rolled on the floor toward the cerberus, making a clinking sound as it tumbled down the staircase.
While the middle head of the dog was paying more attention to its brother with the injured head, the head on the right growled and snapped at it. The right and middle heads spun toward Cassie and Newt, with the left head following the sound of the flute falling down the stairs. The lack of unified purpose had redistributed the weight of the animal. Balance was obviously an issue, and as the beast tried to right itself, the edge of the staircase began moving, taking one of the large paws with it. Startled by the movement, the beast stepped backward, both hind legs staying on the staircase that began dragging it off of the third floor.
Panicked, Newt stepped forward, wand raised. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The magic hit the right head in the face, and one third of the creature began floating up, but the weight of the other two kicking about tipped the entire body over the edge of the stairs. Newt struggled to hold his spell, but the animal was just too large.
Cassie rushed to the edge of the corridor, flicking a Cushioning Charm at the bottom ground moments before the cerberus landed there on its side, missing another rotating staircase by barely a foot.
"I don't think it's injured," Newt said with a concerned tone.
Watching with trepidation, Cassie's eyes widened as the cerberus removed its attention from the staircases, and instead focused on the front door of the castle. "Oh fuck."
After ordering the Fat Lady to make sure not a single Gryffindor left the tower, Minerva took a shortcut down one of the back corridors to a private staff-member-only staircase, hidden behind the tapestry of Andros the Invincible. She reached the Great Hall, meeting Filius there only to hear a loud scream coming from beyond the doors.
Exiting the hall, Minerva and Filius watched as Cassie, in owl form, flew out the broken entrance doors of the castle. Newt Scamander was running down a moving staircase, skipping every two steps as he did. Minerva cringed, hoping the man didn't fall and break a leg.
"What happened?"
"Dog!'
Minerva looked across the foyer to where Pomona and Severus stood in the archway that led toward the dungeons. The short witch was pointing at the broken doors, her mouth open in shock. Severus, meanwhile, looked as terrified as Minerva had ever seen him, and he was standing in a way that protectively angled his previously injured leg.
"We've got it, we've got it, no troubles here!" Newt said as he rushed off the bottom step, catching himself from falling just at the last second, before darting over the broken pile of wood in the entrance that used to be the doors, and disappearing from sight.
"Should we go after them?" Pomona asked.
Minerva looked up the stairs at the third floor. "Stay in the castle," she said. "Mr Scamander and Miss Black can handle the beast. But we've a more serious problem."
Severus joined her, already one step ahead as he began ascending the staircase. "Who let the monster out of its cage?"
"We're with you," Filius said, following after Minerva as she began to quickly join Severus.
She turned back. "Stay down here. Guard the front entrance, and the back toward the Quidditch pitch. Those are the two main ways in and out of the castle. The dog does not come back inside, and no one leaves. I would suggest alerting the rest of the staff, but there's not enough time. If anyone comes out, let them know what's happened."
"Understood," Pomona said as she put a hand on Filius's shoulder. "We've got this."
With the students and castle in good hands, Minerva and Severus leapt up the stairs as fast as they possibly could. She'd not seen the beast herself, but Severus had known exactly where Dumbledore had secured it.
When they reached the third floor, she cast a Lighting Charm that left her wand, hovering like a floating lightbulb down the long corridor until it reached an open door, hanging off of the hinges. The inside of the room smelled like a kennel that had not been cleaned in weeks. She wondered if Hagrid had been too occupied with his new pet dragon to bother cleaning up after the cerberus. There were bones in the corner of the room, some with meat still hanging off of them. Clearly, the animal had still been fed recently.
"Dumbledore might have returned?" Severus asked suspiciously as he approached the closed trap door in the centre of the room.
Minerva shook her head. "Albus was protecting something, and not from us. As daft as the old fool often is, he would never actually release the dog inside the castle. That would be openly endangering people."
Angrily, Snape said, "Because he's never done that before."
"He's usually smarter than this."
"He's a Gryffindor," Snape muttered as he opened the door, silently casting charms to alert for any hidden traps.
Minerva ignored the slight against her House, and stepped down through the door, holding her wand out as the hovering Lumos returned, lighting the path down. There was a twenty foot drop from where she sat to the bottom, and she could see a broken ladder on the ground below. A spell shot from behind her, and ropes flew out of Severus's wand, weaving together into a makeshift climbing ladder. She put her wand between her teeth, descending into the large, dark room below.
Scanning the area once at the bottom, she took note of a wild Devil's Snare in the corner, growing up the side of the wall. Half of it was withered, the rest burrowed into the stone of the castle, likely seeking out water. It appeared to have not been well-cared for.
"This is what he wanted us for at the beginning of the year," Severus said. "Hagrid provided the beast. I would wager that Pomona was supposed to have taken care of that."
Feeling angry and frustrated with Dumbledore's lack of attention and monitoring of his own bloody obstacles, Minerva hissed under her breath. "Morgana help us if any other charms he lazily placed cause anyone more harm than they already have."
The other defenses protecting Dumbledore's secret treasure were just as bad as the withering Devil's Snare, if not worse. One room contained a Limbo Mist charm that turned the entirety of the room upside-down. Knowing that one foot inside the mist would create havoc with their equilibrium, they stayed put on the other side of the door. Minerva figured that this obstacle would have sent anyone from a third year and under into a panic. She, however, was just irritated. Removing several accessories, she cast the counter charm, and the gold mist in the room dissipated, putting everything to rights.
Another room contained jinxed brooms that turned to attack once the door was shut after entering. A quick and powerful Immobulus Charm from Severus stopped them in their tracks.
They found a dead troll in the room beyond that, its stench already powerful.
Stepping over the troll, Minerva reached a closed door, locked by several Muggle bolts and chains. Waving her wand, she attempted an Unlocking Charm, and watched curiously as static fluttered over the doorknob.
"It's jinxed. Some sort of electrocution, I imagine," Severus said. "Easily bypassed for anyone who's not a complete idiot." With a fluid flick of his wand, pins were pulled from the hinges of the door, and it opened easily from the opposite side.
"This is asinine," Minerva hissed under her breath before she cautiously stepped through the door.
On the other side, she came face to face with a reflection of herself. It took just a moment before she jumped back, realising that the mirror in the room was the Mirror of Erised. Not wanting to look in the damned thing, Minerva took one step to the side and saw the shadow of someone behind the large frame, mumbling to themselves.
"Where is it? Where . . .? I'm sorry, I don't know why it's not—"
Her eyes widened in shock. "Quirinius?"
Professor Quirrell peeked out from behind the frame, his expression one of surprise and dread. Sweat beaded on the man's forehead, soaking the bottom edge of his turban. "Minerva? Severus? It's . . . No. It's not supposed to be you. Potter should have—"
"Stupefy!" Severus yelled, pointing his wand at the man.
Quirrell dodged the curse, ducking behind the mirror, and the spell hit the glass, bouncing back. Both Minerva and Severus dodged it just in time.
"Quirinius, what have you done?" Minerva demanded, wand gripped tightly in hand.
The man continued to hide behind the mirror, using it as a shield for any spells that came his way. She heard the sound of snapping fingers, and ropes sprung from the floor, tightly winding their way around both hers and Severus's feet. The ropes were swift, reaching up and taking hold of their arms as well. Severus spent his efforts in cancelling the hex, while Minerva had an easier way out, though she decided to hold off for the time being in exchange for demanding answers.
"The mirror is the key to finding it," Quirrell said, stepping out from behind the mirror and looking into it from the side. "Clever of Dumbledore, really. But he's not here, is he? I need the stone, you see. I need it. I need to present it to . . . my master."
"Voldemort," Minerva growled.
Severus cringed at the name, but Quirrell practically shivered in terror and looked at her as though she had both blasphemed and cursed them to death at the same time.
"Stop wasting time," another voice whispered. "Kill them."
Bottom lip trembling, Quirrell raised his wand and aimed it at Minerva.
Narrowing her eyes and daring him to try something, she shifted down in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a cat standing in a puddle of loose ropes. Jumping from the pile, she darted toward Quirrell, clawing at his leg. With Quirrell distracted, Severus unbound himself from the ropes and shot off a hex at Quirrell that knocked the man to the ground. He screamed, rolling to the side and hitting the bottom edge of the large mirror. It teetered back and forth for a long moment before crashing down on its back, separating Quirrell from Minerva and Severus.
As he regained his feet, Minerva shifted back up onto her own human legs, eyes wide in horror. Quirrell's turban had come loose in the small scuffle, and she could see the twisted skin on the back of his head. The top was still covered, but the bottom was clear as day, even in the barely lit room. There was a mouth, and it was snarling at her.
"I'm sorry, Master!" Quirrell screamed and rushed toward the back of the room. Light illuminated from somewhere beyond, creating a large doorway broken through what had appeared before to be pure stone. Quirrell rushed through the opening, Severus and Minerva swift on his heels.
"Did you see it?" Severus asked as they ran together, slipping into darkness as the light from the doorway was extinguished.
Casting a Lumos, Minerva never stopped moving forward, but was furious to see that Quirrell had somehow taken a decent lead. They could no longer see him down the stretch of hallway in what felt like an underground tunnel, but she could still hear his whimpering and the sound of speedy footsteps.
"I don't know what I saw," she muttered angrily.
They ran for what felt like a mile, casting charms and hexes forward in the hopes of hitting Quirrell with something, even though the man could not be seen, only heard. By the time light was visible once again, the hint of an exit, Minerva was running on adrenaline. Severus had outrun her, so when she exited the tunnel, coming out into the bright lights of an afternoon sky, she was unsurprised to find the two men facing off against one another, wands drawn.
"Don't be stupid, Severus," Quirrell said. "You've already betrayed him once. He'd forgive you, if you came back to him."
"You should be more concerned with yourself," Severus said, sneering at Quirrell.
Quirrell actually laughed before turning his gaze on Minerva. "And as for you . . . My Master is unafraid of a band of little old ladies. You can't keep Potter safe forever."
Furious, Minerva shot a curse from her wand.
Quirrell moved just in time to avoid getting struck in the stomach, but it still hit the top of his right leg. There was a sickening sound of crunching bones, and the man let out a terrible scream of agony. He stumbled and fell, one hand holding his wand like a lifeline, the other clutching at his leg in horror.
She stepped toward him, biting the inside of her lip and drawing blood. Spitting it at Quirrell, Minerva watched as the blood splattered against the trousers of his broken leg, and she hissed out, "Perpetius!"
His eyes widened as he realised that what she had done was cursed with permanence.
"Even if Voldemort isn't afraid of my coven, perhaps you should be."
Quirrell glanced between Minerva and Severus, looking utterly trapped. He closed his eyes as though waiting for the inevitable, whispered, "I'm sorry, Master," and then vanished entirely in a swirl of pitch black smoke.
"No!" Severus screamed, shooting off several curses into the dark mist, but ultimately striking nothing.
Heart racing with fear and fury, Minerva looked at her former pupil. "Death Eater. This whole time."
Back in the Great Hall, Minerva's stress went up another level at the dishevelled appearances of Newt and Cassie. Both were filthy, obviously exhausted, and sporting minor injuries. Briefly forgetting her own recent experience, she approached the pair who were being tended to by Poppy, with Pomona and Filius looking on nervously.
"What happened?"
Cassie let out an indignant huff. "Centaurs."
Minerva felt her pulse rapidly speed up. The centaurs had been disturbed? She remembered the state of the entrance doors, and wondered just how much of the Forbidden Forest the cerberus had destroyed. "Did the dog hurt them?"
Newt shook his head, wincing when Poppy ran her wand over a particularly ugly gash on his leg. "They're offering the cerberus sanctuary as long as he behaves himself. We were the ones who were caught trespassing."
"Thank goodness Newt has a prior friendship with their leader," Cassie said, rubbing a spot of blood from her dress with her thumb.
Severus approached from behind, gaping at the sight of them. "This is what happens with a prior friendship?"
Newt looked up, making eye contact with the man. "They were well within their rights," he said a bit defensively. "We came onto their land brandishing our wands. Magorian assured me that if the creature steps out of line, the centaurs will secure it and make contact in order to have him removed to a more appropriate location. If it were anyone else, I might have stayed to argue, but I know better than to pick even a verbal fight with a centaur."
Pinching the bridge of her nose and wishing her biggest problem of the day was scolding Harry for being late to class or taking points from Draco for charming wads of paper to hit the back of Hufflepuffs in the corridors, Minerva sighed. "So we now have a cerberus in the forest."
"Better than the third floor," Pomona said, looking like she was trying to smile at the silver lining but was having trouble in doing so. "Speaking of which, where did you two come from?"
Sharing a look with Severus, Minerva reached into the pocket of her robes, removing a red stone the size of her palm. "This is what Albus was hiding. Severus and I traced our steps back to a secured room. He has the Mirror of Erised as well. After looking in the bloody thing long enough and wanting to know what all of this was about, I could feel it manifest in my pocket."
Most looked at the stone with a passive, curious glance, but Newt stepped forward, hobbling a bit on his injured leg, and reached out. He let his hand hover over the stone, his eyes filled with obvious recognition. "I know this."
Sighing in relief for the first time that day, Minerva passed the stone into the man's hand. "I have my suspicions. Care to confirm them?"
Newt tenderly took the stone, examining it carefully. "This belongs to Nicolas Flamel. We were acquainted long ago. I still write to him and his wife every year or so."
Filius stepped off of the chair he had been standing on while observing Poppy's healing, and scurried over to Newt's side. "You don't mean to say that this is the Philosopher's Stone?"
Newt nodded his head. "Unless you've a mind to do something specific with it, I can contact Nicolas to have it returned."
Minerva stepped back. "Take it away from here. It's brought nothing but trouble. Giant dogs, ridiculous obstacles, and a . . ." She stopped, looking at each of the faces in front of her. All could be trusted, but this information could change so much. "A Death Eater."
Poppy stood up from where she was kneeling at Newt's side, trying to finish the work on his leg that had reopened when he walked to Minerva to take the stone. "In Hogwarts?"
"It's not unheard of," Cassie said with a playful smirk, looking at Severus, who glared back at her.
"Quirrell," Severus said.
Before anyone could ask any further questions, and they all looked like they had at least twenty a piece, Minerva cut in, "There's more. I saw something . . . peculiar and horrifying. I think . . . I think Voldemort might be alive."
She and Cassie shared a look that none of the others paid much attention to. Of course, they knew that Voldemort wasn't completely dead. They had been working with their coven for years to destroy the living pieces of his soul. But to see a possibility of such a thing with her own eyes . . . Minerva wasn't quite sure what to do other than to pass the information along to her coven sister, who would immediately report back to Dorea and the others.
"He's escaped," Severus added. "Quirrell and . . . what might be a manifestation of the Dark Lord. We think that Quirrell has somehow sacrificed a part of himself. He may be using his own life force to feed his master. If it's what we suspect, then the two are currently inhabiting the same body."
"The turban?" Filius asked, looking sickly green at the thought. "I knew that wasn't a gift from an African prince."
Poppy put a hand to her mouth, eyes fixed with concentration. "How is he even alive? That kind of magic wouldn't sustain an individual for longer than a few months, even with Dark Magic."
Newt turned back and glanced at Cassie, his shoulders slumping forward. "I think I know how." When he returned his attention to Minerva, he looked grief stricken. "The reason Cassie and I were attacked is because the centaurs have been on alert. They've been hunting something that . . . that murdered a unicorn."
Everyone fell silent at his words. Even Severus, who was stone-faced in most of his interactions, looked horrified by the news.
"A unicorn?" Pomona eventually asked in a reverent whisper, bringing one hand to her heart as the other wiped away a stray tear. "What kind of monster would—?"
"The worst kind," Severus stiffly interjected.
Clearing his throat, Newt put his hand on Minerva's arm. "I have to report this to the Ministry. Unicorns are a protected species. And the centaurs are ready to attack anyone who they think could be associated with the killing. If a student were to walk into the forest . . ."
Nodding her head, Minerva waved her hand, giving him leave to go. "I need to send an owl to the Board of Governors. They need to know about Quirinius. If you happen upon the Aurors, Mr Scamander, I would be grateful if you passed along that information as well. Perhaps Alastor Moody's paranoia could benefit us at this time."
Severus made a soft grunting noise of displeasure, and Minerva rolled her eyes. "Don't start. That barmy old man hates everyone. You're not special in this."
Cassie stretched her arms above her head, rolling one shoulder that Poppy had healed. "Not that it isn't always fun to be back here, but with everyone off to run errands, I suppose I've a few to handle myself."
"Should we let the students resume classes?" Filius asked, looking fidgety as though he needed something to do himself.
Sighing, Minerva tried to think of what order things needed to be done. The children couldn't stay locked up forever, afterall. "Severus, if you and Filius would gather the rest of the staff from their quarters and see that the third floor is actually secure? Once you feel it's safe, we can allow the students to leave their common rooms. I believe we should excuse the classes for the remainder of the afternoon, though. I don't think I have the concentration for it."
The other professors nodded in agreement before turning to go off in various directions to attend to their errands. Newt, Cassie, and Minerva remained behind alone.
"So Voldemort was after the stone?" Cassie asked. "This have anything to do with the Gringotts break in?"
"Mention it to Dorea," Minerva suggested. "She has a way with the goblins."
Newt carefully tucked the stone in his pocket, waving his wand over it. He looked tired, showing his true age. His eyes were downcast, and his fingers fiddled over the grip of his wand for several long moments. "I didn't want a part in this," he eventually said. "I only came to try and talk reason to Dumbledore about the cerberus. But now . . ." He looked up, meeting Minerva's gaze. "I remember all too clearly what it was like when Grindelwald tried to . . . The last thing I want is to fight another war."
"Newt," Cassie said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He held up a hand, shaking his head. "I'll help you. I'll do whatever I can to help stop the war before it begins again."
"Your assistance is highly appreciated," Minerva said, feeling a warmth blossom in her chest for the man.
Sighing impatiently, Cassie said, "Great. Now all we need is to track down a Dark Lord in hiding and figure out how to capture and destroy him. Fantastic."
Chuckling, a bit darkly and with a tired resignation in his eyes, Newt muttered, "Well, in my experience, a good Expelliarmus does the trick."