Penultimate Chapter for Book One. I know I said I wanted to complete the first book by Christmas, but I decided to work on an animation side project instead. And then I had to spend a day with my wrist brace because of holding my hand stupid. So that sucked.
Nobody's said anything about the body horror from the last chapter. Let's add some more, shall we?
Also, we reached two hundred and seventy-five followers? Whoooo! Welcome, all that are new, and welcome back all that have been here for like six months.
**Reviewer Responses**
Fast Frank: High praise! Very much appreciated; I realized my first response to you could be taken as a bit dickish and I had worried that you no longer read my story. Apologies for that, and I'm glad you're still enjoying it.
The censors wouldn't let us say b**by trap.
Enjoy.
As she dragged herself from her bed, Holly reflected on the situation she was currently in. Mercifully, exams were set to begin that day. The school year was soon to end, thank Merlin.
She unwound Mozu from her arm and opened her curtains. Keila waved at her, and Fay was kind enough to mutter out a 'good morning'. Lavender and Parvati, on the other hand, remained silent as the grave. Guess they're still mad.
Gryffindor House was divided after her explanation for the lost points. Some of her housemates agreed with the centaurs that her actions were brave and noble, and that she proved the qualities of the House in a manner Godric himself would have approved of. The other third of the lions believed her actions were unnecessary, reckless, and not worth the cost. Although the constant war for second was still in play between them, the snakes, and the badgers; some had carried hope they could've pulled ahead of Ravenclaw in the final few seconds. Those hopes were now quashed.
Almost half her year-mates sided with her, along with the Weasley Twins, Lee Jordan, and the Gryffindor quidditch team (at Fred and George's request). Gaia was the only prefect to side with her, the rest joining Percy in his condemnation of her actions.
I didn't even receive the worst of it. Hermione and Daphne are the two that have been beaten by the masses.
Hermione's place in Slytherin resulted in a carpet ban against her. Rather than maintain their earlier reluctance, they now saw fit to ignore her completely. Pansy and Tracey had taken to bullying her as often as they could manage. How they were exempt from anger at lost points they managed in their efforts could only chalk up to pureblood supremacy.
Daphne's fate was more in line with her own. While the rest of her house had ignored her for a brief period, they had all come around after the reason for their excursion made its way through the rumor mill. She hadn't spoken to Hermione or Holly since that night, and Holly doubted she would anytime soon. With her gone, she and Hermione were left to plan how to swipe the Philosopher's Stone on their own. Although they only knew about the ward and Fluffy, they figured Dumbledore's earlier lock charm meant the rest of the defenses couldn't be that great and would easily be bypassed.
In the final lessons before the exams, she had continued to partner with Neville in Herbology now that Daphne wouldn't speak with her. He was polite enough, although he often stole wistful glances at Hannah Abbott. Beyond that, he was an excellent partner, he shared his notes, and he even offered to review with her in the greenhouses before exams. Apparently, Professor Sprout gave out copies of the key to students she believed were trustworthy enough to deserve it. She would have accepted so she could nick some raskovnik until he mentioned running it by Sprout.
The day before exams they visited Hagrid for the first time since their night in the Forbidden Forest. He had apologized for piquing their interest and informed them Dumbledore was prepared to call the Aurors in, but the unicorn attacks had stopped completely. The centaurs had deposited about thirteen more garrotes outside his hut, and Hagrid guessed the centaur's arrows sufficiently spooked the poacher on the night of the adventure.
Exams began without any trouble. Both portions of her Charms exams were easy enough. Although she knew she missed a few questions in the paper, she knew Professor Flitwick had been impressed during her practical. The man beamed with pride once her performance finished and let loose a quietly whispered remark about her mother's competence in Charms as she left.
Transfiguration did not go quite as smoothly. While the written exam was an easy ace in the hole, her practical suffered from her admittedly less than thorough review of proper wand motions and the like. Her transformations of a glass marble to a spherical magnet and a carton of cigs to a box of matches went without a hitch. Her transformation of a dormouse into a snuff tin went less smoothly, with her third try succeeding.
The rest of her exams made up for her poor grade in that subject. Even though the astrology practical kept them stuck in the fierce wind (even once they had completed their star charts), the rest passed with blissful ease. She hardly needed to study for Herbology and DADA, which left plenty of time for her and Hermione to plan out how they would make it to the stone.
As she left the history of magic exam room, she caught a glimpse of their former ally swiftly walking down the hallway. She ignored Hermione's brief shake of her head and hurried after her.
"Daphne, I—"
"No."
"But I—"
"Zip it, Potter," the badger growled. "I believe I informed you last time we spoke that if you kept annoying me, I would cast something far more powerful than a schoolyard hex."
"Cool," Holly pursed her lips and ignored the frustration threatening to blow out of her. "I need a favor."
The badger spun around and kicked her in the gut. Holly sucked in a breath as the girl grabbed her by the collar and yanked her against the wall. "Do I look like I'm in the mood for favors." The witch snarled; her wand out of its holster to point at her throat.
"I'll owe you one?" Holly said. Engaging was a bad idea. Engaging further even worse idea. "Please?"
Daphne's eyes shone could have been carved from zircon for all the emotion they displayed. She let go of Holly's robes and turned away. "What's the favor?" she inclined tonelessly.
"I need you to convince Hannah to convince Neville to let you into the greenhouses so you can steal some raskovnik."
"And why won't the failed squib help you?"
"Because he said he wanted to check with Professor Sprout when entering with someone else."
That had been the wrong answer. Daphne's eyes burst into flame as she jerked her head up. "And I'm easy collateral if I get caught, then?" She said, her tone dangerous.
"That's not what I meant!" She backpedaled. "Your friends with Hannah; he won't argue with showing her around!"
The fire in her eyes died a little. "And how am I supposed to tag along during their date?"
"With this," Holly pulled out her invisibility cloak and stretched out her arm.
Daphne stared at it. "I'm not going into the corridor with you."
"You don't have to," Holly said. "Meet us in the library fifteen at till nine, and we'll leave afterward. Okay?"
Her eyes flickered. "You're going to owe one hell of a favor," She snatched the cloak and went back towards the history room, disappearing around the corner.
"You want me to what?" Hannah said in disbelief.
Daphne rolled her eyes. "I think you need to ask Neville on a date."
The girl's face colored further to a brick red. "Why would I do that?"
"Look, I know you like him. Susan knows you like him. Everyone," she gestured around the Great Hall as people continued eating their lunch. "Knows you like him. So, bite the bullet and ask him for a kiss already."
"I… I can't just ask him!" Hannah replied, her eyes wide. "It's not… it's not proper!"
"Drop the huge pretense, will you?" Daphne snorted. "It's not like he's one to kiss and tell."
"But… but, but…"
"Seriously, Hannah." Daphne glanced toward Susan as she leveled her fork at their friend. "You might as well claim him before courting starts. The only son of the Longbottom line, and looking to preserve his name? He'll have so many letters without impressions. Might as well make one now." Hannah didn't respond, her face quickly turning puce.
"Why do you think she should ask him to go to the greenhouses?" Susan asked as she speared another bit of duck on her fork, her eyebrow raised at her.
"You know how much he loves the subject. Doing something he likes is the quickest way to earn his approval." She responded in a matter-of-fact voice. "He won't say no; he's been sneaking glances at you all year in Herbology."
"Really?" Hannah muttered; her head dipped so that her bangs covered her blush.
"Yes," Daphne replied, looking across the aisle between their tables. "Look, he's only a few seats down from us. Come on." She grabbed Hannah's wrist and pulled her out of the bench down toward the boy. Hannah tried to slip away but she kept her grip tight. Just fucking come on.
She stopped behind the boy, the attention of all his tablemates on her. "Neville?"
"Y-yes?" The boy sputtered, adjusting his glasses.
Daphne glanced at Hannah and let go of her wrist. "Hannah has a question for you."
The glare the girl sent her rivaled Nikki's. She looked down at Neville and her face went scarlet again. "Um… uh… would, would you like to show me around the greenhouses after lunch?" she sputtered out.
Neville blinked. His face was pinking along with hers. A match made in heaven. "S-s-sure." He stuttered out. "I'll… I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall?"
Hannah nodded, rendered mute by the turn of events. Daphne spun around and walked back to her seat, Hannah stumbling after her as the boys erupted into laughter. She sat down and resumed eating her pork medallions.
"Remind me to never tell you a crush," Susan remarked as Hannah plopped back into her seat.
Could you two leave already? Daphne glowered from under the invisibility cloak. She had spent ten minutes in the Entrance Hall waiting on the two lovebirds to leave, with no sign of them at the top of the stairs.
They finally appeared and slowly made their way to the greenhouse, talking about how they each thought they did on the exams. Way to really go for it, Hannah.
Finally, they made it to Greenhouse One. Longbottom unlocked the door with his key, saying something about 'letting Sprout know they had visited later'. She caught the door before it could shut all the way and slipped in after them.
"Must have been the wind," Neville shrugged as he showed Hannah around his favorite plants. Hannah's expression showed she wasn't nearly as wowed with the plants as he was, so she focused on his face instead. Kill me.
Hannah was eventually caught in the trap of being asked a question while not paying attention. Her face turned to panic as she registered Neville calling her name.
Daphne smirked as Hannah pecked him on the lips in desperation. It's going to be fun to tease her about that… when she tells us. She mentally amended as Hannah ran from the greenhouse, clearly scared of what she had just done. Neville, in complete bewilderment, stood still for about eight seconds before he muttered 'huh' to himself. He placed the plant he was holding on the counter, rubbed his lips with his finger, turned around, and left, locking the door behind him.
Isn't young love adorable? Daphne cracked to herself as she pulled the invisibility cloak off. She walked down the length of the classroom and started examining the parchment labels attached to each box of dirt.
After twenty minutes, she found a ceramic divider with six little clovers in tiny sprouts. She double-checked the label and pulled the whole dirt clod from one of the sections, placing it in an empty pot.
She pulled the cloak back on, opened the door, and locked it back with a locking charm, the pot held against her waist. In no time she was back in her room, cloak off her head and plant on her desk, smirking as she watched Susan beg Hannah for more details about her first kiss.
"Operam Auferetur," Hermione murmured to herself. She looked at herself in the mirror. "Can you still see me?"
"Yes," Cress replied. "Try it again."
Her wand flicked through the air as she complied. "Operam Auferetur." Cress just shook his head.
"This is a real spell you've given me, yes?" Hermione asked as she sighed and practiced the wand movements again.
"Of course it is," Cress growled, looking affronted. "It's not my fault you aren't able to complete it."
Hermione tried it again. Still nothing. "The last time you saw a wizard cast the spell, were you bound to him?"
Cress frowned. "No," he rasped as he scratched at the patch of fur on his neck. "You think I can still see you because we're bound together?"
Hermione tilted her head. "I was. But that can't be it; I can't see you when you turn invisible."
From behind her, a knock sounded on her door. Cress vanished as she checked the peephole. Lily.
She unlocked her door and opened it. "Do you need something, Lily?" She asked.
Lily's rabbit eyes darted away from her. "Um… well, I… I… I don't remember." She said as her eyes danced cartwheels inside her head.
"Who are you talking too?" Millicent asked from one of the common area's chairs. "Why is Hermione's door open?" She said again, as her eyes began doing the same thing.
Ah. "Finite!" She said, pointing her wand at her foot. Lily's eyes stopped playing pinball.
"What was that?" demanded Millicent.
"Sorry," Hermione replied. "I was practicing an advanced spell, and I couldn't tell whether or not it worked."
"It works," Millicent said, a tinge of awe in her voice. "You should cast it on Pansy for a day; she'd go mad from everyone ignoring her."
Hermione smiled and turned back to Lily. "What was it you needed?"
"I… I just wanted to tell you that I'm not going to ignore you anymore!" She said vigorously. "Pansy and Tracey put me up to it, and I thought about what you said after a bit and… and I don't want to take sides anymore." Hermione noticed tears swelling in the girl's eyes.
She's clearly emotional when she becomes passionate. Hermione tilted her head as Lily continued. Her emotions run away with her too easily.
"…not that I wasn't mad myself about how many points you lost. But pretending you don't exist isn't going to earn them back—" Lily stopped talking as Hermione gave her a brief hug.
"Thanks," Hermione said. She closed her door back before the witch could say anything else. "What's the next spell you wanted to teach me, Cress?"
Holly double-checked her watch. Twenty till nine. Madam Pince would be at the front of the library with her cart soon. They needed to hurry.
Daphne hadn't shown up yet. With the stunt she had pulled at lunch, though, Holly had no doubts the girl managed to fulfill the favor. Hermione's absence was the one that worried her.
Her eyes lifted at the sound of footsteps. It was Daphne. She looked positively murderous, her hair messy and her robes covered in dirt splotches. "Here," she said, offering back the cloak. A small pot was nestled in the crook of her arm. "I double-checked this was real with a groundhog." She said. "The price of my favor has gone up because of it." She placed the plant on the table.
"Thank you," said Holly as the badger fell into a chair.
"Where's Granger?" Daphne grunted.
Holly sighed. "No idea," she said as she glanced around. She had sat in the very front of the library so that Daphne would find her easily. She didn't believe that Hermione could have missed her. "She'll be here soon."
Daphne muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "maybe she realized how stupid this plan is". Holly chose to ignore it.
The Slytherin appeared in the main doors and walked briskly over to them. "We need to leave now." She said. "Someone was tailing me. Know any other exits from the library?"
"There's only the one," Holly whispered. "Who do you think it was?"
As Hermione opened her mouth to respond, Lily Moon walked through the doors and zeroed in on them. She turned over her shoulder and headed straight for them, Neville and Hannah Abbott in tow. "Crap."
Hannah reached them first. "I can't believe this." She said in a loud whisper. "You three are going to sneak around after hours? Again?"
Holly and Hermione defaulted as Daphne rolled her eyes. "I'm not planning on doing any excursions after curfew, thank you."
"Hermione?" Lily said softly. "Why risk being caught? Again? I just told you I wouldn't blame you for the last time anymore. You want to risk that?"
"How did you know to follow me?" Hermione asked, her head tilting to the left.
"Your spell was on again when you walked through the common area." Tears streamed down Lily's face. "I ran into Hannah and Neville and knew if you were going sneaking it would be with them, so I told them to help me. You can't go around past curfew again, you can't!"
Holly's head spun. Neville wasn't even talking to her, but the wounded puppy-look on his face felt like a punch to the gut.
"Holly?" His voice broke through the slowly rising voices of Hannah, Daphne, and Lily. Daphne looked like she was about to punch Hannah in the face. Hannah looked like she wanted to slap Daphne and at the same time didn't. Lily was openly crying, begging Hermione not to go. At this rate, Madam Pince would descend upon them and they'd all lose points for being loud in the library.
Enough. "Stupefy." Holly cast the charm at the loudest interloper. Hannah seized and landed on the table with a thump as she fell to the floor.
Lily looked at her like she had shot her dog. Another cast and she was down too.
Neville looked at her, already conscious of his fate. "You better not get caught," he said. Her stunner hit and he landed on the ground.
"Time to go," said Holly. She grabbed the pot off the table as Hermione rose behind her. "Room for one more," she offered to Daphne.
The black-haired girl stared at the unconscious forms in front of her. "Whoever wakes them up is going to think I'm out past curfew too."
"Just talk with someone once you're back in the dorms," Hermione suggested. "Mention how close it was to curfew for added effect."
"Later." Holly gave her a salute as she and Hermione pulled the cloak on and vanished into the halls.
Daphne fought with herself as she made her way back to the dorm. She hadn't bothered to wake the three; Pince would find them soon enough. Unconsciousness counted as an excuse for tardiness, after all.
As she waited for one of the staircases to rotate into place for her on the first-floor landing, she glanced down the history corridor. Her heart stopped.
The hooded figure was silently walking down the hallway. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he paused. His hand inched for his robes…
Daphne raised her head to the upper staircase. "Evening, Headmaster." She said loudly, waving her hand at nothing.
"Barmy brat," muttered a portrait of a wizard dictating to anyone who would listen. The figure's hand froze. He changed tactics, walking quickly to a suit of armor. The figure squeezed by it and disappeared into a secret passage. He was gone.
Daphne broke into a run, racing up the stairs. She rounded the corner, her heart pounding in her chest. If he's wearing his disguise indoors, that means he's going for the stone. Which means those idiots are about to be caught between a dog and a hard place.
As she ascended the final stairs to the third floor, the stairway came loose and began to shift. Her feet pounded as she kept her speed, pushing herself for a few final steps of acceleration. At the top left corner, she jumped for the landing.
Her stomach collided with the jutting space left by the stairs, her legs over open air. Portrait figures gasped as she coughed and swung her leg to hook her ankle on the smooth marble. She pulled herself to rights, shaking and took off for the ward entrance.
Potter, Granger, and Cress looked up as she sprinted toward them. "Daphne, what—" Potter started.
"Cloak, now!" She hissed. Over her shoulder, the figure had yet to come around the corner…
Cress vanished as Potter complied, throwing the cloak over the three of them. "What is—"
"Shut up." She interrupted Potter as the figure appeared. Potter drew in a breath.
The figure neared. Now that the forest darkness wasn't around to conceal his visage, he looked to be on the short side. He waited in front of the door.
A thunderous chime rang through the school, signaling the clock had struck nine. The figure muttered a spell and the ward scheme on the door lit up in a brilliant yellow. He muttered again, and the black mist of the figure's face spread into aa cloud, enveloping him completely. The mist shot forward and slipped through the keyhole, bypassing the wards entirely.
They waited in silence for a few minutes until she was sure he was gone. "You're welcome," she said dryly.
"Where'd you see him?" Granger asked as Potter pulled the cloak off their heads.
She coughed again. Her throat felt like she had shoveled a handful of sand down it. "Au-aguamenti." The weak stream of water filled her mouth and she swallowed. "History corridor," she muttered. "He's too thin to be Errol though."
"Thanks for warning us," Potter said. She set the pot on the windowsill and pulled the raskovnik from the dirt.
"You're still going?" Daphne asked. "Why? If he's already after it—"
"Then now is our best chance to stop him." Potter held the plant beside the door. The yellow segments flared to life again and shuddered, disintegrating away from the plant as she reached for the knob. She looked at her with a pleading expression, her hand on the knob. "Last chance to come with us."
"It's already passed curfew," Granger said quietly. "You'll be the only one to blame for stunning the others."
Goddammit, they're right. Even if I gave up their names, I would have to give up the whole operation. She closed her eyes, wishing the chips could have fallen differently.
"Daphne," Potter whispered. "We won't blame you if you leave. We won't blame you if you explain what happened. We've put you in a bad situation once. We won't a second time."
Fuck you. "I know," Daphne said as Potter turned the knob. "Let's go."
Hermione followed the other two into the room. The stone room was impossibly tall, with the roof spanning almost half the height of the library. Small globes with white flames cast their light about the room from near the ceiling to illuminate the black hound before them.
The ears on Fluffy's middle head perked as the door sealed behind them. The animal looked like a Staffordshire bull terrier, with each of the three heads awakening to examine them. She stepped forward as the middle head panted, its ears flopping as it shook its head. The right head yawned and started sniffing at the lamp above him, while the left dog growled low, the hair on his neck standing up.
Hermione ignored the heads as Cresswell loomed in front of her, hovering at the dog's height. All three of Fluffy's heads yelped and he scrambled away on his paws, his tail tucked underneath his legs.
Hermione kept a steady pace as the dog backed away. From under it emerged a wooden trapdoor with a metal ring on one end. "There's a door," Hermione said, her eyes focused on Fluffy. "You two go through, I'll join in a second."
Holly's rings hummed with an unleashed spell. She must have stepped forward, for the left head growled again, teeth bared. Cress spread his arms wide and growled back, and the head quieted.
She heard Holly grunt as the trapdoor's wood ground against the stone. "After you," she said.
"Funny," Daphne replied. A soft thump sounded from behind her, and then a second. Her eyes stayed locked on Fluffy as she and Cress back to the hole. The left head barked, his voice resounding like a cannon blast as he snapped at her. Cress chittered and socked him in the muzzle. The head whimpered and stilled its advancement.
Hermione glanced at the door. The space was beside her now. She moved her eyes back to Fluffy as his middle head began to bark. The left head joined in as she fell through the open door. Cress followed her, closing the door behind them.
Whimpers and faint scratching mingled with the sound of tags jingling as Fluffy tried to follow them. She sighed in the darkness and pulled out her wand. "Lumos."
The second room was considerably darker than the first. The air was thicker, almost to the point of a humid cold, with a foul smell in the air. A doorless passageway stood in the center of one of the walls as a moist, slithering sounded beckoned from around them.
"Lumos!" Hermione looked at Holly to see her covered in creeping, leafy tendrils. She stared as more of the plants emerged from the walls, white roots threading over the stones and blooming more and more stems.
"It's devil's snare." She said as she checked her own feet. "Light and heat, quick!"
"Lumos!" Holly shouted through gritted teeth. The plants were snagging her bangles with their leaves, interrupting them from properly turning.
"Calor!" Daphne cast, her wand pointed at her feet. The tendrils curling around her ankle unwound themselves immediately.
Hermione bent over; her wand kept alight next to her feet. "Have your demon shoot fire already, Granger!"
"I have a name!" Cress ground as he floated above the spreading green. "And I don't make fire, my body deflects it. Idiot."
Daphne's nostrils flared as she pointed at the thrashing vines. Fire sprung from her wand, scorching the vines. She carved a path to them as Hermione held her wand light into the passage. The vines shrunk from the doorway, fleeing the light as Daphne fired another flame charm at the mass of tendrils.
The leaves fled from Holly as a burst of heat radiated away from her. It washed throughout the room; Hermione felt the impression she had sunken into a hot bath. Cress rumbled in approval as her allies joined her. "Partum lapis," Holly said, her bangles pointed at the gap in the stone. Brown light shone from her bangles as the space filled with several square chunks of rock. "Stupid plants." The redhead turned and walked ahead, Daphne and her following on either side.
As they neared the next passageway, a soft rustle of feathers mingled with a metallic tingle of bells. The gloom showed no signs of movement.
Hermione squinted as they passed under the lentil. The room was excruciatingly bright; with several lanterns in neon pinks, greens, and blues strung around the room on wires. The sounds had grown louder, and Hermione looked up to see a flock of oddly shaped birds tittering in metallic chirps as they flew about the room.
She and Cress watched, transfixed by the aviary wonders above them. "Another impossibly high room," she muttered. "These can't be actual rooms in the castle. Can they?"
"Who knows?" She lowered her head to look at Holly, who was busy inspecting the silver lock cast into the wood. "Altering space and time isn't that hard if you know how to do it. The rooms are probably all set up in a line, with the doors placed where they are needed to circumvent the space."
"It looks like the corner area of any other floor," Daphne said as she squinted at the roof. "The space is likely to accommodate all the birds. I'm surprised they aren't attacking us, to be honest." She turned to Holly. "Use the raskovnik again."
Holly patted her uniform. "Oh, crap…"
"You lost it?" Daphne said as she carefully exhaled through her nose. "Where?"
"We don't need it," Hermione said quietly. "We need one of the keys."
Daphne rounded on her. "What keys?"
She pointed up. "Holly can catch the correct key."
"How do we know which one is right?"
"If it matches the handle, it'll have the same pattern—most likely silver, maybe larger than the others," Holly answered. Her bangles glowed blue as she cast her searching spell, followed by a rocketing hex.
The swarm of keys flew to life as the wisp pooled into their flock. They dived and dipped, flying to the top of the room and soaring back down again. Holly jumped from wall to wall, blasting across the swarm. The keys spread around her like a stream around a rock. Several beat across her face and tumbled through her hair. She shook it off and leaped after them, running along the wall as they soared further away.
Hermione watched intently for whichever one she was aiming for and saw the wisp settle on one with a bent wing. "There."
"I see it!" Holly shouted back as she waited for the swarm to circle back around. They hovered above her on the ceiling as she slid down the stone wall, grimacing. "New plan. Erucae!" She soared into the middle of the swarm and fell with it. The keys screeched as they rushed for the floor, Holly in freefall after them. "Cover your face!" Holly shouted.
She realized what her friend was doing and turned. The swarm pulled from its dive, several keys maiming themselves on the floor as they failed to pull up in several peals. Hermione braced for impact as the flapping sound blew past them.
She looked over her shoulder to see Cress standing behind her, his arms and rib bones blocking the brunt of the flock from hitting her and Daphne. He chittered in annoyance as Holly blasted from freefall and soared over him, snagging the key from the air. "Got it!"
The redhead dropped to the floor, the key tight in her hand. It flapped its wings uselessly as Holly pushed it into the lock. She pulled it out and let it go after the door clicked. It fluttered about them angrily before returning to its brethren, its wing bent further than it was when they had entered.
The next room was back to the white candlelight from Fluffy's room. The door shut behind them and the lock clicked.
In the center of the room stood a larger-than-life chess set. The board covered nearly the entire floor, with only the faintest area of the typical stonework hugging the walls. Both sets were missing several pieces, with chunks of rubble scattered about the board.
"Erucae." Holly shot over the board and landed by the door on the other side. "Another lock," she called over her shoulder. "It's like a vault door, with some sort of slot inside." Her bangles hummed as she pointed at the chess set. "These statues have some heavy enchantments on them if they're setting these off."
Daphne walked to the board, examining the remaining pieces. "This is built like wizard's chess." She muttered. "Which means this rubble are the pieces from the last game. Casualties of war." Her eyes narrowed as she looked from the black king to the white. "That's the key. His sword."
"Hang on," Holly called as she shot back to their side. "We have to play chess to open the door? Why not just smash him and take the sword?"
"I expect they'd all animate to life to stop us," Hermione said, staring at the faceless pieces. "But that doesn't fit. Animation is a charm, not transfiguration."
Holly glanced at Daphne. "Neither of us know what you're talking about."
Hermione looked at them. "The other tests, excluding Fluffy, have each been by a teacher. Professor Sprout was the devil's snare. Professor Flitwick charmed the keys."
"McGonagall the chess set." Holly turned her gaze over the board.
"That means there is something with potions ahead," Daphne concluded. "And that's only if it's the four heads of house."
"But this isn't a transfiguration." Hermione tilted her head. "Unless…" She walked away from the other two and stepped onto the game board. The board rumbled.
The rubble clattered against the floor as the pieces rolled back together. They built themselves up into solid, rectangular prisms, each of varying heights but the same cubic width. The prisms floated to the empty spaces on the board and landed. Silently, they morphed and twisted into the various chess figures, until the board was complete.
Hermione tapped the black king. It maneuvered its featureless face to peer at her with a grinding sound.
"Must we take positions to cross, or do we merely have to win?"
The king held up two fingers before returning to his original position.
Hermione turned to them. "At least we don't have to be the pieces." She said.
"You can beat it?" Holly asked.
She nodded. "I remember when Ronald tried to preach how it's played at Yule." She eyed the board with careful precision. "Ready when you are."
A white pawn slid forward to E-four. Mirror for the first two moves, he said. "Pawn to E-five." She called out. Her piece cooperated.
Knight to F-three. "Knight to C-six." Bishop to B-five. "Knight to F-six." As she planned, the white king and the rook castled. "Knight to G-four."
Her moves flowed automatically as she reviewed the idiot's speech, trying to decipher what he had meant through his mouthful of food. The rook shifted to E-one, and she moved a pawn to B-six. Stall until he moves the pawn. Keep your eyes away from where you want to be. She stared at the blank face of the king. A pawn moved to H-three.
"Pawn to H-five." As soon as her pawn had settled, the white pawn sprung to life. It drew its sword with a scraping crunch and pierced the knight's horse in the chest. Her knight exploded into a shower of rubble, clattering about the board. The pawn sheathed its sword and took the knight's place at G-four.
"Pawn, capture G-four." The exact movements played as her pawn skewered the other. Again, the 'taken' piece broke apart and crumbled along the length of the board.
The rook at E-one shifted back to F-one. "Rook to H-seven." Stalling again. The white knight closed its ranks, returning to E-one to safeguard the king. "Queen to H-four."
The pawn at F-two moved to F-four. Stuck with one remaining path, he'll have to move the pawn. Then you move yours up, and that's the game. "Pawn to G-three."
The king's sword fell from its place in the stonework. She'd won. "Great job," Holly cheered as she walked across the board and lifted the sword. Thank god I don't have to imagine Ron's voice anymore.
Her allies crossed the board to the door. She lifted the sword and slid it into the gap. The door clicked.
Cress floated down and turned the giant spokes of the door until it opened. Like all the others, it sealed itself after they made it through.
"God," muttered Daphne, clutching her nose.
The room stank. A troll, larger than the one from Halloween, lay on the floor. Its waist was completely liquified into a puddle of torn flesh and rusty red that pooled in between its torso half and its legs half. One of its arms was gone, the useless skin flapping over the exposed bone.
"Is that what happened to you?" Daphne asked Cress from behind her hand
He gave her a dirty look. "It'll happen to you if you don't stop pestering me." He growled, cracking his clawed fingers.
"Cress, no evisceration without my say-so." Hermione reminded him. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, the smell of decay was growing every second. "Let's move on, please."
Holly opened the next door. The same white candles lit this room as well, revealing a table with seven different containers on it.
As the door shut, queer purple flames enveloped the wall. As she turned her head, Hermione glanced forward to see black fire spouting from the passageway ahead of them.
"If these walls begin to go all trash compactor on us, I'm killing both of you." Daphne ground out.
"There's a paper." Hermione plucked the parchment off the table and scanned it. "A logic puzzle," she breathed. "Professor Snape is brilliant."
"I hated those in primary," Holly muttered. "Cute little potion worksheet to celebrate Halloween. Always worked in the most ridiculous ways."
"It's not that difficult," Hermione said, gazing at all the potions on the table. "Cress, can you redirect this fire?"
"No," he sighed. "The black fire is Atlantean; there's no way for me to divert it." He glanced at the purple flames. "I don't even know how the violet ones are created, let alone controlled."
"Can you not figure out the logic puzzle?" asked Holly.
"No, I've solved it." Hermione snorted. "I just had a thought that if the poacher switched them around, the paper would no longer be accurate. It'd be the quickest way to deter a follower."
"Which one do you think is what we need to proceed?" Daphne asked.
"The smallest bottle." She pointed to the leftmost container. "Why?"
Daphne held the bottle up to the light. "It's the only one drunk from. Obviously, it's the one we need, since there's no corpse and we didn't pass anyone."
"All the others are full," Holly noted as she peered through them. "Huh."
"There's only enough for one," Hermione said, tilting her head at the tiny amount of liquid inside the minuscule capsule. "Who's going?"
Daphne snapped her fingers and the bottle refilled. "I figured out how to do that while I was in the muggle world." She said quietly as she passed the bottle to Holly. "You three drink it first. I'll refill it each time, don't worry."
"Bottoms up." Holly toasted and drained the bottle. She coughed and handed it back to Daphne, her face screwed up in confusion. "It feels like ice water's in my veins." She coughed.
Cresswell shoved her through the flames. "She takes too long."
"First sensible thing you've said." Daphne refilled the bottle and passed it to her. She took a sip and shuddered. Cresswell carefully took it into his hand and finished it off.
"Graaaah." He growled. She handed the vial back to Daphne and walked through the ebony flames. She couldn't feel them or see them, and it seemed like the fire wasn't there at all. No burns or ash on her clothes, nothing.
She saw only black and then, she emerged. She stepped next to Holly and stared at the figure in the last chamber as Daphne surfaced through the flames. Or more accurately, at the mirror in front of the figure. The Mirror of Erised.
Holly stared at the Mirror of Erised. She thought she would never have to see that cursed hunk of glass ever again, and here it stood. The final test.
"Bravo," the figure said. The voice… it's familiar, but… "I thought our little bypass in the hallway was suspicious, Miss Greengrass. As for you, Miss Granger, I suppose it's time for me to concede my suspicions about you were incorrect. Summoned a demon, then?" The figure clicked his tongue. "Potter," Lucky me, I get extra sneer treatment. "It's no wonder you are here to stand in my way."
"You?" Hermione asked.
The figure inclined his head to regard her and waved his hand over his face. The black mist disappeared up his sleeve as he reached and pulled back the hood.
"Me," said Professor Quirrell. "Who else did you think it was, dear girl?"
"We hadn't really tried to figure that part out," Holly replied. "We thought you were just a poacher at first."
"Ah," Quirrell nodded. "Then it was you three who was investigating me. After the whole school turned their back on you, I had wondered."
"Then you were the one who let the troll in on Halloween?" Hermione asked.
"Guilty as charged." The man's turban wobbled as he bowed.
"Why would you want the stone?" Daphne stared at him. "Aside from wealth, there is hardly anything it could provide you."
"The Stone isn't only for me, Miss Greengrass." Quirrell smiled. "It's intriguing to see you here tonight. Another family crushed by his reign, here to face me again."
"Voldemort." Quirrell's eyes trained onto her. "That's who you're working with."
"Not all my dear," a voice ladled with a terrible hoarseness whispered. It came from Quirrell, but not from his tongue. "It is who he is working for."
Quirrell's body turned in a circle as his arms bent out of place as they had in the forest. Out of the corner of her eye, Daphne winced. Quirrell's fingers flexed and they reached up, up to his purple turban which he unwrapped with carefree abandon.
The cloth fell to the ground and Quirrell's hands lowered. Holly stared.
The back of Quirrell's head was not there. Instead of hair, or the back of a neck, or the outline of a cranium, was a face. Chalk white, with no nose, and eyes like sinister rubies.
"Voldemort." Hermione breathed; her head tilted in fascination.
Quick as a whip, a spell left his fingers. It soared into Daphne, blasting her off her feet and up into the wall. She let out a pain-filled scream and crumpled to the floor with a grotesque bounce.
"Daphne!" Holly turned as a yellow light shot from Voldemort's wand. It connected with Hermione's chest, her hair standing on end as she seized and folded to the floor, steam wafting from her skin.
"Grauuaagh!" Cresswell roared and flew at Voldemort, his arms flailing in his wake. A blue-violet spell emerged from his wand and collided with the demon. He fell from the air, carving a trench into the stone as he crashed to the earth. She held up her hands as he trained his wand on her, suddenly unable to feel anything from the neck down.
"I'm sure you've put the pieces together," Voldemort said as he watched her. Quirrell's eyes stared at her in the reflection of the mirror. "I need the Philosopher's Stone for the Elixir of Life, so I may return myself to a body."
"What's wrong with your current one?" She couldn't help but ask.
Voldemort smiled cruelly. "This pathetic lump of a man? He is not nearly powerful enough to sustain my full potential. As we speak, the strain I place on his body is… taxing."
"So, you resorted to unicorn blood."
"A temporary solution." Voldemort nodded. "You know much more about magic than I believed."
"I've studied in an awful lot of places." She said.
Voldemort's lip curled. "Then you truly may 'know a power I do not'." He inhaled sharply, and Holly corrected her earlier observation: he wasn't missing a nose after all. Two tiny slits like those of a snake were all that was left of his cartilage, worn away from decades of combat. "It is of no consequence. I still have the upper hand when it comes to experience." He frowned at her. "Now be silent while I decipher how to operate this mirror."
"Your mocking tone," Voldemort paused midway through turning to the mirror. "Why did you use it?" Keep him talking. Her bangles hummed as she charged power within them. It grated against the spell holding her in place, not yet enough to break it. Soon enough, though…
"He hasn't told you?" Voldemort laughed. His chuckles sounded how dead leaves did when they scuffed against each other. "About our prophecy? About the gilded savior destined to vanquish the Dark Lord?" His hands twirled Quirrel's wand between his fingers.
Holly's head spun. "That's why you attacked my family? And attacked me? All because of a prophecy?" She shook her head. "Have you never read Sophocles' Oedipus Rex?"
Voldemort sneered. "I am above the works of paltry muggles."
"A man often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it. That's the message of his work."
"And look at the wonder of the truth." Voldemort raised Quirrell's arms. "Even now, you stand against me."
"I don't have to," she said. "I know how the mirror works. I know what it does to people." She met his calculating gaze. "I can unlock the stone and give it to you."
"And why would you do that?" Voldemort asked. "Do you not crave for revenge against me? Do you not wish to see evil perish, and good triumph?"
"I know exactly what I want." Almost enough. The pressure in her arms was intense, the spell was soon to crack. "I want to keep me, and the people I care about safe."
Voldemort studied her. "An admirable request." He laughed again. "Unfortunately, your plan relies on the idea that I cannot see into your mind." Shit. He raised the wand into the air. "Avada—"
His spell broke. "Erucae!" She shot into the air, firing whatever spell came to mind at him. Flame charms, thunderbolts, stone conjurations, all crashed into a magnificent barrier of white. She shot forward as the smoke from her attacks thinned, diving under a glittering red curse as she neared his barrier. Another curse whizzed to her right as she spiraled, detonating in the ceiling behind her.
Rubble crashed as Holly spun into a landing and fired the levitation charm at his hand. His sidestep and glare of fury met the heel of her shoe as she kicked into his stupid, pasty face. She snatched the wood from his hand and rocketed away. Grasping the wand with both hands, she incinerated it on the spot.
And was immediately struck numb again. "You arrogant, foolish girl." Voldemort snarled. "Did you think I relied on a wand to attack?!"
"No, but your host did." She smirked viciously. "And he's a little preoccupied with his heart's desire."
Voldemort rolled his eyes in an honestly humorous attempt to observe the mirror. "Fool! What are you doing?"
"He's transfixed by what he wants most." Holly held in her snicker as Voldemort aggressively spun his red eyes in their sockets, unable to lift his feet and face the mirror. She charged the spell she needed quietly, the power humming in her arms.
"Quirinus! Do you see the Stone?"
"No, master," Quirrell said, a vapid smile on his face. "I see a gravestone… with my name carved onto it… this wonderful future…"
Voldemort's eyes flashed. "There is no death for those who follow me!" He screamed. "Remember what you came to me for, Quirinus? The secrets of the dark arts! To be known, to be noticed!" Quirrell didn't move from his position. "Fine, then." Voldemort sneered. Holly's concentration grew in power as she simultaneously forced her bangles to keep still.
Voldemort lunged away from the mirror, his body twitching in jerky mannerisms. His head lifted to Holly. "Retrieve the stone for me, little witch; and I'll agree to your terms."
"You really think I'm that stupid?" Holly asked. "Adastam lapis."
A stalagmite ripped from the ground and pierced through the back of Quirrell's body. He screamed in pain and Voldemort contorted his face is fury as he tried to pull Quirrell's mangled body from the spear in his stomach.
He wrenched himself free and staggered toward her, arms outstretched like a dullahan. Quirrell screamed in suffering as his organs fell from the hole, jostled out of place by Voldemort's spastic lunges, but his master cared not, eyes burning as he stumbled forward, dragging his puppet's entrails along the floor in a smear of red. Holly watched as the man's knee buckled and he collapsed at her feet, his arm stretching feebly to land on the ground next to her.
The black mist that had provided a mask coalesced on Quirrell's face. It gathered and swirled and shot into the air, spinning up and up to spiral through the ceiling and it was gone.
Cresswell hovered to life, the spell holding him in place broken. "Where is he?" He growled.
As Holly opened her mouth the black flames flared. She turned to see Dumbledore appear through the flames, followed quickly by the heads of houses and Madam Pomfrey. They rushed to the sides of Hermione and Daphne, the latter of which groaned as she stirred.
The Headmaster looked over the scene, his eyes flitting from the other girls to the rubble to the trench to the mirror and the spike to the ruin that had once been Quirinus Quirrell. "Holly?" He asked quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. "What happened here?"
"I'll tell you once my friends are in the infirmary, Headmaster." She said as she looked him in the eyes, just over the rim of his half-moon spectacles. "I want to see them attended to before anything else."
A Staffordshire Bull Terrier is the actual dog breed used for Fluffy in the film. It felt better than a Doberman or a pit bull or anything like that. The way Fluffy's three head behaved is how actual dogs behave when angry, happy, and sad; an idea I based off the trio of emotions expressed by the pokémon Dodrio.
Yes, Daphne has seen Star Wars.
The black fire is regarded as Atlantean because when adding saltwater soaked fuel, like paper, to an alcohol fire, it will turn black. An in-depth video done by The Action Lab is on YouTube. Purple fire can be achieved in real life with strontium nitrate and sodium chloride, but I couldn't find any legends based around a purple fire. If anyone knows of one, let me know and I'll amend the chapter.
The precise origin of the destiny quote is from Jean de la Fontaine, a French poet and fabulist (fairy-tale writer) from the seventeenth century. I assume everyone knows the story of Oedipus.
Dullahan are headless riders from Irish folklore, a very specific type of fairy from the Unseelie Court.
Boredguy's Grimoire:
Operam Auferetur: Attention Away: forces the attention away from the object/person it is cast on. If someone tries to focus on the object afflicted, they will be unable to and will forget about looking for it and its general existence.
Calor: Heat: spell creates a wave of heat of strength no higher than that of a large bonfire.
Partum Lapis: Create Stone: Conjuration with brown light; creates stone slabs that appear at the desired location. The size and shape of the stones vary based on the caster's intent.
Satiata: Fill: Refills the object it is cast one with whatever substance was previously in it, although the substance must have been in a liquid or plasmatic state and a small trace of the substance must still be in the container.
Adastam Lapis (Ad hastam lapis): Stone to Spear: Transfiguration spell; turns the afflicted stone into a stalagmite or stalactite. Capable of piercing flesh, bone, steel, and concrete.