Chapter 10: Through the trapdoor

A freezing morning found our trio of friends huddled close together round a self-made fire. Harry, Ron and Hermione had once again tried to make Mr Flamel see the error of his ways of not allowing the stone to be brought to Hogwarts for safekeeping. The only relief that our trio could feel was that at least Lord Voldemort had not stolen it and the stone remains safely hidden.

"Perhaps we should just leave the stone as it is. It looks like Voldemort can't even find it. I mean... it's like what...5 months and the stone is still safe?" Ron said.

"I don't know... I'm at a loss at what to do..." Harry replied.

Despite the relative normalcy, Harry had a constant gut feeling that something was wrong. It certainly did not help that Snape was looking so very suspicious. To make matters worse, he had to have the unfortunate luck of having his scar (which he had obtained when he was a year old during Voldemort's first attempt at killing the potters) acting up. Initially, it was merely a lingering sensation of pain but it gradually increased in intensity. Harry did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead.

Rubbing his forehead, Harry said, "My scar keeps hurting and I feel like it's some kind of warning..."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione replied worriedly.

"Err... In case you forgotten, Madam Pomfrey is currently in Gryffindor Kingdom and thousands of miles away from us." Ron said.

"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming..."

"Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Flamel's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. (Yes, they did found out about Fluffy but not from Flamel. It turns out the Flamels had a trusty gameskeeper called Agrid and he can't lie to save his life.) He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry."

Harry nodded, but he couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something he'd forgotten to do, something important.

Harry was quite sure the unsettled feeling didn't have anything to do with work, though. He watched an owl flutter toward the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. Agrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy... never... but...

Harry suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Where're you going?" said Ron sleepily.

"I've just thought of something," said Harry. He had turned white. "We've got to go and see Agrid, now."

"Why?" panted Hermione, hurrying to keep up.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Harry, scrambling up the grassy slope, "that what Agrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Agrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

It turns out that Agrid managed to gain a dragon egg from a stranger at a bar. Nicolas and Agrid been training and caring for the baby dragon since he (yes, it's male) hatched from his egg.

"What are you talking about?" said Ron, but Harry, sprinting across the grounds toward the Agrid's room, didn't answer.

Agrid was sitting in an armchair; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Hi! Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron, but Harry cut him off.

"No, we're in a hurry. Agrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Nobert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Agrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."

He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the pub that I went to. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas. "What did you talk to him about, Agrid? Did you mention Flamel at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Agrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here... He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after... so I told him... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon... an' then... I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks... Let's see... yeah, then he said he had the 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 in the wizard of world? 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-"

Facepalms echoed through the hall.

Agrid suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey - where're yeh goin'?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"We've got to go to Flamel," said Harry. "Agrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak - it must've been easy, once he'd got Agrid drunk. I just hope Flamel believes us. "

Knocking on Flamel's rather posh office door, the trio heard a rather stern voice.

"What are you three doing inside?"

It was Madam McGonagall, Nicolas Flamel's Secretary, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Mr Flamel. Or Mrs Flamel. Or either of the Flamels for that matter," said Hermione, rather bravely, Harry and Ron thought.

"See the Flamels?" McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

Harry swallowed - now what? But then, he remembered that it was his responsibility to warn the Flamels and protect the stone if necessary. Dumbledore demanded it. McGonagall should know that he and his friends were meant to know of the stone so there shouldn't be anything to hide.

"Both Flamels left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the King Neville and flew off for his castle at once."

"He's gone ?" said Harry frantically. "Now?"

"The Flamels are great people, Potter, they have many demands on his time-"

"But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than King Neville, Potter?"

Harry wanted to retort that he was Prince Harry of Gryffindor and he would have done just that if Hermione hadn't interrupted him.

"Look," said Hermione. "It's about the you know what."

When McGonagall only continued to stare blindly, Hermione said, "The 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.

"The stone. If this is about needing to move the stone to Hogwarts Vault then I must tell you that it is unnecessary. Mr Flamel has told me about your numerous attempts and I must say that your attempts are not necessary." she spluttered.

"But, I think - I know - that Sn - that someone's going to try and steal the Stone."

She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"The Flamels will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "Rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected. There's no need to worry. "

"But- "

"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

"It's tonight," said Harry, once he was sure McGonagall was out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got the Flamels out of the way. He sent that note, I bet King Neville will get a real shock when the Flamels turns up."

"But what can we-"

Hermione gasped. Harry and Ron wheeled round.

Snape was standing there.

"Good afternoon," he said smoothly.

They stared at him.

"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he said, with an odd, twisted smile.

"We were - " Harry began, without any idea what he was going to say.

"You want to be more careful," said Snape. "Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something."

Harry flushed. The trio of friends then turned and quickly went out of the castle for some fresh air.

Out on the stone steps, Harry turned to the others.

"Right, here's what we've got to do," he whispered urgently. "One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape - wait outside whichever room he currently is in and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you'd better do that."

"Why me?"

"Because I say so," Harry replied, which caused Ron to laugh. At that, Hermione mocked glared at the boys.

"Oh, shut up," said Hermione, but she agreed to go and watch out for Snape.

"And we'd better stay outside the third-floor corridor," Harry told Ron. "Come on."

But that part of the plan didn't work. No sooner had they reached the door separating Fluffy from the rest of the castle than McGonagall turned up again and this time, she lost her temper.

"Your worries are misplaced but I really can't be bothered what you guys get up to. You people are adults so I will leave it up to your judgement on what to do,"

With that, McGonagall swept away, down the corridor. Suddenly, Hermione came bursting towards the boys.

"I'm sorry, Harry!" she wailed. "Snape came out and I tried to hide behind one of the statues in the corridor but Snape caught me!"

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Harry said.

The other two stared at him. He was pale and his eyes were glittering.

"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first."

"You're mad!" said Ron.

"But's it's the only way!" Harry shouted. "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? I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"

He glared at them.

"You're right Harry," said Hermione in a small voice.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It's a good thing Henry gave it to me," At that Harry smiled.

"But will it cover all three of us?" said Ron.

"All - all three of us?"

"Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?"

"Of course not," said Hermione briskly. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books, there might be something useful..."

So, with a plan in mind, our trio returned to their accommodations in Flamel's castle to prepare themselves for the danger of their lives. (Of course, when our friends could look back on everything in future, they would have realized that this is in fact quite mild and tame compared to the others.)

—-

Seeing the three friends running back towards the directions of their rooms, a hooded figure emerged from the shadows and slowly crept towards the door on the third floor corridor...