Chapter 9

So at midnight, Theo, Daphne, Calypso, Blaise, Altaira, Leta, Helena, and Draco were gathered in the common room.

"So," started Calypso, "Potter's going to try and steal the philosopher's stone tonight and we're going to stop him"

Helena crossed her arms. "Come again?"

"Nott here" Daphne pointed to Theo, "says that the stone is at Hogwarts. Also, Calypso saw Potter and Hagrid at Hogwarts when it was broken into. But the thieves failed so we think they're trying again. And Snape says that Dumbledore's gone tonight so nobody's stopping him."

"How about Professor Snape?"

Theo crossed his arms. "He says it's not his fight and it's between Dumbledore and Flamel"

"Then why do you guys care," Altaira asked us.

"Because Flamel is related to me."

Calypso stared at Daphne. "He is?"
"Yeah"

"Oh…"
Theo tapped his wand against his thigh. "Well, if you guys aren't coming, bye."

Blaise glared at him. "How come you so eager?"
"Because my father told me that the stone was none of my business."

"So of course he has to get involved" finished Calypso.

Blaise looked close to blowing up. "Fine. You three go, have fun"

Draco drew his wand. "Well, I'm going if you guys go."

"Fine" Calypso shrugged, and she tapped her wand on all of them in turn, performing a disillusionment charm she learned about. It wasn't perfect but it was good enough in the dark.

Sure enough, they made it to the third-floor corridor with no problem

The door was already ajar however, she assumed that the trio had already gone through to steal the stone.

A few seconds later, they were there, outside the third-floor corridor - and the door was already ajar.

When they walked in, the trio was just sliding down a trapdoor. "There!" hissed Daphne. And she picked up a harp that was left beside the drowsy dog.

Sure enough, after a minute or two, the dog's growls ceased - it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

Draco went first, followed by Theo and Calypso. She quietly looked into the trapdoor.

"I can't see anything" she whispered frantically.

Suddenly a flame went up. "Oh!"

Daphne looked inside as well as she played the harp. It was just pitched darkness. "Well, we'll have to give it a try then. I'll jump first"
Theo looked at her, alarmed, "Are you crazy, just use the leviosa charm."

Calypso pulled out her wand. "Okay, who's going first."

"Theo," said Draco automatically.

Daphne narrowed her eyes at him but when she didn't object, Calypso pointed her wand at Theo, "Wingardium Leviosa"

Then she slowly navigated him down the hole before quickly glancing back to see Potter talking with Granger and Weasley.

"Hurry!" Draco hissed.

Calypso glared at him, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and she pointed him down the tunnel too.

Daphne looked at the trio who were coming their way. "GO! I'll slow them down."
"Your sure!"

Daphne practically pushed her down the trapdoor. "GO!"
Potter, Weasley, and Granger's alarmed faces were the last thing she saw before landing in something planty.

"Help!" shrieked Draco.

Calypso glanced wildly around. "What?"
"Devil's snare!" choked Theo.

"Use fire!" came Daphne's voice from above them.

Cursing, she pointed her wand at the nearest plants. "Incendio!"

Quietly but quickly, the plants retreated back to the darkness. When all had died down, Theo glanced worriedly around him. "Where's Daphne?'
"Here!" Daphne slid down the trap door and landed beside them. Potter and his gang and locking the door back up. I convinced them that I was the Gryffindor ghost, giving them a piece of advice.

Draco grinned, then shivered. "What's next now?"
Theo answered by leading the way down the corridor. By then, the trio had caught up with them.

"Can you hear something?" Weasley whispered.

Calypso assumed that he meant the soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.

"Do you think it's a ghost?" asked Draco nervously,

Theo scoffed. "It's the next protection. Let's go."

"But which way?" questioned Daphne, as she pointed to the fork that had just appeared. One lead to a dark corridor and one to 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.

Calypso hesitantly pointed to the dark corridor. "That one, I think Quirrell might have done something like that. Herbology was obviously the plants, but I don't suppose the half-breed hired birds to guard the stone."

Daphne nodded in agreement, "Let's go"

But the second they had all stepped through the corridor, it closed behind them.

"Damn it! We need to hurry then if we're going to stop them. They probably went the other way"

So on they went, into an arched room, much like the one before, and again, there was a fork. One led to another dark corridor, again.

"Uh, we went to the dark one last time, how about the bright one now?" suggested Calypso.

When no one objected, she led the way down the bright chamber, only to find herself at a fork once again.

Theo slammed his hand against the wall. "It's replicating. Someone used this once…." he was silent for a moment, "Got it! This was one of the tasks they used in the Triwizard tournament centuries ago. There's got to be a pattern."

Daphne groped at the walls. "What patterns?"
"Runes maybe"

Calypso felt her hands rub against the smooth black walls until she felt a grooved mark. "Got it!"

"Where?"
"Here!" she grabbed Theo's hand and moved it to the wall.

Theo thought for a moment. "Uh, right" he pointed to the dark corridor.

Draco narrowed his eyes, "You're sure?"

"Yes!" Theo snapped.

"Fine" Draco rolled his eyes, and we walked into the dark corridor. All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls.

Soon, they emerged in an empty space, and they seemed to be floating. There were giant balls, planets, she presumed, floating around with gold decorations on them.

"Ahhh!" Daphne screamed.

"Shhh" Calypso shushed and looked around for any type of puzzle.

Finally, she spotted it, right underneath 'Saturn'. "There!"

Everyone looked down at where she pointed. Together, they swam towards it. As they got closer, Calypso could see glowing squares, like a crossword. She could also see that what they had thought to be decorations earlier was actually a riddle on each planet.

"We have to finish the riddles!" shouted Draco, from across the room as he studied a small red planet.

"If today is four days before the day immediately before two days before Wednesday, what day comes immediately before the day that is two days after the day immediately after the day which comes two days before the day which comes three days after the day before yesterday?" Draco read aloud.

Daphne crossed her arms. "What the fuck is that?"

"Language!" Calypso wrung her hands together nervously. "Someone get a piece of paper"

Daphne handed her a handkerchief with a muggle fountain pen and she promptly began to write.

"Today" = Sunday.("the day before yesterday")

- 2 + 3 -2 + 1 + 2 - 1

So, we go from Sunday to Fri. to Mon. to Sat. to Sun. to Tues. to Mon.

"I've got it! Monday!"

Theo shrugged. "If you're sure." Then traced out 'Monday', letter by letter on the crossword. When nothing exploded, Draco moved on to 'Venus'.

"The heiress is as old as the heir will be when the heiress is twice the age that the heir was when the heiress' age was half the sum of their present ages. What was the heiress' age?"

"WHY DO THESE RIDDLES HAVE TO BE SO BLOODY HARD?" complained Daphne, before floating down to space 'bottom'

Calypso was just about to flip the handkerchief around when Daphne screamed. "HELP!"
Theo whipped around. "What?"
She too, looked down to see Daphne being consumed by a dark hole. Within seconds, Daphne went from just her feet missing to half her body.

Cursing, Calypso drew her wand, "Accio Daphne Greengrass!"

Fortunately, Daphne returned in one piece.

Daphne shivered nervously, "I think I can float a bit longer actually"

"Good idea" replied Theo, before shooting some fireworks into the air.

Draco glared at him furiously when one of the fireworks messed up Draco's gelled back hair. "WHAT NOTT?"

"Nothing"
Calypso strategically chose to ignore them and put her focus back on the riddle.

Heiress=x 2z (x+y)/2

x y = d

2z x = d

x/2 + y/2 z = d

x y z

1 -1 0 d

-1 0 2 d

.5 .5 -1 d

Reduces to:

x y z

1 0 0 4d

0 1 0 3d

0 0 1 5d/2

This means that I can pick and difference(an even one presumably because you want integer ages).

Heiress age: 4d

4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80

But there was only one answer possible unless…" Draco?"
"What?"

"How old are your grandparents?"
"Uh…" Draco was silent for a while before saying, "They would be seventy"
Calypso thought for a moment since wizards usually live until they're one hundred, Lucius and Narcissa shouldn't have become the Lords of Malfoy house until thirty years later when they were 66. Following so, she crossed out all ages greater than 60.

"Draco, when did your great grandparents die?"

"Uhm, a few years ago."
"Your parents are thirty-six right now, so if your great-grandparents died a few years ago, say six years ago, they wouldn't have become the heirs of Malfoy House until they were thirty at least. So the age range is 30 to 60" Calypso thought to herself as she crossed out the ages from 30 to 60.

"So that leaves 32, 40, 48, and 56 for the heiress" suggested Daphne.

Calypso nodded. "And the crossword only has five letters so it's forty for the heiress"
Theo pointed his wand to the crossword and spelled out 'forty', praying that nothing would happen.

It seemed that luck was on their side that day however since they were able to successfully move on to 'Earth'

"Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling, In mystic force and magic spelling, Celestial sprites elucidate, All my own striving can't relate"

"Pi" answered Theo immediately.

When everyone looked at him, astonished, he scoffed. "It was in one of the Arithmancy books. You've noticed that all the riddles are related to predicting something using numbers. The Nott library has tons of those books."
Calypso shrugged, "If you're sure"

Turns out he was sure because he spelled out the two letters in the next piece of the crossword.

"Onto Mars" replied Daphne cheerfully. "Then there's only Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune until we can get out of here"

So on they went, completing the riddles, and only at Uranus did luck break.

"What is special about 854917632?"

That had Calypso and Theo stumped. It wasn't something you could memorize from the textbooks.

After almost thirty minutes of guessing Uranus started talking in an annoying baby voice. "P'weeze answ'er w'in t'wirty s'weconds or die!"

Draco stomped his foot in the air, which Calypso must say, didn't have the same effect. "AHHHHH! WE'RE GONNA DIE IN BABY URANUS' HANDS!"

Baby Uranus did NOT take that well. "DIEEEEEEE!", and suddenly, it grew hands which made forward to strangle Draco.

"Avada Kedavra!" and a stream of green light spewed from Draco's wand, causing Uranus to fall into the black hole, limp.

"Draco!" shouted Calypso. "What were you thinking? Killing the innocent-"

Draco crossed his arms, "Don't start! What's next?" he asked, changing the subject.

"The lord stated on his will that half of his property worth went to his heir and half of that amount to his wide. He also left a sixth to his brother, and the remainder,1000 galleons, went to the Ministry to do as they see fit. How much was his property worth altogether?"

Calypso did some quick counting with her fingers. "One half plus one quarter plus one-sixth equals eleven-twelfths. Which means that one thousand galleons equal one-twelfth of the total worth."

"Twelve-thousand," she said confidently.

Theo nodded and traced out twelve-thousand on the crossword.

When nothing happened, Calypso frowned. She had expected a ring of light or explosion to happen when they completed the puzzle.

Daphne stared at a newly appeared galaxy for a moment. "That can't just be for decoration….I've got it! We should jump in!"
"Are you crazy?" demanded Draco.

"Yup! Now hurry or they'll have already gotten to the stone" and with that, Daphne dived into the stars.

After a minute or two, Daphne's voice came up. "It's good! Everything's tinged with red but...I think we're good!"

Draco shook his head. "No way I'm going in there!"

Theo shrugged. "Fine, then you go back and send an owl to your father."

"I can do that"

Calypso nodded in agreement and dived in after Daphne, soon followed by Theo.

They landed in a circular room, glowing red. There was a light blue mist swirling around a focused centerpiece. So obviously, the three of them all walked to the center where a glowing, clear orb lay.

Inside the crystal ball were passing images of random things. Dumbledore falling off a tower, a black dog, an unmoving statue of Daphne, a flaming goblet, a lobby filled with dead goblins, and so much more. Without knowing it, she was slowly being drawn to the crystal ball. Maybe she should just touch it….yes, that would give her the informa-

"CALYPSO!" Daphne snapped.

Calypso blinked and looked around. "Oh, sorry. What's the task anyway?"
Theo pointed to the exit at the far end. "Uhm, maybe just go through the door?"

Daphne nodded sarcastically. "Sounds legit." but when they made it through without dying, it was Theo's turn to grin. "Yep, really legit."

Calypso slapped both of them. "Look!" in front of them, was a lock with seven different keyholes. Lining the walls, were several different crates of nonsense.

Daphne clapped her hands together and ran to one of the boxes. "Inside! Awwww, you're so adorable" she cooed.

"Daphne?" called Calypso uncertainly and worried that her friend had lost her mind.

"Sorry!" then Daphne grabbed a handful of stalks from one crate and some shimmery silver strings from another. "Astoria has a set of these" she explained. "You just have to fit the right ones in the right hole…"

And with that, she promptly began stuffing random plants and worms into the keyholes. Finally, after what seemed to be an hour, the door clicked open, revealing Professor Quirell and Harry Potter, the later who was tied together.

Theo sighed, "We needn't do all that, Professor Quirrell's already gotten it handled.

But Calypso tapped her feet uncertainly. "Professor?" she called out.

Quirell whipped around, his short robes billowing beside him. "M-miss Lestrange, and G-Greengrass! And M-mister Nott! P-please t-to meet you here. W-what are you d-doing?"

"Er- well, we're here to stop Potter."
"Ah! M-my master s-sent you to h-help me?"

"Master?"

Quirrell slowly unraveled his turban and turned around. Calypso found herself staring at the face of the Dark Lord. His face, or rather, the back of Quirrell's head was milky white with red slits for pupils.

Calypso knelt, feeling that it was the right thing to do, "The Dark Lord" around her, she felt her friends follow her example.

"Who are you three?" asked the Dark Lord sharply.

Calypso stepped forward. "Calypso Druella Lestrange"

"Theodore Nott"
"Daphne Greengrass"

"Ahh. I know your mother well Miss Lestrange. She has my condolences"
"She always spoke highly of you"
"Yes….and Mister Nott. Pity I can not say the same for your father...and Greengrass, yes. Your family was always neutral, weren't they? Well, today, I hope you can see what's right for the wizarding world and help me." then he had Quirrell turn a bit to address a furious, and tied up, Potter. "Harry Potter..." he whispered.

Calypso watched as Potter tried to take a step backward but his legs wouldn't move.

"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapor ... I have form only when I can share another's body... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds... Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks... you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest... and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own... Now... why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"

Their eyes widened. 'Why hadn't the Dark Lord stop Potter from getting the stone? Unless he already had it in the first place?' they all seemed to be asking each other.

"Don't be a fool," snarled the Dark Lord. "Better save your own life and join me... or you'll meet the same end as your parents... They died begging me for mercy..."

"LIAR!" Potter shouted suddenly. Quirrell was walking backward at Potter, not paying the three of them any attention.

The Dark Lord was now smiling. "How touching..." he hissed. "I always value bravery... Yes, boy, your parents were brave... I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight... but your mother needn't have died... she was trying to protect you... Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."

"NEVER!" Potter sprang toward the flame door, but the Dark Lord screamed "SEIZE HIM!"

Calypso pointed her wand at Potter. "Incarcerous!"

When nothing happened, she tried again. "INCARCEROUS!" this time, a few weak ropes appeared and bound Potter's hands and feet together.

She ran forward and grabbed the stone from Potter's pocket, only to fine powder. "It's crushed!" she screamed.

Quirell paused for a second and looked at her with wide, fearful eyes, "Mast-"
"Well then," said the Dark Lord cooly, and a mist-like figure floated out of Quirrell's head and away.

"Here!" Daphne and Theo had finally managed to part the flames for a moment. "GO!"
Calypso cast one last fleeting glance at Potter and Quirrell, who were grappling each other, before following Theo and Daphne out.