please read this on ao3. i am begging you
TW: Graphic depictions of violence for this chapter only.
"I came as fast as I could," said Rose.
"Good," said Hermione. "I brought Dave. Is Ron going to be okay?"
Ron was panting, gasping for breath. "I'm fine," he squeaked. "Rose made us run."
The four kids - two Slytherins, two Hufflepuffs - were gathered outside of the entrance to the third floor corridor. In the beginning of the year, they had been warned away from it - now, they were gathered to stop Professor Quirrell from stealing the legendary Philosopher's Stone.
"RIP," said Dave, pronouncing the acronym in one syllable. "Puff common room is closer. We just walked."
Ron glared. "Well, isn't that wonderful for you, Granger."
"Hey-"
"Can we proceed into the mystery room now?" interrupted Rose.
"Yes, yes, okay," said Hermione. "In the time since we last stumbled into the third floor corridor I did some research." Hermione whispered an alohomora, and the door opened. The four kids filed in.
In front of them was an almost empty room, barring a single cupboard in the center of it, rattling ominously.
"I looked into magical beasts that live in cupboards," whispered Hermione. "And I discovered one called the Boggart."
The group inched closer. Rose eyed the trapdoor that the cupboard was covering.
"It's banished with a fairly simple spell - just the word Riddikulus, nothing very fancy - but it takes the form of your greatest fear. You have to visualize the Boggart as something you can laugh at when you cast the spell."
"Greatest fear?" muttered Ron. "I didn't sign up for this."
"Riddikulus," tried Rose, casting the spell at nothing. Hermione nodded approvingly.
"Just like that. But your greatest fear will come out of that cupboard and you have to be able to laugh at it - just long enough that we can slip through the cupboard's false bottom and into the next room."
"Easy," said Rose, though her heart wasn't in it.
Hermione walked towards the cupboard, and flung it open.
A giant, hairy leg came out of the cupboard.
Then another. And another.
Ron whimpered.
The giant spider clicked and hissed at the group, and when its entire body was out of the cupboard, it stared down Ron.
"Riddikulus!" he shouted.
The spider was now wearing a giant, clumsily knit Christmas jumper - with the wool letter S stitched into it. Ron barked out a laugh.
The Boggart hissed in pain and flew around the room as mist before reforming as a man in a suit.
"Hermione Granger?" he asked. "I'm from the adoption agency - we're here to take back Dave."
"Riddikulus!"
The man's outline blurred and warped before it looked as if Dave had drawn him in MS Paint.
"oh MAN we NEED some ADOPTISON PASPERS"
"You find my comics funny?" said Dave.
"People don't?" Hermione sounded almost offended. The SBAHJ-ified Boggart hissed again, retreating towards the back of the room.
"It's distracted," said Rose. "Get to the cupboard, now!"
The four began running towards the cupboard. Ron and Hermione were able to step inside, and Rose began tugging at the false bottom, revealing the trapdoor underneath.
"Where's Dave?" asked Hermione.
Rose looked - Dave was still outside the cupboard, and he was staring, paralyzed in fear at the sight of-
Aradia Megido.
ARADIA: oh hi rose!
Dave made a pained noise.
ARADIA: sorry i dont want to interrupt whatever you and your friends over there are doing
ARADIA: but im here to pick up dave
ARADIA: it was a good time for everyone but he still needs to go and defeat lord english!
ARADIA: time waits for noone but its been a nice decade or so of vacation :)
"Who is that?" whispered Ron.
"An old friend," said Rose, quietly. "At least, I think."
ARADIA: thats honestly so nice of you to consider me a friend
ARADIA: im feeling really welcomed
ARADIA: is this a castle?
ARADIA: its very nice do you live here dave
ARADIA: well i mean did you live here
ARADIA: since youre coming with me and all that
"I," said Dave. "Uh. Riddikulus!"
Aradia stumbled back, and her body took on a metallic sheen. Her red robes melted away to reveal bolts and blue paint.
ARADIA: this d0es n0t amuse me
"You turned her into a robot?" hissed Rose.
"Cut me some slack, I'm kind of panicking here," said Dave.
"Got it!" exclaimed Hermione. "Everyone in, there's a lot of water under the trapdoor, enough to swim in!"
"Don't have to tell me twice, mate," said Ron. He fell through the false bottom, disappearing from Rose's view with a splash.
The robot-boggart took a step closer.
ARADIA: y0u need t0 c0me dave
ARADIA: say g00dbye t0 y0ur sister
ARADIA: l0rd english awaits
"I'm just gonna slip inside this cabinet, and you're going to stay out there," said Dave. "'Mione?"
"Eep!" The Hufflepuff girl slipped down through the trapdoor, joining Ron in the water below.
Rose glanced at the open trapdoor, and the boggart in the form of Aradiabot, slowly shambling forward. "Okay, this is just- RIDDIKULUS!"
Rose stepped in front of Dave, and suddenly Aradiabot was covered in stickers from various children's cartoons that Rose remembered from both youths. A Squiddle sticker hit the boggart in the face, and it snarled, losing its form and becoming intangible for a moment.
Just a moment.
Then, the boggart reformed, this time as a tall woman in a tight dress. A martini in one hand and hair covering her eyes, she smiled wordlessly at her daughter.
"Mom," breathed Rose. "But- I'm not scared, why would I-"
The dagger burst through Rose's mother's chest only a moment later. Her mother's mouth parted in a surprised "o".
Rose screamed.
As the form of her mother collapsed to the ground, a fully-powered Jack Noir stared the duo down. Green bolts of electricity danced up and down his pitch-black form, and his muzzle twisted into a growl.
"Close the door!" shouted Dave.
Rose closed the cupboard door. She exhaled a deep, deep sigh of relief.
"Hell," said Dave. "Why the fuck didn't we do that earlier? Could have saved us a lot of-"
A bloody blade burst through the wall of the cupboard between the siblings, sending splinters sputtering in all directions.
"Jump!" shouted a voice from below. "Rose, Dave, now!"
Dave grabbed his sister, and the two of them hurtled down into the trapdoor.
Cold water covered Rose's face. She almost, almost breathed in water, but Dave brought her up just in time for air to once again fill her lungs.
"Jack," said Rose, panting, gripping onto Dave.
"Look up, the trapdoor is closed," said Ron. "The previous room probably reset itself."
Rose looked up. There was no way they were getting back through that trapdoor, one way or another. The boggart had no target.
For now, they were safe.
"Are you good?" asked Dave.
"Yes," said Rose. "I can tread water. My old house had a river running through it."
"Good thing, too," said Ron. "'Mione over here had to charm me with a floating spell. I'm basically just a buoy right now."
"I never learned how to swim, either," said Dave, treading water. "Not until my second childhood."
"And what a good childhood that was, accompanying me to swim lessons," said Hermione. "Now let's figure this room out. The sooner we get out of this room, the better. I'm freezing!"
"Uh," said Ron. "Do you all hear that?"
The group went silent.
"Just sounds like water," said Dave.
"Yeah," said Ron. "Water coming in. And that trapdoor probably is magically sealed."
"What are you saying, they're going to drown us?" said Hermione. "Professor Dumbledore would never-"
"He's right," said Rose. "The water level is rising. Focus on a part of the wall, and you can plainly see it's getting slowly buried under the water."
"That can't-"
"And the more time we argue about whether or not this is happening, the less time we have to figure out how to get out of this mess," said Rose.
"Okay," said Dave cooly. "Do we know what's under the water? There was a lot of it even before we got into the room."
"You don't think this is some sort of diving puzzle, is it?" said Ron.
"Pretty classic dungeon design," said Dave. "Luckily I was the best nine year old swimmer out of all of them, right, sis?"
Rose cocked her head in confusion, before realizing the question was directed towards Hermione.
"Just don't get overconfident!" said the girl in question. "If you feel like you need to surface, do so immediately!"
"Sure thing, coach," said Dave. He took a deep breath before disappearing under the surface of the water.
There were a tense few seconds where nobody could see Dave, and the only sound was the rushing of more water into the room.
"So how long do you think-" began Ron, but he was interrupted by a splashing noise.
Dave had resurfaced.
"Okay, there's a pipe gear thing at the bottom, alongside a drain and a door," he said, gasping. "I think you gotta turn it and then it opens the drain."
"Are you-" started Hermione, concern evident on her face, but Dave dove back under the water's surface.
Another pause. The three - Potter, Weasley, and Granger, looked at each other anxiously.
Rose estimated that if she stretched her hand all the way out, she'd be able to touch the ceiling of the room. Just a few minutes earlier that would certainly not have been possible.
Hermione made her way to the wall. With one hand firmly planted on the cobblestone embedded in the side, she was able to take some of the strain of her treading off of her arms, instead using the wall as support.
Dave still hadn't arisen from the water.
"If he doesn't come up within another ten seconds," said Hermione, "I'm going to cast Wingardium Leviosa."
The trio tried to make out what was happening, but Dave was far below, and the water was constantly rippling and shifting.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" shouted Hermione, pointing her wand vaguely downwards.
Gurgle. Gurgle.
"The water level's lowering!" Ron shouted.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" exclaimed Hermione.
Slowly at first, the water drained from the room, lowering faster and faster.
By the time the water revealed the pipe that Dave had mentioned, Hermione had become frantic.
"Where is he!"
"'Mione," tried Ron.
"Don't you call me 'Mione! I want to know where my brother went!"
The water had almost completely drained now, and the three preteens were left shivering in their wizard robes, feet on the floor.
"No, Hermione, look-"
"Sup," said Dave, casually leaning against the open door frame.
"Oh," said Hermione. "So when you opened the door..?"
"Just went right through, yeah," said Dave. "Better than swimming."
"And..." Hermione took her brother in. He was dry, too, his robes not clinging awkwardly to his body.
"There's, like, an anti-water filter on this doorway," said Dave. "Just go right through. Makes your mouth taste kinda dry."
"Ooh!" exclaimed Ron. He hurriedly shuffled through the revealed doorway. As he passed through, water sloughed out of his robes and hair, pooling on the floor before draining away.
"Don't scare me again, Dave," said Hermione, following Ron through the door.
"If John was here, he'd be proud," said Rose, entering the next room.
"Yeah," said Dave. "I thought it was funny too."
Rose took in the next room. The walls and floor were entirely black and featureless, with the only exception being a few upright mirrors placed on pedestals, as well as a single candle, stuck into the wall horizontally and burning sideways. On the other end of the room was the next door, and above the door was an engraving of an eye.
"Oh, a reflection puzzle," said Rose.
"Blimey," said Ron. "How'd you get that so fast?"
"I played a lot of video games as a troubled teen," said Rose, as she set about rotating the mirrors. "These were everywhere."
"Huh," said Ron.
"I wonder what these walls are made out of," wondered Hermione, as Rose continued setting up the mirrors. "In retrospect, it was obvious that they're all black in order to draw attention to the mirrors and candles, but they're totally smooth."
"Probably something McGonagall transfigured, I reckon," said Ron. "Likely she made this room."
"Hm," said Hermione. "But why is it so solvable? If I were designing a trap for thieves I would have made it dangerous. Like the drowning puzzle."
"We probably weren't in any danger in the last room," said Rose, hunched over some mirrors, spinning them to redirect the light. "Likely either the water was an illusion entirely, or it had some safety mechanism to bring us down safely if we didn't solve it in time."
"You think so?"
"Yeah," said Rose. "We didn't even need magic to solve it. These are puzzles, not traps. Can someone turn that mirror 80 degrees so that it faces the one to the left of me?"
"Yes," said Hermione, walking to the mirror Rose had pointed out. "If these were designed as puzzles, who were they designed for?"
"Voldemort," said Dave.
Ron and Hermione jumped.
"I mean, he was only the obvious suspect. I dunno why you all still think it's Quirrell acting in just his own interests."
"We won't know until we confront him," said Hermione. "The philosopher's stone isn't just an object that brings Life. It brings gold, too, anyone could want that."
"You mean, we won't know until Rose confronts him," said Dave. "You, Ron and I - we're just the party members on this one, and there's going to be a boss at the end of the dungeon, and usually, it's going to be just her."
"Got it," said Rose, trying to not think about what Dave had said. "Just this last one, and..."
With the last turn of the mirror, light bounced all around the room, before finally hitting the eye above the door. The carving of the eye morphed, and the eyelid closed. The door slid open.
"Almost expected some kind of sound effect," said Dave. "That was quick, though. Think you could submit that to Speed Demos Archive?"
"Were you timing me?"
"I was actually a moderator for SDA before Sburb, so, uh, yeah," said Dave.
"What game?" asked Rose, as they strolled into the next room.
"Clue," said Dave.
This room was similar to the previous one, in that it was just a door and a pedestal to interact with.
"Oh, dip, a wire puzzle," said Dave. He waltzed over to the pedestal and started fiddling with what was inside.
Ron leaned against a wall and made sparks with his wand to fill the time.
"Fuck!" shouted Dave. A spark leapt out of the pedestal and Dave shook his hand out. "Fuckin' wires."
The door opened.
"Nice one, mate," said Ron. "What'd you even do?"
"I, uh, drew a dick," said Dave. "Like arranged the wires into the shape of a penis."
Ron was quiet for a moment.
"Well, I suppose if it works-" he tried, weakly.
"Yeah," said Dave. "Let's just walk through the door."
Unfortunately, however, the door had other plans, for when the foursome approached the opening, the doorframe slid right up the wall. The entrance, which was just moments ago flush with the floor, was now at about shoulder height. Somehow, though, the span of hallway that they could see beyond the doorframe didn't change.
"Huh," said Dave.
"Should I give you a leg up?" asked Ron.
"Uh, yeah, I guess," said Dave.
Ron squatted down, and stuck out his arms. Dave hesitantly stepped onto it, and tried to reach a hand into the door.
The door moved just slightly out of reach.
"What the hell," said Dave.
"Jump up and reach it," said Ron.
"You sure?" asked Dave.
"Yeah, I'll boost you," he said.
Dave squatted down atop Ron's arms, and as he did, Rose noticed the door moving slightly, following Dave's crouching motion. Then Ron pushed Dave up, and at the peak of the boost, Dave leapt upwards, grabbing the bottom edge of the door, even as the door kept moving upwards.
"I got it!" said Dave. He reached his other hand over, and soon he was hanging from the bottom edge of the door.
"Dave!" cried Hermione. "Let go!"
It was like watching a video game engine error. As Dave slowly pulled himself upwards, getting an elbow into the door, it started rising faster and faster.
Soon it would reach the ceiling.
"Let go!"
"I got this-"
The door crossed the threshold separating the wall of the room and the ceiling, and Dave suddenly found himself holding onto a sheer vertical wall. He fell, but Hermione was quick.
"Arresto Momentum!"
Dave gently fell to the ground, landing on his feet.
"Nice recovery," said Rose.
"Thanks," said Dave. "Though I couldn't have done it on my own. Nice job on that spell, 'Mione."
"Well!" said Hermione, a little flushed at the praise. "If you'd listened to me, I wouldn't have had to do that in the first place."
"Everyone, step towards the entrance," said Rose. "I have a theory."
Sure enough, once everyone was gathered at the entrance of the room, the door had moved back into its place at the other end.
"And now we approach the door," said Rose.
When they moved forward, the door started slipping upwards - the closer they got to it, the further away it was.
"Do you think drawing the, erm, dingaling in the wire box caused this to happen?" asked Ron.
"Nah," said Dave. "This shit's too advanced for just a weird glitch. Probably the wire box was a distaction."
"Clever ruse, that," conceded Ron. "How do we get around it?"
"I have a theory," said Dave. "But everyone here needs to be able to keep a secret."
"I'm pretty good at that," said Rose. No doubt she'd seen many things in her first year of Slytherin that she'd keep to her grave.
"Yeah," said Ron. "You learn to keep secrets in Slytherin."
"You can tell me anything, Dave," said Hermione.
"Alright," said Dave. "Don't freak out."
Dave returned his wand to his strife deck, and held his empty hands out in front of him. He took a deep breath in, and when he exhaled, the door was glowing faintly red.
"Okay, go through," he said, palms still towards the door.
"But what about-" tried Ron.
"Try it," said Dave.
The door began to slowly move upwards when they walked forward, Dave doing so carefully, keeping his hands in position as he stepped forward.
Whatever Dave had done to it, he had clearly slowed its movement. By the time the four kids got to the door, it was only about as high off the ground as a step in a staircase.
They all made their way through without difficulty, Dave turning to face the door as he stepped through. Only once everyone was completely across did he relax his hands, exhaling sharply.
"Wasn't sure that'd work," he said.
"What was that?" asked Hermione, awed.
"Knight of Time shit," said Dave. "From the game Rose and I played. I don't have... anything, really, to harness Time like I used to, but I can do some stuff without holding shit."
"Mate, you're saying you can exploit time itself?"
"Yeah," said Dave.
"Wicked," said Ron, awed.
"Keep it on the dee ell," said Dave. "I looked into it and time travel is like super regulated. This was super illegal."
"Didn't know they had magic time travel," said Rose.
"Why would they not?" asked Hermione, and that was in fact a good point, so Rose acceded.
There was a short hallway leading to a wooden door, which Hermione opened, revealing the next room of the gauntlet.
It was almost entirely lined with concrete, a material Rose had not seen since she was in the Muggle world. There was a door with a padlock on the other end, and a man with a cage in it to the side. He wore rags, and had a raggedy, white beard. There was no visible food or water in the cage with him.
The cage had a giant, visible padlock - similar to the one on the door.
He perked up when they entered.
"Please," he said, voice ragged. "They've kept me here. Please, you have to let me out!"
Hermione gasped in horror.
"Dave," she said. "They have a prisoner."
"I don't think they have a prisoner," said Dave. "I mean, like. The last few rooms were all filled with mindbending illusions. Is this guy real?"
They all looked closer at the man. He gripped the bars, looking at them tearfully. It was as if they were the first humans he had ever met.
"I'm real," he whispered. "I assure you. And I've done nothing to deserve being locked in here."
"Hominem Revelio," said Rose, flicking out her wand.
The other three humans in the room began softly glowing.
"I'm real," said the man, who was not glowing.
"Sure," said Dave. "Your wife and kids miss you?"
"Dave!" Hermione was indignant.
"What?" said Dave. "He's some kind of like... construct for the gauntlet. We can probably leave the room and come back and it resets him."
"Something about this feels wrong," said Ron, scratching his arm.
"There's a key on the other side of the room," said the man, pointing. "And yes, my wife and kids miss me."
"Well, real or not, I'm going to do the right thing," said Hermione. "You've done nothing to deserve being locked in here?"
"Nothing," said the man.
Rose closed her eyes and tried to consider what he was saying.
"I think he's telling the truth," said Rose. "Likely because he was just created for this gauntlet specifically, but he's done nothing wrong. Though before you grab the key, we should talk about this."
"I kinda wanna get this room over with, Rose," said Ron.
"Let's think. What is the purpose of this room?" asked Rose.
"A moral dilemma?" tried Hermione.
"Maybe," said Rose. "But I'm not sure which moral we're supposed to be learning."
"It's probably, like, a trust exercise," said Dave. "Do we trust the dude in the cage to be telling the truth?"
Ron shook his head. "I think it's maybe a selfishness test. The key probably can open the lock on the door, but if we do, we get dropped into acid."
The other three stared at Ron.
"What on Earth makes you think that there's going to be acid?" asked Hermione, incredulous.
Ron shrugged, blushing. "I dunno! I'm just paranoid, I guess."
Rose shook her head. "I think you're both probably right. But it's not so much a question of how much we trust the man in the cage; it's a test of how much we trust the makers of the gauntlet."
"You mean Dumbledore?" asked Dave.
"I trust him," said Hermione. "None of these have been truly dangerous."
"If you want to free the man in the cage, that's your call," said Rose.
"I will," she said. "He just wants to see his family."
"His fake family that doesn't exist," said Dave. She rolled her eyes.
Hermione strode over and grabbed the key that the man had pointed out.
Ron drew his wand just in case.
She inserted the key into the lock and turned it.
"You're free now," said Hermione. "Go home to your wife."
"Thank you," said the man, crying and bubbling.
Indeed, he was bubbling and melting away before everyone's very eyes.
Hermione stared, transfixed. Dave watched Hermione. Rose watched Dave. Ron tried to watch anything else in order to keep his lunch down.
By the time it had stopped, there was a shiny key glinting at the bottom of the now-empty cage.
"Told you he was fake," said Dave, though he, too, sounded ill.
"Let's just... go," said Hermione. She reached in and grabbed the key, making her way to the door and opening it.
It wasn't until all four of them were through the door that the purple fire sprang up behind them, and black fire sprang up in front of them.
"Someone's fuckin' pissed," said Dave, as they all looked around the room. Seven potion bottles were scattered among many shelves. A note prominently rested among them. Hermione grabbed it.
"It's a logic puzzle," said Hermione. "More or less a worksheet."
"Can I see?" asked Rose. Hermione nodded, and Rose studied the note.
"There's poison in three of the bottles, wine in two other bottles, and one that lets you get through the black and purple fires respectively."
"Snape," said Ron.
"Obviously," said Rose. "Want to have a go at solving it?"
"I'll pass," said Ron.
"I've already gotten it," said Hermione.
"Nice," said Dave.
"Anyone wanna get drunk?" said Hermione. "That bottle and that bottle have wine."
"Nice," said Rose.
"Nice," said Dave.
"Nice," said Rose.
"So there's a bit of a problem," interrupted Hermione. "There's only about one gulp's worth of the potion that lets you go through the black fire - plenty to go back, though."
"Hm," said Rose.
"Rose takes it," said Dave.
"What?" said Rose.
"I mean, you've gotta do it, right?"
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Dave," said Rose.
"Listen, the way I see it, right, we've been researching Voldy and Quirrell-"
"We don't know he's You-Know-Who-" tried Hermione.
"-All year, right?"
"Yes," said Rose.
"He wants two things," said Dave. "He wants to come back and be the big bad, and he wants you, because you're, like, the child of prophecy, kid of wisdom, whatever, and you stopped him."
"So why would I go through?"
"He's right," said Ron.
"What, really?" asked Rose.
"Yeah," said Ron. "You were the only one who could defeat You-Know-Who beforehand. I mean, who's it gonna be, me?"
"I- Ron, don't sell yourself short at all-"
"Nah," said Ron. "I'm not... I'm not selling myself short, Rose. I'm just no Dark Wizard Fighter."
"Yeah," said Hermione. "I couldn't... I don't know hexes."
"And you think I do?"
"You're Rose Potter," said Hermione. "And that's not even including your past life."
"I've just... not done the whole vanquishing thing in a long time."
"Hey," said Dave, and then he leaned in and hugged her. "You can do this."
He handed her the tiny bottle, the one Hermione had indicated let you go through the black fire.
"Oh," said Rose. "I'm really going to do this."
"We're here for you in spirit," said Ron. "I believe in you."
"Thanks," said Rose.
She uncorked the bottle and downed it in one gulp, and shuddered.
"We'll be okay," said Hermione. "Go, before it wears off."
Rose nodded at her friends, and walked through the black fire.
The fire didn't end. Rose kept walking, and walking - at some point, she realized that she wasn't in the fire at all, but simply a deep, deep, dark void, where the clacks of her shoes on cobble were the only indication she was moving at all.
There was someone walking beside her.
She couldn't hear the breath of her walking partner as it passed through her two front fangs. She couldn't turn her head to see her - she knew - she knew - that if she did, she would disappear.
Rose opened her hand.
Kanaya took it.
Rose tightened her grasp, and ran her fingers over Kanaya's knuckles.
I thought it was a dream, she wanted to say.
How are you here, she wished she could ask.
Stay with me, she wanted to whisper.
Kanaya stroked her thumb over Rose's.
It was, and it wasn't, she seemed to reply.
I'm here, and that's what matters.
I'll stay as long as I can.
They walked for an eternity. At certain points Kanaya would tug on Rose's hand, and they walked in a new direction instead.
Rose didn't turn her head.
Eventually they came to a door.
I have to leave, Rose didn't say.
I know, Kanaya didn't reply. I love you.
Kanaya pulled her hand away slowly, as if letting go of Rose meant letting go of the last thing that kept her in this world.
Rose felt like she was dying again. She wanted nothing more than to stay behind this door, turn around, and see Kanaya one more time - even if it meant Voldemort, Jack, whoever she had to stop - got to destroy the universe.
Go, Kanaya didn't say. Go and save everyone.
She felt the ghost of a kiss on the back of her neck.
Rose opened the door, stepped through it, and closed it behind her.
She didn't look back.
"Jack!" she yelled. "It's over."
The snivelling man in the turban, Professor Quirrell, seemingly praying in front of the Mirror that Rose had lost herself in, ceased his activity and turned around. There was a look on his face that Rose didn't recognize from her limited experience with either the professor or Jack Noir.
"Potter," said someone. It came from Quirrell's direction, though Quirell's mouth didn't move. "The girl."
"Yes, my master," said Quirrell, his mouth moving this time. "Much as you predicted."
"Seize her," said Voldemort, for it had to be him. There was some part of Rose which recognized that it had never been Jack. That holding onto Jack as an enemy was some kind of way of - clinging to her past life, like she'd clung to Kanaya's hand through that endless hallway just moments before. Quirrell raised his wand and chanted a curse.
Rose youth rolled out of the way of his spell, hiding behind a marble railing. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted, uncaptchalouging both needlewands and popping out of cover.
Quirrell blocked it with a quick "Protego!"
"Dual wands, my master, just as I had said!" exclaimed Quirrell.
"Who are you even talking to, Jack?" asked Rose, almost stubbornly.
"Who is this Jack?" said Voldemort. "Quirrell, stupid boy, who does she speak of?"
"An enemy of hers," said Quirrell. "She thinks that this Jack killed her mother."
Voldemort, wherever he was, chuckled. "Fool of a girl. I killed your mother, and your father. Do you know who I am?"
"Why don't you tell me," said Rose. "I'm apparently such a fool that I don't know who you are."
"Show her," said Voldemort.
Quirrell lowered his wand, and Rose was suddenly struck with the urge to stab him in the face with the point of her needlewands.
He slowly undid his turban, and turned around.
"Do you see me now, child?" said Voldemort. "See what you have done?"
"Clearly not enough," said Rose. "Stupefy!"
Voldemort simply snarled at the spell, and the beam fell to the ground, limply.
"You have no chance of beating me, child," said Voldemort. "Come, and we will cease this duel before you get yourself killed."
"What's to say you won't kill me as soon as I come out of cover?"
"What's to say I don't kill you while you're behind that pitiful cover? This is no duel, child. We are letting you have your fun."
Rose, seeing no other real choice, slowly stood up to lock eyes with the back of Quirrell's head.
"Good," grinned the face. "Good. Have you seen this before?" Quirrell's arm pointed at the Mirror.
Rose didn't respond. Suddenly, a deep pain shot through the scar on her forehead. She groaned and touched two fingers to it instinctually, startled to see that the fingers were slick with blood.
"Answer me, child," said Voldemort.
"Yes," said Rose.
"Good," said Voldemort. "You are to get something from within its depths."
"It's a storage unit?" asked Rose.
"It has been used as one by Dumbledore," hissed Voldemort, saying 'Dumbledore' as if it were a dirty word. "I need you to fetch a very precious item for me."
"And if I don't do it?"
"We have already answered this question," said Voldemort. "Stand in front of the mirror and get me the Philosopher's stone - my sources tell me it is stored inside of a white sphere."
A white sphere, huh? Something about that pinged a memory of Rose's from a decade prior. She made her way to the mirror, and stared inside.
Kanaya wasn't there, and Rose's heart twisted, though she'd known what she would see since she saw the mirror. Rose saw only herself.
The girl in the orange and gold robes winked at her, and held up a captchalogue card, before placing it into her pocket.
Rose suddenly felt the weight of the card in her own Hogwarts robes. She reached into her pocket and added the card to her Fetch Modus.
Voldemort wanted his prize? Fine.
She'd give it to him.
"I can't do it," said Rose.
"Nonsense," said Voldemort.
"My Lord-" began Quirrell.
Rose uncaptchalogued the cue ball and chucked it at Quirrell.
The ball bounced off of Quirrell's face, hitting him square in the nose, and he fell backwards, screaming in pain. The cue ball went flying through the air before disappearing to god-knows-where with a green ZAP.
Wherever the hell that ball was now, it was certainly a better place than here. Quirrell slowly stood up.
"Where... did... you... put it!"
"It's gone," said Rose.
"You fool!" snarled Voldemort. "I'll kill you!"
"Try," said Rose, and she leapt up and punched Quirrell in the face.
Voldemort hissed in fear and anger. Where Rose had punched him, there were now burn marks.
Thinking on her feet (why, oh why, did she not make some more weapons!) she uncaptchalogued a book she nabbed from the school's restricted section and threw it at Quirrell. The Monster Book of Monsters bit onto the Dark Lord's ankle.
"Stupid book!" growled Voldemort. Seemingly taking control of Quirrell's body for a moment, he tilted his wand towards the book attached to his leg, and chanted the words "Avada Kedavara." The too-familiar green light, the same shade she'd seen in her dreams for years, hit the book, and it stopped moving.
He knelt down to dislodge the monstrous fangs from his leg.
Rose didn't waste any time. Leaping off of the ground, she grabbed her needlewands and used them in the way she'd killed those ogres back on her planet during the game - though since there were eyes on both ends of the skull, Rose settled on one needle per side. Candy-red blood spurt out, staining the cuffs of Rose's Hogwarts robe.
Voldemort tried grabbing at the needlewands now jammed in his eyes, but Rose yanked them downwards, forcing Voldemort's head back onto the cobbled floor of the dungeon. It dawned on Rose that these weren't just metal sticks, but wands, that she could use for destruction, jammed into the skull of Wizarding Britain's worst enemy.
Without casting a specific spell, Rose poured the emotions she felt when Kanaya's hand pulled away into the wands. She was a witch, damnit. And these were her instruments of destruction. Voldemort gasped in agony.
"How do I kill you?" she mused aloud. "And make it stick?"
Through a moan of pain, the Dark Lord laughed. "Fool. You cannot kill me."
"But I can, Tom," said a wizened voice from behind her. "Incarcercerous!"
Thick chains wrapped around the professor, binding him in place. Less in reaction to the spell cast and more in reaction to the spellcaster, Voldemort screamed. It was a noise of pure, unfiltered rage.
Rose let go of her needlewands and pressed her hands to her ears because of some deep, instinctual aversion - perhaps the scream was magic, though it simply sounded like a man dying.
"Muffliato!" cast Dumbledore. The scream became a faint, pleasant hiss of white noise, and Rose realized the blood on her hands from Voldemort's skull had been smeared onto her ears.
She looked at her white hands, stained with Quirrell's red blood, and then at the headmaster of her school. Dumbledore strode over to the two of them with intent.
"When did you get here, Professor?"
"Right on time, I suppose," he said, speaking through the buzz. Then the wizard refocused his attention on Quirrell. "Tom. You are a deeply, deeply, evil man, but your terror ends today."
"Fool!" said Voldemort. The force with which he said this rattled the chains. "Fool, fool, fool! If I die today, I will return!"
"Not anymore," said Dumbledore. "Perhaps one day you would have. But I have it in good faith that this time is the last time."
Voldemort hissed. "You didn't!"
Dumbledore nodded. "I have ensured the destruction of every last one, barring yourself."
The shrieking started again, though Rose couldn't hear it thanks to Dumbledore's spell.
"Your story ends here, Tom. Miss Potter, I recommend you take a few steps back."
Rose moved away from Voldemort.
"With the power of all of those you have killed… with the spirit of Lily and James and every innocent whose life you have claimed… with the backing of the Wizengamot and the people of Britain… I sentence you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, to immediate execution. Miss Potter?"
"Yes?"
"You may wish to avert your eyes."
Dumbledore drew his wand.
Rose turned around.
She couldn't see what he did, or hear the name of the spell, but the wall she had decided to face was suddenly awash in a bright light.
When she returned to face the headmaster, Professor Quirinus Quirrell, teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry, was dead.
"And along with him," said Dumbledore, as if reading her mind, "Voldemort. For good."
"Oh," said Rose. "Really? This isn't usually this easy."
"It was plenty difficult, my child, and this wasn't a battle that began today," said Dumbledore. "But it is one that has ended today."
Rose walked over to the corpse.
"Is it… alright for me to retrieve my wands?" she asked.
"They are your wands, my dear."
The wand lodged in Quirrell's eye came out with only a bit of viscera, but the one stuck in Voldemort's eye seemed to be in deep, and when she tried to remove it, the corpse moved, not the wand.
She looked at Dumbledore, her desire for help showing in her eyes..
"Expoximise," cast Dumbledore. "Try it now."
The head of Voldemort's corpse was now stuck to the ground, and Rose was able to yank her wand out without any more trouble.
Belatedly, she realized that it had been the phoenix-feather wand that refused to leave Voldemort's skull. A memory of the wandmaker's shop resurfaced.
"Professor," said Rose, hefting the gore-covered needlewand. "This wand shares a core with the wand that killed my parents."
"So it does," said Dumbledore. "But I would not dwell on such things for too long. If you believe that things such as the core in your wand, or the mere circumstances of your presence here at Hogwarts, determined your ability to get to the end of this gauntlet, you would be severely underrating your value as a witch. You, Rose Potter, are truly a brilliant witch - I would not have been able to stop him tonight without the help of you and your brave friends."
"He's really gone?" asked Rose.
"Yes," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling. "This victory is as real as anything."
"There was a man in a cage, earlier" said Rose.
"Who's to say he wasn't real?" said Dumbledore.
"He melted and became a key," said Rose.
"Ah, yes, well, he wasn't real," said Dumbledore. He smiled. "In any case, one of the great evils of our time is finally, truly vanquished."
"Oh," said Rose. "That's nice." Rose blinked heavily. The needlewands slipped out of her hand and onto the ground, her hands hanging limply at her sides.
And then she passed out.