Through the Trap Door

As soon as the chapter titles was read out, the trio began handing out another calming draught to their group.

"Now as we said in the last chapter, this chapter and the next one are some of the most stressful in the book," Harry began.

"Because you can only have one calming draught over the course of the next two chapters, we are giving you the option about which chapter to take your draught in," Hermione continued.

"We," Ron said, gesturing to the other two as well as himself, "came to the decision to suggest that you take it in the last chapter. But we realise that this chapter will be very stressful, especially for the Weasleys, as I did get injured, so are giving you the option of when to take it."

"It will be the second half of this chapter that is stressful, like the chapter about the forest was the second half that was stressful. The last chapter in the book will be most stressful during the start," Harry explained.

"Just remember, that when you take the calming draught, you can't take another, so please don't take it too early," Hermione said. Their group all nodded, signalling that they understood, even though many of them were worried about what was coming with the chapter title that implied that the trio went through the trapdoor that was under Fluffy.

The rest of the hall listened into their conversation, most of them taking note of the suggestion and grabbing a calming draught for later in the chapter or for the last chapter.

In years to come, Harry would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment.

"That would make concentrating hard," Remus agreed faintly.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers.

"Maybe we should teach the students to cast cooling charms in first year," Filius muttered to himself, making a note to change where the charm was in the curriculum.

Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.

"Ironic," Bill said with a small chuckle.

Harry did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into the forest.

Harry tried to hide the fact that he had sucked in a sharp breath from the sharp, stabbing pain that suddenly occurred in his head and he was suddenly very surprised that he had managed to get through his exams with that pain, especially Defence, where he was in the same room as the source of his pain.

Neville thought Harry had a bad case of exam nerves because Harry couldn't sleep, but the truth was that Harry kept being woken by his old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.

"I'm glad I didn't know," Neville muttered, while Harry sighed.

"Honestly, I wish I could go back to those. My nightmares now are worse."

The idea of Voldemort, certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

"I was doing my best to focus only on the exams, so I didn't have to think about it. It didn't work very well," Ron admitted.

"Until after the exams," Hermione teased.

"Yeah, until then," Ron agreed sheepishly.

When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Harry couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"I'd have been worried if you didn't," Lee commented.

"I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

"I'm pretty sure we haven't covered them at all in any of our tests," Hermione added, getting an eyeroll from Ron and Harry.

Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill,

"Doesn't everyone?" Tonks asked, gaining nods from almost everyone.

The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

"He likes it," the twins said together when they felt their mum's glare.

"I'm not ill," said Harry.

"Plus, she'll keep me there for no reason," Harry added.

"I think it's a warning... it means danger's coming..."

"Unfortunately," he muttered.

And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

"Hey Neville, why didn't you tell anyone that you'd made the team?" Harry asked, loud enough that most heads in the hall turned to look at them.

"What?" Neville said, honestly surprised by the implication behind that question. Everyone knew that Hagrid would never betray Dumbledore.

He watched an owl flutter toward the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth.

"And there goes the blasted owl," Ron grumbled, ignoring his mum's warning about his language.

Hagrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy... never... but—

"His thoughts can jump from place to place and make the oddest conclusions at times. I mean, his conclusions have been right so far, but his thought process is bizarre," Hermione said.

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

"You're fast when you want to be," Hermione commented.

"You both are," Ron added.

"It was a good thing when I was younger. And in third year," Harry said.

"True," Hermione agreed, thinking about how they had had to be fast to be able to achieve what they had with the time turner, and even then, it had been difficult.

Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think?

"Impressive thought process," Kingsley said.

"Just have to find out if his conclusion was right," Moody added, since they were too far away to have heard Hermione's comment about Harry's thought process and conclusions.

"It would really benefit us to have him as an Auror, just from what we've heard so far," Amelia said.

Tonks had slapped herself on the head as the book explained Harry's thought process, connecting the dots as it explained it, and wondering how she hadn't seen it before either.

Why didn't I see it before?"

"Because you're eleven, and I didn't make the connection until you started explaining it, and I'm an Auror; I'm trained to see those connections," Tonks said slowly.

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

"You do that often. You and Mione," Ron grumbled, getting two sheepish grins and shrugs in reply.

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

"Hog's Head?" Neville asked curiously.

"Probably," Ginny, Fred, George, and Lee agreed, while the other DA members, who were the only students to have gone to the Hogshead, nodded their agreement, while Luna hummed.

"When have you been into the Hogshead?" Charlie asked, simply getting shrugs from the students in their group, since they were all in the DA but didn't really want to explain it.

"You'll see," Harry added, before turning to the others. "And yeah, Hog's Head."

Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he?

"So why would he have given it away for free? Dragon dealers aim to make a lot of money from each egg," Charlie said.

"And did he—did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Of course, he would have been. Cerberuses are extremely rare, and one hasn't been seen for years, especially outside of Greece," Charlie said.

Where's Dumbledore's office?"

"You didn't know where Dumbledore's office was? James would be so disappointed," Remus commented.

"Of course, we didn't know where his office was," Harry said, as if it was obvious.

"We're angel students," Ron continued.

"Didn't you know," Hermione finished, and they all smiled innocently at him and he blinked. If he didn't know everything they got up to, simply from comments they had made around him and the few comments under their breath that he had been able to hear, they were not the innocent angels they appeared to be. And they pulled off that image perfectly; they'd obviously had practice.

They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him.

"I feel forgotten Gred," George said in mock-offense.

"So do I Forge," Fred agreed.

"You know us, and we've been there many, many times," they said together. Ron shrugged; he honestly hadn't even thought of the twins, and even if he had, he'd thought they'd only been sent to McGonagall.

"James would be so disappointed. End of first year and you hadn't been sent to the Headmaster yet," Remus said again, shaking his head in mock-disappointment. Harry grinned, thinking of the many pranks he had pulled off without being caught.

"See, we clearly know who's the better prankster then," Harry said quietly, making sure that no one outside their group could hear, since he wanted to keep the fact that he pulled pranks a secret.

"You've pulled pranks?"

"What?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you only get sent to the Headmaster's office if you get caught," Harry said with a shrug, causing the other three, and Sirius, to stare at him at the implication that he was better than them and that they were bad pranksters.

"Oh Merlin," Fred said.

"He's right," George agreed.

"You pull pranks?" Remus asked, still stuck on that fact; in the whole year he had taught, he had never even heard speculation of Harry pulling any pranks, his attitude and actions never pointed to him being a prankster, and none of the pranks pulled seemed at all like his personality or style.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that. I will simply say this; ask me no questions and I will tell you no lies," Harry said with a shrug, a look of complete innocence appearing on his face again, nothing about his expression giving him away at all.

"What are you three doing inside?"

"Being inside isn't a crime," Luna said.

"Yeah, but it was a beautiful day and exams had just finished," Neville pointed out. Luna shrugged and started humming again.

He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"Why did you fly?" Remus asked.

"The floos in the Ministry had been down for maintenance that week, and Apparition wasn't an option as the wards had been changed and I hadn't had a chance to be added to them again," Dumbledore explained.

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"

"Yes," he said.

"Most things are more important than the Ministry," Ron said.

"How do you know—?" she spluttered.

"The golden trio find out everything," George and Fred said.

I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

"Yeah, it was probably smart to not mention Snape's name," Remus said.

"I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"Well protected. Sure, let's go with that," the trio agreed sarcastically, rolling their eyes.

He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"They didn't really. I'm asked to come a lot of the time, this time everyone just assumed it was someone other than themselves who asked for me," Dumbledore said.

"Be warned, Potter—any more night time wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled.

"How's that gone for him?" Ron asked, his comment causing Hermione and Harry to break out laughing; they all knew just how many times Harry had gone out on night time wanderings; plus, none of Snape's attempts to get Harry expelled had every worked.

"I suppose you think you're harder to get past than a pack of enchantments!" she stormed.

"Pretty sure I was though. He would have gotten through the mirror eventually; he was almost there when I got there," Harry muttered under his breath to Hermione and Ron.

You'll be expelled!"

"Here comes the inspirational speech," Hermione and Ron said together.

He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts!

Many people shuddered at that thought, although those students who wanted to follow the Dark Lord when they graduated thought that it would be a good idea, even if they didn't show their pleasure at that idea.

Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"

"That was some speech Harry," Remus said.

"And you say you aren't a leader," Ginny commented.

"All—all three of us?"

"Sure, it will. It covered the four of us well enough," Remus said with a shrug.

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

"We got him to stop thinking like that quick enough," Ron said.

"Still have to get him to fully value his life, but we're getting there," Hermione agreed.

"Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam.

"How?" Tonks asked in shock.

"I wrote a couple of my own questions and answered them," Hermione said with a shrug.

He pocketed it to use on Fluffy—he didn't feel much like singing.

"Good. All three of you suck."

"Rude," Ron huffed.

"True," Harry agreed.

"But rude," Hermine said.

"You don't understand," said Harry, "this is important."

"Sorry for not explaining why it was important, but we were on a tight schedule," Harry said, looking over at Neville.

"And then the days after were hectic and by the time we were able to have explained, the rumours were running rampant," Hermione agreed.

"It's fine. From the rumours alone I worked out that it had really been important," Neville said with a shrug.

And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"

"I didn't mean us," Ron chuckled.

"Do something," he said desperately.

"I meant persuade him to move. You're the best with words out of all of us. Unless I'm making an inspirational speech in the heat of the moment, apparently," Harry said.

"What did she do?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"You'll see," Ron said.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she cried, pointing it at Neville.

"You cursed him," Luna gasped.

"A prefect came around to check the common room about five to ten minutes later and released me. I get it," Neville said with a shrug.

"I really am sorry though," Hermione added.

"Oh, let's kick her, just this once," Ron whispered in Harry's ear, but Harry shook his head.

Many of the students turned to him in betrayal; all of them wanted to have the opportunity to kick her.

"We didn't have time," Harry said, raising his hands in surrender.

Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?"

"Oh no," Remus said, wondering what Peeves would do. Neville smiled, remembering what Harry had said about him liking the part with Peeves in this chapter.

"Peeves," he said, in a hoarse whisper, "the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."

"Why did we never think of that?" Fred and George exclaimed.

"Because you didn't have an invisibility cloak. The better question is, why didn't we think of it. We actually had an invisibility cloak," Remus said, glancing down at Snuffles who was looking as shocked as a dog could.

Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you."

"Merlin. I can't believe you managed to scare Peeves," Neville breathed.

"We're coming," said Hermione.

"We're always coming," they said together.

"Snape must have left it there."

"I don't see Snape playing the harp," George commented.

"I see him as more a piano type of guy," Fred agreed.

Give the flute to Hermione so she can keep him asleep."

"Why Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"I was holding the trapdoor and didn't have any hands free," Ron said with a shrug.

"Please tell me you didn't just drop," Mrs Weasley said.

"Um, we didn't just drop?" Harry offered, his tone making it more of a question than a statement and causing both Mrs Weasley and Remus to sigh.

"It's okay!" he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!"

"That's a long way down," Remus commented faintly, not wanting to think what would have happened to Harry if whatever he landed on there hadn't been there.

She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around her ankles.

"Devil's Snare," Neville said, turning white; he knew how dangerous that plant could be, from his own research and from class.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Hermione.

"Heat and light. Preferably a fire," Neville said.

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.

Harry was doing his best to not gasp while breathing himself, despite the tightness that he could feel around his chest.

"Yes—of course—but there's no wood!"

"There's no wood?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"I only knew about magic for a year, give me a break. I reverted back to what I had known for ten, eleven years of my life," Hermione replied.

"ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"And there's the common sense when Hermione starts to panic and overthink things. Ron's the only one who's never reverted back to muggle thinking," Harry said.

They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hermione tried her Alohomora charm.

"It wasn't going to be that simple," Bill commented.

"The simplest options are often overlooked," Hermione said with a shrug.

"Besides, the actual answer was pretty simple too," Harry added.

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one—probably silver, like the handle."

"Nice observations," Mr Weasley said.

"That big one—there—no, there—with bright blue wings—the feathers are all crumpled on one side."

"Why did you have the actual key in the same room?" Moody asked gruffly and Filius flushed. He hadn't even thought to have the key in a different place.

"We've got to play our way across the room."

"Good thing Ron's there," Mr Weasley said quietly.

The black knight nodded.

"Please tell me it's not like real wizard's chess," Mrs Weasley said faintly.

Finally he said, "Now, don't be offended or anything, but neither of you are that good at chess—"

"Definitely weren't offended," Hermione said.

"We both know you're our strategist," Harry said.

"I'm going to be a knight," said Ron.

"Your favourite piece," Bill said.

What if they lost?

"Don't think about that," Mrs Weasley whimpered.

The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Oh no. No, no, no," Mrs Weasley said, her breaths coming quickly as if she was about to start hyperventilating; she was clearly imagining if it was one of them that got taken.

"We're all fine mum," Ron assured her gently as Mr Weasley handed her an already uncorked calming draught.

"Let me think let me think..."

"Don't you dare say what I think you're going say," Bill said quietly. He knew Ron's style, since he was the one who taught Ron to play, and could guess what he would say, and he really didn't like it.

"Yes..." said Ron softly, "It's the only way... I've got to be taken."

"Damn it, Ron, no you don't," Charlie exclaimed.

"You've got to make some sacrifices!

"Not you though Ron," Harry said. Harry nudged his knee and put his arm around Ron's shoulder as Hermione leaned over to squeeze his hand.

"Never you," Hermione agreed.

There was no alternative.

"There really wasn't. The only move we could make without opening ourselves to be checkmated was for me to be taken," Ron said, making sure to keep his face blank and voice even, even as he remembered the pain from getting taken like he had been; he was at least thankful that he wouldn't have to relive it.

She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor

"Ron!" most of the Weasleys yelled, many of them clutching empty potions bottles in clenched fists, not wanting to believe what he had done. Mrs Weasley was the only one who didn't yell; she had her lips pressed tightly together, eyes shut tight, and her hands clenched into fists.

"I'm fine," he said before they could pull him off the couch he was in and into a Weasley pile.

He looked as if he'd been knocked out.

"I had been. And it bloody hurt," Ron said, adding the last part in a mutter as he rubbed his head.

With one last desperate look back at Ron, Harry and Hermione charged through the door and up the next passageway.

"You just left him," George and Fred exclaimed.

"We didn't want to. But we didn't know how long we had until the game put itself back together. We wouldn't have been able to win without Ron. And if it reset itself before we were out then his sacrifice would have been for nothing," Harry snapped. Ron nudged his leg and Hermione squeezed his hand.

Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one they had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

"So glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry said, Hermione nodding her agreement.

They were trapped.

Severus leaned forward slightly, wanting to know how they got past his obstacle, and wondering how long it had taken them.

"But so will we, won't we?"

"Hermione was there. Of course, she'd work it out," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Give me a minute."

"It really didn't take her very long. Three minutes, max. I'd still be stuck there," Harry said.

Severus sighed; of course, Granger had worked it out so quickly.

"I might get lucky again."

"You were relying on luck," Remus said faintly. Harry nodded and shrugged.

"Hermione!"

"Really wasn't expecting that."

It was indeed as though ice was flooding his body.

Harry shivered slightly as it felt like his whole body had been flooded with ice again; it hadn't been a pleasant feeling the first time, and a second time around didn't make it any mor pleasant.

He put the bottle down and walked forward; he braced himself, saw the black flames licking his body, but couldn't feel them—for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire—then he was on the other side, in the last chamber.

"It was very weird to walk through fire," he muttered.

"It was," Hermione agreed.

It wasn't even Voldemort.

As soon as the chapter was finished, the Weasleys all seemed to pounce on Ron. He was pulled off the couch and into a large group hug, with all of his older brothers fussing over him in a way he hadn't had them do in years.

Eventually though, he managed to extract himself from the Weasley pile and take his place on the trio's couch again, prompting the others to all take their seats again so that they could keep reading; they only had one chapter left after all.