Chapter 16: Down the Trapdoor
I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter
As the days crept on, one thing that kept Harry, Daisuke, Ron, and Hermione from panicking to much during their many exams, was that Fluffy seemed to remain alive and well behind the locked door on the third floor and that Professor Snape had not retrieved the Philosopher's Stone and handed it over to Voldemort.
The large classroom they took their written exams in was sweltering hot, the large glass window at the front of the room allowed the sunlight to beam through, cooking them all as they tried to remember everything they had learnt over the year.
They also had practical exams, Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall called them individually into their classrooms to perform various tasks with their magic.
Professor Flitwick asked them to make a pineapple tap dance across a desk while Professor McGonagall asked them to transfigure a mouse into a snuff box, she gave extra points for how pretty it looked, but also, she deducted points if the box still had whiskers.
Snape's exam, meanwhile, made them all nervous as the professor breathed down their necks, looming around the classroom like a shadow as they struggled to remember how to make a Forgetfulness Potion.
Thanks to Jun's tutoring lessons, Ron's potion was one of the best in the class, a fact that made Snape sneer at the Weasley.
Mercifully, the exams had soon came to an end. Their final exam had been for History of Magic, when Professor Binns had told them all to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, the entire exam room burst into cheers of relief and joy.
Soon, the four friends were following the rest of the students out of the castle and onto the sunny grounds. "That was far easier than I thought it was going to be. I had always heard End of Term exams were going to be the most challenging." Hermione said with a relieved smile.
"Speak for yourself." Ron replied, his robes open showing his sweater and school pants underneath and his tie was undone and dangling over his shoulders.
"Now we just have to wait a week for our exam results to come back." Daisuke said before she glanced over at Harry who was rubbing his scar again. "Are you alright?" she asked him softly, since their encounter in the Forbidden Forest, Harry's scar hadn't stopped hurting and he had been plagued by nightmares to the point he could barely get any sleep, the bags under his eyes proved that much.
"My scar…it keeps burning." He hissed softly.
"It's happened before." Hermione said.
"Not like this. I think it's a warning." He replied.
"A warning?" Ron asked his friend.
"Yeah…that means danger is coming." He said as they all took a seat under a large tree near the lake, nearby they spotted Fred and George Weasley along with their friend Lee Jordan tickling the giant squid that was basking in the shallows.
"At least we don't have to do any more revision." Daisuke said with a small smile, laying on the grass with Demi-Veemon resting on her stomach, the small Digimon purring contently as the warm sun shone down on them.
The others nodded, though Ron noticed Harry was still looking worried about something. "Harry, you should relax, remember what Daisuke said? As long as Dumbledore is at the school, the stone is safe. Voldemort wouldn't dare come here if Dumbledore was around to stop him."
"I know. But I can't help but feel like something is wrong, like we're forgetting something." Harry replied, looking at the sky as an owl flew over them towards the castle a message clamped firmly in its beak.
As he thought about how he never got any letters except from Hagrid, his eyes widened, and his face went pale white. "Hagrid!" he shouted, jumping to his feet, running off back towards the school.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked as he, Daisuke and Hermione ran after their friend, Demi-Veemon held in Daisuke's arms as she ran.
"We've got to see Hagrid, right now!"
"Why?" Hermione panted, the bushy haired girl struggling to keep up with her friends.
"Don't you think it's a bit odd, that the one thing Hagrid wants more than anything in the world is a dragon, and a stranger shows up and just happens to have one? How many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets, why didn't I see it before?" Harry said.
He sprinted across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut, his friends struggling to keep up, as they neared the hut, they saw Hagrid sitting outside his hut with Fang curled up at his feet, the man playing a tune on a wooden flute.
"Hagrid, that night you won Norbert, what did the stranger look like?" Harry asked suddenly once he reached him.
Hagrid stopped playing his flute and looked up at the four, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Dunno, he didn't take his cloak off. That's not that uncommon down in the Hog's Head, that's one of the pubs down in the village, by the way." He told them.
"This stranger though, you and he must have talked right?" Harry asked.
"Well, he asked me what I did here at the school. I told him I was the gamekeeper. He asked about the sort of creatures I looked after…I told him that next to Fluffy, a dragon wasn't going to be any trouble for me." Hagrid answered, stroking his beard as he tried to remember. "He kept buying me drinks, so it's a bit hard to remember."
"Did this guy seem interested in Fluffy?" Daisuke asked.
"Of course, he seemed interested, how often do ya come across a three-headed dog, even if you're in the trade. I told him, the trick to any beast is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy for instance, just play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep."
The four students all gasped and shared a horrified look. "I shouldn't have told you that…" Hagrid muttered before the four kids ran back up to the school. "Hey, where are you going?!" he shouted.
They ran as fast as they could, by the time they reached the Entrance Hall, their legs were burning, and they were panting. "We've got to speak to Dumbledore, right away." Daisuke said in between deep breaths.
"Whoever Hagrid spoke to that night, it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak. I bet it was easy to get Hagrid to tell them how to get past Fluffy once they got him drunk enough." Harry said.
The others nodded, though, they came across another problem at that moment. None of them knew where Professor Dumbledore's office was, they had never been told and never had been sent to speak to him.
"What are you four doing inside?" a voice across the hall rang out, they turned and saw Professor McGonagall walking towards them, a large stack of books in her arms.
"We have to speak to Professor Dumbledore, immediately." Hermione said bravely.
"Speak to Professor Dumbledore, why?" their head of house questioned coldly.
"It's important Professor." Daisuke told her.
Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared, and she sighed. "Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago, he received an urgent missive from the Ministry of Magic and left straight for London." She told them.
"He's gone!?" Harry blurted out. "But…" he sputtered, trying to think of how to tell her what they knew without revealing too much.
Daisuke cut him off as she stepped forward. "It's about the Philosopher's Stone." She said bluntly. Whatever Professor McGonagall had been expecting to hear, it certainly wasn't that. The books in her arms fell to the ground in a heap, but she didn't pick them up.
"H…how do you know!?" she asked, looking at the four in surprise and suspicion.
"We know someone is going to try and steal it." Daisuke continued. Professor McGonagall frowned lightly and picked up the fallen books.
"I don't know how you four found out about the stone, but rest assured it is perfectly safe. It is too well protected. Now I don't want to hear another word of this, all four of you, go and enjoy the sunshine." She told them before walking off.
The four remained put, waiting for her to be out of sight. "It's tonight." Harry whispered softly. "Snape's going to go through the trap door tonight to steal the stone, he's found out how to get past everything the Professors set in place, and with Dumbledore gone…"
Hermione gasped and the others turned around to see Snape standing nearby looking at them. "Good afternoon." He greeted with an eerily twisted smile on his face. "What're you four doing inside on a day like this?" he asked them.
The four didn't answer and he tilted his head. "You had better move along, lurking around like this, people might think you are…up to something." He said softly before walking off into the staff room.
Once he was gone, Harry and the others shared a look. "We're going down the trap door, tonight." He whispered.
"You're mad." Ron whispered.
"We don't have any other choice." Daisuke said softly. "If Snape gets a hold of that stone, we're all as good as dead. Voldemort will be back, stronger than ever and he'll be immortal to boot. I'm not going to let that happen."
"Here here!" Demi-Veemon cheered, jumping up onto Daisuke's head. "Time to do what we do best, save the world. Who's with us!?" he asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione all who smiled at the Digimon, and the four humans cheered and hurried off to Gryffindor Tower to prepare.
Later that night after everyone else had fallen asleep, the four, now in their casual clothes crept down the spiral staircase from their dormitories to the Common Room, Demi-Veemon sat on Daisuke's shoulder, his keen eyes and nose on high alert.
They paused when they heard the croaking of a toad, seeing Trevor resting on a table beside one of the armchairs. "Trevor, go shoo, you shouldn't be here." Ron hissed to the toad as someone stood up from the same armchair.
"Neither should you." It was Neville and he was wearing his pyjamas and was looking at the four with wide eyes. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?" he accused.
"Neville, I promise I can…" Harry tried before Neville cut him off.
"No, I won't let you! You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again, I…I…I'll fight you." He said, shakily raising his fists and glaring at his friends.
"Sorry about this Neville." Hermione whispered, pulling out her wand and she waved at him. "Petrificus Totalus." Neville's arms snapped to his sides, his legs locked together, and he fell over backwards with a dull thud, the only thing he could move were his eyes.
"The full body bind…" Ron whispered; Hermione nodded sadly. "Brilliant…but scary…" he muttered.
"Come on." Harry muttered, taking out his Invisibility Cloak he wrapped it around all four of them, thankfully it was big enough for all of them and they left the Common Room through the portrait hole.
After a slow, nervous journey to the third-floor corridor, eventually they laid eyes on the locked door to Fluffy's room. "Alohomora." Hermione whispered, pointing her wand at the lock and it glowed, a soft click echoed through the corridor and the door swung open. They hurried through and shut the door behind them.
"Wait…is Fluffy…" Daisuke began before a warm gust of air blew the cloak off them. "Snoring…" she whispered.
Sure enough, laying on the ground in front of them was Fluffy, all three of its heads fast asleep, snoring loudly and in the corner of the room was a large harp, the strings strummed themselves filling the room with a soft melody.
"Snape's been here already, he bewitched the harp to play itself." Harry whispered in worry.
"Well, let's get to work." Ron said softly. "We need to move its foot." He walked over to the giant paw that rested over the trap door, his friends following and slowly they began shifting the paw off.
"Easy…easy…" Daisuke whispered as Demi-Veemon stood beside her. "Got it." She whispered as the foot was finally pushed off the trap door. They opened the door and peeked down into the darkness below.
"I can't see anything, what do we do?" Ron asked as the others peered down the trap door as well, as they did, Daisuke glanced over at the harp when it stopped playing and they all tensed when they heard Fluffy begin to wake up.
"Go, now!" She shouted, grabbing Demi-Veemon before pushing her friends down the trap door and she jumped down last, narrowly avoiding Fluffy's three sets of teeth as the dog angrily barked at them.
They fell through the darkness before they landed with a soft thud, whatever they landed on, it was very soft, but it also felt strange. "What's this stuff?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow while running his hand along whatever they had landed on.
A moment later, whatever it was seemed to come to life, and several dark tendrils started to wrap around Ron and Harry's legs. "Watch out!" Daisuke shouted, managing to pull herself and Hermione free and they both pressed against the stone wall at the edge of the room, Demi-Veemon clutching onto Daisuke's hair, his eyes wide as they watched their friend's slowly get tangled up.
"It's Devil's Snare, both of you stop moving. The more you do, the faster it'll kill you!" Hermione warned them.
"Well, what the heck are we supposed to do!? Get us out of here!" Ron shouted.
"I'm trying to remember where Professor Sprout told us about it in Herbology…oh what was it…Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare…it's deadly fun…"
"But will sulk in the sun!" Daisuke finished, both girls sharing a bright smile. "That's it, Devil's Snare can't stand the light."
"So do something, light a fire!" Harry told them before a tendril wrapped around his mouth cutting off his screams.
"But there's no wood!" Hermione replied.
"No wood, are you mad! You're a witch aren't you!?" Ron shouted and Daisuke took out her wand and aimed it at the Devil's Snare.
"Incendio!" She shouted, casting a spell she had learned from Jun during the holidays, a jet of fire shot from the tip of her wand and struck the Devil's Snare which screeched and cowered from the flames, she cast the spell again and again until Harry and Ron could break free and join them against the wall.
"There's no wood?" Demi-Veemon asked, glancing at Hermione with a raised eyebrow and the bushy haired girl blushed sheepishly.
"Come on." Harry said, leading the way down a stone passageway. They walked in silence down the passageway, the only sound they could hear besides their footsteps was the trickling of water down the walls.
"This almost reminds me of Gringotts…" Daisuke whispered. "I just hope there isn't a dragon down here or something…"
"Don't be silly." Ron reassured her. "Dragons are dangerous and difficult to manage, the Professors would be daft to leave one locked up down here."
As they reached the end of the passageway, they heard another noise, a soft clinking sound and the fluttering of wings. "What is that?" Harry whispered. His question was answered a moment later as they stepped out into a brilliantly lit chamber, the ceiling arched high above them, and it was full of small what seemed to be bird-like creatures flying above them.
Across the room was a large wooden door, Ron walked over to it quickly and pulled out his wand. "Alohomora!" he shouted, waving it at the door before trying to open it, but it remained firmly shut. He tried the spell a few more times before he sighed.
"No luck?" Daisuke asked and he nodded.
"Looks like we need a key of some kind." He answered, glancing up as did the others. It was then when they realised the creatures flying above weren't any sort of bird but hundreds of winged keys that were all shapes and sizes.
"Oh, it'll take us forever to find the right key!" Hermione groaned. "There must be thousands of them up there!"
Harry looked around the room before he saw three broomsticks against the wall, he walked over to them, and the others followed. "Come on, we'll have better luck catching the right key if we work together." He told them.
"We're looking for a big old fashioned one, and it's probably silver like the handle." Ron pointed out, mounting up on one of the brooms, Harry did as well and Daisuke and Hermione shared the third broom, Demi-Veemon held on tightly to Daisuke's hair as they all kicked off the ground and flew up towards the flock of keys.
The keys suddenly scattered, flying around the room avoiding the four as they tried to grab the right key, as they flew about, Harry narrowed his eyes and spotted a large silver key with a bent wing flying in the centre of a swarm of keys. "That one there!" he shouted. "The one with the broken wing!"
"I've got it!" Ron shouted, shooting off towards the key only to miss and crash into the wall, he almost fell off his broom but luckily held on, Daisuke and Harry shared a look and flew around opposite ends of the room to try and corner the key, Hermione squealed and held onto Daisuke as the girl dove their broom from the ceiling down after the key.
"Go!" she shouted to her partner, Demi-Veemon nodded and jumped off her head, diving through the air like a blue bullet.
"Demi-Tackle!" he shouted, slamming into the key and he grabbed it in his tiny arms. "I got it!" he cheered before crying out when he began falling to the ground, thankfully Harry flew under and caught him in his arm.
They four flew down to the ground and jumped off their brooms, Harry pushed the key into the keyhole and turned, it worked. He pushed the door open, and he and the others ran through, shutting the door behind them just in time to avoid the other keys slamming into the door like sharp knives, some of them were sticking clean through the wood.
They all took a moment to catch their breath before continuing. The next chamber they entered was pitch black, they could hardly see in front of their noses until a dozen or so braziers along all four walls lit up magically to reveal an amazing sight.
A giant chess board was in the centre of the room and the four stood behind two lines of black chess pieces that were taller than they were, across the chess board were the white chess pieces and behind them was the door which led to the next room.
"Come on." Harry said, moving to walk across the chess board only for Ron to grab his arm.
"Wait a minute, I think we've got to play." He said.
"What do you mean? We don't have time to play chess." Harry told his friend. He continued across the chess board but as he neared the front line of white chess pieces, they came to life and drew both their swords and crossed them, blocking the way.
"I think Ron is right, Harry." Daisuke said softly, holding her partner in her arms before turning to Ron. "So, what do we do?" she asked him.
Ron hummed and looked around the chess board before he snapped his fingers. "Okay…we've got to take places on the board, Harry you take the place of that bishop, Hermione you stand next to him."
"What about us?" Demi-Veemon asked him.
"You're staying off the board." Daisuke told him, setting her partner down. "It's too dangerous and you may need to Digivolve later." Her partner pouted but nodded in understanding.
"Daisuke, you and I will be knights." Ron told her, she nodded before she and Ron climbed onto the black horses on the board while Harry and Ron stepped into the empty squares once the two chess pieces had left the board.
"What happens now?" Hermione asked.
"Well, white usually moves first in chess." Ron answered and sure enough a white pawn made the first move, sliding across the board silently. Ron looked around the board before pointing to one of his pawns. "You there, D5."
The chess piece obeyed, sliding across the board to the desired spot next to the white pawn that had moved earlier. "This won't be like real Wizard's Chess, right?" Hermione asked, only for her and Daisuke to scream in fright when the white pawn drew both swords and slashed the black pawn, shattering it to pieces.
"Oh biscuits…this is going to be just like Wizard's Chess…" Daisuke whispered. Ron gulped before he gained a determined expression.
"Let's play." He said and the chess game began. The white chess pieces showed no mercy as they smashed the other black chess pieces to smithereens, Ron had a difficult task of managing their side while also protecting Daisuke, Hermione, and Harry.
Harry fell to his knees when the white queen rammed her sceptre into the black castle the square two spaces away from him, the figure atop the castle falling off before the queen swung her weapon and sent the rest of the chess piece flying off the board narrowing avoiding Hermione as it flew past.
As the dust settled, Daisuke looked around the board before her eyes landed on Ron and they widened. "No!" She hissed in shock. "Ron, don't you dare do it!"
"I have to!" he told her. "Once I make my move, the queen will take me. That means Harry is free to checkmate the king."
"No, you can't! There must be another way!" Hermione pleaded with him.
"Do you want Snape to get his hands on that stone or not?" he questioned her before looking at Harry. "I'll be fine." He reassured his friends. He took a breath and made his move, the horse under him, sliding forwards across the board.
Once it had stopped, the white queen made her move, sliding over to Ron slowly, once it reached him, it stabbed the horse with her weapon. The horse burst apart violently and threw Ron off, the young boy screaming as he hit the ground a gash on his forehead.
Hermione and Daisuke both screamed in fright. Hermione went to rush over but Harry shouted. "No, don't move! Don't forget we're still playing!" Hermione jumped back onto her square and nodded. Harry then walked across the board towards the King, he looked up at the figure with a frown. "Checkmate!"
The sword the king held fell from its land, landing with a clatter. They had won the game. Daisuke jumped off the horse and ran towards Ron with Hermione following her. They kneeled beside him and tried to shake him awake, Demi-Veemon hurrying over while Harry walked over.
"Both of you, take him back up to the castle. Send word to Dumbledore, I'll go on ahead to stop Snape." He told them.
"You're not going alone. I'm coming with you." Daisuke said in a tone that left little room to argue. She turned to Demi-Veemon and pulled out her D-3 from her pocket. "Demi-Veemon stay here with them, help Hermione get Ron back to the castle."
"Right." He said as Daisuke's D-3 began glowing brightly. "Demi-Veemon digivolve too…Veemon." He transformed into his rookie form before glowing bright orange. "Veemon armour digivolve too…Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!"
Hermione and Harry stared at the Digimon who grinned before he bent down and gently picked Ron up in his arms. "I've got him." He reassured Hermione. He nodded to Daisuke and Harry who both rushed off through the now open door and up a flight of stairs to another room.
"Oh, what's that stench?" Daisuke gagged, covering her nose with her hand at the disgusting smell that hit them as soon as they entered the room. Their eyes widened as there on the ground was a giant troll, one larger than they had dealt with before laying on the ground with a huge hole in its chest, dark blood oozing from the lifeless corpse.
"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one." Harry said relieved, stepping over the troll's leg to the door that led to the next room.
They hurried through the door and dreaded to think what the next challenge would be, but to their surprise it wasn't as dangerous as they thought. A small table stood in the centre of the room with seven differently shaped bottles standing in a line.
"This is Snape's puzzle alright." Daisuke said. The moment they stepped over the threshold into the room, purple fire rose behind them covering the door while black fire appeared blocking off the other door.
"We're trapped." Harry grumbled. Daisuke nodded before she walked over to the table and grabbed a slip of paper that was on the table.
She began to read it. "Danger lies before you, safety lies behind, two of us will help you whichever you would find. One among us seven will let you move ahead; another will transport the drinker back instead. Two among our number hold only nettle wine, three of us are killers waiting hidden in line, choose unless you wish to stay here forever more, to help you with your choice, we give you these clues four….first however slyly the poison tries to hide, you will always find some on nettle wine's left side, second different are those who stand at either end, but if you would move onwards, neither is your friend. Third, as you see clearly, all are different size, neither dwarf nor giant holds death inside. Fourth, the second left and second on the right are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."
Harry looked at Daisuke who let out a chuckle. "It's a puzzle. No magic involved, it's all about logic. No wonder Snape did this, most wizards don't have an ounce of logic. They'd be trapped here forever."
"But won't we be trapped too?" Harry asked.
"Of course not. Everything we need to solve this is here on the paper. Give me a minute." She answered and she read over the clues and began to walk up and down the row of bottles.
After a while, she nodded to herself. "Got it." She said, pointing to the smallest bottle. "That will get us through the black fire, towards the stone and this one," she pointed to another bottle at the end of the line. "Will get us back through the purple flames."
"You drink that one." Harry told her, she turned to argue but he grabbed her arms gently. "Listen, go back and find the others, get out of here and go straight to the Owlery, send Hedwig to Dumbledore, I'll try to hold Snape off, but I won't last long."
"What if Voldemort's there with him?" Daisuke asked him.
"I got lucky once." Harry answered, gesturing to his scar. "Maybe I'll be lucky again."
Daisuke nodded before she hugged him tightly. "Be careful Harry, please." She whispered.
"I will." He promised, rubbing her back gently before he stepped back. She took the bottle at the end and drank it quickly, she shuddered for a moment.
"It's like ice…" she shuddered before walking towards the purple flames, she took a deep breath and stepped through the flames which harmlessly washed over her body without harming her.
Harry smiled in relief, he took the smallest bottle and gulped down the potion and shuddered as well, his entire body ran cold before he dropped the bottle and walked through the black flames until he was on the other side and in the next chamber.
Someone was already there however, but it wasn't Snape, and it wasn't even Voldemort.
"You…" Harry whispered as the person slowly turned around to face him.
The end of the chapter
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