"What do you suggest we do? Wait until Professor Dumbledore leaves? We'll be forever doing that! He never leaves!" Ron said, throwing his head back on the couch.
The twins were away, studying or something with Lee. Neville was ignoring them, not wanting to get into more trouble. So Hermione, Harry, and Ron plotted next to the fire.
"We should check it out tonight. Get a feel for it. Then, if we need to, we can get down there without issue," Harry said, taking control of the situation. "Ron, you're the chess player. What moves to we make to win this game?"
"We can't move until after curfew. Midnight would be best. Send one of those enchanted notes to Draco to tell him what time," Ron said, staring into space as he thought.
"Tonight or tomorrow?" Hermione asked. "Tomorrow would be better. One last day of preparation before we go."
"And that way, we can give Draco the time to prepare a way out," Harry added.
"Then it's a plan, tomorrow night," Ron said with a nodded of his head. With that they turned back to their homework. None of them noticed Neville, or the torn look on his face.
"At midnight we go," Harry said lowly.
"Midnight in the third floor corridor? Or is that when you leave your common room?" Draco asked, playing his own mental game of chess.
"That's when we'll leave. You know how long it take for you to get there. A simple Alohomora will open the door if you get there before or after us," Harry informed him. Draco nodded and they went their separate ways.
"I can't let you do this! I can't let you lot lose more points for Gryffindor! We're already behind and I know that Hermione has almost made her points back up, but Harry, you and Ron haven't!" Neville shouted.
"I'm sorry, Neville! Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione said, waving her wand.
"Protego!" Neville surprised everyone, blocking the hex and darting out of the common room.
"Damn! He actually remembered something from Dads' weekends!" Harry shouted, throwing his fists in the air.
"What are 'Dads' weekends'?" Hermione asked, priorities out of order once again.
"Not important! He's got a head start on us! He's headed for Aunt Minnie for sure, we've only got so long before she catches us," Harry said, covering the three with his cloak.
"Let's go!" Ron said, leading them away.
Draco, Hermione, Ron, and Harry looked at Fluffy and the music playing in the room.
"Let's move his paw." Draco suggested. They agreed and opened the door and looked down. "Something isn't right."
"The music stopped playing." Harry said as the head closest to him moved. "Go get Snape. Let him know someone is after the stone."
Draco nodded and distracted the three heads as the others went down the trapdoor.
When the trio fell down, the lack of light took them by surprise.
"Devil's Snare!" Ron yelled to the other two.
"Awesome, how do we get out of it?" Harry yelled.
"Light! We need light!" Ron said.
"But we don't have any firewood!" Hermione screamed.
"We don't haveā¦. You're a witch woman! Use it!" Ron screamed back.
"Oh, right," Hermione almost whispered. Then she waved her wand and the blue flames she was so good at exploded from her wand and disabled the devil's snare. With that, they fell through to the floor below.
After a quick nod, they went to the next room, where Harry caught a broken-winged key to open the next door.
Next came a room with what had to be a chess set from hell. It was just like a gigantic version of wizard chess.
"Look's like we'll have to play our way across," Ron said, taking in the board. "Harry, you're the bishop there. Hermione, you take that castle there."
"What about you, Ron?" Harry asked, knowing exactly what piece Ron would pick.
"Me? I'll be the knight," Ron said with confidence.
The battle was hard fought, but Ron held his own well. Finally, he announced that they were less than two moves away.
"Okay, Hermione, after this, you need to take the king," Ron said. Harry felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.
Ron took a deep breath, then moved into position. Just after that, the white queen took the knight, severely beating Ron into unconsciousness.
"Oh no!" Hermione said, trying to go to his aid.
"Hermione! Finish the game, then check on Ron. She's not a patient woman, the white queen," Harry said, calling the girl's attention back to the task at hand.
Hermione quickly took the king, then rushed to Ron's side as the queen's blade fell. Determining that he would survive, they went through the door to the next room.
"What the hell! Logic puzzles? Potions are hard enough without logic puzzles!" Harry shouted as Hermione read the paper several times. Harry continued his rant as Hermione began moving bottles about, ordering them to some preference he couldn't understand. Finally, she held out two bottles.
"This one gets you through that fire to whatever is next. Just enough for one person. This bottle with get me back to Ron. You go face whatever is through that door. I'll go find Draco and Professor McGonagall," Hermione said, handing a bottle to Harry.
"Let's do this," Harry said, tipping back the potion and taking off through the fire, just as Hermione drank her's and took off to find Ron.
"Bloody hell." Harry said, looking at the man standing in front of the mirror. "Out of all the people. It's you!" Harry laughed. "Really, it's great, bloody fantastic, it's always the one you least suspect. Draco will be thrilled. I mean, he said at Christmas that it would be something like this, now I have to tell the bugger that he was right."
"Are you finished?" Quirrell hissed.
"Use the boy." A voice sounded.
"Come here." Quirrell demanded.
"Yeah...I'll pass." Harry said taking a step away.
"It wasn't a request." He said, pulling Harry over with magic. "I see myself with the stone, but it still remains draped in this idiotic mirror."
"Maybe you're not worthy." Harry said stepping in front of the mirror. "Maybe I'm not either." Harry stalled, watching himself closely in the mirror. Mirror Harry put the stone into his pocket, a wicked smirk on his face.
"Let me see the boy!" The voice demanded.
"Master, you're not strong enough," Quirrell insisted.
"Yeah, I suggest you listen to Quirrell," Harry mouthed."Wouldn't want you to have to put in extra effort to see little ol' me."
Quirrell unwrapped his turban as Harry back away slowly, his scar burning.
"Ah, Harry Potter." The face in the back said.
"Ah, Voldemort." Harry said, folding his arms. "Still the scum of the earth, and preying on children I see. Anyone else you'd like to kill in my family? Wait, I think you got them all."
"I have something else you could seek. Power. You wish to have it. You wish to be known by the world. I could give it to you."
"You already did, thanks." Harry said taking more steps backwards. "I've got nothing that could help you."
"Then why don't you turn out your pockets," Voldemort hissed. "Together, we can have all the power in the world. All I need is the stone. Join me."
"I think I'll take my chances, thanks." Harry continued.
"Seize him!" Voldemort commanded. Quirrell rushed after Harry, but when he attempted to touch him, his skin burned. Harry, being Sirius's godson, attacked back, his hands grabbing for his skin and burning him further until there was nothing left of the professor. No matter how hard Harry tried, the pain in his forehead was blaring, finally making him pass out.
Harry woke up three days later, just to find out that the whole school knew about the adventure under the school. Draco was pissed that they took off without him. Neville was pissed that they didn't seem to get into more trouble than some hospital time. The twins were just happy that they scheduled their raid for a time when Harry could still compete in the Quidditch Cup. They were, however, behind by so many points that the win did nothing to help Gryffindor take the lead, or even get back into the running.
School came to a close, the stone was disposed of by Nicholas Flamel himself, and finally, they were at the end of the year feast. The Great Hall was decked out in silver and green, a fitting tribute to the Slytherins who had kept themselves out of trouble.
"Another year draws to a close," Dumbledore said, beginning his end of the year speech. "Before we begin our feast, some last minutes points need to be awarded. To Ron Weasley, 50 points for the best played game of chess this school has ever seen. To Hermione Granger, 50 points for cool use of logic in the face of fire. To Harry Potter, 60 points for for pure nerve and outstanding courage."
The Gryffindors held their breath. They were tied; tied for first place. One more point and they owned the House cup.
"And finally," Dumbledore said. "There are many kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, yes. But it takes just as much to stand up to our friends. Because of this, I award Neville Longbottom 10 points. Now, for a change of decoration."
"What the hell kind of games did you put to this stone!" Sirius yelled, charging through the doors and storming up to the pavilion where the head table sat. "Three eleven year olds beat that, old man! This was a half ass plan! Almost as much as leaving a one year old on the doorstep of muggles and leaving me in a jail to rot!"
"Now, Sirius, I think you are taking out some old hostility right now, and it isn't appropriate." McGonagall added. "Ten points from Gryffindor."
With that, the decorations changed yet again, green and silver in half the room and red and gold in the other half. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were rolling their eyes. Ties didn't happen, but it looked as though rules were about to change to accommodate these soon to be second years. The next seven years were going to be whirlwind.
With the tie in place, Draco and Harry ran from either side of the room to meet between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. They loosened their ties and switched them, high-fiving each other. This was the perfect end to their first year at Hogwarts.
Gabs: Yeah, yeah, we glossed. You're tired of reading it, we're tired of writing it, so we glossed the end.
Kat: Yup, get used to it! We're going to gloss over the second book too, and most of the third. We want to get to the juicy stuff too. We know you're dying to figure out our ships!
Gabs: And we all know that ships can't happen until they are old enough to understand what they're doing.
Kat: We own nothing that looks familiar. Also, Gabs' birthday is on Monday! Leave her a review and wish her a happy birthday!
Gabs: Yes, review and remind me that I'm another year older. That'll be great. Thanks for that.
Kat. Ah, Gabs, you'll always be older than me. And thank you, a real thank you, to all those who do review. We love it.
XOXO
Gabs & Kat
