Chapter 29
Monday, November 25, 1991-Somewhere on the fourth floor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland
Stay where you are. Babbling said something about troll.-Patricia
Patricia's writing definitely wasn't as neat as it usually was (that came with writing while running through pitch black hallways) but as long as her message got through it didn't matter. Patricia and Grace ran as fast as they could to keep up with Professor Babbling. She was going so fast that the light at the end of her wand didn't even have time to wake the portraits they passed. When she stopped suddenly both girls collided with her back.
"Minerva," Professor Babbling gasped. "Good. Potter and his friends have gone to the forbidden corridor."
"See, I told you I wasn't lying," Lee said.
Professor McGonagall was pulling him along by his ear to make sure that he went back to Gryffindor Tower. It hurt just as much as it sounds like it does.
In the light from Babbling's wand, McGonagall's face was pinched. She looked around Bathsheda at the two Ravenclaws catching their breath behind her.
"I seriously doubt," Professor McGonagall began saying.
Patricia interrupted her. "With all due respect, professor, it would be stupid not to look into this, even if we were lying. Harry thinks the Stone is going to be stolen and eve if he's wrong, he, Granger, Ron and the twins are going to be in danger going through whatever traps have been set up. A room of bouncing doorknobs is one thing, a troll is another."
McGonagall's face paled. She looked at Babbling, who nodded. Without another word the two professors took off running down the hallway.
The three students followed them.
"More running," Grace complained.
They made it to the forbidden corridor in record time. The staircases seemed to be stunned by the two professors sprinting though the halls because they didn't do as much as twitch while they were on them. Professor McGonagall and Professor Babbling stopped outside the entrance to the corridor and appeared to realize for the first time that the three students had followed them.
"You three go back to your common rooms," McGonagall told them.
"We're coming with you," Patricia said.
She continued before McGonagall could protest. "If someone is stealing the Stone you'll have to stop them. If anyone is injured then we'll bring them to the Hospital Wing and you can go on."
"We don't have time to argue, Minerva," Babbling said.
McGonagall pursed her lips. "Fine," she said, "but you must do what we say."
Patricia, Lee and Grace all nodded quickly.
"Then, Miss Abbot, go to the Owlery and send a message to Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall ordered. "I will reverse any punishments you may receive."
Grace opened her mouth to argue with McGonagall before she caught herself and went running for the West Tower and the Owlery.
And then there were four.
Babbling opened the door and they stepped into the forbidden corridor, immediately coming face to faces with what Patricia was sure had to be the world's biggest dog of any number of heads. The dog growled at them, probably very angry at being disturbed for the third time in one night.
Professor McGonagall very calmly waved her wand at the gilded harp that was sitting near the door. The harp began playing a nice little tune that very quickly had all three pairs of the dog's eyes drifting shut.
"I can't believe Hagrid named him Fluffy," Babbling whispered.
Lee looked at the giant snoring dog with wide eyes. "That thing is called Fluffy?"
McGonagall and Babbling worked together to move Fluffy off of the trapdoor he was guarding.
"There's a drop into Devil's Snare here," Babbling warned. "Don't let it grab hold of you, but if it does, don't struggle. We'll get you out."
They jumped down onto the Devil's Snare and found that it wasn't in any shape to grab hold of anything. There were bluebell flames dotting the plant's entire surface, and as a result it was coiled up so tightly that it wasn't able to move any further.
"That was probably Granger," Lee said, nodding towards the blue fire. "I've seen her carrying jars of that around."
"Ten points to Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall said. "Come along, you two."
Lee and Patricia followed the professors into the next room, passing two broomsticks leaning against the wall of the adjoining hallway that were probably there so that no one would get stuck between Fluffy and the Devil's Snare on their way out. Both of them noted that they were better brooms than the school brooms used for flying lessons, which probably said something about the Hogwarts budget.
They heard the next obstacle before they saw it. The sound of vibrating springs was surprisingly loud, but when they entered the room it made a lot more sense. About a hundred metal spheres were bouncing between the floor and ceiling and off of the walls. If it hadn't been for whatever charms Professor Flitwick had put on them they would have made an even more terrific noise.
"Are we supposed to catch the doorknob?" Patricia asked.
"Forget the doorknob, how are we supposed to reach the door?" Lee wanted to know.
The metal projectiles seemed to block any possible safe path across the room as quickly as they opened. Patricia wondered if Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George had given up and gone back to Gryffindor Tower instead of dealing with them.
That would be a much better reason for them not being in the room than having made their way onward and getting eaten by a troll. Explaining that to Molly Weasley would be a nightmare.
"They're supposed to have softening charms on them," Babbling told them, feeling slightly apprehensive herself.
McGonagall picked up the two butterfly nets that were on their side of the room and handed one of them to Patricia. "The doorknob is silver with a four-leaf clover on it. One of us will have to catch it."
Patricia looked down at the butterfly net. "Me?"
"You, Miss Stimpson-Black," McGonagall said. "You are a Beater, are you not?"
Yes, she was Beater, not a Seeker. Still, she did probably have the fastest reflexes out of all of them, which would be needed for catching a bouncing doorknob that changed directions in the blink of an eye.
"There!" Lee said suddenly, pointing to the far corner of the room. "No, wait, it's coming this way. Patty, to your left!"
Patricia saw the blur of silver out of the corner of her eye and shot the net out to capture it just before it could bounce off of the wall.
"Don't call me Patty," she told Lee as she reached into the net and took out a silver door knob with a four-leaf clover embossed on the surface.
"It was faster," Lee said as an excuse.
McGonagall put down her net. "That's the one."
Lee and Patricia eyed the doorknobs still rocketing around the room. They sure looked like solid metal.
"Cover your heads," Professor Babbling suggested.
They put their arms over their heads and ran across the room. The doorknobs bouncing off of them felt like snowballs. Snowballs that Fred and George would make, packed as dense as possible with a crust of ice on the surface. They were probably going to have bruises but it wasn't too bad.
Patricia held up the doorknob. "Do I put this here?" she asked, moving it to the place on the door right above the keyhole where it looked like a doorknob ought to go.
Her question was answered when the doorknob got stuck to the door and they just barely heard the click of the door being unlocked.
"Why isn't there a key?" Lee asked. "Wouldn't that be a better way to keep people out?"
"The Headmaster didn't want anyone to get trapped," McGonagall said.
Well, that made total sense. Not.
McGonagall eased the door open. Immediately a horrible smell was released. McGonagall's eyes watered as she peeked into the next room.
"The troll's been knocked out," McGonagall said with a cough.
Professor Babbling's face paled. "Students couldn't have done that."
Did she know the same Fred and George as the rest of them? Also, Halloween.
They skirted around the edges of the troll room, covering their noses with the sleeves of their robes. The next door was also unlocked (because of course it was) and Professor McGonagall was again the first person to enter the next room.
"Mister Weasley!" she exclaimed.
Patricia and Lee ran into the room after her and saw Ron sitting by the wall nursing a very obviously broken arm.
"Professor?" he asked, dazed.
"Mister Weasley, did you beat my chess set?" McGonagall asked, looking very surprised indeed.
Ron nodded and then put a hand to his head. "Ow."
Patricia and Lee looked at the giant stone chessmen lined up in front of them and all the way on the other side of the room in front of the door. Patricia supposed that this obstacle was playing across the room, and by the look of Ron getting thrown into walls.
"Where are the others?" Lee asked.
"They must have gone on," Ron said. "I, er, might have gotten knocked out."
Professor Babbling waved her wand over Ron's arm to put it into a splint while Professor McGonagall crossed the room to the rows of white chessmen.
"Calx nonvivent faciam," McGonagall said, waving her wand at the chessmen.
The chessmen, which had been in the middle of drawing their swords, froze. McGonagall turned to Professor Babbling.
"I believe your obstacle is next, Bathsheda?"
Babbling nodded. She opened the next (unlocked) door, peaked through it, and immediately slammed it shut.
"Merlin help us!" she shrieked.
"What's wrong?" McGonagall asked. She reached for the doorknob and Professor Babbling slapped her hand away.
"We mustn't go in there!" Professor Babbling exclaimed. "It's too dangerous, much, much too dangerous!"
"But we have to," Patricia said.
"What's happened?" McGonagall asked.
"Someone's broken through my obstacle using Blood Magic," Professor Babbling said gravely. "The entire room is toxic."
A/n: McGonagall's chessmen freezing spell is basically "I order the stone not to live" in really badly translated Latin.
-Cynder2013