CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Down the Trapdoor

If it was up to Snape, the lot of them would have been expelled for their actions. It took a lot of hysterical objections on all of their parts, along with a detailed description of the actions leading to the impromptu concert, to convince McGonagall to "waive" such punishments in lieu of another fifty points docked from Gryffindor's total score. They were rapidly nearing a score of zero, but, to Ellie's relief, the other Gryffindors didn't seem to mind too much; apparently having rule-breaking rock stars in their House made up for some of it.

Unfortunately, Ellie didn't have long to bask in the glory of the impromptu performance; the exams were upon them, and thanks to all of her distractions, she didn't exactly crush them.

"Don't worry about it," George told her cheerfully after her final, and particularly awful, History of Magic exam. "We did terrible on our first year exams, and we're still here, aren't we?"

Ellie tried to smile, but she couldn't quite manage. What had she been thinking, wasting all that time that she could have spent studying? What if she was held back? She couldn't bear the thought of being yet another year behind the twins.

"I've just thought of something," said Harry suddenly, rushing over to Ellie and the twins with Hermione and Ron at his back. "I can't believe I didn't think of it before."

"Is this about the ruddy stone again?" grumbled George. "Exams are over, mate. We're due to go home in less than a week. Let it go."

But Harry shook his head insistently. "Think about it. Isn't it a bit odd that thing Hagrid wanted more than anything was a dragon, and a stranger turned up who just happened to have an egg in his pocket?"

Ellie bit her lip, glancing hesitantly at the twins. "I suppose it's a bit odd. But—"

"I've got to go and see Hagrid," Harry interrupted. "Come with me or not—the choice is yours."

Hermione and Ron followed him without objection, but when Ellie tried to do the same, George caught her by the arm.

"It's become an obsession, El," he said, shaking his head. "Don't feed into it."

Ellie couldn't deny that Harry was, in fact, nearing a level of obsession with all this. But was he wrong to? If that had really been Voldemort in the woods, and there was even a chance that whoever his servant was would get him that Stone…

She shuddered at the thought, pulling her arm out of George's grip. "I'm going," she said firmly. "You don't have to come."

And she followed after the trio.

A few seconds later, Fred caught up to her.

"You've finally done it," he joked weakly as he fell into step with her. "You've managed to split up the twins."

She knew he had meant it as a joke, but she hated the sound of it. Still, she appreciated him for having her back, like he always did.

They reached Hagrid's hut a few minutes later. Hagrid was out front, whistling to himself and enjoying the fresh air. "Hullo," he greeted cheerfully when he saw them. "Finish yehr exams already?"

"Hagrid," Harry said urgently. "This is important. The man you won the dragon's egg off of—what did he look like?"

Hagrid frowned. "Dunno exactly. He kept his hood up the whole time. Not so uncommon for folk in the Hog's Head."

"What did you talk to him about?" Ellie pushed. "Did you mention Hogwarts?"

Hagrid considered that for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah—believe so. He asked what I did, and I told him I was gamekeeper 'ere. He asked a bit about the sort of creatures I looked after, and I told 'im. Told 'im what I really wanted was a dragon, which was why he offered to play me for it."

Ellie and Harry exchanged a pained look at that.

"Wasn't sure I could handle a dragon, mind yeh," added Hagrid. "But I told 'im, I said—after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy."

Ellie tried not to groan. "Did he ask you more about Fluffy?"

"Well, yeah, o'course—who wouldn't be interested in Fluffy? So I answered 'is questions. Told him Fluffy isn't so bad If yeh know how to calm 'im. Just play 'im a bit o' music, and he'll go straight to sleep."

This time, Ellie and Fred exchanged horrified looks while Ron, Harry and Hermione did the same. Hagrid stiffened, noticing. "I shouldn't'a told yeh that."

But they didn't linger. They were off in an instant, sprinting toward Dumbledore's office. It was a crucial bit of information that he had to have as soon as possible.

McGonagall stopped them before they ever made it there, sensing their urgency. "Where are you five off to, then?"

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore!" they all nearly screamed at her. "Immediately!"

She looked more amused than concerned. "Regarding?"

"It's sort of… secret." Harry looked embarrassed.

McGonagall's nostrils flared at the implication that she might not be privy to such important matters. "Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry and flew off at once."

More panicked looks. "He's gone?" Harry demanded. "Now?"

McGonagall looked impatient. "Albus is a very important wizard, Harry, who is, from time to time, called upon for matters outside of these walls."

"But this is important, too!" Ellie insisted. "Professor, please. It's about the Philosopher's Stone!"

A thick silence fell upon them at that. McGonagall looked outright shocked. "How do you…?"

"Professor," Harry said. "Please. Someone's going to try and steal the Stone. We have to talk to him."

But it was no use. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone," she growled in a terse voice, "but rest assured, it would not be possible for anyone to steal it. It is heavily protected."

"But, Professor—" begged Harry.

"Enough! Now, I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

And with that, she took her leave of them.

"It's tonight," Harry said as soon as they were alone again. "Has to be. They were waiting for Dumbledore to go, and now he's gone."

"Then we go tonight, too," said Ellie firmly. "I don't know whether it's Snape doing all this or someone else, but I know that I'll be damned if I let that stone get into the hands of Voldemort."

That evening, Ellie felt strangely like a cat burglar as she donned head-to-toe black clothes.

"I look ridiculous," she joked weakly to Hermione, who hadn't gone quite as rebellious with her ensemble.

"You look cool," Hermione objected with a small smile. "If I could pull off all black, I would have done the same."

Ellie shot Hermione a reluctant smile at that, then cleared her throat and said, "We'd better get to the common room."

Ellie wasn't entirely sure whether George would be joining them down the trapdoor or not. She knew that Fred would—he had made that much perfectly clear after their engagement with McGonagall—but George had seemed so reluctant the last time.

But he must have come around to the idea, because when she and Hermione joined the boys, he was with them.

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled George when he saw Ellie's expression. "I'm here. Figured life wouldn't be quite as much fun with the lot of you dead."

They exchanged nervous laughs at that as they all got to their feet, but before they could make it even a few steps toward the portrait hole, they were stopped by the sound of Neville Longbottom clambering down the stairs.

"Whatever you're doing, don't even think about it!" he shouted as he sprinted over to them. "Thanks to the lot of you, we're nearly in negative points! You can't just break the rules whenever you feel like it. Leave and I'll go straight to McGonagall."

Ellie glanced at the others, unsure how to proceed. Would they have to explain the entire story to Neville? If they did, would he understand?

"Neville," said Hermione, "I'm really sorry about this."

And, to Ellie's horror and amazement, she lifted her wand, pointed it at Neville, and said, "Petrificus Totalus."

"Blimey, Hermione," muttered George as Neville's now stone-cold body clattered to the floor. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

Ellie shuddered, trying to shake the image of unconscious Neville from her mind, as the lot of them climbed through the portrait hole, ignoring the Fat Lady's complaints about the time of night. As they had with the return of Norbert, they split into groups—Harry, Ron, and Hermione ducking beneath the invisibility cloak, and Ellie and the twins operating off the Marauder's Map for safety.

"We're clear," said George as they started to head toward the third floor.

"And Snape?" asked Ellie. "Is he on the third floor?"

"Actually, no," said George, frowning, as he squinted to read the map. "But it doesn't look like anything below the trapdoor shows up on the map."

"Of course, not," Ellie groaned sarcastically. "That would be too simple."

"Snape's in his room, though," pointed out Fred. "Strange."

"Snape or not," said Harry from beneath the cloak, "we know that someone's after the Stone—and that that someone is helping Voldemort. If anyone wants to turn around…"

"We don't," they all said together. Harry grinned slightly, and they continued on their way.

They reached the third floor without issue, and Hermione used Alohomora to get into Fluffy's room easily enough. When they did, though, they all froze. There was an enchanted harp in the corner of the room, playing music that put the three-headed dog to sleep.

"Someone's already been here," Harry breathed, voice starting to thicken with fear. "We were right."

Ellie glanced at the twins. She could see the same fear on their faces that was on Harry's, but neither appeared ready to back out.

"Come on, then," said Ron. "If we just move its paw… its large, frighteningly sharp paw…"

"Oh, Ron," sighed Hermione, pushing past him to reach the beast. She shoved its paw aside and flipped the door open.

"I'll go first," said Harry, stepping toward the opening. "Don't follow unless I say it's okay. Any sign of trouble, run."

"Don't be such a hero," teased George. "Any sign of trouble, down the trapdoor is probably safer than facing Filch or Mrs. Norris."

Ellie and Fred both snickered at that as the others shot them glares. Harry heaved one last sigh before jumping down into the abyss.

A few seconds later, he shouted, "II'm all right! C'mon! There's some kind of… cushioning."

Hermione and Ron both hesitated, so Ellie moved to jump, but Fred caught her arm.

"Just in case," he said with a wink, and before she knew it, he had jumped.

"Clear!" he shouted up at them a few seconds later.

This time, Ellie jumped. As Harry had said, she landed on a strange, almost slimy sort of cushioning and realized that she was on some kind of plant.

"Wait," she shouted. She felt the plantlike substance slithering around beneath her, and she wasn't entirely sure that Fred and Harry had been right about it being safe. "It feels sort of—"

But Fluffy must have woken up, because her warning was met only with shouts of fear and the rushed dives of the rest of their group down to join them.

"Nobody listens to me," Ellie whined.

"Would you prefer we have gotten eaten?" Ron demanded, attemping to wriggle his way out of the plant's clutches. It only seemed to be making things worse.

"Stop moving!" hissed Hermione urgently. "I know what this is—it's called Devil's Snare. I'm trying to remember how to kill it… What did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp…"

"So light a fire!" shouted Harry.

"Does anyone still have a wand hand free?" asked Ellie, whose arms were both already constricted by the Devil's Snare.

Fred pulled out his wand, shouted "Inflamari!," and lit the plant on fire.

In a matter of seconds, the plant loosened its grip on all of them, cringing in the heat and light of the fire. They leapt to their feet, scrambling toward the wall and finally toward the only open passageway forward.

"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," Harry complimented her as they walked. "Clearly you're the only one."

"And lucky you're a skilled pyromaniac," added Ellie to Fred with a grin. "Thanks for saving our arses."

Fred smiled weakly, but he looked unnerved, to say the least. "You sure you're okay? It looked like it really had you there."

"I'm fine," she assured him. "We all are."

But how much longer would they be able to say so?

The next area they reached was a tall, well-lit chamber full of a strange, fluttering noise that sounded almost like wings fluttering in the wind. Ellie squinted up into the chamber, peering out at a large group of what looked to be glittering birds.

"Hang on," said Ron, looking up at them in wonder. "They're not birds, are they? They're…"

"Keys," George breathed. "Keys! And one of them must open that door straight ahead!" He pointed to a door across the room, on which was a large, old-fashioned looking lock.

"Alohomora," Hermione casted at the lock, but it was no use; clearly the only way to get through it was to find the right key.

"Look," said Harry, pointing to a series of broomsticks leaning against the east wall of the chamber. "That's how you get the key."

"Brilliant," Fred and George said at the same time.

"Hang on," said Hermione. "There are only three brooms."

"I've got it," said Ron. "Harry, you take one. Ellie, ride with him—use your shield charm to keep the bulk of the keys off you. Fred, George—take the other two. Use your Beating skills to keep the bulk of the keys away from them."

They all stared at Ron in disbelief.

"What?" he demanded. "I might not be on the team, but I know Quidditch!"

"Works for me," Harry said with a shrug. "Do we know which key we're looking for?"

"It'll be a big one," said Hermione. "Old-fashioned. Probably rusty about the handle, like…" She scanned the massive chamber, then gasped and pointed. "There!"

They followed her gaze toward a large, rusty key that was exactly as they described.

"Keep your eyes on it!" shouted Harry as they darted over toward the broomsticks and mounted them.

"El—don't forget to sing!" shouted Fred.

Feeling absolutely absurd, Ellie started to sing the first song she could think of—Everlong. She was meek at first, not at all confident or powerful, but when Fred and the others started to sing along with her, it bolstered her confidence, and before long, she and Harry were soaring through the air, impervious to the damage of the keys.

She still felt the pressure of the keys on her shield, just as she had the other times she'd practiced using it. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling, either. Seeming to sense that, the twins stayed close to her, spinning and whirling around on their brooms to keep the bulk of the keys from hitting her and Harry.

Finally, they reached the key. Harry grabbed it like only a skilled Seeker could, then continued steering the broomstick straight toward the door. He tossed it down to Ron, who caught it and shoved it into the keyhole. The lock turned, and they all crashed their way into the next room before slamming the door closed behind them.

"That was brilliant!" Harry exclaimed to Ellie as soon as the coat was clear of all the other keys. "Did you know your shield would be that effective?"

"No," admitted Ellie, still feeling a bit winded from the effect of the keys hitting her shield.

"Hey," Fred said gently to her, taking her by the shoulders and scanning her eyes. "You okay?"

"Fine," she assured him, then turned to scan the new room they were in. Her eyes widened when she saw what surrounded them: a life-sized chess board.

"You have got to be kidding me," said George in amazement.

"I don't understand," said Hermione. "What's it doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Ron, staring up at the giant pieces in amazement. "If we want to get to the next room, we have to play."

Also fairly similar to the books so far, but between the twins and Ellie, surely the changes of participants will lead to some changes of events, right? Find out soon, and please remember to comment if you're enjoying the story. Thanks for reading!