Chapter Ten
"The what?" Ron said a little too loud.
"Shush." Hermione lowered her voice to a whisper, "the Sorcerer's Stone."
"Why is it so special?" Harry asked.
"Because it turns any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life making the user immortal," she read.
"Immortal?" Ron asked.
"It means you never die."
"I know what it means!"
"Shh!"
"Well, what are we going to do now?" Mell asked.
"Well, we know that Voldemort is after it. But that doesn't mean he knows where it is."
Suddenly, I remembered something.
"Harry? Do you remember the night of the troll and we saw Snape?"
Harry's face dawned, remembering.
"Oh yeah! We saw his leg and it was all bloody and gross with a cut all down the side of it."
"Maybe he tried to get through Fluffy." Mike said.
"Who's Fluffy?"
Mike swallowed, "Oh, um, didn't you know? The three-headed dog's name is Fluffy."
"Fluffy?"
"Well, yeah, um, Hagrid told me it was his."
"Of course it's Hagrid's, but, um, Fluffy?" Ron whispered, raising an eyebrow. Mike shrugged.
"You know his love for strange and dangerous animals. Remember the dragon last month?"
We all shuddered. Harry and Hermione had gotten in trouble of course, losing all of our precious points, trying to get rid of the stupid creature.
"Well," Sara cut in, "all we have left to do is wait for clues. Snape will try to get in someday. We'll just have to keep extra watch."
Weeks passed with no sign of anything dangerous. Harry sometimes complained that his scar hurt. Finally months were slowly drifting away. We lost a few quidditch games. It wasn't my fault I swear! The next game Wood was knocked off his broom while catching a quaffle. Luckily, it was low to the ground and he only suffered a slight head injury, which was easily cured by Madame Pomfrey. The next game it was pouring so hard, we couldn't see anything and the other seeker got the Snitch by mere chance. The last game we had was against Slytherin. Ouch, I think my joints still hurt from being thrown into the stand walls.
It was May and I was walking with Mike and Harry from quidditch practice. Mike had come to watch.
"I'm glad to see you finally mastered the 'swish and flick' Mike," I teased.
"Shut up."
"Harry, you fly really well," I commented.
"Thanks, but not good enough, or we would win more games."
I giggled.
"Shh!" Mike said suddenly. He froze and listened. I perked up my ears. There were voices coming from the Forbidden Forest. Harry beckoned us over. Harry and I both had brooms. But Mike didn't have one.
"Mike, get on mine!" I hissed.
"Are you kidding me?" he hissed back.
"Just get on!" it was a stupid idea. We teetered into the air, going as quietly as possible, following towards the trees. We lowered slowly onto the branches, Mike slipping off and kneeling on one of the boughs, low enough to hear who and what was going on. Harry sat rigidly on one behind me. I listened with every hearing ability I had. But of course I knew who it was.
".d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet me here of all places, Severus."
"That's Snape and Quirrel!" I mouthed to Harry, above me.
"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"
"B-b-but, Severus, I-
"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrel," I heard Snape say.
"I-I don't know what you-
"You know perfectly well what I mean. And you will be going down there, soon I assume, for he won't wait much longer, now will he?"
"W-what?"
"Oh, please, Quirrel, I don't want any of your little hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."
"B-but I d-d-don't-
"Very well," Snape interrupted, "We'll chat soon enough so you can think things over and decide where your loyalties lie."
I heard a swish of a cloak and then whimpering, probably from Quirrel and finally silence. We looked at each other, wide-eyed, and slowly climbed down.
It was the day of another quidditch match. If Gryffindor didn't win this game, we'd be out of the running for the year. And so, no pressure at all. I sat shaking in the locker room, extra early. It was June and pretty warm, yet still I shivered. I knew it was only a matter of time until the rest of the team showed up. I sat in my quiet solitude until someone opened the door. I jumped and turned. It was Mell.
"Oh, hey, there you are, he's been looking for you."
"Who?" I asked, suddenly scared.
"Wood of course!"
"Why?" I asked again, suspiciously.
"Just making sure our other chaser is in good order. I was sent to set up our brooms and stuff."
She walked over to the broom closet (pun intended) and pulled out several of the school brooms.
"The team oughta be here any minute."
As if on cue, someone else opened the door. It was our team captain.
"Of, there you are, good, we found you. All set for today's game?" Wood strolled over, helping Mell with the brooms.
"I think so," I gulped.
"Well, we have to win this game, you realize or we're out of the running."
"I know."
"So it's all up to Harry and all of you."
"So no pressure." Mell grinned at me from under a pile of robes. I grinned back.
Mell grabbed another huge pile of robes, perhaps too big, because she tripped on her shoelace and fell backwards into Oliver, knocking him over too. I covered my mouth to keep from giggling. Mell was sprawled on top of Wood, covered with scarlet robes. She picked one off her face and stood up, faster than anything I've seen from her. She blushed red. Wood stood up awkwardly, wiping his robes off.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry." She said, a little quickly.
"You're sure? That was some fall. We're going to need our chaser." He grinned and picked up some robes that had fallen on the floor.
"Positive, I'm fine." Mell looked so uncomfortable, but I could tell she must have enjoyed it. She winked at me. I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud. Wood looked at me weird.
Luckily, at that moment, the rest of the team showed up and I felt a little less nervous after laughing it off a bit. In ten minutes it seemed, we were dressed in our uniforms and flying out of the door into the pitch. The screaming and cheering came again. We had more cheering than the Slytherin, whom we were playing, because everyone wanted to see Slytherin finally get beaten. Our green opponents flew out after us, receiving some boos from the crowd. The Slytherin section cheered louder.
I looked around. In the Gryffindor section, I saw a huge sign that was written in Sara, Mell and mine code. Wait, no one knows that code except for us. I read it.
"Runnin' on Ice!" it said. I laughed and looked over at Sara, who gave me a thumbs-up. I returned it, smiling. My stomach felt less jumbly and I took a deep breath, staring at the Slytherin chasers. They all looked very menacing.
The whistle sounded and the game began. It was so fast, I barely had time to keep up with the passing. Harry watched for the Snitch, while listening for Lee's commentary. In the first twenty minutes, Slytherin had scored four times. I could see Wood panting and cursing under his breath. I panted as I threw Mell the Quaffle. Slytherin scored again twice, so the scoring stood sixty to zero. Mell passed to Sara who passed back to Mell. Mell zoomed towards the Slytherin line, but was knocked to the ground by a passing Slytherin, who stuck his arm out as she passed. I gasped, watching her, forgetting all about the game for a moment. Then she slowly rose and got back onto her broom.
Sara gasped and raced forward. With venom in her eyes, she flew up and rammed into the Slytherin who hit her, stealing the quaffle on the way. Mell punched the air, giving a wild whoop. Sara zoomed to the goalpost and scored our first goal. Wood circled wildly, yelling and punching the air, like Mell. The chaser on the Slytherin team took their beater's club and hit Sara in the stomach. I felt the wind go out of her as she keeled over.
One penalty was given to each team by a shouting Madame Hooch. The score was sixty to ten and it didn't look good for Gryffindor. Sara was really mad and blew off some steam by throwing the quaffle just a little too hard. I just barely caught as it almost sailed over my head. I scored and we were slowly but surely getting even. The Slytherin seeker kept a close watch on Harry, making sure he didn't make any sudden moves. Wood's fists were clenched most of the time, unless he was trying to catch a passing quaffle.
I ducked under a bludger and sailed underneath everyone. Mell passed me the quaffle and I passed it to Sara, but the pass was a little too low. She missed it and had to go diving for it. I sighed, getting frustrated. Several minutes passed. Slytherin scored two more times and if Harry didn't catch the Snitch soon, we'd be done for.
Suddenly I gasped, the Slytherin seeker was grinning viciously and started rising up. Harry raced after him and I couldn't watch because I was too nervous and Sara had passed me the quaffle. I passed it to Mell and looked up as Harry whacked the Slytherin seeker's hand away.
"YES!!" I yelled. Harry raised the Snitch high over his head and flew around the stands. The team cheered and raced after him. I saw Sara getting even with the other chaser by taking Slytherin's beater's club and hit him over the head and then in the gut. He keeled over bumping his nose on his broom, which started bleeding. Sara laughed evil and sailed up bumping into me, hugging me.
"We did it! We finally freakin' did it!" we shouted. Mell joined our group and we lowered down slowly to the ground. We got off our brooms and ran to the center of the crowd. The rest of the team came over and gave us hugs. Wood was crying and gave each us girls a kiss on the cheek, which nearly made us die. Professor McGonagall, I saw, was rejoicing over Snape, for she too had wanted a Gryffindor win. Slowly she pushed her way over, suddenly looking stern.
"Sara Brandt!" she yelled. Sara looked over, gulping. What on Earth could she have done?
"Sara, ten points will be deducted from Gryffindor for fighting during a quidditch match. Such foolishness!" Sara gulped again. McGonagall leaned forward and whispered, "but fifteen points given to Gryffindor for kicking Slytherin's butt!"
I nearly died again laughing. It was definitely a moment I will never forget.
Final exams passed long and hard. I couldn't believe it when we finally finished the last one. On the last day of exams, Sara, Mell, Mike and I strolled along the lake, talking of recent happenings. All of a sudden Harry, Ron and Hermione ran up to us.
"We've just been to see Professor McGonagall. She said Dumbledore has left for London. I know Snape is going to try and get the Stone while he's gone. And this is what we have to do." Harry paused, gasping. "We all have to go through the trapdoor and stop him.tonight."
"The what?" Ron said a little too loud.
"Shush." Hermione lowered her voice to a whisper, "the Sorcerer's Stone."
"Why is it so special?" Harry asked.
"Because it turns any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life making the user immortal," she read.
"Immortal?" Ron asked.
"It means you never die."
"I know what it means!"
"Shh!"
"Well, what are we going to do now?" Mell asked.
"Well, we know that Voldemort is after it. But that doesn't mean he knows where it is."
Suddenly, I remembered something.
"Harry? Do you remember the night of the troll and we saw Snape?"
Harry's face dawned, remembering.
"Oh yeah! We saw his leg and it was all bloody and gross with a cut all down the side of it."
"Maybe he tried to get through Fluffy." Mike said.
"Who's Fluffy?"
Mike swallowed, "Oh, um, didn't you know? The three-headed dog's name is Fluffy."
"Fluffy?"
"Well, yeah, um, Hagrid told me it was his."
"Of course it's Hagrid's, but, um, Fluffy?" Ron whispered, raising an eyebrow. Mike shrugged.
"You know his love for strange and dangerous animals. Remember the dragon last month?"
We all shuddered. Harry and Hermione had gotten in trouble of course, losing all of our precious points, trying to get rid of the stupid creature.
"Well," Sara cut in, "all we have left to do is wait for clues. Snape will try to get in someday. We'll just have to keep extra watch."
Weeks passed with no sign of anything dangerous. Harry sometimes complained that his scar hurt. Finally months were slowly drifting away. We lost a few quidditch games. It wasn't my fault I swear! The next game Wood was knocked off his broom while catching a quaffle. Luckily, it was low to the ground and he only suffered a slight head injury, which was easily cured by Madame Pomfrey. The next game it was pouring so hard, we couldn't see anything and the other seeker got the Snitch by mere chance. The last game we had was against Slytherin. Ouch, I think my joints still hurt from being thrown into the stand walls.
It was May and I was walking with Mike and Harry from quidditch practice. Mike had come to watch.
"I'm glad to see you finally mastered the 'swish and flick' Mike," I teased.
"Shut up."
"Harry, you fly really well," I commented.
"Thanks, but not good enough, or we would win more games."
I giggled.
"Shh!" Mike said suddenly. He froze and listened. I perked up my ears. There were voices coming from the Forbidden Forest. Harry beckoned us over. Harry and I both had brooms. But Mike didn't have one.
"Mike, get on mine!" I hissed.
"Are you kidding me?" he hissed back.
"Just get on!" it was a stupid idea. We teetered into the air, going as quietly as possible, following towards the trees. We lowered slowly onto the branches, Mike slipping off and kneeling on one of the boughs, low enough to hear who and what was going on. Harry sat rigidly on one behind me. I listened with every hearing ability I had. But of course I knew who it was.
".d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet me here of all places, Severus."
"That's Snape and Quirrel!" I mouthed to Harry, above me.
"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"
"B-b-but, Severus, I-
"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrel," I heard Snape say.
"I-I don't know what you-
"You know perfectly well what I mean. And you will be going down there, soon I assume, for he won't wait much longer, now will he?"
"W-what?"
"Oh, please, Quirrel, I don't want any of your little hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."
"B-but I d-d-don't-
"Very well," Snape interrupted, "We'll chat soon enough so you can think things over and decide where your loyalties lie."
I heard a swish of a cloak and then whimpering, probably from Quirrel and finally silence. We looked at each other, wide-eyed, and slowly climbed down.
It was the day of another quidditch match. If Gryffindor didn't win this game, we'd be out of the running for the year. And so, no pressure at all. I sat shaking in the locker room, extra early. It was June and pretty warm, yet still I shivered. I knew it was only a matter of time until the rest of the team showed up. I sat in my quiet solitude until someone opened the door. I jumped and turned. It was Mell.
"Oh, hey, there you are, he's been looking for you."
"Who?" I asked, suddenly scared.
"Wood of course!"
"Why?" I asked again, suspiciously.
"Just making sure our other chaser is in good order. I was sent to set up our brooms and stuff."
She walked over to the broom closet (pun intended) and pulled out several of the school brooms.
"The team oughta be here any minute."
As if on cue, someone else opened the door. It was our team captain.
"Of, there you are, good, we found you. All set for today's game?" Wood strolled over, helping Mell with the brooms.
"I think so," I gulped.
"Well, we have to win this game, you realize or we're out of the running."
"I know."
"So it's all up to Harry and all of you."
"So no pressure." Mell grinned at me from under a pile of robes. I grinned back.
Mell grabbed another huge pile of robes, perhaps too big, because she tripped on her shoelace and fell backwards into Oliver, knocking him over too. I covered my mouth to keep from giggling. Mell was sprawled on top of Wood, covered with scarlet robes. She picked one off her face and stood up, faster than anything I've seen from her. She blushed red. Wood stood up awkwardly, wiping his robes off.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry." She said, a little quickly.
"You're sure? That was some fall. We're going to need our chaser." He grinned and picked up some robes that had fallen on the floor.
"Positive, I'm fine." Mell looked so uncomfortable, but I could tell she must have enjoyed it. She winked at me. I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud. Wood looked at me weird.
Luckily, at that moment, the rest of the team showed up and I felt a little less nervous after laughing it off a bit. In ten minutes it seemed, we were dressed in our uniforms and flying out of the door into the pitch. The screaming and cheering came again. We had more cheering than the Slytherin, whom we were playing, because everyone wanted to see Slytherin finally get beaten. Our green opponents flew out after us, receiving some boos from the crowd. The Slytherin section cheered louder.
I looked around. In the Gryffindor section, I saw a huge sign that was written in Sara, Mell and mine code. Wait, no one knows that code except for us. I read it.
"Runnin' on Ice!" it said. I laughed and looked over at Sara, who gave me a thumbs-up. I returned it, smiling. My stomach felt less jumbly and I took a deep breath, staring at the Slytherin chasers. They all looked very menacing.
The whistle sounded and the game began. It was so fast, I barely had time to keep up with the passing. Harry watched for the Snitch, while listening for Lee's commentary. In the first twenty minutes, Slytherin had scored four times. I could see Wood panting and cursing under his breath. I panted as I threw Mell the Quaffle. Slytherin scored again twice, so the scoring stood sixty to zero. Mell passed to Sara who passed back to Mell. Mell zoomed towards the Slytherin line, but was knocked to the ground by a passing Slytherin, who stuck his arm out as she passed. I gasped, watching her, forgetting all about the game for a moment. Then she slowly rose and got back onto her broom.
Sara gasped and raced forward. With venom in her eyes, she flew up and rammed into the Slytherin who hit her, stealing the quaffle on the way. Mell punched the air, giving a wild whoop. Sara zoomed to the goalpost and scored our first goal. Wood circled wildly, yelling and punching the air, like Mell. The chaser on the Slytherin team took their beater's club and hit Sara in the stomach. I felt the wind go out of her as she keeled over.
One penalty was given to each team by a shouting Madame Hooch. The score was sixty to ten and it didn't look good for Gryffindor. Sara was really mad and blew off some steam by throwing the quaffle just a little too hard. I just barely caught as it almost sailed over my head. I scored and we were slowly but surely getting even. The Slytherin seeker kept a close watch on Harry, making sure he didn't make any sudden moves. Wood's fists were clenched most of the time, unless he was trying to catch a passing quaffle.
I ducked under a bludger and sailed underneath everyone. Mell passed me the quaffle and I passed it to Sara, but the pass was a little too low. She missed it and had to go diving for it. I sighed, getting frustrated. Several minutes passed. Slytherin scored two more times and if Harry didn't catch the Snitch soon, we'd be done for.
Suddenly I gasped, the Slytherin seeker was grinning viciously and started rising up. Harry raced after him and I couldn't watch because I was too nervous and Sara had passed me the quaffle. I passed it to Mell and looked up as Harry whacked the Slytherin seeker's hand away.
"YES!!" I yelled. Harry raised the Snitch high over his head and flew around the stands. The team cheered and raced after him. I saw Sara getting even with the other chaser by taking Slytherin's beater's club and hit him over the head and then in the gut. He keeled over bumping his nose on his broom, which started bleeding. Sara laughed evil and sailed up bumping into me, hugging me.
"We did it! We finally freakin' did it!" we shouted. Mell joined our group and we lowered down slowly to the ground. We got off our brooms and ran to the center of the crowd. The rest of the team came over and gave us hugs. Wood was crying and gave each us girls a kiss on the cheek, which nearly made us die. Professor McGonagall, I saw, was rejoicing over Snape, for she too had wanted a Gryffindor win. Slowly she pushed her way over, suddenly looking stern.
"Sara Brandt!" she yelled. Sara looked over, gulping. What on Earth could she have done?
"Sara, ten points will be deducted from Gryffindor for fighting during a quidditch match. Such foolishness!" Sara gulped again. McGonagall leaned forward and whispered, "but fifteen points given to Gryffindor for kicking Slytherin's butt!"
I nearly died again laughing. It was definitely a moment I will never forget.
Final exams passed long and hard. I couldn't believe it when we finally finished the last one. On the last day of exams, Sara, Mell, Mike and I strolled along the lake, talking of recent happenings. All of a sudden Harry, Ron and Hermione ran up to us.
"We've just been to see Professor McGonagall. She said Dumbledore has left for London. I know Snape is going to try and get the Stone while he's gone. And this is what we have to do." Harry paused, gasping. "We all have to go through the trapdoor and stop him.tonight."