The end of the school year was nearing and even though Harry and his entourage knew exactly what the you-know-what was and where it was located, they had no idea why Snape was trying to steal it? Despite Hagrid telling them misinformation like "He's protecting the Phosphorus Rock, he's not gonna steal it," they knew deep down he wanted to become immortal for one reason or another. He was already so miserable so they couldn't really understand why he would want to prolong it, but what did they know?
"We should definitely tell Dumbledore since we know who wants to steal the rock!" Harry said. It was his responsibility as the 11 year old chosen one to make sure that evil plots like this didn't succeed.
"We'll come with you." Ron and Hermione looked very determined so Harry agreed.
They ran up to the headmaster's office and ran into the gargoyle guarding the office.
"Let us in, it's an emergency!" Harry cried.
"You need a password to get in, sorry kid," the gargoyle growled with a New York accent.
"But it's an emergency?!"
"Ok, but Dumbledore is a busy man, and you need a password to get in. You're not special."
But Harry was special. He had a scar and awesome quidditch skill to prove it. Besides, it was an emergency! What was a student supposed to do?
"Listen, my break is in like 5 minutes, can we wrap this up?" The gargoyle rasped, taking out a cigarette.
"Um…" Harry wracked his brain for a possible password. "Stockings?"
"Nice try. Now get outta here!"
"# *%!" Ron cursed. "&#* ! #*&!" He cursed some more.
Then the door opened! McGonagall stared down at them from the now open office.
"Is something the matter?" She asked in a girlboss way.
"There's an evil plot that's cooking right under all of your noses! We found out about the evil plans and we need to tell Dumbledore right away!"
"That's Professor Dumbledore to you, Mr Potter!" She shook her head.
"Yeah, whatever. We need to talk to him." Harry said.
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Mr. Potter. Dumbledore has gone to the Ministry of Magic. Cornelius Fudge urgently needed Dumbledore to run the government instead of him for a few hours apparently." McGonagall rolled her eyes.
"Wait… If Dumbledore's gone…" Harry started connecting the dots, as he liked to do. "That means the Phosphorus Rock is unprotected!"
McGonagall jumped back in shock at the mention of the rock but she returned to her powerful stance immediately, "I'm not sure how you and your friends know about the Phosphorus Rock but I assure you it is well protected! Now, run along to your dorms. You've still got another Quidditch game to win coming up!"
"Yeah. That's where we are going to go now. Our dorms. Come on guys!" Harry said and started walking away from Dumbledore's office.
"But Harry! What about the Rock?!" Ron shrieked. Harry and Hermione just sighed and pulled him along.
Harry ran through the numerous halls of Hogwarts until they stood in front of a familiar door.
"This doesn't look like our dorms…" Ron said.
"That's because it's not, Ron." Hermione rolled her eyes. Oh Hermione used a spell to paralyze Neville on the way here for no reason btw. Okay anyway.
Harry opened the door and walked right in as his friends followed behind. It was kind of strange how they could just walk into the forbidden room. Weird.
The giant dog was snoring as a harp played away in the corner. It looked like they were too late to prevent Snape from getting past Fluffy. They would have to go in by themselves as 11 year olds and fight against a grown wizard.
They climbed down the hatch that Fluffy was guarding and fell onto a strange floor that was slightly rubbery and uneven.
"Ugh gross, what the bloody h*ll is this?" Ron asked from somewhere next to Harry.
"Uhhh I don't know," Harry said, checking the ground with his hands. "I really can't see anything in the dark like this!" Suddenly the clouds (where did those come from) parted over them as rays of light shone down upon the Boy Who Lived as angels sang. The strange things that they landed on turned out to be vines that released them upon being exposed to his heavenly light.
"Oh! Devil's Snare! Good thing that heavenly light appears around you frequently, Harry! That's the only thing that can destroy the vines!" Hermione said, knowingly because she knew everything. Harry wasn't really paying attention though, he was too focused on evil greasy Snape being far ahead of them.
The vines fully cleared and they fell down to another room below. How far down did this chamber go? It's so weird that there was a secret chamber full of dangerous things like this underneath the school with an entrance on a higher floor in the castle. Harry wondered if there were any other secret chambers in this school (wink wink).
Together they walked down a short corridor into a room with flying keys? And on the other side of the room was a single locked door? Harry saw where this was going.
"I bet one of these keys opens that door!" Ron said and pointed rapidly at all the keys.
"Astute observation, Ron." Hermione said, "but how are we going to find out which one it is? And then how are we going to get it?"
Instead of answering, Harry took off on a broom that was sitting in the corner of the room. So nice of Snape or whoever made this puzzle to leave it there. Instead of, you know, just sealing the rock behind 100 ft of impenetrable stone on all sides or something. But what did he know, he's just 11 afterall.
"Don't worry, guys! I got this!" Harry really did have this under control. He swooped through the air masterfully and spotted a key with a broken wing, which he snatched out of the air and then launched back to the ground. His speed created a sonic boom that launched all of the other keys into the wall, destroying them.
"Got it!" Harry unlocked the door with the key.
"Wicked!" Ron yelled.
They stepped into a dark room. Then, with a click the lights turned on to show giant chess pieces.
"Oh, we're supposed to play chess!" Ron said, and hopped onto the horse piece.
"I'll be a bishop or something." Harry said, and took his place.
Hermione picked a rook or something idk we don't really remember, but it's not like it's super important, ok guys?
"I'll guide you guys from up here since you guys are both awful at chess," said Ron. This made sense. Even though Harry was the chosen one, he couldn't be good at everything!
They won, but they lost Ron.
"Let's move on, Harry," Hermione said. "It's what he would have wanted."
"You're right." Harry helped Hermione to her feet and they resolutely walked up to the door, not looking back.
In the next room was a table with a line of vials and a single scroll. Beyond the table was a wall of fire that looked like the only way out. Hermione walked up to the table and read the scroll out loud. Harry wasn't really as smart as Hermione so it went in one ear and out the other.
"We just have to pick the one vial that will let us walk through the fire to get to the door!" Hermione said. "You could die if you get this wrong, but I just love riddles."
Hermione muttered to herself while she tried to decide which vial was the right one. After a few minutes she turned to Harry.
"I think I know which is the right one, but there's only enough for one person to drink," she said.
"I trust you, Hermione." It wasn't exactly a lie, but Harry was sure that his plot armor would let him get through this safely, if nothing else.
Harry got through the fire, but lost Hermione.
The room that he found himself in was large and had cool pillars. Cool! But none of that mattered. There was a huge mirror in the middle of it! Now this was definitely cool, so Harry walked right up to it and saw his reflection. Then behind him he heard high heels clacking, and saw the reflection of a purple turban in the mirror.
"Snape? Why are you wearing heels and a turban?" Harry turned around to face the man… but it wasn't Snape!