This was supposed to be "The Obstacles" but I was describing the plan and it went a little longer than it was supposed to, so I turned this into "The Plan" and the next chapter can be "The Obstacles".
So here we go: Chapter 26:
"What the…" Harry said groggily. Two people were leaning over him, pouring something down his throat. It was hot and fiery, burning all the way down.
"Shh…"
Dumbledore.
The other must be Snape, as I'm pretty sure I made it to his quarters.
"I'll take him to his bedroom, Albus. He'll sleep through the night and into the morning. But he'll be able to attend his afternoon classes, don't worry."
Yep, that's Snape.
Harry felt himself being magically lifted and carried, until set down gently in his bed. He couldn't seem to open his eyes, though, and he could feel himself drifting to sleep.
'squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line'
Harry woke up a little after noon on Wednesday, with no headache. He rolled out of bed, showered, and dressed within minutes, then asked Pinky for lunch. The House Elf brought him a ham sandwich with milk. He ate quickly then slipped into his first afternoon class of the day, Potions, through the back door.
Snape was the only one in the classroom, and gave a little jump when Harry appeared through an invisible door. He quickly recovered and asked, "Feeling a little better?"
Harry nodded and moved up to his usual seat at the front of the class. It wasn't too long before Vanella came rushing in, a little pale. Harry gave her a questioning look as she sat down heavily next to him.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked.
"Two things. One, you've been missing all day. Nobody knew where you were. Not the Hospital Wing, not any of the Professors. Where have you been all day!?"
Harry shook his head. "What's number two?"
"Two," she leaned closer, "I think it's happening tonight. I don't know who, but I get the feeling that whoever-he-is is going after the stone tonight."
Harry paled a little. "Why tonight?"
She got a little panicked. "I don't know, that's the thing. There's absolutely nothing special about today that explains it."
"Maybe that's why it's tonight. Because there's nothing that points to the fact that it would be."
She shrugged. "Maybe, but like I said, I don't know for certain. I just think it's happening tonight."
"Still, we have to stop it."
"What can we do? Tell a Professor? Dumbledore?"
"No, we have to go personally."
"Two of us against Voldemort? Have you lost your mind?"
Harry's turn to shrug. "Possibly."
"Two of us?"
"Bring Draco." He thought. "And Ron and Hermione."
She raised an eyebrow. "Ron and Hermione won't listen to me. They don't like me, they deal with me because they like you."
"Then tell them it's for me, and you're just a messenger."
"Which I am."
"Exactly."
"Now there's a matter of how we're going about this. How are we all supposed to sneak through the castle? Five of us isn't exactly a small group."
"I'll try to find a spell that makes my Invisibility cloak bigger, and just use that. I'll give it to you, you use it to pick everyone else up, then knock on the door of the Potions classroom, and I'll let you in. Then I'll get inside the cloak and we can leave."
"In the Potions classroom?"
"Just do it."
She pursed her lips. "Fine. Now the whole matter of what time?"
"Ah, right after eight o'clock. Everyone's out of the halls by then. We'd be safer."
"Safe is a weird matter to be discussing considering what we're planning here, Harry."
"We'll be alright. We just have to stop him. He's not going to hurt us in the middle of Hogwarts, with the only one he fears—Dumbledore—and a handful of experienced Professors."
"You sound awfully confident. I think it's your medication talking. What if they don't get there in time, and not only does he kill us, he also escapes Hogwarts with the stone? And it's all our fault?"
"The glass is half-full, remember that."
"Oh, so if we die, and Voldemort rises again, our souls should look on the bright side? That makes sense, Harry, real sense."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Look, Dumbledore said there were obstacles. He told me there were obstacles protecting the stone. Chances are, that if you start rounding everyone up a little after eight, then we should be there by eight-thirty. He'll probably already be there, past the dog, whatever Hagrid's calling the thing. And if he's not, and plans on going later, then we wait, and when he comes through the door, we stop him."
"We stop him. You realize how ridiculous it is that five first-years are planning on stopping Voldemort?"
Harry nodded, "But, ah, remember? Voldemort isn't in his full power. That's why he needs the stone in the first place. He's not powerful. That's why he needed the Unicorn blood, remember? We have the upper hand, here. Not only is it five-to-one, it's also five semi-powerful witches and wizards versus one that was drained of power."
"Depending on who he's possessing. What if he's possessing a powerful Professor? Or the Head Boy or Head Girl?"
"Still five-to-one. Still good odds."
Vanella was looking a little nervous and uncertain about the whole thing. "We ought to tell the others now."
Harry nodded. He went over to tell Ron and Hermione, who were sitting in front of the Gryffindor side.
"Harry!" Hermione said.
Harry nodded a greeting to them both. "Hi," he said.
"Hi."
"Hi!"
"Er… we have a problem."
Ron furrowed his eyebrows. "What's that?"
"We think he's going after it tonight."
They understood.
Hermione swallowed. "So we should tell a Professor, right?"
Harry shook his head. "No. I don't think so. Vanella and I want to stop him ourselves, but there needs to be more than two of us. We want help."
Ron was always up to a challenge. "So you want us to go with you? I'm in."
Harry nodded. "Sort of."
Hermione looked uncertain. Just as or more than Vanella. "Ah, don't you think we should tell a Professor?"
Harry shook his head, "They wouldn't approve."
"That's kind of the point. They would go and stop him instead of us."
"No, they probably wouldn't. They'd probably say that it's protected by a bunch of obstacles and nobody could get past them all. But he's possessing one of the Professors."
Hermione saw his reason, but was still hesitant about the whole affair.
Ron looked at her. "We need your brains and skill. Are you in or out?"
She hesitated, but finally, "Alright. I'm in."
Harry nodded and smiled. "Good."
He returned to his seat.
Vanella nodded to him at his return. "We got Draco," she said, smirking. "I even got him to bring his flute."
"We got Ron and Hermione," Harry replied.
"Good."
Harry nodded.
Then the class began, with Snape standing formidably at the front of the room.
'squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line'
Harry waited just inside the Potions classroom. He managed to sneak out of Severus's chambers when he went to bed early. Dumb luck.
When there was a light knock on the door, and Harry let a large invisible mass through the door.
Vanella pulled through the cloak off and whispered harshly, "How'd you get in here? All the classroom doors are locked after curfew with an unbreakable charm and wards!"
Harry shrugged. "Not important. Let's go."
Vanella shot him and impatient look, but complied.
They all squished together, and Harry pulled the cloak over their heads. He had used the "Adapto Amplus" spell to make it bigger to accommodate the five first-years.
They shuffled down the hall with an occasional whispered "Ron! My foot!" until they reached the door in the third corridor.
Harry grabbed the knob, and it turned. "It's not locked! He must have been here!" Then he led the other four through the doorway. Fluffy was asleep, and a floating harmonica was playing. "Definitely been here. Draco, give me your flute."
Harry slid the Invisibility Cloak off as Draco handed him the instrument. He commanded, "Altum lusi," and it began to play.
"Harry!" Hermione hissed quietly.
He turned. "What?"
"The thing's paw is on the door!"
Harry looked over. "Oh, no." He walked over to it. "Help me!"
The five's combined efforts moved the paw over, off the door.
"Alright," Vanella said, looking at the door. "Who's first?"
They all shot nervous glances at the trapdoor. Finally Harry spoke up, "I'll go."
Draco lifted the door and glanced down. "It's all black. I can't see anything." He tried waving his lighted wand over the entrance. "It's like night."
Harry shrugged and slipped his feet into the entrance. "I'll yell up if it's safe. Don't come down if I don't yell."
The others nodded and watched him jump down into the floor.
'squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line, star, squiggly line'
Author's Note: I guess that was a cliffhanger, too, wasn't it? Oh, well. In the next chapter they'll go through the Obstacles, hence the name, then the one after that he'll face Voldemort for the second time in Harry's life. Anyways… I know this was a short chapter—very short, I'm sorry, the last chapter this short was number eight—but I wanted to give the Obstacles their own chapter. Why, I'm not sure. Oh, well.
The squiggly line, star thing is still not working, obviously.
Translations:
"Adapto Amplus": 'to adapt to spacious'
"Altum Lusi": 'keep play'
Review Answers:
Starlight Dreams: That's one option. Good guess, I suppose. Anyways, thanks for the review!
Shadowface: It stopped working? Oh, well. Yea, I guess it is. Ah, but thanks!
Black-Rose1212: I figured it was a surprise… thanks for reviewing!
Tabitha78: I know you probably won't read this for awhile if you're on chapter five, but I'll say it anyways: It drifts away from the book more in my more recent chapters. And Vanella does become more of a main character. Thanks for reviewing, though!
athenakitty: His scar is causing the headache, because Voldemort is near. And, whoever-Voldemort-is-possessing is talking to the dog.
Okay, the next chapter is "The Obstacles". I'm not sure when it'll be up because I'm going to my dad's for a little while and I don't really have a way to upload from there, but I'll try. And if I can't upload from there I may have a few chapters done by the time I get back. Either way, it's not too bad, right?
Ah, well. Until next time!