After the Dawn: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Through the Trapdoor

Dinner passed in a blur, and Harry, Neville and Hermione returned to the Gryffindor tower, after seeing Blaise safely to the closet she was to hide in. Professor Dumbledore's absence had not gone unnoticed at dinner, and that had driven home the fact that they would be going after the Philosopher's Stone alone that night.

In the Common Room, Neville, Hermione and Harry lingered around for a little while, then Harry and Neville went upstairs, and, a little while later, Neville returned, apparently alone. "Nemo's worn out after the exams, he's all for an early night," he told Hermione, purposefully letting other people in the warm-lit room overhear their conversation.

"Well, I think I'm all for joining him," Hermione remarked, and she too left the common room. Harry had flown his broom around to the window of the Girl's Dormitory, and picked Hermione up, covering her with the Invisibility Cloak and flying back to the Boy's Dormitory before heading downstairs to tap Neville on the shoulder. "Time," he whispered softly, so quietly that Neville had to strain to hear him properly. As soon as the more timid boy finally understood, he nodded wordlessly, going over to the portrait hole, opening it to look outside.

"What are you doing?" Ron demanded, obviously in an argumentative mood.

"Just looking," Neville commented innocently, "I was wondering if your brothers were in yet, thought they might have been planning something outside again."

"They're upstairs," Ron informed Neville, "in their dormitory."

"Oh, all right," Neville closed the portrait. It was already too late for anyone to do anything about Harry and Hermione, for they had already left, and were heading fast toward to the broom cupboard where they'd left Blaise.

"Hi," she whispered when they reached her.

"Hi," the other two murmured back. "Let's go."

Blaise slipped under the Cloak, and they were off, heading for the Third Floor to try and waylay Destiny. On the outside, Harry seemed calm, collected, knowing exactly what he was doing †but on the inside he was quivering with nerves. He knew well the stories that Sirius had told of Voldemort, and was hoping frantically that the Dark Lord, in whatever form, would not be present tonight. He might be able to deal with Snape, if he used every advantage he could possibly find, but Voldemort? What chance did an eleven-year-old stand of beating the most feared Dark Lord of all time?

At the same time, a feeling that Harry knew very well stopped him from turning tail and running back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Courage, and duty.

There was no one else to stand in Voldemort's way, and even though he was scared, oh-so very scared, Harry kept on walking, even though he knew that every step could be taking him closer to his death.

They reached the third floor with minimum fuss, though Peeves did try to stop them once. Harry pretended to be the Bloody Baron, the only person that Peeves was scared of, and thus sent the poltergeist away.

The door to the third floor corridor was ajar – Snape had already gotten past Fluffy then, it was fair to assume. When they walked into the room, a harp was standing before Fluffy, who was growling, a little sleepy, but awake. "I guess he charmed it to stay playing for a short time, and ended the spell once he'd left," Hermione commented softly.

"Doesn't matter," Harry replied. "He's through here anyway. Now it's our turn."

Fluffy turned one of his huge heads towards them and growled, even though he couldn't see them. "Blaise, get out your penny whistle and start playing before we take off the cloak," Harry said, and Fluffy's ears pricked as his other two heads turned on the trio.

A second later Blaise started playing, and Fluffy's heads began to droop, even as he growled warningly at them for venturing into his territory.

"Pity he's been kept in here for so long really," Harry remarked as Fluffy's eyes began to close. "He probably really wants some proper exercise. If they keep him next year, maybe we should offer!"

"Nemo, please do not even suggest such things," Hermione groaned, as Fluffy gave a last growl before curling up and starting to sleep.

The three of them climbed carefully over his paws, Harry and Hermione assisting Blaise, who didn't have the use of her arms or hands as balancing tools. Finally, they made it to the trap door, which had avoided, by a mere centimetre or two, being covered by Fluffy's paw.

Harry reached down and hauled the door open, and the three of them stood over the door and peered down into the inky darkness, which was obscuring whatever was waiting for them below.

Blaise stopped playing for a moment to say, "Dibs on not going first."

Immediately Fluffy stirred and gave a sleepy bark.

"Blaise, he's not in a sleepy mood. I think you'd best keep playing until we've all gone down the trapdoor, you'll have to come last though, you comfortable with that?" Blaise nodded in affirmation, one of her notes faltering slightly but kept a steady pace on her music. "Hermione, you want to go first?"

"No!" Hermione replied vehemently, "Who knows what's down there?"

Harry sighed resignedly, "I guess I will then. Don't follow until I call up the all clear, okay?"

"Right," Hermione replied, and Blaise tilted her head ever so slightly as her breathing started to be more laboured as she struggled to keep the music on an incessant flow. Harry stepped up to the opening and crouched down before backing into the hole and holding on with his hands to look up at his friends.

"If I don't yell, go for a teacher and tell them what's happened. I don't care what you tell them, as long as they know that Snape is after the Stone, to give to Voldemort and he must be stopped," Harry told them, then let go before he'd even waited for their response.

He fell for what seemed a long time, and just when he was going to scream, hoping that his friends would get the message and not come after him, he hit something soft and landed with a flump. "It's alright!" he yelled, shuffling a little bit so that Hermione could land easier. "It's a long fall, but there's a padded landing."

A moment later there was a scream as Hermione began the fall. Harry sighed and waited, timing it in his head to see how long she'd take to fall. When she landed, Harry told her to shuffle a little as well, then called up to Blaise to drop.

The music stopped abruptly, and Fluffy growled. Blaise had evidently jumped as well. Blaise didn't scream as she fell, and Harry wondered if she'd timed the fall, going by Hermione's as well.

Then, she flumped into the plant beside them. "Hi," Harry said cheerfully. "Good thing this plants here really, softens the landing."

Blaise, however, was struggling to her feet and away from the plant, and Harry suddenly realised why she had had to struggle – the plant was tightening its tendrils around them. They were trapped.

"Devils Snare," Hermione moaned. Harry immediately set about remembering where he'd heard the name before, but while his body was panicking about being trapped, it wasn't easy.

"Hermione, don't try to struggle," he told her, "That will just make it tighten faster."

Hermione gulped audibly in the darkness. "Can anyone remember anything about Devils Snare?" Blaise demanded.

"It likes the dark and damp!" Hermione and Harry cried together, both delighted that they'd remembered something would now save their lives.

"In which case, you'll need to light a fire," Harry remarked. "Pity you're trapped Hermione, you like making blue fire."

"I know how to anyway, so it doesn't matter," Blaise put in, "Incendio!" A jet of blue flames came out of the darkness, illuminating Blaise, and the plant that had been trying to kill them. Its tendrils were withering fast, and as they withered, Harry and Hermione were able to pull free.

"Thanks Blaise," Harry said, smiling at her in the blue-tinged darkness.

"You could have done it yourself, though, couldn't you?" Blaise asked. "Light the fire, I mean."

"I could have," Harry answered reluctantly, "but I'd rather leave everything possible to you, unless I can do my magic with a wand. I want to keep my other magic in reserve for later, if I really need it."

Hermione and Blaise both nodded in understanding. "So, lets move on, shall we?" Harry suggested, and they nodded, moving into the corridor that led on to whatever the next obstacle would be.

"What's that noise?" Hermione asked, and her two companions tuned in.

"Sounds like †fluttering," Blaise said, "Doesn't really sound like ghosts, does it?"

"Feathered wings," Harry said. "It sounds like wings."

"You're right," Blaise agreed, "Sounds just like the Great Hall in the morning."

Hermione nodded. "Birds then †what will have to do with birds?"

"Dunno. We'll have to get there. Maybe they'll try and swoop us or something," Harry said offhandedly. "Birds can be pretty dangerous you know."

"I got swooped by birds once," Hermione said. "It was pretty scary."

"But what does that have to do with Transfiguration, Charms and all that?" Blaise asked. "If you ask me, there'll be more to it than swooping birds."

"Maybe," Harry said, tilting his head as he considered the option. "But we'll find out when we get there."

A short time later, they came upon a door. The sound of wings was stronger now. "Through this door, we'll find the birds," Harry remarked, unnecessarily. "You two stay back, I'll run out ahead and see if I can make it to the other door, ok?"

Hermione and Blaise both nodded, and Harry pushed the door open and started running. Overhead he heard the sounds of the bird's wings, and at any moment he expected for sharp beaks to rain down upon him †but they never did.

He made it to the other door and turned to look up. Above him circled a large flock of birds, all with brilliantly coloured wings and glistening bodies. They made for an exotic site.

Hermione and Blaise joined him quickly, walking across the chamber, rather than running. While he waited for them, Harry examined his surroundings. "Brooms," he remarked, nodding to a corner of the chamber. The birds, because they were not attacking, were momentarily banished from his mind. "Wonder what they are for."

"Maybe the key is up at the top of the chamber," Hermione suggested, "And the birds won't attack until we're in the air."

Harry looked up again, and cursed aloud, Hermione and Blaise immediately turned to look at him. "I feel stupid," Harry remarked. "The key isn't hidden at the top of the chamber, to be protected by the birds †the key is one of the birds!"

Blaise and Hermione looked up, and they laughed at their stupidity as well. "Of course!" Blaise laughed. "So, we have to catch the key," she sobered, "But there's a lot of keys up there, how are we going to find the right one?"

"I'm a Seeker," Harry said, "I can often see things that others miss, I should be able to find the key †I just need you two to support me."

Hermione and Blaise both nodded, and Harry turned to look at the door that would lead them on, examining the keyhole. "I would suppose that the key would be like the keyhole, old fashioned and fairly ornate," he remarked. "I should be able to find it †in any case, it's been caught once before, and should be a little bent, I expect."

The three of them went over to the brooms, and Harry selected the one that looked to be the fastest – as the one who would actually be catching the key, he figured he'd need the extra speed.

Flying up amongst the keys, Harry was hardly surprised, though he was a little daunted, when they immediately sped up and started whirling around the chamber at amazing speed.

Harry flew immediately into the thick of things, and started searching around the swirling flock to find the key he was after. It took him some time, but after awhile he found it. It was old looking, with bright blue wings that were scrunched on one side.

"There!" Harry said, one hand following the key so that his friends could find it, "It's bright blue and has a scrunched wing on one side."

Hermione and Blaise both went to after it. "Wait!" Harry said, "Hermione, you come at it from below, Blaise, come over behind me and up above, then come down on it – it'll dodge you both, but don't worry. I'll go straight for it from this side and catch it – I hope."

Blaise and Hermione nodded, moving quickly into the position, as the key was moving fast as well, and they didn't want to lose it. "Now!" Harry yelled, and the three of them immediately moved. Blaise came down from above, Hermione came from below, and Harry raced straight down the centre.

As he'd predicted, the key dodged both his friends, but Harry was on its tail, racing toward the wall, the key ahead of him. It turned, just before reaching the wall, and started to head upward, but Harry slammed into the wall, his hand over the key, pinning it to the wall.

It struggled feebly against his fingers as he closed them around it and headed for the ground. The flock still had not calmed, and Harry wondered, for a moment, if he'd found the wrong key. But then he decided that this was probably the exact reason that nothing was happening to the flock above – it wouldn't stop moving until all the keys were up there, and the brooms on the ground, just so as the one who caught the key wouldn't know if it was the right one or not.

Hermione and Blaise landed beside Harry. "That was some catch," Blaise told him, "Some flying too, for that matter."

Harry smiled, "Thanks," he replied, "Now lets see if it paid off!" Holding the still struggling key tightly, he inserted it into the lock, and turned it. There was a click, and above them all of the keys stopped moving suddenly.

Harry pushed the door open, and then released his key, which flew quickly up to join the flock. The winged keys flew around in a leisurely fashion, once more calm.

Ahead of them lay darkness, and Harry looked back at his companions.

"Ready?"

Sorry about the wait – I've been away from the net all weekend, and fell asleep at 4:20pm yesterday, not waking up until now (twelve hours later). I'm not going to do the thanks this chapter because a) I'm still a little tired and b) I just wanna post! For those of you interested, Shines A Light (the sequel to In Every Darkness) has now begun!

WolfMoon