"Madam Pomfrey looked him over. Probably just tired."
"It has been a long week."
"Oh, I'm so sorry for how he's been acting. I don't know WHAT'S gotten into him..."
Harry groaned quietly, raising a hand to his head, which felt like it was pounding. "Yeah, that'll last for awhile." He said, groggily.
A sudden surge of people exclaiming his name filled the immediate area, making his groan again. "Can we please keep from being loud? My head feels like the Hogwarts Express charged over it..."
"I'll go get Madam Pomfrey." Tonks said.
"Feeling better?" Solieyu asked, quietly, from somewhere beside him.
"If Madam Pomfrey has something to make this throbbing go away." Harry replied, forcing himself into a sitting position and opening his eyes. In addition to Solieyu and Tonks, who was talking to the mediwitch in question, three other people were sitting bedside with Harry. He wasn't acquainted with two of them.
Blinking to get the sleepiness out of his system, Harry had little time to work out who they were before Madam Pomfrey was upon him.
"Well now, it seems you got smacked around a bit more than expected, Mr. Potter." Pomfrey said, running her wand slowly up his body. "How are you feeling?"
"Awful headache... kinda tired." Harry said, shrugging.
"To be expected, I suppose. Here, drink this." Madam Pomfrey said, pulling out a small vial filled with a thick, pink liquid that smelled vaguely of a toilet.
"You've got to be kidding me." Harry said, eyeballing the liquid with a scowl.
"I never kid with my patients. Drink." Said the mediwitch, giving Harry something akin to the Evil Eye. "After that, I believe Molly Weasley wishes to have a word with you."
Harry choked halfway through the potion, which tasted a lot worse than it smelled. Quickly managing down the second half, he turned back to the two people he wasn't familiar with, his eyebrows raising slightly.
"I suppose I should have known." Harry said, blinking and wiping at the corner of his mouth. "No one in this school has hair that red except the Weasleys. Um..."
"Mrs. Weasley's been here for awhile." Tonks said. "McGonagall called her over. You missed a right good show, you know."
"Show? ...Wait, how long was I out for?" Harry asked.
"Oh, don't worry. Just a bit over an hour. Decided that a nap probably couldn't hurt." Tonks said, grinning. "As for the show, Ron got an earful 'round about the Entrance Hall."
Harry blinked, then smiled crookedly. "Nice to meet you, ma'am." He said, nodding to Mrs. Weasley. "Professor Dumbledore has... ah... spoken highly of you."
Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes, but was smiling, as well. "I'm sure he does, dear. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
Harry nodded, realizing that his headache had all but vanished. "I guess Madam Pomfrey knows what she's doing after all..."
Mrs. Weasley, who Harry couldn't imagine wrangling two people as wild as Fred and George, was rather short and round and, like her children, had flamingly red hair. For that matter, the other person nearby did, too. Mrs. Weasley turned her head slightly. "Ginny? Why are you hiding behind that curtain?"
A girl who didn't look much younger than Harry or his friends was half-hidden behind a curtain used to keep patients' privacy. She squeaked when she realized that all of the people in the room were looking her way now, ducking back behind the curtain.
Harry blinked.
"Oh, you'll have to excuse her." Mrs. Weasley said, shaking her head. "Ever since Fred and George wrote home, she's wanted to meet you."
"Wrote home? What have they been saying about me?" Harry wondered aloud.
"Oh, don't worry. Nothing bad." Mrs. Weasley said, grinning. "Just that they met you, that you were very nice, if a little skinnier than they were expecting, and that you had a good sense of humor."
Letting out a sigh, Harry nodded. "Um... Sorry about all of this, Mrs. Weasley."
Mrs. Weasley blinked. "All of what?"
"Them having to call you out here." Harry said, wincing slightly. "I
probably could have handled the situation better. I am in Ravenclaw,
after all... fat lot o' good it did me today..."
Mrs. Weasley tutted, shaking her head as she gave Harry a pointed look. "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you, dear. Ronald has been acting very stubborn and immature this year. This wasn't the first time the two of you have come to blows, was it?"
"Well... technically, it was." Harry said, frowning as he thought back. "I did kind of conjure a spider into his hair when he was making Hermione feel bad..."
"He really did try to get Ron to stop before he did that, though." Came Hermione's voice. Harry jumped slightly when he heard her speak up, as he had entirely forgot that she had been there. She was standing next to Tonks, who was off to one side of the foot of the bed.
"Just the same, his attitude has been utterly abysmal." Mrs. Weasley said, letting out a short sigh. "He'll learn how to behave, though."
"What happened with him, anyway?" Harry asked.
"Suspended for a week and a half." Solieyu offered. "We were all nearby when the punishment was dished out."
Harry nodded, rubbing at the side of his neck. "Oi, these beds aren't very comfortable... Wonder if I'm free to go..."
"Oh, I suspect so, dear, if all you've got is the headache... and you said yourself that it went away." Mrs. Weasley said.
Harry nodded. "Well... let's get out of here, shall we? I'd rather not have to have dinner up here, if it's all the same to everyone else."
"Thought you'd never bring it up." Tonks said, patting her stomach.
Moments later, the assembled group was heading down for the Entrance Hall, going over what had happened since Harry fell asleep in greater detail. Tonks had been healed up by Madam Pomfrey, as had Harry, and the two of them had gone with Professor McGonagall to meet Mrs. Weasley and say for themselves what had happened. Afterwards, they had all returned to the hospital wing to wait for Harry to wake up. It hadn't been ten minutes after that when Harry finally came to.
It was nearly time for supper, and most of the school's students were heading for the Great Hall. Mrs. Weasley said that Ron had been told to wait there for her. Harry wasn't sure whether he was inwardly going to enjoy the moment they arrived or not. While he hated to bother a woman who seemed as nice as Mrs. Weasley, he wasn't going to be sad to see Ron gone, even if it was just for a short time.
Hermione and Tonks talked quietly, bringing up the rear as they walked, Tonks relating events of the day back to the Gryffindor girl. Solieyu, who walked next to Harry, kept casting strange looks at Ginny Weasley, who was keeping beside her mother and looking back at Harry when she thought he wasn't looking.
When they did finally arrive, it was to find a sea of students, happily inhaling their third meal of the day. All except for Ron, who was sitting by himself at the close end of the Gryffindor table. Most of the excited chatter died down a little when they saw an unfamiliar pair of people enter. It didn't last long, since Fred and George loudly greeted her from halfway up the table. Talk returned to normal after that.
"Now then, I believe you have something to say, don't you?" Mrs. Weasley said as she stalked over to Ron and nearly hoisted him up. Harry's group followed at a distance, Harry himself raising an eyebrow at Mrs. Weasley's sudden change of tone. Suddenly, he got the feeling that Ron was getting exactly what he deserved.
Mrs. Weasley marched Ron over so that he was standing just a few feet away from Harry. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Solieyu's hand tense up. If Ron had the brass to go for his wand in front of most of the student body, the staff, and his mother...
"I'm sorry." Ron mumbled, looking anywhere but at Harry's group.
Mrs. Weasley raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for what, Ronald?"
"Sorry for being such a jerk." Ron said, still mumbling.
Harry shrugged. "Apology accepted, I suppose. As long as something like that never happens again."
"Oh, don't you worry, Harry, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, her voice back to the kind, sweet one that Harry was more used to. "I'll teach him manners if I have to spend twenty hours a day doing it."
Ron winced.
"It was nice meeting you, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, rounding Ron about and pointing him for the doors. "You'll have to stop by over the summer sometime for a visit. We really should be going now, though. You're going to miss supper if we keep chatting away the hours like this. Ron, Ginny, come on!"
Harry's group bid their goodbyes to Mrs. Weasley. Hermione, Tonks, and Harry said goodbye to Ginny, as well, which caused the girl to lower her head and blush. Harry raised an eyebrow at this. He tried to ask one of the girls what that was all about, but received little more than giggling as a reply.
Someone at the Gryffindor table then called over to Hermione. Looking around, they saw it was Neville Longbottom, gesturing for her to come over and sit down. Seeing the confused looks on the Ravenclaws' faces, Hermione explained, "They've been loads better to me lately. Most of the other Gryffindors are..."
"That's great!" Harry said, smiling. "I was hoping they weren't all a bunch of thick-headed prats."
Neville called out again. Hermione grinned a little. "Um... well, I should be going. Fred and George might come tote me over if I don't."
The group split then, Hermione going over and sitting near Neville and Dean Thomas. Across from them, the Weasley twins seemed to be making a remark about the look on Ron's face as he was wheeled out of the Great Hall.
"Eventful day." Solieyu commented as they sat down at the end of the Ravenclaw table.
Tonks began stockpiling food on her plate, her injuries earlier in the day seeming to do nothing to alter her usual appetite.
"How do you eat so much without gaining weight?" Harry asked, pondering a baked potato.
"Magic." Tonks said.
"Urg... Tonks, that's getting old." Harry groaned, shaking his head.
"Are we going to head back to the library after we eat?" Solieyu asked.
Harry's head snapped up.
Both Tonks and Solieyu blinked at him. The former waved a hand in front of his face and asked, "Harry? You okay?"
"No... I mean, yes. I mean... right before I passed out in the hospital wing, it came to me!" Harry said in a hushed exclamation.
"What did?" Soleiyu asked.
"Who Flamel is! I realized where I had seen his name before!" Harry said.
"Where?" Tonks asked.
"Dumbledore's chocolate frog card! Something about his work on alchemy with his friend, Nicolas Flamel! I'm sure of it!" Harry said.
"Well, at least we know what direction to go in now." Solieyu said, rubbing his chin in thought. "I don't think we ever checked any speciality books. Just ones on famous wizards. He must not be very mainstream if he wasn't listed in what we've checked, though."
"Alright, so Nicolas Flamel is involved in alchemy. Something of his is being kept guarded by that three-headed dog. Whatever it is must be important enough for Snape to want... and badly, at that. Either of you know anything about alchemy?" Harry asked, his meal all but forgotten.
"It's a small field." Solieyu said. "There aren't many things that would even be worth getting a giant dog to guard... whatever it was could simply be retransmuted."
"Re-what?" Tonks asked.
"Transmutation is the process of changing one item to another via alchemy. Lead to gold, as an example, though that's banned by the Ministry and Gringott's both. It wouldn't do very well for someone to make their own supply of gold. Alchemists are required to register with the Ministry, as well." Solieyu explained.
"You know a lot about this." Harry said, eyebrows raised.
Solieyu shrugged. "You aren't the only one who reads in his spare time, Harry. We just have different tastes."
"No kidding. So... what, whatever's hidden is something that can't be re...transmuted, was it?" Harry asked.
"Most likely. I don't see why else they would hide it. Unfortunately, I'm not very knowledgable about these things, though. It's been a good, long while since I read anything on the subject, and important things tend to be either written about in detail or severely glossed over."
"Damn." Harry grumbled, shaking his head. Just then, a thought came to him. "We should ask Hermione."
"Huh?" Tonks asked.
"Well, she's the only one I know of who spends more time getting books out of that place than I do. We might not have found anything, but maybe she has!" Harry said.
Dinner didn't come to an end quick enough for the trio, who kept going over what could be hidden. Tonks caught up to Hermione as she saw the Gryffindor heading out of the Great Hall. Harry and Solieyu quickly followed.
"Hermione! Hey, wait up!" Tonks called.
Hermione, halfway up the first set of stairs, blinked. "Tonks? Harry, Leon, what is it?"
"Have you ever heard of the name Nicolas Flamel before?" Harry asked, voice tight.
"Nicolas Flamel?"
"Yeah, we... well..." Harry started, faltering quickly. "Oh, bloody hell... Look, let's find an empty classroom. This is going to take a bit to explain."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
As it turned out, after quite a long explanation, Hermione had heard of Flamel before. She led them to the library at a quick pace and rushed deep into the rows of books. She came back with a positively gigantic, old book that must have been half as tall as Hermione was.
"What is that?" Harry found himself asking.
"Something I checked out earlier in the year. Something to read before I went to sleep at night." Hermione explained quickly.
Setting the book down on a nearby table, she flipped it open and started turning pages as fast as she dared. Her eyes lit up when she came to the spot she had been searching for. "Here! This should be it!" She said. The three Ravenclaws leaned in close to read what was on the page.
"Nicolas Flamel," Harry began, partly under his breath, "Is the only
known creator of the Philosopher's Stone." He paused, then asked,
"Philosopher's Stone?"
Hermione flipped the page and pointed at a paragraph, causing Harry to lean back over and continue, "Lesse... 'concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, which is said to contain the amazing power of turning lead into gold.'"
Solieyu shrugged when Harry looked up at him.
"...'It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.' ...Hold on, immortal?!" Harry exclaimed.
"SHHH!" Came Madam Pince's voice from elsewhere in the library.
"An immortal Snape. Now there's a scary thought." Tonks said, scowling.
"Well, according to this, Flamel's the only known person to have one of the things. It also says he's six hundred and sixty-five years old as of last year. No wonder we couldn't find him in any recent texts. He's a fossil!" Harry said, shaking his head.
"Well," Solieyu said slowly. "Now we know. Dumbledore is friends with Flamel, who must have asked the headmaster to keep the Stone safe for whatever reasons. And that dog is guarding it."
"We have to tell someone." Hermione said, quickly.
"I think she's right." Said Harry. "This is way out of our league."
"Are you kidding? We'd get in trouble for even knowing that dog's there!" Tonks said. "I dunno about you, but I don't wanna get expelled already."
"Well, we have to do something, obviously." Solieyu said. "If we don't, Snape's free to go after the Stone at any point he wishes to."
"Great." Harry said, sighing. "So now what do we do?"
None of the other three had an answer to his question.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Harry sighed, leaning his head against the back of his chair. Rubbing at his temples slowly, he pondered telling one of the professors about what he and his friends knew. Telling Dumbledore directly didn't seem like that smart a choice, all things considered.
It was late - around ten at night, or around thereof, anyway. Harry was one of the few people still awake and in the common room. Tonks and Solieyu had turned in half an hour earlier, leaving Harry with his troubled thoughts.
'I wish,' Harry thought as he let his eyes slip shut momentarily, '...that I knew what Snape hated me for. It would make working the final piece of this stupid puzzle out much easier...'
With another sigh, Harry stood. Whatever the reason, Harry and his friend were simply no match for a fully-grown wizard... to say nothing of one that was an expert at potions. For all Harry knew, the man could concoct some sort of acid to fling at him, should he try to interfere.
Harry walked through the arched pathway and asked Walter if he could be let out. After claiming it was sort of an emergency, the old man in the portrait allowed him to leave. Harry walked as quickly as he could without breaking into a full-blown run. Snape was trying to get something that would make him immortal. After that, he could kill Harry at will, or whatever the Potions Master wanted done with him, and nothing could be done in turn. After all, to Harry's knowledge, there wasn't a way to kill an immortal man.
Walking the passageways, he found himself standing in front of Professor Flitwick's office, behind which were his personal quarters. At the start of the school year, the little wizard had told the new students to come to him if anything was the matter. Biting at his lower lip tentatively, Harry raised a hand and knocked three times.
"Just a moment!" Came a squeaky voice from inside. A moment later, the door opened, and Professor Flitwick stood before him, looking up. "Ah, Mr. Potter! Out a bit late, aren't you?"
Harry hesitated for a brief moment, then sighed and nodded. "May I come in, Professor? There's something I need to say...and I couldn't think of anyone else to go to..."
Flitwick tilted his head, obviously curious, and stepped to one side, allowing Harry entry. The two walked over to a desk that was low to the ground, Flitwick hopping into an equally-small chair behind it. "I hope nothing is seriously wrong..." He said, watching as Harry sat in a normal-sized chair on the opposite side of the desk.
"I wish I could say there wasn't, but... can I be perfectly honest with you, Professor? It'd be so much easier to get this out in one burst..." Harry said, looking down at the floor.
"Of course, of course..." Flitwick said, now frowning.
Harry took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and began explaining everything to his head of house. How he had gotten chased into the room on the third floor and seen the dog, how he had overheard the staff talking about Flamel, and how he had seen Snape apparently coming from the room in question. He then went on to say that he and his friends had worked out who Flamel was and came to the conclusion that Dumbledore must have been guarding the Philosopher's Stone...and that Snape was after it.
Flitwick listened intently, nodding slowly at certain times and looking shocked at others. When Harry was done, Flitwick tilted his head back and said, "Well, Harry, I must say, I'm surprised. For a first year to work out all of that is quite amazing, to be sure. but Severus wanting the Philosopher's Stone? Are you quite sure that you saw correctly?"
Harry didn't fail to notice Flitwick's casual use of his first name. Feeling a little more at ease at having not been promptly cast out of the man's office on the grounds of making things up, Harry continued, "I'm certain of it, Professor. His robes were ripped up pretty badly... and Terry Boot's looked just like that when he and one of the other guys accidentally wandered into the dog's room awhile back..."
"I'll be speaking to Mr. Boot and Mr. Haskit about that, by the way. From what you've said, Mr. Boot will tell anyone who listens. Oh dear, oh dear... I was worried that Albus might have been making a mistake, letting the Stone come here... I would have at least thought that the room itself had been more properly warded, for that matter. I can't help but wonder why it wasn't... Had I known, I would have overseen the process personally..." Flitwick said, shaking his head.
"That does seem strange, now that you mention it..." Harry said, frowning deeply. "...Maybe Snape had been there previously, to see what had been placed as a guardian?"
"Professor Snape, Harry." Flitwick squeaked. "And I don't believe so. Why would Severus help set up the tasks guarding the Stone if he wished to take it for his own?"
"...Good question." Harry said, starting to feel frustrated. "I know that something's going on, though... What other reason would Sn- Professor Snape, sorry... What other reason would he possibly have for being there, though? I doubt he goes to check for bodies or anything..."
Flitwick sat in thought for a moment before saying, "Perhaps we should go and tell Albus. I think it would be for the best, Harry. If Severus is doing anything against the headmaster's wishes, then it would be best for the headmaster to see to it for himself..."
"Well, let's go tell him, then!" Harry said, sitting on the front of his chair in preperation to leave. "The sooner, the better..."
"I'm afraid we can't right now." Flitwick said, grimacing slightly. "We was called away on business and left right after tonight's meal. He should be back in a day or two, though."
"That might be too late..." Harry said, suddenly feeling like a balloon that had lost all its air. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Harry, you shouldn't be so jumpy..." Flitwick said, leaning forward in his own chair. "Albus trusts Severus, and I see no reason why he would try anything to betray that trust."
"But it would be the perfect time!" Harry groaned, leaning back. "With the headmaster away, who knows what Professor Snape might try? For all we know, it's a hoax meant to get the headmaster out of Hogwarts..."
Flitwick frowned, the gears in his brain wheeling about as rapidly as they ever did. "I'll send him an owl immediately, Harry. If he needs to be, Albus knows ways of quickly returning to the school. And anyway, I seriously doubt that Severus will get by Fluffy before Albus gets back... he said it wouldn't take long."
"FLUFFY?!" Harry exclaimed, nearly falling out of the chair he was in. "That three-headed dog is called FLUFFY?"
"Rubeus named him." Shrugged Flitwick. "It was cuter when it was a pup."
Shaking his head, Harry sighed and got to his feet. "Well... I guess I'll go back to the Tower, then. You're right, Professor, I guess I'm just being paranoid about the whole situation..."
Flitwick stood as well, walking around his desk and going with Harry back to the door. "Do you think the staff should keep an eye on Severus, just in case?"
Flattered that Flitwick would ask for his input on the matter, Harry paused before shaking his head. "No, I think he'd notice if you did. But thanks, anyway... It's been driving me crazy not knowing who I could talk to about all of this..."
Flitwick smiled. "Think nothing of it, Harry." He said, his usual, chipper mood falling back into place. "Thank you for trusting me enough to come and tell me."
Harry nodded and the two bid each other goodnight.
"Why on earth did he want an office on the seventh floor?" Harry wondered aloud during his trip down the main stairs. "I would have demanded a first floor office, if I were his size. Must be great exercise, though..."
It was almost eleven now, and Harry had cast the normal silencing charms on his shoes. Without his cloak, he was going to have to be much more careful on his return trip to the Tower. Talking things over with Flitwick had made him feel a little better about the situation, but something inside of him was still nagging at him. Something didn't feel right.
Harry paused halfway down a flight of stairs, taking in the eerie silence of Hogwarts at night. While Flitwick had helped try to put him at ease about Snape wanting the Stone, Harry wanted to be sure that the potions professor hadn't tried anything thus far. If he didn't go and at least peek into the room on the third floor, his mind would never let him have a peaceful moment until Dumbledore's return.
Shaking his head and berating himself for his own paranoia, Harry made his way back to the corridor he and Tonks had tried escaping down on the night they had tried following Solieyu to the hospital wing. Things remained eerily quiet... It was nice most of the time and was, in fact, one of the reasons that Harry enjoyed taking late night strolls under his cloak. While it was enjoyable being around so many people who didn't want to beat him to a pulp, he still enjoyed a bit of quiet once in awhile. Silence at a magical boarding school, Harry had realized early on, was rather hard to come by.
As Harry saw the door to the room come into sight, he couldn't help but wonder again about the name that Hagrid had chosen for it. It hadn't seemed very 'Fluffy-like' when it was trying to gobble up he and Tonks.
His thoughts were shattered as he drew closer, however. The air seemed to be magically charged - something Harry had gotten used to while being taught certain spells in his classes. The fact that the door to Fluffy's room was slightly ajar only made matters worse. He ran forward and grabbed at the handle, but was stopped when something filled the silence.
It was low and quiet - Harry had to strain to hear it properly. When
he realized what it was, however, his eyes went wide and he slung the
door open. Rushing in, he quickly recoiled at the sight before him. Fluffy lay on the ground on its side at the back of the room, blood splattered all over it. Good amounts of the red liquid were also on
the walls and floor nearby. Two of the creature's three heads didn't appear to have any life left in them, and the third looked close to
joining them. The sound he had heard was the giant dog whimpering,
weakly, in pain as it slowly died.
Even worse than the sight of the mangled beast's form, forever, was the sight of the trapdoor it had been sitting on.
It was wide open.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Notes: We may finish up quicker than I thought, depending on how long the following chapters wind up being. I'm very anxious to get my version of events in the final room taken care of. I guarantee that no one will be able to work out what I'm going to do, either.
And what of Harry? Will he rush back to the Tower to get his friends, or will he take the plunge and venture on alone? How will he get past the various challenges set up if he does? All will be answered in Chapter 22, which I'm hoping won't take long to churn out. When things pick up in action, I tend to pick up in writing speed. It helps that I beat Paper Mario 2 and can devote my time a little more towards finishing book 1 here.
Also, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny get brief cameos here! Yay! And Hermione did something important to the plot! I knew there was a good reason for keeping her around. And Ron got suspended!
I was planning to have Harry and Leon have a detention in the forest, as I was really wondering about the thing with the dead unicorn, Firenze, and Quirrellmort slaking his evil thrist... but simply figured that it would be too difficult to wedge into how things were moving along. I hope nobody minds.
I also hope no one minds me letting Flitwick having some seriousness to him. Sure, he's an emotional guy, but I think that when a student comes to him in need, he can be as serious as the next wizard.
Anyway, I've rambled enough. I hope you've enjoyed Chapter 21. Get ready for things to come to a rather interesting climax. I know I sure am!