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Chapter 12"Harry! Harry! Wake up god dammit!"
"Uh? Go away," mumbled Harry sleepily and turned over. Next second his covers were pulled back and he was drenched in water.
"Shit! What the hell is going on?" he asked angrily, sitting bolt upright and looking into the smirking face of Blaise.
"Well, your darling pet snake woke me up and seemed to want to be brought to you so, that's what I did, only I couldn't get you to wake up."
"So you threw water all over me?" asked Harry, irritated.
Who caresss about that. It's not like it'sss that late. It'sss eleven o'clock, hissed Isis, slithering off Blaise's arm and onto the bed. It wasss the only way to wake you up. I tried hisssssing in your ear, but you wouldn't budge, then I tried waking Draco, but he jussst groaned and muttered ssssomething about drinking to much alcohol. Blaissse wasss the only one who wassss at all ressponssssive. She was the only Slytherin up in fact. Everyone seems exhausted after the party.
Eleven o'clock! That's way to early. It's a saturday today. Whatever made you decide to drench me to the skin had better be worth it. grumbled Harry.
It isss. Lassst night, while you were caroussssing in the common room to all hourss, I wasssss working. I sssnuck into the sssssstaff room and I heard sssome very interessssssting thingss. The thing that you've been sssssearching for, the valuable, powerful, mysssstical, wonderful, brilliant, sssssssecret…
Yeah, yeah, get on with it. interrupted Harry, impatiently.
Fine then, hissed Isis, grumpily. ruin my big moment why don't you. The thing issss the philossssophersss sssstone. There, happy?
Wow, whispered Harry in awe. Are you sure?
"What? What's happened? What are you saying?" asked Blaise.
Coursssse I'm sure, hissed Isis indignantly, ignoring the girl. I heard Snape and McGonnagal disssscusssssssing it. It'sss guarded by sssseven enchantmentssss from different teacherssss. Professsssor Sssprout, Flitwick, McGonnagal, Quirrell, Ssssnape, Dumbledore and Hagrid. That'ssss who the three-headed dog belonged to. Apparently, it'sss name isss fluffy.
Fluffy! exclaimed Harry. Is it just me or is absolutely everyone in this school crazy? Who in their right minds would call a bloodthirsty monster like that Fluffy. I mean come on.
"Hey, quit talking snake-talk," demanded Blaise. "I want to know what's going on."
"The thing that the dog is guarding is the philosopher's stone," said Harry, waiting for a gasp of recognition, which never came.
"Who's stone? Why do you care about a rock?"
"This isn't just a rock, Blaise," said Harry, shocked and reproving. "It can change anything into pure gold and make elixir of life. Surely every Slytherin should know about it. Long life and as much money as you want! Just think of it!"
"Oh, you mean the Sorcerer's Stone. Sure I've heard of it, I do have some basic knowledge you know. I pick up a book once in a while."
"Okay, sorry, I forgot it had two different names. Anyway, we have to figure out a way to steal it!"
"I think we should leave that to Draco. Out of the three of us, he's the one with the most experience at thinking up cunning and devious ways to get what he wants. Remember how he talked that third year Gryffindor into giving him fifty-six sickles in exchange for a galleon."
"Yeah, that was funny. Alright, lets go ask Draco, but first we have to wake him up."
Once Draco had been coaxed from his bed, Blaise told him what they had found out. Needless to say, Draco was delighted at this unexpected turn of events. At first Harry thought he had gone into shock, but he soon realised that Draco was already thinking out ways to get his hands on such a treasure. Harry could practically see the wheels turning in his head.
"Okay, here's what we do," said Draco, decidedly. "We can't possibly steal the stone with Dumbledore in the castle. He probably has some wards up that will alert him the moment the stone disappears and we wouldn't have time to get away. We'll have to wait for the opportune moment, when Dumbledore is not in the castle. Meanwhile, we can try to work out how to get the stone out of the mirror. I think it's the enchantment Dumbledore thought up, so knowing him it'll be something incredibly simple. So simple that it is impossible to work out."
"Does that make sense?" asked Harry.
"Shut up. This is very serious. If we manage to pull this off we will become millionaires. Don't you realise that? This is not something to be taken lightly," said Draco, his voice rising.
"Yeah, yeah. Stop getting so worked up. We won't be able to use the thing straight away anyway. Dumbledore will keep a sharp eye on the wizarding world for quite some time after it's stolen, hoping to find out who the thieves were. If we suddenly start throwing money around I think he'd notice something," said Blaise.
"You're forgetting one thing. We all throw money about already. Draco especially," pointed out Harry.
"You see, it's fool proof," said Draco, smirking in satisfaction.
"I'm not too sure," said Blaise. "There seems to be someone after the stone already. The break in at Gringotts, the extra protection by bringing it here to Hogwarts, it all points to another thief. Probably a wannabe Dark Lord out for a bit of power. Actually, now that I think about it, the Nundu was also probably distraction caused by whoever's after the stone so their way would be clear. Obviously it didn't work, though."
"Yeah, you're right. The only way for a Nundu to get into the castle would be if someone let it in. There are thousands of wards around the building preventing dangerous beasts from entering," agreed Harry. "I have to say I'm not surprised. The philosopher's stone would probably attract millions of dark wizards out for a bit of power."
"Of course. Material wealth may not be the most important thing in the world but it's high up on the list. Just under immortality and world domination. So it is imperative that we get that stone. All my plans would be helped immensely if I was immortal and had unlimited amounts of money," said Draco, determinedly.
"Draco, please tell me you aren't planning on how to the rule the world already? We're only eleven years old," said Harry.
"And what if I am? Just think of having the whole world at your feet. You can't say the idea isn't appealing."
"Just so long as you remember that life is always 100 fatal. If we get the stone, we'll probably live longer than most but someone will probably steal it from us at some point, just like we're doing now. We wouldn't be able to hide and guard it for ever," said Blaise.
"It'll be enough to help us fight our way to the top and stay there. I then propose to find another method of immortality. As a back up you could say."
"Fight our way? Since when have I agreed to take over the world? Anyway, if you want to rule the universe, best to try the inconspicuous approach. That's one rule Voldemort sure should have listened to," said Harry, contemplatively.
"Well, we have plenty of time to think up a strategy. Though I always think it's best to be prepared. Anyway, let's go. Remember, Knightly and Blake are duelling each other in half an hour. They're the best duellers in the whole school. We need to get good seats. We also have to have time to place our bets. I'm counting on winning a lot of money on this."
"You're forgetting, I have to go down to the Quidditch pitch. Quite lucky you woke me up in fact. Flint is a slave driver. Since the match is coming up soon he wants all of us to practise every hour of every day. He let us sleep in a bit today, but only because he knew he would have an awful hang over from the party last night."
"I never thought I would say this, but it would probably be better for you if you had been on the Gryffindor team. I doubt you would have to practise as much," said Blaise.
"Arg! Slander! Treason! How dare you even think that anything those idiots do is better than the Slytherin way," cried Draco, dramatically, clutching his heart. Then stopped as two small round-faced boys appeared. "Ah, what have we here? Hufflepuffs!"
"Well I have to get going then," said Harry, regretfully, not wanting to miss Draco and Blaise tormenting some hufflepuffs. "See you!"
As he turned the corner he saw Blaise draw her wand and put the leg-locking spell on the two unfortunates, a malicious smirk on her face.
A/N Please, Please, Please review.
Allyanna: Thanks a lot for the good advice. I'll try to take it to heart! It really helps when people point out things that can be improved. Otherwise I'm left not knowing what people like or dislike or how I should make the characters more believable.
Panther Guide: Thanks for the good titles. I don't know many more. Only one by Slytherin-nette and another by Dauphin. I've read a couple more, but they weren't any good.
Nemati: thanks!