The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter Twenty-Three

Trap Door

Yuery tried to ignore the growing feeling of concern as he took his final exam. He didn't know exactly what was bothering him, but something was wrong in the castle. As soon as the bell rang, he rushed into the hallway, in hopes of identifying the issue, but all he knew was that something dark was moving about the corridors.

Then, he overheard Quirrell having a one-sided argument as he passed the teacher's breakroom, and his concern grew. It sounded like Quirrell had lost the argument, which was bad because the dark shade he had felt on Quirrell and the shade in the forest were the same, and it wanted the stone. He needed to find help, because Quirrell was going after the stone.

Yuery ran in search of Princess Chen or Professor Snape. Hell at this point he would take Dumbledore, though he shared his father's doubts about the man…maybe not as strongly as his Dad clearly felt about it, but still, he didn't like the man. Professor McGonagall came around the corner, and Yuery nearly ran into her before stopping himself. "Oh good! Professor you need to help, I just overheard. He's going after the philosopher's stone right now." Yuery panted out.

"How did you know about- No never mind it isn't important." McGonagall said, "I assure you Mister Elric the Stone is well protected. Even if someone did try to collect it, they would not manage it."

Yuery stared at her in disbelief for a moment. How could she not take this seriously? He needed to go find someone who would help after all. "Go outside, Mister Elric. Enjoy the sun."

Yuery nodded in agreement, he even walked the right direction until he had left her behind, before he ran toward the dungeons. He pounded on Snape's office door for a few minutes, when Draco came by and looked at him curiously. "Professor Snape isn't here. Professor Dumbledore drug him off to some meeting in London about an hour ago." Draco said.

"No! Quirrell is going after the stone and McGonagall didn't believe me." Yuery said desperately.

"What do you need me to do?" Draco asked immediately.

"Go find Princess Chen and let he know what's happening, I'm going to go watch the corridor to be sure Quirrell doesn't get in."

Draco nodded in agreement, and both ran in opposite directions. Yuery reached the corridor a few moments later, Ron and Hermione arriving just ahead of him. "Draco sent us. He said someone was going after the stone and you needed help. He'll be along shortly, after he finds help." Ron wheezed out.

"Why the hell is this castle so big anyway?" Yuery asked as they walked toward the door in question.

"I grabbed my flute. Remember Hagrid said music puts it to sleep." Hermione offered.

Dread filled them all when they noticed the door slightly ajar, Fluffy sleeping with his paw over the trap door. Someone had already been through here, apparent by the violin abandoned near the door. Yuery didn't think they could wait for Draco and whoever he found to help.

Fluffy woke as the door creaked open, snarling as angrily as before when they had met him on accident. Hermione quickly pulled out the flute and began to play. It wasn't the best Yuery had ever heard, but it wasn't terrible either Fluffy obviously agreed as he drifted back to sleep with another growl. Luckily moving his paw away from the door.

"Are you sure we can't wait for help?" Ron whispered as they stared down into the darkness below them.

"Not if we want to keep him from getting the stone." Yuery said grimly, he was going to be grounded. Probably for the rest of his life. He was also probably going to end up back with the tutors for this. He patted the pockets of his robes to ensure he had both his wand and his chalk. Hopefully he wouldn't need the chalk, or his Dad was going to be REALLY upset. "I'll go first then. You both can turn back, wait for Draco and the adults."

Hermione frowned at the suggestion and shook her head while Ron rolled his eyes and gestured for Yuery to get on with it. Yuery frowned at the others before jumping down the chute. Landing a few moments later on a spongy surface. "It's safe." He yelled up and Ron joined him a moment later followed by Hermione. He was relieved that they had managed to get down without breaking any bones.

Edward was angry when he was informed the next train would not get him to Hogsmeade until the next afternoon. He was livid when while enroute he received an urgent owl from Snape that informed him of Snape's trip to London. He didn't know what to call his level of anger right now as he stood in the entrance hall of Hogwarts as Professor McGonagall and Chen Li explained that his son, his eleven-year-old CHILD, had disappeared under the school along with two other students in an attempt to stop Voldemort from gaining the philosopher's stone.

"I am not certain how the children even learned of the Philosopher's Stone. Let alone how they learned it was at risk." McGonagall said. "I sent an urgent owl to Professor Snape and Dumbledore after I assured Yuery that the stone was well guarded and sent him outside to find his friends."

Edward closed his eyes with a deep sigh. "So, you metaphorically patted him on his head and sent him on his way with a false platitude. No wonder he's currently under the school."

"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked curiously, even as they all headed toward the stairs so that they could find his son.

"Yuery is an Elric. If he felt he wasn't being taken seriously, he would see no choice but to handle the situation himself. I won't be surprised if I received an owl from him any minute now asking for help."

"Why when he knows you're so far away?" Chen asked curiously.

"Because I'm his Dad." Ed said with a frown. "Because I promised him, I will ALWAYS come for him, and I always have. Because he doesn't trust you people anymore than I do."

McGonagall had nothing to say in response to this, though she did frown and seemed a bit hurt by his statement. He didn't have time to care, not with his son in danger and alone aside from a couple oof other children. At least, he thought, he had managed to keep Draco out of this by sending him down to the gates to meet Severus when he arrived.

Yuery realized a moment after Hermione landed that they had a problem after all. The spongy plant they landed on was slowly wrapping around his legs and had already creeped up as far as his waist. Ron wasn't far behind him, and Hermione was covered to her knees. "What is this anyway?" he asked out loud, but to himself as he tried to remember the plants, they had learned this year.

"Devil's Snare." Hermione offered quickly. "Relax and it will release you, struggle and it will keep going."

"Right." Yuery said and stopped moving as Hermione disappeared under the plant before yelling up that she was fine. Ron struggled harder. "Stop moving Ron, it will let you go."

Yuery slipped through the plant and landed next to Hermione. "He's not relaxing." Yuery observed. "Is there another way out?"

Hermione thought about it, panic clear in her face before remembering that fire also worked. She was nearly hysterical as she wrung her hands "If only we had a way to start a fire!"

"Do you remember the spell?" Yuery demanded as he reached for his wand and tried to remember the correct spell.

"Oh yes." Hermione said, casting the spell herself and releasing Ron.

Ron landed slightly less gracefully than the others, as he had been mid struggle as he brushed himself off, "Luckily we didn't panic." The others just rolled their eyes at him before Yuery insisted they needed to hurry along.

The next room they entered had a mountain troll passed out in the corner, which they walked passed quickly and silently breathing a sigh of relief when it didn't stir. They entered the room after and found it full of strange fluttering creatures. Upon closer inspection, they were keys.

"We're going to have to fly." Yuery said as he pointed out the brooms sitting in the corner. "Everyone look for a big key."

It wasn't long before he spotted one with a crumpled wing as if it had been handled roughly. The others circled around it as he dived, quickly grabbing the key. He placed it in the lock and as the door opened it fluttered away, wing slightly more crumpled than before to his dismay. "Come on, we need to keep going." Ron said, leading the way into the next room.

"What I don't understand," Edward said in irritation as they waited for the Cerberus to fall asleep from the magical melody McGonagall had conjured, "is why anyone thinks it is okay to have all of these hazards around children."

"This is not only a school, but one of the most protected places of magic in the region. Occasionally we are tasked with guarding powerful objects. Such as the Philosopher's Stone which was entrusted to Dumbledore by its creator Nicolas Flamel." McGonagall defended. "Flamel trusted it would be safe in Dumbledore's care, which was a large show of faith as it is the key to his longevity."

"I am aware of Flamel's misdeeds thank you." Edward said stiffly. "It does not explain why this castle is a death trap waiting to happen, yet it is full of children. I demanded answers years ago when I defended this castle. I demanded answers months ago when I reluctantly offered Dumbledore a small chance to redeem himself. I want answers now."

"We would never allow danger to befall our students!" McGonagall protested angrily. "I know Severus has hinted at you knowing things we don't, but I assure you sir, we only want the best for our students."

"That is not at all comforting considering Dumbledore intends to let my son die to fulfill a prophecy." Edward growled as the creature finally drifted off and he jumped into the passage without a second glance.

"So you claim!" Minerva said, before adding "Stay still and it will let you go. We would do anything to keep our students safe."

"Yet you leave them largely unsupervised in a castle full of traps." Edward rolled his eyes. "Look lady, you seem nice enough, and Severus has vouched for you several times. I still am not over you pretending to be a cat to get into my house, but I don't think you want to hurt my kid."

"I would never hurt one of my students. Yuery is a good boy." She said as they walked passed the mountain troll, who decided to take that moment to begin to wake up.

"Don't interrupt me. You seem like a nice person, but you need to pull your head out of Dumbledore's ass and see the truth behind his masks." Edward clapped his hands, trapping the troll in a stone prison before Minerva could cast a spell on it.

"Remus believes his guilty conscious is at least part of the reason for his alcoholism." Chen offered; she had been silently following until this point. "As well as mourning his lover who no one seems to be able to identify."

"Can we please, please not speak of his lover? Ever? Please." Edward said as they looked around for the key.

"So, your theory is he intends to kill the child, but feels badly about it, which is why he's been slowly killing himself with the drink?" Minerva asked. She sounded uncomfortable, as if it sounded to believable for her to dismiss. "Do you have a problem with his lover as well?"

"You have no idea." Edward said, as he pointed to the right key and Minerva cast a spell to grab it.

Yuery saw it as clearly as Ron did, the next move would place Yuery in the path of defeating the king, only after Ron sacrificed himself to the queen. He wondered who had thought it was a great idea to invent a chess game where the pieces attacked each other anyway?

Not this particular set, he knew this had to be the work of Professor McGonagall, but the concept in general. He had been wondering it for months, even as he considering buying his Yeye a set because it was still interesting. He may have changed his mind now though as Ron moved into place and was smacked away by the queen. "Don't move!" he ordered Hermione who had been about to rush to Ron. He then stepped up to the king who threw down his sword in defeat.

Hermione rushed to Ron as the pieces all retreated to reset the board. "He's injured but I think he'll be alright." She said, reluctantly leaving Ron softly on the side of the board to rejoin Yuery. "Let's get this over with."

"Perhaps you should stay with him or go back for help." Yuery said with a glance at Ron concern clear in his voice.

"Draco already went for help. They should be here soon. Come on, let's hurry." Hermione said as they walked through the next door.

A/N: Thanks to where this chapter ends, the next chapter will be up shortly as well.