A/N- Sorry for so late update. I have very valid excuses for it however. I have been busy too much since the last two weeks or so. Lawyers have a every chaotic lifestyle where they don't get time for things they want to do with everything that is lined up and screaming for attention but I promise the next update will be quicker. Waiting for your lovely reviews.

3rd floor

Quirrell had finally found the courage to try and use the lute to tame the beast. He knew that it may be the first try in a series of many to get past the three headed beast but this was the best that he could do. If the other challenges proved to be as difficult, he would just have to find another way around them and be quick about it. He knew this body was not going to be able to serve him much longer.

He had enchanted some of the suits of armour to keep Snape busy and sent Mr. Filch on a wild goose chase telling him that some students were out and about on the 6th floor after curfew.

While Snape was occupied with suits of armour randomly attacking him, Quirrell decided to try his luck. Severus had been hit by the 5th suit of armour in a row when he decided to check if someone was playing tricks on him. It was something that the infernal brat, the bane of his existence Hadrian Potter-Black would try as his father had in days of yore. True that Potter and Black were more creative but then they had a vicious streak a mile wide. They actually used to test all their pranks on Snape partly because he infuriated them partly because Lilly hung out with him which irked Potter. Black was the lapdog who always followed his friend like a lost puppy with that group of friends of his. A motley collection but they always managed to avoid getting caught in wrong doing. As Snape was dealing with the suits of armour, Quirrell strode up to the 3rd floor, sneaking around the corners and avoiding anyone who might notice him.

It had taken him a whole day of pondering and lots of smarming up to Professor Babbling to get her to check and redo the enchantment runes on the lute which the elf had brought to him. When she asked him out of curiosity why he didn't simply play it like muggles, he claimed that he had never been able to develop the lip for it and he didn't want to wake up the whole castle with his terrible playing.

Soon he was in front of the door that led to the forbidden corridor and he took a moment to anticipate his victory. He pulled out the lute and was just about to tap it with his wand when he felt the shadows move. He hastily tried to stow the lute back into his robes when he heard the all too familiar sneering voice behind him, I am quite certain that I told you to stay away from this corridor, Quirrell."

Well, Thought Quirrell, Snape got out of his predicament very quickly. He knew there was nothing for it now but to escape him somehow and try again some other day.

Snape was still sneering, "Well, Quirrell? You have no answer for me?"

Sev-Severus, I -I c-c-can go a-an-anywhere I-I want", he said, stuttering convincingly.

Severus's countenance hadn't changed, "Well, we will see shortly. What is it that you are trying to hide from me?" Snape asked pointing towards his hand where the lute lay hidden up his sleeve.

"No-nothing", he replied while Voldemort bent all his power to cause the lute to vanish. What a wasted effort for nothing gained. Even this trivial bit of wandless magic to vanish the flute had been too much for Quirrell's weakened body. He swayed on his feet, desperately looking for a way to escape this encounter.

Snape pointed his wand in Quirrell's face, extending his hand towards Quirrell as if he expected him to handover whatever was hidden in the sleeve. Quirrell's breath came in short gasps as his vision constricted to the point of Snape's wand. Suddenly Snape went rigid and toppled face first to the floor. Quirrell didn't even have enough time to feel relief before he too was unconscious.

Lion's Den

Harry and Neville stowed the cloak away before they entered the Common Room where the twins and Lee Jordon were waiting for them.

As they entered, Fred asked anxiously, "Harrikins, did you succeed?".

Harry grinned as he buffed his knuckles on his robe, "Was there ever any doubt? The Dungeon bat is safely stashed away where he won't be bothering any of us until morning. But I must caution you to avoid his direct gaze. He can pick your thoughts right out of your head if you're not careful."

This bit of information surprised the twins, "What! He can read minds?"

Neville nodded, "One of the few master legilimens in Britain and second only to Dumbledore.".

The twins were horrified with the implications, "So, that's how the dungeon bat has been keeping an eye on us. We often wondered how he can know about something when others didn't."

Harry nodded, "yes. Just remember, don't look into his eyes when you're around him then think of random things instead of a prank."

The twins beamed at him, "That's the little marauder."

Quirrell's office

Quirrell woke up with his head hurting. Voldemort was thundering in his mind, "Wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP‼! You fool! You wretched pathetic excuse for a wizard, it is my misfortune that I have to possess a thing like you. You are not even half of what I expected. How could you be bested by a stunner when you saw Snape falling to it before it hit you?"

As Quirrell was still groggy and could not understand what was going on, Voldemort gave him a jolt of pain to his mind and recurring flashes of last night. Then the pain began.

It was like being pricked with a needle at the start but soon it turned to pain experienced when someone accidently cuts himself on a knife. It then changed to as if someone was boiling him in a vat of acid and he could feel himself on fire. He started crying at the top of his voice, "Master! Mercy! Master!"

Finally Voldemort relented and eased the pressure and said coldly, "Do you realize someone put you in your bed after having stunned you and Severus?"

Quirrell had the same thought. Someone who had stunned him left him in his bed. The identity of this mysterious attacker was a puzzle to him. Whether they were on his side or the other side? Why were they helping Quirrell? If it was someone supporting him then why did they not show their faces? What if it was someone who also wanted to get to the stone? What if they had found a way to get past the beast? He would have to be extremely cautious in the days to come for if someone else was out there trying to get to the same thing then it may cause a problem.

"What are you thinking?", Voldemort jolted his mind again, Start looking for whoever is responsible for this. Until I determine that it is friend or foe, we can't take any chances."

"Y. Yes ma. Master", he replied. He also realised that the flute which he had stowed in his sleeve was gone. Perhaps Voldemort's magic has done its work and vanished it. There was only one thing that he could do now- Wait for the easter holidays and then go buy another musical instrument in Diagon Alley.

He tried not to think about the lute anymore which he had hidden in his sleeve. Voldemort had vanished it with the burst of the wandless magic that he tried and Quirrell was afraid to bring that up because it would mean more endless torture.

Breakfast time

Neville and Harry were sitting at the Hufflepuff table with Isobel, Susan, Hannah, Ernie and Justin talking about the day and other little things while they ate breakfast. Harry and Neville were actually taking the time to see Severus Snape with their own eyes and to ensure that he was okay.

Snape came in about 15 minutes late to the staff table, his cloak billowing behind him, the trademark sneer on his face but there was something different about him this morning. His robes were soiled as if he had been sleeping on the ground for the night, twigs were caught in his greasy hair and he had a bump on his head and a bruise on the right side of his forehead.

Neville asked Harry worriedly, "What do you reckon happened?".

Harry said nonchalantly, "I suppose that Kreacher elfhandled him a little. Kreacher is getting on in years. We can forgive him for making such mistakes."

Neville snorted, "Yeah, yeah. Tell that to someone who'd believe it. I have seen that elf balancing three goblets full of spiced pumpkin juice one on top of another and he didn't spill a drop. I think it's likely that Sirius told him to do something to him."

Since they could only guess, there was nothing more to say on that topic. Susan who was waiting to get Harry's attention, asked him, "When are you starting Quidditch practice again, Harry?"

Harry shuddered thinking of Wood, "Now that you mention it, Oliver was going on about getting started on it tomorrow at dawn. Why?"

She exclaimed, "Is he mental or something? Who wakes up at that hour?"

Neville chuckled, "You haven't seen old Wood in his element. If you did, you wouldn't have had to ask that."

Meanwhile at the staff table, Snape was talking to the headmaster, "Headmaster, something has happened and I want you to find the culprit."

Minerva who was sitting on the other side of Albus said, "Stop acting like a petulant child, Severus and speak what is on your mind."

Before Snape could retort, Albus said, "Minerva this appears to be serious. Please be quiet while I talk to Severus."

Minerva's mouth shut with an audible click, into a thin firm line.

Albus turned back to Severus, "What were you saying Severus?"

Headmaster, last evening I was patrolling the third floor corridor when someone stunned me from behind."

Albus's eyes narrowed a bit but he willed his facial expression into blankness almost instantly and spoke in a neutral tone, "Do you suspect it to be the doing of the one who is always making mischief?"

Severus understood the allusion to Quirrell and that Dumbledore couldn't speak about him openly, especially at the Staff table, "No headmaster. I think some of the students are behind it."

Minerva stiffened, "Don't try to tell me that you think it was Potter-Black's doing."

Severus drawled, "Who else in this castle is audacious enough to do such a thing Minerva?".

She glared hard at him, "Unless you bring me some concrete evidence, I am not going to let you or anyone question him."

Snape drawled, "Of course! Minerva McGonagall would not think that her precious lions can do any wrong."

Albus said sternly, "Severus I will talk to you about it in my office after classes are over today. Now go and tidy up. Classes will be starting soon."

The library

Harry was really glad that he had no potions class today. If he did, he was sure that the dungeon bat would find a way to make his life miserable and deduct points off of Gryffindor for the sheer glee of it.

Unknown to the students, some of the staff were going through every student's belongings while they were in classes. When Snape entered his office, he had found the door unlocked when he distinctly remembered locking the door last night. A simple detection spell revealed that someone had been in his office and went through the drawer which contained the ice potion. The implications of the situation made him shudder despite himself however there was no clue. Whoever was there had their signatures garbled together. He could detect three or four signatures at once. He was unable to separate them out from each other.

As soon as he could get into a new robe after a quick bath (carefully avoiding washing the greasy mop that was his hair), he found Dumbledore and relayed the entire thing. Dumbledore had a pretty good idea about what had taken place but he could not do anything about it. He didn't have the heart to expel any of the students nor could he pin it on them unless he revealed that he was spying on them. That would be highly prejudicial where someone like Lord Black was concerned. Besides he was willing to see how it was going to pan out.

As was the routine, Harry and Neville were in the library with Daphne hidden under the ward and she was frowning at them. Harry cautiously asked her, "Uh Daph, what is the matter?".

She raised an eyebrow, "Exactly what happened that you had to meet me so soon after having sent your minion to do the same, Harry?"

Harry turned to Neville, looking incredulous, "You are acting behind my back, minion! That is preposterous."

Neville grinned sheepishly, "One of us has to keep Daphne sane, you know. It is hard for her to pretend to be aloof and above everyone else all the time with only having Tracy to talk to."

Before Harry could say anything, Daphne interrupted, "fight later, talk now. What happened?"

Harry took up the narrative, "So as we told you, we were on the task of getting a bottle of ice potion out of Snape's office.". He took a small deliberate pause and Daphne shot a stinger at him, "Keep going, Potter-Black. I don't remember giving you permission to stop."

Harry was rubbing his backside where the stinger had hit and said with a bit of false pain in his voice, "We teamed up with the Slytherins to retrieve them from Snape's office."

She gasped in surprise, "You teamed up with Slytherins and broke into their head of house's office with their help! How could you?"

Neville grinned, "We are special that way, Daffie.".

She glared at him, "I am not Daffie, Minion." She turned to Harry, "Are you going to speak on your own volition or do you want me to give you some more incentive for that?"

Harry gave his best lopsided grin and she scoffed, "That grin doesn't work on me, Harry. My mother told me that girls used to swoon over your father when he did that but she was impervious. I guess I got her genes."

Harry pouted, "There goes my plan to whisk you away like a knight in armour on a white horse."

She pulled out her wand and turned to Neville while twirling it, "Would you tell anyone if I murdered Potter-Black or will you help me with hiding the body?"

The grin that crept across Neville's face gave Harry the shudders. He threw his hands in the air in surrender, "Okay no more playing. So, I was kept some way across from the grand staircase to the potions dungeons with Du Vant and my minion was hiding with me under that cloak."

She interrupted before he could continue, "Oh yes, I want that cloak for a night. Have a common room to raid, you know."

Neville turned to Harry looking incredulous, "Mate, do you think she has accidently drunk some potion or something that is making her behave weirdly?"

Harry nodded, "I reckon so. Let's tie her up and take her to Madam Pomfrey to get her checked."

Before the suggestion could be carried out though, Daphne said, "I was not asking. I was telling you that I need that cloak. Now continue."

Deciding to talk about the cloak later, he returned to his story, "So, the twins and Bole and Patricia Fawley did the real job rather than me but when they came they told me to do something about Snape."

She frowned, "Why would they ask you to do so?"

Neville answered, "Well Snape is very meticulous. I won't put it past him to figure out that something was amiss or that someone had broken into his office despite what we do. So, it was necessary to keep him away until it was too late for him to do anything. Kreacher was happy to leave him in the Shrieking Shack."

She did not mirror the grins on their faces but she was frowning, "You don't think it was a bit out of line? He is a teacher regardless of what else he may or may not be. By reason of being our Professor, he deserves some respect. You should have done something else."

Harry nodded, "yeah it was wrong and maybe we could have tried to do something else but he left us little choice."

She raised an eyebrow, "Explain yourself."

"Daph when we found him on the map, he was on the third floor, facing off with Professor Quirrell. As we have already told you, he's after the Sorcerer's stone and Professor Quirrell seems to be the only one standing in his way. Sadly, Quirrell isn't quite up to the job of stopping someone as powerful as Snape. To protect the stone and save Quirrell from an untimely death, we had to stun Snape. We also stunned Quirrell because he would have seen us and then told on us. If that happened we would have been halfway to London by now."

She calmed down but only a little, "Alright, you are right that you had to do it to save the stone but please no more tricks like this one, please? I mean theft and assaulting teachers isn't good."

He nodded, "No. It won't do. As it happens, we have just one task left for the title of Prankster of Hogwarts. I will have to think of something monumental."

As they were leaving, she called over his shoulder, "And tell those twins to stop trying to test their pranks on me. Tell them that I am itching to try the hex my mother taught me which is likely to end up with a visit to the infirmary."

Headmaster's office

When Severus entered the Headmaster's office after classes, he was still in a bad mood. Albus pointed him to a seat and let him release some steam before he asked him, "What happened last night, Severus?".

Snape drawled, "What difference does it make to you, Old man? It is all the same to you. The golden boy cannot do any wrong."

Albus said a bit sternly, "my time is too valuable to hear you whine about a bunch of children, Severus. We are digressing. We have a job to do and that includes stopping Lord Voldemort from coming back to life. Now what happened last night?"

"Last night I had almost caught Quirrell. He had something up his sleeve which I saw him put there when he noticed my presence. I was about to accost him to find out what it was when I was stunned from behind. When I woke up this morning, I was in the Shrieking Shack, lying in the dust. Whoever did it only wanted me to keep away from Quirrell. I don't know if he managed to get past the beast."

Dumbledore shook his head, "No. If he had gone past it, I would have known. The rest of the obstacles won't be more than a trifle of bother to him but he is not yet through them."

Severus asked, "What about the stolen ice-potion?".

"We found none of it in the students' possession, Severus. I believe that none were missing but I can be wrong. However, consider this: You found at least three magical signatures. If Voldemort is here, in disguise, you can be sure that nobody in this castle is helping him."

Severus sneered, "You won't question the boy?"

Albus shook his head, "Not unless you have some evidence against him, Severus. And don't try to use Legilimancy on him or Quirrell will be the least of your problems."

Let's prank people

The pranksters of the four houses gathered in the same room where they had held their last meeting. Harry started as soon as the last person was in, "Alright, so yesterday the Gryffindors and the Slytherins were successful in getting two doses of the ice-potion as was the task. I don't have to tell how hard it was for us to devise a plan to get into his office, get a hold of it and leave without being caught. Now I request the teams to bring out their potions so that your claims can be verified."

Everyone produced a bottle of the same potions for him to inspect. With a stroke of inspiration, Harry offered to them, "If you all don't mind, I would take it off your hands at a suitable price.".

They obviously had no problem with it. In fact, with it being off their hands, there was no evidence of their wrongdoing. What Potter- Black did with it would be his own headache.

He paid 5 galleons to the lions and to the Snakes and pocketed the potions immediately before he started speaking again, "So as I have been thinking recently. Pranking teachers or breaking into their offices isn't worthy of us. In fact, it would otherwise be a crime if nothing less. So the next thing that I propose would be all the more better if you can agree."

They all nodded and he continued, "Let's have a pranking competition. Lets try to prank the whole school at once. We can form alliances with the other teams for the purpose and they will get equal points for the pranks that they perform. For every successful prank, the participants will get 10 points. Successful means that you are not caught in the effort or it will count as zero. Only rule is that we are not going to prank any teachers. Now who is with me in this one?"

Everyone thought over what he said. As it had become clear to them, he never said a word unless there was some meaning behind it. And considering he was a Black, the meaning was generally more sinister than the benign interpretation they ascribed to it. When they all were sure that the words were innocuous and there was no hidden meaning behind them, they all agreed. Before they could leave, he had the last word, "One more thing, this round will go all the way until two evenings before the last day of the term. That is when we will judge the winner."

What they didn't know was that he was planning to cause absolute mayhem during this period. He would enlist help from a lot of people from any of the houses while ensuring that Gryffindor remained in the lead. If he felt like it, he could sabotage their plans while he was at it. After all, they didn't know that Longbottom was his shadow and often had equal credit in any pranks he did.

Weasley is on a roll

The chess tournament kicked off on a fine Saturday morning, just after breakfast. About 60 students had put their names in. Harry was delighted to see that all four houses were equally represented. He half expected to see Ravenclaw colours dominating the contestants, but realized that none of the houses were likely to back down from a challenge. Lots were drawn to assign 15 students to each group. After each group completed round-robin matches, the two from each section with the most wins advanced to the quarter-finals. Ron argued for double elimination, but Harry wanted everyone to be able to play against as many opponents as possible. With a total of 28 Wizard Chess tables set up, the students who sat out each round sat at a centre table with the judges to discuss strategy, tactics and what they observed going on at the tables around them. Flitwick had devised a rather clever ward-scheme so that the players would not be disturbed by any of the conversation or cheering that went on outside of their individual tables.

Ron had thrashed Harry enough times at Wizard chess for Harry to know he was just pants at it. He sat with Isobel, Neville and Daphne who had decided to stay out of it too. Harry had confided in them that he had full faith in Ron's abilities, who played wicked chess enough to defeat even Moony. With all of his friends he sat on Ron's side with Neville taking the other where they cheered him on.

The matches were 30 minute speed rounds so that none of the games would drag out too long. It made Harry a bit nervous to see how quickly Ron moved his piece and hit the clock each time. But it soon became clear that Ron knew what he was about. What's more, this tactic tended to unnerve his opponents into making stupid mistakes.

Ron's first opponent was a 5th year Ravenclaw. His second was a 4th year Slytherin. His 3rd was a 6th year Gryffindor. The fourth one was a Hufflepuff in 2nd year. After the first four matches, everyone took a break. When they went back at it, Ron had to face a seventh year Slytherin first, a fifth year Hufflepuff and finally a sixth year Gryffindor. Harry scanned the tables as he waited for Ron's opponents to make their moves. He also came to the realization that Ron was the only first year in the tournament. What's more, it didn't seem to bother Ron in the least. None of the other Weasleys were participating either. Fred and George were too busy making book on all the action. Harry had put down ten galleons on Ron. Even though they only gave Harry three to one odds on such an incredible long-shot, Harry didn't complain. Percy preferred to sit in the stands, polishing his prefect badge.

When the fifth year Ravenclaw saw who he had drawn for his first match, he couldn't keep the smugness from his face. He swaggered up to the table and sat down with a miniscule nod of the head to Ron. He generously even gave the first move to the much younger red-head. It was only five minutes and seven moves later when Ron calmly moved his queen, slapped down the clock and said, "Check-mate." He rose grinning to offer the Ravenclaw his hand to shake as he said, "Good match.". He spent the rest of that first half hour, watching the fourth year Slytherin he had to play against next.

As the judges marked down the results of the first round, Ron stood, stretched and strode over to the next match. The fourth year Slytherin greeted him with a smile that did not reach his eyes and a very cool, dry hand-shake. The Slytherin drew first move as the bell chimed and the match was on. They were already six moves into the match when Ron realized that he had his work cut out for him. This guy had pieces that trusted him and he had depth. This was not the same opening the fourth year had used on his previous opponent. In fact, it was the one opening Ron had the most trouble with. It must be coincidence because there was no way a fourth year would have thought enough of Ron to study him. As the next few moves went on, the Snake's disingenuous smile grew ever wider. But, Ron had a gift for thinking fast when things looked bad. The Slytherin looked really smug at his move 15 when he took down Ron's queen. But the next moment, he did a massive face-palm when Ron took his rook and called, "Check-mate" just as the clock chimed to indicate time up. There was no time for pleasantries as the judges recorded the results and hustled the stragglers on to their next matches.

Ron's next opponent smiled and shook his hand warmly as he sat down opposite him. This sixth year knew what he was in for as he had watched Ron demolish one opponent after another in the Gryffindor common room. Before the match started, he said, "I hear Fred and George are only giving three to one for you to win."

Ron asked offended, "What, against you?".

Ron's eyes went wide as the older boy answered, "No. To win the whole tournament.".

The chime sounded and they were off. The sixth year started with a Queen's Pawn opening, but before 5 moves were done, Ron had him pinned down in every direction. The older boy looked over the board, shaking his head for a minute before he toppled his king and conceded the match. They stopped the clock, cleared the board and played exploding snap until the end of round. The judges had a stern look of disapproval as they removed the soot from the scorched chess table.

His fourth match was a rough go. The second year from Hufflepuff was not so entrenched in chess lore as Ron's other opponents were. Her manner of play was brilliant and erratic. But when Ron realized that she didn't have the experience or the book-learning going for her, he easily tricked her into a revealed check-mate on the eighth move and stopped the clock. As he rose to thank her, she tousled his hair and said, "You're cute." Ron blushed until his face matched his hair while she laughed at his discomfiture.

There was a 20 minute break for refreshments before the next set of matches. There was a good amount of back-slapping and hearty hand-shakes going around as the participants shared their results with their house-mates and other players alike. Even those who hadn't won a single match had to admit that they were learning a lot and that it would be a different story when they did this next year.

"Next year", Harry thought, "This tournament wasn't even half over and they were already talking about next year!"

Dumbledore called for order, "Come now! Back to the tournament. I dare say that none of you would like to have lunch delayed?"

With a threat like that, Ron was the first to find his way back to his chess table. A minute later, a burly looking seventh year in green and silver sat down across from him. The young man looked like he must have been half troll. For a moment, Ron thought about throwing the match just so this guy wouldn't pulverize him if he lost. But once the chime rang, all thoughts were focused on the chess board. This guy was good! He repeatedly set up traps with tempting bait to pull Ron out of position. Once Ron understood his style, he passed up big pieces for smaller gains. It took 12 moves this time, but once again, Ron stopped the timer and said, "Check-mate.". As he rose, he shook Ron's hand and said, "Let Fred and George know, they'd better be ready to pay up when you win this thing." He winked at Ron as he moved on to his next match.

It was Ron's turn to take a break for this round. He sat at the table with the judges and the other three players who were off. As he started to compare notes, he realized that he was the only one at the table who had won all five of his matches so far. That was when he understood what the big Slytherin had said to him. He looked around the room as the clocks were winding down and also realized that most of the players were hard-pressed to complete a match under 30 minutes. He mowed down on a couple cauldron cakes and a tankard of pumpkin juice to fortify himself for the last two matches of the morning.

This time, he sat down across from a fifth year Hufflepuff. Ron got through all the pleasantries before the chime sounded to start the match. This time there was no subtlety. He tore into his opponent with a castle blitz. The older student just sat there shaking his head as Ron called, "Check-mate" and stopped the clock.

The older student declared, "I haven't seen that attack since I was five. I can't believe I fell for it."

The final match before lunch, Ron was facing another sixth year from his own house. Sure, this guy had seen Ron play a lot. Instead of being intimidated or impressed, he stood back and carefully observed how Ron played. 10 moves into the game, Ron felt like he was playing against himself. Then it hit him, "What would I fall for?", he thought. The next move, he placed his bishop to pin the king and called, Check".

The other fellow moved his knight to take the bishop, but in so doing, sealed his doom. Ron moved his queen in and called, "Check-mate", as he stopped the clock with less than a minute to spare.

Ron shook his hand warmly, saying, "Best match I've had all day! Thanks."

Once the judges recorded the results, Dumbledore stood from his seat, Flitwick deactivated his wards and the applause rolled over the Great Hall in a wave. The students who had been watching the matches stood from their seats, cheering and clapping. Albus let the applause go on for several minutes before he motioned for silence, "Thank-you all for your enthusiasm. This concludes the first day of our tournament. We hope to see you all back here, tomorrow morning, for the conclusion of the round-robin portion of this tournament. Now, if you please, clear the hall so that we may reset the room for lunch."

A murmur grew into a roar as the students filed out, talking about what they had seen during the matches of the morning. That day, there was a big party in the Gryffindor tower to celebrate Ron's feat that day however the said red head was busy at a chess table playing against several others who volunteered to give him some match practice.

For Ron, the second morning of the tournament went by in a blur. He systematically crushed all who opposed him. Either he had gotten sharper or all the tough opponents had been stacked on the first day. Dumbledore rose at the end of the morning to announce lunch. When the applause died down, he continued to say that they would re-convene after lunch to announce the quarter-finalists and continue the tournament.

As the two from each group were announced in alphabetical order, the various houses they were from cheered loudly as the rest of the students engaged in polite applause. When he came to the end of the list and announced, "Last, and certainly not least, Ronald Weasley." The Gryffindors went wild. Out of the other seven, only Adrian Pucey had swept his round-robin matches as Ron had done. Pretty much everyone agreed that it was between Ron and Adrian, but only Ron had won every match by Checkmate. A few of Adrian's matches were decided by points when time ran out. Many were speculating that it meant Ron was reckless and things would go against him in an unlimited time match.

As it turned out, Ron drew Adrian for his quarter final match. These matches had no time limit, but the clocks were used anyway, just to know how much time each player used. At first, it appeared that Ron was trying to use the same rush and click tactic that he had used in the earlier matches. But it soon became clear that he was just using a memorized opening. As the pieces came into play and more options became available, he did slow down, but not by all that much. They were 18 moves into the game with several pieces retired. Unlike his lightning raids, Ron was playing the long game, his face expressionless with concentration. Pucey placed his rook and called "Check".

Ron took a few seconds to make sure that he saw what he thought he saw. Satisfied, he nodded, then taking the rook with his white bishop, he called, "Check-mate.". Pucey's King threw its crown to the board, acknowledging defeat.

The other three matches were still going, but most eyes had been on Ron's match up until that moment. Ron clapped the older boy firmly on the shoulder and said, "There were at least five times that I thought you had me, but when you went in for check with your rook, I could hardly believe my luck!".

"Didn't mean to make it so easy for you, mate", Pucey said shaking his hand, "I guess I just got frustrated and didn't see it coming."

For the semi-final, Ron drew Ryan Aniston who had dominated in his section. It didn't take Ron many moves to realize that this guy relied entirely too much on uncovered threats. That got him looking at the pieces behind the pieces. Ron had already pulled off a queen sacrifice check-mate yesterday, but he thought that he just might pull off another one. As he made his moves with apparent reckless abandon, his opponent kept taking pieces but losing position. When it started to look like Ron would lose by attrition, the people watching the game gasped as Aniston took his queen. But they were all shaking their heads in disbelief as Ron took the bishop with his rook and declared, "Check-mate.". It had been a really risky play, but he had catered to the older boy's greed and beaten him according to plan.

He gave Aniston perfunctory thanks that minimal manners demand and turned his attention to the match going on at the other semi-final table where Patricia Fawley was facing off against Rupali Sinha from Hufflepuff. Patricia, who was as good at pranks as she was at chess, had a whimsical, erratic style of play that tended to throw her opponents off balance while Rupali Sinha was all business, taking advantage of every lapse in judgement or concentration. The match was well advanced and the pieces were getting sparse. Patricia seemed to have an advantage for pieces, but Sinha was dug in like a tic. At last, Fawley made an assault on Sinha's bastion, but the exchange went poorly for her. When Sinha made her counter-attack, it was check-mate in two moves. Applause went up all-around at the conclusion of the semi-final matches.

After a short break that involved butterbeers, chocolate frogs, pumpkin pasties, and lots of hearty congratulations from his house-mates, Ronald Weasley and Rupali Sinha were called back to the chess table for the final match. For this one, Flitwick, McGonagall and Dumbledore had cooperated to create a life-sized chess board with animated pieces. Since Ron was undefeated, he had choice of colour. Surprising to many, he chose black. Rupali opened by moving out her King's pawn. That was the last time she moved quickly for the rest of the game. She kept trying to build her defences, and Ron kept disrupting them. It got to the point where Rupali castled to try and get her king under the cover of her last remaining pawns. Ron sprung on her as if that was the moment he had been waiting for. Ron took the rook with his queen and called the final, check-mate as he stopped the clock.

A sea of gold and red robed students rushed the floor, cheering with a deafening noise as they swept up Ron on their shoulders. They pumped their fists in the air chanting, "Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!". They kept up the chanting as they carried Ron off to the Gryffindor common room to start their celebration.

Can you Fly? Show me.

About three days after they launched the prank war, Harry had Oliver call another meeting of the Quidditch players from all the houses. It was just after classes had finished for the day as they gathered. They hadn't decided on anything at the previous meeting because they had to scatter when a certain dungeon bat tried to crash their party atop the Astronomy tower last time. Oliver got them together once again and it was time to discuss it.

Harry addressed the group, "Hello everyone. I'm glad you could all come. As I am sure you all recall, we had to cut our last meeting short due to interference from our favourite hook nosed, greasy haired Dungeon bat. We didn't have the time to fix the date for the next meeting and that was a disappointment. But, we are here now, hopefully under better circumstances and we can discuss the next thing. This time, we are not going into the forest or anything like that. This time, it is a straight up contest to see who the better flier is?"

"What do you mean Potter-Black?", asked Adrian.

"Well Adrian, it's not just about who has the fastest broom. This is going to require some real skill."

Gwen asked, "OK, Potter-black, out with it. What do you have planned?"

He smirked, "Well, Gwen, since you asked so nicely, I've arranged to set up an obstacle course on the Quidditch pitch. It will test nerve and skill. We'll time each person as they fly through it, with appropriate time penalties for missing any obstacles, of course, the one with the best time wins. Simple really."

One of the twins asked, "Who's going to set up the obstacles and how long will that take?"

Harry grinned, "No worries on that count mate. I have recruited a few very talented people to see to that. The obstacle course will be set up and waiting for our brooms on the Quidditch pitch."

Cedric clapped and rubbed his hands together eagerly as he asked, "Great! When do we race?"

Harry affected a yawn, suppressing a grin as he responded, "How about an hour after curfew… tonight?"

"Today?!", Oliver all but shouted, There's no time to prepare or practice… We need to discuss…"

Harry couldn't suppress the grin anymore. He baited Wood mercilessly, "Really, Oliver? I mean, can you fly or not? What difference would it make if we planned this for days or even weeks? Rest assured, everyone got the exact same amount of notice that you did. Besides, we wouldn't want to make it too easy, would we? This way, it's more fun."

Unknown to anyone at the school, Harry had enlisted the aid of the very able jokester, Mr. Gambol of Gambol and Japes over a week ago. With a few lines scrawled on a parchment and an appropriate amount of gold, the proprietor of prankdom had come up with a torturous maze with a series of obstacles to challenge broom flyers that could be deployed in any open space in a matter of a few minutes.

That evening, after all the good little students should be tucked up in their beds, certain accomplices he had hired from the seventh year students, would deploy the masterpiece of elegance, craft and just the right amount of sadism on the Quidditch pitch for all to admire. Many hands make light work. It would only take a few minutes for the nefarious crew to install and activate the various ward-stones and spells that made the maze work. Harry had waited for the perfect night to surprise them with the contest.

Headmaster's office

Dumbledore was in his office thinking over what Quirrell was doing. He was also thinking about how the castle was going to change starting with next year. They would be hosting werewolf students in the castle and he had to make arrangements for them. The Shrieking Shack could handle maybe 5 of them with them being placed in separate fortified rooms and under the influence of the wolfsbane potion. He had no idea what he would do if there were more however it was unlikely that there would be that many. Not all werewolves would have magic in them to be able to wield a wand so the ministry would have to make different arrangements for them. Also things were getting better in the wizarding world. With Amelia Bones having taken charge of the ministry, a lot of the corruption was being uprooted, freeing up resources to make some long-overdue changes. For example, news had reached his ears about a plan to demolish and rebuild Knockturn Alley, putting an end to the shops which dealt in dark magics. This was not yet a done deal and it would be hotly debated in the Wizengamot by many of the lords who had their businesses over there. They would do just about anything to save their enterprises.

"Headmaster!", Dumbledore looked up to see that Everard had just returned to his portrait frame that hung in his office among all the portraits of the past Headmasters of Hogwarts. When the man in the portrait saw that he had the Headmaster's attention, he continued, "Those scallywags met in that room on the fourth floor. They're going to have some sort of broom race through an obstacle course they set up on the Quidditch pitch."

Dumbledore nodded in acknowledgement as his eyes began to twinkle, "Did you happen to hear when this will take place?"

Everard sighed, "Tonight, about an hour after curfew, if I'm not mistaken. I believe that they're moving their brooms out to the change rooms as we speak. It seems the Potter boy set it up as a surprise."

Phineas Nigellus from his portrait nearly shouted, "it is Potter-Black you buffoon. He is the heir of both the houses."

Albus chuckled at the indignant Slytherin former Headmaster Black, "Phineas, I am sure he meant no offense to anyone." He turned to Everard then, "Thank you for telling me, Everard."

Late that evening, as he left the office, he thought about how pleasant it would be to have some company to take in the show. It promised to be a thrilling spectacle that was about to unfold. He contemplated at length about who would be the perfect company for him. For obvious reasons, he could not ask Severus. Filius would be so engrossed in the contest that he would forget that Dumbledore was even there. Pomona never liked for anyone to disturb her once she went to bed. Besides, she had all those venomous plants outside her residence quarters. The only viable choice was Minerva even though there were problems with asking her to be his company for the night. Yet he decided to risk it. If she didn't agree, he would find a way to warn the students to abandon the task for today.

When he knocked on the door of Minerva's office, she opened the door almost instantly. She was dressed in her tartan emerald black robes, her hair as usual was knit in a bun with her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. When she saw Dumbledore at her door, she asked curtly, "Albus, what is the matter?"

Albus jovially replied, "I have heard that something truly exciting is about to happen. Would you like to accompany me to witness it?"

She eyed him suspiciously, "What is it about?"

He smiled genially, "Some of our students are having a broom racing competition on the Quidditch pitch tonight. I thought maybe you would agree to come to watch it with me."

She looked at him as if he had lost his mind, "Albus, they are breaking curfew. They must be put in detention. If you don't, I will."

Albus chuckled, "My dear Minerva, they aren't doing anything which would put their lives in danger. They are students and as such, it is in their nature to break rules. I would have put them in detention myself, but I hear that this event is going to be one of a kind. I would not want to spoil it for them. Besides, can you truly say that you are not curious to see who is the best on a broom?"

For a moment, she was torn between her desire to enforce the rules and her desire to see how good her students were at flying. Finally a compromise occurred in her mind. She would take down the names of every student who was there and later find a way to deduct points from their houses as punishment.

As she grabbed a warmer cloak to keep off the evening chill, she said to Dumbledore sweetly, "Very well, I agree Albus."

The sweetness in her voice put him on alert instantly but there was nothing he could do now. He knew Minerva would be on the scent of those students even if he warned them off for today. She would not rest until she had put every one of them in detention. It hurt his conscience but he chose to ignore it and enjoy the match anyway. Entertainment sometimes had value above house-points and a couple of detentions.

The Quidditch pitch

Harry had trouble shaking a tail that evening. As curfew approached, Hermione and Ron sat on either side of him, near the fireplace, working on their Charms assignments that were due yesterday. He may have believed that ploy if it were just Ron, but Hermione never handed in anything late. No, Hermione had seen Harry when he was planning to leave the tower after curfew before and she was on to him. To make matters worse, she had somehow coerced Ron into helping her this time.

As curfew hour approached, Harry affected a huge yawn then started to leave for his dorm with Neville in tow. Ron stayed with Hermione diligently riffling through a charms book, trying to be subtle. Harry, however, had seen the two of them sharing suspicious looks. That and the mulish expression on Hermione's face let him know that the two of them were trying to spoil his fun.

A few minutes later, Ron walked in the dorm and fell on his bed. He fell asleep just a bit too quickly to be convincing. Harry waited for 10 more minutes before he left the dorm with Neville under the cloak. Ron who had heard the rustling around, immediately got up from his bed to find Neville's and Harry's beds empty. Just to be sure, he checked the bathroom too. They were gone.

He went to the common room to find Hermione frowning. He asked her, "Did you see them leave?".

She shook her head, "I saw Oliver and the twins leaving the common room but I didn't see Harry or Neville. Is he up there?"

Ron shook his head, "Their beds are empty and there's nobody in the bathroom either.".

Hermione started walking out, "We must find them. They can get caught, they can get detention or even expelled if they do some mischief."

Ron asked, "Wait, how do you know they are outside?".

She answered, "They must have found some way to go unseen. I mean I didn't see them leaving, but maybe the aspiring prank king has found a way around that."

As they left the common room, Harry and Neville who were hiding under the cloak and sitting in the corner came out from under it sharing smug looks between them.

Harry was saying, "She is intelligent but not enough. It never occurred to her that we may have been suspicious of them."

Neville snorted, "Let them search the castle then. We'd best hurry or we'll be late."

With a quick check of the Marauder's map to see Ron and Hermione weren't close enough to see the portal open and close, they donned the cloak again and left the tower. They didn't get far before they ran into Ron and Hermione who were running around a corner with Filch's cat in hot pursuit. More than once, Neville had a hearty desire to give that wretched beast a hearty kick, but he contented himself with just stunning her. Once Neville located a suitable suit of armour in which to deposit the unconscious cat, they ran down Ron and Hermione.

While Neville stayed behind under the cloak, Harry quickly dragged the would-be-party-poopers into the nearest classroom and closed the door behind them.

Harry addressed them sternly, "The two of you had best keep your noses out of things that don't concern you. You don't know the castle as well as we do and you are almost certain to get caught. Mrs. Norris was on your tale already and you were both on a one-way trip to Snape's dungeon for detention if we hadn't taken care of it. The way back to our common room is clear if you go now. Don't try to follow us. What we're up to is none of your concern."

Hermione said indignantly, "Either we are coming with you or we will go to Professor McGonagall."

Harry raised his eyebrows as he asked her, "Please tell me where Minnie lives?"

Hermione had no answer to that. It was obvious that she didn't have any idea where Professor McGonagall stayed during the night. She could not think of an answer but Ron did, "Harry, we would return but we have forgotten our way trying to get away from Filch's cat. We'll be caught if you don't take us with you."

Harry didn't buy it for a minute. These two have been in the castle for the better part of a school year already and Hermione, who always had her nose in a book, certainly knew the layout by now. No, this was because they couldn't contain their curiosity about what Harry was up to. He sighed, "I suppose that since neither one of you can manage to find your way out of a paper bag, I'll have to take you with me. First, you must swear, not a word about what you see to anyone. I mean it, swear or I'll find Mrs. Norris and leave you to her."

Hermione got that mulish expression on her face again and glared at Ron. But Ron immediately said, "Yes, Harry, I swear, not a word.".

Hermione, now realizing that she was outnumbered two to one, finally caved in, "Alright then. I also swear."

Harry made a show of listening at the door while he surreptitiously checked the map again. After making sure that the coast was clear, he whispered to Ron and Hermione, "Keep up or you're on your own." With that, he opened the door and made a beeline to a secret stairway that lead to a hidden door at the back of the castle.

When they arrived at the pitch, the other students were already there. As soon as he saw them, Pucey asked, "What are those firsties doing here?".

Harry said resignedly, "I found them wandering around the castle, lost. I thought we'd better bring them before they got caught and told on us. In return, they have both sworn to secrecy."

Gwendolyn said, "Get on with it now, Potter-Black. It's getting late and we have classes tomorrow."

Harry tapped his wand on something on the field and the obstacle course lit up. Harry started briefing them, "Each of the teams has to select a team member to go through this obstacle course. The red ones are the obstacles which you have to avoid. The green ones contain obstacles which may suddenly spring up for one but not another. None of the obstacles will injure you much but they will slow you down. Of course, there is a time penalty for skipping any of the obstacles by going around them. The one with the quickest time will be the winner."