Chapter 18
In which Harriet went on an adventure.
Time flew by when one had a lot of projects to do, and all of a sudden, it was already time for their third date. Harriet went to the third floor with part excitement, part trepidation as by the patterns of their dates, this would be somewhat dangerous, and they would be without chaperones.
On the other hand, Thomas seemed very excited, and she was somewhat surprised when he opened the door to see a sullen Lucius and Professor Snape behind the door. She raised an eyebrow to her husband. Thomas laughed nervously and said,
"Lucius insisted that we still have at least a chaperone since you were still underage. Anyways, there would be challenges, so they might as well be useful."
Lucius and Severus nodded to her with a grouchy expression.
"You may start." he intoned imperiously.
Lucius and Severus jumped inside the trapdoor and Harriet could hear them arguing from the top of the trapdoor.
"It's Devil Snares! Quick, we need light!"
"But there's no matchstick!"
"Matchstick? You dunderhead" this one she knew for certain was Professor Snape. "Are you a wizard or a muggle? Lumos Solemn!"
Thomas sighed in annoyance as Lucius cursed a blue streak at Severus' jeers. "I'll go first, my Lady, those two need a firm hand." he jumped without waiting for her answer,
Harriet patted Quasimodo's head as she waited for her cue to jump, he was being left to keep the Cerberus occupied.
"My Lady, you can jump now." she heard Thomas calling from the basement and slowly positioned herself to jump. Thomas caught her with a spell, gently put her down to the floor and gallantly offered his arm as Severus and Lucius led the way to the next challenge.
It was a room full of birds flying around, and a locked door on the other side of the room. Severus sighed in exasperation. He threw a side glance at the broom and sighed again. Once they stepped into the room, the birds went into a frenzy and flew around rapidly. Severus scrutinized the lock and intoned boredly,
"Accio old silver key." a key zoomed into his hand, and he shoved it into the lock and opened it with a loud click.
"What a dunderhead…" Severus muttered in irritation as he passed the door, followed by Lucius, Thomas and Harriet.
The next challenge is a giant wizarding chess set.
"Ah, Professor McGonagall's chess set" Lucius crooned happily.
"Good, you can play then. This way, my Lady." Thomas gestured for Harriet to a conjured round table with tea and snacks to be enjoyed as they watched Lucius and Severus play violently against the opponent and ground the chess pieces to dust when they're done.
"It's to make sure that they need more time to reform, give us time to pass safely." Thomas explained, ignoring his two exhausted retainers leaning against each other.
"The next one is Quirinus' challenge, but I've taken care of that." They passed through a frozen troll inside of a crystallized ice sheet and walked through the next door.
Once they stepped in the room, two pillars of fire appeared on each door. Severus sighed and took a flask from his robe's pocket.
"One mouthful for each person, please," he said.
"Wait, we're not going to attempt the puzzle?" Harriet asked in disappointment. She got interested looking at the clue.
"You may if you want, my Lady." Thomas said self-importantly. "You two, go ahead."
Lucius and Severus glared at the Dark Lord.
"I believe that we'll be waiting here for her Lady to attempt the riddle, thank you very much."
Thomas rolled his eyes as Harriet read the clues silently.
"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."
"Huh, this is rather intriguing…" Harriet said as she scrutinized each bottles intently.
Thirty minutes and much whines from the three wizards later, Harriet finally picked a bottle.
" I think it's this one." she said, picking one of the bottles that had Severus' eyes widened and his arm reflexively outstretched to prevent her from drinking that.
"No, wait. If you move onwards, neither is your friend. No, it's this one." she picked another bottle, much to the relief of the potion master as her original pick had poison inside the bottle.
They finally entered the final challenge, which contained…a mirror? Harriet sighed in disappointment.
"So, the final test is a mirror? Like Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" she asked aloud.
"Of course, it's you, my Lady" Thomas quickly answered.
Lucius and Severus rolled their eyes. Their Dark Lord is too far gone to use such a cheesy line like that.
Lucius approached the mirror and saw himself holding the stone, but apparently, he had a hidden desire to use the stone to enrich himself, so he failed the test. With a pout, he moved aside to let Severus try.
Severus stood in front of the mirror and saw Lily Potter with him, happy in his arms with Harriet in front of them. There were two other dark-haired, black-eyed children smiling at him, making him smile at them, entranced.
Thomas scoffed at the silly face Severus made and shoved him aside. He saw himself sitting on the throne with Harriet by his side, The Thing lounging in his lap like a kneazle. All wizards and magical creatures bowed and sniveled before him, making him laugh evilly. Lucius, Severus and Harriet snapped to stare at him with fear.
Thomas shook his head. "I didn't see the stone. Harriet, do you want to try?" he moved aside for Harriet to take his place.
Harriet saw a group of strangely familiar people that she had to squint to see each of the face of.
"It's my family! I think it's my mum, and dad! And that must be my grandfather!"
"who? Charlus?" Thomas stood close to her.
"You know my grandfather?" Harriet looked at her mirror-self winking at her and felt the pocket of her skirt got heavier.
"We were in the same year. Didn't I tell you?" he said as he raised his arm and pulled her tight to his side.
At first, it wasn't obvious to everyone in the room. Lucius and Severus were discussing their view in the mirror, while Thomas was imagining something undoubtedly nefarious. That is, until Harriet sniffed around her.
"Is there something burning?" she asked. "I smell smoke."
Then, all eyes turned to Thomas' side that was flush against Harriet's. It's burning through his shirt, and the exposed skin blistered for everyone to see.
"My Lord!" Lucius and Severus jumped to spray the burning side with aguamenti while Harriet leaped further away.
"Thomas! What did you do!" Harriet panicked as she watched her husband literally burn into dust.
The spirit of Lord Voldemort whispered "Oops?" before flying away, leaving the three flabbergasted people in the room.
"Lucius, Professor Snape," Harriet said faintly.
The two Death Eaters looked at her.
"What just happened?" she asked.
"We…don't know, my Lady" Lucius said.
"Maybe…it was because he touched you with a bad intention?" Severus questioned.
"But why…never mind. Can you find him? He needs to find a body that is not going to spontaneously combust at a touch. Oh, by the way, what am I going to do with this stone?" Harriet asked them.
Lucius and Severus looked at each other.
"It's your courting gift, my Lady, what would you like it to be made into?" Lucius asked.
"Hmm, a bracelet is traditional, is it? Let's go with that. Or a hair pin, maybe." She said blithely.
Severus looked like he was about to have a conniption.
"My Lady, it's the philosopher's stone. Are you sure you want to make it into jewelry?"
"Why not? It's a stone." Harriet eyed the pretty stone with a slight smile. "Besides, Thomas went into so much trouble to get it, only for him to be vaporized, I should at least make it into something pretty that he could see, right?"
She handed the stone to Lucius, ignoring Severus' grumbles about dunderheads and goblins.
"Oh, that's right, Lucius. Do pay reparation to Professor Quirrell's family, will you?" she flipped her hair. "I'm ready to go back now."
The end of year feast ended up with Ravenclaw winning over 100 points, due to the collective efforts of the Ravens in classes, and they all went home peacefully for their summer holiday.
"How was your date, my Lady?" Draco asked, having not heard anything from his Father.
"Well enough, I think. But next time, I think I want to bring the chaperones back. I mean, nothing ever happened while the three of you chaperoned us. Once your Father and Professor Snape took over, Thomas got vaporized. Anyways, Daphne, Draco, are you continuing your employment with me?"
Draco looked at Daphne and nodded.
"Good, Draco, tell your father to take good care of Quasimodo in Thomas' absence, would you? Poor thing got lonely without Fluffy and Thomas. I asked Lucius to adopt Fluffy for Quasimodo's playmate, but he said there's not enough room in his house for Fluffy, so we will wait until Bill is done with his warding at the Conservatory." she looked out the window wistfully, completely missing the horrified expression in her cousin's and friends' face.
"Also, please come early tomorrow. It's the beginning of tax season, so there's a lot to be done." she smiled at the two who hastily rearranged their faces to calm acceptance.
"I wonder what Thomas was up to now…" she trailed off.