A/N: Most of the characters and the main plot belongs to J.K Rowling.
Harry was falling through the tunnel after jumping down the trap door. After a couple of seconds, he landed rather unceremoniously on a weird sort of plant that he recognised. He couldn't say what it was, but he knew it, he had read about it in Herbology once as he was searching for another plant, which he couldn't remember the name of either.
"What is this stuff ?" Daphne asked. She wasn't the best at Herbology, but she knew the basics.
"I don't- Hey it's wrapping around my legs !" Tracey said in a panicked sort of voice, although she was trying to keep it calm.
The plant started wrapping itself around the rest of the group too. "Stop moving !" Hermione shouted out. "You need to relax, it's Devil's snare, it tries to incapacitate you and then kill you if you struggle against it" At that point, Hermione began to sink into the plant.
"Hermione !" Harry shouted. He began to fight against it a bit more, and the plant was wrapping itself around him rather quickly.
"Just relax ! If you don't, it won't hesitate to kill you." As her words left her mouth, Daphne started falling through the plant too, shortly followed by Tracey.
"Relax Harry !" the three girls cried out, and a few seconds later, Harry also fell through.
"Thanks, I knew I'd read about it, but I couldn't remember what I had to do. I think I hated sunlight too which we could have used to our advantage." The three witches before him shrugged their shoulders. "Come on, let's continue, I can hear wings coming from over there" he said pointing to a doorway on his right. The group of four made their way up, and Harry motioned them to grab their wands. They probably weren't capable of defending themselves much, but it was better than nothing.
They found themselves in a room full of fluttering wings that looked rather odd. Harry's eyes however, rested on the broom that was in the middle of the room.
"They're keys !" Tracey said as she pointed at the fluttering wings. Harry took a closer look and agreed with the girl. "One of them must open that door there" she said nodding towards a door at the far end.
"It'll be old looking, possibly a bit rusty." Daphne stated as she examined the keyhole.
The four of them began looking for such a key, but it was hard to locate as there were a lot of keys. "Up there, the one with the broken wing !" They all looked to where Hermione was pointing and sure enough they found it. "Harry, get on the broom and get it, I don't know about you two," she said looking at both Tracey and Daphne "but I'm not much good on a broom, and I know Harry is good, apparently the best of our year." the other two nodded their agreement, and Harry headed over to the broom. He made sure to locate the key once again before jumping onto the broom.
What they hadn't expected however, was that the keys would try to attack him. "This complicates things" Hermione said. Without the possibility to do anything about it, Harry took off after the key which was hovering a little in front of where he was.
"Come on Harry/Thunderbird" the three of them said respectively.
"Get to the door and get ready to catch the key, I'll throw it to you !" The three girls went over to the door, as Harry had said to do, and waited.
Harry pushed the broom to its limits and caught it. "Got it ! Ready ?" he asked as he started making his way over towards the door where the girls were. "Catch !" he threw the key towards them. They all tried catching it but failed, and it flew off yet again. "Fuck !" he shouted in anger. The anger wasn't directed to the girls, after all how could they have known the key was going to fly off straight away. He sped after it once more before catching it again. "Right this time, catch it ! Ready ?" he glanced over at the girls in time to see them all nod.
He made his way towards them and threw it lower this time so that the girls had more time to catch it. Hermione missed, but Tracey caught it, and as soon as she had, she rushed to the door and tried pushing the struggling key into the keyhole. She eventually managed after nearly losing the key a couple of times, and she proceeded to open the door for herself and the other two girls to go through. Now they were solely waiting on Harry, who rushed towards the door at the broom's speed limit, and The three girls closed the rather heavy looking door closed, only to hear a lot of crashing against the door.
"Well, that was easy" Harry said with quite a few scratches covering his arms. Daphne made her way over to him and tried a couple healing spells she had learned. The cuts seemed to heal although not fully, but the blood had stopped running. "Thanks Queenie" he said flashing a lazy grin at her
"Don't flatter yourself Thunderbird, I only did it because I wanted to try them, not because you were hurt" she said in a cool voice that didn't have much emotion to it.
"Sure" Harry responded with a light chuckle.
"Cut it in, would you ? We haven't got all night, I, for one, would like some sleep" Tracey said in a serious tone, although there was a slight smile tugging at her lips. She started walking towards the next room that was in front of them, and the others followed closely behind her.
They pushed the door open and were confused at the sight. There was a bunch of statues that were aligned on a tile floor. This tile floor seemed to be in a near exact square, with tiles switching between black and white after each tile. "What are the- " Hermione started
"It's a chess board" Daphne said. Tracey seemed to grin a this. "I'm guessing we have to play our way across the chest board to get to the door over there" she said pointing to the far end of the chamber, where there was a door, that Harry hadn't even noticed. "You don't think it'll be like wizard's chess do you ?" Harry had played the game with Neville over the Christmas holidays, and it was quite surprising when he had first played.
"Well of course it's going to be like wizard's chess, I'm guessing we have to replace a few pieces a play our own part in the game to gain access to the other side. Alright so, Harry and Hermione, you take a bishop each, Daphne, you take the queen side castle. I'll be the Queen herself." They all nodded and made their way to their spots, and the chess pieces moved over to the sides as they reached them, but not before she heard a huff from Daphne at her last remark. "Oh cheer up Daphne, I'll be in the most danger here"
"Yes, exactly, don't do anything stupid. I know you're good at this game, but nobody is unbeatable." she held a worried look in her eye, but Tracey knew Daphne was always worried about Daphne for some reason.
"Alright, with us being white we start first. Alright, Pawn to E4" the pawn that was on E3 moved over to E4. Straight after, the black pawn on E7 moved to E5.
(If you're not interested in chess, you can skip to the next time you see this writing)
Tracey then moved her knight to F2, followed by a black knight to C6. Afterwards, she sent a Bishop to C4 and the other team sent one to C5. Next was a pawn to B4 which was quickly taken by a black Bishop. Then, a white pawn to C3 and a black Bishop to A5. Tracey was thinking furiously throughout the game, and the rest just watched in silence and moved as they were told.
Next, she sent a pawn to D4 which was captured straight away by the pawn on E5. Daphne then proceeded to do a castling, which was possible as it was both the first round for her king and the king side castle. So now, the white king was on G1 and the king's side castle on F1. The black team moved a pawn to D3.
Tracey proceeded to move herself to B3 while the enemy queen moved to F6. She moved a Pawn to E5, while the black queen went to G6. She then ordered the king side Castle to E1, and the black knight on G8 moved to E7. Next, Tracey moved her Bishop to A3, and the enemy moved on of their pawns to B5.
Tracey quickly moved herself and took over that pawn, which moved to the side of the chess board as she couldn't really destroy it, and black moved a Castle to B8. She then went over to A4 while the black bishop moved to B6.
Next, the unmoved knight on B1 moved to D2 and the black Bishop moved to B7. After that, one of the white knights was moved to E4 while the enemy Queen moved to F5. Next was a white Bishop to D3 and the Black queen to H5. Next was a white knight to F6 which was taken straight away by the pawn on G7 and that pawn was quickly taken by a white pawn from E5. Black then moved a Castle to G8, closely followed by Daphne moving to D1 and the enemy Queen to F3. Next was the other Castle to E7 which was taken by a black knight.
(It's not entirely finished, but the next part is part of the main line)At this point, Tracey noticed a way to win, but that would mean her getting taken.
"Right guys I know how to finish this game, but I need to be taken for it". As soon as she said this, Daphne let out a loud "No !"
"Look Daphne, I don't want to be taken either, but it's the only way to get past the board." It took a couple of minutes to convince Daphne that she would be alright, although she herself wasn't actually sure of this, but she had agreed along with the other two who had also protested a bit at her remark.
"Right so, Daphne you won't need to move anymore. When I move to D7 I'll be taken by the king, then Harry, you move to F5 where you won't be able to be taken and they'll move their king to E8 to try getting out of the Check. Then, you'll move to D7, he'll move to F8 and then Hermione, you can finish the game by moving to E7. After that it'll be checkmate and the game will have finished, and then you can move on." She explained with all of them hanging in to her words closely so they didn't forget any details.
"I'll stay behind to check on Tracey" Daphne said, to which Harry nodded his approval. Tracey Moved D7, she saw the king approaching and lifting his sword, and after that, it all went blank for her.
The king pushed her out of the way, not with force like he used on the other pieces but enough to knock her out. They followed her instructions to the letter, literally to the letter, and it finished with the king dropping his sword at Hermione's side.
After that, they all rushed to Tracey's side and checked for a pulse, and they found one easily. It was normal, as if she had just been stunned. "Go ahead you two, I'll take care of her." Harry and Hermione both nodded, and went over to the door and pushed it open. What they found was a chamber with a foul smell in it. They looked at the ground, and found a troll, seemingly unconscious. "That confirms that someone is already here, come on, we have to move quickly. " Harry said as he began to move ahead.
They quickly made their way to the other side and through the door. As they walked through the threshold, fire sprung up behind them. It was a purple fire too, and on the other side of the room, black fire appeared blocking the other way. What they found surprised them. It was a logic test about potions.
They went over to the table and found a piece of paper with a riddle on it, they both read it together.
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.
So Hermione begun pacing while thinking about the Riddle, she read it over several times, pointing to potions as if saying which ones weren't the exit. But while Hermione was doing that, Harry had come to a conclusion. Only one of them could pass the barrier, and the other would have to go back.
"I've got it !" Hermione stated clearly, with pride in her eyes at having solved the puzzle. "We already know it's not the second and the sixth, so that means the poisons are to the left of these which means the first and the fifth. The seventh must be the one to send you back, the third is to carry on, and the third is another poison."
Harry stared at her in shock for a little while, before he snapped back to reality. "You're a genius Hermione, truly" he said, and he picked up the third one. "Only one of us can continue Hermione, you go back and fetch Dumbledore. Take the broom in the key room, and whistle as you get back to the trap door, it'll keep Fluffy quiet. I'll move on and see who's after the stone and why." Hermione rushed over to Harry and hugged him tightly.
"You're a great wizard Harry, you know that right ?" she said full of confidence.
"I'm not as good as you" he said as he felt blood rush to his face at the contact and the compliment. She slowly pulled away, and let out a light chuckle. "Me, books and cleverness. There are more important things, friendship and bravery. Oh and Harry, be safe."
"Aren't I always ?" She sent him a smile and grabbed the seventh potion and downed it. She then moved towards the purple flames. "Good luck Harry" she said before crossing the doorway.
Harry downed his own potion and went through the black flames, surprised at feeling no heat whatsoever. What he saw as he crossed the threshold surprised him.
There was Quirell standing in front of a mirror. "It was you ?" Harry said in an unbelievable tone.
"Ah Mr. Potter, glad you could join us." he said with the fakest smile Harry had ever seen.
"It was you in the classroom earlier, but who were you talking to then ? You called him master." Harry said. Quirell looked at him with an impressed sort of look.
"Ah you heard, did you ? And to answer you question about my mas- " he was cut off by a high cold voice that resonated all around the room. "Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived. We meet at last." Harry started looking around the room but found no one except for Quirell.
"Who and where are you ?" Harry asked, rather braver than he felt.
"Show him !" the cold voice said and Quirell started removing his turban. What was beneath it, shocked Harry to his core. There was another face, one that didn't belong on Quirell, yet it was there anyways. And it hit Harry almost life a bullet. "Voldemort." he said with finality in his voice, even though their little chat had just begun.
"See what I have to do to survive Harry, unicorn blood can sustain me, but I still haven't got a body of my own. Now Harry, look at this mirror and tell me what you see.
"How did you survive ?" he asked completely ignoring what the man had said just before.
"Enough ! Get here Potter, tell me what you see !" Quirell reached out his wand and pointed it at Harry who started levitating towards the mirror.
All he could see for a little while was himself. Then, he saw a pretty woman with red hair standing beside him with emerald green eyes, on the other side, he saw a man with wild raven black hair, similar to his although Harry's had grown out longer. In that instant, he realised they were his parents. But he couldn't tell Voldemort that, it would just give him a weak spot that he had. "I see myself in Quidditch robes, playing in a huge stadium." It was a simple lie but believable.
This seemed to have annoyed either Quirell or Voldemort as the next thing he knew, he was flying to the other side of the room. He crashed into a stone pillar with his left arm breaking on impact protecting the rest of his body. He let out an agonising cry. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't keep it in.
"You're a fool Harry Potter, " Voldemort's voice rang out "How you survived that night was a mere coincidence, Love, " he let out a snort "what a pitiful excuse. Now let me finish my work !" Quirell pointed his wand at Harry, and shouted "Avada Kedavra !"
Without knowing what else to do, Harry flicked his wrist and moved out of the way of the green bolt that headed his way, the same green bolt he had seen in his dreams. Harry didn't exactly know what he was doing, but his mind seemed to take over as he pointed his wand at Quirell and shouted "Stupefy !" It seemed to shock him that the boy knew such spells at his age which is why he was nearly hit.
They continuously fired spell after spell at each other under Quirell reached the pillar Harry was hidden behind, and he grabbed the boy's neck. He hadn't realised the man had snuck up on him, and was therefore caught off guard. Suddenly, Quirell's hand started burning a deep black and melting. "What is this magic !?" Quirell cried. Harry not understanding what he was doing, approached his old teacher and pressed his hands to the man's face which also turned black and started melting.
The next thing he knew, the man's body crumbled to the floor entirely and fell apart like dust. Harry stood there in shock, his mind giving him control of his own body back. 'I just killed someone'. The thought resonated in his mind while he looked at his hands. They had never done something like that before. He felt sick at what he had just done.
At this point, a black sort of smoke rose out of the ashes of his dead DADA teacher, and headed straight for him. He heard someone calling his name, but his vision turned black as he hit the floor.
A/N: Thank you for your reviews, I'm trying to fit in your ideas into my story, so if you've got any suggestions, they are welcome.Replies:I think your idea about merging the two houses of Peverell and Potter is good, someone had suggested it early on, but I didn't fully understand what he meant, but now I do. The only problem would be when it comes to the Wizengamot, how would that work ?