Chapter 11 - Through the Trapdoor
We had our first lesson as a free period the next day so as soon as we had got Hermione up to speed on what had happened the night before, which she obviously scolded me about being stupid enough to go find whoever was meeting Voldemort, and after we had had breakfast we were running to see Professor McGonagall to let us go see Dumbledore. She funnily enough also wasn't teaching.
"Professor, we need to see Professor Dumbledore." Harry told her.
"I'm sorry but you can't." She replied.
"But it's an emergency." I said trying to make her see reason.
"I'm sorry children but Professor Dumbledore is away at the moment. There was an emergency at the ministry. He left this morning after an urgent owl from the minister himself." She replied again.
"Oh Gods." I muttered. I had given the map back to the twins as soon as I had seen them this morning and I didn't even think to find out if Dumbledore was in the school.
"He's gone?" Harry asked his voice higher than normal. "Now?"
"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time. Why do you need him?" McGonagall asked. I looked at Harry and he nodded.
"It's about the Philosopher's Stone, Professor." I said. McGonagall's eyes grew wide in shock.
"How do you know...?" She started asking before Harry cut her off.
"Someone's going to try and steal it. We've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore." Harry said finally.
"I'm sorry, Potter but he will be back tomorrow. And rest assured that the stone is well protected." McGonagall finished.
"But Professor..." I started before she cut me off.
"I know what I'm talking about, Hyde. I suggest you go out and enjoy the sunshine." She said as a dismissal. We trudged outside in disappointment.
"I bet that owl was a fake." I snapped.
"It'll be tonight." Harry agreed. "I can feel it."
"So what do we do?" Hermione asked.
"We go down the trapdoor. And stop get to the stone before Snape." Harry said. The rest of us agreed.
-.-
That night the four of us were waiting in the common room for everyone to go up to bed. Me and Hermione were sat on the sofa reading while Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess. Lee Jordan was the last one to trudge up to bed yawning as he went.
"That's the last of them." Ron said as soon as he was out of hearing range.
"Come on. I've got my cloak and a flute." Harry said standing up.
"What are you doing?" A voice asked from at the other side of the room. Neville appeared from behind an arm chair. We froze as soon as we saw him. He took one look at our guilty faces and knew instantly. "You're going out again. You're gonna make Gryffindor lose more points. I won't let you. I... I'll fight you."
"Four of us?" I asked. He nodded vigorously. "Brilliant." I muttered.
"I'm really, really sorry for this Neville." Hermione said before pointing her wand at Neville. "Petrificus Totalus!"
"I would have done it if you hadn't, 'Mione." I said to her who was looking guilty.
"What did you do?" Harry asked.
"A full body-bind. Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry." Hermione whined.
"We had to Neville, we've got no time to explain." Harry told his still figure.
"I'm sorry, Neville but you'll understand later. I promise." I said to him.
"It's for your own good, mate." Ron muttered to him as we stepped over him and slipped on the cloak. We made our way to the third floor as quickly and quietly as possible. We made it there in minutes to find that Fluffy was already asleep, a harp was playing in the corner.
"You were right." I murmured to Harry as we quietly made our way to Fluffy's foot that was on top of the trap door.
"Snape's already been." Harry agreed. The four of us carefully moved his foot and opened the trap door but we couldn't see anything.
"Lumos." I muttered pointing my wand through the gap but we still couldn't see anything. "I'll go first. A cat always lands on her feet." I grinned. I slipped through the trap door and free fell to the bottom before landing on a plant. I grunted as I hit it. It wasn't exactly the softest plant in the world.
"Are you alright?" Harry called down.
"Yeah, there's a nice comfy plant to fall on." I replied. I then heard nothing, not even the plant. Then Harry, Ron and a screaming Hermione landed near me.
"Comfy, right." Ron muttered sarcastically. Then the plant started wrapping around me.
"So, who knows anything about Herbology and why this plant is wrapping itself AROUND ME?" I said but by the end I was yelling as the rest noticed it happening to them.
"It's Devil's Snare!" Hermione shrieked.
"What do we do?" Ron asked while panicking.
"I'm trying to remember how to kill it." Hermione said while she was struggling. "It likes the Dark and Damp!"
"So light a fire!" Harry yelled. Me and Hermione looked at eachother before yelling, "LUMOS MAXIMA!" while pointing our wands at the plant. It immediately unwrapped itself and shrivelled up making us fall underneath it.
"I hate plants." I muttered while standing up and dusting myself off.
"It's lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology." Harry announced. "This way." We set off down a stone passage until we could hear a buzzing noise, well that's what I thought it was. We opened a door to see a room of flying keys and a floating broom. We went straight over to the other door to see if it was open but it was locked.
"Alohamora!" Ron tried but it still wouldn't open.
"We have to get the key. It will be old and rusty like the door knob." Hermione said.
"Either of you could do it." Ron said talking about me and Harry. "It's there." Ron pointed at a rusty key with a broken wing.
"Harry's a better flyer than me." I admitted as Harry climbed onto the broom. The keys then immediately started flying towards him. Harry caught it easily then threw it to me as he tried shaking the keys off his tail. I unlocked the door then shut it as soon as Harry was through. The next room was really dark but lit up when we moved towards the middle.
"It's a chessboard." Ron said after examining it. "We have to play across. Harry you can be the bishop, Hermione, queen-side castle and I'll be the knight. There are no empty spaces for you Ash."
"I'll join you on your horse, Sir Ronald." I said jokily. I even curtsied. The three of them started laughing as I climbed on the back of the stone horse with Ron. We all took our places in the empty squares. White moved first. Ron was in his element, using his flawless skills at chess to keep me, Hermione and Harry safe, while taking out as many white pieces as he could. When one of ours was taken the white piece smashed the black piece to bits. Not an encouraging thought if it was one of us. There weren't many pieces left by now and Ron seemed to be struggling to find the next move. He looked worriedly at me.
"Wait a minute." Harry ordered.
"You understand right Harry. Once I make we move the queen will take us. Then you're free to check the king." Ron said.
"You can't sacrifice yourselves!" Harry thundered.
"We have to, Harry. It's the only way for you to get through. Ron's right." I said.
"No you can't! There must be another way!" cried Hermione
"Do you want to stop Snape from getting that Stone or not?" Ron replied. When neither of them I squeezed Ron in reassurance. "Knight to H5." We moved slowly to H5 before the Queen moved towards us stopping at our right side. I pulled up my legs so the horse wouldn't land on one of them and the Queen wouldn't stab the other. The queen lifted her spear and stabbed the side of the horse throwing the horse to the side and me and Ron off of it. I hit my head on a rock and everything went black.
-.-
I don't know how long I was out but when my eyes snapped open all I could hear was a sobbing Hermione. I sat up but felt fine. My eyes landed on Ron, he was still unconscious and looked like he had a broken leg.
"You don't have to cry, 'Mione." I said announcing the fact I was awake. She looked at me then pulled me into a fierce hug. "Where's Harry?" I asked.
"He won't on. Told me to stay with you two." Hermione said while sniffling.
"I'm going to go find him. Stay with Ron." I ordered. Hermione nodded then helped me up. I felt a bit dizzy for a minute but was then fine so I ran through the door. It lead to a long corridor that lead to an archway. I ran the full way to see the mirror at one end of the room in a circle of fire that passed the full way of the room into a few inches away from me. That's when I saw Quirrel.
"Quirrel!" I shrieked making them both look up at me. Then Quirrel span around to reveal a second face. The face of Voldemort. "Voldemort." I growled. I then noticed one of Quirrel's arms where crumbled.
"Aurora-Shaw Hyde." Voldemort said. "Your parents were next on my list as were you and your siblings. You seem to be very meddlesome. You stopped my second attempt on Harry's life but you were still brave. Like I just told Potter, I value bravery."
"Ash!" Harry yelled gaining my attention. I looked at him as he threw the stone at me which I caught. He then leaped forward and grabbed Quirrel's face making it crumble. Harry then backed up as his body completely crumbled. "You were right. It wasn't Snape. He tried to kill us both. He failed because of you." Harry grinned at me as a cloud of black smoke lifted from Quirrel's corpse.
"Harry!" I shrieked pointing at the smoke that was heading for him. He turned around as it went through his body. It then aimed for me but I jumped out of the way so it went straight through the archway. I pulled myself up to see Harry unconscious. "Bastard." I growled in anger. I then changed into my panther and leaped over the fire. I pulled Harry onto my back with my teeth then leaped over the fire again and ran at full speed back to the chess room. I stopped next to Hermione and she pulled Harry off my back so I could change again. I looked at Ron to see he was stirring. I pulled the stone out of my pocket to look at it. It was as red as a ruby and really very pretty. I clutched it in my hands as I collapsed next to Harry and lost consciousness again.