Chapter 21 – Through The Trapdoor

Harry and Ron were about to sit down on the grass where a lot of other students were, just down from the castle, but with one look from Hermione and Emma, they kept going.

'Why did we come all the way down here?' asked Ron.

They had just gotten to a secluded part of the lake that brushes the edge of the forest and Emma immediately rushed into the shade, while the others perched themselves on some of the large rocks in the sun.

'Because we don't want to be overheard talking about Quirrell.' said Hermione, matter of factly.

'Oh.' was all Ron replied with.

'So, what are we going to do about him?' wondered Emma.

'We can't let him take the stone.' exclaimed Harry. 'If Voldemort gets it...'

'Stop saying his name!' hissed Ron.

'It'll only be a matter of time before he tries to kill me again.' finished Harry.

'So let's take the stone before he does.' suggested Ron.

'But we don't know how to get passed Fluffy.' said Hermione.

'And Quirrell does?' asked Harry.

'I don't think he'd try if he didn't.' mused Emma. 'Even considering how desperate he is.'

'Then how did he find out? Hagrid said only he and Dumbledore knew.' asked Harry, again.

'And we all know how easy it is to get Hagrid to say things he shouldn't.' said Emma, flatly. 'I wouldn't be surprised if it was Quirrell that gave him the dragon egg.'

Harry hit himself on the forehead.

'Of course, why didn't we think of it before. Hagrid wanted a dragon more than anything, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have one.'

'So how do we find out?' asked Ron.

'Just get him talking about the stranger, and what they spoke about.' said Emma, thoughtfully. 'I'm sure he'll say it without even realising.'

'But while we do that, Quirrell will be free to wander around the castle as he pleases.' said Harry.

'I'll go to the staff room to keep an eye on him.' said Hermione. 'It'll be less suspicious if it's just me.'

'And if you get caught, you can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know.' said Ron, putting on a high voice. 'Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong …'

'Oh, shut up.' scowled Hermione, but she grudgingly agreed that it was as good an excuse as any to be waiting around the staff room.

'What about Snape?' asked Harry.

'What do you mean?' replied Emma.

'Who's going to watch him?'

'I thought we'd agreed that he's not the one trying to steal it?'

'I didn't.'

'Of course not...' sighed Emma, shaking her head. 'Alright then. I'll go to Fluffy's corridor and make sure no-one tries anything. How does that sound?'

Harry nodded, accepting the idea.

'So what do we do once we know how to get passed Fluffy?' asked Ron.

'Well, you get Hermione while Harry gets the invisibility cloak.' said Emma, thinking. 'Meet up near the library and use the cloak the rest of the way.'

They all nodded, except Hermione who looked a bit worried.

'But what if you don't find out about Fluffy?' she asked.

'We'll have to wing it.' said Harry. 'It's too important!'

That didn't make Hermione feel any better, in fact, it made all of them feel worse. What they were planning on doing would get all four of them expelled for sure, and that's if they weren't eaten by a Cerberus first. Harry was right though. Voldemort couldn't be allowed to get the stone, so they all agreed to split up to get ready for their raid.

Emma skirted the forest for as long as she could. She'd moved her hand out into the sunlight a couple of times along the way back, instantly recoiling it from the burning sensation, earning a sympathetic look from Hermione. Of course, she'd already guessed what was wrong. In the end, she grudgingly joined Hermione and they both rushed up to the castle. They'd barely gotten inside when a voice interrupted them.

'What are you two doing inside on a day like this?'

It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

'Sunburn, Professor.' said Emma, glumly.

McGonagall looked impassive at first, until her eyes widened in recognition.

'Ah, yes, of course.' she said, knowingly. 'Well, don't let me keep you.'

When Emma and Hermione parted ways on the first floor, Emma sprinted up to the third floor corridor and focused on not being seen. She waited there with bated breath for over an hour, assuming the clock she could hear ticking from a nearby classroom was accurate.

There was a surprisingly high amount of activity around this part of the castle, considering it was meant to be out of bounds. Emma saw Mrs Norris slink passed twice, Filch and McGonagall each came by once and she even saw the Weasley twins wandering around. Quirrell, however, was conspicuously absent, as was Snape, though she wasn't worried about him.

The last visitor that came by was Peeves who started trying to loosen the carpet so that people would trip. Emma thought that a forbidden corridor was a strange place to set up a prank, unless he was trying to catch Filch with it. Emma smiled a little at that idea, but then she frowned. Any prank that caught Filch was alright in her books, but Hermione, Harry and Ron would be by any minute and they probably wouldn't notice.

She was wondering what she could do to stop him when she heard three sets of feet shuffling a floor above her, heading for the moving stairs. They really weren't being very stealthy, and when they got closer, even Peeves heard them.

'Who's there?' asked Peeves. 'Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you a ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?'

He rose up a little and narrowed his wicked eyes toward them.

'Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen.'

What Emma heard next confused her for a second.

'Peeves,' whispered a hoarse voice. 'the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible.'

Emma nearly laughed out loud. It was Harry putting on a silly voice, and having heard the Bloody Baron speak a few times, she didn't think it was even close, but Peeves did. He almost fell out of the air in shock and started rambling his apologies before whizzing away.

'You really have to work on moving around less noisily.' said Emma to thin air as the other three shuffled to the locked door guarding Fluffy.

'Emma!' hissed Hermione, chidingly, after all three of them jumped and Emma started giggling.

She had deliberately hidden behind a pilaster, just in case any of the other teachers seemed immune to her hiding ability.

'So, did you find out how to get passed Fluffy?' she asked.

'Yeah, just play him some music.' said Harry, pulling out a hand-carved flute before looking at Hermione. 'Here, take the cloak, the three of you can use it to get back to the common room. I won't need it.'

'Don't be stupid.' said Ron.

'We're coming with you!' said Hermione.

'You think I'm going to miss the opportunity to explore more of the castle? You're nuts. Alohomora.'

'Who's going to use the flute?' asked Ron.

'I can,' offered Hermione, tentatively. 'I played the recorder a little at school.'

'Cool.' smiled Emma.

'The what?' asked Ron.

Harry handed over the flute and Hermione started playing a simple tune before they'd even opened the door. It was quite a nice tune, actually, and Fluffy seemed to agree as his eyes had started to droop by the time they were inside. It took only a few more moments before the animal fell to its knees and slumped on the ground, fast asleep.

While Hermione played, barely taking breaths, Emma, Harry and Ron heaved one of Fluffy's paws from off the top of the trap door and then Ron opened it. Emma walked right up to the edge and looked down. It was incredibly dark, though the floor looked a little fuzzy and really quite far away.

'So, who wants to go first?' asked Ron, clearly hoping someone else would volunteer.

'Me!' chirped Emma immediately, before Harry could offer, and she quickly stepped out over the trap door, into thin air and started falling.

She knew she'd be the only one that could come out unscathed if the room was any reasonable height. It also helped that she absolutely loved the feeling of falling and a selfish part of her really wanted to be the first to see this bit of the castle. When she landed at what must have been at least five floors down, she noticed why the floor seemed fuzzy from above. It was covered in some weird plant, perfectly soft enough to break a fall, even for humans.

'It's safe.' shouted Emma up to the trap door that now looked like a postage stamp.

Emma looked away as the light from the trap door was interfering with her night-vision. It was then that she noticed a corridor off to the side, and went to investigate while the others jumped down. Once she'd heard all three thuds as they landed one-by-one, she went back to make sure they were okay.

They weren't, not even slightly. They were covered in the same plant they had landed on, and it was trying to constrict them. They were wriggling, trying to get free and Emma could hear muffled cries. If she didn't do something soon, they would suffocate.

She leaned down to have a closer look at the plant and recognised it at once. Devil's Snare. Apart from having a very apt name, it was also a plant that liked cold, damp and dark conditions, and really hated light and warmth. Emma couldn't help agreeing with it, given recent developments, however, it was trying to kill her friends, and she'd have none of that. Reacting quickly, and calmly, Emma cast some of Hermione's signature blue waterproof flames all around the three of them and watched as the plant receded, avoiding the light.

The others all got up, wheezing and catching their breath.

'Thanks.' said Harry and Hermione in unison.

'How did you know that would work?' asked Ron.

'Because she pays attention in Herbology.' said Hermione, giving Emma a hug.

'The next room is down that corridor, and I could hear a lot of fluttering, like wings.'

The four of them followed the passage down, further underground, until they reached a dimly lit room with a tall arched ceiling.

'Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?' asked Ron looking up at the mass of wings above them.

'Probably,' said Harry. 'They don't look vicious -'

'Why would keys attack us?' wondered Emma.

'Keys?' asked Hermione.

'Yeah. They're all keys, and it looks like they're all different.'

'So, one of them is for the door.' said Harry. 'But which one?'

'We're probably looking for a big old fashioned one.' said Hermione.

'That probably narrows it down to about a quarter of them.' replied Emma. 'Anything else?'

'It'll probably be silver, and ornate, like the handle.'

'Narrows it down to -' paused Emma while she looked over the fluttering cloud. 'About five, I think.'

'How are we meant to get them down?' asked Ron.

'Accio Keys.' incanted Emma, answering his question.

Four of the five keys she was thinking of started moving toward her, but the fifth key didn't budge. Thinking she hadn't cast it properly, she cast the spell again directly on the single key. Again, it just kept flying.

'It's that one, it must be.' she said, pointing. 'It's got an anti-summoning charm on it.'

'Look! Broomsticks!' exclaimed Harry. 'We can use them to catch it. Which one is it again?'

Emma pointed it out to Harry, noting that it had bright blue wings. He spotted it fairly quickly, but the other two didn't. It was hardly surprising, given that Harry was the youngest Quidditch Seeker in centuries. This was exactly his field of expertise.

Harry directed them to grab some brooms and help him catch it. Emma, unable to use brooms, just had to stand and watch. It was actually quite interesting though. Harry was very good at organising the other two into an ambush of the key. Hermione would fly at it from below and Ron from above. Harry then swooped in and caught it with ease.

After they had unlocked the door and made it into the next chamber, Emma could make out a large room that contained a huge chess set. That was until the room suddenly lit up and blinded her. It took her a few more moments to adjust to the brightness and she had to squint to make anything out. They were stood behind the black chess pieces, and on the other side of the room, guarding the door, were the white pieces. They were all faceless and as tall as most adults. It was really intimidating.

'Now what do we do?' whispered Harry.

'It's obvious isn't it?' said Ron. 'We've got to play our way across the room.'

'How?' asked Hermione.

'I think,' said Ron. 'We're going to have to be chessmen.'

He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life and the knight looked down at Ron.

'Do we – er – have to join you to get across?'

The black knight nodded and Ron turned round to look at the other three.

After a short discussion, Ron took the lead, being the best at chess and directed them all to take different positions on the board. Emma was told to take the role of a rook, Hermione the queen, Harry a bishop and Ron himself took the knight.

As if the chessmen were listening, the relevant pieces on the black team turned and walked off the board, leaving the spots free for the four of them to take. Once they were all in position, one of the white pawns moved two squares forward.

The game took quite a while and in true magic fashion, turned out to be wizard chess. This meant that the pieces actually fought and as a result, some even broke. Ron, however, was very good and even given that Emma barely knew how to play, it was evident from his expression that Ron felt that he had the upper hand. He took great joy in moving all over the board, taking the enemy pieces almost single-handedly.

It went well until it turned out that Ron would have to sacrifice himself so that Harry could checkmate. None of them liked it, but it was the only way.

'Look, if we don't hurry up, we'll still be here when Quirrell shows up!' said Ron, nervous but determined. 'Here I go – now, don't hang around when you've won.'

He stepped forward and the white queen pounced, striking him on the head with her stone arm. He fell to the floor immediately. Hermione screamed and Emma cringed away. She knew just what that might feel like, having taken a troll club to the shoulder.

The white queen dragged Ron off the board before returning to her spot and then Harry shakily moved to checkmate the king. It was met with the white king throwing his crown at Harry's feet. The white pieces then bowed and left them free to go through the next door.

Before moving forward, however, they all glanced back to Ron.

'What if he's?-' asked Hermione, worried.

'He's fine.' said Emma, calmly, giving Hermione a pointed look. 'Promise.'

She could still hear his heartbeat, and his breathing was even. He certainly didn't seem to be in any immediate danger.

'What do you reckon is next?' asked Harry.

'Well, we've had Sprout's, Flitwick's and I'm guessing this was McGonagall's.' said Hermione. 'That leaves Snape's, Quirrell's and probably whatever Dumbledore set last.'

They moved to the door tentatively.

'All right?' asked Harry, and he received two determined nods.

When they pushed open the door, they were assaulted by a disgusting smell. A very familiar one at that. Emma had only just been thinking of trolls a few minutes ago. The room before them contained a ginormous troll, far larger than their previous encounter, and it had heard them.

The troll, at least 16 feet tall, stood there stupidly for a few moments, raising it's club. All three of them drew their wands, but Emma interrupted the other two.

'No, go around it.' she said hurriedly, before the troll could think about coming to it's senses and attack them. 'Get to the other test, both of you.'

'But-' exclaimed Hermione and Harry.

'Ron was right! That chess game took too long. We need to get the stone and leave before Quirrell gets here.' she forced. 'Go!'

Harry, being a bit more level headed at the moment agreed and ran toward the door, almost dragging Hermione. To stop the troll from following them, which had now decided they were a threat, Emma threw red sparks at it from her wand and whistled sharply as loud as she could.

Once she had it's attention, she hissed, barring her fangs at it. She had hoped that it would have an aversion to vampires or something, and leave her alone. It was wishful thinking at best as it kept advancing toward her. Either the troll was just too stupid to understand or Emma was too small to pose any risk.

Instead she decided to take a leaf out of Ron's book, levitating the club from the troll's grasp and chucking it to the back of the room with a flick of her wrist. The troll, which had barely noticed the club leaving it's hand, lumbered slowly toward Emma and was getting very close. Emma was far faster and more agile than she was a year ago though, so she managed to stay out of reach with ease, running rings around it, all the while trying to position the troll between herself and his club. Once she got herself into a spot where she had enough time to cast a spell, she levitated the club high into the air again and then shouted another incantation.

'Accio Club.'

The club flew straight toward her, and having made sure the troll was in it's path, it smacked him on the back of the head with a deafening crack. The club actually split into multiple pieces from the force and Emma had to shield herself from flying splinters of wood. The troll took a few moments, as if deciding what to do, and then keeled over, flat on it's face. As with Ron, it seemed to still be alive and Emma had to hand it to trolls, they were very resilient creatures.

Very pleased with herself, Emma remembered what they were here for and quickly went to follow Hermione and Harry, however, the door to the next room was now engulfed in thick purple flames, so thick that she couldn't see through. She couldn't hear anything through them either.

Hoping that they were alright, she turned to go and check on Ron, but was stopped by the sound of footsteps coming from the chess room.

'Who's gullible now, little one?'