**See AN at the end
Chapter 11 A Daring Rescue
"Where is Devil's Snare endemic to?"
"Scotland."
"What are some of its defining features?"
"It likes the dark and damp, it's tentacle-y, and it strangles anyone who touches it."
"And what is its weakness?"
"Umm…ugh, Hermione, I don't know!"
"Shh," Hermione quieted her. "The others are sleeping."
Vesper rolled her eyes. "We should be sleeping too. It's nearly two in the morning, Hermione!"
"Just finish telling me about Devil's Snare and then you can go to bed."
Vesper groaned; Hermione had been saying that for the past hour. The two of them were currently sitting on Hermione's bed, the crimson curtains drawn shut around them. Hermione's wand sat propped up against a pillow, the Lumos spell casting enough light for the girls to see their Herbology notes. Racking her brain, Vesper tried to remember what would make Devil's Snare release its victims.
"Umm," she repeated, drawing a blank. "I don't remember. I doubt I could remember how to spell my own name right now. Besides, when am I ever going to need to know this in real life?"
"Think of that rhyme Professor Sprout taught us," Hermione urged. "Devil's Snare, Devil's scare, it's deadly fun –"
"But we'll sulk in the sun," Vesper finished. "Devil's Snare can't stand fire and light."
"Right," said Hermione, smiling. "Alright, I'll let you get some sleep. I'll probably be up for another hour."
"Hermione," said Vesper, "you know you can get a few questions wrong and still beat everyone else's exam scores, right?"
Hermione frowned at her. "That's not a good attitude to take, Vesper. Besides," she continued, "it's not about getting good scores; I need to get perfect scores."
"But why?" Vesper asked, leaning closer to her friend. "All the professors already know you're brilliant without you getting perfect scores."
"It's not them," Hermione whispered, playing with her hands. "It's me. Some people look at me funny when I say my parents aren't magical, they – they look down at me. And so I want to get perfect scores because maybe then I can prove to them that I do belong here, that I deserve to be here, just as much as them."
Vesper sat stunned, Hermione's words lingering between them. She knew very well how prejudice people could be; people looked at her with accusing eyes because of her last name, she watched Remus struggle to find work within the magical community because he was a werewolf. And unfortunately, there wasn't anything that she could say to Hermione to fix this, to make things better. So instead she just said, "Get some sleep, Hermione. You won't be able to trounce all of us if you fall asleep in the middle of your exam."
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"You know, I actually found exams to be much easier than I was expecting," said Hermione as she, Harry, Ron, and Vesper exited their last exam of the year.
"Speak for yourself," Ron muttered.
The four of them followed the crowd of students headed outside to enjoy their newfound freedom and warm weather. They eventually found a nice shady spot by the lake. Vesper pulled off her robe to use as a blanket. She settled down, hands behind her head and eyes closed. With exams over, there was nothing left to worry about. Well, nothing except –
"You alright there, Harry?"
-that. Vesper opened her eyes to glance over at Harry, who was rubbing at his scar again.
"It's my scar," he said. "It keeps burning."
"Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey," suggested Hermione.
Harry shook his head. "I'm not ill. I think…I think it's a warning."
"About the stone?" asked Vesper. Harry nodded.
"Harry, remember what Hermione said," said Ron. "As long as Dumbledore's around no one is going to go after the stone."
That seemed to calm Harry down for a moment. But a minute later, he was jumping up to his feet, walking quickly across the grounds. Vesper, Ron, and Hermione were left scrambling to their feet, running to catch up with him.
"Isn't it strange," Harry said when they had caught up to him, "that the thing Hagrid wants most in this world is a dragon, and a stranger just happens to show up with one? You said they were really rare, Ron."
"They are," Ron agreed. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well how many people do you know that carry around illegal eggs," said Harry. "It's so obvious! Why didn't I see it before?"
They had reached Hagrid's hut by now. He was sitting on his front porch, sleeves rolled up, and playing a light melody on a flute.
He stopped playing when he saw them coming towards him and smiled. "All finished wit' exams, then? Got time fer a drink?"
"Hagrid, who gave you that dragon egg?" Harry asked bluntly.
If Hagrid was taken aback by the question he didn't show it. "Don't know. Fella kept his hood up. Never saw his face."
Harry kept pressing. "But the stranger, you two must've talked."
"He asked wha' sort o' creatures I looked after," said Hagrid. "I told 'im. I said after Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem."
"And did he seem interested in Fluffy?"
"Well o' course!" Hagrid said incredulously. "You don't come across a Cererbus of'en, even in trade. But I told him. I said, the trick with any beast is to know how to calm 'im. Take Fluffy for example, just play 'im a bit of music and he falls straight teh sleep." Hagrid paused. "I shouldn't 'ave told yeh that."
That wasn't good. Vesper bit her lip, looking over at the others. They all had similar expressions.
"Sorry, Hagrid," said Harry, "but we have to go."
They took off running, Hagrid shouting for them to stop. But they didn't stop, not until they reached the castle, panting from exertion. The Entrance Hall was cold and gloomy compared to the warm grounds.
"We've got to go see Dumbledore," said Harry. "It was Snape under that cloak and if he knows how to get past Fluffy –"
"He could get the stone at any time," Vesper concluded. "Come on, let's –"
"Now what are four young Gryffindors such as yourselves doing inside on a day like this?"
Vesper couldn't help jumping in surprise. Snape had managed to sneak up behind them.
Hermione started to stutter out an answer.
"Well, we – we were – uh – we were just –"
"We were just going to speak with Professor McGonagall," Vesper cut in smoothly. "We wanted to ask her a question about our Transfigurations exam."
Snape's sharp gaze turned on her. Vesper forced her face to remain natural.
Eventually Snape said, "You want to be careful; people with think you're…up to something." And with a sweep of his robes, he left in the direction of the dungeons.
"Let's go," Vesper said quietly after a moment. She started up the staircase to take them to McGonagall's office.
"Where are you going?" asked Ron.
"To McGonagall's office, just like I told Snape," said Vesper. She smirked. "I'm assuming none of us know where Dumbledore's office is, right?"
None of them did, so they made their way up to McGonagall's office. As soon as they had knocked and Professor McGonagall allowed them to enter, Harry started talking.
"We have to see Professor Dumbledore immediately."
"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here," said Professor McGonagall as she continued to place a number of books held in her arms back on the book shelves. "He received a letter from the Ministry of Magic and is in London until tomorrow."
"He's gone? Now?" said Harry, and Vesper's stomach dropped. "This is important," Harry continued. "This is about the Philosopher's Stone. We think someone is going to steal it."
The books tumbled from Professor McGonagall's arms and she made no move to pick them up.
"How –" she sputtered. "How do you know –" Her eyes narrowed in a mixture of shock and suspicion. "I don't know how you four know about the stone, but rest assured that it is perfectly well-protected. Now," she said, picking up her books, "I suggest you return to your dormitory. Quietly."
The door snapped shut behind them. Vesper thought back to the warm sunshine outside. Had it really been less than an hour ago that they were outside relaxing, celebrating the end of exams? And now they had to worry about stopping an evil professor from bringing a Dark wizard back to life.
When they were far enough away from McGonagall's office, Harry stopped them.
"Snape is going to steal the stone tonight," said Harry. "He's lured Dumbledore away from the castle and he's not going to get another chance. It's got to be tonight."
"So what are we going to do?" Hermione asked. "None of the professors will believe that the stone is in danger."
"Isn't it obvious," said Vesper with a glance in Harry's direction. "We're going to steal the stone before Snape does."
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They planned to meet in the common room at eleven o'clock that night; early enough that they would beat Snape to the stone, and late enough that everyone should be in bed after a long week of exams.
Well, nearly everyone.
Vesper had planned for sneaking around the prefects and professors doing rounds. She had planned for getting around Filch and Mrs. Norris. She had even planned for running into Peeves! But Vesper hadn't planned for sneaking out of their own common room.
"You shouldn't be here," came Neville's voice from behind a chair. He stood up and looked at them accusingly. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?"
"Look, Neville," said Harry, "we were just -"
"No!" cried Neville, moving to stand between them and the portrait hole. "I won't let you! You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again!"
"Neville," Ron warned, "move away from the hole and don't be an idiot -"
"I'm not an idiot," said Neville. He raised his fists. "Come on, I'll - I'll fight you."
"Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this," said Hermione, pulling out her wand. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Neville's arms and legs instantly snapped together, his face frozen in an expression of shock and outrage. A light blue frost-like substance coated his entire body. Neville teetered unsteadily for a moment before finally falling backwards onto the carpet.
"What did you do?" Harry asked, a hint of fear leaking through.
"Full Body-Bind spell," said Hermione. "Oh, I really am sorry, Neville."
"You're a little scary sometimes, you know that?" said Ron, glancing furtively at Hermione. "Brilliant, but scary."
"We need to get going," Harry cut in, heading for the portrait hole. "Sorry, Neville, but we don't have time to explain right now."
"Yeah, sorry, Neville," said Ron as he followed Harry out the portrait hole.
"Wait." Vesper grabbed Hermione's arm as she made to pass her. "You're not going to leave him like that all night, are you?" she asked.
"What else can we do?" Hermione bit her lip. "If I lift the spell he'll go tell on us and then we won't be able to stop Sn-…you-know-who."
"Go catch up with Harry and Ron," said Vesper an idea coming to her. "Tell them I'll meet you you-know-where. I'll be fine on my own without the cloak."
"I don't –"
"I have a plan, don't worry," Vesper reassured her. "Just go; you're wasting time."
With a nod, Hermione climbed out the portrait hole, and Vesper was all alone with a frozen Neville. Slowly, she pulled out her wand, and lowered herself to the ground, placing herself in Neville's sight.
"Neville," she said sharply, her voice sounding strange in the quiet common room. "I need you to listen to me very carefully."
Vesper took a deep breath. What she was about to do was either very smart or very foolish.
"I'll lift the spell," said Vesper, "but you have to promise to do something for me if I do. Blink twice if you'll agree.
"Okay," she sighed. "After I unfreeze you, I'm going after Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Wait five minutes after I leave, and then go straight to the owlery. Get Harry's owl, Hedwig – you know, the snowy one – and send a letter to Professor Dumbledore. Tell him that the stone is in danger. You got that? The stone is in danger. Now, blink twice if you promise."
It took him a moment, but eventually Neville did blink twice very deliberately.
Vesper heaved a sigh of relief. Why hadn't they thought of this idea sooner? Hopefully Hedwig would be fast enough to reach Dumbledore before Snape realized the stone had already been stolen. And speaking of stealing the stone, she had already lingered too long in the common room.
She said the counter-curse, and with a final, meaningful look at Neville, Vesper hurried to the third floor.
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Vesper thanked her lucky stars as she made it to the third floor corridor without incident. A faint echo of a melody resounded down the corridor and Vesper raced down to Fluffy's door. She paused just outside it, pressing her ear against the aging wood. The music and light snoring sounds were all that she could make out; there was no way to tell if it was her friends or someone more dangerous behind the door.
Pulling out her wand, Vesper decided to take her chances. She silently counted to three and shoved the door open.
BANG!
Hermione shrieked and dropped the harp she was playing. One of the dozing Cerberus's heads gave a giant yawn and started to blink the sleep from its eyes, the others following suit.
"Hermione, keep playing!" Harry hissed at her. Hermione gasped, diving for the fallen harp. A few seconds later Hermione began to pluck a random assortment of notes. It was enough for Fluffy to settle back down again and Vesper sighed with relief.
"I thought I told you to go on without me," whispered Vesper, casting a wary glance at Fluffy's sleeping mass.
"We only just got here a few minutes ago; we got held up by Peeves," Ron explained. "Snape's already been here though. It's how we got the harp."
"We were just getting ready to go through the trapdoor when you showed up," said Harry. He turned around and showed Vesper where they had already pried up the trapdoor. She walked over and peered over the edge. The door led to complete darkness; there was no way of telling how far of a drop it was or what would be down there to greet them.
"So who wants to go first?" she asked.
"I will," Harry volunteered. "If anything happens to me, don't follow."
He waited for Vesper, Ron, and Hermione to agree before swinging his legs into the hole in the floor. Slowly, Harry lowered himself down until he was hanging on by just his fingertips.
"See you in a minute, I hope…" he said before he let go, and was swallowed up by the darkness.
Vesper and Ron waited with baited breath.
"It's okay!" Harry's voice called up to them. "There's something to cushion the fall!"
Ron went next, followed quickly by Vesper and Hermione, Fluffy's barks chasing them down the trapdoor.
Vesper fell just for a few seconds, not even long enough for the sensation of being weightless to cause her to panic. The chamber they landed in was dark and dank with whatever had softened their fall feeling uncomfortably damp underneath Vesper's trousers.
"Lucky this plant thing was here," said Ron. "Except, uh, is the floor moving?"
"It's not the floor moving," cried Hermione, "it's the plant! Look!"
Snakelike tendrils were rapidly encircling their limbs, wrapping around their legs and arms up tight. But the more they began to struggle and move, the tighter the plant's grip became.
You've got to be joking, thought Vesper.
"Stop moving!" she called out, stilling herself. "It's Devil's Snare. The more you move, the faster it'll kill you."
"So it'll kill us either way?" shouted Ron. "Well that's just peachy!"
"How do we kill it?" Harry asked, watching a vine slowly wind around his chest.
"I'm working on it!" snapped Vesper. "Devil's Snare, Devil's scare…Hermione what was the rest of the rhyme?"
"It's deadly fun," said Hermione, "but – mph."
A vine had wound itself around her mouth. Vesper froze.
"Vesper," wheezed Harry. "Hurry up."
She shut her eyes in concentration. Hermione's bed, dark and damp, deadly fun, deadly fun…
"Sun," Vesper gasped, the plant giving a painful squeeze. She twisted her wrist, blindly trying to grab her wand from her pocket. The Devil's Snare wrapped itself tighter against her arm. She wasn't going to be able to reach it like this. With an almighty heave, Vesper threw her weight against the plant, forcing her cocooned body to roll onto its side. From this angle her fingers were free enough to grab loosely at her wand.
"Lumos Solem!" she shouted. The chamber was immediately filled with light and the Devil's Snare recoiled from their bodies, wriggling and flailing away from the light cast by Vesper's wand. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Vesper hastily ripped the last few remaining tendrils away from them and hurried off the plant.
Rubbing at her wrist, which was already turning purple and swelling, Vesper glanced at her friends. Harry was doubled over gasping for air while Ron was rubbing at his ribs and Hermione worked her bruising jaw and neck.
"Lucky we didn't panic," said Ron.
Harry stared at him. "Lucky Hermione and Vesper pay attention in Herbology. Come on," he said. "We need to keep going."
He led them over to a door at the end of the chamber. As they got closer, a faint noise could be heard from behind the door.
"What do you think it is?" asked Ron.
Vesper listened carefully. She could hear a light tinkling, but couldn't place what might be causing the noise.
"It almost sounds like…wings," said Harry softly. He pushed against the door. It swung open to reveal a light filled chamber with a high vaulted ceiling. It was full of small golden birds flittering around, seemingly unconcerned with the four humans in the room.
"Curious," said Hermione. "I've never seen birds like these."
"They're not birds," said Harry. "They're keys. And," he pointed towards a heavy looking door on the opposite wall, "I bet one of them opens that door. We just have to catch it."
An object floating in the middle of the room caught Vesper's attention. "Is that what the broom's for? It can't be that easy," she said, disbelief in her voice.
"Easy?" Hermione huffed. "There must be a thousand keys flying around! How are we supposed to find the right one in time?"
"It's probably an old-fashion one," said Ron. "And rusted, like the door handle."
"It's that one," Harry said after a moment. "Look, its wings are broken."
"This should be easy," said Ron, patting Harry on the back. "If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, then you can no problem, Harry. You're the youngest Seeker in a century!"
Vesper still wasn't so sure, although she said nothing as Harry nodded and made to get on the broom.
She was right.
As soon as Harry's hand touched the broom, the keys became agitated and aggressive, flying at Harry with all the might their tiny wings allowed them.
"Well, this complicates things a bit," said Ron sheepishly.
"Told you it was too easy," Vesper said under her breath.
"Shut up, Vesper."
Harry zoomed into the air, the keys following close behind. The key with the broken wing, the one they needed, was struggling to fly away from Harry and was doing a better job than Vesper expected. It flew close to the stone columns holding up the ceiling. The tight turns forced Harry to keep braking, allowing the key to gain just enough distance to stay out of Harry's reach. But Ron was right; Harry wasn't the youngest Seeker in a century for nothing. He eventually cornered the key high up in one of the corners of the ceiling, pulling a spectacularly tight turn to avoid colliding with the wall.
Diving down towards them, he pulled his arm back. "Catch the key," Harry shouted, throwing the key in their direction. Vesper lept up and snagged the struggling key. She hurried to the door, sliding the key into the lock.
"Hurry up!" shouted Ron.
The lock clicked, and Vesper threw open the door. Ron and Hermione grabbed her shirt sleeve quickly pulling her through the doorway.
It was in the nick of time too. No sooner had they cleared the doorway then Harry came zooming through it himself. The door swung shut of its own accord, the keys that had been chasing Harry bouncing back off the wood.
Harry dismounted and left the broom on the floor. "Ready?" he asked.
The new chamber was so dark that they couldn't see anything at all. It wasn't until the flooring underneath their feet changed from stone to polished marble that the room suddenly filled with light.
Vesper took a step back in surprise. "What the –"
They were standing on the edge of a life-sized chessboard surrounded by the black chessman. Across the board the white pieces stood in front of the only other door. And to the sides of the board appeared to be a graveyard; broken pieces of the stone chessman lay scattered about in piles of rubble.
"Well, now what do we do?" whispered Harry.
"Isn't it obvious?" said Ron. "We have to play our way across the room acting like pieces. If we win, they'll let us pass."
"And if we lose?" asked Hermione, eying the broken remains of the pieces.
"Let's just assume we'll win," Vesper hastily said.
Ron took a deep breath. "Alright," he said after a moment, "this is going to need some thinking about. We're going to have to take the place of four black pieces…"
He trailed off, eyes scanning the board. Harry, Hermione, and Vesper stayed quiet.
Finally, he said, "Hermione, you'll be the queen side castle. Harry, you're the king side bishop. Vesper, you'll be the king. And as for me, I'll be a knight."
The chessman must have been listening because at Ron's instructions, they began moving off the board. The king, however, waited for Vesper to reach his square. Slowly and with just the smallest hint of difficulty, the king piece held out the giant stone sword that was in his hands. Vesper took it, and nearly dropped it, it was so heavy. She placed the tip on the floor and held it like a staff; even resting on the floor, the sword was taller than her. The king nodded at her once before joining the other pieces to the side of the board.
"Everyone in place?" Ron asked from atop a stone horse. They nodded. "Good. White moves first, so…"
A white pawn moved on its own forward two squares.
Ron began to direct the black pieces around the board, and Vesper was extremely grateful that Ron was an expert at chess. Every time one of their pieces was captured, the white chessman showed no mercy, bludgeoning their black chessman to bits before dragging them to the edge of the board and casting them off the edge. Vesper could tell that Ron was trying to use Harry and Hermione as little as possible. However, there were one or two times where Ron only just noticed one of them in danger and was able to move them out of harm's way. She was thankful that Ron had put her as the king; she hadn't moved once yet, and as long as Ron didn't lose, she wasn't in any real danger.
"We're nearly there," Ron said after the game had continued for a while. Nearly half of the pieces were smashed and lying to the side of the board. "Let me think – let me think…"
Slowly, the white queen turned her blank face towards him.
"Of course," said Ron softly. "It's the only way. I have to be taken."
"What?"
"No way!"
"You can't!"
"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in chess," snapped Ron. "Once I make my move, Harry will be free to check the king."
"But there has to be another way," Hermione insisted.
"Look, do you want to stop Snape from getting the stone or not?" said Ron. He turned to Harry. "You have to keep going, Harry. It's you that's going to stop Snape, I know it! Not me, not Vesper, not Hermione. You."
None of them could argue with him. Vesper eyed the stone sword in the queen's hands nervously. It appeared to be just like the one the king had given her. She had examined it during the game, and while the blade wasn't sharp, it was made of solid stone. Vesper rubbed at her eyes which were becoming misty. If the sword was heavy enough to smash other stone to bits, what could it do to human bones? Magic could heal a lot, but even some injuries went beyond magic's capabilities.
Ron was very pale, but his voice didn't shake. "Knight to H-3."
The stone horse moved on his command. "Check," said Ron.
The queen moved towards him. She paused in front of Ron, and for a moment Vesper thought that perhaps the queen would just escort him off the board. But quick as lightning, the queen grabbed her sword and swung it at Ron. The blade struck him in the chest and he crashed to the floor with a cry of pain.
Hermione gasped, making to go to Ron's side.
"No!" Harry shouted and Hermione paused. "Don't forget, we're still playing."
Hermione nodded and stepped back to her square. Harry walked three squares diagonally to his right, stopping in front of the white king. "Checkmate."
The king's sword dropped to the floor in front of Harry. They waited a moment with bated breath. When nothing else seemed to happen, Harry, Hermione, and Vesper all rushed to Ron's unconscious figure.
Vesper reached him first, crouching over him. She reached out and pressed her fingers to his neck.
"He's fine," she said after a moment, "just knocked out."
"What are we going to do?" asked Hermione. "We can't just leave him here."
Vesper bit her lip. She wanted nothing more than to go and help Harry and Hermione. But Ron needed medical attention; there could be something wrong with him that Vesper didn't know about. And they needed back up, badly. Vesper hoped that Neville had sent a letter to Dumbledore like she had instructed, but they couldn't wait for him to get back from London if the stone was in the process of being stolen. At this point any professor would be better than nothing.
"I'll take care of him," Vesper said with a sigh. "You two keep going without me."
"I don't think that's a good idea," said Harry.
"Look," she said, giving them a hard look, "someone needs to help Ron and get one of the professors. Quirrell and Snape are the only obstacles left and Hermione's smarter than all three of us put together. You'll need her if you want to get past Snape's trap."
Harry and Hermione both hesitated. Vesper rolled her eyes at them. "Go!" she barked. "We'll be fine."
Harry and Hermione turned and ran towards the door leading to the next room, the sound of the door slamming echoing in Vesper's ears.
AN: Umm surprise? I honestly thought that I had posted this, like, 2 years ago. Sorry for the long hiatus. I graduated college, started working full time, and then went to school part time while working full time.
I'm nearly done with chapter 12 which will be the last chapter for this story. It'll be posted in the next few days.
If anyone still cares about this story (besides me), consider leaving a review?
Thank you everyone!
Love, Lora