Chapter Twenty-Nine: Golden Opportunity

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

"I just think that you might be jumping to conclusions, Blaise," Harry was saying as the two sat by the fire. "Did your stepfather look like he was sick or something?"

"Well, no," Blaise admitted. "Not as far as I could tell, anyway."

"Then why do you think he's going to be dead by the time summer comes around?" Harry asked reasonably.

Blaise closed his eyes. "My mother waited until Matthew-"

"Peter," Harry corrected.

"Whoever left the room and then she asked me if that suit that I had worn for Christopher's-" here Blaise paused to give Harry a chance to correct him again but he didn't know the names of Blaise's various stepfathers as well as Tracy did "-funeral would still fit me and if not then would I mind terribly giving her my measurements?"

"Well that's…" Harry trailed off, trying to think of a positive way to spin this. "She just wants you to be prepared, I guess."

"Yes," Blaise agreed. "Prepared for the fact that once again my stepfather is going to die a mysterious death and leave her with a lot of money."

Harry didn't know what to say and so he remained quiet.

"I really think that my mother has a problem," Blaise remarked idly.

"Or several," Harry muttered.

"And they've all conveniently died," Blaise concluded. "I don't know why people still marry her. She can't be that attractive. I mean, she's not even part-Veela!"

"But then, would you really be in a good position to judge if she were?" Harry asked reasonably.

Blaise nodded his head at that, acknowledging the point. "I already told her that my friends are all off-limits."

Harry stared at him. "Blaise, your friends are all a bit young to worry about that."

Blaise snorted. "For now. In another five, six years though…Imagine if my mother could land the boy who lived…"

Harry shuddered. "No offense but…no thanks."

"None taken," Blaise assured him breezily. "So you see, I really did you a favor."

"Thanks…I think…" Harry trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.

"That is the usual reaction," Blaise said absently. "Of course, Mother won't be happy but the biggest impact this has had on me is that I'm never, ever going to get married and probably won't have any children, either."

"I can imagine how no grandchildren might upset her," Harry acknowledged.

"What about you, Harry?" Blaise asked. "Does your father won't grandchildren?"

Harry thought back to the talk that Gilderoy had given him right after he had been told where babies came from.

"Now Harry, I know you might have urges and think that you know what you're doing but every child you have is a huge financial burden so make absolutely sure that you want them and don't just have them by accident. And remember that the wizarding public will judge you for everything you do and quite a bit that you won't do so please wait until you're married to reproduce and definitely wait until you're twenty. Remember, anything you do reflects on me as well."

"I'm not sure," Harry admitted. "Maybe in a few years."

There was a knock at their common room door and everyone in the common room froze.

"What's going on?" the Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint, asked.

His friend rolled his eyes. "What does it look like? Someone's knocking on the door to the common room."

Flint scowled at him. "I knew that! I just don't know why anyone would do that. I mean, no other houses know where we're located and if they did they still wouldn't be here."

"Maybe someone forgot their password," a girl Harry didn't know suggested.

"I say we leave them out there in that case," Blaise suggested. "It will be good for them and maybe they'll even learn something and this won't happen again."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, this is really for their own good."

The pounding continued.

Annoyed, an older boy got up and stalked to the door. "I'll get it."

"Thank you mysterious upper-classman," Harry said with a grin, mock saluting him.

The boy opened the portrait hole and began speaking with whoever was on the other side.

"He's probably not that mysterious," Blaise reasoned. "We just don't know anything about him."

Harry shrugged. "Hence he's mysterious."

"Hey, Harry," the boy said, glancing his way and beckoning. "Come here. They're here for you."

"Can't be particularly mysterious at all if you two are on a first name basis with each other," Blaise noted.

Harry rolled his eyes as he stood. "Well, he's on a first-name basis with me, I think. Maybe he's a stalker."

"Oh, goody, those always liven things up," Blaise said brightly. "Well, until they start to get annoying."

Harry headed over to the door and saw Hermione, Ron, and Neville waiting for him.

"Oh, thank God!" Hermione exclaimed.

The boy turned to go.

"What are you even doing here? How did you know where we were?" Harry demanded.

Neville shrugged. "We needed to talk to you and so we asked Fred and George where we could find you. Apparently, they have no problem telling anyone and everyone who asks where the Slytherin common room is. Since we only just got back today, they couldn't help us with the password."

"Probably for the best," Harry said, trying to imagine how it would go over if three first-year Gryffindor had just barged into the Slytherin common room looking for him.

"As for why we're here-" Neville started to say but Ron interrupted him.

"Can we please talk out here?" he requested. "I don't trust them." He nodded towards the common room.

"But we're not talking about anything important," Harry protested.

"Not yet," Ron said pointedly.

Harry sighed. "Fine." He stepped out into the corridor and theatrically closed the door behind him. "Now what's so important that you had to get me at eleven at night?"

Ron looked a little embarrassed. "I…don't actually know."

"Then why did you come?" Harry asked, rubbing his temples. "And why did you two bring him?"

Hermione shrugged. "We didn't want to waste time arguing."

"And I wanted to see where the Slytherin common room was," Ron explained. "Who knew when I'd get another chance?"

"I thought Fred and George were telling anyone and everyone who asked?" Harry asked.

"Yes but since I'm their brother they might have made an exception," Ron replied.

Harry sighed and shook his head. "Okay, you're here, fine. Now what's going on?"

Neville's face was serious as he answered. "Dumbledore's not here."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, frowning. "Why not?"

"I don't know," Neville told him. "But Parvati just got back from the Hospital Wing and-"

"What, already?" Harry interrupted, dumbfounded. "But we've only just got here!"

Hermione looked mortified. "She was having a feminine problem, okay?"

"Okay," Harry said, slightly mystified. "Do go on, Neville."

Neville nodded. "So she said that Madam Pomfrey mentioned that Dumbledore and Snape weren't here and we overheard her talking with Lavender about where they might be."

"Where did they think they were?" Harry couldn't help but wondering.

"Somewhere called 'Boystown'," Ron replied.

"It doesn't really matter where they went or why," Hermione said impatiently. "What does matter is that the Stone is now left unprotected so if anyone were going to steal it now would be an excellent time to do so."

"Stone?" Ron asked. "What stone?"

"We'll explain later," Harry promised.

Ron didn't look satisfied with that. "Well, what if I want to know now?"

"Ron, it's called the 'Philosopher's Stone'," Harry told him.

Ron made a face, clearly deciding that anything with the word 'philosopher' in it couldn't be that interesting. "On second thought, I can wait."

"So why come to me?" Harry asked. "I mean, besides the fact that I'm one of the only people you told about this."

"We were hoping that you could go to your dad," Neville told him. "And we could all make sure that no one goes after the Stone."

"Why my dad?" Harry asked, knowing that Gilderoy was the absolute last person who would want to be involved when it came to doing something that was truly dangerous. "Why not, say, McGonagall?"

"We don't think any of the adults will believe us," Hermione confided. "I mean, we don't know who knows about the Stone. Professor McGonagall probably does but I think any of the teachers wouldn't do anything but yell at us for knowing about the Stone and assuring us that it's well-protected and in no danger."

"What if it is well-protected and in no danger?" Harry challenged.

"Then we won't be in any danger going after it," Ron decided to contribute.

"Why my dad, then, if you don't know if he knows and you said the teachers wouldn't help?" Harry asked.

"He's your dad, Harry," Neville replied. "If you didn't already tell him about the Stone then he's going to be more likely to listen to you than anyone else."

Harry was weakening. It was terribly dangerous and Gilderoy wasn't going to want to have anything to do with it but if someone really was after the Stone then could they just do nothing and hope that whatever protection held?

"Besides, who would want the Stone more than You-Know-Who?" Neville asked reasonably. "What if it's him?"

Ron blanched. "You didn't tell me that You-Know-Who was involved!"

Harry felt much the same way, though he hoped it was less obvious on him than it was on Ron.

"Isn't he dead?" Hermione asked, confused.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Please, Hermione. Everyone knows he's still out there."

"Alright, I'll do it," Harry agreed finally. "But let's not mention anything about You-Know-Who, okay?"

"Why not?" Neville asked curiously.

Because if they did then there was no way that Gilderoy would actually come and a good chance that his friends would all find themselves Obliviated.

"Because if we do then there's no way my dad would let us come," Harry said instead.

It was too damn early when Gilderoy opened his eyes. The room was pitch-black and he was still exhausted. It was too noisy, too. There was this incessant banging that was making it impossible for him to try to get back to sleep.

Slowly, he realized that the banging was coming from his door. That was strange. People didn't usually knock on his door in the middle of the night. Quickly changing back into his robes and making himself look presentable (he wished that the knocking would cease since he was coming but then, he supposed whoever was on the other side had no way of knowing that), Gilderoy opened the door.

"Yes?" Gilderoy said, opening his door.

Harry and three of his friends were on the other side.

"What are you doing here at…" Gilderoy checked his clock, "11:30 at night?"

"Maybe you guys should wait out here," Harry said, casting an uncertain glance at his friends.

"But Harry-" Ron started to object.

Hermione grabbed his arm, though. "That's fine."

Harry stepped inside and Gilderoy closed the door behind him.

"I've not going to like this, am I?" Gilderoy asked rhetorically.

"Did you know that Dumbledore's not here?" Harry asked him. "Or Snape?"

Gilderoy did his best not to wince at that. "Ah, yes. Snape broke his foot earlier this evening and he's apparently such a terrible patient that Madam Pomfrey refused to treat him and so he and Dumbledore went off to St. Mungo's. Why?"

"Hermione and Neville think that someone might use this rare time that Dumbledore isn't here to steal the Philosopher's Stone," Harry explained. "Ron's mostly just here for the ride."

"But Dumbledore wasn't here during break, either, and no one stole it then," Gilderoy pointed out.

Harry shrugged. "Well then, it's probably nothing. But they're really freaking out and came all the way to the Slytherin common room to find me. They'd feel so much better if we just went and checked."

Gilderoy sighed. "Harry…"

"I know, I know!" Harry exclaimed quickly. "But it probably is nothing and how can you really justify saying no to such a potentially important request?"

Gilderoy looked pointedly at the wand on his nightstand.

"Dad," Harry complained. "You can't do that to my friends. They don't even know anything incriminating!"

Gilderoy sighed again. "Fine. But only because I don't know how, short of Obliviating them, that they'll leave anytime soon."

"Do you even know anything about what's guarding it?" Harry inquired.

Gilderoy shook his head. "Nothing but that's it's on the forbidden corridor on the third floor."

"You weren't curious?" Harry pressed.

Gilderoy smiled at that. "Harry, curiosity really is the polar opposite of a good self-preservation instinct."

"This door is locked," Hermione explained, as they stood in front of the first door. "But it's just 'Alohomora' so I can't imagine it's really intended to keep anyone out. It's probably just for people who get lost and don't know what's in here so they don't accidentally barge in."

"Or for first years," Ron suggested.

Hermione looked pointedly at him.

"Well, fine, Hermione can do it but I don't think that means that that's something a normal first year can do," Ron said, rolling his eyes.

"Does the fact that it was locked mean that nobody is in here?" Harry asked hopefully.

Gilderoy shook his head, though. "No, that wouldn't make any sense. If all it takes is one person unlocking the door, even if they don't intend to steal the Philosopher's Stone, then either someone would need to come by and cast another spell or door is re-locked whenever it's closed again."

"Maybe Dumbledore has alarms in his office to let him know whenever someone opens the door," Neville speculated.

"That's no help to us now since he's not in there," Harry pointed out. "Do you know when Dumbledore's getting back, Dad?"

Gilderoy shook his head. "He left in such a hurry. He'll likely be back before breakfast tomorrow but…"

"That might be too late," Hermione finished for him.

They continued to just stand around for a moment longer.

Then, with more bravery than Harry felt (and maybe that was why he was sorted into Gryffindor), Neville stepped forward. "Well, shall we?"

He pushed the door open and they all filed in after him.

The first thing that any of them noticed was harp music gently playing in the background. A giant three-headed dog was sleeping right next to a trapdoor and Ron opened his mouth to say something but Hermione clasped her hand over it and looked at him meaningfully.

Ron got the picture. They didn't know why the giant three-headed dog was asleep or if it was possible to wake him but it was best not to take chances.

Gilderoy and Harry exchanged a meaningful look. The harp was not a good sign. It meant that there was probably somebody here after all. But there was no way to quietly convince the others to go back and even attacking and stunning or Obliviating them wouldn't be done fast enough to get all three of them. One might make a fuss and wake the dog and then they were all dead. Not to mention, of course, that Harry really didn't want to attack his friends who were only trying to do the right thing (yes, even Ron).

And so there really was no choice but to continue on from here.

"I'll go first," Ron whispered when they had all crept to the trapdoor.

He made to jump in but Gilderoy grabbed his arm. "Think, boy! Why would you just jump without seeing what's down there?" He stuck his wand down into the trapdoor to muffle the light and hopefully keep the dog asleep for awhile longer and cast a quiet Lumos.

Looking down, they saw a giant plant shrinking back from the light.

"Devil's Snare," Hermione and Neville said simultaneously.

"I'll go," Neville offered. "Hermione taught me how to do that fire charm so I should be fine."

Gilderoy nodded, glad that he wouldn't be called upon to do it even if he could cast a Lumos. "Be careful."

Neville smirked. "I'm a Gryffindor."

Then he was gone.

Hermione gave him a minute and then she jumped, too.

"I just thought of something," Ron said, grabbing Harry's arm. "Say we succeed…how are we going to get back from here? Will anyone even know that we're down here? Are we going to starve to death down here?"

"Relax, Ron, my Dad flooed St. Mungo's before we left and left a message for Dumbledore explaining where we were going and why," Harry assured him.

Ron turned to Lockhart with newfound respect in his eyes. "Really? Blimey."

"Well," Gilderoy said, pleased, "I was a Ravenclaw."

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