In the next few weeks Hogwarts exams had begun. Arianna and Hermione had spent all of their free time studying for everything while the boys had been procrastinating and playing chess mostly. The four of them had just finished they're last exam of the day and were out walking near Hagrid's hut.
"I'd heard Hogwarts exams were frightful! But I found them rather enjoyable!" Hermione said to the group, Arianna nodded in agreement, they hadn't been to bad.
"Speak for yourself! Alright Harry?" Ron asked noticing Harry putting his hand up to his scar, pain on his face.
"My scar keeps hurting." He answered.
"It's happened before." Hermione said, Harry shook his head.
"Not like this." He told them.
"Maybe you should see Madam Pomfrey?" Arianna suggested, she knew from all her time spent in the hospital wing that Madam Pomfrey could fix just about anything.
"I think it's a warning. It means danger is coming." He said as they came into view of Hagrid's hut. Harry's face lit up as if a light bulb had gone off.
"Of course!" He said hurrying off in the direction of Hagrid's.
"What?" Hermione asked as they caught up to him.
"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid would want more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger turns up and just happens to have one? I mean how many people just wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets?! Why didn't I see this before!" Harry scolded himself as they came up to Hagrid who was laying his flute.
"Hagrid who gave you the dragons egg?" Harry asked, the rest of the group still a tad confused as to where he was going with this.
"Dunno, I never saw his face, he kept his hood up." Hagrid replied also wondering what was going on.
"This stranger though, you and he must have talked?" Harry continued.
"Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after, I told him after Fluffy, a dragon would be no problem."
"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked.
"Well of course he was interested in Fluffy! How often do you come across three headed dogs, even if your in the trade! But I told him, I said 'The trick with any beast is to know how to calm it.' Take Fluffy for example, just play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep! I shouldn't have told you that." Hagrid said looking down. Suddenly the group knew where this was going, they all exchanged worried glances before running off in the direction of the castle.
"Where are you going!?" Hagrid yelled to them but they didn't answer, he mentally slapped himself before going back into his hut.
They ran through the halls, dodging students as they went, coming to the transfiguration classroom. The ran up to Professor McGonagall who was sitting at her desk. She looked up taken aback as they came sprinting into the class room.
"We need to see Professor Dumbledore, immediatly!" Harry demanded.
"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore isn't here. He recieved an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediatly to London." Minerva told them, wanting to know what they needed.
"He's gone?! But this is important, It's about the Philosopher stone!" Harry continued. Minerva's eyes widened and she looked brefiley to Arianna, remembering the night she had run into Fluffy.
"How did you-" She started but was cut off.
"Someone's going to try to steal it!" Arianna told her.
"I don't know how you four found out about the stone, but I assure you it is perfectly well protected. Now would you go to your dormitory. Quietly" She added. The four of them looked defeated as the walked out of the classroom. They stoped just outside of the room and huddled together.
"That was no stranger Hagrid met, it was Snape, which means he knows how to get past Fluffy!" Harry whispered.
"And with Dumbledore gone.." Hermione started.
"Good afternoon." a voice said from behind them, they slowly turned around to see Snape looking at them suspiciously.
"Now what would four young Gryffindor's be doing inside, on a day like this?" He asked, they all gulped trying to come up with something.
"We were just- just" Hermione began
"You ought to be careful. Someone might think your up to something." He said looking at Harry in particular before walking off.
"Now what do we do!?" Hermione asked once Snape was gone.
"We go down the trap door," Harry said, "tonight."
They waited until everyone was in bed before they went down to the common room. As they were crossing it they heard a toad's croak. The four of the stopped dead in their tracks and whipped around to see what toad made the noise.
"Trevor!" Harry said.
"Trevor! Sh! You shouldn't be here!" Ron whispered trying to make the toad go away.
"Neither should you!" A shaky voice said. The turned to see Neville stand from a large chair and move in front of them.
"Neville" Arianna said.
"Now Neville, we were- we were" Harry started.
"No! I wont let you! You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again! I'll I'll fight you!" He said raising his fists. Arianna didn't know what to do. She felt bad because she knew that Neville was right, but she knew they had to do this!
"Neville I'm really sorry about this." Hermione said raising her wand, "Petrificus Totalus" She said clearly and Neville fell petrified on the floor. The four of them began to walk forward each of them apologizing to Neville.
"I'm sorry Neville. But we have to do this, I hope you understand." Arianna said giving him a sad smile before going on with her friends.
Harry put the invisibilty cloak over them all, it only just covered the four of them. As they walked down the corridor, Arianna could feel her heart beating quite quickly. They came to the third floor corridor and Hermione opened the door to Fluffy's room. Silently they entered, not really sure what they were going to do. Suddenly the cloak was blown off of them.
"He's snoring!" Ron said.
"The harp!" Arianna said noticing it was playing music.
"That means Snape's already been here! He's put a spell on the harp!" Harry said.
"Ugh, it's got horrible breath!" Ron chimmed in.
"Come on! We have to move it's paw!" Harry said going towards Fluffy.
"What?!" Arianna said freezing in her spot. 'What if it woke up!' She thought terrified.
"Arianna just stay there!" Hermione said realizing she was afraid of dogs. Arianna stood right behind them as they carefully moved Fluffy's paw and opened the trap door. As the stood around it looking down into the dark Hermione noticed it had gotten awfully quite.
"The Harp! It's stopped playing!" She whispered. As the looked over at the harp something dripped onto Ron's shoulder.
"Ugh! Yuck!" He groaned, then realized what it was. They all looked up to see a growling Fluffy right above them. Arianna was frozen in terror. Harry noticed it and pushed her down the trap door, then jumped in followed by Hermione and Ron.
They landed in a soft strange substance, "Woah! Lucky this plant thing was here to catch us!" Ron said as it began to move and restrain them.
"Stop moving all of you! It will only kill you faster." Hermione said, Arianna and Harry instantly stopped struggling, but Ron, not so much.
"Kill us faster! OH now I can relax!" He said struggling even more. When Hermione and Arianna had both been absorbed through the plant and dropped below, Ron lost it!
"Just relax!" The girls screamed to them, Harry relaxed and joined the girls underneath the plant.
"Harry!" Ron shouted struggling even more.
"He isn't relaxing is he!?" Hermione asked and Harry shook his head.
"Ugh I remember reading something in Herbology. 'Devils Snare, devils snare, its deadly fun but." She stopped trying to think of the next words.
"But will sulk in the sun!" Arianna said suddenly remembering.
"That's right! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" Hermione said glad Arianna was there. The two of them raised their wands, "Lumos Solem!" They shouted and a beam of sunlight shone throught their wands and onto the Devil's Snare. It retreited and dropped Ron.
He picked himself off the ground and dusted himself off, "phew! Good thing we didn't panic!" He said the other three rolled their eyes.
"Good thing the girls pay attention in Herbology." Harry chimmed in, as they moved on down the corridor and into the next room. As they walked in they heard a soft fluttering noise.
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"It sounds like wings." Harry said and they all looked up.
"Curious, I've never seen birds like these." Hermione said watching the strange creatures.
"Those aren't birds, they're, they're keys!" Arianna said suddenly realizing what they were.
"And I bet one of them fits that door." Harry said pointing to the door.
"What's all this about?" Hermione asked curiously looking around as Ron went over to the door.
"Alohamora!" He yelled trying to magically open the locked door, with no luck. Turning he shrugged his shoulders, "It was worth a try" He said.
"Now what are we going to do! There must be a thousand keys up there!" Hermione said watching all the keys fly around. Suddenly Harry saw a broomstick floating in mid air. He walked over to it and eyed it suspiciously.
"What is it Harry?" Arianna asked seeing his expression.
"It's too simple." He said apprehensively
"Oh go on Harry! If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick you can! You're the youngest seaker in the century!" Ron said. Arianna moved to stand with Ron and Hermione as Harry grabbed the broom. As soon as he touched it, the keys began to come after him!
"This complicates things a bit." Ron said.
"Which key am I looking for!?" Harry yelled to them trying to avoid the keys coming at him.
"We're looking for an old fashioned one, it'll be big and rusty like the handle on the door!" Ron told Harry. Arianna looked up looking for a key they would be trying to find. Then she found it.
"There! Harry to your right! The one with the broken wing!" She said and Harry saw it and chased after it. After catching it he yelled down to them to catch the key, he flew close the the ground and threw it, Hermione caught it and opened the door. The three of them on the ground ran through the door as it opened and then opened it wide enough for Harry to zoom through on the broom. They closed the door just before the keys had a chance to fly through it.
They heard the keys colliding with the door as they entered the next room. It was large and dark for a second. Then the room lit from torches all around.
"I don't like this, I don't like this at all!" Hermione said as the walked in further.
"Where are we? Is it a graveyard?" Harry asked.
"No. It's a chess board." Arianna said realizing what they were standing on.
"There's the door!" Harry said seeing a large door on the other side of the chess pieces. They walked up to the pices to pass them and get to the door, but the giant pawns took out their swords, blocking their passage.
"Now what do we do?" Hermione asked a bit of fear in her voice.
"It's obvious isn't? We have to play our way across the room!" Ron said quite excitedly.
"Hermione and Arianna, you two take the queen side castle, Harry, you take the empty bishop square, and as for me, I'll be a knight." Ron told them and they moved to their spots on the board. Arianna and Hermione stood close together, afraid of what would happen if they moved out of thier square before they were supposed to.
"Ron," Hermione began as the white pawn took its first move. "Do you think this is going to be like wizards chess?" She asked her voice faultering. Ron thought for a moment before moving a pawn diagnolly from the white pawn. The white pawn pulled out its sword and slashed at the black pawn breaking it into pieces. Everyones faces had shock written all over them.
Gulping, Ron said, "Yes Hermione, I think this is going to be exactly like wizard chess." And with that the game begun. Many pieces on both the white and the black sides of the board were taken, debris had been flying everywhere, cutting and scrapping the four children trying to get past it. Ron was looking around gravely trying to decide the next move.
"No! Ron no!" Harry yelled, realizing what he was going to do.
"What is it?!" Hermione asked not understanding.
"He's going to sacrifice himself." Arianna said now seeing what the boys meant. They didn't know she understood how chess worked, but in reality after watching them play so many times, Arianna understood it and would be really quite good given the chance.
"No! Ron you can't!" Hermione yelled.
"Do you want to stop Snape from getting the stone or what!?" Ron yelled, glaring at Hermione. "Harry, it's you who has to go on, not me, not Arianna, not Hermione, you! Knight to E-3." He said. The other three watched worried as the knite piece Ron was sitting on moved to the spot.
"Check." Ron said quietly. The white queen turned and moved to the spot in order to take the piece. She pulled out her sword and stabbed the knights horse, the clay piece breaking Ron falling and being struck by debris, and going unconsious.
Hermione went to move to go to Ron but Arianna grabbed her as Harry yelled to her, "Stop! Don't move! Remember we're still playing." He said. Harry moved across the board the required number of steps, stopping facing the white king. "Checkmate." He said and king let go of his sword. The three of them watched as bounced on the ground, before running to Ron.
Herminone knelt by his side Harry and Arianna standing around him. "Ron was right, you two take Ron out and to the hospital wing, and then write Dumbledore. I'll go on." He said Arianna nodded but Hermione shook her head.
"Arianna you go with Harry. He may need you. And you may get some of your questions answered Arianna, who knows. I can take care of Ron and getting the letter to Dumbledore." Hermione said and after looking to Harry as if looking for permission, Arianna nodded to Hermione.
"You'll be okay you two, Arianna you're an amazing witch andHarry you're a really great wizard." Hermione said with a smile.
"Not as good as you." Harry replied.
"Me? Books and cleverness. There are more important things, friends and bravery." Hermione said looking to Arianna. "Just be careful okay?" She said and the two nodded before moving on. The passed through a room with a dead or knocked out troll (The two couldn't tell which, and they didn't want to get close enough to tell.) Then they went through a room with purple and black fire, with 6 or 7 potions laying on a table.
Arianna figured out the riddle and they each took a sip of the correct potion before going through the flames and into the last room. As the walked in, Harry put his hand up to his scar, telling Arianna it burned worse than ever before.
As they walked in they saw a dimley lit room, with the Mirror of Erised standing in the centre of the room. And standing in front of that was Professor Quirrel. The two kids looked confused as Quirrell looked up in the mirror.
"You? No, it can't be! Snape, he was, he-"Harry tried to get out but Quirell cut him off.
"Yes, he does seem the type doesn't he." Quirrell said without stuttering. "Next to him, who would suspect, p-p-p-poor p-p-proffesor Q-q-quirrel." He said.
"But that day during the Quitidch match Snape tried to kill me!" Harry said.
"No dear boy! I tried to kill you!" Quirrell roared! "Trust me, if Snape's cloack hadn't caught fire and broken my eye contact I would have succeded even with Snape muttering his little counter curse!" Quirrell spat.
"So, ProfessorSnape was trying to save Harry?" Arianna piped up.
"Oh look who else is here! Miss Winters. YesSnape was trying to save him. I knew, Potter, that you were a danger to me from the start. Especially after Halloween."
"So you let the troll in!" Harry relized putting the pieces together.
"Very good Potter yes, though Snape wasn't fooled. He went straight to the third floor corridor to head me off. he of course never trusted me again, he hardley left me alone. But he doesn't understand. I'm never alone. Never. Now how does this mirror work. I see what I desire. But how do I get it." Quirrell said, the last part more to himself, it seemed, than anyone.
Then a voice came ringing out from somewhere close by, "Use the boy!" It said.
"Come here Potter!" Quirrell demanded!
"No Harry! Don't do it! Don't trust him! He's trying to get the stone for-" Arianna began finally understanding everything, but was cut off by the voice.
"Silence her!" The voice yelled, suddenly Quirrell's wand was pointing at her, and the next thing she knew there were ropes tied around her wrists, her legs and ankles and ropes tied around her arms and body to keep her arms from moving. And there was a gag in her mouth, yet she screamed through it.
"No Harry!" She screamed, though it was muffled. Harry looked at her slowly moving towards her to help untie her, but Quirrell pushed her over with a flick of his wand. She fell hitting her head on the stone steps. The last thing she saw before the world became black was Harry running towards her.
Here you go everyone! The next chapter! Hope you enjoy, I had to finish it and get it up before I went to bed! Again hope you enjoy, and thank you for all the reviews! :)