Dinner saw Staros sitting with Blaise across from Daphne and Tracey as usual. He was distracted from his meal, trying to keep an eye on Harry and company. Daphne had soused out that Staros was up to something, but she kept to herself about it, neither asking, nor pointing anything out. She'd long figured out it had to do with his pet Gryffindors.
After dinner, Staros kept to himself. This wasn't remarked upon as many of the students were still coming down from the post-exam stress and many were sitting alone, few engaged in any conversation as they tried to shut down the high gears their brains were in. Thinking hurt too much for many right now.
He had set Carcerous to watch the Gryffindor trio since he was able to remain invisible to others, yet detect when they would be moving about. It was about ten-ish when Carcerous popped in to wake his master form a light nap, letting him know the trio was on the move.
Staros had already planned out his outfit for the night. A loose fitting set of pants and shirt, both in dark grays, a simple robe that allowed him to move freely, and his black cloak, all picked to blend him into shadows and disguise his presence. This time, he took his regular wand, not the one from Ollivander. He carried his sword as well, not thinking he might need it, but always better to be prepared for the worst. A silvered, an iron, and a steel knife rounded out his weapons, just in case. He would have preferred to have the blade he wanted the goblins to make from the unicorn's pieces, but he hadn't had the time to go yet.
After checking himself over, he followed Carcerous through the corridors along the fastest route to the third floor door. The others would be moving slower, he knew, and did not have and elf guiding them through little known shortcuts. Staros felt he had plenty of time to get there and see about what was happening tonight.
Seeing the door opened already did nothing to help his mood. Something odd was going on and Staros had plans that just couldn't be interrupted by all this silliness. Obviously, someone else was playing a game, and a rather poorly planned one at that.
Peeking in the door, Staros saw the trapdoor open and the Fluffy snuffling around it, occasionally trying to stick a head into the hole.
"Carcerous," Staros whispered, not wanting to alert the dog to their presence. "Deal, with the animal would you?"
"Aye, Master Staros, bein' a simple task. Dere be a harp it seems. A bit o'music fer da beastie."
A snap of the elf's fingers and the harp began to play. With a few of its strings broken, the tune was less than perfect, but that seemed to matter little as Fluffy perked his ears, then spun around a couple times, and settled down, curling into a ball to sleep. Occasional twitches showed the animal was dreaming.
'Wow… talk about a Pavlovian reaction. Hagrid must be nuts to train a beast to fall asleep that quickly,' thought Staros.
Walking over to the trapdoor, Staros kept an eye on the dog, just in case. Carcerous looked down the hole for a moment before conjuring a ball of light that he dropped in. The ball fell a few feet before landing on the plant below which began to pull away from the light. Staros sighed seeing this.
"Carcerous, this is just pathetic don't you think?"
"Wat you be meanin,' Master Staros?"
"An easily removed pet and a plant afraid of light are the first two obstacles? Like anyone would jump into a dark hole without dropping a light first? Who comes up with these things?"
"I not be knowin,' Master Staros. Mebbe da thinkers not be all dat or a bag of chips."
Chuckling at Carcerous' weak joke, Staros leapt through the trapdoor onto the largest patch of plant he could see. The plant, looking to be Devil's Snare, absorbed his fall quite nicely. Another ball or three of light, and the two were on the floor and walking to the archway that was the only way out.
A few minutes later, Staros and Carcerous stepped into a room filled with flying keys. And a couple of brooms. Noticing that the door on the far side was already open, they simply walked on. Another long passageway and they came upon another odd room, this one filled with a giant chessboard, looking to be in the middle of a game, with many broken pieces along both sides. Snuffling could be heard coming from the middle of the board.
Carcerous hid himself from view as Staros walked towards the sound. Stepping around the giant chess pieces, he found Hermione sobbing over Ron's body. He quickly walked over.
"What happened?"
A squeak and Hermione nearly fell backwards, pulling her wand as she did so.
"Staros! What are you doing here?"
"Well, a little bird came by and told me about this group of very brave, but very foolish children who would rather play with really big puppies than invite a snake over for tea. What happened to Ron? And where's Harry?"
Hermione was close to breaking into tears again, so Staros slapped her lightly across the face. It was a well-known treatment for impending hysteria.
"Hermione! Snap out of it!"
"You hit me!"
"Yes, I did. Now what happened to Ron and where's Harry?"
Hermione got over her shock at being hit long enough to tell him that Ron had played the chess game so they could get across, taking a hit in the process, and that Harry had continued on.
"Right then. Carcerous, see to these two. I'm off to see what Harry's up to."
"Master Staros…"
"No, Carcerous. Get Ron to the hospital wing first. Hermione, go with, you're about to fall apart and this is no time for that."
Carcerous nodded mutely, Hermione glared, but accepted what Staros said. Not that she had much choice as he had already stalked off through the door behind the white king.
Staros walked along yet another long passageway before coming to a room with a horrible smell emanating from it. Inside the room was a dead troll. It looked, and smelled, to have been dead for some time, possibly months. Hurrying on, Staros came to yet another room, this one having the door blocked by blue flames. Drawing his sword, and ignoring the whispering sounds it emanated, Staros passed it through the flames and noted the way the flames tried to cling to the blade. Grimacing, he wondered how he would pass.
A quick examination of the outer part of the doorway revealed some faint runes embedded in the frame. Seeing how they would be invisible from the inside of the room, Staros figured the trap was to allow one to walk in, the flames would spring up, and not being able to see the runes would prevent anyone from easily disabling the firetrap.
Taking a two-handed grip on his sword, Staros swung the blade against the runed doorframe. With a jarring THUNK!, the blade chopped into the frame and severed the rune paths. A whispering hiss drew attention to the edge of the blade as it seemed to be absorbing the runes themselves. With a sickly smile, Staros waited until the blade had drawn the runes across itself, each rune fading into the metal. The whispering grew louder for a moment, then dropped back down to its usual level.
Sheathing his sword, Staros walked through the now flameless doorway into another room. This one had a potions table with several different sized vials on it. Two more vials lay on the floor next to a piece of parchment. Picking up the note, Staros read through the riddle and snorted. Looking back up at the wall of black flames that prevented him from moving onward, Staros drew his blade again.
Another chopped rune pattern, absorbed runes, and the sword now had slight blue-black flames dancing on the edge. Wondering at this phenomenon, Staros looked at the blade for moment before remembering why he was here. Time enough to look into this later. He continued on.
A couple more minutes and Staros was just outside another room, this one large and circular with pillars blocking his view. Voices came from inside, Harry's being one, the other unknown. Staros hid himself behind a pillar to see what played out.