So it has been a while.
Thank you to everyone who has been patient.
The Problem With Rebirth
Chapter 6:
It was just after Quirrell had come running in, screaming about a troll that Harry realized something. Voldemort was serious about that stone. But what had driven the man to these depravities?
The power of immortality.
Voldemort had to fear death. Why else would he sacrifice precious magic to leech onto one of his minions like a dying worm? Magic and time he could both use to find a better host or even resurrection ritual. No. The man was taking the more direct route. The stone.
Harry now knew what Voldemort feared most, and why he was so determined to end Harry's short life. It made more sense than that of a few words spoken by a seer. Prophecies always were self fulfilling, anyway.
Harry sighed as he saw the lumbering mass of troll in the girl's lavatory. He could hear Draco's sharp intake of breath and Sam's short cry of disbelief. Both were standing at his sides, completely in awe of the fact that a troll that huge squeezed through the door of the girl's room. Truly a feat to behold!
Then, they heard the quiet whimper.
"Hullo!" Sam called out, attempting to locate the source, but could barely hear over the snarling beast.
Of course, that gained attention from both the source, and the troll who swung around to stare at them.
"Good going." Draco muttered. Sam's cheeks colored.
"Didn't think about that." He admitted.
Harry's attention was solely on the troll, but he had also heard that whimper. "Sam, find the source. Draco, distraction." He ordered, tone sharp and serious.
Neither hesitated before following those orders.
Draco began the dance by conjuring chirping birds to fly about the troll's head, pecking it in the face.
Sam, noting how distracted the troll had become, dove quickly under one of the stalls intending to check for a shadow or hint of a person. He rolled right into Hermione. Blinking owlishly at her from the flat of his back, he grinned. "Here to rescue you, m'lady!"
Draco rolled his eyes at the dramatics. "Just get her out of there!" he snapped.
Harry wasted no time in conjuring a strong rope, and spelling it to wrap about the troll's ankles and legs. He barely rolled in time as a massive club (still not sure how troll AND club fit through that small door) came smashing down where he once stood.
So maybe, a bit of physical training was in order. That had been too close!
Sam had just gotten Hermione outside of the door when the troll tried to give chase. It ended up falling flat on it's already smashed face, creating a rattle within the enclosed room.
This, of course, was just in time for the teachers, led by James Potter and McGonagall to show up.
James paled at the sight of his son among the chaos that was the troll ravaged girl's lavatory.
Harry had the feeling that he was going to get scolded so many times for this, but he had learned something important.
This had been a distraction.
Someone had to have purposefully let a troll in. Who better than the one who had found it? There was no doubt now.
Voldemort was desperate, and Harry had to find out how far the man had gotten. If he had failed, the stone had to be removed... Tonight.
. . .
James had no idea what to make of the courageous, yet reckless behavior of his son. He was a chip off the old block, after all.
James knew exactly where his grey hairs were going to come from. He swore this was karma for all of the trouble he, Sirius, and Remus got up to in their youth.
But that still didn't answer the question... What had his son been doing in the girl's lavatory? How had all three of them wound up in their?
Then, as he had to take a breath in the tirade on his son's behavior, Harry pointed out something. How had a troll that big, end up through a door that small?
This, one small question, stumped James. Until the obvious answer came through. Someone helped the troll into Hogwarts, and said someone also put the troll there.
His Auror training kicking in, James began to investigate... After grounding Harry, of course.
Not that James really believed that grounding Harry would really do anything. His son was on a mission, if that look in his eyes was anything to go by.
Strange how that determined gleam looked really familiar to Lilly's.
. . .
Harry met Draco and Sam outside of the door that would lead them to Fluffy.
All three had been careful to not raise any suspicions, as it was well after curfew. The strangest thing was that there had been no one on patrol tonight. No prefects prowling the halls. No teachers on watch.
Harry was on high alert, but had a feeling that James, Sirius, and Remus had something to do with that.
He was shocked to see Ron and Hermione at the door, though.
Hermione explained that Sam had told her everything and that she and Ron had simply followed Harry. Of course, he had wondered how Ron had found Hermione. She told them that she had been helping him study when Sam explained.
Harry looked to Sam who shrugged. "Not like we couldn't use the help."
Harry sighed, and opened the door. Fluffy's huge ears perked up at the creaking door. Noticing the small group, he growled.
Sam, having wanted a three headed dog, knew what to do. He pulled a flute from his jacket pocket, and waited for Ron to lure away from the trap door.
Just as Ron got the whole of Fluffy's giant form, Sam spelled the flute to play a soft lullaby.
Laying down, Fluffy huffed once, twice, before finally drifting into a fitful slumber.
Draco opened the door, and let Hermione go in first before the rest followed.
Right into the Devil's snare.
Harry sighed as the plant's tendrils wrapped around them all, squeezing. Hermione remained calm and relaxed while Draco yelled out enough curses to make grown men blush.
Hermione hummed while Sam cried out something that sounded like a squawk. Ron fared no better.
"Stop struggling!" She called out. Even Harry was trying to defend his personal boundaries from the molesting vines.
She sank just as she cried that out. Draco soon following, before Sam was dropped ungracefully to the ground.
Harry and Ron were the only two left. Both still trying to fend off the offending foliage.
"Honestly!" Hermione cried before laying a hand on one of the appendages, and letting her magic stun the vines for a moment.
Both boys fell in a heap.
"Thanks, Mione!" Ron said, disentangling himself from Harry.
"Cheers." Harry echoed as Draco giggled.
Hermione nodded, and pointed out the next door.
They opened it with a bit more caution.
Chess. It was a giant chess board.
Harry, even through all of his lifetimes, still remained terrible at chess.
Ron and Draco, however, were brilliant. Easily guiding the group to victory. Unfortunately, Ron had been injured in a power play.
Harry ordered Hermione to take Ron back. Truthfully, he didn't want to see either of them injured.
The next room had to be the most hilarious.
Winged snitches and keys.
Of all things!
Sam, who detested flying, opted to sit this one out while Draco searched on the ground and Harry on broom stick.
Harry loved flying.
It was freedom. It was the ability to climb as high as he liked without care or worry.
Unfortunately, there was a ceiling involved in this flight, and Harry had a mission. Which, only took him a few short moments.
The key had been calling to him.
That isn't to say that Harry wasn't assaulted as soon as his hand wrapped around the key. Every snitch in that room set upon him, attacking him.
Draco took every delight in blasting them.
Cut, scratched, and annoyed, Harry flew down. "Who made these sadistic things?!"
Draco looked at his nails. "My guess is McGonagall."
Sam shrugged at the Ravenclaw.
The next room was a bit trickier.
"So... My guess is Snape." Harry said as the fire climbed higher. The potions sitting at their back, gleamed in the firelight.
Draco studied each one. He sighed as he picked the black one up.
Handing it to Harry, he frowned. "Drink it, all of it. Don't complain about the taste or smell either. There is only enough for one. You."
Harry frowned. "Why one?"
Draco shook his head as Harry took the bottle filled with the black liquid. "Cause it only takes one person to go get the stone."
Harry conceded the point, and drank it. He eyed the flames nervously before approaching them.
He trusted Draco. Well. Obviously not where Arthur was involved, but still. They had a common goal. He had to put his faith in his friends.
He leaped through the flames, only feeling a slight tickle, before making his way to the final door.
Draco and Sam waved him on.
Harry opened the door, and descended the cold dark steps.
As he entered the next room, bright torches lit along the circular wall, white stone shone through the dark.
A very familiar mirror stood in the middle of the room. Harry remembered this mirror, and how he had almost wasted away from it a long time ago.
He had been missing everyone. The creator of the mirror, had just died from the curse itself.
It had been a dark moment that Morgana had pulled him from.
He knew exactly what to do with the mirror, and unhindered, he imagined already being in possession of the stone.
The mirror granted his request.
He was out of the door, and up the steps before the torches could even die out fully.
. . .
Two days later, a curious letter arrived at Nicholas Flamel's home.
"Dear Mr. Flamel,
Please keep this somewhere safer than a school filled with defenseless children. If I see this stone again, I will personally destroy it.
Sincerly,
A student"
Nicholas was shocked! He had no idea that Albus had decided to hide it within the school! He couldn't tell his old friend that it had been returned by a student.
Honestly though! If it were easy enough for a STUDENT to get their hands on... Safest place in the world, his old ass!
. . .
Voldemort was furious! He had made it to the lowest chamber! Where was the damn stone?!
There was nothing but a mirror!
Quirrell's singed clothing and burnt flesh wreaked, but that was nothing compared to the madness of the damned mirror!
Snape. That many had to have known, after the threat, and moved the stone.
Damn him! Punishment would come, swift and harsh!
Tune in next time for Chapter 7!