Author's Rant-Disclaimer? First chapter please.
A heartfelt thank you to all those who took their time to review my story. Thank you so much, I hope you keep loving my story like you have till date.
Other than this I don't have to say anything except that I finally do have a beta reader. We are working on improving the previous chapters too. A heartfelt thank you for the amount of time and work you put in and helped me out lent10.
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Author Out!
"I am Talking."
'I am Thinking'
Spells
Previously in SotW-
"No wonder you came in so easily Fluffy." Harry smiled a really innocent smile before pushing the brick again, releasing the lever and indirectly, the wall from its previous predicament.
Harry slowly levitated the sleeping cerebrus' front paw from the small manhole it was guarding, he opened it and threw a Lumosin it before delving into his elemental self, small cyclones encompassed his legs tils shin as his eyes turned glowing orbs of silver with a green hallow pushed to the periphery. He levitated himself and slowly descended into the hidden pathway, his wand and magical sensor sheet ready to meet any and all surprises or shocks.
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A good writer is just a better liar because stories,
are just fabrications of long-lasting lies…
~ R-Kade
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Silence of the Winters
-by Dev Sagittarius Black
~~Chapter 18: Stolen~~
"Our time here is ending to a close." A voice rasped.
"Yes, my lord, I can feel it too. We will soon taste the fruits of success and tell all of them of your return." This second voice sounded more human than its predecessor, though the glee in it could easily be seen as just sugar-coated words to appease his master.
"No, you fool! I won't announce my return like that. It needs to be grand. To tell all those who toasted my defeat, that Lord Voldemort is immortal and the most powerful wizard who not even death would dare to cross."
"Ye-yes master, as you say. We just need to know how to get that half-giant oaf to open his mouth about his cerebrus. After that everything is already planned out." Quirell said grinning from ear-to-ear and felt the amusement of his Lord through the mental connection they shared.
"Hmm…yes. Now let me take some rest, and don't do something foolish while my eyes are closed." Voldemort's voice growled and to show his displeasure he tingled Quirell's brain a bit making the man wince in pain and nod fervently.
.
Descending down Harry felt another of Dumbledore's security ward and this time it was presented as a thin sheet beneath the growing Devil's Snare. Again, it took him eight seconds to dismantle the ward. Thankfully he need not worry about the Devil's Snare as his glowing ball of light was quite an effective weapon against it.
Moving further down he finally felt the floor beneath him, his sensor sheet told him that it was a plain stone floor with no hidden traps, still he stayed in his elemental form. Why? Because it gave him sense of freedom, sometimes things aren't as complicated as one perceived them to be.
Pushing the ball of light ahead him he finally came to an opening and was surprised to hear a clinking sound as if some metals were banging against each other. Looking up he understood why this was so.
Keys…hundreds of Keys with wings flying sometimes in tandem and other times against each other. The door in front of him was locked and Harry knew that it would only open if they inserted the correct key in the key-hole. But this couldn't be as simple as that, right? There had to be some sort of controller who was monitoring all of this.
Also, he was damn sure that the right key would already have the sensor ward in it. After spending a total of three minutes and forty seconds, Harry had outlined Dumbledore's masterplan of distributing sensor wards everywhere.
They were not placed haphazardly, instead they were placed at specific spots throughout the journey to be able to tell Dumbles when someone crossed these particular wards. They were like the mundane game levels with real life threats, no checkpoints and no extra lives.
Though most games have some cheat codes, right? Damn hell right. Harry grinned as he flicked his wand " Immobulous ". The wide area locomotion spell affected each of the keys flying overhead and they stopped wherever they were, just floating in the air in a particular direction periodically. They would be paused like that till Harry left the room.
His eagle eyes helped him spot a slightly broken wing key which he immediately knew was the right one for the lock, but he just couldn't accio it as there were quite more than a few keys around it. So instead, Harry did the only logical option available- He took off.
Snatching the right key with a broken wing from where it was floating, Harry dismantled the wards and stepped inside the next room that not to his surprise held a huge chessboard with gigantic chess pieces. None of the places looked empty and so, Harry knew that the moment he stepped on the board, he would have to choose a side and fight the other one or the armed guards would try to kill him. 'TRY'.
'WHAM!'
Harry immediately looked behind him with a severing hex on his lips and his wand glowing and poised like a conductor's baton, to shoot the hex and take a life as swiftly as possible and as soon as they came. But then he paused at seeing what had happened, the door had automatically locked itself and the key had flown away. Within moments his ears caught the regular clinking sound of the keys.
He looked at the door before shaking his head, this was actually a pretty good trap and if, yes 'if', he ever came down again, he would find a temporary replacement for the trap. For now, though he could simply remove the rewoven wards, blast the door and repair it to move out of the room. Therefore, he turned towards the giant chess board instead.
Harry knew for sure that this was one of the teacher's work and probably not Flitwick's, Sprout's or Hagrid's, this could be either from Dumbles, McGonagall or Snape. Quirell? ' Stop joking Potter' Harry shook his head and looked at the chess board. He knew it would only take him about five minutes to defeat the other king but what was the fun in that.
Meaning there had got to be some sort of cheat code for this level, right? Harry re-analysed his situation and looked at the chess pieces before an idea came to his mind. It was quite brash but it was just an experiment for the final plan to shape up.
He flicked his wand at the Rook " Bombarda Maxima! ' the exploding hex hit the black rook straight at its crown and it disintegrated only to be reformed almost immediately.
Harry hummed and this time tried a different approach, he went near the black rook and raised his hands, palm facing the rook. He made a claw like motion and his hands glowed ethereal white; the same glow surrounded the black rook's outer boundary.
The teenage mage then slowly made a lifting motion and lifted the rook up from the chess board. He then clasped his hands and the rook in front of him immediately crumbled to dust. But this time, instead of falling on the chessboard, it kept levitating in the air, thanks to Harry holding it with his elemental self.
He waited for next ten seconds before removing his 'touch' from the rook and let its pieces fall on the chess, as suspected, the rook was immediately recreated and stood proudly, looking as menacing as ever.
Harry nodded, completely satisfied with the results of his impromptu experiment. The chess pieces and their runic scheme was connected with that of the board, so indirectly, to activate them, one needs to step on it and start with the game. But what would happen if someone 'somehow' didn't even touch the board and crossed the room? Only one way to find, isn't it?
Harry smirked as he levitated himself five feet above the board and moved towards the door at the other end, as he had presumed, there was nothing that could register his presence and so, the chess board wasn't activated either. The elemental crossed the board easily and again dismantling the alert ward on the door, he stepped into the next room.
Surprisingly enough, the next room was empty. Completely devoid of anything. Which made Harry even more alert because an empty room in a maze like this meant danger. Ergo, spreading out his 4 meter radius sensor sheet, Harry went as far as to put his magic in his already enhanced senses to strengthen them and it was then that he struck gold.
The moment his sense of smell was magically amplified, a strong stench of a Troll's body hit him like a truck. This odour would have been almost negligible to a normal human and just a bit perceptible to a magical one.
His enhanced sense of smell did register it but he was unable to put it where he had smelled that particular scent. Now though? It was crystal clear as to who were the ones in this room. One might be wondering as to why 'were' and not 'was', right? Simple, Harry smelled three different types of Trolls in this room.
How much of a coincidence it was that the school was attacked by the same number of trolls at Halloween and then, there 'were' trolls in this room, not 'are'. Coincidence.
Pushing the thought aside, Harry floated towards the other end and dismantling the alert wards again ' Honestly, they were more of a hindrance now', he stepped inside the next room. It didn't help that these wards he was regularly dismantling would place themselves with the original warder's signature after ten seconds. It was the same method he had used for Quirell's door when he had intruded that stuttering shit's office.
This room was a bit different than other ones, often Harry had seen this pattern and his brain was involuntarily solving it too, though since his mind wasn't fully focused on it, the process was a bit slower than usual. Still, he moved ahead where there were seven bottles.
Harry knew these bottles like the back of his hand, he didn't even need to read the stupid riddle which was written on the paper beside the bottles. Why? Well, duh, the one who wrote this trap told it to him, although not willingly. It might have been Harry's way of searching through the man's mind for three continuous hours that gave him the answer.
Oh, nothing to worry about.
Harry took the small blue bottle, uncorked it and drank its non-aromatic, colourless, tasteless and texture-less content in one go. Then he picked the purple bottle as it contained his ticket for the 'return journey'. He was about to move when mischief managed to sprout in his methodical head and grinning like a mad man, Harry pointed his wand towards the blue bottle " Aquamenti "
This would take care of anyone who came to have a drink to cross this fire, given that they were able to crack the riddle written by Snivelus.
And Harry would be damned before he said anything less than 'impressive' to the fascinating work of magic ahead of him- The fire of teleportation. It was quite an ingenious little trick of Severus that he had created using the 'Floo arithmetical system' and reactivity of potions.
The roaring black fire in front of him was actually, nothing more than an open floo fireplace to directly transport whoever crossed it to the headmaster's floo in his office. The only way to resist the forced locomotion was to drink the potion which provided temporary resistance to the user as it synced each and every part of the drinker with the teleporting network creating a safe tunnel for the user to safely pass and enter the next room.
How did Harry know this much about it? Simple really, he was studying the fire and there was only one reason for that. Snape might have had his own stroke of genius to create something as enchanting as this flame but his vexatious brain couldn't, just couldn't comprehend how many things this simple invention could achieve.
Fortunately, Harry's wasn't as idiot as his slave, he knew how to perceive an opportunity and grab it the moment it showed. And a flame like this, was most certainly a blessing to those who saw beneath the disguise. He would come later to take a bit of this fire but till then, Harry took a deep breath and moved into the next room.
This room was actually the simplest on of all, having nothing like the earlier rooms- No flying keys, No giant chess boards, No Trolls, No Potions…just nothing, except one really weird oddity- The Mirror of Erised.
Yes, he already knew about the mirror. It was one of the most researched things in the place that gave him the name Tueur N-13 . Though, it was quite a surprise that an artefact of such antiquity was placed in a school of all things when its rightful place was either in the research guilds or the Department of Mysteries, he didn't particularly care which nation's department held it.
Without even taking a single look in it, Harry moved behind the mirror and flicking his Blackthorn wand out he began unravelling the loads of security wards placed in and around the mirror. This would definitely take a lot more than he had anticipated.
Half-an-hour later, Harry thrice rechecked the mirror, both with his sensor sheet and his wand to locate any other hidden ward or anything like that. Thankfully there were none. He was also grateful that Dumbledore didn't do anything else other than detection, intent, security, illusion, space dilution, signature, protection and of course his own alert wards. Note the bloody sarcasm.
Harry then peered at the mirror and looked at his reflection. He knew what he had wanted when he had first taken a look, about three years ago. But maybe his desires changed with time? Maybe he changed with time? But his doubts were all for naught when he saw his reflection.
There was again the same boy with a mop of black hairs piercing emerald eyes and a basilisk wrapped around his torso, standing between a family of Eight. That was a surprise because last time, it had been nine. He took a look at all of the faces and knew why, Alandale Henry Potter was not present this time. Harry just shrugged, maybe he didn't want to meet the snot nosed troglodyte anymore.
He looked at all the smiling faces- His father, James Potter grinning from ear-to-ear, standing proudly with one of his hands on Harry's shoulder, proud that people referred to him as 'Harry Potter's Father' in his workplace. That's the best a man could want from his children- To be referred by his children's name in a good manner.
His mother- Lily Potter smiled that enchantingly soothing smile of hers that could cure of all little Harry's tensions, stress, fears and helped him overcome all the odds he had faced till date. Her smile told him that no matter what happened, his parents were always there for him. They would never leave him at any cost. Also, one of her hand was on his other shoulder.
Both his Paternal and Maternal grandparents smiling widely with true joy in their eyes and of course, his grandlady and old man laughing at something she had said, his old man nodding at him while his grand lady waved cheekily.
Harry felt himself lost in the memory before shaking his head strongly as he felt the mirror's natural tendency of sucking life penetrate his mind and try to slip beneath his shields. This mirror was one of the reasons that motivated him to learn mind arts ASAP.
It was then, that he noticed it, Mirror Harry looked straight in his eyes and gave an impish grin before pulling out a reddish brown slightly glittering stone from his pocket, he showed him the stone and juggled it from one hand to other before putting it in his pocket. Almost immediately Harry felt something fall in his pocket too and he pushed his hand inside to pull out the red stone, looking wide eyed at the odd shaped thing.
Harry couldn't believe it, he was literally holding THE Philosoph- his eyes widened as he felt it. But that was completely impossible! There was no way in seven bloody freaking hells that there was a hidden alert ward woven secretly in the mirror, he had himself rechecked it thrice with both, his wand and sensor sheet. But then, how?...or more specifically, what.
Harry came to the second conclusion as his eyes traced the reddish-brown stone in his hand. But now was not the time to confirm suspicions. He knew that the ward might have alerted Dumbledore of the stone's removal from the mirror and the old man would do all he could to reach him ASAP. There was only one way in-and-out and so, he was sure that Dumbles would be coming from that way too.
Damn you stupid Poor planning! Normally, he would have blamed luck but this was just a proof of his carelessness and not something he could blame on ole Luck. This was just a perfect reason to be kicked out of school if nothing else, and though he didn't need Hogwarts to learn Magic, still getting kicked out was not something he entertained.
"Now what to do?"
.
Albus Dumbledore was peacefully sleeping in his warm and cosy goose feather bed under a thick warm blanket, his head on cushy pillow while another one was squashed beneath his leg. What could he say? It just felt comfortable.
This was perfect life for him, it could definitely be better and he was working to make that happen, his image of greater good, no one was brilliant enough to understand the perfect magical world he imagined alongside his long lost friend and lover Gellert Grindelwald, it was a pity that the man took blatant approach to leadership and thereby ended up like a prisoner in Nurmenguard prison.
Dumbledore had always known a fact- The one who ascends quickly descends even quicker. This was why he had taken passive approach to becoming the best one out there, and though it had taken time and a lot of careful planning, still this was something he felt he deserved.
After all, Voldemort might be severely wrong with some of his methods but his ultimate goal of achieving power enough to change the world was really fascinating and he held Dumbledore's respect for that purpose. He knew, his methods of manipulating things and people was not quite legal per se but what could he do? Sometimes one needed to dirty their hands to clean a place, right?
Dumbledore would have slept more if not for the sudden tingle that ran throughout his body shocking his magical and waking him up in an instant. He knew what this particular ward told him- The Philosopher's stone was no more in the mirror, which only meant one thing- "Voldemort."
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Harry looked around himself and felt the wards around the mirror to start repairing themselves as the pin he had placed to stop them was bound to dissolve after ten seconds, therefore he simply stepped out of the ward range and started looking around.
He had two ways to survive what was coming for him- first, head on collision or second, sneaking out.
Harry knew for a fact that since the stone was so important, Dumbledore would be working his ass off to reach the third-floor corridor and would have called professors McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick by now too. Ergo, the chance of fighting against the incoming strong wizards wasn't too slim. He knew he could easily lose but there was a ten percent chance that he could win too.
He could stay hidden in his cloak till Dumbledore came and then take the old man by surprise, because that was his best hope against the powerful aged wizard. Then there was McGonagall, Harry was sure he cold employ Snape against her and Flitwick for a few moments before he joined his hand and subdued the witch helping Snape to fully focus on dealing with the former Duelling champion of Hogwarts.
This was a really shaky plan and Harry could count his chances of winning on his own ten fingers. But there wasn't any other….way….. "Damn."
Harry's eyes widened as a new plan formulated in his mind and was supplied by the fourth part of his brain that he had allocated for that single purpose while the first two worked on his previous plans and the third one was carefully discerning the stone he held. There was one more option before he followed the other two escape plans, once he had cooled his mind enough, he had easily sorted out them out.
The one he was going for now was plan A, sneaking out in the invisibility cloak was plan B and head on collision was of course Plan C.
Harry's mind readied itself as he drank the contents from the purple bottle and trespassed from the mirror room to the potions room again. He then filled the purple bottle with water like he did the blue one and then swiftly moved towards the previous room which contained trolls.
He looked around the room and nodded, this was the room that held his escape route. Trolls, eight to twelve feet tall huge creatures that were not good with heights and definitely not with listening someone's command until one had used Imperio on them. Harry was very sure that who had been here were not brought by the use of an unforgivable and the way the had been found roaming Hogwarts wasn't a coincidence. Therefor Harry was definitely sure that there ought to be a secret passageway that opened in this room and started somewhere inside Hogwarts.
Harry closed his eyes and spread his sensor sheet as far and around him as he could as he started floating around the room, touching the four walls with his sheet to see a door big enough for three huge trolls to move in and out of it. This was his last hope.
.
Dumbledore reached the third-floor corridor as soon as he could, he had sent three elves to inform the most competent professors he had- Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape and Filius Flitwick. By the time he reached there, he saw both Flitwick and McGonagall standing by the door with a sombre expression.
Severus was of course not there as he had an additional task to do and he just hoped that Severus succeeded in it. As soon as he passed his first ward line he felt his skin give a light tingle about the ward present there.
That was actually another shocking surprise as to how a person as incompetent in warding as Quirell and Voldemort both, was able to not only detect the ward but also successfully tamper with it.
He had thought that Tom would have simply either crossed it like he had several times before or would have just banished the whole ward line once he was sure about his success. This was why it was surprising when Dumbledore found the ward, he had casted still working as good as it did before and had detected no change in it.
"What happened Albus? All I was told by Toffee was that I had to reach third floor corridor to fight. Is it related to the stone? It's still safe, isn't it?" Flitwick asked the aged headmaster who sighed tiredly.
"I am afraid all is not well Filius, yes it's related to the stone, it's still in Hogwarts, I can sense it but it's not where it was supposed to be."
McGonagall gasped placing a hand on her heart "Yeh mean ter sayh, that someone successfully broke in an' stole the stone?" Her Scottish accent heavy in her speech.
Dumbledore just nodded his head sadly "Yes, I am afraid Minerva, this is what I meant. We are just waiting for- ah here he comes." Dumbledore looked towards the Potion's master who was running towards them, not running per se as 'Slytherins don't run' but he was definitely close to it and was taking as large strides as possible.
Dumbledore just quirked both of his eyebrows and saw Snape give an imperceptible nod. No one could understand the relief this single nod could give. This single nod made these matters much easier but much more complicated.
Easier because, Quirell and by stretch, Voldemort who was still sleeping in Quirell's bed chamber, therefore the Dark Lord was not going to come for them anytime soon. Complicated because, someone other than Voldemort was after the stone and Dumbledore didn't knew about them. Also, the fact that the person was already holding the stone and Dumbledore had been unaware of it spoke volumes about the powers of this thief.
One thing was crystal clear, their enemy was quite strong and maybe he could take all of them alone or he could have a team of magicals backing him and there was only one way to find.
Dumbledore flicked his wand and unlocked the door, it wasn't a surprise that the door was closed, it was after all a security measure of the aged warlock- all doors closed automatically, trapping the person behind them. As soon as the old man stepped inside, he couldn't help but whisper "Ohh my…"
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Finding the door wasn't a tough thing, Harry grinned triumphantly when he found the four meter in height and three meter in width opening on the right wall, this was definitely the doorway to the outside and Harry was sure that the troll went in and out of only this way. He would have easily traversed through that gate as it was not like his size would have been a problem. Yes, his mind had a tendency to turn sarcastic in life-threatening situations.
There was just one problem, the gate was hidden behind a huge wall which was of course movable but, where was the lever with which it moved? That was one thing that Harry hadn't been able to find. He had traced the length of the four walls and never once was he able to find a magical or even a mechanical setting behind a brick or something like that.
He looked around himself once more and growled in frustration before shaking his head and calming his mind, there was no reason to panic, a calm mind is way more helpful. Harry took a deep breath and released it before pausing the two plans and stone working mind's work and focusing all of his five minds on a possible escape route from this place.
Almost immediately he got the answer to his queries. A room is not just made up of four walls, right? There ought to be a ceiling and of course a floor too. And since anyone could easily step on a lever attached to the floor thereby opening a door big enough for trolls to enter or exit there was only one place to safely build the switch.
Harry looked towards the ceiling and grinned as he took off towards it, there was no was in seven hells that the switch could be hidden for long now.
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Dumbledore shook his head when he saw a bamboo flute playing in the room, lulling Fluffy to sleep. There was no way that someone 'just' knew how to make Fluffy fall asleep, this was definitely someone who had been in contact with Hagrid and the joyous gamekeeper had easily opened up on the secret.
"Is it common knowledge that Fluffy sleeps while listening to music?" The sarcasm in Snape's voice was so thick that one could cut it with a knife.
Dumbledore couldn't answer that and therefore just shook his head "I think I need to have a chat with Hagrid but for now, we should let his friend sleep." He said and opened the trap door before flicking his wand to conjure a slide and sliding down all the way to the Devil's Snare and beyond. There were a lot of mysteries that could be created or solved tonight.
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After about five minutes of flying around, Harry finally found it! The switch to the door's lever was located at the centre of the ceiling. The elemental was actually thankful of his precautious nature that had prevented him from using all his elemental powers in the training that evening.
Because every day at about 5 in the evening, when he trained his elemental self in that abandoned room on the fourth floor, Harry made sure of using every last bit of his elemental energy so that he was tired enough to sleep and recharge to his maximum potential.
This also helped him push his elemental self and to stretch its boundaries, forcing his elemental self to increase its power reserve. It was definitely quite a draining process as the training was highly demanding in itself but, it was definitely worth it. But today since he had 'other' plans, he took a break from tiring him till exhaustion and again, he was right in doing so.
Harry gave a shit eating grin as he pushed the central brick and sent a strong pulse of his magic through it. There was some rumbling as the brick went inside and the wall encasing the door started to shift revealing a dark path ahead with no lights at all.
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"Albus, I don't think there had been any kind of thieving, there might have been some kind of mistake." Filius said as he dropped down to the floor. It was always a pain that they had to fall like this, Albus always saved the levitation platform for going up only because sliding down was 'fun'. And it was a shame that only the headmaster could activate the platform.
Dumbledore shook his head "No Filius, I am sure the stone has been stolen already as I can't feel it in the mirror, though I know it's still on Hogwarts grounds and this is why we should hurry up."
"But Headmaster, the broom we kept to catch the right key is still 'untouched'. No one had even shifted it an inch from its place and I haven't told anyone the password to get the right key. How do you think this intruder of yours passed this door with all its security charm intact and casted by you yourself?
Dumbledore sighed a bit as that was actually a pretty good point, still he knew that the stone was not where it was supposed to be, and that meant, "Filius, please summon the right key and open the door."
Filius shook his head in exasperation but flicked his wand towards the door and muttered "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure" He smiled softly when the door opened with a soft 'creak'.
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Harry looked towards the door to the chess room, there had been some sound and he was very sure that it was the sound of the professors entering it. His eyes widened as the thought crossed his head and he looked towards the still opening gate which was just a meter wide right now and surprisingly enough, he wasn't having the time to let it open completely.
There was also the problem of Dumbles noticing the open door, after all, he was sure it was perfectly normal for a secret door to open in a secret room on a secret passage when you are searching for a thief who stole something very precious hidden in that room. Yes, definitely normal.
So instead of taking the chance, Harry pushed the brick again and sent a pulse of magic again releasing the brick from its position forcing the stone wall to locomote back to its previous position.
This was when Harry took his last risk of the night and with full speed, he dashed towards the slowly closing opening quite sure of himself that he would make it through it. The only problematic thing would be if the door closed right in front of Dumbledore, he could only hope that luck was on his side.
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"Earlier, I was in doubt when Filius said this, but now I am very sure Albus that whatever you felt was just a fluke." McGonagall said as she analysed her chess board before looking towards the aged headmaster who frowned in confusion making her give a tired sigh.
"Look at it this way Albus, each and every of your wards didn't register anyone else other than us when we were here last time, the wards are still fully functioning and haven't been tampered with as they have your signature all over them. Filius' broom was untouched and the keys were also flying also, there weren't any marks of the keys attacking something or someone as they would have if someone got a hold of the right one."
"And that's not even coming to my place." Minerva said before looking at the giant board "This board hasn't felt anyone since I had activated it in August. Hell, even the dust hasn't been removed Albus how do you think he went past this board without walking over it?" she asked him clearly irritated.
Dumbledore frowned at the logic which his deputy presented, it was actually sound logic and something he can't just ignore. For a moment, the answer to her question came to his mind "By flying" but he threw it out as soon as it came, there was no possible way and he was sure if he had spoken it aloud then his deputy would have eaten him alive.
"I concede to your argument Minerva, but I still do know that the stone has been misplaced, I want to make sure that it is where I want it to be and for that to happen" Dumbledore pointed towards the giant board and gave a small smile "Please."
Minerva sighed tiredly and looked towards Flitwick who just gave a small shrug, he had tried and failed and it wasn't like he would find sleep anytime soon after all this right? So why not take a walk in the passage instead? Maybe Albus would finally let them see the stone too. As a part goblin, Filius desired gold quite a bit and the Philosopher's stone could create a heaven made of pure gold.
Minerva placed her wand on the board " Tabula Statuam Subsisto " she sent a pulse of her magic in the board and nodded satisfactorily before walking towards the other end, if Albus was just being stubborn then so be it, she won't be pampering him anymore than she should.
Dumbledore just shook his head at his deputy's childishness before following behind her towards the other end of the room with Snape and Flitwick in tow.
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Harry was flying at a really high speed as the wall behind him nearly closed leaving a thin slit of light before finally snapping shut, denying him of any further assistance in illuminating the path ahead him. It was also just in time because a second later the other door opened and Minerva McGonagall walked inside followed swiftly by Albus Dumbledore, Filius Flitwick and Severus Snape.
The flying elemental slowly came to a halt and after sensing that the floor beneath him hid no traps descended down. He closed his eyes and stood taking gulps of air as he calmed his frantic mind and controlling his haywire magic from lashing out, leashing it as tightly as he usually did.
He looked behind himself and gave a small grin of satisfaction as the wall had closed completely. He knew that by now the professors might be standing in that empty room and since they weren't opening the wall, this was an absolutely perfect escape.
Then he flicked his wand and sent a glowing ball of light ahead and with his wand trained for any unwanted surprises Harry took off towards the other end of this passageway that hopefully opened somewhere within the school premises. He was finally safe now.
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Dumbledore looked around himself in that empty room which was supposed to house three trolls. He had even made sure that the trolls were here and had a school house elf watching over the trolls, providing them food and cleaning whatever they excreted like he did for Fluffy. But the elf reporting about the trolls to him told him on second of November, after much prodding and poking, that the trolls were no longer in the room.
Where and how did they vanish was quite simple as the elf said that the trolls vanished after he gave them food on the thirty-first. So, it was quite clear as to who were the three trolls that entered Hogwarts and were killed that day. But his deputy and other professors didn't know so.
"Albus where are the trolls that were supposed to be here?" McGonagall asked him as she looked around the room frowning in confusion.
"The trolls that Quirinus was supposed to bring were unfortunately broken free of his hold and were killed by a group of wizards as they were seen as a threat to population." Dumbledore answered and like always sent a simple confounding jinx on the three professors to make them believe what he said.
He really liked this hex as it made 'convincing' even easier. He knew that there were more than a few doubts about it but for now they won't be raised any further. Therefore, without any further ado he took his group and crossed the room towards the Potion Chamber of Severus.
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After nearly walking for the past ten minutes, Harry reached the end of tunnel, he then again spread his sensor sheet and found a small crevice that would activate the door to start moving. Shoving a pulse of his magic Harry started shuffling through his pocket before pulling out his invisibility cloak and wrapping it around himself as the door opened completely, leading his way towards the dungeons.
It was on his way towards the Ravenclaw common room that he decided to check the stone for anything that was not supposed to be there. And not to his surprise there was one thing that could easily cause trouble- The trace placed on stone.
Harry rubbed his eyes in frustration for not thinking of this earlier but he patted himself for doing it now as he was sure that if he had checked this 'after' he was in his bed then Dumbledore would have been on his door within two hours. He was about to remove the trace when another idea crawled in his devil's corner. He gave a small smirk and did an about turn ' I have a surprise gift for you headmaster'
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"Severus?"
Severus looked at the arrangement in front of him and shook his head "The potion is not even a drop less than what it was, now even I am dubious about this thievery headmaster. There is no way that a person could move through the black fire without drinking the complete bottle."
Dumbledore gave a nervous chuckle as all three of his professors eyed him with a quirked right eyebrow that said 'I-told-you-so' and that they were irritated by his foolishness.
Still, he coughed a bit clearing his throat and took the blue bottle from Snape's hand, uncorking it he drank the content in one go before giving the bottle back to his Potions master and taking the purple bottle with him for his return.
"Alright, so I am now going inside, I will check the stone's presence and see why I felt the fluke and try to remove it, I will be back soon depending on how big the problem is. Also, you all have my sincere gratitude for coming to my aid at once. I am also feeling quite bad for waking you all up for no reason, hope I can make it up to later?" He asked with a small smile and laughed when he saw his staff members shake their heads before turning around and moving towards the black fire.
He was in the middle of the fire when all of a sudden, he felt a small tingle in his navel that increased manifold within moments and soon enough was pulling his body towards it. Dumbledore's eyes widened as he felt what was happening to him.
He turned around to his staff to tell them what had happened but before he could say even a word out, there was quick tug on his magic and he was being squeezed through the floo tube.
Falling unceremoniously on the floor of his office fireplace Dumbledore shook his head as he saw the handcuffs in his hand that prevented him from doing magic. It also didn't help that there were iron bars over the floo network since he had closed it because it was nearly one at night.
Dumbledore slowly stood up struggling against the cramped-up space as he looked quite shocked from behind the bars into his own office and the ward gave him a tingle that some intruder had just tried to run past the black fire and ended up in his floo.
At that point, there was only one thing that crossed his mind no matter how uncharacteristic it sounded on his tongue "What the….hell"
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Weeks passed by smoothly and February rolled in, soon enough Harry was sitting at the table 7F in the library with his study group which comprised of Susan, Hannah, Daphne, Tracey, Su,Terry and him. Harry hadn't been poked any further by Dumbledore or any of the professors and so he could safely assume that Dumbledore had not tried again even when he knew that the stone was missing.
Maybe part of the reason was that Quirell was still in Hogwarts and so Dumbledore didn't want this news to spread out but Harry was very sure that tracing the stone's last presence right outside his office didn't help the matters either. It was a last-minute thing and quite devious. As of now, the stone was neatly tucked in his Traveller's trunk, completely safe from all the harm and danger.
The only other person who had been a bit problematic was no one other than Victor Potter. He was hell bent on poking Harry every time they crossed path. Thankfully, all that the boy could do was spew nonsense about him like he did earlier or try to get him to raise his wand claiming with false bravado that this time he won't stop till he had sufficiently punished Harry for all his misdeeds.
Harry just ignored the boy every time which didn't do any good to his pompous inflated ego, to him Alandale was nothing more than a pompous famous brat who didn't know a thing about what he was doing/why for that matter. He had been pampered all his life and felt everyone should kiss the spot over which he had just finished his daily routine. Damn man….really yuck.
As everyone brought their books, parchments and stationery out, Harry stood up and started to move.
"Where are you going Harry?" Susan asked from his right as she marked page two hundred and sixty-three on her Transfiguration book.
"I need a book on for our Charms homework Susan, anything you want me to bring?" He asked her with a quirked eyebrow and nodded when she shook her head. He was about to move when another voice stopped him.
"Harry could you please bring Emily Barofeutte's Book of Everyday Transfigurations too?" Daphne asked him and he frowned in confusion "What for?"
"For our Transfiguration essay she assigned yesterday. It's due tomorrow, remember?" Daphne told him with her tone depicting as if she was talking to a five-year old boy.
Harry just nodded and was about to move when Terry abruptly stood up "You go Harry, I will bring that book. I am going there anyway." The curly haired boy said and shot towards the transfiguration section. Harry was a bit surprised as to why Terry needed a transfiguration book when he was reading about Goblin rebellions of all things but didn't comment and moved away.
The green-eyed elemental came back a few minutes later with two books, he kept one in his hand while passed the other towards Daphne who looked a bit confused holding it " Advanced Charms by Theodore S. Gigimont? Why did you give it?"
"Page Two hundred and Seventy-four."
Daphne frowned a bit but didn't argue and opened said page. "Fourth paragraph, second line."
Daphne read what he said before bursting out "But that's not possible." She then turned towards Harry "Why is a Transfiguration spell been explained in a Charms book?"
Harry just gave a small smile that had her look away for a moment which was definitely not missed by either of the attending females, two in particular narrowed their eyes "The arithmetical formula of Avifors is comprised of thirty-three percent transfiguration, sixty percent charms and the rest is magic, will and concentration."
"Professor McGonagall shows her cunning by teaching a charms spell as a transfiguration one. The general populace will copy it from a transfiguration book and get general marks, you on the other hand, can copy it from a special book which is actually its real book and get special marks, it's up to you. Also, the book you asked for was a bit busy being manhandled." Harry said and went back to his book.
Daphne didn't even pretend to think twice as she dripped her eagle-feather quill in the ink pot and started with her transfiguration's homework.
Terry joined them a few minutes later looking a bit troubled "I am sorry Daphne, a few first years were doing their home- wait, what are you writing?" He asked a bit confused as Daphne looked up "No problem Terry, Harry brought this one, its better than what I was asking for anyway." Terry nodded and giving a slight frown at his roommate, he sat down reading about the Goblin Rebellion of 1745..or was it 1475?...Urgh…
Half-an-hour into their work and suddenly someone cleared their throat behind them before speaking "Hello Harry, can I speak to you for a moment?"
Harry turned behind him and took in the appearance of the girl, she had honey blonde hairs, bluish-green eyes, a milky white skin tone and was the same height as him, which was only because he was taller than his peers meaning the girl was definitely a senior.
She wore casual clothes that clung to her body like second skin and yet gave the impression of hiding something better. He didn't know her name but had definitely seen her in common room.
"Yes Miss-?
The girl gave a small smile before forwarding her hand "Hello Harry, I am Juliana Cohen, third year Ravenclaw. You know, the one that sent you that diary?" She asked him still smiling.
It only took a moment before Harry nodded "Yes Miss Cohen, I do remember you. Thank you for the gracious gift, although unexpected it is quite useful." And it was useful, he knew having an eidetic, occuluded and enhanced memory helped him in remembering every single thing but writing it was quite fun in its own way.
Juliana nodded "I am happy it was useful and please call me Juliana or Julie." She said and continued "Now, you remember what you said in your letter? About giving me a gift I wanted since you had no idea what to give and I said I will ask for it later?"
Again Harry nodded frowning a bit at what the girl was probably thinking, he had no idea what she could ask of him and he quashed his urge of using legilimency on the third year, partially because she was going to tell him anyways.
"Harry Potter, the gift I want is a day with you." Juliana blurted out looking like a ripe red tomato. Harry on the other hand frowned totally confused "Pardon?"
The third year Ravenclaw blushed harder before controlling herself and purposefully ignoring the glare being sent her way by the girls beside him "Yes Harry, you heard me right. I want you to spend a day with me, complete day without anyone else. Of course, the classes are out of this but rest of the day, can you spend it with me?"
Harry thought about it for a full seven seconds as this was most probably the weirdest request of all. He had expected the girl to ask him with homework or help her with potions or anything like that since he had specified that this would be a gift and not a debt that he was paying, therefore she was prohibited from asking gold or political favour.
But this 'spend a day with me' was definitely NOT what he thought as a gift, still a gift is a gift right? And he did say he would give her what she wanted so he in the end, he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded "Alright Juliana, if this is what you want, which day you want it to be?"
Juliana nodded trying to contain her excitement "Yes I do want this and how about tomorrow?"
Harry nodded his consent making her grin wider "Thank you so much for this Harry, I swear you won't regret it one bit." She said and went back towards a gaggle of girls that looked like were waiting for her only.
Harry ignored all of that and instead focused on his book, he would rather have his mind focus on better things. But maybe others in his group didn't want this as even after five minutes of Juliana's departure, everyone was eying him up.
"Alright what's it?" Harry asked the group at large and keenly noticed their mixed reaction.
Daphne was eying him looking like she was judging something, Su was glaring at the door accompanied by Susan, Hannah was looking at him and then at Susan with pity-eyes and Terry was looking at him with something akin to astonishment.
"You don't mean to say you have no idea what just happened here?" Hannah asked his astonished.
"Other than giving Miss Cohen a few hours of my life tomorrow, I don't think anything special happened." Harry shrugged his shoulders "Or maybe I am finally getting blind to nonsense."
"Bloody hell Harry, that was the least romantic way one could put it, you really have no idea what you just got yourself into, do you?" Terry asked his roommate and shook his head in exasperation when the boy shook his head in confusion.
"Alright, understand it this way, what's the date tomorrow?" The curly haired boy asked him.
"February Fourteenth."
"Exactly! And in mundane world, this day is celebrated as Valentine's day!" He exclaimed and was grinning from ear to ear.
"And, Juliana Cohen is a muggleborn Harry." Hannah filled him in looking at him with tired eyes.
"So, you think Juliana Cohen asked me for tomorrow's time to celebrate Valentine's day with me?" Harry asked them a bit shocked and saw them look at each other before nodding slowly "Then you all are more stupid than I give you the credit for."
"Or you are less knowledgeable than we give you the credit for." Daphne said smirking at him before starting with her homework.
"Lucky sod!" Terry said and clapped his hands only to be shushed by Madam Pince who had heard the entire conversation and was currently glaring the door Juliana had left through.
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"Urgh….damn…damn…daaaaammnnnn! I Hate her, Hate her, bloody Hate her!"
Hannah eyed the girl she shared her dorm with as she was on another of hers 'I-am-frustrated' rant. She had brought Susan here earlier than usual so that Susan could throw her temper tantrum and be calmed down before any of their other dorm mates arrived. Looks like this was a good idea.
"Why does she of all people gets to go on a date with him? Why is she going with him for that matter? Aren't there enough boys in her year?" Susan said frowning and the expression would have looked cute if not for the situation.
Hannah just came and sat beside her redhead friend and held her from a side "You know, I think this happened for the best."
The blonde girl immediately took a step back and raised her hands in a placating manner as her redhead friend glared at her. "Please try to listen to my words first Sue, I think this happened for the best because-wait listen first-yes, now look at it this way, tomorrow is fourteenth of February, right?"
Susan gave three small nods.
"So, it's definitely an important day for Cohen, yes?"
Again, Susan nodded.
"So, let's say she has high expectations for tomorrow and whatever they will be doing and Harry being who he is, like you know all silent, cold, sarcastic type bores her-"
"Harry is NOT boring at all!"
"Of course, he isn't lioness, but that's for us, right? She is not that familiar with Harry, yeah?" This was actually tough because her friend was quite good with a good head on her shoulders but in times like this, she acted like a daft barbarian.
"So, let's say Harry bores her because he is not that much talkative or anything and therefore what did he involuntarily do?" Hannah asked with an excited glint in her eyes trying to raise her best friend's hope but sighed when Susan just sat there frowning ' Yeah…a stupid barbarian…'
"He had involuntarily spoiled her day, her best day for which she had high expectations! You see what this means right? This means he won't be her favourite any longer and she won't be coming to him." Hannah finally saw understanding settle in the redhead's eyes and so she progressed further "In fact, now that we see it, other girls will take a lesson and won't ever disturb Harry. That's good right?"
Hannah smiled as Susan jumped from her bed and hugged the life out of her in the legendary 'Susan Bones' bone crushing hug' "You are the best Hun! I don't know what I would have done without you! Thank You thank You! Thank you soooo much!" The redhead said and giggled as Hannah patted her back praying to any god that was listening to make her fabricated tale come true.
But fate had fabricated other plans….
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Ending note-There you have it fellas, Chapter eighteen of 'Silence of the Winters'. Liked it? Loved it? Hated it? Please tell. I am waiting for all your reviews! Also, those who have been with me since the beginning know how much I appreciate constructive criticism and new ideas. So if you have one, DO SHARE IT WITH ME! Put it on a review or PM me, whatever you like. I will for sure respond to it. This chapter crossed 9.6k words! And is definitely the longest chapter I wrote till date on this site.
Again, a huge thank you for reading it. Please review because they are my motivation. I promise to write another chapter ASAP. Also, I am planning to wind up first year in next two-three chapters. My only request is- Can I finally see the total reviews cross the 300 mark? Please? Thank you!
With Regards
Dev Black