Chapter 15: Discovery and Suspicion

One Saturday morning, Harry and his friends were out for an early morning stroll in the eastern part of the school grounds when they caught sight of Professor Snape hurrying along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, dragging someone else along by the front of their robes. The second person was clearly protesting his treatment but Snape did not seem to be paying any mind to it.

"I want to see what's up" Harry told his friends.

"It's none of our business, Harry" said Irene at once.

"Yes, it's probably just a student who broke a rule or something," said Hermione.

"Then why's Snape dragging him towards the forest instead of the school?" Harry shot back. "I'm going to see what's up."

Without waiting for a response, Harry hurried after Snape taking care to duck behind the trees and bushes dotting that part of the grounds every time Snape looked back.

"He's making sure no one's around," pointed out Ron. "That's definitely fishy."

Harry nodded and focused on picking up the pace while remaining unobtrusive.

When they finally came within earshot of Snape, concealed by wild Litchthia bushes, they heard him talking to an older girl. She looked to be perhaps seventeen or eighteen.

"Why have you dragged me here, sir?" the girl was demanding of Snape. "I don't understand the meaning of this at all?"

Snape did not reply at once. He studied the girl with a piecing gaze that weighed and measured. The girl, to her credit, did not look one whit afraid or discomfited.

"I recognize her," Irene whispered to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "She's Laia Lestrange. She graduated Hogwarts last year. Her picture's on a wall in our common room. She was a Slytherin prefect and the head girl."

"If she's an alumnus, then what's she doing here now?" asked Harry, trying to keep his voice as low as possible.

"She's probably here for Saturday school" replied Ron at the same time that Hermione said, "Alumni who pursue expert studies can come to the school for accessing the library or consulting with teachers."

Two whispers were louder than one would have been. Snape, who'd been about to reply to Laia, whirled around in their direction. Harry and his friends shrank down into the bushes, kneeling and bending low into the ground.

Snape evidently did not trust to eyesight alone. He drew his wand and began blasting apart the tall, narrow Litchthia bushes. Snape first aimed for the base of the bushes. Harry stepped up onto a boulder a foot high, the others climbing up with him. Then Snape aimed at the tops of bushes. Judging by the height, he must have been expecting any potential eavesdroppers to be adults, not four eleven-year-olds. Leaves and petals flew around above Harry's head and below his feet. Pollen dust made him want to sneeze but he was otherwise unharmed.

Snape turned back to face Laia.

"There is no need to pretend innocence Laia. I saw you trying to enter the dungeons where you have no business being."

"I was feeling nostalgic sir and wanted to look around. I didn't know the dungeons were forbidden, sir."

"Indeed? And yet you did not stop to look around at any other part of the castle? I saw you hurrying straight from Professor McGonagall's Saturday classroom to the dungeons. Any reason you were nostalgic for the dungeons in particular?"

Laia flushed slightly. "Looking around isn't a crime, sir."

"Your reason, Laia. Now!"

"You can't give me orders, sir. I'm not a student anymore."

"Need I remind you that the cushy job that you now enjoy at the Ministry was secured in part from a letter of recommendation provided by me? I can always write to Mr. Crabbe and suggest a lesser position better suited to your modest talents."

"Modest? I graduated with High Honors, sir."

"Another achievement you would not have managed without my recommendation."

"And I could have approached Mr. Crabbe on my own. My parents are old acquaintances of his after all."

"Acquaintances that he shrugged off the moment your parents were imprisoned."

"Azkaban?" Harry risked asking.

"Warlock prison," Ron told him and then put his finger to his lips. Nodding Harry refocused on Snape and Laia, his curiosity piqued more than ever.

"Fine. Write to Mr. Crabbe if you like. But I'll not be stand to be treated this way, sir."

"So, this secret of yours is worth risking your job over?" asked Snape, his voice going very soft. Harry knew from experience that this was a sure danger sign. In that same soft voice Snape continued, "Now, my curiosity has grown even more Laia. I'm afraid you will have to satisfy it."

Laia wet her lips with her tongue for a moment. "I heard that students were forbidden from entering the dungeons this year. I just wanted to know the reason and thought I'd poke around."

"Indeed? And yet you did not tarry very long at any of the cells. You seemed interested in one particular door alone?"

"Well – that – that door was the only one leading to a walled chamber instead of a cell with bars. So – so, I was curious."

"Indeed? So, you did not see the three-headed dog, try to battle it, fail, and then remark angrily as you exited the chamber and locked the door, that there would be no getting past a beast like that without a sizeable force? And that isn't a gash on your leg?"

Snape pointed to Laia's right ankle. Harry saw that her robe was torn and bloodied just above the hem. Her leg had to be injured right above the heel.

Laia swallowed hard.

"Oh yes," said Snape even more softly. "I heard you, Laia. You managed to give me the slip right after you entered the dungeons but I found you again soon enough."

Laia did not say anything in response to this but there was fear in her eyes. "And what - what else - did you hear, sir?"

"I heard you say many things," began Snape, in his softest voice yet. "You have an unfortunate habit of talking aloud as you think when you believe that there is no one around to listen. I heard you say perhaps at the moment you beheld the trapdoor, that you must be at the right place. I heard you say that the Sorcerer's Stone must be concealed beneath that trapdoor. There was quite a bit or excitement in your voice."

Laia turned pale at that. "I - I - Sir, I - I was only - I - I heard a - a rumor about the stone being safeguarded in the school. I - I only wanted to have a look. An - an indulgence of curiosity and foolishness I should not have allowed myself, sir. I apologize, sir."

"Curiosity, was it? And simply a desire to behold the stone? Not something more?"

"No, sir. Nothing more, sir."

"And how did you hear a rumor of this stone? It seems a strange pieceo f news for a fresh graduate to come by."

"I - I couldn't compromise my source, sir."

"Do you understand what would happen if I take you to Headmaster Dumbledore, now?"

Laia kept silent.

"You are employing occlumency Laia. And your abilities in the area seem to have improved. I wonder whom you have been practicing with?"

"Occlumency?" Harry risked another whisper.

"The art of closing your mind and preventing another from accessing your thoughts and feelings," Irene responded.

"I have - I don't need to answer that either. If you're going to take me to Dumbledore, then let's go. But I notice we aren't at his office now. I wonder why that is, sir? Why did you bring me here instead?"

Snape regarded Laia silently for a few more moments. "I am told that you have applied to pursue expert studies in Transfiguration and will be coming to the school every Saturday. If you should indulge your curiosity again, if you find any success in getting past the dog, you will let know."

Laia's eyes widened. "Sir?" she enquired in stunned disbelief.

"If you figure out a way past the dog, you will let me know."

Laia regained her composure quickly. "Yes, sir."

"And Laia? If I find out that you are holding back from me, if I find out that you are keeping me in the dark about anything… you were a student of my house. You should know better than to cross me."

"I won't, sir." Laia said quickly.

Snape gave a jerk of his head. A clear sign of dismissal. Laia left as quickly as she could without breaking into a run. Snape watched her retreating back for a few long moments and then he headed back towards the castle.

The moment Harry was sure that Snape was out of sight and earshot, he exclaimed, "A Sorcerer's Stone! That's what the dog is guarding!"

"But what's a Sorcerer's Stone?" asked Ron.

Hermione and Irene shook their heads. "Let's go to the library," said Hermione. For the very first time, Harry and Ron complied with the suggestion without protest.

The library took a long time to yield an answer.

The four skipped breakfast to continue their search, flipping through the indexes of books on magical objects.

"I wish I could use advanced library spells. That way we could find every book that mentions the Sorcerer's Stone in moments. But it's really advanced." There was longing and frustration in Hermione's voice.

"You found the Doxy nests, so why not this?" asked Ron.

"It's a lot more complicated Ron. Searching a book by using its title is about the same level of difficulty as finding those nests was and is within my limits. But searching for a pair of words within a book? That's much, much more advanced. Only a teacher could do a search like that."

"So, search for a book with that title," said Harry.

"Already did that. No result," said Irene.

So, they continued to look. It was Sunday evening when Ron finally found an index page that listed the Sorcerer's Stone. Immediately, Hermione snatched the book out of Ron's hands and flipped to page eight hundred and ninety-seven. Running a finger down the page, she scanned it.

Harry was just about to tug the book away from her, when she began reading aloud the key points. "The Sorcerer's Stone is the legendary substance that has the power to metals into gold and produce the Elixir of Life which renders the drinker immortal. It uses complex principles of alchemy to bypass the laws of transfiguration. The creation of a Sorcerer's Stone is the ambition of every alchemist but only a handful have succeeded. The only stone currently in existence was created by Nicholas Flamel in the Middle Ages and later perfected by his friend and colleague, Albus Dumbledore."

"Make gold and an elixir that lets you live forever?" gasped Ron. "Blimey! No wonder that Laia girl was after it."

"And Snape wants it too!" butted in Harry. He felt that this was the more important point. "Snape's trying to steal it. He wanted to be told if Laia found a way past the dog."

Irene and Hermione sighed at the same time. "He's a teacher," began Hermione.

"So, what?" interjected Harry. "You think all of the teachers are saints or something, Hermione. Snape's certainly the sort of person who'd try to take something this valuable for himself."

"No, he isn't!" snapped Irene. "You just want to jump at the first excuse to think or speak badly about him, Harry."

"How do you explain what he did with Laia then?" demanded Harry.

"From their conversation it's clear that Professor Snape already knows about the stone. Some or maybe even all the teachers must have been told which means it's part of their duties to safeguard it. He knew that Laia wouldn't stop poking around and so he's pretending with her that he's interested in the stone too. He doesn't want to actually steal the stone. He just wants to keep an eye on her."

Harry gaped at Irene in disbelief. How was she this naïve? She normally wasn't. But she seemed so determined to think well of Snape. "If he wanted to stop her, why didn't he just take her straightaway to Dumbledore?" demanded Harry.

"Because she's working with someone to steal the stone," said Hermione. "It's like Professor Snape asked, isn't it? How does a girl a year out of school just come to know that the only Sorcerer's Stone in existence is being kept in Hogwarts? He must want to find out who she's an accomplice for."

"What do you think, Ron?" asked harry looking for support.

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Could be either way. We shouldn't make assumptions. We need to find out more… I say we keep an eye on Laia the next time she comes to school…"

Slightly disappointed that Ron wasn't with him on his Snape is a thief theory, Harry nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

"I think it's pointless" said Hermione with a shake of her head. I mean, you saw Fluffy. Who's going to manage to get past that? It's like Laia said. You'd need a sizeable number of highly gifted warlocks. And that many couldn't just sneak into the school."

"But we'd find some proof that Snape's a thief," countered Harry.

Irene rolled her eyes and Hermione shook her head. Harry made up his mind to keep a lookout every Saturday. Ron would help him even if the girls wouldn't.

"I suppose you're planning on doing it anyway?" asked Hermione. "Well, sit yourself. I'm going to focus on the Yule Review."

The Yule Review. It had slipped Harry's mind in the excitement of learning what that grubby package Hagrid had retrieved from Gringotts was. It was a first-year tradition for Dumbledore to inspect two hours' worth of lessons in every subject just before term ended in mid-December. If the headmaster found a particularly gifted and bright student, he would accept that student as a mentee. It was a huge opportunity that every student dreamed of. Simply having a letter of introduction from Dumbledore could guarantee success in one's early career. He didn't choose a student every year though. His last pick had been Hufflepuff's Cedric Amos Diggory who was now a third year. Harry knew that Hermione was desperately hoping to get chosen. Irene by contrast didn't seem all that interested. Harry made a mental note to find out why even as an image of himself being chosen formed in his mind. 'You know that's not going to happen', he told himself. 'Be realistic.'