Chapter 014

Harry stopped on the landing to the third floor twisting to look down the corridor.

"Harry?" Hermione said from behind him. She pulled on his sleeve. "We have to keep going. It's past curfew now and we don't want to get caught by Filch even if Professor Babbling gave us permission." She shuddered a little. That caretaker was almost as bad as Professor Snape.

"What if he's already there?" Harry asked so low the other two could barely hear him.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"What if Snape is already trying to steal the Stone right now?" Harry asked again louder. He was still staring down the empty hallway in front of him. "What if by the time Shiva and Dumbledore get back it's too late?"

"I think we should listen to what Professional Babbling said to do..."

"He might be right, Hermione," Neville said. He stepped up beside Harry. "Maybe we could just go and guard the door? You know, just to be safe?"

Hermione's mouth snapped shut. "But – we're – oh for Heaven's sake! Fine!" The girl threw her hands up in the air and glared at the two boys. "If either of you get me expelled I will kill you, dig up your grave to spit on your corpse and eat your soul. You understand that, yes?" She got two fearful, hurried nods in reply. "Excellent. Well let's not dally then." She stalked off leading the way to the door with Fluffy and the Stone beyond. "Stupid boys," she muttered.

When the trio reached the door Hermione stopped so suddenly that Harry nearly ran into her back. "Ugh oh…" he said as he noticed the door was slightly open.

"He's probably still down there," Neville said, a small quaver creeping into his voice. "Should we stay up here and try to slow him down when he comes back up or should be try to run to McGonagall?"

Hermione shook her head. "She's not likely to believe us quickly enough to make a difference. Not after earlier."

"We go down after him," Harry declared squaring his shoulders.

"We what?" Neville squeaked.

"Harry," Hermione stopped, steeled herself and started again. "Harry, do you have any more of your…volatile…runes on you?" He shook his head. "Damn. Well, we'll just have to figure it out as we go. Come on, boys." She strode towards the door without looking back.

Neville turned to stare at Harry mouthing a silent "wow" at him. Harry just snorted and turned to follow his friend.

Fluffy was loudly snoring inside the threshold. An enchanted harp strumming along in the corner of the room appeared to be the piece of music that had lulled the beast. Harry pointed towards the trap door laying open near the great dog's paw and the trio carefully walked towards it.

"Looks pretty far…" Neville whispered.

"There's likely a cushioning charm or something at the bottom," Hermione whispered back. "Are we sure we want to do this?"

Harry moved up to the edge. "I'll go first. Hermione, you follow behind me and Neville you're after her." And then he jumped into the darkness of the trapdoor.

Harry had just enough time to worry about whether or not there really was a cushioning charm before he landed on something soft and squishy. A few seconds later he heard soft thuds as Hermione and Neville also landed near him. "Well," Harry said, "that wasn't so bad."

"Shite!" Neville suddenly yelled causing Harry to jerk his head around towards the sound. "It's Devil's Snare!"

Harry squinted into the darkness before squeezing the spongy material under him. His eyes widened and he gasped in shock as he realized just what his Herbology inclined friend had said. Devil's Snare. A nasty carnivorous plant that enjoyed strangling its victims and slowly digesting the corpses. "What do we do?!"

"Fire! It doesn't like fire!" Neville yelled back.

"But we don't have any wood!" Hermione moaned from nearby.

"Are you a witch or not?!" Harry screamed at her. He jerked his wand towards the plant curling around his legs and yelled out, "Incendio!" A small flame burst from his wand followed shortly by two others from his friends nearby. The reaction from the plant was nearly immediate as it uncoiled everything around the three and pulled back towards the wall. Harry, Neville and Hermione hurriedly ran to the door into the next room pulling it closed behind them and letting the flames die out. This room was thankfully perfectly well lit.

"Well," Hermione puffed, "that was certainly interesting. Good job, Neville."

" 'We don't have any wood.' That's a good one, Hermione," Harry chuckled.

The girl glowered at him. "Well excuse me for panicking a little. It's the first time I've been almost strangled by a plant."

"At least we didn't land on a troll," Neville snorted beside her.

"Ugh, let's just keep going. Anybody see a way out of this room?" Hermione glanced around the large room they had found themselves in. It was completely empty with the exception of a large set of doors opposite where they had come in and a flock of small flying creatures above them. "You don't think those things are going to attack us if we step out into the center do you?"

"Those – They're keys…" Harry said looking up at the flying items in shock.

"Keys?" Neville squinted upwards. "Wow. Guess you're the Seeker for a reason. I guess we have to pick the right key then."

"There are brooms here." Hermione pointed to the side where two brooms lay against the wall hidden near the door in.

"I got this," Harry said striding over to the brooms. "You guys go wait by the door out in case they attack and we have to run." His friends nodded and hurried over. When they were in position, Harry swung a leg over the broom and pushed into the air.

Nearly immediately the flying keys turned towards Harry and started trying to dive bomb the boy. Harry put his Quidditch practice to the test and dodged, ducked, dived and dipped between the attacking keys until he managed to pick out the one with a bent wing reaching out to pluck it from the air just like a Snitch. Barreling towards the door with his prize Harry threw the key to Neville before performing some aerial acrobatics to dodge the attacking keys and follow his friends through the opening. As soon as he skimmed through, Hermione and Neville slammed the door shut again behind him and a staccato series of thumps sounded through the wood accompanied by tips of keys poking through to their side.

"I don't like how we've almost died twice in five minutes," Hermione said with a shudder.

Harry just shrugged and let out a nervous chuckle. "Did you expect it to be easy?"

Neville just shook his head and sighed. "You know sometimes I hate you guys. So, chess this time?" he said jerking his head to what lay ahead of them.

"Looks that way." Harry nodded. "Anyone have a preference for the King and Queen?"

Hermione walked over towards the board. "Harry you should be the King. You're the one who really has to make it across all this." Before Harry could even begin to protest Hermione held up a hand. "You're the one who can quickly talk to Professor Babbling, Harry. So, ergo, you're the important one here."

"You guys are important too, Hermione!" Harry scowled.

"All the same, you're the King, Harry. Now stop arguing!" Harry glared at Hermione as she finished yelling at him, but nodded agreement all the same. She really could be bossy when she felt like it!

"Hermione, you be the Queen," Neville said. "I was always better with Knights anyway."

The three pieces the friends had claimed bowed and walked to the side of board while the group took the empty places. Using input from Hermione and Neville, Harry directed the chess pieces in their game. Considering how awful at chess he was it was definitely a good thing that Neville stepped up and took charge of the strategy of the movements. Within less than ten minutes the other side had been checkmated and the trio was walking through the open doors into the next room.

"Ugh, someone mentioned another troll?" Harry asked holding his hand over his nose.

"This one looks even bigger than the last," Neville said in a soft voice. Thankfully this troll was quite dead seeing as a large section of its head was caved in.

Harry honestly couldn't bring himself to care much this time. It didn't help his compassion that Hermione was wrapped tightly around his arm, shaking and making quiet whimpering noises. "Come on, guys. We've got to be catching up."