Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen

I catch up to my friends just in time to hear Harry ask, “Hagrid? Who gave you the dragon egg?! What did he look like?!”

The giant bearded man paused in his flute-playing. “I dunno; never saw ‘is face, ‘e kept ‘is hood up!”

Harry persists, “this stranger, though, you and he must’ve talked?”

“Well, ‘e wanted ter know what kinds o’ creatures I looked after. I told ‘im, after Fluffy, a dragon’s gonna be no problem!” Hagrid stated, a hint of pride trickling into his voice.

Harry asked, “Did he seem interested in Fluffy?”

Hagrid huffed, “well, o’ course ‘e was interested in Fluffy! ‘Ow often d’ye come across a three-headed dog, even if ye’re in the trade?! But I told ‘im, I said, the trick with any beast, is to know ‘ow ta calm ‘im! Take Fluffy fer example. Jes’ play ‘im a little bit o’ music an’ ‘e falls straight to sleep!”

The four of us look at each other in horrified realisation, and then, as Hagrid mutters his oft-repeated, “I shouldn’t ‘ave told you that!” we bolt back across the grass. He shouts after us, “where’re ye goin’?! Wait!” but we don’t stick around. Time is of the essence now, more than ever.

In less than an hour, Hermione now carrying her bag, the quartet of us sprint into Professor McGonagall’s classroom. She looks over her spectacles at us as Harry gasps, “We need to see Professor Dumbledore, immediately!”

Sitting up, she looks from one of us to the next, and then finally responds.

“I’m afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here.” I look at Hermione in despair, as McGonagall continues, “He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic, and left immediately for London.”

Harry yelps, “He’s gone?! But this is important! This is about… the Philosopher’s Stone…”

Professor McGonagall’s eyes sharpen behind her glasses, and I can sense the teacherly frost building in her tone as she whispers, “How do you know…?”

Harry shouts, “Someone’s going to try and steal it!”

The professor hisses, “I have no idea how the four of you found out about the Stone, but I assure you, it is perfectly well-protected!”

I jiggle around nervously, not keen on another detention this year.

She finishes with a finality-laden, “now, would you go back to your dormitories, quietly.”

We traipse out, Harry and Ron looking mulish and recalcitrant. As soon as we’re out of the classroom and out of Professor McGonagall’s earshot, Harry whirls to face us.

“That wasn’t just ‘a stranger’ Hagrid met at the pub. It was Snape, and now, he knows how to get past Fluffy! “

Hermione gasps, “And with Dumbledore gone-!”

A cold, malevolent voice drawls, “Good afternoon… especially to you, MISS… Darcy….”

I freeze, as everyone turns to see the Potions master, looming over us like some great and terrible bat with a greasy mullet.

Professor Snape continues, his low, serpentine voice encircling us, “Now… what would four young Gryffindors such as yourselves… be doing inside… on a day like this?” His question is so loaded, you could call it a baked potato.

Silence from all four of us. Hermione TRIES, bless her, but her nerve wilts in the face of a Snape Stare. “U-um... w-we…um… we were just-”

The Slytherin House Head turns on Harry, his eyes boring into him. “You ought to be careful… or people will think you’re…” His voice hardens, “UP… to something…”

He turns and stalks menacingly off, down the hall, the sunlight seeming to retreat from his presence as he leaves. Hermione leans in and hisses, “Now what do we do?”

Harry slowly answers. “We go down the trapdoor. Tonight.”

I shudder. I hadn’t been there when they met the massive three-headed dog, so I wasn’t sure of what exactly I was in for. We split up, each of us preparing for tonight’s escapade in our own ways.

Harry and Ron disappeared, while Hermione ensconced herself in the Library, poring through book after book as though she might find some last-minute solution to our problems. I wandered the castle, delaying until I have no choice, and then heading for the dungeons to take my next dose of Polyjuice potion. When I’d added the hair bundle to it this morning, I’d made sure to dunk the whole thing in completely, ensuring that ‘the first hair’ to make contact was ALL the hairs.

The sun set as we finished our dinner, and made our way back to the Gryffindor dormitory. Instead of taking the stairs up to the boys’ dorm, I followed Hermione up the short flight to the girls’. A bed is waiting for me, complete with a handwritten card that reads, “To Maxine! Welcome to the girls’ side, welcome home sister! You’re one of us, no matter what anyone else says. You belong here!”

I tear up a little, and then sniffle, wiping my eyes. “Hermione?”

“Yes, Maxine?” her brown eyes are soft with concern, and I draw in a deep breath.

“Will you do me a favour? When we go back home for the summer break… will you keep my uniform and underwear for me? My parents would destroy them, and then ensure that I’d never be allowed back to Hogwarts ever again. I’d never experience… this…” I run a hand down my side, “Or see my friends again. They’d never let me out of their sight and I can’t bear that…”

Without hesitation, Hermione Granger enfolds me in a tender embrace. “Of course. I’ll keep it a secret, too, and I’ll make sure Ron and Harry remember, too. You’ll always be welcome to visit me, too, if you can escape your parents!”

 

As the castle slumbers under the blanket of night, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I lay awake, waiting for the perfect moment. Dressed in their casual clothes, and I in my uniform, we slip down into the main Common-Room area, and halt.

A soft croaking, quacking sound fills the air, and Harry mutters, “Trevor…”

Neville’s large, warty toad is perched on the arm of a fireside chair, basking in the moonlight. Unusually, he isn’t lost or running astray. Ron hisses, “Trevor! Sssh! Shoo! You shouldn’t be here!”

“Neither should you.” A voice comes from the chair. As the occupant stands and moves around, I pale. Neville Longbottom is blocking our way, and he doesn’t seem like he has any intention of backing down and letting us be about our business.

He nods to me. “Sorry you got caught up in all this on your first day, Maxine, but these guys are kinda troublemakers.”

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Returning his focus to Harry, he approaches. “You’re sneaking’ out again, aren’t you?”

Harry tries, “Neville, listen-!”

“No! I won’t let you!” the chubby boy interrupts. “You’ll get Gryffindor into trouble again! I-I-I… I’ll f-fight you!” he raises his fists, clearly not wanting to, but as trapped as we are.

Hermione murmurs, “Neville, I’m really, REALLY sorry about this, but… Petrificus Totallus!”

Her wand in hand, she casts a spell on Neville. He stiffens, freezing in place, then keels over backwards, unable to move, a look of shock and hurt on his face. Thud.

As Hermione stores her wand away, Ron audibly swallows, “You’re a little scary, sometimes, you know that? Brilliant, but scary…”

As the others go on ahead, I pause, to tuck a cushion under Neville’s head and cover him from the neck down with a blanket. Placing Trevor on his chest, I whisper, I’m so sorry, but I have to help them. I... I owe them my life, after all…” I slip out through the portrait, catching up with the others as they descend to the Third Floor.

Under the Invisibility Cloak, we creep along, making the occasional muffled hiss as someone treads on someone else’s toes, or bumps into someone or something, somehow making it to the locked door. I produce my wand. “Alohomora…”

The lock clicks, and Harry slowly, carefully pulls the door open. The sound of dee rumbling in triplicate briefly filters out behind us as we slip in, shutting the door behind us. Ron mutters, “hang on a minute, he’s… snoring!”

Sure enough, ‘HE’, the biggest, meanest-looking dog I’ve ever seen whiffles and snorts in a deep slumber. Three sets of teeth are bared slightly with each exhalation, and each one looks sharp enough to tear a person in half.

I point to the right of us. “I think Snape’s beaten us here… he’s ensorcelled that harp!” the harp in question is playing itself, clear, bell-like notes chiming softly through the air as Fluffy makes deep, doggy sounds, his ears flicking occasionally.

As we inch closer, Fluffy exhales, right into our faces. Ron gags, “Urgh,‘s got horrible breath!”

Harry points. “We need to move his paw, it’s blocking the trapdoor!” as Ron groans in protest, the fours of us get in close enough to shove and push at the gargantuan forepaw, Fluffy huffing and snorting. It takes another few frantic seconds to lever open the trapdoor, during which I pause. There’s no more music.

“Um… guys?”

Harry doesn’t her, too busy laying out a plan. “Okay, I’ll go down first; you wait until I give a sign.”

Ron adds, “Does it seem a bit… quiet… to you?”

Hermione turns. “The harp! It’s stopped playing.”

“Guys…?” I try again, as I spot the result of the harp’s silence.

As the dog’s three heads lift, I snap, “Guys! Now, the dog’s awake! Go!”

Harry, concurs, “JUMP!” And plunges down the hole. Hermione goes next as Fluffy grips the trapdoor with his middle head’s teeth and tears it from the floor. I whip out my wand and yell, “Protego!”

A translucent bubble repels the left head as I tackle Ron, throwing us both down into the darkness as Fluffy’s heads bicker over the chance to snap at us, questing snouts blocking the trapdoor’s faint light.

 

We fall for about ten feet, and land with a solid ‘whump.’ Ron grins wildly. “Whoa. Lucky this plant-thing’s here!”

Before any of us can do more than catch a breath or two, the vines and roots surrounding us… begin moving, wrapping around and binding our arms and legs, wrapping around throats and wrists. Hermione calls, “stop moving, all of you! This is Devil’s Snare! You have to relax! If you don’t, it’ll only kill you faster.”

Ron splutters, “Kill us faster?! Ohhh, NOW I can relax!”

As Hermione rolls her eyes at Ron, she vanishes beneath the squirming morass of roots and tendrils.

The boys yell simultaneously, “HERMIONE!”, while I do my best to follow her instructions and remain calm, taking slow, shallow breaths.

The next thing I know, as I’m drawn into the depths of the Devil’s Snare, I’m on the floor beneath it, Hermione helping me to sit up as Ron screams for me.

I call back, “Do as she says! I’m fine! We both are, aside from a bruised bottom or two!” she giggles, and then steps aside to make room for a falling Harry, who dusts himself off and checks his glasses.

Ron only panics harder, his yelling growing muffled as if the plant can’t stand his cries. Harry says grimly, “He’s not relaxing, is he?”

Hermione groans, “If only I could remember what I learned in Herbology. Devil’s Snare, Devil’s Snare, its deadly fun…”

I complete the last line. “But will sulk in the sun! That’s it, Hermione! Remember the incantation?”

I raise my wand and shriek, “LUMOS SOLEM!” brilliant white light bursts from my wand, but the plant doesn’t back off just yet. Hermione adds her own light to the blinding glare. That does it, and the aggravated plant dumps Ron on the floor, as if spitting out a pumpkin seed.

Hauling himself to his feet, Ron tries to save face. “Phew… lucky we didn’t panic, huh?” Harry rolls his eyes.

“Lucky the girls pay attention in Herbology! Let’s go!”

Hermione stops Harry as he makes for a short flight of damp stone stairs leading down to a door. “What’s that?”

Harry listens briefly. “Sounds like… wings.”

 

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