Chapter 9 - Philosopher's Stone

 The next night, we all had detention. Mr Filch guided Eric, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Malfoy and me outside toward Hagrid's hut as he spoke,

"A pity they let the old punishments die. There was a time detention would find you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons. God, I miss the screaming."

I heard Malfoy gulp as he walked beside me. "You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight. He's got a little job to do inside the dark forest," Filch explained as we came up to see Hagrid near a fire with a crossbow in his hand. "A sorry lot this, Hagrid."

Hagrid merely sniffed, catching Filch's attention, "Oh, good God, man, you're not still on about that bloody dragon, are you?"

Hagrid sniffed again and sighed before turning to explain to us,

"Norbert's gone. Dumbledore sent him off to Romania to live in a colony."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Hermione asked, and I added softly,

"He'll be with his own kind."

"Yeah, but what if he don't like Romania?" Hagrid asked, clearly quite upset as Filch rolled his eyes. "What if the other dragons are mean to him? He's only a baby, after all."

I frowned, sad that Hagrid didn't get to keep his dragon.

"Oh, for God's sake, pull yourself together, man," Filch reprimanded, "You're going into the forest, after all. Got to have your wits about you."

Malfoy whipped his head in Filch's direction with a worried expression,

"The forest? I thought that was a joke! We can't go in there. Students aren't allowed. And there are..."

Malfoy stopped talking as a howl could be heard from the forest. "... werewolves!"

"There's more than werewolves in those trees, lad. You can be sure of that."

Malfoy looked frightened, and I couldn't help but agree with him on this. "Nighty-night," Filch smirked before leaving the six of us with Hagrid.

"Right. Let's go," Hagrid nodded, turning to lead the way with Fang beside him. I didn't move right away, terrified of what could be in the forest. Harry must have noticed my hesitation and took my hand in his before lightly pulling me with him after Hagrid and the others. All of us walked deeper into the forest, walking on a path. As we got deeper into the forest, we continued along the path to a tree. Eventually, Hagrid stopped and bent down to dip his fingers in what looked like a silver puddle. Hagrid pulled his fingers out and rubbed them together before standing again.

"Hagrid, what is that?" I asked, my voice a bit shaky.

"What we're here for," Hagrid explained, looking down at me before showing us the stuff on his fingers from the puddle, "See that? That's unicorn's blood, that is."

All of our eyes went wide in surprise as Hagrid continued, "I found one dead a few weeks ago. Now, this one's been injured badly by something."

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise, causing me and Harry to look and see a large cloaked figure walking through the trees. I squeezed my brother's hand as we looked back at Hagrid, who followed our line of sight before turning back to us, "So, it's our job to find the poor beast. Ron, Hermione, Eric, you'll come with me."

"Okay," Ron let out weakly, so I took his hand to give it a comforting squeeze before letting it go.

"And Harry and Ella, you'll go with Malfoy."

Harry and I gave each other small looks of discontent before nodding simultaneously.

"Okay. Then I get Fang!" Malfoy demanded, causing me to roll my eyes as Hagrid answered the blond boy,

"Fine. Just so you know, he's a bloody coward."

Fang whined, but either from the insult or from fear, I wasn't sure. With Hagrid's encouragement, I walked between Harry and Malfoy as the blond held the lamp and Fang led the way. While the three of us were walking through the forest, Malfoy complained,

"You wait till my father hears about this. This is servant's stuff."

"If I didn't know better, Draco, I'd say you were scared," Harry retorted, causing Malfoy to shake his head,

"Scared, Potter?!" Malfoy scoffed when, suddenly, there was a howl. "Did you hear that?"

All three of us swiftly looked around, Harry less so. Freaked out, I grabbed the closest hand to me and squeezed. After a moment, I relaxed, only to realize that I had accidentally grabbed Draco's hand. When we both realized, Draco and I looked at one another with wide eyes before quickly shaking each other off and cringing,

"Ugh."

Malfoy shook his head and scoffed once again before walking slightly ahead of me and Harry,

"Come on, Fang."

Harry and I followed, but since I was still a bit spooked, I grabbed Harry's hand. At the feeling, my brother gave me a comforting smile that I weakly returned before the two of us walked a bit faster to catch up with Malfoy and Fang.

After a bit more walking, the three of us approached flat ground with gnarled roots all over. Abruptly, Fang stopped and growled. Harry and I looked at the dog with furrowed brows,

"What is it, Fang?"

Curious, my twin and I followed where Fang was looking. I froze when I saw that, up ahead, a cloaked figure was crouched over a dead unicorn, drinking its blood. All of a sudden, my scar started burning. I gasped, along with Harry, as we both went to place a hand over our scars. Now aware of our presence, the figure raised its head, silver blood dripping from its mouth. Beside me, Malfoy screamed in terror,

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!"

As he started to turn to get away, I felt a tug at my robes, as though Draco was trying to pull me with him. But Harry and I stayed put, our scars still burning as Malfoy ran off with Fang, screaming, "AHHH!!! HELP!!!!!"

Harry and I were left by ourselves, and then the figure slid over the unicorn and rose erect. It advanced toward us as we quickly backed up, only to trip on some of the roots. Struggling to get away from the strange figure, Harry and I crawled backwards, my brother wrapping his arms around me protectively. Suddenly, just before the figure got too close, there was the sound of hoof beats. Looking up, Harry and I saw another figure leap over us, landing in front of the cloaked figure. The new stranger looked like a silver centaur from a mythology book. The centaur reared, causing the cloaked figure to leave, flying away. I let out a breath of relief as the centaur turned to me and Harry,

"Harry and Ella Potter, you must leave. You are known to many creatures here. The forest is not safe at this time. Especially for you both."

"But what was that thing you saved us from?" Harry asked as he helped me to stand with him.

"A monstrous creature. It is a terrible crime to slay a unicorn. Drinking the blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death. But at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure that the moment the blood touches your lips, you will have a half-life. A cursed life."

I frowned at the horrid thought,

"But who would choose such a life?"

"Can you think of no one?" the centaur asked, leaning his face closer to us.

Harry and I shared a glance before my twin spoke,

"Do you mean to say... that that thing that killed the unicorn..."

"That was drinking its blood..." I added, "That was Voldemort?"

"Do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"

"The Philosopher's Stone," Harry and I both whispered. All of a sudden, I heard a dog bark and turned with Harry to see Fang along with Hagrid, Hermione, Ron, Eric and Malfoy.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, followed by Eric,

"Ella!"

"Hello there, Firenze.," Hagrid said, looking at the centaur, "I see you've met our young Mr and Miss Potter. You all right there, Ella? Harry?"

I nodded with Harry before turning back to the centaur, Firenze.

"Harry and Ella Potter," Firenze spoke, standing at his full height, "This is where I leave you both. You're safe now. Good luck."

When Firenze was gone, Hermione, Eric, Ron, Malfoy, Fang and Hagrid joined me and Harry by the poor dead unicorn.

"Well," Hagrid cleared his throat. "Well done, Harry, Ella and Malfoy, for finding the poor unicorn. I think we all best be getting back now."

"Yes, please," Eric said as Ron, Hermione and I eagerly nodded.

Once we were back at the castle, we said goodbye to Hagrid before Hermione, Ron and Harry said goodnight and left toward Gryffindor tower. As Malfoy, Eric and I walked down to the lower floors, Malfoy quietly sneered,

"You're lucky that half-breed showed up in the forest, Baby Potter. Surprised you and your brother weren't hurt. Or were you?"

I turned to send Malfoy a glare,

"I'm perfectly fine, no thanks to you. You weren't any help, Malfoy, and ran off screaming."

"What was I supposed to do? Stand there with you both? I thought you would have followed me. That's what a smart person would have done."

Just as I was about to retort, Eric spoke,

"Enough, Malfoy. It's no one's fault. Now leave it alone."

Malfoy scoffed as I frowned, upset about the fact that Malfoy seemed to insist on always being a jerk. Maybe we could be friends if he changed his ways, but that would never happen.

Not long after our short conversation, Eric and I stopped at the barrels while Malfoy continued to the dungeons. The common room was empty, leaving Eric and me alone so I could tell him what Firenze had told me and Harry. Eric sat beside me on the couch in front of the fire, keeping his voice quiet so as not to wake anyone,

"You're saying that You-Know-Who is out in the forest living off of unicorn blood?"

"Yes, but he's not living a whole life," I replied, "Firenze said it was 'a half-life. A cursed life.'"

"So Snape must want the stone for You-Know-Who."

"Of course," I realized, "With the Elixer of Life, Voldemort could... he could come back."

A frown crossed my features as I fully realized the danger. "With Voldemort strong again, he'll probably come after me and Harry. I mean, if Firenze hadn't come and saved us, Voldemort probably would have tried to kill us tonight."

Eric frowned, a worried look on his face as I looked down at my hands in my lap. After a moment, I saw Eric's hand lying on mine, causing me to look up and see he had a hopeful expression,

"I don't think we should worry too much about it, Ella. Think about it: who's the one wizard You Know Who's always feared?"

I furrowed my brows, then shrugged. "Dumbledore! Ella, as long as Professor Dumbledore is around, you and Harry are safe. Voldemort can't touch you. Strong or weak."

I slightly smiled, thankful to have Eric as my friend.

§

After our exams, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Eric, and I walked out into the courtyard.

"I've always heard Hogwarts' end-of-the-year exams were frightful, but I found that rather enjoyable," Hermione said with a cheerful tone as my scar started burning. I rubbed my forearm to try and smooth the ache and noticed that Harry was doing the same.

"Speak for yourself," Ron retorted to Hermione until he noticed Harry and I's discomfort, "All right there, you two?"

"Our scars," Harry started, to which I finished,

"They keep burning."

Hermione tried to ease us,

"It's happened before."

"Not like this," I shook my head.

Beside me, Eric frowned and placed a hand on my shoulder,

"Perhaps you should see the nurse."

"I think it's a warning," Harry explained. "It means dangers coming."

I nodded in agreement as we continued to rub our scars when we spotted Hagrid at his hut across the field. "Oh."

"Of course!" Harry and I exclaimed before running toward Hagrid, the others following us.

"What is it?" Eric asked as we slowed to a fast-paced walk, and I explained,

"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger shows up and just happens to have one?"

"I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets?" Harry added as we got closer to Hagrid, playing on his flute, "Why didn't we see it before? Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg?"

Our giant friend stopped playing and looked at us as I questioned,

"What did he look like?"

Hagrid furrowed his brows,

"I don't know. I never saw his face. He kept his hood up."

"The stranger, though," my brother said, "You and he must have talked."

"Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after. I told him. I said, 'After Fluffy, a dragon's going to be no problem.'"

"And did he seem interested in Fluffy?" I encouraged.

"Well, of course he was interested in Fluffy! How often do you come across a three-headed dog, even if you're in the trade? But I told him. I said, 'The trick with any beast is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy, for example, just play him a bit of music, and he falls straight to sleep.'"

Ron, Eric, Hermione, Harry and I gasped, knowing that wasn't good. "I shouldn't have told you that."

Without another thought, we all ran from Hagrid's hut to find Professor Dumbledore. "Where you going?! Wait!"

It didn't take long for us to find Professor McGonagall in her classroom, who we knew could take us to the headmaster. All five of us came tearing in, running up the aisles between the desks and passing a ghost before stopping in front of McGonagall's desk.

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore immediately!" Harry urged, but the Transfiguration professor frowned,

"I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London."

"He's gone?! Now? But this is important!" I panicked, then decided that we could trust McGonagall, "It's about... the Philosopher's Stone."

Professor McGonagall stared at me with a shocked expression,

"How do you know-"

"Someone's going to try and steal it," Harry interrupted. McGonagall frowned before speaking in a quiet voice,

"I don't know how you five found out about the stone, but I can assure you it is perfectly well-protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories? Quietly."

Sulking, we all turned and left. After leaving the classroom, we walked down the hallway as Harry spoke,

"That was no stranger Hagrid met in the village. It was Snape, which means he knows how to get past Fluffy."

"And with Dumbledore gone-" Hermione started until Professor Snape suddenly appeared behind us,

"Good afternoon. Now, what would three young Gryffindors and two young Hufflepuffs, such as yourselves, be doing inside... on a day like this?"

I stuttered, trying to think of an excuse,

"Uh... we- we were just..."

"You want to be careful. People will think you're..." Snape stopped, looking at Harry, and I followed his gaze to see my brother glaring at the potions teacher, who looked shocked, "...up to something."

Without another word, Snape left down the hall, allowing Ron to turn to the rest of us,

"Now what do we do?"

"We go down the trapdoor," Harry decided determinedly, "Tonight."

Eric, Ron, Hermione and I nodded in agreement before we all left to make a plan.

That night, Eric and I met up in the Hufflepuff common room, waiting for Harry to send the letter that would let us know that he, Hermione and Ron would be in the hall for us. It didn't take too long for a rolled-up letter to pop up and land in my hand. I turned to Eric, who gave me a nod before I spoke,

"Let's go."

Eric and I walked down the path to the Hufflepuff entrance, where Harry, Hermione and Ron were standing. The three of them turned their backs, covered by the invisibility cloak, to the hall and lifted the cloak in front to let me and Eric under. Once the five of us were under the invisibility cloak, we snuck down the halls until we arrived at the third-floor corridor, tiptoeing along the dark hall.

"Ow! You stood on my foot!" Hermione whisper-yelled, causing Ron to quickly apologize,

"Sorry."

As we came to the door at the end of the hall, one of the flames lit as Hermione drew out her wand. She pointed it at the door to Fluffy's room before reciting the unlocking spell,

"Alohomora."

The door unlocked, and we pulled it open before shuffling inside and closing it again. However, instead of being faced with the alerted three-headed dog, it was silent.

"Wait a minute..." Eric started quietly, "He's..."

Fluffy, from his position lying on the floor, blew air out of his nose, causing the cloak to flutter off of us.

"Snoring," I finished with furrowed brows. Harry frowned, noticing a self-playing harp in the corner of the room,

"Snape's already been here. He's put a spell on the harp."

Carefully, we approached the sleeping dog as he continued to breathe heavily.

"Ugh. It's got horrible breath!" Ron complained.

"We have to move its paw."

Eric, Ron and I looked at my brother with wide eyes,

"What?!"

"Come on!"

Reluctantly, the three of us moved with Harry and Hermione to grab Fluffy's paw that was blocking the trapdoor. "Okay. Push!"

Together, the five of us strained and moved the big paw out of the way before lifting the door open. With a determined expression, Harry turned to look at me, Ron, Hermione and Eric, "I'll go first. Don't follow until I give you a sign. If something bad happens, get yourselves out." My twin suddenly frowned, "Does it seem a bit... quiet to you?"

"The harp," Hermione replied, causing all of us to turn and look at it. "It stopped playing."

At the sound of Ron cringing, I turned to see he now had slimy stuff on his shoulder,

"Ew! Yuck! Ugh."

Knowing there was only one possible source, we looked up to see Fluffy awake and standing. Fluffy barked and growled, thrashing and breaking the harp before diving at us. We all gasped in terror before Harry yelled,

"Jump! Go!"

Following his instructions, we all jumped through the trapdoor and away from the angry three-headed dog. We all screamed as we fell until we gasped at suddenly landing on some mushy black rope-like vines. Ron let out a breath of relief,

"Whoa. Lucky this plant thing's here, really."

Out of nowhere, the plant began to move toward us, Harry and I exclaimed,

"Whoa!"

The plant started to wrap around each of us, tying us up. I struggled alongside my friends, trying desperately to get free when Hermione, sitting still, instructed,

"Stop moving, all of you. This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster."

"Kill us faster?! Oh, now I can relax!" Ron yelled, desperation and frustration in his tone. Hermione sarcastically smiled before she was suddenly sucked down into the vines. My eyes went wide with panic as Harry and Ron cried,

"Hermione!!"

I struggled some more as Ron begged,

"Now what are we going to do?!"

"Just relax!" I heard Hermione's voice. I stopped struggling as much to ask,

"Hermione! Where are you?!"

"Do what I say. Trust me."

"Oh! I remember now! Listen to Hermione! We have to relax!" Eric smiled, holding still until he was sucked through.

"Ahh! Eric!" Ron cried, and I felt slight panic until I shared a look with Harry. Together, we nodded and relaxed. Not a moment later, Harry and I sunk through, falling before landing on the hard ground. "Harry! Ella!"

"Ow," Harry and I both said as we stood up. Hermione and Eric rushed to help,

"Are you okay?"

I nodded as Harry answered,

"Yeah, yeah, we're fine."

"Help!" we all heard Ron yell. Hermione shook her head,

"He's not relaxing, is he?"

Harry, Eric and I shook our heads,

"Apparently not."

"Help! Help me!" Ron continued to scream, and I pleaded worriedly,

"We've got to do something!"

"What?" Harry asked.

"Uh! I remember me and Hermione reading something in Herbology," Eric spoke as Ron yelled once more,

"Help!"

"Um, Devil's Snare, Devil's Scare, it's deadly fun..."

"But will sulk in the sun!" Hermione excitedly finished with a smile, "Eric, that's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" My bright friend pulled out her wand and pointed it upward toward the Devil's Snare. "Lumus Solem!"

A beam of light shot out of Hermione's wand, causing the Snare to shriek and recoil. Free from the vines, Ron fell, screaming, then landed on the ground with a thud,

"Ahhh!"

I rushed to help my finger friend stand,

"Ron, are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," Harry and Eric nodded. Once Ron was standing, he brushed himself off and then gave the rest of us a lopsided smile,

"Whew. Lucky we didn't panic!"

"Lucky Hermione and Eric pay attention in Herbology," Harry corrected sternly.