Chapter 8: The Beginning of May's End
Hermione Granger was really getting tired of all the steps at Hogwarts. Going down them wasn't as much of problem as going up them, of course. Since she was now carrying around twenty-seven more pounds due to her pregnancy, waddling up stairs had no appeal what so ever to the first year girl on this the next-to-last day of May. It didn't help that the stairs had conspired to send her down to the ground floor before she could start on her way back up to Gryffindor Tower. She swore that the castle had a perverse sense of humor.
"Now Sybil, you did this before for Minerva, and you're only going to be on call for a few hours before Albus returns from the Wizengamot," Hermione heard the voice of Professor Flitwick say. "I really can't delay much longer. If Albus is late ..." The voice trailed off as both Flitwick's progress and Hermione's slow waddle drew them too far apart for Hermione to hear.
Hermione next passed the ground floor girls' room, and heard someone retching. She knew exactly who it was, and smiled. Mandy Brocklehurst may not have ended up pregnant when what she claimed was her attempt to take down a ritual circle that she claimed was put up by her mother was disrupted, but she was stuck with the occasional symptoms of severe morning sickness. Her skin had been green, but that had been corrected, mostly. It came back a bit, occasionally.
When the Ravenclaw prefect, Hilliard, had caught her, he'd disrupted what ever she was trying to do where Hermione had been rescued from the troll. Poor Hilliard had suddenly found himself changing into a girl on an irregular schedule, somehow related to when Brocklehurst was sick. It wasn't the only thing that happened to Hilliard. For some reason his hair had grown long overnight, and every time he changed his hair would suddenly be in a pair of pig tails.
Professor Trelawney was going to perform a ritual on the Solstice that would end both issues. Hermione had studied the ritual, having an interest in what had happened to the presumed already taken down ritual circle that had put her in her current condition. It wasn't exactly without risk. Hermione would not want to be part of that ritual.
"Granger," Malfoy said as he passed by, carrying his baby nephew. At her questioning gaze, he continued. "Patrick Draco keeps crying every time I stop walking or try to hand him over. I'm hoping that by the time I reach Victoria in the History of Magic classroom, my sister will be able to handle him."
"I wish you luck, Malfoy," Hermione said. Draco had mellowed a lot since he became an uncle, and discovered his older half-sister, at least while he had his nephew in his custody. His regular visits to the Hospital Wing with Susan Bones had helped too. Hermione was beginning to think he might not just be a stuck up pure blood with delusions of grandeur.
"I'll need it," Draco said. "Longbottom."
"Malfoy," Neville said as he turned into the corridor, passing Draco. "I think your nephew needs changing."
"Are you sure that's not the dragon dung?" Draco shot back as he turned down another corridor.
"Hermione," Neville said. It was obvious that he hadn't been working with dragon dung, or at least had cleaned up since his Saturday morning session with Professor Sprout. "Everything okay with the baby?" It really was too early for him to be finished though.
Hermione smiled. She was on her way back from her weekly appointment with Madame Pomfrey. "No problems," she said. "I seem to be clear of complications for once. Penny will be there a while though. Her twins are apparently doing something they shouldn't to her magic. Coming back from the green houses early?"
"Yes. Professor Sprout had to go to Kew Gardens," Neville began. "Apparently someone slipped devil's snare into the collection. They think it's one of the hybrids that were created in NEWT Herbology a few years ago."
As Hermione turned into the staircase tower, she was almost run over by Ron, who was accompanied by Seamus and Dean. Hermione's nose wasn't as sensitive as it once was, but it was enough for her to smell their exertion. "Playing football again?"
"Of course they're playing football," Lavender said coming up behind them. She was accompanied by Parvati and Sally-Anne. "What they won't admit though, is they lost to us. Hey Harry."
Harry was waiting for them on the landing in front of the entrance to the third floor corridor. He didn't look happy. "Hey," he said dully. Hedwig was on his right arm, and he was stroking his owl's feathers.
"Something wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked, as she carefully climbed the stairs. She really hated going up stairs.
"Professor McGonagall had to go to Surrey," Harry said, slumping against the wall of the alcove around the door to the third floor corridor. Hedwig moved to the railing, and looked at Harry accusatively. "Child Protective Services wants me to go back to the Dursleys. Snape went with her. He said that CPS was worse than the dunderheads he usually has to teach."
"Professor Snape," Hermione automatically corrected, approaching Harry. She gently pulled him away from the wall and hugged him as close as her whale of a belly would allow her.
Seamus leaned up against the railing as Hermione moved to hug Harry. He leaned up against the closed door. As he did so, he heard an unexpected tune.
Seamus was very good at picking up a tune, and figuring out where it came from. Even in a chorus, he could tell you exactly who had started a second late, or flubbed a note. It had caused him a few issues when he was really young and done the politically incorrect action of telling the councilman's wife that she was missing the B note in a song. He had learnt a bit of tact since then.
When his ears picked up the sound of a harp playing 'My Wild Irish Rose' his curiosity got the better of him. He opened the door to the third floor corridor.
"Um, Seamus, we're not supposed to go into that corridor," Lavender pointed out.
"What did you say about Hagrid's cerberus and music, a few months ago?" Seamus asked.
"A cerberus is the reason behind the saying that music soothes the savage beast," Sally-Anne replied. "Hagrid even confirmed that Fluffy goes right to sleep with just a little music."
"That music is coming from the room where Fluffy's locked up, isn't it?" Ron asked, as the whole group stepped through the door to the corridor.
"Professor Dumbledore's gone," Pavrati said.
"Professors McGonagall and Snape," Hermione contributed. "Flitwick too."
"Professor Sprout's gone as well," Neville said.
"Whose in charge of this nut house?" Dean interjected.
"Professor Trelawney?" Hermione suggested reluctantly.
"No one's guarding the stone!" Harry announced.
Seamus opened the door to Fluffy's room, but didn't enter. The great three headed dog was asleep. One of his heads was even snoring. Near the door was a harp, which had just begun yet another tune, "The Last Rose of Summer."
"Don't look now, Harry, but I think someone is taking the staff absence to go after the stone," Ron said. Seamus looked back at his red headed dorm mate, then shared a glance with Dean.
"No really?" Dean chorused with Seamus.
Seamus looked at the open trap door. There was no way that Harry was going to back out of this. Seamus was determined that he wasn't either. Ron and Hermione had been involved in almost everything. Someone was going to have to inform the staff, though, and get left behind.
"We've got to stop them," Harry said, firmly, meeting each of their gazes. Seamus hoped his informed Harry that he wasn't going to be left behind.
"But what about letting Dumbledore know," Hermione asked. "I mean we're first years, and he really should know."
Every once in a while, Hedwig got the feeling that Harry was going to need her. It was a feeling that rarely if ever was wrong. Since early morning, the feeling had enveloped her. So she'd contrived to deliver Neville's copy of the Daily Prophet so she could be there.
She'd been there when McGonagall had to tell Harry that she was going to have to go to Surrey for a meeting. Harry had been despondent since then. Hedwig wasn't entirely sure why. In the soft monologue he'd been saying as he stroked her head, he'd told her what the plans were for his summer, and that McGonagall had promised that they wouldn't change.
Her Harry couldn't seem to believe that the plans were real. He lamented that it was too good to be true that he'd be able to stay with Hermione's family. In his lowest points, her Harry was chronic pessimist when it came to his own fate. Good things didn't happen to him.
As her Harry, Hedwig felt a responsibility above what normally would be for a post owl. It was a responsibility to be there for her Harry. Harry's stoking of her head lent strength to the call.
Now, resting on his left arm, she heard Hermione say that Dumbledore should know something. Her trained post owl senses knew that Dumbledore wasn't at Hogwarts. If she had the bearing and distance right, he was in London. She offered her leg to Harry.
A letter was quickly written and attached, and Hedwig took off.
As Harry tied the message on to Hedwig's leg, Neville Longbottom made a decision. He was a Gryffindor, and he wasn't going to be left behind. True, it was unlikely that his particular speciality, plants, would be an obstacle they encountered. This was the first floor that had windows in this part of the castle, and it looked like they were going to have to go down.
He stepped over to the open trap door, trying not to react to the snoring cerberus. One of the heads was creating a significant down draft right next to the trap door. He peered into the opening, as he stood next to Dean.
"Something's moving down there," Dean informed him.
Neville peered into the darkened chamber below. "I think it's a plant," Neville said.
"I think it's a tentacle monster," Seamus said.
"You only find those in Japan," Lavender replied, as she joined the three boys. "I agree with Neville. It's not much of a fall, and the plant should absorb our landing. Who goes first?"
Neville found himself smiling. "Plants are my forte, so," he began, jumping into the opening.
Behind him, he could hear cries of surprise, but his concentration was on his landing. To his great surprise, he landed perfectly on his feet. The vines absorbed his landing, and he barely had to bend his knees. Of course, the vines immediately started to move around him.
Lavender was the next down, to Neville's surprise, and Seamus was on her heals, literally with his almost belly-flop landing knocking her over on her back and into the plant. "Neville, what plant is this?"
"Lumos!" Neville said, bending down slightly to get a better view of the plant working it's way up from his knees.
Sally-Anne arrived next, landing much as Neville had.
"It appears that we have an example of diaolus laquem, of the sub-species silures," Neville said. "Developed in the late Roman period, it's rather unique among the variants of diaolus laquem, not quite living up to it's more common reference. It's not as deadly."
"Deadly, it's wrapped all around me!" Lavender said. "I can't even draw my wand. Ooof! Ron, watch where you're jumping!"
"Sorry, Lavender," Ron said, as Parvati dropped neatly beside him. "Harry's trying to convince Hermione to go back. You're saying this is devil's snare, Neville?"
"Yes," Neville said as there was a crash above them, and the music stopped.
Dean dropped in an arch as if he'd been running from the other side of the room above. Moments later, Hermione and Harry fell through the opening, their landing well cushioned by the devil's snare.
"I hope you can do something about this, Neville, because, it's just gagged Lavender," Seamus announced. "And I can't move."
"Lumos Maximus!" Neville cast. A brightness too bright for him to look out emerged from his wand. The devil's snare let them all go, allowing them to gently drop to the floor below. Once all of them were standing on the first floor, he turned to his fellow first years, and with an unusual for him smirk said, "I'm rather disappointed. None of you remembered 'Devil's snare, it's deadly fun, but will sulk in the sun?' What was I tutoring you all for?"
Hedwig did not often fly inside of Hogwarts, and when she did, it was generally within certain predictable locations. The Great Hall, Gryffindor Tower, the Entry Hall ... those were all places that any good owl owned by a Gryffindor knew. That didn't mean that her keen eyes hadn't made sure to plot the best course out of Hogwarts that she could. Of course, it was well known, even among the owls, that the castle liked to re-arrange itself. Once the owlery had moved to the edge of the lake, and no owl could ignore such a move.
Hogwart's Parliament of Owls believed that the move had something to do with a group of young owls on the encouragement of their people registering their displeasure with the then latest Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. It was agreed by most that Professor Xavier Pendabul was really a deserving target.
The dive to the first floor was much like that which any owl would take when going after a fresh rodent. It was an exhilarating dive for the young owl, who had made several such pounces on a few field mice, but it was different doing it in an confined space. Then Hedwig pulled out of it, making a corkscrew turn, banking right over a first-year Hufflepuff. She beat her wings, rising to the ceiling of the passage to the Entry Hall.
Down another set of stairs she flew, keeping high above the heads of the students. She dipped only briefly, under a banner announcing the winners of some long past contest in runes. Her wing only lightly touched as she turned into the Entry Hall the statue of Uric the Oldball. Right through the center of the door her wings beat, as she exited the Castle and headed off to find the Headmaster in London.
"I'm not going to be able to go up past that dog, Harry," Hermione said.
Lavender had to agree with that statement. Right now there was only one path, forward, especially since the Devil's Snare seemed to be reforming above their heads, even if Fluffy hadn't been still snapping at them through the opened trap door.
There was a broom levitating up ahead, where the passage opened up to a high cathedral like ceiling. They were all slowly moving towards the high ceiling. Lavender could hear a buzzing sound coming from above, but her attention was on the door where the chamber ended. She strode across the room, just behind Dean
"I know Hermione, I know," she heard from Harry. "Just be careful."
Dean reached the door first, and attempted to open it. "The door is locked," Dean said.
"Are you a wizard or not?" Hermione huffed from where she was waddling across the room. Lavender really wished her friend would stop trying to push herself, as she examined the thick iron lock on the door.
"You do remember the last time I tried that spell?" Dean shot back.
"You tried an unlocking spell against glue," Harry said, from Hermione's side.
"Spectacular explosion though," Seamus said, as he approached the door. "Nearly as good as when I tried to turn the bird bath water into rum."
"Nothing will beat that tongue of fire," Neville stated firmly. "Alohomora." The door failed to open. "Did I mispronounce it somehow? I'm pretty sure I got the wand movement right."
"No, you pronounced it right, and the movement was acceptable," Harry judged. "The jab was a bit lacking in power, but it should have done something." His hand moved to swipe something away from where it touched his hair. "What's that?" he asked, pointing at something flying away from him.
"It looked like a key with bent wings," Parvati said, as the object zoomed upwards.
"I bet we're supposed to catch the key," Sally-Anne said. "There is just one broom though. Unless you've got yours shrunk somewhere, Harry."
Lavender bent down to look at the lock closer. It was a rather old lock, by her judgement, with a classic keyhole opening for the lock, much larger than many modern keyholes. It was bigger than the one that Fred and George had been working on.
"Good idea, too bad I didn't think of it," Harry said. "Any objection to my making an attempt with this broom to find the right one?"
Lavender pulled out the rods she used to work on the ships in a bottle that she did for a hobby from where she kept them up her sleeves. They were much better than what she had used before she got to Hogwarts. They could push and pull, hold and release, all with just the intent of her mind. They had been a gift from Professor McGonagall. It wasn't the only thing she knew how to do with them. Ron's older brothers could be so helpful if you knew how to, and which one to ask. And had something to offer in turn, like for instance a powder combination that turns skin blue.
"There are hundreds of them," Dean said. "You'll never find the right one."
"It probably has a broken wing from whoever went before us, or at least damaged," Hermione said. "It may have even been the one that Harry swatted. Looking at the lock, it's probably rather large and ornate..."
"Or I can just pick the lock," Lavender said as she made one last probe with her pick. The door opened. Sometimes Hermione over thought solutions.
"Or that," Hermione concluded.
Lavender smiled as she held the door open for her pregnant friend to waddle through.
"Anyone seen any of the first years recently?" Percy asked to a somewhat crowded Common Room. The sky had opened up with rain just a few minutes ago, sending most of the Gryffindors in. Percy had been casting spells to dry second years off, with Penny doing the same while she sat by the fire place. She was under orders to sit as much as possible, and not use any levitation spells.
"I haven't since I disrupted their football game this morning," Oliver said, from his position next to a window where he was tuning up his broom.
"Fred, George?" Percy asked, spotting the two actually studying next the study alcove that McGonagall had created for the first years. The alcove was empty, which was unusual given the down pour still pounding the windows of the tower.
"We haven't seen them," the twins began, not even looking up from their books. "Maybe they're with McGonagall or Dumbledore."
"Half the professors are away right now," Penny noted. "Including them. Professor Trelawney is in charge."
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Percy asked, as a bolt of lightning hit one of Hogwart's towers with a crack of nearly deafening thunder.