Harry Potter and the Twin Sister

Chapter 16 - The Trapdoor

"But there's a problem," said Ron. "How are we supposed to find this room you speak of? Hogwarts has thousands of rooms. It'll take us days to find it and we don't have much time." "Wait a minute," said Hermione. "You're forgetting one place that nobody's been to before except us... underneath the trapdoor." "Have you gone mad?" said Ron, "The last thing we want is to get our leg taken off by some three-headed man-eating monster." As Ron and Hermione were talking, Harry was completely ignoring them and staring off into the distance of Hagrid's hut. "Harry?" said Annie, "What is it?" "Of course," said Harry and darted for the hut with everyone followed after him. "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 happen to have one?" said Harry, "I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pockets? Why didn't I see it before?" "Yeah, okay?" said Annie confused, "But what does this have to do with Voldemort?" But Harry couldn't stop to answer. "Hagrid," said Harry. "Why hello, Harry," said Hagrid. "Uh... We might have a slight problem. You see..." But Hagrid stopped himself when he noticed Annie was standing behind Harry. "Blimey me, Annie!!" said Hagrid astonished to see Annie. "Where do you get at runnin' off like tha'? You scared me half to death wit' your bloody screamin'." "Sorry, Hagrid," said Annie, "But it was urgent. I needed to see Harry right away." "Who gave you the dragon egg?" Harry continued. "What did he look like?" "I don't know," said Hagrid. "I never saw his face. He kept his hood up." "The stranger, though," said Harry. "You and he must have talked." "Well, he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after," said Hagrid. "I told him. I said, 'After Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem.'" "And did he seem interested in Fluffy?" said Harry. "Well, of course," said Hagrid. "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 a play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep.'" Everyone's jaws dropped. "I shouldn't have told you that," said Hagrid. Then everyone ran off back to the castle. "Where you going?!?! Wait!!" said Hagrid.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annie ran inside Professor McGonagall's classroom and down the aisles between the desks passing by a ghost and stopping directly in front of Professor McGonagall's desk. "We have to see Professor Dumbledore! Immediately!!" said Harry. "I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here," said McGonagall, "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London." "He's gone?! Now? But this is important," said Harry. "What do you mean he left, Professor?" said Annie, "This is urgent! It's about..." Annie wasn't sure if she should be the one to tell Professor McGonagall. After all, they were in the enough trouble already for helping Hagrid release a dragon in the middle of the night. "It's about the Sorcerer's Stone," said Harry finishing for Annie. "How do you know?" said McGonagall completely shocked. "Someone's going to try and steal it!" said Harry. "I don't know how you four found out about the stone, but I can assure you it is perfectly well-protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories? Quietly." Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annie were about to turned around when McGonagall said, "Also, Ms. Potter, you do realize you missed a whole day's worth of exams?" "Yes, Professor," said Annie, "I'll make it up. I promise." "I sure hope so," said McGonagall, "You have until the end of the day, Ms. Potter. I expect you'll be here before dinner. Otherwise, you will have to repeat year one." Annie gulped and said, "Yes, Professor." They left McGonagall's classroom feeling defeated; like they lost to Slytherin in a Quidditch game. Outside McGonagall's classroom and down the hallway, Harry stopped Hermione, Ron, and Annie and said, "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..." said Hermione. "We're doomed," interrupted Annie. Suddenly, Professor Snape appeared behind them. "Good afternoon," said Snape. Everyone jumped from the sound of Snape's cold voice. "Now, what would four young Gryffindors such as yourselves be doing inside a day like this?" "Uh..." said Hermione tongue-tied. "We... We were just..." "You want to be careful," said Snape. "People will think you're... up to something." He glared down at Harry and Annie when he said this and walked off in the direction of the staff room. "Great," said Annie, "Any ideas as to what we should do now?" "We go down the trapdoor. Tonight," said Harry.