The Philosopher's Stone | Hermione Granger x Male Reader (Book One)

22. The Philosopher's Stone

He rose up in the air and floated there, squinting at us.

"Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen."

I then had a sudden idea.

"Peeves," I said, in a hoarse whisper, "the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."

Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself in time and hovered about a foot off the stairs.

"So sorry, your bloodiness, Mr Baron, sir," he replied, "my mistake, my mistake, I didn't see you, of course I didn't, you're invisible. Forgive old Peevsie, sir."

"I have business here, Peeves," I croaked, "stay away from this place tonight."

"I will, sir, I most certainly will," said Peeves, rising up in the air again, "hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you."

And then he scooted off.

"Brilliant, Y/N!" whispered Ron.

A few seconds later, we were by the door and unfortunately, it was open ajar.

"Snape's been here already." I cursed.

I pushed the door open and to greet us was Fluffy, the three heads started sniffing at us even though they couldn't see us. There was a harp there which I thought Snape must've left there.

Carefully, I brought the flute to my lips and started blowing on it, no idea of what I was doing.

It wasn't really a tune, but from the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased, it fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing," Harry told me as we slipped out of the cloak and crept toward the trapdoor. We could feel the dog's hot, smelly breath as we approached the giant heads.

"I think we'll be able to pull the door open," said Ron, peering over the dog's back, "want to go first, Hermione?"

"No, I don't!"

"I'll go first then." I sighed, it was a drop into darkness and I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared.

I lowered myself through the hole until I was hanging on by my fingertips. Then I looked up at Ron, Harry and Hermione and said. "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Grey to Dumbledore, right?"

"Right," said Ron.

"See you in a minute, I hope..."

And with that I dropped, cold air rushed past me as I fell down.

THUMP!

I had landed on something soft, I sat up and felt around, my eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though I was sitting on some sort of plant.

"It's okay!" I called up to the open trapdoor. "It's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Ron and Harry followed right away. They landed, sprawled next to me.

"What's this stuff?" were Ron's first words.

"Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on, Hermione!"

Hermione jumped and landed next to me.

"We must be miles under the school," she said.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.

"Lucky!" shrieked Hermione. "Look at you three!"

The plant had started twisting around our legs and arms and me, Harry and Ron were trapped.

"Guys!" I said as calmly as I could. "It's Devil's Snare."

"Well that helps." Ron replied.

"Uh, Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare...what did Professor Sprout say? It's likes the dark and the damp." I choked since the plant was slowly creeping across my neck.

"So light a fire!" Harry said.

"Yes! Of course!" Hermione said. "But there's no wood!"

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" said Hermione, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames at the plant. In a matter of seconds, I felt the Devil's Snare loosening its grip, finally we were able to pull free.

"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology Y/N." said Harry

"This way," I then said, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.

Soon we reached another room, it was a lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above us. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

Harry walked over and tried to open the door. "It's locked."

"These birds...they can't be here just for decoration," said Hermione.

"They're not birds!" I said suddenly. "They're keys! Winged keys, look carefully. So that must mean...." I looked around the chamber while the other three squinted up at the flock of keys, "yes, look! A broomstick! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are hundreds of them!" Harry exclaimed.

Ron examined the lock on the door. "We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one, probably silver, like the handle."

I quickly glanced around the whole room trying to spot it, after maybe half a minute I found it! I wasted no time in grabbing the handle of the broomstick and flying up trying to grab it.

Being the youngest seeker in the century, this wasn't exactly hard for me. "You three, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it!"

I dived and tried to grab the key, when I did I quickly went back down and rammed the key into the lock, I turned it and it unlocked.

I pulled the door open as it opened the next chamber, The next chamber was so dark we couldn't see anything at all. But as we stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

We were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than we were. Facing us, way across the chamber, were the white pieces.

"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" I said. "We've got to play our way across the room."

Behind the white pieces we could see another door.

"How?" said Hermione nervously.

"I think," said Ron, "we're going to have to be chessmen."