Ron screamed as we fell before something squishy broke our fall. "Whoa. Lucky this plant-thing is here, really."
Suddenly, vines shot out and encircled us. The boys struggled, but Hermione and I stayed still. "Stop moving, both of you. This is Devil's Snare." I said.
"You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster." Hermione finished.
Ron struggled even more. "Kill us faster?! Oh, now I can relax!" Hermione and I took deep breaths, relaxing and staying as still as possible, making the vines let us go. We fell through the plant and to the ground below, looking up to see the boys still struggling.
"Maeve! Hermione!!"
"Now what are we gonna do?!"
"Just relax!" Hermione yelled.
"Hermione! Where are you?!"
"Do what she says. Trust us!" I yelled. Harry was sucked through the vines moments later. I grabbed his arm and helped him up. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He said, brushing his hands off his pants.
"Help!" Ron yelled.
Hermione looked at me. "He's not relaxing, is he?"
"Apparently not," I grumbled.
"We've got to do something!" Harry said. I looked down, trying to remember what we'd learned about devil's snare in herbology.
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Devil's Snare, Devil's Scare, it's deadly fun...but will sulk in the sun! That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!"
I grabbed my wand and pointed it at the Devil's Snare. "Lumus Solem!" A large beam of light shot out. The snare shrieked and recoiled, allowing Ron to fall down to us.
"Ron, are you okay?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. Lucky we didn't panic!" I rolled my eyes at him and we started down the corridor, coming to a door muffling the sound of what sounded like flapping wings.
"What is that?" Hermione asked.
Harry shook his head. "I don't know. Sounds like wings."
"Curious. I've never seen birds like these."
"They're not birds, they're keys," I said, noticing a door on the other side of the room. "And I'll bet one of them fits that door." I stopped at a broom suspended in midair. "What's this all about?"
Harry eyed the broom warily. "I don't know. Strange."
Ron walked over to the door and took out his wand. "Alohomora!" He turned back to Hermione, shrugging. "Well, it was worth a try."
"Ugh! What're we going to do? There must be 1000 keys up there!"
I walked over to them and examined the lock. Like the rest of the castle, it looked old and rust worn. "We're looking for a big old-fashioned one. Probably rusty like the handle."
" There! I see it! The one with the broken wing!" We turned to see Harry pointing at a key. He looked back at the broom, doubt all over his face.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked.
Suddenly, it clicked in my head. "It's too simple." Harry nodded.
"Oh, go on, Harry! If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, you can! You're the youngest seeker in a century!" Ron said encouragingly.
Harry nodded and grabbed the broom, but the keys began swarming him. He took off into the air and flew after the key. After a short chase around the room, Harry grabbed the key. "Catch the key!" He zoomed by and threw the key down. I jumped and caught it.
"Hurry up!" Ron said as I struggled with the lock. Finally, the door opened, and the three of us rushed through, followed by Harry. We got the door shut just as the keys started slamming against it.
"Do you think I could charm keys to do that to the Durselys?" I asked Harry, who shook his head at me. We turned and went into a room that looked like a graveyard.
"I don't like this. I don't like this at all." Hermione said.
"Where are we?" Harry asked. "A graveyard?"
"This is no graveyard," Ron said, walking ahead of us as fires began burning all around the room. "It's a chessboard." Broken pieces were scattered around and some of the black pieces were missing.
"There's the door." Harry said, pointing across the room. We walked across the board, towards the door, but the white pawns blocked us off with their swords.
"Now what do we do?" Hermione asked.
"It's obvious, isn't it? We've got to play our way across the room. All right. Harry, you take the bishop's square. Hermione, you'll be the queenside castle. Maeve, you take the empty rook square. As for me, I'll be a knight." We all took our positions.
"What happens now?" I asked.
"Well, white moves first, and then...we play." A pawn on the other side moved forward.
"Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like...real wizard's chess, do you?" Hermione asked.
"You there! D-5!" A black pawn moved forward, only for the white pawn to raise its swords and smash the black one. "Yes, Hermione, I think this is going to be exactly like wizard's chess!" The game continued, with pieces smashing each other repeatedly. "Castle to E-4! Pawn to C-3!" After a while and only being moved a few times, Harry noticed something.
"Wait a minute." He said, looking at Ron.
"You understand right, Harry? Once I make my move, the Queen will take me...then you'll be free to check the King."
"No, Ron! No!" Harry yelled.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"He's going to sacrifice himself!"
"No, Ron, you can't! There must be another way!" I yelled. Fred and George would be pissed if I let something happen to Ron.
"Do you want to stop Snape or not? Harry, it's you and Maeve that have to go on. I know it. Not me, not Hermione, you two. Knight to H-3." He said, giving us no time to argue further. Ron's horse moved forward, slid onto the space, and stopped. "Check." The white queen moved towards him and stabbed the horse, knocking him off. I saw Ron hit his head on a rock and go limp.
"RON!" Hermione started moving towards him, but Harry turned to her.
"NO! Don't move! Don't forget we're still playing." Hermione moved back and Harry moved to check the king. "Checkmate." The King's sword fell onto the ground, ending the game. The three of us all ran over to Ron. Harry reached him first and looked at Hermione. "Take care of Ron. Then, go to the owlery. Send a message to Dumbledore. Ron's right...we have to go on."
Hermione nodded. "You'll be okay, Harry. You're a great wizard, you really are."
"Not as good as you," Harry said.
"Me? Books and cleverness? There are more important things. Friendship, and bravery. Just be careful, both of you." she said.
We walked through the door and down a long staircase to an empty room with pillars around it. There were stairs leading down and the Mirror of Erised was in the middle of the room. Harry rubbed his scar, grimacing. When we saw who was standing in front of the mirror, we both stopped short.
"You?" Professor Quirrell turned around at my exclamation. "No. It can't be...Snape. He was the one-"
"Yes. He does seem the type, doesn't he? Next to me, who would suspect, "p-p-poor s-stuttering Professor Quirrell?""
Harry shook his head. "B-but, that day, during the Quidditch Match, Snape tried to kill me."
"No, dear boy. I tried to kill you! And trust me, if Snape's cloak hadn't caught fire and broken my eye contact, I would have succeeded. Even with Snape muttering his little counter-curse." Quirrell rolled his eyes.
"Snape was trying to...save him?" I said, shocked. Professor Snape had never shown any particular interest in any of us, much less a gryffindor.
"I knew you were both a danger right from the off. Especially after Halloween." Quirrell said.
"Then you let the troll in," I said as everything started to add up in my head.
Quirrell turned back to the mirror. "Very good Miss Keres, yes. Snape, unfortunately, wasn't fooled. While everyone else was running to the dungeon, he went to the 3rd floor to head me off. He, of course, never trusted me again. He rarely left me alone. But he doesn't understand. I'm never alone. Never. Now...what does this mirror do? I see what I desire. I see myself holding the stone. But how do I get it?"
"Use the children." A raspy, half-dead-sounding voice said, making Quirrell turn around. "Come here, you two, now!" We walked forward, making sure to keep space between him and us. We looked in the mirror. "Tell me. What do you see?" I saw Harry holding the stone and putting it back in his pocket with a wink. Harry gasped. "What is it?! What do you see?!"
"I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I've won the house cup." Harry lied.
"He lies." the raspy voice said.
"Tell the truth! What do you see?!" Quirrell yelled.
"I see myself with a competent defense against the dark arts teacher that isn't trying to kill me," I said dryly, watching Quirrell fume.
"Let me speak to them." The raspy voice said again, making my skin crawl.
"Master, you are not strong enough," Quirrell said, his voice strained.
"I have strength enough for this." Quirrell unwrapped his turban, revealing another face on the back of his head. "Harry Potter and Maeve Keres. We meet again."
"Voldemort?" I said, moving closer to Harry.
"Yes. You see what I have become? See what I must do to survive? Live off another. A mere parasite. Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can. Something, that conveniently enough, lies in your pocket!" Harry and I turned and ran.
"Stop them!" There was a snap and fire erupted all around the room. We were stuck. "Don't be fools! Why suffer a horrific death when you can join me and live?!"
Harry shook his head. "Never!"
Voldemort chuckled. "Bravery. Your parents had it too. Tell me, Harry, would you like to see your mother and father again? And Maeve, would you like your mother to be alive and well again? Together, we can bring them back. All I ask for is something in return." Harry took the stone out of his pocket. "That's it, Harry. There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it. Together, we'll do extraordinary things. Just give me the stone!"
"You liar!" Harry yelled.
"Kill them!" Voldemort yelled. Quirrell soared into the air and smashed into Harry, one hand on Harry's throat. They fell to the steps. The stone fell out of Harry's reach as Quirrell choked him. I grabbed Quirrell's shoulder and pulled him off Harry and shoved him hard down the stairs. Helping Harry up, I turned just in time to see Quirrell getting back up and coming towards us. Harry got in front of me and grabbed Quirrell's hands, smoke starting to raise from them.
"Ahh! Ahh!" Quirrell backed away, his hand crumbling into black ash. "What is this magic?"
"Fool! Get the stone!" Quirrell went after Harry again, but I imagined his soul leaving his body and the already dim light around him disappearing, which stopped him short and gave Harry enough time to grab his face and he crumbled into dust. It was quiet for a minute and we both sighed in relief. Harry picked up the stone, but there was a strange sound behind us. We turned to see Voldemort, now a spirit, flying toward us. He went through my body and I fell to the ground, seeing him go through Harry before everything went black.