H POV
I give a sideways glance to Draco, who nods nearly imperceptible. We had this all planned, with me doing most of it. Draco's only job is to get me out of the dorm without suspicion from others. Seeing his nod, I blink back at Pansy, who was talking about what she wants to do over the summer break. Letting out a yawn, I move myself out of the chair I was sitting on.
"Sorry guys, I'm pretty tired, I should go to bed if I want to wake up in the morning." Blaise gave a small nod, while Pansy chuckled. Draco simply blinked, before I waved goodnight and left to go to our room.
Exactly 20 minutes later, I am headed back down to the common room, draped in the invisibility cloak. I can hear Draco standing from his seat as I reach the last step of the stairs. I continue walking, letting the cloak brush his arm slightly so he knows I am there.
The plan so far has gone pretty smoothly; I claim to be tired and return to our room, then 20 minutes later I leave with the invisibility cloak. This is where Draco comes into play.
"I'm going to go see if the kitchen has any snacks, you two want anything?" Draco spoke up, glancing between Pansy and Blaise.
"Nope, I'm still full from dinner." Pansy patted her stomach with a slight smile.
"No, but Draco we just ate two hours ago." Blaise frowned, probably wondering why Draco is getting more food. Draco simply shrugged.
"It's mostly for Harry, since he didn't eat at dinner time. He skipped lunch as well, or did you not notice?" He sighed, "I'll be back in a few, don't wait up." he headed towards the door of the common room, slipping out while holding the door open for an extra half second, just long enough for me to quickly exit behind him.
This part of the plan was so no one would question why the door was opening and closing on it's own. Draco is also going to actually head to the kitchens and get some food, since I won't be back until late and will probably be a little hungry. Skipping both lunch and dinner helped to make this more legitimate.
I followed silently behind Draco through the halls, before we go our separate ways when we reach the top of the steps. We are both pretty confidant that this will work, and if it doesn't we have a plan b ready, as well as a plan c.
I walk swiftly, needing to reach the room before the golden trio does. I need to have my timing just right, or else it wont work. I remember how quickly the harp stopped playing when we had reached the room, and I need to recreate that without knowing exactly what time the harp had been made the first time around. Pausing before the door, I take a quick breath of air and slip my wand from its spot in my pocket. 'Okay, I have an estimated 10 seconds before Fluffy realizes someone entered the room. That should be plenty of time. I practiced the spell last night to make sure I could cast it. It was easier than I expected it to be. I need to go inside now.'
Pushing the door open, I keep to the wall as the door closes again. Pointing my wand at the spot the harp should be, I whisper the spell. I can hear Fluffy starting to growl as the heads turn to try and see what opened the door.
"O cithara." I watched as the harp appeared, and it started playing a second later. I stayed where I was, listening to it's breathing slow down as it fell asleep. It only took another 30 seconds before Fluffy was fast asleep and I deemed it safe to exit the room again. 'In about 30 minutes the harp will stop playing. The trio should arrive in roughly 28 minutes. I will have to wait out here until they get the stone.' Sitting on the floor across from the door, I make sure the cloak is covering all of me before slipping back into my mind, searching for the piece of Voldemort inside me.
3rd PPOV
The hurried steps of three people could be heard coming near, before they stopped in front of the closed door where they knew Fluffy would be waiting for them. Ron was nervously looking around, while Hermione quickly opened the door. Neville held a flute at the ready, about to start playing, when the sound of a harp reached their ears. Confused at the harp, and already sleeping dog, they shrugged and began to move the large paw off the trap door it was protecting.
Pulling open the door, Ron let a frown mar his features, before looking over at Hermione.
"It's too dark to see anything down there. Would you like to go first?"
Hermione huffed, "No, not particularly."
"I'll go first, then." Neville stepped towards the other two, looking down at the darkened space. Ron shrugged, before moving away.
"Be careful, Neville." Hermione spoke up, offering a smile. Neville returned it before letting himself jump through the hole. He landed on something soft, which isn't what he was expecting. Looking up to what he assumed to be the direction his friends were waiting, he called up at them.
"It's safe, come on down!"
Both Ron and Hermione quickly join Neville, a resounding bark following them down. It wasn't until Hermione tried to reach the other two, that she realized the thing they landed on was wrapping them with what looked to be vines.
"Guy's stop moving around! This is Devil's Snare!" Hermione stopped her own movements, trying to remember how to kill the plant.
"Light! Someone needs to spell us a light. I can't reach my wand." Neville quickly said, remembering what Professor Sprout had said about this particular plant.
"Of course! Devil's Snare likes the cold and damp! Thanks Neville." Hermione grinned, quickly casting a strong Lumos. The plant released them, and they hurriedly went further forward.
After getting halfway down the passageway, Ron paused and tilted his head slightly.
"Ron, what is it?" Neville asked, hoping it wasn't something terrible.
"Do you guys hear something? It almost sounds like wings." Hermione and Neville paused, trying to hear what Ron was hearing. It didn't take long for them to also hear the soft tinkling coming from the end of the passageway - which was also emitting light. They shared a nervous look with each other, before advancing.
It wasn't until they seen the fluttering things that they stopped again. On the other side of them was a door.
"Will they attack if we walk past them?" was Neville's question.
"I don't think so, if that were the case then they would be attacking us now. We aren't that far away from them. See the broom? We probably have to catch one or more of them to get through the door." Hermione answered, before walking forward. As she had guessed, she remained unharmed. Trying the handle of the door, she let out a sigh after finding it locked. Ron and Neville quickly joined her.
"Maybe those things are keys? They aren't shaped like normal birds, or pixies." Ron suggested, looking between the things in the air and the lock on the door. Neville nodded in agreement.
"We would be looking for an older key, then. A silver one, that's also big." Hermione was looking at the keyhole."
"Okay, I'll get it. Or, try to, since I am really bad at flying." Neville offered, shooting the broom an unsure look.
"If you don't want to, I could get it." Ron offered, but Neville simply shook his head before heading towards the broom. Grabbing hold of the broom set the keys into a swift nose dive towards him. Quickly mounting the broom to avoid being stabbed by a hundred keys, he pulled himself upwards towards the ceiling, the keys following his path. Turning around a few large columns, he spotted the key they were describing a few moments later. Pulling on the broom once more, and nearly falling off, he shot above them, reaching one arm out to snatch the key from the air. Rushing towards where Ron and Hermione were standing, he tossed the key in their direction. Hermione caught it from the air before it could get away and stuffed it into the keyhole. One the door was opened, Hermione and Ron dashed into the room and moved to the side for Neville to fly into the room.
Slamming the door shut, they could hear a dozen dull thuds from the keys embedding into the wood of the door.
The sudden illumination of the room got their attention once more. Ron gaped at the sight of the huge chessboard and chess pieces. Hermione paled slightly, and Neville let out a small groan.
"Let me guess, we have to play chess now? I suck at chess." Neville sighed, walking towards the chess board. Hermione kept walking, seeing if she could just keep going. Neville's assumption was confirmed when her path was blocked by two knights.
"Alright, this shouldn't be too difficult. I assume we will be playing with the black pieces." Ron looked around the board thoughtfully for a moment, before coming up with a plan, "Neville you can be the bishop right there, and Hermione you can be the Queen's right castle. I'll be a knight." The three moved to their respective places, waiting for the game to begin.
In the end, Ron sacrificed himself so that they could win the game. Hermione stayed behind with him while Neville moved forwards.
He was confused when the only thing he saw in the next room was a mirror. He slowly moved forwards to stand in front of it, not sure what to expect. Glancing around nervously, he nearly passed out from shock when his reflection began to move. It winked at him, and made the motion of putting something in it's pocket. Neville was even more startled when he felt his pocket grow heavier. Slowly reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a blood red stone that was just a little smaller than his own fist. Not wanting to stick around much longer, he quickly left the room and rejoined Hermione and Ron.
"Do you have it? What happened?" Hermione questioned as soon as she saw Neville re enter the chess room with a bewildered expression.
"Nothing happened. Well, not really. There was only a mirror, and after looking into it, my reflection moved and next thing I know, the stone appeared in my pocket. There was no one else there. Maybe we just got here before Proffesor Snape could?" Hermione hummed softly.
"No matter, if that's the case we need to get out of here before he does decide to come and try to steal the stone." She turned and cast a quick reinnervate on Ron, who quickly woke up.
"What happened?" Ron questioned, standing up on shaky legs.
"We have the stone, we don't think Professor Snape has come to try and steal it yet. We need to leave now if we want to keep it that way." Hermione spoke, getting back up. Ron nodded in agreement, and they quickly left the room.
When the finally reached the room Fluffy was in, flute in hand once more, they were startled to see the harp was playing again and Fluffy was already deeply asleep. However, what scared them was the boy dressed in Slytherin robes that was standing right in front of them with a small smirk.
H POV
About two hours after the trio went into the room, I stood back up and dusted my pants off. Now begins the final part to the plan. I entered the room again, invisibility cloak still on, and swiftly recast the spell for the harp to play. It didn't take long for Fluffy to fall back asleep. Taking off the cloak, I calmly stood in front of the door to the room. The first one to exit the trap door was Granger, quickly followed by Weasley and Longbottom, who had a flute in his hands. I let a smirk form across my lips when they noticed me standing there.
"Hello." I spoke first, watching as the three of them reached for their wands.
"What do you want, Potter?" Weasley growled, and I noticed Longbottom swiftly hiding his pocket with his robe.
"I want the stone. You are going to give it to me." Granger narrowed her eyes at me.
"No way are we handing it over. Did Professor Snape put you up to this?" I snorted, making Granger narrow her eyes some more.
"Of course he didn't. Why in the world would Snape want the stone? Please don't answer that, I have no more time to waste here." I swiftly cast a wandless stupify and watched as they slumped to the floor. Walking over to Longbottom, I swiftly removed the stone and deposited it into my own pocket.
"Thanks." I drew out the s a little bit, before pulling out my wand. This would be a little more tricky to accomplish. I cast an obliviate, making sure to erase any memories regarding the stone, and Fluffy, and any other memories that even slightly mentioned anything that had to do with Voldemort throughout the year. Aside from the ones where someone else mentioned him first. Casting the spell on each one of them, I lifted the stupifyafter putting my cloak back on, then quickly left the room before they would notice the door opening on it's own.
I met back up with Draco outside the common room, brushing the cloak against his arm to signal that I was there. He straightened back up, before silently heading back inside, once again holding the door long enough for me to enter behind him. The common room was empty, with it nearing midnight. We remained quiet until reaching our shared room. Pulling off the cloak when the door was shut, I quickly eyed the plate of food sitting on the desk next to my bed.
"How did it go?" Draco asked, sitting on my bed as I sat to eat.
"Brilliantly." I grinned, slipping the stone from my pocket and handing it to him. Draco eyed the stone critically, turning it in his fingers.
"This is it?"
"Yup. Looks like a regular stone, even though it's not." I pulled apart the bread, stuffing a piece into my mouth. Anyone would be hungry after skipping two meals. Draco hummed softly, handing the stone back over to me.
"So, tomorrow you will meet with him face to face?"
"If he will agree to the meeting, then yes. And if he listens first and fires spells second."
"How do you know he won't fire spells first?" Draco looked over at me, having laid down on his stomach.
"I don't, but I trust that he is curious enough to let me speak first." 'Judging by the annoying poking and prodding of our link, I would say he is a very curious person by nature.' Draco just hummed again, trying to hide a small smile. 'Why in the world is he smiling? Is he hiding something? Maybe. If he is, it has to do with Voldemort. I'll find out eventually, either way.' Finishing the food on my plate, I stand back up.
"I'm going to sleep now, thanks for the help today. Don't wait up for me in the morning, I'll meet you guys at breakfast."
"Alright." He nodded, also getting up to get ready for bed.