*Gobbledygook*
$Parseltongue$
{Alex's POV}
-November 4th, 1991-
Alex cast a disillusionment charm on themselves before stepping out of their room. They cast a quick silencing spell on themselves and moved silently across the common room. They had decided to apparate straight to the third floor, to prevent being found by any patrolling teachers. They were still keyed into the Hogwarts apparition wards; the only person alive who was. They twisted on their heel and the silencing spell was the only thing that stopped a loud crack from echoing around the empty common room.
They landed in a room, directly in front of the large Cerberus. The Cerberus was lying on the ground, all three heads looking around the room alertly. They waved their wand, making a soft melody sing around the room. It took a few minutes, but the Cerberus heads all eventually dropped, and the dog slipped to sleep. Alex moved over to the Cerberus, levitating its paw off the trap door that it was guarding. They slipped down the hole in the floor, landing in a large pile of Devils Snare.
They cast a quick Lumos, a bright ball of light appearing just above both of their hands and the vines that were wrapping themselves around them instantly shrunk back. They dropped to the floor, landing in a crouched position as the light faded away. They stood up and moved forward, into a room full of flying keys.
There was a broom in the middle of the room and Alex quickly realised that whoever had made this protection intended them to fly and catch the key. Instead of moving towards the broom, Alex simply raised their hand and waved it towards themselves, summoning the correct key straight into their hand. They pulled up a full shield around themselves and was encased in a bubble, preventing the keys, which were now flying straight at them, from harming them. Unlocking the door, they moved through to the next challenge.
Before Alex stood a large mountain troll. They didn't even think, instantly using the shadows to move to the other side of the room before the troll could spot them. At least someone knew what they were doing. This was the only challenge so far that would actually stop someone who was school aged.
The next room held a chessboard. Alex saw the pieces moving and interacting, guessing that they would have to play their way across the room. Instead of doing what was probably expected, they transformed into their snake form. They made themselves blend into the ground, to make it even harder for the chess pieces to stop them. They slithered across the room, unbothered by the chess pieces. Once they reached the door, they became human again, stepping easily through the door. Afterall, they were rubbish at chess.
As soon as they closed the door behind them, purple flames appeared across the doorway. The door on the other side of the room was instantly covered in black flames. Alex looked around the room, trying to work out what the test was. On a table in front of them, was a line of seven bottles. A piece of parchment was placed in front of the row of bottles as well. They stepped forward, reading what was written on the parchment.
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find.
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead.
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore.
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide,
You will always find one on nettle wines left side.
Second, different are those at each end,
But if you would move forward, neither is your friend.
Third as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant hold death on their insides.
Fourth, the second left and the second right,
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Alex read the riddle through and worked out what was needed. It didn't take long before they picked up the bottle that they were confident held the potion to move forward. They expanded their magic slightly, letting it check that they were right. After a moment, their magic concluded that it wasn't poison and that it would make them impervious to the black flames. They drank the potion, shuddering slightly at the cold washed through them. They stepped through the flames, reaching the last room without a single hair out of place.
Inside the large room stood a mirror. The mirror had writing on the top and Alex stepped closer to read what it said.
I show not your face but your hearts desire, they muttered to themselves, reading the inscription backwards. They stepped closer and saw themselves reflected in the glass. On one side stood their mentors, Sal, Godric, Helga, Rena and Merlin. On the other side was Remus with their friends, Draco, Neville, Padma, Terry, Lisa, Mandy, Michael and Anthony. They looked closer, seeing the image of themselves pull a red stone from their pocket. They smiled, slipping the stone back into the pocket they had pulled it from.
Alex gasped as a weight dropped into the same pocket the reflection had placed the stone it. They turned away from the mirror, allowing their hand to reach into their pocket and pull out the stone that had appeared there. They had done it; they had gotten the Philosophers Stone. They cast another silencing spell on themselves, before turning on their heel and appearing in the centre of the Ravenclaw common room.
Alex went back into their room, placing the stone in a heavily warded compartment. It would be safer in their personal chambers, but they would move it tomorrow. For now, they simply wanted to go to bed.
The next day Alex was sitting in the corner of the common with their friends.
"So, you never did tell us how you were going to find out what is on the third floor. Or how you were going to do it," Terry said, turning the conversation away from quidditch. Alex threw up a quick privacy spell before replying. This wasn't something they wanted to be public knowledge.
"I'll just say that I understand why the third floor is off limits. I don't think anyone would want to come face to face with the Cerberus that the headmaster decided to place there," they said. None of their friends replied. They all just sat there, mouths open slightly, looks of shock on all their faces.
"Come to my room and I'll explain." Alex's words seemed to break the shock.
"Your room. But we aren't allowed in the opposite genders room," Michael said.
"And you won't be. Come on." Alex walked over to their door, their friends following them.
"Why are we standing in front of a blank, solid wall?" Lisa asked.
"That's right, I haven't told you, I just assumed you knew. My bad. You can't see the door to the room unless someone who sleeps in there has told you why they are in there. So, anyway, I'm non-binary, hence my pronouns and such." As Alex finished speaking, there were a few gasps as the door obviously came into view for them. They pushed the door open, allowing the others to enter before they did. They closed the door behind them, before moving over to sit on their bed. The others had all seated themselves on various chairs, couches and beanbags that were around the room.
"I've always wondered why you seemed to disappear right before bed. It makes so much sense now," Mandy said.
"So, what did you say about a Cerberus?" Anthony said. His voice wavered slightly, like he was trying to force himself to stay calm.
"Exactly what I said. The headmaster decided it would be smart to place a Cerberus on the third-floor corridor."
"And did you find out why the Cerberus is there?" Padma asked. Alex didn't answer, instead they moved over to the draw that they had placed the Philosophers Stone in. They waved their hand, allowing the wards they had placed around it to disappear. They grabbed the stone out of the draw, turning to face the others with it hidden in their hand.
"The Cerberus was one of the things guarding this." They opened their hand, allowing the other first years to see the blood red stone sitting in the middle of their hand.
"Is that..." Terry gasped, trailing off in wonder.
"What is it?" Mandy asked.
"Why was it in the school?" Lisa added.
"What do you think it is Terry? You're probably right," Alex said, looking over to Terry who was still gazing at the stone in awe.
"I can't be right because the headmaster would be stupid to hide it in a school. But I think it's the Philosophers Stone," Terry said, looking straight at Alex. Alex held his gaze and nodded slightly. Terry just stared at Alex.
"The Philosophers Stone grants the Elixir of Life, right? And turns metal into gold?" Anthony asked.
"Yeah. This is the only one in existence. I have no clue why the headmaster thought it would be a good idea to bring it into the school and guard it with things that any school aged student would be able to get through," Alex replied. "I managed to get it yesterday. I'm planning on experimenting with it a bit, before owling it back to the Flamels."
"What are you planning on using it for?" Padma asked.
"Oh, this and that. I have a lot of independent projects that I'm working on. This should help with some of them." The others just looked at them for a while.
"You know that you're casually talking about using the Elixir of Life in your projects. I know you're smart but you're only 11. Nothing you're working on could require such an ingredient," Michael finally said.
"See, that's where you're wrong. But that's besides the point. Anyone have any ideas why the headmaster would place this here?" Alex asked, trying to bring the conversation back to what they had originally been talking about.
"Well, it could be to test Harry. I mean, you said that the things guarding it could be gotten past by a school aged person, so maybe the headmaster wanted Harry to go after it," Mandy suggested.
"Or maybe he put it here to keep it safe. You know, because Gringotts was broken into. He might not have realised how easy he guards were," Anthony said.
They kept throwing ideas around for half an hour, some of the ideas having merit while others didn't. Lisa had just suggested that the headmaster had stolen the stone and was hiding it from the Flamels, where she got that idea was anyones guess, when Alex heard Akira coming. Akira had found a pipe that connected the Chamber straight to this room and used it to travel between them and Celestine.
$Alex, I'm back. My mother had an idea for the disappearing potion.$ Alex sighed when they heard that. They really wanted to know what this idea was, but they had friends in their room. Friends that didn't know about Akira, or the fact that they were a Parselmouth.
"Do you guys want to go down to lunch?" they asked, trying to clear the room before Akira came into view.
"We can go down in a little while. I'm not that hungry yet," Terry said, and the others agreed. Alex sighed, knowing that they would be finding out another of their secrets pretty soon. Not even a minute later, Akira slithered into view from the bathroom. She stopped as soon as she entered the room.
"What type of snake is that?" Mandy asked, having been the first to spot Akira.
"I didn't know you had a snake Alex. I thought that only owls, toads and cats were allowed as pets," Padma added. Alex walked over to Akira, reaching down and allowing her to drape over their shoulders.
$Sorry Alex. I didn't realise you had company,$ Akira hissed softly into Alexs ear.
"This is Akira. She's not a pet, she's my familiar. And I haven't shown her to anyone because she's a basilisk," Alex said slowly, moving to sit back on their bed.
"Don't basilisks kill by looking at you?" Michael asked.
"That is one of their ways to kill someone, along with their venom. What most people don't know, however, is that they can basically turn their deadly gaze on and off at will so that they don't harm anyone by accident," Alex explained while running one finger along Akira's scales.
"How do you know that?" Mandy asked. "It doesn't sound like something you would just find in a book. And where did you get her? I didn't know that basilisks were still alive."
"Firstly, basilisks can live for centuries, so there are definitely a few alive still, even if they are well hidden. And you're correct, that isn't information that I found in a book. Akira told me. I'm a Parselmouth." Their friends just stared at them, obviously trying to process the new information. Eventually, Terry spoke up.
"That's cool. Doesn't change anything though."
"Parseltongue is actually a revered skill in many cultures, including mine," Padma added. Alex smiled, happy that their friends didn't care about their ability.