AN: sorry about forgetting to update yesterday guys. In case y'all hadn't figured out my schedule I try to update on Wednesday's. I just moved and was taking care of some stuff and totally forgot. And because of that I'm gonna post another chapter after this one!!! Love y'all and thanks for your support!
Without the Weasley twins to distract them, and armed with their new escape plan, the boys wasted no time in executing their grand heist. Late on the second night of term, Aries and Draco slipped out of their dormitory under the Cloak and made their way to the third-floor corridor. Each boy wore a Portkey around his neck that would activate only when its owner uttered a specific password.
When they reached the locked door, Aries whispered, "Alohomora," and the cousins crept inside. Just as before, the giant dog detected their scent and moved towards them, but this time Aries and Draco immediately began to sing, Draco taking the melody line and Aries the harmony. "Lullaby, and good-night," they sang, "in roses bedight. Creep into thy bed, there slumber thy head."
The dog instantly relaxed, its three heads each sporting a goofy, doggy grin. It lay down on the stone floor and drifted off to sleep. The boys continued to sing as they made their way to the trapdoor and jumped in. Aries was careful to close the trapdoor behind him as he jumped, lest anyone else come in and discover what had happened. Even through the trapdoor, Aries could hear the sudden snarling as the dog woke up.
The landing was surprisingly soft. Aries felt relieved...until the floor began to twist around his legs. "What is this?" he demanded. "I'm not sure," Draco replied anxiously. Aries lit his wand. "Great Merlin!" he exclaimed. "It's Devil's Snare!" "It likes the wet and the dark," Draco said quickly. "We should light a fire." Aries nodded, and muttered the incantation. Flames burst forth from the tip of his wand, and the Snare let the boys go. "That was close," Draco muttered. "I wonder what other nasty surprises Dumbledore has in store for us," Aries mused.
They made their way along the damp stone corridor, and soon entered a brightly lit chamber. There was a door on the far side of the room, but it was locked, and refused to open to spells. Up above them, it looked as though a thousand birds were fluttering about. Aries looked more carefully, and then it dawned on him. "They're keys!" he exclaimed. "Winged keys." "Which one do you think opens the door?" Draco asked. "They all look the same." Aries smiled. "They are all the same, except for that silver one. It matches the lock on the door." He spotted a broomstick out of the corner of his eye. "I'll have to catch it."
"We don't have time for Quidditch heroics," Draco said, rolling his eyes at the eager expression on Aries's face. He lifted his wand and pointed it towards the iron key. "Accio Silver Key!" he intoned, and the key flew into his hand. He opened the door easily and let the key fly back to its brothers. Aries and Draco walked through the door and found themselves facing a giant chessboard. "Do you think we have to play?" Aries asked. "No, Aries, I think the giant chessmen are just here for decoration," Draco snapped. Aries gave his cousin a funny look. "You seem unusually tense." "Sorry," Draco said sheepishly. "It just all makes me a bit nervous. I mean, none of the obstacles so far have been exactly what you'd call difficult. There must be something worse up ahead."
Aries groaned. "That's a cheerful thought." "As for the chessboard," Draco mused, "I suppose we need to take the place of the pieces. I'll be the king, you can be the queen." "Thanks, mate," Aries said sarcastically. They took their spots. Before play began, Aries leaned over to Draco and whispered in his ear. "Go for scholar's mate." Draco nodded, and they began to play. It was the oldest trick in the book, but it worked. Four moves later, it was checkmate, and Aries and Draco happily passed through to the other side. They found themselves facing a very angry mountain troll.
"This should be easy," Aries said with a grin, and brandished his wand. "Don't kill this one," Draco suggested. "If we leave the protections in place it will take longer for them to figure out we've taken the Stone." "Good point," Aries agreed, and pointed his wand at the troll's head. "Imperio!" he whispered, and the troll docilely allowed them to pass. "You're awfully good at that," Draco observed with a frown as they walked on ahead. "How many times have you used it before?" "Only once," Aries replied with a grin. "I Imperiused the Sorting Hat to put you in Gryffindor."
"WHAT?" Draco exclaimed. "What did you do that for?" Aries shrugged. "It was taking too long. I didn't want to be separated from you." "You're one scary wizard, Aries." Draco shook his head in bewilderment. "Not that I mind. I didn't like the other option the Hat was giving me." "What was it?" Aries asked. "Not telling," Draco said primly. "That's the price you pay for your impatience." "If I hadn't done it, you mightn't have wound up in Gryffindor," Aries said defensively. Draco snorted. "Think about we're up to at the moment, Aries. We're stealing the Philosopher's Stone, just for the hell of it. If that isn't a Gryffindorish thing to do, I don't know what is."
Aries smirked and the cousins moved on to the next obstacle. Flames suddenly burst up both in front and behind, trapping them in a stone room with a table, on which lay a row of potions and a riddle written on parchment. "This is tricky," Draco muttered after he read the instructions, and began trying to figure out the puzzle. "Some of the phials are poison, some are nettle wine, whilst one will take us forward, and one back. Let's see..." "We don't have time for this rubbish," Aries said. He leveled his wand at the row of potions. "Toxicum revelio," he muttered, and small black clouds appeared over the phials that contained poison. "Vinum revelio." A purple haze appeared over the phials that contained nettle wine. "Does that help?" he asked wryly.
Draco grinned. "A bit." He glanced over the riddle again, and took a phial. "This is it. This will take us forward." He took a sip and then handed it to Aries, who drank from the phial and then replaced it, being careful to cast a Refilling Charm before stepping through the flames into the next room. Draco joined him a moment later. The room was empty except for a large, antique mirror. Aries wandered over and stood in front of the mirror. He gasped at what he saw. It was himself, only as he had been before he became Aries Black, with James's messy hair and Lily's green eyes. Behind him stood James and Lily, as well as Sirius and Remus. Draco stood beside him, and the rest of the family were there too: Pollux, Arcturus, Melania, Irma, Cassiopeia, Abraxas, the Squibs...all of them. In his hands Harry held a large crystal flask of Elixir of Life, and everyone around him looked both energetic and youthful.
"What do we do now, Aries?" Draco asked impatiently. "I just want to find the Stone and go." "Look in the mirror," Aries said eagerly, shoving his cousin in front of the large mirror. "What do you see?" Draco stared briefly, and then gasped. "The Stone! It's in my pocket." He reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a blood-red stone. "You did it!" Aries exclaimed in shock. "We did it," Draco corrected with a smile. "May I see it?" Aries asked, reaching out for the Stone. "Once we get out of here," Draco said, and muttered his password. Nothing happened. He tried again, with no results. And again. Draco's triumphant look changed to one of panic. "The Portkey doesn't work. There must be anti-Portkey wards in place!"
"Let's try mine," Aries said, and grabbed his cousin's arm before letting out a long, guttural hiss. It didn't work. "We'll have to try to make our way back through the obstacles," Draco said. "How are we supposed to do that?" Aries snapped. "The effects of that potion have undoubtedly worn off by now, and there's no other way to get through the flames." "What do we do?" Draco asked. "We'll have to break through the anti-Portkey wards," Aries said. "How the hell are you going to do that?" his cousin demanded.
"Don't know," Aries replied honestly. He closed his eyes, raised his wand and began to hiss. Draco felt himself growing more and more nervous as his cousin went through incantation after incantation. Finally, Aries's eyes snapped open and he grabbed Draco's arm. "Now, Draco!" he shouted, and the blond boy uttered the password. Moments later, the two boys found themselves in the Gryffindor Common Room. "How did you manage that?" Draco panted. Aries smirked. "I'm the Heir of Slytherin, the next Dark Lord. I have all sorts of phenomenal powers." His cousin rolled his eyes, and the two boys went up to bed. Neither noticed a certain Muggleborn witch hiding behind a large armchair.