Author's Note: This Chapter breaks 100k words!

Sorry for this very very very late update, my beta and co-writer Quall has mostly been MIA, so I decided not to upload this chapter for a while, but since it's finished I thought I would anyway.

For context, this chapter was originally completed in October 2019, so I can't say it's one of my bests, especially with limited assistance from Quall. Regardless, expect some better quality chapters coming up in the future considering I've worked a lot on Reap What You Sow.

Since I'll be working on three stories at once (I must've gone mad), I can't say when I'll update this again, although I won't be abandoning this or any of my stories.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 20: The Trio & the Stone

"Hermione?"

"Yes?" asked the brunette, briefly looking up from her Potion's essay.

"Take a look at this."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

He nodded his head, not taking his gaze off the table where the Marauder Map was sitting atop.

She walked over to his side of the table and shuffled in next to Harry, not caring that there wasn't enough room for the two of them.

But upon looking at the map, she saw the source of his concern.

His eyes were following two names, Quirinus Quirrell and Severus Snape. They looked to be quite far apart, but it was clear Snape was following Quirrell. And to put matters into further scrutiny, Quirrell went into a room off to the right on the third floor, presumably the one that his brother had mentioned Fluffy was in.

But a few moments upon entering said room, Quirrell's name disappeared off the map completely.

What? That doesn't make sense, thought Hermione. He couldn't have apparated, he's still in Hogwarts.

She was about to voice her thoughts to Harry when Snape also entered the room and disappeared.

Then to make matters even more ridiculous, the Golden Trio seemed to be heading in the same direction. Presumably following Snape.

They were a floor down, but their direction meant one thing, they were heading for the third-floor as well. There wouldn't be any other reason for students to go in that direction, considering both Harry and Hermione knew where Gryffindor Tower was.

"Alright, we need to go and stop my brother before he gets himself killed," stated Harry.

Hermione didn't view Andrew very kindly, probably stemming from Harry's resentment of his brother. But like Harry, she saw no benefit in Andrew being killed. She had seen enough death this year.

"So long as we don't get killed first."

Harry grimaced, "You know, this probably means Quirrell is a dark wizard," he commented as they walked briskly to the third floor.

Hermione came to the same conclusion. If Dumbledore was hiding the stone up there, what other reason would the DADA Professor be heading there for? Snape was presumably either following Quirrell or helping him, they had already deduced that the former seemed more likely.

As they approached the third floor, Hermione spotted someone familiar in front of them.

Bloody hell, not him too.

The blonde hair and walking stance were unmistakable: Draco Malfoy.

It didn't take them long to spot the Golden Trio, and it was evident they were being followed by Malfoy.

She chuckled, causing Harry to look at her for a brief second, where she communicated what was amusing her.

Quirrell was heading for the stone, followed by Snape, who was being followed by the Golden Trio and the Golden Trio were being followed by Draco, who was now being followed by them.

They were now only a few feet away from Malfoy, who was trying his best to silently following the Trio, but he also seemed to be mindless of his surroundings.

Harry stopped to look at her, silently asking a question. She smirked at him and snuck up behind Malfoy, who didn't notice a thing.

She tapped him on the shoulder causing him to turn around frightfully letting out a girly scream, causing both Harry and Hermione to fall into laughter.

It took a few moments for Draco to gain his bearings, and the duo eventually calmed down.

"What the fuck Granger? What if they heard that?"

Hermione looked past Malfoy but knew the Trio was a fair way ahead, and out of ears reach.

"Language." She didn't berate Harry for his use of vulgar language, but other people she did, simply out of habit.

He rolled his eyes, "You're not my mother."

She ignored his comment, "They wouldn't have heard us." She started to walk with Harry, in the Trio's direction. Glancing over her shoulder she asked, "Coming?"

Hermione didn't wait to hear his response, but his footsteps answered her question.

"How do you even know who I'm talking about? And how do you know where they are?" asked Malfoy.

Harry answered, "Well you're obviously following my brother and his two friends. And we've been following them for ages, same as you. We believe they're heading to the room they found Fluffy."

Some of what Harry said was lies, but Malfoy gobbled it right up and kept quiet as they turned the corner of a corridor.

Just as they did Hermione spotted Weasly entering a room, before shutting the door. She shared a look with Harry and the two ran off to the door.

"Hey!" she heard behind them, but Hermione could also tell Malfoy wasn't far behind.

They opened the door and all three of them rushed inside, catching a confused Andrew look at his brother wide-eyed, before jumping down the trapdoor on the left… only there were two trapdoors.

"Wait!" Harry cried, but it was too late.

That's when Hermione finally noticed the behemoth in the room, a giant Cerberus, just as the trio had said.

Oddly it was sleeping, well odd until she realised that a giant harpsichord was playing music off to the right. They knew from overhearing Hagrid, that 'Fluffy' would fall asleep to a musical lullaby.

She was trying to pinpoint what lullaby it was, while she, Draco and Harry were trying to pry open the trapdoor, Andrew had gone down, but to no avail, even with the use of the unlocking charm.

Just when she thought she had the answer the room filled with silence. It took her a moment to understand why; the music had stopped.

She looked at Harry with a fearful face, and Malfoy was as pale as a ghost. They all knew what this meant; Fluffy would no longer be asleep.

Wide-eyed, she mouthed to her two companions, 'Quiet.'

They nodded their heads and moved away from the beast.

But Malfoy, being the clumsy idiot he is, stumbled on Fluffy's paw.

They all froze… but nothing happened, so they let out a sigh of relief. But Hermione instantly glared daggers at Draco.

They moved back to the trapdoor when an eye snapped open.

Then another.

And another.

Before long all six eyes were looking at them in obvious confusion, but it didn't take long for that to change.

Each of the three heads then bared their teeth at the 'invaders' and made a move to attack them, it was only due to Harry's swift 'Verdimillious' charm that the three were given a chance to gain their bearings.

"We have to get out of here!" cried Draco while putting his back against the wall.

"We need to follow my idiotic brother, else he might die!" said Harry.

Hermione wondered to herself if Harry actually did care about his brother, more than he had ever let on. But put that thought away from another time.

"So what?!" Malfoy replied.

Scowling, Hermione rushed to the 'other' trap door and opened it with ease.

There wasn't much time to debate, so Hermione made a motion to jump in, only briefly turning back at Draco, who was trying to open the third room door, to no avail.

"Come on you idiot!"

The Cerberus had now fully woken up and was rightfully mad.

Fluffy tried to bite Harry, but due to his fast reactions, he managed to get out of the way, but barely.

Wasting no more time, Hermione jumped down the trapdoor, landing on a small wooden floor, quickly followed by Harry and eventually Draco, who looked like he'd seen the devil.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Earlier…

"I'm telling you I saw, Snape leave for the third floor," Andrew told his two companions.

"C'mon Neville, we know that it was Snape, who else would attack Andrew during that Quidditch game?" asked Ron.

Neville, however, didn't seem convinced.

"I know your concerns and agree with them, Snape is probably going for the stone. But why do we have to intervene? Just because Dumbledore isn't here, doesn't mean we can't recruit the help of the other teachers."

He does have a good point, though Andrew. But he wasn't one to sit around and let things play out, besides with the amount of trouble they had gotten up to, it wasn't likely would ever believe them. Especially over things, they shouldn't know. How else would they explain their knowledge of the Stone and Fluffy?

"I understand what you mean Neville, but do you really think they'd believe us?" he said as he rose an eyebrow. "Besides, the more time we waste the less time we'll have to stop him."

Neville didn't seem convinced but relented anyway and said, "Fine... We'll go."

"Finally!" cried Ron, as he practically dragged the two out of Gryffindor Tower, and towards the third-floor corridor.

"Ow! Okay, Ron, we're coming."

The redhead in question, let go of both his friends and the Trio headed off.

They had reached the stairs to the third-floor when Neville asked,

"Should we use the cloak?"

"There shouldn't be a need for the cloak, and if there is… Well, because I kind of forgot about it," Andrew replied, mumbling the last bit.

"Andrew!" cried Neville.

"Hey, it doesn't matter, like I said it'll be fine."

They made it outside the room, and Andrew put his hand on the door.

Ron's, composure had broken, he was no longer as confident and excited as before, but now fearful. Something that didn't happen often with the Gryffindor.

"B-b-but what about Fluffy?" stuttered Ron.

God, how hadn't they thought of that? Were they idiots or what. Let's go to the room with Fluffy, without any instrument or means to calm it down. Nice one Andrew!

"Uh - Well Snape ought to put Fluffy to sleep, so it should be fine," replied Andrew with his most convincing smile.

This didn't seem to ease Ron's nerves, nor Neville's who was even more scared of Fluffy. Though his best friend hadn't voiced his fear, his eyes told another story. He wasn't sure why the beast scared his friends so much, especially Neville, but he made a note to discuss it with Neville at a later date.

He quickly cast an 'Alohomora' on the door, before slowly pushing the door.

Taking a peek in, he saw that Fluffy was fast asleep, and there was music playing. Eliciting a long sigh of relief from Andrew.

"It's all good, guys. Fluffy is asleep."

The trio all filtered into the room and spotted the two trapdoors.

"Which one do we take?" asked Ron.

"We don't have much time to choose. We need to stop Snape before he reaches the Stone."

He flicked his eyes between both the doors, however, his sight seemed to linger longer on the door to the left, almost as if it was calling to him.

"We'll take the left one, besides they ought to end up in the same place."

His two friends nodded in agreement and they carefully made their way over to the trapdoor, mindful of the giant Cerberus.

a quick 'Alohomora' and a lock clicked on the door. Neville opened it up and they all looked down it.

Looking down Andrew saw absolutely nothing. It was a black, dark and unnerving, for there seemed to be no ground in sight.

He turned to his two friends, both who had nervous looks on their faces.

"Uhh - so who wants to go first?" asked Ron, with a forced grin.

"What about the other trapdoor?" suggested Andrew, being fazed by the bottomless door.

"Yeah, we can tr-" but Neville was cut off, as the three all heard footsteps approaching the door.

Neville who was panicking said, "Well we are Gryffindors." And jumped feet first down the trapdoor. A moment passed as Ron and Andrew looked at each other fearfully, before Neville cried, "I'm alright."

Ron went next, and Andrew made way to follow, instead, clinging on the outskirts of the trapdoor, watching the door to the room. He was about to drop down when the door snapped open and three pairs of feet appeared. Not taking notice of who they were he dropped down, briefly hearing a familiar voice cry, "Wait!"

Wait? Why did he say that, and why was the voice familiar?

He fell, for a shorter time then he'd imagine it would've taken and landed on something soft, and damp?

With the room being pitch black Andrew asked, "Hey guys, are you there?"

"Yeah," replied Neville.

Ron's response came in another way, "Ahh! Something has a hold of me!"

Fearful of what was happening to Ron, Andrew took out his wand and said, "Lumos."

Immediately light filled the dark room, causing both Andrew and Neville to cover their eyes and cause the 'floor' under Andrew to move.

After taking a moment to adjust, Andrew noticed his surroundings and his breathing hitched.

There were sitting on multiple large black vines, and Ron was being tangled up in them.

"Can you guys do something!"

But Andrew had no idea what to do and looked on in shock as the vines continued to wrap around his best friends.

"We need to kill it!" exclaimed Neville.

"Really, Neville? It's not like we didn't already know that," said Ron sarcastically. He was about to go on but a vine wrapped around his mouth, blocking any sound from coming out.

Snapping out of his shock, and wanting to save his friend he yelled, "How do we kill it, Neville?"

Andrew knew that Neville was a prodigy on herbology, so knowing him, he likely had the answer.

"It's Devil's Snare, so fire or light, b-but I can't get to Ron." replied a panicked Neville.

Wasting no time, Andrew cast a bluebell flame in Ron's direction, as Neville managed to cast his own Lumos.

As the spell collided with the plant near Weasley it immediately let go, and Ron fell through.

"Ron!" they both shouted.

He snapped his gaze to Neville, but he too fell through. Panicked, he dropped his wand, which in turn caused the plant under him to give way.

He fell through and somehow managed to land on his feet, with his wand landing nearby.

"Andrew, you alright?" asked Neville.

"I'm fine," he replied waving off his friend.

"That thing nearly killed us!" cried Ron.

Andrew rose an eyebrow at him, "Well obviously Ron, it is meant to stop thieves like Snape from getting through, isn't it? I mean, it's a stone which makes one live forever!"

Ron seemed a bit shocked at this, Did he really not know the potential dangers of going on some adventure like this?

Ron gulped but straightened up and said, "Right, I should've known."

Andrew tightened his jaw and was about to retort but their other friend cut off whatever he was going to say.

Neville broke the tension, "C'mon guys, we need to stop Snape."

So they did just that, turning to the wooden door located at the end of the room.

Stepping through, Andrew took in the next room. Unlike the last one, this room had natural lighting, allowing them to see within it with ease.

Looking up there were tens of flying objects, hundreds maybe.

"Wow," said Neville in awe.

He absentmindedly nodded his head in agreement, "Wow indeed."

"There must be hundreds of them," commented Ron. "What do you think they're there for?"

Andrew replied, "I don't know. But it probably has something to do with those." And pointed towards the brooms located next to another door.

The trio quickly made their way over.

"I assume we'll just have to get through this door," said Andrew, though he was sceptical.

They surely wouldn't make it this easy, would they?

"Andrew, I doubt they'd just let us unlock the door, ignoring everything else," commented Neville.

He simply shrugged in response and cast an 'Alohomora' on the locked door.

To no one's surprise, there was no 'click' sound indicating that it was unlocked. Further confirmed when Andrew tried to turn open the door to no avail.

"No surprises there," muttered Andrew. "The door must be charmed against the unlocking spell. We'll need to find the key."

"Uh - guys, I think I found where the key is," said Ron with a grimace and pointing to the hundreds of flying objects.

"Oh god, you've got to be kidding me."

Now looking closer Andrew could clearly tell that all of the flying objects were actually keys with wings attached.

He put his leg over the broom and took a moment to get his bearings. Unlike his Nimbus, this broom was old and probably decades out of date, keeping stable was a big enough problem, he imagined flying would be even harder.

Using the descriptions from Neville of the correct key for the door, Andrew managed to quickly locate the key, which was, in fact, flying slower than the rest, due to crippled wings.

Using the broom, he quickly ascended to the key's height and dashed towards it like he was grabbing the snitch in a quidditch match. But surprisingly the key made no motion to get away.

Contemplating what this meant, Andrew stopped right in front of the battered key, looking at it suspiciously.

"What are you doing Andrew?" called out Ron. "Grab the stupid key and pass it over here."

"Don't you think this still seems a bit easy?" called Andrew back.

"Well maybe it's because we weren't here first," suggested Neville.

That does seem like a reasonable assessment. Snape ought to not know the difference between the keys, as its wings wouldn't have been damaged. It seemed as though nothing was amiss, so Andrew grabbed the key.

But as soon as he did, all the keys pointed directly towards him and flew at full speed.

Panicking, Andrew swept around the room, dodging and weaving, putting to use all of his tricks he had learned from Quidditch. It proved to be effective because he was never hit by any of them, though there were some close calls.

"Throw the key!" cried out Neville.

When passing his two friends, Andrew flung the injured key at them, he couldn't see where it landed all that well, but a second glance confirmed that Ron had caught it and was now opening the door.

"I got it!" claimed the redhead.

Pushing the broom to its limits, Andrew headed straight for the now open door, where his two friends were already through.

Soon after he passed through the door Andrew attempted to slow down the broom, but its velocity remained the same. Doing the only 'logical' thing, Andrew jumped off the broom, landing hard onto the stone floor, though he wasn't badly injured.

Ow, that bloody hurts.

Suddenly, Andrew jumps in fright, as a loud snapping sound is heard a few metres away from him. His broom had smashed directly into a giant stone statue? and split into two.

Guess we won't be using that ever again mused Andrew.

"You alright, Andrew?" said Neville breathlessly, it seemed as though the boy had run up from the door.

"A bit bruised, but I'll be fine," replied Andrew with a grimace.

He turned his head to look at his other friend, who was walking forward with a gaze full of awe.

"Wow, guys - do you know what this is?" said Ron.

"What, what is?" he questioned.

"Look," and the redhead motioned to the stone objects in the centre of the room. "It's a giant chess set."

A what? Why would there be a giant chess set?

He took a look with his own two eyes, and sure enough; after enough scrutiny, it was indeed obvious those stone objects were, in fact, chess pieces.

"How can this be a trap?" asked Andrew sceptically.

"Ain't it obvious, Andrew? We have to win the chess match, else...uh - I guess we can't get passed?" said Ron.

I doubt the consequences would be so insignificant, considering the last two traps almost killed us.

"Well, we better let Ron play then, considering he almost always wins."

Ron had a smug grin, "I always win."

Andrew rolled his eyes, "Yes, that's true," he admitted. He gave his redhead friend an encouraging nod, "Well go ahead, Chess Prodigy."

And so Ron started the game. Both Neville and Andrew had to substitute as missing pieces, while Ron got on the back of one of the knights.

He played just like he had every other game, demolishing his opponents with ease. Though it was quite barbaric as the pieces lost were literally destroyed, he dreaded to know what would happen if Neville or he were lost, but he trusted Ron. Besides they had never met anyone who could beat the youngest Weasley brother in a game of chess. Ten minutes in, he had the magical pieces in a trap, set for checkmate.

"Guys, I have to sacrifice myself so we can win this match," said Ron with confidence.

"What do you mean Ron?" asked a fearful Neville.

"I have to sacrifice the knight, so Andrew can checkmate the other side."

"Uhh - Ron, why don't you just get off the knight?" asked Andrew, confused to as why Ron would ever have to 'sacrifice' himself.

Ron looked at him as if he was stupid but then seemed to ponder what Andrew said. He then facepalmed himself and got off the knight mumbling, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Once clear, he executed his final plan, checkmating the magical opponent. The enemy king then fell down, and the rest gave way to let the trio through.

As Andrew walked through the door to the next room he reflected, It's awfully convenient that each and every trap has been easily solved by one of us. First Neville's herbology knowledge got us through Devil's Snare, then the second one required a good flyer to complete and the third trap was a chess match?! Is it possible the traps have been designed for us? But he put that thought away, Andrew believed that he and his two friends had been discreet enough with their investigation of the stone that no one could've known they would go for it. It must just all be a coincidence.

But the fourth room brought back the doubt; inside was a giant troll, larger than the one they had encountered on Halloween, however, there was one major difference. This troll was unmoving, lying flat on the ground, though there seemed to be no marks of damage.

"Is it dead?" asked Ron.

"I think so," commented Neville.

He visibly gulped, "I-I think it was killed by the killing curse." And he shivered at the possibility.

Both Ron and Neville looked shocked at the possibility.

Andrew took a deep breath in and told them, "You're both welcome to go back, if Snape did indeed do this with a killing curse, we can bet for sure that he won't bat an eye killing us. But I'm going to stop him, I can't let him get a stone which will give him immortality, no one should have that power.

Both his friends shared a glance with each other and gave nods to one another.

Ron replied, "We aren't going anywhere, Andrew. We're your friends, and we'll stop Snape together."

This elicited a massive smile from Andrew if he had any doubts about the validity of their friendship they were gone now.

"We aren't leaving you," commented Neville.

The three them moved into the next room which was filled with potions. There was a riddle located in between the potions, A logic puzzle, interesting.

Working together it didn't take long for the trio to figure out what the correct potion was to take, to get through the flames guarding the other door.

There were also conveniently two identical potions that would let the drinker go back and only one to go forward.

He knew what he had to do, while he had little intention of stopping Snape alone, there seemed to be no other choice. He was scared to be sure, but he wouldn't tell his two friends that.

He passed them the two bottles which would take them back and said, "You two go back and get Dumbledore, I'll stop Snape." He held up a hand at their silent protest. "No. I'm doing this," and drank the potion before either of them could stop him.

Andrew forced a smile at them, "I'll be fine."

Neville looked on the verge of tears but eventually relented and nodded at Andrew. Surprising the raven-haired boy he brought him into a short brotherly hug, "You got this Andrew, I believe in you."

Ron was a bit more awkward about their goodbye, giving his best friend a slap on the back, "Just the greasy git ain't it? How hard can it be?"

Andrew chuckled at that, "I'll see you two soon." And walked through the flames, not taking a glance back.

He walked into an open room, with only a few things of notice. The Mirror of Erised he recognised, at first sight, having found it during one of his midnight trips out with his cloak.

He had taken the chance earlier in the year to travel to the restricted section of the library and like an idiot, dropped the light he was carrying. This resulted in him running away from the library under his invisibility cloak and ending up in a deserted classroom. Well, at least he thought it was deserted until he saw a lone mirror sitting there.

When he looked in the mirror he was surprised to not only see his reflection, but many other people he knew as well.

There were his parents, Remus, Sirius, Ron, Neville, Professors, other Gryffindors and even Harry and Hermione. They were all looking up at his reflection, as the mirror him, held up the Quidditch cup with the happiest grin on his face.

There was no sign of despair or sadness, just happiness.

'What could this mean?' he wondered.

Andrew jolted when he heard the Headmaster's voice behind me, "Ahh-yes. This is a fickle thing, Andrew. The Mirror of Erised it's called, now if you don't mind me intruding - What does it show you?"

Andrew had seen no reason to distrust the man so he replied, "I see myself, my friends, parents and some other people looking at me as I hold the Quidditch cup." He smiled to himself, "Everyone looks so happy and at peace."

Dumbledore seemed visibly surprised by what Andrew told him, "Interesting… And tell me what do you think the mirror shows us?"

"Um - the future?"

The Headmaster shook his head, "No, Andrew. Nothing can truly show that with such detail. The mirror instead shows us our deepest heart's desire, and from what you've told me, you have a good heart."

Dumbledore continued, "A man who was perfectly happy with his life and no regrets would only see himself in the mirror, just as he was at the time."

Andrew nodded in understanding, "I get it, sir." He then asked, "And what do you see, Professor?"

"Me? Well I see myself holding a new pair of socks, I really need a new pair," replied Dumbledore though Andrew was sure he was omitting the truth.

'I highly doubt that he's telling me the truth unless he really does only desire socks… but that seems ridiculous.'

After that, Dumbledore told him to avoid visiting the mirror again, as many wizards and witches had gone mad staring into it for too long, and ever since then, Andrew had followed his advice.

In the room, there was also Harry, Hermione, an unconscious Malfoy and Professor Quirrell? What the hell?

The duo seemed to be conversing with Quirrell when suddenly they all stop talking as the Professor said, "Ahh-so nice of you to join us, Andrew," however, this voice did not at all resemble Quirrell.

All of a sudden the Professor waved his wand and shot two successive bolts of red light at Harry and Hermione.

But his brother reacted and shouted "Flipendo!" at Quirrell, but Harry was unfortunately hit by the Professor's spell.

The Defence Teacher was flung across the room, smashing into the wall, whereas both Hermione and Harry were on the ground, unmoving.

It took Andrew a while to understand what just happened and believing that his brother must've been attacking the true threat, he got out his wand and aimed it at Quirrell. But as he turned to the Professor, a scarlet beam of light hit him, causing him to lose grip of his wand and him to be pushed back.

Once he regained his balance he noticed that the defence teacher was limping towards him with a sneer on his face, "Your Slytherin brother can throw a strong knockback jinx, a pity this body is too useless to react in time."

Did he say body? What does he mean?

Quirrell rose an eyebrow at him, "Oh yes, I'm not Quirrell the stuttering idiot… no-no. I'm Lord Voldemort, the greatest wizard to ever live, and you, Andrew Potter are about to meet your end."

-o-o-o-o-o-

What did you think?

Looking back at this I can see my writing style has changed a bit, so expect the next chapter to feel a bit different.