Chapter 39

As Daphne and I floated down on our brooms, and Harry and Ron climbed down on the Indian Climbing Rope, I grabbed some of my Alchemical Spark Solution from my Mokeskin Pouch and wiped it on my wand while Daphne used one hand to guide her broom down and another to cast Lumos. This revealed that we were descending down a stone shaft into a cavern-like part of the Undercroft, yes, but also woke up the first challenge.

As the light reached the floor, it woke up the Devil's Snare. This, however, wasn't just any Devil's Snare. Rather than the pair of adult plants that I'd seen in my prophetic dreams, it appeared that both plants had somehow merged with each other to form a single, monstrous plant. Inosculation, I believe it was called, the process of two plants merging naturally as parts of them conjoined. Instead of a bed of tendrils covering half the room leading to a pitcher, the whole floor was practically covered in writhing, shaking, tendrils as the twin pitchers let out a raspy rattling noise.

"Bloody Hell!" Swore Ron, pausing his descent.

"Is that a Devil's Snare? It's humongous!" Exclaimed Daphne, as she pulled up on her broomstick.

"That's two Devil's Snares that have grown together. Inosculation, it's called, a natural process where two plants merge." I informed, also pulling up on my broom.

"That can happen?" Questioned Harry, forcibly stopped in his descent by Ron.

"It can. Have you ever seen two trees planted too close together so it looks like their trunks have conjoined over time? This is that but applied to the Devil's Snare." I answered.

"So how do we kill it?" Queried Daphne.

"Yeah, Mate. Something tells me the Incendio isn't gonna cut it, even boosted with rituals." Frowned Ron.

"I thought we might run into something unexpected, so I've prepared. Hold on." I warned.

I flicked my wand in a circular motion and incanted the words Globus Flammae. The Fireball Spell spewed forth from my wand. Empowered by the Ritual of Selene's Flame, and further empowered by the Alchemical Spark Solution, what would have ordinarily been a dull orange beach ball that exploded into a twenty-foot blast of flames was now a white-hot comet of flame that set the entire floor of the room ablaze. It wasn't quite the inferno that Harry and I had used to set an entire clearing aflame to kill two vampires, but it was damned close and this time I managed it all by myself.

The Merged Devil's Snare almost immediately incinerated in the flames, letting out a horrendous shrieking noise as it shriveled, died, and turned to ash in a large pillar of white-hot flames. Even from almost forty feet in the air, we could feel the heat as the flames blasted up. Thankfully, the Indian Climbing Rope was proofed against fire, otherwise Harry and Ron would be in trouble. Thankfully, however, the fuel for the flames burned up quickly, as they were so hot that the Merged Devil's Snare died and burned to ash within the span of a single minute. That allowed me to pull a pair of Fire-freezing Potion out of my Mokeskin Pouch, which was one of the potions I had crafted out of the Craftsman's Tradition.

I flung the vial into the white-hot flames, turning them to ice as the potion did its work, before immediately using the Softening Charm to turn the Ice Soft and bouncy. Once that was done, I continued my descent, though not without comments.

"What was that?" Demanded Daphne.

"That? Globus Flammae boosted twice by the Ritual of Selene's Flame and an Alchemical Spark Solution. Then a pair of Fire-freezing Potions to literally freeze the flames once they'd served their purpose, followed by a softening charm." I explained.

"Bloody Hell, Mate, I never knew you could do all that." Breathed Ron.

"Not without preparation, I couldn't have. Fortunately, I see things before they're coming." I smirked.

"Useful skill that." Snarked Harry.

"You can say that again." Muttered Ron.

"So what happens when those potions wear off?" Asked Daphne.

"The flames should just wink out." I answered.

"Should?" Questioned Harry.

"I mean, I've never used those potions before. This was the first batch I ever brewed that turned out a success. If the recipe I followed was right, that's what should happen." I shrugged.

"Now he tells us. Probably best to head on through the door quick, just in case, yeah?" Opined Ron.

Soon enough, we were all on the ground, Daphne shrinking her broomstick and tucking it back into her robes pocket, while I put mine back into my Mokeskin Pouch, alongside the Indian Climbing Rope, which took a bit of chipping away at the fire turned to ice via the Severing Charm to free. Once everyone was ready, we headed in through the next door.

In here, the challenge was to catch the Flying Keys. After establishing that Alohomora wouldn't work, I turned to Harry and flat-out told him that I saw the answer to this puzzle in one of my visions. I told him he needed to catch the old-fashioned silver key with blue wings.

"Why me?" Queried Harry.

"Are you or are you not the Gryffindor Seeker? It should be just like catching the Snitch, yeah?" Offered Ron.

"Exactly. I may not like Quidditch, but it has its uses." I agreed.

"Especially when Madame Hooch had a hand in crafting these challenges." Added Daphne.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that this particular challenge was Flitwick's, not Madame Hooch's. There was only one problem. The brooms that were provided were regular school brooms and thus weren't exactly up to a single person catching the key. I knew in the book, all three of the Trio had done so to make up for that, but I had something better here that would let Harry through on his own.

"Here. Use my Broom. It should make it a lot easier than using the School Brooms." I nodded, pulling my Broom out of my Mokeskin Pouch and handing it over.

"Bloody Hell, a Cleansweep Seven! I thought you didn't go in for flying?" Asked Ron.

"I don't go in for Brooms, Ron. That's not the same thing. The British Broomstick Industry is propped up by trade protectionism and Ministry Subsidies. I prefer Pegasi, as do most people in Southern Europe, but you need a license for any sort of flying mount in Britain, and the Ministry has flat-out banned Magic Carpets because if they didn't the Turkish Carpet Cartel would own the British Market for flying vehicles. That doesn't mean I won't grab the best broom I can, thanks to the laws here." I insisted.

"Cleansweep's fine. It's no Nimbus Two-Thousand, though." Nodded Harry.

"Yes well, if you happen to have a Nimbus Two-Thousand Tucked away somewhere on you, feel free to pull it out, otherwise, you might want to take the broom." Smirked Daphne.

"I didn't bring it with me." Admitted Harry, sheepishly, taking my Cleansweep Seven.

"But how would you play Quidditch on a Magic Carpet?" Wondered Ron as Harry took off on my Broom after the Keys.

"Most people don't play Quidditch every day, Ron. Most people use brooms to get around in their everyday life, something that's faster, safer, and far more comfortable on a Magic Carpet." I explained.

As Ron tried to digest that not everyone was as Quidditch-Crazy as he and apparently most of Gryffindor were, Harry spent the next few moments chasing down the correct door key. Every time he'd get close, though, the key would bank or dive toward a flock of the other flying keys to try and lose him. It worked a couple of times, but after five or so minutes, Harry managed to grab hold of the correct key.

The key banked, trying to head for another flock of Keys closer to the ground, but Harry managed to dive after it, corkscrewing past two intersecting flocks of keys to snatch the correct key just before it reached the flock it was aiming for. Harry had to bank up sharply to avoid slamming into the floor, but he managed it at the last second, his feet practically scraping along the floor as he banked up, stirring up a cloud of dust. When it cleared, Harry had dismounted my broom, Key in hand and was making his way over.

"Your broom handles differently than mine." Offered Harry.

"Bloody Hell, Mate! A perfect Wronski Feint! That was Brilliant!" Exclaimed Ron.

"You keep saying that. it's getting old." Grumbled Daphne.

"And you're gonna keep hearing me say it if folks keep pulling off impressive bollocks!" Argued Ron.

I tuned Ron and Daphne's brewing argument out in favor of taking my broom back from Harry and congratulating him on that maneuver. I knew that was something that I couldn't pull off, after all. Harry held out my broom for me to take as I approached.

"Ron's right, that was impressive. Well done on that, Harry, I knew you could do it." I grinned, taking my Broom from Harry and putting it back into my Mokeskin Pouch.

"Thanks. Your Broom has sharper handling than my Nimbus Two-Thousand. It's not as fast, but the better handling helps a lot with things like that." Shrugged Harry.

"Still, I know I wouldn't have been able to do that even with the best handling broom in the world." I nodded.

Harry cracked a grin at the praise but said nothing. Instead, he simply went over to the locked door and inserted the key. The lock clicked open loudly and conspicuously, the noise of which cut through Daphne and Ron's Argument. Instead, they headed over to join Harry and I like they hadn't just been about ready to call each other names they couldn't take back, and together, we proceeded into the next room.

Here, a number of bookshelves formed an intricate maze, even as witchlights shined down around them, illuminating parts of the stacks as they moved along the ceiling. On a desk next to the doorway was a plaque, spelling out the Challenge.

"It says here that we have to find the answer to the riddle written on the back of the door we just went through without getting caught in the beams of the witchlights." I read.

Turning, we looked to the Riddle to find it was in a language none of us knew, which turned out to be the Goblin Language, but thankfully, written next to the riddle were instructions to find the answer in the slate gray-covered book of the Shelf holding the Books on Goblin Culture.

"All right, how do we know where that is?" Questioned Ron.

"Yeah, it could be any of these." Frowned Harry.

"Boys. You obviously haven't spent a lot of time in the Hogwarts Library." Snorted Daphne.

"You have?" I queried.

"Of course I have. We don't all have special tutors, you know. Some of us have to do independent study the old-fashioned way." Scoffed Daphne.

"So how does this go?" Asked Ron.

"Well, assuming this uses the Modernized Ulpian System that the Hogwarts Library uses? I should be able to find it." Nodded Daphne.

"Ulpian?" Questioned Harry.

"From the Ulpian Library in Rome. The only Roman Library known to have survived the Fall of Rome and whose organizational system was modeled after the Pinakes System of the Library of Alexandria." I explained.

"You know about that, but not the Hogwarts Library?" Queried Ron.

"I've only visited the Hogwarts Library a few times to check a book out. The Ulpian Library, though, that I've been to. It still uses the same system it did back in Roman Times, though so I wouldn't know exactly how the modernized system works. Still, I wonder how the organization system made it to Hogwarts, to be modernized at all?" I responded.

"Probably something to do with King Arthur. His father, Uther Pendragon was a Roman, the half-brother of Ambrosius Aurelianus and the Son of Emperor Constans." Mused Daphne.

"That's not important right now. We need to find the book with the answer and continue on." Insisted Harry.

"Harry's right. Daphne? Do your thing." I agreed.

"Good luck." Offered Ron.

"Right, I'll be back before you know it." Confirmed Daphne.

Then she was off, moving through the stacks. I sat down on the floor, using Remote Viewing, one of my lesser-used Mind Arts to keep tabs on her progress. Occasionally, she would pause and duck behind a bookshelf to avoid one of the glaring witchlight beams, waiting for it to pass before moving on. Occasionally, she would pause to read the nameplate on a bookshelf, muttering under her breath before continuing on.

At one point, she came upon a four-way intersection in the stacks where there was enough open area that she wouldn't be able to easily pass through it to get where she needed to go without being spotted by one of the witchlights. She could cast Fumos or something to try and obscure her presence, but instead, she slipped her Tebo-Bone Disillusionment Ring back on. I wasn't one hundred percent sure that would work at first, but as she reappeared on the other side of the intersection, I had to admit that it clearly had.

Eventually, however, Daphne came to a Bookshelf where she nodded once after reading the plaque. She took the Gray-Covered Book off the shelf, opening it before shouting out that the answer was an Echo. As soon as she did that, the witchlights winked out and the bookshelves moved aside to form a straight path through the room to a door that opened on its own. I returned my awareness back to my body and saw Harry and Ron start a bit at my sudden movement.

"Thought you were taking a nap, Mate." Remarked Ron.

"I was using Remote Viewing to keep tabs on Daphne's progress." I informed.

"You mean like you used to find Trevor on the Train at the start of the Year?" Asked Harry.

"Neville mentioned that?" I questioned.

"Yeah." Nodded Ron.

"I think he was just surprised a Slytherin helped him out, though in fairness, that was before we really knew you guys." Shrugged Harry.

"Hey, what are you all waiting for? The next Room is open!" Called out Daphne.

"Right, let's not keep Daphne waiting." I concurred, getting up off the floor.

"Sure thing, Mate." Agreed Ron.

"Yeah, well done too, Daphne." Praised Harry.

"Yes well, I could hardly fail with so many eyes on me." Sniffed Daphne.

"I think I was the only one who could see, you." I pointed out.

"And that is enough." Insisted Daphne.

Chuckling, I made my way with the others into the next challenge room. It was the Chessboard, four pieces were missing from Black, two knights, a rook, and a Bishop. Harry and Ron took the Knights, while I took the Rook and Daphne Took the Bishop. Almost as soon as we did that, White made a move, sliding a pawn forward. I looked over at all the others, Ron grinning as he figured he would take charge for us. Honestly, I was pretty sure I was just as good of a player as Ron was and I said so.

"I don't know, Mate. Ron's pretty good." Hedged Harry.

"So is Blaise. I've only played against him once, but he annihilated me." Remarked Daphne.

"No offense, Daphne, but I've annihilated you before." Retorted Ron.

"That just proves he's as good as you are." Scoffed Daphne.

"Still, I know who I'd bet on." Frowned Harry.

"Ron. It's all yours. I'm bowing out so we can get this over with." I informed, cutting through the argument.

"Right, let's get on with it then. Pawn to D-Six!" Nodded Ron before calling out his first move.

What followed was a masterful game, I watched as Ron played what looked to be a variation of the Rat Defense, English Rat. The first piece to fall was the Black Pawn at E-Five that Ron had moved up, demolished by the White Queen who had moved up only for Harry to immediately begin to attack that queen and force her back to D-Two, ceding the center of the board to black. Ron continued to naturally develop his pieces, taking out multiple pawns and advancing across the board.

My first captured piece was an enemy knight at A-Four, though I was exposed to a pawn at B-Four. However, instead of capturing me, which would open White up for Daphne to place their King in Check, instead, White chose to move its queen back into D-Two after having advanced it again earlier to take some Black pawns. This allowed Harry to move in with his Knight to take the Queen at D-Two, though now Harry was blocking Daphne's potential attack on the King.

Much of the game went in our favor, with us only losing pawns and a single, non-player, Bishop. In exchange, White found itself thoroughly outplayed by Ron for most of the Game, having been baffled early on by the unorthodox maneuver that was the Rat Defense, English Rat, and suckered into making poor moves quickly. However, in the endgame, Ron found his own knight being taken by a sneak attack by White's last remaining Knight, falling unconscious to the floor even as I called out for Daphne to move to take that Knight.

In the end, however, the outcome was never in doubt. I doubt anyone could have lost the game at that point, given how white only had two pawns and their King Remaining after Daphne had taken the last White Knight. Harry wound up checkmating the King a few moves later, forcing the King to drop its crown and topple to the floor.

The door to the next room opened on its own after that, but we didn't head there immediately, instead, rushing to Ron's side. He was unconscious as if he'd been hit by a Stunner. However, Rennervate didn't seem to work. Likely that was a quirk of the Room's magic.

"I'll say this. He may actually be better at Chess than I am." I admitted.

"Nice thought for when he wakes up." Opined Daphne.

"Rennervate isn't working and I don't have anything that can wake him up." Informed Harry.

"Nor do I." I sighed.

"What do we do?" Queried Daphne.

"We can't just leave him here, can we?" Asked Harry.

"We might have to." I frowned.

"Will he be all right?" Questioned Harry.

"I'm sure the Teachers will have realized that the Corridor is opened and be on their way soon enough." Mused Daphne.

"Just in case, do you still have your invisibility cloak?" I queried.

"Yeah. Why?" Asked Harry.

"I think I see what Blaise is driving at. You want us to put Ron in the corner of the room and cover him with Harry's invisibility cloak so that when the stun wears off in an hour or so, he'll be fine." Nodded Daphne.

"Bingo. This seems to be similar to the Stunning Spell, a single casting of that wears off over the course of an hour. Tuck him in the corner with Harry's Cloak on him and he should be fine." I confirmed.

That was the plan we wound up going with, pulling Ron up against the wall and draping Harry's Invisibility Cloak over him to hide him, just in case. That done, we continued on into the next room. The room was a deep depression with two sets of stairs on it, one leading down from the entrance and the other on the south wall leading up to a door. The depression was covered in a sort of fog that obscured all sight save for that of the ceiling, which bore various constellations. Clearly, we were supposed to navigate through the disorienting fog using only the constellations on the ceiling, using them to make our way to the stairs leading up to the southern wall where the doorway that led to the next room lay.

This was perfect, as Professor Sinistra's Navigation Lessons were fresh in our minds. We descended down and between the three of us, managed to pinpoint the south wall using Orion's Sword, each of us holding onto the other so we didn't get separated in the fog. It only took us a little over a minute to navigate our way across the Room to the stairs on the South Wall and make our way up them and to the door.

Entering into the next room, we found a Runic Array inscribed on the far door with a number of sliding metal slats and sockets. Here, the challenge was to link up the Futhark Runes of Naudhiz, Wunjo, Raidho, Sowilo, Ehwaz, Algiz, and Fehu together in a way that avoided the Isa, Hagalaz, and Thurisaz Runes. Harry moved to touch one of the sockets inscribed with a Thurisaz Rune, only for me to immediately slap his hand away.

"Hey, what was that for?" Demanded Harry.

"Don't touch that, that's a Thurisaz Rune, it would have shocked you, possibly badly!" I snapped.

"You know Ancient Runes?" Questioned Daphne.

"I know Futhark Runes. I haven't gotten to any other systems yet. Fortunately, these are Futhark." I answered.

"Right, do you know what we're supposed to do here?" Queried Harry.

"I do, just give me a moment." I nodded.

"Right, all yours then." Huffed Daphne.

With that, I got to work, moving the metal slats around into a Runic Array that should open the way, building off of the Ehwaz and Raidho runes and making sure to avoid touching any of the Isa, Hagalaz, or Thurisaz. It took me a solid five minutes to do it, but I managed to do so as the door swung open and blew a slight breeze carrying an awful smell into the room. I crinkled my nose at that and peeked through to see a large, dueling pit-shaped room with a stairwell leading down past a Futhark Defensive Array.

Beyond that Array stood a trio of Mountain Trolls, garbed in crudely tanned hide kilts and bearing stalagmites of jade green stone as crudely knapped clubs in one meaty fist. As the door opened, however, the Troll didn't notice us. I headed down the stairs to take a look at the defensive array and found it to be primarily made up of Thurisaz Runes in Triplicate, invoking Thor, though the Algiz Runes invoking Sanctuary only faced inward. As I returned back to Harry and Daphne, I nodded at both of them.

"All right, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that it looks like we'll have to fight a trio of trolls. The good news is that there's a one-way sanctuary ward on the bottom of the staircase that we can hide behind if they get the upper hand." I announced.

"Can we attack them from behind the Ward?" Asked Daphne.

"From what I can tell, any attack going from the inside of the Ward Boundary to the outside will break the ward. It's a Sanctuary Ward, those only work if you aren't attacking through it." I refuted.

"Right, you two have your invisibility items, but I left my cloak with Ron. What do we do now?" Questioned Harry.

"We fight them, of course." I answered.

"How?" Queried Daphne.

"With these, obviously." I grinned, pulling out potions from my Mokeskin Pouch.

"A full suite of Physical Enhancers, plus Alchemical Spark Solutions for the two of you. Trolls are only moderately Magic Resistant, after all, and with the Alchemical Spark Solutions boosting your Incendio spells, plus my double-boosted fireball, we should be able to overcome the resistance with enough castings. Just in case, though, take the enhancers. They'll boost your strength, speed, and durability to match the Trolls." I explained.

"What if we get hit?" Asked Daphne.

"I have regeneration potions too, but they aren't going to taste good, so try not to get hit." I insisted.

"Right, give me those." Nodded Harry.

I handed over the potions to both Harry and Daphne, and they began downing the enhancers. I took mine as well, and after a brief primer on how to use the Alchemical Spark Solutions, we headed down into the next arena. Almost as soon as we crossed the Sanctuary Wards, the trio of Trolls noticed us, hefting their clubs and bellowing as they charged us. I opened with a Globus Flammae on the Lead Troll, the white-hot fire washing over it and the two others only for the Lead Troll to emerge with only moderate burns and the other two to be relatively unscathed. I was forced to jank to the side as Time slowed down via the Dead Moment and I was able to dodge the Lead Troll's Club and slide under the Rightmost Troll's Club as it swung it horizontally.

I popped up and fired off an Incendio at the Rightmost Troll, which inflicted a moderate burn on its side as it lashed out with its clawed off-hand. At this close of range, it almost couldn't miss, but with my enhancements, plus the Dead Moment going for me, I just barely managed to avoid the claw swipe only for it to kick out with a howl of rage at me, forcing me to practically throw myself to the side to avoid being kicked by a troll foot. As I tumbled around, I came up to one knee and fired off another Globus Flammae at the Rightmost Troll time speeding up as the white hot ball of flame left my wand and washed over the Rightmost Troll.

It roared in pain as it stumbled around, severe burns that showed muscle running across parts of its chest and stomach. It surged forward with a wild claw swipe with its off-hand, as it tried to grab me. I janked to the side, my enhanced reflexes allowing me to dodge only for it to unexpectedly drop its club and latch onto my left arm with it's Club-hand. It yanked hard and the unexpected pressure cracked my Ulna bone from the pressure. Thankfully, Occlumency allowed me to push past the pain, and my Tebo-Hide Duster and Boosted Durability meant that I had turned a broken arm into a cracked one.

 As it hefted me up in a meaty fist, however, it looked like it was trying to take me down with it. I had one thing going for me, though. With the skin on its chest having been burned off, it was no longer as magic-resistant as it normally was. As the Troll sneered at me, thinking it had caught me, I flicked my wand, still in my right, free, hand, into a Severing Charm. The magic easily bypassed the now non-existent skin on the front of its chest and torso to bisect the Troll. It dropped me and I landed with a wince as it stared dumbly down, wondering why the top of it was starting to slide one way while the bottom slid another. Then it collapsed, dead to the floor.

Turning, I spotted Harry and Daphne faring similarly, their own trolls defeated, though they too were sporting injuries. Harry looked like his arm had been dislocated painfully and Daphne was limping with her ankle twisted the wrong way. Moving over to them, I handed them off Potions of Regeneration before downing my own, the cracks in my Ulna repairing themselves with every passing moment even as I gagged from the taste. Harry and Daphne didn't seem to care for it either, though they were similarly healing. After about a minute and a half,f we were all healed up from the Troll Fight.

"What was in that stuff?" Demanded Harry.

"I agree, that was foul!" Hissed Daphne.

"Trust me, you guys don't want to know. Let's just continue on." I responded, shaking my head.

The next room was a lot easier than the Trolls, a simple aerial obstacle course over a seemingly bottomless pit to reach the other side without being swept off your broom by various bludgers that were in perpetual motion. Unfortunately, Harry was forced to use one of the provided School Brooms for this, since neither Daphne, nor I were confident enough to get through this puzzle without our expensive high-end brooms. Harry grumbled, but even he had to admit that he was the best suited of the three of us to make it across on a school broom. In the end, though, I still wound up taking a bludger to the ribs that would have knocked me off my broom if not for my Tebo-Hide Duster acting as armor to blunt it. Daphne and Harry made it across fine, though.

I was forced to down the emergency vial of Regeneration Potion I had kept in reserve in case of Quirrelmort attack to heal my cracked ribs as Harry and Daphne looked on.

"Don't say it." I scowled.

"I didn't say anything." Protested Daphne.

"Still, you could stand to brush up on your flying skills." Mused Harry.

I entered the next room, grumbling. This was the last room before the Mirror and it was the Potion Puzzle. Reading the puzzle aloud, I frowned. Maybe it was the beating I'd taken in the last two rooms that were futzing with me, or maybe I was just tired since it was almost midnight and I'd been up since four in the morning, but I wasn't able to puzzle out the answer. I shook my head but it didn't help any. I knew only one of the potions would get us past the door as the violet flames barred entry, and that three were deadly poison, but I couldn't work out which was which with any degree of certainty at the moment, nor could I remember the answer from the first go around.

"All right, I got nothing." I admitted.

"I've never been too good at these, either." Shrugged Harry.

"Give me a moment to think. I'm actually quite fond of logic puzzles." Insisted Daphne, approaching the table of potions.

Daphne muttered under her breath as she tried to figure out the riddle, eventually narrowing it down to the Blue Bottle as the one with the potion. She drank it and it refilled instantly, allowing Harry to drink, then me as it refilled a third time. We entered through the purple flame door together and soon found ourselves in a stone chamber with the Mirror of Erised in it. Harry, frowning, immediately averted his eyes. Seeing that, Daphne did so as well, though I looked at the mirror for a brief enough second to see a flash of red. Unfortunately, this caused us to not be looking at either the mirror or the doorway back into the potion riddle room when it happened.

"Stupefy!" Came a voice from behind us. Immediately, I dove for cover, and Harry started only to not be the target. Daphne fell to the ground unconscious as Harry and I turned to see Professor Quirrel standing in the doorway.

"Professor Quirrel? You're the one after the stone?" Questioned Harry.

"I am. After all, who would have suspected poor, stuttering, Professor Quirrel?" Confirmed Quirrel.

"You're not stuttering? What happened?" Queried Harry.

"It was a ruse, Harry. Professor Quirrel was never quite the stuttering wreck he portrayed himself as." I frowned.

"Mister Zabini is partly correct, though he is slightly wrong as well. I did at one point have quite the stutter, a byproduct of my Master's Gift. Unfortunately, unlike in class, here there is no credit for partial answers." Sneered Quirrel.

"The Unicorns, you were the one drinking their blood." Breathed Harry, putting it together, finally.

"Quite astute, if a bit late." Scoffed Quirrel.

"What do you want? Or should I ask what your master wants?" I asked.

"If you're down here, then you have to know the answer to that already." Intoned Quirrel.

"So what, you followed us hoping we'd get the Stone for you?" Demanded Harry.

"There was no need to follow you when I could simply cast a monitoring charm to see who was coming and going from the Third Floor Corridor. As for the stone, if you do not want Poor, Helpless, Miss Greengrass to die, you will retrieve the stone for me. It is in the Mirror, unfortunately, I cannot get it myself. Harry, would you be so kind as to get it for me?" Answered Quirrel.

"Harry, whatever happens next, you have to try and beat Quirrel." I spoke up.

"Beat me? Whatever are you babbling about, Mister Zabini? I thought you were more intelligent than that." Scoffed Quirrel.

Immediately, time slowed down, the Dead Moment having just recharged as I used my enhanced speed from the Gytrash Potion to flick my wand through a series of motions even as Quirrel Snarled a Killing Curse at Daphne. As he did so, the Dire Alhasba sprung up to block the sickly, green, bolt. The Grit Shield wasn't a proper shield charm, instead whipping up dirt, sand, and grit to block a single hit. I was banking on it being similar enough to Battlefield Transfiguration to be able to block a Killing Curse. Somehow, it managed to do so, though the explosion of power that resulted threw me sideways to land on my wand arm. I was forced to drop my wand to avoid breaking it in the fall, though I did break my arm.

"Impossible! He has no wand! Kill him now!" Spat a dark and sinister voice from under Quirrel's Turban.

"At once Master! Avadakadavra!" Spat Quirrel, pointing his wand at me.

The green bolt arced out, and I threw up my off-hand, my Ring of Spellstoring sucking the Killing Curse into it as I did so. I was out of tricks now, another attempt would absolutely kill me. Fortunately, he wouldn't get that attempt as Harry barreled into Quirrel's side, tackling him like a linebacker. It was smart if you couldn't beat your opponent magically, tackling him generally worked if he wasn't expecting it. This time, however, it worked extremely well. Quirrel let out an unearthly scream as the Blood Protection in Harry's Body seared into his flesh on contact, forcing Voldemort's Possessing Spirit out of his body in the process.

A black, roiling, mist fountained out of every orifice of Quirrel's body as he and Harry collapsed in a fiery heap on the stone floor. The malevolent Spirit of Voldemort losing its earthly tether and being forced away, toward his next Phylactery. The Blood Protection wouldn't allow him to take possession of Harry, so that left another of his Phylacteries, probably the Diary if things had any narrative sense. As I shoved myself off the ground, I noticed that Harry had rolled off of Quirrel who was catatonic. Harry lay on the floor unconscious. I scooped up my wand from the floor, thankfully unbroken from my dropping it, and moved over to the Mirror.

Inside, I saw myself using the stone to wake up Harry and Daphne with the Elixir of Life before the scene flashed to me handing the stone off to a Healer at Astoria's Bedside as he used the Elixir to cure Astoria of the Greengrass Blood Curse. Then the mirror went dark before revealing the Stone sitting on a table, the mirror rippling around it like a portal. I put my wand in my mouth, reached out, and put my hand through the rippling portal to grasp the stone, pulling my hand out of the mirror to reveal an unevenly cut, ruby-red, gemstone in the palm of my hand. I immediately used it to wake Daphne and Harry, watching as their wounds knit themselves back together before slipping the Stone into my Mokeskin Pouch as they awoke.

Then there was a crack of fire and the cry of a Pheonix and suddenly, Albus Dumbledore appeared in the Chamber a look of alert concern on his face. I'd never seen the Headmaster look like that before, though I'd imagine plenty of people had back during the Wars. On seeing Harry and Daphne unharmed and getting to their feet, with Professor Quirrel Catatonic and myself with a broken arm, Headmaster Dumbledore cocked a single eyebrow as he regarded us.

"What precisely happened here?" He demanded.

I could only groan as I realized that my night wasn't quite over yet. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the main part of the endgame. I wanted to get this out tonight so you guys weren't waiting a week. It turns out that the majority of the staff and teachers had a hand in the challenges. Fluffy was a combination of Hagrid's and Professor Kettleburn's Challenge, the Devil's Snare was Professor Sprout's, the Book Riddle was a combination of Madame Pince and Argus Filch, while the Keys were Professor Flitwick, the Constellation Navigation Room was Professor Sinistra, the Rune Door was a combination of Professors Babbling and Vector, the Aerial Obstacle Course was Madame Hooch, the Chess Game was Professor McGonagall, the Trolls were Professor Quirrel, the Potion Puzzle was Professor Snape, and the Mirror was Dumbledore.

Hopefully, you guys liked how things went down here. There is a very distinct combination of factors that led to this alternate run on the Stone being a success, most of them boiling down to Cheating with the Sight and Preparation. Even then, if Blaise hadn't learned the Grit Shield from Terry or hadn't crafted the Spell-Storing Ring under the effects of Enhanced Felix Felicis, either he, Daphne, or possibly both would be dead right now. Thankfully, almost everything went right here.

I hope everyone still had their time to shine here. Ron is still better than Blaise at tactical thinking, and thus at Chess, while Harry is still a much better flyer, and Daphne is best at things that require logical mindsets, so it wasn't all Blaise all the way.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the debriefing by Dumbledore of Blaise and that will be that for the canon plot of Year One.

Stay tuned. . .