Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Book 1

Chapter Eight

Victoria: Here is the answer to our original only reviewer.

Ben: I was totally wrong about the pairings in the first chapter and im going to delete that. Also, Hermione became friends with them after they saved her from the troll, but I didn’t write that scene in, XD kinda forgot it was important. We are also going to focus on her A LOT in other books, specifically the PoA because of the whole time turner stuff. GoF will have a lot of focus on Ruthian because…well…I can’t tell you without spoiling it, but that book goes more into her background. Also, thank you for being my first real reviewer (the other chick is my co-writer) if you have any requests, then feel free to ask me and I’ll to it for you because you made me soooo happy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter fandom nor do I make any money from this.

OOOOOO

"Fred, George, this is it! This is the moment we waited the entire school year for…we prepared for this exact moment all year, hoping for it to come, wishing it would come…so we could prove ourselves to our fellow students…prove once and for all, that I do not suck in charms!" Alexis stood pointing her wand at George.

"Alexis…not only is it four in the morning, but I don't think pointing your wand at me and getting me killed is any way to show that you do not such in charms." George glared at the sleeping Fred enviously.

It was the day before the exams, and the last of several group study sessions they had held in the secret room. As always, Fred, George, and Alexis were the only people left in the room, yet this was the first time they had stayed out past curfew. "George! Shut up and stay still, will you?" Alexis said with a glare.

George backed away from the girl slowly, raising his hands in defense. "Look…if we don't get back soon-"

"I'm trying to concentrate!" She snapped at the boy with a glare, still pointing her wand dangerously in his direction. “Now hold still or this could hurt!”

Starting to sweat, he protested in a shaky voice, "But, Alexis!"

"George!" The girl growled, but was cut off by a whimper coming from the sleeping Weasley.

"No Alexis please don't tell them; please I'll do anything, anything! I swear, don't tell them my nickname!" Fred yelled as he suddenly jumped up and fell over off the couch. "Wha…who…?"

Alexis rolled her eyes, her wand never wavering in its direction at George. "Nightmare Fred, go back to sleep."

"Oh…what time is it, you guys?" Fred rubbed his eyes as he stood from his spot on the floor.

"Um…four?" The girl replied, finally putting her wand away.

Fred’s eyes widened and he started to panic. "In the morning! If we get caught out this late we're off the Quidditch team!"

"Damnit George! This is all your fault!" Alexis excused.

"What? My fault!” He gave her a glare and spat out, “How in the world is this my fault?"

"You didn't tell me what time it is!"

"What!?"

"And I had wanted to go to bed for at least hours now!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Ok whatever, George, just give me the map."

"I don't have the map. Fred has it."

"What? Why would I possible have it?"

"Because you wanted to sneak the other night."

"But I didn't go out, George, in fact, I remember giving it to Alexis."

"Whoops." Alexis winced.

Both twins advanced on her. "Whoops what?"

She gave them a sheepish look, "I might have let Liam borrow it…"

"You what!?" Both twins yelled.

"It was after the game! He wanted to go see Ami!"

"But why the map!"

"Because Ami was in the girl’s dormitory and he didn't know how to get in…I was only trying to help." She fake sniffled, giving them a puppy dog look.

"Gods now we're stuck here!" George growled, sinking to the floor in despair.

Alexis sighed and plopped down on the couch, "Well…this sucks."

"I'm going to kill Liam." Fred sneered. "He heard us say we were planning on using the map tonight! How could he just walk out with it!?"

"Shut up, go back to sleep." George snapped.

"On no! I’m not going to sleep now; the two of you will do something to me!" Fred pointed an accusing finger at the two of them, a semi-crazy look in his eyes from the lack of sleep.

"Gods, you paranoid freak. We didn't do anything when you were asleep before." Alexis said rolling her eyes.

"That's because we were studying!” George said with a sly look on his face, “Why don't you go to sleep, hm?" Wiggling his eye brows at his brother, he suddenly broke out in laughter at the look of fear that came over Fred.

"I'm not falling for that! You and Alexis will do something to me!"

"Don't tell me we're going to stay up all night! Exams are tomorrow!" George groaned.

"I'd rather show up tired than disfigured!" Alexis said as she too became paranoid to sleep around the twins.

"But if you're tired, there's no way you could pass your charms exam." Said the older of the twins with a laugh.

"Damn it!" The girl growled out while pulling on her hair in frustration.

"Alexis! Watch your language. Think of what mother would say."

"Sod off, Fred."

"I'm so tired!" George yawed.

"At this rate, we'll all fail our exams!"

"Well, if you fail, at least you'll have one more year to snog the first years."

"Another first year? Who is it this time, Fred?"

"Some blonde Ravenclaw." Alexis teasingly commented.

"She wasn't a first year!" Fred defended.

"Yeah, he's probably dated all of them already."

"Right. How foolish of me to think otherwise."

"Cut it out you two!" Fred flushed bright red. "I don't only date first years."

"Of course not." Alexis smirked. "There aren't enough around."

"You date a different girl every weekend."

"No I don't!"

"The map never lies, Fred."

"You mean…the two of you have been using the map to spy on me!?"

OOOOOO

It wasn’t until after their exams that Harry finally noticed the burning that was radiating from his scare. He knew what it had to mean too; danger was coming. It always seemed to ache when something bad was about to happen, and judging by just how much it hurt right now, he could tell it was no little danger. This was going to be big.

“It’s alright, Harry. It’s just the exams.” Hermione tried to tell him, brushing it off. ‘You get all scared and it makes your mind play tricks on you is all.”

Harry was quite sure that the unsettling feeling didn’t have anything to do with work, though. Suddenly, a thought struck the-boy-who-lived and he darted towards Hagrid’s hut. “I’ve just thought of something,” He yelled back to his friends, turning white, “we’ve got to go and see Hagrid, now!”

“Why?” Hermione panted, trying to keep up with him.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit odd,” The boy with glasses started, scrambling up the grassy slope, “that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger comes along who just so happens to have an egg in his pocket?”

“Of course!” Ruthian said, snapping her fingers, “Why didn’t we see it before!”

When they reached Hagrid, he was sitting outside his house in his lawn chair, apparently enjoying the summer sky. “Hullo,” He waved with a smile on his face, “Finished your exams? Got time fer a drink?” He asked politely.

“Sorry, Hagrid. We’re in a bit of a hurry. I’ve got a question though,” Harry said, huffing from his run. “You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?”

“Dunno. He wouldn’ take his cloak off.” After seeing their stunned looks and raised brows, he explained “It’s not that unusual, yeh get a lot o’ funny folk in Hog’s Head – that’s one of the pubs down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn’ he? I never saw his face; he kept his hood up.”

Harry sat next to Hagrid on the ground. “What did you talk about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?” He said, trying to sound casual.

“Mighta come up,” Said the half-giant with a frown as he tried to remember, “Yeah…he asked what I did, an’ I told him I was gamekeeper here. He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after and so I told him that after Fluffy, a dragon would be a piece of cake.”

“And did he – did he seem interested in Fluffy?” This time it was Ruthian who spoke, trying to stay calm.

“Well – yeah – how many three-headed dogs d’yeh meet, even in the wizarding world? So I told im, Fluffy’s a piece o’ cake if yeh know how to calm him down; jus’ play him a bit o’ music an’ he’ll go straight off ter sleep –” Hagrid suddenly looked horrified, “I shouldn’ta told yeh that!” he blurted out, “Forget I said it!”

It was too late though, the four Gryffindors had already run away, back towards the school.

OOOOOO

“Hey Ami,” Marcus whispered, shaking the sleeping girl awake.

“Huh?” Said girl yawned and sat up on the couch she was sleeping on. She had stayed up almost the entire night the night before studying for her finals. Needless to say, she was exhausted. “What’s up Marcus?”

“Come on, I wanna show you something.” He flashed her a smiled and added, “You’re gonna love it, trust me!”

So, Ami followed the older Ravenclaw student down the deserted corridors and up staircase after staircase and around every corner imaginable until finally they stopped outside the entrance to the top of the astronomy tower.

“Close your eyes,” Belby said, winking at her.

She blushed and complied.

After he was sure her eyes were closed and that she wasn’t peaking, he led her into the room carefully and made her stand by one of the ledges. “Alright,” he said, waiting until after she yawned loudly, “You can open your eyes.”

She smiled and did so, then gasped at what she saw. The moon was beautiful tonight, though it was not plump and full. Instead, it was just a crescent, a sliver in the sky. But it shone as brightly as any full moon ever had. “Wow, it’s beautiful!”

“Just like you,” Marcus said before grabbing her and kissing her softly on the lips. After a few moments, he tried to deepen the kiss, licking her lips, asking for entrance into her mouth and she complied, very hesitantly though. A few more seconds went by before Marcus pressed Ami against the ledge roughly, his hands working their way under the t-shirt she was wearing.

Ami broke away from the kiss, a sinking feeling in her gut. “S-stop. What are you doing?”

He rolled his eyes, his hand still trying to get under her shirt, “It’s the end of the year. I wanna have sex before you leave. Duh.”

Ami pushed him away, “I’m 11! No way!”

He growled and grabbed her arm, “Don’t be such a tease. What about the Halloween dance? You were wearing that tight ass blue dress that only barely covered your thighs,” He pinned her against a wall. “And the way you look at me, you can’t deny that you don’t want me.”

The younger Ravenclaw struggled against his hold as he started to take her shirt off, but it was no use. Her body was so wore down from the lack of sleep. She could feel the strain in her arms as she tried to push him away, and finally she did. Quickly, she pulled out her wand and, huffing, she growled out, “One step closer and I’ll use the cruciatus curse, I swear it.”

Before her groggy mind could react, however, Marcus pulled out his own wand and shouted, “Expelliarmus,” before pouncing on her once again.

Ami knew it was no use to fight him. If she wasn’t so damn tired, she could have beaten him easily, but as it was, she just didn’t have the strength. Her limbs were starting to feel like lead as she fought and kicked and punched, but her violent movements had no strength behind them.

She could feel his hands on her chest, ripping apart her shirt apart as his lips attacked her neck, biting and sucking, causing tears to fall like a waterfall from her eyes. His fingers gripped and bruised her breasts and hips and he was just getting to her pants when he was violently thrown from her body to the other side of the room. Sobbing, Ami looked up and saw Liam standing over her.

He had been watching her every move on the map. He had known he didn’t like Marcus; there was something off about the other boy. And when he saw their names on the map in the astronomy tower this late at night, he started to worry. He didn’t want to barge in and have Ami hate him though so he waited until he saw Ami being chased around the room that he sprung into action. He ran as fast as he could, taking the stairs four at a time until he reached her.

“What the fuck!” Belby growled, rubbing his head as he stood. “This doesn’t concern you, Liam.”

Liam growled and lunged at Marcus, punching him in the face and kicking him in the gut, making him fall to the ground, coughing up what appeared to be blood. The older Ravenclaw then grabbed Belby and lifted him up before pointing his wand at his neck. “Listen here, Marcus,” He spat out, digging his wand into the boy, “You go anywhere near her ever again, and I swear to god I’ll torture you so bad, it’ll make the cruciatus look like a walk in the part. I’m told I’m great with knives after all.”

“Ok Liam,” The abused boy stuttered out, “Whatever you say, Liam. Never again.” After Belby scrabbled away, Liam turned to Ami, who was still half naked and sobbing on the floor. “Ami…are you…” He bit his lip and walked over to her. “Are you, …ok?”

Ami whimpered and moved to cover herself, not looking at him.

He sighed and took off his shirt, handing it to her. “Here, put this on.”

She took it from him, looking to the ground in shame. “Thank you.” Came her whimpering voice, hoarse from crying. "He…" She hiccupped. "He wanted me to have sex with him!"

Liam balled his hands into fist. "Did he make you?" He could barely contain his rage.

"He tried to…but I pulled out my wand and…and…he called me a tease…"

"Don't listen to him, Ami. You are one of the most amazing people I know, really. Marcus Belby is just an asshole who uses people. I should have never let him anywhere near you. I'm sorry."

Ami finally looked up at him. "It's not your fault, Liam…"

“Come on, I’ll take you back to the dorm.”

OOOOOO

"Go get the cloak, Harry," Ruthian whispered as she watched the last of the Gryffindors yawn and walk away from the common room to the dormitory. "We'll wait here. Hurry up."

Harry nodded and left as Ruthian went and got Hermione, leaving Ron there by himself. They then met back in the common room and turned to leave.

"What are you doing?" Said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor.

"Nothing, Neville, nothing," Said Harry, putting the cloak behind his back.

"You're going out again, aren't you! I can't let you, you'll lose Gryffindor more points…I'll…I'll fight you!" He said weakly, taking a frail stance.

“Neville!” Ron exploded, “get away from that hole and don’t be an idiot –”

“Don’t you call me an idiot!” Said Neville, turning red in the face, “I don’t think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people in the first place!”

“Yes, but not to us!” said Ron, exasperated, “Neville, you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Go on then, try and hit me!” said Neville, raising his fists, “I’m ready!”

Harry turned to Hermione, “Do something,” he said desperately.

"I'm really sorry about this, Neville," Hermione commented as she pulled her wand "Petrificus Totalus."

Neville's arms snapped to his sides as he whole body locked up and he fell backwards.
"Sorry, Neville!"

"You know," Ron started, "you sure are scary sometimes…bloody brilliant really, but scary!"

"I'll take that as a complement!" Hermione replied with a smile, putting her wand away. "Sorry, Nev,"

"Sorry,"

"Sorry."

The four Gryffindors all huddled underneath Harry’s invisibility cloak and headed out into the dark corridor. They walked together – though difficultly – as they headed towards the third floor, and, after narrowly escaping Peeves – Harry pretended to be the Bloody Baron, who is one of the only beings Peeves actually fears – they entered the room with the three headed dog, Fluffy. Once there, they took off the cloak and were surprised at what they found. Curled up sleeping by the dog’s paws was Maye.

Fluffy growled once they entered, and Harry pulled out a flute but, before he could play, Maye awoke.

“Ruthian! Thank god! I was so afraid I was going to have to spend the night here!” The young werewolf exclaimed, then to Fluffy she said, “Oh, it’s alright boy! I didn’t mean any offense! Really!”

“Maye, what are you doing here?” Ruthian said, eyeing Fluffy nervously.

“I got lost and then Mrs. Norris was there and so I came into this room after unlocking the door.” She patted the giant dog’s paw which she stood by, “I sang the lemondrop song to him because he looked so scared! He really is a nice puppy.”

“You should really get back,” Harry said, “You’re friends with Peeves right? He’s not too far away; I’m sure he’ll help you.”

Maye looked relieve. “Take god! I was so scared…” She then paused, thinking over something before saying, “What are you doing here?”

At this, Ruthian turned to the giant dog and said, “A bad man is trying to steal something down there. We need to go stop him. Will you let us through?”

When Fluffy looked reluctant, Maye said, “Don’t worry; their nice.” And with that, Fluffy nodded his head and the foursome jumped down the trap door.

Ron went first, jumping down into the darkness. The fall wasn’t short, but he was relieved when he landed on something that was soft and lumpy. “It’s alright! There’s something down here to break the fall.”

Next came Ruthian, then Harry, and last Hermione.

“Lucky this…thing was here,” Said Ruthian, feeling around her.

Hermione gasped in horror. “Lucky! Look at yourselves!” she gasped out.

It was a plant. It was winding up their bodies and constricting their limps. Immediately, they struggled against the plant, but to no avail. The more their struggled, the harder the plant gasped them.

“Wait, I know what this is! It’s a Devil’s Snare!” Hermione gasped out, trying to relax. “Oh, how did that poem go again?”

“Devil’s snare, devil’s snare, it’s deadly fun…” Ruthian muttered as she, too, tried to remember. “I don’t know…”

“But it will silk in the sun!” Hermione suddenly exclaimed. “We need to set it on fire! But I don’t have any wood!” She wringed her hands in frustration.

“Well, are you a witch or aren’t you!” Harry growled, “Use your wand for god’s sake!”

“Oh of course.” She pulled out her wand and muttered a spell. Seconds later, blue flames erupted from its tip, landing on the deadly plant. A screeching sound was heard and then, the plant let go of everyone and they fell to the ground beneath.

“‘I haven’t got any wood!’ really Hermione!” Ron growled, rubbing his sore bottom. “Glad Harry can keep his cool or we wouldn’t been goners!”

Sorely, the four trudged on through the only passage way there was. After a long walk down the corridor, they came to a brilliantly lit chamber. On the opposite side of said chamber was a large wooden door. Above them there were hundreds of flying creatures, lying in wait, docile.

“Do you think they’ll attack us if we try to cross the room?” Ron said, eyeing the creatures nervously.

Harry nodded his head. “I’ll run.” He said speaking braver then he felt. After a moments delay, he took off, sprinting across the room. Once he reached the other side, he pulled on the door, but it was locked, and the creatures, whatever they were, were not attacking him.

The others came over and tried to pull on the door as hard as they could; Hermione even tried the alohormora charm.

“Now what?” Ruthian said, tapping her foot as she concentrated.

“These birds…they can’t just be here for decoration.” Said Hermione.

They all watched the creatures flying overhead and that’s when they noticed that they were glittering.

“They’re not birds!” Harry suddenly exclaimed, “They’re keys! Winged keys. That must mean,…” he looked around the chamber while the others squinted up at the flock. “…yes – look! A broomstick! We’ve got to catch the key to the door!”

“But there are hundreds of them!” Groaned Ron.

Ruthian examined the lock on the door, “We’re looking for a big, old-fashioned one – probably silver, like the handle.”

“Who should go up?” Ron asked, though he already knew the answer. Harry was the youngest Seeker in a centenary; he would have to go up.

Harry nodded to them then stepped forward, towards the lone broomstick. Slowly, he reached out and grasped it firmly in his hands, and that’s when it happened. All of the keys suddenly darted towards him, hitting him, ramming him. Quickly, he jumped on his broom and took off, trying to evade their attacks to no avail.

“How is he supposed to find the key if they’re all attacking him?” Hermione exclaimed, looking up with worried eyes.

Ruthian looked up at him and said, “He can do it. Have faith.”

And she was right. Harry spotted the key; it was just like the young elf predicted. One wing was torn and it flew slowly, though fast enough that Harry had a hard time catching it with the other keys pounded at him. He reached out with one hand, just as one of the magical keys struck him in the face, causing him to spin out of control. Still, he grasped at the key in front of him, grapping it’s broken wing. Swooping down to the others, he threw it to Ron, who just managed to grab it before it could fly away again. “Unlock the door. I’ll fly in a loop so the keys don’t follow us!” He shouted.

The red head nodded and fumbled to unlock the door and, after the three went through, Harry dived towards it and just as he went through the doorway, his friends slammed it shut behind him.

“Great job Harry!” Hermione said, patting the heaving boy on the back.

But he didn’t look at her; instead he was looking at the room they were now in. They were standing on the edge of a giant chess board. “What do we do now?” He said with a shiver; the white chess pieces across from them were towering with no faces.

This time, Ron smiled. “We play our way across.” This was something the Weasley knew how to do; wizards chess. Him and Harry played often and the boy-who-lived could never beat him, no matter how hard he tried. Ron went up to one of the black knights and touched the horse. Instantly, the being came to life and the solder atop it turned to him, “Do we have to join you to get across?” After the night nodded, Ron turned to his friends. “No offense, but none of you are that good at chess so –”

“It’s no offense. Tell us what to do.” Harry said with a nod of his head.

The other boy nodded. “Harry, you take the place of that bishop, Hermione, you can be the rook.” He paused to think, then smirked, “Ruthian, you can be the queen.”

“What about you?” Hermione asked after everyone else had taken their places.

“Me?” His smirked widened as he looked at the chess piece he was touching, “I’m going to be a knight.”

So, Ron told them where to move, what to do. He called out the commands and the pieces moved on their own accord where he needed them to go. The big surprise came with the white queen took the other knight. She smashed him to pieces before throwing it off the board. “I had to let it happen,” The red head explained, “Now you’re free to take the bishop, Hermione.”

After what seemed like forever, Ron growled in frustration before snapping his fingers. “Almost there. I’ve got it now.” He muttered to himself as the white faceless queen turned her eyes on him before saying to Harry. “I’ve got to be taken.”

“No! Ron don’t do it!” Said the boy with the glasses.

“Ron, please. You don’t have to do this.” Ruthian begged with tears in her eyes. “There has to be another way.”

“No,” he replied, his voice deadly calm. “I’ll check the king and the queen will be forced to take me, leaving Harry open to check mate the king. If we don’t do it now, there is no telling how much longer till we get another chance. Snape could have the stone already!” Before they could argue anymore, he moved himself and said defiantly, “Check,” To the king.

The white queen moved towards him and, after a moment, she struck him as hard as she could before throwing him off the game board. Ruthian and Hermione both tried to move towards him, but Harry shouted,

“No! it’s our turn. If either of you move, then we’ll lose our chance.” He took a deep breath and moved in an ‘L’ shape towards the king before saying, cautiously, “Check mate?” it took a full minute for the king to respond; he released his hold on his sword and it fell to the ground before Harry.

Instantly, both girls ran towards Ron, who was bleeding on the ground. “Ron, Ron can you hear me?” Ruthian said in-between sobs.

The red head nodded and spoke, “You have to go through the door. Leave me here.”
Without arguing, the three trudged on through the door. Once they opened it, a foul sent hit their noses and they were faced with a troll; the same troll that Harry and Ron had saved Hermione from. Instantly, Ruthian stepped forward, her eyes puffy and red and said to them, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this one. You two get to that door.”

“But –” Both Gryffindor tried to protest, but the red head cut them off,

“I need to do this!” Was her growled voice, broken from her tears. “Come here you ugly piece of crap!” She yelled as she charged the bull troll. It gave a roar of its own and reached for her, but she jumped swiftly, landing on its head, “Go!”

And the two did. They ran across the room as they heard the young elf struggle before finally reaching the door and throwing it open and shutting it behind them. They found that there was nothing very frightening in this room; just a table with seven different vials all sitting in a row. When they stepped over the threshold, however, purple flames sprang up behind them and black flames sprang up in front of the door before them; they were trapped.

“Look!” Hermione said, pointing at a note that sat besides the vials. Harry read the note aloud.

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 ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead
Two among our numbers hold only nettle wine.
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line
Choose unless you wish to stay here forever more.
To help you in your choice, we give you clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle’s wine’s left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But it you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.*

“Brilliant!” Hermione said with a smile on her face, “This isn’t magic at all, it’s simple logic! A lot of great wizards haven’t got an ounce of logic; they’d be stuck in her forever!”

Harry groaned and said, “Yeah, and so will we!”

The girl rolled her eyes, “No we won’t. Everything we need is right here on this piece of paper. Seven bottles, three are poison, two are wine, one will get us to the stone, and the other will get us through the purple flames.” The girl placed her hands on the table and read the paper a few more times, muttering to herself all the while. It only took five minutes before she said, “I’ve got it. This one will get you to the stone.”

Harry took the vial. “Alright. You go back and get Ruthian and Ron. I’ll go on ahead. After you get back, you have to go straight to the owlery and owl for Dumbledore.”

Hermione nodded and took the potion, shuddering. “It’s like ice.” She stuttered, “Better go before it where’s off.” She ran through the purple flames without another word.

Gulping, Harry raised the potion to his lips and gulped. Hermione was right. It felt like he was in an ice bath. Quickly, he braced himself as he walked through the black flames. They licked at his body, but he couldn’t feel them at all. And just for a moment, he could see nothing but black fire – then he was through.

And there was someone there, and he knew right then that he had been wrong, that he should have listened to Ruthian when she said that Snape wasn’t the one. Because on the other side of that room, it’s wasn’t Snape, or even Voldemort; it was Quirrell.

OOOOOO

*Some dialogue taken from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Kathryn: Alright, more chapter and i'll start posting the second book! yeah go me!