Taking the stairs two at a time, they rushed to the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Soon they were in front of the large door that, they knew, held Fluffy. Ron asked, “How are we going to get past Fluffy?�

“We’re gonna use you as bait, Weasley,� said Draco with a laugh. Harry saw Ron glare at Draco.

“Be quiet!� called Hermione from the door. She had her hear pressed against it and was listening, her wand in her hand. “I don’t think we need anything.�

“Wh—?� asked Harry, but he was cut short.

“Alohomora!� said Hermione as she pointed her wand at the lock, which clicked. With the help of Harry, she pulled the door open, and saw that Fluffy was asleep on the ground. Light music from a harp was being played in the corner, needing no one to play it.

“Quirrel’s already been here,� said Harry. “He could already have the stone. We have to hurry.�

Slowly, not wanting to wake the large three-headed dog, they moved to the trapdoor. Ron tried picking it up but there was a lock, preventing them from opening it. Hermione tried Alohomora, but that did nothing. She tried other spells, but those were no help either.

After a while, Harry got so annoyed since they couldn’t open the lock, he just kicked it out of anger. The lock came off and hit the opposite wall. Harry knew it was not his actual kick that had made it come off, but his anger coming out into magic.

“Bloody typical,� said Harry, pulling up the trapdoor. Below, all he could see was blackness.

“We’re gonna go in there?� asked Draco.

Ron smirked. “Scared, Malfoy?�

“No!� said Draco, as if he had been accused of something horrible.

“Stop! I’ll go first and then you three can follow,� said Harry as he turned to them.

Harry took a deep breath and jumped into the darkness. He landed hard on the wooden floor below, but managed to keep his balance. The others were not to so lucky.

The darkness surrounded them completely, not allowing them to see a single thing. “Oh, Blimey! What do we do now?� said a voice Harry recognized as Ron’s.

“Calm down. I’ll think of something,� said Hermione somewhere to his right.

“Lumos!� said Harry. It was as if his wand were behind a very thick fog, not allowing a lot of light. “That’s odd.�

After Hermione, Draco, and Ron had lit their wands, there was enough light to see each other and a large, wooden door. Harry saw Draco looking at Ron and Hermione with disgust, but ignored it.

He knew he had to get to Quirrel. Harry got to the door and saw that there was a small square window just above his eye level. He got onto his tippy-toes and managed to look through.

There was another room with three long, wooden tables next to each other. Nothing was upon them. “What do you see?� asked Draco.

“Look,� said Harry as he took a step back to stand next to Hermione. Draco and Ron pushed each other to see through the window.

“Hmm…� said Hermione. Harry looked at her inquiringly. (“Get out of the way, Weasley!� Draco said.) “I was just wondering why no light is showing through, if there’s a window.�

“Good point,� said Harry, moving toward the door. Harry turned the knob, thankful that it would.

Once they were all through the door, they extinguished the light from their wands, not needing it anymore. There were torches around the room and the three long tables were still there, but they were now covered in all sorts of vials. Some tall, some short, some thin, some square, and all in different colors. The room had no doors or windows.

Suddenly, they heard a loud “crack.� They all turned to see that the door was gone and it was just a blank stonewall. “Great. How are we going to get back?� asked Ron.

“Right now, we just have to go forward,� said Harry, moving toward the tables. He picked up a tall, purple vial.

“If I’m correct, I’d guess that we have to make a potion,� said Hermione. “Aha!� She moved to the middle table and picked up a piece of parchment.

“Well, that’s not too complicated,� she continued. Hermione looked at him and Ron, ignoring Draco, who was now holding up a small orange vial, which had some goopy green liquid inside. “We have to make an Exploding Potion. Probably to blast through one of the walls, but I’m not sure which.�

“Well, lets get to work,� said Harry. Hermione nodded.

“Hermione, how is it you know how to make an Exploding Potion? We never learned this,� said Ron.

“I read, Ron,� Hermione said. “Bring me that large jar over there. No, the one with the horn inside.� She pointed to a large, blue jar on the left table. Harry saw Ron bring it to her. “Harry, maybe you can find which wall we have to get through while I work on this.�

He went to the wall opposite from where they came in searching for some indication of which wall they had to explode. Harry heard footsteps coming toward him. “How long is this going to take?� asked Draco.

“I don’t know, but I don’t see you helping,� said Harry, getting agitated.

“What am I supposed to do? I don’t know how to make an Exploding Potion,� said Draco, getting irritated by Harry’s accusations.

Harry sighed and then said calmly, “Check that wall. Search for any burn marks. Quirrel had to have come through here already.� Draco nodded and moved away to the right wall.

When Harry was absolutely sure that there was nothing on that wall, he moved over to the left wall. He didn’t have to check the wall they came through, they didn’t want to go back. He was also sure there was nothing on this wall. It was just a plain stonewall. No out-of-the-ordinary marks upon it.

“Harry,� called Draco. “I found something.� Sure enough, when Harry got there, he saw that there was a round scorch mark on one of the stones. “Brilliant, aren’t I?�

“Oh, yeah. Real brilliant,� said Ron before sniggering at Draco.

“No one asked you, Weasel,� said Draco, glaring at him.

“Stop bothering each other! We don’t need anymore problems then we already have!� exclaimed Harry. He walked over to Hermione to see how the potion was going.

“I found the Erumpent horn in one of the larger vials. Now I just have to cut it open to get the fluid inside.� Hermione reached into her pocket and took out a small book, similar to the one she had given Harry.

“Do you just happen to carry books around all the time, Hermione?� asked Ron. She just gave him a look; Draco laughed at this and, in turn, Harry have him a look. She opened it on the table and searched through the pages. Draco sighed after awhile and rested his arm on the table, but accidentally knocked over a small, red vial. It shattered on the floor, spilling its clear contents. They all looked at him.

“Well, I hope we don’t need that,� said Ron, staring angrily at Draco.

“We don’t. Just the fluid within the horn,� said Hermione. She closed the book and pointed her wand at the horn. Harry hadn’t looked at it before. It was somewhat brown, roughly textured, and curved. “Diffindo!�

There was another loud “crack� and the horn slit in half. Before it could get onto the table, Hermione grabbed the two parts and held them together. Harry motioned her over to the right wall, where she threw the thick, yellow liquid within the horn onto the old burn mark. They all stepped away.

“Isn’t something supposed to happen?� asked Draco, his arms folded after a minute of silence. “Ugh. What is that? Weasley, you smell.� Draco stepped away from Ron, covering his nose.

“That’s only because you’re near me!� said Ron, his ears turning red.

“It’s the wall!� said Hermione as she looked at Ron and Draco with annoyance. She turned and Harry heard her mutter, “Boys,� as she shook her head.

The yellow liquid on the wall was now bubbling and sputtering. “I suggest moving,� said Hermione.

They all started backing further away as they watched the wall continue to fizz out of control. Draco turned to her, “Well, we weren’t going to just stand there, Granger.�

“Maybe you should,� said Ron, giving Draco a dirty look.

Harry saw Draco’s hand move to his pocket. “Draco, no!� shouted Harry. He stood between the two of them, facing Draco. Harry looked him directly in the eye. “You do not lay a hand on them. Got it?�

“Only if you tell him not to touch me either,� said Draco, looking around Harry to sneered at Ron.

Harry turned around, still between them, to face Ron. “And you, too. Understoo—?�

The wall exploded, creating tons of dust and debris. Harry coughed, as did the others, while trying to cover his face. “Lu—� He coughed. “Lumos!� He held his wand in front of him, and walked over the pieces of wall on the ground. Draco, Ron, and Hermione followed after him.

Pieces of dust got into Harry’s eyes, so he closed his eyes as he continued to walk forward. Unexpectedly, he felt two hands grab the back of his robes and pull him back. “Wha—?�

After rubbing his eyes clean of the dust, he opened them to see that both Draco and Ron had pulled him back, but they were still holding onto him. “What was that for?� asked Harry, looking to Ron, Hermione, and Draco. But he saw that the three of them were looking forward, silently.

Harry turned, opening his mouth in awe. There before them was a small cliff and below… a sea of water, which seemed endless. Ron exhaled loudly, letting go of Harry’s robes. Draco let go, as well.

“I can’t believe this! Quirrel must have taken a boat or something because I can’t see any way he could’ve gotten across this,� said Harry exasperatedly. He took a couple steps back, waving his hands in the air to get rid of the dust that still lingered.

As Harry sighed, Draco got a torch from the wall and went close to the edge. Harry walked back and stood next to Draco, looking over. Draco whistled at the sight.

Harry continued to stare at the moving waves. The water seemed to go on forever, but how could that possibly be? He knew they were still in Hogwarts. Could it be that, somehow, they were looking at the Black Lake? But then something caught his eye.

He motioned to Draco for the torch. Once he had the torch, he held it over the edge. For some reason Harry could have sworn he saw a reflection, but not the usual reflection of water, which was just the colors of what was being reflected. He could have sworn he saw a full reflection of him, Ron, and Draco.

After turning to see Hermione standing a ways behind them, he asked if she could bring over a couple pieces of debris. She came back with a couple pieces and Ron came over to see what he was going to do.

Still holding the torch, Harry lightly threw one of the pieces over the edge. They all thought it would fall down, eventually splashing into the water, but it stopped a couple inches in front of them.

“It’s a spell! I should’ve known,� said Hermione. Draco took the torch from Harry. Harry put a foot over the cliff, but it landed on, what seemed, like solid ground. And he would have thought it to be if he hadn’t seen the water below, which was still moving.

They all continued on, not so hesitant anymore. As they walked further from the old room, a new one appeared a ways in front of them. But they were still over the water. Ron was walking on ahead, Hermione behind him, and then Harry and Draco. Harry looked behind him to see how far they had gone and then looked forward again.

The calm suddenly vanished. He heard Ron scream, but couldn’t see him anymore. From behind, he saw that Hermione was on her knees looking down at something. Harry ran over, Draco right behind him.

Ron was in the water far below…