Chương 22: ITW,H - Chapter 22 - The Midnight Duel

(Word Count: 3, 114) It was at dinner when Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle came up to him.

"Potter! What's this I hear about you skipping years and joining the third years in divination? You think you're so smart that you're better than everyone?"

"I don't think I'm better than everyone, Draco. Besides, I don't need to attend divination class to be better."

"Yeah," Ron jumped in, eager to aid Harry.

"Harry's a far better wizard than you'll ever be!" Malfoy scoffed.

"Please. I'm not one of your lackeys, believing anything you say, Potter. I know for a fact that you were raised by muggles! I bet I could take you on easily." Harry raised an eyebrow.

"I highly doubt that." Malfoy bristled in anger.

"I'll take you on anytime, anywhere. Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel, I suppose, given you've lived with muggles."

"Don't worry, Malfoy. I know what wizard duels are. Grandfather Arcturus made sure I was ready for them," Harry replied. Inside, he was thinking about the best way to proceed with this. This was the "midnight duel" in canon, which led the golden trio, plus Neville in the books, to discover the 3rd floor corridor and set them on the trail of the philosopher's stone. He didn't have any specific quest for this midnight duel, however, he did have the "Golden Trio" quest, which this duel will decide, essentially.

The golden trio quest was whether or not he would include other people in his "adventures." [Fate Quest: Golden Trio Harry Potter gets up to a lot of mischief in school, but he never goes at it alone! The adventures didn't just help shape Harry, it also helped shape Ron and Hermione. You need to find your own golden squad and bring them along with you on your adventures, so they can learn and grow as well. Your options are: Go With Canon!: Stick with the "Golden Trio" and bring Ron and Hermione on your adventures. Reward: Perk: One For All And All For One! Include Others: Why stay to just two? Bring others along! They could use character building opportunities. Reward: Perk: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work! Lone Wolf: They're kids! Why bring them along to risk their lives? You already know what lies ahead of you. You can handle these adventures all on your own. Reward: Nothing! You think I'd reward you for being boring and coddling the kids? It's for their own good!] Obviously, he couldn't choose the last one.

Not only because he wouldn't get anything if he did, but he also agreed with Fate on this one. These adventures had helped shape Ron and Hermione, and would help anyone else he chose to include. He was going for the second option, and would include Neville as well, so he needed to intrigue them and set them on this course. This midnight duel was the perfect opportunity for that. At the mention of Arcturus, Malfoy's face paled in realization, but he looked around at the group looking at him and steeled himself.

"Well then? Who's your second? Crabbe's mine." Harry gestured at Ron.

"Ron will be my second."

"Then, midnight tonight. In the trophy room." Harry nodded, and Malfoy walked away. Hermione frowned at Harry.

"Harry, you can't be serious. You mustn't go wandering around the school at night! If you get caught—and you will be! —you'll lose points for Gryffindor! This is quite selfish of you. I'm very disappointed in you."

"I know, Hermione. But I can't just refuse a wizard's duel. It would reflect poorly on the Potter name." Hermione didn't look convinced.

"Really? That sounds so barbaric. And if it was truly a sanctioned duel, why do you have to sneak around at night to do it? It doesn't make sense!" Still, to show how cross she was with them, she turned around to not talk to them anymore. ~ ITW, H ~ That night, when Dean and Seamus were asleep—Neville was nowhere to be seen for some reason—Harry and Ron made their way down to the common room. It was empty and dark, with only the embers of the fireplace to give light. Wasn't Hermione supposed to be here?

Harry looked around, and caught a bushy looking shadow. Hermione was sitting at one of the armchairs. He sighed in relief. For a moment there, he was worried she didn't show up. They had almost reached the exit hole that led to the back of the Fat Lady when a lamp flickered on. In the light, they could now clearly. Hermione was wearing a pink dressing gown and was frowning at them, arms folded across her chest. She was doing her very best impression of Professor McGonagall.

"I can't believe you're actually going through with this, Harry!" Hermione said disapprovingly.

"You!" Ron said furiously, "go back to bed!" Hermione turned her glare onto him.

"I almost told your brother!" She snapped.

"Percy—He's a prefect, he'd have put a stop to all this rubbish." Harry nudged Ron to continue out the door.

"Sorry, Hermione. Can't talk right now, we don't want to be late." He had to move the conversation outside the door, so that Hermione would get caught outside the common room, and be forced to come along. As expected, Hermione wouldn't give up on them so easily and followed them out the door. She was furious at being dismissed, especially by Harry, and hissed at them in frustration.

"Harry! Ugh, why are you being so stubborn about something so—so inane! Don't you care about Gryffindor? Is this some vanity thing, and you only care about how this will make you look? I don't want Slytherin to win, and you're going to lose all of the points I gained from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells!"

"Oh? You already know about switching spells? That's fourth year material, that's brilliant Hermione, well done," Harry praised. In the month they've spent together before the school year, he had only gone over some of the first year materials, along with some customs she'll run into in the wizarding world. So this was all her. Hermione was taken aback by the compliment.

"What? No, don't change the subject, I'm trying to give you a proper lecture!"

"Just go away already!" Ron yelled at her.

"There's no need to be rude, Ron. She's only concerned for us. She just doesn't want us to get into trouble," Harry stepped in.

"No she doesn't! You heard her, Harry! She just thinks we're going to lose those precious points of hers." Hermione looked hurt, "No, I—that's not what I meant at all!" There was a snuffling sound and they all turned to find Neville curled up on the floor. Their shouting had woken him up. He blinked at them, then cried in relief.

"Oh thank goodness, you've found me! I've been out here for hours! I couldn't remember the new password to get in!" Harry immediately felt guilty. He really should have gone to find him when he didn't show up at curfew.

"I'm sorry about that, Neville. The new password's 'pig snout,' but it won't help you now, the Fat Lady's gone." Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"What?" Hermione blinked in surprise, and whirled around. The Fat Lady was gone from her portrait, off on some night time walk in some other portrait. They were all locked out.

"Oh no! Now what am I going to do?" Hermione asked shrilly. She whirled at Harry.

"This is all your fault, Harry! If you would just be reasonable, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Whatever, that's your problem. Come on, Harry, we can't be late!" Ron pulled Harry along.

"Not so fast! I'm coming with you!" Hermione said, following them.

"Wait! Don't leave me alone! The bloody baron's been by twice already!" Neville shot to his feet and ran after them.

"You can't be serious! You can't come along!" Ron said angrily.

"Do you really think I'm going to just stand here and wait for Filch to catch me? If he finds all three of us, I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you and you can back me up."

"You've got some nerve—" Ron shouted.

"Alright, that's enough you two," Harry cut in. Neville was just watching them argue nervously.

"Ron, they can come. Hermione, don't worry. If we get caught, I'll make sure the teacher's know that you and Neville were just locked out and were dragged along. Now come on, we don't want to be late." Ron glared at Hermione and Neville.

"Fine. But if either of you get us caught, I swear I won't rest until I learn that curse of bogies Professor Quirrell told us about and use it on you."

"Relax, it'll be okay. Look," Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map he had gotten back from Fred and George.

"This is a map of Hogwarts that my father and godfather had made. It's called the Marauder's Map, and it will show us if anyone's approaching." He tapped the paper, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Hermione scoffed.

"Up to no good? You can't be serious, Harry."

"Of course not, that's my godfather. But it is the password they've set." Following the map, the four of them snuck through the hallways, making sure to avoid any patrolling prefect or teacher. In one corner of the map, Harry even saw Fred and George in one of the abandoned classrooms. Who knows what they were doing. From the astronomy tower, he could see the second years leaving astrology class and were returning back to their common rooms, escorted by one of their house prefects.

They made their way up to the trophy room, the various trophies, badges, shields, and statues glinted in the moonlight trickling in from the windows. In the corner was a tall box, which held the goblet of fire. Other than the trophies, the room was empty. Harry put away the map, tucking it into his robe pocket. He would just let things play out as they would from here. They waited in anxious silence until midnight came and went.

"He's late. Maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered to Harry. There was a loud noise in the next room, making them all jump. Filch's voice carried over to them.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner." The four of them scurried as silently as they could towards the door away from Filch's voice, and they barely made it out when they heard Filch enter the trophy room.

"They're in here somewhere," Filch muttered to himself.

"Probably hiding." The others were petrified with fear, so Harry nudged them along.

"This way," he whispered silently. They made their way down a long gallery of different suits of armor. They could hear Filch getting closer. This made Neville skittish and he broke out into a run, but tripped and fell into one of the suits of armor. It came crashing down, the sound reverberating throughout the hallway.

"Run!" Harry shouted. The four of them sprinted down corridor after corridor. Harry led the way, leading them down a secret passageway, which exited near the charms classroom, miles away from the trophy room. But most importantly, it was near the forbidden 3rd floor corridor.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted. Wow, I'm really out of shape! He had been relying a bit too much on magic, and he hasn't exercised as much as he should have. Neville was bent over, bracing himself on his knees, wheezing and sputtering. Hermione was clutching a stitch in her chest.

"I—told—you," she gasped, breathing hard between her words.

"I—told—you!" The only one not dying from the run was Ron. Annoyingly, he wasn't even out of breath, let alone sweaty.

"We've got to get back to the Gryffindor tower, as quick as possible! Harry, take out that fancy map of yours!"

"Malfoy tricked you, Harry," Hermione said.

"You realize that, don't you? Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off. He was never going to meet you!"

"I know, Hermione, I didn't think he was going to show up either. Come on, let's go back," Harry said. They barely started when Peeves, the resident poltergeist of Hogwarts, flew out of one of the classrooms. He caught sight of them, and squealed in delight, doing a little wiggly dance in the air. Ron groaned, "Shut up, Peeves! Please, you'll get us thrown out!" Peeves just cackled.

"Wandering around at midnight, ickle firsties? Tut, tut, tut! Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty!" He flew around them tauntingly.

"Not if you don't give us away! Peeves, please," Ron begged desperately.

"Should tell Filch, I should. It's for your own good, you know," Peeves said in a saintly voice, as if he was doing them a grand favor, but his eyes gleamed darkly at their misfortune.

"Oh, just get out of the way!" Ron snapped and swiped at the poltergeist. That set him off, and Peeves flew higher into the air and bellowed.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED, DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!" They ran for their lives, right to the end of the hallway, and straight down the forbidden third floor corridor. They came to the end, and crashed into a locked door. Ron moaned, "This is it! We're done for! This is the end!" Behind them, they could hear Filch running as fast as he could to where Peeves was still shouting.

"Oh, move over!" Hermione snarled, wrenching Harry's wand out of his hand. He didn't fight it, and let her use it. She tapped the lock, "alohomora!" The latch clicked and the door swung open. They piled into the room, closing the door behind them. Ron and Hermione pressed their ears to the door to listen. Meanwhile, Neville stood in frozen terror, as pale as a ghost. He had noticed the massive cerberus hound that was standing up. Fluffy!

The giant three headed dog was much more intimidating in person than it was in the movies. It took up the entire space, from floor to ceiling, which was about 12-15 feet high. Thanks to Harry's perks, he was able to use legilimency on it. It was surprised at their sudden arrival and was trying to decide what to do with them. It was ordered to only intimidate any arrivals, unless they went for the trapdoor under its feet. Only then would it actually attack. So they were safe enough.

Neville couldn't take his eyes off of it, but reached out and clutched at Harry's sleeve with a small whimper. At the movement, Fluffy growled, causing the entire room to rumble. At that, Hermione and Ron turned around as well, and froze at the sight of Fluffy. Harry opened the door behind them and pushed them all back outside, with Fluffy snarling and biting behind them to encourage them to run. That broke them out of their frozen state and they ran.

Harry made sure to lock the door again behind them, and ran to catch up. They didn't stop running until they were back at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Luckily, the Fat Lady was there this time. She looked surprised, seeing four first years out after midnight.

"Where on earth have you all been?" She asked, seeing them all disheveled and gasping for breath.

"Pig snout! Pig snout!" Ron panted. The Fat Lady sighed exasperatedly and gestured for them to enter as the portrait swung open. In the common room, they collapsed into the couches. Trembling. Harry grimaced, feeling guilty for the sheer fear they had been put through. Neville was still as pale as a ghost. When Harry caught his breath again, he broke the silence.

"I owe you three an apology. I'm sorry." Hermione looked at him sharply.

"You knew this was going to happen? You said you knew Malfoy wouldn't show up. What did you mean by that?" Ron sat up, "Was this another one of your visions? Blimey, mate!" Neville didn't say anything. Harry nodded.

"Yes, this was one of my visions. The four of us were meant to be out here tonight, and we were meant to find that room. Did you see what it was standing on?"

"What was it standing on?" Ron asked, incredulously.

"I wasn't looking at its feet! I was too busy looking at its heads! Or maybe you didn't notice? There were three!"

"It was standing on a trapdoor," Hermione said.

"It was obviously guarding something!"

"Exactly. I don't know exactly what it's guarding, but I know that I'll need each of you to help me."

"But why? Why do you need to get past it in the first place?" Hermione asked.

"I don't need to get past it, but I know that someone's trying to steal whatever it is. We need to stop whoever it is. Otherwise, I get the feeling I might die."

"DIE!?" The three of them exclaimed in shock. That knocked Neville out of his stupor.

"Why would you die?" Neville asked.

"I don't know, I just get a grave feeling. If I don't do anything, the thief will succeed, and it will lead to my death." Honestly, he wasn't even sure if that was the truth or not. If Voldemort had successfully taken the stone, would he be too powerful for Harry to beat him? He had the system, but it will take time for his power to build up. If Voldemort got the stone, his rise back to power would come too quickly.

"That's why I let things play out as they did, so we could find the trapdoor!"

"You could have just told us, Harry!" Ron yelled at him.

"I agree. You could have just told us, Harry. I hope you're happy with yourself. We could have been killed—or worse, expelled! Now, I'm going to bed before you get another harebrained idea!" With that, Hermione stormed off up the girl's stairs.

"We wouldn't have died, nor were we in danger of being expelled. Ron, how many times do you think Fred and George were caught out after curfew? At worst, we would have been given detention for a day or two. And the cerberus was trained to only be intimidating. They wouldn't have put one in a school full of children if it would eat us," Harry explained.

"Still, this wasn't okay, Harry. You should have told us. We were scared out of our wits!" Ron chastised. Harry opened his mouth to defend himself, but couldn't think of anything.

"I'm sorry." They went to their beds in silence.