Born From Madness (Harry Potter Fanfic)

32

Hermione followed behind Snape, careful not to be spotted by him so far. However, just as she was turning the corner, she nearly ran into Professor Quirrell. 

"Oh, Miss Granger. I beg your pardon," Quirrell said, "I didn't see you there." 

Hermione clenched her mouth open and close, trying to figure out what she was wanting to say to keep her cover. Before she could come up with something, Quirrell actually spoke out. 

"I actually was hoping to run into you. I wanted to discuss with you about your exam..." Quirrell stated to her. Hermione stiffened as she started to panic, "Nothing bad, I assure you. Actually, yours was the highest score out of all the students and I was wondering if I could convince you in considering taking a career around the Dark Arts." 

Hermione tilted her head, a bit confusion. 

"Don't you mean to take a career around the Defense Against the Dark Arts? Since the Dark Arts are horrible and completely disturbing to even think someone actually would want to use those spells." Hermione asked him. Quirrell shook his head, a glint of anger beamed in his eyes for a mere second before fading. 

"Of course... I would like to discuss it further if you would like. I can see you were meant for greatness in this world. Maybe sometime before you head off to summer break?" Quirrell explained to her. Hermione nodded her head while she watched Quirrell walk away. She couldn't stop the shiver that rushed down her spine. Hermione jolted when she remember she was supposed to follow Snape. She hurried to find Snape, but it was too late. He was gone. 

Hermione rushed back to the common room. She had just walked passed through the portrait hole when her eyes landed on Ron and Harry, who looked miserable. They must not have been able to guard the three floor. 

"I lost Snape." Hermione admitted, sadly, "I was following him when suddenly I bumped into Professor Quirrell, who wanted to discuss my future career. By the time we were finish, I lost Snape." 

"That's it!" Ron grumbled. Harry jumped from his seat. 

"Well I'm going and there's nothing you two can say to stop me! Someone has to stop Snape or else something bad is going to happen." Harry stated to them. Hermione nodded. 

"I actually wasn't going to stop you, Harry. I was actually going to suggest going ourselves. I mean it has to be us. None of the other Professors believe what we are saying and no other student are talking to us, so they're out. It has to be us." Hermione admitted to them. It was soon settled that all three of them were going. 

They had to wait till everyone had went to bed. Hermione had proceeded to read as much as she could to ensure she was prepared for whatever is down there. She had packed her wand and the potions that her Grandma had made for her. She felt this may be the time she needed it. Soon they watched as Lee Jordan had finally went to bed. Now armed with their wands, Harry's cloak, and Hermione's strange potions, they were ready to go. 

"Let's get under the cloak now, to make sure it covers all three of--" Harry started to discuss when...

"What are you doing?" they turned around to see Neville standing up from an armchair, clutching Trevor. 

"Um... nothing." Harry said, hiding the cloak behind his back. 

"You're going out again!" Neville shouted at them, "You'll get Gryffindor into more trouble! You can't go out!" 

"Neville, this is very important. We must do this," Hermione tried to explained, but Neville was in too much panic to listen. 

"No! I won't let you do it," He claimed before raising his fists, "I'll fight you!" 

"Neville," Hermione said, raising her wand, "I'm really sorry about this-- Petrificus Totalus!" 

Neville's body soon went completely stiff before landing onto his back without even moving. As Hermione put her wand away, Ron turned towards her. 

"You're a little scary sometimes you know that? Brilliant! But scary..." Ron admitted to her. Hermione ignored him as they proceeded underneath Harry's cloak then headed out to stop Snape. 

They had just reached the three floor's forbidden corridor and slithered unnoticed inside. It was quieter than usual except for the ringing of the harp. Hermione soon took noticed that Fluffy was asleep. 

"Snape's already got past Fluffy." Harry cursed at himself. They stripped the cloak from them as they carefully headed towards the trapdoor. They carefully nudged the paw off the trapdoor and lifted the door opened. The moment they did, the room was consumed in silence. 

"The harp! It's stopped playing." Ron whimpered as they glanced up to see Fluffy starting to wake up. The moment the dog opened its eyes and landed on the three of them, they started growling. Hermione could do the one thing she could think of. 

"NO! Stop your growling!" she screamed at the three-headed dog. It suddenly stopped and their growls turned to whimpers. Harry and Ron stared at her impressed by this. 

"Now, sit." She ordered. Fluffy did exactly as it was told and was gently panting, "Okay, Fluffy, I need you to do something really important. I need you to go to Hagrid's hut. You know where that is right?" 

Fluffy started to get excited as it shook all three of its heads. Hermione pulled out her wand, "Reducio." she whispered. 

Soon Fluffy started to grow smaller and smaller till it was the same size as Fang. Hermione motioned Fluffy towards the door. Fluffy then sprinted out of the room and headed down the corridor, hopefully drawing someone's attention. 

"That was brilliant Hermione." Harry told her. Hermione gave him her best grin before they descended into the trapdoor.