A Prophecy of Two Boys

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Harry's Point of View

The remainder of the holiday had passed without incident. When I had woken up the night after Easter Draco was curled up in bed beside us. Percy was still asleep, so when I asked Draco why he explained that he had had a nightmare and Percy had talked to him after it. Apparently they had ended up falling asleep afterwards. To be honest, I'm not sure if he was telling the truth. His eyes were filled with more concern than horror at the mention of 'his' nightmare. But I didn't want to call him out on it. Whatever had happened was to stay between him and Percy, and I'm fine with that. Sometimes it's nice to have a secret that not even your brother knows…

Going back to school after the Easter holiday's almost felt like going home. I think I can say both Percy and I felt kind of guilty for saying it, but it was true. As much as we love Potter Manor and our parents and honouree uncles, Hogwarts was just that and more! The exam season began in earnest, but (at least for us) that wasn't something to be too bothered about. We seemed to breeze through the majority of our exams.

Of course, as everyone else was revising, it was the perfect opportunity to research into Nicolas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone. There wasn't much to be said about the Philosopher's Stone, given that only Flamel and Dumbledore have studied it, so all the books pretty much told us the same thing; it could create gold and could produce the elixir of life. So that was a waste of time. It would appear, if we were to find anything about this stone we would have to follow Percy's preferred plan of action; steal it and exam it ourselves.

We planned to steal during the first week of June. As it worked out, on the fourth day of the month, a rumour spread round the school that Dumbledore was out of the castle after being summoned to the Ministry. At break time we visited our godfather, who confirmed the rumour. Knowing that we had limited time, Percy feigned feeling sick in Charms. Flitwick immediately sent us to the Hospital Wing with our brother, telling us to get well soon.

"Thank you Charles, I'll deal with this now." Madam Pomphrey dismissed Charles after we had been seated on a bed. When the door was shut she turned and gave as a disapproving look. "There's no point lying to me, Mr Potter. I can see you're not ill, and you most certainly don't have a temperature. I don't know what you're up to, but I'm guessing it's not to do with schoolwork."

I hesitated before deciding to tell her a part truth. "Well, you see Madam, we know about the Philosopher's Stone. Charles found out first, and then he told us in an information exchange. Except… well, they think someone's trying to steal it. Charles thinks that it's Professor Snape trying to steal it, but we're not so sure. We wanted to warn Professor Dumbledore but –"

"He's not currently here." Madam Pomphrey nodded, but didn't relinquish her disapproving look.

"Anyway," Percy continued. "Given that we believe someone is trying to steal the Stone, and Dumbledore has suddenly been summoned away from the Castle, we believe that, if someone is going to steal it, it will happen tonight. We wanted to warn someone, but we didn't know who. As our godfather wouldn't approve of us getting involved, you understand, we thought you might."

"Indeed." Madam Pomphrey's expression softened, but she still looked sceptical. "I will send word to the Headmaster. In the meantime, however I suggest you get back to your lesson."

Reluctantly, we left the Medical Wing, and headed in the direction of Charms before doubling back and heading for the Forbidden Third Floor.

The door at the end of the hall was locked, but that wasn't anything a simple 'alohomora' couldn't fix. We froze at the sight of the massive dog that lay within. He was no doubt an offspring of Cerberus, the three headed dog of the underworld. I steeled my nerves, feeling Percy doing the same, and we stepped through the doorway.