raised by dementor

chapter 20

It was a few moments after Harry left the astronomy tower when it hit him; he had just given Norbert to Charlie Weasley when suddenly his mind felt as if it had walked into an invisible brick wall. It didn't take him long to connect the dots; the ward had been breached
"Quirrel," he whispered; he was alone in the tower and it would take too long for his friends to wake up let alone make it to the third floor corridor; this was the moment he had preparing for and it looked like he had to do it alone. He was a long way from the third floor and it looked as if Quirrel had one hell of a head start; but he wasn't counting on two things; he didn't know Harry knew he was going after it nor did he know about Harry's powers. There was one way he could get there quickly; he looked back up the steps of the tower
"This is crazy," he sighed loudly, but he began to climb anyway and soon enough he was in the tower; it was silent and Charlie Weasley was long gone; that was a plus seeing as what he was about to do was insane. The Astronomy tower overlooked the castle and beneath it was an entrance which would lead him to the grand staircase, however that was at the bottom and he was at the top; it was a long way down and this would be the tallest thing he had ever flown off; though in comparison to the stairs and halls this would be a much quicker way down. Harry sighed and cautiously stood on the balcony, he climbed up on the railing and looked down; it was a long way down and he needed to pull up at the last second or… splat.
"Why am I doing this?" Harry asked himself; Quirrel might be a threat but did Harry need to jump of a tower; he had leapt from the roof of Azkaban once but it was a lot harder to pull up with the amounts of kinetic energy that built up during the jump. Lucy had saved him that time but she was bit too far away to help now; however these thoughts suddenly vanished from his mind as he swan dived from the balcony and towards the ground. Flying was fun but this felt like pure adrenaline as the wind stung his face and clouded his vision; at first it was terrifying but then he began to enjoy it. He allowed himself to fall until he could just make out the ground; then he thrust his neck and body upwards until he had manoeuvred himself into standing position, he touched the ground lightly with none of the force he had on the way down which was one hell of achievement. However he didn't have time to enjoy the adrenaline pumping through his veins nor did he have time to comprehend what he had just done; he had never jumped off a building like this, nor did he allow himself to fall but this time he did. It was like extreme bungee jumping; very extreme.
Later
"Come on," Draco urged, the moment he had worked out what was going on he had grabbed Crabbe and Goyle and they had sped towards the Ravenclaw common room. Surprisingly there was no password just a riddle which Draco answered with ease; some security this house had; the girls were in separate rooms and neither were particularly pleased to wake up with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle around them. It had been difficult to ensure their roommates had stayed asleep but luckily the three could be quiet when they needed to be; something Hermione and Cho found disturbing seeing as the boys were in the girl's dorm.
"I am getting a lock for this room," Cho had vowed after they had explained what was going on; however they weren't angry for long seeing as the person they knew hated them was trying to become rich and immortal. Seeing as they were pressed for time the entire group were wearing nothing but their pyjamas and in the girls' case dressing gowns, both had dared Draco to make a comment but explained if he did then certain areas could be lost to a stray and accidental curse. So far Draco had refrained but mostly because they were now half running-half sneaking through the corridors
"How long will it take Harry to get here?" Cho wondered aloud knowing he was the one they wanted facing Quirrel; he had the power and skill while she and Hermione had the brains. Draco provided terrible comedy and Crabbe and Goyle were the ones who gave the group a new perspective on things.
"Not sure the Astronomy tower's the other side of the castle but knowing Harry he will have found a way to get here quickly," Draco answered knowing his best friend well.
"Wait there he is," Hermione pointed out suddenly; Harry was soaring up the grand staircase while they were going down it, Draco was confused for a moment
"How did he get down there?" Crabbe wondered knowing the Astronomy tower was very high up
"He didn't do it did he? No he did!" Cho sighed realising what he had done, jumping off the tower really? He could be so reckless, he could fly sure but gravity had a strong pull when flying down from something that tall.
"Harry," Hermione called suddenly not thinking, he heard but he was not the only one. Her voice echoed around the mostly empty area and someone had heard them.
"Shh," Draco shushed her looking around, it was too late, Peeves had seen them. Harry not wanting to be spotted dived for cover; if his friends were caught then at least he could continue alone
"Well looky here ickle first years," the poltergeist exclaimed happily; delighted to cause trouble in some way
"Great," Draco sighed; how were they going to deal with him, he was unpredictable and only feared one person and the bloody baron was not here.
"Ickle first years shouldn't be out of bed, perhaps Peeves should yell for Filch," the poltergeist teased wondering what trouble he could cause.
"Perhaps you shouldn't," Hermione advised taking control of the situation
"Why not girlie?" Peeves chuckled wondering what she could do to dissuade him
"Because we're planning a prank," Hermione answered coming up with the answer on the spot, she was trying to appeal to Peeves's nature and he was interested now
"Ooh and what is the plan that you ickle firsties came up with?" he asked realising he might be able to cause more trouble by helping them rather than telling on them
"To wash Snape's hair," Hermione quickly replied again coming up with the answer on the spot. It worked and Peeves was suddenly looking very intrusted indeed
"Yeah! We're going to put shampoo over his door and in the morning it will fall on him," Crabbe interjected trying to get the poltergeist to believe the story, Peeves frowned
"Interesting, Interesting, maybe Peeves could help you," the poltergeist suggested;
"Fine, why don't you go the prefects' bathroom, grab some shampoo and put it over his door, we'll do the rest," Draco suggest, Peeves considered this for a few moments, then he gave the group a mock salute and flew away.
"That worked?" Cho stated surprised;
"Yes it did," Draco nodded, they had tricked a trickster
"What do we do when Peeves blames us? Because he got the idea from us," Cho wondered aloud
"Let's cross that bridge later," Draco suggest not wanting to thick about what Snape would do in the morning; he may be nicer now but Draco doubted he would take the prank well.
"Come on," Hermione urged realising they were wasting time; Harry emerged from under one of the staircases and arrived at the entrance to the corridor; he waited a few moments for everyone to arrive.
"How did you get here so fast?" he wondered
"Draco worked the whole thing out," Crabbe explained patting the blond-haired boy on the back
"And then they snuck into the common room and woke us up," Cho finished
"Yes it was terrifying," Hermione commented; shuddering at the memory
"Don't worry in a few years you'll both be used to waking up with three boys over you," Draco teased, it had taken him a while to come up with the perfect comment and that was the one.
"I'm going to kill you," Cho vowed darkly, for a moment Harry didn't think she was joking, neither did she.
"While you lot are talking there's a guy trying to steal the stone," Goyle suddenly interrupted,
"Fine I'll kill you later," Cho conceded, Harry chuckled slightly and opened the door. He could hear a harp playing in the distance and the group walked slowly towards the door where they knew fluffy was being kept. Slowly, very slowly they pushed the door open and found the giant dog passed out over the trap door. The harp was magically playing itself and the dog was fast asleep
"I really didn't want to come back here," Draco grumbled;
"No one did," Crabbe remarked
"I'm the one who has the last word in this group," Draco warned his friend.
"Would you two shut up," Hermione advised, the moment the words left her lips the harp stopped playing; it was enchanted to stop when a louder noise was present
"Well look who killed us all," Draco commented nodding towards the now stirring dog, someone even with the giant dog Hermione still managed to punch Draco on the shoulder. Harry studied the dog; its mind was basic and while it would be easy to manipulate it; it would be much harder to keep a creature that acted on instinct subdued mentally for long. However it was just waking up which gave them a slight advantage
"Come on," Harry called to his friends, he pushed its paw off the trap door and Harry flung it open, the dog growled deeply as it began to register what was going on, the trapdoor opened up to a hole which seemed to go quite a way down, however at the moment the drop was looking more favourable than the giant dog.
"Come on," Harry called again; Cho moved first and dived down with ease, Hermione rushed forward next followed by Crabbe and Goyle. The Cerberus's attention was now on Harry
"Oh goodie a dark hole," Draco mumbled sarcastically before he too jumped down, Fluffy moved forward; ready to give Harry the killing bite but it was too late; Harry had already dropped and the dog had no way of getting down. It barked loudly but there was nothing it could do as Harry descended into the darkness and hit something soft, it took a few moments before his eyes could adjust to the darkness.
"At least we got a soft landing," Crabbe murmured, Harry frowned the room seemed to be filled with a giant plant with tentacles and tendrils. Something was wrong here
"Oh no," Hermione mouthed from the other side of the room, Harry was confused for a moment but suddenly he saw why; it was alive and moving. Suddenly one of the tentacles slid around his leg and he scrambled up to shake it off but instead it only tightened its grip before wrapping around his arms and chest.
"What the," Draco yelled as the same thing happened to him
"It's devils snare," Cho shouted as one of the tentacles wrapped round her arm
"What do we do?" Harry shouted, his powers would not be helpful here and the more he tried to fly away the more tentacles gripped him. Crabbe and Goyle's bodies were now hidden by tendrils as they tried to escape
"It likes the dark and damp, dark and damp so it hates fire!" Hermione worked out; she was the least affected, most likely she was the calmest "But there's no wood,"
"You're kidding me! Because it's not like you have some kind of stick that can make a magical fire," Draco announced sarcastically, Hermione worked out what he meant.
"Incendio," suddenly a fire erupted in the centre of the room and the plant moved as one to escape it, Harry was close by and the tendrils holding him vanished as two more fires freed the others. Hermione was coordinating the fires and the plant scuttled away from them; giving Draco and Cho enough time to crawl out of the mass of vines. Crabbe and Goyle were almost dragged away with the plant but the two managed to force the tendrils to the side and scramble away from the fleeing plant.
"Not your first time with ten…" Draco began
"You make any comment about tentacles and I will throw you back in there," Cho warned
"Me too," Harry announced agreeing with her
"And me," Hermione interjected not wanting to hear it
"And us," Crabbe and Goyle warned; they were the ones who had been submerged in the plant and the comment Draco was about to make would offend them quite a bit. Draco seeing he was outnumbered decided to withdraw the comment, suddenly the humour had run dry and the group were now focused on what they would need to face next in order to stop Quirrel.
"This is not going to end well," Draco sighed.