80 The Gauntlet

80 The Gauntlet

Instead of going back to the Griffindor Tower to go to bed when curfew arrived, I went to the third floor corridor and used the map in my storage space to look at the series of tests and traps to see if they were the same as before. Not surprisingly, they were. They were also easily bypassed if you had a broom available and a spell to cut things... and enlarged kibble for a hungry three headed dog.

Did you know that doors are not considered opened if the hinges never move and the door handle isn't turned? I cut a Harry-sized hole in each door and nothing activated. I also decapitated the chess pieces from the air, just in case hovering over the board activated it. It didn't, so I continued on.

The flames in the potions room never lit, because I never opened or closed the doors on either side. There was no troll there, probably because that was a Quirrell specialty. Why the other teachers or Dumbledore never mentioned that in canon when a troll appeared at Halloween, was beyond me. Maybe because of that they used the troll for the tests later?

Eh, whatever. I shrugged the thought off and entered the final room. It was empty. I figured it would be. In the original story, Dumbledore waited until Christmas before he started playing his games with Harry, by giving him his own family heirloom as a gift. Pompous arsehole that he is.

Thinking of the cloak had given me another thought and I had to smile. At the moment, I had two of the Deathly Hallows and the third was only part of the castle away. When I checked the map, Albus was pacing in his office again. I chuckled at that, because he was either restless and had to walk to tire himself out or he was planning something and paced to go over the details.

I didn't land, in case that set off an alert ward, and I carefully checked over the map for the Mirror of Erised, only I couldn't see it. I sighed and had to flip the map over to check the wards and their long list of exceptions. A third of the way down was the mirror, so I removed it. Surprisingly, the dark mark exception had been added again.

I smiled and would wait for Albus to go to bed before I removed it again, because I was curious about what would happen to Snape if it was the middle of the night and the wards were not welcoming him. That gave me another thought and an idea about a good prank. I changed the exception to turn the object blue, so people could easily see it. The best part was that it only activated if other people were around to see it.

I went over the map again and found the mirror in a far corridor, so I flew back through the tasks and left all the doors with the holes in them. It was a test of my own to see if any of the teachers or even Albus himself regularly checked the place. I doubted it, since none of the other students were ever in trouble for being in the third floor corridor.

I flew up the trap door, patted Fluffy on each of his heads, and floated out through the door hole... and stopped in mid-air when Fred and George Weasley gasped and pointed at me. “Gentlemen.”

“Harrykins!” The twins exclaimed at the same time and then hushed themselves.

“Don't worry about making sounds. The hallway is warded to stop the passing students from hearing Fluffy bark and growl.” I told them and they looked shocked.

“How do you know that?” They asked in tandem.

“A simple detection spell.” I said and didn't perform it, because it was actually on the map I copied. I did not need an information overload slamming into my head again. Instead, I created a piece of parchment with the spell on it and pulled it out of my pocket to hand to them, then warned them. “Make sure you cast it to let the results appear on a blank piece of parchment or another object.”

“No problem, Harry.” Fred said and tucked it away.

“Thanks, Harry. This is going to help a lot.” George said.

I hopped off the broom and tucked it into my pocket, which made their eyes go very wide. “Dammit, I shouldn't have shown you that.”

The twins exchanged looks and grinned at me. “Do ours, too!”

I sighed. “Keep quiet about it and I will. No one else, though.”

The twins did the cross my heart thing and the key to the lips and fake tossing it away.

I had to chuckle at that and pointed to their pants. They each wanted the opposite pocket done, so I expanded Fred's right pocket and George's left. “If anyone asks, it's family magic.”

The twins nodded. “Thanks for sharing it, Harry.”

“I was going to give you a Tickle Trunk as a Yule present, so you were going to find out eventually anyway.” I said and they gave me confused looks. “It's a magical trunk that's expanded on the inside and is full of different costumes, tricks, toys, and hand puppets.”

Their eyes almost bulged out of their heads for a moment, they they hugged each other and started jumping up and down. “We can't wait!”

I snorted and laughed at their antics. “I'll put a rush on it and let you know when it's done.”

They let each other go and glomped onto me and jumped up and down with me suspended between them. “You're the best, Harry!”

I swatted at their heads and hands to make them let me go. They laughed and messed up my hair before I could flee. The last I saw of them was them entering the room with Fluffy and they started singing. I shook my head at them and went to the Griffindor tower to go to bed, because I could check the mirror tomorrow. I easily avoided the Prefect patrols and made it to the common room.

“Oooo, someone's being a bad boy.” Angelina's voice said as soon as she saw me.

“You wouldn't have it any other way.” I responded and she grinned at me.

“What were you doing?” Katie asked me.

Daphne stiffened again and she looked embarrassed.

I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “It's all right. I told you to not feel guilty about it.”

Daphne had to take a full minute before she could compose herself. “But, you are upset about it.”

“Of course I am. Anyone that's contracted to marry someone and has their sister convince them to ignore their betrothed for two months, would be upset.” I informed her. “Wouldn't you be if my cousin Dudley convinced me to do the same to Astoria?”

“Yes, I... I would be.” Daphne looked stricken and ducked her head. “I'm sorry, Harry.”

I let her stew like that for about ten seconds, mostly because she wouldn't believe me if I spoke too soon. “I forgive you.”

Daphne nodded and didn't lift her head to look at me.

“Where was Astoria, anyway?” I asked.

“My parents left her at home. They thought the massive crowds waiting to greet you would be too much for her.” Daphne said, sadly.

I sighed as well. Even though I had healed Astoria when she was a baby, they never tried to get her checked out again, despite me asking them to let a qualified healer check her. It made me regret not adding that stipulation to the betrothal contract, not that her father would ever agree to it. The blood malediction curse was a family secret, after all.

“I suppose there's nothing to be done about not meeting her in person first.” I said and Daphne stiffed again. “Please don't try to lord it over her when you tell her about this.”

Daphne lifted her head and blinked her eyes at me several times. “I'm not sure what you mean.”

I let her hand go and reached up to cup the side of her face. “I mean...” I leaned in and gave her a soft and tender kiss for several seconds. “...I should have kissed her first.”

Daphne made a squeak sound and her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she fainted. I held her steady and stayed there until she woke up on her own. Her eyelids fluttered as she came back to consciousness and then she blushed again.

“Would you like to try that again?” I asked in a whisper.

“Y-yes, please.” Daphne whispered back and closed her eyes.

I kissed her again and she kissed me back for almost ten seconds before she fainted again. It made me chuckle that she was brought up so restricted that a little bit of affection was overloading her. I didn't take it farther than that, considering her upbringing. Groping was not to be done until she was good and ready for it.

That made me think I probably should add a mistress or consort clause to the betrothal contract. If Daphne was this repressed, I would need to protect her from someone else trying to take advantage of her vulnerability.

As if she expected it, Hedwig teleported into the room with a small flash of light and hooted at me. I stifled my bark of laughter at her ordering me to hurry up and give her something to deliver and I created a missive to send off to the Greengrass family. Hedwig accepted it and teleported out of the room with another flash.

Upgrading her to use teleportation magic had been one of my better ideas. It also made her one of the fastest delivery owls in the world and she absolutely loved the power and prestige it gave her.

When Daphne woke up, I told her right away what I did to protect her and she made another squeak sound and fainted. I couldn't stop my laugh this time and it lasted for quite a while. I made her an amulet similar to mine, nearly identical to the one I gave to her sister and to Tonks, and put it over her neck.

After she woke up, Daphne saw the expensive spell-laden and enchanted pendant that I had given her. She blushed and put a hand on it, whispered her thanks, and voluntarily gave me a peck on the lips. She didn't even faint after being so bold.

When we left the room holding hands and I dispelled the spells on the door, the group of people waiting for us had reduced to only Tracey Davis.

“Did you do it?” Tracey asked excitedly before Daphne or I could speak.

“Yes.” I said and she squealed like a stuck pig and started jumping around. “I agreed to offer her a consort clause to the marriage contract with her family. She kissed me on her own initiative afterwards.”

Tracey looked like a punctured balloon that had just lost most of the air inside of it. “That's it?”

“For some girls, you can't rush these things.” I said and gave Daphne a kiss on the cheek. “I'll leave you to talk to your friend in private.”

“Thank you, Harry.” Daphne said and gave my hand a squeeze before she let it go.

“Miss Davis.” I said to Tracey and walked away. I had a few things to do, now that I had the famous Philosopher's Stone in my possession.