Cassia's POV

We had a plan. Tonight, once everyone was asleep, we were going to sneak up to the third floor and stop Snape from getting the Sorcerer's Stone. And this time, we weren't forgetting the Invisibility Cloak. To save us time, we'd changed into "street clothes" after dinner, when we got back to our dorms (Hermione's suggestion) and pretended to go to sleep while we waited for our roommates to retire to bed as well. It felt like forever to wait, but we stuck it out.

My outfit:

I sat up, pulling back the covers, and looked over at Hermione. "It's go time," I whispered. Hermione nodded in agreement.

We slipped out of our dorm as quietly as we could. Lucky for us, our roommates were heavy sleepers. already waiting for us down in the common room. Ron would've made a comment about girls taking too long if I hadn't sent him a death glare. As we came down the stairs, we heard a toad croaking. I inwardly groaned.

"Trevor," Harry muttered. I spotted Trevor on the arm of a chair, which was facing away from us.

"Trevor, shh! Go! You shouldn't be here!" Ron whisper-yelled.

"Neither should you," Neville added, poking his head out from behind the chair. He'd been sitting here this whole time. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was waiting for us to come down. "You're sneaking out again, aren't you?" he pressed.

"No, Neville. Listen. we-" Harry started to protest.

"No! I won't let you! You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again," Neville cut him off. He got into a fighting stance, looking a little anxious. "I-I-I'll fight you," he stammered.

Hermione got out her wand. "Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this," she apologized. "Petrificus Totalus!" She flicked the tip of her wand at Neville. His arms snapped to his sides and he fell flat on his back, stiff as a board.

"You're a little scary sometimes. You know that? Brilliant...but scary," Ron commented. Clearly he was now intimidated by Hermione. And he should be.

We carefully stepped around Neville's still body, whispering apologies to him as we headed for the portrait hole. Once we were out of the common room, we all got under the Invisibility Cloak and headed for the third floor.

<><><><><>

"Ow, you stood on my foot!" Hermione whisper-yelled at Ron as we walked.

"Sorry," Ron muttered. Not long after he'd said this, we reached the third-floor corridor.

Hermione pointed her wand at the door standing between us and Fluffy. "Alohomora," she whispered.

The door opened, and I expected to hear Fluffy growling. But I didn't. Instead, I heard the sound of a harp playing itself and low grumbles coming from each of Fluffy's three heads. But their eyes were closed.

Harry stopped short, making us stop as well. "Wait a minute," he said. "He's..." -Fluffy's breath blew the cloak right off us- "...snoring."

My eyes widened as I remembered something Hagrid had mentioned earlier today. "Of course!Remember what Hagrid said about Fluffy? 'Play him a bit of music and he falls straight to sleep'!" I silently exclaimed.

Harry looked at me. "You're right, sis," he agreed. He glanced at the harp. "Snape's already been here. He's put a spell on the harp..."

We edged closer to the giant dog.

"Ugh...it's got horrible breath," Ron complained, making me roll my eyes. We advanced even closer to the dog, and saw it had a paw on top of the trapdoor, blocking it.

"We have to move its paw," Harry said.

Ron paled. "What?!" he protested.

"Come on," Harry and I both said at the same time. We looked at each other and smiled, trying hard not to laugh.

The four of us got closer and pushed Fluffy's paw off the trapdoor.

"I'll go first," Harry volunteered, "Don't follow until I give you a sign. If something bad happens, get yourselves out." He paused. "Does it seem a bit...quiet to you?" he asked us.

I listened for a moment and realized something- I couldn't hear the harp anymore. "The harp..."

"It stopped playing," Hermione added, as if she'd read my mind.

Fluffy drooled on Ron's shoulder. Ron looked at it and had this totally-grossed-out look on his face. "Ugh...yuck!" he exclaimed.

"Trust me, Ron. The drool's the least of our problems," I said, looking up. The others followed my gaze to see Fluffy looming over us, growling and baring his teeth. Uh oh...

"Jump!" Harry yelled. I jumped in first, Harry following close behind me. We landed beside each other on a weird plant. Hermione landed to my right, followed by a screaming Ron.

"Whoa. Lucky this plant thing's here, really," Ron commented.

Suddenly the plant started moving.

"Whoa!" Harry exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his skin. The plant coiled itself around Harry's legs, and it squeezed my arms tightly. I squirmed, trying to get away, but my legs and torso were quickly bound as well. So were Ron and Hermione. The more we moved, the tighter the plant bound us.

Hermione froze. "Stop moving, all of you!" she ordered us, "This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't, it'll only kill you faster!"

"Kill us faster? Oh, NOW I can relax!" Ron snapped, continuing to fight against the Snare.

Hermione remained still, and the coils wrapped around her loosened, causing her to fall through the floor.

"Hermione!" we all yelled.

"Now what are we gonna do?" Ron wailed.

"Just relax!" we heard Hermione saying from underneath us.

"Hermione, where are you?" Harry asked.

"Do what I say! Trust me!" Hermione shouted.

Harry shut his eyes tight and stopped moving. The snare loosened its grip on him. I did the same, and the snare let us both go.

"Ahh! Harry! Cassia!" Ron shouted as we fell through the snare and onto a hard floor.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, helping us both up.

"Yeah, we're fine," I answered. Ron was still screaming his head off.

"He's not relaxing, is he?" asked Hermione.

"Apparently not," said Harry.

"At the risk of stating the obvious, no," I added.

"We've got to do something!" Hermione exclaimed, getting nervous.

"Like what?" I asked.

"I remember reading something in Herbology. Um...'Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare, it's deadly fun...but will sulk in the sun'! That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" Hermione exclaimed, remembering what she'd read. She whipped out her wand. "Lumos Solem!"

A blindingly bright light shone from the tip of her wand, and the snare sulked. Before we knew it, Ron was dropped right in front of us.

"Phew," he sighed in relief, "Lucky we didn't panic." Says the boy who was screaming like a little girl up there.

"Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology," Harry corrected him.

I nodded. Then I heard what sounded like a cross between a wind chime and a buzzing noise. it was coming from the door in front of us.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, turning her head towards the door.

"I dunno. Sounds like wings," Harry replied.

We made our way over to the door, and tried the knob. It opened easily, leading us into another room. Above us were thousands of flying creatures no bigger than my hand. A broomstick hovered in the center of the room, and I could see another locked door on the other side.

"Strange...I've never seen birds like these," Hermione observed.

"They're not birds. They're keys. And I bet one of them fits that door," Harry corrected. He slowly made his way over to the broomstick. The flying keys took no notice of him, continuing to fly above us. Ron and Hermione went over to the locked door and tried the knob. Nothing happened, even when Ron tried the Alohomora Charm.

Hermione groaned. "Ugh! What are we going to do?" she asked, "There must be a thousand keys up there!"

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one. Probably rusty, like the handle," Ron said

I saw one of the keys was having trouble flying. It had bright blue wings, one of which was crumpled slightly. "There! I see it! The one with the broken wing!" I said, pointing.

The others glanced up at the key and saw my prediction was correct. Harry looked disappointed at the broomstick.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's too simple," Harry answered.

"Oh, go on, Harry! If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, you can! You're the youngest Seeker in a century!" Ron encouraged.

Harry nodded and reached out a hand, grabbing the broomstick. The minute he did, though, the keys swooped down and started attacking him.

"This complicates things a bit," Ron said, wincing.

I watched as Harry flew after the key, the other keys still attacking him. He shot straight up, trying to get away from the other keys, but to no avail. They continued to pursue him as he chased the one with the broken wing.

"Catch the key!" Harry shouted as he swooped down.

I jumped up and grabbed it, tossing it to Hermione. She caught it with two hands and hurried to unlock the door.

"Hurry up!" Ron cried.

"You think she doesn't already know that?" I snapped.

We finally got the door open and Harry zoomed out of the key room. Right after we slammed the door, I heard the remaining keys smash into it.

<><><><><>

We headed further and further down the corridor, coming to another creepy room. There were broken statues everywhere.

"I don't like this," Hermione said, "I don't like this at all."

"Neither do I," I added.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"I'm guessing it's a graveyard," I answered.

"This is no graveyard," Ron corrected. "It's a chessboard..."

Torches lit up the room, confirming his words. Like the chess pieces, the floor was black and white.

"There's the door!" Harry exclaimed, pointing straight ahead of us.

We headed for the door, but the white pawns drew their swords, stopping us. Frightened, we stepped back and they put their swords back.

"What'll we do now?" I asked.

Ron gave me an are-you-serious? look. "It's obvious, isn't it?" he answered, "We've got to play our way across the room." He looked at Harry and I. "Okay, Harry, you and Cassia take the empty bishop squares." We nodded. Then he turned to Hermione. "Hermione, you be the queen's side castle. As for me...I'll be a knight."

We all went to our spots.

"What happens now?" Hermione asked.

"Well, white moves first...and then...we play," Ron replied. A white pawn moved two spaces ahead.

"Ron, You don't suppose this is going to be like...real wizard's chess, do you?" Hermione tentatively asked,

"You, there! D-5!" Ron ordered, pointing to one of the pawns.

The pawn moved up to the white piece, only to be slashed across the top and thrown off the board. I cringed.

Ron then looked back at Hermione. "Yes, Hermione. I think this is gonna be exactly like wizard chess," he answered, fear lacing his voice.

The game went on for what seemed like forever. Ron was trying his best to use us as little as possible, so we wouldn't run the risk of serious injury from the white pieces. Debris went flying everywhere whenever a chess piece was taken of the board. I received quite a few scratches due to this.

<><><><><>

The white queen turned towards one of our castles at one point, swinging her sword at it and sending it flying across the room. Then the queen turned 90 degrees, now facing sideways.

"Wait a minute," Harry muttered, realizing something.

Ron had a stoic expression on his face. "You understand, right, Harry? Once I make my move, the queen will take me. Then you're free to check the king," he told us.

"No! Ron, no!" Harry shouted.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, looking at us.

"He's going to sacrifice himself," Harry replied.

Hermione gasped and looked over at Ron. "No, you can't! There must be another way!" she protested.

"Hermione's right, you can't do this," I agreed, "Switch places with me! I'll go instead!"

"NO!" Ron, Harry, and Hermione simultaneously snapped at me.

"I just found out you're my sister this year. I'm not about to let you die. You're the only real family I have left," Harry argued.

"Do you all want to stop Snape from getting that stone, or not?" Ron yelled at us. Then he turned to Harry and I and added, "Harry, it's you and Cass that have to go on. I know it. Not me, not Hermione, you two."

Harry and I exchanged knowing looks, before giving Ron a nod. Hermione nodded as well, but I could see the fear in her eyes. She was worried about Ron. And my brother and I felt the same way.

Ron took a deep breath and ordered, "Knight to H-3." His horse slid two spaces forward, and then one space to the left. He glanced at the king. "Check..."

The queen turned in Ron's direction and slid across the board, stopping mere inches from him. For one split second, she remained frozen. Then she drew her sword and drove it into the knight, sending Ron crashing to the floor.

"Ron!" Harry shouted. Hermione and I started to head over to Ron, but Harry stopped us. "No! Don't move!" he shouted, making us freeze in our tracks. "Don't forget, we're still playing." He walked up to the king and said, "Checkmate."

The king's sword fell to the ground, signifying that we won. With the game finally concluded, we all rushed over to where Ron had fallen.

I pressed two fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. To my relief, he was still alive. "He's okay. Just knocked out. That queen hit him hard," I reported.

"Take care of Ron. Then go to the Owlery. Send a message to Dumbledore," Harry ordered Hermione, "Ron's right..."

"We have to go on," I finished Harry's sentence.

"You'll be okay. You're a great wizard, Harry. And Cassia, you're an amazing witch," Hermione assured us, "You're even better as a team."

"Not as good as you," Harry mumbled.

Hermione scoffed. "Me? Books and cleverness?" she asked, "There are more important things. Friendship...and bravery. And guys, just be careful."

Harry and I nodded and walked to the door on the far end of the chess board. Opening it, we found a flight of stairs leading downward.

<><><><><>

When we got to the bottom of the steps, we saw Quirrell. He was standing right in front of a familiar-looking mirror. I was so overcome with shock, I couldn't move. None of us had ever once suspected him.

"You!" Harry exclaimed, making Quirrell turned to face us. "But...but it can't be. Snape...he-"

Quirrell cut him off. "Yes, he does seem the type, doesn't he? But next to him, who would suspect p-p-p-poor, s-s-s-stuttering Professor Quirrell?"

"But that day, during the Quidditch match...Snape tried to kill us," Harry objected.

Quirrell shook his head. "No, dear children. I tried to kill you!" he snapped, "And trust me, if Snape's cloak hadn't caught on fire and broken my eye contact, I would have succeeded, even with Snape muttering his little counter curse."

"Snape was...trying to save us?" I asked, in disbelief.

"I knew you were a danger to me, right from the off. Especially after Halloween," Quirrell continued. It hit me like a ton of bricks--we'd been chasing after the wrong villain!

"Then -- then you let the troll in!" I exclaimed.

"Very good, Miss Potter. Yes," Quirrell replied. "Snape, unfortunately, wasn't fooled. When everyone else was running about the dungeon, he went to the third floor to head me off. He, of course, never trusted me again. He barely left me alone. But he doesn't understand...I'm never alone. Never. Now, what does this mirror do? I see what I desire. I see myself holding the stone...but how do I get it?" He had his back to us- he was facing the mirror.

"Use the children," another voice hissed. Now I was really getting scared.

"Come here, Potters! Now!" Quirrell snapped, turning back to us. Harry and I made our way to him. "Now, tell me, what do you see?" he asked. I gazed into the mirror and saw Harry pull something out of his pocket. It looked like a blood-red rock, and I knew immediately it was the stone. "What is it? What do you see?" Quirrell pressed.

"I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. I've won the House Cup," Harry lied. Smart move, Harry. He turned to me and gave me a trust-me-I-know-what-to-do look before turning back to the mirror. Quirrell glanced at me and I nodded, confirming what Harry had just said was true.

"He lies...he told her to agree with him," the mystery voice hissed again.

"Tell the truth! What do you see?" Quirrell yelled at us.

"Let me speak to them," the mystery voice ordered.

"Master, you are not strong enough," Quirrell refused.

"I have strength enough for this," the mystery voice assured him.

Obeying his so-called master's orders, Quirrell turned to face us and unraveled his turban. When it was completely unwrapped, he pulled it off, revealing a gruesome face on the back of his head. My heart was racing, and my scar started burning.

"Harry and Cassia Potter...we meet again," the face hissed, grinning wickedly at us.

"Voldemort..." Harry and I muttered, our eyes wide as saucers.

"Yes...you see what I've become? See what I must do to survive? Live off another, a mere parasite. Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can. Something that, conveniently enough, lies in your pocket," Voldemort said.

Harry and I made a run for it.

"Stop them!"

I heard Quirrell snap his fingers behind me, and a wall of fire suddenly appeared in front of us. We were trapped.

"Don't be fools," Voldemort admonished us, "Why suffer horrific death, when you can join me and live?"

"Never!" Harry and I shouted.

Voldemort cackled. "How touching..." he hissed. "I always value bravery...yes, children, your parents were brave...I killed your father first, and he put up a courageous fight...but your mother needn't have died...she was trying to protect you. Tell me, Harry, would you and Cassia like to see your mother and father again? Together, we can bring them back. All I ask is for something in return."

Mum and Dad's faces appeared in the mirror. My heart raced as Harry -- in a trancelike state -- slowly took out the stone. All he did was just hold it in his hand, staring at it. We'd be at the mercy of the Dark Lord if he gave it to him. I'd only just met my brother this year, and I wasn't planning to lose him anytime soon.

"That's it, Harry. There is no good and evil. There is only power...and those too weak to seek it. Together, we'll do extraordinary things. Just give me the stone," Voldemort hissed.

"No...don't do it, Harry! Don't do it!" I pleaded.

Harry snapped out of his trance and looked at me, and then at the mirror. The image of our parents vanished. "You liar!" he shouted to Voldemort.

"Kill them!" Voldemort commanded.

Quirrell flew towards Harry, an arm outstretched. But I wasn't going to let him hurt my brother. I pushed Harry out of the way. He fell to the ground, the stone falling out of his pocket as Quirrell grasped my throat, choking the life out of me.

Harry's POV

Quirrell flew right at me, his arm stretched out to choke me to death. But before he could reach me, something -- or, more appropriately, someone -- pushed me away from him, knocking me to the ground. I looked beside me and saw my sister on the ground, Quirrell's hand clasped around her neck. Cass had just saved my life, and now she was about to lose hers. Not if I can help it. I grabbed Quirrell's hand and tried to pry it from my sister's throat. The minute I touched Quirrell, he screamed in pain and retracted his hand. The second he did, Cassia's head lolled to one side. Her eyes were closed, but to my relief, her chest rose and fell, signifying that she was okay.

"What is this magic?" Quirrell asked, holding his now-disintegrating hand.

"Fool, get the stone!" Voldemort ordered.

Quirrell made a break for the stone, but I put my hands on his face, stopping him from going any further. His face started to crackle, and he put his other hand to it. Then he tried reaching for me again, but disintegrated. Just like that, I had defeated two enemies in one night.

I walked over and picked up the stone, gazing at it in my hand. My victory moment was short-lived, however, because Voldemort's spirit went right through me. I screamed at the intense pain and lost consciousness, falling to the ground beside Cassia, with the stone still clutched in my hand.