169)Philosopher's Stone (Part 4)

I could see from Harry's expression that he was worried about this room; according to him, Snape was behind all of this, and this room could be a deadly trap. Ignoring the boy, I watched as Hermione stepped forward and fearlessly took the parchment next to the bottles.

"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, Two of us will help you, which ever you would find, One among us seven will let you move ahead, Another will transport the drinker back instead, Two among our number hold only nettle wine, Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line. Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore, To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:

First, however slyly the poison tries to hide

You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;

Second, different are those who stand at either end,

But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;

Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,

Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;

Fourth, the second left and the second on the right

Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."

Hermione read aloud before letting out a big sigh of relief and then smiling. I could even say she was looking at me with some confidence.

"Is it your time to shine?" I asked her while crossing my arms. It was nice to see her happy; I knew she felt like she wasn't doing anything, and now she found something to contribute to this journey.

"Hehe, yes..." she responded somewhat embarrassed by my look. She remembered what I told her about everyone having their moment and felt glad that hers had arrived, being able to showcase her abilities and not be a burden. "This isn't magic, it's logic, a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever" she stated as if it were an absolute truth. It was somewhat true, but only for certain groups of wizards; others wouldn't have trouble with this, but I wouldn't take away her illusion.

"Alright then, Hermione, I choose you, solve it." I pointed my finger forward and struck my Pokémon trainer pose.

"Give me a minute." Hermione decided to ignore my usual stupidity and got to work with determination. Hermione read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, she clapped her hands. "I got it. The smallest one will take us through the black fire, towards the Stone, and that round one at the end of the row will let us return."

"You did well," I said and approached her to give her a hug. She felt embarrassed about this, but it felt good to be praised, and she let me do it despite knowing that I was just taking advantage of the situation.

"Thank you... but there's a problem; that potion would only serve for one person," Hermione explained, trying to free herself from my hands.

"Then I'll go," Harry said, grabbing the small potion.

"Wait, Harry." I stopped him.

"No, this is something I have to do," he said with determination, although he knew he wasn't the most powerful in the group. Something told him that this was his duty, and as a Gryffindor, he followed his hunches more than his sense of self-preservation. "Thank you for everything, but..."

"I don't plan on stopping you," I interrupted his speech. "But you won't go alone either," I said, taking out some flasks from my inventory.

"Are those...?" Hermione said, looking at what I had in my hands.

"Yes, flame protection potions, the same as Harry has in his hands."

I explained while the rest of my clones also drank from the batch of potions prepared in advance, stored in the inventory. I know it's a waste of resources, and instead, I could simply create my clones once I passed, but I didn't want to take any risks; if things went well, it would be worth it.

"Look, Harry, I don't plan on stopping you. You can go face Snape, Voldemort, or the Tooth Fairy if you want. But I'll follow you in secret and cover your back, or perhaps better said, you'll cover mine." I patted Harry on the back as a sign of trust, although I also decided to hurry him along. "Come on, Harry, we must go."

"Yeah, thanks, Red." Harry nodded without planning to oppose, although that could be due to my 'you have no choice' expression. In fact, he felt more at ease not going alone, especially with someone he knew was more capable than him. Although he also felt fear, he considered it his responsibility to stop Voldemort, as he defeated him once and was the murderer of his parents.

"All right, get ready. We're going. Remember, you're going in 'alone,' and I won't be following you in secret." I winked at him very noticeably. "Got it?"

"Yes." Harry nodded, looking at the potion in his hand and preparing to take it, trying to gather all the courage he had left to face what lay ahead.

"Hmm... Red?" (Hermione)

"Yes?" (Red)

"And my potion?" She asked with a certain evident nervousness.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but I won't let you accompany us." I shook my head.

"But..." She wanted to question, although she was scared, that didn't mean she would back down if she had no other choice. She was being stupidly brave.

"Hermione, no. This is very dangerous." I rejected her again, considering whether to intensify this even more.

"That's why I must go, to help, like now." (Hermione)

"It's not the same. We're going to do something stupidly deadly. I'm going because I have the best odds, and someone has to do it. I'm letting Harry go because he's got guts, and despite knowing that he'll inevitably die at the hands of a professor who already tried to kill him or perhaps even at the hands of the person who killed his parents, he's not afraid to sacrifice himself." I pointed at Harry while putting on my most intense expression.

"What...?" Harry asked, turning pale.

"Hermione, this is a suicide mission," I sighed wearily. "Harry will be the bait, sacrificing his life to allow me to deal a deadly blow to our enemy while being killed. And even that has little chance of working. It might be futile, and I could be killed the very next second... even if I manage to hurt him, most likely, in his last moments, he'll attack me, and..." I paused for dramatic effect. "Never mind, you just need to know that you've done enough; now it's our turn."

"B-b-but..." Hermione started to stutter as she grasped the plan we had. She never thought about what would happen when we reached the end, but the image I painted was one she wasn't prepared for. Harry was the same; he couldn't even utter a word, like telling Hermione to leave, as in the original story. He was terrified; one thing was the possibility of dying, another was having it told to your face.

"I would tell you to take the other potion and leave, but it's better if you hide in this room. If we fail, and the dark wizard comes out from there, he'll take this potion and leave. If Ron failed to finish the chess game or messed up, you'll be trapped and doomed. They can kill my brother, but they can't finish you. Understand? Take Harry's cloak and this." I said as I took Harry's cloak while pulling various items from my inventory, from potions and food to some enchanted items. "Use all of this when we cross, and hide as best as you can. Make our sacrifice count."

"R-rrredd...?" Hermione looked at the things in her hands, starting to tremble visibly.

"And one more thing. If we fail, Voldemort will return, and it won't be safe for you." I took her face in my hands and made her look into my eyes, saying seriously, "As soon as you get out of here, find Elise. She'll guide you to a place in the forest where we buried a lot of treasures. Take them all and use them to take yourself and your parents away from England and Europe in general. Go to China, South America, Russia, even Antarctica if necessary." My voice gradually broke. "Japan wouldn't be bad either; they have a magic school called Mahoutokoro where you might shine. It will be tough at first due to the language barrier, but I think you'll manage. Also, take my sister and her friend with you and tell them that I love them..."

"N-noooo..." Hermione began to cry in my hands, dropping the things I gave her.

"NO CRY!" I shouted, interrupting her. I even thought about slapping her to show seriousness, but that would be too much. "It's not time to cry; you're a lioness, brave, wild, and invincible. Understand?"

*sniffle*

"UNDERSTAND? You can't fail me now, Hermione! This is when I need you the most." (Red)

*sniffle*

"Understand?" I asked again.

"GHhhY-yesssh..." She cried.

"All right, one last thing. Give this letter to Dumbledore if you get the chance." I said, tucking the letter directly into her clothes. "Now use what I gave you, and don't disappoint me."

Hermione crouched down, still unable to stop her tears, clumsily picking up her things. In her life, she had never thought she would end up in a situation like this, not even when they decided to embark on this mission had she considered it as seriously as now and that it would happen. The girl was on the edge after a few words and a blunt and cruel dose of reality.

I knew it was wrong because I had no plans to fail, but it was something I had to do to make the most of this situation. Now it was time to finish; this speech took longer than I expected, but I hoped it would bear fruit.

"Red..." Hermione called me before I finished turning away.

I turned to look at her, and she jumped on me to hug me and try to kiss me. She struggled, and the most she did was press her lips against mine with such force that she must have hurt herself with her own teeth. As it should be, I also wrapped my hands around her and did my part for this clumsy kiss. She didn't want to let me go, as if she thought that if we kept kissing forever, none of what I said would have to happen, but I had to separate her from me.

"I love you too, Hermione." I replied, although she didn't say anything, I'll take it as if she wanted to say that.

"Come back, don't leave me alone, I'm your girlfriend, I don't want to be a widow, so come back!" She said very quickly, just like when we first met, she seemed anxious and desperate to say those words, hoping that I promised her that everything would be fine.

"We have to get married first to be widowed." I laughed, stroking her hair. "And between the two of us, I'm the one looking forward to the dating life more."

"Then come back!" (Hermione)

"If I come back, I'll make sure we're together forever." I stroked her head and let her go.

I didn't even look to see if she picked up what I gave her, I just approached Harry, whose legs wobbled, and he seemed like he was going to faint or vomit at any moment. The words I used to scare Hermione also hit him, but I didn't care. Being by his side, I started pushing him with my hand while infusing courage with my power to prevent setbacks due to last-minute cowardice.

From where we were to the flaming threshold gave me enough time to recompose Harry and make him look determined again. I saw him take the potion, and I did the same while covering myself with an invisible blood cloak. I looked back, and there was Hermione trembling again, and she had started crying while picking up things almost unconsciously.

"Harry, remember, act as if you're alone. I'm not with you, and I'll attack unexpectedly. Don't worry, I'll protect you, and you won't die, not without me falling first, so go with confidence." I gave him some last words of encouragement as we crossed the threshold.

To prevent the odd behavior of the flames from being noticed, I had my clones and me enter at the same time as Harry and the other clones left behind, covering the movement of the flames. Those who couldn't pass would be undone and remade at maximum speed at the right moment.