Chapter 32: The Protectors' Tests

The fact that Dumbledore was not in the castle due to an emergency meeting was the signal for William to begin his work, he relaxed his body, made sure the wand was secured at his waist and decided to leave his cloak behind to avoid inconvenience.

He raised his head to make sure everything was correct and indeed it was what he expected, Harry and Ron were not in their beds as expected. William got out of bed and walked through the dormitory calmly, the lights off was not a problem with his mind's eye and when he made it all the way to the common room he could find little Neville lying on the floor.

"Neville" called William worried, he took out his wand and pointed it at the young boy "calm down it will only take a second" by the look on Neville's face he could tell how scared he was, the golden trio certainly didn't have the boy's feelings in mind, they believed that because of his behavior this wouldn't be serious but it may also create a shadow inside the boy for his future.

"Finite incantatem" said William sending the general counter spell enchantment leaving Neville free from petrification.

"William!" exclaimed Neville in despair getting up almost suddenly holding the arms of the white-haired boy "Ha-Harry, Ron and Hermione...they, they went out again at night, we will lose points again, I couldn't stop them, I tried, I really tried and I stood up to them but, but Hermione paralyzed me!"

William could feel Neville's desperation, he could see the fear in his eyes. Not because of the stitches in the house but because of what they were doing at night after all Neville also knew about Fluffy, Hagrid's three headed dog.

"Easy Neville, we can work it out but I have to know where they went, you must have heard something" William calmed Neville down so Neville could breathe again.

"They went to the third floor corridor."

"The third floor I understand, I'll go get them before McGonagall can find them, wait for me here" William stood up ready to leave.

"William wait!"

"what's wrong?" asked William looking at the fearful boy.

"There's a big three headed dog, be careful". Hermione mentioned something about a secret door."

"I understand" William finally left the common room and walked down the corridors, soon he was already on the third floor and in front of him was Fluffy awake with the trap door under his feet open "They already went through here."

William used a simple incantation to make the harp in Fluffy's paws play again and as Fluffy was known to do Fluffy closed his eyes "a great security system but with a major flaw" William stepped down the trap door knowing that below is the devil's snare.

"Lumos!" exclaimed William flashing his wand and taking a full step down, to avoid the impact he grabbed onto a branch before reaching the ground.

"Okay, two obstacles cleared, only five to go but from now on I don't have to do much work" William shook out his clothes and continued to the front.

The third test was Professor Flitwick's flying keys, William walked to the door on the other side of the room, the key was in the lock there wasn't much to do but continue to the front.

By the fourth test things were even easier, the chess was finished and Ron was on the floor, William gave the redhead a look "Sigh..." the white-haired man gave a long sigh then pulled out a green colored potion "I'll have to use this on this idiot to earn some favor points.... a waste."

William lifted Ron's head and forced him to drink the wiggenweld potion "wake up you idiot, I need you to wake up to earn points."

When he finally saw a small reaction in the red head he decided to go ahead and enter the fifth room where the dead troll was "quite a painful death" William mentioned levitating the troll's body to see in detail the damage on the front giving William to understand what he was facing, he kept the troll's body inside one of his bags.

He continued to the front, there were still two tests left, he was in front of the door where Severus Snape's test was supposed to be, as soon as he touched the doorknob it opened in the opposite direction and from there Hermione appeared who had taken the potion to back up.

"William what are you doing here!" asked the girl but William's expression still showed no feelings, it was even colder than usual.

"Looking for Gryffindor mates who don't know how to do anything but get others in trouble and attack their mates with curses" said William pulling out a bottle shaped like a piece of ice from his bag.

"We are saving Hogwarts from Snape and Voldemort" said Hermione but William just laughed in her face

"From Snape?" he asked again "don't make me laugh, Snape is not the culprit but Quirrell."

"Professor Quirrell is an ally!"

"Sure as you say, I'm going to find Potter, don't get in my way, they've already done their job" said William taking the cap off his potion then drinking it full and dropping the bottle on the floor.

"You can't pass, Snape's test only lets one person pass his ward, Harry already drank the potion and the black flames won't let you go any further" warned Hermione with a triumphant pose as if she had already prevented William from continuing to the front but he simply opened the door calmly.

"Did you really think I wasn't prepared?" asked William with a grin "these tests are simply game once you know the necessary tricks."

William took a firm step to the front, Hermione could watch as he walked through the flames with complete calmness and no fear at all "how?" She noticed the bottle on the ground and its shape became familiar "flame protection potion!"

"I'll be back in a few minutes, let Dumbledore know" William opened the last door and disappeared into the black flames.