The Philosopher's Stone! Part-1

{3rd Floor Corridor, Hogwarts, Scotland}

{01:25 PM, 11th Jan 1992}

Harry stared at the hulking 3 headed dog that was snarling at him, although it wasn't as dangerous as Harry had assumed, although its low level was a bit of a letdown, and it didn't have the red eyes like it was supposed to, it still opened a new door to the Magical world.

Harry hadn't interacted with many magical creatures since coming to Hogwarts, yes he had occasionally read or heard about dragons and unicorns, and even some weird animal named Threstals grazing on the edges of the forbidden forest. But it was his first time seeing a dangerous magical creature up close.

"So what are you guys searching for in the Influential Wizards and Witches in the last century?" Harry asked as he watched the Cerebrus snarl at them before giving up and going back to its place. It was then Harry noticed the trapdoor upon which it stood.

"Nicolas Flamel," Charlus reluctantly replied.

'Nicolas Flamel...' Harry mulled the words in his mind for a bit, but he came up blank, this wasn't someone he had read about.

Charlus was looking at Harry expectantly so Harry decided to milk his twin for information, "And for Merlin's sake why is Nicholas Flamel connected to the Cerebrus?"

"You know him?" Charlus asked excitedly, "I might, depending on your answer," Harry replied, he wasn't really lying now was he, just a pinch of manipulation.

"It's not related to the Cerebrus, that was Hagrid's pet, look what it is standing upon?" he pointed towards the trap door and continued, "Professor Dumbledore is storing something in Hogwarts, at first it was stored in one of our family's vaults but then the day it was withdrawn someone broke into Gringotts to try and steal it." Charlus started waving his hands animatedly.

Harry was a little bemused but he started taking it a little bit more seriously when Charlus mentioned that someone broke into Gringotts for this mystery object. 'Someone broke into Gringotts? Wasn't it supposed to be the most secure place in the wizarding world?'

"Hagrid let it slip that whatever was down there had something to do with Nicolas Flamel," Charlus finished.

Harry hummed before he asked Charlus, "So why do you want to know what is down there? You wanna steal it?"

Charlus gave Harry a horrified look and shouted "Nooo!!"

"So you want to find out what Dumbeldore is hiding from the whole school because you think there is some conspiracy behind it? Maybe someone else is trying to steal it?" Harry asked.

Charlus looked at the ground and shook his head, "No..."

"So you are a good little student and are just eager to learn and experiment on the powerful magical artifact that Nicolas Flamel entrusted to Dumbledore for safekeeping..." Harry asked and Charlus glared at him, Harry put his hands up in a surrender gesture.

"No... it was just interesting, I mean what could be so precious that someone had to ask Professor Dumbledore for protection?" Charlus asked as he stared at the trap door wistfully.

Harry flicked his wand as he concentrated and chanted, "Reparifarge~" the conjured wall vanished and the Cerebrus instantly stood up ready to charge, Harry concentrated and chanted out, "somnum~"

The Cerebrus took a few steps towards the twins before it collapsed, its three heads flopping around as Charlus gaped at the now sleeping Cerebrus.

"So you really wanna know what Dumbledore is hiding?" Harry asked before he started walking towards the trap door, Charlus panicked before following behind him.

"Harry! what are you doing?" he whisper and shouted as Harry chanted 'Alohamora~' and jumped down the hole.

'Arresto Momentum~' he waved his hand as his descent slowed down and he used quick Lumos to see vines of a plant forming a bed right underneath the hole.

"AAAhhHhhhhhh!!!!" His attention was quickly taken by his brother falling down who landed with a thud.

"Owww..." as Charlus groaned, Harry used a quick 'incendio~' which led to another short scream followed by a dull thud.

'As far as defenses go a Devil's Snare was not what I was expecting, maybe a transfigured knight charmed to cut anyone in his path would have been cool but a plant?'

Harry ignored the glare that Charlus was sending to Harry, "You could have slowed down my fall too!!" he accused as Harry gently landed right beside him, as Charlus grumbled and dusted his robes Harry walked ahead to the door in front of him, he could hear a loud buzzing coming from the other end so he used an unlocking charm to open the door.

Unlike the pit of snakes and their rattling tails that Harry was expecting, the room was buzzing with keys flying through the room, Harry wasn't going to count and a muttered 'Woah!' beside him clued him to the fact that Charlus had joined him.

"So youngest seeker of the century, fancy some flying?" Harry saw the old broom that was present on the other side of the room and decided he wasn't going to try and mount that flight hazard.

'Plus I know spells so I could catch him if he falls.'

As Harry tied to justify sending his brother as a bait, Charlus quickly mounted the broom and flew around looking for the key, it didn't take a genius to spot the only odd-looking key, and while Charlus sped towards it storming through a cloud of other keys, Harry thought that maybe it could also be a very obvious trap.

"Accio~" he concentrated on the key and it flew towards him along with an angry buzz of thousands of keys, as Harry was standing next to the door he easily opened it and waited for his brother to go through.

As both twins felt several keys thud against the closed door, Charlus panted and spoke, "I...Hate...You!!"

"What it could have been a trap, I did what I did to save your life," Harry muttered while ignoring the glare, his eyes were focused on the life-size replica of a chessboard in front of him.

'These are an odd set of defensive measures,' Harry thought as Charlus muttered beside him, "We should have gotten Ron, he could have breezed through this challenge."

And that's when it clicked in Harry's mind, this wasn't a defense for the mystery object, this was a test.

'A test that Dumbledore had made for the golden ducklings...'