Jeon Jungkook and The Philosopher's Stone

Through the Trapdoor

In years to come, Jungkook would never quite remember how he had managed to get through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.
It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-Cheating spell.
They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox — points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.
Jungkook did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into the forest. Namjoon thought Jungkook had a bad case of exam nerves because Jungkook couldn't sleep, but the truth was that Jungkook kept being woken by his old nightmare, except that it was now worse than ever because there was a hooded figure dripping blood in it.
Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Jungkook had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads, but Yoongi and Jimin didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Jungkook. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but he didn't keep visiting them in dreams, and they were so busy with their studying they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.
Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of an‐ swering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Jungkook couldn't help cheering with the rest.
"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Jimin as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."
Jimin always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Yoongi said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Min twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.
"No more studying," Yoongi sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Jungkook, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."
Jungkook was rubbing his forehead.
"I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting — it's happened before, but never as often as this."
"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Jimin suggested.
"I'm not ill," said Jungkook. "I think it's a warning ... it means danger's coming. ..."
Yoongi couldn't get worked up, it was too hot.
"Jungkook, relax, Jimin's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Namjoon will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."
Jungkook nodded, but he couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something he'd forgotten to do, something important. When he tried to explain this, Jimin said, "That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one."
Jungkook was quite sure the unsettled feeling didn't have anything to do with work, though. He watched an owl flutter toward the school across the bright blue sky, a note clamped in its mouth. Hagrid was the only one who ever sent him letters. Hagrid would never betray Dumbledore. Hagrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy ... never ... but —
Jungkook suddenly jumped to his feet.
"Where're you going?" said Yoongi sleepily.
"I've just thought of something," said Jungkook. He had turned white. "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."
"Why?" panted Jimin, hurrying to keep up.
"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Jungkook, scrambling up the grassy slope, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"
"What are you talking about?" said Yoongi, but Harry, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer.
Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.
"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"
"Yes, please," said Yoongi, but Jungkook cut him off.
"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"
"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."
He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eye‐ brows.
"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head — that's one o' the pubs down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."
Jungkook sank down next to the bowl of peas.
"What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"
"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah ... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here. ... He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after ... so I told him ... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon ... an' then ... I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks. ... Let's see ... yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted ... but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home. ... So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy. ..."
"And did he — did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Jungkook asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
"Well — yeah — how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep —"
Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.
"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey — where're yeh goin'?"
Jungkook, Yoongi, and Jimin didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.
"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Jungkook. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak — it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us.
Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"
They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him.
"We'll just have to —" Jungkook began, but a voice suddenly rang across the hall.
"What are you three doing inside?"
It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.
"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Jimin, rather bravely, Jungkook and Yoongi thought.
"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"
Jungkook swallowed — now what?
"It's sort of secret," he said, but he wished at once he hadn't, because Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared.
"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."
"He's gone?" said Jungkook frantically. "Now?"
"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Jeon, he has many demands on his time —"
"But this is important."
"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Jeon?"
"Look," said Jungkook, throwing caution to the winds, "Pro‐ fessor — it's about the Sorcerer's Stone —"
Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up.
"How do you know — ?" she spluttered.
"Professor, I think — I know — that Sn— that someone's going to try and steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."
She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.
"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. "I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."
"But Professor —"
"Jeon, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."
But they didn't.
"It's tonight," said Jungkook, once he was sure Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."
"But what can we —"
Jimin gasped. Jungkook and Yoongi wheeled round.
Snape was standing there.
"Good afternoon," he said smoothly.
They stared at him.
"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he said, with an odd, twisted smile.
"We were —" Jungkook began, without any idea what he was going to say.
"You want to be more careful," said Snape. "Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?"
Jungkook flushed. They turned to go outside, but Snape called them back.
"Be warned, Jeon— any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."
He strode off in the direction of the staffroom.
Out on the stone steps, Jungkook turned to the others.
"Right, here's what we've got to do," he whispered urgently. "One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape — wait outside the staffroom and follow him if he leaves it. Jimin, you'd better do that."
"Why me?"
"It's obvious," said Yoongi. "You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know." He put on a high voice, " 'Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong. ...' "
"Oh, shut up," said Jimin, but he agreed to go and watch out for Snape.
"And we'd better stay outside the third-floor corridor," Jungkook told Yoongi. "Come on."
But that part of the plan didn't work. No sooner had they reached the door separating Fluffy from the rest of the school than Professor McGonagall turned up again and this time, she lost her temper.
"I suppose you think you're harder to get past than a pack of enchantments!" she stormed. "Enough of this nonsense! If I hear you've come anywhere near here again, I'll take another fifty points from Gryffindor! Yes, Min, from my own House!"
Jungkook and Yoongi went back to the common room. Jungkook had just said, "At least Jimin's on Snape's tail," when the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and Jimin came in.
"I'm sorry, Jungkook!" he wailed. "Snape came out and asked me what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Flitwick, and Snape went to get him, and I've only just got away, I don't know where Snape went."
"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Jungkook said.
The other two stared at him. He was pale and his eyes were glittering.
"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first."
"You're mad!" said Yoongi.
"You can't!" said Jimin. "After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!"
"SO WHAT?" Jungkook shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the House Cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"
He glared at them.
"You're right, Jungkook," said Jimin in a small voice.
"I'll use the Invisibility Cloak," said Jungkook. "It's just lucky I got it back."
"But will it cover all three of us?" said Yoongi.
"All — all three of us?"
"Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?" "Of course not," said Jimin briskly. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books, there might be something useful. ..."
"But if we get caught, you two will be expelled, too."
"Not if I can help it," said Jimin grimly. "Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."