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"Harry Potter" and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I create.

Dialogue

'Thoughts'

-Author's notes-

 

Chapter 188: The Dungeons

 

Hogwarts, 10 P.M.

 

All students were in their common rooms by now. It was still a weekday, so most of them were already in their own bedrooms, preparing to sleep.

 

The entrance to the Slytherin house was the most secretive of the four.

The dungeons were composed of a confusing set of identical corridors. If one wasn't paying a lot of attention, it would be easy to miss the snake decorations on one particular stone wall.

 

If a Slytherin student stood in front of this wall, a door would appear, and after speaking the correct password aloud, it would open.

 

"Bombarda Maxima." Harry was not in the mood for passwords tonight.

 

The wall exploded into hundreds of pieces, revealing a marble staircase that descended further.

 

The office belonging to the Head of the Slytherin house was near the entrance, meaning that Professor Snape must have heard the noise.

 

Unfortunately for him, Harry had sealed the entrance to his office. This was not a normal lock that could be removed with a simple 'Alohomora'. Harry had made full use of his authority over the castle to block that particular office.

 

Nothing short of physically destroying the door or wall would allow Snape to leave now.

The Professor would surely spend quite a while trying every option before resorting to blowing up the door. But even if he did…he would never make it in time.

 

"Clank…" The sound of metal hitting the marble stairs could be heard with every step that Harry took.

 

As he descended the stairs, he also tapped them with his staff, and a wall of marble rose up behind him with every tap.

 

Harry was blocking the only entrance to the dungeons, further and further as he descended.

When he took the final step into the narrow corridor that led into the common room, there was no longer an exit to these chambers.

 

Only Albus Dumbledore, with his authority to use 'apparition' inside the castle, would be able to intervene in time now.

 

Placing a sleeping draught in his nightly tea was surprisingly easy.

All he had to do was go into the kitchen and tamper with the tea before the elf delivered it.

 

He could hear some commotion coming from the main common area of the house.

 

Harry applied an invisibility charm on himself as well as a silencing one on his shoes.

 

"What was that noise?"

"It sounded like something broke."

"Should we go take a look?"

"Why don't you go check?"

"I'm sure Professor Snape will take care of it… if there is something to take care of."

"Are you scared, Patrick?"

 

Harry noticed someone approaching the entrance, so he waited there.

 

"Fine! I'll go by myself!"

 

A boy appeared into the dark corridor Harry was standing in. He looked like a sixth or seventh-year student that he was not familiar with.

 

'He's not one of them…'

 

He waited until the boy had taken a few steps away from the entrance before stunning him.

 

Harry came here looking for specific people and had no interest in anyone else. Inside the common room, he counted nine persons, seven boys, and two girls. All of them appeared to be seniors, from fifth to seventh year.

 

Several members of the Slytherin Quidditch team were present.

 

Marcus Flint, Adrian Pucey, Lucian Bole, and Peregrine Derrick.

 

He did not know the other ones, but most of his targets were there at least.

 

'I can look for Montage later, I better take care of… wait,' he heard someone coming from the bedroom stairs.

'It looks like today is my lucky day after all…' Harry thought when he recognized the figure of Montage walking into the room. He appeared to have a problem walking as he was limping a bit.

 

"Still hurts?" Derrick said with a mocking tone.

 

"Shut up!" Montage made his way to one of the couches and sat down.

 

"What happened to your leg?" One of the girls asked.

 

"Nothing, I just tripped this morning," Montage answered in a bad mood. He could not tell his friends that he got hurt while harassing a bunch of second-year girls. They would mock him endlessly.

 

"We have a game against Gryffindor in two days," Marcus Flint reminded him.

 

"I'll be fine by tomorrow. This is nothing," Montage huffed, hoping to end the questioning.

 

"Mmm… that's odd. You were fine after classes. Then you took off with Derrick to do Merlin knows what…" Lucian Bole commented. He was also in fifth year like Derrick and Montage.

 

Flint gave Montage and Derrick a suspicious look. But before he could say anything, someone else spoke.

 

"What is Patrick doing? He should be back by now," a seventh-year blonde girl said.

 

"That is true…" Adrian Pucey glanced at the entrance. "Should we go take a look? Maybe something did happen."

 

"What could have happened? He just went to the corridor," Bole said.

 

"What are you guys talking about?" Montage asked.

 

"We heard some weird noises a few minutes ago. Patrick went to check the corridor," Derrick answered.

 

"Strange noises?" Montage raised an eyebrow.

 

"Fine, I’ll go. Adrian, come with me," Marcus Flint said. As the Captain of the team, he was used to taking charge of the situation.

 

"Carol, do you think something happened to him?" The seventh-year girl asked her friend.

 

When she got no answer, she got closer and touched her shoulder.

"Carol, are you listening?" As she pushed her a bit, her friend fell to one side, but her body remained rigid like it was made of stone.

 

"Carol!" She exclaimed in alarm.

 

This got the attention of everyone in the room.

 

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