Eccentric Wizard Chapter 11: First attempt (Patreon)

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Broly will be updated next week.

Edit 1: Grammatical corrections.

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-Underground chambers-

There it slept, the great monster which looked like the guard dog of Hades—a literal Cerberus. Its size alone filled the large chamber, barely giving it any moving space. Even while sleeping I could see the gigantic claws and fangs of the beast, its snores slightly shaking the air around me. How Hagrid could tame such an intimidating creature went beyond my understanding. And he named the damn thing, Fluffy, of all things!


'Maybe he raised it as a pup.' A most likely possibility, I read about the Three Headed Dog species, they are fiercely loyal to their master and would even go against dragons to protect them. 


"Grrrr!"


It woke up, I could see his eyelids slowly opening and staring straight at me, traces of drowsiness still present inside them. 'If I continue to stand here like this, Fluffy will eat me alive or rip me apart.' Dumbledore did not lie about there being deadly places in the castle, he warned everyone during the sorting ceremony.


"Dobby, do it now or else I will die." I said calmly, the potion still running its effects on my being. If I had come here without drinking it, I would have surely panicked and just run away from the room. Even now I could feel the chill slowly creeping up my spine, the potion remained active but some of my emotions of fright bleed through.


Poof!


A harp appeared beside me with Dobby nowhere in sight. The house elf in question probably hid himself somewhere, frightened of Fluffy being present. He also brought another item I asked for, a broomstick. Aside from using it for one of the obstacles, I didn't know if I could return outside without there being an exit door or retracing my steps. Any long fall would hinder me and make it impossible to leave. 


A beautiful melody started playing with the music instrument's strings moving on their own. A feat performed by Dobby, of course. I remember from the show that the dog couldn't resist the sound of music and just like I hoped, his opened eyes once again started to close and Fluffy fell asleep once again.


"Thanks, keep playing the harp for the next hour, I'll be back soon." I whispered and slowly tiptoed myself across the dog's large body to the trapdoor behind him. 'Hugh, it stinks!' The beast's breath just smelled awful. If Fluffy had moved his legs a bit, then I would have been thrown across the room and probably have my ribs shattered. 'Alright, no need to think about negative outcomes and tempting fate.'


After finally reaching the other side, I carefully opened the trapdoor behind it and much to my worry, saw a long drop below into the darkness. 'Good thing I have a broom.' The trio fell and didn't break their legs in the movies as the 'Devil's Snare' cushioned their fall. 


Taking a deep breath, I jumped inside.


With the wind rushing against my face, with blood drained from my face as I saw the trapdoor getting farther and farther from me with my fall lasting a few seconds. 


"Shit! Shit! This is too much!" Falling through the air, I couldn't help but yell. It wasn't long till I landed on a soft bed of vines which saved me from becoming a bloody stain on the ground.


"That was close." Immediately, long black vines which looked like slimy back tentacles wrapped around my limbs. The feeling disgusted me to no end, thankfully, I wasn't getting agitated and merely had the feeling of throwing up. "Just what kind of twisted fetish does Professor Sprout have to design such a trap?"

Who else but her could install such a trap here? The plant was designed to entangle and suffocate any intruders, especially quickly the more the intruder tried to escape. Bluebell Flames, however, could be used to scorch them. Fortunately, I didn't need to use such a spell as I could already feel the vine beneath me starting to sink.


The trick to pass the Devil's Snares without injuries was to not move and remain motionless. The roots would relax and let any foreign objects and person fall through the bottom.


"Ouf!" I fell once again to the ground below on my bottom, which hurt a lot. "Should have landed in a better position."


Clang!


My broomstick followed through as well, falling near me.


The hole above did not close and showed no sign of closing anytime soon. I could even see the light escaping through the open trap door above me. "I need to move, I can't waste any more time." Picking myself up and not forgetting to take my broom and followed the downwards sloping passage with stone walls, through which trickling water could be heard, leading to a brilliantly lit chamber with a very high ceiling.


Bzt!


Bzt!


"Woah!" The room was full of glittering winged keys flying at every corner as if someone filled a room full of small birds. "This is going to be a pain." On the opposite end of the chamber from the stone passage was a large, old-fashioned wooden door with a silver lock.


I walked to it and brought out my wand and muttered, "Alohomora."


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Even with the Alohomora Charm, the lock did not open. I tried it a couple more times but with no success whatsoever. Not surprising, Ron tried to open it in the same way and it failed. I just wanted to try and make sure. "Oh…" I noticed a few brooms laying around and then looked at the one I brought with me. "Now I feel stupid. Of course, there would be brooms available! How else would Harry have gotten the winged key!"

No worries, it wasn't like I ruined or sacrificed anything to bring this thing with me. Who knew, if someone were to come here for a routine inspection, they wouldn't see a missing broom. This was totally not me trying to make up an excuse and trying to convince myself that bringing a broom with me was the right choice.


"Now, where is that bent winged key…" there were just too many of them flying around with hundreds of different coloured keys. With only a limited amount of time I set myself with, there was no guarantee that I could find it in tim— 


"—There it is!" The thing just flew right beside my face and returned back upwards, blending with the other flying keys but its shape and different shade of blue colour standing out enough for me. It took a lot of effort to keep track of it while there were other blue-winged keys in the group. "I have to get close to it." Using my Nimbus 2000, I flew as close as I could to the key, which started flying away like a frightened bird. 


Bzt!


Bzt!


"Ouch!" Not only that, every key suddenly started to rush at me like flying daggers! I mounted my broom and immediately tried to create a distance from these keys, there were so many of them that they created a wall of feathers around me—blocking my vision. 


I broke out of it by speeding up.


"Woah!" And nearly crashed against a wall! "This is far more dangerous than I anticipated!" Flying upwards and full speed and breaking out, I immediately found the blue key down below and began changing it. The hall, being barely big enough to fly in the first place. Sure it had a high ceiling, but the room remained quite narrow.


"Got you!" I opened my hand to see an intact blue coloured key, the wrong one. "Did you save your friend by getting yourself captured?" Aside from attacking, it seemed that they also played other roles to further hinder anyone from catching the right one.


I flew around for nearly twenty minutes and got extremely close to catching the damaged blue-winged on many occasions but failed as it evaded my catch and the other keys would purposefully put themselves on my way and I would get confused and temporarily lose sight of it.


My fingers once touched its wings but I had to stop as the key led me right in front of the stone wall. Fortunately, no bones were broken… aside from my aching shoulders which took the shock. At this point, I wondered if I would end up with a broken limb with the key having a preference for flying at stone walls and pillars. My Nimbus 2000 was an advantage I had due to its faster speed, but it also ended up as a liability given I had to be more careful while flying and couldn't truly use its full speed.


I even accidentally burned the lower part of my robe by sticking too close to one of the torches at one point. Seriously, I felt like this trial put me in more danger than both Fluffy and the Devil's Snares combined!


"How the heck did Harry catch it so quickly!?" Was he given the power of plot armor, or did the movies change things up from the books? "I got a better idea."

Instead of trying to catch it, I would just make it come to me! This spell needed lots of thought behind it, and the object must be clear in the caster's mind before trying to summon whatever they desired. I came very close to the key many times and saw all the details which distinguished it from the others, its bent wing for example.


"Accio!" I shouted while pointing my wand directly at the moving key in the air. 


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Nothing happened.


"What? No, Accio! Accio! Accio, blue feathered key!" Still, they didn't move toward me and continued to fly away. I even tried calling forth the other keys but even then it didn't work. "Whoever created this trial installed Anti-theft charms on everything!"

Don't tell me that I would have to go back on this third trial!? "This is humiliating…"

Analysing my problem further, I realised that I needed a few more people with me or end up being stupidly lucky and catching the key on my own. There wouldn't be so many brooms laying around with Anti-theft charms to them if this trial was designed for a single person to catch the key or have the flying key come automatically to them if they had the permission to pass by the original caster… maybe. Felt weird imagining a bunch of old people playing a game of catch the snitch inside this small room.


I couldn't even use Bombarda as I feared accidentally setting the explosion at a nearby key, with all of them clumping together and getting injured from the charm. It was just too risky.


"One thing is clear, this is not the movie's version of the trial. They fly too fast for me to catch, so speed isn't the answer. I need people to corner the key and catch it. It's about strategy rather than skill."


I could feel the agitation build up inside of me. "The potion's effect is running out…" Not that I needed it, the only reason I used the Draught of Peace was for extra precautions when traversing the hall quietly without panicking and facing Fluffy. I could have done all of that without it, but it never hurt to be careful and I got to train my potion making skills.


"No worries, I still have a lot of time left before Quirrell finds out about Fluffy's weakness and try to steal the stone."


With the keys still surrounding me like freaking mosquitoes and hurting me at the same time. I flew at full speed back to the Devil's Snares room and up to the trapdoor. As soon as I reached the other side, I could hear the sound of dozens of them impacting the wood beneath me.


"What an awful night."

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Wait…


Why wasn't there any music playing?


My eyes widened in horror as I paid more attention to my surroundings and found the spot where Fluffy was supposed to be sleeping, empty!


Where did it go!?


"Grrrr!!!" 


The angry growls of three furious dogs came behind me. I turned to see the fully awake Fluffy, standing tall with its three heads staring directly at me. 


"..."


The three heads barked and I didn't hesitate to bring out my wand. 


"Bombarda!" 


Boom!


One of its heads got hit by the blast, it whimpered in pain, but that only lasted for a second.


I didn't wait to see its next course of action and mounted my broom to fly out of the room! When it returned to its senses, I was already on the other side. "Sorry doggo, that was just self defense." And closed the door before it could even reach me.


My back pushed against the door as I slowly slid downwards. My heart, beating like a drum in my chest from nearly getting eaten by Fluffy. What was Dobby doing!? "Just where has that elf gone to? I told him to stay put!"


"It's because Snape entered the room and your… house elf had to hide."


"—!"


The familiar bossy tone, the shadow of a small figure standing near me and with her arms crossed and looking at me like a parent catching their kid sneaking out the house, late at night.


"Hermione…" I couldn't believe that she came here. "How did you know where I was and what are you even doing here?" I made sure that no one was following me and even avoided any of the Slytherin to notice my leave—which failed apparently.


Hoot!


Whiteley flew a few rounds in the air before landing on Hermione's arm. 


"I was walking down the stairs when I saw you leave. I tried to search for you initially but couldn't find you. Fortunately, I found Whiteley who led me here."


That little!


"I tried to enter just now but he stopped me from doing so." Hermione said while pointing at the little elf hiding behind her robe, refusing to stare me in the eyes.


"D-Dobby i-is very so-sorry, b-but Dobby h-had to fo-follow master Malfoy's o-orders and n-not get caught!" He stuttered, "This is all Dobby's fault. Bad Dobby! Bad!" and started banging his head against the wall—much to Hermione's dismay.


"What are you doing!? Don't hurt yourself like that, it's not your fault!" She exclaimed in horror.


"No! Dobby's fault, Dobby's fault!" Hitting his head repeatedly against the wall made him a bit dizzy. 


"Jarius, do something!"


"..."


"Jarius!?"


I would talk with these two after resting my eyes a bit.


{Break}


(Next day)


-Outskirts of the castle-


We managed to return to our dorms without issue last night. Asking Dobby to return for now, until further notice, I decided to go to sleep as well and promised Hermione to explain everything to the girl, tomorrow morning after our classes.


"So let me get this straight, you heard a rumor about a so-called 'Philosopher Stone', created by a famous wizard years ago, locked in a safe area of the castle. And you with your ever so growing wisdom thought that it would be a good idea to search for such a heavily guarded and hidden precious artifact on your own, for fun? Bringing along nothing but a single potion and a broom. To make matters worse, you got chased by a hoard of flying keys, burned your clothes and nearly got eaten by a Three Headed Dog…"


"..."


Yeah, when she said it like that, I could see how dangerous and stupid all of this sounded. I relied too much on my knowledge of the movies and thought of myself as invincible from the dangers of these trials. Thinking that if a bunch of eleven year olds could do it, then why not me? This wasn't a movie, but real life and I had to treat it as such. I tried to be the lone wolf and failed miserably—Dobby was there to help me but that hardly counted.


"I'm sorry to say this, Jarius. But that is one of the dumbest and reckless courses of action I've ever heard of, I honestly expected you to be smarter than that." The heavy disappointment in her tone really did hammer the fact in my head that I fucked up. "Not to mention, you using a poor elf to do such a dangerous task is also beyond me. Those innocent creatures should be given a choice and not live like slaves!"


Oh, I'll need to educate her more on elves in general. Aside from that…


To get chewed up by an eleven year old… I deserved it.


"Sorry, I should have put more thought and planning behind my actions."


"That's what you're sorry about!? You broke into a forbidden area of the castle, if Snape had caught Dobby, then you would have been put into detention or worse—expelled!" Not necessarily the latter, but I would have indeed been through a world of trouble, if I had gotten caught. The last thing I wanted was for Quirrell to get word of this and plot an assassination attempt against me. Voldemort in his current form might pose me no threat, but the man he was possessing still held the capabilities of an astounding wizard who graduated from Hogwarts!


Sigh


I can't do this alone.


"Hermione, do you remember the break-in that happened in the Gringotts vaults a while ago?" 


"What about it?"


"Well, I got information from certain sources that the specific vault this intruder broke in, was the same one where the stone was held before it was transferred here. I believe that the thief is already among us and is just waiting to attempt to steal the stone again. This person didn't hesitate to infiltrate Gringotts of all places, Hogwarts might be next."


Her eyes widened at my claim before narrowing.


"How do you know that?"


"Would you believe me when I say that I saw it in a movie?" I said.


"Be serious, Jarius! This is no laughing matter, if what you say is true, then we should inform the headmaster!"


"We can," talking to Dumbledore remained something I hoped to avoid. I did not see him as a villain or bad person, but just someone that I would prefer to interact with later on. "But would he believe us? We are basically going to him with no physical proof of anything—he won't take us seriously." 


"Why not? Such an important claim cannot be overlooked so easily." She asked.


"Okay, let's say he believed us, then what next? The trials, so far, happened to keep out any intruder—including me. Why would he change a strategy that has worked so far? He won't, and will get suspicious of us. Our best option is to take matters into our own hands and either catch the thief or take the stone first."


"But that would just make us thieves in the first place." Hermione argued.


"Yes, we won't be using the stone for nefarious reasons. Imagine the damage the person might do to the wizarding world with the philosopher's stone. I ask you to look up the creator, Nicholas Flamel to know more about his work." We would have the Dark Lord return to the mortal world, which would mess up a lot of things. 


"I planned to already." We walked further away from the castle and closer to the borders of the Forbidden Forest—where we spotted a small stone cabin in the distance with white smoke coming off the chimney. "Why are we going to meet the groundskeeper?"


"Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. If there is someone with extensive knowledge on general fauna and creatures, it's him. I heard he's a pleasant guy, I just want to get to know him." I really did, him being my favorite character in the series further made me giddy from getting to interact with him. The first time I saw him didn't count, there were too many kids around and he had a job to lead us all to the castle. 


"We could have spent more time on our studies."


I chuckled at the girl's blatant love for learning. She would never waste a single moment on other activities aside from studying. "Trust me, talking with this guy will teach you more about the mythical creatures and potion ingredients found in the forest than any books. And, he can be our guide inside the forest, aren't you curious about what we can find inside?" I tempted her with the opportunity to learn more of the magical side of the world, which seemed to work as she began hesitating.


"But that place is denied passage to all students." 


"That it is, but with Hagrid's permission and promise to keep watch on us, we can explore the inside no problem." Dumbledore heavily trusted the giant's ability and knowledge of the forest. If he were to accept, then he would obviously lead us inside a safe zone."


"If you say so…"


After walking for a bit longer, we arrived in front of the large door and knocked.


Knock


Knock


"Who is it?" The sound of rattling and glass breaking was heard from inside. Hermione gave me a weird look which I returned with a smile."Wait, I'm comin' in a few minutes."


The floor inside creaked with the sound of something big and heavy walking over. A sound of locks opening was heard and the door slowly opened with a loud creak.


"Why hello there kids, anything I can help yeh with?"