Daphne felt her noble house ring heat up as the ancient magics negated the Veritaserum.
The statue moved and Snape's acerbic voice slimed its way through the room. "Speak, visitor. What is your name?"
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."
"For
what
reason
do
you
seek
the philosopher's stone?"
"To protect it from Voldemort and return it to the Flamels."
"What item does this fidelius protect?"
The secret flared in Daphne's head. "The Mirror of Erised."
"Correct." Snape's voice sounded almost disappointed. "Proceed." The final door swung open and Daphne led Harry over to it.
Dumbledore batted away an errand tentacle from the devil's snare in the Herbology room, barged into the charms room, and stopped, and stared. All the stone warriors were still lined up on both his sides. There was no rubble. It looked like no one had been through here. And yet, the fidelius was definitely active, so someone had tripped it. He frowned. Someone had found a way to pass through this room without first defeating it. That was worrying — and more than a little annoying for him.
Oh well. Dumbledore raised the elder wand in front of him, narrowed his eyes and leapt across the activation ward and magical shield, immediately transfiguring the floor into a liquid stone shield, which wrapped around him and stopped several dozen cross bow bolts from turning him into a human pin cushion.
The stone warriors slammed into his defence and started to smash away at his stone egg.
Dumbledore summoned a stronger, pure magic shield closer to him, and banished the egg away in all directions, sending several tones of stone rubble colliding into the many warriors, utterly destroying some of them, and sending those who remained to the ground.
One warrior wielding an eight foot long Goedendag got to its feet quicker than its fellows and smashed its heavy weapon into the magical shield, only a few inches from Dumbledore's face. Albus flicked his wand, smacking the warrior away and catching the Goedendag in mid-air with a levitation charm.
Several dozen more ricocheted off his shield.
crossbow
bolts
The other warriors had finished picking themselves up.
Dumbledore smirked, eyes twinkling, and flicked his wand again. The Goedendag rapidly spun itself in the air. The floor around him started melting. Oh, he'd missed this. Blindfolded and helpless, Harry followed Daphne's lead, keeping a firm grip on her hand and trusting her not to let him walk into something. He had no idea what was going on, but whatever it was, was probably important.
Occasionally he heard her gasp, or exclaim, or curse, or even emit a little chocked sob.
Whatever was going on out there must be quite dangerous. Some kind of mental trial perhaps? No! He shook himself. He shouldn't be trying to think about what ever it might be. That was the point of the step-by-step protocol.
"Harry," Daphne's voice said.
"Yes?" "I have placed all the rune stones in the correct positions around the area. You now need to cast a magical shield charm and tie it into the stones, using the magical power that comes from a nearby Herbology project, not the castle's wards, understand?"
That sounded doable. "Yes, I understand."
He felt Daphne's hand close around his wand hand and guide it forward until he felt his wand push against something hard. "That's the first ward stone, Harry. Good luck."
Dumbledore strode out of the rubble of stone warriors, some of which were little more than melted piles of newly formed igneous rock, and into the next room.
The long bench against the wall next to him was loaded with glassware. Oh, yes. This was McGonagall's room. Trust his number two to come up with something like this when asked to, 'really put some effort into it.'
He walked over to the first glass jar and saw that, indeed, the small iron ball was still there. Someone had bypassed this trial too. He smiled grimly, levelled his wand at the iron ball, watched it slowly melt, and started the delicate and tricky alchemy puzzle.
Harry tapped the final ward stone and muttered the final incantation. He felt the magic catch and stabilise into the new ward system, protecting wherever they were from magical attack from the outside of wherever they were.
"Right, Harry, now we're going to set up a second set of ward stones to drain a set of ward stones understand?"
that
are
already
here,
Harry nodded. He understood that.
Dumbledore eventually made his way into the next room, bathed in almost total darkness, having successfully navigated the iron ball through the glassware puzzle.
"Lumos."
He walked straight over to the control panel and punched in positions of the stars and planets on his date of birth. The stars and planets on the roof started moving, and, moments later, stopped. A white light flashed and the darkness of the room vanished.
Right, next room… …
He hesitated.
Wait.
He blinked.
He…
He frowned. Then his eyes opened in shock. He couldn't remember where the next room was!
"That was the last one, Harry."
Harry stepped away from the last rune stone they'd placed on the floor of wherever they were.
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