"Hermione! At least get on your broom!" Harry shouted, scrambling onto his own as Hermione, unstoppable, chanted Alohomora and charged into the next room. She was a lioness in full roar.
"Did you know lionesses do most of the work, Potter?" Draco's words echoed in Harry's mind. No snake like him could rein in Hermione when she was like this. She needed a lion like Ron to temper her fire.
Hermione scanned the room, wand at the ready, broom in hand. Harry cast Lumos upward to illuminate the dim space. As light flooded in, a sturdy table came into view, lined with vials of varying sizes. Before Harry could ponder them, a searing heat hit his back.
"What!?"
Purple flames roared, sealing the entrance. Whether enchanted or contained by Hogwarts' wards, they didn't spread.
"Harry, look ahead. Black flames," Hermione said coolly, pointing her wand at a door beyond the table, engulfed in ominous black fire, unapproachable.
"Another trap to cage us," Harry said. "Maybe water could douse it…"
He was optimistic. If Incendio worked on Devil's Snare, couldn't magic conquer these flames? A puzzle seemed better than chess or trolls.
"Wait, Harry. There's a note on the table," Hermione said, reading aloud. It kindly detailed which vial would let them advance and which would let them retreat. The largest and smallest vials were safe. It was a logic problem, solvable with calm thought.
(Second from the right and left are nettle wine, the one left of the wine is poison, the ends are different but not poison or wine, so the rightmost lets you retreat…)
Before Harry could finish, Hermione pinpointed the answer. "Harry, the smallest vial! It'll get us through the black flames!"
"Right… of course. Brilliant, Hermione. The rightmost is for retreating, the wine and poison match the clues, and neither the dwarf nor giant vial is poison, so it has to be the smallest."
It was like class—Hermione always solved problems before Harry, except on a broom. "This is logic, not magic," she said. "A puzzle. Great wizards often lack logic. They'd be stuck here forever."
"Yeah, I'm a small wizard, thinking Aguamenti might work," Harry admitted. "Guess not."
The trap taught that magic alone wasn't enough. "Snape's work," Harry said.
"I agree," Hermione replied. "Though he's not always logical about you or Slytherin."
Harry gave a wry laugh. Snape's bias toward Slytherin was unwavering, often dismissing Hermione unfairly.
(What would he think, knowing Hermione, whom he ignored, cracked his trap?)
"Snape should've praised you more," Harry said sincerely. "In class and here, you're the best witch."
Hermione's brows lifted with pride, then fell sadly. "But I wasn't good. I suspected Snape, even set him on fire."
"You did that to protect me," Harry said. "It's not your fault."
"No, I judged him by his attitude. He's a brilliant Potions master. I shouldn't have."
"People judge by what they see, Hermione. Snape doesn't feel guilty for his bias. He's Slytherin through and through."
As a Slytherin, Harry knew Snape's favoritism often stemmed from Hermione's Muggle-born status, not just her House.
"Grown man, acting like that," Harry said. "He ignored you, but this trial proves he was wrong. He docked you points for being Gryffindor, but if you were Slytherin, he wouldn't have."
Harry recalled Dumbledore's words: Slytherin and Gryffindor both prized wit. Hermione's logic and potion-making skills were Slytherin-worthy, yet her House—and perhaps her blood—denied her fair recognition.
"You're radical today, Harry," Hermione said.
"Not as much as you. I just needed to say this."
Only one vial let them advance; retreat was the other option. Harry meant to entrust the task to Hermione. "Sprout, McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick, Sinistra, Snape. If the trolls were Care of Magical Creatures, next is Quirrell's Defense. It'll be the toughest. He might be there. I had to speak now, or I might never."
"Hermione, I'll go," she declared, chest puffed. "I'm the best at magic in our year."
"I know. Everyone does," Harry said. Her knowledge and quick thinking outshone him. Logically, she was the better choice.
(Maybe she could do it. But…)
"Hermione, in a test, I'd never beat you. But I've got decent reflexes, broom skills, and Expelliarmus."
He pressed on. "If it's a monster, I'll escape by air. If it's a person, I'll disarm them from above. In a duel, I think I can beat even you."
Harry wasn't boasting. Hermione's knowledge would outstrip him over time, but now, he believed he should face the danger. Letting her go while he retreated wasn't an option.
"Hermione, that's—"
She cut him off, unconvinced. "You'd suffer. You're scared too."
She was brave and felt his fear as her own. "Yeah, I'm terrified," Harry admitted. "But I can't forgive whoever ravaged Hagrid's forest, targeted me, and hurt our friends. I don't want you—or any friend—to die."
"Neither do I, Harry," she said.
Friendship couldn't sway her. Both had sacrificed too much, leaving friends behind. Neither could watch the other face mortal peril alone. The dilemma gripped them.
"I never had friends before," Harry confessed, voice tight. "Meeting Asclepius, Draco, Ron, you, Zabini—it was amazing."
"Like magic," Hermione agreed.
"I owe everyone who stood by me," Harry said. "They called me the Boy Who Lived. Sirius praised me, but not as a Slytherin."
He bared his fear. "I'm a Slytherin, but people say I don't act like one. I know Slytherin's seen as bad, and some do bad things. But if I do nothing, nothing changes. If a Slytherin like me stops him from getting the Stone, maybe Slytherin's reputation can improve."
Harry stared at the creaking floorboards.
"Hermione!"
Her shout snapped his eyes up. Her gaze steadied his wandering green eyes. "You're honorable, Harry."
She hugged him tightly. Flustered, he said, "I never beat you, though. Being a great wizard is complicated."
He smiled, adding, "I joined Slytherin to be great. I'm glad I did. I met kind cowards, loyal jerks, bookworms with guts…"
Hermione glared playfully. "Who're you talking about?"
"Great wizards see people's good and bad, study hard, live fiercely—like you," Harry said.
They each took their vial, resolute. They knew their roles.
"Harry," Hermione said.
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, at school," Harry replied casually, ready to risk his life to protect today for a different tomorrow.
He convinced her. Hermione watched him fly into the black flames, then turned back to Ron's side.
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