Blake was beginning to panic now. Where the hell are they?
He'd checked the entirety of the first floor, and was about to finish the second, but there was still no sign of them.
But suddenly, Blake realised something. This third floor corridor… it's been sealed off since the beginning of this year - is this the reason why? As if by fate, as soon as Blake clambered his way up the stairs to the third floor, he heard a familiar voice.
"Unfortunate, aren't you, Quirrell?" a snivelling, snide voice came from above. Blake's blood was pumping harder than ever, as he ran towards the source of the sound. Snape.
"S-S-Severus, wh-what in Merlin's n-name do-?"
"Save it," Snape snarled, as Blake finally cleared the stairs and came up onto the third floor. As an argument ensued between Snape and Quirrell - about Quirrell denying something and Snape cutting him off before he could explain - Blake quickly hid behind a pillar, then poked his head out slightly, before quickly making a mental note of where they were standing. From his point of view, Snape's back was turned to him, and it seemed like he'd been waiting there for Quirrell to arrive for a while. Speaking of Quirrell, it seemed like Quirell had come from the other end of the corridor, towards the direction that Blake was in.
"Tell me, Quirrell, did you really think that you could take it, without any of us noticing?"
That meant that … whatever's the big deal, it's in this section of the third corridor!
Suddenly, Snape whipped his head around - directly to where Blake was standing.
Cursing, Blake hid himself fully behind the pillar again, anxiously praying that the Professor didn't see him.
However, the boy's prayers went unanswered. Snape viciously ordered Quirrell to wait there, and Blake heard slow and careful footsteps prowl towards him.
If he saw me, then he'll see me running away too. Sh*t, what should I do!?
Suddenly, as if by a miracle, something whizzed past Blake.
What the hell… is that… a phoenix??
Blake could hardly believe it, and he even risked peeking out of his hiding spot for a moment, but it was true - a white, shimmering phoenix, almost transparent, was hovering there in front of Snape, completely distracting the man for a moment.
Now's my chance! Blake quickly overcame his shock and seized the moment, clampering back down the stairs as quickly as he could - but not before hearing something.
"Severus, come to the girl's toilet immediately - we've located the troll."
Dumbledore's calm voice spoke loudly and clearly, and Blake almost froze for a second, before looking around rapidly. He's not here? Where's his voice coming from then? Blake thought, as he continued back down to the dungeons, puzzled. Something to do with that phoenix, probably.
But Blake's mind was quickly occupied with other, far more pressing matters.
Quirrell's trying to steal something.
Snape and Dumbledore are trying to guard it.
It's in the third floor corridor - specifically the one that's out of bounds.
Quirrell's been acting very strangely around me.
What're my options?
Blake could go to McGonagall - he knew that was always an option. But then she would go to Dumbledore. The benefit of that would be Dumbledore's favour, but it would also come with scrutiny. He would probably tell Blake to stay out of adult affairs, and if Blake was being monitored, there's no way he'd be able to go out to the Forbidden Forest. Also, Snape would also come to find out, and if he knew that Blake was making waves within Hogwarts, he wouldn't take it too well.
But at the same time, Blake was beginning to become concerned. Not only was Quirrell being incredibly weird around him specifically, but he was also trying to steal something from Dumbledore - the greatest wizard of the age?
There's only one thing that makes me different enough from all the rest of my classmates to act weirdly about, Blake thought bitterly.
If Quirrell gets his hands on something that Dumbledore's trying to protect, who knows what he's going to do with it - to me.
The Slytherin prefects, very luckily, hadn't bothered to take count of their year group as a whole.
"Malfoy's dad, you being a mudblood, and us being blood traitors," Zabini theorised.
"Blaise, don't call him that!" Charlotte chided him genuinely, and Tracey echoed her agreement.
"What! He doesn't care - do you, Renshaw?"
"Huh?" Blake responded hazily. In truth, he hadn't really been listening, still thinking about the events earlier that day.
"See?"
"He just wasn't listening!"
"Renshaw, do you care if I call you a mudblood?"
Blake shrugged.
"It depends on the context, I guess. I know you don't mean it, so I don't really care, but it's not like it's a good thing."
Zabini smirked at the two girls opposite him, but Blake continued.
"But don't get me wrong. If I ever felt that you genuinely meant it - well, you wouldn't want the Malfoy treatment, would you?" Blake said, only half joking.
"Ha!" Tracey said, feeling victorious.
"Shut up, Davis, he literally said 'if I meant it', and I don't, so you're still wrong."
As the pair bickered, Blake idly noticed something - where's Greengrass? The girl had clearly snuck off again - probably around the same time as Blake had, perhaps even before. But oddly, right now, Blake didn't care about that, and he went back to his thoughts.
Quirrell's still a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher - and way older than me. There's no way I can beat him in a fight, unless I take him by absolute surprise, and even then, it's highly questionable.
I can't rely on Snape, or McGonagall, or Dumbledore, for help - at least, not without sacrificing my freedom to go to the Forbidden Forest and do my stuff there.
So that leaves me with one option.
That Sunday, Blake set his alarm to wake up bright and early.
"What in Merlin's name is that noise?" Zabini groaned.
"Sorry, Zabini, I must have set the alarm too early," Blake quickly apologised.
"What in Merlin's name is an alarm?" he groaned even further, before promptly falling asleep. Not very nonchalant when you're tired, are you, Zabini?
Blake waited to make absolute sure that Zabini was asleep, before getting out of bed and leaving the dungeons, making his way to the third floor corridor that he'd seen before.
He walked up to where Snape had been standing, and looked around.
Quirell came from that way, Blake thought, looking in one direction of the corridor. So that means it's somewhere on this side.
Blake looked around again, until his eyes fell on a door at the end of the corridor. Strange that there's no staircase at the end of the corridor when there's 4 more floors.
He approached it carefully, taking out his wand. Blake tried to open the door, but as he thought, it was locked. Excitement creeping in his chest, he whispered, "Alohoroma!", and he heard the door click unlocked.
Blake inhaled deeply, clenching his wand, ready to fight or run at a moment's notice.
Now or never.
He pushed the door open - and what he saw almost made him scream.
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