Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

gone
?” said Harry frantically. “
Now
?” 
“Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has 
many demands on his time —” 
“But this is important.” 
“Something you have to say is more important than the Min-
istry of Magic, Potter?” 
“Look,” said Harry, throwing caution to the winds, “Pro-
fessor — it’s about the Sorcerer’s Stone —” 
Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn’t that. 
The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn’t 
pick them up. 

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 CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
‘
268 
‘
“How do you know — ?” she spluttered. 
“Professor, I think — I 
know
— that Sn— that someone’s going 
to try and steal the Stone. I’ve got to talk to Professor Dumble-
dore.” 
She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion. 
“Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow,” she said finally. 
“I don’t know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, 
no one can possibly steal it, it’s too well protected.” 
“But Professor —” 
“Potter, I know what I’m talking about,” she said shortly. She 
bent down and gathered up the fallen books. “I suggest you all go 
back outside and enjoy the sunshine.” 
But they didn’t. 
“It’s tonight,” said Harry, once he was sure Professor McGona-
gall was out of earshot. “Snape’s going through the trapdoor 
tonight. He’s found out everything he needs, and now he’s got 
Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry 
of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up.” 
“But what can we —” 
Hermione gasped. Harry and Ron wheeled round. 
Snape was standing there. 
“Good afternoon,” he said smoothly. 
They stared at him. 
“You shouldn’t be inside on a day like this,” he said, with an odd, 
twisted smile. 
“We were —” Harry began, without any idea what he was going 
to say. 
“You want to be more careful,” said Snape. “Hanging around

---

THROUGH THE TRAPDOOR 
‘
269 
‘
like this, people will think you’re up to something. And Gryffindor 
really can’t afford to lose any more points, can it?” 
Harry flushed. They turned to go outside, but Snape called them 
back. 
“Be warned, Potter — any more nighttime wanderings and I will 
personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you.” 
He strode off in the direction of the staffroom. 
Out on the stone steps, Harry turned to the others. 
“Right, here’s what we’ve got to do,” he whispered urgently. “One 
of us has got to keep an eye on Snape — wait outside the staffroom 
and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you’d better do that.” 
“Why me?” 
“Its obvious,” said Ron. “You can pretend to be waiting for 
Professor Flitwick, you know.” He put on a high voice, “ ‘Oh Profes-
sor Flitwick, I’m so worried, I think I got question fourteen 
b 
wrong. . . .’ ” 
“Oh, shut up,” said Hermione, but she agreed to go and watch 
out for Snape. 
“And we’d better stay outside the third-floor corridor,” Harry 
told Ron. “Come on.” 
But that part of the plan didn’t work. No sooner had they 
reached the door separating Fluffy from the rest of the school than 
Professor McGonagall turned up again and this time, she lost her 
temper. 
“I suppose you think you’re harder to get past than a pack of en-
chantments!” she stormed. “Enough of this nonsense! If I hear 
you’ve come anywhere near here again, I’ll take another fifty points 
from Gryffindor! Yes, Weasley, from my own House!” 

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 CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
‘
270 
‘
Harry and Ron went back to the common room. Harry had just 
said, “At least Hermione’s on Snape’s tail,” when the portrait of the 
Fat Lady swung open and Hermione came in. 
“I’m sorry, Harry!” she wailed. “Snape came out and asked me 
what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Flitwick, and Snape 
went to get him, and I’ve only just got away, I don’t know where 
Snape went.” 
“Well, that’s it then, isn’t it?” Harry said. 
The other two stared at him. He was pale and his eyes were glit-
tering. 
“I’m going out of here tonight and I’m going to try and get to 
the Stone first.” 
“You’re mad!” said Ron. 
“You can’t!” said Hermione. “After what McGonagall and Snape 
have said? You’ll be expelled!” 
“SO WHAT?” Harry shouted. “Don’t you understand? If Snape 
gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort’s coming back! Haven’t you 
heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won’t 
be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He’ll flatten it, or turn it 
into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn’t matter any-
more, can’t you see? D’you think he’ll leave you and your families 
alone if Gryffindor wins the House Cup? If I get caught before I 
can get to the Stone, well, I’ll have to go back to the Dursleys and 
wait for Voldemort to find me there, its only dying a bit later than 
I would have, because I’m never going over to the Dark Side! I’m 
going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is 
going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?” 
He glared at them. 

---

THROUGH THE TRAPDOOR 
‘
271 
‘
“You’re right, Harry,” said Hermione in a small voice. 
“I’ll use the Invisibility Cloak,” said Harry. “It’s just lucky I got 
it back.” 
“But will it cover all three of us?” said Ron. 
“All — all three of us?” 
“Oh, come off it, you don’t think we’d let you go alone?” 
“Of course not,” said Hermione briskly. “How do you think 
you’d get to the Stone without us? I’d better go and look through 
my books, there might be something useful. . . .” 
“But if we get caught, you two will be expelled, too.” 
“Not if I can help it,” said Hermione grimly. “Flitwick told me 
in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. 
They’re not throwing me out after that.” 
After dinner the three of them sat nervously apart in the common 
room. Nobody bothered them; none of the Gryffindors had any-
thing to say to Harry any more, after all. This was the first night he 
hadn’t been upset by it. Hermione was skimming through all her 
notes, hoping to come across one of the enchantments they were 
about to try to break. Harry and Ron didn’t talk much. Both of 
them were thinking about what they were about to do. 
Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed. 
“Better get the cloak,” Ron muttered, as Lee Jordan finally left, 
stretching and yawning. Harry ran upstairs to their dark dormi-
tory. He pulled out the cloak and then his eyes fell on the flute Ha-
grid had given him for Christmas. He pocketed it to use on 
Fluffy — he didn’t feel much like singing. 
He ran back down to the common room. 

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 CHAPTER SIXTEEN 
‘
272 
‘
“We’d better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all 
three of us — if Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its 
own —” 
“What are you doing?” said a voice from the corner of the room. 
Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the 
toad, who looked as though he’d been making another bid for free-
dom. 
“Nothing, Neville, nothing,” said Harry, hurriedly putting the 
cloak behind his back. 
Neville stared at their guilty faces. 
“You’re going out again,” he said. 
“No, no, no,” said Hermione. “No, we’re not. Why don’t you go 
to bed, Neville?” 
Harry looked at the grandfather clock by the door. They 
couldn’t afford to waste any more time, Snape might even now be 
playing Fluffy to sleep. 
“You can’t go out,” said Neville, “you’ll be caught again. 
Gryffindor will be in even more trouble.” 
“You don’t understand,” said Harry, “this is important.” 
But Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desper-
ate. 
“I won’t let you do it,” he said, hurrying to stand in front of the 
portrait hole. “I’ll — I’ll fight you!” 
“