Begotten

End of year exams were frightful. Even in the subjects she was good at, Moriah struggled through the days, doing her best to scribble out essays worthy of reading while stumbling through the practical exams. It wasn’t as if she was doing poorly in her classes; she just hadn’t exactly been putting studying before everything else.

In fact, school work had actually been put on the back burner since finding out about the Philosopher’s Stone. The only test she passed with flying colors had been Transfiguration, which was probably the best one to do well on considering Professor McGonagall had been staring down at her over her glasses for the duration of the period.

When it was all over and Moriah was feeling like a good nap would be well-deserved, she met up with the golden trio after class, walking with them as they made their way down to Hagrid’s hut for tea.

“—and the essay over the Werewolf code of… Oh, hello, Moriah!” Hermione greeted cheerfully. “Anyway…”

“She’s been talking about nothing but the exams sine about nine this morning. Every time we get out of class, she just goes right on, right where she picked off.” Ron rolled his eyes and Moriah laughed, elbowing him in the arm.

“Let her have her fun. She’s just exci—“

The blonde looked up just as Harry stopped in his tracks, Hermione prattling on beside him. He frowned, looking into the distance where a large figure took up the entire entryway of the hut.

“Oh no…”

“What is it, Harry?”

Moriah stepped forward to stand by his side only to have him take off again.

“Harry!”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit odd,” he started as he sprinted. “That what Hagrid wants most is a dragon, and then he comes across someone who just happens to be carrying an egg in his pocket!”

“What are you—?”

“Carrying dragon eggs is illegal in the first place! Why didn’t I think of it before?!”

The quartet raced down the hillside, taking special care not to miss any steps and tumble the rest of the way. When they reached the bottom, they found Hagrid playing his flute on the stairs of his hut.

“Harry, I don’t—“ She couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

“Hagrid, who gave you Norbert? Who gave you the egg? What did he look like?”

The giant frowned behind all the hair that hid his face. “Well, I didn’t get a good look at ‘im. He was wearin’ a hood, after all.”

“Did you talk to him at all?”

“Well yeah, mostly about other animals. I told ‘im, well, after Fluffy, I’d have no problem caring for a dragon, I told ‘im.”

“Did he seem interested in Fluffy?” Hermione asked, now following Harry’s train of thought.

Moriah stood, watching the conversation like a tennis match and wondering if anyone would think to clue her in on just what was going on.”

“Well, of course he was! How often d’you come across a three-headed-dog. But I told him, the trick with any beast is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy for instance, just play him a little music and he falls right asleep!”

The blonde’s eyes widened and she looked to the others who stared at Hagrid for a moment longer before turning on their heels and rushing away again. Moriah followed, trying not to trip on her cloak, and she could still hear the giant muttering, “Shouldn’t’a said that. I should not have said that.”

“Guys, what—“

“Don’t you see? It was Snape! Snape gave Hagrid the dragon! Snape knows how to get past Fluffy! He doesn’t want the stone for himself, he wants it for Voldemort!”

“You think Snape is trying to restore Voldemort?” She could believe that the Potions Master would want to live forever, but bring about the return of the Dark Lord?

“Can you think of anyone else?”

She remembered the dark figure in the forest, how it glided toward Harry, ready to kill. It was little more than a cloak on that night, but once restored… Moriah shuddered at the thought.

They ran through the corridors of the castle, all the way until they came to the Transfigurations classroom where McGonagall was grading essays. She looked up in surprise at the four pre-teens rushing for her, eyebrows raised and pointed as she waited for an explanation.

“We need to speak with Professor Dumbledore!” Moriah started, taken aback by how loud her voice was. Her heart was pounding in her chest as her friends panted next to her.

“I’m afraid the Headmaster has been called away to the ministry.”

All of them groaned in unison. “Called away? But this is important! It’s the sorcerer’s stone! Someone’s trying to steal it!”

The Deputy Headmistress frowned so deeply, Moriah thought her face would definitely stay stuck. She stood up and wrapped her green robes around her, looking personally offended by what they had to say.

“I don’t know how the four of you found out about this, but I expect you’ll keep your mouths shut. Now, if you would quietly return to your dormitories…”

Hermione looked on the verge of tears at being turned away, but both Harry and Ron just glared and walked away, shoulders slumping.

“So what now?”

They walked through the halls, on the way to Gryffindor tower in close to silence.

Harry looked at her with a sad smile. “Now, you stay in your dorm tonight. I’m going through the trap door.”

“Harry!” three voices rang out.

“You’re not going down there alone, mate.”

“You have no idea what you could be facing! Fluffy is just one of the obstacles.”

The inky-haired boy turned on them. “I’m not asking any of you to risk your lives for this.”

“You don’t have to ask,” Moriah stated, stepping up to look him in the eyes. “It’s what friends do. We’re not letting you go alone.”

Harry smiled with half of his mouth, green eyes growing brighter with each passing second. “Fine. We’re going down tonight.”

“Great!” they continued to walk, nerves buzzing inside each of the students. “So, where exactly are we going?”



Moriah wished she could have spent the rest of her day keeping eyes on Snape, but loitering around the dungeons would look a little suspicious. Instead, she attempted to busy herself doing whatever she could. Her napping was unsuccessful as were her attempts at reading. Socializing with her house mates was even worse as Sheila just wanted to know what she’d been up to while Draco sat on the couch and pointedly ignored Moriah. Pansy was sitting too close to the blond boy which garnered many eye rolls in her direction.

“What could be so cool that you’ll hang out with Weasley, Potter, and Granger to get to it?”

“I’m not trying to get to anything,” she answered nonchalantly.

“Yeah, she’s actually taken to spending time with mudbloods and blood traitors,” Malfoy added sharply.

Moriah offered him a one-fingered salute and tried to shake the feeling of the other Slytherins in the room staring at her.

“You shouldn’t do that, Mori,” Pansy spoke up. “Your reputation as a pureblood will be ruined by the time you graduate.”

The blonde cut her eyes at the pug-faced girl, opting to not even humor her with a response. The House dynamic was about the only thing she was not going to miss when she returned to the orphanage for the summer, something she’d spent more and more time thinking about in the weeks leading up to exams.

“If my father could hear about the type they’re letting into Slytherin these days,” Malfoy mumbled, and Moriah felt her wand hand twitch at her side.

“You know what, you and your precious father can sod off, Draco,” she hissed before getting up and moving to the first year girls’ dormitory.

After an enormous feast at which Moriah remained completely silent, all of the students retired to their common rooms, leaving her to lie awake in bed until all of her housemates were snoring peacefully.

Dressed in old pants and a sweater, Moriah quietly made her way down the stairs and outside of the portrait hole, shutting the painting as gently as possible before tip-toeing down the damp corridors. She rubbed her hands together, cold from the dungeons as well as twitchy from nervousness. She had no idea what she was in for, following Harry into the belly of the castle like she was, but she did know that she couldn’t leave him to do it alone.

She made it to the third-floor corridor and looked around, expecting to see her friends even though she knew that they’d all be under the invisibility cloak. It was excessively eerie where she was, with decrepit statues covered with cobwebs, candle-less torches, and a cold breeze that blew through. The footsteps behind her didn’t help.

Moriah turned around quickly, wand raised, only for her three friends to appear from under the cloak.

“Sorry for the wait,” Harry said, smiling nervously.

“Yeah, we had a hold up. ‘Mione took care of it, though.”

Moriah knew that Hermione was blushing, though nobody could see it thanks to the all-consuming darkness.

“Well then, let’s go.”

At those words, Moriah’s stomach seemed to drop lower in her body, but she walked with them, having to urge her feet forward with each step she took.

“Um, Harry?” Ron’s shaky voice called out. “The door’s already been opened.”

The blonde looked to see that an old, heavy-looking door was slightly ajar, soft music emanating from the room.

“Snape,” Moriah whispered, newfound courage bubbling up inside of her. He had a head start. “Come on!”

Her excitement dwelled slightly when she was met with a massive three-headed-dog upon stepping in. It was a huge, dark mass, emitting snores that made the girl’s ears ring. She glanced at her friends, finding them to be just as shocked despite having already come in contact with the monster.

“So this is Fluffy,” she commented in a high-pitched voice.

Harry paid her no mind, walking for the middle of the room. “Help me move his paw.”

Hermione pulled her wand out, muttering a simple, “Wingardrium Leviosa,” and aiming it at the paw. Harry and Ron moved it easily, uncovering a small door set into the floor.

“Alright,” they gathered around Harry. “Any sign of danger, get yourselves out.”

They heaved the door open, and Harry paused to say something else, instead frowning. “Did it just get quiet in here?”

Moriah felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, able to sense a presence behind her. Ron, just a foot away from her, made a face and noise of disgust as a large drop of viscous liquid landed on his shoulder, and then, all at once, the four of them looked up to find Fluffy standing up, teeth bared.

“GO!” Harry screamed, and Moriah shoved Hermione down first, followed by Ron. She jumped in third, landing on a spongy ground, and put her hands over her chest as if to keep her racing heart from beating out of it. Harry landed next to her seconds later, and she could hear the giant dog scratching at the ground above them.

The sounds of panting filled whatever room they were now in, and Moriah prodded at the spongy floor experimentally. “What is this stuff? Lumos!”

She lit the area, eyebrows shooting up as she showed off nothing but green vines, some of them still while others slithered around like snakes.

“This is Devil’s Snare!” Hermione announced as it began snaking around her legs. Moriah gave a hard tug as one of the vines tightened around her arm. “Lay still, or it’ll only kill you faster.”

“Kill us faster?!” Rom began struggling violently, gripping at the vines around his neck.

Hermione looked at Moriah with wide eyes, “Just relax, I promise,” then held her breath and sat perfectly still before she sunk down through the plants until she was out of sight.

“Hermione!” both of the boys screamed.

Moriah regulated her breathing before mimicking the other witch, fear abating slightly when she heard her yell out, “Just relax!”

The blonde felt herself slide downward through the green before free falling for a moment and landing on hard stone. Harry came through seconds after, landing right on Moriah just as she had started to stand up.

“Sorry, Mori.”

“’S’okay. Ron’s still panicking up there, isn’t he?” Her question didn’t need to be answered as the three of them could hear the ginger boy screaming.

“God, what else, what else. I know there’s a spell… Devil’s Snare, Devil’s snare… It likes the dark and damp, so light a—“

“Lumos Maxima!” Moriah yelled, pointing her wand upward just as a huge beam of light shot from it, illuminating the entire room with a blinding white light.

There was a hissing from above, and the students could see all of the vines squirming in an attempt to get away. It left a large enough hole for Ron to fall through, and when he did, both Harry and Hermione rushed over and helped him to his feet.

He dusted himself off and cleared his throat. “Lucky we didn’t panic!”

Harry leveled an incredulous look at his best friend. “Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology.”

“Right. Okay, what’s next?”