Begotten

As soon as an excruciatingly long Potions lesson was over, Moriah darted from the room so that Draco couldn’t give her another lecture and waited for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She had succeeded in brewing a potion, just not the right one, and when Snape had used her as an example, she just sat there looking mad at the world.

“Wow, I never want to make you angry,” Harry confessed. “Your face alone gets scary. Can’t imagine what you could do with some magic.”

Moriah laughed and walked with them to the Great Hall. It was nearly dinner time, and after the feast, they’d all be able to go down to the gamekeeper’s hut. The Slytherin was excited at the prospect of finally getting let in on the big Gryffindor secret but couldn’t imagine what could be so important and could last as long as half a school year.

She ate quietly next to Sheila and Draco, the latter not saying a word to her which Moriah only felt slightly bad about. It was dark by the time the feast was over, and the blonde quickly left the Slytherin table to catch up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were congregating in a corner of a corridor.

“So, are we just going to waltz out of here?”

“Course not!” Ron answered, nodding at Harry who pulled his invisibility cloak from an inside robe pocket. He opened it up wide, then threw it over the four of them, all of them huddled extremely close together. Ron and Harry were shoulder to shoulder, as were Moriah and Hermione, the two girls having to drape themselves against the young boys in front of them.

The walk down to Hagrid’s was not especially enjoyable. Moriah kept stepping on the back of Harry’s shoe. It was always followed by a whispered apology and punctuated with a, shh, by Hermione.

The door to the hut swung open before they had even finished knocking, and Hagrid grinned at the sight of them, though it was hard to see with so much beard in the way.

“I wa’nt ‘spectin’ you lot here tonigh’. Gotta put on some tea!”

He ambled back inside, motioning for them to follow.

“So, did you hear that Snape is refereeing the next Quidditch match?” Ron asked. There was a sort of triumphant look on his face and Hagrid turned to them from his small kitchen.

“I did, but I don’ reckon’ it’s got anything to do with what yer thinkin’ of.”

“I’m telling you, Hagrid, Snape was the one muttering the curse. I saw it with my own eyes!” Hermione said.

Moriah was obviously missing something. Luckily, Harry seemed to notice this and quickly explained, “When my broom was acting funny during the match, it was because Snape was jinxing it.”

Her mouth dropped open, but the giant quickly waved a hand. “You don’ know that.”

“Yes we do! We also saw that he had hurt his leg at Halloween, and I’ve got an idea of how he did it!”

Hagrid walked over and placed four mugs of steaming tea in front of them, glancing at Moriah for a moment and nodding. “Hullo, Moriah.” She had no idea how he even knew who she was.

Ron continued where Harry left off. “He was trying to get past your precious Fluffy, got himself hurt!”

The large, hairy man sat down loudly and somehow leveled a look at all three of the Gryffindors. “Now, you listen here. Snape wouldn’t try ter get past Fluffy. He knows better than that.”

“Um, excuse me, but what exactly is a fluffy?”

Now, Harry turned in his seat to look at her. “What you’ve got to know first is that there’s something in the school, something that’s really important and powerful. It’s being guarded by Hagrid’s huge three-headed dog which he named Fluffy.” Ron had a sick look on his face and shuddered, but Moriah barely noticed, listening closely to what her friend was saying, though the idea of a giant, three-headed dog didn’t sit too well with her either. “We think that Snape is trying to steal what the dog is guarding for himself.”

“Moriah, he’s your head o’ house,” Hagrid started. “Tell ‘em Professor Snape wouldn’t do that.”

But the blonde could only shrug. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t trust him farther than I could throw him. I also believe that he would jinx Harry’s broom. You haven’t seen the way he acts around him, Hagrid. It’s downright vile.”

The other three students grinned at this, like Moriah’s word was what they needed to convince Hagrid. The giant couldn’t be swayed, however, shaking his monstrous head over and over.

“No, I don’ believe it. He wouldn’t. Dumbledore trusts him for a reason.”

Moriah sat back in her chair, blocking out the conversation for a moment to go over the story Harry had told her. Something important was in the school—possibly a weapon—and Snape wanted it. If it held some sort of power, then she could definitely see why the bat-like man wanted it. He probably wanted nothing more than power.

As for the monster guarding it, she couldn’t believe something so dangerous would be kept in a school. Some things at Hogwarts just didn’t make sense to her.

“So, have you told Dumbledore about this?” She finally piped up.

Hermione shook her head. “We don’t have any evidence except for the jinx and the scratches on Snape’s leg, but the match is over and he’s taken care of the wound by now.”

“Plus, no one even believes us,” Harry said, shooting a look at Hagrid.

“Look, I understand why yer thinkin’ all o’ this. Snape isn’t the most easy ter get alon’ with, but he would never steal the stone.”

“Stone?”

The giant slapped himself in the forehead. “Shouldn’ta said that.”

Sighing, Hermione explained. “The Philosopher’s Stone. That’s what’s in the school. It’s a stone form of the elixir of life. Nicholas Flamel developed it.”

“The Philosopher’s Stone? I’ve read stories about that. I thought it was just a myth.”

Harry shook his head. “Not in this world, it isn’t.”

Blowing hair out of her face, Moriah put her tea down and leaned forward. “So, you think Snape is trying to get the stone to, what, live forever?”

“You don’t think he would?”

“Oh, I think he definitely would. I mean, nobody wants to die, but he seems mad enough to actively try not to.”

Hagrid was still muttering to himself, clearly not getting through to the kids. Harry, Ron, and Hermione continued to fill Moriah in about the bit of research they had done, and the bespectacled boy had a very interesting story about running into both Snape and Professor Quirrell one night during the holidays while he was under his invisibility cloak.

“It looked like he was trying to get information from him. He said ’you don’t want me as your enemy’.”

“Then do you think Quirrell is trying to protect the stone?”

“That’s a scary thought,” Ron shuddered. “The man can barely hold a lizard without screaming like a girl. I’d hate to see him up against Snape.”