Later on that day, Malfoy challenged Harry for a wizard's duel at night but never turned up. And Harry and his friends were almost get caught by Filch and his cat.
On their way back to the Gryffindor tower they got lost and ended up in the forbidden third-floor corridor, where they almost got killed by a three-headed dog.
After they reached the common room Hermione informed them that the dog was standing over a trapdoor.
At that night Harry was lying in his bed thinking about what could be hidden behind that trapdoor.
The next day Harry and his friends were having breakfast on the Gryffindor table at the great hall when owl posts arrived. Every student and teacher in the great hall looked with interest when six owls carried a large parcel and dropped it in front of Harry.
"What do you think it is?" asked Ron.
"I think it's my old broom from home", replied Harry.
He took out the letter first and it read:
Dear Harry,
It's a little congratulations gift from your family to you for making the team.
Mum, dad and Daisy.
Harry ripped open the package after reading the letter and found a new Nimbus 2000.
All the students nearby gasped and the whole great hall looked toward the Gryffindor table.
Life at Hogwarts was smooth after that but until Halloween.
On the day of Halloween, Ron and Hermione had a row during their Charm class, regarding Ron's low performance of the levitation charm. And Ron insulted her saying she was a nightmare and no one wanted to be friend with her.
Hermione didn't turn up after that the whole morning and afternoon and the two friends overheard from Parvati that she was crying in the girls' toilet.
During the Halloween feast in the evening, a troll got inside the castle and the two friends saved Hermione from the troll, by Ron hitting the troll on the head with its own club, using the levitation charm.
After that incident, they became very good friends with her and started to spend their time together.
October turned into November and the weather became cold. Wood started to make the team practice hard, for their upcoming match: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.
The morning of the match Harry was nervous. Though he had been flying his whole life, he could not help it.
He flew into the pitch with his other teammates and found his two best friends sitting in the Gryffindor stand.
But what cheered him up the most, was the fact that his parents and sister were also sitting in the stand with the professors. They waved at him and he waved back. His sister was cheering and bouncing up and down seeing him flying with his other teammates.
Madam Hooch blew the whistle and the match started.
At the middle of the game, Harry's broom started bucking uncontrollably in the mid-air and his family and friends jumped out of their seat obviously worried, but none more than his mother. she had her wand ready in her hand to do something if he fell from his broom.
After a few minutes, his broom stopped bucking and he gained back his control on his broom. He zoomed higher and started to look for the snitch.
Finally, Harry found and caught the snitch by almost swallowing it and gave Gryffindor a 170 to 60 win.
After the initial celebratory moment was over, James, Lily and Daisy hurried down the stands and hugged Harry. Daisy even slapped him on the arm for almost giving them a heart attack.
After his family left, Harry and his friends were having tea in Hagrid's hut, when Ron and Hermione informed him that it was Snape who jinxed his broom and Hermione distracted him by his putting robes on fire.
Hagrid declined their accusation on Snape and through all those talking, he unintentionally revealed that the name of the three-headed dog was Fluffy and the thing it was guarding, had something to do with Nicolas Flamel.
Winter came soon and brought snow and Christmas with it. Ron and his brothers were staying at Hogwarts, as Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie. So, Harry decided to stay in the castle too.
Daisy was reluctant at first to let Harry stay at the castle but after he promised her that, he would make it up to her once he was home for summer vacation, she agreed.
Hermione left for home to spend Christmas holidays with her parents, so did many other students. Harry and Ron were happy to have a whole dorm to themselves.
On the Christmas Eve, Harry had a touch of sadness in his mood, for not spending the Christmas with his loving family but he was also looking forward to a Hogwarts Christmas at the castle. They spent the whole evening playing chess, exploding snap and talking with each other.
On the Christmas morning, Harry woke up by a sudden jolt from Ron.
"Wake up Harry. It's Christmas", he shouted almost in his ear.
On an ordinary day, he would have shouted at Ron, but he didn't want to start his Christmas like that.
"Happy Christmas Ron", he greeted with a smile.
"Happy Christmas to you too Harry", the other boy greeted enthusiastically; "Wake up. We got presents".
Harry got a roughly cut wooden flute from Hagrid; an unexpected gift from Mrs Weasley: a green jumper. And finally the gift from his family: an invisibility cloak, which came out to be a real surprise for him.
According to the letter sent by his father, the invisibility cloak was a Potter family heirloom and had been passed through generations. And now it was Harry's turn to get it.
Both Harry and Ron was elated to have an invisibility cloak with them. Now they could go anywhere in the castle they wished, without getting caught. It got easy for them to search for Nicolas Flamel in the restricted section of the library.
That night, Harry was in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library when he unknowingly opened a book and it started to scream. He ran from there and ended up in an unused classroom.
The room was almost empty except a magnificent mirror. He walked toward it. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
It was strange to have such a magnificent mirror there in that unused classroom.
But it was not the mirror that surprised him, instead, it was, what he saw in the mirror when he came in front of it.
There were standing inside the mirror, were two sets of his parents' copy. But, where one set of his parents had their usual eye colours, the other had the inversed. And the first set of his parents was older than the second.
After contemplating the reflection for a few minutes, he understood that there were not two sets of his parents. The younger version of his father with green eyes was him and the younger version of his mother with his father's hazel eyes was his sister instead.
But, there was something more astounding. Standing between him and his sister was another red-haired woman with a few tiny freckles around her nose. She was very beautiful and her chocolate brown eyes were so full of life. Her smile was heartwarming. Whenever she would look at the mirror Harry, her eyes would shine with an emotion he could not place. she had a child with red hair and green eyes in her arms and the mirror Harry's arm was around her waist. His eyes would also reflect the same emotion as that woman, whenever he would look at her.
All of them were smiling at him.
Harry was confused. What was the mirror shows? Was it his future? But then how there could be someone he hadn't met yet. Or maybe he had but could not place it.
But there was one thing for sure, he likes to see them there. It made him very warm inside. Maybe his future would get to be like this. Maybe the woman in the mirror beside him could be his wife. And the child in her arms could be his.
He kept seated there for some time just watching them in the mirror. Then he left with a promise to come back the next day with Ron, to show him, what could be his future.
But, by the next night, he was even more confused. Ron didn't see the same thing as Harry did, in the mirror. In the mirror Ron saw himself standing there as a Head boy and quidditch captain, holding the house cup and quidditch cup.
"So, is it really showing my future?" thought Harry, lying in his bed that night.
The next few days Harry went alone in that classroom. He loved staring at that mirror. Not just because it might be showing his possible future but because he loved seeing those faces, full of love and happiness, inside the mirror.
Then one-night Professor Dumbledore caught him there and Harry told him about what he saw in the mirror.
Then Dumbledore made him understand how that mirror could bring misery to someone's life.
He explained that the Mirror of Erised showed everyone nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of their hearts. And because of horrors in Harry's past, he always wanted a safe future, full of love and happiness.
He also explained, how to keep staring at someone's greatest desire could make him forget his real life.
He also told Harry not to try to find the mirror, once it would be moved to another place, the next day.
After Harry left, Professor Dumbledore sat there on a desk with his hand under his chin. He was not surprised about what Harry saw in the mirror. He wasn't even so much surprised to find, that, there was another red-haired woman who could be considered as Harry's wife. After all, the legend of Potters and their redheads were known to the whole wizarding world.
But what surprised him most was the distinct feature of the woman. According to Harry, The woman had freckles around her nose.
And so far he knew, there was only one wizarding family known to have red hairs and freckles. The Weasleys. And there was only one Weasley man in the whole wizarding world who is known to have a daughter. Arthur Weasley.
He knew that Arthur's family was not too much close to James's for Harry to have feelings for his daughter.
And then there was also the prophecy of the September 1st. He hadn't shared that with anyone either. He wanted to discover the meaning of the prophecy completely before telling it to the Potters. And that prophecy also mentioned a girl.
'Does young Miss Weasley have anything to do with the girl in the prophecy?' thought Dumbledore. 'Is the girl in Harry's vision in the mirror is just a coincident, or the flash of Harry's future?'. Because he knew, seeing the future in the Mirror of Erised was not impossible. Someone could see his future in the mirror if that was his heart's desire.
'No, I have to contemplate about this matter a bit more before taking it to any of James and Arthur', he said to himself.
Quidditch practice was being hard and Wood was getting obsessed.
Then came together with a good and a piece of bad news for Harry and his friends.
The good was, they had found about Nicolas Flamel, the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone. They also came to a decision that it was the Philosopher's Stone, the three-headed dog was guarding.
And the bad news was, Snape was refereeing the next match. The mood of the whole Gryffindor team was somber. They all knew Snape was going to pick on them at every opportunity.
On the morning of the match, Harry felt dreadful. The presence of his family in one of the stands cheered him up a little bit but it was not enough. He didn't want to show himself a loser in front of his family.
It was only, when he along with his teammates, saw professor Dumbledore also sitting in the stand, the whole team relaxed. They knew very well that Snape wouldn't dare to do anything wrong at the presence of the headmaster.
Yet the game plan of the Gryffindor team was, to catch the snitch as soon as possible and end the game.
And Harry did that. He caught the snitch within five minutes of the game, with a spectacular dive.
The exam was coming soon and Hermione was going crazy about studies. But then came another trouble. Hagrid got a dragon egg from somewhere and it was an egg of a Norwegian Ridgeback. After it was hatched, he even named it Norbert. But the problem was, according to the ministry law, Keeping a dragon as a pet was illegal and Nobert was growing up too fast to keep him hidden inside Hagrid's hut.
So, using Harry's advice, they decided to send him to Romania where Ron's brother Charlie worked in a dragon reserve. They contacted Charlie who agreed. But in the whole process of handing Norbert to Charlie's friend, Harry, Ron and Hermione were caught by Professor McGonagall. They lost one hundred and fifty points and ended up in detention along with Malfoy who suspected their activity and told McGonagall about it.
While serving detention, Harry came face to face with Voldemort who was drinking blood from a dead unicorn. But he was saved by Firenze, a centaur.
At the last day of his exam, they came to know that Hagrid had told a stranger who had refused to take off his cloak, about Fluffy and how to get past him.
After putting two and two together, Harry and his friends came to the conclusion that someone was going to steal the Philosopher's Stone.
They tried to approach Professor Dumbledore with the information but Professor McGonagall informed them that he had left the castle and wouldn't be there until the next day. So, they told her about the danger but she refused to believe them.
So finally, they decided to save the stone themselves.
Harry opened his eyes slowly and found Albus Dumbledore standing in front of his bed.
"Good afternoon Harry", said Dumbledore.
Harry stared at him. Then he remembered. "Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! He's got the Stone! Sir, quick –"
"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times", said Dumbledore; "Quirrell does not have the Stone."
"Then who does? Sir, I –"
"Harry, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out."
Harry swallowed and looked around. He realised, he must be in the hospital wing. He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets and next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the sweet-shop.
"Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore, beaming; "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a lavatory seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it.", then the old man looked at Harry; "I have got some information about your adventure from your two best friends. But I want to hear the whole story from your perspective, Harry".
Harry nodded and started to tell the old man about, how he, Ron and Hermione passed Fluffy, the three-headed dog, by playing the wooden flute of Hagrid and passed the Devil's snare; then how they found the charmed key by flying in brooms and played a giant chess and how Ron got hurt there. Then he explained, how Hermione solved the potion puzzle and finally he came face to face with Professor Quirrell.
There he told him, how he had found the Philosopher's stone in his pocket by looking at the Mirror of Erised and finally how he came face to face with Voldemort who was peeking out of Professor Quirrell's head.
Then he explained how Professor Quirrell's hand and face was burnt by his touch.
Dumbledore just stood there and nodded, a small smile was playing on his lips.
After a few moments, Harry asked, "How long have I been in here?".
"Three days. Your family and friends will be relieved to see you come around. They have been so worried these last few days".
"What about the stone, sir?"
"Don't worry Harry, the stone has been destroyed. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you".
"Destroyed?" said Harry blankly. "But your friend – Nicolas Flamel –"
"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You did do the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicolas and I have had a little chat and agreed it's all for the best."
"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?"
"Yes Harry, they will die. But don't worry they have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order".
"But sir, after that….", Harry started but the headmaster cut him off.
"Yes Harry, they will die after that. But don't worry, it may be a horrifying thought for someone so young like you, but for an old person, death is nothing but the next great adventure. And to Nicholas and Perenelle, it will be like going to bed after a very, very long day".
Harry lay there for some minutes in silence, then asked, "Sir, even after the stone is destroyed Voldemort will be back, isn't he?"
"Yes Harry, he will be back. Maybe on some another day by any other means".
Harry nodded slightly then asked.
"Sir, why couldn't Quirrell touch me? Why did his hand and face get burnt?"
Dumbledore smiled. "It's because of your mother Harry", Harry looked surprised at this; "Your mother stood between you and Voldemort to protect you from him. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realise that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark", Harry tried to touch his scar and Dumbledore interrupted; "No Harry, not a visible scar like that. It is in your very skin. And Quirrell, full of hatred, greed and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good".
Harry then looked thoughtful for a moment and asked.
"How did I get the Stone out of the Mirror?"
"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone – find it, but not use it – would be able to get it, otherwise, they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes … Now, enough questions. I think your family is just going to arrive so I will take my leave. But before that, I think I'll try some of these Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit-flavoured one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them – but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?"
He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, "Alas! Earwax!"
At that moment the door of the hospital wing opened and Lily, James and Daisy walked in. seeing them walking inside Harry got up and sat on the bed, despite the pain in his head.
Seeing the pained expression in her son's face, Lily ran toward him. She reached the side of the bed and hugged her son tightly trying her best not to move his head too much.
She pulled away and kissed his forehead. James stood beside the bed and Daisy sat at the edge of the bed.
"How are you feeling sweetheart?"
"Other than the pain in my head I am fine mum". Then he looked at his sister; "How are you, sis?"
"I'm fine big bro. After all, I'm not the one who faced Voldemort and was unconscious for three days", she replied playfully.
Harry smiled sheepishly. "Yeah".
"So Harry, though we have listened to it quite enough from Albus and your friends, we want to hear from you about what happened between you and Quirrell, or maybe we should say Voldemort, down there".
Harry nodded and gave his family a full description of what happened from their entering the third-floor corridor to his waking up in the hospital wing.
Then his expression changed and he looked at his father who was standing beside his mother with a thoughtful expression.
"Dad, Voldemort told me that, he went to Godric's Hollow that night only to kill me. But why dad? Why did he try to kill me when I was only a baby?"
James and Lily looked at each other, worry evident in their eyes while Harry and Daisy were looking at their parents with questioning looks.
After a few moments, James answered, "Ah… You see Harry… as I am an Auror, I was trying those days to track Voldemort's death eaters. And we were getting a few successes too. So he threatened to kill me if we didn't stop tracking his minions. But after a few threats, he understood that threatening to kill me wouldn't be enough to stop me. So to get revenge on me and to give other aurors warning, about what would happen if we ignore his threats, he tried that night to kill you", he lied.
James and Lily were looking at their son with apprehension, waiting for his reply.
Harry knew his parents were hiding something from him, but he also knew that he wouldn't get any more information from them at that moment. So, he decided to go with their explanation and nodded.
James and Lily let out a breath and smiled at their son.
That evening after dinner, James and Lily were sitting in two armchairs in headmaster's office while their daughter was visiting her brother in the hospital wing.
"So Albus what do you think happened between Voldemort and Harry there in that chamber? Why did Quirrell's hand and face got burnt by Harry's touch?" asked James.
Dumbledore leaned over his desk and answered, "You see James, that night when Voldemort attacked in Godric's Hollow, in spite of the effect of the Ultimate Protector's Charm, Lily decided to guard Harry from Voldemort. She didn't fight with him what she could if she wanted. Rather, she happily sacrificed herself for her son and cast herself between Harry and Voldemort. And this wonderful act of love and sacrifice created a blood bond around Harry. The bond was activated at the moment Voldemort's killing curse hit Lily. As the effect of the bond, Voldemort can't touch Harry. And as Professor Quirrell was acting as a host for Voldemort, so practically Voldemort was living inside him. That's why when he tried to touch Harry his hand got burnt".
"Wow!", James muttered in awe.
"So, does that mean Voldemort will never be able to touch Harry?", asked Lily.
"No Lily, the bond will not work forever", replied Dumbledore; "The charm will only work, so far Harry is underage. Once he gets seventeen the bond will not work anymore".
Lily nodded and then asked, "Are there any way to break the bond before Harry turns seventeen?".
"Yes Lily, there are other ways", answered Dumbledore; "But I don't think, we need to worry about those facts right now".
Both Lily and James nodded at that.
Harry was released the next day before dinner and he joined the other students for the end of year feast.
When Harry entered the Great Hall, there was a sudden hush and then everybody started talking loudly at once. He slipped into a seat between Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to have a look at him.
Then Dumbledore announced the house points where Gryffindor was in the last place with 312 points; Hufflepuff was in the third place with 352 points; Ravenclaw was in the second place with 426 points and Slytherin was in the first place with 472 points.
Students in the Slytherin table started cheering and making loud noises when Dumbledore started to speak again.
Then, he awarded Ron, Hermione 50 points each and awarded harry 60 points for there excellence and outstanding performance in rescuing the Philosopher's stone. After those points, Gryffindor stood at the same points of Slytherin.
Then Professor Dumbledore awarded Neville 10 points for his bravery in standing up against Harry and his two best friends. And with that Gryffindor beat Slytherin and won the house cup.
The exam result came and Hermione was the top of the class with Harry being the second, though his practical marks were better than Hermione except in potion. Harry thought Snape had done it intentionally.
Both Ron and Neville had also passed in all the subjects though Neville's potion marks were dreadful.
Their journey to London in Hogwarts Express was peaceful except Malfoy's little visit.
Ron invited both Harry and Hermione to stay at the burrow sometime during their summer holidays.
Harry was walking in the platform in search of his family when a missile of red lashed onto him. Daisy was truly happy to have her brother back with her for the summer vacation.
"Hey daisy How are you?" asked Harry.
She pulled away from him and answered, "I am fine Harry. Looking fit eh?".
Harry laughed. "You bet".
At that moment Lily and James Joined them. Lily hugged and kissed her son.
"How did your last few days of school go?" asked James hugging his son.
"Excellent dad. We won the house cup".
"Wow! great".
Then Mr and Mrs Weasley also joined them with Ginny who was trying to hide behind her mother.
"Busy year?" asked Mrs Weasley.
"Very", said Harry. "Thanks for the fudge and the jumper, Mrs Weasley".
"Oh, it was nothing, dear".
Lily was feeling a little shame for not sending Harry's friends anything for Christmas but promised herself to do that from the next year.
Hermione notices her parents and left to join them after bidding goodbye. After Hermione left, Ron looked at her sister and asked.
"Ginny, why are you hiding behind mum?"
Ginny shook her head but refused to leave her cover.
"Ok Harry, we will be late. Let's go home", said James.
The Potters and the Weasleys bade each other goodbye and left for their respective homes.
