On the way to the Commons, Pansy showed up. I really didn't hate her that much.

"Lana." Pansy said shortly.

"Pansy." I stated.

"Can we talk?" Pansy asked.

I nodded. "Go on without me guys."

Hermione sent me a look, but then reluctantly went on after Harry and Ron and I turned to Pansy and smiled.

"First impressions are a killer." Pansy said.

I nodded. "Yeah. I must have given you a bad one, huh?"

Pansy shrugged. "I gave you one too."

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" I asked her.

"Draco." We said in unison.

We laughed, and for a moment I thought we were going to get along.

"Stay away from him." Pansy told me.

"You know, you have a good side, and I'd like to find it." I said.

Pansy nodded. "But I want Draco."

"We're 11. Boys shouldn't be this important." I said.

Pansy shrugged. "Yeah, well, Draco is a great guy…"

"With a powerful father, huh?" I asked her.

Pansy shrugged. "Not important."

"Obviously is to you. I mean, what if…Crabbe, let's say, was a prince. Would you go after him?" I asked.

Pansy thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah…as long as he didn't actually touch me." She answered.

Then we laughed again. So we could laugh about things, but we weren't going to be getting along for much longer.

"You know, this is interesting. How can people hate each other so much and laugh like this?" Pansy asked.

"You hate me?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I thought I did."

"I thought I hated you too." I told her.

"You're too perfect."

"You're too cute."

"Draco likes you."

"You get to spend everyday with him."

Pansy and I shrugged.

"This you and me fighting thing is fun, though." I said finally.

Pansy nodded. "Plus…I just don't like you. It's like you have ties everywhere…your uncle is Albus Dumbledore. You're in Gryffindor."

I nodded. "And you're in Slytherin."

"Let's stick to our current agreement then." Pansy said quickly.

"Sure. All right." I told her.

"Good. Bye."

"Bye."

And then I heard more footsteps and then everything went black. There were arms around me and I was being smothered.

"I just heard, Lanni! Are you all right?" Scott asked.

I nodded and then he let go and put each hand on my shoulders and looked at me.

"I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." He said.

I nodded, and then I kissed his cheek swiftly.

"Thanks for that, Matty. I love you too." I told him.

He smiled, hugged me again—only softer this time—and then he kissed my forehead and began to walk off.

"Matty?" I called after him.

"Yes, Lanni?" He asked turning around.

"I'm glad you're my older brother. Sweet dreams." I said smiling.

"Sweet dreams, lil sis." He replied, and we went our respective ways.

****

As November came, the weather got cooler, and the Quidditch season started. Oliver was working us to pieces making sure that we would win this match. In fact, he had scheduled a last minute practice, so we all had to get up pretty early that morning. But let's start at the night before.

We were walking outside, and Harry was trying to finish Quidditch Through the Ages, which Hermione had lent him, seeing as I had read the Quidditch books after Oliver and I had talked about it. We saw Snape limping, and he came and took the book from Harry.

"No library books allowed outside. 5 points from Gryffindor." Snape said.

He limped away and Ron turned to us.

"He made that up." Ron said.

"I wonder what's wrong with his leg." Harry wondered.

"I don't know, but I hope it's really hurting him." Ron muttered.

"Ron…" I said.

We went to go get Harry's book back, but Harry came back almost as quickly as he had gone in. He told us what he had heard.

"Snape let the Troll in on Halloween, and tried to get past the three-headed dog." Harry told us.

"No. I mean I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try to steal something that Dumbledore is trying to keep secret." Hermione protested.

"Come on Hermione, you just think that teachers are saints. I'm with Harry." Ron said.

"Well I'm with Hermione." I told them.

They all looked at me.

"Snape couldn't have let the Troll in. He was at the teacher's table the whole time during the feast. Quirrell, however, was not. He could have let the Troll in. How else was he the first to know? And the fact that the Troll was in the dungeon. What was Quirrell doing in the dungeon while we were all in the Great Hall at the feast?" I asked.

They shrugged.

"Well, I don't think that it's Quirrell. He couldn't do much of anything." Ron said. "Anyways, the Potion's room is in a Dungeon."

I shrugged. "Well, let's just get solid proof before we go accusing people of things."

****

The next morning, we all had to get up bright and early and go to eat and then meet up with Oliver, whom had a speech prepared for us.

"Oliver, is this really necessary?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Lana, you're going to be just fine. Now eat breakfast and meet me on the field."

He left the room, and Harry meandered downstairs, and Hermione and Ron followed close behind.

"You two are up?" I asked.

Hermione nodded, wide-awake. "It's just so excited!"

"I'm up to root you two on." Ron yawned.

I smiled, and we all went to the breakfast hall.

We sat down, and I ate hungrily, but Harry was just poking his food.

"Harry, you have to eat something." I told him.

"I'm not hungry." Harry replied.

"Lana is right, you must eat. Playing on an empty stomach isn't very smart." Hermione said.

When we got to the stadium, we had to go to the changing rooms, and change into the bright robes that I hated so much.

"Okay men." Oliver said.

"And women." Said Angelina.

"And women." Oliver agreed. "This is it."

"The big one." Said Fred.

"The one we've been waiting for." George said.

"We know Oliver's speech by heart. We were on the team last year." Fred told Harry.

I personally wanted to hear Oliver's voice delivering the speech, but I guess that you don't always get what you want.

"Shut up, you two." Oliver said. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it. Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

When the team lined up and the Captains shook hands, my mouth dropped and Scott's eyes went wide—we were both Chasers for opposite teams.

"Oh crap." I muttered.

"This sucks." Scott mumbled.

Then we smiled at each other, and then Madam Hooch had us mount our brooms, and told us to have a nice clean game. Then she released the Quaffle. Lee Jordan, a friend of Fred and George's, was announcing the game.

"And the Quaffle is taken by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor…a fine Chaser and quite attractive too…" Lee said.

"JORDAN!" McGonagall yelled.

"Sorry Professor. She's belting up there and passes it off to Lana Langston a First Year, who just happens to be Professor Dumbledore's niece…She passes it back to Johnson, and…Slytherin Marcus Flint takes the Quaffle and heads for the hoops…he shoots and…an excellent save by Gryffindor Keeper Oliver Wood. Gryffindor Chaser Katie Bell gets the Quaffle and dives around Flint and…OUCH…hit in the head with a Bludger…Quaffle taken by Adrian Pucey of Slytherin, who is hit by a Bludger from…Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which. Nice shot anyways. Johnson gets the Quaffle and dodges a speeding Bludger…Slytherin Keeper Bletchley dodges, and…GRYFFINDOR SCORES!" Lee announced. "Slytherin in possession, Chaser Pucey dodges two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds towards…Wait a moment…is that the Snitch?"

I saw that both Harry and Terrence Higgs of Slytherin had seen their Golden Snitch. I was rooting for Harry silently, and paying attention to the game. Marcus Flint got involved, and blocked Harry on purpose, almost knocking him off of his broom.

"Foul!" Screamed the Gryffindors.

"So…after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating…" Lee was saying.

"Jordan!" Growled McGonagall.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul…"

"Jordan, I'm warning you…"

"All, right. All, right. Flint nearly kills Gryffindor Seeker Harry Potter, but that could happen to anyone. The penalty goes to Langston, who puts it away with no trouble, and we continue to play with Gryffindor in possession." Lee said.

I watched as Harry's broom started to act funny, but maybe it was nothing. I went back to the game.

"Slytherin in possession…Flint with Quaffle passes Langston…passes Bell…hit hard in the face with a Bludger, hope it broke his nose…only joking Professor…Slytherins score…oh no." Lee said.

I turned to see that my eyes hadn't played tricks on me. Harry's broom was trying to throw him off! Fred and George were near him and tried to save him, but every time they got close to him, he would just go higher, so they backed off. Something happened, however, and Harry got back up onto his broom and went after the Snitch.

He sped towards the ground, and tumbled off of his broom, and then coughed the Golden Snitch up into his hand. We all cheered, except for Flint, who kept protesting that Harry had nearly swallowed the ball, not caught it. But he was dismissed, and Gryffindor won 170 to 60.

"Good game." Scott said as we were all on the ground.

"Thanks. You too." I told him.

****

Back at Hagrid's hut, Ron and Hermione were telling us what they had seen.

"Snape was jinxing the broom." Ron said.

"Rubbish. Why would Snape do something like that?" Hagrid asked.

"Because he tried to get past the three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him, and we think that he's trying to steal whatever the dog is guarding." Harry told him.

Hagrid dropped his teapot. "How do you know about Fluffy?"

"Its name is Fluffy?" I asked.

Hagrid nodded. "He's mine…I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the…"

"The what?" Harry asked.

"That's top secret." Hagrid said.

I was blushing. I knew it all now! Fluffy was guarding the Sorcerers Stone in the Forbidden part of the school! But why was Snape trying to steal it? I was still convinced that Quirrell had done it. He was just too innocent not to suspect. But Snape had tried to kill Harry.

"I know, but Hagrid, this could be very important." I told him.

"Snape is a teacher, he would never try to kill Harry." Hagrid protested.

"I know a charm when I see one, Hagrid, and Snape wasn't blinking." Hermione told him.

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong! Forget about what yeh saw. What that dog is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel!" Hagrid cried.

"Aha, so there's someone named Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?" Harry asked.

Hagrid was furious with himself, but now I had all of the information that I needed to figure out what was going on here.

****

That night, I was in the commons, talking to Oliver, because he was the only one who cared about the match as much as I did.

"It was amazing! I never thought that a sport could be that thrilling!" I exclaimed.

Oliver smiled. "You did very well. You and Angelina were the ones who scored us our points, besides Harry."

I blushed. "I was taught by the best."

Oliver blushed too. "Well, best be off to bed."

He got up and turned to leave, after saying goodnight. I sighed, and turned around to sit in the chair by the fireplace. Hermione came and sat down beside me. She smiled.

"What?" I asked her.

"You fancy Wood." She told me.

I blushed. "Is it that obvious?"

Hermione shook her head. "Only to me, because I'm a girl."

I laughed. "Yes, and a very good friend."

Hermione smiled. "Thank you, you're a great friend yourself. By the way, I don't mean to crush you, but he and Alicia Spinnet are kind of together."

I nodded. I had seen them together a couple of times, but had really thought nothing of it. He was a 5th year anyways, so I hadn't been expecting anything.

"He thinks of me as a younger sister." I told her. "And I get that. There's 4 years difference."

Hermione nodded. "Well, I needed to talk to you about something else. Why do you suspect Quirrell?"

"Because he is just so innocent, and Snape is just so…well not very nice. If someone wanted to do this quietly, then why would Snape do it? He's the one that we would obviously suspect, so I just can't suspect him. Though he did jinx Harry's broom. But is it possible that Quirrell was jinxing Harry's broom and Snape was trying to save him?"

Hermione shrugged. "I didn't see Quirrell well enough. And Snape tried to get past Fluffy."

"Maybe he was just stopping Quirrell. But that doesn't seem too likely."

"It doesn't make sense that you would have to go through Fluffy to get to Quirrell. But you bring up an excellent point, especially the Troll point that you brought up earlier."

"But we have more solid facts now pointing to Snape. So even though I still believe that it is Quirrell, I am going to help you guys through till the end."

Hermione smiled, and then looked very serious.

"You know something that Harry, Ron, and I don't." She said.

I nodded. "Dumbledore made me promise not to say a word."

"Can't you at least hint at it?" Hermione asked.

I shrugged. "You and I should go to the library and look up Nicolas Flamel in some books. I know where we might find him so that I won't be telling you what I know. I know he has something to do with the thing that Fluffy's guarding, but I don't know exactly what. But it's a strong connection, if Dumbledore trusted me with this information. Maybe he is the reason why Dumbledore is hiding it. Let's try it out tomorrow."

Hermione smiled, and the two of us went up to the Girl's Dormitory, and I blushed as I passed Oliver, who had come back down to get something.