Disclaimer: Still not JKR, Still don't want to get sued

A/N: Something came up in a review, I hadn't thought it would be confusing but some people might have missed it. The reason McGonagall mentions Moody is because the book on defense that Harry purchased in chapter 3 was written by Moody. Sorry if anyone was confused by that.

Harry Potter and the Master of Time

Chapter 7: You Have Me Right Where I Want You

Albus Dumbledore was pleased with the outcome of Halloween night. Harry Potter had rushed off to save a friend rather than go somewhere safe, there was hope that the boy could be properly honed into a weapon. For now though the most important thing was pushing Harry toward the stone, it was of the utmost importance that Harry confront Voldemort down in that chamber.

Harry Potter was also pleased with the outcome of Halloween, the entire school had heard that he had taken down a troll, Dumbledore was most likely preparing to move forward with his plans without a clue that Harry was completely aware of his plans, and after how Ron had acted during that Herbology class not even Dumbledore could blame him for any hostility toward the Weasel.

When Amelia Bones learned of the events of Halloween she redoubled her efforts to see justice done for Harry Potter. The Dursleys were going to pay for what they had done to that wonderful boy, and anyone who got in her way was going to burn.

Alastor Moody smiled to himself as he read about the exploits of Harry Potter in a letter from his old school friend Minerva McGonagall, apparently Potter had a good head on his shoulders. If what Albus kept hinting at turned out to be true about Potter, well they might just stand a chance. Taking down a full grown mountain troll at eleven, with the right help the boy could be a force to be reckoned with.

November passed quickly with little of note occurring, Harry, Hermione, and Susan had all managed to feel their inner beast in the last week of November. Snape continued to grow worse and Harry had to bring his actions to Professor Sprouts attention three times in one month.

The result of Harry's reports to Professor Sprout was a meeting that was held in Dumbledore's office, all of the heads of house were present and it was clear from the start that Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall were out for blood.

"Severus your behavior toward Mr. Potter is unacceptable. I am deeply concerned that you see no problem with the way you treat the boy." Professor Sprout stated plainly, she was upset that any teacher could treat any student with the unveiled cruelty that Snape heaped so casually on Mr. Potter. The fact that something like this was being done to one of her kids, she really did think of all the students in Hufflepuff as her children, was too much.

"Potter is as arrogant as is father, I treat him no worse than he deserves." Snape all but snarled at the little woman who had dared to question his teaching methods.

"Severus Snape you are as petty and vicious as you were when you were a student here. Mr. Potter has done nothing that could be characterized as arrogant, he is a kind, intelligent, and determined boy. I cannot believe the levels you would sink to, just to continue a schoolboy grudge against a man who was murdered a decade ago. And worse it isn't just Mr. Potter, every student I have spoken to says you have tried everything you can to cause them to fail, you show blatant favoritism towards Slytherins and even encourage antagonism between the houses. If you don't shape up I will be forced to bring this up with the school governors." Sprout all but yelled at Snape.

"Now Pomona, surely it isn't all that bad. I am certain that Severus has a very good reason for-" Dumbledore began.

"Albus when Pomona called for this meeting I asked some of my Ravenclaws about Professor Snape's teaching methods, and I must say if even a fraction of what I have been told is true I am deeply concerned about the direction the school is heading. I am in complete agreement with Pomona, Severus needs to shape up or leave. His behavior is far from acceptable and the fact that you are willing to defend it raises some questions about your priorities." Flitwick spoke up for the first time since entering the Headmaster's Office.

"Very well, Severus you need to consider whether you wish to remain at this school. You have until the end of this school year to shape up or I will have no choice but to replace you." With that said Dumbledore dismissed everyone. He sincerely hoped Severus would change his ways, the man was far to useful to lose, but he couldn't risk his position here. With Lucius Malfoy on the board of governors defending Severus would be easy, but Lucius would gladly throw his old friend in front of the Knight Bus if it meant removing the Headmaster.

Around the same time that meeting was being held another meeting was occurring at the Granger household outside of London. Amelia Bones had been looking into how the file on Harry Potter had finally made its way into the proper hands when she came across a piece of information that would vastly simplify the legal nightmare that Harry's relocation would otherwise have been, because Harry's case was first brought to light in the muggle legal system in order to move him to a new home they would need to work within the muggle laws concerning such things. However when she discovered that the people behind the start of the investigation were the parents of a mutual friend of her niece and Harry the solution presented itself. In the muggle system the Grangers could apply for legal guardianship, they were in a respected profession and obviously cared about the boys well being, and because they were already aware of the magical world it wouldn't be too difficult to get it dealt with on the magical side. All she needed to do was convince the Grangers that this was the best option for young Harry. It was for this reason that she was currently explaining the finer legal details to David and Jean. Both had been receptive to the idea, especially after they were told about some of the things that had been uncovered about the Dursleys treatment of Harry. They agreed that they would discuss the situation with Harry over the Christmas break, either at the Granger home or in Hogsmead, depending on what Harry decided to do for Christmas.

At the end of November Harry, Hermione, and Susan found themselves running down an abandoned corridor with the Weasley twins. The reason they were running was that they were being chased by Mr. Filch the caretaker. After the events of Halloween the Twins had approached Harry about teaching Ron a lesson for his treatment of Harry's friends, Harry had immediately agreed, all he had asked was that they include Draco Malfoy in the prank, while the blonde had been less annoying than Ron he had still been extremely rude and insulting toward Harry and Harry felt it was only right that he also be taught a lesson. It was during the final preparations for their prank that they found themselves in their current predicament. They had been setting up the trigger for two delayed sticking charms which would have seen Ron and Draco attached at the hip for three hours when Mrs. Norris had come across them. Abandoning their plan the five had made a run for it. They heard Filch getting closer as they turned a corner and ran down a new corridor then cursed their luck when they found the corridor was a dead end, with a locked door. One of the Twins cast a quick "Alohamora" and they all moved into the room on the other side of the door before closing it quickly. They immediately regretted their decision directly in front of them was a giant three-headed dog, luckily it was currently taking a nap and had not noticed that it had visitors. All five students stayed absolutely silent while they listened for Filch, hoping against hope that the caretaker would leave before the dog awoke and decided it was hungry. Just as they were about to leave Susan accidentally kicked a loose floor tile and it went skipping across the floor and hit the great beast in one of its noses. The five students forced there way through the door before the beast could express its displeasure, all five of them deciding they would rather face Filch.

"Blimey." said Fred, or maybe it was George.

"What is a great bloody beast like that-" Said George, or was it Fred?

"-Doing in a school?"

"Well I doubt it was here for the great academic opportunities here." Joked Hermione, she really had come a long way since befriending Harry, before she had never been very good at humor.

"Well," said Harry "in Greek mythology a Cerberus guarded the entrance to the underworld, maybe it is here to guard something."

"But Harry," Hermione brought up, playing along with Harry's obvious plan "what could possibly be so important to need that thing to guard it?"

Harry was glad that Hermione had caught on so quickly, now that they had run into Fluffy it was time to get started on the hunt for the stone. "Well it is probably whatever that hing was Hagrid was getting from Gringotts on my birthday. I mean what are the odds that Hagrid retrieves something for Dumbledore that is so important that it needs to be in a high security vault at Gringotts, and then an entirely different thing is now hidden in the off-limits corridor here?"

Susan was intrigued by this thought "Maybe we should ask Hagrid about it?"

Fred and George were also getting interested "Yeah even if he won't tell us what it is if we can get him talking he might let slip a couple of clues we could use to figure it out. He isn't exactly known for being tight-lipped." Harry and Hermione agreed to the solution and they decided to speak with Hagrid on Saturday.

So it was that on Saturday morning Harry, Hermione, Susan, and the Weasley Twins found themselves drinking tea and talking to Hagrid. The conversation was mostly innocuous with the occasional leading question from one of the students, which led to a couple of revelations, first was that Fluffy was guarding something belonging to Nicholas Flamel, many of the teachers had protections placed around whatever the object was, and that Fluffy could easily be put to sleep with some music. Leaving Hagrid's hut for lunch all five agreed that they would need to do some research into Flamel to figure out what could be hidden in the school. Harry and Hermione secretly agreed to tell Susan and the Twins that it was the Philosopher's Stone after Christmas break.

Harry had decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, despite receiving an invitation from the Grangers to spend the break with them, his main reason for this was that he was concerned that Dumbledore wouldn't give him the cloak if he couldn't keep an eye on Harry's early uses of the cloak. Agreeing with Harry, Hermione informed her parents that she would be staying as well since many of her friends were going to be there for Christmas. Susan had also decided to stay for Christmas though she did tell Harry and Hermione that her aunt wanted to meet with them over the break, and that she had already made arrangements with Professor Sprout for them to meet her in Hogsmead the first Saturday of break.

When the snow outside had made it impossible for them to meditate outdoors they had begun meditating in one of the many unused rooms in the castle. One day a week before break began Harry made his first discovery about his form. "I think I'm a bird of some sort!" Harry exclaimed unable to contain his excitement. Susan and Hermione were impressed, they had all gotten good at pulling on their inner beast, but neither of the girls had managed to learn anything unique enough to give them a real clue what they were. Both knew they were warm-blooded quadrupeds with tails, but that really didn't narrow it down much. They had spoken with Professor McGonagall about their work on the transformation, she was very impressed by their progress. By her estimation they would have discovered their form by March or April, if their excellent progress continued they might complete their transformation by the end of their second year.

Snape had actually been bearable during the month of December, the Hogwarts rumor mill did its usual job of finding the true story right away and then quickly distorting it so that it bore no resemblance to the truth. As a result by December 1st it was common knowledge that there had been a meeting with all the heads of house in which Snape had been given an ultimatum, by the 8th the accepted truth was that Snape had been put under the imperius curse.

Harry, Hermione and Susan were escorted by Professor Sprout down to The Three Broomsticks on the day of their meeting with Amelia Bones. When they arrived Madam Rosmerta showed them into a private room in the back, inside were three people waiting for the kids.

"Mum, dad, what are you doing here!" Hermione said as she ran to hug her parents.

David and Jean both hugged their daughter "Perhaps it would be best if Madam Bones explained why we are here." Jean said letting go of Hermione "Hello Harry, I hope you have kept Hermione from spending too much time studying."

"Hello Mrs. Granger" Harry said as he too received a hug "I have been trying, but you know how she can get." This comment earned Harry a mock glare from Hermione.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, it is a pleasure to finally meet you, Susan has told me quite a bit about you. However today I am here in an official capacity as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. If we could all take a seat I can explain the situation." Amelia Bones said gesturing to the chairs that were set around a circular table. Everyone took a seat at the table and Amelia continued "Harry I am here because while you have been at Hogwarts certain facts about your life with your relatives have come to the attention of the DMLE. Normally the Dursleys would be outside our jurisdiction, but because they willingly and knowingly took in a wizard as their ward, their treatment of you falls squarely within our laws. They will be put on trial next week and regardless of their sentence you will not be returning to their home."

"Thank you Madam Bones, I can't tell you how much it means to me to know I'll never have to go back there. But how did the DMLE get involved?" Harry asked the beginnings of a smile on his face. He had expected to get the Dursleys arrested in the muggle judicial system, but this was poetic justice. After they had spent years abusing and neglecting him because he was a wizard they would now find themselves at the mercy of witches and wizards.

"Well apparently the day after you left for Hogwarts Mr. and Mrs. Granger asked a friend in Child Services to begin an investigation of your relatives, because they were worried about how you were treated. As a result a number of files that had never been seen by anyone outside of the school you attended found their way into the hands of a Ministry of Magic employee, whose job it is to look through all the files that pass through Child Services and look for signs of accidental magic and subsequent abuse of the magical child by their family or peers. This employee passed your files up the chain of command and they eventually made it to my office. Normally the solution to a problem like this would simply be for a magical family to take you in, however because you are who you are there would be concerns raised about every potential family as everyone would want to take you in so that they could get a little of your fame. Also the fact that your case has gotten pretty far through the muggle justice system means that we would need do quite a bit of Obliviation in order to make your case go away. Luckily because of the fact that the Grangers are the ones who initiated all of this we are presented with a much simpler solution. The Grangers could become your legal guardians, this would eliminate the need to obliviate so many muggle civil servants, and using this as an excuse would undercut any objections that might be raised by the Wizengamot." Amelia finished her explanation and looked Harry directly in the eye "What do you think Harry? Is this an acceptable solution?"

Harry didn't trust his voice enough to speak so he simply nodded a huge grin on his face. Upon seeing him nod Hermione engulfed him in a massive hug.

Amelia was glad to see that Harry would be more than happy to live with the Grangers "Well it has been a pleasure meeting you Harry and Hermione, but I am afraid we must be going. There is quite a bit of paperwork that needs to be finished." With that they all said their good-byes and went their separate ways.

A/N: Okay finalized species for animagus forms: Harry- Common Raven, Hermione- Red Fox, and Susan- Irish Terrier. Check out the wikipedia pages for these if you want some good pictures for visualization. A reviewer asked if memories alone would account for the behavior change in Harry, well here is my thinking; Harry's change in behavior is mostly due to a massive infusion of confidence, he gained that confidence because he can see from the memories he received that he will become a total BAMF over the next few years,, he lacked that confidence in canon because is transition to BAMFism was gradual and he really didn't notice it until the end.

Next Chapter: A Very Harry Christmas (working title)