AN- What is this; is this a new chapter. I am on fire right now. My dyslexia has been betad by Celran.

I'm still having a problem with my reviews; some are getting through in the email notifications but not all.

Jellybean: I'm not sure about parings yet but Harry in this has the memories of an adult; he's not actually an adult. Its basically as if he memorised the Harry Potter books as he doesn't have such a strong emotional connection. I don't know if I'll pair I'm up or not yet.

Teri: I'm sorry I keep messing the homophones up; I'll try harder to fix it. Although I'm glad my mistakes amuse you rather than annoy you.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed (Even those I couldn't read)


Chapter 8

Harry sat at the table with Hermione on his left and Draco and Ron opposite him. He liked having a group and being able to share it with Draco too. It was nice to have all of his friends in one place.

Not long before the meal started Theodore Nott came up to them with Blaise Zabini, Crabb, and Goyle behind them.

"Having a last meal, Potter?" Zabini spat.

"It's Evans-Potter and no Nott I haven't been kicked out."

"We wouldn't dirty our tongue with that mudblood's name." Blaise snarled.

Harrys mouth set into an infuriated line. "You seem a lot braver now you down here with friends to back you up."

"I could take you Potter."

"Evans."

"Whatever. How about a wizard duel, just wands, no contact?" Harry glared at the familiarity of the situation. "You do know what a wizard duel is don't you-"

"Yes I do- I just need to decide on a second." Harry looked between the three people beside. "Draco, would you do it?"

"Sure." It was a good way to get his own back on the Slytherins- only if Harry died though- which wasn't likely.

"The trophy room's always open. Midnight."

"See you there." Harry nodded and the four Slytherin's left the table with one last look at the Head table to be sure the teachers were still looking.

"You can't go out- you-"

"Hermione we're not actually going. It was obviously a set up. Don't worry."

"Really?" Draco asked.

"You can go if you want, but I'm not going to."

"Oh- alright then." She looked far calmer now as she returned to her food. Ron and Draco looked confused, but turned back to their meals as well.

Harry slept well with the knowledge of how tired he was after going through this night last time. As he slept he dreamed of a memory- of the adventure he and Ron had.

This dream woke Harry with a start of realisation.

Today was the first day in his fight against Voldemort. What would happen if he missed this? If he missed his encounter with Fluffy. Although truth be told he wasn't eager to find the mirror again.

Harry couldn't sleep knowing Fluffy and the stone were out there vulnerable to Quirrall. Harry needed to figure it out; what he should do?

He thought about going to the headmaster but shook that idea off quickly. He never really gave the right help when Harry did ask. He could go to Professor McGonagall or Snape or even Hagrid.

Maybe he should just shake Quirralls hand and be done with it.

Harrys eyes widened in the dark- logically that would work. All he had to do was touch the parasite and he would be sent off. How would he do it through?

Zana had been woken up by Harrys movements and meowed at him.

"Morning girl." Harry smiled and got out of bed. It was still very dark as Harry grabbed a pair of trousers and padded down to the common room with Zana at his heals.

"Lumos Maxima." Harry controlled the amount of power entering his wand so it only gave enough to give him light to write by. Harry then sat at the desk by the fireplace and began to sketch down ideas.

He wrote down ideas of how to kill Quirrall so that it looked like an accident. Then pros and cons of that idea; Hermione's ideas were always so smart.

He wrote down what he thought would happen from telling each teacher. Pros and cons of that idea.

What would happen if he guided things to happen the way they did before; once again with the pros and cons.

He was leaning towards the first idea- it had more pros but a hugely big con. It wouldn't prepare his friends for the horrors that were to come.

"What do you think Zana? What should I do?" The cat meowed at him and rubbed her head against his shoulder.

"Thanks." Harry petted his dear feline friend. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

The cat meowed and jumped from the desk to Harrys lap. Harry used this time to write a letter to Mrs Figg before he decided that he really needed to go on a run to clear his head.

For a large part of his past life Harry had taken to going on a morning run every day. It was a good way to clear his head and made him feel better when he couldn't access a broom or a Quidditch pitch. He had been doing it in this lifetime since his second day at Hogwarts.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Ron asked rubbing his eyes. When he opened them Harry was still hopping on one leg.

"Stretching- I'm going on a run."

"Why in the world would you want to do that?"

"So that I don't pull a muscle." Harry looked at his friend, confused. Harry thought that it was obvious.

"No I mean- run. This early."

"I've been doing it for months." Well more like years but no need to tell him that. "It helps when I have nightmares."

"You have nightmares a lot?"

"Most nights." Harry agreed. "I'm heading off now. Do you want to come?"

"Do you know what- I'll bite. I'm curious."

"Great." Harry smiled.

"Want to wake Draco?"

"Be my guest." Harry laughed as Ron thought better of waking the blond up. The two boys exited the common room and Harry led Ron down to the largest courtyard through one of the secret passageways.

"How do you know all this; we've only been here two weeks?"

"I watched your brothers; They are a bloody fantastic resource. It makes everything so much quicker." This was a lie; but a believable one.

Ron just nodded and looked at the walls to see Griffins walking and in flight across the brickwork. "So do you think this was Godric Gryffindors private passage way?"

"Most likely yeah." Harry nodded and opened the door from above them; he helped Ron up the ladder and into a store room beside the courtyard.

"Wow that was quick."

"Yeah its easier when you don't have to jump or wait for the stairs to come back."

Ron smiled. "Alright then show me this run you do."

"Here." Harry led Ron through a couple of stretches before both boys began their run. Harry led himself around the court yard, and Ron made it six times before sitting out on the steps to pant.

Ron watched Harry both before and after; he saw the determination on Harrys face. Harry was pushing himself for the laps between the first and the tenth. Ron hadn't seen anyone with such determination since Charlie was practicing for Quidditch when he still lived at home.

"Thanks, Mate." Harry took the water from Ron's hand and drained it all.

"Umm Harry are you sure you're okay?"

"What? Oh yeah." Harry grinned at his friend. "I feel great now. But I definitely need a shower."

Ron nodding letting his concerns go. "Yeah- your soaked through mate."

Harry looked down to see that he had sweat right through his running clothes. "You alright though?"

"Yeah I out run the twins all the time. It's not that hard." Ron was still quite red faced and breathing heavily but he strangely enjoyed the run.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Draco asked. The blond was styling his hair in the largest mirror when Harry and Ron got back to the common room.

"Harry took me on a run." Ron told him pulling his t-shirt off. "It was actually kinda fun."

"You should come next time Dray." Harry asked as his cat jumped up into his arms. "Hey girl."

"And get all sweaty. No thanks."

"Boring. You'd come wouldn't you Hermione?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "My dad keeps telling me 'healthy body, healthy mind'." She took a deep breath. "Sure- when?"

"Tomorrow at six."

"Alright." She didn't look all that thrilled with the idea but shrugged it off.

"Hey, can I come too?" Seamus asked.

Harry nodded a grin creeping onto his face. Maybe he could prepare his friends for what's about to come. "That'd be great."

By Friday Neville, Dean, Fay Dunbar and a reluctant Draco had joined the morning run. Everyone was constantly joking and competing with each other to see who could run the furthest. They were all having fun.

Well there was two large drawbacks. This led to competitions for the showers when they got back to the common rooms. It also gave Draco less time to do his hair; something that was less than acceptable to the blonde. Saturday morning, he finally gave up oiling his hair down with a very sharp speech about presentability to Harry and Ron. They just laughed and told him he looked better like that.

Harry told everyone that Sunday was a break day and that they didn't go running that morning. So that morning everyone had a nice long lie in.

Everyone that was with the exception off Harry, Fred and George.

The twins had been watching the first years since Friday and were surprised to see Harry alone on Sunday. They noticed that he was the leader and admired his determination.

"Hey Evens." George called.

"Oy Potter." Echoed Fred.

Harry slowed himself to a stop. He had pushed himself twice as fast today now that no one was distracting him; it was far less fun without his friends.

"Yeah?"

"What is all this?"

"Yeah, why are you alone today?"

Harry was breathing heavily. "I'm leading an exercise club." Harry shrugged. "Just not on Sundays."

"Why?"

"Discipline, fitness, and just because it's fun." Harry was always as blunt as he could be with the twins; it saved a lot of time with the tricksters.

"Oh." The boys shared a look. "Okay here's the deal."

"Wood says we need more discipline."

"We've also noticed that in our-"

"-Personal endeavours; Discipline is becoming a bit of an-."

"-Issue." The twins told him. "Would you mind letting us join you?"

"Not today. Sundays are mine. But yeah. I'd love to see Ron's face when you show up. No funny business."

"You have our word of honour."

Harry turned to Fred.

"Alright you have my word as well." The other twin held his hands up in surrender.

"Six o'clock in the common room tomorrow morning."

"See you there."

"Oh and Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Welcome to the team."

"We're going to destroy Slytherin this year!"


AN- I've based Harrys morning run on the way I deal with anxiety; I have friends that come with me so I thought why not have Harry and his friends do it too.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter; tell me if you did. New chapter soon. ~Tia