Chapter Eight.

The philosopher's stone.

Yes, despite their efforts they couldn't guard the room 24/7. So the day came. It was in the end of April, two weeks before the exams. Deirdre was going to Raid's rooms, when she noticed the third floor door wide open. She gulped. There was a thief inside, which meant only one thing – Dumbledore was not at Hogwarts. She ran back to the common room: "Liam, Herm, Sol, come on it's now. We have no time to waste." They ran fast.

Ron and Harry were peacefully asleep in the Hufflepuff tower.

Dee morphed into Trans from fear. The youkai was excited. Solveig smirked at Hermione's expression, who never saw this side of Dee. The traps seemed really easy, except Snape's. Only Solveig knew the answer. And so Trans walked in. The vial was only big enough for one to pass.

Trans calmed down and here was Dee once more in the worst time ever. She looked around and saw professor Quirrel in front of a very big mirror… the mirror of Erised. She remembered reading about it somewhere, she knew that the stone was inside the mirror. Deirdre flinched when Quirrel turned around and stared at her: "Well… what do we have here, Deirdre Potter. We expected your brother, but you'll do for a start." Dee gulped: "You sure you can handle me? How self-centered of you…" Then there was that voice, voice which sent shivers down her spine: "Let me speak with her, face to face." "Master, you're not strong enough…" The same voice, which was now identified as Tom Riddle, Voldemort, rasped: "I have strength enough for this…"

Slowly Quirrel took off his awful turban and turned his back to Deirdre. When the girl saw the sight, she felt like vomiting. It was absolutely disgusting. Voldemort was on the back of Quirrel's head, like a parasite. She tried to run away, but a wall of fire crossed the way. Voldemort laughed: "No use, Potter. You will give me the Philosopher's stone, or I'll kill you." This was funny in a way, the youkai inside her chuckled. It made Dee feel better: "You will no doubt try, but I don't see how you'll do something as hard as that, you couldn't finish us off 10 years ago, what makes you think you can do it now?"

It made him angrier and he threw Quirrel at her: "Kill her!" Dee noticed that he totally forgot about the Stone, so it worked, only she was in a big danger now. Remembering Raid's lessons she dodged curse after curse, having nothing to retaliate with.

Soon she began tiring out and gave control to Trans. The youkai couldn't do much, for she had no right to allow Voldemort know of her existence. She took the moment opportunity and threw herself at her opponent. After successfully knocking him down she began choking him, when his skin turned to dust under her touch. Voldemort wailed helplessly and flew away, while Deirdre was too tired to stay awake and fainted.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared at the white ceiling. For a moment or so she felt disoriented, but then the last moments came back to she wondered who brought her here and how long she was out cold… Dee sat up carefully and looked around, there in a bedside chair was Raid: "You're finally awake!" Dee made a very confused face: "Finally? How long was I unconscious?" He bit his lip: "3 days straight. We were all worried. I sent Hermione, Liam and Solveig to have some sleep. They wouldn't leave your side." Dee smiled and turned to see Albus Dumbledore enter: "Oh, Deirdre, you're awake. It's very good. What happened in that room is a total secret, so naturally… the whole school knows… You did a remarkable thing."

Dee wanted to thank him, but something held her back, as if she knew he still wasn't sincere. Deirdre entered the Great Hall and was assaulted by Hermione and Solveig at once. Liam was much calmer. Though it was natural for the vampyr, being resolved was his specialty, no one could do it better. They sat down and listened to the end of year speech: "Dear students, another year has passed. This year's awards – the Quidditch and the House Cups. The first one goes to Griffindor, the second would go to Slitherin, but recent events must be taken into account. Therefore there is a little change. I award 50 points to miss Parker, Granger, mr O'Connor each and 60 points to ms Potter. Thus the second winner is also Griffindor."