I know, I know, I'm so sorry it's taken so long. I know that no one really wants to hear my excuses, so I will let you move on to the story. Just one thing... THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE! It always makes my day to see one of those lovely emails letting me know that someone else enjoyed my story. So ONWARD TO THE STORY!

EDIT: 2/1/2012

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter, and I highly doubt I ever will.

Chapter Ten: As Time Passes By

Riley was lying in the Hospital wing, staring at the ceiling.

She was bored.

Now anyone who knew Riley would know that the most dangerous land for Riley to be in was boredom land. The last time she was bored, Professor Flitwick spent a week trying to undo whatever spell she put on the coats of armor to make them go around the school, picking random people and making them do scenes from Broadway plays with them.

Though it was entertaining to see Malfoy forced to do a scene from CATS, it was less entertaining when it caused multiple students to be late for class. Though, Flitwick had actually given her extra credit points, saying that it was a really good bit of magic for a first year.

But after many an attempt to escape the "Prison" (Hospital Wing), Madam Pomfrey had resorted to chaining her legs to the bed. So now not only was she bored, but her legs were stiff.

She had already had a visit from Hermione, Ron, Harry and the twins but they got kicked out after the "Warden" decided they were making too much noise.

Luckily though, when Remus came to visit he seemed too worried about Riley's health to scold her for not being careful. Sadly Andromeda was not so easily distracted, and Riley ended up getting a grand total of four howlers and one face to face telling off.

She's gotten more of course, like the time she got mad at her Uncle Moody and convinced him that a present he got in the mail was actually a Basilisk egg. She wasn't able to sit without winching for days.

The visits had only entertained Riley for one day, and this was day three. Term had started again and Riley felt perfectly fine, but Pomfrey wouldn't let her leave. Riley was starting to think it was more out of spite, then for her health.

So, out of boredom Riley had started to write lists. She started with 5 Best Ways to Annoy Snape and Not Get Detention, and moved onto 15 Surefire Ways to Prove Your Headmaster is off His Rocker, and 20 Ways NOT to Escape the Prison (Hospital Wing). But alas, even that didn't entertain her for long.

The trio had come to visit a couple more times after Riley had shown up. But they never had any good news. They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Harry kept telling them he was sure he'd read the name somewhere.

Riley had completely forgotten to ask Remus about Flamel over the holidays, and of course she got scolded by Hermione for it, but wasn't as badly as the boys did for being in the castle all holiday and not even trying to look for Flamel.

Riley had expressed her jealousy when Harry told her about the invisibility cloak he had inherited from his father, and had begged him for over an hour to let her use it sometimes to help with pranks. He finally and very reluctantly told her he would occasionally let her use it. Riley had promptly grabbed him into a death grip hug and thanked him profusely.

He had also told her about the mirror he had found, that had showed his and Ron's deepest desire. After the trio had left, Riley had sat for hours wondering what the mirror would have shown her.

When Riley finally got out of the Hospital Wing (she made sure to get out of there the moment Pomfrey undid the restraints on her legs), she was hoping to cause mass amounts of mischief with Fred and George. But was highly disappointed to find her partners in crime didn't have time because the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Oliver Wood had officially gone insane and was working the team to the bone.

Of course this minor setback did not stop Riley. So for the next couple of weeks, Riley set to work on causing as much mayhem as possible. She started by carrying a crucifix with her wherever she went, and every time a particularly nasty Slytherin walked by, she would brandish it at them crying; "Back! Back, evil doer!"

Sadly one of the times she did it when Malfoy walked by, McGonagall saw and took the crucifix off of her.

Another time in Potions, while mixing a rather easy Babbling Beverage, Riley was strongly reminded of a popular muggle cooking show. So when Ron asked her what to do, she just smiled and picked up the next ingredient, giving him instructions while mimicking Emeral and every time she put something in her potion she would say— just loud enough to make everyone around her jump; "BAM!"

By the time Snape came over to see what the racket was about, Riley had all the muggleborns and some half-blood's, laughing like mad.

Of course that didn't stop Snape from sending her to the headmaster. But by that time, Riley had been sent there so many times that she had come to know the headmaster pretty well. Now when a teacher sent her there, it was far from troubling.

The only teacher, who seemed to realize that sending Riley to the headmaster was no longer a punishment, was Professor McGonagall. And that was only because she walked into Dumbledore's office one time to find Riley teaching Dumbledore how to play the card game 21. (He's surprisingly very good at it.)

~{}~

One night Riley, Ron and Hermione were sitting in their favorite chairs by the fire in the common room. Ron was thoroughly thrashing Hermione in chess (the boys thought it was a good thing to have Hermione lose at something for once, but Riley knew it just made her crabby,) and Riley was finishing a last minute History of Magic essay, when Harry came bursting in through the portrait hole still rather muddy from the Quidditch practice.

"Don't talk to me for a moment," Ron said when Harry sat down next to him. "I need to concen—" He caught sight of Harry's face. "What's the matter with you? You look terrible."

Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told them about Snape's sudden, seemingly sinister desire to be the Quidditch referee for the next game.

"Don't play." said Hermione at once.

"Say you're ill." said Ron.

"Pretend to break your leg." Hermione suggested.

"Really break your leg." said Ron.

"I can't." said Harry. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."

Riley rolled her eyes, getting back into her spot as devil's advocate. "Really guys? It's not like Snape is going to try to kill Harry in front of 90% of the student body and most of the teachers. Just because he's a git, doesn't mean he's stupid. And really Harry, I would think your life meant more then a Quidditch game."

"Oh, so you finally believe he was trying to kill Harry." Ron said smugly.

Riley rolled her eyes again, and said tersely. "Did I say that? No, I did not. I'm just pointing out the faults in your logic."

At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.

Almost everyone fell over laughing. Hermione leapt up and performed the counter curse. Neville's legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling.

"What happened?" Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Harry, Ron and Riley.

"Malfoy." said Neville shakily. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."

"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. "Report him!" Neville shook his head.

"I don't want more trouble." he mumbled.

"Neville, what he's doing isn't right. You shouldn't let him get away with this." Riley said sympathetically. She may be a prankster but she was never cruel... well, unless they made her really mad.

"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that." Neville choked out.

Riley shot a ferocious glare at Ron making him cower. Then she turned a slightly less scary glare at Neville. "You're ten times more courageous then Malfoy could even wish to be. I don't ever want to hear you say otherwise. You're a great person Neville, and you shouldn't let people tell you, you're not."

Neville went bright red and smiled shyly at Riley in thanks. Harry felt in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hermione had given him for Christmas. He gave it to Neville, who looked better but still down.

"Yeah, Neville." Harry said agreeing with Riley. "You're worth twelve of Malfoy."

Neville's lips twitched in another weak smile as he unwrapped the frog.

"Thanks, Harry, Riley... I think I'll go to bed... D'you want the card? You collect them, don't you?" Neville said handing the card to Harry. As he walked away, Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card and his face lit up with excitement "I found him!"

While Hermione and Ron rushed over to him, Riley looked at him funny. "Did I miss something?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "He found Flamel, Riley."

"Oh." Riley nodded. "'Bout time too! I was getting tired of searching the library and not finding anything."

Ron nodded in agreement.

"Look, it says he was famous for working on alchemy with Dumbledore." Harry practically whispered as they crowded around him. Hermione smacked her forehead.

"Of course, why didn't I think of it before?" Then she ran off up to the girls dorm, and before any of them could ask what she was doing, Hermione was back with a book that looked like it weighed more then she did.

Hermione walked over to the table they were sat at, slammed the book down and started rifling through the pages. "I never thought to look in here! I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"Light?" Ron asked incredulously.

Hermione just hushed him. Finally she stopped and pointed at a spot on a page, looking proud of herself.

"Here, look, 'Nicholas Flamel is the only know maker of the Sorcerers stone'." She sighed exasperatedly, when the announcement didn't have the effect she was looking for. "'The Sorcerers stone can turn any inanimate object into gold, it can also produce the Elixir of Life, making anyone who drinks it immortal.' That's what Fluffy's guarding. I bet Flamel asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it." Harry said looking amazed.

~{}~

The day after the revelation of what was hidden in the school went by in a flurry of pranks detentions and homework. Riley had received so many Howlers from Andromeda the past couple of months that it almost felt weird not to have her voice shrieking through the Great Hall each morning.

While sitting in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ron and Harry talked about what they would do with the stone if they had it, while Riley doodled and Hermione copied down notes.

It was after Ron said something about owning a Quidditch team that Harry suddenly said to all three of them.

"I'm going to play. If I don't, all the Slytherins will think I'm just too scared to face Snape. I'll show them... It'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win."

"Just as long as we're not wiping you off the field." Hermione said grimly.

Riley scoffed. "Stop being so melodramatic, honestly. Give Snape more credit, he's a slimy git, but he's not stupid—"

Hermione cut her off, saying hotly. "Yes, we all know your theory, Riley."

"Then listen to it!" Riley whisper shouted; they were still in class after all. She turned to Harry and said shortly. "You'll be fine; the only thing you should be worrying about is getting that Snitch. Understand?"

Harry nodded mutely. He may have only known her for a little over five months, but he already knew not to disagree with her when she was angry.

~{}~

The next couple of days went back to their usual pattern. Class, prank, detention, homework, planning, and sleep.

One morning Riley was walking with Hermione to there first lesson. When she suddenly ran up to a third year Hufflepuff, who she thought might have been named Cedric Diggory and hugged him tightly. Before he could even process what happened, she ran back to a confused Hermione.

"Why did you hug that boy?" Hermione asked apprehensively, not quite sure she wanted an answer.

Riley shrugged. "I was stuck in a pattern, and I hate patterns."

She had said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Hermione just stared at her for a moment before shaking her head, she would never get used to Riley's craziness.

~{}~

I'm sorry it's kind of boring and short. But I'm going through a slight writers block on how to end this book and move on to the next. Oh well, sorry for any mistakes. I would love to hear from you in a review so please, whether it is bad or good I would love to hear your opinion...

Well, ttfn!