OK, it's been more than a month since I last updated and I'm very sorry about that, but here is the next chapter. You can maybe expect another before the end of the month but with finals approaching, I don't know. Read and review!

Summer

Albus Dumbledore sighed; things hadn't worked out like he planned. Then again, even the best laid plans can go array. He was sure many people would criticize him for hiding the fabled Philosopher's Stone at a school, but it was necessary. After more than ten years, he hadn't seen hide or hair of Voldemort, nothing to indicate that the Dark Lord had survived his encounter with Richard Potter all those years ago. The Stone was a trap, to see if Voldemort would try and get it. The only one to have fallen into his trap was Quirrell, whose jealousy and greed had been his downfall and led to his death. Now, Dumbledore had two choices to make regarding Voldemort; he was either dead at long last, or he smelt the trap he laid and hadn't come. Dumbledore hoped that it was the former, even if it was a trap, he was sure Voldemort would've come to try and regain some power. Now that the trap had been sprung, all that was left to do was destroy the Stone.

Or, at least that was the original plan. The truth was, his old friend Nicholas hadn't asked him to guard the Stone at all, he just wanted him to destroy it. Nicholas and his wife had gotten tired of living their long lives and decided to take the next great adventure. Before he had died just before the school year had started, Nicholas asked his most trusted friend to destroy the Stone to prevent it from falling into the hands of dark wizards. Dumbledore had agreed and planned to do so when another thought came to him. He could use the Stone to make sure that Voldemort was well and truly dead as well as test Richard. He had worries about Richard's magic, which was really Harry's because of the magical transfer ritual. Richard had done fine and both the Stone and Mirror of Erised had been destroyed, but not in the way Dumbledore wanted. Then again, he though as he popped a lemon drop in his mouth, the end result was the only thing that mattered, who cared how it all happened?

The rumors circling the school the next day had Harry's attention. The fact that Quirrell had tried to steal a magical artifact from within Hogwarts was a complete secret, so the whole school knew by lunch. Of course, no one knew the whole story; Harry didn't know how Richard found out about the Stone or how he and his friends got past all the traps, and Richard and Dumbledore never even knew that Harry was there. This suited Harry just fine as it meant that the Philosopher's Stone was now all his. He went back to the library to do some research on Alchemy and to maybe find out how the Stone worked.

There wasn't much, most of the information was kept secret by Flamel. There were a few notes about Alchemy's basic principle; in order to create something, another thing of equal value must be lost. Flamel never said what it was that he sacrificed to create the Stone, but Harry suspected that it was something great. Another note on the principle of Alchemy was a note Flamel made in his research notes. While experimenting with the Stone, Flamel accidently caused the Black Death in 1348. Horrified at the results, Flamel halted all research with the Stone. One final note Harry saw about Flamel's research was that because of the Stone, he and his wife Pernelle lost the ability to have children completely.

Two days later, Gryffindor played Ravenclaw in the final match of the Quidditch Cup. Harry and the rest of the Slytherins cheered the Claws on as they beat Gryffindor, but that quickly started to drop. The Gryffindor team was good, but this game, Ravenclaw was better. The Chasers were in perfect form, scoring goal after goal. The score quickly rose to the point where the Slytherins stopped cheering because if they kept up like this, Ravenclaw would win the Cup. In the end, Richard caught the Snitch, ending the pain, but Gryffindor still lost by over three hundred points. The students wearing blue cheered as a scowling Professor Snape handed over the Quidditch Cup to Professor Flitwick.

Harry knew exactly how Snape felt and hung his head. The day after rescuing the Stone, Professor Dumbledore awarded Gryffindor a hundred and fifty points for the protecting of the Stone. That, combined with the points scored in the game, gave Gryffindor the House Cup, leaving Slytherin behind in both Cups. Some Slytherins politely clapped for the Ravenclaws but none clapped for the Gryffindors at the End-of-the-Year Feast. There, three-fourths of the school was cheering for Slytherin's downfall. Harry could see his brother sending him a large smirk. He just sighed and quietly ate his meal alone, Tracey was with Daphne at the other end of the table.

The day before everyone went back home, final grades came out along with a notice to not practice magic during the break. Harry, as a so called Squib, didn't get one. Another thing Harry didn't get was a class ranking. As his schedule was unusual do to the fact that he didn't take some classes, it was difficult to compare his scores with the rest of his year. What he did get was the top scores in Potions and History of Magic. Pleased, Harry finished packing his trunk. The next day, Harry told Tracey to sit with Daphne and that he would write to her over the summer. With a half-minute pause to consider his offer, Tracey agreed and also promised to write. With a compartment by himself, Harry let Apollo and Artemis have free reign while he read his Advanced Potion Making book.

Harry was thankful that no one bothered him the entire trip. Even Richard didn't come by to make fun of Harry or rub it in his face that Gryffindor won the House Cup. He had just finished pulling on his muggle clothes when the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross. Quickly tossing his robes into this trunk with Apollo and Artemis, Harry exited the train. He found Rose almost right away due to the fact that she was jumping up and down, trying to get his attention. Their father and Remus were standing behind her. Once he was clear of most of the crowd, Rose dashed over and hugged him tightly.

Having missed his sister greatly, Harry dropped his trunk and hugged her himself. Looking around at the other families, Harry could see Richard hugging his father while Ron was talking to his mother. On the far side of the platform, Harry could see Tracey talking very quickly with her parents, looking Harry's way a couple of times. Farther down was Daphne with her parents. He could see a little girl with brown hair holding on to the hand of a woman with blonde hair. The woman was smiling and listening to her daughter, nodding once or twice. Daphne's father, a tall man with dark brown hair, also stood nearby, listening to his daughter. He must have felt Harry's eyes on him because he turned towards Harry and his eyes narrowed. He turned back around, blocking Harry's view of Daphne and her family.

Rose saw where he was looking and frowned. She pulled Harry away, towards Remus so that they could go home, she wanted him to tell her all about Hogwarts and teach her how to ride a broom. It took a couple of minutes because the other Potters were talking with the Weasleys. The youngest, Ginny, gave Harry a small smile which he returned, a repeat of their exchange at the start of the year. With both of their brothers at Hogwarts and with no one to play with, both red headed girls spent some time at the Burrow, the Weasley's house. Although she didn't hate it, Rose didn't really like playing with the older girl. Finally, both families where on their way home.

It didn't take long for Rose to persuade Harry to teach her how to fly. As all they had was Richard's old broom, Harry first taught her the proper grip and riding techniques. Then he had her float up a couple inches off the ground. However, Rose was so excited that she accidently took off. She flew around for about ten seconds before she fell of the broom about four feet in the air. Although it wasn't a long fall or very hard, it left her a little dizzy and confused. To prevent it from happening again, Harry took her for a ride with him. Rose absolutely enjoyed the ride and begged Harry to go faster every couple of seconds. It was a little difficult for him to do so as there were two of them on the broom and Harry wasn't used to that. There was also the fact that it was Richard's old broom and it couldn't go very fast anyways.

It took a week, but soon Rose was flying by herself. Harry left her to her own devices as he kept to his room. Everyone thought that he was doing homework but in reality, he was experimenting with the Philosopher's Stone. Not knowing how it worked, Harry flipped through his pages of notes on Alchemy. After dozens of tries, Harry finally managed to make gold. It wasn't much, only worth a couple of galleons, but it was a start. Harry's plan was to use the Stone to make as much money as he wanted so that he could buy whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He knew that he had a small fortune in Gringotts but he didn't know if James remembered. If he did, there was no doubt he would take it; if he didn't, Harry would move it to another vault in his name so he couldn't take it. That gold would remain there as Harry didn't think that James would allow him to use the main Potter vaults.

Harry also planned to use the Elixir of Life on him. He knew that relying heavily on the Elixir could create unneeded side-effects, but he planned on living for quite a while. There was also the theory that the Elixir could help restore his magic. Harry wanted to wait before trying it.

Apart from studying the Stone and teaching Rose broomstick riding, Harry also did his homework, completing it in a couple of weeks, unlike Richard who would wait until just a few days before school started again. He also got a couple letters from Tracey, asking him about his summer and begging him for his History notes again. She refrained from talking about Daphne, the only time she was mentioned was when Tracey told Harry that she was going to spend two weeks with her as a warning to not send any letters. Tracey had an understanding with her two friends; while with one, she wouldn't mention the other. Harry could tell that it was hurting his first friend the way they avoided each other but Harry wanted Daphne as his friend as well but it would never happen the way she was acting.

For some strange reason, Harry was the only one at Potter Manor receiving mail. Rose and Remus had no one to write to, James didn't send any letters, and Richard had no owl now. It was even stranger still when Ron Weasley came over and asked about Richard not responding to his letters. Both James and Richard were upset that someone would interfere with their mail and complained to anyone and everyone at the Ministry but no one had an answer. One finally came on Richard's and Harry's twelfth birthday when a scared little house-elf named Dobby told Richard that it was too dangerous to return to Hogwarts this year. The creature would give no other details except strongly implying that his masters, who were believed to be bad wizards, were planning terrible things that would happen at Hogwarts.

Harry watched the exchange from the doorway while James and Richard spoke with the elf. When it finally left, James sent a furious letter to both the Minister and Dumbledore about the elf. He was furious that an elf, of all creatures, had the nerve to tell his son that he shouldn't go back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore agreed to watch for the threat but all the adults believed that something was weird about the house-elf.

A few days later, the Potters went to Diagon Alley to purchase their school supplies. They were to also meet the Weasleys there. When Harry emerged from the floo in the Leaky Cauldron, the red-haired family was already waiting for them. The twins and Ron were already talking with Richard while Mr. Weasley and his wife talked with James. From what he heard, they were to also meet the Grangers as well. The muggle family entered the pub with their daughter a few minutes later and everyone began shopping.

Harry and Rose followed the Grangers and Weasleys to Gringotts, he wanted to check his vault. While the Grangers were exchanging money, Harry went up to the nearest teller.

"Excuse me, but I would like to talk to someone about my vault."

The goblin looked down at him and sneered. "Name?"

"Harry Potter"

"Key?"

Harry handed over his vault key which he had stolen from his father. The goblin looked at the key and nodded before calling over another goblin. The two conversed in their language for a minute before the second told Harry to follow him. Harry and Rose did and were led through one of the many side doors into a long hallway with dozens of more doors. The goblin chose one set at random and they found themselves in a private room. The goblin took a seat behind the desk and pulled out a large ledger while Harry and Rose took seats in front of the desk.

"Let's see," the goblin said, looking through the book very slowly, "Potter, Potter, here we are. Both you and your siblings have a trust vault of 100,000 Galleons each, set up a few days after your births. These are the only vaults you may access at this time though you can access the main vault with permission from your parent. Right now, only your brother's vault has been accessed."

"Is my father able to access my vault?"

"Yes, he's able to add or subtract money as he sees fit but he is not allowed to close it unless you are disowned, as is pure-blood tradition."

"I would like to transfer all the money from my trust vault into a new vault that only I can access. I would also like to deposit some money into that vault."

The goblin nodded. "That can be done, for a fee. We do not just create new vaults on command, we expect to be paid for our efforts. What kind of security do you want?"

"Just go with the standard security for now, I may change it latter, as for the cost, just take it out of what I have."

"Very well, sign these." The goblin passed over a stack of papers and Harry signed them, after reading them through of course. Once that was done, the goblin took Harry's key, mumbled a few words, and the key glowed.

"There, that key now works only for your new vault. Anything else?"

"Yes, I would like to exchange these," pulling a hand full of gold items he changed with the Stone from his pocket "for actual Galleons, about two hundred will do, the rest you can just put in my new vault."

The goblin's eyes widened at the sight of the coins and then got a greedy look on his face.

"Of course, there will be a ten percent exchange fee."

Harry just waved it off and the goblin quickly took the gold. He returned a few minutes later with a sack of coins and a statement, saying he had put twenty-two Galleons into his new vault. Thanking the goblin, Harry and Rose left. Harry thought about what else he could turn into gold while at Hogwarts and how soon he would be able to get it into Gringotts. Rose of course questioned him as to where he got the gold but quieted when Harry offered to buy her a double chocolate ice cream cone.

The first stop was Quality Quidditch Supplies. Harry didn't want to keep using a school broom for Quidditch so he decided to buy a new one. He spotted the one he wanted right away, the new Nimbus 2001, a much better broom than Richard's Nimbus 2000. The broom nearly cleaned Harry out but at least he had his own broom. After that was school supplies.

Actually, it was just one book. With Harry having a modified schedule and taking no magic based classes, he didn't need to buy anything. However, he did sneak a peek at Richard's list and saw a bunch of books by Gilderoy Lockhart and The Standard Book of Spells Grade 2. Not wanting Lockhart's books, Harry just bought the spell-book. Rose went off to look for some books for herself while Harry looked around. The bookstore was very crowded as Lockhart himself was doing a book signing that day.

In the back of the store, Harry found little Ginny Weasley trying to get a book on a shelf just a little higher than her. She was standing on her toes and jumping in an attempt to reach it. It was very funny to watch. Wanting to have a little fun with her, Harry walked up behind her and easily grabbed the book she was trying to reach.

"Hey!"

Harry smirked down at her and held the book above his head, beyond her reach. That is, until he saw the title of the book.

"Jinxes and Hexes for the Younger Sibling?"

Ginny jumped up and grabbed the book while she could. "I just want to get revenge on my brother's for everything they've done to me. Percy's annoying with all his rules, Fred and George prank me all the time, and Ron won't shut up about how great your brother is."

"You don't like Richard, I would've thought you would have a giant crush on him or something."

"I did, my mum would tell me stories all about your brother and I dreamed of marrying him someday." She turned red as she talked. "When he and Ron became friends, I thought that maybe I could get him to notice me. However, over the years I've seen how annoying he is. That and your sister has told me all about him. I'm over my crush now."

Harry smiled, he could learn to like this girl. "Well, I may not be able to do magic, but I can give you some ideas and maybe I can sneak notes from some of my housemates that you could use."

"Really? That'd be great, thanks Harry!"

She quickly pulled him into a hug much like his sister's. It was over quickly and when she let go, Ginny was red again.

"Tell you what, you what someone to talk to, come find me in Slytherin. Better yet, try and get into Slytherin."

Harry then left the girl alone. He returned to the front to see Richard shaking hands with Lockhart himself and get handed a large pile of books. Everyone in the store was clapping and a couple of flashes went off as someone took some pictures. As Richard walked away, Draco showed up.

"Famous Richard Potter, can't even go into the bookshop without making the front page."

"Ha!" said Ron, "I bet you're just jealous that you didn't get free books from Lockhart."

Draco snorted. "Like I'd want books from him, the idiot. Though I bet you could use them, I bet your parents will go hungry for months just to buy one set, let alone four, or is it five now?"

He turned towards Harry and looked at something behind him. Turning, Harry saw Ginny walk up, her own copy of Lockhart's books visible.

"Bet you're planning on marrying off your sister, huh Weasley? Hoping to get some money from the Potters, I doubt she's worth much, I mean look at those freckles."

He laughed and Ginny turned red from embarrassment. Ron and Richard dropped their books and started to move towards Draco when the boys' fathers showed up.

"Ron, no fighting. James, let's get out of here, it's too crowded."

"Well, well, Arthur Weasley and James Potter."

"Lucius" James said nastily.

Mr. Malfoy ignored Harry's father and continued to talk to Mr. Weasley. "Busy time at the Ministry I hear, I do hope they're paying you overtime."

He walked over to Ginny, grabbed one of her books and looked at it. "Apparently not. Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

"We have a different opinion of what disgraces the name wizard, Death Eater."

The only people who heard James's comment were his children, the Weasleys, and the Malfoys, everyone else was too busying trying to get Lockhart to sign their books.

"Ah James," Mr. Malfoy said with a smirk, "I was cleared of those charges, Imperious and all."

"Just goes to show what a weak wizard you are, doesn't it?"

Mr. Malfoy's face paled and his eyebrows narrowed. He thrust Ginny's book back at her and said, "Here girl, it's the best your father can give you." With that, both Malfoys stormed out of the shop. Both men fumed as they directed their kids out of the shop as well, James missing Harry and Rose completely.

The day before they were to leave for Hogwarts, Harry was laying on his bed going over all the notes he had on Alchemy. He believed that maybe he could use Apollo's venom with the Elixir and was curious as to what could happen. Just as he was going over the effects of Elixirs in other liquids, Rose stormed into his room.

"Bad news Harry, Dad says he has something to do tonight and all day tomorrow so he'll be unable to take us to Kings Cross tomorrow."

"What about Remus?"

"Full moon tonight, remember? We're going over to the Weasleys in a few minutes and they'll take us tomorrow and watch me."

Harry groaned. While with the Weasleys he had a better chance of going to Kings Cross, the boys weren't on Harry's list of favorite people. Ginny had made his interesting list and he planned to watch her this year but she was the only interesting one.

"Guess I better pack." Rose nodded and left.

Ten minutes later, Harry emerged from the floo at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley was greeting Richard and Rose while ignoring Harry. As soon as she was finished, Richard tore off upstairs while Ginny escorted Rose around. The Weasley matriarch then turned towards him.

"We don't have much room for you Harry so you'll have to room with Ron as well. Try not to annoy him or your brother too much while you're here."

With that she turned around and went into the kitchen. Angry, Harry picked up his trunk and pulled it towards the stair he saw Richard disappear at. Slowly, he dragged it up the stairs until he found the door labeled Ron's Room.

Harry was thankful that he was only at the Weasleys for a day, the red haired family was really annoying. The twins and Ron joined Richard in making his life hell by playing pranks on him every second they could. He now understood why Ginny wanted that book. Mrs. Weasley ignored him completely and simply loved Richard and Rose. Percy the Prefect and Mr. Weasley were nowhere to be seen as the former was in his room and the later was a work.

The next morning Harry awoke early, a simple feat as Ron's snores were really loud. He didn't know how anyone was able to sleep with that racket going on. Dressing quickly, Harry dragged his trunk downstairs and grabbed a bit of toast. The rest of the morning was entertaining to watch. The Weasleys were completely unable to get started in the morning and spent most of it looking for things they forgot to pack. Even Ginny, who Harry had told to pack early and had experienced mornings like this, still had quite a few things left to pack.

Once they did manage to get everything needed into their trunks and the trunks in the magically expanded trunk, they were beginning to run late. Squeezing into the back with the Weasley children and his brother, Harry looked towards the front where his sister and Ginny sat comfortably. Of course, they ran even more late when they had to return to the house three times for forgotten items.

"Molly dear," started Mr. Weasley.

"No Arthur, I will not allow you to fly this car to London."

"But there's this little button here that'll turn it invisible-"

"No!"

Harry was very interested in what they were talking about. Mr. Weasley had charmed the car to fly, that was against the laws he had made. When they finally did manage to make it to Kings Cross, they only had five minutes. Percy went through the barrier first, followed by Mr. Weasley and Rose, then the twins, and finally Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. Ron and Richard made to follow but when they reached the barrier, they crashed into it.

Harry quickly stopped his own trolley but not before it ran over Ron's wrist. The two boys got up, grumbling, and started to discuss what they were going to do as the Express had just left. Harry thought the best option was to wait for the Weasley parents to return but Ron got it in his head that they were allowed to do magic and that they should fly the car to school. As usual, Harry was ignored and was left by himself in the station with only his trunk and Hedwig. Hedwig!

Harry dragged his trunk over to an empty area, looked around to make sure, and opened the cage that held Hedwig. He didn't know why he had the cage, Hedwig was perfectly capable of flying to Hogwarts herself.

"What to get some revenge on Richard and Ron girl?"

The owl hooted happily, eager to get back on her former master. Harry opened his trunk and searched until he found a quill, some ink, and parchment. Then he wrote:

Uncle Severus,

It may interest you to know that my idiot brother Richard and his just as idiotic sidekick Ronald Weasley have taken a flying car from Kings Cross Station and started flying it to Hogwarts. How do I know this? I was forced to stay with the Weasleys last night and was with them. When the two idiots tried to cross the barrier onto Platform Nine and three quarters, it sealed itself, leaving them, and me, trapped. I am currently waiting on the muggle side so please send someone to help.

Harry

He then gave the letter to Hedwig, who quickly took off. He knew that the letter would reach Hogwarts before the car as the boys were most likely to follow the Express while Hedwig would take the direct route. Also, who ever heard of a car out flying an owl?

It was a long time before anyone showed up. During that time, the Weasley parents appeared with Rose. When he explained everything, Mrs. Weasley went off on a rant about the flying car her husband charmed. They also said it was for the best as Harry shouldn't be going to Hogwarts in the first place as he was a Squib. They then told him to come along so that they could take him home. Harry refused, saying that he was staying and waiting for a Hogwarts professor to take him to the castle. Mrs. Weasley scoffed and led Rose away, though she did manage to hug Harry good-bye first.

It was late afternoon when Professor Snape himself showed up. He looked at Harry, smirked, thanked him for the letter, and then Apparated him and his trunk to the gates of Hogwarts. When they arrived, Snape levitated Harry's trunk up to the steps.

"Take your things to the dorms while I alert the Headmaster about our little situation. The password is Pure-blood. I expect you to be in the Great Hall at seven-thirty for the Start-of-Term Feast."

With that, Snape walked away. Harry easily carried his trunk down into the dungeons as Snape had made it lighter before he left. The Heir Dorms immediately opened for him once he entered the common room. Once he put his trunk at the foot of his bed, the lid popped open and Apollo appeared.

{It's about time, what took you so long?}

The snakes had been trapped in his trunk since he had left for the Weasleys. He didn't think the family would like the snakes in their house.

{Wait a minute, Artemis said also appearing, it's too early for you to be at Hogwarts. I thought you were going to let us out on the train?}

"The barrier closed for some reason so I was unable to get on the platform. Thankfully, Ron and Richard were trapped as well. They decided to fly to Hogwarts so hopefully they get into a lot of trouble."

Apollo snickered and crawled out of the trunk. He took his favorite spot by the fireplace and curled up while Artemis joined Harry on the bed. She listened as Harry read out of The Standard Book of Spells.

A quarter after seven, Harry left the Slytherin dorms for the Great Hall. A number of students were already there and more were coming in from the Main Entrance. Harry took a seat near to where the first years would sit while the rest of the second years sat farther down the table. Tracey quickly spotted him and hurried over.

"Where were you, I looked all over the train to find you."

Harry quickly and quietly told her about the barrier closing.

"Weird" she said, "I wonder why it closed." Harry just shrugged. Tracey leaned in whisper something in his ear. "Daphne was surprised when I told her I couldn't find you, she even looked a little sad. Maybe you two can make up."

Harry looked down the table to where Daphne sat with Pansy Parkinson. She must have felt Harry's eyes on her because she turned around. He caught a flash of something before she turned around with a huff.

"I don't think so Tracey, she still doesn't like me."

With a sigh Tracey went back over to her friend and Harry looked around. All the students were now seated. The elder Weasley boys looked worried while Professor Dumbledore looked upset. Professor Snape wasn't there so Harry assumed that Richard and Ron hadn't arrived yet.

Just then, the doors opened and Professor McGonagall entered with the new first years. Harry could easily spot Ginny Weasley near the middle of the group because of her hair. She looked very scared, even more so than her year-mates. She kept glancing around the Gryffindor table. Then she turned towards the Slytherin table and smiled slightly when she saw Harry. He smiled and waved at her and it looked like she cheered up a bit.

This year the Sorting Hat sang a song about the Founders' split and how sad it was that it happened as it divided the school. It encouraged the students to make new friends from the other houses even after it spoke of splitting up the new students. Harry joined the few Slytherins who clapped for the song but did so quietly.

The Sorting went by very slowly, the Hat seemed to take its time to carefully consider where to put each and every student. Finally, only Ginny was left and as she walked up to the stool, Harry could see her face was paler than ever. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Percy puff up his chest and the twins with maniac smiles on their faces. The Hat took twice as long to place Ginny as any other first year, Harry could see it mumbling from his spot and Ginny's checks turn red at one point. Finally, the Hat called out "Slytherin!"

Orignally I wanted to include the school's (and Weasley's) reaction as well as the first couple of days back, but I decided that the length was good and you guys have waited long enough for this update. See you guys next time.