Draco returned the day before the next term started. He was impressed that I'd managed to sneak out three nights in a row and not get caught, and then was even more impressed that I'd gotten those papers for us to search through. He was 'too tired' from the trip back to search through them the day we had off, but we agreed to try between classes.
For the first few weeks, we had no progress. Flamel wasn't in the Daily Prophet at all in June. Draco, however, was very pleased when he found out that Snape would be referring the Hufflepuff vs. Gryffindor match coming up.
We decided to go get some pumpkin juice from the kitchens when we came across Neville. We'd been locked up in the library, having a rarely-visited corner all to ourselves as we searched through the papers, and were thirsty. Little did I know, when we had been looking through the books for Flamel, Draco had found a leg-locking curse. He immediately cast it on him, and even though I felt bad, I couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Neville having to hop everywhere.
Finally, when looking through the July papers, we struck gold.
"Demetra!"Draco suddenly called, excited as he gripped his paper. My head snapped up to attention. "Look! I found him! I found Flamel!" I came over and sat next to him. There was a picture of an old man standing and smiling happily with his decrepit wife, waving at us. "Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, has decided it is time to move on with his life, writes Rita Skeeter, or maybe it should be said to move on beyond his life. The owner of the only known Sorcerer's Stone in the world is selling off all his assets and is quieting down to die in peace. The Stone itself will be given to Flamel's old friend, Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, for safe-keeping." He stopped reading abruptly.
"What? Is there more?" He slowly shook his head.
"No, that's it. There's nothing else." I read over his shoulder, and sure enough, that's where the article ends.
I stood up and began pacing, thinking deeply. Draco wisely kept quiet, knowing that anything he would say would fall on deaf ears anyway. After a moment, I stopped pacing and stared at the shelves next to me, still in thought. I wandered down, my hands brushing against the now-familiar books, looking for one in particular. I reached up as though to grab one, but it was missing. I turned deftly and walked up to the librarian, inquiring after the book that was missing. She told me that Miss Granger had checked it out a few weeks ago. I asked if there were any more copies, and her reply was in the negative. I then asked if there were any other books on alchemy, and she pointed me in the right direction. I glanced through a couple, and then showed it to Draco once I'd found what I was looking for.
"The ancient study of alchemy," He read aloud, albeit softly so as to not disturb anyone else, "is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal." I smirked as he looked up at me, his eyes wide. I snapped the book shut.
"That's it. That's everything. We figured it out." He grinned broadly at me, both of us feeling rather satisfied, having solved the riddle.
A few days later was the Hufflepuff vs. Gryffindor game that Snape was refereeing. I walked up and found a seat next to Draco, between him and Crabbe. Malfoy had just intentionally poked Ron in the back of the head.
"Oh, sorry Weasley didn't see you there." He was saying just as I sat down, and he gave me a quick grin. I rolled my eyes. "Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time. Anyone want a bet. What about you, Weasley." I almost applauded Ron for not answering, but Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him. "You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team." Draco loudly started up again a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all. "It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money, you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains." Neville went bright red but turned in his seat to face Malfoy.
"I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy." He stammered. I never once looked in his direction, but I still grinned, secretly cheering him on as my three immature friends howled with laughter.
"You tell him, Neville." Ron told him, also not taking his eyes off the game.
"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something." I almost slapped Draco for that one.
"I'm warning you, Malfoy, one more word-"
"Ron!" Hermione said suddenly, "Harry -"
"What, where?"
Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hermione and I stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Harry streaked toward the ground like a bullet.
"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" Draco again.
Ron snapped. Before Malfoy knew what was happening, Ron was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, and then clambered over the back of his seat to help. I hopped over Hermione's seat in front of me, my eyes never once leaving the streaking red figure headed towards the ground, and took Ron's now forsaken seat.
"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape. She didn't even notice Malfoy and Ron rolling around under our seats, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Neville, Crabbe, and Goyle.
Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches. The next second, Harry had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.
The stands erupted, Hermione and I hugging each other in shock and elation. This just had to be a record; the Snitch had never been caught so fast.
"Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!" Hermione was shrieking as we hugged and danced. I wasn't thrilled that this had just put Gryffindor in the lead in the House Championship, but I was happy for Harry and happy that Hufflepuff had lost.
As all the Gryffindor's starting spilling out onto the pitch, Hermione, still holding my head in a vice grip, pulled me down there to congratulate Harry, too. Potter, however, was a bit in the distance, having been lifted up by Oliver Wood, their Quidditch Captain, and a few other sixth years onto their shoulders. Granger and I jumped up and down in excitement, and Ron cheered through a heavy nose bleed. It took Harry a while to get them to leave him alone so he could shower, and it was sometime before he returned to find Hermione, Ron and I waiting for him. I had wanted to congratulate him in person, so I figured hanging around his two best friends would be the easiest way to find him.
"Harry, where have you been?" Hermione squeaked when Harry finally approached.
"We won! You won! We won!" Ron shouted, thumping on Harry's shoulder. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's still out cold but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right, talk about showing Slytherin!" I laughed.
"You certainly did! Draco's going to complain about this for weeks!" They gave me a weird look, "What? Just because Malfoy's my only friend doesn't mean I don't think he doesn't need to be popped on the head every once in a while. And tell Neville I said he did a great job, standing up to Crabbe and Goyle like that. His place in Gryffindor is well-earned." Hermione still had a distrustful look on her face, but Ron and Harry nodded.
"Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens." Weasley told Potter.
"Well, I think that's my cue to leave." I shook Harry's hand, "You did well, Potter. Congratulations on the win today. I'll see you lot at breakfast." As I walked away, I heard Harry's voice drop to a whisper.
"Let's find an empty room; you wait 'til you hear this..." I couldn't help it; my curiosity got the better of me. I got around the corner, and then waited for them to clamber into a room. Even though Potter shut the door behind them, I could still hear their words when I pressed my ear to the door.
"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy - and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus pocus'. I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through-"
"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape." Hermione said in alarm.
"It'll be gone by next Tuesday." I scurried away.
"What would Snape want with the Sorcerer's Stone?" Draco asked me after I'd told him about what I'd overheard. We were sitting in the empty Slytherin common room, as everyone else was at class. I shook my head.
"Draco, you do know that Snape used to be a Death Eater, right?"
"Yeah, but he's changed."
"I know that, and you know that, and Dumbledore knows that, but what reason has he given Potter to trust him? None. Besides, how else would you explain the confrontation that Potter overheard?" He thought for a minute, and then gave me a weird look.
"You don't think…" I nodded slowly. "Quirrell? Stuttering little Quirrell? He's so…"
"Innocent? Exactly. Open your eyes, Draco. No teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts ought to be that innocent or that nervous all the time. I'd be willing to bet it's all an act. Don't tell me you bought that story about him getting the turban from some Egyptian prince or whatever, not when he couldn't tell us how he got rid of the zombie." He scratched the back of his head. "I know it's a bit hard to swallow. All I know is that I'm not going to trust anyone outside of this room and Dumbledore anymore." He rolled his eyes when I said our Headmaster's name, but I ignored it. I stood up, and threw my bag over my shoulder. "I need to go to class; I'll see you later, Draco."
The next few weeks were quiet. I noticed that Granger was always listening to the corridor that Fluffy was in, probably to make sure he was still there, and that Weasley had started telling people off for making fun of Quirrell's stutter. Snape was his same old angry self. Even though exams were ten weeks away, I'd started studying for them. Crabbe and Goyle made fun of me for it, but I didn't care. I wanted to pass.
It helped my argument that the teachers all started piling on tons of homework around Easter. Malfoy complained more than once about it, but still managed to get it all done, getting A's and B's. Although I was having a harder time than usual keeping up with the homework and studying for exams at the same time, I was still managing and getting my A's.
Draco, however, managed to spice up our lives again when he came rushing over to me during breakfast one morning.
"Dem!" He called, having taken to calling me by my childhood nickname, and sat down next to me excitedly. "Guess what I just overheard Weasley telling Granger!" I waited, knowing he was going to tell me anyway, "He said that someone's got a dragon hatching. And then guess what Granger said in reply? It's HAGRID! That buffoon!" He crowed, elated that he had something on the 'lesser being'. I rolled my eyes and didn't respond.
Later that day, Draco, again, came running for me, even more excited than the first time. He told me all about how he'd snuck over to Hagrid's hut and watched the egg hatch. I chuckled, wondering what in the world Hagrid would want with a baby dragon.
The next Thursday, Ron was walking around with a swollen hand and had to go to the hospital wing to get it looked at. Malfoy went to go see him that day, and apparently made fun of him. He tossed the book that he'd 'borrowed' from Weasley, and I found a letter for his brother in it, which I showed him. He asked if I wanted to go with him to catch them, but I refused, saying I was too tired from all this studying I was doing and needed the rest.
I had to laugh when I got up on Sunday morning and saw 150 points detracted from Gryffindor and 20 points from Slytherin, and then laughed even harder when I found out that Granger, Potter, Longbottom, and Malfoy all had detention for being up at 1am.