Disclaimer: Let's get this out of the way; I don't own any part of this story except Daniel Potter, nor do I own Harry Potter itself.
When Neville and Hermione returned from break, Harry wasted no time in showing them what he had found. Using this information it didn't take Hermione long (five minutes) to figure out what Fluffy was guarding; the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary stone that was supposed to produce the Elixir of Life, making the drinker immortal and able to turn any metal into solid gold and was the highest pursuit in Alchemy. They also managed to figure out from Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card that Nicholas Flamel must have asked his old friend to protect his stone for him.
After this find things went back to normal for the trio, with Neville still reporting Ron and Daniel's nonexistent progress into finding out who Nicholas Flamel was; Harry didn't see the need to educate his twin. The only exciting thing came in mid-March, when Neville informed them that Daniel and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was complaining about Professor Snape's desire to referee the next Gryffindor match against Hufflepuff.
The Hufflepuff team was semi-excited about this news because they knew that Snape would favor them leading to an easier win, but bitter by the fact that it wasn't fair play. Ravenclaw was also excited because if Gryffindor won Ravenclaw would be moved into third place for the Quidditch Cup, and they wanted to win this year.
Once again Harry sat in the Ravenclaw stands to watch Gryffindor play. Although there were less people than the Gryffindor-Slytherin match, he could spot the headmaster in the teacher's stands, waiting for the game to start. Once it did start, Snape made clear that he didn't want Gryffindor to win, handing out penalties like candy on Halloween, although Harry had to agree when Fred Weasley hit a Bludger straight at Snape's face. The game was over however in just over five minutes when Daniel caught the Snitch from quite literally under Snape's nose.
Once again Neville had news on Daniel the morning after. Apparently after the game he had followed Snape into the Forbidden Forest and spied on a meeting he had with Quirrell. Daniel and Ron had found out about Flamel a couple of days before the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match and knew about the Stone. The meeting was, according to Daniel, about how Snape was trying to convince Quirrell to help him steal the stone, or tell him how to get past his enchantments. Like Daniel and Ron, Neville was convinced that Snape was after the Stone, but Harry wasn't too sure. While he didn't completely trust Snape, he suspected something was off with Quirrell.
By mid-April the teachers had assigned mountains of homework in preparation for the end-of-the-year exams, just ten weeks away. Harry and Hermione were some of the small handful of first year students already starting their studies. While Hermione was cramming like crazy, Harry was slowly studying bit-by-bit. They were going over Herbology notes with Neville one day when they saw something unusual; Hagrid in the Library.
He was talking with Ron and Daniel a few feet away and was attempting to hide something behind his back. Curious, Harry wanted until Hagrid left and Ron returned from investigating the section he was in before sneaking over and eavesdropping. What he heard, he didn't like. Hagrid had been in the dragon section of the library, and Daniel had said that Hagrid had always wanted a dragon. Filled with fear, Harry returned to his table to report and think about what he had heard.
Neville later confirmed Harry's fears; somehow, Hagrid had gotten a dragon egg and was attempting to hatch a real, live, fire-breathing dragon in his wooden hut. Immediately they ran off and told Professor Flitwick who told them he would investigate. A couple of mornings later Harry, Hermione, and Neville were awarded fifty points each for alerting a professor of a potentially dangerous creature on school grounds. Hagrid had indeed gotten a dragon egg, a Norwegian Ridgeback, and had almost hatched it in his hut. Luckily, Professors Flitwick and Dumbledore had discovered the dragon egg and sent it away. Hagrid was placed on probation and Ron and Daniel were given a weeks' worth of detention and another scolding by Lily Potter for attempting to conceal the egg.
Harry was pleased at his small revenge against his brother, and vowed to do it again when the opportunity presented itself. Harry and Hermione were also heroes of Ravenclaw for gaining them one hundred points in one go and for putting Ravenclaw in the lead for the House Cup. Because of them, Ravenclaw was now the favorite to win, beating Slytherin and their six year winning streak. This also earned the anger of Daniel Potter who vowed revenge against Harry and his friends. This only pushed Harry further into his studies to beat Daniel again and become the top ranked student of his year.
When exams came, Harry was ready for them. They used Anti-Cheating Quill for their written exams in which Harry thought he did well, but where he really excelled was in the practical portion of the exams. During the entire week, Harry had a stabbing headache that distracted him heavily and made studying difficult. Finally, on Friday, they were finished with their exams with History of Magic being the last one.
Once they were done Harry and Hermione headed outside while Neville ran up to Gryffindor Tower to drop off his bags before joining them. Relaxing under a tree near the lake, Hermione decided to go over their exam questions. Managing to talk her out of it, Harry instead looked around the grounds, watching other students celebrate the end of exams. Suddenly, Neville ran up to them out of breath.
"Harry, your brother plans to go down the trapdoor tonight." "WHAT?" Hermione shrieked, "Doesn't he know that's dangerous? There's supposed to be other, really strong enchantments protecting the stone. And what about Fluffy, he doesn't know how to get past him." Shaking his head Neville said, "Hagrid told them. They were discussing the dragon again and Hagrid told them how he got the dragon. Some stranger had the egg in his pocket and Hagrid told him about Fluffy to get it. They think Snape is after it for You-Know-Who."
Since hearing that name when he was first introduced to the Wizarding World, Harry got a shiver up his spine every time he heard it. He had tried to find out the dark wizard's real name, but no textbook had it, apparently still scared to say it even ten years after his death. Standing up, Harry said "We'll tell Professor McGonagall. She'll stop them."
McGonagall, however, was useless. Before they had decided to go down the trapdoor, Daniel and Ron had tried to warn her that someone was going to try and steal the Sorcerer's Stone. She told Harry the same thing she told Daniel, the stone was heavily guarded and was impossible to steal. She then dismissed them, not wanting to hear any more on the Stone.
"We'll have to stop them ourselves. Neville, you wait in the common room for Ron and Daniel to come down. Once they leave, meet me and Hermione outside Gryffindor Tower and together, we'll go to the third-floor corridor and prevent them from going past Fluffy." Nodding at Harry's plan, both Neville and Hermione left to prepare for that night. What Harry hadn't told them was that he also planned to go after the Stone. He knew that his brother wouldn't give up and so, Harry prepared to get through every enchantment, just to get to the Stone.
Finally we're reaching the end of the first year, so only one or two more chapters to go for this year. You'll also find out what my plans are for Lily at that point, so prepare. I will start adding some of my own things in second year as well, just to change things up a bit. Keep reviewing.