Many thanks to those who voted in the poll, I am greatly pleased by the reception that it provided, and will be leaving it up for another 2 weeks to catch any stragglers that may have not voted as of yet. As it stands however, I was most surprised at the 1st place entry, as it was not one that I had presumed to be particularly interesting, but the pair of runner-ups were more predictable in my opinion, and had already been started on at a previous time.

Still, soon I will have a fully solid idea of where to proceed when my other stories are finished and locked away, and we will have great and plentiful stories to occupy us for much time to come. Enjoy the new Chapter, overview at the end as usual, ~F

Chapter Nine

Of Alchemists and Dragons

Despite Harry's promise to Faykan to not look for the mirror again, he was sorely tempted too. He found that he couldn't forget his parent's faces and he was starting to be haunted by nightmares of them disappearing in a flash of green light, while a high cold voice cackled with sadistic laughter.

Thankfully, Faykan was always there when this happened, comforting him when he was at his lowest. It almost seemed to Harry that Faykan had even less sleep than he did over the last weeks of the holidays, as whenever Harry woke from a nightmare Faykan was beside him immediately, holding him gently until he relaxed once more and then singing softly to return him to sleep, allowing Harry to dream of nothing but sea birds and white ships, sailing peacefully into a western sunrise.

It was a strange thing, as it was indeed calming, but Harry still felt an immense sadness held within the songs, as though something grand and good in the world had gone away forever. Blearily he could somewhat recall that Faykan never smiled when he sang these songs either, but he was always too tired to ask about them, and had great difficulty remembering all the details the next day.

Too soon for anyone, the holidays came to a close, and the spring term of Hogwarts was about to begin. Hermione came back the day before the holidays ended. She didn't seem interested in the strange mirror whatsoever, as she was too consumed with preparing for their classes to restart and was extremely disappointed at the four boys for not working to discover who Nicolas Flamel was.

They spent so much time in the library that first week back that they were almost ready to give up on the hope of the library giving up the information about him. Hermione was not willing to quit, and eagerly continued to drag the four boys there every spare minute they had.

Eventually, Harry was so tired of being in the library that he couldn't bare to look in another book for Nicolas. Taking out his last Chocolate Frog from Christmas to keep himself awake, he bit the head off the frog as it tried to jump away from him and absentminded turned the card over, silently grateful to read something other than a faded page from some book he'd likely never look at again.

Harry almost choked on the piece of chocolate as he read: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'

"I've found him! I've found Flamel, he was on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card!" he said excitedly, clamming up only when the others shushed him for getting too loud. He showed the others the card, and Hermione jumped to her feet immediately and dug through her bag.

"I had never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly, almost slamming the book down on Faykan's fingers in her rush to removing it from her bag. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"This is light?" said Ron eyeing the very thick book, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.

"I knew it! I knew it!" she whispered in victory, once she found what she was looking for.

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily, but Hermione ignored him. "Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically as she read aloud, "is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"

This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected.

"The what?" replied Harry, Ron and Draco bewilderedly in unison. Faykan got his now very trademark thoughtful look as Hermione began to explain about the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with the astonishing powers to transform any metal into pure gold, and produce the Elixir of Life, which would make the drinker immortal. She continued to read aloud that the only Stone currently in existence belonged to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, who had turned six hundred and sixty five that last year.

"See?" said Hermione finally after Ron and Harry looked up at her from the book. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he 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!" Faykan was nodding to himself as she spoke, clearly in agreement with her hypothesis.

"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it." Draco started to argue again that it couldn't be Snape, but at that moment Madam Pince came by and threw them all out of the library for talking too loudly, which was completely unfair, but they couldn't argue with the Matron of the library if they ever wanted to come back and use it again.

Harry didn't have much time personally to think deeply regarding this newest discovery because, once the school year got fully underway, Quidditch practice started to eat up all of his free time once again. Wood was truly becoming fanatical, but according to Fred and George he always was like this toward the end of the season.

He was training the team as hard as Harry could remember, even through the endless rain that had begun with the spring season. He explained that his reasoning was that Snape had decided to referee the next match of Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, and no one was particularly happy to hear this development, but at least they were driven to make sure that they could play their hardest before the Head of Slytherin could penalize them too harshly in the upcoming game.

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Severus Snape was very concerned about Mr. Potter and his friends. Ever since the incident at the last Quidditch match, he had kept a much closer eye on the four Gryffindors, to the point that he was sure that they must have noticed his scrutiny. But Severus did not care, he would do whatever it took to keep Lily Potter's son safe from harm, however inconvenient or uncomfortable it was to the boy. This was the underlying purpose for Severus volunteering to referee the next Quidditch match.

The Potions Master had noticed, a few time in his classes, that at the same time as he was discreetly watching Potter, that both Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley seemed to be watching Severus' every move, as if he was going to blast them with his wand the moment they looked away. Taking a glance at Potter and Undol, Severus noted that while Harry was also watching him, the other black haired boy had a rather far away look that one acquires when either pondering deep matters, or more likely daydreaming…

Mr. Undol was the second reason that Severus felt the need to personally watch Potter. He had learned from Albus about the boy's nighttime encounter with the Mirror of Erised, and how they boy had seen through the Headmaster's disillusionment charm. What had rattled Dumbledore most of all though, was what Faykan had said that he saw in the mirror: 'White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.'

He recalled specifically that the boy's father had been rather attached so such a depiction, but whatever it meant still escaped him even after all these years. Albus had a suspicion of truely pure motives from the boy, but he hadn't yet let Severus in on what he was researching about this boy. So Severus watched and waited, he took extra time between classes to follow the boy, who stayed near Potter's side almost constantly, which consequently made it easier for Snape to keep track of both boys.

Prior to the start of the Quidditch match, Severus had commented to Albus that it might be safest is he was present at the match just in case someone tried to attack Potter again, even with Snape in the air with the boy, as he couldn't be sure if he could protect him completely. He had told the Headmaster about what had happened the last game, how he had saw the boy's broom start to go berserk, and had immediately starting muttering the counter jinx to try and save the boy.

Whoever was attacking the broom had almost won, when Severus felt a powerful force start to influence the broom, assisting him in trying to settle the bucking broomstick. It wasn't until his own cloak had been set aflame that he realized that the attacker's connection had broken, allowing Potter to safely finish the game.

Which was why he was here now, watching the game in the teacher's box while Severus flew as referee, despite loud and constant complaints from the student body, aside from his own Slytherins.

As Snape flew the length of the pitch, keeping one eye on Potter at all times, he barley managed to dodge a bludger that one of the Weasley twins and sent right at him. He fairly sent a penalty to Hufflepuff in retaliation, and was turning to see where Potter had gone, when he felt, more than saw, a blur of scarlet and sound rush past him, and whirling around, he watched as Potter pulled up from a dive with the snitch in hand.

Gryffindor had won the match. Severus landed breathing a sigh of relief at the terrific quick end of the game. In all fairness, Severus had to admit that the boy had a great deal of talent on a broom, although it would do little for the boy in the long term.

The attacker hadn't tried to do in the boy again either, as an added bonus. But just as he touched down, Severus looked up to see Quirrell moving away from the stadium, towards the Forbidden Forest. 'Curious' he thought, as normally the jittery Defense teacher wouldn't have left the castle at all except for Quidditch matches, which he seemed to have a fondness for. As the sun started to set, Severus pulled his hood over his head, and followed the strangely acting Professor into the forest. He had had a strong suspicion about the Professor ever since Halloween and it was time for some answers…

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Draco Malfoy was studying in the library, readying himself for the end of the year exams, when his four Gryffindor friends entered, Hermione in the lead. He eagerly waved them over to his side table, and they all came over, Faykan sitting next to him with Harry on the other side. Ron and Hermione sat across the table from them.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away." Ron was complaining, as Hermione pulled out five color coded study schedules and handed them out to the four boys.

"Ten weeks," she snapped back at the red head, "that's not ages; it's like a second to Nicholas Flamel."

"But," Draco interjected, "we're not over six hundred years old are we?" Faykan let out a small cough masking a snigger that no one else seemed to notice as Ron pressed on arguing with Hermione. Draco wondered how the boy was going to pass his classes if he kept procrastinating, and promptly tuned them out as he returned to his Transfiguration book.

Harry had pulled out his Potions book, when he stopped and called out to Hagrid, who was just shuffling towards the exit, clearly hiding something out of sight. He questioned them all if they were still looking for Nicholas Flamel, looking worried, and Hermione verified that they had already figured out who he was 'ages ago'. Ron almost blurted out about the Philosopher's Stone before Hagrid shushed him, rather harshly if Draco had to be honest.

"Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?" Hagrid agreed, looking around guiltily.

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy…"

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid holding up a huge finger. "Listen, come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh"

"See you later, then," said Harry and Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully. Ron then dashed off to the section Hagrid had come out of and returned seconds later with a pile of dragon books.

"Hagrid told me first day of term that he always wanted a dragon," Faykan said, and he winced slightly as Ron kicked him under the table right when Madam Pince passed by.

Barely an hour later, the five students were quickly ushered inside Hagrid's rather close and heavily packed house, immediately noticing how swelteringly hot it was inside, as all the curtains were closed and a blazing fire was in the grate. Hagrid made tea and they all sat as comfortably as they could as Harry began his questioning about the Stone's defenses.

Hagrid told them he didn't know the other defenses other than his three headed dog, but he did accidentally let slip to them the teachers that had made them: Professors Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall, Quirrell, Snape, and Dumbledore himself had contributed in addition to 'Fluffy,' in defense of the Stone. Harry then explained that he had seen Snape follow Quirrell into the forest after the last Quidditch game and what he overheard them discussing. Even Draco thought that for Snape that seemed extremely suspicious, but at the same time it was hard to disbelieve the person that he knew far better than the Gryffindors did.

It was about this time that Ron finally noticed the dragon egg in Hagrid's fire, announcing it to the rest of the room. Draco had noticed a while ago, as he noted had also Faykan, but each of them had remained quiet about it, too focused on extracting information regarding the Stone from Hagrid to draw attention to it.

It was rather large, as well as completely black and nestled perfecting in the heart of the flames that was also heating the entire house to almost unbearable temperatures. Hagrid explained how he'd won it off a stranger in a game of cards. Draco found that slightly suspicious, but didn't get to ask further about it as Hagrid shepherded them out onto the grounds so he could continue tending his new future pet.

Even as they left however, Draco couldn't shake the very bad feeling he had about the consequences that were sure to happen from the giant man attempting to raise a fire-breathing dragon inside his wooden house, next to an equally flammable forest.

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Only a few weeks after they learned about Hagrid's dragon egg, Hedwig brought Harry a note from the man at breakfast. He had only written two words on it in a quick, untidy scrawl, reading simply: 'It's hatching.'

Hermione wouldn't permit the three Gryffindor boys from skiving any classes and rushing down to Hagrid's hut immediately however, and while Faykan went to inform Draco of the concerning development, Ron argued with her over the rarity that it would be to see a live dragon hatching. However, Harry's attention was drawn to Nott and his cronies, who were walking past the Gryffindor table, as the boy stopped dead in his tracks near to them as Ron said the word 'dragon'.

"Shut up!" Harry whispered, tugging at them both, hoping that Nott hadn't heard enough to make any sense of it before Ron and Hermione finally stopped talking.

Later, as they made their way out of the Great Hall, bound for the greenhouses for Herbology, Faykan finally caught back up with them, emphasizing with Harry at the futility of things while Ron continued to argue the point with Hermione. Harry decided to ignore them both, focusing on the song Faykan was half humming as they walked, it being rather similar to many that he half remembered over the Christmas holiday.

"Fay, what is that song about?" he finally worked up the courage to ask, making his friend pause in the melody and look at him with a somber expression.

Faykan was silent for a long moment, as though considering how he ought to reply, before speaking, "It is a song of passing, that old friends I once had taught to me before they left forever…"

"Oh…" Harry replied, suddenly guilty that he asked, but at the same time, the way Fay had answered didn't strike Harry as though the people he mentioned had died. The sadness that seemed expressed was different, less final he supposed, than meaning death.

"Where'd they go?" he found himself asking before he could stop himself.

Faykan paused just as they were entering the Greenhouse for Herbology, "Very far away, somewhere I cannot go," he said sadly, a small bitter smile on his face, and he gestured for Harry to enter while he held the door.

Herbology was one of the hardest lessons that day for Harry to pay attention, not only for what they knew they were going to go witness right after, but with how quiet and almost forlorn that Fay was throughout the lesson. With Ron and Hermione glaring at each other, it made the time drag on longer than Harry thought it ought to have.

After the lesson, Hermione finally conceded that they could go to Hagrid's during the morning break, and they departed the second the bell had rung, practically running the entire way to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." He said as he ushered them inside.

The egg was lying on the table with deep cracks slowly growing on all its sides. Something was clearly moving inside, struggling to escape, making odd clicking noises and the egg chipped and splintered. Draco came bursting in the door just in time to see the egg before with a loud scraping noise, it split open, revealing the baby dragon within.

Personally, Harry thought that it looked more like a crumpled black umbrella than a dragon, with its huge spiny wings dwarfing its skinny jet body. The dragon was sneezing slightly, shooting sparks out of its snout with every one, already shivering despite the heat of the room.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured as he reached a hand out to stroke the dragon's tiny head. It reacted by snapping at his fingers, showing off its pointed fangs.

As Hagrid continued to praise and coddle the baby dragon, Harry shot Hermione and Faykan a worried look. "Hagrid," Hermione said, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid turned to answer, but as he looked at Hermione the color drained from his face suddenly and he leapt to the feet and ran to the window directly behind her.

"What's the matter?" Ron said watching him with wide eyes.

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains…" Hagrid said hastily, struggling to get a good line of sight to wherever the person was, "It's a kid; he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking the person from his lanky form and the green-trimmed robes that flashed in the torchlight of the castle. Nott had seen the dragon.

The next week consisted of Harry, Ron, Faykan, Hermione and Draco pleading with Hagrid to let the dragon, which he had named Norbert, be taken somewhere where it could be raised properly. They had no luck until Faykan reminded them all about Ron's brother Charlie, Hagrid finally agreeing to send him a letter asking him to take Norbert to Romania. They received his answer the very next Wednesday via Hedwig:

It read: 'Dear Ron,

How are you? Thanks for the letter, I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.

Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.

Send me an answer as soon as possible.

Love,

Charlie'

There was only one hitch in the plan; Ron had been bitten by Norbert earlier while helping Hagrid feed the now quite large baby dragon, and the wound had swelled overnight, sending Ron to the hospital wing with many unanswerable questions. What was worse, while Ron was trapped in the hospital wing, Nott had come in to taunt him and taken Ron's book wherein he had hidden the letter from Charlie, meaning that the Slytherin now knew exactly when and where they were going to deposit Norbert.

"Well, it's too late to change the plan now," Harry said when they learned this terrible news, "and besides, we have the invisibility cloak, Nott still doesn't know about that."

So it was decided. That saturday night, Harry, Hermione and Faykan walked down to Hagrid's hut under the invisibility cloak, and collected Norbert, whom Hagrid had wasted more time fussing over, giving him things to 'comfort' him on his long journey. Harry would have felt sorry for his large friend, if not for worry about getting caught while doing what they had to do next.

Luckily it was a very dark and cloudy night, so anyone looking out of the castle in their direction would have a hard time seeing them. After they retrieved Norbert, which was mercifully packed away in a crate, they made their way back for the castle, Faykan transforming into his animagus form to scout the route ahead for signs of teachers, Nott or Filch, while Harry and Hermione carried the crate up staircase after staircase to the astronomy tower, which was by far the tallest.

When they were about two thirds of the way there, Harry and Hermione saw Faykan stop, ears twitching as he listened ahead of them. They crept slowly forward and were delighted when they saw Professor McGonagall, in a tartan dressing gown and a hair net, pulling Nott by the ear.

"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you…"

"You don't understand, Professor. Faykan Undol's coming, he's got a dragon!"

"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on. I shall see Professor Snape about you, Nott!" McGonagall retorted sharply, not listening to a word that the boy was saying.

After that positively uplifting scene, the three Gryffindors finally reached the top of the astronomy tower and breathed a collective sigh of relief. They only waited about ten minutes, chatting happily about Nott's upcoming punishment until Charlie's friends arrived on broomstick to take Norbert away. Harry and Hermione shook hand with the others while Faykan just gave them all a nod of recognition. And at last Norbert the dragon disappeared over the clouds and out of their lives, hopefully for good.

All three slipped back down the spiral staircase, hearts light as their hands, until they came to the bottom of the stairs to find Professor McGonagall stride out of the darkness. They had been so happy about Norbert leaving that Harry and Hermione forgot to put the invisibility cloak back on and Faykan hadn't changed back into a fox.

"Good Evening," she said her mouth the thinnest line Harry had ever seen.

The three Gryffindors followed her in silence to her office, where she finally sat down and addressed them, "Nothing," she said sharply, "I repeat, nothing, gives a student the right to walk about the school at night." Harry could tell beneath her well controlled face she was bubbling with rage.

She continued telling them what she thought they were up to, feeding Nott with a lie to get him in trouble. She finally ruled their sentence. "All three of you will receive detention, and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."

"Fifty?" Harry gasped; they had just lost the lead for the House cup, the lead he had won in Quidditch.

"Fifty, each," Professor McGonagall continued, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose.

"Professor, please" Hermione started.

"You can't…" Harry pleaded.

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter." McGonagall said, overruling the pair of them. "Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."

Harry was devastated, one hundred and fifty points lost in one night, putting Gryffindor in last place. How could they ever make up for this? He knew trying to reason with their Head of House would've done little, but he did take note that Fay had remained silent as punishment was decreed, but he hadn't the heart to blame his friend for his silence.

The next day went by painfully slow, the story having spread like wildfire over the course of the night: Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter, hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost all those points, him and a pair of stupid first years.

Harry was suddenly the most hated student in Hogwarts. Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students had turned on him, everyone longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup for the first time in years, and all their collective hopes suddenly dashed. Everywhere Harry went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted him. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as he walked past them, whistling and cheering, "Thanks Potter, we owe you one!"

Harry promised himself that he was done poking his nose in other people business, and he poured himself into studying for his exams and trying to put what had happened behind him. Even when he thought he heard Snape threatening Quirrell in an empty classroom, he refused to allow Hermione or Ron talk him into investigating more. Faykan had chosen to remain neutral in that argument, Harry noticed, but wasn't going to even attempt to pry the reason from his best friend.

The following morning, notes were delivered to Harry, Hermione and Faykan at the breakfast table. They were all the same message:

'Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.

Professor McGonagall'

Harry half expected that Hermione would complain about that this was a whole night of studying lost, but it seemed that she, like Harry, felt they deserved what they'd got. Faykan snorted at the irony of their detention would cause them to be out after hours when their crime was exactly that.

At the prearranged time the three Gryffindors said goodbye to Ron and went down to the entrance hall, to find Filch and Nott. Harry hadn't thought about Nott or his own punishment since they were caught the night before, but immediately remembered that he had also gotten a detention. Clearly it was going to be with them at theirs.

"Follow me," Filch said with a sneer, lighting a lamp and leading them outside.

As they walked out onto the ground Filch taunted them about breaking rules and about his beloved chains that he supposedly had once used to hang student up by various limbs in his office. Harry presumed that Filch was delighted by the severity of their punishment, and disliked being in close proximity to the rather cruel sounding man.

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. They soon heard a distant shout as they approached. "Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."

Harry's heart rose slightly; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be as bad. His relief must have showed in his face, because Filch said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy, it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece." He sneered at this, and Faykan put a hand on Harry should to reassure him of their safety.

Nott however, had stopped dead in his tracks. "The forest?" he repeated, sounding panicky, "We can go in there at night, there's all sorts of thing in there… like, werewolves."

"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee at the fear in Nott's face. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"

Hagrid showed up then, and after a few short words with Filch, who said he'd return in an hour for them to escort back to the castle, Hagrid sent the caretaker back up to the castle. After Filch had gone, Nott turned to Hagrid, starting to shake visibly in fear, outright refusing to go into the forest and complaining that his rich father would hear about this mistreatment.

Hagrid simply said that if Nott thought his father would rather want him expelled, he could go back to the castle and pack immediately. Nott finally backed down at that, still quaking in suppressed fear.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

Hagrid lead the four students to the very edge of the forest, and holding up his lamp, he pointed down a winding narrow track that disappeared into the thick black trees.

"Look there," Hagrid said pointing at a pool of silvery liquid. "That's unicorn blood. I found one dead last Wednesday, this ones been hurt bad by somthin'. We're gonna try and find the poor beast."

Hagrid continued to explain that they would be splitting up. Nott immediately demanded to go with Faykan and Fang, Hagrid mentioned that the big boarhound was a complete coward. Hagrid then set Harry to go with Faykan and Fang when Nott hesitated, while he would take Nott and Hermione. They were instructed to send up green sparks with their wands if they found the unicorn or red if they encountered trouble.

So Harry and Faykan set out with Fang into the heart of the forest. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest until they lost the path because the trees had become too thick to see it. Harry thought the blood splotches they were finding intermittently seemed to be getting thicker as they went. Suddenly, Faykan stopped and pointed out a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak tree.

"Look…" he whispered in Harry's ear, and then placed a finger to his own lips to indicate silence from then on. Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.

It was the body of the unicorn, dead. Harry had never seen anything so beautiful or so horrifyingly sad. He stepped toward it, but stopped suddenly when a slithering sound came from the far side of the clearing. A bush on the far edge quivered, and out of the shadows came a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast.

Harry, Faykan and Fang stood transfixed, as the cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

"What is it," Harry whispered to Faykan, trying to be a quiet as possible, but even that was too much. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry, while unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Harry, and he couldn't move for fear.

Then a pain like he'd never felt before pierced his head; it was as though his scar were on fire. Half blinded, he staggered backward. Barley, he could see Faykan standing between him and the cloaked figure, wand in his hand, and his whole body shone with light, "Auta me'urra amin naia," he bellowed, lowering his wand to point at the advancing figure.

Bright blue white lightning blasted from the tip of his wand, and arced over the air toward the figure, who conjured a shield of darkness that absorbed the burst of electricity. The figure was clearly not desirous to put up much of a fight, as it then turned and fled, rising into the sky and vanishing past the tops of the trees.

"Harry, are you alright," Faykan said as he offered his hand to Harry to help him up. Shaking his head, struggling to dispel the dizziness and pain, Harry eventually stood, touching his throbbing scar gingerly with his free hand, "Yes, thanks Fay. What was that?"

Faykan shook his head, but another voice answered, "It was a horrid creature…"

They whipped around, revealing a man striding out of the undergrowth. As he entered the clearing Harry saw that it wasn't a man, but a centaur, the shimmering horse body gleaming in the wand light.

"Who are you," Faykan demanded, not lowering his wand.

"I am Firenze, young Ithron…" the centaur said, his tail swishing in the slight breeze of the forest. Only then did Faykan lower his wand, something flashing in his eyes that Harry couldn't explain.

"Who would do this?" Faykan asked, taking a small step toward the centaur, keeping himself between Harry and the creature still while gesturing at the dead unicorn. Harry relaxed a small amount as well, Faykan wouldn't be remotely friendly if he felt they were still in danger.

"Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a terrible crime." Firenze explained, "The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a most terrible price. You would have slain something pure to save yourself, and you will have a cursed life from the very moment the blood touches your lips." Unfortunately, this only spawned more questions for Harry.

"Who would choose such a life?" he blurted out

"Perhaps someone who only needs to stay alive long enough to drink something that would restore him to full power, something that would mean he could never die." Faykan mused aloud.

"The Philosopher's Stone," Harry said, quiet realization dawning on him, "of course the Elixir of Life! But, who..."

"Can't you think of anyone Harry, anyone at all who could have been waiting so many years to return to power, clinging to life and awaiting their chance?" Faykan questioned, looking directly into Harry's eyes, his own sparkling like azure crystals.

Realization finally dawned on Harry, "You mean that thing that killed the unicorn, which was drinking its blood. That was Voldemort?"

"I can think of no other," Faykan said flatly, then raised his wand and shot emerald green sparks into the air.

They waited in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts, until Hagrid arrived with Hermione and Nott.

"Harry! Fay! Are you both alright?" Hermione cried, running to them.

"We're fine Hermione." Faykan said, while Harry stood slightly dazed from the experience moments ago. "The unicorn is dead Hagrid; it's in that clearing back there."

Firenze spoke briefly with Hagrid, who wasn't able to get any more information out of him then Faykan was, before they all departed swiftly from the forest, Hagrid having deemed that it was no longer safe for them, especially Harry, to remain.

Ron was asleep in an armchair when the other three Gryffindor first years arrived back in the common room. Hermione shook him awake, and Harry and Faykan told them both about what they had witnessed and worked out in the forest. Harry refused to sit, but paced in front of the fire while Faykan stared out a window into the midnight darkness.

"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich..." Harry said at last, thinking they were all so stupid to be so short-sighted

Ron moaned when Harry said Voldemort's name, but he didn't care what his friend thought. Hermione brought up the fact that as long as Dumbledore was around, Harry was sure to be safe, as the Headmaster was the only wizard that You-Know-Who ever feared.

"Voldemort must be getting desperate if even Hagrid is noticing the unicorns getting attack. Soon Voldemort might even come for the stone whether the esteemed Headmaster is here or not." Faykan scoffed. Harry could hear a heavy tint of sarcasm in Faykan's voice as he mentioned Professor Dumbledore, and wondered what the man they had never met before had done to earn his best friend's ire.

"Stop saying his name." Ron moaned again loudly and Faykan turned to him, his face suddenly stern, walked over and leaning in until he was face to face with the red head. "VOLDEMORT!" he cried, causing Ron to pale in fright and fall out of his chair.

Faykan glared down at him. "Stop telling people to be afraid of him; I will say his name, for it is just a name. He is just a man, nothing more…" Ron whimpered slightly, but remained silent from then on.

Harry finally posed that they really needed to get to bed, and they all went up to their respective dormitories. Harry was so exhausted he dropped right to sleep the minute his head hit the pillow.

auta me'urra amin naia : come lightning I command

Potential Spoilers Ahead, You are continuing to be warned!

So, nothing too terribly overt as changes in this chapter, mainly just additional information that painted a clearer picture to what I had initially designed. more detail on just what it was that Harry pictured from the verses that Faykan sang to aid him overcome the longing of the mirror. Once more skipped the Quidditch match, as first year ones were more or less unimportant to the story, and therefore easily could come out as they did in canon.

OMG HARRY STARTS ASKING FAYKAN QUESTIONS ABOUT THINGS! I had wanted to put much of this sort of thing in from the start, but it just hadn't happened, and was a great deal part of why I wanted to redo the series so badly, as I fear that Faykan came off as far too mysterious, or at least more so than I intended. It was poorly supported by his friends basically accepting everything odd and different about him as just part of Faykan, which while that eventually would happen in such a friendship, would certainly not be the case all the time, and delving into more clues about faykan and where he might come from I felt was terribly important for the series in the long run regarding where it goes in the future.

standard Norbert scenario, as getting them out into the forest to encountered Quirrel-mort was fundamental in the characters understanding the depth of the stakes they were at, and motivating Harry through going for the stone in the end. all in all a rather transitional filler chapter I think, building up for the final one of Year 1 that is to come. My, my, I need to get back to work editing these... with all the preparations for moving to college I had let this slide, and am still only at the beginning of Y2... So much work and so little sleep...

Still, we go on...

For those diehard fans who've read the series original, please tell me what scenes from the series (anywhere from any book on ANP) do you hope to revisit with new updates and changes. such an answer within a review (preferably) or PM (if you widh) would greatly help motivate me to push on in the editing, although I will not be writing at all the next 3 days (Wed, Thurs, Fri) due to the moving across states...

~F