Warning: Non-Beta, pardon me for the typos or the screwed up grammar because English isn't my mother language.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any franchise in this story!

—

In years to come, I shall never quite remember how I had managed to get through my exams when I wasn't even focusing on the parchment given to me by the Professors. Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that the Cerberus the oaf Hagrid in his skewed mind called Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door in the third forbidden floor, guarding the trapdoor to the secret room where the Philosopher Stone was being hidden by Albus Dumbledore.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where we did out written papers. We had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an 'Anti-Cheating' spell. We had practical exams as well.

Professor Flitwick called us one by one into his class to see if we could make a pineapple do tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched us turn a mouse into a snuffbox — points were given for how pretty the snuffbox is, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made us all nervous, breathing down our necks while we try to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion. Fortunately, I didn't meet any problem, not even once.

Our very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented 'Selfstirring Cauldrons' and we'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until our exam results come out.

When the ghost of Professor Binns told us to put down our quills and roll up our parchment, I was swept away by the mood and couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Su as we joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

"Now, you just sounded like Granger, Su," Padma chimed in from her place beside Su.

As the architype Ravenclaw, Su liked to go through her exam papers afterward, something Holly and Padma also shared. However, we still needed a moment to refresh our minds, so we wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree after I prepared a picnic sheet for the ladies. I kept to myself so far, letting the ladies have their own discussion in peace. We saw the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

It was when the attentive Su and Padma realized that Holly was rubbing her forehead, where her scar was.

"Is your scar fine, Holly?" inquired Su.

"I wish I knew what this means!" she burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting — it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," I suggested flippantly from my position on the floor, the sheet protecting my robe from the dirt on the ground.

"I'm not ill," said Holly, throwing a mutinous glare to me. Yet, I could feel it didn't hold the same amount of venoms it had in early in the year. "I think it's a warning . . . it means danger's coming . . . or something like that. . . ."

"Holly, dear, relax," Su tried to soothe Holly's irritation. "Dias was right you know, it isn't wrong to check your scar to Madam Pomfrey. That scar has been on your forehead for a decade, has it not? And I'm sure no normal scar can last that long."

Holly nodded her head begrudgingly but she couldn't hide her irritation because of her itching scar.

I sent a discreet glance in the Girl-Who-Lived's direction. My laid back attitude was only a mask to hide the perpetual nervousness and anxiety for what I knew would happen soon. Although I had more than 80% assurance that my plan would go smoothly, it didn't mean I've become complacent and arrogant enough to think nothing could go wrong.

As Murphy law stated, anything that can go wrong will go wrong!

"It has been a year, hasn't it?" said Padma suddenly, taking our attention for our respective mind. To our inquisitive looks, Padma elaborated, "It has been a year and everything went so fast. Before we realize it, our first year almost ends."

Both Su and Holly became thoughtful after they listened to Padma's deep words. I didn't know what inside their mind for my mind was focusing on the task which would commence soon.

So far, my preparations had finished smoothly. I'd tasked other house-elves besides Dinky and Potty to stay alert in the secret room. They were currently hidden under their own brand of mystery as they were watching the Mirror of Erised.

Speaking of the secret room under the forbidden third floor, I also had tasked the house-elves to take a real-time video recording with an artefact I'd created, and so far, they had recorded the trials.

I wasn't surprised when I found out the trials were similar with the ones in the series, meaning that the first trial was the Cerberus guarding the trapdoor; the second trial was the devil snare; the third trial was the charmed keys; the fourth trial was the oversized wizarding chess; the fifth trial was bypassing a room with two trolls; the sixth trial was the logic puzzle and Severus Snape's potions; finally, the last trial was the Mirror of Erised itself, where the Philosopher Stone was hidden in by the meddlesome old codger named Albus Dumbledore.

Ultimately, house-elves could come in and out the last room freely since Hogwarts never put on anti-house-elves wards for there were a hundred of house-elves work in the castle. If there were such things like anti-house-elves wards ever installed, it would hinder the activity in Hogwarts castle because house-elves did almost all the chores, such as cleaning the castle, cooking feast for the students and the professors, etcetera.

Of course, I could easily ask my house-elves to get the Philosopher Stone from the Mirror of Erised any time after Albus Dumbledore hid the Magnum Opus of the famous Nicholas Flamel in that mirror. Surprisingly, the Stone couldn't be taken out by someone who desired to give the stone to Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, meaning the house-elves could take it out for me. However, I held back my urge.

That stone was the bait to lure Lord Voldemort and Quirinus Quirrell. If I'd ever taken the stone early Quirrellmort would find it out and flee from Hogwarts as soon as possible. In the end, I could only take the Stone after I cleaned Quirrellmort problem first.

"Dias? Earth to Dias!"

Padma's call snapped me from my reveries. I turned my sight to her and sent an inquisitive look. Su, Padma, and Holly were giving me bemusement looks. Somehow, their looks lightly offended me. Fortunately, my 'Gamer's Mind' skill helped me to maintain my poker-face.

"What?" I probed an answer from them.

Padma and Su exchanged a gaze, a form of silent communication they somehow have mastered behind my back. I didn't understand how they did it or perhaps, I wasn't good at reading others. Meanwhile, Holly had shifted her sight away from us, she staring at the calm surface of the Black Lake, ignoring everything around her as she keeps everything to herself. Just like the usual. . .

Padma returned her sight on me and said, "We have called you for a while, but you seem to be in deep thought. What's in your mind?"

I regard the Indian witch for a moment and then respond to her inquiry.

"Nothing," I said. I paused for a moment to contemplate my next words, "Just thinking what I'm going to do this summer."

Su and Padma seemed to be interested about it. If Holly was included in the list, she did a very good job concealing it.

Goaded by the girls' reproachful gazes, with only Holly as an exception as she was keeping her sight to the magnificent scenery before her, I decided to share what's in my mind.

"To be honest, I don't know what I'm going to do in this summer. Hence, I was thinking about it before you all disturbed me," I said with light exasperation mixed in my tone.

"Sorry," Padma and Su apologized.

I dismissed their apologies.

After that, we continue our meaningless chat to unwind the tension from the exam. Surprisingly, Holly had joined in the middle of our talk.

Overall, it was a relatively calm day before the storm. In fact, I quite appreciate it.

—»O«—

It was when the moonlights were peeking through the gaps between the clouds in the sky, when the curfews had been closed. It was also the time for me to start my move.

I was sitting in a black leather couch, stuffed with quality cottons, as my body sunk in comfortably. Before me was a desk, which the surface was left bare from anything except for a semitransparent crystal ball used for occultism above a circular Celestite plate with 2cm thickness and 30cm diameter. On the surface of the Celestite plate was a complicated rune scheme.

This small curious trinket was something I'd made together with the 'Spirit-Sealing Altar'. I had named this artefact 'Closed-Connection Crystal Orb', or CCCO for short. The detailed information was like this:

Name: The Closed-Connection Crystal Orb
Rank: Unique (Magical)
Durability: 250/250
Details: An artefact crafted by Asmodias Lustburg to be used together with CCS — Closed-Connection Satellite — to display the real-time video caught by CCS. It's basically a magical version of the set of Wireless CCTV.

I had planned to enchant simple wireless CCTV in the past, but I found out the wireless signal and magic ambience in the air have deep hatred to each other that makes the signal is screwed by magic energy in the air. Thus, I created this thing in the end.

Such a shame I could only create a set with only two-ways connection between the CCCO and one CCS. I didn't have time to develop this thing into something that can display the recording taken by more than one CCS, though I have filed the idea for later, when I have more free time and less worry. For now, I need to be satisfied with this.

Shown in the orb was the secret room where the Mirror of Erised was being stored. The image seemed to have been taken from one of a few corners in the room. I had tasked Dinky to wear a yellow contractor helm where the attached lamp has been replaced by the CCS.

There were four house-elves in the room, hiding under their own brand of invisibility mystery. If it's a normal wizard without the support of maximum level 'Presence Detection' skill like me, it was impossible to feel their presence. This was one of many reasons why I took the house-elves under my wings and transformed them into elite black ops. For house-elves, hiding themselves was like their second nature.

Suddenly, the crystal orb showed the image of someone entering the room. I immediately realized who it was. His turban alone was the dead giveaway to his identity. The one who had entered the room was Quirinus Quirrell or as I eloquently put it; Quirrellmort. He presented himself differently from how he presented himself in the class so far. Gone was the stuttering coward and a dangerous wizard had taken the coward's place.

I watched raptly as Quirrellmort walks closer to the enchanted Mirror. Then, the man stood still in front of the mirror with a pair of dazed eyes. It seems that the mirror's disgusting effect had shown something Quirrellmort's heart desired the most.

I continued to watch as my cute, little minions sprang into action, bar Dinky who was standing still to give me the clear, real-time video.

I watched in a tense silence as Chunky, another new member of my ever growing house-elves organization, and Potty shot darts with a quick acting paralyzing substance from their dart guns. To give me higher guarantee that Quirrellmort will be knocked out cold, another new member of my H.E.B.O. named Jerky appeared next to Quirrellmort with a taser gun in his hand and shocked the vessel of Lord Voldemort wraith.

There was a raspy loud shout from the back of Quirrell's head. I was sure it was Lord Voldemort himself. Alas, Quirrell's reaction was too slow. Quirrell screamed out in surprise before he dropped down on the floor, unconscious. It was the time for the crucial part of this mission and my time to enter the field finally came.

"Barmy!" I called the beret-wearing house-elf.

He appeared next to me and took me to the hidden room. The moment I arrived inside the hidden room, I saw Quirrell's body was spasming and dark miasma was coming out from the back of his head. I realized that Lord Voldemort attempted to undo his possession on Quirrell and ran away with his tail between his legs. There's snowball chance in hell I'll let him to flee easily.

I take out the 'Spirit-Sealing Altar' from my 'Inventory', put it on the floor and began sealing process. First thing first, I activated the altar. The runes and the Jasper orb in the middle of the obsidian plate glowed with mystical lights and then it began to absorb the dark miasma that came out from Quirrell's body.

I saw the haunting visage of Lord Voldemort's disfigured face and heard its incoherent shriek full of resentment. The moment the sealing process finished, the center of the jasper orb darkened with an unholy light. It seems that a murky, dark fog was trapped inside the jasper orb, swirling and twisting disgustingly as it tried to escape its prison.

I didn't lower my guard as I watched the altar warily. The house-elves around me were also watching the altar with more apparent wariness. Two minutes later, the mysterious light dimmed slightly but not entirely disappears from the rune scheme. It told me that the sealing process finally succeeded.

I felt elated but my 'Gamer's Mind' helped me controlling my excitement. I knew that I wasn't safe yet. Even though Albus Dumbledore had left the castle, I didn't know where he'd be back.

When I tried to store the altar inside my 'Inventory', I found out that I couldn't do it.

I realized the wraith sealed inside the altar was the reason behind this phenomenon. Then, I told Dinky who had been doing nothing but standing in the corner while being invisible to take the altar to our secret hideout. The house-elf followed my command obediently and took the altar very carefully. A moment later, he disappeared via house-elves' 'apparation', leaving me and the remaining house-elves behind.

I immediately beckoned to Barmy to do his part.

I'd debriefed him with his main purpose for this mission. He did his part smoothly; surprisingly enough he took the Philosopher Stone easily without being affected by the Mirror of Erised's disgusting ability.

I accept the stone when Barmy offers it to me. Then, I use my 'Observation' skill to check its authenticity.

Philosopher Stone
Rank: Legend
Durability: 524/1000
Details: the magnum opus of the famous alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, it can produce Elixir of youth and transmutate a simple lead into a pure gold. With each usage, the durability will decrease. To recover its durability, a soul is needed.

I was not really surprised by the information. So, even the almighty stone still needed fuel and said fuel was actually human soul, eh? That was very morbid but I couldn't deny its usefulness. I understood there's impossible to permanently transmute a lead into a pure gold or producing Elixir that makes one's life longer without a price.

The basic of alchemy is equivalent exchange after all. Unlike the wide spread witchcraft and wizardry, Alchemy is considered as an esoteric branch of magic and no small amount of wizards and witches deemed it as dark.

But, I digress, for I have more pressing matter.

After storing the Stone inside my 'Inventory', I turned my body and looked at the remaining house-elves which have stood together in a line, waiting for my next order. I couldn't help musing in my mind; what obedient little tykes they were.

"Now, my cute, little minions," I pointed my index finger to the mirror, mirroring the Phoenix Wright stance in a full throttle, "Go wild!"

The remaining house-elves; Barmy, Potty, Chunky and Jerky look at each other silently for a moment and then they grinned toothily. Assortments of blunt weapons appeared in their hand, ranging from a screwdriver, a metal bat, a bent metal pipe, and . . . is that a frying pan? Huh, I'm sure that I have seen that frying pan from somewhere . . . wait! The scratch on that side, that thing is from my orphanage's kitchen!

"Potty?"

My word stopped the house-elf in question before he could advance to the Mirror of Erised. He turned his head in my direction and looked at me inquisitively. I continued where I stopped, "Pray tell me why you stole a frying pan from my orphanage's kitchen?"

Potty showed a deer-in-highlight expression as if he had been caught stealing cookies whilst his hand was still in the cookie jar.

"Master Lusty-Bug sir, please forgive Potty! Potty will punish himself badly! Potty is a bad house-elf! A bad—"

I stopped the crazy house-elf before he could smash his own face with the frying pan.

I've stopped him not because I don't want to see him harmed. I've stopped him because I don't want for the frying pan to be dirtied by his blood.

Clara liked that frying pan so much and therefore that old frying pan was still in the orphanage's kitchen, being used sometimes. Furthermore, my beautiful matron had cooked and would cook homey meals with that utensil. I didn't want to know it had been defiled by Potty's body fluid as I eat Clara's meal in the future, thank you very much.

"Stop it! You can let your leader to punish your folly later. Now, get something else and help your brother to turn that disgusting mirror into a wreck!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

Potty saluted before he summoned a pitchfork from somewhere. He turned his body to his brothers and finds they were sending reprimanding glances to him. The house-elf sulked as he dragged his body to the mirror. Soon, the house-elves started bashing their makeshift blunt weapon into the enchanted mirror.

I stood aside and watched my cute little minions doing their best to turn the mirror into unrecognizable wrecks. Instead of the like a submissive house-elves they are, they looked more like malevolent imps in a sugar high. To be honest, that image is quite disturbing.

After that, I told them to disperse and take me out from this place. Just like that, I finished my main objective for this year; apprehending Lord Voldemort's wraith and stealing the Philosopher Stone under the old codger's nose.

—»O«—

I made my way down to the end-of-year feast alone that night. I've been held up by checking out the 'Spirit-Sealing Altar' that confined Lord Voldemort's wraith. I only stopped what I've done after I felt one hundred percent sure the trapped wraith won't be able to escape from its cage, so the Great Hall was already full when I arrive.

The Great Hall was decked out in the Ravenclaw colors of blue and bronze to celebrate Ravenclaw's winning the House Cup after Slytherin's hogging the House Cup for six long years in a row. A huge banner showing the Ravenclaw raven covers the wall behind the High Table. I slipped into a seat between Padma and Terry Boots at the Ravenclaw table. Headmaster Dumbledore arrived moments later. Then, the babble died away.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully.

Surprisingly, he didn't show that he was actually troubled after finding out Quirinus Quirrell's corpse and the shattered Mirror of Erised. The old codger was very good at hiding his real feeling.

"And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were . . . you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts. . . ." Albus Dumbledore paused, sweeping his sight on the students filling the Great Hall.

Then, he continued where he had stopped earlier. "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two and Ravenclaw has five hundred and eleven."

A storm of cheering and stamping break out from the Ravenclaw table. Even Holly who was usually showing unflappable, disinterested expression had a small, smug smile on her cute face. The tension in the house of smarts and wits was very high. It seems that I was the only one who found the ruckus around me quite annoying.

"Yes, yes, well done, Ravenclaw," said Dumbledore, calming the high-tensioned Ravenclaws.

I moved my sight to the professor seat.

At the elevated chairs for the professors, Snape was shaking Professor Flitwick's hand, with a thin, forced smile on his face.

Time passed, I had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. I was not surprised when I had the best grades of the first years, followed closely by, surprisingly enough, Holly and Padma. After them were Su, Hermione Granger, Daphne Greengrass and Lyra Malfoy. There were also dangerously low score that almost made those children being held back in first years. Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one. Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was a brute-looking, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. And the most surprising was Ronald Weasley who only one point away from being held back a year.

And suddenly, our wardrobes were empty, our trunks were packed; notes were handed out to all students, warning us not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take us down to the fleet of boats that would sail across the lake; we were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating magical confectioneries as we sped past non-magical towns; pulling off our wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross station.

It took quite a while for us all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting us go through the gate in twos and threes so we didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the non-magical folks.

"If you have a chance, you must come and stay this summer," said Su, "All of you — I'll send you an owl, or something inconspicuous to muggles."

"Thanks," said Holly, "I'll need something to look forward to."

People jostled us as we moved forward toward the gateway back to the non-magical side of this world. Some of them call:

"Bye, Holly!"

"See you, Potter!"

"Still famous," said Parvati, grinning at her as she stands shoulder-to-shoulder next to her elder twin sister. Holly snorted in an unladylike manner at that.

As the ladies have their small chat, as usual, I was content as their shadow who watched their closeness.

I, Holly, Su and Patil twin passed through the gateway together.

A moment later, we saw two pairs of a married couple, getting closer to our position. I had seen them before when I left the castle for the Yule Break and the Boxing Day. However, It was the first time for Holly.

The Asian man in his mid-thirties, wearing smooth ironed quality pastel shirt, a pair of black pants and a pair of polished dark brown leather shoes, is Mr. Li while the beautiful Caucasian woman with brown hair and a pair of warm eyes, wearing white blouse, black gray skirts, semitransparent dark leggings and high-heeled black shoes, is Mrs. Li. They were Su's parents.

Walking closely to the Li couple is an Indian man and an Indian woman. The man was slightly older than Mr. Li. He wears a gray tuxedo and a pair of polished black shoes. Walking besides him is woman in her late twenties who is wearing Indian sari with red and blue color harmoniously blending together. They were Mr. and Mrs. Patil, the Patil twin's parents.

Mrs. Li smiled down at us. "Busy year, dears?" she said.

"Very," said Holy calmly. "Thanks for the cake and the winter coat, Mrs. Li. And thanks for the handy warming charms, Mrs. Patil. They were really useful."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear," said Mrs. Patil with beautiful smile on her face.

"Ready, are you?"

An unpleasant voice interjected the pleasant conversation between us.

It was Vernon Dursley, still purple-faced, still mustached, still looking furious at the nerve of Holly, carrying an owl in a cage in a station full of ordinary people. Behind him stood Petunia Dursley and Dudley, looking terrified at the very sight of Holly.

"You must be Holly's family!" said Mrs. Li, trying to be amiable.

I and everyone else were keeping our eyes on the overweighed man.

"In a manner of speaking," said Vernon curtly. "Hurry up, girl, we haven't got all day."

He walked away without waiting the Girl-Who-Lived.

Holly hung back for a last word, more to Su than me.

"See you over the summer, then."

"Hope you have — er — a good holiday," said Su, looking uncertainly after Vernon, being shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant.

"Oh, I will," said Holly with a clipped tone and they were surprised at the small vindictive grin that was spreading over her face.

"They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer. . . ."

I was amused at the soft controversial whisper Holly had given Su.

Thanks to my sharp hearing sense, I could catch it when the others couldn't. I needn't worry for Holly's safety this summer because I'd given Wonky an assignment to watch Holly.

The only problem would happen in Holly's summer holiday was likely because of Dobby. Speaking of that bonker of a house-elf, I wasn't sure what I should do to him.

I decided to put aside that thought since it was the time for me to return back home.

After Holly left, I declined the Li and Patil family to take me back home. Then, I went to an inconspicuous, empty alley near the King Cross's station and called one of my cute, little minions.

A moment later, with a soft popping sound, I disappeared from the alley and appeared in my underground hideout.

I had a hunch that this summer was going to be a busy summer.

—

Footnote:
The chapter was fixed on Match 28th, 2018