I have a heap of these chapters back-written. I only post once i have a few chapters ahead completed, but since i took so long to upload chapter ten i decided that i should probably upload chapter eleven too. I know how hard it is to wait patiently and imagine the next chapter in your own heads.

I have a heap of these chapters back-written. I only post once i have a few chapters ahead completed, but since i took so long to upload chapter ten, i have given you chapter eleven as well. I know how hard it is to wait patiently, clicking the page every day or so to see the new chapter. Playing out what's going to happen in your own heads.
So here it is; Chapter Eleven, the truth of the stone.

Enjoy

xx

Ashiie Imperfect


The holidays had come to their end and Hermione was disappointed that we had not been able to find anything about Nicholas Flamel and appalled that we had snuck out. The images I had seen in the mirror or Erised didn't haunt me as they did Harry. He'd begun talking to me of nightmares in which our mother and father would be snatched away in a streak of green light. I received a letter from D.A telling me his eyes were blue, he had spent the holidays with his family and that he knew how horrible Draco Malfoy was capable of being. That piece of information brought a smile to my lips. See Hermione was wrong for once; the real Draco would have gotten all pride and ego on me and complained about how I was talking about him. The next question that I had to answer was about my favorite class this year.

Dear D.A

It has been quite a full year so far I rather enjoy all my classes but my favorite would have to be Transfiguration. I might have said potions as I told you about my love for the art but Professor Snape has been rather cruel to me and thus made the usually entertaining creativity that comes with the subject horribly constricted. I hope you had a nice holiday I guess I shall be seeing you around. Weird that I'm seeing you and yet not seeing you. As for my next question Do have any siblings?

Sincerely

Riley

Second day back at classes and Hermione and me were still puzzling over the mystery of Nicholas Flamel. On top of the piles of homework that they were receiving and Harrys Quidditch practice we had hardly any time to search. It was back to checking books during the breaks during the day. Part way into the term was where things began to get interesting again. I watched on as Hermione and Ron played a game of wizards chess, Rune was finishing a rather rushed version of her charms assignment which was due the following day, Harry was at Quidditch practice and so I sat reading through another of the short stories that I've received for Christmas.

With still no leads on who Nicholas Flamel was or in what way he was related to the package under Fluffy I was beginning to lose hope.

Harry trudged in from outside looking snow drenched and exhausted.

"Hard training Harry?" I questioned marking the book with a small shred of parchment.

He shook his head.

"Unbelievable he muttered,"

"What's unbelievable?"

I watched as Ron who was complaining about concentrating on his match turned to Harry.

"You alright mate, you look terrible,"

"Snape is refereeing the next Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff,"

Hermione was the first to overcome the shock.

"That's easy don't play,"

"Say you're ill or pretend you've broken your leg," This from Ron.

"Or really break your leg?" Rune.

"He needs to play, be careful Harry," I said.

"Riley is right, there isn't a reserve seeker if I back out then Gryffindor can't play,"

I turned to the door at the sound of the clashing and banging. Neville had hopped into the common room and fallen due to the step on the way in. The room fell into hysterics each figuring that because of the Leg-locker curse that Neville would've had to have hopped the whole way. Hermione rushed to his aid performing the counter-curse.

"It was Malfoy, he saw me outside the library. Said he'd been looking for someone to try that out on all week," He answered the unasked question.

"You have to tell McGonagall, report him," Hermione's logic seemed fool proof but in primary school I had learnt that reporting bullies just made them target you more.

"I'm not sure that is the best idea, you know to aggravate him,"

"Riley is right I don't want to cause any more trouble,"

Ron stood up then. "You have to stand up to him Neville! He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier,"

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be a Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that,"

I watched as Harry took a chocolate frog out of his robes pocket. He walked over and handed it to Neville.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy. The sorting hat chose you for Gryffindor and where's Malfoy in stinking Slytherin,"

Neville smiled weakly.

"Don't worry Neville, I think I might have a talk with our precious pampered pompous prince,"

"Thanks Riley, Harry….i think I'll go to bed now…D'you want the card, you collect them don't you?"

Neville handed over the card to Harry and then walked up to his dorm.

"Poor Neville, I'm going to give that stupid prat Malfoy a piece of my mind,"

I watched Harry as he let out a sigh.

"Dumbledore again. He was the first one I ever," But Harry stopped mid-sentence.

"Harry?"

"I've found him! I've found Nicholas Flamel! I told you I read the name somewhere before. I read it on the train on the way here," Harry pointed at the card.

"Listen to this – Professor 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 Nicholas Flamel!"

I jumped in surprise as Hermione leapt to her feet her face alight with exicitment as she rushed from the room with a hurried "stay there," I exchanged glances with Rune who simply shrugged before going back to reading her magazine. Again I was startled as she dashed back into the room carrying a massive book in her arms. A book I recognized.

"I never even though to look in here," I was at her side in an instant.

"Well it's obvious now,"

Harry and Ron exchanged a confused glance.

"What's obvious Riley?"

Hermione took over for me.

"I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading,"

"Light?" Ron asked
"Shs Ron," I watched as Hermione flicked frantically through the book.

"There," I put my hand in between the pages that she had just flicked over and pushed them back.

"I knew it, I knew it,"

"Can I speak yet?" I nudge Ron slightly a warning shot to show that his tone was uncalled for.

"Nicholas Flamel," She said quietly. "Is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone,"

I placed my hand over my face.

"If that were to get into the wrong hands…"

Harry backed me up.

"Wait, the what?" Harry, Ron and Rune had identical blank looks.

"Honestly don't you three read? Look – read that, there,"

She pushed the book towards the other three.

"See. 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!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying!" Said Harry "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it,"

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty five is he?"

"Well now we know what's under the trap door, the real question is how do we stop Snape from getting it. The last thing I want is an immortal Snape,"

The others murmured agreements.

"It's too late to make any plans tonight," Said Rune, covering her mouth as she yawned.

"I have something I need to do anyway, night Harry, night Ron,"

The girls followed me up the stairs both still gossiping about finally figuring out the big mystery. When I sat myself down in my bed I felt a rush of dread flow over me. I began to feel as though, although we had discovered what lay under the trap door we hadn't yet realized Snape's true intentions.

Hermione retired with Rune to the bathroom to do their nightly rituals. Tapping at the window woke me from my thoughts. I smiled at the oh-so familiar owl that sat perched on the sil.

"Hello my beautiful friend,"

Once the window was unlatched the owl hopped down onto my bed. I stroked its feathers and I watched it as its eyes closed.

"What does you master have to say this time," I smiled and untied the letter.

Dear Riley

No it's just me, only me in the family. I don't understand how you can be so excited to get back to school; the only good part is probably potions and maybe seeing you. Keep an eye out, you might be surprised as to who I am. By the way, what is your favorite animal?

D.A

I wrote out another letter, discussing my love of Hogwarts mainly because of the home I'd come from, not that he wasn't already aware of those circumstances. My favorite animal happened to be a wolf but if we were discussing animals that wouldn't eat you it would be a horse. My dream was to ride a horse one day.

I also told him of my fear of heights and how scary our flying lessons are. My question to him, which made four, was about one of his darkest fears.

I sent away the letter and curled under the bed sheets.

"Was that an owl I saw?"

I smiled at Rune.

"No it was a rat,"

"Is your anonymous stalker sending you more love notes?"

Rune had spoken at the wrong time and Hermione instantly joined out conversation.

"D.A he's sent you more. Did he get you something for Christmas?"

"What did I just hear; does Riley have a secret admirer?" I could've cursed my luck at that moment as Lavender had entered the room.

"Oh my god, who is he?" And the barrage of questions began only ending when she realized that Pavarti and the other girls were oblivious to her new discovery and rushed off to tell them.

"I'm going to kill you Rune,"

Hermione laughed.

"But really, what did he get you for Christmas,"

Well I might want to kill them but these girls were my friends and we spent the entire night gossiping, just as we had before the holidays about who he could be. I got out the older letters and we studied them. For a short time we had more than just our group in the room and then the hype gave way to sleep and I feel into a blissful dream of horse riding through a forest.

The next morning during Defence Against the Dark Arts, our theory work gave way to talk of the stone. Hermione and myself were attempting to figure out how Snape was going to attempt to get the stone while Rune, Ron and my brother were talking about the many uses they would have for such a stone. This conversation soon led to the impending idea of Snape refereeing the upcoming Quidditch match.

"I'm going to play. If I don't all the Slytherins will think im just too scared to face Snape. I'll show them…it'll really wipe the smiles off their faces if we win,"

I smiled.

"Well I was always going to cheer; the only way he got to me last time was my drink,"

Hermione put her hand on my back.

"Just as long as we're not wiping you two off the pitch,"

"Thanks mione, that was really optimistic and uplifting,"

As the day of that Quidditch match grew nearer I could feel the tension radiating from Harry and the other team members. Us cheerleaders weren't as uneasy but some concern was noted about whether the bias referee would prevent us from taking the championship cup away from his house.

During our last practice before the game the girls were all chatting about the chances of us winning, we watched as the team flew high above our heads but my attention was caught by three figures in the stands. From this far down it was difficult to make out their faces or hair color or even what house they were from. All three were seated on the highest row in the stands directly across from us.

"Do you see them?" I asked one of the other girls, pointing towards the stands.

"Hey yeah, don't worry about it Riley lots of boys come down to watch us dance, it's creepy but you get used to it after a while,"

I nodded and we got back into formation.

"Alright one, two, three,"

After lunch and of course practice my potions lesson still found me paired to the blue eyed platinum prat, victim to a horrible professor and sitting over a boiling cauldron. Despite the fact that Professor Snape never gave me full marks for my work I continued to improvise in the potions. Malfoy never complained considering he got the full credit for none of the work and just sat there either watching me or talking loudly with his friends.

As he stared at me unblinking like a snake I turned on him.

"Is there something that you wish to say to me Malfoy?"

"No, who'd want to talk to you. I was just watching you mess up Professor Snape's instructions and wondering why do it?"

"I do it because it completes the potion and I get it done to a level of perfection, no matter how he grades me,"

I briskly chopped the lily leaf before scraping it off the board and into the pot.

"Anything else?"

Draco remained silent for a little while.

"No, nothing,"

With my luck it has seemed that Snape had been appearing more and more often around our little group. As if he was stalking us. Every now and then I'd get a brief thought that he knew about our plans but it would be gone in the next moment when he left our sight. Neville who was the newest tag-along in our group insisted that when he was with me Malfoy wouldn't hurt him and he claimed that I was the first years protector. This came about after I decided that Malfoy deserved to be scolded for the leg-locker curse he used.

As the day of the match arrived I hugged Harry tightly wishing him good luck, I turned away with Hermione, Rune and Ron.

"He'll be ok, won't he?" I asked them quietly.

"Of course he will," I smiled a thanks and headed off to my change room. As I pulled on the skirt, legwarmers and top my thoughts drifted to the three in the stands who had been practicing curses just in case Snape decided to try and kill us again. I flittered onto the pitch following the rest of the girls and chanting. A quick glance at the stands told me that not only was every member of the school there watching but it seemed all of the teachers were as well, including Dumbledore. My heart leapt at the sight, Snape couldn't get away with anything if Dumbledore was here. The worry eased away and I began the routine. I booed and groaned as Hufflepuff was awarded multiple penalties and given free shots. As they pulled into the lead I watched the Hufflepuff cheerleaders bouncing on the balls of their feet.

"Come on Harry. Let's go Gryffindor!" I shouted not sure if my brother, who was hovering maybe ten meters from the ground, could hear me. He lifted back up off the ground and then fell again in a spectacular dive. I cheered with the others, my voice drowned out amongst the ruckus from the crowd as Harry came out of the dive, in his hand the golden snitch.

"YES GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

I ran up to Rune and Hermione talking with such relief. Ron followed Harry over to the broomshed.

"Brilliant, he was brilliant,"

I smiled. "So what happened to Ron? He looks a little bloody?"

Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head so Rune answered.

"Simple really, Ron and Malfoy got into it in the stands,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, it pains me to say," She said dramatically. "But our dear Ronald got the worst injuries of the two,"

I started laughing along with the other two.

"What Rune is forgetting to mention is that Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle, he did alright but he is still out cold. Madam Pomfrey says that he should be right soon enough,"

"Oh Neville,"

And that sent us off into another burst of giggles.

Harry and Ron hadn't come back in a little while, the pitch was beginning to clear, From our spot I searched the pitch, hoping that I could seen Harry and Ron running towards us. Finally I spotted him.

"Hey Harry, you did it, you did it!" I jumped up and hugged him tightly. "Congrats,"

Rune chose that moment to remember that Fred and George were planning a party.

"Oh, 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 for us to eat. Oh I hope they got lollies,"

Harry broke our excitement, his voice rang serious.

"Never mind that now. Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this,"

I exchanged a look with Ron who looked just as serious as Harry.

"Alright,"

We made our way through the corridors, Gryffindors patting Harry on the back as we walked.

"This way," I opened the door to one of the classrooms and peered inside for Peeves.

"Clear,"

I shut the door and settled myself down on a desk.

"So what's this all about?"

"Well me and Ron saw Snape heading into the forest so we got on my broom and followed him."

This piqued my interest.

"He met Quirrell there, they were talking about the stone and Fluffy and then Snape was all 'You don't want me as your enemy Quirrell.' So we were right, it is the Philospher's Stone and Snape is trying to force Quirrell to help him to get it. He also said something about Quirrell's hocus pocus. There are probably other things guarding the stone, enchantments and Quirrell probably did some anti-dark arts spells which Snape needs to break through,"

Hermione and Rune looked at Harry with horrified eyes.

"You mean, the Stone is only safe so long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?"

"Oh god we're doomed," I said.

Ron agreed. "It'll be gone by next Tuesday,"