Here we go the last chapter in Harry's first year. Much will be explained here, and more questions will be created. I hope you all enjoy this as something major to the plot will be explained; let's see who can guess at it. I do not own Harry Potter.
"Yes, Snape does seem to be the type to steal the stone doesn't he? But next him, who would suspect poor stuttering Professor Quirrell?" He wasn't stuttering at all except for when he was mimicking himself. "It was so useful to have him swooping about the castle, even making himself unpopular by wanting to referee your Quidditch match to save you. It certainly threw suspicion off of me though."
"But Snape tried to kill me at the Quidditch match," Daniel continued to argue. Harry just shook his head at his brother's stupidity. He had seen both Snape and Quirrell concentrating on Daniel when his broom lost control. Obviously Snape had been trying to save Daniel. Quirrell confirmed this. "No, I tried to kill you. You're just lucky that the Weasley twins were able to save you. Though I am lucky that you brought your brother with you tonight, now I can finish what my master started all those years ago."
Snapping his fingers, ropes appeared out of nowhere, rapping themselves around them as Daniel once more protested about Harry being his brother. Still smiling Quirrell responded, "Oh no. He is your brother. That Halloween night my master attacked your family, there were two babies in that crib. You two looked so much alike that my master didn't know which one of you defeated him until Dumbledore made his announcement." And with that he turned to the mirror behind him.
Smirking at finally proving Daniel wrong, Harry refrained from saying 'I told you so' to focus on the mirror in front of them. It was magnificent mirror, tall, had a gold frame, and stood on two clawed feet. At the top was an inscription that read Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Looking closely Harry figured out what it really said after a couple of minutes, I show not your face, but your heart's desire. Quirrell however, didn't know this as he was asking what the mirror did.
"Use the boys." This voice seemed to come from Quirrell, but he didn't speak. It was high, cold, and cruel, and Harry had a funny feeling that he had heard it before. "Come here Potter!" Quirrell released Daniel from his bindings and pulled him in front of the mirror. "Now, tell me what you see."
Daniel looked closely and replied quietly, "I'm surrounded by my parents and Dumbledore; they're congratulating me on my victory." Angry, Quirrell threw Daniel aside and called Harry up. When he looked he saw his Aunt, Uncle, cousin, parents, and Daniel standing around him, smiling and clapping. He however, focused on trying to find the stone before Quirrell. The Daniel in the mirror suddenly reached into his pocket and handed mirror Harry a blood red stone, which he put into his pocket. As he did, Harry felt the real stone in his real pocket.
Quirrell was still waiting for an answer so Harry told him about what he first saw. Angry again, Quirrell threw him like his brother. Looking at Daniel, Harry motioned that they should run. Daniel nodded and they got up and only took a few steps before they heard the voice again. "Let me speak to them Quirrell. I must look into the eyes of the one that defeated me."
Slowly, Quirrell turned so that the back of his head faced the two boys and started to unwrap his turban. Underneath it was the scariest face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with blood red eyes and slits for a nose. This was the face that had tried to kill him and his brother ten years ago on Halloween. This was the face of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
"Daniel Potter," it said in the cold voice, "We meet again. See what I have become; see what I must do to survive. I only have form when I can share the body of another; there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds. Unicorn blood has strengthened me these past few weeks, faithful Quirrell has been drinking the blood for me, yet it can't give me a body of my own. But there is something that can, something that lies conveniently in your pocket Harry Potter."
He knew that he had the stone. "Give me the stone Harry, and I can help you. You are destined for greatness and I can help you. I just need something in return."
"Don't give it to him Harry!" Daniel's shout brought Harry out of the spell that was You-Know-Who's words. He laughed at Daniel's words. "Why should he listen to you? You, who are the reminder of all that has happened to him. Your parents abandoned him after my attack and he has grown hateful. I can help him gain what he truly wants." While You-Know-Who was distracted by Daniel, Harry realized what he saw in the mirror, to be accepted by his family. While his family had abandoned him, this monster had tried to kill them, and was responsible for the deaths of so many others; he wasn't going to give him the stone.
"I'll never join you! Go to Hell!" The wizard turned back to Harry. "Fool! I could have given you power and greatness beyond your wildest dreams! Now suffer the wrath of Lord Voldemort!" There it was, the name Harry had been hunting for; Lord Voldemort. When he heard it, he felt a chill creep up his spine, but also felt something like a great weight off of his shoulders. This Lord Voldemort would fall.
Quirrell turned and raised his hand to cast a deadly curse, but Harry and Daniel charged him and the same time. Caught off guard, Quirrell hesitated and that allowed both boys to grab him and force him to the ground. Quirrell screamed and Harry thought they might have gotten him when he smelled something burning. It was Quirrell. The screams continued, and they with the headache Harry was getting caused him to lose conciseness.
Harry awoke on a comfortable bed to voices in the background. They sounded like his brother's, and there was Professor Dumbledore's. He sat up and at once the Med-witch Madam Pomfrey was at his side. She fussed over him and forced potions down before he could say anything. The voices faded away as the two walked away from the Hospital Wing. Hermione came in a few minutes later and explained everything. She had run into Professor Dumbledore outside the third-floor corridor and he had rushed down to the Stone Chamber. He had come in to Daniel standing over a dead Quirrell and unconscious Harry. Daniel explained that the five of them had tried to prevent Professor Quirrell from stealing the Stone and that Harry had collapsed during the effort. Daniel was hailed as a hero and the Stone was destroyed.
Harry thought about what had happened down in the dungeons. He felt that both he and Daniel should be rewarded but there was nothing to do about it right now. Hermione also told him that he had been out for three days and during that time Ravenclaw had beat Gryffindor in Quidditch and won both the Quidditch and House Cups. Both of them were pleased with this and waited for Harry to be dismissed from the Hospital Wing. Neville also came to visit. He and Ron had been revived not long after the end of the game and had gone with Hermione to try and warn Dumbledore, only to run into him.
Together, the three walked down to the Great Hall which was decorated in bronze and blue to celebrate the victory of Ravenclaw, Slytherin finally losing after six years. Dumbledore stood, "Another year gone, and before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast, the House Cup needs awarding. However, resent events must be taken into account. First, to Mr. Neville Longbottom, for his cool thinking while others were in peril, I award Gryffindor House twenty points. Second, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best game of chess this school has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor House twenty points. Third, to Miss Hermione Granger, for an excellent use of logic in the face of fire, I award Ravenclaw House twenty points. Finally, to Mr. Daniel Potter, for outstanding calmness in the face of danger, pure nerve, and absolute bravery, I award Gryffindor House fifty points.
Harry felt a lead weight in his stomach. Dumbledore's points had given Gryffindor the lead and the House Cup. The Ravenclaw table was shocked while the Gryffindor table cheered loudly. The bronze and blue decorations turned red and gold while Professor Flitwick was sadly shaking Professor McGonagall's hand. Both Harry and Hermione were completely down, Harry more so because Dumbledore hadn't awarded him any points for his part in the rescue of the Sorcerer's Stone.
The next day while they were packing, exam results came and Harry wasn't surprised to find out that he had passed everything with flying colors. What he was surprised to see was that he was ranked second, behind Hermione, who's Transfiguration and Charms scores were slightly higher than Harry's putting her in the top spot. He jokingly told Hermione to watch out, because he would take the top spot from her next year, while she joked not on his life. Laughing, they boarded the train home.
When they arrived, both Hermione and Neville dragged Harry over to meet their families, Dan and Jean Granger for Hermione and Augusta Longbottom for Neville. All three were pleased to meet their child's friends. After promising to write Neville and Hermione, as well as providing the Dursley's phone number, Harry went out into Kings Cross Station to see Uncle Vernon waiting for him. He put Harry's trunk into the boot of his car and they drove home to Privet Drive.
On the continent, a shade fled the northern shores back to its hiding place in Albania. While doing so, it though about two different nights; one ten years ago, the other only a couple of days. That night of his attack, he had stunned the father as he hadn't wanted to spill pureblood, and had spared the mother as a favor to one of his Death Eaters; the two boys however, had to die. When he had burst into the room the boys were exactly alike, so alike he didn't know which one he had thrown the killing curse at because he thought it didn't matter. Oh, how wrong he was.
He didn't learn which one had been dubbed the Boy-Who-Lived until years later when Quirrell had found him. Like the rest of the Wizarding World, he believed the one he tried to kill that night was Daniel, until he looked into their eyes. Before launching his curse, he saw both sets of eyes were the same; hazel. But after the curse backfired, he saw the eyes of the one he tried to kill; they had turned as green and the curse that had tried to claim his life. Now he knew which boy was the true Boy-Who-Lived. That fool Dumbledore had been wrong. He would retreat for now, and plot the death of Harry James Potter.
Up in his office in a hidden castle in Scotland, another being thought about the two Potter boys. Since Harry's arrival here at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore had been very confused about the boy. When he had first arrived on the scene to find both parents unconscious and both boys bawling with cuts on their faces, Dumbledore knew one of them had to be the one spoken of in the prophesy.
He had checked both boys' scars and magical cores. Both scars showed signs of light and dark magic, their cores were different. Checking the magical cores of a baby is an imprecise science, and not very accurate, as was shown this year. Daniel's was halfway depleted, while Harry's was nonexistent. Using this, Dumbledore declared Daniel the Boy-Who-Lived while Harry was a squib. The true test to determine if Harry was a squib would have to take place at an older age as magic starts showing around the ages of six or seven. Harry was with muggles then, so it was not possible to test, nor did he think to.
When he had first told them about Harry being a squib, both parents were heartbroken. Dumbledore explained that it was best for Harry to grow up away and unknowing of the wizarding world because of his lack of magic. Both had argued, but after Dumbledore explained that Harry wouldn't be able to defend himself without magic, James had readily agreed. Lily however, continued to protest, claiming that she could protect Harry just fine. She could not see that she couldn't protect Harry all of the time and that he needed to be able to protect himself.
Lily continued to be as stubborn as she was in her school days, not listening to him or James. Finally, Dumbledore had asked James permission to use a combination of spells and potions to get Lily to give Harry up. He had reluctantly agreed. Using various potions and the Imperious and Confundus spells, Dumbledore got Lily to give Harry to the Dursleys, and had later Obliviated her of all memory of Harry. Unfortunately, this left Lily quite confused when Harry showed up. He looked like Daniel and she had no memory of giving birth to another child.
He knew that Lily had most likely interrogated James during the winter holidays and felt sorry for his former pupil for having to face something like that. Interestingly enough, she had continued to ignore Harry when she got back, most likely still confused. He was not looking forward to the time when everything was out in the open; Lily's temper was more frightening than a mother dragon's.
Daniel had not known about Harry as well, that meant that James hadn't told him about Harry, probably ashamed that he had to give up his son. Mostly likely the loss of Harry had led James to spoil Daniel. Now the boy knew about his lost brother after denying that he was the entire year; that had to be hard to swallow. He knew that with Harry in the Wizarding World, that James and Lily would try to get Harry back. No doubt the boy was angry with his parents for supposedly abandoning him. The boy was smart and very powerful; the reports from his teachers had said as much, he couldn't allow Harry to join Voldemort. Daniel had told him that Harry was almost swayed by Voldemort's offer. If Harry joined Voldemort, Daniel would be overwhelmed and the light would lose, and Dumbledore could not allow that to happen.
I hope you liked it, because it may be awhile before I update again, sorry. Arthur Hawkwing 1, you can stop your reviews now.
