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Perhentian

oOoOoOo

Chapter 4 - September 1991 - June 1992

Hermione Granger looked with boredom at crowd on the platform in front of her, and sighed as she saw various parents gushing around their children. She had been waiting for at least half an hour now. She knew Ron would be late, the Weasley always were, but why were Harry and Sirius not there yet?

Hermione stroked Crookshanks absent-mindedly. When she had visited Diagon Alley with her parents, she had insisted to get a cat, to be able to recover Crookshanks at the earliest. It was done now, and as always Crookshanks was the best to appease her nervousness. That, and having her vine wand secured in the pocket of her robe, right next to her other wand.

Finally, Harry and Sirius emerged on the platform 9 ¾. For a few seconds it was as if nothing had happened. Then various parents noticed Sirius, whose face was quite well known in the wizarding world, first as a traitor and then as a victim. And after that, some glances fell on Harry Potter. The Boy-Who-Lived. The vanquisher of Voldemort – or so they thought –. Who had almost never appeared in public before.

When Harry realized that the attention of the people around was focused on him, his eyes widened slightly under panic. Hermione laughed quietly as she remembered the stories of his trip to Diagon Alley, which had taken several long hours due to the fact that everyone had wanted to talk to him. Harry hugged Sirius very briefly and headed to the train, hoping to enter quickly into the first carriage within reach. At the exact spot where Hermione was waiting for him, having anticipated his behaviour.

"Need some help with Hedwig?" she asked softly .

Harry jumped, before smiling at her. His green eyes were shining brightly, and Hermione had a thankful thought for Sirius for buying the overpriced potion that had corrected Harry's short-sightedness. Harry handed Hedwig's cage to her and they disappeared into the carriage.

oOoOoOo

When Harry, Ron and Hermione were finally all seated in one compartment, they look at each other uncertainly for a split second. Then they all threw themselves into each other's arms, laughing uncontrollably.

"Wow, it's been way too long," Ron said.

"That we've not seen each other, or that we haven't taken the Hogwarts Express?" Harry asked.

"Both," Ron laughed. "I was such a prick the last time, sorry about that Harry. To speak about your scar and Voldemort two minutes after meeting you… you're a real bro for not kicking me out of your life at that time!"

"How could you have been so insensitive Ron?" Hermione asked reproachfully.

"You've quoted all the books he was in the first time you saw him!" Ron replied indignantly.

Hermione rolled her eyes, while Ron patted Harry's shoulder. The latter, however, was not paying attention to his friends anymore. Following his gaze, Hermione noticed Ginny standing on the platform beside her parents. The eyes of the young redhead lit up when her gaze met Harry's and Hermione looked away, feeling like an intruder between them. There was so much longing there, so much yearning to be together after all those years apart that is was nearly unbearable.

The Hogwarts Express was already starting and Hermione rummaged through her bag. She pulled out four books, all covered with a thick black cover and of quite unwelcoming aspect.

"You'll never really change Hermione," Ron commented.

"I'm reading those books because of you," Hermione answered hypocritically .

Hermione looked at the four books, picked out two, and then hesitated between starting with "Runes of Power" or "Rites and Rituals from Mephistopheles". She remembered having already flipped through the first one in her previous life, without really remembering it. As for the second book, she was pretty sure that it was not the real version, which was absolutely impossible to find. But maybe it still would have some interesting insights inside...

"You should transfigure them Hermione," Harry pointed out. "I know that no one can read the title except you, but they do not look like harmless books. Especially in the hands of a first year."

Hermione pulled out her vine wand and casted several spells, transfiguring the books into Muggle novels.

"Have you managed to remove your Trace?" she asked.

Hermione had done it herself the very night McGonagall had put the Trace on her, sneaking out of her house to reached Knockturn Alley, so the important magical concentration of the place would prevent the Ministry of Magic from detecting the disappearance of the trace around her.

Harry and Ron confirmed doing it on the platform 9 ¾ just few minutes ago. Now all three would be able to freely cast magic outside of Hogwarts.

"Ah, and let me put a location jammer on you," Hermione said.

"A location jammer? Why bother?" Ron asked.

"For the Marauder's Map," Hermione answered. "In case Fred or George try to locate us… After my spell, the map will only show them where they think we are, rather than where we really are."

In a few wand movements it was done.

"Have you managed to get your own wand Ron, or did you get Charlie's?" Harry asked.

Harry had passed down a few Galleons to Ron via Hermione so the redhead could buy his own wand, but Ron winced.

"I haven't been able to shake off my mother long enough to do it. But in hindsight, Charlie's wand's not really that bad."

"I never asked the question before, but why has Charlie changed his wand?" Hermione asked.

It was quite unusual to buy a new wand without losing the first one.

"According to him, this wand was not powerful enough to tame dragons. I'm pretty sure he actually did it on purpose so I could have a wand from Ollivander. Mom would never have allowed him to give her money directly, and with Percy, the twins and myself, that's four people for whom my parents should pay Hogwarts' expensive tuition fees at the same time…"

Hermione nodded slowly, feeling a real sense of gratitude towards Charlie. Giving his own wand away so his little brother can have a correct one… Those strong family ties were really wonderful, this generosity even when they were so poor, their incredible heart… Hermione also knew that during Ron's first and second year, Arthur would work many extra hours to cover the four tuition fees – five with Ginny –, until he won the Daily Prophet draw during the summer of 1993 that had allowed him to breathe again.

Then Hermione blotted out the ongoing discussion between Harry and Ron and finally plunged into "Runes of Power". She was looking both for information about resurrection rituals, and ideas on how to get around Voldemort's blood wards in Slytherin Castle's library, still hoping they could avoid to resurrect the dark wizard.

Hermione noticed that the trolley had passed by only when Harry noisily poured a huge pile of sweets on the table, making her jump.

"A Chocolate Frog Hermione?" he proposed.

Hermione hesitated for a moment before accepting. It had been so long since she had eaten one, and this train trip made her somewhat nostalgic of that distant time when she had just joined the magical world.

"What is the point of eating Chocolate Frogs when we don't even have our own cards anymore?" Ron scoffed.

"Ron, you've been trying to make me feel guilty about it at least five times a year in the last four years," Harry sighed.

"That's because you deserve it!" Ron replied. "I don't care if I have to live thought Voldemort and Umbridge again, but losing my Chocolate Frog card, that's a real disaster!"

Harry tossed a bundle of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans in his face. They both ignored the glare Hermione sent them and she wondered if they were not taking advantage of begin seemingly young again. Especially Harry, who's childhood had not been really nice the first time around.

The next few hours passed peacefully, Harry and Ron chattering quietly, and Hermione reading her books. Until Neville knocked on the door of their compartment.

"Sorry, but have you seen a toad at all?" he asked.

Hermione felt a twinge in her heart seeing the sad face of the boy who would later become a world-renowned war hero and botanist. As well as one of their closest friend. The last time she had seen him, he had just been killed fighting bravely against the magical source eruption, sacrificing his life in the hope of saving others .

"No, sorry," she answered. "What's your name? I'm Hermione Granger, and those two dunderheads are Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

"Hey!" Ron protested.

Neville's gaze suddenly focused on Harry, but he quickly turned his eyes away with an embarrassed expression. Hermione was instantly remembered of how shy he had been in the beginning.

"I'm Neville Longbottom. Well, if you see my toad..."

"You should ask one of the prefects to cast an Accio on it. It's the attraction spell," Harry pointed out.

"Yes, I'll do that, thank you," Neville replied.

"Good luck and see you soon in Hogwarts!" Ron said.

Neville smiled tentatively at them and closed the door behind him.

"It's really weird to see Neville again," Harry said. "I really wanted to offer him to stay with us, to tell him that he will have a bright future and is one of the bests friends I've ever had... Don't look at like that Hermione, I know I cannot do that, I'm not stupid."

Hermione also felt sorry for Neville. But their situation was such that they could not possibly be too friendly with others. There were too many things depending on them, they could not allow themselves to be distracted.

"Shouldn't there also be a girl with terrible hair and a bossy attitude that would annoy us for twenty minutes or so?" Ron asked with mock innocence.

"Don't forget that she then should attend to the worst spellcasting demonstration ever seen in all wizarding history," Hermione replied.

"I wonder how I could have been naive enough at the time to try a spell suggested by George," Ron said thoughtfully. "In fact, I should consider myself quite lucky that this spell had had no effect at all. It could have been much worse knowing the twins!"

Ron's eyes where shinning happily and Hermione knew he was thinking about Fred and George, once again together and inseparable.

"Well, we still have a lot of time, would you mind giving me a hand?"

Hermione handed them two books, and they took them with an exaggerated sigh, which she knew perfectly well to be false. Both Harry and Ron had really helped during her research on Wales' magical source the first time around, and in the recent years Harry had also spent much more time in the Black library than what Sirius considered healthy.

"What should we look for?" Harry asked.

"The use of unicorns' horns in youth potions. To estimate a potential use in a resurrection ritual."

"I think I never asked you, but why don't you just learn about the ritual he used the first time? Why are you looking for others?" Harry said.

Hermione refrained from rolling her eyes, but Harry still had to perceive her state of mind because he gave her an apologetic smile which clearly meant that if he was not more interested in the details of her research it was because he trusted her. This quieted Hermione's frustration at the lack of attention he paid to the details of her research.

"Firstly, I refuse to sacrifice anyone's hand," Hermione answered. "Secondly, one could hardly say that you're still his enemy Harry, since you will give your blood voluntarily. And finally, the ritual in question did not last a few minutes like what you had seen, but months and months, with many steps all along, some of which required action's from Voldemort's side. We will not be able to realize it against his will."

"Then, it may indeed be better to find another ritual," Harry agreed.

They spent the rest of the journey scribbling notes on parchments they had spread on the table. At least until the compartment door opened again. Harry was the quickest to react and, with a wand motion, made all documents on the table invisible.

"I forgot about that one," Ron grumbled quietly.

Draco Malfoy, escorted by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, entered their compartment as if it was his own, his eyes fixed on Harry.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," Harry replied with a hint of fatalism that the Malfoy heir obviously did not perceive.

"This is Crabbe and this is Goyle," the boy said carelessly. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Hermione had to restrain herself not to burst out laughing at the Draco's mannerism. He was such a caricature when he was younger… He turned to look at her and opened his mouth, but Harry interrupted him.

"Nice to meet you," Harry said with a slight smirk. "This is my best friend, Ron Weasley, and the girl here is the smartest witch I've ever met, Hermione Granger."

"Weasley? Granger?" Draco Malfoy snorted. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand to Harry and Harry shook his hand but his gaze was now cold.

"Cultural diversity is the true wealth of our world," Harry said simply. "Now if you don't mind, we must change."

Draco Malfoy seemed to hesitate for a moment, quite disturbed by Harry's far too mature answer, and Hermione stood up, deliberately brushing past him. Draco Malfoy glared at her and immediately rushed out of the compartment. The door slammed shut, and Hermione burst out laughing, soon followed by Ron and Harry.

"I had forgotten that he was such a pompous git," she managed to say between two bursts of laughter.

"It's hard to believe that he will become an okay-ish guy in the end," Ron added.

"He still has a long way to go," Harry said more seriously.

The three of them exchanged a look, and Hermione knew that they were all thinking of all the way they themselves had to go. Then they all turned their backs and changed quickly. When she finished, Hermione saw from the corner of her eyes Harry adjust something shiny under his robe.

"Harry? Don't tell me that you brought Slytherin's Locket to Hogwarts?"

"Of course I've brought it. What do you expect me to do with it? Leave it in Grimmauld Place, where anyone could stumble on it?"

Hermione pursed her lips and looked at him sadly.

"You're right… I just don't like the fact that you're wearing it all the time. Perhaps you could entrust it to me for the coming month? We could alternate between the three of us, like a long time ago."

Harry simply shrugged.

"It's been more than three years since I started wearing it, without any impact. I can wear it a little longer. I will let you keep the diary, the ring, the cup and the diadem."

"You're too kind," Ron commented sarcastically. "Talking about dangerous things, I remind you that there's still a huge basilisk in the basement of Hogwarts."

"It's currently under a strong stasis spell that only Voldemort or his descendants may lift," Hermione said. "But I suppose it would be safe to add our own stasis spell on it."

"When are we doing this then?" Ron asked.

"Not this year," Hermione answered. "We have no idea if Quirrell has gone to the Chamber of Secrets or not at one time or another during our first year."

oOoOoOo

The sorting ceremony was the same as in her memories, and Hermione was the first of her friends to be called. She advanced apprehensively, not really knowing what to expect. McGonagall put the hat on her head and she immediately felt it reach tentatively to her mind.

"You'll need to open up a little to me young girl, otherwise I will not be able to do my job," the hat said after a few unsuccessful attempts to breach her Occlumency shields.

Hermione smiled slightly. Of course the Sorting Hat used legilimency to understand children characters. No normal child would be able to protect himself completely against this kind of magic.

"What do you do for those who refuse to reveal their thoughts?" she asked out of curiosity.

"If they are trying so much to protect themselves, and if they succeed, then they would fare well in Slytherin," the hat answered.

"Is that what happened for Tom Riddle?"

Hermione felt the Sorting Hat shake on her head and she had the strange feeling that it felt assaulted.

"I don't reveal anything about the students," it said dryly. "Now let me see your mind young girl if you want me to sort you properly."

Hermione slightly lowered her Occlumency shields, and felt the Sorting Hat delve into her memories. She was ready to plead for Gryffindor in case the Hat tried to offer her Ravenclaw.

"No no no," the hat said. "You may have a lot of other characteristics, but what determines you the most is still the courage to pursue your ideas until the very end. GRYFFINDOR!"

Hermione stood up and handed the Sorting Hat to McGonagall, strangely surprised. Of course she had always followed Harry and Ron, but she had never felt particularly courageous herself. Far away in any case from the bravery that characterized her two closest friends.

She walked slowly to Gryffindor's table, who clapped for her, and sat near Seamus. The list continued until Harry was called, and she watched as her friend came to sit under the hat. The Sorting Hat announced Gryffindor after a few minutes and Harry walked over to her, a big smile on his face, as the Weasley twins yelled "We got Potter! We got Potter". Probably because it was an opportunity to make some ruckus without anyone protesting. A few minutes later, Ron joined them.

They were back.

oOoOoOo

The first evening was a sad reminder of how their years in Hogwarts would not be the same this time. All the people they had seen grow, mature, and become respectable wizards in their past life were still young here, frighteningly young. So terribly different from the people they had parted with when they went back in time.

Lavender and Parvati were still those silly little girls who expected Prince Charming to save and love them. Seamus and Dean were still these young boys who talked only about sports and who did not know how to approach girls. Even Percy, who had seemed so mature, so adult when Hermione had first entered Hogwarts, was still only a young boy trying desperately to find a place in his family by being the perfect son.

And even the first classes had been difficult for them. They could not just pretend to be three geniuses, not to the extent of their real capacities. But it was actually quite complex to botch a spell without endangering anyone. During the first transfiguration class, Ron had turned his match into a fish by trying not to turn it into a needle. Only Harry's quick reaction – vanishing the fish – had allow them to avoid McGonagall suspicions. From her side, Hermione had made her feather levitate so forcefully in charms that it had destroyed part of the ceiling, although she was in fact only trying to make her feather levitate weakly. And it was only the beginning.

oOoOoOo

Severus Snape looked disdainfully at the first years in his classroom. Another bunch of incompetent idiots he was doomed to teach. Minerva always spoke of the feeling of accomplishment she felt when she saw her students grow and progress year on year, but he only felt contempt when he saw the same mediocrity again and again, the same stupid mistakes.

His own godson should not be a total disaster, even if the child was a pureblooded and spoiled little snot who knew nothing about how life could be cruel. But this year would nonetheless be the worst of all, because there was Potter. Severus did not refrain his contemptuous grimace when his gaze followed the carbon copy of James Potter setting himself at a desk at the back of the classroom. Probably believing that he was going to be able to make a ruckus in his class and behave as badly as his father and his godfather had.

"Potter!" he said as soon as he had finished his introduction on the subtle science and exact art of potion-making. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

A strange expression passed on the child's face. An expression that Snape would have described as nostalgic if there was absolutely no reason for the Potter brat to feel that way.

"A sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death, sir."

Sheer luck probably, Severus thought angrily.

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"Bezoars are found in the stomachs of goats, sir."

Severus squinted suspiciously , wondering if Potter had found a way to cheat.

"What's the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"There is no difference, sir, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."

Severus Snape was slightly surprised he had to admit it. The boy's seriousness reminded him more of Lily than James Potter. And those eyes that looked at him without blinking, exactly the same shade as those of the brilliant witch Severus had condemned to death. Perhaps Potter had taken more of her than of her idiotic husband in the end. Perhaps he should give the boy a chance to prove himself, he thought while giving instructions to prepare a potion to cure boils.

But then, no more than ten minutes later, Potter blew up his cauldron, splashing the entire classroom and all the students with a greenish liquid that turned out to be quite corrosive, a feat of destruction that should have been impossible, and Severus decided that the boy was not worth his time.

oOoOoOo

During the flying lesson, Hermione discreetly casted a spell on Neville to make his broom go down when he lost control of it and there was no mockery, no incident, no nightly duel, and no impromptu encounter with Fluffy. Harry mildly protested against the missed opportunity for him to join the Quidditch team, but quickly fell silent under Hermione's glare, and her reminder that she had done this to prevent any taunting towards Neville.

After the first weeks they started to convincingly botch their spells, and could easily pass as any normal young wizards. Soon, the teachers had categorized them as inattentive and slightly lazy students – even Hermione was reluctant to waste time writing long essays for homework when they had to focus on much more important topics – but undoubtedly gifted. Except perhaps Snape, who still watched Harry as if he was going to destroy Hogwarts by his mere presence.

Time passed strangely fast. Soon it was Halloween, but this time Hermione was not in danger and Harry and Ron wisely followed Percy's orders. Then the first Quidditch match. But Harry was not playing, so Quirrell did not attempt anything against him. Gryffindor lost, Terence Higgs having grabbed the snitch, and Harry and Ron were moody all day, much to Hermione's despair, who still did not understand how they could be so passionate about a mere sport.

During Christmas, Harry received the invisibility cloak from Dumbledore, and they were finally able to walk at night in Hogwarts freely, Hermione having this time remained in Hogwarts during the holidays. They firstly established their headquarters in the restricted section of the library, but moved very quickly in the Room of Requirement when they realized that it provided them a direct access to the restricted section when they worked their requirements correctly. And it was also possible to transform the room in a duelling room for them to practice their skills from time to time.

To ensure that the timeline was preserved, Harry went several nights in a row to see the Mirror of Erised, until he finally met Dumbledore there. However, he lied to the headmaster, saying that he was seeing his parents in the mirror, when in fact he was seeing Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and all their children and grandchildren, his first life having finally brought him a lot of love and good moments he was not sure he would be able to relive again. Although Harry was convinced that their current plan was their best chance to stop the magical source disaster, he was lucid enough to know that there was still a good chance for everything to go wrong.

Out of the corner of their eyes, they were closely watching Quirrell, Harry occasionally venturing to use the bond he had with Voldemort to spy on him. Even with his grasp on Quirrell's vital energy, the Dark Lord was still extremely week, only waking up from time to time to give some orders to his servant, and his attention was mostly focused on the stone, and rarely on Harry.

Hermione had to confess that she was almost impressed by what Voldemort had managed to do - robbing Gringotts, manipulating Hagrid, passing all the tests keeping the stone - when he had barely enough energy to maintain his hold on Quirrell. But at least he clearly did not have the strength to take more than an distant interest in them.

For now everything was fine.

oOoOoOo

Soon it was spring. And Hermione, Ron and Harry were getting more and more nervous. Once more they had needed to send Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback to Romania. They had not been caught this time of course, and had saved themselves a trip to the Forbidden Forest. But once that task was done, there was nothing left to do before the end of the year and Quirrell's attempt to stole the Philosopher's Stone. It was one thing to say that they had to get the stone, but they all knew it would not be that simple. Because they wanted to do it discreetly, without alerting nor Dumbledore, nor Voldemort. And there was one other thing that was problematic…

"What do we do with Quirrell?" Hermione asked one day.

"Quirrell?" Harry said, lifting his nose from a seemingly harmless book that dealt with dark magic.

"Last time Quirrell had been killed and Voldemort had been reduced to a mere wraith, again. If Voldemort remains with Quirrell, we have no idea what he will do," Hermione explained.

"Are you telling me I need to kill Quirrell?" Harry asked, alarmed.

Hermione shivered. Quirrell may have been a Death Eater, but he was still a human being and it was hardly their place to decide his fate. Hardly their place to bypass the law. After all, if they did it, they were no better than Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"I'm just saying that we need to do something to force Voldemort to leave Quirrell's body," Hermione said. "So he will act in a way we can predict."

Ron, Harry and Hermione exchanged a look across the huge coffee table they were sitting around in the Room of Requirement.

"Is it possible to force Voldemort out without killing Quirrell?" Ron asked.

Hermione absentmindedly petted Crookshanks, who was as always curled up near her when she was researching.

"Isn't it an opportunity to capture Voldemort?" Harry asked. "Even if we don't resurrect him right away?"

Hermione froze, not liking at all the idea of keeping Voldemort imprisoned in their care for several years.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said slowly. "Your scar allows us in any case to find him, and keeping him locked up for three year... I would prefer him to wander aimlessly in Albania to be honest. I have no desire to see if he can manage to possess one of us."

"You still think he must be resurrected at the end of our fourth year?" Ron asked.

"Yes," Hermione answered. "I prefer to stay as close as possible to the original timeline, and you won't be able to change my mind on that. And anyway, we still haven't found a suitable ritual."

Hermione saw Ron ponder her words as Harry scribbled something on the parchment in front of him.

"In this case we need to get the stone back on the same day as last time and wait for Quirrell in the last room," Ron said. "The Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder will hide our identities. Voldemort will think it was Dumbledore's trap. And Dumbledore will think that Voldemort has recovered the stone on his own. At least that way Dumbledore will already be suspicious if somehow Voldemort manages to escape after his resurrection."

Hermione agreed. The plan seemed ok. Ron would have no difficulty to recreate the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, having spent his entire career at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes with George. And Voldemort would have no suspicions of their involvement .

"We still have no idea about how to separate Voldemort from Quirrell," Harry reminded.

"I'll look into that," Hermione sighed.

oOoOoOo

All three of them were standing in front of the door of the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side, looking at it with clear suspicion. They had come several hours ahead of their first life schedule, just after their History of Magic exam. They were going to miss dinner, but it was not such a strange occurrence for them and no one would notice.

"So?" Ron asked. "Are the detection spells complicated ones?"

"No, not really," Hermione answered.

"Who had triggered them the last time? Quirrell? Us?" Harry asked as Hermione began to wave her wand in various patterns.

"Those ones? Us," Ron replied. "Hermione has not even asked us to shut up as she's currently working on them, so I doubt Voldemort, even with its current weakness and Quirrell's more than dubious help, would have triggered them."

"Those ones?" Harry noticed.

"There must be others below there, because this has always been intended as a trap for Voldemort," Ron said. "Probably in the mirror room to block him there, and then Dumbledore would have been able to confront him. But he had not expected our intervention, and in a way we had let Voldemort escape… You'll need to be cautious regarding the last room wards Hermione."

"Yes, I know," Hermione answered without looking at her friends.

Lulling Fluffy to sleep was easy. Going through the Devil's Snare child's play. Catching the flying key could have been quick if Harry had not insisted to use the brooms for his own entertainment. The chessboard, on the other hand, was more problematic.

"I'm sure I can finish this game in less than forty minutes," Ron said.

"And I'm sure I can undo the transfiguration in less than thirty," Hermione answered.

"But if you remove the transfiguration, Voldemort will notice it," Ron argued.

"The last time we played this game, you ended up stunned in a corner of the room," Hermione replied.

"I was twelve!"

Finally Harry stepped in and decided that playing the game would be better. Hermione had to admit that Ron aced it, and soon enough they were on the other side of the board. Before leaving, Hermione casted a confounding spell on the chessboard to ensure the pieces would not be able to remember them.

Finally Hermione started working on the wards surrounding the mirror room while staying in Snape's puzzle room. It took her nearly an hour but she managed to make all three of them pass without breaking the wards. Harry had no problem recovering the Philosopher's Stone, though Hermione had to spend another hour erasing her friend's face from the mirror's memory. Dumbledore was an incredible wizard, and his spell work was definitely impressive.

In the end they did not need to wait long until Quirrell and Voldemort arrived. Hermione threw the darkness powder and it worked perfectly well, plunging the room into complete darkness for everyone except her. The next steps of the plan were simple. Hermione had found a ritual of exorcism that should work perfectly to separate Voldemort from Quirrell. She only needed to stun Quirrell.

What they had not anticipated was the feral terror that gripped their teacher when he realized he could not see anything. Quirrell threw himself backwards, avoiding by sheer luck Hermione's Stupefix, then let out a hysterical yell that froze Hermione for few seconds.

She casted a second Stupefix, but Quirrell - or perhaps it was Voldemort –, had erected a shield, and her spell bounced off it with a clear sound that echoed in the room .

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Quirrell shouted.

Then another voice spoke.

"Silence! Tenebras accen..."

Hermione froze, recognizing the incantation. There was no doubt that the spell in question would succeed in overcoming the enchantments of the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. But Harry reacted faster than her, having probably recognized Voldemort's voice.

"Expelliarmus!" he casted in an approximate direction.

There was a new sound when his spell impacted the shield and Quirrell threw himself blindly on Harry. A cry of pain was heard when he fell right on Harry. The latter tried to disengage himself but Quirrell had involuntarily made him drop his wand, and was crushing Harry under him. The professor tried to stand up, but stumbled and fell back on Harry's legs. A sickening smell of burning flesh started to fill in the room.

"Do something!" Ron shouted.

He was looking at one of the walls, but Hermione knew he was addressing her – the only one to see what was going on – and that made her come out of her torpor.

"Expulso!" Hermione casted.

Quirrell was thrown backwards and hit the wall behind him violently. The resulting cracking sound plunged the room into complete silence and Hermione watched in horror as Quirrell's body fell limply on the floor.

"Oh no, oh no no no ," she murmured.

She rushed to the professor just in time to see a black shadow rise from his body before disappearing. She looked for a pulse, without finding any, before casting a diagnostic spell that confirmed her that Quirrell was dead.

"I killed Quirrell," she said in a high-pitched voice.

"What?" Ron said.

She noticed Ron and Harry trying to walk towards her, but did not really react, desperately trying to revive Quirrell.

"And Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"He flew away," Hermione murmured.

"Can you cancel the powder's effects Hermione please?" Ron asked.

His tone was calm and reassuring, reminding her of the Ron who had at one time being able to sooth all her worries. With a quick wand motion Hermione made the darkness disappear, and Harry and Ron joined her near Quirrell's body.

"Calm down Hermione," Harry said softly. "It was an accident, okay?"

"I killed him Harry!"

"Not sure if it was really you or the curse," Ron said. "A simple Expulso shouldn't have broken his neck!"

"But..."

"Come on Hermione," Ron cut her off. "We need to make an appearance in the common room tonight to avoid any suspicions, and what is done, is done. The path we have decided to follow is risky, and we knew it from the beginning. What we need to avoid is the death of all of us in 50 years, not the one of a Death Eater whose dreams were to resurrect Voldemort and kill Harry."

Hermione nodded weakly. Quirrell should not have died, but it was not right the moment to dwell on it. Harry gently took her arm, and they all came out of the room. With a flick of her wand, Hermione triggered Dumbledore's alarms, slightly guilty of the anxiety the old man would inevitably feel when he would discover Quirrell's lifeless body and the Philosopher's Stone gone.

oOoOoOo

AN: See you next week for the second year.