A/N I Own Nothing
Ao3 – Once_Upon_A_Potter
"I do feel so sorry, for those who have to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays." Draco Malfoy was saying loudly to any who would listen, his eyes locked on Hailey, "Because they're not wanted at home."
Hailey sighed, loudly flipping the page of her potions book. She was just trying to do her potions homework, but it seemed, no matter what she was doing, Draco Malfoy would take it upon himself to interrupt her.
"Shhh!" Irma Pince shushed from her desk, glaring up at Hailey.
'Really?' Hailey mouthed, what had she done? Turned the page too loudly?
Mrs. Pince turned her glare to Malfoy, and Hailey felt vindicated. If only slightly.
A shadow fell over Hailey, and she glanced up at the person, people in front of her.
"Potter." Granger said, clearing her throat, before getting right to the point. "What do you know about Nicholas Flamel?"
Hailey blinked at the sudden question, "Who?"
"Nicholas Flamel." Granger repeated. Hailey shook her head, and Granger continued, "Hagrid mentioned him the other day. I was wondering if you knew anything about him?"
"Why would I know anything about some random person Hagrid mentioned?" Hailey asked, slightly cross at having been interrupted once again.
"C'mon Hermione," Weasley butt in, "She doesn't know anything."
"Well…" Granger powered on, ignoring Weasley "You knew about what had happened, you know, on Halloween."
Hailey shook her head slowly, "That doesn't mean I know anything about this… Nicholas Flamel, was it?"
"Yeah," Hermione sighed, "It was."
"Hermione, come on." Weasley grumbled, turning to leave and pulling Hermione with him. "She does not know anything."
Hailey watched for a few seconds as they walked away.
"You know," She called out, causing the two Gryffindors to pause and look back at her, as she started packing her books away, "just because I said I didn't know, doesn't mean I wouldn't be willing to help you find out."
The Gryffindors shared a look.
"Now," Hailey continued, "why are we looking for this Nicholas Flamel?"
xXx
Hailey was, perhaps, starting to regret offering her help.
She had scoured the entire library.
Not so much as a single mention of this Nicholas Flamel.
She slumped at the nearest table, eyeing the restricted section.
Maybe she could-
Christmas had just passed, and she had gotten that-
If she used her invisibility cloak, maybe she could sneak into the restricted section?
Someone dropped their books onto the table, making Hailey jump as she looked up to them.
Diggory.
"I wouldn't suggest trying to get into the restricted section, not without a pass." Cedric told Potter, as he sat across from the first year, thinking back to his own ventures into the section in his first year.
He wasn't sure what about the restricted section would interest the Slytherin, but in his own experience, it had been the books about reincarnation. He should have known better than to break the rules, the one about not sneaking into the restricted section especially. He had known better, not that it had stopped him. Just-
God, but he had missed her, still did in fact, possibly more than in those first days of remembering. She had been his Queen, after all, even if she carried none of the grace of one, and all of the grace of a toddler taking their first steps. His wife, and, more importantly, his best friend.
What he had found had not been what he was hoping to.
Instead of the books on reincarnation he had been looking for, he had found books about immortality.
Immortality and how to gain it.
Horcruxes to be exact. Horcruxes and the gruesome details on how to create one. Details no one, let alone an eleven year old (even if that eleven year old was mentally a twenty-eight year old king), needed to know.
At least, as Cedric had learned over the years, a pass for the restricted section limited what a student could find to what the professor that had given the pass had written on it.
Potter raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think I wanted in the restricted section?"
"You were eyeing it." Cedric replied.
Hailey scoffed, leaning back in her seat. It wasn't so much that she wanted in, at this point, but more that she needed in.
Unless…
"What do you know about Nicolas Flamel?" Hailey asked, leaning forward once again.
"Not much." Diggory told her, shrugging, "He's the only known creator of the philosopher's stone, at least in recent years." It had been another thing he had found while in the restricted section.
"The philosopher's stone." Hailey muttered to herself, her mind wandering.
"The mage stone?" Merlyn asked, reading the page the elderly man had shown her.
"Wonder of the ancients." The elderly man explained, "Lost for a thousand years. Or more."
"What does it do?"
"Theoretically?" The man asked, "It could give the bearer the power of life. Or, as it would seem in this case, transformation."
"Gold." Merlyn realized, "The power of alchemy."
"Exactly. I believe it was the mage stone, that you sensed on the night of Tom's arrest."
"Of course!" Merlyn exclaimed, "Gwen had said that Tauren had some kind of stone!"
"The mage stone." Hailey mumbled to herself, sighing.
"Yeah," Diggory drawled, "That is another name for it. How did you-?" He started, only to be cut off when Hailey shook her head.
Why? Why would two first year Gryffindors be looking for the person that had created a philosopher's stone? Had they even known just who they had been researching?
Hailey jumped up from her seat, "I'm going to be late for class." She told Diggory, before rushing off, stumbling over her own feet as she went.
Cedric stared after her. She did know that it was Christmas break, right?
xXx
Several nights later, and Hailey was waking in a cold sweat, swearing that she could feel magic pulsing through Hogwarts, like blood pulsing through veins.
She rolled out of bed, grateful that she was the only Slytherin girl in her year that had stayed for the holidays. She left the dorm room, grabbing her invisibility cloak as she went.
Hailey had to find the source of the magic.
She didn't understand it. She just had to.
She was led out of the Slytherin dormitories, up the stairs, to the library, into the restricted section, and into a room at the back of the restricted section.
She stepped slowly up to the mirror set in the center of the room.
A wave passed over the room, and instead of seeing just herself, as one might expect looking into a mirror, she saw herself and many people surrounding her.
She turned, looking around herself, she was, indeed, still alone.
Looking closely at the mirror, she noticed, who she had thought was herself… wasn't.
The girl, woman really, while she had the same messy, curly raven hair as Hailey, there were several things that weren't the same. Sapphire blue eyes instead of emerald green, being the most prominent.
She looked to be in her mid to late twenties, maybe around twenty-six or twenty-seven? She wore a seemingly silk dress, long sleeves, and skirt brushing the floor, bright red with golden trim on the neckline and waist.
On her left was a man just a couple years older than the woman, with golden blonde hair and sky blue eyes, he stood tall, hand on the sword hanging at his hip. Clad in chainmail and a cloak, cape really, the same red as the woman's dress, a small, golden dragon embroidered on the breast.
Standing behind and to the man's left, were another man and woman, the man with green eyes, salt and pepper hair, and a crown sat atop his head, stood tall and proud. Clad in similar chainmail and cape as the blonde man, who Hailey could only assume was his son.
If only because of the woman to his right, obviously his wife, but with the same blue eyes, and same golden hair (if only a shade lighter) as the blonde man.
On the other side of the mirror, to the right and behind the woman, was another man and woman, the man, scraggly, with brown eyes, and the woman with the same raven hair and sapphire blue eyes as the first.
And at the back, behind all of them, were several knights, most not looking to have a noble drop of blood in their bodies, and a handful of servants, one looking to be the sister of one of the knights.
Despite not recognizing them, Hailey felt a longing sadness as she looked at them, for some more than others.
Hailey slowly backed away from the mirror, tearing her eyes away as she left the room, heading back to her dormitory, not visiting the restricted section.
As tempting as it may be, something inside her was telling her not to return.
xXx
"I found him!" Neville exclaimed, rather loudly, blushing when other students in the library turned to look at the group. Hailey wasn't sure when the two Gryffindors had decided to include him in their search. He continued in a whisper, "Listen to this, 'Albus Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of Gellert Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of Dragon's blood,'" At this, Hailey's eye twitched, "'and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!"
"Stay there!" Granger exclaimed, jumping up and rushing over to Mrs. Pince. They watched as she spoke to the librarian, before being handed an enormous book.
When Granger returned, she dropped it on the table with a loud bang, earning a glare from the librarian. "I had never thought to look in this!" She explained, flipping through the pages, "I had just returned it today, after checking it out for a bit of light reading weeks ago."
"Light?" Weasley muttered in disbelief.
"There it is!" Granger whisper-shouted, "Nicolas Flamel was the only known maker of the Philosopher's stone!"
Hailey frowned, wasn't there one in the time of Camelot? There was no way this Nicolas Flamel's that old. She glanced around the group, noticing Neville squinting at the book.
"The what?" Weasley asked.
"…that can't be right…" Hailey just barely heard Neville mutter over Weasley.
"Honestly!" Granger exclaimed, "Don't you ever read? Potter and Neville know what I'm talking about! Look, read that there."
She shoved the book in front of Weasley. Hailey made eye contact with Neville, glad that she wasn't the only one confused by the 'only creator of the philosopher's stone' thing.
xXx
Hailey was returning from the quidditch match, she hadn't particularly wanted to go, but Daphne had dragged her along, despite it being Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.
Then the other girl had ditched her on the way back.
So here Hailey was, walking back to the castle on her own.
She did a double take at the cloaked figure that had rushed past her, seemingly without seeing her.
Snape?
As in, her head of house?
What was he doing, sneaking around like some bandit that didn't want to be caught?
The professor took a sudden turn into a classroom, door shutting softly behind him.
Hailey came to a stop just outside the door, listening in on the conversation.
"…d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus…" Hailey heard Professor Quirrell stutter.
"I thought we would keep this private." Professor Snape told him, his voice icy. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all."
Hailey didn't catch what Professor Quirrell had mumbled in return, just Professor Snape's reply.
"Have you figured out how to get past that beast yet?"
"B-But Severus, I-"
"You don't want me as your enemy." Professor Snape said, Hailey could practically hear the snarl in his voice. One of the men took a step forward.
"I-I don't know what yo-"
"You know what I mean."
There was a pause.
Then a scoff.
"I'd like to see you try anything against me." If Professor Snape's voice had been icy, Hailey didn't know how to describe Professor Quirrell's. It sounded how one might describe being suddenly thrown into the Artic. The stutter was once again gone. "Now, I'm done with this small talk, I have better things to do."
"Very well," Snape conceded, "We'll have another chat soon, after you've decided where your loyalties lie."
"Oh, trust me when I say, Severus, my loyalties do not lie with your… lord." There were footsteps toward the door, and Hailey scampered away, just as Quirrell finished speaking and opened the door, "There are better, more powerful entities out there, who haven't been defeated by a mere infant."
Unbeknownst to Hailey, Quirrell, having stepped out of the room, had continued, "I like to think myself amongst them."