On September 19, 1979, Hermione Granger was born.

Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel had decided to move from France, and live in England, as they had during the 1500's and 1600's when that nice boy Shakespeare had been putting on all his plays. This time they wanted to avoid London. They were looking for a nice, quiet place in the country. Septimus and Cedrella Weasley recommended Ottery St Catchpole in Devon, where one of their sons, Arthur, had settled down with his family. Meanwhile, Nicolas left his Philosopher's Stone with his good friend and colleague, Albus Dumbledore, who secured it at Hogwarts.

Peter was bored. He was back from another boring day at the Ministry. Facing another boring evening at home. Alone.

He enjoyed his occasional meetings with Rookwood at the Hog's Head bar, gossiping about whom he'd seen coming and going at the Ministry Floo's, and now that Remus was rooming with him, about his comings and goings as well. It was an open secret that Remus was spying on the werewolves, and of course someone from the Ministry would want to be kept informed. But he'd just met with Rookwood yesterday, so he wouldn't be seeing him for awhile.

You'd think having a flat-mate like Remus would provide some adventure or at least company, but he was gone most of the time, only turning up every week or so, looking like he'd been spending most of his time outdoors. And then, all he ever wanted to do when he stopped in was clean up and sit by the window reading. And go downstairs for a hot meal. Whenever Peter tried to talk to Remus about what he was doing, he just joked about "running with werewolves," without sharing any details. That seemed to be enough for Rookwood, but it certainly wasn't enough for Peter.

The term at Hogwarts had started up again. Peter Apparated as closely as he could to the grounds, and transformed into a rat. Maybe he could run around the school and find out something interesting.

Rookwood entered the presence of the Dark Lord. "Dumbledore is keeping the Philosopher's Stone for Flamel in his office at Hogwarts until they can move in to their new residence."

"Get it!" ordered Voldemort.

"Yes, my lord."

"We have more information about Horcruxes," said Evan to the other four gathered in his sitting room.

Erwin took a memory strand from a vial, and placed it in the Pensieve on a small table. They all gathered round it, as Evan began playing images of the Dark Lord from various angles on a repeating loop.

"I've modified the memories I got from Evan, of course," said Erwin. "These are spliced from different Death Eater meetings. But they are genuine depictions of the Dark Lord's appearance."

Severus then pulled a memory strand from his own head, placed it in the Pensieve as well, and showed it alongside the images of the Dark Lord.

"This man was transferred from Azkaban to the soul damage ward at St Mungo's," he said, "with extensive damage from performing the AK at least twelve times. What is unique is that he has survived the Dementor's Kiss without losing the ability to communicate or act on his own. In fact, the only difference we have noted is the physical change in his features. One theory is that the Dementors' attack was stopped in time to preserve the man's soul, but this does not explain the physical change. The director of the ward proposes, and I concur, that given the extreme state of soul damage, the Dementor actually managed to consume some, but not all fragments of the man's soul before the attack was broken off."

Severus placed a third strand in the Pensieve from a vial. "We know it isn't the result of performing the AK itself. Here is an image of the same Wizard at his trial." A third image appeared above the Pensieve. The difference was striking.

"Horcruxes. Multiple horcruxes," murmured Florence. "He's already achieved immortality."

"So much for needing a Philosopher's Stone," commented Lily. "And James and Sirius and I just found out from Peter that Dumbledore is keeping one at Hogwarts at the moment. We had everyone over for supper the other day."

"Flamel's?" asked Evan, who had heard about the planned move from his boss, Septimus Weasley. "Why would they have it at Hogwarts? I would think Gringott's would be much more secure."

"Not necessarily," said Erwin. "There was a time, pre-Seclusion, when the Hogwarts Castle was considered the safest place in Great Britain to store anything really valuable. They even had a Basilisk guarding their most secure Chamber. It held some of the Macmillan artefacts for a time. But if the records about the Basilisk Chamber are correct, you'd need a Parseltongue to get in there. If anyone even knows where it is anymore."

"Well, it's beside the point now," said Evan. "I might have tried to use a Philosopher's Stone to bargain with the Dark Lord back when I thought he could be bargained with. But judging from his appearance, he doesn't need it. So I say we concentrate on the Horcruxes."

"Do you think he might prefer the Philosopher's Stone, though?" asked Florence. "Maybe he doesn't want to look like that."

Rookwood had made it into Hogwarts and was waiting patiently, hidden, for Dumbledore to leave his office. It took some effort to get through the Headmaster's wards, as he had expected, and he replaced them with a simple ward just to keep any students from wandering in. He looked around for Fawkes. Pettigrew just knew the Stone was in here somewhere, but Rookwood was certain he knew where Dumbledore would have it secured. He began trying various spells to force Fawkes to let loose what he was guarding.

James saw that Lily was distracted again. She was pacing from room to room in their cottage and he was following her.

"So he still isn't going to do anything about the Philosopher's Stone?" James had finally accepted that it was possible Evan Rosier could be trying to undermine Lord Moldy from within, although he still didn't trust him. And it drove him crazy knowing what Lily could be involved with that she couldn't or wouldn't tell him.

"What would we do with it, James?" she turned and asked, in frustration. "You don't just grab something without a plan for what to do with it!"

"Why not?" James countered. "Maybe sometimes you need something in your hands before you know how to use it. You can't plan for everything."

Maybe James was right. Lily remembered how the Newspaper stunt had delivered Lucius right into Evan's hands back when they were still at Hogwarts, without any planning at all. And maybe Old Moldy would rather not look like a melting candle. Besides, she was getting tired of talking and planning and never actually doing anything.

Lily and James and Peter stood outside the main entrance to Hogwarts in broad daylight, Peter in the form of a rat and James and Lily covered with the Invisibility Cloak. They watched the Marauder's Map closely, waiting until the notations for Dumbledore and Flamel moved outside of the Headmaster's Office, then they ducked quickly inside the castle. They made their way to Dumbledore's office, watching the map to be sure they avoided him, and using Peter to scan the path ahead for portraits or ghosts or Peeves.

When they reached the outside of Dumbledore's office, Lily cast a spell she'd learned from Severus to neutralize the wards on the Headmaster's Office. The door opened! Peter scurried in and started looking for the Stone. James and Lily pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and did likewise.

Suddenly, Fawkes swooped down and dropped the Philosopher's Stone into Lily's hand, then disappeared into a dark corner.

"Run!" said James, and the three of them raced into the corridor.

Rookwood, cornered by Fawkes, wasn't able to break loose until Potter and his Mudblood were well away.

He left the grounds of Hogwarts, and Apparated to Godric's Hollow. He made short work of the wards on their cottage, and settled down to wait for them to show up.

James and Lily ran from the Headmaster's Office almost directly into the Headmaster himself and Nicolas Flamel. A few moments later, the four of them watched a shadowy figure rush out behind him, but although he looked directly at them before running downstairs, he didn't appear to see them. Shortly thereafter, Fawkes swooped down to settle on the Headmaster's shoulder.

"Yes, yes," said the Headmaster to the phoenix. "Well done, well done. Thank you, Fawkes." Then he turned to James and Lily.

"The Philosopher's Stone, please," he commanded politely. Lily, wordlessly, dropped it into his extended hand. The four of them continued on to Hogsmeade, where they had a pleasant meal at the Three Broomsticks, after Dumbledore stopped in briefly to speak with the barkeep at the Hog's Head. When Lily and James finally returned home, their wards were just as they had left them, and no one else was there.

The Dark Lord was not pleased to hear that Rookwood had failed to obtain the Stone. They were not able to track down its new location. And this was now the third time that James Potter and Lily had stood in his way.