Later that same Monday evening there were three separate meetings taking place, all of them making plans. The first meeting consisted of Severus Snape, Poppy Pomfrey and Draco Malfoy, in the potion master's quarters, where they planned how to hide Harry Potter from Albus Dumbledore. The second was taking place in the Gryffindor first-year boys dorm where Ronald Weasely and Dean Thomas planned to oust their potion master as the evil Slytherin he was. The last meeting was in the office of Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore where he was planning how to get Harry under his control, with Molly Weasley and Minerva McGonagall.

Severus's Personal Quarters:

After Severus and Poppy had moved Harry onto the bed in the guest room, they went to the sitting room, where the Malfoy heir was waiting for them patiently. Well, he thought he was being patient. In reality, he was pacing the carpet, clothes were ruffled, and hair was standing on end from where he had been pulling at it.

Seeing the boy who usually took such pride in his appearance, looking the way he did at that moment, sent Severus over the edge. He started laughing, first with a giggle and soon turning absolutely hysterical. Worried the matron summoned a calming draught and shoved it into the man's hands, ordering him to 'drink up.'

One he was once again under control, Severus flicked his wand at his Godson, who quickly began to look like himself once more.

"Thank you, Godfather, I am just so worried about him!"

"I know you are Dragon, as am I. He will recover, he has the best healer in the country looking after him," Severus replied, sending a wink at Poppy before carrying-on, "we have bigger problems at hand I am afraid. We have to keep Harry here without letting the Old Coot know. This will be hard. We can't just pretend he has a cold, because everyone will expect him to be better in a few days."

Poppy, quickly interrupted, "Similarly we cannot say he has something life-threatening or the Headmaster WILL insist on seeing the boy."

This caused Draco to exclaim, "We also can't let that Gryffindor bint get away with not only sabotaging his potion but almost killing him!"

"Okay, one thing at a time, Dragon, do you think now that you have calmed down, you could describe the girl in question?" The potion mater queried.

Draco nodded his head and replied, "she has straight, chestnut brown hair and azure blue eyes. Her skin is almost but not quite as pale as my own. She is usually quiet, especially for a Gryffindor, and seems to be quite average in each class we share. Hence why I don't know her name, she is just... plain."

Severus sat there quietly as he tried to discover which of his first year Gryffindors it could have been. Not the Granger girl, her hair is light brown and a wild bush. Nor the Patil twin, as she has the dark skin of her Indian heritage. It couldn't be Brown, she was the most boisterous of the group. Which only left one possible suspect, Fay Dunbar.

"I believe we are dealing with miss Faye Dunbar being the culprit. I honestly don't know much about here. I did go to school with her parents, but they were five years my senior," the potion master admitted.

"You and I both Severus, know that Albus will never persecute a Gryffindor, no matter what they do. We will need to deliver our own punishment. However, I believe Harry may want to be included in those plans once he awakens. I believe that we need to move onto the next matter at hand, how to hide Harry," Poppy declared softly.

Both Severus and Draco agreed they should wait for Harry to make any plans for retribution. All three people sat around the firepit, each attempting to figure a way of hiding Harry from the manipulations of the schools' headmaster.

"Eureka! I Have it!" the matron cried out, "You know the metamorphmagus Hufflepuff Severus? Miss Tonks? Andromeda's daughter, well she received her NEWTS for the core subjects last year and is now only studying elective courses. Therefore, she has plenty of spare time. She wants to be an Auror, and I am sure I could persuade her that pretending to be mister Potter would be wonderful 'training.'"

"That is a fine plan Poppy! Do you really believe she will agree to it? if so, we can give her a mild sedation potion at the times when he comes to check on the boy!" Severus agreed.

"I agree, if she accepts the job, this might just work like we wanted," Draco voiced his agreement.

Gryffindor Boys' Dorm:

The boys sat alone in the dorm, both on the red-heads bed. In front of them was a chocolate frog card with a picture of Albus Dumbledore on one side.

"... See! If we save the stone from the greasy bat, then we will be hailed heroes and the-bastard-who-lived will be the one left in the shadows and shunned by his housemates," the freckle-faced, red-head rambled on animatedly.

The other boy, who would eventually grow up to be the personification of 'tall, dark and handsome,' sighed resigned. He may be a half-blood and a Gryffindor, but that didn't mean he had all the prejudice Ronald Weasely had.

You see, Dean Thomas was the son of a magical father and a non-magical mother. His father also left before telling his wife about his secret life, or the possibility of his son sharing that same life. He had only found out about the wizarding world when Professor Flitwick showed up on his doorstep.

Although the potion professor scared the wits out of Dean, he didn't believe that the man was evil. However, Ronald had been his first friend in this world. He also knew everything about it, having grown up with magic all around him. Dean needed Ronald to be able to survive this world.

Therefore instead of voicing his doubts, Dean replied with a half-hearted, "you're right Ron! Tell me, what do you need me to do?"

"Well, you are a lot more into reading than I am so I thought that maybe you could do the research. I heard that stupid fog horn Granger talking say she read about Nicholas Flamel, you should try and borrow it from her, or even better have her read it and then give us her notes."

Quietly sighing, the dark-haired boy slowly nodded his head in agreement and watched as his 'friends' face lit up like a lightbulb. He knew it was wrong but seeing Ron so happy made Deans' heart feel one hundred times lighter than it had at the beginning of the conversation.

Headmaster's Office:

Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk, waiting for his advisor to come through the door to help him make a plan. A plan to bring one Harry James Potter under his 'wing.'

While he waited, he pulled out everything he may need during the conversation. A journal, detailing all their previous plans, both ones that worked and ones that failed. Five metal instruments that either moved or made noises every few seconds. The sorting hat, and the elder wand. Just as he placed the last item atop his desk, his office door clicked open and in stepped Minerva McGonagall.

"Ah Minnie, my dear. Lemon drop?"

"No, thank you Albus and I have asked you for the last thirty-five years to stop calling me that," the woman replied in an exasperated Scottish brogue, "let's just get down to business."

"Fine, let's start back at the sorting. How did the boy end up placed in Slytherin? Hat, can you enlighten us please."

"You know I cannot Dumbledoink, the founders ensured I would keep the secrets of the students' I have sorted. All I can say is the same thing I told the Potter boy just before I called out his placement. He will do well in Slytherin," the musty old hat replied in a gruff, aggravated voice.

This angered the headmaster. So he threw the hat as hard as he could, out the window. However, just as it disappeared out of sight, there was a bright flash from the other side of the room. Fawkes, the phoenix had flamed from his perch. Soon there was another flash. Fawkes was above the bookcase, gently setting the ancient artifact back down.

"What about Severus? He hates anything Potter, maybe he could convince the little heathen to swap houses, " Minerva suggested.

"Good idea, my dear, I will call him up after we finish this talk. Now, how has the boy been performing in your class?"

"That's my problem! He is perfect. If I ask a question, he won't raise his hand. However, if I directly ask him, he will get it right every time. He shouldn't know the answer, not even that chit Granger knows the answers! Are you sure he was muggle-raised Albus? Filius and Pomona have made similar assertions as to his knowledge."

This news concerned the aging man, deeply. Harry Potter had grown up with Lily's sister Petunia. The one person guaranteed to purposefully be spiteful towards the boy and not tell him anything about his heritage. 'Perhaps it is time for me to take a small trip to Surrey,' he thought to himself before dismissing Minerva and writing his new plans into the journal.

WC: 1571