No more disclaimers. You've had sixteen of them, you know I don't own a thing. Anyway, I've had a hard time getting on the computer. Senior year, Mom's had a really bad surgery (they almost had to cut off the rest of her leg), and too much other junk going on.

Quote: "You'd think with all the simple stuff that goes on in the world, there wouldn't be people who like to complicate things." –me after the 9/11 attack.

***

Chapter 17: Flamel and Hufflepuff

            We still had three days left before school would officially start. The snow was perfect. We played in it several hours before settling back in to play Wizard's Chess in our makeshift dormitory, the Great Hall.

            Hermione, Harry, Ron, and I hadn't gotten our Christmas presents until we got back into the tower. Unfortunately, that wasn't until dinner time the day we got back. Fred and George had set up several Dung Bombs to go off for Filch, and they hadn't had the foresight not to set them up in front of the Griffindor Tower.

            I'd gotten a chess set from my mother, which I immediately found out were very life-like. I wasn't nearly as good as Ron, but I could beat Hermione. Well, only twice, but we played three times by the time school started back up again.

            What I really liked was my new Invisibility Cloak, something my father had sent me. He said Lucius had given it to him for his birthday when they were small, and he hadn't really ever had any use for it. So he gave it to me.

            In addition to all the things from my family (more sweets from my brother), there was also my friends. Ron gave me a book of complicated potions, something that I'd gotten fairly good at despite Snape's hatred of me. Harry, following in Ron's footsteps, had given me a book of household spells, some of which showed me how to knit and such. I think he was trying to tell me something. Hermione gave me a special pad of paper, bewitched so that whatever I drew, once completed, would move around just like a photograph. She also gave me a set of pigmented inks to go with it.

            Mrs. Weasley also sent a load of things for me, including a small cooking stove that I could use in my dormitory. She sent a Weasley sweater (a comfortable blue cotton one with a golden yellow A) and several small pies.

            "Sure know how to make a girl feel welcome back," I said, pulling the sweater over my head. I packed the Invisibility Cloak into my trunk, hiding it from the boys.

            "Hey, 'Mione," I said. "What'd you get?"

            "Sweets from your brother, a few new books from my parents, the usual," Hermione grinned. "Your brother is so sweet!"

            "His favorite phrase is 'sweets for the sweet'," I said. "I wonder if he got anything for Draco? I know I did."

            "You did? After all he's done?" Hermione gaped.

            "I gave him a few boxes of Chocolate Frogs, in hopes of him choking on one," I said sullenly. Hermione laughed.

***

            School finally started back up again. The other kids came back, and all of Griffindor wanted to know how many we'd found to come and be at school the next year and if anything interesting had happened. Dumbledore had told us not to tell anyone what had happened with Sakura, Fujitaka, and Eriol, so we told them all that we actually could without giving out anything.

            When people found out we'd gone undercover, they grinned and said they wished they could have gone and played pranks on people. Wood was especially delighted that I'd had some time to wind down. However, he kicked training into high gear, because we would soon be playing Hufflepuff. I was still a rotten Seeker.

            During one particular session, we received some very rotten news, something that I found worse than the fact that Harry still beat me out when we were training to catch the Snitch.

            "Will you two quit playing around!" he was yelling at Fred and George. "Snape's refereeing our game next week and I don't want anything to go wrong!"

            George fell off his broom and into a big puddle of mud.

            "You've gotta be kidding!" I shouted.

            When Ron and Hermione heard the news, they both fell out of their seats. It was after practice, and Harry and I were both gloomy. Just when we were going to explain that we couldn't break our legs or get hurt or fake sick, Neville came crashing into the Common Room, his legs locked firmly together. Most people were too busy laughing to help him, but Hermione jumped up and performed the countercurse.

            "What happened?" Hermione asked, guiding the poor boy over toward us. He had lost a considerable amount of weight since the start of the school year, but he still had the chubby look in his face. Neville looked like he was going to cry.

            "Malfoy," Neville answered. "I met him outside the library. Said he was looking for someone to practice that on."

            "Why that little rat!" I raged. "I'll get him, I swear I will! He's been nothing but trouble, I declare, he probably put that jiggernaut on you on purpose!"

            "Report him," Hermione suggested, casting me a glance. "Tell McGonagall what he did."

            "I don't want any trouble," Neville hiccupped. A tear began to fall as he walked slowly away.

            "You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" Ron said. "He's used to walking all over people, look what he did to Angel! It's no reason to lie down and let him do it to you!"

            "You don't have to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Griffindor," Neville choked out. "Malfoy's done that well enough."

            "You're wrong, Neville," I shook my head.

            Harry gave him a Chocolate Frog, one of the last he had left over from Christmas.

            "You're worth twelve of Malfoy," he said. "The Sorting Hat chose you—you, not Malfoy—for Griffindor. And where's Malfoy?"

            "In Slytherin," I said. "You see, Neville? You've got friends behind you, all the way." Neville smiled and hiccupped again.

            "Thanks, you guys," he said. "You want the card, Harry? I know you collect them."
            I smiled sadly as Neville walked away. The poor kid. Where were his parents? Why was he being raised by his gram and great aunt and great uncle?

            "I found him!" Harry shouted, breaking my thoughts. "I found Flamel!"

            "Really?!" I said, a little quieter.

            "Yes! I told you I'd read it somewhere!" Harry grinned. "Listen to this. 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for his discovery of the twelve uses for dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel'!"

            "Stay there!" Hermione said, so excited you'd think she'd won the Muggle lottery. Ron, Harry, and I exchanged boggled looks, and she returned moments later with an enormous book that she and I had been reading together while waiting for Syaoran and Sakura to get to sleep.

            "What's that for, 'Mione?" I asked

            "There's a complete history of alchemy in here!" she said. "Ah, here it is. I knew it'd be here! Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"

            "You're joking!" I shouted, taking the book from her. "The Sorcerer's Stone? You really think that's what Fluffy's hiding?"

            "It's got to be," Hermione said. "Why else would Snape want it so badly?"

            "Um…the stupid peoples would like to know what you're babbling on about," Ron said grumpily.

            Hermione and I goggled at him.

            "You mean you don't know?" Hermione gaped.

            "No," Harry and Ron said in unison.

            "Here," I set the book on the table. "Read that." (AN-I know I type things right from the book a lot, but I won't type that. Ya'll oughta know what it says. ^_~)

            "A stone that makes gold and let's you live forever!" Harry said as soon as he finished reading. "No wonder Snape wants it. Anyone would want it!"

            "And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in the recent history books," said Ron, sitting back. He seemed a bit dazed. "He isn't exactly recent if he's six-hundred sixty-five, is he?"

***

            As the match against Hufflepuff approached, Wood continued to stress the need for me to get better as a Seeker. However, all the training seemed to do was make Harry better at seeing and getting the Snitch before me. Snape was horrible toward us, and I couldn't help but think that perhaps he'd found out that we knew his plot to get the Sorcerer's Stone.

            The day of the match, Harry looked like he was going to toss his cookies during breakfast and during Woods' pep talk, which I had to endure anyhow. While they were preparing to go out on the field, Fred was goggling at the crowd.

            "Blimey, the whole school's turned up," said Fred. Oh, like that was going to help. "Even…Dumbledore! Dumbledore's come to see the game!"

            "Dumbledore?" Harry raced to see. I gave a fresh breath of relief. Snape wouldn't dare try anything if Dumbledore was present.

            I walked to the tower and drowned out Jordan's announcements of the game. Katie had become increasingly better since the game against Slytherin, and she wasn't going to go down like last time. She and Alicia scored three times, but my eyes were fixed on Harry.

            I saw a flash of gold, and shot to my feet to watch as Harry went into a dive that could probably match that of a peregrine falcon. He caught it!"

            "POTTER'S GOT THE SNITCH! POTTER'S GOT THE SNITCH!" Lee Jordan yelled, but he was soon drowned out. I flew out past him and McGonagall and hugged Harry with all my might.

            "You did it, Harry!" I grinned. "A hundred eighty to nothing!"

            I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw one on Harry's. We looked up at Dumbledore and grinned.

            "Well done, Harry," he smiled. Then he whispered to Harry. "Nice to see you haven't been brooding over that mirror." He clapped us both on the shoulder and walked back toward the school.

            "Mirror?" I questioned Harry.

            "Long story," he said sheepishly.

            We both made our way toward the locker rooms, while he explained the Mirror of Erised and his Invisibility Cloak.

            "You got one, too?" I blinked at him. "My father sent one for me, too. Uncle Lucius gave it to him for his twelfth birthday, but he didn't have much use for it, without his magic. So he gave it to me for Christmas. Odd, isn't it?"

            "Yeah," Harry nodded. "According to the note, it came from my father."

            We were silent for a moment. The others had already changed and left the locker rooms, and most of the school was back inside the castle. We were alone.

            "Hey, Harry?" I asked reproachfully. "Do you…do you ever dream…dream about what happened? That night?"

            Harry seemed hesitant, but nodded. "A lot, actually."

            "What do you see?" I didn't want to pry, but I also knew that talking about the things that scare you or hurt you can heal you, at least some.

            "I see a load of green light," he said carefully. "And I hear laughter. Two voices, laughing."

            "One high-pitched and one low-pitched?" I asked.

            "Yeah—wait, how did you know?"

            "I think…we just discovered our enemy," I said, thinking. "Get changed. We'll talk about this later. I'll bring you to my dreamscape."

            Harry nodded and walked into the men's side of the locker room, and I went into the women's side. I had a lot to think about.

***    

            However, it seemed that this night was filled with another inquiry to be had. Harry was late in arriving in the hall outside of the Common Room, where Ron had already ranted and raved about the fight he and Neville had had with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

            "Harry, where have you been?" Hermione squeaked, grinning away. Ron started telling him all about the party we were to have in the Common Room, which hadn't quite started yet.

            "Never mind that," Harry said breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room…"

            Once we found a room lacking any person or ghost, especially Peeves, Harry explained what he'd seen.

            "Snape cornered Quirrell in the forbidden forest," he said. "I think he's trying to win him over to his side. He said something about  where Quirrell's 'loyalty' was. He said something about Quirrell trying to get past Fluffy to get to the Sorcerer's Stone!"

            "So we were right!" Hermione said. "He is after the Sorcerer's Stone."

            "And he also said something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus' guarding the Stone," Harry added.

            "So there must be a load of enchantments guarding the Stone, and Quirrell has an Anti-Dark Arts one on the area," I said, connecting dots. "So the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape!"

            "It'll be gone by next Tuesday," Ron said grimly.

***

^_^ I know, lotsa stuff that's in the books.