Title: AU: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Author: Artemis Luna Diana
E-Mail: artemislunadiana@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13 (cursing)
Pairing: none
Time: begins the night of James and Lily's deaths and continues through Harry's first year of school
Summary: Harry grows up under the watchful eyes of Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Arabella Figg. When Harry was still little, he had a nightmare and woke up screaming. When his guardians arrived in his bedroom, he told them that he would be coming back. Knowing instinctively who Harry was referring too, the three resolved to train Harry to defend himself before he left for Hogwarts. They figured that everyone would dismiss Harry's vision as a simple nightmare. So they kept the whole matter a secret. Now it's time for Harry's first year of Hogwarts. He's been trained in secret to be cunning, strong, and quick-thinking. So where does he end up: Slytherin.
Disclaimer: I own not a thing. Due to the fact that this story covers one of the years already written, the majority of the events and some of the dialogue comes straight from the book. The first Quidditch match of the season is covered in this chapter and Lee Jordan's commentary comes straight from the book.
Thanks to: snapeysnapesnape for the excellent beta
Chapter Eight: Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean someone isn't after you.
"Have you seen Professor Snape?"
Hermione and Blaise looked up from their potions homework to find Harry standing in front of their table. Sunday morning's quidditch practice must have ended early. "No, why?" Blaise replied.
"I want to ask him if I could work in the potions classroom in my spare time. I think enough time has passed that I could do that, don't you?"
"I guess so. Have you looked in his office?" Blaise asked.
"Yeah, he's not there."
"Why don't you try the staff room," Hermione suggested.
"Okay. I'll be back later."
"Wait!" Blaise stopped him. "We're working on our potions homework… when we're done, would you look over it?"
"Yeah, I'll come back here as soon as I find Professor Snape."
"Okay, thanks."
***
Harry made his way to the staff room at an easy pace. However, when he knocked on the door, no one answered. Frowning, he wondered if his knock was loud enough to hear through the thick oak door. He pushed the door open and peeked in. His eyes widened in surprise.
Snape was in the staff room, but he wasn't alone, and he wasn't relaxing or grading papers. He was holding his robes up above his knees, revealing a bloody, mangled leg, while Filch handed him bandages.
"Blasted thing," he was saying. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"
Harry nearly gasped aloud. He tried to shut the door quietly, but he must have made some sort of noise.
"Potter!"
Harry couldn't say whether it was shock or anger that colored his professor's voice. He glanced up at Snape. Snape's face was twisted with fury as he dropped his robes quickly to hide his leg.
"Sir, I was hoping to speak with you about a private matter. I can see that you are busy; I'll come back when it's more convenient for you," he said calmly, hiding the fear and shock he was feeling.
"Meet me in the potions classroom in two hours," Snape growled.
"Yes, Sir."
"Go!"
Harry left as quickly as possible, and once he was sure he was out of sight and hearing range of the staff room, he ran full-speed down the halls and to the library.
***
"Okay, what are the ingredients for—" Hermione was cut off as Harry practically crashed into the table.
He spat out a silencing charm. "We were right! He did go to the third floor Halloween night. That monster bit his leg; it's all bloody and mangled!"
"Who? What?" Hermione asked confused.
"Which one? Snape or Quirrell?" Blaise asked.
"Snape!"
"But wait a minute; I thought you said Quirrell…" Blaise frowned. "I'm confused."
"What is going on?" Hermione demanded.
"This isn't the place to talk about this," Harry said. "Come on, quickly!" He jumped up and began gathering their books, not paying any attention to whose books went into which bag.
Hermione and Blaise chased after Harry as he led them to a more appropriate place to discuss whatever it was he was talking about.
***
Harry finally stopped in front of simple stone wall on the second floor. He glanced around quickly, making sure no one had followed them. This area wasn't part of the castle that was in frequent use. He tapped his wand on the center brick, and then on the lowest brick on the right side, then once more on the center brick. The wall slid back and to the right revealing a corridor.
"How did you—" Hermione began, but she was cut off when Blaise grabbed her by the arm and dragged her in. Harry followed them and the wall slid back into place.
Blaise led them down the corridor to the doorway at the end. The room held a few bookcases, a table and chairs, a couch, an armchair and a fireplace. Blaise lit the fire with a careless wave of his wand and pushed Hermione down in one of the chairs at the table.
"What's going on?" she demanded. "How did you find this place?"
"Sirius told me about it," Harry replied distractedly. "But don't worry about that, we've got to figure out what that dog is guarding!"
"What dog?"
"Harry, we don't have enough information to figure that out."
"Well, then we have to find some more!"
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!"
Blaise and Harry stared at Hermione. Harry's lips began to twitch. Blaise turned away to try and prevent from smiling, but lost it when Harry began to chuckle. The two boys were soon laughing uncontrollably.
Hermione seethed and stalked past them, intent on leaving the room.
"Wait, wait, sorry," Harry choked out. The two boys began to calm down as Hermione watched them impatiently. When they managed to get their breath back, they told Hermione to sit down since it would take awhile to explain.
"Do you remember at the welcoming feast when Dumbledore said that the third floor corridor on the right-hand side was out of bounds?" Harry began.
"Yes," Hermione said slowly. "You didn't go to the corridor did you?"
"It was completely by accident," Blaise said defensively.
"We went to the owlery after hours and were nearly caught. We went into the corridor not realizing where we were," Harry explained.
"Too busy running from Filch," Blaise muttered.
"You shouldn't have been out of your dormitories after 10:30 anyway! It would have served you right if you were caught. Or died the horrible and painful death," Hermione scolded.
"Anyway," Harry said, ignoring Hermione's lecture, "It took us a few seconds to realize that we weren't alone."
"There was a monstrous three-headed dog with us," Blaise said sourly.
Harry shot Blaise an irritated look. "The dog was standing on a trapdoor. It's guarding something. And whatever it's guarding, Snape and/or Quirrell want it."
"They're Hogwarts' teachers, Harry. They aren't going to steal something from the school."
"Just listen to the evidence, Hermione," Harry replied.
Hermione bit her lip, chewing on it slightly. "Fine. What evidence?"
"Quirrell had to go past the Great Hall to find the troll in the dungeons Halloween night," Harry began.
"So, maybe he was in the dungeons to start with."
"Nope. I talked with Tracey Davis. She said that before she met up with Millicent and Olivia on the first floor that night that she was on the third floor talking to Professor Flitwick and saw Quirrell coming down to the feast," Harry replied.
"So, what does that mean?"
"That means that he might have had something to do with the troll getting in," Blaise replied.
"But why would he do that? He's a teacher!"
"He could have let the troll in and used it as a distraction to try and get to the trapdoor," Harry answered.
Hermione frowned, biting her lip again. "I don't know… it all sounds kind of iffy."
"Then there's Snape," Blaise continued. "We saw him go to the third floor that night on our way to rescue you."
"And I just saw him in the staff room getting his leg bandaged. He was saying something about watching all three heads at once. He was trying to get past the dog that night."
"But, both Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell came into the bathroom that night with Professor McGonagall," Hermione pointed out.
"It's possible that they're working together," Blaise offered.
Hermione bit her lip. "I don't know… what could be underneath the trapdoor that two Hogwarts' teachers would try to steal? And really, Quirrell doesn't seem the type."
"There is more evidence against Snape," Blaise agreed reluctantly.
"Well, in my opinion, Snape doesn't seem like the type either," Harry snapped.
"Don't get all defensive just because your favorite teacher might be a bad guy," Blaise said.
"It's pointless to argue about who it is or isn't when we don't know what they could be potentially trying to steal," Hermione interrupted.
"So you agree that something is going on?" Harry asked.
"Something is going on, but I don't necessarily think that our teachers are up to something bad."
Blaise rolled his eyes.
"So, you still haven't answered my question," Hermione continued, ignoring Blaise's actions. "What is under the trapdoor?"
Blaise and Harry exchanged glances. "We don't know. We think we know where the trapdoor takes you, but if we're right then there are six rooms of various sizes and a couple of passageways."
"Well that doesn't tell you anything," Hermione said. "It could be something incredibly small that you have to go through trials to reach or something incredibly large. You've no way of figuring out what's down there."
"Thanks for pointing out what we already know," Harry grumbled.
"Considering that you have such a small amount of information to go on, you should take what you do know to Professor Dumbledore and let him figure out if Professor Quirrell or Professor Snape is trying to steal whatever it is."
Blaise scowled. "But then we'll never know what it is!"
"What are you saying? You want to steal it too?" Hermione asked aghast.
"No! We just… want to know what it is," Harry replied defensively.
"Well, forget curiosity. It could be something dangerous. Something that if it ended up in the wrong hands, could mean something bad for everyone."
"Like what?" Blaise asked.
"I don't know… like the return of You-Know-Who or something," Hermione said dismissively.
"That's not funny," Harry said quietly.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I was just trying to think of an example," Hermione said apologetically.
"Whatever. Look. We're not going to get any farther than this on what we've got. I'm supposed to meet Snape in…" Harry glanced at his watch. "…less than an hour. I'll see what information I can get from him."
"Don't do anything stupid," Hermione said.
"Right. I'll leave now. He might already be in the classroom."
"Good luck," Blaise said as Harry left the room.
***
When Harry reached the potions classroom, he found the door open wide and Snape waiting for him inside. He was sitting behind his desk, so Harry walked over to it, standing in front of his seated professor.
"Mr. Potter, you requested a meeting?"
"Yes, sir." Harry hesitated, trying to decide on his wording and how much to say. "For awhile now, I have been interested in potion making and have received tutoring in it. I had free reign to experiment and study. Now that I am here at Hogwarts, I no longer have the freedom to experiment or try more difficult potions. I would like to set up a time that is most convenient for you, to use the potions classroom for my work. I don't mind if you wish to supervise, I would just like to continue my studies."
"I noticed your abilities and assumed as much, though I am surprised that your tutor let you work unsupervised."
Harry remained silent. What could he say? That he had been taught only theory for two years and understood the precautions needed to make potions and to experiment?
Snape's eyes narrowed. "How long have you been learning potions?"
Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Why do you wish to know?" Harry asked, stalling for time.
"If you do not answer, and answer honestly, you will not ever be allowed to try potions beyond your year-level."
Harry bit his lip. What to do? What to say? He sighed. His guardians didn't want him to tell anyone about his tutoring, but he really wanted to be allowed to experiment outside of class and eventually ask Snape for extra tutoring.
"I'm waiting."
Harry studied his professor. Despite the evidence to the contrary, he truly believed that he could trust Snape and that his professor was not trying to steal whatever the three-headed dog was guarding.
"Am I speaking in confidence, sir?" Harry didn't want Snape to tell anyone else.
"Yes."
Harry hesitated once more before finally replying. "Arabella has been teaching me since I was six."
Had he not been looking for it, Harry would have missed the slight widening of Snape's eyes and the slight release in his jaw muscles that allowed his lips to part slightly. He had surprised his professor.
"You have been actually making potions since you were six?" he demanded.
"No. I learned theory only the first two years. When I was eight, I was allowed to begin making potions."
Snape was silent for a moment. "Where are your journals?"
"In my dorm."
"Bring them to me, right now. After I've read them, I will decide if you are ready for another class."
Harry's eyes widened as he realized what his professor meant. If he felt Harry was advanced enough, he'd actually teach him after class. "Yes, sir."
Snape gestured towards the door, and Harry took off. He dashed down the halls and into the Slytherin dormitories. He unlocked his trunk and extracted the five journals, then carefully locked his trunk again. He picked up the books and ran back to the potions classroom. When he got back, Snape was still sitting behind his desk and appeared to be deep in thought.
"Here are my journals. The fifth one is not full yet; it's the one I'm working out of at the moment."
Snape accepted the journals and took note of their immaculate condition as well as the clear markings of dates on the covers. "I shall return these to you in a few days and give you my answer."
"Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
Harry left the potions classroom in a euphoric haze, not realizing he hadn't tried to get any information from Snape about the third floor corridor.
***
The day of the Slytherin-Gryffindor match came with bright sunshine and beautiful weather. Harry was a nervous wreck. It was one thing to play for fun or to practice with the team; it was another thing to play in front of a large crowd with the honor of your house at stake.
It also didn't help that Blaise and Hermione were irritated with him. He was supposed to get information from Snape but he forgot all about it when Snape asked him for his journals and said that he might mentor him after class. And the second time was no better. He really did mean to try and get something, but after learning that Snape was willing to teach him outside of class, he was much too ecstatic to even think about the third-floor corridor.
Harry managed to eat the half a sandwich that Marcus put on his plate but that was it. When they finally adjourned to the locker room, Harry was getting so nervous his palms were sweating and his skin had paled several shades. His hands shook slightly as he changed into his green Quidditch robes.
Harry felt a hand drop onto his shoulder. He turned and found Marcus watching him calmly. "Relax; forget the crowd, and just play. You're the best seeker I've ever seen. Better than Charlie Weasley and he was supposed to be the best this school has seen in ages. I know you'll win the game for us. I have no doubts."
Harry smiled slightly. "Thanks, Marcus."
For whatever reason, Marcus didn't give a group pep talk. He went to each player and spoke quietly to them. Whatever he said to each of them worked, because the Slytherin team was in high spirits as they walked out, and Harry was only half nervous as he followed them out.
They were greeted by loud cheers from their fellow Slytherins, but the other three houses had banded together in support of Gryffindor. The booing was louder than the cheers. Madam Hooch was refereeing and stood waiting for the two teams in the center of the field, her broom in hand.
"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, paying particular attention to Marcus.
Harry smiled slightly. He'd heard that Marcus liked to play rough during games, especially ones with Gryffindor. During practices, he was a pretty laid-back player. It would be interesting to see him in action during a match.
"Mount your brooms, please."
Harry climbed onto his Nimbus Two Thousand, and Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her whistle. Fifteen brooms shot high up into the air. The match had begun.
"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too—"
"JORDAN!"
"Sorry, Professor."
A Gryffindor boy was commentating on the match while Professor McGonagall supervised. It was readily apparent that there would not be any fair and balanced commenting as long as he was the commentator.
"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and – no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up there – he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle – that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there – nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by the Slytherins – that's Charles Warrington speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beaster, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – doges a speeding Bludger – the goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"
Harry scowled from his position above the game. He had decided to stay out of the way and keep up high so he'd have a better chance of seeing the Snitch. He saw a flash of gold pass by Warrington just as Lee Jordan said as much. He dived down, racing the Gryffindor seeker towards the elusive golden ball. He was easily pulling away from his competition, and the snitch was almost in reach, when he was brought to a sudden halt. The Gryffindor Captain Oliver Wood had purposely blocked him, causing his broom to spin out of control.
Hisses and jeers came from the Slytherins and Marcus screamed "Foul!"
Harry fought to pull his broom under control. When he finally managed it, he breathed a sigh of relief and began to rise above the game again. He ignored the biased and pleased commentating of Lee Jordan and watched Marcus take the penalty shot. He then dodged out of the way of an incoming Bludger and decided to go higher.
He was understandably shocked when his broom did not respond the way it was supposed to. Instead it gave a sickening lurch. For a split second he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with his hands and his knees. He'd felt something like this once before, when his guardians had decided he should know what it felt like for someone to jinx his broom.
It happened again. It was as though the broom had developed a mind of its own and was determined to get him off. Quickly he locked his eyes onto his broom handle and began muttering a counter-spell. The broom was completely out of control. He couldn't direct it at all. It lurched and zigzagged through the air, causing his stomach to do similar maneuvers. It kept breaking his sight of the broom. He couldn't perform the counter-spell correctly.
He could hear people cheering, but couldn't tell who. No one seemed to have noticed his situation.
Blaise elbowed Hermione and gestured up at Harry. "What's Harry doing?"
"I don't know," she replied frowning. "Is that some kind of fancy move? I haven't read about it in any books."
"Sweet Merlin!" Blaise yelped as Harry's broom rolled over and his friend nearly toppled from it.
"Something must have happened to his broom when Wood blocked him!" Hermione cried.
"No," one of the Slytherin seventh-years behind them said. "That's a Nimbus Two Thousand. It would take a lot more than that for the broom to loose control like that."
Hermione snatched the binoculars from Blaise and frantically scanned the crowd. "Oh, God."
"What?" Blaise asked horrified.
"Both Snape and Quirrell are casting spells. One is jinxing Harry and the other is trying to stop it, but which one?!"
"What?" Blaise grabbed the binoculars from Hermione and the other Slytherins around who heard Hermione began scanning the crowd, their faces paling, realizing one of their teachers was trying to kill, or at least seriously injure, a student.
"If they were both jinxing, Harry would have fallen by now! One of them is casting a counter-spell!"
"What should we do?" Blaise moaned.
"Leave it to me; I've got an idea!" Hermione said and jumped up.
Blaise watched Harry, horrified as the broom shook so hard that his friend could barely hang on. The other Slytherin players tried to get close enough to Harry to pull him onto their brooms but every time they tried the broom would jerk out of reach.
Hermione fought her way across to the stand where Snape and Quirrell stood. Quirrell was the closest. She bumped into him hard enough to knock him over and dashed down the back of the row. Dare she wait long enough to figure out who was casting the jinx? She glanced up at Harry. His broom had stilled. She stared at the back of Snape and felt guilty. She had suspected that Snape was the one casting the jinx. She turned and hurried back to Blaise.
Harry adjusted his grip on the unmoving broom and swung back up. He headed immediately for the ground, hoping he wouldn't throw-up before he got there.
Hermione reached Blaise in time to see Harry clap a hand over his mouth and she whispered a soft "oh" thinking that Harry had finally lost control of his stomach.
He hit the field on all fours – coughed – and something gold fell into his hand. "I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, willing to forget about his near-death experience temporarily. The game ended in complete confusion.
"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it!" Wood was still howling twenty minutes later, but it made no difference – Harry hadn't broken any rules although Lee Jordan was unhappily protesting the ruling instead of giving the score.
Harry heard none of it though. He, Hermione, and Blaise sat in the kitchens drinking tea. "It was Quirrell," Hermione explained. "I knocked him over first, and then went to Snape, but before I cast the fire spell I was going to, I looked up at you. The broom had already stabilized, and I realized that Snape was the one performing the counter-spell."
Harry smiled, content that his favorite teacher hadn't been the one trying to kill him.
"However, all it says is that Snape isn't willing to kill a student over whatever is under the trapdoor. It doesn't mean that he isn't trying to steal it, just like Quirrell."
"Yeah, why did Snape try and get past that three-headed dog?"
Harry sighed.
"Is Mister Zabini speaking of Fluffy?" one of the house-elves asked timidly.
"That dog is named Fluffy?" Hermione asked shocked.
"Oh! The students must stay away from it!" another house-elf cried.
"Who in their right mind would name that dog Fluffy?" Blaise asked, rhetorically, not expecting an answer.
"It's Mister Hagrid's dog," the first house-elf replied, pulling on its ears as it did so.
"Well then," Hermione said. "It seems we'll be paying a visit to the groundskeeper."
***
TBC…
A/N: Some serious Potter fans might have noticed that the game time didn't seem quite right, and you'd be correct. I used author's creative license to change the game time from 11:00AM to 1:00PM. The reason why won't be evident until much, much, MUCH later, but there is a reason.
Also, in Lee's commentary, he says that one of the Slytherin chasers is called Adrian Pucey, however, I mixed up my notes and said earlier in the fic that the three Slytherin chasers were: Flint, Warrington, and Montague, so I changed that. Otherwise his commentary is unchanged.
And finally, at this point in time, Hermione does not realize that house-elves are not paid workers.
As always, please feel free to ask me questions. If you're having trouble understanding something, then please let me know. Unfortunately, questions are more likely to be answered if you ask them at my group than if you ask me in an e-mail. I have the very bad habit of forgetting to respond back to e-mails. If you are one of those people who sent me an e-mail and didn't get a response back, I'm sooooo sorry. If you did get a response back… you lucky dogs!
My group: groups.yahoo.com/group/HuntressSmiles
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed or sent me an e-mail. All encouragement is appreciated.
~Artemis Luna Diana~
