Summary: Peter Pettigrew never became a Death Eater and Voldemort continued to live. Inside Hogwarts, the world seems like a peaceful place, but outside of it, the Wizarding World is in chaos. The Marauders' offspring, Harry Potter, Polaris Black, Sasha Pettigrew, and Rosalyn Lupin, go to Hogwarts expecting seven peaceful years full of pranks and spells. What they receive, however, is an ongoing adventure they'll never forget. It follows the books closely.
Author's Note: I've edited Chapter Two of the story. Peter is more in character and Kyria is no longer a Muggle who is an Animagus—as I just no realized that is what I had done—but a Squib who is an Animagus. Why did I do this? Well, I personally think that Squibs have magic just like witches and wizards, but it's just buried deeper inside of them.
It Could Have Been Like This
Chapter Three: Nicolas Flamel and Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
The four Marauders could tell that their fathers thought they had forgotten about Nicolas Flamel, but ever since Rory reminded them of this mysterious character they pondered on it constantly. Who was he? Why was he important? And why wasn't he in any of the books they had checked so far?
They decided to put that off for the meantime, however, and focus on the other mystery at hand. The Potions Master Severus Snape obviously meant something to their fathers especially since they had gone to school together. They continued to put off asking them about it and tried to have a carefree holiday.
Afraid that the explanation would be a long one, however, Rory brought the yearbook she had found with him in it with her to breakfast the day before they went back to Hogwarts. Rory was slightly hesitant to bring up the topic, so Harry did.
He poked his eggs and said, "So, how do you know Snape, Dad?"
James Potter choked on the orange juice he had been drinking and the other three men slowly sat down their utensils. There was a very tense silence. After a moment, James finally said, "Why do you think I know him?"
"We don't think," said Polaris smartly, "we know."
"Oh is that right, little man?" asked Sirius Black teasingly though he still looked slightly uncomfortable. "How do you know this?"
The other three young Marauders turned to look at Rory causing the parents to turn to look at her as well. She hesitated slightly before bringing the book out from atop her lap and placing it on the table gently as if afraid it would spontaneously burst into flames. She flushed slightly when she noticed that every single eye was on her and quickly flipped to the first marked page.
"You were in the same year," she said showing them the seventh year class photo. "You were in the same Defence class--" There was a partial photo of Snape and Remus Lupin sitting in Defence class, obviously not happy with the sitting arrangements. "—the same Potions class—" There was a photo of the complete Potions class with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew sitting beside each other and Snape sitting a few rows in front. "—and the same Astronomy class." There was a picture of a sleepy James and Lily Potter trying to pay attention while Snape seemed to be completely ignoring the teacher and was reading a book.
"So?" asked Sasha after a long silence.
"So what?" asked Sirius Black. "We were in the same class as Snape; that doesn't mean that we knew him."
The three young Marauders gave the last member of their group another significant glance which made her flush some more. She flipped the pages again to another page.
"Aunt Lily and Uncle James were Head girl and boy—they were also Most Promising Couple," said Rory in an offhand voice. "Uncle Sirius was Most Handsome and Daddy was Most Studious Boy while Aunt Lily was Most Studious Girl. Daddy, Uncle James, Uncle Sirius, and Uncle Peter were Most Mischievous—"
"We know this already," said Lily Potter.
Once in her life, Rory ignored an adult and went on. "Uncle James and Uncle Sirius had Longest Lasting Friendship." She stopped here and then gave Sirius Black a piercing stare that only the Lupin women seemed to be able to accomplish. "And Uncle Sirius and Snape received Longest Lasting Enemies. It sounds like to me there was more than just being in the same year."
There was a long pause while all four of the young Marauders stared stubbornly at their parents. They waited patiently; none of them speaking a word. It seemed as if their fathers were having a mental conversation when finally Remus Lupin sighed and nodded. It was as if his nodded decided it all and the others sighed as well before nodding.
"All right, we'll tell you. Into the living room." James Potter said.
As they walked into the room, the four young first years heard Sirius Black mutter to Remus Lupin, "Why did your daughter have to be a genius, Moony?"
Remus just chuckled. The story that they were told was a long one as they had expected. Sirius started it.
"Yes, Snape and I were the longest lasting enemies. As you know my family was full of dark wizards and witches. To be a proper Black, you had to follow the belief that being pure was right and being Muggle-born was the lowest form of filth imaginable. I was just starting realize what rubbish this all was when my parents introduced me to another pureblood maniac in hopes that I would be friends with this 'proper boy'."
"Snape," guessed Polaris.
Sirius nodded. "Yes, it was Snape. During a dinner party, he was ranting on about how great the two of us were for being purebloods and part of the upper class—or something like that. I wasn't really listening. I was just thinking what a loud of dung all of this was. So, I tripped him and he fell face forward into the punch."
The young Marauders snorted. James took over the story.
"When I was nine, I met Sirius in Diagon Alley. He had just run from his parents when we met each other in Quality Quidditch Supplies. My family was pureblood as well, and we were hoping that Siruis's parents would allow him and me to be friends. It turned out that our parents already knew and hated each other. The next time we saw each other was on the Hogwarts Express and then we both got into Gryffindor. You have to understand that the four of us weren't friends right off the bat. There was the two of us," he gestured to himself and Sirius, "known as the Demonic Duo, and then there was them."
Remus rolled his eyes. "None of the teachers knew that we played the pranks where they had no idea who played them. We didn't like getting caught, so we were sneaky. The teachers thought we were perfect little angels, and it worked to our advantage."
"They even pulled a prank on us a few times. Anyway, Snape was a Slytherin and hated Remus and Peter because they weren't purebloods," said Sirius in disgust. "James and I hated the slime ball, but felt it wasn't our fight so we stayed out of it. During Christmas, however, Remus and I were the only ones staying. We got into a fistfight, had an argument, came to an understanding, and when James and Peter got back, we were best friends."
"Er…" said Rory.
"Don't ask," interrupted Lily. "They're boys, remember?"
"Oh, right," said Rory, as if that explained everything.
The men all glared.
"Anyway," said Peter, "the next time Snape t-tried to hex Remus and me from b-behind, James and Sirius hexed him right b-back and the old hatred flared anew."
"We began to prank him and curse him as retaliation every time he cursed us or tried to get us in trouble," said James. "It went on like that for years. Nobody tried to stop us, except Lily. We didn't like each other very much then, and we never listened to her. Then things went too far."
Sirius sighed. "The summer before sixth year, I ran away from home because living with my family just became too much. I went to James's house and soon found a flat that I bought before we went back to Hogwarts. I no longer had to worry about getting thrown out of anywhere. I was on my own. So, I… became more reckless. My pranks became more extreme. At the end of the year, I played a prank that—well, I regret ever doing it but I still say it served him right." His eyes narrowed. "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to… hoping he could get us expelled…"
"You see, Sirius here played a trick on Snape which nearly killed him, a trick that involved me. Severus was interested in where I went every month. One night, Snape had seen me crossing the ground with Madam Pomfrey as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be—er—amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it—if he'd got as far as the Shack, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf—but James here, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his own life… Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was…"
"So that's why Snape doesn't like Rory," said Harry slowly, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"
"Exactly," said Remus, nodding.
"And he doesn't like Harry," continued Polaris, "because Uncle James did the one thing that he couldn't forgive—he saved his life?"
"Correct in one," said James.
"And he doesn't like Sasha," added Rory thoughtfully, "because Uncle Peter was apart of your little gang?"
"Y-yes, unfortunately," sighed Peter.
"And he doesn't like Polaris," concluded Sasha slowly, "because Uncle Sirius and he were enemies from the start and he was the organizer of the whole thing?"
"That sums it up," said Sirius regretfully.
Rory opened her mouth, perhaps to ask another question, but Haya scuttled into the room with a wide grin on her face. She was practically bouncing in her shoes.
"Lily, it's here!" she squeeled and Lily jumped to her feet.
The two women ran out of the room, and with a curious glance, the other followed. They came out into the dining hall where Kyria and Rue were standing in front of what looked like an old grandfather's clock, except it had more than three hands and there weren't numbers around the face of the clock.
There were twelve hands and each hand had on of their names upon it. In place of the numbers, it said things such as Home, Travelling, Work, School, Friend's House, Mortal Peril, Detention, Restaurant, Shopping, On Vacation, Hospital Wing, and Quidditch Pitch. At the moment Harry, Lily, and James were all pointed at 'Home' and every body else's name was pointed at 'Friend's House'.
"Isn't it beautiful?" asked Rue as she ran her hand along one of the hands of the clock. "I told you it was worth your money, Lil'."
"Mortal Peril?" read Lily off of the clock. "Really, Rue, do you think we'll ever need that one?"
"I heard of a mother who was able to save her daughter from a pack of Kelpies a few years back because of that on the clock. She saw her daughter's name move from home to Mortal Peril and ran after her." Rue smiled. "You never know when it may come in handy."
"You're going to know when we get into detention?" whined Polaris.
James chuckled. "Yes, so I think that may your mother's discreet way of saying don't."
The first night they got back to Hogwarts, Dumbledore threw a feast at the students return. After a meal of turkey and ham sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch the Weasley twins be chased by Percy who was telling them off for changing the flavour of his cake to lake water.
It had been one of Harry's favourite holidays ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all vacation. Not until he climbed into his Hogwarts four-poster bed was he free to think about it: the invisibility cloak.
Polaris, full of ham and cake and with nothing except the mirrors to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he'd drawn the curtains around his fore-poster. Harry leaned over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak out from under it.
Use it well, the note had said. Suddenly, Harry fell wide-awake. The whole of Hogwarts was open to him in this cloak. Excitement flooded through him as he jumped out of bed and threw it over his head. He could go anywhere in this, anywhere, and Filch would never know.
He crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole. Where should he go? He stopped, his heart racing, and thought. And then it came to him. The Restricted Section in the library. He'd be able to read as long as he liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was. He set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around him as he walked.
He grabbed a lamp on his way into the library and held them up to the titles as he entered the Restricted Section. This didn't tell him anything. Deciding that he had to start somewhere, he heaved a large black and silver volume from the bottom shelf onto his knee and let it fall open.
A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence—the book was screaming! Harry snapped it shut, the book still screaming. He stumbled backwards, knocked over his lamp, and panicking, shoved the books back onto the shelf just as he heard footsteps enter the library. He passed under Filch's arm in the doorway, invisibly, and streaked off down the corridor.
He came to sudden halt next to suit of armour and suddenly realized he was lost.
"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody been in the library—Restricted Section."
Harry felt the blood drain from his face. It was Filch, and to his horror, it was Snape who replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."
Harry stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape rounded the corner. Even though they couldn't see him, they were standing in a narrow corridor and would surely knock into him if they came any closer. He backed away as silently as he could. A door stood ajar to his left and he slipped through. Their footsteps died away and he let go of the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
He was in an unused classroom, and propped up against the wall was a magnificent mirror. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
His panic fading that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Harry moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to see him once more without a reflection. He stepped in front of it. It didn't show that he was invisible like he though, it just showed him how he was. The only thing that was different was that he was wearing his everyday robes and smiling happily. He sighed in defeat. This wasn't what he wanted to see, but something about looking at himself looking so content and happy made him grin.
Shrugging to himself, he realized that he couldn't stay here; he had to find the way back to the common room. He looked around the room once before leaving it behind.
"Why didn't you think to wake me up?" asked Polaris, crossly.
"I didn't think about it," said Harry honestly. "I can take you there if you want. It's nothing special."
"It doesn't sound like any old mirror to me," said Rory smartly. "It actually sounds familiar. I'd like to come with you tonight."
"Me too," said Sasha. "We can check to see if all four of us fit under the cloak or not. Too bad about not finding anything on Flamel, though."
As all four of them crept under the cloak, tripping a fair amount of times, Harry feared that he wouldn't be able to find the room again and they would all be annoyed with them. They were just about to give up when Harry found the corridor that he had been in earlier again and there it was—the unused the classroom.
They pushed the door open. Harry looked around and dropped the cloak from the shoulders and the others followed suit. He pointed to the mirror as he stepped in front of it, and there he was again.
"See? Nothing special," Harry whispered.
"I wonder what language this is in," said Rory as she studied the inscription.
"You're right," said Polaris, "all I see is you. I don't even see me!"
"Me either," said Sasha as she peered over Harry's shoulder.
"You can look in it properly if you want and see if it changes," said Harry as he stepped from in front of the mirror.
Polaris stepped into his spot and his eyes widened. His jaw dropped and he stared transfixed at his image. Harry and Sasha shared a look and peered at Polaris curiously.
"What do you see?" asked Harry, curiously.
"It's my family," said Polaris slowly, taking another step forward. "Not just my mum and dad, but my whole family. There's my grandparents—and aunts—and cousins—bloody hell, even Draco's there, but we're all happy. There's no house rivalry—no hatred—we're just together and happy."
"I don't see what you're talking about. I don't see anybody," said Sasha, confusedly as she gazed into the mirror over Polaris's shoulder.
"Here, you step in properly," said Polaris as he hesitantly stepped out from in front of the mirror.
Sasha shrugged and took his place, but her eyes instantly glazed over as she looked into the mirror with a goofy grin.
"What do you see?"
She didn't answer.
"Hello, Sasha? What do you see?"
Again, she didn't answer.
He tapped her on her shoulder, and said, "What do you see?"
She whipped around and looked at him as if just realizing she was there. She shook her head a bit and looked back into the mirror. "I see," she said finally, "myself—but I'm older and," she blushed, "prettier. It's my wedding day—I can't see who the groom is, of course, but I'm wearing the most elegant white robes imaginable. It's just," she sighed, "perfect."
"Your heart's desire is to get married?" Rory asked, tearing her eyes away from the inscription with a triumphant smile on her face.
"No, it's to have a perfect wedding—wait, how'd you know—"
"The inscription," she said and pointed to it. "It's not a different language; it's just backwards. See: I show not your face but your hearts desire. Now I know where I've heard of this mirror before. It's called the Mirror of Erised and was in a book on ancient magical artefacts."
"Your hearts desire?" repeated Harry. "Then why do I see myself as I am now?"
"The only reason I can think of is that you are perfectly happy as you are now and therefore don't desire anything. Sasha desires the perfect wedding and Polaris desires his family not to be so dysfunctional, no offence intended," Rory explained.
"None will be taken if you take a look and tell us what you see," said Polaris.
"Alright," said Rory as Sasha stepped aside slowly. Rory took her place in front of the mirror and a dreamy smile came over her face. She sighed and said, "I see myself as a seventh year. I have an old Prefect badge in my hand and a Head Girl badge pinned to my robes. I have a piece of parchment in my hand from McGonagall telling me that I was top of my year; my father is standing beside me congratulating me looking completely happy with a full moon in the sky." She sighed.
"That sounds like more than one desire to me."
"Yes, Polaris, I suppose it is. Let's go, it isn't safe to just stand around here. We have to get back—and forget about the mirror. Do you all understand?"
Harry and Sasha nodded, but Polaris seemed slightly hesitant.
"Polaris," Rory said sternly, "people have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen. A few of them have even gone mad, not able to tell what was fact and fantasy. Please, Polaris, please do not come back here. Do you understand?"
Polaris sighed and nodded.
They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book even though Harry was sure he'd read the name somewhere. Once Quidditch practice started again, Harry nearly had no time to look or his name.
Wood was working the team harder than ever. If they won their next match, against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house championship for the first time in seven years.
During on particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just gotten very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.
"Will you stop messing around!" he yelled. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"
"Snape's refereeing?" George Weasley spluttered as he really did fall off his broom. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."
"It's not my fault," said Wood as the rest of the team landed to complain as well. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."
Harry had another reason for not wanting Snape near him. He ran straight to the Gryffindor common room after practice was over to find Rory looking over her notes and Polaris and Sasha playing chess with Sasha winning drastically.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Polaris when Harry sat beside him. "You look like your best friend just died, but I'm right here!"
Speaking so quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told the other three about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.
"Don't you dare play," said Rory at once.
"Say you're sick," said Sasha.
"Actually get sick!" suggested Polaris.
"Pretend to break an arm," Rory suggested.
"Really break your arm," said Sasha.
"I can't," said Harry, miserably. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."
At that moment, Neville topped into the common room with his legs stuck together with a Leg-Locker Curse. Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione Granger and Rory, both of whom jumped to their feet and performed the countercurse. Neville's legs sprang apart.
"What happened, Neville?" Rory asked him, leading him over to sit with Polaris, Harry, and Sasha.
"Malfoy," said Neville shakily. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."
"You should go to Professor McGonagall to report him!" urged Rory.
Neville shook his head. "I don't want anymore trouble," he mumbled.
"You really do need to learn to stand up to him Neville," said Polaris. "He always walks all over people—thinking he's better than everybody else—but that's no reason to not do anything it and make it easy for him."
"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville choked out.
Sasha pulled out a chocolate frog and gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.
"You're worth fifty of Malfoy," Sasha said determinedly. "The Sorting Hat put you into Gryffindor, didn't it? And where is stinking Malfoy? In nasty old Slytherin."
Neville's mouth twitched to a weak smile. "Thanks, Sasha… I think I'll go to bed… D'you want the card? I heard you collected them."
"Dumbledore again," she muttered as Neville walked away. "I have 'bout five of him."
She went to throw him down, but Harry took it from her and gazed at it. He turned it over and his eyes widened. He looked up at the three of them.
"I've found him!" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the back of the Chocolate Frog cards. Listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!"
Rory stared opened mouth. "Alchemy…" she repeated faintly and looked around the room as if expecting to see something jump out at her.
She grinned and jumped to her feet before scurrying over to Hermione Granger's table. Hermione gave a small nod and the two of them sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. The three of them were barely able to exchange a mystified look before she came back with an enormous old book in her arms.
"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library before Christmas for a little research and Hermione asked to borrow it for a bit of light reading."
"Light?" said Polaris, but Rory ignored him and continued to look something up, flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.
At last, she found what she was looking for.
"I knew it! Look!" She pointed at a passage. "Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"
"The what?" said the three of them simultaneously.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Look—read that, there."
She pushed the book toward them, and Harry, Polaris, and Sasha read the passage on the Sorcerer's Stone.
"See?" said Rory, when the three of them were finished. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew that someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it!"
Harry decided to play in the match against Hufflepuff even with Snape refereeing. He was extremely nervous and on edge as the match drew closer, but he wasn't the only one. The whole team loved the idea of overtaking Slytherin in the Quidditch Cup, but they didn't see how that would be possible with a biased referee.
When Polaris, Sasha, and Rory wished Harry luck outside of the locker rooms that after noon, he knew that they were wondering whether or not they'd ever see him alive again. It wasn't exactly what you'd call comforting.
Polaris, Sasha, and Rory, meanwhile, had found a place in the stands next to their fathers who had once again come to watch the match. They didn't seem to understand why they looked so grim or why they had brought their wands to the match, but they didn't offer any explanation either.
They were so happy to find that Dumbledore had come to watch the match as well. They realized, however, that was probably why Snape looked so grim.
"I've never seen Snape look so mean," Polaris said aloud. "Look—there they go. Ouch!"
Someone had poked him in the back of the head. It was Malfoy.
"Oh, sorry, cousin, didn't see you there." Malfoy grinned broadly at Crabbe and Goyle. "Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want to bet? What about you, Lupin?"
He didn't even seem to notice that their fathers were sitting right beside them, but Rory didn't answer; Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty. She was staring fixedly at Harry who was circling the pitch like a hawk. She was slightly green from the heights, but she looked more determined to watch Harry play than to let her fear grip her.
"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty. "It's people who betrayed their blood. See, there's the Potters and the Weasleys—you should be on the team, cousin; your family is a blood traitor if I've ever seen one."
"Mmm-hmm," said Polaris absently, not daring to take his eyes from the game.
"Obviously you have a very different definition of what a blood traitor is, Malfoy," said Sasha angrily.
"Pettigrew, you're the worst out of the lot. Your mother and your father's parents—squibs aren't they?"
Sasha's nerves were already stretched to the breaking point with anxiety about Harry.
"Not another word, Malfoy, or I'll—"
"Guys!" shrieked Rory, suddenly. "Harry—"
"What? Where?"
Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd.
"You're in luck, Pettigrew, Potter's obviously spotted some brains on the ground—perhaps he'll share some with you!" said Malfoy.
SMACK!
Polaris wheeled around in his seat to find Malfoy sprawled on his bench with Sasha standing over him menacingly. Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward, but Polaris jumped in front of her.
"You wouldn't think about hitting a girl, now would you?" asked Polaris innocently, as he glanced over at Peter Pettigrew who had stood to defend his daughter. "Especially in front of her own father."
Crabbe and Goyle snapped at that and turned to look at the four gentlemen sitting down the row. Their eyes widened as Malfoy climbed to his feet. He gave the four men a disgusted look before saying, "Let's go."
"Polaris! Sasha! We've won! Gryffindor's ahead of Slytherin! Where are you? Harry's won!" squeeled Rory, having not noticed what had gone on behind her.
She hugged a confused but pleased Sasha and continued to dance in her seat as Harry jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground.
Some times later, after the cheering had dissipated and the Gryffindors left the locker rooms. Rory, Polaris, and Sasha wandered through the halls looking for Harry who had yet to come back to the common room. They were just rounding a corridor when they nearly ran straight into a breathless Harry.
"Where in the wizarding world have you been, Harry?" Rory asked sternly.
"Gryffindor won! We won! You won!" shouted Polaris, thumping Harry on the back.
"And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Crabbe and Goyle made to clobber me right in front of my dad!" giggled Sasha showing off her once again bruised knuckles.
"Everyone's waiting for you in the common room. We're having a party—courtesy of Fred and George," explained Polaris.
"Never mind that now," said Harry breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room; you wait 'til you hear this…"
He made sure Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, and then he told them why he had never gone back to the common room.
"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy—and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus'—I reckon there are other things guarding the stone part from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snap needs to break through—"
"If you're saying that the only thing keeping Snape from the stone is Quirrell…" started Rory slowly.
"We're doomed!" sighed Sasha.
Polaris nodded. "It'll be gone by the end of the week."
The four of them began to be nicer to Professor Quirrell and were surprised to find that several weeks later it did not seem as though he had told Snape how to get past his enchantment. Rory began to study constantly as Easter came around the teachers seemed to take her side of things and gave them so much homework that the holiday did not seem like a holiday.
After several hours of studying where Polaris was nearly banging his head against the table in despair, they finally decided that a visit to Hagrid would do them some good. When they knocked on the gamekeeper's hut, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed.
It was stifling hot inside and there was a blazing fire in the grate.
"So—yeh came to ask me 'bout Nicolas Flamel, didn't yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Polaris impressively. "And we know that Fluffy's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone."
Hagrid looked shocked.
"What we don't know," said Harry, deciding that there was no point in beating around the bush, "is what else is guarding the stone apart from Fluffy."
"Yeh know I can't tell yeh that," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. The Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts—I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid; we know that you don't want to tell us as we're just measly little students, but we know that you know everything that goes on around here, so you do know what else is guarding the Stone," said Sasha in the best flattering voice she could muster, and they saw Hagrid bite back a smile.
"We're really only wondering who did the guarding, actually." Rory continued, fluttering her eyelashes. "We wondered who Dumbledore trusted enough to help him with this, apart from you of course."
Polaris and Harry beamed at Sasha and Rory as Hagrid's chest swelled with pride.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout—Professor Flitwick—Professor McGonagall—" he ticked them off on his fingers; "Professor Quirrell—an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah—yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
Harry wasn't the only one thinking that him helping guard it would only help him in stealing it.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.
"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others.
"Hagrid, can we crack open a window?" asked Sasha. "I'm stifling in here."
"Can't, Sasha, sorry," said Hagrid as he glanced at the fire.
They glanced at it as well. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Where in the wizarding world did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must have cost you a fortune."
"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."
"What are you going to do with it when it hatches though, Hagrid?" said Rory desperately. "You do realize that you live in a wooden house, right?"
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
Then, during breakfast one time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.
All of them were excited to go, but were also dreading it. They finally decided to go after Herbology where Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.
"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.
The egg was laying on the table, covered in deep cracks with something moving inside of it. They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open letting a baby dragon flop onto the table. It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured as he reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head, but it snapped at his fingers. "Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.
"That's a Norwegian Ridgeback," muttered Polaris. "They're really rare."
"Exactly how fast do they grow?" asked Rory slowly.
Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from his face—he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter, Hagrid?" asked Sasha cautiously.
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains—it's a kid—he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him. Malfoy had seen the dragon.
During the next week, they spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.
"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."
"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's took little. He'd die."
The dragon had grown three times in length in just a week.
"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"
"He's finally cracked," Polaris muttered in Harry's ear.
Rory suddenly turned to Polaris.
"Your dad," she said.
"What about my dad?" said Polaris.
"Your dad works with magical creatures—doesn't he know any dragon preserves that could take Norbert? We could send him there and they'll take care of him and put him back in the wild!"
"Brilliant!" said Polaris. "How about it, Hagrid."
In the end, Hagrid agreed they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Harry, Rory, and Sasha alone in the common room with Polaris appeared out of nowhere. He had been at Hagrid's helping him feed Norbert dead rats.
"It bit me!" he moaned, showing them his bloody handkerchief covered hand. "And on my right hand too! I won't be able to use my wand or a write a single thing down for a week."
There was a tap on the dark window.
"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Sirius's answer!"
The four of them put their heads together to read the note.
Dear Polaris,
Well, let me just say that you are in a very odd position, aren't you? Yes, I do know a few dragon preserves, and one in particular would be happy to take the Norwegian Ridgeback off your hands, but it won't be easy getting him there. There are some dragon experts leaving to the preserve in Romania soon, but they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Take the Ridgeback up to the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday and they'll meet you there and take him away while it's still dark. Do you think you could do that? Answer me as soon as possible.
Oh, and do not tell your mother that I'm helping you with this.
Love,
Your father
They looked at one another.
"We've got the invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map," said Harry. "It shouldn't be too difficult—I think the cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."
It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other three agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert—and Malfoy.
By the next morning, Polaris's bitten hand had swollen twice its usual size. He didn't know if it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey, but by the afternoon, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green; it looked as if Norbert's fangs were poisonous.
They ran up to meet with Polaris and see how he was doing at the end of the day. He told them how Malfoy had been threatening to tell what really bit him and how he had taken one of his books. Sasha swore that Malfoy was only doing this because she had hit him at the Quidditch match.
Harry and Rory, who had been the two candidates to carry Norbert, would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say good-bye to his dragon if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do.
"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Rory covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mommy will never forget you!"
The crate was quite heavy, and they were already panting by the time they re-entered the Entrance Hall. Up another staircase, then another—even one of the shortcuts from the Marauders Map didn't make the work much easier.
They nearly dropped the crate when a lamp suddenly flared on up ahead. Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear.
"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you—"
"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming—he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on—I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Rory punched the air above her head happily.
"Did you see that? Malfoy got detention!"
"Yeah," Harry snorted.
About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping out of the darkness. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Rory shook hands with the others and thanked them very much. At last, Norbert was going… going… gone.
No more dragon—Malfoy in detention—what could spoil their happiness? The answer to that was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
They'd left the invisibility cloak on top of the tower. Things couldn't have been worse, Harry thought until Professor McGonagall appeared, leading Sasha.
"Harry!" Sasha burst out, the moment she saw the other two. "I was trying to find you to warn you. Malfoy found Polaris's letter, he said he was going to head you off—"
Harry shook his violently, and Sasha immediately shut up.
"I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."
It was the first time Rory ever failed to answer a teacher's question. She was staring at her slippers, trembling from head to foot.
"I'm disgusted," said Professor McGonagall. "Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Lupin, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions—yes, you too, Miss Pettigrew, nothing gives you the right to walk around the school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous—and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
Rory's head snapped up. "Fifty?" she repeated faintly.
"Fifty points each," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose.
"Oh no—please—"
"Professor, you can't—"
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
Author's Note: I've edited Chapter Two of the story. Peter is more in character and Kyria is no longer a Muggle who is an Animagus—as I just no realized that is what I had done—but a Squib who is an Animagus. Why did I do this? Well, I personally think that Squibs have magic just like witches and wizards, but it's just buried deeper inside of them.
Chapter Three: Nicolas Flamel and Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
The four Marauders could tell that their fathers thought they had forgotten about Nicolas Flamel, but ever since Rory reminded them of this mysterious character they pondered on it constantly. Who was he? Why was he important? And why wasn't he in any of the books they had checked so far?
They decided to put that off for the meantime, however, and focus on the other mystery at hand. The Potions Master Severus Snape obviously meant something to their fathers especially since they had gone to school together. They continued to put off asking them about it and tried to have a carefree holiday.
Afraid that the explanation would be a long one, however, Rory brought the yearbook she had found with him in it with her to breakfast the day before they went back to Hogwarts. Rory was slightly hesitant to bring up the topic, so Harry did.
He poked his eggs and said, "So, how do you know Snape, Dad?"
James Potter choked on the orange juice he had been drinking and the other three men slowly sat down their utensils. There was a very tense silence. After a moment, James finally said, "Why do you think I know him?"
"We don't think," said Polaris smartly, "we know."
"Oh is that right, little man?" asked Sirius Black teasingly though he still looked slightly uncomfortable. "How do you know this?"
The other three young Marauders turned to look at Rory causing the parents to turn to look at her as well. She hesitated slightly before bringing the book out from atop her lap and placing it on the table gently as if afraid it would spontaneously burst into flames. She flushed slightly when she noticed that every single eye was on her and quickly flipped to the first marked page.
"You were in the same year," she said showing them the seventh year class photo. "You were in the same Defence class--" There was a partial photo of Snape and Remus Lupin sitting in Defence class, obviously not happy with the sitting arrangements. "—the same Potions class—" There was a photo of the complete Potions class with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew sitting beside each other and Snape sitting a few rows in front. "—and the same Astronomy class." There was a picture of a sleepy James and Lily Potter trying to pay attention while Snape seemed to be completely ignoring the teacher and was reading a book.
"So?" asked Sasha after a long silence.
"So what?" asked Sirius Black. "We were in the same class as Snape; that doesn't mean that we knew him."
The three young Marauders gave the last member of their group another significant glance which made her flush some more. She flipped the pages again to another page.
"Aunt Lily and Uncle James were Head girl and boy—they were also Most Promising Couple," said Rory in an offhand voice. "Uncle Sirius was Most Handsome and Daddy was Most Studious Boy while Aunt Lily was Most Studious Girl. Daddy, Uncle James, Uncle Sirius, and Uncle Peter were Most Mischievous—"
"We know this already," said Lily Potter.
Once in her life, Rory ignored an adult and went on. "Uncle James and Uncle Sirius had Longest Lasting Friendship." She stopped here and then gave Sirius Black a piercing stare that only the Lupin women seemed to be able to accomplish. "And Uncle Sirius and Snape received Longest Lasting Enemies. It sounds like to me there was more than just being in the same year."
There was a long pause while all four of the young Marauders stared stubbornly at their parents. They waited patiently; none of them speaking a word. It seemed as if their fathers were having a mental conversation when finally Remus Lupin sighed and nodded. It was as if his nodded decided it all and the others sighed as well before nodding.
"All right, we'll tell you. Into the living room." James Potter said.
As they walked into the room, the four young first years heard Sirius Black mutter to Remus Lupin, "Why did your daughter have to be a genius, Moony?"
Remus just chuckled. The story that they were told was a long one as they had expected. Sirius started it.
"Yes, Snape and I were the longest lasting enemies. As you know my family was full of dark wizards and witches. To be a proper Black, you had to follow the belief that being pure was right and being Muggle-born was the lowest form of filth imaginable. I was just starting realize what rubbish this all was when my parents introduced me to another pureblood maniac in hopes that I would be friends with this 'proper boy'."
"Snape," guessed Polaris.
Sirius nodded. "Yes, it was Snape. During a dinner party, he was ranting on about how great the two of us were for being purebloods and part of the upper class—or something like that. I wasn't really listening. I was just thinking what a loud of dung all of this was. So, I tripped him and he fell face forward into the punch."
The young Marauders snorted. James took over the story.
"When I was nine, I met Sirius in Diagon Alley. He had just run from his parents when we met each other in Quality Quidditch Supplies. My family was pureblood as well, and we were hoping that Siruis's parents would allow him and me to be friends. It turned out that our parents already knew and hated each other. The next time we saw each other was on the Hogwarts Express and then we both got into Gryffindor. You have to understand that the four of us weren't friends right off the bat. There was the two of us," he gestured to himself and Sirius, "known as the Demonic Duo, and then there was them."
Remus rolled his eyes. "None of the teachers knew that we played the pranks where they had no idea who played them. We didn't like getting caught, so we were sneaky. The teachers thought we were perfect little angels, and it worked to our advantage."
"They even pulled a prank on us a few times. Anyway, Snape was a Slytherin and hated Remus and Peter because they weren't purebloods," said Sirius in disgust. "James and I hated the slime ball, but felt it wasn't our fight so we stayed out of it. During Christmas, however, Remus and I were the only ones staying. We got into a fistfight, had an argument, came to an understanding, and when James and Peter got back, we were best friends."
"Er…" said Rory.
"Don't ask," interrupted Lily. "They're boys, remember?"
"Oh, right," said Rory, as if that explained everything.
The men all glared.
"Anyway," said Peter, "the next time Snape t-tried to hex Remus and me from b-behind, James and Sirius hexed him right b-back and the old hatred flared anew."
"We began to prank him and curse him as retaliation every time he cursed us or tried to get us in trouble," said James. "It went on like that for years. Nobody tried to stop us, except Lily. We didn't like each other very much then, and we never listened to her. Then things went too far."
Sirius sighed. "The summer before sixth year, I ran away from home because living with my family just became too much. I went to James's house and soon found a flat that I bought before we went back to Hogwarts. I no longer had to worry about getting thrown out of anywhere. I was on my own. So, I… became more reckless. My pranks became more extreme. At the end of the year, I played a prank that—well, I regret ever doing it but I still say it served him right." His eyes narrowed. "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to… hoping he could get us expelled…"
"You see, Sirius here played a trick on Snape which nearly killed him, a trick that involved me. Severus was interested in where I went every month. One night, Snape had seen me crossing the ground with Madam Pomfrey as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be—er—amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it—if he'd got as far as the Shack, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf—but James here, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his own life… Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was…"
"So that's why Snape doesn't like Rory," said Harry slowly, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"
"Exactly," said Remus, nodding.
"And he doesn't like Harry," continued Polaris, "because Uncle James did the one thing that he couldn't forgive—he saved his life?"
"Correct in one," said James.
"And he doesn't like Sasha," added Rory thoughtfully, "because Uncle Peter was apart of your little gang?"
"Y-yes, unfortunately," sighed Peter.
"And he doesn't like Polaris," concluded Sasha slowly, "because Uncle Sirius and he were enemies from the start and he was the organizer of the whole thing?"
"That sums it up," said Sirius regretfully.
Rory opened her mouth, perhaps to ask another question, but Haya scuttled into the room with a wide grin on her face. She was practically bouncing in her shoes.
"Lily, it's here!" she squeeled and Lily jumped to her feet.
The two women ran out of the room, and with a curious glance, the other followed. They came out into the dining hall where Kyria and Rue were standing in front of what looked like an old grandfather's clock, except it had more than three hands and there weren't numbers around the face of the clock.
There were twelve hands and each hand had on of their names upon it. In place of the numbers, it said things such as Home, Travelling, Work, School, Friend's House, Mortal Peril, Detention, Restaurant, Shopping, On Vacation, Hospital Wing, and Quidditch Pitch. At the moment Harry, Lily, and James were all pointed at 'Home' and every body else's name was pointed at 'Friend's House'.
"Isn't it beautiful?" asked Rue as she ran her hand along one of the hands of the clock. "I told you it was worth your money, Lil'."
"Mortal Peril?" read Lily off of the clock. "Really, Rue, do you think we'll ever need that one?"
"I heard of a mother who was able to save her daughter from a pack of Kelpies a few years back because of that on the clock. She saw her daughter's name move from home to Mortal Peril and ran after her." Rue smiled. "You never know when it may come in handy."
"You're going to know when we get into detention?" whined Polaris.
James chuckled. "Yes, so I think that may your mother's discreet way of saying don't."
The first night they got back to Hogwarts, Dumbledore threw a feast at the students return. After a meal of turkey and ham sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch the Weasley twins be chased by Percy who was telling them off for changing the flavour of his cake to lake water.
It had been one of Harry's favourite holidays ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all vacation. Not until he climbed into his Hogwarts four-poster bed was he free to think about it: the invisibility cloak.
Polaris, full of ham and cake and with nothing except the mirrors to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he'd drawn the curtains around his fore-poster. Harry leaned over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak out from under it.
Use it well, the note had said. Suddenly, Harry fell wide-awake. The whole of Hogwarts was open to him in this cloak. Excitement flooded through him as he jumped out of bed and threw it over his head. He could go anywhere in this, anywhere, and Filch would never know.
He crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole. Where should he go? He stopped, his heart racing, and thought. And then it came to him. The Restricted Section in the library. He'd be able to read as long as he liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was. He set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around him as he walked.
He grabbed a lamp on his way into the library and held them up to the titles as he entered the Restricted Section. This didn't tell him anything. Deciding that he had to start somewhere, he heaved a large black and silver volume from the bottom shelf onto his knee and let it fall open.
A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence—the book was screaming! Harry snapped it shut, the book still screaming. He stumbled backwards, knocked over his lamp, and panicking, shoved the books back onto the shelf just as he heard footsteps enter the library. He passed under Filch's arm in the doorway, invisibly, and streaked off down the corridor.
He came to sudden halt next to suit of armour and suddenly realized he was lost.
"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody been in the library—Restricted Section."
Harry felt the blood drain from his face. It was Filch, and to his horror, it was Snape who replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."
Harry stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape rounded the corner. Even though they couldn't see him, they were standing in a narrow corridor and would surely knock into him if they came any closer. He backed away as silently as he could. A door stood ajar to his left and he slipped through. Their footsteps died away and he let go of the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
He was in an unused classroom, and propped up against the wall was a magnificent mirror. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
His panic fading that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Harry moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to see him once more without a reflection. He stepped in front of it. It didn't show that he was invisible like he though, it just showed him how he was. The only thing that was different was that he was wearing his everyday robes and smiling happily. He sighed in defeat. This wasn't what he wanted to see, but something about looking at himself looking so content and happy made him grin.
Shrugging to himself, he realized that he couldn't stay here; he had to find the way back to the common room. He looked around the room once before leaving it behind.
"Why didn't you think to wake me up?" asked Polaris, crossly.
"I didn't think about it," said Harry honestly. "I can take you there if you want. It's nothing special."
"It doesn't sound like any old mirror to me," said Rory smartly. "It actually sounds familiar. I'd like to come with you tonight."
"Me too," said Sasha. "We can check to see if all four of us fit under the cloak or not. Too bad about not finding anything on Flamel, though."
As all four of them crept under the cloak, tripping a fair amount of times, Harry feared that he wouldn't be able to find the room again and they would all be annoyed with them. They were just about to give up when Harry found the corridor that he had been in earlier again and there it was—the unused the classroom.
They pushed the door open. Harry looked around and dropped the cloak from the shoulders and the others followed suit. He pointed to the mirror as he stepped in front of it, and there he was again.
"See? Nothing special," Harry whispered.
"I wonder what language this is in," said Rory as she studied the inscription.
"You're right," said Polaris, "all I see is you. I don't even see me!"
"Me either," said Sasha as she peered over Harry's shoulder.
"You can look in it properly if you want and see if it changes," said Harry as he stepped from in front of the mirror.
Polaris stepped into his spot and his eyes widened. His jaw dropped and he stared transfixed at his image. Harry and Sasha shared a look and peered at Polaris curiously.
"What do you see?" asked Harry, curiously.
"It's my family," said Polaris slowly, taking another step forward. "Not just my mum and dad, but my whole family. There's my grandparents—and aunts—and cousins—bloody hell, even Draco's there, but we're all happy. There's no house rivalry—no hatred—we're just together and happy."
"I don't see what you're talking about. I don't see anybody," said Sasha, confusedly as she gazed into the mirror over Polaris's shoulder.
"Here, you step in properly," said Polaris as he hesitantly stepped out from in front of the mirror.
Sasha shrugged and took his place, but her eyes instantly glazed over as she looked into the mirror with a goofy grin.
"What do you see?"
She didn't answer.
"Hello, Sasha? What do you see?"
Again, she didn't answer.
He tapped her on her shoulder, and said, "What do you see?"
She whipped around and looked at him as if just realizing she was there. She shook her head a bit and looked back into the mirror. "I see," she said finally, "myself—but I'm older and," she blushed, "prettier. It's my wedding day—I can't see who the groom is, of course, but I'm wearing the most elegant white robes imaginable. It's just," she sighed, "perfect."
"Your heart's desire is to get married?" Rory asked, tearing her eyes away from the inscription with a triumphant smile on her face.
"No, it's to have a perfect wedding—wait, how'd you know—"
"The inscription," she said and pointed to it. "It's not a different language; it's just backwards. See: I show not your face but your hearts desire. Now I know where I've heard of this mirror before. It's called the Mirror of Erised and was in a book on ancient magical artefacts."
"Your hearts desire?" repeated Harry. "Then why do I see myself as I am now?"
"The only reason I can think of is that you are perfectly happy as you are now and therefore don't desire anything. Sasha desires the perfect wedding and Polaris desires his family not to be so dysfunctional, no offence intended," Rory explained.
"None will be taken if you take a look and tell us what you see," said Polaris.
"Alright," said Rory as Sasha stepped aside slowly. Rory took her place in front of the mirror and a dreamy smile came over her face. She sighed and said, "I see myself as a seventh year. I have an old Prefect badge in my hand and a Head Girl badge pinned to my robes. I have a piece of parchment in my hand from McGonagall telling me that I was top of my year; my father is standing beside me congratulating me looking completely happy with a full moon in the sky." She sighed.
"That sounds like more than one desire to me."
"Yes, Polaris, I suppose it is. Let's go, it isn't safe to just stand around here. We have to get back—and forget about the mirror. Do you all understand?"
Harry and Sasha nodded, but Polaris seemed slightly hesitant.
"Polaris," Rory said sternly, "people have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen. A few of them have even gone mad, not able to tell what was fact and fantasy. Please, Polaris, please do not come back here. Do you understand?"
Polaris sighed and nodded.
They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book even though Harry was sure he'd read the name somewhere. Once Quidditch practice started again, Harry nearly had no time to look or his name.
Wood was working the team harder than ever. If they won their next match, against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the house championship for the first time in seven years.
During on particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just gotten very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.
"Will you stop messing around!" he yelled. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"
"Snape's refereeing?" George Weasley spluttered as he really did fall off his broom. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."
"It's not my fault," said Wood as the rest of the team landed to complain as well. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."
Harry had another reason for not wanting Snape near him. He ran straight to the Gryffindor common room after practice was over to find Rory looking over her notes and Polaris and Sasha playing chess with Sasha winning drastically.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Polaris when Harry sat beside him. "You look like your best friend just died, but I'm right here!"
Speaking so quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told the other three about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.
"Don't you dare play," said Rory at once.
"Say you're sick," said Sasha.
"Actually get sick!" suggested Polaris.
"Pretend to break an arm," Rory suggested.
"Really break your arm," said Sasha.
"I can't," said Harry, miserably. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."
At that moment, Neville topped into the common room with his legs stuck together with a Leg-Locker Curse. Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione Granger and Rory, both of whom jumped to their feet and performed the countercurse. Neville's legs sprang apart.
"What happened, Neville?" Rory asked him, leading him over to sit with Polaris, Harry, and Sasha.
"Malfoy," said Neville shakily. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."
"You should go to Professor McGonagall to report him!" urged Rory.
Neville shook his head. "I don't want anymore trouble," he mumbled.
"You really do need to learn to stand up to him Neville," said Polaris. "He always walks all over people—thinking he's better than everybody else—but that's no reason to not do anything it and make it easy for him."
"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville choked out.
Sasha pulled out a chocolate frog and gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.
"You're worth fifty of Malfoy," Sasha said determinedly. "The Sorting Hat put you into Gryffindor, didn't it? And where is stinking Malfoy? In nasty old Slytherin."
Neville's mouth twitched to a weak smile. "Thanks, Sasha… I think I'll go to bed… D'you want the card? I heard you collected them."
"Dumbledore again," she muttered as Neville walked away. "I have 'bout five of him."
She went to throw him down, but Harry took it from her and gazed at it. He turned it over and his eyes widened. He looked up at the three of them.
"I've found him!" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the back of the Chocolate Frog cards. Listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!"
Rory stared opened mouth. "Alchemy…" she repeated faintly and looked around the room as if expecting to see something jump out at her.
She grinned and jumped to her feet before scurrying over to Hermione Granger's table. Hermione gave a small nod and the two of them sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. The three of them were barely able to exchange a mystified look before she came back with an enormous old book in her arms.
"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library before Christmas for a little research and Hermione asked to borrow it for a bit of light reading."
"Light?" said Polaris, but Rory ignored him and continued to look something up, flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.
At last, she found what she was looking for.
"I knew it! Look!" She pointed at a passage. "Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"
"The what?" said the three of them simultaneously.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Look—read that, there."
She pushed the book toward them, and Harry, Polaris, and Sasha read the passage on the Sorcerer's Stone.
"See?" said Rory, when the three of them were finished. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew that someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it!"
Harry decided to play in the match against Hufflepuff even with Snape refereeing. He was extremely nervous and on edge as the match drew closer, but he wasn't the only one. The whole team loved the idea of overtaking Slytherin in the Quidditch Cup, but they didn't see how that would be possible with a biased referee.
When Polaris, Sasha, and Rory wished Harry luck outside of the locker rooms that after noon, he knew that they were wondering whether or not they'd ever see him alive again. It wasn't exactly what you'd call comforting.
Polaris, Sasha, and Rory, meanwhile, had found a place in the stands next to their fathers who had once again come to watch the match. They didn't seem to understand why they looked so grim or why they had brought their wands to the match, but they didn't offer any explanation either.
They were so happy to find that Dumbledore had come to watch the match as well. They realized, however, that was probably why Snape looked so grim.
"I've never seen Snape look so mean," Polaris said aloud. "Look—there they go. Ouch!"
Someone had poked him in the back of the head. It was Malfoy.
"Oh, sorry, cousin, didn't see you there." Malfoy grinned broadly at Crabbe and Goyle. "Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want to bet? What about you, Lupin?"
He didn't even seem to notice that their fathers were sitting right beside them, but Rory didn't answer; Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty. She was staring fixedly at Harry who was circling the pitch like a hawk. She was slightly green from the heights, but she looked more determined to watch Harry play than to let her fear grip her.
"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty. "It's people who betrayed their blood. See, there's the Potters and the Weasleys—you should be on the team, cousin; your family is a blood traitor if I've ever seen one."
"Mmm-hmm," said Polaris absently, not daring to take his eyes from the game.
"Obviously you have a very different definition of what a blood traitor is, Malfoy," said Sasha angrily.
"Pettigrew, you're the worst out of the lot. Your mother and your father's parents—squibs aren't they?"
Sasha's nerves were already stretched to the breaking point with anxiety about Harry.
"Not another word, Malfoy, or I'll—"
"Guys!" shrieked Rory, suddenly. "Harry—"
"What? Where?"
Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd.
"You're in luck, Pettigrew, Potter's obviously spotted some brains on the ground—perhaps he'll share some with you!" said Malfoy.
SMACK!
Polaris wheeled around in his seat to find Malfoy sprawled on his bench with Sasha standing over him menacingly. Crabbe and Goyle stepped forward, but Polaris jumped in front of her.
"You wouldn't think about hitting a girl, now would you?" asked Polaris innocently, as he glanced over at Peter Pettigrew who had stood to defend his daughter. "Especially in front of her own father."
Crabbe and Goyle snapped at that and turned to look at the four gentlemen sitting down the row. Their eyes widened as Malfoy climbed to his feet. He gave the four men a disgusted look before saying, "Let's go."
"Polaris! Sasha! We've won! Gryffindor's ahead of Slytherin! Where are you? Harry's won!" squeeled Rory, having not noticed what had gone on behind her.
She hugged a confused but pleased Sasha and continued to dance in her seat as Harry jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground.
Some times later, after the cheering had dissipated and the Gryffindors left the locker rooms. Rory, Polaris, and Sasha wandered through the halls looking for Harry who had yet to come back to the common room. They were just rounding a corridor when they nearly ran straight into a breathless Harry.
"Where in the wizarding world have you been, Harry?" Rory asked sternly.
"Gryffindor won! We won! You won!" shouted Polaris, thumping Harry on the back.
"And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Crabbe and Goyle made to clobber me right in front of my dad!" giggled Sasha showing off her once again bruised knuckles.
"Everyone's waiting for you in the common room. We're having a party—courtesy of Fred and George," explained Polaris.
"Never mind that now," said Harry breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room; you wait 'til you hear this…"
He made sure Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, and then he told them why he had never gone back to the common room.
"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy—and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus'—I reckon there are other things guarding the stone part from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snap needs to break through—"
"If you're saying that the only thing keeping Snape from the stone is Quirrell…" started Rory slowly.
"We're doomed!" sighed Sasha.
Polaris nodded. "It'll be gone by the end of the week."
The four of them began to be nicer to Professor Quirrell and were surprised to find that several weeks later it did not seem as though he had told Snape how to get past his enchantment. Rory began to study constantly as Easter came around the teachers seemed to take her side of things and gave them so much homework that the holiday did not seem like a holiday.
After several hours of studying where Polaris was nearly banging his head against the table in despair, they finally decided that a visit to Hagrid would do them some good. When they knocked on the gamekeeper's hut, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed.
It was stifling hot inside and there was a blazing fire in the grate.
"So—yeh came to ask me 'bout Nicolas Flamel, didn't yeh?"
"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Polaris impressively. "And we know that Fluffy's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone."
Hagrid looked shocked.
"What we don't know," said Harry, deciding that there was no point in beating around the bush, "is what else is guarding the stone apart from Fluffy."
"Yeh know I can't tell yeh that," he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. The Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts—I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid; we know that you don't want to tell us as we're just measly little students, but we know that you know everything that goes on around here, so you do know what else is guarding the Stone," said Sasha in the best flattering voice she could muster, and they saw Hagrid bite back a smile.
"We're really only wondering who did the guarding, actually." Rory continued, fluttering her eyelashes. "We wondered who Dumbledore trusted enough to help him with this, apart from you of course."
Polaris and Harry beamed at Sasha and Rory as Hagrid's chest swelled with pride.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that… let's see… he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments… Professor Sprout—Professor Flitwick—Professor McGonagall—" he ticked them off on his fingers; "Professor Quirrell—an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah—yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."
Harry wasn't the only one thinking that him helping guard it would only help him in stealing it.
"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" said Harry anxiously. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"
"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," said Hagrid proudly.
"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to the others.
"Hagrid, can we crack open a window?" asked Sasha. "I'm stifling in here."
"Can't, Sasha, sorry," said Hagrid as he glanced at the fire.
They glanced at it as well. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg.
"Where in the wizarding world did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must have cost you a fortune."
"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."
"What are you going to do with it when it hatches though, Hagrid?" said Rory desperately. "You do realize that you live in a wooden house, right?"
But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.
Then, during breakfast one time, Hedwig brought Harry another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words: It's hatching.
All of them were excited to go, but were also dreading it. They finally decided to go after Herbology where Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.
"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.
The egg was laying on the table, covered in deep cracks with something moving inside of it. They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.
All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open letting a baby dragon flop onto the table. It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured as he reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head, but it snapped at his fingers. "Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.
"That's a Norwegian Ridgeback," muttered Polaris. "They're really rare."
"Exactly how fast do they grow?" asked Rory slowly.
Hagrid was about to answer when the colour suddenly drained from his face—he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter, Hagrid?" asked Sasha cautiously.
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains—it's a kid—he's runnin' back up ter the school."
Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him. Malfoy had seen the dragon.
During the next week, they spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.
"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."
"I can't," said Hagrid. "He's took little. He'd die."
The dragon had grown three times in length in just a week.
"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mommy?"
"He's finally cracked," Polaris muttered in Harry's ear.
Rory suddenly turned to Polaris.
"Your dad," she said.
"What about my dad?" said Polaris.
"Your dad works with magical creatures—doesn't he know any dragon preserves that could take Norbert? We could send him there and they'll take care of him and put him back in the wild!"
"Brilliant!" said Polaris. "How about it, Hagrid."
In the end, Hagrid agreed they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Harry, Rory, and Sasha alone in the common room with Polaris appeared out of nowhere. He had been at Hagrid's helping him feed Norbert dead rats.
"It bit me!" he moaned, showing them his bloody handkerchief covered hand. "And on my right hand too! I won't be able to use my wand or a write a single thing down for a week."
There was a tap on the dark window.
"It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Sirius's answer!"
The four of them put their heads together to read the note.
Dear Polaris,
Well, let me just say that you are in a very odd position, aren't you? Yes, I do know a few dragon preserves, and one in particular would be happy to take the Norwegian Ridgeback off your hands, but it won't be easy getting him there. There are some dragon experts leaving to the preserve in Romania soon, but they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Take the Ridgeback up to the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday and they'll meet you there and take him away while it's still dark. Do you think you could do that? Answer me as soon as possible.
Oh, and do not tell your mother that I'm helping you with this.
Love,
Your father
They looked at one another.
"We've got the invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map," said Harry. "It shouldn't be too difficult—I think the cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert."
It was a mark of how bad the last week had been that the other three agreed with him. Anything to get rid of Norbert—and Malfoy.
By the next morning, Polaris's bitten hand had swollen twice its usual size. He didn't know if it was safe to go to Madam Pomfrey, but by the afternoon, he had no choice. The cut had turned a nasty shade of green; it looked as if Norbert's fangs were poisonous.
They ran up to meet with Polaris and see how he was doing at the end of the day. He told them how Malfoy had been threatening to tell what really bit him and how he had taken one of his books. Sasha swore that Malfoy was only doing this because she had hit him at the Quidditch match.
Harry and Rory, who had been the two candidates to carry Norbert, would have felt sorry for Hagrid when the time came for him to say good-bye to his dragon if they hadn't been so worried about what they had to do.
"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Rory covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mommy will never forget you!"
The crate was quite heavy, and they were already panting by the time they re-entered the Entrance Hall. Up another staircase, then another—even one of the shortcuts from the Marauders Map didn't make the work much easier.
They nearly dropped the crate when a lamp suddenly flared on up ahead. Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, had Malfoy by the ear.
"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you—"
"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming—he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on—I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
The steep spiral staircase up to the top of the tower seemed the easiest thing in the world after that. Not until they'd stepped out into the cold night air did they throw off the cloak, glad to be able to breathe properly again. Rory punched the air above her head happily.
"Did you see that? Malfoy got detention!"
"Yeah," Harry snorted.
About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping out of the darkness. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Rory shook hands with the others and thanked them very much. At last, Norbert was going… going… gone.
No more dragon—Malfoy in detention—what could spoil their happiness? The answer to that was waiting at the foot of the stairs. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness.
"Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."
They'd left the invisibility cloak on top of the tower. Things couldn't have been worse, Harry thought until Professor McGonagall appeared, leading Sasha.
"Harry!" Sasha burst out, the moment she saw the other two. "I was trying to find you to warn you. Malfoy found Polaris's letter, he said he was going to head you off—"
Harry shook his violently, and Sasha immediately shut up.
"I would never have believed it of any of you. Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves."
It was the first time Rory ever failed to answer a teacher's question. She was staring at her slippers, trembling from head to foot.
"I'm disgusted," said Professor McGonagall. "Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Lupin, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mr. Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions—yes, you too, Miss Pettigrew, nothing gives you the right to walk around the school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous—and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
Rory's head snapped up. "Fifty?" she repeated faintly.
"Fifty points each," said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose.
"Oh no—please—"
"Professor, you can't—"
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."