Harry told his friends of his theory, and they agreed that the item was a philosopher stone. However, they also agreed to not interfere unless needed. January passed by with nothing more exciting than a few scuffles with Ron and Draco. Now that he had a wand again, they had no excuse, as Harry soundly beat them in ever spell, test, and mock duel. As February came to a close, teachers began stressing the importance of final exams, and using them as an excuse to assign more homework. On the morning of the twenty-third, Harry was sitting in Charms, helping Neville review the Hovering Charm, when Percy Weasley opened the classroom door, "Excuse me, Professor, Headmaster Dumbledore would like a word with Harry Potter. Harry stood up and followed Percy out of the Classroom. As soon as Percy's back was to him, Harry removed the cap on his necklace and drank the antidote, before saying to Percy, "I would like for my head of house to be at the meeting." Percy was clearly angry about this, but wasn't able to stop him, so they went to the dungeons. Knocking on Snape's office door, they waited until it opened, "Sir, Headmaster Dumbledore would like a word with Harry Potter, who has asked that you be there during the meeting." Snape nodded, and joined them in walking to the office. As they walked, Snape gestured towards Harry necklace, to which Harry nodded and kept walking.

Before long they were in front of Dumbledore's office door. Percy knocked, "Sir, I've brought him." "Enter" came a voice form the other side of the door. They enter and found Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, along with two chairs and drinks on the desk, "Percy, you may leave. Harry, Severus, I glad you could come. I was hoping to speak with you before now, however circumstances have prevented that. Harry, how did you find out about your inheritance over Christmas break?" Harry decided not to tell Dumbledore anything, "Well, sir, my wand was broken before the break, and I needed to replace it. When I went to Gringotts to withdraw the money for my wand, the assistant mentioned that my account manager wished to speak with me."

Dumbledore nodded, "I see, I can understand how difficult that must have been. I wish that they would have informed me beforehand, so that I might have helped you through it. Harry, the real reason that I called you here was to ask why you asked Madam Bones to remove you from your loving aunt and uncle. I placed you there as a child so that they would be able to protect you. Please, won't you reconsider? The spells that I cast after your parents were killed are bound to your mother's blood. Unless you live with your aunt, you will lose that protection. Once lost, it cannot be restored. All of Voldemort's followers would be able to get to you without that protection." Snape decided to do his job as Harry's advisor, "If you wish to leave, however, the Greengrass manor has among the top defenses in the world. You would be safe there if you wanted to." Seeing Dumbledore's smile fade, Snape added, "Don't give me that look Dumbledore. I am doing my job as his advisor and making sure that he is aware of his options." Dumbledore faked a smile, "Of course, this is Harry's choice." Harry decided to make him wait, "I'm sorry, Sir, I need some time to think this over. I will be sure to send Amelia a letter with my choice." Harry said smiling. Dumbledore beamed, "An excellent idea, Harry. This isn't a decision to be made lightly. That will be all." Harry and Snape left the room, grinning as the thought about how they'd beat Dumbledore at his own game.

By the end of April, the school year was starting to wind down. Harry was trying to balance his time between Quidditch, studying, independent practice and helping his friends, now including Neville. As Neville's grades were steadily improving and every teacher, Snape included, acknowledge that he's made the greatest improvement since the start of the year. During the second week of May, The final started to be held. To the surprise of no one, Harry was easily the best in Charms, Potions, Transfiguration and D.A.D.A. Susan topped the class in Astronomy, and Daphne was able to stay awake long enough to ace the History of Magic Final. Neville managed to make it into the middle of the rankings, even beating out Harry and Daphne in herbology, with Ron and Malfoy taking dead last in every exam.

Following the exams, in the first week of June, Harry was walking to the library to check for any books on martial magic when his scar started burning, not as bad as before, but enough to disorient him. When he tried to calm down, he heard something in an abandoned classroom. He stopped, and listened, "Yes, yes I understand. I will get it for you before this day is out. Please master, forgive me." Harry didn't need to think about who the voice was. Harry ran straight to the dungeons, practically banging down Professor Snape's door, when a voice behind him yelled, "Mr. Potter, what are you doing?" Harry turned and saw Professor McGonagall walking toward him, "Ma'am, I need to speak with Professor Snape immediately. It's a matter of Life and Death!" McGonagall was unnerve by that comment, "Professor Snape was asked to testify at Peter Pettigrew's trial and won't be back until tonight. Surely, I or Professor Dumbledore can help you?" Harry thought than said, "I'm sorry, Professor, but it's something between me and Professor Snape. I'll send him an owl." And Harry ran to the Owlery.

Harry told his friends what had happened as soon as he found them. Daphne was worried, "then what will we do? If you-know-who returns…" Harry cut her off, "He won't come back. I'm going to get the stone first. If you want to stay, that's fine. Tell Snape where I wen..." This time Harry was cut off by Susan's fist. As Harry hit the ground Susan walked over to him and grabbed him by the collar, "Don't you dare think that we wouldn't come with you. We're friends, Harry. Did you really think that we'd abandon you after all this?" Harry got up and dusted himself off, "I guess not. Come on, we've got no time to waste. Get anything you need, and meet up at the third floor in fifteen minutes, Sound good?" Seeing them nod, Harry ran to his room. Harry grabbed his broom, and put the Re'em blood in his necklace. Finally he put on his invisibility cloak and disappeared.

On the third floor, Harry saw Susan and Daphne waiting across from the forbidden corridor. Harry snuck up behind his friends and put the cloak over top of them. "Ready to go?" he asked. They nodded, and Harry turned to unlock the door when Fred unlocked it for him. "If you guys are gonna go anyway, I'm going too. George, stay here and keep an eye on things." Harry turned to George, "If you see Snape tell him what happened." Squeezing Fred under the cloak, they walked into the corridor, and found themselves faced with a giant three headed dog. The all said, at the same time, "Oh, god damn it!"

The dog could clearly smell them, so they only had a few seconds to come up with a plan, "I've got this." Fred said, throwing the cloak off of him. As soon as the dog charged at them, Fred threw something small into its mouth. Before it could get to them, it fainted. "That was too close. I'm glad that we got that one working." Fred said, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Look for the stone, it should be blood red and about the size of your fist." Looking around, Daphne was the first to find something, "Its foot is covering a trapdoor! Help me move it." Together the four of them moved the dog's paw and opened the trapdoor. Looking down, they can't see the bottom. "I'll take my broom down first, and see what down there." Just then, the dog started to stir, "So much for that, let's get out of here!" Fred yelled as he jumped, followed closely by Susan and Daphne with Harry bring up the rear on his nimbus.

They landed with a soft thud, and a slight crack as Susan screamed in pain. Harry yelled, "Susan, what happened, are you alright?" Susan calmed down slightly, and said through the pain, "Fred landed on my arm. I think it's broken. More importantly, what is this stuff? Fred? What's wrong?" Fred was shaking slightly, "Everyone, don't move! This is Devil Snare. If you struggle, it'll kill you." Everyone stopped moving, and they slowly started to sink, until they finally fell to the floor. Fred jumped up and ran to Susan, "I'm sorry, Susan. Here-" conjuring a sling, "This should help to keep it from getting worse." Handing her a potion, "this is one of Madam Pomfrey's specialty; it'll help alleviate the pain." Susan drank the potions and said, "Thanks, Fred, I really appreciate it." Daphne opened the door to the next room.

As soon as they entered the room, they could hear the sound of thousands of wings all beating at once. Looking around, Harry could see that they were key's, enchanted to fly. Harry checked the door, finding it locked as expected. Harry looked up at the keys that were flying throughout the room, and saw one that looked like it had been caught once before, and he assumed that was the key he needed. Mounting his broom, he told everyone else, "Get ready to run. I doubt that they'll be too happy with us for trying to catch them. Stay by the door, I'll throw you the key to unlock it." And he kicked off. As soon as he was in the air, the keys started to attack him. Dodging key and chasing after the key he needed required all the Quidditch skills that he had. After fifteen minutes of chasing the key, Harry finally caught it and did a nosedive towards door, keys in hot pursuit. Tossing Daphne the key, he turned towards the door, and narrowly avoided smashing into the door as Daphne open it just in time. Shutting it behind him, they continue to the next room.

Looking into the room, they see a giant chess set, surrounding it are destroyed chess pieces that didn't inspire confidence that this was very safe. "I think we have to beat the white king to continue. Anyone good at chess?" everyone shook their heads, "Yah, not me either. Only one thing to do…" Harry walked onto the board and pointed his wand at the king and yelled, "Checkmate! Reducto!" blasting apart half of the chess board in the process. Harry walked across the board to the door, "Are you guys coming?" he asked with smile. Everyone runs after him. "Man, Harry, it doesn't matter what we gotta do next, won't stop you will it?" Fred joke as they opened the door and an awful stench filled the air.

In front of Harry's group was a fifteen foot tall mountain troll with a steel club as big as Hagrid. "You had to jinx it, Fred!" Harry yelled as they scattered. Harry and Fred starting fire off curses, but they all seemed to bounce off of the troll's rock hard skin. Susan was the first to deal any damage, managing to levitate a boulder and tripping the troll. The troll didn't take kindly to this and rose again, slamming Susan into the wall with its club. Susan screamed, and hit the wall, unmoving. Daphne started to fire off blasting hexes at the ceiling, almost causing the roof to cave in on the troll, before he stopped it by smashing the wall above her, burying her in rubble. Harry'd had enough at that point and yelled to Fred, "Cover me for a minute!" as he removed the cap from his necklace, and downed the whole vial at once.

It tasted disgusting, but that was the least of his problems, as his muscles started to burn. Fred went flying as he barely managed to block the attack, and the troll turned its attention towards Harry. Harry dodged the club and punched the troll's leg, which buckled and cried out. Harry started punching everything that he could reach, until he managed to knock the troll down to the floor. It tried to get up, but Harry put an end to that with one punch to the troll's spine. It never moved again.

Harry ran to the rubble and began throwing it across the room, while Fred limped over to Susan, who was slowly stirring. When he found Daphne, she was unconscious, and had broken both legs. Fred helped Susan walk over to them, "How is she?" Fred asked, fear in his voice. Harry turned, "she's unconscious, and I think her legs are broken, but otherwise, she'll live." Susan, who regained enough strength to walk on her own, says, "You two carry her, we've gotta get out of here before it wakes up." Harry nodded, "Yeah, but I don't think that we need to worry about it waking up. I might've broken its spine." He and Fred carried Daphne between them and Susan opened the next door, leading to a small room with seven bottles on a table in the center of the room.

As soon as they stepped into the room, Purple flames erupted from behind them, and black flames roared to life across from them, trapping them in the room. They set Daphne down and looked at the desk, finding a riddle, they quickly read through it, "So basically, two are wine, three are poison, and one to go each way. Poisons rarely leave a taste, so that would mean that the second from either side is wine. Leftmost is poison, third to the right, too. Any other ideas?" the shook their heads, but before Harry could think of anything, "Harry, help me up." Harry jumped and turned, seeing Daphne awake, but clearly in pain. Motioning to Fred, they picked her up, and help her look at the table. A few minutes later, Daphne pointed to the smallest cup, "That one will get you through the black fire. The far right will take us backwards." Before Harry could argue, Fred shot it down, "Harry, Susan's broken an arm and possibly a couple of ribs, Daphne broke her legs, and I probably have a concussion. You're the only one that can still fight at full power. We'd only hold you back at this point. Go without us. We'll get Snape down here tonight if we have to go get him ourselves. I'll take the girls back to the hospital wing," Harry nodded and handed Fred his nimbus, "Take this, you'll need it to get back up the trapdoor. It'll help you avoid that dog too." Fred took the broom, and each of them took a sip of potion. Susan and Fred helped Daphne out and turned around just as they were about to go through the fire, "Don't you dare die on us. " Harry nodded, and drank his potion. He felt like he'd swallowed ice, the chill passed quickly and he walked through the fire and opened the last door.

Harry walked through the last corridor, carefully looking around corners. Finally, he reached the end. The final room was circular, lined with pillars, and in the center of the room sat a mirror with a very familiar man in front of it. "I can see the stone. But how can I get it? Must I transfigure the mirror? Is it inside? What is the secret?" Quirrell yelled. Harry aimed his wand at the back of the man in front of him; however before he could cast a spell, a chilling voice rang out, "Behind you, you fool!" Quirrell turned and fired a curse towards Harry, who narrowly avoided the worst of it, but as the wall exploded, he felt the shrapnel stabbing him in the back. Not letting it faze him, Harry used the last of the strength he gained from the Re'em Blood to topple a pillar on to him. Quirrell fired a blasting hex, and almost vaporized the entire thing, but the remains pelted him and knock off his turban and impaled his arm. Having lost Harry in the dust, Quirrell healed his arm, unaware that Harry had moved behind him in the confusion. Preparing to fire a blasting curse as the dust cleared, Harry heard the same chilling voice screamed, "Now! Get Him!" and without turning around Quirrell pointed his wand behind him with his good hand and yelled, "INCARCEROUS!" Before Harry could respond, he found himself bound by ropes, and fell to the floor.

Quirrell stood above him and laughed, "Did you really believe that I would fall for such an obvious trap? You almost caught me at the beginning, that is true, and I was surprised by that pillar stunt, but I knew that afterwards you would aim for my blind spot. Unfortunately I no longer have that blind spot. Now, good bye potter. AVADA KED-"Harry prepared himself for the worst, when that voice cried out, "DON'T! Use him to get the stone." Harry felt himself jerk upwards, and was thrown in front of the mirror, "Get me the stone, Potter, and I might let you live." Harry looked upwards, and he saw himself, laughing with his friends. He had the stone in his hand, winked, and put it in his pocket. Harry immediately felt weight in his pocket. Knowing what it was, Harry quickly strengthened his mental barriers in case Quirrell tried to use legilimency.

"Well? What do you see, boy?" Quirrell sneered at him. Harry thought of a lie quickly, "I can see me with my family. My father, mother, and even a couple of siblings. Everyone that I never got to know…" crying fake tears to sell the act. Quirrell seemed convinced, but that voice laughed, "You cannot lie to Lord Voldemort! He knows all, Potter!" Harry's scar started to burn as he felt his mental barriers shatter, "The stone is in his pocket! Get it now!" Harry decided not to worry about the consequences and with his wand still to his side, said, "Diffindo!" cutting the ropes and his legs. The spell cut his pants pocket and the stone flew across the room. Harry leapt after it, knocking Quirrell's hand away and grabbing the stone.

Quirrell's sudden scream shocked Harry. Looking back, he saw that his hand seemed blistered and burned, "What the hell is this!? What have you done?" He screamed. Knowing that this was probably his last chance, Harry tackled him, knocking him face first into the ground, causing him to scream again. Harry grabbed the back of his robe and saw to his astonishment, a face on the back of his head, "Hello, Harry. You've grown since I last saw you. Give me the stone, Harry, and I will give you power far greater than any you could possibly imagine. Serve me and I will spare you, and even those people you call your friends. Together, we can find the spell that can reawaken the dead. Would you like to see your parents again? All you have to do is give me the stone." Harry's hand drifted to his pocket and pulled out the stone. "That's it. Just give it to me, and what you saw in the mirror will no longer be a dream." Harry made up his mind, then and there. He threw the stone across the room and punched Quirrell/Voldemort in the back of the head/face. As Quirrell screamed, Voldemort laughed, "You can't hurt me, Harry. You just lost your last chance of seeing your parents again. You could have been gre-"he was cut off with another punch and another scream before Quirrell finally pushed him off. Harry landed on his cut leg and before he could get up, Quirrell had his wand pointed at him. Praying, Harry closed his eyes as he heard the words, "Avada Kedavra!" and all he saw was black.