Author: remind me to breathe a.k.a. Claire
E-Mail: claire(at)streber24.de
Rating: PG-13 (to be safe)
Pairing: none
Time: 1991, Harrys first year
Disclaimer: I own not a thing. Due to the fact that this story covers one of the years already written, the majority of the events and some of the dialogue comes straight from the book.
Thanks to: Healer Molly for thepatient and greatbeta work
Illusion of perfection
There is something greater than guilt, harder to bear than any pain: the knowledge that somebody sacrificed his or her life for you...that you are alive and they are dead. Severus remembered: she was wearing red earrings when they buried her. They were rubies, glittering in the sunlight…beautiful. But to him, they looked like drops of blood. He wished it would have at least rained on this day.
From: Fragile. A True Love Story, by Amanda le Reay, London, year 2183.
The days passed. They had their first transfiguration lesson, and while Professor McGonagall watched them cautiously, she remained fair. The trio noticed that there was often a teacher wherever they were, but to be honest, they didn't care.
"Remember when I mentioned breaking into Gringotts?" Harry asked one evening.
"Yeah – why?" Ron answered.
"I just remembered; someone was trying to steal something from Gringotts the day it was broken into. When Hagrid brought me there, he picked up something from a vault; he had to show the goblins a letter from Dumbledore to get to it. He called it 'You-Know-What' and said he'd lose his job if he told me what it was."
"Could they –?" Hermione asked.
"It's too early to be suspicious. The date is correct, isn't it?"
Ron rummaged through his bag, looking for his notebook with the newspaper articles.
"Let me see…robbery at Gringotts, yes, on the 31st of July, somebody tried to steal something from a vault that had been emptied earlier that day. Wasn't Gringotts supposed to be one of the safest buildings in England?"
"The safest – that's what Hagrid said about Hogwarts too," Harry whispered. "I think this is our first mission. What could be so important that you have to hide it at Hogwarts? It's not even bigger than my fist! If it belongs to Dumbledore, it would have been here already, there would have been no need to fetch it from Gringotts. That means it must belong to one of his friends or allies. It must be unbelievably valuable. No – not valuable, the burglar could have just taken gold. It must be powerful… or dangerous."
Hermione interrupted Harry. "Wait, Harry, let me take this down... A friend or ally of Dumbledore owns something powerful that mustn't get into the hands of the wrong people. It is probably hidden in Hogwarts."
"The third floor is forbidden to those who don't want to die a very painful death…" Ron murmured.
"You actually paid attention to Dumbledore's speech?" Hermione said, staring at him.
"I'm becoming neurotic, just like Harry."
"Hey!" Harry shouted indignantly, but then he looked pensive. "Wasn't Dumbledore's statement about the third floor a bit obvious?"
"Sort of- but no one knows about 'You-Know-What' but us," Ron said.
Hermione nodded. "So what do we do now?"
Harry unconsciously took on the role of leader of their small group.
"Research. We need to try to find out who Dumbledore's friends are, how often they are seen together and if they own an artifact per chance. If this artifact exists, we need to find out if it is dangerous. Then we research every possible and impossible means for warding and observing.
On Halloween, there's a big feast so everyone will be distracted - so we will try to find out what is on the third floor that night. Depending on how close we come to You-Know-What, we try to protect it. If we get close enough that we can see what it is, we'll contact Snape or Dumbledore anonymously and tell them that it wasn't a challenge to get to it..."
"Till Halloween, okay. But this is our last big project. Our schedule is getting very full."
Two nights later, Albus Dumbledore received a strange message.
How many years of your past would you deny if the world could become more peaceful because of it?
How many years of your future would you give for the same?
This message would be one of many that the members of the Order of the Phoenix would pin on the wall of their meeting room.
"Okay," Hermione said as she summarized her list. "There are three people who are friends with Dumbledore and own artifacts that would be the correct size. We have Alastor Moody with an eye through which you can see everything - even through walls. And we have Nicolas Flamel with a Philosopher's Stone which makes you immortal. Lastly, there is Lia Delacour with a Neptune's Eye, which makes gives people magical abilities."
"Which do you think is the most powerful or deadly?" Ron asked.
"Let's see, the Neptune's Eye can create armies of Muggle soldiers. But we all assume this is about Voldemort, so why should he make Muggles more powerful when he hates them?" Harry answered. "Immortality or information – what's more important to him?"
"Hagrid told us that Voldemort is living a half-life. What would I need first if that were me?" Hermione asked.
"You'll want to make sure you will survive. By the way, you should stop asking rhetorical questions," Ron said.
Hermione made a face at Ron and stuck out her tongue. "Thhhppt!"
"Do all of our discussions have to end like that?" Harry moaned.
"This discussion hasn't ended. What do we do now?" Hermione asked.
"We prepare to suffer a very painful death," Harry said with a grin.
"Harry!"
"Yes, Hermione?" he asked with an innocent smile.
"Aargh! Let's get going to the library. Harry - you cover Dumbledore's friends, see how regularly they meet. I think there is something we're missing. Maybe he's part of a group or something. Ron, you research half-existing beings, the Philosopher's Stone, and alternatives one could use to achieve immortality. I'll cover researching protection charms."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Harry and Ron saluted, earning a strange look from Dumbledore who had just arrived at breakfast.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "We should use a code word. Saying 'the Philosopher's Stone' will raise suspicion."
"Yes Ma'am!"
"Do either of you two idiots have any suggestions?"
Harry smiled. "Rock."
"What?" asked Hermione, perplexed.
"It's good, that's so obvious that people won't even pay attention to it," Ron said, nodding. "Rock is it."
Once again, Snape overheard parts of the trio's discussion while passing their table. He was just seconds too late to hear what this "rock" was they were talking about.
"Rock is it. That brings me to another topic. I want to put 10 galleons on rubies and sell my crystals," Ron said.
Granger looked in her notebook.
"You're good, Ron. Up to now, we've made about 114 galleons."
Snape walked over to where the children were sitting. "Just so you three are aware - gambling isn't allowed here. Detention at eight," Snape sneered.
They glared at him angrily.
"Sir, we weren't gambling," Potter murmured.
"Excuse me?"
"We weren't gambling," Harry said a little more forcefully.
He looked down at the little raven-haired boy and glared at him.
"Are you calling me a liar?" Snape spat.
"No, sir. But - "
"What are you doing then?"
Harry paused for a moment before answering. "Stock market business, sir."
"Excuse me?"
"Stock market business, sir."
"Detention for a whole week, Potter, for lying to a professor."
For a moment, Snape thought that Potter looked amused. For a moment, he had thought he had seen an "If only you knew"-glance. But he had to be wrong. Of course he was. Potter couldn't control his emotions that well. He watched as the three students rushed away with their heads down.
"Why did you provoke him?" Snape heard Granger ask.
"To see if..."
Snape would never find out what it was the boy wanted to see. He did decide, however, that Hagrid should supervise the trio's detention.
"Look there," Hagrid said, "tha' silvery stuff tha's glistening on the ground, tha's unicorn's blood. Somewhere out here, there's a gravely injured unicorn. We'll try to fin' it and stop its sufferin'."
"Unicorn blood?" Ron stared at him. "Forcefully taken?"
Harry and Hermione looked at Ron questioningly. They waited until Hagrid was out of earshot and took their own route, accompanied by Fang, Hagrid's boarhound.
"It's something I found out with my research for the rock-project. If somebody drinks the blood of something so pure, he gains a half life – but it's a cursed life."
"Someone would have to be pretty damn desperate to do that..." Harry said. "We should try to alert the teachers and try to find out who it is. If they are desperate enough to kill a unicorn, you can bet they will stop at nothing to steal the Phil- I mean, the 'rock'. I'd suggest that we set a trap on the third floor which would dye the robes of the intruder and write a message on the back of their robes."
"Great idea, boss!" Ron said.
"Mars is unusually bright tonight," said a voice from behind them. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned around slowly and found a centaur standing there, gazing down at the trio. Hermione huffed loudly.
"Can't you centaurs just say what you really mean? No, that would be too easy… instead you live to annoy us with your idiotic star reading," Hermione said, irritated. Harry wondered why she was so angry with the centaur. She was probably still wound up from finding the unicorn blood earlier but Harry guessed she said what she did because she really hated such imprecise things as stargazing.
The centaur chuckled. "It's been a long time since I have seen foals like you. When the times become safer, we will have to meet once again. Bane will be overjoyed that someone finally dared to critique us without fearing our wrath."
Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at each other. Unbeknownst to them, they had just gained a new friend. Moreover, without knowing, they had all thought the same thing: "What the hell…?"
"Do you know," Harry asked finally, "where the injured unicorn is? We want to help him."
"It's dangerous to be alone in the woods, especially for you, young Potter."
"Maybe, but that isn't a reason for letting something innocent suffer."
The old centaur looked at the children for a long time. "You're right. It's not a reason. Follow me."
They walked for nearly an hour, deeper and deeper into the woods, until they could no longer see a path on the ground.
"Look," Harry whispered when they came into a clearing.
There, on the ground before them, was the wounded unicorn. They looked at it as it lay dying and they held their breath. Never had they seen something so beautiful, yet so tragic.
"Is there something we could do for you?" Hermione asked softly.
The unicorn turned its gaze upon the children. It stopped struggling, allowing the children to get nearer.
"I think it will let us try to heal it," Harry whispered, and the centaur behind them watched with growing respect while the foals did the impossible: They touched the unicorn's head while speaking healing charms.
"They know no limits, do they? So the limits don't apply to them," Bane said, who had walked up behind his old friend.
"Do you think it was right?" Ronan asked.
"To step in against fate?" Bane asked, smiling. "That is what the foals did. Do you know what is lurking in this forest?"
"Yes."
"Look."
As Harry, Ron and Hermione continued to try to heal the unicorn, a strange light came out of the horn of the unicorn. The light slowly intensified and began enveloping the children.
"They are now protected," said Bane as he watched the scene before him.
"They have a strange way of making friends, haven't they?"
"Yes, but they'll need every one they can get."
