Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed my story so far, you know who you are! And I apologise most profusely for not getting this chapter up sooner! -.-' Also, Oodles and Oodles of hugs goes out to Olie because he got me my muse back and helped me with the Latin for this section!
Chapter 8: Help from an unlikely source
As the Christmas holidays loomed over the horizon, the boys made sure all their homework was up to date, plus tried to keep a low profile regarding the Philosophers Stone, Xavier brooded over this matter, of course he wanted his father back as soon as possible, but he was still only 11 years old. He wasn't too sure about how much of an influence he had over the other students, in order to turn them to his cause.
Another problem for the Slytherin Quartet, as they had become known, was the Gryffindor Trio, Weasely, Thomas and Finnegan, who took to hexing the group at every opportunity, Neville was of course a prime target, as they thought he was a turn-coat for transferring to Slytherin in the first place.
The night before the Christmas break, the boys sat at their house table, talk was stunted as they were all tired from dodging hexes, doing work and trying to keep at the top of their game with Dumbledore. Xavier sighed; pushing his peas around on his plate
"What's up Xavier?" Neville turned to him
"Nothing Nev, I'm just tired that's all"
"Well im full so ill walk you back to the common room if you like? I want to get a head start on that Potions essay for after Christmas, then I can ask Professor Snape about anything im not too sure on"
"Sure okay, if you're done, Draco? Dudely?"
"Yes Xavier?" Draco looked up from his tea
"Neville and I are heading back to the common room, we'll see you there later" Xavier stood up and he and Neville walked out of the Great Hall.
The boys headed towards the dungeons, talking between themselves
"So Mr. Malfoy said I should be at full potential by just after Christmas if I keep taking the potion" Neville told him
"Excellent Neville" Xavier smiled slightly "hopefully Dumbledore wont try this sort of thing again, who knows who he has under these sorts of enchantments to keep lower than they should." he sneered as they turned the last corner towards their common room
"Well well well boys, what do we have here? The traitor and the death eater, all alone in a dark corridor" Ron Weaselys voice shattered the eerie calm of the dungeons, Xavier's eyes narrowed
"Well well well," he mocked them "three little lionesses all alone in the snake pit, my my my how many points would be taken if McGonagall found out?" he teased, Ron flushed red, whipping out his wand
"don't think I wont curse your sorry ass Longbottom!" He yelled
"ah ah ah" Neville sneered "wouldnt want to be on the receiving end of another of my spells would you Weasely?" he idly twirled his wand in his fingers
"OOh the traitor is trying to offend us..." Finnegan sneered "Everto!" he yelled at them, the boys slid to the side so the spell slammed into the wall beside them, leaving a burn mark, Neville saw red
"How dare you!" he growled "FERVEO!" he yelled, a dark red light shot out of the end of his wand, splitting into three parts. It slammed into the three Gryffindors, who fell to the floor in agony as their blood began to boil
"Interesting deviation there Neville" Xavier nodded "you're definitely improving with your powers, anyway, better to be safe than sorry, wouldnt want to be expelled for killing the Mudblood lovers, Finite Incantatem" he waved his wand at the Gryffindors "let this be a lesson to you three to leave us the hell alone, otherwise, we wont hold back next time" he spat in their faces and muttered the password out of their hearing range, and they walked into their common room, leaving the Gryffindors to try to get up and make their way back to their tower.
Quirrel looked at Petunia and Lucius
"how are we doing?" she asked him
"The best time to act is going to be the Christmas holidays, although I'm not sure exactly how we'll get the Stone" he told her
"How is the Unicorn blood going down though?" Lucius asked
"It's keeping me alive whilst our Lord shares my body but soon I wont be fit to carry his soul, we have to do something and soon!" Quirrel told them, a quiver in his voice
"I could get Severus to whip up a potion for you? Try to extend the time limit but I don't know how long it would give you" Petunia said "We really need to get that damned stone"
Hermione Granger frowned, she really hated Ronald Weasely and his stupid side-kicks, they made her life a misery now they no longer had Neville to torment. Most of the house ignored her anyway, so the information she picked up from other house mates was amazing, she had over heard the conversation about the Philosopher's stone from Weasely a few days ago, but wasn't sure exactly how to go about telling the Slytherin's, who, it was rumored, needed the stone for something. She put her textbook away under her bed and checked the time, she just hoped she could catch Dudely or even Draco in the Great Hall, even if they already knew the information she had for them, it would show she was serious about her hatred for the Weaselys and maybe even get her some friends, even if they were in the wrong house.
Dudely and Draco walked back slowly to the dungeons after their tea, they'd played a game of Chess afterwards, to give Xavier and Neville time to talk about things. Hermione saw them heading down towards the dungeons and saw her chance
"Malfoy? Hold on a second would you?" Hermione ran after them
"What do you want? Mudblood" Dudely sneered at her
"I have some information I think you may need," She said
"about what?"
"About the Stone" she hissed at them. Draco shoved her down a deserted corridor
"how did you know about that?" he hissed
"One second" She coughed "Lumos! Right now I can see you, I over heard the Weasel and the brats talking in the common room, they think they can get the stone from the third floor, its being guarded by a Cerberus called Fluffy, owned by Hagrid, to get past him all you need to do is play it some music and it will fall fast asleep, not sure what other enchantments will be after it though" She explained
"And why, are you telling us?" Dudely asked
"because id rather do something to help the enemy than help those cock-nosed gits" She spat "I'd take them on my self but most of the Tower hate me anyway, so id rather tell you what I learn"
"Well thank you for your information Granger, ill pass it on to Xavier for you, maybe he may have a use for you or something but don't keep your hopes up" Dudely told her with a sneer. Hermione nodded and turned out the light on her wand, following the Slytherin's out
of the corridor; she waited five minutes or so and then left, going back to the tower, a small smile on her face
Professor Snape smiled coldly
"we may have a use for the Mudblood after all" he said
"for what exactly?" Draco sneered,
"Extracting information about how much they know about what's holding the stone, according to Quirrel, time is running out for him, things just aren't going in the right direction. We need that stone sooner rather than later" he frowned, mixing the contents in the cauldron idly.
The next day, the Hogwarts Express took the children home for Christmas; they would only be coming back in January. But Xavier, Draco, Dudely and Neville, all signed the parchment to say they wouldnt be going home, Professor Snape fed some lies to Dumbledore about their reasons to stay at the castle for Christmas instead of going back home, and he agreed, even though he was suspicious about why they were staying, after all, there were no other Slytherin's staying in the castle. Only a hand-full of Hufflepuffs and a trickle of Ravenclaws, and of course, the Weaselys and another couple of Gryffindors were staying over the festive season.
The boys spent their time with Professor Snape trying to work out exactly how they would get the Stone without Dumbledore knowing, they couldn't figure out how exactly they would retrieve it without breaching the wards, or even if they could.
One night, Xavier couldn't sleep, he slipped on his Invisibility cloak he had got for Christmas and walked through the halls of Hogwarts. He came across a door slightly ajar and slipped inside, narrowly avoiding Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, not knowing that everything would suddenly become a lot more clear to him within the next few moments, Xavier pulled off the hot cloak and sat down on the stone floor, coming face to face, with a giant mirror...
Severus looked at him
"Are you sure Xavier?" he asked
"Ye Snape for the last time I am positive, what I saw in the mirror was me getting the stone but tricking the mirror into thinking I don't want to use it. As soon as I have it I can give it to you, who can give it to my Father." Xavier rubbed his temples, feeling the on-set of a migraine
"Alright, well Albus is going away in a few weeks to his annual meeting with the Minister of Magic, so we will have to wait until he is out of the castle before we try anything, as I wouldn't like to be found doing this mission, your father made that very clear that I am not to give away my position here at Hogwarts. Now, you four, back to your common room before Filch finds you out of bed this late" He smiled slightly.
