Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter: that right belongs to JK Rowling - obviously.
After Christmas - which Harry spent at home answering a mountain load of questions from Luke about the wizarding world, and his identity as the Boy-Who-Lived, and playing a lot of football, as well as even getting to see a match (tickets were his main Christmas present) - the Ravenclaw boys' theories about the third-floor corridor and Dumbledore had been more or less put to the side with all of them being forced to focus more on the ever-increasing stream of work that the teachers had been sending their way.
Terry would still occasionally bring up the theory, forever intrigued by the mystery and trying to find up new reasons why Dumbledore wouldn't have locked up the door so that no one could enter - bouncing around different guesses, the 'testing Harry Potter' one was his favourite, closely followed by suggesting Dumbledore had lost his magic after breaking a vow - 'after all', Terry would say, 'when was the last time you saw Dumbledore do magic' (before Harry or Michael would remind him - with growing irritation each time - that they saw Dumbledore do magic at the Welcoming Feast).
Harry had joined up the art club after Anthony had insisted (the other blonde was too shy to join on his own, and there was no way Michael would go - and Terry didn't have a single artistic bone in his body) and he found himself enjoying the club. He also liked spending the time with the more quiet boy - whilst he liked Michael, and considered Terry's his best friend, spending time with Anthony always felt like a breath of fresh-air. He felt the same way with Neville - that with the two he could just truly relax and turn off, allowing himself to just think and enjoy the quiet (Terry was many things but quiet wasn't one of them).
Speaking of Neville, the boy had been growing in confidence and proving his worth as a wizard in general. Though the boy didn't flourish in Potions by any stretch of the imagination (according to Dean Thomas he ended most lessons with a botched potion and a melting cauldron) he excelled at herbology, and was average in other practical subjects.
Dean Thomas was beginning to become one of Harry's close friends as well - they met when Terry and Dean bonded over their mutual love for quidditch, and Harry soon found out about Dean's own obsession over football (though Harry couldn't understand how Dean supported West Ham). Dean also attended art club - Harry had insisted that he joined after seeing a doodle he'd drawn - and Anthony and him got on quite well.
Draco Malfoy still proved to be a spoiled brat, but since their encounter in Astronomy they spoke to each other less - Malfoy choosing to pick on other targets, which though it used to always be Neville, with Neville's increasing group of friends this occurred less. Harry guessed that Malfoy didn't know how to insult Harry as much after Harry had performed the nonverbal spell in charms (a feat he couldn't repeat no matter how hard he tried - his exclamations that it was a fluke were extremely true).
The rest of the year had seemed to whiz around. Harry, though he had won the Christmas round of his and Terry's (and Michael who had now joined in, ever the competitive one - Anthony adamantly refused to join the competition) mainly due to his nonverbal spell-work in Charms, had lost the Easter round of the competition (by only ten points) to Terry - which the brunette wouldn't stop bragging about.
The workload in the final term shifted slightly to become more exam orientated. McGonagall started laying off the essays (to the first year claws' joy) and started doing recap lessons, as well as setting revision work. Charms, and the other practical subjects like DADA also obeyed this theme of becoming more recap-focussed. Snape did not share the same inclination to help the first years with their revision, instead piling on the work and being even more particular about the potions, marking them harshly if the colour or consistency were even slightly off.
Harry (like almost the entire Ravenclaw house) was spending most of his time focussed on his studies - and going to the Ravenclaw quidditch games, which he'd begun to love even as much as football (though Ravenclaw were not nearly the best - though they were at least still - marginally - better than Hufflepuff ) - and suddenly the most dreaded part of the year had arrived. End of year exams.
Though the entire term had been spent leading up to these exams and spending time recapping lessons, this didn't stop the Ravenclaw first years holing themselves up in the library revising for the tests, wishing them to be further away (though this only seemed to bring them closer) until suddenly time was up: it was Sunday and the first exam (which was of course Potions because why wouldn't they have the hardest exam first - with Snape's new marking even Harry was finding Potions to be hard, he now spent a lot of his time moaning about his confidence that he had had in the subject a few months prior) was tomorrow.
Harry, unlike Anthony who was so nervous he'd stayed up all night revising for Potions, or Terry who'd forgotten about dinner because he'd been revising, wasn't too nervous about the exams. He knew he'd prepared enough, and felt relatively confident for them (not that his confidence wouldn't waver at all as he stood in the dungeons tomorrow morning).
Plus, he knew that failing them wouldn't be the end of the world - not that he'd fail them, but in Ravenclaw, not acing, and failing, were practically equivalents.
"It's going to be fine." Harry reassured Terry as they sat down in the great hall for dinner - after Terry forgetting last night, Harry had made it his mission to make sure the boy ate well tonight, which had meant forcefully dragging Terry away from the books and the library where he'd been holed up in all day, all the way to the great hall.
"If we fail these exams we have to retake first year." Terry moaned, "I don't want to retake first year." He told harry, desperation in his eyes, and Harry couldn't help but laugh at his dramatic behaviour.
"It is going to be fine." Harry reassured him as he shoved a pile of mash potatoes on Terry's plate, before reaching for the sausages.
"Easy for you to say." Terry said with faux-bitterness as he poured gravy on both of their plates, "How are you so calm?" He asked.
"There are worse things in life than failing exams." Harry told him.
"Like?"
"Dying?" Harry replied and Terry sighed deeply.
"You sure?" Terry asked him with a glint of amusement in his eyes. "I'm sure some people would disagree." He said, gesturing towards the Gryffindor table, where Hermione was sat next to Ron, the two seeming to be surprisingly friendly towards each other.
"Since when are those two friends and not just trying to kill each other?" Harry asked with a contemplative look on his face.
"Neville." Terry replied shortly and Harry sent him a confused look. "What he didn't tell you?" Terry asked, seeming genuinely surprised. "According to Dean. Neville just got really angry at some point over their constant bickering and started yelling at them to sort it all out."
"Wow. I can't believe Nev didn't tell me." Harry said slightly disappointed. "Though I've got to say, I am very impressed." Harry added and Terry nodded.
"Hello firsties." Cameron greeted them, gliding on to the bench next to Harry. "Looking forward to exams tomorrow?" He asked and Harry groaned, putting his head in his hands.
"I just got him to get his mind off of that." Harry berated Cameron who laughed.
"Sorry Harry." Cameron apologised - not that he was actually sorry at all. "Terry, it's just first year exams - don't worry, you'll smash them." The prefect said enthusiastically.
"How's OWLS going?" Terry asked Cameron, the fifth year currently going through what Harry had learned was the equivalent to non-magicals' GSCEs.
"Fine." Cameron replied. "All of my year mates are going mad - I'm fine, but honestly I just want my friends back. I don't know what's possessed them." He complained dramatically.
"You mean they're revising?" Terry asked with a smirk on his face.
"The cheek!" Cameron started wagging his finger at Terry, "You see the cheek Harry? Harry would never be this cheeky." Cameron mock-admonished Terry who just grinned back. "Besides... revising is for the weak!" Cameron exclaimed.
"That's a pretty Gryffindor mindset." Harry commented, smiling as Cameron turned at him offended.
"I take it back. You're both just rude lil firsties." Cameron replied pretending to be insulted.
"To be fair Cam, it isn't a very Ravenclaw perspective you have there." Terry told him, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
"Ravenclaws are intelligent, eager to learn, have a thirst for knowledge, are creative and unique." Cameron replied, listing off all the Ravenclaw traits as though he was reading a manual. "It doesn't mean we have to want to spend our youth in libraries, holed up revising books and making flashcards. Besides, I'm good at what I do, and I know I can get good enough grades in all of the things I want to do for NEWTS." Cameron said nonchalantly, "-and as for the rest, why would I bother." Cameron added. "They won't matter next year."
"Fair enough." Harry replied, though Terry didn't seem to share that point of view.
"Look you guys, it's just first year exams. Relax - the harder exams are later, there's no point in over-exerting yourselves now." Cameron told them, for once sounding serious in his advice. "Now, I have to grab some food for my friends otherwise they'll never eat. Honesty," He began, grinning, "What madmen believe that revision is more important than food." The three laughed as Cameron started to go around the table, grabbing bits and pieces before putting them into a bag of sorts.
"See," Harry began after Cameron left, "I was right. You need to chill. It's just some exams - it's not like it's a fight to the death."
How does one escape the entrapment of Devil's Snare the question read. 'One simply needs to not struggle and the devil's snare will release them. Alternatively' Harry started to add, despite the question only being worth one mark (he was in a mood mainly due to his splitting headache, this may have caused him to be a bit more pedantic, and a bit more of a show off, than usual) 'one can use a fire spell such as ignalusa and the plant will be destroyed, or simply use a light spell such as lumos as the plant shies away from light.' Harry wrote before moving onto the next question.
The potions exam was more difficult than the herbology - one of the questions in the practical section asked the students to identify which of the potions before them was each. But Harry was pretty sure he got that right in the end - he checked with Terry and Michael afterwards and they both got the same answers (Anthony didn't, but as he was the minority Harry was hoping that meant he'd gotten the potions mixed up).
The DADA test was a joke - Quirrell seemed to put no effort into writing it, one of the questions asked how to defeat a troll - which one, wasn't on the syllabus, and two, seemed incredibly insensitive considering the events of Halloween which had nearly resulted in the death one of their classmates.
The transfiguration test was a lot harder, and Harry struggled with it a lot more, but that night in the common room when he was playing chess with Terry they went through the answers and most of them matched - which must be a good sign, Harry thought. He looked down at the chessboard analysing it before coming to a realisation. If he sacrificed his knight, then he could move his queen and put Terry into checkmate. Harry hid his smirk as he moved his knight, before letting it spill out as Terry fell for the bait, "Checkmate!" Harry exclaimed smugly - it had taken nearly an entire year, but Harry had finally beaten Terry at chess.
The "Last Day of Term" feast had finally arrived and Harry was amazed at how quickly this year had gone by. He was even more amazed at how much had changed in the past year.
Finding out about magic. Finding out he was a celebrity. Finding out about his birth parents. - It was quite a lot.
Everything was good. None of them had failed any of their exams - which Terry was exceptionally relieved by (the boy past with flying colours and Harry couldn't understand how he'd ever thought he would fail). Hermione was a little bit annoyed when Harry did the best in the year, but luckily looking after the bushy-haired girl was no longer his responsibility - Neville's new little trio of friends seemed relatively happy, and for that reason Harry couldn't help but be happy. Neville had come so far from the boy he'd met on the train, his confidence growing changed him into an almost unrecognisable person.
Harry couldn't help but smile even wider when he saw that Dumbledore (Quirrell was also absent - though not many people cared, and even less were surprised: the curse of the DADA professor continued) was absent in the feast - he had no idea why the ancient wizard would be absent but, whatever the reason, he was happy nonetheless.
He was even happier when the House Cup was awarded to Ravenclaw, amidst cheers from the blues and groans from the greens, even the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors cheered as the Slytherin reign was ended. McGonagall looked notably older as she read out the points, (maybe she was just upset Gryffindor failed to win anything again). Slytherin had won the Quidditch cup though, so whilst their table looked notably downcast as they lost their seven year streak on the house cup, they still had something to brag about.
It was only two weeks later that Harry put the pieces together. That everything was suddenly less alright. Less good.
The Daily Prophet headline had read Dumbledore Endangering Your Children and suddenly everything made sense. Dumbledore's absence at the feast, McGonagall's creased forehead, the third-floor corridor.
Apparently there'd been an attempted break in of the school: that when Dumbledore had been at a meeting of the Wizengamot somebody had attempted to steal the Philosopher's stone from Hogwarts. Key word: attempted.
Thankfully whatever defences Dumbledore had put in place were successful and Quirrell - the apparent perpetrator - had failed.
Harry wasn't sure what to be more surprised at - that a bunch of first years had figured out that Dumbledore was hiding something under the third floor corridor, or that Quirrell of all people was the one attempting to break in. According to the Prophet, and the reporter, Rita Skeeter (Harry couldn't help but think she had a cool name), Quirrell had died in his attempts to steal the stone. Though not many people cared about his death.
What people did care about however, was Dumbledore endangering their children, to store some relic for an old friend. The next three weeks the Daily Prophet continued to report on how parents were furious, gaining statements from parents such as Lucius Malfoy, and surprisingly Cameron's dad, a Mr Jonathon Montague, who both angrily discussed how Dumbledore was unfit to be headmaster, and unfit to be Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, or the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Harry couldn't help but agree.
The man had indeed endangered his students: it was his fault Hermione Granger had almost died, and all of his students had spent the year being taught by a criminal, only ought to get the Philosopher's Stone so he could have eternal life (at least that's what the Prophet said his motive was). But the man seemed to face no notable punishment for his actions - although he'd endangered his students, apparently there were some rules within Hogwarts about how the Headmaster had complete control over what happened in his school, and that by sending their students to school there all parents automatically had to accept that.
Harry and Terry - as well as the other Ravenclaw first years - exchanged several letters heatedly debating the topic, Harry the most outspoken against Dumbledore, whereas Anthony wished to be a bit more lenient towards the ancient wizard.
It would have seemed so unbelievable if one year ago somebody had told Harry that all of this was to come - that in one years time he'd be debating the ethics of the headmaster of the school he went to with his friends - that he had friend - and that that school would be a school of magic, that Harry was a wizard.
Indeed. A lot had changed within the past year. And a lot of changes were still yet to come.