A/N: If anyone would like to read more Harry Potter fics like mine, I recommend 'Harry Potter and the Lightning Curse'. It contains a manipulative Dumbledore and enemy Ron and Hermione. It is a soul bond fic as well and the pairing is with Ginny. My story contains Good Weasleys and Hermione unlike the one I mentioned above. And maybe this fic will turn out to be a soul bond story as well. But it won't be happening until half of Harry's second year is complete.

Now, onto the story. You will see in this chapter what Dumbledore had done in the past and how Ron and Hermione became a part of his schemes. And also Harry will encounter the Mirror of Erised at the end of this chapter

After Harry had told him everything, Snape was reeling in shock. He knew that Dumbledore was manipulating others but not to the extent that they would blindly trust on his words. Snape had learned the lesson not to trust anyone's words blindly when he became a spy for Dumbledore in the 'Dark Side'. The result had him losing his only friend and Harry having a life of abuse rivalling his own.

Snape was surprised that Harry had decided to ask him for help and not anyone else. When he asked Harry why he had chosen only him, the boy gave him an intriguing reply;

"I don't know. My mother told me that she believed you and I have full confidence in her. Even the founders approved of it and I have also vowed to myself that I will take everyone's opinions on any matter and not just wait for some 'prophecies' to happen."

Harry's reply ensured that Snape will have his support always. But the potions master also sensed that this trust was fragile at the moment. Snape wanted to uphold and strengthen this trust if he were to support the ideals of Harry's.

Regardless of how mature and powerful he was, Harry was still a child whose 'family' didn't give him any support in his life and always abused him. Snape mused that he needed more training to hone his magic and skills. Even if he gained the knowledge of the founders, his mom and the Dark Lord, he still had a lot to learn. Snape would ensure that he will reach that point irrespective of whether he'd be present or not.

After some discussions, both of them had left the lounge while Harry had granted Snape access to the lounge only when he was present (for the time being). Both of them agreed to meet at the lounge every week to plan on what to do next. Harry, then entered the common room and gathered his books for his astronomy class when he met up with his friends. There, while placating Hermione, Ron and Neville, he cooked up some story that Snape had wanted to talk to him about the condition of his potion.

After they had calmed down, all of them bid goodbye to each other and retreated to concentrate on the astronomy class and then retreated to their beds, too exhausted to complete their homework or even talk, once the class was over. Harry, laying on his bed contemplated his day. Overall, he thought that it was a success and that he had passed it without listening too much of the gossips about him, which were ever present since he came to the school.

Timeskip : 2 months later

A lot happened during the past 2 months and Harry was having the time of his life. Since he got to Snape and used the necessitates charm on him, the potions professor had been giving other houses' points as well, while still having that vampire persona. Harry had treasured the memory when some students had told others that he is being fair to them and not turning a blind eye to the discrimination caused by the purebloods.

It resulted in the Weasley twins proclaiming that the world is ending and that Snape is turning mad, the other teachers, with students having gone into shock and Dumbledore losing some of the twinkle in his eyes and have some coughing fits because he was drinking at the same moment.

He heard some good news from the other fronts as well. The Goblins responded to him yet again, thanking him for warning them about the horcrux present in the bank. Dark items of any kind were forbidden to be stored inside Gringotts, with the penalty being seizure of the owner's vault and assets.

Since Harry had played a part in it, they rewarded him with over a half of the seized properties bolstering his already immense wealth, while the other half went to the Goblin coffers. They had also destroyed the horcrux while leaving the Goblet intact and had found out some of the goblins, who were a part of the conspiracies in helping Dumbledore, withdraw money from the Potter vault and had executed them. Needless to say, anyone who was trying to betray them had surrendered in hopes of a lesser punishment and all of the goblin nation had shown him their support and acknowledged him.

They also informed him that they had sent messengers to the other species with sufficient proofs and all of them had sent a return message that they would fully support The-Boy-Who-Lived, provided that he would ensure what he did to the goblins. Harry had immediately accepted their requests and was now allowed to enter any territory in the magical world since the other species provided him with their own magic.

The foreign magics had melded with Harry's magic and his magical core ensuring that he can use other types of magic while having a high reserve of magic and super-fast regeneration speed of it without depending on other trinkets.

And there were other incidents he didn't like such as Ron insulting Hermione for being a know-it-all and trying to correct his every little mistake, during the Halloween. Hermione had run off crying while both Harry and Neville were worried for her. When Quirrel had burst into the hall saying that a troll had invaded the castle both of them had separated from the group to search for her, dragging Ron with them, stating that it was his fault instead of going to the feast.

He had tried to curb the inferiority complex of Ron and lack of confidence in Neville by trying to make them interact with others. Only Neville's shown improvement in that while Ron was more or less the same until that day (he was that way partly because Hermione still didn't lose her 'bossing around' attitude towards him).

When they had found that Hermione was fine but since the troll was progressing towards her, they tried to distract it. Harry hadn't used any spells he had known since the spells he gathered from all memories might contribute to killing it because of his huge magic reserves and corresponding to his lack of control on his own magic.

Ron, in a stroke of luck thought of the levitation charm and used it on the troll's club to knock it unconscious while Harry and Neville had distracted it from attacking Hermione.

When the teachers had arrived and we're about to put them in detention, Hermione spoke up that only because of her they were here. This led to Gryffindor losing 10 points because of her but gaining another 10 points each for the boys for trying to save her.

Once everyone had left, Snape told Harry that someone had tried to infiltrate the 3rd floor to steal the magical item hidden there. He suspected that it was Quirrel but had no proof. Harry told him to keep an eye on him and Dumbledore as well seeing that once the staircase had moved and positioned itself in front of the corridor, but he didn't plan it to and he was with Ron, Neville and Hermione who had seen the Cerberus and were trying to figure out what was present under the trapdoor that the dog is guarding.

From then, Hermione had toned down her attitude and started being friendlier to others while Ron was starting to focus and not slack off leading to an increase in his grades and a slight decrease of his inferiority complex. The incident also led to the 4 of them growing closer together and being friends sharing stories about themselves in front of the fire in the common room. It was good progress, for now.

Speaking of progress, Harry was also selected as a seeker for the Gryffindor house and had gained himself a brand-new Nimbus 2000 broom. The story on how he gained a membership of the quidditch group was a long story summed up in 6 sentences: Neville - Remembrall - accident on broom - Malfoy flying off with the object and throwing it far - catching the Remembrall within a fifty-foot dive - McGonagall speaking with the Gryffindor captain to let him in onto the team.

Malfoy, upon hearing that he was not being expelled was pissed. But he couldn't do anything as McGonagall and Snape were keeping an eye on him since that incident.

Harry also completed his first quidditch match rather successfully by catching the snitch with his mouth. It happened because he hit a snag when Quirrel tried to jinx his broom with Snape trying to counter it. Hermione and Ron, had set Snape's robes on fire thinking that he was jinxing Harry's broom and had voiced their opinions to Hagrid who had come to watch Harry's match which led to Hagrid chastising them that Snape was loyal and was not trying to kill Harry while slipping out the name of Fluffy and Nicholas Flamel, when they were talking about the Cerberus.

Harry also had not told them anything about Snape and let them have that delusion that Snape was still evil. He would tell them both after Dumbledore had completely lost their trust in him.

In the class, he was gaining several acquaintances from the Slytherin side. Both Snape and Harry had decided that he would be paired with some neutral Slytherins in his class which would lead them to develop some relations with them in other classes. Needless to say, the plan was working seamlessly. Most of the neutral Slytherins talked to him in a friendly manner during breaks, some even invited him to sit with them during lunch or dinner.

Harry also found that he was enjoying his time with Daphne Greengrass. He deduced that she was a good friend despite her 'ice queen' persona. She would often crack up when he told her something funny. He would say that she was a good friend and he didn't have any romantic feelings towards her. If he were to rate her on a friendship scale, she would be right below Ron, Neville and Hermione.

Ron and the other Gryffindors, naturally, at first were not pleased about Harry interacting with the Slytherins and had tried to discourage him but after some explanations and prodding on how everyone is a human and are not inherently bad, they had started to talk casually as well. In a short time, the Gryffindors had found many similarities between the neutral Slytherins and themselves but refrained to go beyond talking. Many Gryffindors were seen mingling with the neutral ones like Daphne, Blaise etc. over the break but it didn't go beyond ordinary talks.

Harry deduced that some people from the 'light side' (cough brainwashed cough) were still doubtful of the 'evil and dark Slytherins' and not were letting others interact with them in fear of 'being corrupted'. He also heard that some were thinking about counter curses to break him free from the evil that taints him to which Harry laughed (Oh! If only they knew). Harry assumed that people like Ron were trying to spread these rumours to distance him from the Slytherins due to their brainwashed ideals. But it did little to stop him.

Some pureblood prefects had also tried to stop this from happening but were thwarted several times leading them to moan about how 'the noble purebloods were mingling with filthy half-bloods and mud bloods' earning themselves a lot of detentions from the teachers who overheard those words. Everything was not perfect as well. Some pureblood supporters like Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott were still opposing the unity. But it was a slow and tedious process for them as well.

20th December 1991,

Harry and his friends were chatting about some mundane things as they headed towards the common room when the topic of where they were going in holidays had come up.

"Where are you all going? I am going to have fun at London with my parents." spoke Hermione

"My family is going to Romania to visit my brother Charlie. He works with Dragons. So, I am staying here for the break." spoke the resident food vacuum.

"M-my Gran said that we will go to a ball during Christmas. S-so I should g-go home." spoke Neville with a lot less stutter than before. But he still should break the habit.

"I am not going anywhere. My relatives told me that it's best if I stay here." was Harry's answer. Even if he had opened up and made friends, he was still sore on some topics like his family. The others (including Hermione after she tried to make him talk about them a few times), witnessing that it was bad had decided not to press him on that matter.

Getting her answers, Hermione spoke out "So maybe, both of you should research about Nicholas Flamel. We will try to find out anything about him as well." to which all 3 boys grumbled and accepted. They had learnt that they should never oppose Hermione in matters of academics or gathering knowledge. Also, while they interacted with each other, both Ron and Neville were learning their faults and were trying to correct themselves. It was leading to Ron losing some of his jealousies and Neville to gain more confidence in himself.

Harry also learnt a lot with his friends. Because he was abused and shunned in the muggle world, he didn't know how to interact with others and was lacking in social skills. When he was in Hogwarts, among his friends, he learnt to mingle with others and have fun. Harry was looking forward to explore the founders' rooms in the holidays. Unbeknownst to him and his friends, there was a person who was observing their discussion.

Headmaster's office, Hogwarts

Dumbledore was watching Harry Potter leave the classroom with the Gryffindors. He was happy to see that 'The mascot of the Light' was doing well and making friends. Tom never made friends and hence feeling alone had delved into the dark arts quite early. Or at least that's what Dumbledore thought had happened. Now, he would test Harry's strength, resolve and willpower with the lure of the Philosopher's Stone and ensure that he's abiding to the 'light side'.

Dumbledore hadn't expected Harry to become friends with the Longbottom boy and the Slytherins. Now, he might have to revise the traps or separate him from the trio.

Also, there was the issue of Slytherins interacting with Harry. Granted that they are of neutrals and not of 'dark' families and could definitely help him establish dominance of the light in the future. But right now, Harry should be far from them. He had just entered the wizarding world and could be swayed to any side easily. He should be fully separated from them until he fully embraces the light. And he'd ensure that The-Boy-Who-Lived would be far away from any Slytherins so he will not be corrupted by them to the 'dark side'. Fortunately, Ron Weasley was trying to do the same thing that Dumbledore was thinking.

Dumbledore had gone to great lengths to ensure that both Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger met Harry Potter and became friends with him. The Weasleys were very powerful and had high aptitude for different types of magic. And having a high number of them helped the cause as well. He had 'beseeched' to Molly Weasley about the troubles of Harry shifting to the dark side. And since he had helped some of her sons' gain their jobs, he had also gained some debts from them and that also helped him convince her about letting Harry Potter make 'friends' with her sons.

He 'encouraged' her to let Ron form anti Slytherin agendas and be filled with 'light' ideals in his mind and neglect his shortcomings while only executing his plan about Harry leading him to become a dumb, lazy, food gorging machine with a lot of jealousy and issues towards the rich, severe anger management issues with the only talent of making strategies.

Dumbledore wanted Ron to be the person who would support and introduce Harry to the wizarding world and sway him to the 'light'. He would also be distracting Harry from learning anything about his heritage by often doing ridiculous things like playing chess or discussing about Quidditch, thereby making him lazy in work as well by putting it off until the end. Ron, in short would be a crutch and a support at the same time and when the time comes, he would help The-Boy-Who-Lived achieve his destiny as Dumbledore's pawn.

Coming to Hermione's case, she was sent the letter in the previous year. Since her birthday was on September 19th, she had gotten the letter late and had to enter the school next year. When she got her letter, she was overjoyed and had gone off to buy everything her letter had stated. Unbeknownst to her, Dumbledore had planned to use her in his 'grand plans'.

Dumbledore had observed Hermione for months when he had gained news that she was a witch. He had deduced that this girl relied solely on knowledge and had sent her another letter about what books to read. He had also entered Flourish and Blotts and had cast some charms that will attract her on specific books that promote 'light magic' while trashing others. Dumbledore wanted her role to be a Library and knowledge Bank for Harry while he would be goofing off (slightly) with Ron Weasley. The both of them would ensure that Harry would fulfil the prophecy and eliminate the dark completely while he died in the process. Their names would be parts of legends.

He would need tools for his destiny. Dumbledore was unhappy that he would have to with the Cloak of Invisibility. It was, after all, one of the deathly hallows. But if everything went well and accordingly, Harry would die and he could gain many treasures on the way while immortalising his name in history as well.

Those were the thoughts of Dumbledore's. But he was so busy cackling about his 'plans' that he didn't see his familiar watching The-Boy-Who-Lived and comparing the differences between the headmaster and Harry himself.

Fawkes was not happy with Dumbledore's plans. He would always say that it's for the greater good but he hadn't done anything for it to happen. He would not interfere with the matters of reducing discrimination among the wizengamot or among the students. Laws suppressing other species were being passed regularly but he wouldn't oppose any of them in the open court. He let many death eaters scoot free under the excuse of imperius, even when he could have force them to atone but didn't care anything about them. Now many of them, in their delusions that they were protecting purebloods, were setting society back and many had become irredeemable and were letting the muggles advance even further in everything.

Fawkes suspected that Dumbledore also supported the pureblood faction or was just drunk on power and wanted it more. Being a guardian of the school, Fawkes had appeared before only a few and worthy headmasters to bond with them. Albus was also that way at first but it changed when he defeated Grindelwald. Fawkes observed changes in Dumbledore's aura. It was turning darker gradually and was already repelling him and the phoenix was only staying with him because he was yet to test the heir.

When he first saw Harry, Fawkes tried to move away from him because he sensed a taint of darkness within him. But he observed that the taint was not his own but merely latched onto him from another soul. He also observed that the moment Harry entered the castle, it become more alert, as if it was welcoming its master home. From that, he deduced that Harry was the long-awaited heir. But he wouldn't go directly and bond with him. He had seen the rise and fall of many evils and he'd not be swayed easily.

If a dire situation arrived, he would test Harry and check his resolve. If he was worthy, then he would bond with him and help him as he wishes. If he wasn't, he would disappear and ensure that this person is destroyed and wait for another heir to arrive, if any.

But until now, he couldn't find any darkness in the boy's aura. Even if he was touched by evil, his aura remained pure and he was also trying to break the outdated traditions of the school. Many Gryffindors and Slytherins were mingling together without fighting each other. Granted that they were just talking and nothing beyond that was happening but a year ago, even this would be unimaginable to anyone. Fawkes had a feeling that things would turn interesting from now since Harry Potter had arrived. Oh, he was so keeping an eye on him.

December 25th 1991, Gryffindor Common Room

Harry was woken up early by an over-excited Ron about presents. Harry, at first was mad at him for waking him up. But the annoyance had disappeared replaced with surprise when saw that he had a pile of presents before his bed. Being raised by the Dursleys, he didn't get any gifts. Money from his vault was used to buy gifts for Dudley and he would be treated as worse than trash. He was even beaten if he asked for anything.

But not now. He had gained a little knowledge on how the wizarding world worked and had the knowledge of his mother, Voldemort and all the founders. Though they might as well be a bit outdated, he knew about the etiquette and could go to Potter manor and live there every summer. The Goblins were also trying to help him by recovering the money his uncle 'stole' from him. They informed him that when he declares that Number 4 Privet drive isn't his residence, they would confiscate the Dursleys' assets and get his money back

The only reason he hadn't proclaimed that Privet drive is not his home is he wanted to spend the next summer there checking the different wards Dumbledore had erected there to study them and if any illegal wards were present, take them down. Even if the blood wards were crumbling, he could give them enough magical energy to stabilize them until the next 2 years or 3 max but no more.

When he had checked his presents, he found out that he got some chocolate from Ron, a book on wizarding culture from Neville, a book on how to use his skills as a seeker from Hermione and fifty pence from the Dursleys. He was also surprised that he got a jumper made by Mrs. Weasley, he had also gotten many gifts from Snape like old books of his parents, photos of them etc. mostly of his mother but not his father.

He honestly couldn't blame him. Even if the bullying was a concoction of Dumbledore's, it had still left scars on his psyche and it would take time to forgive him. Also he was much closer to his mother, after all. For giving him such valuable items about his parents, he gave Snape some rare potion ingredients which he had gathered from the Hufflepuff's vault. The ingredients were under a stasis charm and hence they are fresh.

Lastly, he came across another package which didn't have any name on it except for a note that his father left this in his possession before his death and he should use it well.

"Blimey, that is an invisible cloak. They are like super-rare. We can use this to sneak out and do many things. Maybe we can use this to sneak into the restricted section" Ron spoke out after he opened and observed what is present in the package.

Harry accepted Ron's idea about using the cloak. In truth, he was curious about Flamel as well. He knew that name and was sure that he read about him but the information keeps eluding him and making him frustrated.

After he shooed Ron off so he can get ready, Harry checked the cloak and his other gifts and found out that the cloak and jumper had several tracking and creating a mental note on to check for any charms present on his clothes. After he removed them, he wore the jumper and went to have breakfast with the ones left.

Having completed his breakfast, Harry exited the great hall and donned his invisibility cloak to roam Hogwarts. When he was moving around aimlessly, he entered a room, hosting a large mirror. Glancing into it, he saw his mother, father and his family (including the founders) beaming at him happily. At first, he was shell-shocked and had cast detection charms on the room. No one was present in it except him. Coming closer to the mirror, he saw an inscription on the side of it

'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'

Reversing the letters, he found out the function of the mirror.

'I show not your face, but your heart's desire'

Glancing into the mirror again, he saw all of the persons inside it waving at him. All of them were happy.

Harry laid there for a long time watching the reflections but didn't dwell on them coming true. The past had already happened and couldn't be changed until the divine intervenes. So, when the sun was about to set, he went back to the common room, vowing to never to enter that particular room again, unaware that an old fool would wait for him to 'stumble' across the mirror.