The next week at Hogwarts was very uncomfortable. Almost every student and professor couldn't stop gawking at me. The news of Sirius' release and the subsequent imprisonment of Pettigrew sent the entirety of Hogwarts into a frenzy, the following Monday morning. I knew it was going to get chaotic when the Prophet was delivered so I chose to have the elves bring my breakfast to the Room of Requirements. While all of Hogwarts was coming to terms with the shocking news, I was having a calm and quiet breakfast in the company of Albie and Tipsy. Sebas and Nabel were back at Potter Manor, taking care of Sirius.
The elves and I had agreed on a rotation schedule that allowed all of them to spend time with me. They, themselves, also coordinated who would take up the positions of watching over Hagrid and Quirrell.
The week was hard mostly because a few students would not stop asking questions about Sirius and Pettigrew. Draco and his two stooges were the worst, making jokes on Sirius' long and wrongful imprisonment at Hogwarts. Asking if Sirius even had a soul left after spending so much time at Azkaban. It took all effort out of me not to jinx them to oblivion, as I still needed to keep myself conserved while Voldemort was still in the castle. Unfortunately, someone had taken a photo of Sirius and I leaving the Ministry, and it became the front-page picture so I couldn't even lie, saying that I didn't know anything since I wasn't at the trials. It also didn't help that students aren't usually allowed to leave Hogwarts, during the year, so I was also being asked if I loved using my fame for pulling favours from Dumbledore.
Hermione and Neville had done everything they could to help me relax during that week. They started having their meals with me, outside the Great Hall, in an empty classroom we had commandeered as our dining room. I didn't want anyone to know about the Room of Requirements yet, I wanted it to remain as my own private, virtual training room. They also never asked me any questions about the trials, rather made sure I knew they were happy for Sirius and I and that they would be there for support if I needed it. Considering they knew a little about my life before Hogwarts, they were most likely just relieved that I finally had an adult figure in my life that could help take care of me.
It was something I knew they had an issue with before but never voiced it knowing how I felt about adults. I had never outright stated it but they picked up on it from my behavior in classes with the professors and the few interactions outside of classes, they had seen. It wasn't that I hated all adults, but since I'm technically an adult, getting treated as a little kid was exhausting. I can understand from the point of view of the professors, which is why I never behaved rudely with them and stayed as respectful as I could. But clearly, I couldn't hide my annoyance though as both Hermione and Neville had picked up on it.
After the first week though, everything calmed down quite a bit. It was like the weekend hit the refresh button for everyone, and they went back to carrying on with their lives. For the next few weeks, I got back into the same pattern as before. Classes during the day, studying with Hermione and Neville right after. I would then head to the Room of Requirements for training, staying past midnight.
Sirius and I started exchanging messages through the elves. I had him avoid going to Grimmauld Place, telling him that I would like to be there with him when he goes to visit it for the first time. I told him it was because I was curious about the Black house and all the magical artifacts it may contain and wanted to explore it with him.
But truthfully, it was because I wanted the chance to get the locket that Kreacher probably has been keeping safe for all this time. And I didn't want Sirius to sell it or throw it out, not knowing the significance of it. We ended up agreeing on visiting the house in the summer and in the meantime, he would slowly work to integrate himself back in society. I told him that I had quite a few business ideas for us to start working on, once he gets all his affairs in order, to push him to do it sooner. We had also planned to create an identity for him in the normal world, while we were getting myself legally emancipated from the Dursleys, that was still priority one. Something Sirius had agreed wholeheartedly.
The twins had also, officially bequeathed the Map to me. After I told them that they would be meeting one of the creators of the Map at the end of the year, specifically Padfoot. Though I still owed them those favours, they made sure to specify that. I agreed easily, told them I was actually looking forward to it.
I had already talked to Sirius about meeting them, he was more than excited to, after I regaled him on some of the pranks they had pulled off. He was pleased knowing there was a new generation of Marauders at Hogwarts, namely the twins and I.
He included me because of the deception that I was able to pull off on Amelia and also because he wanted me to keep it going as along as I could. Considering the wizarding world loved to have powerful wizards become larger than life, i.e., Voldemort, Dumbledore, Grindelwald…Me! It would be the perfect prank to pull. He had become more insistent on it after I told him, Dumbledore had believed it, too. His idea definitely had merit, have everyone distracted by the mysterious wizard so they don't pay attention to me. This might be the beginnings of my superhero journey, something of a trial run, before I join the normal world.
And so, knowing my battle with Quirrell is approaching at the end of exams, I had the elves track down a cloak made of dragon hide, if they could. I had no idea, if such a thing existed, but if it did my elves would definitely find it.
I didn't want to rely on a conjured cloak all the time, something physical would be much better for hiding my identity. I had asked for the same length as the one I had previously conjured, about 7 feet long. With my 5-foot height added to my levitating, the cloak would cover all of me with no problem and hide any "steps" I would take. The eerie levitating vibe that Amelia described was something I wanted to remain about the persona. I also mastered the colour-changing charm so that my eye colour changed to a blood-like red, with an intimidating glow about them. I would also charm the hood of the cloak, to cast a dark shade over my head so only the eyes would stand out. I had contemplated keeping them my natural green, but they were too distinct, I'd be recognized right away.
My elves delivered just in time for exams, they had tracked down the cloak for me and made some modifications to it so I could attach the Cloak of Invisibility on it. Albie had told me that Hagrid had a dragon egg he was taking care of sometime ago, so I knew things were progressing like canon. Quirrell would use the harp to knock Fluffy out and proceed ahead for the stone. Previously, I was going to be there ahead of time, but now I wanted to meet Quirrell after he gets to the mirror. Just so, I could increase the odds of Dumbledore catching a sight of the mysterious wizard after "he" defeats Quirrell.
But before that I had to get past my first-year exams, though they didn't challenge me at all. I knew for a fact I was getting all O's, except for Herbology. I swear Plants hate me in this life! I was fine with the theory, but the actual cultivating of the plants was where my lack of talent showed. As for DADA, I didn't have to fake my lack of skill as the theory questions and the practical were super simple. I guess Quirrell was too focused on the stone to make proper tests, didn't bother me but I knew it would be something Hermione would complain about.
...And I was right, at the first meal after exams were done, Hermione had complained about the simplicity of the DADA exam. Other than that, she was happy with how she had done, expecting all O's except maybe for Flying. She was better than canon Hermione on a broom, I'd made sure of that. Every wizard friend of mine must at least be able to stay on a broom and fly around a little bit. Neville, had also done very well on the exams. Expecting some O's, and some EE's, nothing lower.
After the meal, I told them that I was going to call it an early night. They, understood since I had a Quidditch game the next day. And luckily Dean had been in the room when I entered so I had a witness for me being here the entire time. With an alibi secured, I closed my curtains and had Tipsy take me to the Room of Requirements. I would wait till I saw Quirrell get past Fluffy on the Map, before making my way to the Third-Floor corridor.
I had to wait about 2 hours before I saw Quirrell approach the room Fluffy was in, and I confirmed that Dumbledore wasn't anywhere in the castle on the Map. Knowing it was time, I had Sebas bring me my new cloak and put it on. I conjured a mirror to see how I looked and it was very similar to how Zero looked. Except my cloak was more rough looking being made of from dragon hide. As I finished putting the cloak on, Quirrell had gotten past Fluffy. I gave him an extra 5 minutes before I had Sebas take me Fluffy's room.
When I got there, Fluffy was out cold, with the harp tossed to the side of him. I cast the Rennervate charm on him and he slowly came to, confused about his surroundings. I let my hood down for him, so he could recognize me and once I knew he did, I called my wand out to cast the diminuendo charm on him. I relied on the power of the wand to ensure nothing went wrong with the spell. When he realized what I had done, he looked angry but I appeased him with some treats I had prepared beforehand. He was now as big as a husky, so could easily fit through the trap door. Once he looked happy enough, I pull my hood back up to hide my face and then picked him up as he finished his treats. I then jumped down the trap door to the awaiting Devil's snare, which I quickly took care of, with my overpowered Lumos charm.
Relying on my wind magic, I was able to levitate my self down to the ground, no problem. I kept Fluffy in his smaller form as I made my way into the room with the 2nd trap, the flying keys. I didn't even bother with the broom that was waiting there. Instead, used my wand to force gusts of wind to push all the other keys away while pulling in the broken key.
The third trap was the same as in canon, the wizard chess board. I did play chess in my old life and I was fairly good but I wasn't in the mood to play through a game right now. And so, I put Fluffy down on the ground and cast the counter-charm to return him to his original size. I then took out a treat and pointed at the pieces, and he understood immediately. He ran right at them, as they all started moving towards him. Huh, so if you ignore the game, you get attacked by all of them. Not wanting Fluffy to get hurt due to the numbers against him, I ran after him.
He tackled one pawn down, as another tried to attack him from behind. I was going to help him but it was not needed as he used his tail to whip that pawn away. As more tried to join in on the fight, I acted first calling my wind magic to form wind blades that I started launching at the pieces. They weren't strong enough to cut through them, yet, but they were doing enough damage to take significant chunks off them. Between Fluffy and I, it took us 15 minutes to defeat all of them. Every time they came close to hitting me, I would use my wind magic to push their weapons to the side of me. I had come very far in my control of the wind and the power I could put behind it. As for Fluffy, his agility was proving too fast for the pieces. This room was a lot bigger than the one he was guarding previously, so he could properly show his prowess here.
As per canon Quirrell's trap, the troll, was already knocked out; letting us go past it without any issues. Snape's trap was easy to get past as well, the riddle only challenging me for a minute. I gave Fluffy half of the correct potion, while I emptied the rest. We both made it through the fire with no problem. Before we entered the final room, I conjured ear plugs for Fluffy as I had practised earlier in the year.
This time I didn't have to incentivise Fluffy with a treat, he started growling at Quirrell the moment he came into view. He probably remembered him from earlier and was angry at him. I had to raise my hand to tell Fluffy not to attack him yet, I needed to stall for time as much as possible. Hearing the growling, Quirrell turned to face us, fear and confusion evident on his face.
"Who are you?" Quirrell asked me, with a bit of a tremble in his voice. He was speaking to me but his attention was on Fluffy.
I made sure to cast a wandless Sonorous spell before I spoke. Understanding the theory behind the spell allowed me to change my still child-like voice to a deep voice that commanded presence.
"You should be more worried about the dog than with who I am." I responded, while pointing at Fluffy with my thumb.
"I already got past him once, I can do it again easily. As for you, do you have any idea who-" he tried to intimidate me but I started laughing in response, causing him to pause whatever else he was going to say.
"Are you trying to scare me? The idiot who couldn't even curse a broom properly." I said mocking him. I saw his eyebrows raise in surprise.
"It was you?" Quirrell demanded in anger.
"Yes, it was me."I responded. "I must give you credit though, you had all of Hogwarts fooled with your exasperating stuttering and idiotic behaviour, though I don't think you were faking the latter."
I could hear him snarl in frustration but still remaining peaceful, wary for Fluffy.
"Let me speak to him." I heard a frail and weak voice say from behind Quirrell, the voice of Voldemort.
"But Master, you aren't strong enough." Quirrell tried to reason with him.
"I want to speak to him. Do it!" He commanded Quirrell who acquiesced and started taking off his turban.
It seemed like Fluffy could instinctively tell something bad was coming out, he started growling harder and louder. When it was completely off and Quirrel turned around, I had to start petting Fluffy to calm him down as much as possible. He wanted to tear Quirrell/Voldemort apart. Voldemort ignored Fluffy's threatening growls and began speaking to me.
"It seems Dumbledore has taken to asking for help from outside his usual pool of useless filth he calls wizards. Why would you want to work for that old fogger, join me and I can promise you unlimited power?"
"A recruitment speech from you? Look at the idiot you are currently inhabiting. If all you can do is, turn me into another version of that, then you're the most pathetic Dark Lord ever. You've already been defeated once by a baby and look at the state it left you in. Who knows, maybe next time you'll be defeated by a bird?"I answered mockingly.
He yelled out in anger and ordered Quirrell to kill me. Pretty stupid thing to do out loud, when I had an attack dog waiting by my side. Added to that, Quirrell had to actually turn around before he could attack me. The time it took for him to turn was all I needed to give Fluffy the signal to attack.
Just as Quirrell was getting his wand up to fire a spell, Fluffy had already made it to him. He had to jump back to dodge one of Fluffy's paw coming straight for his face. He didn't dodge fast enough though, as the sharp nails cut through his robes, reaching his bare chest. One swipe from Fluffy was enough to leave him bloody.
"You fool, put the mutt to sleep first!" Voldemort, tried to advise Quirrell.
I didn't move from the spot I was in, just enjoying the show in front of me. The only thing I did was cast my Magic Perception spell, to notify me when Dumbledore arrives. Meanwhile, Fluffy and Quirrell continued their battle, with Voldemort constantly screeching at Quirrell to stop being a weak fool. He had tried conjuring another harp to put him to sleep when he was able to create some space between them. Unfortunately, Quirrell didn't know it wouldn't work and had paid the price with a bite to his right shoulder for his carelessness.
The fight between them went on with Fluffy dominating the entire time. The first paw that struck Quirrell had done a lot of damage, so he was always on the back foot. After a few minutes, I got bored of watching Quirrell get pummeled and joined the fight. He, at this point had forgotten about me, too occupied with Fluffy and now had his back towards me. As I raised my wand, disguised, I saw Voldemort's face distort to dread as he tried to warn Quirrell. Too late though, my casting was too fast.
When the spell hit Quirrell, both Voldemort and him started screaming in pain as the he crumpled to the ground. It was one of the electrocution spells I learned from the Manor library. I fired it once again when I saw him start getting up off the ground. Once again, they both started screaming out in pain. Fluffy had come to join me by my side, when he saw me take action. We had come to develop great chemistry between the two us.
"You useless fool! You failed despite the power I bestowed on you!" Voldemort screeched out, as I sensed someone, probably Dumbledore, enter the room behind me.
It seemed Voldemort had enough of the beaten down, as the same black shade I remembered from the day I lost James and Lily, rose out of Quirrell. I could see a resemblance of Voldemort's face in the shade. It tried to fly at me, like it did in canon, but I called my wind magic to blow it away before it got close. Seeing that it could not get close to me after trying once more, it flew out through the ceiling.
Quirrell had fallen unconscious when the shade left him so I went up to him and checked his status.
"He's dead" I stated for Dumbledore, who had still not moved from the door. When I looked towards him, I could tell he recognized my disguise from however Amelia had described me. He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Are you the one who killed him?" He asked grimly.
"I'm not sure, could have died from his injuries or because old Voldie's soul left him." I replied curtly.
"You don't seem too concerned about someone's death being on your hands." Dumbledore accused me.
"Depends on whose death it is. Quirrell willing let Voldemort take his body and wanted to kill me. Though I did interrupt his attempt to steal the stone, so he was probably angry about that."
"And how did you know the stone was here and one of my professors was going to attempt stealing it?" He inquired with a suspicious expression.
"I think the more important question is why you, allegedly one of the most powerful wizards ever, didn't realize one of your own professors was possessed by Voldemort, allowing him free boarding on the back of his head?"I deflected his question with one of my own.
"I had my suspicions on him working for Voldemort but not that he had fallen so low to let the Dark Lord take residence in his body. I didn't-" He attempted to explain but I interrupted him.
"And why bait him to the school at all? There are numerous innocent children he could have taken hostage at any time and made you give up the stone. Maybe Quirrell's stupidity affected Voldemort's thinking, but what about you? How could you put the students at risk?" I asked gravely. I could see that outcome had escaped him when his eyes widened in alarm.
"I can admit to forgetting about Voldemort's ruthless nature, but that doesn't excuse you coming to Hogwarts unannounced and engage in battle with one of my professors. Regardless of his condition, you should have come to me if you had any suspicions." He argued back with a stern voice.
"You had your chance after he tried cursing Harry's broom. But you did nothing for months so I took action today" I replied.
"So, Snape was right, someone else had intervened that day. It was you, wasn't it?" he inquired.
Perfect! I wanted him to leap to that conclusion so I made sure to confirm it for him.
"Yes, it was and lucky for Harry I was there. That's twice you have failed to protect Harry when he was under you care. Do not let there be a third time. Or I will take him out of this school" I threatened him.
"You can't do that." He denied vehemently.
"Yes, I can. I've been tacking care of him for years, and I won't stop now. He wants to be here, in honour of his parents, the only reason I let him come to this school. But if he is put in grave danger again, he is out of this school!" I stated firmly.
"I will not let you take him away!" He responded in anger.
This time Fluffy felt he went too far as he started growling and snarling at Dumbledore. As he paused to look towards Fluffy, I cast two spells simultaneously. The benefit of all those years of practising my magic control. And having the Wand of Watoomb as well. With the wand I cast a Lumos Maxima, this one much more powerful than any simple Lumos charm I had used. Simultaneously, I cast another Sonorous charm, wandless. This time to create a loud bang! The two spells combined, acted like a flash-bang.
The suddenness of it caught him off-guard, and as the combination was intended for, it caused him to drop to the floor in pain. Trying to cover his ears to stop the ringing he was probably feeling. I took advantage of that to call Sebas and have him take me back to the Room of Requirement to get changed. When Dumbledore would be able to gather himself, all he would find is Quirrell's body and Fluffy, who was still growling angrily at him when I left.
