A/N: So sorry for the wait folks! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, they keep me going! :) This is the tail end of First Year with the conclusion of the Philosopher's Stone! The next chapter will start with Year 2, with a little overlap to cover the very end I didn't write about. Know that anything left out is intentional at this point, I have a write up for all 7 years at school with Harriet. Bare with me, and I will get them all out in time! I am trying to adjust my formatting to make reading on smaller devices easier, but please note there is a certain style to LitRPG stories that I am trying to follow. An on to the show folks!
The first thing that Harry noticed about Longbottom Manor was that it was nothing like the Black family home. Where Grimmauld Place was cold and creepy and gave off a feeling like you would be dirty if you touched anything, Longbottom Manor was the exact opposite; warm, golden and bright and there were potted plants everywhere. The house elf that greeted them was dressed in a miniature tuxedo, rather than a dingy loincloth like Kreacher preferred.
"Welcome to Longbottom Manor, Dowager Longbottom and the Heir Longbottom are in the conservatory waiting for guests, follow Inky please." The house elf then turned sharply on his heels and led them out of the room. Harry followed along but took the time to look around as they were being led. There were large paintings that moved just like Hogwarts, but none of them got close enough to say anything to the trio moving quickly behind the elf. The hallway ended in an open, bright room with even more plants and a cobblestone floor with almost full walls of windows. The furniture was wrought iron and the tables by the windows to the left overlooking an impressive garden were full of finger foods and pitchers of pastel colored drinks.
"Harry!" She turned to the sound to see Neville, dressed rather swell in dress robes of an earthy green. They matched well with his blonde hair and slightly rosey cheeks. He was still a nervous boy, but he had come out of his shell considerably since meeting the two girls. Harry grabbed her uncles each by the hand and pulled them to Neville and the older woman she knew to be his grandmother. She was dressed regally in an old fashioned black dress robe and wore the most ghastly vulture hat that Harry had ever seen. The dapperly dressed house elf led them to the duo, it appeared as if the Wolf Pack were the first guests for the party.
"Harry, this is my grandmother, Lady Augusta Longbottom. Gran, this is one of my best friends, Harriet Potter." Neville formally introduced her to his gran in the way of purebloods; she had been expecting it after a talk with Remus and Sirius the other day. She curtsied and inclined her head to Lady Longbottom.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I'd like to introduce you both to my guardians,my godfather Lord Sirius Black, and my guardian, Remus Lupin," she turned and gestured to each in turn. Sirius gave Augusta a saucy wink and kissed the top of her offered hand, while Remus just sighed loudly and gave her a warm smile and a gentle bow.
"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. I was surprised to hear that the Girl-Who-Lived was friends with my Neville here, with everyone you could have chosen," Harry watched Neville try and hide a grimace at his grandmother's barb, and just gave Harry a shaky smile. Harry did not like the feeling she felt seeing her friend so uncomfortable. Neville didn't speak a lot about his gran, but the little he had Harry had decided she was rather cold and cruel at times. Not outwardly abusive like Harry's old "family", but something was definitely going on that she was not a fan of.
"I met Neville on the train, he and Hermione are my best friends. I wouldn't trade either of them for anything. Neville is kind to everyone, and he is the best in our year in Herbology." Harry said rather defiantly in response. She scooted to stand next to Neville and hooked her arm through the crook of his elbow. The look of admiration on Neville's beaming face was enough for Harry to know she had done the right thing.
Just as Augusta was about to reply, Inky led two more groups of people into the conservatory and the tension seemed to dissipate.
The afternoon progressed and Hermione and her parents arrived about half an hour after Harry and her uncles. She had on a similar dress cut to Harry, but hers was a deep crimson, and both of her parents had dressed fully upper class muggle. By that time, there were a fair bit of people in the conservatory and the sun was setting in the background of the windows. At eight o'clock in the evening, Inky and another similarly dressed house elf appeared at the head of the room and announced that dinner was now ready. They snapped their fingers and the back wall facing the sunset opened like a giant door of windows and made for an entrance to the garden terrace outside. There was white iron furniture with small round tables and another large table laden with food. Fairy lights were floating around along with some floating candles like at Hogwarts. Harry wasn't sure where exactly Longbottom Manor was located, but it was definitely somewhere much further south than where the Den was in Scotland. It was still cool, but the night was clear and the only snow in sight was far off in the distance on the mountain peaks. Neville had told her and Hermione when asked earlier that the entire grounds had a Fair Weather Charm that could be activated for parties such as this. Hermione was of course fascinated by this idea but to her misfortune Neville didn't really know anything about it. Nothing stopped Hermione when she got that look in her eye though.
Harry was seated at a larger round table that featured the three friends, plus their parents/guardians. She had been introduced to a massive amount of wizards that night, and there was no way she could keep up with the over one hundred new faces she just learned. Conversations drifted along and Harry had never felt quite so happy before. Nestled between her best friends and her new family, she felt like she could fly without a broom if she only tried.
_HP&DQ_
They had stayed rather late the night before at the New Year's Party; there had been an outstanding fireworks show at the stroke of midnight above the gardens. The three friends were barely awake still and had leaned together holding each other up to enjoy it. They were even briefly able to talk about their individual research on Flamel, but unfortunately no one had found anything yet. Harry had also filled them in on her new life quest that she had received, and Hermione immediately asked about the fairy tale that was inspired by the apparently at least sort of true story. Neville was familiar with it and was able to retell it to her, and promised to bring his copy with him back to Hogwarts.
Before Harry knew it, it was time to go back to Hogwarts. She had the most amazing holiday ever, getting to know her new guardians and the holiday party with the Longbottoms plus learning more about the new world around her from her new family. Remus and Sirius apparated her back to the station and told her how to prompt her fast travel.
[5 MINUTES UNTIL FAST TRAVEL TO HOGSMEADE STATION. PLEASE JOIN THE QUEUE AND HOLD TIGHTLY TO YOUR BELONGINGS FOR THE TRIP.]
[1 MINUTE UNTIL FAST TRAVEL DEPARTURE.]
[30 SECONDS UNTIL FAST TRAVEL DEPARTURE.]
[FAST TRAVEL DEPARTURE IMMINENT, 5….4….3….2….]
A loud pop and the sucking through a straw feeling later, and Harry was on her knees on the ground again. Thankfully she wasn't the only one, Neville and Hermione had appeared back next to her in the places they were when they had left Hogwarts before break and were both also splayed out on the ground in some manner. Only the older students seemed unaffected. Interesting.
[WELCOME BACK TO HOGWARTS STUDENTS! PLEASE PROCEED TO THE CARRIAGES FOR A RIDE BACK TO THE CASTLE. CLASSES WILL RESUME TOMORROW MORNING.]
_HP&DQ_
The spring semester moved just as fast as the fall, but they were doing more practical and hands-on work in all of their classes now. DADA was finally becoming interesting, Professor Quirrell was actually teaching them spells rather than just stuttering about the things that could harm them and filling them full of inaccuracies about the dangers muggles pose.
One day at the end of January when they were learning the Knockback Jinx, Flipendo, Professor Quirrell called Harry up to be the target that he hit. Neville turned a bit green and Hermione looked furious, but Harry just shrugged and walked up to the front of the class.
"Alright P-p-potter. N-no need for your w-wand. Stand there…yes..now when you cast this spell, move your arm as such, and pronounce it as fli-PEN-doh." The professor's stutter seemed to fade away for some reason, and he raised his wand up and pointed it at Harry. Harry could have swore she saw a flash of red in his eyes as he slashed his wand.
The last thing she saw was a malicious turn to the professor's face, and all she knew was black. When she came to, she was laying down in bed. As she took a survey of her surroundings it became obvious she was in the infirmary. She turned to the left and groaned as the feeling came back into her body. Hermione and Neville were both sitting next to her and jumped at the sound of her voice.
"Harry! Neville, get Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione clutched her hand tightly as Neville ran off through the curtains surrounding her makeshift room.
"Oh Harry, we were so worried! Professor Quirrel said that you must have done something to have a reaction to the jinx like you did, but I don't believe him for a second! Why would he cast a non-verbal knockback jinx for demonstration purposes? That doesn't make sense at all! He got all weird before he cast the spell at you, his stutter went away!" Hermione was talking so fast but she finally took a big breath at the end there, long enough for the nurse and Neville to return and for her to start talking to Harry.
"Miss Potter. How are you feeling? You took a mighty hit to your head, can you remember what happened?" The matron had come to the bed and was waving her wand around Harry a few times.
"My head feels really heavy, and I am a bit dizzy. The last thing I remember is Professor Quirrell about to demonstrate a knockback jinx on me for the class." Harry put her hand to her forehead and massaged her scar lightly. There was an odd dull ache in the deep part of it near the top of her forehead.
Madam Pomfrey frowned at that, and waved her arm a few more times.
"I will make sure that the headmaster hears about the professor practising on students, there are perfectly good duelling dummies for that purpose exactly. You will have lunch here, but you can go when it is time for dinner, barring any discomfort." Harry agreed.
After the matron had gone, Harry turned back to her friends.
"What on earth happened?"
Neville turned a bit green again, and Hermione got that fierce look on her face again.
"Well, Professor Quirrell lifted his wand towards you and got an awful look on his face. Instead of the normal knockback jinx he was supposed to use, he fired a silent spell off. It was red, and not very friendly looking. It hit you so hard in the stomach it knocked you straight back into the solid castle wall! Then the professor just waved it off as nothing and had Neville and I drag you here." Hermione's usual attention to detail came in handy, and Harry sat in thought for a moment while she rubbed her sore shoulder absentmindedly.
She also noticed she had flashing notifications from her guidance system.
[USER HAS BEEN HIT BY A SILENT SPELL AT LEAST 30 LEVELS ABOVE YOUR CURRENT LEVEL! YOUR CONSTITUTION, LUCK, AND DEFENCE HAVE NOW GAINED ONE ADDITIONAL SKILL POINT FOR SURVIVING THE HIT. YOU HAVE ALSO GAINED ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE TOWARDS YOUR OVERALL LEVELS.]
[SACRIFICE ACTIVATED! USER HAS A BLOOD BASED WARD CREATED BY A POWERFUL RITUAL CURRENTLY WAY ABOVE YOUR PAY GRADE. THIS SPECIAL SKILL IS ONLY ACTIVATED WHEN THE USER'S LIFE IS IN DANGER. IT WILL STAVE OFF ALL ATTACKS AND LEAVE YOU WITH 10HP. IT IS ONLY ACTIVATIBLE ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS.]
Harry relayed the information to her friends. Neville's greenish face had turned white at the implication that she could have died. Hermione was even more angry, but looking lost in thought as well. Harry could practically see the wheels turning behind her chocolate brown eyes.
_HP&DQ_
Hermione was aware of her friends still sitting near her and talking, but her eidetic memory worked in a fashion to where it was like watching a movie in her head of everything she had ever seen and heard at a rapid fire rate. It was her favourite skill that she had unlocked so far, and she used it often.
[+++1 SKILL LEVEL TO EIDETIC MEMORY.]
A gentle poke to the arm had Hermione coming back to reality, and she smiled at her friends.
"Sorry, I know I read a book somewhere that had reference to blood based wards but I just can't remember which book at the moment. Excuse me, I need to go to the library."
Harry and Neville just giggled at Hermione's all too familiar behaviour and waved her off.
Hermione made her way through the castle at a leisurely pace, she was skimming memories in her head as she went. Raised voices near the Great Hall had her slowing down and paying more attention. She peered carefully around the corner.
"But Father, I don't want to…"
SMACK!
"I am your Lord and Father and you will listen to me. That filthy blood traitor needs to learn her place. You will do what I have instructed Draco, or your return to the manor this summer will be most unpleasant." Hermione gave a start as she took in the scene and hid behind the corner again. A tall, thin aristocratic man with white blonde hair longer than any man she had ever seen was addressing the first year Slytherin, Draco Malfoy.
"Come Dobby, our business here has finished. Let's return to the manor." Hermione heard a loud POP of them disapperating. She waited for a moment around the corner, and heard something a bit surprising.
Draco hadn't exactly been antagonistic to them, but he did make rude comments and carried himself like he was better than everyone else. The past few weeks after the holiday break she had only seen him in classes, and he didn't seem to be his usual pompous self.
To hear him sniffing like he was holding back tears was enough to take Hermione by surprise, and made her want to comfort him. He had made his opinion of her well known though, he had called her a filthy mudblood back around Halloween. She had never seen Neville get so angry.
She waffled for a moment, but the scurried run of feet let her know the hallway was clear, and she made her way to the library. She vowed to pass along this strange meeting to Harry and Neville when she saw them at dinner.
[YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY LEARNED THE SKILL PERCEPTION! SOMETIMES IT SAYS MORE TO DO NOTHING, THAN TO DO SOMETHING.]
_HP&DQ_
Classes were back in full swing, and the Quidditch games had begun. Harry had really enjoyed their flying classes first term, and was disappointed that first years were ineligible for the house teams. Next year though, she will try out for sure!
Unfortunately not much had come from the Quirrell incident, other than some of the other students and professors not really trusting him anymore. He claimed it was an accident, and there was no way to really prove what had happened was intentional, so there he stayed. Dumbledore did put his foot down about using students as targets, it was the dummies or nothing at all.
Once the snow had finally started melting, the quartet (because Ron had taken to following them again after the Quirrell incident) made the trek down to visit Hagrid in his hut by the lake. As usual they were greeted by Fang at the door, and for some reason the warmth from inside the hut was substantially higher than normal.
They sat and made chit chat around Hagrid's table, and somehow they brought up the dog they had seen on the third floor last term.
"Oh, tha's just Fluffy! 'Es 'armless! I leant 'im to the per-fessor to guard the….oh I shou'nt said 'hat…." Hagrid had noticed the eager glint in the preteens eyes and winced at his slip up.
"Fluffy! You named that monster Fluffy!?" Ron exclaimed.
"Well, yeah. I got 'im as a pup from a bloke playing cards in Greece…" Hagrid trailed off as the kettle over the fire gave a mighty scream. Harry noticed at that moment a large pot on the fire as well. There was something shiny and large inside….
"Bloody hell Hagrid! Where did you get THAT?" Ron let out an amazed shout and pointed to the cauldron.
Hermione whipped her head around and her eyes got comically large.
"Hagrid! It is a serious crime to even have one of these in an egg form! How are you going to raise it in here? You live in a wooden house!"
Neville and Harry watched the shouting match with interest, and Harry directed her eyes to the cauldron once more and used Identify.
[DRAGON EGG]
[BREED: ?]
[STATUS: IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE! COUNTDOWN TO HATCH: 36HR 41MIN 36 SEC…35…34…]
Neville let out a squeak when he saw what Harry did.
"Uhh…Hagrid…Hermione is right…you live in a wooden house and this thing is going to hatch in 36 hours." Harry said to their giant friend with no little amount of worry in her voice.
"36 'ours? 'Ow did ya know that?" Hagrid looked at her a bit odd.
She looked to her friends, "Does no one else see the countdown timer when you use Identify?" all of them shook their heads in the negative. At her words, a glowing set of numbers appeared floating above the egg, displaying the countdown now for all to see.
Harry was lost in her own thoughts for a moment trying to figure out if it was because of her higher level Identify or if it was from something else entirely.
"We can write a letter to my brother, Charlie. He works in Romania at a dragon reserve, he should know what to do, or at least help." All heads turned to Ron in surprise.
Hagrid seemed very upset, but reluctantly nodded. The quartet set off for the owlery to see if they could stop Hagrid from burning down his house, or worse.
As they walked, all four got the same notification.
[THANKS TO YOUR SMOOTH NEGOTIATING, YOU HAVE SAVED A FRIEND FROM A DIRE FATE. +++1 TO CHARISMA STATS.]
_HP&DQ_
After sending the owl to Charlie, he actually flooed straight to Hogwarts to the Headmaster's office. Ron was very surprised to have his older brother join the younger students at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.
Later that evening, they all crowded around a large bonfire outside. The timer on the egg ticked away the last seconds. Even the Headmaster had joined the quartet of students, Hagrid, and Charlie. Professor Kettleburn stood stoically off to the side, trying to pretend he wasn't interested. Since one of his many limb losses stemmed from a baby dragon, let's just say he kept his distance out of self preservation.
Finally, the egg cracked and a small scaled figure emerged. Harry used the moment to cast an Identify again to see its new status.
[JUVENILE FEMALE DRAGON]
[BREED: NORWEGIAN RIDGEBACK]
[STATUS: CONFUSED, HUNGRY]
Harry smiled at the dragon. It really was a cute little thing, no wonder Hagrid wanted to keep it. It let out a few puffs of smoke and seemed to slowly take in the people that surrounded it.
"It's so cute! What do you want to name it Hagrid?" Harry asked her massive friend.
Everyone in the circle turned and looked at her so quickly, she was afraid they might all have terrible whiplash.
"What, is it something I said?"
"...Harry..you didn't speak english. What did you say?" Hermione asked her. Harry was very confused.
"But I don't speak any other languages? I only said it in English I swear?"
"Try looking at the dragon, and speaking again, Miss Potter," came a distant voice. Professor Kettleburn looked a bit more excited now, but not at the dragon.
Harry turned back and looked at the dragon.
"What do you want me to say?"
"You did it again!" Neville, Hermione, and Ron all said together.
"I did not ask you to say anything, speaker."
All heads turned back to the dragon in the middle of the circle. Professor Kettleburn just laughed and clapped his hand. Professor Dumbledore seemed to catch on at this moment as well.
"It appears, young Miss Potter, that you are a Parselmouth. You have the ability to speak to snakes, and other similar creatures. Apparently, that includes dragons. How interesting."
[CONGRATULATIONS USER! YOU HAVE JUST DISCOVERED A HEREDITARY TRAIT! YOU MAY NOT REALISE IT, BUT YOU CAN NOW SPEAK A WHOLE NEW LANGUAGE! CONVERSING WITH THE COLD BLOODED JUST GOT A LOT EASIER.]
[UNLOCKED: PARSELMOUTH MAGIC]
_HP&DQ_
As it turned out, Charlie Weasley was one of the only dragon handler's at his reserve in Romania that had yet to imprint onto a dragon to actually handle. He was rather new at his position, much like any true career he started out as an apprentice first, mostly doing research and the mucking of stalls. Then, his big day finally came!
[CONGRATULATIONS USER! YOU HAVE BEEN PROMOTED TO DRAGON HANDLER!]
[NEARBY UNHATCHED DRAGON EGGS: 0]
They were struggling to get the current dragons they had at their reserve to mate, they were either too old, or just plain incompatible with each other. Charlie was concerned he would never get a dragon of his own, and what is a dragon handler with no dragon? He was looking into a potential transfer to another sanctuary that might have some eggs soon, when the letter came from his youngest brother, Ronald.
Charlie,
You would never believe what is happening at Hogwarts! Hagrid found a dragon's egg! He's going to try and hatch it, in his WOODEN hut! Please come help!
It hatches in 36 hours!
-Ron
Charlie had taken the note to his supervisor, and told him he was taking some much earned time off to visit his little brother in Scotland. His boss gave him a stiff nod, and shooed him towards the fireplace in his office. Charlie gripped the bag he stuffed his life into, and flooed through the green flames. There was no way he was going to miss this chance!
"Headmaster Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts!"
…
Charlie watched as the egg cracked open. A Norwegian Ridgeback! What a breed! He had already spoken to both Dumbledore and Hagrid, and the latter had eventually agreed to let Charlie imprint onto the dragon, if it would take him of course. He was terrified that Harriet might take his only opportunity, what with her speaking Parseltongue and all, but much to his joy the when he activated his skill, the little deep scarlet dragon turned it's gaze from the young girl to him.
[SKILL: DRAGON BOND: INITIATED. WAITING ON ACCEPTANCE FROM THE RECIPIENT…]
Charlie felt the gaze of the dragon go even deeper than he could have expected, and he sees his life flash before his eyes in a flicker of memories and feelings. At the end, the dragon sends a feeling of satisfaction to him.
[SKILL: DRAGON BOND: HAS BEEN ACCEPTED!]
His life just took a new turn, and boy was he excited.
_HP&DQ_
More time went on, the snow finished melted, several quidditch games happened, with Ravenclaw beating out Hufflepuff, and Slytherin beating Ravenclaw and the Easter Holiday was almost upon them. Charlie stayed, it was announced the next day after the dragon had hatched that he would be a permanent part of Hogwarts, for the foreseeable future anyway. He was taking a position under Professor Kettleburn, to eventually replace the man in a few years to come. He would be raising the new dragon, Nora, out in an area beyond the Black Lake. He had a cabin for himself, and a pen for the dragon.
The quartet were still rather suspicious of Professor Quirrel, but could do nothing but just keep an eye on him during classes and meals. One day a few days before Easter hols, Hermione dropped a rather large tomb onto the common room table where Neville and Harry were doing their homework. Ron was engaged in a chess game with Dean across the common room.
"I knew I had read that name before!" She flipped the book open and turned to a bookmarked page, "Here! Nicholas Flamel…"
No wonder they hadn't found him before, he was seriously old! And the Philosopher's Stone! Could that be what Fluffy was guarding?
That night after dinner, the trio ventured out to the forbidden corridor under Harry's cloak to do some reconnaissance, when they saw something interesting.
They had just rounded the corner before the doorway Fluffy laid beyond, when they heard whispered voices. They were hostile sounding so they froze in their steps.
"...have to get it Severus! Or else…."
"...Quirinius…..loyalties lie…"
They didn't catch much of the conversation, but they could see Professors Snape and Quirrell in an alcove. Snape was gazing disdainfully at the other man, and just before the moment ended, Harry was able to spy that Quirrell had been injured, he was favouring his left leg and dripping blood at an alarming rate. With an unspoken agreement, the trio slowly turned tail and ran back to their dormitory.
The next morning, they discussed their plans.
"I still say we should go down there, if the stone is under there then Professor Quirrell is definitely trying to steal it!" Hermione argued once again.
"But we're just students. What are we supposed to do against a full grown dark wizard like him?" Neville pointed out.
Harry thought for a moment. Now that they knew that the stone was down there, who could they trust to tell that could do something about it? An epiphany led the quartet of friends (Ron having been updated that morning at breakfast) running full speed to Hagrid's hut by the lake.
"Hagrid! Professor Quirrell is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone!" Harry was the only one of the group that had any available breath left to gasp out their revelations to the huge, hairy man. She saw him furrow his brows and frown in thought.
"Now, I don' rightly know about that. 'E was on 'of the perfes'or that was in charge o' guardin' in. It would be silly fer 'im to add more protections would't it?"
"One of? Are there more professors?" Hermione asked once she had caught her breath from their dash.
"O' course! There were Quirrell, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Snape, and then I lent them Fluffy for my part."
The quartet of friends all quickly made eye contact at this. Protections by all the main professors? But if Hagrid knew what all the professors did…it would be safe to assume that all of them knew.
"Do you know what protections they added to the stone, Hagrid?" Neville asked.
Hagrid tapped his chin for a moment, lost in thought.
"I kno' Quirrell needed my help, on accon' of the troll he brough' in. I ne'er learnt anyelses. I go up to Fluffy's room once a week ter give him food and water, and ne'er seent nothin'."
"How in bloody hell do you even get close to that slobbery thing?" Ron asked the half giant with a mixture of horror and fascination.
"Oh if you kno' ter trick, i's might' easy to get Fluffy righ' ter sleep. Just play 'im a bit of music an….I shouldn' 'ave said that."
They could get nothing more of use out of the man, and he shooed them back up to the castle for their classes were about to begin for the day. At lunch, they were able to come up with a working plan. It was the Wednesday before Easter holiday break, and the only class they had in the morning was DADA, and then late that night they had Astronomy. The goal was to be done with their reconnaissance mission to check out the other protections on the stone. Harry had also taken the time at lunch to write out a letter to Remus and Sirius about everything they had found out and asking what they thought their next move should be. In theory, they probably could go to another professor. The only problem was that Harry didn't think any of them would believe them without hard evidence. So, hard evidence is what they would get, somehow.
So, that evening after dinner but before Astronomy, the four friends ventured to the forbidden corridor under Harry's cloak. It was a large cloak and they were still kids, but they had to move slow and occasionally a shoe would appear from under it as they stumbled. Harry eventually got frustrated and just hung half of her body out so they could walk faster. She could easily slip back under if necessary, but she was still exposed to some extent.
They reached the door Ron pointed to, only to find it locked.
"I've wanted to try this one! Alohomora!" Hermione waved her wand and they all heard a solid click and the door slowly slid open. They moved as a group into the room, with Harry still sticking out of the cloak. Before Fluffy could react, Neville tapped the small box he was carrying and handed it to Harry. She set it down and watched the automatic charm release a Finite Incantantum and the gramophone from their common room quickly returned to its normal size. With a tap of her wand, a lovely symphony started playing. They watched Fluffy stare at the gramophone, and then slowly yawn and drop to the floor, asleep. Harry took that moment to finally use her higher level Identify on the hellfire and brimstone pup.
[FLUFFY THE CERBERUS - FAMILIAR TO RUBEUS HAGRID]
[LVL 55]
[STATUS: COUNTING SHEEP. FOR NOW.]
Harry cringed when she saw the level of the large dog, and relayed the information to Hermione who was dutifully taking notes of their encounter in her small notebook with a biro pen.
"There also appears to be a trap door of sorts under Fluffy..I wonder.." Harry didn't get to finish her sentence, because at that moment the door swung open. In doing so, the door slammed against the gramophone and it exploded against the stone wall with the music coming to a sudden screeching end.
"Potter! I should have known you would be messing around here. It works out in the end, now I can show you personally what we do to trouble makers around here." Professor Quirrell had given up on all pretences of his stutter, and he had his wand pointed directly at Harry, again.
She quickly made sure to be fully exposed from the cloak, no need for him to know she wasn't alone here, and held her hands up in an unassuming gesture.
"I just heard about the dog sir, I wanted to see it. I like dogs." She cringed internally at how pitiful her excuse sounded.
Unfortunately, said dog decided to make himself known again at this moment. A rippling growl froze Harriet in place, and Quirrell took his chance. He fired a stunning spell at Harry and swung her over his shoulders and slipped down the trap door before Fluffy could even turn back to the trap door they had revealed upon waking.
The trio under the cloak stood there for a moment in panic. Hermione came to first and cast a Repairo onto the gramophone to get Fluffy back to sleep again. Once he was snoring, she ripped the cloak off of them and stuffed it into her bag.
"You two go on after them, be careful with the traps, don't make silly choices that gets yourselves hurt, got it?" She was strapping her back on to her tightly, pulling her hair up and making sure her sneakers were tied tightly.
"And what are you going to do then?" Ron asked her, not exactly kindly. She turned and frowned at the often selfish and thoughtless boy.
"I'm to show why I was the fastest runner in my primary school. I'm going to Professor McGonagall to get Dumbledore." And with that, she took off out of the room at a speed that surprised both of the boys. Once she was gone, they looked back to one another. Neville gulped, but steeled himself. He stood up straighter, and with a fire under him to help rescue his friend, he leapt down the trap door. Ron waffled for a moment before he sighed and leapt after him.
"Please don't let this be how I die."
Both boys were surprised by a notification upon landing.
[SKILL AURA OF COURAGE LEARNED! FOR LEAPING, LITERALLY, INTO DANGER YOU HAVE NOW LEARNED HOW TO PROJECT YOUR COURAGE ONTO OTHERS.]
[+++1 TO STRENGTH AND CONSTITUTION.]
Neville's new skill would prove to be a true boon for their future, while Ron's was more of a personal win.
[FOR WEIGHING YOUR OPTIONS AND TAKING THE HARDER WAY TO HELP BUDDING FRIENDSHIPS, YOU HAVE RECEIVED +++1 IN WISDOM AND CHARISMA.]
_HP&DQ_
Remus and Sirius had just sat down for dinner when Hedwig came bowling through the dining room window. The owl usually only came during breakfast so not only was her timing suspicious, the vivacity that she had to deliver the letter was as well.
Remus ripped into the letter while Sirius tended to the poor owl. She was obviously tired, having flown insanely fast to get the letter to London before nightfall.
After quickly devouring the letter, Remus was a bit confused. The contents of the letter itself was of no real hurry, so why did Hedwig deliver it to them with such haste? Yes, a potential threat in a DADA teacher, nothing new, and the stone bit was interesting of course. Remus wondered, did she know something about Harry through her familiar bond? He paraphrased the letter to Sirius and they agreed to at least give a floo call to Albus to check in and see what he knew about the contents of Harry's letter.
While they were speaking via floo call to Albus, who acknowledged the fact that there was something hidden in the school but only said that the "professors had his ultimate trust", that the door to his office burst open. Deputy Headmistress McGonagall was a few steps behind a first year Gryffindor girl, both red faced and gasping from the run up the tower.
"Albus! Miss Granger says that she and two other students witnessed Professor Quirrell stun Miss Potter and take her down into the forbidden corridor. What in Merlin's name is going on?" McGonagall had taken a seat in one of the free chairs while the girl, Miss Granger he assumed, stood firm and stared him down.
"I saw it with my own eyes, Headmaster! We figured out that the Philosopher's Stone was being hidden down there and we caught Professor Quirrell coming out of it all bloody a while back so we wanted to get evidence that he was trying to break in to take to a teacher. But when we went down there to check on Fluffy, he came out of nowhere and grabbed Harry and went down the trap door!" Hermione was clearly distraught, sniffling and crying. Before she had finished her tale, the floo roared and one after another Sirius and Remus filed out.
"Take us there!" Sirius barked to the girl and the three of them fled the room with extreme haste.
"Albus, why did Quirinius take the girl? What does he want with her?" Minerva asked with a concerned expression. Professor Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment before he too stood up and headed to the trap door himself.
"Alas, it shows me that my gravest fears have been realised, my dear Minnie. I had heard tale that our dear Quirinius had gone to Albania during his sabbatical over the summer and when he returned and wanted the Defence position, that was the first red flag," Albus sighed, wearily, "I gave it to him in the hopes that I was wrong, but it appears as that our Defence teacher did not come back from Albania alone."
_HP&DQ_
Harry slowly began to regain consciousness. The first thing she noticed was that she couldn't move, she also appeared to be on very hard ground. When she tried to sit up and look around, it became apparent rather quickly that she was frozen by a body bind. She could rotate herself around, but her arms and legs seemed to be frozen to her sides.
"Ah, Potter, you are awake finally," came a voice to her right. She rolled her body towards the speaker to see Professor Quirrell and her memories from the moments leading up to this point flashed through her mind.
"We knew you were trying to steal it!" All she had to do was keep him talking. The others must have seen her be abducted, surely they would go for help, right?
Quirrell grinned maliciously at the young girl bound on the floor.
"Of course it was me you stupid girl! My master would have nothing else from me from the moment he heard of it. I must return him to his full strength!" The man cackled as he turned back to the strange looking mirror behind him, "Now, just to crack the mirror and I will have it my lord!"
$$"Dumbledore is not as clueless as he tries to appear, he must have placed wards on the mirror to keep us out."$$
Harry froze in place and her scar started to burn as the second voice began to speak. She didn't understand where it was coming from, the only people in the room were her and the professor.
Identify.
[PROFESSOR QUIRRELL]
[SPECIES: WIZARD LVL. 32]
[SUBCLASS: SCHOLAR - MASTERY COMPLETED IN
DADA
MUGGLE STUDIES ]
Harry was frustrated that her skill didn't pull up anything really new or helpful. She tried fruitlessly to wiggle her arms and legs. She tried not to panic as she felt helpless on the floor. While they never figured out exactly why the professor wanted the stone, they could only imagine it wasn't for anything good. She stared hard at the professor as he seemed to talk to himself with different voices
$$"Use the girl!" $$ Hissed the second voice. Harriet couldn't quite place it, but there was something off about the second voice. It spoke with a rasping sound and certain letters were drawn out oddly. It was almost like it was speaking a different language, but all she knew was English. Interesting, she would need to look into this later when she wasn't quite so terrified.
Quirrell spun around and waved his wand at her. She felt herself rise up, still bound, and fly towards him and the giant golden mirror in the centre of the room.
_HP&DQ_
The first year Gryffindor boys had really been lucky so far. When they first dropped down into the trap door, Neville had quickly recognized the plant constricting them to be [Devil's Snare] and got them through it safely. The next room with the flying keys was a bit harder. Ron was more comfortable on a broom than Neville, but he was no [Seeker]. It took him almost 20 minutes, but thankfully the big old key they needed was wounded and slower than the rest.
They had been playing the chess game for 10 minutes or so, when the door they came from exploded from the other side. Leaping through the dust and debris were two men. Neville immediately recognised them as Harry's guardians, Lord Black and Mr. Lupin. Once the two frenzied looking men crashed through the door, Professor Dumbledore stepped in after them.
If they were surprised to see Neville Longbottom sitting atop a metal horse with a sword and Ronald Weasley with a Mace acting as a Rook, they didn't show it.
"Ah yes, Miss Granger mentioned you two had gone down ahead after Miss Potter. Let me assist in our hasty accession to the last room." With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore let out a flash of magic and the metal chess pieces simply shrunk back to their original, non-transfigured size. Neville could see Mr. Lupin look thoughtful and intrigued at the chess set the headmaster transfigured.
"Now, if you two gentlemen could return back to my office, there is a young lady there in distress who I think could use a visit from her friends. We can take it from here and will rescue Miss Potter, do not worry."
Neville and Ron looked to each other in an unspoken exchange, both seemed reluctant to leave without their friend accompanying them. Resigned, they turned and ran back towards the giant hole in the wall towards the trap door and up to the headmaster's office to comfort a distraught Hermione Granger.
_HP&DQ_
Harry found the experience of floating but stiff as a board to be rather unpleasant. Once she got closer, the professor flicked his wand down and she fell hard to the floor, but at least she was released from the body bind. She slowly stood up and glared at the man in front of her.
This man was a teacher! He was supposed to help her learn and well, teach her things! But instead, he had incapacited her and drug her down here to try and get the stone for him. How dare he! Harriet felt a boiling rage build up in her chest. It wasn't something she had felt in a while, since her Uncle Vernon at least. She had felt something similar towards the Headmaster during their visit several months ago, but nothing quite this intense.
$$"Let me speak with the girl, Quirinius,"$$ came that second voice again. It almost seemed to come from behind the professor.
The DADA professor seemed to dither for a moment before wincing and reaching up. To her growing horror, he began to unwrap the tuban he always wore. He spun slowly, or perhaps she was just seeing it in slow motion, and Harry felt sick at the sight on the back of Professor Quirrell's head.
His head was bald, and the skin past his ears slowly turned a nasty, sickly grey. Harry was disgusted to see another face on the back of the man's head. Her rage boiled under the surface almost to a breaking point. The second face had glowing red eyes, slits for nostrils and feral pointed teeth. Once it spoke again, Harry realised it was hissing, not speaking. Parseltongue. Ah. When Harriet had asked her pseudo uncles about her ability, they both had been stricken for a moment and explained the only other known parselmouth in the past century was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harriet felt the rage inside her reach a a volcanic eruption level. That meant that in front of her…
IDENTIFY! The world warped for a minute, and time got weird much like it did that time in Dumbledore's office. The normal display above Quirrell that her guidance system showed her shattered and like thick black ink, it filled in with something different.
[QUIRRELLMORT]
[SPECIES: WIZARD LVL. 45]
[SUBCLASS: HOST TO THE DARK LORD]
[STATUS: POSSESSED, DECAYING (RAPIDLY), CURSE OF THE UNICORN (PERMANENT)]
[SKILL UPGRADED! IDENTIFY IS NOW LEVEL 7! WITH ENOUGH FORCE AND DETERMINATION, YOU CAN NOW SEE THROUGH DECEPTIVE STATUSES.]
$$"Oh look at that Quininius, she is a feisty one isn't she. Put her in front of the mirror! She has to be the key."$$ Quirrell reached out towards Harry and with a wave of his wand again, he forced her to walked against her own volition to the mirror. Taking a deep breath, she gazed into it's reflection.
What she saw took her breath away. She wasn't as she was now, she was older. Her scars were gone. Most importantly though, were the people there with her. Sirius, Remus, Hermione, Neville, Ronald, then her parents, and people who had to be her grandparents. So many people that looked like her! It was her dream as a child, friends and family who actually cared for her, that is all she had ever wanted. Harry drank in the sight, but felt confusion set in. How was this mirror supposed to be a trap for someone stealing the stone? Where is the stone? She needed to get it so this…monstrosity didn't get his hands on it. Harry was confused, but took a moment to soak in the imagery of her deepest desires. She saw the mirror had an inscription around the outside, Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Something to remember to tell Hermione about,
Her reflection in the mirror caught her attention as it started to move, it waved at her, then put its finger to its lips, and patted its front pocket. At the same moment, Harry felt a weight settle in the same pocket. It took every skill she had to not react when she realised what had just happened in the odd exchange.
$$"Well, girl? What does the mirror show you? Where is the stone!"$$ The abomination screamed at her in Parseltongue.
At just that moment, a few things happened all at once. The first thing was that Sirius and Remus had reached the door to the final room. The second, was them blowing up said final door. As soon as Sirius had realised the last puzzle was a potions logic puzzle from Snape, what little patience he had left went out the window. He threw a flame freezing charm at the flames blocking the door, and then an overpowered Bombarda Maxima at the door.
The next thing that happened was the chunks of stone wall exploding inwards towards the only two bodies occupying the room. Several large boulders hit Professor Quirrell, he was closer to the door than Harry, and flung him backwards. Directly into Harry. The girl let out of screech of terror and placed her hands out in front in a futile effort to shield herself.
The last thing that happened was the collision of Quirrellmort and Harry's special skill, Sacrifice, activating. Instead of crashing into the small girl with an explosion of stone wall behind him, Quirrell smacked hard into a magical shield that had been erected around her. As soon as his skin hit the barrier, he started to scream. His flesh began to melt away as he jerked backwards in horror. Harry was dazed from the shockwave of the blow but also watched in horrific fascination as the man who used to be her professor very rapidly began to rot and melt in front of her.
The dust had begun to settle and the adult rescuers could finally see through the cloud that Sirius had created. Remus was giving him a stink eye for not being patient, and Dumbledore was waving his wand in a circular motion clearing the dust by sucking up not quite unlike a muggle vacuum cleaner. Once Quirrell began screaming though, all three men sprinted in the direction of the screams.
Quirrell had collapsed on the ground, blistering and melting like a muggle toy army man in the desert sun. There was a bubble shield flickering around Harry, who was laid on her back with her hands still up in a protective gesture. Once she realised the attack she expected hadn't happened, she dropped her arms slowly. She made eye contact with her uncles across the room, and they ran to her as her shield flickered and dropped.
[SKILL SACRIFICE AUTOMATICALLY ENACTED! YOUR SYSTEM HAS NOTATED THE AURA OF THE EVIL SPIRIT. ANY FUTURE DETECTIONS OF SAID AUSPICIOUS AURA WILL NOTIFY THE SYSTEM. THE SYSTEM INDICATES THERE ARE CURRENTLY 6 INDIVIDUAL AURAS MATCHING THE ORIGINAL SOURCE. DESTRUCTION OF THE AURA WILL ENABLE NEW UNLOCKABLES. DESTROY AN AURA FOR MORE DETAILS.]
Harry didn't quite understand that one. It could be the adrenaline wearing off though.
[SKILL ACQUIRED! DANGER SENSE LEVEL 1. YOU WILL NOW GET A FUNNY FEELING BEFORE SOMETHING DANGEROUS IS GOING TO HAPPEN. LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND AND LISTEN TO THIS NEW SENSE WILL ENABLE LEVELLING UP.]
But that one was admittedly pretty neat to the 11 year old who seemed to be constantly in danger. The last thing she saw before she collapsed in exhaustion in her uncle Moony's arms was a black cloud rising out of the corpse of the professor and flying towards her full force.
_HP&DQ_
Harriet and Crew's Status and Skills at the End of Year 1
(Yes I know this ended at Easter hols, but this chapter is HUGE and I want to move forward with the next. Time skip will be explained at the beginning of the next.)
This next part is totally optional to read, but if you want to know where the quartet sits as of this moment, this is where we are!
HARRIET POTTER
SPECIES: Witch Lvl. 6
SUBCLASS: N/A
DEATH'S QUEST SUBCLASS QUEST ACTIVE: ITEMS 1 OF 3 OBTAINED
Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House
PARTY: THE WOLF PACK : 3 MEMBERS
THE GOLDEN QUARTET : 4 MEMBERS
HP: 130/130
MP: 115/115
STATUS: Magically Exhausted
GENERAL SKILLS:
IDENTIFY LVL 7
PERCEPTION LVL 3
NOTE TAKING LVL 2
CRITICAL THINKING LVL 3
NAVIGATION LVL 2
GARDENING LVL 5
COOKING LVL 5
SPEED READING LVL 7
DANGER SENSE LVL 1
PARSELTONGUE LVL 1
MAGIC SKILLS:
CHARMS LVL 1
DADA LVL 2
TRANSFIGURATION LVL 1
HERBOLOGY LVL 1
POTIONS LVL 1
HERMIONE GRANGER
SPECIES: Witch Lvl. 7
SUBCLASS: N/A
Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House
PARTY: THE GOLDEN QUARTET : 4 MEMBERS
HP: 135/135
MP: 120/120
STATUS: Upset (High), Worried (High)
GENERAL SKILLS:
IDENTIFY LVL 2
PERCEPTION LVL 4
NOTE TAKING LVL 3
CRITICAL THINKING LVL 5
EIDETIC MEMORY LVL 5
NAVIGATION LVL 2
SPEED READING LVL 7
MAGIC SKILLS:
CHARMS LVL 2
DADA LVL 1
TRANSFIGURATION LVL 2
HERBOLOGY LVL 1
POTIONS LVL 1
NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM
SPECIES: Wizard Lvl. 5
SUBCLASS: Lord-In-Training (Inherited) Lvl. 1
Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House
PARTY: THE GOLDEN QUARTET : 4 MEMBERS
HP: 100/100
MP: 80/80
STATUS: Confident (Mid), Sore (Mild)
GENERAL SKILLS:
IDENTIFY LVL 2
NOTE TAKING LVL 3
CRITICAL THINKING LVL 1
NAVIGATION LVL 1
FENCING LVL 3
SWORD HANDLING LVL 1
MAGIC SKILLS:
CHARMS LVL 1
DADA LVL 1
TRANSFIGURATION LVL 1
HERBOLOGY LVL 7
POTIONS LVL 1
RON WEASLEY
SPECIES: Wizard Lvl. 4
SUBCLASS: N/A TBD
Hogwarts Student - Gryffindor House
PARTY: THE GOLDEN QUARTET : 4 MEMBERS
HP: 95/95
MP: 78/78
STATUS: Confident (Mild), Sore (Mild), Engaged (High)
GENERAL SKILLS:
IDENTIFY LVL 2
PERCEPTION LVL 3
NOTE TAKING LVL 1
CRITICAL THINKING LVL 1
NAVIGATION LVL 1
CREATURE TAMING LVL 1
STRATEGY LVL 5
ONE HANDED WEAPON HANDLING LVL 1
MAGIC SKILLS:
CHARMS LVL 1
DADA LVL 1
TRANSFIGURATION LVL 1
HERBOLOGY LVL 1
POTIONS LVL 1
