Exams had finally come and gone, after they finished their potions exam that morning. Hermione, being the witch that she was, had made all of the Slytherin First Years (and Neville) study like crazy for the week prior to exams. Hermione practically memorized all her books that she had gotten with Severus the first time she had entered Diagon Alley. All of Hermione's books, although still in pristine condition, had been used and abused throughout that final week before exams started. The other Slytherins knew that other Houses were talking about Hermione behind her back, and started to make rude comments to those that did.

Harry and Draco, on the other hand, studied like normal people. They, unliked Hermione, took breaks and stopped studying while they were eating. They still allowed Hermione to quiz them over the material that they had learned over the course of that first year at Hogwarts. They both wanted to make their fathers proud. Harry, who had never really had anyone to please before, was excited to make Severus proud in particular. He wanted to get the ungotten praise that he had so longed for as a child. Now that he had both a mother and a father to be proud of him, there was no way that he was going to simply try to pass his exams. No, he wanted to ace them.

The first exam that they had was History of Magic. Hermione raced through the exam, naming all the years that the Goblin Wars occurred in correctly, and various other things that Professor Binns had asked of them. Professor Binns had made his exam nearly 5 pages long, with an extra page for the short answer essays at the back of the paper. Hermione used nearly 12 pieces of parchment for the entire exam. Harry and Draco only used 6 pieces of parchment for their exam, but they had all passed with flying colors, although they didn't know it yet.

The second exam was Defensive against the Dark Arts, followed by Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Astronomy. The Astronomy exam had taken place at midnight and had caused practically all the first years to be exhausted the next day. The astronomy tower had been full of students at telescopes, who were studying and naming the stars. Their final exam was Potions.

The potions exam was fairly easy for the Slytherins who had been studying all the potions that they studied throughout the year, but it wasn't as easy to remember with Severus breathing down all of their necks.

Harry, Hermione, Draco, and the rest of the Slytherin first years walked into their potion's exam nearly 15 minutes early to set up for their exam. Unsurprisingly, they were also the first ones there. The Ravenclaws came in nearly 5 minutes later followed by the Hufflepuffs, and with 3 minutes to spare, the Gryffindors, with Weasley, Finnegan, and Thomas bringing up the rear. Draco narrowed his eyes at them. They had a suspicious look on their faces and were whispering among themselves and glancing at Severus every few seconds. Only two things were possible: they were talking bad about Severus in front of his face, they were planning to do something to Severus, or they were suspecting him of something.

Draco had a flicker of fear that the Gryffindor trio suspected that Severus wanted to steal the Sorcerer's Stone that they knew had been hidden under the school thanks to Hagrid. However, Draco quickly forgot about it, and focused his mind and energy on the potion that they needed to brew. He would tell Hermione and Harry what he suspected later. He watched Hermione lay out all her potions ingredients methodically around her cauldron and shook his head. Such a know-it-all. He looked at his watch. Only a few seconds to go. He gave a quick glance at his workplace and made sure that everything was in its place and ready. It was.

Severus walked in front of the room and cleared his throat, but not before folding his arms in a menacing way.

"Good morning. Today you shall be brewing the Forgetfulness Potion from memory. You will have 2 hours to complete it. All ingredients that you need will be in the supply cupboard, and I must ask you not to waste them," Severus said in a cool voice.

Weasley raised his hand. "Yes, Weasley?"

"Will we be given a list of ingredients that we need?" Weasley questioned. Severus's eyes flashed in annoyance.

"No, Weasley. The reason that final exams exist are to test your knowledge without any resources. Perhaps if you are incapable of comprehending that, you should not take this exam."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco look down to avoid laughing at Weasley, who's face was now a few shades lighter than his hair.

"Begin," Severus drawled.

For half an hour, the dungeon was full of the clattering of knives cutting ingredients, for the Forgetfulness Potion requires almost all the ingredients to be chopped. Very soon after, cauldrons were full of boiling ingredients that most people had added in the correct order. It seemed that Gryffindors and one or two Hufflepuffs were struggling to remember the order in which the ingredients went. Every so often, Severus would look up and catch a student glancing at another student to see what they did, and he would snap "Eyes on your own cauldron!" and take ten points from their house.

The Forgetfulness Potion only took an hour to brew for the quicker brewers and about an hour and a half for those who were slower. Severus had made it so that no one could mess around with their time that they had, as he didn't want to look at the dunderheads any longer than he had to. However, there were some people who had simply messed up the potion a majority of the way through and would receive half-marks on their exam for getting it partially right, but inevitably messed it up, such as Finnegan. The class was jarred from their focus when a loud explosion came from the corner of the room. After it happened, Finnegan remained frozen in his seat, his hand hovering above his cauldron.

"20 points from Gryffindor for disturbing the other students. You will receive half-marks." When Finnegan tried to protest, Severus kicked him out of the exam.

When Hermione bottled up her potion and turned it in to her father, he gave her a small nod and thanked her in a low tone. She turned to leave and blushed as she realized she was the first one done. She wasn't alone for very long. Soon, a majority of the Slytherins and Ravenclaws followed, and to everyone's excitement and surprise, Neville was the first Gryffindor out of the dungeon.

The students were required to meet out in the hallway for further instruction once they were complete. When the two hours were up, Weasley was the last one out of the dungeon, with Severus following close behind.

"You will receive your exam results on Monday. Most of you were surprisingly able to complete the potion well enough to receive a passing mark, while a few of you did not. I will expect better from you next term," Severus said, before turning on his heel and shutting the classroom door behind him.

Hermione had later received a message on the locket saying that she, Harry, and Draco had all received full-marks on their potions. They were ecstatic that they had done so well under pressure, but Harry's scar had been hurting nearly the entire day, so his excitement had been squashed quickly.

"You should talk to Uncle Sev or go to the Hospital Wing," Draco suggested as he took a bite out of a chocolate frog

"I don't think that they could help me. I think it means that there's a warning," Harry lowered his voice and continued. "We know for a fact that Quirrell wants the stone for himself. My scar burns whenever something dark is occurring. It does it all the time when the Dark Lord is around, although I doubt the Dark Lord is here."

"Maybe we should try to see Dumbledore. It's rumored that Dumbledore is feared by many simply for being a great wizard," Hermione mumbled out of the corner of her mouth. "Perhaps we could talk to him about going down to check on the stone."

Harry nodded and rose from the couch. He beckoned them out of the common room and into the hall, not knowing that they were being spied upon from an invisible source.

The trio stopped in front of the golden gargoyle that held the entrance to Dumbledore's open.

"Can we speak to Professor Dumbledore please?" Hermione asked the statue. "It's very important."

The statue didn't budge. Draco suggested that there might be a password, so the three of them brainstormed a variety of titles of books, absolutely certain that Dumbledore would choose something scholarly as a password to guard his office. Luckily for them, Professor McGonagall came around at that time with a small pile of books in her hands.

"What in Merlin's Beard are you three up to?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"We need to see Professor Dumbledore," Harry insisted.

"I'm afraid that the Headmaster is not here. He was called away on urgent business at the military. While he is gone, I am acting as Headmistress. Can I help you?"

"No, Professor, but Professor Dumbledore…"

"He will be back in the morning, I can assure that if you want to speak with him then, he will allow it," Professor McGonagall said, annoyance leaking into her voice.

"It's about the Sorcerer's Stone, Professor! Some is going to steal it!" Draco said.

The hall was deadly silent. McGonagall approved them and talked to them in low, quiet tones.

"I don't know how you three know about the Stone but it is well protected, I can assure you of that." She straightened up. "I suggest you go enjoy the warm weather and forget about the Stone."

Professor McGonagall quickly walked off, leaving the students alone in front of the gargoyle. Harry quickly suggested that they need to write a letter to Professor Dumbledore and practically ran back down to the common room to get some parchment and a quill. Within minutes, Hermione was writing a letter to Professor Dumbledore.

Professor Dumbledore,

We are writing you to inform that we know about the Sorcerer's Stone hidden in the school due to unlucky circumstances and context clues from conversations that we have heard and seen. To prove that we are not making a joke, we knowing that there are extra spells and enchantments that you need to pass to protect the Stone aside from Fluffy, the giant three headed dog that stands on the trap door.

We know that someone is about to steal the Stone, and we believe that is it Professor Quirrell. I know that we are accusing one of your professors, who I am sure that you trust a lot, but we are certain that it is him after a run in with him while Harry and I were under the invisibility cloak. We understand that you have urgent business with the Ministry, but if you could come back to Hogwarts soon and help to save the Stone, we would be most grateful. We do not want to attempt getting past Fluffy and through the enchantments since we are only first years and our magic would not be strong enough to handle what enchantments the Professors have placed in front of the Stone.

Kindly,

Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy.

Hermione folded the letter and practically pulled Harry and Draco out of the common room and towards the owlery. She sent the letter off with Athena, with strict instructions to find Dumbledore and wait to return until Dumbledore changed his mind to leave. What the trio didn't know is that they had sent this letter in the nick of time, for three other students could be seen running from Hagrid's hut into the castle, for they had just got the information that they needed to get past the Fluffy and get the Stone.