Chapter 11: Plotting and Planning

Disclaimer: I do not own Bioshock or Harry Potter, each belong to their respective owners.

"You definitely said Flamel?" Hermione asked after the group had met up on their return to the castle.

"Definitely." Harry confirmed sitting back in the chair, resting his hands behind his head, they had commandeered a corner of the library, it had initially been the three from Ravenclaw, himself, Terry and Su that had taken this space but as Harry came to know the others they had joined in at the table. The month unconscious had been weird for the group but they had continued on, determined to find out who was responsible for Jinxing the broom, Susan had even thought about bringing her Aunt in but had stopped at the request of the others.

No evidence would result in a waste of resources to conduct a manhunt whereas if they waited they could get more information to use against the person or people responsible. But they knew one thing thanks to Draco, Snape was innocent, this wasn't a question of Draco making it up to try and gain their trust, he was certain about it. There was no lie or deceit there. "I've heard the name before; I think I read about it." Hermione continued thoughtfully, like Harry it was a name that was on the tip of her tongue but she just couldn't work it out.

"Flamel... the name is certainly familiar." Agreed Su Li but like the others she was unable to tell why that was. "I think this is going to bug us for a while," she muttered and they agreed. "Before that though, we need to look into who is trying to kill Harry." She said and Harry groaned, leaning forwards onto the table. "You can't hide from it, that was meant to kill you," She said seriously.

"I know, I know, I just was kind of hoping that I'd be able to come here, be a normal student and blend in, not end up in the middle of an attempted murder mystery." He responded, pulling himself back up. "We know it's not Snape."

"I still say you can't trust him." Ron chimed in and Harry rolled his eyes.

"For now, he's not a suspect, an arrogant, rude asshole he maybe, but I don't think murdering children in a Quidditch Game fits his personality." Harry said dismissively, he may dislike Snape but he was going to take the word of Draco for now.

"Then we need to start looking at others, there's a whole set of professors here who could be responsible for it." Susan commented, "I mean we can dismiss people like Hagrid, he doesn't have the education in magic to do it." Susan explained, although nothing official was happening she had spoken to her aunt about it during the Christmas Holidays, her aunt had been a fountain of information in that regards and had told Susan what she knew about the staff members.

"Professor Babbling is out as well, she wouldn't do something like this." Harry added, "She's one of the good ones."

"What about Elizabeth?" Susan questioned already knowing how he'd react but she had to ask, one of the first rules in an investigation was that everyone was a suspect.

"Are you crazy Susan? Elizabeth is my friend she wouldn't do that." Harry snapped in disbelief but Susan gestured for him to calm down.

"Harry, rule number one of an investigation is that everyone is a suspect, no matter how well you know the person, no matter how nice the person is, there is no such thing as a completely innocent person. Auntie told me as much in regards to an investigation, but, with those suspects you have to think of what the three key parts are."

"You're talking Means, Motive and Opportunity aren't you?" Hermione asked. "I've read crime books, a suspect can normally be discounted if they lack one of the three, the mean to perform the task, the motive to perform the deed and the Opportunity to act. Take Professor Snape for example, he had all three but at the same time he was innocent."

"Allegedly." Susan added, dubious herself about the validity of that, a person who hates someone and is skilled in the dark arts as Snape no doubt was did not just act to save said hated person without a very valid reason. "I'm not saying Draco is lying but it is possible that Snape was lying to him." Susan pointed out and Harry nodded his head, accepting the point for what it was.

"So our eliminated suspect is back to being a suspect."

"Until we have a better one, yes. He's a viable candidate. Anyway, Elizabeth is a suspect but she lacks two of the three things, you could argue she had motive, you two had been arguing, it is possible that there was an underlying anger that she took advantage of in the Quidditch Match." She stopped and raised a hand to Harry to stop him protesting, "let me finish Harry." She requested letting out a breath that flicked her fringe up. "But that motive is not a good enough reason to murder, though people have been killed for less." She countered her own comment.

"You said all three and that she lacks two?" Terry questioned and Susan nodded. "She didn't have an opportunity, she was in the Ravenclaw stands, there is no way that she would have been able to do it without one of us noticing." Terry pointed out with a smile, getting a slight nod of appreciation from Harry.

"She doesn't have the means either, she's skilled at magic but only the first year magic, she wouldn't know what jinx to use or how to properly go about it." Hannah said in realisation and Susan nodded her head and making a slight 'hmm' of agreement.

"Precisely, that's what I was trying to get at, we need to look at everyone and eliminate them as suspects." Susan explained, looking around at the table of friends. "We do that and we'll narrow the pool quite a bit," She stopped, realising that everyone was staring at her and blushed. "I picked up a few things from my aunt."

"Still, it's good to start. There's something else we need to look into, Cerberuses? Cerberi? Three headed dog thing that I have no idea what the plural would be even though there is no need to know the plural at this point." Harry commented, rambling slightly as he tried to think on what the correct plural would be.

"Why do you want to know about a Cerberus?" Hannah asked

"Because that's the thing that's guarding the Third Floor Corridor," Harry replied calmly watching the looks of shock on their faces, one by one it hit them and one by one they shared looks of disbelief and slight bit of fear.

"At least we know it won't run amok around the school." Su Li commented and everyone turned to look at her with quizzical expressions. "Cerberus are huge, it isn't fitting through a door any time soon and it isn't going to break down the magically reinforced walls without some assistance."

"She just tempted fate didn't she..." Harry stage muttered to Terry who sniggered.

"I think she did, we're doomed now. The dog will be free by the end of the week." There was laughter from the group at that with Su rolling her eyes at their antics but it was quickly hushed when Madam Pince came into view. "But did everyone get their homework done?" Terry asked and there were a few groans, mainly Ron and Hannah but they all confirmed that they had completed the homework. "I can safely say I'm glad I'm not Elizabeth I think her work load just increased dramatically." He joked as the conversations started to shift towards more ordinary school related topics.

HPCVHPCV

Indeed, Elizabeth was currently cursing her luck as she worked her way through each of the Essays that had been handed in, there were a lot, every class had given homework and every one of them was being marked by her. she placed the quill down, flexing her fingers to ease the pain in her hand as it tried to cramp up on her. "And this is why I may love reading them, but I'm never writing a book." She muttered to herself as she picked up a quill. "Why can't they have moved on to Pencils! Or Pens?" She asked already knowing the answer to it. It was another thing that she had asked Bathsheda about when they were still preparing everything. Quills could be enchanted to make sure that they couldn't copy, they could have a magical signature focused through them as a person writes that makes it known who the person is even if they don't remember to write their name on to it. Pens were not able to attune to the user and as such they were good for independent study but not any official work. There was little point to teach the students to use one and then neglect the usage of the quill and instead focus on making sure the writing was adequate when they were using the quill.

She was currently sat in a different part of the library working on the essays, several students knew that she used this part and they dropped by every now and again to say hello but the majority realised that if she was here and there was a mountain of paper then she was more than likely going to be wanting to be left alone so as not to be distracted. Today was not one of those days as a Hufflepuff dropped into the chair on the opposite side of the table.

"Wotcher Elizabeth." She greeted cheerfully and Elizabeth looked up from the essay she was currently grading.

"Hey Tonks." She greeted in response. During the month that she had essentially isolated herself to the Hospital Wing she had met Tonks a few times, the woman was almost constantly injuring herself due to trips and falls, she was a bit of a klutz but at the same time she carried herself like a dangerous combatant. She wondered what Tonks was planning to do in the future, "what brings you to my little section of the Library." She questioned with a smile, setting the quill down and looking at the currently pink haired girl. Where she got the hair dye from, Elizabeth had no clue but it was definitely unique.

"Just hiding away for a bit, the return to school and return of the creepers that want to ask me out." She explained and laughed, "some of them really are a bit too stubborn sometimes." She picked up one of the essays and looked at it. "Geez, was my handwriting this bad when I was a firstie?" She asked as Elizabeth pulled the sheet out of her hands.

"Perhaps, I wasn't here to see it." Elizabeth said with a shrug, "Nice hair by the way." She added and Tonks beamed at her.

"Thank you, I think the pink brings out my eyes don't you?" She said with an over dramatic blinking and Elizabeth laughed at it.

"But you said the boys are harassing you?" Elizabeth questioned bringing the topic back onto a more serious discussion.

"It's nothing, they just don't seem to get that just because I can change my appearance I'm not going to become their idea of a 'perfect' girlfriend." Tonks dismissed as she tried to look at another of the Essays "Oh, I know this kid, is he doing good?" She asked and went to pick it up but Elizabeth gently slapped her hand away.

"Leave," she said calmly and sniggered as Tonks started to pout, "He's doing fine, that's all I'll say." Elizabeth said, taking the fact that the homework was just as private to the student as it would be to Tonks, she shifted the topic back again. "What do you mean you can change your appearance?" Elizabeth asked, Tonks grinned and demonstrated almost instantly, her nose turning into a pig snout. "Okay... wow, what is that ability?"

"I'm a Metamorphmagus, I'm able to change my body, as long as I can picture it I can do it to an extent," Tonks explained and Elizabeth made a small gesture for her to continue the explanation, "I can change my height, my weight and appearance but at the same time there are limits, it's less the creation of the appearance and more the changing." She tried to explain, struggling to explain the situation.

"I think I understand, you shift your body around, not so much creating new mass but just rearranging it to where you need." Elizabeth took a chance at explaining it.

"Exactly and you can guess how half the boys in the upper years want me to act when they try and approach me."

"I can hazard a guess." Elizabeth muttered in agreement, not so much that she was thinking all boys were like that but she could work out what would happen. "You'll find the right guy?" She said questioningly, not sure how to progress.

"Queen Elizabeth!" A voice called out and the two looked up as the Twins, Fred and George walking over.

"The terrible twins have arrived." Tonks said with a smirk as they sat down at the table.

"Fred, George, what chaos are you planning today?" She asked and the two twins smiled with an attempted angelic smile that didn't fool either of them.

"Us? Up to Something?" Fred asked in mock outrage. "I assure you my Queen, we're not up to anything... But we hear that you are."

Elizabeth watched the two, looking at them in curiosity, "and what do you mean by that?"

"We happen to know that you and select others want to find out what's behind the door." George started

"And we know that you also now know what is behind the door, from a certain point of view." Fred added with a smile.

"And although it pains us to help those who are in a position of authority," George continued, placing a hand against his forehead dramatically "We would advise you to look to the cards."

"Look to the cards?" Elizabeth asked in confusion, the two were starting to sound like the Lutece twins, was this some sort of skill that all twins had or was it something that seemed to crop up every now and again. "What does that even mean?"

"You will know." Fred responded, dropping into the chair at the table, "oh, is this Ronniekins homework?" Fred asked snatching up the homework.

"And this is why I normally do this in my room." Elizabeth deadpanned to Tonks, snatching the paper back from Fred. "I'm surrounded by children"

"You're not much older than me." Tonks protested and Elizabeth responded by sticking her tongue out at Tonks. "And you call us children." She deadpanned in response, the two breaking out into a small bout of laughter before Elizabeth recovered and turned her attention back to the twins.

"Anyway, since you want to call me Queen, Obey Me! What did you mean?" She asked and Fred laughed.

"I'm sorry my Queen, I'm afraid we're more in comparison to Rebels than loyalists." George explained picking up another of the essays. "Oh, Potter's essay, nice handwriting." he commented and laughed as Elizabeth snatched it out of his hands and placed it back on the table.

"If you're not going to talk then kindly go away, I want to get this done." She said calmly though there was a hint of warning that they were starting to over reach on joking attitude. She liked the twins, they had a sense of humour that seemed to be lacking with a lot of people but the nosing into others homework was a bit too much for her to stand by and say nothing. She looked down at the one she was marking and then sighed, putting it on the pile she still had to do. "Nope, not getting them done now." She said with mock resignation, "since you won't tell me what's in the corridor perhaps you can answer me about the thing that guards it, three heads and barks." She said and George and Fred looked to each other, glanced back at Elizabeth and then performed a two-man huddle to confer. Elizabeth watched them for a second before looking at Tonks with an inquisitive look.

"Don't look at me, I've never seen them thinking this much before, you can practically see the smoke coming from their ears." Tonks giggled a little bit as the twins looked up at her with identical over exaggerated glares. "Did you learn that from Charlie or Bill?" She asked and the glare disappeared to be replaced by laughter.

"Charlie." They responded and Elizabeth still looked confused.

"Charlie? Wait, no I remember, your older brother that works with... dragons wasn't it?" She asked and they nodded their heads. "But I'm getting side-tracked again, Cerberus, you knew it was there and I bet you also looked into information about it." She said pointedly and they conceded the point with a nod.

"Wait, there's a Cerberus IN the school!?" Tonks cut in loudly and Elizabeth cringed, glancing around to see if anyone else heard, while there were a few nearby, they seemed to have missed it, though the look Madam Pince was sending their way from her desk indicated that she had heard quite clearly what was said.

"Smooth Tonksie... very smooth." Fred teased lightly, "Speak a bit louder I don't think the Slytherin Common Room heard you." Tonks blushed, her hair turning as red as her cheeks, "keep it like that and people will think you're a Weasley as well. And I don't think we could handle another sibling."

"Shut... Up..." Tonks bit out, trying to keep her embarrassment under control. "It's not easy holding a form all the time, it requires a lot of concentration to do this sort of thing." She managed to control the blush, her hair turning back to its chosen pink colour. "So Cerberus, spill!" She hissed and the three looked at each other, this was slowly becoming one of the worst secrets ever.

"Don't go into the Third Floor Corridor unless you want to be eaten by the largest dog in the UK." George said with a seriousness that surprised the two women. It just felt strange coming from the Twins, "we, masters of stealth that we are, barely managed to escape before it turned us into a chew toy."

"It was a close call Forge; it was close indeed." Fred agreed and looked at Elizabeth. "But we're the curious sort, do you know how hard we looked for information on the dog?" He questioned making a grand gesture of the area around them. "We spent weeks in here! Weeks!" He lamented, "but there is nothing, all books regarding them have been moved, along with a couple of other things but those ones were long overdue to go to the restricted section." He added the final part as an afterthought, there were some books that weren't banned that should be, ones that fell under morally grey but extremely twisted. It was not that the Twin thought that knowledge should be removed from all but even he understood that sometimes there were things that some people were just not meant to know.

"So the Great Weasley Twins were defeated?" Tonks asked in a mixture of amusement and horror, still on the idea of a Cerberus being IN the school.

"Pfft, delayed not defeated, we will find a way past this challenge, especially now our reputation is at stake."

"Well when you do, let me know, until then, I have to do all this." Elizabeth chimed in gesturing to the pile of essays. Why had she agreed to do this again? Oh right, money to live off of while she was here working on the puzzle that seemed to be evolving around her and her desire to help the boy who had rescued her. The three teens said their goodbyes and left, though at the same time Elizabeth really wished that they had stayed, it was a nice escape from her work if they were going to talk. An escape was what she needed right about now. She looked at the quill again and could feel the pain in her hand reappearing even before she moved it. She glared at her hand, "don't even start, we've still got a long way to go." She muttered picking up the quill and continuing her work. "You can come out; I know you're there." She called to the person standing by the bookshelves behind her that was watching her intently during the entirety of the conversation with the twins. She quietly hummed as she waited for the person to walk over, making a few notations on the essay as she did. "God only knows what I'd be without you." She stopped humming, quietly singing to herself as she continued to mark, feeling her ear twitch slightly as she heard the sound of footsteps from behind her. "Finally decided to be brave, who knows perhaps there's a bit of Gryffindor in you after all Draco." She said lightly, turning her head and looking at the young Noble. The boy in question looked almost insulted at the comparison as he walked around the table and took the seat that Tonks had taken before hand. "Curious about your essay? I haven't gotten to it yet, I don't think. They're kind of all blurring together at the moment."

"I'm not here about the essay," Draco admitted, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a letter, "mother asked me to give this to you." He said, placing the letter on the table. "You have a nice singing voice." He admitted and Elizabeth smiled slightly.

"Thank you Draco, I admit, I wasn't expecting you to hear that."

"I also heard you singing in the Hospital Wing, when Potter was unconscious." Draco explained and she looked at him in amusement.

"Draco should I be worried that you're spying on me?" She asked teasingly and he looked offended by it.

"A Malfoy does not spy, at least not in person." He said snobbishly, turning his head away with a mocking sniff of disdain. There was silence for a moment before the two started laughing and were hushed pretty quickly by Madam Pince.

"I have no doubt I'm going to hear about this later." She muttered, catching the glare that was being sent her way. "Thank you for the letter Draco, I'll send her a response soon. Did you have a good Christmas?" She asked, changing the topic away from whatever his mother had sent her.

"It was pleasant, we had family from France over." He started to explain before talking about some of the situations that had occurred and the topic eventually moved onto the Yule Ball that they had held. "Mother was disappointed that you couldn't attend but understood the reasoning, she has left an invitation for you to visit during the Easter Holidays if you would like." He extended the invitation just like he had been asked to do. In his opinion he wanted her to come, he enjoyed talking to her but at the same time he also didn't want Elizabeth to meet his father. Not that he didn't believe that his father was a great man but he wondered how their ideologies would conflict and whether anything would come of it.

"I will see if I'm free, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to come." She responded happily and Draco stood up, having delivered his messages and gave his goodbyes, disappearing into the rows of bookcases that made up the majority of the Library. "Shame, I was hoping the conversation would last longer." She said in disappointment knowing what she now had to return to.

HPCVHPCV

Another section of the library, Blaize was angry, he was angry at both Potter and DeWitt. Potter because of who he was, the Boy-Who-Lived a boy who was seemingly able to make friends in every house and walked around with this delusion that he was someone special because he was getting assistance from the new Assistant. If Potter was treated like everyone else, then no doubt he would not be at the top of the class. He growled in frustration, closing the book that he had been attempting to read, the Transfiguration essay could wait.

DeWitt was another problem for him, her attitude to the world, the questions asked, her opinions on the laws and Traditions. People were listening to her and it was leading to more questions being asked. Ones that led back to his Mother. He cursed under his breath as he thought about it. She had been cleared of all charges, she was innocent in the eyes of the law and this bitch was trying to change that, she was trying to make her out to be a criminal. Like Draco, he had been taught loyalty to his family and loyalty to his beliefs, but there was no conflict here. This person was trying to cause people to turn against his family, to turn against his mother. He smirked, a plan forming in the back of his mind, already he could think of something to try and discredit them, it would take time to set in motion and he'd probably have to enlist the aid of others but he could think of something. A potion for her, something that would cause her to enter an embarrassing situation that would destroy Potter and ruin her reputation with something extra in store for Potter that would show him that the Zabini family were far superior to the Potter's. It would take time to brew, it would take time to organise and acquire the ingredients but he knew that he could get it done. "Pansy, we have work to do." He said calmly, standing up and exiting the Library.

Pansy had been in an interesting circumstance at first, she had been told by her parents to stay close to Draco, for their families were allies and she knew her parents were trying to arrange a marriage contract between the two families. But at Hogwarts he barely wanted anything to do with her. He had practically ignored her through the time, sure they spoke and they were cordial at those times but he just didn't seem to have any interest in associating with her. She knew why of course, they Malfoy family had become intrigued by this new assistant, there was something about her that gained Draco's mothers attention and through her it had gained the attention of both father and son. So, she was pushed to the side, it was politics, through and through and while she was angry about it, she was not angry at Draco. No, for her anger was directed at the people who had come and screwed up her plans of getting close to Draco. She blamed Elizabeth. If she had stayed in America, if she had never turned up then she wouldn't be in the situation she was in now.

She followed Blaize out of the library, her thoughts drifting back to the Hogsmeade visit that had happened before the Quidditch Match that saw Potter injured, the Slytherin's that had gone to Hogsmeade with Elizabeth had been mixed in their reaction but they were all of the same mind on one aspect, their belief that she cared little for tradition. Sylvia had ranted about her attitude towards the Pureblood philosophy and Marcus had been annoyed that the afternoon had turned into one of disagreements and arguments. Bryon had seemed quite mellow about it but he was an oddball by association in the Slytherin dorm, he was a Pureblood, a minor one from a family that worked in one of the departments of the Ministry, Pansy couldn't recall which one at the moment but that wasn't the point, they were a non-entity clinging onto the social ladder with little to no progression. The two walked in silence, they were allies of convenience at best, she knew of the rumours revolving around his mother, every Pureblood knew them and almost every one of them thought the Zabini family were becoming more and more of a joke. They were wealthy, that there was no doubt, they were powerful, after all Wealth led to power. But their influence was diminishing, fear of his mother setting her sights on one of the more prominent single Purebloods made them want to keep a bit of distance from the family. But for now he was a means to an end, if she could discredit and sabotage the Malfoy plan through making a mockery of Elizabeth then she could get Draco's attention again, show her for the anti-pureblood that she seemed to be and then the Malfoy family would no doubt abandon their plan.

The two returned to the Slytherin Common Room, taking a seat off to one side away from the older students and began to plot. "I know of a potion; I can brew it but I need the ingredients." Blaize started to explain but Pansy cut him off quickly

"Can't we just move onto poison instead of an ordinary potion?" Pansy asked, she had a feeling as to why he would decline it but to say it would be easier in this situation. She wasn't willing to commit murder for this plan to work. With the rumours behind his family she wanted to make sure that he wasn't willing to do the same either.

"Poison is too obvious, she's a healthy woman, if she were to suddenly drop dead then Aurors would be in this school in an instant." Blaize said, throwing out the idea and Pansy nodded her head. He frowned, she had done it as a test and it grated his nerves, another person who used the alleged actions of his mother to try and judge him. The Parkinson family were not much different, they also had their skeletons and if she wasn't careful he would start digging into them.

"I knew that; I was making sure you knew it when you mentioned potion. What will the potion do?" Pansy asked curiosity getting the better of her, she knew in the back of her mind that not knowing what the potion did would give her an added level of plausible deniability even if she was the one who got him the ingredients.

"That's a surprise, but I know your family runs several potions farms and I was wondering if you'd be able to get me these ingredients." He said, taking a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to Pansy, she unfolded the paper looking at the ingredients, letting out a small whistle of surprise at what was written down.

"These are expensive; this'll take a long time to get a hold of. Some of them aren't even stored at this time of year, you wouldn't be able to do this until we're in our second year at least... Maybe even Third Year unless my father can secure this one." She commented and Blaize shrugged his shoulders.

"I am a patient person, I can wait for the right time to strike at her, besides, we have Potter to deal with as well." Blaize explained with an almost predatory grin, "And since they're such good friends, perhaps we can hurt her through hurting him." Yes, they had more plans to make in preparation for what was to come.

HPCVHPCV

Completely unaware of this, Harry had separated from the group, they had decided to work on separate parts, his was to try and find out what was in the vault when it was taken, he had learnt the name of the person involved in it all, Nicholas Flamel and it was bugging him because he knew he had read the name from somewhere. He had thought to ask Professor Flitwick about it but knew that the idea wouldn't work, no doubt the dog wasn't the only thing guarding the item and if Harry could hazard a guess the professors would be involved in it somehow, again the question came back to who was involved and what was involved in the protections. He sighed, it wasn't something he was going to find out now. Still he made his way to the Charms Professor and Head of House's office to speak to him, he had delayed on this for too long.

He stopped in front of the door and knocked on it, he waited for a response, it was early afternoon and he was normally here around this time, at least that's what the notice in the Common Room had said, he was available for talking with about anything between two and 5 on Saturday.

"Just a moment." His voice called out and Harry stepped back, leaning against the wall opposite the door and waited, he could hear the muffled voices of him talking to someone, a girl if he had to hazard a guess. The door opened after about a minute and Cho Chang walked out with Flitwick following behind her. "I hope I've managed to put some of your concerns at ease Miss Chang." He spoke politely and she nodded her head.

"Thank you Professor, I should be okay now." She said happily and then noticed Harry. "Oh! Harry, I didn't get a chance to see you before the holidays, how are you feeling now?" She asked as she noticed him standing there.

"I'm fine now, how are you, that was a big fall you took in the match, I should be asking if you're okay."

"I wasn't the one in a coma for a month, I was out in a week, Madam Pomfrey healed me up and I was back to work, did you manage to catch up on your lessons?" She asked, reaching up and brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"I spent a bit of time reading and doing the work over the holidays, I'm pretty caught up,"

"As much as I am glad to hear you helping the younger years Miss Chang, I don't think Mr Potter knocked on my door to speak to you." Flitwick spoke in amusement. Cho turned to the professor and nodded her head in agreement.

"Of course Professor, I'll speak to you later Harry." She said with a small wave and started to walk away as Harry entered the office.

"Now, what brings you to visit me Mr Potter?" He asked politely as he sat down in his chair, the door to his office closing on its own behind them.

"I was coming to see if anything else had come up about the attack during the Quidditch Match." Harry said watching the professor's reaction, to his credit he looked disappointed about it.

"I'm afraid there hasn't been much of any progress at the moment, Professor Quirrel and myself are investigating but from what we've been able to tell it was most likely one of the older students that did it. We do not believe that it was done to try and kill you more to take you out to increase Slytherin's chances for the match."

"Are you sure? That seems a little bit extreme even for some of the Slytherin students."

"Mr Potter, you know who you are and what your image represents." Flitwick reminded him, "you are an icon to the Wizarding World for what happened when you were younger, to the light you are a saviour, to the... darker side of the spectrum you are the thing that stopped their goals from coming about." Flitwick paused, lifting his cup of tea and taking a drink. "I would not put it past any of those that believed that You-Know-Who was right to try and act like that and if you happened to perish in an 'unfortunate' accident then I have no doubt that some of them would have been more than happy to take the chance." He explained sadly, "I do not wish to believe that any student in this school would willingly try to injure or possibly kill another student but I can't rule it out in a situation like this. But another question has arisen, one that intrigues the other staff more than anything else. That pool of water that you landed in saved your life, no student could cast something like that and we have no idea how it appeared. I don't suppose you have any idea about it do you?" Flitwick asked on the off chance that Harry might know.

The kid shrugged, doing his best to remain impassive, "I don't know Professor, I figured it would have been Professor McGonagall who did it considering how good she is in Transfiguration." Harry suggested but Flitwick shook his head.

"It was not Professor McGonagall; she was just as surprised as we were that the water appeared. But I am not one to question good fortune such as this, you are alive, we will find who did this and there will be the necessary punishment for it. We do not play with the lives of students here." He said, his cheerful demeanour shifting to a serious one almost on a dime, "each wand is a lethal weapon, the simplest spell that we cast can be used for dangerous purposes it's why we do not allow magic outside of the classroom. A simple levitation charm can prove just as fatal as the killing curse, all it takes is for you to levitate the person out of a window and end the spell."

"And yet children are given access to these." Harry said holding his wand, examining it with a small smile. It was finely crafted, but it could probably do with a clean.

"Children that can be taught responsibility, it would be remiss of us not to teach children this. I know Professor McGonagall warns all students that enter her class that Transfiguration is not a topic that should be taken lightly and although I do try and make my own lessons light hearted, I do step in when students act out of line. But so far I have rarely if ever needed to act upon that," he stopped giving Harry a look of warning as the boy continued to toy with his wand. Grinning sheepishly, Harry put his wand away. "A wand should only be drawn for use and in times of a duel, you never know what accident might happen when toying with a wand like that.

"I understand Professor; I was just thinking about something regarding my wand is all." Harry said calmly, "I was thinking back too what Ollivander said about it."

"Do you mind if I ask you what that is?" He questioned and Harry shook his head.

"No I don't mind professor, he told me that the core of this wand, a phoenix feather also gave one other feather." Harry stopped, pausing as he remembered the quiet words of Ollivander. "The feather that was given is in the wand that gave me my scar." Harry explained and Flitwick gasped in surprise.

"That is quite an amazing coincidence." Flitwick muttered and let out a quiet sigh. "You-Know-Who was a powerful force to be reckoned with, even before he underwent the rituals that changed him so much." Flitwick commented and Harry looked at him curiously.

"What was his name? All I've ever heard him called by is You-Know-Who and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. What is the man's name?" Harry asked.

Flitwick hesitated, the name still sent chills down his spine, but there was another reason that the name was not spoken, a lingering effect from the end of the war. "What you have to understand Mr Potter is that not only did he inspire terror in all who stood against him, his name became Taboo, more than just the Muggle concept of a forbidden word, in the magical world to say his name was to break enchantments and protections around you. He knew when a person spoke his name and where that person was. Only one person spoke his name without fear and that was because he was the one thing that You-Know-Who feared."

"Professor Dumbledore."

"Correct, if he was not in Hogwarts with wards that were easily able to resist the Taboo then he was out normally dealing with his attempts against the Wizarding World. His name was V...Voldemort." Flitwick said, a shiver running up his spine.

"What do we know about him? where did he come from? why did he go the way he did?" Harry asked quickly, listing off questions that had been in the back of his mind ever since he had first learnt of Voldemort. "How did he die when he tried to kill me?"

"The questions are many but I'm afraid my answers are non-existent Mr Potter; I know little about him or where he came from. I can only assume power was the reason he went the way he did. There are claims that he was the heir of Slytherin and had taken up his ancestors cause against Muggleborns and Muggles alike, but the truth of the matter is that I know little about him. Only one person could probably give you the information and that would be Professor Dumbledore. As for how you survived all those years ago, I cannot say for certain. While I would like to believe the reason being your mothers sacrifice, I do not truly believe that to be the cause, I have heard you say the same. How could she be the only one to love a child enough that it would negate the spell." It was true, Harry had asked that question several times before, it had made people stop and think but at the same time many were just dismissive. Magic worked in strange and mysterious ways but to Harry it just seemed too far out of the realm of reality. "If I had to guess, your mother was responsible for your protection but not in the way that everyone else would like to believe, I remember her in classes and even after she left she kept in regular contact, always testing new ideas for Charms and combinations with Ancient Runes, she had a mind that would put Miss Granger to shame." Flitwick smiled and chuckled slightly as he remembered some of the conversations that he had with Lily all those years ago. "I would bet my vault that she found something that would work, but the house was destroyed that night and no one has disturbed it since the Auror's performed their examination of the crime scene."

"No one? so it's just a ruined house now?" Harry asked, sadness seeping into his voice as he thought about it. It hurt him more to think that there was now just dead space there instead of it being used, even if it was not kept in the family and sold off to someone else, that wouldn't have bothered him nearly as much as dealing with the fact that all they left behind was a memory of death there.

"It's a monument now, a tribute to the Potters and to you," Flitwick explained, seeing the war of emotions playing across Harry's face. "It is why you are held in such high regard Harry, even though you yourself didn't do anything, the entire situation brought hope back to the Wizarding World. Though it is a slow process and they have not learnt as much as they should from it, there are good people who would be willing to do more to make the future better."

"What happened to his followers?" Harry asked, leaning forward slightly in the chair, he had heard others say that they had got away with it, returning to society and acting like nothing ever happened but Harry needed to know for certain

"The ones that were caught and tried were sentenced to Azkaban, many of his followers still linger there, serving sentences that will last long after their bodies give up from that hellish place. Others though were more fortunate, though it cost them a pretty penny to keep out of prison I have no doubt."

"Then the system is corrupt?" Harry asked and Flitwick hesitated a moment before nodding.

"In its current form it is, I have no doubt that for the near future it will change little. Why do you want to know so much now if you don't mind me asking?"

"I want to know because I know so little of it, I'm always hearing about how I'm the Boy-Who-Lived, I am a hero of the wizarding world but then I know little about what happened, you yourself said the same theory that I thought of about the Quidditch game, someone with dark leanings tried to kill me and make it look like an accident, you can't defend yourself against what you don't know."

"That is where we become involved Mr Potter, it is not for you to shoulder the burdens." Flitwick said after a few moments of silence, he paused again and smiled thoughtfully. "But, I understand that you can't always guarantee that there will be a Professor around to assist you." He agreed and Harry looked at him curiously. "I can't do anything about it now, teaching this magic in your first year is designed to help stabilise your core, to allow a better focus on future spell casting. The building blocks for a foundation so to speak. I believe I can spare some time to teach you to defend yourself." Flitwick offered and Harry looked at him in shock, "it wouldn't be until the start of your second year but I feel you would do well with these lessons. I know you're starting to get a bit bored with the work at the moment and I would normally offer you a chance to study ahead but again, as I said the lessons are designed so that we can give time for your magical core to properly develop. To rush it could cause problems further down the line. Yes, second year should be soon enough." He added the final bit to himself more than Harry.

"You're going to teach me extra spells?" Harry asked in shock and Flitwick nodded his head, "thank you sir, I won't let you down!" Harry said happily.

"I know you won't because if you did, the lessons would end Mr Potter, this will be done in our free time so you can understand that if your work slips then the lessons will have to end." Flitwick forewarned.

"I understand sir." With that, Harry gave his farewell to his Head of House and exited the room, so many thoughts going through his head both for the now and the near future.

TBC

Next chapter done, I know there hasn't been much in the way of Bioshock at the moment but it's going to be starting probably from the next chapter or the one after that. I hope you like the chapter, I'm setting up a couple of building blocks for future events and trying to show the ripple effect that an unexpected player is having on the field.

Just a reminder that there is one more chapter after this one then the two week hiatus for Christmas.

Thanks again for all the story favourites, author favourites and reviews, each of them have been a godsend during this time. Thank you.