A/N: Christmas is upon them, and with it comes some inevitable re-hashing of canon plot-points. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 14 Christmas Break

Term seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye once Halloween had passed. Severus, Harry, Lily and all their new friends in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had settled in rather nicely to life at the boarding school. Each of them had carved out a little niche for themselves and were enjoying their time together as friends. Severus and Lily continued their brewing pursuits alongside Tracey—the three Potions Prodigies churning out a plethora of Potions for the Hospital Wing and each being paid an ample sum by the Headmaster for their services. For the time being, Severus, Lily and Tracey all opted to keep their friendship a secret, only meeting up once per week for their brewing, and perhaps once more in the library if they could find a quiet enough alcove amidst the stacks. Harry, for the time being, didn't know of Severus' and Lily's friendship with Tracey Davis, but the two Ravenclaws planned on telling him soon over the Winter Break.

Harry continued to train as hard as ever for his next match of the season which would come after the Winter break. He was desperate to catch the snitch this time, he'd almost had it in his first match too! If only his broom hadn't been jinxed. Come to think of it, he never realized who it was that jinxed his broom. Ron and Hermione, his two Gryffindor pals had insisted it was Snape, but Harry knew better. Although Snape most definitely didn't like him, he knew he wouldn't harm him either. Lily's and Severus' opinions were more in-line with his own in that it was someone other than Albus or Snape, perhaps Malfoy or one of his goons, possibly Quirrell, the trio surmised.

Mandy had joined an extracurricular club too, the Gobstones Club which her mum had coincidentally been the captain of. Being a Fifth Generation Pureblood, and having played the game at home with her Mum and many of her older magical relatives, this gave Mandy a leg up compared to most of her classmates and she was widely considered the best first year in the club. Ron was equally gifted at chess, as Mandy was at Gobstones and the two pureblooded first years had rapidly established themselves as the best in both fields—at least among first years.

As the days ticked over from November into December, a heavy blanket of snow fell upon the Castle and the surrounding grounds. The students and staff now rarely went outside unless they felt the need to, and the library and common areas were a lot more packed out than they had been in October and November. Beyond that, Malfoy and his goons had become even more insufferable than usual, they constantly gloated that they'd won the Quidditch match, and continued to mock Harry, Lily and Severus for their blood, wealth, or anything else that crossed his mind. The three first years couldn't wait until the end of term, that pest Malfoy would be gone and they'd have the castle to themselves like over the summer. Mandy and Ron would be staying over too, so they'd get to experience the novelty of having an ancient castle to themselves for two weeks. While Severus, Lily and Harry had all adjusted to life at Hogwarts quite well and were certainly enjoying themselves, they were all looking forward to the upcoming two week reprieve from school work.

On the morning of the last day of school, Severus woke bright and early. It was snowing outside, and the clouds above were thick, soupy and grey, terrible weather but then again he wasn't planning on going outside in any case. He showered quickly, dressed even quicker, and was out of the dorm a scant ten minutes after he'd woken up. As he left the first year boys' dorm, Anthony was just waking up, groggily asking for Severus to wait for him down below in the common room before heading to the Great Hall. Waiting for him in the common room was fellow early-riser, Mandy, who was sat on one of the couches waiting for Lily, Anthony, and Severus himself.

"Morning," Severus muttered.

"Good morning," replied Mandy, watching as Severus walked over to her.

"Terrible weather for a last day of classes, eh?" Severus remarked, as he sat down across from his friend.

"It's not the best," Mandy agreed, nodding. "But I can't say I'm upset about this being the last day of classes, Rowena knows I need a break from all this."

"You could've chosen to sleep in a little more, if a break is what you're after," Severus teased.

Mandy just rolled her eyes and shot him a withering look. She reclined back into the couch and twirled a loose strand of hair around her finger. "I don't need much sleep," she said nonchalantly, her gaze similarly relaxed like her voice. "B'sides, I can always have an hour-long power nap just after lunch with Binns, can't I?"

Severus had to concede her point, not even he could stay awake through Professor Binns' classes, no one except Hermione could, such a swot she was. "Fair enough," he agreed, chuckling. "I think that I, and the rest of the class, will probably join you in that."

Mandy's lips parted for a response when the statue of Rowena moved again, and out from behind it, stepped Lily, who greeted her friends with a tired wave of her hand. "Morning you two," she greeted. "Anthony here yet?"

As it would turn out, Anthony appeared not a minute later with the rest of the boys in the dorm following behind him. Gareth Carmichael, Michael Corner and Terry Boot all traipsed past him, undoubtedly heading for the Great Hall to get some breakfast.

"Sorry I'm late guys," Anthony said sheepishly. "Slept in a bit longer than I would've liked, my alarm didn't go off properly."

"Never mind that, let's get going now while the food is still fresh," Lily said flippantly.

The quartet of first years grabbed their bags and headed out of the common room, descending the spiral staircase down Ravenclaw tower and making for the Great Hall, where they planned to take breakfast with Harry, Ron and Hermione. They arrived soon after, pushing through the grand doors to the Hall and heading over to the right-hand side where the Gryffindor table was situated. Harry waved them over, Hermione was enthusiastic in her greeting too, but Ron was a bit too focused on his food to notice the four approaching first years.

"Good. You're here at last," Hermione said, gesturing at the empty bench across from her for the four Ravenclaws to take their seat. "As I was just saying to these two, they've got to maintain their studies over the break, and since I won't be here, that will fall to you three, Lily, Mandy, Severus," she said bossily.

"You do know there's more to life thanks studying, right?" Ron pointed out snidely.

Despite his newfound tolerance and acceptance of the frizzy-haired Muggleborn in the wake of her standing up for Harry, it would still be a stretch to consider them friends.

"Of course there is," Hermione replied, saying it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "My point is, Ronald, that you can definitely do better as far as your studies go, especially in Potions and History of Magic, why not consult Lily and Mandy since they seem to do well enough at them."

Ron scowled deeply, not bothering to hide his expression of deep-seated annoyance before turning back to his filled plate. Still muttering quietly to himself, he picked away at his food, determined not to spare his fellow Gryffindor so much as another glance.

"Listen, let's not talk about studying now," Lily said reasonably. "It's our last day of term after all, let's just enjoy ourselves and make the most of it, alright?"

Murmured words of agreement and nods of approval echoed out all around Lily, who then turned her focus to filling her plate with the festive-themed fare arrayed before her.

The Ravenclaws had class with McGonagall first thing on Fridays, while the Gryffindors would head off to the dungeons for class with Snape, so the two groups parted ways and agreed to meet up before their shared History of Magic class, and then venture down to the kitchens to spend their last afternoon of term together. Severus, Lily, Mandy and Anthony eventually were forced to bid goodbye to their friends. Severus, Harry and Lily would find that the last day of classes was…alright, and rather great by any reasonable standard, even Binns' class wasn't quite as boring as before as they took a break from discussing Goblin Rebellions and instead shifted to the History of Yule in Wizarding Culture. McGonagall seemed to be downright chipper, she was almost seen sporting a smile at times, and felt particularly charitable with her generous points awarding. Severus had bagged ten points for a very swift switching spell, swapping the positions of Anthony's Quill, and Lily's Ink Pot. Harry could even agree that Snape wasn't as terrible as he usually was come their Friday morning class. He hadn't lost any points, and his potion was even granted a low grunt of what Harry assumed was approval. Ron's potion on the other hand…wasn't quite so lucky, but at least he wasn't given a detention for his dismal effort.

The day ended, and with it did the term. Lily, Severus and Harry were more than glad to finally be on break, and definitely intended to make the most of it. If Hermione wanted to spend her break studying, so be it, they felt as though they needed a much-deserved rest from the rigors of their first semester as Hogwarts students. When night fell, all seven friends fell asleep fairly early regardless of their holiday plans, for all were in need for a good night's sleep and one night in the castle free of the stresses of homework and assignments. Come the following morning, the weather was dreary and depressing, heavy snowfall, nearly white-out conditions and a blistering wind meant that Harry and the rest of the students remaining at Hogwarts were counting their lucky stars they didn't have to venture from the castle in such poor conditions. Hermione, Anthony and the rest of the students returning home all piled into the fleet of thestral-drawn carriages, and at Hagrid's signal, they departed the courtyard, bound for Hogsmeade station.

"Reckon we should go get something to eat?" Ron suggested, once the last carriage disappeared into the snow. His stomach gurgled in agreement with his words. "Lunch should be ready soon in any case."

"Sure," Harry agreed.

The group entered the Great Hall, which was still configured in its usual layout of five tables. Come dinner time, the elves would do away with the four house tables and replaced them with a lone, table that would seat all the staying-over professors and students. The group decided to sit at the Ravenclaw table this time around, and with the vast majority of the house now-boarding the train, that meant pretty much the entire table was available. As the five first years claimed their seats, Severus glanced over at the Slytherin table adjacent to their, spotting a lone figure sat a way's down by herself away from the upperclassmen. Severus recognized the figure as Tracey, his and Lily's friend from Potions; he nudged Lily on the arm and nodded his head towards Tracey. Lily's eyes, too, widened in recognition of their friend.

She leaned closer to Severus. "Should we go talk to her?"

"I thought we agreed to not tell Harry and the rest about our…friendship with Tracey," Severus whispered back.

Across from them, Ron's eyes narrowed, adding to his feeling of suspicion with regard to the two Ravenclaws. "What are you two whispering about?"

Before Severus had time to debate the merits of telling the truth or deflecting Ron's pointed question, Lily was already answering; "see that girl over there?"

Ron blinked, then turned around, following Lily's gaze. "That Slytherin? Looks like a first year."

"What about her?" asked Mandy, her voice decidedly less waspish than Ron's.

"She is a first year, and Sev and I…" she shared a hesitant, almost apologetic look. "We're friends with her. She's also brewing potions with us for the hospital wing, so—"

"How come you never told me?" Harry blurted out, sounding indignant and just a bit hurt by her admission.

"We didn't think it was relevant," Severus answered smoothly. "We only meet with Tracey once a week, and that's when you have your Quidditch training, Harry. So we thought it irrelevant to bring it up. It's not like you'd have crossed paths with her that much in any case."

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but seemingly thought better of it, and instead turned around to look at Tracey again, she'd seemingly just come in from the cold like they had, and was helping herself to some chicken wings as Harry observed her.

"And she's…not like Malfoy?"

"Do you really think Sev and I would be friends with her if she were like Malfoy?" Lily said challengingly.

Harry seemed to ponder her words, his lip bitten in thought, but he shook his head. "No."

"Exactly. She's actually really nice and she's the best at brewing in your class, isn't she? I mean, only she, Sev, and I are allowed to brew for the hospital wing, so—"

"That's besides the point," Severus said, interrupting Lily from her ramblings. "The point is, Harry, that Tracey is a good friend, and she's nice too. She's not like Malfoy at all, so there's no need to get so standoffish about her when you haven't even met her."

"I haven't exactly had a good impression of Slytherins so far Severus, so you'll forgive me for, not assuming that this one Slytherin girl is different from the way all the rest have treated me. I should've caught the bloody snitch so I wouldn't have had to put up with their mockery of me."

"But Harry, you're…no offense, but we're all first years, if you'd managed to beat Higgs to the snitch that would've been…well…miraculous, right?" Mandy said calmly, assuming the role of the voice of placation and reason. "Higgs is much older, and more experienced, I'm sure you'll get him next time."

"Oh no, I hope I never play against Higgs again actually," Harry said, smirking. "Malfoy's been spouting so much nonsense this past week in potions and elsewhere that I hope he makes the team next year, just so I can beat him and wipe that stupid smirk off his face when I do."

"I'm gonna go ask her to come over here," Lily said, speaking with an air of finality. "It isn't fair that barely any of her housemates are staying over."

Before anyone could voice a protest, Lily had pushed back from the bench and left the table. Harry, Ron, Severus and Mandy watched her march across the hall to the Slytherin table, and tap Tracey on the shoulder. The halfblood glanced up from her plate, a brief look of surprise etched onto her features. She briefly looked over at the four friends, then back to Lily, still wearing an expression of unsureness and nervousness. Lily continued to speak to Tracey, too far away for anyone to hear what she was saying, but slowly Tracey's apprehensiveness began to recede. After half a minute of convincing, Tracey shrugged her shoulders and picked up her half-filled plate of food and crossed the hall towards them. She still looked nervous like she was earlier, but less so now, and even smiled as she found Severus' gaze on her, Mandy wore a polite enough expression as well, but Ron and Harry were a little more guarded around her than their Ravenclaw friends.

Harry and Ron had been sat side-by-side on the bench, facing the three Ravenclaws, but Lily made a decision to switch sides and sit next to Harry, and offering up her old seat in the process to Tracey. As Tracey set her plate down, and sat in-between Severus and Mandy, she smiled nervously at the two Gryffindors sat across from her. The tension was almost as thick as the cool air outside, Severus noted, it was precisely why he'd been against telling Harry of his and Lily's friendship with the Slytherin.

"Everyone, this is Tracey," said Lily, hoping to break the ice.

"Hello," said Tracey, still sporting that nervous smile. "It's nice to meet you all."

Harry eyed her carefully, then nodded. "It's…nice to meet you too," he said, offering his hand. Tracey shook it.

Ron followed Harry's lead, and offered his hand too, for Tracey to shake, which she did. Mandy also greeted the girl, smiling warmly and exchanging a handshake of her own. Lily and Severus exchanged a brief, frustrated look; although everyone seemed polite enough, they knew they had their work cut out for them if they wanted to fully break the ice between them all. Hopefully by the holiday's end, everyone would all be getting along swimmingly, Lily and Severus hoped.

With the Christmas holiday finally upon them, Severus and Lily sought to include Tracey in as many of their activities as they could. Whether it be snowball fights outdoors on the castle grounds, or studying in the library for their winter assignments, Tracey stuck with them, and little by little, she ingratiated her way into the group. Mandy and Tracey found plenty to talk about over their shared appreciation of Ancient Runes and Scriptures, Ron seemed to get along well enough with her too when they talked Quidditch and the prospects for their favorite teams, Ron loved the Chudley Cannons while Tracey was an avid Tutshill Tornadoes supporter. Harry seemed suspicious of the girl at first, but he also opened up in time, coming to find that Tracey was surprisingly funny and goofy which he found endearing.

A few days after the Holidays began, Harry, Severus and Lily woke bright and early and quickly draped a robe over their shoulders. They scrambled out of their quarters and into the shared living space, which was almost entirely bathed in darkness save for a single candle. Needless to say the sun was nowhere near close to rising, so the only source of light came from the candle held in Severus' hands, which illuminated his pale face and his immediate surroundings. Upon hearing his friends, but not seeing them, his first course of action was to sigh at their lack of common sense in retrieving a candle before entering the room. He quickly walked around the room, borrowing the flame of his candle to light several of the wall-mounted torches in the living area, which finally allowed him to see Harry and Lily in all their bed-ragged glory.

"Morning Sev'rus," said Harry, wiping blearily at his eyes. "Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas Harry," Severus replied, "and Happy Christmas to you too Lily," he added, smiling at Lily.

"Happy Christmas Sev," Lily said with a bright, brilliant smile, contrasted starkly by the bags under her eyes and her tired expression. With boundless excitement, Lily closed the distance between them, and hugged him tightly—Harry wasn't blind to the rosy blush that rose on Severus' cheeks at Lily's act of physical affection. "And Happy Christmas Harry. C'mon lets go over to the tree," Lily added, pulling back from her hug with Severus after sensing his discomfort. She moved to hug Harry as well, embracing him just as tightly as she did Severus, and then made her way to the tree followed by the two boys.

Merlin was curled up at the base of the tree, evidently having decided to leave Severus' bed sometime in the night to sleep amongst the presents. The blue tabby cat, which'd grown into its full size, raised an ear upon the light padding of three sets of slipper-clad feet approaching. The cat raised its head and eyed his owner intently as he approached, meowing appreciatively as Severus ran his fingers over his glossy, blue coat.

"Mornin' Merlin," Severus said fondly.

The cat meowed as way of greeting him.

"Right then," Lily said, clapping her hands together loudly which seemed to startle Merlin. "I'll distribute the presents, so Sev, make way, and go sit by Harry over there," she said bossily.

"Merlin Lily, you're starting to sound like Hermione," Harry joked, before plopping down to the ground a few meters away from the base of the tree.

"Nah Harry, Lily's always been bossy ever since I knew her. Nothing's changed," said Severus, grinning and swiftly avoiding Lily's predictable attempt at swatting his arm.

"And clearly, she didn't get enough beauty sleep last night." Another attempted swat, and another miss.

"Oh shut up you," Lily grumbled, shooting Severus a glare.

He merely grinned at her and shrugged.

Lily sat down opposite the two boys, nearest the tree and reached under it for the first present. It was a large bundle of fabric, wrapped in expensive paper. "This one's for you, Harry," said Lily, reading over the note on the packaging. "Although it doesn't say who it's from, that's weird."

"Seems like some clothes from the looks of things," said Harry, shrugging. "Probably McGonagall then if I had to guess."

Lily passed the package along to Harry, who set it down in his lap and began undoing it. A fluid, shimmering, grey-silvery fabric fell into Harry's hands, glimmering in the soft light of the room.

"Whoah," Harry said breathily, "this is…this is pretty neat. Looks like a coat of some kind."

"Why don't you try it on?" Severus suggested. Harry nodded and stood up. He draped the fabric—which he now surmised was a cloak, over his shoulders and watched with widened eyes as his body disappeared from view save for his floating head.

"Wow, that is awesome!" Lily exclaimed, leaping to her feet to Harry's side. She grasped the fabric, feeling it between her fingers, but not seeing it. "This is…well it makes you invisible, that's so cool!"

"Yeah," Harry agreed, his floating head grinning. "Check it out Severus, pretty cool, huh?"

"Mmm, yeah, cool," Severus said disinterestedly.

Harry felt some of the wind be taken out of his sails at the seeming lack of interest Severus had.

"Err—right, let's get back to opening more presents," Lily said awkwardly.

For the next half-hour, Lily continued to hand out more and more presents, distributing a bevy of items to Harry, Severus, and herself too. Severus had been given an assortment of clothes by Albus—mostly winter wear, a book on magical creatures from Hagrid which he found very engaging, another book on Potions Ingredients from the Middle East from his older self, a third book which wasn't academic in nature unlike the others but a Muggle novel of some kind, a box of cat treats—Merlin took particular interest in this, and lastly, a new cauldron and ingredient preparation set capable of brewing more difficult potions than his current Pewter one would allow.

Lily too received an abundance of winter wear much like Severus had—her favorite of her new clothes being a green and red pullover that she immediately slipped over her head as soon as she'd unwrapped it, she also received a few books too, one on Magical Creatures similar to Severus', another on charm-crafting and charm-creation, a third on Transfiguration theory, and a fourth on Muggle Music detailing the greatest hits of the 1970s and 80s—her favorite of the lot. Her last gift was a little, charm-infused pendant, gold with a small emerald as its centerpiece, she also put it on as soon as she unwrapped it.

Out of all the presents though, Harry's invisibility cloak topped the list in terms of coolness and desirability, all three friends were especially eager to try it out, although Severus couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy at not receiving a gift as cool or rare, as Harry's cloak. Just as Lily was handing out the last present they had under the tree, a guidebook on animal to inanimate Transfigurations from McGonagall to Harry; the door opened and Albus' head appeared in the frame.

"Good morning children," Albus said softly, smiling his trademarked, wrinkled grin at them. "And a Happy Christmas to all of you as well, I've brought some familiar faces that came to see you."

Albus stepped aside to the tune of Severus, Harry and Lily all chorusing their replies of; 'Happy Christmas', or some variation of it in unison. As Albus vacated the doorframe and took a few steps to the side, the faces of Ron, Mandy and Tracey appeared—whose eyes were sparkling and whose grins were as broad as a banshees. Ron, Mandy and Tracey quickly stepped into the living room, their eyes finding their three friends gathered around the Christmas tree at the far side of the room.

"Happy Christmas you guys," said Lily, smiling broadly.

Harry and Severus echoed her sentiments as their three friends crossed the room towards them. Seeing that their arms were bare and that they'd only come in with the clothes on their back, they surmised that they'd left their presents back in their common rooms.

"I'll leave you all to it," said Albus, once Ron, Mandy and Tracey reached the other side of the room. "Breakfast is in an hour's time, don't be late." With that, the venerable Headmaster smiled one last time at the six first years and gave a little wave of his hand before pivoting on his heel and striding out of the room, door shutting in his wake.

Once Albus was gone, Ron, Tracey and Mandy all turned their attention back to their three friends, all wearing surprised looks on their faces at just how…strange, that last interaction with the Headmaster had been.

"Is Professor Dumbledore always like that?" Mandy asked, as she sat down on the floor beside her friends.

"Yeah," said Severus, nodding. "He's…uh, he's very different when school's not in session. Much more relaxed…and approachable, I guess?"

"Ah, enough about Dumbledore," Ron said impatiently, his blue eyes only finding time for the messy array of presents spread out around Harry, Severus and Lily. "Are you three gonna tell us about your loot, or are we gonna have to go digging for it ourselves?"

"Well gather 'round then, and we can share in the bounty," Lily replied, beckoning their three friends closer.

For the next half-hour, Lily, Severus and Harry regaled their friends on their gifts—granted, Lily was the one doing most of the regaling, Severus and Harry were a little less enthusiastic about it but also shared a few of the things they figured their friends would find interesting. About half an hour after their friends arrived, Lily was showing Mandy the new pendant she'd gotten from Albus, and Mandy was sharing the bracelet her mum had gotten from overseas in turn; Severus was showing Tracey a new Potions book he'd gotten and was propped open on their laps. Ron, meanwhile, spotted a lump of fabric a little behind Harry, so he tapped his friend on the shoulder and gestured to it.

"Harry, what's that?" asked Ron, his eyes betraying the subject of his question.

Harry turned around, spotted what Ron was looking for, and lifted the fabric up. "Oh, this you mean?"

Ron nodded, reaching for the silvery-grey fabric and running his fingers through it. "Looks pretty neat, some cloak of some sort, yeah?"

"It's more than just a cloak mate," Harry grinned. "It makes you invisible—" Ron's eyes twinkled dazzlingly as he released a shocked gasp. "—I'll show it to you later though, I'm not sure if I want to share it yet with…with Mandy and Tracey. Only Severus, Lily and you know about it for the time being."

Ron nodded understandingly. "Alright mate, if you say so. Sounds pretty cool though, I can't believe it can do that! They're so rare!"

"What's so rare?" asked Mandy, peering over at Harry and Ron from the other side of the tree. Mandy and Lily had been comparing their bracelet and pendant—fawning over how pretty and dazzling they looked, but Mandy's attention was now drawn to the two Gryffindor boys.

"Ah, nothing much Mandy," Harry said dismissively. "Say, look at the time!" he said more loudly. "I think we should all get dressed for breakfast soon don't you think?"

Ron, Mandy and Tracey were already dressed in their robes for the day and needn't get changed for breakfast—they were fine as it was, Harry, Lily and Severus on the other hand were still dressed in their bedclothes, so they asked their friends to wait for them while they beat a hasty retreat to get ready for the day. They then made their way to the Great Hall where the first of three, sumptuous, Yule-themed meals awaited them. Only twenty students or so were staying over during the break, which meant they all shared a single table with the staff members, it gave the castle an only intimate feeling, and allowed those twenty students to meet people they usually wouldn't interact with by choice when the castle was at full capacity. After a filling, but delicious breakfast, Albus wished his fellow staff and the students under his charge a merry Christmas and instructed the students to not get up to too much mischief, this statement in particular appeared to be directed at the Weasley twins in particular.

As soon as their breakfast feast had concluded, said twins immediately corralled Ron, Harry and the rest outside the hall and the group agreed to have a magical snowball fight on the grounds before lunch. Their snowball fight was great fun. George Weasley lead one team of Harry, Severus and Mandy against Fred's team of Tracey, Lily and Ron. They duked it out in the castle courtyard for the better part of half an hour, throwing snowballs at one another with reckless abandon and caking the statues that littered the courtyard with a lot of their misfired throws. By lunchtime, Harry, Severus, Lily and their friends were all knackered and trudged back indoors with heavy feet and tired expressions. They all went their separate ways, with Harry deciding to head back to Gryffindor tower for a little while to spend time with the Weasleys. Severus, Lily and Mandy, being the Ravenclaws that they were, were all going to the library to research an interesting spell Lily chanced upon in her new gift about Charm-crafting.

As Harry bade goodbye to his friends, he spotted Albus and Professor Snape leaving the hall side by side, both wearing severe expressions on their faces. Curious at what made the two Professors so serious on Christmas of all days, Harry decided to pursue them while masking his presence thanks to his latest gift—the invisibility cloak. Harry tailed the Slytherin Head of House and the Headmaster into the dungeons, following them and catching bits and pieces of their conversation. Harry presumed they were headed for Snape's offices, so he hastened to keep up with them while making as little noise as possible.

Harry finally caught up to the two Professors as they paused in the doorway to Snape's office. Snape wore a pinched look, one Harry recognized he had when he was annoyed and on the fast-track to becoming angry. Albus, on the contrary, was all calm and if anything, amused, and indulging as he listened to Snape rant and express his frustrations. It made for a weird sight to Harry, so he crept closer in hopes that he could hear what, exactly, Albus and Snape were speaking about. He drew to a stop a scant ten meters away, squinting and training his eyes on Albus and Snape as the two men spoke—Snape now frothing with anger and Albus still perfectly calm.

"I am telling you Albus, just talk to Flamel and convince him to destroy the bloody thing!" Snape raged, his frustration cracking and revealing the anger beneath.

"Calm yourself Severus," said Albus, briefly glancing at their surroundings—his twinkling eyes even drifting over Harry's invisible body for a moment. Harry felt as though he was under a microscope as Albus' blue eyes lingered on his invisible form for a moment longer before continuing their sweep. Although Harry knew for a fact that his cloak made him invisible, for some odd reason, he felt as though Albus knew he was there. Thankfully, Snape didn't appear to be as perceptive as Albus was, his attention was fixed solely on the Headmaster and appeared entirely unaware of Harry's presence just ten meters away.

"He too, believes it is safest here in the school. With all the provisions and protections in place, the object is quite safe."

"And if Quirrell tries again?" Snape snarled angrily with an ugly curl of his lip. "What then, Albus? What then? Are we just going to wait for him to make a move instead of destroying it outright?"

"With Fluffy as the first line of defense, and all the other measures put in place by yourself and others, it is quite safe, Severus. I see no reason to alter our plan." Albus was as bubbly as ever, providing a stark contrast to Snape's worsening demeanor.

"If you told him, that someone is inching closer to stealing his treasured possession, Flamel would want you to destroy it, Albus," Snape snarled with gritted teeth.

"And I insist, Severus, that the stone is quite safe as it is. There is no need to worry," Albus said with infectious confidence.

"I'm done trying to convince you old man," Snape said, with a surprising amount of disdain—Harry noted. Snape whirled around on the spot, his black cloak kicking up off the dungeon surface as he stormed into his office.

Albus then righted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, then turned around as well and made his way from the dungeons. As he passed Harry—who'd crept up to the stone wall and flattened himself against it, he was humming a happy tune. Harry remained where he was, flattened against the stone wall outside of Snape's office for quite some time, only when he was confident both Professors wouldn't see him, did he make for a secret passageway that would take him out of the dungeons and to the Seventh floor, where he could head back to Gryffindor tower. Harry didn't know whether he should share what he'd learned with Severus and Lily, he knew they would both try to discourage him from pursuing this, but learning that Nicholas Flamel was the owner of an object—a stone, that was hidden somewhere in the castle and was highly sought after was big news. Harry wasn't oblivious to the fact that Flamel was a master alchemist, a man whose talents in the field of Alchemy were vastly superior to that of any other, and he was largely famous and renowned for one thing, his creation of the Philosopher's Stone.

The Philosopher's Stone of legend that could grant someone eternal life via an elixir produced from the stone itself. What he'd just heard from the Headmaster and from Snape was nothing short of groundbreaking. The Philosopher's stone was hidden somewhere in the castle, presumably at Flamel's consent or even behest, and that someone was trying to steal it. That someone, was none other than Professor Quirrell, the man Severus had suspected was up to something when he slinked out of the Great Hall the night the troll got in. Quirrell was trying to steal the stone, Snape and Albus at the very least knew about his treachery, and Snape was the only one who wanted to act—it confused Harry as to why Albus refused to do anything and insisted on letting things play out. Perhaps he was trying to trap Quirrell once he made a move on the stone? Harry didn't know and it was hurting his brain just thinking about it. Regardless, Albus hadn't let him down in the past, and Harry didn't think he'd do so here, but he couldn't help but have that niggling suspicion that Albus was far too cavalier about the situation and that might just allow Quirrell to steal the stone.

As he neared Gryffindor tower, mere steps away from the Portrait of the Fat Lady, Harry vowed to get to the bottom of what was going on, but he still didn't know whether or not to involve any of his friends out of fear that they might try to distract him from doing what was right.

A/N2: Dumbledore's well-thought-out Masterplan™ is already in effect, must've gone to the same school as Binotto(if you know, you know). I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and had a fantastic new years!