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After the Stone.

As he lay half-asleep in the hospital wing, his ears ringing with the stuff Dumbledore told him earlier about the Stone, Harry had to admit the Headmaster was a fucking good actor. But what angered him the most, an emotion that he had quickly worked out was a bad idea since it interfered with the occlumency barriers he had spent the past year setting up after he had gone back to Gringotts after Hagrid had left him behind after that trip to Diagon Alley.

Harry had taken his opportunity and he had gone back to the goblins, hoping they would be straight with him because if you couldn't trust your bankers, then who could you trust? Granted, Harry knew it was dangerous to be too trusting especially after he had learnt about the magical world when he had broken into Mrs Figg's bureau that one time, and discovered those letters.

When he had read the letters and seen so much proof of the magical world and when he had accepted the fact Dumbledore would stop him if he tried to escape from the Dursleys, so he hadn't bothered although he had to hide his disgust for the old wizard. When Hagrid had come for him, Harry had put on a convincing act, and like the enormous idiot he was, Hagrid fell for it.

Hook.

Line.

Sinker.

Getting back to Gringotts was an eyeopener for Harry, and he had taken their advice gratefully, and he had gotten his hands on an occlumency manual to help him defend his mind after the goblins had told him some wizards, like Dumbledore, were capable of looking into the minds of others so it was important he learn occlumency. Using a book based on their recommendation, Harry had gained basic occlumency barriers and he'd even learnt some basic legilimency.

Armed with this newfound knowledge, Harry boarded the Hogwarts express easily enough - he had taken a good look at the ticket Hagrid had given him to get onto Platform 9 and 3 quarters (he wondered if Hagrid had forgotten to tell him how to get onto the platform at King's Cross, or if Dumbledore had deliberately ordered him not to tell him about Platform 9 and 3 quarters before he'd left; either would really explain why Ron Weasley had come into his compartment like that) - and he had headed for Hogwarts.

When Ron Weasley arrived, Harry had looked into his mind, and he had seen several things in Ron's easy to read mind that put him on edge.

For a start, Mrs Weasley had told him to befriend the Boy Who Lived and set Harry up so he would see the Weasleys as his own family. Mrs Weasley had dozens of plans in mind for him. By sending him those Christmas presents, he would feel grateful to them, setting him up so then he would marry Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. Mrs Weasley had already done a number of the girl, essentially brainwashing her from what he could see in Ron's sorry excuse for a brain, so she would be infatuated with the Boy Who Lived. She had even 'dreamt' of weddings with him, from what he had discovered, but of course, Ginny would dream of having a wedding with him because she had been so thoroughly brainwashed by his damn story that the poor little cow. There was simply nothing else in her mind, and it had not occurred to her to think he might not be interested, but he certainly wasn't now.

But the most significant details were Albus Dumbledore had told Mrs Weasley to guide him onto the platform so a so-called 'light' magical family would ensure the Boy Who Lived was on the path of the light. Harry was not sure if it had simply never occurred to Dumbledore or not that he would find his own way or ask questions of others who weren't allied with the old wizard; either way, he was able to get onto the platform without any problem.

When Harry was firmly with Ginny, then the Weasels would get their hands on his inheritance. They were prepared to steal from an orphan because they were unwilling, or unable to work for it. The Weasleys were prepared to steal or manipulate others to get the money they wanted. The only one who seemed honest was their father, Arthur, who worked in the Ministry. Harry had caught Ron's frustration about his father, believing that as a pureblood then Arthur should be in a higher position in the Ministry.

Harry hadn't meant or intended to go deeply into Ron's mind for that, but he had been very interested in discovering why the Weasleys were doing this. They lived in a house, a ramshackle pigsty called the Burrow and their father thought muggles were fascinating, which bemused several of his family, especially Ron who disdained muggles and believed them to be inferior.

His wife certainly thought the same and had given up on making Arthur try to become someone higher up in the Ministry, so she had resorted to illegal actions to making money.

Ron and Mrs Weasley were not the only ones.

Harry had learnt over the course of the year that Percy was secretly stealing books from the school, books of great value and artefacts as well, and he was putting the money in a vault under his own name. Percy didn't have any occlumency barriers, finding out what he had in mind for the money was relatively easy. Percy was planning on using the money to buy his own flat so he could move out as soon as he could. He hated living with his parents especially since Mrs Weasley coddled Ron and Ginny and abused the others. It seemed Mrs Weasley had a habit of deciding her children's futures and lives with them, even how many kids they should have.

Percy didn't want to live like that, so he had formed a plan to find a way of escaping when he could. Harry could understand it, and so he hadn't said a word about it. He only wished the others were a bit more intelligent.

But the worst was to come.

Dumbledore wanted Ron to spy on him.

He also wanted Ron to divert Harry's attention from his schoolwork, so he would never learn a great deal. Of course, for Ron that was perfect since the redheaded boy loathed schoolwork. But what made it more insulting was how Dumbledore planned on paying Ron for his efforts.

While Harry hadn't liked Ron, disliking him for his gluttony, his lack of intelligence and, over the course of the year, was reminded more of Dudley's attitude than anything else, Harry had decided to pretend to be his friend, but he had no intention of letting Ron completely steamroll over his life.

He planned on sticking it to the redheaded bastard and his family and he also had no intention of taking anything from Mrs Weasley such as food, especially when he discovered thanks to Ron's mind she planned on using love potions among other things on him to bend him far enough to make him into Ginny's husband. Harry didn't know how he was going to break it to the poor little cow he wasn't interested in.

After being sorted into Gryffindor so he could spite Dumbledore at the end after he had fulfilled his plans, the next thing he had to do was solve the mystery behind the Philosopher's Stone. Getting to the Stone with Ron and Hermione - Harry…wasn't sure if he could trust the girl, but at the same time, he felt that being friends with her was positive even if he had no intention of telling her anything about his plans for the future - when they discovered Voldemort was down there, Harry had wanted to know if there was more to the trap than what he imagined.

But now he was sure.

Dumbledore had brought the Stone into Hogwarts deliberately to not only trap Voldemort - maybe the old wizard had asked himself if the Dark Wizard was even still alive or not, but Harry was sure Dumbledore had set the whole thing up as a trap. They went well with the statements in some of Dumbledore's letters to Figg, there were plans for him in the magical world.

Settling himself back down in the pillows and sheets of his - admittedly comfortable hospital bed, Harry prepared himself for some sleep. Tomorrow was another day, and when he had the chance he would begin writing down notes about what he had learnt.

One, Voldemort was still alive. Dumbledore knew it, and he was secretly making plans against him without letting anybody else know. Two, Harry had a part of play in the whole mess, but for now, he didn't know what it all meant, and he likely wouldn't right now.