A/N: We're finally getting there! It took me forever to write this chapter. January 2021 has NOTbeen a good month for me. I want a refund. I hope most of you has fared better than me.
CHAPTER 11: The Philosopher's Stone
Warning: Mentions of addiction to medicine, and suicide/suicidal thoughts (no, no one's thinking of ending their lives and no one has done so in the fic. There is only a brief discussion about it). I promise it's not as bad as it sounds!
The good news was that Harry and Henry didn't lose their Houses any points. Snape had taken fifty from both of them, but Professor Flitwick and McGonagall rewarded them back those points, for their dealing with the troll.
Draco and Theo were the ones that relayed the news. The twins had woken up in the Hospital Wing (Henry had not missed the place) with one massive headache each. Madam Pomfrey gave them something for it before the boys arrived.
"You missed the Occlumency lesson though," said Draco.
"It's so mean of you not to invite me." Theo pouted before handing them a caramel candy each. "Got it from a fourth-year. They wish you a good recovery."
From there on out, people jokingly called them the Troll Slayers, despite the troll not dying. It was highly embarrassing for both of them, and Henry's hair and eyes turned pink every time someone mentioned it.
School continued. As did their Saturday classes and Sunday Occlumency lessons. Luciana was proud with their improvements, all of them now had relatively good protection. She could still get inside, but at least she was met with resistance.
Getting out of their landscapes was harder. So far, only Draco managed it, and by complete accident too. He couldn't replicate the feeling, but seeing as he did it without Luciana, they knew it was possible.
The snow came in mid November, and with it, the freezing cold. Children ran outside at every opportunity to have snowball fights. Harry was happy to participate while Henry sat to the side, enjoying the commotion. During the first fight, a stray snowball hit her in the face. The snow slid underneath her clothes and she joined the fight to get the heat back up. Which in the end served to make her sweaty but still cold, since she took more snow to the face. Afterward, she let her magic protect her with Protego.
Speaking of which, her magic was weird. Even after getting a better understanding of it and how to control it, it still risked running rampant. Harry suggested it was because of her instincts. That begged the question why his never went berserk.
"I have better control?" The smug smirk earned him a mouthful of snow to the face. "Merlin! Don't do that." He shuddered, freezing. "That's so mean. I'm your only brother!"
"He says right after offending his only sister," she laughed.
It was Friday afternoon, the third week of November, that Draco dropped a notebook in her lap. They were in the library, most of them finishing homework.
Curious, Henry opened it and raised her eyebrows.
"Now I know why it took you half an eternity," she joked. "Wow Draco, this is amazing. Where did you find all this?" The notebook was filled with information about Metamorphmagi.
"I have contacts," was his reply before sitting down. "That, and I read just about every book I could find about the subject." Which wasn't much, he had come to realise. Hogwarts didn't have a lot of books about them. "You're welcome, by the way."
She gave him a small hug. "Thanks Draco. This… I can't express how happy I am." Learning more about her ability wasn't high up on her priority list. It wasn't like it was a problem, and protecting herself against Voldemort was more important than getting her hair to stop changing colour. But now she could read this whenever she had the chance.
After finishing her homework, she excused herself. She went to see Sirius down at the Black Lake, and he was happy to see her. For a while now, she developed the habit of coming down here alone to talk to him. Mostly it was about school, keeping him up to date on what they were learning. Sometimes she mentioned how she felt, which always resulted in her getting sad (and taking some Draught of Peace) and him trying to cheer her up.
If only he could reveal himself to them, maybe take them to live with him, then everything would feel much better. But then again, he is still wanted for their parents' murder…
"They went here, you know," she said quietly, taking a seat on a fallen tree. Sirius put his head in her lap to pat. "My parents, I mean. I walked past the trophy room once, and there dad was, on a picture for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He was their Seeker." She looked at Sirius and then at the lake.
She had always had a weird relationship with them. They were dead and fictional characters come to life, but somewhere deep down she knew they weren't her actual parents. It was a stupid thought, but she still had memories of her life before this. She couldn't remember who she used to be, or who her family had been, but she had had parents then too, parents she couldn't disregard because she didn't remember them.
Then Harry can't be your brother, a treacherous voice whispered.
But he was, which was why she felt bad about it. He was her brother, she saw him as her family. The difference between him and James and Lily was that he was still alive, he wasn't JK Rowling's fictional hero anymore, but a living, breathing person. James and Lily were still characters, people she had never interacted with. Her brief conversation with the woman didn't count.
If she had remembered them from that one year they were together, would her thoughts be different? Would she have missed them? Did she miss them? She didn't know. She missed the idea of parents, but that didn't translate to missing Lily and James, people she didn't know. They were practically strangers.
Not even Harry missed them.
"Parents?" he had asked the one time she brought it up. "Well, having them would be nice, don't you think? People that care, that love you and don't hit you over the head with a frying pan…"
"Be serious, Harry."
"I am. I don't particularly care though, as long as I have you."
She hadn't had the heart to bring it up again.
Again, she thought of the picture of James. He had looked proud in it, grinning from ear to ear, holding the Quidditch trophy high in the air. Had things gone according to the book, Harry had been a Seeker by now. But though he loved flying and Quidditch, he shrugged at the idea of trying for the team.
"First-years aren't even allowed to participate," he reminded her once. "And if I join, I won't have as much time to help you study."
Sirius licked her fingers, bringing her back to reality.
"I wonder if they would have liked me," she said. She was genuinely curious. They might think her odd because of her "prophetic" visions, or they might not have cared. If they had been alive, she could have told them the truth, knowing they loved and supported her. Or they would have shunned her for not being their daughter.
Sirius barked and pressed his head against her stomach.
"Sorry." She swallowed a dose of the Draught of Peace. She sighed in relief. "I feel much better now." He looked at her, and she got the feeling he was concerned. "Don't worry, it's for panic attacks. I haven't completely settled in yet."
They left the tree and kept walking, so they wouldn't freeze to death. Winter was coming, and Henry hoped Sirius had somewhere to live in the meantime.
Days bled into each other. Harry and Henry fell into their daily routine again, eating together, studying together and taking walks together. Their Sunday lessons with Luciana were moved to Tuesdays as well, and they even invited Theo and Hermione. Fred and George found them once, and decided to join as well.
The first day of December, the children were informed that those wishing to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas had to write their names on the board outside the Great Hall. Harry didn't even ask Henry before signing them up, as per their plan.
"What's your favourite colour?" asked George, who followed him.
"Mine? I guess… I guess it's blue?"
"What about Henry?"
Either it was light blue or green, she could never decide.
"Alright, blue for you and green for her, then," the boy said with a secretive smile. Harry wanted to ask what he was up to, but knew he wouldn't get a straight answer. If it hadn't involved him personally, Fred and George would have already asked for his help.
"Thanks for the candy, by the way," he said instead, remembering the bag Henry had shown him. "It was delicious."
"Happy you like it." George ruffled his hair.
"Like it wasn't bad enough before," sighed Harry. "Why do you insist on making it worse?"
"Because it's fun and you like it."
"Who says I do?"
George grinned from ear to ear. "Well, if you didn't, you'd go awfully quiet like when Lee did it, and Henry would come to your rescue."
Harry grimaced. It was true.
"Whatever, just don't do it too often. My hair already looks like a crow's nest."
"I'll go find Henry instead, then."
Harry stifled a giggle and followed him back inside. Henry gave his waist a hug before cursing at George's hand in her hair.
That afternoon, she met up with Luciana privately to keep working on Musica Aeternam. Luciana had given her some valuable information during their meetings, which was that spells only worked as long as you kept supplementing them with magic. That meant Henry had to keep at least some level of focus on the spell, even if she left it to play in another room.
"You said you unknowingly used Protego, right?" Luciana said when they first spoke about it.
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh. The thing is, your magic kept pouring into it, because without magic, spells don't work. It's the same with lamps. They work as long as the switch is on." It was something obvious, yet something Henry hadn't really thought about.
"Seems logical," she replied. "Musica Aeternam!" Her magic shot through the wand into the transfigured flute. It began to play softly. "Marvelous! Now, how do I turn it off?"
"Musica Averte." Luciana smiled kindly as she taught Henry the counterspell. "It's been a pleasure to teach you, Miss Potter."
"And I'm grateful for it." She cast the counterspell on the flute. It kept playing. "Drat." She kept at it until the music finally stopped. "Seriously, I appreciate you teaching me this, as well as Occlumency. Thank you."
Luciana's smile grew. "It makes perfect practice for me as well. And as a fellow Slytherin, it is my duty to help you protect yourself." She looked at the books surrounding them. "You are very bright, Miss Potter, and I'd hate to see your potential hampered by negative emotions and despicable people. So if you ever have trouble again, I suggest you seek out your friends. Or me, if you don't want them to know."
"Aren't we friends as well?" asked Henry.
Luciana's eyes widened a fraction. "I did not dare to assume anything, but it would be an honour."
Henry grinned. "Then, if we're friends, you can talk casually with me."
"I will try."
They prepared to leave the library, but Luciana paused and looked at her. "About those feelings you are… you're fighting, Miss Potter."
"Huh? What about them?"
Luciana wasn't smiling anymore. She looked concerned. "I really do suggest you talk to someone, be it me, Mr Potter or even Professor Snape. It does not do anyone any good to become addicted to medicine."
"I'm not…"
"I wasn't suggesting you were, however it seems to be a common consequence. I do not want it to happen to you too."
Henry contemplated her words for a moment. Was she becoming addicted to the Draughts? "I'll be careful," she agreed. "Thank you Miss Roserage, for looking out for me. Can I call you Luciana?"
"Only if I can call you Henrietta."
"How about Henry?"
Luciana bowed her head slightly. "Very well, Henry." She gave an almost cocky grin. "See you later."
Henry left for the Room of Requirements. Luciana's words still rang in her mind. Was she really addicted to the Draught of Peace? If so, how was she to stop it? She had never been addicted to something before (except sugar).
"Hey!" someone called from behind her. She turned to frown at Ron Weasley. His determined and somewhat upset expression made her think of trouble.
"What?" she asked rather rudely.
"You, you're really Henrietta Potter?"
She stared at him. "What? What do you mean by that? Of course I am!"
"But you're in Slytherin."
"And you're in Gryffindor, glad we sorted that out. Now, excuse me." She turned to leave, but Ron moved in front of her. "You've got a bone to pick because I was sorted into Slytherin?"
"Yes, or well, no… I don't know!"
"How can you not know? Why did you call out to me, then?"
"Because… because you're suspicious!" he replied, looking at her defiantly. Henry groaned and rubbed her forehead. She had no energy to spare right now, and didn't want to deal with Ron's prejudice against Houses. So what if she was in Slytherin? She wasn't evil, nor were most of the students in it. They just kept to themselves because the rest of the student body didn't like their House.
She remembered Pansy and grimaced. Of course there were bullies, Draco had been one in the books, but that didn't mean all of them were.
"And how am I suspicious?"
"Your hair changes colour every five minutes, you bewitched my brothers, you're sucking up to Malfoy and his goons, and—" Henry's laugh startled him.
"Theo and Pansy may be his goons, but Blaise isn't, and I'm sure as hell not his groupie," she sneered. "Honestly, Ronald, you have no tact. It wasn't long ago I had a fight with Pansy and I'm not having such a great time, having fought a troll, remember that? So please wait with your accusations at least until after Christmas, so I get a chance to breathe and actually enjoy going to school." He stared at her, at a loss for words. "Well?"
"You're in Slytherin!" he echoed. "Only bad guys go there."
Henry wanted to face palm. It was like talking to a wall.
Where did JK Rowling's Ron Weasley go? Henry mourned. I'd rather talk to him. Or maybe this was her Ron, but the situation had changed, and she wasn't like he'd expected. Like she cared; her goal in life wasn't to fulfill anyone else's expectations.
"You know what? I don't have to talk to you." She turned around and jogged off. Ron called out to her, but she tuned him out. She reached the Room of Requirements, but waited a few minutes to see if Ron or anyone else followed her. No one showed up and she walked past the wall three times, then hid inside.
"Why does everyone come after me?" she grumbled. She wasn't safe within her own House, let alone outside. Hogwarts wasn't as fun as she had hoped.
No! Happy thoughts. Yes, happy thoughts made the bad feelings go away. What made her happy? The fact she had friends, especially Draco and Harry. And Sirius was here, and visiting him never failed to brighten her mood. Seeing Hagrid and helping him with the animals always put a smile on her face too. And learning things! Spells and magic were fun.
Her anxieties temporarily dissipated. To ensure they stayed away, she drank a dose of the Draught of Peace. She looked at the vial. Was she addicted? No, she needed the potions to function, like antidepressants. But she figured she was using them unnecessarily, taking them too often. She promised to only take them during emergencies, when she felt especially down.
At the end of the last week before Christmas, Henry was ready to hex Ron to oblivion. Every class they had, every time they met in the corridors, during every meal, he was there, glaring holes in the back of her head. He didn't try to talk to her again, which suited her just fine, but his constant staring was almost as bad.
"Are you sure they don't do anything Dark?" she had heard him as Neville once. Poor boy had been paler than the ghosts, shaking his head and promising nothing illegal was going on with whatever they were discussing.
Fred and George caught her after school one day, asking if she had had a fight with him, because Ron was constantly telling them to stay away from her, that she was evil and dangerous.
"He just doesn't trust me because I'm in Slytherin," she had growled in reply. "Merlin, grow a backbone and confront me." That last part was meant for Ron.
Fred patted her hair. "We can talk to him, if you'd like?"
"No, he won't listen to you." He already thought the worst of her, so he'd only accuse her of brainwashing them. "Ugh, I don't have the energy to deal with this. Maybe I should send Harry and let him deal with it."
The twins looked genuinely concerned at that.
"We'd like to keep our brother," said Fred.
"Yeah. He might be a jerk to you, but he's still our little brother," added George.
"So please don't send Harry," they both said.
Henry giggled. "Fine, I'll do something myself then. Someday. Right now, I have to focus on school. And speaking of nothing, is there anything you want for Christmas?"
"You don't need to," insisted George.
"Yeah, save your money."
She gave them a long look. "Says the guys that have probably already prepared both me and Harry presents. Now, tell me."
They looked at each other.
"Anything from Zonko's, really," George said finally.
"Things we can experiment with, you know," said Fred.
"If you really want to give us something, that is," they said in unison.
"You know how eerie that is?"
They grinned.
"Of course," George said with a laugh.
"Why do you think we do it?"
"You're impossible!" But she was laughing with them. If only Ron was this easy to talk to.
"What do you mean we can't do it until after Christmas?" Harry asked. He was sitting on a conjured sofa, piercing Henry with accusatory eyes. "We had a plan!"
"That was before I remembered the gift," she replied.
"What gift?"
"The Invisibility Cloak."
Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation. Of course there were artifacts that turned you invisible. It was magic.
"You really need to tell me these things," he sighed and dragged his hand through his already messy hair. "It's annoying."
"Sorry… but I really didn't remember until just now!"
He gave up, because this was how Henry had always been, and together they decided to wait two days, until Friday, to steal the Stone. It wasn't exactly comfortable waiting so long, but on the other hand, Henry mentioned something about the magical mirror not being ready—again, she had to tell him about this! Didn't she have a journal?
"Give me that," he muttered and scanned through the part titled FIRST YEAR EVENTS. "A dragon?" He looked at her in disbelief. "Are we, like, doing something about that?" In the notes, it said "Ron" contacted his brother Charlie, a dragon tamer, so his friends could take it away. Harry didn't know Ron Weasley very much, and he didn't like what little he'd seen. He still remembered right before the Sorting, and had noticed him glare at Henry. People should leave her alone!
"I… I haven't thought of that yet. I don't think Hagrid trusts us enough to divulge such information."
"Ah, true." Harry wasn't overly fond of the half-giant, though he found him endearing. He'd rather read in the library than run around on adventures. That was Henry's thing. But he also knew Hagrid held a special place in her heart, something akin to childhood nostalgia, and figured she'd take him with her anyway.
"We'll come back to that," said Henry and took the journal. "I'm more worried about what will happen after we take the Stone. "
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean, is that book!Harry didn't take it until much later in the year. I don't know what will happen after this."
Harry thought about it for a moment. "We'll have peace and quiet?" he then suggested. If they didn't have to worry about the Stone, it meant they could focus on their studies and friends. He hoped it would help with Henry's depressing mood too, so that one day she didn't need the Draught of Peace.
Henry snorted. "Dear brother, knowing the books like I do, I can assure you we won't ever have that."
Figures. But it was worth a try.
December 25th rolled around, and the twins found themselves in a very empty castle. Draco, Blaise and Theo, as well as Millicent and Daphne, had all left for home the Friday before. As had Luciana, Hermione and most of Harry's Ravenclaw friends. Only Fred and George stayed, because their parents were visiting their oldest brother over the holidays. That meant Ron Weasley was probably still in Hogwarts too.
Henry woke up to an empty room. It collapsed in on itself, and she fled to the bathroom to hide and calm down. And drink some Draught of Peace.
This is fine, she told herself. It's fine because I would have screamed otherwise. She was starting to feel guilty every time she used either the Sleeping Draught or the Draught of Peace, but there was no other way for her to fall asleep at night or to calm down from her rising panic and anxiety.
She showered and dressed in a faded yellow t-shirt and light blue jeans, before making her way to the Great Hall. A few other Slytherins joined her, Adam Beakley and Finlei Choi being two of them. She greeted them and thanked them for standing up for her.
"You're much more pleasant than Pansy Parkinson," Adam replied. "It would be sad to see you go."
"We also owed you for helping us that Potions lesson," remarked Finlei. "It was the least we could do."
They broke away after entering the Hall. Harry was already eating breakfast with Fred and George, wearing a light blue knitted jumper. She paused and took in the letters HA on his chest. Was that what she thought it was?
"Henry!" he called, waving her over. "Did you sleep— Hey, where's your jumper?"
"Jumper?" she asked dumbly and sat down. "Where did you get that?"
"It was by the foot of my bed. As was this." He showed her the newly released edition of Transfiguration for Dummies.
"I think that's supposed to be mine," she giggled.
"We can swap later. And I can't believe you missed the presents."
She felt her cheeks heat up and buried herself in her food. It was delicious, and the house-elves deserved some recognition. Fred and George expressed their heartbroken sorrow over not seeing Henry in her new jumper, though they didn't look at all sorrowful. They did look a bit funny however. Like Harry, they wore knitted jumpers, but theirs were dark blue with a yellow F and G.
"Who made these?" she asked.
"Mum," replied Fred.
"Aren't they cute? She makes them every year," George laughed.
"She heard from our letters that you wouldn't receive that many presents, so she made them for you." Fred grinned.
Though she had expected it to be Mrs Weasley, she still found herself touched by the gesture. Since they hadn't befriended Ron, she had thought she wouldn't make anything for them.
Harry smiled softly at Henry's excitement. It was unusual to see her this happy, and he wished he could snap a photo and immortalise it.
She quickly finished breakfast and dragged the others with her back to the common room. After making the twins swear they would never let anyone know she let them in, and to never use this knowledge in their pranks, she showed them the entrance and rushed upstairs. People of the opposite gender weren't allowed in each other's dorm rooms, so Fred, George and Harry stood in the doorway, laughing at how Henry missed the gifts in front of the bed.
Her jumper was green, with the letters HE in silver on the chest. She threw it over her t-shirt and showed it to the boys, a huge grin on her face.
"It's gorgeous!" she shrieked, throwing herself at the twins. She gave them a hard hug, and they lifted her up from the ground, being way taller than her. "I have to thank your mum! Harry, we need to write letters."
"Calm down," he laughed and hugged her as well. "Here's my present to you." He handed her a lumpy package. She opened it and grinned again. There were lots of Chocolate Frogs in it.
"Wait, I have yours somewhere too," she said, handed the gift back and went to check her chest. Then she handed him something that was obviously a book.
Curious, he handed the candy to Fred and opened the present. Inside was a book, One Thousand Ways to Transfigure by Gwendolyn Gerard.
"I love it. I love you," he declared and hugged it to his chest. He had been eyeing the book in Diagon Alley. He couldn't believe she had noticed and remembered. "I love you!"
Fred and George laughed.
"Since nothing can obviously top your presents, we'll just keep ours," said George.
"Yeah, who needs to buy their friends anything when we can keep it ourselves?" chuckled Fred.
"Meanie!" exclaimed Harry and Henry.
Fred and George had bought them scarfs, blue for Harry and green for Henry. They took one look at them, tried them on and then switched.
"What? I can't wear all green," said Henry when Fred and George raised an eyebrow.
"We do this sometimes," Harry explained. "Sometimes we use each other's clothes. It's… it's especially nice now, when we don't see much of each other." He held up the green scarf to look at. "Now it feels like I'm walking around with a piece of Henry."
Fred snorted. "If you weren't siblings, that would sound really creepy."
"Oh, shut it."
Fred ruffled Harry's hair, and the boy sighed.
The next present, probably from Sirius, was a book about Charms. After a quick discussion, Henry took Transfiguration for Dummies and Harry Charms for Everyday Occasions. Hermione had gifted Henry even more Chocolate Frogs, and apologised in a letter for not being more creative. Blaise's present was a thin silver bracelet, and Draco's The Adventures of Merlin, Volume I. Luciana had bought her diadems in different colours. She was surprised the girl had given her anything at all, and reminded herself to buy her something too.
They spent the rest of the day with Fred and George, roaming the castle, having a snowball fight and visiting Sirius. He wagged his tail as soon as he saw them, and got even happier (if possible) after hearing about the presents they received and how happy it made them.
Then Fred suggested they go ice skating. Harry was all for trying, but Henry reluctantly stood back while Fred enchanted their shoes. George walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Scared?" he asked with a challenging smirk.
"I'm not very good at it," she mumbled. "I've never skated before."
"Then we'll teach you!" He took her hands and dragged her to the bank, where Fred enchanted her shoes to grow ice as well.
"Merlin!" she screamed and slipped. Harry caught her, which sent them both careening across the ice on their behinds.
Fred and George laughed so much they nearly fell too. But they did keep their promise, and Fred took Harry's hands and George Henry's, helped them to their feet and began instructing them how to properly stand, move and stop. Harry got the hang of it almost immediately, but it was harder for Henry, and she ended up with aching feet and wrists instead. Still, she could move now, and with George's help, skated across the ice with Sirius running after them.
After what felt like hours, they returned to the bank, undid the enchantments, said goodbye to Sirius and headed up to the castle for lunch. They met Ron and Neville outside the Great Hall. Neville, the sweet boy, happily wished them all a merry Christmas before heading inside. Ron frowned at her, then at his brothers. It looked like he wanted to say something, but Fred and George's warning expressions stopped him.
"Merry Christmas…" he forced himself to say before heading after Neville.
"I honestly don't know what problem he has with you," said Fred, frowning. "I mean, yeah you're a Slytherin, but you're not a bully or a Pureblood. If he just took a moment to listen, he'd understand."
Henry really didn't want to go over this again. Ron only saw what he wanted to see, and didn't think he could be wrong. That wasn't about to change anytime soon, she feared.
"I might prank him," said Harry. "Would that be okay?"
"Harry—" Henry began, but George interrupted her.
"Fine by me. Just don't scare him to death or dismember him. We like him whole."
"Yeah," said Fred. "It's not as fun to prank him if he's broken."
Henry stared at the three of them, terrified. She hoped to God they were joking.
They went inside and sat down at the Gryffindor table, not too far away from Ron and Neville. The latter smiled again and waved, to which everyone waved back. Then the food appeared out of thin air, and they were too busy eating to do much else.
"By the way," said Fred and looked at his twin, "did they ever catch those thieves?"
"Not that I remember, why?"
Fred shrugged and glanced at Henry. What he said next, he whispered. "Don't you think it's weird that Gringotts gets robbed, and then Dumbledore has a Hellhound guard something on the third floor?" He looked Henry square in the eye. "Don't you agree?"
She could barely swallow her food. "It could be a coincidence."
Fred grinned. "I knew you'd know! Ha! Hand me the money."
George grumbled and gave him a knuckle. At least Henry thought it was, she couldn't really see. And still hadn't learned the difference.
"You were betting on that?" she asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah. You look like you know more than you let on, and this was my way to prove I was right."
George looked at her and Harry. "You're not in trouble, are you?"
The first-years looked at each other, uneasy.
"Let's talk about that somewhere else," Harry murmured. He didn't want neither students nor teachers to hear this.
The Weasley twins frowned, now worried, but agreed. As soon as they finished their lunch, they walked to one of the secret passages. Fred cast Silencio.
"Right then." He looked at the twins. "What's going on?"
Harry glanced at Henry, wondering how she was getting them out of this.
"We figured out the Hellhound is guarding something, too," she said slowly. "And…" They waited for her to find her words. "Oh, whatever! We're going to steal whatever's in there."
No one said a word. Then.
"What?!"
"Are you mad?"
"Henry! Why did you say that!"
Henry winced and looked at the ground. She hadn't planned for the twins to figure anything out, and hadn't had time to come up with a solid excuse. She had panicked, but she could save this! She thought.
"Maybe you should let me finish?" She looked at them one on one. They quieted down. "Thank you. Now, it's like this: Just like you, Harry and I figured out the Hellhound was there for a reason…" She quickly spun a tale about figuring out it was the Philosopher's Stone, and that someone was about to steal it. She mentioned their scars burning after defeating the troll, planting the idea of Voldemort not being completely dead in Fred and George's minds. It terrified them, of course, but they weren't inclined to fully believe them. Henry understood, since Voldemort was more of a boogeyman to them.
"You got yourself in some deep trouble, you know that, right?" said Fred.
"Is there anything you need help with?" asked George.
"No, we should be fine, but thanks." Henry gave them a disarming smile. They didn't buy it for a second.
"What are you going to do with it?" asked Fred. "I mean… it's the Philosopher's Stone."
The twins looked at each other and shrugged. Henry planned on keeping it, since it was one of the three Deathly Hallows, but she wasn't about to tell them that.
"We haven't thought that much about it," said Harry finally. "We just don't want Voldemort—" The twins cringed "—to get his hands on it." He pointed at Henry's scars. "We've seen enough of him, thank you very much."
"Yeah. I don't want to end up a martyr," Henry added.
"Alright, since you won't let us help with the actual stealing," said George.
"We just have to help prepare you," continued Fred.
"Lesson time!" they chanted.
For the rest of the day, and the day after, Fred and George taught Harry and Henry spells they thought necessary for dangerous adventures. Henry had forgotten Expelliarmus was a second-year spell. She was grateful for Immobulus, Finite (or Finite Incantatem) and Arresto Momentum (again, that was a second-year spell?). Even if they might not use them this time, they were useful spells that would come in handy later.
As in the book, Harry had gotten the Invisibility Cloak, with the same mysterious letter. They used it both on the night of December 25th and 26th, but didn't find Erised. It wasn't a total loss; they already knew how it worked, but Henry had wanted to prepare them for the inevitable shock of seeing their innermost desires.
That Friday night, Harry met Henry outside her common room, the Invisibility Cloak thrown over his head. Together they snuck off to the third floor, where Fluffy was sleeping. Henry cast Musica Aeternam on the transfigured flute they'd brought (Hagrid hadn't given them a Christmas present, to Henry's big surprise) in case Fluffy woke up while they searched for the trap door.
It was right behind the Hellhound, and they opened it as quietly as possible. It was pitch black inside, and Harry initially refused to jump down.
"What if there's a stone floor?" he whispered. "We'll break our legs!"
"No, the Devil's Snare is there," she reminded him and jumped. Harry nearly screamed her name in surprise. He gathered the cloak, took a deep breath and jumped as well. And landed on something soft yet firm.
"Are dead yet?" he asked as something snaked around his throat. "Oh Lord!"
"Lumos!"
The Snare let them go and Henry quickly crawled to safety. Harry saw her and followed, nearly dropping the cloak.
"This was much funnier in the book," Henry said with a shaky smile.
"Pray tell," huffed Harry and followed her into another corridor.
"Well, Hermione manages to get to safety, but can't figure out how to get fire without wood," Henry explained, holding her still glowing wand in front of them. "So Ron shouts 'Are you a witch or not?' or something similar."
"Of course you remember that after a decade," Harry deadpanned. Henry blew him a raspberry.
The farther they walked, the louder the sudden buzzing sound got. Harry moved closer to Henry, ready to punch whatever made it if it came too close.
They entered another room, with a door on the other side. A broom rested against one of the walls, and up above flew a myriad of keys.
"I'll take the broom," said Harry, handing the cloak to Henry.
"I'll make it easier for you to get the key. Immobulus!" The keys stopped dead in their tracks. "Huh, didn't expect that to actually work."
"Good choice." Harry mounted the broom and looked for the key Henry had explained should have a broken wing. He got it and calmly landed. He unlocked the door and they went to find the next trial.
The next chamber was massive compared to the other three. It was also filled with huge, broken chess pieces, a giant chessboard and several not-as-broken pieces, though some were missing.
"Nope, I'm not doing that," Harry stated, mounted the broom and looked at Henry. "Well?"
She carefully moved behind him, nearly squeezing the dinner out of him. Note to self: Never fly with Henry.
The trial didn't activate, and they calmly landed on the other side. They were surprised and disappointed it was this easy to circumvent everything, but then again, wizards had no common sense, since they lived with magic.
Which is why they should have thought of someone flying over the damned thing, thought Harry.
The next chamber was pitch black. Harry lit it up with a quick Lumos, and let out a scream. A mountain troll turned to look at them, blinking its tiny eyes slowly.
"I hate trolls!" the boy exclaimed. After this, he never wanted to see another one. "Confundo!"
"Locomotor Wibbly, Impedimenta!"
"Immobulus!"
The troll didn't stand a chance, and they quickly went through the door it was guarding. In the middle stood a dark wood table, with seven unlabeled potions on it. Harry jerked violently when the doorway behind them burst into purple flames. on the other side of the room, Henry saw the exit was blocked by black flames.
"I think Snape's got it out for us," Harry muttered.
"Nah, he's just making sure no one that shouldn't be here can leave."
Harry gave her a long look. "Like us?"
Henry grinned in response and walked up to the table. She picked up a piece of paper, and on it was a riddle. Harry read it over her shoulder and laughed.
"I'll take this, thank you very much," he said, and Henry handed the paper to him. "Alright… Let's see…"
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Henry groaned. She couldn't make any sense of the clues. "Please tell me you can figure it out," she said to Harry.
He rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid."
"Hey!"
He laughed. "Now hush, I need to think." He read through the riddle a few more times, mumbling things like the second and sixth being wine and the first and fifth having to be the poisons.
While he figured everything out, Henry walked around the room. She kept far away from the flames, not wanting to figure out what kinds they were. After examining the walls, she came back with nothing. Harry looked up at her proudly.
"Well?" she asked.
"Alright, so the giant bottle and this bottle, they're twins and not poisons, so they have to be the wine," Harry immediately began explaining. "These two, number one and five, have to be the poisons in that case. So please don't drink them."
"Harry, I'm not suicidal!" How could he even think that?
"I know, but when you work yourself into a frenzy, anything can happen. So please don't touch these." He paused. "And if you ever feel down, like you… you know… want to… want to end it… please talk to me first."
"Oh Harry." She gave him a hug. "I'm not leaving you, for whatever reason. I love you too much for that."
He nodded. "Thanks. And I love you too." He shook off the depression and pointed at the seventh bottle. "This will send us back through the purple flames. So, out of the two left, the dwarf bottle will get us through the black fire, because the riddle said that it doesn't contain poison. The last one, the fourth, is the last poison."
Henry shook her head in disbelief. "I feel stupid," was her only comment.
Harry laughed at that and took the dwarf bottle. "Don't be, not everyone's a genius like me." She made a gagging sound. "Hey, meanie."
"I'm not feeding into that big ego of yours," she said with a laugh. Harry opened the bottle, drank half and handed it to her. "I hope it tastes good." She took a deep breath and downed it. And nearly spat it out. "Oh God!"
"Yeah, not exactly pumpkin juice."
She made a disgusted face. "You drink that? I just ask for water."
"Wait, you can do that?"
She grinned and dragged him through the flames. The next room was much bigger, almost the size of the big chessboard, with stone steps leading down to an old mirror. Harry took one look and muttered something about drama queens, while Henry went through both déjà vú and nostalgia in one fell swoop. She shuddered.
Harry noticed this and took her hand before descending the stairs. Magical torches lit up without help as they did.
The frame was faded, with the actual mirror looking like it'd been through a lifetime of hardships. At first when they stopped in front of it, they saw only themselves. Then Henry gasped. From her point of view, Harry faded away, and two handfuls of people appeared behind her. They looked unfamiliar, but the ache in Henry's heart suggested she should know who they were.
A slightly older girl, with light brown, shoulder-length hair, walked up to her and hugged her from behind. Henry felt nothing, and couldn't see the hands around her waist when she looked down. But the girl, a cousin, a friend or even a sister, was unmistakably holding her, smiling lovingly.
Drowning.
A blonde woman, at least thirty years older, put a hand on Henry's head. Her smile was sad, longing.
Mum?
She had no time to think about it, because a man the same age as the woman took her hand and looked at Henry with so much love it burned. These people were from her past life. They knew her. Why didn't she know them?
She looked at Harry for guidance, but stopped short. He was pale, and whatever he saw in the mirror terrified him.
"Harry?" She clenched his hand. "What do you see?"
"N… nothing. Nothing… at all. I'm f-fine," he forced himself to say, and ripped his eyes from the mirror. "That thing is cursed. I… I can't look at it again."
Henry frowned. What had he seen? His desire couldn't be bad, could it? It was Harry, after all.
"You have to, otherwise we won't get the Stone."
He looked like he'd rather face a troll without a wand. But he sighed in defeat and eyed the mirror again. And just stood there, going paler and paler until he ripped his hand from hers and turned his back to the mirror.
"I can't," he said between deep, almost hyperventilated breaths. "It won't come to me; I don't want it."
She was momentarily lost. They only had this one chance to get it. The teachers would change the trials when they realised someone had snuck inside. If that happened, Harry and Henry had to wait for months until their guards were down again.
But looking at Harry again, she backed down. If he said he couldn't do it, then he couldn't, and forcing him would only make things worse. She took his hand again, squeezed it and promised him she'd come up with another plan.
With a last glance at the mirror and her former family, she dragged him out of the room, through the black flames and forced him to drink the potion for the purple ones. The troll was still out cold, thank Merlin. Then they found themselves back at the chessboard.
"Harry, please, I need you to fly us over it," Henry begged. Harry nodded stiffly, mounted it and carefully steered them to the other side. They brought the broom to the Devil's Snare, where they flew up to a still sleeping Fluffy. Henry threw it down again, closed the trap door and picked up the flute. She only performed the counterspell when they were at the door. They ran all the way to the Room of Requirements, hidden by the Invisibility Cloak, and slept there for the night.
"Henry?" Harry whispered.
"Yeah?"
"I never want to go down there again."
She turned to face him. His eyes were wide and scared. "Alright, I won't take you there anymore. I'll find another solution."
He sobbed. "I'm sorry."
"Aw Harry, you haven't done anything wrong." She quickly hugged him. "I don't want to force you to do something you don't want to, and there's nothing wrong with not going through with it. I'm sorry for making you go with me."
"I'm your brother; I can't leave you to do this alone."
"You're not. You can still help me plan."
"Henry? I love you."
She grinned. "And I love you too."
A/N: I don't have siblings, is that obvious? O_o Does having a cousin as a neighbour since she was born count? No? I thought not... Well, most siblings aren't united like Harry and Henry I guess.
Also yes, I Googled the riddle from Snape's trial. It was long. Way longer than I remembered.
And yes, I know the Philosopher's Stone is not, in fact, a Deathly Hallow, but it's been thirteen years since Henry last read the series, and she's bound to forget stuff.
