Quick question: Does anyone know any good rock songs? I listen to a lot of them while I write these but I want to listen to some new ones.
"Harry!" Hermione called as she sat next to him at the Slytherin table.
"So that's why you're in Griffindor," Harry commented in a neutral tone.
Hermione paid no attention to Harry's comment as she continued talking. "Hagrid wants us to come and see him tonight."
"Can't," Harry answered with no emotion.
"Why not? Have you got another detention?" Hermione scowled.
"No, but you just told Malfoy over there..." Harry pointed to Draco over Hermione's shoulder, who immediately looked away from them as Hermione turned around. "...that you want me to sneak out tonight. I won't get three steps out of the common room before I'm caught. Earliest I can do is the weekend."
"Oh." Hermione answered looking a bit embarrassed.
"You need to learn to be subtle around here Hermione. Even Tracey knows that." Daphne mentions from her other side.
"Hey!"
"Why are you even trying to persuade Harry to break the rules? You're the one always telling him not to." Daphne questioned Hermione.
"Well, this time it's for a member of staff so it's okay." Hermione answered awkwardly. She looked ready to twiddle her thumbs.
"Then he should be able to get Harry a permission slip for being out past curfew." The Ice-princes replied. This wasn't Daphne, this was here cold and uncaring mask.
"I'll ask him." Hermione answered.
"Send him a letter. If you go in person you'll be caught out after curfew." Daphne advises her. "Don't be sloppy Granger. I hate it when people are sloppy."
That Saturday.
Harry, Hermione and Daphne all walked down to Hagrid's hut. Upon arriving, Harry banged on the door three times. Hagrid soon opened the door and greeted them. "'Ello Harry, Hermione... erm." Hagrid looked confused as he looked at Daphne
"Daphne Greengrass, Sir." Daphne answered.
"Alright, come on in then. I've got something to show you." Hagrid grinned in excitement as he moved out of the doorway. The trio entered the half-giants hut and gasped at what they saw on the table. On the table was a four-legged lizard, with wings on it's back and breathing the odd bouts of fire.
"Is that a dragon?" Harry asked with a mixture of awe and fear.
"Well, it's still a baby, but yeah." Hagrid answered with a prideful smile.
"You aren't actually going to try and keep that thing, are you!?" Daphne questioned sceptically.
"Well why wouldn't I? 'E won't harm anyone." Hagrid answered.
"Hagrid! You can't keep a dragon! That's illegal!" Hermione yelled.
"Not to mention stupid. This is a school and you want to try and tame an untamable creature!" Daphne added.
"Where did you even get a baby dragon?" Hermione asked before Harry had to use the shield charm to protect himself from dragon fire.
"Well, I won him he was still an egg in a card game." Hagrid perked up.
"Who bets a dragon egg in a card game?" Harry thought aloud. "Where would you even get one?"
"I don't know. Had his hood up and his face masked. But he did like his. I even told him about Fluffy. Funny thing about Fluffy is that he goes straight to sleep if ya play him a little tune." Hagrid smiled.
"Is that your Cerberus?" Hermione asked.
"How do you know about that?" Hagrid asked in surprise.
Hermione instinctively looked at Harry and Hagrid followed her gaze. "Cheers Hermione." Harry sarcastically commented.
"Sorry." Hermione blushed.
"Look. It's dangerous up there. Dumbledor's business with the Flamels is none of your business." Hagrid warned.
"The Flamels!" Daphne repeated in shock.
"I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that!" Hagrid muttered to himself.
Harry shook his head. "We're getting off track here. What are we going to do with that?" Harry asked as he pointed to the dragon on the table.
"He has a name ya know. It's Norbert." Hagrid mentioned.
"We need to get it to a dragon preserve." Hermione mentioned.
Harry looked to Daphne "I don't suppose Cyrus can ship it off." He joked.
Daphne allowed a twitch of a small and shook her head. "We're not even licensed to handle nifflers and doxis, let alone a dragon. And with Malfoy trying to gain any leverage on us that he can, there's no way we can risk it."
"Now who said I was even givin' him away?" Hagrid confronted them.
"Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of countless kids?" Harry shot back.
"If he doesn't want to get rid of it, I'll inform the Aurors." Daphne coldly mentions.
"Now hold on. There's no need to do anything drastic." Hagrid quickly tried to appease Daphne. Daphne doesn't say a word and Hagrid finds himself feeling as if he's the small one. Eventually, he sighed in defeat. "Alright. I'll let him go."
"Now we just need to figure out how we get it out of here." Hermione commented, jumping back as the dragon tried to set her hair on fire.
"I've got it!" Harry proudly announced. "The Weasly twins have a brother that works at the Romanian dragon preserve."
"You think they can work something out?" Hermione asked.
"Can't see them saying no to a free dragon." Daphne responded.
Hermione checked the time of her wristwatch before speaking up. "We need to go."
After everyone said their goodbyes and the trio of student were on their way back to the castle, Hermione spoke again. "Flamel, Flamel, Flamel, where have I heard that name before?"
"Nicolas Flamel is the world's best alchemist and creator of the philosophers stone. The stone is a powerful artefact that can turn metal into gold and create the elixir of life. Drinking it expands your life expectancy." Daphne answered.
"Can it cure diseases?" Harry asked.
"Sadly that's not how the stone works." Daphne answered mournfully. She knew what Harry was really asking. 'Can it cure Astoria?' Sadly that wasn't the case. Her family had contacted the Flamels multiple times about freeing her family from the blood curse, but have had no such luck.
Soon.
Harry sat down next to the Weasly twins at the Gryffindor table.
"Well, well..."
"...it seems dear Harrykins..."
"...has another little job for us..."
...despite putting dungbombs in our bags." The twins greeted.
Harry just shrugged. "Don't put itching power on my food. Simple as that. As for the job. We'll talk about that elsewhere."
After finishing their tea the trio headed out of the great hall and to an empty classroom. Once they put up enough privacy spells for Harry to be happy, he turned around and spoke. "Hagrid has a baby dragon. I need you two to contact your brother in Romania and get rid of it before it has a growth spurt. I'd help but Malfoy and Snape on my ass, trying to get me kicked out of Slytherin."
Both of the twins looked at Harry stunned and jaws hung open. "We wasn't expecting that." They responded in unison.
Harry chuckled. "Imagin finding the dam thing just sat on Hagrid's table." The twins gave a short laugh as well. "So you in?"
The twin looked at each other, nodded and turned back to Harry. "Definitely."
"Great! Like I said Malfoy and Snape are on my ass, so I can't really help you. I only just managed to sneak my cloak out." Harry pulled said invisibility cloak out of his bag and handed it to the twins. "Give it back to me when it's all died down and let me know how it goes."
The next day.
"Do you really think it's the philosophers stone?" Padma asked. The whole group had gathered together in an abandoned classroom to discuss what the Cerberus is guarding.
"Either that or a fake." Su answered.
"But why would it be here of all places?" Hannah asked.
"Bait." Harry spoke up. "Dumbledore's using it to lure someone into a trap."
"But who's the trap for?" Susan asked. Pretending to overlook how illegal Dumbldore's activities were.
"I think it's for Professor Snape." Hermione suggested.
Susan shook her head. "Dumbledore saved Snape from Azkaban after the blood war, by saying he became his spy. Dumbledore probably has him under some loyalty oath."
"Using Harry's analogy. I think Dumbledore's hunting bigger game." Padma theorised.
"The question is what. Does he think that one of the upper years is trying to become a new dark lord?" Daphne questioned.
"Did Alias ever mention any upper years that were a major problem?" Sussan asked.
"None that stood out, but we don't spend that much time together. With our age difference and living in an orphanage, we tend to spend more time with those our own age." Lillian answered.
"So what do we do now?" Padma asked.
"I think all we can do is wait." Neville mentioned.
"He's right. Best we can do right is keep an ear out for anything suspicious and wait." Harry responded. Everyone agreed and they swapped to more casual topics.
A week later.
"Harry." Daphne called. The pair had finally managed to sneak back into the restricted section of the library, now that Snape and Malfoy had stopped watching his every single movement.
The twin had walked over to Harry and said: "It is done." Before walking away. He had been questioned relentlessly by the Slytherins that were against him but didn't budge. The next day Neville gave him his cloak back.
"Yeah?" Harry asked, looking up from the book on soul magic he was continuing to read. He was currently reading how it was speculated a dark lord couldn't cast a Patronus Charm due to being so tainted by true dark magic.
"If you go after the stone. I can't come with you." Daphne seemed ashamed at her statement as didn't meet Harry's eyes.
It took harry a moment to figure out why that was. She couldn't risk being caught and Lucius Malfoy using as leverage as he was somehow on the board of governors. "I understand." He smiles softly at the witch that was in his company.
"I'm sorry Harry." Daphne sighed.
"Don't be. You're looking out for your family." Harry responded without a second thought.
"That's all my families ever done. Looked out for ourselves and no one else." Daphne grumbled.
"Oh come on Daphne. That's bullshit and you know that. I know it's easy for your family to stay neutral with families trying to push you to one side or another. And your parents set up an insurance contract between us. Even if they claimed to only have taken me in to get my family's fortune, the Death-Eaters still might have killed them. Logic isn't their strong suit." Harry argued. "Do you why I was so mad when those idiots called you, Lils and Tracy evil?" Harry was referring to Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. Harry had started simply referring to them as idiots because he was starting to believe they couldn't spell their own names.
Flashback.
One Saturday when the three girls were under a tree talking about nothing when the trio of Gryffindor boys had started insulting them. What they didn't realise was that Harry was also outside, and began to run to them when he saw that trouble was brewing.
"Whatever. You're all just a bunch of evil, slimy, backstabbing snakes!" Ron roared at the girls who looked at him with annoyance.
"What was that?" The cold fury that came from Harry cause the six to freeze. The boys turned around and the girls stood up. They saw Harry stood before them. Wand raised and looked of wild rage, inches from being released. His eyes glowed a faint green as his power ran unchecked.
"Harry don't! Remember what will happen if you get caught fighting again!" Daphne called out.
"Maybe. But I bet I can get sorted into Gryffindor." Harry replied with a growl. He didn't even look at Daphne when he answered. "Keep these idiots in line."
"That's why you're needed in Slytherin. These three are nothing but idiots with no kind of power to back them." Tracy responded. By now the girls had moved around the Gryffindors.
"Let's go back to the common room." Lillian suggested as gently lowered Harry's wand arm before the trio of girls pulled Harry away.
End of flashback.
"Is it because we all want to be healers?" Daphne guessed. She was now looking at Harry who smiled a kind smile.
"Mostly. But mainly because he called you evil. You! Of all people! You're trying to cure your sister of something that no one else has." Harry answered. He goes back to reading his book before he speaks again. "Besides, knowing what I do now. I'd never let you come along." Harry doesn't see Daphne give him one more smile, before going back to her reading.
Daphne was soon distracted by a thought. A question. How much longer ould her family stay neutral? She was friends with Harry Potter. Someone who held the record for the youngest to kill a dark lord. And if a marriage law was to ever come into effect, she could very well end up being his wife! That's not something they could talk away, like other things the family has done that go against the blood purists such as hiring those of "lesser blood" or disagreeing with some of their policies by saying it would damage their business. The feature might be uncertain, but Daphne knew that their neutrality wouldn't last forever.
The next week.
The group had gathered once more, but this time it was Hermione who rallied the group. They had all gathered not far from the great hall. Dumbledore had just announced he would be leaving for the night to attend to ministry business at the end of dinner. "If whoever Professor Dumbledore had set the trap up for is going to strike. It'll be now."
Harry snorted. "If they're dumb as fuck." He muttered.
Hermione gave Harry a pointed look before continuing. "We have to get the stone before they do."
"Why?" Tracy asked. "We all know it's a trap. Why should we go and get caught, instead of the sod it's meant for?"
"But if they get the stone..." Hermione sounded genuinely fearful.
"Then we jump the cunt the second he's out the door. Well. Some of us. We're dealing with a possible dark lord here. They will probably try to kill us." Harry mention. Spearing a brief glance a Daphne. "If anyone wants to help me stun the sod at every angle follow me." With that, Harry walked off to the third-floor corridor. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw Hermione, Neville, Su, Tracy, Padma and Sussan following him.
Soon.
The group arrived outside of the door that hid Fluffy with wands drawn and focused expressions. "Let's hide in there for a while." Harry suggested as he points his wand to the classroom across the hall. The group pile into the room and Harry and Padma secure the door to the best of their knowledge. They commandeered the tables and chairs at the centre of the classroom. Harry was surprised that he couldn't find a scorch mark from the twins' firework a couple of months ago.
"How long do you think we should wait?" Padma asked.
"I think ten minutes is good." Sussan answered.
Both Harry and Padma were jolted as they felt someone dismantling their privacy charms. "Padma stay put! Everyone else, hide!" Harry whispered with urgency. The girls quickly followed Harry's instructions.
The door began to slowly open.
Earlier with Daphne.
Daphne, Hannah and Lillian watched as the rest of their group raced up to the third floor.
"We need to find Professor McGonagall." Daphne declared before she led the other girls to the deputy's office.
"You think she'll believe us, that someone is going after the stone?" Hannah questioned.
"I can convince her." Daphne merely stated. The trio of witches briskly arrived at McGonagall's office. Daphne knocked on the door and put on her ice queen facade, to hide her worry for the others.
The transfiguration professor answered the door and was surprised to see no Gryffindors. "Miss Greengrass, Miss Moon, Miss Abbott. What are you doing here?"
"Professor, we believe someone is going to make an attempt to steal the Philosopher's stone." Daphne answers cooly.
"How do you know about that?" The shocked professor questioned.
"How we know isn't important. We know the whole thing is a trap, but were concerned that whoever the trap is for will escape with the stone." Daphne responded.
McGonagall was less than pleased to have her question brushed aside. "And how did you come to that conclusion, Miss Greengrass?"
"Why else would the headmaster warn of a painful death waiting on the third-floor corridor?" Daphne responded with ease. "Espacallie when the door can be opened by any first year." McGonagall looked at the young heiress in surprise, so Daphne continues. "As for why we think they will make a move now. Dumbledore has just left for the ministry. Whoever this dark lord wannabe is, would see now as the best time to strike."
" I strongly suggest that you all return to your dormitories." McGonagall's voice was shaking from the inner conflict. She wanted to deny their claims, but they made to much sense. What kind of obstacle was a giant chess set?
"Very well professor. But you should head to the third floor anyway. A few of our friends are waiting to ambush whoever is going after the stone if they get out of the trap." With that Daphne walked away with Tracy and Hannah walking beside her.
"You certainly have a way with words Daph." Hannah commented.
"It's a gift."
Meanwhile with Harry.
"M-m-mister P-potter, M-miss Pa-patil, what are you d-d-doing here?" Professor Quirrell asked as he stood in the doorway.
"Talking." Harry simply stated. Padma nodded rapidly in agreement. Her eyes were wide and she had lost her caramel complexion.
"I s-see." Quirrell responded.
"How did you know we were here professor?" Harry questioned.
"I s-saw M-miss Patil e-enter." Quirrell answered.
Harry was relieved that Padma was at the back. He told her to stay visible because she helped him secure the door, and he was worried they would be able to tell that two people were responsible for the spells. "Wait. Padma wasn't the last one in. Hermione was!" Harry looked to Padma and saw that she had come to the same realisation. Then Harry feels it. A pain in his scar. Harry whirls around and faces the professor. Quirrell was looking directly at him. His face was passive, but he felt anger oozing from him. Harry raises his occlumency shields to block out the anger and the pain. "So..." Harry begins coldly. "...it's you."
Quirrell's expression morphed from passive to a scowl. "Yes, congratulations Potter. It is I."
Before Quirrell could launch into bad guy monologue, Harry quickly fired off a stunner at the professor, who only just managed to block it. The other quickly came out of hiding and fired off their own spells in support.
"Don't bunch up!" Su ordered. The constant stream of spells forced Quirrell to retreat put into the hallway.
Hermione rushed out the door to face him and collided with a spell. SNAP! "AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Hermione screamed out in agony as she was forced to the ground by the force of the bone-shattering spell that hit her wand hand. She dropped her wand and curled around her broken hand. SNAP! "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Another bone-shattering hex hit her in the leg.
Hermione's screams snapped Harry out of his shock and stepped out and cast a shield charm. The shield rang like a gong as it stopped a third hex. Tracy and Padma began to drag a crying Hermione back into the classroom. Su and Susan rushed past and began to attack the professor.
Quirrell fired a cutting curse that sliced through Susan's ear as she tried to avoid the spell. Susan stagged in shock and began to turn pale. Quirrell grinned. "Avada-" That was a mistake. Both Su and Harry brought their full power to bear and the sheer power behind their spell threw the now immobile professor down the corridor.
Harry watched Quirrell for a moment before he lowed his wand and turned around. "Is everyone alright!?" he called out.
"A bit of a stupid question Harry." Susan responded as she leaned against the wall with one hand that held her wand and using the other to help try and slow the bleeding from her ear.
"Sorry Susie." Harry apologized as both he and Su rushed to her to see if they could help. Susan's entire right side was covered in blood and showed no signs of stopping.
"My word!" The trio heard Professor McGonagal exclaim.
Upon hearing her, Tracy peaked her head out into the hall. "Professor McGonagall! We've got to get Hermione to the hospital wing!" Tracy then saw the state Susan was in. "Susan too!"
McGonagall quickly called hers and Phomphry's personal house elves to take the injured to the hospital wing. Tracy and Su also wet with them to explain the injuries. Padma and Harry were now the only students left to explain everything to the deputy headmistress. Padma was slightly rattled while Harry was quickly beginning to feel exhausted. "Do either of you know why he was after the stone?" She questioned.
"You'd have to ask him, professor." Harry answered.
"I think I just might." McGonagall responded before turning the ropes around Quirrell into heavy, black, iron chains. She then reawakened him.
Quirrell looked around before he began to scream in agony as a smog-like spirit ripped itself free from his body. "Curse you, Potter!" The rasped furiously before plunging trough the shocked boy, causing him to collapse as he fell unconscious.