A/N: Thanks for reviews! Here's the 20th chapter of the story for you. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

'Thoughts'

"Letter"

Halloween.

A holiday, Sky disliked with all his might. It was the day everyone was fawning over Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived, wondering where he was and making him seem like some shining hero, destined to save the wizarding world.

It disgusted him.

None of them seemed to realize that Harry Potter was, in fact, only a twelve-year-old boy. Sky was never happier that he had decided to forgo that name, than in Halloween.

After having to listen to Professor Lockhart lying through his teeth that he had met Harry Potter and given him tips on how to defeat Voldemort, it was needless to say that Sky was ready for the day being over. Now however he was forced to sit through the Halloween feast even though he was itching to go back to his dorm room and start studying the Philosopher's Stone.

He still couldn't believe he had forgotten about the Stone after getting it out of the Mirror of Erised. He could have spent the whole summer studying it! Alas, he hadn't remembered the Stone until the article about the attack at the Flamels' came out.

Flashback

Marcus had read the article out loud to them and it appeared that someone very powerful had gotten through the wards at the Flamel Manor and dueled with Nicholas. Nicholas had managed to fight him off, but was seriously injured. Luckily his wife had been out, so she hadn't been hurt, but Nicholas was hospitalized until further notice.

It didn't take long for Sky and Marcus to deduce that it was Dumbledore, who had attacked them as there was no-one else, who was powerful enough, but the question remained: why? Why would he attack his former Master? Surely he knew that Flamel no longer had the Stone.

After reading the article Sky had given his dad a meaningful glance that implied that he wanted to talk to him in private and Sirius and Remus had arranged Dora out of the room leaving the new father and son alone.

"I want you to keep a closer eye on Dumbledore." Marcus said. "He's clearly up to something."

Sky nodded in agreement.

"Do you still have it?" Marcus asked and Sky frowned until he clarified: "The Stone."

Sky's face cleared.

"Of course! How could I forget it?" He said and starting sprinting upstairs towards his room where he had hidden the Stone, with Marcus on his heels.

It took a moment for Sky to get through his spells and protection charms he had put around the Stone at the beginning of the summer.

"Here." Sky said handing the Stone to Marcus.

"Do you think you have time to examine it during the school year, or will I take it to the specialist at work?" Marcus asked.

"I have time. I have been trying to find some new project to work on. The lessons are as boring as last year and having Lockhart as a teacher is just plain torture. This will be a great distraction." Sky said gesturing to the Stone.

"Good. Just be careful and don't let anyone see it." Marcus said, but knew that Sky would be even without his warnings.

"I will." Sky grinned already imagining all the experiments he could do to the Stone.

End of Flashback

But now two days later Sky had yet to find the time to examine the Stone. He had been too busy with training and the fact that Dumbledore thought that decorating the school for Halloween would be a great way for the students to practice all the new spells they had learned, which basically meant that all of his free time had gone to that.

The only comfort Sky had was the fact that Dumbledore seemed to be very pissed about his failed attack towards the Flamels. He tried to hide it behind his joyful grandfatherly mask and succeeded in fooling everyone but those, who knew what he really was, which basically meant Sky, Dora and Flitwick.

But now Sky only wished the old coot would get on with his speech so he could get out of there.

Two hours later Sky finally walked out of the Great Hall along with the other students who hurried back to their Common rooms. His mind already on the Stone, Sky failed to notice the commotion in the corridor until he bumped into a student walking in front of him and heard a first year girl shrieking.

"What's going on?" He asked a fellow student next to him, remembering to keep up appearances of being blind.

"I don't know – it looks like Mrs. Norris has been killed. She's been hang on one of the torch-holders and there's some writing on the wall… It says: 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened; enemies of the heir… beware.' It looks like it's written in blood!"

Sky frowned and nodded his thanks to the fourth year Hufflepuff before moving through the crowd, trying to get a look of the scene himself. He reached the front just as the teachers arrived and started ushering the students away, but a glimpse was enough for Sky.

The cat had clearly been petrified, because of its ossified posture – Sky had seen it before – and the writing on the wall was, like the boy had said, blood, but it was definitely not from a human as its color wasn't dark enough. Sky estimated that whoever did it had done it less than half an hour ago, which of course cut down the list of suspects. It would've to have been someone who hadn't been in the Great Hall for the feast.

Sky's mind quickly provided a list of the people he hadn't seen in the Great Hall. First person that came to mind, of course, was Dora, who had been invited to the 500th Deathday party of the Gryffindor ghost. Sky couldn't fathom why she had agreed to it when the nearly-headless Nick, as the ghost was called, wasn't even her house ghost, but according to her it would be an exciting experience. Needless to say Sky didn't agree and had refused to go with her so she had gone by herself to prove a point. What the point exactly was, Sky had no idea.

Second person that was missing from the feast was Ginerva Weasley. The red-headed girl had been on Sky's mind ever since he had stumbled upon her – quite literally – at the Flourish and Blotts in the summer. There was something about her that greatly intrigued Sky, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He constantly searched her out with his gaze whenever they were in the same room and watched her movements.

He was also sure that she had something to do with the faint tattoo on his wrist, but had yet to find out what the strange symbol meant. He hadn't also told anyone about it, not even Dora or his Dad. There was something holding him back and for the love of Merlin he couldn't figure out what it was. But Sky was used to trusting his feelings, so that was what he was going to do even in this case.

Sky also didn't believe that Ginerva could've been able to petrify the cat, being a first year, but she hadn't been in the feast so she was on his list of suspects. After all, Sky always taught his trainees to never underestimate your opponent no matter how harmless they seemed, so it would be stupid of him not to follow his own advice.

Ginerva's twin brothers were next on his list. They too had been missing from the feast along with their friend Lee Jordan and three other Gryffindors. From Ravenclaw there were five students missing and from Hufflepuff three – Dora included – as well as from Slytherin. The teachers had all attended, but Snape had left about ten minutes before the end of the feast. Sky knew that Snape would definitely have the skills to petrify someone, but the question remained whether he could have done it in mere ten minutes and what motive he would have had to do it.

Sky was cut from his musings when the teachers started ordering the students back to their Common rooms, asking only the students who had first arrived on the scene to remain behind. He followed his fellow House mates for a while before slipping away and shadowing back to the scene just as the remaining group started moving to Lockhart's office.

Sky followed the group through the shadows and listened as Dumbledore came to the same conclusion as he had come: the cat wasn't dead – only petrified. Lockhart was of course claiming he knew it all along and offering his services, which seemed to piss Snape off, but Sky ignored him, concentrating on Dumbledore's reactions. The old man clearly knew something, but wasn't behind this charade. What that something was, remained for Sky to find out, but he knew that he would learn nothing new that day. The students, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley clearly knew nothing and had just stumbled upon the scene after leaving the feast, so it was pointless for Sky to remain behind.

With that he shadowed back to the Common room and slipped into one of the couches by the fire like he had never left and listened to the other students discussing the events of tonight and letting their imagination have a free reign as they speculated more and more graphic ways for the hated cat to die. Sky found it very amusing and slightly disturbing, but couldn't wait to see the disappointed faces they would have when Dumbledore would announce that the cat wasn't dead and would make a full recovery when treated right.

Sky broke from his musings as the sound of familiar footsteps approached him and the person flopped down on the couch next him.

"Hullo Dora. Did you have a nice time in the Deathday party?" He smirked and Dora huffed.

"Yeah, yeah. Just get over it and say it: 'I told you so'." She said rolling her eyes.

"Aww… but you were so sure it would be… exciting." Sky laughed.

"Very funny Ray." Dora glared at him. "It was awful! The whole place smelled of rotten food and I spent two hours listening the ghosts competing whose death was the most graphic and Nick complaining about not being allowed to join the Headless Hunt… On top of that I met some weird first year Ravenclaw, who kept going on about Nargles and Wrackspurts, which according to her 'float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy', and because of her I didn't have time to go to the feast and now I'm starving!" She finished her rant.

"Poor you." Sky teased her putting an arm around her shoulder. She nudged him to the side with her elbow, before leaning her head on his shoulder and giving a small sigh of content. They stayed like that for a short while before Dora's stomach grumbled and Sky burst out laughing.

"It's not funny." Dora pouted and folded her arms.

"Yes it is." Sky said sniggering. "But luckily you have such a good friend that he brought something with him." He continued as he unshrunk a bag from his pocket and gave it to Dora.

"Food!" She exclaimed in delight, looking at Sky with her eyes bright before jumping at him and hugging him tightly before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You're the best!" She said before starting to eat, not noticing the light blush and a wide smile spread on Sky's face before he got it under control.

"Oh, and Dora."

"Mmwhat?" She asked her mouth full, looking up at Sky's grinning face.

"I told you so."

Later that evening Sky had a meeting with Flitwick, who unfortunately couldn't tell him anything he didn't already know about the attack, but promised to inform him if he heard anything new. Sky also sent a letter to his Dad via Shadow informing him of the situation before finally being able to shut himself into the Room of Requirement with the Philosopher's Stone.

It was hard to believe that such a small stone could keep the secret of eternal life inside of it and make things turn gold and Sky intended to find out how. He himself had no interest in immortal life or even the gold as he had more money in his vaults than he could ever need in his life, but the aspect of how it was possible intrigued him a great deal.

And now he finally had the chance to study it.

Taking the Stone out from his pocket, Sky got to work and proceeded to try to unravel the secrets of the greatest invention in alchemy's history.

"27th November 1992

Dear Tom,

I'm worried. There have been these attacks here at Hogwarts, in which Muggleborn students get petrified and I have been having holes in my memory. Sometimes I find myself somewhere with no memory of how I got there and it frightens me. I'm afraid I have something to do with these attacks, Tom. One day Hagrid's roosters were killed and I woke up the next morning covered in blood and feathers. Do you think I'm the one behind these attacks, Tom? Should I tell someone of the blanks in my memory?

I still haven't figured out that rune tattoo either, or why I felt that weird spark when that boy helped me at Diagon alley. Do you think the tattoo and the spark could be connected?

Love,

Ginny"

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and give me some feedback on the story. Suggestions to improve it are always welcome!

Thanks,

- Dalnim