A/n: The interesting middle part... not quite but you get the gist.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, neither Harry Potter nor Glee.

Summer had officially arrived by the time they wrote their final exam, Kurt had been distracted by the idea of You-Know-Who's proximity and the possibility that he may want to kill one of his good friends but he kept his cool and knew that he had done well. Soon he'd be going home and but right now he was soaking in the sun on his favourite day of the year; the twenty-seventh of May had decided to be extra beautiful this year.

Kurt, like most kids his age, loved having birthdays more than anything in the world because everyone else had to watch you having a good time. At breakfast Kurt had received a package from home, most didn't pay it any mind due to its small size but it had just the thing Kurt wanted; jewellery, it was never too early to start a collection. Kurt looked down at the ring as he enjoyed the sun on his face, they'd just finished the last of the years school work and he was glad to be done, his summer training was just that much closer.

"I love that subject so much," Kurt smiled as he buffed the emerald against his cloak; it shone even brighter in its home of white gold.

"That makes you the only one," Ron draped a sweaty arm over his shoulder.

"I was surprised that we didn't need to learn as much as we did," Hermione sounded a little disappointed, "I learnt all that information about the sixteen thirty-eight werewolf code of conduct and none if comes out."

"Yes, but now you know it!" Kurt chimed his words merrily.

"I don't like twelve year old Kurt," Hermione replied jokingly, "Much too merry for my taste."

"He's got good reason to be merry," Ron added as they leaned on each other, "First year is practically over, we don't have to revise anymore and we're about to go on a nine week holiday."

"A holiday that I'm spending in Kamchatka," Kurt shimmied as he said the words, he knew in that instant that his time with Dr April Rhodes had been a good idea.

"Come on Harry," Harry had been quite all along and it wasn't sitting well with Ron who chose to reprimand him, "get excite, happy days are here again."

"Come Catch ya," Harry's voice was tired and defeated, "yay."

"Boo!"

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione was using the voice Kurt had come to call her 'mom voice' because of its soothing qualities.

"My scar hurts."

"I've been meaning to ask but isn't 'scar' the wrong word for it?" the words came out before Kurt could stop them, "Is it not a gash because it isn't healed and scar implies the inverse."

They all gave him a weird look before turning back to the matter at hand, "Do you want to see Madam Pomfry?"

"It wouldn't help," Harry said with a sigh, "I think it's a warning, that something bad is coming."

"Snape wouldn't dare try to steal the stone whilst Dumbledore was around," Hermione said in her mom voice.

"And besides, we're not sure he even knows how to get past Fluffy," Ron added with a supportive nod, "I doubt he'd risk losing a leg, there's nothing about the stone replacing limbs."

They lay down under a large tree at the edge of the Black Lake, Kurt laughed to himself, "Do you think all eleven year olds are as morbid as we are?"

"Not a chance," Ron chuckled, "They only think of rainbows and butterflies, we're special."

Kurt watched as Fred, George and a mocha skinned boy he wasn't familiar with poked and prodded at the lake's giant squid's tentacles; the creature looked so beautiful from the dungeon windows as it swam lazy circles in the lake like a master of individual synchronised swimming.

"Fred and George are what? Fourteen?" Hermione asked with a giggle, "they haven't a care in the world."

Harry seemed to be too far in his own mind to participate in the conversation, "When this stone business is over, let's be normal kids."

"Fine by me," Hermione nudged him with her knee, "I think my marks are suffering from all this extracurricular adventuring."

"You're preaching to the choir," Kurt raised a defeated hand, "I think I almost turned my mouse into a stone because of all this talk about that damned philosopher's stone."

"I don't think McGonagall would have appreciated that," Ron chuckled.

Kurt was content sitting in the warm sun in a comfortable silence when Harry shot to his feet with a chant of, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."

Kurt groaned, "Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked him looking confused.

The boy didn't answer but rather started a brisk walk toward… Kurt wasn't sure where exactly he was going. Ron was the first to follow; soon they were all following the boy in confusion.

"Do either of you have an idea what's going on?" Ron whispered to the pair after they established that Harry wasn't going to say anything to them; they both shook their heads.

"Why didn't I see it earlier?" the boy asked himself as they emerged on the other side of the castle, "The one thing Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon and some guy show up in Hogsmead with an egg, which is illegal, and happens to stumble across Hagrid? Isn't that a little suspicious to you?"

"Now that you mention it," the other three students said at the same time.

Harry went on with his line of thought, "My guess is that it was Snape and he wanted to know how to get past Fluffy. It must have been so easy to get Hagrid drunk and milk him for information."

It was only then that Kurt realised that they were heading toward Hagrid's hut, the man was sitting outside in the sweltering heat. Hagrid was working on preparing peas to be cooked, seated in an over grown arm chair with his sleeves and pants rolled up. When he noticed them coming he looked happy to see them.

"Well, hello there."

"What'd he look like?" Harry demanded.

"What'd who look like?" Hagrid was startled by the question.

"The guy you got the dragon egg from," Harry spoke with evident desperation, "what did he look like?"

Hagrid gave the idea some thought, humming as he did so, "I don't know, he kept his hood up."

"That's odd," Kurt noted, "that wouldn't be necessary indoors."

"The Hog's Head is full of strange folk," Hagrid said dismissively, "stuff like that happens all the time there."

"What did you talk about?" Harry demanded.

"Well, he asked what I did," Hagrid was confused by the line of questioning, "I told him I was Game Keeper, we kept chatting. He asked what kind of creatures I'd raised, I told him a bit about that and that I'd always wanted a dragon. Then he told me he had an egg and would play me for it."

"That's it?"

"Well," Hagrid's voice trailed off, "it's hard to remember because he kept buying me drinks."

"He bought you drinks?" Kurt raised a questioning brow.

"Yeah," Hagrid shrugged it off and was quite for a moment with his face screwed up in deep thought, "Oh yes, he wanted to know if I'd be up to raising a dragon. I told him, I said, after Fluffy there wasn't a beast I couldn't train."

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Hermione asked much more politely than Harry would have.

"Well, three-headed dogs aren't as common as you'd think."

"What'd you tell him about Fluffy?" Harry asked more calmly and slightly more politely.

"I told him, the trick to soothing a beast like Fluffy is to play him a bit of music and he's out like a light," Hagrid's eyes widened, "I should not have told you that. I shouldn't have told him that. Forget I said that."

The group exchanged knowing looks before scurrying off toward the castle without exchanging any words, being out of the sun made the castle seem as cold as a winter breeze in comparison.

"We need to see Professor Dumbledore," Harry said frantically.

"Follow me," Kurt puffed out his chest in pride, "I know where his office is."

As they scurried down the hall a sharp voice called out after them, "what are you four doing inside?"

They turned to see Professor McGonagall walking toward them, her hands full of books.

Kurt found the question to be odd but Hermione was already answering for them, "We have to see Professor Dumbledore."

"Why do you have to see Professor Dumbledore?" the professor looked suspicious of their motives.

"It's a secret," Harry said, it took all Kurt had not to face palm at that stupid answer but he could see from the boy's face that he regretted saying that as well.

"A secret?" McGonagall looked offended, "Well, your secret will have to wait; Professor Dumbledore has been summoned by the Ministry of Magic in London, he left ten minutes ago."

"He's gone?" Ron exclaimed.

"Now?" Harry wailed.

"Oh no," Hermione gasped.

"Professor Dumbledore is a very busy man and a great wizard," she spoke in a cold flat voice, "his council is revered by many."

"But this is important!" Harry whined.

"What could you four possibly have to say that's more important than the Ministry of Magic?"

"Not more important," Kurt tried to sooth her as he now saw that she was their only hope now and the others seemed to be getting on her nerves, "Differently important."

"It's about the Philosopher's Stone," Harry said; the woman looked shocked, dropping the books she'd been carrying, "Sn-"

"Somebody's going to try to steal it." Kurt corrected, unsubstantiated accusations wouldn't do them any favours.

"How did you find out about the Stone?" McGonagall stammered the words out in a breathy voice.

"That's not important," Hermione assured her, Kurt and Ron were working on picking up her books, "we need to see Professor Dumbledore."

"Professor Dumbledore isn't due to return till tomorrow," she gave each a stern look, "I assure you all that the stone is well protected and I will hear nothing more of it, go and enjoy the sunshine."

She walked off briskly with her pile of books balanced on her hip, as soon as she was out of ear shot Kurt prepared to rip his friends a new one for their stupidity but was pre-empted by Harry, "It's tonight, Snape is planning on stealing that stone tonight and nobody is he wiser."

"I bet he sent that owl to Dumbledore," Ron added as he nodded his agreement, "the Ministry will probably be surprised to see him."

"Snap know all he need-" Harry began but Kurt nudged him to be quiet as Snape approached the group.

"Good day," his voice slow and menacing, "tell me, what a four young students like yourselves doing inside on a day like this?"

"Why does everyone keep asking us that question?" Kurt burst out, "Not everyone likes the sun."

"You ought to be careful," Snape ignored his outburst, "people might think you're up to something and you can't afford to lose your house anymore points."

The man strode off before anymore could be said, they watched him sashay away before Harry demanded they split in two; Kurt and Hermione were ordered to stake out the staff room.

They stood at the entrance for a moment in a strained silence, "I can't believe that's what they think we sound like." Hermione complained.

"I know," Kurt complained, "you don't see us imitating them!" Kurt lowered his voice and spoke slowly, "ugh… quidditch is so amazing, books are stupid, and we're too good to study."

"They've never said those particular things but that's the gist of their though t process," Hermione giggled.

"And what do you suppose you're doing here?" Kurt knew the voice to be Snape's as it hit his ears.

"We're waiting for Professor Flitwick," Hermione said bravely.

"We were arguing about one of the questions on his exam," Kurt added with a reassuring nod, "and we thought we might ask him about it."

"I'll go get him," the man turned and entered the staff room again.

They were frantic for a moment as they tried to form conflicting but equally correct views on a question from the exam, when the two teachers emerged from the staff room they had their question ready. They posed their question but their eyes remained on Snape who was getting away from them, Kurt knew they'd failed at their task.

On the upside, Professor Fltiwick had told them that they'd scored the highest scores in the subject; each had scored over a hundred percent.

~0~

It was at dinner that his friends had shared their intentions to go after the stone in an effort to stop Snape from getting to it. Kurt had skulked about the darkened corridors with all the stealth he possessed on his way to the third floor corridor on the left side, Kurt knew that this was going to be a trying task they were undertaking but none the less he pressed on. He stood in a shadow, hidden from prying eyes, having taken caution not to be followed this time. Kurt felt the familiar unseen pulling and knew that his friends had arrived.

"Why are you late?" Kurt demanded.

"Neville held us up," Ron said dismissively.

"Has Snape gone by?" Harry asked with wide eyes, "did you see him go by?"

"Of course not you fool," Kurt snapped, "he would have seen and maimed me."

They opened the room Fluffy was waiting in, the dog sniffed the air but seemed confused because he couldn't see them; Harry started playing a wooden flute in tuneless mess, the three headed dog growled at the mess.

Kurt nudged the boy to desist his aggravating musical stylings, Kurt cleared his throat, "Frére Jacques, Frére Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong."

The dog had drifted off to sleep but seemed to stir as silence washed over, he started singing imminently as his friends argued over who would go first, "Are you sleeping, Are you sleeping, Brother John? Brother John? Morning Bells are ringing! Morning Bells are ringing! Ding, Dang, Dong! Ding, Dang, Dong!"

The final 'dong' had been elongated by the long drop, Kurt was silenced by his plush collision with a plant of sorts.

"Good thing this plant was here to break our fall," Ron cheered loudly, "Let's talk about that song though."

"It's a common song," Hermione giggled, "I seem to remember singing it with my prep school choir."

"It was silly," Ron chuckled.

"It saved your life," Harry didn't seem the least bit amused.

"It was the first song that came to my mind," Kurt blushed, he noted that the plant seemed to be moving to wrap itself around them, slowly squeezing them tightly, "Is it just me or is this plant really handsy."

"The latter," Hermione said in a breathy exasperated voice, she clawed her way out of its reach, "It is devil snare, it kind of works like the quick sand."

"It's going to drown us?" Ron screeched as he struggled against the vines.

"No," Kurt remembered the herbology lesson Professor Sprout had given on the plant, he also recalled answering a question about it, "if you struggle it only squeezes you more tightly quicker."

"I don't think you should have told them that," Hermione said as Ron and Harry struggled against the vines that were strangling them, "Devil Snare, it hates the warmth and sunlight."

"light a fire!" Harry screamed.

"No," Kurt screamed, "my hair will smell like smoke!" The vines squeezed around him more tightly as he tried to get hold of his wand, "Okay burn it!"

"Incendio," Hermione pointed her wand at the vine plant, the plant shrieked as it retreated from the jet of flames being expelled by her wand.

"Good thing Hermione pays attention in herbology," Harry said without so much as a small smile as they left the plant behind to lick it's wounds.

"Good thing we all kept our heads," Ron giggled.

The quartet moved through a narrow tunnel that barely fit two preteens abreast, it seemed to be leading them further down into the bowels of the school. Kurt had his wand held out to light the way for the group so they wouldn't trip over the loose cobblestone floor.

When they re-entered the light they were standing in a large chamber with a large flock of birds flying in the upper quartile of the room, Kurt tilted his head as he tried to identify the species of birds.

"Are those things going to attack you if you try to cross the room?" Ron asked in a quivering voice.

"I don't know," Harry spoke in hoarse whisper, "Don't follow till I say it's okay."

Harry ran across the room but nothing happened, the strange creatures didn't pay Harry any mind as he crossed the room.

"Maybe the creatures are just a pest infestation of sorts," Hermione said dismissing their presence; it was only when they approached the door that they realised it was locked.

"Alohomora," Hermione tried but the door didn't budge.

Kurt took his turn, with wand in hand, pointed it to the door, "Bombarda!"

The blast rebounded off the door and blasted Kurt across the room, the pain that shot through his back was blinding.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, emotion returning to his voice for the first time.

"My ego is hurt more than anything," Kurt made no effort to get up, looking up to the ceiling as his vision started to clear, "I think I might have a concussion again, I'm seeing flying keys."

"They're keys!" Hermione announced triumphantly, she pointed to three broomsticks floating at the edge of the room, "I think we're supposed to catch them."

"You go," Kurt giggled nervously, "I don't actually know how to fly."

"How do you not know how to fly?" Ron asked in bewilderment.

Kurt twiddled his thumbs as he lay on the ground with a goofy smile, "I never went to any of the classes, now go!"

Kurt watched his three friends mounting their brooms and they were off just as quickly. Kurt watched as they swished about the room near the ceiling, chasing the keys at random. Kurt got up and walked to the door to inspect the door handle, "The key will probably be old looking and silver with rust."

"I see it!" Harry announced zealously as he swept across the room toward the large key; Kurt saw now why the boy was made seeker but it wasn't very time efficient, he thought to use magic for a moment then thought better of it when he remembered the pain in his tailbone. Harry exercised his flying prowess along with a little bit of smarts to catch the key, they unmounted their brooms and opened the door in a single elegant move.

"Let's never do that ever again," Kurt said in a tired voice as they walked down a second hallway in a single file line, this one narrower than the last.

"I kind of enjoyed the flying," Ron said cockily.

"I mean trying to take short cuts," Kurt rubbed at his lower, "I don't think I'll ever walk like a used to."

"Oh come off it," Hermione shoved him playfully in the darkness.

The lights came on and they appeared to be on a chess board, Kurt groaned at the thought of having to jump through another hoop.

"Do we have to play our way across the board?" Hermione asked wearily.

Ron placed a hand on a black playing piece and asked it the same question before returning to them with a grim nod, "Hermione, you take the queen's spot."

"Why not me?" Kurt demanded, "if any of us is regal, it's me!"

"It doesn't really matter," Harry screamed at them, Kurt hung his hands up apologetically in defeat.

"Kurt, you can be the queen," Ron rolled his eyes, "Harry, queenside bishop. Hermione, you'll have to be the queenside rook. Me, I'll be a knight."

"Oh look, a big shot knight," Kurt and Hermione giggled.

"Someone get him a Noddy badge," the two giggled once more.

Ron rolled his eyes, "White plays first, then it on."

A single white pawn moved two spaces forward and Kurt knew he was in for a treat; he'd never played any kind of chess, let alone wizard's chess. All he knew of the game was what he'd heard and seen for lack of interest.

"You there," Ron pointed to a pawn, they all turned to check if he meant them, "D-seven to D-five."

The pawn glided forward across two squares, this piece was immediately attacked by the diagonally opposite pawn; the loud boom startled Kurt half out of his wits. The game seemed to take flight from that point forward, Kurt regretted demanding the role of queen; he had been required to walk all about the board, having claimed the most active piece on the board. Kurt had knock a couple of pieces off the board but had seen more than twice that many taken by the other pieces on the board; Kurt had a recurring sliver of fear for his own wellbeing and that of his friends in a dangerous game of sorts.

"You know what has to happen now," Ron spoke in a grim but level voice.

Harry gave a curt knowing nod, Hermione swished her head back and forth between the pair, "what's going on here?"

"Ron's going to sacrifice himself," Harry's voice was riddled with concern.

"There must be another way," Hermione whined.

"You're not going to be hurt are you?" Kurt asked the boy.

"It doesn't matter," Ron proclaimed, "it's you, Harry, you'll stop Snape; not me, not Hermione, you."

"What the fuck am I?" Kurt asked loudly, "Chopped liver."

"Knight to H-three," the horse Ron was riding made its 'L' formation slowly, stopping just short of the white queen. The queen turned to face the red haired boy with a menacing slowness that made Kurt realise the sense of urgency of their predicament, when she move to attack she was swift. Kurt saw Ron falling but didn't recall the attack; Kurt wasn't usually one to care about other people, least of all Ron Weasley, but he felt compelled to see of the boy was alright as he was tossed off the board.

Kurt stood and watched Harry move to a check mate; the king took of his crown, got to his knees and bowed. They all moved to Ron's side as soon as the game was over, the boy was breathing shallowly but he'd quite clearly been knocked out.

"I'm going to take him to the hospital wing," Kurt heard himself saying, "I'll be back with help, the two of you should go on."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Hermione's tone pleaded with him, "You're better skilled."

"All I've done is sing," Kurt pointed out, "Also, I'm hell scared to face Professor Snape or possibly He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Dumbledore will believe me, we're tight like that." Kurt saw that they didn't realise the sense of urgency that their mission needed, "If you don't go now Voldemort will already have the stone by the time you get to him and he'll be next to impossible to kill."

Kurt pointed sternly for them to go; he pulled out his wand as he watched them go, he said the words for a levitation spell and Ron's limp body slowly got off the ground.

Kurt walked briskly toward the first chamber, ignoring the flying keys, tossing a flame toward the devil snare and realising he had no way up; he immediately regretted not learning to fly. Kurt laid Ron gently on the ground and ran back through the rooms in a blur, he reached the chess board and looked around the reassembled board for something he could use, he walked over to a pawn.

"Give me your shield," He demanded.

"Can't do," the piece replied, "Without this shield I can't defend myself."

"This is chess," Kurt gave the piece an indignant stare, "you can't defend yourself."

The piece gave Kurt a defeated shrug and handed him the shield that was almost as large as he was, Kurt bowed a thank you and hurried back to where Ron lay unconscious. He rolled the flame haired boy onto the shield, stood next to him on the stone shield and slowly levitated them up toward the trap door whilst beginning to sing the same childish song that had helped them once before.

Kurt ran down the corridor, the levitating stone shield housing his unconscious friend was in close tow as he made his way toward the hospital wing. As he navigated the castle at high speed he got the shock of his life when he ran into the person he least expected to see.

"Mr Hummel," Professor Snape seemed just as surprised to see him, "What on earth are you and Weasley doing out of bed?"

"Someone went after the philosopher's stone," Kurt announced breathlessly, the stone shield hit the ground with a thud as his concentration wavered, "We tried to tell McGonagall but she didn't believe us so we decided to go after them ourselves, then Ron got hurt playing wizards chess."

"YOU DID WHAT!?" the man whispered the shout but the anger was all there, "Follow me!"

The man picked up Ron bridal style and walked with intention toward the hospital wing, he gave a sharp rap on the door.

"Severus?" Madam Pomphry rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, Professor Snape pushed past her and laid Ron on the bed.

"He suffered a great fall and hit his head," Kurt said when he was ushered to speak, Madam Pomphry seemed to take these words as her cue to begin her work.

Professor Snape gestured for Kurt to follow him as he took long strides toward the third floor corridor, with little regard for Fluffy's wellbeing he cast the dog aside with a single flick of his wand. The man's superior knowledge and mature thought process were evident in his precise use of the correct spells, electing to use a charm to slow his decent as opposed to falling blindly as they had. They had managed their way through every obstacle without the smallest ounce of effort, Kurt's doubts about Snape's involvement were validated when the chess pieces yielded to him showing that Dumbledore must have had the utmost confidence in him.

They came to a room that was new to Kurt and they bumped into Hermione, she was battling to get by a troll more than double the size of the one he'd defeated in the girl's bathroom.

"Kurt," She smiled at him but her eyes grew wide when she spotted Professor Snape, "Oh my god!"

Professor Snape had defeated the troll as effortlessly as he had the other enchantments, after which he drew his cloak up over his face so that he was faceless, cautioning them to be silent.

He had extinguished the purple flames, walked into the small chamber and extinguished the black flames the way forward, paying no mind to the vials on the table. The sight that greeted Kurt was horrific; Professor Quirrell was bent over Harry with severe burns on his face… one of his faces, and most of his exposed skin. Kurt looked away for a moment but out the corner of his eye he saw Professor Snape, completely covered with no identifiable feature, throw the man aside with a flick of his wand. Kurt to see that Quirrell lying lifeless on the ground; as he tried to look everywhere but at the corpse he took the circular room in for its plain drab self, noting only the elaborate mirror standing solitary in the room.

Professor Snape carried Harry's limp body like he had Ron, gesturing for Him and Hermione to follow him as if to say, 'the battle is over.'

~0~

Kurt had told the story of his birthday twice in the subsequent time they had at school; the first time had been when Professor Dumbledore had called the four of them into his office for meeting, having spoken to each of them individually he had decided to hear the group's collective take. The tale was wild when they shared the role of story teller, they had eached down played it individually but as a collective the true craziness of their adventure had become evident. Kurt had learned that he could be brave too but he must have known that earlier because his friends had reminded him that he'd once defeated a troll, a detail that escaped his mind because he knew that had been hubris as opposed to bravery.

They had become school celebrities for the fifteen minutes it had lasted. Celebrity though had been halted by their exam results, everyone had become too preoccupied by their academic development to care about them. Kurt had done very well in all his exams, he'd place top in his house and second in their year; Hermione had done better in all their theory exams but he had dominated the practical sector.

When the year had closed Kurt had packed his stuff enthusiastically, he was excited for summer school. Draco Malfoy had almost burst into flames when Kurt had received his letter from the Minister of Magic permitting him to practise magic over the summer as opposed to the slips everyone else got commanding them to do the complete opposite.

The end of year feast had been decorated beautifully in emerald green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's triumphant seventh consecutive win of the House Cup, Kurt had been forced by Professor Snape explicitly to sit with his peers. The dinner had almost looked appetising for once; Kurt had sat quietly and tried not to burst into flames from unrelated excitement, silently eating his meal.

"It's hard to believe that another school year has come to a close at Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore stood in a sapphire blue cloak with a serious expression on his face, "The time has come for the house cup to be awarded; in fourth place we have Gryffindor with three hundred twelve points, in third place is Hufflepuff with three hundred and fifty-two points, Ravenclaw is in second place with four hundred and twenty-six points and in first place with four hundred and seventy-two points is Slytherin. Congratulations Slytherin house."

The congratulations was half hearted but the Slytherins cheered none the less, Kurt some of the seventh years boasting about how the house had won every year they'd been at Hogwarts.

"However," Professor Dumbledore spoke over the rumble commanding silence, "Recent events must be taken into account. For the cool use of intellect under pressure, I award fifty points to Hermione Granger. I award fifty points to Ron Weasley, for the greatest game of wizards chess this school has ever seen. Harry Potter will be awarded sixty points for pure nerve and outstanding courage."

The Gryffindors cheered loudly as they noted that they'd tied with Slytherin house, "Finally, it takes great courage to stand up to your enemies and even greater courage to stand up to your friends; to Neville Longbottom I award twenty points," there was a loud roar from the Gryffindor table as they realised that they'd surpassed Slytherin house, every Slytherin's smile had fallen from their face, "If my calculations are correct," Professor Dumbledore met his gaze for a moment, "I believe a change of decorations is in order."

He waved his hands and the emerald green turned ruby red, the silver turned gold and the serpent of Slytherin was replaced by the Gryffindor lion, "Well done Gryffindor!"

The other three houses cheered loudly, ecstatic that Slytherin's winning streak had ended. Gregory Goyle had leaned with his normal confused facial expression, "What about you?"

"Me?" Kurt asked scoffing loudly, "I was apparently in bed."

~0~

It seemed to Kurt that as quickly as the year had begun, it was over. Kurt and Finn had boarded the Hogwarts express together once more but there were no tears this time, even as the scarlet steam engine took off Kurt knew that they'd be back soon enough. The brothers had decided to split for the trip, spending the last few moments with their friends. Kurt had quickly found Harry, Hermione and Ron, joining them for the voyage back to the real world as he might have once called it but now it seemed to be make believe.

As the towns whizzed by the window, Kurt thought about the past year and how much things had changed; a year ago Kurt hadn't so much as suspected that he was a wizard and now he was one of the best in his year at it, he'd played a minor role in keeping one of the wizarding world's terrorists at bay and he'd even taken to the lingo. Learning about this whole new side of him had been an adventure, one he'd only begun because Finn had made him believe that it was true; the thought of sixth grade seemed foreign to him now but a year ago he'd been excited about going to Eton like his father had before him but now it was hard to imagine himself in a uniform other than the Hogwarts uniform.

A lot of things had changed in his life, of that Kurt was positive but it seemed one of the biggest changes for Kurt was that for the first time in his life, his lineage had become a factor in his life and he was doing something about it. He'd seen the school counsellor and began investigation into solving the unknowns in his life, Kurt had been compelled to divulge every detail of his long life with hope that he would get some answers; Kurt had taken a very mature decision with regard to this topic but he knew that he wasn't ready to grow up completely.

The other major change was much more obvious to see, he had friends his own age; he wasn't isolated in the clique mentality of muggle schooling. He and Hermione had formed a lasting friendship based on the many similarities; a luxury he had never been afforded before, but he guessed it wasn't everyday he met someone the least bit like him. Kurt had been a lone wolf before, content to pass the days on his own, but now the thought of living without his friends seemed like monumental catastrophy.

"What are you thinking about?" Hermione asked him with a playful nudge in the ribs, he'd been quiet longer than he'd ever dared to be before.

"We still get to do this for another six years," Kurt beamed with a smile that touched each ear, "but hopefully next year won't be as… exciting."

Ron smiled and rubbed the ugly yellow bruise above his elbow, "I could do without the bruising but I don't know if we'll ever be able to match this year."

"A normal school year sounds like fun," Harry growled excitedly waving his bandaged wrist about as he imagined it, "just worrying about normal kid things."

Ron let out a pleasured growl of agreement, Hermione giggled a high, "Wouldn't it be lovely?"

"I take it back," Kurt announced putting an immediate end to their dreaming, "Do you have any idea how boring that would be? Besides do you know what people our age are worrying about?"

Kurt was met with a sea of blank of stares, "Puberty! I personally wouldn't mind a distraction."

"You'd have to start liking girls," Hermione teased soliciting a grimace from each of the boys, she burst into a fit of laughter.

"Do you think growing boobs is fun," her face dropped as Kurt laughed till his ribs hurt, they soon settled into a comfortable silence.

It was Hermione who broke the silence, "you guys better write or I am going to disowning you as friends."

"I will right every opportunity I get," Kurt promised, this was what the stationary set had been for, "if I stop writing then know that I've fallen into a volcano and died."

"A bit grim but it works for me," Hermione smirked and move to ruffle his hair, she hand stopped in mid-air as his gaze met her own.

"I'll write," Ron assured them, "but if Errol dies on the way that's not on me."

"I guess death is the theme for our excuses," Hermione's eyes were slits from how hard she was laughing.

Harry smiled to himself, "If I don't write then Voldemort has come back and killed me."

Shocked faces filled the compartment, Ron was the only one who managed to speak, "Too soon bro."

It seemed to Kurt that in the short space between September and now Kurt had done so much; he'd learned magic, travelled to the far east, become world ranked at something, made friends, had a flirtationship with a cute boy and finally found someone even smarter than he was- it seemed the only thing he hadn't done was get taller.

That's the end of the first book... hope you're still there.