Rohini had decided not to talk to the boys about what she had found until Hermione was back. She didn't have to wait for long, for their friend arrived two days later. In the meantime, something must have happened to Harry for he apologised to Rohini for his reaction about the mirror and promised not to go back to the empty classroom. They had hugged and Rohini had forgiven him.
She and Ron where playing chess in the Great Hall while Harry was at Quidditch practice when Hermione came back, a huge smile on her face. She was delighted to learn Rohini had finally found some information. They decided to go watch the Quidditch practice but realised something was wrong by the Gryffindors' grim faces.
As they left the field, Harry told them about Snape's sudden decision to be a Quidditch referee.
"What? That's ridiculous!" Rohini yelled.
"Don't play," said Hermione at once.
"Say you're ill," said Ron.
"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.
"Really break your leg," said Rohini and Ron said and Harry sighed, looking doomed.
"We'll make sure to keep an eye on him during the match." Rohini promised him as they walked back to the castle. "Besides, I finally know who Nicolas Flamel is!"
"Do you?" Harry asked.
"Yup. I found a book about French wizards by chance." Rohini lied. She pulled the book out of her bag and opened it at page 123. Then, she read aloud to the others:
"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover.
Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight)." She finished and closed the book.
"Six hundred and sixty fifth birthday?!" Ron said, eyes wide opened. "He's bloody old!"
"The dog must be guarding Flamel's Stone!" Harry said. Hermione nodded.
"I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it." She said.
"That's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!" Rohini said, slapping her forehead. "And Snape is after it because he's always been after fame and fortune. It's pretty obvious by how he hates Harry and I for being famous."
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying…" Harry sighed. "No wonder he would want it."
"I don't know, being immortal has never been an appeal to me…" Rohini said. "It sounds lonely."
"Not if you can keep your friends or family alive too." Ron pointed out. "His wife is immortal as well."
"I wouldn't mind having the Stone to survive our next Quidditch match." Harry said bitterly and Rohini gently patted his arm. "You will keep an eye on Snape, right?"
"Of course." Rohini promised, before somebody called her. Turning on her heels, she squealed when she saw Padma standing at the castle entrance. She ran and took her friend in her arms.
"Padma! You're back early!"
"Surprise!" Her friend laughed.
"How was your holiday at home?" Rohini asked and Padma smiled, pointing at a silver necklace with the letter "P" as a pendant around her neck.
"Parvati got the same one, it's a gift from mum! We had a lot of fun. Everybody was here, even my uncle and little cousins!"
"That sounds awesome!" Rohini said. "How many cousins do you have?"
"Enough to fill a whole classroom." Padma said and Rohini wondered if she was joking or not. Her only cousin was Dudley, and it was more than enough. "Did you like the coconuts cake?"
"Yeah, it was delicious! You need to teach me how to make them." Rohini said and they spent the rest of the day in the Ravenclaw Common Room, talking about what they ate and did over the past few days. Rohini kept the whole Nicolas Flamel and mirror parts to herself and showed Padma the family picture she got for Christmas.
"You really took from your dad!" Padma said. "Except for the eyes. You've got-"
"My mother's eyes." Rohini said, beaming. It felt really good to be told that she looked like them. Neither Uncle Vernon nor Aunt Petunia had ever commented on their similarities in the ten years they lived with them.
Then, Padma gave her some of the Indian recipes she knew by heart and Rohini wrote them down, the two girls lying on their bedroom carpet with Thranduil slept on Padma's back.
Xxx
The Gryffindor vs Slytherin game came too fast to their liking and Rohini woke up with dark circles under her eyes, having spent half the night learning offensive spells that could eventually save Harry from an early death. And judging by her Hermione's face, she had probably done the same.
She hugged Harry tightly and wished him good luck outside the locker room and then found her way through the crowd to Padma who had saved her a seat on top of the Ravenclaw benches. She was holding the Gryffindor banners Dean Thomas had made a few months ago and Rohini helped her unroll it.
A whisper ran down through the crowd as Dumbledore appeared at Lee Jordan's side. Rohini was relieved; nobody would be crazy enough to try to kill Harry right under Dumbledore's eyes. She borrowed Padma's binocular and smiled when she saw that Harry seemed relieved too. Snape on the other hand looked upset and didn't even bother to ask the captains to shake hands before blowing in his silver whistle.
The match barely lasted five minutes; Snape only had the time to give one of the Weasley a penalty for throwing a Bludger at him that Harry did a spectacular dive and barely avoided colliding with the ground (which seemed to be getting a habit for him) then raised his arm in triumph, the Snitch in his hand.
The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the Snitch being caught so quickly. Rohini screamed on top of her lungs, kissing Padma on her cheek and making her blush a little.
The Gryffindors celebrate for two days, being so loud nobody in the castle had a proper night until McGonagall put a stop to their celebration. Harry and Ron seemed so happy that the girls were the one reminding them of the Philosopher's Stone problem. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe.
As the exams were slowly but surely coming closer, Hermione had started drawing up study schedules and color-coding all her notes and Rohini decided to do the same, which seems to exasperate the boys.
"Exams are just as important as Quidditch, Harry." Rohini had told her brother one day and judging by Ron's face, it was as if she had announced him that Harry had decided to retire from being a Seeker.
The teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione, though; they gave them so many assignments that even Rohini was beginning to feel overwhelmed. They spent most of their free time in the library, sometimes joined by the Patil twins and Lavender Brown, Parvati's best friend.
"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.
"Maybe we could take a break and sit down outside." Rohini suggested and Hermione bit her lips, hesitating before following them outside. Half the students had gotten the same idea as them, and Rohini could have sworn she saw the Weasley twins jumping into the lake.
"Odd, Hagrid's curtains are closed." Harry said and they look at Hagrid's hut. Indeed, the pink curtains were closed which seemed a bit odd considering the beautiful weather outside.
"Speaking of Hagrid, I think we should tell him that we know about the Stone." Hermione said. "I mean, maybe now that we do, he will give us more information?" The other nodded in agreement.
"Tonight, then. It will be less risky if we use my dad's cloak to sneak out." Harry said and Hermione seemed scandalised by the idea of breaking the curfew rule before sighing.
"Fine. But how are do you plan to hide the four of us under your cloak?"
"I'm not gonna be left behind." Rohini agreed and they thought about it for a few more seconds. "Maybe you could escort Hermione and Ron outside first, and they will hide while you come back to pick me up. I doubt anyone will spot us once we're out. I've heard it would be a cloudy night." Rohini suggested.
"Ok." Harry agreed and they didn't talk about it for the rest of the day.
Xxx
"Hermione, you just stepped on my foot!" Rohini hissed before pulling the Invisible cloak away. She had waited for Padma to be asleep to contact Harry with the Two Way Mirror and waited outside the dorm for him to arrive. They met no difficulties and so the four of them began to run to Hagrid's hut where smoke was rising from the chimney.
They knocked on the door and it opened to reveal Hagrid in a pink apron and oven mitts. He didn't seem pleased to see them and began to close the door but Rohini blocked it with her foot and winced at the pain.
"Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today." Hagrid said, trying to push her foot away.
"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!" They said in unison and Hagrid blinked.
"Oh. Alright, come in." He sighed before stepping aside to let them in. Fang jumped on Rohini, obviously happy to see her again. Harry waited for Hagrid to close the door before telling him why they were here.
"We think Snape's trying to steal it."
Hagrid laughed, bemused. "Snape? Blimey, Harry, yer not still on about him, are yeh?"
"Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone. We saw him. We just don't know why."
"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone! He's not about to steal it!" Hagrid revealed and they blinked, shocked by the new information.
"Snape what?" Rohini repeated as if she could have possibly misunderstood what Hagrid had just said. "Impossible!"
"Yeh heard me right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today."
" Wait a minute. One of the teachers?" Harry said with a frown.
Hermione sat on a chair and nodded. "Of course! There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments."
"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if yeh ask me. Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore." Hagrid said proudly before he saw the look the four of them gave him. "I shouldn't have told yeh that. Shouldn't have told yeh that."
The cauldron over his fire set began to rattle, making them jump. Hagrid's smile was back as he hurried over and grabbed something, huffing at the sudden hotness. Rohini stepped closer to the table, curious.
"An egg?" She said, confused. "It seems a bit big for an omelette."
"I know what that is! But Hagrid, how did you get one? Those are illegals!" Ron said, frowning and Hagrid looked a bit gullible.
"I won it. Off a stranger I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid off it, as a matter of fact."
"No wonder, if it's illegal." Rohini pointed out and Hagrid didn't have the time to answer that the egg rattled and cracked. Hermione and Harry were standing around the table too now, obviously curious. Suddenly, pieces flew off and Rohini gasped.
"Is that...a dragon?" Hermione said, looking horrified.
"That's not just a dragon. That's a Norwegian Ridgeback!" Ron said, amazed. "My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."
"Wow." Harry and Rohini said. Hagrid's eyes were watering as he looked proudly at the tiny creature.
"Isn't he beautiful? Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy. Hehe. Hallo, Norbert."
The baby squeaked as it looked at Hagrid and Rohini felt like she was melting. Baby dragons were way cuter than what she would have expected.
"Norbert?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he? Don't you, Norbert?" Hagrid said, tickling the dragon's chin. "Dededede."
Norbert hiccupped and blew a fireball of fire into Hagrid's beard, making everybody jolt.
"Ohh! Oooh, ooh, ooh, well...he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course." Hagrid said, tapping his beard with one of his oven mitt. Something seemed to catch his attention outside as he frowned. "Who's that?" He asked and Rohini felt her blood turned cold as they saw Malfoy scampering away.
"Shit!" She shouted before running outside after the boy, ignoring the others calling her name.
"Stop right now, Malfoy!" She shouted, slowly catching up on him. She was quite fast from years of running away from bullies and finally caught the boy's sleeve, making them both roll into the wet grass.
"Let me go!" Draco shouted, pulling on Rohini's hair who hissed and tried to shove his hands away. Harry, Ron and Hermione were barely reaching their level that the light suddenly turned on outside the main gate. To their horror, Filch was standing right here, his cat in his arms and a smirk on his face.
"It smells like trouble." He said, sounding way too satisfied by the situation. They all gulped, Rohini still not letting go of Malfoy. It only got worse when McGonagall stepped outside in her dressing gown, lips pinched and looking furious.
Merlin's beard, things were turning sour.