Potions was disappointing. Harry had been looking forwards to the class but found that Snape clearly loathed him. He had managed to correctly brew his potion along with Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff.
It seemed to be a recurring pattern that many of Hogwarts classes were not up to expectations. History of Magic had proved itself dull since the Professor Binns only seemed to teach about the Goblin wars. Tom was disgusted by how far Dumbledore had allowed Hogwarts to fall.
Herbology was shared with the Hufflepuffs and so he and Susan paired up for the class meanwhile Harlow and Julian paired with each other. Professor Sprout was certainly in love with the subject she taught. Harry wrote several notes throughout the lesson, aware of the important connection between Herbology and Potions.
Harry paid particular attention in magical theory. Focusing his magic and channeling the correct amounts had become easier. He had been refining his control through perfecting Evanesco.
In his own time he had practiced other spells, sometimes spotting Hermione during his study sessions.
Quidditch had quickly become one of Harry's favourite class. The broom instantly flew to his hand. Wind whisked his hair back as they all flew close to the ground. 'You would benefit from apparating more than riding a broom.' A mild distaste was evident in his tone.
Before Harry had realised, a month had already gone by.
Casting Evanesco had now become easy. Harry had moved on to more difficult spells as Tom encouraged him to start diving into arithmecy.
'Copy me Harry.' He flicked his wand at his arm. 'Episkey.'
Harry copied the wand motion at a small cut on his arm. "Episkey" A small glow appeared as the cut healed itself. 'This will definitely prove useful.'
Julian came and sat down next to him below the tree. "Almost Halloween.. Are you sure you'll be okay?"
Harry turned to face him. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Julian looked to the side before looking back at Harry. "It's the night your parents died Harry.." He whispered.
"I've had a long time to come to terms with it." He gave Julian a small smile.
It wasn't a lie. Imaging a life that he couldn't have wouldn't do him any good.
"I'm an orphan Julian. I've accepted that."
Julian looked uncomfortable but nodded nonetheless. "Me, Harlow and Hermione will be in the library if you need us. We're revising the history Professor Binns is inept at teaching us."
"Thank you Julian. I appreciate your concerns."
Julian patted Harry's arm and left.
'You have loyal friends Harry.' It was an observation. 'Perhaps if I had something similar, Dumbledore wouldn't have kept such an annoyingly close eye on me.' He thought privately.
'I know.' Harry thought back. An unusual emotion flickered through him.
His eyes lingered on the sky. 'Let's go to the third floor. It's tea time so there should be less people up there.'
Putting his cloak back on, Harry left his spot underneath the tree.
The third floor corridor was eerily quiet.
His steps echoed as he walked towards a strange door that had been seemingly pried open. A low growl emanated from the room.
'Be quick Harry. You don't have much time before you get caught.'
He glanced into the room. Snape was yanking his leg out of a beast's mouth. "Impedimenta!" Snape flicked his wand.
'A cerberus? What is Dumbledore hiding?' Tom eyed the trapdoor below it.
Realising that he was about to get caught by his least favourite professor, Harry ran down the corridor. As he was running, something pulled at his magic.
He stopped running and hesitantly entered the room.
'What are you doing?'
A mirror stood leaning against the wall, casting a blue light on the ground.
On the border of the mirror the words Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi were inscribed.
'A magical artifact. The mirror of erised?' Tom remembered reading about the mirror during his search for immortality.
"Lumos."
Harry peered at his reflection. There, in the mirror, he stood next to Tom. Behind him there was a dead Voldemort. The rest of the mirror only reflected blurry figures.
".. What do you see Tom?"
'Nothing at all.' The mirror could not reflect the desires of the non-being.
Tom hypothesised that perhaps his own desires had been mixed into what Harry saw. Their souls were linked in more ways than one.
'What do you see?'
'Voldemort dead. Blurry figures and you standing next to me.' The reflection shimmered.
Magic from the mirror weaved itself around Harry.
He read the inscription. "It shows you what you desire doesn't it?"
'Yes Harry. It shows not your face but your hearts desire.'
The seductive magic pulled at Harry again, attempting to trap him in its fallacy.
"Nox."
With gathered will power, he forced himself to leave the room. The air seemed lighter as he walked further away.
"Incredible. Such enchantments must require a lot of skill."
It was a sobering experience. The proficiency needed to create such an artifact was unimaginable. For the first time, a sudden flame lit inside of Harry.
Determination grew out of inspiration.
Something had changed inside of Harry and Tom had felt it. A sharp grin blossomed. It was a change he himself had felt long ago. He relished its warmth.
Harry returned back into the hall in time to see his friends. They lingered behind to chat with him as he enjoyed his dinner. After a few minutes, Hermione left to study in her dorm.
"Who do you think is going to win next week's Quidditch match?" Susan asked.
"Gryffindor." All three of them answered.
"They have the Weasley twins as beaters." Harlow stated.
Susan nodded. "That's what I believe too. Though I don't imagine that Professor Snape will be kind towards the Gryffindors should Slytherin lose."
"Crueler than he already is to them." Julian added.
The rest of the meal passed in idle chatter.
It was finally October 31st. Hogwarts was buzzing with excitement. Peeves had decided to torment the students more than before. This did not better Filtch's already constant ill-temper.
"My condolences, Potter, for tonight." Draco said earnestly.
Harry waved it away. "It's okay Malfoy. And please, call me Harry. No need to be so formal."
Draco beamed but quickly calmed his expression. Usually people did not wish to befriend Draco unless if it was for his father. He was thankful for Harry's companionship.
Changing the subject, "I have written a letter to my father about Defense Against the Dark Arts. I don't understand what Dumbledore was thinking when hiring an idiot like Quirrel!"
"Me neither." He kept Tom's realisation that Voldemort was possessing Quirrell secret. "Unfortunate that Slytherin lost the Quidditch match."
Draco scowled at the reminder. "As soon as I become seeker, Slytherin will easily beat Gryffindor." He sneered.
With that, they entered the Great Hall.
The Halloween feast provided foods that Harry had never even dreamt of tasting until he escaped the Durselys.
Tom reminisced his own time at Hogwarts quietly. A pang of regret echoed within the remainder of his soul.
Harry left the hall early, wanting to practice the new spell Tom had assigned him to perfect.
Harlow and Julian attempted to convince him to stay but he insisted that he wanted to catch up on Magical Theory.
On his way to one of Hogwarts many rooms, he spotted Quirrel running down the corridor. 'How odd.' He dismissed it. If Voldemort was truly possessing him he wouldn't risk any isolated confrontation.
'Recite the use of Petrificus totalus.'
'Temporarily freezes or petrifies the target.' Harry acknowledged.
'Very well.'
After walking far from the Hall, Harry went to enter into a room. A heavy footstep distracted him.
He peered back out into the hallway and saw a troll enter the girl's lavatory. A familiar voice screamed in terror.
'Hermione!' He rushed to the lavatory and recognised Hermione under the sinks.
The mountain troll swung its club down.
"Evanesco!" The club disappeared. The troll looked at its hand in confusion.
"Hermione quick!"
She scuttled out from beneath the sinks and ran behind Harry.
He grabbed her and ran out of the lavatory. "Are you hurt?"
Hermione shook her head. Harry breathed out in relief.
It didn't take long until the troll was thundering behind them. They turned a corner and were met with Professor McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell.
"Explain yourse-" She was cut off as the troll appeared right Infront of them.
Quirrell yelped and stumbled backwards. Snape stood forwards and froze the troll with a single spell.
"Seems like you have the same penchant for getting in trouble as your father.. Potter." Snape sneered.
Tom glared at Snape, wishing he was alive just to make him regret his words.
"Now explain yourselves." McGonagall interrupted.
"I had thought I could take the troll on by myself so I went looking for it and if Harry hadn't shown up.. I might've died."
Harry schooled his expression. 'Why would Hermione lie?'
"W-where did i-it's cl-lub go?" Quirrell peered nervously over Snape's shoulder.
"I vanished it." Harry was quick to respond. He didn't want Hermione to put herself at fault again.
"15 points from Gryffindor for reckless behaviour. 10 points to Ravenclaw for saving a student in trouble. Now off you go." McGonagall looked around and left, quickly followed by Snape.
Quirrell was left staring at the troll. He looked at Harry with a slight smirk which he quickly wiped, replacing it with terror.
"Goodnight professor Quirrell." He said with his most innocent voice.
Harry pulled Hermione with him. "I'll walk you to your house common room."
"Thank you Harry."
They walked quietly, adrenaline still flowing in their blood.
"Why did you lie?" He asked.
"I didn't want to tell them the truth.."
Harry simply nodded. Prying would do no good.
They arrived at the portrait and bid each other goodbye.
'Quirrell was responsible for the troll. He thinks you a fool.'
Flashbacks of being severed from his past self forced themselves to the front of his mind. He remembered the disgust at seeing the illogical, mad being he would grow to be.
'Are you okay Tom?'
'I'm fine.. Don't worry Harry.' He gave a charming smile in hopes of subsiding his worries.
When Harry returned to his dorm, Julian and Harlow checked that he was okay.
"What happened?" Harlow was sat comfortably on his bed.
"I saw the troll attacking Hermione and then we ran before running into professors."
"Sounds intruiging. Yet your an idiot for running into danger. Sounds more like a Gryffindor." Julian joked.
Harlow fed into Julian's game. "I agree. You should trust us more."
A bit of guilt pooled into Harry. "Sorry."
After a few seconds of silence, in which he debated heavily to himself and Tom, he came to a decision.
"I saw a cerberus in the 3rd floor behind the door Dumbledore restricted access to."
Their eyes widened.
"A cerberus? It might be hiding something.." Harlow looked at his hands thoughtfully.
"Could it have to do with this?" Julian threw Harry his own copy of the Daily Prophet.
'Gringotts was broken into? This was an attempt on the same vault McGonogall entered.' Harry scanned through the article before handing it to Harlow.
Harlow set the paper down. "I'll ask Susan. We can scour the library for any possible answers."
"Me and Julian can see if there is any spreading gossip. Or perhaps question some of the professors." Harry added.
They all nodded, sure of their decision, and began to narrow down their search.
By the time they were asleep they had eliminated over half of the library and decided to rule out a quarter of the teachers.
'The ghosts may be of help.' A whisper in Harry's mind originating from Tom.
Realising that they were all asleep, Tom brushed his ghostly hand through Harry's hair.
'I will make up for my mistakes.'