Summary: Harry travels back in time to change the future, but something doesn't go exactly the way he planned. Neville is the boy who lived.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Words in this chapter: 7,990
Chapter 5
I don't like when nothing is going my way
Promising himself he would investigate it, he reached for a school owl and attached a note he had written before he started looking for Hedwig asking Hagrid if Hermione and him could visit during the week.
He was sure Hagrid would say yes.
On October 31st, tragedy hadn't happened here. His parents were still alive.
Neville's hadn't died.
In this place, Halloweeen was truly a day to be celebrated, Voldemort had been vanquished 10 years ago.
No more deaths, no more suffering, no more fear, at least not more than normal. There was no war, at least not so openly fought.
Children could play by themselves, and parents could go take a walk in a park.
This was the first time Harry was truly happy it was Halloween, he was going to celebrate just like everyone else.
Of course he was forgetting that this day was and forever will be cursed for him. The only reason nothing bad had ever happened before on this date was because he hadn't been here, but now he was.
Life at Hogwarts had been much better since Hermione and him hade made a symbolic promise to be friends, the day Hermione had met Fluffy.
The other Slytherins had stopped trying to make his life impossible, they weren't nice or anything, they just had stopped making their purpose in life to torment his.
Only the first year Slytherin boys would be known to do, what they called an innocent prank now and then. It was bareable.
Classes that day had been more symbolic than anything.
In History of Magic they had manipulated Professor Binns into telling them famous legends.
In Herbology they had tended to gigantic pumpkins, which they later carved.
In Transfiguration they had made Halloween decorations.
Classes had been fun, and now it was time for the feast. Harry was starving.
"I made a flying witch out of wood" Hermione showed him a small wood figurine "I am going to research how to put color in it and to animate it. What did you do?" She asked Harry.
"I made a vampire out of my piece of wood" Harry showed her his figurine, having been careful at not putting in extra things he wasn't supposed to know yet.
"It looks like Professor Snape" Hermione looked carefully at the figurine.
"Well, he is the only vampire I know" Harry told her in a serious tone.
"Harry! You shouldn't be so disrespectful, he is a Professor!" Hermione exclaimed.
"That doesn't mean he isn't a vampire" Harry smiled, to let her know he was joking.
Hermione now knowing he wasn't serious, smiled and changed the topic.
Sitting in the Ravenclaw table had been a welcomed change.
He didn't feel like he had to be careful of what he ate or drink.
Here he could be carefree, he could feel free for the first time in a long time.
Scary small spiders ran through the table at one point in the night. Ron screamed as if he was dying and ran out of the Great Hall.
At the middle of the feast, the Hogwarts ghosts made a frightening show that got everyone into the perfect Halloween mood.
Harry should have known it wouldn't last, he should have known Quirrel was going to ruin it. He had once before, why not this time too?
The doors to the Great Hall slammed opened and Quirrel came in between jogging and running.
"There is a troll in the dungeons. Thought you should know" Quirrel said without stuttering and in a frightful voice. Everyone in the hall had been able to hear what the professor had said just before he had fainted.
Harry knew he was faking. That only reminded him of the threat Voldemort was at the present.
Hell broke loose.
Everyone started to panic.
"Silence!" Dumbledore said a magic enhanced voice.
It worked. Everyone momentarily calmed down to pay attention.
"Prefects, please take the students to their common rooms and don't leave until someone from the faculty says otherwise" Dumbledore gave intructions.
"Slytherin common rooms are at the dungeons" Harry stated.
"Dumbledore must have forgotten. Come to our common room, I'm sure no one will mind" Hermione told him while dragging him with her after the Ravenclaw prefects.
"Ron" Harry told her with a scared expression.
"Run where? Why?" Hermione stopped dragging him, looking confused.
"Ron doesn't know about the troll" Harry dragged Hermione towards the dungeons, where he knew they would find the troll.
"Destiny must be laughing at me. First you, now Ron?" Harry started talking to himself not noticing Hermione was listening "Ron better be safe just like Hermione was. This time I'm killing Quirrel and the troll before they hurt anyone".
Hermione gasped at what she heard but Harry didn't noticed, still dragging Hermione with him.
After a few minutes, which felt like hours to Hermione, of running, Harry suddenly stopped, making Hermione slam into him and fall to the ground backwards.
The noise of Hermione falling caught the troll's attention.
It was just like Harry remembered.
A height of twelve feet and just as dumb and dangerous looking as he knew the troll would be.
"Don't move" Harry ordered in a voice, that frankly, scared Hermione.
Harry moved his wand without saying a word and before the troll could take a step towards them, it fell to the ground dead, blood getting out from everywhere in its body.
"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger. Why aren't you in your common rooms?" a voice asked them from behind, Hermione still on the floor. It was Professor McGonagall.
"The troll is dead" Hermione said, not believing what she was saying.
The teachers looked behind the two students, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. How did this happen?
"It was the weirdest thing. It just fell dead and blood was everywhere" Harry explained in a calm tone.
Hermione was shocked at the blatant lie, but didn't say a word.
"You didn't see who did it?" Professor Dumbledore asked them both.
"There was no one here but us" Harry told him.
"Professor Dumbledore kept looking at Hermione.
Harry knew he must have been performing legimancy on his friend.
"I see" the Headmaster said looking at Harry. He thought he was going to try legimancy on him as well, but the Headmaster didn't.
"I am going to have to deduct 10 points from Ravenclaw and Slytherin for not being in your common rooms. You should go there now" Professor McGonagall said in a stern obvious, still shocked.
Not wasting a second both Hermione and Harry left, each one to their respective common rooms.
"Mr. Potter. Why is it that you are always in the middle of everything?" Professor Snape said in what anyone could mistake as a soothing voice, but which Harry knew was full of sarcasm.
"Bad luck?" Harry tried.
Snape left his mentor mask aside and now Harry could see the Snape he'd always known, bitter and ready to kill.
"How did a couple of first years manage to survive and kill a full grown mountain troll?" Snape asked, but before Harry could even think of something to say Snape added, "Where did you learn such a dark spell? I wouldn't imagine Potter or Black teaching you something like that. I am sure even as stupid as Granger is, she wouldn't have learned that spell" Snape stated.
"She is smarter than you. I don't know what you are talking about" Harry said with a voice full of malice.
"I have ways of confirming it" Snape threatened.
"Legimancy will not help you" Harry stated, savoring the shock expression on the potions master.
Getting riled up, Snape stunned Harry before he saw it coming and entered his mind in full force.
Harry wasn't able to put his defends up on his mind the first couple of seconds since he was caught in surprise. He had expected Snape not to try it after revealing he knew about it, but was able to expel him off and get out of the spell Snape had put him on after a minute.
"Don't ever try that again" Harry threatened in a frightening voice that even made Snape visibly shiver and got out of his Head of House office, slamming the door behind him with his magic.
Snape's POV
How was an arrogant, weak first year like Potter able to repel him? An expert Legimance. Snape thought.
Just after Harry had stormed out of his office, he went straight to Dumbledore's.
The Headmaster had told him to question Potter about the troll incident, insisting the brat had killed the troll with a dark curse.
Snape had told him that was impossible, but was asked, more like ordered, to investigate anyway.
Snape had been right.
Even if he was only a minute the time he had been able to be in his mind before he was forcefully expelled, it had been enough.
Harry's memory showed everything just as he had said happened.
The first years saw the troll and when it turned towards them, the troll fell to the ground dead with blood all over its body. That was when the teachers and him walked in.
"Lemon Drop" Snape said out loud once he reached the gargoyle that guarded the entrance of the Headmaster's office, and it stepped aside letting him walk through.
"Come in"
When the Headmaster invited him in, he opened the door and stood in front of Dumbledore's desk, waiting for him to be acknowledged.
"Sit my boy. Did you have an interesting talk with Mr. Potter?" the Headmaster asked him.
"Mr. Potter's memory showed me what I already knew how the troll died" Snape stated in an emotionless voice.
"That is not what Miss Granger remembers" Albus said it in a casual manner, as if it weren't impossible for two people that lived through the same thing to remember two very different things.
Tampering with memories was impossible without leaving a trace behind, and he was sure Harry's memory was genuine.
"Maybe we can both see Mr. Potter's memory" Dumbledore suggested in a way he only could.
The old man got up from his chair and went to retrieve his pensieve, where Snape was supposed to put the memory of Harry in.
Reaching into it, both man felt as if they were falling through a cold mist until they were standing in one of the dungeon's halls just behind Harry and Hermione.
They kept silence just watching the memory unfold.
"Don't move" Harry ordered in a very scary voice for an eleven year old, which made Snape remember the frightening voice the boy had used back at his office to threaten him.
Hermione stood still in shock not being able to keep her eyes off the troll.
Just like Snape had previously seen, the troll fell to the ground dead and with blood all over. No one else was insight.
Potter had his wand out, but was pointing it at the floor, and hadn't used it.
Next thing they knew the faculty members arrived and started asking questions.
"I think that is enough" Dumbledore stated and the memory dissolved.
"Interesting" Albus said making Snape irritable at not knowing what was so interesting about the memory, aside from the obvious mysterious way a troll just fell dead.
"That is not what Miss Granger remembers" that got Snape's attention, "It is late, you should rest my boy. It has been a tiredsome evening" Albus dismissed him, leaving Snape with the curiosity of what had been so different between Harry's and Hermione's memory for Dumbledore to deem interesting.
Hermione's POV
Hermione had been very curious about the spell Harry had used to kill the troll.
She was very grateful. Harry had saved their lives, so Hermione hadn't asked him about it, scared of maybe being heard, since Harry had lied to the professors and she didn't want him to get in trouble.
He was her first real friend. Maybe this was what friends were supposed to do.
She had dedicated her free time in the library, but hadn't been able to find anything.
She hadn't heard and incantation, and she hadn't been able to see the wand movements from where she had been standing.
She was beginning to think it was a dead end.
She would wait until she was certain no one could eavesdrop and ask Harry.
She had more things to investigate anyway.
Who would name a huge, deathly looking, three-headed dog, Fluffy?
They should go see Hagrid. Hermione thought.
She put the books she had been reading back in its place and went to look for Harry, maybe Hagrid had already responded to their note. She hoped.
Harry and Hermione,
I was very happy when I received your note.
Of course I would love to have you over for tea.
How does Sunday at 4pm sound?
Hagrid
Harry had showed her the note, as soon as she had asked about it.
"It's almost 4, we should get going" Hermione gave the note back to Harry and started walking towards the grounds, where Hagrid's hut was.
They didn't say a word. Hermione was dying to ask him a million questions, but held back when she noticed how pensive he looked.
He looked as if he was trying to decide something, but what?
Loud barks brought her back. She noticed they were already in front of Hagrid's door.
"That is Fang. He is harmless" Harry told her with a smile and knocked twice on the door.
"Coming" was heard from inside.
A large man, Hermione had only seen once before, opened the door with a beaming smile.
"You must be Harry and Hermione? Come on in" Hagrid beamed and moved aside to let them pass.
You must be Harry? Hermione thought they already knew each other.
"I'll make you some tea" Hagrid said and put some cakes that looked less than edible on the table, where she thought they must supposed sit.
"I thought you already knew Hagrid" Hermione whispered to Harry didn't answer her.
"I haven't seen you since you were a baby!" Hagrid exclaimed towards Harry "You look just like your father but you have your mother's eyes"
"I've been told" Harry said with a smile.
"I am sorry for inviting ourselves. It's just that Harry told me about Fluffy and I was very curious about it" Hermione couldn't contain her curiosity, but she did notice both Hagrid and Harry's shocked and maybe frightened expressions.
"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked them both with narrow eyes, making Hermione feel as if she was being reprimanded.
"We happened to get ourselves in the third floor and we saw it" Harry quickly stepped in, lying again.
"Dumbledore cautioned everyone not to go into the third floor. What were you doing there?" Hagrid asked a little more calmly.
"We got lost. We didn't know it was the third floor until we saw the huge dog" Harry answered.
If Hermione hadn't known he was lying, she would have believed him.
Hagrid calmed down completely after that.
"You were very lucky. Don't ever go there, though he really is harmless. He is just a puppy" Hagrid said.
"A puppy?" Hermione shrieked.
"He is only a couple of years old. I bought him from a greek chappie at a pub. Orphaned. He needed love and care, so I took him. Good thing I did, since he has been a big help for Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel" Hagrid abruptly stopped speaking looking shocked "I said too much"
"Who is Nicholas Flamel?" Hermione asked, curiousity spiked.
"I said too much" Hagrid repeated.
"Does he have anything to do with what Fluffy is guarding?" Hermione kept pressing.
Hagrid narrowed his eyes "How do you know his name?"
Before Hermione could answer Harry stood up quickly.
"Thank you for the tea, but we have to go. It's getting late" Harry quickly said, taking Hermione's hand, and rushing her outside.
"Wait!" Hagrid called from his hut when Harry and Hermione were already on their way towards the school, but he didn't go after them.
"Hagrid didn't tell you about Fluffy, did he?" Hermione asked Harry.
"He did" Harry stated.
"Don't lie to me" Hermione pleaded.
"I am not lying" Harry told her looking at her in the eyes.
"You are a very good liar. I would have preferred for you to tell me you couldn't say or you didn't trust me" Hermione said hurt, with watering eyes.
"I am not lying, I wouldn't lie to you. I just can't explain" Harry told her.
Hermione decided to let it go for now.
Since she was more interested in who Nicholas Flamel was, but she wouldn't give up.
Harry was trying to hide something and she was going to find out exactly, what it was.
The rest of the way until they reached the main entrance was walked in silence.
"We should go to the library and research who Nicholas Flamel is" Hermione told Harry, the hurt still evident in her voice, though it was mixed with a hint of excitement about having a mystery to be solved.
"We should start with that. We know he must be the owner of something important if it need something to guard it, and we know he must be Dumbledore's friend" Harry was trying to make discovering the philosopher stone faster pointing out obvious stuff they had overlooked the first time around.
Harry was happy Hermione was talking again. It had been an awkward walk towards the library.
"Why do you say that?" Hermione asked him.
"Nicholas Flamel must be very close to Dumbledore to trust him with something valuable" Harry stated
"True, but why does whatever Fluffy is guarding has to be Nicholas Flamel's?" Hermione asked.
"It has to be something of his or Dumbledore's and his" Harry stated.
"Professor Dumbledore" Hermione corrected him, seeing the point in what he said, "We have to look in a book where they list the greatest witches and wizards in the recent years, and then see who is close to Professor Dumbledore"
Hermione was getting more excited now having a start point.
"We should look farther back, Dumbledore is not exactly young" Harry stated.
"Professor Dumbledore. You have to be more respectful" Hermione reprimanded "Maybe, but we should start with recent years"
Knowing she wouldn't find anything about Nicholas Flamel in recent years, he gave up.
He didn't know how to tell her that, without sounding mysterious.
It was going to take her a while to find out about the philosopher stone, but if she took too long, he would have to find a way to tell her.
Maybe he could give her the book where his Hermione had found it, as a present.
They had been at the library for over 4 hours now, and as Harry already had known, they hadn't found anything yet.
"I didn't know there were so many Great wizards and witches" Hermione exclaimed "Look at this. Jessica Berry. She modified the lumos spell to use it as an x-ray" Hermione exclaimed excited.
This was going to take too long if it continued like this. Hermione wanted to learn everything about everyone she encountered in the book –Greatest Witches and Wizards of the last century-.
"We should continue another day, we have classes early morning" Harry stated, starting to close every book Hermione had been using.
"You may be right. It is almost curfew" Hermione said, helping Harry put back all the books to their rightful place.
They took their bags and started walking out the library.
"So Fluffy…" Hermione started asking.
"I'm sorry 'Mione, I really can't tell you" Harry interrupted.
"'Mione?" Hermione asked him, obviously not liking the idea of being called that.
"Your new nickname" Harry told her.
"I don't think so. I don't like nicknames" Hermione stated.
"Fine, no nicknames" Harry said with a huge smile on his face, happy that Hermione seemed to let go of the Fluffy questions for the second time. He just didn't think he would be so lucky a third time.
He had to think about what he would do when that happened.
"I will walk you to your common room" Harry told her.
"Don't worry. You should go to yours, otherwise you wont get there before curfew" Hermione told him and walked away. Harry walking back to Slytherin's common room as well.
Hermione was too curious, she didn't like not knowing about something. Harry knew she wasn't going to forget about it, sooner or later he was going to have to tell her who he was before she figured it all by herself, and didn't forgive him for not trusting her.
The question he had to answer to himself as soon as possible was when he was going to tell her.
Could he trust her?
How and what exactly was he going to tell her?
Could he trust her completely?
Harry was asking himself all this questions.
Of course he can. It is 'Mione!
He reached his bed before curfew. The other Slytherin boys were already fast asleep, for which he was thankful. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the bed.
"Still nothing" Hermione said clearly exasperated at the lack of advancement, hitting the book she had been reading onto the table. That earned a glare from Madame Pince. Hermione looked guiltily towards the librarian, which made her stop glaring.
Hermione was obviously Madame Pince's favorite student, just like his Hermione had been.
"Why don't you try going farther back?" Harry asked her.
"I think you are right. I will start looking into it" Hermione answered.
"Not today" Harry told her, closing the book Hermione had just opened, "You look tired. You have to take a break. We should have fun"
"Fun?" Hermione asked taken aback about Harry not letting her continue reading.
"You know what fun is, right?" Harry teased her.
"Of course I do!" Hermione huffed, feeling insulted, forgetting about the book she had been trying to get from Harry.
"Prove it" Harry kept teasing.
Hermione took it as a dare and walked out of the library, leaving Harry back to put the books away.
He put them away quickly and ran to catch on with her.
"So what are we doing?" Harry asked her once he had found her, which surprisingly had taken him a while.
He had found her waiting for him at the entrance of the castle.
"I can be fun" Hermione stated still angry.
"Really?" Harry kept teasing.
It had been a fun day after all, Hermione had let herself loose.
They had played cops and robbers for a while, even hide and seek. All games Hermione had played with her cousins before, Harry only for his first time, but had had fun.
They had gone swimming at the lake until it had gotten dark.
They were now laying on their backs, watching the stars, besides the beginning of the lake.
"Are you an only child?" Hermione asked him.
"No, I have a younger sister. Her name is Danielle" Harry answered.
"How is she like?" Hermione asked.
Harry couldn't answer that question. He had no memories of her but for the night he had arrived and the letter she had sent him some time ago.
"Are you an only child?" Harry asked. He already knew she was, but he still asked.
"I had a little sister once. She died when she was 4. We were two years apart, but we still were very close" Hermione answered a tear falling from her eye.
Harry hadn't known that, was it the same for his Hermione and he hadn't known?
"How did she died?" Harry asked genuinely interested.
"No one really knows. She just stopped breathing. She just never woke up" Hermione told him.
"I am so sorry" Harry said.
"Don't be. She didn't suffer" Hermione told him with a sad smile.
"She would be very proud of you" Harry told her.
"I like to think she would" Hermione said, "What do your parents do? You've never told me about them" Hermione was clearly trying to change the subject.
"Well, my dad is an auror. His name is James Potter. Everyone says I look just like him, except I have my mother's eyes. Her name is Lily Potter and she stays home with my little sister Danielle. She is nine" Harry guessed Danielle's age, since he didn't really know "And there is my godfather. His name is Sirius Black"
Everything he knew about his family were things he had heard, mostly from Snape and Draco, at some point.
"Is your godfather married?" Hermione asked.
Harry honestly didn't know. Was he?
Where Remus and Pettigrew part of his life?
Were they married?
"What are your parents like?" Harry asked avoiding her question.
"My father is a dentist. He had me on braces for years and he'd never let me have any candy, unless they were sugarless. When I came here I wrote him asking for permission to take care of my teeth with magic. He said it would be better if magic wasn't involved. I love him. My mother is a teacher at Cambridge. Have you heard of it?" at Harry's nod, she continued "She went back to work recently. When my sister died, my mom dedicated her life completely to me. She was what you would call overprotective, though I didn't mind. She and my dad were all I had"
"How about friends?" Harry asked. His Hermione hadn't had any before Hogwarts, but thing seem to have been different for this Hermione.
"I didn't have any. I was homeschooled. My mom didn't really let me go anywhere without her" Hermione said with a thoughtful expression and a smile.
Flashback
Harry had written his mom asking her not to come to Hogwarts.
He was fine.
He really didn't want to go see Madame Pompfrey.
He knew she wouldn't find anything wrong with him.
He didn't have memory loss.
He just hadn't had the life the memories were from.
Not being able to find anything, he just knew Madame Pompfrey would not let him go until she knew what was going on and she was sure her patient was fine.
He hadn't gotten a reply yet, but it was fine, he had just sent the letter the night before, when Dumbledore had given his wand back.
He should have known better, after spending all those summers at the Weasley's.
"Mr. Potter. Come with me" Snape came to get him early morning, just when he was about to start breakfast.
Snape's expression was something he'd never seen on the man, but he thought he could see him fidgeting, anxious and maybe even excited.
He wasn't sure those emotions were capable on Snape though.
Curious, he stood up and followed his Head of House.
He noticed it too late.
They were walking towards the Hospital wing.
He tried to turn around, but Snape pushed all the way until they were inside.
"Harry James Potter! Why haven't you seen Madame Pompfrey yet?" a voice that made him feel very small, reprimanded. She looked very angry, her face matching her fiery red hair.
"I was going to come after breakfast" Harry tried.
"I know when you are lying. I am your mother. Sit down in a bed while Severus gets Madame Pompfrey and I make sure you don't move" Lily said.
Snape quickly left to go find the school's healer.
"How is everyone? Where is Danielle?" Harry asked innocently to his mother, trying to calm her down.
"You are so much like your father, it scares me. He never takes anything seriously" Lily said frustrated, but not seeing anything wrong at going along with Harry, while they waited for Severys and Poppy, she answered him, "Your father must be with Sirius at the ministry, trying to find a way not to work and only have fun, just like everyday. I really don't know why Madame Bones keeps them. I left Danielle with Laura. I left her there while I am here making sure you are alright"
Harry had no idea who Laura was, but he didn't react accordingly, he was sure Lily would find it strange, if she knew that.
Poppy walked in from where Harry knew her office was, with Snape a couple of steps behind.
"Mrs. Potter, Mr. Potter" the healer greeted with a nod "Professor Snape tells me you are looking for me, Mrs. Potter. How can I help you?"
Lily now showed her concern on her face and look towards Madame Pompfrey.
"Harry wrote to me recently about him having memory loss. He claims is because of stress, but I've never heard of that before. I would prefer if you check him" Lily said, holding Harry's hand the whole time.
"Mr. Potter, you should have come see me as soon as you noticed the memory loss. Anything that concerns the head can be dangerous" Madame Pompfrey told him, clearly disapproving of his decision to stall coming here. He tried smiling, but erased the smile from his face almost immediately.
"Lay down while I do a diagnostic spell" the healer ordered.
She moved her wand towards him and different colors came from it.
Harry could see the colors red, green and blue, then a black smoke came as well, though it quickly disappeared, making the healer frown and start again. The same colors came out from her wand, even the black smoke, though it disappeared quicker than before.
"Is there something wrong?" Lily asked the mediwitch concerned.
Instead of answering her, Madame Pompfrey did the diagnostic spell one more time. This time, the black smoke disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.
"What does the black smoke mean?" Lily asked.
"The green means there had been injuries that had already healed throughout his life, which is perfectly normal. We've all had. The blue shows us his magic, the brighter the more powerful the witch or wizard is. Harry's is perfectly normal for his age. The red means torture. It can mean physically or mentally, but when it's this red, means it hasn't healed. That alone makes me concern" at this point the healer paused for a second "I've never seen black smoke before. I have no idea of what it means, but I don't think it means anything good. I'm going to do more tests and get them to St. Mungo's research department for help" seeing the mother's scared expression she added " Don't worry Lily, I'm sure it is nothing life threatening"
Harry was kept at the Hospital wing for the rest of the day.
He had been poked and had to drink several potions the whole day.
He had been asked continuously about the torture. He couldn't really say he had been tortured for over 20 years. Could he?
The first 10 years of his life by the Dursleys and the rest by Voldemort and company, both physically and mentally.
He had shrugged and said he had no idea what they were talking about.
Snape had been serious, but observant throughout the day.
Not really finding a reason to keep him there, Madame Pompfrey let him go with a warning to take better care of himself, and promising to get back to them about the results on the black smoke. As soon as she got them.
Feeling a little better at having seen Harry looking healthy, Lily said goodbye to him and Snape, making Harry promise to go see Madame Pompfrey if he didn't feel well. She made making Snape promise to keep an eye on her son.
End of Flashback
He was actually anxious about knowing the results of the test that had been performed at him that day, but Madame Pompfrey didn't have them yet.
"Mother's can be a little overprotective at times" Harry told Hermione.
"It just means they care" Hermione told him.
"Yes, it does" Harry said with a smile.
"We should go back to the school now" Hermione said, standing up slowly and waiting for Harry to do the same.
They walked back to the castle, Harry feeling better about where he was, yet concerned and apprehensive, though he didn't know why.
"There is no record of Nicholas Flamel anywhere in the library" Hermione said feeling as if the books had, for the first time in her life, let her down, "Maybe I should order some books from Flourish and Blotts"
"Or maybe you are not looking in the right books" Harry said getting frustrated at the fact that she couldn't find anything after the hints he kept trying to give her.
"You are not exactly helping" Hermione glared at him.
He felt he had helped, and a lot. He just didn't want to research books about something he already knew, though maybe he could act as if he mysteriously found all the answers.
"Fine I'll help" Harry said standing up, to look for the book where Hermione had found the answer before.
It took him a while, but he did found it and brought it to the table where Hermione was.
"Alchemy?" Hermione asked confused "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I just thought it would be interesting to read" Harry said putting the book in front of him and opening it to the first page.
"Well, if you are not going to help, at least you could read and be quiet" Hermione said disappointed.
"How do you know the answer won't be in this book?" Harry asked getting frustrated at her.
"Why do you think you are going to find anything on Nicholas Flamel there? At least you could research about Fluffy if you are so bored" Hermione stated.
"How do you know Nicholas Flames is in that book?" Hermione relented, noticing Harry's frustration.
"I don't, but I'm going to find out" Harry answered showing her the book.
Hermione huffed dramatically and opened her mouth to say something, but someone beat her to it.
"Who are Nicholas Flamel and Fluffy?" someone from behind asked.
Harry turned around "Why do you want to know?" he asked.
"You come here with the mudblood almost everyday and stay in this table for hours, reading. Today you mentioned Nicholas Flamel and Fluffy. Are you sure you aren't a Ravenclaw?" the boy asked.
"Unfortunately not. The stupid hat put me in slytherin" Harry answered "Don't call Hermione that" he added
"It must be stupid alright, to think you are worthy of being in the house of Salazar Slytherin"
"Why are you here Malfoy?" Harry asked, getting bored of this word game already.
"I was just curious, Potter" Draco told him with a smirk, "If you are so curious about who these people are, maybe you should ask better people for help"
"Who would be better than a Ravenclaw?" Harry asked him.
"A Ravenclaw that is not a mudblood" Draco answered, still smirking.
Harry got furious, stood up and pointed his wand to Draco's throat.
"Take that back!" Harry said menacingly.
"Or what?" Draco tried to sound compose, but failed.
"You don't want to find out. Apologize to Hermione" Harry threatened.
"A fight in my library! I don't think so. Get out!" Madame Pince shrieked, and practically pushed them outside.
"I can't believe you got me thrown out!" Hermione yelled at Harry and shoved him lightly.
"He called you that awful name!" Harry defended himself.
"He always calls me that. You got me thrown out of the library!" Hermione yelled at Harry and walked away, fuming and muttering to herself.
"The mudblood has a temper" Draco stated amazed.
Harry pointed his wand and Draco's throat again "You are never going to call her that again" Harry threatened.
Draco put his hands up as if he was surrendering "Fine, Potter. I don't care about her anyway"
Harry slowly put his wand down, but still didn't trust the blonde Slytherin.
"So who are this Nicholas Flamel and Fluffy?" Draco asked curiously.
"Why are you interested?" Harry asked back.
"I just am" Draco shrugged.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Harry asked.
"Changing the subject, fine. I am not being nice. A Malfoy isn't nice. A Malfoy acts socially correct" Draco smirked and Harry couldn't help but laugh. Soon Draco joined him.
"You don't act as crazy and carefree as you did when we arrived at the school" Draco stated, while they walked back to their common room.
"I don't?" Harry asked, curious about Draco's sudden interest.
"No, now you are always quiet and boring" Draco stated.
"Boring? I think not! I am not boring!" Harry acted offended, which made Draco laugh.
"That sounds more like you" Draco said between laughs.
"Why are you being nice?" Harry asked for a second time.
"You are a Slytherin. Slytherins stay together" Draco answered seriously.
"Why am I a Slytherin again?" Harry asked.
"I know that everything you do and say is an act. You are ambitious and cunning. And you fool everyone. That is a true Slytherin" Draco stated, leaving Harry bewildered, but he didn't push it.
Draco's POV
"You are saying we should treat Potter as a friend?" Pansy asked.
Draco had asked Pansy, Daphne, Theo and Blaise to see him in an unused classroom. They had been there for almost an hour, where they had heard in silence to what Draco had to say.
"Yes" Draco answered.
"Why?" Theo asked.
"You should trust me" Draco stated.
"We do" Pansy cooed.
"Not blindly, we don't" Theo stated.
"I can't say, not yet. But it is in our best interest to make Harry think of us as friends, maybe even his closest friends, if we can manage it" Draco said.
"Why would it be in our best interest to make Potter like us?" Blaise asked curiously.
"Because we are Slytherins and we think ahead and to our best interest. If you want to win, we need Potter" Draco stated with a vicious smirk.
"Win what?" Daphne asked not really interested.
"Everything" Draco answered.
"And how are we supposed to make Harry like us?" Theo asked.
"You've seen him. He is crazy. We just have to act nice towards him and his mudblood friend" Draco said.
"How do you say we start?" Pansy asked with a gleam on her eyes.
"I heard him and the thing wanting to know about Nicholas Flamel and Fluffy whatever that is" Draco said.
"The alchemist?" Daphne asked, "Why do they want to know about him?"
"He hasn't told me that yet. We should pretend to research with them until they trust us, and then we will tell them what we know" Draco said.
"Why should we pretend and not just tell them what we know?" Daphne asked.
"We need them both to trust us first" Draco answered.
"How are they going to trust us after they find out we knew the answer they were looking for the whole time?" Theo asked.
"If they find out, we will act as if we found it somewhere, or someone told us" Draco said "We will think of the details when we start planning"
"Planning what?" Blaise asked.
"You will know when the time comes" Draco stated.
"You are being very mysterious Malfoy" Daphne told him.
"Believe me, it is worth it" Draco told her, excited.
"So what about Fluffy?" Pansy asked.
"I don't know anything about Fluffy yet. It may be a code for something" Draco shrugged.
"It could be important" Daphne said.
"We will find out soon enough" Draco told her.
"He will find it weird if all became friendly suddenly" Blaise said.
"He wouldn't, but everyone else would" Draco stated "maybe I should be the only one that talks to him first, and you can find a way to get close without making it suspicious"
"Are you sure it is worth it?" Theo asked.
"Yes, I am sure" Draco answered.
"Then I am in" Theo said.
"I am in too" Pansy second Theo.
"How about you?" Draco asked Daphne and Blaise.
"I am sorry Malfoy, but I won't trust just your word. I will make a decision when I am sure of the possible gain" Daphne stated.
"Smart thinking, but not in this case" Draco threatened.
"That is my decision for now" Daphne glared.
"How about you Zabini?" Draco asked.
"I am sorry Malfoy, but I am with Daphne on this one. I don't see why me being friends with Potter would make me gain anything" Blaise stated.
"You are doom" Draco said.
"Boom!" Zabini mocked, making a noise as if something exploded.
"Are you done now?" Daphne asked in a bored tone of voice "It is late"
Daphne didn't wait for an answer, and walked out of the classroom towards the Slytherin common room, side by side with Blaise.
"Don't worry about them Drake" Pansy cooed "Like you said, it is their doom"
"You better be right about this one Malfoy" Theo threatened and walked out of the room.
"They are just jealous" Pansy said.
Draco just stared at the door for a couple of minutes as if he was expecting someone to walk through it. Pansy just stared at him confused.
"I just hope I am right about this one" Draco finally said.
"You are not sure?" Pansy asked taken aback.
"I am sure of the possible gain. I am just not sure if it is something I want" Draco said "Maybe Greengrass and Zabini are the ones that are being smart about it"
"Draco but you said…" Pansy started saying.
"I know what I said, and I already made a decision. I just hope is the right one" Draco stated and walked back to his common room, reaching it a couple of minutes after curfew.
Random Facts:
Laura is Sirius wife.
Date: 31st October, 3rd, 23rd November 1991
Reviews are welcomed.