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: 4,225
Chapter 8
Follow my lead
"Come tomorrow evening, we can continue this discussion then" Snape dismissed him.
"I've been having extra potions class and I have learned nothing useful" Draco whined.
"Slytherins don't whine" Harry reprimanded.
"Shut up, Potter" Draco threw a piece of bread at him.
"Haven't you asked about potions used for protections?" Pansy asked sweetly.
"Who do you think I am? A Hufflepuff?" Draco looked offended, "Of course I have! But he said it was too advance, and not something I really need to know" He grumbled.
"I told you so" Harry sing-song.
"What?" Draco glared at him.
"How can you really expect to outsmart the Head of Slyhterin?" Harry chuckled, and Draco threw another piece of bread at him.
"What are we doing today?" Pansy grabbed Draco's hand, everyone else tried to hide their smiles.
"As in you and me?" Draco asked shocked.
"Of course silly. It is Valentines' day after all" Pansy said sweetly.
"So?" Draco looked confused.
"Well, we are supposed to spend the day together" Pansy explained.
"Why?" Draco looked scared.
"Don't be silly Drake" Pansy rested her head on his shoulder.
"Draco and Pansy sitting on a tree k i s s i n g" Harry started to sing before Draco threw his pumpkin juice at him.
"Don't be like that" Harry laughed.
"It is Valentines" Daphne pointed out.
"I've been told" Draco looked disgusted at the girl, who still had her head on his shoulder.
Daphne got rid of the pumpkin juice that was on Harry, at the exact time that the morning delivery post arrived.
A black little owl landed in front of Harry and put his leg up for him to take the letter.
Harry recognized it as the Potter's owl, it was the one that had given him Danielle's and his parent's letters before.
"A Valentine Harry?" Zabini teased.
"Who is it from?" Daphne teased too.
Harry ignoring them and opened the letter.
Hey little brother,
It has been more than a month since I've heard from you!
Are you still alive?
Hope not! Otherwise I would have to go and kill you for forgetting about me!
What happened to the promise you made to me about writing everyday?
Harry certainly didn't remember promising that, but he knew he should have at least written once.
Well, anyway… Happy Valentines Day!
I hope you get lots of kisses and chocolates from your girlfriends.
At least that is what I told dad and uncle Sirius and uncle Remus.
Mom didn't really like my innocent joke.
Honestly!
I tried to get Holly to write you a letter, but you will be happy to know
that I think she got over her crush on you.
Oh well, I can think of some other way to make your life miserable, I'm sure.
MUAHAHAHA (it's supposed to be an evil laugh)
Love,
Danielle.
"It is from my sister" Harry answered after reading it.
"How old is she?" Nott asked.
"She will be 10 years old soon" Harry answered
"She will be at Hogwarts next year then?" Nott asked.
"No, still another year before she comes to school" Harry answered.
"What is her name?" Nott asked.
"Danielle" Harry answered.
"How is she like?" Nott asked.
"Oh come on Theo! You haven't even met her and you already have a crush on her?" Daphne asked, and Nott blushed.
"He likes Harry, so he is imagining a female version of him" Draco wiggled his eyebrows, still not being successful at getting Pansy off him.
"Don't you dare get near my little sister!" Harry threatened Nott, and then started laughing with the rest of the first years.
"Come on, we have double potions first" Zabini said getting up from the table.
"Oh fun!" Harry exclaimed.
"No, we won't be learning how to make love potions" Snape said for the third time, getting frustrated "20 points from Gryffindor for not listening" Snape glared at Lavender, who had asked twice now, how to make one.
"As I was saying before I got rudely interrupted" Snape started saying in a deep voice "We will be learning how to make a Pepper up potion"
"Does Poppy need it?" Ron asked
"20 points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn and 20 more points for being disrespectful, is Madame Pompfrey" Snape glared at the read-head boy.
"Follow the instructions on the board" Snape ordered, but no one moved.
"Now" he said in a threatening whisper, that everyone in the room heard.
"It doesn't look complicated" Harry said, reading the instructions.
"It isn't" Draco told him.
This class Draco had taken a chair next to Harry in an effort to avoid Pansy, who had decided to cling to him for the rest of the day.
He had been partially successful. Pansy had taken a sit in the desk behind him with Daphne, who just kept smirking at him.
"Just get the ingredients ready, I will start the potion" Draco told Harry.
Since he had never really liked potions, he had no problem with letting Draco do everything.
"He is in a good mood isn't he?" Pansy whispered to Harry and Draco, in a sarcastic manner.
Harry snorted and Draco glared at her.
"Lighten up" Harry patted Draco's back, but Draco only glared.
"Is there a problem?" Professor Snape asked Draco, once he had come near their desk.
"Potter thinks he is funny" Draco told the professor innocently, shocking Harry.
"Potter, you are going to have a T for today's assignment, since you prefer being funny than doing what you are supposed to do" Snape told him "Just like your father" he muttered, but Harry heard him.
"Who married Lily Evans" Harry muttered, knowing Snape would hear him.
Snape glared at him and strutted to the front of the class. At least that is what it looked like to Harry.
"It is not our fault he doesn't have a girlfriend" Lavender whined after class was over, and Snape was nowhere in their hearing range.
"Should we get him one?" Harry asked the other slytherins.
"And you wonder why he doesn't like you?" Draco asked.
"I've never wondered" Harry answered.
"Where are you going?" Pansy yelled after Harry, when they all noticed he wasn't walking with them towards lunch anymore.
"I ordered a gift for my favorite Professor for Valentines. I'm going to make sure everything is perfect" Harry yelled back and ran away from them.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Faces sticking out of your head
Makes you look cute
Would you be my Valentine?
Harry Potter
A dwarf dress as cupid chanted.
Right at the middle of the DADA class, a dwarf with a diaper holding a red arrow, walked into the room and stood in front of the defense Professor.
"Do yo-ou ne-eed som-mething?" The professor asked the dwarf.
At that instant the little guy cleared his throat and started chanting the poem, Harry had written, at him.
Everyone in the room started laughing hysterically and the dwarf disappeared.
"Potter" the Professor glared at Harry.
"Happy Valentines Day!" Harry exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.
"Faces sticking out of your head? What was that about?" Daphne asked Harry, still laughing, walking towards their next class.
"Wasn't it romantic?" Harry asked sweetly.
"What is so romantic about it?" Zabini snorted.
"You wouldn't understand" Harry huffed dramatically walking into their next class.
"He is just lucky Professor Quirrel never gives him detention" Draco said.
"Maybe they really like each other" Pansy shrugged.
They all walked into the room just as the class was about to begin.
"Did you have transfiguration today?" Hermione asked excited.
"Yes, two hours" Harry answered feeling a little tired.
"Wasn't it fun?" Hermione asked.
"Transfiguring pieces of wood into pink and red hearts isn't really what I would call fun" Harry laughed.
"Oh come on Harry, they are cute" Hermione expressed.
"Roses are red, Violets are blue, Faces sticking out of your head, Makes you look cute, Would you be my Valentine?"
Ron was on his knee in front of Lavender Brown. Lavender was covering her mouth with her hand to keep herself from laughing too hard.
"I've heard that poem at least ten times today. It doesn't even make sense" Hermione said, looking confused at Ron's display.
"They are just having fun" Harry stated.
"Faces sticking out of your head? It doesn't make sense" Hermione said.
"Don't think about it, it is not important" Harry said.
"I know, it is just… weird" Hermione said.
"It is part of the fun of the day" Harry stated.
"Fun of the day?" Hermione asked.
Harry got back to reading the book on his lap, enjoying the last rays of sun before it got dark.
Hermione went back to her book again; understanding the conversation was over.
"Roses are red, Violets are blue, Faces sticking out of your head, Makes you look cute, Would you be my Valentine?"
Harry looked up and laughed.
"Awesome Harry" Draco patted his back and sat down beside him.
"You started that?" Hermione asked surprised.
"It was just a joke" Harry shrugged.
"Who was the poem for?" Hermione asked.
"Quirrel" Draco laughed out loud.
"Why are we laughing?" Pansy asked, followed by Daphne and Zabini. All of them sat down making a circle.
"A professor?" Hermione looked disappointed.
"He is not really a professor" Daphne stated.
"Yes he is, he is the defense professor" Hermione stated back.
"A professor is someone that teaches for a living. Have you learned anything from him?" Daphne asked her.
Hermione wasn't able to answer her question, making the other girl look smug.
"How did you come out with it?" Daphne asked Harry.
"I just got inspired" Harry smiled.
Everyone except for Hermione laughed, who still thought it had been disrespectful of Harry to have done what he did.
"Oh come on Pansy, sit over there" Draco pointed to another tree, quite far from where they were. She had rested her head on his shoulder again.
"You want us to go over there?" Pansy asked happily, pointing to the tree.
"Not we, you" Draco stated still pointing at the tree.
"Don't be like that Drake, it is Valentines" Daphne mocked.
"Everyone keeps pointing that out" Draco muttered.
"Maybe you should write Pansy a poem" Zabini adviced.
Pansy got excited "Oh! Will you write me a letter?"
"No I won't!" Draco said quickly "I don't write poems, ask Harry for one"
Everyone started laughing, this time Hermione as well.
The slytherins first years, had learned that Harry wasn't going to prefer them than Hermione, so they had decided to just ignore the Ravenclaw girl.
Pansy being the only one that for some reason, was incapable of ignoring Hermione all the time.
"So Harry" Daphne started saying, letting a couple of second of silence "Are you going to write Pansy a poem?"
"Only if she asks me to" Harry answered "I won't do it just to humiliate her"
"Thank you Potter" Pansy said honestly.
"Not a problem Parkinson" Harry answered.
"Humiliate?" Blaise asked curiously.
"Dwarfs in diapers, with arrows, singing poems to everyone they can. Can get a little embarrassing, don't you think?" Harry asked.
"The twins surely know how to embarrass people" Harry said in a whisper not expecting anyone to her him, remembering when they had send him a letter supposedly from Ginny on his second year. Hermione heard him.
"Poor Ginny, it must have been humiliating for her" Harry whispered and chuckled to himself still on memory land; again Hermione was the only one that noticed.
"Who is Ginny" Hermione asked Draco, since he was the most civilized one towards her, not letting anyone else hear her question.
"The only Ginevra I've heard of, is a Weasley" Draco answered back.
"I've never seen her before" Hermione stated.
"She is the youngest" Draco answered and went back to talk with Zabini and Nott.
Neville's POV
"Where would a Slytherin hide a mirror?" Ron asked "We've been looking everywhere for it, for over a month, and we have found nothing"
"We have to find it" Neville stated.
"Why is it so important?" Dean asked.
"We've talked about this" Neville answered annoyed.
"And it still doesn't make sense" Seamus said.
"Why should he have it?" Neville acted childish.
"He shouldn't have it" Ron defended Neville.
"We need to find that mirror" Neville stated.
"We will make him tell us where it is if we have to" Ron tried to sound menacing, but it made Dean and Seamus chuckle.
"We are out" Seamus stated.
"Yeah, I don't care enough about a mirror" Dean said.
Both Seamus and Dean walked towards the first year Gryffindor's room, leaving Ron and Neville in the common room.
"I'm going for a walk" Neville told Ron, getting up from the chair he had been sitting on.
"I'm coming with you" Ron said.
"I want to be alone" Neville told him and walked out of the common room, leaving Ron hurt.
"Wha-at is wro-ong?" Quirrel saw Neville sitting on the stairs, with a pensive look.
"Someone stole something from me" Neville answered.
"Wha-at did the-ey steal?" Quirrel asked.
"A mirror" Neville stated.
"Yo-ou kno-ow who-o did it?" Quirrel asked.
"Potter" Neville said angrily.
"Ho-ow did he ma-ana-age to ste-eal a mirro-or from yo-ou?" Quirrel asked.
"It wasn't exactly mine. I found it, and now it's gone. Potter is the only one that knew about it" Neville stated.
"Wha-at is so impo-orta-ant abo-out the mirro-or?" Quirrel was now interested.
"It is special. Potter said it show us our heart desired" Neville answered.
"The mirror of erised" Quirrel whispered.
"Yes, that one!" Neville exclaimed.
"I saw some-meone carr-rryi-ing it to-owa-ards the third flo-or" Quirrel stuttered.
"We are not allowed to go into the third floor" Neville stated.
"No, yo-ou are no-ot" Quirrel stuttered, and walked away from him. Neville didn't notice it was pass curfew and hadn't got a detention from the professor.
Quirrel's POV
"Clever using the mirror of erised Dumbledore" Quirrel said to himself, walking towards his office. "Now I know everything I need to get to the stone"
"The monster from Hagrid, the devil's snare from Sprout, the flying keys from Flitwik, the chess board from McGonagall, the riddle from Snape, the troll from me, and finally the mirror of erised, from Dumbledore" Quirrel said happily to himself.
"It took you long enough" A deep voice said, once he reached his office.
"I'm sorry master" Quirrel bowed to a mirror "it took longer than I thought to make everyone talk"
"There is no excuse" The deep voice said menacingly.
"It was my incompetence" Quirrell said.
"Yes it was. I don't like incompetence" The deep voice stated "Get me that stone. Kill the Potter heir"
"Kill Potter?" Quirrel asked confused "I thought we were interested in him"
"He would be more trouble than what he is worth" The deep voice stated "Kill him" the voice ordered.
"As you wish master" Quirrel bowed to the mirror again.
Ron's POV
"And Neville?" Dean asked, once Ron entered their room and sat on his bed.
"He went for a walk" Ron answered.
"By himself?" Seamus asked.
"Is after curfew" Dean stated.
"He won't get in trouble. He is the boy-who-lived" Ron said icily. Dean and Seamus looked at each other raising their eyebrows.
"I am going to find that mirror" Ron stated.
"Not you too" Dean whined falling back into his bed.
"Why do you want the mirror?" Seamus asked annoyed.
"It must be important" Ron stated.
"It is a mirror" Dean stated.
"Both Potter and Neville want it" Ron pointed out.
"So?" Dean asked.
"It must be important" Ron said as if it was the most logical thing.
"Because they want it you want it?" Seamus asked.
"I will get it!" Ron promised, and closed the curtains around his bed. Promising himself he would outsmart both Potter and Longbottom.
Dumbledore's POV
"This will be a good test for Neville" Dumbledore petted his phoenix, and the phoenix looked at him in disbelief.
"I know you don't approve, but it needs to be done" Dumbledore stated "He has to know the danger that comes with his title, he needs to be able to get out of trouble, to fight for the greater good"
The phoenix moved a little farther away from the Headmaster.
"He is going to have to face him sometime, I want him to survive"
Fawkes looked disapprovingly at him.
"I will look for everyway possible for him to survive. If it's not possible he will be the savior of all of us. He will be a hero" Dumbledore explained.
Fawkes flew away through the window.
"It has to be done. It is for the greater good" Dumbledore sighed exhausted, and went to sleep.
Hermione's POV
"Why does Harry know Ginny Weasley? He doesn't get along with Ron. They met at the Hogwarts express, I was there" Hermione told herself.
She had been trying to decipher the riddle of Harry Potter for quite sometime, she just didn't understand. She had hints, but they didn't go with each other.
"Why does he hate Quirrel so much? What does –face sticking from his head- mean? Why always ask about possessions?" Hermione kept pondering.
"How did he know Fluffy's name before Hagrid told him?" Hermione asked herself "Why is he sometimes loud, sometimes depressed, and sometimes scary?"
"Why does he always seem to know more than us, but yet he never tries to do anything in class, as if he didn't think he could do it? Or maybe he already knows, so he is bored" Hermione shook her head "Impossible, why would he already know? I'm getting tired"
She heard her roommates just outside the door, so she closed her notebook, where she was keeping all her ideas, and hid it in her trunk.
"Goodnight" she told the girls once they entered, and lay on her bed, sleep claiming her quickly.
Nott's POV
"Anything new?" Quirrel asked.
"Nothing, they are still trying to figure out how to get to the stone" Nott answered respectfully with a bow.
"Convince them to go get it as soon as possible, but tell me beforehand" a deep voice ordered.
"I will master" Nott answered, not getting up from the bow yet.
"It is important for Potter to be the only one to get to the stone. Understood?" The deep voice stated.
"I will make sure he is the only one to get there" Nott promised.
"Make sure of that" The voice threatened, making Nott shiver.
"I will master" Nott promised again.
Draco's POV
"We need to get to the stone" Draco told Zabini and Daphne.
"We know why we want it, why do you?" Zabini asked Draco.
"We need to prove ourselves" Draco stated.
"To Potter?" Daphne asked incredulous.
"To someone more powerful than us" Draco answered.
"You think Potter is more powerful than us?" Daphne snorted.
"I know he is" Dranco flinched.
"What happened?" Blaise demanded to know.
"I can't tell you yet" Draco answered.
"When will you?" Blaise asked.
"Soon" Draco answered.
"We could try and get it with the knowledge we already have" Daphne relented.
"If it is in the school the protections must be designed with children in mind" Blaise stated "We can take them"
"So it is decided then?" Draco asked, and his friends nodded. "We are getting that stone"
Harry's POV
"This is getting too annoying" Harry told himself "At this rate, we will get the stone once Voldemort decides to get it"
"Potter can I talk to you?" Pansy had been looking for Harry since an hour ago, finally finding him in an unused classroom arguing with him self.
"What do you need Pansy?" Harry asked, hoping Pansy hadn't heard him.
"Talking to yourself?" Pansy teased with a smirk.
"Arguing with myself" Harry corrected her.
"That makes you sound even crazier" Pansy stated.
"Did you come to tell me that?" Harry asked.
"No" Pansy walked towards him, and Harry could see she was nervous.
"Why is Draco scared of you?" Pansy blurted out.
"He isn't scared of me" Harry answered.
"Then why is he making us follow you?" Pansy asked.
"He is making you follow me? I don't understand" Harry said taken aback "What are you talking about"
"Maybe he just, really thinks you are a good friend" Pansy shrugged.
"Maybe" Harry said, not buying it.
Pansy's POV
"Is almost as if he really didn't know what I was talking about. Acting like a Gryffindor didn't work. How am I going to figure out the secret about Potter?" Pansy asked herself.
Random Facts:
Date: 14th February, 30th March, 25th April 1992
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