I figured you guys have waited ages for this (and my bf is telling me to put it up right now for some reason ::shrugs::) so this is unbetaed but will be replaced with the beta-ed version tomorrow :-)

Important A/N: I just realized that I forgot to put in the part about Snape going down to Fluffy! So let's pretend they knew that, alright. Silly me…

Dedicated to Annabeth: Hope you get well soon!

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"You are so grounded for that kiddo," Sirius also added, sitting back down on the couch.

"But it was nearly four years ago!" Harry protested.

"Don't care," was the only answer he got.

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Harry rolled his eyes, this was the major downside of overprotective guardians. And he hadn't even gotten to the cursed broom yet… Harry inwardly groaned, that damned broom was next!

"So, what's next?" asked Sirius, slightly calmed down. "And it had better not include any trolls," Sirius added sternly.

"It doesn't include trolls, specifically. Well, not a conscious one," Harry said, evading the question.

"Just what is that supposed to mean," Sirius demanded suspiciously. He was already angry at that old coot that called himself a headmaster. If there was more…

"Er, never mind," Harry said wincing. "Anyway, so me, Hermione and Ron became best friends after that."

"Hermione, Ron and I," Remus corrected.

"Whatever," said Harry, "Anyway, so she started to break the rules a little more as well."

"Being a bad influence Harry?" Remus said with a smile.

Harry shrugged innocently and said, "I have no idea what on earth you're talking about Remus."

But then his smile faded as he tried to figure out how on earth he was going to get away with this. At least he wouldn't get grounded – he still couldn't believe that Sirius had actually grounded him – but Sirius would refuse to let him out of his sight.

"Alright, so then came my first Quidditch Game – against Slytherin, as luck would have it," he said, rolling his eyes. "At least Malfoy wasn't on the team yet."

"You would've beaten him anyway," Sirius said confidently.

"Maybe," said Harry, shrugging. "Anyway, so like I said, after Halloween was the first Quidditch Match of the season. Madam Hooch made her whole speech about a fair game – kind of pointless when you're dealing with the Slytherins," he added as an afterthought.

"Wasn't as bad as the final in your third year?" Remus asked with slight dread.

"Nuh, not quite that bad," Harry said, recalling to the match in question.

"Why? What happened? I don't know if that was one of the matches I saw," Sirius said wearily.

Remus snorted and said, "Trust me, Padfoot, if you don't know what match we're talking about then you didn't see it. It put some of yours and James' matches to shame, I swear."

Sirius rose an eyebrow and said, "I don't know if I want to know."

"Lets just say it included McGonnagall swearing, over a dozen penalties and a lot of 'mistaking' heads for bludgers," Harry said, saying the word mistaking with uncharacteristic sarcasticness.

Sirius rose an eyebrow and said, "You'll have to tell me about that one later. But for now, continue."

Harry sighed and said, "If I must."

Sirius rose an eyebrow and said resignedly, "You know, that doesn't exactly foreshadow well."

Harry just sighed and reflected, "Well, it actually didn't start that bad. Gryffindor was in the lead, Slytherin wasn't cheating too much and then I saw the snitch." Here, Harry paused, wondering how to word this the best way.

Why am I getting the feeling that this is where that broom is going to come in? Sirius thought to himself. A voice in his head answered, Because you're starting to realize that Harry's school life wasn't as calm as you wanted it to be. No thanks to that meddling old coot.

"So, you and the Slytherin Seeker gave chase," Remus surmised. "But then what happened?"

"Well, to tell you the truth I don't really know," Harry admitted. "I was flying after the snitch and the broom started bucking and, erm, trying to throw me off."

"And then please tell me that the stupid goat that has the gall to call himself a headmaster came and stopped you from falling," Sirius said, the fury he was restraining evident in his voice and the pale blue eyes that were nearly glowing with energy.

"Er, not really," said Harry, wincing slightly, knowing that this would just get the headmaster into more trouble. But at least Dumbledore couldn't get grounded like he could.

Harry's answer made Remus look up sharply as he had believed that that had been the case. With narrowed golden eyes he said, "And just why wouldn't he be there?"

"I don't know," Harry said, panicking a little, making Remus' eyes soften and Sirius say, "Never mind that now, keep going, kiddo."

"Um, well, obviously Hermione, Ron and the others had figured out that something was up," Harry said.

Sirius snorted and muttered, "They better have."

"Well, Hermione noticed that it was a jinx or hex or whatever," Harry began hesitantly. He didn't know quite how to word this so it would cause the least amount of damage possible. Getting Snape into trouble was one thing. Getting Snape killed by vengeful guardians was another.

"And who was it," Sirius growled, envisioning many scenarios with the person that dared harm his godson on the opposite side of his trigger happy wand.

Remus agreed whole-heartedly, though his scenarios included something along the lines of his clumsiness with potions. After all, it wouldn't be his fault if he found that foul person and saw him on the night of the full moon and forgot to put in the key ingredient in his Wolfsbane Potion.

"Well, the theory, and notice I said theory," Harry added, "Was that, well, that it was Snape," he admitted in a whisper and then added quickly, "I said theory!"

Sirius jumped up and started yelling something about greasy gits and people who couldn't get over grudges and how anyone could do something that cruel to his sweet, innocent godson with the big green eyes, making Harry wonder whether Sirius truly escaped Azkaban without being driven insane.

"Padfoot, why don't we let Harry finish the story," Remus interjected through Sirius' tirade. Sirius just turned his glare onto his best friend but Remus was unaffected and just smiled grimly as he added, "We can figure out what to do with Snape later."

Harry looked at his guardians apprehensively, peeking out from the top of the blankets that he had hidden under so as to muffle what they were saying. Hopefully when they found out that it was Quirrell they wouldn't go and murder Snape.

Sirius reached over and ruffled Harry's hair and said, "Well, what happened next? Please tell me somebody gave him what he deserved," practically spitting out the word 'him'.

"Well, this is just what I've heard from Ron and Hermione," Harry began, neglecting to mention that he had missed it because he was trying to stay on his broom over a hundred feet off the ground. "Hermione said that she saw Snape muttering something and so assumed," he said, stressing the word assumed when it looked like Sirius was about to get up and start shouting again. He was already fingering his wand rather viciously.

"Anyway, she assumed that Snape was jinxing the broom. So she went and sort of set Snape's robes on fire to break his eye contact," Harry finished, looking startled when Sirius hissed in triumph.

"Ha, take that Snivelly," Sirius muttered under his breath, "But it's not nearly enough for what you did to my godson," he trailed off, muttering ominously.

"So you managed to get back onto your broom?" Remus asked, looking highly relieved when Harry nodded.

"But then I felt sick and I sort of couched a few times and the snitch popped out of my mouth," Harry said, smiling as he remembered those care-free days.

Sirius looked at his godson incredulously and said, "Wait, you caught the snitch in your mouth?"

"Well, I suppose I technically nearly swallowed it," Harry replied thoughtfully.

Sirius just laughed and gave Harry a spontaneous hug saying, "That has to be one of the strangest ends to a match in Quidditch history." No thanks to that old moron, he added silently, not wanting to spoil Harry's obvious good mood. But un-hurt or not, Dumbledore and Snape were going to get it. I wonder if we have any Howler paper?

He was shaken out of his thoughts by Remus saying, "So, is that the end of the interesting parts for this year?"

"Of course it is, Moony!" Sirius exclaimed. "Just how many adventures do you think he can take?"

Remus laughed and said, "I suppose you're right."

Harry winced and sunk down into the couch a little as he opened his mouth and said hesitantly and quietly, "Well, actually, there's kind of more…"

Sirius and Remus stared at him and Sirius said in a forced calm voice, "What do you mean by more?"

"Um, that I'm not done yet," Harry said, sinking down even lower.

"Come on, kiddo, it can't be that bad," Sirius said, though he sounded doubtful. He reached out a hand and pulled Harry back up and readjusted the blanket making Harry roll his eyes.

"It's about that package and the giant three-headed dog, isn't it," Remus said suddenly.

Harry looked up at him in surprise but before he could say anything, Sirius' hands stilled and he said, once more with forced calm, "Harry James Potter, do not tell me that you actually went near that dog again, and this time willingly?"

Harry winced again and said quickly, "Before I answer that, and before I continue the story, actually, you have to promise not to ground me for any longer!"

Sirius gave him a look and said firmly, "I'm your godfather and legal guardian. I will decide if you will get grounded or not."

Harry didn't answer for a moment and but then brightened as he thought of a way that he could get what he wanted. He turned to his godfather, who had sat back down on the couch next to Harry, and pouted and even managed to get some tears in his eyes.

Sirius' stern gaze lasted all of three seconds once he caught site of the look on Harry's face. He sighed and said, "Alright, I promise not to ground for longer than a few weeks."

"Promise," Harry asked in a childish voice, rather amazed at the success of this trick. He would have to try it again sometime.

Sirius' heart softened even more at the sound and said "Promise."

Harry brightened at once.

"Alright, so now that that's out of the way, shall we continue?" Remus asked, barely able to keep the laughter out of his voice. As tough as Sirius was against Dementors and Death Eaters, he absolutely crumbled at a single look from his godson. Remus shook his head, wondering what on earth was going to happen come Christmas and Harry's birthday.

"Right, next," Harry said, interrupting Remus' thoughts. "Oh, that's right. We were in Hagrid's hut and Hermione was telling me about what had happened," looking at Sirius cautiously but Sirius didn't do anything, merely twitched and stroked his wand.

"But apparently Hagrid hadn't seen what had happened, because he didn't believe us," Harry revealed.

This made Sirius explode once more, "What do you mean, he didn't believe you?!?"

"Padfoot, sit down," Remus ordered. "At least let Harry finish this story."

Sirius obliged, grumbling about Hagrid not believing his godson and his friends.

"Anyway," Harry continued over the sound of his godfathers voice, "We then mentioned that we had seen Snape go to the dog at Halloween - "

"Which just proves that Snivellus is a liar and should have been fired long ago," Sirius interjected.

"Padfoot," Remus groaned. Harry looked on at the interchange with slight amusement before deciding to continue before they got into a full-fledged argument.

"He asked us how we knew about Fluffy," he began but was soon interrupted again.

"Wait, what do you mean, Fluffy?" Sirius asked.

"That's the name of the dog," Harry answered simply. "Didn't I mention that?"

"No," said Remus, weakly. "Really, I knew Hagrid had a fondness for rather vicious creatures but to name a giant, three-headed dog Fluffy? That's bordering on insanity."

"It's better than – no wait, never mind," Harry said quickly, realizing that some of Hagrid's other pets probably wouldn't be best if they were mentioned right then.

"So Hagrid mentioned Fluffy," Sirius said, getting over his shock fast enough. After some of the other revelations from earlier on in the day, this one wasn't quite that bad.

"Oh, yeah," Harry said, getting drawn back into the story. "And he said that whatever it is that Fluffy's guarding is a matter between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

Sirius, who had snorted when Harry had mentioned 'Professor' Dumbledore, looked thoughtful at Flamel, "Nicholas Flamel, did you say? I've heard of him…"

"He was a famous alchemist," Remus said. "Died a few years ago though. Don't know why, after all, he had the Philosopher's Stone."

"The stone that gives you immortality and everlasting gold?" Sirius clarified.

"Yeah," Harry said, "'Course, we didn't know that at the time and spent weeks at the library trying to find him in some book or another."

"And you couldn't find him," Remus asked, slightly surprised.

"Harry, that package wouldn't be the Philosopher's Stone, would it?" Sirius asked bluntly.

"Heh, maybe," Harry admitted. He amended his answer at the stern look he got from both of his guardians, "Alright, so it was but we didn't know that. And the next important thing was Christmas."

A disappointed and wistful smile crossed Sirius' face at this. How he would have loved to be there for Harry on Christmas and be able to spoil him with presents. Well, his resolve hardened, he would just make sure Harry had an absolute wonderful Christmas this year. Making a mental note to pursue that thought, he tuned back into the conversation to find that Harry was talking about when he and Ron had woken up on Christmas morning.

"So I got a sweater and fudge from Mrs Weasley," Harry was saying, "And some chocolate frogs from Hermione and a few other things," neglecting to mention the gift he had gotten from the Dursley's.

"Then I got this surprise gift, it was really light and when all silvery and Ron told me it was an Invisibility Cloak," Harry said, softly. "The note said that it belonged to my father and for me to 'use it well'."

Sirius sent Remus a searching look but the werewolf just shook his head silently, eyebrow furrowed as he wondered who would have James' old cloak.

"Christmas was fun," Harry continued, slightly more solemn now. "But it was that night that things started to pick up again." Sirius looked wary now.

"I got out of bed and I sort of wanted to try out my dad's cloak so I snuck out," Harry admitted, looking slightly surprised that he did not get told off for this.

The truth was that Sirius knew where Harry was coming from and there was no way he'd tell him off for wanting to do something with the only connection he had with his father.

"Where did you go," Remus asked, almost gently.

"Hmm? Oh I went to the library," Harry said. "I thought I'd do some more digging on Flamel… in the restricted section. Sirius rose an eyebrow but did not comment.

"But, with my luck, I picked a book that screamed when I opened it," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"Actually, Harry, all the Restricted Section Books scream when opened by someone without a teacher," Remus explained, lips twitching, "It's one of the enchantments on them."

Harry blushed, "I didn't know that."

"Obviously," Sirius laughed.

"Well, this time it really was my bad luck because Snape happened to be one of the teachers that came up to the library. The other one was Filch."

"Ouch, that really was bad luck," Sirius said, wincing sympathetically.

"I got away and went into an empty classroom," Harry said, feeling a little nostalgic as he recalled what had happened next.

Sirius and Remus seemed to notice this as they did not prod him for details.

"I went in and just saw this mirror," he said hesitantly after a few minutes. "It had this inscription on it – I can't remember it now, but I do remember feeling shocked when I looked into it and saw all these people around me in it."

Sirius and Remus exchanged an uneasy glance.

"It – it was my family," he said softly, "All of them. Even my parents." He could feel his eyes clouding with tears, especially now as he remembered the sounds of their voices as they had been murdered ruthlessly.

Sirius went over to his godson and rubbed comforting circles on his back, silently giving his support as Remus held his hand and rubbed it with his thumb encouragingly.

After a few minutes, Harry began again and said, with a slight sniffle, "I went down with Ron the next night and found out that he saw himself as Head Boy, Quidditch Captain and winning the House Cup for Gryffindor. Then I went alone again the next night, but I wasn't there very long when I saw Dumbledore. Or rather, he interrupted me. He told me that it was called the Mirror of Erised and that it was basically a mirror of Desire. It showed you the greatest desire of your heart."

"And yours was seeing your family," Remus finished quietly.

"Yeah," Harry said with a slight smile.

"And Dumbledore then said that the mirror was going to be moved and that I 'shouldn't go looking for it again and not to dwell on what cannot be," Harry recited.

Hah. Looks like that old coot can do something well, Sirius thought, actually a little surprised.

"Well, I do hope that the next part is happier," Sirius said eventually.

"Yeah, well, sort of," Harry answered.

"Why, what happened," Remus asked, now resigned that it would most likely be dangerous.

"Well, I suppose the first most important thing that happened was that we found out about Nicholas Flamel," Harry said.

"How?" Remus asked, wanting to get Harry's mind off the Mirror of Erised.

"Malfoy hexed Neville and I gave him my chocolate frog and he gave me the card – which was Dumbledore's – and it said something about Dumbledore and Flamel pairing up about something," Harry railed off.

"That was a… coincidence," Sirius said, struggling to find the right word.

"Tell me about it," Harry agreed. "So we found out about the Philosophers Stone and then… do I have to go on?"

"Yes," his two guardians answered in unison.

"Well, we were doing homework in the library when we ran into Hagrid and found out that he was reading up on dragons," Harry revealed.

"Well, that nothing new, Hagrid's always reading up on them," Remus reasoned.

"Yeah, he did it all the time at school," Sirius added.

Harry sighed and said, "He was reading about dragon care."

Seeing that his guardian's weren't getting the head he put it in simple terms even though he knew their reactions wouldn't be very good;

"We went down to Hagrid's hut where we found out that he had gotten a dragon's egg."

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