Holydays
*Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry*Scotland*December*
November passed quickly and soon December arrived, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had their first quidditch match of the school season, and much to both the captain and seeker's chagrin the Ravenclaw team lost by just the snitch worth of points, as the Hufflepuff seeker, Cedric Digori, proved to be faster and more skilled than the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang, losing her during one of the tighter corners the snitch pulled off
Classes had not upped their difficulty again, though several more charms had been learned, and four out of the thirteen spells Quirrell tried to teach to the first years had actually been learned; only the Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Harry's group of friends knew all the spells they were supposed to know, while Gryffindor and Hufflepuff did not bother with independent study, so they were falling behind.
The plan Harry's friends had to enter the third floor corridor had not advanced, as Blaize's mother had not yet provided the group with their rune-stone diadems, so they were instead designing the traps they would place when they managed to get into the locked door, so far they had decided to go with something that could be mistaken for childish pranks of an amateur with nothing on the Wesley twins: a cloth tying spell, a levicorpus, a spell Harry's father had invented to hang people from their ankles, and an itching curse, all tied to a detection ward.
On Snape's side of the story it was not going as well as he could hope, as Quirrell had proved to be more resilient to passive aggressive methods of interrogation, he had yet to snap under the near constant pressure the potion professor was placing on him and though he was even more twitchy he didn't let that show to the students, to them he was only stressed because of the break, there was a rumour flying around that the professor had someone that would get mad if he or she didn't get what they wanted for Christmas.
Dumbledore for his part couldn't be happier: there hadn't been any attempt to go for his new cup other than the Wesley twins trying to put a strong laxative potion on it, but other than that only some curiosity from Minerva and Sibyl had shown, no one suspected that the gem that appeared to be a ruby was instead the Philosopher's Stone and most of the attention was taken from the rest of the gemstones by the big emerald on the goblet.
The students were mostly studying for the end of term exams so problems between houses other than the normal level of rivalry were almost non-existent and several house-exclusive study groups focused on years were formed, with the exception of the first years, some of whom had followed Harry's group example and branched out to other houses, but the Slytherins still kept to themselves.
Hagrid had managed to get Harry and his friends, though he was a bit reluctant to let Blaize into his hut, to visit him every fortnight, and through him they learned of the Marauder's escapades into the forbidden forest all throughout the years, they also learnt the reason Snape hated Harry; apparently James Potter had pulled a really bad prank on Snape that resulted in him snapping at Lily and ending their friendship.
Harry's father had gotten several bruises because of that.
And then, before anyone knew it, exams were done for the month and it was time for those who wanted to go home to do so, and so, nearly all the students left the school to visit their families, leaving only the teachers and a handful of students behind.
"So, plans for Christmas anyone?" Blaize asked the assembled group.
"All my family is getting together to celebrate Yule" Neville answered, "So I'm going to stay in the manor's greenhouse all I can"
"I'm going to visit my grandparents in Wales, so I doubt I will be able to get any present to you, you'll have to wait until after break, and don't send anything if it isn't through post" Hermione said.
"You'll receive only and Lisa's present then, we're the only muggleborn other than yourself" Harry smirked.
"HEY, I know how to use the mail, though it would take until the day before school starts again to get to you, I'll keep it until then" Blazie said, "though we could meet in Diagon someday"
"What about you, Terry?" Hermione asked.
"I'll try to convince dad to take us to Versailles, I want to see the magical section of the palace" the boy answered.
"Ooh, can't you get me something from there, a book on the whole palace, both sides, I would SOOO love that" Hermione begged to Terry, who nodded somewhat freaked out.
"What are you two doing?" Blaize asked Lisa and Harry, who everyone in the compartment knew lived a few streets from each other.
"Mom and Dad are having the whole family over," Lisa answered.
"I'm going to crash in Christmas and spend Boxing Day with them" Harry continued, "I only have to spend New Year's with my relatives"
"Why do you have to, anyway?" Lisa asked
"My room needs a lot of magic to stay expanded, and protected, I wouldn't be surprised if I arrive to find it collapsed" Harry answered.
"Why don't you move in with us?" Lisa asked, "You know my parents would love if you lived with us"
"You know I can sense magic, right?" the group nodded, "well, there are blood wards around my relative's, until I can find the ward stone to move it to your house I'll have to stay at the Dursley's"
"Blood wards don't work like that, you know?" Neville pointed out, "They work by tying someone somewhere, and if it is stopped being considered what it is supposed to be considered by the one tied to it, the place that got the tittle will be the one with the ward"
"It's tied to me and the place I call home, if I stopped calling the Dursley's that and started with the Turpin's that, what would happen?" Harry asked Neville.
"Well, normally the wards would envelop you until you found a home, but you would have to do it in less than a week, otherwise they suffer a catastrophic failure" Neville answered, flushing a bit at the attention.
"So I don't need a ward stone for that as long as I have somewhere that qualifies?"
"Exactly, that's how the Longbottom manor is warded"
"How do you lose that?"
"Well, if the head of house, or most Longbottoms, decided to leave the manor the wards would fail"
"But you have normal wards?"
"Yes, but they aren't as strong as the blood ones"
"What can you link blood wards to?" Harry asked, taking out a small notebook and writing something on it.
Neville retracted even more as he saw Hermione looking at him with an eager expression, "well, eh, um, a fortress, a home, er, a hideout, but those are uncommon, and I don't know what else"
"That is good to know, a hideout, wonder if that would work as a fidelius, is it a ward, the fidelius, I men?" harry asked again but this time he expected an answer from his mother and not from Neville, who indeed did not answer.
"No, well, kind off, it is more like an oath," Lily answered, "You need the caster, the one that swears to keep a secret and the one with the secret, but if the secret is a location then a ward that hides it, if it is a person then it makes everyone think said person is non-existent"
'Research time?'
"It would be good, yes"
"So, let's agree to meet at Diagon alley sometime during the month, agreed?" Blaize asked the group, all nodding in agreement.
*Hogwarts*December 20*
"I know you are planning something Quirrell" Professor Snape hissed at his fellow teacher, "I've seen you wandering around the third floor"
"I-I-I d-don't know wh-what you're t-t-talk-king ab-b-bout, Sev-v-verus" the nervous professor managed to get out.
"Don't try to pretend, how far have you gotten, eh?" the potion master asked, "I bet you're so incompetent you can't even get through the first trap"
"T-t-t-rap?" Quirrell paled.
"Oh, don't play innocent, I've seen you spending time with Hagrid, do you know how to get past it?"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Quirrell forgot to stutter, realizing a second too late.
"I don't know who you work for, Quirrell, but if you do anything against the school and I'll have Dumbledore down on you" Snape walked away, his robes billowing behind him.
"That was close" Quirrell whispered to himself.
"Too close, you imbecile" A voice that was not Quirrell's whispered sharply.
"Shall I do anything about Snape, Master?" Quirrell asked.
"No, he's doing the work I asked of him, he'll come back to me and thank you when you get the Stone"
"Are, are you sure Master, he, he's too much into Dumbledore's camp"
"Are you questioning me?"
"No, Master, just Snape"
"So you question a member of my inner circle, the one that gave me the prophesy of who to kill?"
"But the prophesy destroyed you"
"It was my recklessness, a mistake I won't make twice"
"Understood, Master"
"Now go to your classroom, I have to torture you for questioning me"
Quirrell gulped, "Yes master"
On the back of Quirrell's head, hidden under the smell of garlic and several layers of cloth making up the purple turban Quirrell wore, Lord Voldemort, former Dark Lord of Britain, smiled cruelly and started thinking of all the things he would do to punish those that dared think that he wouldn't come back from the dead, as if he wasn't clever enough to defeat death itself