Chapter 13

Harry could only see darkness all around him. However he could hear the voice of another.

"The boy is strong master. Perhaps we underestimated him" the voice said.

Harry found it strange that he was about to speak because he wasn't trying at all. It was as though his mouth was moving on its own accord.

"Yes, the boy had grown strong. What's more I cannot enter his mind, not without conflicting pain to myself" Harry said.

"Master perhaps we should avoid Occlumency for now and focus on the task at hand" the other voice said.

"Yes, the Sorcerer's Stone. What more have you found out?" Harry asked.

"My suspicions were correct. It is hidden in the third floor corridor. However there seems to be a lot of enchantments protecting it" the voice said.

"Not to worry, once I have enough strength the enchantments won't be a problem for you" Harry said.

"How much longer do you need?" the voice said.

"I cannot say the unicorn blood does the job but my strength is only slowly coming back" Harry said.

"I don't know how long I can keep myself out of suspicion. Snape suspects-"

"Snape is only doing his part as a Death Eater. Don't worry about Snape too much. Once I have the stone Severus Snape will not be on our list of problems" Harry said.

"Alright then, what should I do about the boy?" the voice asked.

"Do nothing! I will deal with the boy when the time comes" Harry said.

"Very well then" the voice said.

"I need some more unicorn blood" Harry said.

"It shall be done Master" the voice said.

Harry's eyes opened slowly to a blurry atmosphere. Harry had been looking for his glasses and found them on one of the side tables. When Harry put his glasses on his image became clear. He was in the Hospital Wing.

"AH, you're up" a voice said causing Harry to flinch. That's when Harry saw someone standing near the end of his bed.

"Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you" Professor Dumbledore said

"How long have I been out?" Harry asked.

"Oh about three days" Dumbledore said. "You've grown quite a bit of admirers in that time. Especially in Miss Granger" he said giving Harry a wink.

"Sir, what happened?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore sighed and then said "Well your friend Ronald Weasley informed me that you were looking for Miss Granger. I sent the staff to the dungeons while I looked for you. I found Miss Granger trying to carry you to the Hospital Wing. From what she told me, you were in agonizing pain"

Then it all came back to Harry, the bathroom, the troll and the pain in his scar.

"My scar was bleeding" Harry said "My body was paralyzed at first and then the most intense pain came there. For some reason it's been acting up a lot more ever since I got here. And…"

"Go on Harry you can tell me" Dumbledore said.

"Well, this has been happening for a while now but I have also been having these strange dreams. They feel so real when I see them to point where I question is it a dream? Or is it real?" Harry said.

Dumbledore simply stared into the open space pondering on something.

"Professor" Harry called.

Dumbledore smiled at Harry and then said "Well, try not to dwell on these dreams so much Harry"

Harry nodded and got up from the bed. He felt a little bit better now that he had a little more sleep but now he had to worry about school as well.

"Harry, I was wondering if you can enlighten me with something" Dumbledore said.

"Yes what is it?" Harry asked

"Some of the teachers are very impressed with you. They say you already know the material for this year" Dumbledore said.

"Well I have a very unique ability that aids me" Harry said.

"What would that be?" Dumbledore asked.

"I have a type of photographic memory. Anything I see, I pretty much remember" Harry said.

"Fascinating, so did you read all of your books ahead of time?" Dumbledore asked. Harry nodded his reply "That's very impressive. Professor Snape was most impressed with this ability. In fact he was the reason I asked in the first place"

"Well, it's not only that I had some help from my-"

"Godfather" Dumbledore said beaming at Harry.

Harry chuckled and said "Yeah from Sirius. He wanted me to be prepared for pretty much anything"

"No doubt it paid off" Dumbledore said with the same beaming face "Well you better be off to your Herbology class. Oh, by the way Oliver Wood asked me to convey a message. He said that you were to meet him next week Tuesday in the pitch for Quidditch practice" Dumbledore said

"Okay thank you professor" Harry said before taking off.

Herbology class was very shocking to Harry. Once he entered the room, he was met with cheers and whoops from not only his fellow Gryffindors but students from other houses. He didn't understand how the troll made him famous. It took a long while for class to begin. Professor Sprout was a little bit mad about it.

The common room would not leave him alone with his thoughts. He had to force his way into the boy's dormitory where Ron was waiting for him.

"Finally someone I actually want to see" Harry said

Ron smiled back and then said "Good job on the troll"

"Thanks a lot" Harry said "However there is something bigger coming"

"What do you mean?" Ron asked. Harry explained to him his vision that he saw before waking up in the Hospital bed.

"The Sorcerer's Stone?" Ron asked with a confused look.

"You've never heard of it?" Harry asked. Ron shook his head in reply.

"By the way, have you talked to Hermione lately" Ron said.

That's when it occurred to Harry he never did know what happened to Hermione.

"No I haven't. Do you-"

"She's in the astronomy tower. By the way she told me to give you this" Ron said before holding out an empty parchment "She said it fell out of your pocket and didn't know what to do with it so she gave it to me"

Harry looked back at Ron, smiled and then said "Thanks" before looking for Hermione.

It was a long ways to the Astronomy tower. Harry had to travel quite a bit of stairs in order to get there. Once he did he saw her just gazing out into the empty grounds.

"You know, I never did get a thank you" he said smirking at her.

Hermione turned around to face him and gave him another affectionate smile "You're back!"

"Yeah I'm back, and what's more you're alright" Harry said again giving the same smirk. "My one question was what made you cry in the bathroom that day?" Harry asked.

"It was something silly. Someone kept talking about me showing off in class and that I would be lonely if I kept it up. I don't know why it got to me but it did" she said with tears forming in her eyes.

She was about to break into sobs when something happened that she didn't expect. Harry hugged her and was gently stroking her hair, Hermione responded by hugging back. There was a very strange warmth being emitted from the both of them that made the both of them feel comfortable in each other's arms.

"Hermione you are not alone. I'm here for you, after all what are friends for" he said before breaking off the hug.

"Thank you Harry" she said with both tears and a smile.

"No problem. Come on we should head back into the common room" Harry said

Hermione nodded and then went with Harry talking along the way and getting to know each other. At the end of the day Harry gained a new best friend.