March 1992
Harry was worried about Quirrell and decided to call upon his more altruistic Gryffindor friends to help, so they had a big group conference about it between the four of them. First he briefed them on the situation – that Snape, as a known former Death Eater, was threatening Quirrell and was believed to be interested in stealing the treasure from the forbidden third floor corridor. Hermione was the only one who doubted his allegations, but was willing to help them research the matter anyway.
"I'm your friend – I think you're dead wrong, but I'll help you look into it just in case," she said with a smile. "Friends can disagree about things, and still be friends, right?" she added questioningly.
"I think so. I mean, we can. I don't know much about what other people do. You're my first friends," said Harry quietly.
"You're mine, too," she said shyly. "You know, I thought for a while that I wouldn't have any friends here. A few people kicked me out of their compartments the minute they heard I was a Muggle-born. I think I was lucky to meet you. All of you."
The boys of course were rather embarrassed by all the sentiment (if quietly appreciative of it) and got their discussion back on topic.
They all knew about the cerberus, and Harry added the new information that there was a treasure hidden down there somewhere, placed there by Dumbledore and a friend of his "called something like Flannel" (he didn't remember the exact name from months ago). Neville was the proud informant who showed them a chocolate frog card about Dumbledore's "work on alchemy with his partner Nicholas Flamel". That led an excited Hermione to a heavy tome that revealed the likely treasure to be the Philosopher's Stone.
His friends all started being extra encouraging to Quirrell in classes; Ron had started telling people off for making fun of his stutter, and given his teaching background Hermione chatted encouragingly with him after a class about the importance of Muggle Studies, given the typical wizarding ignorance of broader culture and technology (he seemed less appreciative than she'd hoped, though). Harry gave Quirrell a brief update that they were looking into the stone's defences, and would report back when they had something good to share. Quirrell said he valued Harry's support more than he could know.
They decided to split their attentions to different teachers to try and find out more about the stone's defences. Neville picked Professor Sprout and dangerous plants that could survive long periods of time indoors. Harry said he'd talk to Professor McGonagall, and Hermione said she'd talk with Professor Flitwick. None of them wanted to try and weasel information out of Professor Snape, so Harry said he'd instead do some research on especially nasty potions, all-purpose antidotes, and how much bezoars cost. They all agreed it would be unlikely the other teachers (like Professor Sinistra for Astronomy) would be likely to be called upon to do warding or defences.
Ron, who was very keen to help (especially with the parts not involving library research), volunteered to research the cerberus. He had plans to talk to Professor Kettleburn and Hagrid (since he also loved dangerous creatures, according to rumour), and also to keep an eye on the third-floor corridor. He reported that every time he pressed his ear to the door he heard growling inside, which suggested that the cerberus was still in there – both day and night. Hermione didn't think it was very kind to keep it confined like that all the time.
"Blimey, Hermione, would you rather it was roaming about the school?" Ron's mind boggled. "They like guarding treasure. I read it in a book," he said smugly. It was the ultimate weapon in an argument against Hermione.
As the weeks wore on Hermione had other things on her mind to worry about besides cerberus welfare. She had started drawing up revision time-tables and colour-coding all her notes.
"Hermione, the exams are ages away," complained Ron.
"And I'm certain you'll pass all of them so why are you so overwrought?" asked Neville.
But the more they talked, the more she was convinced that in fact she should've started studying ages ago. Harry just said nothing and lent her his highlighters. If she was studying hard, he was studying twice as hard. Just not panicking about it so loudly. For he had Dudley's exams to prepare for as well – he was going to need every bit of the upcoming ten weeks until exam time for studying.
When the other boys weren't around, he even asked Hermione if he could have a look at her study schedules, to see how she organised things. She was very happy to show him. It was very interesting to see another person's schedule. Hermione had even included small blocks of scheduled time for "Relax with Friends", "Recreational Reading", and "Wash Hair". He'd never considered scheduling in time for fun activities or personal needs – it was an interesting approach.
Harry also had a secret weapon in the war on exams the others didn't – Slytherin friends. He decided to approach Millicent as the least likely to dob him in to the others or to a teacher if she didn't like what he was asking.
He managed to catch her alone one afternoon, and put forward his proposal to her carefully. "So, Millicent, you know exams are getting closer, and I have a theory about Professor Binns I wanted to discuss with you - confidentially."
"Alright. I'm listening."
"Everyone says he teaches the same things, over and over again, right? So it seems to me that as a repetitious type of ghost he's going to set the exact same exams, over and over again. Every year."
"I think I get the gist of where you're going with this," smirked Millicent.
"I know, right? So, do you have any acquaintances in second or third year who might be able to confirm that theory, and maybe help out a couple of first years with some notes on last year's exam? Strictly for revision purposes only, of course."
"Oh, of course!" she giggled naughtily. "Just for revision. It would require some recompense of course. Nothing is free in Slytherin. Though frankly, someone in Ravenclaw might write better notes… but the risk would be increased," she mused thoughtfully.
"Well let me tell you Gryffindor won't be much help - there's only a tiny handful of people who take their studying seriously," he said dismissively.
"Including you of course," she smiled.
"You know I study all the time!" he said, offended. "It's just… History of Magic. It's rubbish, the way Binns teaches. You know it and I know it. Even Ron knows it – he spends that class napping. I could use that History class time much more effectively revising for other subjects. I usually do."
Harry gave her some money to cover "copying expenses and sundry supplies" for any helpful students she might be able to find, including a little allowance for her own time and effort. And her discretion on a delicate matter.
Hermione drew up a timetable for non-stop studying, including over the upcoming Easter holidays, and pestered Ron into joining her at least half the time, instead of having him nagging her all the time to let him copy her work. She was getting very sick of that. And armed with the knowledge that her other two friends didn't try it, she was standing firm against his wheedling pleas at last. Harry refused her more polite invitation to join her study group (and Tracey's similar invitation, for that matter), preferring to study on his own. He didn't want his unique approach to gaining average grades observed, nor any comments or mocking about how he wrote up his cousin's study notes for him.
Neville joined in sometimes with Hermione and Ron's study group, but on the whole found her gung-ho approach to studying a bit too stressful, and similarly preferred to study solo, except for Potions. And even there he'd cut back to only studying once a week with Hermione, and twice a week with Harry. Harry did his best to reassure him that so long as he didn't get a T, the grade didn't matter. The only grades that meant anything were OWLs and NEWTs, and those would be administered by independent examiners. He only needed to prove to Snape that he wasn't a Squib. Neville was still very worried about that.
Hermione and Ron spotted Hagrid in the library one lovely spring morning, and Ron seized the opportunity to gather information from his target.
"He's been researching dragons! He was looking up some books, I made a list: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland, and From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide. And I asked him if he knew what the growling was I could hear from near the corridor, and he told me I should leave Fluffy alone. The cerberus' name is Fluffy, can you believe it?!"
"Good work, Ron," praised Harry, and Ron beamed at him. "A cerberus and a dragon. That's two defences for sure. I reckon that's more than enough animals, right?"
"Yeah, I think so. And you know they use dragons for guards deep in Gringotts – so it's quite plausible there's one in Hogwarts. Well, maybe a small one. Or silenced. Or shrunk or something," he said, clearly trying to picture a large, noisy beast not being noticed somewhere like Hogwarts.
Harry hadn't discussed Snape's suspicious behaviour with the Slytherins. Snape's bias towards his House was so strong that he doubted they'd take kindly to the suggestion he was under suspicion of being a would-be thief. For a change there were no lectures from Pansy about sacred days, as the next one was Beltane and that wasn't until May. She said Easter wasn't a big deal among pure-bloods. Millicent said that rabbit made a nice casserole this time of year. Tracey said there used to be a traditional wizarding festival around this time as it was the spring equinox.
"They used to have a celebration all to do with the power of the moon and fertility, with the usual kind of bonfires and feasting wizards and witches enjoy. And visiting the Circles – that was a very important part of it. But it fell out of fashion a few centuries ago, as have other celebrations tied to the solstices and equinoxes except for Yule, because visiting the Great Circles has become more and more restricted by both the magical and Muggle governments," Tracey explained. "Millicent's family isn't the only one that likes to eat rabbit this time of year – some people say it's traditional, but others said it was just fun to eat the sacred Easter bunny of the Christians."
Harry explained how it wasn't actually sacred, and its actual role in Muggle culture as an imaginary magical creature. The girls seemed interested in learning from him about Muggle culture, which surprised and pleased him.
Pansy's chosen topic of conversation in her ongoing campaign to teach Harry how to be a proper wizard was table etiquette. There certainly were a lot of different types of forks and knives he'd been unaware of.
"And for Merlin's sake if you do decide to emulate one of your friends whilst at supper, do choose Neville and not Ron! Even Hermione would be better than him," Pansy said with a shudder. "We can see the contents of his mouth from clean across the hall."
With the Easter break from classes approaching, Harry decided it was time to approach Professor McGonagall. He had two goals. Firstly, to see what he could find out about the stone's defences. And secondly, he needed to get leave to visit Gringotts over the holidays to pick up his yearly vault statement.
Harry asked to visit with her to discuss the holidays, and consequently was invited to stop by one afternoon after class. He accepted some tea, and talked about how much he enjoyed Transfiguration.
"Really, Mr. Potter, I didn't think you had a great deal of interest in my subject," she said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, but I do! I enjoy it a lot, but the theory can be difficult, and the wand motions just never seem to stick no matter how hard I try. I think it's interesting, but challenging. You must be a very powerful witch indeed to be so good at such a difficult field, I think."
"Well, it's not for everyone," she said with a small smile. "The talent required to become an Animagus is a particularly rare one, it must be said."
After buttering her up Harry did his best to gently and inconspicuously lead the conversation in a useful direction. "I was wondering about the utility of Transfiguration spells for guarding a house, Professor. Were either of my parents good at Transfiguration? Are there any spells you think would've been good for them to use to defend it?"
Her face softened more and she looked sad. "Your father excelled at Transfiguration, Mr. Potter. He had quite the gift for it. Charms was your mother's primary field, however, and I understand charms were what they mostly employed for defence."
"What could Transfiguration have done to help them, do you think?"
"It's not going to help dwelling on the past, Mr. Potter, but for what it's worth a Master in Transfiguration can do things like create walls suddenly, or trap enemies in a floor turned to quicksand. Nearby objects can be animated to attack any intruders. I believe some of the furniture in the house where… that is, I think your father may have animated some furniture in his last battle to attack You-Know-Who. Apparently there were pieces of broken furniture everywhere."
"I can't imagine a sofa chair doing much damage," said Harry doubtfully.
"Well a sofa is designed for sitting on, not animating for fighting. At some of the older manors you'd find statuary and gargoyles in the vestibulum or atrium," she paused at Harry's puzzled look, "that is, in the entrance hall and main reception area. Or there may be statues in the gardens, of course. At Hogwarts you'll find a number of suits of armour stationed in the corridors which could be animated by defenders in the case of an attack. There are also a number of stone gargoyles here and there with semi-permanent transfigurations on them to animate them, too. It's an excellent approach to defence."
She leaned forward and patted Harry's hand reassuringly. "You're quite safe here, Mr. Potter."
He widened his eyes deliberately and looked worried. "Couldn't someone just un-enchant them to be dead stone again? Or pour a potion on them to turn them back to how they were?"
"It's disenchant. And the answer is no, Mr. Potter. The general counter-spells Finite or even Finite Incantatem are too low powered to affect our gargoyles, and I don't know of any potion that could affect them at all. Stone is very neutral and will often store magic rather than be damaged by it. You'd have more luck with an acid to dissolve them, and it would take bucket loads to do so. Hardly practical. Any Dark wizards trying to get at you here would have to blast the armour and gargoyles to bits, not to mention the teachers, and that would take some doing."
"But what if the gargoyles attacked me all of a sudden? What could I do to protect myself?" he asked anxiously, with some genuine concern sneaking into his voice.
"Aside from call for help? You're not alone here, Mr. Potter. And in any case, any object with a permanent animation on it will have extremely careful conditions set under which it may attack. I believe the ones here for example will never attack a child under any circumstances. Even if you put jolly red noses on them at Christmas time, as the Weasley twins experimented with this year. So you're quite safe, I promise. By the way, if you'd had a gargoyle nearby when the troll attacked, it would have joined in the fight on your side."
Harry thought he had some good leads on McGonagall's likely approach to defences, and dropped the topic with assurances of his appreciation for her comfort and thought for the students' safety.
"Can we talk about something more fun now?" he asked with a childishly pleading tone to his voice.
"Of course, Mr. Potter," she said gently.
"I was wanting to visit Diagon Alley again over Easter. You know, do a little shopping, and buy some things for my friends." He hung his head sadly. "I didn't have a chance to buy Christmas presents for everyone, since I couldn't go to Hogsmeade. Some friends got me things, and I had nothing for them." It was a lie – he'd gotten everyone chocolates with help from Percy, but he thought McGonagall was unlikely to know that. She wasn't a very attentive Head of House – he'd never seen her in the dorms so was unlikely to have noticed what presents they'd put under the little tree.
"Oh dear! Well, you really should have permission from your guardians…" she said worriedly.
"They didn't say I couldn't go, did they?"
"No, just there's no explicit permission…" she hesitated. "And you certainly couldn't stay out on your own."
He looked pleadingly at her. "Perhaps just one day for some shopping?" She still didn't look convinced, so he pulled out his best argument that he'd planned out before he met with her.
"You see," he said in a confiding tone of voice, "it's really not just about wanting to go shopping. I'm a bit scared of the idea of being out all on my own in Wizarding society still. It's all so different. Sometimes, I still wish I was home and going to Stonewall. I thought though that maybe it would be better though if I faced my fears. I think if I could spend some time in Diagon Alley it would help me feel more at home here – in the wizarding world where I belong."
"You brave boy!" she sniffed proudly.
Harry knew he had her hooked. They settled on the 8th of April, and she would personally drop him off at the Leaky Cauldron in the morning, and pick him up late in the afternoon. He was to borrow a school owl to carry around with him, which he could send a message with if he ran into any trouble. She would wait in the Leaky Cauldron for him all day, so it would be easy to reach her if he needed her. She said it was no bother – she'd rent a room and catch up on some marking in peace and quiet, fortified by tea and a rather fine shepherd's pie Tom made that was a favourite dish of hers.
A/N: If you're following and enjoying my story, I would love it if you would leave a review! I respond to all my reviewers (who have an account here) by private message, so if there's something in the story you're curious about, or if you have a suggestion about something you'd like to see appear in the sequel (or in this fic), let me know! The sequel is all mapped out and roughly 3/4 written, but I'm open to tweaking things sometimes when people have good ideas to contribute.
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