Chapter 5 – Quidditch, Mirrors and Philosophers

It was now about a week into November and Hermione had offered to help Andrew stay on track once his 'illness', as she put it, wore off. The scenery had drastically changed too, the mountains were turning icy grey and the lake was starting to look like chilled steel. It was funny seeing Hagrid in the grounds defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch pitch, he looked very much like an Eskimo in his moleskin overcoat, rabbit-fur gloves and beaver skin boots, it was his hair and beard that completed the look.

The Quidditch season had begun and Andrew was looking forward to seeing Harry flying again, Oliver Wood had decided that Harry would be kept under wraps since he was a secret weapon.

Andrew had been without sleep for about five weeks now, he was completely up to date with his homework and, between him and Hermione, Ron and Harry were too.

During one of Andrew's 'night-time strolls' he came across a room by accident, he was constantly thinking about how bored he was while pacing past some portrait of an idiot trying to teach trolls to dance for the ballet. Inside this room were fictional books, Jedi training droids, an inventor's laboratory and meditation mats.

"Cool," Andrew said as he entered, he spent the entire night battling, reading, meditating and inventing random stuff. In the morning, a shower room materialised in the corner with fresh clothing when he'd cleaned off the sweat and grease from his body.

After he left, the room seemed to have some kind of alarm clock built into it; Andrew hunted Fane down and asked him about the room he'd discovered.

"Ah that is the Room of Requirement sir, to enter it you must simply pass the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy three times while thinking of what you need, the room then appears with exactly what you is needing," the elf explained.

"Well last night I was thinking about how bored I was and the room gave me a place to practise my sword skills, to meditate and a place to just read and play around with my inventions," Andrew told him as they walked down towards the Great Hall.

"The room gave you everything you needed to keep you busy through the night," Fane answered.

"(Except the one thing I really needed,)" Andrew thought sourly. "Thanks Fane you've been a great help, I'll be able to find that room with no problems tonight." Andrew said with a smile, the elf bowed low to the ground, saying that it was an honour to help and disappeared while Andrew ran to breakfast.

That morning Harry arrived with a book under his arm, entitled 'Quidditch through the Ages' it basically covered the rules, positions and history of the sport, Andrew was somewhat shocked to find that there were exactly seven hundred ways that someone could commit a foul while playing the game, more so that all of them were committed in a single game back in the 1473 World Cup.

Hermione had become somewhat more relaxed about breaking rules since Halloween, and Ron got along with her a lot more for it, the four of them were beginning to get suspicious of Snape though, on an occasion when Hermione had conjured a blue flame that could be carried in a jam jar for them to keep warm outside with, Snape limped up to them and took Harry's book from him along with five points from Gryffindor.

After they'd all done their homework that evening Harry went to retrieve his book from Snape, he returned to the common room within five minutes, looking slightly shaken.

"What's up?" Andrew asked.

"Snape just blew my head off for seeing him bandaging up his leg," Harry explained in a slightly shaky voice.

"What was he saying before he saw you?" Andrew asked "Wow I'm inquisitive today."

"Just something about watching all three heads at once," he answered, at those words Andrew dropped the book he'd borrowed from the Room of Requirement, he'd neglected to mention the room to his friends.

"You think he was trying to get past that dog on Halloween?" Ron asked.

"Seems like it, I've even bet my broomstick that he let that troll in as a diversion," Harry whispered.

"No, he wouldn't" Hermione said wide-eyed, "I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something that Dumbledore was keeping safe."

"Honestly Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something?" Ron snapped. "I'm with Harry on this; I wouldn't put anything past Snape."

"I think the more important question is what the heck is that dog guarding?" Andrew pointed out, trying to stop an argument before it started; it worked, to the point of stunning all four of them into silence as they thought about his question.

"I know one thing for certain," Harry said, breaking the silence. "I'm not too eager to try crawling under that monster to take a look."

"Not while it's awake," Ron added.

None of them figured out any answers and in the end, Harry, Ron and Hermione went to bed, leaving Andrew alone to ponder the situation by himself.

He went straight to the Room or Requirement to see if it could tell him anything, but alas it was either unwilling, or unable to help him. So he just went for another all-nighter, but this time he used his new lightsaber when combating the training droid, with it he was able to use magic through his lightsaber. The droid charged, Andrew deflected the strike and shot sparks into the power core, causing the droid to explode.

"Note to self, ask Professors about a spell to disarm an opponents," Andrew said to himself aloud as he checked himself over for any shrapnel.

"Ooooh, naughty, naughty, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness!" Peeves sang.

"Well you're a living example that lack of sleep can drive a person batty," Andrew joked.

"True," Peeves answered, followed by him blowing a raspberry.

"How'd you get in here?"

"A wonderful invention … it's called a door!" Peeves answered mockingly

Andrew laughed. "Sarcasm from the poltergeist? Miracles will never cease." Andrew then turned back to the next droid, opting to stick to his normal blade, he knew that Peeves was simply curious about Andrew and merely wanted to watch.

Surprisingly the poltergeist applauded when Andrew defeated the droid, the Padawan was out of breath after winning that fight, the droid fought like Master McKnight of the Jedi order and was incredibly challenging.

"Impressive," Peeves cackled.

"Thanks, now, is there a reason that you're here besides watching me work up a sweat?" Andrew asked as he dabbed at his face with a towel.

"Not really, I got bored of pestering Filch, besides, you're the only livingbeing to actually be a challenge, I wanted to see if I could work around you and carry on causing havoc." He answered honestly.

"Peeves, I am an agent of chaos, you want to cause havoc, then be my guest. Just don't try anything on me, I have a reputation to keep." At those words, Peeves rolled around in mid-air and cackled like a sugar-crazed maniac.

He left once Andrew started meditating, grumbling something about wanting to make a certain cat fly.

Although he was annoying, Andrew missed the company "(Now I'm just getting desperate,)" he thought angrily, "(Peeves? Company? GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!)" at that point a vase that he was causing to float around the room, shot into a far wall and shattered, effectively breaking his concentration. Taking a deep breath, the young Jedi centred himself and started to meditate again.

Everything soon crashed to the floor when Andrew's alarm went off.

"Time to go meet Harry," Andrew said, he could sense Harry's consciousness from where he sat; Harry was feeling nervous, and slightly sick.

As Andrew walked into the common room, Hermione was coming down from the girls' dormitories, "Good morning Andrew, Harry," she said brightly.

"(Clearly she's a morning person, oh joy!)" Andrew thought as he rolled his eyes.

"Hermione, you imply that I slept," said Andrew in a bored voice, causing a smile to grace Harry's face as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Is it starting to wear off?" Harry asked, sounding hopeful.

"I wish!" Andrew snapped. "It's just the boredom, I had a chat with Peeves this morning and after he left I missed his company … GOD I'M GETTING DESPERATE!" he exclaimed as he fell onto a sofa.

"How on earth did you speak with Peeves without something getting thrown at you?" Harry asked in shock.

"I dunno, maybe he's scared of me, I mean everything he's ever thrown at me has always ended up smacking him instead," Andrew answered, sounding as confused as he was making Harry. Then he sighed. "Boronus, Boretis, Boremus." Harry and Hermione looked at each other and shrugged. "I came, I saw, I bored!"

"Well let's not dwell on the subject, let's get something to eat," Hermione giggled while Harry laughed, just as Ron came down.

Harry tried to say he wasn't hungry, but they wouldn't listen to him.

Down in the Great Hall, Seamus tried telling Harry that he'd need his strength, mentioning that Seekers are normally the first targets for the other team.

"Not helping dude," Andrew growled.

"Good luck today Potter," said Snape, causing every Gryffindor head to turn, "then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you, even if it is against Slytherin." And without another word he limped away.

By eleven o'clock the entire school was down at the pitch, Andrew had joined Ron and Hermione at the top of the stands, along with Neville, Seamus and Dean, between them they'd created a banner which said 'Potter for President' with a Gryffindor lion under it and the letters flashing in different colours.

Andrew had convinced Jax Starr to trade his lightsaber for one of the ones that Andrew had 'borrowed' from one of the droids in the Room or Requirement, which was green, he reasoned that Andrew needed red for Gryffindor and Jax needed a green blade for Slytherin, he agreed on the condition that they trade back before leaving the stadium.

"Hold on, Payne," Jax called, causing Andrew to turn back to the Sith. "Where did you get a green lightsaber from?"

"I happened to have a spare," Andrew lied with a shrug, walking away from an unconvinced Jax Starr.

The players walked out onto the pitch and everyone roared, to make themselves more noticeable Andrew and Starr ignited their blades and held them above their heads, swaying them from side to side like flags.

Madam Hooch was refereeing. "Now I want a nice fair game, from all of you," she called out, surprisingly loud enough to be heard around the pitch, Harry noticed the banner with a red bladed lightsaber waving in front of it and Andrew could feel his spirits lift.

Hooch ordered the captains to shake hands and for all players to mount their brooms, she gave a blast of her whistle and the players kicked off, she released the Bludgers and the Snitch, then she threw the Quaffle into the air and the game was on.

Lee Jordan was commentating "And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor, what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too …"

"JORDAN!" McGonagall barked, causing Andrew to laugh; then he decided on a little support for Gryffindor and, after a few whispered words to everyone around him started to chant.

"GRYFFINDOR, GRYFFINDOR, TRY! TRY! TRY!" over and over again, soon other Gryffindor supporters got the idea and joined in, determined not to be beaten on the ground the Slytherin fans countered with.

"WIN! WIN! SLYTHERIN!" while Starr waved his borrowed lightsaber around like a flag.

But both sides of the battle were drowned out by Lee who was determined to still be heard over the crowd, besides, once Hagrid joined the Gryffindors in their chanting, the Slytherins gave it up and the shouting ended.

The score was ten to nothing for Gryffindor at the moment, and Andrew wasn't certain if Lee was trying to be a commentator or a comedian, his description of "Gryffindor Beater Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which," made Andrew laugh so hard he almost cracked a rib.

At one point one of the Slytherin chasers, Adrian Pucey, was on a run for the Gryffindor goals when a glint of gold shot over his shoulder and he dropped the Quaffle. Both Seekers went for it, but before Harry could catch it, the Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint blocked him on purpose, the Snitch vanished and Gryffindor were given a penalty.

The next words out of Lee Jordan's mouth clearly showed that he wanted Gryffindor to win.

"So, after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating …" he'd started.

"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul …"

"Jordan I'm warning you …"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no problem, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

So the score was now twenty to nothing and for some reason Harry's broom started to try and buck him off. It took people a while to notice Harry's trouble, but eventually Hagrid pointed out that only Dark Magic could tamper with a broom, at those words Hermione grabbed Hagrid's binoculars a started looking through the crowd.

"What are you doing?" asked Ron.

"I knew it," Hermione gasped and passed the binoculars, "look at Snape."

Ron did so, followed by Andrew, he was in the stands opposite them and was muttering under his breath.

"What should we do?" Ron asked.

"Leave it to me." Hermione said and ran off.

Thanks to the huge distraction Slytherin had gone from twenty – nothing to twenty – sixty. The Weasley twins were circling beneath Harry's broom hoping to catch him if he fell off, he was dangling by one hand and clinging for dear life. Suddenly Harry's broom stopped trying to knock him off and he clambered back on.

For some reason though Harry dived and clapped a hand to his mouth, he fell off his broom, thankfully while low to the ground, and surprisingly coughed up the Snitch, causing Gryffindor to win one hundred and seventy points to sixty.

Andrew waited for the stands to empty out slightly before heading to where Starr had stood to watch the match.

"Never watched Quidditch before, it was a good game, congratulations," he said before handing Andrew back the green-bladed weapon as Andrew returned the Sith blade to its owner.

"Thanks, better luck next time," Andrew called as he sprinted off to find Harry.

He found them in Hagrid's hut, he was let in by Hermione just as Hagrid dropped his teapot and said "How d'you know about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?" Andrew asked, thinking he'd missed something.

"That three headed monster's called Fluffy?" Ron asked incredulously, now Andrew was up to speed, he sat next to Harry, giving him a pat on the shoulder and muttering well done.

"Yeah, he mine," Hagrid said in answer to Ron's question, "bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year, I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the …"

"Yes?" asked Harry eagerly.

"Shouldn't have said that," Hagrid muttered "No more questions, don't ask anymore questions, that's top secret that is." He finished aloud.

They continued to argue, Harry convinced that Snape was trying to steal … whatever Fluffy was guarding, Hermione convinced that he was trying to kill Harry and Hagrid trying to convince them that they were wrong.

"Now listen to me, all four of yeh, yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. What that dog's guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel!" Hagrid told them.

"Who's Nicolas Flamel?" Andrew asked innocently.

Hagrid's face fell; he started bustling around, making a fresh pot of tea, muttering "I shouldn't have said that, I should nothave said that, I shouldn't have said that."

In the end he bustled them out of his hut since they all had to go to dinner.

Now Christmas was coming, students had the option to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, or go home, and Harry made it quite clear that he didn't want to go back to Privet Drive. Ron said that he was going home for the holidays and so was Hermione, Andrew wrote to his Master asking if he could keep Harry company at Hogwarts but since the Jedi celebrated the forming of the Order on Christmas day he had to be at the temple.

"I'm sorry Harry," Andrew said as he showed him the letter, he felt rotten, Harry was the first friend Andrew made in the wizarding world and now it felt like he was abandoning him.

"Well he won't be alone," Ron said after reading his own letter that morning, "turns out that my parents are going to Romania to visit my brother Charley."

"That fella who's studying dragons?" Andrew asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah that's the one," Ron answered.

"Well that makes me feel …" and started but yawned widely, he not slept in almost six weeks "better," suddenly he grew huge bags under his eyes and passed out into his scrambled eggs.

Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey were there in an instant.

"What happened?" McGonagall demanded.

"I don't know, he just yawned and that was it," Ron answered. "He tried to tell us it'd be fast," he added while Hermione was giving dirty looks to anyone laughing at Andrew's current condition.

Without another word Pomfrey conjured a stretcher and levitated Andrew to the Hospital Wing.

"Well when he said it would be like that," Harry said, snapping his fingers to illustrate what he meant "I wasn't expecting that."

Over the next week, Harry, Ron and Hermione spent their time making duo notes, researching Nicholas Flamel, and visiting Andrew in the hospital in case he woke up.

They were doing alright on the notes, Andrew would still be up to date when he came out of his coma, by now most of the other students had noticed him being missing and Dumbledore had to explain his illness and the fact that he was in a coma, many of the students were concerned, including a few Slytherins, the rest of the Slytherins either didn't care or just found it funny.

On finding Flamel, Harry, Ron and Hermione were getting nowhere, but they were becoming more concerned about Andrew, he seemed to be getting paler. One day after their lessons were over they decided to skip their research and just go to see him, only to find Jarod and Mel already sitting by his bedside.

"Good afternoon Master Jedi," Hermione greeted Jarod.

"Ah, it's good to see you again young ones, I hear you've been endeavouring to keep Andrew from falling behind on his school work," Jarod said with a smile, Mel smiled too, though hers looked somewhat forced.

"How long has he been out?" she asked.

"About five days now," Madam Pomfrey said as she came out to check her patient's condition.

"Does he normally look so pale?" Harry asked.

"Sometimes yes, when he was eight he took two months to fall asleep, so from the fourth week onwards, he started eating more food than normal and that sustained him, but last year, like now I suppose, it just hit him unexpectedly," Jarod explained.

"Where's your master?" Ron asked Mel.

"She elected to stay behind, we heard that Andrew's only allowed five visitors at a time and that you three come by every day," Jarod said with a laugh, "we chose not to cause trouble or arguments so Master Bailo chose to remain behind in order to catch up on some paperwork."

Andrew turned in his sleep, making everyone snap their heads in his direction, but he didn't wake up so they went back to talking.

Nothing major happened for the next few days, Mel practically slept at Andrew's bedside, and Jarod continued her training whenever he could drag her away from his side.

But the day finally came when Andrew actually work up, Harry and Mel were there, Jarod was 'talking' with Professor Sinistra, which had become the kid's codeword for 'on a date', and Ron and Hermione were trying to find Nicholas Flamel.

Mel noticed a few strands of Andrew's hair had grown longer during the last few weeks, she brushed his small fringe away from his face and he mumbled "That feels nice." as he cracked an eyelid open to look at Mel, who smiled, he smiled too and croaked "Got something to drink?"

"Madam Pomfrey!" Harry called, she rushed to them.

"Yes?" she asked kindly.

"He's awake," Harry said while pointing at Andrew.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, all business.

Andrew chose not to speak and mimed that he could use a drink; she took the hint and brought him a glass of water, which he nearly choked himself on.

"Hey, be careful, you don't want to kill yourself just after coming back from the dead," Mel joked, patting his back.

After his third glass Andrew spoke again "Right, ask me that question again," he said.

"How are you feeling?" Pomfrey asked.

"Hungry." Andrew answered simply, being direct and letting out a dry chuckle as he reached for a fourth glass; the matron bustled out of the ward and came back with a tray loaded with food.

"Now don't eat too fast, and try not to eat too much, you'll make yourself sick," she said.

As Andrew ate Jarod, Ron and Hermione walked in.

"Morning sleeping beauty," Jarod joked with his Padawan.

"Sleeping I'll agree with, but ever since Rozwell recorded me sleeping I won't agree with the beauty part, I snore and pull funny faces," Andrew countered, causing Ron to laugh at the mental image.

"So, what'd I miss?" Andrew asked, obviously not referring to class work.

"Well me and Malfoy nearly had a punch up today, we've found nothing on Flamel yet and the holidays start tomorrow," Ron explained.

Andrew's eyes went wide "Why did you and Malfoy nearly fight, don't get me wrong, the guy's a git, but still," Andrew asked.

"Crabbe tried insulting Ron's family and Malfoy was egging him on," Hermione answered, Andrew said something under his breath, but nobody said anything about that.

"I take it that family is a sore spot for you then Ron?" Jarod asked; Ron nodded.

Andrew finished his miniature feast and moved to get out of bed, but Pomfrey stopped him.

"Oh no you don't, you haven't used your legs for a week so you are going to take it easy," she ordered, "I want two people supporting you and you're not leaving this ward until I say so. And that includes going home." She added to Jarod who bowed his head in agreement.

"So," Andrew said as he pulled his legs to dangle over the side of the bed "How'd your date go with Sinistra?" he asked, causing the other children to laugh.

"How did you know?" he asked, not denying it.

"There's a reason you've never beaten me at poker, Master," Andrew answered with a grin.

The next morning Andrew was permitted to leave, he'd managed to walk around the ward by himself before the end of the evening, but Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep him in over night, just to be safe.

Two weeks later

Andrew got off the train, helping Hermione with her trunk, since he was already levitating his own.

He took a deep breath and let out a sigh "Ah, feel that alpine air in your lungs, good to be back ain't it?" he said and Hermione nodded.

They took a carriage up to the school and were met at the Entrance Hall by Harry and Ron. Once their trunks were back in their dorms where they belonged they sat in the common room and talked about the holidays.

The boys had been unsuccessful in finding Flamel, but they did come across this strange mirror. "It had the words 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi' above the glass and in it I saw my family," Harry told them excitedly.

Andrew had written what Harry said down, then under it he wrote it in reverse "You know, if you say the entire thing backwards that mirror says 'I show not your face but your hearts desire'?" he asked.

"That never occurred to me, it makes sense though, because Dumbledore caught me one night and told me that the mirror of Erised shows nothing but the deepest and most desperate desires of our hearts, Ron saw himself becoming the best of his brothers," Harry told them.

"Sounds interesting, can you show me this mirror?" Andrew asked, but Ron shook his head.

"Dumbledore moved it somewhere and practically begged Harry not to go looking for it," he said.

They left it at that and went down for dinner, on the way Harry and Ron asked about Andrew's and Hermione's Christmas', Hermione had just had an average muggle Christmas and Andrew explained the ceremony that the Jedi performed to celebrate the creation of the Jedi Order.

"It's really just like a Nativity play, except instead of the birth of Christ, it shows a battle from World War Two, a Sith tried to wipe out the Allied forces for the Nazis and a Jedi stopped him and helped the Allies push through Belgium." Andrew explained.

"Oh and three Padawans passed their trials too," he added.

"Trials?" Ron asked.

"The Jedi trials," Hermione told him "I don't know what the trials are, but every Jedi has to take them to become a Knight, some Knights choose to take them again to become Masters, but most just earn that rank."

"Well there are four, the Trial of Skill, the Trial of Flesh, the Trial of Courage and the Trial of Spirit," Andrew explained, "to pass the Trial of Skill, Padawans either have to defeat a stronger opponent in combat or show a great amount of skill with the Force. The Trial of Courage entails stuff like going on missions where you've got a rather low chance of survival, and the Trial of Spirit involves going on a … quest, for lack of a better term, of self-discovery." He finished.

"You forgot one," Harry said.

"Did I?" Andrew asked, knowing where this was going.

"Yeah, that Trial of Flesh," Ron pointed out.

"Ah yes, the only trial that scares me."

"Why's that?" Hermione asked as they reached the Great Hall.

"Because a Jedi must overcome a great physical pain, hardship or loss to pass that trial, like losing a limb and living with a robotic replacement, Master Cooper's mentor lost her entire right arm and still serves on the council with this horrific looking, black metal arm, she throws one hell of a punch though," Andrew explained. "It isn't the pain that scares me, it's the possibility that … every Trial is unique you see, I could end up having to live through losing one of my best friends, you know?"

They nodded in understanding; the prospect of losing a loved one looming over your head is rather terrifying.

"Wait," Harry started, remembering something. "Isn't Master Cooper the head of the London Council?"

"Yeah, why?" Andrew asked.

"Well, how is his old Master below him?" Harry asked back.

"She was offered the job a couple of decades ago, but she passed on it," Andrew answered. "She preferred to retire in a way, her job on the council is overseeing the care of Younglings who haven't become Padawans yet. Whenever a Padawan becomes a Knight, she offers a list of candidates to the Master who's suddenly looking for a new student."

They ate dinner, Ron asking about how a Knight becomes a Master which, Andrew told him, was either done by retaking the trials, only on a much more intense scale, or simply requesting a Padawan, thereby becoming that Padawan's Master.

"If it's that simple how come Knights don't just ask straight away and instantly become Masters?" Harry asked.

"Well for one thing a Knight has to wait for at least two years before he or she can make such a request, most Knights who want to be Masters tend to spend those two years teaching Younglings, it's good practise." Andrew answered and got up to leave. "Besides which, while learning as a Padawan, you get a good idea of how good you'll need to be to fill your Master's boots."

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"Just for a walk, besides I need to check something," he answered.

He walked out of the Hall and then sprinted his way to the seventh floor and began pacing.

'I need information on Nicholas Flamel, I need information on Nicholas Flamel' he thought over and over again, as soon as he heard a small popping noise he charged into the Room of Requirement, there were vast bookshelves, all overloaded, Andrew decided to look through the titles, just to give himself an idea of what they were looking for.

After about a half hour he grabbed a book and sprinted back to his dorm, he plonked himself down on his bed and started to read through it.

Harry was starting to be run ragged, he had homework, Quidditch and hunting for Flamel to deal with all at once and now to top it all off Snape was refereeing the next Quidditch match against Hufflepuff.

Hermione and Ron tried to convince him that he shouldn't play but Harry just told them, there wasn't a reserve player so he had no choice.

"Well I hardly think …" but Andrew cut himself off when he heard laughter, Neville was struggling to get into the common room due to his legs being locked together. Hermione performed the counter curse and he was able to stand up.

"Malfoy?" Andrew asked, since Neville's thoughts betrayed him.

Neville shook his head "He was there, but he didn't do this," he said miserably "I met him outside the library with Crabbe and Goyle. Goyle said they'd been looking for someone to practise that on."

"You should go to McGonagall!" Hermione urged him, "Report them Neville!"

But Neville simply shook his head, "I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.

Andrew sighed and sat on the arm of the nearby sofa, "Then they've already won, if you report them then yes they may bother you more for it, but at least you're standing up for yourself." He told Neville.

"He's right mate, Malfoy's type are used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down and make it easy." Ron said.

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor," Neville choked, he was getting close to tears.

As Harry handed Neville a chocolate frog Andrew pressed on, "We're notsaying that Neville, Malfoy and his bodyguards are, and you're letting them, I've got an edge with this sort of thing and let me tell you, you've got more guts than the four of us put together. And one day the time will come when you'll know how to use them." He said and without another word he got up to leave.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy, and sixty of his cronies," Harry said. "The Sorting Hat put you here in Gryffindor didn't it? And where's Goyle? In stinking Slytherin."

"Here, here." Andrew said while raising a triumphant fist. "Slytherin, the ghetto of cowards!"

Neville's lips twitched into a weak smile at the words of encouragement they were all giving him.

"Thanks everyone … I think I'll go to bed now … do you want the card Harry, you collect them don't you?" he handed over the card and left for bed.

"Dumbledore again," Harry said. "He was the first one I ever …" he gasped and turned over the card "I've got him, I've found Nicholas Flamel."

He read from the back of the card and Andrew could have kicked himself. "Hang about a moment," he said and charged up to his bed, he pulled the book he'd taken from the Room of Requirement out and ran back, the book was titled 'The History of Alchemy'.

When he got back he carefully placed the book on the coffee table, opened it to the contents page and looked through it, there was an entire chapter labelled Nicholas Flamel.

"Nicholas Flamel …" Andrew started, mumbled a little as he skimmed the page "… and is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone."

A look of dawning comprehension crossed Hermione's face, but Harry and Ron looked at Andrew blankly.

"For details … see page …" Andrew flicked through the book with the Force and found what he was looking for the chapter was titled 'Great Alchemic Discoveries'. "The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers, it transforms any metal into pure gold and also makes the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal. Mr Nicholas Flamel is the owner of the only Stone currently in existence, only last year Mr Flamel celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday, he now enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife who is six hundred and fifty-eight."

"So let me get this straight," said Ron, "there's a guy who's over six hundred and sixty years old, and that dog is guarding the one thing that's makes him immortal."

"Yep, that about sums it up," said Andrew with a shrug.

"No wonder we couldn't find him in 'Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry'," said Hermione, "six hundred odd years isn't exactly what I'd call recent. Flamel must have known that someone was after the stone and asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him.

They spent the next morning discussing what they'd do if they had such a stone, it was while they were writing down ways to treat werewolf bites that Ron said, "I'd buy my own Quidditch team," which brought Harry's thoughts back to the upcoming match.

"I'm playing in that match, I'll not let the Slytherins think that I'm scared of him, besides it'll wipe the smiles off their faces if we win." Harry told them.

"Just so long as we're not wiping you off the pitch," countered Hermione.

"In all sense of sensibility Hermione, Snape's not likely to try anything while the whole school can see him up there." Andrew reasoned.

As the match drew ever nearer, tensions began to rise, everyone was either getting excited about overtaking Slytherin in the House Championship for the first time in seven years or worried that they wouldn't be allowed by such a biased referee.

In regards to Potions lessons Andrew was really beginning to feel sorry for Harry and annoyed at Snape, it seemed as though he was going out of his way to make Harry feel miserable.

Finally the match came, Harry was given his 'good lucks' at the changing room door, Ron and Hermione were wondering if they'd see Harry alive again but Andrew remained confidant that he'd be fine.

Andrew pointed out that Dumbledore had come to the match so the likelihoods of Snape trying anything had pretty much been halved, which might have explained the evil look on his face when the teams came onto the pitch, the captains shook hands and they were off.

"Ouch!" Ron exclaimed as something poked him in the back of the head, Andrew cursed his stupidity when he turned around and saw Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Starr sitting behind them, he'd left his lightsaber behind, but then again, it looked as though Starr had made the same mistake.

"Sorry Weasley I didn't see you there," Malfoy said.

"Hey Payne, you don't happen to have a yellow lightsaber I can borrow do you?" Starr asked with a wicked grin, Andrew shook his head and continued to watch the match.

"Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you Weasley?" said Malfoy, trying to provoke something, Ron ignored him and kept watching Snape who had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty for George Weasley hitting a Bludger at him.

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" asked Malfoy loudly as Snape gave another penalty, for no reason, to Hufflepuff. "It's people they feel sorry for, there's Potter who has no parents, then there's the Weasleys who've got no money … you should be on the team Longbottom, you've got no brains."

At this Neville turned bright red, turned in his seat and told Malfoy what Harry told him.

"Longbottom if brains were gold you'd be poorer then Weasley and that's saying something." Malfoy laughed.

"I'm warning you Malfoy, one more word …" Ron started.

"Ron!" shouted Hermione suddenly "Harry!"

"What? Where?" said Ron.

Harry had started to dive, people were gasping from the crowd, and Hermione and Andrew were on their feet as Harry streaked towards the ground like a bullet.

"You're in luck Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Malfoy that was it for Ron, before Andrew could even snap his head around Ron was on top of him.

In regards to the match, Andrew had no idea what happened next, but Neville clambered over the seat to help Ron who caused Crabbe and Goyle to take him on.

Starr looked at the wrestling match then at Andrew, who gave him a look that said 'if you get involved I'm gonna have to join in', Starr just smirked in reply and went for Neville, Andrew was over the seat and delivered a spinning heel kick to Starr's face, he'd been practising martial arts in the Room of Requirement along with everything else.

About ten minutes later Harry was met outside the changing rooms by Andrew, Ron, Hermione and a slightly dazed Neville.

They told Harry about Malfoy taunting them and the brawl that took place during the match, how Neville had lasted a good two minutes against Crabbe and Goyle by himself, Ron had beaten Malfoy to a pulp and Andrew had pretty much cleaned Starr's clock before helping Neville with the thugs.

Harry told them he'd join the celebration in the common room later he just wanted to put his broom away.

He took a good fifteen minutes to get back to the common room where he explained, to Andrew, Ron and Hermione, that he'd just seen Snape threatening Quirrell.

Between the four of them they figured that there was more than Fluffy guarding the Stone and Snape was trying to get Quirrell to tell him how to get past his protection.

"So you mean that the Stone's only safe so long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" Hermione asked in alarm.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," Ron said dejectedly.