Chapter 7 - Possession

The weather outside was miserable. Harry smiled, glad to be inside the train compartment with his friends. There was a small flaw to his enjoyment, however. Most males his age, or any age, might be hopeless at feeling out sources of emotional tension, and the few who could might well go running and screaming. Harry wasn't most males, he could sense it loud and clear. He also had no way to escape. No, actually, that wasn't strictly true. He could always jump off the moving train, hoping that between his toughened body and improved reflexes he would survive, then activating one of the emergency plans the Clan had created. It was still a drastic move, one that truly should be saved for desperate situations which this wasn't, quite. What it was, was Harry's three closest witch friends, Hermione, Susan and Daphne, trying to one-up each other in a competition where the prize was him.

Harry had too much experience not to recognise the warning signs, a surreptitious glare at Daphne while his back was turned, a hair-flip from Daphne and a slight elevation of her nose in triumph, slight repositioning by each of the girls seeking to gain more of his attention and affection. Their competition was new and for now at least relatively bloodless - almost friendly - but it couldn't be counted upon to stay like that and once the claws were out, they would pressure Harry to choose who to keep and who to reject. Harry made sure not to encourage the competition, apparently ignoring it even as he weighed and examined his words, tone and body language during the rather more stressful than expected afternoon and evening. In the end, he was relieved to get to Hogwarts. The ride in the carriage had been even more tense than the train ride, as all three girls had cornered him to share their carriage. Daphne claimed the seat beside him while Hermione was opposite him and Susan opposite Daphne.

During the opening feast, Daphne was required to spend her time at the Slytherin table, an old rule aimed at improving House unity which Harry felt was taken far too far by the current Houses. Still, it allowed the girls and Harry to relax. Oddly to him, Hermione and Susan seemed fine sharing his attention between them now that they only had each other occupying Harry. He whispered first to Hermione then Susan that he needed to talk to them later, and a part of him was gratified that they blushed at the gesture while most of him was just happy they agreed.

They grabbed a dusty classroom, locked the door and sat on the desks while Harry went over what and how to say this. "Hermione, Susan, you know I consider you both to be special and I'm glad to be close to each of you."

The girls nodded, pleased at this reminder while Hermione, at least, sensed a fall coming.

"Now, you also know that I care about you, so I try to notice changes when they happen. Last term, you were all getting along well, and I had a great time getting to visit friends over the break. Today, however, something has obviously happened. When Daphne was with us, you were each competing for my attention, Hermione, you glared at her when you thought I wasn't looking after she managed to turn the conversation to magical households, something you don't know that much about. Yet." He smiled at her, trying to soften things. "We both know you'll learn about them in time but the subject put you at a disadvantage, and Daphne knew it would. The way she responded to your glare showed she was pleased.

"Well, I'm not pleased. I don't want this to cause problems for any of us, and we'd lose good friends if this goes too far. Please don't try to make me choose between you for my friends. It won't do any of us any good."

They blushed and nodded sadly, then Hermione bristled. "How come you haven't said anything to Daphne then?"

Harry kept as calm as he could. "Hermione, you know me better than that. I'll talk to Daphne as soon as I get a chance to do it privately, just like I took the chance with the two of you. This way, no one else needs to know there was ever a problem, and no one has to get embarrassed in public. Would you suggest I bring you all together for a meeting after I talk to Daphne about this?"

Hermione blushed again, shared a quick glance with Susan, and nodded. "I think it would help, Harry."

"Okay."

"That's it, 'Okay'?" Hermione was a little confused at how readily he conceded.

"Yes. Okay. You each think it will help so I'll try it for you. I told you I care for you so I certainly ought to show it." The next second, Harry was the centre of a three-way hug. After a brief apology from both girls for putting him in the middle, which Harry accepted and deflected, saying that he was happy as long as they didn't try to hurt each other, they made their way back to their Common Room. The girls headed to their dorms where they were grilled about why they were late. The boys were more relaxed but still curious. Harry just told them that he had a message from home to pass along and that was that.

The next morning, Harry got ready for his Monday classes after his run and shower, then headed out to breakfast earlier than usual. He hoped to catch Daphne before Herbology, or he'd have to wait until nearly eleven o'clock or lunch before he would get to speak to her. Not only did he tell the girls he would do it as soon as he got the chance, he did want to nip this in the bud.

He found her, but she was chatting away with her friend Tracey and he didn't feel right interrupting their conversation and asking Daphne to go off with him. He did slip her a note he had prepared just in case this happened, and she caught his eye and nodded, agreeing to meet after her Herbology class straight after Harry's.

She found him by the Black Lake sitting by a couple of trees. It was hidden from casual view from the castle but, if found, they wouldn't come across as trying to hide. Plus with it being winter, very few people would linger outside.

"Hi Harry, obviously I got your note. Is there a message from your parents that I need to pass along?" Daphne asked, thinking Harry had been oblivious to the low-key competition the day before.

"No, nothing like that. Though I would like to talk about a related matter, if you would. You know I'm not like most boys our age, right? I actually try to spot when girls are unhappy, and I would like to think I do an okay job of it. So I saw how you and Hermione and Susan weren't as happy yesterday as you would have been just before Christmas about hanging out together, sharing my attention." He studied her reactions closely. As he expected, she flushed mildly at that last.

"Now, I'm not saying I don't want to be your friend anymore, or anything like that. I just want to know what changed so you three are competing against each other instead of the good friends you were only a couple of weeks ago."

"Harry, I'm sorry. I guess I just wanted you to myself, to make sure you would want to keep protecting me from idiots like Malfoy." Her expression indicated there was something more. "And, well, after my father talked about improving the relationship between the Greengrass and Potter families, I... my mind wandered and I thought about improving the one between you and I. You're the best boy I know, and you saved me when there was no reason for you to get involved with a stranger, and saved me again, putting your life on the line to save mine from that thing. So I didn't see any harm in flirting more with you, right? Only, I didn't like having to share your attention and those girls were flirting too. I was afraid to lose you, you're important to me."

Harry nodded, "I thought it would be something like that. Daphne, you're important to me too, and the only way you're going to lose me is if you push me away by forcing me to choose. I talked with Hermione and Susan and they know I was going to talk with you about it, too, because I want us all happy again. Do you think you can do this? I like being close to you, and I don't want this competition to go so far it costs us good friends."

She nodded and hugged him as he continued. "Would you be alright with meeting up with Hermione and Susan at lunchtime? I think it would be good for us all, help finish this for good so we can get on with having fun together." She nodded again and hugged a little closer, fighting a blush as an image of 'fun' passed through her mind, blurry as she was still young. They separated and chatted a little more, relaxing until it was time for them to go to their separate classes.

The meeting at lunch started a little awkward, then Susan walked up to Daphne and hugged her, apologising for her part, and Hermione added her own hug making Daphne wince for a second until Hermione realised only Harry could take her full-strength hugs. They moved apart after a short while, surrounding and hugging Harry at the centre.

That evening, Harry and his friends talked about keeping up the study group even without exams looming. Hermione was naturally in favour of it, as were most of the group, though attendance was now more relaxed with generally a couple of people missing from any one session. One surprise was that Parvati and Lavender were there for just about all of them now that the pace had eased off and they were having more fun. Padma was already becoming close friends with Harry's original friends, and Parvati and Lavender were following her path if slower.

Another source of happiness came to Harry when he was able to confirm with complete spells that the seal the Clan had created was working completely. He still had to practice each spell to get them to function correctly, but once he had mastered each spell he was able to do it without pain or harm to his body. The grin he gave in McGonagall's class that first Monday was almost terrifying to the woman, reminding her so much of James before some big prank. Along with the invisibility cloak, Harry now had all the tools he needed to explore Hogwarts at will, he thought.

Tuesday evening, he slipped away leaving a clone in his place as the group chatted and studied and played games. He made his way to the third-floor corridor that the Headmaster had mentioned at the Sorting, clones around him and keeping watch. A perfectly cast and overpowered Alohomora had the door unlocked and swinging open. Harry walked up the wall and on the ceiling, using that for his entrance rather than along the ground where most people would expect.

On the other side, he saw something straight out of myth; a three-headed dog, heads sniffing around for the intruder as Harry kept to the shadows just as Yuugao-mum trained him. 'A Cerberus?! Those things are real!' Harry took a couple of silent breaths, forcing himself to be calm as required, and looked around the room more, never more thankful for his parents' extensive training than he was in that moment. He racked his brain, trying to remember any details from the myths he had encountered that mentioned the creatures. 'Now what did Hana-mum say about strange dogs?'

He studied the room as he prodded his memory, noting the long corridor, the trapdoor and the wall sconces with flickering torches. He made a few clones, sending one to the other end of the corridor before it started making noise. The dog bounded down after it. The next clone started to sing an old lullaby, and the dog's ears pricked up for a second before it stopped running, slowing to a walk then sitting and falling asleep, snoring. Harry nodded to his clones and signaled that they were to dispel themselves in the morning if they hadn't before, and to watch the monstrous dog overnight, checking if music would keep the beast asleep indefinitely, and how long after the music stopped before it would wake and so forth. He exited the room and with his lockpick locked the door behind him, now heading to the Restricted Section under his cloak.

He smiled as between his ease of casting and the cloak, not to mention his natural stealth, he made it inside the Library and stayed there after it closed. He had already directed one clone to occupy his bed in case he couldn't leave, and he made his way over to the one section that had been taunting him. He slipped past the rope cordoning off the section and performed a couple of minor jutsu; the first was a sound-muffling technique around the area, one clone as lookout to warn him. The second was an illusion technique so that the place looked normal. Last, he got some earplugs out ready, and picked out the first book. This one tried to bite him, but was far too slow. He forced it open and started memorising the pages of the ancient tome, complete with unknown language. His clones would know it, and be able to copy it out exactly for the Clan, and that was enough for now. He could try to learn the language later if it proved useful. The next book screamed, just like one he found on an earlier expedition into the Restricted Section, and the earplugs were quickly seated in place. He made his way more quickly through this one. When no alarm was raised, no teacher descending upon him, he smiled proudly. He tried a few other books, finding various intriguing counter-measures in use, then headed back to his dorm to rest, three clones working to memorise the books while a fourth stood guard. As soon as he had penetrated the mystery of the third floor corridor with its deadly guardian, he would be able to set all available clones to copying the Library.

The next morning saw the clones with the Cerberus dispel themselves, and Harry eagerly studied the new memories. The music worked well enough, though he'd have to leave a clone up there whenever he went through the trapdoor, as within a minute of the music ending the beast would invariably wake up, growling.

Tonight, he would set a few clones on exploring whatever was beyond the trapdoor. He would take things nice and cautiously unless circumstances changed to increase the urgency. Something like an indication that there were others at work, or someone not being themselves. 'Like Professor Quirrell who had added that bright purple turban and smelt of death and decay. Oh, how did I miss that! Still, I have been keeping an eye on him and he hasn't come down here since at least Halloween. Well, I'll keep up the slow, cautious approach and assign a clone full time to watching the entrance. That leaves one to make music and one to explore beyond the trapdoor.'

Satisfied with this decision, he went about his run and shower, surprising the Hufflegirls at the bottom of the stairs from the boy's dorm as they watched out for him. He was in turn a little surprised when Hermione, Susan and Hannah all checked him out.

"Hello, girls, any special occasion?" His voice broke them out of their daydreams, and they quickly escorted him to breakfast, followed by the four guys who had enjoyed more of a sleep-in. His surprises continued when both Patil girls dropped in at the Hufflepuff table, taking seats with the group and chatting.

Over the following weeks, the various girls from before became more of a fixture at the study and relaxation sessions, especially as exams approached again. Harry resorted to giving Hermione, and later Daphne and Susan, massages to help keep them from getting too stressed. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, the more girly of the Gryffindor girls, were impressing the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws by putting more work into their studies, bringing their marks more into line with Parvati's more studious twin sister. In turn, Padma was getting more relaxed and smiling more, so it seemed they were both doing well.

Harry found that after the corridor with the Cerberus, there was a pitch-black room. At first, he only knew there was a rustling sound like a wind blowing after landing on some kind of plant, before his clone got dispelled. The next night, the clone tried various light-amplifying techniques, seeing some leaves and vines, jumped down and was again smothered and dispelled. After some research, and some clones dropping with a small light from a camping technique, he worked out this was Devil's Snare, and so knew that a good strong light would slow it down, while it would outright retreat from fire.

From there, the next clone made it down and through a stone passageway which was the only way out. Odd that the defences were arranged linearly like this. Water trickled down the walls and the passage sloped downwards, with soft rustling sounds again. The next room had a high ceiling and hundreds of flying keys. The clone rushed to the next door, in case the keys were disguised attackers, but sadly no, it seemed the door was locked and immune to his attempts to pick the lock, just like the first door.

Since blowing up the door would be obvious to the next person to come down, not to mention dangerous, he couldn't get past for now without either the real Harry to try magic or finding the right key. They tried the broomsticks in the chamber but those just caused the clone pain when he mounted it, and didn't fly at all.

Several nights were spent fruitlessly, trying to pull down and use various keys in the lock. The height of his targets and their active, speedy and random movements made pulling down the intended key a significant challenge.

Next, he tried Earth techniques on the walls, which failed immediately, as there was active magic running through them, so he couldn't just melt a hole for himself. Carving one was possible but would both take longer than a single night, which meant leaving evidence, and possibly dangerous if the magic that failed was helping keep the place structurally safe. That also ruled out using most of his other arsenal on the walls.

So he went back to the problem of the flying keys. He tried walking up the walls but there was too much magic to do even that; his control kept slipping at odd times, and the one time he made it to the ceiling he failed to stick at all. Next, he ran through his various Earth techniques, finding them unstable but just the right side of usable. He rode an Earth Column in the centre of the room to the level of the keys, making the attempts to lasso the keys easier, but another problem made itself known; he had to catch them without chakra enhancing his attempts, no wires that followed his command and so forth. The next night, a fortnight after he met the Cerberus, he caught the thrice-damned key which made his hands ache, jamming it into the lock and turning.

The following room was pitch black, but the clone found its way past life-sized stone chessmen to the other side. The door there refused to open until Harry's clone tried something crazy in frustration, pushing over the king on the far side since it wouldn't even play a game with him. The door led to yet another passageway, and a door that opened to his touch. Beyond, a stench hit him like a train; another troll guarded this room and the exit. He quickly closed the door behind him, hoping the troll was too dull to have noticed, and crept by the tall, ugly, thing. This door, too, was unlocked, Harry slipped silently through and closed the door behind him. As soon as he stepped into the room, flames sprung up ahead and behind him. Magical flames, too. Harry cursed to himself. If he couldn't cheat his way through, this room would require the real Harry to come past the obstacle course.

His first attempt was direct, trying to control the flames directly with his Fire control so they wouldn't burn him. That failed and the clone 'died' screaming. The next night, when he got to that point, he examined the room more fully; there was a silly little riddle on the table indicating that the way to get past the flames was to drink from the correct bottle. While solving the puzzle didn't take too long, a magical potion was no use to a clone. After trying an Earth jutsu which backfired, he had another night to wait. The next night, Harry's clone tried to douse the flames with water, again a failure but at least this one didn't kill the clone. He then donned the ceramic armour he had received from his parents, walking through the flames quickly and feeling mildly queasy from the magic.

He came out into what was fairly obviously the last chamber. There were no challenges waiting for him, no animated stone or magical creatures; only a single, ornate mirror. Indeed, the chamber was completely bare apart from it. It was a very nice mirror, indeed, reaching to the ceiling, an ornate gold frame, standing on elegantly carved clawed feet and with an inscription on the edge. Harry read it, puzzled for a second before it fell into place all in one piece. "I show not your face but your heart's desire." He cursed. An enchanted mirror was unlikely to be what was being guarded, even one as expensive as this, since he knew most witches had them. He was walking around, trying to find something else in the room that could give him a clue when he felt a sharp pain in his head. The clone knew this was a sign of magic, but little else before he dispelled. In the morning, Harry reviewed the memories intensely, finding no sign of hostile magic, only power from the mirror, which would make sense if it truly was attempting to show Harry an illusion of his heart's desire. It would need to make some connection to him in order to read those desires. The last thing the clone saw was the Mirror shimmering, shifting to show something else.

He thought over the situation all day but couldn't think of a good solution short of going in person. He would recall his clones from other duties to free up seven to help him tonight, just in case. 'It's only good sense to keep my options open if I'm going to do something like this. Besides, it's not paranoia when you know they're out to get you.'

The door to the first chamber opened, the Cerberus growled, the first clone was left behind outside the door to keep watch, ready to dispel if someone came along. The second clone to stay behind played music for it while Harry and the remaining five dropped through the trapdoor, leaving behind a spool of wire for his return.

The Devil's Snare gave no effective resistance, the handheld flames scaring it off nicely. The room with the Flying Keys. Before he sat down to let his clones grind through the process of catching the right key, he decided to try one of the brooms instead. A good chase sounded fun! He gave it a try and the brooms provided were better than the normal school ones, something that gave him a moment's pause, before he got back into the rhythm of the hunt. He tried a few stratagems to corner and catch the key, but it was very elusive. In the end he decided to cheat like a ninja. He grabbed his backup weapon pouch, transferring the contents to his clones and climbed back into the air, the mouth of the pouch open for him to use like a butterfly net, catching the key easily, along with a few false ones, and releasing the others once back on solid ground.

The next room, the lights came on for once for the chess game as soon as he stepped in, the stone statues animating. He could try to play by their rules or - Ah, there the opposing king went, falling to the ground again and crown falling off signalling the game was over and the door opened. The chessmen glared at him before the animating spell faded away like it had never been. Harry grinned and strolled through, a clone ahead of him had knocked out the troll and had a clothes peg on its nose like they all did as they walked through. At the potions challenge, the real Harry ignored the offered solution and relied on his ceramic armour like his clones, making his way into the final room with the magic mirror.

"At last!" Harry uttered the first words since he'd entered the third floor corridor. "This had better have something interesting here." He got in front of the mirror, clones in position and ready at a moment's notice to Replace him, switching his place for their own, as well as certain more destructive responses.

He looked into the mirror, noticing that as before the surface shimmered as he watched and he felt the enchantments pushing at his mental defences. With a signal to his clones, he dropped those, feeling the magic slip deeper into his mind, looking, evaluating, then responding by showing him himself. "What? All that preparation, even allowing it into my mind, and it's just going to be a regular mirror?" He started laughing at the absurdity until he saw his reflection stop laughing, wearing a secret smile which stilled his laughter instantly. His reflection put its hand into its pocket, pulling out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the stone into its pocket, and as it did so Harry noticed something heavy drop into his own. Somehow the mirror had given him an item, and from all the build-up a fairly important one.

His reflection grinned, and the mirror shimmered again, as it shifted to show an altogether different scene. This time, Harry was surrounded by happy people, his Dad Naruto and all his Mums, looking at him proudly, hugging him, his Mums kissing his cheek, then the image shifted again, adding in the girls in his life all looking a few years older as did he. Both groups of girls were included, magical ones like Hermione, Susan and Daphne, as well as the five non-magical girls, Ashley, Ella, Stephanie, Michelle and Meaghan walking in from the side, followed by Sandra. Each of them gave mirror-Harry a big hug and even a kiss next to his lips, smiling as the other girls embraced him, obviously happy to share him. Then his magical female friends followed suit! Harry blushed. Yes, he did like the girls, and wanted them to be happy with him. Perhaps he was growing up, perhaps the resolution he made nearly two years before was wearing thin, but the thought of having the girls with him only filled him with happiness and a little anticipation. A new thought crossed his mind. He knew that the image was just that, an illusion, but it was of a possible future, one that he would try to make come true.

One of the clones tapped his shoulder, and he looked over. "Boss, you've been just staring at the mirror for five minutes. Is everything okay?"

"We got what we came for," he patted his pocket, "at least, that's all it will be giving us apart from a vision of a possible future. Let's go. And keep on alert as we return. After all, we haven't had to exit here before."

Despite his caution, there was nothing new to see. All the rooms were as they left them, and his clones cleaned up behind him, destroying any sign he'd ever been here. He climbed up and out of the room with the Devil's Snare, walked out of the room with the Cerberus and down the forbidden corridor, keeping one clone on lookout as he would for the rest of the year. The rest of Harry's clones descended upon the Library, silently celebrating, and the real Harry returned to his dorm under the Cloak.

The next morning, the last Sunday of January, Harry got up, checked that the shiny Stone was where he left it, and returned it to the bottom of a pile of otherwise mundane items, assuredly not in his school-approved trunk, and headed down to breakfast. Despite listening in very closely, there was no sign that anyone had even noticed his nocturnal acquisition, for which he was grateful, and neither was there sign of the Headmaster this morning. All he needed now was to get his purloined treasure out without getting caught, and of course, find out just what he had. He was sure his parents would be more than happy to help with that last, of course, they were always excited by anything truly new to them. A product, they had told him when he asked, of having seen as much as they had. Harry could see their point, now that he had a baker's dozen clones running around, he was seeing just about everything around him multiple times. In an effort to get something new to read, he'd ironically read through some past issues of the major paper, the Daily Prophet. That jogged his memory - aha! There was something about a break-in at the wizard's bank, right on his birthday, even. The robber had gotten in and out without being caught, which was worrying enough, but the goblins had claimed that the intruder hadn't stolen anything.

"Hey Susan, I was wondering. In August there was an article about someone stealing something from the bank, wasn't there? Has there been anyone caught since then?" Harry asked.

"Sorry, Harry, I've no idea. I'd have to ask my aunt about it, but even if she does tell me, I may not be allowed to pass it along." Susan apologised.

"That's fine, Susan, I'd just like to hear what you can tell us. After all, if the place isn't secure, I would have to talk to my parents about taking the money somewhere safer," Harry tried to explain his interest.

Unfortunately, the power of gossip saw these supposedly idle words acquire an importance that surprised him. That very night, Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE turned up, requesting a short visit with her niece and one Mr Potter. After speaking briefly with Susan, she turned to Harry in full professional mode, monocle in place and having surreptitiously checked her glamour for a grey haired bun was working. She wanted to be treated as the respected witch she was, not the auburn-haired beauty nature had intended for her.

"Well, Mr Potter, you've certainly caused a fine spot of trouble with your careless words!" Amelia tried to be fearsome, and did a fair job at it, but while she had presence, she lacked the Killing Intent that Harry or his family could produce. As such, he could stay calm.

"Madam Bones, would you like to explain to me just what has happened, and why you believe it to be my fault?"

Amelia sighed. She had been sure she could intimidate the boy, after which she would explain it was a joke (and a test of his nerves). Instead, her niece's friend had managed something few of her Aurors could equal. "Yes, I would like to explain. First, I should apologise, that was supposed to be a test to make you acknowledge my authority. You would be amazed, or perhaps you wouldn't be after that display, how often it helps me do my job when everyone respects that authority. I do wonder just how you managed it, of course, but I can hardly expect you to tell me after how I acted.

"Secondly, to explain, you, Harry, are famous as the Boy-Who-Lived. I've heard from my niece that you don't like either the title itself or the fame, and that is a healthy attitude to keep for now. However, it does mean that your words acquire more weight than they should. Your off-hand comment about pulling money from the bank was overheard and passed along, even reaching the Ministry where it caused something of a panic. By the time it reached me, it had been transfigured into a story that you had already withdrawn all the Potter wealth and left the country. I spent a little time putting out that fire then came myself to see what the real story was. Susan told me what your original words were, and I understand your concerns. Would you be prepared to make a statement for the paper clarifying what you originally said, and that you aren't taking your money and fleeing these shores?"

"Madam Bones, so long as I get answers to my questions, and those answers wouldn't make any reasonable person in my place take their money and run, I believe I would be prepared to give you that statement. I understand that may not be the answer you want, but it's the most honest answer I have to give." Harry said carefully, trying to remain as courteous as possible despite the implied demand.

"Harry, you said to my Susan that you just want to know the results of the investigation as long as it's not something that must be kept secret, correct?"

"Something very like that, yes" Harry nodded, glad that at least this much of his request wasn't garbled.

"And if I say the information you want is secret?"

"Then I'll accept that, Madam Bones. In the r- Muggle world, the police often can't give out all the information or the crooks would find out when they're about to be caught, and that'd be silly. I hope the same applies here, or your job would be a nightmare!"

"Indeed," Amelia replied and smiled. "As it happens, the information you want I can share. You remembered correctly, there was an attempt on a vault in Gringotts on July the thirty-first, and while nothing was stolen, indeed nothing has been stolen in over a century from the bank, the person did make it into the vault which had been emptied that very day. The goblins were incensed, it seemed like the vault-holder had inside information that they refused to divulge about a threat to the bank. No official action was taken against the wizard, partly because no crime was committed, technically, though I wouldn't be surprised if the main reason was the wizard's history."

Harry was surprised she had gotten so chatty, but was more than content to hear more from the aunt of his close friend Susan.

"The goblins have beefed up security since the incident, and the case has been gathering dust for a few months now since there have been no new leads.

"In other news, according to rumour one Albus Dumbledore has been avoiding the goblins since around the same time, leading a few in the Department to suspect that he was the wizard in question whose vault had been entered." She smirked, enjoying it when the old man stumbled like this. He had been interfering with her work against the Death Eaters - both honest and 'reformed' or 'cursed' - for literally decades, preaching forgiveness and redemption instead of justice and punishment. While she believed he was mostly a good man, he was still only human, able to make mistakes; only his mistakes had cost some of her Aurors their health or their lives, as she saw it.

Susan came over as they finished their chat, and helped her aunt and her Harry draft a statement for Amelia about the matter, stating that it was settled, Harry was leaving his money where it was and appreciated the bank's record on security, and certainly wasn't fleeing Britain's shores. He had made great friends at Hogwarts and looked forward to getting a better education. Harry smiled to himself at the multiple possible meanings of that statement, one of them being to quit the expensive and underperforming boarding school and return to Cranleigh.

Harry was amused the next day that his statement appeared verbatim in the newspaper, and that it caused a wave of relief across all the Houses; even some Slytherins joined in. He was not so amused when Daphne scathingly remarked about his thoughtless behaviour. She blushed as she realised what she said, and apologised for going too far, but he apologised too, acknowledging that he could have handled it better by asking the question in private. "I just haven't had thousands of people paying so much attention to me before. It still seems stupid to me to regard a baby as the hero who defeated a Dark Lord. Treating an eleven year old boy's word like the nation would collapse without me, well it just seems like there's something very wrong."

"You're right, Harry, it doesn't make much sense, but they needed a hero and someone selected you for the job. It was better, in some ways, that the real you wasn't there to challenge whatever image of you they wanted to make."

"Exactly," Susan added, "writing about the Boy-Who-Lived fighting dragons at six years old, or rescuing a girl from acromantulas at eight, makes for a good story, but the story is spoiled if people have met the hero and they know he's just an ordinary boy who didn't and couldn't do any of those things. Though you're not an ordinary boy, either." She beamed at him, as did the others who were there for the troll.

"Why thank you, Susan. You're not an ordinary boy, yourself."

She stuck out her tongue at him while the others chuckled or groaned, then groaned herself as she went stiff, eyes pleading at Harry. "Would you give me another massage after breakfast please? I must have slept wrong."

He nodded and paused. "Thanks for reminding me, Susan. I never heard back from the team about offering to provide massages after training, did any of you?"

They shook their heads, none of them had.

"Okay Susan, after I take care of your back, I'll try to track down one of the players and find out what's going on." She smiled and finished her breakfast quickly, eager for the massage to begin under Harry's talented fingers.

Harry's clones spread through the castle, finding the Seeker easiest of all, out on the Quidditch Pitch with some friends. He guided his friends over there after a little while and asked to speak to Cedric. Cedric's friends just waved him off, they knew who Harry was and knew the Boy-Who-Lived was helping restore their House pride, making him well-liked.

"Hey Cedric, I was wondering about the offer I made to the team, I know you were going to talk about it but I never heard anything back."

"Which offer was that?"

"The massages, of course."

"That really happened, er I mean that was serious?"

"Sure I was serious. I don't go back on my word like that. Didn't you end up having the meeting?"

Cedric was embarrassed. "No, we all woke up with hangovers the following afternoon. So, you're still willing to help?"

"Yes, I am. I wouldn't mind trying out for the team next year, and I think a couple of my friends are interested too. What work should we do to improve our chances?" Harry phrased the last question deliberately. He wanted to be sure that Cedric understood him right. Harry wanted to be on the team, but he didn't want his fame to buy his place. While Harry was willing to do anything for a mission, joining the school sports team was hardly like that.

Cedric smiled at the younger boy, and started to explain more of the game, its strategies and tactics, the qualities important to each position. He would have kept on explaining, Harry was sure, except for Harry interrupting to suggest that perhaps they should arrange a time for this so that they don't ignore their friends. Cedric grinned unrepentantly. "I do go on about Quidditch, don't I?"

Via his clones, Harry observed Cedric gather the rest of the team to have an impromptu meeting, talking about the offer by the looks of it, before they nodded in unison and sent Cedric off to find him. Cedric found Harry in the classroom his study group had taken over, telling him the team had decided to accept his offer at least on a trial basis, and that he could bring his friends with him to learn more about the game and even get some practice in.

That evening, Harry got a coded letter from his parents regarding his activities in the forbidden corridor. As expected, they weren't terribly happy about him going in person (without them, at least) but said they understood the need, and at least he had seemed properly paranoid. Also as he expected, they were amused at his letdown at the end, and promised to help investigate what the red stone was. Harry thought a good lead would be to investigate the Headmaster's past, something that was a good idea in general anyway. And since Susan's aunt had so kindly hinted that she thought he was involved with the robbery in some way, it seemed a good idea to start there. He was old enough to have been involved with just about everyone in Britain's Wizarding society, and that the Director of the DMLE thought he was involved was compelling support for the notion.

He started with publicly available information, just to see what was out there. When his friends heard what he was looking for, though obviously he couldn't give the real reason, Megan Jones mentioned Chocolate Frogs and the cards that come with them, with Wizarding pictures of the famous wizards and witches on them. She dashed back to her dorm and returned with her card collection, quickly scanning through it and producing one for the Headmaster:

"Considered by many to be the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of Dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling."

Harry blinked at the last bit. "Somehow I'm having trouble picturing him in those robes and that long beard going ten pin bowling." There were a few chuckles, then Harry continued, "Thanks, Megan, this is great, it gives another insight into such a powerful politician." A couple of his friends rolled their eyes, as Harry rarely referred to the man as Headmaster if he could get away with it. Megan smiled, though, at the recognition while Harry quickly copied out the information into his notes and gave back the card.

Harry decided to add Grindelwald and Nicolas Flamel to his list of people to investigate. They were significant enough to mention on the card which had to leave so much else out, after all. That night, his clones roamed the Hogwarts Library looking for references to both wizards as well as Dragon's blood and alchemy. In the following weeks, they found numerous books on all but Nicolas Flamel until they looked up one of the older tomes on alchemy, where Flamel was mentioned as the only known owner of the legendary Philosopher's Stone! While the reports of its abilities were unbelievable on the surface, certainly Flamel had something interesting as both he and his wife had lived over six hundred years. Since what Harry had obtained was a stone with interesting protections, it was at least possible that this stone he found was theirs, however ridiculous it was to Harry's sensibilities. Indeed, if the Flamels had owned the Stone for so long without loss, why move it now, and why would Dumbledore announce that there was something unusual about the one part of the castle where it was kept? A cynical thought that it was bait was dismissed for lack of evidence. He sent a message via clone home about what he had found out, his thoughts and suspicions. He was confident that his family would find a way to contact the Flamels or at least investigate them. He could leave the matter in their capable hands.

The next morning, Wednesday, Harry went to Herbology happy with his life. He had good friends, good family, and good progress on his various goals. While he was only barely started with copying the Library, his methods were working well and should be able to finish it before his final year here, sooner with more clones.

He had penetrated the third-floor corridor of 'painful death', and its mysteries, without leaving a trace. His clones cleared up all physical signs, erased their chakra, and he hadn't used a speck of magic so he was reasonably confident that he would get away with it, at least that it wouldn't be traced to him when someone did find that it was missing. The Stone itself was in a pair of dirty socks he used for his morning runs, which would discourage closer looks but shouldn't appear to be conspicuous, at the bottom of a pile of Harry's general belongings.

He had also given the Quidditch team their first after-training massages. He felt like grinning when he remembered the amazement on their faces. They had explained that they couldn't reliably cast the spells to do it for them, and even the spells weren't as enjoyable as the feeling after one of Harry's massages. That evening, Cedric gave another theory lesson on the game, and they were booked in to have a practice with the team on Saturday afternoon.

The evening Astronomy class was also a pleasant change. The hostility that Professor Sinistra had felt in first term about an eleven year old boy trying to correct her in her area of expertise was melting away each week as she fell in love with the photographs and accompanying texts on the planets and the stars, even if she was still resisting the revolutionary idea that the stars were always changing. The Ptolemaic model had been standard in the Wizarding World and never really been changed to the modern. Wizarding astronomers had accepted the precession of the stars, but even that seemed to be just another, grander cycle, a reflection of eternity. Harry hoped that she would accept the new model once she saw the evidence for herself, as she had implied she would. He admired her for sticking to the existing theory until there was new evidence which didn't fit. It showed that she wasn't so open minded that her sense fell out.

As Winter fought to the bitter end against the thaw, the pattern for the following weeks was set. By day he would have his light exercise, classes and time with friends, and now adding time getting to know the team as they accepted his massages which enabled them to train harder and longer, becoming fitter and better players, a service they were happy to repay on the weekends by training with his friends. Hannah enjoyed flying, but felt that only the Keeper position would suit her. She didn't have the right mindset to attack, she said. Susan and Hermione, surprisingly, both did have the right mindset for Chasers; they enjoyed the teamwork of the position, especially if Harry was the third as they had the trust needed to truly excel at the role. Leanne and Megan, surprisingly enough, had the killer instinct needed for truly outstanding Beaters, but they lacked both the endurance and the strength to play against the other Houses. At least that was something they could work on, so they were content. For Harry found his best place in the team was as a Chaser with the girls; it fitted best with his football and hard-won combat instincts, though he was also a great backup Seeker should Cedric be unavailable. While he was slightly better than Cedric as Seeker, his skills as Chaser were enough to turn the line from 'decent' to 'extraordinary', enabling them to rack up the points.

In the meantime, he kept one clone watching the third floor corridor, and one watching Quirrell, though there was nothing new there. He also started up with a few pranks, trying to emulate the Weasley style while putting his own touch on target selection and level of harm. An early one made the Twins' robes and hair Slytherin green with dye, not magic, and so it lasted until they thought to try a simple Colour-Changing Charm. Soon enough, Winter gave way to Spring and the Equinox and it was time to head home.

Thank you all for your continued interest and support. Your feedback is always welcome. If you spot any mistakes or problems, feel free to let me know via PM.