Harry sat in the corner and stared into nothingness. The fires had long since died away, and all that was left was the stench of burning fruit and other smells he was doing his best not to think about.
He' d been such a fool. He'd been convinced that he'd be able to stop a full grown adult wizard from stealing the stone, at least with Steven's help.
It had all seemed so clear, before they'd gone down the trap door. They'd save the stone and then everyone would know that he wasn't just the baby-who-lived.
His vanity had killed his friend.
Harry couldn't even look at Steven's body, lying on its side. There hadn't been any movement, so he assumed Steven had been wrong about his mother coming back.
In a way it was too bad. If she'd returned, at least part of Steven would have lived on.
Instead, it was all for nothing. He felt the stone in his pocket, its weight as heavy as the pain in his heart.
The flames on the far wall dimmed and died.
Professor Dumbledore stepped through the entryway, followed by Professors McGonagall and Snape.
"What happened here?" Dumbledore asked gently.
Harry was silent for a long moment. Finally he pulled the stone out of his pocket and handed it to Dumbledore.
It was cold comfort.
"Quirrell killed Steven," Harry said. He didn't look at them...couldn't look at them. "I tried to stop him, but the avada kedavra sliced right through his shield like it wasn't even there."
"What are these things?" McGonagall asked, staring at the pile of burned rinds covering Quirrell's body.
"Steven made guardians out of Watermelons," Harry said. "They went crazy after he died."
He stared at the wall for a long moment. "Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort. He was using the unicorn blood to keep himself alive until he could get the stone."
"I suspected as much," Dumbledore said. "Voldemort isn't gone; he's just going to try to keep returning to the world."
"If you knew, why didn't you do something?" Harry asked sharply. Steven had died because the headmaster hadn't kept the stone safe.
Dumbledore hesitated, only to be interrupted by Snape clearing his throat.
Snape crouched over Steven's body, then looked up. "You're certain it was the Avada Kedavra he used?"
Harry nodded. "I'll never forget it."
Snape sneered. "It would appear that you are no longer the only boy-who-lived. This boy is only unconscious."
Apparently Steven's shield had protected him from the Avada Kedavra, but only partially.
Over the next three days Harry had refused to leave Steven's side. He'd eavesdropped on the adult wizards as they'd talked with Poppy about Steven's prognosis.
Anyone other than Steven would have died anyway, despite the partial protection from his shield. Steven, however was at least as magic resistant as Hagrid, if not somewhat more so.
The fact that like Harry he'd been responsible for the downfall of one version of Voldemort didn't escape Harry, although it was apparently being covered up in the Wizarding paper.
The last thing Steven needed was the kind of publicity Harry had.
Harry was dozing in his chair, although sometimes when he slept he would find himself back in the chamber, staring at the body of Quirrell.
The last remaining Watermelon Steven's had taken up positions guarding the foot of Steven's bed. Harry had carefully positioned himself so that he was behind their line of sight.
They'd been simply odd before; weirdly eccentric if a little creepy. Now that he'd seen what they were capable of, Harry couldn't help but be creeped out by them.
Stiffening, the Watermelon Stevens moved in unison.
It wasn't for another twenty seconds that Steven heard the distinctive sound of a cane striking the tile floor.
The curtain was swept aside, and Harry looked up into the scowling face of Draco Malfoy's father, Lucius Malfoy.
"What are these...things still doing here?" He stared down at the watermelon Stevens before looking at Steven.
The two watermelon Steven's hissed and their mouths began to turn into slits.
Lucius pulled his wand and pointed them at the watermelons.
"I'm sure none of this is necessary Lucius," Dumbledore said from behind him. "They are simply protecting young Steven."
"They killed a professor at this school." Lucius Malfoy didn't take his eye off of either of the Watermelon Stevens, even as they took a step toward him.
"These particular creatures did not," Dumbledore said. "They were guarding young Ms Granger and Weasely as they came to warn the other members of the staff."
"I never agreed with letting this...thing attend school," Malfoy glanced at Harry. "I knew he would be a danger to everyone and now a man is dead."
"He was saving me," Harry said, speaking up finally. "They all were."
"You should never have been there in the first place. This is a school, not a goblin vault."
Harry stared at the older man, surprised that they were both in agreement about something for once.
"This boy needs to be in Azkaban." Malfoy said. "With all the other murderers."
He stepped forward, turning his wand toward Steven.
That was all the provocation the watermelons needed. They snarled and lunged toward Malfoy.
"Stop!"
Steven's voice from the bed was soft, but the Watermelons stopped in their tracks. A cutting curse struck the ground in front of them, in the place they would have been if they hadn't stopped.
"Steven!" Harry said, finally feeling that everything was going to be right in the world.
The fact that Lucius Malfoy was scowling over his shoulder didn't matter at all.
In the end, Malfoy did have one triumph.
The Watermelon Stevens were deemed too dangerous to be allowed to continue to live in Hogwarts. Steven was forced to send them into the Forbidden Forest, with strict admonitions that he wasn't to create any more.
While the Slytherins thought they had the house cup locked in, Dumbledore awarded Harry sixty points and Steven one hundred and thirty points.
It was the first Hufflepuff house cup victory in more than eighty years.
Seeing the stunned look on the Hufflepuff faces had made it almost worth losing the cup to them. They hadn't know what to do. The thought that they might win the cup had never even occurred to them.
The Syltherins had been outraged, however.
That had made it even more palatable, and the Gryffindors had taken up cheering for the Hufflepuffs, led at first by Ron, to Harry's astonishment.
Exam results came in, and Harry and Ron had good marks. Surprisingly, despite his struggling Steven had some through with middling marks in his worst classes. He'd actually fourth in his class in potions and second in Herbology.
Life was finally good.
"Hurry up," Hermione said. "We're going to miss the train,"
Steven shrugged. "I'm just going back to the ministry."
Harry himself wasn't all that excited about going home. Life at the Dursleys had never been good; now that he'd learned that there was another kind of life, it was going to be even more intolerable.
"The time will fly," Hermione insisted.
It probably would, for her. From what Harry could tell, she actually had a happy home life, with good parents.
Ron frowned, looking out the window. "What're they doing here?"
An auror was walking through the courtyard heading in their direction, a grim look on his face. He was the same man who'd come to interview Harry and Steven about Quirrell's death. He'd talked to Ron and Hermione and other people. Flanking him were three other men who harry suspected were Aurors.
Harry couldn't remember the man's name; he felt a little embarrassed. After everything that had happened, he hadn't been focused on anything.
"What's happened?" Ron asked.
The man shook his head at Ron warningly before turning to Steven.
"There's been a development at the ministry," he said.
Harry had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Had Malfoy somehow gotten the ministry to classify Steven as a dangerous creature?
"The men tasked with keeping an eye on your aunts were called away for an emergency. By the time they got back, the gems were gone."
"Whaaat?" Steven asked, staggering backwards.
"There were reports of a short purple woman running through the ministry yelling your name. The aurors tried to catch up with her, but before they did she turned into a purple owl and followed the other owls out of the building. They suspect that she is carrying the others."
"Amethyst," Steven murmured. "She always was the first one to reform, even if she ended up with hands instead of feet because she rushed it."
He scowled. "She's going to be so worried."
"We're going to need your help to find her," the man said. "Ordinary spells aren't working to help track her, but we think we can send her an owl with a letter. If it's a letter from you, she might even believe it and turn herself in."
He glanced at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "I think the rest of you need to meet your train. The ministry has this well in hand."
Harry stared at the man for a moment. Something made him suspect that everything wasn't as under control as the man wanted to project. After all, if it had been under control, they wouldn't have lost track of the gems.
Still...they did need to catch their trains.
"I'll owl you," Hermione said. "Let us know what happens."
Steven nodded grimly before turning to the aurors behind him. He had family to find.
If Harry had had the opportunity to get one of his parents back, he wouldn't have been able to think about anything else either.
At least Steven had a chance of getting part of his family back.
Faced with going back to the Durselys, Harry felt guilty, but he envied him.
He couldn't wait for next year.