"You were right Harry," Hermione whispered, squeezed between her two boys. It was their second night back at the castle, and the trio had snuck out of Ravenclaw tower beneath Harry's invisibility cloak. They were currently outside the door on the third floor corridor. "There's a tripping ward. He knows who's been inside and when,"
"So he really thinks Voldemort's not dead," Ron mused. "How? If the Killing Curse rebounded off your mother's protection ritual, it should've killed him,"
"Not if he found a way to make himself immortal," Hermione countered. "Magic can do pretty much anything, it shouldn't be hard to find something that would keep him from dying,"
"We don't know for certain if it's Voldemort," Harry pointed out. "And if it is, why doesn't Dumbledore deal with him now? What's with the door, and the Cerberus?"
"He's flamboyant," Ron deadpanned, making his friends snicker. "Anyway, what's our move?"
"What do you think?" Harry asked. "You're the chess player, Mr. Strategist,"
"We should figure out if anyone else comes up here besides us," Ron whispered back, "Then we should probably steal the Philosopher's stone before whoever wants it gets—"
Hermione and Harry went quiet when they heard footsteps, while Ron went quiet for another reason, eyes glazing over. Harry threw the Invisibility Cloak back over all three of them, Hermione tucking Ron against her protectively as Snape walked down the corridor.
The potions professor stopped right in front of the trio, surveying the hallway. Another set of footsteps echoed from the opposite direction, and Professor Quirrell appeared.
"Harry," Hermione whispered softly, ignoring the heated conversation. "Harry, he's out for longer than usual!"
Harry took Ron's right arm. "We'll have to guide him, but stay quiet,"
"— won't get it," Snape said, sounding bored. "It is very well protected, Quirinus, and I can assure you you need not worry. The Headmaster sent me down to check the hallway. You may return to your rooms,"
Quirrell's smile was unnaturally wide. "Very well, Severus,"
When Quirrell walked past them, Harry felt a cold stretch down his spine. Snape stalked off after waiting for a long time, and when he turned the corner Ron gasped sharply.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, the boy shaking. "Ron, are you alright?"
"That was the longest you've been out that we've seen," Harry said worriedly. Ron shook his head and gripped his friends tight.
"It is Voldemort, Harry. And if he gets the stone he's going after you."
o - o - o
"Alright," Harry was laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. "So. Voldemort is in the castle, and he's after the Philosopher's stone to keep himself alive, and maybe immortal. There's also something else that's keeping him immortal, probably, from before he died, that we need to find out. He's not fully returned yet, else a war would most likely be brewing, but whatever happens, he's after me for some reason. This is all purely speculation at this point, aside from Ron's visions, but either way we need to be three steps ahead to beat him and Dumbledore, because I am not the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and I will not be the Headmaster's soldier in whatever personal vendetta he may have against Voldemort I just want to go to school. What do we do first?"
"Voldemort can't be his real name," Hermione began first. "There's no way he would use his birth given name to instill fear into people as he moves as a Dark Lord. If we get his real name, we can learn about his past and what he was like. His fears, his strengths. We do that, we can find out what he might've done to become immortal,"
"We keep Quirrell and Dumbledore away from us at all times," Ron added. "We need to be as boring and normal as possible. We cannot ever be seen or caught, and we need to take down Dumbledore's ward to get the stone, but we don't have the skill right now. I have an idea that we could do, masking our magical signatures to get the stone and he'll never know who it was,"
"Okay. Ron, you're on magical signature blocking, and anything else you think will be helpful. Hermione, you get to learn as much as you possibly can about Voldemort. I doubt that will be easy, but we're not past breaking the law. I'll look into Nicholas Flamel and if he gave the stone to Dumbledore willingly, and other forms of gaining immortality," Harry said with a sigh. "I love being bloody famous,"
"You two are foul-mouthed and I'll never be able to change that," Hermione finally relented, crossing her arms. Suddenly, her eyes shot open. "Boys! Salazar's Chamber of Secrets!"
"What about it?" They asked. The two boys blinked at each other in shock before grinning.
"It's a very common fact that Voldemort is a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, it's why Parseltongue has become so accursed in the UK," Hermione continued. "All wizarding pureblood families can trace back generations. Salazar's Chamber probably has loads of books, one of which has to have the name of Voldemort!"
"Excellent, 'Mione!" Harry grinned. "We'll have to be careful. The stories did say he left a creature in there to protect the school,"
"She won't hurt us if you speak to her first, Harry," Ron commented. "Let's get to work then. This is one game we won't lose,"
"Hagrid's the one who brought in the Cerberus," Ron said to his friends as they began getting ready for the day. "Which is no surprise,"
"Is it true he was trying to hatch a dragon egg in his hut?" Hermione asked. "His wooden hut?"
"Yep," Ron snorted. "I lettered Charlie, he and a few friends from the dragon reserve are corresponding with Hagrid so they can break onto campus and take it to Romania,"
"Your brother sounds like he's completely insane," Harry noted. "We should meet him,"
"Charlie's alright," Ron grinned. "I mean, yeah I've got my problems with my family, but really only with Mum and Dad. The only person allowed to fight my siblings is me. Besides, Charlie's telepathy is seriously cool,"
"You always say telepathy. Is he not a Legilimens?" Hermione asked, curious. Ron shook his head.
"No, but he is a very powerful Occlumens. Charlie can communicate with thoughts. Like an actual conversation, but in your mind. It's what allows him to be so good with dragons, he can speak to them. Also, he's weirdly fire resistant, and a slight pyromaniac,"
"Odd. Anyway, back to our original topic," Harry said. "If Hagrid brought in the Cerberus, it's to be assumed that there are more traps, each set by a teacher,"
"If they're easy for us, I'll be so disappointed," Hermione sighed. "We're three first years, if we can get through what makes them think an accomplished, so far immortal Dark Lord can't?"
"Maybe Dumbledore's gone senile?" Ron suggested.
"We can only hope," Harry said solemnly before all three burst into laughter.
o - o - o
"Have we stopped to consider why the Dark Lord wants to go after Harry?" Hermione asked one night, a few days after their return from Ostara holidays.
Unlike Yule break, which spanned from the 17th of December (the day students left) to the 4th of January (the day they returned), Ostara was only a week long holiday, leaving on the 17th of March and returning on the 24th. The trio had spent that time with Ron's grandmother, learning different magicks both together and individually.
Each was given several books to read about their elemental affinity, and they all received an introduction to Occlumency from Grandmother Lucretia, something Ron helped the other two with as he had a bit more practice due to his gift of Sight.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking up from where he and Ron were playing chess and to where Hermione was laying on her back on Ron's bed with her head hanging off the end and a book in her hands.
"Well think about it. While it's true that he probably attacked the Potters due to it being a strategic move to cripple the opposing side, considering how powerful your parents were, but you were a baby. If your parents are already dead, the Light side is already crippled. So why is it that even after almost twelve years, he's still trying to kill one Harrison James Potter? What could possibly make him hold a grudge against a baby for over a decade?" Hermione asked. "I mean, if he was going to do anything to continue his war effort, why wouldn't he attack Dumbledore? Or some prominent Light family that was involved in the war?"
"That's… I—" Harry blinked, staring wide eyed at Ron, who wore a similar expression. "Um. Wow. Mi, what the heck?"
"You're scary sometimes, did you know that?" Ron turned to look at her. "Brilliant, of course, but scary."
Hermione smirked, "I know. It's effortless,"
"We should probably add that to our list of things to look into," Harry sighed, flopping backwards on the couch. "Merlin, we'll never be able to relax, will we?"
"Do you think Dumbledore knows?" Ron asked thoughtfully. "And that's why he's always watching you, and wants you to be 'Light' so badly?"
"What, like some kind of prophetic warrior? Our modern day King Arthur?" Hermione snorted with a roll of her eyes, returning to her book. She glanced back up when neither boy responded, seeing the considering looks on their faces. "Oh you can not be serious,"
"What? You don't think I'm worthy of being a prophecy child?" Harry teased, making Ron laugh.
"Yeah, Mi, he's our wizarding Once and Future King, do you not believe in him?" Ron asked her.
"I believe that the prophecy aspect of Divination is a load of rubbish," Hermione grumbled, making the two boys laugh.
"You guys ready?" Harry asked his two best friends, the three of them squished together beneath his invisibility cloak. Hermione and Ron both nodded, grim determination set in their faces.
All three waved their wands, working together to disrupt Dumbledore's ward. Harry smirked as they watched it shatter, entering the room and locking the door behind them. They removed the cloak and stared at the sleeping Cerberus.
"It won't wake up if we play a lullaby," Hermione whispered. "Any suggestions, boys?"
"Dormiens ludere musicam audire melodiam," Ron whispered, waving his wand. Dozens of strings of beautiful colors filled the air, decorated with music notes and playing a soft lullaby.
"Mum would use this for Ginny all the time," Ron whispered as an explanation. "Let's go,"
Harry moved to go first, but Hermione held him back. A moment of eye contact and he nodded, allowing Hermione to approach the sleeping dog. She was shaking, and deathly pale, but easily moved the paw from over the trapdoor.
"Lumos," She whispered, looking down. "It's filled with Devil's Snare. Go limp and you'll fall right through, unless we want to run the risk of burning ourselves,"
"Right," Harry nodded, he and Ron following their friend.
And down the rabbit hole they went.
"Flying keys?" Ron tilted his head, looking up at the flock of keys. "Flitwick, I'd assume. Does he really expect the broom to be useful though? It's doubtful anyone will be able to catch up with the key,"
"That's probably the trap, the broom is so slow that Voldemort will be so occupied Dumbledore can come down here and trap him," Hermione pointed out.
"Accio Correct Key," Harry said, easily catching the small key with the broken wing. "Huh, triple trapped,"
"Ten points, Flitwick," Ron grinned as Harry unlocked the next door.
"Oh hell yes!" Ron exclaimed, gaining a glint in his eye as he looked at the chessboard. "This is going to be fun,"
Harry and Hermione exchanged amused looks as Ron started maneuvering the chess pieces.
"A life size board of wizard's chess," Ron mused as one of his knights slashed through the opposing pawn. "It's to be assumed that the broken pieces won't come back in this game, so however I win, the pieces I'm missing will have to be replaced by Voldemort when or if he makes it to this point. Checkmate,"
"I'll never get tired of watching him play," Hermione sighed. "So long as it's not against you or me,"
"I know. When I'm against him, I wanna kill him," Harry grinned when Ron pouted as they moved through to the next room.
"At least we know where the troll came from on Halloween," Harry blinked, staring up at the green mountain troll, which growled at them and raised its club threateningly.
Huffing, Hemione raised her wand, when the troll froze. It's gaze locked on Hermione, and after a moment, it stepped aside. The troll nodded its head to the first year girl and sat on the floor.
"What the hell?" Harry asked, confused.
"He's letting us pass," Hermione blinked, lowering her wand. "Why?"
"Ollivander, you sly son of a—"
"Ronald!"
"Remember what he said?" Ron ignored Hermione's chastise. "`The Earth, the Sea, and the Sky'. 'Mione, he called you Earth, and that's a Mountain Troll,"
"What, you think our affinities are more than just affinities? Not even the books from Grandmother say anything about that, affinities are common, they just mean some wixen are more suited to specific aspects of magic," Harry said as they carefully walked past the troll.
"I'm saying that three is a powerful number in the magical world, and the Ollivander line has Seer blood," Ron replied as they entered a room with potions and a riddle. "And I don't know about you, but I don't feel on the same level as the rest of our year. Come on, when we were angry, the earth shook, winds raged, and waters grew dangerous, and Grandmother did say something about Lady Magic 'bestowing her realm' or something like that,"
"You think we're what? Guardians of the three plains or something? That's more far fetched than the prophecy idea," Harry raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "I can admit we're on a different level than the others in our year but that's because we learn so much more,"
"The prophecy idea isn't that far fetched, we can send an owl to the Department of Mysteries asking if there's anything in the Hall of Prophecy under your name," Ron said flatly.
"You can— The hall of what?"
"We'll discuss it when we've got the stone," Hermione waved her hand dismissively. ignorant of the conversation between her two boys as she finished her read through of the riddle. "That one will allow you to go forward, while that one will allow you through the exit," She pointed out the two potions. "Troublesome, as none of them can be split three ways,"
"Or can they?" Harry grinned at his friends' confused looks. "We're three eleven year olds, one of which is smaller than healthy. These potions were made for a fully grown man. Would I be correct in assuming that kids and adults receive different sized doses when they take potions?" He asked the lone pureblood of the group.
Ron grinned. "Right you are, prophecy boy,"
"Geniu— Oh bugger off Ron," Hermione cut herself off, rolling her eyes. Quickly, she grabbed the potion to allow them to go forward. "Right, I'll tell you boys when to stop," She took a quick swig, passing it to Ron. "Bottoms up. Okay," The redhead passed to Harry, who took the last equal third. Joining hands, the trio ran through the purple flames, laughing when they were unharmed.
"'Mione, you're amazing," Harry and Ron grinned, and the girl preened, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Of course I am," Hermione beamed, happily skipping ahead of her boys. She stopped in front of the mirror. "Thoughts?"
Ron tilted his head, reading the wording inscribed on the edges of the mirror. "I show not your face, but your heart's desire," Ron blinked, looking into the mirror.
Their three reflections stared back, hands linked.
"It's a mirror," Harry said simply. "So, what? We hope for the Philosopher's Stone?"
"Well, it's to be assumed this trap was laid by Dumbledore himself," Hermione murmured. "And he's all about Light and goodness…" She trailed off, staring intently at the mirror. After a moment, Hermione grinned and pulled a red stone from her pocket. "Here we are,"
"What did you think?" Ron asked as they turned to leave.
"I just thought of how we want it to keep it away from those who wish to use it," Hermione passed the stone to Harry. "Here, you'll probably find the best place to hide it,"
"That was a bit anticlimactic, wasn't it?" Harry mused as they took the potion to allow them exit, walking out from a door on the first floor. "This castle's a labyrinth,"
"We could focus on exams, and our other special projects," Ron pointed out. "I found a potion-ritual combination that would give us perfect memory,"
Hermione squealed. "Brilliant! Now, all we need to do is send a letter to the DMLE about a Cerberus on the third floor and maybe we'll get better classes come elective year," She said dreamily.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, 'Mione, there's so much to life besides school work," Harry teased as the trio walked back to their dormitory.
Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, was brooding.
It was almost April, and nothing was going according to how he'd planned. Yes, Harry Potter was a bright boy who had been beaten down so much that he yearned for a caring hand. Ravenclaw was an acceptable house, and being friends with a Weasley and a muggleborn was grand.
But Harrison James Potter was, simply put, a regular student. Filius had refused to pay him special attention, saying the boy deserved a normal childhood, and Albus had failed in finding a reason to summon the boy to his office. As such, Harry Potter was not going after the Philosopher's Stone, and was not putting together the clues that Voldemort had returned.
It irked him that he'd lost the support of the Blacks, and thus his connection to the Chosen One, but, he relented, he should have reasoned that Sirius and Remus would find a way to free the innocent man without his knowledge.
Looking at his wards guarding the entrance to his traps, Albus sighed as he saw the last time Harry Potter had even gone near the door was before Yule break.
Disappointing.
o - o - o
At the same time as the Headmaster's brooding,, an anonymous owl dropped onto the desk of one Madame Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Her eyebrows rose higher and higher as she read the letter from a concerned student, as well as laying her eyes upon the photograph included in the letter, and the entirety of the Ministry felt the rage of her magic.
She stormed from her office in a fury. "Scrimgeour! You're with me, bring your best neutral men!" Amelia snarled, eyes flashing. "We're heading to Hogwarts, now. And send a message to the board of governors. They'll want to be here for this,"
Yes, Amelia Bones was far from happy.