January 8th, 1992.

"I did it!" Harry exclaimed while looking on proudly at a box. Terry and Padma looked at each other in hopes that the other would explain what was so special about a box. Realizing that neither of them had a clue what was going on they turned to Harry.

"Did what?" Terry asked. Harry answered, "I made a music box!"

Padma looked only slightly interested but dutifully asked "What song does it play? Something by the weird sisters?"

Harry, who was now caressing the box, answered; "One by Metallica. I guess he's really into thrash metal. I tried a few genres, but he almost ate me when I played Tiptoe through the tulips. I guess he isn't a Tiny Tim fan."

"Eat you? Who almost ate you?" Terry asked.

"Oh, that's right. You two don't know about that" Harry said. Picking up the box he left the Ravenclaw table and headed to the Hufflepuff table.

Plopping down next to his pink haired friend Harry swept his arm over the table displacing her dinner plate. He lovingly placed the box where Tonk's plate of food used to be and said "Tada!"

Tonks looked forlornly at her plate of food which was now on the floor. Tonks exclaimed "What the hell harry?"

"I made it! Isn't it great?" Looking from the box to Harry Tonks asked "Harry where did you get a cigar box? Also, the label says made in Cuba."

"Don't worry about it, I know a guy in Little Whinging." Harry said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "and I didn't make the box itself. I made it into a music box."

Tonks had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Still though, she couldn't help but ask what song it played. Before Harry could fill her in, Padma and Terry arrived. Standing either side of her they asked what was going on. Tonks supposed that they couldn't help it. They were curious Ravenclaws after all.

After catching the two young ravens up, they decided to try the box out later that night. It was Saturday and they figured that they might need Sunday for a lay in if they stayed up too late. Terry for his part just wanted to see a big dog.

January 8th, 1992.

It was 11:30 pm, the witching hour was fast approaching. Entering the common room with Terry they waited for Padma. Once they were assembled, they headed for the door. Outside the common room they met up with Tonks who was arguing quietly with the door knocker. "Of course, the egg came first. Chickens didn't exist when the dinosaurs roamed the earth."

Harry interrupted the debate, "How do you know they didn't?"

The door knocker chimed in, "exactly! You answered the question assuming that you knew a fact. As the saying goes, be careful what you assume. By doing so you make an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."

Grumbling about pedantic eagle heads Tonks gave up and asked, "we ready?" They then headed for the 3rd floor corridor. The trip was relatively smooth. They only had to dodge Mrs. Noris and a drunk Trelawney. Once at the locked door Harry pulled out the music box. Opening the box 'One' by Metallica started playing. Unlocking the door, they all crept quietly into the room.

"Lumos." Blinking the darkness away the group of explorers got their first look at a sleeping Fluffy. Expressions of 'awe' and fright filled the room. Tonks, who hadn't actually seen much of Fluffy during their last encounter, was amazed the Troll lasted as long as it did.

They snapped out of their wonderment when Terry asked; "why is the one head bald?" Harry who didn't want to dwell on such things just said "bad grooming habits I bet. Anyway, we're not here to look at Fluffy. Help me move his paw, it's blocking the trap door.

The Forbidden Forest.

Quirinus Quirrell was once again in the forbidden forest. The last trip wasn't sufficient enough to keep his master happy. It also took a lot of effort to remove the arrow from his ass. What would normally be an easy 'grip and pull' was made harder with only one arm. He couldn't brace himself well and he was woozy to begin with.

Currently Quirrell was stalking a foal. He was being very cautious. Where there was a foal, there was a mare. Normally, there wasn't an animal he couldn't deal with, omitting 5X beasts like dragons. However, he was down one arm and now had a pronounced limp. The best he could do would be to petrify a small unicorn and drink its blood before its mother caught on.

The 3rd floor.

Terry went to help Harry push. After giving a heaving push they, both fell flat on their faces. Looking up they saw Fluffy's paw hovering 2 feet off the ground and floating out of the way. Turning to look at the girls they saw Tonks doubled over laughing and Padma, wand outstretched, directing the paw into place. "Did you forget you were wizards?" Padma smirked. Harry shook his head to clear his vision and said; "I'm not making it to adulthood without brain damage, am I?"

The forbidden forest.

Finding his prey, he quickly sent a Petrificus Totalus, catching the unicorn by surprise. Hobbling over to the frozen animal he raised his wand to open a vein. Out of nowhere he tripped. His head made contact with the unicorns' hoof giving him a black eye along with a mild concussion.

"Fuck!" Echoed throughout the silent wintery forest.

A hissing reprimand came from seemingly nowhere; "You blithering idiot. Get up. Get up you fool." The warning was good advice given the thundering sound of hooves approaching. Quirrell was searching for his dropped wand finding it just in time. He apparated away. The last thing he saw before leaving was a singular horn less than a foot from his chest.

The 3rd floor.

"It's pretty dark down there" Terry said worriedly. "It'll be fine. We'll tie a rope to the wall and shimmy down it while casting Lumos. No big deal" Harry replied nonchalantly. The rest of them all shared a sceptical look. Tonks spoke up "I don't think a rope would be a good idea… I'll transfigure a metal chain. A rope could fray but a chain could withstand a troll using it as dental floss."

Sliding down the metal chain, Harry and the gang landed on soft ground. It appeared the floor was covered in vegetation. Moving vegetation. Aggressively moving vegetation… "what's happening?" A panicked shout from Terry echoed in the shaft. "It's Devils-Snare" stated Padma.

Harry said, "I thought they hated light?"

"It hates sunlight not just any light" replied Tonks.

"Mhmmph." Three of the students looked towards the noise. Terry was covered head to toe in vines. His eyes the only part of him that was visible. Tonks swore and casted a Lumos Sola.

"Merlin's saggy taint" Terry gasped out then flinched due to being slapped in the back of the head by a recently freed Padma. "Language" she said.

Looking around, a door emerged from behind the retreating plant. Opening the door revealed the next challenge. There was a room with flying bronze keys soaring around the ceiling. Across the room there was another door with 2 brooms leaning against its frame.

Padma rolled her eyes and said; "Well this is pretty self-explanatory. Which key do you think unlocks the door?"

"I'm guessing it's the only silver key" Tonks replied blithely. Indeed, out of the roughly 50 keys only one was silver.

Terry spoke up, "Do we use the brooms to catch it? We can all fly pretty well."

Tonks just shrugged and said, "we could, but why don't I just try summoning it first?" Before she could raise her wand, the silver key shot to Harry. Beaming Harry yelled "I did it! I finally got it to work silently!"

Moving to the door Harry unlocked it. Dropping the key, he picked up the brooms Harry said "might as well bring these. At least we won't have to climb the chain."

The next room held a giant chess set. The chess pieces were 10 feet tall and looked to be made of stone. "Does anyone know how to play chess?" Harry asked. Everyone shook their heads in the negative.

"I'm only good at strip poker" Tonks spoke up.

Harry rolled his eyes and said "the boys just want to show off to you and the girls don't want to be compared with you, so they fold all the time! By the way I'm not coming to poker night anymore."

Tonks pouted but said "you're just a sore loser. You quit after losing your shirt, also your way too pale. Get a tan or something. Anyway, why don't we just fly over it?" Everyone agreed with her, and Tonks and Padma paired up, leaving Harry and Terry to share a broom.

They made it across the board with little difficulty. There was a short fight about who was in control of the boys' broom but after Harry threatened to crash them Terry stepped up his game and wrestled control of the broom from Harry.

Opening the next door, the group was brought up short by the terrible smell that battered their senses. Peeking into the room Padma and Terry gasped. Harry and Tonks were already mounting the brooms. They knew that smell. Both of them looked at each other. Wordlessly they agreed to scarper.

A roar broke the forced quiet. Each grabbing a Ravenclaw, Tonks and Harry took off for the exit. Behind them the sound of rocks being smashed made them pick up speed.

Flying through the key room and into the Devils-Snare room Padma yelled "Lumos Sola!" They shot up towards fluffy. Slowing down just enough for Harry to reach out and snag his music box, they entered the forbidden corridor and shut the door behind them. Collectively they decided that being anywhere else was preferable to waiting around. Saying goodbye to Tonks the Ravenclaws made their way back to the common room.

January 9th, 1992.

The headmaster's door crashed open, and a perturbed Snape entered the room. "Albus…" Snape began to speak but was halted by the sight of the headmaster having what appeared to be a coughing fit. Albus tossed something out of the open window he was standing beside and motioned for Snape to continue. "Albus, it happened again."

Entering the Cerberus's room, they were again met with a revolting sight. The room was covered in blood and viscera. Only the lower half of a troll remained. Its legs were mangled and punctured by what appeared to be keys. The trap door was ajar with a metal chain coming out of it and attaching to the nearest wall.

"Incredible" Albus said while stroking his beard. "Quirrell must be teaching trolls to steal the stone. It all makes sense now." Snape looked at Dumbledore sceptically. "How does any of this make sense?" He asked.

"It's elementary my dear fellow. Quirrell not knowing what the other tasks were, placed his challenge in hopes that the troll would tell him what the other challenges entailed. Perhaps he even gave the troll training. Take note of the keys. He must have told the troll which key to grab, for only once the brooms had been disturbed would the charm activate on the keys. Once touched the main key would activate the others to attack whoever was holding the master key. Therefore, the troll must have disturbed the brooms when entering the room, then he proceeded to grab the key."

Snape looked doubtful. "What would happen if someone grabbed the key without touching the broom or if they grabbed the brooms after opening the door?"

Albus gave Snape a pitying look and replied "Nothing of course. How would one grab the key without using the brooms? I assure you Severus, the keys were quite high up. The only other way to activate the trap would be if any of the wrong keys were touched.

Snape rubbed his temples and asked, "did you remember to ask Filius to add an anti-summoning charm at least?" Silence was his only answer.

"Never mind that my boy. It's quite clear that we are dealing with a mastermind. Teaching a troll to play wizards chest and teaching it how to do magic is indicative of genius I've rarely seen." Albus said while pacing around the troll.

"Teaching the troll to what?" Snape's mind came to a halt. "Surely you don't think the troll actually played chess and created complex transfiguration like a metal chain? Albus be reasonable. This is the work of a witch or wizard. The troll probably broke out of its room, smashed the chess pieces and got attacked by the keys when it barged into Filius's room. The chain must have been made by wizards and the troll just climbed up it. Surely you can't be serious?"

Dumbledore nodded sagely and said, "I am serious and don't call me Shirley. Severus I am convinced my hypothesis is correct. Now let's get this cleaned up so no one knows that anything has happened." With that they dispelled the chain and cleaned up the room. Reviving Fluffy from slumber only as they were closing the door.

January 10th, 1992.

Quirrell was having a bad day. Everyone he passed stared at his black eye. Normally something as simple as a bruise could be fixed within mere moments. His bruise was different. Having been caused by a unicorn, a creature of light, the effects took longer to dissipate. His failing body was also to blame. He could no longer risk going to the hospital for fear that his ailing health would be discovered and with it, his master. No, he just had to deal with the students and teachers' curiosity.

The worst part of his day was fast approaching. Today he had the first years for defence. He wasn't sure what the Potter brat was doing to him, since his back was always turned, but he knew that all of his accidents were potters' fault. He needed to get the stone soon. He knew that he didn't have much time left before his master would leave and find another host. If his master left him, he would die within moments. No. He needed that damn stone, and he knew just the brat to get it for him. Plans would have to be made in earnest.

February 12th, 1992.

Harry wasn't looking forward to defence class. The smell of rotten garlic had gotten so bad in the last month that Neville had passed out. He had forgotten to hold his breath when the Professor passed him in class and subsequently fell over breaking his wand. On the plus side his wand went out like a champ. When it broke, a piece flew off in an errant direction. That direction just happened to be occupied by Malfoy. It was funny seeing Malfoy get slapped across the face by Neville's wand. Two more students standing by Quirrell passed out when they sucked in more air while laughing.

The lesson had mercifully come to an end. Packing up his things in a hurry Harry was forced to stop his dash for freedom by the professor. "P..P..Potter, p..p..please s..stay after class. I w..wish to have a w..w..w..word with you." Sighing Harry motioned for his friends to go on to their next class.

"You wanted to see me professor?" Harry asked as the last student left. With a flick of his wand Quirrell closed the door and looked at Harry. Before Harry knew what was happening a red spell hit him in the chest and he blacked out.

Opening his eyes Harry looked around. He was in a chamber. At one end there was an arch filled with black flames. The other side of the room contained a mirror. Getting to his feet he was stilled by a cold voice.

"You're up, good. Now, go to the mirror and tell me what you see." Turning to the voice Harry saw professor Quirrell. He had a menacing look on his face. It was surreal to see any expression on him that didn't involve fear.

"Where am I? Why did you bring me here?" Harry asked with trepidation in his voice.

"Never you mind" replied Quirrell. "Just do as I say. Look into the mirror and tell me what you see."

Harry was sure that it was useless to ask any more questions. So, he stepped over to the mirror. The top of the mirror frame had a strange engraving in it, but Harry paid it little mind and peered into the mirror. He saw himself older, more tanned too. He was wearing a leather jacket and was standing with his arm around an unidentifiable woman. They were looking on as a recognizable house burned in the background.

"Does this show the future?" Harry asked.

"No, you silly boy. Do you see the stone?"

Harry gave him a confused look "stone? What stone? I just see myself older watching my relatives house burn down."

"Useless boy. What's the point in keeping you alive if you have no use to my master?" Quirrell said as he drew his wand.

Harry, knowing that he was dead if he didn't move jumped back and turned to run. Unfortunately, he collided with the mirror, and it crashed to the ground. Harry couldn't keep his balance and fell onto the shattered glass. His head came down on a particularly jagged piece of glass.

Slowly getting to his knees he felt warmth coming from his forehead, flowing down his face to his chin where it fell away. Bringing his hand to his face he wiped away a trickle of blood. It would seem to be more than a trickle if he was honest with himself. Behind him he heard a muffled thump. It wasn't interesting enough to divert his attention. It didn't matter to him anyway. The sound was distant. Too far away to be concerned, but the whooshing of a fire and a quiet call of "Mr. Potter?" was enough to make him look up. His vision was blurry, getting blurrier by the moment. He thought he saw a small man walking towards him. No. He was getting farther away. Harry was sure of it. Maybe he was moving? Everything was getting more distorted. It didn't really bother him. He was after all, finding it hard to keep his eyes open. He must be getting sleepy. Maybe a nap was called for. "Yes" he thought, "just a quick nap and things will work themselves out."

Earlier that day.

Professor Flitwick was worried. Mr. Potter had never before skipped a class. Holding back Mr. Boot and Ms. Patil once class ended, he asked where their friend was. They had informed him that Mr. Potter was held back by Quirinus, so he decided to pay the man a visit. After all, if there was an issue with Mr. Potter his head of house should be party to the conversation.

Entering the defence classroom Filius found Severus searching the teacher's desk. He asked, "Severus what are you doing?"

Looking up Snape responded by saying; "Quirrell was acting odd today, I think he might be the one trying to steal the item from the 3rd floor. Why are you here?"

Surprised, Filius responded "Mr. Potter is missing. His friends say that they last saw him here. He was asked to stay after class."

They both shared an uneasy look. Filius spoke up, "should we get Albus?" Shaking his head Snape responded, "no I'll go inform him. He's out of the castle procuring more supplies for his lemon drops… whatever those entail. I think I know where to find him. You go check on the 3rd floor." With that they split up to attend to their duties.

Entering the forbidden 3rd floor corridor, Filius heard music coming from the Cerberus's room. With a sinking feeling he entered to find the Cerberus asleep and the trapdoor open. It didn't take long for him to descend through the trap door and get to the final room. All the other challenges were completed, and the doors unlocked. Getting to the potion room he quickly deduced which vial held the antidote and he entered the chamber through the hell fire.

Present Time…

Filius entered the room slowly. To the left he spotted the unmoving body of Quirrell. There was a lot of blood that most likely came from what looked to be a devastating head wound. Turning his vision to the right he saw a small boy with his head bowed, kneeling on broken glass. His hand came up and wiped at his chin. Staring at it for a moment he seemed confused.

"Mr. Potter?" Filius called out. The boy looked up at him as he slowly walked forwards. He could see that the boy's face was covered in blood. The blood was flowing from his scar. Looking closer at the boys' scar Filius could see a large chunk of glass protruding outwards. Just as he was getting close to Mr. Potter he saw his eyes close and Filius quickly whipped out his wand, catching him before he hit the ground. Taking a last look at the obviously dead Professor. Filius levitated Mr. Potter and quickly made his way to the infirmary.

February 15th, 1992.

Harry awoke slowly with a killer headache. He took in his surroundings. White walls, white ceiling. Almost everything was white. "Awe fuck! I died before I got to burn down the Dursleys" Harry lamented. A chuckle came from his left, startling him. "Just for the record, I didn't hear you say that" Tonks said. Harry rolled his eyes and said "come on, you're going to be there anyways. Who else do I know that can use magic outside of school and the alley? Your essential to my plans!"

Tonks gave Harry a stern look and replied, "Harry. For the last time, I am not burning down a muggle house for you."

"Not for me" Harry said. "With me. We're partners in crime. That usually entails actually doing something illegal. It would be doing Little Whinging a civil service. Imagine a world without the Dursleys." Harry broke off his pitch in favour of daydreaming.

"Harry. For the last time, I am not killing your relatives. These are things that usually go without saying. Why do you keep making me say it?"

Harry just waved her off and said, "I'll wear you down eventually. So, I guess I should ask why I'm in the hospital wing? The last thing I remember was being kidnapped and falling over."

Tonks told Harry what they thought had happened and assured him that he wouldn't have another scar on his face. Since the damage was physical, not magical it was easy to fix. He was only wearing a head bandage because his lightning bolt scar was being difficult.

It turned out that professor Quirrell was a bad guy and that he died when the possessing spirit was injured enough to be ejected from his body. Of course, when the spirit left it took what little life force Quirrell had left. Apparently, it was quite a violent expulsion. The house elves could be heard chattering excitedly about how much of a mess they got to clean up on the 3rd floor. Strange creatures. Actually, being happy about cleaning.

February 16th, 1992.

After another day of bed rest, Harry was released from the tender care of Madam Pomfrey to resume his lessons. Minus defence which was now a study period until a new teacher was found. Harry met up with Tonks, Terry and Padma after getting released and they made their way out to the lake. Getting the latest gossip Harry then asked a simple question. "That's one adventure down. Who's up for another? Does anyone have any leads?"

They each looked at one another and Padma quietly said "well, I think one a year is enough. If you really want something to look into though I found something curious when I was researching past student accidents. I wanted to know if Hogwarts had always been this dangerous or if this was a 'you' thing."

Rolling his eyes Harry said "I'm not that bad. I was only in danger like 3 times this year. Anyway, what did you find?"

Padma huffed and said "that's a lot Harry. Once is a lot. Never mind that. Have you guys heard about the fabled chamber of secrets? I read that it was opened 50 years ago. A student even died. It didn't say much but I figured we could do some more research on it. Imagine finding Salazar Slytherin's secret chamber! There is also a rumour going around about a secret magic room that only appears when the user has a desperate need of it. My sister says that she overheard Fred and George excitedly talking about finding a potions lab on the 7th floor; Only for them to forget where it was the next day when they went back to check on their potions progress. Judging by their belly aching they had left a lot of supplies there and couldn't get any more before summer."

Shrugging Harry said "I'm in. We may even get a reprieve from their pranks if we can find the room before they do." Tonks and Terry agreed. Padma continued; "We have three and a half months before we're off for the summer. Surely, we can find one of the rooms by then." They collected their bags and headed to the library to start a new adventure.