Sorry again for the little to no updates. You know, life. But I'm back for the moment and I can promise for once that the next chapter is, indeed, on its way.
Here's something I thought I'd address in this chapter being that the man, the legend, Nicholas Flamel himself, appears in it. In chapter eight, when he comes about, a lot of people said 'I thought he was dead!' and to be fair, it's a valid assumption. It never states when exactly he died, however, just that it was by 1996 (in Harry's sixth year). When I read this, I realized there was little reason I couldn't use him for this story, as it doesn't say when exactly in 1996 he's known to be dead and we're currently in March of '96.
I also realized, after looking him up, that he apparently appears in the second Fantastic Beasts film. I actually haven't yet seen the second movie. I don't know how much he's in the film nor how they do his character, but I'm going to stick with the version of him I created in my head and how I portrayed him in the eighth chapter, hopefully that's okay with all of you. I'm usually very careful about following canon, especially for this story, but I think taking a few liberties is okay especially if they make sense and they're for minor characters. And more than anything, I follow the seven books, I don't look to the films (almost) at all. Besides, I don't like Joanne so I don't have much motivation to listen to her word of mouth or whatever she spews out of it besides what's in the original seven books.
Anyway that's my little piece, hopefully you guys like the Occlumency scene. I actually wrote it all the way back in 2017. I edited it since then, of course. Please, tell me your thoughts on it. Tell me if I did well, and especially, tell me if I didn't.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if they read the Harry Potter books.
In This Chapter: Harry and the reading party hear about the end-of-year exams and the trip down the trapdoor. There, the trio encounter a new adventure at every turn, from Devil's Snare to flying keys to giant chessboards (where Ron gets hurt) to firey riddles.
Harry was feeling both excited and nervous for his first occlumency lesson with Flamel. Already, he felt more motivated to do well for the man than he ever felt with Snape. Flamel had offered to take time out of his day-one of his final days from the sound of it-to help Harry and he still couldn't believe it. But seeing that Flamel actually wanted to do this, Harry wanted to make sure it wasn't in vain.
They met in one of the abandoned classrooms, a smaller, round room on the fifth floor with large windows, two chalkboards, and many unused desks. It wasn't overly dusty, that was helped by the house elves and Filch, but it definitely hadn't been used for a while and it showed on the aged wood. Flamel scanned the room and nodded to himself.
"Yes, yes this will do quite well," he said. Harry settled further into the room. "This- oh don't worry about that, set your wand down," Flamel said to Harry when he took it out. Harry glanced at his wand and at Flamel and was reminded of his first lesson with Umbridge. "Don't look like that, son, we will be practicing just not yet. And in any case this brand of magic has little to do with wands."
Harry put the wand down on the nearest desk.
"Now have a seat," Flamel said and Harry obeyed once again. Flamel took one of the other chairs and turned it to be facing Harry. "These desk seats were never comfortable."
With a wave of Flamel's wand, Harry's chair transformed into a plush armchair similar to the ones in his common room. The desk was moved to the side as well as the other chairs and now Harry just sat facing the much older man, who sat in his own transfigured plush armchair.
"Now Harry, the first thing I want to do is simply talk," Flamel said.
"Talk?" Harry repeated.
Flamel nodded. "I want to get to know you as a student and as a person. So I want you to tell me all about your education. That way I know the best way to approach this. Start as early as possible."
Harry had not been prepared for this, but began anyway. "Erm... well before I came here I went to muggle school. I tried to stay in the background because I would always get in trouble for things. Like once I turned my teacher's wig blue on accident."
Flamel nodded. "I always thought it was better to teach young witches and wizards in the safety of their homes for that very reason."
Harry didn't want to mention that there wasn't much safety in his home. "Er, right. Then when I got here, well I thought it would just be waving a wand and stuff would happen."
"We all did," Flamel smiled. "What did you do well in, in your first year?"
Harry thought. "I did fine in most of my classes. Some things took some practice for me to get the hang of but I would always get it in the end. Well most of the time."
"What's most of the time?" Flamel asked immediately.
"Er- I didn't understand Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry asked.
"Oh, you couldn't grasp it." Flamel said, and seemed to be mentally writing that down.
"No! I could grasp it but I just couldn't understand it," Harry said. "Our professor shook and stuttered so much, it was a rare treat for him to finish his sentences."
"Was this the one who attempted to steal the stone?" Flamel asked.
"Yeah, he was actually really good at magic. Or..." Harry realized. "That might have been Voldemort... I don't know..."
"Do you think it's possible that he was purposefully hindering you and your classmates?" Flamel asked. "I mean, it's Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he is a user of the dark arts. It's got to be helpful, mind, to have an entire class of students not know the fundamentals of what it might take to stop a dark wizard."
Harry had never thought about that, but he supposed it was possible. After all, in his class could be the very students who would take down people in Voldemort's army-but not if they weren't taught well. "Well... maybe."
Flamel hummed, looking thoughtful, and then waved that subject off. "Moving on, what else?"
"I wasn't so great in Astronomy. I mean I got it but it took me longer than some other classes." Harry admitted. "And I was pretty lousy in potions."
"Potions, that's the class Severus Snape instructs?" Flamel asked. Harry nodded. "How much do you struggle in the class?"
"I'm not hopeless. My potions just don't usually turn out the best." Harry said.
"Well, don't blame yourself, boy." Flamel said. He opened his mouth to continue, but Harry couldn't help but to interrupt.
"I don't blame myself, sir." Harry said. "I blame him."
"You blame Professor Snape? You feel he doesn't help you reach your potential?" Flamel asked.
"We just don't see eye to eye." Harry answered carefully. Flamel stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"And this is the man that was set to teach you occlumency." He muttered, not as a question but a note to himself. Louder, he asked, "How about your next year? Any differences?"
"No differences, sir. Maybe I was getting a little better in Astronomy, but Potions was still lousy and Defense had an even worse teacher."
"Worse? That's no good." Flamel said. "What of the next year?"
"I took Care of Magical Creatures and Divination."
Flamel nodded. "And what of your other classes? Did potions improve? No..." he said when Harry shook his head. "And Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
Harry couldn't help but smile a little. "We had a new Defense teacher, Lupin. He was brilliant. Is brilliant. It was the best class I had."
Flamel brightened at Harry's enthusiasm. "Yeah? What's something you learned in that class?"
"Well... well this wasn't exactly in class. I asked Lupin to give me lessons on making a patronus." Harry said. Flamel looked intrigued. It wasn't exactly news that Harry could do a patronus but Flamel likely did not pay much attention to rumors and stuff.
"That's very advanced magic for a third year. Did you succeed?" Flamel asked.
"Yeah, I did." Harry said.
"And you said you got lessons outside of class. What prompted you to get them?" Flamel asked.
Harry made a face. "There were dementors around the castle, they were trying to capture uh, someone. They... affected me worse than most people."
"So you were determined to not let them affect you anymore." Flamel said. Harry nodded shortly. "Did you get it right away?"
"Not at all," Harry snorted. "I guess it's advanced magic for a reason."
"And what pushed you to get it in the end?"
Harry thought back to the end of third year. He thought back to watching the past version of himself and his godfather being swarmed by all of those dementors, to being sure his father would come and save them, and then realizing the only person who could save him was himself.
"What made me get it in the end..." Harry said slowly. "Was knowing that I could do it." Flamel looked at him closely, Harry thought there was a hint of a smile.
"Very impressive. Okay, what about your next year?"
"Mostly the same. I got pretty good marks in all of my classes apart from potions. We had a new Defense teacher. I hate saying this because the professor turned out not to be a good guy, to say the least, but I feel like I learned a lot." Harry said. "He even taught us the Unforgivable Curses."
"That's good knowledge to have. You're aware of what they do then?" Flamel asked.
"Yes, sir," Harry said. He was more than aware of what they did.
Flamel narrowed his eyes. "He didn't practice them on you, did he?"
"He practiced them all on a spider. He practiced the imperius curse on us." Harry answered. Flamel did not look happy. "He wanted us to throw it off."
"That's to be learned in auror training. He shouldn't expect fourteen and fifteen year olds to do that." Flamel said darkly.
Harry said nothing. He didn't want to contradict what Flamel was saying, but he didn't think it was a big deal. And afterall, Harry did alright.
Flamel stared at him and seemed to come to a realization. "You threw it off?" Flamel asked quietly.
Harry simply nodded. He was starting to wonder if Flamel was actually reading his mind, which he now knew more than ever was not impossible.
"And how long did it take you to do that?" Flamel asked.
"Well... I knew something was wrong the first time he did it. I half threw it off then. After he did it a few times, it was kind of easy." Harry answered. Flamel was nodding and muttering to himself.
"And this year? You're in your fifth year, correct?" Flamel asked.
"Yes, sir, that's correct."
"So, is potions still bad?" Flamel asked. Harry nodded. "Are your other classes alright?" Harry nodded again. "How's Defense...?"
"My professor's awful. I'm studying with some friends now." Harry said dismissively.
"Well, good to hear you're taking it into your own hands." Flamel said. "Now finally, tell me about your Occlumency lessons. When did you start them?"
"A couple of months ago at this point." Harry said.
"And what prompted you to get these lessons?" Flamel asked.
"Er... I was told it would be good for me to learn." Harry said, not going into more detail. He didn't want to tell him about his dreams.
Flamel nodded. "So you did not approach this yourself then, you were told to do it. And you were taught by a professor who you don't see eye to eye with, as you put it." He tapped on his chin. "The exact opposite of your third year patronus lessons."
"I guess so," Harry said slowly.
"And what can you tell me about Occlumency? What did you learn?" Flamel asked.
"Um... I have to clear myself of all emotions.." Harry answered.
"I see. And the results of your first try blocking your professor out?" Flamel asked.
"I couldn't do it."
"Right, and what was his next method?" Flamel asked.
Harry paused. "Next method?"
"What did he use next to show you how to understand Occlumency when clearing your emotions did not work?" Flamel clarified.
Harry opened his mouth and closed it several times. "There are other methods?"
Flamel did not look impressed. "Think of it like this, son. When learning to count, some use their fingers. Some write it down. Some use blocks or marbles or blueberries. If everything goes well, all grasp it in the end. The theory of counting stays the same throughout all of this, but the methods of learning change for each individual, as we all have different ways of learning and teaching."
Harry nodded the entire time he was speaking.
"For a man like Severus Snape, teaching him that Occlumency is clearing or suppressing his emotions would make him easily grasp the information. He is, from what I could see, a very guarded individual. Very protective of his feelings. You, on the other hand, seem like an emotionally driven person. Oh, it's not a bad thing," he clarified when Harry made a face. "It's just a way that makes you different from Professor Snape. Would you disagree with me? This is just my first impression of you."
Harry thought about it. Reading about himself has given him a new perspective, and while to him he's always held his emotions close, he can see how he wasn't always the best at it. Particularly when they would burst out of him overwhelmingly, and he would, then, move accordingly. "I wouldn't... disagree."
"Well there you go." Flamel said. "So being that you're an emotionally driven person, I doubt it's easy for you to simply get rid of those feelings, and you don't have to be clear of them to make this work. But are you telling me that months of training and you've simply been failing at one method and only one method?"
He looked angry again. Harry leaned back into the chair.
"I don't blame you, son." Flamel said, seeing Harry's body language. "Professor Snape strikes me as a man who's very bright, clearly knows his subject, but not very patient. Professors have to guide students, not simply instruct them, and find methods that work for different students."
"So... what would be my method?" Harry asked.
"Well that is why I wanted to know as much about you and your learning as possible." Flamel said. "The first thing I want you to do is decide if you really want to do this."
"I don't have much of a choice, sir." Harry said, Flamel shook his head.
"You do have a choice. You can stick any student in a classroom, but if he doesn't want to learn, he might not even bother opening the book. You wanted to learn the patronus charm for yourself. Not anyone else. So if it's really important that you learn Occlumency, give yourself a really good reason to. For yourself, not because your professor tells you that you should."
Harry thought. He didn't really want Voldemort in his mind, and he also wanted to prove to Snape that he wasn't stupid and that he could do this. But more than anything, it seemed to Harry that someone could get hurt if he didn't learn it, and he would not allow that to happen.
"I want to learn. It's important to me." Harry said. Flamel nodded.
"Now tell me more about the first time your professor used the imperius curse on you last year. What was going through your mind?" Flamel asked.
Harry thought back to the first time. "He told me to jump on the desk and I was going to... but I couldn't understand why I would want to. I could sort of hear his voice in my head and I knew it wasn't right."
"Very impressive, you recognized the intrusion in your mind. Could you do the same thing with Occlumency?" Flamel asked. Harry was a little surprised.
"Just like that?" He asked, uncertainly.
"I can't see why not." Flamel said. "It's very similar, is it not? Mental invasion? You don't have to get rid of your emotions to stop people from seeing them. Your first task is to recognize the intrusion in your brain. Just recognize and identify it, don't yet worry about blocking it. Understand?"
"Uh, yes sir." Harry said, a little nervously.
Flamel nodded. "I'm going to enter your mind now, do I have your permission?"
Harry gulped and nodded. "Yes, sir." He said again.
Flamel cleared his throat. "Legilimens."
Harry fell into his mind, dropped into a memory from when he was a child. It was Dudley's birthday, his seventh birthday. A bunch of Dudley's friends were over watching as he tore open presents like it was his job. Harry stood in the corner, looking most at the brand new bike that Dudley had pretty much discarded. When he was done, Aunt Petunia asked if anyone wanted cupcakes. Harry felt his stomach grumble a bit as the kids all tore off into the kitchen for their treat. He took a step forward and his aunt turned to him with a look of disgust.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" She said. Her voice had an interesting echo. "Clean up all this gift paper!"
Harry looked at the torn wrappings on the floor and his stomach gave another growl.
"Hurry!" Aunt Petunia snapped. Harry jumped, but he couldn't help but notice the fuzziness around her face.
Right... this was a memory. Harry was in his own head, and he wasn't alone.
He focused first on grounding himself. He was not a child at Dudley's birthday, he was sitting in a nearly empty classroom with Nicolas Flamel.
He then searched his mind for an invasion. There had to be some sign that he wasn't alone in his head, that was what Flamel had asked he look for. He let the birthday memory fade some, all of the colors softening a bit, washing away like chalk on a sidewalk. Then he felt it... Nothing significance, just the feeling of hovering eyes and watchfulness in his mind.
The next moment, he was pulled from his mind entirely. He gripped the arms of the chair for support as his eyes focused. Nicolas Flamel bent in front of him with an intense look. Harry took deep breaths and let the feeling of his stomach turning settle.
"Are you okay?" Flamel asked. Harry nodded quickly.
"I sensed you," Harry said. "At the end. I could feel you. I didn't know how to block you but-"
"That's okay, that's excellent actually." Flamel said with a slight smile. "This is going to be the first step, afterall, how can you push me out or block me if you can't even identify my presence? This is what we're going to focus on first, you being able to sense when you're not alone in your mind quicker and quicker. I believe, given your natural intuition, it won't be long before you'll know withing seconds of intrusion."
Harry nodded, internally pleased Flamel thought he had a natural intuition.
"When you're ready, we'll go again and I want you to still just focus on identifying my presence." Flamel said. "But already, I'm pleased with your progress. I think these sessions will go very well."
Something warm settled in Harry's chest. "Thank you, sir."
A bit later, Harry thanked Flamel for an encouraging session and made plans to meet next week. He was tired, aware he didn't make as much progress in a single afternoon as he wanted, but hopeful for the future. He felt confident he would be able to get it eventually, soon even. He just needed to work at it a little more. Flamel made sure to tell him that pushing himself to the point of mental and emotional exhaustion would do little, and to be honest when he needed to rest, and there was no shame in it. Harry didn't need to get it that very day. He told Harry in the meantime to consider meditation in his downtime, that being aware of his mind and his thoughts might help to recognize when there was an invasion that was not his. He would try this, and he would try not to get frustrated when and if he didn't get block Flamel immediately next week (like he wanted to).
Harry had nearly forgotten that he was meant to attend a 'reading party', only remembering just before he was about to step through the common room door. When he did, he was greeted with his friends and teammates in Gryffindor. Everyone sat comfortably around the crackling fire, books open but not looked at. Fred and George made good on their promise to have snacks, there was even some treacle tart like Harry'd requested. He had felt a little trepidation about the 'reading party', but he did find, when he looked at the group, that he was comfortable with who was there. There was Ron and Hermione, of course, and his other dormmates were there, Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Of course Fred and George, the hosts, were there, as was Lee Jordan. Ginny was as well, and one of his other quidditch teammates, Angelina Johnson.
The first to notice him was Neville, who called out to him. "Harry!"
Neville's call allerted the others in the group, who seemed to be in the middle of some sort of discussion that was immediately cut short.
"Hey, Harry," Ron said, something about his tone sounded annoyed. He gestured next to him. "Left a seat for you."
"Thanks..." Harry said, stepping further into the room and letting the portrait door close behind him. He sensed the awkwardness as he took his seat. "Is... erm. Is everything alright?"
"We were talking about the last chapter," Hermione explained. "You read it?"
"Yeah," Harry said. Well... he skimmed it. Since he was gonna be in a lesson with Flamel and Ron and Hermione were gonna be in this little reading group, it was the first chapter he had to read alone. He couldn't help but think about Ron saying reading with people makes it easier, it was very true. It was even harder for him to force himself to read the last chapter without his two best friends.
"Harry," Fred said and Harry turned to him. "We...
"We owe you an apology." George plunged on. Fred, Angelina, and Lee all nodded in agreement.
Harry was shocked by this. "For what?"
"For how we were towards you," Fred said. "After you and Hermione and Neville lost the points for the dragon."
"Especially with the whole thing of not referring to you by name and only calling you 'the seeker'." George rubbed the back of his neck. "That was pretty low of us."
"No kidding," Ron mumbled. Ginny also had her arms crossed, looking quite like she agreed with Ron. "I didn't know anything about that."
Fred and George looked uncomfortable. Honestly, Harry was pretty uncomfortable, too. "Oh, yeah, it's fine. I mean, it's no big deal really, it's not like I stay up late thinking about it or anything." He laughed.
"No, it was really unfair of us, pretending like none of us have lost points before." Lee frowned.
Angelina said. "I don't even really remember it, but the way we were described in the books, I'm ashamed and embarrassed."
"Pretty sure we weren't much better, honestly, even though we weren't on the team." Dean said, motioning to himself and Seamus. "Sorry, Harry. And sorry Neville and Hermione, too."
Hermione waved them off and Neville just sort of sunk down.
"Guys, really, it's fine. It was forever ago, and it's not like you knew we were trying to safely deliver a dragon for Hagrid." Harry said.
"No excuse," Angelina said. "We were unkind. And we apologize."
"And I'm sorry because I know it's not the last time I act like that towards you," Seamus said. Seamus wasn't in the book a whole lot. Sure, he was in there, but not as much as Ron and Hermione, or the other Weasleys, or even Neville. Still, it was giving him a lot to think about. He thought about his actions earlier in the year, feeling sorry for how he behaved towards Harry. Seamus always thought of himself as an independent thinker, and valued that in himself, but he was now wondering if he really was. He was so quick to follow with the crowd with hating on Harry, Hermione, and Neville in his first year, and he faster believed the papers than the boy he'd roomed with for years. He was going to have to make more of an effort to not be so quick to just go off of what other people were saying and form his own opinion, even if the other people were his own mum.
Harry, meanwhile, had been in a lot of uncomfortable and unfavorable positions in his life, and somehow this was feeling unbearable to him. "Right, yeah, it's cool. Uh, I mean... I accept it? Yeah. Er, are you all ready for the next chapter?"
Ron snorted, Lee took mercy and nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Any objections from anyone else?"
Everyone shook their heads. Hermione nudged Harry. "Do you have your book to follow along?"
"Oh, it's upstairs..." Harry said. "I'll just listen."
He nodded towards Lee, who nodded back and opened his book to begin.
After Lee read the last lines of chapter 16, he let out a steadying breath. The tension in the room was thick and palpable.
At the start, it was a bit of fun. Lee actually did really fun voices, like Fred and George said, and Harry even found himself snickering through the read. But as the chapter continued and the story went through the intense journey Harry and his friends embarked on in their first year, Harry began to feel his heart rate increase and his palms get sweaty. Reliving these stories have been less than ideal, but this was even moreso, and his anxiety only increased knowing what was going to be in the next chapter-his face off with Quirrel... and Voldemort.
He wasn't the only one with tension. Ron and Hermione did not look much better. Hermione remembered all of the horrible feelings she had experienced at the time. At just the age of twelve, it was difficult seeing one friend laying unmoving on the floor of that wretched chess board, and the other disappearing through flames into who knew what. She remembered having the awful thought of losing her first (and only) two friends. She remembered tears falling down her face and her throat nearly closing from just that idea, and for the first time since learning she was a witch, she had cursed the wizarding world. For all its magic and beauty, it was dark and sinister, and she wanted nothing more than to take her two friends and run away from it all.
She also remembered that she hadn't fully broken down. Not even when she approached Ron, seeing his face bruised and battered, angrily red on the side he'd been hit. Not even in relief when he woke up, or as she had to do most of the work leading him back through the tunnels to get Dumbledore. Not even as seconds and minutes ticked by and she wondered if Harry might be dead.
But she felt alarmingly close to breaking down sitting in the common room and feeling those things all over again, even knowing and seeing with her own eyes that Harry and Ron was okay.
The Weasleys as a whole were silent and morose. All of them looked pale, Ginny was gripping Ron's arm so tightly, it would be a wonder if he didn't bruise. He didn't mind, it was a constant reminder that he was here now. They'd heard, of course, of what happened in Ron's first year. Fred and George even remembered giving Ron all the pats on the back and telling him how impressed they were, like it was all some great big adventure or story. This wasn't a story, and it was horrifying.
Fred couldn't stop picturing Ron on the ground surrounded by broken chess pieces, being brave enough at such a young age to make such a sacrificial play just for the greater good. He remembered how much smaller and how much younger Ron had been at the time, and it was that body that he pictured amongst the rubble. And it was that, that would be in his nightmares.
George couldn't stop asking himself where he was. Where had he been? Sleeping in his bed? Resting up, ready to enjoy the sunshine of the next day, laying comfortably while his baby brother was risking his neck. Part of him reminded himself he'd had no idea, no way of helping even if he wanted to, the other part said that wasn't enough.
Lee cleared his throat and said, "Well... at least we don't have to wait long to find out 'who' was actually in the room."
"We don't have to wait at all, we know it was Quirrell." Angelina said. "I'd just like to take a moment to tell you all... that you're incredibly brave."
"Right-o." Seamus muttered and blew out a breath. "I don't know if I could go through with any of this now, let alone as a first year."
"Ron... how were you so calm and willing to get yourself hurt?" Dean asked.
"I dunno..." Ron mumbled. He could hardly remember any thoughts he had. "It didn't even feel like a choice at the time."
"Ron's kind of our rock at times," Hermione said. "As you can see, what with the are you a witch or not..."
This broke the tension in the room a little as most of them were able to laugh again at that. Ron even joked and repeated himself from before. "There's no wood... honestly Hermione."
Hermione giggled good naturedly. Ginny still spoke up to defend her friend, "To be fair, she had only just found out magic existed less than a year ago at that point."
This was true, and even still there were times where she found herself defaulting to non-magic routes before remembering there were faster and easier ways of doing things with magic. In those times she would say to herself, are you a witch or not, Ron's voice forever echoing in her head. It was actually a really amusing moment in hindsight.
"I mean it, though, about Ron." Hermione insisted. "I get... I get so stuck on details sometimes and, not to speak for you Harry, I think we both could use someone who's a little more grounded. I really don't think we could do the things we do without Ron. He's just... he's got his feet planted firmly and it's so needed sometimes." Ron gave Hermione a small smile.
"You're also clearly very logical and practical with an ability to see the full picture." George said to Ron, finally speaking up.
"Yeah," Fred agreed. "Even with being able to know which key was the one you all were looking for. You're not only tactical, but observant."
"Probably what makes you so good at chess." George finishes.
Ron waited for some kind of joke to follow, but it didn't come. Trying to move past the uncomfortable sincerity from his brothers, he said, "Well that's not to discredit you, Hermione. Honestly, how long did it take you to figure out that little potions riddle?"
"Not long at all," Harry spoke up. "And I always got the sense she figured it out sooner than she said, she just was checking over herself several times to be sure."
Hermione felt her cheeks heat up at the praise from her friends. "Oh, Harry I think you could have figured it out as well, you're smarter than you give yourself credit for."
Harry snorted, "Maybe in two or three hours."
"You did great, Hermione," Angelina agreed. "In fact, all of you had a chance to really show off and shine here. Hermione with the potions, Ron with chess, and Harry with the flying keys."
"You're gonna be an amazing quidditch captain, I mean it." Lee said. "I'll swallow my wand if they don't give it to you next year. You managed to figure out a play to capture the key in a high pressured situation with two people who don't even really play quidditch." Ron opened his mouth and Lee cut him off. "I know you play quidditch, probably even then, but you weren't a player yet, you'd had no real team experience and he led you right anyway."
"And Hermione doesn't play at all," Ginny said.
Hermione shook her head. "In fact, had we not had the flying lessons, I'd have been no help at all. Wouldn't have done well to care for my broken arm and trying to get through the rest of the tunnels."
"You likely just would have sat it out and let the youngest seeker in a century do his thing." Seamus said. "It's strange though, isn't it? It's almost as though this task was specifically meant for Harry's most known skillset at the time."
"It's lucky," Ginny said, a thoughtful look on her face. "But at the same time, the mix of things make sense. I mean, each set of obstacles are completely different from the next. You have to really be quite the well rounded witch or wizard to get through it all. If you have brains and no brawns, you're toast, and same for the other way around."
"And still, three first years could get through it." Seamus said. "How hard is it really for the likes of a truly skilled wizard like... well like You-Know-Who? Not to discredit what you lot did in first year, it's incredible really, but still it makes you think. All the protections for the stone and in a single evening, they managed to get through it knowing a total of, what, ten spells?"
"At least a hundred for Hermione," Ginny corrected.
Angie cut in, "But I do see your point. Even with the troll, that's a large creature the three had managed to defeat once before."
"Speaking of the troll," Dean said. "The teachers didn't find it odd that a troll got into the castle and also there was a troll in these tunnels as well? You said it was a different troll, right?"
"Yeah, it was definitely a bigger one," Harry said.
"And the troll in the tunnels was Quirrell's." Dean said. "I just kind of feel like that should have aroused suspicion."
"Maybe they didn't all know what each other did," Angie suggested.
"Well, Dumbledore did," Fred muttered. "No way he couldn't know."
Actually Fred wondered how much Dumbledore may have influenced what spell trap each professor set. Seamus had said that the tasks all lined up with what the trio was already established to have been good at, and it really was quite perfect. Even if Neville had ended up going with them, he could have had his own chance to help out with the very first one. While they had been reading, Neville had identified the plant the trio fell into as devil's snare before Lee had even gotten through the description.
Fred didn't try to bring up his suspicions of the tunnels. Instead he followed his one line of thought and turned to Neville. "By the way, nice job calling out the Devil's Snare earlier, Neville."
"Yeah, maybe they could have taken you with them," George said.
Nevillie shook his head. "No way. In fact, I wish I could just erase myself from this chapter, so embarrassing..."
"Oh, Nev, why?" Ginny asked. "I think you were brilliant!"
"Brilliant? I was in the ruddy way!" Neville huffed.
"Well, yeah," Ginny conceded. "But only because you were trying to do the right thing. And you stood up for yourself. That's something to be proud of!"
"Definetly," Lee said. "And don't forget, even Dumbledore thought so. That's why he gave you those points later."
Neville didn't say anything. He thought about when Ron said Neville would 'understand later' and he had. But it only made him feel like an idiot, and rereading it made him feel nothing but embarrassment.
"Honestly, I'm sorry we had to jinx you at all," Hermione said.
"Oi, and on the subject," Ron said. "At the time, I said you 'weren't supposed to stand up to us'." Ron took a deep breath in slight irritation at his past self. "I hope you know that you can one hundred percent stand up to us, any of us, if you feel we're in the wrong. I was stressed and frustrated and just wanted to get past, but I swear to you, had it been any other time, I would have been impressed."
"Agreed," Harry said. Honestly he was kind of impressed at the time, he just couldn't focus on it. "We're not exempt from being called out, do it any time you see fit."
"Or just when you're bored," Ginny shrugged and giggled when Ron nudged her.
"You weren't the only one with a little shout out in the chapter, Neville." Lee said. "I can't believe I was one of the last people to see you before you went down the trapdoor."
It wasn't nearly as significant a moment as Neville standing up to the trio, but Lee kept trying to search his memory to that night that he was supposedly the last one in the common room 'stretching and yawning'. He couldn't remember it at all, couldn't recall a single thing inside of the day, meanwhile all of this was happening in the background. It was an alarming thought that had something gone wrong that night, he would have been one of the last people to see his best friends' little brother alive. He thought again about how mean he'd been at the time and the guilt surged once more.
"Did you think you might die?" Angelina asked quietly. The significance of that simple evening was not far from her mind either. "As you were sitting there in the common room waiting to go, did you wonder if... if maybe you were close to the end?"
Harry, Hermione and Ron all looked at each other, seeing who would speak up first. It turned out to be Hermione. "It crossed my mind a few times. I found myself doing a bit of reflecting. It's not necessarily that I thought I-or any one of us-would absolutely die, it's just that... well I had no idea what we'd be stepping into... and death was one of the options that circled my mind."
"I thought we were done for." Ron said honestly. "I was convinced that was going to be the end... and somehow I was still convinced mum would get the final word and I'd be in so much trouble."
There were amused snorts from his siblings at that one.
"I didn't think much about it at all. Even sitting there waiting." Harry said. "It's... not really the type of thing I can afford to let myself dwell on most times. Even when Ron was hurt, I couldn't even take a second to worry. I just had to keep going."
Ron nodded, "That's what I hoped for, that you'd both just be able to keep going. I held onto that even when I was terrified."
"Well, it was terrifying." Ginny mumbled. "I mean, the chessroom was honestly the scariest task in the tunnels."
Ron shrugged. "Not like it was the last time we were in danger. I think we're all much more familiar with the feeling of dread and doom."
"Oh isn't that just fun?" Ginny said sarcastically.
George smiled sadly, "Ron used to say he wished he could shrink down and really play chess. He always said he'd be a knight..."
Ron glanced at his brothers, who have been uncharacteristically quiet for much of the discussion, only chiming in here and there, and not even with a funny comment or joke. It was weird. He knew it wasn't the most fun for him to relive the night, but maybe it was affecting them some as well.
"Oi," Ron said. "How good was it how Harry got us past Peeves?"
Twin grins immediately spread on Fred and George's faces. "Using the Bloody Baron? That was brilliant," George said. "You're a genius!"
"We're absolutely trying that," Fred said. "And you gotta let us borrow the cloak some time."
"Not a chance," Harry said but he smiled a bit.
Fred gave himself a little shake. It was hard to read about, but he had to remind himself that this was all in the past, that his brother was fine and in fact sitting right in front of him. It was just kind of surreal. He wished he could go back in time, put some impenetrable lock charms on the third floor door and take Ron away for safety. Hell, he'd take Harry and Hermione, too.
On that thought, Fred voiced something that had always baffled him. "I've never understood why people lock things that can be opened with a simple alohomora charm." He said. "I mean, it's safe to say just about every witch and wizard knows about it, why bother locking things anyway?"
"Sometimes it's just courtesy. Could you unlock the bathroom with Alohamora? Sure, but you know you shouldn't and the lock makes that clear enough." Hermione said. "I'm not really sure why that door was so easy to unlock, though, seeing how dangerous everything in there was."
"And that night you didn't even have to know the spell since Quirrel left the door open," Dean said. "Which was quite strange for him, kind of an oversight if you ask me. Anyone could have stumbled on him doing that."
"At least we know music tames the beast inside," Seamus said.
"Is it really any music? Because it doesn't say you guys were doing anything impressive with that flute," Angelina said. "I wonder why it has such an effect."
"I think Hagrid had him since he was a pup and played music to him then," Harry said. "And it just kinda stuck."
"And it's a good thing that it's any tune, too," Hermione said looking relieved. "If we'd had to be good at playing, I'm not sure what we would have done."
"Try humming or something and ran to the trap door," Ron said. "Hope we don't get our heads chomped off before falling down there."
"Terrifying." Neville said with a shiver. "And speaking of the fall, when you were dropping down into who knew what, it didn't say you were scared..."
"I didn't get much a moment to be scared, at that point it was already happening. And even if I was scared, it wouldn't have stopped me." Harry said. "It's like I'd said, nothing else mattered so long as He didn't come back."
Lee nodded. "It was a very rousing speech, hell I was ready to go down the trapdoor myself."
"Not that Harry wouldn't have tried to stop you a thousand times over," George said.
"Yeah, why are you so set on doing things alone? You kept trying to turn Hermione and Ron away." Ginny said.
"It's not really that I want to be alone," Harry said, thinking hard about his answer. "I knew I was doing more than what was asked of me as a first year, and I'd never judge anyone for wanting to back out. I was just... I don't know, checking in. Making sure they didn't change their minds and giving them chances to back out at any moment."
"I'll let it slide for now," Hermione said with an unserious glare. "I do hope you know now we're with you on all of this."
"I do," Harry said sincerely. "But still, if at any point I'm doing something like this and you want to turn around, it's no judgment."
Ron laughed some, "No, mate, it's too late for us. If one of us is doing something, we're all doing it."
Angelina couldn't help but smile at their friendship. It was really admirable, honestly, but that's why they all worked together. Angie hoped if the time came, she could be as certain to face possible doom as any one of them were at such a young age.
"You're really something, Harry," Seamus said. "I can promise I'd have just sat anxiously and hope that the professors could do something."
"McGonagall was clearly taking it seriously despite her dismissal of what you said," Ginny said. "That's probably why she was at that door in the first place."
"It makes sense. Because when we originally read, I thought it was literally insane that she heard your fear for the stone and dismissed it." Dean said. "I mean, yeah, a bunch of first years aren't the most reliable, and it was surprising, but this is the most important thing in the school at the moment, you'd think it was something to investigate. But I suppose that's what she was doing."
"Well she did a mighty good job didn't she," Fred said. "Considering just hours later Quirrell just hopped on through with his stupid harp."
"She probably tried to find a way to capture Dumbledore, or maybe even went to Snape." Hermione said. "There's likely a lot that went on behind the scenes that we didn't even know about, but we could only act on what we did know."
"I also couldn't really understand what upset her so much when you said you didn't want to tell her about why you needed Dumbledore." Seamus said.
"Maybe she thought Harry was undermining her authority or something," Dean mumbled. "I mean, most people go to her with issues, not straight to the headmaster."
"I'm just glad you tried to go to a professor in the first place," Angelina said. "I don't know why, but I always kind of assumed you lot never went to anyone and just tried to handle things yourself."
Ron snorted, "Yeah sometimes. I mean with teachers like Quirrell, Umbridge and even Snape, can you blame us?"
"Not even a little," George mumbled.
"But I think we do try to avoid trouble, trouble just... well it follows us." Ron said.
Lee chuckled, "I kind of thought you lot pulled a Fred and George and just went to Hagrid for everything."
Everyone looked to Fred and George who grinned. George said, "When we first came, whenever we're told we need 'an adult' or 'a professor' we go to Hagrid. After all, he is an adult here. Although, we tell him only a little, because Hagrid's cool but he'll for sure tell on us if he thinks he should-"
"Absolutely, he's obsessed with doing the 'right thing'." Fred said. "There have been a few times where we just tell a ghost, like Nearly-Headless-Nick."
"But he's no professor!" Hermione yelped.
"But he's an adult, older than everyone here, matter-of-fact." Fred said with a mischievous smile. "That way no one can say we didn't ask an adult for permission."
"How well does that usually work out for you?" Seamus asked.
"Points off, detention-the usual." George shrugged.
"Now we don't ask for permission at all!" Fred said and cackled. Hermione shook her head at them.
"Well telling Hagrid anything might not have worked out in your favor regardless," Angelina said. "Afterall, we just read how good he is, or should I say isn't, with secrets."
"Too true!" Lee said. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that-you think!"
Harry chuckled again at the fairly good Hagrid impression.
Lee continued, "He should've honestly been a lot more concerned that he told a perfect stranger in a pub over drinks how to get past Fluffy! When he talked about Fluffy before, he forgot to say that nobody knows how to get past that dog except him, Dumbledore, and some random cloaked figure from the Hog's Head!"
"It was a bit irresponsible," Hermione conceded. "He's got to be more careful when he drinks. And if he's going to hold such important information, maybe he should be... you know trained or something. So he knows how to keep it quiet in any and every situation."
"Especially talking to strange people who don't take their hoods off in the pub." Ginny agreed. "I know he said there are tons of strange folk there, but he should still have been alert."
"Maybe Hagrid feels differently because he's so big and it's hard to take him down. Maybe he just doesn't feel the need to be on alert at all times." Neville said.
"Yes but there were dark wizards everywhere, even then." Angelina cut in again. "His vigilance shouldn't just be around the danger he's physically and currently in."
Harry frowned, he understood where they were all coming from so he stayed silent, but Hagrid was his friend and he didn't want them to be too hard on him. Quirrell and Voldemort were incredibly clever, after all, they would have figured out a way down there eventually, and they set out specifically to trick Hagrid. For all they knew, they enchanted him that night and he had no idea because he'd been drinking. At least they didn't hurt him.
"Well it was very smart of you put it together with the dragon egg and all." Ginny said to Harry.
"I just wished Harry had explained what was going on in his head before he'd decided to sprint down to Hagrid's," Hermione said, nearly out of breath just thinking about keeping up with Harry. She's more prepared for him to just run off, though, she knows he'll just do that sometimes. "And we were so dismissive, I certainly hope we've learned by now how good Harry's instinct for this kind of thing is."
Harry shrugged, "Was it instinct or really just a bad feeling?"
"You were just putting the pieces together," Ron said. "I had more hopes for the adults. I said that Neville would play for England before Hagrid let Dumbledore down, I should have tacked an 'on purpose' at the end of that."
"Yeah Hagrid's the best, but he's not that great with... sensitive information," Ginny said.
"And high hopes in the adults is what we all should have," Angelina said. "It should be more like the beginning of the chapter, where the only thing you have to worry about being exams."
Lee nodded. "You know Hermione, I'm the same way as you. I like to go through the exam papers, see how I've done."
"I'm like Ron," Neville said with a frown. "That makes me ill."
Fred laughed, "Me? I couldn't be bothered, I take the exam and move on with my life."
"Right, I hardly look at the grades when they give them to me," George laughed. "And you know the funny thing about those anti-cheating quills is I never even want to cheat until I get one."
"Right?" Fred agreed. "Like testing out if there are any loopholes, just out of curiosity."
Hermione shook her head in both amusement and exasperation. She thought back to that time period of looking over her exams, where the stress over exams had gone away and all she had to do was wait to see how well she'd done. Just the ability to lounge under the tree outside, short lived thought that was, it was nice. She felt the three of them hardly ever got the chance to just relax and be.
"I do envy myself a bit here," Hermione said softly. She still captured everyone's attention. "Things were so much simpler, and while I knew there were some things happening, I still felt like I didn't have to necessarily focus on it. Lately, it's always right there in the forefront of my mind."
"Thinking about it, I feel like that's more what it's like for us," Dean said. "I mean I'm certainly more aware of things this year than any other, but it's like... You know there's something brewing in the background but you needn't focus on it."
Because someone else will probably take care of it. Dean thought and glanced at Harry. A part of him hurt for how much responsibility must sit on Harry's shoulders.
"It's pretty impressive of you guys to be able to do well in class with all that you have to go through," Angelina said. "I mean not for nothing, but if I had half of the trauma you had, I don't think I'd be able to even look at an exam let alone finish one."
"Trauma," Harry laughed. "That's a heavy word."
"I'd say it's an accurate one," Seamus muttered.
Dean asked, "You know, is there such thing as a wizard therapist? I'd say we could all use one."
Angelina laughed, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind if that became a practice around here."
Hermione honestly agreed, she'd been to therapy once or twice and despite not staying with it, she thought it could actually be quite helpful. She couldn't exactly go to a muggle therapist with what was going on.
"You lot get right on that," Lee stretched. "As for me, I'd reckon we talked enough about this chapter." He held up the book. "Ready to finish Harry's first year?"
See you in the next chapterrr!