I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them sertainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
For now, the story will update every second Saturday, until I say otherwise.
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Chapter 19: Mars is Bright Tonight
Bright sunlight flooded the office of Horace Slughorn through the big windows. His official office, in which he did his actual work outside of lessons and experiments, showed little of the creature comforts he liked to enjoy - apart from a tin filled with crystallized pineapple sitting on his desk - since he reserved those for different settings. One of the few decorations was a bust of William Shakespeare, which looked rather out of place in a location like Hogwarts.
Right at the moment Slughorn frowned while sitting behind his desk, listening to what one member of House Slytherin was telling him. The story that the Malfoy boy was telling him sounded rather outlandish, yet with his long experience he could see that the boy really seemed to believe it. However, also knowing there were some really good liars out there, he would reserve judgment on that.
"This is a serious accusation, Mr. Malfoy. Should it turn out to be a hoax, I will notify your parents and you can forget going home for Easter break," Slughorn told Draco after the boy was done.
"I can easily prove it, Professor. We can simply go to his house and then we'll see the truth," Draco told his Head of House, feeling very safe since he knew the truth.
He had sat on his knowledge for a few more days, but seeing Hagrid reappear this day for his duties finally convinced him it was about time to act. In his mind there was no way the big man would want to part with a dragon - his love for big animals was known in the entire school. He now could get the giant sacked and locked up in one swoop. So he had went to his Head of House, Professor Slughorn, and reported what he had observed.
"Considering the nature of your accusation against a member of the faculty, I have to involve the Headmaster and the Deputy as well," Slughorn reminded Draco, secretly giving him a chance to just drop it with no questions asked.
Draco of course didn't take this way out. "Then they have to be involved."
Slughorn barely held back a sigh, disappointed that the boy hadn't seen the obvious out he had offered him. The boy really fell short of his father, who was very cunning, and his mother, who was quite shrewd as well. While the Malfoys did have money, Slughorn's criteria for becoming favored by him were different. For example, the Longbottom boy also came from money, but did have the drive for his own success and the ability to connect with others. These were both qualities missing in young Draco.
Also, after being burned by Tom Riddle, he had become more careful when it came to fanatics. Seeing where the Malfoys were going and young Draco's own behavior, he had felt it best to not have him be involved in his little political machine.
"Well, then let us go to the Headmaster's office," he told Draco.
Draco did feel pretty secure that nothing would go wrong while Professor Slughorn escorted him to the office. Once in there, he repeated his accusation to the Headmaster and the Deputy. There was some silence after he was done and it looked like these two had some sort of silent discussion just with looks. Finally, the Headmaster turned his attention back to Draco.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy, this indeed is a serious accusation, since dragon breeding outside of certain professions is outlawed. However, are you aware of the consequences should your accusation proven to be untrue? Surely Professor Slughorn explained that?" the Headmaster asked him.
"I'm well aware." Draco couldn't help but to wonder what that was with asking him that.
Looks like this foolish boy won't accept any way out of this. Dumbledore of course knew what would happen, being well aware of the real situation, but he had hoped to spare Draco the humiliation.
The four of them then marched to Hagrid's hut and the Headmaster knocked on the door.
Hagrid opened the door, having to hold back his dog Fang from enthusiastically greeting the visitors. "Hello, Headmaster. Is there something I can help you with?"
"Certainly, Hagrid. Young Mr. Malfoy here is insisting that you have hatched a dragon egg and are now hiding said young dragon in your hut. We just want to check the truth of this claim," Dumbledore told him.
Hagrid actually laughed. "A dragon? In my hut? Ha ha ha, that is a good one! However, I know there are certain procedures to be followed, so come in and have a look around. I have nothing to hide, after all."
Now Draco did start to become nervous at Hagrid's behavior, wondering why the man wasn't afraid. He of course couldn't have known that the dragon was long gone and Hagrid had used the time to remove all traces there ever had been one. He had even returned the book to the library. Therefore, there now were not even hints left to support Draco's claim. Hagrid instead was eager to see how this would play out.
Of course the search yielded no results and Draco now looked like the floor his disappeared beneath him.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy, your claims clearly have been proven as false," the Headmaster concluded.
McGonagall finally spoke up, having been silent the entire time. "I have no idea why you have cooked up such an easy to disprove story and then insisted it's true. To be honest, I also don't care for the answer." She turned her attention to Slughorn. "Horace, you know what to do with this little delinquent."
"Indeed, Minerva." Slughorn gave Draco a disappointed look, clearly having expected better. "Come with me, Mr. Malfoy, it's time to contact your parents to inform them of your transgression and your impending punishment."
Draco still tried to figure out what went wrong while being led away by Slughorn.
"Albus, it feels a bit weird that he essentially had told us the truth, but is punished for it," McGonagall commented. Of course she had been told the entire story and was just glad the mess had been cleaned up without problem.
"That may be, Minerva. However, we also have to take into account that young Mr. Malfoy felt it was his right to spy onto a member of the faculty. That also is behavior we can't condone. That essentially is the actual offense he is punished for," the Headmaster explained to his Deputy.
"You really think of everything, Headmaster," Hagrid commented. "Hopefully it will be a lesson for him."
"I hope so as well, but I fear it could very well only lead to him feel humiliated and try to do more of the same out of spite - only with him being more careful from now on. He had been quite clumsy with the whole thing, after all," McGonagall reminded both men.
"We can only hope that the correct lesson sticks," Dumbledore concluded, knowing there was nothing more they for now could do about it.
...at the night of May 16th...
Peaceful night had settled over Hogwarts and the full moon was sending its reflected light down from the night sky. If there had been any werewolves at Hogwarts, this would have been their night. Alas, the last werewolf had left Hogwarts over 13 years ago, thus this was just a peaceful night, and little more than that. The inhabitants of the castle were sleeping peacefully.
Sybill Trelawney however did not have a peaceful night.
Her sleep seemed to be tormented as she threw herself around on her bed, the covers long thrown off. Small whimpers of fear escaped her and by now she was soaked with sweat. Then, all of a sudden, she became perfectly still. Her eyes opened, but their look was vacant, as if no one was at home. She was still asleep. Almost mechanically, she left her bed and was about to go to the door, when something stopped her, like she had forgotten something.
Whatever power had taken hold of her also seemed to recognize it was now responsible for her well-being, making sure she put on robes over her sleeping gown, wear shoes, put her wand into her pocket and have her wear her glasses. Now actually prepared, Trelawney left her rooms and walked down the corridors and out into the open. It was like sleepwalking, but with something else directing her movements.
Nobody saw the strange sight, thus nobody could stop her when she walked into the Forbidden Forest. As she moved deeper into the forest however, she did attract attention.
"What is this female doing here?" a centaur named Ronan wondered.
He and that godforsaken idealist Firenze had pulled the sticks for patrolling the forest tonight. The centaurs normally minded their own business and didn't want to rock the boat. Recently however, there was serious trouble with the unicorns and it caused unrest in the herd. That was why both of them were armed while making their rounds through the forest.
"You know, our women would find it highly insulting to be called 'a female'. Being more respectful to others is always the first step," Firenze, another centaur, remarked. "Also, take a closer look at her."
Trying to ignore Firenze's usual drivel, Ronan did take a closer look and realized what Firenze meant. Both of them slowly walked up to the woman and then beside her. She did not react at all. "She is sleeping while her body walks," Ronan realized.
"We should see where she going - also to ensure her safety," Firenze reminded Ronan.
Ronan grumbled, but didn't dispute the point. Relations with the school had improved somewhat ever since they had drawn that age line to keep students out of the forest. Ever since then things had become a whole of a lot quieter. The only person from the school they met regularly was Hagrid, and he was closer to the inhabitants of the forest than many others. Years of peace meant that Ronan was willing to do a little escorting to make sure it would stay that way.
Both centauers walked beside the sleepwalking Trelawney, until she finally reached a small clearing. For a moments she stood motionless, then suddenly blinked and gasped, clearly waking up. She probably would have fallen, needing a few moments to regain motor control, if not for Firenze holding her.
"W-what? W-where?" Trelawney had not expected waking up standing and not in her bed.
"Easy. Your body has moved in your sleep. You are in the forest," Firenze told the woman.
"I sleepwalked?" Trelawney tried to understand, since this was quite the distance. Also, to her relief, she was wearing robes and shoes, as well as having her wand and glasses on her person. "I don't think this has been normal sleepwalking..." She then took a closer look at the people with her. "Oh... Sorry, this is the first time I've ever met centaurs in person."
Her reaction actually was a vast improvement to what it could have been. Growing up with the usual bias against other species - centaurs included - she had scoffed at the precognitive powers inate to centaurs. At least, until Madam Flan had made sure she would lose these racist notions. In the years since then she had read up about the star-related abilities of centaurs, but still felt like she knew little.
"Humans not often have dealings with our kind," Ronan remarked. "Highly unusual to see one in the forest at this time of the night."
"I'm still trying to understand what happened. Last thing I remembered was falling asleep in my bed." Trelawney then looked around. "I wonder why this one of all places?"
"The forest does hold many secrets, although the secret of this place is easy to discern," Firenze said, pointing at the clear night sky visible through the hole in the forest made by the clearing.
"Indeed." Ronan did use the moment to look at the stars. However, he did notice something. "Hm, Mars is bright tonight. Unusually bright at that."
"Mars?" Remembering all she knew about astrology and the abilities of centaurs, she felt uneasy. "Mars is representative of war, and you say it's especially bright? Can... can you see that there is something horrible in the future?"
"The stars are difficult to understand, even for us. However, the unusual brightness of Mars is undeniable: strong, violent conflict lies in the future," Ronan told her, surprised that she understood what he was talking about.
"Yes," Firenze added. "Something else however. Vague as it is, innocence will be lost - sooner than anticipated."
"Oh dear..." Trelawney was feeling the burden of all seers, that they could also foresee something really bad and nothing could be done about it. "Having precognitive powers at times is a big burden... I should know that best."
Ronan saw that his suspicion had been correct - the woman did have powers of that kind. "Knowing that knowledge also can be a burden is one of the steps to enlightenment."
-crac- Both centaurs drew their weapons at that sound, but lowered them when seeing it was Hagrid, who in turn lowered his huge crossbow, together with his dog Fang. While Hagrid looked nonplussed at the sight of two centaurs - two that he knew personally - he blinked when seeing Trelawney.
"Sybill? What are you doing in the forest in the middle of the night? Eh.. and dressed like that?" he asked.
Trelawney sighed. "That's a long story, trust me..."
"We see she now is in good hands, Hagrid. Therefore we will now take our leave," Ronan said and both centaurs vanished into the forest.
"Hagrid, please tell me you can help me out of here, because I have no idea where the exit is," Trelawney said, now feeling a bit lost in the middle of the forest.
"Oh, no problem. But there's something that can't wait. I'm following the blood trail of a unicorn. Something is hunting them and I hope I can reach the wounded unicorn before it is too late. I found a dead one last week and hope it's not too late this time," Hagrid told her.
"What could possibly hurt and kill unicorns?" In her mind, even attacking a unicorn would have terrible consequences. She wondered in morbid curiosity what could actually catch and kill one.
"Stay close to me. You got your wand?" Hagrid saw her pulling it out of her pocket. "Just in case..."
Knowing that Hagrid was her only way out of the forest, she did keep close to him while they walked deeper into the forest, following the blood trail. She did use the time to explain to him how she had ended up in the middle of the forest instead of sleeping in her bed. Hagrid frowned when she explained the conversation she'd had with the centaurs.
"I won't claim I know much about this future stuff... but we better tell Dumbledore once we are back," Hagrid finally said, looking troubled.
"Yes, I have the strange feeling that what happened to me and your search are connected in a way." Trelawney had a bad feeling about all of this.
The forest around them by now looked really dark, not much light coming through from the sky. They had to be in the heart of the forest by now. Suddenly Fang became nervous, causing Hagrid to remove the safety of his weapon, being ready to shoot. Then they suddenly saw it. It was the unicorn, but it clearly was already dead, its silvery blood pooling around it from several deep wounds. However, as disturbing as the sight was, it was nothing to what else they saw.
It was a dark-robed person, face hidden by the shadows of a hood, who was kneeling next to the unicorn and was actually drinking its blood! And that person must have been doing so for a while, considering the stains of silvery blood all over the front of the robes.
Then suddenly the person turned to them, clearly having heard them! -gwong- Hagrid released the bolt from his crossbow, but with incredible agility, the stranger managed to evade the bolt, then suddenly pulled a wand.
"Hagrid, watch out!" Trelawney cried.
"Avada Kedavra!" a distorted voice shouted.
-Boooooom- The bolt of green light barely missed Hagrid when he jumped aside. Instead it hit the tree behind him, causing it to blow apart into countless splinters while the remains were set ablaze, bathing their surroundings in reddish light. Both of them had their wands out, but the mysterious person was gone, leaving them alone with the corpse of the unicorn.
"What... who was that?" Trelawney asked with a shaky voice.
"I don't know..." Hagrid said while looking at the dead unicorn. He then heard the sound of hooves. "Looks like this attracted attention."
Moments later a centaur appeared. However, unlike Ronan or Firenze, he didn't look particularly pleased to see them. "Hagrid, what is the meaning of this?!"
"Ah, Bane." Clearly there was some history between these two, considering Hagrid's reaction. "We were investigating the unicorns. Sadly... we were too late and got attacked by the culprit."
Bane looked to the dead unicorn, disgust at such a horrible crime written on his face. "I see. We will take care of that. Better leave."
Seeing that this was not a suggestion, both of them started their trek back to Hogwarts. It took a few minutes before Trelawney found herself capable of asking the big question. "Why would whoever that was drink unicorn blood? I know it has incredible restorative powers, but that's not worth it, considering the horrible curse you'll be laden with."
Hagrid also was disturbed by that discovery. "Someone truly desperate. We need to talk with Dumbledore as fast as possible."
...during the night of June 11th...
"Finally, about time!"
Quirrell couldn't help but to agree. They'd spent months with slowly analyzing all the security keeping them away from the Philosopher's Stone and then find ways to deactivate the obstacles safely so that they could turn them back on to erase any hint of their meddling. The beginning had been slow, due to the damn three-headed dog guarding the entrance, but once Hagrid had revealed its weakness to music - of course without meaning to do so - things had become much easier. That little enchanted harp made sure the dog would stay asleep.
Then there had been the problem of his body weakening, an unfortunate side-effect of his Master wanting to keep a close eye on him. It had been Quirrell's own idea to hunt down a unicorn and drink its blood so that he would have the strength to fulfill his role. He had been unable to drink from the first one he'd killed - as the damn beast had run away too far before bleeding out - but he'd gotten it from the second one.
It was testament to how depraved he had become, and how little he now cared about what happened to others. He also didn't care about the curse, since in his mind once they got their hands on the stone, he could get around the curse with the elixir. After all, his Master surely would reward him for his services.
Right at this moment they had finally managed to breach through final barrier and entered the final in a series of rooms. Looking around, Quirrell raised an eyebrow in surprise at what was greeting him in that room.
"Certainly not what I expected," Quirrell said to himself when seeing that the room was empty, save for a big mirror standing near the back wall. Nonethelss he checked the room multiple times for any kind of hidden traps.
"Do not be fooled. Dumbledore is very cunning, regardless of my opinion of him. Expect the unexpected."
Quirrell honestly couldn't understand what his Master meant. The room was completely empty - he had checked no less than four times and there were no more obstacles in this room - apart from the mirror itself. He was about to step in front of the mirror itself, when suddenly he felt PAIN! Stumbling back, he was confronted with Voldemort's anger.
"FOOL! Are you this much of a simpleton?! Do not step in front of the mirror, if the mirror itself can be a trap as well!"
To make sure that the lesson stuck, Voldemort gave Quirrell several more nasty pain shocks. Quirrell understood right away that he had nearly messed up and his Master rightfully was hard on him. Being more careful now, he approached the mirror from the side until standing next to it, before allowing his Master to take a close look at it, without them being reflected by the mirror. The minutes went by, until Voldemort finally spoke up.
"Very smart... I clearly didn't give Dumbledore enough credit. Not that this will be much of a problem."
"Master, what have you discovered?" Quirrell asked, wondering what secrets the mirror could be holding.
"Oh yes, he is clever. The mirror has been manipulated in a way, that anyone who actually wants to use the stone or wants to have it for anything but -snort- altruistic means, gets sucked into it and is trapped. Of course you couldn't see it. Clearly he didn't expect Lord Voldemort himself to take a look at it."
"Since both of us do not qualify... does that mean we need a dupe to get the stone for us?" Quirrell asked, though he already knew the answer to the question.
"Yes, but today it's not possible. We have to wait until tomorrow evening to make sure to not only get a 'volunteer' but also to get Dumbledore out of the castle."
...the next day, early evening...
The week had been very hectic for teachers and students alike. It was the week where all students would take their end-of-year exams. While for most of the years that only meant to test where they were knowledge-wise, it also was the week when the OWL and NEWT tests were done. Those five days had been stressful for everyone involved, but thankfully it now was all over this Friday.
That however also put all the students into a bit of a limbo. It would be two more weeks before they would leave for home, meaning that for the time being they suddenly got a lot of leisure time apart from some formalities that had to be done, which took only little time.
The six first-year friends had enjoyed the afternoon with Hagrid and the big man being so excited about becoming a teacher starting the next school year. Now however it was early evening and they wanted to return to the tower. The corridors had already become quiet, many students having went to bed early due to how exhausting the week had been. Perhaps it also was because they were using one of the seldomly used outer corridors as a shortcut, since otherwise they would have to cross half the castle.
"Feels a bit strange. The exams are done, we did well, and now we essentially have a few weeks left doing nothing to do but enjoy ourselves," Ginny said while they walked through the corridors, wanting to return to the tower.
"It is a bit weird why they won't send us home after the exams are done, but I guess this strange situation grew to its current form over the years," Hermione remarked. She knew there were many institutions with strange leftover traditions. "I hope I did well."
Ron rolled his eyes. "Would you stop to worry? You aced all the exams and the teachers heaped praise on you. No chance you get any less than a perfect score. Now is the time for relaxing and being lazy - we earned it."
How can he be so relaxed? He knows fully well he did worse than me, yet he doesn't care. Hermione still had not come down from the exam-stress, otherwise she would have seen how stupid that thought was.
Their banter stopped when they saw someone approach from the far end of the corridor. Just by the look of the stupid turban they could already see it was Professor Quirrell and he was accompanied by another student. At first they thought nothing wrong about that, but their unease grew when they walked closer and they got the feeling something was wrong. Perhaps it was because the student acted strangely.
Quirrell on the other hand felt like cursing.
It's almost like fate throws these brats into my way when I wanted to avoid them! he cursed silently.
All had went so well until this moment. The castle was very silent, since most students were simply exhausted after exams. Dumbledore was currently at the Ministry and it would take him over an hour before realizing that the issue that got him there was bogus. He had managed to snatch a student by putting him under the Imperius and knew the age line would be no problem, as his Master had ways to circumvent it to let their dupe in.
He had even chosen this route to prevent running into someone, but it seemed like he now had to hope nothing would go wrong. His Master had told him to avoid Potter, which included his little gang, and he now hoped that nothing would go wrong.
Of course then things did go wrong.
"Hey, I recognize you! You're one of the blokes who's in cahoots with Fred and George. Don't tell me the Professor caught you," Ron suddenly said, recognizing the student.
However, the student didn't react at all. His look was blank and he walked like a robot. It was at that moment that Quirrell cursed that he had not ordered his dupe to act normal, as this behavior now alarmed the children and they looked at the boy, who acted like a mechanical puppet, in worry.
"What the...?!" Harry gasped when finally realizing something was very wrong.
"Get out of the way. I have to get this boy to Madam Pomfrey," Quirrell said, trying not to lose his cool.
However, that proved the wrong thing to say, when Luna observed "This can be the truth because the hospital wing lies in the opposite direction. You are walking away from it."
"Damn it...!" Quirrell cursed, now really losing his cool.
Now, children their age were at times not particularly smart - indeed they got rather stupid ideas. Right at this moment they got one of these stupid ideas - and instead of one of them running to get a teacher for help, they all did it collectively. All six of them blocked the way, the student tried to walk through them but was thrown back and landed on the floor. Even that didn't seem to faze him.
"What have you done to him?!" Harry demanded, feeling strangely brave.
Quirrell felt his Master getting angry at the problem and one order was clear: since they would leave soon anyway, no more discretion was needed. That, and hands off Potter - or at least don't kill him. "I didn't want it to come to this..." He then drew his wand.
Now the six of them did the second stupid thing in a row. Realizing that they could hardly out-magic an adult wizard, they tried to tackle the man. Three of them did connect and knocked Quirrell back, though he did manage to put up an invisible barrier to shove them back. His turban also got knocked off in the chaos and his concentration faltered.
"AAAHHHHRGGGHHHH!" the student suddenly screamed when the Imperius Curse failed, then ran away like death itself was after him, babbling half-incoherently.
The children had just gotten back up, when they froze in terror at a horrible sight. Quirrell had turned his back to them. And there... at the back of his bald head... was a face! It was the face of a man, but terribly distorted, with very snake-like features.
"Harry Potter..." the face spoke, it's horrible red eyes full of utter hatred.
Harry had seen that horrible face before in his deepest nightmares, not to speak of that voice. Ever since that day the dementor had cornered him, he would never forget it. It also was the very same look of utter hatred that was thrown at him. Oh yes, to Harry it was a nightmare coming true and he knew exactly who that person - or at least his face - was.
"V-V-Voldemort!" Harry gasped in terror.
That caused his friends to pale. All of them - even Hermione through her own research - had heard horror stories about the Dark Lord who had nearly forced Magical Britain to its knees a bit over ten years ago. Even Luna's mask broke and she showed terror at the sight, now being very much a scared little girl. As for Harry, he might have heard speculation that Voldemort might have survived, but seeing him in person all of a sudden made it a nasty reality.
"In person. See what you have done to me that I'm reduced to such an existence," Voldemort said, his calm voice betraying the emotions behind it.
"Why?" Harry gasped out. "Why did you do it?"
"My motivations are none of your concern... be content to know your parents could have lived, if not for your very existence. They just stood in my way to you. However, perhaps it interests you what your parents' last moments were like?" Voldemort then saw with satisfaction the pain in Harry's face. "Well, while your father put up an impressive yet futile fight even without his wand, your mother was weak. She begged me on her knees to spare you. Oh no... Lord Voldemort does not forgive, so I removed her like the obstacle she was. A pity, she actually got a fair chance to be spared due to circumstances, and she wasted it."
"You... you monster..." Harry gasped, though it seemed that Voldemort didn't mind Harry's words.
"Master, we don't have much time," Quirrell reminded Voldemort.
"Ah yes, right. Now to business. Harry, you should be glad that you have some more time left until my rebirth. I want to kill you with my own hands; not while I am like this," Voldemort explained calmly.
"Rebirth?!" Ron asked in absolute horror, as suddenly this had become even worse.
"Oh yes, Dumbledore the old fool is keeping the key to it in this very castle. Though we do need a volunteer to get it. However, since you foolishly allowed our volunteer to escape, one of Harry's friends will take his place. Any volunteers? You would be able to live a little longer than the others."
Despite the terror they felt, they tried to run away, only to realize the barrier was still in place, trapping them! Hermione then was the one who got the courage to face Voldemort. "We won't help you! Ever!"
Voldemort clearly looked displeased at her defiance. "Foolish girl. It looks like you need a little lesson in respect. Quirinius!"
It was like Quirrell could see through Voldemort's eyes while he raised his wand arm, which was pointing backwards towards them. The wand was pointed at Hermione, and... "Crucio."
"ARRRRGHHHHHH!" Hermione's shrill screams echoed through the corridor. Her whole body felt like it was on fire, even the tiniest part filled with incredible pain. This horrific torture felt like an eternity to her, but in reality it lasted only for a few seconds before Quirrell stopped. Hermione sobbed in equal parts fear and phantom pains, not even noticing she'd lost her bladder control during the short but vicious torture.
This... this was... Hermione failed to find a way to describe the brief torture she'd went through.
"With your loose mouth you've selected yourself to volunteer, girl. The deaths of your friends are thus your fault," Voldemort remarked cruelly. "Now..." He stopped when hearing someone run towards them.
Indeed, it was Severus Snape that came running to them.
Snape had been walking to the ingedient storage to get some things he needed in order to analyze and grade the sixth-year potions from the exams, when he'd almost been run over by a hysterical student. While it had been difficult to get a coherent answer from the boy, he could puzzle together that Quirrell had done something to him and where the man could be found. He had quickly notified Pomfrey where to find the student and then made haste, hoping nothing had happened.
In his mind, it suddenly made a lot of sense that it most likely was Quirrell who was after the stone. The man had been away for an entire year and was so unassuming that he'd went under almost everyone's radar. In retrospect it had been blatantly obvious. Then hearing a girl scream in pain had made him run faster, only to be confronted with something that made him stop in his tracks.
Not good, he thought.
Of course it were Potter and his friends, and he also had no trouble to see which of the girls had screamed. However, it was what else he saw that made him stop.
"The Dark Lord!" Snape's mind snapped up defenses right away in case that whatever Voldemort was now still got the power of Legilimency.
"Severus, so we finally meet again after all these years. What is your excuse?" These red eyes seemed to look into Snape's soul. "Interesting. But there is time for that later. Now, put your wand onto the floor and stand aside. Otherwise..."
Seeing how Quirrell still had his wand aimed at the children and that he needed to play along to keep his cover, Snape slowly put his wand to to floor and then stepped back. "Really a smart move. Even I didn't find out that he is the traitor. Someone so beneath suspicion that he blended with the background. I am impressed."
"Yes, though I needed to be quite hard on him to drive the point home," Voldemort agreed, his true opinion of Quirrell shining through. "You will stand back for the moment until I deal with you."
"I will not move from this spot." Snape knew it would end badly for them if he did disobey.
"Very good. Now to the important part... You, girl, dared to speak up, so it's you who will help us, while your friends apart from Harry will die now."
"No..." Hermione whimpered while seeing Quirrell raise his wand.
"Ava..."
"NOOO!" Harry knew it was stupid, but seeing that the barrier must have dropped for Quirrell to use his deadly spell, he jumped forward and tried to wrestle the wand out of Quirrell's hand.
"Arrrgghhhh!" Quirrell screamed, managing to throw Harry off. His arm looked burned where Harry had touched him. "Master! What is this?!"
Voldemort clearly saw the danger. "Knock him out, now!"
Quirrell raised his wand, but was tackled from a different side. Harry's friends' concern for their friend had overcome their fear and Quirrell suddenly had to deal with five children trying to wrestle him to the ground. Ginny, feeling especially angry, bit him into the wrist, causing him to scream out and lose his wand, which Ron caught and then snapped over his knee to stop that danger. It was all chaotic, Voldemort screaming for Quirrell to fight back and Snape being unable to do anything after picking up his wand due to the complete chaos.
It was that moment in which Harry managed to take hold of Quirrell's head.
"Ahhhhh! No, NO! Arrrgghhhh..." It was almost like his head was on fire, his skin blistering and burning while untold pain went through him.
Harry felt getting sick, not only from some kind of fatigue, but also from seeing Voldemort snarl at him while his face was turning into a bubbling mess of flesh. Suddenly Quirrell went limp and they let go. The man fell to the floor, unmoving, and suddenly the back of his head exploded in a shower of blood! Dark mist erupted from the hole in Quirrell's head and the wraith of Voldemort looked in anger at the children.
"Foiled by a buch of brats... I will not forget this." He then looked to Harry, yellow-glowing eyes narrowing. "We will meet again!"
Then Voldemort raced away - through the walls - and was gone.
The sudden end of the threat caused the children to finally look to Quirrell.
The back of his head, where Voldemort had busted out, was torn open and bloody. However, despite the gore, something else they saw really drove home what just had happened. Quirrell's disfigured face was motionless, his eyes sightless. There was no movement at all and no breathing. Only now did the end result of the struggle hit them: Quirrell was dead.
That fact hit them hard and they scrambled away from the body, in their shock not even noticing the footsteps of other arriving teachers.
...some time later in the hospital wing...
In a way it felt like a repeat performance, though thankfully on a much smaller scale. This time, it was only the parents and guardians of six students - and two of them had the same parents - arriving in Hogwarts after an incident. Not however that this was any consolation Dumbledore when one of said parents was Molly Weasley, and also due to the fact that Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were present as well.
The hospital wing felt somewhat crowded, but thankfully the rest of the school currently was under lockdown, with students being confined to their dorms for the night while the official investigation was ongoing. After all, with a teacher dead an investigation was unavoidable. Thank all goodness no one had come to serious harm. The student that had been under the Imperius currently was in bed, heavily sedated, and would wake up in the morning with no physical ill-effects. Hermione was complaining about some phantom pains and Harry's hands were shaking slightly.
Right at the moment, the parents and guardians were still busy with fussing over their children, while said children were busy was assuring them they were not hurt - though Hermione's parents saw that while she was not hurt physically, she would not forget what had happened when she was put under the curse. It was up to Sirius and Remus to give Dumbledore dark looks that promised consequences if there wasn't a good explanation.
The tense atmosphere was broken when the door opened and McGonagall walked in. "Albus, they did believe our official explanation. However, Moody said he'll be waiting in your office."
Of course, a dead teacher at Hogwarts caused the Ministry to send Mad-Eye himself to lead the investigation, as that was high-profile. No way that Moody would be fooled by their story and he had to be told the truth. Dumbledore knew that would be a fun conversation.
"Of course he wants to know what really happened," Dumbledore admitted.
"And what did really happen? Right now we only know that Voldemort was involved in some way," Sirius finally said, which caused everyone to finally realize the big elephant in the room, some flinching at the name.
"That's what we want to know as well. The children don't want to talk about it, so you have to explain what exactly happened. Better explain it well..." There was no doubt that Ian Granger meant every word of it, not being intimidated by Dumbledore's long list of accomplishments.
"Oh yes, that they do," McGonagall agreed. "And don't even try to leave the children out of it, Albus! After what happened today, they deserve the truth!"
"Very well, but to do so, I need to start at the beginning. Some here do already know, but when all these years ago Lord Voldemort tried to murder Harry and his spell was reflected back on him, his body was literally blown to dust, yet he did not die," Dumbledore started to explain.
Most of the adults looked disturbed by this. Finally, Veronica asked the important question. "How can you not die if that happens to you?"
"Darkest magic - so disgusting that it's not to be spoken about. Something that affronts nature itself and I will say no more about it." Dumbledore's look of disgust made it clear this topic was not something he would speak about any further. "Nevertheless, being trapped in this in-between state of not dead but also not truly alive, he is seeking a way to regain a body."
"He... he talked about that. Said the key to his rebirth is in the castle," Ron said, remembering his shock at these words.
"Sadly, yes. Somehow, he managed to convince Quirinius of his ways and they were seeking out something that does have the power to do so." Dumbledore knew he now had to tell them what really happened. "Some here already know, but my old friend, Nicolas Flamel, contacted me. He had barely foiled the theft of his greatest invention: the Philosopher's Stone."
Jean, having read a lot, knew what that was. "It really exists? A stone that literally can turn base metals into gold?"
"Oh yes, though it does more than just that. It also is used in a process that creates the Elixir of Life. As long as someone drinks that regularly, said person is effectively immortal - Nicolas and his wife are centuries old. Sadly however, Lord Voldemort also realized that the elixir can be used to give him a new body. As the stone is a unique creation that can never be recreated, he tried to get his hands on it, using Quirrell as his influence in the physical world."
"Wait a minute. I do remember the waves that the break-in at Gringotts made. That was him?" Arthur asked, remembering all the questions that event caused at the Ministry.
"Yes, that was him. Thankfully, I had anticipated something could happen and sent Hagrid to empty the vault and bring the stone to me," Dumbledore explained. "After the break-in happened, however, we were faced with a dilemma. Gringotts already was one of the safest places, and he broke into it with ease."
"Why not simply destroy this damn stone?!" Yes, Molly was not holding back her opinion. "If it's that dangerous to have around, get rid of it entirely."
"That's actually what I suggested to Nicolas. Alas, he is only human and not exactly eager to die. However, after what happened today, I did consult him and he finally agreed it's too dangerous to have around. It will be destroyed. The stone didn't turn out to be such a bright idea... too many are tempted to gain it for its powers."
"Doesn't that mean, that...?" Harry didn't dare to finish the sentence.
"Yes, they have enough elixir left to settle their affairs, but then they will die. However, they are at peace with the idea. After so many centuries being alive, once confronted with the fact that the stone has turned into something dangerous, they are not scared by the consequences," Dumbledore explained, leaving out that he would be present at his friend's deathbed.
"Still... hiding it in the school... What were you thinking?!" Molly didn't sound too happy with Dumbledore.
"As much as I disliked it as well, I have to defend Albus on that," McGonagall said. "After it proved impossible to hide the stone behind a Fidelius due to essentially the entire world knowing, which would have caused the spell to overload, this was the least bad of the options left."
"Perhaps you don't know, but had any of my students come to serious harm, I would have resigned as Headmaster. I still have the papers in my desk." Astonished silence greeted Dumbledore on this declaration, everyone realizing how serious he was about this. "We were lucky that no lasting harm was done. I did not make that decision easily, oh no. I did everything in my power to ensure students would be kept out of this and that the spy, who turned out to be Quirrell, has a vested interest in not doing anything that could arouse attention."
"What about the troll?" Neville asked, remembering that day all too well.
"That troll actually was intended as a security measure. It was safely locked away behind multiple magical locks until deployment, and it is very likely Quirrell released it by accident when scouting out the corridor. The attention it caused was not to his favor," Dumbledore explained. "However, the security mainly was for stalling him. After the final obstacle was put into place, it actually was a trap."
"So, you wanted to trap whoever was after the stone so you could question them?" Pandora Lovegood asked, starting to see where this was going.
"Exactly. We installed a special magical mirror - the Mirror of Erised - which normally does show a person's greatest desire. The stone was put into the mirror and could only be pulled out by someone who held no desire to either use the stone for themselves or for dark intentions. Anyone who did have those desires, would have been sucked into the mirror and get trapped."
"While that does sound like a good trap, why did it fail?" Thomas asked.
Now Dumbledore sighed, actually looking his age. "I had been too clever by half. I had not expected Voldemort to be present in person and see through the trap. From everything Professor Snape told me, I can conclude that Voldemort put himself into Quirrell's body like a parasitic entity, manifesting his face at the back of Quirrell's head."
Most paled at the description, and the unspoken truth that Voldemort most likely had been in the school for quite some time. There however was no way to verify for how long that had happened.
"Please tell me you make sure this will never happen again." Remus did sound collected, but those who knew him did know that this was only a front. The man actually was so angry with worry he was barely holding it down.
"Now that we know what we are dealing with, I can adjust the castle wards to keep him out. It will not happen again," Dumbledore assured Remus.
"Let's hope for it." Sirius didn't say more, but it was clear he would not tolerate another such colossal fuck-up.
"Good. Now, something that dark however was clearly taking a toll on Quirrell's body. Thus he murdered two unicorns in the forest and drank from their blood. While the blood does have highly restorative powers, killing such a sacred creature as a unicorn and then drinking its blood put a horrible curse on Quirrell. I can only speculate he accepted the price and imagined that the elixir would save him from it."
"He killed unicorns?" Hermione had read about unicorns and knew how monstrous that was. "Voldemort must have convinced him to lose all restraint."
"Sadly, we will never know. Tonight, he made me leave the castle with a faked emergency at the Ministry, then he put a student under the Imperius Curse to get the stone for him, and that is when the children disrupted his plans purely by chance," Dumbledore finished his explanations.
"To think he almost got the stone..." Ginny hated her imagination showing her Voldemort using the stone to revive himself.
"He still wouldn't have gotten it. One final security measure..." Dumbledore pulled something out of his pocket and presented a reddish stone. "I was always carrying it on my person, while the stone in the mirror is a decoy. What better protection than a giant red herring on which he wasted his time?"
McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Albus..."
"Ehm, Sir?" Harry, now that he had calmed down, got some questions "When I asked Voldemort why he did it, he said he was targeting me. Why did he do that?"
"I know you won't like my answer, Harry, but right at the moment you are too young to know. After all, the truth can be a beautiful and yet terrible thing." Dumbledore had no trouble to see Harry's disappointment. "However, be assured that once you are older and more mature, you will be told. Sirius and Remus both know, and will tell you once they think you can take it."
Harry didn't complain. From the depressed looks of the three men, it was clear it had to be an unpleasant secret. "Also something that made me wonder: why was I burning Quirrell when I touched him?"
"Your mother invoked ancient magic when she sacrificed herself for you. She poured all of her love for you into it." Dumbledore saw that he got some strange looks. "No, really. Love can be a powerful force. With her dying breath she gave you a strong protection against Voldemort. Quirrell, thoroughly corrupted and connected to Voldemort, was seen as an extension of Voldemort and the protection acted accordingly."
"Sir, is that what allows Harry to protect his home?" Veronica asked, remembering the Headmaster casting spells years ago.
"Yes, it is directly tied to Harry's protection and also keeps those connected to Voldemort out of your lovely hometown."
"Ehm, Sir, Voldemort seemed to know Professor Snape. It was honestly confusing that he spoke to him with such familiarity," Ginny asked, finding that puzzling.
Dumbledore sighed. "Professor Snape did have a life before he started teaching. In his youth he got charmed by ideas that sounded good to him at that time, but he came to very much regret ever listening to them. The courts cleared him of any wrongdoing. I implore you to not ask him about his past, as he is very ashamed of it."
Harry saw when looking to Sirius and Remus, that they knew what exactly the Headmaster was talking about. However, it also was clear that they wouldn't reveal the man's past, either. Harry knew of Snape's time at school and how his friendship with Lily had broken down, but his uncles had refused to talk about what the man had done after school.
"Do you think Voldemort will revive himself?" Luna asked, appearing horrified at the idea, quite unlike her usual behavior.
"Sadly... despite me wishing it could be different, he sooner or later will succeed in finding a way to do so. But never lose hope, as we more than likely can delay him for years, until we we ready to deal with him once and for all." Dumbledore then checked his pocket watch. "I now have to meet Alastor Moody. I know there are questions remaining, but those surely can wait."
"You are not off the hook that easily." It was unusual for Remus to be this aggressive. "Me and Padfoot, we'll be there when you meet Moody."
o
He made a very convincing argument, Dumbledore thought, while Moody looked more amused than anything at the presence of the two additional men.
"All right, Albus, you might be able to fool the Ministry with your little story, but I know that's just a big pile of bull. What did really happen?" Moody demanded, his spinning artificial eye unnerving everyone present, even Dumbledore. "And I bet my last shirt, these two already know."
"As always, nothing does escape you, Alastor." Dumbledore knew that with Moody it was best to put the cards on the table right away. "Let me tell you what really happened..."
And that he then did. He knew Moody would want the entire picture, so he left out no details of what exactly had transpired that led to Quirrell's death. Of course he did not tell him of the two prophecies - that was restricted knowledge and the people that did know were more than enough. Moody said nothing until Dumbledore was finally done.
"And these two know as well?" Moody asked, already knowing the answer. "You should have come to me right away instead of dancing around the issue! Not that I have any illusions why you didn't tell these Ministry fools."
"Yes, they would have never believed it and imitated an ostrich by putting their heads into the sand," Sirius remarked.
"It's more than just that." Moody looked quite angry. "Ever since that moron Fudge got elected, we noticed that funding for the Auror department has gone down. Scrimgeour is pretty sure our budget is being cut in order to funnel the money elsewhere. They are after me as well."
"They are trying to remove you?" Remus asked, knowing that Moody's reputation was legendary.
Moody snorted. "They are trying make me go into retirement. Say it would be honorable dismissal. Pah! I can hold them off for some time, but we all know who really is pulling the strings. That bastard Malfoy never forgot how many of that scum I caught, and that's why he wants me gone."
Moody looked to Sirius. "Better be glad for that cousin of yours. She might cause me to have numerous white hairs, but with her being my apprentice, they can't send me off until her training is done. That means I do have two more years left. After that..."
"This is just great. On one hand we now know Voldemort will return someday. On the other hand Lucius the slime uses Fudge as a puppet to become the true power behind the throne," Sirius surmised the problems. "So, what do we do now?"
"Sadly, everything concerning Voldemort is limited to activating the old contacts and inform that of what happened. As Alastor would say, we have to show constant vigilance," Dumbledore said with a sigh, knowing for the moment little could be done on that front.
"Yes, but what about Malfoy? We can't let him take over the Ministry like that," Remus asked.
"No direct action can be taken. However, should there be a strong political player that can match Malfoy, he could be slowed down." Dumbledore then gave Sirius a look.
Sirius knew that look. "Oh no, don't even think about it!"
"Sadly, Sirius, you are the only one who does have the wits and the means to enter that stage. Me? There would suspicion right away that I'm planning to take power for myself. I know you have your own life and family, but sooner or later you will understand I do have a point," Dumbledore told him salmly.
No way I'm going to do that! Never! Sirius thought.
Alas, as it always was: 'never say never'.
...the following day, Quidditch pitch...
It was the final Quidditch game of the school year, and the anticipation couldn't be higher. Hufflepuff had lost their final game against Slytherin as well and had won not a single game. As of now, Gryffindor and Slytherin had two wins each, while Ravenclaw got one. If Ravenclaw still wanted to have a chance to get the cup, they had to win this one and hope for points. Of course, should Gryffindor win, they would have won all three games and the cup was theirs automatically.
However, despite the performances of the Gryffindor team in the first two games, there now was a problem.
"Harry, you know what you are doing to us?" Wood asked Harry, who while sitting with the other players on the reserve bank was not in his gear.
"Sorry, Oliver, but I was right next to Quirrell when he died from whatever he'd stolen. I want to play, but I literally can't!" Harry apologized to his Captain.
Harry was not exactly lying. All of them tried to come to terms with what they had went through, but he had the additional trouble of his hands still shaking due to burning Quirrell with his mother's protection - and they would do so for several more days. Since that however was secret, everyone agreed to say it was a psychological problem instead - which was not a lie, either. They had to stick to the official story as well, that Quirrell had died from trying to steal a protected item.
Wood sighed. "Thank all goodness you insisted on a reserve team... I only hope Ginny is up to it, since the Ravenclaws have smelled blood." He then left, since Madam Hooch looked impatient.
"I hope Ginny is up to it as well. I don't think she can play her best, either," Harry said to Ron.
"She's putting up a brave front, but that was something I didn't want her to experience. Let's hope for the best," Ron replied, then heard the whistle.
It really was bad luck that the game was taking place just the next day after their confrontation with Voldemort. Normally, all of them would have tried to find peace and quiet, but some things couldn't be avoided. Perhaps winning the cup would lift their spirits. That however first meant winning, but looking at how the Ravenclaw team played like possessed, it would be a difficult game.
In the stands, everyone was of the same opinion.
"That does not look good..." Neville observed through his binoculars. "Guess Harry having to sit this one out did hit the morale... and Ravenclaw is playing like mad."
"This is indeed not looking good," Luna observed.
"Let's hope that Ginny gets the snitch fast." Hermione then grimaced at a short shadow of phantom pain. Even only a few seconds under the Cruciatus Curse meant the sporadic phantom pain would linger for a few days.
"Got some room?"
"Oh, hello Hagrid," Hermione greeted the big man and they quickly made room for him.
"Couldn't stay away when it's about all or nothing. Also, I'm here for the moral support." Hagrid looked a bit uncomfortable. He did know what really happened, after all, like all the teachers did. He then looked through his own binoculars. "This is a bloodbath."
Neville grimaced at the fitting description. "Harry not being able to play all of a sudden did hurt the morale... Well, and Ravenclaw plays like their lives depend on it. Even if Ginny does get the snitch, there's no way the team can win with Ravenclaw in such a lead."
"So in the end the points will decide..." Hagrid finished the thought.
With three teams each having two wins, the deciding factor would be which team had a better point balance - the margin by which they won games minus the margin by which they lost games. Thus why it was so important for Ginny to get the snitch even if Gryffindor still lost the game. The 150 points would do a lot to negate the huge margin Raveclaw was ahead right now. Of course Ravenclaw knew this as well, thus why they were making goals like mad to ramp up their points.
Suddenly... "I think Ginny spotted the snitch," Luna remarked.
Indeed, Ginny went into a quick dive and the Ravenclaw seeker noticed too late. Seconds later she let out a huge sigh of relief when she held the snitch, then grimaced when seeing on the scoreboard that they'd still lost the game by a number of points, though her catch had negated the worst of it. However, the Ravenclaw students were not cheering, since no one knew who now would win the cup. The situation was highly confusing.
Landing with the rest of the team, Ginny asked the obvious question. "So, do we still get the cup, or not?"
Wood looked ready to die from nervousness. "That's up to points... Looks like they are busy with trying to determine who's ahead." Wood looked up to the commentator's platform, where Hooch and McGonagall were busy with doing the math to determine which team had the best point balance.
Finally, after several minutes, they seemed to have determined the result and McGonagall gave a piece of paper to the commentator. "The final result is in. Due to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin each winning two games, the point balances determined the winner of the cup. With a point balance that is ten points better than that of the second-placed team, the cup this year goes to Gryffindor!"
Suddenly the noise erupting from all Gryffindors on the stands was deafening.
Down on the pitch Wood was almost delirious with joy and relief, chanting again and again that he had made up for his past shame, while the whole team was just one big pile of happiness. Then suddenly, they decided to carry not only Wood, but Harry and Ginny as well on their shoulders towards the podium where the Heads of Houses and the Headmaster were already waiting.
The Quidditch cup standing on a pedestal looked especially shiny in the sunlight.
At least for the moment, the events of the previous day seemed far away and the six of them could just be happy about something.
...June 26th...
It was a bit surreal how mere two weeks ago they had been in a life-or-death situation, and now it was back to something mundane as the school year being over. Yesterday had been the end-of-year feast, which included the ceremony for the seventh-year students who had finished school with their NEWTs, as well as the ceremonies in which the awards for several exceptional students had been announced.
It had also included the ceremony where Professor Kettleburn officially went into retirement and Hagrid ascended to the post of Magical Creatures professor. It had been quite a moving ceremony and it really felt like an era had ended and a new begun. Hagrid had looked so happy that one of his dreams had come true.
While it all had been beautiful, the six of them couldn't help but to still think of the day where they got confronted with Lord Voldemort, regardless how reduced he had been. The thought was always there and it only proved that while their lives would go on, their childhoods had ended that day with the loss of their innocence. It was tragic that it had to happen at such a young age.
Being confronted with someone like him at such a young age, and the subsequent death of Quirrell right in front of them, was even after two weeks disturbing them. They probably would never forget it and they had suffered from night terrors. Still, they would not give Voldemort the victory of them obsessing over him - they would try to be strong.
Right at the moment everyone busy with locking their trunks properly, so that the elves of Hogwarts could transport them to the train station, where they would then take them over again. It was a bit of a relief that they wouldn't have to carry these heavy things around all the time. However, while the students walked to the entrance hall, it was obvious everyone had their pets with them - owls and cats and even one or two toads - as clearly they wanted to keep them close by.
"Did you notice something about Percy?" Ginny asked while they gathered in entrance hall for the teaches to make sure everyone was accounted for.
"You mean apart from the fact that he finally managed to lighten up after how stiff he was at the start of the year?" Ron asked, being glad his older brother had become much less anal retentive..
"Oh, I did notice that he was being around that female fifth-year Ravenclaw Perfect quite a lot," Luna remarked innocently, though one could never know her real feelings about something.
Looking to where Percy was meeting with the other Perfects, they did notice him acting quite a bit diffrent with that girl; much more relaxed than normal. Although both of them tried to act casual, it was obvious there was something going on. They were still too young to really understand it, however.
"Let's better keep silent about that. Percy just got better, no need to endanger that by accidentally letting Fred and George get wind of it," Ron said, having no wish to see Percy go back to how he had been before.
"Yes, and his better dispsoition certainly improved on his duties," Hermione remarked, remembering too well how much of a killjoy Percy had been at the start of the term.
Harry meanwhile glanced to the Slytherin students. Dudley looked over to him and actually acknowledged him with a nod. Harry had to admit that while there had been no communication between them, Dudley certainly seemed to enjoy Hogwarts. Maybe in the future things could go to a more friendly basis? After all, Dudley's two female friends seemed nice enough.
Then he of course saw Malfoy and Parkinson. Malfoy had become quite angry over his repeated failures, while Parkison clearly was jealous at Hermione's much better marks. "Wonder what these two will do over the summer, with us out of their reach?"
"Possibly whine at their parents for stuff they want, like the spoiled brats they are," Ginny remarked. "Worst thing that can happen, is, that they become better at annoying us."
Finally, everyone was accounted for, and they made their way to the carriages.
However, they stopped in their tracks when reaching those. "Guys, you see that as well?" Harry asked, his hold on Hedwig's cage tightening at the sight.
"Yes..." Hermione said, gulping hard at the sight.
They had thought that the carriages were moving under their own power, like a modern automobile. However, what they saw now was a very different story. They saw that the carriages were actually drawn by animals. They looked like black, skeletal horses with big bat wings. These animals seemed peaceful enough, but their presence did create a question.
"Then... what are these?" Harry spelled it out.
"Oh, such misunderstood creatures." They turned to Luna, who seemed nonplussed by these creatures."These are Thestrals. Fascinating creatures. While they do eat meat, they are easy to domesticate and very loyal. It's a pity there is so much superstition surrounding them, since only those who have seen death can see them."
They tried to process this. They had seen Quirrell die right next to them. They had all witnessed it and understood what had happened... that he had died. Seeing the Thestrals was a sudden gut punch that they indeed had lost their innocence for real. They had seen death - something you could never unsee. It was a bit depressing once they understood this.
"Neville, you seem unsurprised by the sight," Ginny asked the boy when seeing that he didn't look surprised.
"It's because I already knew about them." Neville looked a bit uncomfortable. "I was there when my grandfather died some years ago, so I can see them. I didn't say anything because it would have been too weird. Sorry, I had no idea this would happen."
"That was something very personal. No one is blaming you for not mentioning it," Luna reassured Neville.
Not wanting to dwell on that, they entered the carriage.
For some moments there was oppressive silence, before Harry broke it. "It will be a bit strange, that we first are all off, doing our own thing."
"Being friends with each other is great, but remember we all agreed we first need time for ourselves and our families over the summer. But it's only until your birthday, Harry," Hermione repeated their reasoning for that decision. "Also, it's not like we can't write each other until then."
"Yes, that's true..." Harry knew Hedwig would love the exercise. "Well, I stay at home. I remember the Headmaster telling me the protection needs me to stay in Little Whinging for at least a month, now that I'm at school."
Hermione was next to tell about her plans. "Well, my parents plan for us to have a two-week trip to Spain in the middle of July. In their words: sun, beach and being lazy." She then noticed the looks she got. "Hey, I do know how to relax!"
"I plan to work on the greenhouse. My parents said they got some really nice plants and I can't wait to take care of them." It was no secret that Neville was acing Herbology, with Professor Sprout even speculating it was his talent.
"Well, certainly no vacation for us," Ron said, playing at the still strained family budget, though it had become better. "However, staying at home is already exciting enough."
"Oh yes. Recently the twins started doing weird stuff in their room. Over Easter, it even resulted in an explosion and Mum being cross with them. Gods know what they are doing in there," Ginny added.
That left Luna. "My parents want to take me on a tour of mystical sites in Sweden. It sounds very exciting and I will be away for most of July. I wonder what mysteries await us?"
Yes, it looked like they would enjoy the summer.
...at the evening, Malfoy Manor...
The day by now had turned into evening and Lucius Malfoy sat at the desk in his study in Malfoy Manor, looking out of the window at the sunset. However, he didn't see the sunset, as he was deep in thoughts - thoughts on how some things were not exactly going according to plan. He was not arrogant enough to think everything would always go as he was expecting, but the small problems nonetheless were annoying.
First there was of course the situation with the family.
Draco had come home today and he was a bit disappointed with his son. He had not expected an eleven-year old boy to right away get into a position of strength - he himself after all had needed several years at school to learn how to do so - but even then Draco's results of his first year were somewhat embarrassing. Oh, his marks were good, though he found it annoying that that mudblood girl was the smartest student of their year with perfect marks.
No, it was Draco's lacking success at being Slytherin that annoyed Lucius.
Draco had gotten into trouble no less than two times, first during the first flying lesson, and then with his claim that the gamekeeper had a baby dragon. The first had been simple hubris from his son, so he and Narcissa had felt it best to tell him so. The second incident however was more puzzling. He did have the feeling that Draco had said the truth, but the dragon was gone before that - in turn making Draco look like an idiot. Considering that Hogwarts was the center of Dumbledore's influence, he doubted he would ever find out what really happened.
Narcissa told me Draco is relying too much on my influence. Well, no matter. For now I have to make sure he won't again start about the Quidditch team - that should be easy enough to fix however.
He would give Draco more time to wise up, hoping that these failures would teach him to be smarter about it.
There also was the suspicious death of Quirinius Quirrell, the Defense teacher. According to the official release, the man had tried to steal a very valuable artifact of Hogwarts, but ran afoul of the security measures, which resulted in his death. The whole thing smelled of a cover-up, especially since a few not specified students were supposed to have watched his demise when he tried to leave with said artifact, but there was no chance to get any more precise information.
While that was highly suspicious, there of course were bigger fish to fry right now.
"Black..." he growled.
Sirius Black had been a thorn in their sides for years; they remembered his actions with the Black fortune too well. However, recently Black's actions felt even more sacrilegious to them. Black marrying a Muggle woman fit to his character, and felt very insulting to all upstanding pure-bloods. However, Black clearly was no idiot and managed very well to conceal his place of residence, as his place of residence was unknown to the Ministry.
Ironically, had Malfoy been more well-versed in the non-magical world, a simple look through the phone books of Surrey would have revealed the address of Sirius Black easily. However, Sirius was well aware that pure-bloods were ignorant of such things and thus knew they would never get an idea like that.
Even worse, by now he had managed to uncover after a long and hard search that Black was financing some kind of project that allowed mudblood children to get the same benefits as children of pure blood. Lucius felt insulted that Black was disrupting the natural order at Hogwarts with that, and knew Dumbledore had to be involved somehow. The very convoluted way this was done meant that getting the information still was a pain and he doubted there was a legal way to shut this down.
Who needs to do that once my influence is big enough? Then I can decide what's legal, he decided.
Already angry enough that Black was out of his reach for the time being, he turned to a more accessible target and looked in disgust at a stack of papers on his desk.
"Muggle Protection Act... an initiative by Arthur Weasley. Of course it's him," he snorted. "Weasleys... blood-traitors all of them."
In his conservative circles, the Weasleys were spoken of with great dislike. That family had even done the unthinkable and sent several of their children to a Muggle school! The society he was part of didn't tolerate such deviation from the norm. Arthur Weasley recently had went into the political game to try and get legislation approved, which would for example make Muggle-baiting a criminal act, instead of a mere misdemeanor. In Lucius' eyes it was ridiculous, but he saw the danger.
Weasley also was ramping up the search for forbidden items. He'd already been forced to sell off the more obvious things that could have embarrassed him if found in his house, while the truly nasty stuff was hidden in the special room. No, Wesley had to be taught a lesson and brought down, that much was for sure.
Malfoy thought about it and way how to harm Weasley's project. "Weasley is friends with Black, I was told... hmmm. Maybe I can kill several birds with one stone. If I can't hurt Black directly, then perhaps I should try the indirect approach."
The elder Malfoy then stood up and looked out of the window. "The Dark Lord told me to keep the book safe... but he is gone. He warned me of what would happen, should someone write in it... The Chamber of Secrets... Let's see how well Black's precious godson will fare once that happens..."
What Malfoy didn't notice was the house-elf sitting in the shadows. He had completely forgotten about dismissing him. Said elf's eyes widened the longer he was listening to what his Master was planning.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"Dobby the Loony"
Notes:
Here the notes.
Oh boy, I really derailed this one, but let's do things in order...
Of course you all knew Draco would run against a wall with his plan, but I really wanted to show how sure of himself he was until suddenly the rug was pulled from under him. I also tried to write it as realistic as I could, complete with Slughorn giving him a chance to back out.
Since Harry never got the detention - which was insane in canon anyway - I felt the reader still needed the information. Hagrid has a good reason to be in the forest and it also gave me the chance to chowcase Trelawney more before third year. I also hope I wrote the centaurs well (they are difficult to write).
Of course they still get confronted with Voldemort, but the circumstances are quite different from canon. Also remember Voldemort's little exchange with Snape. It will be important much later on.
The aftermath is a bit of an information dump. Note that Dumbledore already is on the correct path, though unlike in canon he does share his findings with others (here, Sirius, Remus and McGonagall). I also hope I did handle the consequences of that night realistically. Also more Moody - of course with a teacher dead they would send someone experienced.
No way I wanted a clear Gryffindor win. With three teams each having won two games, it would of course come to the point difference in the end.
Yes, they do see the Thestrals. Unlike in canon, where Harry fainted before Quirrel died, here they go a premium view of him biting it and they also understood what it meant.
And Lucius... you know what he is planning, but believe me there will be twist as well.
That closes the first year at Hogwarts and the second (well, the summer before it) will start with the next chapter.