Chapter 19
"Wh-where-where am I?" asked Thomas trying to sit up on the bed where he currently lay.
"Good afternoon, Thomas." said Dumbledore. Thomas stared at him.
Then he remembered: "Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! He's got the Stone! Sir, quick -"
"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times." said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone."
"Then who does? Sir, I -"
"Thomas, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out." Thomas swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the hospital wing. He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets, and next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop. "Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore, beaming. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it."
"How long have I been in here?"
"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried."
"But sir, the Stone-"
"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I-"
"Take it from me?" asked Thomas cutting Dumbledore off. "I never had the stone in the first place, sir. Quirrell was asking me where it was, and then he opened his turban and Voldemort was there trying to ask me where the stone was. But I never had the stone!"
Dumbledore waited patiently for Thomas to finish before he spoke. "You always had the stone my dear boy. In fact, when I found you sprawled upon the ground you had pieces of the destroyed stone around you."
"Destroyed?" said Thomas blankly. "But your friend - Nicolas Flamel -"
"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You did do the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicolas and I have had a little chat, and agreed it's all for the best."
"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?"
"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die." Dumbledore lied smoothly, smiling at the look of amazement on Thomas's face. This was a lie of course, but Thomas didn't need to know. This needed to be humbling for him and he needed to grasp the concept of death properly. "To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." Thomas lay there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and smiled at the ceiling.
"Sir?" said Thomas. "How did I get the Stone from wherever it was?"
"Thomas?" asked Dumbledore cautiously, "how much do you remember?"
"Not much Professor," admitted Thomas uneasily. "I remember Quirrell tying me up and Voldemort asking me for the stone. Once he realised I didn't have it he told Quirrell to kill me. Quirrell was just about to grab my hand when suddenly everything went black."
"I feared as much," said Dumbledore sadly, but inside he was beaming. He didn't know what had actually happened, but he could now twist things for his own use. "Whilst Quirrell had restrained you, I'm sure you saw the ball that hung in the air?" asked Dumbledore and Thomas nodded, almost hesitantly. "That ball was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get the stone from inside the ball, otherwise they'd just be stood there until they got bored or died. My brain surprises even me sometimes..." lied Dumbledore again. The orb had been specifically designed so that only Thomas and himself could get the stone from inside it. Of course Thomas would want to use the stone, but something like this would convince the boy he had heart and would further cement him onto Dumbledore's side.
"If I got the stone from there then why did You-Know-Who not realise it?"
"Because I don't think you realised it yourself my boy. You were tied up and your focus was on Quirrell, as it should have been, that you didn't even know you had the stone with you. When Voldemort asked whether or not you knew how to get the stone, you truly had no idea how to do so and he recognized that. That why he asked Quirrell to dispose of you, but when Quirrell touched you he burned up."
"But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?"
"Your Grandmother saved you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your grandmother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good." Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the windowsill, which gave Thomas time to dry his eyes on the sheet. Whether or not this was the truth did not matter- Thomas would be the instrument he would use to get Voldemort into position where he could finish him off himself.
When he had found his voice again, Thomas said, "Sir, I've been wondering…" began Thomas apprehensively, continuing when Dumbledore did not protest, "why did Quirrell or You-Know-Who want the stone?"
"This all started that one night many years ago when Voldemort attacked your home, my dear boy. When the curse reflected off your cheek here," Dumbledore paused to let Thomas touch his cheek softly, directly on the V-shaped scar, "the curse rebounded and hit him. He was forced into a ghostly life and the stone was the only way he could properly get his body back." Dumbledore stood up from the seat of Thomas's bed and walked to the door. "I'll leave you now, as undoubtedly your friends are anxious to see you." He opened the door of the hospital to allow Weasley and Granger to come charging in. "And one more thing," added Dumbledore just as he was about to leave. The 3 students turned away from each other to look at him. "Your Defense Against the Dark Arts exams have been cancelled. Think of it as a treat for helping stop the return of a Dark Lord." said Dumbledore dramatically and walked out of the room.
"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully at the end-of-year feast. Harry and his friends sat happily at the first year end of the long table; they'd had a very successful year. Apart from the little hiccup of a Dark Lord nearly returning but Harry had sorted that out. Nothing to worry about.
"And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts...
Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with 274 points; in third, Hufflepuff, with 375; Ravenclaw has 453 and Slytherin, 479."
A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Harry smiled and laughed- it felt good to win the house cup and on their first year as well.
"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account." The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little. "Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes...yes..."
"Firstly, to Ronald Weasley, for the most brilliant game of chess Hogwarts has ever seen," began Dumbledore. "I award Gryffindor 50 points." The Gryffindor table erupted into wild cheers, more unruly than a pig eating.
"Chess! That twat's getting points for effing chess!" scoffed Harry. He'd been there when Weasley has so called played the 'most brilliant game of chess' and it wasn't anything special. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Secondly, to Hermione Granger, for being calm and collected and using cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor another 50 points." The table of the lions erupted once more, more violently than Mount Vesuvius whilst the Slytherin wore disgust on their faces, and rightly so.
"Now, now, settle down. To Thomas Potter, for a show of incredible bravery and outstanding nerve, I award Gryffindor house 100 points." The Gryffindors erupted again, their cheers louder yet again but this time they quieted far quicker- they only needed 5 points to match Slytherin. The Slytherins' smiles had faded completely and all of them could tell Dumbledore was going to give Gryffindor the house cup, and none of them were angrier than Harry.
"Incredible bravery and outstanding nerve?" Harry shook his head. He could not believe the blatant favoritism that was coming from Dumbledore. "The only thing incredible about my brother is the fact that his neck can support his big head." Harry slumped down defeated, knowing Thomas had only gotten the points for supposedly 'defeating' Quirrell.
"Finally, it takes a great deal of strength to stand up to our enemies, but a far greater deal of strength to stand up to our friends," said Dumbledore slowly, and all 4 house tables quietened down and leaned in to listen to the old headmaster, "and for this, I award Dean Thomas of Gryffindor house 10 points." The cheering was so loud that it temporarily deafened everyone not sitting at the Gryffindor table. All the Gryffindors stood up to stand and cheer and Dean Thomas was suddenly engulfed by a massive group of students wearing red and gold whilst the so called golden trio joined in on the celebration. The Slytherins were up on their feet complaining hard, but Dumbledore could not care less.
"And... they've won," said Draco dryly. "It was a good run while it lasted."
"Which means," began Dumbledore over Gryffindor's celebration, "that we will require a change in-"
"Just a moment Headmaster," said Snape standing up from his seat at the staff table.
"Now, now Severus," said Dumbledore hesitantly trying to stop Snape "just wait a mom-"
"I too have some last minute points to give out," continued Snape not caring a damn over everyone and the hall quietened down almost instantly. The Gryffindors smiles turned upside down whilst the Slytherins all leaned in closely. "For their fantastic spellwork in their end-of-year exams, I award Hadrian Potter, Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass 5 points each. I also award 10 points to Slytherin house as a whole for not making me have an aneurysm this year."
"Bu-but Severus," protested Dumbledore weakly.
"If there isn't anything else then I do believe Slytherin has won again for what may be the 8th time in a row Headmaster."
"Uh...yes." Dumbledore turned to the students. "It looks like Slytherin has won the House Cup, again." he finally said without a lot of emotion as the Slytherins began cheering and crowding around the 3 first-years that had won them the House Cup. He could have continued to give Gryffindor points, but Severus would have done the same with Slytherin, and unlike him, Severus did not care if he looked biased. He was and the whole school already knew it.
"Oh look," said Harry pointing out the stack of letters that lay at the tables where the first years sat in the common room.
"Must be our class rankings," said Daphne. "Professor Snape told us we'd be getting them today."
Harry found his letter from the pile and handed each of his friends theirs as well. He opened the letter up and skipped the introduction and went straight to the class rankings.
Transfiguration:
1. Hadrian Potter (Outstanding)
2. Rigel Black
3. Hermione Granger
...
Charms:
1. Hadrian Potter (Outstanding)
2. Tracey Davis
3. Rigel Black
...
Potions:
1. Daphne Greengrass
2. Draco Malfoy
3. Hadrian Potter (Outstanding)
...
History of Magic (Acceptable):
1. Terry Boot
2. Hermione Granger
3. Draco Malfoy
...
Defense Against the Dark Arts:
1. Hadrian Potter (Outstanding)
2. Rigel Black
3. Draco Malfoy
...
Astronomy (Exceeds Expectations):
1. Daphne Greengrass
2. Lisa Swan
3. Michael Corner
...
Herbology (Exceeds Expectations):
1. Neville Longbottom
2. Tracey Davis
3. Hermione Granger
...
Overall Year Rankings:
1. Hadrian Potter
2. Rigel Black
3. Hermione Granger
...
"So?" asked Daphne looking up from her letter. "Can I see yours?" she asked. Harry handed his one over and she did the same, and both of them looked through each other's grades. "How the hell did you manage to scrape an Acceptable in History of Magic when we were playing games at the back of the class each lesson? I ended up with a Poor." complained Daphne.
"I may or may not have bought some notes off a Ravenclaw." said Harry casually.
A few hours later, Lily came up to Harry in a corridor as he and his friends were exploring the castle a bit.
She said, "Um, Harry, could I talk to you for a moment?"
Harry glanced at his friends, then shrugged, "Sure, talk and walk Professor."
Lily cringed at the use of her formal title but kept pace with the group first years as they made their way around the castle.
She started, "So we will meet on the entrance of station then we can head back home?"
Harry "why would I meet you at the station?"
"What do you mean why? we are family, we will be heading to Potter Mansion where you can spend the rest of your holidays. Holidays are a time for family." Lily said.
"No, I am not coming to your home. I have plans and my grandparents have decided to meet me and have a nice vacation. So, no thank you; I am happy away from you people, so please stay away from me. You are not my family, my family are my guardians and my friends. I don't even know who you are." Harry said, and before Lily could speak he turned and went on with his friends
Lily had tears in her eyes as they came to a stop.
Lily looked around and realized that she was at her office. After thinking for a moment, she turned and walked towards the Headmaster's office. When she got there, she saw James sitting with the Headmaster.
She said, sadly, "He said no. He said he's going with his grandparents, and he told me he is happy to stay away from us and told us to stay away from him."
James said, "What did he say when you said the holidays are a time for family?"
Lily let her tears flow, "He said that his only family are his grandparents and his friends."
James said, "we can meet father in the station when he comes to pick him up, and we could also ask Sirius seeing how close he is with Rigel, but Sirius won't talk to us, even Remus only comes to meet us during Thomas's birthday, and even then they only talk to Thomas. We should try to reconcile with them."
Lilly nodded sadly as she too missed her friend Marlene who had not been so good to her since Harry was sent away.
"What do you want Thomas?" asked Harry rubbing his eyes outside the compartment his friends were in. He'd just been woken up from a nice nap by his asshat of a brother who was, as always, accompanied by his pet monkeys.
"How did you do it?" Thomas asked.
"Do what?"
"You know, how did you get Snivelly to give you points for no reason? That cup should have been ours!"
"Are you really that thick?" asked Harry fingering his wand. "Did you not see the blatant favoritism coming from Dumbledore or did you choose to ignore it because you have a thing for old men with beards?"
"Just answer the question, you slimy snake!" spat Weasley, his drool nearly flying into Harry's face.
"Just because you're too thick to understand Weasley," began Harry slowly as if he was speaking to a monkey, "I'll explain it slowly for you. We got the points because we're good at magic. You only got the points because your precious headmaster has a weird obsession with my brother. If I were you, I'd have called CPS by now."
"How do you know what that is?" asked Hermione snobbishly. "You've lived in the wizarding world all your life." she stated as if that gave enough explanation.
"Well, just because I've grown up with magic doesn't mean I don't know about the muggle world." retorted Harry. "Now if you asshats are done bothering me, I'd like to go back to sleep." Harry turned away from them but was grabbed by Weasley.
"We still have business with you," said Weasley drawing his wand. His brother and Granger drew theirs as well, which was impressive as they managed not to drop them whilst doing so.
"You obviously cheated on the tests as well," added Hermione, "because there's no way you could have beaten me!"
"Have you considered the fact that..." Harry slowly drew his wand, taking care to keep it out of Weasley's sight considering the red-headed idiot had a wand to Harry's face. "...I'm just smarter?" asked Harry suddenly dropping to the floor. Weasley's wand shot out a jet of red light accidentally, though Harry didn't hear the spell he shouted. Harry kicked Weasley in the legs making him fall to the ground with a thump whilst a jet of sickly green light shot from Thomas's wand. Recognizing it as the slug spell, Harry batted it away back to Thomas who managed to dodge.
"Stay still will you," grunted Hermione trying to find an angle on Harry. Thomas was in her way, and she had been itching to try this weird spell she'd found in the library.
Harry threw a stunner at Thomas throwing him gently against the carriage fall and knocking him out through the spell. "Just you and me." said Harry panting slightly. He looked at Hermione who threw a purple spell at him which he redirected back towards her. She wasn't able to dodge, and the spell hit her right in the face. She clutched her stomach and her cheeks bulged before several boils sprouted on her face. Meanwhile, Harry darted up to her and kicked her. Right between the legs. Hermione toppled over, passed out. "Works on both genders." he said, his breathing a bit more labored.
He dragged all 3 unconscious bodies and dumped them right where a lot of students walked, making sure to step on them in the process. After all, they'd be feeling a lot more of that through the train journey. He headed back to his compartment, ready to take a nice long 7 hour nap.
"Hey guys, wake up." Draco shook Harry and Daphne hard making them wake up forcefully "The train's stopping." he said grabbing his trunk off the shelves.
"Draco, if you do that again I will kick you between the legs." snarled Daphne. She forcefully untangled her bunched up hair and rubbed her eyes to get the tiredness out of them.
"And I will help her." said Harry grabbing his trunk and shrinking it to the size of a matchbox. "We should get off now." he noted, seeing that the train had come to stop. Everyone followed him off the train having shrunk their trunks down as well. "Bye," said Harry spotting Sirius who saw him as well. "I'll invite you guys to the castle some time."
"Ready to go?" asked Sirius appearing at Harry's shoulder. He was dressed in a pinstriped suit unlike the robes that most wizards wore.
"Lord Black," greeted Draco formally and the others echoed him.
"None of that," said Sirius, "Lord Black makes me feel as old as Grandfather."
"But you are old." noted Harry cheekily.
"Oh yeah?" asked Sirius grinning, "Now which one of these two girls did you say was your girlfriend? And which one is yours Rigel?" He pointed to Tracey and Daphne who both blushed a little, their red cheeks similar to Harry's and Rigel's.
"I'm 11 'Padfoot' 'Dad'! I don't have a girlfriend!" shouted Harry and Rigel at the same time.
"Just teasing." Sirius Hugged them affectionately "Grab my hand, we're going to Black Manor." he said cutting off the teasing.
"Going so soon Sirius?" Harry's parents had snuck up on the unsuspecting group and behind them walked the 'golden trio.' Thomas was walking stiffly, Weasley had a slight limp and Granger knees were wobbly and her face was covered in boils.
"We should go," whispered Draco to Daphne, Tracey, "Harry wouldn't mind." he confirmed, and they snuck away.
"What happened to them?" whispered Sirius into Harry's ear ignoring James and Lily.
"I'll tell you later," said Harry. He turned around and saw that his friends had gone and turned back to Sirius. "Can you get us out of here?" he asked, and Sirius nodded.
"Hello?" asked Lily angrily, gesturing to herself and James. "We do exist you know!" It wasn't enough that Harry, Sirius and Remus had hated them for 10 years but now they were ignoring them as well.
"We know," admitted Sirius grabbing Harry's arm who in turn grabbed Rigel's. "But we don't care, so go fuck yourself. Thomas, meet you later." he said happily and apparated himself, Harry, and Rigel out of there.
"That was incredible," said Harry, still a little dizzy from the apparation. "Those 2 are twats."
"Damn right they are," said Sirius. "Now are you going to tell me what the deal was with your brother and his friends?" he asked, and Harry began explaining.
When Marlene came into the room to greet Harry, what she found was 3 people laughing ferociously. "I married a man-child." she noted drily.
Review please.