Harry Potter and the Shadowed Light

Chapter 9

Previously

Thinking about the stone, Harry had come to a conclusion. He couldn't let Quirrellmort get it. Letting Voldemort return now would be disastrous, as he would return insane like he had in Harry's fourth year, and Harry refused to allow that to happen. He would rather Tom be forced to wait, wandering as a spirit, than return as an insane Voldemort. However, Harry didn't really want Dumbledore to have the stone either; he didn't want to rescue it and go through all of the trials he had last time just to have the old coot destroy it. Instead, Harry had a better idea. He would take the stone and hide it away secretly. Then, after he had fixed Tom, which he would do, he could give it to him as a peace offering for delaying his return.

With that in mind, Harry started to plan; he couldn't have to old coot growing too suspicious of him, now.

Finding ways to ditch Ron was becoming tiresome for Harry as Christmas approached. The redhead just would not take the hint that Harry had no desire for his presence. His persistence would have been commendable, if not for the fact he was ultimately trying to befriend Harry in the hopes of stealing from him and killing him.

With the lack of students, Harry had taken to literally running everywhere he needed to go and checking around the corners. He would have just worn his invisibility cloak, but he didn't want people to become worried and therefore pay closer attention to him if they realised he hadn't been seen for hours on end. So, instead, he dodged and checked as if he was a criminal on the run.

Harry had taken to trying to ignore him after a few days as it seemed that whenever he left his common room, Ron would appear. If it wasn't for the fact that Harry had checked twice, he would have thought he had a tracker on him, alerting the redhead of his movements.

"Come on, mate, stop being so boring. All you seem to do is want to read books and hang out in the library," Ron whined as Harry continued to walk towards the library. He needed to check one final thing before he could go after the stone.

"Well, I am a Ravenclaw - and there's nothing wrong with the library," Harry said. He almost cringed as he mimicked Hermione and then internally cringed again as he remembered her broken body.

"The library, really?" Ron asked skeptically, before he developed a slightly odd look. "Why are you in there so much anyway? Are you researching something - a mystery?"

Harry considered what to say for a moment before he concluded that putting Ron on the case would help him in the end. Dumbledore would once again be sure of Harry's path and Ron would hopefully leave Harry alone.

"Well, I have this theory," Harry said, "that whatever was stolen from Gringotts is now in the school, I just don't know what. It's probably on the 3rd floor, I saw a three headed dog there."

Harry watched as Ron's eyes lit up with glee. "I can help you, Harry!" he practically shouted. "This can be our adventure."

Harry fought his eye roll and instead smiled. "Great, why don't you go look up animal books for me? That would really help," Harry lied, relieved when the redhead ran off with an air of triumph.

After that day, Ron became easier to distract; all Harry had to do was mention their so-called adventure and the redhead would run off and look up books on animals.

Eventually Christmas morning came and Harry woke up to find he had a larger pile of presents than he had been expecting. He had sent Hedwig off earlier in the week to deliver Neville, Hannah, and Susan's presents and he had decided to send everyone in his study group a box of candy from Honeydukes. For Neville, he had ordered a book on rare and exotic plants and gotten him the clipping from one of the more obscure ones; for Hannah, Harry had got some silver hair pins with butterflies on it; and for, Susan, he bought gold hairpins with flowers.

Looking at his pile, Harry was surprised to see the familiar sight of a Weasley present. Picking it up, Harry felt a compulsion charm attempt to take hold before it was nullified by his rings. With a snarl, Harry barely kept himself from destroying the package. After taking a few moments to collect his feelings and strengthen his Occlumency shields, Harry finally opened the package. Inside, there was an obviously handmade green jumper and a box of homemade fudge. Flicking his wand, Harry ran through his repertoire of detection spells and saw that the fudge set them all off. With a scowl, he nullified them before banishing the box. There was also a note resting innocently on the jumper. Picking it up, Harry just about contained his snort.

Harry,

Ron mentioned that you were spending Christmas at Hogwarts, so I thought I would send you something to help keep your spirits up.

I can't tell you how happy it makes me that Ron's finally found himself such a wonderful friend.

Happy Christmas dear,

Mrs. Weasley

Harry was impressed with the note; had he not known their motives, he would have felt truly guilty. Instead, he was offended by the not-so subtle manipulations.

Discarding the present, Harry looked with interest at the rest. There were no presents from Hagrid or Dumbledore this year, or even a card with 50p from the Dursley's. Picking up a package wrapped in silver, Harry opened it and found that inside was a pair of soft black leather gloves with HJP embroidered in the corner of the wrist. The gloves were very nice and Harry picked up the card inside to see who they were from. Reading the note, Harry was surprised to see they were from Terry, making him feel slightly bad about his lacklustre present to the boy. Moving on, Harry opened his present from Neville and saw the boy had given Harry a kit to start his own small herb garden, and had written his own instructions on what to do to get successful results. Next, Harry opened a present from Susan and saw she had gotten him a book on mind magic, he had not heard of; flicking through it briefly, he saw that it was an old publishing and Harry concluded it was probably no longer in print. Opening his gift from Hannah, Harry saw that she had bought him a beautifully illustrated copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.Opening it, Harry saw she had placed a note inside.

Happy Yule, Harry!

I know it's a children's book, but I thought you would enjoy reading some of the stories, especially as you didn't grow up in our world!

See you after the holidays!

X, Hannah

After putting away his gifts, Harry picked his clothing for the day, trying to decide if he wanted to endure the itchy jumper from Mrs. Weasley. Eventually, Harry chose to go without as he really didn't care.

Walking downstairs for breakfast, Harry was quick to take a seat close to the teachers and hoped that somebody would sit next to him before Ron appeared. To Harry's surprise, Snape took the seat, sitting down and ignoring everybody's presence as he poured himself coffee.

"Happy Yule, sir," Harry said, pouring his own coffee. He hadn't really drunk the beverage since returning to his preteen body, but Harry had plans for a long night and thought it would probably help.

Severus inclined his head as he drank. "Indeed, Mr. Potter, happy Yule."

Silence fell then as they started to eat, Harry glad that he was free from Ron's presence as the redhead appeared, looking mutinous between Fred and George. Snorting softly, Harry watched as they forced him to sit down away from Harry, smirking when he saw Ron's scowl.

Severus watched at the dark haired boy snorted and smirked. "Why, Mr. Potter, one would think you don't want to spend your Yule with the youngest Mr. Weasley," he said quietly

Harry, not feeling the need to hide, shrugged subtly, knowing Snape would pick up on it. "I don't," he said.

Severus smirked lightly at the curt reply. "Oh, and here I thought you two had become the best of friends," he drawled.

"Please," Harry said dismissively, "I would never befriend such an idiotic bigot."

"Indeed," Severus commented. "Yet you have spent the holiday with him."

"I could hardly avoid him, I would think he was stalking me with how he keeps popping up," Harry said in quiet exasperation.

Severus hid is humour at the put-out tone of the eleven year old. "He has certainly been persistent," he acknowledged.

"Tell me about it," Harry grumbled.

After having managed to avoid Ron for the entire day, excluding meals, Harry was finally ready to enact the first part of his plan. Putting his cloak on, Harry wandered the halls, eventually coming to the room he knew the Mirror of Erised was being kept. Entering, Harry knew that Dumbledore was watching, hidden in the shadows; keeping that in mind, Harry looked up to the mirror.

Harry remembered how the mirror had shown him his parents for the first time. Yet, now when Harry looked, he saw himself aged around 20 in the arms of a slightly older man who he recognised from his meeting with Tom Riddle. He was tall, with dark brown hair shorter than Harry's, and styled. This was the man Tom could have been and Harry vowed that he would try to make that happen. Around the pair stood Sirius, Neville, and Harry's other friends. They all looked happy.

Knowing he was being watched, Harry removed his cloak and sat down, repeating his actions from his former life. "Mom... Dad...?" he said longingly.

This time when Dumbledore appeared, Harry wasn't shocked.

"Do you know what this mirror shows us harry?" he asked.

Making sure to jump, Harry turned to look at the scheming old man. "I'm sorry sir, I didn't see you there," Harry stuttered out.

"It's okay, my dear boy. Many a man are drawn to the mirror," Dumbledore said sagely.

"I don't know, sir," Harry said, in reply to his earlier question.

"Really, you have no idea?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, I guess it shows what we want?" Harry replied, making sure to sound uncertain.

"Take a closer look, Harry," Dumbledore prompted.

Walking to the mirror, Harry pretended to observe it before 'finding' the inscription. "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," Harry mumbled before pretending to figure it out. "I show not your face, but your heart's desire!" he exclaimed happily.

"Very good, Harry," Dumbledore said, his tone just shying away from patronising but still setting Harry's teeth on edge.

"So, I see my parents because they're what I want most?" Harry asked.

"Yes, my dear boy," Albus said, happy that his plans for the boy where falling into place even with the boy in Ravenclaw. He would still get his hero.

"What do you see, professor?" Harry asked.

"Why, I see myself with a warm pair of socks," Albus lied.

"Do you think I could come back here, professor? It's just... I've never seen my parents before," Harry made sure to mumble shyly.

"Oh, my dear boy, you must not despair. You will see your parents again someday," Dumbledore said, making Harry think about how Dumbledore was actively planning on reuniting them sooner rather than later.

"You must remember though, Harry, the images the mirror shows are not real. It does not do well to dwell on them," he warned.

"Okay, professor," Harry said, conveying disappointment.

After that night, Harry had been busy preparing what was needed for him to work his plan. Ron had finally taken the hint and, although he would still come up to Harry to ask about their adventure, Harry was quick to tell him he hadn't found anything new. This left Harry with enough free time to finish his preparations.

Harry pulled out a plain crystal he had ordered alongside his Christmas presents and placed it in the centre of a circle of runes he had spent an hour drawing. The ritual he was using was an old one used by conmen and thieves that had been banned by the ministry in the 1700's, yet it suited Harry's purpose perfectly.

Centring his magic, Harry started the chant he had been researching all week, making sure his pronunciation was as perfect as any mistake could have drastic effects. Once the ritual took hold, Harry watched in fascination as the crystal shimmered and took on the physical properties of the philosopher's stone. It wouldn't work as one, but it would fool anybody up until the moment they went to use it. It even had the same magical signature and presence.

Feeling drained, Harry quickly hid the evidence of his ritual and placed the stone in his trunk, warding it with the strongest protections he could.

The next day, Harry was still slightly exhausted and barely kept from snarling at Ron, who was trailing after him like a puppy. There were only two days left until the other students returned and Harry wanted to get the stone before then.

"You sure you're alright, mate? You're looking kind of pale," the redhead commented.

Harry seeing his opening, he jumped at the chance. "Actually, I'm not feeling great, I think I'm just going to go back to bed," he said.

Ron looked disappointed. "Oh, yeah," he grumbled, "I suppose you should."

"Bye, then!" Harry said, practically racing away.

Having spent the rest of the day resting, Harry soon found himself mentally and magically restored. Putting on a pair of black trousers and a dark grey jumper, Harry gathered up his invisibility cloak and his imposter stone.

Putting the cloak on, Harry set his silencing and scent blocking charms before he made his way out of Ravenclaw tower and to the 3rd floor. Walking to the door, Harry once again observed the wards. Working carefully, Harry took his time manipulating them; he didn't want to break them as that would alert Dumbledore. Eventually, Harry found what he was looking for and managed to slip past them and into the room. Upon hearing the door open, all three of Fluffy's massive heads turned and let out growls. Lifting his wand, Harry flicked it and listened as a soft tune started to play. After a few minutes, the dog fell asleep, leaving Harry free to start his mission.

Dropping into the pit of Devil's Snare, Harry kept his body loose and dropped through to the next level. Next, he came to the keys; reaching out, Harry tried a simple accio and watched as the key sailed through the air to him. Smirking, Harry unlocked the door before the other keys could embed themselves in him.

Next, Harry approached the chess set and tried to move around without playing. However, it seemed like McGonagall actually anticipated this and Harry found his movements blocked. Sighing, Harry had to play his way across. Although not a chess master, Harry could actually hold his own in a game after years of watching Ron play. Harry managed to win the game without having to nobly sacrifice himself like the redhead had in his last life.

Coming to the next room, Harry was hit with a foul odour. Knowing he couldn't kill or really harm the troll, Harry instead sent an overpowered sleeping charm, knowing that, with it's magical resistance, it should make the troll sleep for the next few hours.

Snape's task, Harry noted this time, was actually very clever and Harry wondered if the hat had considered Ravenclaw for the resident potions master. Picking up the solution that would allow him to pass through the flames, Harry entered the chamber.

Approaching the mirror, Harry reached out and observed the carefully erected wards surrounding it. Stopping to find a way in, Harry eventually slipped passed without alerting them. The next part of his plan would be the hardest; Dumbledore's enchantments on the mirror where both subtle and in depth. Standing in front of the mirror, Harry thought about how he wanted the stone and didn't want to use it. Which was technically true - he didn't want to use the stone. Feeling the weight of it in his pocket, Harry took out his imposter stone and carefully manipulated the enchantments on the mirror. This was the hard part. After what seemed like hours, Harry's imposter stone finally disappeared, accepted by the enchantments. Going back over them, Harry spent time modifying the charms to perfectly mirror how he had found them. Eventually, Harry's task was done and he stood, exhausted.

"I see you are not wasting your new life being idle," a deep voice said, startling Harry, who span, wand raised and ready to curse whoever had caught him.

Seeing exactly who, or rather what, had snuck up on him, Harry let out a breath. "Death," he greeted.

"Master," Death said, His grave voice seeming to fill the room without being loud.

Harry stood and wondered why the powerful being was here; he knew he hadn't summoned Him.

"I am here as I said I would be. I did say I would check in from time to time," Death said, making Harry wonder if the being could hear his thoughts even through his rings and Occlumency shields.

"Oh," Harry said, before he thought of a question to ask. "Do you know of any way I can return Tom's sanity to him?" he asked. He had yet to find a solution.

Death was silent, making Harry want to squirm as being in His presence was always overwhelming.

"The magic he used to gain his immortality—" Death managed to put an astonishing level of disdain behind the word, "—is a magic I abhor. It splits the caster's very self, not just their soul, but their mind, magic, and emotion. To fix him, you must find a way to reconnect the pieces he cast off."

Harry withheld his sigh - he already knew that. "Yes, but do you know how to do that specifically?" he asked, barely stopping himself from sounding like he was whining.

"I do," Death said. The silent 'but' easily heard.

"Yet...?" Harry asked.

"I think that it would be best for you to work for the results," Death said, making Harry want to cry with frustration. He was magically exhausted and Death was taunting him. "I am not fond of those who use such magics. I think that your soulmate can suffer however long it takes you to find the solution."

"But there is a solution," Harry wanted verified.

"Yes," Death confirmed.

"Fine then, I will find it," Harry vowed. He didn't blame Death for His decision, he just wasn't pleased.

"I have no doubt, master," Death said.

"What about the stone?" Harry asked, thinking about Death's words about those who sought immortality.

Death seemed to come closer without really moving. "Ah, the famed Philosopher's Stone, you really have been quite busy, master. That stone I actually do like; Nicholas did spend such a long time working on it," Death answered.

"So, you wouldn't be angry if I used it one day? Or gave it to Tom?" Harry asked.

"No," Death said. "I doubt you would wish to stay my master if your soulmate passed, and I would prefer him to use the stone over his other solution."

Harry smiled in relief. "Thank you."

"I have done nothing," Death said. "I shall go now; I have seen you are not in need of me. Remember, you can call if need, but know I shall not always answer." Like before, He disappeared into the shadows once again.

Harry stood for a moment before crashing; he really was exhausted and the conversation hadn't helped. Barely able to stay awake, Harry just about managed to make his way back to Ravenclaw tower. Getting to his trunk, Harry pulled out the stone and observed it. For such a small item, it really had caused a lot of bother. Unlocking his trunk, Harry placed it in the most protected part and added numerous charms and even a few dark hexes to keep people out. At this point, Harry was barely awake, his magical energy was distinctly low and he struggled to undress before falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The next day, Harry didn't wake up until well into the afternoon. Stretching, Harry felt refreshed; he was surprised at how drained he had been, but considering he never had need to do so much magic at once, he summarised that he shouldn't have been so shocked. Magic was like a muscle: it needed to be used and stretched. Yes, his magical core was large, but as he never had need to use much of it, especially as an eleven year old, it shouldn't surprise him that completing two such powerful rituals in just over 24 hours left him drained.

Thinking about that, Harry considered ways of training up his magical stamina; it would be hard to do it undetected, but he thought the benefits would be worth it. He had gained control over his new power levels, no longer having bursts of magic when he was angry, but he had yet to really explore them. Harry had kept his power masked pretty much constantly; stretching it would probably do his a world of good.

Making sure not to act suspicious when he finally went down to lunch, Harry made sure to casually look around and observed the staff. He didn't notice anything off and concluded that his plan had worked. He had gotten away with taking the stone.

Thinking back on his conversation with Death, Harry almost wondered if he had imagined it in his sleep deprived state, before he flicked the thought away.

AN: Big thank you to my Beta reader miisticalwrites for taking the time to check this for me!

Remember people that reviews are always appreciated but I won't hold the story to ransom for them.

Updates should come every few days and like usual this is being posed on Ao3 under the same name.

Hope you enjoy reading

~ Annie