Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

Title: Harry Potter and the Armor of Conquests (Working Title)

Posted Date: August 21 2022

Tags: Harry growing into his own, Sentient Armor Helper, Right of Conquest Magic Rule

Challenge: Good / Well-meaning / Slight manipulative Dumbledore, Sirius freed early, Hermione x Ron pairing

Possible Challenges: Canon Goblins, Draco becoming neutral party, Harry x Small Multi, Tom Junior becomes separate entity

Harry Potter was now regretting a few choices in his life as he ran as fast as he could under the invisibility cloak and away from Filch and his cat as they sought him out. When he got the invisibility cloak from the mysterious gifter that Christmas morning, the possibilities of walking about undetected were open to him, and with his desire to find out who Nicolas Flamel was, he thought that the Restricted Section of the library would hold the answers. He did not expect the first book he picked out to show an animated face screaming its lungs out from the pages and attracting the attention of the caretaker who seemed hellbent on catching any student for punishment.

What a mess!

Harry almost cursed loudly as he slipped on the hem of the cloak, forcing him to take a right instead of the left that he originally planned and moved on to several doors that have seen better days. With not much of an option, Harry started pushing at the doors in hopes that one of them would be unlocked, his attempts getting more frantic as the sounds of footsteps came closer. It was with a great sense of relief that the seventh door yielded to his actions, allowing him to get in and shut the door as quietly as he could and lock himself in. Harry moved to a space underneath the nearest table and stayed under his cloak, willing his heart to stop pounding as he listened to Filch coming closer to his area while testing the different doors along the way. He honestly felt his heart skip a beat as the door handle rattled from Filch's attempts to open it. After a few more attempts, he could hear Filch cursing before moving away. He kept silent for as long as he could while listening to the man moving away from the room, although he would swear that the cat had a good idea that he was hiding in the room if the sounds of the door being scratched was an indicator. Then again he could be imagining it. What felt like hours but instead minutes passed until Harry felt safe to let out a breath and crawled out from his hiding space. After sometime in the darkness, Harry figured he could use a little light and cast the illumination charm, wincing slightly from the glare.

"Where am I now?" The boy turned to see what appeared to be a classroom that had been converted into a makeshift storage room for whatever items there could ever be in the castle, but rather prominent in the middle of the room was the display of old armors. Unlike the other suits of armor he had seen about the castle, these suits were vastly different in design and were in dire need of a good polish along with maintenance. To Harry's unskilled eyes, there were portions of armor that had a fair amount of rust that tarnished the general appearance, and with the dust coating them, it was clear they had been in storage for a long while. Aunt Petunia would have a fit trying to clean that out.

"A bit late to be wandering around lad?"

"Who said that?!" Harry spun around with his wand lit to cast more light in the room, his heart that was calming down earlier now pumping harder from the suddenness. His eyes kept darting about the shadows as if the speaker would come out from there like those horror movies Dudley kept talking about.

"Over here lad!" Harry blinked and turned slowly to find a helmet on a small table near him, wondering if he was perhaps getting very tired from the escape.

"No, you are not dreaming, I am talking to you." The visor lifted slightly to let the voice with a Scottish accent out while a small ball of light appeared about the eyeholes. "Please do not scream."

To be honest, Harry really wanted to scream at that point, but managed to shut his mouth in time as he considered Filch skulking about outside to find him. Harry would rather take his chance with the talking helmet than with the scary caretaker.

"Who are you?" Harry took a moment to calm down before asking.

"Oh, so polite." The visor rattled lightly to show amusement. "What do you think, lads?"

"Aye!" Harry jumped at the collective voices in the room as a few of the other armors rattled their helmets or raised an arm.

"Shush! Please be quiet!" Harry begged the armors.

"Okay, we will be quiet." The first helmet replied. "But you better have a good reason for wandering about at night. Which reminds me, what year is this?"

"Erm, this is the year 1991. Currently it's Christmas." Harry answered. The sound of wind whistling came from the helmet.

"My word, has it been close to 600 years?" The helmet sounded amazed at his reply. "I did not think we had been in storage for so long. I was only stored for perhaps a third of that time." The other armors lightly rattled to give their replies.

"Erm, sorry?"

"No need for apologies, young lad." The helmet paused before continuing. "If I may ask, who are you?"

"My name is Harry Potter, sir." Harry answered while taking a seat in the nearby chair after dusting it off.

"Oh, a Potter. Haven't seen your family line for a while." The helmet rattled lightly. "You can call me Arnie." Harry blinked at that.

"Arnie the helmet?" Harry could not help the slightly amused tone in his question. Something that was clearly shared by the other armors as they rattled lightly in a manner that sounded like laughter.

"I know, not the most original name." If it had the torso and arms, it would likely have shrugged at the reception, maybe even rolled ghost eyes at that. "Anyway, why are you out and about this late at night?" That got Harry nervous again at that query.

"I was going to the library to try and find information on someone." The boy looked to his feet, finding the ground interesting.

"Could you not do that in the daytime, or have the rules changed over the years that they do not allow borrowing books out of the library?" Arnie asked.

"No." The boy shuffled his feet. "The person we are trying to find did not appear in any of the books open to us in the public section, so we were considering the idea that the person could be found in the restricted section."

"The fact you are thinking in that manner and your little night out tells me that this person is not quite for your assignment and you do not have permission. Does this mysterious person have a name?" Harry paused at that question and figured he could try his luck.

"Nicolas Flamel."

"The alchemist from France?" Arnie appeared to want to tilt the helmet but was unable to do so.

"You know him?" Harry asked hopefully. Perhaps this excursion was not a failure?

"Sure we know him, lad. He was the leading alchemist back in our days, and his work on alchemy potions was fast becoming known to others. Quite a pioneer ahead of his time, especially with that stone of his." Arnie answered.

"Stone?"

"Aye lad, I believe in the common tongue, they should be calling it the Philosopher's Stone." Arnie replied to Harry, who just had a thought about all that had happened over the past couple of months, all the way to when Hagrid went to a certain vault to grab a small package. He wondered if that was the one.

"What does that stone do, Mister Arnie?"

"Plenty. There were of course rumors of its powers, but the most common are the ability to heal most illnesses and injuries, create gold from many things, especially lead for some reason, oh! And perhaps the most desired ability of all." Arnie paused likely for effect. "The power of immortality."

"Seriously?" Harry could be forgiven for his wide eyes and gaping mouth at that answer.

"Oh yes, you can ask Louis over there about it, he was around in France when the alchemist came about." The armor in question waved a hand at Harry. The armor certainly looked 'French', though Harry was only looking at it based on the designs that looked similar to the history books he read before coming to Hogwarts.

"Indeed, young squire. Master Flamel was well heard of during his time. It was roughly a decade after he met his wife Lady Perenelle when news of the stone came about." The armor named Louis answered with a typical French accent Harry would think of from television. "There was a plague that descended on the country at that time and an illness unlike any had seen at that time ravaged the lands and destroyed the population. Flamel created the stone to save the love of his life when she caught it, but in the process, found immortality in a manner that was almost tragic." Harry listened on attentively, his imagination going wild at the words being spoken. "It was said that her heart stopped for a few minutes before she drew breath again. There were a few discontenders who had tried to claim that the devil had taken over her corpse despite the many tests that had been done to ensure she was saved from the plague. Soon after that, it became clear that she was aging a lot slower than regular witches. Flamel tested the stone thoroughly and took it himself. In so doing, both became immortals." Harry wanted to know more, but he got interrupted by Arnie who gave a cough.

"Now that you have the backstory, mind telling us the real reason you want to know about him? Don't bother lying, we are way older than you and have heard every lie there ever was over the years." Arnie remarked, making Harry wince at that. Still, he could at least tell them a little.

"Hmm, that is a situation and a half." Arnie spoke after Harry explained the situation as best as he could under the questioning. "This feels like you should be letting the adults that deal with law handle this."

"But this is happening under their noses." Harry tried to explain about that.

"Young one, why do you feel obligated to do this?" Another armor asked with a very deep baritone voice. "Why do you believe that you and your friends should be the ones to safeguard the stone instead of the adults, if it is actually the stone for that matter?" Harry looked down to his feet, his mind relieving some of his earlier childhood memories of adults not helping him with his issues with the Dursleys or them actually helping the Dursleys put him down.

"Young Potter." Arnie called out to him with a more gentle tone. "I am only guessing that the adults in your life had failed you in some manner. I won't tell you what to do, but would you be open to suggestions?" Harry looked a little uncertain at that but gave a small nod. "Now, I am not familiar with all that has gone by over the years, but I do think there are some who could help you with your problem, if not the adults in Hogwarts."

"Who?"

"Try expanding your range of friends first, odds are one of them has a relation who could help with your problem." Arnie answered. "It may have been many years, but given that Hogwarts is still around, odds are high that there are children with parents or guardians in the law enforcement. I will however add that you need true evidence to back up whatever claims you have." Harry bit his lip but nodded slowly at that.

"Now that we have that sorted out, I think you should be heading off to bed." Harry blinked before looking at his watch and paled at the time. He had been out for almost 4 hours! While he was glad that it was the weekend, this was pushing the timing, and Filch was still outside.

He was going to get detention if he got caught.

"What am I going to do?" Harry whined as he hugged his knees.

"Did not think that far huh, young lad?" Arnie paused before giving what may pass as a raspy sigh with the air going through the different holes in the helmet. "Okay, how about a freebie? But only once." Harry looked up at that. "Mind helping the lad out, Mondo?"

"And why should I?" Harry turned to find an armor that was darker in tone compared to the rest with red highlights around the edges of certain portions of the armor plating. Compared to the others, this one had a deeper and more cultured voice that carried tinges of derision that Harry only ever heard from Snape, which automatically put his hackles up against this suit.

"Come on, this is his first night out of bed. Let him at least get back to bed without getting into trouble. He has other chances to get into trouble if needed." Arnie just answered back flippantly. The darker armor gave off what may pass for an exasperated sigh which came off creepier than needed with the smoke that came out of the holes in the helmet and the glowing red eyes directed at Harry.

"Child, come closer." Harry forced himself to move close but not too close in case the armor decided to pull a fast one on him. "You are from Gryffindor, correct? It is still at the tower on the east wing and guarded by the portrait of the one you call the Fat Lady?"

"Yes, sir." Harry answered a little tensely. The armor merely lifted a gauntlet that had spikes about the wrist and did something with the fingers to make the wall nearest to them warped like it had become like wet clay, then molded to become a door.

"That should take you to the Gryffindor Common Room if the configuration has not changed too much in the past. You merely need to step through, but check carefully before closing the door as it will disappear to ensure secrecy." Mondo deemed that as the end of his actions and went silent with the light in the eye holes dimming to black.

"Sorry about Mondo, he is very grumpy at the best of times." Arnie remarked. "So ready to head back to bed?" Harry hesitated going to the door for a moment.

"Will I be able to see you again?"

"Oh, missing our company already?" Arnie chuckled. "Well you can return here to chat a little I suppose. Makes things less dull for us in the room for sure. But it will have to be in the day or a period before curfew, no more late night adventures unless it is truly important. And for the time being, please do not tell anyone else about us. Got it young man?" Harry nodded before he moved to the room's door first and put on his cloak. "Er, lad? Your door is that way."

"I just want to mark this door so that I can find you next time." Harry answered while listening carefully for anyone outside. After placing the cloak over himself, Harry slowly opened the door to peer through the gap, and then wider to poke his head out briefly. Seeing no one around and certainly no cat around had Harry make the gap wide enough for him to mark it with some white powder he found by the door, and for good measure marked the bottom part of the door. Once done, he closed the door and temporarily removed the cloak from his head, giving off the eerie impression of a head hovering in the air.

"Okay, done."

"Very well, hopefully we will see each other soon." Arnie cheerfully remarked. "Now off to bed with you, lad." Harry nodded and moved to the other door with the cloak covering him again and opened it to reveal the interior of the Gryffindor Common Room. The boy checked first before turning to say good night to them all and closed the door, watching it fade away to reveal the blank wall by the fireplace. Harry hesitantly placed a hand on it to see that it was truly a wall, before he went back up the stairs, locked his cloak into his trunk and effectively passed on the bed the moment his head laid on the bed.

Least he found out about the possible treasure at the end of the third corridor.

(Back in the room)

"Think we will see the lad again?" One of the armors asked out loud as the door disappeared.

"He is a Potter. They will always get into some form of trouble, this one is getting a head start apparently." Arnie commented much to the chuckles of the other suits.

"Have any of you noticed his size and behavior?" A somewhat somber mood descended on them. "Now, I am not sure about the current growth of children, but I do know a few Potters in my life, and they should be way taller than him at the same age."

"And his behavior is concerning." Louis commented. "It would appear that the boy has a bad hand dealt against him, and he is trying to find his place in life."

"We can only speculate so much based on our views, we won't know until the next possible visit. And that is if he visits again." Arnie answered.

"He will return." Mondo's dark voice answered. "The fates have their fingers on him, I could sense it." Arnie gave out a humming sound at that.

"If that is the case, then we shall plan ahead. For now, get back to hibernation." A series of armor shaking and grumbles answered before silence took over the room, with the only source of light coming from the helmet on the table as it thought of the young boy that visited them in a long while.

"This will be an interesting time, I wager. And perhaps it can knock the rust out of us all." With that proclamation, the light dimmed and left the room in darkness.