AN: Here's the last chapter of first year. I hope it agrees with you all, and brings a nice little bit of closure to Harry's first set of 'adventures' at Hogwarts. I have some things planned for the summer that I hope you will enjoy and this is, well, all for now! Oh, some people have been asking about Harry and Transfiguration. Yes, it is Harry's worst subject but, no, he is not bad at it. Transfiguration is the most illogical branch of magic to Harry, but it is also very useful and a subject he has put a lot of effort into, making him look rather skilled at it.

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 19 – End of the Year

Loki handed Harry his flute, the one that Hagrid had given him for Christmas, and he was already playing it as he pushed the door open with his foot. The Cerberus inside the room started to droop its heads as soon as Harry began playing, even if he wasn't particularly good at it due to only having started to learn about a half year ago.

Harry's eyes flickered to a harp that was set up near the wall. That was probably Quirrelmort's doing, charming it to play by itself or something like that. It didn't matter right then, they needed to catch up to the Gryffindors that had gone after what they believed to be Snape trying to steal the Stone.

Isis and Loki dragged Fluffy off of the trapdoor, the former complaining about the dog's bad breath being multiplied by three while Loki laughed at her. It didn't take long for the two of them to move the three-headed dog and lift up the trapdoor and take a look inside.

It was dark, very dark, and they couldn't really see the bottom clearly. They decided to activate their flight spells and descend slowly. Harry had his many black-winged flight spell that Reinforce had taught him. Loki had his two wings that retained from his raven form, and Isis had a pair of white wings on her waist, knees and ankles.

The three of them jumped, one after the other, and Harry stopped playing the flute when they'd gone down a little way and were out of Fluffy's reach. Harry spoke up. "Alright, you two, we've only got a short time to do this in. There was a ward over the trapdoor that the ones who went before us set off. I blasted it with a Bind Break, which somehow managed to destroy it, so no one knows who is on the way, but they might now the ward was destroyed. We get in, we make sure the Gryffindors aren't in immediate danger, we teleport out. Do you hear and understand me? I do not want us to be discovered here."

"Understood." Loki acknowledged him.

"I hear you." Isis recognised the command as well. "Let's go."

A 'Lumos' charm showed a plant below them. As with most plants, it retreated away from fire. Harry didn't bother getting a closer look and trying to identify it once they were past it, it wasn't important. He ran along a corridor with Isis and Loki at his sides, his senses straining to discover what lay ahead.

"Keys?" He asked, once the three of them had arrived. Harry hurried across the room and tried to open the door. "Damn, the door is charmed damn near unbreakable, and I don't want to use heavy ordinance indoors, who knows what could happen. We need a specific key, take a look and see if anything looks appropriate."

"I see it." Isis said after a while. "Up there, it looks rather crumpled. It matches the lock as well, so it's probably the right one." Harry looked up at it.

"Chain Bind." He called out, entangling the key, and several others, with magical chains that he began to pull towards himself. Unfortunately, the keys decided that he was now a very good target and tried to target him. Only Loki and Isis protecting him with Round Shields and shooting keys out of the air with either Shoot Barrett or Feather Shot, the latter being Loki's own creation.

Once Harry had the key struggling in his grasp, he dashed over to the door, shoved it in, turned it, and then threw the door open. The next room seemed to be a giant chess set, and over at the side Ronald Weasley looked to be knocked unconscious.

Harry went to rush over, to make sure the redhead wasn't too seriously injured, but he was almost impaled by a pawn that shoved a sword into his path. Harry looked around, saw how large the room was, and made a decision. "Let's hope this works." He muttered, before shouting at Loki and Isis to stand back.

"Diabolic Emission!" He called out. Now, Reinforce was a Device, specifically a Unison Device, and so she was capable of the computational abilities all devices were able to do. She was not, however, designed to be used as a common Storage Device, but in conjunction with one.

The spell worked though, the large area of effect spell destroyed all of the pieces, but Harry received a lancing pain through his head because he didn't have a Storage Device or the like to act as a crutch, especially since Diabolic Emission was an S- ranked spell.

By the time, Harry arrived at Ron Weasley's side, Isis was already there. "He's okay." She told him, before Harry had a chance to throw off any diagnostic charms. "He's unconscious and took a rather nasty blow to the head, but it's not fatal, but it will leave him one hell of a shiner and a massive headache when he does come around.

The next chamber contained a dead troll. The difference between this one and the one Harry had faced on Halloween, was that this one was a fair bit larger, and its club looked a lot more lethal. Well, that and the smell was many times worse, so bad that Harry's eyes watered and Loki didn't even smirk at Isis when she complained bout the stench.

They heard muttering from the next room, so all three of them went to 'stealth mode'. Harry disillusioned himself again, making sure that particular spell was as strong as he could make it. Loki damn near disappeared, he was that good with stealth spells, and he was learning to cast some more advanced illusion spells. Isis needed Harry to disillusion her, she was rather bad at stealth spells after all.

They were almost into the next room when they found their path blocked by a strangely coloured fire. All three of them could tell that there was magic in the fire, some strange magic at that, so the didn't want to touch it. Instead, Harry searched his Tome of Shadows for an ice or water spell of some sort.

He found one, a Mid-Childan spell, one that had come from a Mage with an Ice mana Conversion Affinity. It was an area of effect spell of rank C, so it shouldn't be too powerful or over the top. He looked at the spell formula and tried to memorise it as quickly as he could, before casting the spell.

"Frost Shot." Harry said, casting the modified shooting spell at the fire. It was sloppily done, but it fortunately worked. Harry felt the magic in the fire dim ever so slightly, so he poured more power into his next volley of Frost Shots, and another and another, until the fire was out.

This didn't go unnoticed by the occupants of the room though. Hermione, who was looking at something on a bit of Parchment didn't seem to know what to make of invisible people overcoming obviously magical fire, and she remained stunned as an invisible Loki conked her over the head with the hilt of one of his short swords. Isis got Finnegan with the butt of her lance.

Harry took a look at whatever it was that had kept Hermione's attention. "A riddle? Seriously? Potions... I wouldn't trust Snape not to have filled every bottle with a poison, or at least a paralytic or sleeping potion. Loki, make it look like Granger slipped and knocked herself out on the edge of the table, maybe make use of the ice."

"Yes, sir." Loki said, and began to do just that.

Harry began to use Frost Shot on the next fire, and when he'd managed it, he took Finnegan through where said fire had been, before Harry had erased it. He set the boy down once they were past the flames and part way down the corridor, carrying on with Isis and Loki at his shoulders.

The three of them were still in 'Stealth Mode', so when they entered the next room, Quirrelmort didn't seem to notice them. That suited the three just fine as they invisibly spread out around Quirrelmort and prepared to kill him in a three way blast of spells.

"Photon Lancer!/Shoot Barrett!/Feather Shot!" The three called out simultaneously.

Unfortunately, verbalising their spells gave Quirrelmort a little bit of warning. He used this warning to dive aside and erect the same shield he'd used in the Forbidden Forest. "Well, well, Potter. I guess I should have-" He was cut off as Harry launched a number of Bloody Daggers at him.

Quirrelmort conjured a stone wall which was destroyed by Harry's Bloody Daggers, but slowed down enough that he could get out of the way. Another magical shield stopped Loki's Feather Shots dead in the air, but Isis' Shoot Barrett managed to clip his side before he stopped that too.

Harry saw a silvery coloured liquid drip from Quirrelmort's side before it regenerated. "Unicorn blood!" He swore, remembering the great regenerative effects that substance had for those that drink it. Of course, Isis was incredibly infuriated by what he'd done and launched herself at Quirrelmort, swinging her lance down towards him.

Quirrelmort only just managed to dodge what would have been a fatal blow, even with unicorn blood inside of him, but she still took a chunk out of his shoulder before that also regenerated. Quirrelmort banished her backwards wandlessly, tying her up in ropes with another wandless spell, and 'Incarcerous' this time.

Harry went to assist Isis, but he had to dodge to the side to avoid a sickly yellow looking curse that Quirrelmort threw at him. "Interesting substance, unicorn blood." Quirrelmort said casually. "It weakens magic, so much so that the Unforgivables become impossible to cast, but it does grant the drinker the ability to forego a wand when casting spells."

Harry ignored him, and focused on how to bring him down. There were three ways to do so, as far as he could see. First, do enough damage that the unicorn blood simply can't keep up. Second, do an instantly lethal attack that will kill him before he can recover, a decapitation for example. Third, find a way to negate the regeneration of the unicorn blood.

The last one, Harry had no idea how to achieve. That left the first too. Harry would try and bind him first, but he needed to take Quirrelmort by surprise, give him no chance to break out of the bind, and then take care of him. Well, this sounded like something Loki would be good at, so why not make it a two pronged attack?

"Photon Lancer, Genocide Shift." Harry said. Now, because of the unison with Reinforce, he could bring forth many more orbs of magic than he could alone. Over a hundred orbs appeared, then they began to pelt Quirrelmort. Loki saw Harry keeping Quirrelmort occupied, received the mental message, and used the opportunity to free Isis.

Harry just kept bringing forth more and more spheres of magic. Quirrelmort kept recasting his shields again and again, neither of them yet at the point of wearying. Harry was not currently trying kill Quirrelmort though, merely distract him. He switched to swarm after swarm of Bloody Daggers, to make it not too obvious, while Loki and Isis acted behind Quirrelmort's back.

A growl was the first thing Quirrelmort knew of what was going on behind him. He conjured three walls of stone to step Potter's flying daggers for a moment, while he assessed the situation, and came face to face with a panther. He also saw that he had forgotten about the raven freak, a big mistake.

After freeing Isis, the two familiars had begun to transfigure everything around them into, what Harry would call, 'critters'. While not as good at Transfiguration as Harry, the both of them managed to turn chunks of debris into more than passable creatures, from big cats to dogs to other things.

They had managed to make almost eighty before one of them had growled and given the game away. As soon as that one gave it away, the pair of them cast 'Oppugno' at Quirrelmort, having all of the transfigured creations attack the possessed Professor. It was also at about this time that Harry's Bloody Daggers tore through the last wall between him and the possessed man.

Quirrelmort managed to get out two words... well, more like one and a half, and for some strange reason there was an odd quality to it, almost like a second, muffled voice was saying the same thing. Those words were:

"Oh, fu-"

And then he was promptly torn apart by a horde of transfigured 'critters', a swarm of Bloody Daggers, and a volley each of Shoot Barretts and Feather Shots. Suffice to say, there wasn't much left of him afterwards, and not even unicorn blood would be able to regenerate those extensive wounds.

Harry lit the body in fire with an 'Incendio' and, as it burned, he dragged the unconscious Seamus Finnegan into the room and laid him out next Quirrelmort. A few cuts, bruises and a bit of burn damage, and Wizards would believe that dear Seamus had fought and defeated the evil teacher.

"Time to go." Harry told his familiars, waited for them to get close to him and then said. "Dimensional Transfer."

xxxxx

The next day, Harry visited the three Gryffindors in the Hospital Wing. At breakfast that morning, Dumbledore had told the school population that three very brave students, he didn't say any names but everyone knew who he was talking about, had protected a protected item on the third floor from a thief that sought to steal it. Also, in completely unrelated news, Quirrel had decided to resign and there would be no more Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons that year.

Personally, Harry was just glad that he'd gotten Neville to keep quiet about his involvement of the whole thing.

Anyway, he was here visiting the three in the Hospital Wing. Seamus was being looked over for any signs of damage further than the superficial, Hermione was in as a 'just in case' apparently, and Ron Weasley was legitimately in there for injuries, having been quite severely injured by those damnable chess pieces.

"Why hello there, saviours of our dear school." Harry said, looking at the three of them. He frowned, noticing that the bruise balm on the table next to Weasley was empty. He went and replaced it with a fresh pot, Hermione glaring at him the entire time.

"What do you mean by 'saviours of our dear school'?" She asked him.

Harry pretended to be surprised. "What do I mean? You three are getting a little famous around the castle. Apparently, you three stopped a thief from taking what was on the third floor. How can you not know about that?"

Hermione looked embarrassed, but the two boys swelled with pride at the title 'saviour', even if it wasn't actually true. Harry gave them all a curious look, before focusing on Hermione. "So, what made you decide to go down the third floor in the first place?"

She looked a little guiltily at the floor, before raising her head to meet Harry's eyes. "Well, we managed to get it out of Hagrid that he did sort of tell that guy who gave him the dragon egg how to get past fluffy. After that, we tried to tell Professor Mcgonagall about the possibility of the Stone being stolen, but she didn't believe us."

Seamus took up the story next. "Then we asked to see Professor Dumbledore, but apparently he was out of the school until the next day. We kind of thought this was really suspicious. You see, Ron overheard Quirrel getting threatened by someone and agreeing to do something. We thought that Snape had finally found out about all of the protections on the stone."

"You almost got it exactly right, Harry." Hermione said. "There was a Devil's Snare missing from the greenhouses, Neville found that out. You were the one who got Hagrid to talk about music and the Cerberus, Flitwick animated keys, Mcgonagall used chess, there was a troll, and Professor Snape must have left the riddle and potions."

"I got taken out by the chess set, but at least I got these two safely through." Ronald Weasley beamed proudly about his achievement.

"Me and Hermione got to the potions challenge, but then things get a bit muddled. Hermione says that she remembers the fire freezing over and then something coming at her. Madam Pomfrey says she hit her head, and it was apparently on the table that held the potions. When I woke up, I was in this room with a mirror and a burned up body next to me. I felt a bit weak and I was covered in cuts and bruises. Madam Pomfrey said they were all pretty much superficial and that I was really lucky." Seamus shook his head.

"I see." Harry said. "That's incredibly suspicious. Did Madam Pomfrey check you over to see if you'd been obliviated? Had your memories wiped?" Harry rephrased the question at Hermione's confused look. "It's supposed to be a really easy spell, but also very easily abused too."

"I looked them over for everything, even mind wipes, thank you very much." Pomfrey said, walking towards them. "Now, I'm only going to let you stay in here because I've been putting up with you since Christmas and you know your way around. Don't make me regret that choice." She gave Harry a stern look.

"Thanks, Poppy." Harry said to the healer, knowing she was only putting a stern façade. "I replaced Weasley's bruise balm, the jar had ran out, so that's why there's one less in the cupboard." He told her, jerking his thumb at the tub on the table next to Ronald Weasley.

Pomfrey just walked off, muttering darkly under her breath about students that can't even be properly intimidated any more. Harry just grinned at he retreating back, before turning back to the three students on the beds. "So why didn't you ask me to come as well? Hermione at least knows where the common room is."

Ron and Seamus broke out into twin grins and began to chuckle under their breath while Hermione's cheeks turned a dark pink from embarrassment. "What? What is it?" Harry asked, completely in the dark about what was so funny.

"Hermione couldn't get into the common room, she couldn't work out the riddle." Seamus said, between sniggers. Harry just shook his head and placed one hand on Hermione's shoulder. She looked up at him with wide, doe-like innocent eyes that had the hint of tears sparkling at their corners.

"Don't worry about it, not everyone is as perfect as I am." Harry said with a grin.

"Prat." Hermione muttered as she walked him over the head, much to the amusement of Ron, Seamus, Loki and Isis.

"So what are you doing for the holidays?" Hermione asked, looking at Isis and Loki. "Those two can't exactly hide too easily in the muggle world, and don't you live with an aunt and uncle there?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I'll only be there a week, there are special wards up that need recharging every year. After that, I'll be out of contact until about a week or so before school begins. I'm going to set up a drop box at the Owl Office on Diagon Alley for any mail I might receive."

"Won't you need your guardians permission at least to travel? Is your aunt really going to just let you go off with people she's never met just because they're your familiars?" Hermione asked, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought about it.

Harry laughed and indicated the left side of his face. "My cousin did this, but it was obviously all my fault for provoking him. Dear little Dudders would never have done something like that on purpose, it was all the freak." Harry rolled his eyes. "She'd be glad to see the back of me. Anyway, her opinion doesn't actually matter, dear Petunia isn't my guardian after all."

"Where are you going to go?" Seamus asked, a little confused. "There are ways to send mail to other countries, I know there is."

Harry leaned in close and whispered to them. "That, my dear little Gryffindors, is a secret." He leaned back away from them and laughed at the annoyed expression on Hermione's face, Seamus' shaking head and Ron's snort.

"See you all later." Harry called over his shoulder as he left the Hospital Wing, being flanked by his two familiars.

xxxxx

"Hello, Headmaster." Harry said in a flat voice. "Now, as it is the end of the year, I really don't see the reason for us meeting like this. I can't be being punished, because I haven't done anything wrong, and even if I had, it is too late now to punish me for it. So, why am I here?"

"Ah, it is about your living arrangements over the summer." Dumbledore said. "I contacted your aunt, to explain your... friends there, but she said she'd already received a letter off of you."

"That is no concern of yours, headmaster, though I do... thank you, for trying to explain what could have otherwise been a sticky situation." Harry was dancing with his words here, because he wasn't at all sure how Dumbledore would have tried to explain Isis and Loki, or what sort of spin he might have put on it.

"Oh, that's no problem, my dear boy. No, what has me concerned is that your aunt said that you are only intending to stay for a single week before leaving. She didn't tell me where you intended to go, and apparently you didn't tell her yourself." Dumbledore's question was obvious.

"Where I stay during the holidays is outside your jurisdiction as headmaster, professor, though once again, I... thank you for the concern." Harry's purposeful pause at the thank you part again was a massive slap in the face there, politics may not be something Harry likes, but he can play the game a little bit.

"Why aren't you staying with your aunt, Harry, and what are we supposed to do about mail? I mean, how do you expect to get your supplies list for next year if we can't reach you?" The headmaster asked.

"I am only staying with Petunia Dursley and her family for a week because that will be enough time to recharge the wards there. She is not my aunt, no matter what ties of blood we may have with each other, and nor is her family or home my own, merely a place that I reside in on occasion." Harry said, but then he stopped.

Dumbledore's complexion paled and took on the colour of old and mouldy porridge. One of the odd silver devices in the room gave off a sound like metal being put under immense stress and then shattered into colourful pieces. Dumbledore stood up, rushed over to it and started muttering. "No, no, no,no, no!" Under his breath repeatedly.

"What just happened, Headmaster, and why do I think this is going to affect my living arrangements this summer?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore turned to him with a solemn expression on his face. "My dear boy, you don't know what you have done. When your mother sacrificed her life for you, I managed to forge it into some incredibly strong wards that would keep you safe. Like all wards though, there was a condition, you had to live with someone who shared your mother's blood. The protection was supposed to last until you turned seventeen and became an adult, but you vocally stating her home is not your own and renouncing familial ties to her has shattered that protection."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. "No offence, Headmaster, but I doubt the protection was as amazing as you are making it out to be." Not least because Lily Potter was still alive and any protection based on her death was fundamentally flawed. "But this does mean something for me. Now I no longer need to return to Privet Drive, there's simply no reason for me to go there. Instead, I will leave immediately for the holidays, rather than wait a week, and I will book a room at the Leaky Cauldron for the last week until September first. As for mail, I'm going to set up a drop box at the Owl Office before I leave, I will read all of my mail when I get back."

"I'm sorry, Harry, but you are too important to risk just running free. As your Magical Guardian, I will exercise my authority to have you behind the most secure wards that I am capable of erecting. For now though, you will have to stay at the castle, and-" Harry raised a hand and cut Dumbledore off.

"You are not my Magical Guardian." Harry said. "You have no such authority over me."

Dumbledore blinked. "Harry, when you came to Hogwarts, I became your Magical Guardian. As the headmaster, I become the Magical Guardian of all of the muggle-borns and orphans." Harry shook his head. "Harry, you are my responsibility! Sirius Black can't be your guardian because he is in Azkaban, and your Godmother is in the permanent ward at Saint Mungo's."

"Professor, you are not my Magical Guardian. I know you are not, because I know who my guardian is, and you are the wrong gender for one." Harry said. "Good day, Headmaster, I will see you at the feast and then I will probably see you on September first at the welcoming feast."

Harry walked out of the door, leaving a flabbergasted Dumbledore behind him. The headmaster looked at Fawkes and stroked his beard as he started to mutter to himself. "Who could be his Magical Guardian? Just who is it?"

xxxxx

"Hey, Harry." Beth said, when she, Septima, Harry, and the familiars were having their last group lunch of the academic year. "There's been some odd rumours going around about you over the last couple days. You know, if you three want somewhere to crash, you're welcome to stop by my place. I inherited a fairly big house, and it's a bit boring just having me around all the time. Septima's often there too, but that's usually it."

Harry shook his head, a smile on his face. "Nah, it's alright. I'm actually quite glad that I'm not going back to my aunt's place. I only intended to stay there a week anyway. No, me, Isis, Loki and Reinforce are going to be doing a bit of travelling. We'll be back about a week before September first, so we might come visit you if you want us to."

"Fine by me." Beth said, a frown creasing her brow. "Just as long as you know that option's open to you."

"I feel the same." Septima added. "If you ever need a hand with anything, let us know. Anyway, that aside, who is this Reinforce person you mentioned? I don't think I've heard you say that name before."

Harry pulled out his Tome of Shadows. "She's the one that made me this, and is also the provider of pretty much all of the interesting arrays and formulae that you've been drooling over for the past few months." He said.

"Oh, now I must meet her. Someone that... interesting isn't a person I want to pass by. If and when you do come and visit, be sure to bring her along with you, okay?" Septima asked, a hungry and rather scary gleam in her eyes.

Loki chuckled. "Reinforce is also the other person that Isis keeps mentioning when she is suggesting threesomes with Harry." The raven familiar was forced to duck as Harry threw a curse at him. That wasn't an issue for long though, as Isis engulfed Harry in a hug, trapping his wand arm between her breasts as she started whispering things in Harry's ear.

Due to the redness of his face, and the way he started shaking, they could all guess what sort of things Isis was whispering in Harry's ear. Loki, Beth, and Septima all fell about laughing at the 'poor' boy. The professors also wondered, not for the first time, what the hell happened to the 'purity' and 'innocence' of unicorns.

xxxxx

After the feast that night, during which Ravenclaw won the house cup by quite a wide margin, everyone packed up and got ready to go the next morning. Harry assisted in the tracking down of Trevor the toad, helped search the Ravenclaw common room for chess pieces, said goodbye to the teachers he was on good terms with, and bid a fond farewell to the castle itself.

Harry looked down at the little note he'd been given, stating that he was not to do magic outside of school because he was under-age, but he ignored it. One thing that Loki had discovered, with all of his listening charms and everything, was that the trace didn't work that way. They could detect where magic was cast and who was in the general area at the time, but they cannot tell who actually cast the spell. Because Harry was going to be off planet for the summer, there was no way they were going to be able to keep track of him.

The train ride back was fairly friendly. The only people who didn't really get along well with Harry were Draco Malfoy and his two lumps of muscle. Actually, get a lump of muscle by itself, and it's not so bad, but Malfoy was the driving force behind the aggression with them two.

When they were almost at King's Cross, Harry, Isis and Loki managed to get themselves sequestered in an otherwise empty compartment. Harry had his luggage with him, and he had his familiars with their belongings too. He looked at them, smiled, and said. "First stop, Diagon Alley. Dimensional Transfer!"

Look for the sequel: Reinforced Chamber