Thanks for the 0 people who messaged to help me on my personal statement, but here's round two. I'm starting back to school wednesday the 4th so uploads will be a bit longer again. Also a pretty big chapter in terms of plot importance, I hope after this chapter everyone can see why I allowed Harry to try and befriend Ron…

It had been a few weeks since Harry and Hermione had first kissed, they hadn't talked about it much as they both felt nervous talking about how it had felt, something had definitely changed within them. Harry and Hermione were dreaming about each other every single night, they never told each other, as they thought that the other might find it heaped more tension if the other didn't feel the same way.

Their magic seemed to be rapidly getting stronger and they seemed to be able to feel the magic around them. Whenever they worked together the other seemed to know exactly what spell the other was casting. They were torturingly close to each other half the time, yet neither wanted to be the one to initiate the kiss… on the very slim chance the other would be unhappy. Harry was beginning to break apart as there was nothing he wanted more than to be with Hermione again. The only thing keeping them sane was how Ron had been making large bounds in being able to get the Philosopher's Stone, he even recruited a Ravenclaws help in case they needed some logical help during the trials. Neville had heard him talking about putting the large three headed dog to sleep with music and was diligent to tell Harry and Hermione. Harry and Hermione were shocked to hear that a few of the 5th year Hufflepuffs had found out how to get past Fluffy and were telling the other houses so that they could even the playing field. They had no idea that Ron was building a team with some of their year in the other houses, apart from Slytherin.

They thought nothing of it, and as the weeks went by people kept talking about how to put Fluffy to sleep less and less. Eventually it reached a point where Harry and Hermione thought that everyone but themselves had forgotten about it.

They were both sharing a seat together reading in The Common Room when Neville had darted in panting, he saw Hermione sitting down first "Hermione!" he saw Harry now "Harry!".

"You won't believe this!" Neville said, bending over to catch his breath, "Ron, Dean, Seamus, and some people from other houses just stunned me an hour ago after I stood up to them" he clutched at a stitch in his side, determined to explain what happened "They're going to the restricted corridor, I saw Professor Quirrell heading in that direction after them, I think they might get expelled. You have to try help them!" Neville collapsed onto the couch when Harry and Hermione stood up.

They shared a glance at each other "I guess we have to," Hermione said to Harry; only they knew that Quirrel housed an angry Voldemort and wouldn't hesitate to kill the kids if they acquired the stone.

They were both rushing to the room with Fluffy, their increased magic sustaining them and allowing them to have increased stamina. They effortlessly maneuvered around all the students that they passed. There was a few 6th year Hufflepuff that tried to stop them from running in the hallway, when Hermione saw they were running after them she cast three perfectly aimed leg-locking curses. They reached the corridor to see that the door to Fluffys room didn't seem to exist anymore, it must have been banished thought Harry.

Where once Fluffy had been guarding, there lay a body. It was obvious to both Harry and Hermione that Fluffy was not asleep, but instead murdered. The husk of the cerberus lay unmoving with eyes wide open, on the left there was a violin that was crushed next to the hatch. Hermione decided to quickly inspect the pieces and saw that 'Justin F. Fletchley' was engraved on the side.

They jumped down the hatch and as they were falling realised that the walls were coated in some of the darkest magic they had felt before. Harry never realised that the Devils Snare was gone, and it was only Hermione casting two 'Arresto Momentum' spells that stopped them both from falling to what would have been their death.

Harry was visibly shaken once he found his footing, he guessed that Quirrell was much more serious about getting the stone after he heard about Harry and Hermiones feat of magic with the troll. They got to the Winged Keys section to see that there was only one key flying, the rest of the keys were stripped bare in a large pile to the right of the door, the wings severed cleanly off.

The last key was severely damaged and wasn't even able to rise past the height of Harry's head, he easily grabbed it and turned the key, there was a slight resistance but after another attempt the hinge fell from the door, the large old fashioned door slammed to the ground. The sound reverberated through the passages ahead and behind them.

They walked carefully through the remainder of the doorway, Harry and Hermione were not entirely sure what to expect with McGonagalls, but they never expected the area to be deconstructed so finely. Every single chess piece was shattered into fine rubble, not a single piece thicker than Hermione's fingernail remained. It was so finely grounded that Harry's first thought was confusion as to why sugar sprinkled the ground, instantly he remembered the situation he was in and panic set in.

"Hermione, this is bad. Voldemort would have caught up with them if he was close behind. It looks like he just ploughed through the whole course."

"I know Harry, let's just get going we still may have some time"

They were both jogging through the ashes of the chessboard when Hermione tripped on what Harry guessed to be a weapon hilt under a large pile of dust. Hermione was already picking herself up off the floor when she screamed.

Harry was immediately on guard, his wand out and surveying the room around them.

"Harry, NO!" Hermione said with tears streaming down her face "Its Dean, he's not breathing"

Harry dived to the floor, his hands wiping away as much dust as possible until Dean's whole body was visible. Meanwhile, Hermione was casting diagnostic charms, gasped when she realised he was alive, and then started heaping on all of the stasis charms that she knew.

"You're done?" Harry asked "The wards should have gone off and the professors will be down soon"

"Yeah let's get moving, the others will still be in trouble,'' they both jogged down the path and were happy to see that nobody was hurt at the troll section, except for the troll that is. The troll had a large bump on the top of its head, Harry assumed that Ron had used its club to finish it like they did their first year. The bump wasn't the worst the troll had to deal with as it had been finished off quickly with what Harry guessed to be some dark curse, although definitely not the killing curse. Its torso was transparent, all the organs still there but they looked as if they were made of glass, Harry was curious to see what it felt like, but hesitated at the last second.

They entered Snape's challenge to see ice covering the whole chamber floor, the fire that was originally blocking the path now illuminated the ice but did not pass through, anyone would be able to pass through without any thought or worry. They were carefully walking through the chamber when they heard a scream from the next room. They immediately dropped their stances and rushed into the next room.

They hurried through the door to see Quirrell dangling Ron Weasley by the neck. The rest of the Hogwarts students were sprinkled around the room, wounded but not dead. He also noticed Justin was missing a hand and seemed to be unconscious. It looked like Quirrell had used the pain he inflicted on the other students to force Ron to give him the stone. Ron's face, nearly purple due to the psychopath choking him, seemed to beam when it saw them both. Quirrell grabbed the stone that Ron was gripping tightly in the other hand, and threw him to the side.

"Thank Merlin, you're here. I thought nobody would ever bloody come. We can fight him together!" Ron's voice echoed around the chamber.

Before Harry could even raise his wand, Quirrel spoke the incantation that would plague Harry "Avada-KEDAVRA" he spoke, turning to aim his wand at Ron, a vicious smile upon his face. A green spell flew from Quirrell's wand, and Harry watched in almost slow motion as the spell connected directly with Ron.

Instantly Ron dropped to the floor, a horrified expression posted to his face, his arms flopped to the floor, his head hit with a sickening crack, the facial expressions changing slightly when it impacted the floor. He rolled a bit, but then stopped moving. Lifeless.

Seeing his first friend die brought back all of the greatest memories they had together, Harry remembered opening his first chocolate frog together, all of Ron's funniest jokes sprang to his mind and Harry was nearly about to start laughing, Harry was also reminded of Dobby when he thought back to Ron admiring his sneakers. All of the reminiscing ended when he saw Ron's body on the ground, even if he had hurt Hermione, he never got to ask him why.

Harry, enraged by the evilness, dashed forward and put his hands on Quirrell's throat. He had been strangling him for a second before he realised that his mother's protection did not seem to be working… he broke off from Quirrel and took out his wand, he knew that they would lose a duel when Quirrell was not using Voldemort's wand; he decided to end it as quickly as he could, the killing curse was on his lips when a faint voice spoke from behind him.

"Avada-Kedavra" Hermione spoke softly, a flash of green light illuminated the room, this time it was Quirrell who fell to the floor. The Professor crumpled, the hand that held the stone let it roll across the floor. The room was quiet now, the only sound was that of Hermione pocketing her second wand so that there was now no evidence of her using the curse.

Hermione glanced at Harry "Don't look at me like that Harry, I just couldn't be bothered seeing the monster who killed you. If that turban came off I think we'd all be sick."

"Hermione you know that's not okay, I don't want any blood on your hands."

"Don't kid me Harry, I know you were about to try the exact same curse that I was."

"Fine. Lets just clean this up."

They walked around to all of the unconscious students and made sure they were okay, thankfully none were awake or they would have had to obliviate the last spell from their mind.

Harry was walking past The Mirror of Erised when he decided to take a peek. He was surprised to see himself having dinner with Hermione alone. He smiled to think of the comparisons Hermione would get to his mother once more people knew that they were romantically involved.

"You know what Hermione? Lets just go back to the hall, Dinners ready and I'm starving. We've done what we could, they're all in stasis, I have my cloak, we can easily sneak out of here."

"I think I'd like that", Hermione was the one to pass the mirror now and she saw herself with Harry in the Library, funny she thought and giggled to herself a bit.

"Also… ummm Hermione. I really like you, would you be m-",

"FINALLY" she said, cutting across Harry's question, "I didn't want to be the one to cave in, but Merlin was I close."