I'm sorry everyone!

Ron: No you aren't.

Shut up you! Anyway my phone has an issue and since that's my main writing utensil I had to find another way.

Draco: Are you going to finish First Year before this story's one year anniversary at least?

I'll try.

Chapter Warning: OOC-ness, of course; Papa Snape, feels, Dumbles being manipulative, and the mystery thickens!

Hermione: Does that last one even apply now? You are pretty much following the canon line.

Hermione back to your books. Now. On another note: 20 years since J.K. Rowling graced the world with the awesomeness that it Harry Potter! How time flies~

It was midnight.

All those who stayed in Hogwarts for the Christmas holiday were now asleep in their beds reliving their Yuletide fun in their dreams without a care in the world.

Well, almost all of them.

Harry had waited until the Weasley brother's were deep in their sleep to get out of bed grabbing the Invisibility Cloak he received from under his pillow then went down to the common room to get a lantern that was always kept handy for Prefect rounds, or something. He lit the lantern and threw the cloak over himself then picked up the lantern leaving the Gryffindor common room to go down to the library with intent to search the Restricted Section for any books on Nicolas Flamel as Hermione suggested right before she left for home; he could only hope he found something without being caught by Filtch or another remaining teacher. He needed to figure out who Nicolas Flamel was and how whatever Fluffy was guarding was connected to him so he could figure out who was trying to steal it and clear his papa's name; Ron kept it to himself but he was still set on the notion it was Severus.

He reached the library thankful that the doors didn't squeak as he entered so it wouldn't alert anyone; he had seen Peeves gliding down another hall on his way down. Carefully and quietly he went to the Restricted Section and opened the wrought iron cage-like door that sealed it off from the rest of the room wincing as the hinges groaned; he hoped no crabby caretaker, creepy cat, or pesty poltergeist were near enough to hear that or he'd really be in for it, especially when his papa found out. He took a few moments to listen for any echoes that would alert him to any approaching unwanted company: footsteps or voices, and sighed softly in relief when he heard none then started to look among the books going straight to where the F's began murmuring the titles to himself as he went but not finding the book he needed which frustrated him.

"Where is it...? Hermione looked more than Ron and me, and couldn't find anything on him... There must be something here..." he huffed quietly and stopped at a table setting the lantern and the cloak down to get a random book.

He opened it to a random page and tried to read some of the content, but he didn't expect the page to become a face and start screaming bloody murder as it tried to pry itself from the book. He struggled to close it before it caught unwanted attention and shoved it back into its space on the shelf he pulled it down from only managing to take a few calming breaths before he heard another disturbance in the quiet night.

"Who's there?!"

"Oh no...!" Harry grabbed his cloak knocking over the lantern in the process and sending it crashing to the floor.

He could do nothing about it now as he noticed another lantern approaching the aisle he was on so he threw his cloak on.

"Come out! You can't hide!"

Filtch had just rounded the corner as Harry ran around the other end and bolted from the library.

"That was too close... I better get back before I push my luck anymore tonight..." he told himself heading back in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Snape is getting more suspicious Master. I don't know what to do..."

Harry froze as he heard another voice ahead of him, a teacher. Not wanting to be caught he ran into what he thought was an unused classroom to wait for whoever it was to pass on by; he kept the door ajar enough to look out into the hall without sparking curiosity about an open door when he felt the tingle of magic at his back. He turned to look as saw that the room was empty except for a tall mirror in the center; he took off the cloak letting it fall to the floor as he walked towards it. He couldn't understand why but the brush of magic he felt was coming from the mirror itself, beckoning him to it and urging him to look into its reflective depths like a siren lured sailors with their fatal songs. At first all he saw was himself just standing in the empty room then faded images formed on either side of him; on his reflection's right was the shape of a woman whose shoulders he came up to, and on his left was the shape of a man about half a head taller than she.

As the images became sharper and more solid he was able to make out features; the woman had wavy, red hair that fell freely passed her shoulders, a heart shaped face, and bright green eyes. The man had black, mussy hair, hazel eyes with glasses, and strong features; Harry felt his eyes tear up as he recognized the two from the many photos he'd seen growing up.

"Mum...?" The woman smiled brightly as she nodded, the eyes Harry inherited from her shinning with unshed tears.

"Dad?" The man smiled and nodded as well.

Harry knew they were dead, but seeing them in the mirror planted a hope he knew was false in his chest; he looked behind him to see if, by some miracle, they were there only to feel his heart crack when he was still alone in the room.

The image of Lily Potter saw the pain on his face and rested a hand on the shoulder of his reflection, yet to his surprise he could actually feel the touch along with the comfort and love behind it. He reached to feel the hand on his shoulder only to feel the material of his sweater, but the touch was still there and joined by the touch of a larger hand on his back. The touch of his parents... He smiled at the mirror, and the images of his parents smiled back.

So excited about what he was seeing, Harry assured the images of his parents that he would be right back and picked up his cloak putting it back on so that he could run back to Gryffindor tower unseen.

"Ron!" he ran into the first year dorm where his friend was sleeping "Ron you gotta see this! Wake up, you gotta see this!"

Ron let out a loud snore as Harry shook him, which only served to irritate the brunet. He threw off his cloak and yanked Ron's blanket from his body making the redhead yelp at the shock of cold air; when Ron tried to find his stolen covers he saw Harry standing by his bed looking excited.

"Come on! Get out of bed!"

"Why...?" Ron grumbled not liking that he'd been awakened at all.

"I saw my parents!"

That got the Gryffindor's attention, "But they're dead. How did you see them?"

"That's why you gotta get up!" Harry said.

Now wide awake, and very eager to see how Harry was able to see his parents, Ron got up and put on his house robe and followed his friend out of the tower. Harry threw his cloak over them and carefully led them back to the room where he found the mirror. Harry threw off the cloak as soon as the door closed and led Ron to the mirror already seeing his parents appearing.

"I saw them in this."

Ron looked at Harry with confusion and concern, "I only see us."

"You just need to stand right here." Harry pulled him to stand directly in front of the mirror and smiled as his friend's face turned to amazement "You see them now, don't you?"

"I see me!" Ron exclaimed "I'm Head Boy, and I've won the House and Quidditch cup! And bloody hell, I'm Quidditch Captain too!"

Everything Ron was saying he saw broke Harry's heart; he didn't get it. How was it when he looked into the mirror he saw his parents but Ron saw something else entirely different?

"Harry, do you think this mirror shows the future?" Ron asked.

"How can it?" Harry asked now totally crushed "Both my parents are dead..."

Ron looked at his friend sadly and put a hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him, "Sorry mate..."

Christmas had ended Severus had returned from his convention; Harry didn't tell him about his Invisibility Cloak or his adventure that led him to the mysterious mirror, but they were due to leave for Malfoy Manor the next morning and wanted to see his parents one more time before school restarted for the new term as they were going to stay until then. He planned to tell Draco and Tori-Ann about the mirror for sure; maybe they knew something about it.

"Back again Harry?"

The Slytherin jumped as he heard a voice behind him and turned to see Dumbledore; he instantly shivered as he felt a dark aura about the man.

'Just my luck. Papa said not to be alone with this man, and look at me! I'm alone with him!'

"No doubt you've discovered the power of the Mirror of Erised?"

"Sir?" he looked confused.

Dumbledore came closer as Harry stood from his seat on the floor.

"This mirror shows you what you want most in the world, rather than just an ordinary reflection."

"Want most?" That explained why Harry and Ron saw different things in their reflections.

"Yes, but it does have a drawback. Many have gone mad looking into the mirror wishing to only see what they want in its depths rather than try to achieve it in reality." The old wizard explained "So I must ask you not to go looking for it again, as it will be moved to a new home."

Harry looked at the mirror disappointed; he wouldn't be able to see his parents anymore... But then again, maybe they wouldn't want him to drive himself mad over them. Maybe it was for the best.

Dumbledore was smirking behind Harry's back; he was finally pulling Harry into his grasp.

It was now New Year's Eve and Harry was out walking the Manor grounds with Draco, and Hedwig on his arm; he told Draco about the mirror and about what Dumbledore had said, and Draco had regretted to admit that the old wizard was right about it when he showed his friend a book from the Manor library.

"I don't understand why it would be where anyone could find it. It was like someone wanted me to find it or something..." Harry said.

"Well Father always said that the barmy, old man was manipulative as well. Maybe he did it on purpose, likely to lure you to him." Draco deduced.

Harry looked at the blond as if he were the barmy one, "Me? What makes you think that?"

"Harry it's obvious. You're the Boy Who Lived, and he has been the face of the Light ever since he defeated Grindelwald. He is convinced that the man you defeated as a baby the night your parents were killed, will return; he wants to use you to keep his hold over the populace."

"What? But that's mad! How can I do anything like that? I'm a child."

"You were a baby when you defeated a madman, and a lot of witches and wizards worship the very air you breath."

The brunet sighed, "I don't want any of that. I led a pleasant, simple life before Hogwarts and want to keep it that way. You get that right?"

"I wouldn't be a true friend to you if I didn't Harry." Draco said as Hedwig began flapping her wings for a flight "And I don't plan on changing that any time soon. You've become my best friend."

"You have too Draco. I hope that no matter what happens, you're still at my side in the end." Harry said.

Draco put an arm around the smaller boy's shoulder, "I promise."

As winter passed and spring took over the Scottish Highlands, students began their studies for too fast approaching finals, and Harry had to tell Ron and Hermione that he found nothing about Nicolas Flamel putting them back to square one in their search of what could be hidden in the castle and how it was connected to the mysterious man.

At the moment Ron and Harry were sitting in the library working on study sheets for a common class; the mixed group of first years developed a very effective study group method that had them gathering in different places in the school with each group designated to any classes they had in common.

Hermione was making her way to the two with large, old tome in her arms, "I had you looking in the wrong section. How could I be so stupid?!"

Ron and Harry quickly pulled their books and papers away as the Ravenclaw slammed the book down on the table.

"I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading." She said as she sat down across from them.

"This is light?" Ron asked in a pointed tone that earned him a mild glare.

She skimmed the page of the book she opened to looking for the information that would answer their two biggest questions, "Here it is! 'Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone'!"

"The what?" Harry and Ron asked at the same time.

"Honestly, don't you two read?" she scoffed earning glares from them "Anyway, it says here that Flamel was a practitioner of alchemy with the great desire to create the Sorcerer's Stone. The Stone gives one the ability to turn lead into gold, and produces the Elixir of Life that makes its drinker immortal."

"Immortal?" Ron repeated in astonishment.

"It means you'll never die." Hermione provided, quite unnecessarily.

"I know what it means!" the redhead scowled at her.

"It also says that Flamel had just last year celebrated his six hundred and fifty-sixth birthday, and he owes some credit to the Stone's creation to... Oh, Headmaster Dumbledore..."

"Dumbledore?" Harry gasped starting to put the pieces together "That explains it..."

Ron and Hermione looked at him confused.

"Listen, if Flamel and Dumbledor created the Stone together then they must be good friends. Draco told me Dumbledore believes the man who killed my parents could return; what if he wants the Stone and Flamel asked for it to be kept here for safety?" Harry whispered to them.

"Then it would be the Stone Fluffy's guarding... And it's what whoever is trying to steal it is after." Hermione figured earning a nod from her Slytherin friend.

"Maybe it's time we asked Hagrid. He seems to know a lot about all this." Ron suggested.

In the darkness of the black night that settled over Hogwarts while students and staff slept, Harry, Ron, and Hermione have sneaked out of their common rooms and were now running across the grounds to Hagrid's hut with intent to ask about the Sorcerer's Stone; they hoped he would be forthcoming with the answers they wanted.

Harry knocked on the door as the trio reached the hut, and Hagrid answered wearing an apron and oven mits.

"Hagrid!"

"Oh hello! Sorry, I can' be entertainin' ta'night." The half giant began closing the door.

"We know about the Sorcerer's Stone!" the first years said immediately.

"Oh..." Hagrid had to let them in knowing that.

"We think someone is trying to steal it." Harry said as the went in.

"Wouldn' happen ta think it's Professor Snape, do ya?" Hagrid asked.

"No." Hermione said "We want to figure out who because they might be framing Professor Snape."

Hagrid nodded in approval, "As noble as that is, you three 'ave no reason ta worry. Professor Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone. There's a lot more ta get passed than Fluffy."

"Like spells and enchantments from the other teachers?" the Ravenclaw asked.

Before the groundskeeper could answer there was a rattling sound from a pot hanging over the fire; Hagrid went over to the hearth and reached into the pot pulling out a golden colored ball-like object with scorched areas the size of a Quidditch Bludger, and set it on the table allowing the three first years to gape.

"Um, Hagrid... What is that?" Harry asked.

"That? Well, it's uh..."

"I know what that is!" Ron jumped in excitedly "Hagrid, how did you get it?"

"I won it. Off a stranger I met down in the pub. Seemed awfully glad to be rid of it."

The object began rocking and cracking making the first years back away from the table, and then it exploded with a reptilian creature the size of a full grown house cat in its place.

"Is that...a dragon?" Hermione asked astonished.

"That's not just any dragon!" Ron gasped "That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with them in Romania."

Hagrid had become teary eyed as the dragon hatchling turned to him, "Isn't he beautiful?"

The baby slipped on some shell fragments as it turned to the half giant letting out another coo.

"Oh bless 'im, 'e know 'is mummy!" he tickled under the dragon's chin "Hallo Norbert!"

Hermione gave him a funny look, "Norbert."

"Well he's gotta 'ave a name, don't 'e?"

He tickled the dragon again and it hiccupped letting out a plume of fire catching Hagrid's beard.

The first years giggled as they watched him pat out the fire, and then he saw something out the window.

"Who is that?"

They looked and saw an unpleasantly familiar pug-nosed girl who suddenly ran off at being seen.

"Parkinson." Harry named.

Knowing that trouble was bound to follow they ran from the hut back to the castle with their focus on getting back to their common rooms without getting caught; no such luck since when they reached the break-off point between the stairs to the towers and the dungeons they were met with their Head of Houses with a smirking Pansy Parkinson, and Harry could see that despite his expressionless face his guardian was livid.

"We'll meet to discuss this in the morning, Severus, Filius?" Professor McGonagall proposed.

"We shall. Come Potter, Parkinson." Severus said leading the students down to the dungeon.

Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks as they watched their friend being lead away.

When they reached the Slytherin common room Severus sent Pansy to her dorm and Harry through a door that lead to his private quarters.

Harry kept his head down and immediately went to sit on the couch by the fireplace, and waited for the explosion.

"What in the world were you thinking Harry? I'm very disappointed in you for this! The other incidents I can excuse because of the circumstances but this is entirely different because you deliberately snuck out! You're on house arrest for the rest of the month; you are only allowed out of the common room except for meals, classes, and the detention you're bound to receive. And I'm keeping your broom until the end of the school year. I hear about anything like this happening again you will have no summer do you hear me Harry James Potter?"

"Yes Papa..."

"Good. Now go to bed."

Harry stood up keeping his head down, "Goodnight Papa..." and he left for his dorm.

Severus waited until he was sure Harry was gone before he let out a sigh and went to pour himself a drink; it was hard being a father, but he loved Harry too much to say. He hated seeing the boy so broken, but he had to do be hard...

On the coffee table sat a letter from the Ministry stating that his guardianship was under investigation.

Harry changed into his pajamas in a numb daze. He wasn't upset about the lecture he's gotten because he felt he deserved it; it was the fact that he disappointed his father that got to him. When he got his Hogwarts letter he swore to make his papa proud and not screw up... But he'd just done just that.

There was no way he would be forgiven...

"Harry...?" Draco's sleepy voice broke through his thoughts "What's wrong?"

The brunet turned to his friend feeling tears he held back beginning to fall, "Draco... I made Papa so mad..."

"What do you mean?" he sat up looking at his friend.

Harry sniffled trying not to cry out loud.

Draco stood up and went over to Harry taking him into his arms, "Shh... Let's just go to bed. I'm here, don't worry..."

"Draco..."

"I'm here..."

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!

Draco: A lot of dialogue.

Ron: And short.

Shut up.