AN: Welcome! There is not enough stories where Harry becomes a Cursebreaker on this site. The few that I can think of start with him already a Cursebreaker. So I wanted to write one where Harry grows into that career. This story starts in First Year and will go through all Seven Years and likely beyond. First Year is very short, mostly because it is practically the same as canon, at least until the end. Hope you guys like it!

Chapter 1

It's fitting that this day was unusual. It was an unseasonably warm mid-November day, with blue skies and a slight wind. It's fitting that today was unusual because today was the day the world changed. If not for an innocuous letter, our story would not be necessary. Our hero would have underachieved in all of his classes except for Defense Against the Dark Arts. He would have spent his 7th year finding and destroying Horcruxes, before finally meeting Voldemort in a final battle, winning on luck and the Deathly Hallows. But luckily for us, this letter did come, and forever changed Harry Potter's life.

This letter arrived at breakfast on that November day. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just arrived at the Great Hall, and started to fill their plates with food. Ron was busy eating, Hermione was both eating and reading, and Harry was basking in having friends. He and Ron had just saved Hermione from a Troll a couple weeks ago, and the novelty of having two friends hadn't worn off yet. In the midst of all this, owls came streaming into the Great Hall for the morning deliveries. An owl landed in front of the three of them, and stuck out its leg for Ron, who was too busy to notice. Harry, on the other hand did.

"Ron." Harry said. "You have mail." Ron grunted, and kept eating. Harry chuckled, and then poked Ron. Ron looked up quickly. "Wha' 'ou 'an'?" Ron said, spraying food out of his mouth.

"Ron please! Swallow first! That's disgusting," Hermione scolded. Ron swallowed, and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry Hermione. What did you need Harry?" Harry chuckled and pointed at the owl in front of him.

"You have mail," Harry said. Ron looked over at the bird, nodded his thanks to Harry, and relieved the bird of its letter and accompanying package. The bird waited for a minute, then began screeching and pecking Ron.

"You can't have any of my bacon you bloody bird!" Ron shouted, trying to fend off the bird. Harry sighed, and offered some of his bacon for the owl. "Here you go." The owl took the bacon and took off. After Hermione scolded Ron for his language, he unfurled the letter, and began reading. Harry started going through his bag, making sure he had his homework for class that day. Hermione looked over.

"Harry, why do you have your History text?" Hermione asked. "It's not Wednesday, today is Thursday!" Harry paused. "Really? Shoot! I forgot!" Harry then pulled out his timetable to remind himself of what classes he had.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Herbology 8:30 – 10:00 DADA 8:30 – 10:00 History of Magic8:30 – 10:00

Transfiguration 10:30 – 12:00 Herbology 10:30 – 12:00 Herbology 10:30 – 12:00

Lunch Lunch Lunch

History of Magic 1:30 – 4:00 Charms 1:30 – 4:00 DADA 1:30 – 4:00

Astronomy 11:30 – 1:00

Thursday Friday

Charms 8:30 – 10:00 Potions 8:30 – 11:30

Potions 10:30 – 12:00 Lunch

Lunch Off Afternoon

Transfiguration 1:30 – 4:00

"Huh. I must be more tired than I thought. Thanks Hermione!" Harry said. He pulled out his wand, and said "Tempus." Out of his wand came smoke that formed into numbers at eye level. 8:03. "I need to go back to the Common Room to grab the right books."

"I will come with you. I need to take this up to the dorm," Ron said, holding the opened package in his hand. It was a box with pieces of wood. Each piece had strange markings on it, but they looked like they would fit together to make something more.

"What is that?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, some puzzle my brother sent me." Ron said, brushing it away. "Let's go Harry."

"See you in Charms Hermione," Harry said, as he and Ron stood up and walked out of the Great Hall.

That evening, after dinner, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the Common Room studying up on the potion for tomorrow's Potions class, a medicinal potion for treating poisonous snake bites. The regular Potion's class on Thursday was where they learned how to cut and care for the ingredients for the next day's potion. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were making sure they remembered how to prepare all the ingredients needed.

"Do we cut the Asphodel leaves small, or are they supposed to be thick?" Harry asked. Ron looked up, clueless as well. They both looked over to Hermione, who sighed.

"Seriously? Do you guys not pay attention at all? The leaves need to be cut into long and thin strips." Hermione said, exasperatedly. "Oh right," Harry said, and went back to his Potions text, making a note in the margin. A few minutes passed before anyone spoke.

"Hey Ron. Have you looked at that puzzle you got from your brother yet?" Harry asked. Ron looked up, glad for a distraction. "Nope. I took a quick look at it, and wasn't interested. Looks too hard. I spend too much time on school work as it is; I don't need to add anything more, right?" Ron said, scowling. Harry grinned, shaking his head. "Do you mind if I take a look? Puzzles have always interested me." Ron shook his head and was about to respond when Hermione interrupted.

"Come on guys! Let's finish this. We don't want Professor Snape to have a reason to dock points from Gryffindor" Hermione said. "You can get the puzzle later, it's on my bed," Ron said before he went back to his textbook. Harry grinned, and went back to studying the potion for the following day. An hour later, they had all finished. While Hermione pulled out some homework to finish for Herbology, Ron and Harry went up to their dorm.

"The puzzle is over there. You are more than welcome to keep it. I don't want it," Ron said, pointing to the box on his bed. Harry went over to pick it up, and then waited while Ron got out his chess set. They both went down the stairs and headed back to where Hermione was sitting. Ron started pulling out his chessmen, looking for someone to play. Harry put the box down on a nearby table, dumped out the pieces and started examining them. Each piece was made of wood and had weird carvings on them that extended beyond the edge of each piece. Some pieces also had a corner in it, so when it was put together, it made some kind of three dimensional shape. While Harry was examining the pieces, Hermione looked up from her homework and sighed.

"You really should get a head start on your homework Harry," she said, shaking her head. Harry smiled at her and said, "I know. But all we have tomorrow is Potions and then our free afternoon. I'll get started tomorrow, I promise. I just want a break from work." Hermione smiled softly at him. "Okay, but I will hold you to that promise!" she said, before going back to her work. Harry chuckled, then turned back to the puzzle and began trying to put it together.

The puzzle proved to be more difficult than Harry had originally thought. He spent that first night just trying to fit one piece with another, but he only managed to find one or two pieces that fit together. Deciding to go about this more systematically, he spent the next month organizing the pieces so that he had all the corners together and all the inside pieces together. There was next to no identifying marks on each piece, just the wood with the strange marks carved into them. After that he started to put together the border. Every time he connected two pieces, they could not come apart. It was like they were glued together. In between classes, homework Quidditch practices, and figuring out who Nicholas Flamel was, Harry put together the border by February. The border revealed that the puzzle pieces made a tower with a square base. At this point, he had to stop because Hagrid had gotten a dragon egg, and it was causing lots of problems. By mid November, the dragon had hatched, and was growing rapidly.

"Hagrid, please, think about this. What are dragons most known for?" Harry asked, patiently. Hagrid looked at him, nonplussed. "Why, they breathe fire, o' course!" exclaimed Hagrid. "Right. And what burns very well?" Hermione asked sharply. Hagrid looked confused. "Wood burns the best." Hagrid said. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked around Hagrid's hut significantly. "And what is your house built out of, Hagrid?" Ron asked.

"Why're you guys askin' such weird questions?" Hagrid asked, confused. All three of them looked at each other, exasperated. "Hagrid, you have a baby dragon, that breathes fire, in a wooden house. You are just asking for your house to be burned down!" Harry exclaimed. Hagrid shook his head and looked over at Norbert. "It'll be fine! He ain't gonna hurt nuthin'. 'Es harmless!" Hagrid claimed.

Harry looked over Ron and Hermione. "We need to do something. He cannot keep that dragon," Harry said to them in an undertone. "I know. But what can we do? He can't just set Norbert free in the Forrest. That would be almost as bad!" exclaimed Ron. Hermione looked thoughtful. "What we need is to get him to someone who works with dragons."

Harry looked at Ron, and said "Charlie. Doesn't your brother work with dragons? Maybe he could take the dragon." Ron looked thoughtful and agreed. They said goodbye to Hagrid and went back up to the Common Room, being careful that nobody saw them. When they got up to the Common Room, the three of them put their heads together and wrote a letter to Ron's brother about Norbert, then sent it off with Hedwig.

Harry assumed that he would get some time to work on the puzzle after Norbert was picked up by Charlie's friends, and he was right, but not in the way he expected. After he and Hermione took Norbert to the top of the North Tower at Midnight, they were discovered by McGonagall and lost fifty points each. Harry, along with Hermione and Neville, were all shunned by Gryffindor. This did allow him some time to work on his puzzle, but at a cost. In the next three months, Harry began to fill in the middle pieces of the puzzle. The tower began to take shape, and Harry noticed that the pieces only covered a small portion of the thickness of the tower. In other words, it was hollow. In the mean time, Harry focused on his school work. At the beginning of June the End of Year exams began, and every First Year student needed to pass these tests to move on to Second Year. With only a few weeks left, most classes were reviewing for the End of Year tests.

"Today class, we are reviewing the basics that we learned at the beginning of the year," Professor McGonagall started. "How many different branches of Transfiguration are there?" McGonagall looked at the class, noticing that about half of the class had their hands raised. "Mr. Longbottom." Neville started, then slowly said, "Uh, 6, right?" McGonagall shook her head. "Close. Someone want to help him out? Mr. Potter?" Harry answered, "7." McGonagall smiled and nodded her head. "Correct! 2 points to Gryffindor. Now, there are 7, but can someone tell me what they are? On answer per person please. Miss Granger."

"Well, Inanimate to Inanimate Transfiguration."

"Good. Mr. Thomas."

"Oh, uh, Inanimate to Animate, right?" Dean asked, looking unsure.

"Correct. Miss Abbott, can you give me one more?"

"Animagi," Hannah Abbott said, confidently.

"Yes. How about you, Mr. Weasley?"

"Umm, Animate to Animate?" Ron said tentatively.

"Good. Miss Patil."

"Animate to Inanimate," Parvati said.

"Nice job. Two more. Mr. Finch-Fletchy."

"Human Transfiguration, I believe," Justin said.

"Yes. Last one. Anyone know? Miss Bones"

"Umm, isn't the last one Battle Transfiguration?" Susan answered.

"Good job everyone! 8 points to Gryffindor and 6 points to Hufflepuff. Now remember, this year focuses on Inanimate to Inanimate Transfiguration. This branch of Transfiguration is really broken into 7 different levels. We began this year with Transfigurations that were from objects of one size to an object of similar size. Remember turning the match to a needle at the start of the year?

"We then moved onto small objects to medium sized objects, followed by medium to large objects. Notice that we always went from a smaller to a bigger object. Your magic needed some practice before we could start transfigurations that lose size. After this, we transfigured objects of medium size to small size, and then finished with transfiguring large objects to medium sizes, which we completed just a few weeks ago.

"The last two levels, small objects into large objects and large objects into small objects are the beginning focus of Second Year. Now, there are three weeks until your exam, so we will practice each of the five levels. Today, we will be practicing similar size transfigurations. On the board is a list of transfigurations I want you to do." McGonagall waved her wand at the board, revealing a list. "Come to me to get your starting object. When you accomplish the change, bring it to me. When I have given my approval, you may move on to the next transfiguration." With that, the class got up, collected the first object, and got started.

Harry decided to hold off on finishing the puzzle in favor of studying for his End of Year exams. All of his classes were spending the last few weeks on review, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione were spending their time outside of class studying as well. None of them wanted to fail these tests and have to retake their First Year.

After his detention in the Forbidden Forrest a week before the exams, and the subsequent ache in his scar, Harry took some free time and worked on his puzzle. With the pain in his scar, Harry needed some time to rest his mind. While most wouldn't rest their mind with puzzles, Harry always had a fascination with puzzles of any kind, so this really wasn't strenuous. It actually relaxed him. This relaxation method, along with his diligent studying, helped Harry prepare for his exams. In fact, Harry felt confident going into the exams, and that confidence continued throughout the week. Harry felt that most of them were well within his ability. And so Harry left his last exam, feeling that he had done well.

"I don't know about you guys, but I felt those exams weren't as hard as I thought they would be," Harry said. Ron looked at him askance.

"What are you talking about? Those were difficult!" Ron exclaimed. Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron. "Well, if you would have studied a bit more like Harry and me, you might have felt more prepared." Hermione said. "I agree with you, Harry. They weren't that bad. Although, I wasn't too sure about that last question on –"

"No! We agreed that we wouldn't talk about the exams once we are done. Let's just go out to the lake and relax," Ron interrupted. Harry and Hermione agreed, and they started walking out of the castle and onto the grounds.

"I just wish I knew what my scar hurting means. It's been hurting ever since the detention in the Forrest last week. I think it means something's gonna happen. Soon," Harry said while rubbing his scar.

"We talked about this Harry. It's just stress over the exams," Hermione said. "I'm sure your headache will go away soon."

As they reached the lake and took a seat under a tree, Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. This is something more. I just got this weird feeling, like I'm forgetting something. Do you think that Snape might go after the Stone tonight?"

Ron, relaxing under a tree, chuckled. "Not with Dumbledore here. Anyway, he still doesn't know how to get past Fluffy, so-"

Harry interrupted him with a shout, "That's it!" Harry jumped up and started running over to Hagrid's cabin. "That's what I forgot. Fluffy!" he called over his shoulder.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other in confusion, and then got up and ran after him. "What do you mean? What about Fluffy?" Hermione shouted after Harry.

"Don't you think it's weird that Hagrid goes to the Hogs Head, a pub, and meets someone who has a dragon egg?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with Fluffy?" Ron asked, panting.

As they get close to Hagrid's home, Hagrid called out to them. "Hey! 'Ou guys want some tea?"

"Not right now Hagrid, I have a couple questions for you," Harry said quickly. "When you got your dragon egg, did the guy ask you any questions?"

"O' course! He wasn' jus' gonna hand off an egg like that! He asked meh abou' any other animals I took care of," Hagrid answered. "I told 'im abou' the thestrals, Fluffy, -"

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"O' course. Who wouldn'? The trick is to know how to calm 'im. For Fluffy, all you do is play 'im some music and he goes right to sleep." Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, shocked. "I shoul' not 'ave said tha'. Hey! Where are you guys goin'?" Hagrid shouted, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione all ran off to the castle.

"I would bet you anything it was Snape in the pub. He knows how to get past Fluffy now," Harry said. "We need to tell Dumbledore."

"Yeah. Where is his office?" Ron asked. The three of them stopped in a First Floor corridor. They looked around in confusion, but then Professor McGonagall came around a corner.

"Professor! Do you know where Professor Dumbledore's office is?" Hermione asked. McGonagall looked over at them, and asked "What do you three need?"

Harry looked at the other two. "We need to talk to Professor Dumbledore. It's important."

"I promise you, you can talk to me," McGonagall said firmly.

"It's about the Sorcerer's Stone, Professor!" Ron shouted. McGonagall stopped, shocked.

"How do you know about that? It's supposed to be a secret!"

"Never mind that Professor. We need to talk to Dumbledore. We think Sn-, someone is going to steal it!" Harry claimed.

McGonagall collected herself. "Dumbledore is not here, he just got an urgent message from the Ministry. But I promise you, no one can steal the Stone. It is too well protected." With that, McGonagall left the three of them and left the corridor.

They looked at each other. "Its gonna happen tonight. Snape probably sent that message. He now knows all he needs to to steal the Stone, and he got Dumbledore out of the way," Harry said.

"So what do we do? Professor McGonagall doesn't believe us," Hermione said, scared. Harry sighed. "We are gonna have to do this on our own. We are gonna have to steal it first."

"We can't do that! Snape is so much older than us! We will never be able to get past the protections!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry looked up, angry. "We have to! There is no choice. I don't want Voldemort to take over the world. If it's a choice between that and trying to stop him, I will choose to stop him every time. You guys don't have to, but I will be going."

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry with a slight bit of awe. "We are with you Harry. When are we doing this?" Hermione said.

Harry smiled, looking grateful. "Tonight I think. We are gonna have to wait until everyone goes to sleep though. I will wait in the Common Room with my Cloak."

"Okay. I will look through my books, maybe I can find something that will help," Hermione said.

"Let's do this," Ron said.