Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to J. K. Rowling, Warner Bros and Bloomsbury. I only own the original plot ideas and concepts that I implement in this piece of fiction to make it a bit more original and entertaining. Make sure to read the A/N at the end of every chapter to catch any news about the story. Enjoy!

A few pointers before we start the chapter.

AU: Magical cores are a thing. Not everyone has the same magical potential. Wizards and witches can tap into the ambient magic for the most powerful rituals and spells, but it is extremely difficult and very few can do it.

AU: There are ancient and noble houses. The Sacred Twenty-Eight are such houses. House Malfoy is not one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight since they are originally from France, and the Sacred Twenty-Eight refer to the founding British families of Magical Britain. The Potters, however, are a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, since their ancestry can be traced back to the Peverell Family, who were one of the many that led the foundation of Magical Britain.

AU: Britain's Wizard/Witches Population is slightly over than 20,000, instead of just a few thousand.

AU: Godric's Hollow belonged solely to the House of Potter and its where their main manor was located. It was abandoned after Death Eaters mostly destroyed it.

I believe that's all for now. If you are not put off by the summary nor by what I established above this final message, then I truly hope you enjoy the story.

Dangers of Going Back to School

On the way back to Hogwarts, Harry and Neville decided to ride with Hermione, Daphne, Tracey and Blaise. Normally, Neville at least would have accompanied Susan and Hannah, but they had arrived earlier and their compartment was with a few of their other friends by the time Harry and Neville arrived. It suited the two boys well in any case. They had seen Susan and Hannah basically every other day, so this was a perfect opportunity to catch up personally with them.

All the members exchanged at least two letters with one another during the holidays, but that would never compare with speaking face to face with those you considered your friends.

"So… I heard about a certain snowman…"

Harry beamed at Hermione, who was pouting at him and her arms were crossed petulantly. "Oh, yes. Bally. Ignore the name, would you kindly? Anyways, yes, I made a snowman and enchanted it to throw snowballs at anyone that got nearer than fifteen feet from him. It was brilliant!"

Daphne glared frostily at him, crossing her own arms. "And it didn't occur to you the Hermione and I would've wanted to perhaps cooperate with its construction, hm?" Harry noticed that she was wearing the scarf he had sent to her, its colors matching the green, silver and black of her uniform perfectly.

Harry faltered for a second. "Um, you both said you would be busy with travelling and family business during the entire holidays. Otherwise I would've invited you."

Daphne's lips twitched almost imperceptibly as she pinned Harry in place with her glare. "That's beside the point, Potter."

Harry cringed and replied weakly. "Didn't you like your gift?"

Daphne lost the frosty look and a thin smile appeared on her face. "I did," she said softly and with some warmth to her tone as her fingers trailed the shimmering cloth of her new favorite article of clothing, not like anyone was going to know that ever. The icy expression was back faster than Harry could anticipate, however, just when he was about give sigh of relief. "The blatant bribery to overlook it I could've done without, however."

Harry visibly deflated on his seat.

Neville snickered, patting Harry consolingly on the shoulder.

"I also liked your gift, Harry," said Hermione after she finished pouting and raising the book that she had on her lap, showing that it was one of the ones Harry had gifted her. "But I expect you to include me any future project of yours," she said primly before she returned to her book.

"But…" once again Harry opened his mouth to point out that they wouldn't have been able to come whether he had invited them or not, but he closed his mouth and sighed in defeat. "Okay."

Tracey smirked openly while Blaise's lips twitched upwards in amusement.

From then on conversation flowed freely and easily, exchanging tales of what they did during the break. Coincidentally enough, the four of them had spent most of her time meeting relatives and visiting her closest family members. The only difference was that while Daphne, Tracey and Hermione had stayed in Britain, Blaise had gone to Italy via portkey. When asked why he didn't go to Italy's magical school, Blaise replied that Hogwarts was the best in Europe and that his mother could easily afford it so there was no reason not to come to Hogwarts.

After they caught up with one another, they settled for chatting about nonsensical things in the case of Tracey, Blaise and Neville, while Hermione, Daphne and Harry begun to talk about the organization of the DC (Defense Club), the material they had yet to cover, the extra and advanced one they were going to cover and everything else that pertained to its organization. It was an enjoyable ride and nobody interrupted them.

When they arrived at the Hogsmeade station they had to take the boats again, since the carriages were always for the second years and up because there was only enough of those for them. They got into the boat and Harry was surprised to see that Daphne had joined him, Neville and Hermione. Normally she would had stayed with her dormmates but by the inquisitive and accusing look on her face that she was directing him, it seemed like there was something she wanted to tell me.

"Why didn't you tell about what you were doing as Heir Potter?"

Neville paled.

Hermione was confused.

Harry raised an eyebrow, not really surprised. He shrugged after a second. "It never came up in conversation and I didn't want you to think that I was approaching you just because your are the Heiress Greengrass," he answered easily. It was the truth. He didn't want her to know that he had initially approached her with those intentions. He genuinely liked Daphne, so there was no need for her to even think that.

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "If I had known the step you have already taken regarding House Potter's economical, and by proxy, political and social standing, I would have been more suspicious of your intentions. Not that I doubt what they were in the first place," she said and she smiled knowingly when he twitched slightly. "It doesn't matter now. I consider you a true friend and I know you do the same pertaining me. But, from now on, let's try to keep the other up to date with important things like this, yes?"

Harry immediately saw the sincerity of her words and the fact that she didn't think less of him despite knowing the real reason why he had approached her in the first place and he visibly sighed in relief and smiled at her with a nod. "Of course, Daphne." He would've mentioned the Occlumency book she had given him as a present but he knew that such things couldn't be spoken about as lightly. He would thank her later when there were only the two of them.

Neville also sighed in relief, though his was a tad more exaggerated.

Then there was a cough and the turned towards Hermione who, to their amusement, had her hand raised above her head and was biting her lower lip in that cute way of hers whenever she didn't understand a concept right away.

"Um, Heir Potter and House Potter? Heiress Greengrass? I know Magical Britain is around the Victorian period in general but those sound awfully like medieval concepts. Can someone explain me what's going on?"

The rest of their final trek to Hogwarts Castle was spent explaining to Hermione the concept of Noble and Ancient Houses, just how important they were to their society, how Daphne, Harry and Neville (And others) fit into their roles as Heir and what was expected of them. Harry also explained to her what he had been doing as Heir of House Potter but he didn't share his suspicions about Dumbledore. Hermione was not protected like he or the others that knew about them so until he was sure that Hermione was not going to get her mind invaded or he finally found what Dumbledore's game was, he was not going to tell her.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Professor Flitwick, may I borrow a few moments of your time? I have a few questions," said Harry after their first class of the second half of the term ended. They had just finished revising the charms they had learned in the first half, so Professor Flitwick was now sure that the majority were ready to learn new charms, and no matter how many times Harry performed the animation charm, he was no closer to finding out why to this day the charm was still working on Bally.

Filius smiled. "Of course, Mister Potter. Whatever your questions are, I am ready to answer them to the best of my ability," he replied excitedly as he beamed up at Harry. The boy had as much talent and potential for charm as his mother and if Minerva was to be believed, which he was sure she was, the same could be said about the talent and potential he inherited from his father. The boy was brilliant, of that was no doubt.

Harry nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Professor. You see, my friends and I built a snowman during the holidays and I used an animation charm with seven commandments on it to make it throw snowballs at people that got too close to it. The thing is that I expected to have to redo the charm in three or four days, since I didn't use a rune to anchor it more permanently to the snowman, but that didn't happen. I performed the charm three days before Christmas and it was still active the day I came back to Hogwarts. I want to know why that happened."

Filius grinned. "Oh! I see, I see. That's quite the feat, Mister Potter. I would've awarded you House Points but regrettable that happened outside of Hogwarts, so that's not possible," he said with fake disappointment, getting a chuckle from Harry. "The answer to your question is quite simple, Mister Potter, and I am sure that you would've have been able to answer it yourself had you been in your third year and taking Arithmancy as one of your electives."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Arithmancy? I thought that only the strength of the magic and intent of the wizard that performed the enchantment affected the duration and effectiveness of the charm used. It was the reason why I was expecting it to last four days at the most."

Filius nodded, obviously pleased. "That's indeed the case, Mister Potter. But there are many other factors that other than those that interfere with the duration of a charm. You yourself mentioned anchoring runes, but that is an external factor. Another one of that nature would be if the charm was also performed used ambient magic, instead of only using the power of your magical core. However, the reason behind the effectiveness behind your animation charm solely recalls on the power of your magic and the number of directives you used while performing the charm."

As Harry frowned thoughtfully, Filius chuckled and continued. "Something that I noticed, Mister Potter, is that you are exceptionally powerful. I daresay that your magical power surpasses even my own currently. Your Lumos is brighter than any I have ever produced. Because of this, I can tell your estimation as to the amount of time your animation charm would've lasted was very accurate, since my own charms when not anchored tend to last that amount of time. However, since you used seven directives while performing the charm, the strength and effectiveness of the charm was exponentially multiplied, as seven is the most powerful number magically."

After a few seconds, Harry nodded in understanding. "That means that had I used six or eight or any other number of directives then the charm would've lasted the estimated amount of time then."

Filius nodded. "Yes, though had you used three then the amount of time would've also increased, though not by much. While seven is magically the most powerful number, three is the most versatile and useful. It's easier to use and mix a lot of threes than a lot of sevens. If you want to know more about the importance of numbers in the practice of magic, I recommend you take Arithmancy as an elective in your third year. That can only help with your spell work in general, as you can see."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Will do. Thank you for your time, Professor."

Filius grinned, showing sharp teeth. "Anytime, Mister Potter. Anytime."

And Harry left the classroom, now surer than ever that he was going to choose Arithmancy and Ancient Runes for his electives. The Fidelius Charm, the most impressive work of magic he had seen and experienced so far, used runes for his casting and now he had just found out how numbers affected practically everything. That also meant that he was going to acquire books on the basic of those subjects as soon as possible because there was no such thing as too much knowledge after all.

XXXXXXXXXX

As annoyed and frustrated as it made him, Dumbledore couldn't help but tip his hat towards Harry Potter in respect. He no longer suspected that Harry was aware of his position as Heir Potter. He was sure of it. The bit that annoyed him and frustrated him was that apparently, he had become aware of it before arriving at Hogwarts, not during his stay since he had originally suspected that the other Heirs he befriended would tell him. The fact that the many business the Potter family had were now functioning after almost a decade of being dormant could only point to that effect.

There was also the lingering sensation of having forgotten something, and as a master of the mind arts, both offensive and defensive, Dumbledore knew that it was impossible for him to forget something, which implied the use of the Fidelius Charm on something that he knew. Sadly, that was the only thing he could infer, since the Fidelius hid under the secret everything directly involved with what the main secret was hiding.

The true reason behind his annoyance, however, was the fact that Minerva was even willing to lie to him in order to help Harry have an 'easier and more fulfilling' life, and that didn't surprise him. She had been extremely close to James and Lily and he admitted that should've seen something like that coming, but apparently, he had overlooked it due to his old age and the believe that Minerva was so loyal to him that she wouldn't question, much less defy, his instructions.

Still, the plan was doable and he could use this new development to his advantage. He would tell Molly that it had been his idea to let Harry increase the riches of House Potter. That would let him secure her loyalty even more, since she was going to think he allowed it in the first place to reward her for her loyalty for all those years. The Weasly were going to inherit the Potter fortune, after all. He just hoped that Molly had done her part, and knowing her ambitiousness and cunning, he was sure she had.

Regardless, it was time to put in motion the events that would lead Harry into having his first confrontation with Tom. Severus had confirmed that Tom had provided Hagrid with a dragon egg in order to get answers about how to get pass Fluffy, Hagrid's Cerberus. That meant that Tom knew how to get pass four of the seven obstacles he had some of the teachers design to 'protect' the Philospher's Stone from him.

A Cerberus, provided by Hagrid.

Devil's Snare, provided by Professor Sprout.

A Quidditch inspired game with enchanted keys, provided by Professor Flitwick.

A transfigured set of Wizarding Chess, provided by Professor McGonagall.

Two mountain trolls, provided by Tom himself.

A test of logic using potions, provided by Severus.

And finally, his own obstacle, the modified Mirror of Erised, which would only give the Philosopher's Stone to those that wished to find it but not to use it. It was the perfect defense against Tom, because he had possessed poor Quirinus and now they were both now one and the same, even if Quirinus personality could come out whenever Tom needed to appear in public. Because of that, Tom would never be able to acquire the Stone.

In any case, he was disappointed that the only thing he had planned that had come to pass was for Harry to befriend Miss Granger, an extremely intelligent muggleborn that had the utmost respect for authorities. Everything else failed, but Dumbledore supposed that it couldn't be helped because plans rarely survived contact with the 'enemy'. So, it was time to adapt and give good Hagrid a visit.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hagrid wants to see you?"

"Yes," Harry nodded as he, Hermione, Daphne and Susan stayed behind in the classroom they used for the DC meetings to rearrange everything back to how it was before they used it. Thankfully, there was no need to repair anything since they had been practicing the Full Body-Bind Curse, meaning that they had been using it, and its Counter-Curse obviously, between each other to get the hang of it. "The letter I received through Aura was from him. He wants to see me tonight."

"Do you have any idea why?" Asked Susan distractedly as she focused on floating a desktop back into its proper place, her wand steady and her eyes focused on relatively heavy object she was moving using her magic and intent.

"Not even the faintest," replied Harry as he arranged some chairs. "All I know is that its urgent and that I have to go along because apparently he can get in trouble if a lot of people find out about what he wants to show me." And wasn't that suspicious? He and his friends, mostly Susan, Hermione and/or Neville had met with Hagrid a few times during the first half of the term and even though he had showed him things of questionable precedence and legality, he had never insisted on Harry going alone.

And if that wasn't enough, Hagrid had suggested Harry to use the invisibility cloak to not get caught and that had alarm bells ringing in Harry's head. The only ones that knew about the cloak were Dumbledore, Snapfist, Augusta, Neville and himself, and of those, only Dumbledore would have told Hagrid about the cloak. That meant that whatever was happening was because Dumbledore wanted it to happen.

That meant that Harry had to use the clothes to which Snapfist had transferred the tracking charms that had been in the cloak, as doing otherwise would tip Dumbledore that he was onto him. And there was no way in hell that Harry was going to pass the opportunity to increase his chances on just what Dumbledore wanted and this was exactly that.

Because of the location of the classroom, Harry and Hermione had to take a different path to go to their common room than the one that Susan and Daphne had to take, so the bid each other goodbye after they finished cleaning their classroom. Harry and Hermione chatted amicably as they made their way towards their common room and there they killed time waiting for dinner time advancing on a few of their homework and projects.

When it was time to go down for dinner, Harry showered and put on the clothes that had the tracking charms and put the invisibility cloak on his mokeskin pouch. He knew that Dumbledore was intelligent enough to tell where it was. Harry and his friends went to the Great Hall and as was the norm now, they sat all together in one of the tables, Hufflepuff this time. From there, Harry managed to catch the glance Dumbledore discreetly sent his pouch.

Harry nodded to himself and continued chatting with his friends.

They stayed in the Great Hall until it was almost time for curfew and on their way back to the tower Harry told his dormmates, when they were conveniently passing a bathroom, that he really needed to go and that they didn't need to wait for him. Harry ignored Hermione's knowing look. After a few minutes, Harry donned the invisibility cloak and made his way towards Harry's hut, avoiding other students and a few of the teachers as they made their way through the castle.

Eventually, Harry reached Hagrid's Hut and he knocked on the door, his hand coming out of the wide and long sleeve of the cloak and looking like there was a floating hand knocking on the door. Harry made sure that his entire body was covered by the cloak. A few seconds later the door was opened and Harry's eyes widened at both the high amount of warmth coming from Hagrid's home and the bloody crossbow the half-giant was pointing just above where Harry's head was.

"Whose there?!" He bellowed, eyes suspicious as he scanned the grounds for the one that had knocked on his door.

Harry pulled back the hood of the cloak. "It's me, Hagrid," he said, flinching slightly when Hagrid automatically pointed the crossbow at his head, which was the only thing visible because the rest was covered by the cloak. "Um, you invited me over, remember?"

Hagrid blinked. "Harry?" He then smiled widely, putting his crossbow aside and ignoring Harry's sigh of relief. "Harry! Come inside, quickly!" He quickly ushered Harry in and he gave the grounds another suspicious look before he closed the door.

Fang barked from his spot on the couch.

Harry smiled at the gigantic dog as he pulled off the invisibility cloak, chuckling when the dog was startled at the rest of his body appearing seemingly out of nowhere. "Hello to you too, Fang," said Harry before folding the cloak and putting it on his mokeskin poach for the moment. He looked around Hagrid's humble abode and noticed the extreme number of candles all over the place and that the flame of the fireplace was so high that it was completely covering the pot that was there, but not enough that it obscured what was in the pot. "Um, Hagrid?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Is that some kind of magical ostrich egg on the pot, right?"

Hagrid laughed merrily. "Of course not, Harry. Don't be silly. There are no such thing as magical ostriches… though I wonder… hm, there's an idea. Anyways, that is a dragon egg! That was what I wanted to show you."

Harry nodded his head almost shakily. "Yeah, I was afraid of that being the case," muttered Harry before sighing and doing his best to calm down. He turned towards Hagrid who was putting a set of gigantic heat-roof gloves on his hand. "You do know that hatching a dragon outside of a reserve and without a license is illegal, right?"

Hagrid nodded. "Of course, I know. That is way I didn't want your friends to find out. I know they are trustworthy but you know that the less people know a secret, the higher the chance of it not getting out," he said as he picked up a giant pincer thing that even he had to use both hands to maneuver.

"I… understand that," said Harry slowly, watching as Hagrid used the tool to pick up the red-hot steaming egg and quickly set it on the fireproof spot he had previously prepared. "Where did you get a dragon egg in the first place?"

"I won it in a drinking contest from a man at the Leaky Cauldron just before the term started anew," said Hagrid with pride as he set aside the tool and pulled of his gloves. "I had taken me weeks to get the egg ready to hatch without dragon fire to breath on it. I had to use simple magical fire to do the job. The effects are the same but the process is so much longer," complained Hagrid with some annoyance on his voice.

"You won it in a drinking contest," deadpanned Harry as he approached the table to look at the egg, which he noticed as still as hot as it had been when Hagrid had pulled it out and its heat wasn't looking even close to diminish anytime soon.

"Aye. Me and the guy ended up so drunk that he wasn't even sad about losing the egg. We even chatted for a bit. He was very interested in acquiring a Cerberus. They make the best guard dogs, you see. I own one. Named him Fluffy."

Harry knew about Cerberus. According to Greek mythology, it was the three-headed dog guardian of the Underworld and it was supposedly the size of a two-story house. He also the knew that while in reality Cerberuses didn't guard the gates of hell, they were quite real… as in, more than one and they tended to grow so much that one of its head could swallow a man whole without issues.

"You named a Cerberus, Fluffy?" Harry asked incredulously.

Hagrid nodded happily. "Of course, he used to be a fluff ball as a puppy. He still is to be honest. I leaned him to Dumbledore so he could guard the…" Hagrid trailed off as he turned towards Harry, finally looking away from the egg so he could see the inquisitive look Harry was now giving him. "I shouldn't have said that. Forget about it."

Harry's eyes narrowed. Before Dumbledore was mentioned, Hagrid's tale had been a bizarrely lucky one but by now Harry knew that whenever Dumbledore was involved there was no such thing as coincidence and luck. The fact that Dumbledore had requested Hagrid's Cerberus to guard something must mean that whatever it was guarding must've been of extreme importance. Also, winning a dragon egg after a drinking contest from someone that just so happened to be interested in acquiring a Cerberus, when one of those was guarding whatever Dumbledore fell it necessary to guard? Yeah, right.

"What is Fluffy guarding, Hagrid?" He asked, trying and succeeding to look as innocent as possible.

Hagrid was visibly uncomfortable. "I'm sorry Harry but that's not on your business. What Fluffy is guarding is business of only Headmaster Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel, no one else's." He suddenly paused and shook his head. "I shouldn't have said that! I shouldn't have said that!"

Harry made sure to save that piece of information for later. "It's okay, Hagrid. I won't pry further into it," said Harry with a smile and "So what did the man you won the dragon egg from asked you about Fluffy?"

Hagrid seemed more relaxed and relieved now. "Ah, yes. He was just asking about the best place to acquire them, what was the best to feed them, how to train them correctly and if they had any weaknesses."

Called it. Harry's face didn't betray his thoughts. "Cerberuses have weaknesses?" He asked dubiously. Truthfully, what can be the weakness of a three-headed dog the size of a house? Probably something stupid, I bet.

"A bit of music and it falls asleep for as long as the music is playing."

Called it twice. In any case, there is someone looking for something so valuable that it needs a bloody Cerberus to guard it and whatever it is, it has to do with Nicolas Flamel, a name that I find familiar, and Headmaster Dumbledore, who has an unhealthy and likely nefarious interest in me, considering that he obviously wanted me to know about it. What's left is to find out just who is Nicolas Flamel, what is the item that Fluffy is guarding and why Dumbledore wanted me to know about it.

Before Harry could ponder anymore on the situation at hand, there was a cracking sound followed by an excited exclamation from Hagrid and he turned towards the egg to see that it was being broken from the inside. Against his will, Harry's eyes widened in wonder as he saw the birth of a dragon right in front of his eyes. After a few minutes of struggle the baby dragon, a dark brown lizard with black ridges on its back with winged forelimbs and yellowish slit eyes, escaped the confines of the still shimmering hot carcass of its egg.

"A Norwegian Ridgeback! It's the breed of dragons that grows the largest and shoots flames the earliest, even larger the Hungarian. I think its fangs are venomous too," commented Hagrid in excitement as he watched the young dragon get its bearings.

Harry continued to stare at the baby dragon, its body was twice as thick as Harry's arm but about the same length and its wingspan was likely twice as that. The baby dragon shook its head for a few moments and when it finally got its wits, the winged reptile locked eyes with Harry, who suddenly got a sudden urge as his magic surged and linked itself with the baby.

§ Hello, little one, § spoke Harry in a guttural and hissing voice that was naturally threatening and made his voice sound deeper. Harry's one eyes widened as he recalled that this was the same voice that he used in the zoo to speak to the snake about a month before his Hogwarts letter arrived.

The baby dragon's eyes sharpened as suddenly they were filled with an amount of intelligence that had not been there before. § Greetings, Speaker. Are you, perhaps, my mother? § It hissed back, its tone hissing and threatening but not as guttural as Harry's had vine but more innocent. The voice was also distinctively female.

Hagrid gasped as he turned towards Harry with wide eyes full of disbelief, not a sound coming from his mouth.

Harry shook his head and he motioned towards the gaping Hagrid, chuckling in amusement. § I'm afraid not, little one. The one who hatched you is the one standing at my side. And considering he is a male, I think the term you should be using is father. §

The baby dragon inclined its head. § You have my thanks, Speaker. § It then turned towards the still gaping Hagrid and launched a small fireball towards his beard, setting it on fire and making the half-giant yelp in a voice that shouldn't have come from a man so big. The baby dragon then scurried on the table and launched itself at Hagrid's midsection, from where she scaled until she was on Hagrid's back, her head looking tiny as she peaked over Hagrid's shoulder.

Hagrid finished putting out the fire on his beard and he turned towards his 'daughter' as she nuzzled his face happily and he numbly raised his hand to scratch her chin. The dragon purred in content. Hagrid turned towards Harry. "You are a parselmouth?!" His voice was more than just a little shaky.

Harry frowned in confusion, tilting his head. "A what now?"

"A parselmouth is a witch or a wizard with the ability to speak Parseltongue, the language of the serpents. Well, I though you could only speak to serpents but it seems like you can also speak to dragons. Ah! That's not important now! Harry! You-Know-Who was known to be a parselmouth! No one should know about this!" said Hagrid, his voice becoming calmer as he spoke about Parseltongue being able to be used to speak with dragons, only go become almost shouting as he spoke about the reputation of the ability.

Harry grimaced at the thought of sharing something in common with the man that killed his parents. "I understand, Hagrid. I won't tell anyone about this and I know I can trust you to not tell anyone about it too," said Harry, emphasizing the word 'anyone', though he was sure that it was likely that at least Dumbledore was going to know about this. There was nothing he could do about it, just hope that it won't come to pass, as unlikely as it was

Hagrid nodded his head seriously. "Don't worry, Harry. I won't tell anyone," he said solemnly and when the baby screeched happily, Hagrid's demeanor changed as he grew excited. "So, what did you learn about him when you two spoke to each other? I only heard hissing."

Harry couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face. "Well, first of all, he is actually a she and…"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hermione, can I ask you something?"

The bushy brown-haired witch looked up from her Potions book and regarded Harry with curiosity. "Of course, Harry, anything you want," she said, giving him his undivided attention. Hermione knew that Harry was her intellectual equal, though their intelligence differed slightly. The two of them understood everything they read at roughly the same time with the same amount of ease, Harry had an easier time applying what he read to practice, while she had an easier time recalling anything she read and not making the same mistake twice. She

Harry smiled at her in thanks. "Have you ever heard or read about Nicolas Flamel?"

Hermione's brow furrowed in concentration. "Nicolas Flamel? Hm," she said before she put to finger on her temple and concentrated for a few moments so she could recall what she had read about him and she eventually perked up. "Nicolas Flamel is a famous french alchemist that supposedly created the Philosopher's Stone, an artifact that could be used to either turn any metal into gold or to create the Elixir of Life, a substance that makes whomever drink it unable to die of old age. Oh, Headmaster Dumbledore was supposed to have learned some alchemy from him too."

Hm, so Fluffy is guarding the Philosopher's Stone then. That means that whomever wants it wants to be filthy rich or wants immortality and for some reason I am inclined to think that it is the latter, considering that with enough time one hands one can become rich and immortality tends to give you a lot of time to work with. It's also safe to assume that it was the Philospher's Stone that Professor McGonagall retrieved from Gringotts when we went there last year, considering that she was there on Hogwarts business and it was one of Hogwarts' Vaults that was broken in. Whomever wants it, is desperate.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"You spaced out there for a moment. I asked you where did you hear about Nicolas Flamel. I found out about him when I was doing some light reading in the library a few days ago."

Harry smiled and shook his head, chuckling. "Would you believe me if I told you that I read the name in Headmaster Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card?" That was the truth, actually. Before Hagrid had mentioned the name, he had read the name during the holidays after sorting through all the sweets that were given to him during Christmas. The card had only mentioned his name, so he had needed to investigate. It was the reason why he approached Hermione first. He had expected her to point him in the right direction, not to tell him everything relevant that he needed.

Hermione deadpanned. "Really?"

Harry nodded, still amused. "Yes."

She shook her head in exasperation, huffed and went back to working on her Potions essay. It was due for next week and she was not about to leave it to do it three or two days before the day she was supposed to turn it in. That just won't do.

Harry merely chuckled and he turned to his own reading. Professor McGonagall had a very neat and elegant handwriting and the notes she had done on Transfiguration were giving him all kind of interesting ideas.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Daphne," he spoke to his friend when they found themselves partially secluded from the rest of the members of the Defense Club. "I want to speak to you about one of the gifts you sent me. I believe you know of which I speak of, right?"

Daphne paused and turned away from the parchment in which she was writing and nodded at him. "I do, Harry. What is it that you need to talk about it?"

Harry rubbed his arm for a moment before shrugging with one shoulder. "Daphne, I know how… obscure… and guarded… are Occlumency learning techniques by those Houses that have managed to keep the knowledge from simply disappearing. You don't know how glad I am that you trust me enough to gift me with such a thing after just a few months of meeting each other, but I can't help myself but wonder why you did it."

Daphne stared at him for a few seconds before she responded, and Harry was shocked when she smiled at him prettily. "My father made me aware of a quite a few things that you have been up to, Harry. A few inquiries here and there were enough to get the gist of what you have been doing. That means that you are aware of your status as Heir Potter and that you are working to make the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter the powerhouse it was before the civil war that you unassumingly ended. I know of the need to keep things like that a secret and while your Heir Ring is enough to keep you protected, there is no such thing as overdoing it when it comes to family secrets. Besides, learning Occlumency can increase your already astounding mental and magical capabilities."

Harry gaped at her for a few more moments before he chuckled and shook his head. "Then I guess the only thing I have to say is thank you. Though I have to admit that I feel that my gift to you was quite lame in comparison," he admitted ruefully.

Daphne shook her head with a bit of vehemence. "No, it wasn't, Harry. I know you did it yourself and that fact alone gives it in my eyes as much value as advanced magical theory books and the occlumency learning techniques my family has acquired. It's not what the gift is that counts, but rather the thought that was put in it. And I know you spent quite something investigating and putting thought into what to give me. I think I know you enough by now to realize that, Harry."

Harry rubbed the back of his head and his cheeks felt warm a bit due to the embarrassment Daphne's words caused in him. "Yeah, well, I guess you are right."

Daphne's smile turned into a smirk. "Of course I am," she said with some clearly faux haughtiness before her smile disappeared and she raised an eyebrow as her normally frosty expression slipped into her face. "Was there anything else you needed?"

Harry's eyebrows rose into his airline at the change before he shrugged and shook his head with an amused chuckle.

Daphne nodded at him almost curtly before she picked up her quill, submerged the point into her ink point and silently went back to work on her Potions assignment. "

XXXXXXXXXX

Over the next two months only a few things of notice happened. Harry and his friends continued on learning the basics of magic, albeit at a quite the accelerated pace due to the desire of everyone to keep up with the pace set by Harry, Hermione and Daphne. It was a bit difficult for them, not because they were less intelligent or dedicated, but because the natural limitations of their cores. Thankfully, they understood that, and it helped that the three of them didn't rub it on their faces but rather helped them in any matter they needed it without complaints.

Even though he had continued to grow closer with his group of friends, Harry had not spoken with any of them about Hagrid's dragon, whom he had named Tina after a few minutes of deliberation, and much less about the Philosopher's Stone being in the castle. That was just asking for trouble. Truthfully, Harry was very willing to forget about it and leave it be. He had no further interest in it other than the theory behind its making.

At Hagrid's insistence, Harry continued to visit him and Tine two or three times a week depending how busy he was with assignments and the like, serving as a bridge for Hagrid and Tina to communicate in a smoother fashion. With his help, Hagrid had a much easier time training Tina and understanding her needs and Tina, because of the magics of Parseltongue giving her a higher level of intelligence, understood what she was being taught faster and why was she being taught that.

When she grew to be the size of Fang she had to be moved out of Harry's Hut and with the help of his invisibility cloak Harry and Hagrid managed to smuggle her out of Hagrid's house and took her to a gigantic clearing in the Forbidden Forest that gave her a lot of space to fly around. It was not easy to convince her to stay there and fly only during the night, but with her higher intelligence she understood. Besides, Tina didn't want to be separated from her mother, Hagrid, and her brother/best-friend, Harry.

Harry, not wanting to get Hagrid in trouble and having come to genuinely care for Tina, had Sharpclaw arrange a not-so-legally-attained-but-valid license for Hagrid to hatch, rise and own a dragon. When Harry gave it to him he claimed it was a belated birthday present for him. Harry's ribs still ached from the hug Hagrid, wailing like a child and grinning like a loon, had given him. Even Tina, who had also understood what Harry had done meant, attempted to hug him with her winged forearms but had settled with setting his school robes on fire in a very affectionate fashion when she realized her spikes could harm him.

The only other thing of notice that happened was that the heirs of the dark families that were on his year attempted to once again start bullying him and his friends that were either half-bloods or muggleborns. They put an immediate stop to it once again and Harry decided that the next time it happened, he was going to involve the teachers. He had not toll Professor Flitwick or Professor McGonagall of what was happening because he could deal with it and it helped his friends learn how to deal with those that would try to walk over them in the future, but it was starting to get annoying.

Another thing of note that happened was that Harry revealed the secret of Potter Manor to his friends and they all decided to come and visit him to help him decorate the place and to practice magic during the summer holidays, which they couldn't do because it was illegal for minors to perform magic outside of Hogwarts unless you had a ward powerful enough to cover the use of spells, which every pureblood out there did. Hermione had been particularly incensed about it when she learned how much purebloods were favored. She had only calmed down when Harry assured that she could come whenever she wanted to the Manor to perform magic, though Harry suspected that it was not going to be the last time he heard about the unfairness of Magical Britain. Thankfully, Harry hoped to change that one day and having someone as dedicated as Hermione at his side will make his endeavors more fructiferous.

Harry had also continued to increase his proficiency with magical telekinesis, wandless conjuring and vanishing and teleporting. His magical telekinesis had grown steadily and he could do four to five times more to what he had been capable of before coming to Hogwarts. Wandless conjuring and vanishing became easier the more he used those skills and since they were branches of transfiguration, easily his most favorite subject and the one he understood the best, he had a fun time increasing his proficiency with it. Teleporting was also becoming easier, what with the strength of his magical core steadily increasing the more he used his magic along with the many different ways he used it.

Harry was extremely happy with his progress, though he felt somewhat bad to keep it from his friends but Harry knew that for now it had to be that way. Teleporting, which was more commonly known as Apparition, was illegal for those without license, though technically Harry was not apparating since his method was different than the one that was used by wizards and witches, but he doubted that those same wizards and witches, whom he knew to be extremely close minded, would see the difference.

The only thing that put a damp to Harry's happiness caused by spending hours upon hours every day with his friends having fun, studying and practicing with magic was the fact that he had not made any advancements into discovering the identity of the individual that wanted the Philospher's Stone. There just weren't enough clues and as suspicious and shady as Professor Snape looked and acted, in matters like this the obvious answer was rarely the correct one.

Normally, Harry wouldn't bother looking into something that had the potential to be dangerous enough to put his life at risk, but the fact that Dumbledore obviously wanted him to know about it wand wanting to figure out why Dumbledore was so interested in him, and to what end, made Harry want to figure out what was happening. He was not going go out of his way to look into it but he was not about to let any opportunity to learn more about what was happening pass by him. He was just the right amount of curious. And you know what they say about curiosity…

XXXXXXXXXX

Harry had an amused smile on his face as he watched Tina scramble around the clearing eagerly as she pursued rabbits the size of a sheep which he transfigured from the raw meat dressed in brandy that she preferred that he and Hagrid had brought for her. The reason why Harry was doing this was so Tina didn't lose her hunting instincts because for a natural predator like Tina, that was one of the worse things that could happen.

At the moment Hagrid was not with them. He had left Harry with Tina after he had gotten an assignment via owl. Hagrid had been vague about it but apparently there was something causing unrest in the Forbidden Forest and he was to investigate it. At first, Hagrid had urged Harry to go back to the castle but Harry had pointed out that he could defend himself from pretty much anything thanks to his wand, that he could easily escape using his Invisibility Cloak and that Tina, who was almost two times the size of Fang after almost three months passing since she was born, would defend him in a heartbeat.

Hagrid had agreed to let him stay as long as he didn't step out of the clearing. Harry had easily agreed. It was a Saturday during the late afternoon and he had already completed all of his assignment s for the next week, his daily training with his own more special abilities had been done that morning and the only book he had not yet read completely from this term was the History of Magic one. The others were al finished and by this point Harry only needed to revise them to write essays with more detail and to check upon a theory about a spell that wasn't quite working as it was supposed to.

Harry had nothing better to do and while it would be nice to spend some time with Hermione, he knew that she was currently immersed in one of the books he had given her for Christmas and getting in between her and her books was equal to wanting to commit suicide. His other friends in Ravenclaw were also busy with studying or doing their own thing. Harry wasn't going to interrupt what they were doing just because he was bored.

And he didn't know what his other friends were doing but seeing that he had not seen any of them when he had come out to spend time with Tina that likely meant that they were also busy with their schoolwork in their common rooms, which in turn meant that they didn't want anyone to interrupt what they were doing. That left Harry with the only option of playing with Tina while he waited for Hagrid to come back with Fang from his assignments.

'Eh, it could be worse,' he thought to himself, grimacing as he watched with sick fascination and trepidation as Tina snatched a rabbit and almost bit it in half. She ignored the other oversized 'frightened rabbits' that were just jumping in circles around the clearing as she tore into the one she just caught with visible delight. Harry chuckled nervously. "If Hagrid saw this I doubt he would insist on Tina ever losing her more predatory instincts," he commented to himself with nervous amusement.

Harry was about to start working on the first phase of Occlumency training, which was to successfully clear his mind of any conscious thought, when Tina suddenly turned her head sharply to her left and began to snarl as she got into an aggressive position. Harry also turned in that direction, flicking his wrist as he also began to look warily in the direction from which Tina had felt something dangerous enough that she deemed more important than her favorite food.

There was a light rumble and the sound of hooves and Harry shifted nervously as he heard the steadily increasing aggressiveness and intensity of Tina's snarling and growling. Just when Harry was about to lose his wits something came out running from the edge and his eyes widened when he saw the silver unicorn that was unsteadily throttling towards them. The pure presence of the unicorn set Harry at ease almost immediately but he realized something was wrong.

The moment the unicorn caught sight of them Harry saw relief and hope in its intelligent equine eyes as it stopped trotting and began to limp towards them. Harry caught the sight of a very nasty gash that ran the length of its leg, deep enough to make silvery blood gush out of it, but it wasn't immediately lethal. The unicorn stopped moving once it was roughly in the middle of the clearing and it let itself fall on its stomach with a pained huff.

The unicorn was now laying roughly in between him and Tina and what had Harry still on edge was the fact that Tina was still growling and snarling in the direction from where the unicorn had come from and was now even standing protectively in front of the unicorn. Since she wasn't hissing in the language they shared, Harry couldn't understand her but by know he knew her enough that he could get the gist of the message she was trying to convey: come forward and you'll be sharing my interrupted meal's fate.

Suddenly Harry felt his ring burning and he turned towards the source of the Legilimency attack only for his eyes to widen when… something wearing a dark cloak that covered its entire body and the upper half of its face glided eerily into the clearing. From what Harry could see the thing had human like hands and lower face, but its skin was ashen, its nails black and its teeth rotten.

§Ah.§ Harry almost recoiled when he heard the thing hissing in ethereal Parseltongue. Harry also noted that its mouth had not moved, which made it even worse. §What do we have here? The disgusting beast that I gave to that dumb half-giant that has hatched since then and…§

Harry prepared his magic. It was obvious that this was the… thing… that was after the Philospher's Stone going by what it had said but Harry was unsettled further when it had suddenly paused as it turned to regard him.

§YOU! KILL HIM, QUIRINUS! AVENGE YOUR MASTER! PROVE YOUR LOYALTY TO LORD VOLDEMORT! KILL HARRY POTTER!§

Harry's eyes widened in disbelief as the thing suddenly shot towards him at speeds that reminded him of cats fleeing from voracious dogs that were out to eat them. He only had time to get a glimpse of Quirinus Quirrell's ashen and disfigured face appearing as the hood of the cloak was blown away due to the speed it was moving before he jumped out of the way of the incoming thing that was really Quirinus Quirrell.

Harry shot to his feet and his eyes widened when he saw the face that was on the back of Quirrell's head. It had red eyes, no nose, a lipless mouth and its teeth ware sharp, like a shark's. The face glared at him with so much hatred that Harry took a few steps back as the thing floated in place almost lazily. "What in the hell…" muttered Harry in shock as he stared took a few steps back. He idly noted that Tina was standing protectively in front of the unicorn, snarling at whatever the hell the thing in front of them was.

§Can you see what you have done to me, Harry Potter? A mere shadow of my former, glorious self. I gave been reduced to sharing the body of dear Quirinus to experience semblance of existence… al because of you!§ The face of Voldemort hissed with hatred as he stared directly into Harry's eyes. His ring burned and Harry watched with satisfaction as it recoiled slightly, grimacing in pain. The face snarled. §No matter! I will finish what your meddlesome mother prevented me from doing! I will kill you myself now before you become a torn in my side in the future!§

With its piece said Harry jumped slightly when he heard Quirrell's voice screaming in pain as the head of the body shook around sharply. Harry's eyes widened further when he heard bones snapping and grinding, a sick sound that had Harry's stomach churning. The arms and legs covered by the cloak shifted around until they were now positioned to make it look like Voldemort was the owner of the body.

Quirrell's voice was panting in pain and exhaustion. The face of Voldemort gave a deep sigh and chuckled in sick amusement. §Bear with the discomfort for a moment, dear Quirinus. I will deal with Harry Potter in a moment. But I will have to punish you for being so foolish as to leave your wand in your office, § said the face as it flexed its fingers and rolled its neck.

"Ye-yes, Master. I u-understand. Fo-forgive me-me," replied the wheezing voice of Quirrell.

That was enough for Harry. With snap of his arm and a cry of "Repulso!" he sent the strongest Knock-Back Jinx he had ever used, even strongest that the one he used against the troll since he had been building up his magic for a few long moments now.

Voldemort's eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face as he raised his arms, Quirrell's voice groaning in pained protest, and he seemingly braced himself against the rippling force of energy twice the size of Voldemort that Harry had sent his way. When the spell reached him, Harry was shocked to see that Voldemort was only knocked back a few feet, instead of being sent back flaying with neck snapping force.

Voldemort chuckled maliciously, with a hint of danger and anger. §My… so much power! I dare say not even I when I was your age wielded that amount of power! But… that won't be enough!§ Voldemort snarled and he was about to motion with his hand but he was forced to glide away to evade a fireball almost as big as him that would have burned him to the ground. Voldemort turned towards Tina, from whose nostrils and the spaces between fangs black smoke was coming out as she snarled in anger at Voldemort. §You foul beast! Know your place!§

"Keep it up, Tina!" Shouted Harry in encouragement and before Voldemort could do something to the dragon he used his wand more easily to conjure dozens a dozen of stones twice the size of his feet. He kept them floating in front of him using psychokinesis and flicked his wand towards them. The stones turned from having uneven shapes to have roughly the shape of an arrowhead. Another flick of his wrist and they were flying directly at his foe.

Voldemort snarled and raised his hand, palm facing the incoming arrowheads. §You, insolent child! You dare wield magic against ME?!§ Before Harry's stack came in close the stones that would've hit Voldemort disintegrated into nothing and the others passed harmlessly by his sides. Before he could gloat and rub his superiority in Harry's face he was forced to once again fly away from another fireball courtesy of Tina. Voldemort turned towards it. §Begone! §

Harry saw the red spell leaving Voldemort's hand and even though he knew that adult dragons were almost immune to direct magical attacks that hit their hides he was not about to let Tina take a direct hit like that because she was a baby. He also knew that she wasn't going to move out of the way since she was clearly protecting the injured unicorn. With an upwards motion with his entire arm a wall of earth rose protectively in front of Tina and took the dangerous looking spell with a small explosion that almost destroyed it completely.

§You are starting to anger me, boy! § Hissed Voldemort with hate as he turned towards Harry only for his eyes to widen as he saw a fireball even bigger than the one the dragon had produced only a few feet away from him. Voldemort only had time to cover his face and he shouted in pain as his arms and the rest of his body were burned. He also heard Quirrell screaming in agony but that was unimportant now. He slowly lowered is burned arms and his red eyes gleamed as he glared at Harry with a pained snarl on his monstrous face. §Enough!§

Faster than what Harry could react Voldemort's arm lashed out and a ripple of force was sent in Tina's direction, completely destroying the wall easily and sending Tina flying away with a yelp of surprise and pain, leaving the softly whining unicorn unprotected for the first time. Voldemort turned towards Harry and with a snarl of hatred he pointed both of his hands in Harry's direction and they began to glow with an ominous reddish-orange color.

§Be known to death, Boy-Who-Lived!§ Snarled Voldemort with sick glee as he made to push the spell he generated in his hand and Harry readied himself to jump out of the way. It was not to be, however, as Voldemort was suddenly hit with an arc of white lightning that seemingly came out of nowhere. Voldemort and Quirrell both shrieked with unholy agony as white arcs of lightning ran through their already damaged body.

Harry ignored the smell of burnt ozone and flesh that suddenly reached and he turned towards direction from which the lightning had come from and his eyes widened when he saw the unicorn standing up, panting and glaring bloody murder at Voldemort. White arcs of electricity ran the length of its horn and it neighed vehemently in Voldemort's direction as it stood imperiously in its two hinds legs. Harry noticed that the cut in its leg had healed somewhat already.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity Harry turned towards the twitching Voldemort and with a glare from his brightly glowing green eyes he raised his wand above his head and pointing away from him in a forty-five degrees angle. "DIFFINDO!" He shouted/snarled as he brought his wand down diagonally inf front of him, channeling as much magic as he could while putting all his intent to harm Voldemort into the spell.

A visible arc of cutting magic the color and the shape of the crescent moon shot forward and reached Voldemort in the blink of an eye and continued forward, cutting trees and leaving a visible, but very thin, indent in the ground that matched the trajectory of the spell. Harry panted in exhaustion and he looked from the smoking tip of his almost uncomfortably warm wand to the now frozen-in-place Quirrellmort.

§How… surprising…§ muttered Voldemort flatly before the body he was possessing was separated from shoulder to hip, the two halves falling to the ground with a wet thud as Quirrell's deteriorated organs spilled to the floor accompanied shortly by his coagulated and blackened and pus-filled blood.

It was a disgusting and disturbing sight. That, accompanied with the smell, had Harry vomiting to the ground in front of where he was kneeling. When his lunch was completely out of his system Harry looked up and his eyes widened when he saw what was clearly Voldemort's spirit rising from the bifurcated corpse. The spirit coalesced into a uneven form but Harry could clearly make out the face of Voldemort.

The thing screeched in unholy rage as it glared at him with hatred.

Harry glared right back with defiance.

The stalemate continued for a few more seconds until an arc of lightning and a ball of fire forced the spirit to fly away into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. Harry turned towards the source and he smiled, more like grimaced as he was starting to feel lightheaded because of the exhaustion he was experiencing, as he saw Tina hurriedly scrambling towards him, worry clear in her intelligent reptilian eyes.

§Are you well, Speaker-Friend?§ She hissed kindly and Harry smirked weakly as he saw her visibly restraining herself from physically making sure that he was. Her spikes could harm him and any affectionate nip could send him into a poison induced coma… or worse. Thankfully he and Hagrid had nipped that issue in the bud and now she no longer went for hugs unless it was Hagrid, who as half-giant was many times more resistant to Tina's poison and spikes than Harry.

Harry nodded at her slowly. §Yeah. I am well. I'm just tired. That thing, whatever the hell it was, didn't hit me. Thank you for your help, Tina, § said Harry in Parseltongue as he slowly regained his breath, already feeling his magic core beginning to fill up again.

Tina cocked her head to the side. §I am glad, Speaker-Friend. I don't know how I would have been able to face Mother-Hagrid had you been injured in my watch, no matter how powerful how abomination was. To think there still exist beings that willingly to kill a Pure One…§

Harry tilted his head to the side and his brow furrowed in confusion. "A Pure One?" He asked and that was when he finally noticed the presence of the unicorn. The magnificent and almost ethereal looking horned equine was looking down at him with kind and happy eyes. Harry's eyes flicked towards the injured leg and Harry noticed that it was almost entirely healed, though its leg was still covered in its faintly glowing silver blood. Harry locked eyes with the unicorn and bowed his head as he stood. "I'm glad you are fine and that you are out of danger," he said graciously.

The unicorn neighed happily and jumped lightly in face. Harry laughed and he reached with one hand to run his hand through the magnificent mane of ghostly white hair that contrasted beautifully with the just slightly darker fur of the rest of its body. The unicorn snorted and it lowered its head to let Harry pet it more easily. Harry ignored how close the point of the foot-long horn was close to his chest.

Also, because he was standing at an angle that he couldn't see what was happening at the unicorn's other side. Tina, however, could but she said nothing as the silver blood of the unicorn began to flow upwards the body of the unicorn and it reached its horn, covering entirely. Harry didn't notice this because he was too busy admiring the beauty of the rest of the unicorn. He did notice, however, when lightning sparked across the length of now completely silver horn.

Harry's eyes widened. "Um, wha-!"

The unicorn neighed happily and pressed the tip of its horn into Harry's chest, easily tearing through his robes and shirt and going into him. Harry flinched and recoiled but strangely enough he couldn't move further than that and there was no excruciating pain coming from his chest. He heard the snap of lightning again and he looked down to see the white arcs of electricity running across the length of the horn as what he recognized as it blood went into him, leaving the horn looking as it did before.

Harry shuddered as he felt as if cold water was running through his veins for a moment. The unicorn then pulled back and Harry looked down, only for his eyes to widen when he saw that there wasn't even a sign that he had just been essentially stabbed in the chest by a unicorn. The impossibly white equine snorted happily again before he nudged him affectionately with his nuzzle before it turned around and disappeared, running at speeds that made Harry wonder how Quirrellmort had managed to injure it in the first place.

§Speaker-Friend! You have just been blessed by a Pure One! This is unprecedented! §

Harry turned towards the suddenly giddy dragon only for her to perk up as she turned towards the opposite side from where the unicorn had disappeared to. Not a moment later a frantic Hagrid appeared, holding a lantern in one hand and his charged crossbow in the other. Fang appeared a few seconds later after him. Hagrid looked with wide eyes from the bifurcated corpse that rested in the middle of the clearing, to the giddy Tina to a visibly tired Harry.

"What in the blood hell happened?" He blurted out, his voice coming out in a pitch that had no business coming out from a man his size.

"Um," Harry hesitated for a moment before he nervously spoke. "You might want to call my head of house, Professor Flitwick, and DMLE Director, Madame Amelia Bones. I believe I have quite the tale for them," said Harry with a straight face, but his wavering eyes and unsure voice gave away his true feelings on the matter.

Tina, for her part, yipped in agreement.

Fang barked.

Hagrid wanted to faint.

Author's Note:

Sorry once again for the delay. I'm still dealing with my internet issues. I promise you that as soon as I sort them out I will be back to updating weekly. And if I can't manage that I will start updating biweekly at the very least.

I hope you liked the changes I made to canon and the reasons why Harry didn't involve his friends with the obviously dangerous investigation. I promise you, however, that from now on things won't be like that. Something like this Harry just can't downplay it or pass it under the rug. You will see what I mean on the next chapter when we deal of the aftermath of Quirrell's death in a setting that is impossible for Dumbledore cover it.

A few references and clues to what is to come in the future here and there, some hidden cleverly (I think) and other not so much throughout the length of the chapter. I hope you caught them and if you did, I want you to tell me what they mean for the future.

Hope you liked the interactions and the fight scene at the end. Keep in mind that Harry only came out victorious because he had Tina at his side and the unexpected intervention of the unicorn. Had Harry been alone Quirrellmort would've easily killed him. That and the fact that Voldemort was very angry at seeing the one behind his current sorry state after ten years. That tends to have a negative effect on someone, you see.

All Hail the Mighty Muffin for the blessing of its flavor is truly a gift from being higher than us.