Hey, everyone. So...it's been a while. *Ducks flying fruit* Okay, nearly two years. But I kinda lost inspiration. Twilight lost its thrill for me since the movies came out, pretty much. I liked Eclipse, but that was the only good movie. And what was the deal with both parts of the Deathly Hallows? Come on, really? Okay, I'm ranting. This is a nice long chapter just for those who stuck with me and are not going to send me flame reviews for not updating in forever. Love you all, though! :)

"So, you guys had a pretty peaceful life after the Halloween incident, right?" Carlisle asked cautiously. Harry, Hermione and Ron looked thoughtful.

"You know, I think we did." Ron looked amazed. Rosalie's glare, which had steadily been drilling a hole in Ron's head, let up slightly.

"And you got into no more dangerous stuff until the end of the year, right?" Remus asked sternly.

"Well, there was a few little incidents, but nothing major happened," Harry said carefully.

"Yeah!" I grinned. "It was mild. Ron and Hermione argued, and Quidditch practices were called maybe…four nights a week?" I looked over to Harry. He nodded, grimacing. "And then it was the first game of the season!" Hopefully this would get them distracted for a little bit.

"I remember my first Quidditch game," Sirius said. "James and I woke up at five in the morning, we were so excited. Of course, Remus kicked us out and made us sit in the common room."

"I was tired!" Remus sighed. "You and James would not shut up! You have no idea how close I was to punching you two in the mouth."

"Yeah, yeah…" Sirius grumbled.

"Bella wrote every detail of the game that she saw in a letter, from the moment they took off until Harry caught the Snitch," Remus added.

"Oh, really?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"Well, all the safe parts," I said sheepishly.

Remus closed his eyes. "Do I even want to know?" All the Cullens seemed to agree with him.

"Well, to tell you the truth, probably not."

"But you're going to tell us anyway, right?" Ginny asked sweetly.

"Are you trying to give us grey hair before we're fifty?" Sirius groaned.

"If vampires could get wrinkles…" Esme muttered.

Harry, Oliver, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Fred, George and I marched on to the Quidditch pitch. I was so excited, but a little worried at the same time. What if I made a fool of myself? What if I fell off my broom? When I saw the crowd, I paled.

"Bella, calm down," Katie said from beside me. "Nothing's going to happen. All we have to do is keep the Quaffle away from the Slytherins and avoid the Bludgers."

I took a deep breath. "Okay."

Katie smiled and pointed to the Gryffindor stands. Hermione, Ron, and Neville stood behind a bed sheet that had a drawing of a lion on it. In flashing colors it read, GO GRYFFINDORS!

I grinned, feeling happier than I had for the last few hours. We mounted our brooms while Madam Hooch let the Bludgers and Snitch out, then she released the Quaffle…and the game was on!

Angelina caught the Quaffle first and took off toward the Slytherin goalposts. Katie and I were right behind her. She scored easily.

"Looks like the Slytherins haven't gotten any better than they were last year," Katie commented.

"Have they always played that bad?" Ginny asked Sirius.

Sirius shook his head. "When my brother Regulus was on the team, it was really close every time."

"Your brother was on the team?" Harry asked, shocked.

"Yeah. He played Seeker."

I had just made my first goal and the score was 90-30 to Gryffindor when I noticed that Harry's broom was out of control. He was holding onto it so tightly, I saw his fingers turn white. Fred and George tried to get close enough to help him off, but the broom just went higher.

"Harry," I gasped.

"Bella!" Angelina hollered. "What's going on?"

"Someone's jinxing the broom!" I scanned the crowd. I saw Hermione leave her seat and sneak over to Snape, bumping into Professor Quirrell. My scar froze to the point of pain, and I cried out. An image flashed in my brain, too fast for me to decipher consciously. When my vision cleared, Harry was zooming down after the Snitch. He got so low to the ground that he actually stood up on the broom and reached for the Snitch. He threw his broom off balance, though, and tumbled to the ground.

"Harry," I breathed.

He stood up and coughed something out of his mouth, then raised it over his head.

"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch!" Lee Jordan shouted into the microphone, above the uproar in the crowd.

"Really?!" I heard one of the Slytherin Beaters shout.

Fred and George were laughing when they landed next to Harry.

"Great job, mate!"

"Excellent catch."

I laughed and tripped getting off my broom. Katie caught my arm to keep me from doing a face plant into the ground. "Brilliant, Harry!"

"So Snape was the one jinxing the broom?" Sirius asked, eyes narrowed.

"That's what we thought," Harry confirmed. "Turns out we were wrong."

Sirius blinked. "What? He was trying to protect Harry?"

"This Snape character sounds confusing," Jasper deduced.

"Protecting us while hating us? Can't get more confusing than that," I agreed.

Remus POV

I swear, those two were out to kill me. It seemed like they were in danger every week!

I stood up. Bella looked over.

"Remus, where are you going?"

"Downstairs. I need to talk to Molly." Ron paled. I chuckled. "Don't worry, Ron. I'll make sure you're the one to tell her all about your dangerous adventures." Now, I may just hint that they had those adventures to begin with, but that's another matter entirely.

Edward coughed as I passed by. Obviously, he'd heard my intentions. Bella narrowed her eyes at Edward, knowing that vampires didn't need to cough.

"Hurry back," Alice said. "I can't wait to hear what else Bella's gotten up to."

I nodded and left the room. So was I, and once I heard what other trouble she and the others got into (third and fourth year not included- I knew what happened both those years, and fourth year wasn't their faults) I was going to put her on Burrow arrest until September 1st. I figured the Cullens would help keep an eye on her and keep her occupied, so boredom wouldn't be a problem.

Molly looked up when I came into the kitchen. "Hello, Remus. Do you need anything?"

"No thanks, Molly. I was just taking a break from being in one room."

"Why is everyone up there anyway?"

Thank you, Molly Weasley, for the perfect opening. "They were just telling us about their school adventures. I can't believe they go looking for trouble. They're always in the middle of something dangerous every week, and we've only reached November of first year. Harry and Bella are going to make my hair go white by the time they're through with their stories."

Molly turned around, facing me. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously. "I know they've had a few incidences every year, but other than that—" Molly closed her eyes. "They've been keeping secrets, haven't they?"

I widened my eyes innocently. "You mean Ron never told you about the troll?"

Molly's face paled. "We got a note saying that a troll had gotten loose but that no one was hurt. I asked Augusta about it, but she didn't get any note."

I shrugged. "I got the same note, but I thought it was normal procedure. Now I'm wondering if they only sent it to the parent or guardian of the kids involved." I looked thoughtful for a second, and then said, "I'd better get back."

I had just made it up the stairs—running, mind you—when her voice followed me. "Ronald Weasley!" She sounded very angry.

Sirius was waiting outside the room. "Very nice," he complimented.

I smirked mischievously. "Once a Marauder, always a Marauder." I wiped the smirk off my face. When I peeked in I saw Ron, Harry, Hermione and Bella had all paled. "Hey, Ron, I think your mum wants to see you."

"I think I'll stay here," Ron squeaked.

"You'll have to tell her eventually," Esme said kindly. She stood, pulling Ron with her. When she left, Sirius moved forward. "Harry, I want to talk to you." He walked out, and Harry followed as slowly as possible.

Bella faced me. "Remus, what did you do?"

"I have no idea what you mean, Bella. I didn't tell her anything." Bella opened her mouth to protest, but she closed it at the look that I gave her.

"You do realize that we need to have a talk, right?"

She nodded, looking glum. "When?"

"Now is as good a time as any." I grabbed her wrist and led her out of the room.

Bella POV

I wasn't in Ginny's room two seconds when Remus spoke. "I hope you four realize that until you get to Hogwarts, we'll be watching you like hawks."

I winced. Yeah, I'd figured as much. "Look, Remus, I'd have told you, but it's in the past. And we were fine, in the end."

"You and Harry are just like Sirius and I; every time something was wrong, we'd say we were fine. We never told people our problems unless it had already happened or it was forced out of us." Remus sighed. "James wasn't like that. Neither was Lily. They always forced the issue until we let something slip, kind of like Hermione." He looked at the yard, lost in his memories. After a few moments, he looked at me. "You four will finish telling us everything, and don't leave any details out. Secrets have a way of getting out."

"Yeah, I got that," I grumbled. "You'd know if we were lying anyway, because Edward would read Harry's or Ron's mind. And Jasper would know we were nervous, generally meaning someone's hiding something or about to get into trouble."

Remus sighed. "Let's go back, Bella."

We went back into the room to find Esme, Sirius and Harry sitting in their spots. Ron came up moments later, blushing. Mrs. Weasley followed him in.

"Now, I can't listen—your father will be home soon—but I will hear about all your other adventures, from someone in this room. You're lucky you guys haven't died yet!" She embraced Ron, still scolding him. "And don't think your father won't hear about this!" With that, Mrs. Weasley left the room.

Ron turned to us, shamefaced and pale. "Well, that went better than I thought it would."

I frowned. "It's just because she worries about you guys, Ron."

"She worries about all of us," Ron corrected me.

"Good thing, too," Sirius said, "since none of you seem to worry about yourselves."

"I want to hear about the rest of your first year," Ginny piped up. I leaned against Edward, who wrapped me tightly in his arms.

"Okay, the next thing was…Christmas?" I asked, trying to remember.

Ron, surprisingly, was the one to correct me. "Flamel."

"Oh, right! We found out what Fluffy was guarding," Hermione jumped in.

We were telling Hagrid that we thought Snape had jinxed Harry's broom.

"Why'd he go an' do a thing like tha'?"

Hermione shrugged. "Maybe he hates Harry that much."

"Or maybe he knows I know he was after whatever the three-headed dog was guarding, and he didn't want me to talk," Harry said darkly. I looked at him like he was crazy. "What? It happens all the time in murder mysteries."

"How d' yeh know 'bout Fluffy?" Hagrid asked, surprised.

"Fluffy?" we all asked, shocked.

"That thing has a name?" Hermione continued.

"Course he does. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard—" Hagrid shook his head violently and stopped talking.

"Guard what?" Ron asked.

"None o' yer business. That is strictly between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

"Nicholas Flamel?" Hermione repeated.

"I've heard that name before, but I can't think of where," I mentioned.

Hagrid looked furious with himself. Before he marched off to his hut, he told us, "Go directly up to the castle. An' no more questions!"

Remus narrowed his eyes at me. I looked back innocently.

"And to think I told Hagrid you weren't a troublemaker."

"So, then we went looking for any reference to Nicholas Flamel," Hermione continued, saving me. "We couldn't find anything before Christmas break, so Bella and I went home for the holiday. Ron and Harry stayed behind, promising they were going to look for the name Nicholas Flamel."

"The worst that happened to me was the fact that I skipped between visiting my dad, mom, and Remus during vacation."

Esme sighed in relief. "That's good."

"What about Harry and Ron and Hermione?" Carlisle asked.

"I was with my parents all vacation," Hermione said. "They didn't know anything about Flamel."

"On Christmas, I got my father's Invisibility Cloak," Harry contributed. "I snuck into the Restricted Section with it to look for Flamel, and the book screamed."

Sirius winced. "That sucks."

Harry nodded. "So I hid in a room, and there was this mirror that showed your heart's desire."

Sirius and Remus paled. "Lily and James."

Harry nodded sadly. "I went back to see them for a few nights—I even took Ron, but I didn't realize he wouldn't see them. On the third night, Dumbledore told me what the mirror did and that I shouldn't go looking for the mirror again."

"It's good that he did. It does no one any good to dwell on dreams," Rosalie told him.

Harry turned to her, smiling slightly. "Dumbledore said almost the same thing."

"And after Christmas, we couldn't spend as much time wondering about Flamel or Fluffy because Quidditch practice started up again," I joined in the conversation again. "Wood was pushing us harder than he had all year, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with fooling around."

"Especially when he found out who was refereeing the next match." Harry pulled a face.

"Will you two quit fooling around?" Wood roared. "Snape will be looking for any reason to give penalties, and this fooling around will give him plenty reason!"

"But, Oliver," Alicia Spinnet, our reserve player, spoke up. "Snape's not refereeing for us, is he?"

Oliver nodded vigorously. "McGonagall told me this morning. I don't know why, but we cannot let him foul our chances of winning the Quidditch Cup!"

"No wonder you found him suspicious," Jasper said. "He certainly didn't win himself points with his behavior."

I laughed. "That's exactly what we thought at the end of the year."

"So, what happened?" Emmett asked eagerly.

Harry shrugged. "We won. I caught the Snitch in about five minutes."

"Eventually, we figured out who Nicholas Flamel was. It turned out that he was the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone." Hermione looked around. Everyone looked puzzled. "It gives the user immortality and wealth."

"Immortality isn't the best thing in the world," Carlisle immediately protested.

"If you're rich and unhappy, what's the point?" Alice frowned.

"That's just it. Some people are insanely greedy, and others fear death. That's how there are ghosts at Hogwarts," Remus explained.

"Would you become a ghost or live forever?" Rosalie asked curiously.

With no hesitation, Remus shook his head. "No. Immortality is not worth the loss of your loved ones."

"Same," agreed most of the other wizards in the room.

Rosalie looked at me. "Bella?"

I glanced at her, amazed. She was willingly asking my opinion? I thought over my answer for a second. "Well, nothing can be truly immortal; we all will die eventually. You have to deal with loss at some point, no matter how long you live. Spending a longer than average lifetime with those you love is understandable. But if someone just wants to avoid death, I think that's selfish."

Rosalie blinked. "But you'd be giving up so much to be immortal."

"Rosalie, I'm not going to become a vampire right away. I still have a couple of years."

Rosalie's face got a determined look.

Harry POV

Bella wants to become a vampire? As I thought about it, I could see the reason she would want to be one. She'd be stronger, faster, and be able to live with Edward for a long time. But what about children? Could vampires even have children? And what about when we all aged and died? How would she feel then?

I stopped my train of thought because Edward looked like he was brooding. Alice and Emmett apparently thought so, too. They each picked up a pillow and threw it at him. One smacked him in the face, but the other hit Bella. She laughed. That brought Edward out of his musings.

Ginny tapped my shoulder. "Sometime this year, hon?"

"Back to the story," I reminded everyone immediately.

Emmett and Jasper coughed something that suspiciously sounded like "Whipped." Rosalie and Alice raised their eyebrows at those two, who stopped mocking me. I hid a smile. Whipped, indeed.

Bella POV

"Okay, now—I may not have mentioned this earlier—but in the springtime, Hagrid got a dragon egg. It was kind of cute when it hatched, too."

"A dragon." I think we broke Sirius, I thought. He didn't even look shocked.

"You just happen to conveniently forget that there was a dragon that year." Remus lay down on the pillows. "Please tell me you convinced Hagrid to get rid of it."

Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, as a matter of fact, we did."

"Good!" everyone in the room exclaimed.

"But not before it got a nice bite out of my hand," Ron grumbled. Hermione smacked his chest. "Ow!"

"He was fine," I reassured Esme. "We made him go to the hospital wing. We also wrote his brother, Charlie, who works with dragons. He told us his friends were going to come pick it up."

"Unfortunately, it was at midnight in the Astronomy tower. And Malfoy got the letter." Harry winced.

"The Invisibility Cloak would only fit two people since we were going to carry Norbert. Since Bella was still under the Clumsy Curse, and Ron was in the hospital wing, Harry and I took Norbert to the tower." Hermione grimaced, remembering what happened the next day.

I woke up from a dreamless sleep only to find Hermione crying in the corner. The other girls were gone.

"What's wrong? Did you guys get hurt with Norbert?"

Hermione shook her head. "We got Norbert out okay. But we forgot the Cloak on the way back down. Filch caught us."

I winced. "That sucks. Did you guys get detention?"

She nodded. "And fifty points taken away from Gryffindor, each. What's worse, Neville and Malfoy were there. They got the same deal."

I blinked. "That means—"

"Gryffindor lost one hundred and fifty points last night, taking away our points for winning the Quidditch game and our chance at the House Cup," Hermione sobbed. I got up and wrapped my arms around her.

"Well, at least Norbert is gone. And I'm sure the twins have done worse. I know for a fact my uncle and his friends did worse during school." Of course, they always won those points back, but I decided not to mention that. "We'll get the points back, Hermione."

"They'll hate us," Hermione whispered.

"Surely it wasn't that bad," Esme said.

Sirius and Remus winced. "It probably was. We take House competitions seriously."

"It was." Ron nodded. "All the students, except the Slytherins, were angry. Slytherin had won for the past seven years."

"Oh, man," Sirius groaned. "What have those kids been doing?"

"Even Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were against you?" Remus asked. We all nodded.

"Cedric!" I hollered, racing to catch up to the older Hufflepuff. I tripped. Cedric turned and caught me from falling down the stairs. "Thanks. I haven't seen you in a while."

Cedric shrugged, smiling. "I've been busy, Bella. How have you been?"

"Good. But Harry's run into a little problem."

Cedric frowned. "Those House points, right?"

I nodded. "Everyone has had something to say about it. Even the Hufflepuffs are shunning him."

"The Slytherins have won for the past seven years, Bella. We were finally hoping that someone would beat them. Gryffindor is the only House that stands a chance. And now that Gryffindor is out of the running, it looks like Slytherin will win again. Nobody's happy about that. Having three first years lose all those points didn't help matters."

I sighed. "I just wish they wouldn't take it out on Harry, Hermione, and Neville. This gives Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws a chance for the Cup, too. They just have to try harder. Somehow, I know that this year Slytherin won't win the Cup."

Cedric laughed. "Yeah, if you say so. Get to class. We don't want Gryffindor to lose even more points."

"Promise to try to get the Hufflepuffs off their backs?" I begged.

"I'll try. No promises they'll listen to me, though."

I grinned. "Thanks, Ced!" I turned and bolted for Charms.

He was wrong. All the Hufflepuffs looked up to Cedric; he was the embodiment of all things Hufflepuff. Loyal, fair…if he told the others to lay off, they would. Even if they didn't like it.

"It worked, I take it?" I was sure Alice already knew the answer, though.

I nodded. "Ced's just that cool."

Emmett chuckled. "Oh, Ced?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me. I felt Edward tense slightly.

"Yeah, Em, he's kind of like you, only nicer. He's like my cousin." I threw a pillow at Emmett. It missed.

"Be nice," Esme commanded.

"After that, the Hufflepuffs laid off Harry, Hermione, and Neville. They still had to serve detention, though."

I peeked over Harry's shoulder at the note McGonagall had sent him. He honestly had detention at eleven o' clock at night? Nothing good could come out of that detention. I shivered as my scar froze and I saw a dark figure bent over a dead unicorn.

"Harry, be careful tonight, okay?" Harry looked at me funnily. I rolled my eyes. "Look at everything that's happened so far this year."

He nodded. "I'll be as careful as I can."

"Where did they go?" Sirius looked like he was bracing himself for the blow.

"The Forbidden Forest," Harry told him cautiously.

Sirius slammed his face into a pillow. "I will be having words with McGonagall."

Ron and I were asleep in the common room. We had fallen asleep waiting for Hermione, Harry, and Neville to return.

Harry shook us awake around midnight. Neville immediately went up to bed.

"Well?" I asked. "What happened?"

"We went into the Forbidden Forest. We were searching for something that was killing unicorns."

I gasped. Killing a unicorn was a serious deal. "Did you find it?"

He nodded. "It was Voldemort."

Ron jumped. "Don't say that name!"

"Why would he be drinking unicorn blood, though?" Hermione asked.

"If you kill a unicorn, you're cursed to live a half life. That's what Firenze said."

"Firenze?"

"The centaur that saved Harry. He also let him ride on his back." Hermione sounded confused.

I gazed at Harry in awe. "A centaur let you ride his back? Wow."Ron looked amazed, too.

"Why did everyone make a big deal out of Firenze letting Harry ride him? He got him to safety, and he committed a crime?"

Ron turned to Hermione. "Centaurs are very proud creatures. Riding one of them is like having…" he trailed off, thinking.

"Like having Harry lend you his broomstick? Or getting Oliver to let you skip out on Quidditch practice?" I offered.

Ron nodded. "It wouldn't happen normally."

Hermione's eyes widened. "Oh."

"That night, Harry found the Invisibility Cloak on his bed. Someone decided to return it to him. A while later, Harry heard Quirrell being threatened. Naturally, we suspected Snape. But Harry promised himself not to get into anymore trouble that year." Ron coughed something that sounded like, "Impossible." Hermione smiled. "Yes, Ron. It was. He managed until exams were over. Then, he got a thought in his head. We ran down to Hagrid's to ask about the dragon egg, since they're illegal."

"Got it from a feller down in the pub," Hagrid told Harry. I was bewildered. Why was Harry asking about Norbert now?

"What did he look like?"

"Dunno. He didn't take his hood off. Not unusual, fer tha' pub."

"What else did he say?" Harry asked urgently.

"He asked 'bout Fluffy, 'bout how I managed him. Told him he was 'armless, as long as you played some music. Then he'd fall as—"

Hagrid stopped talking, but we had already realized what he was going to say. We all turned to each other, and dread bubbled up in my stomach. On an unspoken signal, we all turned and raced back to the castle.

"We have to tell McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, clutching her side as we reached the Entrance Hall.

"She should be in her office," I told her. I turned and bumped right into Fred and George.

"Hey, guys." I tried to sound casual; I failed.

They looked at the four of us suspiciously. "What are you guys doing?"

"Looking for McGonagall. Hermione here can't wait to find out what she got on the exam." Hermione scowled at me for throwing her under the bus.

George rolled his eyes. "I think I saw her going toward Flitwick's room."

I grinned. "Thanks!" I took Harry's arm and walked away slowly. When we could no longer see the twins, I let go of Harry. "Okay, here's the deal. Harry, you let either me or Hermione do the talking. More than likely, she won't believe you because of the dragon incident. If we explain—"

"Explain what?" a cold voice spoke from behind me. I spun around quickly, tripping over my robes. Ron kept me from falling.

"Why I wanted to check on my exam grade, Professor," Hermione bravely answered Snape.

Snape sneered. "You'll get your grade when everyone else doe, Miss Granger. Now, why don't you four go outside? It's a lovely day, after all."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, sir."

So we had no choice but to head in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go.

We lost Snape and were able to see Professor McGonagall.

"Mister Potter, what is the meaning of this?" she asked as we came barging into her office.

"We know about the Philosopher's Stone," Harry told her immediately.

"Professor, we think someone is going to try to steal it to help Voldemort come back to life," I explained.

"How do you four know about the Stone?" she asked. "And what makes you think that You-Know-Who will come back?"

"Harry saw him in the Forest during detention," Hermione said. "The Stone grants immortality, and isn't that what he wants?"

"Professor, someone else is working with Voldemort," I added, ignoring her and Ron's gasps. "We think it's either Snape or Quirrell."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Quirrell?"

"Both Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell are trying to protect the Stone, Miss Swan," McGonagall reprimanded me. "Neither of them would try to steal it. Now, off with you. Forget about the Stone. It's well protected."

"You four didn't believe her, so you went to protect the Stone yourself," Jasper guessed.

Harry shrugged. "Bella believed her; I didn't. We decided to sneak down at night under the Cloak, to make sure."

I scoffed. "That's what you think. I wondered if McGonagall suspected Quirrell; if she did, she couldn't exactly tip him off."

"She decided to spy on Quirrell," Ron elaborated.

"She stole my Cloak," Harry grumbled.

I snuck up to Harry's dorm while he was ranting about what would happen if Voldemort returned. He was right; which was why I had to stop him from doing something stupid. If he didn't have the Cloak, he couldn't go out without being caught. Hermione wouldn't let him.

I silently crept downstairs, then waited until someone entered the portrait hole. I walked slowly to the third floor corridor, nearly running into several students. I saw one who might be able to help me, in case things went downhill. I pulled off the Cloak, hid it, and waved to get Cedric's attention.

"Bella," he greeted me, coming over. "How are things? Did you get through the exams all right?"

"Yeah. Listen, Ced, you know how there's the corridor we aren't supposed to go in?"Cedric nodded. "Someone's going to try to steal the Sorcerer's Stone—that's what's in there. Harry wants to get there and hide it again, but if he waits until after curfew then it'll be too late."

"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked.

"Be my backup in case things go wrong?" I looked at him hopefully. "Pretty please? If something goes wrong and someone gets hurt, then at least someone will be able to get a professor. Plus, you know more spells than I do. All I plan on doing is watching the door to see who goes in, I swear."

Cedric nodded, resigned. "But if I get in trouble, it's on your head, understand?"

I nodded and hugged him. "Thanks, Ced."

We ducked under the Cloak—Cedric was excited to see one in real life, they were so rare—and continued toward the third floor corridor. We got there just in time to see the door close. I threw the Cloak off of us in annoyance.

"Crap!" I hissed. "Did you see who it was?"

Cedric shook his head. "All I saw was a cloak."

I had figured as much. "You want to come with me, or get a teacher?"

Cedric looked at me as if I was crazy. "If you think I'm going to let you go into a room with a potentially dangerous person, Swan, you're sadly mistaken."

"Then let's go."

We peeked in the room and found the cloaked figure bewitching a harp. It turned, and my scar froze for the second time that day. I saw, once more, a purple object falling to the floor. But this time, I knew what it was. A turban.

"Quirrell," I breathed, unable to believe it. Quirrell turned and whipped out his wand. Cedric pulled me out of the way just in time; the curse blasted part of the door away. He pulled the Cloak over us again, and put his hand over my mouth. I didn't even have time to wonder why. Quirrell stepped out and pointed his wand directly at us. How could he see us? I panicked. Cedric drew his wand and whispered, "Protego!"

Seconds later, Quirrell sent a spell into the shield. He probably would have done worse, but footsteps sounded in the hall. Quirrell disappeared.

We waited with bated breath. A few minutes later—long enough for Quirrell to get through the trapdoor—Harry, Hermione, and Ron appeared. I sighed in relief and anger. I was trying to keep them out of this!

"Harry!" I cried. I pulled the Cloak off me. Cedric followed soon after. "It's Quirrell! He's after the Stone, not Snape!"

Harry looked at Cedric. "You told him about the Cloak?"

I rolled my eyes. "I had to. I was trying to keep you out of this, and Ced has more experience with this. He protected us when Quirrell tried blasting us to bits."

Hermione gasped. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "We're fine. Please tell me at least one teacher is on the way."

"No. We came looking for you, figuring you'd be here." Ron glared at Cedric. "We didn't expect you and your boyfriend to be here."

"One, he's not my boyfriend. Two, are we going to stand here talking or go after Quirrell?"

"Let's go," Harry decided. He turned to Cedric. "If you don't want to come with us, it's understandable. Let McGonagall or Dumbledore know what's going on."

Cedric folded his arms. "You Gryffindors really are crazy. Like I told Bella, I'm not letting you four go after a madman alone. Bella's my friend, and you're all first years. Gryffindor may stand for bravery, but Hufflepuffs take loyalty very seriously. And if that means following you fools into danger, then fine."

Harry nodded. Ron and Hermione looked surprised. I just watched Cedric with tears in my eyes. He truly was the embodiment of all things Hufflepuff.

We entered the room carefully, on the lookout for any movement. There was nothing, so we moved to the trapdoor. Harry opened it and dropped in first. Ron and Cedric went next. Hermione and I followed right after them.

It felt like falling down a really long slide. When I finally landed, I had the breath knocked out of me. There was something soft beneath me, but it was moving.

"Get up!" Cedric cried. "It's Devil's Snare!"

Hermione was already clutching the wall, and I jumped up as fast as I could. Harry and Ron were entangled.

"Don't move! If you fight, it'll kill you faster!" Hermione shrieked.

"Hermione! Ears!" I winced.

"Incendio!" Cedric pointed his wand at the Devil's Snare. It burned and shriveled up, dropping Ron and Harry. They yelped and I screamed. Cedric peered down the hole. "They're all right." He jumped after them.

I peeked. The drop wasn't very far, maybe five feet. I looked at Hermione. We nodded and jumped as one.

Landing next to Harry, I tripped over his outstretched arm. Hermione grabbed my shirt sleeve before I fell completely.

"Where next?" Ron asked.

"I hear wings," Harry told us. I focused, but I couldn't hear anything. We followed Harry down the hall and found…

"Keys. Flying keys. Harry, I think this was made with you in mind," Cedric joked. There were three brooms in the middle of the room. Harry, Cedric, and I went over to them while Ron and Hermione checked the door.

"Locked!" Ron told us. "Not even Hermione can open it."

"What kind of a key are we looking for?" Cedric asked.

"Old fashioned. Maybe a bit rusty, like a handle."

"Like that one?" Harry pointed to a flying key with a bent wing.

"Yes! Quirrell would have been in a hurry to catch the key to get to the Stone; it's gotta be that one." I grabbed a broom. Harry and Cedric grabbed the other two.

"How long did it take you to catch the key?" Emmett asked.

"A few minutes. After we got the door open, we went into the next room. It turned out to be a giant Wizard's Chess board."

"How is it different from regular chess?" Jasper asked.

"The pieces come alive," Ron said, "and smash other pieces."

"And if you had to play as a piece," Edward groaned, "you could get hurt."

Hermione nodded, grabbing Ron's hand. "Ron was a genius. I was the queen, Harry and Cedric were bishops, Bella was a castle, and Ron was a knight."

"He kept us all in perfect health, and took down several main pieces. But, like in real chess, sacrifices had to be made." Harry looked at Ron.

"It's the only way," Ron explained. "I have to be taken. Then, Harry, you can checkmate the king. See, he's trapped. He has one space to move, and if you get there first, he's dead. Checkmate."

"As soon as the game is done, Cedric will take him to the hospital wing."

"No, I'm going with you."

"You need to make sure Ron and Hermione get past Fluffy safely. Quirrell could kill you. He tried earlier tonight. He won't kill me or Harry."

"How do you know that?" Cedric snapped. "I don't want to be the one to tell your uncle you died!"

"We won't die. I just know it. Trust me."

Cedric, pain filling his eyes at leaving us behind, finally nodded.

"All right, Ron. Do it." Harry looked ready to protest. I had just about had it. "It's the only way, Harry! We have to stop Quirrell. I don't want this any more than you, but Ron is a master chess player, and he's only eleven. If he says it's the only way, then it's the only way."

Before we could argue anymore, Ron called his next move. His horse moved forward and was soon in position. The queen moved in his direction. Hermione turned away as the queen struck Ron's horse, causing him to fall heavily to the ground. Hermione tried to go to him, but Harry stopped her.

"If you move, we lose and Ron's move was for nothing!"

"Go, Harry," I whispered. He stepped forward until he was in position.

"Checkmate," he called.

The king let go of his sword and it fell at Harry's feet. We waited a moment until we knew it was safe, and then Hermione rushed to Ron's side. Cedric wasn't far behind and he pulled her out of the way to check on Ron.

"He's still breathing, but he might have a concussion. The sooner we get him to Madam Pomfrey, the better." Cedric hoisted Ron up. Hermione supported Ron's other side without having to be asked. "Go. He'll be fine. But if you die, I will bring you back from the dead and let your uncle kill you."

I laughed shakily. "We'll be fine."

Harry and I entered the next room after watching the other three disappear. There was a dead troll in the room. We moved on, covering our mouths and noses from the dreadful stink. The room after that had potions and a riddle. Luckily, Remus had given me a book of riddles and made me practice, so after about five minutes I was able to find all the poisons and the wine.

"So, this one," I said, holding up one potion, "will allow you to move forward. The other one allows you to go back."

But there was a problem. There only seemed to be enough to allow one person to go onward.

"What if we each drank half?" I asked.

"Bella, you should go back and check on Ron."

"No." Before he could stop me, I uncorked the potion and drank half of it. It felt like ice cream. I handed the rest to him. He scowled but drank it.

"Let's go." I walked through the flames confidently.

"We got into the final room. Bella was right; it was Quirrell, not Snape. But he wasn't alone."

I watched in horror as Quirrell pulled Harry to face the Mirror of Erised.

"What do you see?" Quirrell bellowed.

"I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore," Harry stuttered. He sounded shocked. "I've won the House Cup."

Quirrell looked disappointed. He let go of Harry and went to grab my arm when someone whispered, "He lies."

I got a chill up my spine. It sounded like a snake hissing. Voldemort, I thought, though I had no idea where the thought came from.

Quirrell caught Harry by the collar of his neck and hauled him back around. "What did you see, boy?"

Harry didn't speak.

"Let me speak to him, face to face," the voice breathed.

"But Master, you are not strong enough for this!" Quirrell sounded afraid.

"I have strength enough for this." Quirrell reluctantly unwrapped his turban and let it fall to the floor. I watched it fall, fascinated. This was what I had seen on the first day of school.

I looked in the mirror and was nearly sick. Quirrell had two faces. The second one was speaking now.

"Harry Potter. Isabella Black."

"It's Swan, Voldemort," I corrected him. "Get it right."

"That's Voldemort?" Harry gasped.

"See what you've done to me, Harry Potter?" the face asked. "Now, thanks to you, I had to go into hiding for all those years. Luckily, Quirrell found me in a forest in Albania."

"He tried to steal the Stone for you; when that failed, you merged with him to make sure he got it," Harry deduced.

Voldemort looked angry that his speech had been interrupted. Aw, too bad. "Yes, Harry Potter. Now, Quirrell, take the stone from his pocket."

Quirrell flew up the stairs (how did he do that?!) and grabbed Harry by the throat. I jumped onto Quirrell's back and found myself right next to Voldemort's face. It sneered at me. I punched it, feeling majorly disgusted when my fist connected. Quirrell jerked away from Harry, throwing me off his back.

"What is this?" he cried. I looked at his hands. They were burning.

"The Stone! Get the Stone!"

Quirrell tried to obey his master's orders, grabbing Harry again. Harry's face started turning blue.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I flicked my wand and pointed it at Quirrell. He froze and fell backward, letting go of an unconscious Harry.

I sighed in relief. It was over. I turned to the sound of footsteps behind me. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Cedric stood there.

"Bella," Cedric cried. He looked horrified. I spun halfway, and saw Voldemort's spirit escaping Quirrell's body. The spirit had enough energy to send me flying into the Mirror of Erised. It broke around me, and I landed in a pile of glass. I felt it pierce me in several places. I smelled the blood, and immediately the room began spinning. The last thing I remembered was McGonagall conjuring stretchers for me and Harry.

"Cedric told me later, in the hospital wing, that he raised the alarm at once. McGonagall was in a nearby corridor with Flitwick. He told McGonagall what was going on, and Flitwick took Ron and Hermione to the hospital wing. Dumbledore appeared out of nowhere and led them down to the room, bypassing all the defenses."

"You are so lucky Cedric only wrote and told me you had an accident." Remus looked furious. "I would have found a way to bring you back from the dead and kill you. For Merlin's sake, Bella!"

I winced. "Now, Uncle Remus…"

"Don't you Uncle Remus me! Forget keeping an eye on you; you're on Burrow arrest until September first." His eyes were swimming with amber. It would be a bad idea to push him now, but I just couldn't stop.

"I'm of age! You can't ground me!"

"I can, and depending upon how you look at it, you're still also a minor! You expect me to take the fact that you and Harry faced down Voldemort as first years lying down? No, Isabella." Oh, crap. There was the full name. "Purposefully going to face Quirrell, who you knew was dangerous, was bad enough. But to end up facing Voldemort as well? I understand second year and fourth year, there was nothing you could do about that. Fifth year, you were with more than one adult and you had more experience. But you were lucky to have survived any of those! As a first year, next to only Harry, you could have died. Alone. If Cedric hadn't immediately raised the alarm, Voldemort could have either killed or possessed you two!"

I frowned, looking down. I hated seeing Remus like this. "I'm sorry. We weren't thinking."

"Obviously," Remus snarled. "I'm going out before I do something I regret later on." He stormed out of the room.

"Remus," I called.

"Let him go, Bella. He'll cool off." Sirius turned to Harry. "Same goes for you, Harry. House arrest till term starts, and be glad that's all it is." Harry's mouth had dropped open in indignation. "If Lily were still alive, she probably would have stuck to you like glue for several months, had several people guarding you, and locked you up in your room."

Harry sighed.

"What happened at the end of the year?" Ginny asked, trying to get everyone's minds off of what had just happened.

"Well, we lost the Quidditch Cup. Alicia Spinnet played Seeker, but we were still short a Chaser. These two got out of the hospital wing a few days before school ended." Ron pointed to us. "Before they got out, though, McGonagall visited."

Madam Pomfrey told us we were allowed to leave at lunchtime. I was staring at the magical clock, waiting for the last ten minutes to disappear. Harry was doing the same.

"Miss Swan, Mister Potter," McGonagall's voice greeted us. We twisted our heads to see her enter the room with Cedric, Hermione, and Ron.

"Professor Dumbledore has decided what to do about your extremely reckless behavior. For some unknown reason, he has decided to award each of you sixty points for protecting the Stone. Mister Weasley is awarded fifty points for the best played game of chess ever seen at Hogwarts. Miss Granger gets twenty points for not abandoning her friends."

Hermione gasped. "That gives Gryffindor a total of five hundred and two points!"

McGonagall nodded, smiling slightly. "Indeed it does, Miss Granger. But I also have to award another House points." I glanced at Cedric, who blinked. "I award Mister Diggory one hundred and seventy-five points for protecting younger students to the best of his ability and standing by his friends. He is—"

"The epitome of all things Hufflepuff," I cut McGonagall off proudly. She looked at me strangely.

"I was just about to say the same thing."

I giggled, and nearly cried with happiness. This gave Hufflepuff five hundred and twenty seven points, putting them over the top and winning the House Cup for the first time in a long time.

Cedric looked like a fish out of water. "But…Professor…"

"You deserve it, Mister Diggory."

Hermione squealed and launched herself at Cedric. "Congratulations, Cedric!"

"Hufflepuff won?" Ron asked, catching on.

We all nodded. Harry laughed.

Ron shrugged. "I guess, for a duffer, he did all right."

I gasped, pretending to be offended. Cedric had gotten redder than me. "They're not duffers, Ron! They're the bravest House after Gryffindor, because they stand by their friends. Sometimes that takes as much courage as tickling a sleeping dragon."

Sirius's eyes widened. "They really won?" Hermione nodded. Sirius laughed. "I'll have to tell Tonks. I doubt she'll be able to believe it."

"Is that all of your first year?" Esme asked as a clock in the Burrow struck midnight. "If it was, then you should go to bed."

"All right, Esme." We all left the room to get ready for bed.

Hopefully tomorrow wouldn't be as bad. We already told them about the Basilisk; surely I won't get in even more trouble for something I had no control over?

Like I said, nice long chapter. And nice short A/N's. The next several chapters are basically going to be summaries of their school years, but-as you can tell-they're different from the books in a lot of places. Any filler chapters you guys specifically want? Let me know and I'll decide how I want to fit them in, if they work with the story.