With the term rapidly drawing to a close and the student body finally free of the burden of exams, the freed student populace of Hogwarts was spending more and more ti relaxing outside the castle's walls, enjoying the sumr sun as the days grew steadily warr.
However, all was not well, it was only by chance that he happened to overhear Neville, Ron, Dean, Seamus, or as so of the older students called them, the 'golden fourso,' talking in the library about them attempting to stop Snape from stealing the 'Philosopher's Stone that Fluffy was guarding on the third floor.'
Unsurprisingly, this made Harry question his own adventures on the third floor the previous Christmas, and to reconsider the true purpose of the enchanted mirror he had stolen. Was the mirror the real prize? Or was it just a safeguard created to protect this stone?
Given his inquisitive nature, he was half tempted to follow the four Gryffindors and see what happened to them. But he realized at the sa ti that if he went back down there and got caught, a likelihood with those four, then it would bring unwanted attention upon himself, and possibly raise so uncomfortable questions as to just how he knew so much about the third floor's defences. This would likely lead to his involvent in stealing the mirror being discovered. That was not sothing he could afford at this point.
Therefore, the safe bet was to just ignore it and allow the golden fourso to deal with it on their own, rather than risk revealing his own involvent. If they didn't die, he'd likely hear about it through the rumour mill anyway.
Snorting in amusent at his own thoughts, he really had to co up with another title for the group of lions, rather than continuing to use 'golden fourso.' After having received a rather detailed sex 'talk' from the mischievous Tonks, terms like 'fourso' had new anings. After all, he had no need for such imagery to be floating around in his mind.
He ntally cursed Tonks' na once again for tainting his mind. He had to admit, though, that it was kind of funny watching the four going around embracing the title wholeheartedly, totally unaware of what fourso actually ant.
The question arose as to what they'd be called if Granger was added to their group...Thankfully, no words ca to mind to describe the five of them in such a lascivious manner, before the word gang-bang mockingly floated into his head, causing him to violently curse Tonks once more for what she had done to him, for tainting his once clean mind.
He banished these thoughts to the back of his mind, making a ntal note to lock such stuff away in a forbidden section of the codex, at least until he was older.
Anyways, it was clear that the Lions were going to do sothing based on their raised voices, causing the stern faced librarian to head over to confront them, before kicking them out with a look of glee on her face.
So, the question was what should he do now?
He thought over everything he had overheard from behind the book stack. He quickly recapped. First, it made no sense to involve himself and possibly expose his actions over Christmas, yet at the sa ti the traps could be fatally dangerous and potentially kill the four of them. While he didn't consider them to be his friends, it would be for the best to warn a staff mber of the group's intentions.
After all, there were two huge trolls, a Cerberus, a man eating plant, a murderous chess set, flying keys who aid to impale trespassers, and poison at the end... And frankly he didn't consider the lions competent, skilled or patient enough to overco the defences thodically, like he had.
He finally decided to talk to his head of house about what he had overheard, so that the staff could ultimately handle the situation. This way, if worse ca to worst, he wouldn't feel guilty if one of them did actually get themselves eaten by Fluffy the Cerberus.
Besides, if he tid things right, he could use the lions as a distraction for the staff, as he tried to recover the enchanted map from the caretaker's office, whilst the professors were busy dealing with the lions. Who knew what else he could find in the caretaker's storage room? After all, it would be far easier to crack than the 3rd floor.
With his decision made, he decided to put his plan into imdiate action as he left the now quiet library in search of his energetic head of house.
...
He waited patiently outside the charms' classroom for the current class to end, which he noted was his friend Penny's class. He was currently sitting across from the doorway waiting in a cross legged lotus position, using the free ti to once again think over everything he had just overheard in the library.
At the first opportunity he would have to look over the stolen magical mirror again, in case he had missed sothing by mistake or out of ignorance. As skilled as he was he knew he was still woefully ignorant of many things concerning magic.
Then he thought more about Professor Snape, the lion's current pri suspect. At first glance the potion master looked like a pri candidate for stealing the 'stone.' After all the guy was foul, a bully, and acted and dressed like many of the prototypical villains he had seen in the movies, like wearing full black and exuding the nacing aura of a dark wizard.
At the sa ti he was the so called death eater who had turned spy at great personal risk, based on everything Daphne had heard about the professor from her parents, who had curiously warned her about the potions master before even starting school. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't know much more about the man, besides that he was once a good friend of his mother's before they had a major falling out when Snape had called his mother a mudblood.
But in the movies, and most books, it was never the one you expected, the obvious one. It was always the quiet, brooding ones, that were the masterminds, the main villain, as he thought about Darth Sidious from Star Wars, as he made several uncomfortable comparisons with the aging headmaster. There were a lot of similarities there, that's for sure.
Whatever the truth was, whether villain or hero, the potions master was under the headmaster's protection, a man who was arguably the most powerful wizard in the whole of Europe, if the papers were to be believed.
This claim was due to his personal magical prowess and knowledge, as well as his significant political influence, both in Britain and abroad. He had serious doubts that an educated man such as professor Snape would betray Dumbledore lightly, especially when Snape owed Dumbledore for his freedom to this day.
Sure the Philosopher's Stone offered endless wealth and eternal life, and that would surely tempt one to betray even the best of friends, but the headmaster didn't strike him as a fool. The elderly wizard would surely be certain of the man's loyalties before allowing him to be so close to such a valuable object, as well as letting the professor set his own defences in the form of a potion based riddle.
So that made the shady potion master an unlikely candidate for the role of thief, but it wouldn't surprise him if Professor Snape did have so designs to steal the stone, assuming a chance arose to do it without revealing himself as the culprit. After all, it wouldn't be good to have the most powerful wizard in Europe hunting you. Before he could continue his ntal examination of the situation, the classroom door opened.
Standing up quickly before he could be crushed by the sudden onrush of student bodies, he pressed himself up against the cold stone wall as Penny suddenly noticed him. He gave a slight wave to his older friend, who returned the wave with her free hand. "Harry, were you waiting for ?" she asked cheekily.
Smiling back at his friend as he answered, "I'm afraid not, but it's always good to see you of course, I just needed to have word with our head of house." He made a gesture towards the open door, noticing monts later a minor frown of disappointnt appeared on Penny's features before he continued. "You can join if you'd like? Then we can go do sothing if you want?" he offered.
"Sure," Penny replied back, before following him back into the charms' classroom.
"Harry, Penny, what can I help you with? You should already know that I can't give you your exam results before anyone else, that would be unfair," asked Professor Flitwick in his classic hyperactive manner that Harry had co to expect as normal from the charms professor. He privately wondered just how many sugar cubes the short professor normally put in his tea.
"No, it's not that, I already know I did well," he answered back with a confident smile, before he turned serious. "I just wanted to report a serious matter that may concern several students' safety," this caused the professor's easy smile to disappear, to be replaced with a serious frown.
"What is it you wanted to report Harry; I doubt you would waste my ti otherwise?" The head of Ravenclaw house replied seriously, putting his papers to one side, before giving him a firm look that distinctly reminded him of Bloodmoon.
"It involves the 3rd floor and Fluffy the Cerberus," he offered back to the professor casually before continuing. "I overheard earlier today, whilst I was in the library studying, that Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnegan, believe that Professor Snape is going to steal the Philosopher's Stone tonight, since the Headmaster has gone away on unexpected business.
They have foolishly got it into their minds that they it's their duty to personally stop him and play the role of hero, rather than telling a professor of their concerns," he answered with a strong dose of disapproval clear in his voice, revealing as much knowledge as possible that could be explained rely from eavesdropping on the group.
It took the charms master a couple of seconds to compose himself before responding to Harry's concerns, "I'll have a word with their head of house, as well as make sure the prefect patrols tonight are watching out for them.
That being said, I seriously doubt that Professor Snape is going to try to steal the stone, the Headmaster trusted the man with its defence," Professor Flitwick answered seriously, defending his fellow teacher despite the potion master's pathetic attempts over the years at sabotaging his own house's chance at winning the house cup.
He gave the charms' master a calculating smile, "I agree with your assessnt, Professor Snape is an extrely unlikely candidate, but I still think this situation needs to be taken seriously, and a teacher should keep watch over it tonight, just to prevent an attempt on the off-chance that the danger is real. Plus it wouldn't do for so little Gryffindors to be eaten by a big, bad, hungry Cerberus now would it?" Harry replied thoughtfully.
"What is the philosopher's stone?" Penny suddenly asked in an interested manner, having taken one of the seats at the front desks, whilst watching the unfolding exchange.
"It's an extrely powerful magical artefact, a product of the most advanced alchemy, which is rumoured to be able to turn any base tal into gold and produce a substance known as the 'Elixir of Life,' which offers the drinker eternal life," Harry replied automatically without thinking, causing both the shocked professor and Penny to suddenly look at him anew.
Penny just nodded after that, accepting his explanation at face value.
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