20 The Philosopher’s Stone

January turned into February, which then gave way to March. Classes progressed as usual, and Hermione was allowed to attend a few more Arithmancy lectures. She was enjoying herself and was becoming friends with the other students. Hermione thought even if she wasn't going to take the class with them next year, it would be nice to have students who had taken the class already and could help her if she needed it.

Lavender and Parvati had taken a liking to Sally-Anne and her ribbon. They thought it made her look lovely, and Lavender kept wanting to "fix the rest of her." Sally-Anne wasn't quite sure how she felt about that, but Parvati usually reigned in her friend before she could get too carried away.

Hermione and Ron had started playing chess regularly, something for which Harry was grateful, since he didn't have to be Ron's opponent anymore. During the chess matches, Harry and Sally-Anne would usually sit quietly and talk amongst themselves. Rose would join them on occasion, but usually vanished to places unknown.

"Alright, I give up," Rose said one morning at breakfast.

"What's wrong?" asked Sally-Anne.

"There's nothing on Nicholas Flamel in the Library. I have read literally every single book in that place, and I haven't been able to find anything about him."

"How can there be nothing on this man in the Library?" Harry asked.

No one questioned how Rose had read every book. She had been disappearing randomly for the past few months, so she certainly had the time.

"Dunno," Rose replied.

"Maybe he's obscure, or just a friend of Professor Dumbledore's," Hermione suggested.

"Can't we just ask Professor Dumbledore?" asked Sally-Anne.

"Asking an NPC? I don't know, something about that feels wrong to me."

"What if we just say that we're researching Flamel for a class assignment?" suggested Ron.

"Without knowing who he is?" Hermione asked. "What if really is just a friend of Professor Dumbledore's? Then he'd know instantly that we were lying."

"Harry, didn't you say you saw the Package at Gringotts?" Sally-Anne asked, turning towards Harry. "What did it look like?"

"I don't know, it was wrapped up."

"What shape was it?" Rose asked.

"Erm…" Harry thought back to the day in Gringotts. "Like a lump of clay or something."

"You mean asymmetrical?" Hermione asked.

"I guess?"

"Asymmetrical means most likely not man-made," Hermione said. "Humans have a tendency to prefer symmetrical objects."

"Maybe it's gold!" Ron exclaimed.

"Why would Professor Dumbledore bring in a giant dog to guard something as common as gold?" Rose asked.

All four of her friends turned to look at the pale girl.

"'Common'?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Rose said. "I've got tons of it."

"You do?!" exclaimed Ron.

Rose reached into the Picnic Basket and produced a few gold coins. "See? I've got tons of the stuff. That's an awful lot of trouble for something so easily obtained otherwise."

"She's right, in a sense," Hermione said. "It might not be as common as Rose thinks it is, but it is easy enough to obtain gold."

"So not gold," Ron said, a little let down.

"We aren't going to take it, regardless," Hermione said sternly.

"I know," Ron said. "I'm just saying… gold!"

"Why would Voldemort want gold?" Rose asked.

Ron yelped at the name. "Don't say that name!"

"Why not? It's just a name. Names don't hurt people, Ronald; dragons hurt people."

"How come you don't like dragons?" Harry asked.

"Still, if Voldie's people are after it, then it must be something they can use to res him."

Harry leaned over towards Sally-Anne. "Why doesn't she like dragons?"

"She won't say," his friend replied. "Hermione and I think her parents were killed by one."

Harry nodded.

"Isn't Professor Dumbledore teaching an Alchemy seminar this afternoon?" Hermione asked. "Why don't we go and see if he mentions Flamel?"

"Weren't we planning on going to that anyway?" asked Rose, who had been planning on going to the Alchemy seminar anyway.

"You were planning on going, Rose," Ron said. "We were not."

"I wouldn't mind going," Sally-Anne said.

"If Professor Dumbledore's teaching it, then I'd like to go too," Harry added.

"I guess if everyone else is going," Ron sighed. "I might as well. I just hope we're not the only ones there."

"I'm glad to see so many new faces in this year's Alchemy seminar," Professor Dumbledore said that afternoon.

The five of them weren't remotely the only people there. In fact, the classroom was packed. The five of them had relinquished their seats when they saw how many people were there. It had been Sally-Anne's idea, and Hermione agreed that it'd be polite. Rose and Harry didn't really care either way, and Ron once again succumbed to peer pressure.

There were a whole variety of students that most of them didn't recognize. Percy and Alex were both there, along with the third-year Arithmancy class.

"As many of you know, Alchemy is the study of the four basic elements and transmutation of objects between the four. From Alchemy, many common practices and techniques for potion-making and transfiguration were founded."

In Rose's world, Alchemy was a sort of lite magic. There were all manner of useful, usually fairly cheap alchemical items that could be used in place of low-level magic. Rose had several alchemical items on her person. She had torch bug paste, dust eggshell grenades, and alchemical sun flashes, all of which were great for minor miracles.

As the seminar progressed, she learned that Alchemy wasn't all that different in this world. It still involved minor transmutations and potions. Rose had always liked Alchemy. She had always seen it as asking the fundamental question "Which of these materials will make the best explosion when mixed together?"

After the seminar, everyone applauded. Rose really hoped that there was a class on this; it would be an absolute joy to take. Not only was Professor Dumbledore knowledgeable about the subject, he did a good job of teaching it.

The five of them approached Professor Dumbledore after the crowd of people around him dispersed.

"Professor, who's Nicholas Flamel?" Rose asked.

"He's a colleague of mine," Dumbledore replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Because that name's the only lead we've got on the Package," Rose replied simply.

"I would ask that the five of you leave that alone," Albus replied. Had it been any other group of students, he would've wondered how they'd figured it out. But, considering that Rose Peta-Lorrum and Hermione Granger were the two smartest witches in their year, and possibly the next few above them, it didn't surprise him. Add to that the natural Potter curiosity, Sally-Anne Perk's newly discovered people skills, and the impulsiveness of Ronald Weasley, and that summed up to a group of students that were bound to get into trouble sooner or later. Or save the world. Or both. Albus liked to keep an open mind.

"I don't want to take it! I just want to know what it is!" Rose whined. "I can't find anything on him in the Library!"

"Might I recommend the Encyclopedia Arcana?"

"I don't think there's a copy of that in the Library."

Hermione had heard that title before. Where had she–

"Hold on," Hermione said. "I think I have that!"

Rose turned to her acting best friend. "You've got it?"

"I didn't want to use the bracelet on a book that big, so I've been reading it the old-fashioned way."

"Good call," Ron muttered.

"After you've discovered what it is, tell no one," Professor Dumbledore said. "If you do, not only will I find out, but as punishment, I will take 50 points from each member of Gryffindor House, and you will all be serving detention every day with Professor Snape until you graduate. That may not necessarily exclude the summer."

Hermione's eyes widened as she realized that that would mean 3500 points would be taken from Gryffindor house. There was no way that Gryffindor even had 3500 points to take. Could the house points go into the negatives? And most importantly, why did Professor Dumbledore sound cheerful while delivering threats?

Harry was more concerned with the part about it possibly including the summer. Which would be worse? A summer with the Dersleys, or a summer with Professor Snape? The Dersleys were family, but Professor Snape hadn't physically abused him yet.

"Okay!" Rose replied cheerfully.

There was something about the crimson-haired girl's tone that led Albus to believe that she had no problems with this. It occurred to him that Severus had complained frequently that the odd girl was trying to become his friend. Simple enough; she wasn't the first student to take threats as challenges, and she wouldn't be the last.

"Except for you, Ms. Peta-Lorrum," Professor Dumbledore concluded. "You will be serving detention with me, and I will be devising a series of boring tasks for you to undertake."

Rose grimaced. "Alright, fine."

"Is that all?" Albus asked the group of first-years.

"That's all," Sally-Anne confirmed. "Thank you very much, Professor Dumbledore."

"I'm glad I can still be of help in my old age," he said, smiling his best grandfatherly smile. It amused him a little that people described him as "grandfatherly", despite having neither spouse nor children.

The group returned to Gryffindor Tower, and Hermione brought the book down to the common room. When she did, Rose was waiting with her wand drawn.

"Doublespeak," Rose cast in Elven.

"What's that do?" Hermione asked, feeling no different.

"To anyone else, the five of us are just talking about the weather, or an upcoming Quidditch match," Rose explained.

Harry groaned. "That's right, Wood's having us practice tomorrow morning."

"How come he works you all so hard?" Sally-Anne asked.

"I hear Alicia Spinnet complaining about it in Arithmancy sometimes," Hermione said.

"He takes it very seriously," Harry said. "It's fun and all, but I hate waking up so early just before Potions."

"At least you're on the team!" exclaimed Ron. "I'd give anything to get to play on the Quidditch team in my first year!"

"And now we are talking about Quidditch," muttered Rose. "Oi! Doublespeak doesn't last forever, so who wants to do the honors?" Rose turned to Hermione and Ron. "Any takers?"

"Go right ahead," Hermione said to Rose. "It'll probably just render us comatose."

Ron nodded his agreement.

"Suit yourself," Rose said, reaching down and tapping the book. She felt a familiar rush of information enter her head, as facts about most of the wizarding world were copied from the book into her mind. She got to the part about Nicholas Flamel, and visualized every individual word. One phrase in particular stood out; the instant it entered her mind, she knew exactly what was hidden in that corridor.

"It's a Philosopher's Stone," she said. "Nicholas Flamel created a Philosopher's Stone."

"What's a Philosopher's Stone?" asked Harry.

"An alchemical stone that was said to be able to turn any material into gold," Hermione replied.

"See?!" exclaimed Ron. "Gold!"

"That's not all it can do," Rose added. "It can also produce the elixir of life."

"What's that do?" asked Harry.

"It turns the user immortal," Hermione said.

"Typical," Rose huffed. "Every evil megalomaniac just wants to be immortal."

Harry's face was beginning to turn pale. It had occurred to him several times that he was the first target on Voldemort's hit list should he ever come back to life, but hadn't actually thought it possible for the Dark Lord to return to life until just now.

"But if Vol– erm… You-Know-Who is already dead, then it won't work, right?" Sally-Anne asked, seeing Harry's face.

"I don't think so," Hermione said, "but if that's the case, he must know, right? Why go through this much trouble if it's not going to work?"

"What if that's not the reason?" asked Ron. "What if it's just good old-fashioned greed?"

"Whoever it is, they were able to break into Gringotts," Rose said, "so we're not dealing with some common mook. This is someone with skill and resources. And someone who knows about the Stone already. It took us this much time and effort to find it, and this person has known about it since September."

"I doubt Professor Dumbledore even told the goblins at Gringotts what it was," Hermione said.

"And the person knew which vault it was in," Ron added.

"There's only one category of people that fits that," Rose said. "The staff."

"Snape!" exclaimed Ron triumphantly.

"We've been over this, Ronald," Hermione said. "I doubt Professor Snape is trying to kill Harry without Professor Dumbledore knowing about it."

"He might try to kill Rose."

"But Rose is asking for it," Hermione said.

"Oi!"

"Would you two stop it?" Sally-Anne said. "This isn't helping!"

They both followed her gaze, and saw Harry looking a cross between scared and sad.

"Sorry, Harry," Hermione said.

"Sorry, mate," Ron said.

"If he comes back… he'll…" Harry's voice trailed off.

"Listen," Rose said, turning to Harry. "If Voldie comes back, the only difference is that you'll have an actual memory of him dying. That's all there is to it."

"It's getting late," Sally-Anne said, "and a lot has happened today. Why don't we all get some sleep? We know what the Package is now, so we don't need to worry about it anymore. Professor Dumbledore is protecting it, and no one can get past him."

Sally-Anne was still shy and timid, but ever since getting the ribbon, she had felt different. With the complements she had received, it helped her build up her self-esteem so much that now she was a lot more confident than she had been before. Knowing that Harry was just as shy as she had been, she felt that she should be speaking up for him. Sally-Anne knew that Rose meant well, but judging by the look on Harry's face, the pale girl's overabundance of confidence wasn't helping.

The other four students agreed and bid one another good night.

<I'm bored!> Rose informed Reflectesalon that night. <I think I'll go for a walk!>

<Hmm… Why not the Forbidden Forest?>

<Yup!>

<Nah! It'll be great! I might get XP for it!>

Both of them knew that the argument was pointless, since Rose had already blinked through the castle wall and was currently floating to the ground below. Still, Rose had asked that Reflectesalon be the responsible one, thus freeing her from needing to be responsible.

With that, Rose began a stroll through the Forbidden Forest at midnight. Rose wasn't expecting to find anyone else out on a stroll, so when she did find someone, she was a little surprised.

What she found was a cloaked man, or possibly woman, kneeling over a dead unicorn, apparently drinking its blood.

"You know that only works when the unicorn's alive, right?" she asked.

The blood of a living unicorn could sap the strength of an evil creature, or increase the DC of a Fortitude save by one. However, the blood of a dead unicorn could do none of this. At least, that's how it worked back on De'rok.

The figure didn't say anything, but instead stood up to face her. It advanced on her, drawing its wand.

Rose's father was a Healer, and therefore had a unicorn companion. Sarista the Unicorn was Rose's best friend until she was nine years old and her parents died, but until then, Rose had enjoyed playing games with her unicorn, and from that point on, Rose loved unicorns. This man had just killed an innocent unicorn, and Rose was going to see to it that he regretted it.

Without so much as flinching, Rose glared at the man's wand, and a bolt of lightning shot out of her eyes. It lanced through the air and struck the wand, ripping it apart instantly.

"Weren't expecting that, were you?"

The figure looked down at his now empty hand, then back to Rose.

"That could be your head in a minute," Rose said. "Depending on how fast you can run."

The figure glided off into the night, but Rose wasn't going to let him get away just like that. She power surged Serendipity and aimed her at the figure.

"Dragoneye Rune!"

Artificers got an ability that Rose typically didn't use, since it expended additional charges on Serendipity, called metamagic spell trigger. It allowed her to apply a metamagic feat that she knew, in this case Reach Spell, to a wand or staff, such as Serendipity, but at a cost of additional charges. Reach Spell, as its name suggested, extended the range of the next touch spell Rose cast out of her "wand" to 30 feet.

Glowing lines were drawn on the murderer's back as he fled. The lines glowed red as the rose-shaped rune was completed and vanished from sight.

Having successfully permanently branded the perpetrator, Rose turned to look down at the unicorn. She crouched down beside it and stroked the poor creature's mane.

"It's alright," Rose whispered. "I've got you."

Rose checked her blindsight to verify that no one was within 60 feet of her, then looked around for good measure. She didn't want anyone to know that she could do this.

Rose gently touched the unicorn with Serendipity.

"I wish it were alive."

The wound in the unicorn's side sealed itself, and the majestic creature quickly clambered to its feet. It looked around frantically, taking in its surroundings.

"It's okay!" Rose said quietly. "It's alright, the bad person is gone now. It's just me."

The unicorn settled down, and Rose began to gently stroke its nose. "It's alright. He won't hurt you again, I'll make sure of it."

The unicorn whinnied affectionately and nodded at her, and turned to gallop off.

<Good news is that I can actually res creatures in this world,> Rose pathed to Reflectesalon as she watched the creature gallop off into the night.

It had taken Rose until a few nights ago to fully understand the severity of her situation. She wasn't just on a different plane; there were a completely different set of rules on the Rowling Plane than on De'rok, and all of its associated planes, which meant that this was an entirely different world, possibly with a different DM.

Having come to this conclusion, Rose was trying to rid herself of all assumptions that she had been making. One such assumption was that death worked the same way in this world as in hers. In her world, when a creature died, its spirit left its body and traveled through the astral plane. If creatures in this world didn't have spirits, then she wouldn't have been able to resurrect them with Serendipity.

<Perhaps, like everything else in this world, it has different properties,> suggested Reflectesalon.

<Hmm. Maybe Professor Snape knows!>

<Well, I'm sure he'd know! It seems like a Potions Master thing!>

As they had Potions the next day, Rose stayed after for a moment to talk with Professor Snape.

"Professor Snape?"

"Peta-Lorrum?"

"What purpose does drinking the blood of a dead unicorn serve?"

Severus stared at the young Gryffindor. "Why?"

"Because I found someone drinking the blood of a dead unicorn last night in the Forbidden Forest."

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor… No, twenty points for entering the Forbidden…" his voice trailed off. Hadn't Albus mentioned something recently about something killing unicorns in the Forbidden Forest?

"Professor?"

"Still stands, 20 points," Severus said, rising to his feet. "Come with me, girl."

"Where are we going?" she asked cheerfully. "Can my friends come too?"

"We are going to see Professor Dumbledore, and no."

"Oh," Peta-Lorrum said. "Alright."

Rose turned to her friends. "Catch you later. Remember to stay out of trouble, and don't do anything I wouldn't!"

"You mean like follow the rules?" asked Hermione.

"Or make sense?" added Ronald.

"Peta-Lorrum!"

"Coming!"

Rose cheerfully skipped alongside Professor Snape as he led her directly to the Headmaster's office.

"Sherbet Lemon," he muttered, and the gargoyle that protected Professor Dumbledore's office hopped to one side to allow them access.

"Severus," Professor Dumbledore greeted the Potions Master cheerfully, although his cheer vanished when he saw Rose. "Rose, what did you do this time?"

"She was wandering the Forbidden Forest last night," Professor Snape said. "I have already docked her points for it, but that's not why we're here."

"Oh?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Tell him," Professor Snape commanded her.

"Last night I found a humanoid in a black cloak drinking the blood of a dead unicorn," Rose replied. "I destroyed its wand and marked the person before it escaped."

"Marked how?" asked the Headmaster.

"Dragoneye rune. Has Professor McGonagall explained her pendant to you?"

"To the best of her ability."

"I used that same spell to mark the wretched unicorn killer I saw in the Forest," Rose replied. "I haven't seen the mark yet, although it was only last night that I saw the…"

Rose's voice trailed off as she remembered exactly why she used dragoneye rune over arcane mark. Dragoneye rune was a second-level spell, as opposed to the cantrip, but it had two major benefits. The first benefit that the higher level spell provided was the ability to treat the inscribed person or object as familiar for the purposes of Divination magic. The second was that three times per day, the inscriber of the rune could sense the relative direction and distance of the rune.

Rose activated the rune and immediately learned the direction to the vicious killer of innocent unicorns. She pointed in the direction the rune gave her.

"That way."

"What is that way?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Dragoneye rune allows me to detect the range and bearing from me to the rune three times per day," she replied. "If I'm not mistaken, that's the Great Hall."

"Everyone's there right now," Professor Snape said, "although if you are to be believed, then that means it was a student or staff member."

"Professor Quirrell."

"Why do you believe that it was him?" Professor Dumbledore asked, apparently interested in what Rose had to say.

"He tried to kill Harry during a Quidditch match, and he let in a troll on Hallowe'en."

"What proof do you have?" Professor Snape asked.

"I think Hallowe'en is fairly self-explanatory," Rose began. "During the Quidditch match, we saw two people staring intently at Harry: Professor Snape, and Professor Quirrell. Hermione identified it as a jinx, so we figured it had to be one of the two of them."

"Is that why someone set my robes on fire?" the Potions Master growled.

"Sorry about that," Rose said, glancing over her shoulder at him. "Anyway, if it had to be one of the two of them, then I figured it would have to be Professor Quirrell. Professor Snape has been here for several years, despite walking around wearing all black and glaring at everyone as if he's angry at people for existing. He might as well be wearing a tunic that says 'Blame me, I'm evil.'" Rose glanced over her shoulder at Professor Snape again. "No offence. You're still my favorite professor!"

"Yay," Professor Snape replied without a hint of enthusiasm in his voice or on his face.

"But Professor Quirrell recently took a position known for its inexplicably high mortality rate," the girl concluded. "That's enough to make me suspicious of him on its own, but then he 'accidentally' lets a troll into the castle on Hallowe'en, which just so happens to be the night on which Voldemort was destroyed. And then he becomes a suspect in an ill-conceived assassination attempt. It's fairly obvious to me that he's at least in on it."

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum, while that is a quite compelling argument, I can't simply accuse one of my staff of attempted murder without more concrete evidence," Professor Dumbledore said calmly. "However, I appreciate you informing me of the man in the Forbidden Forest."

"I never said it was a man, Professor," Rose said. "I couldn't easily tell."

"Noted," Professor Dumbledore replied. "Once again, thank you, Ms. Peta-Lorrum."

"You're welcome!"

"You may go to lunch," the headmaster said.

"See you later!" she exclaimed, hopping up from her chair. She smiled at the Potions Master on her way out of the room who glared at her in response.

<Alright, Ref,> she told her sidekick. <If they won't do anything about Professor Quirrell, then I'll just have to handle it myself!>

<Hasn't Professor McGonagall ordered you not to do that?>

Peta-Lorrum was starting to grind on Quirinius's last nerve. First, she foiled his attempt at distracting the staff with a troll, although Malfoy Jr. and those two mudbloods had interfered just as much as she had with that one. Then the girl foiled his admittedly haphazard attempt at murdering Potter. Then she disrupted his monthly consumption of unicorn blood, and forced him to acquire a new wand. Didn't the girl realize that there were lives at stake?! Most importantly, his! Now he had found her sitting at his desk with her feet propped up on his desk.

"Salutations, Professor Quirrell," the crimson-haired mudblood greeted him. "Here's the deal: Whatever it is that you're doing, you need to stop. You have endangered the lives of three of my friends, and you killed a unicorn. I like unicorns, so you should count yourself lucky to still be standing there with all four of your limbs intact." She flashed him a cold smile and stood up. "You go after my friends again, that will change faster than you can blink."

Quirinius opened his mouth to speak, but the young Gryffindor cut him off.

"Don't care what you've got to say, I already branded you last night," Peta-Lorrum said. "So I don't just think that it was you, I know it was. Also, if, by some miracle you can kill me, it won't make a difference. I've already informed Professor Dumbledore of everything I know."

Quirinius nearly turned pale. Dumbledore knew about this? If Dumbledore himself knew what was going on, it was over. Although, if the Headmaster did know, then why wasn't he here instead of this pest?

"This is your last warning, Quirrell," Peta-Lorrum said. "I catch you threatening the lives of my friends again, or killing sweet, innocent unicorns, and you're finished."

The girl vanished in a puff of rose petals, leaving Quirinius to listen to the screaming of an enraged boss.

March slowly turned into April, and then May, and the end of the term began to loom in the distance. Hermione was enjoying the benefits of an increased intellect, one of which being that she didn't need to study so much. That didn't stop her from studying, of course, but it was nice to know that she didn't have to study nearly as hard as she would have otherwise.

Harry was becoming increasingly paranoid, eyeing everyone as if they were about to turn into Voldemort himself and kill the boy.

"I don't understand how you can all be so calm about this," Harry said one night. "If Voldemort comes back, he'll come straight after me!"

"And if he does," Rose said, "I'll take his wand and shove it in a very uncomfortable place on his person."

"Harry, there's no way that Professor Dumbledore's gonna let that happen," Sally-Anne said. "Voldemort would have to get into Hogwarts, through Professor Dumbledore, through Professor McGonagall, and finally through all of us." She paused, then added, "Well, I'm not sure if I'd be able to do much, but I'm sure everyone else could!"

"Why do you lot have to keep saying that name?!" Ron exclaimed.

"Because it's only a name," Hermione said. "Look, if you two are both so worried–"

"I'm not worried!" protested Ron.

"–Then why don't we go talk to Professor Dumbledore about it right now?"

"I think that's a good idea, Hermione," Sally-Anne said, nodding. She smiled at Harry. "Then you'll see there's nothing to worry about."

"I guess," Harry murmured.

The five of them went up towards Professor Dumbledore's office, stopping when Rose abruptly stopped walking.

"That's strange," Rose murmured.

"What?" Harry asked. He looked around them in alarm.

"Professor Dumbledore's been this way not too long ago," she replied, turning around.

The entire group spun around and began to trot to keep up with the quick-moving girl. They were moving so fast, in fact, that they nearly all ran straight into Professor McGonagall.

"What's the matter?" she asked, seeing the panicked expression on Harry's face.

"Where's Professor Dumbledore?" Rose asked her.

"He's gone for a few days," Professor McGonagall replied. "He had some business to attend to at the Ministry."

Harry went pale. This couldn't be happening. Professor Dumbledore was gone?! He was their main line of defence! Professor Dumbledore was the one person of whom Voldemort was supposedly afraid. Without him, what chance did they have? Rose was tough, but this was Voldemort, the most feared wizard in history, not some troll or dragon.

"Harry, it's alright," Sally-Anne whispered. "Don't panic."

"Would you five care to explain what you're doing out of Gryffindor Tower a few minutes before curfew?"

"Harry thinks that an attempt on the Package is going to be made tonight," Rose said simply.

"Peta-Lorrum, I'm going to ask you 'What package?', and your answer can't be–"

"The Package."

"Exactly that," Professor McGonagall hissed. Her voice got low. "I'm going to tell you five this just once: Leave it alone. Each member of the staff contributed some form of defence to that item."

"But–" Harry began, but Professor McGonagall held up her hand to indicate silence was required. No matter what the situation, it was well known that when Professor McGonagall asked for silence, she was given silence.

"If I find that you five haven't done exactly this, then each of you will receive a penalty of 50 points, and detention for a month. This is for your own safety. Do I make myself clear?"

Four heads nodded, with Rose joining after Hermione elbowed her.

The five of them watched as their head of house walked off, then the first-years returned to Gryffindor Tower.

"She's right, Harry," Hermione said. "Every member of the staff put up protections around that thing. That includes Professors McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Vector. There is no way that someone will be able to get to it."

"Why not?"

"Professor Dumbledore is the best of the best," Hermione said. "Professor Vector has invented a few spells herself, and Professor McGonagall is brilliant at Transfigurations."

"And Professor Snape is too paranoid to overlook anything," Rose added.

"Don't worry," Sally-Anne said for possibly the hundredth time in the past week. "Professor Dumbledore will be back in a few days, and everything will be alright."

Harry nodded his agreement and went off to bed. As he did, he was already formulating a plan. If the professors weren't going to do anything about it, then Harry was going to take matters into his own hands.

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