Chapter 82 : Trials of the Philosopher's Stone
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And when Harry did transform back, one look into his misty eyes was all it took to confirm his fears. He didn't know what was going on in Harry's head and the boy had the tendency to think too much. He didn't know what to do to fix whatever was wrong. All Severus could do was hold Harry tight as he cried with a desperation he had never witnessed in the boy before.
Severus was observing Harry from a distance; for the first few days after they had returned from the Forbidden Forest, the boy seemed like a shadow of himself, not making eye contact, stealing glances at his brother just to assure himself he was still there. And then, out of the blue, a few days before the exams started, a new fire started burning in Harry's eyes and he talked to Severus about just what had happened.
The potions master couldn't believe in his ears; was Harry seriously blaming himself for being scared upon meeting the Dark Lord essentially for the first time? Upon witnessing said Dark Lord drinking unicorn's blood in a dark clearing inside the Forbidden Forest? Everybody would be scared, hell, he had been scared too! And he made sure to tell him so; after all, only a fool or a madman could stand in front of such a scene and not feel fear and Harry was neither. But what he had to say, even if it soothed the boy's guilt -and it was just like Harry to feel guilty about something he could not control, that incorrigible, lovable son of his- did nothing to quench that fire in his eyes.
Harry had seen Voldemort, had felt for the first time just how real the threat he posed was and he was determined to fight. The potions master didn't know if he should be terrified or not, seeing Harry so decided. He probably would have been -he was always afraid something would happen to the boy, he couldn't help it- if he wasn't so proud at the same time.
Harry on his part had done his best to overcome his guilt; in all truth, he couldn't say he had succeeded completely, but a late night realization while he was revising for his Transformation exam made him snap out of his self-pitying. What in Merlin's name was he doing? He was supposed to be training, he was supposed to be improving! He felt so angry at himself for not reacting so he had decided to pick up a book and hide behind it? His anger flared and burned away any traces of fear that might have been left behind; it flared, it rose and burned and with a final burst dispersed, leaving behind clarity and calmness as such he had never felt before.
He would train. He would improve. And he would never allow himself to freeze in a situation like that again. He couldn't promise to himself that he wouldn't be afraid, for his heart he could not control and really, how many times had Severus warned him against trying? But he wouldn't allow his fear to stop him again. And Harry had chuckled, his heart lighter than it had been for days. He had run down the stairs to the Common Room and gave his brother a tight one armed hug, leaving him startled.
"What was that about?" Adrian, who was deep in a conversation with Ron and Hermione, asked.
"I just finished what I needed to review for Transformation and felt like sharing." Harry stated with a wide grin, before walking back to his bed to actually finish revising.
"See what studying too much can do to you, Hermione?" He heard Ron ask as he walked away. "You should stop before you lose your marbles too." Harry had spent his days since then studying as always, his decisiveness reinforced. The exams passed like a breeze, for him at least. Hermione had seemed determined to surpass his scores but even she stepped back after Harry transformed the mouse he was given to a snuffle box made of pure gold and precious stones, its design so ornate even Professor McGonagall had to pause before smiling widely at him.
The last exam -History of Magic- came to an end in a general atmosphere of joy; they were finally done! The results would be out in a week and, with the last Quidditch game two days later, the official end of their first year at Hogwarts was nigh. Harry's good mood lasted only up to the moment when he caught sight of his brother's shocked face as he dragged Ron and Hermione with him towards Haggrid's hut; something told him that Adrian had finally wondered where Norbert's dragon egg had come from. He and Severus had already drawn the conclusion that the incident had Quirrell's name written all over it. The chance it was a coincidence was one in the million if one considered the timing and Harry and Severus had taken that Quirrell knew how to get past Fluffy as a given. All he was missing now was the opportunity.
With that knowledge, the potions master had sent Nicholas a letter, telling him of his worries, but the alchemist, knowing that if the Stone wasn't safe in Hogwarts then it wasn't safe anywhere, answered that he would take his chances. Harry had sighed and hoped they would be able to stop any attempts Quirrell made. He was returning from Severus's office after reading that letter, thinking of how he might yet persuade Nicholas to hide the stone elsewhere. He entered the Common Room with a sigh, not really expecting to find anyone awake so late at night; he should have known better; right there, in the middle of the floor, lay the clearly petrified body of one Neville Longbottom.
Harry's mind jumped into action; Neville had clearly been petrified after everybody else had already gone to sleep, or else someone would have noticed. And since the chances of an outside attack targeted on Neville was highly unlikely, it must have been one of the Gryffindors that had casted the Petrificus Totalus. The only reason to do it would be if Neville got in their way. And after the one hundred and fifty points lost and a detention in the Forbidden Forest, there were only three people Neville might oppose to sneaking out at night. Besides, there were only three people that might have reason to. And who knows how long they were gone already. Oh brother, what have you done?
Harry turned around immediately without alerting Neville -who seemed to have dozed off anyway- to his presence. He left the Common Room in a daze, heading for the third floor and the forbidden corridor, his wand in hand. He wanted to go and get Severus first, but one second of delay might even be too much. The green eyed boy ran as fast as his feet could take him, not caring -maybe hoping at that point- if he met with a teacher on his way. He didn't though and by the time he reached the forbidden corridor he was in a half mad state. Fluffy was barking from behind the door and only then did Harry realize he had no idea how to get past him. But for once subtlety wasn't the point; if he had to tear a Cerberus to pieces in order to get to his brother then so be it. He pushed the door open softly, not wanting to alert the dog of his presence immediately.
The dog was barking over the open trapdoor, making it clear that someone had gone through him; at least his brother had survived that. He scanned the room quickly, his attention being drawn by two things; one, the invisibility cloak was discarded on the floor. Two, a harp lay half broken a few feet away. There was only one reason why the harp should be there. With a quick Reparo that got the dog's attention the harp was as good as new. Another flick of his wand made the harp strings produced sound; the spell wasn't going to last for long, and the sound produced couldn't be classified as a tune exactly, but it seemed to affect Fluffy nonetheless; his eyes closed and he fell on the floor in a heap. Harry grabbed the cloak, threw it around himself and walked towards the trapdoor.
He cast a Lumos down the trapdoor, the beam from his wand illuminating what appeared to be some type of a crawling plant. Highly doubting the possibility Dumbledore had asked Professor Sprout to plant honeysuckle, Harry held on his wand and jumped. The plant did break his fall and then proceeded to try and break his bones, vines encircling his legs, marking the plant as a Devil's Snare.
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