Chapter Eight

Obviously knowing what he does now he knew Dumbledore wouldn’t travel to the Ministry via broom.

Not when he has other more efficient methods to travel there.

“Hell, even the Knight Bus would be quicker” Harry thought.

Alas Harry had a role to play.

And play it he did.

He had gone through the motions of “discovering” what was hidden behind the Third Floor corridor throughout the year.

After all it wouldn’t do if Dumbledore had to change his plans to something Harry couldn’t predict.

He did so this time however as a lone Slytherin.

Mostly because he wanted to keep his friends clear of the game played between Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Harry easily breezed his way through the supposed “traps”.

“It’s looking more and more like this was set up for first year me” Harry thought to himself.

“There is no way in hell these would keep Voldemort away from the stone” Harry lamented.

This was pretty much confirmed when instead of a broom and a key to test his seeker skills.

Something he hadn’t shown off this time around.

There was instead a wooden mannequin that he had to “duel”.

Obviously Flitwick’s choice after Harry spoke to him about the man's experience in the duelling circuits.

Sure the mannequin didn’t put up much of a fight.

But it was clear that its intended purpose was to teach the basics to Harry.

That wasn’t the only change.

McGonagall's chess set was missing this time around too.

Replaced instead a series of puzzles that required him to Transfigure a number of keys to open the door ahead of him.

Each key needed a specific size and material to work.

Thankfully they were the only tests that had changed.

Everything else was exactly the same.

The Troll was already taken care of, proving Quirrell was already ahead of him.

Snape's potion riddle was easily handled.

He didn’t even need to read the clue.

Only doing so because through his charmed glasses he could see a Disillusioned Dumbledore following him.

Harry however offered no indication he was aware of that fact.

Instead focusing on what's to come.

And so with squared shoulders and a straight back he downed the potion required to pass the flames.

Once in the chamber with the Mirror of Erised he saw Quirrell standing right before it.

The man turned around to face Harry with a sneer.

“Here comes the monologue” Harry thought.

To which he wasn’t disappointed.

Quirrell began talking about how nobody would suspect poor stuttering Quirrell.

“Wow talking about yourself in the first person much” Harry responded sarcastically.

This seemed to infuriate Quirrel and throw him off his game.

Obviously he was expecting a scared worried first year.

Seeing his minion was thrown off his game Voldemort demanded to see Harry.

Once again Quirrell worried his master was too weak.

Something Harry suspected would have gotten Quirrell a crutio if Voldy was in his own body.

Instead all Voldemort could do was say he had strength enough for this.

And so Quirrell unfurled his turban and turned his back to Harry.

The moment emerald eyes met crimson Harry felt a Legilimency attack burrow into his shields.

His scar burned terribly.

But thanks to the training he had gotten unwittingly from the Dark Lord over the previous year he was more than able to Occlude his mind.

Something Harry felt no shortage of pride over.

However instead of showing that he played along as he was ordered to stand before the mirror.

Once again the reflection of himself dropped the stone into his pocket.

Harry, after all, had no intention of using it.

Sure immortality sounded nice.

And the gold that it could produce was also great.

But neither of those things really held much interest for Harry.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Something which proved to him beyond a shadow of a doubt that while there were numerous similarities between himself and Voldemort.

The differences were so vast that they were insurmountable.

What followed went pretty much as he remembered.

It was all he could do not to use any advanced magic.

Especially with Dumbledore in the corner watching on.

Thus he played the untrained first year to perfection.

Relying only on the Blood Protection he had from his Mother to defend himself.

Thus when Quirrell grabbed him he grabbed back.

The burning sensation he felt was just as excruciating as he remembered.

But it affected Quirrell far worse than it did himself.

With his teeth grit with determination he held onto Quirrell for all he was worth.

The man screamed in agony but Harry refused to let go.

Soon the part he was holding had turned to ash.

Quirrell stepped back with a shaky staggered step.

That proved to be the last thing he did as his entire body crumbled into a heap of ash on the floor.

Harry then pretended to sigh with relief.

He couldn’t afterall show he had any idea what was about to happen.

And just like last time the wrath of Voldemort rose from the ashes of his former vessel.

With a scream of impotent rage he flew towards Harry.

The attempt to possess Harry was halted as he was ejected viciously.

The wraith was now smoking.

The protection of his Mother no doubt felt to Voldemort like he had been dunked in acid.

Before Harry could do anything else his body succumbed to the magical exhaustion he was feeling coupled with the burns he suffered in attacking Quirrell.

As such his eyes rolled into the back of his head and all he saw was black.

When next he woke up it was to find him in the Hospital Wing.

He sat up shakily and reached out for his glasses that were on the side table.

With his glasses on it didn’t take long for him to see Dumbledore there.

Along with a large number of get well soon cards and presents.

Dumbledore did his whole mysterious schict.

Answering questions with answers that would only beget more questions.

Harry however expected this and as he already had the answers to those questions he was less bothered by the lack of honesty coming from Dumbledore than he thought he would be.

Thankfully the headmaster soon left.

Thus leaving Harry the chance to go through his cards and gifts.

“Must remember to send a thank you to everyone” Harry told himself.

Something he didn’t do last time.

Before he knew it everyone from his study group arrived to visit him much to Madam Pomfrey's dismay.

Obviously they all had questions.

And unlike Dumbledore Harry had no problem answering them honestly.

Many of them found it hard to believe Harry had gone up against Voldemort.

The fear on their faces was evident to see.

Harry however got a House Elf to bring him his Pensieve to which he showed them the memory.

They were all shaken with fear when the memory ended.

“So you see with him still out there we have to train and study harder” Harry said.

Harry knew most of them would end up as the man's enemies anyway.

And unlike Dumbledore he refused to leave them unprepared.

And so he vowed to make sure they were as prepared as possible.

The memory of so many students killed and covered in white sheets spread across the Great Hall was something he was simply not going to allow again.

It also helped that by showing Harry had faith in them and was going to help them survive what was to come he gained the study group's loyalty.

Even more so than he previously had.

They spent the next while talking about what they should do now.

At first Hermione wanted to tell an adult about what had happened.

It took a while to convince her that might not necessarily be the best idea.

“But how come?” She demanded.

Her obsession with authority figures was still going strong at this point and hadn’t suffered anything to temper it like “His” Hermione’s had done.

So Harry carefully explained how not all Authority figures would handle this news well.

Something that was backed up by Daphne Greengrass of Slytherin and Susan Bones of Hufflepuff.

“The Minister is useless and only cares about staying in power,” the latter said.

“He is known for burying his head in the sand in regards to anything actually difficult” Neville responded.

He then went on to explain numerous times his Gran had come back from Wizengamot meetings complaining about him.

Daphne then mentioned all the Death Eaters he let off with the “Imperius Defence”.

And how they are almost all in positions of power now.

Thus even Hermione had to agree that letting those people know that Voldemort is still out there is a bad idea.

“We still have a while yet” Harry said calmly.

“We will use this time to prepare to the best of our abilities,” he said, earning a nod from those around him.

“And when he does come back again he won’t know what hit him” earning a round of cheers from the group.

Unfortunately the noise they made was too much for Madam Pomfrey.

And the stern Medi Witch soon kicked them out leaving Harry alone with nothing but his thoughts.

Choosing to use that time productively he began writing thank you notes to everyone who sent him a card or gift.

Thankfully his time in the Hospital Wing soon came to an end.

Just in time for the end of year feast.

The Great Hall was draped in Slytherin colours.

And as Harry was a Slytherin himself this time around there were no last minute points awarding the House Cup to Gryffindor.

Before he knew it he was back on the Hogwarts Express.

Hedwig had once again taken his wand with her.

Thus once again preventing the Trace from being put into effect onto him.

For the most part the journey back was enjoyable.

He and the members of his Study Group all squeezed into one compartment.

They played Exploding Snap.

And several other games to pass the time.

Soon enough they were pulling into Platform 9 ¾’s.

He and his friends said their farewells promising to write over the summer.

“That’s if Dobby doesn’t intercept my mail again” Harry thought.

Harry then headed towards the irate lookingVernon Dersley.

“Well come on boy get a move on!” he demanded.

Harry obediently did as he was told.

Carefully getting his chest (which he had charmed featherlight again) into the back of Vernon’s car.

And thus they began the drive back to Privet Drive.

The only sound between them was the radio and Vernon's bouts of road rage.

“Thank Merlin I made plans for this summer” Harry thought not looking forward to the prospect of a summer with his relatives.

And so came to an end Harry’s second first year.

All in all he thought he had accomplished quite a lot in that time.

But he knew there was much more to do.

And he was determined to make the best of each situation as they came.

It was with these thoughts he looked out of the window staring at the passing scenery.

His mind was a whirl with his plans and counterplans.

He struck off the ones he had accomplished.

And began focussing on the ones he has yet to move onto.

With all that in mind he actually felt quite hopeful for the future.

His eyes looked into the distance as though looking towards said future.

And with that he smiled a hopeful smile.

Something that Harry hadn’t been able to do any of the previous times he was forced to return to Privet Drive.