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Things at Hogwarts went into the hot phase before the exams. In all houses students were working hard to prepare for the exams. Harry, Terry, Lisa and Tony had built a study group for the preparation, another was Su, Sylveena, Kevin and Michael and the third one consisted of Padma, Morag and Mandy. Sometimes the groups were joined by other classmates from the other houses and more than once they interchanged depending on the subjects. Susan and Hannah joined the group around Harry for Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts, which the two houses had together. Neville sometimes joined them for Transfiguration. His Charms work was good enough on his own that he, Hermione and Miranda only occasionally asked Harry for a hint.

While the students were busy repeating the things they had learned over the year, Quirinius Quirrell was trying to find a way to get to the stone. The first attempt on Halloween had been a failure. While he had managed to get the answer of how to get past the damned Cerberus from the drunken Hagrid, he wanted to kick himself for not believing the rumours about Potter singing the beast to sleep. Music was the answer. The more problematic part was that now there were more wards on the corridor. He would have to sneak in there undetected first and Dumbledore, after the DMLE was now involved, kept a much closer eye on everything. He was running out of time. He had to resort to drinking unicorn blood to keep alive, but Dumbledore had been told already that something was killing the unicorns in the forest. So far he had killed two and would need to get a third soon to keep alive with his master using up his body. They needed the stone to get two powerful bodies.

He had extracted the information about the obstacles from Sprout and McGonagall by using Legilimency. None of them had noticed anything, but then again, his master was a master legilimens and they had only needed a few seconds to get the information. There was a mix of two plants in the first room. Devil's Snare and Dragon's Breath weed. One loving the dark and weak against fire, the other loving fire and producing a poisonous spore if in close contact with fire. Tricky, but doable. McGonagall had animated a giant chess-board. With the chessmen being charmed to not let anybody pass. Manageable. The tricky parts were Snape, Flitwick and Dumbledore. Flitwick was part goblin and the damnable critters were immune against Legilimency, Snape was a master occlumens and Dumbledore the same.

He didn't know if Snape was truly loyal to Dumbledore or was just biding his time, but it was too risky to test. And he got to feel the fury of his master again and again. He couldn't even harm the Potter boy during the Quidditch match as the whole school including Dumbledore had turned up. He didn't know if he suspected anything, but his presence had effectively disrupted his plans during the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match. Which the damned Ravens had won. The Gryffindors had also beaten the Hufflepuffs, but only by a margin of one hundred ninety points. The game had been over soon as the Hufflepuff seeker had seen the snitch first and only a lucky turn of the snitch in the direction of the Gryffindor seeker had got them the victory. The game had ended 240:50 for Gryffindor. Which meant without an extremely long match, something happening to the Ravenclaw key players and the Gryffindors having an extremely good day, the cup was secure to go to Ravenclaw and the Potter brat. He didn't like that at all.

Harry had invited Sirius to the last Quidditch match of the season and Sirius had promised to come and if he wanted to bring Remus Lupin as well. After the extremely high scores from the first two matches, Ravenclaw had the cup as good as for sure, but Barkaim still kept his team on their toes. Though he didn't torture his team like Oliver Wood did his. The Gryffindor Quidditch maniac had set five practices a week for the game, one of them the whole Saturday afternoon, drilling his team how to beat Ravenclaw. How he managed to get his OWL preparation done was anybody's guess. Daniel didn't really mind. His team still got three flying practices in, one on Saturday morning where they practiced their moves in detail, but he had realized that thanks to all the indoor Quidditch training they had beaten Slytherin so soundly, so exchanging one practice for a game inside wasn't hard to decide.

It also gave Releena, who would play the game instead of Pomarel the chance to practice in a fast paced game. For one game a week, which lasted for about an hour normally, Pomarel even stopped his preparation for the NEWTs. He said it was a good method to relax during all the studying he did. So Daniel put his main chasers as the attack force on one team and he, Cho and Denise were the chasers for the other team. Pomarel was on the team of the main chasers, as was Tod; Releena was on the other team with Steven.

The exams came about and the members of the Ravenclaw team reduced their practices to three overall during those two weeks. Two outside with the main unit on Saturday morning and one game practice inside. It was difficult to get the pitch anyway with Wood going crazy and the other teams also having to practice for the last game. And with the way the points were, it would take a miracle for Gryffindor to win that game with enough points to beat them for the cup. But of course Ravenclaw intended to win the last game as well.

When Harry thought he needed a break from all the preparations for the exams, he decided to visit Hagrid again. He had gone down to his big friend regularly, but especially after he had made him relent to let Norbert go to a preserve. Which hadn't been easy, but it had taken two weeks after all to hatch the egg from the point where Hagrid had got the egg. Thankfully Charlie Weasley seemed to know Hagrid pretty well and had sent him a letter with photos how well Norbert was doing at the preserve, which had cheered Hagrid up a bit. Harry knew Hagrid had always wanted a dragon and with how things could have gone, he was very glad Sirius had come up with the idea to make it look like Hagrid was some kind of hero for preventing the dragon to get into the wrong hands.

When Harry walked down to Hagrid's hut, he saw that Hagrid was preparing to go into the forest. The forest didn't really scare Harry. He had accompanied Hagrid one time when he had been looking after the Thestral herd. Harry had been fascinated by the horse-like creatures. While he couldn't see them, he had the impression he felt where they were. Hagrid had explained him a few things about Thestrals and what abilities they had. He even let Harry feed them. It was really weird to see meat just disappear into thin air.

"Hey, Hagrid, are you going to the Thestrals again?" Harry called.

"Hello, Harry. No, I'm looking for somethin' else. But you can come with me. It's still day, so there's nothin' in there to hurt yer as long as yer stay with me." Hagrid said.

"Sure, Hagrid. What are you looking for?" Harry asked curiously.

"Ah, there's been somethin' hurting the unicorns. Found two dead already. Now I fear a third one is hurt. Hope I can find it before it dies." Hagrid said seriously.

"What? But what could hurt a unicorn? They are way too fast for any creature to get them." Harry exclaimed.

"True. I don' know what it could be. Haven' seen those kinds of wounds b'fore. Make sure yer stay with me, Harry." Hagrid reminded him.

Harry nodded. He just hoped they could help the poor unicorn. Hagrid led him deep into the forest. Fang, Hagrid's boarhound following them at Hagrid's side. Hagrid pointed out a silver liquid on the ground.

"Tha's what yer have ter look out for. Unicorn blood. We have ter follow the trail to find the poor thing." Hagrid said.

Harry and Hagrid found some more drops of the silvery blood. After fifteen more minutes, Harry heard some sounds he couldn't identify.

"Hagrid, what's that?" He asked.

"I think we're close now. Be careful, unicorns don' like men too much. Prefer a woman's touch 'em." Hagrid informed Harry.

Then they found a unicorn that had problems staying on its legs. It was swaying heavily. It had a big cut on its neck from where the silvery blood was dripping down.

Hagrid sadly looked at it.

"Damn it, we are too late. It has lost too much blood." Hagrid said.

"NO, we have to be able to do something." Harry protested, deeply touched by the pain of the beautiful creature before him.

Hagrid shook his head. Harry spotted some other animals around the unicorn that had turned towards them when he had exclaimed his refusal to give up. There was an Ashwinder, a Knarl, from the fact that the unicorn was leaning to the side and not falling, a Thestral and over them sitting was a raven. The snake slithered over to them.

"What are you doing here? Are you going to hurt her more?" The ashwinder hissed.

"No, we want to help her, but Hagrid says we can't. Do you know anything that could help her?" Harry asked.

"You're a speaker? And you're pure. That is perfect. Help her, you have the power. The ancient magic of the serpent." The ashwinder hissed.

"What can I do? I don't know anything about my parseltongue abilities besides the fact that I can speak with snakes." Harry replied.

Hagrid was shocked hearing Harry talk to the ashwinder. But obviously the snake was not dangerous for him.

"Place your hand on her neck where she was hurt. Then concentrate your serpent magic on healing the wound. Then simply say what you want. That is what the ancient sacred serpent taught the ancient human that healed using the power of the serpent." The ashwinder informed Harry.

"Will she let me touch her?" Harry asked, not wanting to be pierced by the Unicorn's horn.

"Yes." The ashwinder answered.

"Hagrid, I'm going to try and heal her using parselmagic. The ashwinder says I have the ability and told me roughly how to do it. Please don't interfere. I don't want her to die. I have to try this." Harry said and walked slowly towards the unicorn.

Hagrid looked surprised, but what could it hurt? If Harry had success the unicorn could perhaps survive, if not, it would have died anyway. Harry put his hands gently on the neck of the unicorn on both sides of the wound. He concentrated on the picture of the snake he had seen in one of the books in the library. He had tried to find anything about healing with parselmagic as the healers at St. Mungo's had said he could probably learn it. He hadn't found much, only some legends and the picture of the sacred serpent of Ancient Greece that supposedly gave Asclepius his powers. The snake was golden in colour, had a triangular head, and was about ten meters long. Perhaps he erred in the length, but he kept the picture in his mind. Then he started concentrating on the magic he felt rushing through him when he concentrated on the golden serpent.

"I want this wound to close. I want this unicorn to live. I want her to recover from this injury." Harry hissed.

His hissed intention was met with a stronger rush of his magic. He felt it rushing into his hands that started to heat up, but not to the point that it became unbearable. His magic seemed to flow into the wound, but he only felt it, as he had his eyes closed to be able to concentrate better. Harry kept his eyes closed until he felt his magic stopping to act. He opened his eyes again only to see the wounds on the unicorn's neck had been healed. It was red and looked raw, but it had closed and she looked a bit stronger now. She looked deep into his eyes and Harry was filled with a feeling of total peace. He rubbed the unicorn's head, happy to have done it.

"I'm so glad you made it and I could help you." He whispered to her.

The unicorn then rubbed her head on his cheek, thanking him.

"Thank you, speaker. We will always remember your selfless action." The ashwinder said.

"I am glad I could help, but can you make sure all the unicorns go deeper into the forest to hide? Hagrid said something is hunting them and she was the third one who got hurt. I don't want that any more of her kind are hunted down for their blood." Harry told the snake.

"I will make sure it will be done. If you find out the danger is gone, call for me or one of my brothers and sisters, speaker. We will tell them so they can return. She also wants to give you a present for your help. Do you have something to store some of her tears in it?" The ashwinder asked.

Harry nodded and pulled out an empty vial from his pocket. He always kept three vials with him when he went outside. He usually looked out for plants he could use in potions but to be offered unicorn tears was really rare. The unicorn placed her head over the vial and let seven tear drops fall into the vial. Then she rubbed Harry's cheek one more time with her head before she turned around, let a few tail hairs fall as well and walked deeper into the forest with the other animals escorting her. Harry picked up the tail hairs and went back to Hagrid, who now wasn't alone anymore. A centaur with white-blond hair and a palomino body was standing next to him looking at Harry in awe.

"Uh, hello." Harry said uncomfortably and a little bit exhausted. Healing the unicorn had taken much of his magic.

"Hello, I see the stars haven't lied. The one blessed by the guardian of the moon has really come. What you did today, young Harry, was indeed a very noble deed. You saved something absolutely pure from certain death at the hands of pure evil. Perhaps you can stop the future the stars have prophesied." The centaur said.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Mars is bright, but the moon is gleaming brightly as well." The centaur said.

"Firenze, I don' understand anything yer said. What attacked the unicorns?" Hagrid asked.

"Do you know what is kept at the school at the moment?" Firenze asked.

"How do yer know abou' that?" Hagrid asked.

"Centaurs know many things. Do you know what unicorn blood is used for?" Firenze asked, not really answering Hagrid's question.

Harry nodded solemnly.

"If anybody used unicorn blood in any potion or even drank the pure blood, he would be cursed from the moment the blood touched his lips. The blood may have the power to keep you alive when you should die, but from that moment on you only have a half-life, a cursed life." He said.

"Indeed. The one who killed the two unicorns and injured the one you saved, drank the blood. He is after the treasure in the castle to regain his full power. Be aware and hopefully the Moon's knight will stop the warrior of Mars." Firenze said. "I have to go, but remember my words."

He then turned around and walked away, deeper into the forest.

"We need ter tell Dumbledore. I don' know what Firenze meant, but this is very troubling. Yer can't tell any of the other students about what Firenze said, Harry." Hagrid said.

"Why? I guess he referred to the Philosopher's Stone on the third floor corridor which probably Voldemort is after." Harry said.

"How do yer know this?" Hagrid asked shocked.

"Until now it was only an assumption. But it was logical. I knew Professor Dumbledore was going to inform Nicolas Flamel about the danger his stone was in. I heard about it when I was in St. Mungo's and the healers called Professor Dumbledore to ask for his expertise. And then at the beginning of the school year he warns all students to keep away from the third floor corridor on the right side. I guess Fluffy is one of the protections." Harry said.

"Yer really are ter smart for yer own good. But yer right. That's why we need ter talk to Professor Dumbledore immediately." Hagrid said.

Soon Hagrid and Harry had told Dumbledore the story of what happened in the forest.

"Remarkable. I've never heard about anybody using parselmagic like that. I'm very proud of what you did Harry. Saving a unicorn is one of the most honourable things anybody can do. Are you feeling alright? I guess that took a lot of your magic. Especially as it was wandless magic." Dumbledore asked.

"I'm a bit tired. I guess I'll take a nap when I get back to the Ravenclaw common room." Harry answered.

"Yes, that would be for the best. Please keep your knowledge about the stone a secret. We just managed to prevent it being stolen from Gringotts, after that we came up with the idea of hiding it here at Hogwarts. Don't get any idea of going down there. It is way too dangerous for any student. Additionally the corridor is warded against students gaining entry." Dumbledore impressed.

"Yes, Professor." Harry answered and then yawned.

"Well, I guess it's time for you to return to Ravenclaw Tower. But before take fifty points for saving an innocent life from certain death." Dumbledore said.

"Thank you, Professor." Harry said smiling brightly.

Then he left the office, leaving Dumbledore and Hagrid behind. When the door was closed and Dumbledore got the information that Harry was at the bottom of the stairs, he turned to Hagrid.

"And Firenze really said that Mars was bright and Moon also gleaming brightly?" He asked.

"Yes, what were his exact words in the end? Ah yes. Hopefully the Moon's knight will stop the warrior of Mars. Do yer know what tha' means Professor?" Hagrid asked.

"I can only guess. But if my guess is right, we have hope to win the probably coming war. Mars is the star of war, the Moon is normally the star of change and renewal. And if Firenze said Harry was blessed by the guardian of the Moon, he could be the defence between the world and Voldemort." Dumbledore said. "Hopefully he doesn't need to take up the sword before he is ready."

Harry exited the History of Magic classroom after his last exam. Things had gone well in all his exams. He didn't have any problems with the questions asked, the practical demonstrations were no problem at all for him and brewing the Forgetfulness Potion was easy as he had reviewed the methods for all potions the evening before. Now he and his fellow Ravenclaws just wanted to enjoy their well-earned free time until their results came out in one week. The only thing left was the last Quidditch match in three days and Harry was well-prepared to help his team win the cup for Ravenclaw. After all, Gryffindor would have to win with more than seven hundred thirty points lead. Very, very, very improbable.

The Ravenclaw first years spent the day playing games, playing at the lake, reading books that had nothing to do with studying and eating sweets. When Harry was back on his way to the common room from a meeting with his Gryffindor friends after dinner though, he was surprisingly grabbed from behind. His mouth was covered with a gloved hand. He struggled, but his attacker was much stronger than him. He was dragged away towards the forbidden corridor on the third floor.

"Stupid old man. But I know the perfect way to ensure I get the stone." Harry heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Quirrell without stutter say.

"Yes, he may have thought up some nasty obstacles, but I'll get through them. And you, Potter, will be a great help. Yes, the old man quite underestimates me. But his little warding scheme will fail once a student is forced in there. And you are definitely a problem I need to take care of before you get too strong. You having made the unicorns hide where I can't find them forced me to rush this." The man said.

Harry was forced into the corridor, feeling like something broke forcefully.

"Yes, I knew it. While the wards keep students out and then the nastier wards come, if I force a student in here, they'll fall. Dumbledore was always too soft. Now, Potter, we will test if you really can sing that Cerberus to sleep." He was turned around and saw that it really was Quirrell, but without the stuttering.

"I won't help you." Harry said defiantly.

"Oh, but you don't have a choice. I'll just lock you in with the beast. If you don't sing, you'll get torn apart, so you better get that damned dog asleep." Quirrell said.

"Oh, and why don't you just charm an instrument? Kidnapping me won't help you at all. Dumbledore will soon be here." Harry replied.

"There you are wrong, Potter, Dumbledore currently is on his way to London. Too bad for him that nobody there wants to see him. And with the floo network being maintained today, he had to take another route. I'll long be gone before he returns. And do you really think I hadn't thought of something that simple? But Dumbledore was smart, smarter than I thought he would be. He charmed the room so no magic can be performed there after the Cerberus escaped on Halloween. So I have to improvise. Now in there and you better sing if you like to live." Harry saw the door being opened and he was pushed inside. Then the door was closed behind him.

He saw the threatening mouths of Fluffy growling at him and the six eyes concentrating on him.

'I need to calm Fluffy down without making him fall asleep. Then he can take care of Quirrell until Dumbledore returns.' Harry thought frightened and started humming.

Fluffy cocked one of his heads.

"Hey Fluffy, I'm a friend of Hagrid's, your master. I didn't intend to come in here and disturb you. Please help me against the man who pushed me in here." Harry said, keeping up humming between the words.

Fluffy obviously had understood the word Hagrid, as he was sniffing Harry. Harry, gathering all his courage hesitantly let Fluffy sniff and petted the middle head a bit.

"Good dog." He said, continuing to hum, but always stopping to not put Fluffy to sleep. Harry went to the back of the room, putting Fluffy between himself and the door. "Now when the door opens again, get him." Harry said, humming again.

Quirrell obviously wanted to be sure his plan worked this time, because it took full ten minutes for him to open the door again. Fluffy was ready and jumped as soon as Quirrell stepped over the threshold.

"Argh." Quirrell shouted out when Fluffy decided to bite his wand arm.

He had to let his wand drop and tried to get away from the dog, but he didn't manage. Fluffy held him. Harry meanwhile dived for the wand Quirrell had let fall down and then retreated into his corner again. There was no way he could defeat Quirrell, but Fluffy was doing a great job so far. Harry was hoping that help would soon come. He didn't know if Quirrell had some other kind of abilities to take Fluffy out. He definitely couldn't sing otherwise he wouldn't have kidnapped Harry. Finally Fluffy seemed to have finished with Quirrell. He let the bloody form of the man lie on the ground. Harry then saw a black cloud rise from the downed man. His eyes went wide when he saw the evil red eyes turning to him.

"Harry Potter. Again you foiled my plans. You will regret this. I will find a way to get my body back. You might have stopped me for now, but when I return, you'll feel the consequences of your actions." The cloud-like wraith said and then shot at Harry screeching in fury.

But before it could touch Harry, he held his hands over his head, trying to shield himself against the wraith. The wraith was stopped by some invisible barrier around Harry, which hurt the wraith. It decided the pain and loss of power wasn't worth it and disappeared through the still open door. Harry still sat in the corner of the room. Fluffy had traipsed over to him, putting one of his heads into Harry's lap. Harry mechanically started humming and petting Fluffy to have something to stop his hands from trembling over what he had just witnessed. Quirrell had been possessed by Voldemort. He had tried to get the stone and tried to use him to get past Fluffy. And he had tried to kill him again. Five minutes after Voldemort had disappeared, he heard running outside the door. But he didn't really register what was happening. He was in shock.

The ones to arrive first were Professors Snape and Flitwick. Flitwick had noticed Harry missing when he had checked his Ravens five minutes after curfew through a charm in the Ravenclaw common room. A few inquiries with the other heads of houses and he knew Harry had left the Gryffindor common room early enough to get back to the Ravenclaw common room well in time. And Harry wasn't the kind of boy to stroll around after curfew. So he had gone to search his student. Snape meanwhile was keyed into the alarms on the third floor. When he noticed them breaking, he had immediately taken off towards the corridor. He had met Flitwick on the way and sent a patronus to McGonagall to get back-up against whoever was trying to get through the protections of the stone.

What they found in the room was nothing they had expected. Sitting curled up in a corner was Harry Potter, petting the giant beasts head while humming. Close to the door a bloody corpse laid, the robe remains indicated this to be Quirrell. The Cerberus turned two heads towards them and growled. Great it seemed that the dog was now protecting Potter.

"We need music to get him to sleep. For some bizarre reason he protects Potter." Snape said.

Flitwick tried to conjure a harp to charm it to play, but the spell didn't work.

"There is nothing I can do, Severus. The room must have been spelled to prevent charming things to play music." He said.

"Then we need Hagrid. This is his beast after all. I fear if we get close to Potter at the moment it will attack us." Snape said and Flitwick left the room to send his own patronus to Hagrid.

When Hagrid finally arrived at the room, Professors McGonagall, Tonks and Sprout had also arrived. Professor Tonks tried to coax Harry out, but didn't succeed at all.

"What happened?" Hagrid asked.

"We don't know yet. The only one to really know is probably Harry, but he is in shock and your Cerberus doesn't let us get close to him." Tonks said.

"I see. Fluffy, down, boy. Let me help Harry." Hagrid commanded Fluffy.

The Cerberus looked sceptically and sniffed the air. Recognising his master's scent he became much more docile.

"Good boy, yer did well protectin' Harry like tha'. Now let me take care of him." Hagrid said and Fluffy let Hagrid lift Harry from the floor, who didn't put up any resistance.

Hagrid commanded Fluffy to stay put in the room. Flitwick levitated the mess that was Quirrell's remains out of the room. Then Snape shut the door behind them. Hagrid gently sat Harry down on the floor.

"Harry, can you hear me?" Hagrid asked.

Harry didn't answer and just blankly stared ahead. His hands were now clutching Hagrid's coat. He had dropped Quirrell's wand when they had left the room.

"We need to get him to the hospital wing. Does he still have his wand?" McGonagall asked.

"Well, that's easy to find out. Accio Harry Potter's wand." Flitwick said and from the ground behind the door in the floor the wand came sailing towards them.

Just when they wanted to go to the hospital wing, Hedwig came soaring through the corridor. She landed in Harry's lap. She stared into the blank eyes of her wizard. Then her silver plumage glowed slightly. Harry closed his eyes and fell over into Hagrid's arms. Hedwig decided to take a seat on Hagrid's shoulder.

"Well, she did something to help him, though I don't know what. Let's get him to Poppy and get him treated." Professor Tonks said.

The others nodded. Snape levitated the corpse of Quirrell behind the others.

Dumbledore just came back into the Entrance Hall where Professor Sinistra was waiting for him and giving him a message from Flitwick. Dumbledore's face grew hard and he immediately went to the hospital wing. There Madam Pomfrey had changed Harry into hospital robes and he was lying under a blanket in a bed. He didn't like how pale the boy looked. And he had no idea what had happened. In another bed lay the corpse of Quirrell. He sighed. He feared what Harry might have seen and what had happened to him.

"Severus, Filius, what happened?" Dumbledore asked.

"When I checked through the charm that is on my common room if all of my Ravens were present after curfew, I noticed that Harry was missing. So I went looking for him after checking if any of the other heads of houses knew something. Soon I met Severus and he told me the alarm had been triggered. We went to the third floor corridor together. I feared Harry might have been there." Flitwick explained.

"The alarms were triggered perhaps ten minutes after curfew. I immediately went up there to get the intruder. When Filius and I arrived at the scene, we found the bloody body of Quirrell on the floor near the door and Potter sat in the far left corner of the room, humming and petting one of the beast's heads. He was in shock and didn't react to anything we tried to get him out of the room. We also couldn't get him before Hagrid came. Andromeda, Minerva and Pomona had come to assist after I sent Minerva a patronus message, but none of them could get the boy out either. And the Cerberus didn't take well to us attempting to get to Potter. He was ready to attack us if we did." Snape reported.

"Yes, I tried to charm instruments to let him fall asleep, but no charm worked. So we waited for Hagrid. When he finally reached the room, he commanded the Cerberus to stand down and praised him for protecting Harry. Once he had Harry out of the room and tried to get him to respond, Harry's owl came flying in there, sat in his lap and her silver plumage started to glow. Then Harry slumped over into Hagrid's arms and he brought him here." Flitwick ended.

"I see, Poppy, does Harry have any serious injuries?" Dumbledore asked.

"As far as I could determine, no. There is a bit of magical exhaustion, but nothing dangerous. He should awake tomorrow in the morning." She said.

"That's good to know. Please inform me when he wakes up. I need to send an owl to Sirius to inform him about this. I hope he stays reasonable." Dumbledore sighed.

"Black, reasonable? That's a contradiction in itself. But with the state his godson is currently in, he might be up to something. I would also like to know how Quirrell could get Potter into that corridor. I thought you had warded it against students." Snape said.

"I did. No student would have been able to go into the corridor on his own. There were age barriers, compulsion charms to go somewhere else and small warning shots in case a students tricked the first two. But I didn't want to risk a student suffering the other wards if he was forced there. So I guess Quirrell knew that and kidnapped Harry on his way back to his common room. My wards that would have harmed an intruder, deactivated to protect Harry." Dumbledore explained.

Both Snape and Flitwick nodded.

Harry awoke around ten in the morning in the hospital wing. He felt a bit dizzy, but otherwise he felt okay. When he tried to sit up, the dizziness increased.

"Mr Potter, good to see you awake again. Please don't sit up. You need to rest. You are a bit magically exhausted, but that should be over tomorrow. For now you should rest and eat something." Madam Pomfrey instructed.

Harry lay back down and nodded.

"How long was I knocked out?" He asked. "I only remember the last few things vaguely."

"One night. It's a quarter past ten in the morning." She answered and put a tray with breakfast on the table beside his bed. Then she propped Harry up with pillows so he could eat. Then he got the tray.

"I want you to eat all you can. The more you can eat, the faster you recover from your exhaustion. Thankfully it's only a mild case. I'd like to know what happened, but that can wait until after you ate. I'll go call Professor Dumbledore; he wanted to know when you woke up." She explained and left into her office.

Harry started eating. He was glad that there were blueberry pancakes today. He didn't think he could eat sausages and eggs or something fat like that today. Once he was done, he put the tray back on the side table. It didn't take long until Professor Dumbledore and Sirius arrived. Both wore worried expressions on their faces.

"Harry, how are you?" Sirius asked concerned.

"Tired. Did Fluffy get him?" He asked in a worried voice.

"Yes. Professor Quirrell succumbed to his injuries before Professors Snape and Flitwick arrived at the third floor corridor." Dumbledore said sadly. "Could you please tell me what happened, Harry? I know it's hard for you, but I need to know what happened and you are the only one that knows."

Sirius sat on the side of Harry's bed, putting his arm around Harry's shoulders to give him comfort. He hated that Harry had been forced through such an ordeal and had to see someone die while he was just eleven.

"I was on my way back from the Gryffindor common room. I had played a few games of cards with Neville, Hermione and Miranda. Then suddenly I was grabbed from behind. Quirrell dragged me to the third floor corridor that was forbidden. He said he was right thinking you had warded it the way that if a student was forced in there the nasty wards would be deactivated. He said you were too soft. Then he said I had forced him to act earlier as he had planned with getting the unicorns to move to where he couldn't get them. He also said you had charmed the room so no magical music could be played and that he wanted me to sing Fluffy to sleep again if I wanted to live. I refused, but he was stronger than me. He … he told me that he would use me to get through the protections to the stone and that … he couldn't let me become too strong. Then he pushed me into the room with Fluffy. He had taken my wand and the only thing I could do was hoping Fluffy would help me if he understood I was a friend of Hagrid's.

"That worked. I hummed to keep him calm but not make him fall asleep. It took perhaps ten minutes until Quirrell opened the door again to see if I had made Fluffy fall asleep, but Fluffy was waiting and attacked Quirrell as soon as the door opened. He got his wand arm first and I managed to get the wand and went back into the back corner and just hoped Fluffy would be enough to stop him until help would come. I … I was so scared. Fluffy tore into him … and then Quirrell didn't move any longer and was … bloody all over." Harry now shook.

"Then … then a black cloud … came from … Quirrell's body and it had red eyes. It … it was Voldemort. He said he would find another method to get his body back and would come after me. He tried to attack me, but … but some invisible shield came up when I raised my arms to protect my face. Voldemort shrieked and then fled. I don't really know what happened after that. I only vaguely remember petting Fluffy." Harry ended.

"Take some deep breaths, Harry. You did really well." Sirius said rubbing Harry's back softly.

"But Quirrell is dead because I had Fluffy attack him. He was possessed." Harry said crying.

"No, Harry. You are not at fault for what happened. Professor Quirrell decided to share his body with Voldemort out of his own free will. Even if Fluffy wouldn't have attacked him, he would have died as soon as Voldemort left his body. Madam Pomfrey examined his body and he was already dying. He acting so rashly and not taking time to unravel the new increased protections for the stone are proof of that. Without the unicorns present to drink their blood, he was forced to act. I'm just very sorry you were involved into this. But you have performed better than anybody could have expected you to do." Dumbledore assured him.

"Professor, do you know what that shield was that kept Voldemort from attacking me and hurt him?" Harry asked, leaning in to Sirius' side.

"Ah, yes. I told you that when your mother died for you, she gave you a very strong protection. This protection is based on your mother's love for you. Voldemort who has mutilated his soul and doesn't understand love couldn't bare being in contact with somebody who was touched by something so pure. Your mother left a very strong mark on you, Harry." Dumbledore said smiling.

"What do you mean with mutilated his soul, Professor?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore looked around, motioned Sirius over with an excuse to Harry that he would get his godfather back in a few minutes, and put up some of the strongest privacy charms he knew. Harry frowned, but knew this was probably really secret. Perhaps it was about those horcruxes.

"You were taught Occlumency in your youth I assume?" Dumbledore said.

"Yes, it was part of the training for every family heir. I guess this is really important if you ask me that." Sirius said.

"Indeed. Harry knows about this because thanks to him I know how Voldemort survived when the killing curse was rebounded from Harry. But I don't want him to worry about this too much, especially not now. Have you ever heard of the term horcrux, Sirius?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes." Sirius said grimly. "One of the darkest forms of magic. Something even my family wouldn't touch. Don't tell me he made one."

"More than one, but I don't know how many he made yet. One was embedded in Harry's scar and was found during the examination Harry got when Minerva took him to St Mungo's before he started school. It was a small piece of wood that must have been embedded in the scar when Harry's nursery was destroyed by the rebounding killing curse. We are lucky that it was there in hindsight. If it hadn't been in the scar, the piece of soul that must have been torn from Voldemort's soul accidentally when he was hit by the killing curse, would have taken hold of Harry's body. And I don't know of any way to extract a soul piece from its container without destroying the container or in case of a living one, killing it." Dumbledore said seriously.

Sirius blanched. Hearing how close Harry had come to a death sentence froze his body shortly.

"So the only way to protect Harry would be to destroy all the horcruxes that Voldemort made and then kill him himself?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. The only ones knowing about this are Healer Reggam and Cursebreaker Wundermoor and both took an oath of secrecy, and Amelia Bones. I had to inform Amelia to make her see why I didn't have any other choice but keeping the Philosopher's Stone here at Hogwarts. It was the best protection I could think of. I suspected that Voldemort was somewhere around when Hagrid told me about the killed unicorns, but I didn't know where he was. I never thought he was possessing Quirinius. The most I guessed was that Quirinius was somehow helping Voldemort, but then again, he was really careful and didn't give me proof to act upon." Dumbledore sighed.

"Do you have any idea what objects could have become the horcruxes and where they might be hidden?" Sirius asked.

"Not yet. I'm trying to find people who knew Voldemort in the past. With how instable his soul seems to have been when he tried to kill Harry as a baby, I fear we are talking about more than three horcruxes. If the people that knew him are cooperative, I may find out more about his ways and the places he went to. Thanks to Harry we have won a bit of time to look for them." Dumbledore said.

"Will Harry be okay?" Sirius asked concerned.

"Poppy assured me he would completely recover. He wasn't injured, he just got a shock from seeing somebody die in such a way in front of him and he was a bit magically exhausted after fending of the wraith of Voldemort. He will be out of here tomorrow." Dumbledore said.

"That will please him. He was really looking forward to that Quidditch match against Gryffindor. He wants to show off his skills to me and Remus." Sirius said smiling now.

Dumbledore chuckled.

"Ah yes, I dare say he is even better than James was. It's a joy seeing him fly. That's the only time I see him acting his age." Dumbledore said.

Sirius nodded.

"So I would appreciate anything you can find out from your library at the Black ancestral home or any other places. I don't know, do you have access to the vaults of the members of the house of Black as head of the family?" Dumbledore asked.

"I'm not completely sure, but I can ask at Gringotts. I assume you want to look through Bellatrix' vault." Sirius said.

"Yes, it was a thought. I don't know if Voldemort would trust his followers that much, but I don't want to overlook any possibility. My mistakes with Harry have made me realize how much harm a simple oversight can cause. If I had only acted earlier, I could have spared Harry a lot of pain. I have a lot to make up for." Dumbledore admitted.

Sirius just nodded. He didn't want to get into a rant about that again. Dumbledore deactivated the privacy charms.

"Interesting conversation?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Mostly about things you already know, so I ask you to excuse the need for secrecy. But at the moment I fear Madam Pomfrey would be very cross with me if I upset you with the things I needed to talk about with Sirius." Dumbledore said.

Harry nodded. He had his suspicions and if he was right, Dumbledore had every reason to be careful. That information just couldn't get into the wrong hands.

Oliver Wood stood in front of his Quidditch team that didn't look very motivated.

"I know we are the outsiders. Ravenclaw is playing in their best formation. I had hoped Potter wouldn't be up again already after he was in the hospital wing for two days, but he is going to play. But we can keep up with them. We aren't worse than them. Angelina, Alicia and Katie, their new keeper is a rookie. With Oustabler not playing, you should have an easier time than what we saw in the previous matches against Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Make sure you remember the plays we trained. We can win this match. While we probably won't be able to win the cup, we can end the winning streak of Ravenclaw." He told them.

"Fred, George. Stop their chasers. They are good, their beaters are too, but you are the best beaters in school. I will take care of preventing them from scoring too much. Let's go out there and win." Wood said, getting a shout of confirmation from the team.

"And there are the teams. Ravenclaw in blue and Gryffindor in red. This is the last match of the season. Can the Gryffindor lions turn around the standings and snatch the cup from under the Ravens' noses? After their monumental defeat of Slytherin the Ravenclaw team is in lead for the Quidditch Cup. For Gryffindor, captain and keeper Oliver Wood, beaters Fred and George Weasley, the beautiful chasers Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell, with seeker Malcolm Higgins. Ravenclaw slightly changed their starting seven. As keeper we have Releena Selwyn, beaters Tod Gellan and Steven Remmons, chasers Roger Davies, Quentana Pollianore and Harry Potter, with captain and seeker Daniel Barkaim." Lee introduced the teams, getting cheers from the spectators.

In the Ravenclaw stands Sirius and Remus Lupin were sitting next to Professor Flitwick.

"You are in for a real treat, gentlemen. My little Ravens are exceptionally good this year. I think Minerva is more than sad to not have got Mr Potter in her house." Flitwick chuckled.

"I'm hoping for a good match. The letter I got from Harry about the match against Slytherin made me really want to see him play." Sirius said.

Harry had sent Sirius a long letter after the win against Slytherin and happily described how he had tricked their keeper and their chasers during the match. It was the most cheerful letter he had got from Harry so far.

"And they're off." Came the commentary from Lee Jordan. "Bell in quaffle position. Dodges Pollianore and passes to Spinnet. Spinnet off towards the Ravenclaw hoops. Spinnet dodges a bludger from Gellan and continues towards the Ravenclaw side. No passes played, perhaps better with Potter lurking ready to intercept them. This will be a hard game. Spinnet feints a shot at the left hoop and throws to the right, but Selwyn manages to knock the quaffle off course. Quaffle taken by Davies. Quick turnaround of the Ravenclaw chasers. Long pass to Pollianore. Bludger from one of the Weasley twins forces her to evade and lose the quaffle. But Potter was under her, taking up the quaffle and racing towards Wood, who is alone on the Gryffindor side. But of course Wood is a superb keeper." Lee commentated.

"Potter shoots and Wood is ready to stop the quaffle. Perfectly positioned. What? I don't believe it, the quaffle turned sideways and instead of the middle hoop it went through the right hoop. 10:0 Ravenclaw." Lee shouted.

What followed was a fast paced exchange of both teams. Ravenclaw was slightly better. While the Gryffindor team with their tactics mostly managed to keep Roger and Quentana shut down and kept them from scoring like they did against Slytherin, they didn't really find a good way to stop Harry. While only six out of ten shots from him got past Wood, Wood obviously didn't like how the first year Ravenclaw showed him up. After one and a half hours the match was 150:130 in favour of Ravenclaw.

"And the seekers are off. Barkaim already made Higgins fall for two of his feints and failed to do so with two others. But now this seems to be it. They are neck to neck. There the snitch changes directions. Come on Higgins get the snitch." Lee shouted.

"Jordan." Professor McGonagall tried to keep the announcer objective, but she was pretty excited herself.

"Bludger from Remmons at Higgins, which he manages to dodge, but Barkaim now has the lead. Potter scores again, making the current score 160:130. Johnson in quaffle possession. Experience from past matches tells us it never is a good idea to let yourself be distracted by the chase for the snitch. This time it seems to hold true as well. Gryffindor trying to score again. Johnson passes to Bell, but no, intercepted again by Potter. Is that boy everywhere? Potter off towards the Gryffindor side. Barkaim rising still chasing the snitch, Higgins now on a better angle. But what is that? Potter passes backwards to Davies and hits Higgins in the head with the quaffle momentarily distracting him from the snitch. Barkaim got the snitch. The game is over. Ravenclaw wins their third match with 310:130. A pity, but the better team won. At least the lions can say they were the ones closest to beating this strong Ravenclaw team." Lee exclaimed disappointed.

The Ravenclaw stands cheered loudly and many students could be seen jumping up and down happily. Sirius smiled brightly and waved at Harry when he saw his godson looking over to the stands. He was currently hugged by his fellow chaser Quentana in the air which was a bit careless, but he could understand it. Harry's unconventional tactic of hitting the opposing seeker with the quaffle had bought their seeker the time to catch the snitch. Both teams landed and the Ravenclaws were walking up to the teachers' stands where Professor Dumbledore was waiting with the Quidditch Cup. Even the Gryffindor players were applauding the winning team. They had known that it was nearly impossible to take the cup from Ravenclaw. If they had won their first match against Slytherin things would have been different, but with Ravenclaw having won two games already and Hufflepuff winning against Slytherin in the last game through a fast catch of the snitch even while winning wouldn't have given the Gryffindor team the cup except they had won by more than 730 points.

Wood was frowning but still applauding. Ravenclaw had dominated this season, but next year things would be different, he would make sure of it. Just now Captain Daniel Barkaim lifted the Quidditch cup over his head and the Ravenclaw stands went wild. When it was finally Harry's turn, Sirius and Remus could see the honest happiness on his face.

Harry was watching as the Hogwarts Express rolled in at King's Cross Station. This would be the first summer he spent with Sirius. He knew Remus Lupin would also come by for visits. Potter Manor was waiting for him, his family's ancestral home. He was really looking forward to this summer. The Manor's wards had been upgraded courtesy of Gringotts. The magical credit card had surpassed all expectations of the goblins. Harry promoting the card (he had gone to a PR-event over the Easter break) had caused a boom for the cards in Britain. All over the world his name was also known, even if not to such a degree as in Britain. But Britain was the country with the most scepticism towards products that had a muggle origin. To have purebloods accept the cards as an easy means to pay larger purchases was incredible. The muggleborns and halfbloods didn't have any problem anyway, knowing the concept from the muggle world.

So with the massive profit Gringotts had made in the first few months since the promotion had started, the goblins had decided Harry was an asset to their bank and it was in their best interest to have his house warded with the top-of-the-line wards Gringotts offered to its wealthy clients. Nothing could get through those wards and even a traitorous secret keeper was no issue here. Even goblins couldn't take down those wards once they were activated. Sirius had been massively impressed with how much respect Harry had won with the goblin nation already. And how much gold had ended in Harry's vault. His fifteen per cent share in the winnings was mind boggling.

Harry's trunk was shrunk in his pocket, Hedwig had flown directly to Potter Manor, so her stand was in the trunk, and Harry sat in a compartment with his friends Terry, Lisa and Tony. Yes, friends. Getting to know his classmates over the course of the year he had offered them his friendship. It was a small group he called friends, including the three, Susan, Hannah and Neville. Hermione and Miranda were close friendly acquaintances as were the other Ravenclaw first years. He had exchanged addresses with all his friends and acquaintances to send letters by owl. It would be nice to get some letters during the summer. He was saying his good byes when the train stopped. Harry waited until the first storm for the doors was over and then followed to exit the train. He looked around and spotted Sirius waiting for him. He smiled. It was a new concept to have something like a real parent in his life. He walked over to him and they walked towards the barrier. Sirius had told him they would get something to eat in a nice restaurant he knew in London before portkeying to Potter Manor. Harry knew these summer holidays would be the best he had ever had.