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(Word Count: 1,702)
After a night of uncomfortable healing, tossing and turning from the itching healing potions, the morning broke with all three of them feeling better. Fred was awake again, and he was getting filled in on what happened by George.
As they ate breakfast in bed, which appeared silently on their bedside tables, courtesy of the house elves, Harry went ahead and checked his Quest rewards.
[Fate Quest: Something in the Woods!
You've gotten ahead of the game and stopped Quirrell from killing any of the unicorns to regain his strength and defeated him. Well done!
Reward: +1 Class Point, +1 Curses.]
[Magic Quest: Save the Unicorns!
You've prevented Quirrell and Voldemort from killing any of the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest. Thank you.
Reward: You've gained the Perk: Purify
Purify: Unicorns have the ability to purify and remove any harmful potions, toxins, or poisons from food and drink. You can now do the same.]
'Hmmm…. I was hoping that it would purify curses, not this. That's kind of disappointing,' Harry thought. He couldn't remember any time in canon where the OG Harry had to deal with poisoned food. The only time was when he received love potioned chocolates, which Ron had eaten. Still, it was something.
One thing he was relieved to see was that the Philosopher's Stone Quest had been cleared. That meant that Fate wouldn't somehow enable Voldemort to end up there despite losing Quirrell. That meant that he could relax a bit now.
[Fate Quest: Philosopher's Stone!
You've successfully managed to prevent Voldemort from getting the Philosopher's Stone.
Reward: +1 Level]
On the quest page, he also noted that a new Quest popped up from Fate. It seemed like she didn't like that he had completed the Philosopher's Stone Quest without going down the trapdoor and going through the traps. So she made a new Quest about it.
[Fate Quest: Through the Trapdoor!
Good job completing that Quest without even going through the trapdoor, but it's one of the most important moments in the first year! Go through the trapdoor and make it to the mirror.
Go With Canon! Sorta: Bring your friends, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, and they can help you get through each obstacle.
Reward: +1 Skill Point
Go Alone: Get through all the obstacles by yourself.
Reward: Nothing. Don't be boring.]
'Well, I was going to do that anyway,' Harry thought.
[Name: Harry James Potter-Black
Level: 31 => 32 75.3%
Stats: [+5]
Power: 125, [9], [22]
Control: 108
Focus: 110
Classes: Mind Arts 15, Magizoology 11, Dueling 10, Divination 1, Curses 1, [+2]
Skills: Occlumency 5, Legilimency 3, Serpensortia 5, [+1]
Perks: Potter Family Magic, A Mother's Love, Horcrux, Parselmouth, Black Family Magic, Animagus, Natural Occlumens, Magical Growth, Emotional Empowerment, Harvester, Empathetic Sensing, Insight, Seer, Wide Wormhole, Teamwork Makes the Dream Work, Spellchainer, Memory Infusion, Duelist, Purify]
He placed all of his Stat points into Power again, and his two Class Points into Divination. He wanted to get at least the first perk in it as it would definitely help with his Seer abilities. He saved the Skill Point.
Madam Pompfrey came in to check on them briefly, to make sure that everything had healed correctly, and then sent them off. But not before telling them something they've been dreading to hear. "I'll have you three know that I reported this incident to Professor McGonagall. You can expect to hear from her soon."
They groaned.
As they left, Fred and George grabbed Harry from either side and pulled him aside into an empty room. They stood there, arms crossed, giving him the look that demanded an explanation. Harry ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed.
It always amazed Harry how quickly wizards can treat any sort of physical injury. As long as it wasn't some sort of magical malady or complication with potions or curses, one single night was all that was needed. Most of the time, anyway. Fred had nearly died last night, and here he was the next morning pressing him for answers.
Not like he would refuse them now, given what had happened.
"Alright, I owe you an explanation. You see, Quirrell was a death eater being possessed by Voldemort."
As Harry said the name, Fred and George shuddered.
"Merlin. You mean to say that we—well, you really—were fighting You-Know-Who?" George asked.
"No wonder I went down so quickly," Fred noted wryly. "Still, why was You-Know-Who possessing Quirrell?"
"Well, it wasn't really Voldemort doing the fighting. He was too weak to do much. He's after the Philosopher's Stone, which is hidden in the third floor corridor. If he had gotten his hands on it, he would have been able to return to full strength. So… I took him out before he could. As for Quirrell, he was already a dead man walking as soon as Voldemort possessed him," Harry explained. Well, that was what Dumbledore originally said in canon. Whether that was true, or if that was just something he said to remove the guilt from the young Harry, at this point it didn't matter.
"What!? The Philosopher's stone! It's here in the castle?" The twins exclaimed in shock.
Then they looked at each other. "What's the Philosopher's stone?"
'Right… What did I expect?Wait a minute, when does History class cover Flamel?... Does it even cover him?' History wasn't one of the subjects he was interested in, so he hadn't read too far ahead on it.
"Does Flamel ring a bell?" Harry asked.
They scratched their heads in thought. "Maybe? I think I heard that name earlier this year…" Fred said.
"No no no, that feels more like last year. Something about a medieval assembly?" George said.
"No, that can't be it," Fred rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and then snapped his fingers. "I've got it! It's on Dumbledore's chocolate frog card! Flamel worked with him on alchemy!"
Harry couldn't help but facepalm. The greatest alchemist of all time, unknown to young wizards except for his association in helping Dumbledore. 'How sad.'
"Whatever, just… forget it," Harry sighed. "Anyway, what were you two doing out there last night?"
They shared a grin. "We were exploring the forest, of course!" They exclaimed proudly.
"Somehow, Hagrid's always been able to catch us before we could get too far in," Fred said.
"Yeah, but lately he seemed to have been busy with something. He hasn't shown up at all these past few days!" George said.
'Right… the dragon egg must have kept him too busy, especially as it got closer to hatching. Now that it's actually hatched, he'll be even busier!' Harry thought, and looked at the twins. 'Eh, whatever. Voldemort's gone now anyway.'
"Well, I guess as long as you stay away from the acromantulas, it'll be fine," Harry said off-handedly.
They both paled. "W-what? A-acromantulas?"
Harry nodded. "Yup. There's a whole colony of them pretty close by."
They shared a shaky look. "On second thought, maybe we're done exploring the forest," George said.
"Yeah, we don't need ingredients that much," Fred said.
"Alright, come on guys. We've got to head to class. I've got potions and don't want to be late," Harry said.
They rushed out to head to their first class.
Harry showed up just before the bell rang, and he took his seat at the table with Neville.
Snape couldn't let it slide though. He sauntered over with a sneer. "Potter! Cutting it quite close, aren't we? Next time, show up earlier! You should be in your seat and ready when the bell rings. 10 points from Gryffindor, for your lack of preparedness!"
Behind them, Draco sauntered into the class with Crabbe and Goyle trailing after him. Harry pointed to them. "I guess that's 30 points from Slytherin, then?"
Snape glanced at the three Slytherins with a hint of disappointment, but he dismissed them. "They were on an errand for me."
Harry rolled his eyes. This'll be another formal complaint. Honestly, he'd probably filled out a hundred of those by now.
Snape whirled his cloak dramatically and made his way back to the front. "Everyone, turn to page 244. You'll be going over the forgetfulness potion as many times as it takes until the lesson manages to finally stick past the fumes."
Neville leaned over and whispered, "Harry, where were you last night? You never showed up. We all had to listen to Ron snore all night, since you never taught us that silencing spell."
"Sorry about that." No one should have to listen to Ron's snores. "I was in the forest. I'll explain later."
After potions class, Harry was ambushed by Ron and Hermione outside. "Harry! There you are. You didn't show up for our morning breakfast and reading together, so I was worried. Then I heard from Neville that you never showed up in your room last night! Are you okay? What happened?"
Ron looked a bit jealous. "I bet you went to spend the night with the dragon, didn't you?"
Harry took the three of them off to the side, put up a muffliato spell, and explained everything he had done last night, including the vision on Imbolc that told him when Quirrell and Voldemort would be out there.
Ron was the first to react. He looked sick, and ran off. "I have to go check on my brothers!"
"Harry! James! Potter!" Hermione smacked him on the arm to accentuate each name. "I can't believe you went and did something so dangerous! You could have been killed! Why didn't you bring any of us along!?"
"Easy there, Hermione!" Harry gently caught her hand as she went to smack him again. "This bit was too dangerous to have you guys along. I wouldn't have been able to ensure your safety. How could I look your father in the eye if anything had happened to you?"
She looked pissed and tried to get her hands free to smack him again, but Harry held fast. She sighed sadly and just leaned into him. "And what about your safety? Idiot," she mumbled.
Harry let go of her hands and hugged her.
"Um…" Neville awkwardly stood to the side, blushing. "If Quirrell's gone… who's going to teach DADA in a few minutes?"