Harry and Hermione used the map to watch for Quirrell. Harry was going to brush against him to see if there was any affect. If Quirrell didn't end up hurt they would have to use a very dark and difficult spell to separate the spirit of Voldemort from their defence against the dark arts teacher. They knew it would kill Quirrell but they also knew the man wanted to help Voldemort so to Harry and Hermione, Quirrell deserved to die. They only decided against using the gun as it could be linked to any muggle raised person. Using a dark spell would be less suspicious and no one would believe an eleven year old could use a dark spell.
Ron had tried to beat Hermione to the seat beside Harry, he turned and gave the red head a cold stare before pointing his wand at Ron. The red head backed away quickly and went to sit on the other side of the room.
Harry and Hermione knew they had to act like they were practicing the spells, so they would deliberately move their wands wrong until they thought enough time had passed where they performed the spell perfectly.
'Oh marvellous, Mr Granger-Potter and Miss Granger has done it. Ten points each to Gryffindor,' Filius squeaked excitedly.
Harry and Hermione smiled then began to help Neville would was sitting close to them. He got the feather to move, but not float. He did earn five points for that, where no other student ended up making their feather move at all.
Classes were a bit boring for Harry and Hermione, so most of the time they would help Neville who usually got the spell before many other students. Helping Neville was also aiding him so now he was beginning to feel confident about himself.
They finally got a chance to get near Quirrell on Thursday. Both Harry and Hermione stood under the cloak, Hermione had the map opened, her wand in her hand, just like Harry. They knew the spell was needed, so whether Quirrell was affected by Harry's touch or not, they would separate Voldemort from the man than encase Voldemort's spirit in a soul orb. As soon as Quirrell got close enough, Harry carefully but quickly touched Quirrell's hand before pulling it back under the cloak. As the man began to scream, Hermione and Harry began to chant. It didn't take long before the soul that was emerging from Quirrell began to be pulled into the orb. Once Voldemort was secure, they hurried away. They made sure they were sitting on the steps leading to the castle only minutes later.
'It seems to still affect him,' Harry whispered.
'Since you have your mother's protection then it still works against Voldemort,' Hermione whispered back.
'That's two down, and Voldemort will be taken care of once we get the rest of those things. So far Malfoy hasn't caused any problems. How long do you think before he will begin to cause trouble?'
'I give him a couple of weeks before he begins to act like a prat. We're supposed to have our first potions class tomorrow, but Snape hasn't been to any class,' Hermione said but this time in normal voice to make sure no one got suspicious.
'I asked Percy, he said they were just told potions is cancelled.'
'Hey.'
Harry and Hermione turned their heads, 'Hello Neville, come sit,' Harry smiled.
'I saw Dumbledore and a couple of other teachers huddled on the second floor corridor. They had some type of shield around them so we couldn't see or hear anything.'
'I wonder if it has anything to do with the third floor corridor Dumbledore warned us about,' Harry said.
'Maybe, but it was the wrong floor. Oh Ron tried to say you weren't a real friend. He thought he could bully me. Thanks to both of you I realise I can stand up for myself.'
'We knew you could Neville. You're a great friend and we want you as our friend, not Weasley. You're also my god brother, that's practically family. But with the red heads, Fred and George are both great, Percy is okay, but Ron,' Harry shook his head, 'I don't get him at all.'
'The twins are funny, Percy is strict and goes on about rules all the time, but he's still nice and helpful,' Neville said, 'Ron is nothing like the other three.'
'I heard he has two older brothers and a younger sister. Hope they aren't like him,' Harry said.
'Anyway, we should get in for dinner,' Hermione said.
Harry took Hermione's hand, Neville was on his other side and the three friends walked into the great hall. They saw Ron so they made sure to sit well away from him, but Harry did glare at him.
Over the following months, Harry and Hermione kept up their act as eleven year olds. They had to hex Ron a few times when he tried to bully Hermione. She ended up sticking him high on the wall in the Gryffindor common room. Harry told Percy, who was a prefect, what Ron had been saying to Hermione. Percy was furious at his brother, he released him then took him straight to McGonagall so she could deal with Ron. But Percy planned to send a letter to not only their mother but to their father as well.
Harry snuck into the room with the mirror of erised three times, but he didn't use the cloak. Since the old man had not passed it at the same time during Christmas as last time it would be too suspicious if the old man saw the cloak Harry had with him. Harry thought that Dumbledore didn't have it or he just decided not to give it to Harry now he wasn't friends with Ron. Dumbledore would know by now that Harry lived with the Grangers, but so did Sirius. So Harry had a feeling that the old man just wasn't going to pass on something so great as an invisibility cloak. If Harry got invited to the headmaster's office, he would cast his silent charm to detect anything like an invisibility cloak, but so far no invitation was forth coming. Harry and Hermione had worked on some plans to get the cloak, if Dumbledore had it, they would use their eagle forms to fly up to the window. They just had to charm the portraits before any of the occupants of the portraits saw them, and they had to make sure Fawkes wasn't in the office.
On the third visit to the mirror Albus Dumbledore was there. Harry acted like he couldn't see the man, he just sat in front of the mirror and spoke with his parent's. When Dumbledore spoke, Harry jumped and spun around, acting like he did when he was really eleven. Harry tried to act like he was interested in what the old man said, but all Harry really wanted was to find Hermione. They now could work on getting the stone and hopefully Voldemort would never try to get into Hogwarts again. Harry and Hermione didn't want to keep the stone, they planned to return it to Nicolas Flamel. They had worked that out with Sirius before they came to Hogwarts. They hoped Sirius could contact Flamel the moment he heard that Harry had the stone. What Hermione and Harry didn't tell anyone was they planned to make a lot of gold so they would never have to worry about money, they were also going to make some elixir of life, just in case it might be needed. They mainly wanted money to help them against people like Malfoy. If Harry spread the money around to people that would normally turn a blind eye to what Malfoy was doing, hopefully would turn on him and there would be no more people that Malfoy could influence.
Harry and Hermione did their homework until the common room was deserted, then they cast their charms so no one could hear them.
'Okay, he turned up, said exactly what he said the first time.'
'So the mirror will be in the room from tonight, or tomorrow. Nothing has been said about Quirrell. I spoke with Percy, all he was told was Quirrell was sick and classes were cancelled for the time being. Snape and Quirrell, but all the students are left twiddling their thumbs.'
'I don't know what he's up to, both are…gone,' Harry shrugged then put his arm around Hermione, 'I hate having to sleep alone, I miss you being there.'
'I do as well, but we can't do anything about it, not for a few years. Let's just stick to our plans. So far everything is working out.'
'Yeah, it is, I just hope nothing crops up to surprise us. At least we got our answer about Ron and Dumbledore, some of the answers.'
'We might never get all our questions answered Harry but at least we know who to watch out for. Let's get some sleep, I have a feeling we probably won't get much tomorrow night.'
Harry and Hermione gave each other a small kiss before they went up to their dorm rooms and got ready for bed. One thing Harry and Hermione did do was keep something of the other with them in bed. Harry had one of Hermione's shirts so he could smell her before going to sleep. Hermione did the same, then they would throw those in with the dirty clothes before getting something else. It was the only way both of them could get a full night's sleep.
The next night Harry and Hermione waited until everyone was asleep before they used the port key they made. They landed in the last room where the mirror stood. Harry asked Hermione if she wanted to try the mirror, she refused. Harry couldn't blame her. He stood in front of the mirror and made sure his thoughts were on getting the stone so he could return it to its owner and away from Dumbledore who was risking the stone and people's lives. Within a minute the stone was in Harry's pocket.
Harry grabbed Hermione, she tapped the port key and they were back in the common room. They weren't sure if the room had been charmed to let the old man know someone was in there, but they weren't taking any chances.
'Lock it in your secret compartment. Tomorrow night we will begin to work on it so we can send it to Sirius,' Harry said then Hermione kissed him before they separated again.
Harry lay on his bed thinking about their plans. So far it was all going according to plan. He did wonder how long Dumbledore would leave potions and defence before he found more teachers. Harry just hoped it wasn't Lockhart, but he had a feeling Dumbledore might be trying to contact Remus Lupin. Sirius was ready to write to Lupin especially if he tries to interfere with Harry's life. Sirius was angry with many people in the magical world, Albus being one since he never pushed for Sirius to have a trial. Remus was another, as they had been friends, Sirius was furious that his old friend believed Sirius could betray James, Lily and Harry. But Sirius was also angry with Remus because he never once tried to visit Harry as a child to make sure he was alright.
Harry and Hermione believed they would soon be seeing Remus Lupin. It might be two years earlier than last time but since Harry was already out from the Dursley's and with the Grangers and Sirius, they knew Dumbledore needed to get someone close to Harry. Now they just had to wait and see if the man turned up or if it ended up being someone else.
As Harry was going over some of their plans, he couldn't help smiling knowing that Voldemort would be taken care of very soon. The bones would be dealt with at the end of the year, but they would still like to be able to deal with him completely. They really didn't want to take the chance that Voldemort could escape, even though Hermione nor Harry believed he could. They had made plans, changed them, had backups, now things were finally falling into place. All that was left was to get rid of the rest of the horcruxes then send Voldemort's soul to hell where he belong with another dark spell they found in one of the books they took from Grimmauld place.