Chapter 15

Harry's Point of View

Easter was slow in coming, but I don't think Percy or I had ever been so glad for its arrival. School hadn't exactly been difficult, but the couple weeks had seemed to drag, and we were in desperate need for a break. On the plus side, Charles had been spending more time with us recently, and we'd become closer during the tutoring sessions Percy and I were giving him. Draco and the others had eventually come around to see the un-stuck-up side of our brother, and had relaxed enough to be on a first name basis with him.

I contemplated all of this as we sat in the library, enjoying the hushed silence of the place. The tall bookshelves towered high above our heads, and books flew around as they resorted themselves back into their rightful places on the selves. We were hiding in the furthest corner of the library, surrounded by forgotten, dusty books. For some reason the house elves hadn't been dusting in this area of the library in a while. For whatever the reason was, I was glad. It made it feel more homely, like the library back at Potter Manor.

As I took in our surroundings something caught Percy's attention, and he quickly pointed it out to me.

'Look – over there!' Percy pointed to a shelf to our right. There was a line in the dust, where a book had been taken out. Given the wood was gleaming slightly in the sunlight, I reckoned it had been rather recently. Curious now, I stood up and moved closer to the shelf. Sure enough, one of the books was also cleaner, as if someone had wiped the dust off its spin. I picked up the book.

One page in the book had been dog eared, marking it out. Annoyed that anyone would treat a book like this, I scowled. Percy laughed.

'Dude, it's just an inanimate object. Really, it's not such a big deal!'

I rolled my eyes mentally. 'Percy, this is an extremely old book. Merlin only knows how many copies exist. This is ruining the book for others!'

'It was useful though.' Percy said randomly, having read the page. 'Look at this – somebody's been trying to look up the Philosopher's Stone.'

'What?' I focused on the page.

The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with the making of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.

'The Philosopher's Stone…' I pondered. 'Why would someone be researching that old relic? Do you think it was for some sort of project.'

'Maybe…' Percy frowned. 'But wouldn't they just take the book out the library if that was the case? Why leave it here?'

'Good point.' I agreed. 'Which is why I suggest we take it out and see who comes looking for it.'

Percy chuckled. 'You really do belong with the snakes, don't you?'

Just as we were gathering up our stuff to leave, we heard voices moving closer. Percy made me pause, listening into the conversation. To our surprise, the voices were very familiar.

"Don't you see? That dog must be protecting the Philosopher's Stone! I bet it was because Dumbledore and Flamel were close, so he asked him to guard it for him…" The Granger girl was whispering loudly. "He must have known someone was after it so he had to have it removed from Gringotts."

"A Stone that can create gold and make you immortal… no wonder Snape wants it!" Charles replied. I frowned. Why would they expect Snape to want the Philosopher's Stone? And if they were talking about Dumbledore protecting it that would imply… of course! The 3rd Floor was put out of bounds this year.

Granger and Charles rounded the corner, accompanied by their ginger haired companion, who was currently speaking; "Huh, no wonder Flamel wasn't in Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry – he's hardly recent at six hundred and sixty-five is he?"

They had been huddled together as they talked, keeping their heads down. Charles was the first to look up, and blinked when he saw us. He came to an abrupt halt, causing Granger and Weasley to stop to. Percy grinned at them.

"Up to no good? I hope it's against the rules, Charles, or you'll have James to answer to." He joked. Granger glared at us.

"Keep your nose out of other people's business, Potter!" Granger snapped. "Besides, we most certainly are not doing anything against the rules!"

"Oh." I raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you wouldn't mind if I went straight to my godfather to inform him that you suspect him of wanting to steal the Philosopher's Stone?"

"You're godfather…" Weasley gave us a questioning look.

"Professor Snape." I clarified with a smile.

Weasley narrowed his eyes. "So that's how you get such good grades, huh? I knew that greasy git played favourites, even among his own snakes!"

Percy glared, his fury building with each word our brother's friend uttered. "You dare accuse us of using our godfather to get good grades? We wouldn't do that! It's immoral and won't help us at all during our OWLs. I mean, Merlin forbid we actually have any pure talent, right? Because Harry's a slimy snake and I'm a traitor to Gryffindor."

"Stop!" Charles interrupted. "It's not like that, you don't–"

Ron looked at Charles in amazement. "Charles, he's a snake. What do you expect of him? The sorting hat even said it – these cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends. They're lying little creeps, all of them! I mean, he was obviously eavesdropping on us!"

Charles turned on Ron with a snarl. "Ron, they're my brothers, and I trust them with my life. If Harry and Percy say that they didn't use Snape to get good grades, then they didn't. Besides, you've seen how much Harry loves spending time in the library. He doesn't need anybody's help to get him good grades – he has entire text-books memorised."

I smiled warmly at our brother. I knew we had been on good terms for a while now, but I still couldn't help but keep on expecting him to side with his friends over us. That small trickle of doubt refused to be blocked, putting us constantly on edge when we placed our trust in him or our parents. Charles returned the smile. He winked at us as if to reassure us that he wasn't going to turn his back on us.

"It's gone!" Granger cursed. "The book! I couldn't sworn it was here somewhere…"

"Let me see!" Weasley began searching the bookshelf hurriedly. "But it can't have just disappeared…"

Charles laughed quietly, before turning to smirk at us. "Come on, you two. You're the only other person I've ever seen in this part of the library."

"Us?" I put a hand to our chest and widened our eyes innocently. Percy chuckled at me. "Who said we knew anything? There are many books in this area of the library."

Charles was giving us an 'I-know-exactly-what-you're-doing' look. I couldn't help but let out a quiet sound of amusement at his expression.

"You know what, I'll make you a deal." Charles offered. "I'll tell you about what we're researching, and why, if you hand over the book."

Granger and Weasley were looking at us in confusion. I smirked at Charles. "I'll take that deal, just as long as you tell us that information now and not after you've gone and done something ridiculously stupid."

"Done" Charles held out his hand for the book. I handed it over.

"So… The Philosopher's Stone, huh?"

Charles and his two complaining minions sat down at the table we had been working at and beckoned for us to join them. Percy sat us down and motioned for Charles to start talking. It was a bit of a long story.

Charles started his tale with the time Draco had challenged him to a midnight duel, then arranged for Filch to catch them. They had fled from the caretaker and his evil cat, accidentally ending up on the third floor. And, of course, what other door would they open other than the locked one. They ended up bumping into a three-headed dog, which Granger somehow managed to notice was standing on a trap door. A small slip from Hagrid informed them that the dog's name was Fluffy and he was guarding something. Hagrid refused to tell them what, having noticed his slip, but then slipped up again and mentioned the name Nicolas Flamel. Charles recognised the name from the back of Dumbledore's chocolate frog card, and Granger had remembered this book with his name in it next to the Philosopher's Stone.

When we asked why they thought Professor Snape was after the stone, the trio gave us a blank stare, as if wondering why we thought he wasn't. Weasley mentioned Severus' faint limp after Halloween, and how his leg had been bleeding that night. They had somehow come to the conclusion he had been bitten trying to get past Fluffy. Charles then explained about how when his broom had malfunctioned at a previous Quidditch match, and how Hermione had caught Snape muttering an incantation. She'd set fire to his robes and the spell had broken, saving Charles from him imminent death.

Percy and I laughed at that. We remembered that Quidditch match when Charles had lost control of his broom. Afterwards we'd caught Professor Snape mumbling about stupid cursed brooms and having to save bumbling idiotic Gryffindor's from their own reckless actions. We tried to explain this them, but again, the three of them gave us blank looks, so we gave up persuading them that our godfather was really a nice guy.

Just after all the explanations were finished, a stray thought struck me.

"How long ago did you read this book Gr – sorry, Hermione?" I asked. She frowned at the start of her surname, then bit her lip in thought.

"Sometime before Christmas, why?"

Percy, realising my train of thought, answered for me. "Because, if the marks in the dust imply anything, this book was read in the last week or two, and who-ever it was marked the page they were reading."

Picking up the book, I indicated the marked page. Granger scowled in indignation, an echo of my previous emotions upon having found the book.

'See, you shouldn't mark books like that!' I commented to Percy. 'Even the muggleborn agrees.'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever. You little book worshippers. I have an idea – you two should start your own little group concerning book rights and –'

'Percy, you know you'd have to sit through our group meetings to.' I said in complete seriousness. Percy paled.

'Never mind!'

"Come on, everybody out! Lunch is in ten minutes, and then you have an hour until the train leaves. Go on – out, out! The library is closing for Lunch today!" Madam Pince, the librarian, called, her voice loud in the silence of the library.

We all trailed out, one after other. Before following his friends when we parted ways, Charles grabbed out wrist.

"Don't tell anybody about this, yeah? We don't want anybody finding out." He warned. We nodded in understanding, miming zipping our lips. He smiled, then turned away to follow his friends.

We took a more direct route to the Great Hall, using some old passageways that we had discovered during some restless late nights. I had a fleeting idea that we should create a map of the school at some point, but pushed it away for another time. We had a new, more important project that required our full attention at the moment; someone was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, and we were going to find out who and why.

Lily, James, Sirius and Remus were waiting at the station when we arrived back from Hogwarts. By the time we found them, Charles was already there, being smothered in hugs and kisses from Lily and James. We hesitated for a slit second, unsure on whether or not to but in, but soon Sirius took that decision for us. He quickly spotted us and ran over to envelop us in a warm hug. Percy laughed, and I grinned. It was good to be home.

We apparated home and Sirius and James pushed Charles and us through the door first. There was a rushing noise from above our heads, and I automatically cast a wandless shield. Half a heart-beat later a thick gloopy substance hit us. Or, at least, it hit Charles, soaking him in avocado-coloured sludge. My shield held round us, though, and instead a green puddle formed round our feet.

Percy turned to mock glare at Sirius and James. The two supposedly 'mature' adults were pouting at us, disappointment dulling their eyes. Then they turned to Charles, and giggled hysterically as he fumbled around blindly, trying to get free of the green gunge.

A soft cough from Lily made everybody freeze. Percy and I laughed when we saw Sirius flinch and James stiffen. As one, the mischievous duo turned to face the annoyed red-head. Lily pointed her wand at Charles.

"Scourgify."

Immediately the mess disappeared, leaving Charles as clean as he had been before he walked through the door. The goo on the floor disappeared as well, revealing the clear green marble floor. Having taken care of the mess Lily glowered at her husband and his best friend before grasping their ears and dragging them away, yelling at them about messy pranks and how inappropriate they were to use after we'd been travelling all day.

I grinned at Charles. "Feel up to a game of Seekers?"

"You're on!"

We ran our trunks up to our rooms, grabbed broomsticks and ran out the back. At the edge of my consciousness I felt Percy retreat to the farthest depths of our mind as I kicked off. I felt a twinge of guilt. I knew he didn't like flying, but it was such a marvellous feeling to be accelerating through the air, diving and chasing the snitch… Percy send me a quick smile.

'Don't mind me. I'm just going to go daydream for the next hour or so. Have fun!'

I chuckled, and sent him a grin in return before returning all my attention to the game at hand. Charles released the snitch and counted to thirty before we shot off in search of the glittering golden ball. I caught the snitch during the first round. Charles won the second. We kept on having rematches, our scores almost perfectly matched. When Lily finally yelled for us to "Get off those infernal brooms and come eat dinner!" the score was 14:16 in my favour.

Percy re-joined the land of the real world as our feet hit the ground, and we eagerly took part in the dinner conversation, joking about recent events at school and generally informing our parents about the most recent gossip. Percy mentioned the little dragon Charles had helped 'escape', which turned out to be a rather popular topic.

"Hagrid somehow came across a dragon egg." Percy said. "He hatched it and Charles and his friends eventually managed to persuade him that a wooden hut wasn't the place for a fire breathing dragon to grow up so one of the Weasley's – Charlie – sent some friends to come and collect her."

"Her?" Charles gave us a weird look. "Don't you mean Norbert? The dragon was a boy."

Percy burst out laughing, and I joined in. "Really? Between the four of you, you all failed to notice that she was a girl?

Charles gave us a startled look. "But… but… it was dragon! How did you tell?"

We rolled our eyes at our brother. "We talked to her, duh! Norwegian Ridgebacks are closely related to snake, and so speak a form a Parseltongue."

Now we had four incredulous adult staring at us. James looked just about ready to faint.

"Oh dear Merlin…" James murmured. "Percy, Harry, you are aware of the superstition surrounding Parseltongue, right? There wasn't a witch or wizard who could speak it who didn't turn out evil."

I frowned, feeling rather hurt at the implication. "Just because I was sorted into Slytherin and we can speak to Snakes does not mean that we are going to turn out evil! Really, James. Superstition is fed by anger and lies. Agreed it is born from seeds of truth, but a lot of it is just a ton of rubbish!"

Lily nodded her agreement with us. "Well said, boys. But don't go spreading this information round school, ok? It isn't the kind of skill you want to advertise. We know that the rumours surrounding Parselmouths are a load of dragon dung, but many people don't follow the same line of thought. So just be careful, Ok, honey?"

We nodded. "Ok, Lily. We'll do our best to keep it a secret. But onto a more important matter – can we visit the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary and visit the little dragon? Please! She was so cute and she didn't attack us when we talked to her!"

Percy begged the most, and eventually we managed to get Lily and James agree to arrange a visit if possible. They warned that it might not be possible for a while, and it might have to be a Birthday or Christmas present, but we didn't mind too much. We were going to see our little dragon again!

When Easter day dawned we were woken up by an energetic Charles bouncy on our bed, yelling for us to get up and throwing open our curtains to make the light stream in. Percy groaned and let out a low snarl, pushing Charles off our bed. Our poor brother landed rather heavily on the floor, groaning as he rubbed his sore limbs.

"Get up, get up, get up!" He yelled. "It's Easter! We get chocolate and egg hunts and a barbeque and –"

Sensing Percy was reaching the end of his tether I hit Charles with a silencing spell.

'You awake, Percy?' I asked Percy in a teasing tone. 'I couldn't quite tell if our new alarm clock was competent enough at rousing you from sleep.'

'Shove off Harry!' Percy moaned. 'The sun is hardly up!'

I smirked, and quoted a muggle film Charles had got us to watch a while back. ' The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play!'

Percy grunted at that and glowered at me. 'It's too early to be quoting films!'

'Well, we could spend this time doing something productive, like waking up James at this ungodly hour of the morning…'

Percy's interest instantly spiked. He was always eager to get back at James. He shot out of bed, past a silently pouting Charles, and all but sprinted to Lily and James' bedroom. Spotting the on-suit bathroom's door was open, Percy smirked. I felt a familiar tug in our gut, and then water began to form a small stream in the air, forming a puddle over James' head. I cast a shield over Lily to prevent her from getting wet. Then, just as Charles burst into the room behind us, Percy let the water fall, straight onto James' face.

"Ahh!" James screaming, bolting upright, as the icy liquid hit his face. "Charles!"

Charles, who was still trapped under my silencing spell, widened his eyes in shocked innocence, pointing at us. Percy smirked, not denying the accusation. James narrowed his eyes at us.

"You… you…"

"Son of a Marauder?" Lily offered dryly, watching the scene unravel with amusement as she lay on her dry, warm side of the bed.

"Exactly!" James exclaimed, before realising what she had said. "Well… actually I mean little sneak, but…"

"Aw, come on James," Sirius said from where he stood in the doorway. "It's all the same thing, isn't it squirt? Besides, fair's fair. We tried to prank him, so he gets to retaliate."

"Huh!" James pouted.

We grinned. What an excellent start to what should be an excellent day!