Despite Ben's attempts to leave, Madam Pomfrey insisted that he'd stay in the hospital wing that night. She quickly fixed his leg with a spell that seemed quite simple, but she still made him stay. The pain was gone almost instantly, but he didn't relax. He had been nervous since she had pulled up his trousers to check the area, and he kept silently wishing she didn't notice them.

He could tell she had seen them, but focused on the broken leg at first. However, right after she had performed the spell to fix it, her eyes went straight to them. She looked up at him, and he tried his best to remain calm and put on a happy expression. Madam Pomfrey suddenly walked away, and Ben's breath stopped.

She came back just a minute later, bringing with her a small glass jar, which contained a pale blue substance. That was Ben's favourite colour. The woman sat down on a backless chair at the foot of the bed, and uncovered the jar, leaving the lid beside his legs.

"It's going to be a little bit cold," she warned. Ben nodded in understanding, and instantly realised it was true. Madam Pomfrey's fingers were careful, tracing over Ben's scars, leaving a cold and relaxing sensation over them. She continued doing it until she was done. "Do you have more?"

"No," he lied. She nodded, and closed the jar again before leaving.

The potion had been somewhat thick and viscous in texture at first, but now it felt increasingly liquid as the temperature rose. It got to a point where it was almost like water, and it started to burn slightly, until suddenly it was gone.

He looked down at his leg, and his jaw dropped automatically. His skin was pale and flawless, without any signs that it had been full of scars just some minutes ago. The corner of his lips curled up into a smile.

Magic was... magical.

The next morning, Ben woke up feeling an odd relief. Madam Pomfrey was preparing a bed next to his, and soon walked over to him when she noticed he was awake. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Madam Pomfrey," he repeated, holding back a yawn.

"Are you feeling better today?" she asked kindly.

Ben nodded, and pushed back the white sheets of the bed he was lying on to see his leg. He remembered taking a look at it, but seeing it almost completely free from wounds or scars felt like a dream, so he wasn't sure if it was real or not. He felt his heartbeat rise as he checked it definitely hadn't been just a dream. "Wow!"

"I'm afraid there were a couple of them I wasn't able to heal," she said carefully, and lowered the volume of her voice before continuing. "Since they had been done with magic. Do you happen to have any... more of those? I can take care of them if you-"

"No, no, I don't have any more," he assured, nodding convincingly to make up for the slight panic that had sounded on his voice with the first 'No'. "It was just those. They were made as an accident when I was much younger."

The woman looked him dead in the eye, and he resisted the need to flinch. He swallowed hard. "Alright, then."

"Er- Could I please go to my next class now?" he asked shyly.

"Of course," she said. "But I'm afraid it's too late for you to have breakfast at the Great Hall. If you are hungry, I'm sure I can get you something to eat before you join your classmates."

"It's okay, I'm not really hungry," he replied, meaning it. "But thank you."

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Then, you can leave. You might feel a bit awkward while walking today, but you aren't supposed to feel any pain. If you do, please come back here as soon as possible."

"Alright, thank you very much Madam Pomfrey."

She smiled, and made a sign to tell him he was allowed to leave, so he took a step forward, testing his leg. Madam Pomfrey was right about feeling awkward; his knee was stiffer than usual, yet a bit weak at the same time. However, it didn't hurt, so he continued walking forward.

When he opened the door to the corridor, he bumped into Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Hey!"

"Ben!"

"What are you three doing here?" he asked his friends.

"We came to see you," smiled Harry. Ben returned the gesture.

"Thank you!"

"So, how are you feeling?" asked Ron.

"I'm fine, my leg doesn't hurt anymore. And I can walk again, look" he told them, and started walking in a circle around Ron. "See? It's great!"

"Yeah!" replied the redhead, smiling broadly.

"So, what happened after I was taken to the infirmary?" asked Ben as they walked away from the Hospital Wing. "Did you get in trouble?"

"Only I did," said Hermione.

Ben frowned in disbelief. "What? You?"

The girl nodded. "I told Professor McGongall it was all my fault," she explained. Ben's eyebrows furrowed even more, but he remained silent and paid attention to Hermione. "I said I decided to attempt to fight the troll on my own."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why did you lie?" wondered Ben, and you could easily tell both Harry and Ron wondered the same thing, too.

"So you three were completely out of trouble," she reasoned. "If I told them the truth, perhaps they would give Ron detention."

"They for sure would," grumbled the aforementioned. "McGonagall doesn't like me very much."

"I don't think McGonagall likes anybody in general," added Harry.

"She for sure does like Hermione," replied Ron.

"I mean who wouldn't like Hermione," said Ben in a jokingly flirtatious tone. Hermione laughed and nudged him playfully on the arm. "But you didn't get detention, though, did you?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, but she took five points from Gryffindor for it."

"Oh..."

"However," said Ron proudly. "We then got five points each for, you know, taking down a troll."

"Nice! So we got five points for Gryffindor after all."

"Five?" repeated Harry.

"Yeah, if Hermione lost five, and then you two got five each, it's ten, so..."

"Ben, I know how to add and subtract," interrupted Harry, half-laughing. "But we actually got ten points in total. You were given five points, too."

"Did I really?" exclaimed Ben, eyes wide open.

"Of course," said Ron. "You risked your life to save Hermione, remember?"

"Yeah, but I thought I would... I don't know, never mind."

"I still don't get what your plan was," commented Hermione.

"I wanted to distract the troll so you'd have time to run from under the sinks."

"And what were you going to do after that?" asked Harry, and the brunette could tell by the look on his face that he knew Ben didn't have a second part of his plan.

"No idea," he shrugged. "What's our first class today?"

"Charms," replied Hermione at once. The sound of quick footsteps behind them became louder, and they turned around to find Audrey standing there.

"Uhm..." mumbled Ben. "Hey?"

"I heard what happened," she spoke, her eyes shifting nervously from her brother to the end of the corridor. "And I was wondering if you are alright."

Ben stared at her in silence, trying to find a hint of sarcasm reflected on her tone. But she truly sounded honest, her gaze remained serene and her face serious, waiting for the boy to say something.

"Yeah, I'm all good."

"Lovely," she said, and walked away as though she had never spoken to him. The four Gryffindors watched as she disappeared at the corner of the corridor, and then exchanged looks.

"That was the weirdest thing I've seen in all week," commented Ben.

"We literally fought a troll yesterday," Harry reminded him.

"I'm aware," he said. "Audrey caring about my wellbeing is much weirder."

"She's your sister," reasoned Hermione, frowning. "Siblings care about each other, don't they?"

"They do, in general," shrugged Ben. "But Audrey doesn't."

He went quiet after that, and so did Harry and Ron. They didn't really know much about how the Walker family was from the inside, but they were totally aware of the fact that Ben didn't enjoy talking about it. Hermione, however, had no idea of anything regarding Ben's family but, by the look on his face, she could tell it was best not to reply.

———————————————

The first week of November went by much quicker than the rest of the days. Hermione had started joining Harry, Ron and Ben at class and when they had free time, and they had become a kind of quartet. It was nice to finally get along with her, although she seemed a bit too bossy and slightly annoying at first. But once they started getting to know her better, they found out her company was quite enjoyable, and the three boys were glad to be her friends.

Harry would be playing his first Quidditch match ever on the first Sunday of the month, after training for weeks. It was an intense one; Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Everyone was extremely excited and nervous about it, while Harry was terribly anxious.

Oliver Wood, who was the captain of the team, had decided to use Harry as a kind of secret weapon, so he had decided to keep his skills, and him, as a secret. That meant hardly anyone had seen him play, aside from the team, and Ben and Ron, who went to watch their practices when they had time. Hermione had gone once or twice too, but she was always too busy studying at the library, so it was mostly just Ron and Ben.

A couple of days before the first match, Hermione told them she had to go search for something at the library, her third home, and she came back with a book called 'Quidditch Through the Ages'. Harry found it extremely interesting, and barely slept for two nights due to forcing himself to read it.

"I've read that there's seven hundred ways of commiting a Quidditch foul," he told his friends the morning of his first match, as they sat in the Great Hall. "And they all happened in a World Cup match in 1473."

"How is it possible to commit so many fouls in a single match?" wondered Ben. "How long did they play for? A week?"

"Wood told me the longest match ever played lasted three months."

"Woah!"

A long and awkward silence fell between them. Harry began flipping a piece of bacon on his plate with his fork, although it didn't seem like he was going to eat it. He appeared to have fallen into his thoughts as he stared into his plate.

"Is everything okay, Harry?" asked Ben, leaning closer to him.

"Yeah, of course," he replied automatically. "Just a bit nervous."

"It will be fine, Harry," assured Hermione from his other side. "You'll do great."

Harry said nothing, but forced a weak smile out of him.

"You should eat something, though," commented Ron after taking a bite of toast. "You will need it."

"Ron's right, you will need strength today."

"I'm not hungry," he stated.

Suddenly, Professor Snape appeared out of nowhere, and approached the four Gryffindors. "Good luck, Potter," he said, and gave him a painfully obvious fake smile. "Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work. Even if it is against... Slytherin."

And he left. But not before shooting each of them a cold, nasty look.

"He's limping," noticed Harry. Ben turned around again, to take a look at Snape as he walked away. It was true, he wasn't walking as usual. "That explains the blood."

"Blood?" repeated Hermione. "What blood?"

"Listen, the other night, when the troll broke in, I saw a wound on Snape's leg," began Harry. "When he caught me staring, he quickly covered it."

"That's suspicious," commented Ron.

"Yeah," agreed Ben.

"What are you trying to say?" asked Hermione.

Harry continued. "I think it was Snape who let the troll in. He used it as a distraction so he could try to get past that three headed dog. But, he got himself bitten, and that's why he's walking like that."

"Oh, and didn't we see Snape heading for the third floor?" remembered Ben, all of a sudden.

"Exactly, we did."

Hermione frowned. "But... Why would anyone want to go near that dog?"

"The day I was at Gringotts, Hagrid took something from out of one of the vaults. He said it was Hogwarts business, very secret."

"So it's what you said the other day," reminded Ben, tapping the table with his fingers. "That whatever Hagrid took is now being guarded by that dog."

Harry nodded. "And that's what Snape wants."

"But why would he want it?" asked Ron, leaning forward.

"Well, we don't even know what it is, so it could be something very useful for him."

"I wonder what he wants..."

A hoot was heard, and they all looked up to see Harry's white owl, Hedwig, flying towards him, carrying a long and thin package. The animal dropped it right in front of Harry, jeeting the piece of bacon he had been playing with to the floor. Ben giggled and picked it up.

"I never get mail..."

"What is it?" asked Ron, very excitedly.

"Let's open it to find out!"

They unpackaged it carefully, and Ron almost jumped in surprise when they saw nothing less than the new Nimbus Two Thousand, sleek and shiny, with a mahogany and neat, straight twigs.

"Merlin's beard!"

———————————————

The match was about to start, and Ron, Hermione and Ben had been lucky enough to find a good place in the front of one of the Gryffindor stands. Ben wasn't too much of a Quidditch fan, to be honest, but he was thrilled to watch Harry play. It would be awesome if Gryffindor won the first time he played.

The doors opened, and the players took off one by one as the crowd cheered excitedly.

"Hello and welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season!" Lee Jordan's voice came out of the speakers all around the field. "Today's game, Slytherin versus Gryffindor!"

The public began cheering wildly, waving their house flags. Madam Hooch made her way to the centre of the field as the players got into place. "The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the game!"

The woman opened the trunk, released the bludgers and threw them up into the air. Next, the golden snitch hovered up, and flew out of everyone's gaze.

"The bludgers are up, followed by the golden snitch. Remember the snitch is worth one hundred and fifty points. The seeker who catches the snitch wins the game," cheered Lee. "The Quaffle is released and the game begins!"

The players scattered across the field, as Lee continued with his commentary.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson from Gryffindor- what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too-"

"Jordan!" Yelled McGonagall.

"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve- back to Johnson and... No, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes- Flint flying like an eagle up there- he's going to sc— No, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle- that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor here, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and... OUCH! That must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger. Quaffle taken by the Slytherins- that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger- sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which- nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes- she's really flying, dodges a speeding Bludger. The goal posts are ahead- come on, now, Angelina. Keeper Bletchley dives, misses, GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

The Gryffindor stands erupted in excited cheers, as the Slytherin ones groaned and complained.

"Budge up there, move along!" said a deep voice from behind them. Ben spun around to see Hagrid trying to find a way to sit.

"Hi Hagrid!" he said, as they squeezed together so Hagrid could sit besides them.

"Bin watchin' from me hut," Hagrid told them, patting a large pair of binoculars around his neck, "But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope, not yet."

"Harry hasn't much to do yet," shrugged Ron.

"Kept outta trouble, though, that's something," commented Hagrid, raising his binoculars.

"Do you see him?" asked Ben.

Hagrid lent him his binoculars, and he pointed them towards the sky. "Oh, I see him!" he smiled. "He looks so small from here."

"I bet we look even smaller from there," replied Ron.

Ben nodded, doubting Hagrid could ever look small, and gave the man his binoculars back. "Thank you!"

"Slytherin in possession," said Lee Jordan, "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell."

Ben went as pale as paper, and he turned to Ron. "Hold up... Did he say... Pucey?"

It took the redhead a second to realise, and he made a really funny expression when he did. He let out a laugh and said, "That sounds like..." he didn't finish his sentence, since a murmur was running through the crowd. "What happened?"

"The snitch appeared," said Hermione happily.

Harry seemed to have seen it, because he dived downward after the streak of gold. The Slytherin seeker, Terence Higgs, saw it too, but Harry was faster. He accelerated even more and, when it seemed like he was going to get it, a roar of rage echoed through the whole field.

Marcus Flint had blocked Harry, definitely on purpose, and his broom had started spinning wildly.

"Oh, come on!" Ben roared furiously. "He could've knocked him off!"

"Send him off, ref! Red card!" yelled Dean.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ron.

"In football you get shown the red card and you're out of the game!"

"But this isn't football, Dean." Ron shook his head. "Luckily, because football is boring."

"No it's not!"

"Will you two ever stop arguing over sports?" Ben rolled his eyes. They both grumbled under their breath and went back to watching the game.

"So, after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-"

"Jordan!"

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul..."

"Jordan, I'm warning you!" growled McGonagall.

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinner, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

"Slytherin in possession- Flint with the Quaffle, passes Spinnet, passes Bell, gets hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose- only joking, Professor- Slytherins score..."

All of a sudden, Ben noticed something was wrong with Harry's broom; it had started jerking harshly, as though it was trying to knock him off. He was clearly not the only one to notice.

"What's going on with Harry's broomstick?" asked Hagrid.

"It looks like he's lost control," announced Neville.

"Maybe he has," whispered Seamus. "Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?"

"I don't know much about brooms," said Ben, worriedly. "But I doubt Flint can jinx a broom by just blocking him."

"Ben's right," agreed Hagrid, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic. No kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

"Maybe an adult can..." muttered Ben.

Hermione seized Hagrid's binoculars, but instead of looking up at Harry, she started looking frantically at the crowd. "It's Snape! He's jinxing the broom!"

"Jinxing the broom?!" Ron gasped.

"Do you know the counterspell?"

Hermione shook her head. "Don't worry, leave this to me." And she disappeared in the crowd. Ron and Ben shared horrified looks.

Ben's leg began to tremble nervously. He refused to look up, he didn't want to see Harry falling to his death if Hermione failed.

"No!" yelled Ron, and Ben had to look up. Harry was no longer on his broomstick; he was hanging there, holding it with just his hand, trying to get back up.

And, suddenly, the broom stopped moving. The stand in which the teachers were watching the match erupted into screams. Snape's robes were on fire, making him stop doing whatever he was doing to Harry's broom.

"She's brilliant!" exclaimed Ron. Ben smirked at him, and the boy rolled his eyes as he gave him a playful nudge.

Once the boy got back on his broom, he raced off after the snitch. The Slytherin seeker was ahead of him, so he went faster until they were next to each other. They flew downwards, getting closer and closer to the ground.

"They're gonna hit the ground!"

Higgs finally pulled his broom up, but Harry didn't. He waited until the very last possible second before jerking up his broom, and slowly standing up on it. The crowd gasped, surprised, when he extended his hand, reaching out to catch the snitch. He leaned too forward, and fell off his broom, cartwheeling on the sand.

A loud "Oh!" was heard all over the field. Harry got up slowly, and he started coughing like was about to vomit.

"Looks like he's going to be sick!" But, when he coughed for the last time, something gold fell into his hand.

"He's got the snitch!" shouted Lee Jordan blissfully. "Harry Potter receives a hundred and fifty points for Gryffindor!"

Madam Hooch blew her whistle, announcing the end of the game. "Gryffindor wins!"

———————————————

"Nonsense!" growled Hagrid the next day, when Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ben went to visit him. "Why would Snape put a curse on Harry's broom?"

"Who knows," replied Harry. "Why was he trying to get past that three headed dog on Halloween?"

"Who told you about fluffy?" asked Hagrid, eyes wide open.

"Fluffy?"

"That thing has a name?"

"Of course he's got a name, he's mine!" the man said, raising his arms. "Bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year. I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" asked Harry.

"Shouldn't have said that..." Hagrid mumbled to himself. "No more questions! No more questions! That's top secret, that is."

"But, Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it!"

"Rubbish," said Hagrid gruffly. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"Then why did we see him going towards the third floor corridor while we were trying to help Hermione?" asked Ben accusingly.

"And why did he try to kill Harry yesterday?" cried Hermione. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh — yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel —"

"Nicolas Flamel?" repeated Harry, and shared looks with Ron and Ben.

"I shouldn't have said that, I should not have said that!" Hagrid walked away, leaving Harry, Ben, Ron and Hermione behind.

"Nicolas Flamel, who's Nicolas Flamel?" asked Harry, frowning.

"Um... He's an... inventor, I'm pretty sure," said Ben, racking his brain in an attempt to remember something else. "I read something about him in a book at my family's library around five years ago."

"What else do you know about him?"

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember much. After all, it had happened a long time ago, and he had read thousands of books since then. "He was French, but I doubt that helps," he shrugged.

"Do you remember the book in which you read about him?"

"Yeah, and it might be where I found it back then, my parents don't visit the library very often."

"Brilliant!" said Harry joyfully. "Then you could try to ask your parents to send you the book."

Ben snorted. Harry looked at him in surprise. "My parents? They'll never send me the book."

"Why?" asked the black-haired boy. "Is it valuable for them?"

"No, they simply would never do anything to help me," he replied, his voice sounding emotionless for a second. He cleared his throat. "If we want the book, my parents can't find out."

"What about your sister?" suggested Ron. "Alycia, I mean. We could send her a letter telling her about it."

"My parents check the mail everyday, I doubt she can find the letter before they do. Besides, I refuse to put her on any risks, and being on a secret plan with me means a lot of them for her."

"Then what can we do?" asked Hermione nervously.

Ben took a deep breath. "I'll go back home during Christmas break. I can sneak into the library at night. I'll find the book and tell you everything that's written there about Nicholas Flamel."

"But you said you wanted to find a way to stay here on Christmas," Harry reminded him, a very worried look on his face.

"I still do, but it's stupid. No matter what I do now, I'll have to go back in summer," he remarked. "And, I need to find the book."

Harry stared at him, his eyes full of sadness. "Are you sure you want to go back there?"

"I never said I wanted to..."

"I'm confused," said Hermione, making Ben remember he hadn't told the girl anything about his family, or about the letter he had received from them.

"It's okay, don't worry."

A/N: I am very sorry for having disappeared intermittently since February, the truth is that so many things have happened in my life that it has been crazy and I had no time to write and hardly any desire to exist.

But now everything is better and I have a huge motivation to push this book forward, because I refuse to give up all the ideas I had for Ben and Harry, and this storyline.

I love you all very much, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.