The Philosopher's Stone
Hayley had not forgotten about the Mirror. She couldn't. Every waking moment, the images of her parents would haunt her. She couldn't look at Harry without wishing her father was here as well.
When she looked at herself in a mirror, she couldn't help but long to see her mother. Whenever a red haired girl passed her by in the halls or corridors, she wished it was her mother.
Then the nightmares. A bald odd looking guy laughing, red and green flashes mixing together. It was horrible.
Harry was also having nightmares. But his were different. He didn't see a man but he saw their parents dying.
She shuddered as she tried to concentrate on her lesson. She was in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, trying to concentrate on Professor Quirrell who went on and on about Vampires.
She never liked this class to begin with. There was something strange about the Professor as well. He was oddly pale and the horrible stench coming out of his turban had worsened. Then there was this creepy feeling she got every time she was in the same room as Quirrell.
She heard the bell ring, indicating the end of the class. It was a relief to get out his presence. She made her way to the Great Hall with Pansy since they were having a break before their next class that was History of Magic.
She sat down at the Slytherin table, Daphne and Blaise were in deep conversation about some new year ball they had gone to with their parents. Theo was laying out all his chocolate frog cards for Millicent to see and compare who had the most and rare cards.
Thank goodness, Malfoy and his sidekicks weren't there. She could finally relax for a bit. She took out a book she was reading in her extra time to look for Nicholas Flamel but she hadn't found anything yet.
After several minutes, Daphne turned to them, "Did you guys hear? Professor Snape will be refereeing the Quidditch match for Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff."
At that Hayley's head snapped up. She stared wide eyed, "What? Are you sure?"
Daphne gave them a wicked smile, "Oh I am absolutely sure. Gryffindors won't stand a chance in the tournament!"
As much as she wanted Slytherin to win the Quidditch and the House cups, she also didn't want Snape to hurt Harry.
Her classmates shared a look of pure triumph as if they had already won the House Championship. Other than Malfoy, no one bullied the other houses that much. They poked fun at others but not as much as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle did. She tried to stop them as much as possible but it didn't have much effect on them.
They were Slytherins to the core but they weren't evil demon spawns like Malfoy and his croonies. Daphne and Millicent would do anything to make Slytherin the top house even if that meant sabotaging the other Houses. The same went for Theo and Blaise. But even those antics had it's limits.
They never physically hurt others but they all seemed to be deep in some Purebloods propaganda. They were convinced that as Purebloods, they were better than other people who were Half-bloods and Muggle-borns. So she always reprimended them whenever they bullied others with their words.
As for Pansy... She was a different story entirely. Sometimes she was so aloof that she could care less about some house rivalries but sometimes she would be determined to see the other houses crushed beneath her impeccably polished shoes. Hayley didn't know where she stood on her beliefs on Pureblood supremacy.
"Hey!" Millicent Bulstrode cried out, as she fixed her furious eyes on Theo. "You stole my Morgana card! Give it back!"
Theo spluttered, trying to hide his cards with his hands. Millicent lunged forward, grabbing his tie and pulled him towards her. Her pudgy nose and chubby cheeks were red as she stared him down with her fist raised, ready to attack if he didn't surrender.
Theo had the audacity to grin at her as he held up his hands, his right one clutching Millicent's card, "Oops."
She snatched it back and let go of him. Daphne rolled her eyes, berating them for being childish and acting like some common riff-raffs. Theo gave her a grin before speaking.
"It's not our fault you don't have a hobby, Daphne. Of course, other than trying to be the next Mrs. Malfoy. Don't you think we are too young for that?"
Daphne's face went red, her eyes almost popped out of her eye sockets as she stared at him, baffled and abashed. "How dare you?"
What Theo said was true. Daphne was trying too much to be in Malfoy's favor. That also meant hating on Hayley. But the girl only did it in front of Draco, other times she merely ignored her. Theo turned his attention to his cards again when Daphne stormed out, looking embarrassed and angry at the same time.
"I have so many Dumbledore cards! Do you want them, Milli?" Theo said with an irritated look on his face.
"No. I don't."
"What about you, Hayley? You can start collecting them if you want. It's fun." Theo said to her, giving her a card with Dumbledore's face on it. She remembered seeing exactly the same card aboard the Hogwarts Express. It had some brief information about the Headmaster and his achievements...
Nicholas Flamel!
She suddenly stood up, a gasp escaping her lips, "Thats where I had read about him!"
They all looked at her with startled looks, "What?"
"Sorry but I have to go!"
With that she took her bag and books and zoomed out of the Great Hall. She made her way to the library for some extra research now that she knew where to look, before telling Harry and others about it.
She quickly went to the section where the books on Alchemy were shelved. It took her a while but she finally got the necessary information and took the book to Madam Pince so the Librarian can issue the book outside the library.
"There you are, Potter!" A cold drawling voice made her stop. She turned to find Malfoy and his croonies. An evil smirk playing on his lips as he neared.
"What do you want now?" She snapped in annoyance. She continued walking, not in the mood to deal with him at the moment.
"I was just practising a new spell and couldn't seem to find a target. So I thought of you." He sneered, his face twisting with wickedness. She froze, and alarm bells echoed in her head.
She made to grab her wand but the pale brat beat her to it. Whipping out his wand, he pointed it to her legs.
"Locomotor Mortis!"
He hissed and she felt her legs seize any motion instantly. With a yelp, she fell forward and she barely prevented her nose from making an impact with the stone floor. She twisted her body so that she fell on her side and her hip throbbed with pain.
She winced, a sharp pain also bloomed at her knees. She looked down to see her knees were scraped as well. Laughter surrounded her as she lay on the ground, trying to move her legs but they were locked in together. That's when she heard a small voice.
"Hayley? Are you alright?" Neville stood just a few feet away from her, looking agitated and nervous. Then his face paled as he noticed Malfoy and his buddies.
"Oh look! Another showed up for target practice!" Malfoy said out loud, almost in exhilaration.
"Leave him alone! You stupid spoiled brat!" She yelled out at Malfoy who ignored her, too immersed in his bullying to care. He aimed his wand at Neville and spoke the same spell.
Neville thumped to the floor with a groan. More laughter echoed in the corridor as the Slytherin boys walked away. Hayley and Neville stared at each other, still sprawled on the ground. "Sorry... I got you hexed as well."
Neville shook his head, "They would have gotten me anyways."
That was probably true. But she didn't say that to him instead she offered him a smile. With great difficulty, they both stood up and hopped their way to the Gryffindor Tower, earning some good laughs and taunts from several students.
As Neville whispered the new password and they both slid inside, hopping on their legs, all of Gryffindor common room seemed to burst out in laughter as well. Her face burned with embarrassment more than ever. But when Harry saw that she was also hopping behind Neville, all the humor vanished from his face.
Yeah. Right! Now you notice! She angrily thought.
Neville explained what had happened when Hermione asked him. The girl quickly performed a countersurse on their legs. Harry's face was red with rage as he heard the whole story but Ron was still having a hard time controlling his laugh.
Harry gave him a glare but that didn't do much. Ron rolled his eyes at his friend, "You have double standards when it comes to your sister, you know that, Harry?"
Ron's voice dripped with annoyance but humor still danced in his blue eyes. Harry ignored him and went to where Hayley had taken a seat beside Neville. She rubbed a sore spot on her knees and she was sure it would bruise soon.
She was going to murder Draco Malfoy!
A pair of older girls passed their little group and screwed up thier faces as they saw her sitting in their common room. Hayley knew she was not fully welcome in the Gryffindor Tower. It seemed Gryffindors hated Slytherins as much Slytherins hated them.
She ignored them and tried to distract herself by reading. Then she remembered why she had come to the Gryffindor common room in the first place. She turned to Harry and Ron as she gasped. Hermione coming to her side as well.
"I found Nicholas Flamel!" She whispered to them, trying to keep her voice down. Harry and Ron gaped at her as they asked out loud in unison, "Where?"
She hissed at them and clamped their mouth shut with her hands. "Not here, you idiots!"
Hayley looked around and found an empty desk by the far corner of the room. She nodded her head in that direction and they all moved there. They huddled together as she told them what she'd read on Dumbledore's card about Nicholas Flamel. Hermione got to her feet with a startled exclaimation.
"Of course! How could I forget?"
They all looked up at her in confusion as she hurridely made her way to the staircase but Hayley stopped her, "If you are going to fetch a book, then I've got you covered."
She fumbled through her bag and took out a large and thick book, that almost tore her bag at the seams. It thumped loudly as she heaved it outside. Hermione's eyes lit up and immediately got a hold of it as she quickly started to flick through the pages. "This is exact book I was going to get! I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"Light?" Both Ron and Hayley wondered in mild shock. Hayley liked reading and ever since coming to Hogwarts she'd broken her previous records but even she couldn't consider this large and huge book 'light reading'.
Hermione told them to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself. At last she found what she was looking for. "I knew it! I knew it!"
"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him.
"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"
Silence fell over them and the look on Hermione's face told her it wasn't the reaction she was expecting.
"The what?" said Harry and Ron.
"It's a magical stone that makes gold and gives immort--" Hayley began to explain in simple words, however, she was cut off by Hermione whose eyes shone with a furious spark.
"Oh, honestly, don't you guys read? Look -- read that, there." She pushed the book toward them, and Harry and Ron read:
The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making 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. There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).
"See?" said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished.
"The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it."
"Yes. Anyone..." Hayley started, her voice barely a whisper, "Even Quirrell."
At that, all three heads turned to her, confusion shone in their eyes, but it was Harry who voiced his thoughts out loud, "Professor Quirrell? Why would Professor Quirrell want the stone? He is the one of the people protecting it."
"Yeah so is Snape." She countered, "But there's something odd about him, Professor Quirrell I mean. Don't you think so?"
"No. In fact he is so scared of Snape that he trembles in his presense. I know! I have seen them. There's no way Quirrell would even dare to do such a thing." Harry said this with so much surety that she didn't push furthur.
Ron and Hermione shared a look, then Ron averted their attention back to the topic at hand, "No wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," said Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"
They left the conversation at that and Hayley didn't argue much on Quirrell either since Harry's quidditch match was approaching and he was looking more and more nervous as the days went by. He was busy most of the time, either in class or practicing out in the field.
Meanwhile, she and the other two Gryffindors were busy learning the leg-locker curse in case they needed to use it on Snape if he did something suspicious during the match. She was also keeping an eye on Quirrell since she couldn't let go of her gut feeling that something was wrong with him. In her days of following the professor, she found that it wasn't easy. She'd lost count on how many times he'd managed to just... Vanish. Whenever he'd turn a corner, he'd be gone in an instant, no matter how long the corridor was.
Maybe he was using secret passageways to get away, she thought as she made her way to the Quidditch Field with the others. Hermione was telling Ron the wand movements for the Locomotor Mortis spell and Ron only rolled his eyes, mumbling that he knew what to do.
She took a seat beside her Gryffindor friends and tried to concentrate on Harry and his match. Hermione and Ron were keenly watching Snape but Hayley's eyes were fixed on Professor Quirrell. He sat among the teachers, looking pale as usual but there was nothing out of ordinary. He was clapping his hands as the teams scored and exchanged words with other professors.
She was so fixated on him that she didn't even hear the chaos that erupted around her. She didn't know when Malfoy and his lackeys came to their side of the stands and when Ron and Neville engaged in a fight with them.
She turned to them, sitting just a seat away, and saw how violent it was getting. "Stop it you guys! Crabbe! I swear to god if you hit him I'll-
She didn't get to finish her sentence because Crabbe had already punched Ron in the face and he went knocking into Malfoy who was standing on his seat trying to get away from Neville. Malfoy yelled out as he lost his balance and fell on top of her.
They both fell to the ground, her already bruised hip making an impact with the seats and her back hit the hard wooden floor. She groaned, stuck under Malfoy's weight.
"Get off me, you idiot!" She screamed in his ear.
But the pale blonde was howling in pain, whining something about his arm. That's when his smell hit her, he smelled of apples and leather... It reminded her of the leather bound books.
Then slowly the sounds around her started to vanish and she found herself at an entirely different place. She had felt something like this before. At the last quidditch match...
She was standing in an abandoned classroom, looking at two students. A girl with black, wavy hair and a blonde boy with grey eyes. They were both sitting at a desk side by side. They continued to sit there in silence, her hand resting in his.
Hayley tried to walk closer but she couldn't. She was frozen in place but at least she had a good view of the two. She soon realized that she was staring at herself and Malfoy but older. The older draco was paler than the one she knew and he had heavy bags under his eyes. The older version of her didn't look good herself. She too had heavy dark circles under her eyes and her face was morphed into worry and concern.
What was this? Was this a dream? But she was awake just a moment ago. How could she dream while being awake?
She heard soft sniffles and her eyes went to Malfoy who had now rested his head against the older Hayley's shoulder. She realized that he was crying. She couldn't believe the sight before her eyes.
Draco Malfoy was crying on her shoulder!
"I can't... I can't do this anymore." He said, his voice cracking. His voice had gotten deep but he sounded so weak and tired. The older girl wrapped her shaky hands around his, tightly holding them. They both looked so broken, it was hard to look at them.
Hayley closed her eyes and tried to wake up. She wanted to get out of here. This was a bad dream. Just a bad dream and nothing more. Please someone wake her up!
Please...
Someone...
Harry...
"We'll get through this." She heard the older girl whisper to him. "I promise..."
Before, she could hear more, thankfully she was dragged back to reality. The noise and cheers of students filled her ears and she blinked at the blinding sunshine as she came back to her senses.
She had expected to be still crushed under Malfoy's weight but she found herself leaning against Hermione who was pale in the face. She stood up straight and blinked at her friend in confusion.
"H-Hayley?" Hermione hasitantly called out her name, her brown eyes roaming her face. There was sweat building on her forehead and upper lips. Hermione shakily wiped the sweat away with the back of her hand.
"What happened?" Hayley asked, as she looked at her surroundings. They were still at the stands but away from the seats and the other students. The fighting had stopped and Ron and Neville were both cheerfully dancing. The Slytherins were now retreating, with draco holding his arm to his chest.
"I- I don't know. You were..." Hermione trailed off as she gulped. She then lowered her voice and whispered, "You were like before. Like... Like the last quidditch game. Y-your eyes-" She again stopped.
There was fear in her eyes and she looked genuinely disturbed. So Hayley gently encouraged her, "My eyes what?"
"Your eyes had turned white. Your green eyes turned white and you went completely limp. You weren't responding so I thought Malfoy had knocked you out but your eyes were open and you had this look... I am sorry Hayley but it creeped me out."
Hermione finished, her eyes cast downward as if ashamed to admit that Hayley had scared her. A chill ran through her spine at her friend's explanation and she started to shake.
"Stop it, Hermione. You are scaring me." Hayley whimpered out, clutching her friend's hand. Hermione tightened the grip.
"I am the one who's scared here! What in the world happened to you?"
"I don't know!" She cried out.
They both were scared out of their wits at this new discovery. They didn't know what it was and how it happened. Hayley tried to explain it to Hermione but she couldn't.
How could she? When she herself had no idea how it happened and why?
So they decided to keep this between them and Hermione suggested to research on this on her behalf and told her not to worry. She almost cried again at finding such a good friend in Hermione.