Plots, plans and cloaks
Tom deducting just what was being kept in the third-floor corridor sent both him and Harry into something of a carefully concealed nervous frenzy. Harry didn't need his incorporeal friend explaining to him what the Philosopher's Stone was, he was aware of at least the broad strokes of it alleged capabilities - turning lead into gold, and granting eternal life.
'I don't know how I didn't see it sooner', Tom berated himself during History some days later. 'One of those capabilities alone would be worth risking Goblin wrath for, and both rolled into one handy item...'
'But why would Snape want either? I mean, the bat doesn't look like he's poor, and judging by his usual scowl, I think he might actually hate his life, so I don't know why he'd want to prolong it...', Harry wondered as he absentmindedly scribbled down barely legible notes - his handwriting hadn't improved in the slightest.
'Never understimate the greed of mankind', Tom snorted. 'I lived through a war that was in part started because of that. Though I must admit that I am somewhat considering he might not be the one after the Stone, or at least not for his own gain.'
'But we thought that he had Quirrell smuggle the troll into Hogwarts so that he could grab it while everyone was distracted', Harry mused.
'I'm not saying that may not have been the case, but I am willing to entertain the chance that we got the power dynamic wrong', Tom replied as Binns droned on about some Goblin Rebellion or other.
'What, you think that Quirrell is the one calling the shots? Quirrell?" Now it was Harry's turn to snort. 'Weren't you the one who said that he's an absolute joke?'
'And I stand by it', Tom said. 'But it may well be possible that he's simply pretending to be a bumbling idiot to hide his true nature - a bit of a stupid move, but it may well work, after all, he managed to fool me if that is the case. And you must admit, he might have a better motive for wanting to go after the Stone than Snape.'
'Alright, yeah, if we assume Quirrell is actually slowly dying, then eternal life does seem like a pretty sweet prospect', Harry admitted. 'But that still doesn't explain why Snape would help him...'
Tom winced. 'It is very well possible we may have been mistaken Snape's motivation with Fluffy, after all. It may be that he didn't try to get past Hagrid's latest pet dog to steal the Stone, but maybe to prevent someone like Quirrell from stealing it, or to ensure it was still where it was supposed to be.'
'Come on, really? The guy tried to kill me!', Harry groaned.
Tom shrugged. 'Maybe, but that doesn't necessarily relate to the Stone - unless you snuck it in your pocket while I wasn't looking.'
'Ha ha, hilarious. You should go on a tour with jokes like that.'
'Don't give me ideas', Tom snorted laughing. 'Still, however whoever may try to either steal or protect the Stone, it being here at Hogwarts has some rather interesting implications...'
'About Flamel?', Harry asked.
'In part - if he decided to part ways with the Stone, it means that it may not have been safe in its prior location anymore, and considering that someone broke into Gringotts to try and get it and managed to escape without being identified...'
'Shite, if the break-in really did occur the same day Hagrid fetched it, that would point to Quirrell - he was there, remember?', Harry briefly interrupted.
'I had the same thought - but I wasn't talking about the implications it caried for the Flamels.'
'Wait, what do you mean?', Harry asked, a bit confused.
'Eternal life, Harry - the power to prevent death, to heal any injury, any ailment, the power to heal a soul!'
A cold shiver ran up Harry's spine. 'This could restore you', he realized.
'Exactly! If done right, I could get my missing memories back, restore my soul to completion, maybe even create a new body! The possibilities are... they're downright endless!' Tom was practically giddy at the prospect, Harry noted. In a way, it was understandable; he knew just how locked in Tom was inside the scar, and how frustrated he was that there were such huge gaps in his memory, and that he was not able to properly cast magic by himself. The Stone may well provide some form of escape for him...
But Harry did not share the enthusiasm. 'Tom, besides the fact that there's at the very least a three-headed dog guarding the Stone, how in blazes are we going to accomplish restoring your body?', he asked. 'Because as it stands, using the Stone would heal you inside my own body, and you did warn me about what happens when more than one soul exists inside one body - I do not want to die early.'
Tom winced a bit. 'Yes, that... may well be problematic. Still, there are a few ways - difficult to accomplish, and highly illegal, but...'
'But when did that ever stop you?', Harry snorted. 'Tom, I'm going to be honest, I already struggle to see a way how we could even get close to the Stone without being mauled by a Cerberus - nevermind whatever other madness is guarding the damned thing. And even if we somehow manage to bypass Fluffy and what else there is, someone will surely notice it going missing. Do you really think Flamel will just sit idly by while we do God knows what with his precious? Or Dumbledore?'
Tom winced again and was silent for a while. 'I... I hadn't thought that far', he finally sheepishly admitted.
Harry couldn't help it, he snorted in laughter. 'You know, I think my supposed planlessness may be rubbing off on you', he teased.
'Yes, well, can you blame me? The object of my salvation is so stupidly close... Ah, I suppose I did get carried away a bit.'
'I get it', Harry chuckled. 'Look, if there was any way we could pull this off, I would help you, Tom. But as it stands...'
'Yes, we would be just as likely to get eaten as we would be to get neckdeep into trouble', Tom sighed. 'Oh well, we could always try to make our own Philosopher's Stone.'
'A first year creating a one-of-a-kind alchemist masterpiece?', Harry snorted. 'What happened to staying low-profile?'
'Eh, it's overrated', Tom quipped. 'Besides, you already killed the most dangerous wizard in recent british memory as a baby, and killed a troll in a bathroom as a first year - I seriously doubt anyone would be surprised if you tamed a dragon, nevermind recreate the Philosopher's Stone.'
'Well, if we do, maybe we ought to call it something different? Not that Flamel thinks we simply reversed whatever he did...', Harry joked. 'Sorcerer's Stone has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?'
Tom simply roared with laughter.
Harry wasn't the only one who had put two and two together; Hermione very quickly found out about what exactly Fluffy was guarding herself, and giddily informed Harry of her discovery - only to be a bit shocked that he had figured it out himself.
"If it helps, Hermione, I only put it together not too long ago, either", he semi-lied (after all, Tom had been the one to tell him outright, even though he had figured it himself).
"I should have figured you'd find it out yourself", she grumbled. "You're quite brilliant in your own right, after all."
"Eh, not on your level, though", he shrugged, causing Hermione to roll her eyes.
"Oh, don't make yourself small - you're the only one who can compete with me in almost every subject. Do you have any idea how rare this is?", she semi-admonished him.
'And once again Hermione is right', Tom quipped. 'And once again, you should listen to her.'
Just then, Neville entered the Common Room. "What's rare?", he asked.
"Apparently, someone being able to compete with Hermione's grades", Harry answered.
Neville shrugged. "What else is new?", he said. "I'm just glad I'm not at risk of failing anywhere 'cept for Potions anymore."
"Hey, you're even better than both of us in Herbiology", Harry grinned.
"And the two of you are better than me just about everywhere else", Neville said with a light grin as he slumped into one of the chairs. "At least I'm not a squib. Anything else interesting?"
"We figured out what's hidden in the third-floor corridor", Hermione announced. "It's the Philosopher's Stone."
"The--" Neville's jaw dropped open. "You are joking."
"Nope, we aren't", Harry replied. "If Nicholas Flamel is involved in this, it's the only thing that makes sense."
"Holy-- That's insane!", Neville let out. "Do you know what--"
"Yes", Harry and Hermione chorused. "Eternal life and turns lead into gold."
Neville shook his head. "That's insane", he replied. "Why would it be hidden in Hogwarts?"
Harry winced a bit. "So, I don't think I told you guys this, but... when Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley for my school stuff, we swang by Gringotts to get some gold and to get some special delivery for Dumbledore - the same day that break-in happened."
"Wait, you don't mean--", Hermione began.
"That nutjob tried to steal the bloody Philosopher's Stone from Gringotts?!", Neville let out. "At least now that break-in makes some kind of sense!"
"But if whoever broke into Gringotts wasn't caught-- could it be-- but who--", Hermione tried to process this fact.
Neville meanwhile suddenly turned white as a sheet. "Oh Merlin", he suddenly gasped. "You-know-who!"
This broke Hermione's stuttering, and caused Harry to blink. "What?"
"You-know-who!" He gesticulated wildly. "It's got to be him, no one else could pull something like that and escape!"
"Neville - You-know-who is dead", Hermione said half-heartedly.
Neville frantically shook his head. "Gran thinks someone as evil as him can't die normally - it's got to be him!"
'Crap, I hadn't even considered that possibility', Tom cursed.
'Do you think he's after the Stone, as well?', Harry asked.
Tom was silent for a bit, seemingly weighing his answers, before finally answering: 'I think if he's still around, there's no way in hell he'd miss out on a chance to snatch the Stone. It would give him something every madman of his caliber wants - eternal life. Based on what we know of Voldemort, this would right up his alley.'
"I think Neville may have a point", Harry spoke up. "Nothing about my survival makes sense, so why shouldn't he still be alive? And if he wants to stage a comeback..."
"This is bad", Neville muttered. "This is really, really bad."
"But if You-know-who is after the Stone, how would he get to it? Surely, Professor Dumbledore would account for the possibility of him breaking in", Hermione said.
'Never underestimate madmen - especially madmen who are desperate', Tom darkly muttered, and Harry said something of the like out aloud.
By the time November came to a close and December began, Harry's mood began to worsen again. It wasn't through any fault of his fellow students (though Malfoy seriously tried his patience more than usual), but rather, due to Christmas coming up, another holiday he did not look forward to, curtesy of the Dursleys being the Dursleys.
Still, at least he didn't have to put up with their special kind of evil, as he had one of the first to decide to stay at Hogwarts when the chance came. He wasn't the only one; while Neville had decided to head back home, the collected Weasleys were staying behind (their parents were visiting another brother), and Hermione, although she had initially wanted to head home, had changed her mind and decided to stay at Hogwarts as well.
At least the run-up to Christmas was far more enjoyable than it usually was. Harry took great delight in helping out Hagrid, partly simply for the fun of it, partly to see if he could get something more about the Stone out of the halfgiant - he didn't, but it was still fun. He also kept busy chatting away with Tom on what they'd do with the Stone (should they ever get their hands on it) and how to get certain people (Malfoy) expelled. Their ideas weren't exactly good, but they didn't intend on putting anything into action, so what the hell?
Nevertheless, by the time the 25th rolled around, his mood had somewhat worsened again, and he wasn't exactly motivated to crawl out of bed. Eventually, Tom was the one to coax him out with the promise that the Christmas food was somehow even better than usual Hogwarts. 'Fine', Harry grumbled. 'But honestly, I don't see the point of this holiday. Does anyone even give a damn about Jesus in the Wizarding World?'
'Not about Jesus, but according to some legend or other, Merlin was born on the winter solstice, which over time ended up merging with christmas', Tom said. 'The name stuck, too, as did all the traditions. Nice change of pace for some of us initially-outsiders, if you ask me.'
'Maybe, but I still don't see why--' Harry interrupted himself as he looked at the foot of his bed, blinked, and looked again. Sure enough, the pile of packages was still there.
"I got-- presents?", he whispered, hardly believing his eyes.
"Mornin' to you too", Ron grumbled as he woke up as well. "Oh, looks like they arrived. Wasn't sure mum would get the letter..."
Harry only listened to him with one ear, still trying to process the fact that he got presents for the first time in his life. "You mean you wrote your mum to get you presents?", he asked, confused.
Ron flushed red. "No... I, ah, look, I kinda figured I still needed to make my attitude up to you, so, Percy and I may have sent mum a letter, and... we may have told her that I suspected you weren't expecting any presents, and asked if she could maybe... Sorry if this was intrusive, I just wanted to make sure your first Christmas at Hogwarts was a good one."
'How unusually thoughtful of him', Tom commented.
"Anyways, I also got a little somethin' for Hermione, you know, to say sorry again - it's not much, a book on Wizarding Chess that isn't in too bad a shape...", Ron carried on. "Hope she doesn't mind."
Harry, for the first time on Christmas, smiled. "Thanks, Ron", he said. "That was really nice of you."
Ron nodded, seemingly unsure how to proceed. "Well, uh, anyways, wanna grab the stuff and head to the Common Room?", he suggested.
A few minutes later, Harry, Hermione, Ron, the twins and a slightly grumpy Percy (apparently, the perfect prefect wasn't a morning person) sat before a christmas tree and opened up their presents. Hermione had taken the book on Wizarding Chess with a thank you and an assurance she wasn't mad at Ron anymore (though Harry doubted the youngest Weasley believed her), and upon opening her parents' gift - a box of sugar-free sweets - she offered them some (Harry took some).
"Hey, have any of you ever seen muggle money?", Harry quipped when he saw the gift the Dursleys had sent him - a fifty-pence-piece. Hermione groaned when she saw it and muttered something under her breath, while Percy narrowed his eyes a bit, but kept silent.
"Weird", Ron commented, non the wiser. "What's that shape? Is that really money?"
"Yup", Harry laughed and flipped the coin towards him before opening Hagrid's gift - a wooden flute, beautifully carved by hand.
"Hey, you got a Weasley-sweater!", Fred exclaimed with a laugh when Harry unraveled the Weasley present - sure enough, it was a handknit emerald green sweater. "How come?", George, busy switching his with Fred's, asked.
Ron blushed again, and Percy came to his rescue. "Well, Ron and I may have put our heads together and written home that it would be nice if we could maybe send Harry a little something - nothing too fancy, just a sort of... belated welcoming gift to our side of things."
"My my", Fred, now wearing George's sweater, said.
"Perfect prefect Percy", George, obviously wearing Fred's sweater, continued.
"Always so prim..."
"Always so proper..."
Percy groaned. "One more word from you two clowns and I'm assigning you detention", he half-heartedly threatened as he put on his own sweater - with a P for either Percy or prefect (or both).
"Uh, would it have killed her to maybe not make mine maroon again?", Ron moaned.
"Oh, Ronnikins..."
"But you look so good in maroon!"
"I'm warning you", Percy stressed as he adjusted his glasses again.
"Oh, Harry, you really shouldn't have!", Hermione said when she opened his present to her - An Advanced Theory of Charms and their Applications. "Thank you!"
Harry smiled. "You're welcome", he replied as he opened up her gift to him - his own copy of Quidditch Through the Ages. 'Thanks for the tip, Tom.'
'You're welcome', Tom smugly replied.
"Prefects Who Gained Power", Percy read out aloud. "Very thoughtful, Harry, my thanks."
Naturally, that title elicited a few groans.
"Harry, when Percy begins his tyrannical rule..."
"We'll blame you for it."
"When I begin my very benevolent reign, you two will be the first to go", Percy grumbled.
'Yeah, let's hope he doesn't get any ideas - I've had one too many tyrant in my lifetime already.'
'Weren't there, like, four major dictators in Europe your during your youth?', Harry wondered.
'Exactly', Tom drawled. 'And except for one, they were all busy trying to kill each other and their respective nations - nevermind Grindelwald and his brand of madness and all the small and wannabe ones.'
"Oi, what's that package there, Harry?", Ron asked as he pointed to a small, light package bearing Harry's name. Harry shrugged and opened it, revealing something flowy, silvery.
"Bloody hell", Ron let out upon seeing it.
"What Ron said", the twins said, awestruck.
Percy shook his head, took off his glasses, put them back on, and blinked for good measure. "That is quite remarkable", he finally said.
"Err... what exactly is that?", Hermione asked.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak - got to be", Ron revealed. "C'mon, try it!"
Harry shrugged, put on the apparent cloak - nearly jumped when he saw he could no longer see his body.
'Who in their right mind sends an Invisibility Cloak to an eleven year old boy?', Tom groaned, just as Percy asked the same thing.
"Maybe there's a card?", Hermione suggested, and sure enough, she found it lying next to the paper in which the cloak had been wrapped.
"I recognize that handwriting - it's the headmaster's", Percy exclaimed.
Tom groaned again. 'Should've figured that.'
"Use it well... what could he possibly mean by that?", Hermione wondered.
"Who cares?"
"It's an Invisibility Cloak!" That was Ron.
"Think of all the fun Harry could have!"
Percy loudly cleared his throat and put on his prefect-voice. "Harry, if it comes to my ears that you are using this cloak in any irresponsible way, I will personally drag you to Professor McGonagall's office", he announced before dropping his prefectness again. "That said... would it be possible for me to borrow it from time to time for patrolling?"
"Oh, sure, for patrolling..."
"Certainly not to sneak into the Ravenclaw Tower..."
"To see your precious Penny..."
Percy groaned. "Alright, that does it - get back here, you two!" He promptly took off after the cackling twins.
Harry meanwhile had very different ideas. 'Tom, remember how there was seemingly no way to get close to the Stone without being mauled by Fluffy?'
'Sounds like something a foolhardy Gryffindor would say', Tom teased. 'Good thing you have a Slytherin to put together an equally foolhardy plan, then.'