Athena Dumbledore (A Harry Potter Love Story)

The Philosopher's Stone

ATHENA POV:

The next day, we quickly make our way down to the hut of the friendly giant Hagrid. We just have casual tea in there for a while and talk about the usual things. When Hermione asked about it, at first he wouldn't spill, but fortunately for us, Hagrid's not the best secret keeper. He had said something about 'fluffy guarding the philosopher's stone'. Hermione and I had guessed that fluffy was the three-headed dog guarding the 'philosopher's stone'. Ironic name, huh? Anyways, we had all done some research in the library and found that it was created by Nicholas Flamel and Uncle Albus. We had also gotten the idea that Professor Snape was after the philosopher's stone.  

"What if Snape goes for the stone over Christmas break?" Hermione asks, worried.  

"Well Ron and Harry are staying at Hogwarts over the break, and I'm straying the last half of it," I explain to her. Because of my two Uncles, I split the winter break between them: half and half. First I'd go to my Uncle Aberfourth and then back to Hogwarts with Uncle Albus and Harry and Ron.  

"I'm going to miss you, 'Mione!" I say, pulling her into a big hug. She laughs.  

"I'll miss you too, Athena." She hugs Harry and Ron and starts walking away. "Happy Christmas!" She calls back to us.  

"Happy Christmas!" We all call in unison. I suddenly see Uncle Albus walking towards us, and I laugh as people clear a path for him.  

"Athena, there you are dear. Are you ready?" Uncle Albus asks as everyone watches us. I give Ron and Harry one last hug before I grab onto Uncle Albus's arm. I get the same extremely uncomfortable feeling I get every time I apparate. But then it's gone again and I'm standing in Diagon Alley in front of Uncle Aberfourth's house.  

"I will see you soon at Hogwarts, Athena." Uncle Albus says. There's a 'pop!' and he's gone. I sigh and heave all my luggage into the house.  

"Uncle! I'm here!" I call as I walk down the steps. He lives on the basement floor. "Uncle?!" I call again, but it doesn't seem like he's here. I walk into the dining room and catch a glimpse of the portrait of the mysterious woman. She is young and has long, brown hair and turquoise eyes like mine. She strangely resembles me, but I know it's not my mother. My Uncle would've hidden something like this from me, they always do.  

"Athena, you're early." My Uncle's voice comes from behind me.  

"Oh, umm...yeah. All my friends left early so I thought I would too," I explain and he nods, glancing at the picture. He asks me things about the year, just casual things like classes and stuff.  

"Uncle?" I can't avoid the question much longer. "How did my parents die?" He seems surprised by the question.  

"You're too young to know the truth," he says, looking away.  

"I'm old enough, Uncle! You can't keep this from me forever, I have the right to know!" I yell and he stops. I'd never yelled at either of my Uncles before, and I don't want to ever again. "This painting," I say, motioning to the portrait of the young woman. "That's my mother, isn't it?" He looks at the painting then to me and sighs.  

"Yes," is all he says. "Now don't ask me about this ever again, Athena." And with that he leaves the room, so many of my questions unanswered.

The days went by quickly. Uncle had forgotten about our whole conversation by the next morning and we went back to having fun. Before I knew it, it was time to go back to Hogwarts. I honestly couldn't wait to see Harry and Ron! I had sent them both Christmas gifts and they had sent me some. Christmas had been like it usually was. I had gone with Uncle Aberfourth to Diagon Alley to go shopping and grab some butter beer. Uncle Aberfourth and I never knew what to get each other, so we gave each other money so we could buy what we want. Genius, don't you think?  

Over the time I was at Hogwarts for winter break, Harry, Ron and I were doing more research on Nicholas Flamel. We didn't find much, though, so we mostly just explored the castle and played wizard chess. It was sort of boring without Hermione being there, I didn't like being the only girl, but Ron and Harry managed to include me in most of the things we did.

Finally, Hermione returned from her winter break. We had the rest of the night to celebrate and we did so, talking about what we did. All the interesting stuff came from Hermione, but no one else had much to tell. I would tell what I found out about my mother, but only Harry knows that they had died. I hadn't told anyone else.  

Months passes by and pretty soon the school year was almost over. It was one day at the library that Hermione and I made a giant discovery.  

"I found it!" Hermione squealed and I quickly sat beside her to look. "The Philosopher's stone. It was used for...immortality." There's a none of silence. "This is bad, Athena, really bad..."  

"I know. We have to warn Unc- I mean Professor Dumbledore. And Harry and Ron, of course." And with that we're racing down the hall debating on who to tell first. Conveniently (well sort of), I ran right into Harry, bumping heads as we did. "Sorry, Harry," I say, helping him off the floor.  

"No worries," he replies, rubbing his head. "Why the rush?" It's like he set off a bomb in Hermione. She dives into explanation of the Philosophers stone and what it does.  

"We HAVE to talk to Professor Dumbledore," she says. Harry bites his lip.  

"He's not here, I heard McGonagall say this morning." Harry explains. Hermione and I exchange terrified glances. Hermione starts pacing and I pull at my hair nervously. This was REALLY REALLY bad. I looked at Harry and Ron, who didn't seem to get it. I sigh and launch into explanation.  

"If Uncle- I mean Professor Dumbledore isn't here, than there's no one who can protect the Philosopher's stone! And I'm betting that Snape knows that, so you know when he's going to do it?" They shake their heads and I let out another annoyed sigh. "TONIGHT!" They both give an 'ohhhh' and begin nervously pacing like Hermione and I.  

"We have to fix this ourselves." Harry announces. "We can't let Snape get it, it's too important..." He looks at us seriously. "He's probably down there right now. We have to follow him-we have to stop him!" We all nod in agreement and bravely set out towards that mysterious floor, avoiding Filch as best as we can. When we reach the door, I take Hermione's hand and she smiles at me.  

"Nervous?" She asks.  

"Oh yeah," I say as we step inside.