Harry was chatting with his fellow Ravenclaws when he saw Quirrel.
Christmas vacation had ended quite recently. Ron was surprisingly quiet, deciding to avoid humiliation by avoiding Harry. Classes were a cakewalk, as usual. Despite his magical prowess, Snape was the only teacher to offer extra lessons though Flitwick had asked if Harry was available in the summer. Instead, Harry took to disguising his advanced textbooks as normal textbooks during lectures. And History of Magic was just a study hall.
Back onto Quirrel. The trio leaving potions when Quirrel bumped into them rather rudely. He didn't stop to apologize, he just kept on going.
Hermione bristled "That was quite rude." While everyone acknowledged their agreement, Harry was watching Quirrel. Harry knew where he was going: The 3rd floor.
Harry had figured out rather quickly what was going on. Dumbledore told everyone to leave some small hints but in reality, they gave the entire thing away.
The first was Hagrid inviting Harry for tea. Since Harry never met Hagrid, that was suspicious in itself. But, Hagrid covered that up with some excuse about wanting to see the child of Lily and James again. There was also the newspapers spread out over the floor which demanded his attention. He read them of course.
Then, there was the reported unicorn death. Harry heard from Parvati, who was already becoming the 1st year gossip queen, that some students found a dead unicorn. Harry knew the properties of unicorn blood. And that all lead Harry to the one conclusion, that Albus Dumbledore wasn't just the Supreme Mugwump. He was also the Supreme Idiot for putting an extremely valuable object inside a school full of children.
And for why Quirrel's motives were also pretty easy to deduce. Harry felt a pain from his scar whenever he went near Quirrel. Harry only had that pain after nightmares of that Halloween. That gave Harry the idea that Quirrel and Voldemort were bonded in some way. That would also mean Quirrel worked for Voldemort so if Quirrel wanted it, Voldemort must need it.
The only issue, was what to do. Dumbledore was probably hoping for Harry to charge in and fight Quirrel himself. And Harry thought that would be suicide. He knew that his friends would help him. Even still, the chance of them beating Quirrel was very low. That left telling a teacher or some adult. Dumbledore left the school, most likely to give Harry the feeling that Harry himself had to do something. Harry only trusted Flitwick and Snape and since he didn't know Flitwick as well, he decided on Snape.
Waving his friends goodbye, Harry went back to Snape's classroom. Snape was confused at Harry's entry "Class is over Harry. Is something wrong?"
Harry nodded furiously "Quirrel is going after the stone."
Snape's eyes widened "How do you... Never mind that, come on."
The pair began heading up to the third floor though Harry was concerned "Uncle Severus, Quirrel could already be there."
Snape shook his head "We have one advantage, Quirrel needs to attend a meeting first with the Board of Governors. We all have end of year conferences with them. That buys us a little over a hour."
Snape took Harry up the stairs and into the corridor. And with a simple Alormoha the duo was in. Hearing the sounds of people, Fluffy emerged from the shadows of them and growled at the unfamiliar people. Before Fluffy could do anything, Snape conjured a rock into a music box and put Fluffy to sleep. At Harry's questioning glance, Snape told him "All the teachers know how to get to the stone. Luckily, Dumbledore's mistake is our benefit."
After Harry gave Snape another confused look, Snape elaborated "Dumbledore wants you and Voldemort to meet. He didn't think of any other student trying to enter. Because of this, he didn't put an anti-apparition line at any point of the puzzle."
The Boy-Who-Lived then went down the trapdoor with the Potions Master of Hogwarts following him. They ended up in a room which from Harry's guess, contained the Devil's Snare. A quick bit of apparition got them past that and into a room filled with birds, which Harry realized were the keys. Harry quickly found the right bird and instead of flying to it (which Harry guessed was Dumbledore's hope from the broom closet in the corner), Harry called out Accio and watched the bird fly right into his hands.
They then entered a room which contained a giant chess board. From Ron's boasts of being a chess prodigy, Dumbledore probably placed this here with the intent of having Ron help Harry with it. Snape wasn't interested in playing and used apparition to get him and Harry away. And when they came face to face with Snape's potions puzzle, Snape got them away very quickly using apparition once again. That brought them to the Mirror of Erised.
Harry stepped forward and looked at the mirror, waiting for anything. He then felt something in his hand. He looked at it and saw the stone. Looking at the mirror in surprise, he finally saw something.
He saw Albus Dumbledore. But, what surprised him the most was the chains holding Dumbledore. He watched as Dumbledore's wand was snapped right in front of him. He watched as Dumbledore was put into Azkaban. He watched as Dumbledore withered away. Harry stepped away from the Mirror and turned to Snape. He opened his mouth but stopped when he heard footsteps. Snape quickly latched onto him and apparated them away just as Quirrel entered the room.
They landed in Snape's office. Harry turned to Snape "What's going to happen to Quirrel?"
Snape smirked "I placed a trap on the Mirror after you turned away. Next person to look will be hit by multiple reductos. Quirrel will be dead." With that, Harry sighed in relief as they began discussing how to return the stone to Nicholas Flamel.
"Well" Rishi said as the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Hogwarts Station "If I had to say the most important I learned this year, it will be that Hogwarts is very interesting."
The compartment laughed as Draco responded "Especially if you got a student named Harry Potter."
Harry grinned as the compartment erupted back into laughter "Not my fault that Dumbledore's in love with me."
The year had ended on a pretty high note. Ravenclaw won the cup due to all the points that they won during classes. Ron's stupidity also helped make sure Gryffindor never had a chance despite blatant favortism.
The ride back was filled with jolly laughter. It did end however, when Parvati asked what Dumbledore wanted with him. While anger flared, Harry told the story.
FLASHBACK
"Hello sir" Harry said as he entered Dumbledore's office "What do you need?"
Dumbledore gestured for him to sit "Lemon drop?"
Harry shook his head "I'm not fond of sweets."
As Harry took a seat, Dumbledore began "I wanted to ask whether you could send my regards to your aunt and uncle."
Shaking his head, Harry smirked "I can't. I don't live there."
Dumbledore kindly nodded. His theories were true. Harry left the Dursleys "I recommend that you go back. Their house has wards which protect you."
Harry's smirk, which was beginning to bother Dumbledore, stayed on his face "They moved by the way. Also, you can't make me."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled "I can. You see, I am your magical guardian and..."
Harry chuckled "No you're not. You declared a one-sided guardianship which I nor my parents approved. I cancelled it. Jai Gopal is my guardian."
As Dumbledore sat speechless, Harry left the room "I have to finish packing. Goodbye."
FLASHBACK OVER
Draco snarled "Idiot. Has he never looked at records?"
Rishi smirked "He probably thought that no one would ever mess up his beautiful plan."
After that sour point (which included multiple plans for pranks), the rest of trip was filled with peace. The now second-years either read or talked about just about anything. This included Rishi and Draco both declaring that they would make the house Quiditch teams and Neville ranting about a plant he heard about. When they finally arrived, the group of 8 got off quickly, eager to see their parents again. Grinning, Harry ran to Sirius and Lupin. When he reached them, he got a bear hug for both of them.
After a bit of conversation about what the former Marauders had gotten up to, Sirius chuckled and pointed at a family "Looks like you've been doing well with the ladies."
Harry looked and saw that the Weasley girl was staring at him. He snorted "I don't even know her. Also, that's pretty creepy."
Lupin laughed "Just like your mother, pup. If anyone stared at your mom, they got a hex in return."
Sirius looped his arm around Harry's shoulder "Come on, tell us. How was Hogwarts?"
Harry grinned "Well..."
This is the end of Year One! Thanks for reading and please leave a review!