Writer's Notes: Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out. I've been working pretty heavily on my own projects for the past several months. I even managed to publish two books. They're available on Amazon and Kindle. The titles are "Hypers, Book One: New Eden" and "Resistance: Hypers, Book Two" by C T Whitley. Shameless plug: If you enjoy my fanfic, give my professional works a try. I can use all the sales and feedback I can get.

As of Chapter Twelve, I've unified my spelling of Death Eaters into the canonical two word version instead of the one word, Deatheaters, I was using. Not a big change, but one worth noting. With Quirrell out of the picture and given the changes in Voldemort's status, I was going to completely drop Hagrid's adventures with the dragon egg, but decided not to do that. The whole thing is so integral to the canon first book that it needs to be covered in this parallel.

This chapter also sees the return of Jasper Carlisle; bet you thought I'd forgotten all about him. He's been operating in the background this whole time and getting very frustrated. He'll be a recurring problem for Jamie throughout the seven books of this series. Even more in future books than in this one.

Chapter Thirteen: "Stones and Dragons"

The next few weeks slipped relatively quietly into a month and then into two. Before they knew it, spring was breaking and Hogwarts was beginning to thaw. Dr. MacTaggart visited weekly to check on Jamie's progress. By the first week in March, she declared it safe to remove the brace. Jamie couldn't wait. She didn't know what she'd expected, but being barely able to move her legs wasn't anywhere close.

"Surely ya weren't thinking ya'd be walkin' outta here as soon as the brace was off," Moira challenged her suddenly dejected patient. "Lass, ya been in that brace for three months and in a chair for two more before that. Y'r muscles have atrophied. Ya need t' build 'em up again. 'Twill take time."

"I don't want it to take time," Jamie grumped.

Moira laughed. "Sad t' be you then, Jamie, because it will. Don't rush it. You're young. You'll bounce back pretty quick. Just let your wee body do its job."

At the moment, Jamie didn't have time to worry about such things. Hagrid had invited Jamie and Ron to his cabin this afternoon. He said he had something to show them. He seemed very excited.

The small home was extremely hot. Hagrid had the fireplace stoked to full power and had what looked to all the world like a large egg sitting in the flames.

"Is that what I think it is, Hagrid," Jamie asked horrified.

"'Tis a dragon's egg," the massive man responded almost casually. "A Norwegian Ridgeback, t' be exact. Ain't it beautiful?"

Ron was in shock, but Jamie sighed. "Hagrid, dragons aren't pets. Remus studied them and told me all about them. They can't be, what's the word, domesticated."

"Balderdash." Hagrid removed the egg from the flames with a pair of tongs and placed in in a large cast iron skillet on the table. "Just no one's ever tried; not raisin' one from an egg, at least. I always loved dragons an' always wanted t' have one."

"Aren't there laws against that?" Ron asked. "Me brother, Charlie, works with dragons in Romania. They got a whole preserve for 'em in th' middle o' nowhere and still haveta obliviate a few dozen muggles a year who see stuff they shouldn't."

That's when the egg cracked, then cracked some more. In moments a small winged scaly creature crawled out and hocked a small fireball at Hagrid, catching his beard on fire.

"See," he said proudly as he patted out the flames. "He thinks I'm his mommy."

"How'd you get your hands on a dragon's egg in the first place, Hagrid?" Jamie asked, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at the "mommy" comment.

"I was havin' a pint at th' Hog's Head tavern down in Hogsmeade when this feller asks t' join me. Never met him before, but seems he'd heard o' me before an' wanted t' talk 'bout magical animals with a fellow fan of 'em.

"We talked f'r a while. He was real interested in what animals I was workin' with right now an' stuff. Seemed like a real nice feller.

"When I asked him 'bout th' animals he's been workin' with, he tol' me 'bout his dragon's egg. Seems he just got it, but he's a travelin' sort as can't devote th' time t' raisin' a baby. I tol' him I could take care o' it an' he gave it to me.

"Anyway, we talked 'til he hadta catch th' next train. Made me promise t' give li'l Norbert here, that's what I'm gonna call him, a good home."

As Hagrid told the story, Norbert was crawling around taking annoyed nips at anything that got too close to his mouth. At least there weren't any more flames. As she watched the creature and listened to her friend, Jamie began to get a bad feeling deep in the pit of her stomach; one of those feelings that even worried the Avengers.

"Hagrid," she asked hesitantly. "Did you tell him about the three headed dog you have on the third floor of the castle?"

"How'd ye know 'bout Fluffy?" The gentle giant raised a massive eyebrow.

"I met him the night of the catnip episode." She didn't exactly lie, but neither did she tell the whole story. "Did you tell this man about Fluffy?"

"It came up," Hagrid admitted. "He was right curious 'bout how I kept a full growed Cerberus under control. I tol' him it was no problem once ye knew the beastie's weakness. In Fluffy's case, it's music. Puts him right t' sleep."

He froze. "I shouldn't be tellin' ye that."

Jamie sighed. "Hagrid, you're one of my best friends; more like a big furry uncle, but we have to tell Professor Dumbledore about this. Having that baby dragon here could put the whole school in danger. They wouldn't just hold you at fault, but him too, because it happened under his watch."

Hagrid's face fell. "Hadn't thought o' that. Figured I could keep Norbert hidden an' no one'd be any th' wiser. But y'r right, Jamie. We gotta tell him. He'll make me give Norbert up."

Jamie gently patted the shoulder of her massive friend. The man had a heart as big as the planet, but he didn't always think things through. He wasn't stupid by any means, but tended to lead with his emotions.

"Let's talk to Professor Dumbledore," Jamie suggested. "He'll know what to do."

Leaving Norbert in a very large birdcage Hagrid bought for him, Jamie and Ron followed their large friend back into the castle, then up the stairs behind a certain suit of armor and up to Dumbledore's office and quarters.

"I think someone wants whatever you have hidden on the third floor behind Fluffy and all the other tests."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "I know how you learned about Fluffy. You stumbled across him under the influence of catnip. How did you learn about the other tests?"

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Her first idea was to lie, but she'd never been able to successfully lie to Albus Dumbledore. He had this ability to see right through her. Hanging her head, she fessed up and waited for the worst.

He frowned, more disappointed than angry, but still displeased. "You violated my direct orders, Jamie. Regardless your powers, you could have been hurt. What those tests are designed to guard is none of your business. I should expel you. What you did was that bad."

"Fifty points from Gryffindor." His voice felt like a judge's gavel falling.

"But . . . ." She started, but stopped and shook her head.

She wanted to cry. It wasn't even the points. She had disappointed and even hurt a man who was like a grandfather to her. She was so ashamed.

"In addition to shielding the area against ghosts and the like, something I should have done from the beginning, I'm also going to have to put an enchantment on you preventing you from using your intangibility, invisibility, teleportation or flight for the remainder of the school year. You've abused them, so it's time to feel what it's like to lose them. Let it teach you a lesson."

"I'm sorry, sir," she said meekly.

His tone softened just the tiniest bit. "I know you are, Jamie, but that doesn't change what you did. I'll be contacting Wanda and Sirius about this. What punishments they decide to impose in addition to mine will be up to them."

A few moments later, the enchantment was cast and Dumbledore dismissed the pair. "You two need to leave now. I have to deal with the matter of Hagrid and his dragon."

Outside, Ron, who had been surprisingly quiet, finally spoke. "A . . . are you okay, Jamie?"

"Okay?" Tears finally flooded her eyes. "I'm crippled. How would you feel if someone cut off your right arm?"

She knew she was starting to take it out on him and stopped. "Look, Ron. I just need to be alone for a while. I need to think. Figure out how I'm going to deal with this. I . . . I just want to be alone."

With that, she sped her chair away from him and quickly disappeared around a corner. Ron shook his head and let her go. He didn't know what else to do. He needed to find Hermione. She'd know. She always knew.

After looking in the library, he found Hermione in the Gryffindor common room, curled up in a chair reading a book. She looked up and immediately read him like a book.

"What's wrong?"

"Jamie's in trouble." He told her the story. "Professor Dumbledore took fifty points from Gryffindor and put an enchantment on her blocking some of her powers for the rest of the school year. She can't go intangible or invisible and she can't teleport or fly. She's taking it really hard and I don't know what to do."

"Fifty points?" Hermione was in shock. That had to be one of the largest penalties ever assigned in the history of the school.

"Do you know where she went? She asked, recovering her priorities quickly.

"No." He looked even more worried. "She just said she wanted to be alone and took off, but I don't think she should be alone right now."

"Wait here," she told him. "I think I know how to find her."

Hermione ran up to the room she shared with Jamie and the other first year girls. Rifling through the bureau beside Jamie's bed, she quickly found the Marauder Map. Laying it on the bed, she tapped it with her wand and said the incantation.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

The map unfolded as she thought how that wasn't exactly a lie. She was kind of up to no good, looking for someone who wanted to be left alone whether it was for their own good or not.

Searching the map quickly, she found Jamie, then tapped the map again. "Mischief managed."

Returning the folded map back to the bureau, she rushed back out to Ron. "She's up on the Astronomy Tower."

"How did you find that out so fast?"

Since Jamie hadn't told Ron about the map, Hermione wasn't about to. "I have my ways. Let's go."

Up on top of the tower, Jamie sat crying miserably; as much for disappointing Dumbledore and her godparents as for the loss of her powers. It had been so easy when she was doing it. She hadn't considered the possible ramifications. That was her problem, she rarely if ever did.

When Ron and Hermione reached the top of the stairs, she struggled to stop crying, wiped her eyes and blew her nose, but otherwise ignored them. It wasn't until Hermione walked up and squeezed her shoulder that she acknowledged them.

"'M okay," she lied. "Just wanna be left alone."

"Merlin's bunions." Hermione exclaimed. "What kind of friends would we be if we left you alone right now?"

Jamie bit back a retort, but when Hermione hugged her, the dam burst and she was crying again as her friend held her and Ron sat awkwardly nearby, not sure what to do.

"You'll be okay, Jamie," Hermione promised her friend after a few minutes of letting her cry. "You still have your telekinesis and telepathy; your strength and agility and reflexes; your senses; your claws. You still have your magic. You're still the toughest, best trained kid in this school."

Jamie tried to smile and almost succeeded, but not quite. "I know, Mione. I'm not crying because of that. I mean I was at first, but I cost the House fifty points. Now Slytherin will win the House Cup . . . again. They'll all have a good laugh and the other Gryffindors may never forgive me.

"Worse, I disappointed Professor Dumbledore. Now he's mad at me. Professor McGonagall will be mad too when she finds out. Padfoot and Wanda and the Avengers and Jean and all my friends will be upset too. I disappointed all of them because I was too curious and didn't consider what could happen if I went where I knew I wasn't supposed go."

"That's not true." Hermione insisted. "Yeah, Slytherin will probably win the House Cup again and be insufferable for a few days. Who cares what they think? They're all a bunch of prats. The other kids in Gryffindor will be mad, but they'll forgive you. Even if they stay mad the rest of the year, you'll still have Ron and me. We'll never be mad at you. You're our friend."

Ron finally spoke up. "Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall will both forgive you. So will your family and that's what the Avengers are; your family. Yeah, you messed up, but family can forgive a lot."

"We messed up," Hermione corrected. "I don't recall any of us trying that hard to stop her. Not even I did anything but say a few words. I could have threatened to tell Professor Harkness if you didn't stop. I thought of it, but I was as curious as you about what was in there."

"That wouldn't have stopped me," Jamie admitted, grateful for their words of encouragement. "I'd just have waited and gone later. The problem is when I want to do something, there's no stopping me."

"Doesn't change the fact that we could have tried and we didn't." Hermione insisted. "Makes us as guilty as you; all of us. We all deserve a share of that fifty points."

"No," Jamie interrupted her. "You don't and I want you to drop that line of thought completely right now. You are NOT going to take responsibility for my screw up."

Hermione let it drop.

Jasper Carlisle thought he'd finally gotten a break. He'd spent the whole school year looking for a way to get Jamie Potter out of Hogwarts, or at least get the fae curse she seemed to love so much removed. Preferably both, because even without the fae abilities, she was still a mutant, which to his way of thinking was almost as bad. It was even possible that the two were so closely linked as to be inextricable.

When the Halloween debacle occurred, he even managed to convince Minister Fudge to issue a change of custody order that would have given the Ministry a lot more control over the child. They hadn't expected the girl herself to show up backed by Dumbledore, Harkness and Maximoff. Her power was frightening. Her attitude even more so.

Unfortunately, their argument swayed enough votes on the panel that Fudge suspended the hearing pending further information rather than face losing the vote. At least if they forced her to make good on her threat to leave England she would be Ilvermorny's problem, not theirs.

That was followed up by her theatrics in America on New Year. Word in the magical community was that those fools on the Avengers were actually crediting her with helping save the day. Now even those annoying, interfering muggles in WHO were in her pocket. They never liked or supported the Ministry anyway.

Someday they'd need to be taught to respect their betters. In the meantime, Minister Fudge had to tread lightly around them. Muggles interfering in Ministry matters was almost as bad as fae or other non-humans involving themselves. In some ways it was worse.

Now, there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. A few days earlier, Argus Filch reported that Dumbledore himself had just applied a fifty point penalty to his own house on behalf of his golden child. That big of a point loss was almost unheard of. Unfortunately, Filch had no idea what she did to earn such a punishment, but it must have been something major.

Dumbledore even imposed an enchantment blocking her access to several of her freakish powers through the end of the year. If only they could make that enchantment permanent.

It was the first chink they'd been able to find in the wall of protection around the girl. If she lost the Headmaster's support, she'd be vulnerable and Minister Fudge could move in to control her. Failing in that, maybe it would be enough to get rid of her.

Given the combination of the Halloween disaster, the New Year battle and whatever just happened, the case could be made that Jamie Potter was a trouble magnet and too much of a danger to the other students. It wouldn't get her kicked out, but maybe they could prevent her from being welcomed back next year.

It was definitely something to be looked into, then taken to the Minister. The more he thought about it the more he realized that getting Jamie Potter banned from England could just be the best of all options.

The few days weren't easy on Jamie. She was getting the cold shoulder from the other Gryffindors and snide gratitude from the Slytherins. Worse, she had to take it. The teachers were watching her too closely and she didn't want to disgrace Gryffindor any more than she already had.

Then she hit on a solution. The next time Draco tried to bait her, she stepped up and whispered in his ear. He turned white as a sheet and stumbled off. From that point, the rest of his House left her alone. In fact, they were downright in fear of her.

"What did you say to Draco," Ron asked later.

Jamie actually smiled for the first time since her punishment started. "I just mentioned a few rules he broke recently and reminded him that I was still a telepath. I also suggested he share that information with the rest of his House."

"Now that's the Jamie I know." Ron laughed. "Welcome back."

"We have less than three months left on the year," she told him soberly. "I'm going to be little miss perfect student until it's over. No rules breaking; not even rules bending. Just attending class, studying and then taking my finals. Let the teachers see I've learned my lesson.

"Tell the others that the Marauders are on hiatus until the beginning of next school year. Then we'll be back with a vengeance."

"What about whatever they're hiding on the third level? Are you going to forget about that?"

"Professor Dumbledore shielded the area from intangibles and ghosts. Voldemort can't get in there. Dumbledore knows what he's doing. I trust him. We all should."

"Aren't you curious what it is?"

She laughed. "Of course I am, you ninny. Hermione's still researching it. She'll find out. I trust her, too. Then we'll know. Even if she doesn't, I'll ask Professor D about it next year. Once it's no longer in the school, I'm sure he'll tell me what it was."

That's when Hermione walked up. "The Philosopher's Stone."

Jamie turned. "How'd you know we were talking about that?"

Hermione blinked. "You were? I just figured it out and came to tell you. You were really talking about it just now?"

"Yeah." Jamie nodded. "So, the Philosopher's Stone. I guess that makes sense. I read about it; the children's stories mainly, but I asked Padfoot if it was real and he told me it was. Has a lot of uses; turning other metals into gold, granting immortality, probably a lot more."

Hermione was busting at the seams. "It can also be used to create a homunculus from a person's DNA; a soulless exact duplicate of them. Hair, skin, blood, finger nails; just about anything will do.

"When Professor Dumbledore was younger, he apprenticed with Nicholas Flamel, the Stone's last recorded owner, and his wife, Perenelle. I remembered that from the cards we found in those chocolate frogs you bought on the train.

"We knew someone, obviously a good friend, asked the Professor to guard something for him; something powerfully magical. The Stone is the only artifact that I can find that he's been connected with that even comes close to fitting the bill. When I read about it, I knew it was the one.

"Two of the other artifacts on the list you gave me can return a recently killed person's soul to their body; the Staff of Damballah and the Chariot of Duomu. What neither of them, nor to the best of my knowledge, any of the other artifacts on the list can do is create a body for the soul to be put into.

"Now the Staff of Damballah, the Pages from the Darkhold and Merlin's Robe, which you absorbed, all grant the wielder access to unique spells, but unless one of them has that particular spell, he's not getting a new body without the Stone.

"Creating a homunculus is a tough enough ritual, but one that's an exact genetic duplicate of the creator; I bet not even Professor Harkness could pull that one off without it.

Jamie's mind was racing so fast it hurt. Connections were forming at rapid pace; connections that should have been impossible. She was also finally remembering some dreams that had been haunting her since shortly after her return from the holidays.

"Hermione, you remember that nightmare I had about a week after we all returned to school?"

"Yeah. You said you were going to talk to Professor Harkness about it."

"I never did. I kinda forgot about it; wrote it off as just a bad dream. Thing is, I've been having more dreams like that; only I haven't remembered them until just now. I think I know what it all means and we have to tell Professor Dumbledore. We need to find one of the teachers."

Their first idea was to find Agatha, but she holding class and they didn't want to interrupt her. Along the way, however, they ran into Professor McGonagall.

"Professor," Jamie said a little breathlessly.

"What is it Miss Potter?"

"I know I'm not anyone's favorite student right now; not after what I did, but I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore. It's important."

"Why would you . . . ?"

"The Philosopher's Stone."

Minerva's gaze became hard. "How did you find out about that? Have you . . . ?"

"I got it honest, ma'am," Jamie promised. "No rules broken; just a really good researcher. I think I know what Voldemort's up to and how he intends to get it. I've been having dreams; those kinds of dreams. Only I didn't remember them until Hermione told me what she found out about the Stone."

McGonagall nodded. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, go about your business and speak of this to no one. Miss Granger, two points for Gryffindor for superior researching skills. Miss Potter, come with me."

A few minutes later, Jamie was in Dumbledore's office again.

"Tell us about your dreams, Jamie," he instructed her gently. "Don't leave anything out."

"The first one was back in January," she told them. "I remember a white haired man. I think I met him before, but I can't remember when or where. He was in this huge chamber with a lot of stone and puddles of stagnant water. I get the feeling it was somewhere really close. He was talking to a snake; a giant snake. They were talking about corrupting the castle.

"I woke up screaming. I thought the castle might be trying to warn me and I was going to tell Professor Harkness about it in the morning, but by then, it had faded and I just forgot. I figured it wasn't important after all.

"The other dreams I've been having since then were bad, but not nightmares. I didn't even remember them until Hermione told me about the Philosopher's Stone. I asked her to try to find out what artifact you might be hiding and gave her the list of the other stolen artifacts. It was all legit research. No rules broken; at least not by her.

"I'm really sorry for what I did, Professor. I promise I've learned my lesson. No more sticking my nose where it doesn't belong."

He nodded and accepted her apology with a knowing smile; one that said he trusted her sincerity, but doubted her ability to keep the promise.

"Anyway," she continued, "the man isn't in the other dreams, but the big snake is. Sometimes I see it moving through the halls and walls of the castle. I think it's intangible like a ghost. Sometimes I see it in that stone chamber biting into the foundation of the school, sucking power from it and pumping poison into it.

"There's also a book in the dreams. I think it was even in the first one, but I didn't remember it. Professor, I think it's the Darkhold Pages. I think Voldemort is somewhere in the castle. I think he found a spell in those pages that's letting him draw power from it and even slowly corrupt it. I think the castle's been trying to warn me in these dreams. If he manages to pull it off, he may be able to slip past your safeguards and get to the Stone. The castle may even be forced to help him."

"Where did you get the idea that the castle was sentient?" McGonagall asked.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Jamie shrugged. "Hermione was the first one to suggest it, but we all agreed that it made sense."

"Who's this we?" Dumbledore asked without displeasure.

"The Marauders," Jamie told the professors calmly. "I re-formed the group just after I got here. Professor Harkness is our faculty advisor. We're mostly First Years, but have some Second and Third Years with us. We're also mostly Gryffindors, but have some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws too. We haven't invited and Slytherins yet. There are about thirty of us."

"Why is it this is the first we've heard of this group?" McGonagall demanded.

"There's a political term called plausible deniability, Professor. You and Professor D are the Headmasters of the school. The Marauders are training to fight Voldemort when he returns. We're learning natural magic, spells the Ministry would never allow you to teach and hand to hand.

"We didn't want to get you in trouble, but I've already gotten myself in enough trouble for keeping secrets and sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. I figured it was time to clue you in."

"I see." Dumbledore tried very hard not to smile. "Your . . . concern for us is gratifying, Jamie, but in the future, we'd rather you let us know before you do things like this. Can I assume you discovered the infamous Room of Requirement on the seventh floor and have been using that?"

Jamie nodded.

"Since you've had a faculty advisor and as long as you have one in the future," he admonished her, "there will be no further points taken because of this. In the future, we may even be able to bring in some specialists to help train you. We've been fighting Voldemort a bit longer than you have, after all. Our friend Alastor Moody probably knows more unofficially proscribed spells all on his own than the rest of us combined."

He paused. "Go back to your day, Jamie, but speak of this to no one. Leave the rest of this to me."

"Can I tell the other Marauders?" she asked. "We've all sworn on our magic not to talk about anything we do outside the group. You two were the exceptions, of course."

He smiled and shook his head, then sighed. "You have my permission to tell them if you must, but no one who has not sworn that oath."

"Yes, sir, Professor Dumbledore, sir!" She saluted crisply, then scampered out the door."

Dumbledore turned to McGonagall. "Why is it I get the feeling that child is affectionately mocking me."

Minerva smiled. "Because she probably is. She's as much a scamp as her father was and that's the truth. Definitely keeps things interesting around here."

He nodded. "Not sure I'd have it any other way. Keeps us on our toes."

Checking the big clock in the central chamber of the castle as she left the stairwell, Jamie realized she was almost late for her weekly psychic training session with Betsy Braddock from WHO. A graduate of Xavier's, Betsy volunteered to help train Jamie after the New Year's incident. She had a very different approach to the subject than either the Professor or her cousin, but that wasn't bad.

"Sorry I'm late," Jamie said, arriving just a couple minutes after the hour. "I was with Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall."

"Sounds important," Betsy responded, not bothered by the first time tardiness from the normally several minutes early student.

"It was," was all that Jamie permitted herself to tell the purple haired young woman.

"Okay." Betsy didn't pry. "Today, we're going to start working on breaking someone free of another person's mental control."

They sat down facing each other on the floor of the small individual study classroom. Jamie took a deep breath and tried to calm and center herself. It wasn't easy for an eleven year old who had just discovered that a mortal enemy was literally trying to take over her school.

It took a lot more effort than it normally did at this level, but she was eventually able to join her teacher in astral space. Even then, however, Betsy realized Jamie wasn't entirely there. She was still distracted by whatever had just happened.

"That must have been some meeting," she said.

"It was," Jamie told her, "but I'm not allowed to talk about it."

"Voldemort trying to subvert the castle so he can steal the Philosopher's Stone from the third floor where Dumbledore hid it is pretty important."

"How did you . . . ?" Jamie almost fled from astral space.

"Jamie," Betsy smiled. "We're both telepaths. You know how hard it is to block out outside thoughts sometimes. Well you're practically telepathically shouting this all out right now. I didn't even have to look and wouldn't have tried."

"Sorry." Jamie struggled to get control of herself.

"Don't worry about it. We already knew Voldemort was targeting the school and we were pretty sure what he was after. That's why WHO volunteered me to come here and train you, not that I wouldn't have done this anyway when Xavier asked. It's the closest thing they could get to having an agent on the inside."

"Please don't tell anyone else." Jamie was worried about letting the cat out of the bag.

"Can't promise that, kid." Betsy shook her head. "But that's not a bad thing. I have to report this back to WHO. They need to know and so does Fury. For that matter, both the X-Men and Avengers have a stake in this and need to be alerted. That's up to my bosses, though."

Jamie considered that. Those were all people she really didn't personally mind knowing. In fact, they were people she actually felt safer knowing had this information.

"Just don't tell the Ministry of Magic," she asked finally, almost on a whim.

"Why would we tell them?" Betsy laughed. "They don't want to even admit the man's not really dead. Bloody useless bunch of prats as far as I'm concerned; with all their 'I'm so superior because I can rearrange reality with a wave of my wand' bullocks. Makes them powerful, not superior. Bad as some mutants. My bosses feel the same way."

Jamie giggled in spite of herself. "I guess that's okay, then. I mean, it's not like I broke my promise. I haven't 'talked' about it."

That was all that was said about the matter as they finally got started on the lesson for the day.

Late that night, after everyone else in the castle was long asleep, four people descended into the depths of the structure. Earlier, over dinner, Agatha had approached Dumbledore with the information the Stephen Strange would be joining them to help with the purging of the castle.

When Dumbledore turned to look at Jamie, she looked like she wanted to crawl under the table, but he could hardly blame her. She was still very young and nowhere near fully trained as a telepath. It was bound to slip out in a training session.

"I'd hoped to deal with this privately." Dumbledore sighed.

"This is hardly a private matter, Albus," Strange admonished. "Anything involving Voldemort has implications that reach far beyond these walls. A great many people have reason to not want him to get his hands on that artifact."

Down in the lowest recesses of the castle, beneath the basements, dungeons and Potions classroom, the four came to a dead end. Stephen and Agatha remained a step back as Albus and Minerva stepped up to the wall and took out their wands. They tapped the wall each in a different section and pattern and recited a long incantation in ancient Gaelic.

When they finished, the wall vanished as if it had never been there and a chamber was revealed. The glowing orb of energy that dominated the room should have been brilliant blue, but it was shot with veins of sickly green. Dumbledore was afraid of little on this world, but this concerned him.

"It's worse than I thought." His brow was knit with thought. "But not, I think, as bad as it could have been had Jamie not warned us in time. A surprising amount of energy has been drained, but it's barely noticeable in comparison with the power of the node. The corruption, however, is concerning.

"Everyone stay back. As Headmaster, this is my responsibility. In fact, I'm the only one who can do it. If anything goes wrong, Minerva, Stephen is my chosen successor, although he's not likely to want to keep the job after finishing the cleansing."

McGonagall and Strange both nodded. They understood. If Dumbledore couldn't do this, Stephen was the only one who stood even a chance and he had to be Headmaster, however briefly, to be allowed to try.

Dumbledore held his wand in hand, but made no gestures and issued no incantations. He walked around and through the energy field, glowing with a golden light of his own. Where his golden glow intersected with the green of the corruption, the two canceled each other out, leaving only the pure blue.

The process took several minutes and by the time the last of the green was purged, Dumbledore's own glow was weak and pale. Even as victory as gained, however, the tired old man collapsed with a grimace of pain. He clutched his chest with his right hand as his left arm hung limp and useless.

Minerva was the first to reach him, but found his breathing faint and laborious. "Oh no you don't, old man. You're not leaving me with this responsibility yet."

Stephen was next to her. "He's having a heart attack. He pushed himself too far. Apport him to St. Mungo's. Agatha and I will take it from here. We'll make sure Riddle can't do this again."

Minerva nodded, gathered her old friend and mentor into her lap and vanished as the other two began their work.

At the same moment, in the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort screamed in silent rage and frustration. To be so close and have it snatched from your grasp was maddening. He had more than enough power to remain active without the need of a vessel, but he'd been on the verge of completely bending the ancient castle to his whim.

He'd been aware of its attempts to warn the cursed child. He couldn't stop them, but he was able to manipulate her into forgetting. Then in an instant, everything had changed. With a subconscious force of will he could not have expected from one so young, she broke free, regained her memories and acted on them before he could stop her.

Now, he had more than enough power to sustain him for some years, but still no physical form. Worse, any attempt to possess another unwilling victim would not go unnoticed and his target was still protected against spirits.

He was in check, but not yet checkmated. He still had one ploy left to him. It would take time to prepare to maneuver his forces into position; possibly even using that fool, Jasper Carlisle, but victory could still be his.

He would need to contact MacNair. The man's ties to the Ministry would serve him well. To do this he would need to draw certain teachers away from the school. The first, Dumbledore, would now be out of the picture for some time, but McGonagall, Flitwick and even that traitor, Snape, could still be problems. That wasn't even to mention the wild card that was Agatha Harkness.

MacNair could need to maneuver the four of them away from the campus before Dumbledore was able to return. Once that was done, Voldemort thought, he would be free to move and that child would be the pawn he would use to achieve his goal. It would be sweet, poetic justice of the highest caliber.