Hogwarts Year One

Quirrmort

By the time the weekend was over things were back to normal, mostly, except the Slytherins still seemed to have problems. Snape was having one of his secret potion lessons that was supposed to help them advance in potions, the problem was every potion was sabotaged to some extent or other. The only potions that turned out correctly were the ones slated to go to the hospital ward.

Dumbledore was still feeling the results of the investigation by Bones and Black. He could also feel the wards changing more and some were gone completely while new more advanced wards took their place. The sorting hat had even told him that it was interested in the changes as there hadn't been many since Godric Gryffindor left Hogwarts. Fawkes was absent most of the time and only responded when Dumbledore used his control to call him. Dumbledore was worried, all of his plans were going wrong and he had lost control of Hogwarts.

The trio were in DADA and Harry was still trying to figure out why being near Quirrell caused such headaches and pressure. The Professor was rambling on about something, but not making much sense. Harry thought he could hear another voice in addition to Quirrell's. This second voice was saying things like, "Stun the boy now" "Kill the Mudbloods and the blood traitors" "Pure bloods should rule". All of this was really getting to Harry, and his scar was hurting again.

That night when the trio were in their hiding place, Harry asked Hermione if she knew of a way to see if someone was possessed or under the control of someone else. Hermione said she would have to check the library to see if she could find anything along those lines and suggested that Harry and Neville work on spells while she looked, or maybe do their homework assignments.

Harry and Neville decided to work on spells so they asked to be transported to somewhere safe to practice. They found themselves in the training room at Potter Manor and seconds after appearing Gustus showed up with snacks and energy potions. After a quick snack the two boys started working on their Charms and defense spells. Neville was trying to get one of the advanced first year Charms to work and Harry was trying different defensive spells that he had found in some of the books in the Gryffindor library. They had only been working about thirty minutes when Neville asked if Harry could explain and show him the correct way to do the spell so it would work.

Harry told Neville to try the spell again so he could watch and see where Neville was going wrong. After a couple more tries Neville was stopped and Harry told him he was doing two things wrong, first Neville's incantation was incorrect - he had the accent on the wrong part, second Neville was missing a wand stroke in the middle of the spell. Harry asked Neville to watch and listen as he did the spell. Harry did the spell very slowly so Neville could see and hear what was different, the spell didn't work. Harry tried again at regular speed and the spell went off correctly, timing seemed to be part of the spell. After three more tries Neville got the spell right and was surprised. Harry just told him all it took was confidence and the correct incantation and wand movement.

When the two got back to Hogwarts, Hermione said she had found an ancient spell that was used to see if someone, or something, was possessed. She had also found that the Imperio spell was not always considered evil or dark; it had been used to control violent persons in the past as a treatment and was, at one time, considered a valid medical spell. Her research had also turned up a spell to detect the use of Imperio on a person. Harry spent about thirty minutes practicing the two spells, Neville even volunteered to be a test subject for the Imperio spell, if they promised not to embarrass him too much.

Harry suggested they use a small animal or insect instead, but that they needed to wait as it was getting late and they needed sleep before classes the next day. The three of them were tired the next morning but after a small sip of pepper-up potion they were able to do their runs and make it to breakfast. Ron, once again, asked to be included in their "private" lessons, but Hermione found a tracking charm on him and said as long as he had those he wasn't welcome near her. Ron was surprised that Hermione had found the tracker and said he didn't know where it came from.

It was after Transfiguration class that Harry asked about the Imperio spell. At first he was referred to the DADA professor but Harry told McGonagall what he had been feeling in class and what he thought he had heard. Harry asked if McGonagall would be willing to show him an example of the spell, like on an insect or small animal - as long as neither were injured. She thought about it for a few minutes and then said she didn't have time right then as she had another class due, but would during their next "private" lesson.

It was after Charms that Harry asked if Flitwick could suggest a way to determine if someone was possessed. Flitwick said there used to be a spell that would do that but it hadn't been used in many, many years and he wasn't sure how to tell if the spell worked or not without a known possessed person. Harry asked who else might have knowledge of that spell and Flitwick said maybe the headmaster or the DADA professor. Neither seemed a good choice to Harry, but he filed the information away. While doing the filing Harry realized that he had been neglecting his mind magics and that he needed to do some serious work on those, and probably Hermione and Neville were lacking too.

When they went to Herbology they were surprised when Prof. Sprout motioned for Neville to come to the front of the class. It seemed that Sprout had a lost her voice and wanted Neville to lead the class. She pointed to the plant that they were to work with and indicated that Neville should explain how to deal with it. Neville was nervous but gave it his best shot, it was later said that was the best class they had ever had in that subject. At the end of class the professor awarded Neville 20 points for his outstanding work.

When Friday came and they were in potions, Snape divided the class and said that he wanted them partnered within their own houses for this class and that there would be a barrier spell between the two houses so there could be no sabotaged potions. He gave them the potion to brew, with instructions on the board, and told them to start. As soon as they all had their ingredients and were back at their tables he cast the barrier spell, he would be the only one able to pass it.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville teamed up and started working on their potion, a simple fever reducing potion. Hermione once again saw a difference between the instructions on the board and what she had been taught by Lucy. Lucy's instructions were much simpler and easier to follow, so that was how the trio did their potion. Meanwhile Snape spent most of his time "watching" his Slytherins potion work, and avoided several accidents. When only one of the Slytherin potions didn't explode Snape was at his wits end. Harry, and friends', potions were near perfect, as usual. The only thing Snape could find to complain about was that it was stronger than usual and they had extra ingredients left over.

Snape asked the trio to stay behind after class. Once everyone was gone, Snape asked why they had extra. Neville answered the question, but very shakily. He explained that he had recognized that some of the ingredients were very fresh, they had been harvested the night before, and were from the new hybrid, so they were much stronger than usual; so he had suggested they use less, since too much of one of them would cause an explosion. Snape was furious and wanted to know why he had not been told. Hermione interjected that they didn't think they should try and tell a potions master about ingredients, after all he knew potions better than the students. Snape just told them to get out.

It was almost a month until the end of school and the trio were seen to be headed to the lake one Saturday for a picnic. Once they were at the lake, and nobody else around, Harry told Hermione and Neville he had cast the Imperio detection charm on Ron and it came back positive. "Who put Ron under that curse?", was the question Harry asked.

Hermione said she had tried the same charm on Quirrell and it was negative, and she had no idea as to who had cursed Ron. Neville agreed that he had no idea either. Now all three were very wary of being around Ron. Hermione told them she had done some more research, as if that was a surprise, and found that there was a spell that went with the possession detection charm that would, sometimes, remove the possession and trap the possessor. But once again they would need a possessed person to test it on, also it could do severe damage to the person possessed if not done correctly.

Harry asked if there was a way to determine who had cast the Imperio curse on Ron, but Hermione said she hadn't come across any such spell in all of her research. The three were practicing some of their spell work when Harry started to glow. The glow was golden in color, except right over his scar it was black. The glow only lasted a few seconds before it faded away. All three were surprised, especially when Neville admitted he had been using the spell to detect possession.

"But the results were all wrong, if Harry was possessed then the whole thing would have been black. Are you sure you cast it correctly Neville? I mean, it is a complicated spell and not easy to get right", Hermione said.

Neville said as far as he knew he had cast it correct, but given his history with spells he might have made a mistake. Maybe Hermione should try, after all she was much more proficient with spells than him. Besides, Harry couldn't cast the spell on himself. Hermione and Harry agreed to let her try, since the spell was harmless and only showed possession.

Hermione cast the spell and got the same results, except the glow was stronger and didn't fade until she cast finite on Harry. While the spell was active Hermione had Harry slowly turn around in a circle so she could see if the black area moved with him or showed anywhere else. The black spot stayed over his scar and didn't show anywhere else. Hermione looked closely and saw that there was a thin gray ring around the black spot. Now all three were worried about Harry. It was decided that Harry and Hermione would make sure that Sirius, Rick, and Lucy were told as soon as possible.

As they were walking back, Harry was still trying to come to terms with the results of that detection spell on himself. That night Harry had Reggie to deliver a note to Sirius asking him to come to Hogwarts the next day and that it was very important. The next day Sirius showed up just after lunch. Dumbledore was surprised and thought something was wrong, until Sirius said he just needed to speak with Harry on a family matter that couldn't wait until the end of school. Harry and Sirius walked out to the lake where Reggie met them and transported them to the Gryffindor quarters.

Sirius was surprised, very surprised, that he and the rest of the marauders had never found these quarters. Harry was quick to explain that only the heir of Gryffindor, with the ring of Gryffindor, could access the quarters or grant access. It was only a few seconds later that Hermione, brought by Daisy, and Neville, brought by Reggie, appeared in the quarters. Harry explained why they had asked Sirius to come see them and had Hermione cast the spell again so Sirius could see for himself the results.

Sirius just sat there for a few seconds, then he too took a closer look at the resulting glow around Harry. After Hermione ended the spell Sirius admitted he had no clue as to what it meant. He suggested that as soon as school was out they get Remus, Rick, and Lucy involved in the research to determine what, if anything, could or should be done. Sirius also wanted to know if it would be possible for him and or Remus to study the books where they had found that spell. Harry was informed by Hogwarts that the books might be borrowed but only Harry could take them out of the room. Harry asked if it was permitted to copy the books and was told they were his, but he would need the permission of the other heirs, if they could be found, to copy any of their personal books.

Harry explained all this to the other three and they all agreed that it was only proper to have permission from the heirs before copying and of their works, but did this mean they had access to the other libraries? Hogwarts responded that the other libraries were hidden and she was prevented from telling where they were, but if Harry found them then he could access them - with certain limits. This news too was relayed to the others causing Hermione's eyes to open wide in anticipation.

Sirius made a comment that it was too bad the floo didn't work, that way they would have access even when school was out. Harry was again made aware of what to do to activate the floo network from here, it would be only accessible to him and the ones he gave the password. Harry went to the fireplace and activated the floo connection and then explained that it was limited for now as to incoming connections. Outgoing connections would only show that the origin was Hogwarts School of Magic. Now Sirius could leave without being noticed by Dumbledore.

Hermione suggested that either Sirius, or one of the other adults, send them some blank books so she could copy the ones that they needed to study. Sirius said he would have Remus take care of that since he was the smart one of the marauders and would know how to send them without anyone being the wiser. Everyone was taken back out and Sirius left soon thereafter.

The blank books arrived the following Tuesday addressed to Hermione from her parents. The box contained a charm bracelet with several book charms on it and a note saying "We thought you might like this since you like books so much". Hermione liked the gift, but was confused as to why it was sent since school ended in a few weeks. It was later that night that Hermione noticed that one of the charms looked different, it looked like a real book and it had a small picture on it. Daisy popped in to check on Hermione, just as she did every night, and was surprised to see an Elvin charm on the bracelet and explained this to Hermione.

When Daisy did the counter charm the book charm fell off and expanded to a full size book. Hermione looked inside and found a note from Remus telling her how to do a full copy of any book and included a "copyright" charm that the marauders had created many years ago. Hermione could hardly wait to try that out. The note also told her that each of the charms was a blank book, but only one at a time could be made to appear real and told how to change the charms. She would need an elf to cancel the present charms so she could work with the bracelet, Daisy happily canceled the charms on the bracelet.

Harry had an idea and as soon as Hermione and Neville heard it they were nervous. Harry's idea was for either him or Hermione to cause a disturbance in DADA and for Neville to cast the possession detection spell on Quirrell, since his only lasted a few seconds, and the other two would watch to see what happened. Hermione had one question, "What if he notices the effect and attacks Neville?". This Harry hadn't thought about, and it was a very valid question. Neville asked if maybe they could catch Quirrell out of class and away from the rest of the students. That was a good suggestion.

It was a few nights later when Harry was notified by Hogwarts that Quirrell was patrolling the halls alone and nobody was anywhere near him. Harry and Hermione got their elves to take them to the great hall and then to attract Quirrell's attention to that area of the castle, they left Neville out of this as he was still lacking in confidence and they were afraid he might get hurt. What they didn't know was that Neville had seen them leave and followed.

As soon as Quirrell walked into the great hall the lights came on and Hermione hit him with the detection spell. Quirrell glowed black all over, a sure sign he was possessed according to what the book had said. It seems that Hermione had been correct in her question about attacks, Quirrell shot a spell at her as soon as he felt her spell hit him. Hermione had her shield up in time, just barely, to prevent the oncoming spell from hitting her.

Quirrell wasn't prepared for two attackers, because as soon as he shot a spell at Hermione Harry attacked him from the other side. Quirrell shrugged off the weak stunner from Harry and turned to fire a curse at him. The curse never got close to Harry due to a golden shield. The spell was reflected towards the door of the great hall and Neville came in just as it did. Neville shielded out of reflex and it saved him, it also pissed him off. Quirrell now faced three students but he didn't appear worried, after all they were first years so what could they do.

Quirrell's turban fell off and now the threesome could see what looked like a second face on the back of Quirrell's head and it was speaking, telling Quirrell to capture the Potter kid. Quirrell sent a quick stunner towards Harry only to see it fail. Next he tried the Imperio curse, Harry seemed struck for a few seconds. When Quirrell told Harry to stun Hermione and Neville, Harry just shook his head and asked "Why?". This was a surprise to everyone in the room, it was not supposed to be easy to resist that spell, yet Harry did.

Quirrell was surprised again when Harry yelled one word "STAFFS", the next thing he saw was Harry and Hermione both holding a staff and starting to glow. Then he saw Neville start to glow and the stone floor started moving as if it had a life of its own. Quirrell shot an Incendio spell at Harry and watched it be absorbed, then he noticed that all the doors and all the windows had disappeared, in their place was plain stone walls that started to glow.

The face on the back of Quirrell's head told him to get away, to blast the walls and escape. The problem was the walls reflected the spell back towards Quirrell, who dodged it. Quirrell sent another Incendio towards Neville only to see a wall of stone rise up and block it. He tied the same thing towards Hermione only to see the spell turn back and be absorbed by Harry.

"So you like to play with fire, well I'll let you play with my friend Firebeard", Harry was heard to say just as a very large fire elemental appeared. The face on the back of Quirrell's head started yelling that it was impossible for someone so young to call an elemental, even he, Lord Voldemort, had never been able to call an elemental. The fire elemental was joined by two other elementals, both appeared to be made of air; then a large stone and dirt figure appeared by Neville and started moving towards Quirrell, always staying between him and Neville.

Quirrell was now surrounded by four elementals, and it was getting hot. That was when Quirrell noticed two elves pop into the room and start casting some sort of spell. It was time to get out of here, Quirrell grabbed for something around his neck and nothing happened. Hermione was heard to say port-keys and apparition didn't work inside of Hogwarts, every one knows that. Quirrell was so focused on Hermione that he didn't see Harry raise his hand and point towards him. The next thing Quirrell knew he was in pain and it felt like his head was going to explode. A thick black cloud started coming out of Quirrell's head and he fell to the floor.

Harry cast a spell and the cloud was surrounded by some sort of barrier that kept getting smaller until the cloud was compressed and contained within. The doors and windows reappeared and not long afterward Dumbledore came into the room. Dumbledore was surprised to see the four elementals, he was even more surprised to see his DADA teacher on the floor. McGonagall and Flitwick were the next to arrive, but they didn't seem surprised to see their three best students standing there. It was then that McGonagall saw that Neville was still glowing, as were the other two students.

McGonagall told all three to either draw the energy back in or to get outside and release it, quickly. Neville and Hermione ran outside, but Harry stayed. The two air elementals both disappeared at a word from Harry, the earth elemental bowed to Harry and walked out of the room. The three professors heard Harry say "Catch", and watched as he created a very large fireball and tossed it towards the fire elemental. The elemental seemed to smile and caught the fireball and threw it back to Harry. The teacher were yelling when Harry casually caught the ball and tossed it back towards the elemental. Harry turned to the teachers and said it was fun to play catch with his friend.

While Harry and Firebeard played catch, Hermione explained what had happened and why Quirrell was on the floor, dead. When McGonagall asked where Hermione had learned the spells used, Hermione said from Godric Gryffindor's personal library. When the three teachers didn't seem to believe her Hermione asked Harry if she could show them the book. Harry threw the ball top Firebeard and said only the relevant section or pages, then the fireball hit him and was absorbed. Neville walked in and said something about the teachers trying to catch flies with their mouths open and three mouths closed.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, bowed to the fire elemental (who disappeared), turned and walked over to a section of the floor and poured pure magical energy into one spot. The castle shook, the few wards Dumbledore could still feel got stronger, much stronger. The three teachers watched as Harry slowly quit glowing as the magical energy was absorbed by the castle. Harry asked what they should do with the spirit of Voldemort and pointed to the small container floating above the floor close to the head table. Dumbledore was speechless, as were the other two teachers.

Suddenly the doors to the great hall closed and they could hear several locks set into place. Harry got a dazed look on his face for a few seconds then told them that several students and teachers were coming. Harry said he didn't think everyone needed to know what had happened and that there were some things that needed to remain hidden from the students and the rest of the staff, except maybe Prof. Sprout.

Dumbledore started to raise his wand, but Harry told him if he was going to use the Sonorus charm it wasn't necessary as all he had to do was just say what he wanted to say and the castle would hear him. Dumbledore doubted that but he told everyone except Prof. Sprout to return to their dorms or quarters, everything was under control. As he finished speaking his announcement was heard throughout the castle and moments later Prof. Sprout was in the great hall, brought there by one of the house elves.

"What you see here is the spirit of Voldemort, it had possessed Prof. Quirrell. Thinks to the research done by Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and myself we were able to remove it from the professor, but that resulted in the death of the professor. I will ask that each teacher in the room swear an oath not to reveal what I'm about to tell you, it is for your ears only", Harry said and waited for the oaths.

McGonagall and Flitwick were the first to swear the oaths, followed by Sprout. Everyone looked at Dumbledore who said, "Harry I'm sorry but without knowing what you are going to say I can't swear a blind oath to a first year student. What you might tell us may very well be illegal and withholding that information could cause us problems".

Harry was prepared for that subject, he asked Reggie to get Sirius and bring him to the castle. Sirius appeared just a few minutes later and after hearing what had happened he was very upset with Dumbledore. Sirius said it was strange that three first years knew more than the headmaster of the school and that as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot he absolved Dumbledore of any blame for what Harry was about to reveal, and that if need be he could call Madame Bones to witness the statement. Harry said no, this only concerned Hogwarts for now, except for the spirit of Voldemort. Then Harry had an idea, he willed the ring of Gryffindor visible and called the sword of Gryffindor to him.

Those two things convinced Dumbledore to swear the oath that Harry asked. After Dumbledore had sworn his oath Harry asked Sirius to do the same.

"Now I may reveal what some of you already suspect, I am the heir of Gryffindor. As such I control Hogwarts until such time as the other heirs are found and then all four of us will share that control. Unlike family titles this one can not be willed to another, only my descendants can inherit the title of Lord Gryffindor. I am also Lord Potter with all rights and responsibilities as I am now emancipated according to the will of my father and mother. What we do with the spirit contained in this sphere is not my decision, the outcome will be decided by all of us. From what I have read the only way for this spirit to have remained was if Voldemort preformed a very dark ritual of some sort that kept him bound to this plane unnaturally. In this room we have represented four major houses, Black, Longbottom, Potter, and Gryffindor. Plus we have a minor house represented and that is the lost part of the Black house, the part that has been lost for many centuries. That representative is Hermione Granger according to the Goblins inheritance test. So, what do we do with this spirit?", Harry asked.

There was much discussion between the people in the room, but it was finally decided to have the Ministry take charge of the sphere, specifically the Department of Mysteries. A fireplace appeared and a floo call was made to Madame Bones who asked to come through after hearing what had gone on that night. She didn't want to believe the tale either until Harry expanded the sphere some and they could all see the true form of the spirit, Voldemort. Once the sphere was shrank back down to a manageable size Sirius and Amelia took it to the Dept. Of Miseries for safe storage.

It was at breakfast the next morning that Dumbledore explained what had happened the night before, "Last night, or early this morning, it was discovered that we had an intruder in the castle. Who the intruder was isn't relevant, what is relevant is that it took the life of our Prof. Quirrell. But before he died, and with the aid of several students, he was able to defeat the intruder, the remains of which have been sent to the Ministry of Magic. How this intruder got past the wards is still a mystery and is being investigated. The wards have been reinforced and will be completely inspected over the summer vacation. Without naming any students, I must award 250 points to Gryffindor for coming to support our professor and the school. Therefore the house cup goes to Gryffindor, along with the Quidditch cup for the first time in many years. The train will depart from Hogsmead tomorrow at 11am sharp so I suggest we enjoy this wonderful meal."

A/N: Well Voldemort is taken care of for the time being. There will be a short rest before I start second year, but be warned things are "a changin" due to the extra education of Harry and Hermione. And since Voldemort didn't escape this time it will be harder for Peter to bring him back - If I allow that.

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