Since I'm on break, I'll try to upload a second chapter this week to make up for last week, but no promises. My BFF Alison might have to help me with the second chapter. ;D

We found Ron and Hermione saying goodbye to Harry outside the locker rooms.

"Hey guys. Good luck this afternoon, Harry." I said to my friends. "I want you guys to meet Alexander Noble and Azalea Dolt. They're in Ravenclaw. Azalea, Alex, this is Ron, Hermione, and --- "

"Harry Potter!" Azalea said, grabbing Harry's hand and shaking it vigorously. Ron and Hermione mumbled a couple of hi's. Azalea's hair went black and her eyes went green. Harry jumped back slightly at Azalea's change. "Oh, I'm a metamorphmagus."

"That means she can change her appearance." I piped in.

"Oh." Harry said. He has such a way with words.

"Well, we better grab our seats." Hermione said. "Good luck Harry!"

"Yeah! Good luck!" Azalea said. She obviously wasn't shy.

We headed towards the stands. We found a place to sit near Neville, Ron and Hermione on my left, Azalea (Who had turned her hair red and her eyes gold, showing her support of Gryffindor) and Alex on my right. Neville couldn't understand why we looked so grim, or why we were so worried, or why we had brought our wands to the match, which Azalea and Alex didn't understand either.

Harry didn't know that we had been practicing the Leg-Locker Curse. Hermione got the idea after Draci had used it on Neville. We were ready to use it if Snape showed any sign of wanting to hurt Harry.

"Now, don't forget, it's Locomotor Mortis." Hermione muttered as Ron slipped his wand up his sleeve.

"I know." Ron snapped. "Don't nag."

I peered into the stands to see who had come. Nearly the entire school had come.

"Good god, even Dumbledore's here!" I said, spotting the silvery beard in the crowd. "Snape won't try anything now!"

"I've never seen Snape look so mean." Ron said to us. "Look -they're off! Ouch!"

Someone had poked Ron in the back of the head. It was none other than my ass of a brother, Draco.

"Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn't see you there." Draco grinned broadly at Crabbe and Goyle. "Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?"

Ron didn't answer; Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him. Hermione, who had all her fingers crossed in her lap, was squinting fixedly at Harry, who was circling the game like a hawk, looking for the Snitch.

"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" said Malfoy loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all. "It's people they feel sorry for. See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who've got no money -- you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains."

"Maybe you should be on the team, Draco. You won't have a head if you keep talking." I told my brother, not removing my eyes from the game.

"And I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy." Neville stammered.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle howled with laughter, but Ron, still not daring to take his eyes from the game, said, "You tell him, Neville."

"Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something." Draco said.

"I'm warning you, Malfoy -- one more word -- " Ron started.

"Ron!" said Hermione suddenly, "Harry -- "

"What? Where?" Harry had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Hermione stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Harry streaked toward the ground like a bullet.

"You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!" said Malfoy.

"THAT'S IT DRACO! YOU'RE -- " I turned and saw that Ron was on top my brother, wrestling him to the ground. "Oh look. Ron's doing my job for me."

Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch as Harry sped straight at Snape -- she didn't even notice Malfoy and Ron rolling around under her seat, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Neville, Crabbe, and Goyle. I had one eye on each, and I bet I looked pretty cross-eyed.

Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches -- the next second, Harry had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand. The stands erupted; it had to be a record. I've never seen the Snitch being caught so quickly.

"Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor is in the lead!" shrieked Hermione, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging Parvati Patil and I.

We exited the pitch and danced and cheered our way back to the castle. I spotted Harry taking his broom back to the shed. Ron and Hermione were talking to people. I was too busy dancing with Azalea and Alex.

We went on to the castle. There was surely going to be a party in the common room tonight. We parted was with Alex and Azalea in the Great Hall.

We took our time getting to the common room, hoping that Harry would catch up with us. Finally, he did. He looked shaken though. Not like someone who had just put their house in the lead.

"Harry, where have you been?" Hermione squeaked.

"We won! You won! We won!" Shouted Ron, thumping Harry on the back. "And I gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's still out cold but Madam Pomftey says he'll be all right -- talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens."

"Never mind that now, " said Harry breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this...."

He made sure Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind us, then he told us what he'd seen and heard.

He had seen Quirrell and Snape in the forest talking.

"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy -- and he said something about Quirrell's hocus pocus -- I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through -- "

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" said Hermione in alarm.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday." said Ron. Something occurred to me then.

"Wait. Maybe it's the other way around." I said.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe, it isn't Snape. Maybe it's Quirrell." I said.

"Jinx, don't be ridiculous. Quirrell wouldn't do that." Hermione said.

"Besides, Quirrell's probably not capable of doing anything but stutter at us in class." Ron said.

I frowned. "Yeah. I suppose you're right."

Quirrell, however, must have been braver than we'd thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.

Every time we passed the third-floor corridor, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I would press our ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Snape was sweeping about in his usual bad temper, which surely meant that the Stone was still safe.

Whenever Harry passed Quirrell these days he gave himan encouraging sort of smile, which I thought looked stupid, and Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter. Hermione, however, had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started drawing up study schedules and color-coding all her notes. And I? I went with it. Turns out, with friends like mine, it's the best thing to do.

Harry and Ron wouldn't have minded what Hermione was doing, but Hermione kept nagging them to do the same. I went with it and colour-coded mine.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away." Ron complained one evening as Hermione nagged them.

"Ten weeks." Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old." Ron reminded her.

"I might be." I said darkly. He ignored me.

"Anyway, what are you studying for? You already know it all."

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important. I should have started studying a month ago. I don't know what's gotten into me...."

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on us that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. Well, for everyone else it was. They didn't spend theirs locked in their bedrooms. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements, too. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with us, trying to get through all their extra work.

"I'll never remember this!" Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day we'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

Harry, who was looking up "Dittany" (I was reading his books upside down) in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, didn't look up until heheard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

"Jus' lookin'." He said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?"

He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago, " said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St -- "

"Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"Several things, Hagrid." I said. "Several things."

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact." said Harry. "About what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy -- "

"SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen -- come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh -- "

"See you later, then." said Harry. Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully. "Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?"

"I'm going to see what section he was in." said Ron, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

"Dragons!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide."

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him." said Harry.

"But it's against our laws." said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden - anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"But there aren't wild dragons in Britain?" said Harry.

"Of course there are." said Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what on earths Hagrid up to?" said Hermione.

"Let's pray that he only wants to read about them." I said.