Adrian Craddock and The Philosopher's Stone

The Stone and the End of First Year

When the four arrived at the Common Room, Aiden immediately threw off the cloak and give it back to Harry, who folded it and put it in his pocket. The cousins began telling the other two what happened in the forest.

"You mean: You-Know-Who's out there... right now... in the forest?" asked Hermione, her voice obviously shaking and scared.

"Yes, but he's weak. He has to be if he's living off unicorn blood." answered Aiden, sitting down.

Harry sat down next to him, deep in thought. Then his eyes widend and he looked at the others.

"We had it wrong."

At the confused looks of the others he explained what he meant. "Don't you see? Snape doesn't want the Stone for himself, he wants it for Voldemort. With the Elixir of Life, Voldemort will be strong again. He'll... He'll come back."

"But if he comes back, you don't think he'll try to kill you, do you?" asked Ron.

"I think if he had the chance he would've killed us tonight." said Aiden, looking down, his expression worried.

"And to think, I've been worrying about my Potions final."

"Hang on a minute, we're forgetting one thing. " said Hermione, and the boys looked at her. "Who's the one wizard Voldemort always feared?"

"Dumbledore." answered Aiden, without a moment's hesitation

"Right. So, as long as Dumbledore's around, you're safe. As long as Dumbledore's around, you can't be touched." she said and look at Harry, who's only response was a hopeful smile.

oOo

A few days later and the students had to take their end of year exams.

In the years that followed, Aiden would always tease Harry about how he managed to get through the exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any point in time. Yet as the days crept by, there was no doubt that Fluffy was alive and well behind the locked door.

It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. The new, special quills the students were assigned with, were bewitched with Anti-cheating spells.

They had pratical exams as well. Professor Filtwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox: points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made every student (except the Slytherins) nervous, breathing down their necks whilst they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.

Aiden tried as best he could in every exam, internally thanking Hermione for nagging him to revise their year's work with her.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Aiden thought he might go deaf with how loud the rest cheered.

"That was easier than I thought it would be." said Hermione as the four joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree.