I May have helped an Evil Wizard. (rewrite)

Spy work and case cracking

Harriet sat in the common room deep in thought. There were a lot of strange things happening at Hogwarts.

First, the three headed dog.

Then, the philosopher's stone just happening to be here and possibly being hidden by Dumbledore and guarded by the dog. In which case, kind of an obvious hiding place. Especially when the headmaster had stated that the third floor corridor was absolutely forbidden for students and everyone else except a few teachers. She assumed those teachers were helping hide the stone.

Third, there was the invisibility cloak matter. The invisibility cloak stayed folded at the bottom of her trunk. She had yet to put it to use, or tell anyone about it. This Moony person obviously didn't trust Dumbledore and, more importantly, they had known her parents.

This brought a lot of questions. Why was the stone here? What did Dumbledore want with it? Could he be trusted?

The last one was a no if Harriet's gut-feeling had anything to say about it.

Also, who was Moony? What did they know about Dumbledore that they didn't?

She also had a lot of nightmares. Flashes of green light, begging, screaming, shouting and cold cruel laughter filled them. She kept this to herself, not wanting to worry others.

Harriet leaned back in the chair and turned her mind to the stone again. It turned any metal into pure gold and made you immortal. It was hidden here at hogwarts by Dumbledore. This meant someone powerful was probably after it. On the assumption that Dumbledore couldn't be trusted that left two questions. Who was after the stone? What did both sides want with it?

She closed her eyes, letting various scenarios play out in her mind. She needed to figure this out.

The next quidditch match ended rather quickly. In the chilly February air, you could see the game clearly .Slytherin slaughtered the Hufflepuffs even though the 3rd year seeker, Jiyu if remembered correctly, caught the Snitch.

When Harriet left the stands some time later she noticed a hooded figure coming swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Clearly not wanting to be seen, it walked as fast as possible toward the forbidden forest.

'If he didn't want to be noticed he should not have worn a black cloak today,' Harriet thought,' Idiot.'

She quickly snook after the person. What were they up to? She really wished she had the invisibility cloak with her to make her job easier.

Instead, she climbed up a tree and along the branches like she had to when Dudley was playing Harry Hunting. She wished that the leaves could have grown quicker. All the figure needed to do was look up and she'd be caught.

Looking down she managed to identify the failed incognitos.

Below, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape, but he wasn't alone. Quirrell was there, too. Harriet couldn't make out the look on his face, but he was stuttering worse than ever. Harriet strained to catch what they were saying over the rustling of the few leaves already there and the wind.

"... d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus..."

"Oh, I thought we'd keep this private," said Snape, his voice icy. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosophers Stone, after all."

The stone? Harriet leaned forward. Quirrell was mumbling something unintelligible. Snape interrupted him.

"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I --"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," said Snape, taking a step toward him.

"I-I don't know what you -"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

An owl hooted loudly, and Harriet nearly fell out of the tree. She steadied herself in time to hear Snape say, "-- your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't --"

"Very well," Snape cut in. "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie."

He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Harriet could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he was petrified.

Snape and Quirrel were after the stone. We're they Dumbledores opposition? Unlikely. Could they be working for Dumbledores opposition? More likely. Perhaps this case was bigger than originally thought.

She waited until Quirrel was gone before sneaking back into the common room. She needed to talk to Pansy. Sneaking up behind her friend, she discreetly tapped her on the shoulder. Perhaps the sneaking hadn't been such a good idea. Pansy almost jumped out of her skin.

"Harriet, where have you been?" Pansy squeaked.

"We won! We won!" shouted Blaise coming towards them.

"I know. I was there." Harriet told him. "Why don't you go find Goyle? I heard he's hoarding most of the food."

"What? That's not allowed!" Blaise turned on his heel and ducked back into the crowd.

'Amateur,' Harriet thought.

"So, where have you been?" Pansy crossed her arms.

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

She took her friend by the arm and pulled her out of the common room and off in search of an empty classroom.

She made sure Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, then she told her what she'd seen and heard.

"So I was right, it is the Philosophers Stone at Hogwarts and either Snape or Quirrell is trying to get it. They could be working for someone. In fact, I suspect they are. We can conclude that there are more things than the dog guarding the stone. Something as important as that wouldn't be place just under the watch of an animal." Harriet sighed. "We need to figure out who wants the stone and why. Also, can they be trusted more than Dumbledore? If not, what do we do?"

"Why do you think they want it?" Asked Pany.

"A stone that grants immortality and turns every metal into pure gold? Either they're greedy or they have a bigger motive. Like saving someone or world domination," mused Harriet.

"I think we need to clue in more people." Pansy leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk she was sat behind.

"Any suggestions?" Harriet leaned back against the blackboard, crossing her arms.

Pansy thought for a moment. "Draco, his family has connections. He could help us. Then we could grab your study buddies, Theo and Hermione. Hermione owes us her life and Theo's curiosity seems to win out over everything."

"That's pretty solid." Harriet nodded in approval. "Maybe get Crabbe and Goyle too. We don't need to tell them everything. Just enough to keep them in the game."

"What about our dorm and Blaise?"

"Trustworthy people. We can clue them in a little bit. I just don't want too many people knowing about all this for now." Harriet walked over to the window and looked out. "Maybe we should clue in Draco and our dorm first. Our dorm deserves to know and, like you said, Draco's family has connections."

"I suppose we can work from there." Pansy got up and stretched a bit. "For now, let's get back to the common room. It's almost curfew."

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This is shaping up to be the longest thing I have ever written.

Thank you to all my readers!
XOXO Drachma