Harry POV

I re-entered the room I shared with Draco, noticing he was finally awake. He looked over at me with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Where have you been at this ungodly hour in the morning?" He rolled off his bed, sliding on his slippers, managing to do it rather gracefully.

"Delivering the letter to him." I bent down to grab to grab my books for class.

"I do hope you used one of the barn owls, to arouse less suspicion."

"Of course I did, Draco. Now, get ready so we can go get breakfast." I smirked over at the silk clad Malfoy, before leaving the room again. I heard him huff before the door closed and I went towards the common room.

I walked in just in time to hear Pansy groan and stuff her face in her hands.

"What's wrong?" Sitting down, she looked back up at me with a small frown.

"Harry, the finals are in five days, five days."

"Yeah, and why are you groaning over that?" She just groaned again before covering her face, Blaise giving out a soft sigh.

"She's worried about failing them, despite the ridiculous amount of studying she has done up to this point. And we all know she will keep studying up to the very last second. She has no need to worry, but refuses to listen." Blaise, shutting his book on healing, looked up at us in exasperation. I held back a small laugh, simply rolling my eyes instead.

"The exams shouldn't be that difficult, we are only first years after all." 'If my memory is right, the NEWTS were only slightly difficult. I won't have any trouble this time. At least, Pansy shouldn't have trouble either with her extensive studying. Anyways, this also means I will be getting the stone very soon. I need to make sure there are no kinks in the plan, and that I know what the backup plans are just in case something does go wrong. I doubt that will be the case.'

Draco strutted down to the common room a few minutes later, and we all quickly left for the Great Hall.

Sitting down, I placed a few eggs on my plate, and some orange juice.

"I am pretty confident in my potions, but it's DADA it's what I am worried about the most." Pansy sighed, grabbing a banana.

"Why not have Harry help you? He's at the top of our class. Actually, I am pretty sure he's at the top of our year." Blaise suggested, Draco nodding in agreement.

"That's true, but how much help could that be with only five days left?" She replied after swallowing, hand reaching out for the pancakes.

"Actually, it could help a lot, I could be a very good teacher." I smirked, starting on the one egg I had grabbed.

"That's true. Alright, it's worth a shot." She flashed a smile at me, just as the morning post arrived. I straightened my back, paying more attention. The wave of owls hid the one owl I asked to deliver the letter, to keep curious kids from noticing. I continued eating, absentmindedly, while Quirrell opened the small letter. There was a wave of curiosity coming from him, as he read the note.

Voldie POV

I had been idly watching Potter while sipping on the cup of coffee I asked for. I couldn't figure out why, exactly, I have been so concerned about the boy lately. It was when I almost gave up watching him for the time being, that I noticed his back straightened and he kept on eating. 'Why is he so interested in the owl's? And why hasn't he noticed yet that Pansy just filled his plate with eggs for the second time? She looks a little too proud of herself to finally have him eating more. And as good as it would be for him to eat, it's entirely unhealthy for one to eat more than they are used to, in one sitting like that.' I blinked, my train of thought interrupted by a small piece of parchment being dropped on the table in front of me. Curious, I cast a few detection spells to see if it was harmful in any way. After finding it clean, I opened it, not really expecting to find the words written down.

Don't go to Fluffy, I will retrieve the stone and bring it to you. Trust in your snake. If you do not, I cannot guarantee your success in getting the stone. There are three others trying to get to it before you do, and they should not be taken lightly.

P.s. if anyone else tries to read this, I have put a charm on the paper to appear blank and a spell to turn them into a toad.

-Adrian

I read over the letter a second time, before carefully putting it into my pocket and returning to my coffee. 'I have always figured the stone would be a trap for the old fool to try and capture me. It would be safer to let someone else get it for me. But if he fails, I will have to punish him somehow. So he better succeed.' I let out a slow breath of air, refilling the cup I just emptied.

Harry POV

Relaxing slightly at Voldie's calm response to the letter, and only mild curiosity coming through the link, I finished off the egg I had been eating. A few moments later, though, after finishing the bacon, I realized I had made a mistake.

"Harry, why are you turning green?" was Draco's question, soon followed by Blaise.

"Pansy, how many times did you refill his plate, exactly? It's rather unhealthy for a person to eat that much after only ever eating one egg and one slice of bacon." Pansy just shrugged, trying to look as small and innocent as possible.

"He kept eating, so I thought he was super hungry today and kept adding more food. I didn't realize he hadn't been paying attention to what he was doing." My stomach gave a threatening lurch, and I quickly stood up, starling Draco who had been glaring at Pansy.

"Bathroom." was all I could manage to croak out, before dashing away. Pushing past the few students wandering the hallways, I ran into the nearest restroom and promptly emptied my stomach into the nearest toilet. I didn't realize Draco had followed behind me, until I was able to pause to take a few breaths.

"Harry? It's okay, I locked the bathroom to avoid having anyone come inside." He whispered, running a hand up and down my back. I wanted to freeze at the contact, but I was too tired from getting sick to be able to. 'There is really no point in freezing anyways, he's the only person I've gotten this close to without feeling queasy. Plus, he's been somewhat of a close confidant. And right now, his touch is relatively nice, surprisingly.' Letting out a sigh, I let myself slump against the body next to mine, feeling it tense for a moment before relaxing again and resuming the motions on my back.

"Harry?" The concern could be heard in his voice. Probably confused at me willingly getting this close to him. I just close my eyes, and give a small hum.

"Mention to this to anyone and I will castrate you, Draco."

"Of course you will." He snorted lightly.

It wasn't until five minutes later, when I had all my strength back, that I took notice of the worry pouring through the connection. 'Is he worried about me? Why would he be worried about me? That is very strange. Maybe something happened while I was gone, that made him worry. But this is Voldemort. He isn't supposed to be worried about anything or anyone. There's still a lot I don't know about him, apparently. The real him, that is. Not the monster he had been made to be in my past.' Standing back up, I cast a tempus and was glad to see we weren't late for our first class yet.

It's during potions that I realize the day will just keep going in the same fashion as the morning did; awful. The class started normally enough, with Draco and I sitting towards the front with Blaise and Pansy, and Severus snapping his wand at the board to give us directions for today's potion. Before Severus had come in, Pansy was chatting away about the exams that were to be held in about five days, with Draco ignoring her and Blaise nodding along. When Severus ordered us to begin on the potion, one that was to be brewed on our own, I went to grab the ingredients as usual.

What made things turn sour was my lack of concentration. However, that could be blamed on Voldemort and his insistent poking at the link like a child looking at a strange new pet. I always assumed he knew about the link this time, but I was apparently wrong about that. So I was standing there, trying to shop roots and all I could really focus on was the poke...poke...poke...stab....poke...rub of Voldemort's mind. I nearly cut off a chunk of skin from my finger twice. It wasn't until Draco spoke up next to me that I realized I made yet another mistake.

"Harry... you just put in five large root slices, instead of two small ones. You do know that could cause your potion to-" A large snap interrupted what he was saying. I heard Severus let out a long sigh, before speaking.

"Mr. Longbottom, how many times is-" but he paused before finishing, having looked up from the book he was reading. His eyes had quickly scanned over the room and settled on my ooze covered form. 'At least it isn't harmful... yet.'

"Mr. Potter? Why did you cause your cauldron to explode?" He narrowed his eyes at me, more out of worry than anger or annoyance, like some of the others in the room might think. Which, I assume, is what Weasley thinks, judging by his ugly snickering. I simply blink at Severus.

"I wasn't paying attention, Professor." His eyes narrowed a little more, before turning to Draco, who had his potion done by this point.

"Malfoy, take Potter to Madam Pomfrey."

"Yes, Professor." Draco piped up, grabbing both of our bags before walking out of the room. I followed closely behind. There was another wave of worry going down the link and I let out a heavy sigh. 'What the bloody hell is going on lately?' I force myself to become calm again, having reached the infirmary. Draco was silent as Madam Pomfrey tutted and removed the ooze, before sending us off to our next class.

"Harry, are you feeling okay? You have been out of it all day. Did he say or do something regarding that letter?" Draco looked over at me, worried. I managed a small smile.

"No, he didn't. And I am feeling perfectly fine. Just a tired, probably." He gave me a sceptical look, and we continued down the hall.

The next incident was, of course, in DADA.

Voldemort was having us practice doing expelliarmus and had paired us up with someone from a different house. I had already gotten the hang of holding myself back when doing spells, which I was glad for after being paired with a scrawny ravenclaw boy. We had been exchanging spells for nearly five minutes with the poking resumed. Peaking over where Voldemort was sitting in a chair to watch us, I noticed he wasn't entirely watching and looked like he was too far in his thoughts to know what was happening around him. Of course, that isn't true, he wouldn't be the Dark Lord, if he couldn't keep part of his attention on a room full of kids while also occupied with something else.

Anyways, he had resumed the poking, and I tried to ignore it so I wouldn't do something I really would possibly regret doing. Two minutes later, my partner started to get frustrated because he couldn't get the spell down, and just kept trying anyways, practically growling the spell out while doing the wand movements. The poking kept on going with the poke... stab... poke poke... stroke... stab stab... poke. Then the kid across from me spoke.

"Bloody hell, why can't I do this spell." and started growling it out again. I didn't notice my growing irritation, until I had already cast my own expelliarmus and ended up sending the poor bloke across the room and everyone was scurrying away, Voldemort had swiftly stood up and was already making his way towards us.

"I-i-i-it s-seems M-mr. P-p-p-potter n-n-needs t-to l-learn a l-l-little m-more c-c-c-c-ontrol. D-d-d-etention t-t-t-tomorrow a-a-t 8 p-pm. M-m-mr. J-j-jiles, t-t-t-ake M-m-mr. A-a-a-alex t-t-t-to th-the i-i-i-i-nfirmary." I nearly froze at the sudden wave of even more concern that enveloped me, as the two left the room, Alex floating in the air having been knocked out.

Nothing else happened for the rest of the day, so I had assumed, incorrectly that, that had been the end of it. I was of course, wrong.

The four of us returned to the dorm after eating dinner, having sat down to chat when Severus walked into the dorm. It wasn't too uncommon to see him in there, so we just continued talking about what subjects we need to study more on.

"Mr Potter." We paused our conversation again, to see him standing behind me.

"Yes, sir?"

"I spoke to Professor Quirrell and he has agreed to let you take your detention with me. The time is still the same, come to my office first and we will go from there." 'This is probably not going to be a very fun 'gardian, son' conversation.' I held back a small wince, and nodded.

"Yes, sir." He gave a short nod before leaving again, his robes snapping behind him.

"Detention? Why do you have detention?" Draco questioned, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"I accidently threw a ravenclaw across the room with an expelliarmus in DADA today. I need to work on my control." I shrugged, not paying attention to the look Blaise tossed at me that was full of curiosity.

"You threw a ravenclaw across the room?" Pansy blinked owlishly, apparently amazed.

"Er...yes?" She snorted.

"Wow, Harry. Why is Snape overseeing your detention then? He doesn't teach DADA." She paused, suddenly confused. 'How have I managed to keep a blank face today?'

"I am not sure of that, either. Maybe Snape thinks he would be able to help me better since he doesn't stutter every word he says?" Draco clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a loud snort that threatened to come out. I rolled my eyes, before standing up.

"I'm going to bed, it's been a...long day."

"Alright. I think I will go ahead and join you. I do need my beauty sleep."

We quickly changed into our respective pajamas - emerald green silk pants and shirt for Draco, and regular cotton for me. I fell asleep quickly enough, the day having worn me out. The night started out with a dreamless sleep, before turning into a rather horrible nightmare.

I laid there, watching as my parents were killed, my mom screaming out for him to spare me. Her words resonating through my ears. I cried out, trying to block the sound, unsuccessfully. Bright green gave way to Privet Drive and Vernon. I helplessly squirmed in his grasp as he yanked me from the cupboard by my hair, screaming about how it's my fault there are mud tracks on the floor from his shoes. My fault, my fault, my fault. I curled into myself as his meaty fists began to rain down on my small frame, before his foot replaced them. He laughed sickly as he finished punishing me something I couldn't prevent. He just got home, after all, and didn't take off his shoes before walking farther into the house.

The scene changes again, Vernon once again beating me, calling me an unwanted freak. Freak shouldn't do freaky little things. But I didn't know how I got on the roof.

Stop...stop...please stop.

Another scene change. Hermione and Weasley looking at me in disgust. Not paid enough. Freak. Your fault. Suddenly the scene changes to something new.

I stand in darkness, before people begin appearing. Mom, dad, Hermione, Ron, other people I know. All looking at me, laughing with grins twisting their faces into something grotesque. They lift their wands as one, before calling out crucio, the spell hitting me full force. I try not to scream, before Voldemort appears, adding in his own spell, while digging a dagger into my arm. "Well, worthless, pathetic freak, why don't you just die already? It's all your fault we are dead. We always secretly hated you." Their crazed laughs begin a song of torture, and I finally release a gut wrenching scream.

I am jolted away by a frantic shadow shaking me. I freeze, still slightly caught in the nightmare. I reach for my wand, shaking, pausing when I hear them talk, their voice faint in my ringing ears.

"Harry? Harry?"

"Draco?" I croak out, my throat raw from screaming. I heard Draco released a breath as though he had been holding it for the past few moments. When his hands leave my shoulders, I realize just how badly I am shaking. Not caring about appearances, I reach out, and drag him back towards me, clutching him in my arms. I feel a hesitant hand at my back as it begins tracing circles and the other one presses my face towards his heart, his hand wrapped in my hair. 'Is this what it feels like to have a caring friend? Brother, evan.' Was my last conscious thought.

I am distant from everyone for the rest of the week, not wanting to talk to anyone. I don't forget to put a silencing spell on my bed again when I go to bed. During the detention with Severus, I hardly said five words which seemed to worry him even more. But I didn't really care. I need to focus on helping Voldemort, and having friends will just hold me back. Having someone that's like a brother to me, will hold me back. I can't risk that. I can't risk them. They will realize eventually that I am not worth being friends with, and will give up trying to talk to me. I haven't seen Aeron in quite a while, though I assume he is staying with Voldemort, and keeping an eye on the Gryffindor trio. I could feel both Dumbledore and Voldemort's gaze following me the entire week. I also eventually figured out how to close the link so I wouldn't feel the pokes or anything else coming through it from him. The runes I wore blocked multiple spells Dumbledore tossed at me. Also, I am pretty sure I could feel Hogwarts trying to help me.

Anyways, with the exams now over and done with, I need to make sure I have everything ready for when I get the stone.

Tomorrow night.