Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone (rewrite)

Chapter 11

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and Harry heard through the Hogwarts grapevine that the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. No one could wait for the holidays to start, everyone that is for Harry, who had very little to look forward to. While the Slytherin common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the draftee corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Harry and his friends took great joy in watching the Gryffindors huddle around their cauldrons in an attempt to keep warm in the bitter coldness of the dugongs.

One evening, after the mock duels Harry and his friends had been doing in order to get more practice, Harry had attempted his worries to his friends. Draco looked at Harry puzzled, "you'll come to the Manor with me" he said matter-of-factly. "Sorry little bro, that might be a problem" Scorpius said, "seeing as Harrys not family he'll need written consent from his guardians in order to come home with us this Christmas". The joy Harry felt at finally being able to enjoy Christmas faded away almost emedility, Scorpius shot him a sympatric look. "Sorry mate I didn't know about that rule" Draco said sounding a little defeated. Harry sighed, "it's all right guys, I survived this long without a proper Christmas, what's another one". The small group gave Harry synaptic looks, he had been over joyed at the idea of going to Draco's home for the holidays but knew better than to even think about asking the Dursleys permission. "You could always try asking"Teddy sugested, "what harm could it do". Harry smirked, "i guess your right Teddy but I already know what the answer will be". "Its an injustice is what it is" Draco said matter of factly, "why should those muggles decide who a wizard stays with over the hoildays".

Later that evening Harry and Pansy ventured up to the owrly to send Harrys letter to the Durselys. Pansy huddled close to Harry when they entered the drafty room. The nest morning at breakfast Harry resceived a note from his uncle expliang that Harry was not to be allowed to leave the school over the hoildays. Crumpling up the note Harry tossed it in his book bag. "well that that then" he said gloomly, going back to buttering his toast. His friends tried to be sympatic and supporting but the letter had soured his mood for the the day.

Later that evening Professor Snape came around the common room to gather the names of those students who would be staying at Hogwarts over the holidays. Harry was quick to sign but got a shock when Draco took the quill from him and wrote his name neatly under Harrys. Professor Snape looked a Draco puzzledly but said nothing. Harry turned to Draco, "what are you doing" he asked, puzzled as to why Draco would be giving up his family Christmas to stay at Hogwarts. "Simple, I am not going to leave you here at Hogwarts over Christmas on your own" Draco said matter-of-factly. Harry was so overcome with a sense of warmth that he reached out a pulled Draco into a hug. "Thank you, Draco," Harry said, finally releasing his friend from his embrace. Now Harrys only problem was Ron Weasley who, still disgusted that the Slytherins had won, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Weasley, jealous and angry went back to telling anyone who would listen that they were all a bunch of wronging's.

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions a couple of days later, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it. "Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Harry asked, sticking his head through the branches. "Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Harry." Come with me you lot an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat." So, Harry, Pansy Theo, Daphnia and Darco followed Hagrid and his tree off to -the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations. "Ah, Hagrid, the last tree -- put it in the far corner, would you?" The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles. "How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked. "Just one," said Pansy.  "And that reminds me -Harry, Draco, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library." "Oh yeah, you're right the wild goose chase," said Draco, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree. "The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?" "Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly.  "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel, we've been trying to find out who he is." "You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here -- I've told yeh -- drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'." You what?" Hagrid looked shocked.  "Listen here -- I've told yeh -- drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'." "We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Daphina. "Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added.  "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere -- just give us a hint -- I know I've read his name somewhere." "I'm sayin' nothin, said Hagrid flatly. "Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Teddy, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library. They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal?  The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself ito a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows. Even though all the clues were pointing to Snape Harry still felt a bit uneasy about all it. Even though Harry had gotten a strange vibe from the man at the start of term feast, Snape had more than proven himself since then.  It was clear to see that he cared about each and every student in his house, and not to mention he got Harry onto the house team as first year. Teddy had taken charge of the library search and had assigned each of the first year Slytherins a different section to search. Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section, close to where Pansy was searching. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Any luck?" Harry asked her. Pansy sighed, "oh Harry this really is so very boring". Harry chuckled but was cut off by a sudden bustling coming from behind the self. "What are you two looking for?" "Nothing," said Harry quickly. Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him. "You'd better get out, then. Go on -- out!" Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry grabbed Pansy and went to fech the others. He and the others had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel.  They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk her reporting back to any of the staff.  For the time being they had decided to keep their search a secret, at least until they knew more.　　 They had been looking for two weeks, after A, but as they only had odd moments between lessons, their secret dulling practice and Harrys quidditch practice it wasn't surprising they'd found nothing. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.