Harry potter : Forgotten Lord

[ AN : Since today is my birthday, here's a 3,000-word chapter for you! ;) ]

"It's an extremely powerful magical artefact, a product of the most advanced alchemy, which is rumoured to be able to turn any base metal into gold and produce a substance known as the 'Elixir of Life,' which offers the drinker eternal life," Harry replied automatically without thinking, causing both the shocked professor and Penny to suddenly look at him anew.

Penny just nodded after that, accepting his explanation at face value.

...

The head of Ravenclaw once again recovered his wits, before responding to Harry's explanation, "Indeed Mr. Potter, well said, take 20 house points for Ravenclaw for excellent knowledge of rare magical items. Now tell me why you don't think Professor Snape is a concern?" the short professor asked.

Considering the professor's question, he decided to be candid, "The short version is that the man is far too obvious, as everyone would pick him as the classic villain at first glance, due to his atrocious and widely known attitude.

At the same time, Professor Snape is the head of Slytherin, nothing here implies even a semblance of cunning or subtlety, especially if a group of first years can work out that it was him. If he could steal it without revealing himself as the culprit, I have no doubt he would.

After all, who wouldn't be tempted with the possibility of eternal life and endless riches, but the cold hard fact is that Professor Snape wouldn't last long without the Headmaster's protection. And I seriously doubt Professor Snape would risk spending the rest of his life behind bars, unless he was certain he could get away with it.

After all, he does have many powerful enemies, the only reason he isn't in Azkaban already is because of the Headmaster's protection, and his word that he was the headmaster's agent in the Death Eaters," Harry answered thoughtfully, as his head of house simply nodded in response, accepting his argument.

"Very well reasoned I must say, I assume you know of Professor Snape's past then?" Professor Flitwick probed, obviously testing him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Penny was listening carefully, all but forgotten by the professor in his questioning of Harry. "To a point, before I came to Hogwarts I looked into most of the staff via public record and other sources," Harry offered back to his head of house before continuing.

"In fact, I looked into all of the staff's backgrounds and credentials to judge how good the standard of teaching was here, but Professor Snape caused me to investigate further, as he was my mother best friend until their 6th year. They had a falling out after Professor Snape called my mother a 'mudblood' it seems. Then it came to light that the man was one of Lord Voldemort's inner circle during the war, but was allegedly spying for the headmaster.

He's never been officially questioned about what he did during the war, under veritaserum or otherwise. Naturally I dug further and with the help of a few others like Miss Greengrass, learned more about Professor Snape's questionable past.

That is the reason why I'd seriously doubt that he would betray the Headmaster and risk losing his protection; there are just too many people that would wish him dead," he explained before looking over to Penny.

His friend's face had gone deathly white, clearly only now realizing that the potion master was probably a cold hearted killer and murderer, based on the stories of the death eaters that floated around.

Professor Flitwick suddenly remembered that Penny was present in the room, "Well, yes, that is true Harry, however I must ask that you two not spread this around. Professor Snape made several foolish mistakes in his youth, mistakes he now truly regrets I think. He got pulled into the ranks of the death eaters due to his own friends and former housemates being active members.

In those dark times you were either with them or against them. However, he turned his back on the death eaters and started spying for the headmaster at great personal risk to himself; You-Know-Who was not kind to traitors and spies. The information he provided was very useful and helped saved some lives," Professor Flitwick explained, trying to reassure them.

The charms professor upon seeing that his words were having little effect, changed tactics, "Professor Snape is perfectly safe and the headmaster has absolute faith in the man. If I personally believed he was dangerous to you, I would have vehemently protested his continued employment at the school, I assure you," their head house expressed, trying again to reassure them.

Harry was tempted to argue the point about the professor being safe, but decided to leave it be for now. While the professor's words had little effect on him, they had the desired effect on Penny who visibly relaxed.

"Now, I will keep an eye on the third floor tonight and speak with Professor McGonagall about her young cubs," the head of Ravenclaw stated. "Out of interest, who do you think is the real thief then, instead of our resident potions master?"

It didn't take much time for him to come up with an answer, there was only one other candidate in his book, if it was an inside job. "Professor Quirrell would be my first choice sir; my gut feeling is that the man is hiding something. I think he's acting, putting on a show with that fake stutter, hiding his true strength, like a snake hiding in the long grass, just waiting to strike at the right moment."

"Why do you say that Harry?" Penny asked, beating the professor to the question.

At first he was going to say that it was exactly what he would do, hiding his true strength and ability behind a false mask. That was one of the many reasons why the sorting hat wanted to put him into Slytherin, "Professor Quirrell reminds me too much of a predator hiding itself as prey, in short, a wolf in sheep's clothing, waiting for the time to strike all the while being overlooked, only acting when his target's back is turned and exposed," Harry answered.

"He just gives me that vibe, and that stutter of his feels forced..."

...

( Later That Day )

Night had finally fallen over the school, making him wonder if the foolish lions would still try their collective luck tonight at tackling the 3rd floor and its defences.

Not that it really mattered to him, he had dutifully passed along the information to the staff clearing him of all responsibility if someone actually got hurt or killed. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that though, he may dislike the Gryffindors, but he had no desire to see them dead, even if it would help the human species' gene pool.

Now he just had to wait for Penny to leave his dorm room, so he could finally gear up and head out after the map, and whatever other treasures he could find in the caretaker's storage room. But, every minute he was in here waiting for Penny to leave was one less minute he could spend looking for the map.

Looking over his shoulder in the direction of his friend, who was once again reading his book on the mind arts for what seemed like the 100th time, even though he knew it was not. It was actually the 12th time, but the point was the same. He wasn't annoyed at her for reading one of his books, he was fine with that, it was rather the fact that Penny was preventing his 'raid' on the lockup from taking place. Another little thing that annoyed him was that Penny and Padma always chose to take his bed, leaving him to make do with his armchair.

Considering his plan once again, he had already scouted out the caretaker's office earlier that day under the guise of handing in a lost remembrall that he had 'found.' He had also found the quickest, most hidden route to and from the caretaker's office, exclusively using the hidden passage ways around the school, whilst avoiding the third floor.

After all he couldn't tell her now could he? It was her job as prefect to help enforce the school rules, but he remembered the oath, the magical vow she swore not to reveal his secrets, therefore logically, she could not help but keep her peace on this issue...

Before he could say anything she suddenly spoke up, "What's bothering you tonight Harry, you appear to be rather restless?"

He thought over what to say, he knew he trusted Penny far more than he did anyone else, he had even shared more of his secrets with her than any of his other friends, but he knew this enhanced trust stemmed mostly from the magical vow, the silent knowledge that she quite simply couldn't betray his secrets.

There was also the fact that she was more mature than his friends, so was easier to talk to since he was forced to grow up earlier than most. Even Daphne for all her maturity, and being trained as an heiress from a very young age, could still be very childish at times.

Furthermore, the cold hard truth was that Daphne, despite being a friend, would share his secrets if she saw a greater profit in it. So naturally he had no desire to share his secrets with her, on the off chance that their alliance ended and they went their separate ways or their interests no longer aligned. Anything was possible in the fullness of time.

"Well, I was planning a bit of a midnight adventure actually," he admitted with a mischievous smile. "I was going to try to retrieve something that was taken from my father while he was still at school," he answered.

"What do you mean by 'adventure?' You're not going to go wandering the halls like the lions are planning to do?" Penny accused, putting the book down while giving him her best stern look.

"Of course, but I won't get caught, unless you tell on me of course and spoil my fun," he answered cheekily, hoping that Penny would just let him go and not cause a big fuss about it.

"And let you wander the school halls and get lost, and get into trouble? You know you could easily fall if you miss a step and break a leg or even your neck?" She shot back.

He was touched that she cared, but he stopped himself from admitting that he had done it a dozen times before, before saying simply, "I doubt that would happen, that's what the lumos charm is for," he said, as a grin grew on his features.

"All I want to do is get something back from Filch that was taken from my father. Besides, I won't get caught, all the teachers and patrols tonight are circling mostly around the 3rd floor, and that's on the other side of the school. "I do have some advantages here."

"If you say so," Penny replied, dismissing the point as irrelevant.

He decided to take another approach, since it was obvious that the current one was failing miserably, "How about you come with me on this little adventure then? And make sure that I don't get into any trouble? Surely you'd like a bit of a thrill for once, rather than just reading books about adventures?" He challenged.

Her response was near immediate, "No! It could cost me my prefect badge and prevent me from being considered for the head girl position in a couple of years time," she answered seriously, giving him a sharp look, making it clear that she wasn't endangering that chance for this dubious plan. He decided to try another angle.

"Well, how about if we get caught, I'll take the blame for the whole thing. And you can say you just went out to collect me and escort me back to the common room. After all, it is your job as prefect. No one will think twice about it, since it is something that most of the teachers would think you would do. After all you are a good girl," Harry replied in a daring manner.

He let his point sink in before speaking again, to further reel her in, "Besides, think of the possible loot you could find. Sure, there's no magical stone offering eternal life and endless wealth likely, but I bet you could find something good that you might like, something that has been forgotten about for years."

Meeting her gaze, he could see her wrestling over the idea, clearly trying to decide what to do, as he decided to gently give her an extra nudge. "I promise we won't be caught; be naughty just this once, and don't be spoilsport like Percy is," he cajoled, hoping that comparing her to Percy would cause her decide to come with him. "Don't you want some exciting school stories to share when you're older?" He asked as Penny bit her lower lip.

"Ok, only this once, since we're going to try and find something which belonged to your father," she agreed. "But if we get caught you're taking all the blame, you understand?"

"Deal, but don't worry, we won't get caught," he replied smugly, whilst internally he was doing a little victory dance.

Walking over to his chest to get his invisibly cloak, he decided to show her one of his most cherished possessions. "This is one of my family's most cherished heirlooms; it has been in my family for centuries now. Some of my ancestors even believed that this was one of the three Deathly Hallows, but I ask you to keep that a secret; if anyone hears of it possibly being one of the Deathly Hallows, they may attempt to steal it, or even try to kill me for it," he said seriously.

Truthfully, he knew that it was more than likely one of the fabled Hallows since it carried the Deathly Hallows mark on its inside, but like with anything else it could possibly be just a clever fake. So he would just have to wait and see for himself. He didn't wait for a response since he knew that she would keep it secret, he had 'ordered' it and the companion oath would ensure she couldn't betray him.

Pulling out his wand, he quickly cast several concealment spells on himself, one to remove his scent and one to silence his boots, before performing the same spells on Penny, whilst explaining the purpose of each spell.

When he was done he asked his partner in crime a question, "Do you know the disillusionment charm?"

"I know it, but I've never had a real reason to use it," Penny admitted defensively.

"Well, may I suggest that you practice it sometime, because being able to disappear quickly and effectively may very well save your life one day if you are ever attacked. It could be very useful in a duel as well," Harry answered seriously, whilst remembering his last duelling session with Tonks, who had used the same charm to devastating effect the first couple of times.

He eventually learnt a few little tricks to deal with it, such as flooding her side of the room with water. This allowed him to track her movement by splashes, or just listening for footsteps, or that tell-tale ripple in the air. However, he had learnt an important lesson with that charm, specifically that you can't easily defend yourself against an enemy you can't see or find.

He had given this advice to also encourage her rebellious side, hoping that this would encourage Penny further.

Putting the invisibility cloak over himself so that his body disappeared, leaving just his head visible, he patiently waited for Penny to disillusion herself. It took her a good dozen tries or so before she had successful cast the charm on herself.

"Put your hand on my shoulder and I'll guide you tonight, I know a number of useful secret passageways around the school that avoid the main corridors," he stated, as Penny's warm hand found his shoulder.

"Let's go then,' he stated, and their adventure began.

...

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