Chapter 5
September 1 Great Hall. Dinner time
Draco
He watched as Headmaster, led the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first years into the Hall. He had finished his dinner early, but he was just taking a few bites to give the semblance of hunger. His father had instructed him to look out this year, as the year was going to be a crucial point in time and Hogwarts would play a key role for some reason. He marveled at his father's ability to predict crucial points in history, and he wondered if he would have the same ability.
Now he had to work on being the best wizard he could.
Dumbledore
'I really missed teaching children, the look of amazement and understanding. It was good that I took over the class from Binns. Now let's eat the duties of the Headmaster awaits me.' Dumbledore thought, as he was sitting down for his dinner.
"How were your classes today?" He asked no one particularly.
"The Slytherins are fast learners and the Hufflepuffs are curious. The 5th and 7th years are also motivated. I suspect it will be a great year." Minerva said.
"The new students are not yet fully tested, But the indications support my belief they are average." Severus said in a neutral voice.
"The students appear, excited and will probably excel in defense." Quirrel said.
The other teachers chimed in too. From his perspective this year was going to be a good year for practical magic.
Harry
He, Hermione, Ron and Nevile dug into the dinner, they knew they had a long trek to the camp and would probably feel hungry so, they ate more than necessary at the dinner. Harry sneakily filled a big bottle with juices, so they could refresh themselves later. He eyed Ron and Nevile doing the same with other juices. He really loved all the classes except Potions. As the dinner came to an end, he and his friends made their way back to the camp.
In Quirrell's personal quarters
Voldermort
'Dumbledore probably suspects something, I should not put all my hopes on the philosopher's stone. I need a backup plan, an escape route in case my cover is blown.'
The last few days had been hard for Voldemort as he had taken over Quirrell's body, his magic was flaring uncontrollably, thus far he was lucky no Professor had noticed. He sat down to enter his Mind Palace which he had been repairing for the last 11 years, all his knowledge, experiences and skills were scattered. Though it was almost rebuilt, work was disturbed and increased by the change of body.
He opened a like of his sleepers death eaters, name, location, expertise. His eye stopped at Andrew Nightshade, Location: German High Ministry, Expertise: Undercover spy. A silhouette of a plan began to emerge.
He knew he had to make a special portkey for his escape, but didn't know a safehouse which was accessible. 'Maybe the one in Wales, wentwood forest. It was locked down by myself, or Gaunt lands. No I will not risk Gaunt lands' Fidelius, Dumbledore may be suspicious. No, the Wentwood safehouse it is.'
With that he apparated, he appeared in the canopy of a forest. He followed his memories and walked slowly to his oldest and most secretive base. He half-hoped the ministry hadn't burned it down, as they did his many other bases in Scotland, Ireland, norwich and even central London. The last one was the biggest, it had cost much and the research he did there was extensive. He had to obliviate himself of that research due to the sheer darkness of some of the discoveries, and all that was burned down without a flinch.
' Lots to rebuild, fortunately this Quirrell was a powerful one.'
He reached the location and began chanting the password to the door. '$ open, for I command, open for it is MY will $'. The door opened, and he stepped inside casting a silent cleaning curse. It was his focus room, where he opened his mind palace, dark and colorless, with only a chair in the middle. He sat on the chair, and tapped his Dark Mark. Uttering the connection spell, which connected his mind to specified followers.
"My loyal servants, I am not dead. You will receive a location, December 25, I will be waiting" He ended the connection, pushing the location of this base in a chosen few. By the end, he was exhausted himself; some of Mark's abilities were heavily taxing on his magic.
'Almost 3 months, I need to plan the distraction'
Time skip
October 12, 1991. 6:00 a.m. Harry
It had been over a month since he had come to Hogwarts, due to his early waking he had started to roam around the Gryffindor Camp. He had found many old books, potions apparatus, journals, broken brooms, and even a few wands (though none worked for him.). He stored them in a far flung cottage in an old Gryffindor camp, he hadn't told anyone about them, and did not plan on doing so. Today was similar, he was roaming in uncharted territory and he felt a chilling force. The force seemed to ask him to go a certain direction, he followed it, uncaring about the consequences. After some time he came upon a tree, something was off about it. The tree screamed to him in song. He touched the tree, he had a vision full of tormented screams and inhuman laughter. He ran from the tree, uncaring about the animals in the forest towards the Gryffindor camp. The screams chilled him to the core. He was never going to that tree again.
To distract the thoughts of the tree, he opened a book and started reading. For the past month his practicals had been good, gaining an A or EE (Far above the average grade of P and A for the Year) in the monthly tests, But his theory was less than average, he barely scored an A with utmost efforts (Average grades were EEs and Os, for the year). This was disconcerting, he had vowed to become the best wizard of the world for his parents. But he was unable to remember the theory of a simple spell like Lumos. He had many times cried to himself, when he remembered Nott's and upper years' insults.
"Looks like mommy and daddy Potter gave birth to an idiot. They must be disappointed that their little scarhead cannot even remember the theory of a simple spell like Lumos."
"There goes good for nothing scarface. Can't remember the incantations and people say he destroyed the darklord."
During the first few days, upper years from all the houses kept watch on him, As if they were sizing him up. But after the Lumos' theory fiasco in charms class, he had become the laughing stock of Hogwarts. He felt trapped, he felt he had been taken from one small hell and placed into another hell. He fumbled again during the flying lesson, half the time he was afraid of making a laughing stock of himself. He was tired of it all, the stares, the glances, the smirks, all of them.
'There is nothing wrong with me, it's just something I'll have to work on. We cannot all be the same, I'm good at practicals, others are not.' He thought, remembering the comforting words from the Headmaster.
'How will you become "THE BEST WIZARD" when you can't score a single owl. You were the son of the most intelligent witch of her generation' A dark thought came to him
"I just will" He said aloud and went for a nap.
Dumbledore, Hogwarts' Hospital Hut.
"Poppy, can you perform some tests on the muggle born and raised students present in Hogwarts. I have a theory, but I need you to prove it. I'll send the parameters for tests later today via Abraxas Dince. Please start with 7th years and make your way down to 1st years"
Albus had observed that the muggle-origin students had started to perform slightly worse than the purebloods since the rise of Voldermort in late 1960s. He was able to convince St. Mungos to perform biological research on his observation in 1985. Though the research was still ongoing a clear conclusion was, yes the post-1960s muggle-origin magicals were on an average inferior to the average pureblood or magical raised. Even magic raised muggleborn were better than their muggle raised counterparts. He suspected Voldemort's involvement in it, but the only thing he could find out was large scale disappearances in 1967 and 1968.
'I need to do something about this or else everything I have tried to do will fail' Albus thought.
"Fawkes, we need to convey a session of Phoenix council, notify the members to meet me at Arthur's nest"
A/N: I know this chapter is not on time and not a big one. But I just need to find a balance irl, it's been a chaotic time. I'll try to post regularly. This was a short chapter, but it really sets up several arcs. I have great plans for the fic. Just need to fast forward to Y2 Lots to come.