Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't own any of them. I just write for fun. I'm poor.

Chapter 8

Waking up, Harry found that the whole world had become blurry during his sleep. Waking up a little more, Harry realized that he wasn't wearing glasses. Someone handed said specticals to him. When he realized that the headmaster was in the infirmary with him, Harry asked, “What happened?”

“That is exactly what I was going to ask you, Mr. Potter.”

Then everything came back to Harry. He immediately recalled the story to the headmaster. Dumbledore took a moment to think it over before he replied, “Mr. Potter, you seem to have absorbed the Philosopher's Stone into your magical core. This is indeed an interesting turn of events...” Dumbledore seemed to loose himself in his thoughts.

“Professor, does this mean that I'm immortal now?”

“Oh, no, Mr. Potter. You won't retain any of the stone's properties. You simply broke the stone into its basic magical power and added that power to your own core. As of right now, you are at the same level as myself in terms of power, and as you age, that level will increase dramatically. Chances are, you will live to be at least twice as old as me before you die. What I want to know is how you managed to absorb it in the first place.” At this, Harry looked up and met the twinkling eyes of the headmaster. He could feel the light probe on his thoughts, and allowed nothing but confusion to surface his mind.

“I don't know, professor. I didn't mean to do it, it just sucked into my hand...Oh, crap! Doesn't this mean that your friend, Flamel, will die?”

Dumbledore chuckled. “So, you know about Nicholas. You did do the thing properly didn't you? Don't worry, Mr. Potter. Nicholas and I had already decided to destroy the stone anyway. After all, to the well organized mine, death is but the next great adventure. Now, I've got something for you. When Madam Pomfrey informed me of your inflated core, I dug around in my belongings until I came across this.” He held up an arm band with rune markers on it. “This is a magical suppressor. I used to use it in my youth when I found the pressures of power to be too much. If you ever feel the need, you can use it to hide your power. It will force most of your magic to remain locked in your core, rather than allow it all to flow through your veins all at once. I suggest you wear it whenever you feel that you might be feeling a powerful emotion while outside of school. The ministry is lenient on accidental magic, but they would still inquire, just to make sure that it was, in fact, an accident. Probably best to avoid the situation all together.”

'Hmm. That could be useful.' “Thank you, Headmaster. I probably will be using it all summer. But I have a question about something Voldemort said to me.”

“Just the one question? Well, fire away.”

“He said that he would not have killed my mother had she just given me up to him. Why was he more interested in killing a half-blood baby than a muggleborn witch?”

“Ah, Harry. I'm sorry to say that I cannot answer that. I know you will hate to hear it, but when you are ready, you will know.”

“Do you mean that I will pick up the information myself, or that you will tell me when I'm older?”

“The latter, I'm afraid.” 'Damn, I'm not going to change his mind.'

“Um, professor?” This was something he had been wondering ever since then end of the fight with Quirrell.

“Yes, Harry?”

“Should I be upset that I killed Quirrell?”

“Ah. Well, the loss of life is always regrettable, but when the situation makes it inevitable, there is very little we can do about it. You should not be happy that you took a life, but I wouldn't beat yourself up, either. He would have died when Voldemort decided to leave that body, anyway.”

“Okay.”

“Yes, well, I should be going. I think you should take this opportunity to appreciate the tokens from your friends and admirers on your bedside cabinet. I believe your friends Fred and George Weasley were the ones responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat, no doubt they thought it would amuse you, but it was confiscated by Madam Pomfrey. She didn't think it was hygienic.”

And with that, the headmaster left Harry to his candy.

Later, Hermione and Ron showed up. Harry told them what happened with Quirrell. He would wait until he could tell Hermione privately that he absorbed the stone. In the mean time, he was getting out of the infirmary.

“Ron, bring me my cloak.”

“Why? You cold for once?”

“No, not that cloak; my special cloak.”

Hermione interrupted them. “Why do you need it Harry? You know you aren't supposed to leave before Madam Pomfrey says so.”

“That is exactly why I need it. She isn't going to let be go until after the feast.”

“Well, then she must have a good reason. I'm sorry, Harry, but you need to stay here.” Harry just smiled at her.

“Fine, no cloak.” And he started to concentrate on not being seen. He had a lot more magic to coerce into making himself invisible, and he put a good chunk into it. He assumed it worked when they both gasped.

“Harry, mate! How did you do that without the cloak? Hey, since you obviously don't need it, can I have your invisibility cloak?”

“No, it was my father's.” Harry then grabbed both of their robes and pulled them into the hallway. “Now I'm not going to become visible until I get to the common room. See ya there.” And he left, after sniggering at Hermione's disapproving expression at his disregard for what she thought he needed.

When he got to the common room, he went up to his dorm room and looked in his trunk's first compartment. His cloak was laying across everything. He took it out and folded it up. He then put it back into the second compartment like he had it before. This way only someone with his key could get it.

When he got back to the common room, Hermione was waiting for him. “I can't believe you. You need rest after an ordeal like that. You've got to be magically exhausted.”

“Actually, no, I'm not. I need to talk to you about that anyway.”

“What? Why?” Harry took her out of the common room and to an empty classroom. When he got there, he explained how he absorbed the stone into his core and what all Dumbledore said about it. “You mean you stole the stone for yourself!”

“What? No! I didn't mean to absorb it, it just kind of happened. I don't even know how I did it.”

“Oh. And Dumbledore wasn't upset that you've been keeping your 'freaky magic eater' thing from him?” Harry had to laugh at her remembering his terminology.

“Well, he still doesn't know that I was. I told him that I had no idea what happed, and his legilimency proved it to him.”

“Harry...” said Hermione, exasperated. Then Harry went on to tell her everything else Dumbledore said to him.

“Yeah, he's the one that carried you back from the corridor. When I got back to Ron, we started to Professor McGonagall's office. We hadn't gone ten feet when Professor Dumbledore showed up. Somehow, he saw us through the cloak. He already seemed to know everything. He just asked, 'Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?' I think he meant for you to go, and if he did, well, that's just terrible. You could have been killed!”

Once again stopping her rant before she really got started, Harry interrupted, “No, it's not that bad. I was obviously able to handle things, and I think Dumbledore knew that. Hmm, maybe I should have asked him why my touch seemed to mean death for him...”

Later, Harry decided to visit Hagrid. When Hagrid saw who was at the door, he burst into tears. “'S all my ruddy fault! I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the on'y thing he didn' know and I told him! Yeh could have died! And all fer a dragon egg. I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out and made ter live as a muggle!”

“Woah, calm down Hagrid! He would have figured out a way to get past anyway, and I'm sure Voldemort's way would involve hurting Fluffy. At least that didn't happen right?”

Sniffling, Hagrid replied, “Yeh've got a point, there. And what are yeh doin' outside the infirmary? I went ter visit yeh a few hours ago, and they said yeh flew the coop.”

“Heh, you didn't expect me to just sit in bed for the rest of the semester, did you?”

Hagrid chuckled. “I probably shouldn' have. I've got yeh sommat here. Dumbledore gave me the day off yesterday so's I could fix it up for yeh. 'Course he should have fired me instead...” Hagrid handed him a leather bound photo album filled with pictures of his parents. “Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old friends askin' fer pictures. Knew you didn' have any. Do yeh like it?”

Harry smiled. “I love it.”

That evening was the feast. Gryffindor won the house cup for the first time in seven years (mostly thanks to Harry and Hermione). At the end of the feast, Dumbledore awarded Harry, Hermione, and Ron (even though he didn't do anything) plaques for special services to the school. Over all, it was a very joyous occasion.

Harry was not happy to be going back to his 'family's' house, but he knew that it would only be for the summer. He could live with it.