"It's been nice knowing you then," Harry said glumly on Saturday morning as they sat in their common room, confined as all the students were.

"Forget it," Ron said. "I'm not going just give up and let the attacker get you. Besides, Fred and George have been teaching us loads of spells."

"None that have helped so far," Harry grumbled.

"Well you know what this means," Hermione suddenly said from behind them. Harry and Ron looked up from where they'd been sharing a large window sill and looking out over the sunny castle grounds. They hadn't realized she'd walked up and had been listening.

"No," Ron said.

She lowered her voice. "We'll have to get the stone tonight."

"Tonight? Why?"

Crossing her arms, Hermione said, "Because we have to go while we're still allowed to be seen together. Harry and I can't very well do this on our own, and if your brothers are all watching you to be sure you stay away from Harry, then it won't happen."

Harry sighed. He was apprehensive about their plan to take the stone, especially considering that they didn't know who their enemy was.

"I think our plan isn't going to work," he finally said. He wished he could just be a kid and not be involved in all of this. What he wouldn't give to be playing exploding snap right now or out flying on the Quidditch Pitch instead of worrying about murder and theft of a valuable object. They still had no idea where they'd hide it, only that Harry would take it off the grounds somewhere. He'd been thinking of burying it, but with an invisible predator on the loose, there was no way he could be certain he wouldn't be followed and his enemy wouldn't just dig the stone up.

"Why is that?" Hermione asked. Ron had rolled his eyes but at least Hermione was paying attention and seemed interested. Harry knew how meticulous she had been in forming this plan.

"Every time I leave the common room without a teacher," Harry said, "he's waiting for me and I get attacked, and my dad comes running."

Ron rolled his eyes again at Harry's use of the name for Snape, but didn't say anything. He still wasn't all that pleased that Harry was taking on the adoption with such enthusiasm, though he couldn't deny that the man had saved him so often.

"We need an adult," Harry said. "And even that's no guarantee, because he attacks my dad when he's with me too."

"You need us."

Harry and Ron let their eyes flicker to the twins behind Hermione and she turned, looking irritated, perhaps because she hadn't thought to discuss this someplace more private.

Fred and George had their arms crossed, and Harry thought they ought to be looking smug as they usually did at having caught their brother at something, but they looked dead serious.

"You don't even know what we're doing," Ron said with a glare.

Fred leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "You're going to sneak past the Ceberus, try to get past all of the teacher's traps, and steal something." He stood up straight.

"But you can't get out without being attacked," George said. "And you won't make it without us."

"Harry has a point," Hermione said. "Even with staff he's getting attacked. We'll still get attacked with two third years."

"Two third years equals a sixth year," George said, "and besides, the staff don't have this." He motioned to Fred, who pulled out a long roll of parchment. He unrolled just the corner and Hermione's eyes grew wide before Fred rolled it up again.

"What?" Harry asked. Hermione had been in the way and he hadn't seen. It could have been their homework for all he knew.

"And it sees everybody?" she asked, confusing Harry and Ron more.

"Everybody. We reckon we know who's been attacking Harry but we're not certain yet."

She crossed her arms. "And you didn't go to Professor Snape?"

"Listen," Fred said. "He may be Harry's old man now but he still gives us plenty of detentions."

Harry raised his brows. He didn't think anybody but Ron and Hermione knew, but the twins were good at sneaking up on people and listening to their conversations, and they could have found out at any time.

"Right," said Harry. "Let's go someplace we can talk."

George motioned for them to follow. They went into the narrow cramped hall that lead to the entrance, where Fred and George stopped and unrolled the parchment, before leading them out of the common room and to an empty study room Harry hadn't known about. Looking at it now he thought he rather liked it as it was just like Gryffindor common room, only smaller, with worn soft red chairs, study tables, book shelves, and a fire place which was currently cold an empty.

"Only fourth years and up are allowed to use it," Fred said at Hermione's surprised look. "There's another one next door for seventh years."

"Now what do you have," Ron demanded, and Fred unrolled the long parchment on a study table to reveal an intricate map with moving dots. It was a map of the castle, detailing every secret passageway, every hidden room.

"Well that explains how you knew about the stone," Ron said. He pointed at the room where fluffy was, and saw a large dot labeled ‘Fluffy' in tiny print. Under that they could see a dotted line indicating a passageway, and many corridors beyond.

"We've seen staff going in and out of this room all year. We followed once and heard Hagrid playing a flute of some sort. We figure it likes music."

"And we saw Snape going in with a potion. We figure we know what it is too, because Percy told us what Snape made them brew in class that day and he said he never thought they'd be allowed to brew something so dangerous."

They were quiet for long moments, before Harry finally asked, "So you're going to help us then?"

"Cut us in for half of whatever you're stealing," George said.

"We can't, it's the Sorcerer's Stone," said Hermione. "We're trying to hide it from whoever is trying to kill Harry. We know he'll try to go after it."

"Fame and glory then," George said.

"And that would be Professor Quirril," Fred announced, drawing a gasp from Hermione, who had been so certain it was a seventh year student.

"A professor?" she almost wailed.

"Yes and keep it down," Fred said. "Every time we've been watching the map when Harry's been attacked, Quirril has been right there. We thought at first he was there helping Harry fight the attacker, but then we saw him scuffling with Snape the other night and Harry running away. It has to be him."

"He's an oddball anyhow," George said.

"A tea leaf short of a tea bag," chimed Fred.

"A crisp short of a snack," laughed George.

Harry had a feeling it would have continued on in this manner for hours if Hermione hadn't held her hand up to quiet them.

"When are we going to do this?" she asked.

George scanned the map and pointed. "There's Quirril now. Looks like he's dealing with something in the Great Hall."

"We should go now," said George, using his finger to trace a path to the forbidden corridor with his finger, going through several hidden passageways. "Looks like there's no staff about and Mrs. Norris is in the dungeons."

Harry swallowed. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this right now, and suddenly wished he could go ask his father to go with them.

"Let's go," he finally said, and Fred and George rolled up the map and pulled out their wands as they hurried out.

They went through four or five hidden passages that Harry tried to remember in case he'd need them later, and popped out across the hall from Fluffy's door, from behind a Ravenclaw tapestry.

"Alohamora," Hermione said, pointing her wand at the lock, and they heard it click open. They hurried inside, but Harry and Ron froze at the sight of the size of Fluffy. He, or she, was enormous and towered over them, even laying down. Slobber leaked out of Fluffy's mouth and pooled on the floor. Harry wondered for a moment where Fluffy went to the bathroom at, but was pulled back to the present by the door closing behind them.

"Someone's got to sing," Fred said. "After I wake it up."

Ron shook his head vehemently but Fred punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Sing Ron," he said, and then he aimed his wand at fluffy and lifted the beasts paw and let it fall to the floor to startle him. It worked, and Fluffy opened his eyes, only to start growling when it saw the intruders.

Ron looked around to find that his friends had all moved back against the wall, leaving him there in the middle of the floor alone. He looked back up to Fluffy and in a squeaky, terrified voice sang, "I'm a little tea pot, short and stout, here is my handle here is my spout, when you tip me over pour me out, I'm a little teapot short and stout." Fluffy went back to sleep and George motioned for Ron to keep singing as he and Fred went to move the dog's heavy paw from over the trap door in the floor. Hermione joined Ron and they sang together until the twins were done and had the door opened. They motioned for Harry to come to them, and Ron and Hermione stopped singing.

"Nothing for it but to jump," George said, and he jumped in. Fred motioned for the others to go, and George was followed in by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, before Fred jumped in too, pulling the door shut with a bang as he fell.

When they landed, Harry was glad to find that it was a soft landing on top of something that seemed like a large plant. He looked over to find his friends sinking, and Ron panicking.

"Stop freaking out Ron," Fred advised as he fell through the plant and disappeared completely.

"It's eaten George!" Ron shouted, but George, who was still tangled in the plant shouted, "No it hasn't you Ninny! It ate Fred!" Then he laughed as he fell through too. Harry noticed that Hermione was relaxing and also falling through so he did the same, and seemed to melt through the plant until he fell out underneath it with a thud on hard ground.

"It's Devil's Snare," Hermione said knowledgeably. "He's not supposed to panic. We learned about this on the first day of classes."

"Ron, calm down!" George yelled up.

"The plant is talking!" Ron shouted.

"He's still panicking," Harry said. "We have to do something."

Hermione muttered something to herself and then used her wand to shoot a bright light up at the plant. Suddenly Ron fell through.

"I didn't panic," he said, standing up and brushing off his pants. "I didn't," he insisted to his brothers. Fred rolled his eyes and George looked around in the darkened room.

"This way maybe," he said.

Harry was secretly very glad that Fred and George had come. They were older students and knew more spells, and he didn't mind letting them take the lead as they made their way past several obstacles. Harry got to play his part when he had to capture a flying key, and Hermione helped them get through the poisonous potion choices. Ron and the twins fought over chess moves, but in the end they made it through the giant chess board as well, thankfully all in one piece. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they came to a large room with the same mirror Harry had seen in the attic the week before.

"I know what this is," he said. "It shows you what you want to see."

He stepped up in front of it and while he saw the reflection of his friends behind him, he also saw a strange lump in his pocket. He reached into his pocket and was surprised to find the stone.

"Look!" he said, turning and holding the shiny black stone up.

"That's it Harry!" Hermione said excitedly. "But how did you get it?"

"I looked into the mirror and it was just in my pocket."

Fred crossed his arms. "It was in your pocket the whole time?"

Hermione shushed him and nudged George. They were only joking but now that they had the stone (and really it was rather too easy if three first years and two third years had done it) they had to figure out where to go with it.

"What now?" Harry asked.

"Where had you planned on hiding it?" George asked.

"I thought of burying it somewhere," Harry said.

"It would have been safer here," Fred pointed out, and Harry thought it was true.

"You have the map," Ron pointed at the roll of parchment still sticking out of the back of Fred's belt. "Isn't there someplace safe on there we can hide it?"

Fred pulled it out and spread it on the floor where they got to their knees to look at it.

"There are all sorts of places in the castle nobody ever looks," George said.

"Yeah but they could call it to them," Fred said sitting up.

Hermione sighed. "We should destroy it."

"It's not ours. We'll get in trouble. It's only about the most valuable stone in the world."

"Ron's got a point. It makes gold... it's priceless," George said, and Ron crossed his arms smugly.

"So... we just put it back?" Harry asked, confused. Everyone looked at him.

"It's too easy for Quirril to get it." They nodded in agreement with Fred.

"We have to take it away from here then." Harry felt sad. He had already agreed to take it off school property in the early stages of their planning if it came to it, though he didn't know to where.

"Ideas?" Fred opened it up for suggestions, but even Hermione seemed stumped.

"We already know Quirril goes into the Forbidden Forest after unicorns," Harry said, "and if he can float he must be powerful. And the papers said someone broke into the vault at Gringotts looking for it, so he got past all the goblins."

"And Dragons," George said. "Dad says there are dragons down there."

Finally something occurred to Harry. Quirril had been looking for the sorcerer's stone. What if the stone didn't look so obvious?

"Let's disguise it." They turned to Harry.

"Quirril won't be looking for a dirt clod, or a river stone, or anything like that. There was some mud back with the Devil's Snare thing, wasn't there? We can put it anywhere on the grounds if it just looks like a clump of dirt... or it could sit under a bed or in a trunk. No one would know."

"He could still summon it to him and it would go flying right into his hand."

"We could use a sticking charm," Hermione finally said. "Summoning charms won't bring things that are stuck or tied down, and even if they could they can't go through closed doors. Harry if you put it in your trunk and keep the trunk locked, it will never get out. You could take it home with you in a few weeks and dump it anywhere."

Harry was thinking it over, rolling the plan over and over in his mind, at the same time as he rolled the stone over and over in his hand. "Let's do it."

It took several sticking charms from the twins to get the mud to stick to the shiny surface, and they took dried twigs and a dead leaf from the Devil's Snare and embedded it in the dirt to make it look like a real dirt clod. After fifteen minutes, their work was done, and they were facing the prospect of using the brooms to fly back to the trap door and singing to get out past Fluffy. The twins went first, using their map to be sure the way was clear, the dirt covered stone in Fred's pocket so that if they got separated and Harry got caught, the stone wouldn't be within Quirril's grasp.

Slowly and carefully they made their way via secret passage down to the entrance to Gryffindor common room, and back inside.

"Harry," Neville said, hurrying over. "Professor Snape is looking for you. I think you might be in trouble. He came in three times trying to find you." Neville bit his lip. "He didn't look very happy."

"The spell," Harry said, hitting his head. "He must have sensed I was in danger," he whispered to the twins and Ron and Hermione.

"Here," Fred passed the dirt off to Harry and nodded for him to hurry and get it hidden and Harry and Ron tried to look casual as they went up to the first year boys dormitory. Luckily it was empty. Harry put it in the bottom of his trunk right next to his old muddy pair of holey sneakers, and did the sticking spell Hermione had shown them several times to be sure it was securely in place and wouldn't come out if the lid was opened.

"What do you think?" he asked Ron when he was done. Ron stared down into the trunk.

"Looks like you're a pig," he said. It was true, there was a lot of dried dirt clumps in the bottom of the trunk. "What if ol' Snape makes you clean it out?"

"He won't," Harry said, "at least not until summer."

Harry locked his trunk lid and used the sticking charm to stick his trunk to the floor, just in case, he told himself, and then went downstairs. It would be dinner soon and he supposed he'd have to come up with an explanation for his father about the ‘danger' he'd been in. He hated risking another detention, but the only thing he could come up with was dueling with Ron, and Ron had agreed to take the detention if it came down to it.

At dinner a teacher escorted Gryffindor house to the Great Hall, where Snape marched up to Harry and made no effort to hide his anger as he grabbed the back of Harry's robes and practically dragged him out into the Entrance Hall.

"Where were you? I was worried sick," he demanded. Harry felt guilty and he supposed he looked a little guilty as well.

"I was dueling," he said. "With Ron," he added at his father's angry look. "We wanted to practice since we're getting attacked so much."

"So you thought it would be a good idea to go out of the common room alone to do this with said attacker on the loose?"

Harry leaned in, looked around, and then whispered, "We know who it is."

Severus stood up to his fullest height and crossed his arms. "Pray tell."

"Quirril," Harry whispered.

"And you know this how?"

"Well-"

Severus was still standing there staring down at him with his arms crossed.

"I can't say exactly, but I know it's him."

"Why not?"

Fidgeting Harry said, "You just have to trust me. It's him, and he's probably going to go after the stone too, so maybe you could help get him canned?"

Severus snorted then, and Harry raised his brows. "You think getting him thrown out will stop it?"

Harry nodded and Severus shook his head. The mind of an eleven year old, he thought, sighing internally. He gave Harry a close looking over, and when he was sure that he really was fine, reprimanded him again for dueling and sent him into the Great Hall to eat dinner. Yes, this child would be the death of him.