THE DARK TRIO and the Philosophers Stone (Book One) [INDEFINITE HIATUS]

The One In Which There Was A Red Stone

It was the last day of the school week and the Great Hall was alive with chatter that morning. More than usual, actually. The main reason was because of the news the Daily Prophet bore.

"Goodness,"Katherine Yaxley, a Fourth Year, exclaimed as her dark eyes scanned the front page article as she busied herself with a slice of toast.

"Goodness, indeed!"a soft, cheeky voice agreed in her ear, causing the blonde to startle. She slowly glanced at her side to see Delphinus resting his head lightly on her right shoulder, those eyes of his focused on her. She felt the blood in her veins run cold at the mere sensation of his silky, lukewarm skin touching her own.

"Oh my, it's like you've seen a ghost, Miss Yaxley,"Delphinus drawled. "Apologies for spooking you, hm?"

"I... It's nothing, Augury —,"Katherine replied, feeling slapping herself for even letting her voice tremble a little. She fought down a blush when the silvery blonde pressed his cheek against her. "Good morning,"she managed to push out. "Do you want anything?"

Delphinus beamed at her, sliding a pale, elegant hand of his slowly down the older girl's left arm before gripping the newspaper.

"I just want to steal your paper for a bit, is that alright?"Delphinus asked lightly. He didn't even wait for an answer before gently prying her fingers off the paper and taking it for himself.

The small Third Year plopped himself down on the free space next to her, using her body as a back rest whilst using a frozen Atticus Selwyn (who'd been silenced by Delphinus' grin) as a foot rest to lounge on the bench comfortably as he read the article.

'NEVER BEFORE SEEN: GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN?'

The older Slytherins in Delphinus' vicinity shared anxious glances with each other as they saw the Third Year's eyes dim to a dark greyish green, the grin on his face turning into a tight smile the longer his eyes scanned the article.
Delphinus knew exactly what was in the vault that had been broken into. He had eyes and ears of course. But he was also aware that the item was safe — seeing as the vault had been emptied prior. He just wasn't sure as to how long it had before was taken from the watchful eyes of its new ...protectors.

For the first time — the boy felt a strange emotion creep through his heart. It made it hard to swallow his saliva and he didn't understand why.

After a few moments of silence, a derisive snort came from the boy before he spared the Head Table a glance. When his eyes rested on Quirrell's, Delphinus fought the strong urge to flinch. Instead, he smiled politely at the jumpy man before grabbing few slices of toast from the table.

He stood up, giving Katherine her paper back and gracefully exited the Hall.

Classes had begun and Dumbledore was sat in his office. The past week proved itself to only be a domino effect of his carefully laid plans crashing and burning.

The wizened Headmaster didn't understand how things had gone so badly this quickly. Minerva had already thrown the first wrench in her plans by being the one to introduce Harry to the Wizarding World.

Initially, he'd wanted Hagrid to do so, due to the likelihood of the half Giant pointing Harry into the right direction — hoping to end up in Gryffindor after seeing the undesirable traits of the other Houses.

The boy wouldn't be under too much scrutiny with his morals and everyone would clamour to support him due to being 'undeniably Light' if he were a Gryffindor and being in the same House as Lily and James.

Unfortunately, Hagrid had been involved in a nasty incident leaving him with a burn that needed tending to the whole day.

So it was quite literally pick one of the two evils. Either he pick Minerva — who'd already expressed displeasure with Harry's placement with Petunia Dursley or send in Severus Snape — who he'd managed to keep in the dark about Harry's whereabouts.

Minerva had pitched a fit when she'd returned from meeting with Harry, yelling about how the Muggles were harming the boy. It was laughable, really. Dumbledore wouldn't have placed Harry there if it wasn't for his safety. He'd seen the boy on the day of the Start of Term Feast. If Harry was abused — then he was a Squib.

Of course, she must have said something that made the boy go to Slytherin without a fuss. It was all just to spite him, but Dumbledore wasn't upset with Minerva too much. He supposed she didn't handle age with grace like he had and didn't see the bigger picture, the Greater Good for Harry and all wizard-kind.
By sending Harry to Slytherin , she's gone and poisoned the lad. If he doesn't do damage control and take Harry under his wing, he'd end up failing him as well and they'd have another Dark Lord on their hands.

Dumbledore pursed his lips. No, he couldn't let Harry be seduced by the wily temptress that is Dark Magic. He still could be saved.

Despite not having expected it, having the youngest Weasley son could present itself as a blessing in disguise. The Weasleys were one of his most avid supporters, after all. If Dumbledore became a mentor to him as well, the both boys could be salvaged and be staunchly loyal to the Light.

He could have successfully planted the seed to keep Harry on the right path by having him meet Molly Weasley prior to the train ride , unfortunately the woman had had some trouble locating him. No matter , she could rectify her mistakes later.

He merely needed a plan as to how to go about tweaking his plan.

His eyes spied the red stone in front of him, glittering dimly in the room. He stared at it for a moment, deep in thought.

A small chuckle left his lips eventually, the Headmaster turning to Fawkes, his phoenix that was perched on a stand by the window for a little sunlight.

"Fawkes, dear boy... I think I have quite the splendid idea."

Fawkes shook his head in disappointment before continuing to make soft trills.