stage one of the plan: sucess

"Follow me," McGonagall said and walked back into the classroom she had just come out of. We soon stood in front of her desk as she held the candle in one hand illuminating the otherwise dark room. She looked at us for a second before starting her lecture.

"Nothing, I repeat, nothing… gives a student the right to walk about at night," she paused and looked at all four of us before speaking. "Therefore, as punishment for your actions, 50 points will be taken."

"50!" Harry yelled as his eyebrows furrowed tightly.

"each," said McGonagall as if adding to the punishment for the outburst.

"And to ensure that it doesn't happen again… all four of you will receive detention." She said adamantly. I could see Malfoy perk up when he heard that.

"Excuse me professor, perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said the FOUR of us," he said accentuating the "Four" as he stepped forward. His smug look was nowhere to be seen.

"No, you heard me correctly Mr Malfoy. You see, as honourable as your actions might have been, you yourself were still out of bed after hours, therefore the punishment is equally as applicable to you as it is to them," she said emotionlessly.

I could see Ron and Harry smirking from the corner of my eye as Draco grimaced at her words. I simply watched this like a spectator, I could care less about points, nor did I care whether they lost or gain them.

"That will be all, you will go to your rooms and STAY there from now on. If I hear any of you being caught out of bed again, you will be dealing with a much more severe consequence," she said sternly before waving us out.

We walked out of the classroom and closed the door and immediately after, Ron began to tease Malfoy.

"Didn't think your plan would backfire this hard did you Malfoy?" said Ron with a smirk.

"You dirty little blood-trai-" he paused and looked at me which made me smile. His face paled slightly.

"Hmph! Whatever, I don't feel like getting any more detention tonight," he said attempting to act arrogant and unfazed as he walked away towards the Slytherin common room.

Ron smiled and looked at Harry before directing his gaze at me.

"Do you have anything to say Weasley?" I asked while looking at him in the eye.

"Nothing, but now that Draco has seen the Dragon, we need to inform my brother Charlie so he can take it before he can say anything," he said while looking at both of us.

"Correct, your bother would be the best solution, talk to Hagrid about it during daylight hours tomorrow and get it all fixed. As much as I hate seeing your faces, Hagrid shouldn't suffer because of your oversight," I said before walking towards the Gryffindor common room.

I paused when I saw that they weren't following, "come on, what? Are you two looking to lose more points tonight?" I asked with annoyance. Harry and Ron snapped out of it and followed closely behind me as we made our way back.

I immediately went off to bed and slept through the night soundly upon return. Hermione was angered when she heard about it during transfiguration class since McGonagall was telling us when the detention would be. It was going to be held tomorrow night, which was fine by me, but until then I had to suffer Hermione's incessant complaints. She finally calmed down after getting tired and went back to normal.

I saw Harry and Ron go to Hagrid's hut after class and assumed that they followed my advice. They should be picking up the baby dragon some time in the next day. And that's what happened, tonight I saw Harry and Ron put on the cloak of invisibility and head out of the common room. I didn't bother to stop them since it was none of my business.

It seemed to be successful as I was woken up two hours later by Ron and Harry who were getting back to bed. I was surprised that they managed to do so undetected but good for them. Hagrid wasn't thrown into the middle and everything was going according to plan.

The night soon passed, and I was awoken by the rays of sunlight passing through the slightly parted curtains. I went down to the common room and walked to the great hall with Hermione where we sat down for breakfast.

"Why did you do it?" She asked spontaneously as she turned her head towards me.

"Do what?" I asked as I buttered my bread.

"go with them, why?" she asked curiously. I looked at her before casting the Muffliato spell silently.

"Because it's all part of a little plan I'm concocting," I said with a shrug.

"Can you tell me about it?" she asked.

"Hmm… sure I can tell you some things. It's about the stone, my plan is to stop the person who's attempting to steal it from succeeding. I strongly believe it's Quirrell and therefore I'm taking measures against it. As for what this has to do with why I went with them, it's because it's connected. I can't tell you more because I simply don't have conclusive evidence, you will hear about it at the end of the year anyway," I said with a smile.

Most of what I said was true, but I can't tell her it's to make sure that idiot Harry doesn't go killing himself. This is the real world, not some book. Sure, the plot was seemingly the same, but I can't take chances when I don't know to what extent my presence has altered future events.

Apart from that, Dumbledore was going to spread the "secret" to the rest of the school anyway. I will need to make sure to be excluded from the rumours so that I'm not chucked into the spotlight. Hermione nodded slightly at my response.

"Don't worry, there will be a part later on where I'll need you to accompany me," I said truthfully. After all, having Hermione help Harry will allow us to guarantee entry to the forbidden section for both of us in the event that Dumbledore becomes stingy and only lets me in because only I "Contributed" to Harry's and Voldemort's fight.

Hermione nodded happily and continued to eat. It seemed that she was happy to be able to help. Well, if it meant she wouldn't kill me next year for not being able to access the forbidden section then I'm all for her inclusion.