Author's Note - According to the MPAA, you can drop one F-bomb and not be rated R.

A battle raged near the entrance between Hogwarts and Peverell. Four indistinguishable people shrouded in Armageddon Robes were firing spells and erecting wards against Aurors attacking from the Hallway. Selwyn fought beside them, still disguised as a student. He hadn't had time to put on his robe, but since the Fiendfyre had melted the Thief's downfall the Aurors still wouldn't be able to ID him.

He'd followed his cursed Phoenix through the door, guided by the floor plans into the closet. The others had followed quickly, stating that they were under attack. Somehow they'd been discovered. After dealing with nearby Aurors, Selwyn arranged the defenses to protect their rear. The others, those coming in from the outside, could get the stone. Spells flew underneath the dripping remains of the Thief's Downfall, but so far the enemy remained unseen. They'd been defending for a few minutes, when Draco Malfoy slid in beside Selwyn, coming to an abrupt stop after dashing across the open room. As he crashed into the hastily constructed barricade, he bumped into Selwyn who promptly aimed at him, but the boy spoke up first.

"Immortality," Draco hissed the password. "You fucked up, Karkaroff!" Draco Malfoy threw down his cane against the barricade (another upturned bed) where it hit and rolled around, clattered noisily. Draco ignored it and started rifling through Wilhelmina's pockets. She'd gone down in the first minute, killed when Aurors hit her with multiple Ventus spells from different directions, snapping her neck.

That was before they'd secured the room.

The boy showed no squeamishness, taking her supplies as his own. He snatched the wand from her dead hands. Draco pulled back the hood and glanced at her face while still searching. "I'm lucky to be alive. I didn't have time to get my wand. This was supposed to be stealthy.."

"I am not Karkaroff," Selwyn corrected, but Draco's scowl acted like a shrugging whatever and Selwyn dimly recalled that he and Karkaroff Polyjuiced as twins, "Teachers and Aurors outside, they discovered us somehow. Unlucky. Must admit, I am impressed. Much better than Lockhart. Plan still on. Other group fights past remaining Aurors."

"Where is Lockhart?" the boy growled and ducked back down for a second, rage showing on his face. He glanced around the barricade, and poked his head over it, looking around for several long seconds. Draco nodded abstractly to himself and grabbed his cane, tapping it to Selwyn's shoulder then pointing it towards the right-most of a pair of doors behind him. The other door led to the Fountain, and somewhere, the stone. A battle raged in that room. "Once I get in position, open that for me. Hold them off as long as you can, join up in recovery."

Selwyn shot another spell and scowled in annoyance. "Stone is through other door."

"Along with most of the other Aurors, who I can't fight. They are your problem. Escaping is everyone's problem."

Selwyn nodded. "Ten minutes, can last."

"If you are late I'm diving out a hole in the wall. This isn't over, Cover me." Draco Malfoy said as he dashed away, keeping low to the ground.

Selwyn smiled and launched a cloud of noxious gas into the hallway that would poison and blind anyone there. He turned to the skull faced figure beside him and spoke in fluent German. "I am pleased I didn't murder him, earlier," then lobbed of another spell towards the door. He directed the Fiendfyre to burn through the door.

Sharon Wallace sat in the floor, crouched low, huddling back and forth. The door towards receiving started glowing, and she let out a sobbing cry. Where were the Aurors? She was just a nurse. A dark fire poked into the room, cruel wisps reaching towards her and she closed her eyes, but suddenly the heat disappeared. A small face appeared in the hole, eyes darting around the room and she panicked for a second, and wished that she had a wand, but only Aurors and people who'd taken an Unbreakable Oath were allowed wands in Peverell, and she hadn't been willing to commit to that. She was just a nurse. The eyes locked in with hers for a second and then a small blond boy crawled into the room with her.

"Nurse Wallace," the boy said after blinking once, then moved quickly towards the other side of the room towards the door into the fountain area and poked his head over the window. She recognized him, he'd done some loyalty testing for the Aurors. Tried to bribe her, then been admitted for a nasty Triffid bite, although she hadn't been working that day. Draco Malfoy. She remembered.

"We can't get in through there, one way door. If we could go in there I'd have done it, the Aurors are holed up in there with the Chalice."

He didn't seem to be paying attention to her, and just mumbled to himself.

"I don't suppose you have a wand."

Without looking taking his eyes away from the window, the boy tossed a wand in her general direction.

"I wouldn't try to fight anyone. No offense, but we're outclassed," he said. "Wait for an opening, dive out the window and cast Wingardium Leviosa. Don't cast inside, you'll attract attention."

"Wait," he said. "You didn't have a wand?" She shook her head. "You haven't taken the Vow?" She shook her head again. He quickly crouched down beside her and fished a package out of his pocket and started speaking rapidly.

"Do not touch this. Do not. Not until I tell you." He was quickly opening the package, which had two small cardboard boxes, one green and one red. He stuffed the green package back into his pocket, and grabbed a towel off the shelf, "You know I was helping with Security, right Nurse Wallace? Remember, I tried to bribe you. Chocolate Frogs?"

"I remember," she said.

"OK, so don't freak out, and when I tell you, touch this once. Just once! It's safe." He flipped the lid off the red box and slapped it down onto the ground, then lifted it up, and she gasped.

Sitting on the ground was a blood red stone. She looked at it and he nodded. She reached out and touched it, and instantly a second stone appeared next to the first. Draco carefully wrapped the original in a towel and handed her the towel.

"If anyone chases you shake this out of the towel, don't touch it! Just drop it and run. Make sure they see you dropping it. Actually, wait. Touch it once more." She did, and again it duplicated. The boy snatched up both stones, and shoved them into his pocket. For some reason they didn't do anything when he touched them, she thought.

He crawled to the hole he'd come in and poked his head out, but no shots came. He turned back. "Follow me, I'm crawling right, you duck left, out through the wall. Keep your head down."

Clutching her wand in her right hand, with a stone wrapped in a towel underneath her left arm, Susan Wallace watched the boy disappear through the hole. She took a deep breath and started to crawl.

"Another part of Draco's preparation ... he'd made a decoy Philosopher's Stone. I've been pestering the goblins about this; they are stonewalling me."

"It duplicated itself?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I asked about that. Apparently the Malfoy vault has had security like that for years. Anyone unauthorized who touches anything will create a phantasm copy. In close quarters this can actually smother would-be burglars. It's called the Midas Trap. Draco's plan has levels and levels, but you can see the repeated theme - duplication and deception. It's standard among muggle magical entertainers. You show one person disappear and reappear on the other side of the room, but it's actually two people, a pair of twins. Talking with the Weasleys, Draco had looked into how to defeat security using them, and they thought about it, too. Obviously you'd have to work with things people never expect to be duplicated."

"Two Dracos, Two Canes, Two Stones," murmured the Headmistress."Very clever."

"Three stones," Harry corrected. "Remember, the nurse saw two fakes, originally, before duplication. Only one had the Midas trap."

"And the other one?" asked Hermione.

"He needed one that wouldn't be an obvious fake when touched, for any version of the plan. It didn't have to hold up to close inspection, just not do anything obviously wrong when touched."

"But why give one to the nurse?"

"Well, it's not like it cost him anything. Nurse Wallace did in fact escape, but if she'd been chased it might have helped her survive. And a bit more chaos probably didn't hurt his chances. When he ducked out he probably waved to Selwyn to let her go, or just made sure the coast was clear. I don't think it really matters. As far as Draco was concerned, she's just an innocent bystander. Getting back to it...by this point Aurors were counterattacking and thanks to the Headmistress's clever planning, the attack from the Hogwarts side was going well."

Headmistress McGonagall had just jumped back one hour, and she paused to take stock. She had a dread feeling she wouldn't be able to prevent or fake the student's death, Albus had warned her about that, and she'd asked Harry Potter to explain this last summer, after the full weight of her responsibility had hit. She was afraid - not of inaction or hesitation - but of blundering in and locking in the Death she'd felt. Or even making things worse. Minerva McGonagall felt resolved, but anybody who intuitively understood Time Turners had to be kept safely locked away in Saint Mungos until they forget. The only possibly sane expert was Harry Potter. He claimed nobody really understood Time Travel, but he got closer than most.

Harry had what he called 'a useful set of Heuristics for manipulating paradoxes to your advantage.'

She knew the rules, but he could think through the implications faster, and improvise. And Minerva still felt flustered by the terrible voice of Hogwarts, echoing in her head like dread bells. Harry had warned her about that. That's why Heuristic #1 was - "Jump back in time quickly, but then be as cautious as possible. Take a moment to relax and think." Headmistress McGonagall took three deep breaths, but she didn't have to make her first decision, she'd already decided on her primary strategy long time ago.

Because If anyone could bluff time itself, could stare it down, make it shrug and fold a winning hand, it would be Harry Potter. The Headmistress pulled out a mirror to call him, but he didn't answer. She sent her Patronus to find him then said, loudly, "Winky," and a small house-elf appeared with a bow.

"Wake and assemble the professors and have them assemble in the Great Hall, I need to address them. And have Harry Potter contact me immediately, no delays." Winky disappeared with a bow. Minerva hesitated for a second and then picked up a mirror. "This is Headmistress McGonagall. This may be nothing, but please deliver a message to Mr. Thicknesse that something terrible will happen at Hogwarts in exactly ... fifty six minutes, and they should mobilize. No! Don't come before then...I'll send more details, when I can."

Ged and his trio had abandoned their position guarding the Stone after it became unbearably hot. But they'd had a bit of time and followed protocol, they'd thrown fingers and he'd "won," so he grabbed the stone and pocketed it. It would have survived the Fiendfyre, but then whoever got there first would have simply grab it. They didn't have to stay and guard the stone, not at the risk to their life. But their Vow forced reasonable efforts to secure the stone. When possible. Right now they were in a defensible position. If they could just make it past those bastards in Armageddon robes they'd scatter out of Hogwarts and regroup. Spells whizzed overhead. Spells and ... something else.

Ged had seen the figures ... assassins, more like it ... crouching, crawling and maneuvering towards them, trying to get an angle. One had been running a second ago but something had knocked him down. A second later there was a loud noise - followed by ringing silence that echoed and echoed in his ears. Ged, Xanthippe and Aleister rocked unsteadily from the sheer pressure wave of the spell. Suddenly Xanthippe lunged, grabbing at something on the ground and then there was another blood red stone and Aleister lunged and grabbed it. Ged's hand had gone to his secure pocket (you dare not put the Philosopher's stone inside a magical pouch, because of what might happen).

Ged knew he had the real stone.

But ... maybe it had fallen out. Maybe? Doubt nibbled at Ged's mind, but he didn't feel compelled to grab the stone. His Unbreakable Vow never compelled him to do anything dangerous, but his own doubt ...

Ged grabbed the stone on the ground while keeping his eyes peeled for assassins. As his right hand closed around the stone and he held it, another appeared. He dropped the first stone and grasped at the second and the thought Midas Curse! cross his mind. His left hand felt the lump in his vest where he'd stashed the real stone and he knew the others were fake. Ged tried to shout something to Aleister, and he felt his screaming voice, but couldn't even hear himself over the ringing in his ears before something struck him from behind and he was unconscious.

Hermione heard the fumbling in the hallway and tried to shout, but again nothing happened. Only Xare responded with her own plaintive wail. So Hermione waited and fumed, another few minutes of waiting after the hours she'd already endured. At least I don't seem to get sore, resting in the same position, Hermione thought. Eventually she saw Pomona Sprout leaning over her.

Ennervate.

Hermione bounced up in a smooth motion. "We have to go, Draco's been Imperiused! They're inside Hogwarts, PolyJuiced!"

"Breathe, dear. Breathe."

"We have to rush."

"We already have, dear. That's what Time Turners are for." Professor Sprout pulled out her mirror and called Minerva. "Headmistress, I've found Miss Granger. She'd been petrified. No sign of Potter, though..."

Hermione Granger summoned up all of her willpower snatched the mirror from her Sprout's hand, while knocking her wand well down the hallway. "Headmistress! They've Imperiused Draco! They burned Harry's office, I tried to stop them but..."

"Thank you, Hermione. Please stay with Professor Sprout. Do you have your cloak or Time Turner?"

"No, they took everything," Hermione said, "but we can..." The mirror went black. Hermione looked at it for a second, then started running, impossibly fast, as Professor Sprout shouted at her to stop. Hermione didn't even slow down as she snatched up Professor Sprout's wand.

Minerva McGonagall straightened her hat and rubbed her eyes. Still no sign of Mr. Potter. She'd handled coordination, looping back to the same hour over and over again, trying to use the final moments to narrow down what had happened, and where, while being careful to avoid witnessing the event and locking something critical. She'd sent Lockhart, Slughorn, Flitwick and Sprout back the full five hours to investigate. (Because she herself had gone back an hour, they were limited to five hours. She'd told them to use their discretion as to what to investigate and when to re-loop). After she'd made her sixth and final jump back an hour, the others had reported in. She'd heard about the damage, the signs of Fiendfyre. Several students had been seen in multiple places at the same time. Miss Granger was missing, as was her Phoenix.

Hogwarts was infiltrated, perhaps as many as a dozen wizards. Her office had been burned. Harry's too.

Nobody seemed able to find Harry Potter. And, as near as everyone could tell, the infiltration had happened at least a few hours before the student died. She could hear the third of Harry's Heuristics. Anyone clever will make sure that going back six hours won't be enough. This was not an idle threat. This was a clever attack. Like last year.

At least Pomona had finally located Hermione, but they'd taken her Cloak. And, ominously, her Time Turner.

Harry had explained the key to successfully navigating time loops was secrecy. That's when he'd disclosed that Hermione owned the True Cloak of Invisibility - a gift from Albus Dumbledore, he'd explained - should the Headmistress ever need it.

You could use a regular cloak of invisibility, as Minerva had for the past (repeated) hour. But with the True Cloak she could have risked more, watched the future unfold and then gone back with the information. If it had only been one student's life, she would have.

The Headmistress didn't see a way to prevent the future, which left Heuristic #5 - In the worst case, have the cavalry arrive at the exact moment of crisis. It's not ideal, but it's better than nothing.

She picked up her mirror.

"Mr. Thicknesse. I have information from twenty two minutes in the future. At precisely that time, send all available Aurors into Hogwarts. I'll lower the wards then and provide details... I don't know...I'm afraid all I can say is that it will be bad."

Minerva would cry later. For now, she had twenty one minutes to prepare. She spoke in a loud confident voice, to the empty room.

"In twenty one minutes, only a single student will die."