The exams had come up at the end of year. It was a breeze for Darius though. Not only did he ace both the theoretical and practical exams, he even helped the twins and Lee. He gave them quite a few runestones enchanted with the 'fortis memoriae' spell, a few weeks before the exam. He told them how to use it and it was easy enough. For those capable of wand less magic, it merely required a smidgen of magic to activate it and for others, they needed to just touch the runestone with the tip of their wands. They were astounded when they realised the effects and were sure they would sell like hot cakes when they got their shop started. Finally, the exams were over and the students were ready to laze around for an entire week before the results were announced. It was time to go for the philosopher's stone. Darius had to plan all his actions carefully. It was a huge advantage to know all the traps and enchantments beforehand. He listed them out in his mind – Hagrid's Cerberus Fluffy, Professor Sprout's Devil's snare, Professor Flitwick's keys, Professor McGonagall's giant chess board, Quirrell's troll, Snape's logic puzzle and finally Dumbledore's enchanted mirror. He already had plans for passing the traps. He also had his runestones as an extra safety measure. Finally, it was the day of reckoning and he left the common room late at night. He was disillusioned of course, and he headed steadily to the third-floor corridor which had Fluffy inside. He unlocked the door with 'alohomora' and quickly stepped in. Fluffy was sniffing in his direction and started growling as soon as it saw him. Darius was prepared though. He had a runestone with a recorded practice session of the school chorus and he activated it. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased - it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep. He pushed the huge paw off the trapdoor and jumped straight down after opening the door. He immediately noticed the devil's snare creeping towards him and used 'incendio' to send the vines skittering backwards. He maintained a ring of fire around him as he walked ahead out of the area of the vines and into a stone passageway. He switched to 'lumos' and gradually drew nearer to another light in the distance. It was a huge chamber filled with the winged keys flying around and broomsticks hovering near the wall. He tried summoning the key first with the 'accio' spell but it didn't work. It had obviously been warded against being summoned. He had no choice, he would have to fly and find the key himself. It would be difficult, more so as he didn't have Harry's advantage of searching for a key with deformed wings. He spent nearly 20 mins before finding the large silver key with bright blue wings which matched the door handle. He caught it without much trouble and unlocked the door. He released it after fixing it using 'reparo' and headed forward to the next chamber which flooded with light when he entered. It was the giant chessboard transfigured by Professor McGonagall. He was not the best player of chess around but should be good enough to beat a magically transfigured side. He took the position of the king, it would be the safest. He got the white side and started the game. He directed the pieces around the board and as time passed more pieces were being destroyed. He wasn't as skilled in the game as Ron but had enough mental acuity to think several moves ahead and finally came out ahead. He managed the win by sacrificing several of his own pieces before finally checkmating the king. The pieces gave way and he saw the door at the other end of the hall. He saw the pieces reforming themselves and taking their places on the board as he left. He entered the next door and the stench nearly knocked him unconscious right there. He used the bubble-headed charm and went ahead to meet the troll. He took it out with no trouble whatsoever using exactly the same method as last time. First, send it tumbling by making the floor absolutely smooth with 'glisseo' and then use its own club to smack it unconscious with the levitating charm 'wingardium leviosa'. He was sure that the troll would recover in no time due to their tenacious vitality and have no traces left of its defeat. He was careful to leave no traces of his visit in each of the tests. It would not be pleasant if Voldemort realised that someone had stolen the stone beforehand. The next test was Snape's logic test and he read the riddle and solved it in almost no time. It wasn't particularly difficult and he got through easily, though most wizards might have gotten stuck at this stage. He headed through the flames and finally reached the final chamber. The Mirror of Erised stood there, right in the centre of the room. He walked down the steps and stood right in front of the mirror. He was curious as to what he would see in the mirror. He was not surprised by what he saw. He was standing with his mother, looking exactly as he did now. A handsome man, whom he recognised from the photographs of him in the house to be his father was walking towards them. Darius himself was casting various magics and a shadowy figure of a girl made its way towards him. He could even see the twins and Lee Jordan in the distance. He was expecting something like this. He was satisfied with living a life with his family. His mother had always been on his side, even when she found out all his secret magical practice. He wished his father was back, not that he particularly had any such desire but for his mother's sake. He had been lost during an expedition in the Mayan ruins and someday in the future he would go to them as well. And magic had been his passion even in his previous life, let alone now, when he was capable of actually performing it. He was curious about the girl. Was it Ginny? Or someone else? And the twins and Lee had become his closest friends and he really liked them. But all that aside, how would he get the stone when he didn't particularly desire it. Harry himself saw his family in the mirror in normal situations and it was only under the pressure in that situation of facing Voldemort and the desire to keep the stone from him, that he got the stone. Luckily, he had come prepared for this situation. His solution was only possible for those who had the same understanding of the intricacies of runes as him. He would place a memory charm to modify his memories, the same kind that Hermione used on her parents to keep them safe. He would face the mirror and implant fake memories of him being in the same situation as Harry and get the stone that way. He would also activate a runestone beforehand which would release the anti-jinx spell 'finite incantatem' after a duration of one minute. He had made the runestone with every bit of focus he possessed and it was extremely safe. Though it seemed like an easy work-around, it was only possible because he already knew the conditions to get the stone. It was time to put the theory into practice. He activated the stone and used the memory spell on himself and suddenly his vision seemed to fade out. . . . . Quirrell was right behind him, forcing him to look at the mirror to get the stone. He was going to hand it to Lord Voldemort. He saw his own reflection, pale and scared looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the stone back in its pocket – and as it did so, Darius felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow – incredibly – he'd gotten the stone. Now he just had to keep that a secret from Quirrell. He was thinking fast, trying to come up with an excuse as to what he saw in the mirror, when he realised it. It was too silent. There didn't seem to be anyone around. He whirled around and saw that Quirrell wasn't there. Then, what about the memory of Quirrell forcing him in front of the mirror on the orders of that creepy voice which could only be Lord Voldemort. And then, his eyes seemed to be losing focus.... was this all some sort of trap...was Quirrell nearby...... . . . . And he had his memories back! It was so creepy to have a memory from a different point of view. But he chuckled after patting his pocket. The stone was there, he had successfully managed to get it despite all the safeguards. Now he had to get out of here quickly. It had already been a couple of hours since his nightly escapade started and he had to hide the stone properly. Luckily, he had gotten the spatial rune working just a month ago and prepared a couple of them. He kept the stone in one of them and slid it into his pocket. Now, even if there was some sort of locator spell or tracker on it, it wouldn't be found out. The bag made anything inside it unplottable. He used a simple sticking charm to put the second runestone on the very top of the mirror. That particular rune held an enchanted stone very similar in appearance and colour to the actual Philosopher's stone. But it would explode into minute fragments as soon as it was held in anyone's hands longer than a few seconds. He didn't even hope to fool Lord Voldemort with his clumsy hiding method. Voldemort would likely be able to find it and crack open the rune in a short time. Darius was only delaying him for Harry to catch up and for events to happen as per canon. They would fight and Harry should come out on top, with Dumbledore catching up soon after. They would find the completely shattered stone and likely presume it to be the work of Voldemort. He left the room and headed out quickly. He passed the rooms quickly and finally reached Fluffy again. He had to get it to sleep again, with another rendition of the school chorus, before he was finally able to leave. He quickly headed back to the Gryffindor dorms, but not before applying the disillusionment charm again. He couldn't afford to make any slip-ups now, not when he was so close to pulling the heist off. He even confunded the Fat lady after giving her the password to get inside the common room. He didn't put it beyond Dumbledore to question the portraits in the castle for any suspicious activity they may have noticed. They all owed their loyalty to the headmaster after all. The confundus charm along with the disillusion charm should be enough to fool her into thinking she was mistaken and nobody had been around. He lay in his bed and prepared himself for sleeping. It was free time for the next week, while waiting for the results and he was going to lie in late. He didn't generally sleep but he felt as if he deserved it after just pulling off the heist of the decade!