Hello, all.
This is just a short teaser for an idea I had. If you'd like it continued, please review.
This is written for the Never Before Seen Pairings Challenge – I am very surprised to see I am the first writer in the Quirrellmort(for I christen it thus) fandom.
It was also written because I have, thanks to Poseida Lunar, just watched A Very Potter Musical on youtube, and it opened my eyes to the many possibilities of Quirrell/Voldemort. You may want to check out the musical (Under StarKidPotter or 'A Very Potter Musical' – I tip it as the next Potter Puppet Pals: it's hilarious!) though keep in mind that this story will not be very similar in terms of plot, i.e. this story will actually have a plot. :P
Let the show begin!
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Why in the name of Merlin is the Slytherin power the ability to understand and talk to snakes? Lord Voldemort thought grumpily. They're boring as hell, and stupid, too. Lord Voldemort was currently inhabiting a snake – a long nosed viper – in Albania. The snake's thoughts ran as follows:
"Food food food I want a mouse a mouse or maybe a rat a rat would be nice rat rat rat rat oh maybe even a bird if I can get one oh a bird bird bird but they fly in the air in the air in the. . ."
Never had Voldemort's patience been tested to such extremes. Normally, if someone irritated him he would just kill them, but that would be unwise in this case, considering he was relying upon the life energy of this snake to survive. For once, though, Voldemort wished he was not the heir of Slytherin, so that he wouldn't be able to comprehend the thoughts of this mindless reptile. At least snakes were easy to control.
He had been residing in various snakes for years now, since that Potter boy defeated him, and he was tired of it. Hadn't he told his followers to meet him in Albania if anything went wrong? Did they not have faith in him? Did they think he had been bested by a two-year old?
Suddenly something caught his eye. Ordering the snake in Parseltongue, he made it move so that he could have a better view of the forest from the rocky slope on which the snake was sunning itself. Yes, he had been right. A man was entering the forest, the first man he had seen in years. A men in wizarding robes, no less! Excited, he slid forwards, eager to be free of his unintelligent companion.
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Where am I? No, wait, who am I? Quirrell thought, staring up at the leaf canopy above him. Pine needles scraped his back, as the memories came flooding to him.
His name was Professor Quirinus Quirrell, and he was on a sabbatical from Hogwarts – and was at the moment in the Black Forest of Albania – to gain some experience before transferring from Muggle Studies teacher to teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts the following year. His father was a Muggle, Christopher, and his mother, Miranda, was a witch. He was twenty years of age – he had been thirteen when You-Know-Who was defeated. In fact, the year after next he was due to be teaching the Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter.
Satisfied that he remembered who he was, where he was, and what he was doing, he sat up and dusted himself off. He felt fine. What could have happened? All he remembered was minding his own business, looking out for vampires, and then . . . nothing.
Gripped by a sudden fear, Quirinus raised a hand – now trembling – to his neck. Nothing. He heaved a sigh of relief, and bent down to pick up his notebook and continue on his way, putting his blackout down to the heat. It was uncommonly hot this summer.
It was only later that Professor Quirrell began to hear the voice speaking inside his head.
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It was one year exactly since the blackout in the Black Forest. Quirinus was packing his trunk in anticipation of taking a portkey to Hogwarts that evening. Term began in two weeks.
He finally stuffed the last of his large collection of books in – The Bawl of the Banshee, by Alexandra Aranford – and, sitting on the lid, shut the case with a large click which echoed in his small room. In fact, his entire flat was small, but with a Quidditch Groundskeeper for a mother and a gardener for a father, how much more could he expect to afford in London? Hogwarts did not pay handsomely – not many wizarding professions did.
"And I suppose you're dissatisfied, halfblood, with your cushy Defence Against the Dark Arts Post and your year long sabbatical?"
Quirrell leaped off the trunk, which in turn fell off his bed onto the floor with a clatter. He ran a hand through his short brown hair as he looked around nervously. The thud of the trunk on the floor resounded in his head. He could hear nothing but his heartbeat and his ragged breathing. But that didn't mean anything. Someone was there, in his room. A Legilimens, by the look of things. A Disillusionment charm, perhaps?
He snatched his wand from the bedside table.
"W-who's there?" he stuttered, cursing himself for appearing weak. He was a Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake! He was going to be teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts in a fortnight and if he was going to be a wimp he may as well hand in his notice! His grip on the wand tightened after such a self-reprimand, and he stood taller, consciously lifting his chin.
"I demand that you identify yourself!" he ordered. Hopefully, he thought, I can hear their reply and judge where they are.
"And if I don't want to identify myself...?" the voice hissed.
Quirrell suppressed a shudder at the low and taunting voice, and tried to work out where the voice was coming from. It seemed to be from right behind him, sneering into his ear. He hadn't heard or felt any movement or breathing, but nevertheless he whirled around and slashed his wand at the air to his back.
"Good show," the voice murmured sarcastically. "I can see that once again Dumbledore has made an extremely foolish decision regarding staff."
Quirrell had had enough. Yes, he'd been set upon by vampires, and he had beaten them. He had banished banshees and hounded hags. Magical creatures and practitioners of dark magic often found it amusing to target the latest Hogwarts professors. As a result, he had found that he was really quite good at defending himself against the dark arts. But what sort of dark art was this? Someone creeping into his room and insulting him hardly seemed dangerous.
"Hominem Revelio!" he cried.
Nothing happened. Perhaps this beast – for that was what he concluded it must be – simply got its kicks out of taunting its victims before killing them. Quickly, he ran through the short list of things he knew about his foe. It wasn't a human, and it could read his mind, and it was invisible.
"Two out of three isn't bad, I suppose."
"Pardon?"
"So you're deaf too? Tut tut, Quirrell, I really thought you'd do better than this."
"What are you?"
"Ah, going for the Gryffindor route of simply asking once you first hit a brick wall in your investigations."
"Well, you're quite plainly invisible, you can obviously read my mind, and yet the charm I cast doesn't indicate any other human in here but me! I'm never going to work it out if I have two pieces of conflicting evidence," Quirrell said, feeling like a fool. Although he had turned out to be rather good at practical work in the field, it was certainly true that Quirinus Quirrell preferred reading books about how to tackle monsters than actually coming up against one. He wasn't sure you were supposed to argue with one, for a start. The vampires he'd met hadn't taken negotiation too well.
"Full of Gryffindor arrogance, too. I'll soon knock that out of you. My name is Lord Voldemort, and I am inside your head."
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So? Yes, no, maybe?
If you'd like the show to go on, please review! There'll be a great deal of dialogue/thoughtlogue (I am aware this is not a real word) to come.
If you think I'm mad, please review!
Even if you wish to flame me until I am a blackened crisp, please review!
I'll reply to them all. ;)
Signing off,
Erised.
PS- (To Ariket readers – I'm sorry, I'm sorry! The movie's coming out soon, I'm rereading all the books and rewatching all the movies, we're all planning a massive party. I've watched A Very Potter Musical about 6 million times. I've been visiting universities. In short, I've been busy. But I'm up over halfway through chapter 7, and so it should be posted before the 20th July.)