A/N: I apologize for the severe lack of updates to this story. I was otherwise unwell and lost any creative drive that I had. Then COVID hit and some other life stuff happened and I've only recently started regaining the energy to continue writing again. Also, I think I've said this before but I will finish this story someday. And I'll try to keep it going at a more consistent pace. Maybe a chapter every other week or a chapter a month.
Reveal of the First
As Harry left the field boundary, the world, just as it did before, shifted, and in the next instant, twisted from the grassy fields back into the large, dark, and twisted woods of the Forbidden Forest. Allison was standing several meters away, on high alert with her wand held in front of her.
As soon as Harry came back into view for her, she lost her strength and collapsed to the ground with a shaky breath. "Harry, where did you go?!" Allison shouted, she stopped crying and got up, wiping her tears on her sleeve. Harry closed the distance and she made to hit him but he just stepped to the side to avoid the hit and flashed a momentary upward curl of his lips which disappeared just as quickly.
"Sorry for worrying you, I'll explain everything later. But first, we have to get out of here."
A moment later, just moments before Hagrid and the others would burst into view, a ripple of magic shook their immediate vicinity and Allison fell like a puppet's strings being cut. The same was felt towards the others and the next thing Harry knew, they were all lying in varying spots around the edge of the forest, near Hagrid's hut.
The next moment after that, Allison immediately jumped to her feet pointing her wand in random directions, her eyes wary of their surroundings. Hermione and Ron got up groggily as if they had just been roughly awakened from sleep. Hagrid was already awake but he looked confused. Fang immediately woke up and barked up a storm.
They all spoke at the same moment
"What happened?"
"Why are we here?"
"Why are we here?"
"Did ya find anythin'?"
"WOOF!"
Harry looked at them oddly and the next moment, a cascade of 'ideas' flooded his mind.
His eyes widened with understanding and kept his mouth shut. He took Elwynn's warning seriously and would wait until he could share his gained knowledge with the others.
Once they all calmed down, Allison spoke up. "The last thing I remember was Harry driving pr-" She paused, glanced at Hagrid for a moment, then continued speaking more carefully, "-a monster away from the the unicorn! It's injured! We should go h-"
Harry placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head. The lie spilled easily from his lips, "It's already gone, by the time I got to it, it was too far gone, I'm sorry, the next thing I knew, we were here."
"That poor creature," Allison whispered.
Deciding that nothing else could be done, they all headed back, Hagrid wished them a good night and retreated into his hut.
"At least this night wasn't a complete waste," Harry said quietly, "We did drive away Professor Quirrell, hopefully this will make him panic and try to go for the Stone without any more hesitation."
"Won't that make him more dangerous than before?" Ron queried.
Hermione agreed and added, "We might not be able to do anything now if he is on high alert from tonight, you said it was Professor Quirrell and it makes sense, but if he was attacking unicorns, who knows what else he might do?"
"He won't attack students, not while Dumbledore is here anyway, that would draw too much attention to him," Allison replied solemnly, "But if he thinks he's cut off from unicorns now, he is likely to make a mad dash for the Stone as Harry just said…"
Ron coughed and spoke loudly. "Well! There's nothing to it then! Let's face what comes!" Gesturing to the sky with a fist while the other was planted on his hip. That broke the mood and they all laughed and kept walking back to the castle. It was quite dark at this point but they were in better spirits compared to earlier. They had just entered through the doors inside when they were met with the scowling face of one Professor Snape.
They were not afraid but they dreaded the punishment they would face and that expression showed on their faces. Harry had dropped his guard and that was why he hadn't noticed Snape or anyone else's presence. He cursed himself internally.
"So…" The professor drawled, his eyes fixed on Harry for a brief moment. His eyes had moved on to the others in the next moment but Harry felt deeply unsettled from that look. "For being out past curfew, and for the obvious trip through the Forbidden Forest, there will be a one hundred and fifty point deduction from each of you as well as detention which will be determined by your heads of house." It was at his words that Harry realized they all looked like they did indeed trek through the Forest and that it was yet another thing that had escaped his tired mind. "You will return to your dormitories and not make more of a commotion or else I shall personally see to it that you suffer detention for the rest of your time here at Hogwarts. As for you… Potter, come with me."
Harry finally spoke up in protest "But it's not their fault! They don't deserve that! They were just trying to help me w-." He then realized that even if he had a chance, he wouldn't be able to successfully argue against Snape without realizing what they were doing. Assuming, especially, that the professor didn't have the ability to see through the mind.
"All students who break the rules must be punished, if you all try this again, it will be worse than a few months of detention," Snape replied harshly, the look Harry had felt discomforted by just moments earlier now felt cold.
The others shot him sympathetic glances and walked off quietly. It was easy to fight a theorized evil but the present danger of Snape's looming form and voice was enough to quiet their spirits. The professor heads in the direction of the Slytherin dormitory and Harry follows without a word.
'If only this weren't school, I'd have hexed him sideways by now,' Harry cursed.
"I had thought better of you, Potter," Snape said suddenly, as they arrived at the doors leading to the Slytherin dungeons. "When you were sorted into my house, I had expected you to follow in the footsteps of your dreadful, rule-breaking father, but you surprised me. And now you disappoint me by acting just as I had originally predicted."
Harry was not in the mood for slander against his dad. "I doubt you were such a gem yourself, professor," he spat, "Perhaps if you were less of a git, you wouldn't be stuck teaching Potions!"
Snape was silent for a minute before he let out a huge breath. "Be grateful that I'm not sticking you with detentions like the others Potter." He walked off without another word.
Harry watched Snape retreat from the area surprisingly quickly, cloak billowing about as it usually did with him. It then dawned on Harry that this venture was going to break the peace, and he was not looking forward to it.
…
As Harry had expected: By the early morning, there were already disgruntled mumbles from other early risers. Once the majority of the school had made its way down to the house-point hourglasses, anyone who cared had quickly put two and two together as there were few people who were not seen much the night before based on the conversations around them. The fact that Gryffindor was now dead last while Ravenclaw and Slytherin's points had similarly dropped so that Hufflepuff had a decent lead was proof that it was Allison, Harry, Hermione, and Ron involved in the drastic point changes.
"YOU!" The noise drew everyone's attention. It was, at least to Harry, an otherwise unknown student wearing Gryffindor colours. "YOU BLASTED DARK WIZARD! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"
"YEAH!" A tall bespectacled Ravenclaw student chimed in as well. "WE LET THINGS GO BECAUSE WE THOUGHT MAYBE WE WERE MISTAKEN, AND NOW YOU'VE GOT THREE OTHER STUDENTS CAUGHT UP IN YOUR SCHEMES SO THAT WE'RE ALL NOW LOSING TO HUFFLEPUFF!"
"YEAH!" A Hufflepuff student chimed in, and with the temporary spotlight focused on them, they realized what they said and then exclaimed, "HEY!" There were a few small chuckles amongst the crowd at that but Harry felt their rage nonetheless. Even the Slytherins who had probably been neutral towards Harry at that point felt furious at having to lose to the 'Puffs.'
Harry, who had been hoping to get a light breakfast that morning, just turned around to walk away. Those who stood before him parted, shooting him nasty glares. He noticed Hermione, Ron, and Allison all gathered around but none could say a word, with others noticeably holding them back while simultaneously pointedly ignoring anything they were saying.
Harry wandered the castle for a while. For once, he didn't feel the need to attend classes or do his work. He simply wandered. He sometimes caught the occasional ghost or painting gossiping or staring at him as he passed. He decided to make his way to the instruments storage room which was clearly one of the least visited places in the castle. It was clear that none of the instruments had been touched in some time. Harry wondered why Dumbledore or any of the staff even kept this room around as it took up space. Or perhaps they had simply forgotten about it as well as there were many empty rooms around the castle.
He grabbed some books and the same instrument he had used a short while ago to face Fluffy and headed out to his spot by the lake. He decided to delve into them just to get his mind off the events of the morning. Hours passed and he decided to finally start playing the thing sitting by his side like a rock. It was a screech just like he played the first time and any students that were outside looked aghast at the monstrous results. Even the once quiet lake became rough and the giant squid arose and threw a stick at him. Harry dodged it and moved to an even more remote area on the grounds and tried again. He tried all day and he wasn't sure if he sounded any better than when he started yet he smiled. "A challenge, a normal challenge."
By the time he returned to the castle, it was time for dinner. No one said a word to him but the hall had quieted considerably. Some mentioned the horrible racket he played outside while others simply were content to glare at him. The lighter mood he felt was shaken at this point. 'This is strangely lonely,' he thought, 'The first time I had Hermione and Allison, even sometimes Tracy and Daphne, but now there is no one.'
He glanced up at the table and Quirrell seemed a touch more fidgety and exhausted than usual but otherwise nothing was out of place.
…
The next day was more of the same. There was no communication from his friends who could only keep their heads down. Though there were some who screamed for Harry to receive a sentence to Azkaban or some other harsher punishment as they were convinced the three others were simply influenced to follow in his footsteps. Similar calls were made for the three to receive lesser punishment and for Harry to be kicked out of Hogwarts. He just shook his head and kept his head down as well, with the exception of keeping an eye out on Quirrell, nothing about his routine changed, except now he made a point of going to practice the violin every day before curfew .
After a couple weeks of the loneliest time at Hogwarts, he saw that Quirrell was highly agitated and beginning to look emaciated. 'He's going to go for the Stone,' Harry reasoned. 'Without access to the unicorns, he's cut off from powerful restoratives and he's probably experiencing major drawbacks… as he deserves.' A flash of angry agreement was sent to him that made him laugh out loud. A few fearful glares were sent his way at the Great Hall. His eyes steeled and he replied, 'Yeah, we'll get him.'
He finished his plate off and promptly left the Great Hall, with a brief nod toward Hermione, Ron, and Allison. They had somewhat communicated via letters over the last few weeks but they were being so physically confined by their housemates that they could never leave during their free time and even writing letters was becoming difficult. Harry felt that this was more than ridiculous but he wasn't about to wage war on the whole student body of Hogwarts.
He was heading toward the instrument storage when he saw Dumbledore flying away from Hogwarts. But it was strange, the headmaster had been sitting perfectly content at the Great Hall admiring whatever had been on his plate as he had left yet now he was seen flying away. 'What changed in the ten minutes I was gone? And how was he able to leave so fast?' He turned on his heel and dashed for the third floor corridor. There were hints of dark red streaks on the walls leading up to the door that hid Fluffy from view but now, the door was wide open.
A soothing tune was playing from the inside and Harry saw a harp, with Fluffy snoozing away. As soon as he passed the threshold of the doorway, the harp stopped playing and Fluffy quickly woke up. The cerberus towered over him with menacing glares but that was nothing compared to the school populace. The streaks of dark red were more prominent within, and especially so on Fluffy.
Harry just dived for the harp before Fluffy was fully awake and in attack mode, and plucked at the strings haphazardly until the great dog fell back asleep again. Right after it fell asleep, Harry tossed the harp off to the side as he stood at the ledge of the trap door, dropping through right after Fluffy stood up once more, growling.
Unlike before with his friends, Harry went through the motions of the traps at a breakneck pace. He cast the light charm "Lumos!" which caused the plant to retreat. He moved on and blasted the flying keys out of the sky with a wave of magic, waiting for the clamor of the falling keys to end under the safety of the entry door. He quickly found the battered silver key among the rest of the rubble and moved to the chess room. He brought his wand out and channeled his energy to the surface and held it in place. In his mind, he cast a thick shield charm while he sent his concentrated energy through his wand and cast the blasting curse "Confringo!" into the center of the room. There was a moment of delay as the spell flew forth before the chessboard shattered in an instant. The chess pieces were knocked around and over half were destroyed by the resulting large chunks of debris created by the bomb-like spell. Any of the debris that shot in his direction was stopped by his shield. The remaining chess pieces continued to function but at half the efficiency that Harry had seen compared to when the game was played as intended.
Harry laughed and ended his shield, walking passed the pieces who tried to block his passage and blasting apart the ones who got too close. He entered the troll room with some fear but he was met with the sight of the troll torn to shreds, blood dripped everywhere, the growing streaks of dark red were violently slashed throughout the remaining chunks of troll and marred the walls deeply. This scene stopped Harry in his tracks. "What t-," Harry choked on the horridly pungent odour of death and decay in the air. "What has Quirrell done to make this place smell this ghastly? Whatever he's done, I have to get out of here."
Harry rushed through the room and into the potion room where the smell was thankfully not present and took his first full breath of air in a minute. 'If Quirrell is that violent right now, I'll have to be alert and ready,' Harry thought. He gathered his magic cloud around him into the mist-like shield cloak and drank the correct potion from memory without even reading the riddle.
Stepping through the flame, Harry was greeted by the sight of a surprisingly clean room, and the form of Quirrell seemed to look better than he had all week. No streaks of dark red marred any inch of the room, that Harry could tell from a glance anyway. The mirror was intact and Quirrell was mumbling away at it. "How, how do I give it to my lord? That is all I wish…" he quieted down from his mumbling and turned around with a deranged expression hanging on his face. "POTTER!" He shouted gleefully, yet his eyes shone with fury. "THANKS TO YOU-," He choked, and a flash of red darkened the room for a moment. "-YOU RUINED OUR PLANS. I HAD TO COME UP WITH SOME RUBBISH PLAN TO GET THE STONE FROM HERE AND IT BARELY WORKED!" He coughed twice more and the room was filled with heavy malice. "My.. My master was weakened because of you, you damned bastard, he had to draw on my pathetic form to live instead!"
Harry said nothing, but he maintained his magic for when Quirrell finally attacked. To his surprise, however, a dark needle pierced his mind and he tried to force it out immediately, but in the instant that that needle was present, it had seen a small amount of what Harry tried to hide. 'So that's what they had meant…' Harry cursed. He couldn't let anyone else in and had to be on guard at all times.
Following the removal of the needle, Quirrell's turban fell off and the breaking man turned around, revealing a grotesque, chalk white face with burning red eyes and slits for a nose. The entire top and back of Quirrell's head was black and blue with red streaks throughout, some of the lines ran down the man's neck.
"You are-," Harry began to say but the face interrupted.
"Yess… I am Lord Voldemort and you," Voldemort spoke in a wheeze, "are my greatest downfall…"
"Your greatest downfall took my parents from me, so forgive me if you matter less than a bug beneath my shoes," Harry replied angrily, his wand held out, energy ready to eviscerate the monsters before him. "But let me ask you this: Why?"
Voldemort just laughed the same high cold laugh that Harry remembered from his memory of that night. "Use him!" He called. Quirrell snapped his fingers and ropes sprang forth, twisting like snakes. Harry flicked his wand, sending white-hot flames towards those ropes that burned them away quickly, leaving nothing more than ashes falling in the air. Voldemort's eyes widen slightly and as if he were speaking, his mouth moved with Quirrell turning around moments later.
"I always knew you felt very different from the others, my master had always said you gave off a familiar vibe, not unlike Dumbledore. Seems he was right," Quirrell said calmly. The man's wand hand twitched and an instant later, spells flew forth like a wave.
Harry wasn't surprised but he had one question. "Why would you serve a monster that is killing you?!" Harry called back as he kept stepping back so that Quirrell wouldn't be able to touch him. The spells being sent forth passed into his mist shield and dissipated.
"BECAUSE I WAS SHOWN ANOTHER WAY!" Quirrell shrieked. An array of massive dark balls shot from Quirrell's wand. The room was also permanently darkened and cracked all over, with dark red light streaking through the cracks. Somehow, the mirror was untouched.
"That other way sounds sad for a person who had to kill a child's parents!" Harry shouted back. Just before the massive dark spells reached Harry, he released a wave of his own condensed magic and broke half of the spells coming toward him. The remaining spells flew back to Quirrell who threw up some kind of counter but was sent stumbling back several feet on the cracked stone floor.
"Interesting," said Quirrell and Voldemort simultaneously. Then just Voldemort's voice continued. "I was once told you would be my greatest enemy and now I understand why. Dumbledore has always felt like an insurmountable mountain but right here, right now, I can handle you, you're still young. You don't understand yet." Voldemort laughed and shadows exploded all over Quirrell's form. Any remaining normality faded under the superimposition of Voldemort that appeared and this form attacked even more ferociously than before.
A heavier volley of darker, more foreboding spells came flying toward Harry in a second and after the first several dozen spells were absorbed into his shield, he was unable to continue managing his ability to its utmost due to the overload of energy and was struck a glancing blow. 'Damn!' Harry cursed inwardly as the spell grazed his cheek and began to burn.
He threw up a dozen small but well placed shield charms that managed to block a lot of the spells coming his way but he still suffered a dozen marks all over his body. The effects of the dark magic were starting to affect Harry who had begun to feel a hint of drowsiness, like when Uncle Vernon dipped a little too much into his alcohol and tripped around wreaking havoc across his own house.
'I have to let out one more burst, I can't let it end this way!' Harry thought, and gathered his remaining energy and let it explode as his shield charms fell away, letting the next volley of spells fly toward him unchallenged.
This burst of energy crashed throughout the whole room and was stronger than Harry had thought it would be as the energy continued quaking the room hard. Looser debris began falling from the walls and ceiling along with a ton of dust. The spells that had been flying toward him were now scattered throughout the room, causing even more stone and dust to fly freely and burn. Quirrell/Voldemort had been flipped backward into the mirror, knocking it over and breaking it while falling stone had shattered it completely into dust. The superimposed shade of Voldemort withdrew back into Quirrell, the latter of whom looked almost skeletal now. He raised his head shakily and barely said the words, "Damn you, Potter…" before he dropped back to the ground, lifeless.
As Quirrell's head hit the ground, Voldemort's hideous shadow emerged from his body and shot towards Harry.
"Not this time!" Harry shouted and gathered the last of his immediate energy and summoned the same green flame he once used to protect Hermione and now directed towards the shadow. The Voldemort Shadow continued aiming his flight toward him but the moment the fire touched his ghastly form, it shrieked and dodged the rest of the attack. Now an even smaller version of himself, it shrieked unintelligible words and fled through the walls of the broken chamber.
"That… was worse… than I expected," Harry gasped. His dark spell wounds burned and pained Harry deeply. To hold on, he gathered his vast well of external magic to keep him going. He made his way back through the other rooms slowly, only using extra magic to avoid the still barely moving chess pieces. "Need… to get… away… before… teachers…"
By the time Harry made it far beyond the third floor corridor, he thought he saw Dumbledore emerging from some hidden passage in the walls before rushing off to the mirror. "If I… was slow by a minute… I might have been caught… What would Dumbledore do…?" All things considered, everything went very well as there was no one wandering about thanks to the on-going dinner in the Great Hall.
After an eternity, Harry managed to make his way down to the corridor leading to the dungeons. "I-I'm not going to make it back to my room…" He heard some voices coming his way and threw open a random door and closed it behind him. His control of his magic faded from his grasp and Harry fell to the floor gasping as the burning pains made its way deeper inside him.
As his consciousness waned, he was just barely aware of the door he had just closed being opened as well as of a warmth beginning to grow from within him. Then everything faded away.
