A/N: Apologises for the delay and the new format. Someone reported this story on Ao3 for too much book content and it got taken down. I had to rewrite/reformat everything, so this will be the new format going forwards. I hope it is still easy enough to follow.
The Man with Two Faces
It was Quirrell.
Nobody was particularly surprised by the statement. There really hadn't been any other viable options.
Harry was surprised, stating he thought it would be Snape. Quirrell laughed and said Snape seemed the type. Next to him, nobody would suspect stuttering Quirrell. He no longer had the stutter.
"It was fake?" Draco groaned. "That was so annoying!"
"It really was," Neville agreed.
"So glad he didn't do that when he taught us," Tonks muttered. Bill and Charlie both nodded.
Harry pointed out that Snape tried to kill him. Quirrell confessed that was him, but Hermione knocked him over at the game, breaking his eye contact.
"Wow. If you'd taken any other way…" Fred whistled. Hermione cringed.
"Or even just not knocked him over," George agreed.
"Hence why her plan to act in such a manner without full knowledge of the situation was dangerous," Severus drawled, shooting a glare at Hermione.
"So, setting a teacher on fire is an acceptable solution if we have all the information?" Fred queried with a grin.
"NO!" All the teachers snapped in unison.
He added that he would have had Harry off his broom sooner if Snape hadn't been trying to save him.
"Thank you," Sirius muttered, briefly catching Severus' eye. "Whatever our differences, I'm grateful you saved Harry's life."
"I do happen to care about the welfare of my students," Severus replied. His first instinct had been to say something a lot more biting, but Dumbledore had shot him a look.
Harry was surprised Snape would try to save him. Quirrell pointed out that was why he refereed the next match, but it made no difference as Dumbledore came, while the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor winning which made him unpopular.
Sirius couldn't help snorting in derision at the idea of Snape being popular in the first place.
"Most of us knew Severus wouldn't go to such lengths just to stop Gryffindor winning a Quidditch match," Filius stated in amusement. Several of the Gryffindors in the room looked dubious at this statement.
Quirrell stated it was a waste of time as he is going to kill Harry then. He snapped his fingers and a rope bound Harry.
Sirius snarled furiously.
"Ok, he's not trying to kill him immediately," Bill noted. "I wonder why."
"Don't question a good thing!" Charlie scolded his brother.
"It is a good point though," Tonks mused.
"I'm sure his master told him he wanted to finish Potter himself, once he regained a body," Severus put in.
He stated that Harry was too nosy to live. He had thought the trio might have seen him going to look at the third floor on Halloween.
"Nope. Just Professor Snape," Percy sighed.
Harry realised it was Quirrell who let the troll in. Quirrell agreed and stated he had a gift with trolls, pointing out what he did to the one in one of the previous chambers.
"A gift in knocking out trolls?" Draco asked, wrinkling his nose.
"Not sure that's a gift. Ronnie could do that two months into first year," George said with a grin.
Quirrell kept talking and finally told Harry to be quiet as he needed to examine the mirror. Harry spotted the Mirror of Erised behind Quirrell.
"I thought you said the protections had been in place since before the start of the school year?" Amelia frowned. "That mirror wasn't there until after Christmas."
"So, either the mirror was in place and Dumbledore moved it to the classroom for a few days for some reason. Or, he thought the protections weren't good enough and added another one," Ted reasoned.
"As it happens, I had always planned to use the mirror, but I was unable to procure it and perform the necessary enchantments until the Christmas holidays," Dumbledore explained. "It was in the classroom so I could charm it with the protections, meaning I did not have to bypass all the other protections every time, as the spell was complicated, requiring multiple applications."
Most of the adults accepted the explanation, thinking he should have taken more precautions to stop curious students finding it, but deciding not to bring that up until later. Once the children had gone to bed.
Quirrell commented that the mirror was the key to finding the stone. He believed that by the time Dumbledore got back from London he would be gone. Harry decided to try and keep Quirrell focused on him instead of the mirror.
"No," Sirius moaned. "Don't direct the death eater attention onto yourself."
"The whole point of being down there was to stop him getting the stone. I didn't want him working out how to get it out of the mirror," Harry reminded him.
"And we would rather you didn't get yourself killed," Remus said gently.
He blurted out that he saw Quirrell and Snape in the forest. Quirrell replied that Snape was on to him by that point and was trying to find out how far he had gotten.
"I was onto him well before that," Severus muttered.
Quirrell continued that Snape tried to frighten him, as if that were possible when he had Voldemort on his side.
"His own supporter actually said Voldemort's name?" Remus looked surprised. "Normally they only refer to him as the Dark Lord."
"That is because the mark burns when his name is said in our presence," Severus stated through gritted teeth. "And Quirrell never took the dark mark."
Quirrell saw himself presenting Voldemort with the stone in the mirror but can't work out how to get it. Harry tried to free himself, but the ropes didn't give.
"Damn. Come on. Time for some Potter luck," Sirius urged.
Harry pointed out Snape seemed to hate him.
"Oh, he does," Sirius scoffed, glaring at the man in question.
Severus sneered in return, but inwardly he was conflicted. After everything they had heard, he couldn't hate Po…Harry now. Certainly not the same way he hated Sirius Black and Potter Senior. Honestly, he could admit to seeing more and more of Lily in the boy, as well as a personality distinctly his own. Likely coming, at least in part, from the abuse that neither of his parents ever sustained. The problem was, given what he did know about Harry's childhood, he wasn't sure he could live with himself if he continued to contribute to the emotional abuse heaped on him by his relatives. Yet, he needed to retain his position within the Dark faction. He certainly couldn't not be seen to be friendly, or even remotely kind to the boy. Not that he had much of an inclination to do that either. It seemed neutrality was his only real option. He would be able to lie and tell the Dark Lord that Dumbledore had stepped in after many complaints and told him to be civil.
Of course, he also had the issue of his oath. He had sworn to Dumbledore he would protect Lily's son. And knowing allowing him to go back to an abusive household would break that oath.
Quirrell agreed, informing Harry Snape went to school with his father and hated him, but never wanted Harry dead.
"Well, that's something I suppose," Tonks said, trying to sound cheerful.
"Good job he did, considering no one else bothered to help Harry when his broom was cursed," Charlie snorted. "Not the staff, anyway," he amended at an offended look from Fred.
Harry told him he heard him sobbing a few days before and thought Snape was threatening him.
"Wouldn't be the first time the dungeon bat reduced people to tears," Sirius muttered.
"I believe you made far more people cry with your 'innocent' pranks than I did," Severus retorted, sneering the word innocent as derisively as possible.
Quirrell seemed momentarily afraid and stated that sometimes he finds it hard to follow instructions as he is weak.
"He was there? In the classroom?" Remus breathed, horror on his features.
"So, possession is most likely then," Bill noted with a grimace.
"Harry was right outside the classroom. With Voldemort in it!" Sirius yelped.
"We were taught by someone possessed by You-Know-Who?" Percy gaped.
"Wait, I thought You-Know-Who was hiding in the forest? Killing unicorns." Tonks frowned in confusion.
"If Quirrell is possessed, then it would probably have been Quirrell that Harry met in the forest. Drinking the blood to keep his body healthy enough to act as a host, as well as strengthening his master," Bill explained. Several people shuddered in horror.
Harry asked if he meant Voldemort was in the classroom with him. Quirrell replied that he was with him wherever he went.
Bill nodded grimly.
Quirrell tells Harry how he met Voldemort who changed his ideals. Then he admitted to making many mistakes causing his master to be hard on him as he does not forgive mistakes easily.
Severus inwardly winced. He knew first-hand exactly how unforgiving the Dark Lord could be.
Voldemort decided to keep a closer eye on him after he failed at Gringotts. Harry cursed himself for not having realised as he had seen Quirrell there.
"I think you can forgive yourself for not realising such a thing. You only met him briefly, and you were only eleven," George pointed out fairly.
"Too blinded by one suspect," Moody grunted.
"They were eleven, and not trained aurors," Minerva reminded him sternly.
His attention returned to the mirror, and he wondered if he needed to break it.
"I highly doubt that's the solution," Ted stated, shaking his head.
"It is a highly magical object. Breaking it would not be a simple endeavour regardless," Dumbledore said.
"He has Voldemort possessing him. It doesn't need to be a simple endeavour," Bill pointed out.
"But he is on a time limit. Dumbledore will have to realise something is wrong eventually." Andromeda shot the headmaster a disdainful look. "He has already been gone most of the day."
Harry thought that what he wanted most of all in that moment was to find the stone before Quirrell. So, if he looked into the mirror, he should see himself finding it and therefore it's hiding place.
"That's not necessarily how the mirror works," Remus warned. "Just because you want it the most in that moment, does not mean it is your deepest, most desperate desire."
"Also, why on earth would you want that knowledge? It will just make you more of a target. Quirrell or the Dark Lord could just read your mind," Draco pointed out. Harry grimaced. He really hadn't thought the plan through.
"I didn't know it was actually possible to read minds," Harry reminded him.
"You've suspected Uncle Sev of doing it many times through the book, but it didn't cross your mind Quirrell might do so?" Draco raised an eyebrow.
"Again. Eleven," Harry said.
"Let's just hope the mirror doesn't work like that," Amelia muttered.
Harry wondered how to look in the mirror without being noticed. Attempting to move in front of the glass, he ended up falling over. Quirrell ignored him.
The twins both snorted. Harry blushed.
"Need to work on your stealth skills without the cloak," Fred teased.
"I think the rope had a bit more to do with it," Harry protested.
"Then we should get you to practice moving around while tied up," George suggested with a grin. Harry winced.
"No. No. I'm fine, thanks." They gave him identical, evil smirks.
Quirrell asked his master for help and a voice that seemingly came from Quirrell himself replied for him to use the boy.
"NO!" Sirius and Molly yelled at the same time. "Absolutely not," Sirius continued.
"How would he know Harry could help? Surely most people would assume he would see…what he saw before," Tonks said awkwardly.
"This is Voldemort. He probably just assumed everyone would want the stone." Charlie shrugged.
Quirrell untied Harry magically and harry got to his feet. Quirrell instructed him to look into the mirror and, as he walked over, Harry thought that he must lie.
"Oh dear." Fred gave a theatrical groan, trying to lighten the mood. He knew Harry had been hurt during whatever ensued, but he also knew he made a full recovery. "Harry really wasn't much good at lying back then."
"Excuses, sure. Not lies," George added.
As he approached Quirrell, Harry noted the funny smell coming from his turban.
Bill inhaled sharply.
Harry stepped in front of the mirror. He saw his reflection. Then his reflection smiled, putting a hand in it's pocket and withdrawing a red stone. Then it winked and put the stone back and, as it did so, Harry felt something drop into his real pocket.
"No way," Remus breathed. "He got the stone."
"So, Harry just got the stone out of the mirror for Voldemort," Bill realised. "Much easier to get the stone from an eleven-year-old boy." Then he winced as he caught his mother's expression as his statement.
"Shite!" Sirius exclaimed
"Sirius Black!" Minerva, Molly and Andromeda all scolded at the same time. Although, all of them agreed with the sentiment.
"That doesn't seem like much of a trap," Amelia mused. She wondered what exactly had taken Dumbledore several days to enchant. Putting the stone inside the mirror?
"How did Harry get the stone out of the mirror?" Neville wondered.
"Dumbledore explained it later," Harry told him. Sirius hugged Harry tighter, trying to assure himself that his godson made it out of that mess alive and whole.
Quirrell asked what he saw, and Harry lied, saying he saw himself winning the House Cup for Gryffindor.
"Could be worse," Fred mused.
"Why didn't you go with what you saw the first time?" George asked curiously.
"I…it felt too private to give to someone working with the person who killed them," Harry explained quietly. Everyone nodded.
"Besides, it's even more believable given the points loss and how the other Gryffindors have been behaving recently," Tonks added.
Quirrell told him to get out of the way and Harry debated making a break for it.
"Yes!" Sirius yelled.
"He won't make it," Kingsley pointed out grimly. "Not without some sort of distraction."
A voice sounded, calling Harry a liar, although Quirrell was not moving his lips.
"But, if his lips weren't moving..?" Tonks frowned. Bill shook his head at her. He had a horrible suspicion of where the voice was coming from, and he didn't like it in the slightest.
Quirrell demanded Harry come back and tell him the truth. The voice demanded to speak to Harry face to face.
"The turban," Tonks realised.
"You mean…he's been on the back of Quirrell's head all year?" Charlie wrinkled his nose.
"The snowballs!" Fred yelped.
"We hit Voldemort in the face with snowballs," George chuckled.
"It's not funny!" Molly shrieked.
"Hopefully he won't remember," Arthur tried to reassure his wife. "You-Know-Who has more important things to think about that a prank several years ago."
Quirrell protested his master wasn't strong enough, but the voice disagreed. Harry watched as Quirrell unwrapped the turban, revealing Voldemort's face with red eyes and slits for nostrils.
Molly let out a shriek, while the other adults all exchanged looks of horror. Speculating was one thing. Even strong suspicions. But…to have it all confirmed…it was their worst nightmares.
"He's really not gone," Amelia murmured. "And strong enough to be doing this."
"You really didn't notice Voldemort sitting on the back of one of your professor's heads?" Sirius growled at Dumbledore. "For an entire year."
"Or, he did notice and didn't do anything," Moody grunted to himself. He knew how his old friend liked to operate. While he knew Albus did care for those under him, he wouldn't hesitate to use them as pawns for the 'greater good'. Moody knew that leaders had to make difficult, gut-wrenching decisions in war, and he didn't envy his friend's position as leader of the light, but Albus had his own tendency to be wilfully blind. He got lost in the big picture, and often failed to see the small details. He had made plenty of dubious calls throughout his career but testing an eleven-year-old kid in such a fashion…even he had doubts.
In that moment, he made the decision to train the boy as best he could. If Albus was going to continue playing these games, testing his theories on the boy, then he would do his damned best to make sure Potter came out on top.
Severus looked downright ill. He had been threatening Quirrell all year. Showing his hand as being on Dumbledore's side. He had interfered with the Dark Lord's plans. It was looking more and more unlikely he would survive an attempt to take back his role as spy. Even if the Dark Lord bought his excuses, he would likely suffer terribly for his perceived betrayal.
The face whispered Harry's name. He tried to move but couldn't. Voldemort explained his situation and that Harry saw Quirrell drinking the unicorn blood in the forest.
Severus shuddered.
It continued that one he has the elixir of life he can create his own body. Then he asked for the stone in Harry's pocket.
"How the heck?" Percy gasped.
"The Dark Lord is highly skilled at seeing into people's minds," Severus murmured numbly.
Harry stumbled back and the face told him not to be a fool. It suggested he save his own life, saying his parents died begging for mercy.
"LIAR!" Sirius, Remus and Emmeline all yelled furiously.
"They would never!" Sirius snarled.
"I know," Harry said quietly. His mum had begged, he supposed, but she had begged to die in place of him. For Voldemort to spare him. Certainly not the way Voldemort had intended it then.
Harry called him a liar.
"That's my pup," Sirius declared proudly.
Quirrell walked backwards so Voldemort could still see Harry. He stated that Harry's parents were brave, telling him how they died.
Severus felt as if he had been punched in the gut. All the air left his lungs. Was it true? Had the Dark Lord actually offered to let Lily live? She could have survived. A wave of grief enveloped him. He couldn't breathe.
Voldemort told Harry to give him the stone unless he wanted his mother to have died in vain. Harry shouted 'never' and made a dash for the door.
"Come on, Harry," Remus urged. His hand gripped Sirius' free one as they both worried for the young boy.
"At least throw out a couple of spells. Force him to defend himself momentarily," Moody barked out instructively. "You're unlikely to hit, but it'll buy you an extra second." Harry nodded. It was good advice.
He was suddenly aware of how limited his spell repertoire was. He barely knew any more offensive spells than he did at eleven. Expelliarmus was about it thanks to the terrible quality of defence teachers. Even Remus, who had been the best, had focused on creatures and how to deal with them, not spells to use in a duel or fight.
Voldemort yelled for Quirrell to seize him. Quirrell's hand closed on his wrist, causing Harry a lot of pain in his scar.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed in horror.
"That's going to be an issue," Moody muttered to himself. "Need to find a way around that."
"What could be causing that?" Kingsley wondered. "I've never heard of cursed scars doing that."
"Nobody has ever survived the killing curse before," Amelia pointed out quietly. "It's a unique situation."
He struggled and Quirrell let go. Looking around, Harry saw Quirrell hunched in pain, looking at his blistering fingers.
"What?" Andromeda looked confused.
"Accidental magic?" Percy suggested.
"That's a possibility. It is a highly stressful situation," Filius agreed, though he looked unsure.
"Whatever it was, let's hope it keep him away from my pup," Sirius growled.
Voldemort shrieked for Quirrell to seize him again. Quirrell lunged, knocking Harry off his feet and wrapping his hands around his neck.
Sirius and Remus both let out growls of outrage.
"Get off of him!" Ron yelled.
"Ron, this already happened," Harry pointed out.
"You left this bit out of the story," his friend said accusingly.
"Yeah, well. I didn't want to worry you."
"We were already worried," Hermione pointed out. "But we'd like to know what you went through so we could try and help." Harry offered her a grateful smile.
Both Harry and Quirrell were in agony.
"Well, whatever it is, it's still working," Draco noted.
"So, not accidental magic then," Filius mused to himself. "It wouldn't be continuous like that."
Quirrell cried out that he can't due to his hands. Quirrell let go of Harry's neck, pinning him with just his knees. Harry saw his hands were burnt, raw and shiny.
Almost everyone was completely bewildered and confused by what had happened, and how Harry could possibly have caused such an effect.
Voldemort told him to just kill the boy and be done with it.
Several people scowled angrily at the book.
Harry reached up to grab Quirrell's face. Quirrell rolled off, face blistering and Harry realised Quirrell couldn't touch his bare skin without burning.
Draco eyed his former nemesis, wondering what the heck was happening.
"But didn't he shake hands with him in the Leaky Cauldron?" Tonks frowned.
"Which was before his failure and so, before Voldemort possessed him," Kingsley stated.
"So, Voldemort can't kill him and people he possesses can't touch Harry physically?" Fred whistled.
"That's not just a result of a cursed scar," Amelia said with a confused frown.
"Hopefully the answer will be somewhere in all these books," Emmeline said, gesturing to the pile.
He figured his only chance was to keep Quirrell in enough pain that he couldn't curse him.
"But that hurts you too," Hermione pointed out in horror.
"Better than dying," Ron said simply.
Harry grabbed Quirrell by the arm and hung on. Quirrell tried to throw him off. Both of them were in agony while Voldemort shrieked for him to kill Harry.
"Merlin," Fred breathed.
Minerva found herself unable to read the words on the page as tears blurred her eyes. She had caused this. She had completely dismissed him and made her eleven-year-old student believe that he was the only one who would do anything to stop Voldemort coming back. Oh, she was well aware Albus had his own share of the blame, and she had more than a few choice words for her long-time mentor and friend. However, while she couldn't control his actions, she could still control her own. And it wasn't the last time she had let her student down.
"Oh, pup," Sirius whimpered. He had one arm wrapped tightly around his godson and the other hand clamped tightly on Remus'. They were the only things anchoring him and stopping him from despairing. His little godson had gone through all of this, and he should have been there. He was an utter failure of a godfather. James would be horrified. Three of the four marauders still lived, although one was a traitor, and they had all let Prong's son down.
Arthur was having to restrain his wife from marching over and hugging Harry to death. She had tears running down her face and desperately wanted to mother the boy, but he could tell Sirius and Remus were doing a good enough job.
It had been such a long and emotional day, he barely registered how utterly bizarre it was that just that very morning he'd thought Sirius Black was a murderer who wanted Harry dead. And now, he trusted him completely to look after the young man his wife considered another son. Who had saved their daughter's life last year. If the first and smallest of the books had caused this much sheer chaos, he dreaded what another six would bring.
Pomona spotted her colleague's predicament and gently took the book from Minerva. She began to read over the general noise of the rest of the room who soon quieted down to listen.
Harry heard other voices, unsure if they were in in his mind, calling his name. Then he felt Quirrell wrenched from his grasp and blacked out.
Pomona gave no one any time to comment, rushing on, having seen that the next couple of lines confirmed Harry was alright.
Something gold was above him and Harry thought it was the snitch.
"What?" Charlie blinked in confusion.
"The snitch?" Ron frowned.
"I was just coming round," Harry defended himself.
He tried to catch it but his arms were too heavy. Then he saw the gold was actually a pair of glasses.
Dumbledore chuckled.
Dumbledore's face came into view.
"So good of you to turn up eventually," Sirius snarled.
"I came as quickly as I could," Dumbledore stated.
"You shouldn't have left in the first place," Remus growled.
"You shouldn't have put the stone in Hogwarts in the first place," Kingsley put in. "But, that is a discussion for later."
Dumbledore wished him a good afternoon. Harry stared and then began asking about the stone, thinking Quirrell had gotten hold of it. Dumbledore assured him Quirrell didn't have the stone.
"You stopped him, pup," Sirius declared proudly. "But don't you ever scare me like that again!"
"Er…" Harry winced, thinking of Aragog and the basilisk in second year. "I'll try from now on?"
"That's not encouraging," Remus said dryly.
"This is Harry," George pointed out fairly, grinning.
"I don't think he knows how to do encouraging," Fred added with a smirk. Harry stuck his tongue out at the pair.
Harry asked who does and Dumbledore asked him to calm down before Pomfrey threw him out.
"You're the headmaster," Percy pointed out.
"Alas, even I do not dare to contradict Madam Pomfrey in her own domain," he replied with a smile. Hermione and Harry exchanged looks at that statement.
Harry realised his was in the hospital wing and had a pile of sweets on the table next to him.
"Thanks guys. That really helped out over the summer," Harry told his friends.
"You ate sweets that you didn't know who sent them?" Moody barked loudly.
"Er, yeah. I was going back to the Dursleys." Several people scowled at that statement and what it implied.
"You need to learn some detection spells, Potter. It'd be far too easy to poison you," Moody grunted.
"Alastor!" Minerva scolded.
"As much as I hate it, he does have a point," Kingsley spoke up. "Harry is a very public figure. It would be a good precaution for him to have to check any food and drink from sources he isn't sure about."
"We'll add it to the schedule somewhere," Filius said. He knew several charms that would be helpful.
"Great, more lessons," Ron groaned.
"You don't have to come," Harry assured him.
"We're your best friends. It would be a good idea for us to learn too, just in case," Hermione pointed out, an excited gleam in her eye. Ron sighed, resigning himself to yet more stuff he'd have to actually learn.
Dumbledore told him they were tokens from friends and admirers.
Draco snorted. "They weren't so admiring a couple of days ago."
He added that what happened in the dungeon was a complete secret so the whole school knew.
"We didn't know. We heard rumours, none of which were particularly close to the truth," Neville stated.
"Not even the staff were told the full story," Minerva declared, throwing a dark look at Albus.
Dumbledore informed him the Weasley twins had tried to send him a toilet seat that was confiscated.
"I see what you meant by it going to someone who needed it more," Ginny giggled.
"FRED! GEORGE!" Molly shrieked. "I told you not to deface school property!"
"It was easily fixable," Fred muttered. "One reparo, job done."
"That's not the point!"
Pomona decided to continue reading in an attempt to divert the argument.
Harry asked how long he had been there and was told it had been three days.
"Three days?" Sirius breathed in horror.
"He was suffering complete magical exhaustion. It was a good job lessons were over, and he had the summer to replenish his magic," Minerva stated grimly.
"Merlin, cub," Remus murmured. "You don't do anything by half, do you?" Harry shrugged.
He continued that Ron and Hermione would be relieved as they had been worried.
"You were alright, weren't you, Ron?" Bill asked.
"Yeah. I was out of the hospital wing quickly," Ron assured him.
"Were you alright, Hermione?" Tonks asked kindly.
"Yes. I was fine. Just worried about both of them."
"I'm sure. You two were incredibly brave to go with Harry," Emmeline told them. Several of the adults nodded. Regardless of what should have happened, nobody could deny the bravery of all three children in facing such danger to stop the Dark Lord returning.
"I wouldn't have made it without them," Harry said. They smiled at him.
Harry brought up the stone again and Dumbledore informed him he had met Ron and Hermione as he returned, having realised he needed to be at Hogwarts, not London.
"Took you long enough," Sirius muttered. His pup had faced Voldemort and nearly died under Dumbledore's watch. That man had some serious explaining to do in regard to his inaction over the year. And he wasn't going to take it easy until he was assured that the old man wouldn't play games like that with Harry ever again.
He arrived in time to pull Quirrell off him.
"I think Potter was on Quirrell rather than the other way around," Kingsley commented to himself.
Dumbledore commented he was nearly too late. Harry told him he wouldn't have been able to keep Quirrell off of the stone much longer, but Dumbledore stated he meant Harry. The effort nearly killed him.
Several people inhaled sharply at hearing just how close it had been.
Ron reached over and gripped Harry's free hand. It had been an awful three days. Visiting Harry in the hospital wing, watching him just lying their motionless. He'd never felt so useless. Until second year and he got stuck behind the stupid rocks. To top it all off, this year he'd gone at got a broken leg, not entirely his fault, and knocked unconscious by the rat, unable to help his friends fight off the dementors. He hated how, no matter his intentions, he always seemed to let Harry down at the last minute.
He added that the stone had been destroyed.
"And Flamel was alright with that?" Andromeda asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course. I would not destroy the stone without speaking to Nicholas." Dumbledore looked offended by the suggestion.
"But surely there was another option?" Arthur frowned. "In almost six hundred years, Mr. Flamel must have had an attempt to steal the stone before."
"Yes, even if word was spread that the stone had been destroyed, there was no need to actually destroy it. Just rumours and send it back to Mr. Flamel," Remus agreed.
"Nicholas was fine with this solution," Dumbledore stated firmly.
Harry wondered about Flamel, and Dumbledore seemed pleased, commenting that he had done the thing properly.
"The Thing?" Amelia turned to Dumbledore angrily. "It certainly sounds like wanted Mr. Potter to get involved."
"I was merely pleased Mr. Potter had done his research on the situation," Dumbledore replied.
He told Harry Flamel had agreed it was for the best and Harry realised that meant Flamel and his wife would die. Dumbledore agreed, stating they had enough elixir to set their affairs in order.
"At least there is that, I suppose," Narcissa sniffed.
Dumbledore assured Harry that the Flamels were accepting and commented that to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.
"Next great adventure?" Ginny questioned.
"Maybe not to one as young as you, but once you reach a certain age, death does not seem the same as it did," Dumbledore told her.
He continued that the stone was not such a wonderful thing, giving you as much money and life as you want. They are both things most humans would choose above all others, except humans have a knock of choosing the things that are the worst for them.
"That is true." Remus nodded.
They then discuss the possibility of Voldemort coming back and Dumbledore confirmed he is still out there, possibly looking for another body as he left Quirrell to die.
"Left him…did I kill Quirrell?" Harry voiced the question that had been lingering in the back of his mind for years, but he'd been too terrified of the answer to ask previously. Part of him, during that summer when he received no letters, even considered the idea that his friends weren't talking to him because they had realised, he was a killer.
All of the adults inhaled sharply. None of them blamed him, having heard the circumstances, but they realised Harry must have been carrying this question with him since it happened. Molly had tears in her eyes.
"No, my boy," Dumbledore said kindly. "He had been playing host to Voldemort for almost a year. When Voldemort left him in such a sudden manner, it would have sent his body into shock. That is what killed him."
"But the burns…" Harry said quietly.
"Were rather nasty, but would not have been fatal," the headmaster assured. Harry scanned the lined face, trying to see if he was being lied to. At one point, he would never have considered the idea that Dumbledore would lie to him, other than about the mirror, but now…he wasn't as sure.
"The headmaster is correct," Bill spoke up quietly. "While I've never actually seen anyone possessed, there is a lot of literature about it in Egypt. It's described as quite a delicate process, and the only reason I believe Quirrell could have survived that long anyway was with the aid of the unicorn blood. His body would not have been strong enough to withstand the shock, regardless of other injuries inflicted," he explained. Harry nodded, giving Bill a grateful smile.
"Have you ever spoken to anyone about this?" Remus asked Harry quietly. Harry shook his head.
"You've been carrying that question around for two years, plus everything else that happened that year, and a Mind Healer has never been suggested to you?" Sirius asked in disbelief.
"A Mind Healer?" Harry frowned in confusion.
"A healer for the mind. Like a muggle therapist," Remus explained. "We'll talk more about this later."
Dumbledore continued that Voldemort shows as little mercy to followers as enemies.
Severus winced inwardly.
He told Harry he had delayed his return to power and if that keeps happening, he may never return. Harry then asked about why Voldemort wanted to kill him.
Severus closed his eyes. Honestly, it was a strange feeling, knowing the Dark Lord had attempted to grant his request. Had made some effort to spare Lily, albeit not much as there were many other options than killing her to get her out of the way.
"That is a very good question," Amelia murmured to herself. The idea that Voldemort had gone there to kill a baby was bizarre. That he had given Lily Potter the option to stand aside was even stranger. There was a very large piece of the puzzle missing, and she highly suspected Dumbledore was the one who knew what that piece was. She could only hope these books would give the rest of them the answer too.
Dumbledore refused to tell him, saying Harry will know when he is older, when he is ready.
Harry scowled. He hated secrets. Especially ones about him.
Harry figured it would do no good to argue, so he switched the topic to why Quirrell couldn't touch him.
"Quirrell could. When it was just him. It was the possession by Voldemort that made him unable to touch Harry," Bill pointed out.
"But why wouldn't Voldemort be able to touch Harry?" Tonks frowned.
"I presume it would be down to the same reason he couldn't kill him as a baby," Andromeda suggested.
Dumbledore explained that it was due to his mother's sacrifice.
"But other mothers have died for their children before," Molly said in confusion. "Fathers too."
"Maybe it had to do with Voldemort actively telling her to move aside," Bill suggested.
"Or maybe Lily Potter used some protective magic that was triggered by her sacrifice," Narcissa spoke up.
"But she wouldn't have known she would have the chance to be spared," Kingsley stated. "That's incredibly strange behaviour on the part of You-Know-Who."
"None of this makes any sense. Hopefully these books will fill us in," Amelia said.
Harry's next question was about the cloak which Dumbledore confirmed he sent it, adding that Harry's father used to use it to sneak to the kitchens.
"Not entirely true. It was mainly used for pranks," Sirius said with a grin that was slightly forced after the discussion of Lily's death.
He then asked about his dad and if Snape hated him because of James. Dumbledore confirmed this too, and then told him has father saved Snape's life.
Severus scowled angrily. "He did it to save his friend. Who should have been expelled."
"It was hardly my fault you were stupid enough to do it," Sirius shot back. "Apparently I overestimated your intelligence."
"How dare…"
"Enough!" Dumbledore cut in. "That is enough."
He continued that Snape couldn't bear being in James' debt and worked to save him this year to make them quits and he could hate James in peace.
Severus scowled. He wished the headmaster had not told Potter about that incident, especially in a way that made James Potter seem like a hero who he should have been grateful to. But, at least he kept his secret.
Harry asked how he got the stone out of the mirror.
"I think we'd all like to know that," Tonks said.
Dumbledore was pleased, saying it was one of his more brilliant ideas.
"That almost got Harry killed," Sirius snarled. "Having the stone put him in more danger!"
He explained how his trap worked and then suggested Harry make a start on his sweet collection. He tried an Every-Flavour bean and got an earwax one.
"Unlucky," George commiserated.
Madam Pomfrey eventually agreed to let Ron and Hermione visit for five minutes.
"Honestly, I know she wants the best for her patients, but she really needs to learn that company helps a lot more than lying there alone," Charlie said.
"Yeah. We used the cloak to visit whenever one of us was in the hospital wing," Sirius told them.
Harry told them what happened.
"You left some things out," Hermione said pointedly.
"Like I said, I didn't want to scare you," Harry explained with a shrug.
"Well, please trust us next time," she said. He nodded.
Ron asked if Flamel was just going to die. Harry repeated what Dumbledore told him and Ron said he was off his rocker, but looked impressed.
Dumbledore chuckled.
Harry asked about the two of them and Hermione explained that they met Dumbledore in the Entrance Hall, and he already knew Harry had gone after Quirrell. Ron asked if Dumbledore meant for Harry to do it.
"Yes, I rather suspect he did," Andromeda stated grimly. Many of the adults shot the headmaster dark looks.
Hermione stated that was terrible, but Harry suggested that Dumbledore wanted to give him a chance, instead of stopping them he taught then enough to help. He believed it wasn't an accident Harry found out how the mirror worked.
"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!" Molly shrieked. Most of them had suspected something like this, but to hear Harry saying it out loud, to have him accepting the situation, it bothered the adults.
"He should have stopped you. He should never have let you spend three nights in front of the mirror, a dangerous magical artefact, nor should he have allowed you to face your parents' murderer at the age of eleven. If he believes you were not old enough to know why he went after you in the first place, then you were not old enough for that encounter," Remus stated.
"Of course he wasn't old enough!" Molly said firmly.
Amelia looked at her notes and then at the headmaster. "Honestly, with everything that happened over the year, you could easily be charged with child endangerment, several times over."
"I don't recall any investigation into Quirrell's death either," Kingsley said with a thoughtful frown. "How did a Hogwarts Professor die on school property without an investigation?"
"I believed it would not do to allow the news of Voldemort's involvement to become public," Dumbledore explained.
"And nobody questioned Quirrell's death?" Tonks frowned.
"The staff were given a very watered-down version of events," Pomona stated slowly. "Details on Quirinus' death were vague, but we were more worried about the students at the time. I assumed Albus had everything in hand." Filius nodded his agreement.
Amelia just shook her head. Once they broke for the evening, she would organize her notes properly and see just how many things Dumbledore should be charged for. If Voldemort did indeed find a way to come back, the headmaster would be a key figure, however that didn't change the fact that he was not above the law. He had a duty of care to the students in his school and he had failed them terribly.
Harry continued that Dumbledore believed he had the right to face him.
"No. It's not a right to face him. You shouldn't be anywhere near someone who wants to kill you," Molly snapped. "The adults should deal with it; you are only children."
Ron brought up the leaving feast and informed Harry that Gryffindor had lost at Quidditch as they had no seeker.
"Why was the game so late in the year? Harry's been out three days and the leaving feast is the next day. The Quidditch final should have been played a couple of weeks ago," Charlie said with a frown.
"Yeah, usually it's before the end of year exams so the players don't have practice during the exam period," Bill agreed.
"Due to the precautions taken after the game Harry's broom was cursed, it had to wait until there were enough staff available to attend, so the decision was made to move it to after the exam period," Minerva explained.
Madam Pomfrey then shooed Ron and Hermione out, saying they had had fifteen minutes.
"Wow. She must really like you, Harry," Tonks whistled.
"Or she was listening to him tell the other two what happened," Sirius chuckled.
The next day, Hagrid came to visit Harry, bursting into tears and declaring it his fault.
Several of the adults frankly agreed with that statement. It certainly wasn't solely his fault, there was plenty of blame to go around, but he certainly had no helped matters.
Hagrid stated Harry could have died for a dragon egg. He claimed he will never drink again and suggested he be chucked out and made to live as a muggle.
"Well, that would be a terrible idea. There is absolutely no way Hagrid would be able to live with muggles," Andromeda scoffed.
"I doubt the no drinking thing will last particularly long either," Charlie chuckled.
Harry tried to reassure him that Voldemort would have found out eventually anyway.
"Maybe, but hopefully not before the end of the school year. When you were far away," Sirius muttered.
"Harry's luck doesn't work that way," Hermione sighed.
Harry yelled Voldemort's name which shocked Hagrid so much he stopped crying. He continued trying to cheer him up and Hagrid announced he had a present for Harry.
Harry beamed. He loved that photo album. It was one of the things he treasured the most, along with invisibility cloak and Firebolt.
He gives Harry the photo album.
"That was nice of him," Luna said.
"Yeah," Neville agreed. "I'm glad you finally got some pictures of your parents."
"Once I get my stuff back, I'll have loads that I can make copies of for you," Sirius promised.
"In fourth year, Sirius went through a phase where he was obsessed with photographs after he learnt about muggle cameras in Muggle Studies. He somehow got one to work at Hogwarts so he could take thousands of muggle photos to put up and annoy his parents with," Remus explained.
"And once James got Lily to go out with him, he insisted on plenty of photographs to prove it wasn't a dream," Sirius added.
"Those might still be in Godric's Hollow though," Emmeline pointed out quietly.
Hagrid told him he had sent owls to their old school friends for the photos.
"I managed to send a few, although he didn't explain what they were for," Emmeline said.
Harry went down to the feast where the Great Hall was decorating in Slytherin colours as they had won the house cup.
Severus and Draco both scowled.
Everyone when momentarily silent and then started talking when Harry arrived. He sat at the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore stood up and began talking.
"Why would you tell them to empty their heads?" Minerva asked, shaking her head. Dumbledore simply smiled.
"They certainly don't need encouragement to do that," Severus drawled.
He announced the points each house had and said well-done to Slytherin. The Slytherin table all celebrated until Dumbledore stated that recent events must be taken into account.
"What?" Andromeda blinked.
"You're not?" Ted asked in astonishment. "After you even congratulated them?"
"Gryffindor are so far behind, maybe they will get points but not enough to overtake Slytherin," Emmeline suggested uneasily. Severus snorted in derision.
"This was pretty cruel," George muttered. Fred shrugged.
"Yeah, this really should have been done during the time Harry was unconscious. Or at least the night before," Percy agreed.
Ron was awarded fifty points for his chess game.
"Fifty points for being out of bounds, chasing after a dangerous wizard?" Narcissa asked. Both she and Lucius had been furious when Draco told them but had been unable to do anything.
"To be fair to the children, they did try to alert the staff," Kingsley stated.
"They tried to tell Minerva. They tried no other member of staff," Andromeda pointed out.
"They'd been completely dismissed by their own head of house. Why would they think any other member of staff would believe them?" Remus questioned. Minerva hid her face in her hands.
"Even so, fifty points for winning a chess game does seem excessive," Charlie pointed out. "No matter how proud we are of you, Ronnie," he added quickly.
Percy bragged that Ron was his brother and that he had beaten McGonagall's giant chess set.
"I didn't realise they were life-sized!" Percy exclaimed. "Or that you'd been hurt."
"It's fine," Ron said with a smile. Honestly, it had been nice to hear Percy actually being proud of him.
Hermione was awarded fifty points for her use of logic in the face of fire.
"Hmm, again, excessive," Ted said. "But given Minerva's harshness over the tower incident, I suppose this could be considered righting that wrong."
"It still could have been done before the leaving feast," Draco muttered grumpily.
"You're right. It should not have been done right after he announced Slytherin had won the house cup. If you've announced the winner, surely the cup is over," Amelia pointed out.
Hermione hid her face and Harry thought she had burst into tears.
"I had not!" Hermione protested. "I was just overwhelmed at the change from being an outcast."
"Yeah. Sadly, I'm kind of used to it by this point," Harry sighed.
Harry was awarded sixty points for pure nerve and outstanding courage.
"So, that makes Gryffindor level with Slytherin," Kingsley said, adding the numbers in his head. There was no way he wasn't going to award the cup to Gryffindor.
Neville then was awarded ten points for standing up to his friends.
"Wow," Remus whistled in astonishment. "You actually congratulated Slytherin and then took the house cup away from them. Why were the points not awarded as soon as Harry woke up in the hospital wing?"
"Yeah, it's not like you informed the students of exactly what they did to earn the points, so why does it matter if they were awarded before the feast?" Ted wondered.
"That was unbelievably cruel of you," Emmeline scolded. "Those Slytherins worked hard throughout the year. Yes, Gryffindor were a little unfortunate given Minerva's overzealousness, but they were also rewarded in other situations they shouldn't have been. Slytherin did not deserve to be announced as the winners and have that taken from them."
"Indeed," Severus drawled. "I had to spend the evening comforting my snakes, trying to assure them it hadn't been an act of blatant favouritism. Even if that is exactly what it was."
"Good for you though, Neville. It was incredibly brave of you to stand up to the three of them," Remus said quietly to the young man.
"Let us finish this book. There is nothing we can do about such a farce now," Amelia stated.
The Gryffindors all celebrated, hugging Neville, while Harry pointed out Malfoy who looked horrified.
"But you did have a good reason to look like that," Harry admitted. He'd been too caught up in the joy then, but now, hearing it again he agreed with the adults that it had been unfair on Slytherin. He was still glad he hadn't had to put up with Draco's gloating though.
Draco nodded at him.
The other houses all celebrated Slytherin's downfall.
The Slytherins in the room all scowled.
"Not all of us were celebrating such a thing," Pomona put in with a sniff. She had felt it was incredibly unfair of Albus.
The Great Hall was changed to Gryffindor colours. Snape shook hands with McGonagall with a forced smile on his face.
"You were a good sport about the whole affair," Minerva admitted. "I would have been utterly furious."
"Oh, I was. I made my feelings clear to Albus the next morning," Severus assured her.
He met Harry's eyes and Harry knew he still hated him, but Harry wasn't worried.
"Indeed?" Severus raised an eyebrow.
"It was nice to be back to normal." Harry shrugged. "The whole 'saving my life' thing kind of threw me."
"You're not the only one," Sirius muttered.
Harry thought that it was the best night of his life.
Everyone felt slightly sad at that. While winning should be a joyous event, all the other comparisons he had had also occurred at Hogwarts. The fact that he had no happy memories with his relatives reinforced their determination to get him out of that situation.
Exam results then came out with Hermione coming out top of the year. They were let down that Goyle had scraped his way to a pass.
Draco sighed. He did like Greg and Vince, but dealing with them every single day was quite exhausting.
Preparations to leave were made, with Fred wishing they would forget to hand out the letter telling them not to do magic over the holidays.
"The rule would still apply," Amelia told him, looking amused.
"A man can hope," Fred grinned.
They took the train back to platform nine and three-quarters. A guard let them through the barrier in twos and threes. Ron invited both Harry and Hermione to stay over the summer, saying he would owl them.
"It was brilliant," Harry grinned.
"Yeah, we had almost a month of Ginny…" Fred began but he was cut off by Ginny's elbow making an appearance in his gut.
People called out goodbye to Harry and Ron commented that his was still famous.
"Unfortunately," Harry sighed.
Harry assured them he would not be famous where he was going.
"Infamous though," George grinned.
"True," Harry agreed, thinking of the summer just gone where Vernon revealed he told everyone Harry went to a criminal school.
They went through the barrier where Ginny called out excitedly and pointed at Harry.
"Not a word," Ginny growled at her brothers, her face as red as her hair.
"But Gin…" Fred said.
"Don't tease your sister," Molly scolded.
Mrs Weasley told her it's rude to point and asked if they'd had a busy year.
Molly sighed her eyes. That was a terrible understatement to say the least. It was a shame Percy had graduated this year or she would have had him keep her informed of everything the trio went through at school in the coming year.
Harry thanked her for the presents. Vernon then asked if he was ready. Petunia and Dudley looked terrified at the sight of Harry.
"Good," Sirius snarled.
"No. Not good. Scared people lash out," Remus said.
Mrs Weasley assumed they were Harry's family and Vernon replied they were in a manner of speaking.
"It's not like it's exactly an honour for him to be related to you," Tonks sneered.
He told Harry to hurry up and then wandered off. Hermione wished him a good holiday, looking shocked someone could be as unpleasant as Vernon.
"And that was him being rather polite," Hermione muttered to herself.
"You're never going back there," Sirius told Harry firmly. Harry smiled but didn't let himself get his hopes up too high.
Harry agreed that he would as they didn't know he wasn't allowed to use magic at home. He planned to have lots of fun with Dudley.
Several laughed at that.
"Petunia would know, surely," Remus frowned.
"I suspect she blocked out everything to do with magic," Severus stated simply. "Or is willing to ignore it."
"That is the book finished," Pomona announced.
"It's very late. Time for bed," Molly told the room. Nobody bothered to argue with her. They were all tired and emotionally wrung out from the day's reading. They needed time to process everything they had learnt before sitting down to discuss the things that needed to be discussed.