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Chapter 8: The Encounter

"Mr. Malfoy. Miss Black." Quirrell smiled, not twitching. "I must say that I'm surprised. I was expecting Miss Granger or Mr. Weasley."

Lily bit her lip and moved closer to Draco. Their hands laced together and Draco gave her a reassuring smirk before turning to the professor. "Why are you after the stone?"

"To bring our master back."

Draco's eye's narrowed. "I have no master."

"Really? Well, I suppose Lucius had his reasons. You, boy are one of Lord Voldemort's servants."

"?!!"

Draco arched one eyebrow. "Despite what you may think, I have no master."

Then there was another voice, seeming to come from Quirrell. "Let me speak to him...face to face..."

"Master, you are not strong enough!"

"I have strength enough...for this..."

Draco felt numb. If it wasn't for Lily's hand squeezing his own, none too gently, he didn't know if he could face what would come next. Quirrell had unwound the turban and turned to reveal a face on the back of his head, chalk white, with red eyes and slits for nostrils. It reminded Lily of a snake.

"Draco Malfoy...It is I...Lord Voldemort..."

Lily bit her lip as Quirrell began walking backwards. "You..."

"And Miss Black...You are a true anomaly...you were not alive...when I was in power...and yet...here you are..."

"I...I was adopted..."

Draco squeezed Lily's hand, partly to get the feeling back into his own.

"Regardless...I wish to offer you both...power...if you join me and help me...get the stone..."

"Master?"

"Bring young Malfoy and Black...to the mirror..."

"Yes Master."

Both Lily and Draco were brought to the mirror. Lily stood a bit behind Draco as he looked into the mirror.

"Well boy?!"

"N-nothing..." Draco had seen himself, Lily and Blaise walking down a country road, they were older but they looked happy. He really didn't know what it meant.

"Hurry... Use the girl..."

Draco was pushed back and Lily was brought before it. She bit her lip, she needed to find the stone before Quirrell.

Her eyes widened as she stared into the mirror. There was a girl looking back at her where her reflection should have been. The girl's hair was long, wispy and raven black, falling into her eyes. The eyes looked like crushed emeralds. The black hair fell in a way so that Lily could see the scar. The girl smiled mischievously as Lily's eyes widened. The girl, it was The-Girl-Who-Lived; Harmony Potter. The girl pulled a blood red stone from her pocket, winked, then put it back into that same pocket. Lily felt something heavy drop into her skirt pocket. She had it, she found the stone.

The girl disappeared and was replaced by a man and a woman. The woman had the same coloured hair as Lily and the man Lily's smile.

"M-mum? Dad?" A single tear slipped out of her eyes. The woman nodded, smiling.

"Well?!"

"I... I see myself and my parents. There is no stone."

Quirrell shoved her aside and Draco caught her. They tried to back away from Quirrell when Voldemort's voice stopped them.

"She lies... Sieze them! KILL HER!!!"



"Sir, why couldn't Quirrell touch me?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Alas, the thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today, not now. You will know, one day...put it out of your mind for now, Lilith. When you are older – I know you hate to hear this – when you are ready, you will know."

Lily pouted, but didn't press the matter. "Sir?"

"Yes Lilith?"

"Sir...How is Draco?"

"He is sleeping. He was awake a while ago. Both he and you should recover in time for the farewell feast."



"Please? Just 5 minutes?"

"You two need to rest."

"We are resting, lying down and everything. Oh, go on, Madam Pomfrey."

"Very well, but 5 minutes only."

Lily glanced at Draco. "You can get anything when you smile like that, can't you?"

Draco smirked. "It's never failed."

"Oh...I'm gonna hurt you-"

"Lily! Draco! How goes it?" Blaise sauntered up and sat on the chair between their beds. "The whole school's talking about it. What really happened down there?"

Draco and Lily told Blaise everything: Quirrell, the mirror, the Stone and Voldemort. By the end, Blaise's neck hurt from looking back and forth at them.

"What happened to you?"

Blaise sighed. "I was trying to wake up Weasley when Granger came running. I had to carry Weasley until we got away from Fluffy and he decided to wake up. We were running up to the owlery when we met Dumbledore in the entrance hall. He already knew – he said, 'Lily's gone after him, hasn't she?' and hurried off to the third floor."

Draco frowned. "Seems he already knew what was happening. Do you think he sent you there on purpose?"

Lily tilted her head. "Maybe. It's kind of odd. I feel like he thought I had a right to face Voldemort, but... I dunno. Harmony Potter has more of a right to face him than I do..."

"Yeah, well... The end-of-year-feast is tomorrow. You Gryffindors got steamrolled by Ravenclaw-"

"Thanks Blaise."

"-and us Slytherins won."

Lily stuck her tongue at him. "There's next year."

Madam Pomfrey bustled over. "You've had nearly 15 minutes. Now OUT!"

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