Exams were intense. They were not pleasing. But they were finally over.
Hermione, sick masochist that she was, tried to get them to go over tests together, but Ron, Harry and she put a firm foot down on this saying that there was no "bloody way."
Ron was bouncing the whole way down to the lake, practically singing "no more studying! Woo!"
"Oh Ron," Kate said sympathetically as he tossed himself onto the ground and sighed. "I'm so sorry. I can see you're disappointed about the end of exams."
Hermione giggled a bit at Ron's goofy grin. Harry, however, kept rubbing his forehead.
"Actually, it seems that Harry could be more cheerful," Ron looked up lazily from his spot on the ground, "Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."
"I wish I knew what this means!" He burst out. "My scar keeps hurting- it's happened before, but never as often as this."
"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.
"I'm not ill," said Harry.
"She could kiss it and make it all better," Kate laughed. Then she stopped, seeing that he was quite serious.
"I think it's a warning," Harry said darkly. "It means danger is coming."
"Harry, relax. Your grades can't be that bad." Ron stretched out some more, his face turning pink under the bright sun. "But seriously, the Stone is safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Hermione's right. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."
"Poor Neville," Kate sighed, taking a seat next to Hermione. "He's got a long wait."
Harry nodded. Then, to everyone's surprise, he jumped to his feet. Ron's eyes, which had been slowly shutting, snapped open.
"Where are you going?"
"I've just thought of something," Harry was steadily becoming the color of milk, "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."
Hermione was up and on her feet and soon after him, panting as she tried to keep up.
"Why?"
Kate got up and yanked Ron to his feet. "Uppy-buppy,"
They scrambled to catch up with Harry.
"Don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"
"What in the name of arse are you talking about?" Ron called after him. Harry soon disappeared over the hill. "Aw crap,"
Kate sprinted up the hill and left Ron and Hermione in the dust. They had soon caught up to Harry, who was talking to Hagrid, who was sitting in an armchair outside of his house, sleeves and pants rolled up while he was shelling peas.
"Hullo," he smiled at them, eyes crinkled. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"
"Yes, please," Ron was a bit sweaty around the temples.
"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"
"Dunno," Hagrid shrugged, tossing a couple of peas into the bowl and picking up another pod. "He wouldn't take his cloak off."
"Hagrid, haven't you ever see a horror movie? Bad guys wear cloaks," Kate said solemnly.
"A what?" Hagrid asked curiously. Then he saw Harry's stunned face. "Oh, it's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head- that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."
Harry fell to his knees, a tired look crossing his ashen face. "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"
"Mighta come up," Hagrid frowned, momentarily stopping his work, "Yeah… he asked what I did, an' I told him I was game keeper here…. He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after… so I told him…" Kate felt herself become slightly nauseous as she realized what this meant. "an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon… an' then… I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks…. Let's see… yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted… but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home…. So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy…."
Hermione, Ron and Kate looked at Hagrid, then each other, then back to Harry.
"And did he- did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry's voice twanged slightly.
They looked back to Hagrid.
"Well- yeah- how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep-."
All Kate could say was "Orpheus," but Hagrid suddenly looked as though he had swallowed a tarantula.
"I shouldn'ta told yeh that! Forget I said it!" But the four of them were running for the castle before he could say another word.
Harry stretched out the cloak in the empty common room. Dumbledore, gone. McGonagall, disbelieving. Snape… well, spiteful as always, but Kate still didn't think he was guilty.
"Will it cover the four of us?" Harry wondered aloud.
"Give it a go, we haven't got all bloody night," Ron babbled nervously.
"What are you doing?" Neville popped out of the darkness of a corner of the room, clutching Trevor the toad to his chest.
"Nothing, Neville, nothing," Harry quickly stuffed the cloak into Kate's hand because she was behind him.
"You're going out again," Neville said softly.
"No, no, no," Hermione shook her head and she looked a bit like a mop as her hair floated about. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"
"Are we convincing you yet?" Kate smiled forcedly.
"You can't go out," Neville began to shift from foot to foot nervously. "You'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."
"You don't understand," Harry sounded strained. He combed his fingers through his hair anxiously. "This is important."
"I won't let you do it," he scampered in front of the portrait hole. "I'll- I'll fight you!"
"Neville! Get away from that hole and don't be an idiot-." Ron exploded, bright red to match his flaming hair.
"Don't you call me an idiot!" Neville cried, round face pink. "I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"
"Double-edged sword," Kate cursed.
"Yes, but not to us," Ron pulled at his hair. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing." He took a step towards Neville, who was shaking at the knees. Trevor hopped out of Neville's suddenly lax grip.
"Go on then! Try and hit me!" Neville raised his fists and flinched. "I'm ready!"
Harry turned to Hermione desperately. "Do something,"
Hermione sighed and pulled out her wand. "Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this."
Before Neville could react, she raised her wand and cried "Petrificus Totalus!"
Neville's arms and legs slapped to his sides as though triggered by some invisible spring. His body became as stiff as a board and he fell flat on his face.
Kate grimaced and rushed over to help him to his back. She felt as though his horrified eyes were shooting her.
"What've you done to him?" Harry whispered.
"It's the full Body-Bind," Hermione was twiddling her fingers and her brow was knit. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry."
"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," Harry said.
"You'll understand later, Neville," Ron said apologetically.
Kate opened up the invisibility cloak and beckoned to her friends to squeeze under it.
"It's lucky that Kate and Harry are so skinny or this would never work," Ron breathed as they crept down the corridor. In fact, Harry and Kate had to practically stand stomach to stomach to get this to work at all. As if that wasn't awkward enough, every time they heard the smallest sound they imagined Peeves attacking them or Filch coming at them with a whip.
The first obstacle they met (besides the process of walking) was Mrs. Norris, pacing in front of a stairwell. They managed to skirt around her, but it seemed to Kate that her eyes followed them the whole way down the steps. There were no more people around until they met Peeves in the act of loosening a carpet so that people would trip. He stopped.
"Who's there?" He squinted at them. "Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie?" He went higher up to look at them from the top. "Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen."
Kate's heart was flopping like a fish out of water.
"Peeves," Harry said in a hoarse whisper that made Kate jump a bit. "The Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."
Kate had to stop herself from laughing as Peeves nearly fell to the floor, apologizing profusely.
"I have business here, Peeves, stay away from this place tonight."
"I will, sir, I most certainly will. I hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you." He flew off.
"Brilliant!" Kate whispered. She wanted to hug him, but she sort of already was. It was mere seconds later that they were outside of the door, which stood ajar, leading to the forbidden third corridor.
"Well, there you are," Harry said softly. "Snape's already got past Fluffy."
Or Quirrell, we'll find out soon. Kate thought a bit nervously. Her heart sped up that much more as they entered. Then, to her surprise, Harry spoke again.
"If you want to go back, I won't blame you. You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."
"Don't play Mr. Macho," Kate snapped, scolding herself for her own fears.
"Don't be stupid," Ron said.
"We're coming," Hermione finished.
As the door opened, they were greeted by the growls of the three-headed dog. Kate's first instinct was to run away, but upon closer inspection, she thought it was quite adorable and could even see where Hagrid felt a soft spot in his heart for it. The dog-heads sniffed at the invisible quartet.
"What's that at its feet?" Hermione whispered in Kate's ear.
"It's a harp," Kate said.
"Snape must have left it there," Ron mumbled.
"It must wake up the minute you stop playing." Harry whispered.
"Uh," Ron started. "Just out of curiosity, who's singing this beast to sleep?"
Nobody moved, yet Kate had the impression that everyone had just shifted to look at her.
"Crap," Kate sighed. "You guys all suck. Let me out of here."
Kate started shifting out from under the cloak, took a deep breath, and went.
"Fluffy lay your ugly heads, down upon your wretched… bed, close your eyes and go to sleep, rest your ugly hulking heap." To her amazement, Fluffy's eyes began to droop.
"What was that?" Ron hissed.
"Worked in the Frog Prince," Kate shrugged. Fluffy started growling again, so Kate started singing again. "A long, long time ago, I can still remember…."
"Keep singing," Harry warned as they all came out of the invisibility cloak.
"…knew that if I had one chance, that I could make those…."
"I think we'll be able to pull the door open," Ron inched closer to the trapdoor and peered cautiously at the slumbering Cerberus. "Want to go first Hermione?"
"No I don't!"
"All right," Ron grit his teeth and stepped cautiously over the dog's outstretched legs and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, pulling it up and open.
"…Miss American Pie…"
"What can you see?" Hermione was twisting her fingers in front of her and her jaw was trembling.
"Nothing- just black- there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to…" he swallowed "jump."
"Who's going first?" Hermione asked tremulously.
"…write the book of love and do you have faith in God above? And do you want to go now, I'm getting tired..." Kate continued singing the same tune. "Come on jump or I'll go nooooooowww! The players tried for a… oh those are the wrong lyrics, oh well! Somebody go now, s'il vous plaît!..."
"I think I'll go first," Harry said, smiling slightly. Then he looked meaningfully to Ron. "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"
"Right," said Ron.
Then Harry jumped. Kate's tone sank as her heart did. However, soon after Harry jumped he called up. Kate couldn't hear what he was saying over her singing (she had gotten to the crazy part about the king looking down and she always rocked that part, deadly sleeping dog or not.) Nevertheless, Ron and Hermione soon followed and Kate came soon after, still singing, mostly to herself at that point. She gave a final look to the sleeping dog and leapt.
Her stomach disappeared and she began to wonder if she was supposed to fall for this long.
The landing was soft, as if someone has left a bunch of dirty socks at the bottom of a hamper. But the scent was not rancid or malodorous like a load of used socks, it was earthier. Hermione was flipping out.
"Look at you both!" Was all Kate got a chance to hear before Hermione jumped up and struggled… why was she struggling?...towards a wall. Kate didn't understand at first, but she too leapt up and followed. Her ankle had a tendril of what seemed to be….
"Devil's Snare! Oh my gosh!" She ripped it off and joined Hermione, who was panting by the far wall.
"Stop moving!" Hermione instructed breathlessly. "I know what it is- it's Devil's Snare!"
"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help!" Ron lashed out as the plant curled around his neck.
"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" Hermione's eyes were clamped shut as she mentally searched her textbooks. Kate was tugging at her hair, still dizzy and disoriented from the fall.
"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry's face was turning an interesting shade of red as he wrestled the ever-curling plant away from his chest.
"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare… what did Professor Sprout say?- it likes the dark and damp-."
"So light a fire!" Harry struggled to say the words.
"Yes! Of course- but… there's no wood!" Hermione's eyes snapped open as she looked around waving her hands helplessly.
"Oh, Hermione!" Kate grabbed her wand just as Ron bellowed, at the end of his tether.
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD? ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"
As Hermione finally was about to react, bright orange fire shot out of the tip of Kate's wand and caused the plant to react by curling away, in the process, releasing Harry and Ron from its grasp. They jumped up and scrambled to join the two girls by the wall, panting, hair plastered with sweat to their damp foreheads.
"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," Harry was wiping his face on his arm.
"Yeah," Ron breathed, hands on knees, "and lucky these two don't lose their heads in a crisis- 'there's no wood,' honestly."
"Let's go," Kate said, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu as they stared down a stone passageway.
"Right,"
The echoing of their footsteps seemed deafening next to the utter silence of the hall. Only the steady dripping of water accompanied them. Kate listened to Hermione's heavy breathing. It seemed she had nearly had a heart-attack back there. Ron's hands were trembling as he held his wand ahead of him. The floor sloped somewhat downward and made Kate think that they were heading straight into Hades. Harry's jaw was set and his eyes were glinting with determination.
"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered.
Kate strained to hear what he was hearing and was soon rewarded with a soft rusting and clinking sound. It sounds like birds with jewelry on, she thought.
"Do you think it's a ghost?"
"Dunno- sounds more like wings to me."
"There's a light ahead- I can see something moving."
"Whoa-."
At the end of the corridor was a brightly lit chamber that had ceilings as high as any cathedral. Birds, dazzling and colorful flew above them, making an odd tinkling sound as they collided.
"Hold on," Kate muttered, as she tried to look closer. Something looked odd about them.
"There's a door," Harry whispered.
"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" Ron asked, eyes bright with anticipation.
"Probably. They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once… well, there's no other choice…."
"Let's run," Kate hissed. "One, two, three!" They sprinted across the chamber, holding their arms above their heads protectively until the reached the door. Nothing had touched them, which at first seemed lucky, but as soon as they attempted to lug open the door, the discovered it was immobile. Hermione tried her hand at spelling it open, but that was a failure as well.
"Now what?" Ron asked, looking vaguely relieved.
"These birds… they can't just be here for decoration," Hermione said, squinting up at them.
"Are they… metal?" Kate whispered.
"They're keys! Winged keys!" Harry looked amazed. Then he looked around the chamber quickly. "Look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"
"But there are hundreds of them!" Hermione cried.
Ron examined the door a bit more closely. "We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one- probably silver, like the handle."
"Let's go, eh?" Kate said, clapping her hands together. They each grabbed a broomstick and shot into the cloud of birds, grabbing at any key they could, but the keys darted away. It wasn't long before Harry spotted the key they were after.
"That one!" He cried out. "That big one- there-."
"That one?" Kate pointed to a silver key. It looked too small-.
"No! That one. The one with bright blue wings- the feathers are all crumpled on one side."
Ron sped away after it, but it got out of the way and Ron smashed into the ceiling.
"Good move, you feeling all right there, Speedy McSpeed?" Kate asked, rushing to his aid.
"Little dizzy," Ron shook his head.
"We've got to close in on it!" Harry instructed, still focused intently on the key. "Ron, you come at it from above- Kate you come from that side, Hermione stay below and stop it going down and I'll try to catch it. Right, NOW!"
Ron dived, Kate darted at it, Hermione rocketed upward, eyes closed in terror. Harry, however, was the one who pinned it to the wall with one hand, a look of intensity on his face. They landed quickly. Kate slapped Harry on the back and they jammed the key into the lock and turned. He released the key and held the handle down.
"Ready?" Harry asked them, green eyes bright.
"Oui," Kate agreed. Ron and Hermione nodded and they watched as the door opened.
The room was so dark that they were nearly blind, but as soon as they completely crossed the threshold, an astonishing amount of light flooded the room and they were momentarily unable to see. However, once their eyes adjusted, they saw what appeared to be an enormous chessboard with chessmen the size of trolls. They stood behind the black pieces, which they had to look up to in order to see their faces. Across the chamber were the imposing white pieces. Kate felt distinctly ill. They all shivered slightly- the white chessmen had no faces.
"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ron said. "We've got to play our way across the room."
Kate peered behind the white pieces and saw another door.
"How?" Hermione said softly.
"I think we're going to have to be…" Ron looked at the black pieces, "chessmen."
"Oh," Kate whispered, unable to find her voice.
Ron wandered over behind a knight and put out a trembling hand to touch it. At once, it sprang to life and the horse pawed the ground. The knight turned to look at Ron through his visor.
"Do we- er- have to join you to get across?"
The knight nodded. It was a solemn gesture. Ron turned, ashen faced back to the other two.
"This needs thinking about…" he looked up and down the board. "I suppose we've got to take the place of three of the black pieces…."
Harry, Hermione and Kate stayed quiet, watching Ron think. Finally, Ron spoke again.
"Now, don't be offended or anything, but none of you are exactly… that great… at chess-."
"We're not offended," Harry said quickly as Hermione and Kate nodded encouragingly. "Just tell us what to do."
"Well, Harry, you take the place of the bishop, and Hermione, you go next to him instead of that castle, and Kate can go and take the place of the… other castle." He looked rather ill.
"What about you?"
"I'm going to be a knight."
The chessmen seemed to have heard and understood what Ron had said for four of them walked off the board and left four empty spaces that the four friends took.
"White always plays first in chess," Ron stared nervously across the board. "Yes… look…."
A white pawn had moved forward two squares.
Ron started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Kate was glad to be a castle because that allowed her to hide behind a few pawns for the beginning of the game. She became even gladder to have a guard when a pawn was taken for the first time- smashed over the head by the queen and dragged ruthlessly and motionlessly off the board. He didn't move again.
"Had to let that happen," Ron looked ill. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on." Hermione inched forward, looking on the verge of fainting.
Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no pity. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. A few times, and only just in time, Ron noticed that Harry, Kate or Hermione were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.
Kate stood facing the white queen from over a few pawns. Her blank face stared back at Kate.
"We're nearly there," Ron's voice made Kate jump. "Let me think- let me think…."
The queen turned away from Kate to look at Ron.
"Yes," Ron said gently. "It's the only way… I've got to be taken."
"WHAT!"
"NO!"
"That's chess!" Ron snapped. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward, and she'll take me- that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!"
"But-."
"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"
"Ron-."
"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"
Kate felt hot stinging tears leaking from her eyes as she watched him steel his face.
"Ready?" Ron called. "Here I go- now, don't hang around once you've won."
Ron took the step and no sooner had he done so then the queen pounced like a hungry panther and smacked him hard across the head. Ron fell to the floor. Kate covered her eyes and Hermione screamed, but they stayed on their squares.
"He's only been knocked out, he's only been knocked out, he's only…." Kate stared at him lying prone on the floor.
Harry moved three spaces to the left, trembling all the way.
Then the white king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. They had won. Kate started moving towards Ron but Harry grabbed Kate's hand and he, Hermione and she bolted through the door and into the next hall.
"What if he's-."
"He'll be all right," Harry and Kate chimed.
"What do you reckon's next?"
"We've had Sprout's, that was Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's…."
Another door loomed before them. The smell creeping beneath the door gave Kate the feeling that this room belonged to Quirrell.
"All right?" Harry whispered.
"Let's go,"
Harry pushed it open.
"Oh my gosh," Kate muttered, eyes watering. They saw, flat on the ground, a troll at least eighteen feet tall, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.
"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as they carefully stepped over one of its massive legs. Kate, who suddenly realized she was still holding Harry's hand, squeezed nervously. "Come on, I can't breathe."
The next door opened to reveal nothing terrible, only a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.
"Snape's," said Harry. "What do we have to do?"
They stepped through the doorway and jumped as a fire sprang up behind them. Not just a fire though; a purple fire while the other doorway held a black fire that did not look inviting. They were trapped.
"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Harry and Hermione read it while Kate looked at the bottles, trying to decide what they held and if they would put a fire out if they were dumped on the flames. The next room, she knew, held Quirrell and Voldemort. She didn't know why she thought Voldemort was there, but she felt it.
Hermione sighed enormously, causing Kate to jump about a foot in the air.
"Brilliant, this isn't magic- it's logic- a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."
"But so will we, won't we?" Harry asked, staring at Hermione as though she had just announced that she was going to become a dragon.
"Of course not," Hermione said, holding the paper lovingly, "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple."
"But how do we know which to drink?"
"Give me a minute."
Kate and Harry watched Hermione read the paper several more times and then she walked up and down the line of bottles, pointing at them and then referring back to the paper. Finally, she clapped her hands eagerly together.
"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire- toward the Stone."
Harry looked at the tiny bottle.
"There's only enough in there for one of us," he said. "That's hardly one swallow."
"I know what you're thinking, Harry," Kate muttered.
"Which one will get you back through the purple flames?" Harry ignored her.
Hermione pointed at a fat bottle at the end of the line.
"You drink that," Hermione was about to protest when Harry cut her off, "No, listen, get back and get Ron. Grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy- go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm not match for him, really."
"But Harry- what if You-Know-Who is with him?"
"That's what I'm here for," Kate chirped.
"You're not going with him, are you?" Hermione looked astounded.
"Too right I am," Kate said fervently.
"But there's not enough in there for both of us," Harry said sternly.
"Oh, don't be stupid, of course there is. This isn't the last beverage in the universe, you can take a sip and I'll take a sip," Kate snapped.
"Well- well-," Hermione was trembling.
"Fine," Harry agreed, seeing that Kate wasn't going to budge. "But you drink first, Hermione. If there's not enough left in the little bottle, Kate, then you're following her. You are sure which is which, aren't you?"
"Positive," said Hermione. Then she flung herself at them and hugged them. "Sorry," she blushed. And she took a drink and shuddered. "Ugh, it's like ice."
"Quick, go before it wears off."
"Good luck-."
"GO!"
She turned off and walked straight through the flames.
Kate grabbed the bottle. "Small sip, or I will kill you," Kate said to him. "There's enough in here for both of us."
He grinned at her, trying not to laugh in the heat of the moment. "Kate, I'm kind of glad you're so annoyingly stubborn." He took a sip and cringed, handing the bottle back to her.
"Cheers," Kate said. She drained the rest. It felt as though her body had filled with ice. She thought snow might have been lining her veins. Taking Harry's hand again they stepped through the black flame.
Here it comes, she thought. Proof, death or victory.
"Now doesn't seem like a time for 'I told you so,'" Kate mumbled, staring at Quirrell uneasily.
"You!" Harry gasped.
Quirrell looked completely at ease with the situation, smiling a bit wryly. He wasn't twitching at all. Kate had wondered if that had been a show.
"Me," Quirrell said smugly. He looked from Kate to Harry. "I'd half-expected Potter to show, but Slate, you're a bit of a surprise."
"I'm full of them," Kate spat.
"But I thought- Snape-." Harry continued.
"Severus?" Quirrell's attention returned to Harry and laughed in a malicious way. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"
"I would," Kate let go of Harry's hand and glared at Quirrell.
"But Snape tried to kill me!" Harry cried.
"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. If your friend Miss Granger hadn't knocked me over as she was rushing to set fire to Snape, I would have got you off the broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a countercurse, trying to save you."
Kate felt an amazing blend of relief and fury at these words.
"Snape was trying to save me?"
"Of course," said Quirrell coolly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was even trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really… he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning- he did make himself unpopular… and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."
Quirrell snapped his fingers and ropes sprang out of thin air, wrapping themselves tightly about Harry. Kate, however, had dived out of the way as the ropes appeared, falling to the floor hard on her knees. Scrambling out of his line of vision, she found herself crouching behind a mirror. The Mirror of Erised. Her knees pulsated with pain.
"Slate!" Quirrell whirled around. She watched his feet from under the mirror. He had been so preoccupied with checking to see that Harry was securely tied up that he had missed her flying off. "You can't hide in here, Slate, the room isn't that big,"
He was right of course. She didn't really know what she was trying to accomplish by crouching behind the mirror. Maybe simply distracting him for long enough would spare their lives until Dumbledore could fly to the rescue. She stared down at the flagstone floor, trying to listen to what Quirrell was doing. She jumped up quickly as she realized he was standing behind her. Quirrell's beady eyes studied her closely. She was frozen. It was as though he had seen her for the first time and realized that she was a long-lost sister or something the way he was looking at her.
"Go stand next to Potter and you needn't be hurt," he said composedly, walking towards her. Shaking herself, she darted away from him but was soon bound up as Harry was, except she was hovering in the hair. Quirrell set her down by Harry and smiled a bit triumphantly. Kate glared at him. "I must say, Slate, I have always admired how you would wear those hideous spectacles. Very brave of you." Kate blushed.
"Insulting me will get you nowhere, Quirrell," her voice was stronger than she felt.
"I would hardly call admiration an insult. Now you two wait quietly while I examine this interesting mirror."
Harry looked at Kate and Kate looked back at him. She shook her head and mouthed "weirdo." He mouthed "what should we do?" Kate mouthed back "anything."
"The mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell tapped around the frame with his wand and thumb. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this… but he's in London… I'll be far away by the time he gets back…."
Kate nodded at Harry.
"I saw you and Snape in the forest-." Harry blurted.
"Yes," Quirrell said idly, walking around to look at the back of the mirror. "He was on to me by that time, trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me- as though he could, I had Lord Voldemort on my side…."
Kate was going to say something scathing but thought better of it.
"I see the Stone… I'm presenting it to my master… but where is it?"
"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much."
"Oh, he does, heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead."
"But I heard you a few days ago, sobbing- I thought Snape was threatening you,"
To Kate's surprise, Quirrell's face twinged a bit at the mention of this incident.
"Sometimes," he said cautiously, "I find it hard to follow my master's instructions- he is a great wizard and I am weak-."
"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Harry gasped.
"He is with me wherever I go," Quirrell softly articulated, "I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it…. Since then I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me. He does not… forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me… decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me…."
"Is he watching you right now?" Kate asked quickly.
Quirrell responded quietly. "Yes. He always is."
"Where is he?" Kate continued. She noticed Harry shuffling to the side, trying to look in the mirror.
Quirrell glared at Kate as though she were being insolent. Harry toppled over, but Quirrell ignored him. "He is with me, very close to me,"
"Is he with you when you take showers?" Kate asked without really thinking.
Quirrell looked at her as though she were mad. Then he shook his head and turned back to the mirror.
He prodded it some more. Kate tried to think of something that would distract him again. "What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!"
And that was when she heard the voice of evil.
"Use the boy… use the boy…."
Quirrell wheeled around to look at Harry.
"Yes- Potter- come here." He clapped his hands only once and Harry's ropes fell away. Kate continued to be bound. Harry got slowly to his feet. "Come here," Quirrell repeated. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."
Kate stared at Quirrell and Harry as they gazed into the mirror together. Harry trembled slightly on the spot but stopped and looked intrigued as though the mirror was telling him something. Minutes passed this way and Harry's face melted into a look of surprise and then back to the look of quiet determination he had adopted this year. Kate sank to her knees because they were buckling and she feared she might topple as Harry had.
"Well, what do you see?" Quirrell asked impatiently.
Harry did not sound convincing as he said "I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore. I- I've won the house cup for Gryffindor."
Quirrell cursed.
"Get out of the way,"
Harry moved back towards Kate, eyes wildly searching the place.
"He lies… he lies…."
"Potter, come back here!" Quirrell shouted. "Tell me the truth! What did you see?"
"I told you what I saw."
Quirrell marched back and grabbed Kate by the ear. "You tell me, or she will pay for your lies."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Kate snapped. Her ear hurt as he pulled her to her feet. She began to lean sideways, her balance off.
Harry began to look unsure. "I told you what I saw! You can't hurt her for the truth!"
Quirrell released her ear as she swore violently in pain. He clapped his hands again and her ropes were undone. He grabbed her roughly by the hair and yanked her up again. She called him a name that she had never verbally used before.
"Harry, if you're telling the truth," Kate grimaced, "then don't back down for my sake."
"Let me speak to him," the high-pitched voice came again. "Face-to-face…."
Quirrell shuddered. "Master, you are not strong enough!"
"I have strength enough… for this…."
Quirrell dropped Kate to the floor again and began to unwrap his turban. Kate stared up, petrified. She couldn't move from the floor. What could be beneath that turban? Quirrell had finally lost the turban and he turned slowly around. Kate's mouth dropped open in horror and she quickly clapped her hands to her mouth.
Where the back of Quirrell's head should have been was a face, a hideous face with snake-like slits for nostrils, glittering red eyes and chalk-white skin.
"Harry Potter," it whispered. "See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapor… I have form only when I can share another's body… but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…. Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks… you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest… and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own…. Now… why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"
Kate suddenly looked wide-eyed at Harry, who stumbled back a step.
"Don't be a fool," the face snarled, "Better save your own life and join me… or you'll meet the same end as your parents…. They died begging me for mercy…."
"LIAR!" Harry shouted suddenly.
Quirrell was walking backward at him, so that Voldemort could still see him. The evil face was now smiling.
Kate got slowly to her feet and saw that Quirrell's eyes were scrunched shut as though this were hurting him. She crept slowly around as Voldemort was talking.
"How touching… I always value bravery…. Yes boy, your parents were brave…. I killed your father first, and he put up a courageous fight… but your mother needn't have died… she was trying to protect you…."
Kate leapt at him, tackling him to the ground. "RUN, HARRY!" She shouted, sitting on Quirrell's stomach and trying to pin his arms down. "TAKE THE STONE AND GO!"
Quirrell's eyes snapped open as Voldemort hissed. Harry was torn between helping Kate and running.
"JUST GO! GO!" She screamed as Quirrell's hands thrashed up to get her neck. She tried avoiding him, punching him in the face.
"STOP HIM!" Voldemort spat. "Don't kill her, but stop him,"
Quirrell, through a swelling eye, grabbed Kate's neck and was quickly on top of her. She couldn't breathe. She flailed, trying to get out from under him. He looked crazed, ready to kill her. He slammed her head down again, knocking her glasses askew.
"DON'T KILL HER!" Voldemort ordered. Kate was confused and dizzy, seeing tiny black spots and stars. Harry was running at them, ready to stop Quirrell, but a bright red light flashed before her eyes and she was drifting away. It was strange, because she thought she heard Voldemort whispering to her as she fell.
"Ugly Kate… I could make you beautiful, powerful, if you would have me…."