AN: I edited the last chapter, fixing the incantation for the Imperius curse to the correct "Imperio."
The Philosopher's Stone
"Remus, I didn't think about this, but will the front gate even be open?" Arthur Weasley gasped out as he chased after the other man; he was definitely not as physically fit as Lupin was, and they couldn't apparate but so close to Hogwarts, even from as nearby as Hogsmeade, without risking hitting the wards.
"Good poi-oh my." Remus was prepared to agree with him, but he saw a speck of white heading towards them at rapid speed, "Hedwig!"
"Harry Potter's owl?" Arthur asked, remembering the name from one of his conversations with Ron.
"She's all of theirs." Remus answered as the snowy owl landed on his outstretched arm, "They're in danger aren't they?" He asked the owl, who nodded to him, "Please go get Hagrid's attention, hurry!"
The owl knew something was wrong with her wizards and witch, but they always seemed to get into danger when they were inside the school and too far for her to reach. Perhaps if she helped the wolf-wizard that helped care for them then they would stop paying so little attention to her!
Hedwig was familiar with Hagrid, the giant-wizard who brought her to her wizards, and knew that he would be in his hut. Following her own instincts as much as the magic of Post Owls, Hedwig flew to the window near Hagrid's kitchen and began rapidly pecking at it. As soon as he opened the window with a 'what in the blazes?' Hedwig swooped in and grabbed him by the beard with her talons, attempting to drag him to the door.
"Whatsa matter, Hedwig?" The giant man asked as he struggled to grab a coat as the bird refused to stop pulling on his face, "Somthin' goin' on?"
Following the bird at a jog once she had dragged him outside, Hagrid came to the front gates of Hogwarts, which were locked, at the same time that Remus and Arthur were arriving on the other side. Hearing the two men shouting at him to open the gate, Hagrid obliged and followed while they explained what the Weasley clock had told them.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Professor Quirrell was crazy, there was no other explanation for what Dudley was having to go through at the moment. The professor in question had ordered Justin to stand still next to the Mirror while he, himself, stood with his back to it. Dudley waited nearby, watching the man as he faced the door they had come in from. Quirrell looked like he was in pain, gritting his teeth and wincing every now and then, but Dudley couldn't figure out what he was doing. The Hufflepuff thought he felt magic come from the professor and the Mirror every now and then, but it felt… wrong somehow.
Not that looking into a mirror and not seeing the room reflected back at you wasn't wrong. When Dudley looked into the mirror he saw himself in Auror robes, with his friends and family around him seemingly congratulating him, but there was a Cerberus puppy sitting on the floor beside him leaning against his leg. I guess that's a pretty good 'heart's desire,' Dudley mused, I bet a Cerberus familiar would be awesome.
"It isss done. The Headmassster isss blinded." The other voice spoke, causing Dudley to jump and look around, once again it sounded like it had come from directly behind Professor Quirrell. Was there someone hiding under an invisibility cloak right behind him? Why?
He didn't get too much longer to think about it, as the voice continued instructing Quirrell, "Use the boy, exssplain his role."
"I already know what's in the Mirror." Dudley answered, keeping his eyes open for any indication of where the other person was, "Why do you want the Philosopher's Stone?"
While the professor stuttered through his instructions about how the Mirror's enchantment worked, ignoring the boy's question, Dudley glanced back and forth between Quirrell and Justin. His friend had blinked his eyes several times while the professor was distracted earlier, more than the unnaturally long time he was keeping them open before, which Dudley took to mean he might be coming out of the mind control. When the other professors inevitably got here he would need to be fast and get Justin down and out of the way.
"Master, there is a problem, other professors are likely soon to ar-r-rive." Quirrell stated fearfully, interrupting himself from explaining things to the boy. Dursley wasn't lying about knowing about the Stone and Mirror, and was practically shouting his thoughts now while he tried to keep his eyes on the professor. Quirrell's Master was furious, and his anger was pain.
"I sssee. Potter wass expecting him." The voice that kept making Dudley's spine shiver spoke again, causing Quirrell to cringe in pain, "Hurry then, prepare the contract."
"What?"
"Silence boy." Quirrell hissed, "The enchantment on the M-mirror is unbreakable; you cannot-t-take the Philosopher's S-stone if you want it for yourself. I need the S-stone, my Master needs it as well, and if I threatened y-y-you to get it then you would need it." The Defense professor took a steadying breath, and Dudley assumed that using a bunch of magic like this while holding a mind-control spell wasn't easy, "However, what if you are getting it for someone else, with no use for it of your own and n-no promise of re-w-ward?"
"Yeah, but I know if I don't you'll kill me." Dudley answered, quickly grasping why the professor had wanted the two of them. With confidence he definitely didn't feel, he continued, "Even if you threaten Justin, there's no way you won't hurt us after you get what you want."
"This will fix that for us," Quirrell returned as he pulled out a rolled sheet of parchment. He may not have been able to get the prize he was after last year when he broke into Gringotts, but he certainly hadn't left empty-handed, "Enchanted C-contract paper, safer than a true o-oath. With this, I will be unable to harm you even after I have the Stone."
"Huh?"
"Read it." Quirrell said, holding out the parchment so that the text on it could be read. It was a bare-bones promise by 'the undersigned' to not inflict harm or injury upon the person specified in the text, which had a blank for a name to be added, "I will add y-your name here, then sign it with a Blood Quill, the contract is written to last a year and a d-d-day. You know what it is. I saw P-P-Potter use one early f-first term."
"Why don't you have anything I have to do in it?" Dudley asked, getting a dismissive scoff from the professor.
"Fool, then you would not be here for no p-personal reason." Quirrell hissed as he took out the Blood Quill and filled in the two blanks on the contract. The parchment glowed gold for a moment once it was signed, which Dudley knew from his mum was how magic contracts were sealed, "Now, you will get the Stone, or your friend will die."
While maneuvering Dudley to position him in front of the Mirror, Quirrell placed himself on the opposite side of the boy from Justin. The first year had hoped to use this opportunity to maybe push Justin out of the way and try to get the professor now that he wasn't allowed to fight back; but his hopes were dashed by the stupid Mirror and his own racing mind. For just a moment while Quirrell's wand was trained on Justin, Dudley's thoughts zeroed on how he needed to get the Stone to protect his friend; and in that moment the Mirror of Erised changed to a reflection of Dudley as he was now. The reflection patted a pocket on his robe, and Dudley felt a weight in that same pocket of the robe he was wearing. Crap.
"Well?" Quirrell insisted, taking a step towards Dudley, "How do you get the Stone, boy?"
"He hasss it, take it."
That time, with Quirrell practically breathing on him, there was no mistaking where the other voice came from. It wasn't someone standing behind him, it was as though Quirrell had a second mouth on the back of his head. Is that what's under the turban? Dudley wondered as he tried to think of what to do.
As soon as Dudley saw the professor begin to move his wand, the Mirror had begun reflecting the room as it was once the Stone was in his pocket, he kicked the man's shin and jumped forward to grab Justin and pull him behind the Mirror. He was just in time, Quirrell launched a sickly yellow spell at the space where Justin had been a moment ago before firing a second time while trying to track the Hufflepuffs' movement. He ended up striking the Mirror and having to dive out of the way of his own Bone-Breaker curse. How in Merlin's name did Dumbledore manage to add an enchantment to the Mirror? Quirrell's mind reeled as he tried to understand his spell reflecting. It's practically impervious to magic!
"Ssstop you fool! The Contract!"
"Boy, you don't un-n-nderstand your position." Quirrel stuttered at the pair behind the Mirror. Refocusing on his increasingly tenuous hold on the other Hufflepuff, Quirrell commanded, "Come out from behind there, and stand where I can see you."
While he listened to Dudley struggle to hold his friend down behind the barricade, he couldn't risk personally getting involved in the altercation or he could violate the contract, Quirrell took the opportunity to once again curse his situation. The wards of the school would detect if he recast the unforgivable here; the rune array he used in his office to escape notice wouldn't reach him this far away. It had to be small to avoid detection by Dumbledore.
On the other side of the Mirror of Erised, Dudley was using his bulk and muscle to hold down his friend while trying to figure out what to do. At this rate Justin was going to slip away from him or get himself really hurt while trying. Harry has to have realized we're missing and checked the Map by now, he thought to himself, or rather hoped. Taking the Philosopher's Stone out of his pocket, difficult while holding his friend down, he finally decided to knee Justin in the head, dazing him so much that not even the Imperius could make him get up, and hurled the Stone at the wall beside the room's entrance with a shouted, "You want it? TAKE IT!"
The panic Quirrell experienced in seeing his prize fly past him at speed was sufficient to shatter his concentration on the Imperius curse; but he was still able to react fast enough to strike the wall, then the floor, with cushioning charms since the Stone itself would not be able to be affected by magic like that. Deciding that the children weren't worth the risk of being captured, the professor made the decision to run for the Stone. However he fell on his face just before reaching it when a knockback jinx hit him in the back.
Glancing back over his shoulder, Quirrell saw a smirking Dudley Dursley leaning out from behind the Mirror with his wand in hand, "Curs-sed boy, my Master will not forget this."
"Take the Ssstone and go. He and Potter will be the first to die when I have a body again." Dudley's blood ran cold when he heard the other voice say that. Was Voldemort actually in the room with them? How? "We will dissscusss how the boy kept hisss wand from you later."
Once the professor exited the room Dudley turned to take care of Justin. The other boy was moaning on the ground, both from pain and from confusion.
"Whathabloody… urgh, what happened?"
"Sorry Justin, I had to hit you pretty hard." Dudley apologized as he pulled his friend into a hug, "He was gonna kill you man."
"Was I… How did we get here?" Justin looked around groggily.
"Professor Quirrell is a Death Eater." Dudley answered, his voice beginning to quiver as his adrenaline wore off, "He put you under mind control, he needed us so he could get the Philosopher's Stone. It was in this mirror, he has it now."
"Blimey," Justin responded with wide eyes, "and you protected me? Thank you so much 'D."
"That's not the worst part." Dudley whispered, realization of what could happen now setting in, "I think Voldemort was here too. He has the Stone."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
The three wizards knew there was something wrong when they opened the main doors to the entrance hall of Hogwarts and found no one there to greet them. The wards of the school would inform the Headmaster and his Deputy if guests arrived through the front gates, even this late, so the only reason that no one would be here is if there was an incident that kept them.
Remus went from worried to downright frightened when the hall reverberated with an almighty CRACK of apparition so loud and forceful that it actually knocked the winded Arthur Weasley off his feet. Once the ringing in his ears and the pain in his eyes from the pressure wave wore off a few moments later he was able to see what had caused it. Albus Dumbledore was now standing in the middle of the hall, holding a broomstick and breathing heavily where he had just exerted himself.
If Albus is only just getting here, then this is even worse than I feared, Remus thought to himself as he asked,"Headmaster, are you alright?"
Noticing the three in the hall with him, Dumbledore nodded and gathered himself to begin moving, "Follow me please Remus, Hagrid, I don't know the situation but I will probably need your help. Whatever you required will have to wait, there is an intruder in the forbidden part of the castle. Arthur, please go inform Madam Pomfrey that her services may be required."
Quickly catching up with the Headmaster, along with Hagrid and Arthur, Remus answered, "I think we might be here about the same thing, the Weasleys' clock indicated Ronald was in danger. Where were you?"
"I was called away to the Ministry, which I now believe was a false summons to get me out of the castle." Dumbledore replied as he began moving more quickly, finally getting over the drain of apparating through the wards. He may be allowed to apparate through them, but they were still so thick that it was like pushing through molasses, not to mention the distance he'd travelled, "Fawkes had a burning day only two days ago."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
When he saw Quirrell returning on the Map, Harry acted without thinking; pushing Hermione onto Ron and throwing his invisibility cloak over them before running to hide behind a chess piece and hissing to Najash. His only priority was making sure that Dudley was fine, even if the professor had the Stone he would still have to get by the two professors. He was pretty sure he'd seen the Headmaster's name just appear on the Map before he dropped it, but if they were right about the professor here then it wasn't going to be as simple as hiding as he passed by. While waiting for the man to move after the door opened, Harry heard the professor talking to himself.
"Master, something is wr-wrong." The Defense teacher said, confusing those listening, "It is still the Chess-s-s-Set."
Though he couldn't make out what was said, Harry was confident that there was a reply. It sounded like hissing, almost like someone pretending to speak Parseltongue. He didn't get to think too much on it, as the low-grade headache he'd had since passing through the Devil's Snare was getting worse.
"Of course, Master." Quirrell said a few moments later, confirming Harry's suspicion that there was somehow another person. Unfortunately, the next thing out of the professor's mouth caused a gasp from Harry before he could catch himself, "P-p-p-Potter! I know you are th-th-there!"
As soon as the sound escaped his mouth Harry was forced to dive forward to avoid debris as the pawn he was hiding behind shattered under spellfire. Harry's spirits lifted for a moment, as all the other white pieces turned to attack the professor; but the man swiftly poked his wand at the king, casting a spell that knocked off it's crown. Immediately after the crown fell off the king's head all the other pieces froze in place while the giant stone king fumbled around trying to pick his crown off the floor.
"C-come out, Potter!" The Professor called, as he resumed stalking forward, "I-I don't want-t to-"
Quirrell didn't get to finish saying what he didn't want to do. Najash, taking advantage of the chance provided by the professor passing by him, struck out from a chess piece he had climbed. Unaware of the danger, and not expecting a snake, of all things, to attack him, Quirrell failed to react before the serpent had wrapped around his wand hand and begun constricting. The professor screamed in pain, then frustration and fear as he felt his wand snap in his hand, followed by a few of the bones in his fingers.
~Foolish serpent! How dare you strike a Speaker! Attack the boy, and I won't kill you for this!~
"Master, m-m-m-my wand!"
Harry, who had been in the process of crawling behind another chess piece, froze in shock at hearing Parseltongue come from Professor Quirrell. Though that meant he was in a position to hear Najash's response, and also what came after.
~False Speaker! You will never poison my wizard again!~ Najash hissed back as he slithered away while Quirrell stumbled in pain.
"Let me facccce the boy." Harry heard the hissing voice more clearly now, like the speaker couldn't properly switch back to English and extended all the s's, "And hissss impertinent pet."
"But master, w-w-we need to hurry." Quirrell protested before crying out in pain anew.
"There isss time for thisssss."
Accepting that his master was only going to get angry if he didn't comply, Quirrell turned his back to Harry Potter as he quickly unraveled the turban he had worn all year with his one good hand. The gasp of fear he heard from Potter was almost satisfying enough to let him ignore the pain in his broken fingers.
"Harry Potter…"
Harry almost threw up at the sight of a second face attached to the back of Quirrell's head. Dudley hadn't been kidnapped by a servant of Voldemort, it was Voldemort himself!
"Ssssee what I have become?" Voldemort continued, his voice no longer muffled by the turban, but broken by anger, "Mere Sshhadow and vapor… I have form only when I can sshhare another'sss body… but there have alwaysss been thossse willing to let me into their heartssss and mindsss… and onccce I have the Elixxxir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own."
The grotesque face took a breath and appeared to calm. Harry briefly wondered how that even worked, is his mouth connected to the professor's lungs?
"But firssst," Voldemort continued, "what ssspell have you cassst that protected your pet from me? How can a sssnake disssmisss the word of a parssselmouth?"
Harry crawled to his feet while Voldemort was talking, regretting for probably the first time that he didn't regularly carry his holly wand. Positive that Voldemort wasn't going to just let him go, and equally sure that he was screwed if he just raised his wand and tried to cast, Harry went for the element of surprise.
~I should have taken him to your class, you would have been caught sooner.~
Harry could tell that his plan worked, Vodemort's ugly eyes widened to almost cartoonish levels at hearing him Speak; and in that moment Harry slashed his wand at him. He didn't know the actual incantation or wand movement for this spell but he knew that it existed because Professor Sprout said it would be taught in her class in third year. Tina told him that was how she repaired that plate; if you already knew it was possible you could make your magic do it.
~Cut.~ Harry added for good measure as he felt a crazy strain on his strength, as well as a burning flare of pain in his scar.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"Severus, look out!" Minerva tried to warn her colleague without shouting too loudly over the sound of her transfigured bagpipes, but the sleeping cerberus had kicked during its dream and flung the man a dozen feet across the room.
"Stupid… urgh," he groaned, "I think the blasted thing cracked some ribs." He paused for a moment to take stock of what he was feeling, "Worse than cracked, my hip as well I think."
"Do you-" The Transfiguration professor began, before she paused as she was struck by a powerful signal from the wards, "Oh my. The Headmaster just apparated into the school!"
"Get moving!" Snape hissed as he began dragging himself out of the room, "Be careful of Quirrell, the Headmaster will be heading this way but he might still be too late!"
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Hearing Parseltongue coming from Potter was a shock to the system for Lord Voldemort; he had hesitated, and then done so again when the boy cast a cutting spell in the snake language. That hesitation almost cost him, but he wasn't the most feared dark lord in Britain's history for nothing; he wandlessly conjured a shield to deflect the spell. Unfortunately for him, the spell was so thick that it was as much a bludgeon as a cutter, and Quirrell's body staggered under the strain of keeping the shield together. It took every ounce of his concentration, but keep it together he did!
"Deturbo!"
The tripping jinx came from nowhere. Voldemort had only a moment to see Potter's mudblood friend to his left before he was falling onto his back, which was Quirrell's front. The Defense professor landed hard on his broken fingers. His pain response allowed him to undercut Voldemort's control of their shared body, and he rolled over to try and alleviate some of the pain.
Had he paid more attention to Potter, Voldemort might have been able to salvage the situation and at the very least take the students hostage before professors arrived; his enhanced senses let him cast without actually needing to see his target with his eyes. Instead, his mind was reeling from yet another mystery surrounding the Boy-Who-Lived that he couldn't explain. Where had this girl come from? The Dark Lord's mind raced, I checked for anyone disillusioned, and I would sense an invisibility cloak…
There! In his last moments occupying the body of Quirinus Quirrell, his magical senses, altered and augmented by his nature as a spectre, allowed him to notice a single thread of demiguise fur on the floor near where the girl was standing. A cloak, one that was almost so perfect that even his vision couldn't see it!
And then Lord Voldemort's world became fire.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Harry's heart soared when he saw Hermione take down Volde-Quirrell. But then he realized that now she was in danger too!
He hadn't fully thought out what his plan was when he started charging the fallen professor-plus-dark-lord, but he got his idea as he heard Najash call for him to stop and ~hide among the stones~.Quirrell and Voldemort obviously had the Philosopher's Stone hidden on them somewhere!
Harry jumped at the professor before he could start to get up or roll back over, there was no way this would work if Voldemort could see him since he could cast wandlessly, grabbed the man's broken fingers and yanked on them. Quirrell screamed, Hermione screamed, Voldemort screamed… and then Harry joined them in screaming. Something was wrong, horribly wrong.
The fingers that Harry grabbed burned to ash, followed by the hand they had been attached to, even as Harry's own hand felt like he'd thrust it into the heart of a fire. The lack of support caused by their sudden absence caused the Boy-Who-Lived to fall further forwards, and to catch Quirrell's face with his outstretched hand by accident. At this point, Harry couldn't see anymore for the white-hot pain coming from both his hand where he was touching the professor and also his own lightning-shaped scar.
Abandoning his plan of trying to filch the Stone while the one-and-a-half dark wizards were distracted, Harry brought his other hand around to grab the back of Quirrell's head; fighting to keep hold as the possessed teacher as the man pushed with his remaining hand in a futile attempt to dislodge himself. Just when Harry was sure that he was going to literally die from the burning pain, he was blasted off the professor as a wave of black mist erupted from the man's convulsing body.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
The sound of screaming children gave Minerva Mcgonagall a magical strength she didn't know she possessed; rather than freezing the keys and grabbing the correct one she fired an incredibly overpowered Finite at the door. The heavy enchantments being violently dismantled all at once actually caused the wooden door to crumble away as she approached.
Entering the chamber holding her trap for would-be thieves of the Philosopher's Stone, the Transfiguration professor's breath caught in her throat as she saw Harry Potter blasted away from Quirinus Quirrell by some kind of mist formed of dark magic.
"Curssse you, Harry Potter!" Came a voice from the black mist as a vaguely human face formed within it's wispy substance, a voice and face that Mcgonagall recognized from every single one of her nightmares, "What magic isss thisss?"
"Leave them alone, daemon! Begone!" Professor Mcgonagall shouted as she charged the spectre with her wand drawn. The spirit of Voldemort sneered once more before roaring in rage and flying straight up, passing through the tiny cracks in the floor and disappearing.
Mcgonagall kept her eyes on the ceiling for a few moments, but her attention was drawn back to the floor by Hermione's cries, "Harry! Harry, can you hear me?"
"Let me take a look Miss Granger." The professor offered, fighting not to gag at the smell of Quirrell's steaming body only a few feet away, and passed her wand over the unconscious Gryffindor, "Somehow, he appears to only be magically exhausted. I will need Poppy to confirm that for me. Where is Mister Weasley?"
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
Ron pretended to be asleep in his bed in the Hospital Wing while the adults argued over what had happened; hopeful that they would finish up soon now that all the others were asleep from potions. His family had fussed over him from the moment he was levitated in; his dad was waiting in the Wing when they arrived, and his mum and sister were brought in via floo as soon as Dudley and Justin were gotten out of the last chamber. Now though, he really wanted a chance to talk to the Headmaster alone. He wasn't sure his parents needed, or even wanted, to hear this, they were both clearly uncomfortable talking about You-Know-Who; but he knew that Dumbledore needed to. Once he told Dumbledore he could decide who else should know, like the DMLE for starters.
Dudley and Hermione had explained each side of the story, setting off a series of shouting matches over how things could have happened. Hearing that Justin had been held under an Unforgivable made Ron's blood cold, something he was amazed he could even feel after what he'd seen in the chess room.
Harry was still unconscious, his snake laying on his pillow beside him, and Madam Pomfrey had confidently told the others that he would be in-and-out of consciousness, but mostly out, for at least a week while his magical core refilled and resettled. His aunt was sitting with him; and she had already won the argument over whether she and Mister Lupin could stay in the castle with him for the night.
Eventually, Dumbledore convinced the others that they should wait until the morning, both for the adrenaline to wear off and also to try and determine how Quirrell had operated without being caught, before they argued over the events of the evening. Having already gotten permission to stay the night, Miss Petunia agreed that would be fine and Ron's parents agreed to return the next morning.
"Professor, wait." Ron whispered to the Headmaster as he stood to leave. Harry's Aunt was in the Hospital Wing's washroom and Madam Pomfrey was in her office, the first time Dumbledore had been alone since arriving.
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"Look at this." Remus called Minerva and Dumbledore to Quirrell's desk. The three were combing through the Defense office looking for the way that an Unforgivable had been cast without pinging any wards; Aurors are supposed to be automatically notified if one is cast inside the school for Merlin's sake!
It hadn't taken too long to find the rune array that had been used, though. It was small-scale, but caused the Hogwarts detection wards to bend around the office and leave it uncovered. Once discovered, Mcgonagall had made the suggestion that they look for any other things that were helping keep Voldemort hidden in the school, "These contacts seem to have runes on them."
"Indeed?" Dumbledore answered with a slightly confused expression as he picked up the clear container with the contact lenses in it, "I suppose it is good that you checked behind me then, I assumed those were merely a holdover from his time as Professor of Muggle Studies. We should take those to Professor Babbling for study."
"He apparently kept a journal of his attempts to bypass the Stone's protections." Minerva added, waving the journal she had found in a small, hidden compartment of the professor's personal cabinet. "There are several students besides Mister Finch-Fletchley that need to be checked for the aftereffects of the Imperius, but unfortunately he didn't record their names. He obliviated all of them after his experiments on the protections as well."
o0-0oo0-0oo0-0oo0-0o
"Is something the matter Mister Weasley?" The Headmaster asked, "I was just going to catch up with Professor Mcgonagall and Mister Lupin to investigate the Defense office."
"Um, there was something Harry and Hermione left out, well… didn't know. Something after Harry jumped on Quirrell. I thought you would want to know."
"Oh?" Dumbledore wondered, "I thought you said you were injured, and stayed under Mister Potter's invisibility cloak the whole time?"
"Yeah," Ron admitted, "and I'm not proud of that. But because I was still under the cloak I got to see it!"
"See what?"
"Harry threw his Map down with the cloak." Ron explained, "It was still active, and when I looked away from Harry when he… you know… uh, I saw it on the Map." Ron took a steadying breath, he was starting to hyperventilate at finally feeling like he could get this off his chest! "The Map just showed Professor Quirrell's name until then, but when You-Know-Who stopped possessing him he showed up on the Map as well! I saw his real name! It's To-"
"Obliviate." Dumbledore whispered the spell as he deftly flicked his wand to point at the redhead's temple. With the boy so entirely focused on trying to tell the headmaster exactly what he wanted him to forget, Dumbledore had no problem excising only the memory of seeing the Map on the ground in that one instant.
"-m, huh? What was I saying?" Ron blinked in confusion.
"You were apologizing for not trying to help Mister Potter more this evening." Dumbledore replied, "You need not worry. You were injured, and no one expected you to try and oppose Voldemort with a broken ankle. Your friends would have been distraught had you gotten further injured on their account. Now, let me go fetch Madame Pomfrey and you can have a sleeping draught like them."
Leaving the Hospital Wing to join up with the others, Albus silently apologized to the first year. Some knowledge was simply too dangerous to be trusted to the minds of children; and, unfortunately, knowledge of Voldemort's real name would lead to discovering things that needed to be kept secret. As of now, the former Death Eaters in their society stayed relatively quiet and avoided drawing too much attention to themselves. They were all worried that anyone who tried to lead the others would be punished by their master on his inevitable return.
However, many of those followers might decry him and try to gather their fellows under a new banner if they knew the truth. Considering the average type of person Voldemort attracted, that could also easily lead to a breakdown of Secrecy if they still felt they were untouchable as a group. No, the Headmaster needed to keep this secret as a weapon in his arsenal for the right time: that the Dark Lord Voldemort was a Half-Blood.
AN: The most recent chapters have been time consuming for me to write, but mostly because my brain is trying to move on to Year II when I'm not done here yet. It's most frustrating.
AN2: I'm sure that there will be people that complain about Dumbledore in this scene, but personally I think his actions here are quintessentially Dumbledore. IMO it is right up his alley to Obliviate someone of 'dangerous' knowledge both for their own good and also the "Greater Good."
