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Chapter Ten
Beyond Fluffy
Harry never knew how he made it through his exams, especially when he was half expecting Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment. The days slowly crept by, and Faykan confirmed that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door.
It was incredibly hot in the large lecture room that the first years had their written exams in, writing with special new AntiCheating quills. Their practical exams were just as difficult: Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his classroom to see is they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk, while McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox. Snape made them slightly nervous, watching closely as they remembered how to make a forgetfulness potion; Faykan had laughed at the irony.
Harry did the best that he could, while trying to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead, which was bothering him more and more ever since the detention in the forest. Faykan, Ron and Hermione seemed worried about him, but the rest of the Gryffindor first years seemed to think it was just exam nerves. Harry could barley sleep, only drifting off if Faykan played the flute that he had gotten for Christmas for him, weaving a spell like melody that cause everyone in the dormitory to become drowsy. Even then he was still woken by his old nightmare, except now they were worse because of the hooded figure dripping blood in them.
Strangely enough, only Faykan seemed as worried about the Stone as Harry, probably because of what they had shared in the forest. Ron and Hermione were certainly scared of the idea of Voldemort, but they were far too busy with their studies to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.
Their very last exam was History of Magic. After they were finished with the one hour torment of answering questions about batty old wizards and witches that had invented self stirring cauldrons or other nonsense and they would be free for one full week before their results came back. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Harry couldn't help cheering with the rest.
Hermione was going over the exam as they wandered down to the lake, like she did after every written exam. As they sprawled around a shady tree, they saw the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan tickling the tentacles of a giant squid that was basking in the shallows. "No more studying," Ron sighed contentedly, stretching out on the grass. Faykan was looking at Harry, who was still rubbing his forehead in pain.
"Your scar is still hurting, isn't it?" he asked and Harry nodded.
"I wish I knew what it means!" Harry burst out angrily. "It's never happened as often as this."
Hermione suggested that Harry visit Madam Pomfrey, but Harry knew that she couldn't help. His scar felt like, like it was warning him of coming danger. Ron told him to relax, as the Stone was safe as long as Dumbledore was around, and Snape couldn't know how to get past Fluffy anyway. Something clicked in Faykan's mind when Ron mentioned Fluffy, and Harry noticed his worried, far away look.
"I just thought of something," Faykan said finally standing shakily, "don't you think it's a bit odd that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and someone shows up that just happens to have one? I mean, who wanders around with dragon eggs in their pocket," he paled and started running toward Hagrid hut, "Why didn't I see it before!"
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Draco had just walked out of the castle to enjoy a little sunshine when he saw Faykan, followed by Harry, Hermione and Ron, sprinting as fast as they could down to Hagrid's hut. Fearing something might be wrong, Draco chased after them, arriving just as they were chatting with Hagrid.
"Hullo," he had just said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"
Draco was about to accept the invitation when Faykan cut him off, "No, we're in a hurry Hagrid, I've got something important to ask you about. You know the night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?
"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off." He took a look at their stunned faces and raised his eyebrows, explaining that there were lots of strange folk that came to the Hog's Head and he never saw the stranger's face, because the person had kept his hood up.
Faykan pressed onward, "What did you talk to him about? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"
"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here... He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after... so I told him... 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..."
Faykan asked how interested the stranger seemed when Hagrid mentioned Fluffy.
"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…"
Hagrid looked horrified and started to tell them to forget what he'd said, but they were all sprinting back to the castle as fast as their legs could carry them. None of the five students spoke until they were back in the castle, which was rather vacant as opposed to the warm, sunlit grounds. They flew up to Professor McGonagall's office, as none of them knew where the Head's office was, and skidded to a halt in front of her desk. Professor McGonagall looked up, and frowned at their panicked looks
"We need to see Professor Dumbledore, immediately!" Harry said, rather breathless.
"Well I'm sorry; Professor Dumbledore received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left straight for London."
"He's gone now, but this is important!" Faykan said frantically, "It's about the Philosopher's Stone."
Whatever Professor McGonagall was expecting, that wasn't it. The book she was holding fell to her desk with a thump.
"Someone's going to try and steal it." Harry continued further baffling the Transfiguration teacher.
"I don't know how you five found out about the stone, but rest assured it is perfectly safe," she said flustered, "Now, I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine." With that she dismissed than and returned to her book.
As they walked along the corridors, Harry finally spoke up again "It's tonight; Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs, and he's gotten Dumbledore out of the way. He must have sent that note, and I bet the Ministry will get a real shock when Dumbledore shows up out of the blue.
"But what can we…" Draco began but stopped and the all turned when Hermione gasped. Snape was standing right behind them.
"Good afternoon," he said smoothly.
They all just stared at him.
"You five really shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he said with a twisted smile. Turning to look directly at Harry and Faykan he continued, "People might think your, up to something."
He strode off in the opposite direction after making another snipe about how Gryffindor really couldn't afford to lose any more points anyway, which they all ignored.
"Well, that's it isn't it?" Harry said as they turned to go outside.
Draco stared at him, as did Ron and Hermione. Faykan kept an eye out for other teachers. Harry was very pale, and his eyes glittered with determination.
"I'm going down the trapdoor, tonight." He said flatly "I'm going to try and get to the Stone before Snape.
"You're mad!" said Ron.
"You can't!" said Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!"
Draco thought Harry was going to explode "SO WHAT!" he shouted. "Don't you understand, if Snape gets the Stone, Voldemort's coming back…" Harry seemed to trail off and Faykan picked up for him
"Losing points doesn't matter anymore, Voldemort needs to be stopped at all costs. Harry and I are going down the trapdoor tonight and you three can either join us or not, because nothing any of you say will change our minds."
Harry found his voice again and added, "Voldemort killed my parents, remember? I'm never going over to the Dark Side, so he will have to kill me too."
Draco spoke up before either of the other two, "Your right Harry,"
"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Harry.
"But will it cover all four of us?" Ron asked
"All four of us?"
"Oh come off it, you don't think were going to let you and Fay handle this on you own do you?" Draco added, nodding.
"Of course not," said Hermione briskly. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books; there might be something useful..."
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
After dinner Harry, Ron and Hermione waited in the common room for people to drift away. Faykan had gone out the portrait hole to get Draco so they didn't have to go all the way to the dungeons and lose precious time.
When the last person finally drifted on up to bed, Harry pulled out the invisibility cloak and they crept toward the portrait hole.
"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.
"Nothing, Neville, nothing," said Harry, hurriedly putting the cloak behind his back.
Neville stared at their guilty faces.
"You're going out again," he said.
"No, no, no," said Hermione. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"
"You can't go out," said Neville, "you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."
"You don't understand," said Harry, "this is important."
But Neville was clearly steeling himself to do something desperate and foolish.
"I won't let you do it," he said, hurrying to stand in front of the portrait hole. "I'll fight you!"
Hermione finally stepped forward and raised her wand, "Neville I'm really, really sorry about this. Petrificus Totalus!"
Neville's arms and legs snapped together and he toppled to the floor. The three Gryffindors hurried past him, muttering apologies as they passed. They threw the cloak about them and left Gryffindor Tower, passing down towards the third floor, intercepting Draco who was hiding in a small dark crevasse behind a statue, and ran into Faykan the fox outside the third floor corridor.
The door was ajar as they entered, Faykan changing back into human form and Harry pulling the cloak off them. Turning to Draco, Ron and Hermione, Harry spoke "If you want to go back now, I won't blame you. You can take the cloak; we won't need it from here on." They all complained at that, and they pushed the door open. Faykan took the flute from Harry as he walked inside, and immediately he began playing the same song that he had played to let Harry fall asleep. As Harry pushed past the door with Ron, Hermione and Draco, they saw Fluffy fast asleep with one giant paw on top of the trapdoor.
Motioning for Faykan to keep playing, Draco, Ron and Harry moved Fluffy's paw with difficulty and pulled open the trapdoor.
"What can you see?" Hermione said anxiously.
"Nothing, just black, not even a means to climb down, we'll have to drop," Harry replied, "I'll go first," he added. He looked at Faykan, who was still playing, and was given an assuring nod, as Faykan pointed with one hand at Fluffy, indicating that he would keep the dog asleep until they were all through then follow. Harry lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked up at Ron and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"
"Right," said Ron.
With that, Harry let go. Cold damp air rushed past him as he fell, and after a few moments he landed with a funny muffled thump. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.
"It's okay!" he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!"
Ron followed right away. He landed, sprawled next to Harry.
"What's this stuff?" were his first words.
"Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on, Hermione!"
Draco and Hermione had already jumped. She landed on Harry's other side while Draco landed next to Ron.
"We must be miles under the school," she said.
"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.
The distant music stopped. There was a loud bark from the dog, but moments later, Faykan had landed next to Hermione, who shrieked, "Lucky! Look at you both!"
Both Hermione and Faykan leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall. They had to struggle because the moments they had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around their ankles. Draco, Harry and Ron had their legs already tightly bound in long creepers without their noticing.
Hermione and Faykan managed to free themselves before the plant got any firm grips on them, and they watched in horror as the three boys fought to pull the plant off themselves, but the more they strained, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them.
"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "I know what this is, it's Devil's Snare!"
She starting to say a rhyme that she had learned in Herbology, but Faykan sprang into action as soon as she said the plant's name. Whipping out his wand, he slashed it in front of him and bellowed "kalina en' i' anar naara haba goth"[1] brilliant white light erupted from his wand and set the tendrils of the Devil's Snare alight, causing it to release the three boys as it fled from the fire threatening to engulf it.
"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," said Harry as he joined her by the wall, wiping sweat off his face.
"Yeah," said Draco, "and lucky Fay doesn't lose his head in a crisis, you really need to teach us some of those spells by the way."
"This way," said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.
After several minutes of following the downward sloping passages, Ron stopped listening.
"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered.
Harry listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.
"It sounds like wings," he said
"There's light ahead, I can see something moving."
They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door. In the center of the room were several brooms. Harry watched the birds for several seconds and they soared glittering overhead.
"They're not birds!" Harry said suddenly. "They're keys! Winged keys, and I bet one of them fits that door."
Harry, Ron, Draco and Faykan all took brooms and sped off snatching at keys, while Hermione studied the door. "We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one, probably silver, like the handle." She called up to the boys.
"That one!" Harry called to the others. "That big one with bright blue wings, the feathers are all crumpled on one side."
The four boys immediately formulated a strategy, coming in at the key from all four directions, pinning it between them all and the wall. Harry dived and with a nasty crunching noise, pinned the key against the wall with one hand. They landed quickly and Harry rammed the struggling key into the lock and turned it. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.
The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.
They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like granite. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces.
"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Draco. "We've got to play our way across the room."
Behind the white pieces they could see another door.
"How?" said Hermione nervously.
"I think," said Ron, "we're going to have to be chessmen."
Both Ron and Draco started working together, placing Harry as the king, Faykan and Draco as the two bishops, Hermione as the king's castle, and Ron taking the queen side knight. When they took their places, a white pawn had moved forward two squares. Ron and Draco would conjointly plan out their moves, and then Ron would shout out the commands to their pieces. They almost immediately started to dominate the board, barley losing any pieces. After what seemed like hours, Ron finally was muttering to himself,
"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think let me think..."
The white queen turned her blank face toward him.
"Yes..." said Ron softly, "It's the only way... I've got to be taken."
"NO!" Harry and Hermione shouted.
"That's chess!" snapped Draco. "You've got to make some sacrifices! He takes one step forward and the queen will take him, which leaves you free to checkmate the king, Faykan!"
"But," Harry started, but Ron cut him off
"Do you want to stop Snape from getting that Stone or not?"
Before anyone could argue further, Ron stepped forward, and the white queen pounced, striking him hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor. Hermione screamed and almost moved off her square, only remaining when Draco commanded her to stay put as they were still playing. Faykan then moved three squares to the left, casting 'bombarda' on the pawn in his way, "Checkmate!" he said and the white king removed his crown and threw it to his feet. Draco dashed to Ron, checking if he was alright, while Faykan transfigured the stone crown to a metal one made of what seemed to be gold, and placed it on Ron's head.
"Take care of Ron, then go to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore," Harry told Draco, who nodded, "We'll go onward," With one last desperate look back at Ron, Harry, Hermione and Faykan charged through the door and up the next passageway.
They had reached another door.
"All right?" Harry whispered.
"Go on."
Harry pushed it open.
A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one Faykan had turned to stone on Halloween, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.
"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Faykan whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."
He pulled open the next door, them all hardly daring to look at what came next, but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.
"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Faykan studied the bottles while Harry looked over Hermione's shoulder to read it:
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Hermione let out a sigh and Harry saw that she was smiling, the very thing he felt like doing. She explained that it was a logic puzzle and studied the paper several times over. Finally she clapped her hands.
"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire, toward the stone."
"Which one will get you back through the purple flames?" Faykan asked.
Hermione pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.
"You drink that," said Harry. "No, listen, get back and help Draco with 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, as we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really."
"But Harry, what if You-Know-Who's with him?"
"That's why I'll be with him," Faykan said, eyes glowing with the black fire's reflection.
"Please be careful, both of you," Hermione said finally, as she took a long drink from the round bottle and took off through the purple fire.
Turning to Faykan, Harry steeled his nerve and picked up the small bottle, "only enough for one swallow each," he said. Faykan just nodded, "Okay, here we come," he took one small mouthful and passed the bottle to Faykan, who drained it. It felt as though ice was flooding his body. Faykan put the bottle down and they stood, side by side before the black flames. "Ready Harry?" Faykan asked.
"Ready," he replied.
They jumped through the flames together. There was someone already in the next room, but it wasn't Snape. It wasn't even Voldemort.
It was Quirrell.
"You!" gasped Harry; he shot a look to Faykan, who was gone. Turning back to Quirrell, he saw a fox circling the room stealthily through the shadows.
Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all.
"Me," he said calmly. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."
Harry saw Faykan stealing toward the Mirror of Erised, which was behind Quirrell, while Quirrell's back was to him, so he decided to stall Quirrell from turning back to the mirror as long as he was unaware of Faykan.
"But I thought it was Snape." He said
"Severus?" Quirrell laughed, and Harry noticed that it wasn't his usual laugh, but cold and sharper. "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?"
Harry had come to that conclusion earlier, all of Draco and Faykan's thoughts about Quirrell were finally clicking into place. But Faykan was only halfway to the mirror, so Harry played like he was shocked.
"But Snape tried to kill me!"
"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape or you little friend hadn't been muttering counter curses, trying to save you."
Faykan was between Quirrell and the mirror, and was transforming silently back into human form.
Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Harry.
"You and your little friends are too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew one of you had seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."
"Ah so that's why you let the troll was inside the castle, I was wondering why you stank of it." Faykan said, announcing his presence behind Quirrell. As he turned Faykan shot a blinding flash of light at him, knocking the professor backward, away from Harry and the Mirror. Harry noticed that his bonds loosen dramatically, allowing him to slip free.
While Faykan dueled with Quirrell, both sending bolts and flashes at each other as they battled across the room, Harry moved to the mirror quickly, his mind racing. What he wanted more then anything right now, was to get the stone before Quirrell. Quirrell sent a blinding blue bolt at Faykan, who sidestepped it and returned to his offense, pushing Quirrell back further away from Harry, who had to duck as Quirrell's spell reflected off the Mirror.
Harry quickly stepped directly in front of the mirror. He saw his reflection, pale and scared looking at first with spells and curses flying behind him. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood red stone. It winked and put the Stone back in its pocket, and as it did so, Harry felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow, incredibly, he'd gotten the Stone.
Quirrell was screaming curses at Faykan, when finally a high cold voice sounded from his direction, but Quirrell hadn't spoken them "Fool, get Potter, he has the stone!" Blasting a final curse at Faykan, Quirrell turned and flew toward Harry, but Faykan cried "neuma goth!" and Quirrell was entangled in a magical net, that prevented him from moving.
"Master, the boy is strong, help me, Master!" Quirrell cried in desperation.
The cold voice spoke again, and it seemed to chill Harry to the bone, "Let me speak to them, face to face."
"Master you are not strong enough!"
"I have strength enough for this…"
Faykan was at Harry's side, wand still pointed at Quirrell, but Harry couldn't muster the will to move his legs as Quirrell removed his turban, revealing a horrific sight. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.
"Harry Potter..." it whispered.
Harry tried to take a step backward but his legs wouldn't move.
"Voldemort," Faykan hissed
"Yes, see what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapor… I have form only when I share another's body… Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body on my own… and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will finally return to power… Now… why don't you give me that stone in your pocket Harry?"
So he knew. The feeling suddenly surged back into Harry's legs. He stumbled backward.
"Don't be a fool," snarled the face, as it stared intently at Harry. "Better save your own life and join me... or you'll meet the same end as your parents... They died begging me for mercy..."
"YOU LIAR!" Harry shouted suddenly.
"How touching..." it hissed. "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... Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."
"NEVER!"
"KILL THEM!" Voldemort bellowed just as the net around Quirrell torn into pieces, and Quirrell fired a spell at Faykan, blasting him backward, right through the black fire into the potion room. He then leaped to Harry, knocking him off his feet and landing on top of him, both hands around Harry's neck. Harry's scar was almost blinding him with pain, yet he could see Quirrell howling in agony.
"Master, I cannot hold him. My hands! My hands!"
And Quirrell, though pinning Harry to the ground with his knees, let go of his neck and stared, bewildered, at his own palms, Harry could see they looked burned, raw, red, and shiny.
"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort.
Quirrell raised his hand to perform a deadly curse, but Harry, by instinct, reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face.
"AAAARGH!"
Quirrell rolled off him, his face blistering, too, and then Harry knew; Quirrell couldn't touch his bare skin, not without suffering terrible pain. His only chance was to keep hold of Quirrell, keep him in enough pain to stop him from doing a curse.
Harry jumped to his feet, caught Quirrell by the arm, and hung on as tight as he could. Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Harry off, the pain in Harry's head was building, he couldn't see, he could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" and other voices, maybe in Harry's own head, crying, "Harry! Harry!" as Harry's vision drifted into blackness and he knew no more.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Harry woke up to see lights sparkling above him, it looked like the Snitch. He blinked, and saw that it wasn't the Snitch at all. He blinked again, and the smiling face of Albus Dumbledore swam into view above him.
"Good afternoon, Harry," Dumbledore said politely. Harry immediately began telling Dumbledore everything, about Quirrell, the Stone, the fight down in front of the mirror, when Dumbledore interrupted him.
"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times," said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone."
Harry began to speak again, but the Headmaster held up his hand.
"Harry, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out."
Harry swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the hospital wing. He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets, and next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half a candy shop. In a bed nearby was Faykan, still unconscious and badly burned from head to foot. Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey were tending to his burns and setting his other injuries.
"What happened down in the dungeons between you, Mr. Undol and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows."
"How long have I been in here?"
"Three days. Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried about both you and young Faykan." Harry took another look at Faykan's motionless form, he looked terrible, his entire body red and blackened in some places. His wand lay on the bedside table with burn marks etched into the wood.
"But sir, the Stone?" Harry said turning back to Dumbledore.
"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say."
Dumbledore continued to explain that he had feared for Harry's safety as the effort involved in him holding on to Quirrell nearly killed him. He then assured Harry that the Stone was going to be destroyed, but warned Harry that there were still other means for Voldemort to return to the physical world.
Harry nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made his head hurt. Then he said, "Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me... things I want to know the truth about..."
"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is both a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."
"Well... Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?"
Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time.
"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today, not now. You will know, one day... put it from your mind for now, Harry. When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know."
And Harry knew it would be no good to argue.
"But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?"
Dumbledore explained to him about how his mother's sacrifice to save him created a kind of shield that prevented Voldemort from being able to bare to touch him, Quirrell, being possessed by Voldemort, therefore couldn't touch Harry either. Harry then asked how he got the Stone out of the mirror. At that, Dumbledore smiled, explaining that as one of his more brilliant ideas, only someone who wanted to find but not use the Stone could have gotten it out of the mirror.
Dumbledore finally bid Harry good day, and went to talk with Professor Snape while Madam Pomfrey was wheedled into allowing in Ron, (still wearing his golden crown,) Hermione and Draco for five minutes to talk to Harry. They all sent sad looks over at Faykan's unconscious form, covered in burn salves and other potions. Ron and Draco grilled Harry for everything that happened after the chess room. He told them everything, from the potion room with Hermione, and the battle that Faykan had with Quirrell in the mirror chamber. It was one of those moments where the truth was more exciting than the wild rumors.
Madam Pomfrey finally threw his friends out, and Harry was released soon after with orders to go straight to his dormitory and go to bed. When Harry climbed into bed, he saw a present on his bedside table which read 'to Harry, from Hagrid.' Opening it quickly, Harry found a leather covered book, filled with wizard photographs of his parents, smiling and waving at him. Harry fell asleep with the book clutched tightly to his chest, happiness flooding through him.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Severus was mentally cursing the stupidity of Gryffindors as he worked the burn salve into Undol's body. The boy was covered from head to foot in burns; Albus said he had found him unconscious in the very room Severus had prepared to defend the Philosopher's Stone. From what the Headmaster had learned from Potter, this boy had had a powerful magical duel with a Voldemort possessed Quirrell, and was doing rather well if Potter's word was to be trusted. Not only until Quirrell used a powerful 'reducto' curse did the boy finally go down, having been thrown through the magical fire separating Severus' defenses from the mirror room.
After he was finished speaking with Potter, Albus had come over to where Severus was just finishing putting the salve on the boys back. "How is he Severus," the headmaster asked. "He'll be fine in twenty four hours, Albus," Severus replied. He was still surprised, however, at how the boy had managed to survive the fires at all. The redness of the burns was already starting to fade, even though the black fire was meant to kill any who tried to pass without the correct potion.
"When do you think he will awaken?"
"Probably some time in the night, tomorrow morning at the latest." The Potions master guessed.
"Good, he should be healthy enough to attend the feast then I presume?"
"Probably," Severus answered "Headmaster, I was wondering if you knew anything about these marks on his back." He indicated the two grey twisting lines that started at Undol's neck and traveled down the boys back as well as spiraling down both his arms and legs. Dumbledore studied them for several moments, and then finally came to a conclusion. "Ah, it explains a lot about this boy, very interesting indeed. I had thought they had all returned across the sea…"
Severus looked puzzled "What is it Albus?"
Dumbledore looked at Severus, blue eyes twinkling with excitement, "They are the markings of an Istar, the members of the most powerful groups of wizards to ever walk this earth. But, why does this boy have them, the Istari went back to the realm of their masters almost two thousand years ago?"
Severus looked at the boy again 'Istar' he mused, if indeed this boy was one of those ancient wizards, it would mean he was capable of tremendous power. But it still left many questions, why was he just a boy? Weren't the only five members of the Istari in recorded history were all old men?
"Let's not worry too much about this right now, Severus." Dumbledore said, turning to walk away, "Clearly the boy is on our side, since he defended Harry from Quirrell, therefore who he is and what his goals are we can figure out in due time, it would just be best to play ignorant for the time being."
Severus turned to follow his mentor, but turned back to look at Undol one last time, those markings, it was strange, the boy that he remembered from his years at Hogwarts had something similar, didn't he? Or was Severus just so desperate to see his old friend again that he was rearranging the memories in his mind to make it seem that this boy was his friend reborn? Severus shook himself; this wasn't the time or the place to ponder such things. He strode out of the hospital wing, cloak billowing behind him, never noticing his patient opening his eyes to watch him leave "Sev…" the boy groaned, then feel back into slumber.
[1]kalina en' i' anar naara haba goth : light of the sun burn mine enemies
[2]neuma goth : trap my foe