The Potter Timeline
Chapter 15 - A Looming Shadow
Harry stared at two parchments Hermione laid out on the table in the common room, each a duplicate of the other. As final exams were a mere ten weeks out, the girl thought it best to create a study plan they could follow. Using the highlighter and multi-colored quills Harry had given her at Christmas, the brunette produced an amazing schematic of color-coded subjects complete with time tables and references from each of their textbooks. At a single glance, Harry could see exactly what they needed to know to tackle the upcoming exams qualifying them for a second year at Hogwarts.
"Wow! This is great, Hermione!" he uttered, shaking his head at the genius of the girl.
She beamed at him and then glanced down at the parchments.
"This should help with most of our classes, though we'll have to go over the practical material for Flitwick and McGonagall's classes in the Spell Room," she told him.
"Right," he replied, "it must have taken you all night to make these."
"Nearly. But it's important we both get good enough marks to return next year."
The boy threw her a grateful expression which caused Hermione's eyes to soften.
"What would I do without you?" he said. The girl blushed.
With this information in hand, the two now balanced their daily schedule between regular classes, a half hour practicing in the "Spell Room", as they now referred to it, studying for their exams in the evening, and even managing to put in a shift in the Hall of Reflection, sometimes studying in the Hall itself. Their life at Hogwarts became busy and exhausting, the pair not getting to bed until well after midnight on occasion, or one o'clock after their once weekly astronomy class.
Nearly every student at the school found themselves in a similar dilemma. And the ton of work seemed to ease tensions among the Houses as everyone was busy making sure they'd perform well in their final months of school. One exception to this was Quidditch.
As Hufflepuff beat Ravenclaw in their match together, Slytherin was also able to pull off a victory against the House of the eagles in the following match. This placed Ravenclaw in dead last with regard to the House Championship. Hufflepuff, with one victory and one loss, was third, and Gryffindor and Slytherin were now tied. The upcoming rematch became the talk of the school - whoever won that match would win the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup and students in both Houses began preparing for victory in advance. To Harry and his teammates' chagrin, Wood intensified their practice sessions once more, the young man wanting to ensure the lions came out victorious. For Harry, this meant exhausting Quidditch practice at least twice a week in addition to all his other work.
On the next Hall shift, Harry and Hermione went together, as agreed. Hermione took her Magical Theory book and Harry took some of his schoolwork. After nearly an hour of reviewing constellations, medical potions, edible plants, and transfiguration equations, with Hermione giving him the occasional pointer, Harry took a break.
Sitting on the stone floor, his back up against one of the gargoyle statues, he glanced at the girl across from him, sitting against the other statue. She was engrossed in her book and munching on a piece of toast, oblivious to the parade of reflected students and professors appearing and disappearing in the mirrored walls. The whining, gurgling, and snoring sounds of Fluffy, as they discovered Hagrid was calling his "pet", could be heard through the doorway of the back corridor. But otherwise, all was quiet as the reflected images made no sounds of their own.
Resting his chin on his palm, he stared once again at the fleeting images blurring before him. Most held no real interest save for the occasional appearance of someone or something who stood out from the crowd. Both pupils were amused at one point to see two house elves materialize in the Hall and talk to each other briefly. One handed a red scarf to the other before they both snapped their fingers and disappeared. But still there were no images of Snape or the other intruder.
Feeling bored, Harry reached down and grabbed his invisibility cloak. Hermione told him that when she wore it inside the Hall, the pyres failed to light. Curious what would happen with both of them in the Hall together, Harry threw the cloak over his head. The pyres didn't extinguish. This confirmed that Hermione's visible presence kept them on. But when Harry gazed into the mirrors, his eyes went wide in astonishment.
"Hermione! Look!" he shouted out.
The girl looked up to find him invisible before her, but she then looked to the mirrored surface and went slack-jawed - his reflected image had not disappeared! He sat there in full view, in the mirror, as though he wasn't wearing an invisibility cloak at all! They both gawked at one another. But even stranger, Harry noticed his view of the room was inverted - glancing at the title on Hermione's book, the words were backwards!
"Harry, are you...inside the mirror?" the girl asked in amazement.
"I don't know. It's really weird, though."
Hermione got up and reached over, seeing if she could grab Harry's shoulder. She was successful.
"You're still here physically," she said.
"Yes, but everything looks backwards and...different."
The boy noticed objects in the Hall had a double edge to them, as though he was seeing them through a multi-faceted crystal.
But then the reflected outer door opened. In walked a professor wearing purple robes and a pointed purple hat. He had curly, ginger hair and carried several large books in his hand. As he passed through the Hall from the outer door to Fluffy's door, the man was startled to see a boy with rounded spectacles sitting on the floor, gazing into the mirrored wall. His brow furrowed at the sight of Harry, but he simply resumed his trek through the Hall and disappeared through the inner-doorway. Harry removed the cloak and his vision returned to normal. He looked at Hermione in amazement.
"I think there's more to these mirrors than what Dumbledore mentioned," he told her, "it was like I could reach out and grab that man's robes."
Hermione's face scrunched up in thought.
"You mean, that under your cloak you can somehow interact with the people in the reflections? But how is that possible? The images we're seeing supposedly happened in the past."
Harry shook his head.
"I don't know."
Harry stood and gazed into the mirrors once again. His curiosity went in overdrive and his penchant for doing brave things kicked in. He looked at the girl.
"How about an experiment? I'll put on the cloak and the next person who walks through, I'll see if I can interact with them."
Hermione held a worried expression, but nodded nevertheless.
"Okay, Harry. I'll stand by just in case, though I don't know what I could actually do if something goes wrong."
"Got it," the kid answered, "and to make sure we're not imagining things, I won't throw the cloak over me until someone appears."
He turned to the mirror, Hermione pulled out her wand, and both waited with bated breath for the next reflection. After a half minute, one finally appeared. The door to Fluffy's chamber opened and a petite girl with long, dark brown hair and a robe with the Hufflepuff badge on it walked in. She carried a textbook in one hand and a quill in the other. Harry looked at Hermione and swallowed hard. The girl frowned at him worriedly. Harry then threw the cloak over his head. Immediately, his view of the room inverted and everything had that double edge to it, including the Hufflepuff.
"Hello," he spoke to the girl.
The pupil froze, her eyes went wide, and her face turned pale at the sudden appearance of a boy out of nowhere. Harry then reached out and grabbed the quill from the girl's hand.
"Thank you," he told her in amazement.
The Hufflepuff screamed and ran for the outer door, opening it and slamming it behind her as though she'd seen a ghost. Harry yanked off his cloak and held his hand out to Hermione. Both of them stared at it in disbelief - he was holding the girl's quill! The pair were simply gobsmacked. Harry ran his hand over it to make sure it was real. The feather ruffled under his finger and the point of the quill felt sharp to his fingertip. But he was curious about something else.
"Did you hear the girl scream?" he asked his fluffy-haired friend.
"No, I only heard you say 'hello' and 'thank you'."
Harry's eyes went wide.
"I could hear her! Somehow my dad's cloak can transport me into the reflections and despite everything looking strange, it's as though I'm actually there, in the past."
The girl stood there frozen in wonder.
"That doesn't make any sense!" she uttered.
"I know. But somehow it's real," the boy replied with a half laugh.
Harry stared at the quill.
"Dumbledore definitely didn't say anything about this!"
The following day, during lunch, the two first-years were again discussing this astonishing discovery. Hermione looked at him before plunging her fork into a grape tomato from her salad. Her face was scrunched up in thought.
"So, it appears that the mirrors are enchanted as some sort of...time travel device that can only be accessed with an invisibility cloak? Honestly, Harry, I feel like a nutter just saying something like that."
The boy laughed.
"I know. It sounds crazy to me too. But think about it. Professor Dumbledore had me clean the Hall and said he did so in the event it might become useful. He then gave me my dad's invisibility cloak at Christmas. I thought maybe he wanted me to use the cloak to sneak around in. But perhaps he knew what would happen if I used it in the Hall. Perhaps that's the reason he returned it to me at the time he did."
Hermione paused in thought again.
"That makes sense. But for what?"
Harry shook his head while gazing at the melted cheese sandwich on his plate.
"I have no idea. I guess we'll find out. But this changes things...a lot."
"No doubt," Hermione replied while staring at her food in wonder.
Just then, several owls flew into the Hall delivering their posts. A brown school owl dropped a small letter right between them. On its face, their names appeared in sloppy handwriting:
Harry and Hermoney
Harry chuckled while Hermione had an annoyed look.
"Who spelled my name like that!" she shot out. Harry shrugged, still laughing.
"I think I can guess. Open it. It's addressed to both of us."
The girl pulled out a small note from inside the envelope. She read it out loud.
Come by my hut when the two of you get a chance. There's something I want to show you.
Hagrid
~HP~
Early shades of Spring made themselves known that Wednesday afternoon as they left the castle for Hagrid's hut. Harry and Hermione were relieved not having to wear thick winter clothes now as the air was warmer, though an occasional gust of wind reminded them cool weather wasn't gone for good. When they arrived at the circular house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they were both curious at the thick column of smoke rising into the atmosphere from the chimney as though Hagrid had a bonfire burning inside.
They knocked on the door and waited. When Hagrid opened it, the two kids felt like they'd been hit by a draft from a blast furnace.
"Hermione! Harry! Come on in, you two!" Hagrid boomed at them. The big man wore a rough, sleeveless shirt covered in dirt and black smudges over dark pants.
The two kids walked in and winced at the oven-hot temperature inside. The big man had the windows closed and the fire in his hearth was roaring.
"Hagrid, are you cold or something?" Harry asked.
"Me? Oh no, Harry. I'm jus' fine," the giant replied while wiping sweat from his forehead.
Harry and Hermione threw each other puzzled looks.
"Come on in and make yerselves at home. Would yeh like a cup o' tea?"
"No thanks, Hagrid," Hermione responded with a frown.
"Me neither," Harry added. Drinking a hot cup of tea inside the oven of Hagrid's hut would have him and Hermione both baking to a crisp.
No sooner had the pair sat down than Fang marched over and dropped his head on Hermione's lap, gazing at her with sad eyes. The girl rolled her own eyes and petted him. Harry chuckled. But with sweat forming on his forehead, Harry turned to the gamekeeper.
"Why do you have it so hot in here?"
"Cause o' that there, Harry!" the man said while pointing a poker inside the fire, "that's the thing I wanted to show yeh."
The two students gazed into the hearth to see an enormous black egg, oblong in shape with a mottled, outer surface.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"That, young miss, is a dragon egg, and a right beauty, don't you think?"
Both their eyes went wide.
"A dragon egg?" Harry asked the man in surprise.
"Yep. A Norwegian Ridgeback too, from what the stranger told me. Mighty rare, they are."
"What stranger?"
"The one I met down at The Hog's Head. A right friendly chap. Bought me a few rounds and we chatted a while. He was awfully interested in my job as Hogwarts gamekeeper, somethin' I don't get much of, mind yeh. We then played a game of cards and I won that egg from him."
"Wait, Hagrid," Harry said, "you won a card game with a perfect stranger who just happened to have a dragon egg on him, something you told me you've wanted since you were a kid. Doesn't that strike you as a bit...coincidental?"
"Well...perhaps," Hagrid answered with a shrug, "but it ain't none of my business what people carry around with 'em. I consider myself fortunate!"
The giant gave them both a huge smile, acting proud as a mother hen while gazing lovingly at the egg.
"Fortunate?" Hermione spoke with incredulity, "Hagrid, you do know it's against wizarding law to own a dragon, don't you?"
"Well...yeah...I know. But I couldn't just dump the thing on the side of the road. Besides, once it's hatched it'll need someone teh take care of it and see to it it's raised proper."
The girl was nonplussed.
"But if you're caught even possessing it you could wind up in Azkaban! Where exactly were you planning to keep it once it's hatched?" the girl asked with a scolding look.
"Well...I hadn't thought o' that yet. I suppose I could keep it in here 'til it's big enough..." the man uttered while gazing at the interior of his house. The two kids looked at each other gobsmacked. While Harry liked his big friend, the man could be a bit dull minded.
"Hagrid, I don't know a lot about dragons, but I'm guessing they breathe fire, right?"
"O' course, Harry. That's what makes 'em fascinating."
"Well, you live in a wooden house," Hermione added, "what do you think will happen when it gets big enough?"
The giant looked off into nothing, it seemed, perplexed by the question.
"I hadn't really thought about that. But it'll be a while before the little bugger can get around on his own. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."
It seemed a hopeless cause getting the man to see reason, so both thought it best not to try at the moment. But Harry couldn't ignore something else nagging him in the back of his brain.
"By the way, what did this stranger you played cards with look like?"
The giant gazed into the fire in deep thought.
"Well, I couldn't say, really. Never saw his face."
"Why is that?" Hermione queried.
"He wore this large cloak the whole time. Excused himself for it by sayin' he had a skin condition and couldn't be in direct sunlight...though now that I think about it, that was a bit strange considerin' we were indoors...at night time. But then I did have about five pints in me and probably wasn't in the best of thinkin' moods."
The two kids gawked at one another. A cloak!
"Hagrid, what exactly did the man want to know about your job?" Harry now asked, getting a bad feeling.
"He was curious what type o' creatures I look after at the school. Course, I told him about the unicorns, the hippogriffs, the giants, Aragog and his ilk...oh! He also seemed especially interested in Fluffy."
"What did he want to know about Fluffy?" Hermione asked with a gulp.
"The fella asked how I keep such a beast like that under control and I told 'em it was easy. Jus' play a bit of music and Fluffy falls right asleep."
At this, Harry and Hermione both jumped up from their seats and stared at each other in astonishment. Harry looked at the man.
"Well...Hagrid. It was nice seeing you again...and your...dragon egg. But we better get back to the castle. Hermione and I need to do some studying and I have Quidditch practice later."
The brunette was clearly thinking the same thing and nodded.
"A'right, then," Hagrid stated with a grin as he rose to open the door for them, "glad yeh stopped by and I'll send yeh a note when the critter's ready to hatch. Don't want teh miss that, I'll tell yeh. Amazin' creatures, dragons!"
"Okay, Hagrid. See you later," Hermione said as the two exited the hut, never more relieved to get out of the furnace into cool, fresh air. But also eager to discuss what the giant just revealed.
Hagrid waved to them as they headed up the path toward the castle.
Harry stepped closer to the girl as though someone around might hear him.
"Hermione, the 'stranger' Hagrid saw was wearing a large cloak. He also wanted to know about Fluffy and how to control him. If I had to guess, I'd say it's the same cloaked figure killing the unicorns and causing my scar to hurt. You were right all along. It's Professor Quirrell. He's the one trying to steal the Stone either alone or with Professor Snape. We need to warn Dumbledore. Now."
"I agree with you, Harry. But there's a problem, or rather, several."
"What's that?"
"Well, if we accuse Professor Quirrell of attempting to steal the Stone, what proof do we have?"
Harry stopped and stared at the girl in disbelief.
"What proof?" he asked incredulously, "Hermione, we know the man causes my scar to burn. The figure I saw kill the unicorn and drink its blood also causes my scar to burn and is clearly someone who can get in and out of the castle through a secret door, which, Percy mentioned at Halloween, could be a faculty member. And now we know that a cloaked figure tried to filch information from Hagrid that would allow him to get past Fluffy. And come to think of it, I remember meeting Professor Quirrell at the Leaky Cauldron near Diagon Alley the same day someone tried to break into Gringott's. What further proof do we need?"
"Yes, but Harry, you're forgetting one very important point in what you just said."
"What's that?"
"That you discovered the cloaked figure in the forest by breaking numerous Hogwarts rules!"
Harry's eyes went wide and he gulped at this. Hermione continued.
"Not only were you out after curfew, you were sneaking around outside the castle in your cloak and breaking into the Restricted Section of the library the same night! Not to mention that your scar burning has nothing to do with someone trying to steal the Stone - that's merely circumstantial evidence! Just like Quirrell being at the Leaky Cauldron!"
Harry frowned, realizing she was right. But the girl wasn't finished.
"And to add to all that, if we accuse Professor Quirrell of being the stranger who gave Hagrid the dragon egg, Hagrid might end up in Azkaban because of it! Do you really want to do that to him?"
"No, I don't," Harry answered forlornly. She threw the boy a sad expression.
"Whether Professor Dumbledore wanted to help you 'sneak around', as you call it, it's merely the word of two first-years against a tenured professor who could simply deny everything. Whatever way you look at it, Harry, we have no definitive proof. At least not proof we dare admit to."
Harry gazed into those pretty brown eyes of his smart friend.
"You're right, we'd have no leg to stand on."
The two stood there, outside the castle walls in silence for several moments. But then Harry's eyes lit up.
"...But...what if we could get definitive evidence?" he asked with a brightened face.
"How?"
"Through the mirrors in the Hall of Reflection! We need to continue our vigil to see if Snape and the other person enter. If it turns out Quirrell is that person, Dumbledore will know for sure! The mirrors can't lie!"
"But Harry, it could take a long time for that to happen! Time we don't really have!"
"But we have to try, Hermione! Whether we have evidence or not, you and I both know there's something devious about Quirrell! He's already killing unicorns in the Forest. We can't let him get the Philosopher's Stone too! Who knows what he plans to do with it!"
Hermione's face softened at this, and those pretty brown eyes watered while gazing back at him. She then threw her arms around the boy warmly. Harry was puzzled.
"Oh Harry!" she muttered with her face next to his, "you always know the right thing to do and you're so brave! I love that about you..."
She stepped back from the now red-faced boy. He smiled at her with embarrassment and shrugged.
"Perhaps I have a little courage in me," he admitted to the brunette, "but without you and your good sense keeping me from flying off and doing something really stupid, I'd be in a world of trouble. I'm really grateful...for you..."
Hermione wiped a couple of tears from her face and smiled.
"Perhaps we make a good team," she uttered shyly with pink cheeks, throwing doe eyes at the boy.
Harry smiled back at her.
"I think we do, Hermione."
The girl nodded.
"Okay, we keep watching the Hall then," she threw out.
"Agreed," he responded and the pair headed back into the castle.
~HP~
Over the next couple of days the pair took their respective shifts faithfully, hoping to see evidence of the intruder before that intruder attempted the trapdoor again. Hermione took her shifts alone like before, always bringing a book or schoolwork to keep herself occupied. Between this and their busy schedule, the two of them barely had time to look up before the next school week arrived. That Monday night, it was Harry's turn.
He left Hermione in the library this time. She sat at a far table in the back with both her books and his strewn about. They decided she would stay there until the library closed at seven that night, then she would retrieve Harry from the Hall before they both returned to Gryffindor Tower. She also promised to look up the location of the Dark Forces book while there.
The eleven-year-old sat up against one of the gargoyle statues as usual, browsing through his astronomy textbook, trying to memorize the names of the major and minor constellations of the Zodiac. After a half hour of this, he was tired and needed to stretch his legs. Getting up from the floor, the boy yawned and was about to head over and listen in at Fluffy's door when the reflected outer door opened. When Harry caught sight of the person entering, his heart nearly stopped.
In walked the black cloaked figure!
Harry could scarcely believe his eyes!
This was the very moment he and Hermione had been waiting for!
The boy watched awestruck as the person, he assumed to be Professor Quirrell, closed the door behind him and then hurried across the floor to Fluffy's corridor chamber. The figure pulled his wand and with a flash of light, the door unlocked and opened. The cloaked figure walked through.
A few moments passed before the outer door opened once more. And just as Harry suspected, in walked Professor Snape! The greasy-haired man held a look of suspicion and determination as he attempted to quietly enter the Hall in pursuit of the cloaked person...or simply follow him. When Snape arrived at the inner door, the man pushed the already unlocked door open and gazed into darkness. Drawing his wand, the professor entered.
Harry waited with bated breath for eternal moments wondering what would happen next. And then, Snape bolted out of Fluffy's chamber with a look of pain. Wincing at the wound on his calf, he limped across the floor toward the outer door, blood dripping beneath him as he walked - the same blood Harry had to clean up during his detention. After the hooked-nose professor exited the Hall, Harry turned back once more to Fluffy's door.
This was the moment. This would definitively answer whether the cloaked figure was Quirrell or not. And the question still burned in Harry's mind from the moment he saw the footprints last term:
How did the second intruder get out of the Hall without leaving any footprints?
When the answer came, Harry was amazed, but not surprised. The black cloaked figure with the overlarge hood suddenly reappeared, flying out of the corridor, across the Hall, and out of the exterior doorway...without touching the floor!
Harry's heart hammered and his breathing intensified.
He saw this same figure fly across the ground outside the Forbidden Forest. He also saw Professor Quirrell hover above the ground and then fly at him in his Confundus dream! There was no question now who the culprit was.
His heart still racing and eager to find Hermione, Harry bolted toward the outer door. But before he could get two steps, the boy skidded to a halt. The reflected door opened again. This time, in walked...Hermione! Harry shot a glance at the real door - it was closed. He then gazed at the reflected image of his friend as she entered the Hall in a hurry, for some reason. Puzzled, Harry now noticed her face was pale and she held an expression of fright.
Something was wrong.
When were these images recorded?
The girl ran to the center of the Hall and hid behind one of the gargoyle statues, occasionally peeking around it at the outer door. Soon, that outer door opened again and Harry's heart hammered at the reappearance of the black cloaked figure. The figure closed the door and walked to the center of the Hall carrying a small harp in one hand. As it approached her position, Hermione moved to the opposite side, trying to not to be seen.
It seemed as though she succeeded as the figure moved toward Fluffy's door. But before the girl could make a run for it, the figure spun around and pointed his wand at her.
'Oh no!' Harry thought in alarm.
There was a brief exchange between them. Quirrell, still under cover of his hood, forced Hermione to move to Fluffy's door. He then was insisting on something. Hermione refused and shook her head. In the next moment, Quirrell pointed his wand right at Hermione's heart. The girl froze in fright. Before Harry knew what was happening, a green flash of light erupted from Quirrell's wand and...struck her dead!
"NOOOO!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs, running to the mirrored surface and slamming his hands against it.
He reeled in shock seeing Hermione's body collapse lifeless on the floor. Tears formed in his eyes and fell hotly down his cheeks. His heart was shattered at the mere thought of his best friend, the girl who meant more to him than any other person, dying before his eyes.
"NO!" he shouted again.
Heart-broken and in fear, Harry watched as Quirrell now levitated her body into the air. He then moved forward and pushed her floating form through the doorway into the trapdoor chamber. The man followed after and disappeared from sight. The terror-struck boy could only imagine what that vicious man was now going to do to distract the three-headed dog and attempt to steal the Stone.
Harry stepped back from the mirror in shock, desperately trying to get his head around what he just witnessed. After a moment regathering his wits, Harry realized the images couldn't be from the past as he had just left Hermione in the library and came straight to the Hall. The reflections he saw then had to be from...the future! Dumbledore stated there were rumors the mirrored surfaces could show events not yet transpired. That had to be what he just witnessed! And that meant Hermione was...still in danger!
His heart beating wildly, Harry spun and flew toward the outer door.
He had to find his friend.
He had to make sure what he saw didn't happen.
He had to save Hermione!