Chapter Seven:
Two minutes later, Ron came back out of the tent with a sleepy Hermione. "What is it, Harry?", she asked, yawning. "Look Hermione, do you remember when you said Quirrell was the only person You-know-who had ever been close to?" Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course I remember, it happened eighteen days ago." "Okay, so Ron and I had an idea." He pulled the deluminator out of his pocket. "That we could find him with this."
If he expected Hermione to be startled at this revelation, he was disappointed. She merely frowned and said: "I don't know, Harry. It may have helped Ron find us, but after all, he was sorry and he wanted to come back. Not to mention there was some sort of connection between us and the deluminator. I just doubt it'll work on Quirrell."
"Well, we'll never know unless we try, will we", Harry cut in. "Alright", Hermione said but Harry could tell she still didn't believe it would work.
Harry looked at the three of them. "You ready?" They nodded. Harry popped the deluminator open. "Take us to Quirrell's house", he thought as hard as he could.
Nothing happened. Harry opened his eyes in disappointment when slowly a bright blue light emerged from the device.
It hovered in the air for a second until it split up in four parts and went into each of them at once at a surprising speed.
They were taken aback from the force of the light over their hearts and then everything was a blur. Harry couldn't exactly say how it happened, but when he opened his eyes, they seemed to have let the forest behind them.
Although it seemed to have taken them no more than two seconds to travel, Harry could tell that a lot more time had to have passed. The sun was already up, bathing the green grass they were standing on in light.
They were standing in front of a small house, more of a hut, but in very good condition. It was painted bright yellow with dark brown casements. Standing in the midst of green grass and no civilisation in sight, the entire scene was oddly idyllic. It was weird to think somebody lived there who had once shared a body with Voldemort.
They were just going to the door, when Hermione stopped them. "One second, guys. It's probably better if only one of is knocks. He could get a stroke if he sees us all at once." She glanced at Harry.
"Who's gonna do it?" Draco asked. Ron slowly raised his hand. Everybody stared at him. "What?", he asked. "He won't remember me. If he is working for You-know-who or something, it's probably better if someone approaches him he wouldn't recognize or connect to Harry." Hermione stared at him, obviously impressed. He was right, of course.
So, Harry, Hermione and Draco hid near the hut while Ron knocked on the wooden door. It took a few minutes, but just as Ron was about to leave, a man opened.
Although he had visibly aged (sharing a body with the Dark Lord had obviously not agreed with him) and looked as though he had neither slept nor shaved in a few days, the man standing in front of Ron was unmistakeably their Ex-Professor Quirinius Quirrell. He had dark rings under his eyes and his voice sounded tired, but anxious as he asked: "Yes, what can I help you with?"