Chapter Thirty-Two: The Aftermath
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Note: On the matter of whether or not Gilderoy is intelligent enough to be a Ravenclaw, I think that he'd have to be, even in canon. After all, even if people in the wizarding world aren't always the brightest (thus possibly lowering the standards for Ravenclaw), Gilderoy is still smart enough to fool them into thinking he's some big hero and build up a huge reputation and nicely manage his fame. He also manages to find appropriate stories of heroism before anyone else has heard the details and convince everyone that he was actually the one to do it. And so far, he's never been caught. He may not be the expert he claims to be, but his accomplishments – dubious though they are – indicate that he's far from stupid.
Poppy was a true professional. Albus had always known that but it had never been quite so apparent at it was now that she was performing tests on Quirrell and his little soul-passenger. It helped that she trusted him and he was pleased that, in this matter at least, he was able to live up to that faith. The room – not the Hospital Wing, he couldn't put that out of commission – was the most heavily-warded room he had ever crafted and even now new ideas to ensure that he could keep the prisoner (prisoners?) here were occurring to him and begging to be put into action.
"Well?" Albus asked once she had finished her scans and approached him.
"They are both completely amnesiac," Poppy remarked, shaking her head in wonder. "They know a little bit about the world but You-Know-Who, at least, seems quite shocked that magic is real. Professor Quirrell accepts that much. Neither of them seem particularly surprised that they are sharing a body despite not remembering the circumstances behind it."
Albus nods. "That makes sense. Voldemort was unaware of the existence of magic until he received his Hogwarts letter while Quirrell grew up aware of his heritage. And perhaps it is for the best that, until we can find a way to separate them, they are not distressed by their connection."
"Dumbledore…" Poppy said slowly, hesitantly. "As a medi-witch devoted to the caring and protection of my patients I would not normally suggest this but in this case I don't see that I have any other option."
"Yes?" Albus gestured for her to continue, having a feeling that he knew where this was going.
"Why don't you just kill him now?" Poppy asked him earnestly. "Having him here poses so great a danger that I tremble at it and it could ruin everything that we've tried to build over the past ten years. It could send us all back to that darkest of times. We couldn't even trust Azkaban for him with all of his best followers there and the Dementors his old allies. And what benefit does keeping him alive do? Human compassion? I think we're rather past that with him."
Albus bowed his head. "I quite agree with you, Poppy. If I could then I would certainly end Lord Voldemort here."
"But?" Poppy asked, clearly under the impression that any justification he could come up with for not killing him now would be insulting.
"I cannot kill him right now for the same reason that his backfired killing curse did not kill him after he murdered Lily and James," Albus explained. "As to what that reason is…Well, I have my theories."
A Horcrux seemed the most likely explanation but he was not going to go throwing that knowledge around if he could help it. It would only cause a panic and possibly alert any remaining semi-loyal followers Voldemort had so that they would know to add extra protections. No, he was all that he needed right now to try and track down the Horcrux and if, by some tragedy, he was unable to find and destroy it within his lifetime then he'd just leave a sealed letter with his will to Severus or somebody instructing them to finish the job.
And there might even be more than one Horcrux. It seemed ridiculous, of course, because splitting one's soul once was already far too dark for most wizards but Voldemort had been a Muggleborn. Perhaps not in the strictly technical way that both of his parents had been Muggles but he had been raised ignorant of his magical heritage in a muggle orphanage and so it amounted to the same thing, really. Muggleborns, no matter how long they had spent in the wizarding world, often just thought at a fundamentally different level than those who were raised in the magical world. It was not a bad thing, no matter what Voldemort's followers and sympathizers might have believed, but it did give them a different value system at times.
He had never met anyone but a Muggleborn, for example, who would get horrified over the treatment of House Elves. He himself was not horrified. He'd gladly pay one if that was what they wanted but they didn't and he would not try to force them to live according to his standards when they were happy enough where they were.
As a Muggleborn, it was entirely possible that Voldemort had never really gotten what was so terrible about splitting his soul and might not have seen a problem doing it more than once just to get a slightly better chance to avoid death. Fearing death was hardly a rare trait in a wizard, as the ghosts of the realm could attest to. And there had been more once but once a ghost no longer feared leaving the mortal plane then they moved on. It usually took at least decades and there were some that Albus doubted would ever reach that state, no matter how long 'never' really was.
Poppy nodded at that, not happy exactly but accepting of it and still trusting him to be able to take care of it. And he would, he resolved. No matter what it took.
No one really cared if you stayed out all night if you were at least a fifth year because then everyone just assumed that you were sneaking into a tavern or having sex. If you were a first year, though, then apparently your whereabouts are the most interesting thing anyone in your entire house could possibly be thinking about and they were quite anxious to share the wonder by talking about it nonstop.
"So, again, you're positive that you didn't lose any points while you were gone?" Draco pressed.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course I am."
"And you don't think you'll lose any in the future? Did anybody see you?" Draco asked urgently.
"Dumbledore did, yes," Harry conceded.
There was a loud groan from most of the room.
"What? After what happened there's really no way that he would take points away. In fact, he'll probably give us some and then we can beat Gryffindor again," Harry assured them. He paused. "It's hard to be very interested in this when we apparently win every year."
"We are going for a record," one of the older students informed him. "We only need two more years of winning and then we've got it. But we'd really like to keep this going as long as possible to decrease the odds that anyone will ever manage to break our record."
"What did you do out of bounds in the middle of the night that could possibly get you points?" Daphne demanded. "And does it have anything to do with the fact that Muggle Studies was cancelled today?"
"How do you even know that?" Draco demanded. "Is it because of your cousin?"
Daphne rolled her eyes. "No, it's not. I just pay attention."
Theodore winced. "Oh, wow. I really hope you didn't do anything to cause Quirrell to quit on us or be forced to leave his position."
"I…I don't know," Harry admitted. Having Voldemort on the back of his head probably meant that that was going to be the case. "But if anything like that happens then it is so not my fault!"
Theodore shook his head sadly. "If it were the Defense professor – not your dad in particular, just that job holder – and it were May or June then it wouldn't be such a big deal as apparently something like that happens every year. Now, though? January with the Muggle Studies professor? Yeah, I don't even want to know what they're going to do to you."
"Don't scare him," Pansy chided.
"You'd rather he'd be surprised when McGonagall gets his hands on him?" Theodore asked rhetorically.
"I don't think I should really talk about it yet," Harry said slowly, partially because he really didn't want to and partially because he didn't know what the official story was going to be yet. Ron, Neville, and Hermione had been there for most of it but by the end when Voldemort showed up there was only Gilderoy and himself. "I can tell you that Ron killed a troll because he thought it was cool when Pansy did it."
"Ron? Ron Weasley?" Tracy wrinkled her nose. "You were hanging out with Gryffindors? That explains why you were gone all night."
"Ron Weasley managed to kill a troll?" Draco looked horrified.
"To be fair, it was-" Harry started to say and then stopped himself. Was there really any need to get into what state the troll was in? He wasn't sure. "Well, he had Pansy's example to follow and killed it the same way," he said instead.
"Does anyone know what 'anger management classes' are?" Pansy inquired. "Because all these Muggleborns and Half-bloods keep writing to me to suggest it after that article."
Everyone looked at Daphne.
"Oh, for-! I am not a Muggle expert!" she insisted. "Go ask Hermione Granger if you're that curious."
"I'm not that curious," Draco told her.
There was a knock at the door.
Blaise groaned. "Oh, not again! If these are more Gryffindors come to drag you on more adventures then I am going to hex them."
"I'll help," Draco volunteered eagerly. "Though more out of general principle, really."
Someone finally got the door and brought back a note for Harry.
Harry took the note and skimmed it. "I'm supposed to head to the Headmaster's office."
"And you're sure you're not going to lose points?" Millicent asked skeptically.
"Pretty sure," Harry replied, grinning. "And if not, well, it's January."
"Fair warning, we will hate you forever if you screw this up for us," one of the older students warned.
Harry shrugged. "I'll keep that in mind."
"I do not want to seem ungrateful," Dumbledore began. "After all, Gilderoy, you did manage to neutralize the threat of Voldemort – at least for the time being – and allowed me to capture him until he could be properly disposed of."
"But you disapprove," Gilderoy said. It wasn't a question.
"I commend you on letting me know what was going on and I suppose I cannot blame you for not waiting for me to receive the message. I was speaking with Severus when you left your message and the medi-witch didn't want to interrupt so it took me awhile to even receive your message. I did leave as soon as I was aware of the difficulty," Dumbledore explained.
"How is Professor Snape?" Gilderoy inquired, more because that was the expected thing than because he actually cared.
"I am pleased to report that he has fully recovered and should be back at Hogwarts by now," Dumbledore explained. "It really wouldn't do for us to have to cancel two different classes today."
"Will Quirrell still be teaching after…you know," Gilderoy said, gesturing.
Dumbledore shook his head. "Alas, even if I still trusted him to handle the curriculum, there is the problem of his still being attached to Voldemort. Fortunately, there have never been a shortage of suitable Muggle Studies applicants and I should have one before the week is out."
"That's good," Gilderoy replied.
Dumbledore's blue eyes hardened again. "As I said, it is not your actions that trouble me, Gilderoy, but the fact that you took several first years with you. I could understand if they went by themselves because children do do rather foolish things. However, since you – a responsible adult and a Hogwarts Professor – were involved you should not have let them go. They could have been killed."
Since they had been the ones to handle most of the traps, it was doubtful. Well…maybe if Ron had had to sacrifice one of his friends in chess. Still, Gilderoy could see Dumbledore's point and he knew that he really shouldn't have brought them. Of course, that wasn't exactly how it had happened and without them he wouldn't have gone down there at all.
"I wasn't the one to bring them," Gilderoy explained. "Hermione and Neville have been investigating this for months now and awhile back they took their questions to Harry who was able to tell them that the name they were researching, Nicholas Flamel, meant that there was a Philosopher's Stone. Somehow, Neville and Hermione discovered that you were gone from the castle and thought that that would be the best time for someone to try and steal the Stone and they were right."
"I see," Dumbledore said, nodding.
"Ron sort of tagged along as they went to go find Harry to convince me to go look into it. They were trying to do the responsible thing by getting a professor," Gilderoy continued.
"That is all well and good but they never should have been allowed to accompany you," Dumbledore insisted.
Gilderoy shrugged. "I tried to send them back to bed as I'm sure they can attest to. Ultimately, they all decided that trying to save the day was more important than listening to a teacher or even their own father in Harry's case. I saw no alternative to taking them with me and watching over them aside from hexing them and I did not feel that that would be appropriate either. If I left them there then they might get hurt or killed and if I moved them there would be questions and lost time and they might end up coming after me once they'd recovered. There were no good decisions and so I did the best that I could."
Dumbledore nodded again. "Very well. I am still most disappointed that this happened but I can accept that you saw no other choice. In the future, do kindly stun them and take them to the Hospital Wing. Poppy can be most understanding."
"I hope that I will not be facing a situation like this in the future," Gilderoy said honestly.
Dumbledore almost smiled at that. "That would be the ideal outcome, yes."
There was a knock on Dumbledore's office door.
"Come in," he invited.
Harry strode into the room, a little nervous but trying to hide it. "You asked to see me, sir?"
"Yes, yes, sit down," Dumbledore said, indicating the chair next to Gilderoy. When Harry was seated, he offered him a lemon drop.
"No, thank you," Harry refused for likely the same reason that Gilderoy himself did. Who even knew what was in them? Something to relax them or make them more likely to tell the truth could be a problem.
Harry looked Gilderoy over carefully, checking to make sure that things were okay. Gilderoy nodded slightly and Harry marginally relaxed.
Dumbledore sighed. "No one ever wants a lemon drop…" He took two for himself. "Now, Harry, I'm sure you have questions."
Harry nodded. "I do, sir."
"Well I am giving you the opportunity to ask them," Dumbledore clarified.
"Why isn't You-Know-Who dead? How and why was he on the back of Professor Quirrell's face? And what's going to happen to him now?" Harry asked immediately. He did have a little bit of Ravenclaw in him, after all, and that could only be a good thing.
"Voldemort, Harry," Dumbledore said, possibly still a little upset that Harry refused to call him by his real name. Well, it wasn't out of fear (for either of them) but because it just seemed needlessly confrontational. "There are several possible reasons for his not being dead and you can rest assure that I am working to correct that. If it takes long enough and you get old enough before the task is done then one day you might even be able to assist in this."
Harry looked decidedly unenthused for a moment before smiling politely.
"He had been hiding out in Albania when Quirrell encountered him on Sabbatical. You wouldn't have gotten a chance to speak with Voldemort and for that I am grateful. One of his many gifts has always been his ability to bend men to his will. Any doubts or vulnerabilities that he spots – and he is very good at spotting those – and he can milk it for all that it is worth," Dumbledore explained. "It is hard, sometimes, to determine just how culpable the people who help him are and it shall certainly be a challenge once the time comes to determine what shall happen to Quirrell."
"I can imagine," Gilderoy agreed.
"Voldemort likely attached himself to Quirrell because this was important to him and Quirrell did not succeed in stealing the Stone from Gringott's. He wanted to be here directly, despite the risk or perhaps to taunt me, to make sure that Quirrell did not make any more mistakes. Extracting him without killing Quirrell will be complicated and, needless to say, we will not be letting Voldemort out of our sights. He will not return to terrorize the world again," Dumbledore vowed.
"Did the Obli…Obi…that memory spell do anything?" Harry asked, wisely deciding to feign unfamiliarity with the spell.
Dumbledore nodded. "It did extensive damage to them both though I believe that there is hope that, should Quirrell not be sent to Azkaban, he can recover to live a fulfilling life although I do not believe he will regain his memory without permanently damaging his mind and thus defeating the purpose."
"An amnesiac You-Know-Who should make him easier to contain," Gilderoy theorized.
Dumbledore nodded crisply. "Quite. I am afraid that I shall have to ask that you both keep quiet about Voldemort still being alive and us being unable to kill him for the time being. It can only worry people and perhaps inspire evil."
"I promise," Gilderoy said solemnly. "Nobody will find out that he's still alive right now from me."
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