A/N: I do not own Harry Potter (although I wish that I did (money!! $_$)) all rights go to J.K Rowling, though I'm just borrowing her ideas and adding some of mine.

The Greatest Change in History

Harry walked through the fire, and for a split second, could only see the dark flames snatching at his body, but he couldn't feel them. Then, he stepped into the last room. Someone was already there, however, even before Weasley and Granger. It was Quirrel.

'U?' Harry said raising his wand. 'What are you doing here?'

Quirrel smiled.

'Me.' Quirrel said. 'I was already wondering when you'd show up here, Potter.'

'And here a few Gryffindors had almost convinced me that Snape was going to steal the stone' Harry said hiding his surprise and trying to be brave.

'Severus?' Quirrel laughed sharp and coldly.

'Yes Severus would seem perfect for that role wouldn't he? The perfect distraction. Who would suspect s-stuttering professor Quirrel if Snape was wandering around Hogwarts?'

Harry tightened his wand. He truly would never have thought that Quirrel would be Voldemorts accomplice in Hogwarts.

'Dumbledore and your suspicious Snape have been keeping an eye out for you, but it has all been a waste of time, for I'll have to kill you now.'

Quirrel snapped with his fingers, and ropes appeared out of no-where, which Harry deflected with a slash of his wand.

'Do not underestimate me!' Harry snapped, but Quirrel merely smiled.

'Oh no, I won't be underestimating you again. Not since what you did at Halloween.'

It suddenly all became so clear.

'You let the troll in.' Harry reasoned.

'Very good Potter. Yes, I released the troll into the halls of Hogwarts, in an attempt to steal the stone while the school was in chaos. Snape, however, was not so easily distracted. While everyone came running to the noise you and your friends made, Snape left for the third floor to head me off. We were barely in time to catch up with the other teachers in order to not rouse too much suspicion. Snape knew that he did not have any proof so he could not step to the headmaster, however, he did keep a close watch on me. Now shut up Potter! I would like to solve this last test.'

Only then did Harry notice that something else was standing in the room with him and Quirrel.

The mirror of Erised.

'This mirror is the key to the stone' Quirrel murmured. 'Really something for Dumbledore to think about this… but luckily he is in London….'

Harry slowly walked towards Quirrel. What did he know of him? He was is a Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. His knowledge of it should be greater than his.

Quirrel did not notice his advance. He was staring greedily at the mirror.

'I can see the stone…I am offering it to my master…but where IS it? There is nothing like failure to the dark lord..I MUST succeed!'

Quirrel seemed to be talking more to himself than to Harry.

'I don't get it…Do I have to break the mirror?' Quirrel asked the room at large.

Harry now stood in front of the mirror.

He saw himself presenting the stone to the dark lord as well. Only he…Only he…

'How does it work, how does it work?!' Quirrel shouted while Harry pointed his wand at Quirrel's back.

'Use the boy, use the boy!' A voice hissed through the room.

'Yes! Come here Po-

'Expelliarmus!' Harry cried at the exact moment Quirrel turned to him.

Harry had never expected someone to shield himself so fast. Faster than Harry could've imagined, Quirrel had blocked his spell and had send it back to him. Harry threw up his hands in desperation. A blue flash filled Harry's eyes.

And he heard Quirrel crash wandless to the floor, next to the mirror.

The bracer.

Rowans gift had saved him without him even intending to save himself.

'Wingardiu Leviosa' Harry murmured, before Quirrel could dive for his wand.

Quirrel's wandless body floated into the air. His eyes spoke of surprise, hatred and..could it be… fear?

At Harry's command, Quirrel crashed into the walls, the ceiling and finally the floor.

When he raised Quirrel once more into the air before the mirror, his heard stopped.

Quirrels turban had fallen off during Harry's attempt to knock him unconscious.

On the back of Quirrels head, another face stuck out.

It was white as chalk, with red furious eyes and split eyes like a snake.

'Harry Potter…The face said.

Despite Harry's intentions, his legs still tried to back away. He failed however, and remained where he was.

'Do you see what I have become?' The face said. 'I only exist of shadow and fog…I can only share the body of another like a parasite. Unicorn blood can sustain me, you have seen me drinking it in the forest..however, it cannot grant me a body of my own…but there is something that can…Now give me-'

Harry's body had finally obeyed him.

Eyes lowered, he sank to his knees, and let his master drop to the floor.
Voldemort turned so that he was facing Harry, raised his hand, and his wand came flying, which he caught.

'What is thiss…?' Voldemort hissed.

'Please forgive me….my lord.' Harry nearly whispered. 'I did not know. I sought to obtain the stone for you.'

'He lies!' Quirrel said from the other side of Voldemorts head.

'Silence Quirrel!' Voldemort snapped. 'Surprisingly he is not lying. I can see the truth in his head.'

Voldemort raised his wand, so that it very nearly touched Harry's forehead. Harry did not flinch however.

'I could take your life here and now..' Voldemort said almost longingly.

'If that is your wish.' Harry whispered, but still could not hide his fear of death.

Surprisingly, against all odds, Voldemort lowered his wand.

'You actually mean it.' Voldemort hissed. 'Why are you so loyal to me?'

'I was trained by Lucius Malfoy, my father, for that very purpose.' Harry said, and then decided to spill out everything. 'When I arrived at Hogwarts, Snape took over my training.'

'Lucius..?' Refusing to search for me, but train a boy for my service?' Voldemort hissed angrily. 'A pitiful way to regain my trust!'

'Still..' He continued. 'I can see that you have potential. Your skills with magic indeed exceed the magic of a first year by far.'

'Please..' Harry whispered still on his knees with his eyes averted. 'Let me join you..My lord.'

'If you wish to..' Voldemort hissed, and Harry's felt a happiness he had never felt before, Voldemort however, continued. '….Then give me the philosopher stone!'

'I don't know how!' Harry suddenly responded fiercely while standing up and facing Voldemort. 'Besides it would be suspicious if the stone was taken, and I'd still be here. Dumbledore will know, and take the stone away from you before you can gain a body.'

'You do not do a good job presenting yourself, scolding me like that while you wish to join me..' Voldemort said.

'I am merely pointing out the facts.' Harry said a lot more brave than he felt. He faced the greatest wizard alive, and was contradicting him. 'The top priority is to give you back your body, and you know that you will not gain a body in time, even with the stone.'

Voldemort looked suspicious, but Harry continued.

'How does this mirror work?' He muttered to himself.

He was fooling himself. He was trying to find the stone, but he did not actually want it, which was exactly what the mirror would let him see.

Then he suddenly felt his pocket gaining weight. He put his hand in his robes, and revealed the philosopher stone.

'My lord,' Harry said turning to face his master. Harry stretched out his hand to deliver the stone to Voldemort, who eyed the stone longingly.

Suddenly red sparks filled the space between him and Voldemort, and both Harry and his master were thrown away from each other.

'What are you doing Harry?!' A voice from up the stairs shouted.

Rowan had come after them.

'What are you doing here Rowan?' Harry demanded.

'I came to tell you that Dumbledore is on his way, he is in the castle. I came to your aid! But apparently you do not need any. You are a traitor to the castle of Hogwarts, and to your house!'

Rowan took his wand, made blue fire appear and shot it at Harry, who deflected it with an advanced shield charm.

When the fire had subsided, and his shield had vanished, Rowan lay dead on the floor.

Quirrel stood before him, wand raised.

'If Dumbledore indeed is on his way, then you are right. There is not enough time.' Voldemort snarled. He was silent for a few seconds.

'The stone must be secured' He finally said.

'How?' Harry asked. 'If Dumbledore is indeed on his way here, than there is no way out!'

'There is..' Voldemort hissed. 'Harry Potter, you will now prove your loyalty to me. You will take the Philosopher stone with you, and with it, you will take a memory lock that is so powerful that even Dumbledore won't be able to find it. With an implantation of new memories, we will be able to fool Albus Dumbledore. The next time I hold a wand, I will remove the lock on your memories, and you will come to find me.'

'I will not fail you my lord.' Harry said. 'But how will you explain the absence of the stone?'

Voldemort made Quirrel raise his wand, and made him produce a red crystal nearly similar to the philosopher stone. With a quick jab of Quirrel's wand, the crystal shattered, the fragments spreading across the room.

'When the stone is destroyed, it will lose its powers, and the fragments should resemble what lies here now. Small fragments with only the smallest amount of magical origin.' Voldemort said.

'Remember Potter' Voldemort continued. 'Personally I do not trust you yet, however, this is the only way. Prove yourself to me. Now prepare yourself!'

Harry put the stone back in his pocket.

Voldemort raised his wand, pointed it at Harry, and everything went dark.

Harry woke up in the hospital wing. He opened his eyes, and stared straightly at Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts.

'Good afternoon' The headmaster said.

Harry stared at him, then suddenly everything came back to him.

'Sir, Quirrel, it was Quirrel, I saw Quirrel standing in front of the mirro-'

'Relax, dear boy.' Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. 'Quirrel failed to obtain the philosopher stone, and I think we have you to thank for it.'

Harry did not understand. His head hurt when he head the headmaster talk about the stone.

'I do not understand.' Harry said ignoring the pain. 'What happened to the stone?'

'The stone has been destroyed. 'Dumbledore said simply.

'He…Voldemort…He shot a spell at me' Harry said, trying to remember. 'I looked into the mirror, and suddenly I held the stone.'

'I think…' Dumbledore said studying Harry intensely. 'That Voldemort tried to utterly destroy you, and that the stone very probably saved your life, as that is one of the things it does.' He finished with a smile. 'It grants life'.

Harry smiled, not sure what to say.

'When I arrived at the ministry of magic, I realized that I was actually supposed to be here.' Dumbledore said to Harry's unspoken question. 'I found Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, who were moving towards you as well.'

Dumbledore's voice trembled.

'I saw the dead body of Rowan Norton, and you lying only a short distance away from it, fragments of the stone spread across the room. I am sorry to say that I was too late to save him.'

Harry was silent. He felt saddened for the loss of his companion, but could not really remember seeing him die either. He thought that he had told him to stay with Weasley and Granger.

'How long have I been here?' Harry asked the headmaster.

'Three days. Rowan Norton's parents have already spoken with professor Snape and have already left.

That subject again.

'What happened to Quirrel?' Harry asked instead.

Dumbledore seemed to sense that Harry was too saddened to talk about the loss of his friend.

'Quirrel died.' Dumbledore said. 'If I have to speculate, I think that the backlash of Voldemort's spell was send back at him, and destroyed the host he was occupying.'

'But then, he will be back won't he?' Harry asked.

'Yes.' Dumbledore said severely. 'He will be back again. I think that he is wandering around again, like he has done for the past ten years.'

'I think that you have only delayed his return by keeping him from the stone..' Dumbledore continued. 'But if someone rises to the challenge again when he does try to return again, he might never return completely.' He finished with a smile.

At the mention of the stone, Harry's forehead began to sting again.

'Do you know who send me the invisibility cloak?' Harry asked once again changing the subject.

'Ah,' Dumbledore said sadly. 'Your father gave me that before he died, your real father. I thought it to be only right for you to have it after he died.'

'My real father?' Harry asked curiously. Lucius had actually never talked about his real father now that he thought about it.

'Yes. Of course you know that Lucius is not your real father do you?' Dumbledore asked, looking in his eyes for confirmation.

'I knew.' Harry said. Saying no more on the subject.

'Do you mind telling me a bit about my real father sometimes?' Harry asked the headmaster.

'Perhaps..' Dumbledore said dreamingly. '….sometime…'

Harry wanted to ask more, but Madame Pomfrey suddenly came in and announced that the headmaster had stayed long enough.

After Dumbledore had left, Harry sank back into the pillows. He realized that he was still wearing his school robes rather than the clothes which were normally given in the hospital wing.

Ignoring this, Harry closed his eyes and fell asleep once again.

A/N: Phew, that once again was a hard chapter for me to write. I hope you all like my plan with the memory lock and I do not hope that you all hate me too much because I killed off Rowan.

Question for this chapter for you guys: Is it a bit unclear that Voldemort implanted a fake memory? If Yes, then please not that everything Harry remembers is only what Voldemort wanted him to remember.

Only one more chapter coming, just to cut off some loose ends, and then I guess I will start with Slytherin's Secret (that is if you reach 50 reviews.)

As always R&R, and remember: I appreciate tips above comments.

Authors request: I notice in my reviews that the word 'Interesting' is used quite some times. I would ask you to refrain from doing that again, for it is not really original (:P). If you still insist, please use the words: Uncommon, Original, Surprising, unorthodox or just a variation on 'Interesting'. Thanks already

Arildun.