Chapter 8: When Things Gets Real.
One afternoon after class with Professor Moreau, Harry had rummaged through his bag looking for his sketchbook.
'I wonder where I left it.' Harry thought.
Like usual, classes with Professor Moreau were emotionally strenuous. It seemed as the weeks drew on that it became worse.
The man seemed to find sadistic pleasure in calling students in front of the class for his rounds of inflicting pain.
Often the man would experiment with some magic or some new potion he discovered. After class there was always one student who was being sent to the hospital wing.
'Still there's nothing I could do. The likelihood of any adult taking me seriously is near nilch.' Harry thought. Though for those who know his patterns of thinking he could really care less as long as the trouble didn't concern him.
Harry tried to recall the last place he had seen his sketchbook, his thoughts coming up with a blank.
'Well there's only one place to check.'
He walked back to the History of Magic classroom with the intention of getting his sketchbook back.
Inside the classroom the professor seemed to be relaxing behind his desk.
"Professor?"
"Yes...ah Potter, you've just arrived?"
"I'm here to get my sketchbook."
"Oh that thing."
Harry was startled, the man seemed oddly nonchalant and in an otherwise good mood. There was a sense of wonder at this change of demeanor.
"It's in my desk." He said, opening a drawer in his desk and taking out Harry's sketchbook. "These are fine drawings, Mr Potter. Quite lifelike aren't they?"
"Um, uh yes."
"No need to be so modest."
Harry's face turned crimson.
"This work is reminiscent of work I've often seen at the hands of sketchomancers." Stein said. "I'm a sketchomancer myself. It's a very taxing art primarily on the psyche."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Such wizards to remove life from it's reality. It has a dark toll on one's life, equivalent to using a dark curse. The value of a person's life weighs heavily on one's magic, the intensity of the backlash can even damage a wizard's sanity." Moreau explained.
Harry noticed his eyes were wide with fear as if this statement was directly related to him. There was a bit of regret in his eyes and remorse.
"Professor, are you alright?"
The man looked up startled from his inner musings.
"Is there something the matter?" He reached out for Harry, who flinched at his touch. Professor Moreau's eyes narrowed sharply.
"Professor?"
"You should come visit me in my office after your classes."
"Professor, I'm rather busy."
"If you have time reserved for Professor Snape, surely you can reserve some time with me?"
"I really can't." Harry lied.
"I see that a pity, I'd really like to teach you something if you have the time."
There was something genuine in his statement that seemed to change from his demeanor in class and Harry didn't like it. He didn't want to be in the middle of Professor Moreau's plans for the next class.
"Professor, can you give me my sketchbook please?"
Moreau seemed a little reluctant to give it to Harry before he handed it over to him.
After he had left, Harry told Hannah about his meeting with Professor Moreau.
"He's crazy." Harry said explaining about the complete change of behavior from the professor upon obtaining his sketchbook.
"He could have a multiple personality disorder. That's what the muggles call it, right?"
Ugh, it was frustrating. Her theory didn't seem to have any merit. Multiple personality? Did Professor Moreau have a name for his cruel self and a name for his nice self?
"Have you talked with Professor Quirrell about the memory problem?"
"I never had the time." Harry said.
"Maybe you could talk with him before Herbology?"
That afternoon, Harry dropped by Professor Quirrell's office.
"Professor?"
"Ah, M-Mr P-Potter." He stuttered through the door. "P-Please come in."
Harry came in.
"You know you don't have to stutter around me, professor."
Quirrell's eyes widened.
"Er, yes."
The man seemed befuddled and thrown off by the clumsy way he tried to keep his papers in an orderly pile.
"Do you have any memory of that day you released the troll at the school?"
"I'm very sorry about that." He said quickly. "I hope no one was hurt."
"It's fine." Harry said calmly, confused at the professor's behavior. "My memory is a little sketchy though. Do you know what happened?"
"I rescued you after Professor Snape attacked you. He was after the Philosopher's Stone. What more do you need to know?"
"What happened before that?"
"I'd assume you followed him through all five traps. It's the only way through to escape."
Something about that statement was bugging him. Didn't Quirrell come from the right side in one of the secret passages? If he did what would be the point of going through the traps to begin with?
The fact that the philosopher's stone was hidden at all was only known by several teachers and by the looks of it and even Snape didn't know how many traps were there. Implying he had never used anyone to get the philosopher's stone however Quirrell had insinuated there was something held in the mirror as if he had tried over and over to find ways to get to it just to get whatever it held.
If Dumbledore was desperate keep the philosopher's stone himself and use Snape in order to get it for him why wouldn't Snape know about the number of traps in the chamber. It would be beneficial to the person trying to get the stone to know exactly the contents of the traps and how many there were. The fact Quirrell knew how many traps they were at all implied that he hadn't known of the secret passage at all.
The only time Quirrell had been anywhere near the stone was when he released the troll. If Snape had been keeping an eye on Quirrell as sharply as indicated, there'd be no way he'd know about the traps unless he had been behind them.
Harry couldn't figure out how Ron had known about the secret passage though. He figured he'd have to ask much to his ire.
"Oh, thanks professor."
"If that's all you wanted to see me for Mr Potter, I suggest you get to class."
~HPSS~
That evening, Harry had told Hannah and Susan about what he uncovered from Professor Quirrell.
"What I can't figure out though is why he'd follow us if he knew about the secret corridor? The only way that would work is if Ron had knew about the secret passage." He said. "Do you think he knows about the secret passage?"
"I don't know." Susan replied.
"Could you ask him? He's probably angry with me. More than likely he'll avoid me."
"Alright." She replied before she approached him.
"Hey Ron."
"Aren't you 'his' friend?" Ron asked with his wounded pride indicating Harry with his pointer finger.
"Yes. He was scared of approaching you himself. He said you'd avoid him. All he wanted to know is if you knew of a corridor that lead to a large mirror placed in the middle of a room."
"A corridor that leads to a mirror?" Ron asked with bewilderment. "I've never seen a mirror that wasn't planted on some wall above a bathroom sink."
Susan conveyed the news to Harry.
Hannah chuckled.
"How was it upclose with Ron Weasley?" She asked in a teasing manner. "He does tend to sulk alot doesn't he?"
"He just a little hurt over how Harry treated him at St. Mungos." Susan said.
Harry ignored the girly banter putting things together in his head.
"Then that just proves my suspicions to be correct."
"Suspicions?"
"Snape couldn't have been lying about the traps in the corridor leading to the mirror. He didn't know about the traps because Snape always used the secret passage to get to the mirror. It doesn't explain why Quirrell used the secret passage though." Harry said.
"You said that Quirrell couldn't have possibly known about that secret passage because he only went down there once and none of the teachers knew the number of traps implying that there was absolutely no way, Quirrell could have gone to through the secret passage and known the number of traps present?"
"Yes."
"No one told him about the traps?"
"Snape said that Dumbledore was the one who asked the teachers to make the traps in the first place and that Snape was supposed to protect the stone from Professor Quirrell."
"The only thing that sounds even remotely possible at this point is if he had cast a memory charm on you." Hannah suggested.
"That makes sense." Susan replied in shock. "You did say Professor Quirrell was good with memory charms."
"I wouldn't approach him directly about it though." Hannah said. "Wizards like that are not above or beyond the use of unforgivable curses. If motivated he could probably cast spells that induce pain, kill you or use your mind as his own puppet."
"Why don't you tell Professor Snape?" Susan asked. "Even if he doesn't listen to you, he can still protect you from Professor Quirrell."
"Great idea."
~HPSS~
The next day, it was with reluctance that Harry went to History of Magic not looking forward to class with Professor Moreau.
By the end of class it was Harry's unfortunate luck that he received detention from Professor Moreau for refusing to participate in his little experiments.
It was that evening, Harry reluctantly knocked on the large wooden door that lead to the classroom.
"Enter."
"Mr Potter, I'd like to know why you insist on being so continually stubborn in my class. As you know it's my job as the professor to teach students everything I know and being an inactive participant will mean that I haven't done my job efficiently."
Harry was creeped out by his slasher smile and wondered whether he should be honest or lie. He wondered if the professor would see through his lie should he try and attempt it.
"Professor, I feel like our projects have been too dangerous." Harry said honestly.
He was fixated on the mirror hanging behind his desk . He looked down and saw the black potion from earlier in class sitting on his desk as well. He recognised it as a potion that was used in the chambers where that mirror was being held.
It smelled sweet, too sweet. A potion that had a similar scent was something Snape himself had cautioned him against. The man at that time had never steered him wrong.
Harry never thought though that Professor Moreau was capable of making a similar potion.
"For detention, you are to drink this." He said coolly, holding out the potion to Harry.
"What?"
"I thought I was clear."
Harry was taken aback by the deadly intent of the man's tone.
"No, are you crazy? That will kill me."
"Levicorpus."
Harry was hung upside down by his heel at the mercy of Professor Moreau.
Spinning in place Harry caught sight of the mirror from his upside down angle.
Reflecting on the mirror was completely legible words. What Harry had thought was jarbled ancient text was words that could only read backward and upside down. There were spaces between each syllable as if Moreau had hung poetry on the wall.
'His fam i ly gone, his child ren dead has ren dered Doc tor Jek yll un sta ble. A curse has be fall en him, u til lis ing his tal ents feast ing on his fear so much he has come to re ly on it to turn in to Mis ter Hyde.'
~Doc tor Mor eau- I will be come sane no long er
The poster on the wall from before suddenly made sense. Perhaps Moreau had laid cryptic messages around his room to tell them something.
Hannah might have been right perhaps Professor Moreau had been trying to get someone to help him sustain his dangerous personality.
"Like hanging upside down do you? Perhaps you'd enjoy the lovely wait of having your blood sink to the very top of your head causing your future imminent demise. It'd make the sight of your dismembered head so erotic." He said. "Though personally I'd rather enjoy the pleasures of keeping it clean as a momento of your pathetic existance. Your presence is nothing less than an insect being crushed beneath the bottom of a shoe and is useless to me. You have nothing I desire."
Indifferently Professor Moreau headed towards the door intending on leaving Harry there. The man was aware that a fully competent wizard could perhaps use magic to get themselves out of the predicament but the twist in this occasion was the fact there was only one countercurse for the spell and it was written in no readily bought potions book either and no first year would know the incantation of Finite Incantatem.
Harry seemed to realise this as well.
"Wait." He called out pathetically.
"What is it? Got something interesting for me." He taunted walking up to Harry who was still hanging upside down looking so closely at him as he were about to ravish him.
"I do. I do have something. I must have something I'm sure of it." He pleaded.
Moreau wordlessly relinguished the spell causing Harry to collapse harshly to the floor.
"Sorry if I ruptured any brain cells." He said maliciously dragging him to his feet peering into Harry's green eyes.
His sharp glance gave Harry the impression that he was reading his mind.
With disgust, Moreau pulled away.
"I see
"I see you're keeping things from me." He uttered in a cool dangerous tone.
"What?" The boy was genuinely confused.
"That memory block on your mind. I will shatter it. No one keeps things hidden from me."
The intensity of the man's eyes was too much for Harry and he felt his mind being split in two as the man pierced at the cage holding his memories.
Suddenly things became clear, the cryptic message on the mirror it was not only backward but upside down. What he thought were uppercase Ls were in fact lowercase Rs.
Lillow ot elizeq was upside down and spelled backwards. The message on the mirror in his dream was 'Mirror of Desire.'
This became clear even before the block on his memory had been removed.
Harry was shocked by the memories released from the block.
After the point he had confronted Quirrell the true memory came pouring forth in his mind.
Quirrell had attacked them from the back when they had stepped into the room with the mirror of erised.
The red hex had come from behind knocking his wand from his hand and he turned and saw that Snape was right next to him having not moved an inch to attack him. The wand in his hand nowhere to be seen.
Snape turned and saw Quirrell looking at them both with an evil grin on his face.
"Quirrell." Snape muttered distastefully.
"The two of you make this too easy."
Snape shifted in Harry's arms his lips close to his ear.
"Move us to the side, Potter. I need to see my enemy." He whispered.
With impulsive precision, Quirrell fired a skillful hex their way. Snape pushed Harry aside before quickly casting a shielding spell.
Snape however had no time to drop his guard as Quirrell was relentless in his spell firing. He winced as his leg began to feel the brunt of his weight. The truth was Professor Snape wasn't expecting Professor Quirrell to have been following them all the way to the room with the Philosopher's stone. He had been expecting to leave the place through the hidden exit in this room, the shortcut leading to the room next to the hospital wing where he could finally take the time to mend his bleeding wound.
Throughout this time Snape had only been bearing it, the intensity of the pain grew the longer he was standing on his mingled leg. Eventually the pain would be too blinding for him and he'd have cater to it.
Snape followed Quirrell's glistening blue eyes which seemed to plant on the mirror near the end of the room. Was that where Dumbledore hid the stone?
Firing spells of horrifying origins, Snape was unprepared for the disarming spell that came out of nowhere as Quirrell cast an incarcerating charm on the rope in attempt to ensnare him.
"Incarcerous."
"Incendio." Snape said trying to cast the flaming spell in attempt to burn the magic rope however the rope remained untarnished by the spell.
"It's futile. The rope in this room has had protections cast on it, your spell is useless, Snape."
Growling Snape turned his wand towards the mirror.
"Reducto."
The mirror shattered.
"NOOOOOO!" Two voices screamed in unison surprising him. Snape looked down at Harry. The boy's eyes widened with fear as he was sitting on his knees.
"You'll pay for that Snape." Quirrell snarled.
Snape defiantly met his malicious gaze.
"Confundo."
The man became limp in his bindings.
Quirrell drew closer to the boy.
"Mr Potter how good of you to join me this evening."
Harry backed up in horror as Quirrell's gaze bore into his eyes.
Flashes of memories passed by his vision. His life at the Dursleys, his life with Malory, the moments he had with his friends, how he had figured out Quirrell was after the stone.
Then just as suddenly, Harry saw Quirrell whose wand was touching his forehead.
"Obliviate."
The next moment he awoke Quirrell was grinning as his wand was pointing at Snape. A fog was clouding the older man's eyes as he pointed his wand at Harry. Deep in the dark depths, he prayed this wouldn't be his final moment on planet Earth as he saw a flicker flash past Snape's eyes as his lips began to curl in a sneer.
Then Harry was back in Professor Moreau's classroom. The man had a sly grin in his face.
"Fascinating memory but perhaps you should have contributed more effort."
The man turned to get the potion on his desk.
Harry was horrified. What was he going to do? Any second and he was sure the man was going to kill him.
"Expelliarmus." He said in a desperate attempt to get the wand out of his hands.
The man chuckled giving Harry a side glance.
"I believe you've been a naughty boy." He said stepping around his desk with a long rod in his hand.
Was the man going to try and spank him into obedience after issuing a death threat?
Harry's tactic hadn't been very efficient. The only person who could help him was most likely nowhere in his vicinity and in the corners of his mind he sincerely wished he was blessed with as much good luck that a god could have appeared somewhere like a literary plot device to whisk him away from this situation. He was sure somewhere in some alternate universe this could have happened but as it was Harry couldn't have been more unluckier.
Now Harry had to rely on his intelligence for once to get out of this situation. Snape had taught him a couple of spells that could be of use but he was certain Professor Moreau was more powerful than he was.
'What would Snape do in this situation?' Harry thought. Snape had told him that not all solutions were solved with brawn, he even emphasised daily how it was beneficial to rely on wit every once in a while.
Then the idea hit him.
Harry pointed his wand at his mouth with the intent in mind of being loud enough for Snape to hear.
"Sonorus."
"SNAPE...HELP ME."
The power of the spell had clung to every bit of Harry's intention as it echoed loudly through the castle.
Moreau quickly got the potion, picking up his wand and pointing it at Harry.
"Langlock."
Harry felt his tongue meet the roof of his mouth.
"What will you do now? There is no one here to save you. You've treaded the beaten path for far too long how will you fare when that path gives way?"
He revelled in Harry's fear as he fruitlessly tried to escape the classroom until eventually he grew tired of it.
Moreau cast a leg locker curse on Harry causing him fall on the ground.
The man knelt over Harry straddling his hips, the vial of poison heading towards his mouth.
One of his arms held both of the boy's arms in place as his right hand attempted to administer the potion.
In the fair distant on the corner of his fear induced mind, Harry could hear the faint sound of knocking on the door as the tip of the potion's vial brushed against his lips.
There was hope at the corner of his mind that his plea had been successful and it offered him strength as his hands had broke free from the professor's strong grasp and knocked the bottle out of his hands causing the potion on his right side. He could feel it seeping his robes.
There was the faint sound of the door squeaking as if someone was franctically trying to turn the knob in a panic.
"Why you little brat." Moreau snarled, grabbing the rod at his side intending on hitting Harry with it.
Harry braced himself for the pain before the big wooden door was blasted open.
He opened his eyes to the sight of Moreau who was bewildered from the combination of the sound and the firm grasp on both of his hands clinging to the rod he had intended on striking him with.
Harry was paralysed with fear at the implications of what he had tried to do. Professor Moreau had tried to kill him.
He looked up and saw Snape looking at him with a furious expression on his face but Harry was focused on the lost look on Professor Moreau's face.
"Incarcerous."
Harry heard Snape as he began tying Professor Moreau to a chair.
"Potter, are you alright?"
"Of course I'm not alright. He tried to kill me."
"Kill you?"
"The potion." Harry said looking to his right side. The potion was beginning to eat through his robes. "He tried to make me drink it."
"Stand up, Potter."
Harry complied.
"Remove your robes."
The moment Harry had removed his robes, a ball of fire had escaped Snape's wand burning them to a fine ash.
Snape knelt down on his haunches taking a brief whiff of the potion on the floor.
"Indeed." He remarked in what Harry could only describe as shock with the way his eyebrows had rose to his hairline. Snape turned to help Harry to his feet.
"W-Why does he work at this school?" Harry asked, trying to mask the fear out of his voice.
"I have suspicions that the school board might have had no idea they had hired a complete psychopath." He said before he gestured to Harry in encouragement in hopes of providing comfort. Harry took it for what it was and desperately clinged to him in a tight embrace.
The gesture while it didn't induce tears was a brief comfort to this horrifying nightmare.
Snape pulled away from the embrace focusing on the psychopath on his hands.
"We have to deliver him to the headmaster. We can't have a professor attacking their students." He said mustering a calm demeanor.
"I'll go with you." Harry said, not willing to admit that the reason for doing so was simply because the History of Magic professor had unnerved him.
Snape's eyes were focused on something else however as he removed a book from Professor Moreau's desk.
"Is that that object that you were looking for?" Harry asked curiously, puzzled as to why Snape was interested in an old potions book.
He shrunk the book and put it in his pocket.
"Mobilicorpus." Snape chanted pointing his wand towards the chair that held Professor Moreau.
Harry followed Snape to Dumbledore's office. The headmaster was puzzled by the presence of Professor Moreau.
"Is there a reason why he's here?" He asked.
"As usual, the school board has seen it fit to hire a complete psychopath as if the curse on Defence Against the Dark Arts position wasn't worse."
Dumbledore looked confused.
"What has he done?"
"He had tried to poison Potter." Snape explained.
"Not just me." Harry insisted. "He's tried to do it with other students too."
"I will inform the school board and they'll deal with the matter."
Satisfied with that, Snape wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulder leading him out of the headmaster's office.
"Wait, Harry." Dumbledore called out to him.
Snape relinguished his protective embrace of Harry leaving him in the room with Dumbledore.
"I trust you've been enjoying yourself at this school."
"Not a lot has happened other than the neverending death traps that seem to lurk at this school. Why did you hide the philosopher's stone here? The real reason if you please I won't believe you if you say this is the safest place on the planet no matter how many times you try to persuade me otherwise."
Dumbledore regarded him silently.
"I admit I may have been curious after you were regarded long ago as the person who vanquished Lord Voldemort."
"Vanquished? Is that supposed to make me feel better? Just because there's no one smart enough to see through your manipulative plans doesn't mean you can toy with my life. You know where he is because you had Snape watching his moves ever since he stepped foot as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. You think I can make him disappear once and for all. Does our lives mean so little to you?"
Dumbledore remained silent.
"Of course it does." Harry replied. "Because as long as there's magic you don't feel the pain when someone stabs you with a knife you have magic to remedy pain. When someone vanishes and goes missing you don't feel the pain that they feel when that person is lost. Would you accept death so willingly?"
"I have no fear of death, Harry."
The boy stared blankly at Dumbledore not being able to fathom the thoughts that lead him to make an insinuation like that.
HP
End Notes: I'm working on book 2 right now and I'm wondering what would you prefer I do with the characters from this point on?
1. What exactly do you want me to do with Lockehart in book 2?
a. Any more skills I should teach Harry?
2. In terms of pairings what should I do?
SLASH with Remus/Severus, Severus/Quirrell or Remus/Quirrell. (I am developing an awesome headcanon for Quirrell. I've never seen SS/QQ as guardians of Harry before and would love to see it.) If I do add slash it will be subtle and subtext at most.
or
Het with Snape/Charity, Remus/Narcissa or Remus/no one
or
Snape/someone else or Remus/someone else You can convince me.
3. Preference: Regulus or Sirius
4. Ron/OC or Ron/canon female character. You can convince me.