No Warnings

Chapter 21: Forward Motion Part III

"Jeez, Harry is your mother mental or something?" asked Fred as he finished reading Harry's letter. The Potter matriarch had praised, congratulated and even said she was proud of her son for doing a job well done. Then she had gone on about being careful about the other Slytherins, especially the twins but that wasn't anything new.

"I wonder myself sometimes," was Harry's answer. He was currently looking at the Marauder's Map. He was watching the name that followed Professor Quirrell closely. Harry had all but blown up at the twins for them not telling him about the name earlier. George had taken the brunt of it, as he was the one who found the name in the first place.

"Your brother was talking about a three headed dog to one of those Holiday twins and Granger earlier. They said it was in the off bounds third floor corridor." said Harry conversationally. "They've been very hush, hush about it."

"What in hell were they doing in the third floor corridor?" questioned Fred.

"Susan said that there was a Midnight Duel between one of the Holidays and Draco, but that's what she got from Neville. He was apparently with them." Harry was more interested in the map than the conversation.

"It looks like Draco's been a thorn in their side too," George said as he entered the common room. "A real git that one."

"Don't worry about it, this happened a while ago, before the fall Quidditch matches." smirked Harry. Draco had been considerable more bearable than what he had been earlier in the year. Now that it was December, Draco had become a little more obnoxious, but it was nothing compared to how he was before the Quidditch tryouts. He was only getting bad again because it was nearly Christmas time.

"Have the Gryffindors done anything since then?" George asked. Fred was more interested in pulling the legs off of Chocolate Frogs.

"They've spent a lot of time in the library. A bit unusual for Ron don't you think?" the twins laughed at Harry's comment. "We should just keep an eye out to what they are doing. We might get lucky and they'll lead us to something good."

"Like what?" Fred asked.

"My companion thinks something is going on within the school, and that the third floor corridor has something to do with it, along with all the teachers involved."

"Are we going to investigate the third floor?" George asked.

"Let's have your brother try to figure things out for a while. Whatever is going on in the third floor, it's dangerous." the twins laughed.

"Well, I'm sure that they'll be fumbling around for a while." said Fred. George was watching him use cutting charms on the rest of the chocolates.

"Is your mother going to let you stay at Hogwarts this summer?" George asked Harry as he stretched.

"Probably not. She hasn't answered me yet. And that's with me telling her that almost everyone from the group will be here." sighed Harry. "I think she's having nest issues." The twins laughed at they. They also knew that not everyone from the old gang was staying at Hogwarts over the Yule holiday. Only the Weasley boys were staying. Neville and Susan were both going home, and Harry was probably going home as well.

The only reason Harry wanted to stay was so that he could speak with Quirrell on his own, to get to know what was going on. The twins had never seen Harry so interested in something other than Quidditch and academics, excluding his companion and scar. The twins were positive that Harry was going to talk his way into staying this break.

Harry's eyes followed the name that constantly stalked Quirrell. His companion had reluctantly told Harry his true name. Harry had found the name very suited to his companion, but his companion denied all such claims steadfastly. So when George had brought the name to Harry's attention he was interested immediately. He knew what the consequences of this information.

His lord was in the school, right now. The first year Slytherin wondered why his lord hadn't shown himself to him. The thought that his lord was blatantly ignoring him and didn't want to see him made Harry's chest ache. This painstaking hurt had thrown Harry into a fit of rage and cursed George with a rather painful stinging hex. George had to spend the night in the Hospital Wing, and his companion had to forcibly take control of Harry's body. In that time they had disappeared for hours.

When Harry did return he was in a considerably better mood, and was obsessed with getting the Defense professor alone. It was almost eerie to the twins to see someone so young so completely focused on one thing. George had laughed when Fred said he was unnerved by that behavior, and said that such behavior was expected from Harry. Fred shook his head.

Harry thought on his mother for a moment. He had to figure out a way to get his mother to let him stay this holiday break. His companion had suggested that he make a compulsion potion and lace a letter in it. They had discussed that possibility for a long time; in the end they decided that his mother was too clever to fall prey to a potion. They would need something more substantial and undetectable.

They also talked about having his father talk some sense into his mother. James certainly had a way with his mother. His father didn't know it, but whenever he was upset with his wife Lily would become incredibly depressed. Harry had seen this happen several times. Harry wondered if he was more like his mother than he was like his father. Every time the green eyed boy thought about this he would groan, but he couldn't deny how much he was like his mother. His companion found it ironic, but Harry didn't know why.

At any rate, Harry and his symbiotic companion needed to speak to Quirrell alone. Harry penned out another letter to his mother as he watched Tom Riddle follow Quirrell. His lord was close to returning, Harry sighed. He desperately wanted to meet his lord in the flesh. His companion and everyone who knew the story said that the dark lord had met Harry when the he was a child. It wasn't fair that he couldn't remember what happened. Harry felt his companion chuckle with mirth inside of him. The feeling made Harry smile.

"Harry," George said, "you could just ask to speak with Quirrell about a homework assignment. That way you can just get him alone in his office and make him tell you what you want to know." Harry scowled at the simplicity of his plan. He wondered if his lord would mind if that was what he did. George smiled his stupid I-Was-Right smile.

"Be quiet, George," Harry grumbled and pulled out his Defense homework. He and the rest of the first years had to write a paper about curing werewolf bites. The whole idea was stupid in Harry's mind, and he had said so repeatedly. He just hadn't said it to Quirrell yet. In fact, when Harry had seen the assignment on the class syllabus Harry had plans to humiliate his professor, but things had changed dramatically.

"I'll talk to him about my werewolf bites paper," Harry lifted his bag over his shoulder and put his Defense book into it. "I hate you both right now…"

The twins laughed as Harry left the common room, leaving the Marauder's Map to their care.

Harry grumbled his entire way the Defense floors of the castle. Some of which were in the dungeons and others on the higher floors. There was one particular classroom that had the office of the Defense teachers in it that was just before the courtyard. It was one of furthest places from the Slytherin common room.

The Potter heir past several of the other students. Including Sally. Harry had been weaning himself of her company. Several times he had wanted to hex her worse than he had George. He found the girl completely incompetent and useless to the magical world. The Granger mudblood was better than Sally-Anne Perks. Granger was at least smart.

Harry didn't even blink at the girl. She was a little lost when Harry started rebuffing her. Eventually she stood up to Pansy and that made the other first year Slytherins leave her alone for some time. She even started making friends with the second and third year Slytherin girls who were made up of more mudbloods than purebloods. That didn't stop the girl from being mediocre in her classes though.

To Harry's irritation, Susan would occasionally invite the mudblood to study with them every now and then, and once she almost saw him glaring at for inviting Sally. Harry only tolerated mudbloods that could do something useful for the magical world. Harry didn't even tolerate purebloods that didn't plan to do anything useful for their world; and Harry saw no usefulness in Sally.

The true problem lied within the fact that all of the houses at Hogwarts had several mudbloods in them. He would have to work unnecessarily hard to get the modernists to see his views. It was going to take several years, and was something only he could do. His companion was counting on him to do this successfully.

Harry reached the Defense classroom that had the Defense professor's office. Since it was the weekend, the classroom should be open. The dark haired first year didn't bother to knock on the door and walked confidently to Quirrell's office doors. He knocked three times. There seemed to be a shuffling in the office.

Professor Quirrell's unassuming face came into view through the small crack of the open office door. Harry smiled shyly.

"H-H-Harry, h-how are you?" Professor Quirrell asked.

"Actually, professor, I was having trouble wrapping my brain around the process to cure a werewolf bite, and I was wondering if you could help me understand it." Harry's voice was sweet.

"O-o-of cours-s-se, Har-ry. W-what did you need h-h-elp with?" Quirrell stuttered. Quirrell's stutter annoyed Harry like no other.

"Well, a very close family friend of mine is a werewolf, and both of my parents have studied lycanthropy very thoroughly. As a result, I know for a fact that there is no real cure for lycanthropy. So I was wondering why you were teaching us first years that there is a chance of escaping lycanthropy if someone like Fenrir Greyback decided he wanted to rip your throat out." Harry's voice was still sweet.

Quirrell spluttered for a minute before he could respond to Harry, and the green eyed boy inspected his nails as he waited for the professor to collect his thoughts. When Quirrell finally tried to answer the collected young Slytherin, when Harry interrupted him.

"In actuality I came here to ask you why Lord Voldemort has been following you around for the entire year." Harry's eyes were cold and fierce. Quirrell went pale and said he didn't know what Harry was talking about. "Really, Professor? I find that funny. I know for a fact that the Dark Lord is in this room with us, and I would really appreciate it if you would let me speak with him."

Harry could feel his companion's amusement, and his scar started to tingle. Then a strange whispering filled the room. It was hard for Harry to understand the voice. The voice was pleasant from what the young boy could tell. Quirrell's face when from deathly pale to red and back again, but still hadn't said anything.

"Professor Quirrell, eventually I will get annoyed with you and have to take action; all over something a little trivial. I want to speak with the Dark Lord. Now if you would." Harry's voice was cold, all of the sweetness gone from before. Quirrell's eyes widened at Harry's tone and a chuckle came from the professor's direction, but Harry knew it did not come from the professor himself.

"Harry," said a high pitched voice. Harry could feel the confusion on his face show through. The voice was somewhat familiar. It had the same tones as his companion had, but this one seemed more tired and desperate. "Let me speak with the boy."

"Master, you are not strong enough," Quirrell's voice was suddenly very stutter free.

"I have strength enough for this," said the oh so familiar voice. Quirrell nodded once and started unwrapping his purple turban. Harry became even more confused at why. Slowly the Defense professor finally came down to the last strip of cloth that covered his head, and then he lifted the turban off of his head.

At first, Harry hadn't realized what was going on, but the familiar voice chuckled and order Quirrell to turn around. Harry found himself staring into blood red eyes. Confusion turned to shock as the young Slytherin took in the chalk white face that had no nose. Harry had heard descriptions of the Dark Lord many times and had been shown what he looked like at the height of his power by his companion. To see the once powerful Dark Lord reduced to being a face on the back of a little man's face made Harry sad.

"Oh, dearest Harry," his lord said, making Harry flush a little, "Do not worry yourself with my countenance. I will be back to my glorious former self soon enough. Now, what did you wish to speak about."

Harry swallowed the lump of sadness in his throat before he spoke, "I wished to know if there was anything I could assist you with. The Weasley twins and I will do anything you wish."

"There is nothing that you can do for me while I am here at Hogwarts, Harry. I am sorry. Just wait until I rise once more to power." said Lord Voldemort.

"Yes, my Lord," said Harry a little dejected. "I also wanted to inform you of the plan my companion had come up with. It will last for the next seven years at the very least. We plan on converting as many students to your cause, so when the time comes you will have a fresh, young group of candidates for your Death Eaters. This also allows me to gather as much information on each of the candidates and tell you where they will be best suited.

"As you know, my family is very high within the Order of the Phoenix, and it is assumed that if the time comes, I will be asked to join as well. Should that happen I will act as a double agent for you. The Weasley twins said that they would take up being a double agent for you as well, but my companion decided that it would be better for them to be inducted into the ranks of the Death Eaters and used for some of the more… grueling missions."

"Hm," the Dark Lord thought over the plan. It seemed like it happened in milliseconds. "It seems like a fair plan, all things considered." Harry caught the humor in that statement. In a way it had been the Dark Lord himself who made the plan. "But if all goes well, I will have my own body sooner rather than later."

Harry wondered at what that could be. It must have had something to do with Quirrell. The green eyed boy thought for a moment. There had to have been something unusual in his behavior. It was staring Harry right in the face, and it wasn't the Dark Lord's face, which still made Harry's heart ach. Green eyes traced the planes of Lord Voldemort's face; trying to map it out into his memory.

"It has something to do with the third floor corridor…" Harry thought aloud. His lord laughed at young Harry's epiphany.

"How did you come to this realization, dearest Harry?" there was mirth in Voldemort's voice.

"My father and his friends made a map of Hogwarts when they were in school. They used an extremely powerful Homunculus Charm on it, and it tells you exactly where every person in the castle is at any given moment.

"George noticed that several of the teachers were spending a significant amount of time in the off bounds third corridor; including Quirrell. George was also the one to notice your name following Quirrell around all the time. That's how I figured out that you were here.

"I didn't thing anything of it when I saw it. I know that there are a group of Gryffindors who are trying to figure out what is going on with the third floor."

"Why are Gryffindors looking around the third floor?" the Dark Lord scowled for a moment.

"It was something about stumbling upon it during a midnight duel, and then Snape being injured after the Halloween troll incident." Harry realized just then that the Dark Lord must have been after whatever the professors were protecting that night. "I think they suspect that Snape is the one that is after whatever the professors are protecting…

"I know for a fact that two of them can be a little slow, but the other two are smart, especially the mud blood. She has top marks when I don't… but she has a hard time with the application of spells in real life situations. The half-blood and his brother seem to competent in spell theory and application, but I don't know much about them."

"Will they be a problem?" the Dark Lord asked.

"Possibly, but I wouldn't think that they would be a problem for a Hogwarts professor, but I can slow them down and distract them if you need me to." Harry voiced his honest opinion.

"Quirrell is about is as incompetent as a child in the first place. He's poorly trained and can't think of himself. I would have been better off with an infant." Harry chuckled at the Dark Lord's thoughts of the Defense professor.

"If that's the case I'll keep a very close eye on them. If they get close to what you're after I'll tell you," smiled Harry. Then more seriously said, "Should you decide to show yourself to the wizarding world sooner, what would you have me do?"

"I'll tell you when the time comes, Harry. Go back to your dorm. Tell your twins what you wish. Good bye, Harry." said the Dark Lord. Harry nodded and left his lord to his own devises.

As Harry walked back to the Slytherin common room he wondered why everyone was so afraid of the Dark Lord. Even his followers tended to be terrified of him. Lord Voldemort was a very pleasant man to be around.