A;N: Guuuuuuuuuyssssss! Omj, this chapter is so intense! I think you'll love it! Let me know what you think yeah? It's definitely not the same ending as canon! From here forth, we are steering away from the canon material, so be prepared for that!
(Henry POV)
It was Quirrell.
"You!" My cousin and I gasped in unison as my stomach just about dropped to the floor. I had the sudden horrible feeling that in our investigations, my cousin and I had missed something rather vital.
Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all.
"Me," he said calmly. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you two here."
"But I thought – Snape –"
"Severus?" Quirrell laughed, and it wasn't his usual quivering treble, either, but cold and sharp. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering Professor Quirrell?"
I couldn't take any of this in. This couldn't be true, it just couldn't.
"But Snape tried to kill me!" Harry sputtered and as he did, he glanced at me in absolute horror. But seeing my identical look of terror, he looked back at the man as Quirrell raised his wand and pointed it directly at Harry.
"Revelio." Turning with a yell of shock, I suddenly looked on in horror as my cousin's features began to change and before my very eyes, he began to turn into his natural appearance, messy black hair, green eyes and everything.
"Ah, just as I'd thought." He purred as he watched us, his eyes glinting.
"You knew." Harry looked exactly as I felt, but as the explanation came, my heart sank with my stomach..
"Of course I know. How could I not? I mean, everyone knew that Harry James Potter would be coming to Hogwarts— how could he not? The question was… who could it be?" He smirked suddenly at me.
"Then, there was Henry."
"W-what about me?" I took a step back, but jumped forward again, when the flames seared me for a second.
"The dark lord was very interested in you when I first described you and your 'twin' to him. He was certain one of you was Potter— and then you took your little nap."
"What's he talking about, Henry?" Harry suddenly looked at me and my heart felt as if it were being violently squeezed in my chest. Was all this my fault? Had he read my mind? Of course he had…
"I let the wall down when I had detention earlier this year, remember?" I said softly, "I accidentally let him read my mind." I felt suddenly like I wanted to cry, but with Quirrell there, I only tried to stand taller.
"Yes…" the man before us, purred once more, a scary sort of glee in his voice. "With the information I had, I tried to kill you before anyone could even realize who you were. It would have been all too easy— Darken, here however, accidentally knocked me over as he rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. He broke my eye contact with you. Another moment and you might not have been caught by Skyknight. In any case, I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a countercurse, trying to save you."
"Snape was trying to save me?"
"Of course— I wasn't the only one suspicious of you two. Being so, made Snape watch out for the two of you very carefully and obviously, he's been reporting back to Dumbledore. The problem was proving your identity Mr. Potter. You never leave your 'cousins' side, meaning getting you alone was hard enough. What a waste of time however, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight, Mr. Potter and take the other boy with me."
Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes suddenly sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Harry and I.
"You're too nosey to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."
"You let the troll in?" I gave Harry a look, thinking that if this man was the real person who's been trying to get at the stone, then wasn't it obvious that he was behind the troll attack.
"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls – you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight up to the third floor to head me off – and not only did my troll fail to beat any of you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly."
"Now, wait quietly. I need to examine this interesting mirror."
It was only then that I realized what was standing behind Quirrell. It was the Mirror of Erised.
"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell murmured, tapping his way around the frame. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this…but he's in London…I'll be far away by the time he gets back…."
I looked at Harry and as our eyes met, we silently agreed that what we needed to do was to keep Quirrell talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror.
"We saw you and Snape in the forest –" Harry blurted out.
"Yes," said Quirrell idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. "He was on to me by that time, trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me – as though he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side…."
Quirrell came back out from behind the mirror and stared hungrily into it.
"I see the Stone…I'm presenting it to my master…but where is it?"
I watched as Harry struggled against the ropes binding him, but when they didn't give, I decided to stay very still as my mind raced.
We had to keep Quirrell from giving his whole attention to the mirror.
"I heard you a few days ago, sobbing – I thought Snape was threatening you…."
For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Quirrell's face.
"Sometimes," he said, "I find it hard to follow my master's instructions – he is a great wizard and I am weak –"
"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Harry gasped and I looked at my cousin fearfully, not being able to bring myself to look at Quirrell as I thought of what to say, because with Harry's words, he was still concentrating on the mirror.
"He is with me wherever I go," said Quirrell quietly. "I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it…. Since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me." Quirrell shivered suddenly. "He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the Stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me…decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me…."
Quirrell's voice trailed away and he cursed under his breath.
"I don't understand…is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"
My mind was racing.
"Why me?" I said suddenly and both Harry and Quirrell looked at me. "You said you're taking me with you. Why do I get to live if you're going to kill Harry." It felt weird calling my cousin by his real name with someone outside of our family around, but the cat seemed to be out of the bag now, so might as well call him by the proper name.
"Ah." He now turned and walking over to me, he took my chin into one of his hands. "The Dark Lord has been looking for you, Hendrix Riddle, for you are to be his vessel for return."
"W-what?" If I'd been expecting anything, it definitely had NOT been that. "What does that even mean?
He shook his head, and turned back to the mirror. "You will be taught in due time, boy."
"Now…" he went back to the mirror and standing before it, he scrutinized it. "How do I get the stone?" I closed my eyes, now not being able to stop myself from crying. What I wanted most of all right now was to get the stone before Quirrell, but if I looked in the mirror, would I see where it's hidden?
I opened my watery eyes and looking, I watched as Harry tried to edge to the left, to get in front of the glass without Quirrell noticing, but the ropes around his ankles were too tight: he tripped and fell over. He must've had the same thoughts as I, though apparently was not very good when tied up and felt very useless. Quirrell ignored Harry as he groaned. He was still talking to himself.
"What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!"
And to my sudden horror, a voice answered and the voice seemed to come from Quirrell himself.
"Use the boy…Use Potter…"
Quirrell rounded on Harry.
"Yes- Potter – come here."
He clapped his hands once, and the ropes binding Harry fell off. Harry got slowly to his feet.
"Come here," Quirrell repeated. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."
Harry walked toward him.
I prayed as I stood there that he would lie, but I said nothing as I watched my cousin.
Quirrell moved close behind him. I watched as Harry breathed in deeply— probably getting a good whiff of the funny smell that seemed to come from Quirrell's turban. He closed his eyes, stepped in front of the mirror, and opened them again.
A moment passed.
"Well?" said Quirrell impatiently. "What do you see?"
"I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore," he invented. "I – I've won the house cup for Gryffindor." I grinned briefly at him from behind Quirrell. I knew he'd just lied. We've barely said a few words to Dumbledore since arriving at school, thanks to dad.
Quirrell cursed again.
"Get out of the way," he said. As Harry moved aside. That's when I noticed a lump in Harry's pocket and my mouth went dry. How had he gotten it? What in the world had he seen. My cousin looked at me and when our eyes connected, I saw him quietly withdraw his wand and whispering quietly, I felt my binds loosen.
Suddenly though, when not even a second more passed, a high voice spoke, though Quirrell wasn't moving his lips.
"He lies…He lies…"
"Potter, come back here!" Quirrell shouted. "Tell me the truth! What did you just see?"
The high voice spoke again.
"Let me speak to him…face-to-face…."
"Master, you are not strong enough!"
"I have strength enough…for this…."
Suddenly, it was as if Devil's Snare was wounding its way around my heart.
I watched for a moment, as Harry remained rooted to the spot. Then, petrified, I turned my head and watched as Quirrell reached up and began to unwrap his turban. What was going on?
The turban fell away. Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot.
I would have screamed, but I couldn't seem to make any other sound then a soft, strangled cry. Where there should have been the back to Quirrell's head, there was a face, the most terrible face I had ever seen, and worse than anything I'd ever seen on television or dreamed of. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, just like a snake.
"Harry Potter…" it whispered.
I watched as Harry tried to take a step backward but his legs didn't seem to want to move.
"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapor…I have form only when I can share another's body…but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…. Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks…you and my dear Vessel saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest…and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own, using said Vessel…. Now…why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"
So he knew Harry had it.
The feeling seemed to suddenly surge back into Harry's legs. He stumbled backward.
"Don't be a fool," snarled the face. "Better save your own life and join me…or you'll meet the same end as your parents…. They died begging me for mercy..."
"LIAR!" Harry shouted suddenly as I slowly let the rope fall from my body, ready to turn and run, the moment I could make eye contact with my cousin.
Quirrell was walking backward at him, so that Voldemort could still see him. The evil face was now smiling.
"How touching…" it hissed. "I always value bravery…. Yes, boy, your parents were brave…. I killed your father first, and he put up a courageous fight…but your mother needn't have died…she was trying to protect you…. Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."
"NEVER!"
Harry sprang toward the flame door and we grasped hands, but Voldemort screamed "SEIZE HIM!" and the next second, I was shoved back as Quirrell grasped Harry's wrist. At once, Harry screamed and began to struggle away from Quirrell, only to stumble back when Quirrell let go of him, screaming also.
I rolled to my feet as Harry looked around wildly to see where Quirrell had gone, and spotting him along with my cousin, I saw him hunched in pain, looking at his fingers – they were blistering before his eyes.
"Seize him! SEIZE HIM!" shrieked Voldemort again, and Quirrell lunged, knocking Harry clean off his feet, landing on top of him, both hands around Harry's neck – My cousin shrieked in pain, his eyes open wide.
"Master, I cannot hold him – my hands – my hands!"
And Quirrell, though pinning Harry to the ground with his knees, let go of his neck and stared, bewildered, at his own palms – Harry could see they looked burned, raw, red, and shiny.
"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort.
Quirrell raised his hand, wand grasped tightly to perform a deadly curse, but I wasn't going to let that happen and lowering my head, I bullrushed Quirrell. I tackled him to the ground and began to beat his face, but quickly, I was thrown off and Quirrell got to his feet. Rushing, at my cousin, I saw him move, scream my name and suddenly, the sorcerer's stone was flying threw the air.
I rolled and caught it as Harry slammed his palm into Quirrell's face. Screaming in agony, as Voldemort shrieked in rage, Quirrel ran at me and grabbing me roughly, I threw the stone at my cousin. Catching it, he shoved it in his robes as he now ran at Quirrell to get him off of me.
All three of us on the ground, I could hear Harry scream in pain as Quirrell, screaming, too, suddenly pulled something from his pocket on Voldemort's orders and shoved it on his finger. Then, in an instant, he seized Harry and I, held on tight…
Then, quite suddenly, none of us were in the chamber under the school.
The last thing I saw however, horrified me nearly more than anything else.
My father had run into the chamber and screamed for Harry and I, just as we'd vanished.
A/N: Read, Review and let me know your thoughts! I'm so excited!
