She then attempted to put it back in her pocket but it fell out of her hand and landed on the ground. However, Quirrell didn't hear or see it due to his own talking and being distracted.

"Sometimes," he said, "I find it difficult to follow my master's instructions... he is such a powerful wizard and I am weak-"

"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Harry and Jade gasped.

"He is with me wherever I go," said Quirrell quietly. "I met him when I traveled around the world. At the time, I was a young man full of ridiculous ideas about righteousness and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There's 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.

Jade's glare mellowed some since she could understand wanting more power to achieve one's goals, however, in her case, it was more for fame than power.

"He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me... he decided to keep a close watch on me..." Quirrell's voice trailed off.

Jade saw Harry's face change from confused to angry in seconds.

'Probably blamed himself for not seeing it sooner.' She thought to herself as Quirrell cursed under his breath in irritation.

"I don't understand... is the stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"

Jade's mind raced. 'What I need to do more than anything else in the world...' she thought. 'Is to find the stone before Quirrell does. So if I look in the mirror... I should find it... which means I'll see where it's hidden! But how can I look without Quirrell realizing what I'm up to?'

She tried to edge to the left, to get in front of the glass without Quirrell noticing. However, the ropes around her ankles were too tight. She tripped and fell over. Quirrell ignored her. He was still talking to himself.

"What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!"

And to their horror, a voice answered, from Quirrell himself.

"Use the boy... Use the boy..." Quirrell rounded on Harry. "Yes... Potter... come here."

He clapped his hands once, and the ropes binding them fell off. Quirrell then cast a sticking charm at Jade's feet. Which made it impossible for her to move her feet from their spot. Harry got slowly to his feet.

"Come here," Quirrell repeated. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Harry walked toward him.

'LIE HARRY, JUST LIE TO HIM!' Jade thought desperately as she watched him.

Quirrell moved behind him. Harry closed his eyes, stepped in front of the mirror, and opened them again. He saw his reflection, pale and terrified at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the stone in Jade's pocket behind them. As it did so, Harry glanced back at Jade as she fiddled with something in her real pocket. Somehow... incredibly... she'd gotten the stone.

"Well?" said Quirrell impatiently. "What do you see?"

Harry shook his head. "I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore," he lied. "I... I've won the house cup for Gryffindor."

Quirrell cursed again. "Get out of the way," he said.

As Harry moved away, he tripped and fell to the ground. Harry hadn't walked five steps away before 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..."

Petrified, he and Jade watched Quirrell reach up and unwrap his turban.

'What's going on?' She thought in confusion as the turban fell away.

Quirrell's head looked strangely small without it. Then he turned slowly on the spot. Harry looked like he had seen his worst nightmare, but he could not scream. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell's head, there was a face. The most terrible face Jade or Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

"Harry Potter... " it whispered.

Harry tried to step back but his legs wouldn't 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 saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest... and once I have the Elixir of Life, I can create a body of my own... Now... why don't you give me that Stone?"

'So he knew I saw it but maybe he doesn't know which of us has it.' Harry thought.

"Unicorn's blood?" Jade asked, trying to understand what the face was saying and remembering Draco saying something about a unicorn the night he returned from detention.

The feeling suddenly surged back into Harry's legs. He stumbled backwards.

"Don't be a fool," snarled the face.

Suddenly Jade realized Harry needed help and was brought out of her thoughts. "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.

Jade decided now was the appropriate time to pick up her wand since Harry had Quirrell and the face's full attention. As a result, she cast a charm to undo the previous spell on her legs. In order to keep the illusion that the spell was still intact until she needed to help Harry, she decided to keep her feet where they were. Quirrell walked backwards at him. So that the face Jade assumed was Voldemort, could still see him. The evil face smiled.

"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 like the perfect mother she was... Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain, boy."

"NEVER!" shouted Harry.

Harry sprang toward the flame door, but Voldemort screamed "SEIZE HIM!" and the next second, Harry felt Quirrell's hand close to his wrist.

Once Quirrell grabbed his arm, he screamed in pain, struggling with all his might. To Jade and Harry's surprise, Quirrell let go of him. The pain in Harry's head lessened... Jade looked around to see where Quirrell had escaped, and saw him hunched over in pain, looking at his fingers... they blistered before his eyes.

"Seize him! SEIZE HIM!" shrieked Voldemort again, and Quirrell lunged, knocking Harry clean off his feet and landing on top of him, both hands around Harry's neck... Jade could tell Harry's pain was almost blinding him, but she couldn't help him as Voldemort was now facing her and watching her every move.

"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... Jade could see they looked burned, raw, red, and shiny.

"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort taking his eyes off Jade for the moment, which proved to be a mistake when Jade shouted a Hot-Air Charm pointing her left hand and wand (right hand) at him sending Quirrell flying into the nearest wall.

"You stupid Bitch!" Hissed Voldemort just as Quirrell fell to the floor briefly before getting back up.

As if he were a mindless minion, he rushed straight toward Harry and raised his hand to perform a deadly curse. However, Harry, for whatever reason Jade couldn't understand, ran towards him, reached up, and grabbed Quirrell's face... "AAAARGH!"

Quirrell fell once again, his face blistering too, and then Jade and Harry knew: Quirrell couldn't touch his bare skin, without suffering terrible pain... his only chance of surviving was to keep hold of Quirrell, keep him in enough pain to stop him from using any curses. Harry jumped to his feet, caught Quirrell by the arm, and hung on as tight as he could. Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Harry off... the pain in Harry's head was building... Jade could tell he couldn't see, as he lost his balance.

He could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" and Jade's voice, crying, "Harry! Harry!"

Quirrell's arm was wrenched from his grasp as Jade threw another Hot-Air Charm at him. She kept doing this till Dumbledore showed up.

As she was too exhausted to do anything else she collapsed on the spot only thinking; 'At least he's safe now.'


~Time Skip~

Something gold glinted above her head. She blinked a couple of times. It was a pair of glasses.

'How strange...' She thought, blinking again.

Albus Dumbledore's smiling face swam into view above her.

"Good afternoon, Jade and Harry," said Dumbledore.

Which made her look around the room and realize Harry was indeed in the room as well. He was in the hospital bed next to hers. Harry stared at her as well. Then she remembered, back to Dumbledore:

"Sir! The stone! It was Quirrell!" She then patted her pockets and when she didn't feel the stone she began to panic. "He's got the Stone! Sir, quick..."

"Calm yourself, girl, you are behind the times," said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone."

She relaxed a bit.

"Then who does? Sir, I..."

"Harry, Jade... please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will throw me out."

Harry swallowed and looked around him. When Jade did the same, she realized they must have been sent to the hospital wing. Next to her was a table piled high with what looked like half a candy shop.

"Tokens from your friends and fellow House members," said Dumbledore when he realized the two were looking around at their tables. "What happened down in the dungeons between you two and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends, Mr. Fred and George Weasley were responsible for sending you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it." Dumbledor said fully facing Harry.

"How long have we been here?" Jade asked.

"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be relieved you have come around. They have been extremely worried." He answered her but didn't face her.

'Three days?...THREE DAYS! THAT MEANS I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO FULLY PREPARE MY SONG!' Jade thought as she ran out but was stopped by Madam Pomfrey who told her she wasn't fully recovered and wouldn't hear any excuse to leave.

"But sir, the stone..." Harry began.

"I see you are not easily distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not take it from her. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say."

"You got there? You got Hermione's owl?"

"We must have crossed in midair. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you."

"It was you."

"I feared I might be too far behind."

'Oh, Merlin! Please make them stop talking! I'd rather be anywhere but here listening to the two of them talk away!' Jade thought she hadn't heard what Harry said.

"Not the stone, boy, but you... the effort involved nearly killed you and Jade. For one awful moment, I was afraid it had. As for the stone, it has been destroyed."

"Destroyed?" said Harry and Jade blankly as she finally found a point in their conversation to listen to.

"But your friend... Nicolas Flamel..." Jade began.

"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding delighted as he finally faced her. "You handled the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicolas and I had a brief chat, and agreed it's all for the best."

"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?" asked Jade.

"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die." Dumbledore smiled at the amazement on the two students' faces. "To one as young as you two, I'm sure it seems crazy, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like heading to bed after a very, very long day. After all, death is just the next awaited adventure. You know, the stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you want! The two things most human beings would choose above all... the trouble is, humans often choose precisely the things that are most detrimental to them."

Harry and Jade lay there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed softly and smiled at the ceiling. After he left, Madam Pomfrey allowed their friends to visit, the first of which was Ron and Hermione mostly to talk to Harry.

"Harry, Jade!" Hermione looked ready to fling her arms around them, but held herself back when she saw Harry was still very sore. "We were sure you were going to... Dumbledore was so worried..." Hermione said as she was near tears.

"The whole school is talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?" the weasel asked.

It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than wild rumors. Harry told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort. Ron and Hermione were a very attentive audience; they gasped in all the right places, and when Harry told them what was under Quirrell's turban, Hermione screamed out loud.

"So the Stone's gone?" asked Ron finally. "Flamel's just going to die?"

Jade knew none of them were paying any attention to her so irritably she responded; "Indeed they are."

"That's what I thought, but Dumbledore thought that... what was it?... 'To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'" said Harry.

"I always said he was off his rocker," said Ron, looking impressed at how crazy his hero was.

'Well at least someone agrees with me.' Jade thought.

"So what happened to you two?" inquired Harry. "Well, I got back all right," said Hermione. "I brought Ron round... that took a while... and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall... he already knew... he just told us, 'Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?' And hurtled off to the third floor."

"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"

"Well," Hermione exploded, "if he did... I mean to say that's terrible... you could have been killed."

The three of them kept talking like this for hours so Jade just tuned them out not interested in their babbling about Dumbledore's insanity, it just made her trust him less and less and get angry at him. After they'd left Draco and Daphne came to visit her, after promising not to pester Harry. They were worried about her and asked why she had helped them. Jade just told them she didn't know because frankly, she didn't. She could have been preparing for her song... They were there for an hour before they were told to leave.


~Time Skip~

After a good night's sleep, Jade felt normal again. Jade and Harry walked to the great hall. It was already full, decked out in Slytherin colors of green and silver, celebrating Slytherin's winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. This made Jade smile a bit. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table. When they walked in there was a sudden hush, and then everybody started talking loudly at once. Jade sat between Draco and Daphne at the Slytherin table. Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later. The babble died away.

"Another year has passed!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. Then we'll go to the Quidditch pitch where 'someone' will share a performance they've done to celebrate the year for you. What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts... Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Draco banged his goblet on the table cheering.

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room became very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded slightly, and Jades especially when she realized what Dumbledore was about to do.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to share. Let me see. Yes... First,... to Mr. Ronald Weasley..." Ron looked purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a serious sunburn.