A/N: Some of this chapter has direct quotes from the book, and... other things. ;P
The journey through the obstacles went faster than their previous adventure. The key was caught in record time, the chess match left them victoriously unscatched, the troll was strangely still unconscious by whatever Quirrell had done to it; though it was as Harry lifted the smallest potion bottle that things had become complicated.
"There's barely enough in here for one person." He reported.
"So what do we do?" Ron looked between the other two boys. Barbary and Harry did the same, knowing a choice needed to be made.
"I can sneak in." Barbary offered. "Defence was never my best subject, but if I use your cloak I can stun him and get her out of there."
"But if that doesn't work, he'll kill you." Harry commented.
The older boy scoffed. "What, and he won't kill you?"
Harry shook his head. "He did all this to lure me here. He wouldn't do that just to kill me."
"At least not right away." Barbary pointed out. "As soon as you aren't useful anymore, you're expendable."
"Then I'll stall. That was my original plan, anyways."
"So long as Malfoy keeps to the plan." Ron snidded.
"He will." Harry assured. He then looked over to Barbary, noting the older boy's concerned expression.
After a moment, Barbary gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine! But leave the cloak here. We'll give it to whomever comes to the rescue."
"That's fine with me." Harry nodded. He gave the cloak to the older wizard and took a swallow of the potion. The sensation of ice flowed through his veins.
"Good luck, Harry." Ron encouraged.
"Good luck, Potter." Barbary added.
"Thanks, Ron, Barbary." Steeling his courage, Harry walked through the flames towards his last obstacle.
Emerging through the dark fire, Harry found himself immediately facing Professor Quirrell. At the professor's side, Melly looked at Harry with fright, struggling against the binding rope which Quirrell held tightly in his hand.
"Ah, Mister Potter. So glad you could join us." The wizard replied coolly. No trace of stutter on his lips.
Harry barely had time to register that fact before focusing on the man. "Let her go! She has nothing to do with this."
The man smirked cruelly. "I suppose I could, but what point would there be when she's the reason you're here?"
"GINGERBREAD MAN!" Melly screamed at Harry.
Both he and Quirrell looked at her oddly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. All this effort for a mad child. It would be endearing if it wasn't so pathetic." Melly growled at the man like a frustrated dog.
"It's going to be okay, Melly." Harry assured. He looked up at Quirrell. "You already have what you came for. Just let us leave and we won't tell anyone."
"Ha! As if I'd believe that. In fact..." Quirrell snapped his fingers. In a flash, another set of ropes appeared and wrapped themselves around Harry. Harry struggled through the ropes as Quirrell continued. "Here's to ensure you won't go anywhere. Sadly, though, I don't yet have what I seek. Dumbledore was clever, coming up with this mirror." He turned his back to Harry, inspecting the mirror. "It shows your greatest desire, for certain. I see myself holding the stone, presenting it to my master, but how do I get it?"
"Your master?" Harry asked quietly. Isn't the stone meant to keep him alive? If not, then who for?
"Bring me some nasonex, you swine!" Melly called out. Her head gestured towards Quirrell.
"What?"
Melly huffed. She seemed less scared and more frustrated than anything. Her head thrust repeatedly in Quirrell's direction as she grounded out the syllables "Face-hug-ger!"
"Quiet!" Quirrell shoved Melly to the ground with a hard thump. Harry chewed the inside of his cheek nervously as he tried to find a way out of the situation. Stalling, that had been the plan.
"I thought you were dying. Were you lying about that, too?"
Harry could almost feel the man's cold smirk as he answered. "Oh, I certainly am dying, but that will all change soon."
"But you said you're giving the stone to someone. That doesn't seem smart to me."
"Ah, but my master is generous when it suits him. He will reward me for my success, and allow me a chance to live and continue to serve him."
"And who is your master?" He asked, ignoring Melly as she shook her head at him.
"You don't know?" Quirrell then laughed sharply. "Has the Great Harry Potter really forgotten his own history? Or are you so foolishly overconfident that you dare forget Lord Voldemort?"
Harry's mind stilled instantly. A cool dread crept up on him. "But… he's dead."
Melly slowly rolled in his direction.
"No. Not dead. My lord is far stronger than that. I met him when I travelled 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..."
"Wait! That was you at Gringotts?"
His mind flashed to that day at Hagrid's hut, the day he read the article. Suddenly more facts began to click into place. He tore his gaze from Quirrell and looked down at his friend. She was now a third of the way to him. Their eyes met as she rolled his way. A heavy guilt deep set within them. "Books are dangerous." She said quietly. Mad as her words have been all day, Harry was at least able to understand the emotion behind this one.
Ahead of them, Quirrell muttered to himself quietly. "...no. Breaking the mirror would be too easy. No matter, I already expected this." He turned back to them. His eyes narrowed distastefully at Melly's distance. Quirrell pulled out his wand, muttering a curse and flicked it in Melly's direction. When it hit she screamed so loud it echoed across the room.
"Stop it!" Harry cried. He pushed forward, only to fall against the stone.
"Let's try something new." Quirrell clapped his hands, causing the ropes around Harry to fall. "Come here, Potter." He beckoned. Hesitantly, Harry walked toward Quirrell.
As he passed Melly, he heard her whisper quietly singing. "Reach out and touch. Darlin' just relax. You melt me like hot candle wax. One touch and my whole body melts-"
"Tell me, Potter, what do you see?" Quirrell demanded his attention.
Harry gulped, knowing that nothing he can do will bring the man's desired effect. Still, Harry looked at the mirror and answered truthfully. "I see Dumbledore here. He knocks you to the ground and helps us escape."
Quirrell cursed and gave an irritated sigh. "Let's try this again." He fired another curse at Melly, causing her to shriek. "The only way to save your friend is to give me the stone. The stone is in this mirror. If you want your friend to survive the next curse, you want that stone in my hand in the next ten seconds. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven…"
Harry went into a panic as the countdown commenced. He saw the mirror warp in front of him. At one point, the stone was in his grasp. In another, Caireen swept in and devoured Quirrell. In another, Sirius dove in and saved him. Then it was his professors.
"-ree. Two. On-"
"I CAN'T!" Harry cried out. "I can't get it out!"
The truth was at his lips. He was seconds from confessing the stone's location when a high, sibilant voice echoed from Quirrell's direction. "Let me speak to him, face-to-face…"
To his confusion, Quirrell flashed a look of concern. "Master, you are not strong enough!"
"I have strength enough… for this…"
Harry felt rooted to the spot, a paralyzing fear overcoming him. His fear nearly eclipsed a curiosity that overcame him as Quirrell began to unravel his turban. When the turban fell away, Quirrell turned his face away from him. Harry was shocked in disturbed silence as he was greeted by a chalk-white face with glaring red eyes and snake-like nostrils gazing at him from where the back of Quirrell's head ought to be.
Voldemort.
"Harry Potter…" The nightmarish face whispered. "See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapour... 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 will be able to create a body of my own... Now... the Chamber of Secrets, how interesting! You have been busy, Harry Potter." The voice hissed in laughter.
He knows! Harry stepped backward, shock releasing him from his paralysis.
"The boy has outlived his usefulness. Kill him!"
The order jagged Harry to his senses. As Quirrell turned to face him, Harry bolted behind the mirror. A curse bounded off the mirror just as he got to the other side. "Come back here, Potter!" Quirrell cried angrily.
Harry had just enough time to pull out his wand as he raced to the other side of the mirror. Quirrell, it seems, had a similar thought as he raced around the corner.
"Crucio!" Quirrell cursed.
Harry dodged the beam of spellfire. On one knee, Harry focused his intent on Quirrell as he slashed his wand and twisted it clockwise. "SSIKAH shitznyeh!"
Quirrell dodged the spell. Yet the man's movements stuttered as he looked down at Harry in surprise. "Master, that was-"
"Aalabahahss!" Harry shouted. A deep green light struck Quirrell.
"Crussio!" Quirrell tried again. The spellfire fizzled from his wand. His free hand moved to his lips in confusion. No doubt feeling the now forked tongue behind his teeth.
"SEIZE HIM!" Voldemort cried.
"Mass'er!" Quirrell called out. "I can'th-"
"Seize him, you fool!"
Harry was already in front of the mirror again by the second order. Immediately he pulled Melly to her feet. "We have to run!" He urged her to jump towards the fire, the rope still holding her tightly and impeding their speed. From behind them came the sound of a snap. Harry fell to his knees as ropes bound his body once again.
"Enough of these games. Quirrell, kill him!"
Harry struggled to get to his feet as Quirrell approached, feeling them slip under him with each attempt. If only he can get to his wand…
"Eicio ventris!" A blue light struck Quirrell from the side. Harry turned his head to the source, but found no one else in the room. A gasp came from Quirrell. Harry turned back to the man, finding him on his knees. He was clutching his stomach for dear life, vomiting on the floor.
"Diffindo!" The voice called out again, then a second time as the ropes around Harry and Melly fell to pieces. An arm appeared suddenly, pulling Harry to his feet. The arm then removed the hood of a cloak, his cloak, showing Barbary's face. "Are you alright?"
"I am, but how did you get here? I thought the potion-"
"Resets if you empty the bottle long enough." Barbary grinned. "Ron's out at the chessboard to guide anyone coming through, but I couldn't sit still."
"Good thing you couldn't." Harry smiled.
"YOU FOUL LITTLE MUDBLOOD!" Voldemort's voice suddenly cried out. Harry and Barbary turned to Quirrell. Barbary was understandably confused by the mysterious voice. Harry, though, looked on with horror as Melly spat on the back of Quirrell's head. "WHEN I CLAIM THIS WORLD I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES! YOU WILL BEG FOR DEATH AS I TAKE YOU APART LIMB BY LIMB! I WILL-"
Harry drowned out the threats, more shocked to see Melly roll her eyes at Voldemort. She looked up, meeting Harry's stare with a shark-like grin. She marched over to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards Quirrell, still bearing that shark-like expression. Barbary followed behind them, cursing loudly as he saw the source of the voice. No one cared as Quirrell began to quiver and dry heave. When they stood right over the body, Voldemort still shouting threats and curses, Melly merely pulled him closer. She pushed Harry's hand onto top of Voldemort's face, plunging Harry's body into needle-sharp pain.
Below him, Quirrell and Voldemort both shouted in pain. Above him, Melly laughed cruelly.
Harry pulled back immediately, lessening the pain. Looking back at them, Voldemort's face was blistered from the touch. Somehow, Harry knew, he caused that to happen. He looked to his hand, then to Melly. His friend, however, was more focused on Voldemort. Her tongue sticking out and both hands gesturing rudely in his snake-like face.
"Okay, someone needs to tell me what- in Merlin's balls- is going on here?!"Barbary shouted, reasonably freaked out by the entire exchange.
Harry took a small breath through his nostrils. "Well, first of all… this is Voldemort."
"WHAT?" Barbary lept back as if electrocuted.
"I know. I thought he was dead, too."
"But- what? How? And why did that-?" He gestured from the eerie face to Harry's hands.
Next to him, Melly chuckled and leaned into Harry. "Love is all you need!" She sang aloud.
"Not helping, Giggles." Barbary exasperated. "You know what, forget this… I can't believe I'm doing this- stupefy!" Quirrell -and Voldemort- collapsed onto the floor unconscious. "...I just knocked out You-Know-Who." He commented almost dumbly to himself.
"HA!" Melly laughed. She swayed over to Barbary and gave him a hug. "Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games!"
"Gee, thanks, Giggles." He rolled his eyes and lightly shoved her away. "Was she hit with a babbling hex?"
"Something like that." Harry replied. A sound of quick steps caught his attention, and all three of them flashed their attention towards the flames as the Headmaster abruptly ran through. At the sudden -and late- appearance, Harry allowed himself to joke in his head at the odd sight of Dumbledore running around in his pyjamas. He then laughed slightly out loud when Dumbledore's jaw dropped open at the sight of all three of them standing seemingly unharmed while Quirrell lay unconscious on the ground.
"You're all alright?" The headmaster asked in stunned disbelief.
"We're fine, Professor Dumbledore." Barbary nodded. "Though Bennett's got a babbling hex or something similar. Also... Professor Quirrell is… well..."
"Voldemort's possessing him." Harry filled in.
Dumbledore's eyes went wide. He then walked past them to inspect the body. At the sight of the chalk-white face, the headmaster shuddered. "I believe it would be best to escort Miss Bennett to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey has been revived and will be able to handle the three of you. I will see you all soon to have your side of what happened tonight."
At his side, Barbary visibly relaxed. "Yes, Professor. Potter, let's go. You, too, Giggles." Harry nodded at the instruction, carefully guiding his stumbling friend towards the flames. He took one last moment to look back at Dumbledore and Voldemort, questions and concerns entering his mind. Questions he knew would need patience before their answers will be heard.