June 1992, 1st year
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed and Lynea had to grab her by the arm to prevent the girl form charging forward.
Quirrel's eyes swept over the four intruders and finally landed on the only other adult in the room. "Snape. I should have known."
"Even the headmaster has begun to suspect you," Snape drawled. "You have been acting very foolishly these past months, trying to steal the stone, trying to kill Potter."
Quirrel laughed. "They were half-hearted attempts. But that hardly matters. I will finish what I started and then I will present the stone to my master." He turned back to the mirror, completely disregarding the others. "Now, how does this mirror work?"
A whispering voice answered him, but Lynea could not make out the words. She saw Harry's eyes widen as he took a step back from Quirrel, who seemed to get into a quiet argument with the mysterious voice.
Something was bothering Lynea, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Something about the situation seemed wrong, as if there was something that should be different, that should be fixed somehow …
"Why do you want the stone for your master, when you are the one who is dying?" she asked loudly and Quirrel whirled around to stare at her.
Who was his master, anyway? So far, she had assumed he was doing all of this to find a way to keep himself alive – and kill Harry for some convoluted reason.
"My master is a great wizard," Quirrel said with narrowed eyes, "and I am weak."
"Is that why you follow him, even though it will be the end of your life?"
A strong hand fell heavily on Lynea's shoulder and Professor Snape gave her a warning look.
"You do not understand, foolish girl!" Quirrel said. "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 keep a closer watch on me …" Quirrel shuddered.
"You will die," Lynea said and Snape's hold on her shoulder tightened.
"Then so be it. As long as I can serve my master, even at the cost of my own life … As long as he will rise to power again. Let me tell you a little story, foolish girl. I took a break from teaching to travel around the world. A foolish young man I was, then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. But the Dark Lord 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."
And there it was. The master he was serving was indeed the Dark Lord, himself. The grip of Snape's hand was almost painful by now, but Lynea ignored it. It didn't seem like Professor Snape would step in and do something and both Draco and Hermione looked like they were terrified out of their minds.
It made sense, in a way. The Dark Lord had already tried to kill Harry once before. Now that he had the chance to do so again, he certainly wouldn't let it slip through his fingers. And from what Lynea had observed, the Dark Lord himself was actually around here somewhere – or at least he had the means to communicate with Quirrel directly. She hoped it was the latter, but life was never that kind.
"It is a futile attempt," she said out loud. "The unicorn blood has already cursed your life. Even the stone won't be able to help you know – you and the leech sharing your body, draining your life right from the source."
Because the Dark Lord was residing within Quirrel's body. It had taken Lynea a while to sort that out, but Naenia's lessons on sensing magic and all that she had seen and heard so far had led her to that conclusion.
Quirrel's face contorted. "How dare you insult my master in such a way!"
"How dare you use the Dark Lord's name for your own goals," Snape hissed.
Quirrel blinked, stunned, and the children all looked at Snape in surprise.
"The Dark Lord was vanquished over ten years ago and you dare slanter his name in such a way?"
Huh. Was their potions professor actually a Death Eater?
"You –" Quirrel's face contorted once more. "You dare –?!"
The whispering was back again and Lynea glanced at Snape again. He had taken his hand from her shoulder, but the one gripping his wand was white-knuckled. Lynea had a feeling that Snape knew Quirrel was telling the truth. Why, then, was he telling Quirrel he doubted his words?
She focused her attention back on Quirrel in time to hear the words "Kill the boy!" coming from the high-pitched, whispering voice. Quirrel turned to face Harry – who was stumbling over his feet, trying to get away and fell down on is butt.
Quirrel raised his wand. "Avada –"
"Flipendo! Stupefy!"
A red light shot out of Snape's wand and hit Quirrel square in the chest, knocking him back and into the wall. His bones crunched upon the impact and one of the torches was knocked loose, falling down and setting the hem of his robes alight.
Snape hurried forward to put out the flame, Hermione close on his heals, "Aguamenti" already on her lips. Draco, meanwhile, ran to Harry and began undoing the gag and then working on the ropes. Lynea watched, unsure what to do, when an urge to get closer to Quirrel overcame her. The man, himself, was unconscious, but a hissing voice was coming from him, spouting nonsense. Snape and Hermione had stopped the fire and the professor was already working on tying Quirrel up. Lynea crouched down and slowly extended her hand to touch his cheek.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the hissing voice suddenly became frantic, higher pitched, and then Lynea, Snape and Hermione were knocked back by a blast of … something. They watched the something taking the shape of an eerie, nose-less face that rose high into the air and then vanished out of the room. Snape and Hermione, as well as Draco and Harry, who was finally free from his bonds, all stared after what had presumably been the Dark Lord. Only Lynea turned back to Quirrel and knelt down to put a hand on his cheek again. He was growing cold under her touch.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm her beating heart. There was power in death and she was immersed deep enough in the Forbidden Arts to recognize that, to be able to gather that power. Lynea took another deep breath and drank in the power of Death, Himself, before slowly rising from her position.
"He is dead," she said and the others turned to her. "He died the moment that … thing left his body. There wasn't much life left in him, anyway."
"He's … dead?" Hermione whispered and then promptly fainted.
In front of the mirror, Harry sacked in Draco's arms as his legs gave out under him. Snape rose and conjured two stretchers onto which he levitated Hermione and Harry.
"What about Quirrel?" Lynea asked.
"Leave him," Snape said. "His body will be taken care of later."
Then he brought them out of the room, back through the chamber with the potions and the one with the troll, over the giant chessboard and past the fluttering keys. The room with the Devil's Snare gave them a few problems, especially with the three-headed dog waiting upstairs, but Draco went back to retrieve the brooms from the room with the keys and Snape conjured another harp that he let play while they slowly flew up to the trapdoor, levitating the stretches next to them. Madam Pomfrey nearly fainted at the sight of them, but quickly set to work, checking over Harry and Hermione and then insisting on taking a look at the other three.
By the time the headmaster strode into the Hospital Wing, Snape had already left and come back with a group of worried Slytherins, who were now crowding around Harry's bed.
Professor Dumbledore exchange a few words with Snape, then nodded gravely and sent their Head of House away. From what little Lynea could hear, they would discuss the events more in-depth in Dumbledore's office later. Then the headmaster approached them with a soft smile on his face that neither of the Slytherins returned. (And Hermione was still unconscious, lying on the bed next to Harry's.)
"Good afternoon," Dumbledore greeted them.
"Sir," Lynea said. "Professor Quirrel's body is still lying in the chamber with the mirror."
Dumbledore nodded, the smile leaving his face. "So I have heard. It will be taken care of shortly." He gave Lynea a curious glance. "I understand you had something to do with his demise?"
Lynea took in a sharp breath, but Dumbledore held up a hand. "I am not implying that you killed him, Miss Fawley."
Lynea narrowed her eyes. "And I didn't. The Dark Lord did."
"I have gathered as much," Dumbledore said, his eyes looking sad.
For some reason, the old man irritated Lynea immensely, even though he hadn't done anything to warrant that kind of reaction, yet.
"What about the stone?" Harry asked. "Quirrel tried to use me to get it for him, but then the others interrupted him. Is it still safe?"
"Oh, yes, it is. As of now, it still resides in the mirror, but it will be taken care of shortly."
How did he know that if he had just returned from wherever it was, he had been before? Professor Snape had mentioned Dumbledore being out of the school, after all.
"Will you destroy it?" Draco asked. "And leave Flamel and his wife to die?"
"Rest assured that I will talk to my friend about this matter. The decision lies with him, but I am certain he will agree with me that it is best to destroy the stone."
"And voluntarily die after living for more than six hundred years?" Blaise asked. "Why would he do that?"
"I believe they still have enough elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die." Dumbledore smiled. "To ones as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicholas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure."
"And yet people still fear Death," Lynea said quietly.
Dumbledore only smiled his infuriating smile and then continued to talk some more about how the stone wasn't such a great object after all – which none of the Slytherins seemed to agree with.
"There's something else," Harry said, when Dumbledore was finished. "Will Vol- I mean, the Dark Lord – will he return? He isn't truly gone, after all, is he?"
"Call him Voldemort, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."
Harry glanced at Lynea, undoubtedly remembering her words to him about that very subject, but remained silent. The other Slytherins exchanged uneasy looks.
"He is still out there somewhere," Dumbledore continued, "perhaps looking for another body … not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrel to die. He shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, Harry, while his return to power may have been delayed, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle – and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power, after all."
Lynea frowned, trying to make sense of Dumbledore's words. Was there a reason he had put three different points of interest together or had he just mused his disjointed thoughts aloud?
Either way, delaying the Dark Lord's return to power would not be as easy as he made it out to be.
"Sir?" Harry asked. "Why did the – why did he want to kill me?"
"Alas," Dumbledore said. "This I cannot tell you."
And then he went on a tangent about how the time wasn't right, yet, and how Harry was still too young and Lynea suspected heavily that Dumbledore intended to never tell him at all. So it must have been something very big and very important. Something about the night the Dark Lord had attempted to kill Harry for the first time must have been of such great importance that it could still affect the magical world today. Or Lynea was just overthinking things.
"Is there nothing else you wish to ask me, Harry?" Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.
But Harry only shook his head and Lynea wondered whether she had imagined the brief flash of disappointment in their headmaster's expression.
"Know this, Harry," he said. "Your mother loved you very much. She died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love."
"I know that," Harry said. "I know that my mother loves me very much." Then he averted his eyes and said no more.
Dumbledore looked like he wanted to say more, but Madam Pomfrey decided that this was enough for one day.
"The boy needs to rest," she said and then shooed the headmaster out of the room, turning around to do the same with the assembled Slytherins.
Lynea got up to leave with the others, but the matron fixed her and Draco with a glare. "Not you two. I want you to stay overnight, so I can keep an eye on you."
Lynea sighed and settled back down on the chair next to Harry's bed again. Draco flopped down on the bed itself, heaving a great sigh that was way more dramatic than Lynea's had been.
"Guess we'll keep you company, Harry," he said and Harry smiled at them.
o
Lynea, Draco and Hermione were released from the Hospital Wing the next day, but Harry had to stay for a bit longer and therefore missed Litha, the summer solstice. He told them later that Hagrid had paid him a visit and admitted he was probably at fault for the whole mess, because he had apparently told the stranger who had given him the dragon egg all about 'Fluffy', his three-headed dog, and was therefore responsible for Quirrel kidnapping Harry. Which was partly true and partly nonsense, but what truly mattered was the photograph album that he gave Harry. Harry was very overwhelmed with that gift.
No one from the student body knew about their adventure and Professor Snape told his Slytherins – and, probably, Hermione, too – to stay quiet about it, so it would stay that way. That didn't stop them from having a quiet discussion about it in one of the abandoned classrooms down in the dungeons, where Harry told his side of the story and then Draco and Lynea told theirs.
"Uncle Severus was a Death Eater, back in the day," Draco said and thus confirmed Lynea's theory. "That was why he reacted that way. He obviously couldn't do anything against Quirrel, if the Dark Lord was truly present. But claiming he didn't believe Quirrel's claims gave him the benefit of the doubt."
The Slytherins all agreed that Dumbledore was very irresponsible for hiding the stone in the school – for which there wasn't even any appropriate reason, because it had been safe with Nicholas Flamel for over six hundred years, after all. And if the headmaster had, as Snape had said, truly been suspicious of Quirrel, then why had he let the man teach at his school and not done anything, even when it became clear that Quirrel had been attempting to kill Harry?
After that even Harry had to admit that their headmaster didn't seem like a good person, after all – at least not someone suited to lead a school. The others tried not to look smug at that confession, but failed miserably. Harry still didn't change his opinion about Snape, though, which was understandable, considering the man had once been a Death Eater. The others just shrugged, when Harry asked why it didn't bother them.
Then there was only the end-of-year feast left before the summer holidays truly started. The Great Hall was decorated in green and silver, to celebrate Slytherin winning the House Cup via their hard-earned points. There was even a banner showing the Slytherin serpent hung up behind the teacher's table.
"Seven years in a row!" Gemma Farley proclaimed proudly. "The other houses may begrudge us for it, but they cannot deny that we worked hard to earn those points. Well done, my fellow Slytherins, well done."
Then Dumbledore arrived and a hush fell over the hall. The old man started some nonsensical speech about another year gone by, the house points, and how well Slytherin had done, indeed – although he didn't sound very happy about their achievement. (Which, according to Travers, was nothing new.)
There was an awkward pause when the headmaster was finished, but then Professor Snape started clapping and soon the rest of the hall joined in. The feast went rather well after that.
Their exam results came out the next morning and to no one's surprise, Hermione ranked first with perfect marks. Draco came in close second, followed by Lynea and several other Slytherins including Harry. Hermione wondered about not seeing any other Ravenclaws up there in the ranks, but it wasn't really that surprising. Ravenclaws tended to be rather eccentric, valuing intelligence and wit, but not exactly caring about achieving good marks most of the time. Slytherins, on the other hand, were known for their ambitiousness and being meant for great things made achieving good marks a necessity.
Neville thanked his friends, once again, because he would never have achieved such good grades without their help. Lynea thought he was exaggerating, because the boy really wasn't very stupid, but she accepted his thanks anyway.
And then, finally, it was time to board the train and return homewards. Both Harry and Draco seemed rather subdued on the train, although Lynea was apparently the only one who noticed. She bid her friends goodbye on the platform, already spotting her mother among the crowd, who briefly embraced her and then apparated them out of King's Cross Station and on the doorstep of Naenia's house.
AN
I really liked the part where Dumbledore tells Harry what happened 'is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows', but with how the events unfolded in this version, they don't really want to let that secret get out. And Dumbledore wouldn't reward Slytherin with any points, anyway.