And here is the eleventh chapter!

* Review Response:
The Richmaster, JPElles, geetac, Ranmaleopard, thank you for your reviews, folks!
The Sinful, you bet.
magitech, now that's an interesting observation! Indeed, it seems that pretty much no one brings a pet to Hogwarts. There should've been way more cats in the castle than just Mrs. Norris and (later) Crookshanks. And then, let me remind you, owls hunt vermin too. Pettigrew as rat should've become something's meal a long time ago. Unless the animals can somehow tell that he's a transformed human and do their best to avoid him...
Wyrtha, the potion has worked, but its effects will take quite a bit of time to become truly noticeable.
Guest, perhaps, perhaps... But professor Babbling is fine as is. As for Pettigrew,.. He'll live, for now.
LordGhostStriker, no it won't be anything close to that, but Harry will still overshoot his intended age-up.

* AN:
Damn it, my inspiration has once again abandoned me... And, thus, this pitiful chapter is is all that I've managed to write for now. Thankfully, I'm nearly done with Harry's first year and, thus, it's almost the time for the interesting stuff. So, hopefully, I will have an easier time writing the next chapters...

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.

"speaking"
'thinking'
written text

A Year Too Soon
Chapter XI: The Meeting

Before Harry knew it, the holidays were over and his second semester at Hogwarts began, bringing back the routine of attending classes and doing homework with it. And... That was about it. Nothing truly exciting was happening within the castle. Which was probably a good thing as the young Potter certainly had no desire to find out what sort of disaster could happen in a magical castle full of ancient mysteries and surrounded by a forest inhabited by unimaginable beasts.

As for the secretly-brewed maturation potion Harry was now taking, well... On one hand, neither the students nor the professors noticed anything out of ordinary about him. On the other hand, though, he himself couldn't see any effects the potion was supposed to have on him. It was almost like his brew wasn't doing anything at all. That wasn't the thought the Potter heir liked, especially since he had no ways of confirming or disproving it at this time without alerting the Hogwarts staff to the fact that he has secretly brewed and was now taking in a potentially-dangerous potion. Thus, all that was left for him to do was to wait and hope that he hadn't screwed up anywhere and it was just the potion being more subtle in the ways it worked than he had expected.

And, as he wasn't making another attempt at brewing the potion yet, the green-eyed youth found himself with a secret brewing room he had no use for at this time. Yet, given how much effort he had put into shaping it into what it was right now, he didn't want to just abandon it, not even temporarily… But really, what could he do with it? Eventually, an idea dawned upon him: he could reshape it into a more general purpose hang out spot. Just for himself, as right now he didn't have anyone he considered a close-enough friend to share such a secret with. But, in the future, who knows...

This rather uneventful school life lasted only for a couple of weeks and its end was spelled when, one day, Harry was approached by one of his yearmates, a proud pure-blood boy by the name of Jeremy Rookmoore, who wanted some advice on Charms extracurricular reading. This came as a bit of a surprise for the young Potter as Jeremy made no secret that he merely tolerated his existence in the past and, well, some upperclassman would probably be a better person to ask such a question, right? Nevertheless, Harry helped the boy as best as he could.

As it turned out, this event was just the beginning, and the green-eyed youth soon found himself dragged into the active social life of the house of the Snakes. Surprisingly enough, he wasn't forced into the role of someone's minion, like it sometimes happened with those of a lesser standing in the magical society. Instead, his peers and even many of his seniors treated him as an equal. And his opinion, while certainly not always agreed with, mattered and rarely ever was dismissed outright. It was… quite nice.

Of course, not everything was perfect and Harry often found himself at a disagreement with the more ...purist members of his house. Some of these conflict were rather annoying too as those people oftentimes refused to even consider that opinions other than their own might be right. Still, overall, the young Potter found himself enjoying socializing with his housemates quite a lot.

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Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was a powerful and revered wizard who held quite a few positions in the magical worlds. Understandably, he had many duties and his days were rather busy. Yet, he somehow always managed to find a bit of time to have a nice chat with his colleagues or friends. And, this fine March noon, he was having a reunion with his student and later employee, Quirinius Quirrell, who has recently returned from this sabbatical leave.

"It's nice to have you back, Quirinius." The Hogwarts headmaster said to his guest, a rather young wizard, wearing long purple robes and a turban of the same color in place of a hat.

"T-Thank you, professor." The young man in question replied. "It's nice to b-be back home."

"Indeed." Dumbledore agreed. "And, I'm sure you have many entertaining stories about your adventures abroad to share. Alas, our lives are such that our work comes before our personal pleasures, so, perhaps, another time." Making a short pause, he continued: "Meanwhile, I have a favor to ask of you, Quirinius." That certainly got the younger wizard's attention.

"Yes, p-professor?" He asked.

"As much as it saddens me say this, I once again find myself in the need of a new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Catherine - Mrs. Armstrong - has promised to finish this academic year but, once it's over, she goes on maternity leave." The aged warlock explained.

"You w-want me to take the position come next year, r-right, professor?" The turban-wearing young man asked, receiving a nod in response.

"Yes, that would be most helpful." Dumbledore said. "You've had quite a few adventures while you were on your sabbatical - I remember reading an article in the ICW newspaper about you disposing some really nasty undead in Africa - so, I'm sure, you have quite a bit you can teach our young, when it comes to making the world around us a safer place. And you also have a bit of teaching experience; quite a few students have confessed to me that they've enjoyed your lectures about Muggles and their ways of life. So, yes, you're probably the best wizard to teach DADA that I can think of, Quirinius."

"T-thank you for your kind w-words, professor." The younger wizard replied. "I'll t-think about your offer." Dumbledore gave him his patented grandfatherly smile.

"That's all I'm asking for." For a moment the headmaster's office fell into silence. Then, Albus spoke again. "Oh my, it's almost lunch time... Why don't we relocate to the Great Hall, Quirinius? I'm sure everyone will be eager to hear about your adventures."

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When the first year Slytherins, eager to get their lunch after a surprisingly-tiring Transfiguration practical, walked into the Great Hall, they immediately noticed a man they've never seen before sitting at the professors' table right next to the headmaster and having an animated chat with him. Understandably, many of them got curious about who that wizard in purple robes was. And Harry was no exception there.

"Do you know who is that guy talking to Dumbledore?" He asked the twins, who were walking next to him. Flora gave him a shrug in response while Hestia actually appeared to have some idea who that man in purple might be:

"I've heard from the older girls that there was a young professor teaching who left on a sabbatical a year… A year and a half ago. Perhaps it's him?" She said.

"Oh…" The green-eyed youth breathed out. That sounded quite plausible.

"Yeah, that's professor Quirrell." Marcus Flint, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, confirmed. "He was a Muggle Studies teacher, though, they say, he has always wanted to teach something a bit more practical, like DADA or Charms. Though, given how great professors Flitwick and Armstrong are, I can't really see him taking either of those positions."

Nodding the older boy a thank you for this information, Harry took a seat at the Slytherin table and began piling food on his plate. Still, despite his hunger, he found himself unable to fully concentrate on his meal as his thoughts kept wandering back to ex-professor in purple. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he felt like there was something off about the man. Perhaps it nothing more than his strange choice of headwear that perplexed him, but… Having grown up under the Dursleys' roof Harry learned to trust his instincts, and right now those were telling him that Mr. Quirrell was more than he appeared to be, and not in a good way.

For a few minutes the Potter Scion did his best to pretend that nothing was bothering him, but, before long, it got to the point where he just couldn't suppress the need to reassure himself that everything was fine. And so he stole a glance at the professors' table. Thankfully, it looked like this one time his gut feeling was wrong and the turban-wearing wizard there was just a normal man with a peculiar taste in clothings. After all, he wouldn't be the first one: headmaster Dumbledore was often seen in robes a bit too flamboyant for a man of his age and status.

Satisfied that nothing was out of order, Harry was about to return his attention to his meal, when his eyes met those of Mr. Quirrell. And an instant later a sharp stab of pain exploded through his head, seemingly originating from his infamous lightning-bolt-shaped scar.

"Ouch." He couldn't help but exclaim, while forcing himself to look away from the professors' table. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by those sitting next to him.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Hestia asked him. Her sister too seemed to be a little worried about him… Taking a moment to come to his senses, Harry nodded.

"Yeah. I think so." He said. "I just had a sudden headache when I met Mr. Quirrell's glance."

"That's strange." The girls said. "Nothing like that has happened to us or anyone else." Indeed, the ex-professor seemed to attract the glances from many people in the Great Hall, and no one else appeared to be suffering from headaches because of him. "I think it was just a coincidence." Harry responded with an uncertain hum. The Carrow twins were probably right and the pain he has just experienced was in no way connected to this Quirrell guy. Yet, his gut feeling was still telling him that the turban-wearing wizard wasn't what he appeared to be, and the fact that the headache originated from his (cursed) scar only reinforced that feeling.

Still, what were the chances that he will meet this man again? Even if something indeed wasn't quite right about him, Harry was pretty sure that he was unlikely to see him again. Thus, he went back to his meal, resolving to put this whole incident out of his mind...

"E-excuse me, professor,.." Lord Voldemort said in his imitation of his current host as he assumed direct control over him. "But, is t-that Harry Potter?" Dumbledore responded with a nod.

"Yes, Quirinius, that would indeed be young Mr. Potter." The old warlock said. "He has greatly surprised us all when he showed up for sorting a whole year earlier than expected. And then he surprised everyone again, when the Sorting Hat, against all expectations, decided to place him in Slytherin."

"Interesting… It seems t-that the rumors reaching me on m-my journey had a grain of t-truth to them after all." And as he said that, still imitating the annoying stuttering of his host, Voldemort thought about the implications of this development. For one, it looked like there indeed was something special about the Potter brat if he got his Hogwarts letter a year too soon. Not that this extra year of magical education would somehow make the boy a threat to him, but…

Then there was the matter of the boy defying everyone's expectations and getting sorted into Slytherin. He, of course, wasn't stupid enough to think that this somehow meant that Potter will become a supporter of his cause: there were many Slytherin alumni that openly opposed his before his fall, and those people had less reasons to fight against him than Potter did. But as the boy wasn't an obstinate Gryffindor, it might actually be possible to negotiate with him. And if he somehow managed to get him to step aside, there will be no one capable of truly defeating him standing in his way...

That's all, folks!
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