𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐝 {𝐇. 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫}

14

It was Quirrell.

"You!" gasped Johnny.

Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all.

"Me," he said calmly. "I thought I'd be meeting Potter here, Grindelwald."

"Wha-?"

"So Dumbledore still hasn't told you off your true heritage," Quirrell grinned. "Yes, you are of the Purest Blood. Jakob Grindelwald and Evelyn Potter."

"Potter?"

"Yes," Quirrell. "The Boy Who Lived, his Aunt is your mother. She was beautiful, second smartest in the year behind the Mudblood Evans-"

"Harry's mother?"

"Yes," Quirrell laughed at the sheer confusion on Johnny's face. "If you don't believe me, feel free to ask Dumbledore if you make it out of here. The Grandson of the Great Gellert Grindelwald, prepared to die. And for some powerful Stone."

"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 P-Professor Quirrell?"

Johnny couldn't take it all in.

"But Snape tried to kill Harry!"

"No, no, no. I tried to kill Potter. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with Potter. Another few seconds and I'd have gotten him off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a countercurse, trying to save him."

"Snape was trying to save him?"

"Of course," said Quirrell coolly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee the next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really... he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular... and what a waste of time, and tonight I'm going to kill his favourite student. You."

Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Johnny.

"You're too nosy to live, Grindelwald. And on Halloween, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"You let the troll in?"

"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 to the third floor to head me off -- and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly.

"Now, wait quiet, Grindelwald. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

It was only then that Johnny realised 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..."

All Johnny could think of doing was to keep Quirrell talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror.

"Harry saw you and Snape in the forest -- " he blurted out.