❝ i'm chaos walking . . . ❞
❝ then i'll walk with you.❞
「 Liliana Granger knew chaos like the back of her hand.
It confronted her, challenging her to find calm wherever she could.
But some days...
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❝ See you over the summer, then.❞⋅
⋅☾☼☽⋅
It was Quirrell.
"You!" Harry gasped.
Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all.
"Me," he agreed calmly. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter —" a twisted grin replaced his casual smile "— And you, Granger."
"But I thought — at the match — Snape —" though as the pieces started to connect in her mind, Liliana felt her once full-proof decision weaken "— Snape never did anything... did he?"
Quirell shook his head and laughed, but it wasn't his usual quivering treble, rather cold and sharp. "Severus? Yes, he 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 Quirell?"
"But Snape tried to kill me!"
"Wrong again, Potter," Quirell corrected, a hint of pride in his voice. "Granger's right — Severus had nothing to do with it. I tried to kill you. And if it hadn't been for Granger here, I would have." He eyed Liliana, a look full of loathing. "See, when you accidentally knocked me over as your sister rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match, you broke my eye contact with Harry. For a moment I thought you'd known what I was doing."
"I did," Liliana said, the moment so vivid in her mind. "But I didn't — I thought —"
"That I couldn't dare hurt Potter?" Quirell guessed slyly. "I'd have managed it long before our run-in if Snape hadn't been muttering a countercurse to save Harry."
"Snape was trying to save me?"
"Of course," Quirrell said coolly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your 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, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."
Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Harry. Without a second to spare, a second pair of robes bound Liliana. She fell roughly beside Harry.
"Let us go!" Liliana yelled, thrashing on the ground.
Quirell laughed. "Oh, and risk ruining everything? I don't think so, Granger. Not when I've finally connected the dots. Years of searching and after that night in the forest I was sure of it." He scoffed. "Someone like you shouldn't be capable of legilimency, and if it weren't for that foolish girl and her stupid prophecy —" he broke off, his voice suddenly cold and detached, as if he were someone else "— ENOUGH!"
