The Stone

Chapter Thirty-Four

^^^ That face tho XD

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It was Quirrell. 

"You!" Harry gasped, gaping at him.

Quirrell smiled, his face wasn't twitching at all which made Harry think it was strange...he was always twitching.

"Me," he said calmly. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter. I always wondered whether Miss Black would be here...but I guess you'll do..."

"But I thought - Snape - "

Harry tried to ignore that Quirrell had called Bella's last name Black, he wanted to correct him but felt like this wasn't the time. 

"Severus?" Quirrell laughed and it wasn't his usual quivering treble either. I was so cold and sharp. "Yes, Severus does seem like 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?"

Harry was in shock. He started at Quirrell with wide eyes. This couldn't be true, it couldn't.

"But Snape tried to kill me!"

"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. 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 you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom and dear, Miss Black, wouldn't have been able to save you like it's written. But, I'd have managed to get you off your broom before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a counter curse, trying to save you"

"Snape was trying to save me?"

"Of course," Quirrell said cooly. "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 winning, he did make himself unpopular...and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight"

"What-"

Harry's sentence was cut short. Quirrell snapped his fingers and rope sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Harry. He struggled against them.

"You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school at Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone"

"You let the troll in?" Harry gasped out as the rope tightened around him.

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls-"

"-How unfortunate," Harry said.

Quirrell ignored him. "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"

"Shame it didn't bit yours off, or your head for that matter"

Quirrell glared at him. "Shut up and wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror"

It was only then that Harry realised what was standing behind Quirrell. It was the Mirror of Erised. 

"Don't that mirror is - wait...why am I warning you? Carry on..."

"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell muttered, 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"