The Mystery of the Philosopher's Stone.

Chapter 20: Harry Triumphant

It was Quirrell. His stutter gone, Quirrell regarded Harry calmly.

"Where is Snape?" Harry asked after recovering from his surprise.

"Severus does seem the type, doesn't he," said Quirrell.

"But, he tried to kill me!" Harry protested.

"No, I tried to kill you, Snape tried to save you," Quirrell replied.

"If Miss Granger hadn't broken my eye contact, I would have succeeded, despite Snape muttering a counter curse," Quirrell continued.

"Snape refereed the next match to protect you. He needn't have bothered as Dumbledore was watching so I could do nothing and he made himself unpopular with the other teachers as they thought he was trying to stop Gryffindor winning. What a waste of time when I will kill you tonight," Quirrell snapped his fingers and ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Harry.

"So you let the troll in at Halloween?" Harry suggested.

"Yes, I have a special gift with trolls," Quirrell said, "Nobody suspected me, except Snape who went straight to the third floor to head me off. Now be quiet while I examine this mirror."

Only then did Harry see the Mirror of Erised behind him.

"This mirror is the key to finding the stone," said Quirrell aloud, but talking mainly to himself.

Harry tried to keep Quirrell talking so he could not concentrate on the mirror.

"I saw you and Snape in the forest," he blurted out.

"Yes," said Quirrell walking round the mirror, "he was trying to frighten me off, as if he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side."

Quirrell looked into the mirror again.

"I see the stone, I am presenting it to my master, but where is it?" Quirrell said to himself.

Harry tried to think of something to say.

"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much," Harry said.

"Oh he does, he and your father were at Hogwarts together and hated each other, but he didn't want you dead," Quirrell replied.

"But I heard you a few days ago, sobbing-I thought Snape was threatening you..."

For the first time, a spasm of fear flitted across Quirrell's face.

"Sometimes," he said, "I find it hard to follow my master's instructions-he is a great wizard and I am weak-"

"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Harry gasped.

"He is with me wherever I go," said Quirrell quietly.

"I met him when I travelled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort 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," Quirrell shivered suddenly.

"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 have to keep a closer watch on me..." Quirrell's voice tailed away.

Quirrell cursed under his breath, "I don't understand...is the stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"

Harry's mind was racing. What I want more than anything else in the world at the moment, he thought, is to find the stone before Quirrell does. So if I look in the mirror, I should see myself finding it-which means I'll see where it's hidden! But how can I look without Quirrell realising what I'm up to?"