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~↣ ⚯͛↢~
THIRD PERSON P.O.V.
"You!" Harry gasps.
Professor Quirrell turns around to face the first year boy. A small, devious smile crawls onto the teacher's lips as Harry walks down the stairs, confused and baffled.
"No. It can't be... Snape. He was the one —"
"Yes. He does seem the type, doesn't he?" Quirrell asks. His tone is much different then it has been all year. It's not shaky and he's not longer stuttering. Instead, his voice is cold and sharp. "Next to me, who would suspect, p-p-poor s-stuttering Professor Quirrell?"
"But... but that day, dusting the Quidditch match, Snape tried to kill me." Harry says. Quirrell shakes his head.
"No, dear boy. I tried to kill you! And trust me, if Snape's cloak hadn't caught fire and broken my eye contact, I would have succeeded. Even with Snape muttering his little counter-curse."
Harry is taken aback. He can't believe what he's just heard. His potions professor, trying to save him?
"Snape was trying to... save me?" Harry asks. His head is still jumbled up and scattered, but slowly, everything is clicking together.
"I knew you were a danger right from the off." Quirrell spits, his tone full of frustration. "Especially after Halloween."
"Then... then you let the troll in." Harry realizes.
"Very good Potter, yes. Snape, unfortunately, wasn't fooled. While everyone else was running to the dungeon, he went to the third floor to head me off. He, of course, never trusted me again. He rarely left me alone." Quirrell explains. "Now, wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror.
It is only now that Harry realizes what stands behind Quirrell. It is the Mirror of Erised.
"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone." Quirrell murmurs, 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 Harry can think of doing is to keep Quirrell talking and stop him from concentrating on the mirror.
"I saw you and Snape arguing —" he blurts out.
"Yes." Quirrell says idly, walking around the mirror to look at the back. "He was trying to find out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me — as though he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side..."
