"Alright, what next?" Harry asked in a bored tone as he followed Quirrell into the next room, he looked up and saw a small army of winged keys flying in circles overhead, near the entrance were some floating brooms. Quirrell didn't immediately answer and instead walked to the other end of the room, Harry sighed and walked after him, the two stopping at a locked door.
"T...this door is l...locked," Quirrell said as he looked at Harry. "It w...won't unlock with a simple unlocking charm, h...how would you unlock it?" He asked.
"Hmm," Harry frowned as he looked between the keys, the door and the brooms. "my guess is that one of those keys are needed to open the door and the brooms are there so you can get the key." Harry paused and looked at the keys. "Hmm, one of them has a damaged wing," Harry noticed. "if I had to guess then I'd say that would be the key you need."
"Hmm, perhaps you should g...get it, Mr P...Potter." Quirrell suggested.
"If I must, but I've got a simpler way." Harry said as he took his wand out and aimed it above him. "Immobulus," Harry calmly said, the freezing spell shot out of his wand and hit the key with the damaged wing while also affecting several nearby keys. "diffindo." Harry said, sending a severing charm at the wings of the key, cutting them both off. "Finite." Harry said, his counter spell hitting the key, countering the freezing charm and causing it to fall to the floor.
"Hmm, 'finite' a...and n...not 'Finite Incantatem'?" Quirrell asked as Harry walked over to pick up the key.
"They're the same thing," Harry shrugged as he went over to pick up the key. "The first just targets a specific target while the second acts over an area to terminate spell effects." He said before tossing the key to Quirrell who caught it.
"E...excellent, t...wenty points to S..lytherin f...for advan...advanced s...spells and sp...spell k...knowledge." Quirrell said as he opened the door, he walked into the next room with Harry following after him. This room was different from the last few, in it was simply a giant chess set.
"Let me guess, we have to get past the chess set?" Harry asked as he looked at Quirrell who nodded in response. "Brilliant." Harry paused and looked at the chess set, he spent several moments analyzing it before he aimed his wand and aimed in the direction of the opposing King. "Flippendo!" Harry yelled, putting a fair amount of power into his spell. Harry's knockback spell shot towards the king and passed in-between the other pieces before hitting its target, the king piece fell off the board and broke as it landed. "Let's go." Harry said to Quirrell before he began walking towards the exit.
"W...why did you do t...that?" Quirrell asked as he followed after him.
"The objective of chess is to attack the opponent's king," Harry reminded him as they reached the door, unbothered by the other pieces. "I could have played until we reached checkmate or I could just skip the middle man."
"Very c...clever." Quirrell said as they entered the next room, there was no door leading into the next room, but the exit was covered in black flames that prevented them from leaving, as soon as they had entered the entrance behind them was suddenly blocked off by purple fire. In front of them on a table was seven potions, all labeled in numbers and a rolled up piece of paper.
"Potions, I'm assuming this is Snape's doing." Harry said as he took the note and began reading it.
'Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end
But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.'
"Well P...Potter, what are you g...going to do?" Quirrell asked.
"Brain thinking, hush." Harry said as he reread it. "Hmm, one bottle to help us move on, one bottle to help us move back, two bottles of nettle wine and three bottles of poison. There is always a poison on the left of nettle wine. According to this the biggest bottle - number six- and the smallest bottle - number three - don't have poison." Harry said to himself. "Hmm...okay, I've got this." Harry said after a few seconds of thinking.
"D...do you?" Quirrell asked.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "it's simple." Harry said as he picked up what he believed to be the correct potion.
"Well P...Potter, best get to drinking then." Quirrell replied.
"E...Excellent Mr P...Potter." Quirrell said when the two arrived into the next room, the room was empty, but there was one thing in the middle of it that interested Harry.
"The mirror of erised?" Harry breathed.
"You know of it?" Quirrell asked, with an hungry look in his eye. "There is an object inside of the mirror, can you get it?" Quirrell asked, looking at Harry. He expected several different responses from Harry, what he did not expect was for Harry to suddenly start laughing, loudly. "Why are you laughing?!" Quirrell demanded.
"You forgot." Harry chuckled as he walked to the mirror, he began walking in a circle around the mirror, keeping his eyes locked on the mirror. As soon as he walked behind the mirror and out of view, Harry discreetly let Jet slither out of his sleeve and quickly climb onto the frame of the back of the mirror.
"Forgot what?" Quirrell asked when Harry appeared back in view, Harry stopped in front of the mirror and turned to Quirrell.
"Your stutter." Harry said calmly with a shrug as he held his hands behind his back.
"W...what?" Quirrell asked.
"Oh it's too late now, Quirrell." Harry said in an amused voice. "It's funny really, you kept that act up for most of the year, only to mess it up now." Harry said, he watched as Quirrell suddenly stood up straighter and began glaring at him.
"It was a most tiring act to maintain." Quirrell said in an annoyed voice.
"An incredibly annoying one as well." Harry replied. "I mean honestly, the stuttering got old by the first hour of your first lesson." Harry added. "It took you more than two minutes just to get through the bloody class attendance register."
"You knew it was an act?" Quirrell asked.
"I suspected." Harry admitted. "I've got to admit that it's only really my curiosity that brought me here."
"What do you mean?"
"You were giving off plenty of warning signs, the biggest one was when you brought me into the forbidden corridor." Harry replied. "I was tempted to escape but then I figured why not? I was rather interested to know what was in the corridor, there's the mirror but there's got to be more to it than that. You said an object was inside it, what is it that you're after? What is in there?" Harry asked, as he gestured behind himself to the mirror.
"The philosopher's stone." Quirrell answered as he calmly walked over to Harry and stood in front of the mirror before turning to Harry, "An incredible invention, a brilliant magical artefact with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold, it also produces the 'Elixir of Life', which will make the drinker immortal."
"Hmm, and you want it, that makes sense." Harry hummed. "The troll, you were the one who let it in, weren't you?" Harry guessed. "You were hoping to use it as distraction so you can get the stone."
"I was." Quirrell nodded.
"Yeah, you see that makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is the fact that you brought me with you," Harry pointed out. "you could have brought a seventh year or even a sixth year, probably could have tricked a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff into helping you, you could have done it all on your own, why bring me?"
"Because I wanted to test you," Quirrell answered. "you're not like the other students. You could have gone into Gryffindor but you went into the noble house of Slytherin, not only that but you are also a parsletounge and any person with a brain can see that you're in charge of the other Slytherin's in your year. My master has expressed an interest in you."
"Hmm, your master?" Harry repeated. "So the stone is not for you?" Harry asked. "Who is your master?"
"Let me speak to the boy." A raspy voice spoke, sounding like it came from behind Quirrell.
"I'll assume that's him then." Harry said in a dry voice, even though he was quickly looking around to see if he could spot the owner of the voice.
"Master, you're not strong enough!" Quirrell protested.
"I have strength, enough for this." The voice replied. Quirrell looked like he was going to protest again but stopped before doing so, he took in a small breath before turning around, his back now facing Harry. He reached up and began removing his turban, when he was done Harry took a step back before he could stop himself, the sight in front of him was a shocking one. There was another face where the back of Quirrell's head should be. The face has red eyes and a snake-like slit where the nose should be, it was a very disturbing sight. "Harry Potter," The face breathed. "see what has become of me? What I have been reduced to since that fateful Halloween night? Mere shadow and vapor... I have form only when I can share another's body... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds... unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks... and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own."
"Halloween? Wait...you're Voldemort!" Harry realized.
"Yes, yes I am, or at least was." The face replied, it took every bit of Harry's will power to stop himself from running. His body wanted him to run, but he knew that if he did then it wouldn't end well for him.
"You're supposed to be dead." Harry breathed, finding it extremely hard to believe what was happening.
"Many believe me to be, but I am far from ready to die." Voldemort hissed. "I am now but a mere shade of my former self. But when I have the stone I will return to my full power."
"You know, bringing the guy who killed my parents - and is responsible for me being an abused orphan - to his full power is not exactly the best sales pitch." Harry said in a calm voice, he was ignoring his internal panic. He needed to think, he needed to focus, if he could survive Uncle Vernon's breath and Dudley's 'silent but deadlies' then he could survive this.
"Ah yes, I have been made aware of the abuse you suffered at the hands of those muggles." Voldemort replied. "You are a lot like me, Harry, or at least like a younger version of me. I was also handsome, magically talented and a parslemouth, but like you I was also placed with muggles not fit to even clean my shoes."
"Or his shoes in this case." Harry said as he gestured to Quirrell's feet. "And that might be true, but why should I help you get the stone?"
"Join me, Harry." Voldemort replied, his red eyes locked on Harry. "You're not like the rest, I can tell."
"You're evil." Harry couldn't help but point out.
"There is no good or evil, only power. And I can grant you that, Harry." Voldemort responded. "You understand, that's why you train day in and day out. That's why you push and drive yourself to succeed, you tasted power and you want more. If you study under me then you could become one of the best wizards of all time."
"You'd kill me the second I finished helping you." Harry growled.
"I will not, I give you my word that if you help me then me and my followers will not harm you."
"And I'm supposed to trust your word?" Harry snorted just as he brought his hands to his side. "I think not." Harry said as his wand flicked into his right hand, Harry raised it only for Quirrell to suddenly turn around and Quirrell's wand was in his hand before Harry could blink, Harry found his own wand had flown out of his hand and landed nearby. He couldn't help but blink at the speed showed by Quirrell.
"Think carefully, Potter." Quirrell warned as he pointed his own wand at Harry. "My master is the most powerful wizard in the world, you can join him and be an important part of history or you can be stupid and be a footnote in the history books. What say you?"
"I say that you've forgotten that I am not alone, and that I still have my familiar." Harry said as he thrust his left hand towards Quirrell who responded by quickly catching him by the sleeve with his free hand, hoping to stop Jet from popping out of Harry's sleeve, though he quickly realized that Jet was not in Harry's sleeve. "Hey Quirrell," Harry grinned, causing Quirrell to look at him with confusion. "made you look." He added as he gave him the finger using his left hand. "Attack!" Harry hissed in parsletounge.
"Watch out fool!" Voldemort screamed, having understood what Harry had said. But it was too late as Jet had jumped off of the top of the mirror and at Quirrell who had tried to blast Jet but Jet was able to avoid the spell by twisting in midair, Jet landed on Quirrell's wand arm and quickly bit into Quirrell's hand, causing Quirrell to scream in pain, he dropped his wand but Harry was able to catch it before it hit the ground.
Quirrell released Harry's other arm and tried to snatch his wand back but Harry had used the released hand to grab Quirrell's hand while holding Quirrell's wand out of reach using his other hand. It was then that something strange happened, Quirrell's skin started burning as soon Harry had touched it, Quirrell howled in pain and yanked his hand out of Harry's. But it seemed too late for his hand as it crumbled into dust, Jet removed his fangs from Quirrell's other hand and went for his throat, only for Quirrell to quickly shake him off and cause him to land on the floor.
Jet reacted quickly and slammed his fangs into Quirrell's leg, Harry had gotten over his shock from Quirrell's hand burning, now was not the time for that, he would think about it later. Harry went on instinct and did the first thing that came into his head, he pulled his leg back and kicked Quirrell between the legs. Quirrell screamed in pain and fell to the ground, hands clutching the latest victim in a never ending war between the heroic feet of an eleven year old and the balls of a creepy man. Harry snapped Quirrell's wand before quickly rushing over to pick up his own.
"Jet, return." Harry ordered, Jet released Quirrell and slithered other to Harry before climbing up so he was resting on Harry's shoulders. "Nice try, Quirrell...Voldemort...um...Quirrellmort, yeah that works." Harry said as he kept his wand aimed at Quirrell.
"You...you will p...pay!" Quirrell gasped.
"Oh god, I kicked him so hard that the stutter is back." Harry sighed. He was about to say more when Professor Dumbledore arrived, he looked between Harry and Quirrelmort with widened eyes before aiming his wand at Quirrell.
"N...no...Master!" Quirrell suddenly screamed as his body began shaking, a small, smoky black cloud flew out of the back of his head and hovered in the air, it shifted so its face was the same as Voldemort's. The moment the cloud had come out, Quirrell's body had turned to dust, leaving behind only his clothes.
"This is not over! You have not seen the last of me!" Voldemort's voice shouted out angrily from the cloud before the cloud flew away.
"Please tell me that wasn't what I fucking think it was!" Harry said to Dumbledore once the cloud was gone.
"I believe it just might be," Dumbledore said, choosing to ignore Harry's language for now. "are either of you hurt?" He asked, looking between Jet and Harry.
"No," Harry shook his head after several calming breaths, he hissed at Jet who shook his head. "no, Jet's fine as well." Harry added.
"What happened here?" Dumbledore asked as he quickly moved over to the mirror and began casting diagnostic spells over it.
"Quirrell came to the common room, he took me over here, he made me go through all those little tests." Harry quickly began explaining. "I knew something was wrong but I decided to just go along with it, see if I could work out what he was doing. Quirrell brought me here and told me that philosopher's stone was in the mirror, he wanted to see if I could try and get it out and then he took off his turban and Voldemort's face was on the back of his fucking head!"
"And then?" Dumbledore asked while continuing to cast spells and once again ignoring Harry's language.
"He tried to get me to join him," Harry admitted just as Dumbledore finally finished casting his spells. Dumbledore turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "He said we're alike and that I would be a great wizard if I listened to him."
"You are alike in certain regards, but also incredibly different in other ways." Dumbledore replied. "And you are already a great wizard, Harry."
"Thank you," Harry couldn't help but smile a little at the compliment, especially since it was coming from the man that many considered to be the greatest wizard of all time. "but I knew he was trying to trick me, even if he didn't try I still wouldn't trust the man who killed my parents." Harry scowled. "I tried to take my wand out but then he disarmed me, Jet quickly bit him and I was able to take his wand but then...something weird happened."
"What happened, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Quirrell's hand burnt when I touched it," Harry answered, "I didn't even do anything, I just touched it and it started burning."
"Hmm," Dumbledore hummed after a small silence. "I feel like I must thank you Harry, if not for you then it would be very possible that Voldemort would have gotten the stone, I have checked the mirror and the stone is still inside."
"The stone is actually in the mirror?" Harry asked. "How would you even get it out?" He couldn't help but wonder.
"It's a rather genius idea of mine," Dumbledore smiled. "the stone is hidden in the mirror thanks to some very, very advanced magic. Though it can be taken out, only those who wanted to find the stone, but not use it, could get it from the mirror. This way anybody who wants it, including Voldemort, can not get it. Now, we will talk some more Harry but first I think we should get you to the hospital wing."
"Sir, I'm fine." Harry insisted.
"You might be but I'd rather not risk the chance that you've been exposed to some harmful magic," Dumbledore replied. "I will take you to the hospital wing and you will stay there for the night, then tomorrow you can be released if Madam Pomfrey believes that you are healthy enough."
"Fine," Harry sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to be able to get out of this. "but can I at least go to my common room first and get some sleeping clothes and a book to read."
"Hmm, I believe that will be fine." Dumbledore said before he looked back at what was left of Quirrell, he was saddened that the young man had become another victim of Voldemort's, but despite that he was glad that Harry was alive and safe. "Harry," Dumbledore said as he looked back to Harry. "tomorrow when you have time I would like to talk to you in more detail about what has happened tonight, but until then I want you to not mention what has happened here to anyone, is that understood?"
"Yes sir," Harry nodded with Jet nodding alongside him.
A few minutes later Harry was in his room, picking up his sleeping clothes and a book to read, Dumbledore was in the common room and fending off the many questions about what had happened while also telling everyone to not bother Harry.
"Jet?" Harry frowned when he noticed Jet's mouth was wider than normal. "Have you got something in your mouth?" Harry asked, Jet nodded before he opened his mouth and a red stone dropped out of it and onto Harry's bed. "Is that...is that?!" Harry's jaw dropped as he looked back and forth between the stone and Jet. "Did you nick the stone?!" Harry hissed with disbelief.
"The bearded one said that the stone would come to those who wished to find it but not use it." Jet replied. "I wanted to find it but I don't want to use it, I wanted to give it to you. When we were leaving I looked in the mirror and suddenly found the stone in my mouth, I was careful and made sure to keep my head out of sight of the bearded one and hid behind your head. Do you like it?" Jet asked in a hopeful voice.
Harry found himself unable to speak, he glanced between Jet and the stone repeatedly until his eyes were locked on the stone. Before he could even think about it he had a face splitting smile, he quickly stopped himself from laughing out loud, knowing that the Dumbledore and the other students might hear him.
"Jet, I love it!" Harry grinned. "You absolutely brilliant snake!"
"Brilliant, hmm...yes, I suppose I am."
A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. Next chapter will have Harry and Dumbledore talking more about what had happened and then the decision on who Harry is going to live with will be answered in the same chapter, or the chapter after. I've already decided who Harry was going to live with, it's going to start off pretty good but I do plan for something big to happen around third or fourth year, I'm not going to say if it's good or bad, just that you have to keep reading if you want to find out.
As for Harry, he will be taking the events of the day as lessons for the future. What does that mean? Find out next chapter. As for Jet taking the stone, I just want to say that it was never said that only a human can take the stone. And Jet filled the requirements, he wanted the stone but not to use it, just to give it to his loving master.
Anyway, thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review.