12 Chapter 11

In the middle of the room stood Professor Quirrell.

- You? - Harry exhaled in astonishment. Quirrell smiled. His face, usually convulsively twitching, looked perfectly normal this time.

- Exactly," he confirmed calmly. - I was wondering if I'd run into you here, Potter.

Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes emerged from the void and slid into Harry, binding him tightly.

- You're too curious to let you live, Potter," Quirrell explained. - Who was loitering around the school on Halloween? I nearly ran into you when I wanted to see who was guarding the stone.

- So you let a troll in? - Harry asked with growing bewilderment.

- Of course, I did. - Quirrell seemed surprised that Harry couldn't figure out what was going on. - I have a special gift for dealing with trolls. Did you see how I handled the one you passed on your way here? Unfortunately, while all the teachers were looking for the troll, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to intercept me. Not only did the troll fail to kill you, but the three-headed dog couldn't bite Snape properly or at least tear his leg off. Harry opened his mouth to ask another question, but Quirrell raised his hand warningly.

- Don't move, Potter, I need to examine this outlandish mirror.

Only then did Harry see that he was standing behind Quirrell's back. It was the Einalege mirror.

- This mirror holds the key to the stone," Quirrell muttered, tapping his fingers on the frame. - 'I should have known Dumbledore would come up with something like that...'

Harry frantically tried to think of something. But all he could think of was to drag Quirrell into the conversation and keep him from focusing on the mirror. However, the boy quickly discarded that idea.

- 'I see the stone,' Quirrell whispered, 'I'm going to present it to my lord...' But where is the stone?

Harry tried to loosen the ropes binding him, but they would not budge. Quirrell seemed to be concentrating on the mirror.

- Are you saying he was in that room with you? - Harry grinned.

- 'He's always with me wherever I go,' Quirrell replied softly, ignoring Potter's sarcasm, 'I met him when I was travelling the world. I was young, stupid, and full of ridiculous notions of good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no such thing as good and evil - there is only power, there is only power, and there are those who are too weak to aspire to it... I have served him faithfully ever since, though unfortunately, I have failed him more than once. He has had to be harsh with me..." Quirrell suddenly flinched.

- He was not inclined to forgive mistakes. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was very unhappy with me. He punished me... He decided that he should watch me more closely and control me all the time.....

Quirrell muttered some sort of swear word quietly. - 'I can't understand it,' he whispered. - 'Maybe this stone is inside the mirror? Maybe I'm supposed to smash it?

Harry frantically tried to think of what he should do.

'So if I look in the mirror, I can find it, I mean I can see where it's hidden! But how can I look in the mirror without Quirrell noticing it and realising what I need?" - Potter pondered.

Harry tried to move, but the ropes held him tight - he staggered and fell. Quirrell paid no attention to this. He was still talking to himself.

- What does this mirror do? What does it show? Help me, my lord!

Harry went cold with horror. An unfamiliar voice echoed in the room. It seemed to come from Quirrell himself.

- Use the boy... Use the boy. Use the boy...

Quirrell turned to Harry.

- 'Right, Potter, come here. The professor clapped his hands and the ropes fell to the floor. Harry slowly rose to his feet.

- 'Come here,' Quirrell said hurriedly. - Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Harry walked over to the mirror.

I have to trick him," he ordered himself, feeling that he was on the verge of despair. - I have to look in the mirror, see what I need to see, and lie, that's all I have to do."

Quirrell was standing at his back. Harry could smell a strange odour coming from the turban that hid the professor's head. Harry closed his eyes, moved closer to the mirror and opened them again. He saw his reflection - a pale, frightened face. But a moment later, the reflection winked at him. It slipped its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. Then, with another wink, it put the stone back. Harry felt something very heavy in his pocket. Somehow, unbelievably, the stone was in his possession.

- How was it? - Quirrell asked impatiently. - What do you see?

Harry pulled himself together.

- I see how I became head boy of the Slytherin faculty, how I graduated from Hogwarts with honours and became Minister of Magic," Potter was blatantly lying.

Quirrell roared again.

- Get out of here! - he commanded. Harry took a step to the side. The stone jutted from his pocket, and Harry wondered if he should try to run away. He hadn't taken five steps towards the door before a harsh voice reached him. Harry turned around and realised that Quirrell was somehow managing to speak without opening his mouth.

- He's lying... He's lying...

- Potter, come here! - Quirrell shouted. - Tell the truth! What did you see in there? Quirrell closed his mouth, and then the harsh voice came again.

- 'Let me talk to him... I want to see his face, and he wants to see me...

- But, my lord, you are not strong enough yet! - Quirrell protested.

- I have strength enough... - cut off the stern voice. - Quite enough for this...

Harry felt as if he were back in the Devil's Keep. He felt like he was stuck in place and couldn't move. In a daze, Harry watched as Quirrell began to unwind his turban. Finally, the cloth fell to the floor. Without it, Quirrell's head, greatly reduced in size, looked somehow strange. Then Quirrell slowly turned his back to Harry.

Where the back of Quirrell's head should have been, a face appeared, the most terrifying face Harry had ever seen. It was dead white, and instead of nostrils, it had narrow slits that looked like snake slits. But most frightening of all were the eyes, bright red and fierce.

- Harry Potter," the face whispered. Harry tried to back away, but his legs wouldn't obey him.

- Do you see what I've become? - The face asked. - I'm just a shadow, a chimaera... I only take shape when I enter someone else's body... There will always be those who are willing to let me into their brains and hearts... Unicorn blood has made me stronger. And when I possess the elixir of life, I will be able to create my own body... So why don't you give me the stone you're hiding in your pocket?

Harry suddenly felt his strength returning to him and stumbled backwards.

- 'Don't be a fool,' the face growled. - 'You'd better join me and save your life... or you'll end up like your parents... They died begging me for mercy.

The Slytherin pondered the Dark Lord's words and concluded that he would never be that bastard's servant.

- LIAR! - Harry suddenly shouted to himself. Quirrell was coming towards him - he was walking backwards so that Voldemort could see Harry. A smile appeared on his white face.

- How touching," it hissed. - Well, I've always appreciated courage... You're right, boy, your parents were brave men... I killed your father first, even though he fought bravely... And your mother didn't have to die at all. but she tried to protect you. Now give me the stone, so she doesn't die in vain.

- NEVER! - Harry threw a fire spell at the possessed man, which Quirrell easily fought off.

- CRUCIO! - Voldemort shouted. A moment later, Harry felt the worst pain of his life. Harry screamed, trying to crawl away.

- You're pathetic, Harry Potter. Weak," the Dark Lord said with contempt in his voice as he watched the freshman's unsuccessful attempts to crawl away.

- Kill him, you fool, and be done with it! - Voldemort ordered his servant hoarsely. Quirrell raised his hand, about to cast a death spell on Harry, but suddenly a green fireball struck the possessed man's body, throwing the two-faced man a couple of metres away from the freshman

- A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A! - Quirrell cried out loudly in pain, -God, what kind of magic is this?

- Get up quickly, you idiot. The boy is not alone here,'' hissed the Dark Lord.

- Yes, you're right, you rascal," came a female voice, and soon a tall figure dressed in black and greenish armour emerged from the dark green smoke. The girl wore the famous horned helmet on her head. Hela appeared. Harry instantly fainted as the black-haired goddess of death appeared in the room.

- Well, Tom, your pathetic attempt to avoid seeing me has failed," Hela said and, without waiting for a response from the possessed man, knocked Quirrell's wand out of his hands. The man lost the ability to move and was lifted into the air.

- Well, the halls of Helheim await you," Hela said as she began to draw life energy from the possessed man's body.

- Oh no, I will not enter your halls," the Dark Lord said and quickly left the room in spirit form, leaving Quirrell to die. Hela tried to stop the fugitive, but couldn't. The spirit had escaped. That meant only one thing.

- An incomplete soul. The creature that created the Horcruxes. I hate you, you bastard! You bastard!!! - Throwing Quirrell's corpse aside, the black-haired goddess of death screamed furiously.

Then, calming down a little, Hela hurried over to the boy lying on the floor. Leaning over Harry, the goddess of death began to rid him of the effects of the torture spell. After a while, Hela groped the boy's body and pulled out a bright scarlet stone from her pocket that emanated a powerful energy.

- Wow, my precious, how long I've been looking for you," Hela said, tossing the philosopher's stone in her hand with a wide smile on her face.

- Would you stop using that phrase? Once you've been in Arda, you've been using that phrase ever since,' Morgana said, stepping out of the black smoke.

- Pfft. Our holiday in that world was not forgettable, especially when we had fun with the two High Elves. The forest lord especially was nice," Hela smirked.

- Don't change the subject," the black-haired sorceress said, walking over to the Mirror.

- You're boring,' Hela replied, pouting. The ladies then removed the traces of their presence and together with Harry disappeared from the room before Dumbledore entered it.

*******

Struggling to open his eyes, Harry found himself lying in his bedroom in Potter Manor. Weakness was felt throughout his entire body. Carefully getting out from under the covers, Harry was about to walk towards the door when it opened and two sullen girls entered the room. Hela and Morgana's faces reflected the boy's intense displeasure, and Potter could see why.

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