AN: I apologize for the delay but this week has been nuts. Hope you all had a wonderful and safe Christmas and you're hangovers were not too bad Ha-ha, anyway on with the story.
The Man With Two Faces
Potter
How does it feel to know that you failed all those years ago?
Failed to kill me and that I still live. That all your fame is undeserved.
I have your two friends Ms. Davis and Ms. Greengrass, if you wish for
them to live I suggest you meet me at the end of the forbidden corridor
on the third floor. Come alone! You have one hour to get here or one of
these pretty girls dies.
Lord Voldemort
As he finished reading the note he felt a cold rage building inside. It was in that moment that Harry realised just how much Tracy and Daphne meant to him. Tracy was about to become his adopted sister and Daphne was, dare he say it, his friend. Yes both Tracy and Daphne were his friends and he would be damned if he allowed some jumped up want-to-be Dark Lord kill his two friends. Because that's all Voldemort was to Harry, a want-to-be. The man had had legions of dark witches and wizards and dark creatures at his command when he first tried to take over Wizarding England and if the man could not do it in 12 years, well in Harry's eyes he was not worthy of been called a Dark Lord.
Even though a cold rage was bubbling inside him, Harry did not charge out the door heading towards the third floor, he sat on his bed and thought for a moment of what to do. He was a cunning Slytherin after all, not an idiotic Gryffindor. Reaching a decision on what to do he got up from his bed and made his way over Theodore's bed.
"Theodore, read this." Harry said to the boy after kicking his bed to get his attention.
Theo sat up on his bed and took the offered note before his eyes grew wide as he finished reading it and he looked up at Harry with shock written all over his face.
"Is this for real?" Theodore asked and his face grew pale at Harry's nod. "What are we going to do?" he asked as he rose from his bed taking out his wand as he did so. The boy was obviously scared out of his mind at the thought of facing Lord Voldemort, yet at the same time determined to help in any way he could.
"Come with me." Harry ordered in a no-nonsense voice as he turned and headed out the room with Theodore following behind. Once the two had crossed the common room and exited out into the dungeons of the school, Harry began explaining what they were going to do.
"Once we get to the 3rd floor, I'll enter, whilst you wait outside for ten minutes, once the 10 minutes are up you go to Professor Snape and show him that note and he will hopefully go to Dumbledore or another teacher for help, I, meanwhile will hopefully keep Voldemort talking and the girls alive until help can arrive." Harry finished the rough plan before the two began jogging along the 3rd floor to the forbidden corridor.
"Do you think the plan will work?" Theodore asked as they reached the door leading onto the forbidden corridor and just before Harry entered the door.
"I hope so because it's the only plan I could come up with that has me arriving alone yet with help coming not long after, I hate to admit this but I highly doubt I could take Voldemort in a fight at this point in time but I will be strong enough one day." Harry explained before he opened the door and entered the room with his wand at the ready to battle the three-headed dog.
However luck was on his side as the huge dog was curled up sound asleep a heart playing beside it. The trapdoor that the dog had been guarding was open.
"That's a long way down." Harry muttered to himself as he peered through the trap door. "Oh well here's to idiotic Gryffindor bravery." He muttered before he jumped through the door feet first. After falling through the blackness for a minute or so Harry landed on something soft.
"Lumos." He muttered softly, as his wand lit up he realised that he had landed on Devils-Snare. Acting quickly Harry pointed his wand at the plant before covering his eyes with one hand.
"Lumos Maxima." He said in a strong voice and the deadly plant recoiled from the bright light before it could even begin to try and ensnare him and Harry was saved from blinding himself with his eyes covered by his hand.
Getting up he followed the slanting path until he came upon a door, entering he found himself in a stone circler room with a high ceiling, looking up he saw hundreds of what looked like birds flying around the top of the room and just beside the door at the other end of the room was two broomsticks. Striding purposefully across the room, keeping his wand at the ready should the birds attack. Fortunately he reached the doors unchallenged by the birds; he tried to door only to find it firmly locked.
"Alohomora." He chanted in a firm voice however when he tried the door again it was still firmly locked. Not bothering to find out just how to get through the door he gathered his magic as he took quick steps back from the door.
"Bombarda Maxima." He roared in a powerful voice, seconds later the door disappeared amongst splinters of wood and dust leaving the way free. As he entered through the settling dust into the next room he found a surprise waiting for him.
Meanwhile up on the 3rd floor outside the door that Harry had entered, Theodore looked at his watch and found that the 10 minutes were up so he took off running the same way he and Harry had come. Five minutes later he burst into Professor Snape's office without knocking.
"What is the meaning of this Mr. Nott?" Snape asked as he jumped up from his seat behind his desk. Theo just raced up to Snape's desk before handing over the note and bending over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
"Oh shit." Snape swore as he quickly read the note Nott had handed to him. "Where is Potter?" he asked the boy who was just straightening back up. Theodore quickly explained Harry's rough plan to which Snape nodded his approval.
"A good on the spot plan, at least he had the sense to know he need's back up." Snape muttered as he quickly thought of his own plan. "Ok Mr. Nott quickly go to Professor Flitwick's office and show him this note then have him meet us on the 3rd floor." Snape explained quickly as he passed the note back to Theodore.
"Yes sir and you?" He asked as he headed back towards the door ready to begin racing through the castle again.
"I shall get the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall to help us, with the Dark Lord we will need all the wands we can get." Snape would have contacted the other Professor's in the castle but somebody needed to keep a watch over the school plus Dumbledore, Flitwick, McGonagall and himself were the most able fighters.
"Right, see you in a moment." Theodore said as he opened the door and took off running through the castle. He raced passed Argus Filch who began yelling at him for running indoors, however Theodore was a boy on a mission and he ignored the caretaker as he raced up the marble staircase.
Meanwhile as Harry walked through the dust into the next room he found a surprise in the form of Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger who were just about to begin playing chess on a huge chess board.
"What the fuck are you three doing down here." Harry shouted at them before they could begin playing causing the three to jump almost a foot in the air as they spun to face him. "There must have been a silencing charm on the door and that's why they didn't hear me destroying it." He thought to himself.
"We could ask you the same thing Potter." Weasley tried to growl menacingly at him as he pointed his wand at Harry who just smirked at him.
"Harry we're here to stop Snape from stealing the Philosopher's Stone." Granger spoke up quickly before Harry and Ron could come to blows. Harry turned to the bushy haired girl in mild surprise as he realised just why Voldemort was down here.
"You talking about the same Professor Snape who's sat in his office preparing lessons for next year?" Harry asked her was a raised eyebrow.
"How do you know he's in his office?" Granger asked before Weasley could open his mouth again.
"Because he told us all an hour ago that if we needed him for anything that he would be in his office preparing for next year." Harry replied in bored sounding tone, really how stupid could you get.
"S-So S-Snape's not trying to steal the stone?" Longbottom asked him hesitantly.
"No, Voldemort is." Harry smirked once more as Weasley and Longbottom winced at hearing the Dark Lord's name and the blood drained from their faces.
"You-Know-Who's down here?" Weasley asked in fear as he looked towards the door leading to the next room; suddenly becoming the hero for saving the Philosopher's Stone was not as appealing as it first was.
"Yes he is but you three go right ahead and confront him, I'm sure he won't stand a chance against three all powerful 1st year Gryffindor's." Harry taunted the redhead knowing the boy didn't have the stones to confront Voldemort.
"Well you're a 1st year too, what do you plan to do against You-Know-Who?" Granger asked him. Her face was also as pale as the two boys'. For an answer Harry turned towards one of the huge stone chess pieces and pointed his wand at it.
"Bombarda Maxima." The stone chess piece exploded in a shower of stone rubble and dust as Harry turned back to the three Gryffindor's. "Now imagine what will happen to Voldemort when I hit him with that."
"He'll be a mess." Longbottom spoke up before the other two could do so.
"Exactly Longbottom." Harry nodded at the round faced boy. "And I, unlike you three dunderheads have back up on the way." The three Gryffindor's scowled at his insult but one look at the statue he had just destroyed kept their mouths shut.
"Back up?" Weasley asked after a moment in which he swallowed his angry retort.
"Yes Theodore Nott is at this moment informing Professor Snape that Voldemort has two students hostage down here and told me to come alone, Snape will hopefully arrive along with the Headmaster and others to battle the Dark Lord." Harry explained with a smirk as he saw that the three would-be hero's had not thought to get help from a Professor before they went charging after "Snape"
"Never thought of that." Weasley muttered to himself as Longbottom and Granger nodded their agreement of his words.
"Evidently not but why should you, Gryffindor's are famous for foolishly charging head on into dangerous situations without any kind of plan or any back up. I mean really, what did you three expect to do against a fully trained adult wizard once you caught up with him?" Harry asked the three who all kept silent as they realised that they could not have done anything to stop Snape even if he had been down here trying to steal the stone.
"You're all pathetic trying to play hero without any plan in place or even informing someone where you were going, go back to your common room and grow a brain to use before trying to play hero again." Harry said harshly. The three Gryffindor's wanted to protest his words but they knew that he spoke the truth. They watched as Harry turned away from them and began destroying the rest of the chess pieces; as he destroyed the last piece and began heading towards the door leading into the next room they turned away and began heading back the way they had come.
As he entered into the next room a disgusting smell filled his nostrils, making him gag slightly Eyes watering, he saw, flat on the floor in front of him, a troll even larger than the one he had faced on Halloween, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.
"I'm glad I don't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as he stepped carefully over one of its massive legs and proceeded into the next room wondering what trap came next but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.
He stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind him in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. He snorted in amusement at the idiot who came up the thought of flames stopping a wizard with such things as a Flame-Freezing charm.
Walking towards the black flames he performed a powerful Flame-Freezing Charm on himself before he passed through the now harmless black flames, not even bothering with the table of bottles.
As he exited the flames he found himself in the last chamber. He knew it was the last chamber because Professor Quirrell stood in front of the large mirror of Erised, looking around he spotted Daphne and Tracy tied up and gagged against the wall on the right. As the two girls caught sight of him he put his finger to his lips silently informing them to keep silent.
"Ah Potter, you're here faster than we expected you to be." Quirrell said with a sneer as he turned to look at Harry, no trace of a stutter in his voice and before Harry could think of any kind a attack, he was reluctant to use the dark arts in front of Voldemort as he didn't want to give away what he could do if he could help it, he knew Voldemort was here somewhere.
"I'm here as instructed but where is Voldemort? Too scared to face me alone? Or has he sent you to soften me up before he arrives to finish what he couldn't ten years ago?" Harry asked in a taunting voice knowing that Voldemort could somehow hear him and hoping that he would give away his position so he could be prepared to fight him if need be.
"My master is here and will not be drawn into giving away his position by silly little school boy taunts." Quirrell growled at him as he drew level with the DADA Professor.
"Whatever, you wanted me here, I am here now let the girls go." Harry said as he glared up into the Professor's eyes as menacingly as he could, Quirrell did not seem affected in the least at his cold glare.
"Of course, but first you are going to get the stone for me and my master." Sneered Quirrell as he pointed towards the mirror next to them. "I see myself with the stone but how do I get it."
"Use the boy." A high cold voice hissed echoing around the room in such a way that it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Thus making it impossible for Harry to pinpoint its location
"Look into the mirror boy." Quirrell said harshly as he stepped a few paces to the right so his refection was no longer in the mirror.
Harry looked at him for a moment before he turned to stare at the mirror to see himself as he was; however, after a minute or so his reflection moved even though he himself did not. His reflection reached into his left pocket before pulling out a smooth blood-red rock. His reflection smiled and winked at him before replacing the stone into the pocket, only Harry felt it drop into his real pocket and he had to fight not show any surprise on his face.
"Well what do you see?" asked Quirrell impatiently as he came to stand next to Harry once more.
"I see myself standing over the broken and dead body of Voldemort." He lied quickly which caused Quirrell to scowl at him and barge him out of the way as he began looking into the mirror once again.
"He lies, he lies." That same cold hissing voice echoed around the room once again. "Let me speak to him."
"Master you are not strong enough." Said Quirrell with fear in his voice.
"I have strength enough for this." Said the voice. Quirrell reached up and began un-wrapping his turban; seconds later he removed it to show the back of his head or rather what should have been the back of his head. But instead there was another face. Blood-red eyes, slits for a nose, the face was the stuff for nightmares and had been during his first war against the Wizarding world.
"Harry Potter..." it whispered.
"Voldemort." Breathed Harry as he stared at the monstrous face, he had not been expecting that one.
"Yes, see what I have become." Voldemort said. "Mere shadow and vapour ... 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... faithful Quirrell drinks it for me in the forest... and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own... Now... why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"
"No." Harry growled in defiance
"Don't be a fool," snarled Voldemort. "Better save your own life and join me... or you'll meet the same end as your parents... They died begging me for mercy..."
"Lair." Harry snarled back at Voldemort as he gripped his wand tightly ready for a fight.
"How touching..." Voldemort hissed."I always value bravery... Yes, boy, your parents were brave... I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight... but your mother needn't have died... she was trying to protect you... Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."
"Avada Kedavra." Harry shot the killing curse at Quirrell in response seeing no other choice and taking them by surprise as Quirrell dived out of the way of the sickly green jet of death that missed him by inches. However before Quirrell/Voldemort could get his feet under him Harry began raining spells down on him.
"Expelliarmus." His aim was spot on and the disarming charm hit Quirrell/Voldemort in the chest sending him crashing back to the floor as his wand flew across the room towards Harry who caught it and snapped it over his knee quickly.
"Crucio." Quirrell/Voldemort began screaming in pain as Harry hit him with the torture curse. He allowed the screams to continue for a minute before he released the curse and Quirrell/Voldemort lay on the floor panting and twitching in pain.
Harry was now firmly in control and everyone knew it. Glancing at Daphne and Tracy, he saw that they seemed shocked that Harry had Quirrell/Voldemort at his mercy so fast or that he even had them at his mercy at all. He returned his attention to Quirrell/Voldemort before he could regain his senses and attack him. Harry quickly hit the panting man with over a dozen cutting curses as he slowly began walking over to the downed man.
"Maybe next time you will just kill your enemies instead of blathering on and on." Harry sneered down at the man, his wand pointed at his back as Quirrell was lying face down and Voldemort's face was glaring up at him.
"This fight is far from over." Voldemort hissed at him as Quirrell began to push himself off of the floor.
"Avada Kedavra." This time Harry's killing curse struck the man causing him to slump back to the floor. "Wrong it's over." He spoke before he spat on the body.
Thinking quickly Harry turned back to the mirror and blasted it to smithereens before he picked up a large chunk of broken glass and turned back towards the now dead DADA Professor, he saw a black cloud/shadow leaving the body. He held his wand in front of himself ready to defend against the shadow that he knew to be Voldemort. However, with a roar the shadow rose towards the chamber ceiling and left through the roof.
Acting quickly Harry moved over towards the body and stabbed the piece of glass through the back of Quirrell's neck before he stood up and levitated the body over to the broken mirror and placed the body face up amongst the shards of glass, he then hit the body with a Bombarda hex in the chest causing a huge hole to open and blood to splatter around the floor.
Harry then moved over to the two girls and released them from their bindings and gags before helping them get to their feet, just as the black flames vanished and Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick came charging into the room wands at the ready.
"Agree to whatever I say." Harry muttered quietly to the girls as they began walking towards the Professors.
"What happened Harry?" Dumbledore asked in a gentle tone as he glanced at the fallen body of Quirrell.
"Voldemort Happened." Harry replied in a fake tired voice.
"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked sharply as she stared him down.
"You all know about the letter I received?" Harry asked to which they all nodded. "Did you meet the Gryffindor idiots?" Again the Professor's nodded. "Well when I reached this room I found Quirrell looking into the mirror, he knew I was here and told me that if I wanted the girls to live then I would have to look the mirror and somehow retrieve some stone or other." Here Harry paused for a moment as though he was catching his breath when really he was thinking what to say next without looking them in the eyes.
"And then?" Dumbledore asked gently knowing exactly what stone Voldemort had been talking about, though he doubted that Harry did.
"I looked into the mirror and saw the same image I did the last time I looked into it." Here Dumbledore nodded his understanding. "Anyway I told him this and Quirrell barged me out of the way before he muttered to himself for a moment before a voice asked to speak to me."
"Quirrell then took off his turban and the most monstrous face you can imagine was sticking out of the back of his head, I knew at once who it was and as he began talking about how Unicorn blood had strengthened him and the stone would allow him to create a body of his own I hit him with my strongest Bombarda hex taking him by surprise and blasting him through the mirror and well…" Here Harry trailed off as he gestured regretfully at the body.
McGonagall made her way over to the body and began examining it. Moments later she stood up and turned to face the silently waiting group.
"He is dead; a large chunk of glass is imbedded in the back of his neck which killed him instantly." She informed them and Harry had to fight a smirk from bursting onto his face.
"I-I-I didn't mean for that to happen I only wanted to knock him out u-until y-you a-arrived." Harry informed Dumbledore tearfully as his shoulders slumped and his body began shaking slightly. Daphne and Tracy placed their hands on his shoulders in an apparent show of comfort.
"It is ok my boy, you did what you could and in the process stopped Lord Voldemort from gaining a new body, Quirrell's death is not your fault, do not mourn his passing or blame yourself but learn from his mistakes when it comes to serving Voldemort." Dumbledore explained to a tearful Harry trying to comfort the boy and further encourage him not to turn to the dark arts or Voldemort. Though after tonight's events and the incident with the mirror months ago he doubted Harry would ever join the Dark Lord.
I-I U-understand H-headmaster." Harry hiccupped as he wiped at his eyes. "I deserve an Oscar." He thought to himself as he finished wiping his eyes.
"Well after tonight's events I think an award is in order." Snape spoke up for the first time as he looked at Harry with pride on his face. McGonagall and Flitwick nodded their heads in agreement of the Potions master's words.
"Yes I agree, let's see, 200 points to Slytherin house for your outstanding courage and bravery and a special award for services to not only the school but the Wizarding world." Dumbledore said as he smiled at Harry.
"Thank you Professor that is more than I deserve." Harry said respectfully with a gratefully smile on his face.
"Nonsense my boy you deserve both awards and more." Flitwick said with a large smile as he too looked at Harry with pride.
"I agree, you a certainly a credit to your parents and ancestors Mr. Potter." McGonagall said with a prideful smile at him.
"Thank you Professor." Harry replied with a small bow of his head, the first words he had spoken to McGonagall since his first class with her at the start of the year, to which she beamed at him.
"Well Filius, Minerva, I ask that the two of you clean up in here whilst I and Severus escort Harry and the girls to the hospital wing." Dumbledore asked the two Professor's who quickly agreed to clean up the room and remove the body.
Five minutes later and the two adults and three children were exiting the door leading back out to the third floor where another surprise awaited them.
"What the…" Snape asked in shock as they stared at the entirety of Slytherin house who all had their wands out and pointed at the door, however the wands where dropped to their sides when they saw that it was Snape, the Headmaster and their three missing 1st years.
"What is going on here?" Snape asked them all as Dumbledore beamed around at the students his eyes twinkling brighter than ever.
"When I informed the house of what had happened the entire house insisted in coming here and guarding the door to make sure nobody else entered and if you all were not back in an hour we were going to follow you inside to provide more back up." Theodore Nott explained with a large smile on his face.
"Slytherin house looks out for our own." Marcus Flint spoke up to which all the students nodded in agreement determination written all over their faces.
"What happened?" Asked Pucey from beside Flint. Snape then informed them all of what happened quickly to which the Slytherin's gave a cheer when they heard how Harry had defeated Voldemort and had earned them 200 points.
"Right, I want the 6th and 7th years to guard the hospital wing while Harry is in there under dreamless sleep potion and therefore venerable to attack." Marcus informed the older students who all agreed and quickly worked out shifts for the night.
Dumbledore and Snape smiled as they realised that the entire Slytherin student body wanted to protect Harry when, at the start of the year some would have attacked him given half the chance; it seemed that Harry had won them over with his point earning in class and performance on the Quidditch field.
"I feel sorry for any student foolish enough to attack Harry in the future." Dumbledore muttered to Snape with a large smile on his face as they began making their way towards the hospital wing.
Once they had informed Madam Pomfrey of the night's events she understood the student guard that was stationed around the hospital along with four students at the doors. Two on either side, every student had his or her wand in their hands ready for anything.
Two hours later Dumbledore and Snape were relaxing in the headmasters' office in front of the fire enjoying a large glass of port each.
"What are your thoughts Severus? Dumbledore asked after a lengthy silence.
"I think that Potter truly is the Prince of Slytherin and is firmly against the Dark Lord." Snape replied after a moment as he relaxed further back into the squashy chair.
"I agree." Dumbledore nodded his head as he took a swig of his port. "What else are you thinking?" he knew that Snape was thinking hard about something else.
"I think the Dark Lord will one day gain a new body, he very nearly did tonight if not for Harry, so I think you should restart the Order of the Phoenix and begin recruiting as many people as we can and we should begin training in duelling and combat so that when the Dark Lord does regain his body and begins his war against us once more we will be better equipped for fighting him and his army." Snape finished his explanation in a soft voice before he knocked the last of his port back in one mouthful.
The two were silent for five minutes as Dumbledore thought over Snape's words and the man himself waited for the headmaster's reply.
"After thinking it over I find that you are correct, the sooner we begin recruiting and training the sooner we can be ready for Tom's eventual return." Dumbledore replied as he too knocked back the last of his port in one mouthful.
"And what about Potter are we going to train him?" Snape asked after a moment.
"He seems to be doing very well on his own for now, the Bombarda hex is a 5th year spell after-all, no I think we will wait until Tom regains a body and then begin training him in combat." Dumbledore replied after thinking it over for a few moments.
"Very well who are you thinking of training him when the time comes?" Snape asked after another short pause.
"Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt are our most able fighters so I shall approach them when the time comes." Dumbledore replied with a smile as he refilled their glasses.
"Are you planning to have a hand in his training?" Snape asked are nodding his thanks and taking a swig of his drink.
"Yes I will at some point." Dumbledore answered as he too took a swig of his drink. For the next hour mentor and student talked over their plans for the summer holidays and beyond before they bid each over goodnight and went to their respective beds.
End of chapter
AN: I'll end it here as this is a good place I think. So what did you all think? Please review.