The two proceeded forward to winding paths and dark or moonlit tunnels leading down to some unknown place in the castle.
They emerged to a wide space that looked like an ancient roman meeting hall where a man wearing a turban on his head was standing before a big antique mirror with golden frames and ancient runes which Harry recognised as the mirror of Erised.
"Professor Quirrel, tsk. I knew he was a fake."
The two muttered to themselves.
"Ahhhh there they are. Come. I've been waiting for the two of you for a while now."
*snap*
The whole place became surrounded by blazing fire that prevented safe passage in or out of the hall.
"Are you Voldemort? You are, aren't you?"
Harry asked, as he massaged the aching iconic scar on his forehead.
"Ssmart boy... Now come!!!"
"Tsss, and why should we follow you?"
Harry lifted his right hand with his wand drawn and fired a green bolt towards Quirellmort who simply waved his hand to flick the spell away from him.
"Ahhh brave. Just like his parentssss. Sssadly bravery issn't enough becaussse they died because of it!"
Quirellmort lifted both of his hands and the two was lifted from their positions like a hand dragged them up in the air.
"Pathetic!"
Natasha struggled to get free but as the ethereal hand was about to break, she suddenly felt herself moving backwards with great force. She collided with the marble wall and 'fainted'.
Harry who then managed to free himself fired a petrificus totalus to Quirellmort which managed to hit squarely but was unusually ineffective against the possessed professor. A fart would have been more effective than the petrificus charm he used.
'Bombarda!'
'Flippendo!'
'Encindo!'
'Encarcerous!'
'Expelliarmus!'
'Bombarda duo'
'Shit! Nothing's working. What a monster!'
'fumos'
'fendfyre!'
'fendfyre!'
'fendfyre!'
*booom*
Something exploded and it suddenly went eerily quiet as ash and dust rained down from the explosion. When Harry opened his eyes, Quirellmort was standing in the same spot unscathed like nothing happened.
"Out of gassss?"
He stated softly and eerily with his snaky voice.
"Now its my turn!"
Quirellmort's appearance suddenly morphed into some kind of hideous demonic fiend with fleshy horns protruding from the side of his temple. His mouth now lined with sharp looking serrated bloody teeth, his hands akin to that of the devil's itself. A tail swung dangerously behind him looking sharp as a sword.
'Is that an animagus transformation? What is that creature? Ahhh I'm soo gonna die.'
Harry looked around looking for a way out but only saw Natasha still lying plopped unconscious on the floor. He is an inch from collapsing from too much pressure and fatigue.
*sigh*
'I guess I really didn't deserve all that fame after all...'
*bam*
A slap from behind him sent his body rolling forward with great force, his bones are screaming in pain, and blood is dripping down from his mouth and down to the floor.
"Did you really think that young fledglings like you will have a chance against a dark lord like me? You are just mere toys in front of me!"
*shick*
*bam*
"How about you fight with me then. For a change."
He was stabbed and kicked at the back of his head, he went flying the same direction Harry went to, which is in front of the mirror. The only difference is that when it was his turn, he collided with the mirror instead of landing in front of it.
The mirror fell down to the ground but did not break due to the many enchantments protecting it. Quirellmort on the other hand slowly stood up groaning in pain as he looked towards the place where he was sent flying from by an unknown individual.
A man covered in black armor from head to toe was standing there with an air of confidence, glowing golden balls of fire inside the helmet is the only thing he could make out, and the fluttering cloak behind the man erased the presence of anything it covered, unlike simple invisibility it was more like the shadows themselves chose to hide them from this plane of existence.
Quirellmort then noticed the jet black sword stabbing his right belly. He grabbed the hilt and his hand was immediately stabbed with countless needles before he was electrocuted until he smelled like burning flesh.
'Ice coffin!'
Light flashed from under Quirellmort before he became encapsulated inside a block of transparent ice and unable to move even a finger.
'seal'
Rune marks crawled from the shadows towards the block of ice which began to shrink with time until it was the size of a billiard ball. The blue glowing semi transparent sphere flew to the masked figure and landed in his hands. The ball now looked like a normal snow globe with small black tower in the center where Quirellmort is held.
"Speaking of toys... Isn't this perfect gift for someone's birthday?"
The man muttered while walking towards Natasha.
"You don't have to get up right now miss Romanovich. You have done a job well done this time. I will be sure to reward you handsomely."
The masked figure said before moving towards Harry and taking something out from his pocket where a recieve-transport rune was secretly placed.
"It still has its uses even when it's incomplete right now."
...............,....
Harry walked the dark paths and tunnels and along the way had to leave Natasha when they faced one of the more dangerous trials. Harry then happened to come to the room where the mirror of Erised is moved into.
A silhouette of a turban wearing person was standing in front of the antique magical mirror motionlessly. As if he noticed that there is someone behind him, the man looked back.
"Y... You?... It can't be! Snape, he is the -"
"Yes... Does seem the type does he? Next to him, who would suspect papapapapoor stuttering professor Quirell? Now... What does this mirror do?"
Quirellmort must not have been expecting to get caught as he talked leisurely with Harry answering all of his questions before turning around to face the mirror.
"I see what I desire. I see myself holding the stone.
But how do I get it!?"
Quirell acted like a complete newby as he simply stood doing nothing worthy enough to warrant awe from an adult wizard such as himself. There is anger and confusion in his voice as he watched himself in the mirror.
"Usssse the boy."
A weird voice echoed around the hall seemingly out of nowhere which shocked the poor eleven year old boy.
"Come here Potter! Now!"
Harry walked forward slowly and passed by professor Quirell facing the mirror.
"Tell me... What do you see?"
Harry looked into the mirror of Erised and saw his reflection taking out a red gem which should be the sorcerer's stone from his pocket, wink then smiled and then put it back into his pocket.
Harry's eyes widened in shock as he tried to keep his calm to secretly check his pocket by touching it.
"What is it? What do you see!?"
Quirell, now sounded impatient as he asked the question.
"I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore. A... I've won the house cup."
"He liessss." the voice echoed once again.
"Tell the truth!!! What do you see!!?"
"Let me sssspeak to him."
"Master you are not strong enough..."
Quirell moved towards the mirror's location and tried to dissuade the voice from speaking to Harry.
"I have ssstrength enough for thisss."
Quirell did not argue and servily removed the turban from his head. Harry waiting for a chance to run looked around and saw the horrible face at the back of professor Quirell's head.
"Harry Potter. We meet again."
"Voldemort!?"
"Yesss. You sssee what I've become. Sssee what I must do to ssurvive. To live off of another, a mere parasite! Unicorn blood can sustain me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can. Something that conviniently enough, LIES IN YOUR POCKET!!"
Quirellmort must have picked up his surface thoughts and found out that he already had the stone in his pocket. Harry ran out at this time.
"Sstop him!!!"
*snap*
A single snap sealed Harry's exit leaving him like a fish in a chopping board for Quirellmort.
"Don't be a fool. Why sssuffer a horiffic death? When you can join me and live." to which Harry immediately answered with "Never."
Voldemort snickered.
"hahahahaha Bravery. Your parentss had it too. Tell me. Harry, would you like to sssee your mother and father again?
Together, we can bring them back. All I assk, iss for ssomething in return."
Harry took out the stone from inside his pocket.
"Yesss. That'ss it Harry. There iss no good and evil. There iss only power, and thosse too weak to sseek it! Together, we'll do exssstraordinary thingsss, just Give me the SSTONE!"
"You LIAR!!!"
Harry shouted from his position.
"Kill him!!!"
Came Voldemort's response. Quirell flew towards Harry who was unable to dodge and so Quirell managed to grab his neck to suffocate him.
"Aaaaackkk"
Harry tried to reach out for the stone which fell from his hand but was unable to reach it as he was about to lose air in his lungs and is feeling faint. In his attempt to free himself, he grabbed Quirellmort's wrist which garnered a very unusual reaction.
Quirellmort's wrist produced smoke and turned to stone. Quirell backed off now afraid and confused. Harry looked down on his hands also shocked, he soon realised how he had the advantage in this fight and discovered the way out of this trouble. He looked at the panicking Quirell whose whole hand had already turned to collapsing ash-like dirt.
"What magic is this?"
Quirell muttered like he was about to go burst into tears from the fear of death.
"Fool. Get the stone!!!"
Voldemort spoke with disappointment and anger. Harry hearing it stood up and resolved himself to fight back with renewed courage as he tackled Quirellmort and touched his face which also immediately became collapsing dirt.
Harry stepped back and again wondered about what was so special about his hands before watching Quirellmort slowly falling to the floor with only his ash-dirt and clothes to remain. Harry then looked down to look for the stone which he quickly took into his own hands.
Unknown to him is the mass of smoke-like thing congregating behind him, who phased through him with a ghostly scream when he looked back effectively knocking Harry out. The ghostly figure freely rushed out thereafter to God knows where.
Silver grey fog covered the entire world and then Dumbledore could be seen sitting beside Harry in his hospital bed with a blank look in his now pupil-less eyes. When the color of his eyes returned he immediately stood up and left the place.
'So that is what happened?'
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Harry regained consciousness two days later.
"Good afternoon Harry."
Dumbledore walked past the wide door and inside the patient recovery room.
"Ahh... Tokens from your admirers?
Dumbledore stood looking over the get well tokens in Harry's bedside table.
"Admirers!?"
Harry asked confusedly.
"What happened down the dungeon between you and professor Quirell is a complete secret. Sooo, naturally, the whole school knows.
Ahh.. I see that your friend, miss Romanovich have saved you the trouble of opening your chocolate vault-."
"Natasha was here? Is she alright? Where is - "
"Fine... She's just fine."
There a slight pause to their conversation.
"But what happened to the stone?"
"Relax dear boy. The stone has been destroyed after Nicholas and I have a little chat and agreed that it's best without."
"But without it he would die wouldn't he?"
Nobody wanted to die after all.
"He has enough elixir to set his affairs in order. But yes. He will die."
"How is it that I got the stone sir? One minute I was standing-"
"Ahh... You see. Only a person who wanted to find the stone, find it, but not use it will be able to get it. That is one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me that is saying something."
Harry had a thoughtful look in his face.
"Does that mean, with the stone being gone that is, that voldemort can never come back?"
"Ahh I'm afraid, there are ways in which he can return...
Harry, do you know why professor Quirell couldn't bear to have you touch him?"
Harry simply shook his head.
"It was because of your mother. She sacrificed herself for you... and that kind of act leaves a mark...
Harry thinking that the mark was the one on his forehead lifted his hand towards it.
"No. no. This kind of mark could not be seen. It lives in your very skin.."
"What is it?"
"Love Harry. Love..." Dumbledore stood up patting Harry's head before turning around.
"Ahh!!! Bettybot's every flavored beans! I was most unfortunate in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one. It is then I'm afraid that I lost my liking for them. But I think it should be safe with a little tuffie. Hmmm! alas! Earwax."
'Ahhh he finally left!'
Harry flopped back to the bed with his eyes closed.