Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
$Parseltongue$
Chapter 24
Revelations
Harry sensed a familiar presence approaching. He knew it was a matter of time before a teacher came to check on the thief, but he didn't expect to be the one person that wasn't supposed to be there. He then realized.
'It was a trap to lure the thief…of course. It seems the old man is not that senile yet.'
Soon enough, he could hear once more his voice.
"Ahh , Mr. Potter, I'm glad to see you are alive and fine."
Harry was currently sitting on the ground. Pretending to be very exhausted and traumatized from his fight.
He looked at Dumbledore with surprise.
"H-headmaster ….i…Quirrel…he"
Dumbledore looked around. He locked his gaze for a moment onto the fragments of the philosopher stone laying all over the place. He then approached Harry and helped him up.
"Don't worry my boy. I think I have an idea about what happened. Why don't we go talk at my office."
—-
They both sat down in his office and Dumbledore placed a cup of tea in front of Harry.
"Well. First, I want you to know that you shouldn't let the death of Professor Quirrell weigh down on your conscience. You could say that the man was already dead" Dumbledore said
'Well that's a bit rude to vampires, but I guess he is not completely wrong.' Harry thought
Dumbledore took Harry's silence as a sign to continue.
"You could never have guessed that Voldemort has been hiding inside Quirrell's body. He must have been guiding his every action." Dumbledore explained with a serious expression.
"WHAT?" Harry was baffled. 'What is he talking about?'
"Yes I understand your confusion. After all, everyone thought that he died that fateful Halloween night. But I know for a fact that he survives, in some manner. Then I believe Quirrel had an encounter with Voldemort during his trip to Albania and was possessed by him." Dumbledore looked at Harry and took his silence as an obvious surprise to his revelations.
Then he continued.
"So, you see, my boy. You have again defeated Voldemort and saved the wizarding world once more. " Dumbledore gave Harry a pat on the shoulder.
"Sir, about the stone." Harry was about to explain the destruction of the stone when Dumbledore stopped him again.
"That's alright Harry. You did the right thing. The stone should have never fallen into the hands of Voldermort. I am sure that my friend Nicholas will understand." Dumbledore smiled at Harry reassuringly.
He then was told to go to his room without even a medical check.
—-
That night, Harry was sitting in bed, thinking about the events of the day.
'So, Dumbledore thinks Voldermort survived that night and has been living as some sort of ghost or wraith until the possed Quirrel, and now Voldemort is out there again planning his return or something. But, how can he be so sure I survived?'
Harry then gasped, coming to the realization that Dumbledore has somehow found out.
'He knows about the Horcruxes!... How could he find out? I didn't even tell my most loyal followers. Even Bellatrix and Lucius didn't know what they were guarding, just that it was very important. Well in the end it does matter how he found out, just that he did. At least I have already recovered two of them and I can get the rest this summer. Even if they are not keeping me alive anymore I don't want them to end in the hands of the old man. After all, they are still fragments of myself.'
—-
Dumbledore office
Severus Snape and Professor McGonagall were currently sitting in the Headmaster's office.
"Weasley and two other Gryphindors came to warn me this afternoon. sigh, I should have listened to them. I'm sorry Albus." McGonagall said sadly.
"Nonsense Minerva. I am the one who told you that the stone was safe, and you believed in me. For that I am grateful. I never thought about the possibility of Quirrell breaking the mirror. Luckily Harry was there to destroy the stone and even defeat Quirrell. " Dumbledore said proudly.
"How can you be so sure it was Quirrell the one who broke the mirror?. Maybe the brat was trying to steal the stone and was caught by Quirrell!" Snape spat.
"Severus!, don't spout nonsense. Mr. Potter has proven to be an exemplary student so far" McGonagall answered him, outraged at the accusation.
"I have to agree with Minerva. Severus, I assure you that young Harry is a most excellent boy. I have personally conducted a few tests with him this year to guarantee this." Dumbledore claimed.
"Tests? Albus, what are you talking about?." McGonagall was a bit disturbed by these revelations.
"Ohh nothing to worry about. I just guided Harry towards the mirror of Erised during Christmas. I was curious to find out what could he see in it. I will not reveal what he saw, since is private. I will just say that it was exactly what I hoped for." Dumbledore smiled.
"What else did you do?" McGonagall said, with a complicated expression.
"Well, I might have been leaving young Harry some clues about the location of the philosopher stone. I wanted to see how would he react to this information. I also wanted to find out what would he do if some evil wizard was trying to steal it. And as we have found out today.
He was quite a hero. Although I had personally hoped that he would have taken his friends with him. After all, those tests were designed for a group of first years and not just one." The headmaster said.
"Wait a minute…those were tests?. You said they were to stop the thief!. You mean the 'security measures' that you had us all create to protect the stone were just a test for some first years?!" Snape almost screamed the words.
"I knew they were too easy to stop any thief…but you did say that there was nothing to worry about," McGonagall said
"Yes. Well… I apologize for the small deceit. But I knew the stone was perfectly safe inside the mirror…" McGonagall gave the Headmaster a knowing look.
"Well, what I mean to say is that everything ended well." Dumbledore finish.
"Didn't you say that You-know-who…spirit or something, scaped?" McGonagall asked.
Dumbledore got a bit flustered. "Ahh, yes. That did happen I suppose. I could not find any residue of his presence on Quirrell's body. So…everything ended mostly well then." Dumbledore nodded, satisfied.
Snape and McGonagall sighed.