Harry Potter: Pillars of Strength CH10

HARRY POTTER: PILLARS OF STRENGTH
CHAPTER TEN: IN WHICH WE SEE THE STONE?

After having to deal with Fluffy, Devil’s Snare, flying keys and a chess set, Hermione and Harry were forced to do on by themselves. As they got along they soon found themselves in a room with something they really didn’t want to come across. A mountain troll, bigger then the one they fought on Halloween. The troll sat there, seemingly waiting…But then they also noticed it was crying.

“Er…what do you think is wrong with him?” Harry asked.

“I’m not sure. But should we able to get past him? Without being seen?” Hermione asked.

“I wish I had time to fetch my Cloak. Nothing we can do about that. No way we can get by unseen.” Harry noted. Though he looked at the troll sitting there. “You know, he may not be the prettiest guy around but I feel sorry for him if you look at him like that.” Harry noted.

“Harry, Trolls are dangerous, and it is sweet you are concerned, but he is still dangerous.” Hermione noted.

“Wizards can be dangerous too. We can either sprint through the door, but enrage it so it is not possible to go back through without running into a beast waiting for us…or we can try to approach it and calm it down.” Harry noted.

“Well, not much choice I guess. Let’s be careful.” Hermione said as she gulped.

The two moved carefully from their hiding place. Once they got into the view of the troll he started to roar: “Who go there?” he grumbled. He then took in the sight of the two young ones. “You no man with two voice?” he roared.

Hermione was a bit surprised. She had read smarter trolls could learn a few human words. But she never knew they could form sentences, albeit broken ones. “I’m Harry Potter. And this is my friend Hermione. We are following a bad man whom is trying to get a powerful weapon. We try to stop him. You said you saw a man with two voices?” Harry asked.

The troll continued to stare, and the two may be worried he may jump up and attack. “Me are Ymir. Man with two voices trap me here. He force me to guard. Me not want. Want to go back to home, to family.” He said. “Now two voice man back, but he no free me.” The troll lifted some of the chains that held him. “He call me dumb brute. Us trolls not like humans but are no dumb. Not our fault troll voice no good for human speak.”

Harry felt sorry. In books the troll were described as dumb brutish creatures. But this troll was far from that. It’s just probably another form of prejudice towards anything non-human, like with the Goblins. “It is not fair what they do to you, Ymir. Let me try to release you.” Harry said. He fired several spells he knew at the chains, but nothing worked. Hermione tried to help, but despite her intelligence she could not perform any spells able to break the chains. “I’m sorry, Ymir…”

“You first to even try. You are good little human. No bother with Ymir. Go on and stop bad man. More important then Ymir.” Ymir noted.

“We’ll come back for you, I promise!” Harry said as he and Hermione left, Ymir waving weakly at them. “It is disgusting how wizards and witches can treat others.”

“The prejudice of this world is worse then we thought. Mr. Guliver was right, my books won’t help, certainly if they censor stuff like this.” Hermione said, becoming angrier the more she thought about it. It was then that they came into a chamber, holding a table with potion bottles in the middle, and a parchment with a riddle.

Purple flames shot up from the door from which they came, while black flames appeared in front of the door they needed to go through to get ahead. Luckily Hermione managed to solve the puzzle and determine which potions they needed. Unfortunately the potion for the black flames only held enough for one person. Harry knew what to say. “Hermione, take the potion for the purple flames, go back, meet up with any help that may be on their way and have someone set free Ymir.”

“Harry…Remember when Ymir mentioned the man with two voices? It means that whether it is Quirrell or Snape, that there is a second voice with them. An invisible or hidden person. What if it is…Voldemort?” Hermione asked.

“Well, I got lucky once.” Harry noted as he pointed at his scar. “Maybe I’ll be lucky again.”

“I know you can do it Harry, you are a great wizard.” Hermione noted.

“Not as great as you.” Harry noted.

“Books and cleverness.” Hermione said dryly. “There are more important things, like bravery and l…oh, be careful Harry.” She said as she hugged him. Harry returned the hug, and after a minute or so they broke apart the hug. “Good luck, Harry.” She said as gave him a peck on the cheek, drank her potion and went back through the purple flames.

Harry briefly touched the spot on his cheek where Hermione had kissed him. A bit dazed by it, he suddenly felt all of his fear and nerves wash away, like that little show of affection empowered him somehow. He took a deep breath, drank the potion, and after feeling its effects kick in, he charged through the black flames, emboldened and ready to tackle any obstacle up ahead.

As he entered the next chamber, he saw a huge mirror standing in the middle of the room. In front of the mirror stood a person. Harry felt his scar burn lightly, as he then recognized whom it was. The purple turban was unmistakable. It was professor Quirrell. “You…” Harry just said as he saw him.

Quirrell turned around to turn to Harry. “Me.” He replied. Gone was the stuttering and the meek persona. “You don’t seem too surprised to see me here.”

“Me and my friends it would be either you or Snape.” Harry noted.

“Then you and your friends are a lot smarter then I thought. Aside from you, many people would think Snape would be the only candidate. Aside from you and him, nobody suspects p-p-poor st-t-t-tuttering professor Quirrell.” He said, putting up his fake stutter a final time as a way of mocking. “How much do you think you know, Potter?”

“I know that you let the troll in at Halloween, that you also tried to jinx my broom while Snape tried to save me, though I wonder why.” Harry noted.

“Yeah, it’s odd isn’t it? With how much he hated your father? But maybe he isn’t just that ‘bad’ that he wanted you dead? But what is ‘bad’ and ‘good’? My master taught me that there is no thing like good and evil, just power. And those whom don’t have the strength to seek it.”

“So you do serve Voldemort.” Harry noted.

“You are either foolish or brave enough to say the name.” Quirrell said, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s a name. Fear for a name only creates fear for the person itself.” Harry answered.

“Real cheeky. Real brave. But it’s worthless, you are no obstacle, but a nuisance.” Quirrell snapped his fingers and ropes appeared out of nowhere to tie Harry up. “You stay there as I take a look at this mirror. Admittingly, Dumbledore did a brilliant job with it as an obstacle. I am honestly a bit stumped to what I need to do…It shows what I desire, presenting the Stone to my master…but how do I get it?”

“Use the boy!” a second voice, one that send chills down Harry’s spine.

“A great idea. Come here, Potter!” Quirrell released Harry from his bonds, and summoned Harry to his side.

Harry looked at the mirror and saw something engraved on it. He read it aloud. “‘Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi’.” Harry realized it was a mirror, so read it backwards: “‘I show not your face but your heart’s desire.’” A magic mirror, duh. As Harry looked down from the engraving, into the actual mirror, his gasped as he saw two people looking back. A man with unruly black hear and glasses like his own, and a beautiful woman with long red hair, and eyes emerald green, like his. The mirror showed his parents, James and Lily Potter.

The image of his parents put their hands on the shoulders of his reflection. Harry reached out with his left hand to his right shoulder, but felt nothing. Harry realized something: “They are not real. The mirror only shows what I desire. Not what is real.”

“You guessed that right.” Another voice sounded. But it was not Quirrell, or the other spine-chilling voice Harry heard earlier. It was a soft, feminine voice. The reflection in the Mirror of Erised changed. Instead the reflection changed and Harry could have sworn the Mirror acted more as a window, as he looked into a room. A room no bigger then the second room of Dudley at Private Drive. It has some more comfort, like a bed, a sink, a small bathroom, a desk and a book shelf. But still not a big room.

A girl, a few years older then Harry it seems, stared at him from the other side. She had ruby red eyes, strawberry blonde hair in pigtails and freckles. The girl waved happily. “Hello!” she noted.

“Who are you?” Harry asked.

“I’m Marie. Marie Flamel.” She introduced herself. “You must be Harry Potter. Sorry, but the scar is a dead giveaway.” She said, really cheerfully. Quite odd considering she was in this small room and Quirrel was on the other side of the glass. “Don’t worry, turban over there cannot hear me.” Marie assured him.

“Are your related to Nicolas Flamel?” Harry asked.

“He is my daddy.” Marie answered. “Though I haven’t seen him in a while. When it was getting dangerous for papa, he asked old whiskers to put me somewhere safe. This room is safe, but it is not really big and I cannot get out. It’s quite boring.” She noted.

Harry thought that by ‘old whisker’s she probably meant Dumbledore. “But shouldn’t it be the Philosopher’s Stone that would needed to be brought to safety?” Harry asked.

“That is the thing. The Stone is in me.” She said, pointing at her heart. “I’m a homunculus. The Stone is what gives me life. If you take it out of me…In a certain way, I’ll die.” She explained.

“Then what did Hagrid pick up at Gringotts?” Harry asked.

“A spare part for my body.” Marie said as she opened up a bit of her robes. Showing that under the robes, from the neck down, she existed of clockwork machinery. Harry could see a part of the Stone, a blood red gem-like stone, acting as a sort of power source. She closed her robes up again.

“Why can only I see or hear you?” Harry asked.

“Old Whiskers made it so only someone whom would want to find the Stone but not use it can see me, hear me, or can get access to me. Though while I want to get out of the room, I don’t want Mr. Turban to literally rip my heart out.” Marie explained.

“I’ll think of something to get you out, safely.” Harry noted. He felt incredibly angry and sad that there are two people (a troll and artificial lifeform, but still two people in Harry’s eyes) being treated badly and locked up. Much like he was at the Dursleys.

“Whom are you talking to, Potter? What do you see? Do you see the Stone?” Quirrell asked. He had brought up a bit of patience, knowing the Mirror may show Harry’s desire but it was taking a bit long for his tastes.

“I see them…My parents, they ask me to get them out.” Harry said, half-lying.

“He speaks half-truths…” the chilling voice said again. Quirrell cursed under his breaths. “Let me speak to him.”

“But master, you are not strong enough.” Quirrell replied to the voice.

“I am strong enough for this!” the voice replied. Quirrell undid his Turban as Harry backed off a bit. As Quirrell turned around Harry almost forgot to breathe as he saw a chalk white face, without a nose and blood red snake-like eyes growing from the back of Quirrell’s head. “Harry Potter. We meet again.”

“Voldemort.” Harry said, speaking his thoughts out loud.

“Yes…you see what I’ve become? See what I must do to survive? Live on another like a parasite. I have been feeding on the blood of unicorns of the Forbidden Forest. It keeps you alive even if you are an inch from death, but at the cost of a cursed life. A price I’m willing to pay as it is only temporary. Until I get something that can give me a body of my own. And you  know what can do that for me?” Voldemort spoke.

“I know what you want, and you won’t let you have it!” Harry shouted at him.

“Heh. Bravery. Your parents had it too…Tell me, Harry…do you want to see them again? They did not have to die. Your father was a proud and powerful pureblood. And your mother, despite her muggle descent…she was a clever and powerful witch. She didn’t have to die, she begged me to take her instead. But as you can see, I have conquered death. My research has brought me further then ever before. Now if you just tell me where the Stone is, and if you join me…I promise I will use my power to find a way to return them to you.” Voldemort said.

Harry looked at the mirror, seeing James, Lily and Marie. All three shook their heads. Harry didn’t need to see that to know what his answer was going to be, but this gave them some emotional support. “You filthy liar!”

Voldemort has lost the little patience he had with Harry. “Kill him!” Voldemort ordered Quirrell, whom quickly glided from across the room, close to Harry, whom didn’t have time to react as his throat was grabbed and he was being strangled. Aside from the pain in his throat, his scar burned so bad he felt it was going to burst open.

However, oddly enough Quirrell let go. And Harry saw Quirrell had some bad burns on the palms of his hands. As Quirrell screamed in pain, Harry decided to try something out. Even when his scar started to burn badly, he grabbed Quirrell’s face, whom screamed even louder in pain, and so did Voldemort as he noticed his touch burned them. Quirrell couldn’t touch him without heavy pain. Well, the opposite was too, but for Harry it was only his scar. He could not let Quirrell go, even when the pain in his forehead was intense, and Quirrell couldn’t do much when he was this much in pain.

Voldemort couldn’t handle it anymore, and channeled his remaining magic and Quirrel’s into a shockwave of magic that threw Harry off, and Harry landed in front of the mirror. Harry felt weak but he managed to sit up long enough to see Quirrell’s form go limp. What has happened had taken everything out of Quirrell and Voldemort. Harry grabbed onto the mirror to get himself up, only to find someone pulling him up.

Harry, upon regaining focus, noticed Marie had managed to climb out of the mirror and helped him up. “Thank you, Harry.” She said.

“You’re welcome, but I don’t think we’re done yet.” Harry said, as he was having a bad feeling. From Quirrell’s corpse a sort of wisp rose, and it rushed at them, the wisp shaped like Voldemort’s face. However, before it could reach them, something silvery flew in between them and Voldemort’s form bounced of it. Harry immediately recognized it. “Cloak!”

Indeed, the Cloak of Invisibility floated there. It kind of made a salute towards its master, and then wrapped around him and Marie, masking them. When Voldemort recovered after being repelled by Cloak, he no longer saw Harry or Marie. He couldn’t even sense them, as Cloak completely masked them in any way or form. Voldemort screamed out in anger, as much as he could for someone whom didn’t have any physical vocals at the moment. He then fled as he knew the opportunity was lost to him.

Once the coast was clear, Harry, supported by Marie, and followed closely by Cloak. As they approached the black and purple flames of the potion room again. Marie held out her hand, and the flames turned into colored class, to easily shattered as she kicked their way through it. “What the…” Harry asked weakly.

“Created by the power of alchemy. Or transmutation. With the Philosopher’s Stone as a power source, I can take it to a whole new level.” She explained.

“In that case, in the next room there is a poor troll chained there by the bad guys. Can you use those alchemy power to shatter those?” Harry asked.

“No problem.” Marie assured him.

Indeed, as soon as they were in the next room, Marie turned the chains into brittle glass faster then the troll could react. Ymir was happy to no longer be chained. “Harry Potter and friend save Ymir.”

“Marie did the real work. I just asked her for help.” Harry said weakly. The last confrontation had taken a bit of a toll on him. “I think I could use some rest.” Harry said as he finally lost consciousness.

“The bad man, Harry fought him earlier, it has taken a lot out of him. He needs to see the school nurse.” Marie noted.

“Ymir carry friends Harry and Marie to Healer.” Ymir said as he gently lifted them both in each of his hands, Cloak floating behind Ymir, whom carried his new friends to safety.