Invisible

THE MAN WITH TWO FACES

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE
CHAPTER 17

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"He does not forgive mistakes easily."

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{ CHAPTER 16 }

FROZEN IN FEAR

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"YOU!" HARRY GASPS.

Professor Quirrell smiles. His face isn't twitching at all. Lily knew his stutter and twitching were fake.

"Me," he says calmly.

"I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."

"But I thought - Snape--"

"Severus?" Quirrell laughs, and it isn't his usual quivering treble, either, but cold and sharp.

"Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"

"But Snape tried to kill me!"

"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a counter-curse, trying to save you."

"Snape was trying to save me?"

"Of course. And your sister's believed in him all along," Quirrell says coolly and Harry glances at Lily apologetically which she dismisses with a slight shake of her head.

"Why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really... He needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular...and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."

Professor Quirrell snaps his fingers. Ropes spring out of thin air and wrap themselves tightly around Harry and Lily. She yelps, struggling against them, but they burn her skin, making her eyes sting with angry tears.

"You're too nosy to live, Potters. Scurrying around the school on Hallowe'en like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"You let the troll in?"

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls - you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off - and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly. Now, wait quietly, Potters. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

It's only then that the Potter twins realise what is standing behind Professor Quirrell. Harry nods at Lily and she understands that it's the Mirror of Erised.