Loving Lily: A Snily Story

Chapter 41 - Love

Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every Saturday!
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From his first day of teaching, it became evident to Hogwarts' students that Professor Quirrell had a prominent stutter.

The immaturity shown by their mockery of his unique way of speech was startling, but to Harriet, Professor Quirrell's impediment proved to be the least of her concerns.

She noticed the odd glares he cast her when he thought no one noticed.

Hermione and Ron glanced at each other every time their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher purposely called on Harriet, even when she had not raised her hand.

However, Harriet failed to anticipate exactly how large of a threat her new teacher presented to her safety.

Her imagination had not run wild, Professor Quirrell kept a frighteningly close eye on her for the next few months.

One day towards the end of the term, as Harriet stood from her desk to follow her best friends out of the room after class ended, a single hair loosened from her scalp and floated towards the floor.

From his post at the front of the room, the scrutinizing spell Quirrell had nonverbally cast detected that falling hair.

As the children left, he rushed across the classroom to collect Harriet's hair.

To Quirrell's dismay, the fragile follicle had already drifted to the floor by the time he managed to reach Harriet's empty seat.

He grit his teeth as he found not one hair, but several, shed from his students throughout the day in a small, tangled ball on the floor.

Quirrell huffed to himself as he reached out and pocketed the entire mass of hairs for further examination in his private chambers.

Without Voldemort's permission or command, Quirrell had taken it upon himself to investigate a ridiculous rumor he had heard in a small pub on the outermost skirts of Britain's wizarding world a year earlier.

As he left his classroom and marched down the stone hallway, Hermione saw him pass while she knelt down to gather the books that had fallen from her arms.

Ron and Harriet had went on ahead.

In a cruel irony to his unscrupulous action, as Quirrel passed by, the ball of hair pushed against a scrap of parchment held in the same pocket of his robes.

While Quirrell walked, the motion caused that piece of parchment to slip out and fall to the floor, directly in front of Hermione, but he unknowingly marched on, eager to investigate his findings.

Hermione blinked as she picked up the slip of paper and called out, "Professor!.......Professor!"

Several students shuffled through the adjacent hallway, deep in conversation.

The noise of their laughter prevented Quirrell from hearing Hermione's shout.

After she realized she had been ignored, she frowned as she turned to look at the scrap of parchment in her hands.

Her amber eyes widened as she read over the newspaper clipping.

The rest of the words seemed to fade away as Hermione's focus zeroed in on the key phrases she found herself staring at:

Nicolas Flamel

Philosopher's Stone

Guaranteed Immortality

Housed by Albus Dumbledore

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"Don't you understand, Ron?!" Harriet asked her friend as she sat in the Great Hall during breakfast the next morning.