“There is nothing to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth, the persistent refusal the analyze the causes of happenings.�
-Dorothy Thompson

Ron was in the water far below. Harry, dropping the other pieces of debris, pulled out his wand and Hermione stood up, doing so, too. “Oh my god, Ron!� cried Hermione, getting upset.

Harry didn’t know a spell that could pull Ron out of the watery depths. The only spell he could think of was… “Accio Ron!� yelled Harry, pointing his wand down at Ron.

He saw that Ron was rising, but knew his wand wouldn’t be enough. “Draco, Hermione! Help!� He heard Hermione yell the spell, too. Ron rose higher and was now hovering a couple feet above the water.

Behind him, Harry heard something drop and then footsteps. Draco yelled the spell and with the combination of three wands, they were able to bring Ron back up. A frightened, drenched Ron, but Ron nonetheless.

Ron stood there, shivering, water dripping from the bottom of his robes. His bright red hair, now darker from the water, was matted down to his head. Hermione sat with him, trying to calm him down. Harry brought over the torch that Draco had dropped to warm Ron.

Now, Harry needed to find a way to get over the gap; a gap he couldn’t even see. And he didn’t know where the edge was, since he couldn’t see that either.

Harry took a couple steps, being careful with his footing. Opposite them was a gray wall and another open door. The door was only a couple feet away, but still too far to jump to.

Hermione kept repeating, “Incendio!� Harry knew it was the spell for fire, but why was she saying it over and over?

“Hermione, what are you doing?� he asked.

She looked up at him, concerned. “There’s some sort of spell on the water that Ron fell into. It won’t dry even when I have fire right before him,� said Hermione, concerned.

“Then you might as well just stop. I don’t see how repeating the spell is going to help,� said Harry, downheartedly. Hermione nodded slowly, putting her wand in her pocket.

Harry turned away, looking at the door. It was so close, but oddly enough so far.

“What now?� asked Draco, who was now beside him.

Harry sighed loudly, before saying, “I…I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?� Draco shook his head.

“H-Harry, I saw f-from the water a b-bridge to the other side,� said Ron, as he shivered.

“A bridge? Ron, there’s nothing there. Unless, its another spell,� said Hermione. “Do you remember where the bridge is?� Ron said that he didn’t.

Hermione stood up and grabbed the pieces of debris that Harry had dropped earlier. They all watched as she went as far left as possible before getting to the wall, where she lightly threw one of the rocks.

It fell with a splash into the water below. She did the same thing two more times, each time moving more to the right. The pieces fell to the water. When she was just right of the door that they wanted to get to, Hermione threw another piece.

The piece of debris looked as if it was floating in midair. “That’s where the bridge is, I’m sure of it,� Hermione said. She stomped her foot near the rock. The sound of wood was brought to their hears, and to them it was a wonderful sound. It meant they could get into the other room.

After a minute they got across and were safely in the next room. The room was lit but there were no torches or candles. Once again, there was another door on the opposite end of the room. Harry rushed over to it. He opened the door just enough to see Quirrel standing there with his back to him. His scar stung for a moment. The door pulled against his grip and slammed shut.

Feeling something was wrong, Harry backed away from the door. And just in time, too. Boulders fell from the ceiling, seeming to come out of thin air, blocking the door. Soon large and small rocks were falling, but all over the room. The sound of the rocks falling was so tremendous, that they could barely hear it when they all started screaming. They ran outside the room.

When they were just outside the doorway, Harry realized that Draco wasn’t with them. He looked back in and saw that Draco’s right leg was under a large boulder. He was trying to push it off, but it was too heavy, and more were still falling.

“I’ll be back!� Harry screamed over the sound of the falling boulders. He ran in, trying not to get him himself, until he reached Draco. Harry also tried pushing the large rock off, but it was just too heavy. He took out his wand.

What was that spell that Hermione used? Come on! Think! As Harry was standing there he got hit on the head with a fist sized rock. He got a bit dizzy, but knew he had to help Draco.

“Diffindo!� yelled Harry, but nothing happened. He pointed he wand at the boulder again, after dodging another large rock.


“DIFFINDO!�

He didn’t hear the crack of the rock breaking, but saw it as it broke into two pieces. Draco pointed to his leg and Harry understood that it was broken. He put his forearms under Draco underarms, walking backwards away from the room.

Once Harry and Draco were out of the room, the rocks stopped falling. He saw that Draco was holding back tears of pain. Hermione had a large cut on her arm, which was bleeding. Realizing that he too was in pain, Harry touched the top of his head and felt blood. Not caring, he wiped it on his cloak.

“Harry, you have to go on to the next room. You have to stop Quirrel,� said Hermione.

Harry nodded, looking around at the scene before him. Draco and Ron were both lying on the floor; one soaking wet, one with his leg broken. “Can you watch over them, Hermione?�

“Yeah. I can make some fire with my wand to keep Ron warm,� said Hermione. At the look on Harry’s face she added, “Malfoy, too. But if Ron doesn’t get help soon, he could get really sick. Hurry, but be careful. Go on, Harry!�

He took one final look at them before going back into the room. The rocks began to fall again. Harry managed to get to the door, but it was halfway covered in boulders. He tried to move them, getting irritated that he couldn’t. He pulled out his wand and just flicked it while yelling, “Come on! Move!�

Surprisingly, the closest boulder to him shattered. Harry covered his face with his arms. Sharp shards lodged themselves into the back of his forearms. He cried out in pain, quickly taking them out and throwing them onto the floor. He was bleeding even more now.

After five minutes of shattering rocks with pure anger, he managed to get into the room with Quirrel. The door slammed shut behind him. Harry saw that


Quirrel was further in the room. Stage-like stairs were between them. Quirrel turned to face Harry.

Harry went down a couple stairs. “Professor, you don’t have to give Snape the Sorcerer’s Stone.�

“Give—give Snape the Sorcerer’s Stone?� Quirrel laughed. “You’re so naïve, Potter. Why would I want to give Snape the stone when I can have it?�

Something about Quirrel was different but Harry couldn’t place it, and then he realized that Quirrel wasn’t stuttering anymore.

“You? You’re going to give the stone to Voldemort?� Harry asked incredulously. “But Snape. I thought he was making you get it for him.�

“He does seem like the one to be doing this, doesn’t he? Snape, who always hides in the shadow. But no! He was trying to stop me! He kept going to Dumbledore saying that he didn’t trust me and that I was up to something,� said Quirrel.

“Snape was right. It was you that tried to throw me off my bro—!� said Harry.

He was cut short by Quirrel, who took a couple steps toward him. “Of course it was I! Snape was trying to protect you, but you were too thick to think that he would.

“Once he found out about the letter I had sent, he got suspicious and knew I was planning something,� said Quirrel. He suddenly looked at Harry with anger in his eyes. “That bloody bird of yours almost got me caught when it came back scratched up!�

What he had said made Harry angry, as well. “Hedwig did nothing! You sent her to a werewolf!� yelled Harry, glaring at the man. Quirrel simply turned away, thinking.

“Yes, Greyback. The bastard almost got me caught by scratching your bird. And the letter…Snape found it! Got even more suspicious of me, and what I was doing. Always watching me,� said Quirrel, with a bitter tone in his voice. “Snape even threatened me.


Made me look a fool!�

Harry decided to stay quiet while Quirrel ranted on. He had no idea where the stone was, so he knew he needed to wait.

Quirrel went on, “I daresay, Snape could have figured it out. But if Greyback hadn’t come, I never would have gotten down here.� He turned his back to Harry, whose scar began to sting. That made him think back to what Hermione had said about how someone could be making his scar hurt. If it isn’t Snape making my scar hurt then its got to be Quirrel. But how?

Harry just realized that the Mirror of Erised was in the center of the room. Quirrel made a noise of frustration. “Now I just need the stone, but how do I get it?� The pain continued, but Harry tried to ignore it. Eventually, he couldn’t and cried out in pain, dropping to his knees.

Quirrel turned and just smirked. “He never told me that would happen. Dare I say, I think it’s an advantage?�

“What are you doing to me?� Harry asked, as he stood up.

“I’m not doing anything, but Lord Voldemort is,� said Quirrel with a proud, but strange smile. Harry gave him a perplexed look.

“I want…to speak…to the boy…� said an airy, out-of-breath voice. Harry’s eyes looked around the room, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

“Are you sure, my lord?� said Quirrel.

“Let…me see him,� said the voice.

Quirrel began unraveling the purple turban on his head letting it fall to the floor. Harry began to grow anxious when more and more of Quirrel’s purple turban was upon the floor.

Eventually, the turban was just a large, purple pile of fabric upon the floor. Harry’s eyes moved to Quirrel, who was standing facing him, a smirk on his face. He was bald, which only made him more odd-looking. Quirrel took a couple steps toward Harry before turning around.

There on the back of Quirrel’s pale head, was a face. A face that Harry knew was none other than Voldemort. His red eyes bore right into Harry’s green ones. Voldemort took a deep breath through his nose, which looked more to Harry like that of a snake.

As Voldemort continued to face him, Harry’s scar began to burn. He ignored the pain that was slowly progressing.

“Hello, Harry Potter. Long time, no see,� said Voldemort, a deliberate smirk appearing on his face.