“I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime.�
-Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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

“I know all about your first year at Hogwarts. Quirrel has told me many things. Of how, on your first night here, you were placed in Slytherin. Not Gryffindor, like your parents,� continued Voldemort.

“Don’t speak of my parents! I know what you did to them! I know that you murdered them!� yelled Harry, his face getting hot in anger. But his anger only seemed to please Voldemort more.

“But you must have realized that you were placed into Slytherin for a reason,� said Voldemort, pausing for a moment. Harry’s anger subsided as he listened to Voldemort. “Power. Ambition. Only the most powerful and the most ambitious are placed into Slytherin. I know you are one of those people, Harry. I see that same gleam in your eyes that had lingered in mine, all those years ago...and a thirst, as well. A thirst to be powerful, to have people kneel before you. You want that, don’t you, Harry? I can give you that. I can quench your thirst, Harry. Join me, and you will have unlimited power.�

Harry didn’t answer. He didn’t know how. What do you say to that?

As Voldemort had been speaking, Harry had been listening curiously to his words, not paying attention to anything else. But now that Voldemort had stopped talking, he realized that his scar was really burning. Harry rubbed his scar and turned away from the figure below in hope of seizing the pain. It only subsided a little.

With his back turned, thoughts began to run through Harry’s mind.

How did he know I wanted to power? How could he possibly know that? I have never told a single person that. Maybe he’s right, maybe all Slytherin’s want power. Maybe all those people are sorted into Slytherin. Voldemort said he had a thirst for people to kneel to him, like the older version of me from the Mirror of Erised. Is that who I could be? That person I saw? Could I actually make people kneel to me? No. No! I can’t make people kneel to me! That’s insane! I shouldn’t be thinking like this! I shouldn’t be thinking like Voldemort!

When Harry turned back, he saw that it was now Quirrel facing him. Quirrel was looking down at the ground. He had moved closer to the mirror. Voldemort was looking into it.

Harry heard a faint whisper, but couldn’t make out what Voldemort had said. Soon, he said it again, louder this time. “Come here, Harry.�

Reluctantly, walking slowly, Harry descended the stairs to Voldemort. The closer Harry got the more his scar burned. It felt like his scar was on fire, that his head was splitting in two as if someone had hit him in the head with a club.

The figure of Quirrel moved away from the Mirror of Erised to stand beside it, allowing Harry to stand before it. He gestured for Harry to look into the mirror. At first Harry just saw himself in the mirror, the room and the stairs behind him. His untidy hair and face were covered in dust from the previous room. There was blood on his forearms, but it was dry now and beginning to cake. His arms still hurt from the shards that had been in his arm.

But then the Harry in the mirror moved his left arm, when the real Harry hadn’t. Harry continued to stare into the mirror. The other Harry had something in his left hand, which he held up. It was a bright red stone: the Sorcerer’s Stone. He watched as the other Harry placed the stone into his left cloak pocket. Harry felt his pocket, but nothing was there.

“What do you see?� asked Voldemort.

Harry didn’t turn to look at Voldemort, but continued to look into the tall mirror before him. Should I trust Voldemort? Should I tell him that I see myself with the stone? The Harry in the mirror smiled at him genuinely. No. Voldemort shouldn’t have a stone such as this.

“What do you see?!� asked Voldemort. His voice rose slightly, but it was powerful enough to make Harry jump.

“I…I see myself. K-kneeling before you. You’re telling me I’m…powerful,� Harry said on the spur of the moment.

There was a long pause, and then Voldemort whispered, “You’re lying!�

Quirrel turned to face him, rage written on his face. “Tell the truth! What do you see?!� shouted Quirrel. He lowered his voice to above a whisper, “I swear, Potter, you better tell me what you see!� He looked at Harry threateningly.

Instinctively, Harry backed away, knowing that if he didn’t he probably would be cursed by Quirrel. He stopped when he was a couple feet away and was relieved when his scar didn’t burn as badly. But Quirrel didn’t care that he had moved and took to looking at the mirror once more.

Harry heard a door close behind him. Quickly, he turned, looking up the stairs to see a tall, cloaked figure with greasy black hair: Snape.

Snape was cut and bleeding in several places. There was a long cut on the side of his face. His cloak was torn all over, and covered in blood and dust.

At seeing Harry below, Snape said, “Potter, get away from Quirrel.� Harry backed even more away from Quirrel. Snape rushed swiftly down the stairs, hardly making a sound, to stand in front of Harry protectively, wand in hand. This protective act shocked Harry (to say the least), but then he remembered what Quirrel had said. That Snape had saved him in the first Quidditch match. For the first time ever, Harry was happy Snape was there.

Harry peered around the form of Snape to see that Quirrel was facing him, not any closer than he had been before. “Ah, Severus. How nice of you to join us. I did think you would show up eventually, but…what too you so long?� Quirrel asked, a large smirk spread out on his face.

“I think you know, Quirrel. Greyback,� said Snape. He paused, shaking his head at Quirrel. “How could you let Greyback onto Hogwarts grounds? Didn’t you even think of the students that could have been harmed? Or no…you just thought of your precious stone. I knew you would do something, but this…?� He broke off, never finishing his sentence.

Harry knew that if he could see Snape’s face, that there would be a disgust upon it.

“I knew all along that you suspected me. I knew that from the very first Quidditch match, that you suspected me. So you went to Dumbledore. Didn’t feel the same, did he? How could he suspect…s-stuttering Professor Q-Quirrel?� Quirrel laughed, mostly to himself.

“I daresay, you could have at least tried harder to stop me, Snape. I would have been even more amused. You saw that letter and threatened me plenty, but didn’t do enough to stop me from coming down here. Besides, you never would have succeeded. Not when I have the Dark Lord. He helped me when I needed someone…� Quirrel continued.

Harry had been listening to everything Quirrel and Snape had been saying to each other. As Quirrel talked on, Snape whispered to Harry. “Do you have the stone?�

Quickly, Harry moved his hand to check his pocket, thinking nothing would be there. He felt something solid inside. “Yes,� Harry whispered back.

Peering around Snape again, Harry realized that Quirrel had stopped talking. He now heard Voldemort muttering something and Harry knew Voldemort had heard them.

“STUN HIM!� yelled the airy voice of Voldemort to Quirrel. Quirrel drew his wand.

Snape yelled, “Sectumsempra!� Harry watched as deep cuts appeared all over Quirrel’s body, as if he had been cut with a sword. The slashes emerged on his face and body, immediately beginning to bleed.

Snape had been concentrating more on putting a spell on Quirrel than protecting himself, so he didn’t realize that Quirrel had muttered the Stunning spell. Harry saw a bright red flash, and watched as Snape tensed up, knowing that the spell had hit him in the chest. Harry took a couple steps to the left, realizing that Snape was going to fall backwards. He watched as his professor hit the floor with a loud thud, now unconscious.

Slowly, Harry moved to look at Quirrel, who had a lopsided smirk on his face. With Snape on the floor, Harry felt slightly alone and unprotected, but he knew he had the stone in his pocket, though he didn’t know how to use it. Harry’s hand moved to the pocket that contained the stone, just to reassure himself that it was still there, and it was. For a second, nothing was spoken, no one seemed to move in the room, and Harry was hardly breathing for fear of disrupting the solitude.

“Get…the stone!� Voldemort demanded to Quirrel. Harry’s eyes widened as he realized that Quirrel was now running towards him. Quickly, Harry took out his wand. “Expel—!� Harry yelled, his wand out in front of him. But Quirrel was too quick, Harry’s wand flew out of his hand and landed on the ground a few feet away.

Harry watched the direction it flew, not seeing the fact that Quirrel was now lunging at him. Quirrel grabbed him by the throat and pushed him against the stairs. Harry felt the edges of the stairs pressing into his back sharply.

Air was getting harder and harder to take in, as well as breathe out. Harry looked up at Quirrel, but he was looking at the hand that was forcibly against Harry’s throat. Since his wand was feet away, which seemed far right now, Harry decided the only thing he could do was use the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Pulling it out of his pocket, the only thing he could think of to do was to ram it against Quirrel’s head, hopefully knocking him out. Harry did so, and Quirrel released his grip, stumbling away. Harry pulled himself up from the stairs.

When Quirrel took his hand away from his head, Harry saw that he was burned. Pleased by what the stone could do, he was now the one that lunged toward Quirrel.

Though Quirrel was much taller, Harry gripped his neck with his left hand and rammed the stone against Quirrel’s head with his right. Quirrel yelled out in pain, as did Voldemort, who Harry had forgotten about since Quirrel had been choking him.

Harry took a step back, but realized that Quirrel’s neck was burned, where he had placed his hand. Quirrel was gently touching his neck, not paying attention to Harry, who was looking at his hands. Harry realized he didn’t need the stone anymore, so he placed it in his pocket before diving at Quirrel again, placing his hands on the cuts that lined Quirrel’s face. Both Voldemort and Quirrel screamed from what he had done.

For some reason, Harry couldn’t help but smile. He took a good amount of steps away. Quirrel’s loud shrieks of pain didn’t stop, but continued on as he started to disintegrate right in front of him. Pieces of his skin burned off and fell, but crumbled into nothing before hitting the floor. Harry looked closer at his cuts, which weren’t bleeding blood anymore, but ashes.

A piercing scream filled the room. Harry turned his head away, but couldn’t escape the horrid noise. When he turned back, he saw no Quirrel, only a large pile of ashes. But floating above it, as an apparition, was Voldemort. Harry made out the same face that had been on the back of Quirrel’s head. Luckily, Harry’s scar didn’t burn from being near the apparition.

“I promise you, Harry, that if you join me, you will have unbelievable power. I will return…� The ghost form of Voldemort quickly flew off. He was now alone in the room, the unconscious figure of Snape on the floor.

Reaching into his pocket, Harry took out the Sorcerer’s Stone and looked at it. If Quirrel and Voldemort would go to any length to get this stone, then he knew others would do, too. It didn’t seem like a good idea to keep it around. The Mirror of Erised was still in the middle of the room.

Harry went nearer to the mirror, but far enough so he wouldn’t get hurt. With the stone in his right hand, Harry threw it at the mirror with all his strength. Though he covered his face with his arms, Harry saw the mirror shatter and the stone break into pieces.

Harry went to pick up his wand from the floor and then to kneel down to look at Snape. His face was even paler than usual and he was bleeding profusely in different places on his body. Harry knew he needed medical help, but he couldn’t carry Snape and he didn’t know a spell to get him out of the room. Out of the room. Hermione! She would know a spell.

Taking the steps two at a time, Harry ran up them to the other room. He opened the door and screamed for Hermione. He saw her appear in the other doorway. “I need your help!� She quickly ran to where he was, rocks began to fall from the ceiling as she ran, but she didn’t get hit.

“Where’s Quirrel?� Hermione asked as they walked down the stairs.

Harry pointed to the pile of ashes feet away from them. “I don’t want to go into detail right now, but lets just say he was the one that wanted to give the stone to Voldemort. Not Snape.� Harry added, “How’s Draco and Ron?�

“Not so good. Ron’s shivering got worse. Malfoy even stopped holding back his tears,� she said.

They came to the body of Snape on the floor. “He was Stunned. Do you know a spell to get him out of the room? I doubt we can carry him along with Draco and Ron.�

Hermione took the book out from her pocket and quickly flipped through the pages, clearly trying to find a certain page. It only took a couple seconds. “Got it. Maybe we could use it on Ron and Malfoy, as well.� Harry nodded and moved to Snape, pointing his wand at the unconscious body.

Harry liked pointing his wand at Snape, and he very much wanted to put a different spell on him rather than the one Hermione was about to tell him to perform. He knew that Snape had saved him during the Quidditch match and also tonight, he had protected him from Quirrel, but Snape was always taunting him and Harry knew Snape hated him.

“Mobilicorpus. That’s the spell,� said Hermione. He knew she was watching him. With a flick of his wand he said the spell, slightly raising his voice. Nothing happened.

After a minute or two, they were both trying to get the spell to work. “We just need to concentrate,� said Hermione. Harry took a deep breath and stared at Snape’s body. He shouted the spell while keeping his eyes locked. Snape’s body slowly lifted off the ground. Harry was close to dropping him, but he concentrated and Snape’s body lifted more to float at waist level.

They eventually made it to the invisible bridge. As Harry and Hermione checked Draco and Ron, a voice called to them. Dumbledore was walking gracefully toward them on the invisible ground.