Chapter 13
“We thought it was Snape” Harry started.
“Severus?” Quirrell laughed, and it wasn’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?”
I knew it! Snape wasn’t trying to kill Harry, he was trying to protect him. Dumbledore trusted him and he was trying to help.I looked over at Harry, who looked completely shocked.
“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 countercurse, trying to save you.”
This was definitely not the time for me to say I told you so, but believe me, I was definitely thinking it.
“Snape was trying to save me?”
“Of course,” said Quirrell coolly. “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, and I might just kill your little friend Miss Roberts too.”
Quirrell snapped his fingers and ropes sprang out of thin air and began to tightly coil around me and Harry, making it impossible to move and very hard to breathe. This is it, I thought, a heroic tragic death at eleven, my mother would be mad that I wasted away and didn’t make something of myself and Slytherin. My dad would be alone. This shouldn’t be happening, we shouldn’t be dying. Where was Dumbledore?
While I was distracted by my thoughts of death, Quirrell went on and on, talking about the troll that he apparently let into the school and how he killed the other troll. I only came back into focus when he walked towards the center of the chamber, where there was a big mirror. The edges were of gold and it appeared to have an inscription on the top. It was the Mirror of Erised!
“Harry is that?” I whispered as quietly as possible.
“Yeah I think it is,” He replied.
That’s probably why it was in the school, Dumbledore was using it to help hide the stone. But how? Before I could try to decipher it, like Hermione would, Quirrell turned back to us.
“This mirror has to help us find the stone. Obviously Dumbledore came up with this, he’s in London so we need to figure it out and get as far away as possible when he gets back,” he murmured to himself.
Harry tried to talk to him, probably to distract him in time for Dumbledore to come, but it didn’t work, he went right back to obsessing over the mirror.
“I see the Stone…I’m presenting it to my master…but where is it?”
Harry once again thrashed against the ropes, talking and distracting Quirrell. Think Maggy think. If you look in the mirror and you desire it, maybe it will come to you. Maybe that’s how Dumbledore hid the stone. But how would Harry or I be able to get to it without that crazy man noticing?
Quirrell was mumbling to himself again.
“What does this mirror do, Master? Help me,”
I would’ve thought he was insane if I hadn’t heard a deep, gravelly voice that also seemed to come from Quirrell's response.
“Use...the...boy”
“Yes Potter come here. Look in the mirror and tell me what you see” Quirrell said, and clapped his hands. Harry’s ropes fell off and he started to slowly walk to the professor.
With Harry distracting Quirrell and no doubt actually getting the stone, I knew that the man would soon be very angry, and we would need to distract him even more. Harry told Quirrell that he saw himself winning the house cup, Quirrell pushed him out of the way and he glanced at me, and looked down, lightly tapping his pocket as he walked towards me.
“He lies, let me speak to him face-to-face,” the low voice said again, this time, it was very clear that Quirrell’s lips were not moving.
“Master, you are not strong enough!”
“I have strength enough…for this…”
Quirrell made a move to start slowly unraveling his turban. When he was done, his head looked bare. slightly small and strangely shaped. He turned towards us and I suddenly felt cold and terrified. Where someone’s hair or the back of the head should have been, there was an ugly, terrible face, with red eyes that were slits, almost like a snake. It’s him. It’s Lord Voldemort.
“Harry Potter,” the face whispered, “See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapor….I have form only when I can share another’s body…but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds…Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks…you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest…and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own….Now…why don’t you give me that Stone in your pocket?”
He knew. Harry stumbled back, looking petrified with fear.
“Don’t be a fool,” snarled the face. “Better save your own life and join me…or you’ll meet the same end as your parents…They died begging me for mercy…”
Harry didn’t speak or move. He was scared. I knew I had to save him.
“LIAR,” I called out, “You will not save us, you will kill us just like you killed the Potters. You don’t know mercy,”
“How brave, foolish, but brave. I value bravery. And who are you?”
I spoke up. “I’m Maggy Roberts,”
“Yes, you look just like your mother,” this normally would make me so happy, but coming from that thing, it was creepy, and I was trembling with fear, “Unfortunate that you will have to die tragically just like her… oh that’ll have to do… and you Potter will die just the same as your mother I bet, protecting someone you love. Don’t let your mother die in vain boy, give me the stone,”
“NEVER,” Harry shouted, as he sprang up and ran toward the door, pulling me to the door, as I was too afraid to move. It was all for naught as Quirrell latched onto his other wrist and Harry yelled in pain. As soon as he heard the yell, the two wrestled as Voldemort screamed orders at Quirrell.
Think Maggy think, you don’t know any spells yet that can hold off dark magic, and definitely not any fighting tactics. I had an idea. Every time Quirrell grabbed for Harry, he would shriek in pain and Voldemort would only yell more. I’d have to distract him so Harry can get away with the stone.
“So you really knew my mother did you?” I called up, mustering as much courage as possible.
“Yes fool. She was as weak as you,”
“So you killed her then?” I asked, noticing how Harry was slowly getting away.
“I won’t waste my time with you or your Mudblood mother. You’ll find out in time,” he chuckled lowly, “Now Quirrell, grab the boy,”
I tried to reach out, grab him and pull him away from Harry, but he pushed me aside, straight into the long-forgotten mirror. Glass shattered all around me.
“Harry, No!” I shrieked, as glass fell on me, inciting the most pain I have ever felt.
A bright light was the last thing I saw before fully passing out.
I woke in a cot . I looked around and figured I was in the hospital wing. I made it. I sighed in relief. But Harry! I turned and saw him on a cot across from me, looking much worse. I tried to get up when a pair of hands on my left lightly pushed me down.
“Miss Roberts, you’ll never get better if you don’t rest properly!” Madame Pomfrey said.
I heard a chuckle from my right and turned to see Professor Dumbledore.
“I’ll take it from here Poppy,” he turned to me, “Good morning Maggy,”
“Professor, Quirrel was trying to take the stone from Harry. Is Harry going to be okay? Where is Quirrel? What about一”
“Quirrel does not have the stone. Harry is safe. Why not try calming down Maggy,” He gestured to some candy and trinkets next to my bed, “Why not try some candy your friends have brought you. The whole school has brought treats for the two of you after hearing what happened. I’d recommend the Bertie Botts,”
I grabbed the beans and offered some to him before taking one for myself. I ate it and for once, it wasn’t something rotten.
“I got peach,” I said aloud.
“Well you are certainly lucky Maggy, I’m often impartial to ear wax. Anyways, I got the owl from Miss Granger and came immediately. The stone was destroyed along with Quirrell, Voldemort was coming after you and Harry, when I came, he fled.”
“But we are safe?” for now.
“It appears so”
“Sir, what about the mirror?”
“Ah, the mirror of Erised,” Dumbledore said dreamily, “It was destroyed as well in the aftermath. It may not be such a terrible thing, that mirror could have proven very dangerous,”
“What do you mean?”
“We see our deepest desires in that mirror. Some miss the present because they are so intent to watch their desires come true in that mirror rather than live it.”
“But Professor, I saw my mother in the mirror,”
“Well I am truly sorry Maggy, but not even magic can bring back the dead. That is why the mirror is dangerous, some desires are just impossible,”
We sat quietly after that. I reached for another bean and slightly grimaced. Seriously? Who thought it was a good idea to have a cauliflower flavored jelly bean?
“Professor is it true? Did Voldemort really have my mother killed?”
He paused briefly, “Maggy we do not know who truly killed your mother, but I do know she would be proud of who you have been so far at Hogwarts. You are a brilliant, cunning, and true Slytherin,”
“Thank you, Professor,” I said and gave him another jelly bean, “At least I have my father,”
Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled behind his half-moon glasses.
“Yes Maggy, you have him and many others here at Hogwarts, who will gladly see you get better. I shall leave Madame Pomfrey to her work,”
“Goodbye Professor, thank you,” I said.
Madame Pomfrey released me shortly telling me that I would be free to go back to my dorm. I insisted she calls me when Harry is awake and ready for visitors and she reluctantly agreed.
I walked back to the dungeons and into the common room. Though some of the older Slytherins gave me glares, I didn’t care. I saw Daphne and all my friends and ran to them, grabbing them into a big group hug.
“Maggy we are so glad you are okay,” Daphne exclaimed.
“We were worried sick,” Tracey brought me into another hug.
“Did you really see You-Know-Who?” Millicent asked tentatively.
“You look kinda rough,” Whack. “Theo you can’t say that she almost died,” Pansy smacked Theo.
It felt good to be back with my friends after everything. I finally felt as if I belonged with the Slytherins. We sat around the common room and talked and snacked for the rest of the day. When we were about to go to bed, Draco pulled me aside.
“Roberts, are you sure you are okay?”
“Yeah Malfoy, I’m fine,”
“You can’t just scare me like that. We are friends and I ca- God, Roberts. I need you for Transfiguration work, obviously,” He blurted out, cheeks turning slightly pink.
“Oh so we’re friends now are we Malfoy?” I sneered.
“I guess we have to be, stupid oafs should stick together. Besides, you said we have to work on my people skills. I mean I一”
I pulled him into a hug, cutting him off.
“I’ll see you at the end of year feast tomorrow Draco,” I said with a smile, as I turned to make my way to the girls' dorm.
As I lay in bed that night, I thought how happy I was to be back. I was with friends, Slytherins and I’ve started helping them be better people. Even Pansy wished me goodnight. Draco seemed to slowly come around. And tomorrow, Slytherin would win the house cup and I would see my Gryffindor friends. I’m making the world a better place Mom, just like you would want me to be, I thought as I fell asleep, Leeroy curled up by my side.