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Chapter 108 The Truth, Part 5 Answers

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and Riddles The

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defence professor had set up a cauldron,

0:12

floating it into place with a wave of

0:14

his wand, another wave starting

0:16

a fire beneath it. A brief

0:19

circling of the defence professor's finger

0:21

had set in motion a long-handled

0:23

spoon, and it had continued

0:25

stirring the cauldron without being held.

0:29

Now the defence professor was

0:31

measuring out a heap of flowers from a

0:33

large jar, what's Harry

0:35

supposed to be bellflowers.

0:38

The indigo petals seemed luminous

0:40

in the white light of the walls, and

0:42

curved inward in a way that gave the

0:44

impression of a desire for privacy.

0:48

The first of these flowers had been added

0:50

to the potion at once, but then

0:52

the cauldron had just gone on stirring

0:54

itself for a while.

0:57

The defence professor had assumed a position

0:59

from which he could see Harry just by

1:01

turning his head slightly, and

1:04

Harry knew that he was within the defence

1:06

professor's peripheral vision.

1:09

In the corner a fiend-fire

1:11

phoenix waited, some of the

1:13

nearby stone beginning to gloss

1:15

over as it melted to greater smoothness.

1:19

The burning wing shed crimson

1:22

light that gave everything in the room a tint

1:24

of blood, and reflected in scarlet

1:27

sparks from the glassware.

1:30

Time is wasting,

1:33

said Professor Quirrell. Ask

1:36

your questions, if

1:38

you have them. Why,

1:41

Professor Quirrell, why

1:44

must you be this way?

1:46

Why make yourself the monster?

1:50

Why, Lord Voldemort? I

1:53

know you might not want the same things

1:55

I do, but I can't imagine what

1:57

you want that makes this

1:59

the best. best way to get it!" That

2:03

was what Harry's brain wanted

2:05

to know. What Harry

2:08

needed to know was some

2:10

way out of what was going to happen

2:12

next.

2:14

But the defence professor

2:16

had said that he wouldn't talk about

2:18

his future plans. It

2:20

was strange enough that the defence professor

2:22

was willing to talk about anything

2:25

that had to contradict one of his rules.

2:29

I'm thinking, Harry said

2:31

aloud. Professor

2:33

Quirrell smiled slightly. He

2:36

was using the pestle to grind the

2:38

potion's first magical ingredient,

2:41

a glowing red hexagon.

2:43

I quite understand,

2:47

said the defence professor. But

2:50

do not think overlong,

2:52

child. Goals.

2:57

Prevent Lord Voldemort from harming people.

3:00

Find a way to kill or neutralise

3:02

him, but

3:03

first get the stone

3:05

and resurrect Hermione. Convince

3:09

Professor Quirrell to stop

3:11

this! Harry

3:14

swallowed, pushing down the emotion,

3:16

trying not to let the water reach his eyes.

3:20

The tears probably wouldn't make

3:22

a good impression on Lord Voldemort.

3:25

Professor Quirrell was already frowning, though

3:28

from the direction of his gaze he was examining

3:30

a leaf coloured in vivid shades

3:32

of white, green and purple.

3:36

There wasn't any obvious way to reach

3:38

any of the goals. Not yet.

3:42

All Harry could do was ask the questions

3:44

that seemed most likely to provide

3:47

useful information.

3:48

Even if Harry didn't yet have

3:51

a plan. So,

3:54

we just ask about whatever

3:56

seems most interesting? Harry's

4:00

Ravenclaw side. I'm

4:02

up for that. Shut

4:05

up! Harry told the voice, and

4:08

then, on further reflection, decided

4:11

that he was no longer pretending it was

4:13

there. Four topics

4:15

came to Harry's mind as being priorities

4:18

from the standpoint of curiosity about

4:20

important things.

4:23

Four questions then. Four

4:25

major subjects to try to

4:28

fit in while this potion will still

4:30

be brewed.

4:32

Four questions. I

4:37

ask my first question, Harry

4:40

said. What really

4:43

happened on the night of October 31, 1981? Why

4:49

was that night different from all

4:51

other nights? I

4:54

would like the entire story,

4:56

please.

4:58

The question of how, and why,

5:01

Lord Voldemort had survived his apparent

5:03

death seemed likely to matter

5:05

for future planning.

5:08

I expected

5:10

you would ask that, Professor

5:12

Quirrell said, dropping a bellflower

5:15

and a white glittering stone into the potion.

5:19

Do begin. Everything

5:22

I told you about the Horcrux spell

5:24

is true, as you

5:26

should realize since I spoke

5:29

in Parseltongue.

5:31

Harry nodded.

5:33

Within seconds after you

5:36

learned the details of the spell, you

5:38

perceived the central floor,

5:41

and began pondering how the spell

5:43

might be improved.

5:46

Do you think the young Tom Riddle

5:48

was any different? Harry

5:52

shook his head. Well,

5:55

he was, said Professor

5:57

Quirrell. Whenever I...

5:59

I was tempted to despair of

6:02

you. I reminded myself

6:04

how I was an idiot at

6:06

twice your age. When

6:09

I was fifteen, I made

6:11

myself a Horcrux as a certain

6:14

book had shown me, using

6:16

the death of Abigail Myrtle

6:19

beneath the eyes of Slytherin's

6:21

Basilisk. I

6:24

planned to make a new Horcrux

6:26

every year after I left Hogwarts

6:30

and call that my fallback

6:32

plan if my other hopes of immortality

6:35

did not come to fruition.

6:38

In retrospect, the young

6:41

Tom Riddle was grasping

6:43

straws.

6:45

The thought of making a better

6:47

Horcrux, of not being

6:50

content with the spell I had

6:52

already learned.

6:54

This thought did not come

6:56

to me until I had grasped the

6:58

stupidity of ordinary

7:01

people,

7:02

and realized which follies

7:04

of theirs I had imitated.

7:08

But in time, I learned

7:10

the habit that you inherited

7:13

from me, to

7:14

ask, in every instance,

7:17

how it might be done better.

7:21

To be content with the spell I had

7:23

learned from a book, when it bore

7:26

only a faint resemblance to what I truly

7:28

wanted, absurd.

7:30

And

7:33

so I set forth to create

7:36

a better spell.

7:40

You have true

7:43

immortality now? Harry

7:45

was aware that, even with everything

7:48

else going on, this was a question

7:51

more important than war and strategy.

7:55

Indeed, said

7:58

Professor Quirrell. He paused

8:00

in his potions work and turned to

8:02

face Harry fully. There

8:05

was a look of exaltation

8:07

in the man's eyes that Harry had never

8:09

seen there before.

8:12

In all the darkest arts

8:15

I could find, in all

8:18

the interdicted secrets to

8:20

which Slytherin's monster gave

8:22

me keys, in all

8:25

the lore remembered among

8:27

wizardkind, I

8:29

found only hints and

8:32

smatterings of what I needed.

8:34

So I rewove

8:37

it and remade it

8:40

and devised a new

8:42

ritual based on new

8:45

principles.

8:47

I kept that ritual

8:49

burning in my mind for

8:51

years, perfecting it

8:54

in imagination, pondering

8:57

its meaning and making

8:59

fine adjustments, waiting

9:02

for the intention to stabilize.

9:06

At last I dared

9:08

to invoke my ritual, an invented

9:12

sacrificial ritual based

9:15

on a principle untested by

9:17

all known magic.

9:20

And I lived,

9:22

and yet live. The

9:26

defense professor spoke with quiet

9:28

triumph as though the act itself

9:30

was so great that no words

9:33

could ever do it justice.

9:36

I still use

9:38

the word horcrux, but

9:40

only from sentiment. It

9:43

is a new thing entirely,

9:46

the greatest of

9:49

all my creations.

10:00

Harry said, Denied.

10:04

The defense professor turned back to his

10:06

potion, dropping in a grey flecked

10:08

white feather and a bellflower.

10:11

I had thought perhaps

10:13

to teach you when you were older, for

10:16

no Tom Riddle would be content

10:19

otherwise,

10:21

but I have changed my mind. Memory

10:25

is a hard thing to recall, sometimes,

10:29

and Harry had been trying to remember

10:31

if Professor Quirrell had dropped any hints

10:34

about this subject before.

10:36

Something about Professor Quirrell's

10:38

phrasing sparked a memory. Perhaps

10:42

you will be told when you are older.

10:46

There are still physical

10:48

anchors for your immortality, Harry

10:51

said aloud. It resembles

10:53

the old Horcrux spell by that

10:55

much, which is another

10:58

reason you still call them Horcruxes.

11:01

It was dangerous to say aloud,

11:04

but Harry needed to know. If

11:07

I'm wrong, you can always deny

11:10

it in Parseltongue. Professor

11:12

Quirrell was smiling evilly. Our

11:17

guess is right,

11:19

boy, for all

11:22

the good it does you.

11:25

Unfortunately that wasn't

11:27

a difficult vulnerability to cover,

11:30

if the enemy was smart. Harry

11:33

wouldn't ordinarily have made the suggestion,

11:36

just in case the enemy hadn't thought

11:39

of it for themselves, but in this case

11:41

he'd already made it.

11:44

One Horcrux dropped

11:46

into an active volcano, waited

11:49

so it would sink into the Earth's mantle,

11:52

Harry said heavily. The

11:55

same place I thought of dropping the

11:57

Dementor if I couldn't destroy

11:59

it. And then you asked

12:01

me where else I would hide something

12:04

if I didn't want anyone to find it

12:06

ever again. One

12:08

horcrux buried kilometers

12:10

down in an anonymous cubic meter

12:13

of the Earth's crust.

12:15

One horcrux you dropped

12:17

into the Mariana Trench. One

12:20

horcrux floating high in the stratosphere,

12:23

transparent. Even

12:25

you don't know where they are because

12:28

you obliviated the exact details

12:30

from your memory.

12:32

And the last horcrux is

12:35

the Pioneer 11 plaque that

12:38

you snuck into NASA and

12:40

modified. It's where

12:42

you get your image of the stars when

12:45

you cast the spell of starlight. Fire,

12:50

Earth, Water, Air,

12:53

Void. Something

12:57

of a riddle, the defense

12:59

professor had called it, and

13:01

therefore Harry had remembered

13:03

it.

13:04

Something of a riddle.

13:10

Indeed, said

13:12

the defense professor. It

13:15

did give me something of a shock

13:17

when you remembered it that quickly.

13:20

But I suppose it

13:22

makes no difference.

13:24

All five are beyond

13:26

my reach, or

13:28

yours. That

13:31

might not be true, especially

13:33

if there was some way to trace the magical

13:35

connection somehow and determine

13:38

the location, though presumably

13:40

Voldemort would have done his best to obscure

13:43

it.

13:44

But what magic

13:46

had done, magic might

13:48

be able to defeat. Pioneer 11

13:51

might be far away by wizard standards,

13:53

but NASA knew exactly where it was, and

13:56

it was probably a lot more reachable

13:58

if you could use magic to tell the truth. Tsiolkovsky

14:01

rocket equation to bugger off. A

14:04

sudden note of worry plucked at

14:06

Harry's mind. There was

14:09

no rule saying the defence professor

14:11

needed to have told the truth about

14:13

which interstellar probe he had

14:15

horcruxed and, if Harry

14:18

recalled correctly, communication

14:20

and tracking of the Pioneer 10 probe

14:23

had been lost shortly after the Jupiter

14:25

flyby.

14:27

Why wouldn't Professor Quirrell have

14:29

just horcruxed them both? The

14:32

obvious next thought came to Harry.

14:35

It was something that ought not

14:38

to be suggested if the

14:40

enemy had not thought of it, but

14:43

it seemed extremely probable

14:45

that the enemy had thought of it.

14:49

Tell me, teacher,

14:51

Harry Hist, would destroying

14:55

those five anchors

14:58

slay you? Why

15:01

do you ask? Hist,

15:04

the defence professor, with a lilt

15:06

to the Hist that Parseltongue translated

15:08

as snakeish amusement.

15:12

Do you suspect

15:14

that answer is

15:17

no?

15:18

Harry couldn't think of how to

15:21

answer, though he strongly suspected

15:23

that it didn't matter in any case.

15:27

Your suspicion

15:29

is right, boy. Destroying

15:33

those five would not

15:35

render me mortal.

15:39

Harry's throat felt a bit dry

15:41

again. If the spell had

15:43

no disastrous cost associated

15:45

with it, how

15:47

many anchors did you

15:50

make? Would

15:52

not ordinarily say,

15:55

but is clear you have already

15:58

guessed.

16:00

The defense professor's smile widened.

16:04

Answer is that I

16:08

do not know. Stopped

16:11

counting somewhere around 107.

16:17

Simply made a habit

16:19

of it. Each time I

16:22

murdered someone in private.

16:26

Over 100 murders in private.

16:31

Before Lord Voldemort had stopped

16:33

counting. And even

16:36

worse news. Your

16:39

immortality spell still requires

16:41

a human death? Why?

16:45

Great creation maintains

16:48

life and magic within

16:51

device. Created by

16:53

sacrificing life and

16:56

magic of others.

16:58

Again that hissing snake

17:00

laughter. Liked false

17:03

description of previous Horcrux

17:07

spell so much. So

17:10

disappointed when realized

17:12

truth of it. Thoughts of

17:15

improved version came

17:17

out in that shape.

17:20

Harry wasn't sure why the defense

17:22

professor was giving him all this

17:25

vital information. But

17:27

there had to be a reason.

17:31

And that was making him nervous.

17:34

So you really are

17:36

a disembodied spirit possessing

17:39

Quirinus Quirrell.

17:41

Yes. I shall

17:44

return swiftly if

17:46

this body is killed.

17:49

Will be greatly annoyed

17:52

and vengeful.

17:55

I am telling you this

17:57

boy. So that you do not trust

17:59

me.

17:59

anything stupid."

18:02

"'I understand,' Harry

18:05

said. He did his

18:07

best to organize his thoughts.

18:11

Remember what he had meant to ask next

18:13

while the defence professor turned

18:15

his eyes back to the potion.

18:18

The man's left hand was dribbling

18:20

crushed seashell into the cauldron while

18:23

his right hand dropped in another bellflower.

18:26

So, what did

18:28

happen on October 31st? You

18:33

tried to turn the baby

18:35

Harry Potter into a Horcrux, either

18:38

the new kind or the old kind.

18:41

You did it deliberately because you told

18:44

Lily Potter."

18:45

Harry took a breath. Now

18:48

that he knew why the chills

18:50

were there, he could endure them.

18:53

"'Very

18:53

well. I accept

18:55

the bargain. Yourself to

18:57

die and the child to live.

19:00

Now drop your one so that I

19:02

can murder you.'"

19:04

In retrospect, it was clear

19:06

that Harry had remembered that event,

19:09

mainly from Lord Voldemort's perspective,

19:12

and only at the very end he

19:14

had seen it through the baby Harry

19:16

Potter's eyes.

19:18

"'What did you do? Why?

19:22

Did you do it?' "'Trelawney's

19:25

prophecy,' Professor

19:28

Quirrell said. His hand

19:30

tapped a bellflower with a strip of copper

19:32

before dropping it in.

19:34

I spent long days

19:37

pondering it after Snape

19:39

brought the prophecy to me.

19:42

Prophecies are never trivial

19:44

things. And how

19:47

shall I put this in a way that does

19:49

not make you think stupid

19:52

things? Well,

19:55

I shall say it, and

19:57

if you are stupid, I shall...'

20:00

shall be annoyed. I

20:04

was fascinated by the prophecy's

20:06

assertion that someone would

20:08

be my equal, because

20:11

it might mean that person

20:13

could hold up the other end of

20:15

an intelligent conversation.

20:19

After fifty years

20:21

of being surrounded by gibbering

20:24

stupidity, I no

20:26

longer cared whether my reaction

20:29

might be considered a literary

20:31

cliché. I

20:33

was not about to pass up on that

20:35

opportunity without thinking about

20:37

it first.

20:39

And then, you see, I had

20:41

a clever idea.

20:47

Professor Quirrell sighed. Ah,

20:52

it occurred to me how I

20:55

might fulfill the prophecy my own way

20:57

to my own benefit.

20:59

I

21:03

would mark the baby as my equal

21:05

by casting the old horcrux

21:07

spell in such fashion as to imprint

21:10

my own spirit onto

21:12

the baby's blank slate.

21:15

It would be a purer

21:18

copy of myself, since

21:20

there would be no old self

21:22

to mix with the new.

21:25

In some years, when

21:27

I had become bored with ruling

21:30

Britain and moved on to other

21:32

things, I would arrange

21:34

with the other Tom Riddle that

21:37

he should appear to vanquish

21:39

me, and he would

21:41

rule over the Britain he had

21:44

saved. We

21:46

would play the game against each other

21:49

forever, keeping our

21:51

lives interesting amid a world

21:53

of fools.

21:56

I knew a dramatist

21:58

would predict that the two of us would.

21:59

us would end by destroying each

22:02

other, but I pondered

22:04

long upon it and decided that

22:06

both of us would simply decline

22:09

to play out the drama.

22:12

That was my decision,

22:15

and I was confident that it

22:17

would remain so.

22:20

Both Tom Riddles,

22:22

I thought, would be too

22:25

intelligent to truly go down

22:27

that road.

22:29

The prophecy seemed to hint

22:31

that if I destroyed all

22:33

but a remnant of Harry Potter, then

22:36

our spirits would not be

22:39

so different, and

22:41

we could exist in the same world.

22:45

Something went wrong, Harry

22:47

said. Something

22:49

that blew off the top of the Potter's

22:51

home in Godric's Hollow gave

22:54

me the scar on my forehead and

22:57

left your burnt body behind.

23:00

Professor Quirrell nodded.

23:03

His hands had slowed in their

23:05

potions' work.

23:07

The resonance in our

23:09

magic, Professor Quirrell

23:12

said quietly, when

23:15

I had shaped the baby's spirit

23:17

to be like my own.

23:20

Harry remembered the moment in Azkaban

23:23

when Professor Quirrell's killing curse

23:25

had collided with his patronus.

23:28

The burning, tearing agony

23:30

in his forehead, like his head

23:33

had been about to split in half.

23:36

I cannot count

23:38

how many times I have

23:40

thought of that night, rehearsing

23:44

my mystique, thinking

23:46

of wiser things I should

23:48

have done,

23:50

said Professor Quirrell. I

23:53

later decided that I should

23:55

have thrown my wand from my

23:57

hand and changed into my anime

23:59

form,

24:01

but that night,

24:03

that night I instinctively

24:07

tried to control the chaotic fluctuations

24:10

in my magic even as I

24:12

felt myself burning up

24:14

from inside.

24:17

That was the wrong

24:19

decision and I failed. So

24:24

my body was destroyed

24:27

even as I overwrote the infant

24:29

Harry Potter's mind.

24:32

Either of us,

24:34

destroying all but a remnant

24:37

of the other. And

24:40

then, Professor Quirrell's

24:42

expression was controlled.

24:45

And then,

24:48

when I regained consciousness

24:50

inside my horcruxes, it

24:53

turned out that my great creation

24:56

did not work as I

24:59

had hoped.

25:01

I should have been able to float

25:04

free of my horcruxes and possess

25:06

any victim that consented to

25:09

me or that was too

25:11

weak to refuse me.

25:14

That was the

25:16

part of my great creation

25:19

that failed my intent.

25:22

As with the original Horcrux

25:24

spell, I would only

25:27

be able to enter a victim

25:29

who contacted the physical

25:31

Horcrux and

25:34

I had hidden my unnumbered

25:37

horcruxes in places where nobody

25:40

would ever find them.

25:43

Your instinct is correct,

25:46

boy. This would not

25:49

be a good time to laugh.

25:53

Harry stayed very quiet.

25:56

The potions making had come to a temporary

25:59

pause.

26:00

A space where no ingredients were

26:02

added while the cauldron simmered for

26:04

a time. I

26:06

spent most of my

26:09

time looking at the stars.

26:13

Professor Quirrell said, his voice quieter

26:15

now.

26:16

The defense professor had turned from

26:19

the potion, staring at the white

26:21

illuminated walls of the room.

26:24

My remaining hope

26:26

was the Horcruxes I

26:28

had hidden in the hopeless idiocy

26:31

of my youth, imbuing

26:33

them into ancient locket

26:36

instead of anonymous pebbles, guarding

26:39

them beneath wells of poison in

26:41

the center of a lake of Inferi,

26:44

instead of portking them into the sea.

26:48

If someone found one

26:50

of those and penetrated

26:53

their ridiculous protections,

26:56

but that seemed like a distant

26:59

hope, I was

27:01

not sure I would ever be

27:04

embodied again.

27:06

Yet, at least

27:09

I was immortal.

27:12

The worst of all fates had

27:14

been averted. My great

27:16

creation had done that much.

27:20

I had little left to

27:22

hope for, and little left

27:25

to fear.

27:27

I decided that I would not

27:29

go insane, since

27:31

there seemed to be no advantage

27:34

in it.

27:35

Instead, I gazed

27:39

out at the stars and

27:41

thoughts

27:43

as the sun slowly

27:45

diminished behind me. I

27:49

reflected on the errors of

27:52

my past life. They

27:54

were many in that hindsight.

27:58

In my imagination. I constructed

28:02

powerful new ritual as I might

28:04

attempt if I was free

28:07

to use my magic once more

28:10

and yet confident of my immortality.

28:15

I contemplated ancient riddles

28:17

at greater length than before for

28:20

all that I had once thought myself

28:22

patient.

28:24

I knew that if I

28:26

won free I would

28:29

be more powerful by far

28:31

than in my previous life

28:34

but I mostly

28:36

did not expect that

28:39

to happen. Professor

28:41

Quirrell turned back to the potion. Nine

28:45

years and four

28:48

months after that night

28:50

a wandering adventurer named

28:53

Quirrell won

28:56

past the protections guarding

28:58

one of my earliest Horcruxes.

29:01

The rest you know. And

29:05

now boy you may

29:08

say what we both know

29:10

you are thinking.

29:12

Um, Harry said, it doesn't

29:17

seem like a very smart thing

29:19

to say. Indeed,

29:22

Mr. Potter. It is

29:24

not a clever thing to say to me,

29:27

not even a little. Not

29:30

in the slightest. But

29:34

I know you're thinking it

29:37

and you will go on thinking

29:40

it and I will go

29:42

on knowing that

29:44

until you say it.

29:47

So speak. So,

29:50

um, I realize

29:53

that this is something that's more obvious

29:55

in hindsight than in foresight and

29:58

I'm certainly not suggesting that you do.

29:59

You tried to correct the error now,

30:02

but if you are a Dark Lord,

30:05

and you happen to hear about a child who

30:07

has been prophesied to defeat you,

30:10

there is a certain spell which is

30:12

unblockable, unstoppable,

30:16

and works every single time on anything

30:18

with a brain. Yes,

30:22

thank you, Mr. Potter. That

30:25

thought occurred to me several

30:28

times over the next

30:30

nine years.

30:34

Professor Quirrell picked up another bellflower

30:37

and began crumbling it in his bare

30:39

fist.

30:40

I made that principle

30:43

the centerpiece of my battle

30:45

magic curriculum after

30:48

I learned its centrality

30:50

the hard way.

30:53

It was not

30:54

the first rule on the younger

30:57

Tom Riddle's list. It

30:59

is only by harsh experience

31:02

that we learn which principles

31:04

take priority

31:06

over which other principles.

31:10

As mere words, they

31:13

all sound equally persuasive.

31:16

In retrospect, it would

31:18

have been better if I had sent

31:21

Bellatrix to the Potter's home in my

31:23

place.

31:24

But I had

31:27

a rule telling me

31:29

that for such matters, I must

31:32

go myself and not

31:34

try sending a trusted lieutenant.

31:38

Yes, I

31:40

considered the Killing Curse.

31:43

And I wondered if casting

31:45

the Killing Curse at an infant would

31:48

somehow cause the curse to bounce

31:50

off and hit me, thus fulfilling

31:53

the prophecy.

31:55

How was I to know? Use

32:00

an axe. It's hard to

32:02

get a prophecy fulfilling spell

32:04

backfire out of an axe," Harry

32:07

said, and then shut up. I

32:11

decided the safest path

32:13

was to try to fulfill the

32:15

prophecy on my own terms,

32:19

Professor Quirrell said.

32:21

Needless to say, the next

32:24

time I hear a prophecy I do

32:26

not like, I will tear

32:29

it apart at every possible

32:31

point of intervention,

32:33

rather than trying to play

32:35

along. Professor

32:37

Quirrell was crushing a rose as though

32:40

to squeeze the juice out of it, still

32:42

using his bare fist.

32:45

And now everyone thinks

32:47

the boy who lived is somehow

32:49

immune to the killing curse, even

32:52

though killing curses do not ruin

32:54

houses or leave burnt

32:57

bodies behind them, because

32:58

it has not occurred

33:01

to them that Lord Voldemort would

33:03

ever use any other

33:06

spell.

33:08

Harry again stayed quiet.

33:11

It had occurred to Harry that there was

33:13

another obvious way that Lord

33:15

Voldemort could have avoided his mistake,

33:19

something that might perhaps be easier to see given

33:22

a muggle upbringing instead

33:24

of the wizarding way of looking at things.

33:27

Harry had not yet decided whether to

33:30

tell Professor Quirrell about his thought.

33:32

There were both pros and cons

33:35

to pointing out that particular error.

33:39

After a time, Professor Quirrell

33:41

picked up the next potions ingredient, a

33:44

strand of what looked like unicorn hair.

33:48

I tell you this as a caution,

33:51

said Professor Quirrell.

33:54

Do not expect me to be delayed

33:57

another nine years if,

33:59

You somehow destroy

34:02

this body of mine. I

34:05

set Horcruxes in better places

34:08

at once, and now

34:10

even that is unnecessary.

34:14

Thanks to you, I learned

34:17

where to find the Resurrection Stone.

34:20

The Resurrection Stone does not

34:22

bring back the dead, of course.

34:25

But it holds a more

34:27

ancient magic than my own for

34:29

projecting the seeming of a

34:31

spirit.

34:33

And since I am one

34:35

who has defeated death, Cadmus's

34:38

Hallo acknowledged me its

34:40

master, and answered

34:42

all my will.

34:45

I have now incorporated

34:47

it into my great creation.

34:51

Professor Quirrell smiled slightly.

34:54

I had many years

34:57

earlier considered making that device

34:59

our Horcrux, but decided

35:02

against it at the time.

35:04

Since I realized that the Ring

35:06

had magic of unknown nature. Ah,

35:11

such ironies does

35:13

life play upon us. But

35:16

I digress. You, boy, you

35:19

brought that about.

35:20

You

35:23

freed my spirit to fly

35:25

where it pleases and seduce

35:27

the most opportune victim

35:30

by being too casual

35:33

with your secrets.

35:36

It is a catastrophe

35:38

for any who oppose me, and

35:41

you wrought it with one

35:43

finger drawing wetness

35:46

on a tea saucer.

35:48

This world will be a safer place

35:51

for all if you learn the

35:53

retitude that wizardborns

35:55

absorb in childhood.

35:58

And all. All this that

36:01

I have just said is the truth."

36:06

Harry closed his eyes, and

36:09

his own hand massaged his forehead.

36:13

If he had seen it from the outside, it would

36:15

have looked the mirror of Professor Quirrell

36:17

in deep thought.

36:20

The problem of defeating Professor Quirrell

36:22

was looking increasingly difficult, even

36:25

by the standards of the sort of impossible

36:28

problems that Harry had solved already.

36:31

If communicating that difficulty

36:34

was what Professor Quirrell was trying

36:36

to do, he was succeeding.

36:40

Harry was starting to seriously

36:42

consider the possibility that it might be

36:44

better to offer to rule Britain as Voldemort's

36:47

non-homicidal delegate, if

36:50

Professor Quirrell himself would just agree

36:52

to stop killing people all the time.

36:56

Even mostly. But

37:00

that wasn't likely to happen. Harry

37:04

stared at his hands from where he

37:06

had sat down upon the floor, feeling

37:09

sadness shading over

37:11

into despair.

37:13

The Lord Voldemort, who'd given

37:16

Harry his dark side, had

37:18

spent that long thinking

37:20

things over and reflecting on his

37:23

own thought processes, and

37:25

had emerged as the calm, clear-headed,

37:28

and still homicidal Professor

37:31

Quirrell.

37:33

Professor Quirrell added a pinch of

37:35

golden hair to the potion of effulgence,

37:38

and that reminded Harry that time was

37:41

continuing to move.

37:43

The locks of bright hair were rarer

37:45

than the bell flowers. I

37:48

ask my second question, Harry

37:51

said. Tell me about

37:53

the Philosopher's Stone. Does

37:55

it do anything besides making

37:57

Transfigurations permanent? is

38:00

it possible to make more stones, and

38:03

why is that problem hard?"

38:06

Professor Quirrell was bent over the

38:08

potion, and Harry could not see

38:10

his face.

38:12

"'Very well. I

38:14

shall tell you the stone story,

38:17

as I have inferred it.

38:20

The one and only

38:22

power of the stone is the

38:24

imposition of permanency, to

38:27

render a temporary form into

38:29

a true and lasting substance,

38:31

a power absolutely

38:34

beyond ordinary spells.

38:37

Conjurations such as the

38:39

castle Hogwarts are maintained

38:41

by a constant well of magic.

38:44

Even Metamorph Magi cannot

38:46

manifest golden fingernails and

38:49

then trim them for sale.

38:52

It is theorized that the Metamorph

38:54

Magus curse merely rearranges

38:57

the substance of their flesh,

39:00

like a muggle smith manipulates

39:02

iron with hammer and tongs, and

39:05

their body contains no

39:07

gold.

39:09

If Merlin himself could

39:11

create gold from thin air, history

39:15

does not record it.

39:18

So, the stone we

39:20

can guess even before research

39:23

must be a very old thing

39:25

indeed.

39:27

In contrast, Nicholas

39:29

Flamel has been known to the world for

39:31

a mere six centuries.

39:34

Tell me the obvious next

39:37

question to ask, boy,

39:40

if you wanted to trace the stone's

39:43

history?'

39:45

Harry said. He rubbed his

39:48

forehead, concentrating.

39:50

If the stone was old, but

39:52

the world had only known Nicholas Flamel

39:55

for six centuries,

39:58

was there some other?" A

40:00

very long-lived wizard who disappeared

40:03

at around the same time Nicholas Flamel

40:05

showed up? Close,

40:09

said Professor Quirrell.

40:11

You recall that six centuries

40:14

ago there was a dark lady

40:16

called Undying,

40:18

the sorceress Baba

40:20

Yaga. She

40:23

was said to be able to heal any

40:26

wound in herself, to change

40:28

shape into any form she pleased.

40:32

She held the stone

40:34

of permanency,

40:36

obviously. And

40:39

then, one year, Baba

40:41

Yaga agreed to teach battle

40:43

magic at Hogwarts under

40:46

an old and respected

40:48

truce.

40:50

The Quirrell looked angry,

40:53

a look such as Harry

40:55

had rarely seen on him. But

41:00

she was not trusted, and

41:03

so there was invoked a

41:06

curse.

41:07

Some curses are easier

41:10

to cast when they bind yourself

41:12

and others alike. Slytherin's

41:15

parcel-mouth curse is an example

41:18

of such. In

41:21

this case, Baba Yaga's

41:23

signature, and signatures

41:26

from every student and teacher

41:28

of Hogwarts, were placed within

41:30

an ancient device known as

41:33

the Goblet of Fire.

41:36

Baba Yaga swore not

41:38

to shed a drop of student's blood,

41:41

nor take from the students anything

41:44

that was theirs.

41:46

In return, the students

41:49

swore not to shed a drop

41:51

of Baba Yaga's blood,

41:53

nor take from her anything

41:56

that was hers.

41:58

So they all sighed.

41:59

with the Goblet of Fire

42:02

to witness it and punish

42:04

the transgressor. Professor

42:07

Quirol picked up a new ingredient,

42:10

a loose thread of gold wrapped around

42:12

a pinch of foul-looking substance.

42:15

Entering her sixth year at

42:17

Hogwarts then was a witch

42:19

named Parenel.

42:22

And although Parenel

42:24

was new come into the beauty of

42:26

her youth, her heart

42:28

was already blacker than

42:30

Baba Yaga's own.

42:33

You're calling her

42:35

evil? Harry said, then

42:38

realized he had just committed the fallacy

42:40

of ad hominin to Quokri. Hush,

42:44

boy! I am telling

42:46

the story! Where

42:48

was I? Ah,

42:51

yes. Parenel! The

42:53

beautiful and covetous!

42:57

Parenel seduced the Dark

42:59

Lady over the months with

43:01

gentle touches and flirtations

43:05

and the shy pretence of innocence.

43:09

The Dark Lady's heart was captured

43:12

and they became lovers. And

43:15

then, one night,

43:17

Parenel whispered how she

43:20

had heard of Baba Yaga's shape-changing

43:22

power and how this thought

43:25

had inflamed her desires.

43:28

Thus, Parenel swayed

43:30

Baba Yaga to come to her with

43:33

the stone in hand, to

43:35

assume many guises in

43:37

a single night,

43:38

for their pleasures.

43:42

Among other forms, Parenel

43:45

bid Baba Yaga take the form

43:47

of a man, and they lay

43:49

together in the fashion of a man and

43:52

a woman. But

43:55

Parenel had been a virgin

43:58

until that night.

43:59

and since they

44:02

were all rather old-fashioned

44:04

in those days, the Goblet

44:06

of Fire accounted that as the

44:09

shedding of Peranelles' blood, and

44:12

the taking of what was hers.

44:15

Thus, Baba Yaga was

44:17

tricked into being foresworn, and

44:20

the Goblet rendered her defenseless. Then

44:24

Peranell killed the unsuspecting

44:27

Baba Yaga as she slept in

44:29

Peranelles' bed,

44:31

killed

44:32

the dark lady who had loved

44:34

her, and come peacefully

44:37

to Hogwarts under truce.

44:41

And that was the end

44:43

of the pact by which dark

44:45

wizards and witches taught battle

44:48

magic at Hogwarts. For

44:50

the next few centuries, the

44:52

Goblet of Fire was used to oversee

44:55

pointless inter-school tournaments,

44:58

and then it resided in a disused

45:00

chamber at Bobotons, until

45:03

I finally stole it.

45:06

Professor Quirrell dropped a pale beige-pink

45:09

twig into the cauldron, and its color

45:11

changed to white, just as it

45:13

touched the surface.

45:16

But, I digress,

45:19

Peranell took the stone

45:21

from Baba Yaga and

45:23

assumed the guise and name of

45:25

Nicholas Flamel.

45:28

She also kept her

45:30

identity as Peranell, calling

45:33

herself Flamel's wife.

45:36

The two have appeared together

45:39

in public, and that might

45:41

be done by any number of obvious

45:44

methods.

45:46

And

45:46

the stone's manufacture?

45:48

said Harry, his brain working

45:51

to process all this. I

45:53

saw an alchemical recipe for it, in

45:56

a book.

45:57

Another lie.

45:59

Peranell was making it appear as

46:02

though Nicholas Flamel had

46:05

earned the right to live forever by

46:07

completing a great magic

46:10

that any could attempt.

46:12

And she was giving others a false

46:15

path to pursue instead

46:17

of seeking the one true

46:19

stone as Peranell had

46:22

sought babayagas.

46:24

Professor Quirol looked rather sour.

46:28

It should come as no surprise

46:31

that I spent years trying

46:33

to master that false recipe.

46:36

Next, you will ask why

46:39

I did not kidnap, torture, and

46:42

kill Peranell after I

46:44

learned the truth.

46:46

This had not in fact been a question

46:49

that had come into Harry's mind.

46:51

Professor Quirol continued to speak.

46:55

The answer is that Peranell

46:58

had foreseen and forestalled

47:00

the ambitions of dark wizards

47:03

like myself.

47:05

Nicholas Flamel publicly

47:08

took unbreakable vows not

47:11

to be coerced by any means

47:13

into relinquishing his stone. To

47:16

guard immortality from

47:18

the covetous, he claimed, as

47:21

if that were a public service.

47:25

I was afraid the stone

47:27

would be lost forever if Peranell

47:30

died without saying where it was hidden,

47:33

and her vow prevented

47:35

attempts at torture.

47:38

Further, I had hopes

47:40

of gaining Peranell's knowledge if

47:43

I could find the right strategy to

47:45

extract it from her. Though

47:48

Peranell began with little lore

47:50

of her own, she has held hostage

47:53

the lives of wizards greater than herself,

47:56

holding out drabs and drabs

47:59

of healing in excess of the

47:59

exchange for secrets and

48:02

small reversals of age in exchange

48:05

for power. Peronelle

48:06

does not condescend

48:09

to bestow any real

48:11

youth upon others,

48:14

but if you hear of a wizard

48:16

who lived gray bearded

48:18

to the age of 250, you

48:22

may be sure that her hand

48:24

was in play.

48:26

By my own generation, the

48:29

centuries had given Peronelle enough

48:31

of an advantage that she could raise

48:34

up Albus Dumbledore as

48:36

a counterweight to the Dark Lord

48:38

Grindelwald.

48:40

When I appeared as Lord

48:43

Voldemort, Peronelle raised

48:45

up Dumbledore yet farther, parceling

48:49

out another drop of our hoarded lore

48:51

whenever Lord Voldemort seemed to

48:53

gain an advantage.

48:56

I felt like I ought

48:59

to be able to figure out something

49:01

clever to do with that situation,

49:04

but I never did.

49:06

I did not attack her directly,

49:10

for I was not sure of

49:12

my great creation. It

49:14

was not impossible that I

49:16

would someday need to go begging

49:19

to her for a dollop of reversed

49:22

age.

49:23

Professor Quirrell dropped two bellflowers

49:26

at once into the potion, and they seemed

49:28

to merge as they touched the bubbling liquid.

49:32

But now I

49:34

am sure of my creation, and

49:37

so I have decided

49:40

that the time has come to

49:43

take the stone by force.

49:47

Very hesitated. I

49:50

would like to hear you answer in Parseltongue.

49:54

Was all of that true? None

49:58

of it is known. to

50:00

me to be false," said

50:03

Professor Quirrell. Telling

50:06

a tale implies

50:08

filling in certain gaps.

50:11

I was not present to observe

50:13

when Peronell seduced Baba Yaga.

50:17

The basics should

50:19

be mostly correct, I

50:22

think. Parry

50:24

had noticed a trace of confusion.

50:28

Then I don't understand why

50:30

the stone is here in Hogwarts. Wouldn't

50:34

the best defence just be hiding

50:36

it under an anonymous

50:37

rock in Greenland? Perhaps

50:41

she respected my abilities

50:43

as a particularly good finder,

50:46

said the defence professor. He

50:49

appeared focused on his cauldron as he

50:51

dipped a bellflower into a jar of

50:53

liquid labeled with the potion

50:55

symbol for rainwater.

50:58

We are very much alike,

51:00

the defence professor and I, in

51:03

some ways if not others. If

51:06

I imagine what I'd do, given

51:09

his problem. Did

51:12

you bluff everyone into believing

51:15

you had some way of finding the stone?

51:18

Parry said aloud, so that

51:20

Peronell would put it inside Hogwarts

51:23

where Dumbledore could guard it?

51:26

The defence professor sighed,

51:29

not looking up from the cauldron. I

51:33

suppose that stratagem would

51:35

be futile to conceal from

51:37

you.

51:39

Yes, after

51:41

I possessed Quirrell and returned,

51:45

I implemented a strategy I had

51:47

conceived while gazing

51:49

at the stars.

51:52

First, I made sure

51:54

to be accepted as defence professor

51:57

at Hogwarts, for it would not

51:59

do so.

51:59

to have suspicions raised while I

52:02

was still seeking employment.

52:05

When that was done, I arranged

52:07

for one of Peranelles' curse-breaking

52:10

expeditions to discover a falsified,

52:13

but credible inscription, describing

52:17

how the crown of the serpent

52:19

could be used to seek out the stone,

52:22

wherever it was hidden.

52:24

Shortly after, before

52:27

Peranelles could buy up the crown,

52:29

it was stolen.

52:31

Furthermore, I left

52:34

clear indications that the thief

52:36

had possessed the power to speak

52:39

to snakes.

52:41

So Peranelles

52:43

thought that I could infallibly

52:46

find the stone's location, and

52:49

that it needed a guardian powerful

52:52

enough to defeat

52:53

me.

52:55

That is how the stone

52:58

came to be held in Hogwarts, in

53:01

Dumbledore's domain,

53:03

just as I intended,

53:07

naturally, since I had

53:09

already gained access to Hogwarts for

53:11

the year.

53:13

I think that is all of this

53:15

that concerns you, if

53:17

I speak not of future

53:20

plans. Harry

53:23

frowned. Professor Quirrell

53:25

should not have told him that,

53:28

unless the strategy had somehow

53:30

become irrelevant to any future

53:33

deception of Peranelles, or

53:36

unless by answering so quickly the

53:39

defence professor had hoped to have people

53:41

conclude that it was a double

53:43

bluff, and that the crown of the serpent

53:46

really could find the stone.

53:49

Harry decided not to question

53:52

this answer in Parseltongue.