1:59

tended them. I

2:02

killed Miss Granger to improve

2:05

your position relative to that of

2:07

Lucius Malfoy, since

2:09

my plans did not call

2:11

for him to have so much leverage

2:14

over you.

2:15

I admit I am

2:17

impressed by how far you

2:20

managed to parlay that opening."

2:24

Harry unclenched his teeth, which

2:27

took an effort. "...that's

2:30

after your failed attempt to frame

2:33

Hermione for the attempted murder

2:35

of Draco and send

2:38

her to Azkaban because of... why?

2:42

Because you didn't like the influence

2:45

she was having on me?" "'Don't

2:48

be ridiculous,' Professor

2:51

G

2:52

If I had only wished to remove

2:55

Miss Granger, I would not

2:57

have brought the Malfoys into

2:59

it. I observed

3:02

your game with Draco Malfoy

3:04

and found it amusing, but

3:07

I knew it could not continue for

3:09

very long before Lucius learned

3:12

and intervened. And

3:14

then your folly would

3:17

have brought you great trouble, for

3:19

Lucius would not take it lightly.

3:23

Had you just been able to... lose

3:27

during the Wisinger-Mott trial, lose as

3:31

I had taught you, then

3:34

in only two more weeks, ironclad

3:37

evidence would have shown that Lucius Malfoy,

3:40

after discovering his son's seeming

3:43

perfidy, had imperienced

3:45

Professor Sprout into using the blood

3:47

cooling charm on Mr. Malfoy

3:50

and casting the false memory

3:52

charm on Miss Granger,

3:55

Lucius would have been swept

3:58

off the political game board." Send

4:00

to exile, if not Azkaban.

4:05

Draco Malfoy would have inherited

4:07

the wealth of House Malfoy, and

4:09

your influence over him would have been

4:12

unchallenged.

4:14

Instead, I had to abort

4:17

that plot in mid-course.

4:20

You managed to completely

4:22

disrupt the real plan in the course

4:24

of sacrificing double your

4:27

entire fortune by giving

4:29

Lucius Malfoy the perfect opportunity

4:32

to prove his true concern

4:34

for his son. You

4:36

have an incredible

4:39

anti-talent for meddling, I

4:41

must say.

4:44

And you also thought,

4:46

Harry said, even

4:49

with his dark side's patterns, he

4:51

had to work to keep his voice level

4:53

and cool.

4:55

That two weeks in Azkaban

4:58

would improve Miss Granger's

5:01

disposition and get her

5:03

to stop being a bad

5:05

influence on me.

5:07

So you somehow

5:09

arranged for there to be newspaper stories

5:12

calling for her to be sent to Azkaban,

5:15

rather than some other penalty.

5:19

Professor Quirrell's lips drew

5:21

up in a thin smile. Good

5:25

catch, boy. Yes,

5:28

I thought she might serve as

5:30

your Bellatrix.

5:33

That particular outcome

5:36

would also have provided you with

5:38

a constant reminder of how much

5:41

respect was due the law

5:45

and helped you develop appropriate

5:47

attitudes toward the Ministry.

5:51

Your plot was stupidly complicated

5:54

and had no chance of working. Harry

5:58

knew he ought to be more tactful. that

6:00

he was engaging in more of what Professor

6:03

Quirrell called folly. But

6:07

in that instant he could

6:09

not bring himself to care. It

6:13

was less complicated

6:15

than Dumbledore's plot to have the

6:17

Three Armies tie in a Christmas

6:19

battle, and not much

6:22

more complicated than my own plot

6:24

to make you think Dumbledore

6:27

had blackmailed Mr. Zabini.

6:30

The insight you are

6:32

missing, Mr. Potter,

6:35

is that these are not plots

6:37

that

6:38

needed to succeed.

6:42

Professor Quirrell continued to casually

6:44

stir the potion, smiling.

6:48

There are plots that must

6:51

succeed, where you keep the

6:53

core idea as simple as

6:55

possible and take every

6:57

precaution.

6:59

There are also plots where

7:01

it is acceptable to fail, and

7:04

with those you can indulge

7:06

yourself or test the limits

7:09

of your ability to handle complications.

7:13

It is not as if something going wrong

7:15

with any of those plots would have killed

7:18

me.

7:20

Professor Quirrell was no longer

7:22

smiling. Our

7:25

journey to Azkaban was

7:27

of the first type, and

7:30

I was less amused

7:32

by your antics there.

7:36

What exactly did

7:39

you do to Hermione?

7:42

Some part of Harry wondered

7:44

at the evenness of his voice.

7:47

Obliviations and

7:49

false memory charms. I

7:52

could not trust anything else

7:54

to go undetected by the Hogwarts

7:57

wards and the scrutiny

7:59

I knew was necessary.

7:59

her mind would undergo. A flicker

8:03

of frustration crossed Professor Quirrell's

8:06

face.

8:07

Part of what you

8:09

rightly call complication

8:12

is because the first version of

8:15

my plot did not go as planned,

8:18

and I had to modify

8:21

it. I came

8:23

to Miss Granger in the hallways, wearing

8:25

an appearance of Professor Sprout

8:28

to offer her a conspiracy.

8:31

My first attempt at suasion

8:34

failed. I obliviated

8:36

her and tried again with a new

8:39

presentation.

8:41

The second bait failed. The

8:44

third bait failed. The

8:46

tenth bait failed.

8:51

I was so frustrated

8:53

that I began going through my entire

8:55

library of guises, including

8:58

those more appropriate to Mr.

9:00

Zbini.

9:02

Still, nothing worked.

9:05

The child would not violate

9:08

her childish code.

9:12

You do not get to call

9:14

her childish, Professor. Harry's

9:17

voice sounded strange in his own ears.

9:21

Her code worked.

9:23

It prevented you from tricking her. The

9:26

whole point of having deontological

9:28

ethical injunctions is that arguments

9:31

for

9:31

violating them are often much

9:33

less trustworthy than they look. You

9:36

don't get to criticize her rules

9:39

when they worked exactly as intended.

9:42

After they resurrected Hermione, Harry

9:45

would tell her that Lord Voldemort himself

9:48

hadn't been able to tempt her into

9:50

doing wrong, and that

9:53

was why he had killed her. isolates

9:56

Evil to she Professor

10:00

Quirrell.

10:01

There is a saying that even

10:04

a stopped clock is right twice

10:06

a day, and I do

10:08

not think Miss Granger was actually

10:11

being reasonable.

10:13

Still, rule ten,

10:16

one must not rant about the opposition's

10:19

unworthiness after they have foiled

10:21

you.

10:23

Regardless, after two

10:25

full hours of failed attempts,

10:28

I realized that I was being

10:30

overstubborn, and that I did not

10:33

need Miss Granger to carry out

10:35

the exact part I had planned

10:37

for her.

10:39

I gave up on my original

10:41

intent, and instead imbued

10:43

Miss Granger with false memories

10:45

of watching Mr. Malfoy

10:48

plotting against her under circumstances

10:51

that implied she would not tell

10:53

you or the authorities.

10:56

In the end, it was Mr.

10:59

Malfoy who gave me the opening

11:01

I needed entirely

11:03

by luck. Professor

11:06

Quirrell dropped a bellflower and a scrap

11:08

of parchment into the cauldron. Why

11:12

did the wards show the defense professor

11:15

as having killed Hermione? I

11:18

wore the mountain troll as a false tooth

11:20

while Dumbledore was identifying

11:22

me to the Hogwarts wards as the

11:25

defense professor.

11:27

A slight smile.

11:29

Other living weapons cannot

11:31

be transfigured. They will

11:34

not survive the disenchantment

11:36

for the requisite six hours to

11:38

avoid being traced by Time Turner.

11:41

The fact that a mountain troll was used

11:44

as a weapon of assassination was a

11:46

clear sign that the assassin had

11:48

needed a proxy weapon that

11:50

could be transfigured safely.

11:53

Combined with the evidence of

11:56

the wards and Dumbledore's

11:58

own knowledge of how he

11:59

identified me to Hogwarts, you

12:03

could have deduced who was

12:05

responsible, in

12:06

theory.

12:09

However, experience

12:11

has taught me that such puzzles

12:14

are far harder to solve when you do

12:16

not already know the solution,

12:19

and I consider it a small

12:21

risk. Ah, that

12:24

reminds me,

12:26

I have a question of my

12:29

own.

12:30

The Defence Professor was now giving Harry

12:33

an intent look.

12:35

What gave me away

12:38

at the last,

12:39

in the corridor, outside

12:42

these chambers?

12:44

Harry put aside other emotions

12:46

to weigh up the cost and benefit of

12:49

answering honestly,

12:51

came to the conclusion that the Defence Professor

12:53

was giving away far more information

12:56

than he was getting,

12:57

why, and that it was best

13:00

not to give the appearance of reticence. The

13:03

main thing, Harry said, was

13:06

that it was too improbable that everyone

13:09

had arrived in Dumbledore's corridor

13:11

at the same time. I

13:13

tried running with the hypothesis that everyone

13:16

who arrived had to be coordinated,

13:19

including you. But

13:22

I had said that I was following

13:25

Snape, the Defence Professor

13:27

said. Was that

13:29

not plausible? It

13:32

was, but, Harry said,

13:36

the laws governing what constitutes

13:39

a good explanation don't talk

13:41

about plausible excuses you hear

13:44

afterward. They talk about the

13:46

probabilities we assign in

13:48

advance. That's why

13:50

science makes people do advanced

13:52

predictions instead of trusting explanations

13:55

people come up with afterward. And

13:58

I wouldn't have predicted.

13:59

in advance for you to

14:02

follow Snape and show up like that. Even

14:05

if I'd known in advance that you

14:07

could put a trace on Snape's wand, I

14:10

wouldn't have expected you

14:13

to do it and follow him just

14:15

then. Since your explanation

14:18

didn't make me feel like I

14:20

would have predicted the outcome in advance,

14:23

it remained an improbability.

14:26

I started to wonder if Sprout's

14:29

mastermind might have arranged

14:31

for you to show up too, and

14:34

then I realized the note to

14:36

myself hadn't really

14:38

come from future me, and

14:40

that gave it away completely. Ah,

14:46

said the defence professor and sighed.

14:49

Ah, well, I

14:51

think it is all working out

14:54

for the best.

14:55

You did understand only

14:58

too late, and there would have

15:00

been inconveniences as well

15:02

as benefits to you remaining

15:04

unaware.

15:07

What on earth were

15:09

you trying to do? The

15:11

reason I was trying so hard to figure

15:13

it

15:13

out was that the whole thing was just so...weird.

15:19

It should have pointed at Dumbledore,

15:23

not myself, said

15:25

Professor Quirrell and frowned.

15:28

The fact is that Miss Greengrass

15:31

was not supposed to arrive in

15:33

that corridor for several hours,

15:36

though I suppose since I did

15:38

have Mr. Malfoy give her the clue

15:41

I assigned her, it is not too surprising

15:44

they banded together.

15:46

Had Mr. Nott arrived seemingly

15:48

alone, events would have played out

15:51

less farcically.

15:54

But I consider myself

15:56

a specialist in battlefield control

15:58

magics, and I was

15:59

able to ensure that the fight went

16:02

as I wished.

16:04

I suppose it did end up looking

16:06

a bit ridiculous.

16:09

The defense professor dropped a peach slice

16:12

and a bellflower into the cauldron.

16:15

But let us defer our

16:17

discussion of the mirror until we

16:19

reach it. Did you have

16:22

any more questions concerning Miss

16:24

Granger's regrettable and

16:27

hopefully temporary demise?

16:31

Yes, Harry said in an even

16:33

voice. What did

16:36

you do to the Weasley twins? Dumbledore

16:39

thought,

16:40

I mean, the school saw the

16:42

headmaster go to the Weasley twins after

16:45

Hermione was arrested. Dumbledore

16:47

thought you, as Voldemort,

16:50

had wondered why Dumbledore had

16:53

done so and that you'd checked

16:55

on the Weasley twins, found and

16:57

took their map, and...

16:59

...obliviated them afterward? Dumbledore

17:03

was quite correct, Professor

17:06

Quirrell said, shaking his head as though

17:08

in wonderment. He

17:11

was also an utter fool

17:13

to leave the Hogwarts map in

17:15

the possession of those two idiots.

17:19

I had an unpleasant shock

17:21

after I recovered the map. It

17:24

showed my name and

17:26

yours correctly. The

17:29

Weasley idiots had thought

17:31

it a mere malfunction, especially

17:34

after you received your cloak and

17:37

your time turner.

17:39

If Dumbledore had kept the

17:41

map himself, if the

17:44

Weasleys had ever spoken of it to

17:46

Dumbledore,

17:48

but they did not, thankfully,

17:52

showed my name and

17:55

yours correctly. I would

17:59

like to see that.

18:00

Harry said.

18:02

Without taking his eyes from the cauldron,

18:05

Professor Quirrell drew a folded parchment

18:08

from within his robes. He

18:10

stated,

18:11

show our surroundings,

18:15

and tossed the folded parchment toward

18:17

Harry. It cut unerringly

18:20

through the air, an increase of

18:22

doom breathing on Harry's senses as

18:25

it moved toward him, and then

18:27

it fluttered gently to Harry's feet.

18:31

Harry picked up the parchment and

18:33

unfolded it.

18:35

At first, the parchment seemed

18:37

blank. Then, as though an

18:39

unseen pen were moving across it, the

18:41

outline of walls and doors

18:44

appeared, all drawn in

18:46

handwritten lines.

18:48

The writing outlined a series

18:50

of chambers, most of them shown

18:52

as empty.

18:54

The last chamber in the series had

18:56

a confused scribble in its centre,

18:58

as though the map were trying to indicate

19:00

its own bewilderment, and

19:03

the second-to-last chamber showed

19:05

two names within, written

19:07

in positions within

19:09

the chamber, corresponding to where Harry

19:11

was sitting, and Professor Quirrell

19:13

was standing.

19:16

Tom M. Riddle.

19:19

Tom M. Riddle.

19:23

Harry gazed at the parchment,

19:26

an unpleasant chill coming

19:28

over him. It was one

19:30

thing to hear Lord Voldemort

19:32

claim that your name was Tom

19:35

Riddle.

19:36

It was another thing to find that Hogwarts'

19:39

magic agreed. Did

19:42

you tamper with this map

19:45

to achieve this result,

19:48

or did it appear before

19:50

you by surprise? Was

19:54

surprise,

19:57

replied Professor Quirrell with an overtone.

19:59

of hissing laughter.

20:02

No tricks!

20:06

Harry folded the map and threw

20:08

it back in Professor Quirrell's direction. Some

20:12

force caught it in mid-air before

20:14

it reached the floor and drew the map

20:16

back into Professor Quirrell's robes.

20:19

The defence professor spoke. I

20:23

should also like to volunteer

20:25

that Snape was guiding

20:28

Miss Granger and her underlings

20:30

toward bullies, and

20:33

sometimes intervening to protect

20:35

them.

20:37

I knew that. Interesting,

20:41

said Professor Quirrell. Did

20:44

Dumbledore also learn of this,

20:47

answered in Parseltongue?

20:49

Not so far as

20:52

I know. Here's to Harry.

20:56

Fascinating, said

20:58

Professor Quirrell. You

21:01

may be interested to know this as

21:03

well. Potionsmaker

21:07

had to work in secret

21:10

because his plot opposed

21:13

Schoolmaster's plot.

21:16

Harry thought about this while Professor

21:19

Quirrell blew on the potion as though

21:21

to cool it, though the fire still

21:23

burned under the cauldron,

21:25

and then added a pinch of dirt

21:27

and a drop of water and a bellflower.

21:32

Please explain, Harry

21:34

said.

21:36

Has it never occurred to you

21:38

to wonder why Dumbledore

21:40

chose Severus Snape as the

21:43

head of House Slytherin?

21:46

To say that it was a cover for

21:48

his work as Dumbledore's spy

21:50

explains nothing.

21:53

Snape could have been a potionsmaster

21:56

only, and not the head of

21:58

Slytherin at all.

21:59

Snape could have been made

22:02

keeper of grounds and keys

22:04

if he needed to stay within Hogwarts.

22:08

Why, the head

22:11

of House Slytherin.

22:14

Surely it occurred to you that

22:16

this could not have good effects

22:18

upon the Slytherins, according

22:21

to Dumbledore's moral pretenses.

22:25

The thought hadn't occurred to Harry in exactly

22:28

those terms, no. I

22:31

wondered something like it. I

22:34

didn't put the dilemma in that

22:36

precise form. And

22:39

now that you have, is

22:41

the solution obvious? No,

22:45

Harry said. Disappointing.

22:50

You have not learned enough cynicism.

22:53

You have not grasped the flexibility

22:56

of what moralists call morality.

23:01

To fathom a plot, look

23:04

at the consequences and ask

23:06

if they might be intended.

23:10

Dumbledore was deliberately

23:12

sabotaging Slytherin House. Don't

23:15

give me that look, boy. I am

23:19

speaking truth.

23:22

During the last wizarding war,

23:25

Slytherins filled out my ranks

23:27

of underlings and other

23:29

Slytherins in the Wisinger Motte

23:31

supported me.

23:34

Look at it from Dumbledore's

23:36

perspective and remember

23:38

that he has no native

23:41

understanding of Slytherin's ways.

23:44

Think of Dumbledore becoming

23:46

increasingly sad over this Hogwarts

23:49

house that seems the source of so

23:51

much ill doing.

23:54

And then behold,

23:57

Dumbledore puts in as head of

23:59

Slytherin. Slytherin, the person

24:02

of Snape. Snape,

24:06

Severus Snape.

24:09

A man who would teach his house

24:12

neither cunning nor ambition.

24:14

A man who would impose lax

24:17

discipline and make its children

24:19

weak. A man who

24:22

would offend students of other

24:24

houses, who would ruin Slytherin's

24:27

name among them.

24:29

A man whose surname

24:31

was unknown in magical Britain

24:34

and certainly not noble,

24:37

who went about half

24:39

in rags.

24:41

Do you think Dumbledore ignorant

24:44

of the consequence when Dumbledore

24:46

was the one who brought it about and

24:49

had motive to bring it about?

24:52

I expect Dumbledore

24:54

told himself that more lives

24:57

would be saved during the next wizarding

24:59

war if Voldemort's future death

25:01

eaters were weakened.

25:04

Professor Quirrell dropped into the cauldron

25:07

a chip of ice, slowly melting

25:09

as it touched the surface froth.

25:12

Continue the process

25:14

long enough and no

25:17

child would want to go

25:19

to Slytherin.

25:21

The house would be retired

25:24

and if the hat kept calling the

25:26

name it would become a mark

25:28

of ignominy among children who

25:31

would afterward be distributed among

25:33

the other three houses.

25:36

From that day on Hogwarts

25:39

would have three upstanding

25:41

houses of courage and scholarship

25:45

and industry with

25:47

no house of bad children

25:50

added to the mix.

25:52

Just as if the three founders

25:54

of Hogwarts had been wise enough in

25:56

the beginning to refuse

25:59

Salazar Slytherin.

25:59

in their company. That,

26:04

I expect, was Dumbledore's

26:06

intended endgame, a short-term

26:10

sacrifice

26:12

for the greater good. Professor

26:15

Quirrell smiled sardonically.

26:19

And Lucius let it all

26:21

happen without protest, or

26:24

even, I expect, noticing

26:27

that anything was going awry. I fear

26:29

that

26:30

in my absence

26:33

my former servants have been quite

26:35

outmatched in this battle of

26:38

wits.

26:40

Harry was having a bit of trouble taking

26:43

this in, but decided, after

26:46

some thought, that now was not

26:48

the time to try to work it out. Whether

26:51

Lord Voldemort believed it was not decisive,

26:55

Harry would have to evaluate this accusation

26:57

on his own.

26:59

Professor Quirrell's mention of his

27:02

servants had reminded Harry

27:04

of something else that he was... obligated,

27:08

Harry supposed, to ask.

27:11

The bad news was predictable.

27:14

On any other day, it would have been horrible.

27:17

Today, it would just wash out

27:19

in the flood. Bellatrix,

27:23

black, Harry said. What

27:26

was the truth about her? She

27:30

was broken inside before

27:33

I ever met her, Professor

27:35

Quirrell said. He picked

27:37

up what looked like a white-gray

27:40

rubber band and held it over the

27:42

cauldron. As the rubber

27:44

was held within the steam, it turned

27:47

black.

27:48

Using legitimacy on her

27:51

was a mistake, but that

27:53

glimpse showed me how easy it

27:55

would be to make her fall in

27:57

love with me. So I...

27:59

did. Ever

28:02

after she was the most faithful

28:05

of all my servants, the

28:07

only one I could almost

28:10

trust.

28:12

I had no intention of giving

28:14

her what she wanted from me, so

28:17

I commended her to the Lestrange

28:20

brothers for their use,

28:22

and the three of them were happy

28:25

in their

28:26

own special way.

28:29

I doubt it,

28:31

Harry's mouth said, mostly on autopilot.

28:34

If that were true, Bellatrix

28:36

wouldn't have remembered who the Lestrange brothers

28:39

were when we found her in Azkaban.

28:42

Professor Quirrell shrugged. You

28:46

may be right. What

28:49

the hell were we actually

28:52

doing there?

28:54

Finding out where Bellatrix

28:56

had put my wand. I

28:59

had told the Death Eaters of my immortality,

29:02

in the hope, now proven

29:05

futile, that they would stay

29:07

together for at least a few

29:10

days if I appeared to

29:12

die.

29:13

Bellatrix's instructions were

29:16

to recover my wand from wherever

29:18

my body had been slain, and

29:20

take that wand to a certain graveyard

29:23

where my spirits would appear before

29:26

her.

29:27

Harry swallowed. The

29:29

image came to him of Bellatrix Black,

29:32

waiting, waiting, waiting

29:37

at the graveyard in increasing desperation.

29:41

It was no wonder she hadn't been thinking

29:43

strategically when she attacked the Longbottom

29:45

household. What

29:47

did you do with Bellatrix once she

29:50

was out? Send

29:52

her to a peaceful place to

29:55

recover strength, Professor

29:57

Quirrell said, a cold. smile.

30:02

I had a use remaining

30:04

for her, or rather a certain

30:08

portion of her,

30:09

and on my future plans, I

30:12

shall not answer questions.

30:17

Harry breathed deeply, trying

30:19

to maintain control. Were

30:22

there any other secret plots in

30:25

this school year? Oh,

30:28

a fair number, but not

30:31

many more that concern you. Not

30:34

that I can think of offhand.

30:37

The true reason I demanded

30:39

to try to teach the Patronus Charm

30:42

to first years was to bring

30:44

a Dementor before your own person,

30:47

and then I arranged for your

30:49

want to fall where the Dementor could continue

30:51

to drain you through it.

30:54

Was no malice

30:56

in it, only hopes that

30:59

you would recover some

31:01

of your true memories.

31:04

That was also why

31:07

I arranged for certain witches to

31:09

pull you down from the air during

31:12

your rooftop episode, so

31:15

I could appear to save your life,

31:18

just in case any suspicion fell

31:20

on me during the Dementor incident

31:22

I had scheduled for shortly after.

31:26

Also, no malice

31:29

there.

31:31

I arranged some of the attacks

31:33

on Miss Granger's group, so that

31:35

the attacks could be defeated. I do rather

31:38

dislike bullies.

31:43

I think that is all

31:47

secret plots concerning

31:49

you from this school

31:51

year, unless I

31:54

have forgotten something. A

31:57

life lesson learned. said

32:00

his huffle part. Try

32:03

to resist the temptation to

32:05

randomly meddle in other people's

32:07

lives. Like, you know,

32:10

Padma Patil's

32:10

life. If you don't

32:13

want to end up like this, that

32:15

is.