A Real Attraction (Harry and Tom) <3

[shava4]

Standing in front of it he felt very annoyed, frustrated even. To have gotten past so many obstacles (although admittedly the troll and the dog were child's play once you knew the secrets and his master had taken care of Snape's logic puzzle) to be frustrated by the likes of Dumbledore was too much. A mirror and by someone apparently important as well according to the legend written on it, but he didn't see how that was important. Somehow this mirror was part of the guardians, but how?

How could the stupid mirror do anything but show him what he wanted?

Again he looked, seeing himself presenting the stone to his Master, but no evidence of what he really wanted which was where the stone actually was. Quirrel paced, trying to think of the answer. He had already searched the mirror, tried summoning the stone, and several other magics which had shown the stone was here, but not specific enough. Something would have to change before he could break this impasse, however what that change would be and how it would happen remained a mystery.

[Harry Potter]

(Sorry for the slight godmod of hermy, bellsy)

"Ron's right you know" Hermione was saying. "You're the one who needs to go on."

Harry looked down at the small vial he was holding in his scratched hand (those darn key birds had done a number on him). Hermione had figured out which would send him through the black flames to whatever lay beyond and which would send her back through the purple flames towards safety. "This is what you need to do" he insisted finally. "Go back to the chess board and get Ron. Use the broom from the keys room to fly back out through the trap door." He didn't even pause to give Hermione a chance to make a face at the thought of flying. "Then get a letter to Dumbledore. You can use Hedwig. I may be able to hold off Snape for a little bit but I'll need his help."

"You're a great wizard Harry." Hermione started to roll back up the little scroll with Snape's logic puzzle on it but dropped it, flustered as Harry complimented her sincerely.

"Not as good as you."

She smiled shyly and gave a small laugh. "Me? Books and cleverness...there are more important things. Friendship and bravery and..." She choked up a little bit, flinging her arms around his neck so suddenly that he almost dropped the little vial. "Harry, just be careful!"

Harry gave her a grim smile, downed the potion and walked straight through the black flames. He could see them licking at his skin but felt nothing and suddenly he was on the other side, staring down into a wide, dimly lit room with high, arched pillars and a familiar turban wearing man staring at a familiar miror. He raised a hand to his forehead as his scar began prickling. This didn't make sense. "You?"

[shava4]

Quirrel smiled serenely at the voice and turned to look at the boy. With no more need of a disguise he had dropped all the twitches and stutters and it was clear confidence in his face now , especially at the look on Potter's face. "Me. I wondered if I would be seeing you here this night, Potter." The boy didn't even have his wand up so stupidly stunned at who he faced. Such a shame he wouldn't live long after this particular meeting; it had been fun messing with his mind all these days.

As the boy continued looking at him he chuckled,, not a quivering sound but sharp and cold. "Severus you expected? yes he does seem the type. So useful having him snooping around like a giant bat." He leaned forward slightly and made a comical imitation of his disguise as he said "Next to him who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrel?"

Ah this was so much fun, revealing the truth like this on the kid who had been taken so entirely in.

[Harry Potter]

Harry was so stunned at how this was unfolding that all he could manage to do was kind of shake his head to try and clear it and get out the words "b-but Snape" before Quirrell cut him off. The more Quirrell talked, the less sense it made. Rubbing his scar once more, as it had stopped prickling now that Quirrell was facing him (which should have alerted him right away that something terribly wrong was about to happen but with everything else making no sense he just took it with a grain of salt and dropped his hand away from his face), he took a step forwards, frowning hard in concentration.

"But...but that day...during the quidditch match...Snape tried to kill me!"

[shava4]

Quirrel took a step towards the boy unconsciously as he spoke, proving his point. "No no, I tried to kill you. Ms Granger accidentally knocked me over as she tried to set fire to Snape at the match. She was the one who broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I would have had you off that broom." For the first moment he looked displeased, but only for a moment.

"I'd have managed it before if he hadn't been muttering a counter-curse to try and save you." Judging his prey, Quirrel began thinking of which spell to hold the boy and decided on the rope one.He was about to cast it when the boy spoke again, still obviously shaken.

[Harry Potter]

Harry blinked. Snape was doing what? Just to make sure he had heard correctly, he spoke up in a disbelieving tone. "Snape was trying to save me? But I thought...I thought he hated me." This part was more to himself but he didn't care if Quirrell overheard. Suddenly he remembered all those meetings that Snape and Quirrell had been having, remembering one in particular and jerked his head up from the place he had been staring at on the floor.

"Then...you let the troll in on halloween!" His head was pounding but it was clear enough now that he could try to start to think of a way out of there...once he found a way to get and destroy the stone of course.

[shava4]

"Of course. Why do you think he wanted to referee the next match? He was trying to make sure I wouldn't succeed. Funny...he could have save himself the trouble since Dumbledore was there. All the other adults thought he was trying to make sure Gryffindore lost. He did make himself unpopular at that. Should have saved himself the trouble since I'm going to kill you tonight." A snap of his fingers and the ropes sprang out of the air and tied him up tight.

A satisfied Quirrel looked at the boy who was now only able to move his feet. "You're too nosy to let live, Potter. For all I knew you saw me going to see the stone." At Potter's gasp, he nodded, seriously. "Certainly. I have a special touch with trolls. You passed on a minute ago. Snape already suspected me. What a shame his leg didn't even get his leg off properly."

"Now quiet Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror." He looked up at the mirror again, debating in his mind while speaking out loud without realizing it. "The mirror is the key. Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this. But I'll be long gone before he returns..."

[Harry Potter]

Harry flinched as the ropes bound him up tight. He tried to move but felt as though he might topple over and swayed a bit before regaining both his balance and his ability to speak normally without a tremble or note of disbelief in his voice. He felt sure that Quirrell was indeed going to kill him tonight and the only way out of that was to keep him talking.

Forgetting that he was bound incredibly tightly, he again tried to take a step forward and fell with a resounding crash to the stone steps below him with a wince. Lying there all wrapped up like pigs-in-a-blanket, his mind whirled with ways to distract Quirrell from the task he was pondering.

The remark about trolls had reminded him yet again of that meeting Snape and Quirrell had had in the forest that he had overheard and while trying to get back to his feet (and failing) he mentioned that desperately. "But you and Snape were arguing in the forest...I thought he was threatening you..."

[shava4]

Quirrel walked again around the back of the mirror, answering Potter absent-mindedly as he looked for the trick to how the device worked. "Yes, he was on to me at that point, checking to see how far I had gotten. He even tried to frighten me, as if he had a chance with Lord Voldemort on my side..."

As he circled the mirror he found himself again in front of it. The reflection showed him giving the stone to his master and it made his heart swell with pride at the obvious happy conclusion, but it still didn't show where it was. "I can see the stone and I'm presenting it to my Master....But where is it to begin with?"

He was aware of the boy's struggle and glanced back only to make sure he hadn't managed anything and then turned his attention back to the mirror itself.

[Harry Potter]

The ropes were cutting into his skin very uncomfortably but his discomfort was at the back of his mind right now. Every now and again he would make another attempt to find his footing but mostly he just lay there, thinking up any and all things that he could say to keep Quirrell distracted.

"But you were always so nice to me and Snape..." He trailed off, squinting at Quirrell's back through the renewed prickling of his scar. A blind person could see the obvious hatred radiating off of Snape everytime he looked Harry's way. It wasn't possible that he was that good of an actor...was it?

[shava4]

Quirrel stopped looking at the mirror for a moment at Potter's next words, becoming more interested again in the boy's confusion. besides, the false trail would keep Dumbledore away a bit longer. "Heavens yes. He used to be at school with your father and they loathed each other tremendously."

C*cking his head over to one side as he thought about it however he added "He never tried to kill you though. I doubt he would." Looking down at him he could see he had bound him well, tightly and it pleased him to feel that control over someone, even a child. Especially Potter who his Master wanted dead, but not before the stone was his.

[Harry Potter]

Harry fell silent, thinking this over. So Snape and his father had been like he and Draco were now. Instant, hard core enemies. For some reason this made him feel a little better. The prickling in his scar was rising to a point of uncomfortableness that surpassed the ropes cutting into his skin and also anything odd his scar had done all year. What did this mean?

He almost became so engrossed in his own predicament that he nearly forgot he was supposed to be distracting Quirrell, which was proving to be a difficult task as Quirrell would barely take his eyes off the darn mirror for two seconds. He racked his brains, getting panicky and running out of stall tactics until he remembered vaguely hearing Quirrell sobbing in an empty classroom one day on his way to potions and then when Snape had been a few seconds late Harry had just assumed that he had been the cause of Quirrell's distress but if Snape wasn't the villan here then what was the crying about?

"I heard you crying...it was in an empty classroom a few days before the winter holidays..."

[shava4]

At Potter's words he found himself hesitant to speak, but feeling his master's attention increasing he found himself compelled to say it out loud. "Sometimes...." he swallowed before continuing, "I find it hard to follow my Master's orders." He looked straight in the boy's face wanting to hex him for forcing him to speak of it, his anger growing with his hate.

"He is a great wizard and I am weak. It is right for him to teach me a lesson..." A twitch in his face over this, only a fragment memory of the Quirrel disguise. If only his Master would let him kill the boy, something long and painful like a pressing (putting a stone on your victim's bound chest to help them lose air and make it harder to breath over the hours).

[Harry Potter]

Without really thinking, Harry blurted out, "Wait, so he was in the room with you then?!" He hadn't heard anyone else on his way past but maybe they hadn't been speaking at the time or maybe Quirrell's sobs had masked a second voice.

He began struggling again, feeling that he was starting to loose circulation in all his limbs and since he was no longer feeling that sense of disbelief or fear like when he had first entered, it was suddenly quite painful. All he succeeded in doing though was rolling down another two stairs which would definitely leave a bruise on his spine and elbow unless he didn't live through the night and then it wouldn't much matter.

[shava4]

Quietly Quirrel spoke. "He is with me always. As a young man I arrogantly traveled the world think it was easily divided into good and evil. My Master taught me how wrong I was, that there is only power and those who choose to grasp it." Again he cleared his throat nervously as he spoke.

"Lord Voldemort is a powerful man. He has to punish me to help me learn. I have been faithful to him, but I make many mistakes. After my failure to get the stone a Gringgots, he was very displeased and decided to keep a closer eye on me." His voice faded slightly as he looked at the mirror, wondering what the secret was.

"I don't get it. Is the stone inside the mirror? Master, help me!" And a voice came from Quirrel that was far different, far nastier. "...use...the boy..." Instantly Quirrel got control over himself, his spine snapping to attention. He snapped his fingers and the ropes fell off Harry as he commanded "Boy! Come here! Look and tell me what you see!"