Regulus Black the Potions Master

Chapter 16

"He'll be fine," Harry said, to reassure Hermione or himself, maybe both, "what do you think will happen now?"

Hermione pondered the question as they opened the door.

"We've passed Sprout's Devil's Visage, Flitwick was probably the one who bewitched the keys, McGonagall transfigured the pieces to give them lives. So Quirrell's spell and Black's are missing."

"Let's go," he stared at her for a moment, nodded, and finally opened the door.

They were hit by a terrible smell, making them pull their robes over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw lying on the floor before them a slug even bigger than the one they had faced on Halloween. This one, at least, was unconscious and had a bloody bump on its head.

"It's a good thing we didn't have to deal with that one," Harry said, pulling Hermione towards another door, "come on, I can't breathe."

The next door was opened by the boy, and the two of them barely dared to look at what was coming next. There was nothing scary there, just a table with seven different bottles in a row.

"That's Professor Black's," Harry said.

Harry might have gotten an acceptable grade in potions, but it was still far from his best subject, so he let Hermione sort it out. They read a piece of paper next to the bottles, and to Harry's amazement, the girl quickly understood what to do.

Only Harry crossed the room, but first, he asked Hermione to go back to the owlery and send a letter through Hedwigs to Dumbledore.

"I think I can delay Quirrell," Harry said, "so go."

"But what if You-Know-Who is with him?"

"I was lucky once," Harry said, pointing to the scar, "Maybe I'll be lucky again."

And then he set off for the next chamber.

Quirrell was there, not surprisingly, Harry had expected to see his teacher.

From then on, things only got scarier. Quirrell used a Trapped Body spell to hold Harry in place, and the brunette could see the ojesed mirror in the middle of the empty room. He could hear Quirrell mumbling as if he were talking to someone.

Harry tried to distract him by talking about the time he saw Professor Black confronting him. But all he got for a while was the man complaining about the Potions teacher. How Black never seemed to like or trust Quirrell, even at the time he started teaching the subject of Witch Studies at Hogwarts. And then he revealed that Black had studied at the same time as Harry's father and that they didn't get along, even though they weren't in the same year.

But the most important piece of information came when Quirrell revealed when he met his master.

"I met him when I was traveling the world," the man began, "I was a foolish boy back then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me that I was wrong. There is no such thing as good and evil, there is only power. And those who are too weak to aim for it. Since then I have served him loyally."

Then the man in the turban turned to him, and with a spell pulled him closer to himself and the mirror.

I want to find the Stone before Quirrell does, Harry thought, staring into the mirror. And then he saw himself with it in his hand, putting it in his trouser pocket, and suddenly he could feel the new weight in the place where his reflection had put the Stone.

"What does the mirror do?" Quirrell asked himself, "Show me, master."

A voice answered it came from Quirrell, but it didn't come from the man's mouth, it terrified Harry.