40 schemes unraveled

Walking out of potions I remembered the conversation that Hermione and I had after the quidditch game while on our way to the Gryffindor common room.

----Flashback----

As we walked up the stone steps that joined the Quidditch stadium to the Hogwarts castle I heard Hermione's voice. "Why do you think that Snape was jinxing Harry's broom?" she asked inquisitively.

I looked at her with a smile before giving voicing my thoughts, "well, you are right about Snape jinxing the broom, but he wasn't trying to harm Potter but instead save him, a counter jinx per se."

Hermione looked at me with visible confusion, she was about to speak before I raised a hand to cut her off. "You're probably thinking how that's possible right?" I asked to which Hermione nodded.

I looked around and pulled out my wand before casting the muffliato spell to drown out our conversation.

"Well, it's a long story and one that I will tell you another time, the point is, Snape is forced to protect Harry for certain reasons, the one who was jinxing the broom was Professor Quirrell." Hermione looked surprised and sceptical at my analysis.

"Why would Professor Quirrell do that?" she asked in confusion.

"That, I have no clue about, but I can confirm that it was him after you set the fire on Professor Snape's cloak. Snape accidentally knocked over Quirrell who was also mumbling something while looking at Potter. Coincidence? I think not! After getting knocked over he had a vicious look on his face which is very out of character for the cowardly stuttering Professor, wouldn't you agree?"

Hermione seemed to be thinking about it for a while, "there is no definitive proof about that, but if he was also mumbling something while keeping eye contact with the target then he is a suspect as well."

"Correct, it doesn't really matter since no harm was done," I said while nodding.

"But the question is, why would he want to harm Harry?" she asked in contemplation. It was like she was asking me and herself.

"It could be for a multitude of reasons, in any case, we will have to keep an eye out for any more suspicious activity, after all, it is the second time now that Quirrell has brought trouble to Harry," I said nonchalantly.

"Second time?" she asked with furrowed brows.

"Yep, don't you find it weird that the troll was able to get in so easily? And why did Harry have to go there when there was no reason to? I highly doubt even Harry would be that stupid," I said with a shrug.

Hermione was shocked, "you're saying that he was manipulated into going?" she gasped.

I nodded, "highly likely, since Harry is such a celebrity at the school currently, what better distraction is there, plus he gets the boy killed at the same time," I hypothesised.

"What do you mean distraction?" she asked.

"I doubt Professor Quirrell would come only to kill Potter, plus, you heard about the robbery at Gringotts right?"

She nodded but got confused, "what does any of this have to do with Harry?" she asked.

"Oh! That part is simple, Mr Potter has a big mouth, so I overheard him talk at breakfast about visiting a vault in Gringotts with Hagrid that had something similar to the item that was stolen."

"You're saying that Harry stole the item?!" she asked with surprise.

I shook my head, "no, that wouldn't make sense, otherwise, he would be caught, the only explanation is that they took the item before the other person stole it."

"But what does that have to do with Quirrell?" she asked.

"It has everything to do with Quirrell! I have come to conclude that he is after the stone. I saw him at the leaky cauldron when he met Potter, and he was on leave the year before. For some reason he must be after the stone after returning," I said while looking at her. I naturally had to lie in order to make it convincing.

"Stone?" she asked catching the little hint I left.

I nodded, "yes stone, harry mentioned Hagrid talking about someone called Nicholas Flamel. and you should know who that is right?" I asked with a smile.

Hermione gasped, "The philosopher's stone!" she exclaimed. But then she frowned,

"I don't get it, if he's after the stone then why would he come here?" she questioned.

"Where does Hagrid work?" I asked.

"Here at Hogwarts…" she answered still confused. I shook my head at the sight.

"And who would he trust the most?" I questioned again.

"Well, Dumbledore if anyone else, after all, he is the mos-" She caught on to something and looked at me in surprise and shock.

"THE STONE IS HIDDEN IN THE CASTLE?!" She yelled.

"Correct, that is why Quirrell is back. Also, did you know the position of DADA has been jinxed since Voldemort failed to get the position?" I asked suddenly. She looked at me in surprise and disbelief.

"No, I didn't know about that, but it would explain why the position hasn't had the same teacher for more than one year," she said while nodding.

"Exactly, so if that is the case then how can Quirrell come back, after all, the position has caused serious injuries to the occupant and occasionally, even death." She looked at me in horror.

"I can only find one conclusion, and that is that only the caster of the jinx is unaffected, usually that wouldn't be the case but there must be a loophole," I said.

"Y-You're saying that V-Voldemort is Professor Quirrell?!" she asked with a stutter. I laughed loudly which confused her.

"How can you laugh right now?! If your conjecture is right then-" she stopped talking when she saw me shaking my head.

"No, Professor Quirrell is not Voldemort, but Voldemort must be close to him," I said. I naturally couldn't tell her that in a sense she was correct since there is no feasible way I would know that from the evidence presented to me during the course of the year so far. Some things are just meant to be kept a secret; she would find out about it later anyway.

Plus, the jinx seemed to have been still active since Quirrell himself didn't actually survive the year, so maybe in a sense Voldemort really didn't have to do anything.

"Why would Voldemort be here and how is he alive?" she asked exasperatedly.

"Well, the answer to your first question is simple, whatever it is that is in the school must be able to bring him back, and Quirrell is helping do so. As for your second question, it is all but a guess, I don't have any evidence to back up his existence around Quirrell and it could all just be Quirrell's personal objective. It doesn't matter since Harry will die if he gets his hands on the item either way." I concluded as we reached the portrait.

Walking in, we sat on the couch in the empty common room.

"I see, but your reasoning is sound. The only question is why isn't Dumbledore doing anything?" she asked. I nodded in approval, smart girl and this is where all the previous talk becomes a fucking joke. All this is Dumbledore's little puppet show after all.

"I have no idea, but we can't take him for a fool, the old man is a schemer and a politician. He will definitely have noticed what is going on, especially at the Quidditch match," I analysed.

"But if that is the case then why did he just sit there and watch?" she asked indignantly.

"The only reason I can come up with is that he had everything under control, a powerful wizard like him probably has spells that will stop Harry from falling to his death, his inaction is evidence to this," I said.

Hermione was confused. Seeing that I continued to explain,

"What I mean… is that Dumbledore must be behind this in some way or another, for now we should stay out of it until we can do something definitive about it. I assume that the pair of idiots Ron and Harry must be on the trail although at a much slower pace. I assume they will try to do something about it, and when that happens, we will follow and provide our assistance according to the situation," I said while looking at her.

She looked at me seriously for a moment, "Tom? Tell me something, when did you figure all of this out?" she asked suspiciously. I looked at her deeply before smiling.

"With your extraordinary talent in Occlumency, reaching a far enough level should not be too difficult. Slowly, I will tell you what you desire, for now, it doesn't benefit you to know."

She looked at me seriously for a good minute seemingly studying my face before nodding with a heavy but determined expression.

It seems that I have given her one more reason to train, I thought with a chuckle. She didn't badger me for more details and left it at that in a prudent manner.

----end of flashback----