Where's my popcorn charm!

As I leaned against the wall, I could hear Quirrell and Harry talking.

"You!" gasped Harry incredulously.

Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching like it would usually be. "Me," he said with an unusual calmness. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter." Harry still had an unbelieving expression stuck on his face while shaking his head.

"But I thought – Snape –"

"Severus?" Quirrell laughed loudly, and it wasn't his usual quivering treble either, but a cold, mocking one. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?" he acted with a smile.

Harry continued to shake his head in denial, "that can't be right, he must be helping you! He tried to kill me!" he said adamantly.

"Ha! No-no-no. I tried to kill you. Twice! And both times failed. I have to say Potter, your luck is above average." Quirrell said with extreme annoyance. 'Plot armour' I corrected.

"I used confundus to send you towards the Troll in order to get you killed, who knew that Dumbledore would come and save the day. And don't get me started on Snape, he was there stopping me from getting past that dreadful dog. If it wasn't for my weakened state, I would have simply killed it there and then!" he said with a scowl.

"Then there's that meddling little Granger girl who set fire to Snape's cloak. In an attempt to put out the fire, Snape knocked everyone to the floor, including me. That was when I broke eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd managed it before then if Snape hadn't been muttering a counter curse, trying to save you. Out of character for someone who seems to hate you so much I must admit."

"Snape saved me? Hermione?" Harry asked with a shocked expression.

Of course," said Quirrell as he waved his hand with the same annoyed expression. "Why do you think he wanted to referee the following match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really… he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. It was a miracle I was able to pull it off once. All the other teachers thought snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular with his personality… and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."

Harry didn't have time to react before Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around him. I was surprised, doing wandless magic in a weakened state, it seems that it was the right call to come here after all.

"Now, wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

'wasn't he literally staring at it by the time we came in? what, is he so egocentric that he was actually just staring at his reflection?' I question. Typical villain, dumb as hell.

"This mirror is the key to finding the stone," Quirrell murmured, tapping his fingers over the frame of the mirror. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this… but he's in London… I'll be far away by the time he finds out what happened."

I could see Harry's hysterical look at the last sentence Quirrell voiced.

"I saw you and snape in the forest –" he blurted out. It seemed he was trying to buy time. For what? No one could save him if I wasn't here.

"Yes," said Quirrell idly, walking around the Mirror to look at the back. "He was on to me from pretty early on, like a dog, he was trying to find out how far I'd gotten. He tried to frighten me – as if he could, when I had lord Voldemort on my side…"

Quirrell appeared from behind the mirror but this time on the other side and stared hungrily into it.

"I see the stone… I'm presenting it to my master… but where is it?" He asked in frustration.

I could see Harry struggling against the ropes that were binding him, but they didn't even budge.

"Snape always seemed to hate me so much though?" Harry asked in a continued attempt to stall.

"Oh, he does," said Quirrell casually, "heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts with your father didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he never wanted you dead."

"But I heard you a few days ago, sobbing – I thought Snape was threatening you…." I struggled to keep my self from laughing. I even covered my mouth which barely contained the otherwise compromising laugh.

I could see Quirrell's originally calm face twitch for the first time since his whole charade began.

"Sometimes," he said slowly, "I find it hard to follow my master's orders -- he is a great wizard, and I am weak --"

"You mean he was in the classroom with you the whole time?" Asked Harry with a shocked expression.

"He is with me wherever I go," said Quirrell, the arrogant air around him was crumbling slowly. "I met him when I was travelling the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas and notions about what I thought good and evil were sopposed to be. I realised that there was only grey, nothing as clearly defined as black or white. Lord Voldemort showed me this. He showed me how flawed my original ideals where. There is no good and evil, only power, and those too weak to seek it… since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me."