Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised

49) When Snape is the Good Guy

It was Quirrell. You know, Mr. Two Face. Man, I really should have seen this.

"You!" Harry gasped.

Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching. Maybe his other face was twitching.

"Me," he didn't stutter. "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here, Potter."

"But I thought — Snape —"

"Severus?" Quirrell laughed. It was cold and sharp. Not his normal 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."

Harry was wide eyed with disbelief.

"But Snape tried to kill me!"

"No, no, no. I tried to kill you. Your friend Miss Granger accidentally knocked me over as she rushed to set fire to Snape at that Quidditch match. She broke my eye contact with you. Another few seconds and I'd have got you off that broom. I'd have managed it before then is Snape hadn't been muttering a countercurse, trying to save you."

"Snape was trying to save me?"

"Of course," Quirrell said coldly. "Why do you think he wanted to referee your next 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. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor from winning, he did make himself unpopular... and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."

Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of the air and wrapped themselves tightly around us.

I was so close to being able to get Riptide, but the sword was in my pocket. It was gonna be hard to get it.

"You're too nosy to live, Potter, and you're dragging this boy down with you. Scurrying around the school like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"You let the troll in?"

I could feel the rope digging into my wrist and arm as I reached for my sword.

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls — you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off — and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that-three headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly.

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

That's when I realized The Mirror of Erised was in the room.

"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell murmured, tapping the frame. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this... but he's in London... I'll be far away by the time he gets back..."

I winced as the rope dug further into my hand.

"I saw you and Snape in the forest—" Harry blurted.

"Yes," Quirrell continued to examine the mirror. "He was on to me by that time, trying to figure out how far I'd got. He suspected me all along. Tried to frighten me — as though he could, when I had Lord Voldemort on my side..."

Quirrell looked into the mirror, "I see the Stone... I'm presenting it to my master... but where is it?"

I bit my lip as the ropes dug further into my skin. I could see blood beneath the rope.

"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much."

"Oh, he does," Quirrell said 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."

Fear crossed Quirrell's face at that moment, "Sometimes, I find it hard to follow my master's instructions — he is great and I am weak—"

"You mean he was there in the classroom with you?" Harry gasped.

I could feel my eyes widening as realization hit me. I cursed under my breath in Greek, shaking my head. This is bad. This is really bad.

"He is with me wherever I go," Quirrell said quietly. "I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is 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." Quirrell shivered. "He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the Stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me... decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me..."

Quirrell looked into the mirror, cursing beneath his breath, "I don't understand... is the Stone inside the mirror? Should I break it?"

I was closer to the mirror. Harry leaned over and whispered, "If what you desire more than anything is to get the Stone before Quirrell does, then you should see where the Stone is!"

I nodded, taking my focus off of my sword. I edged a little to the left, trying to not have Quirrell notice. Then I fell. I cursed the ropes around my ankles. Quirrell ignored me.

"What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me, Master!"

A voice answered, emanating from Quirrell, "Use the boy... use the one on the floor..."

"Yes — Jackson — come here."

The ropes surrounding me fell off. I pulled Riptide out of my pocket as I was standing up, pushing it in Harry's direction. He blocked the sword from Quirrell's vision with his foot.

"Come here," Quirrell repeated. "Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

I walked towards Quirrell.

I must lie. I must look and lie about what I see, that's all.

Quirrell stepped close behind me, a hand on my shoulder. I stared at the mirror.

I saw myself at first. Pale and scared. Then I watched my reflection smile. Fake me put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a blood red stone. He winked and put it back in his pocket. I felt something heavy in my pocket. I'd gotten the Stone.

I'm posting this at 12 AM because I might not have the time to post tomorrow. We're going swimming and this river, and I have no clue what time it is going to be. Thursday, me, Kadee, Emblem, Brianna, and Brianna's younger sister, who we will call HateMate because we're in the same grade and hate the same people, went swimming at that same river. There was these two other people there, a father and his very young son. At some point, we hear the father start yelling at the kid, and we all turn to look, excited for drama. We had to look away pretty fast. The kid's pants were dropped to his ankles, and he held his shirt up above his nipples. He was peeing, he said. I'm not a boy so I'm not entirely sure how peeing works for you guys, but I did not think that was it.

I'll post on Monday, and please, don't pee with your shirts above your nipples. It's a bit weird.