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"Snape's magic," Harry said. "What do we do now?"
The moment the four of them stepped through the doorway, purple flames whooshed up behind them, sealing off the entrance. At the same time, black fire leapt up from the door ahead, trapping them in between.
"Look!" Hermione grabbed a roll of parchment that was lying next to the bottles. Augustus stood behind her, reading over her shoulder:
Danger lies ahead, safety lies behind.Two of us will help you move forward or go back.One will take you onward, the other returns you whence you came.Two are nettle wine.Three are killers, waiting in line.Choose, unless you'd rather stay stuck in time.
Four clues we offer to help you decide:
One, no matter how sly the poison might hide,it always stands to the left of nettle wine. Two, the bottles at each end are not the way—If you want to go forward, steer away. Three, the bottles differ in shape and size—No hidden death in dwarf or giant disguise. Four, the second on the left and the second on the right—Though different in look, their taste is alike.
"Interesting, this must be related to Muggle logic puzzles," Augustus said, clearly intrigued.
Hermione let out a long breath. Harry was surprised to see her actually smiling—for his part, he couldn't imagine smiling right now.
"Yes," Hermione said. "This isn't magic—it's logic. It's a riddle. A lot of great wizards totally suck at logical thinking, which is probably why they'd be stuck here forever."
"Obviously, Miss Granger is quite the expert at this kind of thing," Augustus said, glancing at her as she studied the clues carefully. "Alright then, this one's yours."
"Okay, just give me a minute—I think I can solve it." Hermione read through the parchment again and again. She paced back and forth in front of the bottles, muttering under her breath and pointing at different ones. Finally, she clapped her hands.
"Got it!" she said. "This smallest bottle here—it'll let someone pass through the black fire and get to the Philosopher's Stone."
Harry looked at the tiny, unassuming bottle.
"There's only enough for one person," he said. "Barely even a mouthful."
"Which one lets you go back through the purple flames?" Augustus asked.
Hermione pointed to a round bottle on the far right.
"Alright, here's the plan," Augustus said after a quick pause. "Hermione, Ron—you two drink from the return bottle, go back through the purple flames, and wait for us in the dorm. Harry, you drink the one that lets you go forward. I'll come through the black flames right after you."
Hermione and Ron both nodded. No matter what was ahead, with Augustus at Harry's side, they weren't too worried.
"You guys be careful," Hermione said, clearly reluctant to leave. She gave Harry and Augustus one last look, then picked up the round bottle and took a big gulp. She shivered all over. Ron took the bottle from her and drank, too. "Good luck—seriously, be careful—"
"Go!" Harry urged.
The two of them turned and stepped into the purple flames, vanishing.
Harry took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He turned to face the black flames.
"Here I come," he said—and downed the contents in one go.
It was ice-cold, instantly spreading through his whole body. He set the bottle down and stepped forward. As the black flames licked at his skin, he felt... nothing. For a moment, all he could see was fire—just black fire everywhere—then suddenly, he was through, stepping into the final chamber.
Augustus whispered a charm and began to fade from sight, his body becoming invisible. Then he too walked calmly through the black flames, which brushed gently against his cloak like tame little animals nuzzling their master.
Inside the room, Augustus's eyes swept the space. It wasn't Snape waiting there. And it wasn't Voldemort, either.
It was Quirrell.
"You!" Harry gasped.
Quirrell smiled. His face wasn't twitching at all now.
"Yes, me," he said smoothly. "I was just wondering if I'd run into you here, Potter."
"So it really was you behind all this," Harry said, adjusting his glasses. His tone was calm. "I mean, who would've thought? Good old stammering, bumbling Quirrell—turns out you were the one after the Stone all along. Gotta admit, you had everyone fooled. Even Dumbledore."
"Of course. That was the whole point. I played the scared, helpless professor so well that everyone saw me as someone who needed protecting.
No one ever suspected Quirrell of anything. It's funny, isn't it? The truth is always far more brutal than appearances. Hiding behind that pitiful, weak image for so long... finally dropping the act now feels amazing."
With a snap of his fingers, ropes shot out of nowhere and tightly bound Harry up.
"You just can't stop meddling, can you? But I'm afraid I can't let you live, Potter. That night before Halloween, when you were sneaking around the castle—I knew you saw me checking the protections on the Stone."
"You let the troll in, didn't you?"
"Of course I did. I have my own methods of handling trolls—you saw what I did to the one in the other room, didn't you? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for the troll, Snape—who was already suspicious of me—went straight to the fourth floor to try and stop me.
Neither the troll nor the three-headed dog managed to take care of you two. Pity."
"Now sit tight, Potter. I need to figure out how this fascinating mirror works."
Only then did Harry notice what stood behind Quirrell: the Mirror of Erised.
"This mirror is the key to finding the Stone," Quirrell muttered, running his fingers along the ornate frame. "Only Dumbledore could've come up with something like this. But he's off in London now. By the time he gets back, I'll be long gone."
The Mirror of Erised...Hidden in the shadows nearby, Augustus stared at it, an unreadable glint in his eyes. So this world really had something like that. The end of all illusion. The core of the collective unconscious.
A thin, ordinary-looking mirror that, in a way, embodied the subconscious will of an entire world. If used properly, it could be an even greater disaster than Pandora's Box.
Fascinating, he thought.Tagging along with Harry and the others had turned out to be more rewarding than expected.
"....."