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quick --" |
"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times," said |
Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone." |
"Then who does? Sir, I --" |
"Harry, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out. |
Harry swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the |
hospital wing. He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets, and next |
to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop. |
"Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore, beaming. "What |
happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a |
complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your |
friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to |
send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam |
Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated |
it." |
"How long have I been in here?" |
"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved |
you have come round, they have been extremely worried." |
"But sit, the Stone |
I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor |
Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to |
prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say. |
"You got there? You got Hermione's owl?" |
"We must have crossed in midair. No sooner had I reached London than it |
became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just |
left. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you." |
"It was you." |
"I feared I might be too late." |
"You nearly were, I couldn't have kept him off the Stone much longer --" |
"Not the Stone, boy, you -- the effort involved nearly killed you. For |
one terrible moment there, I was afraid it had. As for the Stone, it has |
been destroyed." |
"Destroyed?" said Harry blankly. "But your friend -- Nicolas Flamel --" |
"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. |
"You did do the thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicolas and I have had |
a little chat, and agreed it's all for the best." |
"But that means he and his wife will die, won't they?" |
"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, |
yes, they will die." |
Dumbledore smiled at the look of amazement on Harry's face. |
"To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas |
and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long |
day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great |
adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As |
much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings |
would choose above all -- the trouble is, humans do have a knack of |
choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." Harry lay |
there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and smiled at the |
ceiling. |
"Sir?" said Harry. "I've been thinking... sir -- even if the Stone's |
gone, Vol-, I mean, You-Know- Who --" |
"Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear |
of a name increases fear of the thing itself." |
"Yes, sir. Well, Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, |
isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?" |
"No, Harry, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking |
for another body to share... not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. |
He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers |
as his enemies. Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his |
return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to |
fight what seems a losing battle next time -- and if he is delayed |
again, and again, why, he may never return to power." |
Harry nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made his head hurt. Then |
he said, "Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can |
tell me... things I want to know the truth about...." |
"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, |
and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall |
answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which |
case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie." |
"Well... Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried |
to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the |
first place?" |
Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time. |
"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not |
now. You will know, one day... put it from your mind for now, Harry. |
When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are |
ready, you will know." |
And Harry knew it would be no good to argue. |
"But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?" |
"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot |
understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your |
mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to |
have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, |
will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, |
full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, |
could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person |
marked by something so good." |
Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the windowsill, |
which gave Harry time to dry his eyes on the sheet. When he had found |
his voice again, Harry said, "And the invisibility cloak - do you know |
who sent it to me?" |
"Ah - your father happened to leave it in my possession, and I thought |
you might like it." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Useful things... your |
father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food |
when he was here." |
"And there's something else..." |
"Fire away." |
"Quirrell said Snape --" |
"Professor Snape, Harry." "Yes, him -- Quirrell said he hates me because |
he hated my father. Is that true?" |