Harry had excitedly told Hermione about what Snape had to say. She smiled but didn’t seem to get how much it meant to Harry. He had given up on trying to learn who his parents were a long time ago, and now he was going to get to hear stories about his mother? From one of her old friends? Well, it seemed like a great thing to him.

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, mostly keeping to themselves. Harry had some homework to catch up on and Hermione was always starting a new project. They waited until the feast had started to leave so Harry could avoid the other Slytherins in the common room.

Harry tried to convince Hermione to just let him walk down to the dungeons by himself but she wouldn’t hear it.

“Don’t be silly, Harry.” She told him, “Its really no trouble.”

Harry had rolled his eyes but agreed. He would be happy when they could catch whoever sent him that letter. It would be nice to be able to talk a walk by himself.

They had only just left the library when Professor Quirrell came out of nowhere. 

“Mr. P-Potter,” the man stuttered. “What w-were you doing a-all the way in the l-library when you s-should be at the f-feast?”

“We lost track of time, sir.” Harry said as he tried to go around him.

“W-Well it m-must be my l-lucky day,” the professor stepped in front of him. “I-I need some old boxes moved f-from my room. W-would you be so kind a-as to help me w-with them?”

Harry exchanged a glance with Hermione. “I’m sorry, I can’t. You see I’m already late for a meeting.”

Harry tried once again to push past his professor but Quirrell put his hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“This will only take a couple of minutes.” The man argued, sounding more confident.

“At least let me go tell Professor Snape that I’m going to be late,” he protested.

“I’m sure that Severus won’t mind.” Quirrell tugged on his shoulder painfully, but Harry held his ground. He needed to think of something but before he had fully collected himself he looked Quirrell in the eye and he felt as if his head had exploded

Harry could hear himself screaming but couldn’t bring himself to stop until the pain abruptly stopped. He was horrified to see Hermione lunge at the professor.

“Hermione!” He yelled. “Stop!”

Quirrell didn’t seem fazed by the eleven year old attacking him. He flicked his wand and she dropped to the floor with a thud. 

“What did you do to her?” Harry asked. He stood, completely frozen, as he glanced from Hermione’s still form to Quirrell.

“Noting too drastic,” the man answered. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Now come along before I have to force you.”

Harry took as step back as Quirrell came forward to grasp his shoulder again. He had no choice but to obey. He looked back at Hermione as he was practically dragged down the corridor.

 SHSHSH

Severus tapped his fingers as he checked his once for what had to be the hundredth time. What was keeping the boy? He had seemed happy, excited even, when Severus had invited him down for dinner.

He ran his hands along a tattered shoebox he had pulled out from the bottom of his trunk. Severus had taken it out to show to Harry. It wasn’t much but it held many memories from his school days, most of which included the boy’s mother.

He sighed impatiently. The feast had started a while ago, perhaps Harry had a change of heart and had decided to join his friends despite what had happened earlier this afternoon. Or, more likely, he was holed up somewhere with the Granger girl.

Either way he had to find him. He got up from the table and stashed his shoebox back into his room. As he was walking out the corridor he felt the whole hallway shake. He gripped his wand tighter in his hand and nearly jumped in surprise when he came face to face with a full-grown mountain troll.

His mind flipped through all the spells that may be useful. He was about to stun it when a flash of green hit the troll in the back of the head. Severus watched as the troll swayed and fell foreword. He was stepped back to avoid being crushed.

His mind stopped for a minute before jumping to a horrifying conclusion. He looked up from the troll and into the faces of his fellow professors.

“Severus,” McGonagall questioned, “are you alright?”

“Yes, yes.” He replied. “I’m fine. But have any of you seen Potter tonight?”

 He watched the headmaster and McGonagall exchange a look before they both shook their heads. The other professors all followed suit.

 “Where’s Quirrell?” He felt his stomach drop when no one answered him. It was bad enough there had been a loose troll in the castle but with the defense professor also missing, Potter was much more likely to be in serious trouble.

 With one last look at the troll Severus walked around it and passed the other professors up the stairs. If Potter wasn’t in the Great Hall then the next best place to look was the library. He heard the others follow him and picked up his pace.

 “Merlin,” He gasped when he came across Granger sprawled on the stone floor. Both her backpack and Harry’s backpack were in the hallway next to her.

 “Miss Granger?” He asked moving closer to her. He heard McGonagall’s sharp intake of breath when she caught up to him and saw her student laying on the floor. She pushed Severus out of her way and knelt down beside the girl.

 She murmured spell after spell but nothing seemed to wake Granger.

 “I’ll have to take her to Poppy,” She said looking directly at Severus. She glanced back down at both backpacks and he understood her unasked question.

 “Don’t worry, Minerva,” he assured her. “I’ll find him.”

 She nodded as she levitated the girl towards the infirmary. It was obvious that the troll hadn’t been the one to attack the children; the only other logical conclusion Severus could draw was that it must have been Quirrell.  

 What would attacking Potter and his friend do for Quirrell? He had his own suspicions that the man was after the stone, but what did Harry have to do with that? He knew something was off with him, and even Harry had said that he was wary of his defense professor. On top of that there was the scar issue, but he still wasn’t sure what the boy’s scar pain meant.

 Surly Quirrell wasn’t working for Voldemort? He hadn’t seemed the type even before his trip abroad. But what other explanation could there be?

“Perhaps we should check on the stone?” Dumbledore broke through Severus’ thoughts.

“What about Potter? You think he was taken to the stone?”

“I’m not sure,” the headmaster answered seriously. “But it wouldn’t hurt to look.”

 Severus nodded. “We should go down at check on it immediately,” he said motioning to Albus. “The rest of you should search the rest of the castle.”

 Severus didn’t wait for a response, just turned and made his way to the third floor corridor.