Chapter 23: Quirrell and Detention
"Oh no, oh no, I only meant to sleep for a couple of hours! How is it dark already?!"
The door to the Room of Requirement burst open and Ryan charged out, running headfirst into a Headmaster and a Head of House.
Ryan: Σ(ﾟдﾟlll)
Dumbledore and Flitwick: (—_—)
"The intruder from the prophecy… did they show up?" The moment was excruciatingly awkward. Ryan, thinking fast, latched onto the most logical reason for a Headmaster and a Professor to be camping out in this corridor. What else could it possibly be?
"They did," Dumbledore confirmed, mercifully ignoring Ryan's sudden appearance. "But they vanished before Filius and I could arrive. You were in the Room of Requirement. Did you notice anything?"
"I'm sorry, Headmaster. Unless an outsider tries to open the specific room I'm in, I have no way of knowing someone has entered the Room of Requirement itself," Ryan explained. "They didn't try to access my study, so I have no idea what happened."
Professor Flitwick quickly recounted the events of the intrusion.
After listening to the whole story, Ryan offered a different theory. "Headmaster, Professor, certain magical creatures, like house-elves, are naturally able to Apparate within Hogwarts."
"Are you suggesting the intruder brought a house-elf with them?" Flitwick asked.
Ryan nodded, though his actual thought was that the intruder might have been carrying an artifact made from a house-elf.
But Dumbledore shook his head. "I believe this particular intruder would have no regard for the magic of house-elves. They wouldn't even consider the magic of magical creatures."
Ryan and Flitwick exchanged a look. It sounded as if Dumbledore knew exactly who the intruder was.
"You know who it is?" Professor Flitwick asked.
Ryan pricked up his ears, eager to hear Dumbledore's confirmation.
Dumbledore, however, gave an oblique answer. "I had thought he would have made a more rational judgment… Alas, I was mistaken."
"Hmm?" Both Ryan and Flitwick were completely lost.
"Filius, I believe it's time we returned to our dinner," Dumbledore said, offering no further explanation. He then turned his gaze to Ryan. "As for you, Ryan, you missed Professor Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts class without an excuse. For that, you will serve one week's detention with Professor Quirrell."
Ryan raised an eyebrow, not out of annoyance at the punishment. At Hogwarts, "detention" was essentially an after-class lockdown with a specific professor. In this context, however, the meaning had shifted entirely.
The scene had transformed from Ryan breaks a rule, Dumbledore enforces justice to Ryan gets punished, Headmaster cleverly uses detention to test Quirrell.
Still, he had his doubts. "Are you sure it's him?" he asked. "It shouldn't be. He doesn't have that kind of power." From their few meetings, Quirrell had not given off the aura of a master wizard like the Heads of House did. He seemed more on the level of an average Auror. And an average Auror could escape Dumbledore inside Hogwarts? Voldemort would laugh himself sick if he heard that. He'd throw a party to celebrate Dumbledore's senility.
Professor Flitwick's eyes went wide. His concern for his student had blinded him, but Ryan's blunt question was like a splash of cold water.
"Impossible!" he gasped. "Quirinus? He has no reason. Albus, this must be a mistake."
Dumbledore didn't answer either of them directly. Instead, he simply repeated the words of Ryan's prophecy: "Today, the one who once hid a treasure stands again before the entrance. He is hesitant, unsure if he should allow one so unworthy to access his deepest secret."
He turned to Flitwick, his expression heavy with disappointment. "Filius, I believe Quirinus has merely been led astray, becoming the 'unworthy one' from Ryan's prophecy." He removed his spectacles, looking suddenly older.
Professor Flitwick staggered backward, swaying on his feet. Ryan quickly stepped forward, placing a hand behind the small professor's head to keep him from accidentally hitting it on the stone balustrade.
"Quirinus was a good student," Flitwick whispered, almost to himself. "He earned eleven O.W.L.s when he graduated. A student like that... it's not easy to lead them astray." His head snapped up. "Albus, he must be under the Imperius Curse!"
"Isn't he?" he pleaded.
Ryan looked down at his professor. For the first time in all his years at Hogwarts, Professor Flitwick, his reliable mentor, seemed small and frail.
"Professor," Ryan said, his own voice low. "Perhaps Professor Quirrell just made a mistake. When I go for my detention, I'll talk to him. Maybe there's still a chance to turn him around."
"No, Ryan. It's not that," Professor Flitwick sighed, his shoulders slumping. "You both have thought of it, and so have I. The Philosopher's Stone arrived at Hogwarts. On the same day Hagrid retrieved it, Gringotts was broken into—the very vault where Nicolas Flamel kept the Stone. And that same day, you and Hagrid both saw Quirinus in the Leaky Cauldron."
"Tonight," he continued, his voice heavy, "Quirinus was absent from the feast. And an intruder appeared here." He looked up, his eyes full of pain. "There are too many coincidences. I cannot convince myself to believe it is a coincidence."
"So," he finished, his voice dropping to a near-whisper, yet every word was sharp and clear, "Quirinus has been corrupted by You-Know-Who."
"The desire for eternal life is not uncommon among wizards, but very few have the skill and audacity to break into Gringotts. Perhaps only one."
"You-Know-Who."
Dumbledore looked equally pained. "Many far more brilliant wizards have been swayed by Voldemort," he said softly. "And besides, have I not just sent Ryan to serve detention with Quirinus?"
Ryan, standing between the two "failed educators," hadn't known what to say to comfort them, but that last line left him speechless. Dumbledore really had mastered the art of using every resource, and every person, at his disposal.
"Voldemort's power to persuade is undeniable. In that field, few can match him," Dumbledore said. "Fortunately for us, we have one such person right here." Before Ryan could respond, Dumbledore smiled. "Take Miss Clearwater, for example. I do not believe she would obey the Imperius Curse with the same conviction with which she trusts you."
Ryan was instantly defensive. "That's impossible!" he protested. "Who at Hogwarts would cast the Imperius Curse on her? And even outside the school, Dark Wizards wouldn't dare to cross Hogwarts, to cross you!" He laid out his flawless logic and arrived at his conclusion. "Headmaster, you are slandering me! I have never 'persuaded' anyone!"
Dumbledore was speechless.
Flitwick was speechless.
The heavy, mournful atmosphere that had surrounded the two men vanished instantly, replaced by a stunned silence. Ryan, seeing their expressions, was sure the Headmaster had finally seen the error of his ways and was feeling guilty for maliciously maligning one of his students.