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by
J.K. Rowling
Started reading
November 24, 2018
Flattened in that last match by Slytherin, I couldn’t look Severus Snape in the face for weeks …’
‘Your father would have been proud,’ she said. ‘He was an excellent Quidditch player himself.’
‘Alohomora!’
They weren’t in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden. They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog which filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.
It was standing on a trapdoor. It’s obviously guarding something.’
The dog was guarding something … What had Hagrid said? Gringotts was the safest place in the world for something you wanted to hide – except perhaps Hogwarts.
— CHAPTER TEN — Hallowe’en
You forget that dog, an’ you forget what it’s guardin’, that’s between Professor Dumbledore an’ Nicolas Flamel –’
— CHAPTER TWELVE — The Mirror of Erised
Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron’s set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family – in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren’t a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.
‘Sir – Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?’ ‘Obviously, you’ve just done so,’ Dumbledore smiled. ‘You may ask me one more thing, however.’
— CHAPTER THIRTEEN — Nicolas Flamel
“Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel”!’
‘Nicolas Flamel,’ she whispered dramatically, ‘is the only known maker of the Philosopher’s Stone!’
The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. There have been many reports of the Philosopher’s Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera-lover. Mr Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).
— CHAPTER FOURTEEN — Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
— CHAPTER FIFTEEN — The Forbidden Forest
‘My name is Firenze,’ he added, as he lowered himself on to his front legs so that Harry could clamber on to his back.
Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.
‘Do you not see that unicorn?’ Firenze bellowed at Bane. ‘Do you not understand why it was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this Forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must.’
‘Harry Potter, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?’ ‘No,’ said Harry, startled by the odd question. ‘We’ve only used the horn and tail-hair in Potions.’ ‘That is because it is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn,’ said Firenze. ‘Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenceless to save yourself and you will have but a half life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.’ Harry stared
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‘Firenze saved me, but he shouldn’t have done … Bane was furious … he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen … They must show that Voldemort’s coming back … Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me … I suppose that’s written in the stars as well.’
When Harry pulled back his sheets, he found his Invisibility Cloak folded neatly underneath them. There was a note pinned to it:
— CHAPTER SIXTEEN — Through the Trapdoor
— CHAPTER SEVENTEEN — The Man with Two Faces
‘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.
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.
‘Mere shadow and vapour … I have form only when I can share another’s body … but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds … Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks … you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the Forest … and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own … Now … why don’t you give me that Stone in your pocket?’
I killed your father first and he put up a courageous fight … but your mother needn’t have died … she was trying to protect you … Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain.’
‘But sir, 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.’
After all, to the well-organised 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 which are worst for them.’
‘Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.’
‘The truth.’ Dumbledore sighed. ‘It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.
‘Well … Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him 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.’
‘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 realise 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 for ever. 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.’
‘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.’
‘Professor Snape, Harry.’ ‘Yes, him – Quirrell said he hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?’ ‘Well, they did rather detest each other. Not unlike yourself and Mr Malfoy. And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive.’ ‘What?’ ‘He saved his life.’ ‘What?’ ‘Yes …’ said Dumbledore dreamily. ‘Funny, the way people’s minds work, isn’t it? Professor Snape couldn’t bear being in your father’s debt … I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father quits. Then he could go back to hating your father’s memory in
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‘How did I get the Stone out of the Mirror?’ ‘Ah, now, I’m glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that’s saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone – find it, but not use it – would be able to get it, otherwise they’d just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life.
‘I always said he was off his rocker,’ said Ron, looking quite impressed at how mad his hero was.
‘D’you think he meant you to do it?’ said Ron. ‘Sending you your father’s Cloak and everything?’ ‘Well,’ Hermione exploded, ‘if he did – I mean to say – that’s terrible – you could have been killed.’ ‘No, it isn’t,’ said Harry thoughtfully. ‘He’s a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don’t think it was an accident he let me find out how the Mirror worked. It’s almost like
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They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too.
