Chapter 11 - 11: 11: Desperate Quirrell?

Sagres checked the wall clock, then took out his pocket watch to confirm the time, and finally picked up his coat and left the office. The Quidditch House Cup was about to begin, and the students' enthusiasm was at an unprecedented high. He would be leaving Hogwarts for a while tomorrow morning. But before that, he still had to go to the Quidditch Pitch to watch the first match and then head to the Headmaster's office for a routine talk with Dumbledore. To be honest, he wasn't very interested in the upcoming Quidditch match. Although Professor McGonagall had specifically invited him to attend, Sagres had already decided that if he was in a hurry, he would leave midway. Sitting in the professors' reserved seats, Sagres looked around and noticed that it seemed all the professors were present, except for Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher. Of course, Dumbledore wasn't there either, but Sagres figured he was likely in his office observing every move on the Quidditch Pitch through a scrying mirror… Seated in the last row, Sagres's thoughts wandered. This was a Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, and Madam Hooch, the referee, had been a professional Quidditch player for a time in her youth. Professor McGonagall was different; she had served as Gryffindor's Seeker during her student years and even had a trophy with her name engraved in the trophy room, but she had never become a professional player. Unbeknownst to him, the match had already begun. Sagres sat idly in his seat. The Gryffindor team did have a good chance of winning, but it was just a chance. Slytherin's playing style was clearly unsportsmanlike, committing several fouls shortly after the match started. At this point, the Golden Snitch had not yet appeared, so Gryffindor's Seeker, Harry Potter, hadn't played his part at all. The score quickly reached 10–40, and the atmosphere on the field grew even more fervent. Suddenly, Harry, who had been hovering at the edge of the Quidditch Pitch, moved. He quickly dove down, clearly having spotted the Golden Snitch. At that moment, almost all the Chasers on the field stopped, forgetting they were in the middle of a match. The audience also held their breath, and the vast Quidditch Pitch fell into its quietest moment. Bang~ A loud crash. Immediately after, an angry shout came from the Quidditch Pitch. It turned out that Marcus, the Slytherin captain, had ridden his broom straight into Harry. Harry's small body was knocked into several spins in the air. By the time he finally managed to regain control of his broom, he found that the Golden Snitch had disappeared again. The Gryffindor team members glared at Marcus, and the spectators in the stands protested Slytherin's actions. Madam Hooch blew her whistle amidst the chaos, awarding Gryffindor a penalty shot… Everything was normal so far, but then some strange changes began to occur on the Quidditch Pitch. Harry Potter began to shake violently in the air, occasionally dropping vertically for a short distance before rising again unsteadily, accompanied by violent jolts. He seemed to have lost control of his broom. Everyone in the stands noticed the change in Harry's flight, and some Young Wizards suspected that Marcus's collision had damaged Harry's broom. Sagres rubbed his wand with his fingertips in the dark pocket of his robe; he had noticed the anomaly almost immediately. From his position in the Professors' stands, he could see two winding and tangled magical trails snaking upward. And the sources of these two magical powers were Snape, to his front left, and Quirrell, not far to his right! Sagres did not interrupt their spells; he wanted to see what they were trying to do. Although it was somewhat dangerous for Harry, it was still within his control for now. In Sagres's opinion, despite this being a Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, Snape would never be so deranged as to attack a student participant over an ordinary House Cup. On the other hand, Quirrell had been very suspicious since his return to Hogwarts, especially after the strange Troll invasion on Halloween. This Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, always wrapped in a scarf, had become even more peculiar. He would suddenly bump into students in the corridors, the chalk dust on his podium always contained strange herbal fragments, and there were even rumors around the school that he mumbled to himself in front of a mirror at midnight. Combining these behaviors with some of his own conjectures, Sagres had roughly reached a conclusion. Firstly, Quirrell's strange behavior raised many concerns, and Dumbledore—one of the strongest figures in the magical world—had surely noticed it as well. Sagres believed that the Headmaster's inaction was likely because he wanted to observe what Quirrell was really trying to do. The person Dumbledore valued so much certainly wasn't Quirrell himself. So, behind this abnormal Quirrell, there must be an even more astonishing truth hidden. The answer seemed self-evident; perhaps, just as Sagres suspected, Lord Voldemort was not dead. The Dark Lord who had disappeared for more than ten years had returned, and Quirrell was his minion, sent to test Hogwarts. He believed his guess was close to the truth, but Sagres still had questions. In his opinion, Quirrell's series of actions after entering Hogwarts were very puzzling; his disguise was ineffective, and his performance was clumsy. If he truly had been sent by Lord Voldemort to infiltrate Hogwarts for a mission, he should have patiently laid low. After all, true vipers often lurk in hidden corners, and his blatant approach would only draw everyone's attention to his presence. Especially this time, casting a spell on Harry in plain sight—even without Snape's intervention, with so many Professors present, how much harm could he actually cause Harry? So what was his purpose? To display his presence? To attract others' attention? A flash of realization crossed Sagres's mind. Yes—to attract attention! He suddenly thought, what if everything Quirrell had done wasn't on the Dark Lord's orders? What if it was all just his own choice? His thoughts became clearer. Sagres recalled Quirrell's series of actions and realized that perhaps his purpose wasn't to cause harm—he seemed to be desperately trying to attract others' attention. Like a coerced hostage, trying every means possible to ask for help. Thinking of this, Sagres looked at Harry, who was about to be thrown off his broom, and immediately drew his wand and swished it in the air. "Finite Incantatem." With that quiet incantation, Harry on the Quidditch Pitch finally "tamed" his broom. ... Below the Professors' stands, Hermione looked at her wand in surprise; the fire she had just lit on Snape's robes had suddenly gone out with a quiet Nox. At the same time, a gasp came from the audience, and Hermione looked through the gap, only to see that Harry had regained control of his broom and had once again spotted the Golden Snitch. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. The reason she was here was entirely because, when Harry's broom lost control, she had observed through her binoculars that Snape was casting a spell on Harry. She had read in a book that this continuous Dark Arts spell required the caster to maintain eye contact with the target while muttering incantations—and Snape's actions just now matched that description perfectly. She had seen it clearly through the binoculars; even if Dumbledore were here, it wouldn't change what she saw. So, after realizing why Harry was in danger, Hermione immediately displayed the courage of a Young Gryffindor. She briefly explained the situation, shoved the brass binoculars into Ron's arms, and set off for the Professors' stands to create a distraction. Honestly, if it hadn't been for Sagres's counter-spell, she might have succeeded. A confused Hermione had just returned to her seat when an excited Ron grabbed her and vividly recounted what he had seen through the binoculars. That was when she learned that, just before Harry's broom returned to normal—when she had lit Snape's robes on fire—Professor Greengrass had taken out his wand and swished it in the air toward the out-of-control Harry, and then everything returned to normal. No wonder she had vaguely heard someone casting a spell from below the stands; now that she thought about it, it had indeed been Professor Greengrass's voice. "Finite Incantatem"—she remembered the spell. It sounded somewhat like "Stop the spell." She made a mental note to look it up in the Hogwarts Library after the match. ... Sagres did not know that their confrontation in the stands had been observed from beginning to end. Quirrell, after his spell was interrupted, left the stands in a hurry, and Snape also followed quickly behind him. Seeing Harry Potter, now free from danger, finally catch the Snitch, Sagres stood up, patted the dust from his robes, and left the Quidditch Pitch amidst the cheers of Gryffindor's victory.