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// 5021
//== Noticing Confusion

// 5022
//Yakka foob mog. Grug pubbawup zink wattoom gazork. Chumble spuzz J. K. Rowling.

// 5023
//Professor Quirrell’s office hours consisted of 11:40 to 11:55 AM on Thursday.
//That was for all of his students in all years. It cost a Quirrell point just to
//knock on the door, and if he didn’t think your reason was worth his time, you
//would lose another fifty.

// 5024
//Harry knocked on the door.

// 5025
//There was a pause. Then a biting voice said, “I suppose you may as well come
//in, Mr. Potter.”

// 5026
//And before Harry could touch the doorknob, the door slammed open, hitting the
//wall with a sharp crack that sounded like something might have broken in the
//wood, or the stone, or both.

// 5027
//Professor Quirrell was leaning back in his chair and reading a suspiciously
//old-looking book, bound in night-blue leather with silver runes on the spine.
//His eyes had not moved from the pages. “I am not in a good mood, Mr. Potter.
//And when I am not a good mood, I am not a pleasant person to be around. For
//your own sake, conduct your business quickly and depart.”

// 5028
//A cold chill seeped from the room, as though it contained something that cast
//darkness the way lamps cast light, and which hadn’t been fully shaded.

// 5029
//Harry was a bit taken aback. __Not in a good mood__ didn’t quite seem to
//cover it. What could be bothering Professor Quirrell this much…?

// 5030
//Well, you didn’t just walk out on friends when they were feeling down. Harry
//cautiously advanced into the room. “Is there anything I can do to help -”

// 5031
//“No,” said Professor Quirrell, still not looking up from the book.

// 5032
//“I mean, if you’ve been dealing with idiots and want someone sane to talk to…”

// 5033
//There was a surprisingly long pause.

// 5034
//Professor Quirrell slammed the book shut and it vanished with a small
//whispering sound. He looked up, then, and Harry flinched.

// 5035
//“I suppose an intelligent conversation would be pleasant for __me__ at
//this point,” said Professor Quirrell in the same biting tone that had invited
//Harry to enter. “__You__ are not likely to find it so, be warned.”

// 5036
//Harry drew a deep breath. “I promise I won’t mind if you snap at me. What
//happened?”

// 5037
//The cold in the room seemed to deepen. “A sixth-year Gryffindor cast a curse at
//one of my more promising students, a sixth-year Slytherin.”

// 5038
//Harry swallowed. “What… sort of curse?”

// 5039
//And the fury on Professor Quirrell’s face was no longer contained. “Why bother
//to ask an unimportant question like that, Mr. Potter? Our friend the sixth-year
//Gryffindor did not think it was important!”

// 5040
//“Are you __serious?__” Harry said before he could stop himself.

// 5041
//“No, I’m in a terrible mood today for no particular reason. __Yes I’m
//serious, you fool!__ He didn’t know. He __actually didn’t know.__ I didn’t
//believe it until the Aurors confirmed it under Veritaserum. He is in his
//__sixth year at Hogwarts__ and he cast a high-level Dark curse
//__without knowing what it did.__”

// 5042
//“You don’t mean,” Harry said, “that he was __mistaken__ about what it did,
//that he somehow read the wrong spell description -”

// 5043
//“All he knew was that it was meant to be directed at an enemy. He __knew__
//that was all he knew.”

// 5044
//And that had been enough to cast the spell. “I do not understand how anything
//with that small a brain could walk upright.”

// 5045
//“Indeed, Mr. Potter,” said Professor Quirrell.

// 5046
//There was a pause. Professor Quirrell leaned forward and picked up the silver
//inkwell from his desk, turning it around in his hands, staring at it as though
//wondering how he could go about torturing an inkwell to death.

// 5047
//“Was the sixth-year Slytherin seriously hurt?” said Harry.

// 5048
//“Yes.”

// 5049
//“Was the sixth-year Gryffindor raised by Muggles?”

// 5050
//“__Yes.__”

// 5051
//“Is Dumbledore refusing to expel him because the poor boy didn’t know?”

// 5052
//Professor Quirrell’s hands whitened on the inkwell. “__Do you have a
//point, Mr. Potter, or are you just stating the obvious?__”

// 5053
//“Professor Quirrell,” said Harry gravely, “all the Muggle-raised students in
//Hogwarts need a safety lecture in which they are told the things so
//ridiculously obvious that no wizardborn would ever think to mention them. Don’t
//cast curses if you don’t know what they do, if you discover something dangerous
//don’t tell the world about it, don’t brew high-level potions without
//supervision in a bathroom, the reason why there are underage magic laws, all
//the basics.”

// 5054
//“Why?” said Professor Quirrell. “Let the stupid ones die before they breed.”

// 5055
//“If you don’t mind losing a few sixth-year Slytherins along with them.”

// 5056
//The inkwell caught fire in Professor Quirrell’s hands and burned with a
//terrible slowness, hideous black-orange flames tearing at the metal and seeming
//to take tiny bites from it, the silver twisting as it melted, as though it were
//trying and failing to escape. There was a tinny shrieking sound, as though the
//metal were screaming.

// 5057
//“I suppose you are right,” Professor Quirrell said with a resigned smile. “I
//shall design a lecture to ensure that Muggleborns who are too stupid to live do
//not take anyone valuable with them as they depart.”

// 5058
//The inkwell went on screaming and burning in Professor Quirrell’s hands, tiny
//droplets of metal, still on fire, now dripping to the desk, as though the
//inkwell were crying.

// 5059
//“You’re not running away,” observed Professor Quirrell.

// 5060
//Harry opened his mouth -

// 5061
//“If you’re about to say you’re not scared of me,” said Professor Quirrell,
//“__don’t.__”

// 5062
//“You are the scariest person I know,” Harry said, “and one of the top reasons
//for that is your control. I simply can’t imagine hearing that you’d hurt
//someone you had not made a deliberate decision to hurt.”

// 5063
//The fire in Professor Quirrell’s hands winked out, and he carefully placed the
//ruined inkwell on his desk. “You say the nicest things, Mr. Potter. Have you
//been taking lessons in flattery? From, perhaps, Mr. Malfoy?”

// 5064
//Harry kept his expression blank, and realized one second too late that it might
//as well have been a signed confession. Professor Quirrell didn’t care what your
//expression looked like, he cared which states of mind made it likely.

// 5065
//“I see,” said Professor Quirrell. “Mr. Malfoy is a useful friend to have, Mr.
//Potter, and there is much he can teach you, but I hope you have not made the
//mistake of trusting him with too many confidences.”

// 5066
//“He knows nothing which I fear becoming known,” said Harry.

// 5067
//“Well done,” said Professor Quirrell, smiling slightly. “So what was your
//original business here?”

// 5068
//“I think I’m done with the preliminary exercises in Occlumency and ready for
//the tutor.”

// 5069
//Professor Quirrell nodded. “I shall conduct you to Gringotts this Sunday.” He
//paused, looking at Harry, and smiled. “And we might even make it a little
//outing, if you like. I’ve just had a pleasant thought.”

// 5070
//Harry nodded, smiling back.

// 5071
//As Harry left the office, he heard Professor Quirrell humming a small tune.

// 5072
//Harry was glad he’d been able to cheer him up.

// 5073
//That Sunday there seemed to be a rather large number of people whispering in
//the hallways, at least when Harry Potter walked past them.

// 5074
//And a lot of pointed fingers.

// 5075
//And a great deal of female giggling.

// 5076
//It had started at breakfast, when someone had asked Harry if he’d heard the
//news, and Harry had quickly interrupted and said that if the news was written
//by Rita Skeeter then he didn’t want to __hear__ about it, he wanted to
//read it in the paper himself.

// 5077
//It had then developed that not many students at Hogwarts got copies of the
//__Daily Prophet,__ and that the copies which had not already been bought
//up from their owners were being passed around in some sort of complicated order
//and nobody really knew who had one at the moment…

// 5078
//So Harry had used a Quieting Charm and gone on to eat his breakfast, trusting
//to his seat-mates to wave off the many, many questioners, and doing his best to
//ignore the incredulity, the laughter, the congratulatory smiles, the pitying
//looks, the fearful glances, and the dropped plates as new people came down for
//breakfast and heard.

// 5079
//Harry was feeling __rather__ curious, but it __really__ wouldn’t have
//done to spoil the artistry by hearing it secondhand.

// 5080
//He’d done homework in the safety of his trunk for the next couple of hours,
//after telling his dormmates to come get him if anyone found him an original
//newspaper.

// 5081
//Harry was still ignorant at 10AM, when he’d left Hogwarts in a carriage with
//Professor Quirrell, who was in the front right, and currently slumped over in
//zombie-mode. Harry was sitting diagonally across, as far away as the carriage
//allowed, in the back left. Even so, Harry had a constant feeling of doom as the
//carriage rattled over a small path through a section of non-forbidden forest.
//It made it a bit hard to read, especially since the material was difficult, and
//Harry suddenly wished he was reading one of his childhood science fiction books
//instead -

// 5082
//“We’re outside the wards, Mr. Potter,” said Professor Quirrell’s voice from the
//front. “Time to go.”

// 5083
//Professor Quirrell carefully disembarked from the carriage, bracing himself as
//he stepped down. Harry, on his own side, jumped off.

// 5084
//Harry was wondering exactly how they’d get there when Professor Quirrell said
//“Catch!” and threw a bronze Knut at him, and Harry caught it without thinking.

// 5085
//A giant intangible hook caught at Harry’s abdomen and yanked him back, hard,
//only without any sense of acceleration, and an instant later Harry was standing
//in the middle of Diagon Alley.

// 5086
//(__Excuse me, what?__ said his brain.)

// 5087
//(__We just teleported,__ explained Harry.)

// 5088
//(__That didn’t used to happen in the ancestral environment,__ Harry’s
//brain complained, and disoriented him.)

// 5089
//Harry staggered as his feet adjusted to the brick of the street instead of the
//dirt of the forest corridor they had been traversing. He straightened, still
//dizzy, with the bustling witches and wizards seeming to sway slightly, and the
//cries of the shopkeepers seeming to move around in his hearing, as his brain
//tried to place a world to be located in.

// 5090
//Moments later, there was a sort of sucking-popping sound from a few paces
//behind Harry, and when Harry turned to look Professor Quirrell was there.

// 5091
//“Do you mind -” said Harry, at the same time as Professor Quirrell said, “I’m
//afraid I -”

// 5092
//Harry stopped, Professor Quirrell didn’t.

// 5093
//“- need to go off and set something in motion, Mr. Potter. As it has been
//thoroughly explained to me that I am responsible for anything whatsoever that
//happens to you, I’ll be leaving you with -”

// 5094
//“Newsstand,” Harry said.

// 5095
//“Pardon?”

// 5096
//“Or anywhere I can buy a copy of the __Daily Prophet.__ Put me there and
//I’ll be happy.”

// 5097
//Shortly after, Harry had been delivered into a bookstore, accompanied by
//several quietly spoken, ambiguous threats. And the shopkeeper had gotten
//__less__ ambiguous threats, judging by the way he had cringed, and how his
//eyes now kept darting between Harry and the entrance.

// 5098
//If the bookstore burned down, Harry was going to stick around in the middle of
//the fire until Professor Quirrell got back.

// 5099
//Meanwhile -

// 5100
//Harry took a quick glance around.

// 5101
//The bookstore seemed rather small and shoddy, with only four rows of bookcases
//visible, and the nearest shelf Harry’s eyes had jumped to seemed to deal with
//narrow, cheaply bound books with grim titles like __The Massacre of
//Albania in the Fifteenth Century.__

// 5102
//First things first. Harry stepped over to the seller’s counter.

// 5103
//“Pardon me,” said Harry, “One copy of the __Daily Prophet,__ please.”

// 5104
//“Five Sickles,” said the shopkeeper. “Sorry, kid, I’ve only got three left.”

// 5105
//Five Sickles dropped onto the counter. Harry had the feeling he could have
//bargained him down a couple of points, but at this point he didn’t really care.

// 5106
//The shopkeeper’s eyes widened and he seemed to really notice Harry for the
//first time. “__You!__”

// 5107
//“__Me!__”

// 5108
//“Is it __true?__ Are you __really__ -”

// 5109
//“__Shut up!__ Sorry, I’ve been waiting __all day__ to read this in
//the original newspaper instead of hearing about it secondhand, so please just
//__hand it over__, all right?”

// 5110
//The shopkeeper stared at Harry for a moment, then wordlessly reached under the
//counter and passed over one folded copy of the __Daily Prophet__.

// 5111
//The headline read:

// 5112
//__HARRY POTTER__

// 5113
//__SECRETLY BETROTHED__

// 5114
//__TO GINEVRA WEASLEY__

// 5115
//Harry stared.

// 5116
//He lifted the newspaper off the counter, softly, reverently, like he was
//handling an original Escher artwork, and unbent it to read…

// 5117
//…about the evidence that had convinced Rita Skeeter.

// 5118
//…and some interesting further details.

// 5119
//…and yet more evidence.

// 5120
//Fred and George had cleared it with their sister first, surely? Yes, of course
//they had. There was a picture of Ginevra Weasley sighing longingly over what
//Harry could see, looking closely, was a photo of himself. That had to have been
//staged.

// 5121
//But __how__ on __Earth…?__

// 5122
//Harry was sitting in a cheap folding chair, rereading the newspaper for the
//fourth time, when the door whispered softly and Professor Quirrell came back
//into the shop.

// 5123
//“My apologies for - __what__ in Merlin’s name are you reading?”

// 5124
//“It would seem,” said Harry, awe in his voice, “that one Mr. Arthur Weasley was
//placed under the Imperius Curse by a Death Eater whom my father killed, thus
//creating a debt to House Potter, which my father demanded be repaid by the hand
//in marriage of the recently born Ginevra Weasley. Do people actually do that
//sort of thing around here?”

// 5125
//“How could Miss Skeeter __possibly__ be fool enough to believe -”

// 5126
//And Professor Quirrell’s voice cut off.

// 5127
//Harry had been reading the newspaper held vertically and unfolded, which meant
//that Professor Quirrell, from where he was standing, could see the text
//underneath the headline.

// 5128
//The look of shock on Professor Quirrell’s face was a work of art almost on par
//with the newspaper itself.

// 5129
//“Don’t worry,” said Harry cheerfully, “it’s all fake.”

// 5130
//From elsewhere in the store, he heard the shopkeeper gasp. There was the sound
//of a stack of books falling over.

// 5131
//“Mr. Potter…” Professor Quirrell said slowly, “are you __sure__ of that?”

// 5132
//“Quite sure. Shall we go?”

// 5133
//Professor Quirrell nodded, looking rather abstracted, and Harry folded the
//newspaper back up, and followed him out of the door.

// 5134
//For some reason Harry didn’t seem to be hearing any street noises now.

// 5135
//They walked in silence for thirty seconds before Professor Quirrell spoke.
//“Miss Skeeter viewed the original proceedings of the restricted Wizengamot
//session.”

// 5136
//“Yes.”

// 5137
//“The __original proceedings of the Wizengamot.__”

// 5138
//“Yes.”

// 5139
//“__I__ would have trouble doing that.”

// 5140
//“Really?” said Harry. “Because if my suspicions are correct, this was done by a
//Hogwarts student.”

// 5141
//“That is beyond impossible,” Professor Quirrell said flatly. “Mr. Potter… I
//regret to say that this young lady expects to marry you.”

// 5142
//“But __that__ is improbable,” said Harry. “To quote Douglas Adams, the
//impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.”

// 5143
//“I see your point,” Professor Quirrell said slowly. “But… no, Mr. Potter. It
//may be impossible, but I can __imagine__ tampering with the Wizengamot
//proceedings. It is __unimaginable__ that the Grand Manager of Gringotts
//should affix the seal of his office in witness to a false betrothal contract,
//and Miss Skeeter personally verified that seal.”

// 5144
//“Indeed,” said Harry, “you would expect the Grand Manager of Gringotts to get
//involved with that much money changing hands. It seems Mr. Weasley was greatly
//in debt, and so demanded an additional payment of ten thousand Galleons -”

// 5145
//“__Ten thousand__ Galleons for a __Weasley?__ You could buy the
//daughter of a Noble House for that!”

// 5146
//“Excuse me,” Harry said. “I really have to ask at this point, do people
//actually do that sort of thing around here -”

// 5147
//“Rarely,” said Professor Quirrell, with a frown on his face. “And not at all, I
//suspect, since the Dark Lord departed. I suppose that according to the
//newspaper, your father just paid it?”

// 5148
//“He didn’t have any choice,” said Harry. “Not if he wanted to fulfill the
//conditions of the prophecy.”

// 5149
//“__Give me that,__” said Professor Quirrell, and the newspaper leaped out
//of Harry’s hand so fast that he got a paper cut.

// 5150
//Harry automatically put the finger in his mouth to suck on, feeling rather
//shocked, and turned to remonstrate with Professor Quirrell -

// 5151
//Professor Quirrell had stopped short in the middle of the street, and his eyes
//were flickering rapidly back and forth as an invisible force held the newspaper
//suspended before him.

// 5152
//Harry watched, gaping in open awe, as the newspaper opened to reveal pages two
//and three. And not much long after, four and five. It was like the man had cast
//off a pretense of mortality.

// 5153
//And after a troublingly short time, the paper neatly folded itself up again.
//Professor Quirrell plucked it from the air and tossed it to Harry, who caught
//it in sheer reflex; and then Professor Quirrell started walking again, and
//Harry automatically trudged after.

// 5154
//“No,” said Professor Quirrell, “that prophecy didn’t sound quite right to me
//either.”

// 5155
//Harry nodded, still stunned.

// 5156
//“The centaurs could have been put under an __Imperius__,” Professor
//Quirrell said, frowning, “__that__ seems understandable. What magic can
//make, magic can corrupt, and it is not unthinkable that the Great Seal of
//Gringotts could be twisted to another’s hand. The Unspeakable could have been
//impersonated with Polyjuice, likewise the Bavarian seer. And with
//__enough__ effort it might be possible to tamper with the proceedings of
//the Wizengamot. Do you have any idea how that was done?”

// 5157
//“I do not have one single plausible hypothesis,” said Harry. “I do know it was
//done on a total budget of forty Galleons.”

// 5158
//Professor Quirrell stopped short and whirled on Harry. His expression was now
//completely incredulous. “Forty Galleons will pay a competent ward-breaker to
//open a path into a home you wish to burglarize! Forty __thousand__
//Galleons __might__ pay a team of the greatest professional criminals in
//the world to tamper with the proceedings of the Wizengamot!”

// 5159
//Harry shrugged helplessly. “I’ll remember that the next time I want to save
//thirty-nine thousand, nine hundred and sixty Galleons by finding the right
//contractor.”

// 5160
//“I do not say this often,” said Professor Quirrell. “I am impressed.”

// 5161
//“Likewise,” said Harry.

// 5162
//“And who is this incredible Hogwarts student?”

// 5163
//“I’m afraid I couldn’t say.”

// 5164
//Somewhat to Harry’s surprise, Professor Quirrell made no objection to this.

// 5165
//They walked in the direction of the Gringotts building, thinking, for they were
//neither of them the sort of person who would give up on the problem without
//considering it for at least five minutes.

// 5166
//“I have a feeling,” Harry said finally, “that we’re coming at this from the
//wrong angle. There’s a tale I once heard about some students who came into a
//physics class, and the teacher showed them a large metal plate near a fire. She
//ordered them to feel the metal plate, and they felt that the metal nearer the
//fire was cooler, and the metal further away was warmer. And she said, write
//down your guess for why this happens. So some students wrote down ‘because of
//how the metal conducts heat’, and some students wrote down ‘because of how the
//air moves’, and no one said ‘this just seems impossible’, and the real answer
//was that before the students came into the room, the teacher turned the plate
//around.”

// 5167
//“Interesting,” said Professor Quirrell. “That does sound similar. Is there a
//moral?”

// 5168
//“That your strength as a rationalist is your ability to be more confused by
//fiction than by reality,” said Harry. “If you’re equally good at explaining any
//outcome, you have zero knowledge. The students thought they could use words
//like ‘because of heat conduction’ to explain anything, even a metal plate being
//cooler on the side nearer the fire. So they didn’t notice how confused they
//were, and that meant they couldn’t be more confused by falsehood than by truth.
//If you tell me that the centaurs were under the __Imperius__ Curse, I
//still have the feeling of something being not quite right. I notice that I’m
//still confused even after hearing your explanation.”

// 5169
//“Hm,” said Professor Quirrell.

// 5170
//They walked on further.

// 5171
//“I don’t suppose,” said Harry, “that it’s possible to __actually__ swap
//people into alternate universes? Like, this isn’t our own Rita Skeeter, or they
//temporarily sent her somewhere else?”

// 5172
//“If __that__ was possible,” Professor Quirrell said, his voice rather dry,
//“would I still be __here?__”

// 5173
//And just as they were almost to the huge white front of the Gringotts building,
//Professor Quirrell said:

// 5174
//“Ah. Of __course.__ I see it now. Let me guess, the Weasley twins?”

// 5175
//“__What?__” said Harry, his voice going up another octave in pitch.
//”__How?__”

// 5176
//“I’m afraid I couldn’t say.”

// 5177
//“…That is __not__ fair.”

// 5178
//“I think it is extremely fair,” said Professor Quirrell, and they entered
//through the bronze doors.

// 5179
//The time was just before noon, and Harry and Professor Quirrell were seated at
//the foot and head of a wide, long, flat table, in a sumptuously appointed
//private room with thoroughly cushioned couches and chairs along the walls, and
//soft curtains hanging everywhere.

// 5180
//They were about to eat lunch in Mary’s Place, which Professor Quirrell had said
//was known to him as one of the best restaurants in Diagon Alley, especially for
//- his voice had dropped meaningfully - __certain purposes.__

// 5181
//It was the nicest restaurant that Harry had ever been in, and it was really
//eating away at Harry that Professor Quirrell was treating __him__ to the
//meal.

// 5182
//The first part of the mission, to find an Occlumency instructor, had been a
//success. Professor Quirrell, smiling evilly, had told Griphook to recommend the
//best he knew, and not worry about the expense, since Dumbledore was paying it;
//and the goblin had smiled in return. There might have been a certain amount of
//smiling on Harry’s part as well.

// 5183
//The second part of the plan had been a complete failure.

// 5184
//Harry was not allowed to take money out of his vault without Headmaster
//Dumbledore or some other school official present, and Professor Quirrell had
//not been given the vault key. Harry’s Muggle parents could not authorize it
//because they were Muggles, and Muggles had around the same legal standing as
//children or kittens: they were cute, so if you tortured them in public you
//could get arrested, but they weren’t __people__. Some reluctant provision
//had been made for recognizing the parents of Muggleborns as human in a limited
//sense, but Harry’s adoptive parents did not fall into that legal category.

// 5185
//It seemed that Harry was effectively an orphan in the eyes of the wizarding
//world. As such, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, or his designees __within__
//the school system, were Harry’s guardians until he graduated. Harry
//__could__ breathe without Dumbledore’s permission, but only so long as the
//Headmaster did not specifically prohibit it.

// 5186
//Harry had then asked if he could simply __tell__ Griphook how to diversify
//his investments beyond stacks of gold coins sitting in his vault.

// 5187
//Griphook had stared blankly and asked what ‘diversify’ meant.

// 5188
//Banks, it seemed, did not make investments. Banks stored your gold coins in
//secure vaults for an annual fee.

// 5189
//The wizarding world did not have a concept of stock. Or equity. Or
//corporations. Businesses were run by families out of their personal vaults.

// 5190
//Loans were made by rich people, not banks. Though Gringotts would witness the
//contract, for a fee, and enforce its collection, for a much larger fee.

// 5191
//Good rich people let their friends borrow money and pay it back whenever.
//__Bad__ rich people charged you __interest.__

// 5192
//There was no secondary market in loans.

// 5193
//Evil rich people charged you annual interest rates of at least 20//.

// 5194
//Harry had stood up, turned away, and rested his head against the wall.

// 5195
//Harry had asked if he needed the Headmaster’s permission before he could start
//a bank.

// 5196
//Professor Quirrell had interrupted at this point, saying that it was time for
//lunch, and swiftly conducted a fuming Harry out of the bronze doors of
//Gringotts, through Diagon Alley, and to a fine restaurant called Mary’s Place,
//where a room had been reserved for them. The owner had looked shocked at seeing
//Professor Quirrell accompanied by Harry Potter, but had conducted them to the
//room without complaint.

// 5197
//And Professor Quirrell had quite deliberately announced that he would pay the
//bill, seeming to rather enjoy the look on Harry’s face.

// 5198
//“No,” said Professor Quirrell to the waitress, “we will not require menus. I
//will have the daily special accompanied by a bottle of Chianti, and Mr. Potter
//will have the Diracawl soup to start, followed by a plate of Roopo balls, and
//treacle pudding for dessert.”

// 5199
//The waitress, clad in robes that still looked severe and formal while being
//rather shorter than usual, bowed respectfully and departed, shutting the door
//behind her.

// 5200
//Professor Quirrell waved a hand in the direction of the door, and a bolt slid
//shut. “Note the bolt on the inside. This room, Mr. Potter, is known as Mary’s
//Room. It happens to be proof against all scrying, and I do mean __all;__
//Dumbledore himself could detect nothing of what happens here. Mary’s Room is
//used by two kinds of people. The first sort are engaged in illicit dalliances.
//And the second sort lead interesting lives.”

// 5201
//“__Really,__” said Harry.

// 5202
//Professor Quirrell nodded.

// 5203
//Harry’s lips were parted in anticipation. “It would be a waste to just sit here
//and eat lunch, then, without doing anything special.”

// 5204
//Professor Quirrell grinned, then took out his wand and flicked it in the
//direction of the door. “Of course,” he said, “people who lead interesting lives
//take precautions more __thorough__ than the dalliers. I have just sealed
//us in. Nothing will now pass in or out of this room - through the crack under
//the door, for example. And…”

// 5205
//Professor Quirrell then spoke no fewer than four different Charms, none of
//which Harry recognized.

// 5206
//“Even that does not __really__ suffice,” said Professor Quirrell. “If we
//were doing anything of truly great import, it would be necessary to perform
//another twenty-three checks besides those. If, say, Rita Skeeter knew or
//guessed that we would come here, it is possible that she could be in this room
//wearing the true Cloak of Invisibility. Or she could be an Animagus with a tiny
//form, perhaps. There are tests to rule out such rare possibilities, but to
//perform all of them would be arduous. Still, I wonder if I should do them
//anyway, just so as not to teach you bad habits?” And Professor Quirrell tapped
//a finger on his cheek, looking abstracted.

// 5207
//“It’s fine,” Harry said, “I understand, and I’ll remember.” Though he was a
//little disappointed that they weren’t doing anything of truly great import.

// 5208
//“Very well,” Professor Quirrell said. He leaned back in his chair, smiling
//broadly. “You wrought quite well today, Mr. Potter. The basic notion was yours,
//I’m sure, even if you delegated the execution. I don’t think we’ll be hearing
//much more from Rita Skeeter after this. Lucius Malfoy will not be pleased with
//her failure. If she’s smart, she’ll flee the country the instant she realizes
//she’s been fooled.”

// 5209
//A sinking sensation began to dawn in Harry’s stomach. “Lucius was behind Rita
//Skeeter…?”

// 5210
//“Oh, you didn’t realize that?” said Professor Quirrell.

// 5211
//Harry hadn’t thought about what would happen to Rita Skeeter afterward.

// 5212
//At all.

// 5213
//Not in the slightest.

// 5214
//But she would get fired from her job, __of course__ she would be fired,
//she might have children going through Hogwarts for all Harry knew, and now it
//was worse, much worse -

// 5215
//“Is Lucius going to have her killed?” Harry said in a barely audible voice.
//Somewhere in his head, the Sorting Hat was screaming at him.

// 5216
//Professor Quirrell smiled dryly. “If you have not dealt with journalists
//before, take it from me that the world gets a little brighter every time one
//dies.”

// 5217
//Harry jumped out of his chair with a convulsive movement, he had to find Rita
//Skeeter and warn her before it was too late -

// 5218
//“__Sit down__,” Professor Quirrell said sharply. “__No__, Lucius
//won’t kill her. But Lucius makes life __extremely__ unpleasant for those
//who serve him ill. Miss Skeeter will flee and start her life over with a new
//name. __Sit down,__ Mr. Potter; there is nothing you can do at this point,
//and you have a lesson to learn.”

// 5219
//Harry sat down, slowly. There was a disappointed, annoyed look on Professor
//Quirrell’s face that was doing more to stop him than the words.

// 5220
//“There are times,” Professor Quirrell said, his voice cutting, “when I worry
//that your brilliant Slytherin mind is simply wasted on you. Repeat after me.
//Rita Skeeter was a vile, disgusting woman.”

// 5221
//“Rita Skeeter was a vile, disgusting woman,” Harry said. He wasn’t comfortable
//saying it, but there didn’t seem to be any other possible actions, none at all.

// 5222
//“Rita Skeeter tried to destroy my reputation, but I executed an ingenious plan
//and destroyed __her__ reputation first.”

// 5223
//“Rita Skeeter challenged me. She lost the game, and I won.”

// 5224
//“Rita Skeeter was an obstacle to my future plans. I had no choice but to deal
//with her if I wanted those plans to succeed.”

// 5225
//“Rita Skeeter was my enemy.”

// 5226
//“I cannot possibly get anything done in life if I am not willing to defeat my
//enemies.”

// 5227
//“I have defeated one of my enemies today.”

// 5228
//“I am a good boy.”

// 5229
//“I deserve a special reward.”

// 5230
//“Ah,” said Professor Quirrell, who had been grinning a benevolent smile for the
//last few lines, “I see I have succeeded in catching your attention.”

// 5231
//That was true. And while Harry felt like he was being railroaded into something
//- no, that wasn’t just a feeling, he __had__ been railroaded - he couldn’t
//deny that saying those things, and seeing Professor Quirrell’s smile,
//__did__ make him feel better.

// 5232
//Professor Quirrell reached into his robes, the gesture slow and deliberately
//significant, and drew forth…

// 5233
//…a __book__.

// 5234
//It was different from any book Harry had ever seen, the edges and corners
//visibly misshapen; __rough-hewn__ was the phrase that came to mind, like
//it had been hacked out of a book mine.

// 5235
//“What is it?” breathed Harry.

// 5236
//“A diary,” said Professor Quirrell.

// 5237
//“Whose?”

// 5238
//“That of a famous person.” Professor Quirrell was smiling broadly.

// 5239
//“Okay…”

// 5240
//Professor Quirrell’s expression became more serious. “Mr. Potter, one of the
//requisites for becoming a powerful wizard is an excellent memory. The key to a
//puzzle is often something you read twenty years ago in an old scroll, or a
//peculiar ring you saw on the finger of a man you met only once. I mention this
//to explain how I managed to remember this item, and the placard attached to it,
//after meeting you a good deal later. You see, Mr. Potter, over the course of my
//life, I have viewed a number of private collections held by individuals who
//are, perhaps, not quite deserving of all that they have -”

// 5241
//“You __stole__ it?” Harry said incredulously.

// 5242
//“That is correct,” said Professor Quirrell. “Very recently, in fact. I think
//you will appreciate this particular item much more than the vile little man who
//held it for no other purpose than impressing his equally vile friends with its
//rarity.”

// 5243
//Harry was simply gaping now.

// 5244
//“But if you feel that my actions were incorrect, Mr. Potter, I suppose you
//needn’t accept your special present. Though of course I shan’t go to the
//trouble of stealing it __back__. So which is it to be?”

// 5245
//Professor Quirrell tossed the book from one hand to another, causing Harry to
//reach out involuntarily with a look of dismay.

// 5246
//“Oh,” said Professor Quirrell, “don’t worry about a little rough handling. You
//could toss this diary in a fireplace and it would emerge unscathed. In any
//case, I await your decision.”

// 5247
//Professor Quirrell casually threw the book up into the air and caught it again,
//grinning.

// 5248
//__No,__ said Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

// 5249
//__Yes__, said Ravenclaw. __What part of the word ‘book’ did you two
//not understand?__

// 5250
//__The theft part,__ said Hufflepuff.

// 5251
//__Oh, come on,__ said Ravenclaw, __you can’t seriously ask us to say
//no and spend the rest of our life wondering what it was.__

// 5252
//__It sounds like a net positive from a utilitarian standpoint,__ said
//Slytherin. __Think of it as an economic transaction which generates gains
//from trade, only without the trade part.____ Plus, __we __didn’t
//steal it and it won’t help anyone to have Professor Quirrell keep it.__

// 5253
//__He’s trying to turn you Dark!__ shrieked Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff
//nodded firmly.

// 5254
//__Don’t be a naive little boy,__ said Slytherin, __he’s trying to
//teach you Slytherin.__

// 5255
//__Yeah,__ said Ravenclaw. __Whoever owned the book originally was
//probably a Death Eater or something. It belongs with us.__

// 5256
//____

// 5257
//Harry’s mouth opened, then halted that way, an agonized look on his face.

// 5258
//Professor Quirrell seemed to be quite enjoying himself. He had balanced the
//book on its corner, on one finger, and was keeping it upright while humming a
//little tune.

// 5259
//There came a knock at the door.

// 5260
//The book vanished back into Professor Quirrell’s robes, and he rose up from his
//chair. Professor Quirrell started to walk over to the door -

// 5261
//- and staggered, suddenly lurching into the wall.

// 5262
//“It’s all right,” said Professor Quirrell’s voice, which suddenly sounded a lot
//weaker than usual. “Sit down, Mr. Potter, it’s just a dizzy spell. Sit down.”

// 5263
//Harry’s fingers gripped the edge of his chair, uncertain as to what he should
//do, what he __could__ do. Harry couldn’t even get too close to Professor
//Quirrell, not unless he wanted to defy that sense of Doom -

// 5264
//Professor Quirrell straightened, then, his breathing seeming a bit heavy, and
//opened the door.

// 5265
//The waitress came in, bearing a platter of food; and as she distributed the
//plates, Professor Quirrell walked slowly back to the table.

// 5266
//But by the time the waitress had bowed her way out, Professor Quirrell was
//sitting upright and smiling again.

// 5267
//Still, the brief episode of whatever-it-was had decided Harry. He couldn’t say
//no, not after Professor Quirrell had gone to that much trouble.

// 5268
//“Yes,” Harry said.

// 5269
//Professor Quirrell held up a cautioning finger, then took out his wand again,
//locked the door again, and repeated three of the same Charms from earlier.

// 5270
//Then Professor Quirrell took the book back out of his robes and tossed it to
//Harry, who almost dropped it into his soup.

// 5271
//Harry shot Professor Quirrell a look of helpless indignation. You weren’t
//supposed to __do__ that with books, enchanted or not.

// 5272
//Harry opened the book with ingrained, instinctive care. The pages seemed too
//thick, with a texture unlike either Muggle paper or wizarding parchment. And
//the contents were…

// 5273
//…blank?

// 5274
//“Am I supposed to be seeing -”

// 5275
//“Look nearer the beginning,” said Professor Quirrell, and Harry (again with
//that helpless, ingrained care) turned a block of pages back.

// 5276
//The lettering was obviously handwritten, and very hard to read, but Harry
//thought the words might be Latin.

// 5277
//“What __is__ this?” said Harry.

// 5278
//“That,” said Professor Quirrell, “is a record of the magical researches of a
//Muggleborn who never came to Hogwarts. He refused his letter, and conducted his
//own small investigations, which never did get very far without a wand. From the
//description on the placard, I expect that his name bears rather more
//significance to you than to me. That, Harry Potter, is the diary of Roger
//Bacon.”

// 5279
//Harry almost fainted.

// 5280
//Nestled up against the wall, where Professor Quirrell had stumbled, glistened
//the crushed remains of a beautiful blue beetle.