Chapter 9: CHAPTER NINE - Snape or Quirrell?
Attuoria finally finished reading all of Hermione's books on modern wizarding history after a month. None of the people in the books matched the initials "T.M.R.", but Attuoria didn't mind. The books were interesting.
She found out a bit more about Harry and Voldemort, although most books referred to him as You-Know-Who or The Dark Lord. How was it possible that Harry defeated one of the most powerful and evil wizards of all time as an infant? None of the books gave a proper explanation, only that it was a miracle, and that Harry must be indefinitely powerful in some sort of way.
Harry had been very busy. He was struggling to find a balance between Quidditch and school work. Luckily, Hermione was there to help him.
It was Friday evening, the night before the big game day. The Gryffindor common room was bustling with energy. The four friends sat together at a table next to a window. Hermione was checking through Harry and Ron's Charms homework.
"Ron! You skipped three questions!" Hermione scolded, pointing at the messy writing on a slightly crumpled piece of parchment.
Ron grunted, stuffing a biscuit into his mouth.
"Ron!"
"I want Attuoria to help me." said Ron stubbornly.
"Sure-"
"No!" Hermione slapped Attuoria's hand away. "She's just going to give you all the answers. How will you learn anything then?"
Ron groaned, "But at least I'll know the answers."
"I want my book back." Harry suddenly said, standing up. He had been quiet the whole time. "I'm going to find Snape."
"Well I'm not going with you." Ron said, and Hermione shook her head too.
"He didn't ask you to," said Attuoria. This was starting to become her trademark reaction.
"Shut up! I was just being nice!"
"What part of 'I'm not going with you' is nice?"
While Attuoria and Ron were arguing, Harry slipped away from the table. She had a feeling that something suspicious was happening. After all, Harry had been quiet the entire afternoon after Snape confiscated his library book. She regretted not reading his thoughts while she could, because now she was left without any knowledge of what Harry was up to.
When Harry came back, he looked slightly shaken up. Attuoria met his gaze and the image of Snape bandaging his bloody, wounded leg appeared in her mind. Now that was suspicious. Her intuitions weren't wrong.
"What happened?" Attuoria hissed as Harry approached the table.
"Did you get the book?" asked Ron.
Harry sat down and quietly told them about what he saw and heard. Snape had said something about the three-headed dog and Harry made a guess that he was trying to steal whatever the dog was guarding. Possibly the important package from vault seven hundred and thirteen.
Hermione was quick to deny it, but Ron stood with Harry.
"But the question is: what's that dog guarding?"
Attuoria kept the question at the back of her mind into the next day. The whole school had gathered in the stands at the Quidditch pitch, eager to spectate the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. But the true reason why there were so many people at this game was because it was Harry's first game (also the first Quidditch match to ever feature a first-year in the past century).
The stands were filled with conversation on how Harry was going to play. People made bets, held banners and cheered as the two teams made their appearance on the pitch.
Attuoria sat next to her fellow Gryffindors at the top row of the stands. Hagrid was squished up next to her, and she was pressed shoulder to shoulder with Hermione. Her other classmates held up a large banner that said "Potter for President" and changed colors every few seconds.
Although Quidditch was very exciting, Attuoria didn't enjoy it that much. She was only there to support Harry. She didn't know the rules (even Hermione did, because she read Quidditch through the Ages), and practically had no idea what was going on.
The most interesting part for her was Lee Jordan's commentary. As a Gryffindor himself, Attuoria could hear his clear bias for Gryffindor even when he's simply stating a fact. He was in the stands with the teachers, and Professor McGonagall was breathing down the back of his neck making sure his commentary was fair (Hint: it wasn't).
The match was eventful to say the least. The players sped around the court, some of them tossing a large red ball at each other, while others whacked an aggressive black ball around the pitch with a bat. Everyone except the Slytherins booed Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin team, when he body-blocked Harry and nearly sent him flying off his broom.
Soon after that, things got weird. Attuoria, having kept her eyes on Harry the entire time, was one of the first to notice that Harry's broom was acting up. The broom was acting like an aggressive bull or horse, trying to buck Harry off of it. It reminded her of a muggle event called rodeo.
Harry was rising higher and higher into the air, his broom still violently jerking in all directions.
"Do you see that?" said Attuoria to her friends, pointing up at Harry.
"Dunno what he thinks he's doing. If I didn' know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom... but he can't have..." Hagrid mumbled to himself.
"No." Attuoria immediately came up with a theory. "Someone's messing with his broom."
By now, the crowd was starting to notice Harry as well. They gasped and pointed. The broom had bucked him off, and he was now dangling from the broom, holding onto it with one hand.
"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus whispered.
"Can't have," said Hagrid, his voice shaking. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark Magic - no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."
It seems both Attuoria and Hermione came to a conclusion after that sentence. But Hermione was quicker and grabbed Hagrid's binoculars before she could. She looked through them at the crowd of teachers in their stand.
"What are you doing?" moaned Ron, his face turning ashy with worry.
"I knew it, Snape - look!" Hermione said with a gasp. Ron took the binoculars from her and looked.
"He's doing something - jinxing the broom," said Hermione.
"Give me the binoculars!" Attuoria demanded, and Ron reluctantly handed them to her.
Rather than focusing on Snape, Attuoria immediately found Quirrell. He sat with his face completely emotionless, arms folded on his lap, but Attuoria could see his mouth forming quick words. She then looked over at Snape, who was standing up, also muttering words. Both of them had their eyes on Harry.
But unlike Hermione and Ron, who suspected Snape, Attuoria had a feeling it was Quirrell's doing. She put the binoculars down and realised Hermione had gone. Ron seized it from her and immediately started tracking Harry again.
If Snape was trying to curse Harry's broom, then he wasn't doing a very good job hiding it. And if he was smart at all, he would've kept a low profile. After all, cursing a student's broom with dark magic was quite the atrocious act.
Quirrell, on the other hand, was hiding it very well. Not only did he blend in perfectly with the crowd of teachers who were all sitting down staring at Harry, his mouth was barely moving. He spoke, that's for sure, but inconspicuously. This didn't raise suspicion to most people either, as Quirrell was known for stuttering and mumbling to himself randomly. But Attuoria had entered his thoughts multiple times and knew there was something wrong with him. First the fake-Romanian-vampire story, then the troll on Halloween, and now he's muttering something at Harry's broom while trying very hard to hide it.
All of a sudden, the crowd gasped in awe and Attuoria saw that Harry had successfully clambered back onto his broom. His broom was no longer trying to kill him. More gasps rose as Harry dove towards the ground at full speed and hit the grass on the pitch. He didn't seem hurt, but he covered his mouth as if he was about to vomit.
And then he spat out the snitch. The Gryffindors (and basically everyone except the Slytherins) broke out in cheers, and Harry was carried out of the pitch by his teammates, who waved and smiled happily.
***
"It was Snape." said Ron. The four of them were at Hagrid's hut after the Quidditch match, discussing the unusual event that happened to Harry's broom. "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."
"Rubbish," said Hagrid. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"
The four kids exchanged looks, all of them thinking about the incident with Snape's bloodied leg.
"I think it was Quirrell."
"Quirrell!?" Everyone exclaimed at Attuoria's sentence.
"No way, have you seen him?" Ron said. "He's literally scared of you, just because you're from Romania!"
Hermione nodded. "Plus, why would he curse Harry's broom? Out of all people?"
"Well why would Snape?"
"Enough! Both of yeh, yer all wrong, okay?" said Hagrid loudly, causing the kids to jump slightly.
"Hagrid, I found out something about Snape." Harry began. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."
The teapot in Hagrid's hand fell to the floor with a clang.
"How do you know about Fluffy?" he asked.
"Fluffy?" All four kids said at the same time.
"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the -"
"Yes?" said Harry eagerly, and Attuoria wanted to slap him. Why did he interrupt Hagrid? He was literally about to say it!
"Now, don't ask me any more," said Hagrid gruffly, and the kids groaned. "That's top secret, that is."
"But Snape's trying to steal it," Harry tried to reiterate his point.
"Rubbish, Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."
"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" cried Hermione. "I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"
"I still think it's Quirrell!" Attuoria announced loudly.
"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid angrily. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Neither would Quirrell! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"
"Aha!" said Harry. "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"
Hagrid realised his mistake and turned red. "No! I'm not tellin' yeh anymore. Go now! Yeh've heard enough! Forget about it!"
The four kids quickly rushed out of Hagrid's hut before he could get even angrier. Only when they were nearing the castle again did Harry ask, "Attuoria, did you find out anything more from his thoughts?"
"No. I didn't look into his thoughts."
Ron and Harry groaned. "Are you kidding me?!" They yelled, and Attuoria just shrugged and apologised. To be fair, she liked Hagrid, so she respected his privacy. That's something she hadn't really been doing much. Guess she chose the wrong time for that.
"Wait, did you say 'look into his thoughts'?" Hermione said, a horrified look on her face.
Ron and Harry glanced at Attuoria guiltily. They thought Hermione knew.
"I can read thoughts." Attuoria said. The horror on Hermione's face grew.
"You've been reading people's thoughts this whole time?" Her face went pale.
"Don't worry. If I like you, I'll respect your privacy." said Attuoria with a smile. "In fact, I have never once tried to read your thoughts."
"But you've read other people's without telling them?"
"Yes."
"Have you read Malfoy's?" Harry piped up.
"Yeah, what does he think about?" said Ron, suddenly very interested in the conversation.
Attuoria laughed, thinking of all her interactions with Malfoy. They were all very interesting and actually quite funny. And then she remembered something.
"He called us all Gryffindorks. He also called me a mudblood. What's that?"
Ron gasped, and Hermione frowned.
"I-It's a disgusting thing to call someone. Dirty blood. Common blood. People use that against muggle-borns." Ron explained, looking as if he was about to puke just at the thought of the word.
Attuoria frowned. "I'm a muggle-born?"
This time Ron frowned. "Are you?"
"She doesn't have parents." Harry covered for her. "So no one knows. Come on, let's just go."
Well if that's what it is, then Malfoy had no reason to call me mudblood. For all I know, I don't even have parents, and I wasn't 'born' from any human. Attuoria thought to herself bitterly as they all headed upstairs. Why does he enjoy insulting people so much? It's not even funny.
Attuoria's friends were very invested in finding out who Nicolas Flamel was. Harry and Ron joined her and Hermione in the library whenever they could, searching the shelves for books that might help them. But just like Attuoria's search for "T.M.R.", they had no idea where to start, as the only thing they knew about Nicolas Flamel was his name, and that he's acquainted with Dumbledore.
Although she was curious about who Nicolas Flamel was, it wasn't as important to her as finding out who her mysterious messenger was. So while her three friends struggled with their search, she struggled with her own.
"If Attuoria was helping us, I'm pretty sure we would've found him already." Ron complained loudly, eying Attuoria. She had her head inside a rather large book, her long black hair falling in front of her face.
"I told you, she's trying to find out who 'T.M.R.' is." Hermione said, rolling her eyes at the amount of times Ron has said this.
"Who is T.M.R.?" asked Ron stupidly.
"That's what she's trying to figure out, idiot!" Hermione said, slapping him on the head lightly with a book.
"No, like, why is she looking for this person?"
Hermione shrugged. "She wouldn't tell me."
"Attuoria," Ron said, poking Attuoria's arm. "Who is T.M.R., and why are you looking for them?"
"Why are you looking for Nicolas Flamel?" Attuoria mumbled, returning a question.
"Because we think he might be related to what the three-headed dog is guarding." answered Harry. "And that's important," he added.
"Well, T.M.R. is important too. Whoever this person is, they're related to my life." she said, still keeping her answers quite vague. But her friends didn't push anymore.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
sayhellotohanna
sayhellotohanna ~
published 20/8/2020
reordered 23/8/2020
A/N : Totally irrelevant to the story, but I've just started school! And since the pandemic is still going, I'm taking online classes. After a stressful day of work, at least I can fall back into my favourite Wizarding World :)
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