Chapter 103 - The Final Action
I tightened my grip on my wand as I chanted,
"Expecto Patronum!"
A flood of silver-white light burst from my wand. The entire chamber shone as brightly as daylight.
In only a moment, my Patronus appeared.
It was the same creature as before. It looked like the combination of a unicorn and a thestral.
It had a single shining horn, large wings and a powerful body. I still did not know what such a creature should be called. Maybe it was an Alicorn or Pegasus. Or maybe it had some another name entirely.
The moment it fully appeared, it let out a long, proud neigh. The sound echoed through the whole chamber.
Then without waiting for my command, it directly charged.
It flew straight at Quirrell, whose body was now completely controlled by Voldemort.
For the first time I saw true panic on Voldemort's face.
His eyes widened in realisation.
"You..."
"It was you, boy!"
"You bloody-"
He never finished whatever he wanted to say.
The Patronus lowered its head. Its shining horn struck forward like a spear.
Voldemort reacted at the very last possible moment.
"Protego!"
A magical shield appeared before him.
The horn slammed into the shield with tremendous force. The shield did not completely break, but it shattered enough for the impact to throw Quirrell's body across the chamber.
Bang!
His body crashed into the stone wall. The loud sound echoed everywhere.
Quirrell's body slid down the wall and landed heavily on the floor. Judging by the way his body twisted, several bones had probably broken.
Before Voldemort or Quirrell could recover, the Patronus moved again.
It raised its head towards the ceiling and spread its wings wide. Silver light gathered around its body.
Then it opened its mouth.
Instead of breathing out, it pulled in.
A strange force filled the chamber. It was like an invisible current pulling something towards the Patronus.
I frowned as this was not my doing. I was only supplying ambient magic to support it.
Everything else was the Patronus doing it on its own.
Then Quirrell screamed. It was a scream filled with absolute terror.
At the same time, another scream echoed through the chamber which was cold and filled with rage.
It was two different voices from two different souls.
I watched in disbelief as something transparent slowly began to emerge from Quirrell's body, like his soul. Then another soul followed.
One soul looked pale and almost transparent which looked to me like the ghosts inside Hogwarts castle.
It was weak and frightened. This had to be Quirrell.
The second soul looked completely different. It was black and foul. Looking at it made me uncomfortable.
It felt wrong as if it should never have existed.
Quirrell's soul was transparent and just like other ghosts as whatever magic Quirrell did, his soul was a complete whole and undamaged. But Voldemort was different.
His soul had already been torn apart by the Horcruxes. Then it had been damaged further when Lily Potter's protection destroyed his body years ago.
Now what remained looked less like a human soul and more like a twisted shadow.
It was not simply dark magic. It was an abomination.
Both souls struggled desperately against the pull.
Quirrell cried out.
"No!"
"Please!"
"I don't want to die!"
Voldemort's face twisted in fury.
"This is impossible!"
"No Patronus can do this!"
His voice shook with disbelief. This was already the second time I had done something which defied his decades of knowledge.
The pull became stronger. Quirrell's soul was almost completely outside his body now.
Voldemort suddenly stopped resisting. With a savage push, Voldemort forced Quirrell's soul ahead of his own.
Using Quirrell as a shield, Voldemort broke free from the body.
The black soul shot across the chamber like dark smoke, straight towards the exit trying to escape.
But the Patronus reacted instantly.
While it continued pulling Quirrell's soul, at the same time, the horn on its forehead began shining brighter and brighter.
A beam of pure silver light burst from the horn. The beam crossed the chamber in an instant and struck Voldemort's fleeing soul just as it reached the doorway.
A terrible scream echoed through the room.
I thought nothing could have hurt him in this form but the silver beam truly hurt him even in his spirit form.
The silver light burned part of the black soul, but it was not enough to destroy him.
Still screaming, the black wraith fled through the doorway and disappeared into the darkness beyond.
Only Quirrell's weak soul remained which was already out of the body now. The Patronus drew it towards itself.
Unlike Voldemort's soul, Quirrell's soul no longer resisted. It floated into the Patronus's mouth.
The silver creature closed its mouth and for a brief moment, the light around it became brighter.
Its body looked slightly more solid than before.
Then everything came to an end, almost.
Quirrell's body had collapsed completely. Without either soul remaining inside, it had become nothing more than an empty shell.
Professor Quirrell was dead.
I stood there quietly.
He had made his own choices. But in the end, he had also become a victim of Voldemort.
'At least his body was in one piece and not turned into ash or dust like in the story. Lucky for him that Harry did not touch him.'
The Patronus slowly turned towards the body and lowered its head.
Another beam of silver-white light came from its horn.
The beam touched Quirrell's body and White and silver flames suddenly appeared.
They were unlike any fire I had ever seen or read about.
They did not gave any heat or made any smoke.
Within seconds, Quirrell's body began turning into white ash.
"Me and my loud mouth," I muttered to myself.
In less than half a minute, nothing remained except a small pile of pale ash.
'Well, it looks like he can't escape this destiny of ash.'
The flames disappeared and I expected the Patronus to vanish as well.
Instead, it remained standing. It slowly turned towards me.
Its calm silver eyes met mine. Then it looked towards the Mirror of Erised.
Then back at me.
Again it looked at the mirror.
I understood what it was conveying.
It was telling me that the work was not complete. There was something inside the mirror. Something important, that had to be taken out.
My eyes slowly moved towards the Mirror of Erised.
I knew that the Philosopher's Stone was hidden here. But what was in it that has interested my Patronus?
I thought about it while walking towards the mirror.
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End of Chapter 103 - Final Action