Chapter Seventeen The Man with Two Faces

Summary

(Harry stops Quirrell from stealing the SorcererÂ’s Stone and thereby wins the house cup for Gryffindor.)

Harry walks into the last chamber to find Quirrell examining the Mirror of Erised and trying to use it to find the Stone. Quirrell ties Harry up, answers HarryÂ’s questions about why it seemed Snape was the guilty party, and recounts how he was possessed by Voldemort while traveling the world. Quirrell, frustrated by the Mirror, makes Harry look at his own reflection and tell what he sees. Harry lies and tells Quirrell that he sees himself winning the House Cup, when in reality Harry sees himself finding the Stone and putting it in his pocket. Suddenly, magically, the Stone is in HarryÂ’s pocket. Harry tries to escape, but VoldemortÂ’s voice roots him to the spot.

Quirrell unwraps his turban and allows Voldemort, whose face is growing on the back of QuirrellÂ’s head, to talk to Harry face to face. Voldemort recounts to Harry what happened after their last encounter when Harry was a baby, mocks HarryÂ’s parents, and demands that Harry give him the Stone (which Voldemort telepathically knows is in HarryÂ’s pocket). Upon VoldemortÂ’s orders, Quirrell attempts to seize Harry. However, because of the love and sacrifice instilled in Harry by his mother, Quirrell cannot touch Harry and is burned when he tries to do so. Harry doesnÂ’t quite realize whatÂ’s happening, but he instinctively grabs (and thereby burns) QuirrellÂ’s face before blacking out from the pain upon his lightning-bolt scar.

Harry wakes up the next day in the infirmary: Dumbledore had rescued him at the last moment, shortly before he blacked out. The Stone has been destroyed, VoldemortÂ’s spirit has fled, and Quirrell has died. Dumbledore explains to Harry why Quirrell couldnÂ’t touch him, explains why Snape hates Harry, and reveals that it was he who gave Harry the invisibility cloak, which once belonged to James Potter. Hermione and Ron visit, and finally a tear-ridden Hagrid stops by and gives Harry an album of photos of HarryÂ’s parents.

At the end-of-the-year feast, SlytherinÂ’s victory is overturned and awarded to Gryffindor by last-minute points awarded to Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville for their actions the night before. After taking the Hogwarts Express back to KingÂ’s Cross, Harry says goodbye to Ron and Hermione.

There are numerous misleading clues that Snape, rather than Quirrell, was the one after Potter:

Chapter 7: HarryÂ’s scar hurt when Snape looked at him from the head table during the start-of-term banquet, but really it was VoldemortÂ’s gaze from the back of QuirrellÂ’s head that made HarryÂ’s scar burn.

Chapter 8: Snape hates Harry because Snape hated HarryÂ’s dad, not because Snape wants to kill Harry.

Chapter 11: Snape was staring at Harry and muttering under his breath when HarryÂ’s broom went out of control, but Snape was actually using a counter-curse against QuirrellÂ’s curse.

Chapter 11: Snape got his bite from Fluffy by trying to head Quirrell off, not by trying to get the Stone for himself.

Chapter 13: SnapeÂ’s refereeing HarryÂ’s second Quidditch match was actually a move by Snape to protect Harry, rather than harm him.

Chapter 13: Snape was threatening Quirrell in the forest in order to get Quirrell to stop trying for the Stone, not to pump Quirrell for information.

Chapter 15: Quirrell is sobbing by himself in his classroom because Voldemort, not Snape, is threatening him.

All these clues towards Snape being the primary suspect underlie the theme of deceptive appearances.

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