Quiet before the storm
Quiet before the storm
The last thing Oz needed to do this year was now obvious and somewhat simple, get rid of Quirrell. With the marauders map on him, Oz was able to log Quirrell's movements. The man in question was getting more and more restless as the days went by, nearing where the stone is supposed to be more and more. Oz noticed at this point that Quirrell was indeed doing things different compared to the canon. As a matter of fact, he seemed to be a lot more wary when thinking of going down there.
This situation would have been far more difficult for Oz without the map though. If he hadn't made his own personal map, Oz would have needed to keep tabs on Quirrell personally which would have been an extremely risky and bothersome venture. With the map though, Oz was able to keep up appearances with everyone around him without having to constantly disappear to monitor the man.
The year was rapidly coming to its end and there was only a couple months left until the end of the school term would fully rear its head. As the end of the term and year came rolling on closer and closer, Oz noticed that Quirrell's movements began to become more erratic. Oz could sense soon that the man would go to fetch the stone soon enough.
Seeing this event coming closer and closer, Oz arranged a talk with Harry in a private area of the Slytherin common room.
.
Oz was currently sitting in a corner of the Slytherin common room with his eyes glued to a newspaper. The newspaper was the Daily Prophet to be precise and Oz was keeping track of all the goings on in the community as of late. The Dumbledore and Lucius drama was still making appearances within the pages of the daily prophet, from what Oz could tell Rita wanted to milk those stories for all they were worth. This was well within Oz's expectations for that gossip hungry woman.
As Oz grinned to himself, he put away the daily prophet and proceeded to take a look at the marauders map again. Looking again at Quirrell's movements, Oz realised that he was becoming more and more erratic. Oz realizing now the reason why.
'This man is wary about if I'll intervene...'.
It seemed unfounded at first this theory. After all Quirrell only had a slight altercation with Oz in the forest however that one fight seemed to have put Oz in his radar much more than Oz first thought it would. This wasn't a bad thing though in Oz's eyes, when a person is paranoid its easier for them to slip up. Regardless of all this though, Oz knew that eventually Quirrell would need to go down into the third floor room in order to find the stone.
'I could have tried to confront him already however such an idea would be incredibly foolish. Down in that room with the mirror, he would be backed into a corner with only one escape route that I can block. If I attacked him now out in the open a multitude of problems could occur. It'll be best to just wait for him to make his move and take Harry down there...'.
The main reason why Oz needed Harry to be down there was in order to get his hands on the philosophers stone somehow. Oz didn't fully know the gist of how the stone really worked, 'wanting' the stone but not to 'use' it seemed like an incredibly odd set of circumstances needed in order to have the stone on hand.
While Oz was brooding, Harry finally made his appearance and walked over to Oz. Seeing this Oz gave Harry a warm smile.
"Hey there Harry, Studying hard?".
Harry sat down opposite Oz in the corner of the Slytherin common room.
"Definitely studying hard!... Anyway Oz im dying to know, why have you suddenly invited me for a private chat?".
Oz looked at the boy in front of him for a lone while.
"Have you heard about the third floor corridor room?".
Harrys eyes flinched slightly before replying.
"Thats the one that Dumbledore mentioned at the beginning of the year right?"
Seeing Harrys body language Oz was able to instantly gauge a few things. This boy had in fact visited that room already, probably with Daphne and maybe also Hermione in tow. That slight flinch in his eyes told Oz everything.
'Interesting... I mean this Harry is far more adventurous so im not too surprised at his inclination to explore, especially explore a room that was supposedly off limits. To be honest this emerald trio might also have an idea of what's down there...'.
Oz in his head could easily see a scenario where Daphne goaded both Hermione and Harry into checking out the third floor room, only to be greeted by a three headed dog. All it would have taken then was for them to all wonder 'what that dog is guarding' and harry would have linked it to the bag Hagrid grabbed when they first went to Diagon alley at the beginning of the year.
Oz gave Harry a sly grin as he continued.
"You know how I made us these maps? Well recently I've noticed a certain person going near that room constantly... Its made me incredibly suspicious at what their motives are".
Harry felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead as he looked at Oz. Oz chuckled inwardly at Harry's fright releasing that the boy probably thought Oz had found him, Daphne and Hermione out.
"W-whose going down there...?".
Oz slowly folded up his marauders map and put it in his pocket.
"Its the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher... Professor Quirrell".
Harrys face instantly showed a wave of relief followed by shock. As he sat in silence his face started to show a sign of understanding and clarity. Oz listened closely to Harry and heard him mumble under his breath.
"So thats why he... it makes sense now...".
Oz snapped Harry out of his stupor.
"Oi, Harry. You still there?".
Harry shot his head up at Oz's comment.
"Huh!? Ye-Yes im here Oz. So you really think Quirrell is going to steal what's down there?".
Oz looked at Harry with a smile.
"I never mentioned anything about stealing something Harry... Is there something you know and I don't?".
Harry's face instantly showed signs of shock as he sighed deeply at himself.
"O-Oz can I tell you something if you promise not to tell anyone else?".
Oz looked at Harry who looked desperate to explain his situations. He gave him a slight nod.
"I promise Harry. When do you ever see me talking to anyone else anyway besides our group?".
Harry let off a slight chuckle noting Oz's comment before explaining.
To sum it up, He admitted to Oz that when he and Daphne first became friends along with Hermione in tow, they explored a lot of the school in their free time. One day they were curious about the third floor room and decided to scope it out. Daphne pitched the idea of course to which Harry was interested and Hermione was wary. The trio ended up running into fluffy, the three headed dog in that room and instantly ran away. Eventually this situation led to Hermione and Daphne surmising what was down there, more Daphne than Hermione. Harry thought of the bag he saw Hagrid pick up at the beginning of the year and immediately the trio got to researching. At this point they had already figured out that in that room was the philosophers stone however this time round they had no idea that someone was out to steal it. Oz gathered this was solely because Quirrell was being far more cautious and not outright attacking Harry at times. After all, a lot of the suspicions in the original films arose from the quidditch matches of which now Harry isn't a part of due to Snape's dismissal of his talent.
After hearing all of Harry's story, Oz closed his eyes. In his mind the stage was set, all he had to do now was enlist Harry's help in order to stop Quirrell and he could finish this year off perfectly.
"So Quirrell is after the philosophers stone... Harry, when the time comes and that man makes his move we need to stop him, that stone is something that no bad person should get their hands on and judging by how he's scoping around that area at night we can assume he's not planning to go down there as a teacher to check it. He's out to steal it.".
Harry nodded at Oz's request.
"Should I tell Hermione and Daphne?".
Oz shook his head at Harry's final question on the matter.
"No, it'll be much easier with just us two".
============================================================
A/N - Its been over a week since I initially decided to slow down. It definitely has helped. Here on out chapters will be released a lot slower, maybe even every week one will come out. However in the future when I get more time I'll try and stock up on some so it can become more frequent :)
Hope you all enjoy this chapter :)