Chapter 21
"D-d-damned Potter!" Quirrell—or the true Dark Lord inside him—roared in fury. In a blink he finished off my last defender and slammed something like a wide explosive shockwave in my direction. Not the strongest attack, but it covered an area and threatened to rip my invisibility cloak right off me.
Luckily, I almost completely avoided it. I was fast enough to slip behind the corner before the wave reached me. Only the aftershock grazed my back, stealing my breath for a moment and almost knocking me off my feet.
"I don't even want to imagine what would've happened if that hit me directly," I thought with wild adrenaline boiling in my blood and my heart hammering so loudly it drowned everything else out. Still, I didn't slow down.
Now I was one hundred percent certain that, with my current abilities, I couldn't handle a trained adult wizard even if I wanted to. That stuttering bastard cast with such speed and force that I wouldn't manage to form even a single defensive spell in a straight fight.
But I didn't need to fight! My call for help should already have reached the entire castle, which meant my only task was to run… and even that was turning into a serious problem. The Dark Lord crossed the distance between us in a single surge, using some kind of magic to accelerate his lunge, then fired several spell-bolts after me.
"Thank Merlin it wasn't another area blast!" I noted fiercely, surviving on raw reflexes, somehow dodging and barely losing speed… And I wasn't even looking back. My terrified mind sensed the attacks coming and guessed their shape well enough to keep me from dying.
I don't know what exactly happened. Maybe my magical sensitivity sharpened in that critical moment, letting me predict and dodge almost subconsciously. Maybe it was luck and my brain simply painted a picture after escaping the worst danger. Or maybe I was some kind of Seer—nothing is too stupid to be impossible in this cursed magical world.
But honestly, I wasn't thinking about any of that. Under the cloak and with my earlier "call for help" charm still echoing—conveniently muffling my footsteps too—I kept running from the Dark Lord. To my relief, he really couldn't pinpoint me immediately. After his first miss, he fired a few spells in the wrong direction, then jerked toward three Gryffindors who came racing in response to my shout.
Three reckless students—fourth or fifth year, maybe—burst straight into the path of the crazed professor, froze in fear, and became completely helpless… I only registered it at the edge of my mind, refusing to look back and watch what Quirrell might do to them.
"I didn't think students would be the first to respond… and not even sixth- or seventh-years!" I cursed inwardly, sprinting down a long corridor and slamming straight into Snape, who was charging at full speed. He knocked me down hard, apparently breaking my nose and tossing me several steps sideways.
"Professor Snape! That way! Quirrell's already attacked a few Gryffindors!" Despite the shock and the sudden change, I didn't waste time on small things. I threw off the invisibility cloak and pointed Snape down the corridor.
My bloody face didn't matter then. The fear and roaring adrenaline made pain feel irrelevant. My heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear my own voice.
"Get out of here, Potter!" Snape snapped coldly, giving a sharp nod at my warning before charging into the corridor I'd just fled.
And even in my half-crazed state, I didn't argue. I threw the cloak back over myself and bolted again—away from the Dark Lord.
My adrenaline-fogged mind decided the corridor Snape had come from would be safer, and beyond that was the Great Hall—always crowded, always full of students who could at least theoretically save me. I wasn't proud of using Hogwarts students as cover.
But I had no choice, and it's hard to weigh moral dilemmas when a murderous lunatic is chasing you. In that state you can only think about your own skin. Everything else vanishes.
"Aaagraaa!" A wild scream of pain erupted behind me—so loud and torn that I couldn't even tell whose it was. But my overstimulated mind threw up an image of my "beloved" Potions professor clutching what had been a healthy arm, completely helpless before the terrifying magic pouring from the pale, stuttering man.
"Bad," I realized instantly, and on pure instinct I dropped flat, rolling into the nearest wall—into one of the many niches and architectural recesses Hogwarts corridors were full of. I pressed myself into it so hard I practically stopped breathing.
Somewhere at the edge of awareness, I felt a light gust of passing magic—probably a scanning or search spell. I might've saved myself by dropping when I did. I couldn't be sure. I didn't know that sort of magic, and my heartbeat alone could probably be heard from the other end of the corridor… but—
The Dark Lord sprinted past me at full speed, nearly stepping on my back, and disappeared into the next corridor. Only Snape's weakened, pained groans remained somewhere behind me. I stayed crushed against the cold wall, not daring to move, trying not to breathe.
It didn't work well. My breathing was wrecked, and the stress I'd just lived through was the worst terror I'd felt in this life. Seriously. A madman mowing down everything in his way, hunting you relentlessly—it's terrifying. And the feeling of complete helplessness before a wizard of that level only sharpened the primal fear.
"I could feel his magic too clearly, and the emotions he aimed at me," I suddenly understood another layer of the horror. I'd always sensed other people's magic and directed attention…
But this time it was brighter. Sharper. I could almost "see" what was happening behind me. I reacted before I even consciously processed anything. At the end, I'd practically predicted that the Dark Lord would cast a search charm my way… That wasn't normal.
I'd never noticed this ability in myself before. I could blame it on stress and adrenaline heightening everything… but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. Even as my thoughts turned oddly detached, in reality I still clung to the wall, my whole body starting to shake.
"And the Dark Lord has been gone for five minutes already. Even Snape stopped fighting the pain—if my senses aren't lying, he's just collapsed and is lying there," I mocked myself without blaming Snape at all—more like I was mocking my own pathetic state.
My rational mind knew I'd done the right thing. And I'd been lucky. The Dark Lord had not caught me, and there was no other defender nearby.
"Kngh," I groaned, finally noticing several serious bruises and my blood-smeared face. The nosebleed hadn't stopped for five minutes. I'd also slammed myself up badly during my falls, without noticing at the time. Now that the adrenaline was fading, the pain arrived in full force.
"Potter, are you all right!?" Snape suddenly rushed up to me the moment I pulled off the invisibility cloak and tried to stand. It didn't go well… I must've hit my head too. My balance was spinning.
"Y-yes, Professor. I'm fine. Quirrell didn't see me—I hid by the wall in time," I nodded, as calmly as I could manage. I was surprised to see how visibly Snape exhaled in relief.
"Good…" Severus seemed to lose strength in his legs from sheer tension… And when had he even gotten up off the floor? I'd been too focused on my own senses to notice his presence.
"What happens to Professor Quirrell now… and where is he?" I asked quietly, wiping the blood off my face with my student robe. Then I used a cleaning charm to erase the drops of blood I'd left on the floor. No reason to leave my blood lying around.
"I don't know. But your shout should have been heard across the castle, so I suspect someone dealt with that… professor," Snape said darkly, watching my actions with a note of cold approval. "Tell me, Mr. Potter—why would the Defense professor decide to hunt you? It looked to me like he was pursuing you specifically."
"I'll tell you… as much as I can understand about that madman's attack," I nodded, not very confidently, fully aware I wouldn't escape a thorough interrogation. "But let's leave this corridor first… I'm afraid I might have broken something during that run," I lied slightly, simply not wanting to remain anywhere the Dark Lord might return to.
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