64 Love

"AAAARGH!"

Quirrell screamed, his face blistering, too, and then Harry knew: Quirrell couldn't touch his bare skin, not without suffering terrible pain -- his only chance was to keep hold of Quirrell, keep him in enough pain to stop him from moving.

"Keep it up." Draco said struggling to keep the rope tied in.

They could only hear Quirrell's terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!" and other voices, maybe in Harry's own head, crying, "Harry! Harry!"

Quirrell soon disintegrated into nothing as the rope fell down. Voldemort soul apparition floated around and disappeared escaping through the wall.

Draco and Harry sighed in relief,

"How did you know?" Harry asked panting heavily.

"When you pushed him, you touched his hands and it started burning." Draco said panting as well, he had forgotten about the curse on Voldemort that Harry could trigger. Draco clenched his teeth in pain, he was sure that he had sprained or maybe even fractured his ankle since it was hurting like hell.

"Oh!.." Harry said weakly slowly fainting on the spot.

Draco slowly crawled towards Harry, taking the philosopher's stone out from his pocket.

"Phew!" Draco sighed in relief looking at the stone in his hand which shined blood red in color, he quickly put it in inside one of his pouches. He laid back on the ground closing his eyes. 'It was really a close encounter.'

Draco woke up in a bed with light shining above his head. He heard Dumbledore and Harry chatting.

"Good afternoon, Harry," said Dumbledore. Harry stared at him. Then he remembered: "Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! He's got the Stone! Sir, quick --"

"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times," said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone."

Harry remembered what happened as he sighed in relief, he knew Quirrell was gone, "But.."

"Harry, please relax, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out."

Harry swallowed and looked around him. He realized he must be in the hospital wing again. He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets, and next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop and the other side of him, Draco was laying in bed with a similarly large amount of candies and flowers by his side.

"Tokens from your friends and admirers," said Dumbledore, beaming. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is not a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it."

"How long have I been in here?"

"Three days. Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried."

"But sir, the Stone" Harry asked again since he didn't have the stone in his hands anymore.

"I see you are not to be distracted. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. You and Mr. Black here did very well on your own, I must say."

"I was useless." Harry said as he looked at Draco again, "Is he okay?"

"Exhaustion of magic and a sprained ankle, all fixed, he should wake up any moment now." Dumbledore said looking at Draco who was listening to their conversation silently. Draco was slightly worried when the conversation for the stone came up but when he heard Dumbledore he couldn't help but feel a slight shiver down his spine, Draco realized that he was already caught.

"So you got there? You got Hermione's owl?" Harry asked

"I arrived in time, at Hogwarts, when Miss Greengrass and Miss Granger came searching for me." Dumbledore said.

"Sir?" said Harry. "I've been thinking... sir -- even if the Stone's gone, Vol-, I mean, You-Know- Who -"

"Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

"But his name is enchanted isn't it?" Harry asked

"It is, but inside of Hogwarts you don't have to fear it." Dumbledore said wisely.

"Yes, sir. Well, Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?"

"No, Harry, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share... not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time -- and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power."

Harry nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made his head hurt. Then he said, "Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know if you can tell me... things I want to know the truth about...."

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should, therefore, be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me. I shall not, of course, lie."

"Well... Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?"

Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time.

"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day... put it from your mind, for now, Harry. When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know."

And Harry knew it would be no good to argue.

"But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?" Harry asked another question he was curious about.

"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you, leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."

Draco couldn't help but snicker at this as he slowly stood up.

"Anything wrong, Mr. Black?" Dumbledore asked,

"Nothing really it's just the way you put things." Draco said looking at Harry, "It was a spell not love."

"What?" Harry was in confusion.

"Mr. Black can you explain your meaning of love." Dumbledore asked looking at Draco not getting angry.

"You can call me Draco." He said, "And as for love... I don't know. It has different meaning but since we are talking in relation to magic then I believe love acts as a stopper in certain ways. Especially in dark arts, considering people lose their ability to love when they fall under dark arts but the same love could stop them from losing their basic sanity. So you could say love can make you stronger but in the same way, it will make you weak."

Harry was listening carefully while Dumbledore nodded a little. "Weak?" He asked

"Yes, love leaves you with vulnerability and using it to train magic is a slow and tedious process but it has its strong point as well, such as allies and people you can trust, so even if you are weak you will be strong like that muggle saying, A single twig breaks but the bundle of twigs are strong."

"Well said." Dumbledore nodded with a slight smile on his face, "If only a couple more wizards learn it, the world would be a better place."

"Don't get me wrong I still prefer individual strength though," Draco said, "You can't always rely on everyone," Draco said all these things in purpose to wake Harry from his state of bliss, since with him here now a lot of things have changed like Hermione, so he can't have Harry dying on the way without being killed by Voldemort first, hope this gives him a wake-up call.

Dumbledore looked at him deeply as he sighed. "Draco, after you get the permission to leave, could you please visit me in my office."

Draco nodded, he knew that it must be about the stone, facing Dumbledore about this has always been a concern for Draco since he can't just take it away without him knowing. He knew sooner or later he would have to face Dumbledore so he wasn't too scared about it, worst case scenario he can just take it and hide it in his house back at 12 Grimmauld place. "I don't know where your office is?"

"You can ask Professor Snape about it," Dumbledore said, "I heard he wanted to have a little chat with you."

Draco face turned sour thinking about it for some reasons.