Chapter Text
Professor Quirrell was quite happy to return to Hogwarts to teach, even with the extenuating circumstances. It wasn't that he didn't want to serve his Dark Lord in returning to his former glory, only that he wished his return to Hogwarts as a professor was less fake. It had been his dream to return as a teacher to Hogwarts for some time now, as he valued educating the next generation. He sighed, cursing his poor luck.
Professor Quirrell pondered all the actions he had taken to end up in this situation as he sat down at the faculty table, awaiting the first years to be Sorted. He grabbed a plate as he looked around the great hall.
The tables were empty, as the Sorting and Feast would not start for some minutes. This pre-sorting semi-meeting that the faculty was having was primarily to introduce themselves, or more aptly, whichever poor sod that was holding the Defence Against the Dark Arts position for that year. Professor Quirrell made small talk with the staff about the previous years he had spent searching for Dark creatures in Britain. He didn't mention that he met Voldemort and was working for him. He didn't think it would go down well with the present crowd.
Professor Quirrell's attention drew away from the conversation as he saw students file into the Great Hall. He scanned the room for Harry Potter but couldn't find the boy. However, he did see some children who looked like spitting images of some of his old 'co-workers.' For example, he would be shocked if that blond boy was anything but Lucius Malfoy's son. He listened to the sorting while re-reading the speech he was about to say. It pained him to speak in front of so many people, even if they were just children.
Harry Potter was soon called to be Sorted, hesitantly walking up to the seat. He sat down, and Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on his head. Professor Quirrell expected a quick sorting into Gryffindor as Professor Snape and other staff said the boy would most likely follow in his family's footsteps. After many seconds in which nothing happened, Quirrell saw that wouldn't be the case.
After a minute, the hat shouted out, "Ravenclaw!"
The Great Hall was quiet; only sparse clapping came from the Ravenclaw house table. Professor Quirrell was shocked that the Boy-Who-Lived was in his house. This year would be very strange.
The speech went quite well, and the rest of the meal went without complaints. Professor Flitwick ushered the new students to the Ravenclaw Common room, and McGonagall showed him to his private quarters. They were adjacent to the DADA classroom. He supposed that with the curse on the DADA position, it was easier to have all the DADA teachers have a non-affiliated room instead of trying to get them all to have house-specific rooming. Quirrell settled in without hassle as he packed light, only bringing a few sets of robes. He would have brought half his library, but Hogwarts had a strict code against Dark tomes and books. Most of his library pertained to the Dark arts, so he resigned himself to being very bored this year. Oh, what you sacrifice for your ideals.
Professor Quirrell noticed some odd behaviors that Harry Potter was displaying. Firstly, Harry Potter was nowhere near as knowledgeable as he should have been. For someone who was said to have been raised by a pureblood family, Harry Potter was very ignorant of the Wizarding World. If Quirrell were talking about any other student, he would have said the child was muggle-born for how little he knew about the magical world. In addition, he was far too small to be eleven. Quirrell would have attributed it to genetics, but the Potters were naturally tall. The only other option was malnutrition, but he didn't know why the Boy-Who-Lived would have lacked food. Although abuse happened at every class level, so he wouldn't be surprised. He decided to ask where Harry grew up to Headmaster Dumbledore at the next opportunity.
He stood in front of the entrance to the Headmaster's office. He sighed and said the password, reflecting that it was still as outrageous as it had been when he was a student some twenty years ago. He waited as the gargoyle opened the door and walked up the spiral staircase.
"Ah, my boy!" Dumbledore was smiling at him, his arms spread invitingly. The nickname was sweet when he was eleven. However, now that he was an adult, it was irritating and condescending. Professor Quirrell smiled back, albeit slightly strained.
"It's nice to see you again, Headmaster."
"Yes. Well, what did you want to speak to me about? It must be important if you want to converse so soon," he picked up a treat, "Lemon drop?"
"No, thank you, Headmaster. I was wondering if you could tell me where Harry Potter has been living all these years."
Dumbledore smiled at him, mirth in his eyes.
"My, My, are you trying to get some insider information on Harry Potter? I'm afraid that that information is quite confidential."
Professor Quirrell tamped down on his irritation at having to speak with the conniving Headmaster.
"I am only expressing my concern at his lack of information about the Wizarding World. I was led to believe that he was being raised by his Wizarding relatives. Is that not the case," Professor Quirrell asked.
"He was placed in the care of his Muggle family, and I assure you, he is well taken care of," Dumbledore replied.
"What about his stature? He is awfully skinny for a boy his age. His arms are practically twigs."
Dumbledore waved away his concern, only saying, "Boys his age are picky eaters. He'll grow out of it."
Professor Quirrell was shocked at how Dumbledore pushed his concerns for the boy under the rug. Had he not seen how skinny and pale the boy was or how he ate too little at meals? It was clear that Dumbledore wouldn't take his concerns seriously. He thanked Dumbledore for his time and excused himself after a few more minutes. He resolved to look into Harry's Relatives and investigate what was going on if no one else would.
Professor Quirrell didn't know what he should do. He sat in his office chair, staring blankly at all the notes he had on his 'Potter Project.' Inside the folder were write-ups on Harry's relatives and the house he lived in. Not only was Harry in an unsafe environment, but his house also had Blood Wards surrounding it. The notes from his previous teachers showed that he had behavioral problems and bad grades, which didn't reflect his current behavior at Hogwarts. Professor Quirrell reasoned that because of his lackluster home life, Harry most likely wouldn't have been able to focus fully on his schoolwork. However, now that he was in a better situation, it seemed that Harry was mostly thriving, except for some areas. Harry was not doing the best socially. He had difficulty talking to his peers as they only saw the Boy-Who-lived and not Harry. His housemates were wary of him at best, or somewhat hostile at worst.
Even so, there were only five more months of school. After that, Harry would be forced to go back to Privet Drive. Professor Quirrell needed to find a way to stop that from happening, but unfortunately, he couldn't go to the Aurors and report the case. Firstly, the Aurors weren't known for their focus on abuse cases. It was a widely known fact that Aurors often didn't believe Wixen when they reported abuse and brushed any case that reflected poorly on themselves under the rug. Secondly, the Auror department was largely under Dumbledore's thumb, and Dumbledore had made it quite clear that he didn't see Harry's abuse at the hands of the Dursleys as an issue.
A stray thought entered his mind. What if he told his boss?
Voldemort was generally considered an awful person, but he had never hurt a child. Some suspected this was due to his poor upbringing, but regardless of the reason, the fact remained that he would protect kids. The only problem was that it was Harry Potter he was talking about. Would Voldemort still help the boy who had supposedly defeated him? He had tried to kill the boy when he was a baby. It was too risky. Voldemort would never help the kid. Still, the idea stuck in his mind, refusing to be forgotten.
Professor Quirrell still needed to do his job. He was doing his actual paid job as he was supposed to but had been lacking in his secondary goal. His secondary goal was getting the Philosopher's Stone for Voldemort, and Professor Quirrell hadn't even started. It was the Weasley twins whispering about breaking into the 7th-floor hallway that finally made him remember he was here for a reason. He released the troll he placed in the school as a distraction. He was careful to put weakening charms on the troll so it wouldn't hurt the students. Then he went up to the 7th-floor hallway and tried to break in. It didn't exactly work, as he didn't expect a Cerberus to be guarding the entrance. Thankfully, Professor Quirrell managed to leave in one piece. He healed the scrapes he had and returned to his room.
Somehow, between all the chaos of the previous night, he had forgotten how danger-prone Harry Potter was. As he taught his lesson, he noticed that Harry was absent. After the lesson concluded he asked one of the Ravenclaws where Harry was, and they said he was in the infirmary. Apparently, Harry had decided to fight the troll himself and had ended up with multiple injuries. Quirrell went to the infirmary to check on him and was surprised to see Hermione Granger sitting at the edge of his bed. She was one of his best students and had a real knack for DADA. She explained that Harry had saved her by stopping the troll from attacking her, which helped explain why a Gryffindor girl was sitting next to Harry, as Professor Quirrell was quite confused beforehand. He asked Madame Pomfrey about Harry's well-being, and once he saw that Harry would be alright, he left.
Harry Potter continued to hang out with Hermione Granger after that. Professor Quirrell would often see them in the library reading or sitting out in the courtyard chatting. Harry Potter never really had friends in his house, so it was nice to see him talking to the girl. They both were studious and somewhat awkward, so Quirrell knew they'd be great friends, even if they weren't in the same house or classes.
Quirrell pulled his attention away from the pair as he saw Snape staring at him. Since he'd released the troll on the school, Snape had been incredibly suspicious of him. Professor Quirrell suspected that Snape might have seen him attempting to enter the 7th-floor hallway. Either way, the situation wasn't great. He resolved to ignore it until he managed to figure out how he wanted to proceed. He didn't want to have to fight a Cerebrus or try to break in again. He sighed and went back to his office.
He had decided to contact Voldemort for more instructions as to how he should proceed. He didn't want to give up and leave his boss empty-handed, but if he continued and got caught, he might end up in Azkaban. He also wanted to make a small mention of Harry Potter's living situation. This way he could find out how Voldemort would react without direct confrontation or repercussions.
A few days later, Voldemort wrote back and said that he would handle it. So then a new plan to save Harry was Born.