chapter seventeen of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Harry finds Quirrell – with Voldemort in the back of his head – in front of the Mirror of Erised. He manages to get the Stone from the Mirror and injure Quirrell before passing out, and wakes in the hospital wing, where Dumbledore explains that all is well. After the final feast, in which Gryffindor wins the cup, the students return home for the summer.
 

It was Quirrell.

(by Laurence Peguy)

 

Quirrell snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and wrapped themselves tightly around Harry. “You’re too nosy to live, Potter.”

(by Tealin Raintree)

 

The pain in his head lessened – he looked around wildly to see where Quirrell had gone, and saw him hunched in pain, looking at his fingers – they were blistering before his eyes.

(by Tealin Raintree)

 

He 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!”

(by Keith James)

 

“Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say.”

(by Sheena Kristen Sy)

 

He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, “Alas! Ear wax!”

(by gerre)

 

“Sent owls off ter all yer parents’ old school friends, askin’ fer photos… knew yeh didn’ have any… d’yeh like it?”
Harry couldn’t speak, but Hagrid understood.

(by NicoPony)

 

“First – to Mr. Ronald Weasley… for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.”

(by Laurence Peguy)

 

“Second – to Miss Hermione Granger… for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.”

(by Laurence Peguy)

 

“Third – to Mr. Harry Potter…” said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. “…for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points.”

(by Laurence Peguy)

 

“There are all kinds of courage,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom.”

(by Laurence Peguy)

 

about the chapter

Something You May Not Have Noticed

Harry’s late-night wanderings – or, as he calls it, “poking around,” end up doing Gryffindor more good than harm. He, Hermione, and Neville may have been universally loathed for losing 150 points for Gryffindor in one night, but that 150 wouldn’t have been enough to catch Slytherin if they and Ron hadn’t also earned points for the night Harry went after the Stone, as Dumbledore has to award Gryffindor 170 points to ensure their victory (160 would have tied). Of course, if Harry had been in the final Quidditch match, he might have won Gryffindor enough points to make up the difference anyway.
 

The Wizarding World

It’s interesting that Quirrell uses Voldemort’s name when talking with Harry – he’s the only person we ever see do so who isn’t fundamentally opposed to Voldemort (the other bad guys call him “The Dark Lord”). It’s possible to do some backbends to explain it – maybe Voldemort wanted to make sure Harry knew the name? – but it seems more likely to me that it’s simply another example of Rowling not having these sorts of details ironed out when she published the first book. After all, she wasn’t exactly expecting the books to undergo this level of scrutiny when she’d just landed her first-ever contract. :)
 

Life at Hogwarts

It’s always bothered me that Hogwarts would have the final Quidditch match scheduled in the middle of finals – in fact, so late in finals that first years are already completely done with theirs. Clearly it needs to be this way to fit the story, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The same could be said for the way house points are awarded for Quidditch outcomes – we saw Gryffindor score 320 points in two matches, but at the end of the year the house only has 312. Perhaps you don’t get exactly one house point for every point scored in Quidditch. But the whole system is very murky, at best.

I’ve also wondered about how, according to Dumbledore, the “whole school” knows what happened between Harry and Quirrell. As far as we know, the only people present were Quirrell (who died), Voldemort (who probably hasn’t told anyone), Harry (who’s been unconscious), and Dumbledore himself. One possibility is that someone else – Snape? McGonagall? – came with Dumbledore, which would explain why Harry heard “voices” calling his name just before being knocked out. Another, which seems more typical of Hogwarts, is that some paintings or ghosts observed the whole thing in secret and spread the word. Of course now that I think of it, it’s certainly possible Dumbledore simply asked Ron and Hermione for details and then told the staff, and the word got around that way.
 

The Final Word

“The imagery in the first book where Voldemort appears in the back of Quirrell’s head, I still think is one of the creepiest things I have ever written – I really do…. From the first book… I was saying that this is a world where some pretty nasty things happen.”–J.K. Rowling, June 2006