Harry cocked a brow when Quirrel asked him to stay behind after their class ended, something that had never happened before on account of Quirrel acting as if he were going to pass out every time Harry so much as opened his mouth. But, Harry had also noticed that Quirrel had been laying his act on extra thick lately.
"What is it, professor?" Harry asked while laying on his own act.
"D-d-do you r-r-remember th-the thing I mentioned b-b-before?" Quirrel asked, looking absolutely terrified.
For a moment, Harry drew a blank as he tried to recall what Quirrel was talking about, before realization dawned on him.
"Are you talking about the vampire?"
"Eep!"
Quirrel literally squeaked when Harry said the word 'vampire', which pretty much confirmed that that was what this was about.
"Y-yes... Th-the v-v-vampire!" Quirrel said while shaking even more than a leaf.
The stuttering professor then launched into a LOOOOOONG story, thanks to his stuttering, about the vampire in question.
Apparently, Quirrel was getting a drink at a pub in Hogsmeade, when the vampire he had been worried about appeared in town.
Thanks to the laws of the Ministry, vampires were a protected race within magical Britain, something that shocked Harry considering the disdain and hatred they were treated with in Skyrim. Because of this, the vampire was able to walk the village without worry as it stalked the professor. Never actually approaching him, but making it plain that it was waiting for him.
Apparently, the vampire was hiding out in a place known as the Shrieking Shack, considered to be the most haunted building in all of Great Britain. But, the shack housed a sercret known only to a few of the teaching staff. It was one end of a tunnel that would lead one into Hogwarts.
"So then that vampire could actually come and get you, even within Hogwarts, whenever it wants?" Harry asked curiously.
"Y-y-y-yes! It c-c-could even g-g-g-go after some students!" Quirrel sputtered in fear.
"So why not go to Albus?" Harry pointed out, which only made Quirrel shudder even more.
"B-b-b-b-b-because, I d-d-d-d-d-don't even want t-t-t-to imagine how the h-h-headmaster would l-l-look at me!" Quirrel exclaimed, even more fearfully than when he talked about the vampire.
"How pathetic." Harry said while looking at Quirrel with scorn, as the teacher was saying he rather turn to Harry for help than tell the headmaster the students were endangered because of him.
Quirrel flinched at Harry's harsh words, before nodding slowly.
"T-t-t-true... B-b-b-but you said th-th-that you have experience with v-v-vampires! So I-I-I thought-"
"That I can deal with it for you?" Harry finished for him.
"P-p-p-p-please!" Quirrel declared, hope appearing in his eyes for the first time.
"Ok." Harry imediately agreed.
"!!!"
"Th-th-th-thank you P-P-P-Potter!" Quirrel exclaimed happily that Harry was willing to help him.
"Don't thank me yet professor. We still need to discuss my price." Harry told him seriously.
"P-p-p-price?"
...
"I see... So Quirinus has asked you to slay a vampire for him." Albus said as he leaned back into his chair behind his desk.
"Yeah. But I had him give me a few books on advanced techniques for battling the Dark Arts as payment."
"Payment?"
"Of course. Even if its a trap, which I strongly suspect, I expect to be paid for my work." Harry said as if it were only natural.
"So you do realize that it is most likely a trap?" Albus asked curiously.
"Of course. But as far as I'm concerned, the best way to deal with a trap is to know when you're walking into one." Harry stated.
"How interestingly reckless. And if there really is a vampire, or worse, hiding out in the Shrieking Shack?"
"Then I'll kill it. One less threat to the school." Harry stated firmly. "Plus if I go, then Quirrel might FINALLY make his move with Voldemort."
"Indeed. The sooner Quirinus and his master make their move, the sooner we can confirm the state that Voldemort is in." Albus said in agreement.
"And now that you know, I'm going to go prepare." Harry said while rising to his feet, now that Albus knew what was going on.
"Prepare?"
"Of course. This is my first contract in a while, and it about a vampire to boot. I'm going to take this VERY seriously." Harry told the headmaster. The grin on his face though, told Albus that Harry was enjoying this quite a bit.
After leaving Albus's office, Harry hurried to Gryffindor tower so he could get some things from his trunk in anticipation for tonight. After all, Harry planned to wait until night both due to the fact that he was technically sneaking out, and the fact that vampires are most active at night as well.
Entering his trunk, Harry readily started going through all of his equipment as he started preparing to face the vampire.
Firstly Harry put on a set of leather armor that he refitted to match his current size, complete with a set of gauntlets with spikes set into the leather for if he needed to hit anything. Under his gauntlets Harry was wearing a pair of plain silver rings, one Enchanted to boost his Destruction magic, while the other was Enchanted to boost his Restoration.
Then Harry put his usual school robes on over his armor so as not to stand out to anyone when he went down to the tunnel entrance within the school, at the base of the tree known as the whomping willow that would beat anyone dumb enough to get close to it.
Then, Harry went to collect the final piece to his current set. The thing most crucial when one was going to fight the undead.
Entering his display room/armory, Harry approached one case in particular that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, and held several items that were both powerful and dangerous. The Ebony Blade, Mace of Molag Bal, Mehrunes' Razor, and Dawnbreaker.
Dawnbreaker was an artifact created by Meridia, Daedric Prince of Life and Infinite Energies. She was also one of the only Daedric Princes that Harry was on positive terms with, along with Nocturnal, and HATED undead with a passion. Needless to say that Dawnbreaker was essential in their war against Harkon, and Meridia was VERY appreciative of the amount of vampires Harry killed with her boon.
Harry reminisced about the weapon as he took the several minutes necessary to undo the Dwemer puzzle locks and seals he had placed to try and prevent the Daedric influence of the artifacts from leaking out, before finally opening the case as he took the handle of the weapon in his hand once more.
"Old friend." Harry murmured as he lifted the sword up and out of the case, with it feeling perfect in his grip as a familiar warmth enveloped his entire body.
"HA!" He suddenly cried out, swinging the sword at an imaginary target, before quickly transitioning into a lethal thrust.
Harry continued going through the motions with Dawnbreaker for several minutes as he refamiliarized himself with it, after what he realized was several years without genuinely using it in combat.
"Harry?" A voice uttered, drawing Harry from his focus as he turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway.
"Hermione." Harry said while nodding his head in greeting, before silently sheathing the sword at his waist.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked worriedly, glancing between Harry and the opened case.
"I have a contract to take care of a vampire, and was just getting ready." Harry replied as he passed her, going instead to his Alchemy room to pick up a few potions as a precaution.
"Contract? Someone hired you to kill a vampire?!" She exclaimed in disbelief.
"Yep. Don't worry, Albus knows about it as well." Harry assured her as he also collected several Soul Gems, just in case.
"That..." Hermione began, but apparently for once she couldn't think of anything to say as Harry made to leave the trunk with all of his preparations finished.
"Be careful!" Hermione suddenly said, wrapping Harry in a hug before he could exit the trunk and catching him by surprise.
"Of course." Harry responded warmly, ruffling her bushy hair in return until she released him.
They then climbed out of the trunk together, before Harry locked it behind him to keep people out. Then, he vanished right before Hermione's eyes as he cast Invisibility on himself to move about the castle undetected.
From the dorm, through the common room, out the portrait hole and through the corridors, Harry moved throughout the entire castle while being undetected by students, teachers, ghosts or portraits until he reached the grounds. Once there, he dispelled the Invisibility spell so that Quirrel, who was undoubtedly watching from the castle, would see him as he approached the Whomping Willow. After all, Harry wanted Quirrel to think his trap was working.
As Harry approached the tree it began to flex it's branches at him in intimidation, daring him to take so much as a single step closer to it. Unfortunately for it, Harry had honed himself through years of avoiding the deadly traps that infested ancient Nordic ruins.
Harry darted forward the second he spied a small hole at the base of the tree, where the entrance to the tunnel obviously was. And the second Harry moved the tree did as well as it started whipping branches at him, creating numerous gashes in the soft spring earth while also sending clumps flying around him.
"Tiid Klo Ul!" Harry declared as he saw a particularly thick swarm of branches coming down at him, several of which were large enough to be used as troll clubs.
The world slowed around him as the power of the Shout took hold, allowing Harry to continue unmolested to the hole and slip inside well before the world started moving at full speed once again.
The smell of fresh earth and darkness engulfed Harry as he entered the tunnel proper, before he illuminated it with a Magelight spell.
"I suppose there's some benefits to being a kid again..." Harry practically groaned when he saw the size of the tunnel, before he started hurrying through it.
Years of crawling through caves and ancient dungeons, both literally and metaphorically, made traversing through the tunnel easy for Harry as he made his way, even as he moved silently to keep from possibly alerting whoever was waiting for him on the other side. Additionally, Harry would occasionally cast either a Detect Life or Detect Dead spell to help him see if he was reaching the end.
Eventually Harry did get a hit when he cast Detect Dead, though not the kind of hit he was expecting.
"And there's the trap..." Harry muttered as he got no less than twenty hits from Detect Dead, showing him a whole crowd of vampires hiding out in the Shrieking Shack.
Creeping as quietly as possible, since he didn't know how good their hearing was, Harry crept as close as he could to the opening at the bottom of the house and listened in as they spoke in different thick accents.
"Its been forever. Where is this kid?"
"I don't know, he said that the brat should already be on his way though."
"Are you sure this deal is legit though?"
"Yeah. I mean, we off one brat, and then we get to drink our fill of young blood? It sounds too good to be true."
"It's legit. The same guy once helped me in Albania. He got me a whole group of virgins in exchange for showing him around some forests."
"And now we have a whole school to take our picks from after taking care of some kid."
Harry had heard enough, even before they started talking about their personal 'tastes' in blood and targets.
Fire formed in Harry's hand as he aimed it at the hole in the floor of the shack.
*KABOOM!*
***
"Headmaster!"
Albus looked up from his desk as the door to his office burst open, startling Minerva as Quirinus practically fell through.
"Quirinus? How may I help you?" Albus asked calmly as if the man before him didn't look as if he had run a marathon.
"P-P-P-Potter sir!" Quirinus sputtered frantically as he seemingly tried to catch his breath.
"What about Harry?" Albus asked, feigning ignorance.
"P-P-Potter! Wh-Wh-Wh-Whomping Willow! T-t-t-tunnel!" Quirrel sputtered worse than anyone ever heard him, showing just how bad the current situation was. Thankfully, Albus put his hand up to stop the performance.
"Am I correct to inter, that Harry has entered the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow?"
Quirrel just silently nodded his head frantically.
"Do you perhaps know the reason why he did so?"
"SH-sh-sh-shack!"
"He did so to go to the Shrieking Shack? interesting."
Still as calm as ever, Albus rose from his desk and looked to his deputy headmistress.
"Minerva, will you please accompany me to go and collect young Harry. As his head of House, I shall entrust you with ensuring Harry is properly punished for leaving school grounds after curfew."
"Of course." Minerva said without hesitation as Albus made to leave the office, and she followed him.
"P-p-please hurry!" Quirrel called out to them as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and the duo set off under his gaze.
"Are you sure about this, Albus?" Minerva asked him quietly as soon as they rounded the corner and were out of earshot.
"We can never truly be 'sure' about anything, Minerva. But Harry and I already discussed this earlier, and he would want to know that Quirinus was making his move."
"And we should let him?"
"Of course. The Stone is perfectly safe, and by letting him go after it then they can have their confrontation away from the students."
"But Potter-"
"Is confident in his ability to combat Quirinus, while Voldemort, wherever he is, should still be in a weakened state. Otherwise there would be no need for them to get the Stone. As for the school..."
When they had gotten far enough away from Quirrel, Albus removed three prepared slips of parchment from his pocket and tapped them with his wand. Immediately they folded themselves into little paper birds before flapping their wings and taking off to find their targets, professors Snape, Sprout and Flitwick.
Confident that the three would keep the school together while he fetched Harry, Albus and Minerva stepped out onto the school grounds before he waved his wand again, producing two broomsticks that the two of them readily mounted before lifting up off the ground.
The two figures flew through the night sky as they headed in the general direction of Hogsmeade, though not directly towards it as they instead targeted the building considered to be the most haunted building in all of Great Britain. The same trip that took Harry roughly an hour, took them only minutes.
But when they got close...
"Albus!" Minerva exclaimed in alarm, as there was a flash of bright light coming from the windows of the shack.
"That should be Harry." Albus responded as they both urged their brooms forward as fast as possible, before touching down right in front of the shack.
"Are we going to help him?" Minerva asked, no idea what was going on, but more than ready to step in for her student.
"I think Harry is quite fine." Albus said casually, right as one of the windows in the shack shattered outwards.
"HELP ME!"
The vampire who leapt through the window cried out in desperation as it struggled towards them, seemingly riddled with grievous injuries.
"Albus!" Minerva said as she made to step in between them, only for the headmaster to wave away her concern as the vampire clung to his robes in desperation.
"Save me from that monster!" The vampire wailed as tears of blood streamed down his face. Before either Albus or Minerva could respond though, the entire shack exploded as a twisting cyclone of flames surged forth.