harry's right though. many people *fantasize* about bringing their dead loved ones back, but their imaginations are limited and what they believe to be feasible is even more limited. this doesn't mean that they don't care in the slightest, even if you changed the definition of the word to something much more rigorous in nature. in fact, even if you didn't think to ressurect someone, even if you accepted their death, that wouldn't at all prove that you don't care. it's shockingly naive to believe so, isn't it?

Though he may speak much and loudly of caution, he will not be able to bring himself actually to halt.

Or would not. Perhaps it is not that he cannot comprehend the danger, but that he simply does not care. Perhaps his "children in debt" weighs more in his utility function than the rest of world combined. A man resolute would care little for the implausibility of his prize, much less side effects.

I was forced to recall that Nappon is Japan’s actual name. Damn.

Damn. I really wanna be like welp i guess quirrel orchestrated everything but that feels too simple. Anyway if i was harry i'd ask for the star spell and how to do it, before quirrel dies.

I am so confused. DA HECK IS QUIRRELL UP TO? WHO I S HE?!

I know for a fact I’ve said this a thousand different ways... but like...
I know Harry is basically supposed to be the smartest person in this fictional universe (which, in my opinion is just... lazy writing? )

But um, Harry is acting really stupid. I found myself literally shouting “um duh” a bunch of times at my screen.

Like, duhhhhh Harry... If you’ve read so many books you should know that raising the dead literally never works...

For all his rationality and “superior” intellect he should KNOW his line of thinking is completely irrational.

Why wouldn’t Harry, even for one second stop and consider “the enemy” (probably Voldemort or whatever) is playing the long game and he is being manipulated to do exactly what he wants by finding a way to revive Hermione. Why doesn’t Harry think its strange the defense professor offered to help him after explicit telling him not to peruse this goal of reviving Hermione?

If Harry figures out how to raise the dead what is stopping anyone else (including Voldie ) from doing the same!?

I know its pointless to complain about it, but its so frustrating... how can Harry Potter claim to be bound by ethics and then, break every ethical “rule” ever...

And then there’s this foolishness about Harry not believing in souls.. isn’t a rationalist supposed to consider every possibility!? Its a self limiting belief. Harry has closed off so many possible solutions just by being dismissive of things he deems silly...

I think the mark of a truly intelligent person is being able to admit when they are out of their depth... Harry has NOT learnt how to lose. And those around him continue to fail him (and themselves in the long run) just for the sake of some stupid (likely “eViL” ) plotting

If Professor Q really cared he would snap Harry’s wand in half, tell him he’s being a stupid ass and then explain to him IN PLAIN ENGLISH why he is literally acting CRAZY

I didn't really pay attention to it when I first read this, but looking back it's heart wrenching to see Tom's emotional devastation when he realises that he'll have to kill Harry, the only person he's ever really cared about, if he wants to stop him. He can't even bring himself to finish the "goodbye" quip he usually gives to his victims.

WTF is going on with Quirrell, I'm really intrigued (not to mention frustrated, ha)

It appears that the Magical Folk are plagiarists. Perhaps one should notify the anime industry of their crimes.
Or perhaps it is the other way round, that the Magical community has secretly introduced these concepts into anime to share their wisdom with the Muggles?

How comes Harry has Brain enough to send Neville away and tell his teacher (thanks to the time turner) the exact location where he and with whom he spends time with (a solution I was not able to come up with) BUT THIS SOLUTION IN REGARD TO GRANGER DIDN'T CROSS HIS MIND? NOT A SINGLE TIME?!

I mean he had not even the simple idea placing guards under her door (a idea even I came up at the first instant) but THIS?

Akemi Homura, in the legends of Nippon.

I'm done, this story lmao.

A nice talk with the professor.

Ugh, you're killing me. I REALLY want to know all of quirrels secrets

Ah, more philosophical discussion between Harry and Quirrell. Always entertaining. I can't imagine how scary Quirrell could be if Harry shows him the power of science, as that'll mean Voldemort will better understand Harry's abilities.

Aaaaaaah! The golden plaque is a horcrux!

That Fullmetal Alchemist reference OMG, my heart just melted :D

the broad rimmed person with whom hermione interacts wwith...lucius' wife anyone?

Some kids ARE super smart. Look at Sheldon from Big Bang Theory : he maybe fictional, but he's based on two real life Physics protégées.
I myself had an I.Q of over 150 at 11, and wasn't the smartest kid in my class. Lily & James were Head Girl & Boy - only the pupils with the HIGHEST ACADEMIC scores qualify for that at Hogwart's. It's not a stretch to see Harry being super smart too, with the right background.

I have NO idea how this thing is going to end!

In these moments I still think it's Riddle...

To live with the beliefs Quirrell has would be an incredibly empty existence

Interesting. Quirrell has repeatedly insisted that normal people do not think of doing anything of importance, yet he insists that they would try to invent a resurrection spell (under certain circumstances, but hardly extraordinary ones). I wonder if he notices his own hypocrisy and/or is trying to deceive Harry, or if he simply hasn't thought his beliefs through.

The Elric Brothers.

Was that an FMA reference?

But that wouldn't really have made sense because you said Nicholas Flamel was the only one who created the Philosophers Stone...

And anyway any competent alchemist could have transmuted the gold.

Fine, its just a fairy tale...

Also, this fic is about what might have happened had Petunia married a biochemist, right? So why does Harry's intelligence increase so much? While it may be true that the environment does affect a growing child's mind... I think we're talking about at least 100 IQ points here, given the standard deviation of 15 points from the average 100 points and assuming canon!Harry has 115 IQ points. Although his IQ could indeed decrease dramatically as he matures, is this really plausible?

On another note, this is a fabulous piece of work. It really makes me think. It's quite rare that a fic has done this as of recently. And is this rusty 12 year old mind clanking hard! Thanks a lot for this beautiful story!

... well okay then.

Congratulations on finishing this epic.

Oh! I once again find myself intrigued. The plot of this story is exceptional, as is the development of your characters.

1)"If I were the first person in the universe who cared"
That single line represents the foundation of morality.
2)And this doom thing is seriously annoying. Just tell us why and what it is.
3)Quirrel hasn't taught the star spell since Harry has to discover it himself, just like the Patronus Charm.

Okay, he freaking crawled his way back? That's so demeaning... It made me really sad..

It looks like lots of folks just assume Quirrell killed Hermione, but the sequence of events in Quirrell's POV in Chapter 89 doesn't quite fit that for me:

"he had realized that the boy had sought the troll and found it . . . The Defense Professor had tried to send an impulse to retreat . . . and hadn't succeeded . . . He'd felt the boy give himself over fully to the killing intention . . . had begun burning through the substance of Hogwarts, trying to reach the battle in time . . . felt the boy exterminate his enemy in seconds . . . felt the boy's dismay as one of his friends died. . . ."

You don't get the sense from that description that Quirrell had an attachment to the troll killing Hermione. His main concern is to keep Harry from being hurt, and then he is pleased with the unexpected outcome that Harry had gotten a little more serious through the death of "a friend".

Yes, it's chilling to see how LITTLE Quirrell cares about anyone besides Harry - that Hermione means nothing to him - and yes, he COULD be Voldemort. But it's the broad-brimmed hat dude / shining lady who's been the real force of evil this whole time. And we JUST DON'T KNOW who that is.

. . . Although, it is kinda worrisome the way broad-brimmed hat dude notices his own confusion when Hermione doesn't trust him, then asks questions, then adjusts his appearance so that she will. That seems very Quirrell-like to me. I guess we have to just keep reading until the truth is revealed.

this is a great portrait of the essense of rationality!harry, he wont need all three hollows to become "master of death"

I love how Voldemort just totally stops paying attention to all his ongoing plans in this chapter and goes into complete 'save the world' mode. His end goal is presumably to escape death after all, and if there's a real chance that Harry could wreak havoc even beyond the solar system, who cares about whatever game he was playing on wizarding Britain?

Looks like a rather slow Harry-turning-into-a-dark-lord-at-least-as-bad-as-Voldemort story right now.
'...I know the lengths you will go to because of it... Nothing will sway you from that...'
That 'nothing' is very bad news for anyone else in a position to wind up as at least potential collateral damage.

Jeez, he is dying quickly, now.

Quirrell is really confusing. He offers to help resurrect H but seemed happy after them troll attack?

Love the Shambling Bone-Men reference

Typos (that haven't been caught already?!):

Second to last paragraph: to away

And there was one other, earlier in this chapter. A word starting with "e". It was an adjective which should have been an adverb.

And two other typos back in one of the chapters in the mid-eighties, each being the result of omitted spaces between two words.

Sorry, but this story is way gripping, I'm way too wrapped up in it. I almost cried when Hermione died and I haven't even almost cried in years, and now I want Hermione back. Just like Harry, I keep going forth because that's all I can hope for, almost all I can think of.

But if I remember that word with an "e", I'll post.

This story is much improved from the last time I read. Shaking up the status quo was a great move that is bringing out the depths in many characters, mcgonagall and harry in particular. I look forward to future updates. Also I love the call outs to those shows like the fullmetal alchemist and puella madoka magica

and then slowly began crawl to away from him
Should be "to crawl away", and not "crawl to away".

Perhaps the golden plate is a horcrux?
Just a random thought on reading this...

Like Mr. Lupin, I fear that Harry, and also you, do not understand the meaning of Death as a thing to be defeated. Death is oblivion, almost surely. There is neither Heaven nor Hell. All of Death that is to be dreaded is our fear of Death and that mourning we feel at the passing of those who are in the Clearing at the End of the Path. Without that fear, Death is no longer our enemy, only a finality. I take Albus' position, almost, in that I do not fear Death, nor do I court it. It will come when it comes, and perhaps you could benefit from that same maturity. Even so-called Immortals die when their time is up. Biological immortality is in some respects a pipe dream, and those beings who have it are still not eternal. Eleizer, there are worse things than death, and to live on only because one fears death is on that list.

What happened to your brother was sad, and I will not deny that. But is the answer to embrace Anakin Skywalker's and Darth Plagueis' philosophy of "Someday, I will be able to stop people from dying"?. Let go, Eleizer. There's no need to fight it. You only have so much time allotted to you. Use it to live your life in earnest. Tomorrow is promised to no being. So embrace what is available, and live. That's all I have left to say to you.

Well thats a damned frightening image. Did Voldy vacate the meat puppet permanently?

Excellent as always. I do like the seemingly endless number of shout outs.

It's because he's the first wizard to reject death as the natural order, isn't it?

very very good ive loved reading this fanfic. to be honest i dont even know what harry is talking about half the time lol. Hermione dieing... phew thats a crazy direction to go. To be totally honest im not sure how i feel about it. Harry and Hermione together is what i usually loved reading in this story. oh well the story goes on and well see how this winds up

It sent shivers down her spine, all the worse for knowing the hollow words had been spoken in imitation of a true prophecy. Unnerved, she blurted out the first thing which came to mind, which might have been influenced by her present company. "Those two different ingredients cannot exist in the same cauldron?"

"But why not, Miss Felthorne? What is the meaning of a statement like that? What are we really being told?"

"Ah..." she hazarded. "If the two ingredients mix, they'll catch fire and burn the cauldron?"

Voldemort you idiot! You are about to make this prophecy about the stars come true as well! By "mixing" with HP you will destroy the world!

I can't be the only person who finds it jarring that the list of stories told by wizards about resurrecting the dead consists of anime characters.

Otherwise, it's a powerful scene.

You have done a great job with this series. I was disappointed when I got to the end and ran out of chapters to read.

Akemi Homura. I appreciate the reference, though I'm unsure how I feel about it otherwise _V

First of all, thank you for the great pleasure I've had while reading your text!

Sorry, I seem unable to write a review for a single chapter, but I have more general questions. While reading the JK's original, I couldn't believe that wizards knew so little of Muggle world and that they cared so little, weren't a bit curious. I still can't believe it being so in your universe. Daddy Weasley's incompetence may be real, but it doesn't mean he is the best expert on Muggles. They do know enough to interact successfully with the Muggles in power like prime ministers, so there have to be real experts on Muggle world. Why, even Muggle-raised Snape has not forget his childhood and since he knows what a rocket is, he must know what nuclear weapons are and the space flights etc.

And on the more personal level: are you from the Eastern Europe? My wild guess is that you emigrated from the former USSR state or maybe Poland (straight to the US or passing through Israel) sometime in the first half of the 90s while being roughly the HP's age. I emigrated in the 93 while being 19, and I do remember the shock and can't but guess that maybe you used your memories from that transition to describe HP's initial feelings?

"Good -"

was that? . . . was? . . . was that a full metal alchemist reference?!

Wow. I read all this, and now it's over till the next update. I'll be so lost for a little while as I search for something else to read.

still amazes me that you planned to upload the next chapter three years ago!

You know, I had wondered earlier if rationalist!Voldemort would still have the "Does not understand love" flaw before this chapter. I think you portrayed this characteristic well. In the Lord of Rationality from the Omake Files 4, you brought up the point that an intelligent entity that did not understand love would make and notice faulty predictions. Quirrell's viewpoint seems reasonable. It's more cynical than most people's, but he doesn't sound like he has a mental disorder. It is insufficient to model Harry Potter's refusal to accept Hermione's death, but as noted, this is a highly unusual scenario.

Very glad to see the updates. Very excited to see what you've been planning all along will grow into. Very uncomfortable at reviews that take a stab at the writer instead of critiquing the work. Releasing serially like this, in an interactive forum where fans/reviewers have access to my personal information, would undermine my own self confidence. So thanks for braving it out.

One critique: There is sometimes excessive emotional distance in the narration style. The ending scene for this chapter, for example, is chilling and effective, but the line at the end seems unnecessarily distancing. The "disembodied character" technique (I don't know what to call it) is one you seem to use often, to the point of over-use. Suddenly dropping references to names, showing someone watching something without any emotional reference for the reader, dissociating reader from text, calling attention to the way the story is written instead of letting the reader live in the story... I don't know how to explain, but if I think of a way, I'll come back and do so.

This instance (at the end of chapter 95) sits on the line between "appropriate for the tone of this chapter/character" and "jarring/too meta". Sometimes it's effective in showing the dissonance or dissociation present in the character-like in the first chapter, the flat "what"-and sometimes it feels like you're just keeping something from us. And that "something" is usually an emotional connection with the POV character. Pulling the camera so far back after being so up close does not feel organic. It definitely avoids melodrama-which is a good thing- but it's almost too stylized.

Hope something in here makes sense and can be helpful. Regardless of the potential benefit of posting this critique, though-thanks for the continued work on the series. It's one of a kind.

I haven't seen very many comments on the fact the Quirrel will be reading science books seriously now. Is no one else worried about him inventing a custom time-delayed antimatter transfiguration spell? Harry could never fight him them because he could eliminate entire cities. Even something as trivial as evolutionary psychology will allow Quirrel to refine his manipulation abilities.

random idea: the Room of Requirement

"I need a room that makes me God. I need a room that makes me God. I need a room that makes me God."

I have an odd habit of reading this entire story and then waiting for months on end until a sufficient amount of new material has been added. Once a sufficient amount has been added, I start reading that story over again from the very beginning to the new stopping place.

It is always sad when I have to start my wait for the sufficient amount all over again as I am about to do right now and yet I can't seem to bring myself to resent you.

In the end I must simply thank you for writing such a wonderful story. I do believe it is increasing my IQ by a large number of points each time I read it.

If only the world around me wasn't so capriciously mad, I might actually be able to keep those point that I gained from this smidgen of rather insane sanity,

Either way, I'm grateful for the short dalliance into a realm of reason and information.

I... I'm afraid I can't tell if Quirrelmort (if he even IS Quirrelmort... I'm losing track of that) is a good guy or a bad guy anymore... so confused...

I love this story. I've read each chapter several times over and believe I've improved as a rationalist by identifying my own weaknesses and tendencies towards certain cognitive biases, particularly towards proving my hypothesies and rather, disproving my hypothesies. Anyway, the science in this story is incredible and I've learned so much from it. To learn from a Harry potter fanfic (guilty pleasure) is such a bonus.
Re: the story plot... It is clear that Quirrel is Voldemort. Just like in Canon. Only this Voldemort really makes sense in how a dark lord is possible. He's ridiculously smart. His coldness and calculating rational abilities are justified. His ability to recognise his weaknesses are realistic for a person of his intelligence and knowledge. I loved that the prophecy he heard about Harry, once he knew that Harry had made a new resolution upon Hermione's death, scared him. But why did he hear it? Why was the prophecy delivered to him? Because he's the only one capable of auctioning change? Did he hear it so he could kill Harry and stop the one who will destroy the very fabric of the universe?
It seems to me that he came to teach at Hogwarts to get close to Harry. He mentored him because he saw a likeness between them and saw in Harry an equal. He now fears him and will resign as Dark Lord to serve him. He is now bent upon trying to prevent the destruction of the universe. I believe it was early on in the book that Quirrel said even Voldemort did not want to rule over a pile of ash.
I can't wait to read the next installment of this marvelous fic.
Oh, btw, I have a theory that the floating in space spell Harry is so find of is one if Salazar's inventions that was passed down to him from the basilisk and Harry can't hear the words because of the interdict of Merlin.

This post is about a previous chapter where Harry is freaking out about souls and brain damage.

I recently read a fiction book that dealt with the whole issue of memories and souls and brain damage. I thought I should pass this on to you as another possible explanation for how people might have souls, but still be capable of forgetting things, as well as get brain damage and such.

Essentially the premise is that your experiences are recorded onto the soul accurately, and when you die, you are essentially the sum of your experiences, your memories. Your soul is your memories, your actions and reactions, ect. (And probably still capable of thinking and forming new memories.)

But while the soul is anchored to the body, it has a poor retrieval interface. It can record just fine, but it is presumably interlaced with your brain in such a way that accessing the memories is very very difficult.

But because we evolved from animals, we still have the rudimentary memory systems in the brain that store memories and is common to animals that we don't believe to have souls.
So the day to day stuff you supposedly remember actually is usually retrieved from the brain itself, using the normal memory storage methods we have discovered so far. Thus it is prone to being changed, or forgotten, or made up entirely as has been discovered in many studies.

But according to this book, when you die, you are no longer limited by the fog of the brain, and everything becomes clear.

The story I read did not go into too much further detail past that, but I would like to add that it could also be said that perhaps dreams are snippets of perfect memory slipping through when you sleep? I seem to recall reading somewhere that all the faces of people in your dreams come from people you have seen in real life, even if only briefly walking down the street. (Although how they managed to figure that out I have no clue, and it seems like an unlikely thing to be able to prove.)

But it is an interesting thing to muse upon at least. :)

Anyways, perhaps this could solve the conflict that Harry has? Although how he would ever discover something like that without dying first seems a mite tricky to me. :P

Unfortunately EY has taken the final step beyond the human patronus to derailing the purpose of the story. I was immediately a fan of Harry's attitude and the inclusion of some fun rationality science, but the moralistic turn has rendered claims of rationality defunct.

The actions of Harry related to saving Hermione are in no way rational or logical and probably derive from emotions developed in the personal life of EY rather than from any logical basis. I do think that EY would be or possibly is a fan of the final events of The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke based on this chapter.

Resurrecting the dead is beyond both the bounds of friendship and of reality.

I would also posit that Harry himself follows a "script" just as much as any other character and is not "free to act." Although its fun and makes certain people, including admittedly myself, happy to refer to most other people as NPCs in truth our actions are just as predictable.

In any case I would say that EY had a good run and that of the three fanfictions I have ever read in my life, this one and two other HP ones, Dark Prince and Natural 20, this is the only one that I considered to be truly good, the others being a train wreck and merely amusing respectively. I am glad for the majority of the chapters because they are quite great. But the story has been on a downhill slope ever since the patronus and its slowly becoming unreadable. Perhaps EY will make a push back towards the science and the attitude that made the story once intriguing.

Creepy. More flawed than I would hope, but then you hold an inherent distrust of what you would call superstition Mr. Yudkowsky, I can only wish you gave it an honest try.

Wow. I never thought about invisibility that way.

Kudos!

What an intriguingly odd story. Or should I say oddly intriguing? Perhaps both.

Regardless, I'm fascinated in an unwilling sort of way, which seems an appropriate response to your particular brand of Harry. So please, if you will, take that as a compliment.

Best,
-h

Wow. Reading this makes me feel immeasurably stupid. I HATE that feeling: but love the story. They clash. I cannot even begin to understand and create hypothesis about this story. In sure I would so far better if I reread and listed important facts throughout the story. I just dont have time. Well here goes...
This supports quirrelmort: voldy just left, leaving a damaged veggie behind.

Holy crap... just holy crap... This is the most amazing story. I actually kept puting down a very good and brand new novel to read this to the end because I was addicted and my published book was far less interesting. I love the different psychosocial experiments put in here. I remember being amazed that people even came up with tests that worked to test things like that let alone the results. One very true part of this story is that once you learn, you can never go back. On the flip side, like Harry and the Phoenix, once you have learned such things, you could never truly be tested again. If the people in those different experiments had heard the results of such tests prior, it would have already changed the way they think or the way they would like to think of themselves reacting and thus ruin the results. Harry's proclamation to Hermione about 'if you were born in another time would you really be how you are now' was a good point towards this as well. People look at the technology and achievements around them and take them for granted, but most of all are the advancements we've made in our psychosocial developments. Things that are so much a part of us now, but would have been inconceivable even a hundred years ago, let alone a thousand. But I'll stop my rant here and move to the point of all this. Your story has really touched me and I have found myself learning from it even though I have been through most of the studies myself. So let me just say thank you for your wonderful work and I most eagerly await that next update..._

only the second time i've commented (previously chapter 80...)

very good, eliezer. you gave us the 'when' (during that final minute-and-a-half, while minerva waited outside for harry to say goodbye - after which harry came out looking rather different than when he went in)...
you gave us the 'how' (he used a time-turner to take the body back up to the tower - just like he time-turnered his meeting with quirrel - where he swapped it with hermione just before she died - invisibility cloaks are great!)...
you gave us the 'what' (the time-turnered harry used a defibrillator on hermione, which is why her body seemed to 'jump' and the loud noise was heard)...
you gave us the 'who' (in a manner of speaking - since leaving the 'body' behind to go down to the great hall, harry has been 'acting' the part of the grieving friend, but only acting - quirrel saw right through the act, 'it was not good enough, he thought')...
the 'why' is self-evident...
which all explains very nicely how the body 'disappeared' - harry took it back in time (note how much attention he paid to his watch, waiting for the precise moment to go back in time). He probably transfigured the sheet to look like an effigy of hermione, then left it behind for minerva to see, and allowed the transfiguration to lapse shortly thereafter, leaving just a sheet behind.)
all that remains (hah, hah - oops, soory for the tasteless pun) is to figure out the 'where' - i.e., where time-turned harry took the just-revived hermione (after replacing her with the time-turned corpse of hermione) to recuperate, and how exactly he got her out of there (not fawkes, surely) without being discovered.
nicely played out, eliezer. you'd have made a great chavrusa.

Wow you actually did it, came from TV Tropes after learning of your fanfic and it really is an amazing piece, very beautiful and the number of shout outs and rational explanations that Harry seeks for everything, and his A God Am I mindset are really impressive.

I've always believed int he power of the human mind and science as a tool to overcome obstacles and as such agree wholeheartedly with everything submitted thus far. I'm impressed and will keep this in mind for further explorations and introspection.

Really good work.

Quirrel.

Just...Just Quirrel.

I almost want to say he IS in fact David Monroe...but then I remember all the connections he has with Harry and all the Voldemorty-stuff he's doing! GAH!

This last chapter was just amazing

Obsession with raising the dead? Only way to show you care!

Careful, less wrong. You'll inspire a massive following of kids and teens to grow up and make frankensteins...

I must say, no other author uses as many obscure references as you. I spend three times as much time looking up things on wikipedia as I do reading the story... But then, I am also easily distracted so I may spend more time on that then strictly necessary...

Ok, so coming off of my prior commentary about the David Monroe thing, my going theory, though admittedly perhaps a little simplistic for your usual plotlines, is that 'Quirrel' is severely mentally damaged from Voldemort taking up space in his brain (Even if souls don't exist, conversion of his
consciouness into an intangible wraith a la canon is more plausible) and so Voldie is who has been mentoring Harry, wearing David Monroe's (Under the Quirrel alias) body. But it can be tiring to fully possess him, hence the slump-and-drool when not doing stuff. Subvariant of this is that Monroe was tortured into insanity a la the Longbottoms, rather than an overtaxed brain.

Please respond, I'm interested about how close I am.

what just happened?! I swear, cliffhangers will kill me one day . . .
(great chapter by the way)

So. So. It has come to this.

1. The Pioneer Plaque, the Sorceror's Stone, and the Prophecies
These are unexplained but oft-hinted at sometimes spotlighted plot elements that have always born the significance of the plot. The purpose of the writing is to teach the reader MORE than the Story, but HOW TO THINK. That's always been the case, always has, always will. But WE ARE FINALLY GETTING TO the Story. Which means we are Finally getting to the point where we will be able to know WHAT we are being told to Think.

2. Abandoning the 'Metaplot' of 'What does it all mean', I'm going to focus on 'What is it all'.
Quirrellmort asks for the Science Books.
Harry Potter is seen as salient threat to the Pioneer Plaque.
Seemingly, if Quirrellmort IS Quirrellmort (which in fact has been an assumption by us all along, but one based on the whole issues surrounding the Significance of the Pioneer Plaque), then maybe now he's not Quirrellmort at all, but just James Monroe.

3. WHERE IS VOLDEMORT?! is a very, very important question to be asking right this instant, closing our minds to everything else we could possibly be worried about. Ever since the end of the Stanford Prison Experiment we've been wondering a little bit more than Idly about that, but now it's of Emergency Threat-level importance and Voldemort needs to make an On-Screen appearance AS Voldemort.

Fanfiction appears even more obviously to be heading to it's Final Conclusion sometime before Chapter 115 or thereabouts. We have at most 20 chapters left, or maybe 30 If the author feels like throwing us for a Gigantic Strange Loop. Horcruxes, Elixirs of Life, and Deathly Hallows may all come into play during this Dramatic Climax. Time Turners are guaranteed. Time Turners in the PLURAL, or why would we spend that Chapter with Moody and Harry talking about chasing Time Travelling Dark Wizards?

I looked at the Chapters we have so far, and I think I can divide the current body of the fic into well-named sub-books.

Chapters 1-22: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
Around this point we have our setting and characters neatly Introduced, Defined, and given some small moments of Character Growth. You might pick a slightly earlier or slightly later point, but ROUGHLY this is the end of what I see as "Book One". I would say "Ch. 22" is about the end of the "YOU TURNED INTO A CAT!" level of happy, lighthearted Science and Magic and Fun and the beginning of...well...the Plot.

Chapters 23-46: Draco Malfoy and the Methods of Rationality

Again, I must apologize because it's very difficult putting dividing lines in the first 50 Chapters, but it *Makes Sense* to me that the first and second "Books" MUST be finished before The Stanford Prison Experiment. Not because "Time Travel Azkaban Book Three", but RATHER because the Title I propose for this section, which defines the pattern I'm going to use. Why call it Draco Malfoy and the Methods of Rationality? Because Draco Malfoy is one of the most important characters in the Story, and also represents the Reader, and ALSO because after Harry learns a whole lot about Science & Magic, the plot shifts focus to Draco being the one Learning Things and Harry begins to be elevated to McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore, and finally Quirrell levels of "Knowing".

Chapter 47-63: Albus Dumbeldore and the Methods of Rationality
Almost the whole of "Book Three" *just so happens* to match up nicely to "Azkaban Time Travel", but Book 1 was about Harry learning to be a Wizard-Scientist, Book Two was about the Conversion of Draco Malfoy, and Book Three starts to bring us around to learning more Albus Dumbledore. Other characters are the 'spotlight', but Dumbledore is the most important one that really gains lots of New Questions about, like "What the hell happened to Narcissa Malfoy and why? How do we know what we think we know about Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore?" We learn How Dumbledore Thinks in the few scenes that are all about him...but this section is the one that least fits into my attempt at a structured model dividing the Whole into Parts, because it helps make the Whole Connected to Itself.

*skip one for Omake Files IV*

Chapter 65-Chapter 85: Hermione Granger and the Methods of Rationality
The SPHEW arc ends with the First Death in the series. I'm sure it's just by coincidence that this is rather a lot like Goblet of Fire. Will there be Seven Books to HPMOR as with HP canon?
I don't know. There's enough room for characters, but I don't think so. I think Book Five is the last one.

85 is Most. Definitely. the correct place to end Book Four, and either Four or MAYBE Three feels like the right Book Number to be on. Three would be interesting, because then I'd have to cut out "ADMOR" in favor of making "DMMOR" longer. And that would leave us with:

Book 1: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (22 Chapters)
Book 2: Draco Malfoy and the Methods of Rationality (30 Chapters?)
Book 3: Hermione Granger and the Methods of Rationality (35 Chapters? 40?)

Which you'll note...is all the Generals of the Three Armies. The Three-Act organization stretches each book some to accommodate the segue chapters between major sequences. As for the character to name Book Four/Five after, which I think starts at about Ch. 87-92?

Book 4: Quirinus Quirrell and the Methods of Rationality. Ob-viously. Ch. 87-105, more or less.
The thing we've been building up to possible ever since Harry's First Defense Lesson, the first time we see the Sphere of Stars spell, and the chapter we learn that Voldemort Horcruxed the Pioneer Plaque. You know, the thing that makes this ACTUALLY a Harry Potter story, and not a fanfiction with THE BEST WRITTEN MARY-SUES EVER, that are STILL all MARY SUES in the sense that they really have little if anything at all to do with being consistent to the world they find themselves in. So far, it has been Hogwarts-but-not-Hogwarts, because we *STILL* haven't had Harry fight ANYTHING like Death Eaters, Voldemort, the Basilisk, or uncover any Super Traitors. The most we've had are the Troll and the Dementors, which are still, no matter how high level, CREATURE encounters, not PLAYER encounters. Where are the Bad Guys?

It's time to see Dark Magic vs. Dark Science tear apart the very fabric of the stars with a FINAL EPIC BATTLE!

Book 5: LessWrong and the Methods of Rationality (Epilogue, put Omake Files chapters here, and any wrap-up "Post-Epilogue"/After-Aftermaths chapters 106-whatever the very last chapter number is.)

On a side note, suspiciously specific numbers mentioned oh-so-casually always get my attention.

323 years before the date of this scene was 1669. In 1669 "the country of magical Italy was ruined by one man's folly". In 1669 Mt Etna erupted, destroying the town of Nicolosi and killing twenty thousand people. Nicely played.

I read this chapter.
Then I read the chapters before, the whole story from the beginning, again.
But just, WTF happened?.

Hmmm. Quirrlmort has left hogwarts, hasn't he?

Next apperance i would bet is as the shadowy figure in a top hat. Probably to Harty himself.

Yeah yeah, i like trying to guess future events in a story. So far i haven't succeded more than once with your story. Yet it looks so logical in hindsight.

Another quick-thought.

I know you probably just intended it as a pointless reference, but is telling HJPEV about Precia Testarosa a good idea? After all, the whole tragedy of that story is that she fundamentally succeeded in bringing her daughter back from the dead, and couldn't accept a few pointless new quirks.

Not a real problem from the point of view of Harry, who might see it as a legendary source actually worth investigating.

"One of my classmates gets bitten by a horrible monster, and as I scrabble frantically in my mokeskin pouch for something that could help her..."

Have you really been planning it this long?

Wow what was that spell? Did I miss a chapter, or do I need a reminder?

I absolutely LOVED the reference to The Wastelands Of Time , I think my brain would melt of pleasure if I ever learned you were co-writing a fanfic with Joe6961
"Fire-and-ice-and-rage, old-king, we-are-the-Bone-Men-of-the-lightning!"

That which you promised you have performed!
May you readership grow as the king's garden of Roses did!
Keep up the good workq;q

You know, it strikes me that Harry and Quirrel's argument is something of a false dichotomy. Real friendship can exist and even be fairly common, while the *majority* of professed friendships are in fact just people filling the roles. A person can have the capacity for real friendship while having met only people with whom they play the roles. Isn't one of the literary cliches for the Big Event to reveal the difference in one's alleged friends?

wot? what happen? cliffhanger?! dang...
thanks for the update

what?!
You know, catching me by surprise EVERY CHAPTER isn't good for my heath.
and who's going to bring me back? :-p

Interesting...

"Such tales are also told among wizardkind [...] Akemi Homura and her lost love"

This kind of stuff is the lamest thing about this, otherwise great, fic. I used to not mind during my first excited rush through the story, but now I cringe every time I see one of those pointless references.

Another excellent chapter, as always. I loved your allusions to madoka, nanoha, etc.

A reference to Full métal alchemist? Good job :)

Did Voldemort just hit his villainous BSOD?

Regards the invisibility cloak, I had assumed that it was simply duplicating photons as they passed through it, sending one copy to the wearer and one to anyone on the other side. Some sort of calorimetric experiment would seem to be in order.

Of course, if that is what it's doing, it could trivially be used to construct a perpetual motion machine. But that's true of many things in the HPMOR universe. I'm amazed Harry hasn't constructed one yet, just to annoy any nearby physicists.

So now Harry's motivation appears to be pride. I certainly hope this is another carefully cast illusion

Well... the only way Harry can get hermione back is by time travel. Wasn't there something about wormholes that could actually allow someone to get to a certain point in time? Maybe magic could create something like this. Harry would "only" need to create a flesh Golem looking like Hermione and have it act out the events he'd witnessed.

Anyway, thank you for writing this captivating story,
Beyogi

Why do I get the feeling this is all heading towards the may 7th 1992 maiden launch of the Endeavour space shuttle...

Well done! This is really deep and existential. Well done indeed

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH! Quirrelmort?! Finally?!

What ... just happened? There, in the end?

-chronodekar

Thanks for posting another thought provoking chapter.

Intriguing. But I have to say as interesting as the conversation was, I'm more interested now in what will occur with the actual attempts and what has become of Mr. Malfoy.

Another fantastic chapter :) I liked Harry's sensible time-jumping here and the cutting and so very important dialogue. Now, I know fans have made their own music for the sphere of stars- but this is one I stumbled across elsewhere that I feel really fits the experience. Loving the updates, keep up the brilliant work!

Hmmm, the last few lines (as expected) make me wonder...

The rest of the chapter is, as usual, well written. Searching for the true depth of the feelings he does not understand, probing Harrys will, all well and good.
Then offering his aid, while (for my interpretation anyway) leaving Quirrel almost completely afterwards.
Strange.

No Harry! Don't do it! Do not give Voldemort your physics textbook! LOL...only in HPMoR does that line make sense :) But really, great chapter, as always. I hope you reveal what happened to Hermione's body soon.

On the topic of the invisibility cloak:

Couldn't it simply be altering the minds of those who perceive it? It seems a far simpler explanation than the time-looping photon sort of explanation, especially given the amount of mind magic we know to exist. It would also tie in with magic just 'working as you expect it to' - if, magic doesn't *actually* work the way you expect it to, just creates illusions that it is.

On the topic of Avada Kedavra. It's been said that it is (With the exception of baby Harry) unblockable, unstoppable, etc. At first I was going to suggest simply shooting the ground - but then I remembered intent to kill for killing's sake. So imagine I'm hovering above someone (It's been used often enough in Quirrel's war games) and I shoot Avada Kedavra at the person below me, narrowly missing. That green burst of death/light would simply carry on through the earth, perhaps killing someone when it comes out the other side - if not, perhaps killing someone on the international space station *****(Just realised, perhaps hitting Quirrel's plaque)***** or perhaps even hitting an alien?
What speed does Avada Kedavra even go at? We know that you can see it moving, so it's nowhere near the speed of light (wasn't that a big comment on star wars-esque lasers?). What if, when you heard someone begin casting Avada Kedavra, you hop on a broomstick (or rocket, or other extremely fast thing and fly away? Then, when you've created a sufficient distance between yourself and the green bolt, you can adjust your trajectory so that it misses you?

"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Quirrell. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Quirrell, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something..."

"What were they holding onto Harry?"

"...That there's some good in this world, Mr. Quirrell. And it's worth fighting for."

Terribly interested to see how you are going to pull all of this together.

Wow. I don't know if you've ever watched the show Battlestar Galactica, but you managed to quote and/or almost-quote the Hybrids several times. It's a bit creepy.

"It is not much consolation that society will pick up the bits."

Ooh, what's happened to 'Quirrel'? Is this like, an insanely high number bluff? Is he really Quirrel pretending to be Monroe pretending to be Quirrel pretending to be Monroe? Or is there something more going on here? (There obviously probably is) Something sciency? :O

Ok, i'm not sure which direction this is steering, aside maybe that from the humor/drama rating we are currently are at DRAMA. Curious how this will paly out.

You know how Voldemort found and took advantage of Quirrel's weakness to possess him? What if our Quirrel somehow beat Voldemort, at a terrible price? Merged with him or something.

Well, for someone who doesn't feel emotions, the hypothesis "people don't actually care, they just play the role of someone who do" makes more sense than "they care, they just don't think rationally enough".
So, Quirrelmort (at this point it seems more likely), after trying to get others to influence Harry out of his determination, trying to convince him ("eh don't tear the stars apart my pioneer plaque!") himself, tries for "Well then. I better be a part of whatever you're doing so I can keep an eye on you". Ok. (though why abandon Quirell now?)
I think this last plan could make him into the one announced by the prophecy. Provoked by the prophecy itself, of course.
Hearing that Prophecy certainly changed his plans. (obviously. New informations makes changes of plans necessary. Duh.)
Prophecy are told to those who can makes them happen or prevent them. Which mean the "right" actions by Quirellmort (still assuming, I know) can provoke the Prophecy. Others actions can prevent it. Basically, whether the Prophecy happens or not is up to him.
OF course, that doesn't mean he knows what actions prevent it and what actions provoke it. He can't be even sure what it means.
...I was going to say Prophecies seem useless, but they serves a purpose. The problem is that this purposes has nothing to do with humans purposes. They're more likely to use humans than the other way around. But that would imply there's a consciousness behind them to "use" humans (or whatever species of creature actually hear them), so that's not the right interpretation? They "serve a purpose" in the same gravity serves a purpose.
Hm. Needs to think about it more.

Thank you for this wonderful chapter. Looking forward to the announced update on July 24!

Can Voldemort be revived as Hermione by Harry?

was having the exact same four about invisibility cloaks I was looking at it from this angle

How does the cloak know what is precisely in the spacious motor cover
eg if I wrap it into a ball if I use it as a sheet and so forth what about if it overlaps itself

I presume it just bends light around itis but then how does the light enter the eye?

how does it know when it's covering something?
a mean if not permanently invisible how does it know when to go invisible
in Canon it actually had a shape colour to it when not in use and in the silly movie

Brilliant update
crack open the sun burn everything if he gets Hermione back

personally I thought you could just transfigure a black hole?
a chain reaction nuclear effect that never ends?
a summoning spell that makes the planet go out of orbit
or a mass weightless spell
so many interesting and wonderful ways to destroy reality with magical powers and

Keep up the brilliant work

After a quick search, the eruption of the Etna on the 11th March 1669 looks like a good candidate for the destruction of Magical Italy as described by Quirell.
No other particularly catastrophic event are recorded in Italy in 1669-1670, and that particular one destroyed a city, leaving 20,000 dead.

To the reviewer commenting on the unbelievability of their being no wizards that tried to resurect the dead. "Real-life wizards do not attempt the same, even though the notion is clearly not beyond their imagination." Remember this is Quirrel that is stating this not the author. The concept of the philsophers stone has not yet been reveled to Harry. Quirell is known to state the truth. Maybe Quirrel said this to be kind, to disuade harry, Or maybe qurielmort said this to hide his own cannon atempts for the exact thing Harry is no trying to do.

Beautiful. Very beautiful. I love how you make people's ideas actually - well - move and matter; in most fanfiction that I've read, it's almost only the people's actions that keep the coin spinning.
Also, if Professor Quirrell is so afraid of what Harry Potter can do, why doesn't he just kill him, or Obliviate him and leave somewhere as a pure Muggle? It must be within his abilities to do.
About the Cloak - can it, I don't know, create two possible futures for the protons - one proton goes to the eye, one goes through the Cloak-defined chunk of space?.. or maybe it loops Time - the same proton, after giving its energy to activate the receptor, comes back and goes through (reminds me of Maxwell's demon, ha-ha:)? Actually, it should be possible to make a more generic Cloak which would make a person under it to be 'absent' in more senses than just invisible.

"There are no Author's Notes for Ch. 95.", said in a author's note. Or are there different kind of author's notes? Is the remark, that there are no author's notes, standing above all others? Is a blank space really less telling than a remark, telling that there is nothing to see? Even if it's written "there is nothing to see", you can still read it. Ahhhh, paradoxes...

whoa i did not expect that

Honestly, Quirrell still confuses me. I'm looking forwards to seeing why he acts the way he does...
best, LO

I think quirrrel is voldermort becuase he cudnt und r rstand how harry cud care for hermione like dumbles said that he didnt understand love. And love is a form of care. I allso think volddy wants to help harry to learn how to cheat death with science that wizards cant understand and hence stop. I know this is probly false but thats my theory. Great story though but I am sad hermione had to die. Keep up the good work.

Great chapter, hope to see more updates soon!

Their conversations are always so amazing. Just brilliant. And, of course, the end of the chapter was undeniably unnerving.

скучновато, но спасибо и на этом!

Did Voldemort just transfer into Harry? That's what leaps to mind right now.

Shambling Bone-Men, aye? :)

Awesome
Nice step up
Ending a little confusing if he knew he had so little time
Hermoine body going by by a nice touch leaves time travel open or evil got her
Love story

... So Quirrelmort's motivation is to get Harry to produce a means of immortality *for* him, maybe? Hmmm...

Oh, no. Please, please forgive me for all that follows. It got away from me. I'm so sorry.

I'm becoming concerned that even if this story does indeed hold true to canon in that Quirrell is hosting Voldemort somehow, it's messing with the doom-ish things in some way. I'm not sure why that's a concerning thought for me. It's tough to articulate. Maybe because I'm thinking that if Quirrell happens to be who he claimed to be to McGonagall, the fellow who stood up to Voldemort, then he's, like, a canonically-absent-and-therefore-unexamined variable.

Like, okay: The dude he says he is stood up to Voldemort. That dude is who Quirrell is when he's lucid and competent, so if he's telling the truth and that's his "waking" identity, then the pitiable, dithering aspect might be the manifestation of Voldemort, weakened as he ought to have been from being nearly destroyed by wee baby Harry, thereafter bodiless and barely clinging to life outside of this current parasitic form. But that wouldn't make sense, because what with the prophecy, shouldn't the doom-feeling come from Voldemort, and so shouldn't it happen when Quirrell's weak? So what if the doom part NOW, instead of "oh crap it's that evil wizard and one of you is totes gonna destroy the other," it's "take a look at this hypercompetent gentleman who once went out of his way to thwart the big bad guy and who has admitted his lack of scruples when it comes to logic and efficiency and who therefore probably wouldn't hesitate to finish off Voldemort for realsies if an opportunity presented itself that wasn't even tough to take advantage of and he will kill both parts of the prophecy oh nooooo." And the weak Voldemort-aspect recognizes that probability and knows that it is in just the right position to be destroyed by its host and Harry feels it through their connection or maybe even on his own because he SHOULD be scared because he's just a kid but he's got the whole soul thing going on and he'd be in danger of ALSO being destroyed for the sake of finishing Voldemort off and he might be good but he is nooooo Quirrell.

So maybe what I'm getting at is the possibility that the antagonist has shifted and my feeling of concern is coming from the unverified threat of a new predator. Or something. Especially because, sure, from our perspective he'd be the antagonist because he'd be going after our established PROtagonist, but this story has already mentioned the whole "other people are the protagonists of their own stories" and from the perspective of a guy who stood up to Voldemort once and who now might be closing in on his chance to finish him off, eventually killing Harry could be an excellent goal, what with the whole horcrux situation.

I mean, Quirrell's still got the psychic connection to Harry going on in his lucid state, but being the host and (as mentioned a lot) super competent, could he perhaps take advantage of whatever Voldemort brings to the table by occupying some part of his consciousness? And Quirrell was pleased that Harry had made a mental transition he'd been angling for like Voldemort might be, but a possibility exists that if the stuff I'm thinking of is right, he might have been looking for an excuse to eventually kill Harry in spite of the intellectual loss that would be to the world, and Harry becoming irredeemably dedicated to some quest at the expense of others would be a good reason ("He was dangerous in more ways than you know!" or something).

Nope. Nope, I got it now. My feeling of unease comes from uncertainty. With the story incomplete, there's no way I can verify anything I'm thinking, and since I can't ever get ahead of anyone's game, even just having a crappy theory is making me all anxious to know what's up. There might not be enough evidence either way at the moment to even speculate; I am really likely to be rambling about nothing. Maybe it's like it is in the books, mostly. Or maybe he's all Voldemort somehow, or all Quirrell (though the psychic connection makes the latter unlikely, I think). He could be evil, or good in a definable way, or morally ambiguous because that's how real things are. OR MAYBE HE IS JUST SOME INTIMIDATING DUDE WITH CATAPLEXY WHO IS SUPER GOOD AT SOUNDING LIKE HE'S IN THE KNOW ALL THE TIME AND PSYCHING PEOPLE OUT JUST MAKES HIM GIGGLE, I CAN'T KNOW.

Guh. Thinking is hard and doing it just makes me all... wbluhbluh.

Anyway, long story short, good goin' so far, man! Lookin' forward to future installments.

Interesting, Quirrel wants access to Harry's science books

The chapters have made me want to cry since Hermione died.

I feel a lot like Professor Quirrel's opinion expresses, some days. It's nice to see those darker thoughts expressed here.

Great chapter:)

This imagery is great.

And this story really makes me want to read about space adventures with Harry and Professor Quirrell. It'd be a perfect crackfic.

With every story I've read, I've always felt like I was hoping it would give me some sort of answer to life, it would teach me something that would make it all okay. I don't know if you can live up to this sort of pressure, but I believe your story might.

good chapter.

My guess is that Quirrel was not quite prepared to wish Harry "good luck".

shout out to Homura made me smile XD

There are some chapters I've been "meh" to and others I've enjoyed immeasurably, this is the first that actually annoyed me and that I actually dislike.

"What these stories have in common, Mr. Potter, is that they are all fiction. Real-life wizards do not attempt the same, even though the notion is clearly not beyond their imagination."
I find this utterly preposterous! Even some real world humans have attempted odd rituals to resurrect their dead, that no wizard should do so despite them creating new spells implies they have some fundamentally different programming from real world humans (ether in not attempting stupid things out of hope or not truly caring for people), invalidating the whole premise of your fic to teach rationality!
This is the point where I'd throw a book against a wall or drop a fanfic, but yours has been very good overall. Can you not rewrite this to make actual sense?

Not logged in atm

I thought the shambling bone men were a creation in HP and the Wastelands of Time. Was that a shout-out?

Great chapter again. I know I don't understand half of this story, but I always love it, and am so glad you write it.

So is Voldemort trying to learn what Harry knows? It's an okay chapter, but I wish more stuff happened in it. Really, this whole story could have been a lot better if we could occasionally peek into Voldemort's thoughts or actions. Not enough to ruin a sense of suspense, but enough so that there isn't the feeling that the protagonists are fighting some poorly defined cloud.

Try as i might i cant see where this is going beyond some huge effort of magic in the future.
Still though, fascinating and riveting story.

Thanks for the update.

In almost every single chapter, Harry does something brilliant so naturally that it takes me a moment to notice. This chapter, I completely missed it until I re-read it and realized that when Harry didn't want to talk to Quirrel, he just uses the Time-Turner to have two hours to himself and returns all without Quirrel noticing. The amazing thing isn't what he did, but how he has adjusted to having a Time-Turner and all of its abilities as if he always had it his whole life.
Great job!

"I am, in complete sincerity, concerned for the safety of that golden plaque."

The bastard's just looking out for his horcrux.

I do wonder what that ending means... Did Quirrell CRAWL away from him?

"Friends don't let friends stay dead."

This was an AMAZING chapter. Though, you do have me wondering STILL whether or not Quirrel is possessed. Maybe Voldie could posses him fully because of the Stone...? After all, nothing stood in the way of the stone that day.

No, that's not right... the Charms corridor is still warded, and IF Mr. Cloak-and-Hat is Voldemort...

*Throws hands in the air* GAH! I dunno! Brain...not...currently...functioning...

Update soon, at least! :}

Madness! Madness I say! I hope he moves Heaven and Earth and brings Hermione back. Assuming she's actually dead. Which at this point, I can't really predict.

Bravo! If that's Voldemort declaring alliance to Harry, I might be willing to believe he could simply be misunderstood/misguided.

And whoo, references to Nanoha and Madoka!

"Sometimes telling someone about a danger can cause them to walk directly into it. I have no intention of having that happen this time." Gee, I wonder when was the last time that happened, Professor? Maybe October 31, 1991? Is he so concerned about the prophecy that Quirrellmort would leave potential gaps in his backstory? I suspect so.

Still have no idea of the endgame here (just the way I like it). And have we seen un-possessed Quirrell for the first time in the series? Riddles within riddles (yes, pun intended).

Quirrell says now, "The most likely prospect for disaster is a powerful wizard who, for whatever reason, cannot bring himself to halt as warning signs appear. Though he may speak much and loudly of his caution, he will not be able to bring himself actually to halt."

The Sorting Hat said in Chapter 10, "I just know that your chances don't feel good. They feel very not-good." Harry said, "But I just wouldn't do that! Ever!" The Sorting Hat replied, "I know that I have heard that claim before."

Hm. Will the world end in fire, or ice?

Quirrelmort is lacking in consistency these days. He was cold and calculating while Hermione was dying. Panicking when he realized that Harry's determination. Now almost Dumbledore-like, trying to be mysterious and wise, and the repeated 'speaking softly' got very annoying. Are we suppose to feel sorry for him? Not happening ... He killed Hermione. Let him burn.

It's hard to believe we're still in the first book.

I wonder if Voldemort can see through his Horcruxes.

Wow. That was interesting.

Loved this!

I want to see Draco again, I want vengeance, I want Lucius Malfoy to suffer and I want to behead Dumbledore - in that order.

I think I am taking Hermione's death a lot harder than I should be.

I shall await the next update with an impatient scowl on my face - just to give you a visual. (At least you are always on time with your updates, I shouldn't be so mad that you are an amazing author to make me get all attached to Hermione and then kill her off so meanly - I mean, amazing plot device).

D
Tree

What.

That was a powerful, powerful chapter. Rarely do you see a perspective like Harry exhibited phrased both artfully and logically. Thank you very much for writing, I can't wait for the next chapter.

Great chapter. To those not getting whats going on, if you have the time reread because it's awesome what just happened.

In Short:
Quirrell/Voldemort is terrified of the prophecy he heard. He has been the "bad guy" from the beginning. He is not a one dimensional character in this book and right now hes both humbled and terrified of Harry. He should know more than anyone that you can't stop a prophecy. His character is supposed to be conflicted because right now he believes he is facing his own death.

I like the Puella Magi reverence and that it was a wizard story.

Foreboding and well argued. Indeed people would consider resurrection but simply wouldn't consider it within their powers. They would reason, mostly correctly, that it would have been tried before and thus was ultimately futile without a compelling reason to expect a different outcome. Harry's scientific background is a good reason.

This whole issue could be resolved a lot more simply (though not make as good of a story nor be as likely) if Quirrell were to tell Harry of the prophesy. Then Harry would ensure that it was meant in a "stellar engineering" sense and everything would be good. In fact, Quirrell probably knows some basic prophesy theory and should therefore know that the prophesy will come true; instead of dissuading Harry, he should be finding a loophole which saves him. Maybe that's what he's doing when he offers to help, but why is he wasting time trying to dissuade Harry when he knows that's impossible? Unless succeeding in dissuading Harry would be evidence for "the end of the world" being someone else and he should find this somebody, or at least Harry's resolution not being the cause of the prophesy…

I'm also worried that any action Quirrell takes subjectively after 12:40 PM on April 16 1992, up to and including killing Harry, now has a fully general excuse and only his prior actions can be much evidence either way about his being evil (although his confession that he thinks most people's lives are worthless is certainly more evidence than I thought his later actions could realistically present).

Is Quirrllemort being converted?! Oh my.

Anyway this line: - if I were the first person in the universe who ever really cared about someone else, which I'm not by the way, then I'd be honored to be that person, and I'd try to do it justice."

Thank you for that. One of the best things Iv'e ever read anywhere. Thank you a million times.

It makes sense that he would help; Voldemort has always feared death. I wonder, more, about the rest of the prophecy.

There are so many things I can say about this chapter, but your shout outs to FMA and PMMM completely threw me. I had to stop for a second to realize they actually were shout outs. Good job.

I'm honestly not sure that there even is a villain anymore.

I mean, the characters are complex enough that there doesn't really need to be one. There will be conflict regardless.

I'm really hoping that Quirrellmort isn't evil. Sure, he's done terrible things, but seems more like he needs a therapist than anything else... and wizards don't seem to have those. Of course, all this dying foreshadowing is probably just referring to the re-birth ritual. After that, all bets are off.

I disagree with the first poster, it makes sense if you know the word of god, in fact what the author has been trying to hint at since close to the beginning of the story has just been shoved in your face.

consider this:
cannon Quirrel was possessed by Voldemort (albeit on the back of his head)
this Quirrel is much more openly evil then the quirrel of cannon, and has no known dark lord on the back of his head, he even seems to be balding.

the pioneer plaque seems important to quirrel, sure harry assumed the idea was that quirrel was hinting about harry blowing up half the galaxy, but he seems to be more worried about the plaque its self which he took the liberty of putting certain spells on it so it will last longer...

before he is arrested he jokes that if he was an imposter rather then use polyjuice to sustain the image of Quirrel, why wouldn't he simply take over his body

in this chapter his good bye seemed more like a "I must leave" then a "I gotta go back to the castle" he then stutters (kinda like cannon Quirrel) and falls over. meanwhile his personality changes (flinching away from harry and crawling away)

and the author starts referring to Quirrel as "The man sitting on the grass" " the figure on the ground" and "the fallen figure" it almost seems like the whole tone of the authors perspective of the person known as quirrel has shifted, like it was possesed by a totally different person.

and lets not forget that Harry's "sense of doom" that usually comes when he is with quirrel has vanished...

Ever get that feeling that your completely and utterly lost?

Did the shade of Voldemort just promise to help Harry resurrect a muggleborn? And it looks like he just left Quirell's body. I'm probably misreading that, but the sense of doom vanishing, Quirell collapsing, and then seeming either to not recognize Harry or be afraid of him...

Intriguing chapter!

Another chapter with Quirrel and his subterfuge. Sigh. Wake me when the Harry does something interesting.

What just happened?

There is something truly awesome about the idea that-regardless of the ultimate motives that may be behind his actions-that the absolutely sincere words of an eleven year old are apparently managing to move and even awe a being of absolute evil behind the mask of the Defense Professor. It may all be a pretense-he is nothing if not the master of deception by both direct and indirect means-but I can imagine that even Lord Voldemort is capable of being stopped in his tracks by what he has perceived, and will be helping Harry not only out of self-preservation but out of sheer desire to know what will come of it, risk be damned.

The fuck?

A lovely technique, that.

Great chapter. I love this story and I look forward to reading what happens next!

0-0

Hmmm...
I am now pretty sure Quirrel's offer is genuine. If you can't fight them... join them. And his assistance could mean the difference between destruction and success.
Thank you for writing.

Wait, what?
What?
What?
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat...?

Funny how the existence of the profecy puts even stuff like destroying the plaque in the realm of the possible...

I...still can't figure out the Defense Professor. It does look like he's being sincere, though. It's really making me sad that he's slowly growing weaker (dying?).
I still haven't gotten over Hermione, although to be honest, I'm losing faith in her being resurrected. It seems like the plot just won't call for it. The chapter made me sad again. I loved it, though, it had a fieriocity and desperation to it. Update soon!

Madoka and FMA, ne?

:D

Huh...

Agreed on the not making sense... and with Draco, Neville, and Hermione gone, it's not even amusing to be completely lost...

Wow.

This story makes no sense anymore