DD killed Quirrell? (was: re:Scrimgeour/WerewolfBites/Legilimency/DDsecrecy)

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 179811


SSSusan:
> Uh. Wha-???  
> 
> Forgive me if this is something you've discussed at length at 
other 
> times, but I only have time to read the list sporadically and this 
is a 
> new one for me.  But may I ask how you get that you're "sure" DD 
killed 
> Quirrell *directly*?  Is that sure as in, "I can't prove it, but 
I'm 
> sure of it in my gut," or is that sure as in, "I'm sure because 
it's 
> been proven"?
> 
> Siriusly Snapey Susan


lizzyben:

Definitely just sure of it in my gut. I was hoping that'd get a 
response! It doesn't seem like Quirrell's fate has been brought up 
on the list post-DH & IMO it's something that definitely takes on a 
new light in view of the revelations of that book.

The ending of SS is very, very odd. Harry confronts Quirrell/LV, LV 
recoils when Harry grabs his face & Harry hangs onto his arm, Harry 
hears voices calling his name... and he blacks out. He wakes up three
days later & DD tells him that Quirrell died when LV fled his body. 
I am, as usual, suspicious! Why would Quirrell die when LV stopped 
possessing him? LV possessed Harry, & Harry didn't die when LV fled 
his body. Ditto for Ginny. So why should Quirrell die? Where was he 
buried? Doesn't the guy even get a funeral, or any mention after 
teaching at the school for many years? And finally, who's bright 
idea was it to send Quirrell to Albania to study in the first place? 
Right before Harry is scheduled to come back to Hogwarts? Well, who 
knew that LV was floating around an Albanian forest, through his 
many "sources"? One guess. :)

Harry's last memory before blacking out was this: "He felt 
Quirrell's arm wrenched from his grasp, knew all was lost, and fell 
into blackness, down . . . down . . . down . . ."

Later on, DD says: "I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you -
-"
"It was you."
"I feared I might be too late."

So, DD arrives, wrenches Quirrell's arm from Harry's grasp & pulls 
Quirrell away. Pretty clear here. He's still fighting Harry when DD 
arrives. But he's dead when Harry wakes up.

"But sir, the Stone --"

"I see you are not to be distracted. 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."

DD says that he just arrived in time to prevent Quirrell from taking 
the stone - DD says that he prevented that, but doesn't elaborate on 
how he did that.

"He left Quirrell to die; he has just as little mercy for his 
followers as his enemies".

Notice that DD doesn't actually SAY that Quirrell died when LV fled, 
he just says that LV "left Quirrell to die". DD doesn't specify 
*how* Quirrell's death actually arrived. Kinda like "by the time I 
extracted her memory, her life was almost over." DD doesn't actually 
lie, usually, he just violates the maxims of communication with 
complete impunity. 

Finally, DD tells Harry that he's been unconscious for *three days*. 
Isn't that an awfully long time? A lot of things could happen in 
three days in regards to Quirrell & Harry would never know about it. 
JKR deliberately left an enormous hole in the story there, & I don't 
know why. It actually goes against the rules of storytelling, which 
is probably why the movie completely revamped the Quirrell 
confrontation. Usually, we see the hero defeating the villian in the 
climax of the story. But here, right at the most intense moment, it 
all fades to black, & we never do hear the truth of it all. The 
truth is a beautiful & terrible thing according to DD, and maybe JKR 
too. So yes, I think DD killed off Quirrell after LV fled, in order 
to avoid troubling questions from Hogwarts staff or the MOM. And we 
never hear about Quirrell again. Maybe DD just told everyone he went 
on another sabbatical? And I think it's at least 50/50 that DD sent 
Quirrell off to Albanian forest in the first place, in order to 
bring back Vapormort in time for Harry's arrival at Hogwarts. 

The last chapter of SS is titled "The Man with Two Faces," & it 
features both Harry's confrontation with Quirrell & his ending 
conversation with Dumbledore. IMO that's another case of a chapter 
title w/a double meaning. Harry sees the other face of Quirrell at 
the end of this book, but he doesn't see the other face of DD until 
the end of the series.


lizzyben