Snape flying away

[zanooda2]

No: HPFGUIDX 187303

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "susanfullin" <susanfullin at ...> wrote:

> How DID Snape stop Quirrell from going down the "trap door" 
> after the stone the first time, when Snape was bitten by Fluffy???


zanooda:

Quirrell didn't intend to go after the stone at Halloween, he just wanted to try and find out what was guarding it: "You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school on Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone" (p.289).

I think at that point Quirrell didn't know any of the Stone defenses yet, it was too early for him to attempt anything. We don't even know if he actually entered Fluffy's room, because, as he said, "Snape went straight to the third floor to head me off". Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to pass Fluffy, not knowing how. 

I wonder, why Quirrell needed to learn the secret from Hagrid, couldn't he overcome the dog some other way (I mean other than music) - to use Avada Kedavra, for example :-). Or, if he could knock out a troll, why not a giant dog?