Quirinus Quirrell

**Quirinus Quirrell** was a character in '**Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'**.

He a half-blood wizard and the Professor of Muggle Studies and Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He searched for Voldemort and joined him in the hope of learning new things, but Voldemort possessed him when he found out that he worked at the school and used him to get the Philosopher's Stone. When they failed, Voldemort abandoned him and he died.

## Biography

### Early life

Quirrell was born in or before 1970 to at least one magical parent. He was smart when he was younger, but forgettable and from that experience, Quirrell had hoped one day for the chance to be heard and noticed instead of being a nobody. He took an interest in the Dark Arts, but later became the Professor of Muggle Studies at the school in or by 1989.

### Joining Voldemort

He wanted to prove how powerful and important he was by taking a year off work to go searching for Voldemort under the guise of going on a grand tour. He had hoped at best to learn from him and be proven skilful in the hope that no-one would ever laugh at him again. He was successful in finding Voldemort, but when he found out that Quirrell was a teacher at the school, he saw the opportunity to get into the school by using Quirrell.

Voldemort took possession and control of Quirrell who was powerless to fight him. Quirrell's head was mutated because Voldemort's face looked out the back of Quirrell's head, and he began wearing a turban. This made him a temporary Horcrux. Even though Quirrell was known for being nervous, he was even less normal than usual to colleagues and students and the story of what happened to him was that he bumped into vampires and a hag when he was travelling which made him find everything scary. He began faking an eye twitch and a stutter to look less suspicious but Dumbledore suspected him.

### The Philosopher's Stone

Dumbledore gave Quirrell the post of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor instead of the old teaching post of Muggle Studies Professor.

That summer, Voldemort gave Quirrell the job of stealing the Philosopher's Stone for him so that he could create a new body. Dumbledore was keeping the Stone at Gringotts at the time. Quirrell was in the Leaky Cauldron that day he had planned to take it and Rubeus Hagrid and Harry Potter passed through to go shopping. Hagrid introduced them and Harry asked him what he taught, but he was stammering when he was speaking. Quirrell then claimed he had to go and pick up a book about vampires which Harry thought made him look worried.

Later that day, he attempted to break into Gringotts to get the Philosopher's Stone but he was unsuccessful because Hagrid had emptied the vault earlier that day to take the Stone to Hogwarts School. Dumbledore had put the Stone in the underground chambers of the school surrounded by high-level security and they were found through a trapdoor in the third-floor corridor guarded by Fluffy. Voldemort was angry and thought Quirrell was a failure. He then took full possession of him and that caused Voldemort's head to appear in the back of Quirrell's head.

First-year students thought Defence Against the Dark Arts was a joke and the story about why he was awkward was that he upset a vampire in Romania and that's why the room had garlic everywhere because he was afraid it was going to find him one day. Quirrell claimed that he had fought a zombie but he wouldn't tell anyone what happened and began talking about the weather.

In an effort to sneak to the third-floor corridor to try and get the Philosopher's Stone, Quirrell let a troll into the school and run into the Great Hall to tell everyone. He then fainted. However, Professor Snape thought he was feigning it and headed towards the third-floor, scaring Quirrell away and getting bitten by Fluffy in the process.

Then during the first Quidditch game of the year, Quirrell and Voldemort made their first attempt to kill Harry. Quirrell jinxed Harry's broom to throw him off when it was bucking. Snape intervened again, saying a counter-curse. Hermione Granger saw Snape and thought he was saying the jinx instead, and in the process of putting Bluebell Flames to Snape's cape, she knocked Quirrell over and he could not continue to say the jinx. Later, Fred and George Weasley enchanted snowballs to follow him around and bounce off the back of the turban, not knowing that they were technically throwing them at Voldemort's face.

In around February 1992, Quirrell was prevented from jinxing Harry again at the next Quidditch game when Dumbledore spectated and Snape supervised the game. Snape then asked Quirrell to speak to him in the Forbidden Forest. He suspected that Quirrell wanted to steal the Stone. He wanted to know how far he had gotten and whether he was going to get past Fluffy. He advised him to think about who he should be loyal to, and who he should put confidence in. Harry Potter heard the whole confrontation and got the wrong idea of what had happened, suspecting that Snape was trying to take the Stone and that he was bullying Quirrell to help him, who looked petrified. In truth, he was trying to find out how far Quirrell had got and frighten him into giving up.

In spring, Harry served a detention in the Forbidden Forest searching for a missing unicorn. In order to stay strong and keep Quirrell from dying, Voldemort had Quirrell drink the blood of unicorns in the Forest. To kill a unicorn cursed them to live a half-life. Harry stumbled across Quirrell drinking blood from the unicorn, but could not see a face because of the hood he was wearing. Quirrell went towards him to kill him, but Harry was saved by Firenze and Quirrell fled.

Later, Harry heard Quirrell for the second time giving in when he was being bullied into getting the Stone. He thought that that he was speaking to Snape, but Quirrell was in fact speaking to Voldemort. He left the room adjusting the turban, looking very pale. He failed to notice Harry in the corridor. He then formed a new plan. He went to the Hog's Head under the guise of stranger in a hood, to find Rubeus Hagrid. He bought Hagrid drinks and manipulated him into playing a game of cards to win a dragon egg. He persuaded Hagrid to tell him how get past Fluffy. Now knowing he needed music to put Fluffy to sleep, Quirrell began to prepare for the next step in the plan towards finally getting the Stone.

### Death

He enchanted a harp to put Fluffy to sleep, and then went through the trapdoor to the underground chambers. He got past the first section, the Devil's Snare and then went through the next sections: the winged keys, the giant chessboard, the troll he had supplied and the potions riddle. However, in the final chamber created by Dumbledore, he found the Mirror of Erised that was enchanted to put the Stone in it. He had no idea how to get the Stone out.

He was then joined by Harry who had taken to trying to save the Stone. He told Harry the truth: that he had tried to kill him, that he and Voldemort joined forces, and that Voldemort was possessing him. The mirror would not give Quirrell the Stone because it was enchanted to give it to a viewer who saw that they were simply possessing the Stone, not using it. Quirrell and Voldemort wanted to use it.

But when Harry had viewed the mirror, he saw the mirror put the Stone in his pocket. Quirrell asked Harry what he saw in the mirror, but Voldemort worked out that Harry's answer was a lie and that he had the Stone. He took off the turban and showed him Voldemort's face. Harry and Voldemort then spoke. Quirrell seized Harry and tried to kill him by strangulation, but even touching Harry hurt him because of the protection that Lily gave him. Harry then purposely seized Quirrell until he passed out.

Dumbledore then showed up in time to drag Quirrell off Harry, but Quirrell's body was now very damaged and Voldemort abandoned him. He died shortly after.

## Appearance

Quirrell was a pale, young man that had a twitchy eye.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ In *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, it was stated that he was working at the school by 1989, meaning he had to be at least seveneteen then. He was a "young man" in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* so he had to be born in the later stages of the 20th century.
2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 17
3. ↑ Bloomsbury Live Chat
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 5
5. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Chapter 33
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 8
7. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 9
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 16
9. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 10
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 11
11. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 12
12. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 13
13. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 14
14. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, Chapter 15