The Man with Two Faces (PS)

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Quirrell, removing his turban.

The Man with Two Faces is the seventeenth chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Quirrell

Harry is surprised to see that the man who has been trying to obtain the Philosopher's Stone is in fact Professor Quirrell. The teacher lets out a cold laugh. "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?"

He clarifies that it was he, not Snape, who tried to murder Harry (PS11); Hermione knocked him over while rushing to set Snape's robes on fire. Severus was, in fact, muttering a counter-curse all along, trying to save the boy. His concern was what drove him to referee the next Quidditch match, but Quirrell would not have dared to try anything with Dumbledore present ("All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor winning, he did make himself unpopular ... and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight.").

Quirrell snaps his fingers, and ropes appear out of nowhere, binding Harry.

"You're too nosy to live, Potter. Scurrying around the school at Hallowe'en like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone." Harry guesses that the teacher let the troll in (PS10). "Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls — you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off — and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, that three-headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly. Now wait quietly, Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror."

Harry at once recognises the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell guesses that it is the key to finding the Stone, and that this constitutes the obstacle that Dumbledore invented. But the headmaster is in London, and will not return until it is too late. Harry desperately tries to distract his teacher; the first thing he comes up with is mentioning that he saw Quirrell and Snape at the Forbidden Forest (PS13).