Harry and Daphne sat with Tracy at dinner on the Halloween feast,
Draco wisely sat on the opposite end of the table and none of the trio
could be bothered to complain.
"Harry" Tracy said "when we get back to the common room, can you
help me with my charms homework?"
"I would Tracy" Harry replied "but Daphne's sisters fathers wife's
eldest daughter needs to talk with her breathtakingly handsome
boyfriend and I have to be there"
"Oh, okay" Tracy responded
"Give her a minute" Harry whispered to Daphne, who watched as
realisation hit Tracy's face
"Oh, you utter prat!" Tracy punched Harry in the arm
"Guilty" Harry smiled "and yes, I will help you with your homework,
even though it's due in tomorrow and I think you should suffer the
consequences of not doing it."
"Thank you" Tracy sighed
"TROLL!" Quirrell burst into the hallway, catching everyone's
attention "IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON! Thought
you ought to know" He then fell flat on his face
"What happened to his stutter?" Harry whispered "and who faints like
that?" Before he could receive his answers the whole hall burst into
panic, Harry could hear tons of girls screaming, the most annoying
scream turned out to be Malfoys who Harry had genuinely thought
was a girl.
"Silence!" Dumbledore shouted, and the whole hall stopped
"everyone will please not panic, prefects will lead the younger years
to their dormitories" The prefects did as they were told, and began
leading the students to their dormitories.
"Okay, listen up" One of the Slytherin prefect said "the headmaster
has seemed to forgotten that we stay in the dungeons, so we're
going to the library instead"
The Slytherin's followed the prefects to the library, as they were
walking Daphne had put her hand in Harry's, while Tracy had taken a
hold of his sleeve, much to Draco's annoyance.
"Greengrass" Draco said as they walked "wouldn't you rather stay by
my side? I'd me much more capable of protecting you than Potter"
"Oh, says the boy who screamed like a girl" Daphne spat "I wouldn't
hold your hand for a million galleons"
"We really doing this right now Draco?" Harry sighed "A troll in the
castle and you're actually trying to do this right now?"
Draco's response was cut off by a loud scream, everyone stopped
and looked in the direction of the scream. They were greeted by
sight of Adrian, Ron and Hermione running towards them with the
troll chasing them.
"Idiots!" Tracy yelled "They're leading it right to us!"
"Screw my life" Harry sighed before yanking his hand out of
Daphne's and pulling Tracy off of his sleeve
"Harry?" Daphne looked at him
"I want you lot to run! Now!" Harry ordered
"Harry!" Daphne looked alarmed "You're not thinking what I think
you're thinking, are you!"
"If you're thinking I'm thinking about taking on the troll then you
would be correct"
"Harry that's suicide!" Daphne screamed
"Only if I die" Harry took a breath and started running
"Harry!" Daphne was held back by Tracy "Harry get back here!"
Harry tossed off his robes and started running straight at the golden
trio and the troll, the trio had just caught sight of Harry running at
them and were beginning to think that he was mad. Harry ran closer
to the wall on his right, he jumped up in the air and kicked off the wall
and soared over their heads.
He landed on the floor and ran straight at the troll, who had just
noticed him. The troll raised its club and prepared to smash him.
Harry raised his wand and aimed it at the troll.
"Lumos Maxima!" Harry yelled
A bright light burst out of his wand, the troll closed his eyes but
swung blindly. Harry slid on the floor to avoid having his head
knocked off but he quickly got to his feet and ran past the troll.
"Incendio!" Harry shot a burst of fire at the back of the troll's head
"Stupefy" Harry added a stunning spell to the same spot.
Harry knew they wouldn't do anything to hurt the troll much but it
would serve his purpose of annoying and distracting the troll. And it
appeared to have worked as the troll turned to him with a furious
expression on his face, Harry just smirked and began running.
"Come on you big old bastard! Follow me!" Harry called out to the
troll "Come on, I'm here!" The troll roared and started chasing after
Harry who had just turned a corner, the troll followed him with its club
raised.
"He's mad!" Adrian exclaimed
"So Greengrass" Draco drawled "it looks like Potter has decided that
life's not worth living, I highly doubt he'll survive, don't worry though.
I'm still..." The rest of Draco's words were cut off when Daphne
punched him in the face.
Harry was being chased by the troll who was gaining on him, while
the troll was slow it's big legs made up the distance that Harry was
gaining by his speed. Harry screeched to a halt at the stair cases, he
looked around and nobody else was there. Though, the paintings
were still there so Harry had to be careful with what he did.
The trolls club tried to smash him but Harry quickly rolled out of the
way and narrowly avoided death. He quickly ran up the stairs, the
troll followed, and kept swinging at Harry who narrowly avoided
getting hit each time.
It was at this point Harry wondered how he kept getting into life
threatening situations, he was then a bit surprised to realise that this
was his first life threatening situation since entering Hogwarts.
However if the troll was the first then he wasn't sure he wanted to
have more.
Harry had gotten up four flights of staircases with the troll still behind
him, the troll was panting however as it was getting out of breath.
Harry looked down and decided that it was probably high enough, so
after dodging another troll swing he sent a stinging hex which hit the
troll right in the eye.
The troll cried out in pain, but didn't get to do much before Harry sent
another stinging hex at the other eye. It covered both eyes, and in its
pain had begun moving about a lot. The staircase was getting
damaged, Harry fired a reducto curse in-between the troll's feet, the
staircase was damaged more but not enough it seems.
"Daphne's going to kill me" Harry sighed as he took a few steps
back, he shook his head and in a moment of bravery and stupidity
ran.
He jumped off a railing and soared through the air towards the lower
staircase, he managed to grab hold of the railing and dangled there,
he climbed up and took his wand and fired another reducto cure.
This time at the underbelly of the staircase and right under where the
troll was standing, it caused a lot of damage but still not enough.
Harry fired another one, now the troll had regained its sense of sight
and began looking around.
Upon seeing Harry it roared and held its giant club high in the air,
Harry decided to get a move on. He took a big breath and aimed his
wand at the same spot.
"Bombarda maxima!" Harry screamed and the spell went flying.
It hit the same spot under where the troll was standing and the
staircase began crumbling, the troll was a bit confused as to why the
ground was shaking and why the small human was smiling and
waving at him.
Suddenly the staircase broke and the troll fell, Harry still waving and
smiling as he did, the troll screamed as gravity pulled him all the way
down to the floor. Harry had counted to five before he heard a big
bang, which signalled the trolls landing. He wiped a bit of sweat off of
his forehead, and sat down.
"Wow" Harry chuckled "a bloody troll!" Harry was slightly aware at
how mad his laughing made him look "I killed a bloody troll! Ha, not
much point in surviving the troll when Daphne's going to kill me."
Harry stood up and began walking down the staircases, eventually
he reached the bottom where he discovered the troll. He wasn't
going to go anywhere near it on the off chance that it wasn't dead.
"What is going on here?!" Harry turned to find Dumbledore, Snape,
McGonagall, Quirrell, Daphne, Tracy and the golden trio along with
the two Slytherin prefects staring at him.
"Well, what's going on is you're staring at me" Harry answered, he
was about to say more when Daphne chose that moment to run up
and hug him. "It's alright Daph, I..." Daphne let go and punched him
in the arm. "Ow, what was that for?"
"What was that for?!" Daphne repeated "You went after a bloody
troll! You idiot! What were you thinking?!"
"Honestly? I..."
"You weren't thinking!" Daphne interrupted "You were stupid and you
worried me sick! I can't believe you..."
This time Daphne was cut off but not by words, Harry had grabbed
her face and pulled her closer and gave her a kiss on the lips. It
lasted all of five seconds before Harry stopped and let go.
"Daph" Harry said softly "I promise you, I'm fine"
"Mr Potter" Snape spoke up "what happened?"
"Well sir" Harry answered "me and the rest of the Slytherin's were all
making our way to the library"
"The library?" Dumbledore asked "I had instructed you to make your
way to the dormitories"
"Yes, you did sir" Harry nodded "but you forgot one crucial thing"
"What's that?"
"The troll was supposed to have been sighted in the dungeons,
which coincidentally is where the Slytherin common room is" Harry
pointed out
"He's right sir" One prefect spoke "we had decided to go to the
library instead"
"Very well, ten points for quick thinking" Snape said "now what
happened?"
"Well sir, apparently the troll was no longer in the dungeons. Perhaps
the Gryffindor's would like to give their version of what happened
first" Harry replied
"Well?" Snape looked to the golden trio "what happened?"
"Hermione wasn't in the hall" Adrian answered "we heard about the
troll and went to look for her, when we got there the troll was already
there"
"My goodness" McGonagall said "what happened next?"
"They helped me escape professor" Hermione spoke "we had
started running and then the troll followed us"
"And you lead it right to us" Tracy interrupted
"What do you mean?" Snape asked
"The troll followed those three and they were running straight at us
and the other Slytherin's" Tracy answered "if it wasn't for Harry we
would have gotten in a lot of trouble"
"What did Mr Potter do?" Dumbledore asked curiously
"Professor" Daphne spoke after regaining her senses from the kiss
"he saw the troll coming and told the rest of us to run, he then ran
towards the trio and the troll. He got past them and then the troll tried
to hit him, he avoided it and got behind the troll after he had blinded
it with a Lumos spell. He then shot it in the back of the head with an
Incendio and a stunner"
"That was very foolish of you" McGonagall admonished "did you truly
believe you could stop a troll like that?"
"No" Harry shook his head "I thought I could get its attention with
that"
"And he did" Daphne added "the troll chased him and he led it away
from the rest of us, I don't know what happened after that"
"Mr Potter" Dumbledore spoke "what happened?"
"I led the troll up the staircases" Harry answered "I think it was
around the fourth staircase where I stopped and shot it in the eye
with a stinging hex, I then did the same with the other eye and shot a
reducto curse under its feet. After that I jumped off the staircase
and..."
"You what?!" Several voices said at the same time
"I jumped off the staircase" Harry repeated "and I grabbed the railing
of the staircase below that to stop myself from plummeting to my
doom, I then shot a few more reducto curses at the underbelly of the
staircase and then I used Bombarda maxima to destroy the staircase
and the troll fell to right where it is right now"
"Are you insane?!" Adrian exclaimed
"Little bit" Harry admitted
"Mr Potter, you've caused immense damage" Dumbledore said "I..."
"Mr Potter has saved lives" McGonagall interrupted "forget the
staircases, they can be repaired."
"But Minerva..."
"I am also in agreement" Snape responded "Mr Potter has saved the
life of many students today at the risk of his own"
"Yes" McGonagall nodded before turning to the golden trio "you
would have received five points for each for attempting to rescue
Miss Granger" She then turned to Harry "firstly I would like to gift you
ten points for advanced spell knowledge, twenty points for saving
your friends and fellow students and twenty more for defeating a
troll"
"Thank you" Harry smiled
"You are welcome" McGonagall replied "now I would like you all to
go back to your dormitories"
"Yes ma'am" Harry nodded. One prefect went back to the library to
tell everyone what had happened and to tell them to return to the
dormitories while the other had decided to lead Harry, Daphne and
Tracy back to the common room.
"You're mad, you know that right?" Tracy said to Harry
"And an idiot" Daphne added
"In my defence, I actually did know that" Harry replied
"You are one crazy kid Potter" The prefect chuckled
"All Potters are crazy in some way or form" Harry replied
"It's just a shame that you're type of crazy is the one that could get
you killed" Daphne responded
"Nah" Harry shook his head
"Nah?" Tracy asked
"I'm going to live a long life" Harry said confidently
"How'd you figure that?" Daphne asked
"I've done a lot of crazy stuff over the years" Harry yawned "if I was
going to die then I would've done it by now"
"Do I even want to know?"
"Not really" Harry answered honestly
"Fine but you will tell me one day" Daphne ordered
"Yes ma'am" Harry saluted "so, anything interesting happened while
I was off defeating the troll?"
"Yes" Tracy grinned "yes, something very interesting happened"
"Something funny?" Harry asked
"Hilarious" Tracy replied
"Okay, I'll bite, what happened?"
"Your girlfriend punched Malfoy in the face"
"I beg your pardon?!" A wide smile appeared on Harry's face as he
looked at the blushing Daphne "Daph did you actually punch Malfoy
in the face?!"
"Yes she did" Tracy answered before Daphne could say anything
"once you left Malfoy was saying you were going to die and basically
told Daphne that he was still here, Daphne didn't like that but
punched him in the face"
"Awesome!" Harry looked like Christmas had come early "Daph, we
are definitely getting married now!"
"It was nothing" Daphne insisted
"Wait a sec" Harry grabbed the hand that Daphne used to punch
Malfoy "we should probably get your hand looked at"
"You fought a troll but you want me to get looked at?" Daphne, Tracy
and the prefect looked at Harry with disbelief.
"Troll didn't hit me" Harry pointed out "all I got was a bit tired."
"You're unbelievable" The prefect shook his head "and don't worry, I
had already checked your girlfriends hand after you left, she's fine"
"Oh, good" Harry smiled
"Mad" Tracy whispered "utterly mad"
"But not deaf" Harry whispered to Tracy who stuck her tongue out at
him.
Soon everyone had gotten back to the common room, Harry
somehow ended up in the middle of the common room where all the
Slytherin's were questioning him.
"Quiet!" Harry yelled "Now listen up, I distracted the troll and led it up
the staircases, I destroyed the staircase it was standing on and it fell
to its death. The end, finished, thank you"
"Yeah right Potter" Malfoy interrupted, Harry was about to respond
but burst into laughter upon seeing Malfoy with a plaster over his
nose "what?!"
"Oh Daphne" Harry chuckled "brilliant punch"
"You think this is funny?!" Malfoy demanded
"I think your face is funny" Harry responded "and that was before it
was broken, I think it's an improvement actually. I can see less of it"
"What is going on here?" A silky voice caught everyone's attention
and they turned to see their head of house enter.
"Sir" Malfoy spoke "Potter is spouting lies about defeating the troll,
he says he blasted the staircase it was standing on and it fell to its
death"
"They are not lies" Snape responded "me and the headmaster and
deputy headmistress have talked with the paintings around the
castle and they have confirmed that Mr Potter did indeed defeat the
troll by destroying a staircase." A lot of the students gasped and
looked at Potter, who merely shrugged.
"That can't be true!" Malfoy exclaimed
"Are you calling me a liar Mr Malfoy?" Snape narrowed his eyes
"No...no sir" Malfoy quickly took a step back
"Good, and Mr Malfoy, what happened to your nose?" Snape asked.
Harry coughed, while Tracy placed a hand over her mouth and
Daphne looked away, a few of the other Slytherin's snickered and a
few were trying not to laugh.
"I...I fell" Malfoy fibbed, no way was he going to say a girl hit him,
that'd be embarrassing.
"You seem to be doing a lot of that" Snape said dryly "now, I want to
make it clear that there had better not be any fighting or conflict once
I leave or you shall all suffer my displeasure" Snape turned and left,
his cape billowing as he did.
"So Malfoy, how incompetent do you have to be to fall onto a girl's
fist?" Harry asked with a straight face.
"Shut up Potter!" Malfoy demanded before storming
"Temper, temper" Harry looked back at Tracy and Daphne who
looked undeniable amused.
The next day, Harry had spent the entire morning being looked at by
others and gossiped about. Some were claiming he used dark
magic, others were saying he destroyed the troll with lightning, there
was even one rumour about him throwing the troll with one arm.
At lunch he sat down at the Slytherin table, he was waiting for Tracy
and Daphne who had decided to go to the owlery as they both
needed to send off letters.
"Harry" A voice called once he had finished eating, Harry looked up
to see his brother, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger standing
next to the table.
"Yes, can I help you?" Harry asked politely
"We just wanted to say thank you" Adrian said
"What for?" Harry asked
"What for?!" Ron blurted out "You defeated the troll!"
"Yes I did but why are you thanking me for that?" Harry asked
"We wanted to thank you for saving our lives" Hermione explained
"Oh, well, you're welcome. I guess, but I didn't do it to save you lot"
"What do you mean?" Adrian asked "You didn't do it to save us from
the troll?"
"You were leading the troll right to me and the other Slytherin's"
Harry reminded them "I did it to stop it from mass killing all of us, not
just you three."
"Uh, yeah" Adrian looked at Harry awkwardly "fair point"
"Actually" Harry turned to his brother "you said yesterday that you
went to go look for Hermione, first of all I'd like to say well done for
your bravery"
"Thank you" Adrian looked proud
"Second of all I'd like to ask why you were looking for her?" Harry
spoke slowly, Adrian looked at his brother who was looking at him
like he was an idiot.
"Well, uh, Hermione was crying in the bathroom"
"Why?" Harry looked at the girl
"Well" Hermione fidgeted "I was a bit upset after what you and
Daphne did with the marriage contract thing and I overheard Ron
saying stuff about me and I went there to cry"
"Sorry again Hermione" Ron whispered to the girl
"But it's all okay now" Adrian said
"No it's not, you're an idiot" Harry said calmly
"What?!"
"Why didn't you tell a teacher?" Harry asked "or a prefect, it would've
taken you all of a minute to do it and Hermione could have been
rescued by some qualified wizards"
"Uh" Adrian thought about it "we didn't think"
"No, you didn't think" Harry looked at his brother with disappointment
"I couldn't think of a plan in time because the troll was right on top of
us and I had to get it away from everyone else, what's your excuse?
From what I understand, one of the older Weasley brothers is a
prefect, you should've told him"
"Look we get it" Adrian sighed "and we're sorry, why are you so
upset?"
"Other than the fact that you led a troll to us?" Harry asked
sarcastically "Do you know how worried my girlfriend was?"
"You have a girlfriend?" Ron asked
"Daphne Greengrass" Harry replied "she was worrying the whole
time because I had to go and fight a troll, gave me an earful about it
as well. But forget that, I want to know something, why the change of
heart? You three hated me yesterday, what's changed?"
"Well, you did save us from a troll" Adrian looked down "plus, I
thought that, we could try to get to know each other. You are my
brother"
"I thought I was a 'slimy snake'" Harry looked between the three
"Look, why don't you try to work with me here?" Adrian growled and
looked at his brother "Why do you have to make everything difficult?
You couldn't have just been sorted into Gryffindor like all the other
Potters?"
"Ha" Harry let out a short laugh "it seems that you're not as well
informed as I thought brother, if you did the proper research then you
would realise that roughly a fifth of all Potters throughout history
have been sorted into Slytherin. The last one was a hundred years
ago if my memory serves me right, plus I doubt I mean much to you
if a different house is a good enough reason to hate me"
"But Harry, all Slytherin's are evil! Everyone knows that!" Adrian
argued
"Evil? Evil? Are you kidding me? We're first years, when a first year
enters Hogwarts, they don't plan world domination or start killing
muggles, they go to school to learn. Slytherin is the house of
ambition and cunning, not evil."
"Voldemort was a Slytherin!" Adrian pointed out
"And what if Voldemort was a Hufflepuff?" Harry calmly replied "What
if he was a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor? Would that make those
houses evil? If Dumbledore was a Slytherin then would that mean
Dumbledore is evil or would it mean that Slytherin is good?"
"Our parents were both Gryffindor's!"
"Yes but were our grandparents? We have two sets of grandparents,
one set is a couple of muggles while the other is Charles Potter, a
Gryffindor and Dorea Potter who was a Slytherin and former member
of the Black family."
"I don't get you!" Adrian shook his head "You're gone for all of these
years then you come back and you act all high and might, where
have you even been anyway?"
"Here and there" Harry shrugged
"Do you mean you travel round?" Hermione asked
"I mean it's none of your business" Harry responded
"Hey, don't talk to her like" Ron snapped
"Defending your girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend" Ron turned as red as his hair
"Look Harry" Adrian spoke again "just join Gryffindor, join me, you
could stay with me."
"Under the watchful eye of Dumbledore? No thanks" Harry refused
"What's your problem with Dumbledore?!" Adrian demanded
"I have a few, the first being his dress sense. It's an assault on the
eyes, and that damn twinkle he has in his eyes. It's really annoying,
oh and the fact that he keeps talking like he is everybody's
granddad"
"You shouldn't talk about the headmaster like that" Hermione
admonished
"What, I can't have an opinion? What is the world coming to?"
"So you'd rather support Voldemort and his death eaters?!" Adrian
looked furious
"Did I say that?!" Harry snapped, and Adrian's courage fled as he
took a step back "As far as I'm concerned Voldemort and his death
eaters can lock themselves up in Azkaban and kill each other. Why
on earth would you think I'd support them?!"
"Well...well, you said you didn't want to support Dumbledore" Adrian
defended himself
"Oh, so it's with us or against us? If I don't join you then I'm
automatically the enemy? Funnily enough, Voldemort had that same
policy"
"No" Adrian quickly shook his head "that's not what I meant"
"That's what it sounded like" Harry responded "listen, Voldemort is
dead and if by some miracle he comes back, then that's your fight.
Not mine"
"You wouldn't fight?" Adrian gaped
"Do I look like a soldier to you? I would just stay neutral"
"Neutral?" Ron repeated
"It means I wouldn't fight for either side"
"I know what it means!" He said "But you can't do that"
"Why not?" Harry raised an eyebrow
"You'd just leave us to suffer?" Adrian accused
"I look like a hero to you?" Harry asked "I don't know why we're even
having this argument when Voldemort's dead"
"But you really wouldn't fight if he came back?" Adrian persisted
"Why would I?" Harry asked "I'm not a hero, I don't owe the world a
thing, if Voldemort comes back then he's your problem"
"My problem?!"
"You're the hero little bro, you saved us once, you can do it again."
Harry said "And if you don't, then Dumbledore can take over for you.
So I really don't see what all the fuss is about"
"I don't believe you" Adrian shook his head and stormed off, Ron and
Hermione followed him. Harry looked at them as they left.
"And there goes three reasons as to why I despise social activity