A/N: This is an outtake from Daphne Greengrass and the 7th Year From Hell. Michael Corner is in a relationship with Daphne Greengrass, a "good" Slytherin who is spying on the Slytherins, the Carrows and Snape for Dumbledore's Army. Thanks to respitechristopher for beta-reading this. And edited thanks to some things Kerichi made suggestions about to tweak it here and there.

For The Review Lounge's Something Wicked This Way Comes one-shot challenge for Halloween.

Monsters and Heroes

This was the first time in seven years that Michael Corner was not looking forward to the Halloween feast.

No amount of sweet-filled floating pumpkins or cauldrons or even pumpkin juice spiked with firewhiskey from Terry Boot's supplies was going to erase the horrors already wrought by Snape, the Carrows, or the students that espoused their beliefs.

Evil was everywhere these days, and Hogwarts was no exception.

Michael descended from the dormitory to the Ravenclaw common room, where the sounds of a girl weeping reached his ears. He tiptoed down the small flight of steps, hoping not to startle the girl and reached the stone of the common room floor.

The scene that he observed made his chest seize.

A blonde girl, whom he recognized as a first-year named Stella McLaughlin, was sobbing as she held her arm. Michael stomach churned as he got a closer look; her right forearm was bent in a very unnatural way and there were bruises around the injury and on her face as well.

"Uh . . . h-hey, er . . . Stella's your name, right?"

The girl jumped up and shrieked. "N-no! What do you want?! D-don't h-hurt me, please!" She curled up into a ball and tried to get away from Michael by retreating to the opposite side of the couch, but she hurt her arm as she did so.

"Aaargh!"

She balled up, her body covering her arm, shielding it from Michael's view. She breathed in great, halting hisses and gasps.

"Wait! It's okay, it's okay." His hands flew up in front of his face, his palms facing outward. "I'm not going to hurt you. I . . . I saw you down here, a-and," he gestured at her, "Stella," he wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers, and went to kneel in front of her. "Let me see . . . please? I need to know how bad it is, all right?"

She sniffled and regarded him for a few moments.

"I promise," he said again. "I won't hurt you."

Finally, she nodded.

Michael got a better look at Stella. He could see the trails of tears running down her cheeks. Her whole face was red, wet and shiny. She looked so lost and despondent that it just broke his heart.

Michael had never had any real experiences taking care of anyone younger than him. He had been an only child, and when he was in primary school, he had friends who were his age, or even a little older. At Hogwarts, a few of the younger students had looked up to him, Anthony and Terry, wanting to be like him and his friends.

He couldn't fathom why, though. Why these kids would've looked up to him, in particular. Other than the fact that he had one brilliant friend and one friend who could charm the pants off of a Death Eater if he so chose, Michael Corner was really quite . . .

Ordinary.

He was no hero. And this girl needed a hero. Not him.

"This is a really bad break, or . . . er, fracture," Michael corrected himself. He patted her arm with a feather-light touch; she sucked in a breath and winced.

"Sorry."

Stella continued to cry, but Michael noticed her tears were lessening as he attended to her.

"Hey, I'm no expert in these types of injuries," Michael said, keeping his voice steady and light, trying to keep her calm, "and unfortunately, Anthony and Padma aren't here to help take care of you, but I'll do my best. Will you trust me?"

She nodded.

"Okay, so . . . I'm going to go get Pomfrey—" Michael got up to leave.

"NO!" She shouted at him emphatically. "D-don't go out th-there! Th-they w-went out there! Th-they'll get you!"

"It's okay . . . it's okay. You need more help than I can give—" He stopped talking and his eyes widened into two perfectly round circles.

Something that she had said clicked in his head.

"Stella," he said slowly, "you said they went out there? Were you attacked in here? In our common room?"

Slowly — painfully slowly — she nodded.

"Who did this to you?"

She looked at him with terrified eyes. "Y-you'll t-tell them. . . ? I c-can't—"

"I won't. Believe me, I won't. But, I need to know so I can keep you safe from them. Can you tell me who did this to you?'

She gulped, continuing to cry. "Gr-Grant P-Page and D-Duncan Inglebee." Her voice was whisper soft, and it quivered as her body shook.

There was a beat of silence.

"Page and Inglebee?" His voice was low and soft, but dangerous in tone.

She nodded.

Michael felt his fury rise, the blood rushing to his head like the Hogwarts Express speeding right into a tunnel. It hadn't been two Slytherins who had caused pain to this girl — a girl he could practically fit into the palm of his hand — but two Ravenclaws, two bastards of Ravenclaws that had caused violence on one of their own.

He knew that Page and Inglebee had nothing but disdain for Muggles and Muggle-borns, but he had thought that they would have kept their vitriol to words, verbal tauntings and insults. Michael would have never imagined that they could be capable of physically abusing a young student like this, but, looking at Stella, scared and shaking and wounded, he chose to believe her.

And he grew more and more sick with fury as he did so.

Before you do anything, you need to get this girl medical care—

And then you can kick those sorry bastards' arses all the way back to the eighteen-hundreds!

Racking his supposedly brilliant Ravenclaw mind, Michael looked frantically around the common room to see if there was anything he could use to send a message to the Hospital Wing.

His eyes rested on the fireplace.

"Floo—" he whispered to himself. He got up off of his knees to walk over to it.

"Where are you going?" Stella asked desperately. "Please . . . I don't want to be alone here!"

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you. I'm going to try Flooing Madam Pomfrey, all right? But, if I can't, I will take you personally to the Hospital Wing, okay? I'll Disillusion you if I have to, but if you have to leave this common room, you will not get hurt." He looked her squarely in her eyes. "I won't let that happen."

Stella wiped her face furiously.

"I swear that no one will hurt you."

She looked at him and slowly nodded in agreement.

Michael didn't stop breathing until Madam Pomfrey arrived to examine the first year's injuries. For her part, Stella had calmed down and had composed herself enough to answer most of Pomfrey's inquiries about what had happened. But she had insisted, throughout the examination, that Michael sit next to her.

He had had no idea how to react when she pushed up against him, practically underneath his arm. Somewhat awkwardly, he put his arm partially around her, patting her on the top of her back in a brotherly fashion. It did seem to calm Stella down.

Once she had had a proper look over, Pomfrey gave her something to alleviate the pain so they could walk to the Hospital Wing. Stella was adamant that Michael accompany her and the matron, and he accepted without hesitation

"See?" he said with a bright smile and gentle voice. "Let yourself rest and let Pomfrey take care of you, and you'll be as good as new."

She looked at him with a small, unsure, shaky smile. "Th-thanks, Michael."

He grinned. "No problem. Look, I don't think you'll be able to go to the big Halloween feast tonight, but how about if me and some of my friends come up and bring you some sweets? Make sure you're okay?"

"Ha-Halloween? I . . . I had forgotten today was Halloween." Stella looked at the floor forlornly as they reached the Hospital Wing. Michael pushed open the door, allowing Pomfrey and the girl to pass. However, just as Michael was about to leave, she turned around, a quizzical expression on her face. "Do they have parties here?"

"The common rooms usually do. Terry Boot always has something up his sleeve for ours." He winked at her.

Stella looked at him for a moment. "Do you dress up? In costumes and masks?"

Michael shook his head. "No, not here. It's really just an excuse for sweets and parties. No one really goes around dressed like goblins or ghouls or monsters."

He noticed Stella pale just a little, but almost as suddenly, a flash of anger crossed her face and her nostrils flared. "Good. I've seen enough of monsters today."

His breath caught in his throat and his face fell. "They'll be handled. We're going to do everything to make sure you're protected, and if they're bothering anyone else, we'll do something to put a stop to it."

She paused and faced him. She walked very quickly up to him and, using her good arm, she hugged him around his middle. Michael couldn't help but blush a little.

"Er, thanks."

"Thank you for saving me." And she broke away from Michael with a shy little wave and she disappeared behind some screens.

Michael slid down the wall of the Astronomy Tower and turned to look at her. "Happy Halloween."

Daphne Greengrass sauntered over towards him and sat down. "Right back at you."

"Here." He dropped a number of sweets and chocolates into her lap. She took a chocolate pumpkin and unwrapped it.

"You look like you just found a turd in your treacle tart."

Michael snorted. "Anyone ever tell you how eloquent you are?"

Daphne popped the pumpkin into her mouth. "All the time." She chewed her chocolate, but she continued to watch him. "Michael, what's wrong?"

He leaned against the stone wall, beating his head against the surface absent-mindedly. "Two fifth-year Ravenclaws attacked a first-year girl in our own common room."

He heard Daphne hiss. "How is she?"

"They broke her arm and bruised her up really good. I'm thinking they used several Bludgeoning Hexes and a Bone-Breaker." Michael lolled his head towards Daphne. "I found her sitting all by herself on a couch in the common room, scared and hurting, and — Merlin!" He stuck his tongue between his teeth and pressed his lips on it. "When she told me Page and Inglebee were the ones that hurt her, I wanted to throttle them!"

Daphne stared at him, worried. "Did you?"

"Not yet," he said, blinking. "I Flooed Pomfrey from our common room. After she examined her, we escorted her to the Hospital Wing."

A smile spread slowly across her face. "That's, well, that's really . . ." she shrugged, unable to think of anything else to say, "sweet."

Michael rolled his eyes, but grinned at her. "Stella didn't want me to leave her side. Not when Pomfrey was checking her out—"

Daphne's right eyebrow threatened to fly right off of her face. "You were in the exam room with her?"

"In the Ravenclaw – common – room," he said with a flattened mouth, "honestly . . ."

"Okay, okay. Sorry," Daphne flashed him a cheeky grin. "So she didn't want to be separated from you?"

"No. She was really scared, you know? And she," Michael cleared his throat, "she thanked me and gave me a hug. For saving her."

She grinned. "Well, of course she did." She nudged him with her elbow. "You're her hero, Michael. Her white knight in shining armor."

He snorted and ruffled his shaggy brown hair. "I wasn't there to stop them, though. And I haven't done anything to teach them what happens when they abuse another student." He shook his head. "Some bloody hero, huh?"

"Michael."

He looked at her.

"What's the matter? Why are you being like this?"

He looked at her for a very long time, blinking a couple of times as he tried to think of the answer to her very simple, but no less perplexing question. He took a breath.

"I . . . I'm always just," he rubbed his nose, "right behind someone else, you know? Always one step off or in someone else's shadow." Michael shook his head and counted off of his fingers. "With Ginny it was Harry Potter, or even her brothers. I mean, she idolized them. And," he held up a second finger, "With Cho, it was Cedric Diggory. I mean . . . Cedric Diggory! An actual champion!"

He turned and looked at her. "I'm glad I managed to get ahead of the curve with one person at least." She smiled as he winked at her. With a sigh, Michael focused on a spot on the opposite side of the room. "But even when you've been in trouble, I never seem to be in the right place and the right time to actually be a hero."

Daphne pushed her lips out, clearly thinking about something. With her closest hand, she brushed back the pesky strands of hair that always seemed to fall in Michael's eyes.

"You said she was all alone and hurt?"

He nodded.

"But you were the one who found her and you got her medical attention."

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Maybe it's not about you stopping some bad thing from happening to another person, but what you do when a bad thing happens." She took hold of his hand. "Bad things always happen, they're always going to occur. But you put that girl ahead of going after the blokes that did that to her, and you got her the help she needed." She shrugged, lacing her fingers in his. "I think you made the right choice. She needed help more than she needed someone to go after those idiots. She saw you as her protector and a friend who helped her out, and," Daphne nodded. "That makes you a hero."

Michael just looked at her, letting Daphne kiss him on the lips.

He gave her a small smile. "You think I'm a hero?"

"I do think you're a hero."

After a few moments, Daphne's brow fell. "If these two prats—"

"Page and Inglebee."

"If they're willing to attack students in their own house, you can bet they're probably hanging around some of ours. I'll keep my eye out on the usual suspects — Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy. Also Baddock and Pritchard. I'd say they're the two worst sixth-years, practically worshipping Crabbe and Goyle's philosophy — curse first, and . . . well, just curse first. Not to mention hurting as many of the half-bloods as possible."

"Be careful." Michael leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I don't want to see you get hurt by them too."

She took a breath through her nose. "Kind of hard not to these days. Look around us. Even Hogwarts is filled with monsters."

Stella's words from earlier floated into his head and, almost unconsciously, he whispered them. "I've seen enough monsters today . . ."

"What?"

Michael shook his head absently. "Just thinking that all this needs to be over very, very soon." He wrapped his arm around her and the two teenagers sat together in silent agreement.