Chapter Four: Friendships, Death, and Marred Plans.

By Halloween, it was official that Zeke would become his year's future Head Boy. He excelled in all of his classes. All of the professors adored him, of which there was no doubt. Even Snape had a soft spot for Bishop and that was an accomplishment in itself.

Granger had not attended the rest of her classes that day because she saw Draco talking with Pansy Parkinson. Of course, Draco was oblivious to her jealousy of the other girl and was annoyed that his shadow was nowhere to be seen. He had become so accustomed to her presence that he felt alarmed that she should not be fulfilling her role as his follower. Regardless, it had been an enjoyable Halloween feast until Professor Quirell ran screaming into the Great Hall.

"Troll! Troll in the dungeon! Thought you ought to know." The frail man passed out, having said his message.

The prefects were instructed to lead the student body to their dormitories and subsequently, most of the students were slowly exiting. Zeke and Draco had reached the Slytherin dorms but Granger was evidently missing. They had asked her roommates, but none of them knew where she went.

"Don't you think we should look for her? I don't believe she knows that there's a troll on the loose." Zeke commented.

"I suppose so. I just hope she hasn't gone and done something stupid like a girl would do." He looked at Draco as if he had lost his marbles.

"You do realize that she is a girl, right?"

"Yes, but she's different."

"Different? Please, do explain." Draco sighed. He looked quite exasperated with trying to explain Granger to Zeke.

"I don't know! I just know that she is!"

"All right, if you say so, Malfoy." The dark haired boy shook his head knowingly.

The two set out on their search for Granger, looking out for any signs of bushy hair. They had gotten as far as the first floor girl's bathroom when they heard a shriek. Zeke and Draco ran in, finding a frightened Granger trapped by a large, ugly troll.

"Granger! Don't worry! We've come to rescue you!" shouted Zeke. Hermione looked as if she was about to go into hysterics.

"I'm scared, Draco!" Draco was too absorbed in the moment to realize she had used his first name instead of her customary titles for him.

"It'll be all right. I promise." This seemed to calm her down.

Zeke turned to Draco and said, "You distract the troll. I'm going to go behind him. When you have his complete attention, I'm going to throw a spell at it. Then, when its club is dropped, levitate it so that the club hits its head. Got it?"

"Why do I have to distract it?" said a petulant Draco.

"This is not the time to whine about your post! We've got to do this quickly or she'll be dead!" Draco shut up and began to do what he was told.

"Oi! You there!" The troll turned to Draco. "That's right, you. I bet you haven't bathed in your lifetime!"

Now that the troll was focused on Draco, Zeke screamed out one of the spells he had learned from the library. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

The silvery form of a large adder snake erupted from Zeke's wand, effectively surprising the troll, who dropped its club. Next, Draco raised the club on top of it's head while it attempted to chase after Zeke.

"Do it now!" ordered Zeke. Draco dropped the club on the monster's head, watching it fall onto the floor unconscious.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled as he rushed over to the girl's side. "Never, ever be as stupid as to do that again! You could have been killed!" he admonished. Her eyes dropped low.

"So, you think I'm stupid? Is that why you're spending all your time with Pansy?" she spat out the girl's name venomously. Hermione was about to come up with another batch of tears but Draco interrupted her.

"Pansy? I haven't been spending all my time with her. Not that I know of anyway. I only asked her what time it was." he said as a matter of fact.

Before more could be said, Professors McGonagall and Snape had entered the scene.

"What is this? Please, explain yourselves." McGonagall demanded. Hermione spoke up while the other two were searching for an excuse.

"Well, Professor, I had thought I could take on the troll by myself. Obviously, I couldn't but Draco and Zeke came and rescued me."

"Is that true, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Malfoy?"asked McGonagall. The boys nodded vigorously.

"50 points to Slytherin for admirable work. However, be that as it may, you three will serve detention this Friday night." said Snape.

The trio promptly headed towards the dungeons.

"We got off easy!" said Draco.

"Yeah! I thought we'd be expelled for sure!" Zeke agreed.

"Thanks, guys. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"It's all right, Hermione. Let's just get to bed." said a rather tired Zeke.

From that day on, the three became the best of friends.


On a cold November morning, Professor Quirell was found dead in his chambers. His turban was unraveled and the back of his head, disfigured.

That night, Professor Dumbledore announced it at dinner. "It saddens me to announce the death my fellow faculty member, Professor Quirell. He was found dead at 11:15 this morning. There were no signs of foul play, however, his death is still being investigated. Defense Against the Dark Arts classes and Quidditch shall be canceled until further notice." A widespread groan was heard upon learning about the cancellation of Quidditch.

Dumbledore's plans weren't working out as he had planned. First, the Dursleys had given up the Potter boy for adoption. He had gone over to their home to question them when he had found that Potter's name had virtually disappeared from the list of first years. After finding that they didn't know which orphanage the boy had been taken to, Dumbledore obliviated them. Next, a boy, who looks strikingly like James Potter, gets sorted into Slytherin. He had hoped that the boy would be a loner, so he could persuade him to be on the Light side. That failed because the boy joined Slytherin and was obviously well liked. His last vestige of hope lied in the boy's failure to become another Tom Riddle who was an enormous thorn in his side. Unknown to him, that was the very thing that Ezekiel Bishop wanted to do.

Although his problem with Quirell's class had been relieved, there was now the question of what truly happened to the professor and why. Something underhanded was going on and Zeke was prepared to find out.