Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the only character I claim is Ernest Charlus Potter
The weeks grew colder and Halloween was only two weeks away.
"Blaise, will you please play with me?"
"No, Theo, last time I played exploding snap with you, my eyebrows singed off." Harry snickered as he recalled what Blaise looked like with singed eyebrows. "Piss off." Blaise threw a half-eaten piece of licorice wand at Harry, and Harry just grinned and finished eating it.
"That's really gross, you know." Draco said, disgust evident on his face. "Finishing another's food."
Harry and Theo exchanged a look, and shortly after Draco said this Harry was wrestling the chocolate frog from Draco's hand as Theo pinned him to the ground. "Hey! Stop-that's-my-." Draco was cut off as Harry finally grabbed the frog from his hand and ate it. "You're disgusting Harry."
"But that Chocolate frog wasn't." Harry replied, smirking. "It didn't even taste like nasty Malfoy germs."
"Malfoy's don't have nasty germs." Draco turned his face away as he said this, a blush evident on his face which did not go unnoticed by Theo and Blaise.
Harry, oblivious, grabbed a small handful of Berti Botts every flavor Beans. "Everyone has nasty germs Draco. You're not special, no matter what Aunt Cissa tells you."
"I hate you Harry." Draco mumbled.
"You love me." Harry said, causing a new blush to rise on Draco's then composed face.
"I'll be back later." Draco said, leaving the common room, causing Theo and Blaise to snicker.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Nothing little brother."
"Why do you call me that, we're the same age?"
"You're nine months younger than me Harry. Besides, I turn 12 on the 15th. You just turned 11 three months ago; you're younger than me. What are you getting me for my birthday?"
"Why would he tell you that, you tosspot." Blaise inquired.
"I got him a magazine." Said Pansy.
"What kind?" Theo asked.
"Well I'm not telling you that part." She giggled.
"Harry?"
"I'm not telling you Theo. Drop it." Harry rolled his eyes at Pansy, who was trying to grab Theo's attention. Girls were annoying. "I'm going after Draco, want to come?"
"Yes, coming!" Blaise said, gathering his belongings.
"Sure." Theo said.
The three stepped out of the common room into the dungeon corridors. "Where'd he go?" Harry asked.
"You're asking the wrong guy, mate." Theo nodded in agreement with Blaise.
"Maybe if we follow the stench of cologne we can find him." The three snickered and made their way to the stairs.
"Hey, Granger! Have you seen Draco?" Blaise asked Hermione as they passed her in the entrance hall.
"Why is he asking the mudblood?" Theo whispered in Harry's ear, who shrugged in response.
Hermione's eyes narrowed at the three and pointed in the direction she had seen him. "He looked upset about something. You really should hurry back to your rooms for the next class you know."
Harry rolled his eyes at the girls nagging. "Thanks mudblood, we'll be going now." As the three passed her they heard her ask "What does that mean?!"
"Ask your little bloodtraitor friends!" Theo replied form the top of the staircase.
"God, she's so annoying." Harry said as they reached the third floor corridor. "Do you think he's up here?"
"I don't know, I don't think so. This is the off limits corridor, why would he come up here?"
"I think that's exactly why he would Theo." Blaise said.
"Draco?" Harry called. They walked a little farther and saw a familiar blond walking their way. "There you are! Why did you run off like that? Did I say something?" Harry asked.
"No. Sorry, let's go back to the common room." Theo and Blaise shared another look, and nodded.
"You two go ahead, we're gonna explore." Theo said.
Harry quirked an eyebrow. "Why?"
"No reason." The two chimed together, causing Harry and Draco to look to each other.
"Well, I want to explore too, so you aren't getting rid of us, sorry."
"I'd rather go back to the com-." Draco was cut off as his Harry pulled him into a room. "Hey!"
"Why is there another door in here?" Blaise interrupted him again.
"Stop inter-."
"Alohamora." Harry said, pointing his wand at the door handle. The four cautiously walked into the next room and stopped in their tracks.
Six wide, beady eyes stared at the four children belo. Growls started to emit from the creature.
"Guys…" Harry said.
"RUN!" Theo grabbed Blaise and Draco's hand, who grabbed Harrys, and they ran as fast as they could out of the rooms and back to the common room. They sat in front of the fire, reeling from the experience.
…
"I can't believe we haven't found anything on this monster being in Hogwarts." Draco said, flipping through the book in front of him.
"I can't believe we spent my birthday in the library." Theo grumbled to himself. "Let's go to dinner guys. Please?" He asked, begging with his eyes.
Harry sighed and stuffed a book into his bag. Making their way to the Great Hall he said. "You're such a baby Theo."
"Excuse me for not wanting to spend any longer in that dark dreary place."
"It's not even dark in the Library Theo."
"Blaise. It puts a damper on my soul. You wouldn't understand, your soul is already dampened." Theo said, earning a slug on the arm from Blaise.
"Mr. Nott. Good to see you on this day. Well wishes are expected?" Professor Snape met the boys in the Hall. "Here you are. Happy Birthday."
"Thanks Uncle Sev." Theo said, smiling at the older man, who immediately stalked in the other direction toward his seat at the head table.
"You boys are always blocking the way, you know." A voice said behind the four.
Harry turned pink, and his friends noticed this. Draco frowned as he looked at Harry.
"'Ello Cedric." Harry said, turning to face the handsome third year, who smiled.
"Have you been working on your skills like I taught you?"
Harry nodded and smiled. "I'm getting better than you. I'm gonna snatch that snitch from underneath you." Harry's chest puffed out slightly.
Cedric snorted. "We'll see, wont we. Well, I'll see you Wednesday night. Excuse me." He said, pushing past the four, who also walked to their table.
Harry turned to face his friends, who all had similar looks on their faces. "What?"
"You're on first name basis with that Hufflepuff?" Theo asked.
"Are you trying to show off?" Blaise asked.
"What's tomorrow night?!" Draco asked, a slight hint of hysteria in his tone.
"Yeah!" the other two piped in.
"He's giving me tips on being a seeker. Marcus is good, but he's a chaser, so he doesn't have many tips on being a seeker."
"But you've always been a good seeker! You don't need tips. Why are you playing dumb?" Theo said. "Why are you hanging out with that Hufflepuff?"
Harry coughed, and turned away from the other three, and to Daphne. "Eat your dinner." He effortlessly ended the conversation and started a new one with Daphne about the English Quidditch team. Theo just shook his head. I hope he doesn't get his hopes up.
…
Halloween was finally here. The muggleborns in Hogwarts had taken to wearing ridiculous outfits; those of mummies, and vampires, and some even going so far as dressing up as Merlin.
Four Slytherin boys made their way to the Great Hall for dinner but were interrupted by two Gryffindor boys.
"Potter." Draco scowled at Ernest.
"Malfoy." Ernest scowled back.
"Move." Harry said, trying to push past them.
"You're in our way Nott, you move." Ron said.
"You're going the opposite way of food Weasel? Hell hath frozen over if you've stopped eating." Blaise replied.
Ron's ears turned a shape of purple and he sputtered something none of them could understand. The Slytherins pushed past the other two and made their way to their table, where a Gryffindor girl, Fay Dunbar, was asking if anyone had seen Hermione Granger.
"The mudblood?" Pansy asked, earning a glare from the girl.
"Yes. You know Pans, Hermione has muggle parents, but she's the best witch in our grade."
"Whatever Fay, I think I saw her in the girl's lavatory." Daphne said to the girl. Fay Dunbar had been close friend with all of the first year Slytherins until she was sorted into Gryffindor.
"Daphne I-." Fay was cut off, however, by the feast starting. She shook her head and walked to her table.
Daphne piled her plate with mashed potatoes and glared in Fay's direction. "I don't know why she thinks she can talk to us. She's a worse bloodtraitor than the Weasley's at this point."
"Daphne, 8 years of friendship doesn't just go away in a couple of months you know that." Pansy said, eating her own dinner.
"Whatever, I think that as soon as she was sorted into the house of the lions she lost all right to our friendship." Theo said.
Draco and Harry had their heads pressed together over a book, and were oblivious to the world around them. "We're getting nowhere with this book Harry."
Harry sighed as he read the same line over and over again. "I know."
"What, are you guys still reading about the Cerberus?" Blaise asked, sitting beside Harry. "I asked my mother about it. Turns out that my step-father is quite knowledgeable about magical beasts. They can be put to sleep with music."
Three gazes of equal shock, anger, and determination were met with his gaze of confusion. "What?"
"How long have you known this Blaise?" Harry asked.
"'Bout a week." He trailed of as his friends glared at him. "What?!" He asked again.
Harry mumbled something closing the book in front of him. "Whatever. Daphne will you hand me the butter?"
Dinner was, after that, quite pleasant. Halloween was always a fun night at the Nott household. They always celebrated by listening to haunting music, and ghost hunting. Of course, Theodore Nott was never involved in such shenanigans, at least his children and everyone else thought so. He did well to make sure there were ghosts to catch, and prizes to be won.
Dinner was interrupted by the doors crashing against the walls, and Professor Quirrell running down the middle aisle. "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!" his screams immediately brought panic about the room. "TROLL!-Thought you oughta know." He collapsed immediately after.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice spoke above everyone else's. "Prefects take you students to the dormitories." This was met with loud voiced from the Slytherin table, "And Slytherins make yourselves comfortable. We will provide hot chocolate."
"Where is Harry?!" Theo asked, noticing his brother was missing.
Harry was in fact running with Ron Weasley and Ernest Potter, running toward the girl's lavatory. "What are you doing Nott?" Ernest asked.
"I'm not so heartless to let another person be devoured by a troll, mudblood or not. Any of the Slytherins would feel the same."
"Sure you aren't. I'm sure there is something in this that will help you, you selfish prick!" Ernest said. "Here it is!"
"Stand back." Harry said, blasting the door off its hinges. In all honesty, there was something in it for him. The brightest witch of his grade was sure to be a valuable asset on his side one day. Besides, Harry wasn't dense, he knew that Granger was smart and right now he needed charms help.
The three walked into the bathroom to see a cowering Hermione and a giant, smelly troll standing over her with a sink in its hand. "Bugger" one of the boys said.
The troll turned to the boys and let out a feral growl. The three broke apart, Ron and Ernest going right, and harry going under the troll to Hermione.
"Granger! Come on!" He grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the way of a falling sink. "HURRY!" She leapt up with the force of him pulling her, and the two ran out of the way.
"How do we defeat it?!" Ernest called to Ron who replied with "I don't bloody well know you prick!"
"Wimgardium leviosa!" Harry cried pointing it at the troll's arm that was wielding a hammer. Ron looked at Harry with admiration while throwing rubble at the trolls head, a faucet landed in the troll's eye. Ernest jumped onto the trolls back, sticking his wand up the troll's nose, earning a roar of pain.
The Hammer fell on top of its owners head, causing the troll to fall forward. Harry and Hermione ran out of the way, Harry landing on top of Hermione. "S-Sorry." He said, getting up.
She looked at him in shock, recognizing that the apology was much more loaded than him just falling on her. "It's okay.."
"Ugh." Ernest grabbed his wand from the nose and wiped it of on the trolls vest. "Troll bogeys."
Footsteps were heard running toward the four.
"What is the meaning of this?!" McGonagall shrieked as she saw her students standing over the troll.
"Ernest!" Lily called, running to her son and engulfing him in a hug. Snape in turn walked toward Harry and grabbed his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" He asked under his breath.
Harry nodded and hugged Snape around the waist, who briefly returned the hug.
"Perhaps one should explain what happened here?" Dumbledore said. Four voices immediately started talking. "One at a time." Dumbledore smiled.
"It's my fault professor. I thought that I could get the troll by myself. These four just followed after me. They saved my life Professor." Hermione said, bowing her head. The boys started to protest but were cut off by their professor.
"10 points from Gryffindor for being reckless, Miss Granger. 30 Points to Gryffindor, however, for sheer luck. And 20 points to Slytherin for bravery, Mr. Nott." Harry smiled at the Transfiguration teacher. "And detention to all of you. I think you'll serve it with Hagrid."
"Perhaps not right away Minevra. You are all to serve detention with Hagrid the week after Christmas. I believe he has things to do around that time that you all can help with. Before that you would simply be useless to him. Until then, you'll be cleaning cauldrons with Professor Snape once a week."
Four groans filled the air.