Hi everyone!

Sorry for taking a month to update... I really don't have any good excuses for it excepf for being lazy.

Anyway, I won't keep you waiting any longer, here is chapter 7(:

chapter 7: Suspicions
Hermione was following a prefect, Penelope Clearwater, to the Ravenclaw common room when a thought suddenly struck her. Neville hadn't been at the feast, she was sure, so he didn't know about the troll! What if he ran into it? He had probably gone to the greenhouses to get some privacy and to think. She supposed that if he was going from the greenhouses to the great hall, he wouldn't be anywhere near the dungeons, but there was no one else to inform him of it, the great hall was empty, and all the teachers were dealing with the troll. She had to tell him, because she knew that she was probably the only one who actually had realised that he wasn't at the feast.

She was already the last one in the line, not wanting to be close to the other girls in her year, it would be more than easy to slip away without anyone noticing, and no one would miss her in the short time she would be gone.

To make sure that she wouldn't miss him, Hermione decided to take the slightly longer route past the great hall. When she entered, she was surprised to find that it wasn't empty like she had expected it to be. Apparently, the Slytherins had decided that the great hall was a better location than their common room, and they were all there. Not wanting to talk to the Slytherins more than necessary, she just walked through them towards the other door which eventually lead to the greenhouses.

"Hey, it's Granger, right? What are you doing here instead of in your common room?" a tall, dark first year she recognized as Zabini asked her, blocking her path. His tone was friendly, but she felt a bit cornered what with being surrounded by older Slytherins. Still, Zabini was supposed to be one of Harry's friends, so he was probably pleasant.

"Yeah, I am looking for my friend. I don't think he knows about the troll, so I'm going to tell him." she answered rather timidly. She tried to walk around Zabini, and thankfully he let her. She wasn't sure what she would have done otherwise, but she was glad that she didn't have to do it.

o

Harry stared at the corner where Quirrell had just passed. He had convinced Tracey and Theodore to help him in shadowing the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Blaise had been talking to a couple of older students, and Harry didn't have the time to fetch him, as well as having to convince him too to come with him.

Theodore had been reluctant to come with them, saying that it was dangerous, and that if they were caught being in the corridors when there was a troll on the loose they would at the very least lose points, and possible get detention too. In the end, he followed because both Tracey and Harry were going.

They had quickly caught up to Quirrel, and then they were careful to stay out of his sight as much as possible, peeking around corners as he disappeared beyond the next one. It felt really odd, stalking a teacher, but Harry knew that he was up to something, because he wasn't heading towards the dungeons at all, and there was no way he could have gotten instructions from anyone to do something else.

After a while, they heard steps behind them, and saw Hermione Granger walking quickly towards them. Harry made a hushing motion and and asked in a whisper why she wasn't in her common room. She explained that she was looking for Neville, who hadn't been in the grand hall when Quirrell had told them of the troll. Harry explained that there was something rather odd about Quirrell's behaviour, and they were following him to find out what he is up to. He didn't know why, but there was something that made him trust her even though they had only really talked in the boat to Hogwarts. Theodore looked incredulously at Harry when he told Hermione what they were doing, always believing the worst of people, he probably expected her to inform Quirrell himself right away. Harry just shrugged, trying to convey his confidence that Hermione could be trusted with his eyes.

They didn't had time to argue about it, and anyway done was done. Hermione showed no signs of wanting to report them, and Harry could see that Theodore relaxed a bit and took his hand out of his pocket (presumably, that was where he kept his wand). Hermione followed them, and nobody protested. She explained in a whisper that this was the route Neville was most likely to take, so she would have gone this way anyway. This seemed to relax Theodore further.

At last, Quirrell stopped outside a door in on the third floor that Harry instantly recognized as the one Dumbledore had warned them about in the beginning of the year. What was it he had said? Something about dieing in a most horrible fashion. This was definitely strange. Harry whispered this back to his friends as they stood, huddling around the corner while he stuck his head out to take another quick peek. He saw that Neville was coming around the opposite corner of the corridor, and whispered this news back too. Hermione looked pleased, but she didn't say anything, probably afraid that Quirrell might hear her. Even if he was up to no good, it wouldn't do to be discovered where they weren't supposed to be.

They all heard as Neville talked to the professor, and then heard as he continued along the corridor, heading straight for them. Knowing that there was nowhere to hide, they decided to tell Neville too about Quirrel. Hermione insisted that he wouldn't betray them to a teacher, and Harry knew that she was right.

o

As Neville made his way around the corner, he was surprised to see Harry, Hermione and two other Slytherin first years he quickly identified as Davies and Nott. They all held fingers to their lips, telling him silently to be quiet. Neville didn't know the reason, but didn't say a word. Harry stepped closer to him and whispered in his ear.

"We suspect that Quirrell is up to no good. That door he is entering is the door Dumbledore warned us led to certain death in the beginning of the year." Neville looked at Hermione, and the look in her eyes confirmed that she too believed it to be so.

"What are we going to do?" he whispered back, for the moment accepting Harry's words for true. He wasn't completely sure that going through a door proved that the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was up to no good, but he suspected that Harry had more evidence, why would they otherwise have followed him here?

"I don't know. Dare we follow?" Harry whispered back, though his question was meant for the entire group. Nott and Davies immediately shook their heads in unison.

"It's too risky, and pointless besides." Hermione said, closing the argument. Neville thought that they were probably right, but he would have liked to do something, not just wait around the corner for Quirrell to turn up again.

He looked towards the end of the corridor and to his horror discovered Snape striding towards them, looking condescending as usual. He didn't know what to do. There was nothing to do, because Snape had seen them, and now they were going to get detention.

"What are you doing here? The headmaster was quite clear when he told all students to return to their common rooms."Snape said, his eyes taking in each of them, then lingering on Neville. Neville knew that Snape didn't want to punish his precious Slytherins, so he would most likely try and find an excuse to let Harry Davies and Nott off the hook. It was so unfair that he was biased, and especially that he seemed to want to make Neville's life as miserable as possible.

"We were looking for Neville, sir, because we knew that he wasn't on the feast, so he didn't know about the troll. We figured that we would be safe staying in a group and away from the dungeons. We found him just now and we were just about to head back to the great hall where the other Slytherins are." Harry lied smoothly. Snape's glare fell on him.

"From what I gather, neither of you are friends with Longbottom." Snape said, indicating Nott and Davies. "Why would you be out on this... rescue mission?" he said, looking suspiciously at them. Neville thought that it would just be a matter of time before he would turn this whole thing around on him. He would make up some weird rule that the halloween feast is mandatory to attend or something like that.

"We weren't about to let Harry go with only Granger as company, sir, so we followed because we are safer in a group." Tracey filled in without missing a beat. Wow, they are really good at lying, where did they learn that? Is it one of the requirements for becoming a Slytherin? Neville thought, not wanting to see his friend as someone who could tell a lie to a teacher with a straight face, but in this case, he was grateful. Telling Snape about their suspicions about Quirrell would definitely be a bad idea.

"And why exactly weren't you at the feast, Longbottom?" He said in that slow, measured tone of voice that told Neville that he was not finished with them yet.

"I, I needed some time to think by myself, so I went to the greenhouses for some privacy. Sir." he answered, almost forgetting to add the 'sir' at the end. He knew that Snape would be angry with his if he did not add it, even though he constantly let his precious Slytherins get away with doing it. He needed to be more careful with his words. Snape seemed to think this through, probably looking for an excuse to blame everything on him, Neville thought.

Before Snape could say anything more, they heard a door open, and saw Quirrell almost falling through the door he had entered through a moment earlier. He seemed terrified, his turban was loose in places and he kept muttering to himself. When he turned around and saw the group of people looking at him, their faces ranging from suspicion to almost laughter, he made a small noise, like a squeak. Apparently, he had not expected to find himself being watched.

"You! Go back to the great hall immediately!" Snape roared, not even looking at them to see if him instructions were obeyed. He didn't need to, as none of them dared to disobey such an order when Snape was in such a foul mood. And besides, I can count myself lucky to not get any punishment Neville thought as they made their way to the great hall.

o

They all discussed what Quirrell could have been up to behind the door, and what dangers he had faced, at length after returning to the great hall. Harry was able to tell that both Neville and Hermione was slightly uncomfortable being completely surrounded by Slytherins. They didn't show any big signs of it though, and really, it was to be expected. Several older Slytherins asked what a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw was doing outside their respective common rooms, and Harry retold the story of finding Neville several times, but leaving out all details. Thankfully, none of them were hostile, just slightly suspicious and mostly curious.

After a while, Blaise joined their group, and they took turns telling him what had happened and what they suspected. He looked incredulous at first, but when they had presented him with all the facts, he finally had to agree that the facts didn't add up. There was an uncomfortable moment when Blaise revealed his inherited prejudice against muggleborns, and Neville was affronted for Hermione, but Tracey and Harry smoothed things over quickly, changing the subject to a safer topic.

Snape came back, seemingly perfectly calm, but Harry didn't think he was. He had learned that the potions master could be very good when it came to hiding emotions. They all hoped that he would make some sort of announcement, so that they would know what had happened. Snape didn't call for everyone's attention, and whatever hopes they had harboured that they might find out what had happened died quickly.

Another half hour or so had passed when the rest of the teachers came back and told them that the dungeons were safe, and they could return to their common room. Hermione and Neville bid them goodbye and went in different directions to their respective common rooms. Malfoy had regained his voice, and was complaining loudly that a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw had been told where the Slytherin common room was located, but no one listened to him. Harry thought that it didn't make that much of a difference, especially since they didn't know in which part of the dungeons it was. Besides, everyone already knew roughly where the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw common rooms were, since they had towers named after them.

o

Over the next few days, Harry still hoped that they could somehow find out what was behind the door Quirrell had gone through, or why he would want to go through the door in the first place, since he knew it would be dangerous. Quirrell was definitely not the type of person who would face dangers for no reason. In fact, he didn't strike Harry as someone who would willingly go near danger unless it was the only thing he could do... but then again, he was the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, so he should know a thing or two about dangers.

Harry didn't have a lot of time to think about this, however, because the first quidditch game was coming up, and it was against Gryffindor. To say that everyone wanted to win was an understatement. The other three houses all wanted Gryffindor to win, because Slytherin had won the championship several years in a row now, and everyone seemed to want that to change. This of course only made the Slytherins more eager to crush Gryffindor, and thereby prove who really was the best.

Flint had ordered everyone to collect as much information as possible about the Gryffindor team, so that they would know the strengths and weaknesses of their adversaries when they were up against them. Apparently, they had Ron's twin brothers as beaters, and they were supposed to be really good; the chasers were Katie Bell, a second year that they didn't know anything about except that she was a good student, Alicia Spinnet, and Angelina Jonsson, both third years who had been on the team last year. The keeper and captain was Oliver Wood, a fifth year who was competent and experienced. The only real weakness was the newfound seeker, Lee Jordan. Apparently, he was a decent flyer and that was about it.

Flint booked the quidditch field as often as possible, almost every day. Harry had to plan when he would do what homework, because after the practises, he was often too tired to think of much of anything unless it was sleep.

The night before the game, Harry went to bed early to get as much sleep as possible before the game. He was more nervous than he had ever been before. He had a hard time falling asleep, and when he finally succeeded, he woke up three hours later. Finding himself wide awake, and completely unable to go back to sleep, he decided that all he needed was something really boring to make him fall asleep.

Muttering to himself, he got up from the warm shelter of his blankets and made his way to his pile of homework that had to be completed before monday. Digging up the essay on twelfth century wizards professor Binns had told them to complete, he went to the common room and started writing. It really was boring, but to Harry's great annoyance his lids refused to turn heavy.

"Hi Harry. What are you doing up at this hour?" came a familiar voice from behind. Harry turned around to find Blaise standing casually some few feet away. He was carrying a finished pile of homework.

"Couldn't sleep. Thought I'd do something that usually has me struggling to stay awake." Harry said with a smile. Blaise smiled and took a seat next to him.

"Is it working?"

"No, it seems that the best way to not fall asleep while doing History is to wake up in the middle of the night and do it." Harry joked, not wanting to show just how troubled he was that he would be unable to fall asleep, and then he would be so tired at the game that Jordan could outfly him. Harry knew that he was Slytherin's greatest asset compared to the Gryffindor team, but it wouldn't be so if he was struggling to stay awake.

"It's okay to show that you're nervous, you know. It's human." Blaise said softly, looking intensely at Harry. Harry realised in that moment that he could trust Blaise not to pass on anything he said, and to help support him if he needed it.

"I... It's just... well everyone's expecting me to catch the snitch. If I don't I will have failed the entire house. and dad, and Sirius... everyone! But what's more is that if I catch the snitch, it won't be a big deal, because Jordan is such a bad seeker." Harry blurted out. He didn't want to look at Blaise, so he looked at his own feet instead.

"The reason that everyone thinks you will catch the snitch is because they've seen you fly, Harry. You have already proven that when you made the team, even though you are a first year. That hasn't happened in centuries. I'm sure you dad's already proud of you." Blaise said with conviction. Harry looked at him, and saw that he really did believe in what he had said. It was comforting to imagine that everyone would think he was alright even if things didn't go his way.

"And besides, if you're nervous, just imagine how nervous Jordan must be. He is two years older than you, so people will expect him to catch the snitch before you, but you are definitely the better in the air, and that's what matters. You can do it, you can catch the snitch."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you'll do it next time."

"You make it seem so easy. It's not."

"No I don't think it'll be easy, but I do think you can do it."

o

Neville couldn't stop thinking about the Quirrell incident for several days. He would bring it up with Hermione every time they were alone outside a classroom, waiting for the rest of the class to show up. Before they had gone their separate ways on halloween, they had all agreed not to tell anyone about it. THey were sure that Snape would find some way to punish them if it became general knowledge in the school that Quirrell had forced his way into a restricted area, and almost got killed in the process.

Neville knew that Hermione wasn't thrilled about the fact that their conversations centered around the incident, but Neville didn't understand how she could just let it go. He wanted to find out what had happened, or at least know that Snape handled the situation,so it won't happen again. It was odd to think of Snape as the one who would stop a potential bad guy, because as far as Neville was concerned, he was a bad guy himself.

"Neville, you need to stop obsessing over this," Hermione told him when they were standing outside the Transfigurations classroom. "It's not healthy, and I'm sure that Snape figured out what was going on and put a stop to it. He is very good at that, you know. I know that he is unpleasant to say the least, but in this case, that should work to his and by extension our benefit. There's nothing to worry about." she told him.

After that, Neville tried to put away all those thoughts, but they just wouldn't leave him alone. There was something that didn't make any sense, but he couldn't figure out what it was. He had a feeling that Snape hadn't been able to find out what had happened either, and that worried him greatly. Snape was worse than ever to him during the Potions lessons, and Neville speculated that it was because he was angry about not getting Quirrell to talk. Neville was just someone to vent the anger on without it being too suspicious. Just the dummy to hit to make you feel better, and of course, no one cares what the dummy feels.

Ok, so it wasn't very long and I'm sorry. I will update before christmas, but I can't promiss anything sooner (but I'll try...) I have to figure out what I want with this story before it gets too far. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed reading and and thanks for bearing with me even when I'm slow...