Author's Note: Ok I am really sorry this took awhile. I got writers block on a few parts. To make up for it, this is the longest chapter to date.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter everything original is mine. Anything from the books is only meant as an appreciation of canon.
Chapter 7: Under the Hallows Eve Moon
The next morning when they had recovered from the shock of the night before, Harry and Ron were quite excited to have had such an adventure. Jack was more interested in the trapdoor that the cerberus had been guarding.
"How the hell are you not interested in the bloody humongous three headed dog that was trying to eat us?" Ron asked indignantly.
"Oh we have a few cerberus guarding one of the family company's research facilities in Greece. They're interesting alright but seriously the reason one is in the castle is more interesting to me." Jack responded.
"You have more of those things?" Ron practically yelled, his mouth dropping open.
"They're good guard dogs. Plus once they recognize someone as their master, they are incredibly loyal to them and take any jobs they are given incredibly seriously."
"So Professor Dumbledore was probably the one that set it to guard that trapdoor?" Harry asked.
"Probably I have no idea what could be so important in Hogwarts that you would need a cerberus to guard it. Plus to have the door spelled locked so a simple Alohamora can open it is a little irresponsible considering this is a school for Merlin's sake. And that spells on the curriculum." Jack responded.
"When McGonagall took me to Diagon Alley, Hagrid was there picking something up from Gringotts for the headmaster. It was the same day that the bank was broken into. When I asked him about it when we all went for tea he clammed up really fast, I think that whatever he took out of Gringotts that day is what is being guarded." Harry explained.
"If someone risked breaking into Gringotts for it, whatever it is has to be either incredibly valuable or dangerous." Ron put in.
"Both would probably be a better guess. There are plenty of amazingly valuable things stored in Gringotts and it's still not worth trying to break in there to steal anything." Jack commented as they all went back to eating.
Later that day Harry and Jack headed back to the abandoned hallway Jack always used to open the door to the training room. They had agreed to only stay in the room for two hours so that they didn't end up having their friends come looking for them again. Fen sauntered up to them as Jack was opening up the door, happily going in and out of Harry's legs.
"Exactly where does Fen go all the time?" Harry asked.
"Who knows really?" Jack shrugged. "Half the time he is actually in class with us, just no one ever notices. The rest of the time he is probably just wandering the castle. Anyway let's get in there and get started then."
After an hour or so into the practice session Harry was starting to really get a feel for lowering the amount of magic and concentration he needed to open up his Sight. It was still taking all his ability to actually do it. He had found out that just being able to sense his magic very well didn't actually mean that he could move it well.
"Hey Jack, can I ask a question?"
"Sure what do you need Harry"
"I think I have figured out to lower the amount of magic I use to open the Sight. I'm just having trouble limiting the amount of magic that flows when I call it. What is the best way to work on that?" Harry asked.
"Ok, I need to turn the rest of the room's spells back on so make sure your Sight is off."
After the lights came back up as Jack walked to the center of the room. Another pillar rose up out of the floor. Out of the top came a small stand that held a clear oval that looked to be made of glass. Jack picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand.
"This is probably the best method to use to get your control to improve. If you concentrate your magic in your hand like you do around your eyes to open the Sight, a vortex will form in the oval. The faster the vortex spins the more magic you have concentrated in your hand."
As he was explaining, Harry watched as a hurricane like vortex formed along the center plane of the oval. It started spinning faster and faster before slowing down again.
"Alright catch, Harry" Jack said as he tossed the oval at Harry. "Get started. And go ahead and take it back to the dorm with you. Practice with it whenever you have the time. Practice concentrating everything to begin with, and then back it off. After you get comfortable with that try putting a lesser amount of magic in to begin with before backing it off."
"Alright thanks, back to it then."
Draco paced back and forth across the Slytherin common room. Hogwarts had been everything he thought it would be. The castle was breath taking and living in a place so full of magic was intoxicating, even more so than Malfoy Manor. It was also a good change to be around other kids his own age. The Slytherins were all children of other pureblood families that his parents had introduced him to over the years. He had never really hung out with any of them before, but they weren't that bad. Jack had been about the only kid he hung out with. Mr. Cronos being his godfather and father's best friend had a lot to do with that, not that Draco had ever minded. Then there was Weasley, who was irritating him to no end whenever they ran into each other, but that was to be expected really. Classes had been going well, Potions being his favorite. All the teachers were at least fair even if Quirrell was a complete idiot and Binns could drive anyone to a comma just by speaking. Plus he was well on the way to being the unofficial head of the first years. His father and mother were proud of him for doing so well.
Still things could be going better. Potter was an interesting mystery and it was irritating him to no end. He was a strong willed person; that was a definite. He had stood up to Draco on the muggle issue. It's not like he wasn't used to that with arguing with Jack over the years on the same issue, but no one else had ever so blatantly told him he was wrong. The big thing was the things Potter had said during the flying lesson. For Merlin's sake he didn't care that he was famous and he hadn't even known it till a few months before the school year! Draco knew Potter had been raised by muggles but how could he not have known? And if he hadn't known why?
Then there was Jack. Seriously Draco loved him, but he could be the most infuriating person. Jack was keeping secrets from him, from everyone. Plus the bastard was better than anyone at magic in their year. Jack had the top spot and was even ahead of even that muggle-born Granger. His father would probably be mad at him if he ever realized Jack had broken him of the habit of using mudblood. Anyway he was tied for third with Potter, which wasn't horrible. Jack continued to elude Draco's attempts to find out what he was up to. Ugh Draco was getting really frustrated.
"Seriously Draco just go find Cronos already. Stop wearing a hole in the rug and leave."
"Shut it Nott! I will talk to Jack when I feel like it!" Draco stooped and turned to Nott.
"Oh come on Draco. We all know that Jack has been bugging you. Save the rest of us the annoyance and go talk to him." Blaise Zabini called from the corner he was working in.
"Fine, I'll go find him." Draco said as he turned and walked toward the common room entrance. "Stupid annoying people not minding their own business."
Draco walked through the dungeons heading up to the main part of the castle. How the hell was he going to find Jack in this damn castle anyway? This was a stupid idea, why the hell did he listen to the others anyway? Damn it all! Turning the corner Draco stopped.
"Duh, I'm an idiot. FEN! Come on I need your help!"
It took about ten minutes of waiting, or pacing, but finally Fen rounded the corner. Padding up to Draco he sat down and cocked his head.
"Took you long enough. I need to find Jack. Can you lead me to him?"
Fen barked before turning around and heading out of the dungeons, Draco at his heels. They walked thru the castle for twenty minutes before they meet up with Harry and Jack coming out of an abandoned hallway on the fourth floor.
"Hey Jack we need to talk."
"Draco, again? Alright, I don't have anything to do right now. I'll see you later Harry." Jack responded.
"Ok Jack, see you later. Malfoy." Harry said as he walked away.
"Later, Potter. Where do you want to go Jack? We can't exactly stand in the middle of the hall talking."
"I know, come on. I'll get us to our usual spot. This hallway is the best place in the castle for it anyway."
Going back down the hallway, Jack took out the silver key and put it into the wall. Turning it a lacquered oak door with black iron fittings appeared. Draco opened the door when Jack pulled the key out and stepped inside. The room was the usual one they retreated to for more serious conversations, Jack could always tell when Draco really needed to talk. It was a study which was done completely in hardwood paneling and flooring with thick rugs covering parts of the flooring. The wall the door was on was otherwise completely a bookcase set into the wall from floor to ceiling filled with old tomes. The wall to the right held a large stone fireplace, over which hung a large painting of dragons flying over a mountain range framed on either side by two chests of drawers about four feet high.
To the left the wall had two large bookcases framing a large redwood desk. Directly in front of the door was a large picture window looking out over a forested mountain valley. There were two rustic leather chairs sitting on either side of a low table. Fen rushed over and laid down by the fire while Jack and Draco sat down in the chairs.
"Are you ever going to tell me where this place is?" Draco asked.
"Where would the fun be in that? Anyway who says it is actually anywhere?"
"Seriously don't start that again Jack. You get too much of a kick out of keeping secrets." Draco scowled.
"Ok, maybe I do. You know I can't help it. Anyway what did you want to talk about?" Jack asked.
"Why are you keeping so many secrets from me? We used to share everything. Now I'm lucky if I can guess half of the reasons why you do things or where you disappear to! Do you not trust me anymore?" Draco demanded.
"Of course I trust you Draco. It's not that at all."
"Then what is it?"
"Ugh its' just that I don't want to get you involved, plus Uncle Lucius would kill me if I did." Jack answered.
"My father has no idea what you're up to so don't give me that crap. Just tell me." Draco pleaded.
Jack just sat back and stared at Draco for awhile. He looked very conflicted.
"Draco it's not that I don't want to tell you, that's not it at all. I was planning on telling you in a few years."
"A few years! You disappear to America for four years, only to come back and start keeping secrets from everyone. You visited every month or so yes, and I am really glad you came to Hogwarts but Jack we barely spend any time together anymore. I could care less if you keep secrets, Merlin Father is as bad as you, but I want to know for sure you still want to be around me, that you still consider us brothers." Draco looked incredibly hurt as he said that.
"Draco, why didn't you tell me all this? Of course I want you around and you are always going to be my brother, no matter what. Don't think like that." Jack got up and went over to Draco's chair. Putting his hands on Draco's shoulders, Jack leaned closer before speaking again.
"I am always going to be there for you, you have my word. If you want to spend more time with me just ask. Or be yourself and just bug me incessantly till I agree to it. You've always know how to get to me, that hasn't changed."
"Fine then we are talking at least once a week, and you're going to help me get above Granger in the rankings."
"That's good with me Draco. You know you could have always come and studied with Harry, Ron, and I." Jack said as he sat back down across from Draco.
"Me study with Weasley?" Draco snorted. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Oh grow up." Jack said laughing. "Are you ever going to tell me what started this stupid feud?"
"No that is between the Weasleys and the Malfoys no one else needs to interfere. And speaking of which I have a message from my mother, she wants you to know that she found out about your little deal with father to get out of most of her parties."
"Oh shit. I am so screwed. Crap."
Draco just cracked up.
Saturday at dinner continued the prank war. At dinner Professor Flitwick suddenly began growing and growing until he was taller than Hagrid. Everyone thought it was quite the laugh even Flitwick, and if he was a little taller after the prank was reversed no one said anything about it.
That dinner also signaled a great increase in the number of pranks. Sunday breakfast was interrupted when all the food turned green and started glowing halfway thru the meal. Then people's attempts to study in the library were thrown into chaos when suddenly none of the books outside the Restricted Section would stay on the shelves. Anytime one would be set on a shelf, three seconds later it would fly across the room. This included the books that were already shelved. The resulting storm of flying books nearly gave Madam Pince a heart attack, and she proceeded to throw all students out of the library for the rest of the day till she could finally get the books re-shelved.
Dinner on Sunday resulted in half the Ravenclaws turning blue, then red, and then the rest of the color spectrum, the changes coming at random intervals. The rest of the week was a continuing series of pranks. From singing suits of armor, chalkboards that refused to erase, and doors that refused to open things at Hogwarts were getting seriously out of hand. McGonagall ended up wearing nothing but silk evening gowns one day, while Professor Sprout found herself turning anything she touched striped.
Most of the Gryffindors, including Harry and Ron, spent half the week hearing anything anyone spoke to them come out as song, and every time someone passed through the Slytherin common room entrance had their robes turned a random color. The professors were getting incredibly irritated at the whole thing, but so far no one had been caught it the act. Harry was pretty impressed. However Jack and the twins were pulling these pranks off it was utter genius. By Friday morning at over half the school had been pranked and everyone was one both nervous that they would be the next, or looking forward to what the next prank will be.
While they were waiting the morning post arrived. Harry wasn't paying too much attention, he never really got anything. He did look up though when everyone started point at a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harry was as interested as everyone else to see what was in the large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor. They had hardly left the table when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.
Luckily he opened the letter first.
DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE
It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't
want everybody knowing you've got a broom stick or they'll
all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the
Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session
Professor M. McGonagall
Harry could barely contain his excitement. He had his own broom! Ron grabbed the letter and his jaw dropped after he read it.
"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."
"Keep it down, Ron." Harry said quickly. "McGonagall doesn't want it getting out and I do not want to get on her bad side."
"Let's go back to the common room. Ron can barely contain himself and you obviously want to open it." Jack cut in.
They quickly left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first class, but halfway across the entrance hall they ran into Draco, and Crabbe and Goyle, two big bulky Slytherins that seemed to follow Draco around most of the time.
"What have you got there Potter?" Draco asked. "That looks a lot like a broomstick."
"So what if it is Malfoy?" Ron said angrily.
"Calm down Ron," Harry said as he stepped in front of Ron. "It is a broomstick Malfoy which I have you to thank for by the way."
"What?" Draco looked really shocked.
"Yeah you know that whole stupid stunt you pulled at flying lessons, Draco?" Jack said with a smile. "Apparently Harry pulled off quite a good catch from what I hear and got himself a place on the Quidditch team."
"And it's not any old broomstick," Ron said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned at Harry. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."
"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Draco snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."
"There they go again. Come on, Jack, let's go back to the common room." Harry said as he walked around Crabbe and Goyle.
"Oi, wait up!" Ron yelled jogging to catch up to Jack and Harry.
"So I suppose you think that just because you got off with getting on the team. Think that broom is a reward for breaking the rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand.
"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry.
"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."
Hermione marched away with her nose in the air. The three of them followed her up to the dorm where Harry dropped off the broomstick before heading to class.
Harry had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons that day. It kept wandering up to the dormitory where his new broom stick was lying under his bed, or straying off to the Quidditch field where he'd be learning to play that night. He bolted his dinner that evening without noticing what he was eating, and then rushed upstairs with Ron to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand at last.
"Wow," Ron sighed, as the broomstick rolled onto Harry's bedspread.
Even Harry, who knew nothing about the different brooms, thought it looked wonderful. Sleek and shinny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat, straight twigs and Nimbus Two Thousand written in gold near the top.
As seven o'clock drew nearer, Harry left the castle and set off in the dusk toward the Quidditch pitch. He'd never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the field so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the field were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Harry of little plastic sticks Muggle children blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty-feet high.
Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Harry mounted his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling, he swooped in and out of the goal posts and then sped up and down the field. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever he wanted at his lightest touch.
"Hey, Potter, come down!"
Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Harry landed next to him.
"Very nice," said Wood, his eyes glinting. "I see what McGonagall meant . . . you really are a natural. I'm going to teach you the rules this evening, and then you'll be joining team practice three times a week."
He opened the crate and inside where four different sized balls.
"Right," said Wood. "Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three are called chasers."
"Three chasers," Harry repeated as Wood took out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.
"This ball is called the quaffle," said Wood. "The chasers throw the quaffle to each other and try to get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the quaffle goes through one of the hops. Follow me?"
"The chasers throw the quaffle and put it through the hoops to score," Harry recited. "So, that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?"
"What's basketball?" said Wood curiously.
"Muggle sport, never mind," said Harry quickly.
"Now, there's another player on each side who's called the keeper. I'm the keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring."
"Three chasers, one keeper," said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. "And they play with the quaffle. Okay got that. So what are they for?" He pointed to the three balls left inside the box.
"I'll show you now," said Wood. "Take this."
He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a short baseball bat.
"I'm going to show you what the bludgers do," Wood said. "Those two are the bludgers."
He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.
"Stand back," Wood warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of the bludgers.
At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face. Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it from breaking his nose, and sent it zigzagging away into the air. It zoomed around their heads then shot at Wood, who dived on top of it and managed to pin it to the ground.
"See?" Wood panted, forcing the struggling bludgers back into the crate and strapping it down safely. "The bludgers rocket around, trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two beaters on each team, the Weasley twins are ours. It's their job to protect their side from the bludgers and try to knock them toward the other team. So, think you've got all that?"
"Three chasers try and score with the quaffle; the keeper guards the goal posts; the beaters keep the bludgers away from their team," Harry reeled off.
"Very good," said Wood.
"Er, have the bludgers ever killed anyone?" Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand.
"Never at Hogwarts. We've had a couple of broken jaws, but nothing worse than that. Now, the last member of the team is the seeker. That's you. And you don't have to worry about the quaffle of the bludgers –"
"Unless they crack my head open."
"Don't worry the Weasleys are more than a match for the bludgers, I mean, they're like a pair of human bludgers themselves."
Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the quaffle and the bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.
"This," said Wood, "is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to see. It's the seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the chasers, beaters, bludgers, and quaffle to get it before the other team's seeker, because whichever seeker catches the snitch wins his team and extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the snitch is caught, so it can go on forages, I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing in substitutes so the players could get some sleep. Well that's it, any questions?"
Harry shook his head. He understood what he had to do all right, it was doing it that was going to be the problem.
"We won't practice with the snitch yet," said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate, "it's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these."
He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, he and Harry were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch.
Harry didn't miss a single one, and Wood was delighted. After half an hour, night had fallen and they couldn't carry on.
"That Quidditch cup will have our name on it this year," said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."
The prank war came to an abrupt halt at dinner on Saturday to the great relief of everyone in Hogwarts, except Snape. Halfway through the meal the potions masters' hair had turned blond and then curly and grew down to his shoulders at tied in pig tails. His robes turned into a white a dark blue top with a light blue dress with white polka dots over it. Springing out of his chair, a furious look in his eyes, Snape tried to start an incredibly irate rant, but unfortunately it only came out as a weird combination of the songs Somewhere over the Rainbow and The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music.
Completely lived Snape pulled out his wand and while singing proceeded to write his rant in spiky emerald lettering in the air in front him, including threats to chop up the perpetrators of the prank into potions ingredients if he ever caught them. The entire hall, Harry included, was too busy rolling on the floor laughing to bother to read most of the rant. Even the other professors could barely contain there laughter until after Snape, realizing no one was really paying attention to his ire, stormed out of the hall.
Later that night Harry overheard the twins and Jack declaring the war a draw for the reason that the prank on Snape had actually been two pranks. Jack had intended for him to turn into Sister Maria and the twins intending him to become Dorothy. The two pranks somehow merged and ended up better than originally intended, especially the messed up song. Harry also thought they didn't want to risk getting caught by Snape.
Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three nights a week, his practice sessions with Jack, on top of all the homework they were getting, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realized that he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle felt more like home than Privet Drive ever had. His lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.
On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something everyone had been dying to try since the professor had flown Neville's toad Trevor around the room in an earlier class. After Flitwick went through the theory and the pronunciation of the incantation, he split the class up the class into pairs to practice the spell. Finally he floated a feather over to every pair while reminding them about the wand movement and the pronunciation less they make errors. Harry was paired up with Jack, while Hermione and Ron got stuck working together. It was hard to say who was angrier at this. Hermione hadn't spoken to Harry and Ron at all since Harry's broomstick had shown up. She would only talk to Jack in class because he always knew what was going on.
Jack as always got the spell on the first try, earning what was becoming almost excepted points for Gryffindor. After that he set to working with Harry to get him able to get the spell.
"It's all about concentration and intent, Harry. Make sure as you are saying the incantation you concentrate on what you want to do. At the same time gather the needed magic into your wand, make the movements, and then release the spell. "
Harry tried it, making sure he was concentrating on making the feather lift off the desk and then hover. The first time he apparently didn't put enough magic into it and the feather barely lifted off the desk before it faltered and fell. He got it the second time; the feather rose three feet off the desk and hovered in the air.
"Very good Mr. Potter! Five points to Gryffindor." Professor Flitwick called from across the room.
"Good job Harry," Jack said, "Your getting it."
Ron on the other hand was most decidedly not getting it.
"Windgardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.
"You're saying it wrong," Harry heard Hermione snap. "It's Win-gar-dium Levi-osa, make the 'gar' nice and long."
"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.
Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her robe, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"I
Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.
"Oh, well!" cried Professor Flitwick. "Another five points to Gryffindor Miss Granger."
Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of class.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor after class, "she's a nightmare, honestly."
Someone pushed past Harry in a hurry and ran down the corridor. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face, and she was in tears.
"Ron she heard you," Harry said.
"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."
"She is a nice enough person. So she is a little, uh, upfront with her opinions. It doesn't give you the right to insult her. She tried to help you in class, Ron. Hermione was just a little blunt in doing it." Jack retorted.
Ron didn't answer him as they headed off to their next class.
Hermione wasn't in class for the rest of the day. Neither was she seen after classes got out. Harry was a little worried. Hermione never missed class, and was always in the library before he and Jack showed up to work on homework in the afternoon. On the way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry, Jack, and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender Brown that Hermione was crying in the girl's bathroom on the first floor and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put everything else out of their minds.
A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start of term banquet.
Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato as Dean was engaging Jack in a discussion of his family's holdings in the muggle world when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know."
He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.
There was an uproar. It took several large booms sounding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.
"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
Percy was in his element and he took control before the rest of the prefects had a chance to respond.
"Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"
"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," Ron replied. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."
"Not a chance," Jack said quickly. "There aren't any trolls for miles around, even in the forest, for the safety of Hogsmeade. Peeves doesn't leave the castle he couldn't have found one. Besides he isn't homicidal. Someone else let it in."
They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Jack and Ron's arms.
"I've just thought, Hermione."
"What about her?" Ron asked.
"She doesn't know about the troll."
Ron bit his lip.
"Oh, alright," he snapped. "But Percy had better not see us."
"Let's go quick, we can get lost in this group of Hufflepuffs." Jack said.
Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girl's bathroom on the first floor. They had just turned a corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.
"Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling the other two behind a large stone griffin.
Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"
"The trolls a distraction," Jack responded. "Dumbledore is probably sending him to go check on whatever is guarded by that cerberus."
Quickly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.
"Can you smell something?" Ron asked.
Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet that no one seems to clean. And then they heard it, a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Jack pointed, at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.
It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, and then slouched slowly into the room.
"Uh guys, this is not good." Jack said.
"Why? The key is in the lock we could just lock in and go find a professor." Harry responded.
"I vote we go with Harry's idea." Ron said.
"Well that would work except, that's the bathroom Hermione has been in all day." Jack cut back.
"Oh shit! Let's go we need to go help her!" Harry yelled before turning and running down the corridor toward the bathroom, Jack and Ron at his heels. Honestly going to fight a twelve foot troll was the last thing they should be doing, but what choice did they have? Hermione needed help, evidenced even more by the high, petrified scream that broke the silence as they reached the door to the bathroom. Harry wrenched open the door and they ran inside.
Hermione Granger was shrinking against the far wall opposite, looking if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the wall as it went.
"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately before seizing a tap from one of the smashed sinks and hurling it at the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, and then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
"Oi, pea-brain!" yelled Ron form the spot halfway across the chamber he had moved to, and threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron, giving Jack enough time to run around it.
"Come on Hermione, run, run!" Jack yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.
Harry ran to the wall opposite Ron and grabbed another piece of sink, this one with a jagged edge on it. He threw it at the side of the trolls head to try to distract it from Ron. It turned out to be a lucky shot because the piece hit the troll's ear with the jagged edge, cutting the sensitive area and drawing blood.
Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, knocking stalls apart and sending debris flying. Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright and Jack had to dodge the sharp edges of the stall door half that was flung his way. Ron pulled his wand out of robes and not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "Wingardium LeviosaI!" while flicking his wand at the troll's club
Nothing happened and instead of the club floating into the air; a set of runes glowed about half way along its length.
"Fuck! Ron move before it smashes you!" Jack yelled. "Someone has made the club resistant to magic!"
Ron dived out of the way right as the troll brought the club down on the spot that he had been standing and crushing the stone floor under it. Jack jumped up and ran towards the door stopping in front of the wall next to it.
"HEY YOU BIG FAT HUNK OF UNINTELLIGENT LARD! I'M OVER HERE!" Jack screamed. Harry thought he heard something else in Jack's yell but he couldn't place it.
Twisting itself to face Jack the troll swung its club horizontally with both hands. Jack ducked and rolled under the swing which connected with the wall behind it. The wall shattered and an entire section of the stone wall flew out into the corridor leaving a gaping hole. Jack jumped through the hole, the troll right on his heels, before running toward the main stairwell.
"Ron, are you ok?" Harry asked.
"Yea, you?"
"I'm fine just a few scratches from flying pieces of wood. Go check on Hermione, I'm going to go get the professors." Harry said as he walked out into the corridor.
Unfortunately he didn't have to go far find a professor. McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell must have heard the commotion and rushed toward the bathroom and had the bad luck of being in the corridor in front of the section of wall that was thrown out. Quirrell was moaning against the opposite wall one of his legs bent at an odd angle and blood coming from several gashes on his arms and chest. Snape was trapped under a large section of wall that had landed on his chest and seemed to be unconscious. McGonagall was also against the far wall.
Harry rushed over to her and pulled a piece of rubble off one of her legs. She had a wound on her head that was bleeding badly and her wand arm seemed to be broken.
"Professor, are you alright?" Harry asked kneeling down beside her.
"Yes Potter, go get Madam Pomfrey and then find the headmaster. That troll needs to be dealt with and I am no condition to do so."
"Yes, Professor." Harry replied before turning and running towards the main staircase. The hospital wing was on the third floor. He had to get there and then find the headmaster or another teacher before the troll caught up with Jack. Hopefully Jack could get into one of the secret passages that were around the school and avoid the troll.
Running up the staircase to the second floor Harry was glad that there wasn't anyone in the halls. All the rest of the students were back in their dormitories already.
Just as he reached the landing to the second floor there was a yell followed by a huge boom from several flights above and then a huge scream that had to have come from the troll. Rushing to the edge of the staircase and looking up, Harry's breathe caught. The troll was falling from the six floor landing, plummeting down the open area at the center of the main stairwell. As it fell the troll crashed straight through one of the staircases from the third to the fourth floor that had been shifting its position and had been in the center of the open shaft. The troll just smashed the staircase apart and kept falling before hitting the crest of Hogwarts at the base of the shaft on the ground floor. It crushed the stone beneath it and left a crater several feet deep in the floor. The rubble from the destroyed staircase fell around it before finally the troll's club came down on the troll's head crushing its skull and spraying brain and blood everywhere.
Harry felt sick to his stomach as he stood on the landing staring down at the corpse. The stink of the troll rose up to him mixed with the smell of blood and brain matter. It was almost enough to make Harry puke. Instead he looked up toward where the troll had fallen from.
Standing at the edge of the sixth floor landing where the railing used to be was Jack. His robes were almost fluttering around him and his eyes were nearly glowing. Fen was sitting calmly at his feet staring down at Harry. Harry caught a flash of silver on Jack's left wrist and right hand as Jack crossed his arms before bringing his eyes up from the corpse and meeting them with Harry's.
AN: Ok some bad news sort of. I just got a new job, seasonal, so my schedule is going to take awhile to settle. I will try to keep writing, but I can't promise a chapter anytime soon likely, unless I start shortening the chapters, which I would prefer not to do. I will try to get everything settled so I can get back to working on this consistently. As always reviews are nice. If this story hits fifty reviews by this weekend I will spend my entire Saturday working on the next chapter.
Review Responses:
TimeAndRhythmDoesIndeedSleep: Thanks for the prank ideas, I don't really think I ended up using any of them but you were the only one who sent anything so thanks. Ok here we go:
The interlude was me bringing in plot points, and characters, that would have otherwise not been mentioned for awhile. I felt since I was sticking almost completely to cannon for the first book at least (not as sure about the second, not at all for the third, when I get there)I needed to throw in the plot I had running in the background that would have been ignored if I stuck to cannon. I'll say this to your question, yes for the first, but maybe not how you would expect, and sort of for the second. Glad you enjoyed it!
yuiop: Glad you like it. Thanks for the advice. This is the first time I have every written anything like this so any opinions on how easy the story reads are much appreciated. I hope this chapter was still good in the paragraph length respect.
