Troll in the Dungeons
Perhaps it was because he was so busy now, what with Quidditch practice twice a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he's already been at Hogwarts two months.
His friends were amazing. They'd taken Harry into their House and into their hearts. Harry knew that if he ever had to make a stand, any of his friends would jump up to stand beside him, no matter the odds, no matter the opposition. He would do the same for them.
Now that they had mastered the basics, their lessons were becoming more interesting. In Charms they had begun to work on levitation, the spell that Professor Flitwick had used to send Tracy's kitten, Argent, zooming about the classroom. So far, they had focused on the wrist movement ("Swish and flick!") and properly pronouncing the words.
On Halloween morning they came up into the castle proper led by their noses, which had been filled with the wonderful smell of baking pumpkin. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to actually try casting the levitation spell. He told the class to break into pairs and passed out a feather to each pair of students. Harry was partnered with Draco, though he could have quite easily worked with any of his friends.
Today, luck was with them all. Even those of the Slytherins who had been struggling managed to successfully send their feathers floating around the room today. Only Pansy was having trouble; she managed to set her feather on fire, filling the room with a highly unpleasant smell.
"Well done, all of you!" cried Professor Flitwick. "Fifty points to Slytherin!"
Charms was their last class that day, so they holed up in the library afterwards to finish some homework. Professor Snape had assigned an essay on the Combo Concoction that was due the following morning. They would actually be attempting to make the potion in one week.
Sadie had been attempting her own magical experiment in between classes. She held up a shiny green facemask of some smooth, rubbery material to show the other Slytherins. "Manitee Hyde. But plied with a fusion curse. It may give a power boost."
"That's dark magic," said Tracy.
Sadie wrinkled her freckled nose. "Only the way Gryffindors define 'dark magic,' that is, anything they disapprove of. So love potions, which are essentially date rape drugs, don't count as dark by their standards and neither does hexing cuss words into young girls faces. But if they disapprove of anything, it becomes dark." She waved the green mask in front of them. "This is how magical breakthroughs are made. Experimenting."
Sadie could certainly be passionate about magical experiments.
When it was time for dinner, they all entered the Great Hall and stopped in their tracks. The Hall had been absolutely transformed. 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 when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, turban askew, and terror written across his face. Everyone stared in amazement as he tripped and fell to his knees in front of the High Table.
"Troll!" he gasped. "In the dungeons! Thought you ought to know." He slid to the floor in a dead faint.
For a second nobody moved. Then someone screamed and a panicked uproar filled the hall. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.
"Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately. Quickly now!"
Niles the prefect spoke to them. "Listen up, everyone. Because this troll is in the dungeons, I have decided that it would be too dangerous to try to lead you all back to the common room. We're going to the library instead."
"What will Professor Dumbledore say?" a frightened girl asked.
Niles lip curled. "Sometimes the Headmaster is a little absent-minded. I'm sure it just slipped his mind that our common room is in the dungeons."
"It's going to be all right, Sam," Sadie assured the girl, taking her hand.
"Yeah, right, sweetie, you ought to know," said Sam sourly.
The prefects stationed themselves all around the Slytherins, forming a defensive perimeter. The fifth, sixth, and seventh year students all had their wands out as well. Niles led the way towards the library.
Theo tugged at Harry's and Draco's robes, pulling the boys towards the back of the group and then ducking off to the side. He had a strange look to his face, a weird glint in his eye. Blaise followed them, his curiosity plain to see.
"What?" Draco asked, irritated, twitching his robes back into place.
"Let's go," Theo said.
"Where?" Harry asked, confused.
"To the dungeons!"
Harry stared at his friend. "Are you insane?" he hissed. "There's a great bloody troll in the dungeons! Why do you think the prefects are taking us to the library instead of our common room?"
"I've read about trolls," Theo said. "I think we can beat one. C'mon, it'll be fun!"
"Fun?" Draco said incredulously. "Evidently this is some definition of 'fun' that I am unaware of. Theo, you're going to get us killed!"
"It's only a troll-"
"Only a troll?" Harry gaped at him. "You've been sniffing potion fumes and getting high, haven't you?"
"Look, I don't really think it'll be fun, but honestly, what a challenge! Don't you want to try your hand at something more advanced than feathers? We've been practicing hexes for nearly two months for what? Humiliating Weasley doesn't take that much preparation."
"It's quite a jump from feathers to trolls," Harry retorted. "I'd like a few intermediary steps, if you don't mind. Now come on. We're going to the library."
Theo shook off Harry's hand. "No way, no day. That troll is mine."
"You're out of your bloody mind!" Draco half-shouted, making a grab for Theo's robes.
Theo dodged neatly. "Come along if you want to," he threw back over his shoulder, and he sprinted down the hall.
Draco looked at Harry. Harry looked back, very unhappy. "You realize that we have to go after him," Harry said. But what would his mother say if she knew?
"We do?" Draco asked. "You mean he's not going to get what he deserves?"
"Forget this," Blaise declared. "I'm not going anywhere near that troll." He retreated back the way they had come.
Harry grabbed Draco's robes and began pulling him down the hall in the direction Theo had gone. "He's our friend, and we have to stick by him, even though he's a fool. As soon as we save him, I'm going to hex him into next week, but right now he needs our help."
Draco changed the subject, pulling his robes free of Harry's grasp and straightening them yet again. "I wonder how a troll got in," he mused as they walked. "They're really stupid. No way it could have gotten in on its own."
"Peeves?" Harry suggested.
"Could be. Not really his style though." This was clearly bothering Draco.
Harry stopped suddenly, holding up his hand for silence. They could both clearly hear hurrying footsteps.
"Prefect looking for us!" hissed Draco, pulling Harry into a shadowed corner. In fact it was Professor Snape striding down the corridor and disappearing through a secret passage.
"What's he doing up here?" Harry asked. "Shouldn't he be with the other teachers in the dungeons?"
"No idea. That passage leads to the third floor, though. What's up there that he's so concerned about?"
"Hey, there's Theo!"
"Glad you could join me," Theo muttered, as they moved forward to stand near him.
"You idiot…" Draco began, but then a shrill girl's voice rang out.
"There you are! What're you thinking?" Sadie had followed them. Harry had never seen her angry before, but she clearly was. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her blue eyes were glinting. Cora had told Harry once of a saying hags had, 'beware the wrath of a gentle girl.' Presumably that meant that a gentle girl would have to be really ticked off to start being wrathful. How wrathful was Sadie? She began to reproach them: "What're you doing…? trying to get yourselves killed again… like mad Gryffindors…" she spluttered. She was breathing through her nose, clutching her wand in one small hand and that weird, green mask in the other.
"You're following us into danger," Draco pointed out. "We don't need a babysitter."
"Well, Draco, I think you do," said Sadie. "Have you any idea how worried you made me?"
"Enough to not think clearly and run after us by yourself," said Draco annoyingly.
"It was Theo running off to tackle the troll on his own," said Harry hastily as Sadie's glare intensified. "We were trying to stop him. I didn't really stop to think."
Her expression softened. "Come." She motioned with her wand for them to follow her. "If the troll's in the dungeons we should be alright to get back to the library..."
But the troll wasn't in the dungeons. It was coming towards them! The troll was huge and ugly. It dragged a thick club on the ground behind it as it shuffled through the hall. It smelled worse than the sewer where Harry grew up had ever done.
"Get back!" Snapped Sadie. She pressed the green mask to her face and poked her cheek with her wand, then gave a little cry. The mask stuck in place. Sadie now had a smooth, bright green shiny face. Her lips were a darker green. Almost black. Harry felt an upsurge in his affection for her. She drew her wand and pointed it, not at the troll, but at the giant club it carried. "Wingardium Leviosa! "
The club was wrenched out of the troll's grasp and soared into the air. The troll stopped shambling along and stood blinking stupidly at its own weapon. Then the club fell and smacked the troll in the head! It was stunned for a moment, but then it shook off its daze and roared in anger.
"Bonkers!" Draco exclaimed, drawing his own wand. " Wingardium Leviosa! " he cried, pointing his wand at a marble pillar with an oil lamp resting on it. The pillar shuddered, then slowly rose into the air.
" Wingardium Leviosa! " Theo echoed, pointing at one of the tapestries that hung everywhere in this castle. He brought the fabric up high, maneuvering it over the troll's head, and dropped it down, blinding it.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" said Harry, causing a marble table to rise in the air and hit the troll as well.
"Hit it hard!" Draco shouted, and both he and Harry began striking the troll about the head and shoulders with their floating, impromptu weapons. They got about six good hits in before, with a groan of pain, the troll tottered and crashed to the ground.
Everyone was frozen for a moment, not believing it was over. Then Theo laughed and twirled his wand in his fingers. "One for Slytherin! What's the freaky face mask for, Sadie?"
"An experiment to boost my powers," said Sadie. "Dunno if it worked, though." She grappled at her shiny green cheeks and then pinched her shiny green nose. "Wait, how do I get it off?"
"You invented it. You tell me," said Theo.
"What is going on here?" came a shocked and infuriated voice. The Slytherins turned to see Professor McGonagall standing nearby, her face pinched, her lips white from being pressed together. She was eyeing them like a wrathful eagle.
Sadie put a hand to her mouth.
"Hello, Professor," Theo said nonchalantly. "How are you this evening?"
"None of your cheek, Nott," snapped McGonagall. "Why aren't you in your common room?"
"Well," drawled Draco, "seeing as how there was a troll loose in the dungeons, our prefects decided to take us to the library instead."
"Then why aren't you in the library?" she asked through clenched teeth.
"A worthy question," interjected Professor Snape, coming onto the scene with Professor Quirrell close behind. He bent over to examine the troll. "This troll has been beaten quite severely." He stood up. "How?" he asked, his black eyes boring directly into Harry's.
"We applied today's Charms lesson, sir," he said, relieved to be speaking to his own Head of House, someone he knew would be on his side. "We used the Levitation Charm and just kept hitting it until it stopped moving."
McGonagall was staring at them in disbelief. Quirrell leaned against the wall. Some Defence master.
Snape, however, was regarding his first-year charges with something akin to pride. "Yes, well, with such fearsome weapons, the outcome was inevitable."
"Of all the- Why I never- How could you be so stupid?!" McGonagall burst out. "You could have been killed!"
"But they weren't," Snape said sharply. "They prevented this troll from causing murder and mayhem here in the castle. Their methods were crude, no doubt, but no less inspired for it." He looked critically at them. "Twenty points," he said firmly.
Harry delighted in the look of consternation that crossed McGonagall's face. "Professor Snape," she began.
"Each."
"Now really!"
"The four of you may return to the Great Hall. I believe now that the troll has been taken care of, the Halloween Feast can continue as planned." Professor Snape's dismissal was great news, and the three of them dashed away. As they rounded the corner, they saw Professor McGonagall shaking her finger at Professor Snape, who looked profoundly unintimidated.
Harry took Sadie's hand as they went down to the Great Hall. She gave him a small smile. Her face was still bright green, shiny and plastic looking.
Back in the Great Hall, the students were beginning to return, their plates still as they had left them. Harry sat down and took a bite of his baked potato. It was still warm.
"Well," Theo said brightly, "that was an adventure."
Sadie glared at him. Her plastic green face was still expressive.
Draco reached over and shoved his friend's face into his soup bowl. "Never do that do me again!" Theo was sputtering soup. "I am not a Gryffindor, I am not bravely stupid, and I do not enjoy facing certain death!"
"Stop that," said Sadie, grabbing at Draco's arm.
"He deserves it!"
But Harry assisted Sadie, making Draco release Theo's head. Theo came up out of his soup gasping for breath, and groping for a napkin.
"You'll pay for that, Malfoy," Theo threatened.
00O00
They took Sadie to the hospital wing to try and get her green mask off, but Madame Pomfrey couldn't budge it. It really was stuck on her face.
"What am I gonna do?" Sadie sounded somewhat frantic as she gripped at her shiny green face. She really did look funny with her bright green face clashing with her purple hair.
Madame Pomfrey stroked Sadie's purple hair, a fond expression playing around her lips. "It hasn't hurt your health, or impaired your powers, dearest. Let it be a lesson about dangerous magical experiments. You ought to stick to the Healer/Mediwitch charter."
Sadie stared at Madame Pomfrey, her blue eyes wide. Harry felt a warm crumbly feeling inside and wanted to comfort her. He hugged her and kissed her cheek. Her green face was cold and felt like rubber or plastic. Face so green, eyes so blue, such vivid hair…
"I love you, just the same," he said. "I believe in your experiments," he added, feeling generous.
Sadie's dark green bottom lip quivered, and she nodded, holding him tight.
00O00
Late that night, Sadie and Harry sat on Harry's fourposter bed with the curtains drawn so they could be private.
Sadie was talking about her experiments. "Mum is an experienced Healer, and she did try and use her magic to cure a Muggle boy with leukaemia. But she couldn't. She could have done more if she'd known dark magic as well. I swore to find out better magical cures to help people, even if it means experimenting with dark magic. That's why I belong in Slytherin."
Harry looked at her green face all the while as she spoke. He touched her cold, green cheek. "That sounds really noble."
She smiled. "I never saw the point of blaming Muggles for being Muggles. We'd do a lot of good if we were not forced to live in hiding. Someday I want to be able to help the most people. Even if that is against Secrecy Laws. The Hat said that was a great ambition and that Slytherin would help me fulfill my ambition."
Harry put his arms around her skinny waist. "I'm glad you're in my house, no matter what."
She grinned, her white teeth a contrast to her green face. "You're so adorable."
Harry sighed. "I got into trouble again tonight, even though it was all Theo's fault. I feel awful about lying to mum. And then, I'm lying to our friends by not trusting them with the truth."
Sadie gazed at him, her blue eyes intense. "You must be the one to decide to tell her the truth. Only you can do it. I'd help you explain things if you did. The troll thing isn't your fault. I'm certain she'd see you should stay at Hogwarts."
"But I can't lose my friends, especially not you," said Harry, holding her tight. They talked long into the night and fell asleep in each other's arms.
00O00
The Quidditch season had begun!
On Saturday, Harry would be playing in his first match after weeks of training: Slytherin versus Gryffindor. Gryffindor was in third place in the House Cup, though the points from winning the match would not let them take first place. Slytherin was already in first place, and they wanted to maintain that lead.
Harry's presence on the team had not been kept secret, so some people kept telling him he'd be brilliant, while others told him they'd be running around underneath him holding a mattress. Draco, Theo, and anyone else who knew Harry's skill always laughed at anyone who said this, which irritated Weasley and his fellow Gryffindors immensely.
Last minute practices forced on the team by Flint made Harry even more grateful for his friends, who helped him get through his homework. The week raced by, and Harry's nervousness increased each day. That Friday in Potions class, the tension in the air was heavy. Glares shot both ways across the room, and only the impending arrival of Professor Snape kept things from escalating. The door swung aside and the lesson begun.
"Patil, what is the ratio of distilled water to dandelion sap in the Wart Removing Potion?"
Poor Parvati Patil was stuck working with Weasley. If rumour was to be believed, she'd apparently drawn the short straw this morning. Weasley had a different partner every class because none of the Gryffindors wanted to work with him anymore. So far, to Harry's knowledge, Weasley had not managed to brew a single potion correctly. Weasley was even worse at Potions than the hopelessly inept Longbottom. Whenever those two worked together, an explosion was almost guaranteed.
Weasley was always the first one to bolt from the Potions dungeon, anxious as he was to escape both Professor Snape and the Slytherins. His mistakes had lost Gryffindor a number of points, and earned him many biting, scathing remarks from the professor. He hadn't yet gotten slapped with a detention, but Harry was sure it was only a matter of time.
Harry stared in amazement as the Potions Master limped down the aisle. Professor Snape was a Slytherin to the core, yet he was limping, showing weakness. Something was seriously wrong.
"See that?" he whispered to Sadie.
She looked concerned. "Ohh… poor thing. He's really hurt."
Curiosity consumed Harry all through the lecture. He was distracted to the point that he nearly added double the required amount of beetle eyes to his potion. Fortunately, Sadie was paying attention and saved their work.
After class was over, Weasley bolted and all the other students headed up to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry stayed behind with Sadie. Snape had his head buried in one of the supply cupboards. Sadie went up to Snape.
"Sir?"
"What is it, girl?"
She gazed up at him, her blue eyes wide in her green face. The whites of her eyes did contrast with her green mask. "Are you all right, sir? I – I want to help."
Harry saw Snape's piercing black eyes bore into hers.
"I appreciate the concern, McIntyre, but I am fine. A strained muscle this morning during my morning stretches. I do not want your experiments performed on me."
Sadie would have blushed if her face wasn't an unchanging green mask now. The result of her failed experiment. "I wouldn't do an experiment," she mumbled. "I only wanted to help."
Something about Snape's explanation didn't ring true, but Harry knew it was none of their business. If Snape didn't want help or sympathy, so be it. He took Sadie by the hand.
"Yes sir," he said. "We were just worried, that's all. You know, about not showing weakness to the Gryffindors. They're like vultures, aren't they?"
A cheek muscle twitched in Snape's stern face. "I see. Rest assured, I will be fine in several more hours, Mr. Potter."
"Yes, sir," Harry said again. Something on the floor caught his eye. "Professor? What's this on the floor?" He leant over to touch it, but Sadie caught his arm.
"It's blood," she murmured. The dim lights of the dungeon shone off her green nose as she stared at it.
"Nothing to be concerned about, Potter," Snape said, his voice taking on a slight warning tone.
Harry deflated. Snape obviously wasn't going to tell. "Yes sir," he said and they walked towards the door.
"Oh, and Potter?" came Snape's voice behind him. They turned.
"You four foolishly endangered the reputation of Slytherin House," Snape said, "and your lives. I am responsible for your lives, and if you ever act like a hot-headed Gryffindor again, you will wish that the troll had gotten you. Do you understand?"
They both nodded frantically. Snape turned back to his tasks. They bolted for the door and back to the hall and told their friends what they had learned.
"So," Theo muttered. "Professor Snape was limping, and now you discover blood on the floor. There's more to this than a strained muscle. Something hurt Snape, something that can't be healed with common magic. Something else is preventing him from getting proper treatment for it. This is a mystery."
"Wish he'd let me help him," said Sadie glumly. Harry patted her little hand.
"Hey Draco," Theo said, waving the blond boy over. "Got any ideas about this?" He explained the situation and his own speculations.
Draco's eyes were very serious. "I have an excellent idea," he said, looking directly at Harry. "We saw him headed towards the third floor the night we fought the troll. How much would you care to wager that he had a run-in with that three-headed dog?"
Harry gasped. Images of that great vicious beast came back to him just as sharply as if it were in front of him again. "Are you saying that Snape is after whatever the dog's guarding?"
Draco frowned, his eyebrows coming together in deep thought. "That's what the evidence points to. The plot thickens."
Millie shoved Draco down the bench. "Hey, you're talking pretty loud, you know. I don't think any of the other students heard you, but Pansy and I heard you loud and clear."
Daphne leaned over. "I heard you too. We really shouldn't talk about this here, you know."
"Fine," said Theo. "In our practice room after lunch. Until then, not another word."
Harry couldn't eat. He did his best to observe the head table inconspicuously, but he needn't have worried; Professor Snape never arrived.
After what seemed like forever, lunch was over and the Slytherin first years nearly ran from the hall and to an empty storage room.
"Okay, let's go over it from the beginning," Pansy said, "just to make sure we're not missing anything."
Harry recounted everything.
"So that's all the solid evidence we have," Theo said. "Now then, my theory, which is based solely on the evidence, is that Professor Snape let the troll in to cause a distraction while he tried to get at whatever the dog is guarding, and the dog is what injured him, leaving him with that limp and causing him to be dripping blood on the floor."
"But that's absurd!" Daphne protested. "He's a teacher, he wouldn't be trying to steal something that Dumbledore is keeping safe."
Tracy snorted derisively. "Not all the teachers are saints, you know, and everyone can be tempted. What if it was a magic artifact or something with special magic powers?"
"Snape might disobey Dumbledore, but it wouldn't be for the wrong reasons," said Sadie. "If it was a magical artifact that could be used for good - to help people - that could justify disobeying the headmaster."
"You're both right," Draco said. "Everyone can be tempted. And yes, Dumbledore's a warped Machiavelli who doesn't deserve a valuable artifact. We've got to find out what that dog is guarding and why."
"How?" Harry asked.
Draco shook his head. "I don't know, but we are certainly not going to go adventuring around the school to find out. Two near-death experiences is about all I can handle."
Sadie gave a wry smile. "You'd better not go adventuring."
"Oh yes, Professor Snape told us that if we ever act so recklessly again, he'll make us wish the troll had got us," Harry told them. "He said we shouldn't act like Gryffindors."
That got a few chuckles, and Theo looked a little ashamed of himself.
But the question remained, what was the dog guarding, and why would Snape want to steal it?