Thank you Midnight Angels for pointing out my goof in chapter 5. It has been changed now. I'm sorta slow sometimes and don't quite get all the little mistakes I make so THANK YOU!

Anyways, here's the next chapter of Fallen Phoenix. Sorry it's taken so long but my laptop is really slow.

HERE GOES!

Draco and Harry wasted no time in sprinting down the hall towards the girl's bathroom, dodging behind a statue of a three eyed dog when the teacher's ran past in a cluster. Dumbledore's fluorescent orange robes billowed out behind him as he ran. Harry noticed that Professor Quirrell was not with them.

"Draco..." he hissed, nudging the blond's arm.

Draco, whose eyes were scanning the hall for further hindrances, turned to the dark haired boy and nodded with a quick jerk of his head.

He knew the same thing. Quirrell wasn't there.

The Malfoy heir slid from behind the statue and quickly ran down the stone hallway, Harry hot on his heels. They both slammed to a stop at the door to the bathrooms and drew their wands.

"Oh shit..." Draco muttered.

In front of them was a monstrous troll with mottled grey skin and, as Harry couldn't help but notice, a particularly over-sized club in its enormous hand.

Draco's eyes widened when he spotted Hermione cowering underneath one of the sinks. His grey eyes began to smoulder before he threw his first spell.

"REDUCTO!" The club was reduced to dust as the red light hit it.

The troll looked down stupidly at its hand, searching for the club. Draco used its distraction to sprint forward and grab Hermione's hand.

"Run!" he shouted, "Mya, you have to run!" but Hermione was too scared to move and instead she simply cringed further into the wall and shut her eyes tight, shaking.

Meanwhile Harry was throwing spells at the troll in a repetitive chain, slowly weakening the troll.

"Stupefy, Reducto, Petrificus totalus, Stupefy, Reducto, Petrificus totalus!" he chanted, smirking to himself as the troll suddenly let out a low groan before keeling over onto the floor, shaking the school with the impact.

Harry glanced over to his friends who were huddled over against the wall, Draco trying to comfort Hermione as she sobbed.

Sighing, he tucked his wand back into its holster before sweeping across the room and hunkering down in front of Hermione.

"Mya?" he murmured, "Why the bloody hell did you believe what Weasel-bee said? You know that we're your friends don't you?"

Hermione's tear stained face peered up at him as she lowered her arms.

"I-it's just that...at m-muggle school, everyone h-hated me. What Ronald said j-just, brought it back I g-guess." Her face grew red as she wiped her face on her sleeves before looking up at her two friends with a look of determination on her face.

"You know what?" they both shook their heads mutely, "You're right! You are my friends and Weasley can't say anything about it! As far as I'm concerned, he should take a long walk off a short pier and enjoy the swim!"

Hermione gave a little smile at what she considered a very grave insult while Harry and Draco restrained their laughter at her little moment of pride.

Their laughter ended as they heard footsteps rushing down the hall towards them before Dumbledore, Flitwick, McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell came through the doorway, all of them stopping suddenly when they saw the troll lying on the floor of the bathrooms, a rivulet of drool trailing from its mouth.

McGonagall swelled with righteous anger before turning to the three first years.

"What," she thundered, "happened here?!"

Harry took a step forward to explain when, to everyone's surprise, Hermione stepped forward.

The brunette looked up at the teachers through her eyelashes, "You see professors, I ran in here earlier because I needed somewhere to cry."

Before she could continue Professor Flitwick interjected, looking furious that someone had caused one of his Ravens to cry, "Why were you crying Miss Granger? Not one of these young men I should think," he asked, his eyes sternly settling on Harry and Draco who evenly returned.

"No ,no," Hermione rushed to reassure him, "It was Ronald Weasley sir. He told me that I didn't have any friends and he called me stupid and, I feel so silly now, but at the time it just really hurt and I ran in here to cry. Next thing I knew there was a troll in here and Draco and Harry were fighting it off. It wasn't their fault professors. If anyone is going to be punished it should be me."

When she finished she looked down at her feet and allowed a few tears to escape and trickle over her cheeks.

Snape immediately saw through her act and smirked. What a Slytherin, he thought.

McGonagall turned to Professor Dumbledore who nodded and took a step forward, "None of you will be punished for your actions although Mr Malfoy and Mr Potter, you should have come to get a professor instead. I will leave your Heads of house to give points where they see fit. Minerva, you may deal with Mr Weasley. "

With one more nod, Professor Dumbledore swept from the room, Quirrell scuttling out soon after.

Flitwick toddled forward and reached up to pat Hermione on the shoulder, balancing on his tiptoes to do so.

"Miss Granger, I believe it would be best for you to go to your dormitory. The rest of the feast will be held there so you may spend the rest of the evening with Miss Lovegood. I believe that twenty points may be given to Ravenclaw for your story for the headmaster. Brilliant acting."

The minute professor gave her a wink before leading her out of the bathrooms and toward Ravenclaw Tower.

Harry and Draco turned to Professors Snape and McGonagall. Both teachers had thin smiles on their faces.

Harry grinned up at his father, anticipating the question that would be asked, "Draco destroyed its club and I kept casting spells until it fell. Hermione mostly cried but she has had not training so I guess it's to be expected."

Snape's thin smile grew into a small grin as he ruffled Harry's hair gently.

McGonagall, who had been straightening Draco's silver and green tie turned to the two of them and addressed both of the boys, "Although I am unhappy that you put yourselves in danger I can understand that you wanted to protect your friend. As such I am awarding twenty points apiece to Slytherin."

Her dark eyes grew softer as she looked on the two boys before she moved to the door.

"Minerva," Severus called after her. She paused, "What are you going to do about Mr Weasley?"

McGonagall's face grew icy cold.

"I'm sure that Argus always needs new help."

And that's it. I'm going to chuck up another chapter tomorrow but for now, I'm stuffed and I really want to sleep.

Bye bye guys! Please review. It makes me smile like this, :D!