{Harry Potter is not owned by me. Or you. Or you. Or you. Unless you're J.K. Rowling. That is the sad truth.}

Author's Note: Thank you to all for reading my work. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy!

As usual, Harry took a very indirect route back to the Common Room that night. He still couldn't get over how amazing his plan against Malfoy had worked out. Things couldn't have gone better! As he wandered, Harry noticed that he was right near the area within the castle that Dumbledore had warned all the students not to go in.

Normally, Harry wouldn't have even considered going near it. While he didn't care much for pointless rules set up by foolish people, which he knew all about with his relatives, he also knew that the staff had been at Hogwarts a lot longer than he had. They had spent a lot more time in the magical world in general. Despite the oddness of the rule, Harry figured that ignorance of its purpose could get him into a lot of trouble.

However, strange things had been going on lately. Hagrid's trip to Gringotts and the not-so-coincidental break-in shortly after left Harry suspicious. If Hagrid had taken something out of Gringotts, one of the safest places for valuables, to give to Dumbledore, there was a good chance that it might now be at Hogwarts. That was where Dumbledore spent nearly all his time, from what Harry could tell.

Harry was still wavering, unsure whether to chance exploration or not, when he heard Filch nearby. The narrow hallway he was in meant that Filch could easily discover Harry simply by bumping into him. The caretaker had not been in a good mood when meeting Malfoy earlier that night, and Harry knew meeting Filch in this place at this late hour would seriously harm their relationship. His choice was made.

Finding the door locked and hearing Filch just around the corner, Harry quickly unlocked it with his wand. He then opened the door as fast as he could, entered, and shut it behind him, just as Filch turned the corner. Harry listened at the door, not relaxing until he was sure Filch was gone. However, as he listened, Harry realized that things weren't as quiet as they should be. Turning, he almost shouted in surprise and fright.

Standing much too close for comfort was an enormous dog. Harry wasn't normally afraid of dogs, but looking at this one he made an exception. Harry got along pretty well with one-headed dogs, but three heads were too many for a single canine.

Looking down, Harry realized he was still wearing his Invisibility Cloak and relaxed a bit. The brute was up on all fours, though, and its three heads were independently looking around. The opening of the door, he reasoned, must have alerted it. As he observed, he saw that underneath the dog, almost like it was being guarded by the beast, was a trapdoor. It would take a lot more than invisibility to make Harry want to try his luck with that, though.

Then the dog started sniffing, and Harry froze. Slowly, it turned all three heads until they were looking straight at Harry. It took Harry a few seconds to regain movement, and by that time the beast had covered most of the distance between them.

Moving faster than he thought possible, Harry whipped the door open and jumped out, locking the door behind him. He had dodged some serious pain with inches to spare. Whatever was under that trapdoor must have been seriously valuable, he thought. Why else would someone commision a giant three-headed dog to guard the entrance? He needed more information, and there were certainly safer places to look for clues than under the belly of a monster like that.

Pausing to let his pulse go down to a normal level, which took quite a while, Harry then hurried back to the safety of the Gryffindor Common Room. He took the quickest, most direct route possible.

Harry's first two months of school seemed to rush by, especially after his introductory and team Quidditch practices (three times a week) started. When they first began, Wood had made a remark about Harry's good choice of broomstick, to which Harry smugly agreed. Harry picked up the rules and techniques of Quidditch pretty quickly, which impressed his fellow team members greatly. They were all very optimistic about their chances for the season, and Harry couldn't wait for the first game.

Fred and George, who also happened to be the team's Beaters, had welcomed Harry with open arms when he returned with the Dungbombs. They later told him that they hadn't really expected him to succeed; the test was mainly to see how he reacted under pressure and what he did when he was caught. Some of their 'projects' they had claimed were too advanced or mature for Harry, but they had shown and taught him some things. The twins had given him advice regarding pranks, what to do when caught, maintaining anonymity, and moving throughout the castle quickly. They seemed to worship the Marauders, who Harry now knew included his father. Harry hadn't gotten around to telling them yet that he was the son of Prongs.

Peeves and Filch both continued to be useful for Harry. He found it funny that neither had figured out that the other was also on friendly terms with him. Hopefully they wouldn't ever figure it out.

Despite a lot of time and effort put into research, Harry still had no idea what was going on with the giant dog or the Gringotts break in. There simply wasn't enough obtainable information, and he couldn't find anything helpful on his own.

Harry had shared his suspicions and experiences regarding the dog and the break in with Hermione, Ernie, and Terry. They had all been pretty surprised and agreed that the two had to be related. Harry would have thought that between the four of them, who were among the top ten students of their year, they would have been able to at least shed some light onto the mystery.

Each tried to use his or her own talents to get some information, but none succeeded. Hermione had researched in the library for a long time, but she hadn't been able to find anything useful. There wasn't enough information to try and discover the vault contents, and there didn't seem to be a lot known about the giant dog's species. Hermione hadn't found any practical weaknesses or ways of getting past it when she told them, and she hadn't been very optimistic about finding much more since she had gone through almost all the library's relevant books.

Harry had tried to search around the school, but he hadn't found any hints of what was going on. All he'd gotten from Peeves and Filch was that something abnormal was happening. However, Peeves didn't care enough to know, and trying to get details from Filch would be too suspicious.

Ernie, with all his knowledge of the magical world (being a pureblood), had no idea why something like this was happening. Gringotts was supposedly the safest place for items, even though Hogwarts was considered by some a close second. None of the magical artifacts or other valuable item he'd heard of would make sense in this situation. He'd asked his parents in somewhat vague terms, but they hadn't been able to help at all.

Terry had tried subtly asking students and staff. Like Harry, he was very good at getting information and help from people. However, while Harry was decent, Terry was a natural. He didn't just use flattery and innocence like Harry used; in addition, he had a very keen eye for changes in body movement, twitching, and other non-verbal indicators. Usually, even if a person lied, he could determine the actual truth. However, his attempts had been unsuccessful. Almost all the students Terry talked to had no idea of the events taking place. Those that thought things were a bit odd didn't care or didn't put any more thought into the matter. The teachers had unintentionally confirmed that things were taking place, but they were extremely guarded and secretive about what these things were.

Despite all they had done, the four knew very little, if anything at all. Something different was going on within the castle walls. Something very valuable was being guarded, and its protectors were doing everything they could to make sure it was kept secret and safe.

Harry discovered on Halloween morning that the magical world celebrated the holiday as well. Breakfast consisted of many items containing pumpkins, and the smell of baking pumpkin seemed to permeate the castle.

Some of the classes had a Halloween theme as well. In charms, after practicing levitation with feathers, Professor Flitwick had them attempt to smash pumpkins by levitating and dropping them. Not many students were able to do this, but it was fun to try. Seamus's feather had burst into flames, and his pumpkin exploded without even being lifted an inch. Harry and Terry had both quickly gotten the hang of the charm, and they were the first to eagerly and messily smash their pumpkins. Ron had been having trouble with the charm for both the feather and the pumpkin, so the two decided to help him out. Ron's face when his pumpkin exploded suddenly after being hit by two others was priceless.

Most of the other classes weren't quite as fun as Charms, but a few at least gave some indication that it was Halloween. Both the Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons focused on Halloween-related things. In Potions, Harry acknowledged Snape's ugly bat costume just loud enough for Hermione, Ron, and Neville to hear. Unfortunately, Neville knocked over a jar of ingredients as he chuckled, resulting in much House point deduction and a five minute rant from the ugly bat himself.

Harry did his best to enjoy the day. It was a bit hard at times, however, since it was also the day his parents had been killed. Even though no one said it outright, there were still hints here and there. The best he could do, Harry knew, was just ignore it as best he could. His parents were dead, and his thinking about it couldn't change anything or bring them back. Harry knew they wouldn't have wanted him to waste his childhood mourning them. They had died protecting him, killed by the most powerful Dark wizard of the age. Hopefully that was 'badass' enough for his dad, he thought with a smile.

Things got a bit ugly on the way to dinner. Ron had been in a bad mood after Charms. Hermione had tried to help him with the spell, but he had been too frustrated to accept the aid. In Potions, too, he had been struggling and once again refused help. On the way to the Great Hall, he finally exploded, yelling at Hermione for her nagging and saying he didn't need her help.

Immediately after Ron's outburst, Hermione rushed away. Harry saw tears in her eyes as she hurried away toward the girls' bathroom. Harry glared at Ron, who had the decency to look a little embarrassed. Ron hadn't meant for anyone to get offended. He had just lost control and needed a vent for his pent-up frustrations. It was too late to try and talk to Hermione since dinner was almost ready (and neither Harry nor Ron could actually enter the girls' bathroom to comfort her), so they regretfully continued on their way to dinner.

As they entered the Great Hall, Harry was stunned by the new holiday decorations. There were carved pumpkins lighting up the hall and thousands of live bats roosting or flying. When the food came, it appeared on golden plates. The food was delicious, as usual, and included lots of Halloween treats and pumpkin foods.

Harry was enjoying the meal when all of sudden a terrified Professor Quirrell rushed into the Great Hall. "Troll!" he screamed. "In the dungeons!" After that he fainted, loudly falling onto the floor.

There was silence in the Great Hall for a few seconds before a few students started screaming. After that it was complete pandemonium, with some students rushing the get out while others started to crawl under the tables.

Everyone stopped, though, when three purple fireworks exploded from Dumbledore's wand. With a collective turn, the students turned to face the Headmaster. He ordered everyone to calm down and then instructed the prefects to lead the students back to their dormitories.

As the students were being lead out, Harry suddenly remembered Hermione. She was in the bathroom and didn't know about the troll! Ron was way up in front with his brother Percy, but Harry spotted Terry nearby and rushed over to him.

"We'd better go get her then," was Terry's reply when Harry explained the problem. "We can't have her wandering around with a troll once she comes out."

The two boys ducked out of sight, ditching the groups of students headed for their dorms. When they heard footsteps behind them, they took shelter behind a griffin statue. As Snape briskly walked by, the two boys exchanged glances. Why wasn't Snape with everyone else? As they continued to listen, Terry had a thought.

"You know," he remarked, "that's the exact route you'd take from the Great Hall to get to the Forbidden Corridor. Coincidence?" Harry shook his head and shrugged, intrigued. They didn't have time to think much longer, though, for a horrid odor started filling up their nostrils.

Turning, both boys shrank closer against the statue in fright. Trudging down the corridor was the troll, and it was a horrible sight. The thing was gray and twelve feet tall, and its head looked much too small for its enormous body. Its limbs looked like tree trunks, and in its grasp was a gigantic wooden club. The creature stopped at a doorway, looking indecisive for a few moments, before lumbering inside. Both boys sighed in relief and relaxed until they heard a scream coming from the room the troll had just entered. It was the girls' bathroom!

Harry turned to Terry, his face filled with worry. "Have you got a plan?" he asked the Ravenclaw. Another scream erupted from the girls' bathroom.

"No time for much anymore," replied Terry, "I don't know about trolls enough to plan fighting strategies anyway."

"I'll get Hermione," Harry instructed, standing up and trying to act a lot braver than he felt at the moment. "You cover me. Try and distract the troll long enough for us to get out in one piece. If we lock the door on the way out we may be able slow it down." Terry nodded, and on the count of three they both rushed into the bathroom.

Upon entrance, both could see that things weren't pretty. Hermione was huddled in a corner, her wand on the ground about twenty feet away. The troll was slowly advancing toward her, taking out sinks and toilet stalls as it went. Harry shot a quick glance at Terry, who nodded, before going into a full sprint.

The troll, noticing another creature, started to turn around, but it was too late. Harry charged straight for it and, at the last second, dove underneath the troll's legs. Landing right in front of Hermione, Harry quickly got up and held out his hand. She took it and pulled herself up, still a bit out of it due to both shock and fright.

After Harry dove under its legs, the troll once again tried to turn around. However, as it started to turn, a metal pipe smashed into its skull. Terry, now by the demolished stalls, was using the levitation charm they'd learned in Charms to launch debris at the troll. The troll tried again to move toward Harry and Hermione, but another metal pipe hit it, this time right in the nose. The troll was disoriented long enough for Harry to bring Hermione back toward the door entrance, where Terry quickly joined them. Harry scooped up Hermione's wand on the way and handed it her. She eagerly took it back, happy to have some sort of defense.

"This thing's pretty pissed now, Harry," Terry remarked. "Not sure if we can avoid it just by locking the door. See those two big metal pieces over there?" Terry pointed to two large metal pieces of debris near the stalls. "I'll levitate one and you get the other. If we hit it at the same time, one on each side, we might be able to knock it out." Harry nodded. It was a good idea, and the troll did seem quite angry at the moment.

In sync, the two boys swished and flicked their wands, shouting, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The pieces shook at first, then rose into the air. The troll, which had now fully recovered, started toward the trio. However, it had only taken a few steps before the two pieces of metal collided with its left and right temple simultaneously with a resounding clanging noise.

The troll's eyes rolled back. Its body swayed. Then it fell face first onto the bathroom floor, causing the whole room to shake. The three stood there for a moment in slight disbelief, a bit unsure if the troll was actually out. However, when they were sure the troll was out cold, Harry and Terry jubilantly high fived. Just as a group of teachers walked in.

Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell had heard the commotion and had come expecting to deal with a troll causing mindless destruction. However, as they looked at the fallen troll and the disheveled students, they realized things had not gone as expected.

"What were you thinking?" Professor McGonagall cried. "You should be in your dormitories! You could've been killed!"

Hermione was speechless, still quite shocked because of the whole ordeal. Harry's mind had drawn a blank, and he couldn't think of a good excuse. Terry, however, saw an opportunity and took it.

"We're sorry, Professor," he said, sounding very ashamed. "We were leaving with the others, but Harry remembered that Hermione had left to go to the bathroom right before we heard about the troll. He told me, and we went to go warn her."

Harry, seeing where Terry was going and very thankful that Terry had found them a possibility of getting away with things, confirmed this. "We never meant to actually take on the troll. When we saw the troll come in and heard her scream, we realized we didn't have time to wait or get help."

Both boys were doing a very good job of conveying embarrassment, shame, and a bit of wonder all into one expression. Hermione was unintentionally playing her part well enough too, though she didn't see what was going on. Snape looked angrier than usual and Quirrell looked more nervous than usual, but McGonagall, if one were observant enough, seemed more relieved than angered at the moment. She was just glad no one had been hurt. She finally gave in.

"Ms. Granger, please return to your dormitory. I'm sure you've had quite the evening. As for you two," she turned to look at Harry and Terry. "While I'm not happy about you two feeling the need to take on a fully grown mountain troll, you did it to protect a friend, and I can respect that. I ask, though, that in the future you refrain from heroic deeds like this unless absolutely necessary. Things could have turned out much, much worse."

The boys nodded. What McGonagall said made sense. Also, they sensed they were on thin ice at the moment and wanted to keep on her good side as much as possible.

"Ten points will be added to each of your Houses for courage and loyalty. Now, please return to your dormitories." With that, McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell left.

Harry turned to Terry. "Nice one with that excuse. We would've been busted if not for that."

"You know," Terry remarked, "the funny thing is that that was pretty much the truth. Pretty surprising. If we'd lied, trying pin the blame on someone or saying we wanted to take down the troll, she probably would have a lot more ticked."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Can't say that'll always be a good tactic though. Most of the time the truth isn't quite so noble for me."

The two laughed. "Wait until Ernie hears about this," Terry chuckled.

"He'll be so jealous," agreed Harry.

"Did you think the teachers seemed a bit on edge? Even after they saw everything was fine?"

"They probably were still stressed about how the troll got there in the first place."

"Yeah. Maybe."

They both walked out and began to walk in opposite directions toward their dorms.

"Hey, Terry?" Harry asked, turning back.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I don't think I could've done this alone, or with someone less skilled."

"Hermione's my friend, too, Harry. And so are you. If you ever need help, just ask." Terry paused, pretending to be deep in thought. "However," he added, "give me a bit of a warning next time you want to do anything this hectic. I'll need to write out a will." They both smiled.

"No promises." Harry turned and walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Now that he could think though, things did seem a bit off. How did a troll get into the castle in the first place? Weren't there safeguards against that kind of thing? Harry didn't fall asleep for a while that night, thanks to the excitement of the day and the unanswered questions, old and new, floating around in his mind.

Author's Note: Well, there you go! Another chapter complete. I hadn't given Terry much time in the story before this, so I thought why not have him fight a troll? I hope you guys like the bit of inter-House friendship in the story so far. Hopefully this chapter gave a little more depth to the characters and friendships, especially relating to Terry. They're also now searching for answers, wherever that will lead them. Anyway, please let me know what you think and leave a review. Until next time!