The Danger Zone Diaries

Well, it's Day Twenty One and, for this one, it's an idea I had intended to make a full story, but I can't seem to get it off the ground, so…let's just say, for now, it's here where I can look back later and…who knows?

Day Twenty-One: Reborn Under a Lucky Star

"Do something!"

As the troll came in for another attack, Harry barely managed to pull himself up, hunching his body over even though it was upside-down while he also managed to avoid the deathly blow of the club from the gigantic creature.

At the same time, as Ron ducked from the same blow, even though it was nowhere near him, he looked around worriedly before he asked in a state of alarm and disbelief, "What?"

Letting his body relax so he was fully-upside-down again, Harry scoffed as he gasped, "Anything!"

As he hung there, trying to predict when the next attack would come, however, Harry's eyes widened when he saw Ron looking more lost and unsure of his choices as he usually was. Even with his world turned on its head, literally, Harry could see the answer as clear as day, but the fact that the idiot responsible for this couldn't even get his finger out of his ear and see it for himself made him sick.

Even sicker than the vertigo and the blood rushing to his head.

Sighing as he saw this, a part of him wondering if he was going to hate himself for this later, Harry relaxed his whole body and, to the surprise of anyone who would have been able to see him – which, thankfully, was no-one with Ron floundering like a fish out of water and Hermione ducking beneath the rubble – he did the first thing he could think of.

He closed his eyes, calmed his breathing and, concentrating on the narrow, if not fading certainty that Ron was a friend, Harry reached into himself, searching for a part of his subconscious – or perhaps his magic; he'd never really thought about it – he'd kept hidden for a while.

After what had happened to Dudley the last time it had come out, Harry hadn't wanted to rely on it or even willingly invoke its mysteries again, but his own life was in jeopardy and his friend needed a little hand.

Although he did not promise Ron would not owe him later for this.

Taking a calm breath, Harry felt something shift within him, accompanied by a sensation of warm tingling that covered his entire body as though he'd been surrounded by sparks. At the same time, he felt his heart grow warm while his lips twitched upwards in amusement as he felt it reach out, brushing against Ron's body and giving him the nudge he needed.

Seconds later, Harry's smile widened when he heard Ron gasp, "Wait, I've got an idea…"

"Swish and flick!" added Hermione, as though she'd been affected by the same jolt it had given Ron as he drew his wand – finally, as Harry thought to himself – before he aimed it at the troll.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Given how little attention, let alone gratitude he'd used earlier when the spell had been taught to them, Ron probably wouldn't have been able to do what he did next without it helping him.

However, as Harry felt its presence growing, he smirked when he heard a rush of air accompanied by a confused, disoriented grunt. A few seconds later, a loud thunk indicated that Ron's spell had done its job; as Harry hit the ground, he quickly scurried away from the troll, looking up just in time to see the large, grey creature lumbering forwards, a dazed look in its eyes and a nasty lump on its head.

As he saw the troll stumble, Harry, fearing it might crush him or make things worse for his friends, let it move outwards again, this time aiming its power at the troll's staggering form, causing it to fall to the left, smashing the last of the cubicles on that side, but, luckily, causing no further damage to him, Ron or Hermione.

Letting out a sigh, Harry pulled himself back just in time to hear Hermione make herself known to him once again as she asked, "Is…is it…dead?"

"I don't think so," replied Harry, moving towards the troll where, nudging it with his toe, he found no response save for the low, dazed growling breath, which it let out, telling Harry all he wanted to know. "Just knocked out…are you okay?"

"I…I think so…" replied Hermione, watching as Harry bent down to retrieve his wand from where it was still stuck up the troll's nose.

At the same time, however, Hermione turned to Ron with a look of fury and a mixture of gratitude and disbelief as she asked, "What took you so long to do what you could have done from the start anyway, Ronald? Don't you realise that Harry could have lost his head, if not his life if that club had hit him?"

"I…I was scared…and I didn't…I didn't even think of using my wand until…well, I guess it was inspiration," said Ron, missing the smirk that played on Harry's face as he pulled his wand from the troll's nose.

When he did so, however, he grunted and let out a cry of dislike and disgust as he exclaimed, "Yuck…troll bogies…by the way, Ron, don't you have something to say to Hermione?"

When Ron looked at Harry in disbelief, Harry sighed before he looked from one Gryffindor to the other as he explained, "First, you can start off by saying sorry for mocking her; after all, if she hadn't been so insistent on how to cast the spell, your attempt might not have worked. Second, you can say sorry for being a bully and making her feel like she doesn't belong here when, if you ask me, she more than anyone belongs here and deserves to be here to show pigs like Malfoy and blind idiots like his little fan club that being Muggle-born doesn't make you any less a witch!"

As Hermione's jaw dropped in surprise at the fire and passion in Harry's voice, Ron opened and closed his mouth like a startled goldfish before, taking a breath, he asked, "Well…are you going to apologise too, Harry? You laughed when I mocked her…"

"Yes, and being someone who was raised putting up with insulting twits like you, I realised soon after that I shouldn't have," argued Harry, looking away from Ron's now-reddening face as he took a breath of his own before he explained, "I was a fool and a sheep to laugh at something that hurt someone else, Hermione and, if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I…I'd like to consider you a friend…if you'll let…oomph!"

Before he could finish, Harry's moment of humility was cut off when Hermione hugged him, surprising Harry as well as Ron since Harry wasn't really someone who'd been hugged before. At the same time, Hermione shushed him as he went to further his explanations, but as she did so, she looked into his eyes before she smiled, tears of gratitude and relief in her eyes.

"You…you have nothing to apologise for, Harry," said Hermione, sniffing once before, wiping her eyes, she told him, "I…I forgive you for…for doing what any friend would have done and…and I'm grateful you…you want to think of me as a friend, so…so thank you for that too."

"You're welcome," replied Harry, using his robe to clean his wand of the bogies before, looking to Ron, he asked, "Well? Are you going to do the right thing or not, Ron? Because, if tonight taught me anything, it's that I'm done letting people, especially people like you, be my voice in this world. So either apologise or consider this the end of a friendship I don't even remember offering you to begin with."

As Ron opened his mouth to argue, however, he was cut off when the door to the girls' bathroom opened, revealing a white-faced Professor McGonagall, a curious, if not suspicious-looking Professor Snape – whom Harry then thought appeared to be limping as he walked into the bathroom with his colleagues – and a surprisingly-calm, but surprised Professor Quirrell.

Seeing the downed troll, Minerva looked to the three lions as she demanded, "What is the meaning of this? Explain yourselves, all of you!"

"We did what we did for the sake of the House you say is like our family, Professor," replied Harry calmly, keeping a tight hold of Hermione's hand while he looked to Minerva's colleagues as he added, "Although, how you fail to notice a student missing from the feast without explanation is beyond me…I thought Hogwarts was meant to be the safest place in the world?"

"If you are done grandstanding, Potter…" scowled Snape, but when he did so, Harry hid a smirk when he saw the man's face blanch suddenly before his whole expression seemed to change.

Seconds later, the Potions Master told them, "Perhaps you might see yourselves back to your dormitories before we decide to punish you for being out after hours. Also, as much as it sickens me to suggest it, Minerva, perhaps some sort of…reward is appropriate for these three. After all, not many first-years can take on a fully-grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale."

For a moment, Minerva seemed surprised by her colleague's charitable nature, though as she looked to the students in front of them, she nodded once as she added, "I…I suppose you have a point, Severus; therefore, 5 points will be awarded to each of you…"

Although she didn't notice it, Minerva's next words brought a glint of amusement to Harry's green eyes while he smirked when she said it;

"For sheer dumb luck!"

And there we are then…an old idea, yes, but one I've never seen on-site;

Basically, in this story, Harry was somehow born with the ability to manipulate, induce and affect luck – both good and bad – and use it to make things happen around him that others would see as weird, sheer dumb luck.

Kind of like Domino, you might say, but…again, as soon as it was there, it was gone and I couldn't get it off the ground, so, instead, it's here in the Diaries where my ideas might return later…who knows?

Day Twenty-One: End of Entry