Sayuri traveled on in search of a teacher. The crow clone sapped at her already taxed reserves, but she took comfort in the fact that it hadn't been dispelled yet. It was too hard to both maintain the clone and sense out her surroundings though, so she just kept going and hoped she'd run into anyone other than Quirrel.

She'd just reached the stairs leading to the third floor when a furious voice reverberated in the stairwell around her.

"Uchiha! Why aren't you in the common room?"

Profound relief washed over her. "Sir?"

His footsteps were uneven as he hurried down the steps. At that moment, she likely made Hogwarts history as the only student to ever experience relief at being caught by Professor Snape.

A short distance behind him was the clicking of Professor Quirrel's shoes. The rotting, putrid presence from earlier was gone, only the odor of spoiled garlic left behind. It was pretty mild compared to what awaited them downstairs.

"Sir, it's an emergency! A troll is attacking some students in the first floor girl's toilets."

As they came close to her, Quirrel felt very dark right then. Dark and focused, filled with silent rage.

Snape's large hand closed around her wrist and he dragged her down the corridor.

"Of all the incompetent-," he snarled. "When we reach the troll you must stay behind me and do exactly as I say."

"Yes sir," she said, forcing her legs into a run to keep from dragging behind like a land-bound kite. He was favoring his right leg, and she could just taste the salt tang of blood in the back of her throat. Her stomach clenched at the scent, trying to forget the feel of cold steel penetrating her gut.

We're at Hogwarts, she told herself. Me and Snape, and gross Quirrel's back there. This isn't Konoha. This isn't, kaa-san's not-

Jerking herself away from that thought, she tried to focus instead on the cold air around them. The big hand that was clamped around her wrist. The way Snape's magic lashed like the tail of an irate cat.

She tried not to think of Fukumaru fleeing, his white fur splattered with blood.

She wondered how Snape had gotten injured if he hadn't found the troll yet. Tried to block out the malicious shadow behind her that was the defense professor. Her legs suddenly weakened as the clone dispersed, taking a sizable chunk of chakra with it.

Please don't be too late, she silently plead. Tsuchibue, I hope you saved them. She didn't want to find out he'd failed. That Harry or Hermione's bodies were lying there crushed on the floor because she'd fucked up.

Just like her fuck up in Konoha had killed her mother.

"I c-can take her t-to her common room," Quirrel volunteered. Sayuri almost shrieked in protest, but Snape yanked her arm as he twisted around to face Quirrel.

"Why? So you can run screaming and leave her at the troll's mercy as soon as it appears?"

Just then, the acrid smell of troll mixed with rotting sewage assaulted her nose. She gagged and wiped a sleeve over her face. Quirrel trailed behind them, stammering and stuttering as they approached the source of the sour odor.

Professor McGonagall was already there.

Snape released her arm. "Stay," he commanded. She froze, afraid that Quirrel would linger near her. That he would say something about what happened earlier or do something terrible to silence her when the other's backs were turned, but to her relief Snape grabbed his shoulder roughly and dragged him along.

She slid to the floor and hugged her knees. While they were gone, she finally felt around to try and determine what was happening. The troll seemed subdued. Hermione, Harry, and also Harry's friend she'd met at Hagrid's, whatever his name was. They'd all made it out to the hallway in one piece.

Thank goodness. Exhaling with relief, she let her forehead rest on her knees. She was going to get Tsuchibue something wonderful for his help. All the pastries he could ever want.

After several minutes, the Gryffindor children were sent down a different hall. The adults wandered back toward her talking quietly among themselves.

Professor McGonagall spoke first. "Miss Granger informed me that without your bird distracting the troll they would have never survived the attack. Is it true you sent it to assist?"

Sayuri nodded.

"And what were you doing out of your common room?"

Sayuri hung her head. Quirrel was just behind the other teachers, silently boiling with rage. She bit her lip, wondering what would happen if she told them now. Would he attack everyone? Would he attack her before she could say everything? Would he try to escape?

What if she told them and they didn't believe her? She was only a student, a blind student, and he was one of their colleagues. A grownup.

"After Hermione and I argued, I wanted to be alone. Eventually I thought maybe I should go to the feast anyway, but when I got to the Great Hall it was empty. I heard some screams and couldn't do anything about the troll so sent my bird to help them while I looked for a teacher."

"And where were you exactly while you were being alone?" McGonagall probed. The killing intent leaking from Quirrel was so suffocating she didn't understand why none of the other teachers noticed it.

"The dungeons."

"You didn't notice anything strange? Anything out of place?"

Sayuri shook her head, too terrified to speak.

"Five points to Slytherin then, for being the only one with any common sense tonight," she said.

"Miss Uchiha, come here." Snape called in a low voice. "I will escort you back to your common room now."

"I-I'll t-take her, S-s-severus," Quirrel said. His predatory focus sharpened. Sayuri tried not to shrink away from Quirrel. "Y-your leg is b-b-bleeding."

She swallowed thickly.

"That's not a bad idea," McGonagall said. "You ought to have Poppy take care of that."

"My leg is fine," Snape said smoothly. "Besides, I need to have a word with my prefects seeing as those dunderheads managed to leave a first year at the mercy of a mountain troll. I believe it is Quirrel's responsibility to dispose of the creature, seeing as he is the defense against the dark arts expert."

Sayuri scampered to his side and ducked behind his robes where she hoped Quirrel couldn't see her, then hurried after Snape as he limped down the hall.

As they moved further away, Sayuri's breathing eased. The pressure of Quirrel's animosity faded, but she couldn't completely shake the feeling of being hunted.

"Will we see Madam Pomfrey first?" she asked. Did Quirrel hurt him? The thought of it made her uneasy. It didn't make sense though, if a teacher had openly attacked one of their colleagues surely they'd get fired or something. Wizards weren't as forgiving about that sort of thing as shinobi were.

"No," Snape said in a flat voice.

"Did Professor Quirrel, did he attack you?" she blurted.

Snape stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

"He, was there anyone else with him earlier?" she twisted her hands inside her sleeves.

If she had to keep going to Quirrel's class, he'd find a way to get her alone. Give her a detention or make her stay after class or something. She couldn't bring herself to say anything when he was present, but maybe Professor Snape would believe her.

"Why would you ask that?" His voice had dropped to a near whisper. Snape was focused on her with pinpoint intensity. It wasn't the same as killing intent, but was suffocating all the same. She shifted from foot to foot, fighting the urge to fling herself out the nearest window and flee across the rooftops until she found a quiet, completely secluded place.

"He was with the troll in the dungeons, and there was a stranger with him in the hall."

Snape bent closer and said in a barely audible whisper. "Not another word until we are in a secure place."

She nodded, a frisson of fear rippling through her.

They descended winding stairs in silence, Snape leaning heavily on the railing. Once they reached his office she held the door open for him so he could hobble through. He then locked it behind them and sat her in a hard wooden chair. The soft fizzle of some type of seal activated on the door.

For a brief moment it felt like nothing strange or unpredictable would happen. There were no malice filled strangers, stray trolls, or mountains of troll shit. Only her brusque head of house and the unwelcome scent of blood. And while he was irritable, his presence was familiar and so far he hadn't allowed any harm to come to her. Besides, this was her chance to tell someone that might actually do something about Quirrel.

"What happened? Tell me exactly." Snape's ordinarily silky voice had an unfamiliar edge to it.

"He was in a dungeon corridor with a strange man. When they came around the corner and saw me, the man said I was the same student that interfered with the unicorn. Then the man told him to kill me."

Snape's chakra did something she didn't like. It sort of shivered and twisted up on itself in a way that she knew was fear. His fear was not reassuring. "What did Quirrel do?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice.

"Quirrel cast a spell at me and missed. I tried to mess up their vision like I showed you before, but the stranger dispelled it. So I ran past them to try and reach the common room, but the troll was in the way and attacked. I got around it and tried casting a spell to slow it down, but it just made the troll angry. Then I hid, and the stranger told Quirrel I was dead. After they left I had to wait until the troll went away before I could come out and look for help."

Snape drummed his fingers on his desk.

There was a long, tense silence. He stood and went into an adjacent room and rummaged around for a bit before coming back smelling like comfrey, murtlap, and some other things she couldn't quite identify.

"For the time being, I am pulling you from Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. You are still expected to complete your defense homework and sit for exams as usual. You will spend your defense periods in the potions classroom. If anyone asks why you are not attending Quirrel's class, you will tell them that you require additional time to master potions due to your vision deficit."

She breathed a sigh of relief and put her face in her hands. "Thank you, sir.

"You will discuss this with no one aside from Professor Dumbledore and myself. This shouldn't have to be mentioned but you will also avoid being alone with Professor Quirrel for any reason." A steaming mug was shoved into her hands. It had a pleasant earthy odor to it. "Drink this. I expect you will not make a pest of yourself in my classroom."

While she sipped at the potion, a calm slipped over her. It had the pleasing side effect of washing the vomit and troll shit flavors out of her mouth. Draco was right. She really did need to brush her teeth.

"Will he be fired?" she asked.

"That is at the headmaster's discretion, though I should think so," he said, voice growing bitter. "I will take you back to your common room now. Rest assured that the headmaster will know of this and no harm will come to you if you do as I say."

"Yes, sir."

"And Miss Uchiha, in the future do not hesitate to inform me if you notice anything suspicious. The safety of the students is my highest priority, and unfortunately you seem to be one of those that attracts trouble despite what I am sure are your best efforts to avoid it. Your honesty will not be punished."

She trailed sluggishly behind him when they left his office, heading for the common room.

She felt a twinge of fear for the prefects sake when Snape stepped over the threshold of the Slytherin common room. He was truly frightening when his irritation spilled over into genuine anger. She slipped away from where Gemma and the boy prefect cringed as he quietly yet fiercely chewed them out, feeling extremely guilty for her earlier wish to get her housemates in trouble. This wasn't really what she had in mind.

Pansy bounced over to her as she climbed the stairs. "Sayuri! Where were you? The prefects were going mad trying to figure out what happened."

She shrugged tiredly. "I got lost and Professor Snape found me."

"How many points did he take?" Millicent asked worriedly.

Sayuri shook her head. "None. But he's really angry."

"Yeah, we can hear that." Millicent breathed a sigh of relief. "Glad I'm not a prefect. Did they find the troll yet? Too bad you couldn't have seen it. They're really ugly."

"They did. It smashed the girl's toilets. Everything smelled horrible. I'm pretty sure it shit all over the floor." The other girls giggled. She remembered what Tsuchibue said about the smaller ones in the forest looking like oni. "I bet it looked as bad as it smelled."

"That's true," Pansy said. "No troll would ever win a beauty contest."

"McGonagall gave me five points for staying out of its way," she added. "So there is that."

"Really?" Pansy asked brightly. "That's brilliant actually! Good work."

After slipping into her night clothes, Sayuri finally managed to brush her teeth properly. Enjoying the feel of a minty fresh mouth, she was almost asleep when Gemma came pounding down the hall to the first year's dorm.

"Hey, hold on!" the prefect said. "Professor Snape said to make sure you drink this. It's a sleeping draught. I have to watch you drink it. He said so."

"Huh? Oh." Sayuri pushed herself up on her elbows. Gemma held it up to her mouth, steeling her trembling hands so Sayuri could drink. It was a small dose. Only a mouthful.

She was out cold before her head hit the pillow.

A small section of corridor between Severus' office and the common room was . . . melted, for lack of a better word. The stones were still radiating uncharacteristic heat back into the air when he passed through, though they'd lost most of their glow by now. His prefects had even asked if Quirrel had actually meant to warn them about a rogue dragon.

Lighting the tip of his wand, he examined the area more closely. Surely this wasn't the spell Miss Uchiha had tried to slow the troll down with? Yet, the troll's club had been thoroughly charred. And even here, there was black charcoal stamped into the walls and floor where it had tried to smash her.

"I see you are admiring our young Slytherin's handiwork." Dumbledore's soft voice made him jump, which was terribly embarrassing.

"This cannot be her doing. I had thought Fiendfyre initially, but the damage is lacking any trace of dark magic."

"I assure you, she is quite gifted with fire." The headmaster ran a finger along the warm stones. "Fortunately for the troll, mountain trolls are rather heat resistant. Otherwise they would have had a much shorter adventure this evening."

"Shorter would have been preferable," Severus muttered. He actually felt pity for Filch after seeing the calamity left in the girl's toilet. Perhaps he could find some students deserving of an extended detention with the elderly caretaker. Those blasted Weasley twins were constantly generating chaos.

Then again, perhaps they shouldn't be granted access to that volume of troll feces.

"If your curiosity is satisfied," Dumbledore said, "I believe we have some matters to discuss. Your office? That bite is looking rather dire."

Severus glanced down. The blood pooling in his shoe had started leaking onto the floor. He grimaced, this was his favorite pair. He had never liked dogs much, but was well on his way to actively hating them at this rate.

"My rooms," he said.

They walked in relative silence, his shoes making a wet squelch every other step.

To think Quirrel wanted to 't-take the girl back to her c-common room', and Minerva would have let him! If Quirrel was clever he would have used the opportunity to hit her with a memory charm, but this was the same man who released a mountain troll into the school when it was no secret that he had a strong affinity for trolls.

He'd supplied a troll to defend the philosopher's stone for Merlin's sake! Did he think Dumbledore a complete fool?

Quirrel might have staged a little accident for the child if he'd gotten her alone. Or turned her over to his master. She'd already been injured with Sectumsempra. By her account he'd just attempted to murder her a second time with the troll.

Severus' hands trembled as he unlocked his rooms and swung the heavy door open. The Dark Lord had been right there, in those very halls that night. Who knew where he was lurking at that moment. He could still be within the walls of the school. Suddenly, the ferocity of the three headed mutt and all the other obstacles seemed paltry in comparison to the true threat they faced. This wasn't simply Quirrel they were trying to keep out any more.

"Albus, did the boy make it back to Gryffindor tower?" Snape asked, his mouth suddenly dry.

The old wizard stepped over the threshold behind him and gently closed the door. "Yes, he is safe in bed just as he should be." Flickering yellow light played over the room from the fireplace as both men seated themselves on velvet upholstered furniture. Severus claimed the couch, as it as easier to prop up his injured leg.

"Are you aware that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named entered the castle tonight?" Severus watched the headmaster's face intently. The revelation did nothing to disturb the old man's serene facade.

"I am aware. An entire flock of little birds told me."

"Miss Uchiha was attacked again."

"They told me that too. How did she escape?"

"By leading Quirrel to believe she had been killed by the troll." He crossed his arms tightly. "Later Quirrel attempted to take her from me twice under the guise of returning her to her common room."

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose, looking weary. "Thank you for your vigilance. And do take care of your leg Severus. You needn't sacrifice any of your limbs to keep the stone safe. I assure you again, it would not be possible for Voldemort even at the height of his power to obtain the stone from the final obstacle. It is safe here."

"SAFE?" he choked, voice rising. "You assured me Lily was safe! That he could never locate the Potters. You promised! Yet 10 years ago this very night, Lily was murdered. How can I trust that these protections on the stone are any better than what the Potters had? And even supposing the stone is safe, how are we to keep the students safe if The Dark Lord himself freely walks the halls of the school?"

Albus sighed deeply. "In light of my previous failures, I do not fault you for your mistrust in matters of security. I will take responsibility for their safety and patrol the halls myself every night. I don't suppose you have any wideye potion made up?"

"I always do," he muttered. "And you are welcome to it. But this could all be avoided if Quirrel was brought before the ministry."

"From the ministry's perspective, there are many simple ways anyone could have impersonated Quirrel's voice in the presence of a blind first year. They also believe Voldemort is gone and dead forever. What could Quirrel be convicted of? There were no injuries, no casualties. He would go free."

His lip rose in a sneer. "Are you suggesting we sacrifice one of the children for this trap then? I'd rather see him buried at the bottom of the Black Lake before that happens."

"Not at all. Severus, we have a unique opportunity here to perhaps stop Voldemort's return in its infancy. If Voldemort himself could be captured in his weakened form, think how many lives could be saved. How much future suffering could be avoided."

It was tempting. Frustrating, but so tempting to see it that way. He would never have to resume spying for the order if The Dark Lord never returned. But at what cost?

"At the very least, the Potter boy should be pulled from Quirrel's classes. Why provide him extra opportunities to harm the boy? I've already removed Miss Uchiha."

"If we do that, he will know that I have adopted your suspicions. In order for this trap to work he must believe me ignorant. Quirrel is already aware of your particular dislike for him, so you removing one of your Slytherins from his class should not alarm him."

"The boy is not bait," he spat. "I swore to protect that brat. Pulling him from that joke of a class is the least you could do."

He made a strangled noise of frustration at the shake of Dumbledore's head.

"What do I tell the girl then? That an attempt on her life was not worth removing that incompetent menace from the school staff? She asked me tonight if he would be fired, and I couldn't even tell her yes." Bitterness welled up within him. Old bitterness, at the handling of his own brush with death. The so-called prank that led to him being snatched from the jaws of a werewolf. "What will you do if she informs her guardian? Do you believe they will tolerate this kind of risk?"

To his surprise, Dumbledore's face paled. His ordinarily clear eyes clouded with worry. "No, I do not. To say he'd be extremely upset with me is a gross understatement. Speaking of which, what is her condition? That spell she cast must have taken a tremendous toll."

"Shaky, but still lucid. Gemma Farley was instructed to personally administer a sleeping draught and ensure that nobody bothers her for the next day or two while she sleeps it off."

"Why not take her to Poppy?"

"Quirrel does not have the password to the Slytherin common room," Snape said wearily. "Gemma can be trusted with this." He propped his leg up on the ottoman and grimaced at the bandages he'd applied in his office. They were already soaked through.

"Cerberus saliva does make wounds rather difficult to heal," Dumbledore said, drawing out his wand. Ordinarily Severus' pride would have demanded the headmaster stop, but tonight he accepted the help for what it was. A feeble peace offering.

It took Dumbledore three waves of his wand to wordlessly vanish the blood seeped into the fabric, conjure fresh bandages on top, and ensure they were tied snugly. A fourth resulted in Severus being engulfed in annoyingly comfortable squashy purple pillows.

"I am sorry my friend," Albus said. "I know Hallowe'en is an unpleasant day for you in the best of years. Tonight was more trying than average. I will begin my nightly patrol. Should you need anything do try to avoid hobbling around. You have an army of house elves at your disposal."

Severus sank deeper into the pillows, a frown pulling at his mouth. He would never admit how comfortable they were. Ever. None of this made up for the fact that he couldn't drink himself sick in his annual guilt fueled binge like every other Hallowe'en for the past 10 years. He'd saved up several bottles of the nastiest fire whiskey he could get his hands on just for the occasion.

"Is it worth the student's lives to spring this trap?"

"Give it a little more time Severus. That's all I am asking. We cannot afford another war if he returns to full power. The last one was far too costly."

That was one thing he could agree with the headmaster on. It was costly beyond measure, all for the loss of that one precious friend.

Lily.

He would die before he'd allow The Dark Lord to lay a hand on the boy too.