Chapter 5
A Curious Quartet
A day had passed since the night Harry Potter defended Hermione's honour against the prejudice Weasley family. The tale had been shared, whispered and sent far and wide beyond even the realms of the castle. Luckily for Harry, it hadn't made it too far outside of the castle. When he was sending his next letter to Lily, he purposely missed out his duel with Ron and the argument he had with Hermione. He wondered what she would be more disappointed in him about. The fight with Ron or the fight with Hermione. Either way, Harry still felt horrible for what he had said.
The feud with Hermione had not stopped with their fight in the common room. For two whole weeks they were unable to be in a room together or be civilised. Harry had attempted more than once to apologise but Hermione just wasn't letting up. It had gotten so bad that Harry and Hermione were moved in all their classes. This was good for Harry because it meant he got to sit beside Alicia, who didn't make him feel awful during every class. It was bad news for Neville because he'd have to put up with a consistently angry Hermione. Eventually, Harry's guilt turned to anger. He couldn't understand why she wasn't willing to listen to him.
"She's a girl." Neville had said once they were back in the common room, shrugging his shoulders casually. "They're both strange and beautiful creatures. Much like the Venomous Tentacula. The way they move, the unpredictable, Ow!"
After hitting Neville on the back of the head, Alicia huffed and shook hers. "I would say give it time. She just needs to know you're sorry. I know she's a bit of a bossy-boots, but she's got a heart and believe it or not, she really does care about Gryffindor." Alicia smiled tenderly, then smirked. "Besides, you two can't be enemies. You get us the most points."
Harry let out a soft sigh and looked out the window, hoping the sunny view would take his mind of things. He'd taken to hiding in the boy's dormitory whenever Hermione was in the common room studying. It was safer that way. Granted he was getting a new reputation. People were starting to call him "Harry Houdini" because he would disappear every time Hermione appeared. Harry didn't think it was possible to feel this miserable.
"Oh, come on, Harry!" Neville said, getting to his feet and giving him a shake. "It's our first flying lesson tomorrow. You've got to be excited about that!"
"I just don't know what to do about Hermione." He sighed.
"Hey, at least you're not running to the bathroom every two minutes to cry about the whole thing." Alicia said, acting very casual. Harry and Neville both looked at her as she lay across Harry's bed with her feet up, stroking Nova. "The poor thing. Any time Hermione sees you smile, Harry, she runs off for a good cry."
Harry instantly felt a thousand times worse. "Great. Now I'm not allowed to smile around her."
It took some doing but Alicia and Neville eventually managed to coax Harry down to the common room. Alicia wanted to teach Harry how to play wizard's chess and Neville had started his own Herbology club with some of the other students who were interested. During the few games that Alicia and Harry played, it was easy to say that this wasn't the game for Harry. He was enjoying himself right up until Hermione got out of her chair, walked right to him and said, "Hm, and I thought you were good at everything." Then sauntered off. She didn't get very far though. Her rudeness had finally got to Harry and what followed was a fight of an indescribable nature.
The next day didn't soften the aggression between the pair either. There seemed to be a divine power forcing the pair of them together. Severus made them team up during potions class, which made Hermione so concerned about what Harry might be doing better than her, that her potion came to life and tried attack Alicia. Which made Alicia fall out with Hermione. This also lost Gryffindor more points, thus making the class mad at Hermione. In charms class, Harry was still reeling from potions and had been so distracted with glaring at Hermione that he almost sent Neville flying through a bookcase. This then lost Gryffindor even more points. Not to mention Neville being in a mood with Harry until lunch time. Herbology was no better, either. Alicia and Neville had been paired up together and because no one was in a particularly good mood with Harry or Hermione, the pair were forced together by Professor Sprout. As try as he might, his promise to remain kind was getting harder to keep. Granted, he hadn't really done the best job where Hermione was concerned. It wasn't until flying class that afternoon when the very last of Harry's kindness had been tested by Hermione's presence in his life.
Harry and Alicia were pleasantly surprised to discover that they could fly well. They were so quick to learning how to handle their brooms, they were allowed to have little races around the Quidditch pitch, when Madam Hooch felt comfortable enough to let them fly freely. Neville, as Harry had put it gently, "Need more practice." In fact, He needed so much practice that he had fallen off his broom and had broken his wrist. This meant that Madam Hooch had to take Neville to the Hospital Wing, leaving the class to behave for themselves.
"And what does a little mud-blood like you need to fly for?" Ron Weasley's voice was currently the third worst thing Harry could hear around Hogwarts. Ever since the duel, which in his Harry's head had been talked about far too much, Ron and the rest of his brothers had been getting worse towards the people who wouldn't defend themselves.
What made the situation more annoying for Harry, Neville and Alicia was that Ron had gone around telling anyone that would list, about Fred and George threatening to attack Harry if he tried anything again. This was a lie that could easily be considered truth since Harry had refused to help anyone or perform any cool magic since Hermione had shouted at him.
"Leave me alone, Ron!" Hermione had shouted back. She tried to grab her broom, but he was holding it out of arms reach. As per-usual he wasn't alone. His cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, along with Pansy were all laughing while he teased Hermione.
Eventually, the pair danced around so much that Ron moved, and Hermione fell face first, hitting the mud with a loud splat. Everyone, except for Harry and Alicia, who had landed to see what the commotion was about, laughed when Hermione go to her feet. The sight of Hermione crying and running from the pitch was so heart-breaking to watch, Harry couldn't help himself. He turned on Ron with such speed that Ron just managed to get his wand out but wasn't paying attention and he slipped, falling into the mud himself with an even louder splat.
"What is going on here?!" Madam Hooch demanded to know. She was practically sprinting towards the group, assuming something was going on.
Ron's face filled with such glee that it was horrid to watch. "Miss, he was trying to attack me again!"
"Oh, don't be silly, Weasley. Anyone can see that Potter was attempting to stop you from falling. He doesn't even have his wand out."
Ah thing that was very true indeed. Hard a hunch, a very strong one, that Ron was something of a coward. Almost all bullies were. He knew that if he acted quickly enough, he could make Ron panic and fall over without ever having to cast a spell. And it worked. Harry once again showed the other students how much of a wimp Ron really was. The same went for the rest of his little group, who, were being completely ignored by the other Slytherins by the end of the class. Later that night, when Harry and Alicia had met Neville in the Hospital Wing, they were all heading down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, recounting the tale.
"Didn't even use your wand?" Neville snorted, patting Harry on the back. "Love it. He's quite pathetic in his own way."
"Pathetic Ron may be," Alicia interjected. She had dressed for the occasion, putting on a lovely blue evening dress for the event. Harry and Neville didn't make quite the same effort and so she was able to stand out quite brightly among the group. "But those Twins will be looking for another excuse. We'd best stick together from now on just in case. They're trouble."
"No, they're not." Neville said, grinning widely. "They've been expelled!"
"What?!" Harry and Alicia said in unison. They instantly demanded the story.
"Well," Neville started, seeming to enjoy being centre of attention. "I didn't get much because I was pretending to unconscious. Apparently, though, they were telling students that Dumbledore had a monster sleeping in the 3rd floor corridor. We're not supposed to go up there and well, the students would get caught and blame the twins, which got them in trouble, so," Neville gave Harry a knowing look, "The twins wanted revenge. There is a 2nd year Hufflepuff in the hospital wing trying to regrow his leg. All because Fred set a group of Cornish Pixies on the poor kid. They're not normally dangerous unless they've been starved. Turns out that Fred and George were keeping them illegally hidden in the boat house."
"Hm, good riddance." Alicia said, turning her head and brushing off the story as if it were nothing. "I wonder how brave Ron will be now that they're gone."
"Good evening."
Alicia had almost walked right into the snobbish presence of Percy Weasley. Up close, Harry could see him better and that one of his eyes was lazier than the other. The good eyed scanned all three of them and he smiled or rather, gave his approximation of a smile that looked, in a certain light, very creepy.
"A rather strange night to be wandering alone, I feel." Percy said, his voice strange and dangerous. "You must be excited for the feast. I daresay I won't be able to enjoy it. Not without my brothers there. It's quite a shame that the school can't take a joke."
"A joke?" Said Neville, amazed by Percy's assessment of the situation. "The kid is missing a whole leg!"
"Jokes." Percy repeated. "Are something I am told that James Potter was very fond of in his day." The good eye met both of Harry's good ones. "Then again, his demise is quite the joke to a certain group, even funny, to another."
Harry meant to lunge forward and throttle Percy with his bare hands, but Neville got their first, holding Harry back. "Get lost, Percy!" Alicia snarled at him. "Or we'll get Snape on you!"
"Careful now." Said Percy, his tone even more dangerous now. "We wouldn't any of you to suffer the fates of your parents. Such tragic stories all of you." The first sign of a real smile spread across his face. "Happy Halloween."
By the time they reached the Great Hall, none of them were in the mood to celebrate Halloween together. Harry had sat silently through Dumbledore's speech, which was filled with many funny – and cheesy – jokes that he had learned in the Muggle world. He announced the expulsion of Fred and George which led to glorious applause from everyone except the Slytherin table. Even Harry felt that Dumbledore was trying to contain his pleasure over that one. When the feast started everyone tucked into all kinds of sugary delights.
While eating, Harry was mostly thinking about what Percy had said to him. He sat, lazily poking at a cream cake to death when he overheard Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, talking about Hermione. "The poor thing. She was crying when I left the girl's toilets." Lavender had said. "Serves her right for acting that way towards Harry. Look at him, he's been so miserable lately." Parvati hissed. "All because he defended her. She doesn't deserve friends."
Harry was instantly reminded of those three things that Lily had always asked of him. Her words about how being kind was always so important, passing through his mind. Right now, it felt like the most important. Sadly, he didn't get a chance to dwell on it because-
"TROLL, TROLL IN THE DUNGEON, TROOOOLLL!"
When poor Professor Quirrell fell to the ground and collapsed, the moment his head hit the stone floor there was massive uproar. Students were running, dashing in every direction. Some clung together in fear, other's grabbed their heads and screamed as if they're never heard of such a thing ever happening. Alicia panicked a little, but Harry placed his hand on hers and shook his head. She was quite surprised to see that neither Harry nor Neville were bothered by this news. It was almost comical to see them sitting there surrounded by mad people, acting completely non-pulsed. This attitude towards trolls had come from the great troll incident when Harry was 8. One had come down from the mountains to make a home in Lily's garden. Trolls were big, slow, stupid and smelled bad. Harry recalled sitting by the living room window with Neville, watching as Lily went out by herself, with just her wand and "Politely" ordered it to leave. When it refused and got angry, she transformed the great lump into a musical box with one of the ugliest ballerina's Harry had ever seen.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice boomed over the manic crowed, which froze in place. Dumbledore then spoke with complete calm. "Prefects, guide your houses back to their dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."
The mass of students all moved so quickly to find Oliver Wood that Alicia had ended up pushed to the back of the line. "I'll stay with Alicia, you go on ahead." Harry told Neville, who nodded and walked on. Like Harry he was probably concerned that he wouldn't get to see another troll fight.
"My here." Alicia gushed, putting her arm through Harry's. "Don't ever let me go!" She added, acting all dramatic. "You're going to get a different reputation if you keep saving pretty girls all the time." She teased him.
"Yeah, I'll save people and Hermione can whine about it." Harry joked. However, their shared laughter stopped when they realised something at the same time.
"She's still in the girl's bathroom!" Alicia gasped. Panic stricken she looked around, hoping to see something that would contradict her.
"Come on!" Harry said quickly. He held tightly to Alicia's had and ducked down to avoid Oliver Wood, who was counting the heads of the students he had gathered.
When the students were making their way out of the hall in pairs of two and dramatically holding onto each other, Harry and Alicia kept close to the line before switching over the Hufflepuffs. Everyone was so concerned with what was going on around them and no one was wearing school stuff that they just accepted Harry and Alicia as one of theirs. They followed that line down until Alicia took over and helped Harry find the next corridor that would lead them to the girl's bathroom.
"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Alicia asked, simply being curious. "I mean, the troll is in the dungeon, right?"
"You've got a point there." Harry said, stopping for a moment to really think this over. Now that he did think about it, he realised he was growing a complex around the idea of saving Hermione Granger. It was very odd. "She'll be fine. It's not like the troll is going to sneak into the girl's bog and-"
CRASH!
A few more crashes came that caused all kinds of heart stopping and alarming bells to go off in Harry's head. The biggest one of all was the loud scream that sounded uncannily like Hermione Granger being attacked by a troll.
"Try to kill her?" Alicia said, finishing Harry's sentence for him.
Harry sighed. "Why does everyone want to bully her?"
"Karma?" Alicia suggested. This made the two of them laugh.
CRASH!
"Right, Troll!" Harry panicked. He knew there was no time to go and fetch a teacher and so, once again, choosing to save Hermione Granger, he took out his wand and, encouraged Alicia to do the same thing and the two of them charged towards the girl's toilets.
Bravely, Harry kicked his foot out and kicked the door, which swung backwards so hard that it slammed off the wall and came right at him, nearly hitting him in the face. "Smooth." Alicia teased. Then the two of them pushed through the door quietly and ran in.
They instantly skidded to a halt when they rounded the corner and saw it standing in the far corner of the room, staring down at something. The Troll was roughly nine-foot-tall with pale green skin and pustules all over it. The big head was even bigger than Harry remembered the last one he had seen, with giant furry toes and a cloth round the front to cover itself. This one was also carrying a giant club, which Harry noticed was being raised slowly into the air. The target was Hermione, who was cowering in fear at the Troll's feet.
"Hermione, get your bum out the way, it's going to kill you!" Alicia shouted. She bent over and picked up a piece of broken toilet and launched it right at the back of the Troll's head to get its attention.
"Get a shifty on?" Harry enquired, doing the same thing. "That's not very heroic sounding."
Alicia huffed and continued throwing bits of toilet. The troll had turned to see what was doing the annoying thing that was happening to the side of its head. "What do you want from me, I've never saved anyone's life before!"
"Well, you could start with something like…" Whatever clever thing Harry was going to say was put on hold when the troll charged towards them. "Lumos Maxima!" Harry called out, aiming his wand right at the Troll's face. A bright light burst out of the wand tip and blinded the monster. "You're talking a "TROLL," on my patience?" He then suggested.
"That's not clever that's just stupid!" Alicia shouted, grabbing Harry and pulling him the way when the Troll's club came too close to their heads.
"It's going to kill us!" Hermione screamed. She struggled against it at first, but Harry and Alicia ran forward, taking advantage of the Troll's distracted state and grabbed her arms, pulling her out of the way.
"Be you wished you hadn't said I was bad at chess now." Harry said to her, grinning as he pulled her out of the way. "You're going to die with regrets, that's just not good."
"Why are you so happy about this?!" She demanded, doubting Harry's sanity.
"Because that feast was really boring!" Harry yelled, pushing Hermione and Alicia out of the way and towards the door. "Go and get help!"
"We're not leaving you!" Alicia shouted at him.
"ROAR!" Which in troll speak meant, "Die little annoying people." Then roared again and this time stumbled angrily towards Harry. He raised his club up high and without thinking about it, Harry waved his wand, flicked it and shouted, "Protego!" The club swung down, ready to crush Harry where he stood only to connect with an invisible shield. The club then bounced off Harry's shield and smacked the troll right between the eyes. With a might crash it hit the toilet floor, sending Harry, Hermione and Alicia onto their backsides.
With a deep sigh of relief, the trio all slumped backwards against the nearest wall. They stared at the troll in silence for a few moments. Harry then turned to Alicia and said, "Well, that's the last time he goes clubbing." She laughed at him, shaking her head.
"Is, is it dead?" Hermione asked, slightly fearful to move.
"Nah, it's just knocked out." Harry answer, speaking to her softly. "Are you-"
"What on earth!"
Harry helped Hermione to her feet and she gave him a rather shy look before turning petrified when Professor's McGonagall, Quirrell and, to Harry's dismay, Snape appeared. All three of they were stared dumbfounded at the sight before. Professor McGonagall lasted but a few moments before she shouted, "Explain yourselves!"
"Um." Harry said, feeling as dumb as a troll all of a sudden.
"Well," Alicia added, blowing air through her lips and being at a loss on what to say as well.
"I mean, you know." Harry said, making it sound like the answer.
"Exactly," Alicia nodded. "Couldn't agree more."
"That wasn't an explanation." Said Severus, in what Harry felt was a very dangerous voice. Distracted for a moment, though. Harry noticed the way Severus had limped into the room and the quiet wince he tried to hide. Thinking that was a bit odd, Harry also noticed the expression of relief in Severus's eyes. Which meant he had been worried when he realised the troll was somewhere else. Harry to felt this was a relief because possibly, maybe, probably meant that He was going to, in some way get away with this. Alive at least.
"It was my fault Professor." Said Hermione, loudly and with some forced pride in her voice. "I'd read about trolls and thought I could handle it." She then looked at Harry apologetically. "I want to beat Harry. To prove I was than him. If he hadn't shown up, I'd probably be dead now."
"Pfft, and I just stood here looking pretty, did I?" Said Alicia, pointing to herself, which made Harry and Hermione both smile.
"Well," Professor Mcgonagall said. "Not many 1st years can say they've taken on a fully-grown mountain troll and lived to tell the tale. 10 points will be taken from Gryffindor for Miss Granger's severe lack of judgement. And 10 points each, will be given to Mr Potter and Miss Malfoy. For sheer, dumb, luck!"
"10 points?" Alicia sounded insulted. "I'm thinking that fighting a troll, while messing up my dress is well worth more than…" Thinking on it. Especially after seeing the look on McGonagall's face, Alicia felt that 20 points was more than fair a reward.
Professor McGonagall turned and left in a hurry, storming off and muttering about "Idiot children, just like their parents the two of them!"
"My office," Severus said, looking directly at Harry. "Tomorrow morning." Then limped off in the other direction, leaving Quirrell by himself.
"Y-you b-best all, p-pop off. It might wake up!"
Taking Quirrell's advice, Harry led the two girls out of the toilet and into he corridor. He led the way further down until he was sure they were completely alone and then turned on Hermione. With his arms out he said, "Go on then."
"Go on what, then?" Hermione asked, unsure of what he meant.
"Whatever you've got to say about us saving your life, go on. I don't want another scene like last night." He explained, closing his eyes and bracing himself. Would it be a lecture? Some name calling? Being told he wasn't good at something?
"Aw, that's sweet." Alicia said, giggling at what happened next.
Hermione had thrown her arms around Harry's neck and pulled him into the tightest hug he had ever been given "Thank you, thank you, thank. I promise I'll never be rude to you again!" She shouted, clinging to him so tightly.
"You can call me whatever you want. Just let me live!" Huffed Harry, struggling very hard to breathe in the arm lock.
"Oh, sorry." She said, pulling back from him and looking rather sheepish. She then looked at Alicia as if planning to do the same thing.
Alicia held her hand up to stop Hermione. "It was our pleasure. Not that I really did anything, right?" She said, glaring at Harry playfully.
"Not true, you were really great as the bait." Harry said, trying to sound more encouraging than teasing.
"Well, when you look this good, what troll could resist." She huffed, looking down at her wet, dirty, slightly ripped and completely ruined dress. "My aunt is going to kill me when she sees this."
"You know, I've got a spell that could fix that." Hermione offered, trying her best not to sound so smart while being kind. "I could have it sorted in a second."
"Really?!" Alicia gasped. With a wide smile she put her arm through Hermione's and the two girls wandered off, chatting away with the troll and only getting 20 points for the trouble.
"I don't understand woman." Harry said, mostly to himself.
"Mew." Looking down, Harry saw Nova sitting on one of his feet. Not even amazed that the kitten had appeared out of nowhere, he bent down to pick her up and sit the fluffball on his shoulder.
"Is that right?" He asked her.
"Mew."
"I see." He chuckled and shrugged. "If you say so."
All the way back to the common room Harry talked back and forth with Nova, and finally made a proper introduction to Hermione, who seemed to have an affinity with the little kitten already. It wasn't long before the jokes started, and Hermione suggested Alicia could consider troll bait as a career. This made Harry, and Neville when she told him about the troll, laugh so hard that it sealed the deal on the four of them becoming very firm friends from that moment on.
After that night, it didn't take long for the rumours of Harry's troll fight to begin spreading throughout the school. Despite Hermione and Alicia being painted as the victims in which they were bravely saved by the Harry, they had taken it in their stride and done their best to make sure that Harry's growing popularity didn't go to his head.
"Personally, I like the part where Harry had to drink a potion that gave him super strength so he could punch the troll to death." Neville commented one morning after breakfast. He especially had been enjoying the stories that grew more and more outrageous.
"I could have lived without the part where I kiss him for saving me." Alicia growled, stabbing a sausage violently. "I mean, kissing a boy. Yuck!" She had taken on a new outlook in her wardrobe after her meeting with the troll. She'd reached out to her cousin, Tonks and asked for help with getting a much sturdier collection of clothing.
"Well, I'm quite glad that they don't know the whole story." Said Hermione. She wasn't handling the idea of being popular very well. It had taken a few days for the Gryffindors to start forgiving her but with Harry's help they were more tolerant of Hermione's snootiness. "I'd hate for people to know I was cowering under a toilet just moments before death."
"Don't feel so bad," Harry comforted her. "Neville would have climbed in the bowl."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Demanded Neville.
Harry smiled pleasantly. "Just that you're a touch more gentle than myself and Alicia."
It was true that Neville had garnered a reputation of being the softer of the four. And that is how they had been thought of the moment Hermione came to join Harry and his friends. They hadn't been given any kind of cool nickname as a group but each of them had developed their own reputations. Harry considered the natural leader of the group was known for being talented, brave and something of a troublemaker. Neville, the quiet and often less brave was treated like the voice of wisdom. Alicia, a tough beauty with a fine knowledge of the deadly arts. And even Hermione, the bookworm with a heart was beginning to gain friends outside of the group now that she was less competitive and more willing to help others.
The competitive nature between Harry and Hermione didn't change all the much, however. The classes were made more interesting by the fact that the two of them could sit together again. At every turn, Harry and Hermione was earning points not on what they were learning but how well they could out do each other. They both had their different strengths. Harry couldn't be matched in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Hermione was top of the year in Transfiguration. They were equally matched in Charms and when it came to Potions and Herbology, they decided there was no point competing when Neville and Alicia were around. These new partnerships weren't just new to Harry and Hermione. Neville and Alicia seemed to find their intellectual soulmates in each other as well. While Harry and Hermione would often talk about, debate and argue – in a friendly manner – about different spells and charms. Alicia and Neville were able to put their heads together and come up with new potion ideas, based on all the mad theories about plants that Neville had. Life really was starting to look good for the four friends.
On instruction from Severus, Harry had made sure to go down to the dungeons the very next morning after the troll incident. Harry was afraid that he'd be walking into another loss of 50 points or even worse, Severus had done the unthinkable and sent word to Lily about what happened. He could easily admit that for once, he was genuinely afraid to be alone in a room with Severus. Luckily, this was not the case.
"I would like to start by saying how proud I am of you for saving Hermione." Severus had said, once Harry was sitting down. Seeing the relief in Harry's face, Severus chuckled low and shook his head. "That is, not to say it wasn't extremely stupid of you to do it. We talked about your mother's disapproval of reckless acts and this would certainly have been something she would kill you over."
"In my defence, I learned troll fighting from her." Harry cut in quickly. "So, in the long run it was her influence and therefore her fault that I found my way to a troll and beat it."
Severus raised his brow. "Do you really think she'd take that?"
"I reckon I'd survive long enough to run away, yeah." Harry grinned.
Severus sighed and rolled his eyes, getting to his feet to limp around his desk and lean back on it with some effort. Harry very much wanted to ask what happened to Severus's leg but thought better of it when Severus caught Harry looking, and immediately covered it up. "There is such a thing as being too nosey, Harry." Severus had warned him. "But there is something I'd like to speak to you about."
"Is about your leg?" Harry asked, giving nosey a try for a few seconds longer.
Severus's expression turned stern. "No." He answered, waiting for Harry to completely drop it. When he was sure, he started talking again. "You recall the conversation we had about the sorting ceremony, yes?"
"About how I'm more special than everyone else?" Asked Harry, a cheek smile on his lips. "Yup. Don't worry, I've not let it go to my head. I am still just your average troll fighter. Did you know I'm the only 1st year in history to do that?"
"I am aware, yes." Severus said, patiently. "But I wanted to talk to you about balance."
"Balance?"
"Harry, the world can be a very complicated place and a time will come when you may be faced with the light and dark parts of it, conflicting with how you see things."
Harry became very confused all of a sudden. "I don't understand."
"Harry, the world isn't filled with good people and bad people. There is light and dark in all of us." Severus explained. As explanations go, it wasn't very clear to Harry. "The part that matters is what we choose to act on. In some cases, it is prudent to act on both. To find a balance between the two and use them for the greater good."
"Are you saying I'm evil?" Asked Harry, thoroughly lost by what was being said to him.
"No, Harry." Severus said, smiling warmly. A warm smile wasn't something that Harry often saw on Severus's face. It was quite creepy at first. "I'm just saying that all you are doing. Try to take in account that there is a reaction both positive and negative from the things we do. It is up to us to find the right balance."
Strange conversations aside, Harry focused on getting back to normality once the stories of the troll had started to die down. By the time Christmas was on its way, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Alicia were firmly united as one group and enjoying all the pleasures of being first students had to offer. Life had returned to a very quiet and peaceful state. That was until one evening after dinner.
Harry and his three friends were making their way back to the common room after a particularly enjoyable feast. Harry and Neville were talking about the fact that this would be the first Christmas that Severus wasn't going to be spending at Lily's house in nearly 6 years. Forcing Severus to wear silly Christmas hats had become something of a challenge for Harry and Neville, and they prided themselves on the moment every year when they would make it happen. Hermione and Alicia, who were now becoming quite a twosome in their own right, were hanging back with their arms locked, talking about the differences between a muggle Christmas and a wizard one. The quartet were so engrossed in their conversations that they hadn't noticed the staircases changing, redirecting the group in a direction opposite the common room. Eventually, they noticed and found themselves wandering an unfamiliar corridor. A corridor that set off warning bells in Hermione's head.
"We're not supposed to be in here!" She said in a hushed voice. She'd reached out to tug Harry and Neville back in the other direction. "This is the third floor, we're not supposed to be here."
"Oh, come now my precious, Hermione." Harry said, adding some mock bravado to his voice. "How dangerous could it be? Besides, you've got your trusty troll slayer to protect you." Hermione didn't laugh at the joke until Harry made a goofy face and flexed his non-existent muscles at her.
"You're a moron, you know that, right?" She told him, smiling at him fondly.
"A moron with big guns!" Harry growled, flexing more and making his face even goofier.
"Riiiigghhht," Alicia said, amused but wanting to get out of where they were as soon as possible. "Come on, there is a short cut back to the common room from here. Follow me." And she took the lead, walking them down a dimly lit corridor, eventually being stopped by a locked door. "Drat, and ideas on how we're getting through this door, class?" She asked, doing a very good imitation of Professor McGonagall. Hermione was quicker than Harry and Neville to get her hand up. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Allow me to demonstrate, Professor." Hermione said, making herself sound very clever and important. She stepped forward and cleared her throat, produced her wand and tapped the lock saying- "Alohomora!" There was a loud click and the door swung open.
"10 points to the girls!" Alicia said, giving Hermione a high-five then looking at Harry and Neville. "will the boys ever catch-up or will they just continue to be a disappointment to wizards everywhere?"
"Harsh." Harry said, holding his hands to his chest as if he had been stabbed. "Wounded I am, despite the fact I taught Hermione the spell." His grin came into play.
"Stolen knowledge." Neville added in disappointment. "Typical witch."
"Stolen you say?" Alicia asked, stepping forward to face Neville. "And what makes you think she was not simply improving what you buffoons already knew, hm?" This started a playfight between Alicia and Neville, which Alicia was winning hands down before it even started. The two of them toppled through the door, giggling and laughing while Harry and Hermione watched on in amusement.
It was only when the noise of the fight ended abruptly that Harry and Hermione walked through the door to see what had stopped it. Fearing a teacher or worse, the caretaker, Mr Filch, Harry stepped through the door and asked. "What's…"
"Doors." Neville breathed. Every inch of him was shaking as was Alicia. The pair were staring dead ahead, frozen in place with fear. "Doors. Doors are always locked for a reason."
"A good reason." Alicia added, nodding her head frantically.
"A very good reason in this case." Harry said, unsure if he was afraid or excited.
"Shouldn't we?" Hermione suggested in a soft whisper.
"Probably." Alicia nodded.
Harry counted the heads. There were three of them. All of them sleeping for a moment until they sensed the presence of four people who really should not have been there. The three heads belonged to one giant dog that slowly raised itself up from the ground. Baring it's teeth and snapping violently at the group, Harry felt that maybe they should all start working on their sense of direction.