This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

Excuse the delay in delivery of new chapter. Work gets in the way of creativity sometimes.

Professor Moody is using Dumbledore's third floor hallway to teach his students about defence and tactics when Harry over powers a spell and something gets loose in the corridor. However, Dumbledore is able to deflect blame for the problem and infuriates the professors.

Chapter 20 Hogwarts Days

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SCENE: Healer Troutman

Albus Dumbledore frowned when he walked into the infirmary and found Deputy Headmistress McGonagall waiting with Healer Troutman and three members of the board of governors. He'd hoped to catch Troutman alone… he'd obliviate or compel the healer if necessary but he didn't want the test results from the students reported without editing.

He sighed, thinking, 'Many families use compulsions or potions on their children; it is good parenting.'

"Ah, headmaster, thank you for joining us," Minerva said in greeting. "We were just about finished with the report."

"Finished?" asked Dumbledore. Aghast, he continued, "You began without me?"

"Albus, you are an hour late," pointed out one of the governors.

"Yes… there was an unavoidable delay…" Dumbledore replied as was his usual excuse.

"Yes, and we also have busy schedules," replied the governor.

"We have already sent the report to the Ministry and the Department of Child Welfare will be speaking to the designated families."

"Which families?" Dumbledore asked as he reached for a copy of the report and fanned through the pages searching for a list of names.

Troutman frowned and asked, "So, you haven't read the report? I did send it to you three days ago."

"Again, there are many spells on my wand to deal with at Hogwarts, the ministry and the…"

Now, Lady Marchbanks, the oldest member of the Board of Governors and the head of the testing department at the ministry, addressed the headmaster, "Would you say that you have too many spells on a single wand? I've heard you use that excuse for thirty years Dumbledore, and Hogwarts has suffered because of it."

Dumbledore cringed as the woman exchanged glances with the other two governors present. "I shall make a motion at the governor's meeting tomorrow that you be dismissed as headmaster at Christmas if you don't give up those other two roles. Hogwarts needs a headmaster who is focused solely on the school and the education of the children."

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As she walked back to her office after the meeting concluded with the governors using the floo to leave with copies of the report, Troutman standing with his wand in his hand and watching Dumbledore leave with another copy of the report in his hand, Minerva indulged in a bit of a daydream that Albus would be called on the carpet by the Board of Governors and they would force him to give up his other positions…

'No, that would be a nightmare,' she quickly realized. 'If Hogwarts is his only sandbox, he'd spend all his time building impossible sandcastles here.'

'Better to work on getting him pushed out of Hogwarts,' Minerva decided. 'That'll take at least three years without hurting the students and their education.'

Once she reached her office, she would floo-call Griselda and recommend not making the motion to force Dumbledore to give up his other positions. Getting him out of the castle was better than making this his sole focus.

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SCENE: The Third Floor Corridor

Alastor Moody led his first-year students from the DADA classroom and up the stairs to the third-floor corridor.

"Professor, isn't this the corridor the headmaster warned us to stay away from?" asked Susan Bones.

"He said we'd suffer a terrible death if we investigated the hallway!" Hannah Abbot said breathlessly.

"Yes," Moody replied. "Now, think about my next question but don't answer aloud."

"How many of you wondered about the third-floor corridor because of the headmaster's declaration? How many of you thought about looking along the hallway for a bit?"

Many of his firsties, like the other classes he'd already brought to the hallway, looked away.

"If the hallway is dangerous, why not put a spell on it to keep students away?" asked the Granger girl.

"Muggle born, correct?" Moody asked and the girl nodded defiantly. He just grinned and continued, "I wish we had more muggleborn in the magical world. They have common sense."

"What's common sense?" asked Zach.

Moody sighed, "Ask Professor Sprout to explain it to you Smith."

Harry's wand popped from his wrist holder and he said, "Professor, something feels strange here…"

"Good, Potter. You feel the compulsion spell to explore the hallway."

"Wait, there's a spell to make students want to explore the hallway?" asked Padma, her wand quickly appearing in her hand.

Moody smiled seeing more wands appear in the hands of his students as they also moved together to form a protective circle. His instruction to this group of students was paying off in their cooperation.

"So, you're faced with a situation where there is unknown magic," he summarized. "Someone lured you here with false information but one of your group feels the 'trap'. What do you do?"

Neville Longbottom frowned but replied, "We back out of the reach of the spell before we do anything else."

"Good," the Auror replied but he continued. "Now what would you do if you had to cross the path of the compulsion spell? What if you had to get to the other end of the hallway?"

Moody waited patiently as the 'claws and 'puffs backed up ten steps back to the landing and out of the hallway. Susan Bones led the discussion with input from Granger, Longbottom, Patil, and Finch-Fletchley. But Moody kept his eye on Potter – the Boy-Who-Lived kept his wand at the ready, his eyes on the hallway, and his classmates behind him.

"And what's your decision?" Moody asked.

"Harry can cast a strong finite incantatem," Susan announced. "We'd nominate him to cast the spell on the hallway."

Smiling with satisfaction, Moody nodded. This was the last class of students he'd brought to the hallway. The seventh, sixth, and fifth year students had all felt the compulsion spell and used shield spells to protect themselves. None of them ventured closer than the landing before they'd begun casting their spells. When questioned about having to cross the spell, they'd all refused except for the Gryffindors who sometimes would charge ahead in pairs or groups.

But none of the other classes had offered any ideas on how to protect the other students from the compulsion spell that sat on the hallway. The fourth, third, and second-year students had all wanted to walk up and down the hallway searching for the danger that Dumbledore warned them against.

Moody caught the Weasley twins from third year back here twice already and he knew they'd keep coming until they sprang Dumbledore's trap. The headmaster took down Moody's shield outside the hallway each night; the headmaster wanted the students to find the troll he'd hidden behind a glamoured doorway.

The first-year class of Gryffindors and Slytherins had succumbed to the compulsion and worse, argued amongst themselves rather than working together. The Weasley kid led the boys from Gryffindor in a physical attack on the Slytherin boys that Moody'd ended with stupefy spells and numerous detentions.

This class of first year 'puffs and 'claws was different.

"This spell would allow us to retreat if necessary or advance," said Zach Smith with growing confidence.

"Constant vigilance!" declared Longbottom.

"Well, go ahead Potter, cast the spell," instructed Moody. The boy was casting stable shields after six weeks of instruction. His magical core was strong and his wand was a good extension of his powers.

"Finite Incantatem," Harry demanded with assurance in his spell casting.

The spell was colourless but Moody's magical eye tracked the power nonetheless. It sped across the landing, threw down the compulsion and then continued down the hall.

"Bullocks!" Moody cursed as the doorway hidden by his own glamour spell was ended and the children all saw the wooden door with a barred window. From the door came a roar of a troll awakening from a spelling sleep, and wrapping its long fingers around the bars, ripping them inward and then proceeding to tear down the doorway.

Moody quickly cast three messenger Patronus spells and sent them to professors in the school. Then he began casting a warding spell over the hallway to hold the troll here.

None of the children fled though they did look faint.

"All of you, cast the spell for the shield from last week," Moody ordered.

"How can that hold a troll?" asked Granger even as she began casting the shield spell.

"I will use the power in your spell to strengthen my ward," explained Moody as he continued the spell work to raise the protective ward.

A house elf popped into the hallway with the deputy headmistress who immediately began adding to the ward.

Professor Sinistra and Professor Lupin arrived next climbing up the stairs and they immediately added their power to the growing ward. Pausing for only one moment, Lupin motioned for the children to leave by climbing to the fourth floor.

After a moment's hesitation, the students went up the stairs to the fourth floor; once they were there, Hogwarts moved the staircase. Even if the troll made it through the ward, it would not be able to reach the students. A visible shimmer covered the entrance to the hallway as the professors continued to build up the power of the spell.

Harry remained on the fourth-floor landing and watched every move of the professors' wands as they cast the warding spell. He dropped to his knees and hands, to get a little closer and watch each wand motion, and he noticed Justin, Neville, and Michael were there with him. After a moment, Susan and Hermione returned to watch as well.

"That was a powerful spell, Harry," remarked Hermione. "Did you do anything different?"

"I just really wanted to end the compulsion," he explained. "I didn't know it would set a troll free."

"What is a troll doing inside Hogwarts?" asked Susan.

"Isn't you aunt in the DMLE?" asked Neville.

"What's the DMLE?" asked Justin.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Harry explained. "Like the police."

"Yes, you need to tell your aunt about this today!" Neville exclaimed as the troll's club bashed against the ward, causing it to shake.

"They're not going to be able to hold it!" Susan said. "We need to cast our shields again."

"Right," agreed Harry, pulling his wand out again and casting his shield spell.

"You have to really want the ward to hold," he reminded the other firsties as their wands all began casting the shield spell.

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SCENE: Dumbledore Dodges

In his office that still smelled of smoke, Albus Dumbledore felt the tingle of 'his' wards on the sleeping troll vanish.

"Who is exploring the hallway in the middle of the day?" he wondered for a long moment. He paused to let the wards feed him additional information before he panicked.

"Loose? How did it get loose? The wards on the door should have held!"

Sighing, Dumbledore held up his arm and called, "Fawkes!"

The headmaster and his phoenix vanished in a ball of fire to reappear on the landing of the third floor, where the ward had grown even stronger now and the troll was pushed back with the strength of the barrier.

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"Albus! Get this troll out of the castle now!" McGonagall demanded.

"How did it get out?" he asked.

"Who cares how it got out!" shouted Lupin.

"Alastor, are you playing around with the wards again?" the headmaster demanded to know.

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After the troll was once again asleep, Dumbledore attempted to deflect the three members of the staff from making demands.

"No one is harmed," he began with his twinkling eyes at full power.

"By the grace of God, Merlin and Hecate!" proclaimed Lupin invoking all the deities he knew.

"Who released the troll?" asked Dumbledore. No one answered but he heard movement above him and saw the Potter boy with his strange wand moving away from the edge of the landing.

"Will you remove the troll?" asked Professor Sinistra. "We can't have a safe school with that creature here!"

"It has been safely contained…"

Minerva, with her hair falling from its usual neat bun at the back of her head, narrowed her eyes briefly before she demanded, "Fawkes, protect the children!"

The phoenix once again turned into a fireball, flashed through the ward, and disappeared with the troll. Dumbledore frowned but his mind was already racing ahead.

"Well Minerva, you've just destroyed a particularly complex illusion," Albus said, shaking his head.

"Illusion?" asked Lupin, his face pale still.

"That wasn't an illusion!" Minerva swore.

Sinistra frowned and shook her head, "Son of Mordred! How can we prove it was real if Fawkes flashed it away?"

Moody shook his head, "Well played, Dumbledore. I have learned my lesson here today."

The old Auror went to the stairs that had returned to their normal configuration and climbed to the fourth floor where he found his class waiting with their wands still drawn. He nodded and pointed along a further corridor he wanted them to walk, beginning a round about journey back to the DADA classroom.

Smiling and spinning about, Dumbledore began his own walk back to his office, leaving Minerva, Remus and Professor Sinistra to catch their breath.

"I can't believe that was an illusion…" Lupin said.

"But you can't swear on your magic that it was real either," Minerva said.

Sinistra suddenly shuddered and the other two professors noticed the astronomy professor's reaction to a realization.

"What?" asked Minerva.

"Moody's statement… he said he'd learned his lesson…"

"What lesson is that?" asked Minerva with a tone of concern in her voice.

"Next time, so long as the students are safe, Moody will let the troll loose to wreak havoc on the castle and staff to prove it is real."

Lupin assured the two witches, "There won't be any more trolls…"

Minerva sighed and explained, "Perhaps not a troll. But another three-headed dog, or a giant perhaps. The headmaster can't help himself with the creatures."

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The Great Hall was abuzz with all the stories about trolls on the third-floor corridor, blazing phoenix fire balls, flashing wards, and angry professors. The rumours were the most outrageous at the Gryffindor table.

"There were ten trolls running around the third floor all afternoon, chasing the firsties from DADA class. Moody just stood there and laughed at 'em!"

"I heard Professor McGonagall brought the troll into the castle to chase the ghosts out but it broke free of her spells."

"Headmaster Dumbledore told my brothers that there's a valuable treasure hidden on the third floor and some dark wizard here in the castle is going to steal it!"

"Say… where are your brothers anyway?"

"Who cares as long as they aren't playing pranks on us?"

"What kind of treasure do you think it is?"

"Who are the dark wizards at Hogwarts?"

"All the people in Slytherin are dark! They're all snakes."

"Dumbledore hinted that Professor Lupin is a dark creature," whispered one girl.

"And that he disappears at the full moon for three days!"

"What creature does that? A vampire?"

"No! You're stupid as a muggle! He's a werewolf!"

"Who're you calling a muggle? I heard that your brother is a squib!" replied the other boy, grabbing the first around the neck.

The wrestling match between a second-year wizard and third-year wizard at the Gryffindor table soon reached the floor and didn't stop until Deputy Headmistress McGonagall sent stinging hexes against both boys.

"I bet Snape is dark," Ron Weasley told Seamus.

"Duh, does the sun rise in the east?"

"What does that mean?" asked the confused red head.

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No one noticed that Harry Potter and Susan Bones entered the hall after the meal had already started.

"Where you able to get Hedwig out of the wards?" asked Neville when the two 'puffs reached the Hufflepuff table.

"Yes, she told me that the wards had been changed to make all owls fly to the headmasters tower where an elf would take the letter for the headmaster to read and edit before the owl could deliver the letter."

Susan explained their strategy saying, "We just walked down to the gates where the wards end and opened the gate. We let Harry's owl fly away while we stood beside the open gate."

Hermione frowned but nodded, "You stayed on the grounds. Good. We didn't violate any rules but still got the letter to Susan's aunt away."

"Hedwig said it would take longer tonight because she's never flown to Susan's aunt before, but she'll deliver the letter."

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