AN: *We open to Crow, alone in a windowless bunker.*
In his best 'Bob Ross' voice, "Well, hello everybody. And thank you for joining me. It can get lonely in the Quarantine Bunker over here, so... I made this little song to help us through these tough times."
*Pulls out guitar*
(To the Tune of 'Yellow Submarine')
…
~We all sing our Quarantine Song.~
~Our Quarantine Song.~
~This Quarantine Song.~
~We all sing this Quarantine Song~
~All the doo-dah day...~
…
"Well, wasn't that special?"
*Throw out the Bob Ross wig*
So, guess who (in his entire family) is the only one whose contractually-obligated butt has to drag itself back to work during a national Quarantine? Who has a pulmonary-system-compromised family member and clinically-diagnosed contamination-OCD?
This guy!
...
We're staying safe, don't worry, but it still sucks that I'm one of, like, 5 people left in the entire building who has to come in every day and stay the full 8 hours. Everyone else works from home, rotates in-and-out for certain days of the week, or clocks out after an hour or two.
*Sigh*
Well, on the plus side, pretty much all of this chapter was written in the massive amounts of free-time I now have at work with everybody's projects on hold... and nobody's around to bother me so...
Silver lining; I get paid to write fanfiction all day! And it looks like I'm actually working because I'm always typing so fast! Bonus 'Leave-Me-Alone-I'm-Busy' points!
So please enjoy this very long Halloween in March chapter to help pass the Quarantine!
-Crow
"Ugggghhhhh… is it too late to take back everything? I'll do twice as much of Slenderman's homework if it means leaving," Harry groaned from his spot in the empty classroom.
Nick shrugged, chewing his chocolate frog thoughtfully, "Well, at least for me and Adrian, we're here mostly because we agreed this was a good opportunity. I mean, homework sucks, but what's the difference between here and Slender? It's basically a live-in school; one's just a boarding school, the other's homeschooling."
"What's the problem is the people!" Harry explained, frustrated. "Flying is fun, but Oliver Wood is driving me up a wall with his bloody 'practice runs' for Quidditch! Up at 5 AM for a bunch of drills and 'strategies'. What strategy could there possibly be to this game? There's too many variables, it just devolves into a cluster-muck of people vying for anything to get points for!"
"Like football," Adrian nodded in agreement.
"Hey! Football is a great sport," Nick argued.
The amnesiac rolled his eyes, "Yes, for the braindead masses to obsess over just before the turkey-coma sets in on Thanksgiving."
"You take that back you… you… Un-American Heathen swine!"
Ignoring the corpse's glare, he continued, "But aside from that, it's all a trial run, right? That's the agreement with McGonagall. We do this one game, and if we decide to continue, we continue. If we decide against it, we don't. Simple.
"I don't think they're going to take it that way," Harry muttered. "Whole place is absolutely mad for the sport. Can hardly go anywhere without someone bringing it up. If or when I drop it, it'll raise hell, I'm sure."
"That seems to be a running theme with everything we do, why bother worrying now?" Adrian asked, curious.
"I'm not," Harry said defensively. He slumped in a chair. "It's just starting to wear me down, that's all."
"Ah, the redhead?" The dark-haired Amnesiac guessed.
"Every. Fracking. Night!" Harry grunted, wringing his hands together choking an imaginary neck. "Before he was a nuisance constantly trying to cozy up to me. And it was disturbingly obvious he was trying to butter me up like lobster!"
He made a wide-eyed, dopily simpering face, "'Oh, Harry! How ever-so-wonderful it is to see you. Would you fancy a game of chess? It's the only thing I can seem competent in around here.' 'Harry, mate, I am ever so delighted to see you not in the company of that creepy 'Claw or the useless 'Duff.' His words, not mine."
Adrian's wires didn't settle down. Nor the buzzing in Nick's throat.
"'Oh, Harry, old Bean, did I ever tell you how my family's been in Dumbledore's good books for the last ten thousand years? I haven't? Well, why don't you come to my place for the Summer, get away from that tall, stuffy old bloke? It'll be good for you to get with some proper Light folk.'" Harry finished.
"And now I sleep with him." He muffled through his hands cradling his face. "Every night he's literally a bed away. Last one to bed, snores all night, first thing I see in the morning. The only sane one in that entire room is Longbottom and that's just because he has enough sense to leave me alone most of the time."
"What about the other two?" Nick asked, curious. "They seemed pretty alright."
"Dean Thomas is alright, and muggleborn too, but he hangs around Seamus and Ron too much and it's having a bad influence on him. I swear I saw them egging him on to fit as many of those gobstone marble things in his mouth as he could. Nevermind when they exploded that green stuff down his throat and he almost choked.
"Seamus is an unrepentant pervert. He's eleven but he's talking about girls and… and their under-things and it's just so gross. I have no clue where he gets… y'know… those magazines, but he showed them off to everyone. Wizard ones have pictures that move too. So gross."
The two technically-older-and-technically-teenaged-Undead glanced at one another before letting that particular topic drop.
*donggggg-donngggggg*
They perked up at the tolling of the clocktower bell. Nick snapped his books shut and swiftly swept them into his bag, "And on that note, I'm all for dropping this and never talking about it again, agreed? Then, let's get going. I have that Herbology lesson with Slytherin today."
"Well, Harry and I have Flitwick, so we'll see you later."
They parted ways and joined the stream of students busily going from class to class.
"Well, I think that thoroughly disproves any preconceptions of physics," Adrian concluded, absently using his wand to guide a fluffy, white feather though the hallway in front of him.
"Really?" Harry asked. "This is what breaks your version of reality? Not the teleporting tentacle-monster? Or the reality-bending clown? Or the ghosts? The shapeshifting cat-women? Brooms?"
"Well, yeah, but right now I am eliminating the gravity of a specific object under my complete control," He responded, still guiding the feather along.
"Again, flying brooms," Harry pointed out.
He shrugged, "Eh, what can I say? I prefer walking, or the bus."
"You would take a bus as opposed to flying?" Harry enunciated. "Only the single-most-sought-after thing in all of humankind. Personalized flight? Something millions have dedicated their lifetimes and lives to achieve… and you would take… a taxicab."
"Yes." The Undead One snarked back sassily.
They were both interrupted by a figure darting past, shoving Harry's shoulder in the process. They saw a flash of bushy, brown hair before they swept off down the hallway.
The pair glanced back to see Ron frowning uncomfortably, standing beside Seamus and Dean. The three of them staring quietly after where the girl had fled.
"I think she heard you," Dean murmured, abashedly.
Ron's eartips flared red, "W-well it's not like it's not true. She's a menace and she bloody well knows it! 'It's Levi-O-sa'." He mocked. "No friends and shut up in a book all day. Sorting hat ought've stuck her in Ravenclaw. Probably got confused with her and Harry-"
And with that, Harry discretely flipped up his hood and firmly pressed Adrian to start walking anywhere not here.
Harry had conflicting feelings.
On one hand, Halloween was a special time in Slenderman's house and he felt disappointed in the tradition being broken. It held great memories of using Slenderport symbols to flit across time zones to houses still putting out or scoring several wealthy (like whole, entire Hershey Bars wealthy) neighborhoods in under an hour across literal States.
The November-First sugar-rushes were legendary...
... as were the 'Tricks' part of the holiday when you had actual ghosts and ghouls at your beck and call. But on the other hand...
"Oi, Harry, add some apple to your caramel, eh?" George joked.
"I get that Americans love sweets, but only Americans would ruin a perfectly good candy-apple by scraping off the coating." Fred shook his head.
"I'm saving the apple for later," Harry retorted, a mouth full of sugar and holding a candy-apple on a stick with obvious teeth-scrape marks in what little remained of the candy coating.
"Harry..." Slenderman warned, adding the faintest telepathic reverberations for emphasis.
Harry sighed and crunched into the apple. Tart, juicy healthiness flooded away the sweet taste of caramel. "Fiiine."
The spread of Halloween treats was definitely worth some of the craziness this world threw at him. Screw the leprechaun's cereal, this stuff was 'magically delicious'. Probably literally, but whatever. He plucked another slice of ham on his plate, minding to still munch the apple whenever his guardian glanced his way.
It was a major Feast date. The Gryffindor Patil twin was talking in the common room how Halloween (or rather the traditional Samhain) was a special date in Wizarding calendars, regarded as a potent date for magic and certain rituals. Hence why Feast rules were enforced and why Nick and Adrian were sitting at their respective tables.
Slender had surprised them by bringing along a good number of the Wards, including Sally, BEN, Toby, and Jeff. BEN and Toby were sitting with Adrian by the Ravenclaws while Sally opted to keep Nick company (and lapped up the attention from soft-hearted Hufflepuff 7th-years).
Slender, despite his misgivings about the Gryffindor house as a whole, sat beside Harry to keep a close eye on him. Jeff, likewise, was also 'persuaded' by Slender to stay close and not cause trouble.
Harry glared at him, seeing the disguised killer just finish discretely scraping off the caramel to his own apple. He flashed Harry a glamoured wink and rolled the leftover fruit away under the table.
'Damn,' Harry thought, 'why didn't I think of that?'
Harry's attention was drawn to two girls close by. Both were tittering to each other and doing a paradoxical 'not-attracting-attention-whisper' which just attracted attention.
"I heard she's been there all day," A gryffindor first-year (Lavender Brown, Harry remembered) gossiped animatedly with the Gryffindor Patil twin beside her. "No one's seen her, not even in the library. At first, everyone though it was Moaning Myrtle, haunting a different bathroom stall for the day and bawling again, but I talked with Hannah who was talking with Lisa Turpin who just left Charms Class this afternoon and saw Granger crying all the way down the hall!"
"Really?" Pavarti implored.
"Yes! I wonder what set her off, though," Brown pondered to herself. "Rumor has it one of the boys said something to her."
"A sickle says it was Weasley," The other girl rolled her eyes. "Honestly, boorish barely begins to describe him."
Harry couldn't help but follow their eyes down the table where the youngest Weasley was scarfing down roasted meats and candied sweets like his heart would give out if he stopped for a second (though Harry distinctly considered the possibility of a diabetic shock coma given how he had just inhaled his fourth handfull of glittery toffees).
Harry was thankful Slender's presence seemed to deter the boy from sitting close by.
"Appetite of a giant," Pavarti commented.
"And a big-mouth to match," The other grimaced.
"So, anyway, have you heard that Diggory is-"
*BAM!*
"TROLLLLLL!"
The doors to the dining hall erupted open and Quirrell ran in like his turban was on fire. "TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"
The assembly of students, staff, and visitors stared blankly at the man running the long length of the hall. "IN THE DUNGEONS! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!"
...
He stopped midway through and paused...
"Thought you ought to know." He mumbled, passing out in a dead faint.
Immediately, the entire student body began screaming and panicking, crying, or working themselves into a general froth.
"ENOOOOUUUUUGHHHH!"
...
All eyes turned to Slenderman.
Harry flinched at the combined glamour-shout mingling with a telepathic shout all while being flooded with a quick wave of Sigma.
Slender definitely knew how to silence a crowd.
"Yes, thank you, Mr. Lindermann," Dumbledore spoke.
Slender sent a subtle glare his way (and a tingle of Sigma).
"Now, then," The Professor continued, discretely wiping a trickle of blood on his nose, "Everyone remain calm. Prefects will take their houses to their respective dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."
With that, the tables congregated back to their familiar housemates and followed the Prefects obediently. Professors headed the way for Slytherin house to follow behind to the dungeons.
Slender stood as a beacon at the side as his wards slowly gathered.
Harry stood still as the Gryffindors sat awaiting their turn to exit the Hall.
"Oh, no!" Pavarti gasped. "Granger's been in the girl's bathroom all evening! She has no idea about the troll!"
Harry sent a quiet glare Ron's way, remembering the last time anyone saw her. The redhead, however, looked excited.
Making his way down the table amidst the confused shuffling, he huddled beside Harry, with a slightly manic gleam, "Hey, Harry, we ought to go warn her. Be the right thing to do, yeah? We can take on a troll any day, mate! You and me. What do you say?"
"Harry."
Harry was saved from answering as Slender discretely waved him over. He slipped away from the rest (and a disappointed Weasley) towards his guardian figure.
"Harry, have you seen Sally?" The entity asked.
"Last I saw, she was beside Nick at Hufflepuff," He turned to the undead corpse who shrugged.
"I dunno, I looked away for a minute to talk with someone and she wasn't there when Quirrell came in." He defended.
Slender made a show of seeming to peer through the crowd, but Harry felt the unmistakable sensation of Sigma passing through the crowd in a wave. "I don't sense her in the room." he muttered tensely.
"Wait," Nick interrupted. "I remember, she spilled some of her drink on her dress and started shuffling out of the seat to go to the bathroom!"
Everyone started following Slender out the Hall in the direction of the restrooms. Harry, meanwhile, couldn't shake a bad feeling.
Sally skipped through the long, complicated hallways of the school. Her fingers and front were sticky from the spilled apple cider. Dabbing with a napkin only did so much before the syrupy leftovers dried out, so she left to find someplace to wash up.
It seemed so simple in retrospect. She left the hall and asked a portrait of a proud-looking man in a wig for directions. He obliged and she continued. Then, she asked a portrait of five young men on a hunt and they gave further directions. Then a child with a ball, then a woman with a dragon, finally a blustery, big-bellied man in tights giving the exact opposite directions.
"But I just came from that way!" She objected.
"Hmphmph, now listen here, young lady," He bristled, mustache twitching, "I've been here for longer than you've been alive. I know where I am."
"Oi, don't bother!" Cried a portrait further down the way. "Old coot doesn't realize he was shifted around just last week!"
"You whippersnappers get over here and say that to my face," The blustery man cried, his face brick-red. "I'll have your ankles in the dungeons for this one! You hear me?!"
"You ain't got no dungeons 'nymore," Another jeered. The fat man left his portrait, storming his way through the other frames in search of the naysayers, blustering all the while.
She sighed and walked up to a nice-looking old man portrait with wiry, white hair.
"Excuse me, do you know where the bathrooms are?"
"WHAT?!" He screeched, holding an ear trumpet to his head. She sighed and kept going.
Hermione huddled in on herself on top of the girls toilet. She couldn't really know how much time had passed, only that the antiqued glass windows had gone dark a while ago. This was the least-visited bathroom she knew of and had only heard a couple people come in or out in the time she'd been there.
Weasley's words resonated in her mind.
No friends.
Know-it-All.
Bucktooth.
Ugly.
Frizzy-haired.
Bossy.
His words just mingled with the voices of dozens of others. Each sending new waves of despair. These names had stuck with her since primary school, constant teasing or mockery for her appearance or her intellect. Her parents had always been there, to offer a kind word and a comforting evening to get away from all of the misery of the social aspect of school.
But now her parents were hundreds of miles away with no way to connect outside of carrier pigeon mail and she lived in the school and bunked beside her tormentors every evening!
There was no escape outside of locking herself in a bathroom stall.
Maybe it was a mistake coming here.
Even with all the magic and wonder Professor McGonagall had talked about all that time ago, nothing really changed, did it? In the end, Hogwarts was just like any other school, full of bullies and scathing looks and troublemakers.
She frustratedly rubbed at her eyes when she heard the door creak open and clamped her mouth shut, chest heaving in attempts to stifle her sobs. The sink turned on and the sound of disturbed water rang out alongside a childish, high-pitched hum.
Hermione sniffled, realizing with a start that the sound was far too loud.
Immediately the humming stopped and the sink cut off soon after.
"Hello?"
She remained silent.
"I-is someone there?"
The voice was young. Perhaps younger than the other first years, and a bit timid.
"I heard you just now. Are you a bathroom ghost?"
Hermione couldn't quite stifle the laugh that hiccuped out. "N-no, no. I'm very much alive."
"Oh, good." The mysterious voice chirped.
She waited in silence, expecting them to just go about their merry way, but there were no footsteps towards the door or any indication of anything like it.
"Are you okay?" The other girl called out.
Hermione sighed, "I'm fine. Please, I'd really rather not talk right now."
"It's alright to be sad," The girl offered sweetly. "Slen... er, Mr. Lindermann says it's healthy to talk about it and bad to just bottle it up."
The name perked the witch's interest. "Are you one of Harry's siblings? The ones Dumbledore lets come to the castle?"
"Yep! I'm Sally, well actually I'm Sarah, but I like being called Sally more." The voice, Sally, explained.
"Hermione Granger," She introduced.
"That's a pretty name. Oh, you're in my brother's house, right? The red one with the lion."
"Gryffindor," Hermione corrected automatically. "And... I suppose so..."
"Why are you here?" Sally prodded.
Hermione's throat closed up with reluctance, "I... I'd really rather not talk about it."
"Okay."
The silence permeated once more before Sally spoke cheerfully again, "So, is learning magic fun? I really like seeing what the professors can do and Harry even took me on his broom to fly! It was so cool!"
"Perhaps a little less-so for me," Hermione responded, smiling unseen. "Flying brooms don't seem to like me very much.
"I prefer reading," She continued. "I love learning spells and history. And finding out about the wizarding world is showing me a whole new side of muggle history that is just mind-boggling. Did you know that a powerful wizard named Grindelwald was involved in Hitler's regime during World War II? Dumbledore defeated him in an exceptional duel which basically ended the European side of the war! Or that a witch's faulty ritual caused Pompeii's eruption? I never bothered with conspiracy theories, but to find out so much of what I knew wasn't entirely accurate, that my old history books barely skimmed the surface is... is...
"Oh... I'm terribly sorry, I'm rambling too much," she apologized quietly.
"No, it's alright." Sally said comfortingly. "Trust me, Toby does a lot worse and he stutters when he's excited, too. Can I ask what else you learned? oh! What about the short people at the bank, do they all work in the bank?"
Hermione eased into her explanation of how one of the Goblin resolutions eventually established Gringotts as an attempt to mend wizard-goblin relations after an almost 150-year-long war between the two societies. She recited what she learned about how Goblins in the UK are confined to positions within Gringotts as it's own separate, sovereign nation, but throughout the world goblins are renown for their metallurgy, mining, architecture, archaeology, and craftsmanship.
"Huh," Sally hummed in an interim. "So they're pretty much stuck in that building because wizards told them to be? That's stupid," She declared.
Hermione sat back in surprise. "B-but it's for the peace of the nation. Goblins can't simply walk around in public as they are, it would reveal everything."
"But you just said they're all around outside of Britain, so why not here? couldn't they just wear disguises and look like normal people, just shorter?"
Hermione was stumped. It was true that goblins had their own unique magic to their society, jealously guarded from wizards... no, from British wizards. They very well could have a glamour spell and not ever need to adjust their heights or stature to pass off as normal humans with dwarfism.
"Wizards sound kind of mean," Sally continued. "Like that dark guy with the big nose who mixes potions."
Hermione snorted despite herself.
"Or that snappy lady teaching flying class. Or the weird man with the purple hat-thingy."
"Sally, they are still teachers and do deserve respect," Hermione lightly admonished.
"Well, I like the plant lady. She's very kind. And the little man who teaches charms is really nice, too."
"Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick," Hermione supplied helpfully.
"But some of the students are mean, too. Like that blonde boy with green robes. He has those big, ugly boys he hangs out with. They act really rotten to other people."
Hermione frowned, remembering the sneering look of Malfoy and his two companions, Crabbe and Goyle. "Well, I suppose so, but Slytherins tend to be either rather mean-spirited or cold."
"I'm not sure all of them are," The younger girl responded diplomatically.
The witch sighed, "I'm sure the sorting hat knows best... though I suppose it's liable for error as well." She muttered lowly.
"Hmm?" Sally wordlessly enquired.
"It's nothing."
"But you sounded sad over it."
"... I don't think I'm right for Gryffindor. It's why I'm in this stall tonight," She admitted.
"Some boys were being hurtful this afternoon. About how bossy I am and how I'm always alone. I know I'm not the best at making friends and all I do is drive people away by correcting them or bossing them around. I'm not courageous or chivalrous or anything. I basically wanted to be a Gryffindor because Dumbldeore was one and McGonagall said it was the best. I'm such a sham." She bemoaned.
*Knock-Knock*
"Miss Hermione? Please open the door," Sally's voice requested on the other side of the stall door.
Hermione stood up haltingly and eventually undid the lock and opened it to see the little girl in carnation pink standing there. The witch was suddenly very aware of the tear tracks left on her face and the puffy, tight feeling around her eyes.
Sally ignored it and reached into one of her dress's pockets to pull out a bundled napkin. Gently unfolding it, she revealed two sugar cookies.
"I might've 'borrowed' some cookies for later," The child admits shyly, but with a definite glint of mischief. "But I think you should have them more."
Hermione smiled, taking just one of the offered cookies. "It'll be our little secret."
Sally beamed happily as she picked up the remaining one and 'clinked' with Hermione's before munching. The witch bit into hers, the sweet smell of the cookie wafting and reminding her of just how much she missed lunch and dinner.
Then, the pleasant smell of baked sugar was overwhelmed by the gagging stench of raw sewage and bad body odor.
A loud huff brought their attention to the entrance of the bathrooms. A towering, 15-foot tall figure with mottled, gray skin and a small head lumbered through. Hermione's memory recalled the illustrations of trolls in a book on magical creatures.
"S-Sally, come back into the stall," She whispered hurriedly, not taking her eyes off the figure dumbly looking around.
The troll turned its head through the room and caught sight of the two girls, its mouth twisted into a snarl revealing yellow, mismatched teeth. Abandoning silence, Hermione quickly dragged Sally into the stall with her as the figure roared and raised a wooden club easily the size of half a tree trunk.
"RAAAAAH!"
The troll's club careened through the stalls, reducing them to matchsticks and splinters. Hermione quickly held Sally close, shielding the smaller girl from the debris.
A piece of wood met the back of her head.
And she lost consciousness to the sound of shrill screams and shouting voices...
Harry bolted after Slender's long strides through the hallways. Adrian, Nick, and the others were not far behind.
Slenderman skidded to a halt, quickly changing direction down another hallway, "I sense her down here!"
When they got to the right area, they smelled it first. An overwhelming stench of blocked bathroom pipes and Jeff's mountain of unwashed clothing after a week of 'overtime' had Harry envying Slenderman and Jeff's lack of nose.
A loud roar erupted through an ajar door to a girl's restroom and they went in without hesitation.
The troll was a monstrously huge creature waving an equally enormous wooden club around like a towel at a baseball game. The splintered remains of the row of toilet stalls lay scattered across the room. A high shriek from in the rubble pushed them to action.
"Sally, stay down!" The entity instructed. A pink blur ducked in the lower halves of the stalls.
Slender's glamour dropped and the faceless entity's wiry stance was still dwarfed by the troll, but his back erupted in black tentacles writhing menacingly. Three tentacles shot forward, piercing the creature's shoulder, arm, and wrist holding the club.
The troll roared in agony and reflexively dropped the club with a heavy *thunk* on the floor.
"Adrian! Trip it!" Slenderman ordered.
The Undead nodded, raising his arms as the 'tattoos' lifted off his skin and long, barbed wires snaked around the creature's legs, constricting and tangling. The troll's stumbling worked against it as it fell forward with a mighty crash and flailed itself around like a toddler with a tantrum.
Another of Slender's tentacles wrapped around the troll's throat, trying unsuccessfully to strangle it, but the dense skin and muscle seemed to resist even the entity's unnatural grip strength from crushing its windpipe.
Jeff picked up a steel pipe amidst the debris and rushed between the troll's flailing arms onto its back between the shoulder blades. He slammed it against the troll's noggin, but may as well have just been slapping it upside the head for all it did.
"T-trolls have d-dense heads," Toby shouted, stuttering in the adrenaline rush. "I r-r-read that it needs a l-lot more f-force to even knock it out!"
Jeff tossed the pipe aside, favoring a kitchen knife in a sheath hidden at his hip and stabbing the creature's throat. But the knife just seemed to roll off of the leather-thick hide.
The slashed-smile killer yelped as the troll found the source of irritation and slapped him off into the sinks, shattering the porcelain.
"Is there anything it doesn't just deflect?!" Adrian cried through clenched teeth, his wires straining and screeching in the effort to keep the troll's legs tangled.
Harry whipped his head around, spotting a couple steel pipes in the rubble scattered along the floor. Grabbing two, he ran up to where Jeff had been, despite Slender's protests. The entity was still struggling to keep one arm relatively in place while restraining the troll's head.
Harry held the two rods up, imagining his electrodes and a circular electric current between his hands.
Small arcs of electricity leapt across the pipes and Harry pulled them apart and jammed each steel rod into the troll's oversized ear holes.
Pushing as much current as he could muster, he felt the circuit finally complete itself.
The troll convulsed and slobbered underneath as the electricity fried its brain on a tissue-deep level. Until its eyes rolled up and it fell forward limp.
Harry toppled off exhausted as Toby caught him. Slender and Adrian retracted their respective restraints and the entity resumed its glamour, rushing over to the ward hidden in the stalls.
"Is the f*cker dead?" Jeff snarled, favoring one shoulder.
Nick cautiously crept forward and jumped back when the troll gave off a little huff. "Holy-! How is it still alive?! We literally roasted its brain!"
"Trolls have really small brains," Toby supplied off of the numerous magical creature books he'd poured over. "They don't need them for a lot of what they do. So, in theory, you could've pretty much destroyed the whole thing, but it'll still eventually wander around. Stupider than before, but it's not like they had a high IQ in the first place."
Slender stood up from where he helped Sally up. The glamoured entity carried the unconscious body of the frizzy-haired Gryffindor girl, Granger.
"Regardless, perhaps it's best if we-"
"Bloody Hell!"
The entourage looked back at the door just slamming open to see the freckled face of Ron Weasley grinning like a loon. "Harry, did you take down that thing all on your own?! That's wicked, mate!"
Harry looked at the mess of a bathroom and wondered just how Weasley took one look at this and decided he of all people was the sole perpetrator.
Before anyone could say anything about it, more footsteps hurried up and several professors rushed in. Dumbledore at the head, McGonagall right behind alongside Madame Pomfrey with Quirrell lagging hesitantly in the back.
"What... Oh, my... Oh..." McGonagall sputtered, hand to her heart as she took in the mess and then the downed troll.
Madame Pomfrey spotted the girl in Slender's arms and rushed over to help him set her down for an on-the-spot examination.
Dumbledore seemed to look around the room with a look of calm concern, but had a slight twinkle in his eye as he kept glancing back at Harry.
"Explain this now!" McGonagall demanded, still dangerously pale.
The wards shuffled awkwardly amongst themselves as their guardian cleared his throat. "I believe I will explain. You see, after Quirrell announced the troll, I set about collecting my wards when we noticed Sally missing. I left to search for her, though my wards, including Harry, Nikolaus, and Adrian, followed along out of concern. With some portraits we were able to follow her path to this bathroom. We heard her scream and rushed in. After that, well, some rather lucky spellwork from my wards were able to disarm and disable the creature."
"Be that as it may," McGonagall fumed, still trembling. "It was very unwise of you, Mr. Lindermann, to leave the Great Hall on your own."
"I apologize, but we were given no instructions to the contrary." Mr. Lindermann argued smoothly.
The older witch huffed, turning to the other wards and the students, "As for you all, what you did was very dangerous. Not just as children but as muggles to go after a troll? Very foolish, very foolish."
The wards acted abashed, hiding the miffed attitudes to her 'muggles' comment.
A slight groan brought everyone's attention to Hermione waking up from Madame Pomfrey's spells and potions.
"As for the students," McGonagall turned her ire to Harry, Nick, Adrian, Hermione, and Ron, "I will be taking 10 points from each of you for this matter."
"10?!" Ron shouted. "B-but I-"
"We saw you, Mr. Weasley, just entering the bathroom before we came. Would you care to explain yourself further?" McGonagall pressed tersely.
The young man scowled, but stayed silent. At that moment, the Percy Weasley walked in with a Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff prefect at his side. Shortly after, Professor Snape slightly limped his way in.
"Ah, Prefect Weasley, excellent timing," McGonagall announced. "Now... if there is no other objections-"
"Please, Professor," The group turned to Hermione, shakily standing up. "Don't punish them, it was my fault. I went looking for the troll. I read all about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong, if they hadn't all come here... I'd probably be dead."
"Miss Granger?" The older witch gasped quietly in disbelief.
Hermione looked down mortified, but felt a light tug on her robes. She glanced back to see Sally pouting expectantly from her. The younger girl's eyes glanced pointedly up at her guardian beside them and Hermione looked his way to see a stern, disbelieving parental look from the older man, like he'd heard her tell an obvious fib like a scolded child.
She shrunk in on herself, ashamed, "I... I'm sorry..." she whispered, "That was a lie."
The girl continued, "I was hiding here. Ronald and some others were making fun of me earlier today. I... I was crying here all afternoon. I didn't know there was a troll at all. Sally came in and we talked, but then the troll came and we had to hide. I... I don't know what happened after that. I'm sorry."
McGonagall sighed deeply, "Well that would explain many things, Miss Granger, including the tear stains and your absence at the Feast. Very well, I-"
"Wait!" Sally cried. "She saved me, too! When the troll was smashing stuff up, she hid us in the stall and covered me when it wrecked things!"
The elder witch's terse mouth twitched slightly in a smile, turning to the red-faced Gryffindor witch, "I see... then I rescind your points lost seeing as you are a victim, Miss Granger. 10 points back to Gryffindor. And an extra 15 for the defense of another."
Hermione seemed likely to transfigure her head into an apple with how red she was.
With a more exhausted sigh, she turned to the three wards, "Now then, Mr. Potter, Mr. Thresher, and Mr. Brahms. In light of your success in dealing with a fully-grown mountain troll... I will see 5 points restored to each of you for your efforts, though I still maintain the points lost for the foolhardiness of not following your houses back to the dormitories."
They nodded in acceptance, while Ron seemed to bluster a bit, "W-well what about me? I helped take it down, too."
"Mr. Weasley," McGonagall snapped. "You not only arrived alongside us after the troll was dealt with, but you also had a hand in placing Miss Granger in danger as well as recklessly going after the troll with no purpose in mind other than finding the bloody troll!" She cried incredulously. "At least Potter, Brahms, and Thresher had purpose in mind of finding their sibling and following their guardian, not expecting to encounter the creature. For that, your point loss is maintained."
"Minerva, really, isn't his bravery-" Dumbledore began.
"Perhaps," Snape interrupted silkily. "We should continue this elsewhere where there is not... an unconscious troll in our midst?" At that moment, the troll let out a groan of gaggingly rank breath.
Dumbledore chuckled, "Quite right, Severus, quite right. Very well then; Miss Granger, please go with Madame Pomfrey to the hospital wing and Mr. Travis, too, seeing as he is currently favoring one arm. Prefect Weasley, please escort Mr. Weasley to the Gryffindor dormitories and all other prefects please return to theirs. As for everyone else, if you would all please follow me to my office to continue this."
He smiled affably before turning to the trembling, turbaned man, "Quirinus, I trust you able to handle the troll and see it safely off the property?"
"O-of c-c-course, H-Headmaster," The figure stammered, giving a nervous smile.
Jeff scowled a little at being told what to do, but let the older nurse-witch guide him and Hermione out. Ron was yanked along protesting by his stern-faced older brother with the rest of the prefects in tow.
Meanwhile Slender followed the wizened old wizard, keeping his wards close behind. They arrived at the same office as they'd been at for Harry's re-sort. Adrian and Nick glanced curiously at the phoenix preening itself gently on its perch.
"Now, then, would anyone care for a lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered. Seeing no one make a move, he shrugged and popped one in his mouth anyways. "I'm afraid desserts were cut short at the feast this evening, so don't mind if I do."
He settled in again. "Now, then, let's start from the top, shall we?"
So, for the next several minutes, Slender, Sally, and Harry were called to recount the ordeal. Nick and Adrian notably staying quiet. Harry made up a story about using a powerful spell he had read in a book meant to blast things back and how he had used it to banish debris into the troll's arms (explaining the piercing wounds) and using the levitation spell to knock the troll out with its own club (because why not?).
Slender calmly went with it with practiced experience in accommodating alibis.
Dumbledore nodded apprsovingly, seeming to buy the whole thing. McGonagall had a slightly raised eyebrow, but Snape was the only one to snort in doubt.
"Well, then, I suppose that's that." The Headmaster said happily. "I must say I am very impressed with you, Harry. Your nerve and bravery clearly do Gryffindor House proud."
McGonagall seemed to preen just a tad at that, though Harry felt it a barb to remind him of the re-sorting.
"For that, I award an extra 35 points," The man beamed, eyes twinkling.
Harry didn't give two shiitake mushrooms about points, but he did notice how Nick and Adrian were excluded despite being in the room with them.
"Now that that's all settled, let's adjourn for the night-"
"Just a moment, Headmaster."
The room turned to Slender, stepping forward with a disapproving frown. "I have concerns about this incident and believe me, my wards will be dealt with when we return home."
Likely with a congratulatory dinner tomorrow for taking down the damn thing.
"But I'm mostly concerned with why this was all necessary in the first place." Slender pressed. "Is it commonplace in the wizarding world for trolls to wander into magical buildings and almost kill students?"
The other Professors fidgeted a little nervously, but Dumbledore set about his most disarming smile, "Mr. Lindermann, your concern is of course understandable, however I assure you that the castle wards repel all dark creatures from entering the property, Hogwarts is a very safe place."
"And yet, your 'wards' did not stop the troll. My wards had to," Slender argued.
"This was a complete accident and I assure you it will be looked into very seriously," The old man replied smoothly.
At the side, Sally frowned. All too familiar with the dismissal and inaction of empty promises.
"I can't help but feel that I can't put my trust in an institution that not only permits such severe breaches of security, but rewards those who risk their life to stop them."
"Hogwarts is safe," Dumbledore affirmed.
"And yet this incident just goes to show that it is decidedly not safe. My youngest ward was nearly crushed by a troll, another was battered against a wall, and one of your own students may be concussed."
"I assure you, magical healing is not like muggle healing," Dumbledore explained, still smiling. "She will be well enough for her classes in the morning just fine."
"Though her mental state likely will be scarred for years to come," The entity retorted.
"Children are very resiliant, Mr. Lindermann," Dumbledore chuckled. "I'm sure Miss Granger will likely forget the whole thing by the week's end and perhaps sooner given news of her heroics." He added pointedly looking towards Sally.
The other professors looked uncomfortable, Snape scowling more prominently. Whether at 'Gryffindoric courage' or dismissed psychological impacts, was unsure.
Sally's face darkened with shadows.
'Children' being ignored.
'Stories' being told.
Nobody believes a child telling stories to adults.
No one pays any attention.
"What Miss Granger does with herself and her schooling is her priority," Slender announced, "But what happens with my wards is my priority. And I cannot help but feel like this is just proof that my wards are in danger here."
The professors' eyes widened and Dumbledore lost his smile.
"Mr. Lindermann, it is imperative that Harry, here, learns to control his magic." The Headmaster began.
"And I'm sure we can find other locations," Slender threatened.
Dumbledore blustered in shock, "B-but his parents were adamant that he studied at Hogwarts. It's his birthright, his heritage! Surely, you cannot take that away from him? His own roots? Lily and James would be so proud to see him here, I'm sure."
He looked at Harry, specifically, "And I'm also sure they would be very proud of his actions to night. Defending another and disabling a dangerous magical creature without slaughter is very noble of him."
Harry let out an amused snort. The room turned to him and he replied, "Believe me, I tried to kill it. It's just too stubborn."
Dumbledore sputtered incredulously. "H-Harry, my boy, you shouldn't see things that way. It leads down Dark paths."
"It was trying to kill innocents," Harry defended. "Therefore, it was a danger to everyone. Why is trying to kill something that could easily kill you and is actively trying anyway 'Dark'?"
The aged headmaster was flustered and turned a disapproving frown Slender's way, "What are you teaching your children, Mr. Lindermann? This mentality is unhealthy and you deliberately ingrain it in the boy! It is a Dark sort that aims to kill another living being. A child should not be straying so far from the Light!"
Fawkes fluttered nervously on his perch, fidgeting uncomfortably at the tension in the room.
But mostly casting guarded glances towards the little girl in pink.
"This is unacceptable!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "Harry Potter needs to be taught Light-minded values! It is for the best for everyone that he learn compassion, love, and bravery."
"Are you saying there is no 'compassion' or 'love' in our household?" Slender challenged.
"I'm saying this behavior is not becoming of the Boy Who Lived!" Dumbledore bellowed, standing up. "He is this world's savoir and his behavior is the model this society needs. What it looks up to. He cannot try to kill everything that comes his way, it's not right!"
"And you know what's best for my foster son, then?" Slenderman argued.
"I'm saying I know what's RIGHT! It's for the GREATER GOOD!" Dumbledore roared.
"LIAR!" Sally screamed.
Like a bomb went off, every candle and lantern in the room flared like an inferno. Books toppled, trinkets crashed. Quills overturned and papers scattered. The portraits of other headmasters were knocked askew, their inhabitants stumbling to right themselves.
When everything was quiet again, Fawkes lowly trilled on its perch, nervously. Sally stood at the epicenter of damage to the floor, huffing angrily. Other Professors were shakily standing back up.
Dumbledore looked at Sally with a look of concern... and sadness...
Sally hung her head down, blood seeping from her hairline. Slenderman calmly walked over with a pocket handkerchief to wipe it away.
"Sally, you have to keep calm," The guardian murmured. It wasn't the first time she'd lost control of her poltergeist-like powers, but it was certainly one of the more severe outbursts.
But it certainly did no favors right now. Particularly given the witnesses.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Lindermann," Sally mumbled, still not meeting anyone's eyes.
Slenderman sighed, glancing around the room. It seemed mitigated to just the few Professors present, and BEN's outburst was already accepted...
What were the cost-benefits of simply spearing everyone in the room through?
...
'Not worth it' he sighed mentally.
"I believe I will be taking my wards now." He announced, quietly taking Sally by the hand and with a nod, guiding his quiet wards along with.
The door to the office swung shut in the silence of astonishment... and suspicion.
Slenderman slowly strode through the dark, moonlit hallways. He'd seen his wards either maintaining watch from the room, patrolling per usual, or briefly brought them all back to the mansion.
This plan just felt like a worse idea every day. First conniving politicians and headmasters, then a society fracturing at the seams, and now mythical creatures coming out of the woodworks.
And what's worse was Sally's little 'outburst'. Likely it would be passed off as another phenomenon like BEN, but somehow he had a grim feeling it wasn't going to be swept away quite so easily.
*rustle*
He dove to the side and avoided a jet of purple light searing into the stonework behind him.
He turned and saw a dark figure whose cloak rustled ever-so-slightly duck behind a statue before firing another wordless curse his way.
Slender attempted to duck away, but the long hallway didn't provide any vantage points outside of running with his back exposed to the attacker. He didn't fancy his chances with this unknown assailant firing curses left and right.
That left him with one option; fight. But with no weapons against an enemy with a weapon of infinite-potential.
He ducked a white spell that shattered stonework. Picking up a piece of stone, he lobbed it at the figure which dodged with a grunt. A low, male grunt of an adult and definitely not a student.
He decided to hell with it. This has been a royal shitstorm of an evening. Time for some 'cathartic release'.
His glamour held, but he released a tangle of tentacles, writhing in a myriad behind him. The figure, to their credit, seemed only momentarily stunned before ducking out of the way of several oncoming points and jabs.
Slenderman was getting impatient, all the more-so because this assailant had seen his less-human aspects. He hadn't anticipated this level of competency amongst wizards. He needed to end this and kill the figure quickly.
He used several tentacles in a spindly-fashion to 'walk' like an enormous spider up the walls and arched ceiling, dancing between the curses aimed at him. But no matter where he went, the figure kept dodging out of range or outmaneuvering just behind him and impalement by his tentacles.
The assailant shouted a spell which impacted the wall purposefully and Slender leapt off as the stonework crumbled like sandstone. The figure wasted no time, jabbing its wand at the entity-
"AVADA KEDAVRA"
Slender couldn't dodge in time.
A green bolt of light struck him in the chest-
-and pushed him back slightly with a grunt.
...
The figure stared in complete bewilderment and Slenderman took that opportunity to wrap a tentacle around the arm holding the wand. The bone snapped like a twig and mangled under the tentacle's twist. The figure roared in agony and writhed, pulling a dagger from the cloak and impaling the tentacle.
Slender winced as he retracted the appendage bleeding black ichor as it steamed on the floor.
The figure stumbled back, arm freed from the vice-like grip. And the hood fell off-
-To reveal a one, Quirinus Quirrell snarling at him, sans his turban. The Professor's head was bald and oddly mismatched towards the back like the skin was flaking and peeling.
Grabbing his wand from the ground, the wizard jabbed in the ground with a red spell, causing the stone to rise up in a wall. Slender wasted no time impaling through the thick stone wall with a tentacle until it crumbled into an opening wide enough for him to see the Professor duck into another hallway.
Sliding along on his spider-like limbs, Slender rushed through the opening and crawled along after the man. They got to a long, drafty hall with wide, glass-less windows.
The Professor looked back at the entity chasing after him and dove through one of the windows and out of sight.
Slender ran up to that window and saw no figure at the bottom.
A slight flutter caught his attention at the edge of the property.
A cloaked figure glided like a bat across the empty courtyard and into the forest beyond.
Slender knew the Professor was likely never to show up again (lest he make sure he finishes the job). All the same, a single human escaped with knowledge of him. Not the first time.
But it instilled a deep sense of dread.
Remarkable.
Simply remarkable.
My arm...
Though what kind of creature is debatable.
Pain...
This just became so much more intricate and needed much closer consideration.
My hand...
Perhaps a kind of dark creature, able to pass off as human?
A monster...
Or perhaps a ritual? Even better, if he was human and the appearance is a side-effect, but to be able to resist the Killing Curse... he'd found no such ritual in his extensive research... so how could this muggle... no... perhaps not...
Please, master...
Voldemort pointedly ignored his host's pitiable moans bleeding into his thoughts. Without a word, he jabbed the recovered wand at the mangled mess of an arm, content to block pain receptors as bones crudely forced themselves back into position from a questionable medical-spell developed in Siberia. Quirrell screamed in hellish agony as he felt the brunt force of each shard sliding around in the meat-sack of an arm back into place and the tissue knitting itself together.
The Dark Lord was content to remain numbed to tactile sensations as he walked the body through the forest.
Whomever or whatever Solomon Lindermann was deserved looking into. If it was a ritual, he would extract it from his mind even if he had to torture the man for the next year. If it was a creature, then he was sure he could 'persuade' it to cooperate (perhaps through his precious 'wards'). If it was something else... well, his mind looked forward to the challenge.
Oh, Hogwarts... so full of mystery and treasures... not the least the one he'd hidden there so long ago...
But now there was much more to be had.
The Stone.
Harry Potter.
And now, the mysterious Mr. Lindermann.
All wound together in a tempting target, but for now he realized he needed to 'lay low', as his less-cultured followers used to say. The forest would provide adequate space to hide. He had bided his time in Albania for this long... he could wait and lick his wounds a little more to ensure his triumphant return.
The attack was risky, but he deemed it worthwhile.
The troll distraction was enough to let him slip to the third floor undetected, but then the bloody Cerberus got in the way. He'd need to find a way to extract the method from Hagrid. The lumbering oaf would probably spill after a quick disguised trip to the Hogs Head and a decent amount of mead. Always so foolish, that half-breed. Though an excellent source to place the blame, if need be.
But focusing back on tonight, the assassination attempt was his most likely strategy to putting Harry Potter back on the chessboard in a more predictable pattern. With his guardian dead, the boy would be forced into Dumbledore's doddering plans and the corrupt Ministry's conniving fingers. Much more predictable, and when the time was right, he would strike the boy dead! All he'd have to do was kill the adult and frame a Pureblood fanatic of low status he'd already left a breadcrumb trail for the Aurors to follow.
But the man did not die.
And that, in and of itself, was extraordinary.
Perhaps even more valuable a thing to have obtained out of all this.
He may have failed his plans tonight, an admittedly prideful and unnecessarily poetic attempt to return on the very anniversary of his 'death'... but no plan survives first contact.
And he had gained knowledge that would suffice, for the time being.
The body stumbled.
Voldemort snarled, allowing some tactile sensation to return, but finding a numbness creeping up the body's limbs and a weakness overtaking his heart.
He allowed Quirinus to return to the body.
The possessed human was flung back into his rightful body, the parasite- no, his master, retreated to the familiar feeling of the back of his brain.
Quirrell stumbled again, feeling the full force of his Lord pushing the body further than it ought to have. His mouth was parched and his body was weak. His chest felt tight and hollow like a gaping emptiness gnawed at his soul. And he had to fill it.
He knew it was time to feed the Master.
With his Master's brilliant spell, he glided through the forest as though a Dementor, intent on feasting on the first unicorn he found that night.
Dumbledore stood in front of his pensive, reflecting on the evening.
"What on earth could it have been, Albus?" Minerva fretted, pacing back and forth behind him. "I am familiar with magical discharges for underage witches, but nothing so violent! And certainly not something that would cause that kind of bleeding."
"Perhaps... we could be dealing with some manner of Obscurus?" Severus suggested tonelessly. "If that is the case, perhaps we should inform the Ministry-"
"No," Dumbledore interrupted. "No, she shows none of the key signs of being an Obscurial. And wards in Hogwarts would immediately detect any such hosts."
"Then what do we do?" Minerva insisted.
"For now... nothing," Dumbledore replied, still staring in the swirling blue ether. "I fear any moves on our part may just cement Harry's guardian in removing him from Hogwarts. The British Wizarding community would likely begin riots and I fear the situation would just be complicated beyond our control."
He pressed his wand to his temple, extracting an ethereal filament of memory and adding it to the pool before him. "For now, we must continue as per usual. If Mr. Lindermann brings this up, you may talk with him, try to find out more."
"And the girl?" Minerva pressed, tersely. "First the boy, Benjamin, and now the girl? I respect your decision to allow Mr. Lindermann his secrets, but... what does it all mean?"
"I think..." He began slowly, staring at the ghostly memory of a girl destroying his office, "it may mean the mysterious Mr. Lindermann's wards may have a common thread and it may not be as inexplicable as we thought."
The pensive swirled and took on a new image.
The image of a young, frail girl with blonde hair tied in a powder blue ribbon staring forlornly back from the backdrop of a long-gone countryside cottage.
The cottage in disarray like a storm had passed through.
The girl's face a mix of dismay, fear, and sadness.
Her nose trickled with blood.
As did the scar where a muggle boy had maliciously bashed her head against a rock.
"If my theory is right, there is likely much, much more to Mr. Solomon Lindermann than meets the eye."
The long-dead girl just gazed out of the memory in sadness.
AN: So close, Dumbledore... yet also so far... let's see where this goes, then...
Well, it's not Halloween right now, but it is a scary time to be around.
Stay safe everyone! Wash your hands, wipe your phone with disinfectant every once in a while, and maintain appropriate social distancing.
Now if you'll excuse me-
*Sits upon throne of toilet paper and Purell*
"Ahhh... The comfort of the Quarantine Bunker."
...
...
...
*whispers to self; all alone*
...
"~ We all sing our Quarantine Song...~"
...
Bonus:
Hermione lay in bed, enjoying the peaceful night at the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey insisted that even with magical medical care, it was dangerous to leave cranial wounds to chance, so she was staying overnight.
She was about to settle in after reading her assigned Charms text when a faint blur of pink caught her attention by the entrance.
It dragged her attention out of the book enough to notice a handmade card.
Curious, she opened it. A crudely drawn flower arrangement decorated one side, scrawled words on the other.
"You shielded me when the troll attacked. That was really brave. Maybe the magic hat didn't make a mistake."
She went to bed with a smile.
AN: A little fluff her way since she did get the lousy end of the stick her first year. She's still not a 'friend' to the group (far too Light-minded)... but also not overtly an enemy, either. We'll see.