Head Start

by Kratos1989

Harry Potter learnt early on in his youth that if he wanted things done right, it was best to be done himself. That decision will make all the difference when he arrives to Hogwarts. Tags are inside the foreword chapter.

12. Book 1-11

Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!

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Title: Book 1, Chapter 11

Posted Date: December 16 2021

Last Updated: December 24 2021

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(November 1987)

A knock on the door interrupted Amelia's ongoing battle on paperwork, drawing her attention to the door where her secretary just entered with a big set of folders and an expression of deep irritation on her face. "Cynthia?"

"Here are the documents on the people you asked for, Madam." Cynthia placed the folders down on her desk with slightly more force than required to make her ink bottle wobble slightly. "Sorry about that, I just had a very frustrating rider on the elevator." A raised eyebrow from her boss prompted a reply. "I was stuck with that woman."

Ah, that would explain it.

In such a close knitted society, it did not take much to know who was who in the Ministry and what they do, along with the type of personality, and given Cynthia's normally controlled temperament, there were very few in the society who could make her lose her temper, and only one in the Ministry to be spoken of with such venom.

The Minister's Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge. Aka 'The Toad'. Aka 'The Pink Menace'. Aka 'She Who Makes People Puke'. Aka 'She-Who-Croaks'. And as of a recent article from the Quibbler and one of Amelia's new favorite names for the woman, 'The Umbitch', reputedly related to the lost species of mutated frogs from the dark bowels of the Amazon and supposedly taken away for experimentation, hence her appearance. (Many of her Aurors laughed to the point of needing a calming draught when they read that particular article, with a few almost choking every time they laid eyes on the woman and remembering the article. A couple of them still hung on to that article to give themselves something to be cheerful when the woman does something irritable. She herself had a copy of that just to fantasize on the possibilities.)

The woman in question was someone that would make pretty much everyone have trigger-happy fingers around their wands each time she opened her mouth with that fake cough and silly girl voice. Quite frankly, Amelia would bet her vault on Umbridge being a Death Eater or at least a heavy supporter of them, given her attitudes towards anyone and anything that was not considered 'upstanding citizens of British society', otherwise known as pure-bloods with money to grease the pockets of politicians and to take down any 'Undesirables' and anyone else along the way if they were obstacles to her goals. It said something of her attitude that even said members of higher circles that shared similar views were wary of her, making sure that she did not have ideas of offing them in favor of getting more power to her position. Amelia had a few suspicions regarding the woman's quick climb to the secretary position with possible opponents disappearing without a trace or suddenly getting arrested without warning, along with a number of cold cases that had Umbridge being the primary suspect, and she was hoping for a chance to nail her one of these days.

She even had a target board with her face on it.

"Did she give you any trouble?" Amelia asked as she set aside her ink bottle to avoid an accident with her paperwork that she refused to redo if the bottle toppled.

"Oh, the usual lines of 'how I should be grateful for having such a high position regarding my blood status', 'how I should be prepared to pack my bags soon for a more qualified person', or her favorite, 'how I should be thanking the likes of Lucius Malfoy and his group of outstanding citizens of society'." Her facial expression was a clear indicator of what she really thought of those words. "I would rather swallow cyanide than to do the last, thank you very much." Amelia could not help the snort at those words, knowing that Cynthia, being a half-blood from a minor house and muggle raised, was often treated as a novelty at best and a downright nuisance at the worst. She remembered that Cynthia was down on her luck when she applied for the position as secretary for her department, clearly thinking that Amelia would laugh her out. Amelia proved her wrong by granting her the position and making sure she was well taken care of as she learned the ropes of the job before setting her loose and watching how she would tear many a snobbish pure-blood down, with a glass of whisky by her side. Amelia could understand her distaste towards Lucius Malfoy and his group considering how they often tried to introduce laws to throw out people not pure-blood, and how Cynthia often felt unsafe on the few times they walked past her with expressions ranging from disgust to leers that sent shudders down her spine. Amelia even offered some protection for her, to which Cynthia smiled and produced something from her bag that created lightning from the metal tips.

Amelia really wanted one for herself if not for the department after seeing what it could do to a guy who tried to get frisky with Cynthia. She should check in with her friend from the DOM to see the progress of that invention.

"That is not the only reason I am angry, Madam Bones." Cynthia let out a sigh before gesturing to the folders. "I have been trawling through the trial records, the Aurors' old service records, even the Oracle Archives for the information you requested, but this is all I could find." That earned another eyebrow from Amelia taking a glance at the set.

"I think you got everything." Amelia quipped, but Cynthia shook her head.

"It may look a lot, but when compared to this particular file you have asked for specially…" Cynthia grabbed the thinnest folder off the stack and placed it in front of her boss "you will realize that you are lacking a lot." Amelia blinked at the singular folder and to the stack before looking back at her secretary.

"I am going to need a lot of tea for this."

"I will brew you the extra strong blend and make it a big batch." Cynthia answered while heading to the door. "God knows I need that particular blend. Right this bloody minute." Amelia winced internally at that statement; the batches were sorted by strength and by how bad their cases would get, the weakest being taken more for comfort to get them through the day, all the way up to the strongest for situations that tested their tempers. For Cynthia, a young lady who could barely stomach the mid-strength blend in their office without getting sick, to jump straight for the strongest at the start, she must have been really frustrated by the information gathering she was sent on and by Umbridge's words to risk a visit to the ceramic altar. With a breath, Amelia grabbed the folder before her and looked at the three sheets in front of her.

"This can't be right, where is the rest of the information?" A frown appeared on her face as she grabbed the sheets and gave them a quick glance, which was done under a minute, before Amelia reached over to grab the stack to her end and read through the first folder carefully, the frown becoming more pronounced with each page she browsed through for the contents to get the necessary highlights she needed. She did not stop even as Cynthia came in with the tea set and left it on the table, briefly pausing to take a sip and squirming from the extra strong bitterness before continuing with her reading.

Ever since Jeremiah Gottwald entered through her door with the folder that started this mess, Amelia had been going through a fair number of documents and various transcripts to try and made sense of the matter, which among other things, included the arrest of a rather infamous man supposedly the right-hand man of Voldemort. She was a mid-senior Auror at the time, but she remembered very clearly that this case was around the time the Dark Lord had met his match against Harry Potter, so cases that involved the Death Eaters would attract a lot of attention, and they should be well documented, hence her request to Cynthia for all the documentation and people around at that period.

Except this was not.

From the first folder she had read through, there was a brief note of the man's crimes, the location of the arrest, a very short evidence sheet detailing the man's wand and belongings, and a brief notation from the Aurors on the scene. That was all there was: no witness statement, no interrogation documents or interview recordings, no Priori Incantatem summary slip, not even one Azkaban Transfer Form approving the move, and more importantly, no transcripts of the trial for the stated individual. It was as though the man in question was arrested and sent to Azkaban within minutes without alerting anyone else. Even if someone was getting tried under a tribunal setting with the highest restrictions, there should have been some form of documentation with lots of redacted words to prove the man's guilt.

Another thing that got her worried were the service records of the Auror Team who were on site at the time of the arrest. When she tried to find said Aurors related to the case in hopes of getting answers, she noted an odd pattern that got more pronounced with each visit and now compounded with the documents in her hands. For whatever reason, each and every one of them got reshuffled to other units after the reported arrest and over the course of the next few years, got involved in something that saw them dead, mentally disabled, cursed heavily or squibbed and thrown out of the ministry. Another point that struck out were the discrepancies that appeared on the documents regarding their actions during their last mission, which as senior Aurors would go about knowing the protocol very well.

Never go alone in an unidentified zone.

Always carry a spare medical kit on missions.

Have an emergency portkey to send the user back to a preset safe-house in times of trouble.

Prepare a distress beacon before every assignment.

These were some of the most drilled instructions to any Auror, yet the majority of the Auror Team appeared to have suffered sudden memory loss that resulted in the failure of their missions and their various states. For those who have died or cursed, the worrying trend was them being in what should have been a routine patrol which ended with them getting ambushed by an abnormally big number of attackers, be it wizards, werewolves or vampires in an unusually coordinated manner.

On their own, it would appear to be extremely bad luck for these Aurors to encounter those situations.

Viewed as a whole, and this stunk of a setup.

Adding to that odd information, Cynthia had helpfully compiled a small set of notes that showed the majority of the Aurors in question being the response team that arrived at Godric's Hollow on the night that Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter a few minutes later, and she did not know if this was a coincidence when the man currently under investigation had a connection to the boy. Said Aurors had went about cordoning off the area and obliviating muggles as part of procedure, then ten minutes into the investigation, all of them suddenly packed up shop and left the place with reports that were honestly too formalized and exact for her liking, as though someone had made them write their reports with a standardized template to be followed to the word.

After going through the rest of the folders, Amelia leaned back in her seat and sighed heavily, trying to enjoy the strong flavor of the tea while thinking about all she had read, and quite frankly speaking, Amelia did not like what she was reading and the conclusions she was reaching.

If these records were true along with the arrest documentation of the man in question, this was either a miscarriage of law that went beyond the normal with terrible luck on the Aurors down the road, which was extremely unlikely, or this was a level of corruption that had the higher ups of the previous administration involved. And if the latter were true, that meant someone really high in the totem-pole, if not a good number of the administration, had a hand in this to ensure that the Aurors in question could not be brought forward for questioning and the man in question was to be removed from the chessboard.

THAT sent chills down her spine at the possible power being wielded by the higher-ups despite the warm drink in her system; maybe she was being paranoid (and hopefully not to levels of Alastor-approved paranoia), but if someone had arranged for the man in question to be sent to Azkaban without a trial, followed by having the Aurors killed off to hide the evidence, she was going to need a lot of help on this, and the problem with that would have to be the absolute leakage of secrets in the ministry; it practically rivaled Hogwarts rumor mill in both the speed and variety of any one news that come forth. Amelia was not too foolish to believe that her department was not without its set of moles and spies, goodness knows how many were in the payroll of Fudge, Umbridge or even Dumbledore.

She needed to get information from the outside it would seem, but from whom?

Amelia looked to the clock that showed that she had spent a good hour and a half reading through the information, and then looked to the initial file she had started with. And that was when it hit her: there was one person who could provide a starting point, but she was not sure if that man would budge to help the other man, or for that matter, would the possible help want to hex her for this. Amelia decided to take a gamble, coming off her seat, grabbing her cloak and telling Cynthia (who was already looking a little green in the face) to make a few changes to her schedule before moving off to the Apparition point.

She needed to make a visit to someone who was semi-linked to the case, and she hoped to avoid the headache potion.

~ooOOoo~

(Present Time)

'Well, this proves I am right in hating this holiday.'

That was the thought going through the mind of Harry Potter as the doors kept shuddering against the strikes of what was hitting it and the roars of the supposed troll was audible behind it. The other students were not helping with the screaming and the pushing as they got as far back as they could away from the doors, with the remaining professors having trouble getting them into order. And all of that noise was merely a lure for the troll to increase its attempts to bash the doors down for its next meal. Harry bit his lips as he looked at the students and the door, racking his brain for ideas as it was pretty clear the professors were more focused on containing the students' fears. What annoyed him was the disappearance of Dumbledore and the main senior staff, evidently during his thinking and checking of mental attacks, the group had left and now they were likely in a different area instead of outside the hall.

Bloody perfect!

"Everyone, please get back!" Professor Vector called out to the students while she held out her wand towards the door with Professor Babbling and Professor Sinistra ushering the students to the back of the hall. But considering the pile up, that meant Harry and his friends were at the end of the pack and closer to the doors. The girls were getting increasingly nervous while the boys were getting antsy.

"This is a really bad time to be having a holiday, huh?" Justin tried to inject some humor into the situation.

"Bad time all right, at least it is more exciting than my time back home." Blaise shrugged in his usual sarcastic manner, although the stiff shoulders were a clear indicator of him being nervous. "Only lots of reading in the house and entertaining mother's guests."

"Do you think the other professors will be returning quickly? The troll is not exactly quiet right now." Su grimaced at her words and the troll delivering a particularly hard blow to the doors with an even louder roar, likely annoyed that the doors were not destroyed under its blows.

"One can only hope." Harry looked to the professors in the hall who were getting a little harassed by the other students not following instructions. Ronald Weasley in particular was screaming his head off like it was the end of the world and needlessly setting the people around him into a panic until Hermione did something with her wand to cut off his voice, earning her a glare from him and thankful expressions from the others including his brothers.

Thank you, Hermione.

That said, Harry did not want to bank their chances on the durability of the doors that were getting hammered by the troll or the return of the professors; either they find a way to reinforce it or they had to consider leaving the safety of the Great Hall, the latter increasing the chances of getting attacked by the troll in the open corridors. His eyes wandered about the Great Hall until he looked to the long tables and benches, before looking back to the door and then to the students.

There was one possible idea…

"Daniels!" Harry called out to the senior to get his attention. "Try to get the professors attention to the doors, and gather whoever is the best at Transfiguration to the front, we will need barricade the doors quickly!"

"With what?!" Daniels yelled back. To answer that, Harry turned back to the front with his wand flicked out of the holster and focusing on the benches, imaging what he wanted before glaring at the doors.

'Think Yoda.'

With that, Harry raised both arms as he poured his magic through, along with a fair number of benches being lifted into the air before ten of them flew to the doors and slammed into them with the ends around the hinges. Maintaining that position, Harry turned his head and found with slight annoyance the others were gaping at his action. "What are you guys standing around for? Help me transfigure those to something to reinforce the doors!" That got them out of their staring and began to cast spells at said benches, turning them into metal blocks that got the ends embedded into the walls where the hinges were to restrain the doors. Harry took the remainder of the benches to stick one end to the ground and the other end stuck against the doors to better reinforce them. With that done, Harry let it up before firing off a spell to make all of them glow briefly and a magic circle appeared on the door. "There, done!"

"What did you do?" Daniels asked as he came closer with his wand lowered from casting spells.

"I reinforced the remaining benches to act as side pillars to take the energy away from the ones restraining the doors, then added a feedback force banishing charm to it so that the troll would regret trying to force its way in." Harry answered as he made sure the spell was laid correctly. Daniels and a couple of seniors blinked at his answer.

"A feedback force banishing charm?"

"Each time the troll bangs on the door, the force gets retained and multiplied with the number of times it keeps hitting it. If it manages to break the door, all of that energy will be directed back at the troll." Harry gave a very scary smile at that point. "And with the principles of a banishing charm, the troll will likely slam right into the wall at the far end of the corridor. If it is lucky, it would not end up as a pancake."

"Damn…" The senior student gave a whistle at that.

"Indeed." The two turned to find Professor Babbling and Professor Vector had come over to usher her friends to the back and had overheard his words. "The manner in which you described that spell, I know it is not heard of before. Did you create that spell per chance?" The latter asked with interest.

"I dabble sometimes." Harry shrugged. "I just look up different spells and try to combine them to see how the effects would work and compared to spell chains."

"In that case, I would like to meet up with you one of these days to ask about your dabbling, and hopefully I get to see you in my class when you begin your electives in third year." The woman spoke.

"As much as I enjoy seeing you two having a great conversation on future lessons, I would not recommend waiting around for that troll to open the door. We would need to get everyone moving." Professor Babbling remarked as the doors groaned under the repeated attempts by the troll to break it down.

"I don't suppose we could get the troll to move elsewhere?" Terry scratched his head. "Or maybe just give it some food to distract it?" Harry blinked at that before giving a glance at the feast still on the tables, then turning back to him.

"Terry, you are a genius."

"Thank you." Terry paused before asking "For what exactly?" Harry did not answer that query and merely directed his attention to the professors.

"Do you think we can distract the troll with all the food around here? I think the feast should be able to handle the stomach of a hungry troll." Harry pointed a thumb at the spread behind him. The professors looked to the food with a considerable eye. "I doubt we can open the door, so we may need to open up a hole in the wall to get the stuff out."

"Not a bad plan, the only issue is that neither of us are good with Transfiguration, and even if you have a few students that have Outstanding in Transfiguration, Hogwarts does not allow its walls to be changed easily. Maybe if you blow it up with enough power to take down buildings perhaps, or just ask the elves to move the food there? Though I hope not to do the latter." Harry frowned at that while looking at the wall in question. That was going to be a problem if the walls cannot be altered easily. He gripped his hands as he considered other options before letting out a sigh.

Sometimes he hated his paranoia.

Harry holstered his wand before reaching into his pocket and pulled out the gloves he had taken from his lab, giving the nearest wall a glance as he strapped them on to his hands, drawing attention from the others as he did so. "Mister Potter, what are you doing?"

"Going to make a hole in the wall next to the doors." Harry answered with a 'matter-of-fact' tone as he walked to the wall and flexing his fingers.

"Mister Potter, I just said that you can't transfigure the wall, please tell me you are not planning to blow it up? I was just joking!" Professor Babbling stammered out that remark but Harry focused more on what he had planned as he clapped his hands together to activate the spell on the gloves before placing them on the wall and closed his eyes to visualize what he wanted. Then with a deep breath, he pulsed his magic through the gloves. Unseen by him but noticed by the others, the symbols on his gloves glowed brightly with electricity arching out of them and travelling along the wall to the one closest to the door. While they were distracted by that, Harry had a tough battle on his end to try and get the walls to do what he wanted.

'So, this was what the professor meant by Hogwarts not wanting any changes done to the walls on a whim.' Harry gritted his teeth as he was getting bombarded by the information rushing through his mind and what appeared to be the famous castle wards weighing down on his shoulders hard. He had some experience with the wards from his creations and those of Gringotts, but the wards of Hogwarts were something else entirely and it certainly felt like someone was actually watching him through his magic, searching and waiting for his intent.

He had better make it clear.

'I need to make a small hole in the wall to get the food to the troll for distraction. This is temporary, I just want the troll to be away from us! Please help us!' Harry projected his thoughts as the wards phased through him to seemingly test him for his words. After a while, Harry felt something shift and the pressure on his shoulders dropped along with the resistance to the magic. Harry did not know what happened but did not let the chance go to waste and proceeded to move forward with his plan, forcing the walls to change shape to what he had envisioned. It should be easily done since he was not going to change the materials or making too big a change, but it was certainly very different from his previous attempts to change the shape of items in a magically-rich environment.

"What the?" He could hear someone calling out but focused on the task at hand. He continued until a mental prod knocked him out of his concentration and he opened his eyes. He turned his head to now find a portion of the wall had been turned to a slide that led to a small one-way swing panel for items to be exited to the other side where the troll was a few meters away.

Just as planned.

"Professors." He turned a bit more to look at the two female professors in question, both of whom were looking at his creation with wide eyes. "If you would be so kind as to move the food to the slide, that would be appreciated." While the professors did not respond immediately, Daniels on the other hand got a few of the others to start levitating the food items to the slide and watch them go down the slide to the hole.

"What did you do?" Harry shrugged at Padma's query while removing his hands from the wall.

"I did what I set out to do: create a hole in the wall so that we can get the food out." Harry answered with amusement at the professors looking at him and the wall in intervals. "At least with the food being moved outside, we can distract the troll to not barge into the hall, maybe make it fall asleep."

"And I think it is working." Daniels called out as he did something with his wand to let them hear the sounds of a happy troll grunting as it ate the food from the other side. "But we are going to need to keep pushing all the food out if we want to knock it out with a full stomach."

"Get to it then, chaps." Professor Babbling pulled herself back and went to get help to push the food out. "As for the rest of you, please move back with the others." Harry nodded and moved along to where the students were, with a good number now discussing what they had seen Harry do. A few of the others who heard Professor Babbling decided to help out by moving the food to the others for easier access.

"But what about us? We will starve!"

"Of course, it has to be the trash compactor complaining." Oh damn, Su was really getting angry at Weasley based on her growl, at this rate she might just blow up figuratively at the boy one of these days. Harry reached out the best he could, and seeing that he could not reach her hands with Terry standing between them, compromised with a pat on her head. Su yelped and turned to look at him with a blushing face. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to calm you down, just ignore the red-haired idiot." Harry answered with a few more pats to her head before pulling back. The girl looked at him with an uncertain expression before nodding and looking away while Terry raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"Nothing~" The grin growing on Terry's face made Harry want to smack his head for some reason.

"Erm, Harrikins?" Harry blinked and turned to find the twin Red-Headed Menaces with somewhat sheepish expressions, not helped with Harry's friends turning as one and looking a little trigger happy at the moment.

"May I help you with something, Misters Weasley?" A few of those on the outside were moving a few steps back away from the potential blow-out while the twins gulped at his tone.

"You were the one who asked the others to move the food to the troll?" The one on the left asked. Harry raised an eyebrow at his query.

"Judging from your question and the fact that there were potions detected in some of the food items, I am guessing you wanted to prank us for some Trick-or-Treat, and instead we will have a troll that might get angry at us." The twins winced at his words. "And before you answer, you will not be doing that silly twin-speak or whatever speech you do when introducing yourselves, no one is in the mood for that right now. Both of you will complete your own sentences, got it?" Unseen by Harry, a few seniors from all the four houses were nodding with their wands out and focused on the twins. The twins winced again at both his words and at the seniors. "Now who is who?"

"I am Fred." The one on the left answered.

"I am George." The one on the right waved a hand only to put it down quickly.

"Good, now my statement."

"You are… kind of correct on this." George answered sheepishly.

"What did you put in our food?" Oh dear, Padma sounded very scary while maintaining her tone, making every male around shiver at that.

"We placed a potion that would turn the Ravenclaws into different species of birds based on the combination of food they eat, have the Hufflepuffs sprout leaves for hair and branches for arms, and the Snakes to have scales or bat features to match Snape." Fred answered with hands raised in a surrender motion.

"And the Lions?" Terry asked while tapping his feet.

"Well…" Harry placed his fingers to the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath to contain his increasing irritation at the two pranksters who took the bloody house loyalty too far.

"Leaving aside your stupidity of targeting other houses for whatever reason, I imagine the tainted food being consumed in large quantities randomly would have a weird effect on the troll, especially with it eating all four houses worth of food." Harry said it as a statement instead of a question. "Notwithstanding the bit that said troll might have an influence on potions that are probably meant for human consumption." The twins looked to each other before nodding, but before they could answer...

"CUCKA-DOO-DA-DOOO!"

"What the heck?" Everyone in the hall went silent and turned as one towards the doors that were no longer being pounded and the source of the sound, waiting to see if it was a mistake. They got the reply in the form of another rooster-like sound from there, if said rooster had the common cold and a trumpet stuck down its throat with sandpaper lining it.

"What were the exact potions you placed into our food? List them out along with effects." A piece of paper with lines and a pen was produced on the spot. "Do not be cheeky right now, we need to know if there are any other unintended effects that might accidentally empower a troll. This is not a time for pranks and jokes." Harry moved away when he saw Professor Babbling waving her hand to beckon him over. A side glance showed his seniors surrounding the twins with a glint in their eyes, prompting the twins to start writing everything down in a hurry. Harry merely continued on to where the professors were.

"Mister Potter, we have a request." Professor Vector pointed to the same wall that had his modifications. "I do not think we should open the doors just yet but it would be nice if we can see what is happening outside. Do you think you can do whatever you did earlier to let us see what is going on outside?" Harry tilted his head briefly to consider before nodding.

"I can do that, but get a few others ready for action, just in case." The professors agreed and rallied the seventh years while Harry went to the wall again to try and make a one-way window. This time he barely felt much presence from the wards except for hints of amusement before the hole changed to said window. Upon its completion, Harry did a double-take at the sight that appeared before him.

That explained Hogwarts's amusement.

"Mister Potter, have you got it done?" Professor Babbling came to his side and started at the sight. "What the?" The others who came after were no different, and when someone casted a spell to magnify the image, everyone could not help but stare in silence. The first person to break it was a seventh year who had only one thing to say.

"That is one ugly motherfu~!"

"Language!"

"Really?! What else can you call it!"

Indeed, it was the only way to describe it. Among the pile of food that was surrounding it, the creature in question looked like a giant emaciated rooster that had feathers molted in random patches, scales running the sides of the neck and legs, a pair of wings that started with feathers at the back and transitioned to a pair of leather wings in a twisted Lovecraftian manner, and a misshapen head that looked like someone had tried to mold clay into their impression of a chicken, before getting high on cocaine and just added feathers, scales, boils and whatever on it with crossed slit eyes and a crooked beak. Even as they watched, one of the boils quivered before bursting open and spilling the oily contents against the window.

"EWW!" Everyone collectively grimaced from the sight, with a few going green and a couple of others upchucking their dinner. Even the professors clamped their hands to their mouths to resist gagging at it.

"Well..." Professor Babbling took a few deep breaths and pointedly looking away from the changed troll. "I think we can just alert Albus and the others that the troll has been neutralized and we could use their help to get it away from us."

"Agreed." Professor Sinistra had her eyes closed and sipping some water to hold herself back, her hands shaking from the exertion. "Just give me a moment to collect myself."

"Mister Potter, I think that would be enough, thank you. Please change the wall back." Professor Babbling was begging at this point with a few students nodding their heads very hard, and Harry was more than willing to oblige, reversing the transformation of the wall to its original self, along with the feeling that Hogwarts was amused at their reaction.

Very cheeky castle.

"Okay, I think I'm good." The beautiful professor of Astronomy let out a sigh before using a wand to conjure up some silver creature that nodded and went through the doors like a ghost. "That will get their attention and return back to the Great Hall, let's hope they don't lose their dinner." A few of the students chuckled weakly at that.

"I suppose everyone else is not hungry after that?" That was mostly confirmed with everyone except for Ronald Weasley who had apparently found a spot at the house table and was now working through a steak in a messy manner, driving those near him to back away with disgusted expressions. "Never mind." Babbling pinched the bridge of her nose at that.

"What in Sweet Merlin is that?!" The sounds of Filius's exclamation from the other side of the door drew laughter at his evident shock, helping to dispel the last of the worries. Even more laughed when McGonagall could be heard demonstrating her Scottish background and vocabulary to describe the situation, with a few like Morag McDougal and Harry able to listen and blush at her colorful words. The door lightly shook when someone knocked on it.

"Hello in there! Can someone please open the doors?" Hagrid called out from outside.

"Mister Potter?" Oh great, he was now the handyman. Harry grumbled slightly in his head as he raised his arms and his gloves shone brightly before the makeshift door jammers and bars were removed and restored to their original bench forms. With a wave of his hand, he removed the self-made charm and reinforcements before dropping his hands done. "It's open!"

The doors opened wide to reveal the professors surrounding a cage containing the troll-transformed-chicken creature and placing a cover on the cage to stop having to look at it. Professor Sprout in particular looked ready to provide an alternative fertilizer for her plants with how green she was looking at the moment.

"I see that you have managed to disable the troll." Filius remarked with a tone that showed him trying to understand how any of it had happened.

"Mister Potter and a few of the upper years aided us in reinforcing the doors and getting the food outside to distract the troll. As for the transformation." Professor Sinistra was still a little green as she pointed to a pair of sheepish twins. "You can thank them since they were hoping for different targets tonight."

"I see, well at least their pranks came in handy this time round." Filius answered in a flat tone.

"Indeed." Harry turned to find Albus Dumbledore coming through to look upon them. "It would appear our students were able to handle themselves nicely."

"That is putting it mildly." Professor Babbling looked to them with a bright smile. "We will think of something better for you guys, but for now, 50 points each for every person aiding in the defense. Be it the fortifications or the food transport, hell even the pranks!" The students cheered for everyone who helped out, including the Slytherins willing to listen to Harry and the professors for the defense.

"Is the DMLE alerted to the situation?" Harry asked Filius.

"Not yet, but we will probably do so after we secured the troll properly." The half-goblin answered.

"I do not think we need to do that." Dumbledore cut in at this point "there were no students injured from this incident and the troll did not succeed in invading the Great Hall."

"The DMLE needs to be alerted in the event that Hogwarts is breached. That is procedure especially with children involved." Harry narrowed his eyes at the old man who looked on with a rather patronizing expression.

"Mister Potter, I know what is required, and you are merely a student. Now if the prefects can please bring the students back to the common rooms, we shall be able to settle this before the end of today." Before Harry could comment, the headmaster moved away and he ended up getting ushered by Penelope Clearwater to the rest of his classmates.

"Maybe I am being paranoid, but does it sound like the headmaster will not contact the DMLE?" Michael looked at the others for this, having overheard and watched the interaction.

"You are correct, he is planning not to." Harry answered grimly. "I think we will need to get this out to our guardians for this once we enter the common room. I would rather our guardians do not get this at the last second from other people."

"But won't the owls be prevented from leaving?" Lisa chimed in on her end. "If I recall correctly, the headmaster has the power to put the entire castle on communication lockdown."

"He will need to set it quickly to do so. In the event he does do a lockdown, I am going to use my secured mail-box to send the message. He cannot stop that unless he wishes to incur the wrath of the goblins." Harry made that declaration, while handling something in his pocket. He just hoped that he did not need to use this in case that got interrupted as well.

Due to the damage of the corridor by the troll, the Ravenclaws had to take the same path with the Gryffindors, where the Ravenclaws had the first-hand look at how Percy Weasley conducted his handling during a crisis, and Harry had to sympathize with Hermione and Parvati every time the fifth-year student kept calling out to the students while herding them along. He meant well for sure, but he could be better in his instructions and his directions to those in his house.

Then again, with how the other Weasleys were acting, that may have been the reason.

"Do you think it is over?" Padma spoke out for the first time since they left the Great Hall as the two houses stopped by the staircase landing to wait for the stairs to come to their end. Harry could not help thinking about Tolkien's scene involving the fellowship going about the staircase in the Mines of Moria while being chased by the Balrog and goblins, and prayed really hard that was not a sign of things to come.

Harry should invest more time in finding shortcuts than relying on these stairs.

"Hopefully." Michael spoke out at his end. "I mean, how often would you have trolls in Hogwarts?"

"More common in the past than the present." Hermione who had taken the chance to get near them as they await their turn on the stairs spoke out unconsciously, and as a method of containing her anxiety given how she was fiddling with her hands and biting her lip. "Trolls used to be a major part of the castle's security during the warring periods of Arthurian rule, and went on until the late 1400s. It then got slowly phased off until a few years after the Stature of Secrecy when the headmaster of the time decided that they were no longer required. Since then, there has only been 3 times that trolls were deployed in Hogwarts for security, and even then, it was usually one sent out."

"Well, at least Harry and the others got that sorted out." Terry stretched his arms as the staircase was finally moving to them. "And with that little bit of excitement done, I think it is safe to say that I do not need to experience that again."

"That makes two of us." Harry snorted with the others nodding.

"Yeah, and considering what just happened, there is absolutely no way..." Harry, Su and Hermione had their eyes gone wide before they rushed to stop Terry.

"Wait, don't finish that!"

"This night can get worse OUI!" Terry yelped as the three grabbed on to him. "What gives?!"

"You fool, you just jinxed us!" Hermione grabbed her hair in frustration.

"Come on, that is just superstition. No way that would come true." Harry facepalmed at this point; if Terry had said it elsewhere, he might be correct, but say it around him and the infamous Potter luck...

"RRRROOOAARR!"

All turned as one to see an actual troll at the far end of the corridor, its height roughly three-quarters of the corridor itself that allowed the troll to swing a particularly nasty looking wooden club with bones decorating the handle. The troll had palish grey skin with patches of green and wore a loincloth that appeared to be made from multiple skins and in deep need of a wash, and what hair that was on its head was tied into a very rough ponytail that had a single bone acting as the needle and skulls as beads.

And it was looking at them hungrily...

"Erm, oops?" Terry squeaked at the sight of the troll.

"Never test Murphy, he loves to mess with us." Harry grumbled.

Damn his Potter Luck.

"RRRRRROOOOAAARRR!" The troll replied to his remark in the only manner possible by roaring out and swinging its club at them while taking big steps towards them, making a fair number of the students scream and run into one another as they attempted to go to safety. The fifth-year students tried their best to get the younger students back to the secondary corridor while the sixth and seventh years attempt to slow the troll down. Harry let out an 'OOF!' when he got slammed into the wall by a few passing seniors in their attempts to get away, separating him from his group of friends.

"Potter! Get moving!" One of his seniors called out to him.

"Trying to!" Harry moved only to be pushed back again. "Damn it!"

"RRROOOAARR!" The troll appeared to be feasting upon their fears and swinging wildly with its club, tagging a few in between the swings and sending them against the wall. A few who managed to avoid it were sprawling all over the floor, including Penny who got her wand knocked out of her hand. With the other prefects occupied, she was essentially a sitting duck for the troll which was raising its club to flatten her.

Not if he could help it.

Harry clapped both his hands together, the gloves he still had on activating the runes before he slammed both hands on the ground, causing the ground to act like water and go uneven, making the troll stumble with a startled growl and crashing on its back thanks to the weight of the club dragging it down backwards. The ground shifted and moved Penny back towards Harry with her wand next to her along with the other students who were injured on the floor and moving to the ones far down the corridor.

"Might want to stand up, Penny!" Harry called out to her who nodded with a grateful expression and got up with wand at hand to a few feet behind him. Harry pulsed his gloves again to erect a wall made from the floor bricks to cut it off, doing the same at the opposite end to keep it contained. "That won't hold it for long, best to get moving!"

"This way, Harry!" Penny directed him to the corridor where the others were, but as they were approaching the students, the corridor suddenly shifted and the two stumbled as the bricks started to move and cut them off from the others. "Bloody hell! What in Merlin's name is going on?!"

Harry could not answer as his mind was suddenly filled with a feeling of pain when he hit the floor, and he could feel Hogwarts's magic in agony as though something was invading it and twisting the magic into something else. He could tell that whatever was happening appeared to be harming the castle in some manner, and it was also keeping them away from the others. Instinctively he released a pulse of magic to assure the entity and attempt to release it from whatever was invading it, and it seemed to work as the bricks had stopped shifting at that point and there were hints of gratefulness in the wards.

"No idea, but we better get moving!" Harry quickly got back up and helped Penny to her feet. "It can't be a coincidence that there is a second troll here, someone is trying to ensure that there are casualties!" The sound of a wall collapsing and a troll's angry roar drew their attention to the creature that had managed to break his obstruction down and was bearing down on them quickly. "Ah crap!"

"Harry, get behind me!" Penny moved him while leveling her wand at the troll. Harry took the chance to slam his hands down on the floor again, this time to use the debris to combine and reshape themselves into pillars to slam into the troll and push it back. Without stopping, Harry called out to Penny.

"I can keep it back for a while, see if you can make a hole in the obstruction!" Penny startled and went to the wall cutting them off which she proceeded to blast it with spells that cracked and blew it up. Harry turned back to the troll that was now snarling at his intervention and was crashing through the pillars like water hitting the beach. Harry gritted his teeth and pulsed his magic through the floor again, this time using the debris to create metal chains to wrap around the limbs and secured them to the brickwork. For added bonus, he reworked some of the brickwork to create makeshift manacles for the wrists and a crude version of a pillory.

"That ought to do it." Harry muttered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that looked to be a mixed of a metal slab and plastic with symbols on it with a clear jewel attached to it. With nimble fingers, he entered a combination before pressing on the jewel hard to let out one drop of blood to coat it, making it shine brightly before turning red.

Hopefully help would arrive soon.

"Got it!" Penny called out to him as some of the other students arrived from the other side to help clear the debris. "We can get through now!" Before Harry could respond, several beams of light shot above their heads and towards the troll, hitting the restraints to release the troll, letting it roar out in victory.

"Are you bloody kidding me?!" Harry could not help the words out of his mouth. It was bad enough trying to restrain it, now someone had released it. Worse was the troll learning its mistakes and grabbing some of the bigger debris to throw at them, forcing the students behind to take cover or to blast them to avoid getting hit. Harry had to create several obstructions as he moved towards the students, but just as he was about to reach them, a blue spell hit the floor and make the debris glowed briefly before coming together to form a clear glass a few centimeters thick, causing him to hit it head on and stumble back with an aching nose.

"Really?!" Harry smacked the glass hard to no effect, then fired off a blasting hex but had to dodge to the side when the spell reflected off it and sent the troll sprawling back a few feet. "Ah come on!"

"Who did that!" Penny turned around with a glare. "You better prepare your will when I get my wand on your arse for this!" A few of the seniors shared her expression while they attempted to break the glass wall down to no avail. Harry ignored them and focused on the incoming troll, his gloves glowing brighter as he flicked out his wand and prepared for incoming mess.

He would have liked to keep this under wraps, but he can't afford to hold back at this point.

"[Lance]!" He pointed his hand at the troll, five gold circles appearing behind him with sigils and numbers surrounding their circumference with something building in the center. With a twitch of his finger, five lances shot out of the circles and straight at the troll, impaling the limbs to slow it down. "[Chain Bind]!" Chains of light appeared out of the circles next and restraint it again. Grasping his wand with both hands, he mimicked a baseball player ready to hit a home run and swung hard with a yell, making the chains go taut and sent the troll smashing into the wall. With a grunt, Harry pulled his arm to simulate pulling the chains to throw the troll into the other wall, repeating the action a few times before he threw the troll to the other end of the corridor.

"That is not going to work for long." Harry muttered as he considered his next move. The seniors appeared to be making no headway to destroying the glass wall, and he had to resist facepalming at their direct method of facing the problem. Some he could get for being Gryffindors as headstrong, but the rest of them were supposed to be Ravenclaws for crying out loud! Think outside the box!

'Sorry about this, Hogwarts!' With that mental apology, Harry aimed his wand at the nearest wall and blasted it open to reveal another room for him to move to. This also allowed Penny to see what he did, making her run into the closest classroom to blast the wall connecting the two rooms together.

"Good move, Harry!" Penny grabbed him and checked him quickly before hugging him tightly. "You are safe, but let's not do that again!"

"Point made and accepted!" A roar of frustration broke their happy mood. "Right now, we ought to move!" The pretty prefect agreed and the two moved past the glass wall and to the corridor where the rest of the students had left. But the obstructions were not stopped and it would appear that they were being directed to another set of staircases meant for connections to the other wings.

"I don't suppose you know who messed up our escape earlier?" Harry asked as they neared the location.

"Not a clue, and I intend to find out!" Penny growled angrily at that with her hair sparking while they ran. "The fact that someone wanted to screw us over with the troll by removing your restraints and stopping you from getting through, makes me really angry right now!"

Yikes, do not make Penny any angrier than she was.

His thoughts of keeping an angry Penny at arm's length got interrupted at the sound of footsteps approaching them, and with the amount of adrenaline pumping in the two, they spun around on their heels with wands out and spells at the ready.

"WHOA, friendly! Friendly!" Harry nearly sagged at the sight of Hermione and Su raising their arms in the air at their wands.

"Why are you girls here?" Penny demanded as she lowered her wand. "You were supposed to be with your houses!"

"We got separated from the others around the bend. Not helped when the other students kept pushing us about." Hermione answered the prefect with a huff.

"Bloody Weasley kept shoving everyone aside just so he could get away screaming." Su growled in a manner similar to a tiger wanting to attack. "At least his brothers were doing something constructive, but damn him!" Harry turned to Hermione who looked ready to commit murder. All thoughts of considerable pant wetting hexes went out the window when their area rumbled before the wall behind Hermione and Su a few feet away collapsed to reveal the same troll that had been chasing them, the welts on the limbs and puncture wounds a reminder of his attacks.

And as though to prove that it was not totally dumb, the troll took one look at him before letting out a loud and angry roar.

Crud.

"Move now!" Penny's shout got them moving and climbing up a set of stairs, but the troll decided to demonstrate a jumping talent despite of its size and leaped across the open gap and to the next landing, forcing them to hang on to the railings for dear life as the stairs groaned and protested under the sudden increase of weight.

"Why are there more troll invaders in Hogwarts?!" Hermione screamed in frustration while grabbing the railing.

"No idea, but when I do find the one who is doing this, I am so kicking his shins to the next country!" Su grimaced as the troll roared loudly. "SHUT UP DAMN IT!"

"Hang on!" Penny did something that connected ropes to their waists and to each other. That was done in a nick of time as the troll swung the club on to the stairs and broke them, causing Hermione and Su to fall through the cracks and would have continued on to the ground level screaming if Harry did not use his feet on the steps to stop the fall.

"I got you!" Harry grunted as he internalized his magic to focus on his arms to pull. "Crickey! You girls need to lay off the pudding!"

"WE ARE NOT FAT!" Two indignant voices called out to him from below, and for a brief moment, Harry could have sworn the troll laughed at that reply, but then that moment passed and the troll bent its legs to prepare for another leap.

"Ah come on!" Harry growled as he pooled his magic before releasing one hand to point the palm at the troll just as it leaped across the gap with its club raised high in the air. With a grunt, he used the 'Force' to stop it in midair and left it hanging for a while. "Penny, I could use some help here!" The prefect arrived by his side to help him pull the girls, which eased the load off him and helped to focus on containing the troll that was straining to be released from his hold.

"Come on girls, almost there!" Penny took the last leg of rope and pulled hard with a yell to drag Su up first and then Hermione. Harry used that as an indicator to 'Force Push' the troll away and into the wall, causing it to lodge itself in the cracks. With a bit of effort, Harry got up and helped the girls to move back down the steps.

"You managed to hold back the troll in mid-air!" Su exclaimed as they got to the bottom of the steps and back to their original landing. "You have got to teach us how to do that!" Harry focused more on getting to the landing before bending over and panting, feeling the magic in his body heating up inside.

"Harry, are you okay?" Penny placed a hand on his back with a concerned expression before pulling it back with a hiss. "You look exhausted. And why is your body heating up so much?"

"I have to expand a fair bit of magic holding that troll up in the air before pushing it back, and it weighs a lot more than the training weights I use back home. And unlike the weights, the troll is alive and kicking." Harry took a deep breath and straightened himself up. "I should be fine after a few minutes. My magic is just doing a bit of overtime."

"I think we can get back down and... Look Out!" Hermione's warning and Harry's proximity senses were the only things that got Harry binding the girls to him with chains and leaping to the next landing, thus saving them from being made into a splatter stain by the troll's club that broke the landing they were previously on. The troll now sporting more wounds roared in frustration and swung again, sending some of the debris at them, forcing Harry to move the lot down the stairs.

"Harry, I think you can let us go!" Penny yelped at the sharp pull of the chain as the troll kept trying to catch them. Harry cursed inwardly in all the languages he had learned at the situation; the staircase they were at was not as wide as the grand staircase since this was used for the least used parts of the castle, and that meant fewer exits to said parts of the castle. The stairways themselves were narrow due to the smaller foot traffic, so there won't be enough space for them to cast spells. Harry spotted the closest exit down two levels and winced at the size of the landing, there was barely enough space for them to stand, let alone fire off whatever spells at the troll.

There was only one option, and he could almost hear his guardians, lawyer and the goblins berating him for this choice.

"Sorry about this!" Harry yanked the chains to throw the girls at the exit, then slammed his hands on the floor to create makeshift barriers to protect them while sending the troll back into spikes that popped out of the stairway. The hard hide of the troll meant that the bigger spikes did little aside from irritating it, but he did get it to step on a few smaller spikes that would force it to move slower. Using the time granted to him, Harry raised a hand and spun it a few times to create a simple shield that he had tried out for to see if he could replicate the one from the comic involving a doctor who could bend time and space with his hands. He got the shield up in time as the troll came crashing forward with bloody feet and swung the club hard, his shield taking the blunt of the attack and reflecting much of the force back at the troll but forcing him against the wall.

"Oh crap!" Harry looked to the cracks on his shield and forced more magic into it to fix them while the troll was getting peppered by spells cast by the girls, with Penny's hitting it for the most part and merely pissing it off enough to ignore its wounds just so it could get to him. And as the troll raised its club, Harry knew that this was going to hurt. A lot.

And he was proven right when the club struck his shield hard enough to break it into pieces of light, dislocated his shoulder, send him flying off his feet, over the banister, and down the stairway.

At that point, Harry could be forgiven for screaming out a certain bad word.

"SSSSSSHHHHIIITTT!" The boy flailed his arms as he attempted to orient himself before he made himself a stain on the incoming wall, the girls' screams echoing about in the staircase as they attempted to stop his maiden flight.

"Hang on, lad! I got you!" The portrait that he was about to make a personal face-to-face meeting with called out to him before opening up to reveal a passage that he tumbled into and proceeded to go on a slide that went downwards in twists and turns, making him very dizzy as he went faster. It felt like hours instead of seconds when light appeared at the end of the slide and Harry shot out of the passage with a yell and rolled about on the floor before coming to sudden stop against the opposite wall, his legs in the air and his head sporting a big bruise.

"Ow…"

"Are you okay, lad?"

"Peachy, just peachy." Harry attempted to orientate himself and ended up with his face to the ground when he lost balance, hissing in pain from his shoulder. "I am going to be needing a break from lessons after this."

"I think they had better do so." The portrait of an archer answered him. "Sorry for the suddenness, but I figured that it would be better to lose your dinner and have a couple of bruises than to have your bones broken against the wall."

"My thanks to you, sir." Harry lightly shook his head as he stood up. "Could I ask for your name, and where I am for that matter?"

"Call me William, Mister Potter." The portrait answered. "As for where you are? Currently one level above the dungeons and a few corridors away from the Slytherin common room." Harry hummed in agreement as his dizziness subsided and his magic was starting to calm down from the fight with the troll. "It is not safe for you to be alone, especially with more trolls wandering about."

"How many in total?" Harry suppressed a groan at the archer holding up three fingers. "Do the professors know?"

"We have alerted the ones we could get, and considering the amount of destruction and roaring those trolls were doing, they should be alerted to the remaining two. Right now, we better get you to safety."

"True, I am not in the best of state right now." Harry held up a finger before he placed his hand on the right shoulder, took a deep breath, and with a bit of 'Force' magic reinforcing the general area, popped his shoulder back in place with a groan and bending over from the pain.

"Are you bloody mental, boy?!"

"Not my first time fixing myself or my bones." There was a hint of bitterness and resignation in his tone as he tested his arm carefully. "Compared to my time with the Dursleys, this would be a love tap. So where do I go now, sir?" William looked like he wanted to argue, but got interrupted by a loud roar that echoed in the chamber.

"Bloody hell, that troll is coming around. Quickly now! There is an old equipment room with reinforced doors at the end of this corridor!" The portrait of a jester next to the archer answered while pointing a finger to Harry's right. "Get inside and lock yourself with those doors. They should be able to withstand the troll for a while."

"Thank you, I guess I better get moving." Harry got interrupted by another occupant going through the different portraits from the other end of the corridor. The image of a gardener came crashing into William, causing him to curse very prominently in Gaelic, but the gardener ignored him and called out to everyone in the general area.

"We got trouble at the Potion Labs! A girl just got separated from her group and the troll is about to clobber her!" Without meaning to, the ground beneath Hary cracked from the amount of force exerted as he rushed to where the girl was with the sounds of the portraits calling to stop him. In no time, Harry skidded on the floor just as he turned the corner to see a girl in the colors of Slytherin on the ground with a bigger and uglier troll raising its particularly nasty looking club-axe above its head, ready to smash her into bits. Harry let the momentum carried him on as he slapped his hands together before slamming them to the ground, causing the ground to act like liquid briefly to pull the girl back, and then shoot out a column of stone that reshaped itself quickly into a giant fist to deliver a straight right into the surprised troll's face, sending it off its feet and away to the far end of the corridor.

What, he was still angry with his last engagement with the other troll, he wanted payback! And this was the closest he could get to punching an actual troll!

"Are you all right, miss?" Harry moved to the girl's side who he recognized as Tracey Davis from his year group. For the most part, she appeared to be okay outside of bruises and scratches, but the way her right leg was held suggest that she had sprained her foot and fell hard. The girl did not seem to respond until he placed a hand on her shoulder and poured some 'Force' magic to calm her down, then she blinked and turned to him.

"Potter, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Bad luck on my part." Harry gave a wry smile at that. "Can you stand? The portraits told me that there is a secure room at the other side for us to hunker down." The girl took the offered hand to get up, but hissed as she tried to rest her foot on the ground. "That is a very nasty sprain." The growls brought their attention to the troll that was getting up and cradling its head with one hand. For a while it stopped when it laid eyes on them, before said eyes narrowed on him.

Uh Oh~

"Time to book it!" Harry swept Tracey off her feet in what he would learn later as a bridal cradle and proceeded to run back to his initial starting point and to the stated equipment room, ignoring the anguished roar and the thundering of feet coming after them from behind. Unlike the previous times though, this was one instance he had more than enough training in: running around with weights on his body and resistance bands around his limbs along with runes to cut off magic to force him to use his physical strength to ensure that he can lift heavy items. As such, he was leaving the troll behind in the dust with Tracey in his arms and the portraits giving him directions to the equipment room, and with a few sharp turns, he got to the room with the troll still making the corners. Apologizing in his head, Harry took a leap for the last few meters to kick the doors open with the momentum carrying him to the nearest couch for him to place Tracey down, then he flicked his hand at the doors to close and lock them with bolts. For added measure, he summoned the heavy poles he spotted and stuck them to the doors to further reinforce them before getting the biggest cabinet in the room to block the door, just in the nick of time as the doors jolted from the impact of the troll slamming its club at them. The cabinet of equipment barely budged from the repeated hits, even the items inside were not moving that much.

How much stuff was inside that cupboard?

"That was too close." Harry wiped the brow of his head and let out a breath, a little confident that the reinforced doors and cabinet should be able to hold back the troll for a while until the professors came along. He applied a minor sound dampening charm to the doorway to reduce the sounds before he turned to Tracey who had now sat up straight with her sprained leg held out and sporting an odd blush, likely from the adrenaline pumping through her veins. "We should be able to hold out in the room for now."

"That is welcoming." The girl drawled as she looked at him with a curious eye. "When can you do all of that? That is a lot more than just the wandless magic you sometimes pull out for lessons, right?"

"Personal family magic." Harry gave the excuse as he checked the gloves, noting the heat coming off them and thinking of ways to upgrade them properly. "Wandless magic is essentially accidental magic given focus and intent. I just work with that along with other studies."

"Right~" Tracey moved and hissed while glaring at her sprained ankle.

"If you allow me, I could give it a quick check." Harry raised his hand slowly to show his wand, knowing how a few people tend to view wands directed at them suddenly. It was a good move as Tracey looked warily at him before giving a slow nod. Harry moved to her leg, and slowly removed her shoe and sock to reveal a notable bump around her ankle. He lightly prodded her foot with a hand while casting some diagnostic spells with his wand, mentally thankful that he went about studying some basic medical spells just in case.

"That is a very bad sprain, we need to get you some support for that leg until a healer comes to look at it." Harry frowned as he lowered his wand and looked about the room for material. He paused at the suits of armor that were in a corner, with one set on the ground in pieces from the constant pounding by the troll. He got up and looked at said pieces carefully, then grabbed the saboton and one of the smaller pieces to compare before looking up.

"Mind if I borrow these?" In response, a knight's glove from the closest standing set clenched to give a thumbs up.

"I don't think those are my shoe sizes." Tracey snarked as Harry brought back the two sabatons along with some thin armor plating and adjusted the right-side version to her foot. "Nor is it my style."

"Those can be remedied easily." Harry made sure that she still had wiggle room in the saboton before grabbing one of the metal plating and placing her foot on it. Once done, he placed both hands on the two items and activated the gloves, creating a bit of a light show that made the both of them squint lightly from the sudden glare, but still dim enough for them to see the two objects gain a more liquid state and merged together, moving and flowing about her foot and leg until it turned into a more form fitting boot with notable ankle reinforcements and a thin greave covering the shin of her leg. "Done. Please try to stand up and move about." Harry had to suppress a smirk as he helped the gawking girl up on her feet. The girl tried to stand on her own and closing her eyes for the pain, only to open them when she did not feel any.

"Okay, that is good. I can bend my ankle a little without it hurting." Tracey wiggled her foot a little to test it before trying to walk, limping due to the height difference of her legs. "It does not hurt, but it is very awkward having one side higher than the other."

"Good thing I got the other pieces." Harry held up the other saboton in his hand. "Care for a matching set?" Tracey paused before shrugging and making her way back to the couch. Harry made quick work attaching the second saboton and metal piece to her other foot to be more balanced, deciding to add some decorations out of some humorous thought. Tracey blinked at the more intricate design for her left foot.

"Not bad, Potter. A little flowery for metal footwear, but I think that could catch on." A corner of her mouth was twitching as she studied the thinner design. She tried to walk about on her new footwear, and outside of a couple of slips, was able to walk almost naturally. "I think I could get used to this."

"That's good." Harry let out a tired sigh as he took a seat in a chair near the couch to catch his breath. He could feel his magic heating up again in his body and it was getting to an uncomfortable level as though he had hot water poured directly into his veins.

"You are not looking too good, Potter." Tracey commented at his appearance before blanching. "And why do you have steam coming off you?!" Oh, that explained the odd feeling of stickiness on his skin. Harry shrugged off his outer robes to let off the excess heat with a sigh of relief, he would not be surprised that a lot more steam appeared after that based on the look on Tracey's face.

"I have to use a lot of my magic with the troll that I encountered earlier, and I had very few breaks in between." Harry answered with a few deep breaths. "For most of you, magic depletion just makes you tired, but in my case, I regularly push my magic to the limits, and on such times my body overheats from the exertion and I would need a while to cool off." Harry waved off the girl with a hand to assure her while manipulating some cold air on his back to lessen the heat. "I just need a few seconds to not use my magic to stop my body from overheating."

"Oh…" Tracey looked down at her legs with the metal attachments. "Sorry about this."

"It's not your fault." Harry would have said more if not for the extra hard hit from outside that actually jolted the cupboard. "That is not good."

"Do you think the troll could break in here, Potter?" Tracey got closer to him as the repeated hits on the door were moving the cabinet and making objects drop to the ground. In response, Harry slammed both hands to the ground, arcs of electricity appearing around them while lines of lights travelled on the ground and to every bit of equipment about, before all of them went to the walls and melded together to form a giant sheet of metal covering the entire room with pillars for reinforcement of the doors, thus negating the hits again. "Okay, that is nifty. But the professors are taking their sweet time."

"True." Harry frowned as he felt out with his magic to find an alternate route. The best he could tell was the room right below them and it would be a good way to get away from the troll. But what if the troll decided that they were not the effort and moved off to another location? Other students could get hurt and the professors were not coming quickly enough!

"I may have an idea." Harry kept his hands on the ground and opened up a hole in the ground with the material used to create a step ladder to the room below. "You go down there and stay safe, or if you know any portraits at the same level, try to get their attention."

"What about you?" Tracey paused at the hole.

"That troll is currently focused on us as targets, but I can tell that it is getting frustrated and will leave the floor soon. What I am thinking is to keep it contained so that the professors can handle it." He held up a hand to stop her likely words "I am not going to fight it; I am hoping to build the walls around the corridor to hold it in before I get myself to safety." The girl looked at him with a frown before shaking her head and went down the ladder.

"It is your funeral, Potter. At least try to stay alive." The boy snorted at her attempt to tell him to be safe.

"Will do, Miss Davis." Harry made sure she reached the floor and checked for the door before closing up the hole in the ground. Harry let out a sigh as he got up and stretched his limbs while the banging of the walls appeared to be getting stronger with each hit, making him wonder if that was natural or that was the work of the interloper that had trapped him and Penny earlier.

One way to find out.

Harry took a slow breath to ease himself while he considered what to do and what he spoke to Tracey. He was telling the truth of wanting to contain the troll to ensure it could not move away to attack others, but a small part of him was feeling a touch excited at the prospect of using his own spells against the troll. He even went to check himself and his attire to make sure he was not under a charm or compulsion only to come clean, so that meant he was actually liking the idea of having his blood pumping for possible action.

Given who was his great grandfather, some people would say he was a chip of the old 'Charlus Block' as they might put it.

But that did not mean Harry could afford to be careless or whimsical in his casting. He had already used a couple of his own spells earlier in conjunction with his glove invention just to deal with the second troll, he would like to keep the remainder under wraps as he knew that there were going to be some people arriving at Hogwarts to ask questions, whether Dumbledore wanted them or not. He had his recording crystal going for the day as he normally would, so there was no hiding what he did earlier, not to mention the students probably telling their parents or guardians about the broom incident as Lisa did to assure her parents when they were alerted previously.

With all of that said, Harry knew that he could not hold back too much otherwise he would get crippled if not dead within the next few minutes, nor should he act like some cowboy eager for a fight. He would need to use what he had already done in more creative manners, while ensuring he did not need to use his more destructive spells just yet. And if he could not handle the attacks, immediately cut off its means of escapes and run away.

No biggie…

Joy.

Harry took another deep breath just as the pillars holding the door started to show cracks and bends from the repeated attacks, clenching and flexing his hands while the runes on the gloves glowed brightly and he placed his robes back on, ensuring the runes and charms were still active on them and activating a particular one to wrap the robes tightly around his body to avoid loose ends. This would be his very first trial run of all the spells he had created for such an occasion. It was going to be eye-opening and likely painting a big target on his back, but he knew he would need to use those spells sooner or later.

Time to roll out.

He recalled the image of the corridor in his head and teleported out of the room to the far end of the corridor just in time to see the troll destroy the doors. One thing he did note was the shimmer of a disillusionment charm near the exit point, and based on the sudden movement, Harry managed to catch the castor off guard. With gravity doing the work for him, Harry slapped one hand against the ground to throw the invisible castor off his feet from the undulating ground and snapped the fingers of his other hand to conjure up some rope and gold dust to cover the body. The rope barely wrapped around the figure when it got cut into pieces and the invisible castor fired a spell at him that screamed at his senses to move away. Harry teleported again to another spot a couple of meters away, letting the spell hit the wall and seemingly melt it upon impact. This time, Harry could see his attacker due to the dust clinging to what appeared to be the arm and shoulder, giving him some idea of the attacker's height. With that settled, Harry switched to stunners and hexes to throw the attacker off, but the attacker kept up a shield to block them while using some of the rubble around to transfigure into animals trying to eat him. Harry snapped his fingers to transform them back before firing off another spell of his creation, a spinning disc of light that launched itself at the attacker. Said attacker attempted to move away and dispel his spell, but as he had planned, the spinning disc expanded violently and struck the attacker hard, throwing the attacker to the floor and evidently spilled some blood. As Harry got closer, the attacker cursed and fired off a light blast that forced Harry to transfigure the rubble to make a barrier to block the light and launched another spell at the attacker which they dodged to the side before disappearing with a pop.

"Damn it!" The sounds of the troll interrupted his inner cursing of multiple languages to draw his attention at the creature that had turned from the sounds and spotted him. The troll snarled and rushed forward with the club held high, eager to turn him into a pancake. Harry was in a bad mood and did not want a repeat of the last troll so he fired off a cutting spell at the club, removing the big mass off the handle and making the troll misjudge its steps and tripping into the stone wall by the side. Harry used the chance to summon his chains to wrap the troll up and send it back down the corridor before sealing off the passageway with multiple walls. He would rather have more space if he wanted to get away from the troll. Harry turned only to pause at the small patch of blood left behind by the attacker, checking through his pockets for the small case of test tubes to collect it.

And that Goldstein said that he was stupid to carry about test tubes all the time, he was just practicing Constant Vigilance!

It was as he took off running that Harry heard to his dread the sounds of walls breaking down behind him in quick succession. The final wall he put up exploded with the sight of the troll bellowing and charging for him like it wanted to recreate the scene from the Lord of The Rings, but Harry did not have a mithril shirt, a dwarf with an axe, an elf and a ranger.

"CRAP!" Harry hightailed it out of the area while touching his hands against the walls every so often to create obstacles to slow it down, an action that was proving futile with how the troll was bulldozing its way through them and seemingly getting faster with its building frustration for failing to get to him. Harry leaped to the side when the troll threw one of the rubbles it grabbed along the way, forcing him to run up some steps before moving down a corridor with only a window that he recalled showed the view of one of the smaller courtyards of Hogwarts. With a grimace, Harry rushed forward to blast the window apart with some of the brick work and leaped with arms covering his head, smashing through the remainder and rolling on the ground for a bit. He barely got a moment to stop to catch his breath when the outer wall broke down to reveal a very angry troll letting out a victory roar at cornering him.

"Okay, big guy." Harry activated the full set of runes on his gloves while glaring at the giant creature. "You want me this badly? Come get some!"

The troll answered his challenge with a roar and leaped forward with a fist directed at him. Harry dodged to the side to let the troll's fist wrecked the ground and to grant him ammunition for his planned attack. He waved a hand to transfigure some of the rubble into daggers and fired them through a rune circle to accelerate their speed to overcome the thick hide, then created chains from the dust to hold it down. The troll roared in agony and anger from the daggers stabbing into the arms and the chains trying to hold it down, and took a giant leap in the air to pull the chains off, taking out portions of ground in the process. It did not stop there as it grabbed the chains tied to its arms and swung the ends with debris still attached to them as makeshift weapons. Harry flung out his hand to block one with a projected shield of energy and snapped his fingers with the second hand to blow the other one up. He then stomped on the ground with his arms down and palms directed upwards before raising them up with a yell, causing the ground beneath the troll to erupt as a giant pillar and sending the troll flying a few feet away.

"Right, it would not be that easy." Harry muttered as he brought his hands together and activated the runes. Instead of slamming them on the ground, he drew them apart vertically and spun them about, an energy trail following his hands to form a vertical line and then a circle. Two parallel lines done diagonally formed a square within the circle before he brought his hands back to the center and stabbed the magic circle, numbers and zeros appearing within the gaps. With a grunt, he pulled apart his hands to split the magic circle in half, the two halves forming around his arms to create smaller magic circles as he got into a running stance.

"Take two."

The troll answered his words as it came charging back and swinging the chains with one arm, said chains being swung with such speed and intensity that it was chopping down the surrounding trees and stonework like a hot knife through butter. Harry took a risk and rushed towards the troll with three magic circles appearing behind him. From each circle, a ball of light appeared and began firing shots like a shotgun as he ran, peppering the troll with light burns that enraged it. Harry did not stop his run and slide the last few feet, letting the momentum carry him between the troll's legs and behind the troll. Two of the circles slammed into the troll with the balls exploding upon impact, while the last one followed Harry and continued firing shots at the troll's back. The troll roared out in frustration and swung the chain around, with Harry teleporting away in time to avoid the chain destroying his last bombardment mandala and the ground where he last stood.

"Tch!" Harry gritted his teeth as he appeared a few feet away with the troll quickly bounding for him. Harry pulled back his right arm and gathered as much mana as he could before delivering a straight right at the troll, creating a blast of light that temporarily lit up the courtyard brightly and roared towards the troll. The troll attempted to move away but was slow in the dodging, costing it the left arm that got briefly covered by the light and then burned off at the shoulder, leaving behind a smothering stump in its place. The troll let out a roar of agony as it clutched the stump and staggered to the trees.

"Damn it. Both spells need more work." Harry muttered as he disengaged the spell and fired off a firework from a magic circle into the sky, the sounds and bright lights demonstrating a light show that ought to attract the attention of the professors if the resulting fight and chase were not a good enough attraction for them earlier. Harry was not liking the response time the professors were demonstrating in light of this emergency.

His senses suddenly screamed for him to dodge, and he obliged by teleporting to the wrecked stone arch to avoid a red spell flying past where he used to be and at the troll. Harry quickly reached out to see who tried to attack him but failed to find anyone, further thoughts were interrupted by the troll letting out a guttural roar that caused him to feel his organs vibrating as the spell hit its body to make it glow a bright crimson red. Before Harry's eyes, the already big troll seemed to gain a few extra inches in height to make Hagrid small, along with more bulging muscles and what appeared to be bones protruding out of its flesh. The troll turned to reveal the face with pulsing veins and bloody red eyes of hate aimed straight at Harry.

"... Shit."

"RRRRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRR!"

It was only thanks to his senses and high-strung tension that made Harry teleport instinctively to the top of his previously made pillar to avoid the troll smashing the spot that he previously occupied, leaving behind a deep crater and creating cracks in said pillar. The troll barely paused when it charged towards the pillar and smashed right through it, forcing Harry to jump and crash into the nearest tree as the pillar crumbled and crashed to the ground. Harry forced himself to keep moving just as the troll rushed at him, barely getting away as the troll practically disintegrated the tree with its momentum alone.

"Damn it! How the bloody hell is that troll getting powered up?!" Harry was getting frustrated as the troll was clearly running on rage and destroying everything around them, effectively boxing him in with the troll in some twisted version of a gladiator's ring. He did not have enough strength to teleport out of the place, and he did not like the idea that someone was actively trying to kill him with the troll. Odds were good that the person was still in the area hoping to get a clear shot at him if he somehow managed to survive the troll. His only hope was to get rid of the troll and pray that the professors got to him quickly.

That moment of distraction cost him when the troll appeared by his side and swung the chain on the remaining arm at him. Harry dodged a second too late and got hit in the chest by the very tip of the chains that still had some rocks attached to it, causing him to slam into a tree a few feet away. Harry could not help spitting out some blood as he forced himself to get up and move away from the troll rushing again. His modified robes and inner shirt were able to blunt the blow, but he had the feeling he may have bruised if not cracked a couple of ribs, and there was a risk of internal injuries.

He needed to end this quick!

Harry grabbed some small stones with his hand that had some blood on it, coating them lightly before he force-jumped above the troll and dropped them to set them off as small explosives. He hit the ground stumbling and wincing from the pain in his chest, knowing that he could no longer do his teleporting trick in his current state. Seeing the troll turning to face him, Harry used an earth-based spell he had read about to create a tidal wave of earth to slow the troll down as best as he could while he touched a rune symbol on his outer robes to loosen it and pulled it off him, with said troll rushing at him without getting bothered by the obstructions, the steam coming off the glowing red body and out of its mouth combined with the red eyes making it looked like a demonic creature from hell. Not a pretty sight.

"[Cloth Manipulation, Shield Barrier, Reinforcement]!" the robes in Harry's hand glowed briefly with electricity coming off it before it went taunt and shaped into a rough rectangle with a pointed end. Harry swung hard to stick into the ground just as the troll slammed into him with enough force to send him back a few feet with the make-shift shield digging a deep trench along the way. Harry gritted his teeth and swung his free arm, the mandala around his arm glowing before an energy whip appeared from the center and wrapped itself around one of the untouched pillars in the courtyard, giving him the chance to pull himself away from the troll reaching for him when they started to slow down. In the middle of his impromptu escape, Harry created another whip from the other hand to wrap around the neck of the troll and around another pillar, using the leverage to pull the troll back and sent it to the ground. Harry did not let go of the momentum as he crashed to the ground, slamming both hands into the ground for what he hoped to be the finishing move.

'Focus on the image, select the materials and create it!' Harry thought of the steps as the debris around him rose into the air and gathered together in a growing clump in front of him. Said clump started to shift and warped until it formed what appeared to be a five-foot-long twisted spike with a particularly sharp point in front, then it started to spin quickly on an axis, the sound of the air getting sharper as the speed increased. His eyes briefly glanced at the troll that got off the floor and glared at him with more steam coming out of its mouth and blood coming out of cuts made all over its body.

Time to end this.

The troll let out a particularly loud roar and rushed straight at him, its footsteps left behind in foot-shaped craters in its desire to crush him. Harry pulled back his right arm once more while snapping the fingers on his left hand to light the spike in fire, the mandala on the right arm glowing and splitting into three rings as he took one deep breath for the spell to end this.

'Hope you enjoy this move!'

"[PANZER]!" With that, Harry swung to punch the spike at the back end, and almost got pushed back from the resultant explosive power that launched the spike forward like a heat seeking missile straight at the troll. In its desire to kill him, the troll did not move away as the spike hit it in the chest and exploded spectacularly, throwing Harry off his feet from the resulting blast. After a while, Harry got his bearings and slowly got up to inspect the damage done. For a moment he stared, before he began to dry heave slightly from what he did, and for good reason; from what he could tell, the spike did not stop spinning and exited out the back of the troll and continued on to the other side of the courtyard, with the rotation and force of the explosion enough to tear what was left of the troll into chunky bits and send them flying all over the area. It looked like a scene out of those war documentaries that he chanced on briefly before his new guardian Lord Thornwood stopped him from viewing the rest.

At least he got confirmation, this was one spell strictly for heavy weight creatures.

"Sweet Merlin!" Harry turned with his mandalas activated again to find Professor Babbling, Vector, Sprout and Filius having cleared a path and gawking at the destruction he wrought, Tracey Davis a few feet behind them with her jaw to the floor and wide eyes.

"No offense, but what took you professors so bloody long?" Harry let some of the tension go from his legs and collapsed to the ground, but still maintaining the mandalas on his arms. At least that got Filius out of his shock.

"We got sidetracked when someone stopped us from getting to the other students. We encountered the troll that attacked Miss Clearwater, Miss Granger and Miss Li and took a while to subdue it. We only just met Miss Davis when we saw the fireworks that I presume were fired by you, and then again someone tried to stop us from getting to you." Harry let out a tired sigh at that as he reached out with his senses, noting the aggressor's presence was gone now. "Our apologies for the late arrival."

"Somehow, I do not think he really needed our help much." Professor Babbling took one look at the remains of the troll's head and grimaced. "But yes, I do feel guilty for leaving you with the troll."

"Are you heavily injured, Mister Potter?" Professor Sprout came to him with a concerned expression and placed a hand on his shoulder only to pull it back with a hiss. "Oh my goodness, you are literally burning up. Can you even stand?" Harry grunted with a nod as he forced himself off the ground, taking the chance to collect his outer robes and deactivating the runes to get them back into the regular state. At least his makeshift barrier was able to handle a rampaging troll, so he could build on that. The Hufflepuff Head thoughtfully blasted some cold air and a bit of water to cool him down, earning her a light hiss as his body started to give off steam when the cold water hit his body, before she guided him to where the others were, her touch seemingly letting him know that he was finally done and deactivate the mandalas from his arms.

"Okay, Mister Potter. Let's get you and Miss Davis to the hospital wing so that Madam Pomfrey can look at the two of you." Professor Vector placed a hand on the Slytherin student who still appeared to be comatose at all that was going on.

"Oh right. One more thing." Harry paused as he took out his wand and a small disc from his pocket. Taking a deep breath while swiping some blood on it, Harry tapped the disc which glowed briefly with characters appearing on it before a ring of yellow light appeared around him and turned into a dome before it expanded around the courtyard and beyond. The teachers and Tracey Davis shivered as the ring of light phased through them along the way and noted how the blood splatters around the area or limbs of the trolls glowed briefly, with a few disappearing.

"What was that, Mister Potter?" Filius asked, being more attuned to magic with his half-blood status.

"That would be my cleansing device." Harry answered as he watched the disc turned to a light green and dimming. "This is to help remove any blood, sweat, hair, and anything organic to a person that is outside of the body within an area. I have one smaller version on me to automatically remove any trace of organic matter around me to ensure I do not have anything that could be used to kill me or bind me to a contract that I do not sign, but given what just happened, this would be more thorough and should remove all of my blood and other organics both within outside the castle. Even if they are in sealed vials or tracking devices, all will be removed. And with this one activated, any blood I may have lost or about to bleed out will be erased within 2 seconds." Harry nodded as the disc let out a ping before the characters disappeared. He looked up to find the professors and Tracey looking at him with wide eyes. "What?"

The professors looked at each other and shook their heads before Professor Babbling ushered the two students to the Hospital Wing for the matron to check on them. As they were moving away, Harry heard Professor Sprout ask Filius a question that made him want to laugh.

"Are we sure that he was not raised by Alastor Moody by any chance? The boy is acting too much like him!"

~ooOOoo~

Harry wondered if this was how a bug felt under the microscope.

Harry and Tracey Davis were currently taking residence in the Hospital Wing along with a few others who apparently got hurt by the second troll encountered on the way, quite a number having bandages or casts attached to their limbs. In contrast, he was sporting a couple of bruises and a few cuts that he cleaned off and healed on his own on the way, offering the same treatment to Tracey Davis for the lesser injuries until they got the hospital wing.

Harry had only been to the place once early on in September to do a health checkup as stated and recently enforced in the charter by the School Board of Governors (something he recalled from Filius escorting him at the time that Dumbledore evidently tried to block on grounds of keeping certain students' health records safe from prying eyes, only to get asked details regarding those students and refusing to give an answer, hence having his 'request' ignored), and almost getting into a minor argument with Madam Pomfrey regarding booster shots because his protection order included the part where he would have his own physician to check when required and that he already had booster shots. The matron was insistent on giving him one, to which Harry asked to scan it. Begrudgingly, she gave the bottle for him to test, only for it to glow a crimson red for a loyalty potion mixed in it.

Harry did not know whether the angry expression was due to her getting shown up, or the fact that someone had dared to enter her sanctum and contaminate her medical supplies.

In any case, Harry had shown with a certificate that he had his own set of personal potions, and that was now being used to heal himself as he went through the motions of taking them in order to maximize their healing strengths, with a side benefit of them tasting a lot better than most potions. He had offered a mild numbing potion for Tracey to consume to deal with her pain, to which she accepted after a moment of hesitation. She definitely expected it to be nasty tasting given the wide eyes and the sudden desire to gulp it down in one go, but at least she was healed enough in health to get better treatment.

Harry was relieved to find Hermione and Su in the hospital wing looking none the worse aside from a few bruises and them being covered in the silly string again; evidently, they used his failed charm creation to trip up the troll that attacked them, and it worked a little too well in restraining it as the troll got tangled up in the strings and fell down the stairs, breaking a few in the process. The two pretty much tackled him to the ground the moment they sighted him, followed shortly by Penny who scolded and hugged him tightly, much to the amusement of Tracey and Professor Babbling.

However, the amusement would have to wait since the matter was now settled and the head of houses have entered the hospital wing along with Dumbledore, with Professor Snape limping a little behind for some reason.

Joy.

"Mister Potter, how are your injuries?" Filius asked as they came closer.

"Nothing too serious, at least I got my kit to deal with the cuts and bruises." Harry winced as he lightly touched his left, "Although I suspect a rib or two might be close to broken, I will need a second opinion before I consider taking the Skeele-grow. I had to reset my shoulder earlier so it is just numb. Miss Davis has a bad sprain on her right ankle so I did some transfiguration to hold her leg in place to avoid stressing it further, I did not want to go too far with the fixing since I am only using basic medical spells."

"Your robes managed to blunt the attacks." Professor Sprout noted at the bundle that showed a light shimmer still from the active protections. "But I do not recall Madam Malkin making robes that good."

"I got someone to add some modifications before coming to Hogwarts. These robes are prepared for whatever I can think of, from stabbing to curses to blunt force trauma." Harry answered her with a half-truth while considering what he wanted to add on to the existing sets of protections.

"Mister Potter." Harry kept his guard up watching the old man having waved his wand to create a silencing ward around them "I would like to know what happened on your end, what type of spells did you use to take down that troll, including these gloves you had used in the attacks and supposedly did something to the walls in the Great Hall. They are extremely dangerous to be bandied around carelessly." Harry and Filius shared an eyebrow at that accusation.

"Perhaps we should wait until the DMLE come here so that I only need to tell the story once." Harry spoke as he leaned back in the bed while fiddling with something in his pocket. "And I do not appreciate the accusation."

"The matter is already handled, so we do not need to bother them." Harry had to blink at that statement. He figured that it was typical of Dumbledore to keep any wrong-doings under the rug, but this was more serious than bullying and bad education. Even a few of the staff members and Tracey were looking at him weirdly.

"We have 3 trolls entering Hogwarts, a place that you keep on repeating to be the safest place on earth. A place where there are children under your care, and you wish to keep what is a possible security incursion silent from the DMLE, while trying to interrogate me on possible family magic without the presence of my guardian?" Harry asked for confirmation, while Filius directed a quick glance at him. "Especially with the current environment you have to deal with."

"It is not a security incursion, but you need not worry about that. All I want to know is what happened since it is already handled, we do not need to concern the DMLE. As the headmaster, I have the right to demand these questions in place of loco parentis." Dumbledore answered without the usual twinkle in the eye.

Too bad he was going to rain on that old man's parade.

"In short, you did not bother calling them in, as you should have done. And you have forgotten that loco parentis does not apply to those with true guardians, nor does it grant you the right to demand personal information." Harry stated as a matter of fact than a question. A ping in his head produced a small smirk on his face "You might want to prepare an excuse in roughly…" Harry raised his arm to look at the watch in a mocking manner. "Three, two, one…"

'BANG!'

"ALBUS DUMBLEDORE!" The room seemed to shake from the voice as everyone turned to find a woman coming close to her late forties dressed in the distinct robes of the Auror force, her hair in a bun, a monocle on one eye, and a big scowl on her face while directing a glare at the old wizard. Behind her were a team of Aurors who wisely took their time to move as she marched into the Hospital Wing with the matron approaching her with a big frown.

"Amelia Susan Bones, this is a hospital wing with active patients in it! Please use indoor voices!" Madam Pomfrey did not back down from the glare directed at her, something that Amelia apparently approved as she gave a nod before looking back at the headmaster.

"Care to explain why I was not alerted earlier about the trolls invading the castle?" While the staff were thrown off by her sudden appearance, Dumbledore regained his faculties to handle the situation and remove the silencing ward, not before directing a glare at Harry, likely guessing that he was the one who managed to call for them.

"My dear Amelia, I do not know how you came to know of this, but I assure you that it is all a big misunderstanding. All has been handled and no one was seriously harmed in the incident." Amelia raised an eyebrow while looking about the hospital wing at the students with the various bruising and casts on their limbs, with said students looking at the headmaster with disbelief evident on their faces. "We have everything under control."

"Clearly." Harry had to wonder how this woman was able to pack that much sarcasm in one word. She turned to him and Filius in a manner that spoke of her dismissing Dumbledore, an action that clearly rankled the old wizard and a couple of the older professors. "Good evening, Mister Potter. Fancy meeting you again."

"Good evening to you too, Madam Bones." Harry acknowledged with a nod. "Not quite what I had in mind for a first meeting in Hogwarts, but I take what I can." Amelia snorted at that.

"True. We were alerted to the incident by your guardian, something about an emergency beacon?" Harry responded by taking out the device he had used after the second troll attack.

"I used this to send out a signal to Lord Thornwood, although I should have sent it out earlier from the moment the first troll was banging on the doors of the Great Hall." Amelia narrowed her eyes as she looked at the device and the words given to her. "When the first troll was pounding at the doors, I had assumed that the staff had already alerted the DMLE for assistance. It was when we were sent off that I had the feeling it was not the case and I prepared to send a message out with my owl Hedwig or by mailbox when the second troll attacked at the staircase. When that happened, I had to use the panic button to send out the call." Harry raised a finger as he rummaged into his pocket, grumbling at the material sticking to his legs too tightly before pulling out another one of his recording crystals that was still active. "I have the recording up to the point we entered the Hospital Wing just in case you want to confirm."

"Ah yes, one of those Innovatio Recording Crystals." Amelia let out a pleased sound as she reached and took it from his hand. "I see you are a fellow patron of this wonderful device. It makes matters so much easier to deal with cases since they cannot be tempered or fooled easily."

"Amelia." A quick glare prompted Dumbledore to change his words "Madam Bones, if I may be allowed to review the footage with you, there are some details that I wish to ascertain regarding the incident earlier. I also think that we should not need to bother the children anymore, so why don't we adjoin to my office?" The woman raised the same eyebrow again at his words, Harry privately wondered if that was a default for her to use the same eyebrow to express what she was thinking without words.

"Are you attempting to throw this under the rug, Headmaster Dumbledore?" There was a very clear emphasis on his title accompanied with the stare from her and the other Aurors behind her. One of them appeared to have itchy fingers around his wand, as though he was hoping for the wrong reply. "You do recall the mess that is still ongoing for you, and I do not think that would be the right way of doing things?" Before he could answer, she continued on by turning back to Harry. "In any case, I have some immediate questions that I wish to confirm with Mister Potter since he appears to be well enough to answer, only if you wish to do so."

"I am willing to answer them this moment." Harry decided to head off the others and answered the woman. "We can view the recording here as well to save time. This way, Madam Pomfrey can continue to monitor our health, though I doubt there will be much excitement to agitate me. For the rest?" Harry shrugged with a wry smile.

"Then are you willing to allow Headmaster Dumbledore to view the recording?" Everyone turned to him who took a moment to consider the matter.

"Before we do this, do I need representation?" He asked the woman who promptly lifted a finger at Dumbledore to shut him up without looking. "While I do not believe that I have done anything wrong, I wish to confirm this."

"If you believe so, then you do not require one." Amelia answered "Although if something does turn up that you might require representation by your guardian or lawyer, we can continue this later." Harry nodded.

"I might grant the headmaster permission to view the recording with stipulations." The Head of DMLE merely waved a hand to let him continue while Dumbledore looked grumpy at that. Harry tapped his finger on his lap to consider what he wanted done before continuing.

"First stipulation, Albus Dumbledore can only view the recording, he is not required to hold a copy since at this moment, he is the headmaster, not using other titles. Second stipulation, it would be best to have extra Healers come in to aid Madam Pomfrey with the current situation. I understand that she is good at her work, but I would think that extra hands would help speed the healing process." A glance at one of her Aurors prompted the man to nod and take his badge out to do something with it, with Madam Pomfrey looking thankful while the headmaster did not look enthused at the idea of other people coming over.

"Third point, this does not get swept under the political rug or whatever security blanket silliness that can be contrived." The old wizard was opening his mouth when a combined glare from Amelia Bones, Minerva McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey stopped him from speaking anything "This incursion involves lives of children, a few of whom are heirs of families that would be extinct if the troll had gotten to them. I cannot imagine the parents, either magical or not, being happy if they find out that news got suppressed of this or got it second hand with details being blown out of proportion. If you do not wish to let the students tell their parents their interpretations just yet, at least get a properly written article about it done to give to the parents before the public knows of it." Tracey and a few of the students close enough to hear him nodded at his words, while Amelia had what Jeremiah coined 'The Look' that all females would have when a man dared to be stupid, directed right at Dumbledore to see if he was going to be stupid enough to object. For a while he did appear to want to object, but held off on it. "Considering that we are required to stay in beds, we can do a quick debrief on what has happened while watching the recording?" Amelia nodded before looking at the professors.

"Do you agree with what Mister Potter stated?" Amelia asked firmly. Most nodded quickly before directing their attention to the headmaster. After a while, the old wizard nodded with clear reluctance for information to be released.

"In that case…" a nod from her made one of the Aurors reached into his robes to pull out a quill and some parchment to place on the table, the quill hovering with the tip on the parchment. A second Auror took out a recording crystal with the logo of the DMLE imprinted at the side and placed it next to the quill and parchment, a finger hovering above the rune. With a second nod from Amelia, the man pressed it to activate the crystal, making the orb of light within turn red.

"Is that one of the newer versions that allow a copy of the discussion in a different location?" Harry asked curiously while hoping it was so, and got the answer in the form of a nod. At least Dumbledore cannot pull some weird security crap by taking it away.

"Dicta Quill Test. 1, 2, 3". Amelia waited for the confirmation of the items working before continuing "This is Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the DMLE, conducting an on-site investigation regarding the intrusion of Hogwarts on October 31, 1991. Debriefing and possible interrogation is currently being conducted in the Hospital Wing due to witnesses in need of care. Personnel involved…"

Harry mentally prepared himself for the interrogation while Amelia went about listing the names of the professors, Aurors, and the students involved from the incursion. He had to be careful with his words now that they have a recording, but at least it was a good enough substitute compared to Verita-Serum or Penseive memories. The main reason was because of Dumbledore insisting to be here; he would likely demand where he learned certain magic from. Considering what he had seen of the British Wizarding World so far, there was a possibility of the old man trying to limit him by declaring said magic as illegal, unless Harry could counter the claim as family magic, which the Ministry cannot prosecute unless they change the law, which would then lead to a leeching that all the magical families would unleash on them.

"The names have been given; we will now move to the questioning of witnesses." Amelia directed her eyes at Harry at this point. "Mister Potter, when and where do you believe we should begin?" Harry gestured for his recording crystal which got handed to him, pressing some runes to display the image of him walking alongside Su and Hermione just outside of the Great Hall appear above them, while the patients in the hospital wing and some of the professors at the back tried their best to get closer to view, Tracey having the advantage of being next to him.

"Perhaps the best place would be a few minutes before the feast."

With that and the recording at the right spot, Harry started telling the Aurors what happened as they followed the recording, with Amelia and a few Aurors frowning at the bit where Dumbledore had told the students to head to their common rooms, later nodding at the point when Harry had warned them about the possible locations of the troll meeting the students if they left the Great Hall. Harry described his idea of transfiguring the wall to allow food to be moved outside the hall to distract the first troll, how he activated the distress beacon when the second troll attacked him and his friends around the staircase, and how he had to fight the third to save himself and Tracey. The Aurors did a double-take at the oddity that used to be the first troll with wide eyes and gaping mouth, Madam Bones in particular removing her monocle to rub her eyes before looking again as though that would dispel whatever she was seeing. And the students chuckled at their reaction for the boil erupting the window.

The recording continued with the appearance of the second troll and the audience could not help but agree that Terry Boot had jinxed them. The Auror handling the quill had to replace the parchment as it was running out at this point, while the other Aurors appear to be criticizing his actions against the troll and being mildly approving. Then the other students gave him a sympathizing look with Madam Pomfrey scolding him for forcing back his shoulder, soon joined by an Auror with medical experience when they saw the bit about his body overheating from magic usage.

Then came the part of the third troll and this was when everyone got entranced at the recording going on, collectively groaning, wincing and cheering on cue at certain points; even Madam Pomfrey had taken a seat to calm herself as she shrieked at him barely surviving the third troll in its berserk stage. At least with the recording Harry could see the other professors coming out of the castle with Tracey following behind, moving the debris away to create a path to him and completing that task as he fired off the spike. When Amelia paused the recording briefly to ask about him getting the blood of his attacker, Harry took out said tube to hand to her for identification.

She looked ready to hug him for an important piece of evidence.

But while everyone else was fully invested in the recording, Harry kept an eye on the old wizard who kept glancing at the recordings, at him and at the table where the quill was, and perhaps rather tellingly, he kept trying to move closer to Amelia for some reason. Harry merely flicked a finger to keep him stuck to a general area and on a second consideration, created a thin and invisible barrier behind Amelia, just in case.

That way, if spells went off, no one can say that Amelia shot first.

After the recording ended with him entering the hospital wing, there was silence as the Aurors, professors and students turned as one to face Harry Potter with wide eyes and a few dropping their jaws. The students were looking at him like he was Merlin incarnate, with Su and Hermione looking ready to burst with questions of his spells and a few of the older female students making him feel like he was a juicy steak being inspected for some reason; the majority of professors were looking in wonder regarding the type of spells he used, with Professor Babbling, Professor Vector and Filius looking like they had swallowed lots of soda and barely holding back the energy; the Aurors were clearly trying to wrap their heads at how an eleven-year-old was able to deal with a troll all on his own while Amelia looked at him with consideration.

And he did not like how Dumbledore was looking at him at the moment.

"Are there any questions you wish to ask?" Harry was inwardly begging at this point for something to get them to stop gawking at him. That seemed to break the spell on a few, given Tracey's sudden snickering and Filius stuffing a hand to his mouth to stop the chuckles while ignoring his glare.

Rude.

"You handled yourself very well against an adult troll given your age." Amelia gave a compliment while maintaining her gaze on him. "Not to mention your ability to think on the fly is quite commendable." Harry shrugged.

"I dealt with people bigger than me trying to attack me in the past. Granted they are not in the same weight class as a troll, but the concept is similar. Move faster than them." A couple of the Aurors in the background nodded at that answer while a few of the professors frowned at that remark, with one Transfiguration professor trying to glare a hole in the back of the headmaster's head for some reason.

"And the spells you used in your fights; they are common spells combined together?" Amelia asked while checking on the parchment, and notably moving away from Dumbledore as though she guessed what he had planned, whatever it was.

"For the most part. The spell I used for the Great Hall was a combination of a knock-back charm and a feedback multiplier charm to make sure that the troll would regret breaking through. The one used by the girls to trip up the second troll was more of a prank spell that I got from other spells just to see if the arithmancy calculation works. Still a work in progress." Harry muttered that last part before continuing, ignoring a choked chuckle from one of the Aurors who had overheard him. "The spell on the last troll was essentially pushing transfiguration and charms to the limits with a fair bit of imagination from my mundane education."

"That last fight with the troll was spectacular, if I am not mistaken on that and what you did with the wall earlier, I think you may have performed minor alchemy." Amelia remarked while a few seemed to choke on their spit.

"I would not know if I did alchemy. Alchemy and Transfiguration are essentially the conversion of materials and elements into something else, or Physics and Chemistry for the mundane. I just used what I know to break down materials and rearrange them." Harry shrugged.

"And what of those spells that are not of the 'most part' as stated earlier, such as the chains?" Dumbledore jumped in at this point with a certain twinkle in his eye.

"Family magic." Harry answered firmly with a set jaw. "And before you ask, that includes the gloves that I used to make the hole in the wall, and the magic sigils used against the third troll. They are something that I invented based on my brief understanding on symbology, runic languages and mundane mathematics."

"I am a little concerned with the ease and usage of those spells, they are extremely dangerous to be used around in this school. Not to mention how quickly you took down the troll without hesitation. Could you not have dissuaded the troll without having to kill it? Not to mention you were too quick to fire spells at the one who was hidden." Dumbledore remarked in a manner that somewhat grated on Harry's nerves, but he may not need to worry too much given the manner Amelia's eyes were narrowing on the old wizard and Filius was lightly growling. "Those gloves in particular seemed to be easy to abuse, I would have to confiscate them with my title of Chief Warlock."

"Denied." Amelia spoke at the exact same time as Harry, prompting the two to look at each other briefly while a few of her Aurors chuckled and a few students were looking on with interest. The woman motioned to him to continue "As I had stated, the gloves are items I had created with family magic and already secured as such. If you are that worried about the usage, I can just send them back to be kept under lock-and-key since they had proven to work." Harry paused to say the words carefully "And you of all people should remember that as family magic, you cannot demand it to be taken from anyone, especially if said person is the last heir of a family. Not even you with all your positions can demand me to do so, otherwise you are telling everyone here that you, and by extension the Ministry, can demand the multiple magical families in Britain to give up their hard-earned family magic that contains plenty of history. And I can guarantee most if not all pure-blood families at the very least would want to have a personal chat with you and their wands at hand since you have just declared that you wanted to confiscate what could be future additions to the Potter Magic and History with your title of Chief Warlock." At the corner of his eye, Harry could spot a couple of Slytherin and Ravenclaw seniors he recognized to be pure-bloods from particular families currently in bed nodding in agreement as they directed a big glare at the back of Dumbledore's head, while a few others tried to explain to others about the ramification of such actions.

As much as he hated the whole pure-blood bigotry, this was going to help him a lot.

"He is correct, you cannot just demand someone to hand over what will likely become a family heirloom to you, even if it has a possibility of being a dangerous item." Amelia added on her bit "For that part, it would be under my department to investigate it. And as of this moment, you are also currently under a very specific restraining order that dictates what you are allowed to do regarding a certain child." She need not specify whom was the recipient given the news article and such. "From where I am standing, I believe you are close to breaching said order."

"But Ame… Madam Bones." Dumbledore backtracked briefly at her narrowed eyes before continuing. "I am merely concerned that with such power at hand, it is a very tempting to let oneself go or for someone else to steal. I am just looking out for my students and want to avoid young Harry going Dark." Harry raised an eyebrow at that particular wording, recalling the few discussions he had with Jeremiah and others who had interactions with Dumbledore. One thing they noted was the old wizard's constant behavior to dictate what was 'Light' and 'Dark', the labeling that could make others instinctively reject one another without warning.

Given the side glances from a few of the students and one Auror who may have graduated recently, this looked like the opening salvo that Dumbledore wanted to use to keep him down.

Too bad he had something in mind for this, although he wished he did not need to do this so early on.

"So just to state on record, the headmaster is afraid that the equipment I had built and defined as family magic could be a target for theft or abuse, not to mention he is implying that I will go crazy with power like some power drunk lunatic. Is that it?" Harry interrupted before the old man could try to build up the momentum for whatever speech he had in mind.

"It would unfortunately appear so with his choice of wording, Mister Potter." Oh wow, the glare used by Filius towards Dumbledore was one Harry was glad not to be directed at himself.

"In that case, let's get this out of the way to clear everyone's worries and to ensure that no idiotic dunderhead tries to accuse me of going bad or lying despite having the official wording from this conversation and interrogation from the Head of the DMLE." Professors Babbling, Vector and Sprout snickered at the word normally used by Snape, a sentiment shared by the potions professor who raised an eyebrow. The amusement stopped the moment Harry pulled out his wand with permission from Amelia and under their watchful eyes and the recording crystal, proceeded to make a cut on the palm of his left hand and squeezed tightly to let out some blood. Before anyone else could react, Harry looked at Amelia in the eye and started speaking with a light change in tone.

"Promitto verum dicere.."

"Wait, you cannot do that!" Dumbledore attempted to raise his wand at him only to have it shot out of his hand and into Amelia's hand as she grabbed it out of the air, his wand giving out sparks upon contact with her hand. The look on Dumbledore's face was very amusing as he looked at his wand in Amelia's hand as though she had stolen it but Harry continued on with his idea with some wind drifting about him and his cut hand glowing a light green.

"I, /Harrison James Potter Evans/, hereby swear that the recording granted to one Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the DMLE Auror Corps, is the actual recording of all that has happened in the premises of Hogwarts on October 31 1991. It has not been doctored or modified in any manner. I pledge that I had given the relevant information to her and her Aurors on grounds of it being strictly on the case and not on anything outside of it, including the usage of family magic in certain situations. I am doing this with the understanding that the process of the law is being truly fulfilled and the people involved are willing to agree to my stipulations given earlier. If someone tries to ignore said stipulations, I am free to deviate from the discussion and react accordingly. I also pledge that the items I had used in my struggles against the troll invaders are derived strictly from my own studies in magic and patented as Potter Family Magic, and that said items and spells used, as of this date, are not considered forbidden magic or 'Dark' in the laws of Magical Britain or standards of the ICW, and come with fail-safes to ensure that I or anyone else cannot abuse them without pain of death. The equipment used shall be returned to my storage unit for safe keeping and to avoid abuse unless in a situation of life and death."

Thus, I end my oath with my blood and magic as my payment. Sit Merlinus me iudice verbis meis."

Harry ended the oath as he opened up his hand with the palm facing them, the small cut glowing a light blue before the blood receded into it and disappeared along with the cut sealing itself as though time was being reversed. To show that he had his magic, (and he was feeling a little cheeky at the moment) he pointed the wand at the pillow on Tracey's bed to turn it into a certain character from his favorite science fiction movie, causing the girl to yelp and a few of the professors to raise their wands.

"Hmm… Gave an oath to speak truth, Young Potter has given." The mock Yoda spoke in that famous speech pattern as it looked at them all. "Also promises to remove temptation, he does. Proves his worth to stay in the right, he has done. Yes…" The mock Yoda gave a wink before turning back into a pillow with a light pop.

"Was that Yoda?" Harry blinked while looking at Tracey who asked that.

"How do you know Yoda?" Tracey gave a humph at his question.

"I may be a half-blood, but I do know some muggle culture growing up, and that is a character from one of those films I have seen before coming here." Harry raised his arms in surrender to calm her down.

"Just curious." Harry turned to find the majority of the adults looking confused and at least 2 Aurors looking on in recognition of the character. At least with that, whatever doubts the few people have earlier, were now erased.

Take that, old man!

"If I may? That is not your usual oath taking, is it? I am only guessing you were saying your name but it got… scratchy? Not to mention the whole 'cut your hand open' in the beginning and the old Latin." Professor Babbling tilted her head at that, and again at the glance of his eyes, Harry could see a few male seniors and one male Auror on the younger side blushing at that action for some reason.

He hoped he would not act that weird towards women growing up.

"What I did was the original method of oath-taking done in the past." Harry gave the impromptu lesson. "The one you are likely familiar with has been stripped down over the years to supposedly allow some leeway to the oath maker to avoid losing their magic and lives, which can lead to a fair bit of loopholes and abuse such as the shortening of names and wording that could be read differently, hence leading to said people who can work around said oaths. The original oath taking I just demonstrated is a lot stricter due to past wars between nations, feuding lords and the need for loyalty when charms and potions were abused on a daily basis to gain unwilling spies. Among the many restrictions of this original oath, it needs to be spoken with the true name, not a hyphenated name or a name with false additions in the middle, the intent behind the oath must be honest to the oath and the blood is strictly from the oath maker, along with the proper wording. But the advantages of using the original oath signature outweigh the cons. Two of which means I can invoke Old Magic to ensure that my words are true so that no one can accuse me of being unfaithful, and at the same time, it hides the true name of the user to avoid people hearing and using it. IF the person tries to fake the intent or bypass the oath, the true name will be revealed and the castor will be punished in a somewhat fitting manner perceived by Old Magic." Many listened with a fair number of students looking thoughtful at that, and Hermione somehow managed to produce a quill and parchment to write that down with Su and Penny adding on to her written bits.

Where did they get that from?

"That sounds very useful, even with the restrictions." Amelia remarked thoughtfully. Harry nodded at that.

"Unfortunately, with how strict the old-school oath taking was along with Old Magic being a harsh judge at the best of times, many people tripped up with improper wording, false intents and mindsets, thus leading to a good many lords in the past losing their magic and lives. Because of those issues, the practitioners in the past had to break it down, thus leading to multiple derivatives that take certain aspects of the original as part of the new structure, such as the modern oath taking, blood pacts to invoke the Old Magic, and the Unbreakable Vow to enforce rules. At the same time, the modern oath taking ends up having loopholes that people tend to abuse."

"That is true." Filius nodded "My cousins at Gringotts use a variation of the old oaths to ensure that their work is enforced, along with contracts. That is why we have very strong opinions on those who break them."

"That is a reckless action, Mister Potter." Dumbledore barged in with a notable frown and that aura of his evidently trying to force itself on him, if not for the instinctive reflect from Harry to pulse his own magic to shield himself and Tracey Davis next to him. "You could lose your magic in that manner. You will cease that usage of oath taking, or any oaths for that manner as long you are in this academy!"

"Denied."

"What did you just say?" Every student in the hospital wing were gawking at the fact another student had dared to say no to the headmaster's face, but Harry was feeling really irritated at this point.

"You are not my guardian, as it has been repeated a few times before. You had also attempted to demand something of mine without proper reasoning and attempted to allude me being trigger happy with my family magic, as well as cast aspirations on my actions. I will not allow myself or anyone else cast doubt in such a manner." Harry stated calmly while steadily raising his magic in response to the old wizard's aura trying to pressure him. "Since I am currently too young for Veristaserum, and written contracts must be prepared beforehand, usage of oaths during this debriefing is sufficient along with the recording. If I can provide Pensieve memories, that would also be fine. The manner I went about proving my innocence is my own initiative. If you want to avoid people losing magic from oaths, teach them the proper way instead of ignoring until it comes on and some kid does lose their magic from careless oaths."

"And before you even think of trying yet another tactic to demand my family magic or deny me methods to prove my innocence just so you can gloss over incidents like the previous meetings we had or attempt to cast me in a bad light, let me remind you of the restraining order and the respective conditions. I believe the ones I am reminding you of are on page 3, section 5, point 18, and then page 5, section 2, point 3." Harry paused to let the old wizard try to recall, which he did based on his widening eyes and brief lapse of magical aura. "Now, if you are done posturing, perhaps you can let off on whatever you are doing with your magic, you are suffocating a few of the students." He pointed out said students who were currently sweating and panting in their beds or chairs, with Su and Hermione looking a little worse for wear with them breathing hard. Harry got off the bed and made his way towards them to place his hands on their shoulders, thinking hard before pushing 'Force' magic through them. The effect was immediate as they both sat straight up taking a deep breath before blinking and shaking their heads.

"Whoa, that hit the spot!" Su took another deep breath before looking at him. "Thanks, it was getting hard to breathe, and I think you did something else because I am feeling way better!" Hermione nodded as she cradled her head and Madam Pomfrey came forward to check on them.

"What did you do?" Harry shrugged with a cheeky thought.

"I just use the Force to flush the headmaster's aura out of them." Most of the magically raised looked confused, but the ones who did get the reference let out a smile at that. "I also made sure to remove anything foreign in their bodies that are doing them harm." Madam Pomfrey promptly checked the two again and paused for a moment before looking at him with wide eyes.

"I know that they still had bruising and minor issues to be fixed from the attack earlier, but now they are all gone and their magic just got partially topped up. What did you do?"

"I just focused my intent to heal them, no biggie." Harry shrugged again, thankfully the conversation got interrupted with the appearance of several Healers and more Aurors entering the room. Madam Pomfrey immediately set them upon the students with the supposed leader standing around to ensure they were doing their job while the Auror backups joined their side. Amelia gave them a quick glance before returning to Harry who had returned to his bed.

"I believe that we can conclude your part of the investigation, unless you have something to offer?" Harry thought a bit and decided to test the waters on something.

"I am no investigator, but I find it strange that the trolls appeared at this point in time when the students are in the great hall, as if someone was hoping that the staff would be busy with the protection of students. There were also the spells being used to stop me and Miss Clearwater from escaping the second troll, along with the caster present with the third troll." That drew frowns from the professors and Aurors as they recalled the scenes from the recording, "I don't suppose this has anything to do with the third-floor corridor we were warned of?" That question got a few of the professors blanching and Amelia narrowing her eyes at their reactions.

"What is this about the third-floor corridor?" Yikes, he did not want that tone directed at him.

"Amelia, it is nothing!" A wave of her wand and a glare silenced Dumbledore before she looked to Harry.

"The headmaster had announced after the opening feast that the third-floor corridor was cordoned off to those who, I am quoting him on this, 'do not wish to die a very painful death'. Not that the warning was effective." Harry snorted. "By the end of September, if the rumor mill is correct, three Ravenclaws, six Slytherins, two Hufflepuffs and ten Gryffindors had made their way to the corridor what is behind the door. And if what they said is true, there is some beast guardian behind the door, along with other traps after that." The boy paused at the possible eruption of Mount Bones, with the Aurors taking positions well away from her. "Was the department not notified about this? I believe a few students did send a letter to you if not their parents, I know that I sent two myself to you and the Board of Governors, and Susan said she sent a message to you about this on the night itself."

And... she erupted.

"Albus Dumbledore, what exactly is he talking about?!" The old wizard looked uncomfortable as the woman removed the silencing charm and looked to him with a glare that would likely burn lesser men to ashes with the intensity. The other professors decided that there were other parts of the hospital wing that was more interesting at the moment and made sure to stay away from her line of sight, with Professor Snape currently occupying a chair and adopting the air of 'none of my damn business' while getting looked at by one of the healers for what appeared to be bite marks on his leg.

That was weird, but convenient timing since the healer in question was startled by his words before looking at the wound closer.

Good timing indeed.

"It is nothing, I am just running some experiments in one of the classrooms at the corridor, and I did not want any students to get hurt, that is all. There is no such animal there." Dumbledore raised both arms to placate her while quickly looking at Harry with heat in his eyes. "Children will know to listen to me and not go there."

"Is that right?" Amelia narrowed her eyes before turning her head to the closest Auror. "Brandon, grab two of the others and check out this corridor right this instance. Carlos, you take your team to check the owlery." The Aurors in question snapped to attention and saluted her, before grabbing their teammates and moving out of the door with a second, the ones being dragged having an expression of people used to this sort of behavior.

What type of situation do these Aurors get into?

"Amelia…"

"Stuff it, you blasted man. Have you forgotten about the commission coming up, or are you that confident of sweeping all of this under the rug?" Amelia growled quite spectacularly. "The Minister has already considered bringing up the date of the commission, and you have just provided him the reason for it. I for one will encourage him to bring it up earlier, and I am going to make a few recommendations to the Board of Governors. Do not try to challenge me on this." With that, she barked an order to the others, most of whom left the hospital wing to check on the other students and to check the school for more dangers while the remainder stayed behind. The two Aurors handling the debriefing were keeping their items away, with the parchment containing the details duplicated and given to Amelia along with the recording crystal, before they took their place by their side.

"Just to confirm, Mister Potter. May I take this recording crystal along with me?" Amelia held up the crystal that he had handed to her. "I will return it once I have completed the investigation."

"You can hang on to it for the investigation, I have a copy for the commission, a copy for my guardian and another stashed somewhere secret just in case." Amelia blinked at that.

"When did you make those copies and why do you need them?" Harry raised an eyebrow at that.

"My crystal is the same as yours, so I do not have to worry about the copies getting damaged or tempered with. When it comes to investigations and evidence, one should always have backups of everything to make sure that none of it disappears from human error, or sabotage. And considering the whole debacle with my life, I rather make sure that no one tries to mess with me and pass falsehoods. Any who do, I will sue them if need be." He nodded firmly while all the Aurors in the room looked at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"... By any chance, have you met a man named Alastor Moody? He is the most senior Auror in my department." At Amelia's slow query, Harry directed a deadpan expression at his head of house.

"That's it, after my treatment, I am going to write a personal letter to this Alastor Moody to see once and for all if we are that alike in attitude. Why do so many people think I know this guy?"

"NO!" A few of the younger Aurors blushed at the attention directed at them for their reaction. Amelia merely shook her head and thanked Harry for his time before making her way to the door. Amelia was right at the threshold of the door frame before she got interrupted by Dumbledore.

"Madam Bones, may I have my wand back?" Harry looked to her as she looked back at Dumbledore with one hand handling said wand. Now that he was looking at it, Harry could feel a weird presence from it that appeared to be calling out to him for some reason, but it was subdued in a way that he had to focus on it to actually get that presence.

While he was thinking that, Amelia glanced at the wand she had disarmed Dumbledore of with a frown, before placing it on the nearest table at an angle that would force Dumbledore to point it away if he did not want to get stunned, at least that was the opinion Harry had. She continued on to the door as Dumbledore moved forward, likely to check on the status of the ones checking the third-floor corridor. Harry noted how five of the Aurors remaining in the Hospital Wing were positioning themselves to look at Dumbledore with wands out, something the old wizard noted before grabbing his wand and moving out of the hospital wing, but not after taking a glance at everyone and directing narrowed eyes at him. Harry merely set himself back in the bed as he considered the happenings and letting his inner magic do its usual healing automatically, now that the incident was over and he could let himself relax a little.

"Is it always this crazy around you?" Harry blinked and titled his head towards Tracey who asked.

"Maybe, hope you don't mind the madness." At that Tracey let out a chuckle.

"I think I can get around that." She held a hand towards him. "Never formally introduced myself to you, right? Even with your invitations to the Blaize and Theo, we did not really talk much. Tracey Davis, Heiress to the Noble House of Davis." Harry smiled and straightened up in his bed as he reached out to shake her hand briefly before turning it to the back for him to bow his head lightly to mimic kissing her hand, as was done the formal way of greeting.

"Harrison James Potter, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, lady heiress." He greeted her in the proper manner before he had to be checked over by the healer tending to him, forcing him to let go of her hand by that point. It was a few seconds later that he noted the odd behaviors directed at him or Tracey.

His elected Healer was trying to suppress some chuckling while checking on his shoulder.

A few of the students were looking at him in amusement with a couple of seniors wiggling their eyebrows.

A few of the Aurors were smirking in his direction, with one giving a thumbs up.

Filius and Professor Babbling appeared to be stuffing their fists into their mouths to stop their snickering while Professor Vector was rubbing the bridge of her nose and Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes before looking at another student.

Su was pouting with red cheeks while Hermione had her palm introduced to her face with a sigh and Penny was giving a deadpan expression.

And for some reason, Tracey Davis was blushing with her right hand being cradled in her left while her leg was being examined by another chuckling healer.

Honestly, did he do something wrong with the greeting? He made sure to follow the pure-blood custom of introducing himself. Or was there something in Hogwarts that made people act weird? He better make a general cleansing potion later just in case.

His thoughts got interrupted when he was checking his pockets and recalled the small box which he brought along out of paranoia from his lab room. In the end, Harry totally forgot about it, but that may have been a good thing as it might be a touch overkill even with trolls trying to kill him, and he would like to keep it a secret for as long as he could, given the high likelihood of Dumbledore keeping an even closer on him.

Maybe next time?

---

Author Notes:

Hi to all! Hope you lot are staying out there in this crazy world of ours and you are enjoying this story. I decided to get this chapter out of the way as an early Christmas present for you all, I have gone through this six times before I finalize this. Hope it is up to standards.

For those wondering about my Fate / DxD Crossover, worry not. I am still working on it, but Covid is really taking a toll on my family, and my job is in a precarious state where if I do not perform well, I will be laid off. And I really need this job. At least with this chapter out, I can focus on that.

To those who subscribe to me, I thank you for following the story. I hope to get another chapter out soon along with my crossover story.

Until then, I put my pen down for now...