Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.
Things seemed to calm down for a while, no more midnight duels or running into three-headed dogs. And now Harry was excited, as finally, it was Halloween, and also his first Quidditch game was coming up.
"This is brilliant!" Ron exclaimed as they entered the Great Hall for the Halloween feast.
Harry nodded in agreement. The Hall was decorated with huge floating pumpkins, bats that would swoop down, and orange streamers. The table was filled with the usual dinner items, like roast turkey and shepherd's pie but also carrot cake, candy-filled apples, and black cauldrons filled with big lollipops. "Hey, where's Hermione?" He asked suddenly as they sat down.
"I heard she was crying in the girls' bathroom," Neville said, throwing Ron an angry look.
"What?" Ron asked, looking uncomfortable.
"Ron, what did you do?" Harry asked with a sigh.
"Earlier, he called her a know-it-all and said that was why she had no friends," Neville huffed. "I'm her friend!"
"Me too," Harry said, glaring at Ron.
Ron slumped his shoulders. "I'll apologize, okay? When I see her."
"She might miss the whole feast," Neville said, looking sad for his friend.
Harry picked up a candied apple and was about to take a bite when he suddenly had a memory.
Troll, in the dungeon!
Hermione doesn't know about the troll!
Hermione screaming...
"I'll go get her," Harry said impulsively, standing up. "I'll be right back." He wasted no time going to the nearest girl's bathroom, hoping it was the one she was in. He tentatively opened the door. "Hermione?" He called.
"Harry?" Hermione asked from where she was standing by the sink, her eyes red from crying. "What are you doing here?"
"You're going to miss the feast," Harry said. "Come on, Ron said he was going to apologize to you."
"He did?" Hermione sniffed and wiped her eyes.
"Yeah. And Neville is really worried about you. So was I."
"You were?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"Yeah, that's what friends are for," Harry said easily.
Hermione broke into a smile, her eyes brightening. "Thanks, Harry. All right, let's go."
"The Hall is decorated really brilliantly and there are so many treats to eat!" Harry said as they turned the corner. They both suddenly gasped as they saw a troll about to enter the Great Hall. A troll, just like in my other reality, Harry thought in shock. It was huge and ugly, a large bat in its hand.
"Oh, Merlin!" Hermione gasped. "What do we do?"
"Hey, you big stupid git!" Harry yelled. He couldn't let it enter the hall, it would kill people!
The troll turned and blinked. It began moving towards Harry.
"No!" Hermione ran past the troll to the hall, yelling for help.
"Wingardum Leviosa!" Harry shouted. The club the troll was holding flew up above its head.
The troll looked up, made an angry grunt noise, and continued advancing toward Harry.
Harry widened his eyes and began to turn to run. He could hear the Great Hall doors open.
"Stupefy!" McGonagall yelled.
The troll fell down and Harry gave a sigh of relief.
"Mr. Potter, are you all right?" McGonagall demanded. Hermione and Professor Quirrell were right behind her.
Harry nodded. "Yes, Ma'am." Several professors came out of the hall, including James, Lily, Sev, and Sirius.
"Harry!" Lily rushed forward and gathered him into her arms. "Are you hurt?" She asked anxiously.
"No," Harry said, hugging her back. When she let him go, he was immediately swept into a hug from his dad.
"Pup?" Sirius asked worriedly, stepping closer.
"I'm fine, the troll didn't hurt me," Harry said. He noticed Professor Flitwick was keeping the rest of the students in the Great Hall as they tried to peek to see what is happening. Sev and Quirrell were looking at him, Sev with concern and Quirrell with pursed lips.
"What happened? How did that troll get into the castle?" Snape asked in a tense voice.
"Someone had to have let him in," Dumbledore frowned as he joined them, looking at the unconscious troll thoughtfully.
"It was about to enter the Great Hall when Harry distracted it," Hermione spoke up.
"Why were you two not at the feast?" McGonagall asked.
"Uh, I went to get Hermione. She was..." Harry bit his lip. He didn't want to get Ron in trouble for making Hermione cry.
"I was still studying so Harry came and got me," Hermione lied.
Harry nodded, a relieved look on his face. He noticed his dad giving him a suspicious look and he tried to look back at him innocently.
"Hagrid and I will deal with the troll," Dumbledore said. "The rest of you go back and enjoy the feast. Oh, and Harry. Five points for being so brave to distract the troll." He beamed.
James and Lily glanced at each other and sighed.
"Harry, I want to talk to you," James spoke up as his son started to follow Hermione back into the great hall.
Harry paused. "Uh, what about the feast?" He didn't want to miss it!
"It will only take a minute," James said firmly. He guided Harry away from the Great Hall, casting a Muffliato around not just them, but also Lily, Sirius, and Severus.
"What really happened?" James asked.
"Yes, I don't think Miss Granger was being entirely truthful," Snape said, eyeing Harry.
"She was hiding out in the lavatory and I went to get her," Harry admitted.
"Why was she hiding?" Lily asked.
"Um, someone said something hurtful to her," Harry hedged. "But he's going to apologize!" He added quickly.
"Mr. Weasley is going to apologize?" Snape raised an eyebrow.
"Yes – hey! How do you do that?" Harry complained, causing Sirius to chuckle.
Snape simply smirked.
Lily frowned. "Well, I hope he does if he upset her that much. What did he say to her?"
"Just about being a know-it-all and stuff," Harry said.
"She is," Snape said bluntly.
"She's an intelligent girl with a thirst for knowledge," Lily defended the first year.
"So, I knew I had to get her because I didn't want her to miss the feast plus I had a memory of the troll so -" Harry froze. He hadn't meant to admit that.
"You remembered the troll and still went about the castle alone?" Sirius frowned.
"Harry James," Lily scolded.
Harry shuffled his feet. "I remembered the troll had cornered Hermione in my other life. But I didn't think there would actually be a troll this time, Quirrell was at the Head Table. In my other reality, he had run in shouting about a troll being loose in the dungeons. But it wasn't, it had found Hermione. Ron and I managed to knock it out."
"Merlin," Lily breathed.
"Is there a reason that you couldn't have let one of us know about Hermione?" James asked in a slightly exasperated voice.
"I didn't want you to know she was upset because of Ron," Harry said. "I didn't want him to get into trouble."
"You could have told one of your prefects," Snape pointed out.
"I-"
"Didn't think?" James shook his head.
"I guess not," Harry said, looking at his parents nervously.
James ran his hand through his hair as he thought. "Do you remember who let the troll in last time?"
Harry shook his head.
"It was probably just a prank," Sirius said easily.
"A dangerous one," Snape scowled. "If it was a student, I'll make sure they are expelled."
"If it wasn't a student, then who else? A professor?" Lily asked in alarm.
"All of the professors were in the hall," Snape murmured.
"Students were milling around," James said thoughtfully. He sighed. "Go on back to the feast," He told Harry softly. "But next time you have a memory of something like that, you tell one of us immediately." He put one finger under Harry's chin and lifted his face up so that their eyes met. "Understand?"
"Yes," Harry said. He smiled as his dad ruffled his hair and then headed into the hall and back to the Gryffindor table, sitting and eagerly filling his plate.
"Everything okay?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"Yeah, but they knew you were lying about studying," Harry said as he began filling his plate with delicious-looking food.
"Oh," Hermione bit her lip.
"They're not mad," Harry assured her. He glanced at Ron. "Did you apologize to her?"
"Yes," Ron said with a sigh.
"I can't believe a troll was in the castle!" Neville said, looking nervous.
"How could it have got in?" Hermione wondered out loud.
"That's what they're trying to figure out," Harry glanced up at the head table. His parents, Sirius and Sev had returned but were standing in a huddle along with McGonagall, talking. "Either a student as some sort of prank or a professor."
Hermione looked alarmed. "A professor?"
"Sev seemed sure that all the professors were in here." Harry continued.
"Sev?" Hermione looked even more horrified.
"He's basically my uncle," Harry shrugged. "I wouldn't call him that in class." He assured her with a grin.
Ron snickered. "I dare you to."
"No way." Harry laughed.
HP
"Oh, this is so exciting!" Lily said brightly as she watched the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams lift into the air. "My baby's first game!"
Regulus chuckled. "Good thing he can't hear you call him a baby." He teased. He had taken the day off work to come to watch Harry's game.
"I didn't call him a baby, I called him my baby," Lily protested.
James chuckled, his eyes on his son. He felt so proud to watch his boy play his first game.
"So Severus, who are you rooting for?" Remus asked with a grin. He and Narcissa had also come to watch the game.
Snape sniffed. "I am Head of Slytherin House," He pointed out. "I support my team." His expression softened slightly. "I also support Harry, of course."
"I wish Draco was sitting with us," Narcissa said, her eyes scanning the stands for her son.
"He wants to watch the game with his friends, dear," Remus said, patting her on the knee. "We'll visit with him afterward."
"I suppose he thinks it's too babyish to sit with us," Narcissa said, smiling with amusement.
"I like sitting with all of you," Primrose piped up. She was excited to watch her brother, she had even made a sign that read, You're the best, Harry!
"Hopefully you still feel that way when you're eleven," Lily laughed.
"What in the world is Harry doing?" James asked suddenly.
"He better not be trying some dangerous new move he read about," Lily said with a frown as she watched Harry begin flying erratically around, going up, down, and round in circles.
"This doesn't look like any Quidditch move I've ever seen," Regulus said, leaning forward in concern.
"His broom is acting out of control," James said, standing up.
The crowd gasped as Harry's broom, which had been jerking him around started spinning even faster. Harry was clearly struggling to hold on.
"I think someone has jinxed it," Snape said and immediately began muttering a counter-spell.
"Sirius!" Regulus shouted.
Sirius, who had been dealing with a Slytherin who had pulled an illegal move, turned on his broom and glanced at his brother. Seeing where Reg was pointing, Sirius's eyes widened in alarm when he saw what was happening to Harry.
"Accio broom!" James said, summoning one of the school's spare brooms. Before he could hop on it and fly to his son, Harry's broom began zooming away from the game and heading toward the forest.
"Harry!" Lily gasped in alarm.
Sirius, who had been on the other side of the pitch, flew after him. He lost sight of him once he entered the forest so he quickly landed on the ground and immediately blurred into Padfoot, able to run faster as a dog than a human and also able to track better. Regulus, Remus, and Lily began running towards the forest as James hopped on the broom and flew. They could hear Dumbledore stopping the game and telling the students to stay where they were.
"Padfoot, where is he?" James hollered as he hovered about Sirius. He followed the black dog and his heart lurched when he saw Harry laying in a crumpled heap on the ground, his broom lying next to him.
Padfoot blurred back into Sirius. "Pup!" He gently touched Harry's pale face.
James landed and knelt next to him, waving his wand over him. "Harry? Can you hear me, Son?"
"James, is he all right?" Lily ran to them. She saw the diagnostic James had cast. "His leg is broken and he has a bad bump on his head." She gently ran her hand through Harry's hair.
"We'll take him to the infirmary," James said as he carefully gathered his boy into his arms, lifting him up.
"I got his broom," Regulus said, eyeing it suspiciously. "I want to run some tests on it."
"Harry!"
"Primrose! I told you to stay with Narcissa!" Lily scolded as her daughter ran up to them.
Tears were streaming down Primrose's face. "He's my brother!" She argued.
"I'm so sorry! I couldn't stop Prim from running here," Narcissa said as she met them as they walked out of the forest. "I can't run in these boots," She shook her head. "Is Harry okay? Oh!" She put her arm around Primrose as James carried Harry past them.
"His leg is broken and he has a nasty bump on his head," Remus said, putting his hand on Prim's shoulder. "Stay with Narcissa."
"No, I'm going to the infirmary!" Prim yelled.
"No, you are going to do as you are told," Remus told her sternly. "Your parents will come to get you as soon as they make sure your brother is all right."
"But -"
"Primrose." Snape scolded. "You will do as you are told." He glanced at Reg. "We can take that broom to my lab to run tests on it."
Regulus nodded.
HP
At the infirmary, Poppy was running diagnostics. "Concussion and a broken leg, a few bumps, and bruises." She murmured. "I can fix his leg and minor injuries, the concussion will go away but we will need to watch him carefully." She applied a cool compress to his forehead.
Harry stirred and blinked tiredly. "What happened?"
"Harry," Lily said in relief. She kissed his cheek. "Baby, how do you feel?"
"Achy," Harry said, squinting.
James handed him his glasses.
"I have some balm for his bruises," Poppy said briskly. "And a pain reliever."
"Wait, what happened – my broom!" Harry started to sit up but his dad gently pushed him back down. "It was acting so weird, I couldn't control it! And then it made me fall!"
"Yes, we know. We believe your broom has been jinxed," James said. "Sev and Regulus are going to take a look at it."
Regulus nodded. "Don't worry, pup. Your broom will be good as new." He assured him.
"But who would do that?" Harry asked with a frown. "Who would jinx it?"
"We don't know but we'll find out," Sirius said grimly.
Suddenly Harry had a memory.
It was Snape, he was cursing your broom!"
I know a jinx when I see one, you've got to keep eye contact and Snape wasn't blinking at all!
He's after whatever that three-headed dog is guarding!
How do you know about Fluffy?
"Forget about Fluffy and what it's guradin', that's between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel!"
Harry shook his head to clear it. So in his other reality, Sev had tried to kill him? He couldn't believe that even knowing that Sev had hated him in his other life.
"Harry?" Lily asked in concern.
"I had a memory," Harry said slowly. "In my other reality, we thought Sev jinxed my broom."
"What? It was me?" Snape asked in horror.
Harry shook his head. "We thought it was because you were staring at me when my broom acted weird."
"I did that this time, trying to counter the jinx," Snape said with a frown.
"Maybe your other you did that too," Sirius suggested.
"I hope so," Snape said quietly. He hated the thought that he in any reality could have been cruel to Harry.
"At least I had a memory of a name to research what Fluffy is guarding," Harry said happily. "Flamel. And can you believe that three-headed dog is named Fluffy?" He looked up when the room went silent. The adults were staring at him. Oops. Perhaps he shouldn't have said that.
TBC: