A/N: There will be more updates over the next week, which should make everyone happy. It's mostly due to the fact final exams are coming up and I won't have much time to post from June 9th to June 23. Also, the week of the 16-20 I'm going to be in a play! We have rehearsals every night that week and the shows themselves are on June 21 and 22. Then it'll be summer and I can write whenever I want. Yay!

Thanks to litine; Dadaiiro: Ack! So many questions! Let's see of course, yup, I figure all Quidditch captains are kinda fanatic, um.....someone with a losing fetish?, Ravenclaw may win against Gryffindor, but the Gryffs could also still beat everyone else, Draco is proud of his friend, Definitely!, Mmm-hmm, he already has the map....see chapter 9, what if Ron and Herm aren't friends? I haven't decided on that yet. Whew! Keep up on these reviews, I love getting them!; Lady Knight of Kennan: Not really, the Gryffs still have a good team, just there Seeker may not be as good. As for Cho, you'll have to see about her and the Quidditch thing!; Jordan; Calani; JerseyGirl03; StarMage: I thought that, too; Lady Phoenix Gryffindor; Avlyn; and ryleeblack!

As usual, some of this chapter comes from the actual canon. And, some even comes from HP and the CS as well. See if you can spot it.

CH16: Visions and Ventures

~"Meet me at the Pitch tonight, Andrews. I really hope Hooch is right, we may actually have a shot at the cup this year!"

Harry, picturing the free feeling he got flying, finally managed to grin back at the Professor and the Captain.~

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"You're joking."

It was dinnertime. Harry had just finished telling Draco what had happened when he'd left the grounds.

"I knew you were good when you took off today, but Seeker?" he said. "But first years never - you must be the youngest house player in about - "

" - a century," said Harry, shoveling pie into his mouth. "If I make the team that is," he added.

"Of course you'll make it. You're amazing!" reassured Draco. "Plus, the regular team try-outs were Saturday and they didn't find a new Seeker."

Cho Chang now came into the hall, spotted Harry, and hurried over.

"Well done," she said in a low voice. "Roberts told me. I made the team this year, too - Beater."

"I haven't even had my try-out yet. I may not even be the new Seeker."

"Don't be ridiculous, Andy." she nudged him in the arm. " Everyone's talking about what happened this afternoon. You're suppose to be amazing." She checked her watch. "I've got to go meet Sandy in the Library. Bye!" She left and was replaced by Ernie Macmillan.

"I just wanted to say thanks, Andy," he began, but Harry cut him off.

"Don't worry about it. It was nothing."

"No really. My dad would have hexed me if I broke this. I should never have gone flying with it. So thanks." Ernie left.

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At seven o'clock, Roberts approached Harry in the common room.

"Ready to go, Andrews," he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Harry replied. He noticed Draco shoot him a pleading look over Roberts shoulder. "Ah, would it be alright if Draco came along?"

The Quidditch Captain sighed. "Very well."

The group arrived at the pitch.

"Alright. You'll be using my broom tonight." He held out a Nimbus 2000. "We'll have to get you your own soon." Harry took the broom and mounted it, waiting for instructions. "First, I want you to take a few practice laps around the stadium."

What a feeling - he swooped in and out of the goalposts and then sped up and down the field. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever he wanted at the slightest touch.

"Okay, come down now, Andrews!" Harry swooped in next to him. Roberts eyes were glinting. "Very nice, you really are a natural. I'm assuming you know the rules of the game?" Harry nodded.

"I learned all about it in a book this summer."

"Good. It's too dark to play with the Snitch, but we can practice using these golf balls." He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket and a few minutes later, he and Harry were up in the air, Roberts throwing the balls as hard as he could in every direction. Harry didn't miss a single one.

Roberts was delighted and expressed it as the boys were trudging back to the Common room. "That Cup'll have our name on it this year," he said happily. "I wouldn't be surprised if you 'were' better than Charlie Weasley, and he could've played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons."

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Harry and Draco split up from Roberts soon after entering the castle. He said he had to tell Madame Hooch that they definitely had a new Seeker and bid them goodbye.

"Told ya you'd make it," said Draco smugly. "And you had doubts."

"Shut up." Harry whacked Draco on the arm, but then fell over as the staircase started to shift. "What the - ?"

"Oh no, the staircases move." The staircase in question had flipped itself around so they were facing in a totally different direction.

"Come on, let's get off this thing before it decides to take a trip again." Harry and Draco clambered off into a dark, dank passageway. "Where are we?"

"Not a clue." The hallway reached an end, with only one door there. Harry tried to open it, but it was locked.

"What do we do now?"

Draco pulled out his wand. "Alohomora!" The door creaked open and they suddenly realized why it was locked. And where they were.

Unfortunately, they weren't in any normal passageway. They were in the forbidden third corridor. And it was obvious why it was forbidden.

Draco and Harry were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

Harry slammed the door shut. "You know, I think I'd rather brave the staircases."

"Yeah, me, too." The boys skirted off back to Ravenclaw House. It was only when they were in the safety of their common room, did they discuss what they had just seen.

"What are they thinking, keeping something like that in the school?" Draco panted. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

"Didn't you see what it was standing on?" asked Harry.

"The floor?" Draco suggested.

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor."

"So it was guarding something?"

"It make sense."

"Hmmm?"

"It was like Cerberus, the dog that guards the Underworld." At seeing Draco's blank stare, he sighed. "Never mind." But this adventure did give Harry something to think about. He may have found out what happened to the grubby package from vault 713.

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Before breakfast the next day, Harry filled Draco in about the package that was moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, what he thought the robbers were trying to steal the past summer. They spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection.

"It's either really valuable or really dangerous," Draco said.

"Or both," said Harry.

But as all they new for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn't have much chance at guessing without further clues.

As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harry was just as interested as everyone else, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it in front of him. They had hardly fluttered away when another owl left a letter on top of the parcel.

Harry ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said:

DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.

It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everyone knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Mr. Roberts asked me to tell you that practices are every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 4pm to 7pm, and on Saturdays from 2pm to 4pm.

Professor F. Flitwick

Harry handed the note to Draco to read and they shared an excited smirk.

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Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practices, homework, pranks, and his correspondence with Manda and Elle, but Harry could hardly believe he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle was quickly becoming a second home to him and his lessons were getting easier and easier.

Of course, good things can't last forever and the mood dampener had arrived. Harry had never been particularly fond of Halloween and now that he knew it was the day his parents had died.....well, it wasn't his favorite holiday.

Even a letter from his Muggle friends or the fact that in Charms, Professor Flitwick had announced they would be learning to make objects fly, couldn't bring up his spirits.

His partner for the day was a Gryffindor, Seamus Finnigan, who had a slight tendency to blow things up. Draco was worse off though - he was working with Neville Longbottom. Neville, although he had his heart in the right place, wasn't the best at practical forms of magic.

On the other side of the room, Harry could see Hermione Granger trying to help Ron Weasley, Fred and George's younger brother. It didn't seem they liked each other very much.

"Now don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. "Swish and flick, remember swish and flick. Saying the incantation properly is a must, too. A simple slip of the tongue and who knows what will happen!"

"Wingradium Levosa!" Ron was shouting loudly, waving his arms like a windmill.

You're saying it wrong," Harry heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.

Hermione flicked her wand and, at the same time as Harry, said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Both feathers flew high off the desk.

"Well done!" cried Flitwick clapping. "Everyone look here, Miss Granger and Mr. Andrews have done it!" Harry shot Hermione a smile which she returned. Ron looked very put out at the end of class.

Harry could hear Ron complaining to some of his fellow Gryffindors after the lesson was over.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he was saying. "She's a nightmare, honestly." A girl rushed past them and Harry was surprised to see it was Hermione - and she was in tears.

"I think she heard you," said Dean Thomas, quietly.

"So?" Ron sneered. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"That's not a very nice thing to say. You barely even know her," Harry interjected.

"You should talk, you're almost as bad as she is, Andrews." The other boys shot Harry an apologetic look before catching up to their housemate.

Draco watched them go. "What's his problem?" Harry just shrugged his shoulder.

Later, Draco and Harry heard Parvati Patil saying that Hermione hadn't shown up for classes the rest of the afternoon and was seen crying in the girls bathroom. Let's just say that both Ravenclaws wanted to have a small talk with Ron Weasley by the end of the day.

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"You have got to come!"

It was right before the Halloween feast and the common room was emptying as everyone made their way down to the hall. Draco was trying to convince a very stubborn Harry to join them at the feast.

"But why?" he moaned. Harry put down the book he was reading.

"It's just not my favorite day of the year," he said quietly. "Go on without me, I don't want you to have a bad night because of me."

"All right, but you don't know what you're missing." The blond haired boy left and Harry resumed his reading.

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Down in the Great Hall, Albus Dumbledore wasn't surprised to see Draco enter alone. He called the student up to the Head Table.

"Mr. Malfoy, where is Andy?"

Draco looked hesitant. "He wouldn't come. I'm not sure why, but....," he trailed off.

Dumbledore sighed. "If you don't mind, could you go back up there and tell him that I asked he attend this dinner?"

"Alright, Headmaster." The professor watched him go, the sparkle in his eyes dimmed down a bit.

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Harry shuffled into the hall. 'The decorations are okay,' he thought, eyeing the swooping bats and giant pumpkins. 'Maybe it won't be so bad.'

"See, we'll have loads of fun," Draco grinned.

"As long as we don't have to cackle or anything," conceded Harry.

They settled into their house table as the golden plates filled with food. Harry had just helped himself to a baked potato when something odd happened.

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When Draco turned to Harry, asking him to pass the roast beef, he noticed it. Harry had gone rigid in his chair, his irises glowing slightly silver before his eyes rolled up into his head.

"Andy? Andy? Andy!" he shouted, attracting the attention of most of the room. At seeing Harry's shaking form, the Headmaster leapt from his seat and rushed over.

"Are you okay, Mr. Andrews? Can you hear me?"

"Professor?" Harry whispered.

"What's going on?" asked Cho, timidly from her spot across the table.

"It's strange," Harry said. "I know I'm in the Great Hall, but I don't see the hall. It's somewhere different."

Dumbledore knelt down in front of Harry, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders. "What do you see?"

"It's a dark room. One of the dungeons I think. There's something moving around. It's big and it's carrying a club....I think it might be a troll." Harry eyes returned to normal and he could focus again. He looked to the professor. "That was weird - "

He was cut off when the doors flew open and Professor Quirrell sprinted in. His face was filled with terror. "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know." Then, he sank to the floor in a dead faint. Everyone slowly turned their eyes on Harry.

"How - " Draco began, but everyone finally registered what the unconscious DADA teacher just said. They broke into horrific screams.

"SILENCE!" The uproar stopped at Dumbledore's shout. "Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately." He turned to the Ravenclaw table. "Cho, Draco, I want you to escort Andy up to my office. You remember where that is, Miss Chang?" Cho nodded. "The password is Chocolate Frog. Then I want the two of you to head straight back to your House." With that, he swept out of the hall with the rest of the teachers.

"That was creepy, Andy," Draco shivered. "Your eyes, I think they were glowing."

Cho looked at Harry. "How did you do that?"

"I have not a clue." He was still dazed as they got up to leave as well. But, abruptly, Harry stopped. "Hermione!"

"What about her?" Draco asked.

"She's in the bathroom! she doesn't know about the troll!" Cho's eyes widened and she pulled on the boys arms for them to follow.

"It's this way." They had just turned a corner when they heard footsteps behind them.

"Quick, behind here!" They ducked in a small space behind a suit of armor. Peering, around it, they saw Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Search me," Cho whispered back. Quickly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.

"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Draco held up his hand.

"Can you smell something?"

Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seemed to clean. And then they heard it - a low grunting, and the shuffling of gigantic feet. Draco pointed to the end of the passage on the left. Something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched it emerge in a patch of moonlight.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. It was holding a wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

Then they heard something that made their hearts stop - a high petrified scream - and it was coming from the chamber the monster was in.

"Oh no," yelled Cho.

"That's not...?" Draco asked.

"It is."

"The girls' bathroom," Harry finished.

"Hermione!" they said together. It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have. They rushed into the room.

Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking sinks down as it went.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to his companions and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its beady little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead.

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Draco, and he threw another metal pipe, this time at the troll itself. The troll didn't even seem to notice it, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout to Draco. This gave Cho time to dash around it.

"Come on, run, run!" Cho shouted, trying to pull Hermione toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth opened in terror.

The shouting and echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Draco, who was nearest and had no way to escape.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but anything would realize if a long piece of wood was thrust up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he jumped - it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and failed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.

"Oh my God, Andy!" Cho screamed. Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright and Draco whipped out his wand. Without any definite plan in his head. he shouted out the first spell he could think of.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high up into the air, turned slowly over - a dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. They were all staring at what had been done.

It was Hermione who spoke first.

"Is it - dead?"

"I don't think so," said Cho, "I think it's just been knocked out."

Harry bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh - troll boogers."

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the four of them look up. he hadn't realized what a racket they were making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes. A moment later, Professor McGonagall came bursting into the room, closely followed be Snape and Flitwick, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

McGonagall looked livid, but before she could speak, Harry said, "Before you start berating us, will you let us explain what happened?" When no one objected he went on. "We were going up to the Headmaster's office, just like he asked, when we remembered that Hermione was in here. She couldn't have heard about the troll, so we went to get her. It was already here though, and, well..." he motioned to the troll that Snape was now bending over.

"That was a very foolish thing to do, you should have let one of us take care of it. However," McGonagall added, "not many first or second years could take on a full-grown mountain troll. Five points to your houses for each of you. Now, Miss Granger, I'll escort you back to the Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their common rooms." They started to leave, but Hermione stopped and turned to the other children.

"Thanks," she said quietly and followed McGonagall out.

"I'll take you back to your commons, Malfoy, Chang." Cho and Draco shot Harry a smile and reluctantly followed Snape out.

Professor Flitwick turned to Harry. "Albus is waiting in his office for you. Shall we go?" Harry and the professor walked wordlessly down corridor after corridor. They stopped at a large and extremely ugly gargoyle.

"Chocolate Frog!" The gargoyle sprang to life and hopped aside as the wall split in two. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. Flitwick motioned for Harry to get on and the staircase took him higher and higher. Now, slightly dizzily, he saw a gleaming oak door, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. He rapped the door twice and was promptly invited in.

"Harry, come and sit down." After he settled himself into a comfy chair in front of the desk, Dumbledore continued. "We have lots to discuss tonight."

"Yeah, like what happened tonight? Draco said my eyes were glowing and -" Harry asked impatiently.

"Calm down child, we will get to that." He pulled out a small lemon box from one of the drawers. "Lemon drop?"

"No, thank you."

"Very well." He surveyed Harry over the tops of his half-moon spectacles. Harry wished he would stop - those blue eyes made you feel like your deepest secrets were exposed. Dumbledore suddenly chuckled. "It seems like just yesterday your mother was in here, asking me exactly the same question. Although, in more colorful language I must admit."

"Excuse me?"

"You're a Seer, Harry, as was Lily. It's a rare gift, usually passed down from parent to child. We weren't sure if you would inherit it, no one else in your family has this gift, but it looks like you did."

"I'm a - a Seer?" Harry confirmed with wide-eyes.

"Yes, but I do wish your first vision was more discreet. We can't have anyone connecting Lily to you, it would be disastrous if that information was in the wrong hands." Harry just nodded - his mind was still reeling with this new revelation. "Now, I think it's time for you to get to bed. You have classes tomorrow." As Harry got up to leave, Dumbledore stopped him. "Oh, I've been meaning to congratulate you on making the Quidditch team. It's quite an accomplishment and I'm sure your father would be proud - he was Chaser when he was in school."

Harry smiled at the Headmaster. "Good night, Professor."

But, as he was making his way back down the winding staircase, Harry heard Dumbledore say to himself,

"We were right."