A/N: Yes yes, I know! These things are incredibly boreing to read. Nethertheless! I just wanted to let you know a few things incase you get confused! I did a little research and came up with some information pertaining to the the names of Morag and Blaise, so I made the appropriate changes. Morag will now be a girl-Scottish mind you- and Blaise will be a boy- French of course. I've been outlining my story ideas for books five and six. I'm thinking Blaise will come into an imporant role in my version of book four. Anyways! I really should be paying more attention to books one and two, but I can't help myself! Changing the plots and characters all around is really much to fun! Ahem. Yes. Well...On you read...
Just to make sure you've all got it right. I've made changes from chapters five through ten. I've even added and taken away some things. Chapter eh...I can't remember which one. I think it's chapter eight. Enjoy!
Alternate Reality: Simply Slytherin
Chapter Nine
"I have never doubted that you care for your students despite their less that perfect homes and family. But for Merlin's sake you haven't even filed a Medical Report for the boy!" A female's voice huffed.
"I have been busy, woman! He seemed in fine enough health to me, so I admit it was lower on my priorities list!" A deeper voice, male, snapped.
"Oh? Have you also been to busy to at least visit him?" She countered.
"He was and is unconscious, what would have been the point?" He growled.
"That never stopped you before, Severus, and don't think I haven't noticed your nightly watches over every other Slytherin that has to stay the night! I have never been one to question your unfairness against other houses, mind you I know they need a good dose of you to balance out the school, but he's your charge!"
This accusation was met with silence and the mediwitch- there was no mistaking her sharp voice- huffed in agitation. "I've been busy lately," the distinct voice of his Head of House insisted. "If Potter has trouble making friends and keeping them, that is no concern of mine."
"Severus, he was attacked in the hallway. On the way to class! Are you so blinded by a childish grudge that you cannot see that the whole of Slytherin has created a vendetta against the boy? You used to provide a barrier against these attacks for your other students when it came to blows with other houses, but now you've relinquished that protection over a boy because of his father's childish delinquency!"
Harry stirred in his slumber and the two voices quieted, waiting to see if he would open his eyes. Deep within the darkness of his own mind, Harry listened for the two to continue their discussion but was disappointed when he heard a rustle of cloth and the sharp clip of boots leaving the infirmary. Drifting off into sleep his last thought was of how he had been found, or rather, by whom?
The next morning Harry opened his eyes to the blinding light of the infirmary and glared at the ceiling.
"Good to see awake at last, Mister Potter!" Greeted Madam Pomfrey cheerily. Checking his vitals she replaced the bandage on his head and nodded her head approvingly. "You'll be out of here by tomorrow I'd wager."
"Tomorrow?" he repeated as if not quite grasping the concept.
"That is if I'm satisfied by your progress."
Harry blanched. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be out of here by dinner at the earliest." She said after recovering from her laughter.
After Madam Pomfrey had left, Harry was served a light breakfast by a house elf and then left to his own devices. By the time lunch arrived he was bored out of his mind. His boredom however did not last long, because with the arrival of his lunch also came Morag MacDougal.
"Hello, Harry."
"Morag." He acknowledged, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to give you your missed homework." For the first time Harry noted his satchel in Morag's grasp. "And," she began but paused, unable to continue.
"I don't blame you, Morag. You didn't hit me on the back of the head."
"But I should have stood up for you. Don't hate Slytherin because of Draco."
"Who said I did? Apparently they hate me. With good reason too." Harry tacked on sullenly.
"No, not with good reason." Insisted Morag. "Slytherin is compared to so many negative things that we sometimes blur the lines between what we should or should not do. Draco went to far, but we should have seen that."
"Slytherin is ambitious." A new voice joined in; Harry and Morag turned to see Theo. "Slytherin does what it does for it's own good." He continued. " If that means ostracising one of it's own than so be it. It doesn't matter if you broke a 'Slytherin rule' or not, I doubt anybody has realised you have, if they have then they will only add it to the list of reasons to hate you."
Harry quirked a brow at the term 'list' but let him continue.
"It's all political advantage anyway. Draco's father isn't just wealthy he is a big influence in the Ministry as well. If any one of our fathers discovered that we were siding opposite of Malfoy they would be in trouble."
"Trouble?" Harry prompted.
"A lot of Slytherin is tied with the Dark Lord. There are more than just several parents who became Death Eaters during his reign. If any one of those parents were discovered they would be thrown into Azkaban without proper trial. The family would be humiliated. With a simple insinuation Draco's father could have any one of our families destroyed."
"What are death eaters?" Harry asked when the overall shock of it had worn away. He recognised the term from his second day at Hogwarts when the prefects had explained everything to the first years.
"They were servants of the Dark Lord, they bear a mark on their forearm of a skull and a snake. About here." He indicated the place on his robe.
"And Azkaban? What is that?"
"It is a horrible place, a wizards prison. The stories any wizard has heard could send shivers up your spine. They have creatures there that steal away your happiness and can suck away your soul. Dementors." He ended in a whisper.
Harry gulped. "Sounds pleasant."
"Anyone who goes there ends up going mad."
"And Draco's father has the power to send anybody's family there?" Harry remembered the arrogant man back at the train station.
Morag nodded his head.
"I think I understand now, that explains Ravenclaw as well." He said thoughtfully. "I wager Hufflepuff is just to bloody scared of me." He ended in a weak laugh. His two companions grinned.
The next morning Harry was late to breakfast again but his two friends were there waiting.
"'Bout time you got here!" Grumbled Morag.
"What? I thought you couldn't associate with me? What about Malfoy?"
Theo shrugged. "I think my father's safe enough. And Morag, well. She's Morag. The MacDougal family is out of the Malfoy range, though I think it best if we show impartiality. Our families are equal to Malfoy's we'll be fine." Insisted Theo tossing Harry an apple.
Munching on the apple Harry gave them both a doubtful look but shrugged nonetheless and the trio set off for their first class of the day.
Charms while mostly boring and severely lacking in theory made a change for the better when they walked in and were presented with their first practical.
"Now remember class. Just swish and flick! Like so! Swish and flick. And don't forget to pronounce correctly. Say it with me! Wingardium Leviosa!" squeaked Professor Flitwick.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" The room chorused.
"Very good, never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
The class had been largely uneventful. Mudblood Granger had managed to levitate it four feet and earned five points for Gryffindor. Soon after, Seamus Finnigan, a small boy with an Irish brogue became agitated and after prodding his feather set it aflame. Weasley had been his partner and flushing red to his ears under Flitwick's clucking, put out the small fire with his hat.
The rest of the class Harry cringed at the sound of Granger's bossy voice correctly pointing out how to perform the spell over and over and over-needless to say you get the idea-to a hapless Weasley who had turned an even deeper shade of scarlet.
"…no friends, she's a menace. 'You have to make the 'gar' sound nice and long'…" As Harry and his companions pushed their way through the crowded corridors, Weasley's voice changed pitch as he did a fairly good impression of the mudblood.
Later that day before the feast Harry noted that Granger wasn't in the library, overhearing a conversation between Longbottom and a girl named Lavender Brown he found out that she was in a lavatory not far from the dungeons. Mulling over the idea of going down to retrieve her he almost immediately discarded the thought. Wouldn't that endear him to his already hostile House mates? He scoffed.
Heading down to the Great Hall later that evening for the feast all thoughts of troublesome Gryffindors were put out of his mind. There must have been hundreds of live bats fluttering about the ceiling that swooped down in great clouds causing the candles within the great jack-o-lanterns to flicker uncertainly. When the students had all taken a seat the food once again bloomed on the empty gold platters much like it had on the Welcoming Feast, Harry's first meal at Hogwarts.
Harry had finished serving himself and was about to tuck into a particularly succulent looking potato when the doors burst open and in ran a very sweaty looking Professor Quirrel.
The whole of the Great Hall watched with rapt attention as the small jittery man stopped at the Headmaster's chair, leaning heavily over the table and rasped out, "Troll! Troll in the dungeons!" He then looked slightly detached before adding, "Thought you ought to know." He then unceremoniously sank to the floor in a dead faint.
The Great Hall burst into shouts and screams before several loud bangs brought the attention back to a very calm Albus Dumbledore.
"Prefects, please escort your Houses to their dormitories immediately!" Harry was just getting up from his seat when he realised with stunning clarity that the Slytherin dormitories were in the dungeons! However this problem was not overlooked.
"As our dear Headmaster has seemingly forgotten his darling little Slytherins, we'll go the library. But follow closely we're going another way, seeing as how the main staircase is, ah, congested." Jasmine Capulet was dictating which years went first and Harry and his friends nibbled on a few bites of their dinner as they waited patiently.
And indeed as Harry and his friends looked on, the other houses were in such a panic, they couldn't even get through the door properly.
Going through a second door they found themselves on the second floor corridor but very close to the library. A few more staircases and a very well disguised secret passage later they would be there.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks as they passed a deserted corridor. "Did you hear that?" Morag shook her head and Theo gave him a confused look.
"Hear what?" He had nicked a bowl of what looked like candied yams and was eating it quite calmly despite the tension all around them.
"I thought I heard." Harry's eyes widened. "Is the girls bathroom that way?"
"Yes, what-?" Morag was eyeing the candied yams with suspicion.
"Don't ask, I'll explain on the way!"
With that Harry and his three friends sprinted down the corridor and screeched to a halt when a shadow appeared on the corridor wall ahead of hem.
But it wasn't a prefect, rather, it was Professor Snape. He came billowing-there really was no other word for it-by and swept up a long staircase without a word.
"Strange, wonder what he's doing?" said Harry, remembering billowing black robed when he had tried to keep consciousness earlier that week.
"Shouldn't he be with the other professor's in the dungeon?" Morag's Scottish burr asked.
"He's headed for the third floor corridor." Harry observed before another noise caught his attention.
"Ugh! Do you smell that?" Asked Morag, covering her nose with the sleeve of her robe.
"Cave troll," whispered Theo.
"Blinding observation skills you've got there, Theo, blinding." Said Harry sarcastically. "Well at least it isn't in the dungeons anymore."
"Oh yea I see the advantage. Now the teachers are on a wild goose chase and the rest of the school is unarmed against it. Splendid. Why did we come anyw-" but Morag didn't get a chance to finish. A high petrifying scream broke into their conversation and all three simultaneously snapped their heads in the direction.
"That's why," pointed out Harry. "Those Gryffindor prats were insulting Granger and she's been down here all afternoon. She skipped classes for Merlin's sake! I figured we might as well tell her about the troll. Now what?"
"We aren't going in there are we?"
"Someone should go get the teachers." Said Theo. Morag was quick to volunteer.
" We might as well make sure the mudblood doesn't get herself killed." Said a resigned Theo, watching the departing back of Morag until she was out of sight.
The two remaining Slytherins entered the girls' bathroom warily, almost to the point of gagging at the nauseating smell. Turning a corner their jaws dropped and their expressions wilted.
Twelve feet tall, dull, granite grey skin, body like a boulder with a small head perched on top like a coconut. It's legs were short and thick as a tree trunk, with a ugly, flat feet. The smell was incredible. It was holding huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because it's arms and legs seemed severely misproportioned.
Currently it was advancing on the bushy haired Gryffindor, knocking sinks off the walls as it went.
"Confuse it!" Theo said desperately to Harry who picked up a faucet and threw it against the tiny head. The troll seemed to freeze and think through the idea something had hit him before slowly lumbering around and focusing his beady eyes on Harry's still form. Blinking stupidly it hesitated before making it's way for him instead.
Theo, slightly panicked, picked up large piece of sharp porcelain from one of the many shattered sinks and launched it high into the air.
CRASH! Theo gulped as he was suddenly the attention of a half-ton magical creature. Not knowing quite what to do he watched as it lumbered toward him, raising it's arm for the kill, growling fiercely. Running around to the other side of the troll Harry did something then that was both very brave, yet incredibly stupid. He took a great leap and landed with his arms clasped around the troll's neck.
"Hit it with a spell!" He yelled to no one in particular. He suddenly felt himself lifted into the air by a massive, gnarled troll hand and shaken angrily. "Help!"
Theo, taking out his wand hesitated before calling back. "What do I do?"
"Anything!"
A moment of indecision before- "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Harry flinched away as the troll used one hand to heft his massive club and prepared to take a swing at him like a bat. Bracing for impact he looked up and almost laughed at the immobile piece of wood held just above the troll's reach. The troll, obviously confused looked around him for a moment before getting enough brain cells together to glance up and regret it.
WHAM. The troll crumpled under the club and Harry took a deep breath of air as he was finally released.
"Is it dead?" asked Hermione; her eyes still red rimmed and wetness on her face.
"No," said Theo. "Just knocked out. Blast! Where's Morag?" Theo was slightly disoriented and seemed to have gone into a mild bout of shock.
Harry looked down at his wand, which he had drawn out at some time and shoved up the troll's nose to distract him.
"Ugh," he muttered. "Troll snot."
He wiped it on the troll's trousers.
Standing up he realised he was shaking and Theo was still staring at the troll in amazement of what he had done.
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. It suddenly dawned on them what sort of racket they had been making, of course someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later Professor McGonagall came bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape and Quirrell, with Morag bringing up the rear. Quirrel took one look at the troll and paled considerable, taking a seat on a toilet and clutching his heart.
Snape bent over the troll and inspected it shrewdly. Professor McGonagall was looking at Theo and Harry. Harry, for one, had never seen her so angry. Her lips were white and her whole visage screamed of two month's worth of detentions. If not expulsion.
"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Both Slytherin first years glanced at each other, both forming quick plans. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
Snape, standing from his inspection of the troll, had come up beside McGonagall, and gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry chanced a look at Morag who, tearing his eyes away from the troll, shrugged her shoulders in helplessness.
Then a small voice came from the shadows.
"Please, Professor McGonagall- they were looking for me."
"Miss Granger!" Harry thought the deputy headmistress might go into epileptic shock.
Hermione had managed to stand at last.
"I-I thought I could handle the troll on my own, you know, because I've read about them and all."
Professor McGonagall looked speechless.
"So I went looking for it but it found me. They must've heard me scream and come after me."
"The Slytherin's dormitories are in the dungeon so, to evade the crowded staircases, we went through a passageway that would lead us to the library." Was is Harry's imagination or did Snape suddenly pale and give them each a quick, calculating glance?
"We sent Morag to look for a teacher but he was taking to long and she was about to well-it wasn't good." Theo supplied.
"He means that the troll had me cornered and was about to finish me off, professor." Hermione supplied sheepishly, her face flushed with a mixture of emotions.
"Yes, well. Erm. That's about it, professors." Theo scratched the back of his head uneasily and shot his Head of House uneasy glances.
Harry was still staring at the floor but moved his gaze to the feet of his professor. The hem of his robe was pulled back slightly but that wasn't all. It was torn. Eyes slightly widened, he noted his pant leg was shredded and mangled flesh beyond that. As suddenly as he had caught sight of it just as suddenly it was gone in a veil of black. Looking up he met the gaze of his Head of House and quirked a brow. The Potions Master gave him a pointed glare and his attention returned to the conversation between the Deputy Headmistress and Hermione Granger.
"…sorely disappointed in you. How could you display such a serious lack of judgement? If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."
Hermione left.
Professor McGonagall then whirled on Theo and Harry. Morag was still hiding behind professor Snape.
"You two. Well I'll say you were lucky. Not many first years could have taken on a full grown mountain troll. Dumbledore will be informed of this." With that she was gone, storming down the corridor.
The three breathed deep sighs of relief. One professor down, one to go. It was Snape's turn.
For a long, tedious moment the greasy haired man didn't say anything but his silence was enough berating for the both of them. Relenting his imperious glare he sighed. "Five points will be taken from Slytherin for your sheer stupidity." At their crestfallen looks he continued. "Five points will be awarded to each of you for dumb luck to match! Get to your dormitories." He snapped, striding out of the lavatory after casting one last meaningful look at Quirrel.
The three flew to the first year dormitories, coming to a stop at Harry's singular room. Enjoying the rest of their feast the trio finished quickly and reclined against the bed frame in relief and weariness.
"This is one Halloween I won't be forgetting anytime soon." Theo and Harry readily agreed with Morag's declaration.
It was from that point on that Harry and his band made a truce with Hermione Granger. There are some things that you can't share without ending up holding a measure of respect for each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is certainly one of them.