DISCLAIMER: I still don't own more than the plot… checks pockets… oh, and some old musty apples… rummages around… and three sickles and a knut… looks around room… erm, yup, that's it…
AN: Sorry for the delay. No, I haven't died & I WILL NOT abandon this fic. (Fifteen pages this chapter… not bad…)
AN/OTHER DISCLAIMER: There are some things in this chapter taken directly from the HP books, but I changed some of it to fit the story. Sorry if this offends you or disturbs you, but… there you are… I want to stick to the books as much as possible.
It was finally Halloween and, for this reason, everyone seemed to be in particularly good spirits.
Except Hermione.
When Charms came and she was partnered with one of the people she had been working hardest at avoiding, Ron, Hermione was fuming.
Harry, partnered with Seamus, was more occupied with watching Hermione and Ron bickering through their practical work than struggling through his own. He had actually tried it a couple of times before Hermione's yelling caught his attention.
"No! Stop! You're doing it all wrong. You don't have to wave your arms so much, it's more of a wrist motion, and you're saying it wrong too. It's Win-gar-dium Levi-oh-sa. Make the "gar" nice and long."
Ron glared at his partner and pushed the feather he had been trying to levitate towards her, "Let's see you do it, then."
Hermione rolled up her sleeves, flicked her wrist and said, "Wingardium Leviosa."
The feather didn't hesitate to rise steadily into the air. It hovered above their heads for a moment before Hermione eased it back down.
By the end of the period, Ron was fuming as well.
Harry waited for him to put his things in his bag, what he did was probably closer to shove them in as fast and as sloppily as he could to avoid more of Hermione's lectures.
Harry led the way out of the classroom, Ron at his side, but neither turned around, and, so neither saw that Hermione exited the classroom right after they did.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron told Harry, "she's a nightmare, honestly."
Harry felt someone knock into him as they pushed past. Ron grabbed Harry's robes to keep him from falling down.
Harry got a glimpse of the person and was startled to see it was Hermione… and she was in tears.
As he caught his balance, he told Ron, "I think she heard you."
"So?" snapped Ron, but he looked slightly uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."
...
Harry started to worry when Hermione didn't turn up for their next class… in fact she wasn't seen all afternoon. As he and Ron were making their way towards the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender Brown that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone.
Ron frowned at this, but otherwise pretended he hadn't heard anything.
Harry was about to say something, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the glorious Halloween decorations pushed the girl out of their minds.
Numerous live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling, while even more swooped over the tables, causing the candles in the pumpkins to stutter.
The feast came suddenly, appearing on the golden plates as it had at the start of term, and Harry was just reaching for a potato when the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor came sprinting into the hall, the turban he always wore slightly askew and terror written on his face.
Everyone in the hall watched him race to the teacher's table and slumped against it, nearest to Dumbledore's chair. He gasped, "Troll- in the dungeons- thought you ought to know."
Then he sank to the floor in a dead faint.
There was an uproar in the hall. Professor Dumbledore stood up and fired several purple firecrackers before silence fell again.
"Prefects," he ordered, "lead your Houses back to your dormitories immediately!"
Percy stood up, straight-backed, "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"
Harry looked up at Remus Lupin and, before he turned to follow Percy up the stairs asked Ron, "How could a troll get in?"
"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid." Since Harry wasn't actually moving, Ron grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the stairs, "Harry we should go. We don't want to get in trouble."
"But, maybe we should-"
"It was probably Peeves," Ron said, impatiently, "He probably let the troll in for a Halloween joke."
Harry's eyes grew wide. He yanked himself free of Ron's grip, "I've just thought- Hermione."
"What about her?" Ron asked slowly.
"She doesn't know about the troll."
Ron bit his lip.
"Oh, all right. But-"
"What are you two doing?" A worried voice asked from behind them, "You're supposed to be going to Gryffindor Tower!"
"Hermione!" Harry yelled whipping around to face the voice, "She's in the girls bathroom and doesn't know about the troll!"
Ron turned to look at Remus Lupin and saw that he was quite pale.
Harry glanced around the Hall and saw that it was almost empty.
"The bathroom by the Charms room or the one near Gryffindor tower?!"
"Charms, I think," Harry replied, "That's where we last saw her."
Remus paled more, "That's too near the troll."
He rubbed at his temples uncertainly and bit his lip, muttering, "Dumbledore trusts him, he'll handle it…"
He set his face and set off, taking the path Harry had planned on following.
Ron looked at Harry and then they followed the marauder at a quick pace, taking two steps for every one that he took.
They hurried along a deserted corridor and a few moments after they turned the corner, they heard footsteps behind them. Remus looked around and pulled Ron and Harry behind a large stone griffin.
Harry saw Snape as 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," said Ron.
Remus was silent, but his eyes held a knowing look as he pulled the boys from behind the statue and after Snape's fading footsteps.
"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Ron held up his hand.
"Can you smell something?"
Harry sniffed and a horrid smell reached his nose.
He and Ron turned to look at Remus, but his nose was already pinched shut, "That would be the stench of a troll," the werewolf frowned.
The three wizards continued down the corridor, "Careful, boys. The troll is just a bit away, I gan 'ear 'im."
Harry strained his ears and then he and Ron could hear it too- a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of huge feet.
They watched as an enormous shape emerged from the left and slowly made it's way toward them.
The three of them shrank into the shadows again.
The troll walked through a patch of moonlight and they were able to see it fully.
Ron covered his mouth and his stomach, "Ugh!"
The troll stopped moving next to a doorway. It looked inside and wiggled his long ears, it seemed to be trying to make up it's miniscule mind.
When the troll stepped forward into the room, Remus groaned and started to run forward.
"The girls' bathroom?" Ron wondered.
"Poor kid keeps getting attacked by monsters," Remus muttered by way of response, the hand which had been covering his nose fell down to his side, as the others hurried to follow him towards the door which the troll had disappeared into.
As they approached the door, a sound came from it which nearly made their hearts stop- a high petrified scream.
They broke into a sprint, Remus entering the room first, followed closely by Harry and then Ron.
Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite the door, looking as though she were about to faint. The troll was closing in on her, knocking the sinks from the wall as it went.
"Remus? What do we do?!"
"'Physical attacks hardly ever have an effect on the mountain troll,'" Remus said, sounding like a textbook, "Uh…'Magic is likewise unlikely to help unless used in the proper ways. Due to the thick skin and unresponsive nerves and muscles in the troll's body…' no, no, no… skip that section, it's not helping… 'the head is the weakest point on the troll, which is why they sometimes have a tendency to wear helmets, it is unknown as to why they come up with such intelligent…' no, that's not it either…"
"Confuse it!" Harry yelled, snatching a sink tap and throwing it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped feet from Hermione and lumbered around to see what had made the noise.
It hesitated, then made for Harry instead, lifting it's club.
Remus was still muttering extracts from textbooks as he raised his wand. He stopped mumbling to shout something Harry couldn't hear (Ron had just yelled, "Oy, pea-brain!" from the other side of the room and threw a metal pipe at it's shoulder.)
The spell thrown by the adult seemed to make no impact on the troll, likewise with Ron's pipe, but the shouting and echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk.
As it turned toward Ron, who was in a corner as far from Hermione and Harry as he could get, Harry had a chance to run around the troll towards Hermione.
The troll, still approaching Ron, smashed a few cubicles, scattering bits of wood all over the floor.
"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled to her, trying to pull her toward the door, but she seemed unable to move, still flat against the wall- mouth open wide with terror.
Remus jerked his wand up again and the troll paused momentarily.
Hermione still refused to move forward.
"Do something!" Harry yelled, to no one in particular.
Ron took out his wand and looked fearfully around… from Harry and Hermione to Remus and then to the troll.
The werewolf shot another spell out of his wand. This one caused the troll to roar with rage.
"Bad idea!" the adult wizard scolded himself, "Erm…"
Hermione whimpered as Harry tried to drag her towards the door again.
Ron, still holding his wand, opened his mouth and felt it form the first spell that came into his mind.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The troll's club, which it had been brandishing at Remus was lifted into the air. It hovered for a few seconds and then fell with a sickening "crack" onto it's owner's head.
The troll swayed dangerously before falling forward.
CRASH!!!
There was silence.
The three people in the room stared at the troll quietly.
The first one to make a sound was Hermione. She let out another mind-numbing shriek and then a scream like a siren.
Ron blanched, "Wha…"
"R-Remus," Hermione sobbed, "You squished him, Ron!"
"I… WHAT?!"
Harry approached the body of the fallen troll and cocked his head to better see under it.
The boy jumped backwards.
"Is he dead?" Hermione wondered, her voice trembling.
"The troll?" Ron asked, thickly.
"The troll's still alive," Harry answered quietly, "but I'm not so sure about Remus." The boy pointed to the troll's arm, where the unconscious form of Remus Lupin was partially visible.
Hermione whimpered again and sank down to the floor.
"Did I kill him?" Ron whispered, hushed.
Harry didn't answer. Hermione wailed something about not making him feel bad.
"I've killed him!" Ron rasped.
"Nonsense."
Ron looked over at Harry, who continued, "I think he does need to get out from under the" he waved vaguely at the horrible gray lump, "monster, though…"
Harry thought for a minute and then pointed his own wand at the large mountain troll.
"Wingardium Leviosa?" he said, swishing and flicking his wand.
The troll raised not even a centimeter upwards before falling back down with a thud.
More of Remus was exposed now, and he twitched jerkily.
"Well, he's alive…" Harry cleared his throat, "or, at least, he was."
Hermione looked up at Harry. Her tearstained face became one filled with disgust for herself.
"I'm the cleverest one here; everyone says so. I should help," she said, "not mope around!"
Hermione stood up and pointed her wand at the troll as well.
Ron nodded and lowered his wand (it had still been pointing at the place the club had been floating) to the ground so it, too, pointed at the mountain troll.
"On three," Harry said, "One…
"Two…
"Three!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The troll was lifted an entire meter up and a few centimeters away from the head of the unconscious adult before it fell away from the three, first-years' charms.
The loud 'crack' the troll made upon falling back down caused all three children to jump.
Hermione was quivering now. She looked ready to begin crying again, "We've got to get it off of him! We've just got to!"
Harry nodded and looked at his father's friend (who was still covered up to his chest).
Hermione ran up to the troll and, wrapping her robes around her hands to avoid skin-contact, pushed with all her might.
Harry followed suit.
Ron stared at them and then walked around to their side of the troll and began to push as well.
The troll was very heavy.
Their combined effort moved the troll precious few centimeters.
Finally Hermione panted, "Perhaps… we should… use a… lever of some… sort."
Harry sat down, breathing hard, and looked around the room.
"How about that?" Ron asked, pointing to a piece of wood which had, at one time, been part of a girl's cubicle.
Hermione nodded, "That'll do, I think."
While Hermione worked the piece of wood free of the others, Harry practiced swishing and flicking and then levitated a large piece of something else (he wasn't too inclined to levitate anything, but it was too heavy to lift) to act as the balancing point.
They set up the lever and shoved the end as far under the troll as they could manage.
Hermione pushed down on the other end.
Nothing happened.
Hermione sat on the other end.
She remained firmly in the air.
Harry climbed up next to her and there was a creaking sound, but otherwise, no response.
"C'mon, Ronald!" Hermione ordered.
Ron hesitantly joined them on top of the wooden 'see-saw'.
The wood strained and continued to groan with their weight, but didn't move.
Hermione stood up, still on top of the lever.
"What are you doing?" asked Ron.
Hermione grabbed his and Harry's forearms and pulled them up too.
"On the count of three, we jump," she said, in her traditional, bossy voice.
"One…"
Harry prepared himself.
"Two…"
The room was strangely quiet, and echo-y.
"Three!"
They jumped.
The troll still didn't move, which Hermione suddenly realized was a good thing, 'If it had gone up, even an inch, it would have fallen back down again.'
"Hermione?" Harry asked, "D'you think you could levitate those sinks over here?"
"Yeah," Hermione said, absent-mindedly. She hopped off the wooden, makeshift lever and gazed at the focal point of their tool.
"What is it, Hermione?" Harry wondered, watching her concentrating quite hard.
"I think this should be moved closer to the troll," she said, "Come off of there, won't you?"
Harry and Ron jumped off.
Together the three pushed the balancing point closer to the mountain troll.
"There, now we should be able to put a smaller amount of weight on this end," Hermione gestured toward the end they had previously sat on, "and be able to move the troll."
The three students moved bits of debris onto their crude tool, until it bore an enormous number of the bits and pieces of the previously-sinks-now-pieces-of-wreckage-from-the-mountain-troll-rampage.
Hermione sighed, "Ron, why don't you climb on top of the other stuff to add more weight to the lever."
"Why me?" Ron asked, huffily.
"Because you're the tallest," Harry pointed out, "And therefore weigh the most."
"Right," agreed Hermione, "I'm a girl, and Harry's-"
"A midget," interjected Ron.
"Hey," said Harry, but he didn't sound as though he were upset about this remark. Harry was, again, looking at the troll and the partially exposed body of Remus Lupin.
Ron climbed carefully on top of the teetering pile of rubble. His added bulk had the desired effect, and the troll's body was partially lifted off the ground.
The two students left on the ground approached the figure which was mostly uncovered and still sprawled on the ground.
They looked at him carefully (was it okay to move someone that badly hurt? What if they injured him more?!) before deciding that, because his arms weren't completely crushed, they could drag him out from underneath the monster.
The each took an arm and yanked at it.
Very slowly, progress was made.
They could hear the sound of anxious footsteps approaching.
"Someone's coming," Ron stated, swinging his legs from where he sat.
"Erm…" said Hermione, but didn't get to say anything more before a load of teachers burst into the room, headed by Professor McGonagall.
Their Transfigurations teacher let out a startled sound and began trying to form a coherent sentence.
She finally managed to demand, "What happened here?!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all started talking at once. McGonagall caught the phrase, "-didn't mean to squish him, but…"
She held up a hand and restated her question, "How did he get under the Mountain Troll?"
Ron answered her question, miserably, "I- er- I didn't mean to, but I accidentally… I levitated the troll's club, and dropped it on the troll's head… erm, he didn't have time to jump out of the way before it… he, erm…
"You've dropped a troll on top of Lupin?" Professor Snape asked, a disbelieving tone encircling his voice. He then smirked, looking at Ron's pale face and Harry's and Hermione's frowns, "You've dropped a mountain troll on top of Remus Lupin!"
Professor McGonagall frowned at the Potions Master's comment, but made kept looking at her three students, "What were you thinking?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione opened their mouths, but McGonagall cut them off, "Never mind. I need space to think. Just go."
"But…" said Harry looking over to his peers and then to his new friend.
"Just go!" ordered their teacher, her voice so harsh that they all wanted to jump backwards.
"Uh… Professor?" Ron asked.
"What?" she snapped.
"I don't think it's a good idea if I…"
"Spit it out, Weasley, we haven't got all day," sneered Professor Snape.
"I'm sort of holding the troll off of him with the lever?"
"Oh," McGonagall frowned, "well, you two get out of here."
She shooed Harry and Hermione past the other teachers. Harry noticed Professor Quirrel was sitting down holding his heart, as if scared, but upon closer examination he noticed that his eyes were fixed on Snape with a curious dislike.
Hermione dragged Harry out of the room.
Harry and Hermione had been pacing the Common Room ever since they had gotten back from their adventure.
"How long do you think they'll keep him there?" Hermione wondered, her bushy brown hair flying out behind her as she twirled around and paced extremely quickly across the room again.
"I dunno, but I would've expected him to be back by now!" Harry replied, pacing equally as fast, two steps behind her. They reached the side of the room and Hermione twirled again, this time catching Harry in the face.
"Gah!" Harry sputtered, "Watch where you're flinging that, please."
"Sorry," Hermione said, stopping to look at Harry for a brief moment and then resuming her rapid pacing.
There was a small explosion near the fire, where Fred, George, and Lee were sitting.
Normally Harry would have asked what was going on, or investigated, and Hermione may have dropped what she was doing to explore the unusual sound but, this time, neither made any sign that they had noticed.
Several students chuckled at George and Lee as they pretended to have a duel and screamed at Fred when he did something else entirely (Harry didn't even turn to find out what it was) with his wand twirling in the air.
"D'you think Remus is alright?" Hermione troubled.
"I hope so, or maybe Ron just…"
At that precise moment, the portrait hole opened. Harry and Hermione raced over to it and pulled Ron into the Common Room quite a bit more roughly than was prudent.
They both began to interrogate him as soon as he was inside.
"What happened?"
"Is Remus alright?"
"Is the troll still alive?"
"Did he go to the hospital wing?"
"Did Snape help or just watch?"
"Or did they take him to a better hospital, like St. Mungos?"
"I saw that Quirrel was glaring at Snape right before we left…"
"I read that St. Mungos is the best wizarding hospital in Britain. Did he-"
"QUIET!" Ron snapped at them.
Hermione and Harry looked at him, expectantly.
"I don't know all that much, they shooed me away as soon as they had gotten the troll off of Moony."
"Did you wait outside the door?" Harry asked, impatiently.
Hermione glared at him, before looking back at Ron, who answered, "I did at first, but they would have noticed me, so I went back up the hallway a bit and hid behind that Gargoyle-Griffin-Thing."
"And?" Hermione prompted, forgetting that she was against eves-dropping and rule-breaking.
"Well, McGonagall levitated him out of the bathroom, and told Quirrel and Snape, 'Will you two take care of the troll while I take Mr. Lupin to the Hospital Wing?' and then she just left.
Snape and Quirrel don't seem to be much of friends, I'm telling you. They got into an argument as soon as everyone else had left. The other teachers (I'm not sure who all of them are) went to 'inform Dumbledore' and Merlin knows what else, and then Snape started being menacing. I really couldn't hear them well enough, though. Quirrel sounded all scared, too.
Harry looked pensive, "I wish I knew what they said."
"The only thing I heard," Ron said, "was about protecting something. I dunno what it was, though. They never said."
"Protecting something?" wondered Hermione.
"Yeah, Snape said 'You know exactly what I mean! If you find out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's'… and then he said something else. Something about not wanting enemies. Then he got so quiet I couldn't hear the rest."
"Beast of Hagrid's," Harry mused.
"We should ask Remus about it," Hermione stated, "He might know."
"I hope so," said Harry.
"I just hope I didn't kill him," Ron said, his brow furrowed with worry.
"Please, Madame Pomfrey!"
"We just want to see him for a few minutes!"
"I want to make sure I didn't kill him," someone muttered.
"We'll leave right away, if he wants us to."
Remus' head was pounding, and the four voices that were coming from the other side of the room, sounded like they were shouting.
He forced his eyes open, as he did so often after the full moon, and then blinked furiously against the bright light of the Hospital Wing.
"Just ten minutes!" one voice pleaded.
"Fine, ten minutes, but no more."
Remus pushed himself up, so he was sitting. He scanned the room and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione approaching him from the door of the infirmary. Madame Pomfrey was watching from a distance, to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happened.
The trio of first-years grabbed chairs and sat down. Remus settled himself into a cross-legged position on the bed.
Ron was the first to speak, "Erm… hello. How are you-" he gave a half-hearted sort of laugh, "stupid question. Never mind."
Remus smirked, "I've been worse, don't worry."
The three students let out a simultaneous sigh.
"Good," said Ron, "I was afraid I'd be arrested for murder."
Remus half-smiled.
Ron realized what he'd just said and tried to correct it, "I mean… I was afraid you would be…I wouldn't want you to die…I was…"
Hermione smacked Ron lightly on the back of the head, "Do you think that we'll still be able to go visit him today?"
Remus had been thinking along those same lines, "I'm sure of it," he said, swinging his legs off the bed and standing up.
Madame Pomfrey came bustling over, "You need to stay in bed, today. You're too weak to go gallivanting off to Azkaban and back!"
Apparently someone had informed her of their adventure.
Remus smirked, "I'm sure I'll be fine."
The matron was taken aback for only a second, before saying, "But perhaps a pepperup potion? Or something to relieve a headache?"
Remus thought for a moment and then nodded, "You know I've been worse off than this before. But, I think that would be acceptable."
Shaking her head, Madame Pomfrey walked over to a cabinet full of potions. She came back with two small bottles and a larger one.
She held them out to Remus, but he raised his eyebrows.
"Just take them!" she snapped.
He looked at the three students sitting next to his bed and sighed, "Alright, as long as they won't make me fall asleep," It was almost a question.
"No, they will not make you fall asleep."
Remus smiled and sat down again, "Good."
Really sorry for the long wait! Really, really sorry! I had so much goin on!
I'm working on the next chapter, and I'll try to get it up soon.
[Next up, the visit to AZKABAN! And an unexpected twist]
Sorry there was no James or Sirius time in this chapter… there will be plenty in the next.
Thanks a lot to all of you who reviewed previous chapters, and especially: CANDY and koriaena who were my only reviewers for chapter 11