Chapter 6 – A Very Dangerous Halloween
Jon woke in a very bad mood on the day of Halloween, and Harry's wasn't much better. For the first time, they knew that this was the day that their parents had been murdered. This foul mood lasted all through a very subdued breakfast, and into Herbology. It was made even worse in Potions, as Snape was feeling especially dour and took it out on the entire class. Not even the Slytherins escaped Snape's wrath as he snapped at the slightest provocation, taking points for offences such as breathing too loudly and looking disrespectful.
While Harry mellowed throughout the day, Jon's mood didn't lift in the slightest until charms that evening. After instructing them on the wand movement and incantation last session, today Flitwick allowed them to actually practice the levitation charm.
Jon's anger faded into the background as he focussed on his favourite subject. This spell in particular was one that Jon was eagerly anticipating casting as it was a precursor to two spells that he was very interested in learning; the summoning and banishing charms. Having read up on the theory, Jon knew that the ability to move an object according to your desires was key in successfully casting either spell.
Flitwick had handed out feathers for them to practice on, believing it would be very difficult to mess up the spell badly enough to make a feather dangerous. Though some members of the class seemed determined to try, Neville especially had a habit of breaking things whenever he used practical magic in charms.
Jon took a moment to study his feather. Intent and focus, he repeated the phrase that he had come to cast all magic by. Jon pictured the feather following the movements of his wand; lifting through air smoothly in response to his will. Keeping this desire clear in his mind, Jon moved his wand in the swish and flick motion they had been taught and said the incantation.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
The feather floated from the desk as Jon lifted his wand, sending it across the room and setting it down right on Professor Flitwick's desk.
"Huh ho! Well done! Look everyone, Potter's got it!" Flitwick exclaimed, beaming happily. The class looked first to Harry, as was everyone's instinct whenever someone said Potter, before realising it was Jon that had succeeded.
As the class settled down from the interruption, Jon sat back to read ahead. He was making leaps and bounds in charms, his successes only prompting him to dive further into the subject. He had read through the first-year charms textbook, though he hadn't tried casting every spell in the book, and was now reading through the second-year charms book that he had been lucky enough to buy from Lee Jordan, a friend of the Weasley twins who hadn't thrown his copy away.
Jon had found thus far that the trick to casting charms was being able to clearly picture what it was you wanted to happen. Focus was important to making the picture become reality, but it wasn't quite as important as it was in transfiguration, where being able to focus on each intricate detail was important to making the best transfigurations. In addition, power was another aspect of magic that the teachers had yet to touch on. Some of the spells in later years require more power to cast, which is why they aren't taught any earlier.
Jon was broken from his musings by Hermione's voice to his right, sharply berating Ron for swinging his wand around all over the place. "Stop, stop, stop. You're going to take someone's eye out! Besides, you're saying it wrong. Its levi-o-sa, not levio-sa." Hermione said, shaking her head at him.
Ron looked at her with disdain, "You do it then if you're so clever, go on!" Ron smirked, expecting her to fail as she had yet to have much more success than him.
Hermione's focus was visible on her face as she waved her wand and incanted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Raising her wand, the feather floated from the desk and up in the air.
"Splendid, Miss Granger's got it too!" Flitwick cried, almost falling from his stack of books in his exuberance. Hermione shot Ron a smug look as she brought the feather back to her. Ron's face turned sour; he turned away from Hermione and lay his head on the desk to wait out the period in silence.
Hermione's success was interrupted with a bang. While Neville had failed to make anything dangerous from a feather, Seamus had managed to blow his up. "I think we're going to need another feather over here Professor." Harry said quietly from beside him.
With the last class of the day out of the way, the first-years made their way to the Great Hall to attend their very first Halloween Feast. While both Harry and Jon were now in much better moods, Ron had yet to get over his embarrassment in charms.
"She's a nightmare, honestly!" Ron was complaining to Harry and a still burnt Seamus. "It's no wonder she hasn't got any friends!" As Ron finished his sentence, Hermione barged past him knocking into his shoulder.
Jon's expression hardened as he heard Hermione sniffle as her fast walk turned into a jog in her desperation to get away. He rounded on Ron, bringing him to a stop. "Hermione is more of a friend to me than you. You might be Harry's friend but you're not mine, and if you talk to her like that again you'll pay for it." Jon glanced briefly at his brother, then took off after Hermione at a run.
He saw a bushy head of hair disappear around a bend at the end of the corridor which would eventually lead down to the first floor. It wasn't until they had almost reached the girl's toilet on that floor that Jon finally caught up.
"Hey! Hermione, wait!" Jon yelled, bringing Hermione to a stop. It was clear she had been crying quite hard, her cheeks were wet and her nose was running ever so slightly. She stood before him with her head towards the ground, not managing to meet his eyes.
"Hermione," Jon said when he had caught his breath, "Ron's an idiot, he's just jealous of how well you do in class. He's wrong as well, you do have friends. I'm your friend, Hermione." Jon said all this in one breath, the words tumbling out one after the other. He wasn't good at this sort of thing.
Hermione had raised her head sometime in the middle of Jon's spiel, and was looking into his eyes now as if to gauge his truthfulness. A small smile grew on her face. Hermione suddenly shot forward and wrapped her arms around Jon, pulling him into a hug so strong it could've bruised his ribs. Jon had to fight the instinct to lash out. Harry had hugged him on occasion but never with this intensity, so the sensation was an entirely new one. Jon didn't manage to hug her back but Hermione didn't seem to mind. She let go and stepped back, cheeks ever so slightly red but still with a happy smile on her face.
"We should go down to the feast, it'll probably have started by now." Jon said, breaking the silence of the moment.
Hermione nodded, "I'll meet you down there, I want to clean up some first." They parted ways, and Jon walked down to the Great Hall on the floor below. The house banners had been torn, and jack-o-lanterns had been scattered throughout the hall. Live bats flew over the tables, each of which were already packed with various Halloween themed food alongside the usual fare. Jon joined the other Gryffindor first-years, greeting all but Ron who he ignored completely.
"Where's Hermione?" Neville asked, as Jon filled his plate.
Jon glanced at Harry and Ron, who were both listening for his answer. "She's in the bathroom, just cleaning up before she comes to join us. She'll not be long." Jon assured Neville. Ron had already turned back to his food, stuffing his mouth to the brim and then some, but Harry looked quite guilty.
As the Halloween feast had just gotten into full swing, the doors burst open and Professor Quirrell ran into the room. "Troll!" He wailed at the top of his voice, "Troll in the dungeon! Thought you ought to know." Quirrell collapsed to the floor in a dead faint. The Great Hall was silent for a moment, then everyone was screaming and rushing for the door.
"Silence!" Dumbledore's voice boomed out across the Hall, bringing everyone to a halt. "Now, prefects will escort the students back to their dormitories, and the teachers shall follow me to the dungeons." With some semblance of order in place, Dumbledore and the teachers swept out of the Hall through a side door.
The voice of Percy Weasley could be heard, attempting to round up all the first-years but Jon's mind had gone entirely elsewhere. "Hermione," Jon said, grabbing hold of Harry's shoulder, "She won't know about the troll, we have to warn her."
Harry's eyes widened and he nodded his head, "C'mon Ron, we have to help Hermione." Harry looked back at Ron, who wore an incredulous expression on his face.
"I'm not risking my neck for her, you can go yourselves." Ron said, beginning to make his way towards Percy.
"But Ron -" Harry called.
"Harry, we need to go now!" Jon said. Harry hesitated a moment, then turned and followed after his brother. They made their way out of the Hall, going unnoticed in the confusion. Up the stairs and down the corridor, the boys arrived at the girl's toilet just in time to see the troll disappear inside.
"It must have left the dungeon, what are we gonna do?" Harry asked.
Jon hesitated a moment, but Hermione's scream from inside the bathroom spurred him into action. "Whatever we have to, come on!" Jon rushed into the bathroom with Harry close behind. Hermione was kneeling on the floor, her back against the wall, with the troll looming above her, its club raised high above its head.
Jon ran through the spells he could use to affect a troll and found the list very limited. None of the few spells they had learnt in Defence would have any effect on the troll through its magically resistant hide, so Jon turned to the section of magic he was best at. Jon knew most of the charms in the Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 and even knew a fair few from later volumes which sounded especially useful, but one in particular came to his mind.
Jon focussed his intent on Hermione, and clearly incanted "Accio", pulling her between the troll's legs. Clearly Harry had decided to act as well, yelling the incantation to the knockback jinx with enough power behind it to send the troll stumbling into the wall. The troll seemed confused by the sudden assault and slowly turned around to bellow its protest at the three first years. There was only one thing to do now. "Run!" Jon yelled as he spun around and sprinted out of the bathroom, with the other two hot on his heels. They could hear the troll stomping after them, its long strides allowing it to keep them in sight.
This couldn't last. Despite their head start, the troll was already gaining. They had to do something; find some way of hurting the creature. A suit of armour near the bend at the end of the corridor provided just the opportunity they desperately needed. Grabbing the sword from its gauntleted hand, Jon spun to face the troll bearing down on them, threatening the lives of both his little brother and his recently declared friend. The troll slowed as it realised one of its prey had stopped fleeing, and came to a stop just fifteen feet away from where Jon held his ground. Harry and Hermione turned to look back. "What are you doing? Come on!" Harry yelled. The troll roared a challenge, slamming its club into the ground so hard it almost sent all the kids to their knees. Jon raised the sword in his hand to point at the troll; levelling his wand directly behind the pommel. Pulling on the rage and fear inside him, throwing everything he had behind the spell, Jon yelled "Depulso!" The sword flew through the air, embedding itself deep into the troll's throat all the way to the hilt. The troll swayed on its feet, before toppling like a felled tree, face first into the floor of the corridor.
The only sound was heavy breathing and the far-off thumping of approaching footsteps. A puddle of blood was slowly spreading from the troll's throat and the steel tip of the sword was poking out the back of its neck.
"You… killed it?" Harry asked, voice shaking ever so slightly.
Jon finally tore his eyes away from the corpse to look at Harry and Hermione. "Yeah, I think I did. Are you okay?" Jon asked, looking at Hermione. Her hands were shaking and she hadn't quite managed to catch her breath, her face was pale.
"I'm okay, I just need to catch my breath I think."
Jon nodded vaguely, dropping to sit on the floor. He had never put so much power into a spell, he felt like he had nothing left to give. His head felt light and blackness hovered at the edge of his vision.
"Maybe we should go to the hospital wing, or the do–" Harry was cut off by a shriek of terror from Quirrell as he, McGonagall and Snape rounded the corner. They rushed down the corridor, coming to an abrupt halt beside the students as they got a clear view of the dead troll.
"Oh, my goodness," McGonagall said, taken aback, "Explain yourselves!"
"Hermione was in the bathroom when Professor Quirrell told us about the troll, ma'am." Jon said, eyes slowly shifting from McGonagall back to the corpse of the troll. "We had to warn her so Harry and I ran to find her, but the troll had already made its way up to the bathroom. We managed to get Hermione out but we couldn't outrun the troll. I had to do it Professor. I didn't think I would kill it, I just knew I had to stop it." Jon's eyes were fixed on the tip of the sword, still glistening red with blood.
"You're saying you killed this beast, Potter?" Snape asked, bringing Jon's eyes up to meet his own.
"Yes sir, I used the banishing charm on the sword. I didn't realise it would do that." For once, Snape didn't seem inclined to make a cruel remark and instead watched Jon with a new look in his eyes.
"Well," McGonagall said, "I hope you three realise just how fortunate you are. Not many first-year students could take on a fully-grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale! Five points will be awarded to each of you for demonstrating such loyalty to your classmates, and impressive use of a charm well above your level. Now, I'll escort you back to your common room. I'll leave this in your hands, Severus." She said, leading the three children away from the gruesome scene.
Professor McGonagall had told them to that the details of the troll incident would be kept a secret, so naturally by breakfast the next morning everyone in Hogwarts knew that the Potter boys had fought and killed a mountain troll to save Hermione Granger.
Breakfast was an awkward affair. The majority of the student body watched them from the moment they walked into the Great Hall, whispering hurriedly to their friends. Ron had been one of the few people to ignore them completely, choosing to sit with Dean and Seamus further down the table.
"Ignore him," Jon said, when he noticed Harry looking down the table, "He'll come back apologising soon, at least to be friends with you again. I won't be difficult, but I won't pretend to like him either." Harry nodded, flashing Jon a grateful smile before going back to his eggs and bacon.
When Hermione finally entered the Great Hall for breakfast, she quickly became the centre of attention, reigniting the whispers that had slowly faded away. She quickly rushed to join Harry and Jon at the Gryffindor table which only encouraged the gossipers.
Sliding into the seat next to Jon, she whispered a quiet "Thank you."
"I don't have enough friends to risk losing any." Jon whispered back, getting a timid smile from Hermione in reply.
Throughout both Transfiguration and History of Magic that morning, the first-years seemed more interested in whispering about Jon, Harry and Hermione than doing anything productive, much to McGonagall's annoyance. Thankfully, Fridays were free after lunch for the Gryffindors so they were able to escape to the library. As Jon predicted, Ron had come to find Harry soon after lunch.
"There you are!" Ron said, ruining the peaceful quiet of the library. "I've been looking for you all over Harry, let's go play chess."
Jon fixed Ron with a steely glare. "I think you have an apology to make first, Ronald."
Ron looked to Harry for support but found none. Rather than try to fight it, Ron swallowed his stubborn pride. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said what I did." Ron apologised, looking to see if that was sufficient. At Hermione's nod, Jon sighed and returned to his book, not bothering to acknowledge Ron any further.
Harry got to his feet and followed Ron out of the library, with a quiet "I'll see you both later." With peace finally returned to the library, Hermione went back to reading in the companionable silence.
"Jon?" Hermione asked after some time, "How were you able to do those spells? That was the one you told me about on the train and the prefect said it was a fourth-year spell."
Jon wasn't sure how to respond, he knew he could do the spell because he had done it before to protect Harry from Vernon but he could hardly tell Hermione that. Despite considering her a friend, Jon couldn't bring himself to trust Hermione with that much just yet. A half-truth would have to do.
"I've used it before accidentally. It's not a nice memory, can we just leave it at that?" Jon said, not quite looking Hermione in the eye.
Hermione saw the discomfort on Jon's expression and did her best to curb her curiosity. She was desperate to know, barely able to stand an unsolved puzzle, but Hermione didn't want to risk her newfound friendship for the sake of a story she could always find out about another time.
"Okay" Hermione said. Jon let out a slight sigh of relief and went straight back to reading his book, though he was hardly taking any of it in now. Hermione watched him for a moment. Something was definitely off, she decided, and eventually she would figure out what.
A/N
So yeah, I didn't really stick to canon on this one. You'll notice eventually that most of the main characters are significantly stronger than canon, but they shouldn't ever be too over powered compared to their enemies as they'll all be getting power bumps as well. The Death Eaters could hardly have terrorised the whole of Britain if they weren't on the higher than average end of the power scale, and Voldemort was considered unbeatable so he'll be even stronger still. Hope you all enjoyed!