The snow sent waves of numbness up Harry's fingers. Pressed against the wet ground, his pajamas were soaked. Sitting up, he found himself in the all too familiar setting of under the hemlock tree.

"I can't do this,"

Harry spun around, to find a deranged looking young Voldemort staring blankly towards him.

"I told him that I would spare her. I would save Lily,"

"Umm...Voldemort?"

But Voldemort didn't show any signs that he heard Harry, instead, he continued mumbling, "I know she's in pain. She could have moved. But why didn't she. Why-"

As sudden as lightning, Voldemort lunged.

His bloodstained hands tore into Harry's neck, pushing him against the trunk of the tree.

Harry flailed, unable to breath, and tried shoving him off, but Voldemort was too strong.

"-green eyes. She had green eyes too...Harry? Harry is that you?"

The fogginess in his dull eyes was replaced with clarity, as he released his grip, taking a step back.

"I can't-I can't do this anymore Harry. Why does everything hurt?"

X-x-x-x-xxxxxx-x-x-x-X

Harry panted, tangled up in his bedsheets back in his Hufflepuff dorm room. What in the world happened to Voldemort?

X-x-x-x-xxxxxx-x-x-x-X

Today was Harry's most loathed festival. Halloween.

The grandly decorated great hall only made Harry feel sick. This was the day his mom died, the day his father seemed to be at his worst. Needless to say, Harry was not in the best of moods as he listened to Professor binn's boring drone.

A flash of white in front of his eyes jerked him from his musings.

Landed on his desk was a crumpled up piece of paper. Pulling it onto his lap, he gently unfolded it.

"Up for a prank?"

-DM

It read.

Lifting his head, he locked eyes with Draco, who sat in the slytherin side of class between Blaise and Millicent.

Any other day, he would have agreed, but today being today, he just shook his head.

Sorry, he mouthed.

Draco appeared annoyed for a second, before shaking it off with a shrug.

Your loss, he mouthed back.

A moment later, Binns found himself being chased by a life sized floating grim reaper.

"Come back here ghost! I must take you to the underworld," it chanted.

The Hufflepuffs were practically rolling with laughter, and even the Slytherins couldn't control themselves. Nobody but Harry noticed the smug expression that crossed Draco's face.

"I guess that's it for today!" Harry stood up, shoving his parchment into his book bag.

Everyone else took his lead in exiting class, but a certain Hufflepuff girl stopped him.

"This isn't funny, Harry. You shouldn't be disrespecting teachers like that," Scolded Susan Bones.

"I'll do whatever I want, Susan," Harry snapped, "And that wasn't even my doing in the first place,"

"Yeah right, liar," Harry's friends winced. Anyone who knew Harry knew how much he hated being called a liar.

Not noticing Harry's clenched fists and ground teeth, Susan continued, "Not just that, but you're a coward-"

Harry banged his fist down on the table.

Everyone jumped.

"Don't. Call. Me. That," he ground out, blinking his eyes to push back the tears.

But Susan wouldn't back down.

"Yes. You are just a little coward aren't you?"

Harry snapped.

"You call me a coward? Do you know what you are? Mean. A bully. Just because you don't have a life doesn't mean you have to bother mine," Susan flinched at the words. Looks like he struck deep.

"You-" she started, but wetness was already piercing her eyes. She shoved past Harry, out of the door. not wanting anyone to see her tears. Harry didn't have the same reservations. Could this day get any worse?

Yes it could. His day was made even worse when the door to the great hall was slammed open, and a voice yelled out, "Troll in the dungeons!"

The clanging sound of cutlery dropping was heard, as everyone turned to the voice. Standing there pale and winded, was Professor Quirrell. During classes, Harry hadn't noticed him much, but all of a sudden, he was hit with a sense of deja vu.

"Isn't there something familiar about him?" Harry asked his peers, as they errupted into chaos, but he went unheard.

"What about Susan?" Cried a girl Harry remembered as Hannah Abbott, a friend of Susan.

"What about her?" Harry had to shout to be heard over the panic.

"Like you would care! She refused to leave the girls bathroom after you fought with her,"

With a sigh, Harry closed his eyes, "I'm going to have to go find her, haven't I?"

With a wry smile, Hannah said, "She's in the bathroom past the side corridor. Good luck,"

Harry slipped past the prefect, and hurried off past the Gryffindors. Right when he turned the corner, Harry smelt an revolting scent, like rotten eggs and sweaty socks.

He jumped when he heard it, a deep grunting sound, and the heavy footfalls. It was coming from inside the girls bathroom. Taking a deep breath, Harry pulled the door open, and slipped in. He stifled a scream when he saw the hulking beast, swinging the hefty club.

Susan, who was pressed against the wall rapidly moved her wand, trying to create some form of protection against the troll, but it was futile.

"I'll distract it! You run," Harry shouted desperately. Keeping his eyes on the troll, he reached down and pulled out the dagger he keeps hidden in his boot.

Susan's eyes widened when she noticed how easily Harry weld the weapon, but she didn't say anything.

The troll was now facing Harry, who had put on his game face, and started circling the troll. He took slow, graceful steps, keeping their eyes locked. Then he moved, a quick aggressive step, that set the troll on him.

"Run!" He yelled, as he barely dodged the troll's club. Susan followed his advice, and moved out from behind the sinks, and towards the door. The troll noticed, though, and shuffled towards her.

"The chin!" She shouted, as if she'd remembered something, "The troll's weakness is under the chin,"

"If this doesn't work, we're gonna be dead," Harry shouted, but he was already running towards the troll, his dagger held firmly.

"Trust me!"

Harry jumped onto the sink for more height, then launched himself onto the troll. His aim was true, and the dagger was imbedded in it's chin.

The troll let out a shriek as it collapsed. Harry fell with it, landing hard on his knees.

"Umm..." Harry looked away from Susan, realizing how awkward the situation was.

"You were right," Susan said, barely above a whisper, "I am mean. I used to be a bully in elementary,"

"I guess you were right too," I admitted, "About me being a coward. Being called a liar got to me too. You see..." Harry trailed off, unure if he could trust this girl who he had thought as annoying until now.

"I won't tell anyone," If you don't tell anyone about my secret, were the unspoken words.

Harry decided to go for it.

"My father is abusive," Susan sucked in a breath, "Yeah...well...this is my first time telling anyone. I've always thought I was a coward for keeping it to myself. But if I ended up telling someone, and they didn't believe me, I just wouldn't be able to take it, you know. So yeah. I've always been afraid of being called a liar. Even if what I said was true, I'm sorry,"

Susan and Harry locked eyes in silent understanding, "I'm sorry too," she whispered, just as the door slammed open. They hadn't realized how loud they were being, so it came as a surprise when McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell stepped in.

Harry quickly pulled the knife out of the troll, and stuck it back in his right boot, before any of the teachers could notice.

"What's going on-" McGonagall stopped short when her eyes landed on the troll. Quirrell looked faint, but Harry could tell that it was just as fake as the act they were about to put on.

"Would you care to explain why there's an unconscious troll in here, Potter, Bones?" Snape took control, shaking off his awe.

"It's not Harry's fault Professor," Susan had schooled her expression into a wide eyed, innocent one, "I hadn't attended the feast, because of my cramps," she placed a hand on her lower belly and received a look of empathy from McGonagall, "So I didn't know about the troll. That's when Harry came in, looking for me. If it weren't for me-" she sniffed dramatically. Snape looked away.

"And what do you have to say for yourself, Potter. How exactly did you defeat this troll?"

"Well, it was Susan's idea. She told me that the chin was the troll's weak spot, so I stabbed it under the chin with my wand,"

"And it worked?" asked Quirrell, confused.

"Well, yeah,"

"I can't exactly take points off for cramps. But I do recommend that next time, you go to Madam Pomfrey," McGonagall addressed a relieved Susan.

"Five points off, for not alerting a teacher and coming off here by yourself," said Snape, glaring sternly at the son of his childhood bully.

Harry nodded. He supposed it was a fair punishment.

"But taking down a troll isn't something all first years could do. 10 points each," added Professor McGonagall, eying Snape. Some competition they've got going there. Susan and Harry grinned at each other. They headed back to the common room together, and when their friends raised their eyebrows at how fast they'd made up, but didn't say anything. From that day on, Harry and Susan weren't quite friends, per say. No. Their confrontation had been much too dark and filled with too many secrets for that. But when life became too much, they always found each other in the second floor girls bathroom.