Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been really busy lately and I couldn't figure out what I wanted to happen next. But I've got the story plotted out now.
"It was standing on a trap door," Draco whispered suddenly, causing Harry to stare at him for a few seconds. The statement came out of nowhere and left Harry confused for a few seconds.
"What was?"
"The beast on the third floor," Draco said. "It was standing on a trap door; it's there to guard something."
Harry shook his head; he was more concerned about why Quirrell would want to hurt them. Harry had casually asked his father what was down the corridor, telling him the stairs had delivered him there but left out the part about meeting the school pet. His father told him is was a dead end hallway and that there was only one room in that hall.
When Harry told Draco this, Draco cursed under his breath, calling Professor Quirrell a lot of things but his name. Harry was glad there weren't any teachers around because the words his friend were using would have lost Slytherin all of their house points. Slytherins tended to lose points without good reason, Harry didn't want to think about how many points they'd lose with good reason.
It was Halloween and Draco and Harry were sitting in the Great Hall eating the Halloween feast. The Great Hall was buzzing with excitement as everyone looked at the amazing feast before them.
"No, you go door-to-door in a costume and people give you candy," Harry explained, receiving confused looks from Draco and most of Slytherin; they were having trouble understanding the muggle custom.
"Muggles spend the night begging candy from strangers?" Draco asked.
Harry opened his mouth to explain but was cut off when the Great Hall burst open and a pale-faced, trembling Professor Quirrell stumbled into the room looking more terrified than usual. His face was chalky white and when he stopped running, Harry could see his legs shaking with fear. For a second, Harry wondered if someone had jumped up behind him and said 'boo'.
"Troll, in the East Towers! There's a troll in the East Towers!" Professor Quirrell screamed before falling into a heap on the floor. If it wasn't for the situation, Harry would have found it hilarious that the man had collapsed with his but in the air, like he had. It would be so easy to walk behind him and kick him in the rear end. But Harry knew that would lose Slytherin more points than they could afford.
There was a deafening silence for a few moments before complete chaos erupted. Students began screaming and making a frantic leap for the door. Draco and Harry looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Harry felt almost frozen in fear but when he looked up to the staff table, the look his father gave him, told Harry to sit and be calm. Harry sat down and gave the rest of his house a look that told them all to be calm and follow his lead. Within several seconds, the Slytherin house was seated and watching the staff table for instructions.
Harry felt almost frozen in fear but when he looked up to the staff table, the look his father gave him, told Harry to sit and be calm. Harry sat down and gave the rest of his house a look that told them all to be calm and follow his lead. Within several seconds, the Slytherin house was seated and watching the staff table for instructions. They still looked scared but they had calmed down.
"Quiet!" Professor Dumbledore called, causing the Great Hal to go still. Students stopped mid run and turned to face Professor Dumbledore. The Slytherin students who were seated and waiting for instruction simply turned their attention to Dumbledore.
"Prefects will guide their students to their common rooms; Gryffindor, you will follow Ravenclaw to their common room. Teachers, if you will follow me to the East Towers, we will take care of our visitor," Dumbledore said calmly but his voice was filled with authority.
The students stood up and began to calmly walk out of the Great Hall. Harry followed the Slytherins to the dungeons. Once they were in the common room, Harry really needed to go to the toilet so he quickly excused himself. The minute Harry opened the door, his nose was assaulted by the worst smell he had ever encountered. It was like a year's worth of rotten food and dirty diapers. If Harry didn't have to go so bad, he would have left and come back later.
When Harry stepped in, he instantly regretted it because standing in front of him was the troll. It was at least twelve feet tall, it's body was covered in dirt, sweat and what looked like warts. It somehow looked stupider than Dudley. When it turned to face Harry, it's hot and smelly breath blew towards Harry like a fresh breeze from the city dump. Harry felt his stomach clench at the smell of the troll's breath.
"I'm sorry, I'll come back later," Harry said as he began slowly backing out of the toilets. As he did, he found himself backing into Draco who was on his way into the toilet. But Harry grabbed his robes to stop him from entering and began pulling Draco towards the common room.
"Harry, I need to use the-"
"There's a troll in there!" Harry exclaimed, cutting Draco off. Draco stared at Harry for a few seconds, trying to figure out if Harry was joking or not. Draco couldn't figure out how a troll could get as far as the toilets without making a mess or damaging anything in its way. There was no way there was a troll in there.
"Harry, that's not funny."
Harry shot Draco a stern look and crossed his arms in a way that reminded him of his father. Draco seemed to see the resemblance as well because the annoyed look slipped away. But before either boy could say anything, the toilet door smashed out towards them with a tremendous smash and the troll ducked out of the bathroom. Draco and Harry ran into the common room as fast as they could; thundering steps behind them indicated that the troll was following.
"Quick, everyone, get out of here! There's a troll behind us!" Harry screamed, knowing if they could all get out of the common room, the troll wouldn't be able to follow behind them.
In a very chaotic and unorganised manner, everyone in the common room began running towards the exit. The chaos only got worse when the troll actually came into sight. The panic and chaos only got worse, resulting in students tripping and falling all over each other. Harry had never seen Slytherins behave in such an unordely manner but this was something that didn't give them time to calculate or come up with a solution. Trolls were dangerous creatures that couldn't be reasoned with.
Harry and Draco were the last ones to crawl out the door but before they could escape the threat, the troll grabbed Harry by the ankle and lifted him upside down. The troll lifted its club and attempted to smash Harry but luckily it was too uncoordinated or stupid to do it right. Harry watched as Draco came back into the room with his wand in hand.
"Draco, what are you doing? Save yourself!" Harry cried, not wanting Draco to put himself in danger just for him. Draco ignored the instruction and muttered a spell just as the troll was attempting to take another swing at Harry's head. Harry felt relief flood his body as the club levitated out of the troll's hand and just above the trolls head. The troll stopped grunting moaning the second he realised he no longer had hold of his club.
The troll spent a few seconds looking for his club. When the club fell on the trolls head, Harry found himself crashing down with a loud crack as his head hit the floor. For a few seconds, Harry was dizzy and confused until he felt someone grab him under his arms and begin dragging him.
For a second, Harry thought he heard a loud crashing sound, like thunder but Harry's ability to focus on anything was gone. Harry wanted to know what was happening but his vision was quickly filling with black spots and a loud ringing in his ears was causing everything he heard to echo until the darkness took over completely.
When Harry woke up in the hospital wing, he wasn't really surprised. What did surprise him was the fact that his father was sitting beside his bed, holding his hand. Severus looked about ready to fall asleep when Harry stirred. Suddenly the man's eyes shot open and a smile erupted on his face. Severus looked worried, tired, tense and relieved all at the same time. It was clear he was happy that his son had finally awakened.
Harry made an attempt to sit up but that only caused a fresh wave up pain to erupt from his head.
"Easy, Harry! You took a really rough bump to your head. Drink this," Severus said, handing Harry a vial of blue liquid. Harry accepted it and took drank it down quickly before the taste could register on his tongue.
"How long have I been here?" Harry asked.
"About five hours. It's nearly midnight," Severus told Harry as he helped Harry back into a more comfortable position and brought the blankets up to Harry's chin.
"Where's Draco?" Harry asked once the pain was replaced by a warm, soothing feeling. Once the pain was gone, Harry snuggled down a little bit but didn't relax.
"Madam Pomfrey chased him out of here an hour ago," Severus sounded quite amused as he told Harry this. Harry wondered just how much of a fight Draco had put up.
"And the common room?" Harry asked, wondering how much damage the troll had done.
"There wasn't a great deal of damage but with the help of the house elves, we were able to take care of it and the common room is back to normal," Severus told Harry. "We were even able to get rid of the smell but that took several spells and potions."
Harry wasn't surprised to hear it took so much effort to get rid of the trolls odour. He couldn't believe one creature could smell so bad; even Dudley didn't smell that bad when he refused to bathe for two months. It would have been longer but his parents finally put their foot down and forced him to take a shower.
"What'd Madam Pomfrey say? How bad was I injured?" Harry asked, almost scared to hear the answer to this question.
"Your skull was fractured and you had a concussion but we were able to treat that with a few potions," Severus told Harry who nodded in return. He was just thinking about how Quirrell was the one who told everyone that the troll was in the East Towers but instead, it was in the Slytherin toilets! This happening so close to the incident with Fluffy was too much of a coincidence for Harry. There's no way the troll got itself past the portrait by itself; someone let it in and Harry was willing to bet money that it was Quirrell. But why?
"Harry? Are you okay? Do you need more potion?" Severus asked, his voice filling with worry when his son became quiet. Harry looked at Severus as decided he needed to tell his father what had happened with Quirrell. Harry sat up, despite his father's protests and looked Severus in the eye. He had to tell his father what happened and if he was wrong, his father would tell him. Harry didn't want to make accusations without proof but this was two incidents within a couple months.
"Dad, I have something I need to tell you."