Chapter 3 – The Wrong Victim

Harry slept relatively soundly his first night at Hogwarts. He had the usual nightmares but what else was new? He did, however, rather regret eating quite so much at supper as he figured that was what triggered off the Dudley dream. He was back in Little Whinging again sat at the dining room table. No-one at the table was eating apart from Dudley who was being fed by Uncle Vernon via a garden shovel. He was piling more and more food onto Dudley's plate which the little bugger ate with a vengeance. Harry was sitting opposite him and had only a boiled egg on his plate. Suddenly Dudley said "I'm full". Now that was something Harry had never heard Dudley say before. Aunt Petunia said "oh but you haven't eaten your pudding darling" so she herself staring shovelling black forest gateau into her son's mouth. Suddenly there was a strange squeaking sound like a balloon inflating then – bang! Dudley exploded. A great big chunk of him landed on Harry's plate.

Harry didn't have much of an appetite that morning at breakfast and Draco kept looking at him strangely, wondering why he kept his hand over his mouth and didn't even want to look at food.

The next few days went pretty well. They'd been introduced to Herbology, Charms, Defence Against The Dark Arts and Transfiguration. Each night Harry and Draco would lie awake for around half an hour chatting before they nodded off to sleep. Harry also found out what Draco meant about Crabbe and Goyle being 'useful'. One morning, coming into the main hall, several Hufflepuff students started whispering Harry's name and pointing.

"There, look."
"Where?"
"Next to the blonde kid."
"Wearing the glasses?"
"Did you see his face?"
"Did you see his scar?"

Crabbe and Goyle sauntered over to the offending students and stared at them. Very rarely would they have to say anything to get people to move out of Harry's way. The fact that they were twice the size of an average eleven year old was quite enough to scare the other kids off. An average day for Harry would consist of walking down to breakfast guarded by Crabbe and Goyle, sitting with Draco and then chatting while the two bigger boys sat in silence. The two smaller boys would then get escorted to and from lessons by their bodyguards. If Ron ever saw the four of them together he'd stop and snigger then run off again when Crabbe and Goyle looked at him. Occasionally Crabbe and Goyle would skip lessons and play truant. Harry and Draco, by contrast, worked their butts off.

The night before their first potions lesson Harry and Draco ensured they revised thoroughly to impress their head of house. They took it in turns to read from their books and then test each other. By the end of that night they had fallen asleep on top of their bed covers each with a potions book in their little hands. Harry did not sleep well that night. He kept seeing the green light and this time a huge mirror. In his dream he was also writing a list of different ways in which he might be able to kill the Dursleys again. He woke with a start.

"Bugger!"

"Pardon me?" Draco asked rubbing his eyes.

"It's a double lesson with Gryffindor this morning. Ron'll be there".

"So?" Draco asked grumpily.

"He hates me. I don't know why but he hates me".

"What did I say about the Weasley's?" Draco asked rhetorically.

"Well, you didn't say anything actually" Harry reminded him.

"They're fake and they love muggles. Arthur Weasley, Ron's dad, works for the Ministry of Magic in muggle artefacts".

"What the heck are muggle artefacts?" Harry asked.

"A totally useless and pointless department if it's run by an idiot like Arthur Weasley" Draco grimaced. "The whole point of the job is to stop people using muggle things for magical purposes. They aren't built for magic and can get us into trouble, revealing our secrets".

"Oh yeah", Harry remembered, "Hagrid said that we're a secret so muggles don't go around hunting us down for help all the time".

"Or worse" Draco added. "Years ago we'd have been burned at the stake or drowned".

Harry gulped.

"Just because somebody is a wizard doesn't mean you can trust them" Draco said pulling on his robes. "If they get too friendly with muggles all hell could break loose. You don't want to mix with the wrong sort and Ron is the wrong sort. All the Weasley's are".

"The twins seem ok" Harry piped.

"Hmph. I suppose, but they're still Weasleys" said Draco.

After a working breakfast, in which they re-read their potions books and tested each other again, the two little Slytherin boys strolled off to Potions Class guarded in the usual manner by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry was exceedingly nervous but Draco insisted they sit right at the front of the room. Actually that wasn't a terrible idea because then they didn't see Ron and Hermione come in. Harry felt Ron's eyes though staring into his back and his spine tingled. Professor Snape took the register then when it came to Harry made on odd little remark: "Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity."

Harry wondered if it was some sort of a joke. Their head of house then gave a very impressive speech that sounded reminiscent of Shakespeare which had Draco enthralled. Snape then turned to Harry quickly and asked "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

"The Drought of Living Death" sir Harry muttered.

Draco smirked admiringly.

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"In the stomach of a goat sir" Harry said with more confidence this time.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry was about to answer when Snape yelled "sit down" to a student over Harry's shoulder which tuned out to be Hermione. Harry turned to see a very disappointed little girl being consoled by none other than Ronald Weasley who shot Harry another one of his dirty looks and whispered something about Snape having 'favourites'. The potions master repeated the question.

"There's no difference sir, they are the same plant" said Harry.

Draco sat back with a satisfied sigh and gave Harry a quick nod of approval. Snape turned to the rest of the class "clearly fame isn't everything" he said with a raised eyebrow. After a strange little feeling of déjà vu finally Harry understood what Snape had been trying to do and hoped it would work. Harry was so sick of needing bodyguards, so sick of being known as just The Boy Who Lived, so sick of being famous. Fame wasn't everything to him, it was nothing and, like the prefect said, he should be treated in the same way as everyone else. Snape had very cleverly made that point. Harry wasn't just famous, he was a good student.

For the remainder of the lesson they were separated into pairs. Draco and Harry got to work together. Hermione and Ron asked to be a pair but Snape refused insisting they were a 'bad influence on one another' and due to their 'sulking' one point each would be deducted from Gryffindor. Draco giggled quietly into his cauldron.

"Ron's so two faced", said Harry softly, passing Draco snake fangs. "He told me he didn't like Hermione now he's her best friend. It's just to piss me off".

"He's jealous", said Draco. "Ignore him".

The lesson got better and better as Draco and Harry's cure for boils was brewed to perfection and Snape used their results to show the rest of the class how it 'should be done.' This made Ron and Hermione sulk even more especially as Hermione had been placed with Neville Longbottom who cocked up his potion and gave himself and Hermione a case of boils. Another two points were deducted from Gryffindor and at the end of the lesson Hermione left arm in arm with Ron in a huff.

As the months went by, Harry became more and more comfortable at Hogwarts until one very strange day indeed. Slytherin had double charms class with Professor Flitwick and Gryffindor. Harry's heart sank as he walked through the doors to the classroom and saw Hermione and Ron sitting there looking through text books and whispering as if giving each other advice. When Professor Flitwick asked the class to perform a levitation spell both Hermione and Ron got it right straight off. That was all the Gryffindor pair needed to get one over on Harry who was struggling with Draco to even pronounce the spell correctly.

"See what I mean" said Draco after class. "They're a bloody nightmare. "Weasley and his muggle-loving father and Granger the mudblood. Typical muggle influence".

"What's a mudblood?" Harry asked.

"It's what we call someone who's muggle born. Granger has muggle parents" Draco explained.

Harry imagined all sorts of unpleasant things including losing trust for muggles completely.

That evening everyone was casually enjoying dinner when Professor Quirrell screamed something about a troll on the loose and everyone had to rush back to their common room. Hermione, Ron and Neville were the first to leave, looking like the three of them were now joined at the hip like Siamese triplets. Harry and Draco made their way down to the dungeons quickly but carefully.

"You know if Ron and Hermione go out in a wind their faces will stick like that" Harry said crossly.

"That I would like to see" Draco laughed.

"Then they'd both look as miserable as McGonagall" Harry said.

Once back in their dorm Harry and Draco sat quietly on their beds biting their nails while most of the other students remained in the common room. "Do you think it's dead yet?" Blaise Zabini whispered. He had come down to sit next to Draco.

"How would I know?" Draco snapped. "Quirrell is an idiot; I doubt he'll catch it. Professor Snape might".

"Or Dumbledore" suggested Harry.

The three boys sat in silence for a while, thinking.

"I bet it's huge. I bet it eats people alive" said Blaise.

"Shut up" yelled Draco. "You're making me feel sick".

"Sorry, I'm just saying" said Blaise and sauntered back to his bed.

The hours ticked by slowly. Harry started to drift off to sleep and experience more weird dreams. This time he was in the girl's bathroom with Hermione and Ron killing the troll. Then he was playing a game of giant chess, chasing flying keys and looking in a magical mirror while holding a red stone. He woke up with a gasp as he had an image of touching Professor Quirrell's face and burning him alive. "What, where am I what time is it?" He demanded.

"Calm down Harry it's 7am. We've been in our dorms all night. There was a troll, remember?" Said Draco, sitting up in bed.

Harry rubbed his scar which seemed to be aching.

"Oh yes, of course. The troll. Is it dead?" He was interrupted by Bernard Hudson the fifth year prefect who had shown them to the dorms on their first day.

"Boys, I need you to come with me. The troll is dead. Professor Dumbledore has asked us to all meet in the main hall for an early breakfast". Draco and Harry looked at each other in nervousness. Had the troll bred before it died? Had it wrecked the castle? What was going on? There were whispers and panic throughout the common room. Everybody had a theory.

On the way down to breakfast the atmosphere grew tenser. The main hall was eerily quiet.

"Please take your seats quickly" asked Dumbledore.

One by one everybody trailed in whispering and shuffling awkwardly. Finally the hall fell silent as everybody gazed towards the teachers' table.

"Boys and girls, it is with great regret that I bring you sad news today" the headmaster said solemnly. Whispers started to grow again. Dumbledore held up his hand to silence them. "The troll that was roaming the school yesterday has been killed. You are no longer in danger. However I am afraid we have suffered a tragedy in the process".

Whispers started again. Dumbledore interrupted them.

"Professor Quirrell has passed away".

Harry felt an odd churning in his stomach and everyone in the hall gasped.

"The troll was seen going into the girls' toilets so Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell all went to hunt it down" the headmaster explained. "Unfortunately Professor Quirrell did not make it. The troll heard them coming and, armed with sinks he'd torn away from the wall, knocked them all to the ground unconscious. Professor Snape came around fairly quickly and killed it but by then it was too late - Professor Quirrell had been eaten. Well, that is, all apart from his head. The troll didn't seem to want that so we have cremated it and placed his ashes in the grounds of the school. No-one else has been harmed. I am very sorry to bring you this sad news. Please rest easy today. Take the day off. Classes have been cancelled. There will be a memorial service for the Professor this evening".

Nobody ate much for breakfast that morning. Everybody decided to head back to their common room. Harry overheard Fred and George Weasley discussing the situation in the corridors "They worked quickly didn't they?" Said Fred.

"I know, dead and buried in 12 hours" said George.

"Why do you suppose the troll didn't eat Quirrell's head?" asked Fred.

"I don't know but I think it was something to do with that turban he wore and that funny smell that came from it. I overheard him talking to himself a few times as well".

Harry and Draco grimaced at the twin's conversation. Harry felt déjà vu-y again.

"Why didn't they just burry the head as it was?" suggested George.

"Instead of cremating it you mean?" Fred asked.

"Exactly"

"Maybe they were trying to…"

"Hide something!" the both said together.

Harry and Draco had heard enough and ran back to the Slytherin common room.

The next few months went by quite happily, they'd learned to ride a broomstick, learned to levitate objects correctly and best of all watched a quidditch match in which Slytherin won, gaining them more house points. Now Harry knew what a Nimbus 2000 was for. The quidditch match would have been the highlight of Harry's year had he not fainted half way through it. He'd been having dreams the previous night of being in Gryffindor and getting into a fight with Draco who was still in Slytherin. As a result of the fight he found himself up in the air on his broom chasing a ball Draco was holding which led Harry to be given the position of seeker on the Gryffindor quidditch team. It was especially strange as it reminded him of the real flying lesson he'd had with Gryffindor and Madame Hooch a few weeks previously. Harry and Draco did very well but Neville ended up falling off his broom and breaking his wrist after which a ball from Neville's pocket rolled down to Harry's feet so he ran after Neville with it. The déjà vu feeling during the quidditch match, therefore, was so weird and intense (as if he was seeing himself in parallel again, this time flying around on a Nimbus 2000) that he passed out. Professor Snape and Draco managed to bring him around. Harry made an excuse for his faint and said he didn't have any breakfast that morning but Draco knew that wasn't true. Harry had eaten like a horse since he got to Hogwarts. So much so he'd lost his skinniness entirely and was now a healthy weight. The house elves had to provide him with a bigger uniform.

"OK Potter spill" Draco insisted as they walked back to the castle after the match.

"What? What do you mean 'spill' and why are you calling me 'Potter'? You always call me Harry".

"I don't know", Draco said shaking his head his head but Harry felt Draco knew something more than he was letting on. "Look Pot- Harry, you've been acting strangely since you got here, having funny turns, going quiet one minute then being ok the next. What's wrong with you? You haven't got some muggle disease have you?" Draco suddenly looked very scared and backed away from Harry.

"What? No, of course not" Harry said. "I just get bad dreams is all. You know that though I've told you often enough. I've accidentally woken you up screaming loads of times".

"That doesn't explain your funny quiet moods or the fainting thing today".

"Yes it does" said Harry, "I'm tired, I'm not sleeping properly".

Draco took another step backwards. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Look", Harry said in a slightly calmer tone, "if it makes you feel better I'll go and see Madame Pomfrey. "You can come with me…she'll tell you I'm fine. Anyway…" Harry went on…"you get your moods, especially in the morning; you're as grumpy as hell. And you moan when things don't go your way but I don't care because you're my friend. If I can put up with your bad bits you can put up with mine!"

"Oh so now this is all my fault?" said Draco, "I'm the bad person?"

"No one's the bad person!" Harry yelled but Draco stormed off towards the castle leaving Harry behind in shock.

"I'm going to find out what's going on Potter!" Draco yelled strangely from a few yards away. "Just you see if I don't!"

Both the little boys looked very hurt.

* my character

Thanks to all who have been following me/this story so far and for your nice comments and PMs. It's been very encouraging.