AN Hello! Back with chapter… um, let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, ah yes! Chapter number twelve! Nothing else to talk 'bout, so on to the chapter! Halloween and other stuff! (Harry age 11 and 2-3 months)
Harry, Griffith, and Ron walked into the hall with a great bit of showing off. Harry was thinking about his stealing of a timeturner, which had been a few days ago, and had been disappointingly easy. He reached in his pocket and fingered the circular device. Harry also held his wand backwards and silently cast the spell that hid his Dark Mark. Glancing around, Harry saw that no one had noticed. Draco was still getting over the shock that the three hadn't been expelled or even actually caught by Filch. Harry had started hinting to Draco that he actually WAS the Dark Prince, but the boy was obviously not nearly as clever as Harry thought he was. Although Draco wasn't kind to Harry in school, Harry knew that they probably could have been friends if Harry had let the hat sort him Slytherin.
Harry plopped down in his normal position to the left of Griffith as they ate. They had all talked about whatever Hagrid had brought to the castle, but the only thing for certain was the object was relatively small, some size smaller than around two decimeters as it must have fit in Hagrid's pocket. With that, they assumed it was magical, as anything non magical that small would be useless, unless it was a book, but Harry doubted it was. The newly dubbed Bushy and Neville were both acting like they had never been in the third corridor and seen the cerberus, which was infuriating. In fact, Bushy hadn't even been acknowledging they existed since she'd told Harry he really should tell everyone who his father was around a week ago. Of course, it seemed that Ron thought her ignoring them was a good relief from her bossy know-it-all-ness. The trio had been planning a way to make Draco pay for not having come to the duel, and seeing as Griffith's father was a prank artist in his time, there were some creative ideas.
Harry watched as owls flooded into the Great Hall, seven owls were headed straight for him as well. He watched as six of them dropped a long skinny package in front of him and another gave him a letter. Judging by the obvious shape, Harry assumed it was a broom. Looking at the letter, Harry carefully pulled off the seal and opened the letter. He unfolded the neat folds and quickly read it.
DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE
It contains your new Nimbus 2000, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at six o'clock for your first lesson with the new broom.
Professor M. McGonagall
Harry smiled widely after reading the note, handing it to Griffith who read it then handed it to Ron. Ron read over the note and looked at the package, moaning enviously. Reaching out, he touched the package.
"A Nimbus 2000!" Ron exclaimed, "I've never even touched one! It's been declared by multiple newspapers and magazines to be the fastest broom of the time!" He told them.
They all got up and left for the common room immediately, hoping to open it before classes. Harry saw Draco get up as well and quickly walk to intercept them. Halfway across the entrance hall Draco succeeded in barring the way up the stairs with the help of his oafs. Draco snatched the package from Harry and Griffith's hands and quickly felt it. He smirked and looked at them with a very evil look on his face.
"That's a broomstick," he stated the obvious, throwing it back to Griffith as he obviously assumed it was Griffith's, "Thought you'd get your parents to let you sneak a broom into school did you? You'll be in for it this time, Potter, you might ignore the rules, but first years aren't allowed to have brooms," Draco sneered.
Ron turned towards Draco to brag, "It's not any old broomstick," he told him, "it's a Nimbus 2000. What did you say you've got at home Malfoy? Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned, "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league. The Nimbus 2000 is the best broom around."
"What would you know about good broomsticks Weasley?" Draco responded, although he was clearly jealous, "You and your family probably couldn't afford half of a good broomstick if you sold everything you had," he sneered.
Before Ron answered, Professor Flitwick appeared round the corner, "Not arguing boys I hope?" he asked.
"No, Malfoy just didn't understand I received a broom under special conditions," Harry responded, having taken the package back from Griffith.
Flitwick beamed at Harry then looked at Draco, "Yes, yes, it's quite alright," the Professor told Draco. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances Mr. Riddle. A Nimbus model I presume?" The man asked.
"Yes, a nice Nimbus 2000," Harry responded, holding back a smirk as he looked at the shock and horror on Draco's face, "And it's really thanks to Draco that I've got it!" He exclaimed, patting the horrified boy on the back.
Then he walked off up the stairs with Griffith and Ron, whom were both red in the face from holding in laughter. Harry assumed it was because of Draco's obvious rage and confusion as the Professor passed off his broom and said it was okay.
"It is true though," Harry told them grinning as they got to the top of the staircase, "If Malfoy hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't have ever gotten on the team…"
"So you think it's a reward for breaking rules?" Bushy asked from somewhere behind them. Harry turned to see the crazy-haired girl stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at Harry.
"I thought you were ignoring us because we're a group of no good rulebreakers," Harry said to her.
"Yes, don't stop now, I was just starting to enjoy the silence," Ron told her.
Bushy glared at them, then turned away and marched away with her nose in the air.
Harry had trouble focusing on lessons as his mind kept wandering to the slowly approaching raid and his broomstick. He hadn't visited Goliath in a while either, he noted as he watched Bushy finish their potion to perfection once again. Severus obviously couldn't decide whether to hate him or worship him for being such a great student. Harry was admittedly excited to try riding his new broom, although he'd trade it for a ride on Goliath any day. After a boring lesson of Potions followed by a lame lesson of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry and the others were headed for the Gryffindor common room as soon as Professor Quirrell dismissed them with a little more stutter than usual.
Harry had considered bugging the Dark Lord into telling him why Quirrell was there, but every time the thought came up he immediately turned it down. Being annoying to the Dark Lord was a risk that most would never dream of taking and a risk Harry only took when he was dieing of boredom. He didn't usually bug his adopted father out of curiosity. Instead he went to his room to meet Wood at the field. Seeing as it was only like four o'clock, Harry did laps around the Quidditch pitch and tried to do a few of the tricks he normally did with Goliath. So far, he'd managed to do quite a few. It had taken a lot of painful crashes for Harry to master making the broom keep going even if he stopped touching it. The technique just needed him to make sure the broom stayed exactly right-side up. It had taken him a while to realize that where the 'belly' of the broom was when he got off mattered. If he had it slightly tilted to the right, the moment he got off the broom it would veer sharply to the right.
Harry was just about to try jumping off the broom and catching it right before it was out of reach again when he noticed Wood staring at him from bellow, noticing that Harry was looking at him, Wood spoke, "Hey, Riddle, come down here!" he shouted so that Harry could hear him.
Harry dived straight down and pulled up at the last moment and used his momentum to reach Wood before he came to a sudden stop by turning sideways and leaning backwards slightly. He hopped off his broom and waved a hand in front of a gaping Wood.
"Excellent flying!" Wood exclaimed after a moment, "You really are one of the best flyers I've ever known!" He told Harry. Harry watched as the boy opened up the Quidditch set, "You remember the basics I taught you last time, this time we're going to go over the specific rules and I'll give you a little experience with all of the balls. If you want you can try shooting a few hoops with the Quaffle as well."
"Cool!" Harry exclaimed, "Are there difficulty levels on the bludgers like there are on the snitch?"
"Yes, but only three, easy, moderate, and hard," Wood told him, "Professional games always play on hard and the Quidditch cup has special bludgers. We usually play on moderate, and set the bludgers to easy whenever we get new beaters for practice."
"Can I see what setting a bludger on hard is like?" Harry asked.
"If you have a death wish," Wood told him.
"Please?" Harry asked, Wood shook his head.
"Okay, but the moment I let it out, it's every man for himself," Wood warned him, Harry nodded excitedly. He watched as Wood unstrapped one of the struggling black balls, "I'll give you a ten second head start, I'm going to run for the stands as I do not have a death wish."
The bludger suddenly stopped moving and Harry leaped onto his broom and flew a decent distance from the ball. He watched as it suddenly started up. Then it barreled towards Harry like a cannonball. Harry flicked his broom straight up for a fraction of a second then leaned forward so that it was tipped backwards slightly as his momentum kept him going upwards, looking down, Harry saw as the bludger twitched for a few seconds, then headed for Harry again. Harry half stood with his right hand and two legs on his broom. As the bludger neared, Harry noted that it was coming straight up to reach him Harry, he adjusted his weight onto his hand and his broom shot forward a couple of feet. He turned to see that the bludger changed its direction and was heading straight for his face. Harry let both of his legs drop off the broom, then Harry flipped his broom so that it was facing straight down, this caused the tail to hit the bludger extremely hard, catapulting the bludger over ten meters away. Harry watched as his broom started dropping faster than gravity had him dropping, this allowed him to easily mount his broom and pull up around five meters from the ground. Looking up at the bludger, Harry saw that it was heading towards him again.
He moved to the left at the last moment, and felt the wind as the bludger barreled past him. Harry quickly followed it and grabbed it right as it turned to attack him again. Grabbing it with both arms, Harry then pinned the struggling bludger between him and the broom. It repeatedly bucked, making it extremely hard to take back to the Quidditch box. Harry then shoved it into its space as fast as possible and strapped it in. Then he laid down on the grass and breathed heavily, rubbing his stomach, where he had been holding the bludger. Then Wood walked up to him grinning.
"That was excellent! I don't know how you managed to get that thing in the box, but that flying was great!" Wood exclaimed.
"Well, I think I'm ready to hear about some of the more specific things about Quidditch."
-= Halloween Day =-
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron grumbled after a particularly infuriating class of charms with Bushy, "She's a nightmare, honestly."
Harry opened his mouth to agree with the boy, but someone knocked into him and hurried past, it was Bushy. Harry saw her face for a moment and saw it was streaked with tears. She stormed past, and Harry was quite sure it wasn't towards the Great Hall.
"I think you should apologize," Harry told the boy, it would be useful to have a bookworm in their group.
"Why should I?" Ron grumbled, but he looked a bit uncomfortable, "She must've noticed she's got no friends."
Harry didn't see Bushy during the rest of their walk to the Great Hall. Right before they entered the Great Hall, Harry heard the Patil girl tell her friend that Bushy was in the girls bathroom crying and did not want to be disturbed. Ron looked to be considering Harry's words at that point, but a moment later they entered the Great Hall and Ron forgot about the girl. Thousands of live bats were hanging from the ceiling and Harry assumed that there was some charm to stop them from pooping on everything. There were hundreds of floating jack o lanterns of all size in the air. Many of them were animated to growl and/or move. The biggest one Harry could find was one that was at least two meters in diameter and floating in the middle of the room. It had the traditional jagged grin and triangle eyes. It would sometimes blink or open its mouth and let out an evil laugh.
The meal appeared on the tables as it had the whole year, and Harry noted an abundance of Halloween-based food. There were miniature pumpkins that were cooked and stuffed with something. There were also dozens of pumpkin-based foods like pumpkin pie, bread, rolls, jams, and things spiced with pumpkin spice. There was also traditional pumpkin juice. Harry had just grabbed one of the warm pumpkin rolls when Professor Quirrell burst into the room. His turban was askew and his face was sketched with fake terror. Everyone stared as he ran into the center the center of the room, "T-troll… in the dungeons… th-thought you ought t-to know," he said before sinking to the floor in a faint.
There was a stunned silence for a second, before Harry heard a girl from Ravenclaw scream. Then everything turned into an uproar. Food was knocked off of tables and Harry quickly grabbed another roll before that too was knocked off. Dozens of students were frightened and shouting. It took multiple bright magenta firecrackers shooting out of the Headmaster's wand to bring silence once again.
"Prefects," He rumbled, "Lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately, me and the Professors will deal with the troll," he ordered.
Ron's older brother immediately reacted to the Headmaster's command, "Follow me! Stick together first years, no need to fear the troll as long as you don't stray. Stay close behind me, now. Make way! First years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!" the boy bossed everyone around.
Suddenly, Griffith looked up in alarm, "Hermione! She doesn't know!" He exclaimed in alarm.
Harry immediately spoke up after remembering Hermione was Bushy, "We've got to tell her!" He decided.
Ron glared between his two friends, "Oh all right," he snapped. "But Percy had better not see us."
Immediately, they slowed down and into the Hufflepuff group before slipping into a deserted hallway, then the trio headed towards the girls bathroom. Harry jumped at the sound of footsteps. He immediately pulled Griffith and Ron behind a giant stone griffin. Harry looked underneath the griffin's wing and saw Severus quickly heading down the corridor towards the third floor. Harry wondered if the man was in on whatever Professor Quirrell was up to. Griffith and Ron appeared to be having similar thoughts.
"Do you think Snivellus is going to the third floor?" Griffith asked.
Harry winced at the name, "Probably," he managed to agree.
"That man is certainly a Death Eater, I don't understand why the Headmaster lets him work here," Ron said.
The moment they stepped out from behind the griffin a nasty smell washed over them. Harry heard a grunt and the sound of shuffling feet. With a look at Griffith and Ron, he knew they'd heard it too. Ron pointed, and Harry looked up to see a huge shape moving towards them, Harry leaned back against the wall, staring as the shape walked into the moonlight. The troll was a horrible sight, it was a hulking twelve feet tall with pale dead skin. It's skin was somewhat baggy and it had all sorts of lumps covering its body. It's head was more of sphere with a quarter of its bottom gone. It had short, thick legs with big lumpy feet. The smell coming from it was overpowering as it lumbered past them. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
The troll stopped for a moment, looking around dumbly. Harry held his breath and closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them again and was relieved to see it hadn't seen them. The troll stopped at the doorway of the girl's bathroom and peered inside. Harry fearfully watched as it waggled its long ears, making up its weak mind and lumbering into the room.
"The key's in the lock," Griffith muttered. "We could lock it in."
Harry shook his head quickly before dashing towards the doorway, "Bushy's in there!" He told them, pointing at the doorway. Ron and Griffith gasped and stared at him for a moment. Harry turned to the door and entered the room. He heard a petrified scream, and pointed his wand at the troll and cast a silent cutting curse at the beast. Immediately, the troll let out a startled gasp, looking down at a snitch-sized hole ripping from his back to his front. A second later, Bushy let out a shriek as the troll dropped to the ground dead. Harry gasped when he realized that the first spell that had come to mind wasn't exactly something a first year should know. A moment later, Griffith and Ron burst through the door, wands out. What they came upon was a shocked Bushy hugging a horrified Harry and a troll lying in the middle of a pool of blood.
"What happened?" Griffith asked, looking between Harry and the troll.
"I-I killed it," Harry responded with wide eyes.
Ron looked at the body, "What spell did you use?" he asked.
"I didn't cast a spell, I j-just panicked and wanted to kill the troll for trying to hurt a, hurt a, a, a friend," Harry responded.
Bushy stopped hugging him finally, "You consider me a friend?" she asked.
Suddenly footsteps were heard in the hall and Professor McGonagall burst in, "What happened here?" She demanded. Harry watched as Severus and Professor Quirrell entered the room after her. Quirrell took one look at the dead troll and positioned himself on the opposite side of the room before collapsing against the wall.
Severus bent over the troll, a contemplative look on his face. Professor McGonagall looked infuriated, Harry had never seen her so angry. Her lips were white, "What on earth have you done! What were you thinking of?" she stormed, cold fury echoing in her voice. Harry looked at Griffith and Ron, who still had their wands in their hands from when they burst in. "You're lucky you weren't killed, why aren't you in your dormitory?"
Severus gave Harry a sharp look, Harry pretended to gulp, he really, really hoped the Death Eater didn't figure everything out. He looked down at the floor, not trusting his occlumency. Then suddenly Bushy spoke up, "They were looking for me," she said in a soft voice, "I was in the bathroom, so I didn't know about the troll. P-Praet came in right after it, and his accidental magic took over and killed it," she explained. Professor McGonagall calmed down a bit, this seemed to encourage Bushy, so she continued, "If Praet hadn't come in I would've died. The troll was raising its club to try to hit me when he killed it. He didn't have any time to get a teacher," she told Professor McGonagall.
"Well," Professor McGonagall noted, "in that case," she tried again. "Mr. Riddle, what exactly did you do?" she asked.
Harry gulped, "I saw that the troll was about to strike Bushy and I got angry and tried to think of a spell that would hurt it for attacking my friend," He told her.
"Bushy? Interesting nickname, anyways, I do believe it was just a strong bout of accidental magic," Professor McGonagall turned to Griffith, Ron, and Harry, "I believe ten points each is good to award you for coming to the aid of a fellow student. Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, could you help Miss Granger on her way to the hospital wing? Tell Poppy she needs a calming draught," she ordered, then she stepped out of the room, soon followed by Griffith, Bushy, and Ron.
Harry turned to face an angry Severus and once again upright Quirrel, "Uh, woops?" Harry tried, but one look at Severus's face told Harry that wasn't going to cut it.
Harry sighed and walked up to both men, grabbing them by the hands simultaneously before apparating to Riddle Manor, "FATHER!" He called, "I HAD A BIT OF A PROBLEM AT SCHOOL!" He added.
A moment later, the Dark Lord entered the room, Harry did a subtle bow while a still-shock Severus and Quirrell fell into kneels, "What did you do?" his adopted father exclaimed in parseltongue.
"There was a troll in the school and I used a few dark curses on it, I thought it would be a good idea to get the explaining over with," Harry told him, the two Death Eaters watched as the two Dark Wizards conversed.
"Stand," the Dark Lord ordered, and the two Death Eaters stood once again.
"It seems that Quirrell's distraction in an attempt to steal the stone has caused you to figure out about my son's education," The Dark Lord started, "Because this is very sensitive information I expect you both to take a Dark Unbreakable Oath," He told them, Harry smirked, Dark Unbreakable Oaths were much harsher than normal Unbreakable Oaths, and even if the one to promise to take one were willing to die, they still couldn't give away the secret.
Severus nodded, but then something seemed to occur to him, "Where is Praet's twin then? Magic itself acknowledges him having a twin," He said.
Harry quickly stunned Quirrell, then he turned to the Dark Lord, "Can I tell him?" He asked, and received a nod. Harry decided to tease Severus a little first though, "Really? You don't know where my twin is? You see him almost every week!" Harry exclaimed.
"I mean your real twin, not the one you were pretending to be," Severus said.
"I'm talking about my real twin too! What a coincidence," Harry smirked, "Say, you did see my birthday did you not? Right at the end of July, I wonder who else had twins that night?" He asked with obviously fake curiosity.
Severus's face flashed with shock, "Y-you're the Potter boy's twin? You're a Potter?" The poor man stuttered.
"Yes! Ten points to house Slytherin! But I'm also a Riddle, don't worry about that. Say, if the truth was told, I'd be famous! Have you ever wondered if Griffith really was the one struck with the killing curse that night?" Harry asked, a maniacal grin on his face.
"Y-you mean you're the boy who lived? You don't have a scar though!" Severus exclaimed.
"Tut tut, I thought you were smarter than that Severus!" Harry exclaimed, "You see, the prophecy you overheard those many years didn't even apply to my adopted father, it was referencing my brother, and myself," Harry smiled, he had only just figured it out, but it made quite a bit of sense.
Severus was going through quite a bit of a shock, and Harry could see the Dark Lord was realizing the sense in Harry's words, "Then that means…" Severus started.
"I'm destined to kill my brother, or he'll me. Do you realize how much more sense this makes? I cannot truly live while my brother's heart is beating, he's the one that caused everything to happen. He caused me to become the Dark Prince, he made the whole wizarding world adore him! If it had been intentional, I would applaud him, but the idiotic boy doesn't even know what he's done," Harry smirked, "Well, I think we can all agree you've learned enough for today, I'll enervate Quirrell, then you'll do your Dark Oaths and we'll be on our way!" Harry exclaimed with fake excitement. Harry pointed his wand at Quirrell and the man immediately kneeled again.
"Get off the floor and listen to what my father says," Harry ordered, and watched as the Death Eater scrambled to his feet. Severus and Quirrell looked at the Dark Lord expectantly.
"Repeat after me, 'I swear on my blood and magic that I will do everything in my power to hide all knowledge of what happened today and what was learned from reaching anyone or anything. I will not record what happened today in any books nor will I place these memories in a pensieve or store these events in any other way. I will converse of what happened and what I know to no one. Should I be confronted about this by anyone, I will answer as vaguely as possible.'" The Dark Lord ordered. Harry looked at Quirrell with suspicion, he hoped the Death Eater didn't find a way to convey the information to anyone in any way.
The two Death Eaters repeated the Dark Lord's words word for word, Harry listened carefully, making sure they didn't slur any words. He watched as the men pulled their wands away from their Dark Marks, which was what there wands had been touching as they swore their oaths. The Dark Marks glowed an eerie blood-red color for a few seconds before turning normal once again. Both Severus and Quirrell looked at Harry with respect now. Harry smirked at them.
"Well, I think we'd better get going, wouldn't want to be missed now would we?" Harry smirked at the two before quickly apparating them to Severus's private room in the school. Then he turned to them, "Well, I'd better go see how my 'friends' are doing," he told them smiling as he slipped into character.
Then he left Severus and Quirrell alone with their thoughts as he skipped away down the hall.
AN Ye! So I wrote most of this chapter yesterday because today I was way too lazy to write. I finally got to doing it, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
-Ariana Flynn Riddle