No Obvious Truths

Chapter 29

Batman

The teachers made their way to the dungeons were the troll was, while Lucius and Severus made their way to the girls bathroom to get Hermione Granger. They didn't want to take forever, so they were running, neither Lucius nor Severus were taking the chance of the Troll getting out of the dungeons to get near Narcissa or Harry. Lucius might be with Tom, but he still loved his wife, just not in a way couples did, their marriage had been arranged when they were children. He would do it all over again, he could never regret his son, who he loved very much.

"Harry did raise a very good question, why the hell did Dumbledore have the Slytherins going back down to the dungeons?" demanded Lucius as they hastily moved up stairs.

Severus threw Lucius a look that told him he knew the answer to the question without him needing to speak. If you weren't a Gryffindor you didn't amount to much in Dumbledore's book. He had to be by far the most prejudice Headmaster to grace Hogwarts, and considering there had been a Black Headmaster that had been fairer said it all. He hadn't changed in all the years Severus had known him, and that had been over twenty years now, including his years as a Hogwarts student of course, it depressed him thinking of the actual number so he tried not to think too much on it.

The look froze off before it even had a chance to settle, his nose picked up on a smell that was utterly disgusting, coming from a Potions Master who had dealt with all manners of ingredients before, it said a lot.

"You smell that?" stated Lucius, his nose turning at the repugnant smell. He didn't think he'd smelt anything so disgusting before in his life. "It can't have gotten from the Dungeons to here so quickly…" he trailed off.

"He lied," hissed Severus, furiously, his wand slipping from its holster as they rushed forward. He should have realized that sooner, they already suspected the wizard was up to something after all. At least his Slytherin's were safe, the teachers would already realize it wasn't in the dungeons and hopefully be making their way here. Right now there was only one student under threat, she had definitely chosen the wrong night to square herself away in the bloody toilets. Why though he didn't know, and if it was something idiotic he was going to be extremely frustrated. Once they were at the toliet they paused very briefly.

Opening the door Severus snapped in his best teacher voice, "Miss Granger get out here, immediately." a squeak was his reply as the second door opened and out emerged a teary eyed first year.

"Professor Snape," she said in the squeaky voice she had adopted, her face red in both embarrassment and where she'd been rubbing at her face. She hastily did so again, trying to wipe away the evidence of her crying, she didn't want her teachers to think she was a cry baby. There was a man with her, he looked like an older version of Draco so it could only be his father. So this was Lucius Malfoy? He was exactly as she'd envisioned him.

"Severus, she needs to leave, now!" said Lucius, not only feeling the shaking but actually seeing the Troll. "How the hell did that thing get into Hogwarts?"

Severus bit his tongue to prevent himself answering, it was obvious that Quirrell had left the damn thing in. Not only that but he had lied about where it was, hopefully with the commotion going on, Quirrell won't be able to get to the third floor corridor and get anywhere near the stone. He didn't say anything with Granger there, the last thing they needed was Quirrell aware that he was suspected. He might move his plans on or worse do something they couldn't anticipate.

Hermione held onto the stall, peering around both of them curious about what 'that damn thing was' only for her eyes to widen and to gasp in shock. Her eyes trailed from its large grotesque feet and all the way to its dumb looking face, it had in its hand a large club, it was trailing behind it. The beady eyes locked in on the three of them, before it gave a big huff of breath, snorting as it began lumbering towards them quite quickly for something so damn big. Grabbing for her wand, she tried to think of something, anything that would help if the Troll got near them.

"Go to your common room immediately." said Severus, grabbing her and practically shoving her in the direction they had came in.

Hermione couldn't move, she was rooted on the spot in horrified fascination, she'd never seen anything like it in her life. She'd read about Trolls of course, but like many things she'd never imagined she would encounter one.

Severus flicked his wand in a quick complicated motion that even Hermione couldn't keep up with him, and she paid a lot of attention to teachers. A Doe shot from his wand, and took off, graceful and beautiful, but it quickly disappeared as it turned a corridor. Well if the teachers hadn't figured it out by now, they would when they received his Patroni message.

"Don't get yourself hurt, or Narcissa will have my balls," muttered Lucius under his breath, and it was true, she would kill him if anything happened to Severus. He didn't even think Tom would be able to save him from her, she was utterly scary and extremely powerful. Thankfully she hadn't inherited the Black madness like Bellatrix, that woman he wouldn't mind seeing killed.

Severus chuckled hearing what his friend said - he knew she would too. It wasn't needed, he could take on the Troll without any trouble.

Lucius gagged, the smell was getting worse the closer the disgusting thing got to them, this was getting tedious. "Can we just deal with this and go?" Lucius demanded, it wasn't his job to bloody stop Trolls. He would definitely be making sure an investigation occurred, he wasn't about to let this continue. His son was at this school, and he would be damned if he got an owl out of the blue telling him his son was hurt or worse dead because of the uselessness of Dumbledore. There was only so much Severus could do to protect Draco, he would do his best, of course, Severus loved him just as much as he did as if he was his father.

"We may not have a choice," commented Severus as the Troll got within distance that they could strike it and not miss.

"True," conceded Lucius, wand out at the ready, both men seemed to have forgotten that Hermione Granger hadn't moved a muscle from the direction Severus had shoved her in.

The Troll grunted before flinging its club at them as if it was weightless little stick - and to the Troll it probably was.

"Avis!" hissed Lucius, conjuring birds to distract it, he couldn't risk using dark magic here - not unless he had absolutely no choice. He wasn't about to risk Dumbledore interfering or being able to use it to get Harry out of his custody. There was no way Dumbledore was happy with Harry's placement with him and his family, he would probably be bidding his time to manipulate Harry. Which of course he wouldn't get a chance to do. He would let Harry know that not everyone was as they seemed, and if they were overly kind - they would probably not have his best intentions at heart. His first insinct was to use dark magic to deal with it, probably the same for Severus.

"Avifors!" added Severus turning the still swinging club into a flock of bats, that immediately took off who knows where.

"Incarcerous." Lucius said, bindings immediately left his wand and wrapped itself tightly around the Troll causing it to roar in confusion.

"Stupefy Maxima!" chanted Severus, pouring as much magic as he could behind the spell, to give it full power - it would need it if it was to even slightly affect the Troll in front of him. Trolls weren't as impervious to magic as say Dragons but it was difficult to bring them down.

The Troll swayed slightly, evidently affected by the spell Severus had shot off.

"Close. Together?" suggested Lucius, "On two. One. Two."

"Stupefy Maxima!" both men cast the spell, and the barrage of spells was the last of the Trolls resistance as it fell with an almighty thump on the floor. Almost causing Severus and Lucius to lose their footing, Hermione wasn't so lucky and she fell to the floor, staring in awe. She suddenly couldn't wait until she was a fully grown witch, she wished she knew spells that awesome.

"Severus!" called Minerva, running towards them, with only Dumbledore and curiously enough Quirrell.

"The Troll was quite a bit away from where you said it was, Quirinus," said Severus smoothly, his voice deceptively soft. Quirrell literally looked caught in the headlights, but he was saved by someone who was more concerned about a student than anything he could have been doing. His attention was immediately on the student as well, ignoring Severus' question as if it had never been asked to begin with.

"Miss Granger, what were you doing here?" asked Minerva noticing the first year, and helping her up, giving her a stern look. "You should have been at the feast."

Hermione flushed under the attention of so many of her teachers all at once - and it wasn't the kind of attention she was used to either. She felt as though she was under a microscope, being examined in close scrutiny, even Lucius Malfoy was staring at her. Biting her lip, she wondered if she should lie or tell them the truth. She didn't want to be caught out in a lie, especially if Neville told Draco and Harry as well as the twins what happened. Then it would only be a matter of time before Lucius Malfoy and Professor Snape knew. "I'm sorry Professor McGonagall, I was very upset, I just wanted to be alone." she confessed, staring at her shoes feeling very foolish, especially the way they were looking at her as if she'd broken the law.

"Why did you not come to me?" Minerva asked, had her student received upsetting news? Why the bathroom instead of her dorm? She had endangered herself by being somewhere she wasn't meant to be. How Severus had found out she was up here was anyone's guess. If the two of them hadn't gone to get her she had no doubt she would be mourning one of her Gryffindors right now - and a bright one at that.

"Because it doesn't make any difference," Hermione said tightly, it never made any difference telling the teachers about bullying. In her Muggle school it had been the same, just because she wanted to do well, people bullied her and even when her parents spoke to the school it didn't stop it. It was the same here, although they actually tried, at least Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick had tried - but they couldn't be around twenty-four seven.

"Excuse me?" demanded Minerva, looking highly insulted, what did she mean by that?

"What did they say this time?" asked Severus exasperated, it looked as though another conversation was on the cards with Filius to deal with the three insipid students as he liked to call them.

"She called me a Mudblood," whispered Hermione, staring away from them all still extremely upset.

Minerva inhaled sharply, extremely angry. "I shall inform Filius that she has two weeks worth of detention starting tomorrow night."

"Thirty points will be removed from Ravenclaw," said Albus, he was not amused that students under his school would use such words.

"Severus will you accompany me back to the Great Hall?" asked Lucius smoothly, "I think it's time to get Harry home, all this excitement will have tired him."

"Of course," replied Severus, knowing he was really leaving to let Narcissa know both of them were safe. To get out of the Dungeons the teachers would have had to pass the Great Hall. Narcissa would have quickly joined the dots, and figured out the Troll wasn't where it had been suggested. Severus ignored the penetrating look Albus gave him, and walked with Lucius - both of them quickly making their way to the Great Hall, not running as they had done before. Although it was a good thing they had really, otherwise Ganger would have been Troll dinner. Not that she would have been filling, she was a skinny morsel not much meat on her to satisfy a fully grown Mountain Troll.

"Are they going to be okay?" asked Harry, watching the door waiting on Severus and Lucius coming back, trepidation written across his face. He didn't want anything to happen to them, he had only been with them a short while, but he was very happy and it would kill him if anything hurt them.

"They're both very competent fighters, Harry." Narcissa assured him, as she sat him down, not showing any of her unease. Her eyes narrowed in on Quirrell when he walked passed suddenly, what was he up to? Not even three minutes later, a white blur went passed then a rush of teachers going in the opposite direction.

"Are you sure?" he questioned, seeing the commotion for himself.

"Everything will be fine, you'll see." said Narcissa. They were both smart, nothing would happen, they'd faced the Dark Lord and lived, no Troll was going to get the better of them. She refused to believe that something so stupid could bring her men down.

"Severus looked like Batman when he left, swooping out like that," sniggered Harry, as he thought about a superhero that was like Lucius, but he couldn't think of one with long blonde hair - at least not a male one anyway, he didn't think Lucius would like being compared to a girl though.

"A bat man? Yes I suppose his robes do give that appearance," agreed Narcissa smiling internally, Severus would love that one. He was normally called the Dungeons bat, or a plethora of insulting names she didn't like, such as Severus supposedly being a vampire and such.

"Not A BAT MAN - BATMAN one word," explained Harry sniggering, not perturbed by the fact Narcissa didn't laugh as well, he knew they kept up appearances when they went outside.

Narcissa gave Harry a quizzical look, batman?

"He's a superhero," explained Harry, still smiling, "He dresses in black and has a long cape like Severus and saves people." he had watched the cartoon sometimes when it was on in the hospital, when he could stay awake which wasn't very often. The only difference was Severus didn't wear a mask, but he had gone straight to save Hermione like Batman would have done. Lucius had gone with him like Robin, but he didn't look like a Robin and he definitely wasn't a sidekick.

"I see," said Narcissa nodding in understanding, Severus would understand it since he was more familiar with the Muggle world. A lot more familiar than her, since she didn't venture into the Muggle world, in fact she'd only gone a few times in her entire life. She wondered how he would react to being compared to a superhero by Harry, when in reality Harry was the hero, he'd saved a great many lives at personal cost.

Just then Narcissa saw the pair of them stepping down the entrance hall stairs, and a few seconds later they entered the Great Hall itself completely unscathed. She let out a silent exhale at seeing them unhurt, she'd never admit it but she had been terrified something had happened with the teachers rushing by.

"Say goodnight to Severus, Harry, we are heading home." said Lucius smoothly.

"What about Draco?" asked Harry, he would be worried too.

"Don't you worry about Draco, I will be reassuring the Slytherins." said Severus, he took his job very seriously.

"Is Hermione okay?" Harry then asked, Draco, Ron and Blaise spoke about her often in their letters, and how she got bullied.

"She's fine, Professor McGonagall is escorting her back to Gryffindor common room." Lucius reassured him.

"Good." said Harry, plucking a large lolly from the closest table, which happened to be the Slytherin one.

Lucius, Severus and Narcissa didn't say anything, not that they minded. It was good to see Harry having such a big appetite, he needed to eat to get him up to a reasonable weight. Harry would always be thin though, like Draco they suspected but as long as it was a healthy weight they would do all they could to encourage it.

"Do you feel well enough to walk?" Lucius asked, staring at Harry in barely hidden concern.

Harry nodded, tonight had been great, the potions were still working so he was fine for now. He knew how quickly it could change, but he was determined to do it himself. If there was anything he'd learned at the Dursley's it was to be independent, but he was coming to love the care and attention from all the adults around him. Who took him seriously but liked to spoil him, he still couldn't wait to come to Hogwarts with Draco though, he missed him a lot especially after spending so much time with him.

"Don't worry, Harry, Draco will be home soon," said Narcissa as they walked slowly towards the entrance hall. She understood why Harry was so quiet, just being there spending time with her son for a while was making her miss him all over again. "He's coming home for the holidays, I think he misses you more than he misses me!"

"No way," said Harry shaking his head. "I'd miss you a lot if I was here with Draco too." He couldn't wait to get home and draw Severus as Batman, show Narcissa what Batman looked like properly.

Does anyone know a superhero that could fit Lucius Malfoy? I know Batman could in terms of money ;) and breeding but he isn't available lol :D Sev has that for himself lol! well there we go, the next chapter to this wonderful tale. I hope I get more time to work on it once a few of my other stories are finished, since I want it to be the best it can. I hope the scene with the Troll was good enough for you all I did think about making it a close call with Hermione and the Troll ending up hurt...what do you think? should that have happened? the beauty of writing here is that it can always be edited LOL! R&R please!