Chapter 5 - Trolls
"Come on! We have to get going!"
Ron groaned. "Lemme sleep. Too early."
Harry wasn't having any of it.
"I swear if I literally have to drag you out of bed..."
Harry grabbed a pillow and whacked it into Ron's head, causing a yelp.
He had been restless the whole night, worrying about Iris, especially after everything Ron had told him. Slytherin really didn't seem like a place his sister should be staying at. Well, sure, her friend Tracey was also there, and he supposed Tracey was kind of nice.
Still. Hadn't the hat given her a choice like it did for him? With how much trouble she got into, surely she was also Gryffindorish enough to have at least been offered the house, right?
He had to talk to her. And he hoped to catch her at breakfast. But for that, Ron had to get his arse out of bed. He grabbed his sheets and pulled, until there was a thump and a yelp.
"What gives? Can't you go ahead? I'll catch up, maybe..." Ron exclaimed in annoyance.
"No, I can't. I don't know where! You said you remembered the way to the hall."
"Well, uuhh..." Ron blushed, and muttered, "I might have exaggerated a little."
Harry paused, then narrowed his eyes.
"Do you, or do you not know the way to the hall?"
Ron hesitated. "Maybe a little?"
Harry sighed, dropped the blanket, turned on his heel and made for the door.
"Forget it, I'll find my own way somehow."
"Wha-? Wait for me!" Ron scrambled out of bed and hurried to dress himself.
Harry took a breath and smiled.
Ten minutes later saw a disheveled pair of Gryffindors stumbling into the great hall. And not a moment too soon. Behind them, Harry heard a yell.
"Harry! Wait up!"
His face immediately broke into a smile. He turned to see an excited blur that was his sister bouncing towards him, and he quickly wrapped her into a hug.
"Are you okay?" he started off with the most important question.
Iris just scoffed. "No, I clearly died from being left alone for a single night."
Harry gave her a dry look. "You know what I mean."
Iris' gaze dropped to her feet.
"Yeah. Don't worry, it's fine. No nightmares or anything."
Harry sighed in relief. "Well, that's something. Soo... do you wanna come and sit together at breakfast? We can talk about our houses and- stuff..."
Iris perked up. "Sure!"
They made their way over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, Iris happily taking a spot between him and Ron. Some strange looks were directed their way by the other Gryffindors at the sight of the girl in silver and green, but nobody said anything.
"So... how did you like your dorm?" Harry asked her.
"Eh, it was fine I guess, just two beds and a cupboard really. I'm still sad I didn't get Tracey as a roomie."
"Wait, you only had two beds? We have to bunk six people in one room! Not that I'm complaining, the room was awesome. They had these giant four poster beds for everyone, and it was really cozy, you can see all the way to the lake from the windows, and the beds were so damn comfy..."
"Best sleep I ever had," said Ron, "at least until someone decided to drag me out at the crack of dawn..."
Iris frowned. Gryffindor did sound kind of cool. Meanwhile they were stuck with plain old beds, and since they had only two people in a room, she didn't even get to share a room with Tracey.
"How was your common room like?" she asked.
"It's a comfy room with a massive fireplace filled with couches, pillows, and tons of other stuff. I'd love to spend all day in there to hang out..."
"Not to mention it has a chess corner!" Ron added enthusiastically.
Iris blinked. This was more along the lines of what she had expected a common room to look like.
"That's cool. Uhm... Ours is a bit... different," she began.
"How do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Well there was an area with a fireplace and some couches I guess, but the whole thing was like a giant maze... Except much more confusing. It looks really cool though."
"A maze?" Ron snorted, "barmy, the lot of them."
"I mean... Well not even they know why it's like that I guess."
Ron just shook his head, and dug into the food.
"So," Harry took a breath and broached the topic he was the most worried about, "how come you ended up in Slytherin?"
"Uh well..." Iris shifted in her seat, and took another bite of her toast.
"Tracey told me I could hang out with whoever anyway, no matter which house I got sorted into. And both Draco and Tracey ended up in Slytherin, and when I talked to the hat, it said I could do well there, even if he had rarely seen anyone more suited to Gryffindor..." Iris blushed at that.
"In the end, I asked the hat where I could become the best witch, and it put me in Slytherin."
Harry was silent. Then he said, "the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin as well."
Ron chocked at that. "You what? You're kidding."
"Miss Potter."
A low drawling voice jolted them out of their discussion, as someone had approached them from behind. It was the sallow man with the hooked nose that Harry had seen at his sorting. He started at them with an unreadable expression. Harry stared back. This time, his scar didn't hurt.
"Your timetable," he simply said, and held out a piece of parchment to Iris. She took it in her hand, and without a word he whirled around and stalked off towards the staff table.
"Who was that?" Harry asked with worry.
"That's Professor Snape, our Head of House," Iris responded.
"Is he... always like that?" Harry asked carefully.
"Apparently so." Iris said simply.
Harry didn't know what to think about the fact that a man like that was now apparently her sister's Head of House. He supposed he could give him the benefit of the doubt.
"So, what's your first class?" he changed the topic.
Iris glanced down and brightened up. "Transfiguration!"
"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, here are your timetables." a voice sounded from next to them, and they looked up into the face of an older witch in a green pointy hat, gazing at them curtly through a small round pair of glasses.
"The charms class is quite a walk, you had better get going soon." she said, as she handed over the aforementioned timetables to the boys. Somehow, the woman reminded him of that girl on the train.
"Now, enjoy the rest of your breakfast, and Ms. Potter, I'll see you for the first lesson."
With that, the woman stalked off. They hadn't even gotten her name. Although he supposed if she had given them their timetables, that she was their Head of House.
Iris finished up her meal, and got up. Well, guess I better get going. I have no idea where to find the transfiguration class."
"Iris?" Harry spoke up, and gave her a meaningful look.
She smiled and gave him a hug. "I'll be fine. Now go, you heard the teacher. Don't wanna be late."
And with that, she skipped off down the table and out of the great hall.
~V~
Iris turned down another corner, only to find... more corridor. It was official, she was hopelessly lost.
Had she already been here? They all seemed pretty similar. Yet, she had been pretty sure she was not going in circles. Would it hurt them to hand out a map of this place? She turned another corner and froze.
There was a group of older Slytherin students walking down the hallway. Immediately, she broke into a run to catch up with them.
"Hang on! Hi, uh sorry, could you tell me how I can get to the Transfiguration classroom? I'm kinda lost..." she admitted sheepishly.
The tallest of the boys looked at her and smirked. "Oh sure, first day huh? No problem. See that hallway to the right? Follow it till you find the grand staircase and head down. Turn right when you can, and head down whenever possible. At some point you'll come across the classroom. Can't miss it!"
Iris beamed. "Thanks a bunch!"
Then she turned on her heel and skipped towards the staircase.
She was too excited to stay still. Transfiguration was the class she had been looking forward to the most. The best part about her favorite show Sabrina had been the way she would turn people into all kinds of things, animals and other stuff. She really wanted to learn to do that too.
Mind still thinking of all the cool stuff she could do with Transfiguration, she skipped down yet another set of stairs.
It was becoming kind of dark in these corridors. Why would they put a classroom all the way down here? With a shrug, she kept forging onwards. Maybe she could learn to turn a rock into a torch or something.
She turned down another set of stairs into a very ancient looking hallway. The walls were lined with cracks, there were cobwebs along the ceiling, and she got a distinct feeling that she was not supposed to be here.
As if that had ever stopped her.
A glint made its way into her eyes, as she started down the hallway, careful steps placed in front of each other. She raised her hand and her orb of iridescent colors lit up the dusty hallway. She focused and turned it into a single color, to be able to see better.
At the end of the corridor, there was a giant stone archway. Carefully peering inside, Iris sent her light to fly ahead of her.
There was a circular room, completely covered in cobwebs. There were pillars all around the edge, reaching all the way to the ceiling. In the center of the room there was a round stone block. Iris stepped closer. There was something written in the stone, but she couldn't quite make it out. She called her light back into her hand, approached the stone and held it out to read.
Or at least attempt to read. Whatever this was, it wasn't English. She wasn't even sure if it was a language at all. Maybe it was just for decoration?
A clearing of a throat behind her caused her to jump and release an embarrassing "Eep!"
Her heart was pounding. Someone had snuck up on her!
She whirled around, hand raised defensively, and she let out a sigh of relief. It was a professor. Too late, she realized that that might mean she was in even more trouble. She was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to be down here.
"Ms. Potter," the man said with a raised eyebrow, "bit off the beaten path, are we?"
"Erm... I got lost, Sir! Sorry." she muttered an apology.
He stared at her for a moment, expression unreadable.
"Indeed..." he said as he turned to pace over to the stone block.
"And yet you somehow managed to find yourself in this most... improbable location."
"Well, I tried to follow what the older Slytherins told me, but..." she trailed off at that.
She was pretty sure she did follow their directions, and the hallways had started to look off way before she had arrived here. Somehow, she was getting the feeling they hadn't given her the right directions at all.
"Allow me to let you in on a little open secret, Ms. Potter," the professor said with a smirk.
Iris shifted as she stood and looked back at the professor.
"The most reliable way to navigate the castle if you don't have it memorized is to simply ask a portrait for directions."
Iris wanted to slap her forehead. It seemed kind of obvious in hindsight. They were all over the castle, and kept talking at her for one reason or another.
"Err... Thanks?" Iris said with a blush.
"Now... I suspect you do have somewhere to be, do you not?" he said and tilted his head, causing his turban to shift. His eyes seemed to track the orb of light still held in her palm.
"Uh, yes Sir, thank you, Sir." Iris mumbled, and made her way for the door. Something was giving her the creeps, and it wasn't just the strange room.
Iris had to stop and ask portraits several times, but in the end, she had managed to find the Transfiguration classroom after all.
"Ms. Potter. Would it perhaps help if I turned you into a watch so you could find yourself in my class on time?" the witch said in a stern voice.
"You can do that?" Iris exclaimed in awe.
"Indeed. Now please take a seat, we were just about to begin."
Iris hurriedly found a free spot next to a Hufflepuff with red hair, sat down and pulled out her Transfiguration book, eager to get started.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magics you will learn here at Hogwarts. It requires a focused mind, vivid imagination, and above all, great care and dedication. Its limits are only up to your imagination and skill, yet if attempted without the proper precautions and training, it can have grievous consequences. Anyone fooling around in my class will leave, and not come back."
The professor took a moment to let that sink in, as she peered at the class through her glasses. Then she turned the desk into a pig, and everyone was suitably impressed. She then proceeded to turn herself into a cat, and Iris' jaw dropped onto the desk. Transfiguration was really the coolest subject, she couldn't wait to get started.
Two hours later, Iris had become frustrated. After a long and complicated dive into the theory behind inanimate-to-inanimate Transfiguration, they had been handed each a set of matchsticks, and began attempts to change them into a needle. One of the Slytherin girls had almost succeeded. Her matchstick had turned silvery and was very pointy. A few other students had managed some slight changes to their matchsticks, but Iris, along with half the class, had managed no changes whatsoever. She glared at it, willing it with all her might to change into a needle, as she poked it with her wand. The matchstick remained just that.
With every new student that achieved at least some sort of change, Iris' spirits fell further. This was not how she had imagined this class going. Also, she really did not want to try this while channeling her light. When she had done that with her attempted spells back in privet drive, that had only caused unpredictable disasters, and she really had no intention of leaving this class and never coming back.
Feeling defeated, she finally packed up her things at the end of the class, having made no progress whatsoever. The professor proceeded to assign them ten inches on the magical properties of wood and iron, as if that would help the situation. She checked her schedule and perked up slightly. Next, they had Defense together with the Gryffindors. At least she would get to be with Harry for that class, no matter how it would turn out.
~V~
Harry was bouncing in his seat. Now this was exciting. After his charms class had been mostly theory followed with a simple light charm, this class had him on the edge of his seat. The professor had skipped the entire introduction and dived straight into a tale that read like one of his fantasy books. Except this one apparently was actually real. Also, it was not a tale at all. It was a lesson, except it really felt like a tale.
"As always, there are multiple approaches towards Defense. Can anyone give me examples on how one would defend themselves against... say... a mountain troll?"
"What's a mountain troll?" asked the boy called Dean Thomas from his dorm. The professor had made it clear that he was not big on formality, and that the students were encouraged to interject questions when they came to mind.
"It is a magical creature. Large, ugly and stupid, they have a magically resistive hide which makes it difficult for spells to penetrate, and mostly live in the mountains. You can easily detect them from a distance simply by their smell. They also like to wield crude weapons, if they managed to acquire any. They hunt for food, as well as sport, and can be very difficult to reason with. Any suggestions Mr. Thomas?"
"Uh... I dunno, I guess I'd probably run away," he said and chuckled weakly.
The professor grinned at him. "Five points to Gryffindor."
Dean stared back at him dumbfounded. "I'm sorry?"
"Never pick a fight you can't win. You are confronted with a beast you know nothing about and have no idea how to defeat, ergo the correct approach is to avoid a fight at all costs. You may have said this in jest, but this is exactly what I would expect you to do in this situation."
The class gaped.
"Now, that does of course not apply if you do know how to handle said threat. So, any other suggestions?" the professor let his gaze sweep over the room.
"You said it has magically resistive skin... Does it have a weak point?" Harry asked enthusiastically.
The professor snapped his fingers "Very good thinking Mr. Potter. It does indeed. Can you guess at what its weak point would be?"
Ron spoke up confusedly. "Wouldn't that be something that would be in the book?"
The professor grinned. "True. But a lot of these things can be figured out through common sense, and that is a skill much more valuable than anything you can learn from a book. If you can figure out the weak spot of one creature by yourself, you stand a good chance of guessing at it with many others. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, all it takes is one good guess."
"Sir? Are its eyes a weak spot?" the girl called Hermione asked, her hand raised.
"Another two points to Gryffindor. Very good guess. Indeed, its hide does not cover its eyes, therefore some spells can penetrate through there. There would also be its mouth and nose and ears, but those are even more difficult to reach. Now, could you give me any other ideas on how to defeat a troll without the use of a weak spot? Go creative, there are no wrong answers here."
"Is its hide only resistant to spells penetrating it?" asked Iris.
The professor turned to her and his smile morphed into a grin.
"Ten points to Slytherin. Can you enlighten the class where that train of thought went, Ms. Potter?"
"Uh... I guess you could cast spells on the hide itself? Like freezing it or something..."
"Very good! Can anyone provide any other ideas along that line of thought?"
Harry perked up. He had read something in the defense book that might work here.
"How about a body-bind curse? Could it work on just the hide?"
"Good thinking, but no. A body-bind curse works by overriding the neural pathways that control our limbs. To reach them, the curse would have to penetrate the hide."
"How about something like a petrification curse?" asked a Slytherin girl with black hair.
"That could work, depending on the curse, however it would only petrify the hide. Trolls are very strong, so its very possible they might be able to break the curse through sheer physical force."
His gaze swept through the room again, eagerly awaiting someone else to bring another idea forward. When none came, he spoke up again.
"Anyone else? Five points to whoever can give me one more valid method." he said with a smirk.
Harry racked his brain, then had an idea. Something about what they had just learned in charms.
"How about Force spells? Would they work on the hide?"
"Precisely! Take five well deserved Points Mr. Potter. Simple force spells like Accio, Depulso, or even Wingardium Leviosa can affect the hide just like they would affect anything else. Now, remember, since you are only affecting the hide, you won't be able to do much damage, as these spells aren't very powerful, but it could be just enough to push the troll away from you, and if it can't get close, it can't attack you."
He smiled, and started pacing. "Oh, but we aren't done. There are so many more ways you can think of. How about... The next unique idea that works gets you out of homework for today."
People perked up at that and started whispering. Harry searched his mind for an answer. So far, he loved everything about this lesson, and it seemed Iris was having just as much fun. And they hadn't even cast a single spell yet.
Suddenly, Ron spoke up. "Uh, could you attack it physically? I mean not like with your fists, but with like a weapon?"
The professor whirled around and pointed his fingers at Ron. "No homework for you today Mr. Weasley."
Ron beamed at that.
"Indeed. Physical attacks whether through magical means or otherwise are just as effective as they are against most other things. Their hide is thick, but not invincible. A transfigured sword, a banished boulder, even a muggle firearm would work. Speaking of which, we have so far been ignoring the entire field of Transfiguration. Can anyone give me any other applications of that field we could use?"
Hermione spoke up. "Well, we could transfigure a distraction, like an animal or something, Sir."
"Very good, there is no need to fight the troll, if it does not want to fight you. Yet another rule you can apply to any potential opponent. Five points, Ms. Granger."
Hermione was on fire now. "As you said, you could also transfigure a weapon like a sword or a spear, or I guess you could transfigure the ground beneath it into ice or a giant pit"
"Take two more points. As you see, with transfiguration, the options are only limited by your creativity. Now, any other spell categories we could use?"
The professor started pacing again, and his gaze landed on the same Slytherin girl that had spoken before.
"How about a mental attack?"
"Very out of the box, Ms. Greengrass, but yes. Five points to you. Trolls have very limited mental capabilities, so a Legilimency attack would indeed prove successful."
He paced back towards the front and turned towards the class with an intense expression.
"Now," he paused, "can anyone give me the final spell category one could use to defend themselves against a troll?"
His eyes came to rest on Malfoy, just as the boy was getting up.
"The Unforgivables, Sir."
The professor just smiled for a moment, and then said, "Another ten points to Slytherin."
He then started pacing again.
"It is true, although incredibly difficult and time consuming to produce, a successfully cast Killing curse would indeed defeat a mountain troll in one hit."
The class sat in dead silence. Harry felt like he was missing something.
"As it would most of every other living being. The sole exception, of course, being Mr. Potter here."
Harry suddenly felt the stares of the entire class on him and shrank into his seat. He didn't much like this part of the class.
"The two other Unforgivable curses would of course also work, with the exception of them not being permanent. But they might buy you enough time to get away."
He paused again, and turned back to the class.
"Of course, the Unforgivables are illegal to cast on another human being, and generally frowned upon regardless, so they may not be your weapon of choice. Yet it is still important to know about them, if only to defend yourselves against them."
"Now..." He suddenly produced his wand and waved it, causing all the tables and chairs to suddenly eject the students onto the ground and float towards the corners of the room. "...lets end the lesson on something more fun."
The confused students scrambled back to their feet as the professor waved his wand, causing a large pit to appear in the middle of the room, with a ramp leading up to it.
"This is something of a Hogwarts tradition, ever since its founding. Wands out please." the professor said with a smirk.
Harry went fumbling for his wand, excited to get to do some more magic.
"Now, some of you have already had your first charms class, and you undoubtedly learned about all the foundations of spell theory, the importance of precision, intent, enunciation, etc. What I need you to do is ignore all that for this lesson. We are going to learn a new spell. This one is a bit special."
He twirled his wand, creating some sparks, followed by a roaring fire emerging in the pit.
"We are going to learn and perform the flame freezing charm. This is a very special charm, but not in what it does. It was invented at the height of the witch hunts, around the time of the founding of Hogwarts. The spell has about the complexity of a standard fifth year spell. Yet, I promise you are all going to be able to perform it on your first try, right now."
Harry was gaping at him. They were going to attempt a fifth-year spell? How were they supposed to do that?
"Now, I want you to form a line. You'll step up to the pit, one after the other, perform the spell, and step through the flames," he said with a manic grin.
"Now you are right to be worried, I know what I am asking might sound a bit insane."
"A bit?" Seamus repeated, echoing the thoughts of probably everyone in the room.
"You see, what makes this spell special, is that it has been meticulously crafted to arithmantic perfection. It is the product of the brightest witches and wizards of several decades that came together with the goal of designing a single spell that any witch or wizard could cast, that would save them from the witch hunts. After years and years of work, they produced the flame freezing charm as we use it today. It has been crafted with such a level of redundancy and perfection that you could completely botch the wand movement, as well as the incantation, and still walk through the flames unscathed."
He walked up to the pit and faced the scared looking students.
"Now, any volunteers on who wants to go first? Not only do you get ten points, but you get to cast the spell on me first, and I'll walk through as a sort of guinea pig."
When nobody stepped forward, Harry took a breath, and said "I'll do it."
This class had been so amazing, the least he could do was put forward his best effort. Besides, it's not like the professor would actually let them get hurt, right?
"Very good Mr. Potter. Now I want you all to pay attention. The wand motion is a swish to the right and a downwards jab, and the incantation is Flamma Frigus. Normally, I'd tell you to work on your pronunciation, but you will find it is not necessary with this particular spell."
Harry slowly walked up to the professor, who had a wide grin on his face. "Go ahead, cast it either at me or at the flames."
Harry hesitated, but in the end, he figured that the professor probably knew what he was doing, if he really would be the one to first step through the flames. He swished and jabbed his wand, and incanted "Flamma Frigus."
Nothing happened. The professor gave him a smirk, and then stepped backwards and disappeared into the fire. Harry held his breath. After a second, he heard his voice from behind the pit.
"Your turn, Mr. Potter. Cast it either at yourself or at the flames, and go."
Harry took a deep breath. This was it. He could feel the blazing hot fire roaring in front of him. If he messed this up, he could actually be burned alive. Could he go through with that? Yet he realized that the whole class was watching him expectantly. He looked around and caught Iris' worried gaze. He swallowed and made a decision. He could do this. He had to be strong, if only for her.
He swished and jabbed, and shouted "Flamma Frigus!"
There was a distinct change. He still felt the flames, but they no longer felt hot. Just a gentle warmth licking against his skin. A smile broke out on his face. Gathering his courage, he took a step forward. There was a yell of "Harry!" from behind him, but he was already inside the fire. It tickled.
Harry started laughing. This! This is what magic was supposed to be like! He slowly realized that he was standing in the middle of a fire pit and had no idea how long the charm would last, so he quickly stepped forward and made his way to the other side.
"Finite. Ten points to Gryffindor. Seems you do your House proud, Mr. Potter." the professor said with a smile.
"Now, come on, form a line. Step up, cast the spell, and walk through the fire. Every single Hogwarts student since its founding has gone through this little challenge. Now show your ancestors how it's done."
Eagerly, the students began to line up. Some of them hesitated for a bit, but one after the other, they all performed the spell, and stepped through the flames without issues.
"Blimey, that was intense!" Ron exclaimed as he stepped out of the flames. "The sorting's got nothing on this."
Harry nodded, and together they started to walk around the pit to watch the rest of the students face the fire.
"I feel like this is gonna be my favorite class," Harry said excitedly.
"I dunno man, there's also flying class..." Ron said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I guess, but we can also go flying outside of class, right? But this-"
Harry was cut off by a scream. An all too familiar scream of panic and terror. He whirled around to face the fire only to see Iris, face distorted in pain, her robes burning. He stumbled towards her, hell bent on doing... something. He had no idea what, but he would find a way to save her.
The professors head snapped around, and he raised his wand. Iris came flying out of the fire towards the professor, robes still ablaze. With a wave of the wand, the flames winked out of existence and her still smoking form dropped to the ground. She was whimpering in pain.
His head snapped up, and he barked, "Class dismissed!"
Harry stumbled towards her shivering form and could make out the sight of burnt skin under her robes. Her right hand was still clutching her wand, and it was shaking.
The professor waved his wand, causing Iris to start floating. He then started walking towards the door at a brisk pace, Iris floating behind him.
Harry scrambled to his feet and ran after him.
"Where are you taking her?"
The professor didn't even look back. "I'm taking her to the hospital wing. It looks like she has suffered some severe burns."
"What happened, professor?" Harry asked, terrified.
"We will have to ask her when she wakes up."
When. Harry shivered. At least he didn't say if.
A/N: Chapter-art for this chapter on AO3 or if you type this URL without spaces: i . imgur .com (slash) iNeSsLp . png