Chapter 13

Chapter

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest." It was All Hallows Eve, or commonly known as Halloween, and the first class of the day was charms with Flitwick. He had announced that they were finally going to start making things levitate- Harry already knew how to do it but he did suppose it would be amusing to see his brother and some of the more stupid Gryffindors fail.

The entire class went to casting, but before anyone could say a word, there was a cry of "WINGARDIUM LEVIOOOOSA!" from Seamus Finnigan, before the feather exploded and burst into flames, torching his hair, and leaving the ashes of the feather on his face to the great amusement of the people around him.

"Ah. Insufficient concentration." Flitwick flicked his wand wiping the soot from Seamus' face and conjured a new feather for him. "Try again Mr. Finnigan, try to picture the feather levitating as you say the spell."

Harry pointed his wand at the feather and murmured the incantation. His feather rose and he moved his wand, controlling it as if he was a puppet master. "Look everyone, Mr. Potter's done it. 20 points to Slytherin." This was met with a low growl coming from Granger, who hated being shown up in anything. Honestly, not everything was a competition. To her increasing ire, all his friends managed to levitate the feather before her.

As he gazed around the class, Harry could hear the bickering coming from the Weasel and the bookworm. "You're doing it wrong! It's Wingardium LeviOOOsa, not LeviosAAA!" shouted Hermione, oblivious to the stares they were getting.

"Well, you do it then if you're so bloody smart," the red-head waste disposal machine said getting as bright as a tomato.

Hermione turned her nose at him, pointed her wand at the feather and said the incantation, ending it with a flick. The feather rose a few inches off the ground and stayed there before it fell again. "Well done Miss Granger. 5 points to Gryffindor," said Flitwick in his extremely squeaky voice when he saw it. Hermione looked somewhat pleased, yet still very annoyed considering she wasn't the first to do it and the fact she only got 5 points.

After the class, Weasel was talking loudly about how Granger was a twat. "Honestly, can you believe her? It's LeviOsa not LeviosAA! No wonder she hasn't got any friends!" he exclaimed to Harry's brother.

Suddenly, a blur of bushy brown hair rushed past Harry, nearly knocking him over in the process. "Looks like she heard him," said Draco, very amused.

"Honestly, Drake-Drake. It's hard not to, considering how loud Weasley was about it." Draco flushed at the use of the nickname his mother had assigned to him, cursing her for saying that in front of Harry of all people. "Stop blushing. It's not like I call you that regularly like Parkinson."

Draco suddenly shuddered, remembering the horribly weird baby voice Pansy had used whilst calling him that. "That girl has some serious problems."

"She's a Grade 5 stalker." interjected Rigel.

"Aren't you going after her Draco? You look so concerned."

"Please, shut up. If I can survive getting accidentally flung out of a window using my dad's broom, she can survive being insulted. It's not the end of the world."

"Now Draco," Harry said, bringing the topic back to the Malfoy heir, "It's clear that Parkinson wants to marry you and stay with you forever, and it wouldn't hurt you to accept some of her advances."

"Yeah right! The second I even show a small amount of interest in her she'll be clingier to me than Weasley to your brother, Hadrian. Sometimes I feel like she has this perfect future planned out."

"She does as well!" exclaimed Tracey, butting into their conversation. "So me and Daphne were forced to go round hers because her parents invited ours. Parkinson took us up to her bedroom and started showing us this incredibly thick planner which had literally everything about you and her in it." she said to Draco, relishing the disgust on his face.

"Tracey, please tell me what's in the planner! I need to know!" said Harry pleadingly, giving her a big green-eyed look.

Tracey and Daphne both looked at each other, and a silent argument seemed to happen between them. "Fine, we'll do it." started Tracey.

"But only for you, and you owe us." finished Daphne.

"Deal!" said Harry instantly. He knew that they weren't going to extract something major out of him- they were his friends, and it was a very small price to pay for the contents of the planner. "Thanks Tracey, thanks Daph." he added before turning to Draco. "Guess I'll finally know the names of your future children, Draco. Can I be the godfather for one of them?" he asked.

" And I will be for the other." Rigel interrupted before he burst into laughter with the others.

"Kill me now." groaned Draco, knowing that this teasing would only be so much greater once Hadrian got the knowledge on the planner.

"So team, we have our first match against Gryffindor next week. We all know who's playing apart from their seeker. Anyone got any ideas?" asked Flint. It was the evening, and the team was having a training session to prepare for their match.

"I do," said Harry and the team looked at their youngest member. "It's my brother."

"How did your brother get on the team? You only got in because McGonagall saw you flying, but your brother hasn't done anything noteworthy." remarked Adrian Pucey, one of the chasers on the squad.

"He complained to Dumbledore, so the headmaster gave him a spot on the team for free without even trying out. He's a decent enough seeker, but I am a little better."

"Well, that's fine for us. Just make sure you don't let him get the snitch next week. So, let's begin the session. I've arranged for the Ravenclaw team to meet us down here for a pickup game so we can actually get prepared for when we will be facing an actual team. Let's hope for it and make sure that we win. Hadrian- in a normal match you're allowed to get the snitch instantly but today wait until I tell you as I want to give the rest of the team time to practice as well," said Flint and Harry nodded before they all grabbed their brooms and kicked upwards into the evening sky.

An hour and a half later, they touched down thoroughly exhausted but very pleased, nonetheless. "Good work team. We beat them 310-120. Gryffindor will be slightly harder, but we can do it. I trust you can all see yourselves back to the castle in time for the Halloween feast."

It was the Halloween feast and Harry was sitting with his friends savoring some lovely treacle tart when a ragged looking Quirinus Quirrell burst into the room causing the entire great hall to fall into silence. His clothes were ripped, his turban ruffled, and he had several cuts on his body. "T-t-troll! Troll in the dungeons!" He managed to gasp out startling the entire room before he fainted and fell backwards.

Silence reigned supreme for approximately 5 seconds before all hell broke loose. People began screaming about how they were going to die (mainly the first years), whilst others began to converse with their friends in hushed whispers about the troll. "What happened to his stutter? And why did he faint backwards when he was already running forwards?" whispered Harry furiously to his friends.

"I don't know. It does seem sketchy, to be honest." Rigel whispered back, just as confused as Harry.

After around 30 seconds of this madness, Albus Dumbledore had enough. "Silence!" he shouted, sending off several firecrackers to quieten the entire great hall. "Prefects, please lead the students back to their dormitories. Teachers, follow me to the dungeons.

Everybody began to move but a Slytherin prefect stopped them all. "The Slytherin dormitory is in the dungeons and that's where the troll is!"

Dumbledore had the decency to at least look sheepish as the prefect called him out. "Apologies- Slytherins, please make your way to the library."

Every student got up from the tables in the great hall and made their way to their respective destinations. Harry and his friends were walking along the 2nd floor, talking animatedly and were making their way to the library. When they turned a corner on their way to the library, they came face to face with Thomas, Ron and Hermione who seemed to be running for their lives. "Run! The troll is here!" shouted Ron and he was true to his word. Behind them lumbered a 12 foot fully grown mountain troll which clutched a heavy and very thick spiked club.

"Idiots! They're leading it straight to us!" remarked Harry just as he along with his friends and the 3 sudden arrivals began running out of the way. He looked back at the troll and pointed his wand at it, throwing several silent stinging spells into its eyes. He knew it would just enrage the troll, but he had a plan. After a short time, he and the group of first years who had gotten separated from the rest of the Slytherins came to a dead end where the stairs connected. "Guys, get out of the way!" When they didn't move and just turned to face the troll which was lumbering towards them slowly, Harry cast a light banishing charm towards the group causing them to get pushed back a few meters and out of the way of the troll. "Trust me! I have a plan!"

Just as the troll was about to reach him, Harry rolled out of the way and turned to face the creature's back. Using all of his magical strength, he threw a banishing charm at the lumbering animal which propelled it over the railing and down several flights of stairs where it landed on the ground floor with a sickening splat. Luckily, there were no students left on that floor to witness it or to get harmed. As Harry took a deep breath and admired his handiwork, he was suddenly pushed a few steps due to the force of the hugs he received from his friends. "You idiot! What were you thinking?" exclaimed Daphne, before realizing she was still hugging him. She blushed and stepped back along with the rest of their friends to give him space to breathe.

"Something along the lines of I'd like not to be crushed by the club the troll had." mumbled Harry before getting smacks from both Daphne and Tracey on the back of his head.

"Bloody Gryffindor! I thought you're meant to be in Slytherin," exclaimed Rigel, still in shock from what his friend had just done.

"I was raised by a lion, so some of his tendencies did shine through to me." said Harry with a lopsided grin before turning his attention to his brother who was sprawled across the floor on his arse looking at Harry with his mouth open. "You should really close your mouth brother dearest- you wouldn't want something to fly in there would you?"

"Um, thank you Harry." Thomas replied and the thanks felt rather forced, but Harry didn't mind. It was a start.

"Well, you're welcome brother. But do try to not make this a regular occurrence."

Thomas was saved from answering through the arrival of Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape- the latter who was walking with a limp but none of the students commented on it. "Can you all explain what happened here?" the headmaster asked, his expression quite stern.

"I pushed the troll over the ledge, and it fell, Headmaster," said Harry putting emphasis on the last word.

"We know that but perhaps you should explain how this came to be." said McGonagall, her lips thinning.

"A simple banishing charm Professor." said Harry.

"That's a 4th year spell Mr. Potter. 20 points for some good work and 20 more points for using it in an appropriate manner." remarked Snape, never to shy away from giving his house points.

"That's all well, but you shouldn't have banished it off the ledge Mr. Potter- the hallway has been greatly damaged." said Dumbledore surveying Harry with his typical disappointed gaze.

"Well, Headmaster, I think when a troll is chasing me, I tend not to think about property damage." said Harry coldly.

"Enough," said McGonagall when she saw Dumbledore's mouth open, "take 10 points for bravery Mr. Potter. What I want to know is why you 3 are here." she said looking strictly at Thomas, Ron and Hermione.

Thomas was about to open his mouth but was stopped by Hermione. "It was me, Professor. I went looking for it. I had read about them and thought I could handle it, but if they hadn't saved me I would have been dead by now."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione Granger, rule-lover, lying to McGonagall of all people. And she clearly needed to work on her lying skills, as Harry could see the holes in that. Snape also saw it and saw an opportunity. "Why did you end up here then, when the troll was sighted in the dungeons? You would need to ascend 2 floors from the great hall when you should have gone down to look for it? 10 points from Gryffindor for lying to a teacher." Snape remarked very coldly.

"Indeed. I do not want to know, but I suggest you don't make a habit of lying to me." McGonagall turned to Thomas and Ron, who seemed to cower in fear. "Take 5 points each for attempting to assist a fellow housemate. Now off to your common rooms all of you." She addressed the last part to all the students who separated with the Slytherins following Snape to the dungeons and the Gryffindors following McGonagall to Gryffindor Tower.

Over the next few days, Harry noticed that Thomas and Ron had become friends with Hermione, much to his dismay. He could handle one of them annoying him, and occasionally even two, but three was going to give him quite a few headaches. Luckily, he did have a match against Gryffindor soon and he could use the distraction.