Chapter 7: A Troll and a Quidditch Match

"Expelliarmus!" Helena casts, disarming one of the wooden-dummies of its fake wand, then she ducks, avoiding an attack from two other wooden-dummies before casting, "Flipendo!" she yelled out, casting a more powerful knockback-jinx, sending one dummy flying against the other and smashed against the wall!

Helena pants as she'd succeeded to defeat another squad of wooden dummies in Professor Snape's secret training room.

The Potions professor had been watching Helena's performance with his arms crossed. He gave a small nod, seeing she has indeed improved, even using improvisation. As Snape waved his wand, the wooden dummies instantly were repaired and placed back against the wall "That's it for tonight, Potter."

Helena nodded before she asked him, "So… how did I do it?"

Snape gave her a short glance before looking back at another destroyed wooden-dummy and waved his wand to repair it. "Believe me, with only your first-year spells including the Disarming Charm I taught you; you would be lucky to last longer than a minute. And though your way of improvising was somewhat impressive, even more intelligent wizards and witches would see it coming."

Helena gave a small sigh of disappointment that despite her increasing efforts, Professor Snape wasn't that really impressed, which began to frustrate her a bit.

But then, as Snape had finished repairing the damage with another wave with his wand, he looked back at her and advised her, "Using spells and jinxes head on or use your surroundings is not always enough to put your enemies into submission."

Helena gave a nod of understanding. "To be a few steps ahead of my enemies, yes."

"And calculate their next move. Just because you'll be few steps ahead of your enemies, you need to prepare yourself for the unexpected. Once you've figured that out and start to think outside the box, only then you will truly beat your enemies."

Though this seemed to be somewhat hard for her to understand and try to read her opponents and think ahead what to expect, Helena gave nod and said, "I'll… try, professor."

"That remains to be seen," Snape says with a serious glare before he simply dismisses her "Now go."

Helena's first thing she wanted to ask if there would be more training after tonight, but knowing Snape by his tone, she figured that he wouldn't teach her anything more at the moment as he also had clearly stated to train her every school day for the rest of the month, and since tomorrow is Halloween, she figured that Snape would be too busy to keep an eye out for disobedient students than training her.

So, Helena gave a nod and began to leave "Goodnight, Professor."

While leaving the dungeons and heading back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, Helena began to feel sad as Halloween was the least holiday of the year she looked forward to. Not because of all the scary stuff. No. The reason was because on Halloween night… was the night when her parents died, murdered by the evil wizard, Voldemort. Or maybe Halloween had become an unhappy holiday for her because she was never allowed to join the Dursley's celebrations, remembering she was never allowed to join the festivities or eat any of the delicious cakes and candy that Aunt Petunia had prepared.

However, that last part did make Helena smile as she remembered how much her cousin, Dudley stiffened his mouth full of candy and left a mess 'Something only a pig leaves behind.' Helena thought amusingly. She then began to think while walking up the moving stairway 'Hmmmm. Maybe a pair of pig ears would suit that little tail of his?'

Helena chuckles, already imagining herself casting a spell on Dudley and turn his ears like those of a pig, and also a pig-nose, which would freak out both Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, already imagining their horrified faces and run around the house in panic.

"You seem in a very good mood tonight, young lady." The portrait of the Fat Lady said.

Helena looked up, having barely noticed she'd already reached the secret entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room because she was lost in her imagination of turning Dudley into a real little piggy.

Helena gave a small shrug while she smiled. "I just… thought of something funny."

"That I see." The Fat Lady said, but clearly waiting for Helena to give her the password.

Helena nodded and told her the password, "Caput Draconis."

The portrait opened, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

Helena entered, seeing Ginny talking with Parvati on one of the couches while Neville was sitting at a small desk together with Seamus Finnigan, playing what looked like chess.

"Knight to E5." Seamus said, and the Knight piece on the table moved magically on its own.

Helena decided to check the game.

Confident, Neville said, "Queen to E5." And Neville's queen moved magically to E5 before smashing Seamus' knight into pieces.

Helena looked surprised before she said, "I didn't know that chess could be that violent."

"It's Wizard's Chess," Neville stated before taking the pieces of Seamus' defeated Knight of the board "You ever played?" he asks her.

Helena shrugs. "Played a bit of chess at my old muggle school when I got the chance. But Wizard's Chess, no, I never played that."

"It's the same thing as normal chess," Seamus stated. "Except that you have to command the pieces where to go instead of moving them yourself." He then smirks and said to the board "Bishop from C7 to E5." And one of Seamus' Bishops moved before smashing Neville's Queen into bits "Yes!" Seamus cheered "You just lost your queen, Longbottom!"

Helena knew that Neville was in the disadvantage as losing a Queen meant he would lose easier. "Oh, I'm sorry for you, Neville."

Neville however, not really minding, said with a small grin to the board "Tower from B8 to B1." And Neville's Tower moved all the way to Seamus' side of the field, making him look shocked as his King puts down his crown as Neville declares, "Checkmate, Finnigan."

Seamus groaned with anger "Uuugh! Not again! This is the sixth time you beat me." frustrated, Seamus rose up and left the common room, leaving for the boys' dormitory "I'm going to bed."

Though Seamus' poor loser reaction was a bit funny, Helena told Neville, "Impressive, Neville."

Neville gave a shrug before all the chess pieces magically reformed on their own. "I played a lots of times with my uncle and grandma," he then formed a small smile "I won most of the time," then he began to think "They first let me win easily in the first few years, till I wanted them to play harder with me, which helped as I got better." He then offered Helena, "Do you want to play?"

Helena shrugs while she nodded "Sure." but as she took Seamus' seat, she wandered, "But… aren't we supposed to get to bed now as we have Astronomy class after twelve o'clock tonight?"

Ginny, overhearing them, ensured Helena, "Oh, don't worry, Helena. Astronomy class is cancelled tonight cause of the bad weather."

This gave Helena some relief. "Thank goodness. I could really use some rest."

Neville whispered to Helena, "I can imagine, as your training with Snape can-"

Helena quickly shushed him, "Shhhhh! Neville…!"

Neville nodded, knowing that he's not supposed to let anyone know that Helena had been secretly getting training sessions from Professor Snape.

Leaving it for now, Helena and Neville began to play.

But after only a few minutes, Helena was surprised how good Neville is.

Then, Neville said, "Queen to D2. And that's checkmate."

Helena became a bit angry "No! You got me in 10 moves, Neville?!" not taking this, she said, "I demand a rematch!"

Neville smiled bright "Okay." and they began playing again, only for Helena to lose again, but this time after 22 moves.

-:-

The next day on Halloween morning, students woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors.

Having almost forgotten her horrible memories of spending Halloween with the Dursleys, Helena enjoyed Halloween morning with her friends. Not only that, but Professor Flitwick announced during Charms class that he thought his students were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom

"One of the wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation," Professor Flitwick started "or the ability to make objects fly. Do you have your feathers?" he asked his students.

Many raised up the feathers they were asked to have for Charms.

"Good," Professor Flitwick smiled before he took out his wand, "Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing." He moved with his wand swift. "The swish and flick. Everyone." He instructed his class to do the same.

All the first years students took their wands and followed Professor Flitwick's wand movement "The swish and flick."

"Good!" Professor Flitwick smiled before he told them how to pronounce the spell "Oh and enunciate… Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go, then."

Everyone started to practice, trying to make their feathers float using the spell 'Wingardium Leviosa'. But nobody was able to lift their feathers even a bit.

Professor Flitwick tried to tell his students, "Swish and flick. And saying the magic words is most important."

It too was hard for Helena as she tried numerous times but also couldn't make the feather float.

'What am I doing wrong?' she asked herself. That's when she decided to look around the class, observing the other classmates, how they used their wand movement and how they pronounced the spell.

'C'mon, Helena,' she told herself, 'Like what Professor Snape said. 'Think outside the box'. Observe and…'

That's when Helena realized what everyone was doing wrong despite Professor Flitwick tried to explain how it should go.

Helena took her wand, took a deep breath and pointed her wand at her feather, focusing. She flicked her wand and said "Wingardium Leviosa." and her feather rose off her desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

Professor Flitwick clapped and cheered "Oh, well done! Everyone, see here, Miss Potter's done it! Splendid!"

Pansy Parkinson gave her a jealous look before looking away in anger.

Seamus Finnigan, trying his luck, casted out the spell to his feather, clearly doing it wrong, "Wingard Leviosar! Wingard-"

BOOM!

Seamus' feather suddenly blew up, making everyone in class look at him surprised!

Seamus' face was all black with his eyebrows being mostly burn away and there was barely anything left of his feather before it disintegrated into a small pile of ash.

"I think we're going to need another feather over here, professor," Ginny said as she was sitting next to Seamus.

-:-

Several hours later, after the first year Gryffindors had finished Charms and Transfiguration for the day, Helena, Ginny and Neville both decided to go for a walk outside at the school grounds.

Ginny, who's still a bit frustrated after she hadn't figured out how to properly use the Levitation spell, asks Helena, "How did you manage to do it, Helena? Back at Charms class?"

Neville, who performed poorly as usual, too wanted to know. "Yes. We did wave our wands as Professor Flitwick taught us and we said the spell correctly."

Helena formed a small smile as she told her friends while she shook her head, "No exactly. When I took my time for a moment and see what we all did wrong back at Charms, I noticed that it wasn't the 'swish and flick'. The problem was is that I noticed that everyone was saying the spell wrong." Ginny and Neville exchanged a glance "The correct pronounce is 'Leviosa' not 'Leviosar'."

Realizing what they did wrong, Ginny felt a bit stupid "Ooooh."

Helena looked around, not seeing any other student or teacher. She took out her wand, wanting to show her friends how it's properly done "Just watch me and listen carefully."

She looked at the nearest best object to use, spotting a twig laying on top of yellow and orange/brown leaves near a few trees. She aimed her wand at it and flicked it while casting, "Wingardium Levoisa." And was able to make the twig rise up, floating a few feet above them.

"Okay, I get it now!" Ginny said with a smile and took out her own wand, wanting to try out. She tried it on a small rock and cast the same way as Helena did, "Wingardium Leviosa!" and the rock floated up in the air, making Ginny smile bright "I did it! I did it!"

Neville then tried himself, saying with a weak and uncertain voice "Wingardium… Leviosa…" but the twig he chooses to 'lift' only got up a tiny bit before falling again on the ground. Neville sighed sadly, knowing how bad he is at magic.

Neville shook his head "I'm the worst wizard in all of Hogwarts."

Ginny rubbed his back "Don't say that, Neville. Just because you have trouble learning spells doesn't mean you're a bad wizard."

Helena nodded, "Yes, Neville. Besides, every single wizard and witch had trouble learning their first spells. You just take… more time to learn." She tried to cheer him up "But I'm sure that once you learned well and with a bit of confidence, you'll be a great wizard one day."

Neville felt flattered, but still was unsure as his uncertainty and lack of courage, including being late developing his magical powers when growing up, made him sad.

Ginny gave Neville a gentle elbow "Hey, don't worry. You'll get the hang of it sooner or later."

Helena nodded before checking the time on her watch, showing it was 11:30. "Guess lunch will be served soon. Shall we?"

Ginny smiled, with Neville giving a simple nod.

However, at that moment, a few hallways away from the Great Hall, Pansy Parkinson and her gang were bothering Hermione and Padma after Hermione disrupted Daphne Greengrass and Milicent Bulstrode's little exercise to get the Levitation Spell right, trying to tell them that they're both doing it wrong.

Angered and speaking with an arrogant tone, like she doesn't need Hermione's help at all to correct her spell, Daphen said, "The nerve she has! Disrupting our little group to try to tell me and Milicent how to do our spells correctly."

Milicent nodded while Pansy smirked, "I agree, Daphne. Clearly Granger here has forgotten that her little intelligence has no room with the future greatest witches of the wizarding world."

Padma wanted to take Hermione away as she wasn't in the mood for their usual mocking and insults, but Hermione, being a bit stubborn, mocked her back by saying, "Well, if you call intelligence by how badly Greengrass speaks out her spells or Bultrode flicking her wand around like she's smashing with a hammer, I say you guys clearly need more help from people who DO know how to cast their spells, otherwise you all would become later in life the greatest laughing stock of the wizarding world."

While Daphne felt insulted and Millicent glared at Hermione, like she was about to throw a punch, Pansy gave them an ensuring look before turning to Hermione with a mocking face, "Wow. You sure got a lot of guts, Granger, but not as much for my taste. I mean, what else would we expect from the biggest know-it-all of first years Ravenclaw? Tell me, Granger, is this your usual annoying way to bother people or is it just a mask because you've never had any real friends before ever coming to Hogwarts?"

When those words escaped Pansy's mouth, Hermione felt as if she was hit deep in her soul. Not a single word came from her, other than sadness as Pansy was somehow right and Hermione never had any friends before coming to Hogwarts.

Seeing tears forming in Hermione's eyes, Pansy chuckled with amusement "Ahh, boo-hoo. Guess I was right, huh, Granger? All this little charade of yours being so 'smart' and all was only a way of you to get the attention you never had. I guess that's the reason no one can stand you. Hahahahaha."

Milicent and Daphne both laughed while Hermione was on the brink of tears.

"Do yourself a favor, Granger, leave Hogwarts and go back to the muggles where you belong. Trust me, you will NEVER be a real witch and you will NEVER have any real friends." Pansy added while forming an evil grin.

As tears fell from Hermione's eyes, she ran away while she sobbed. Padme glared at Pansy and her friends before running after her best friend "Hermione, wait! Hermione!"

Pansy, Milicent and Daphne laughed while watching Hermione crying her tears out while fleeing.

When Helena, Ginny and Nevile entered another hallway, they saw a glimpse of Hermione running into a different hallway, seeing her crying while Padma went after her.

"What's wrong with Hermione?" Neville wandered.

Ginny shrugs while Helena shook her head, though she had a feeling who would be responsible to make Hermione upset.

When they entered the Great Hall for lunch, Helena spots Pansy and her friends sharing a laugh, talking about how Hermione cried her tears out like a baby. Helena glared at them as her suspicions were confirmed.

'Of course it was her again!' Helena angrily told herself.

-:-

Hermione wasn't seen all afternoon. That evening, during the Halloween feast in the Great Hall, a thousand living bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the floating pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.

Yes, this truly made all those horrible memories of Helena during the Halloween feasts at the Dursleys fade away.

However, Helena wasn't truly in the mood as she'd hoped as she was still worried about Hermione as she hadn't seen her all afternoon, not even spotting her at the Ravenclaw table and neither Padma.

Ginny asked Parvati, "Hey, Parvati, have you seen Hermione anywhere?"

Parvati explained to her, "Padma told me that she's been crying in the girl's bathroom on the second floor and she wouldn't come out. Padma decided to go to her instead of joining the Halloween feast as she didn't feel it was right to join the feast while her best friend is upset."

Ginny and Neville both exchanged a glance, with Nevile wandering, "But what could've made Hermione to be so devastating?"

Before Parvati could answer, Helena said while glaring at Pansy and her friends, "Parkinson, no doubt."

Ginny and Neville looked at Pansy and her little gang for a moment before turning back to their friend.

"Seriously, what is with that girl!" Helena said, "Why does she have to be so mean to everyone all the time?"

"It doesn't surprise me why she and her friends were sorted into Slytherin as so far every dark wizard and dark witch has been in Slytherin." Neville said.

"Not to mention that she most likely inherited that mean attitude from her Italian mom," Lavender added.

Helena raised an eyebrow at her "Pansy's mother is Italian?"

Lavender nodded as she stated what she knew about Pansy's mother, "Oh yes. Lucretia di Borboni. I heard she came to England after graduating Beauxbatons to become an actress. Beauxbatons is a French wizarding school if you wander. And I also learned that she was back in the day a follower of You-Know-Who." Lavender then whispered to the others, "I even heard rumors that after You-Know-Who's defeat, Pansy's mom and her husband were able to escape conviction using her acting skills."

Hearing this made a lot of sense how Pansy Parkinson had turned out the way she is.

Suddenly, Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, yelling in panic, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" everyone turned surprised and shocked when the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher revealed that a troll had managed to get into Hogwarts, making even the teachers look surprised. "Thought you ought to know." Quirrell said before he faints and drops on the floor.

Hearing this, almost all the entire Great Hall erupted in panic as many young students began to yell.

"SILEEEENCE!" Dumbledore called out, making all the students turn quiet "Everyone will please not panic!" seeing that it worked, Dumbledore instructed with calm in his voice, "Now, Prefects, lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately. All teachers, follow me to the dungeons."

Doing as they were told; all the students followed their prefects in an orderly fashion out of the Great Hall. Percy was in element, telling the first years Gryffindors, "Follow me! Stick together, first years! Stay close behind me. no need to fear the troll if you follow my orders!"

While the teachers began to follow Professor Dumbledore through another doorway heading to the dungeon, Professor Snape however had a different idea. While the others didn't notice him, he quickly went to a different hallway.

With Helena, Ginny and Neville climbing the stairs following Percy, Ginny wandered, "How could a troll get in the castle?"

While Neville was a bit scared that a big troll was in Hogwarts, he answered, "Well, it… it couldn't have done it on its own."

"You think somebody let the troll in?" Helena asks.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Probably that poltergeist, Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke or some students."

When they passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions, Helena suddenly she realized something and grabbed Neville and Ginny's arms.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asks.

"Hermione and Padma!" Helena said with a shock on her face "They don't know about the troll."

Ginny gasps "Oh my gosh! We have to tell them."

All three ducked, sneaking past the other Gryffindor first years, joined the Hufflepuffs that went the other way before slipping down a deserted side corridor and hurried off towards the girl's bathroom where Hermione and Padma must be. Neville thought it was a bad idea and just wanted to go back to the Gryffindor common room where it was safe but didn't wanted to leave his two best friends behind, so he went along with them.

"Where was the girl's bathroom again where Hermione is?" Helena quickly asked.

"The second floor." Neville said before all three quickly ran up another stairwell.

But when they had just reached the second floor and rushed to the girl's bathroom, they heard quick footsteps behind them.

Ginny gasped "Percy!"

Neville almost squealed before Helena and Ginny pulled him behind a large stone griffin where they hide.

But as the trio were peering around it, they saw it was not Percy, but Snape who crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What is Professor Snape doing here?" Ginny whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

Helena shook her head while she was also confused why Snape was acting so suspicious.

Neville was very scared, more of Snape than of a troll right now. Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor, seeing Snape going up quickly into a stairway leading to the third floor.

"He's heading for the third floor," Helena said.

Then, Ginny sniffed, smelling something in the air, which was a foul stench, which smelled like a mixture of old socks and an unclean toilet. She quickly covered her nose "Eck! What is that awful smell?"

Neville and Helena sniffed too, feeling the stench entering into their nostrils, making them cover their noses too.

Neville coughed "That… smells even worse than my great-uncle's old barn."

And then they heard it – a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet, making the floor tremble.

Neville, turning pale, pointed at the end of the passage to the left, seeing a huge shadow "Helena… Ginny…!"

Helena and Ginny saw it too, knowing it was the troll, making them hide while seeing the massive troll, being 12 feet tall, its skin being dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat horny feet. The smell coming from it was terrible. In its hand it was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

Trembling with fear, Neville quietly said, "I-I-I think the troll has left the dungeon." All he could think of was to run and never look back but stayed frozen.

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind and slouched slowly into the room.

Helena realized where the troll was heading into "Oh no. It's going into the girls' bathroom.

Inside the girl's bathroom, Hermione, with dry tears from her cheeks, exited the toilet she was in nearly all afternoon. Padma hugged her, comforting her.

"You're not without friends here, Hermione." Padma said softly. "You have me, and Helena, Ginny, Parvati and even Neville."

Hermione gave a soft sob while she nods "I know… but what she said… it…" she stated as Pansy's mean words still hurt her deep down.

"Don't ever listen to her, Hermione. Parkinson is wrong." Padma stated, "You are a great a bright witch and I can't have asked for a better friend."

This warmed Hermione's heart.

However, when they smelled the disgusting 'troll stench', they turned, seeing the towering troll staring down at them as it grunts.

Padma and Hermione held each other's hand tight as they stepped back in fear. The troll stepped forward, making Hermione and Padma quickly hide into the toilet and locked the door. But the troll roared and raised its big club, destroying several toilets while Hermione and Padma screamed as they ducked!

Helena, Ginny and Neville rushed into the girl's bathroom, seeing Hermione and Padma nearly unharmed between the rumble of destroyed toilets.

"Hermione! Padma!" Helena called while the troll slammed several sinks off the walls at it advanced on the two Ravenclaws.

"HELP!" Padma and Hermione called.

"We got to distract it!" Helena said desperately to her two best friends and seized a tab, throwing it as hard as she could against the troll but didn't affect it.

All three threw several of the broken wooden pieces of the toilet on the troll but still the troll wasn't bothered by it or even noticed the three children as how stupid it was.

Ginny, grabbing a metal pipe, raised it as she yelled at it, "Hey, pea brain!" and threw it at it, hitting the troll to its head, making it blink as he did feel that one, seeing Helena, Ginny and Helena.

The troll roared in anger and raised its club, ready to hit them. Neville yelled before they moved out of the way just in time before the club hit the ground, destroying it a bit while cracks were formed!

Neville was with its back against the wall in fear while Helena and Ginny kept throwing things at the troll to confuse it long enough for Hermion and Padma to get away.

"Go! Hermione, Padma! Get out!" Ginny called.

Hermione and Padma tried to crawl away, but with the troll in the way, there was no way they could escape the girl's bathroom.

The troll noticed Hermione and Padma down its feet, near a few sinks. It raised its club, making Hermione and Padma scream before moving out of the way in time before the troll hit and destroyed several sinks!

"HELP!" Padma called.

Helena took out her wand and cast a jinx on the troll "Flipendo!" but as it hit the troll, it barely affected it and turned angry at Helena. As it tried to hit Helena with its club, she dodged it in time before Ginny tried to cast a spell too but before she could, the troll kicked her, making her crash against the wall!

"GINNY!" Helena yelled.

Neville gasped in horror.

The troll then grabbed Helena by the leg and held her up, attempting to use its club to beat her to death.

Seeing Helena in danger and Ginny laying hurt on the floor, Neville, instead being very scared, turned very angry at the troll. Without thinking twice, he took out his wand and begged in his mind "Please, let this work! Let this work for once, please!" as the troll raised its club to beat Helena, making her look in fear, Neville, with every willpower he had, cast the first spell that came into his head, "Wingardium… LEVIOSA!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high into the air. The troll looked very confused that he didn't have his club anymore in its hand as how stupid he is. He looked up, seeing its club floating in the air… before it dropped and, with a sickening crack, fell onto its owner's head!

The troll dropped Helena before it fell on his back on a pile of destroyed toilets.

Ginny, who'd seen it, smiled bright as she called to Nevile, "You did it, Neville! You did it!"

Neville looked in shock and disbelief. He first looked at his wand before turning back on the unconscious troll "I… I did it?" a big smile of confidence grew on its face, making him cheer as if he'd just overcame his greatest fears to save his friends "I DID IT! I DEFEATED THE MOUNTAIN TROLL! I DEFEATED THE MOUNTAIN TROLL!"

Helena, feeling happy for Neville, hugged him "I knew you could do it!"

Then, they turned to Hermione and Padma. "Are you alright?" Ginny asked while getting up.

"Yeah," Hermione said before asking worriedly to Ginny, "Are you?"

Ginny shrugs while rubbing her back "Yeah, a bit."

Checking the mountain troll, Padma asked, "Is it… dead?"

Helena shook her head "I don't think so. Just knocked out."

Before Padma and Hermione wanted to hug them for saving their lives, Professor McGonagall came bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, Flitwick and Quirrell as the loud troll's roars and crashing would even have been heard from downstairs. McGonagall was in total shock to see the unconscious troll before looking at Helena, Ginny and Neville with fury. They hadn't seen her look so angry, making them gulp as they were sure they would lose a lot of house points for the mess they'd made.

"Why weren't you all in your dormitories?!" Flitwick demanded, sounding both shocked and very disappointed.

"Explain yourselves, all three of you, now!" McGonagall added with anger in her voice.

Snape gave Helena, Ginny and Neville a piercing glare, making Neville's fear rise as the confidence and bravery after he'd just defeated the troll swiftly faded away, making him put his wand down quickly.

But before the three of them could tell anything, Padma and Hermione went to the teachers, with Padma explaining, "This isn't their fault, Professor McGonagall."

Hermione nodded "They'd just saved our lives."

McGonagall, Quirrell, Flitwick and Snape looked with surprise at them.

"We were here in the toilet and… then the troll came in." Hermione started.

Padma nodded "If it wasn't for Helena and Ginny, especially Neville after defeating the troll by knocking him out using the levitation spell on its club… me and Hermione would've been dead now."

The four teachers exchanged a glance before Snape turned to the trio and asked Neville with a stern tone, "Mr. Longbottom, is this true?"

Frightened, Neville nodded "Y-yes, sir. T-that's right, sir."

Hearing this, Flitwick smiled with excitement "Well, would you believe it? I must say I'm very impressed Mr. Longbottom. Well done!" but then narrowed his eyes at him and Helena and Ginny "But this was also very reckless and foolish to go out while a troll roams the castle. But-" he admitted "you did save Miss Granger and Miss Patil."

McGonagall however, though she was glad that everyone wasn't hurt or killed, she still looked at the trio stern as she spoke, "Be that as it may, I just hope the three of you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first-year students could take on to a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale." McGonagall then told them, "Thus… for saving Miss Granger and Miss Patil's lives… 10 points will be rewarded to each of you."

Helena, Ginny and Neville smiled with relief that instead of being punished and taken points, they were each rewarded with 10 points for their houses.

"And another 5 points for Mr. Longbottom here for your great performance using the Levitation spell!" Professor Flitwick added with a smile, being impressed that Neville managed to fully control the Levitation spell.

McGonagall sighed before telling all the 5 students, "If none of you are hurt at all, you'd better get off to your designated dormitories. Students are finishing the feast at their houses."

They all nodded and began to leave while Quirrell stuttered with a nervousness smile "Y-y-yes! O-o-off you go. B-b-b-before the t-t-troll… w-wakes up."

As Helena bypassed Snape and Quirrell, she suddenly noticed blood coming out of Snape's legs was bloody, clearly showing it was a big bite mark. Snape quickly covered his injured leg with his robe while giving Helena a glare, making Helena look away but then she felt again that hot pain coming from her scar, making her rub her forehead as she walked out with her friends.

After Hermione and Padma thanked Helena, Ginny and especially Neville again after saving them, they left to their designated common rooms.

-:-

While everyone in the Gryffindor common room were enjoying the feast and ate their food, with Ginny telling everyone what had happened and how bravely Neville faced the mountain troll, making Neville feel modest about it, almost everyone in the Gryffindor common room congratulated Neville for what he did.

Neville sure felt a lot more confident and less afraid after tonight.

However, despite enjoying the festivities, Helena was still with her mind on Snape. She sat in a corner while wandering in her mind what he was doing at the third floor and now suddenly had an injured leg.

"Why was Professor Snape going up the third floor?" she asked herself, but when thinking back about that scary three-headed dog and Hermione telling that it was guarding something down there, her eyes went wide "Was he… trying to steal what was in there?" but Helena quickly dismissed it "No. Snape would never do something as that. Or would he?"

-:-

The next day, with November having started, the weather had turned icy cold. the mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake like chilled steel. The ground was covered in frost. Hagrid would be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves and enormous beaver skin boots.

The Hogwarts Quidditch season had begun. Tomorrow, Helena would be playing her first match after weeks of training. Gryffindor would be playing against Slytherin.

"You nervous, Helena?" Neville asked her as they were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, having seen Helena barely ate any of her toast and eggs, thinking that it was maybe the nerves of tomorrow's match that made her feel like this.

Helena however shook her head, as it wasn't the upcoming Quidditch match that bothered her that much.

"Then what is it?" Ginny asks.

"I'm just…" Helena tried to come up with something "having a lot of things on my mind. That's all."

Fred and George, sitting nearby, guessed, "Thinking how to beat Slytherin the fastest, right?" one of them, being Fred, asked.

"Maybe this will help you," George said while handing over a book to Helena.

Helena took it, seeing this book was called: QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES.

"Might help ease the stress," Fred said.

"And learn a lot of interesting things about Quidditch."

"I know we did."

"As we used some tips in it all the time."

Helena nodded a the Weasley twins with a nod while she smiled "Thank you guys."

"You're welcome!" Both said simultaneously.

As the first-year Gryffindors only had double-Potions in the morning on Fridays, Helena decided to read 'Quidditch through the ages' to take her mind off Snape being possibly a thief and him being the one who let the troll into the castle in order to create a distraction. She couldn't be known for sure if one of her favorite teachers, which Snape had become in her eyes ever since he trained her for a month, would steal something that Dumbledore wants to keep safe.

Helena sat in the library, finding it a perfect place to read Fred and George's Quidditch book as sitting outside in the courtyard wasn't such a good idea cause of the cold. She read some rather interesting things about the history of Quidditch, and also that most serious accidents during Quidditch happened to Seekers, which made Helena uncomfortable, but was sure that wouldn't happen to her as how great she'd performed during Quidditch practice.

As she was just about to read about the World Cup match in 1473, Neville and Ginny came up to her.

"Hey, Helena," Neville said while he was shivering a bit before blowing air into his hands "It's really cold outside."

They sat with Helena while Ginny said, "Hope that it won't be too cold tomorrow for your first Quidditch match."

Helena gave a simple nod while still looking into the book.

Getting a bit impatient, Ginny snatched the book out of Helena's hands.

"What?" Helena asked surprised.

"Just tell us what's going, Helena." Ginny demanded "You have been acting like this ever since the troll last night."

Neville gave a small nod "Yeah. I know that troll was scary and all but we beat it, right?"

Helena sighed, seeing it was pointless to ignore what's bothering her and started to tell Ginny, "It's what I saw about Snape."

"About what?"

"You did notice he's limping?"

Ginny and Neville both nodded "Yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?"

Helena shook her head, wishing not to believe it but decided to tell them anyway. "I don't know if this is true, but… I think that last night Snape let the troll in as a diversion so he could get passed that three-headed dog, but he got himself bitten. That's why he's limping. I know that because… I saw the blood and the big bite mark on his leg when we started getting back to the common room."

Ginny and Neville both exchanged a surprise glance. "But why would anyone go near that dog?"

"I've been thinking about this all night and then something slipped my mind." Helena revealed "The day I was at Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults. He said it was Hogwarts business. Very secret."

"So, you're saying…" Neville said.

"I think that's what that dog's guarding." Helena said.

Ginny began to think, seeing it would explain why they saw Snape sneaking up to the third floor without the other teachers noticing and why he's limping today as he probably got himself bitten by that three-headed dog "That makes… so much sense."

But then Helena shook her head, refusing to believe it "No… it just can't be true. It can't be." And took the Quidditch book back and began to read it again.

"But, Helena," Neville finally said "If Snape really is trying to steal that thing the three-headed dog is guarding, and he released that troll…" he began to shiver, not because of the cold, but scared of Snape "…It would make a lot of sense and why he's so mean."

Helena again shook her head and looked back at him. "Look, Neville, I know not all teachers are saints. But Professor Snape… he just doesn't seem that all bad. Sure, he is stern and very strict… but he just doesn't seem to be a bad person. It just can't be true. If he was… he would never give me any credit for my performances in Potions class and would make my life at Hogwarts miserable."

Ginny shrugs "He already does, Helena. He makes EVERY student's lives in Hogwarts miserable. Except for the Slytherins as he's favoriting them above all houses."

Helena closed the book and rose up, not wanting to talk about it again "I know that, Ginny. But he just can't be!" she almost yelled, making Madam Irma Pince give her a stern look for raising her voice in the library.

Helena gave Madam Pince a simple nod, letting her know she's already leaving.

Ginny and Neville went after her.

That night, Helena went to bed with her head buzzing with the same question. Though tired of the last minute Quidditch practices Wood made his team to do, she still tried to make sense of why Snape was heading up the third floor on Halloween night and why he truly was bitten by the three-headed dog. But every time Helena tried to come up with what reason Snape had, nothing came to mind.

-:-

The next morning at eleven o'clock, the whole school was out to the Quidditch field sitting at the pitch. Many students had binoculars as sometimes it was difficult to see what was going on. Seamus and Dean, sitting at the section where most of Gryffindor house was at, raised up a large banner painted with yellow-gold and red and had two lions on it with one roaring out: GO GRYFFINDOR!

At the other side of the pitch were all the Slytherins, with some holding up banners painted in green and silver.

Students from the other two houses, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were sitting closer to the Gryffindors as they preferred to cheer on for them as Slytherin has been known for cheating most of the time and had won the Quidditch cup almost all the time, except for 5 years ago when Charles (Ginny's second oldest brother) was seeker and Gryffindor won the cup. Hermione and Padma sat with Ginny and Neville with the other Gryffindors together with Hagrid as all cheered for Gryffindor and for Helena.

Meanwhile, in the locker room, Helena and the rest of the team were changing into their scarlet Quidditch robes. Helena had tied her hair into a ponytail.

"Hey, Helena," Fred said as he offered two small bottles of yellow-gold and scarlet paint "Want some on your face? It will make you look cool."

But Helena politely declined, "Thanks, but I'm okay."

Fred gave a shrug while George, who put a trace of scarlet paint on his cheeks, said, "Suit yourself."

When everyone was ready, Wood cleared his throat for silence. "Okay, men and women, this is it."

"The big one," Fred said.

"The one we've all been waiting for," George added.

"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred told Helena, "We were on this team last year."

"Shut up, you two," Wood said before resuming his speech "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it."

Alicia Spinnet rolled her eyes. "That's what you said last year, Wood."

Wood gave her and the team a glare, like he was very serious and said, "Last year is in the past! We're a new team now. And with Potter in our team-"

"Youngest Seeker of the century." George said with a grin.

Wood continued, ignoring George's comment. "I know we can win."

"And she has the fastest broom so far," Fred said before giving a gentle elbow to Helena. "Don't worry. With your new broom, you'll catch that Golden Snitch before Terrence Higgs can."

Terrence Higgs is Slytherin's Seeker. Helena had seen him a few times at school. He's a few years older than her and was in his third year. And though he is part of Slytherin's Quidditch team, he wasn't that bad like the others and is known for being a good sport and chooses to play fairly by the rules.

Helena gave Fred a nod "Thanks. I'll do my best."

Seeing the time at the clock, Wood nodded. "Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you." and collected his broomstick, being a Shooting Star, with the others being the same type. Except Helena's Nimbus 2000.

As they walked down the hallway, stopping before the closed door leading to the field, Helena sighed deep as she felt nervous.

"Scared, Helena?" Oliver Wood asked her.

Helena gave a nod. "A little."

Wood ensured her, "That's alright. I felt the same way before my first game."

"What happened?" Helena wandered.

For Wood, that memory of his first game was a bit fuzzy and told, "I, uh… I don't really remember. I took a bludger to the head 2 minutes in. Woke up in the hospital a week later."

Hearing that made Helena gulp.

Alicia Bell ensured her, "Nah, don't worry. You'll be fine."

As the door opened, loud cheers were heard from people sitting at the pitch. The whole team climbed on their broomsticks and flew off in the air, followed by Slytherin team.

Helena was astounded by the amount of cheers and enthusiasm as she flew over the field, even seeing the amounts of cheers she received from her entire Gryffindor house and even from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, which made Helena feel better and not that nervous anymore.

A Gryffindor student named Lee Jordan, served as the game's commentor and began to speak in a magical microphone "HELLO, AND WELCOME TO HOGWARTS' FIRST QUIDDITCH TEAM OF THE SEASON. TODAY'S GAME- SLYTHERIN VERSUS GRYFFINDOR!"

From both Gryffindor and Slytherin was heard a loud cheer.

After flying around for a short time, every team player took their positions in a circle around the middle of the field. Helena stood a bit higher than the rest, seeing Slytherin Seeker, Terrence Higgs.

Higgs gave a small nod to Helena, like wishing her 'good luck', which Helena appreciated. Both then looked down, spotting Madam Hooch, serving as the referee, stood in the middle of the field.

"THE PLAYERS TAKE THEIR POSITIONS AS MADAME HOOCH STEPS OUT ONTO THE FIELD TO BEGIN THE GAME." Jordan spoke before he 'accidentally' said, "AND ANGELINA JOHNSON IS ON THE FIELD TOO. LOOKING FAR PRETIER THAN-"

Jordan's words were cut off by McGonagall "JORDAN!"

"OW! Sorry, professor!"

Students at the pitch began to laugh as it wasn't a secret that Lee Jordan has a secret crush on one of Gryffindor's Chasers.

Angelina blushed deeply out of embarrassment.

Madam Hooch then spoke with a serious tone "Now I want a nice clean game…" she then glared at Slytherin team, particularly to the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, a sixth year "From all of you!"

Madam Hooch then kicked the box next to her open, releasing the 2 bludgers and also the Golden Snitch.

Helena immediately tried to keep her eyes on the Snitch, but quickly flew out of sight. Even Terrence Higgs lost sight of it.

Madam Hooch then flew up on her own broom, holding the Quaffle.

Not long after… Madam Hooch tossed the Quaffle in the air…

"THE QUAFFLE IS RELEASED…"

Madam Hooch then blew her silver whistle as the Quaffle began to fall.

"… AND THE GAME BEGINS!"

Angelina Johnson was the first to catch the Quaffle. The other three Slytherin Chasers tried to catch her, but she avoided them with ease! Then, Angelina passed the Quaffle to Alicia Spinnet who flew fast before she was being pushed by one Slytherin Chaser named Graham Mortague. She was just about to toss the Quaffle back to Angilina, but it was caught by Flint, flying fast like an eagle, with the Gryffindor Chasers unable to catch him, but then Fred tried when smacking a bludger to him, but missed! When Flint tossed the Quaffle to the goal, Wood kicked the Quaffle away in the nick of time, with Angelina catching it quickly!

"WOW! WONDERFUL SAFE FROM GRYFFINDOR'S CAPTAIN AND KEEPER, OLIVER WOOD!" Lee Jordan called with cheer "JOHNSON STILL HAS THE QUAFFLE… PASSES IT TO KATIE BELL… OW! SHE GOT HIT ON THE BACK BY A BLUDGER AT THE BACK! THAT'S GOTTA HURT. BUT… WAIT! JOHNSON GOT IT BEFORE FLINT COULD GET TO IT! JOHNSON IS CHASED BY FLINT AND ADRIAN PUCEY… DODGES MOTAGUE AND… KEEPER MISSES IT…!"

DING!

"GRYFFINDOR SCOOOORES!" Jordan cheers loudly into the microphone "10 POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!"

All of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw cheered.

Helena clapped and gave Angelina a high-five "Great job, Angelina!"

"Thanks," she said but reminded her "But don't look at us. Look for the Snitch, Helena!"

Reminding herself that she also had her part to play, Helena nodded "Oh… Right!" and flew off, trying to find the Snitch, seeing that even Terrance Higgs was seriously looking around for the Golden Snitch.

Helena tried as hard as possible not to get too much distracted, but because it was too fun to watch, she couldn't help but to take a small peek, seeing Wood saving another goal, tossing it to Katie Bell and worked together with Angelina Johnson to keep tossing it back and forth to avoid the Slytherin Chasers or a few bludgers before tossing it back to Angelina… and scores again!

"ANOTHER 10 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" Jordan called. Gryffindor was now 20-0.

Slytherin house was getting very annoyed that their team again missed a goal. With the team getting frustrated, Motague had the Quaffle and flew with speed before kicking Alicia Bell off her broom!

Madam Hooch blew her whistle "Fool play!"

Slytherin house was booing.

Annoyed Motague gave the Quaffle to Angelina who tossed it to Alicia, but Slytherin Captain caught it while a bludger was hit to Angelina to her shoulder!

Flint flew fast to the Gryffindor rings, tossed it, but again Wood caught it flawlessly and tossed it back over to Alicia Spinnet.

Frustrated, the cheating Slytherin captain grabbed his team Beater's club "Give me that!" beat a bludger right to Wood, who hit it to the chest, causing Wood to fall down nearly unconscious!

Most of the crowd roared with anger that Flint had cheated, but Madam Hooch hadn't seen it a continued the game, which made the other houses to boo while Slytherin laughed and cheered.

Helena frowned what had happened as Marcus Flint got away with it.

Without Wood guarding the goal rings, Slytherin had a better time and in less than a minute was able to score 3 goals, bringing the match to 20-30.

As Helena looked how her teammates were playing, she suddenly spots a tiny golden fly. She gasped as it was the Golden Snitch! With speed, she headed to it, dodging a bludger just in time before it would hit her head, keeping her eye on the tiny golden thing with wings.

But as she got closer to the Snitch… her Nimbus 2000 suddenly was losing control, moving fastly right, left, up and down like it wanted to push Helena off her broom.

Everyone was seeing what was happening to Helena, making everyone (except the Slytherins) worried.

"What's goin on with Helena's broomstick?" Hagrid asked.

Ginny and Neville were extremely worried for their friend. But seeing how Helena's broomstick had a will on its own, Neville suddenly remembered it happened the same way during their first flying lesson "Ginny! Helena's broom is moving like… just what happened to me when we had our first Flying classes!"

Ginny gasped "Oh my gosh, Neville. You're right."

While Hermione was using her binoculars to watch why Helena's broom was losing control, Padma said worriedly to her sister Parvati "Oh, Helena."

Ginny quickly asked Hermione for her binoculars, "Please, can I borrow that?" Hermione nodded and handed over her binoculars to her.

As Ginny used it to see what was maybe causing Helena's Nimbus to move around on its own, she then spotted Snape in the middle of one of the tower-stands opposite of them. He had his eyes fixed on Helena and was muttering nonstop under his breath.

Ginny realized what was going on and told Neville, "It's Snape! He's jinxing the broom!"

Neville grabbed the binoculars, seeing to her confirmation that Snape was indeed muttering nonstop under his breath while keeping his eyes on Helena.

Hermione and Padma had heard it, shocking them. "What? He's jinxing the broom? But why?"

Afraid, Nevilla asked Ginny "What should we do?"

Ginny, with her face turning red with anger as the Potions teacher dared to hurt their friend, told Neville determined "Leave it to me."

Before Neville could say another word, Ginny had disappeared. Neville gave the binoculars back to Helena, and also saw Snape clearly jinxing Helena's Nimbus.

The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as the Weasly twins flew to Helena and tried to pull Helena safely on their brooms, but it was no good as every time they got near her, Helena's Nimbus jump higher and rolling.

"Hang on, Helena!" Fred called.

Helena desperately tried hang on, doing everything she could to gain back control, but it was to no use.

Ginny fought her way across the crowd and climbed quickly up the tower-stand to get where Snape was.

Helena meanwhile suddenly was pushed so hard by her broom she nearly fell but grabbed her broom with her hands, hanging in the air while the broom still tried to push Helena off.

The whole crowd gasped with horror while some Slytherin laughed, with Pansy even calling "Let go, Potter! Maybe you'll fall better than Longbottom did? Hahahaha!"

"Come on, Ginny," Neville muttered desperately.

As she finally got behind the stand where Snape was, Ginny pulled her wand. She knew what spell to use. Though she'd promised her mother only to light up a campfire or fireplace, never to use it on people or anything else, she knew she had no choice as she had to use it to safe her best friend. She whispered as she aimed her wand at Snape's feet, "Lacarnum Inflamarae." And a bright blue flame shot from her wand onto the bottom of Snape's robes.

It took 10 seconds for someone sitting on his left to realize what was happening "Fire! Severus you're on fire!"

"What?" Snape looked down before he yelped and shoved someone away from him, causing him to hit Professor Quirrel who fall far back as Snape stamped on his burning robe.

While Snape was putting down the little fire, Helena's broom stopped swingen, laying motionless in the air. Helena climbed back on it and flew off while the crowd cheered that Helena was alright.

Helena immediately spotted Slytherin Seeker chasing after the Golden Snitch and pursuits.

As her Nimbus 2000 was faster than Terrence Higgs' Fallen Star, she pushed the other Seeker, causing him to push her back while both kept pursuing the Snitch.

Both dived down quickly, very fast. But as Higgs got scared, he quickly pulled up, except for Helena and… pulled up just in time, being only a few feet above the ground! She had her eyes on the Snitch, reaching out, ready to catch it.

But the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, angry and determined to win the game no matter what, dropped the Quaffle and went after Helena.

Just as Helena was this close to catch the Snitch… the cheating Flint kicked Helena's broom, causing her to fall over and hit the ground!

A roar of disapproval and shouting came from the crowd.

But, Helena seemed to be unharmed and tried to get up as she coughed. She felt she was about to be sick and held her hand on her mouth, like she was about to vomit.

Hagrid, using his binoculars, noticed it and said, "Looks like she's gonna be sick."

And then, Helena spewed something out of her mouth… grabbing it… To her complete surprise, she saw it was the Golden Snitch, having possible nearly swallowed it when hitting the ground.

"SHE'S GOT THE SNITCH!" Lee Jordan shouted on the microphone "HELENA POTTER CAUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH!"

Seeing that she hadn't broken any rules, Madam Hooch blew her silver whistle, shouting as the scoreboard said: Slytherin 60 – Gryffindor 170.

"Gryffindor wins!"

The whole crowd cheered loudly!

"She did it…!" Neville said after seeing what happened, making him cheer loudly too "SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT!"

The realization for Helena began to sink in, making her smile bright and raised the Snitch in her hand in the air, with the whole Gryffindor clapping and cheering for Helena for winning the game for them, while Team Slytherin cursed and complained to Madam Hooch that Potter didn't caught the Snitch, but the referee said that catching the snitch doesn't necessarily mean 'grabbing it' so it was allowed, much to the Slytherin's disapproval.

Gryffindor team all got off their brooms and ran to Helena, raising her up in the air while all the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students cheered Helena's name.

-:-

Later, in the hospital wing, most of the team were there for their team captain. Luckily, Wood didn't sustain any serious injuries, only suffers a mild concussion. As Madam Pomfrey gave Wood a potion in which would heal his concussion fast, the team captain gave Helena a thumps up, being proud of her winning the game for them, "Great work, Potter… I knew you could do it."

Helena chuckles as the feeling of winning the game still exited her, but was thankful that Wood wasn't badly injured.

After drinking the awful tasting potion, Wood felt immediately better and thanked Madam Pomfrey.

"No problem, Wood," Madam Pomfrey ensured. "Now off you go, unless anyone else has any serious injuries, you can leave."

The whole Gryffindor team began to leave the hospital wing, with Fred, George, Alicia and Angelina still cheering for Helena.

Wood then told his team as they walked down the stairs to the common room, "Great work everyone, especially you Potter. Now rest and soon, we'll be practicing hard for our next play in a few months against Hufflepuff."

As soon as they entered the common room, the entire Gryffindor house cheered for their team, especially for Helena who didn't just caught the Golden Snitch but had also almost swallowed it, which made some laugh.

But as soon as she found Ginny and Neville, her excitement of winning the Quidditch game fell as her two best friends revealed to her what had caused Helena's Nimbus to run amok.

-:-

The next day, walking with Hagrid across the mostly empty schoolyard, Hermione, Ginny and Neville told Hagrid what they'd seen happening and that Snape was the one who cast a curse on her broom. Helena hated to admit it, though she still was in denial that Snape would do something like that.

"Nonsense!" Hagrid shouted, not believing what he hard from them. "Why would Snape put a curse on Helena's broom?"

"I don't know, Hagrid…" Helena said.

Ginny however said, "Well, who knows?! Why else was Snape trying to get through that three-headed dog on Halloween?"

That made Hagrid to stop and turn a surprise look at the four children "Hang on… Who told you about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?!"

"That… three-headed monster's name is… Fluffy?" Neville said nervously, but though it was also weird that someone would name a big dog with three heads 'Fluffy.'

"You mean that monster is yours, Hagrid?!" Hermione asked.

Hagrid shrugs "Well, of course he's mine. Bought 'em off an Irish fella I met at the pub last year. Her guards for Dumbledore the…" but he quickly shot his words, not wanting to reveal what his three-headed dog Fluffy was guarding at the third floor corridor.

"Well?" Ginny asked "What does he guard there?"

"Shouldn't have said that," Hagrid shook his head, not willing to share this secret with them "No more questions! Don't ask anymore questions! That's top secret that is."

Ginny tried to insist "But, Hagrid, whatever Fluffy's guarding, Snape's trying to steal it."

Helena shook her head heavily "But it just can't, Ginny! Why would he and try to steal 'thing' that Fluffy's guarding and hurt me? It doesn't make any sense!"

Hagrid nodded as they stopped and turned to them "Yer darn right it doesn't make any sense. And yer right, as Professor Snape is a Hogwarts teacher. Not er finest, but a loyal teacher that is."

Hermione then added "Hogwarts teacher or not, I know a jinx when I see one. In order for a cruse to keep working, you've got to keep eye contact and I saw that Snape wasn't blinking."

Helena had the eager to shout at them and tell them to stop suspecting Professor Snape, but she held herself in.

Neville, seeing how frustrated Helena is, tried telling in a calm way, "I know Professor Snape is your favorite teacher, Helena. But still… whatever Snape is up to, it's very suspicious."

Helena nodded but told with a frown on her face, "Suspicious or not, I just… feel that it's not in his character."

Hagrid nodded "Yer all should listen to Helena and listen close, all four of ya, you're meddling in things that ought not to be meddled in. That's dangerous. And, look, whatever Fluffy is guarding is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

Hearing that name made Helena, Ginny, Neville and Hermione raise an eyebrow "Nicholas Flamel?" Helena asked "Who is he?"

Hagrid gasped, cursing himself for mentioning that name "I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that. I shouldn't have said that." and began to leave, heading back to his little home.

"Nicholas Flamel…" Neville thought before he shrugs. "I never heard of him." he turned to Ginny, who shook her head, same to Hermione. Despite she was the smartest first-year witch, she too had no idea who Nicholas Flamel is.

Helena began to think about this. If she was sure that Snape wasn't a thief, but still was trying to jinx her broom… No. She tried hard to push away that thought of Snape probably only using Helena's trust so no one would suspect him. Helena was so confused about this.

Why was Snape really at the forbidden corridor at the third floor? What was that thing that Fluffy the three-headed dog was guarding? But more importantly, who is Nicholas Flamel and what is his role in all of this?

Only more questions and no answers for her and her friends.

A/N: My deepest apologies for you all waiting so long for the new chapter. But don't worry, as for the time being, I'm going to only focus on this story and possibly finishing it before continuing with the rest.