Chapter Twelve
Robin stared silently as his target finished his breakfast and made his way from the head table and towards the doors of the Great Hall; from the moment the Titans had entered Hogwarts, Robin had immediately thought that something was off about Professor Quirrell, though Robin couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was that made him suspicious of the Defense teacher.
Honestly, the fact that the stuttering man was kept as the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher at all was laughable to Robin; the man seemed terrified of everything, including his own subject and he was responsible for preparing the students for whatever dangers they might face in the wide world? If the fact weren't so terrifying, Robin would have found it hilarious; but the reality was that the students needed someone more qualified if they were to have any chance of actually surviving should the day come when they found themselves in actual combat against the dark that this world held.
Robin's suspicions were intensified when after silently stalking Quirrell one night, Robin saw him try and enter the 'forbidden' third-floor corridor that Dumbledore had explicitly told both staff and student body alike to keep away from. As Robin watched, Quirrell looked around to make sure that he was alone before drawing his wand and aiming it at the door, but before Quirrell could do anything, Filch suddenly showed up and Quirrell had quickly holstered his wand and stuttered out that he had gotten lost on the way to his room, and quickly made his escape from the old caretaker, with Robin following close behind, careful to stick to the shadows to avoid detection.
Once Quirrell made it back to his room, he immediately slammed the door shut and locked it ensuring that Robin could not follow him in; as he pressed his ear to the door, Robin was almost certain that he heard Quirrell talking to someone, but a moment later all sound ended (no doubt from a silencing charm to avoid unwanted listeners) and Robin carefully made his way back to his room, realizing that no more was to be done that night.
Since then, Robin had made sure to know where Quirrell was at all times, and when Robin wasn't teaching his classes, he was tailing the Defense teacher; the class Robin had been assigned to teach had almost made the Titan bang his head against the wall at how out of date the students were on the Muggle world. They still believed that the Dirigible was the most advanced piece of Muggle air travel, for Pete's sake! It had taken Robin almost a month to rectify all the damage that the previous Muggle Studies teacher had done to the students of Hogwarts, but after a long-drawn-out process, (as well as several letters to Alfred to send as many history books as he could) Robin finally managed to bring the students up to date on what they needed to know about how far Muggles had come in the last few centuries. The class had been particularly horrified when Robin had told them the events of World War Two; originally, the class had only known that World War Two was the Muggle equivalent of "Grindelwald's War," but only thirty thousand had died in Grindelwald's attempt to seize power, and when Robin told the students that over fifty million had died in the Muggle war, the class had been horrified and some had even called Robin a liar until he showed them proof, which left them shocked into silence.
After a month at Hogwarts, Robin had fallen into a comfortable routine that allowed him to correct the mistakes of his predecessor and ACTUALLY teach the students correctly, while at the same time, allowing Robin to study his fellow professors without them noticing. Robin knew how much Harry had wanted to come to Hogwarts; since Raven had told the kid about his parents and how much they had loved Hogwarts, it was all Harry talked about. But Robin also knew that Headmaster Dumbledore had an agenda, where Harry was concerned and Robin was determined to discover what it was because he viewed Harry as a surrogate little brother and he would be damned if he allowed the boy to become a pawn in Dumbledore's manipulations.
When Raven had told the other Titans that Professor Snape had tried to illegally read Harry's mind, Robin had been the only voice of reason as his fellow teammates had wanted to tear the potions professor limb from limb. Beastboy had been especially vocal about showing Snape how much practice Beastboy had at turning into magical animals, (having hinted that it would be interesting to see how deep a unicorn horn could go into Snape's anal cavity) but Harry had managed to convince the others (with the help of Robin) that to do so would only land the Titans in trouble and most likely give Dumbledore the leverage he needed to take Harry away from Raven altogether.
The Titans had agreed to leave Snape alone, but Robin had made it his mission to find out everything he could about the Potions Master and figure out why he hated Harry so much, yet another mystery added to Robin's growing list that needed solving.
Most (if not all) of the Hogwarts staff seemed to be deep in Dumbledore's corner, and after a month of careful study and some light stalking, Robin had managed to mostly figure out which of the Professors would be a problem should the day come when the Titans needed to get Harry away from Hogwarts and especially from the old Headmaster that ran it. McGonagall was loyal to Dumbledore, which was not surprising of course, but that loyalty seemed to be slipping more towards Harry and Raven as far as Robin could see, and hopefully, if the time came, she would make the right choice.
As Robin quickly rose to follow Quirrell, he grimaced as he realized that he had homework to grade and as such would be unable to follow the Defense Professor as he had planned; with a sigh of annoyance, Robin made his way to his classroom to get a jump of grading before class started. After some help from Jinx and Cyborg, Robin had managed to figure out how to get a television to work at Hogwarts and was looking forward to his student's reaction as they watched a history documentary on airplanes.
As he exited the Great Hall, Robin cast one final look at Quirrell's back, before turning the other way and making his way toward his classroom.
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Dumbledore sighed with annoyance as he sucked on a sherbet lemon; usually, the Muggle treat never failed to ameliorate his mood when he was having a bad day but unfortunately, today was not one of those days.
It had been a month since the confrontation between Professor Snape and Harry Potter, and in that time Dumbledore had had one headache after another without reprieve; a few days after Snape's 'mind attack,' owls had swarmed Hogwarts, carrying missives and howlers from concerned parents demanding to know if what their children had told them was true, and if so, what was Dumbledore planning to do to punish the Potions Master.
Dumbledore had been forced to use a great deal of the favors owed to him from years of political maneuvering to keep Snape from being arrested after Amelia Bones had come to Hogwarts to investigate the claims that had reached her office; but all the same, Dumbledore had been forced to 'punish' the Potions Master if only for appearance's sake.
Dumbledore couldn't very well fire his spy, not when he still needed Snape when Voldemort would eventually return, so with no other alternatives, Dumbledore had been forced to suspend Professor Snape until the start of the new term; Severus had been livid when Dumbledore had told him and looked ready to murder Harry Potter, who he held personally responsible for his suspension. It was only after Dumbledore explained that Snape now had the Department of Magical Law Enforcement watching him VERY closely that Snape relented his vow to "Kill that spoiled brat," and accept the punishment that Dumbledore had given him, before storming from the headmaster's office to collect his things and leave Hogwarts to begin his suspension.
That had been three days ago, now and Dumbledore had thought that that would be the end of the interminable stress that seemed to have befallen him, but unfortunately, he was not that lucky, or perhaps his years of bad karma were simply finally catching up to him.
After a month of careful investigation, Alastor Moody had finally written to Dumbledore concerning his findings about Raven Potter; whatever Alastor had discovered had scared the aged Auror beyond anything that he had experienced before, which immediately made alarms go off for Dumbledore, for he had never known Alastor Moody to be afraid of anything. Despite Dumbledore's persistent requests for information, all Alastor would say is that if Dumbledore valued his life and sanity, he would leave the girl alone, and if Dumbledore ignored his advice, then Alastor would be sure to bring fresh flowers when he attended Dumbledore's funeral.
Dumbledore had attempted to find out more about Raven on his own, but all attempts had stagnated as it seemed that all information regarding the girl from before she was adopted by the Potters was nonexistent, no matter how hard Dumbledore looked.
The only information that Dumbledore could discover was that Raven was considered a hero around the world, just like the rest of the Titans, and that she and the rest of the Titans had 'supposedly' saved the world four years prior when a demon named Trigon had attempted to force his way through to this world and conquer it; Dumbledore had paled at that as demons were designated a class six X magical monster and the penalty for summoning one was immediate death without exception. If the Titans had managed to defeat one then they were especially powerful, making the situation much more complicated and the need to handle it delicately even more necessary.
With another annoyed sigh, Dumbledore picked up his quill again and tried to think of who he might offer the position of Potions Professor to until the next term began and Snape would return; there was only one logical choice and Dumbledore groaned as he thought of what he would have to offer to entice the aged Potions Master to return to Hogwarts.
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Harry listened happily as Ron told him everything about his favorite Quidditch team, 'the Chudley Cannons'; it had been a few weeks since Harry had somehow managed to be placed on the Gryffindor house team after humiliating Malfoy during their first flying lesson.
Harry, at first had been confused as to why he had to learn to fly on a broom when he could already fly without one, but Raven had managed to convince Harry that just because he could fly without a broom shouldn't stop him from learning all the same.
During the flying lesson, Neville's broom had decided it wanted to pretend to be a mechanical bull and thrown the poor boy off, resulting in a broken wrist and Madam Hooch had quickly taken the boy to the Hospital Wing, leaving the students alone with explicit instructions to stay on the ground.
Naturally, it had only taken thirty seconds for Draco Malfoy to defy her and begin mocking Neville, even going so far as to scoop up the poor boy's Remembrall and threaten to throw it into a tree.
Harry, taking exception to this, had promptly grabbed his broom and flown up to meet Draco in the air, resulting in the little racist hurling Neville's Remembrall as hard as he could; Harry had been forced to make a breakneck dive in order to catch it in time before it shattered.
As Harry enjoyed the cheers from his fellow classmen, Professor McGonagall had suddenly up and demanded Harry follow her; Harry had assumed that he was being taken to Dumbledore where he would be expelled for defying Madam Hooch's order to not fly, but was instead pleasantly surprised when he was instead taken to a boy named Wood and told that he would be the new seeker for Gryffindor's Quidditch team.
Thankful that he was not being punished, Harry had immediately sought out Ron and asked "What in the hell was Quidditch, and more importantly WHAT is a seeker?"
This resulted in a crash course in the sport and after reading everything he could about it, Harry found himself looking forward to playing; this was made even more prominent when Raven found out that Harry had been put on the team and had told him tearfully that their dad would be proud of him as James Potter had also been on the Gryffindor quidditch team. As a reward for making the team in his first year, Raven had used Hedwig to place a special order and Harry soon found himself the owner of a brand new Nimbus 2000 broomstick; Ron had been gobsmacked when Harry let him have the first ride on it and Harry was sure he had made a forever friend by doing so.
The rest of the Titans also congratulated him and were also looking forward to seeing Harry play and Harry found himself torn between being excited about his first game and scared that he would let everyone down; once he began practicing with the rest of the Gryffindor team, he realized just how much work it took to fly with a broomstick and yet Harry found himself loving it just as much as flying without one.
Another strange thing that happened in the month since Harry had gotten Snape suspended was how many people stopped to thank Harry for a job well done, all except for Slytherin house, that is. The house of the snakes seemed to glare at Harry whenever they saw him and on more than one occasion, Harry's tentacles narrowly managed to save him when a curse or hex was thrown his way by persons unseen, which only made Harry sneer at the cowards who, in his opinion, didn't dare to attack him openly.
As Halloween rolled around, Harry found himself sitting in Charms looking forward to the first major feast of Hogwarts and eagerly imagined all the food and sweets that awaited him that evening when he noticed Ron and Hermione arguing with each other a few rows down from him.
The two had seemed to get along fairly well so long as Harry was around, but when they were alone it seemed they fought like cats and dogs, much to Harry's annoyance and today seemed like no exception.
From what Harry could see, Hermione was trying to help Ron levitate his feather, and Ron was annoyed by his lack of progress; with almost effortless ease, Hermione managed to make her feather rise a good four feet off of the desk while Ron watched with a dark expression on his face.
When class ended and the Gryffindors were heading to their next class, Ron angrily castigated Hermione as a 'know it all,' unfortunately, none of them saw how close Hermione was and before Harry could tell Ron off for his cruel comments, Hermione had heard him and pushed past the group with tears running down her face.
Harry had angrily scolded Ron, who looked suitably abashed, and demanded he go and apologize to her immediately, which Ron agreed to do when he saw her next; but to everyone's surprise, Hermione didn't show up for their next class, in fact, she was not seen again for the remainder of the day.
When the Gryffindors appeared in the Great Hall for dinner and there was STILL no sign of Hermione, Harry began to grow alarmed, and when Neville let slip that he had heard that Hermione was crying in the girl's bathroom, Harry had stared pointedly at Ron who looked ashamed of himself.
Moments later, Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Hall screaming about a troll in the dungeon, causing panic to immediately spread and the students to try and make a run for it, it had taken several loud bangs from Dumbledore's wand to restore order and he had immediately ordered all students back to their common rooms, while the teachers dealt with the troll.
As the students made their way to the Gryffindor common room, an alarming thought suddenly struck Harry and he grabbed Ron's arm, causing the boy to turn to him in bemusement,
"What?"
"Hermione!" Harry cried in alarm, "She doesn't know about the troll!"
"Oh no…." Ron whispered as the blood raced from his face,
"Come on!" Harry hissed as he turned and raced back down the hall to where the girl's bathroom lay.
"Can you smell something?"
Harry sniffed, and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.
And then they heard it - a low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed - at the end of a passage to the left, something immense was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.
It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a 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 incredible. It was holding a massive wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.
"The keys in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."
"Good idea," said Ron nervously.
They edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. Then, with one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.
"Yes!"
Flushed with their victory, they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner, they heard something that made their hearts stop - a high, petrified scream - and it was coming from the chamber they'd just chained up.
"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.
"It's the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.
"Hermione!" they said together.
Wheeling around, they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic. Harry pulled the door open, and they ran inside.
Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.
"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, throwing a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.
"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move; she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" Harry snarled as he unleashed his tentacles on the troll which began to batter it repeatedly from all angles, making the troll roar in rage; a moment later, the door to the girl's bathroom ripped open to reveal Raven who quickly took in what was happening and turned her attention onto the troll before her.
"Azarath Metrion Zynthos!" Raven shouted as she pointed her hands at the enraged troll, immediately a wave of black washed over the troll, which then proceeded to lift the beast up and slam it onto the ground repeatedly until the troll's roars finally fell silent and Raven pulled the black wave away to reveal an unconscious and bloody troll that didn't look nearly as scary as it had moments ago.
Before Harry could express his gratitude to Raven for saving them, she rounded on him with a look of fury on her face which made Harry suddenly very nervous,
"What the hell are you doing here!" Raven demanded, "You're supposed to be in your common room! If I hadn't used my powers to track down the troll, you could have been killed!"
"I…. I…." Harry stuttered, trying to make his brain formulate words; before Raven could begin another angry tirade a sudden slamming, and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn't realized what racket they had been making, but someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Flitwick, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.
Flitwick bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from Harry's mind.
"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"
"That's PRECISELY what I want to know as well!" Raven added angrily as she glared at Harry, who suddenly felt as though he had lost his ability to speak; then a small voice came out of the shadows.
"Please, Professor McGonagall - they were looking for me."
"Miss Granger!" McGonagall replied in shock,
Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.
"I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know because I've read all about them."
"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."
"What happened to it?" Flitwick asked as he gazed down at the bloody body of the troll,
"That would be me, Professor," Raven replied quickly, "I saw that the troll was about to finish off my brother and his friends, so I took the initiative."
"Very impressive, Ms. Potter," Flitwick replied warmly as Professor McGonagall seemed to finally regain her ability to speak and turned back to the three Gryffindors who were looking at their feet.
"Well - in that case... " said Professor McGonagall, desperately trying to regain her composure as she stared at the three of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"
Hermione hung her head. Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and she was pretending she had to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.
"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. But, if you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."
Hermione left.
Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron.
"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. So, you each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."
As Harry and Ron left the bathroom, Raven followed them out,
"Mr. Weasley, kindly return to Gryffindor common room, I wish to speak to my brother alone for a moment."
As Ron nodded and hurried away, Raven rounded on Harry with a dark expression on her face,
"Now, what REALLY happened?"
Too afraid of his sister's fury to even attempt to lie, Harry quickly told her what had transpired that day and how he and Ron had come to be in the girl's bathroom confronting a troll; by the time he was done, Raven had her eyes closed and was pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"So let me get this straight," Raven said slowly, "Instead of telling your prefect or a teacher, you decided to do it yourself and almost got two other students seriously hurt in the process."
"I had it under control!" Harry defended, "The troll had nothing on Cinderblock, and I've beaten him countless times!"
"That's not the point!" Raven countered, "You're not a hero, here! You're a student and while you may have superpowers, the other children do not! What would you have done had one of them been killed due to your carelessness?"
"If I hadn't acted, Hermione WOULD have been killed!" Harry retorted, "Should I have left her to try and save herself!?"
"Dammit Harry, that's not what I'm saying!" Raven exclaimed in exasperation, "I know that you're a hero and I'm proud that you went to save a friend, but you could have been killed! I've already lost our parents; I can't lose you too!"
Harry was shocked into silence at that as he saw tears slide down Raven's cheeks; without a word, Harry lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Raven's waist, trying desperately not to cry himself.
"I'm sorry, Raven," Harry said softly as he felt her wrap her arms around him, "I wasn't thinking, I promise I won't do something like this again."
Raven tightened her hold around her brother for a moment more before she released him and got down on one knee so that she was facing him,
"I'm not asking you to stop being a hero, Harry," Raven said softly, "All I'm asking is for you to think first, next time. Okay?"
"Okay," Harry replied with a warm smile that Raven returned,
"Good, now why don't you head back to your common room and enjoy the rest of the feast."
After giving one final quick hug, Harry raced away, leaving a smiling Raven behind him before she turned and walked back into the bathroom where the other teachers were examining the unconscious troll.
When Harry reached the door to Gryffindor tower, he found Ron waiting for him and the two nodded at each other and entered the common room without saying a word; Gryffindor tower was packed and noisy as everyone ate the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, was standing alone waiting for them and as Harry and Ron approached her, there was an embarrassing pause.
"I'm sorry I made fun of you," Ron said, his face growing red with embarrassment, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"I accept your apology," Hermione said with a warm smile, "Would you like to get some food?"
"Yeah!" Ron said happily as the three made their way over to the table where said food lay; as the three hungrily dug in, Harry couldn't help but smile, it had been a pretty good Halloween, all things considered.
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"So what did you want to talk about?" Beastboy asked from where he sat as he munched on a caramel apple; Robin had asked all the Titans to meet him in an empty classroom not long after the troll had been dealt with and the children returned to their respective common rooms.
"Quirrell," Robin stated simply,
"What about him?" Starfire asked in bemusement, "He is a strange teacher, but otherwise harmless."
"I don't think that's the case," Robin replied as he leaned against the desk and crossed his arms, "I think he's actually much more dangerous than he lets on."
"What do you mean?" Raven asked with a raised brow,
"After he collapsed in the Great Hall, and all the teachers raced off to the dungeons to fight the troll, I hung back to see what would happen," Robin explained, "As soon as everyone was gone, Quirrell got up and raced to the third floor."
"You mean the floor that we're not supposed to go to?" Beastboy asked with a smirk,
"That'd be the one," Robin replied with a smirk of his own, "Quirrell got the door open and went inside."
"What happened next?" Starfire asked quickly,
"I was about to go in after him when there was a gigantic roar from the other side and Quirrell came bursting out and slammed the door behind him, looking terrified."
"And then what?" Beastboy prodded as the others listened with bated breath,
"After he managed to collect himself, he left and made his way to the dungeons," Robin replied.
"This makes no sense," Raven said as she put her thumb under her chin, "Why would Quirrell go to the third floor that Dumbledore specifically told everyone to avoid, instead of going to the dungeons and helping the other teachers deal with the troll?"
"Maybe he's the one who let the troll in the first place," Robin replied thoughtfully,
"But for what purpose?" Starfire asked,
"I heard Professor Flitwick say that whatever is on the third floor is incredibly valuable," Beastboy said softly as the others turned to him, "Apparently someone asked Dumbledore to hide it here because they were afraid that someone was trying to steal it."
"You think that someone is Quirrell?" Starfire asked thoughtfully, making Beastboy nod,
"You can't be serious!" Raven responded, "Quirrell? He's a cowardly little thing, he can barely be in the same room as his own students, and you think he's some master thief?"
"Perhaps there's more to him than meets the eye…." Robin said softly as his eyes narrowed, "We should keep an eye on him for the time being."
As the Titans contemplated all that had transpired that night, Raven vowed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on at Hogwarts, and if it put her brother in danger, there would be hell to pay.