And here's the eighteenth chapter, folks! Enjoy!

* Review Response:
mwinter1, Darth-Vulturnus, Ranmaleopard, Noble Korhedron, ObsessedWithHPFanFic, DarkRavie, Tsukikageshi, akasanta, The Richmaster, MargaritaS, naruto (Guest), JPElles, god of all, thank you for your reviews, folks!
mizzrazz72, she will.
The Sinful, magitech, yeah, I too find the 'traditional' Harry-fights-the-troll-to-save-Hermione scenes to be really out of place sometimes. Which is why I took this route with my story.
Wyrtha, the (s)Quirrell will be dealt with soon enough, for better or worse.
tacitblue1973, heh. And, I bet, Malfoy Sr. is not happy with Draco either.

* AN: Great thanks to my friend Skelekitty for his help in polishing this chapter. Also, the next chapter will probably be a little later than usual as I want to write some updates for my other stories.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.

"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells

A Year Too Soon
Chapter XVIII: Rocking the Boat

A little more than a week passed since the 'Troll Incident', and the life at Hogwarts was back to norm. And that wasn't really a good thing; it seemed like the staff decided to just sweep the whole thing under the rug and carry on as if nothing had happened. This was most disconcerting for Harry, given how he had informed Professor Snape about the wards and how it meant that the troll could have been purposely led into the castle on that very night, yet saw no indication that anything had been done with this knowledge.

Still, the Potter heir was willing to wait for a little bit more, before trying his luck with Madam Bones and the DMLE. He was pretty sure that Madam Bones would do everything in her power to bring the one who had endangered the lives of so many students to swift justice. In the meantime, he went about his daily life as usual - attending the classes, hanging out with his friends and doing homework the professors assigned so readily.

One day, Harry was in the library, working on his History of Magic essay. It wasn't the most engaging of tasks, so his attention occasionally wandered away from his parchment and the history books he was using as references. And during one such time, he noticed something very curious: in the far corner of the reading room Pansy Parkinson and Hermione Granger, who had been released from the Hospital Wing a yesterday, were talking to each other amiably as they worked on some project together.

The girls kept going over a number of old and dusty tomes throughout the whole afternoon. In fact, Hermione was the first one to leave the library some twenty minutes before the dinner. And as she walked away, Harry spied Pansy stretching tiredly in her seat. Deciding that this was a good chance for him to sate his curiosity about the unusual cooperation he had just witnessed, he approached the 'younger' Slytherin. He really wanted to know what was going on as he vividly remembered heiress Parkinson complaining about Ms. Granger being a 'disgrace of a proper witch' loudly for the past two months.

"What do you want, Potter?" Pansy asked spently as he got close to 'her' table.

"Good evening you too, heiress Parkinson." Harry greeted her. "Would you be so kind as to sate my curiosity about your newest acquaintance?" He received a fierce glare in response. "Alright, alright." He backed away a little. "Sorry, I was merely curious. It is rather unlike you to cooperate with Ms. Granger like this. And, of course, I will neither judge you nor spread the news about this. Your 'secret' is safe with me." After thinking about it for a few moments Pansy deflated a bit, realizing that the wizard in front of her indeed wouldn't judge her for 'associating' with those not of pure blood.

"Sorry." She said. "I'm just very frustrated right now. Granger isn't someone I can easily be civil with, and the lack of progress we have in our task isn't helping either." Pansy needn't be a seer to see that Harry was about to ask her to elaborate on what that task was, so she went ahead and told him about it: "On the behalf of the Noble House of Parkinson, I'm helping Granger press charges against the school for what happened to her on the Samhain night."

"I see..." Harry said. "And what sort of difficulties do you have? Perhaps I can help you?"

"Thank you." Pansy said as she stood up and began stacking up the books she and Ms. Granger had been using. "Though, I'm not sure what you can do. By all accounts, the troll getting into the castle was an accident and, as such, the worst charge that can be leveled against the faculty is negligence leading to personal injury. It will get Granger compensated, and, perhaps, a promise that something like this will not happen again, but that's it." She said, before adding: "And, could you please help me put these books back?" Harry nodded, picking up a the tomes from the table.

"I believe, I actually can help you with your little task." He said. "You see, according a reliable source, Hogwarts has a ward that prevents dangerous wild animals from accidentally wandering too close to the castle. Or, at least, such ward existed in the past. Thus, either the ward is deliberately kept inactive or removed, therefore placing everyone in danger of attacks by the beasts from the Forbidden Forest, or there is someone who intentionally led the troll into the castle." The young Potter explained.

"Oh my!" Pansy exclaimed. This was big. After a few moments, she asked: "But… How reliable is this source of yours?"

"I was told about this ward by the Lord Salazar Slytherin... Well, by his portrait in our common room." The green-eyed wizard replied. "It is rather unfortunate that his word will not be accepted by the court due to him being a portrait, and one that speaks only in parseltongue, but it should be possible to get a definitive proof whether this ward is active right now or not."

"Yes… That could be very helpful..." Pansy responded thoughtfully. "Thank you, Potter." Harry nodded.

"Also." He continued. "I suggest, you rally others to support you. With the right presentation, you should be able to get every student in the castle - and, by extension, their parents - to stand by your lawsuit. This way, it will be impossible to hush it."

"Of course." Pansy said with a nod. "We'll get to that as soon as father determines whether this ward you're talking about is there or not." And with that the two of them fell into rather comfortable silence as they returned the books the girls had been studying to their shelves.

~/ *** \~

A couple of days passed since his conversation with Ms. Parkinson in the library, and Harry finally received his invitation to the Yule party. The MacMillan heir himself gave it to him one afternoon:

"Heir Potter, can I have a moment of your time?" Ernest called as he ran into Harry in the Long Gallery leading to the greenhouses; the young Potter was heading there to get some fresh potion ingredients for his kit. "The Yule party is hosted by my family this year and we will be honored if you choose to attend." He said as he handed over an envelope with the seal of House MacMillan on it.

"Thank you, heir MacMillan, I'm most honored by your invitation." The green-eyed parselmouth replied, accepting the letter. Then, he added: "I'm afraid, I'll have to ask for a favor from your Lord, however."

"What kind of a favor, heir Potter?" Ernest asked curiously.

"You see, I'm a minor without a recognized legal guardian in the Magical world, and so, for the duration of the academic year, the headmaster - Professor Dumbledore - acts in loco parentis for me. And he, for whatever reason, doesn't want me to attend social events like the Yule party at the present time. He has already prevented me from attending one the previous year." Harry explained. "Thus I'd like to ask your lord to subtly apply some political pressure to our illustrious headmaster so that he doesn't bar me from attending this year's Yule party as well."

"I see..." The MacMillan heir said with a nod. "I'll pass your request to my father."

"Thank you." Harry said. This was followed by a few moments of silence, before Ernest spoke again:

"Also, heir Potter, do you know where I can find your friends, Misses Carrow?" He asked. "I have invitations for them as well, and I'd like to hand them over personally."

"I'm afraid, Flora and Hestia are busy catching up their homework right now." Harry replied. "They'll likely stay inside the Slytherin common room until dinner."

"I see… Thank you." The Hufflepuff boy said, before bidding his farewell and walking away, presumably to find other people he had invitations for. Meanwhile, Harry put his invitation into an inner pocket of his robes and continued on his way to the greenhouses.

~/ *** \~

The next Monday began pretty normal for Harry, but that quickly changed as soon after the morning post arrived, he was approached by Pansy Parkinson.

"Heir Potter." The dark-haired witch said. "If you can, I'd like you to join myself and Granger in the library after the classes." Seeing the questioning look Harry was giving her, she quickly elaborated: "During this weekend my father has conducted an independent investigation into the matter you've brought up and owled me the results he got."

"I see." The young Potter said, quite curious about what Lord Parkinson's investigation had uncovered. "I'll be there." He promised. Pansy gave him a nod before returning to her seat.

"What was this about, Harry?" Flora asked, curious about what was going on.

"Nothing much. As heiress Parkinson said, her father has sent her the results of his investigation." He said with a shrug.

"Oh." Flora said. "Any idea what Lord Parkinson has found?" Harry shook his head. He really had no idea what state the ward Salazar Slytherin told him about was in right now. And the results hopefully would tell him that the ward was down. After all, while neither would be good news, the headmaster being neglectful of wards was still better than him allowing a person that was willing to sacrifice the lives of students for his or her goals into the castle…

"Don't worry." He said. "I'll tell you as soon as I know more myself."

Being rather interested in what Lord Parkinson managed to uncover about the wards, Harry could hardly wait for the classes to end that day. And so, as soon as the last period of the day was over, he was off to the library. Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither Pansy nor Hermione were there yet when he arrived to Madam Pince's domain. He didn't have to wait for them for long, though: the girls showed up just a couple of minutes later.

"Ms. Granger, heiress Parkinson." He greeted them as they took seats across the table from him. "Before we begin, let me make sure we will not be overheard." Upon their nods, the green-eyed wizard drew his wand and cast the best privacy charms he was capable of. "Now then." He continued as he returned his wand to its holster. "Heiress Parkinson has informed me this morning that she has information about the state of Hogwarts wards - the one that is supposed to keep wild animals away from the castle, to be particular." Pansy nodded.

"Indeed. Acting on the information provided by the heir Potter, my father has employed a Gringotts curse-breaker to secretly investigate the state of the ward in question." The Slytherin witch said. "The ward exists, however it is greatly weakened. Alas, due to this assessment being done in secret and without access to the wardstone, it was impossible to determine when the ward has lost its potency." After pausing for a moment, Pansy continued: "However, my father has pointed out another thing that might help your case, Granger: trolls aren't intelligent enough to pick locks, and there is no troll-sized door on the side of the castle facing the Forbidden Forest that should be left unlocked at the dinnertime. If no doors were broken on the Samhain night, then someone had to let the troll in."

"I see…" Was all that Hermione could say to this right now.

"Interesting, I haven't thought about that. And it shouldn't be too hard for the DMLE to check, whether any of the Hogwarts' entrances needed their doors repaired recently." Harry said. "That said, I don't think we should actually inform the staff about this - if the troll was not an accident, then the person behind the attack might get a hint and conceal the evidence before the DMLE can get their hands on it."

"Agreed." Pansy said with a nod. "Now, if you have nothing to add, Granger, then I'm telling my father to give his barrister a go-ahead."

"Do that, Parkinson." Hermione said, having nothing of value to add at this point.

"Alright." The Slytherin witch replied. "I can't say exactly how long our barrister will need to prepare the draft of necessary documents for your lawsuit, but he's one of the best money can buy, so it shouldn't take more than a few days. Once the draft arrive, Granger, you'll need to review and sign them, before they can be filed with the DMLE." Upon Hermione's nod, she continued: "In the meantime, heir Potter and I will gather as much support for it as we can among the students."

"You will do that for me?" The bushy-haired girl asked.

"Make no mistake, Granger, I'm not your friend and I'm certainly not doing this for you - I can't speak for the heir Potter here, though - I'm doing it for myself." Pansy replied. "What happened on the Samhain night is very serious, and doing nothing about it means it can happen again. To you. To me. To anyone. And the next time it happens, Professors might not arrive in time to save us." She 'explained'. "There, of course, will be those who wouldn't wish to support you personally, Granger, but we can get their support regardless if we phrase it like we're doing this in order to keep everyone safe." It was written all over Hermione's face that she was far from happy with this, yet she said nothing. Mostly because no matter her reasons, Pansy was still helping her.

~/ *** \~

"Heir Potter." Pansy greeted Harry as she approached him in the common room on Friday afternoon, a small stack of papers in her hands. "Granger has signed the documents." Harry nodded.

"I see..." He said. After a moment of silence he asked: "Shall we start gathering the support for the lawsuit then?" The dark-haired witch gave him her assent.

"Yes." She said. "I'm sure I can get almost everyone in Slytherin to take our side. Alas, I can't say I have the connections necessary to achieve the same result with the other houses, especially Hufflepuff and Gryffindor." This didn't come as a great surprise to Harry, though: Pansy was a traditional Slytherin and didn't network much outside of the Snake's Den.

"Alright, I'll take care of that." He said, answering the unspoken question.

"Thank you, and… Could you have it done by Saturday evening?" She requested. "It would be convenient if the final version of Granger's is done and filed with the DMLE by Monday morning." She explained. Harry nodded in agreement: the sooner the DMLE began working on this case, the smaller was the chance that the bastard behind the troll accident will be able to escape justice.

"I'll try." He said.

Having had his dinner early that evening, Harry set out to delegate the task of collecting the signatures needed for Hermione's lawsuit to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff prefects: he felt that for something as important as this, he should go straight to the students with the highest authority. True, he might not be as friendly with them as he was with his friends in those houses, but in this case, it should matter not.

"Good evening." The green-eyed wizard greeted as he approached the seventh year Hufflepuff prefect, whose name he couldn't quite recall. "May I have a moment of your time?"

"Something I can do for you, Potter?" The said prefect asked in response. And it was in the tone of his voice that he rather Harry didn't bother him with whatever his problem was. He was just too polite to say something like that out loud.

"Yes." The young Slytherin said. "I'm sure, you remember what happened on the Halloween night?" The Hufflepuff nodded in agreement. It wasn't likely that he'd forget about that 'excitement' any time soon. "Well, it's been awhile since then, yet we haven't seen anything done to prevent something like that from happening again. Thus, we're going to remind the authorities that it is their job to ensure our safety and that they must take responsibility for failing to do so. And to ensure that we aren't dismissed easily, we need as much support as possible. So, would you be willing to gather signatures from Hufflepuff for us?" Harry asked as offered the Hufflepuff prefect a large roll of parchment, labeled to identify its purpose.

"I see." The older boy said, accepting the parchment. "We'll help you." Indeed, even if this initiative was started by Slytherins - and, probably out of self-preservation rather than honest desire to help everyone - it would still result in everyone's time at Hogwarts being a little safer. There was no reason to deny this request.

"Thank you." Harry said with a small bow. There was a bit of a pause, before he continued: "And, since we'd rather have everything done as soon as possible, could you please have the signatures collected by this time tomorrow?" The Hufflepuff prefect nodded. "Thank you." The young Potter said again. He then excused himself and headed for the Lions' table.

He wasn't as welcome there. The infamous rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin saw to that. And it took Neville's intervention to get it through the prefects' heads that Harry might not be there to do evil Slytherin things and that he should at least be heard out. Even then, many of them were very distrustful, believing that whole signature-collecting thing was a ruse to trick them into being a part of whatever evil deed he had in mind.

It took Harry quite a bit to convince the stubborn 'Gryffs that he wasn't there to cause any troubles for them, and he almost lost his patience with them a couple of times, but, in the end, they agreed to collect the signatures to support Hermione's lawsuit for him.

~/ *** \~

Monday morning at Hogwarts started pretty much like any other weekday morning. The only hint that Harry had that something interesting might happen was Pansy's barely-concealed anticipation. The girl was just eager to see the results of her work.

The Potter heir has already finished his meal and was ready to depart for the Slytherin dungeon when he saw the headmaster stiffen momentarily in his throne-like seat out of the corner of his eye. Curious about what was going on, Harry decided to stay. And, a few minutes later his waiting paid off as the doors of the Great Hall swung open, revealing Madam Bones and six auror accompanying her.

"Good morning, Amelia." Dumbledore greeted her, rising from his seat. "What brings you to Hogwarts this fine morning?" The monocle-wearing witch gave her niece a brief nod of greeting, before directing her attention to the Hogwarts headmaster.

"Albus." The director of the DMLE nodded, greeting him back with strained politeness. "And, I believe, you know well why I am here." Not even giving the man a chance to respond, she continued: "However, I don't believe that the Great Hall is the best place for our conversation. I'll be at your office. I expect you there once you're done eating." And with those words she turned around and walked out of the Great Hall, her departure sparking many conversation among the students.

"Alright, what can I do for you, Amelia?" Professor Dumbledore asked, taking a seat behind his table in the headmaster's office. The witch huffed.

"As I've said in the Great Hall, you know very well why I'm here, Headmaster. But if you insist on playing this game, I shall oblige." She said, leaning forward in her own seat. "A lawsuit against Hogwarts has been filed with my department, both for failing to provide the students with safe environment and for not compensating Ms. Granger for the injuries she sustained because of that. And..." She continued, almost with glee. "This finally gives me the right to properly investigate how a mountain troll of all things managed to find its way into the castle."

"I assure you that the issue has been taken care of and such incident will never happen again, Amelia. Furthermore, I fully agree that Ms. Granger must be compensated for the injuries she had suffered on that night. Unfortunately, she hasn't made her demands known to me yet, so I'm unable to recompense her." Dumbledore said, trying to placate the witch across the table from him.

"Well, luckily for you, Ms. Granger has made her demands known to me." Amelia said as she passed a piece of parchment to the aged warlock. "As for your claim of this school being safe now - I'll be the judge of it. And Ms. Granger's lawsuit lets me run my investigation as I see fit, regardless of Hogwarts' status as a self-governing, semi-autonomous territory." Dumbledore let out a sigh. He knew that the law was on Amelia's side.

"Very well." He said finally. There was a small pause, before he added. "However, may I implore you to do your best to avoid disrupting the classes while you are conducting your investigation?"

"While I can't really promise anything, we will do our best not to cause your staff and your students any unnecessary problems." Madam Bones said as she rose from her seat.

"Thank you." Dumbledore said with a nod. Returning his nod, the director of the DMLE headed for the exit. Opening the door, she turned to look at him.

"I'll be sure to inform you of any and all problems my aurors and I uncover during our investigation. And, for the sake of students here, let us hope that this is the last time I'm doing your job for you." She said, before finally stepping out of his office.

As the door closed behind Madam Bones, Albus let out a deep sigh. He knew that Quirinius was behind the 'Troll incident'. And, under normal circumstances, he would've had the man in the DMLE's holding cells before that night was over. Alas, things were never simple, and he had a reason to keep the young man in question in the castle even if he was a danger to the Hogwarts' students.

He began suspecting it a few months ago, and by now he was almost certain that Quirinius was actually working for Voldemort, who, somehow, didn't die on that Halloween night ten years ago. It was a huge gamble on Dumbledore's part to let a man like that into Hogwarts, but it also allowed him to keep an eye on the Dark Lord's moves and be there to stop him from rising back to the power and restarting the Blood War. And if Quirinius was to be arrested and sent to Azkaban for his crimes, Voldemort's actions would become much much harder to predict, which could lead to a great disaster.

He just hoped that his attempt to protect as many as possible from the evil of Voldemort and the horrors of war wasn't misguided. After all, as the saying goes, road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

That's all, folks!
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