After passing the baby to Remus, Sirius began his chapter with high spirits, but before he could start there was a familiar clattering in the kitchen. Lily got up to go in and check on it, calling out to the others, "It's Click, he's back with Peter's response."

She came back in with a bright orange screech owl perched on her shoulder, who was clicking his beak in excitement.

As she walked over to the perch over in the corner, she told them, "he said he would try and come by tomorrow morning. Here you go boy," she crooned as she deposited Click from her shoulder next to his water bowl.

Hickory came stalking back into the room, bright green eyes watching the bird, dark brown fur on his tail twitching in excitement, but none of the adults seemed to take notice. The two pets chased each other about all the time, but neither had ever harmed.

"So, has anyone thought about how to go explaining this to him?" James asked, waving about the room unnecessarily.

"Slowly," Lily said, plopping back down beside Harry, "we didn't take it very well at first either, so I would suggest keeping those two out of the room at first," Lily said, gesturing first at Harry, then at Sirius.

"Hey," he yelped, "what does that mean?"

"You know exactly what that means," she responded, "you are tactless."

Sirius huffed and grumbled a bit before reading.

Malfoy was astonished to see Harry and Ron the next morning.

"Still a slimy git," James muttered.

After thinking it over for the night, the two boys had decided that catching sight of that three-headed dog had been a great adventure, and they were keen for another one.

"No," groaned Lily, picking up a pillow and burying her face in it. So there it was, instead of

backing off when coming face to face with danger, he just wanted to keep going.

The four boys though were quite pleased, the three adults unable to deny that they certainly wanted Harry to go have some more fun, though preferably away from that dog.

Harry also chose to fill in Ron on his foray to Gringotts, to which concluded that whatever was being hidden was either really valuable, or really dangerous.

"Most likely both," Remus said.

Or both, Harry agreed.

Harry and Remus shared an amused smile, Sirius deciding against making a crack about repeating commentary.

But since they didn't know anything for certain about the tiny object, there speculations were stuck at just that. Neither Hermione or Neville seemed much interested in this, Hermione had gone back to her usual demeanor of ignoring Harry and Ron, but since she was such an annoying person they only saw this as a plus.

"Can hardly blame you for that one," Sirius agreed, Remus may have been a bit of a know it all in school, but he was never boastful about it.

What Harry and Ron were really wanting was a way to get back at Malfoy, and such an opportunity arrived a week later in the mail.

"What's that?" Remus asked, starting to lean around Sirius to read for himself.

"Budge off," Sirius snapped, pulling the book closer to his chest, "or I'll put you back in that

armchair."

Remus raised a challenging brow at him, unable to hide his disbelieving smile at such a threat, but allowed Sirius to keep going for now.

Several owls were fluttering into the Great Hall that breakfast, heading straight for Harry, and dropping off a long shaped parcel on the table in front of him.

"His broom!" All three boys said with confidence.

"Well that was the most blatantly rude thing they could have done," Lily sniffed.

At Harry's confused look she explained, "Really, it probably would have been easier for Professor McGonagall to get it personally, and then take it up to your dormitory later. Giving it to you in the middle of the Great Hall like that was like rubbing it in that you got to break the rules."

"Calm down Lily," James scoffed, "you're reading way too much into this. So what? As soon as the school saw Harry on the pitch, they would have known he'd be the new Seeker, which is a huge deal. Getting a broom isn't really that big a deal."

Lily still disagreed, but as she couldn't do anything about it now, she let it go.

Inside was a note saying this was Harry's new broom, a Nimbus Two Thousand, but he shouldn't open it at the table,

"Okay, that was too little too late," Remus agreed.

and that Oliver Wood would start Harry's Quidditch practice that night on the fields at seven. Signed off by Professor McGonagall.

"Where did the broom come from though?" Harry suddenly asked.

"There's a budget for every team," James said, "it pays for the uniforms, any broken equipment etcetera. Now a broom, especially one like that, would have maxed out the expenses for the year, but it would have been worth it!"

Ron was as wild as Harry, saying he'd never even touched a Nimbus model.

"The Nimbus line has always been the best," James agreed with envy, he currently had the Nimbus 80, he could only imagine what nearly eleven years from now would do to the line.

The boys left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap it in the common room, but were stopped by Malfoy who took the package away from Harry and felt it.

"He wouldn't dare," Sirius gritted his teeth, "no way is he stupid enough to try and take Harry's broom."

"I'm sure he won't," Remus tried to sooth him, "not right under all of those teachers' noses."

"Well he hasn't shown much intelligence yet," James laughed.

He snapped that he knew it was a broomstick as he shoved it back at Harry.

James gave a slow, sarcastic laugh at this brilliant deduction.

Ron couldn't resist pointing out that it wasn't just any old broomstick, but a top of the line model. Then he informed Harry that the one Malfoy rode, a Comet Two Sixty, looked flashy enough, but still wasn't a match for Harry's.

Sirius shrugged, having a Comet Two Forty now, it did him pretty well.

Then Professor Flitwick made an appearance, and Malfoy was quick to rat out Harry and his new possession. Professor Flitwick merely nodded, agreeing that Professor McGonagall had explained the circumstances.

"That'll put a twist in his knickers," James snickered.

Harry smiles and tells the Professor what model it is, then admits that it was all thanks to Malfoy he even had it.

All four boys cracked up laughing at this.

Remus recovered first, still rubbing his ribs he said, "I'll give you that one Harry. It's true what they say, you are your own worst enemy."

Harry was still grinning and nodded along with him, while James grimaced slightly, knowing full well that was true.

Then the two boys raced off with Malfoy's stunned look behind them. Harry explained that it was true, if Malfoy hadn't pulled that stunt with Neville's Remembrall, but Ron didn't get a chance to say anything as Hermione made an appearance, nose in the air. She snapped that Harry must think of that as a reward for breaking the rules.

Lily sighed, unable to begrudge this girl for thinking this, since she had been thinking the same thing.

Harry shot back that he thought she wasn't speaking to them. Ron agreed that it was doing them much more good that way, and Hermione stalked off again.

"This one really needs to go hang out with her own friends," Sirius sniffed.

Lily blinked spastically for a moment, suddenly realizing that it hadn't mentioned Hermione

hanging out with anyone. Had she really not been able to make friends? She hoped the poor thing had.

Harry had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons that day. It kept going to his new broomstick which he'd hidden under his bed, or straying to the Quidditch field where he'd be learning to play that night.

"That's exactly why first years aren't allowed on the team," Lily sighed, "they're still too easily distracted."

"Still not a valid excuse," Sirius argued back, "since every Quidditch player gets distracted around the time of the game, all the way up to seventh year."

That night Harry ate his dinner so fast he didn't taste a thing, and then went back upstairs to unwrap his broom properly. The object is clearly top notch, and as highly polished as it was new.

"Wish I really could see it," James groaned.

"Wipe the drool from your mouth, you're looking more like your son by the minute," Remus

snickered while wiping a bit of drool from the baby in his lap.

When seven came around, Harry eagerly made his way down to the pitch, looking at the Quidditch surroundings. There were three golden posts shaped like bubble wands, except they were fifty high.

"What on earth?" James began, clearly confused by this comparison.

"They're exactly like Harry said, golden poles, but much smaller," Lily explained patiently. James still didn't get it, how could you blow bubbles out of a metal pole, but he wanted to hear about Harry learning some real hands on Quidditch to sit around and think about it.

Harry didn't want to wait around any longer, he mounted his broom and kicked off into the air, exhilarated all over again by the flight.

Now everyone in the room was smiling, even Lily wasn't holding much of a grudge anymore. She couldn't deny that she was happy Harry had finally found something that made him truly happy.

Wood arrives then, and begins instructing Harry on the rules and places of Quidditch. There were seven players total, three of which were called Chasers. Harry repeated the information back as Wood pulled out a bright red ball about the size of a soccer ball.

James was grinning widely, boy he missed playing on his house team.

Wood told Harry this was called a Quaffle, and that the Chasers play exclusively with this ball as they try to throw it into the golden hoops, which earns that team ten points.

"He's explaining it the same way you did," Harry told Remus.

Remus shrugged, still smiling, "everyone explains the basics in the same way."

Harry again repeats that back, determined to remember all of this, and then mentions how this is slightly like basketball. Wood asks what that could be, but Harry brushes him off.

"I quite like muggle sports," James laughed, "even if they can be a bit boring after a while. I don't blame Wood for being curious."

Lily smiled indulgently at him, James liked muggle sports much more than he was letting on, since they came on more often the Quidditch matches he loved getting into them in his spare time.

Wood then tells Harry about another position called the Keeper, which was Wood's own position. His job was to block the Quaffle from making it into the goal. Harry agrees he understands thus far, then asks about another set of balls that were in the trunk, two round black ones that seemed to be moving. Wood offers to show Harry, and hands him a club.

"Uh oh," Sirius said, still smiling a bit.

Lily had her lips pursed, if there was one position she didn't want Harry trying it was the Beater, since as the title implied, they took a lot of the hits during the game to make sure the Chasers stayed in the game.

Wood told Harry that the two black balls were called Bludgers, and Harry noticed they were slightly smaller than the Quaffle,

"And harder than a rock," Sirius added on, rubbing his head in remembrance.

and that they were moving of their own accord. Wood told Harry to stand back, and released one of the Bludgers, which zoomed high into the air before arching back right towards the pair. Harry swung the bat, hitting the ball and forcing it to move away again,

"Very nice," they all said, Harry seemed able to hold any position on the team if he wanted to.

and Wood had to catch it again and put it back in the box, before explaining that another set of players in the game were the Beaters, which were the Weasley twins. It was their job to make sure the Bludgers went towards the opposite team. Harry once again repeated back everything he'd been told so far, then tried to ask as offhanded as possible if the Bludgers have ever killed anyone.

"Almost," Remus and James muttered, not appreciating that particular game.

At Harry's bug eyed look while throwing Sirius a really concerned look, Sirius read on quickly, not wanting to give Harry too much of a fright at that story.

Wood assures Harry that never at Hogwarts, the worst they'd ever had was a broken jaw.

"I think a cracked skull is worse than a broken jaw," James sniffed.

"Well, it's perspective I guess," Sirius laughed.

"How can you be so blase' about this I don't know," Lily rolled her eyes.

"Am I going to get to hear this whole story?" Harry finally asked.

"Perhaps later, after this book is over" Sirius told him, his two friends winced again at that

memory.

Then Wood turned his attention to the last player, Harry's position, Seeker. Wood told Harry it wasn't his job to worry about either of the previous balls, but Harry interrupts to point out it will be if the Bludger cracks his head open.

All four of them winced, not even wanting to think of their little Harry in that situation. Even if he was sitting here, fine now, they never wanted the visual image of another black haired youth lying, seemingly dead. Sirius and Lily may not have that particular memory of that mental image, but they sure didn't want it, so Sirius quickly read on.

Wood reassures him that shouldn't happen before taking out the last ball. Small as an acorn and solid gold, it was the Golden Snitch, worth one hundred and fifty points in the game, and once it was caught the game was over. It was Harry's job to catch this.

"That still seems a bit unfair though," Lily said, bringing up a very old argument between her and James. "They should lower that to fifty or something."

James shook his head and gave back an old argument, "No, in professional games, the Chasers are expected to be good enough that they can get at least two hundred points like nothing. Since both teams are so evenly matched, you need a ringer, like the Snitch."

Lily just sighed, but then waved Sirius on when it looked like he was about to butt in as well. She was clearly outnumbered in this opinion.

This was the reason Seekers got fouled so much during games, the record going on for three months before someone caught the ball, and the players kept having to get substitutes.

"Not in our seven years," Remus said when it looked like Harry was about to ask.

"I think it happened two years before we got there though," Sirius said with envy, "so we did get a second hand account from the older students."

"How on earth did classes continue?" Lily demanded.

"They picked the rotations very carefully, it was a nightmare apparently," Remus laughed.

Harry told Wood he understood the concept, it was going to be the act of doing that he'd like to practice now. So Wood pulled out a bag of golf balls,

"If he doesn't know muggle sports, how did he get those?" Lily asked.

"They're in the equipment shed, you use them in Seeker try-outs," James said with a shrug, "doesn't mean he has to know where they came from."

and they practiced with Wood chucking them in every direction he could. Harry caught every one of them.

"Not bad practice at all," James agreed. Much better than what they had done in their tryouts. Losing three snitches was the least of his problems that day.

Then night fell on them and they had to halt practice. Wood was praising Harry how good he was, comparing him to Charlie Weasley who could have gone on to play professionally if he hadn't decided to work with dragons.

"Can't blame the bloke for that," James said, smiling to himself. He had been offered to play for England as well, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, traveling so much like that, when he had just gotten his new wife pregnant. Some things just had to take priority over Quidditch, something his younger self probably would have fainted at less than five years ago.

Sirius, Lily, and Remus exchanged smiles, yeah, they had to agree with James on that one.

The narrative returns to say that Harry had now been living at Hogwarts for two months, how the castle felt more like a home to him then the Dursley's place ever had.

Those smiles instantly vanished, oh they really didn't want to hear about another holiday event from those horrid Dursleys, and if they were doing the math right, it was about time for Halloween.

"If I have to sit here and read about Dudley eating all this candy in front of you," Sirius began, already having a hatred for this holiday after hearing that it was going to be James and Lily's last day.

Harry pursed his lips, hoping that the book really wouldn't mention all the years of this happening.

Sighing in defeat and hoping to just get it over with Sirius read.

Harry's lessons were also becoming more advanced now that they were past the basics.

All five released a breath, thankful it had glossed over that holiday, though the four adults knew the castle wouldn't. The teachers loved dressing up the castle for events. Still, hearing about the feast would be better than hearing about his preschool years.

The day of Halloween Harry was in his charms classroom, trying to make a feather levitate off his desk. They were in pairs, Harry with Seamus Finnigan to which he was relieved since Neville had been trying to catch his attention.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"I'm sure to ask Harry if he'd gone to any of the teachers about that dog," Lily said.

"No, I mean why would you avoid that Harry?" He elaborated.

"Oh," Harry said, "well Mum's right, Neville had been trying to catch my eye for a while and I thought it was because he was going to ask about the dog, and I didn't want to talk about it in class. You know, since it was right next to where it happened."

James snickered a bit at that, saying, "oh Harry, Charm's class is about one of the safest classes to have a conversation, since everyone gets really loud and distracted in that class."

"Good to know," he said, smiling a bit, and not pointing out that he couldn't very well use the information now.

Ron had been paired with Hermione, and neither were pleased at all about this. She hadn't spoken a word to them since Harry's broomstick had arrived.

"Well, hopefully this won't change that," Sirius grumbled.

Professor Flitwick called attention back to the front of the class, instructing his students that proper wording of the spell was very important. If you said s instead of f, you may just wind up with a buffalo on your chest.

"Liar," James laughed.

"How do you know?" Remus asked.

"I tried it once, and it didn't work," he said, sharing a wicked look with Sirius.

Lily sighed, rubbing at her own temple now, "why am I not surprised?"

Harry and Seamus took turns using the spell, but neither were making much progress. Seamus got so impatient he set his feather on fire.

All five of them cracked up at this, while James managed to ask, "did it make it easier?"

"No," Harry laughed, "but it made us feel better."

Ron wasn't having any better luck, waving his arm around a little too much as he cried Wingardium Leviosa.

"I don't think that will help," Lily said sadly.

Hermione corrected him, telling him he was pronouncing it all wrong.

"I don't think that will help either," Remus agreed, but with more humor for the situation. He did have more experience with helping his friends out, and correcting them like that usually didn't have very good results.

Ron snapped at her if she was so confident she could try,

"And that won't do any good at all," Sirius laughed, "if there's one thing we've established about this girl, it's that she's mastered her charms pretty well."

Harry was now frowning again, thinking, wasn't there something important about this spell, and Halloween? Why did those two things together mean something to him? Shaking his head, he let Sirius go on.

Hermione performed the spell perfectly, much to Ron's chagrin. When they were leaving the class Ron was griping to Harry about how it was no wonder no one liked that girl,

Lily frowned, saying, "Well that was a bit harsh."

"The boy just got showed up by a girl who's been pestering them since the train," Sirius defended, "I don't blame him."

Harry didn't get a chance to respond as someone shoved past him, and Harry was startled to see it was Hermione with tears on her face.

"Oh," Sirius winced, okay, he wouldn't have wanted the girl to hear that.

"Poor thing," James and Remus agreed, none of them really wanting to hear about a first year reduced to tears.

"And that's why you shouldn't walk around saying whatever you feel like," Lily said, hoping Ron would apologize, or at the least she would meet someone who would make the poor girl feel better. She obviously needed a friend.

Harry muttered that he was pretty sure she heard Ron, and even though Ron was

frowning, he muttered that it must be because she realized she didn't have any friends.

"Okay," Sirius threw his hands up in surrender at Lily's glare, "so I take it back, but what good is it going to do us now?"

Sighing, she admitted it was pointless to badger him about this now.

Hermione was absent the rest of the day, and Harry overheard another girl mentioning how Hermione had locked herself up in a bathroom and wouldn't come out.

Now all five of them were looking distinctly uncomfortable, the boys for complaining about her so much, when she obviously wasn't as bad as eleven year old Harry had painted her.

Lily was just hoping someone would go and help the poor girl before this chapter was up.

Ron was looking all the more uncomfortable about this, but then they made it to the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put the girl out of their minds.

"Typical," she sighed, while Sirius read on eagerly now, wanting to put the sad kid out of his mind as well, it's not like he, or Harry, could do anything about it if she was locked up in the girls bathroom.

The place was decked out with live bats and pumpkins, the banquet hosting the golden plates that sported the best kind of feast. Before anyone could properly enjoy it though, Professor Quirrell came sprinting in, screaming about a Troll being in the dungeons, then he fainted.

"What?" All four adults screeched in real fear.

While the two boys on the other couch quickly settled the baby down again, really they might have to move him to another room if this was going to be a constant thing, Lily clutched her chest in fear while James demanded, "the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher not only ran in front of all the students at the school to announce this, but fainted! What the bloody hell happened to the teachers' standards at school!" He was pretty red in the face by the time he was done.

"Dumbledore's there," Remus said at once, trying to reassure the others and himself as well, "and he said in the dungeons. I'm positive the teachers will get this under control."

"Yes, but how did it get in?" Lily demanded, trying to control her own shaking fear. She was trying to comfort herself, saying that Harry would be moved to the seventh floor, as far away from that troll as possible, but it didn't stop the worry she had for the rest of the student body. "Something like a troll couldn't have just wandered into the grounds, it has to be let in."

Harry leaned over and wrapped a comforting arm around his mum, avoiding eye contact with all of the adults, especially Sirius who had been trying to catch his eye this whole time. It seemed Sirius had either thought of what Harry had, or guessed where his thoughts had landed.

Hermione. She didn't know about the troll, and both boys knew very well that he, Harry, would take it upon himself to go and tell her. If out of guilt or some other moral reason wasn't the point. Still feeling as on edge as everyone else, Sirius decided the fastest way to get an answer was to read.

Dumbledore commanded the students to go back to their dormitories at once, which they began to do without argument. On the way Harry asked Ron how a troll could even get in. Ron didn't know, saying that trolls were known for their stupidity, and that maybe Peeves had done it as a joke.

"He would never," the three boys said at once. They all knew that Peeves was many things, but he would never actually put these students in real danger.

They were passing through a group of terrified and confused looking Hufflepuffs,

"Confused indeed," James frowned, "what are they doing up there? I know their common rooms down in the, oh never mind."

Lily and Remus were both smiling at him as he figured out that anything below the first level was off to students, so most likely the prefects were leading them towards the Library, or perhaps the astronomy tower.

when Harry grabbed hold of Ron's arm and whispered Hermione.

"Merlin no," the other three adults groaned.

"Harry, I'm begging you, please tell me you don't break off and go get her?" Lily pleaded.

Harry chose to say nothing, quite a common response from him when the answer was yes.

James and Remus weren't too worried, they hated Harry breaking off like that, but couldn't fault the boy for wanting to go help her. Besides, the troll was on the lower floors, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Remus' only question was, "You think she went to the girl's bathroom on the third floor, by the charms room, or ran off to another one?"

"My guess, the one on the third floor," James sighed. "After all, if a girl's going to run off crying, she's going to the closest place."

Lily still didn't look too happy, saying, "I wish you would have at least told Percy."

Harry just kept quiet, trying very hard not to fidget as an answer, since his gut was telling him that he did the opposite of this.

Going even more quickly now, Sirius read.

Both boys suddenly realized she had no idea what was going on. Ron agreed they should go get her, but they couldn't let Percy know.

Lily sighed and rubbed her temple in frustration, sure that if it had been a prefect other than Ron's older brother this could have gone a little easier.

The three boys were just kind of impressed with the duo at this point. They were risking getting into serious trouble just to help out a girl they didn't even like. They now had no doubts that this Ron was as loyal a friend as could be, which meant he surely was looking for their Harry in his own time.

They slipped away from the group and began heading back towards the third floor girl's bathroom when they heard the sound of feet approaching. Ron, fearing it was Percy, pulled Harry back into the shadows.

"Makes sense," Lily agreed, "he probably was doing a head count and noticed his kid brother missing."

"Or maybe even the twins," James agreed.

Glancing up though, they saw not Percy but Snape.

"Snape?" All five of them said, most of them in disgust, while Lily in confusion.

"Why would he be up there?" She continued cautiously.

"Didn't want to see his reflection in the dungeons I'm sure," Sirius muttered in disgust.

"No, I'm with Lily," Remus said slowly, "what possible reason could he have from breaking away with the other teachers right now?"

"Maybe they've already got the problem handled, and he's going to fetch wherever the Slytherin's went," James offered.

He disappeared quickly enough, and Harry was very confused as to why he wasn't in the dungeons with the other teachers. Following him quietly, they saw he was headed for the third floor as well,

"Think the whole of Slytherin could hide on the third floor?" Sirius said in disbelief, they were all trying very hard not to think of what else was on the third floor.

All of them had a reason to dislike Snape, but none of them really believed he would use a school crisis to go and check on the dog, then Lily blinked and said, "no, I think he is checking on the dog." At the look the boys were giving her, mostly for her bright tone, she hurried on, "think about it. If this is the dark object that it's implied, what if this is a diversion and someone's trying to get to whatever's being guarded at the school. What if Severus is checking to make sure no one's heading towards that corridor."

"Yes, but no one on the school grounds would," James said, still trying to puzzle that out when Remus went pale as a sheet and shuddered.

At the concerned looks they were all giving him he muttered, "nothing."

"Oh that was something," James said, eyeing his friend in concern, "and I know that look Remus. What did you just realize?"

Not looking any of them in the eye, but instead speaking to the baby in his hands to keep himself relaxed he said slowly, "well, if Lily's right, then that means that Snape wouldn't be the only person who's heading for the third floor. Letting a troll in would be the perfect diversion for a dark wizard..." but stopped quickly when the book slipped out of Sirius's slack grip, and the two parents looked ready to faint.

Giving himself a firm shake, Sirius bent down and without another word decided he needed to keep reading, now, or his imagination was going to be the death of him.

Despite the paralyzing fear they all felt, James was still caught on the last thing he'd been thinking about. Who on the school grounds would allow this to happen? Sure he hated Snape, but James couldn't believe even he would put the student body at risk like this. Dumbledore trusted him enough to let him teach at the school, that must mean he wasn't the Death Eater they all thought. It didn't mean he had to like him. No, for the time being, he would focus on every word Sirius said, keep close to his son for reassurance, and have faith in what his wife said about his arch enemy's motives.

but before they get far Ron asks Harry if he smells something? Harry sniffs curiously and finds a repulsive stench like an old toilet.

"You're not serious?" Lily said through numb lips.

It was a testament to how much this whole situation was scaring them all that Sirius didn't even flinch at his favorite joke. He was too busy looking dumbly down at the book and the words that meant something he never wanted to think of.

Hoping against hope that Snape was just really smelly for some reason, he tried to keep going without stuttering.

Then they heard it, heavy shuffling feet. Looking behind them, they saw at the end of the passage something huge coming right towards them, so they shrunk back into the shadows.

Remus was mentally calculating how much worse this night could get before he would vomit from stress.

The other three were still too numb to believe this. A possible dark wizard was running around on the same floor as their little boy, and now the troll had somehow managed to find his way up to that very same floor?

Still trying to get through this without slurring his speech from worry, Sirius kept reading, trying to control the fear pitching his tone.

It was very ugly. Human in shape but twelve feet tall, it had grey skin and was carrying a huge wooden club the size of Harry. The troll stopped next to an open doorway and peered inside before making the decision to enter.

"Run!" All four of them whispered, wanting nothing more than to teleport there right at that

moment and stop this horrid night in its tracks.

Harry on the other hand was feeling something else entirely. Another memory, and a powerful one at that. Something about this troll was very important, and the room it had gone into.

Rubbing his temple furiously, he didn't notice the others having a brief conversation on whether their luck was good enough the troll had stumbled across the three headed dog, and the two would simply kill each other while the boys made it safely back to the common room.

With any luck they were just being paranoid about a dark wizard creeping about, or with good luck the two monsters on this floor would kill said dark wizard.

Still looking pale as death, Sirius forced himself to go on, not willing to relax until his little pup was far, far away from this mess.

Harry whispers they should lock it in that room.

"No!" All four of them screeched, this was the opposite of helpful.

"Harry, you should have gotten out of there now!" Remus told him like he thought that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry simply shrugged, and gently pointed out, "yes, well I'd still like to remind you lot I am fine now."

This did help them relax, slightly anyways. At least Sirius could read on now without feeling like he was going to pass out. Dumb as it seemed, he had almost forgotten his little Harry was safe and sound right here in this room, but the reminder helped to sooth his nerves.

Ron agrees it's a good idea,

"No, it's not," Lily grumbled in disgust.

and the two make it to that door and lock it without a problem.

"Great," James said almost feverishly, even though he and his friends had never done anything this dangerous. "Now get out of there before the troll decides it can break that door down."

"Not helpful. The opposite of helpful James," Lily snapped at him, clutching Harry's hand in her's tightly.

Turning to head away now, they stop in their tracks at once when they heard a horrible noise.

'Not the crashing of a door, anything but that' Remus begged the universe.

A high pitched scream,

"Bloody hell," they all whispered, it was possible to get worse wasn't it.

that was coming from the chamber they'd just chained up.

Sirius read on quickly before anyone could interrupt this time, yeah it was bad, but the only way they were going to think about relaxing again was to get this over with.

Harry comes to the horrible conclusion they'd just locked up the girl's bathroom. Then both boys together screamed for Hermione.

"Never, in all my years," Lily's words came out a jumbled mess as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Of all the girl's bathrooms in the castle," Sirius agreed.

"Just keep going Sirius," James and Remus said together, their nerves getting frayed beyond repair.

No one in the room had to question what was going to happen next. Harry and Ron were going to go back in there and try to get Hermione out, possibly getting the two that weren't in this room killed! They didn't think it could get worse than four of them running into a three headed dog, and they hated to be proved wrong so soon.

After a moment's more pause to collect himself, Sirius did indeed keep going.

Neither really wanted to, but both turned back around and went inside the very room they'd just locked up.

None of them appreciated this confirmation, but were all too scared to speak up again.

Inside, Hermione Granger had herself pinned to the wall in fright, staring at the monster before her. The troll was heading right for her, so big it was breaking the sinks and stalls along the way, when Harry got the idea to try and confuse it, so he threw a bit of sink at a wall.

"Remarkable," Remus said, cuddling the baby in his arms.

"We'll discuss his confidence in the face of danger after he's out of it," Lily snapped.

James couldn't help but agree with Lily on this one.

The troll turned at the noise, and began making its way towards Harry now,

"Great, perfect," Sirius grumbled, before pressing on even faster than before. Only taking the vaguest of comforts at Harry's presence now, it wasn't going to help the nightmares later he was sure.

Ron got the same idea and went around Harry to bang on the wall himself, turning to troll's attention on him instead. Harry took the chance to run to Hermione, grabbing hold of her and trying to convince her to run. She, however, remained frozen in place.

Lily pursed her lips while all the boys frowned in severe anxiety. Yes she agreed now was not the time to freeze up, but she couldn't blame the eleven year old.

"Drag her out of there already," James snarled.

The noise was clearly driving the creature crazy, as it continued advancing on Ron with bloodlust, with Ron nowhere to run.

"No, no, no," they all muttered. Having no way to know for sure that Harry's only friend, an innocent kid, would make it out of this alive and safe.

Harry reacted without thinking. He ran forward and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind.

Sirius had to blink a few times to get the blurriness out of his vision, he really almost had passed out that time.

"He did what?" James yelped.

"Something desperate and stupid for sure," Remus mumbled.

Lily was looking from the book to her Harry so fast her neck was in danger of snapping, but she couldn't help it. She was waiting for the moment when Harry's look, right now mostly concerned for his friend, would either morph into pain from a blow from a fully grown mountain troll, or desperation as he realized his friend really might die.

Harry didn't know what was going to happen anymore than them, just his gut reliance that things were going to be fine. He tried to say something about it, but since Sirius had managed to keep going, he kept quiet until he was sure.

The troll may not have felt Harry there, but even something with as little intelligence as it possessed would have noticed a large piece of wood being shoved up its nostril, and Harry had his wand in hand when he'd jumped.

"That...would catch anyone's attention I'm sure," Remus said, looking torn whether to laugh or pass out.

"Just when I thought this couldn't get worse," Lily moaned. Now her son had injured the bloody thing, possibly making it carry a grudge against him.

James and Sirius however, couldn't fault Harry for his actions one bit. Reckless and unthought out, yes, but they both knew without even having to question it that they would have done the same thing under any circumstances.

Still ill at ease, Sirius forced himself to keep going.

In terrible pain now, the troll began lashing out in all directions with its club, and all Harry could do was hang on for life.

"You are not helping," Lily snapped at Harry, while clutching his hand all the tighter. Harry was beginning to lose feeling in that hand.

Sirius didn't even look up this time, he didn't want to keep being interrupted, but wanted this horrid event to be over.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright, while Ron reacted with the first spell that came to mind; crying out Wingardium Leviosa.

"No," Remus groaned, "he doesn't even know how to do that spell."

Again Sirius and James felt more pride than anger, as Ron, or many other people with far more experience, would have used this opportunity to make a run for it.

Lily apologized to Harry when she noticed her nails were starting to draw beads of blood on Harry's hand, but when Harry waved it off she turned to Sirius and said, "so long as the three of them get out of there, I don't care what he does. Sirius keep going."

The troll's club floated into the air upon Ron's command, and came crashing back down on the creature's head, sending it to the floor with a thunderous crash.

"He did it," Remus breathed.

"He fell flat on his face," James said, grinning so hard his face may split.

"The troll should be passed out now," Lily breathed, wishing desperately all this noise must have summoned Snape at the least, and not the wizard who had let the troll in. Her little Hare Bear still might not be out of danger yet.

Feeling relief that the immediate danger was hopefully down for the count, Sirius couldn't help but think along the same lines as Lily, and didn't settle too long on victory before reading.

Harry got shakily to his feet while Ron came over to look at his handiwork. Hermione was the first to find her voice, asking if it was dead?

"Sadly no," Remus answered no one in the room, but still explained anyways. "Troll's heads are the thickest part of their body. Getting clubbed like that will only have knocked it out."

"What he means by that," James said in forced light tones, "is get the bloody hell out of there before something else happens."

Lily and Sirius eyed the two of them, and decided they must have misjudged. Clearly the relief hadn't wiped out their original fear, they were just doing a good job of hiding it.

Harry says he didn't think so, probably just knocked out, then bends down and retrieved his wand, which was covered in troll boogers.

"Small price to pay when you think about it," Harry said in disgust, then blinked and realized that he didn't have his wand on him now. He'd felt so relaxed in this environment that he hadn't even thought about it.

Still, he felt almost naked without it, and knew that he would have to have it back to feel truly safe. Yet everyone in the room still had traces of fear in them, even though he felt perfectly relaxed. The danger was gone, and there was going to be something very good happening at the end of this chapter. So he decided to wait until then to bring it up.

He wiped them off on the troll's trousers.

"Small payback," Sirius grumbled with a bit of pleasure. Personally they all felt like doing far worse to that troll for endangering their boy, when in reality the beast was most likely just going to be relocated back into the mountains.

There was a door slamming open behind them, and the three children turned on the spot to find Professor McGonagall entering, along with Quirrell and Snape.

"Thank goodness," they all breathed. None of them would breath a word against the punishment they might get for this stunt, now that McGonagall was there, they knew the kids were safe.

Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

"Really though, I want that man fired," James grumbled, irrationally blaming him.

"How about we just make sure the whole instance never happens," Remus tried to sooth him.

Snape turned his attention to the troll while McGonagall glowered down at the students. Harry felt his heart sink again as the thought of being rewarded with house points was dashed away at her look.

"I'd be insulted if she did," surprisingly this came from Sirius, "really now, that would be

rewarding for stupid behavior."

"Yes, but they don't know that," James defended his son. "As far as the teachers know, these three just could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. None of them actually know that Harry and Ron went after Hermione in the first place, causing this mess."

Lily sniffed in disdain and said, "with any luck, the Professor's will just tell them they're lucky they didn't die, and they'll all go to bed. The instance itself should have taught the lot of them about not going to tell teachers when there's a problem."

Remus was shaking his head at all of them, really and they laughed at him for asking questions they didn't know the answer to. Lily was the worse one about speculating what was going to happen.

Sirius came to roughly the same conclusion, and decided the book would give him the answer.

McGonagall demanded to know what had happened, and Hermione was the first to speak up, finally getting to her feet,

"I hope she didn't go into shock," Lily said with real concern, after all Hermio all of this.

"She got to her feet, I think she'll manage," James said bracingly.

and telling how it had been her idea to go looking for the troll.

Four jaws dropped in disbelief at this.

Harry startled them all out of it by laughing.

"This Hermione, who through this whole ordeal has done nothing but preach about the rules, just lied to a teacher?" Remus said in fascination.

"Okay, I will officially admit, I had her pegged wrong," Sirius said, feeling like joining in Harry's laughter.

"Well I've decided I like her," James agreed, beginning to feel a little more normal again.

Lily just shook her head at the lot of them, was that what it took to impress them? Well of course, she was thinking about the Marauders, lying to teachers was second nature to them.

Sirius now read on in light tones, feeling confident the danger truly had passed now.

Harry tried not to look like this was news to them as Hermione explained what the two boys had done to take down the troll,

"All true," Remus agreed, now beaming at the book, "though I do wonder if she knows they were the ones who locked her up in there with it?"

"She does," Harry said, then he blinked and began rubbing his temple gently.

"You remember something?" James asked eagerly.

Harry nodded absently saying, "Yes, we talked about it the next morning, Hermione had

mentioned something about the odds of it finding her, and I blurted out an apology. Then Ron hit me on the shoulder, but we told her the truth. She still thanked us for it though, saying she didn't blame us."

The longer Harry talked, the brighter his smile was. These two very solid memories of this girl, saving her from the troll and the talk about it next morning, meant that he had to have been right. His gut had told him on the train this girl was a friend, now he finally had proof of this.

"I take back all the things I said about her then," Sirius said sincerely.

James and Remus both nodded eagerly in agreement, then Sirius pressed on happily.

Harry and Ron were trying very hard not to let on that Hermione's story was news to them.

"If it's anything like your face now, I doubt she really bought it," James laughed, feeling happy he could do so again.

McGonagall appraised her for a moment before scolding that Hermione had been foolish Hermione properly dropped her head and looked plenty ashamed, while Harry was still getting over his shock of watching her lie. It was as odd as Snape handing out treats.

"Well, since the one time he did that, most of Gryffindor house was sent to the hospital wing with boils, I wouldn't trust it," James said, but added on, "but you'd be surprised what saving someone's life will do to a personality change."

Harry gave his dad an odd look, he had said this as if he had first-hand experience in the matter, but Sirius was already reading on, a bit red in the face.

McGonagall took five points away from Gryffindor for her actions.

"That's it? Five points?" Lily yelped in shock.

"Like James said," Remus defended with a shrug, "I think McGonagall knows she was lying. Instead of badgering the truth out of all of them, she punished her for the lie, and now she's going to send them all off."

Lily didn't look very happy, but decided to let it go.

Hermione was dismissed, then McGonagall turned her attention on the boys. Praising them for being able to handle the situation, and giving them each five points.

Now all four adults had to admit they were rather surprised at this.

"Now why didn't McGonagall ever reward us for our stunts?" Sirius pouted without really

meaning it. Who knows maybe if he had taken on a troll, she would have? Yeah, no, probably not.

"Don't even get me started on that," Lily threatened, still unable to believe how lax McGonagall seemed to be with how Harry had been acting.

James and Remus were just kind of stunned into silence like Sirius, never in their school life had they seen her reward this kind of thing.

Then they were excused as well. Harry was fairly relieved to be going, more to get away from the smell of the troll then anything.

General laughter filled the living room now, it felt good to laugh again after two very stressful chapters in a row.

Ron grumbled that they should have gotten more than ten points for what they did,

"You're lucky you weren't killed," Lily grumbled to herself.

and Harry corrects him it was five once you docked Hermione's points. Ron admits it was good of her to get them out of trouble, while Harry reminds she wouldn't have needed saving if they hadn't locked the troll in with her.

"No, I doubt that," Remus corrected. "After all, he did go in there first. I doubt he would have noticed the door was locked till much after the fact."

Harry nodded, feeling a bit relieved. He really had been feeling guilty for this.

They got back to their tower and entered the common room to find Hermione waiting for them. They all stared uneasily at each other for a few moments before all saying thanks at once. From that moment on, Hermione Granger was officially their friend,

All three boys were smiling at this. They had already apologized for their initial feelings towards this girl, they were now ecstatic that they had been wrong. Harry had another friend, someone else who could help him through what was obviously going to be quite a time at school, and a bloody smart one at that.

because there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

"All getting detention on your first night at school and winding up outside the forbidden forest is another," James agreed, "but yours works too."

Both Harry and Lily gave appreciative laughs at this, and Harry determined he really wanted to get that whole story eventually, but then Sirius called out, "chapter's over, Harry did you want to read again?"

Remus didn't even hesitate as he said, "oh, yes. Sorry about that, precautions and all," then he dug out the wand and passed it over to Harry.