The Halloween Feast was underway. A thousand bats swooped around the Great Hall. Harry was sure that he could feel the light rain of bat pee which always accompanied the bat infestations at Azkaban. Maybe he imagined it.
His appetite vanished as the food appeared on the tables. Harry practised cleaning and sterilising charms on the few pieces of food he forced himself to eat.
Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore’s chair, slumped against the table, and gasped,
“Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know.”
He then sank to the floor in a dead faint. There was uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore’s wand to bring silence.
“Prefects,” he shouted. “lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!”
-ooOOoo-
“Wonderful! Send the Slytherins down to the dungeons to distract the troll while the rest of them run for it.”
“Shut up, Tom!”
“Dumbledore knows that the safest place is in the Great Hall. All they have to do is lock the doors, and a tribe of trolls would take days to break in. If they could.”
“We’re already on the stairs. We have to stay together.” Harry drew his wand. This was bad.
-ooOOoo-
The leading prefects and senior students turned the last corner before the Slytherin Common Room entrance.
The troll was there, waiting for them.
Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, 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 dragging a massive wooden club, which it picked up and swung over its head.
Four stunning spells from the Slytherin prefects and year seven students hit the troll. In response, it bellowed and charged. Harry was impressed at how quickly it could move. The club swung around and scythed down a row of fleeing students.
There was no time for fancy spellwork. Harry stepped outside the bunch of running students and cast a diffindo at the club. It came apart and dropped to the floor. The troll bellowed again and threw the stump of the club at Harry. Harry ducked as the heavy lump of wood grazed his face.
He cast diffindo again, putting more power into it. The troll's head rolled off its shoulders.
The troll’s headless body crashed to the flagstone floor. Black blood gushed out of the severed neck. Harry cast an elemental charm to freeze the blood and the troll’s body. Troll blood was nasty stuff. Any contact with troll blood had to be treated quickly, or chemical burning would cause deep scars.
Order was restored. Six Slytherins, including two prefects, were injured.
Daphne and Tracey moved forward and cast first-aid spells to stop bleeding and immobilise broken bones. Cyrus Greengrass had ensured that his daughter and Tracey were given first-aid training before they left for Hogwarts.
Teachers arrived as the six were being floated up to the infirmary.
“Who did that to the troll?” McGonagall demanded.
No one answered. Harry, Daphne, and Tracey concentrated on levitating an injured student. They climbed to the infirmary level quickly without jolting the injured.
Madam Pompfrey scanned each victim in the infirmary and directed each to a bed.
Professor McGonagall burst into the infirmary just as Harry levitated his injured Slytherin on the bed.
“Potter! I was told that you cast spells at the troll. Give me your wand!”
“In a second, Professor, let me release him.” Harry finished the levitation spell as the seventh-year prefect he was carrying settled on the bed.
McGonagall snatched the wand from his hand. “Come with me!”
Harry had to run to keep up with the professor. He was not strong and had very little endurance.
McGonagall barked a password at the gargoyle, and Harry followed her to the headmaster's office.
The headmaster was seated at his desk. There was no sign of Professor Snape.
Harry’s wand was given to Dumbledore, who cast the ‘Prior Incantato’ spell on it.
The names of the spells Harry cast appeared above the wand. There was the levitation spell. ‘Wingardium Leviosa’, then two cutting spells, ‘Diffindo’. The last spell name to appear was ‘Avifors’, the first-year transfiguration spell to transform small objects into birds.
Dumbledore finished the spell and stared at Harry.
“You killed a full-grown mountain troll with a cutting spell. That is not a killing curse. It was intended to be used to tailor clothes. Did you do that?”
“Yes, Headmaster. That is what I intended. The senior students cast stunning spells at the troll. They all hit the troll, but they only made it angry. I disarmed the troll by cutting the club. That really enraged it. The only way to stop it was to remove its head, which I intended to do.”
McGonagall and Dumbledore glared at Harry but didn’t say any more.
Harry continued. “I used atmospheric elemental magic to freeze the troll's blood and body. Troll blood is quite toxic. Nobody should allow even a drop of it to touch them.”
Dumbledore handed Harry’s wand to McGonagall, who then handed it to Harry.
“That will be all, Mister Potter. You may return to your Common Room.”
Harry walked back to the Slytherin Common Room on his own. No teachers patrolled the halls, and the students were locked in their Common Rooms, except for him.
-ooOOoo-
“It couldn’t be avoided. They all know now. A troll isn’t the most terrifying and dangerous thing in the castle. It’s Harry Potter they all have to be wary of.”
“Thank you, Tom. I suppose I must get used to it now.”
-ooOOoo-
Harry entered the Slytherin Common Room. The room was crowded, all conversation stopped, and every face turned to him.
Harry scanned the room. “Is Professor Snape here?”
“We haven’t seen him.”
Daphne and Tracey rushed to Harry. “Are you OK? Did the troll hit you? What is that cut on your cheek?”
Harry touched his cheek. His fingertips now had a red smear on them.
“That must have been the bit of the club the troll threw at me. I didn’t know that it drew blood.”
Daphne took hold of Harry’s arm. “We’re taking you to the infirmary. The smallest injury from anything trollish has to be investigated.”
Daphne and Tracey guided Harry to the door.
A surviving Slytherin prefect called out. “Where are you going?”
Tracey shouted back. “The troll cut Harry. We are taking him to the infirmary.”
The prefect hurried to them. “I’m coming with you.”
-ooOOoo-
Harry stumbled and dragged his feet as they made it to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey took one look at him and pointed to a bed. Harry had to be lifted onto it.
He didn’t notice two green-robed healers from St Mungo’s Emergency as they worked on the injured.
Harry and all the injured Slytherins had been transferred to St Mungo’s Isolation Ward within the hour. They all had Troll Fever.
Amelia Bones and two aurors arrived by floo from St Mungo’s Emergency. They had been alerted by the St Mungo’s Emergency healers as soon as they returned from Hogwarts.
“Madam Pompfrey, is there any reason why the school has not alerted these students' families that they were injured?” Amelia asked.
“The headmaster has control of communications with students’ families. You will have to ask him. My healer’s oaths allow me to ignore school regulations and transfer the injured students. In the past, the headmaster has ruled that students can only be moved out of the castle with his approval.”
Amelia nodded. “I shall return in the morning. Please think about what you want to put in your statement about this incident.”
Madam Pomfrey knew Albus would wriggle and squirm out of any responsibility for this debacle. She and Amelia Bones knew that he had organised the whole sorry mess.
-ooOOoo-
The rising sun glimmered on the horizon. Amelia Bones and a squad of aurors arrived at the castle. They had travelled by floo from St Mungo’s Emergency to the Hogwarts Infirmary.
“Madam Pomfrey, I have come from St Mungo’s Emergency. Two students who arrived there last night were already dead. First-aid spells had been cast on them to keep their hearts pumping and their lungs breathing, but they were already dead. The troll club had crushed their skulls and killed them instantly.”
Madam Pomfrey groaned and covered her face. “I knew they were dead. They didn’t have a chance. I sent them on to St Mungo’s Emergency without telling anyone. I didn’t want more panic and fear than we already had.”
Amelia Bones stared at Madam Pomfrey, who had turned away to hide her tears.
At that moment, Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall rushed into the Infirmary.
“Amelia, I would have expected you to ask permission to enter the castle and question my staff. Please explain yourself.”
“Dumbledore, two Hogwarts students were murdered in this castle last night. Another five are in St Mungo’s Isolation ward. The five survivors are infected with what is commonly known as Troll Fever. As for why I have the authority to enter the castle and search it, the names of the dead students are Adrian Selwyn and Sofia Burke. Their grandfathers are Wizengamot members, and Renn Selwyn is on the Hogwarts board.”
Dumbledore glared at Amelia.
Amelia snarled. “If I don’t investigate this tragedy and find out what is happening in this place, my head will roll. Your friends might keep you safe, but I must do my duty.”
Amelia waved the auror’s towards the door. “Start in the dungeons and search everywhere.”
Amelia turned back to Dumbledore. “I have ordered a pack of scent hounds to be brought in. They will follow the troll’s scent to wherever it entered Hogwarts.”
Dumbledore shouted. “I won’t allow it. I will not have those animals in the castle.”
“They are at the gates now. The school board gave me full access to the castle last night. The board chairman called an emergency meeting after hearing of the students’ deaths. They have permitted me to enter and use any means to investigate, whether you like it or not.”
Amelia walked out of the infirmary and descended to the Slytherin Common Room entrance.
The troll's blood had left a huge black stain on the floor near the entrance. No amount of cleaning would remove it.
-ooOOoo-
There was a weird whining noise. It was so annoying. Harry wanted to sleep; he was so tired he couldn’t think clearly. His skin was dry and prickly. Harry thought for a minute or was it an hour or a day? Time was going so slowly, and that annoying noise was hurting his head.
Then he knew that he wasn’t in his bed. He wasn’t in his room at Hogwarts or at The Ossuary. Was he back at Azkaban? No, he was too warm; he was hot. He felt much too hot.
Harry tried to open his eyes. His eyelids were stuck together, and he wasn’t strong enough to unstick them. He tried to lift his hand up to rub his eyes. He couldn’t move his hand.
Harry shouted out as loud as he could. “HEY! LET ME GO!”
The green-robed nurse hurried to the hospital bed. Harry had just moaned and twitched. The wet cloth gently moved over Harry’s face and neck. The nurse put the cloth in a bowl on the treatment trolly. A small sponge was taken out of another bowl. The sponge was wiped over Harry’s lips. Enough water to wet Harry’s lips and tongue was released, but no more than that.
The nurse spoke. “Try to sleep, Harry. The potions are keeping you alive. You will recover more quickly if you sleep.”
-ooOOoo-
Scent hounds picked up the scent of the troll. The pack was a mixture of Beagles, Dachshunds and Basset hounds. They followed the winding path of the troll to a fortified room deep in the dungeons. The door to the room was standing open. It had not been smashed or broken open.
The trail led to a tunnel from a lower level of the dungeons to a hidden entrance in the Forbidden Forest. Standard ward sensing spells showed that the troll prison and the deep tunnel were below the castle wards.
The pack were directed back to the castle. Another trail was picked up, and another fortified room was discovered. This one held a live stupefied troll.
Amelia directed the search to the third-floor corridor. The hounds bayed at a wooden door. They scented something behind the door. It was a Cerberus. Aurors stunned and bound the three-headed dog and removed it from the castle.
Hagrid angrily demanded that ‘Fluffy’ be released. Hagrid’s claims that the Cerberus was a harmless puppy were ignored.
Two staff members were also found in the room with Fluffy.
Severus Snape was lying unconscious in a corner. One of his legs had been used by Fluffy as a chew toy.
In another corner was the dead body of Quirinius Quirrell. His head had been smashed in. It looked like Fluffy had whipped Quirrell around like a rag doll and hit his head on a stone wall. A smashed harp was under his body.
The search found more rooms below Fluffy’s room. Professor Sprout was asked to remove the clump of Devil’s Snare from the room below.
Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall volunteered to remove the traps they had set in the connected rooms below the Devil’s Snare. One of the rooms was connected to the troll prison holding the stunned troll.
The next connected room had fire pits along each wall. There were no fires; apparently, this trap had not been finished.
Yet another connected room was discovered where a red glass object was set up in a display case. The case had powerful enchantments, which would have trapped anyone careless enough to touch it.
The red glass thing was identified as a non-magical copy of Nicholas Flamel’s Philosopher’s Stone.
In an old classroom on the other side of the castle, an object called the Mirror of Erised was found. Dumbledore claimed it was a harmless magical artefact which had been stored in the castle for centuries. Amelia was unable to connect it to the Philosopher’s Stone tragedy.
Amelia reported to an emergency session of the Wizengamot. Harry’s name was not mentioned. Fudge ordered Amelia to suppress the names of the students. Amelia confirmed that, in her opinion, the troll had been deliberately released. Still, she had no evidence to identify the culprit.
Dumbledore presided and ignored protests from the conservatives about his presence.
Dumbledore gave no answers to any questions. He obviously enjoyed the chaotic nature of the Wizengamot session. As the shouting subsided, he made a short statement.
“The sad events at Hogwarts are purely accidental. Certain tests had been set for our more advanced students to tackle. Unhappily, a troll escaped before the tests could begin. I have no idea what Professor Quirrell or Professor Snape were doing in the room being guarded by the Cerberus. Professor Snape has yet to regain consciousness, and regrettably, Professor Quirrell left no clue about his activities.”
Dumbledore also announced that he had visited the families of the deceased students to express his condolences. He didn’t mention the five students who were clinging to the edge of life in St Mungos. There was also no mention that a student had despatched the troll.
Amelia watched Dumbledore as he spoke to his supporters after the meeting finished. She set herself a new task.
“Find out the horrible secrets Dumbledore has in his possession which keep so many leading wizards obedient to him.”
-ooOOoo-
Harry was still in St Mungo’s Isolation ward. Hermione wanted to know why no one could visit him. The Alliance and the Escort met at their tree by the Black Lake.
“Hermione, what do you know about trolls?” Daphne asked.
“Only what I have read in the Defence textbook. Basically, the book says that if you meet a troll, run away. That is all.”
Daphne laughed. “For us firsties, that is the right response. Trolls are a mystery. They don’t seem to be related to any other creature. They don’t use magic but are immune to almost any magic that can be cast at them.”
Blaise interjected. “Unless it's our resident mage, Mister Harry Potter, casting it. That was Merlin scale magical power to use a diffindo spell to behead a troll.”
Daphne continued her lecture. “Trolls are always hostile and violent to each other and every living thing. They kill to eat, and they kill for fun. They do sometimes live in tribes. Suppose one troll becomes strong enough to defeat every other troll in combat. In that case, the victorious troll rules the tribe until the tribal chief is defeated by a challenger.”
Hermione made a sad face.
Daphne continued. “They will kill any human on sight. That isn’t the only danger. They have a dangerous collection of magical germs on them. Contact with a troll or anything a troll uses will infect you with deadly diseases. There are a lot of different infections, and the resulting sickness is known as Troll Fever.”
Hermione gasped. “Which Harry and the others have got.”
Tracey took up the lecture. “They were all infected by contact with the troll’s club. Trolls handle their clubs all the time. A troll’s club is as dangerous as the troll itself as far as Troll Fever is concerned. Harry cut the troll’s club, which made the troll less dangerous, but then the troll threw the stump of its club at Harry, and that piece of the club cut Harry’s face. That was only a small graze, but it was enough to infect Harry. No one can touch him now until the fever breaks. The healers and nurses have to be dressed in head-to-toe protective clothing. Everything the infected patients touch each day is sterilised by steam. Potions and spells aren’t enough to kill these germs.”
Hermione shook her head. “Poor Harry, it's not much of a reward for saving all those lives.”
Blaise snorted. “If rewards were fairly handed out, Harry should get an Order of Merlin. He won’t, of course. You wait and see.”
-ooOOoo-
The first Quidditch match of the year resulted in a win for Gryffindor over Slytherin. Harry was still in St Mungos Isolation ward. The other Troll Fever sufferers had recovered and were sent back to Hogwarts. They were all children from pureblood families who accepted that rampaging trolls and Troll Fever infections were to be expected at Hogwarts.
Amelia visited Harry when he was finally transferred to the Rehabilitation ward.
“How are you, Harry?”
“I feel like I’ve been trampled by a stampeding herd of elephants. Every joint is aching, my skin is dry and itchy, and I’m not allowed to scratch. I have yet another dark scar on my face, and I can’t walk properly.”
Amelia grimaced.
“The walking problem is one of the things I want to talk about. The healers have asked me to tell you that your left leg may never work again as it used to. One of the infections attacked your nerves. The nerves controlling your left leg have been damaged. Magic can heal a lot of things. Some things can’t be completely healed because the damage was done by something magical. Troll Fever is caused by many magical bacteria.”
Harry touched his forehead and looked away.
“I’ve thought that too. I’ve been here for days and still can’t move my left ankle. My left knee can only bend about half what it used to.”
Amelia sighed. “You might have to use a walking stick from now on.”
“That’s cool!”
“Harry! What’s cool about that?” Amelia demanded.
“I can make it into a staff. Gus gave me the enchantments needed. I haven’t been using a staff because having a firstie use a staff like a twentieth-level mage would look weird.”
Amelia hummed. “Harry! I know that you are powerful. I saw that from the first day you were at The Ossuary. Please don’t do anything that Albus Dumbledore will use to declare you a Dark Wizard.”
“Aunty, I haven’t done anything wrong. Of course, that may be because the headmaster doesn’t know what I have done. He convinces people that something is illegal simply by frowning at them.”
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