Chapter 17

Harry opened the door and led Neville, having left the others behind as this was going to be personal, into the room. Looking around he saw that the room was about fifty feet across with a circle inscribed on the floor with various runes written around it. There was a wooden table to the side that had several pieces of parchment on it as well as a potion and a quill hovering over a blank piece of parchment. Gesturing for Neville to follow him Harry walked over to the table and started reading the parchments. When he had finished he looked over at Neville and said "according to what is written on these parchments you need to have seven drops of your blood fall into the potion. Once that is done the potion will turn an emerald green, I then need to take the potion and pour it onto the quill and the parchment. The quill and parchment will absorb it and then write out all of your blocks. Once that is done you need to disrobe down to your underclothes and lie down in the middle of the circle. Once you are there I will cast the counter charms listed here on you, this will remove the bindings. Now it mentions that there may be quite a bit of pain depending on the bindings I will have to remove."

Neville gulped and nodded nervously while saying "if it will help, I'm all for it."

Harry nodded. "Al right, now drop the blood required into the potion and we'll see what needs to be removed."

Neville walked over to the table that the potion was sitting on and dropped the required amount of blood into the potion. When the last drop of blood fell into the potion it changed to its desired color.

Harry took the potion and poured it onto the quill and parchment. Once all of the potion was absorbed the quill quivered and rose and began writing various things down. When it stopped Harry picked up the parchment and read out loud "complete block on accidental magic, 30% block of your core, a partial block of memory retention and a block on your sense of balance." Harry looked at the book for help in how to remove the blocks and wrote down the required counters. Once he was done writing the counters down he looked at Neville and said "I want to practice the spells first so that I don't mess up, ok?"

Neville nodded and replied "sounds good to me Harry. I can't believe the Headmaster did such a thing! He caused my family to believe that I was a squib!"

Harry nodded and said "well with these removed you should be able to soon prove everyone wrong." Harry mentally wished for the room to generate a practice target. The room changed as a mannequin appeared lying in the middle of the circle. Harry looked over each of the counters and started his casting. It took him about fifteen minutes before he felt comfortable enough in his casting to be able to cast them on his friend. Once he was done he said "now I believe I'm ready Neville. According to the book you need to remove everything except your underclothes and lie down in the idle of the circle."

Neville complied and lay down. Once he was situated Harry started casting the counters. As each counter was cast Harry could see that Neville glowed white briefly. When the last counter was done with he smiled and said "that should be all of it Neville. How do you feel?"

"I feel great! My mind for the first time feels like a fog has been lifted from my mind and I can remember everything so much easier" Neville reported grinning widely, while hurriedly dressing.

"Excellent, that means that the removal of the bindings took place correctly" Harry said. "Now I've noticed in teaching you that your wand is pretty old and looks to be well used, is this correct?"

Neville nodded and glumly replied "yeah. My Gran wanted me to use my father's old wand as a sign of respect for him."

Harry nodded and said "well then we will have to convince her that a wand that is suited specifically for you will be necessary, especially as that wand has probably not accepted you as its master. According to what I've read and what Ollivander told me, a wand that is made specifically for you will always help you in casting magic. While a wand you win in a duel might work for you in a pinch it won't work quite like a wand that is made for you."

Neville gulped nervously at the thought of trying to change his grandmothers' mind, but nodded his assent to helping Harry in trying to do so. He looked at the room and asked "how did you find out about this place Harry?"

"Asked a house elf for some help and he told me about this room" Harry shrugged. Neville just nodded and Harry continued on with "now that your blocks have been removed let's go back to the group." Harry led Neville back to the group and continued on with their instruction.

Harry continued on with his now almost full schedule until the early morning of the 31st when he woke up. He was dressing in his clothes for the day when he noticed time stopping once more. He looked around and saw Lansharra sitting on his bed. "Hello Lansharra, may I know what prompts you to show up?"

"Well it's the 31st and as you might remember this is the day that something always happens to you. Now you might recall that this year the troll is let lose in the castle by Quirrell right and it almost kills Hermione?"

"Sure, but since Hermione is secure in having friendships now and not felling completely rejected by Ron then it shouldn't pose a problem right?"

"Yeah about that ... You see since Hermione wouldn't be in that place this year then another student would have died. Since that person is not slated to die either the Powers that Be have messed with Quirrell somewhat and will have him put a potion in her drink. His reasoning for this is that he wants you to be weakened by the death of a close friend. So she will once again end up in that bathroom when the feast begins. Now you can stay outside of the bathroom and wait for her as well as the troll or you can once more go to the feast and make your way to the bathroom when the troll is announced. Both plans have their flaws and both have their good points." Harry and Lansharra talked back and forth for several minutes until it was decided to once more have Harry go the feast since this would not only allay any suspicions of Voldemort that he was "too" attached to Hermione it would in addition give him a chance to gain some appreciation from the Slytherins when he announced that the Slytherins would be in danger from them leaving the Hall as their dorms were in the dungeons. Once their discussion was finished Lansharra said "now I don't expect to be seeing you until next year, so stay safe Harry."

"No problem with that, have a nice time Lansharra" Harry said as Lansharra faded and time resumed its normal pace. Harry finished getting dressed and made his way outside to carry on his normal activities. After their Potions class Hermione clutched her stomach and groaned out to Harry "I need to go to the bathroom Harry. I'll see you during the feast alright?"

"Sure thing Hermione, I'll see you there" Harry informed her as she sped off. Harry carried out his normal schedule for the rest of the day until he was sitting in the Hall eating the feast.

While there Lisa asked "where is Hermione?"

"She had to run off to the bathroom after our Potion class, why?"

"Well she's not here so I was wondering about her."

"She should be fine." As soon as he finished saying this the doors slammed open and Quirrell appeared shouting "Troll in the dungeons. Thought you should know." He then fainted face-first onto the floor.

The students were all standing in panic when Dumbledore caused a boom to issue from his wand thus instantly quelling all signs of panic and focusing all attention on him. When he had gotten everybody's attention he announced "would all prefects lead their house to their respective common rooms please, while we teachers will deal with the situation."

Harry immediately shouted, with a bit of sonorous he had applied to himself, "aren't the Slytherin common rooms in the dungeons?" Harry noticed the grateful looks from the Slytherins and the startled but pleased reaction on Snape's face at his pointing out the dangers to his students.

Dumbledore looked discomforted by being questioned, but quickly covered it by smiling in his patented grandfatherly manner and said "very well, the Slytherins shall remain here and the prefects shall seal the doors after everyone has left."

Harry followed behind everyone and when they had left the Great Hall peeled off from the group, once he found a place that was deserted he took out his map and quickly located Hermione. Harry saw that she was currently located in the same bathroom as she was in his past life. He tapped the map and said "show me the quickest way to this location", the map quickly traced out a path and Harry sprinted along the path until he came out in the corridor outside of the bathroom. He saw the troll duck down and make its way into the bathroom which was now emitting piercing shrieks in Hermione's voice. Harry rushed into the bathroom and saw that Hermione was standing against the far wall seemingly frozen in terror. Harry looked at the troll and decided to end this now. He took out his wand and cast "diffindo forte, diffindo maximus, pertundere, gubia, gubia" in a chain directing the diffindo forte at the troll's ankles, the diffindo maximus at the arm holding the club and the piercing and gouging hexes at the head of the troll. The results were unexpected for Harry as the diffindo aimed at the ankles took of the ankles completely, the arm was completely severed while the head was pierced and rendered almost unrecognizable by the hexes. Once the troll had crumpled Harry rushed over to where Hermione was standing and asked "are you alright Hermione?"

Hermione looked at him and nodded and glomped him in a tight hug. They were standing there when the door sprang open and Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape, Pomfrey and Quirrell came in. Quirrell saw the troll and immediately grasped his chest and sat rather shakily down on a nearby chair. Snape looked at the troll and raised an eyebrow as if he was impressed despite himself. Dumbledore looked at the two of them and asked in a rather questioning tone "would you like to explain what the two of you were doing here?"

Harry, reinforcing his Occlumency shields all the time, looked at him and said "I came here when the announcement about the troll by Quirrell during the feast as I knew Hermione was currently here due to an upset stomach. The reason I came here is I was fulfilling my duties as a leader of my year in Ravenclaw. When I came to the corridor I heard Hermione screaming in terror so I rushed in. I saw the troll about to kill Hermione so I started a spell chain I had been working on. As soon as it was done I saw that the troll was taken care of so I made sure Hermione was untouched, I was doing that when you came in."

Flitwick perked up when Harry mentioned a spell chain and asked "what were the spells used in this chain Mr. Potter?"

"Diffindo forte which I aimed at the trolls' ankles, diffindo maximus aimed at the arm holding the club, pertundere aimed at the head and two gubia's aimed at the head as well."

Dumbledore spoke in a scolding tone "now my boy, I'm sure that you could have found a way to take care of the troll without consorting to killing it. I feel quite..."

Harry burst out "are you kidding me? You would prefer perhaps that I allowed it to kill Hermione; or anyone else? I can't believe I'm hearing this! What? You wanted me to try and stun it, maybe? By the way I will never be your boy so please refrain from using that condescending word in reference to me again Headmaster" Harry finished with an audible sneer in his voice.

Flitwick piped up "too right Harry. I for one applaud your coming to the defense of an innocent student. Now I think that will be 30 points to Ravenclaw for coming to her rescue and 20 for an impressive use of a spell chain. Though I must ask where you learned of spell chains as well as the use of the forte and maximus addition to your spells."

Harry smiled sheepishly and said "well I learned of spell chains from my dad's old Auror books as well as the forte and maximus additions in the same place from what he had written in the margins. He noted that they should only be used when faced with a magically resistant creature or a quick way to get past a person extremely good at shields, but only if the situation was immediate because they use more power than the normal spells require."

Flitwick nodded happily and said "excellent explanation Harry. Now are either you or Ms. Granger hurt in anyway?" Seeing them both shake their heads he said "then I want the both of you to head back to the Ravenclaw rooms and stay there for right now. I expect that there will shortly be an announcement allowing everyone back to the feast."

Snape suddenly said "just a second Flitwick as I have a question for Mr. Potter." Snape latched his eyes onto Harry's and asked "where did you learn of the location of the entrance to the Slytherin rooms, Mr. Potter? I do not believe that they are common knowledge."

"They may not be, but the general location is known to some of the students. I overheard one of my fellow 'claws mention that he had to go down to the dungeons to await his girlfriend for some studying. I took that to mean that the location was located down there somewhere."

Snape kept his eyes locked onto Harry's for a few seconds then nodded abruptly and said "then I thank you for pointing out the danger posed by my students going down there with no other protection than the prefects."

Flitwick piped up "now I want the both of you to directly go to the common room now." Harry and Hermione nodded and left to go to their common room.

When they had left Flitwick turned to where Dumbledore and said scathingly "I suggest in the future that you show more concern for the safety of your students Headmaster as what I heard today has cast doubts on your concern for the students safety which as teachers must be above all other concerns. Tonight's actions in addition to your hiding the Philosopher's Stone here and announcing, and I quote, 'that a corridor is off limits unless you wish a painful death' to a school full of curious teenagers calls into question your mental facilities. Now is there anything else we need to do here?"

Snape, McGonagoll and Pompfrey looked at him in slight wonderment as he dressed down Dumbledore but stood silent as each of them silently resolved to ask why he had done such a thing confidentially. Each of them shook their heads when he asked if there was anything else so Flitwick asked "now can we allow the feast to continue, as I am quite hungry."

Minerva shook her head as if to clear her head and nodded while saying "of course Filius, I'll get into touch with Filch and ward this bathroom so that the students won't be able to enter until he can clean it up, in the meantime I would suggest that we announce that the feast shall continue. I shall also announce to the students that the troll was found and dealt with when everyone is there."

Flitwick nodded and turned to the other Professors and asked "now gentlemen I really do want to know why two of my students were threatened here. Quirrell is this troll the one that you placed as part of your security?"

Qurriell stuttered nervously "nnnooo, iittt wwwwaaasss nnnnoootttt mmmiiinnneee. IIII pppplllaaacceedd a mmmmooouuunnntttaiiin tttrrroooll, tttthhhiiisss iiiisss aaaa ffffoooorrrreeessstttt tttrrrooolll."

Flitwick grimaced at the stuttering fool, but nodded then turned to Dumbledore and asked "why didn't the wards alert you to this breach Albus?"

With a twinkle in his eyes Dumbledore answered "why I had to modify the wards to allow Quentin's protection in Filius. I had no idea that such a thing would happen. I suppose I'll have to modify the wards once more and close up the hole in the wards."

Flitwick stared at him for several seconds then reluctantly nodded as this was apparently the best he could get out of the old man "very well then." Turning to the rest of the assembled professors he said "I will see you shortly as I wish to go back to the feast. Good evening gentlemen."

Harry and Hermione had barely entered the Ravenclaw common room when they were being bombarded with questions like "where were you? Did you see the troll? What happened? Why are you so late?" After enduring about a minute or two of this Harry raised his hand gesturing stop and whistled piercingly.

When the students had fallen silent he said "now that I can actually answer some questions I'll try and do so. First off I am late because I noticed that Hermione here was not at the feast tonight as she was dealing with an upset stomach. When Qurriell came in announcing the troll I immediately took off for her as she was the only student in my year that wasn't present. I did this as it was part of my duties as leader this year to make sure all of my year mates receive warnings and announcements. I met up with her and we were making our way back here when we ran into Professor Flitwick and he sent us on our way here. Anything else you will have to ask him." Seeing that Harry was resolute on not revealing anything more the students dispersed. Harry made his way over to a nearby chair and sat down with Hermione sitting nearby. Harry looked at her and asked "are you alright? You look a little pale and you've been silent this whole time."

Hermione started hissing furiously "no I'm not alright! I was almost killed by a bloody troll! Not to mention seeing it die in front of me is a little hard to take in!" Hermione blushed suddenly then whispered "I am extremely grateful you saved me and I am in your debt. Without your intervention I would have been smushed. I was frozen in fear when I saw that thing coming for me. Thank you for saving me Harry." She paused for several seconds then hissed in indignation "what was Dumbledore thinking in trying to punish you? He sounded like it was your fault that the troll was even there! How could he! He almost implied that it would be better for me to have died that for you to kill that thing!"

Harry sat back and listened to Hermione rant in wonder of how her opinion of authority figures had changed so much from his previous life, when she finished he replied "well Dumbledore has always preached that it is never ok to kill and will always give another chance. He firmly believes that everyone deserves another chance and that killing in self defense is wrong and should never be done. It's one of the main reasons that the Death Eaters and Voldemort were so successful during the last war and why none of the Death Eaters captured stayed locked up for long. In the end he even allowed the Ministry to pardon those Death Eaters who claimed they were 'under the Imperious curse.'"

They sat there in silence for about three minutes until they heard a voice saying "the feast is now on, will all students please come back to the Hall as here will also be an announcement given before the feast resumes." Harry and the rest of the students all made their way back to the Hall and sat down. Once there Professor McGonagoll stood up and said "the troll has been dealt with and there should be no more problems tonight. I would like to say that there were no injuries reported and I would like to thank all of you for obeying our instructions in moving to your dorms quickly and safely. In addition I would like to award Ravenclaw 10 points for Harry Potter's quick pointing out that the Slytherin rooms are located on that floor and perhaps preventing an accident. Now let the feast continue."