3 Chapter 3

Waking up David found himself being nudged by Mel who apologised quickly and handed him a letter.

David,

When I informed our resident healer about your condition she was quite irate with me and demanded to see you the following morning, as such I have arranged a meeting with Madam Pomfrey early this morning, so she can deduce just what your illness is and what we can do to help you. Professor Flitwick and I will be by at seven am to guide you to the matron's office in the infirmary.

Professor McGonagall.

Grabbing his wristwatch which was sitting on his bedside table and see that it was half-past six, David quickly got out of bed and headed to the showers.

---

"Hello Professors," David greeted them after opening his door to a knock.

"Good morning David, we'd better get a move on as Madam Pomfrey is quite irate with me currently," replied Professor McGonagall.

---

"Right, here we are David," said Professor Flitwick as they arrived in the infirmary in front of what he assumed was the matron's office.

"Would you like for us to remain or would you prefer privacy David?" asked McGonagall kindly.

David quickly replied, "I don't mind you two remaining, as long as you promise not to tell anyone what we learn in here."

Both professors immediately replied, "Of course David."

Following this declaration Madam Pomfrey made her appearance, "You've made it, excellent. Right this way David," said Pomfrey dragging David over to a bed.

Looking curiously at the two professors, Pomfrey asked, "I assume David has given the two of you permission to stay for this examination?"

"I have Madam Pomfrey," David cut in immediately.

"Very well, let's begin," she replied with a flick of her wand and drawing the privacy curtain around the four of them.

She proceeded to cast a few non-verbal spells and quickly frowned. She once again brought her wand out and this time muttered inaudibly under her breath as she performed more diagnostic spells on David.

With a slightly pale face, she spoke up, "I'll be back in just a minute."

Following this deceleration Professors Flitwick and McGonagall quickly shared a worried lock between each other.

A couple of minutes later had Madam Pomfrey return with a tray in her hands, upon it was a beaker filled with what David assumed was a potion. Accompanying the beaker was a small silver dagger.

"I just need a few drops of blood from your David. If you could give me a finger, it will be painless, I assure you," Pomfrey explained in a motherly tone.

Holding out his hand to matron was immediately followed by her pricking his finger with the tip of the silver dagger and letting a few drops of blood into the potion. She quickly healed his finger after getting what she needed and then intently watched as the potion with David's blood in it turned black and evaporated.

Looking quite sadly at the empty beaker she didn't look David in the eye for quite some time.

"You can tell me what you've found Madam Pomfrey," David reassured her in a calm voice.

"I apologise Mr Cross, I needed a moment… What I've discovered is a form of very aggressive Blood Malediction," Pomfrey said, now giving off the air of professionalism.

Following her diagnosis, Professor McGonagall gasped with a hand covering her mouth while Professor Flitwick looked down at the floor sadly.

"This particular Malediction is documented quite well. It was used to end family lines Mr Cross…" Pomfrey explained further.

"It's okay, how long do I have Madam?" David reassured her.

"Without any treatment, a couple of years at best I believe… However, we now have potion therapies which can help immensely. More tests would have to be run as time went on to be certain, but I believe with these potions you could very well have another decade," she explained.

"I see, that's certainly better than what the non-magical healers gave as their prognosis, I think I prefer yours Madam Pomfrey," David said while smiling at her.

Sighing she nodded, "Very well David… I'll have Professor Snape brewing the potion immediately. You'll have to take it once a week, Filius will bring you your first dose later tonight, but you'll have to come to see me every Monday."

"Okay, thanks for the help… I'd better get back and get changed for breakfast. We'll be getting our timetables at breakfast right Professor Flitwick?" David asked his head of house, smiling.

"Yes David, I'll be handing out timetables after everyone has eaten" replied his head of house with a defeated tone but attempting a smile.

"Better get going then David, I assume you know the way?" Professor McGonagall asked him without letting on to her inner turmoil.

---

"A decade… are you certain Poppy?" Minerva asked her friend quietly.

"At best Minerva, at best…" she replied, overcome with sadness.

"Is there anything we could do?" Filius further prodded.

"Nothing, other than the potion. No cure exists. The Greengrass' have been searching for a cure for centuries," she explained to her two colleagues.

---

The first week of Hogwarts had its highs and lows. Charms, Transfiguration and Potions were by far David's favourite classes. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall were above reproach and he excelled in their classes. Snape, however, had been an obvious let down as a teacher, potions itself was immensely intriguing and crucially important if he was to find a cure and being left to follow instructions on the board had only bothered David slightly. He also surprisingly found himself enjoying Herbology, taking care of a wide assortment of magical plants removed any dullness in the tedious task, adding to the subject's importance were its use in potions ingredients, thus surprisingly finding himself truly enjoying working in the greenhouses.

Defence was unbearable, the stuttering Quirrell was doing his head in and he was sorely tempted to expose him after every lesson. With the use of the Room of Requirement being far too risky with Voldemort around he had nowhere to practice duelling and the more dangerous spells he had found in the library. Leaving him to work only on the current curriculum, which was far too slow for his tastes.

While Professor Sinistra was also an excellent teacher, the subject of Astronomy itself had no real use outside of a niche area, as the study of rituals and their correlations to the movements of the stars and moon were outlawed by the ministry decades ago.

History was a waste of time and money, and if he were paying for his Hogwarts education himself, he would have complained about it the board of governors and headmaster by now. To combat this David simply zoned out in class and read the more interesting books on magical theory, warding and the magical side of medicine he had borrowed from the library. Studying for History was something he did during the late nights he sometimes spent in the cosy Ravenclaw common room.

---

Watching Hermione slowly become gloomier as the week went on, hurt, he knew she would tone down her know it all attitude following the incident with the troll and finally make some friends in Gryffindor, but it was still disheartening watching someone who came to Hogwarts so ecstatic slowly lose it.

He did what he could, whenever they had classes together, he would sit with her and she would noticeably brighten up. They also studied quite a bit in the library. He was not as overzealous as Hermione in her learning of the first-year material, but rather spent his time going over obscure topics in the enormous library, while she read and re-read all the needed material for every assignment.

---

Mel was truly an unusual House Elf, every book David brought back to his bedroom the Elf would read herself as soon as David was finished with said books. He suspected she spent a lot of time in the library during curfew as there was very little to do for her without the managing of a home or the perusal of items in the Room of Requirement.

"Mel, how did selling the items you found in the Room go?" David asked curiously.

"Quite well Master Cross. Luckily, I was able to find a chest of enchantment quality gems and only had to sell a hand-full, the rest are sitting safely in your vault. Are you certain I can't remove more items from the Room?" she asked, confirming David's suspicions she had too much free time.

"It's far too dangerous Mel, you've told me yourself you've seen Professor Quirrell lurking around the 7th floor occasionally," he explained, understanding her desire to be doing something.

"Mmm, true. I won't ask again," she hummed in acceptance.

Deciding to distract her, he asked, "How did your meeting with Goblins go?"

With a flurry of her ears, Mel excitedly told David the details of said meeting "Oh! It went excellently Master Cross! The goblins have finished inspecting the manor grounds and manor itself for dark creatures and structural integrity. It seems our soon to be new home has withstood the tests of time quite well. Everything is ahead of schedule and they will begin the warding this very week, from what they tell me it shall be done by Halloween!"

Warmed by her enthusiasm, he replied, "That's good to hear, even though I won't be able to see it until the Christmas holidays you'll have your work cut out for you preparing everything once the goblins are done."

"Oh yes! I have so many ideas for what we can do!" she shouted in joy.

"Mmm, we'll start making a list of what we will be adding once it's all ready."

---

Flying was immensely fun, while he was absolutely not interested in Quidditch, flying was an entirely different matter. So far Madam Hooch had only allowed them to hover off the ground, but as flying was compulsory first-year class, students would eventually be allowed to fly around the school grounds. Under strict supervision of course.

David and the other students soon found themselves falling into a routine, but his frustrations with being so limited this year were getting to him. Luckily, he had his physical exercise to fall back onto to help overcome some the tediousness of the school year.

Unfortunately exerting himself physically didn't help overcome all his troubles, as becoming friends with Hermione had left him worrying over the coming Halloween. While he knew Harry and Ron would save her from the mountain troll, the slight chance he had changed something, and they wouldn't, in fact, be there to save here was playing on his mind, becoming an obsession.

The only way to combat this was by subtly reading every book regarding trolls he could get his hands on. Unfortunately, this only added to his anxiety after realising just how lucky the trio had been to survive the beast.

~Fuck it, I'm going to make sure she's going to be okay.~

---

"Hermione? Are you in there?" David in a comforting tone.

"W – Who's there? Go away!" Hermione said in reply.

"It's me, David. I overheard some girls talking about someone crying in the toilets and when I noticed you weren't at the feast, I put two and two together and well, here I am," he explained, lying.

Sniffling she Hermione replied, "Oh… I really want to be left alone right now David."

"Yeah, I could do that… Or you could come with me and we can chat somewhere… less likely to get me into detention if we are found," he replied, a little nervous.

"I… umm… I just," she said, the mention of detention almost convincing her.

Sighing internally David continued, "Well, I'll just have to stay here and risk detention then. Can you tell me what's got you so down you've been crying in the girl's toilets?"

"It's just so horrible, I thought things would be different here," she blurted out, before taking a brief pause, she eventually continued, "But it's exactly the same! They treat me just as terribly as the real world... I was so excited before I came here, I just want to learn and help!"

David continued chatting with Hermione for the next ten minutes, eventually coaxing her out of the stall and enveloping her in a hug.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by an awful stench. And with an ear-piercing scream from Hermione, dread overtook David as he knew the troll had just been locked in the bathroom with them.

Instinct and desire to protect while not dying a bloody death took over, drawing his wand as the troll barrelled over with a roar, he quickly muttered, "Aresto Momentum," slowing down the troll to a snail's pace and looked over to Hermione, and shouted, "Hermione cast a blasting hex at the troll's club hand! I need to maintain the spell!"

"Fuck," David thought to himself as he realised Hermione was frozen in fear. He quickly relinquished the casting of said spell and instantly cast a Bombarda at the hand holding the enormous club.

Dropping the club and roaring in unbridled fury it ran towards the two of them again. David quickly followed up with another Aresto Momentum, slowing down the troll again but finding it infinitely harder to maintain the spell this time around.

Luckily for him, helped arrived in the form of Harry and Ron, seeing them David immediately screamed at Harry and Ron, "Levitate the troll's club above its head and drop it! Hurry!"

Watching Ron fumble with his wand, it was thankfully Harry who had maintained a cool head and performed the levitating charm and dropped the club on the troll's head, knocking it out cold.

Realising what had happened, Hermione muttered "David," in a terrified voice and enveloped him in a bone breaking hug.

"It's alright, we should get out of here in case it wakes up," he said trying to reassure her while desperate to get away from the beast.

With Hermione nodding and Harry and Ron mumbling their agreement they almost made it out of there before Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Snape and Quirrell cut them off.

Seeing the four of them Quirrell almost fainted again and with his usual flurry of robes, Professor Snape came over to inspect the troll with Professor Flitwick sighed in relief seeing his student alive and well.

"What on earth possessed you to not be in your dormitories?!" shouted McGonagall in fury at the four of them.

With Harry looking down at the floor in shame and Ron gulping loudly in obvious terror it was Hermione who spoke up.

"Professor, they came looking for me… I went looking for the troll because I wanted to test myself, I thought I could take it…" she said, trying to lie and protect her fellow students.

Ron and Harry looked at her with bulging eyes at the obvious lie to protect them from punishment. But David was having none of that, she would not protect the red-headed idiot that was partly responsible for her being in danger.

Before McGonagall could speak, David interrupted her, "That's a lie Professor, I heard some students talking about a girl crying in the toilets and when I realised Hermione was missing from the Gryffindor table as the feast began, I left and went to see if she was alright."

Taking a small breath, he prattled on, "After talking about why she was here, I eventually convinced her to come out of the toilets, but that was when we were confronted with the troll. I managed to cast Aresto Momentum to slow down the troll and wanted Hermione to knock its club out of its hand, so we could levitate it to knock out the troll. That didn't go to plan, so I had to knock the club out of its hand myself and recast Aresto Momentum. That was when luckily Harry arrived and levitated the club and knocked out the troll…"

"And you came up with this plan right as the troll showed up Mr Cross?" asked David's head of house curiously.

"Yeah… Just had to react I guess" David lied quickly, for he had been coming up with multiple plans all week.

"I see," Professor McGonagall cut in, "Miss Granger, ten points from Gryffindor for lying to a professor. Thirty to you, Mr Cross, for checking up on a fellow student and managing to deal with a fully-grown Mountain Troll! And ten to you Mr Potter for quickly assisting and saving the lives of your fellow students."

Finishing her rewarding and taking of points she then added, "Now, Cross, what was the reason as to why Miss Granger wasn't at the feast?"

"Sorry professor, that's not for me to say," David said in refusal.

"Very well, all of you had better be off to your dormitories. The headmaster will be told about this," she said in warning as she dismissed them all.

Looking at Hermione, David quickly whispered, "Sorry Hermione, I couldn't let you take the fall for that prat, Weasley," and was quickly off to Ravenclaw tower before she had a chance to reply.

---

"Master! Where have you been? There's talk among the elves of a Mountain Troll loose in the school!" Mel shouted, looking quite panicked.

Still having adrenaline running through him, David explained quickly, "I ran into the troll while chatting to Hermione, Mel, she was crying in the girl's toilets. I think she's been bullied these past few weeks. Anyway, the troll is dealt with and everyone's fine. I'm going to have a quick shower to get the stench of troll off me. Can you… de-odorise my clothing? It stinks."

Looking at David in fury for a good minute, the House Elf finally replied, "Very well Master Cross. Off you go, the smell is horrid."