Halloween

AN: sorry for the wait, but I recently started an English, Maths and I.T course and have been working on that, thus the updates for all my stories have been and will be quite far apart but rest assured I have not abandoned them. Here's the next chapter hope you all like it.

Halloween

However their laughter soon died when the door burst open and a frantic looking Amanda Turpin came rushing through the door.

"Headmaster, Professor's come quickly; Ron Weasley has been viscously attacked and put in the hospital wing." Amanda informed them before rushing back out the door as the headmaster and professor's quickly scrambled to follow her out the door.

Flashback 15 minutes

Harry was walking alone on the 4th floor as he had decided to explore the castle for a while since all his homework was completed and he had mastered all the spells they would be practicing in class in the coming two weeks. He was just thinking he'd have a look around the library to see if any books caught his attention when he spotted Ron Weasley up ahead entering the bathroom.

After all the jibes and insults the other boy had thrown his way in the two weeks that they had been in Hogwarts Harry was waiting for his opportunity to teach the git a lesson. So far though he and the redhead had been lucky, twice Daphne and Tracy had to physically stop Harry from jumping on the redhead, and thus they had saved him from a world of pain and Harry from a heap of detentions. Well Daphne and Tracy weren't here to save Weasley now.

Looking around him, he didn't see any other students or any teachers so he quickly made his way towards the bathroom that Weasley had entered. Opening the door as slowly and as quietly as he could, Harry peeked his head around the door to see that the bathroom was empty except for Weasley who just pulling up the fly on his jeans as he made his way towards the sinks. His biggest mistake was not spotting Harry at the door as he began washing his hands.

Harry, quickly but silently made his way across the bathroom until he stood right behind Weasley who had his head bent as he washed his hands and did not see Harry behind him in the mirror. Grabbing a handful of the boys' hair, Harry smashed the boys' face into the sink letting go of his hair as his face connected with the unforgiving sink. Weasley sank to the floor holding his now bleeding nose and moaning in pain but Harry was not finished yet as he stamped on the boys hand with a sickening crunch in the telltale sound of bones braking. Bending over the boy Harry punched him three times in the jaw, shattering the bone viscously. As he straitened, Harry pulled the boy up with him before throwing him against the sink so his back was to him before he punched the boy six times in the kidney area as hard and as fast as he could before letting the boy slide back to floor.

Looking down upon the boy, Harry saw that Weasley was bleeding onto the floor and moaning in pain as he held his hands to his face; as he was on his hands or in this case elbows and knees, Weasleys head was raised off of the floor so Harry took quick steps back before running at the boy and lifting his leg up so that his shin connected with the side of Weasleys head, painfully knocking the boy unconscious.

Looking down at the boy who was now laid on his back after the punt to the head, Harry could see that the boys' eyes were beginning to bruise indicating that his nose was broken. Turning around, Harry exited the bathroom silently chuckling to himself as he did so. He began making his way towards the dungeons and the Slytherin common room as though he had done nothing more than take a calm stroll through the castle. Upon reaching the common room, Harry made his way to the dorm room he shared with Theodore, ignoring the other students milling around the room.

As he entered the dorm, he noticed that the room was empty so he strolled over to his trunk. After taking out a black sack and his Charms book he walked back down to the common room and made his way over to a sofa beside the fireplace opposite two 7th year boys.

Dropping down onto the sofa, Harry threw the bag at one of the boys when they looked up at him.

"What's this for?" Marcus Flint asked with confusion wondering why Harry would throw him a sack of what was obviously money.

"That is a sack of 100 Galleons." Harry answered blandly as he opened his book to the page he had marked.

"Not that we're complaining about you giving us a hundred Galleons, but why?" Miles Bletchley asked just as confused as Flint was.

"Because if any of the professor's ask, I've been in here all morning since breakfast." Harry replied in that same bland tone as he looked up at the two with a meaningful smirk and a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Ah right I get you." Flint said with his own smirk as his respect for Harry grew at the cunning mind of young Harry Potter.

"Yes that's right Professor Snape, Harry here has been reading his book for the last 3 hours only getting up to use the bathroom." Miles spoke with his own smirk as Flint snorted while Harry nodded his head at him before they all went back to their books.

End of flashback

Hospital wing

"How is he Poppy?" McGonagall asked as she and the other heads of house along with the headmaster looked upon the now sleeping redhead.

"He will live but I will be keeping him here for at least four days to keep an eye on him." Poppy Pomfrey answered with a sad sigh. "Whoever did this gave the poor boy a real beating." She informed them quietly.

"What injuries did he sustain?" Dumbledore asked in a soft voice as he looked at Ron sadly.

"Three broken fingers on his left hand, a broken nose, two black eyes, and his jaw was broken in three places, his kidneys were bruised and lightly bleeding and he has a concussion." Pomfrey answered causing three of the professors' and the headmaster to gasp in shock. Snape just looked upon the boy with a blank uncaring face as was usual for him.

"Sweet Merlin, who would do such a thing to a first year?" Flitwick asked them in his squeaky voice as he looked at the boy laid on the bed that he could only just see due to his small height.

"Could be any one of a dozen students', for the last two weeks Weasley has been making snide and downright spiteful comments to some of the children for the slightest thing." Professor Sprout said in a tone that said she had been expecting something like this to happen sooner or later. Well maybe not quite this bad, but she had been expecting it nonetheless.

"That's true, nearly every day my prefects report how Weasley and Malfoy are always at each others throats. " McGonagall informed them with a shake of her head.

"Yes and nearly every day since term began, I've heard the boy calling Potter an evil, dark wizard who is training to take You-Know-who's place as the next Dark Lord." Flitwick informed the group with a sad shake of his head.

"And what was Harry's response?" Dumbledore asked with slight concern.

"From what I have seen he has merely ignored the boy, sometimes he'd turn round to face Weasley and gave a huge fake yawn." Flitwick responded quietly as he swallowed a laugh at Ronald's face whenever Potter yawned at him.

"Well regardless of what Mr. Weasley may or may not have said to other students, nobody deserves this." Dumbledore began as he gestured towards Ron's still form. "Therefore I am asking each of you to gather your houses and interview each one of them to see if the guilty party may confess or if any other student knows anything that may help us." The four heads of house nodded their heads to shows they understood the headmaster, before he continued.

"That is really all we can do until Mr. Weasley awakens and we speak with him, hopefully he saw his attacker or attackers. Meanwhile I shall contact Arthur and Molly and inform them of the situation." Dumbledore then bid them all a goodbye before he swept from the hospital wing to go contact the Weasley parents.

Snape also swept from the hospital wing not saying a word the entire time he'd been there. He hoped that it was not Potter who had attacked Weasley, he really didn't want to give his star first year Slytherin detentions and remove points for attacking a Gryffindor. He'd much rather give points for that. Then again, maybe Potter was a true Slytherin and had already arranged a suitable alibi. If that was the case, then he, Snape would not inform the others but he would keep an eye on him for any signs that the boy was going dark, but until then he would not step in and stop the boy.

Headmaster's office, Two hours later

"Do we know who attacked Mr. Weasley?" Dumbledore asked the heads of house from his seat behind a huge oak table.

"Nobody from my house has a clue and none of them looked to be lying." Professor Sprout informed them speaking up first.

"Thank you Pomona." Dumbledore replied with a slight bow of his head towards the plump Herbology professor.

"None from my house know anything either." Flitwick spoke up next. He was upset that someone would give a 1st year such a beating but at the same time he was thankful that it was not one of his students who had been beaten, plus he was pleased nobody in his house was involved.

"None from mine know anything either, though the Weasley brothers have sworn revenge." McGonagall spoke next with an unreadable expression on her face. On the one hand she was pleased at the loyalty the brothers showed to their younger sibling and yet on the other hand she did not want any of her lions to get themselves into trouble, Merlin knows the Weasley twins got into enough trouble as it is.

"Understandable, but please inform them that any acts of revenge will be severely punished." Dumbledore in formed McGonagall before he turned towards Snape with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"I talked to each of my Slytherin's in random groups, I asked each of them what they knew about an attack on a first year, I scanned their surface thoughts as they answered, none of them knew anything." Snape lied smoothly as he looked each professor in the eye.

"And what of Potter?" McGonagall asked. She had a feeling that it was Harry Potter who had attacked Ronald but she also had a feeling that they'd never be able to prove it.

"He has been in the common room all morning working on his Charms and Transfiguration." Snape lied thinking that if he mentioned that Potter had been working on her subject then maybe McGonagall might warm to the boy. Though he doubted that Potter would warm to McGonagall anytime soon, or anybody really.

"Does he have any witnesses to prove that?" McGonagall asked in a voice that quite clearly said she did not believe a word of it.

"Let me think, Potter has been sat in the common room all morning, the students have to walk across the common room to exit through the door to the rest of the school, but no Potter does not have a single witness." Snape replied in a sarcastic voice as he looked at McGonagall as though a first year Hufflepuff could have worked out that answer.

"No need to get sarcastic." McGonagall snapped at Snape with a frown on her face.

"Well if you didn't ask such stupid questions then maybe I wouldn't need too." Snape replied bitingly as he stared down the older woman.

"Enough." Dumbledore spoke firmly before McGonagall could reply and get herself worked up. "We have done all we can to find out who attacked Mr. Weasley, now unless Ronald knows who attacked him there is nothing more we can do." His tone was final and all of the professor's knew he would hear nothing more on the subject until they had a chance to speak to Mr. Weasley the next morning when Pomfrey brought him out of his spell induced sleep.

The next day, Harry was sitting alone in the very back of the Slytherin common room reading an introduction into the Dark Arts, when Tracy and Daphne plopped into seats on either side of him, Daphne on his right and Tracy on his left.

"Hiya Harry! What'cha reading?" Daphne asked in her usual bubbly voice as she leaned over Harry's shoulder to look at the book in his lap.

"An introduction to the Dark Arts." Harry answered truthfully causing the two girls to gasp in shock.

"The Dark Arts, but there forbidden." Tracy whispered as she looked around fearfully hoping nobody had heard his reply, luckily no one was near them to have overheard Harry's reply.

"So, if I ever find myself fighting a dark wizard in the future I will need to know exactly what it is I'm fighting." Harry answered blandly yet honestly as he would one day find himself fighting a dark wizard, well Dark Lord to be more precise.

"But they are forbidden you could get in a lot of trouble just for owning that book." Daphne told him in a worried tone of voice.

"And since when did you become my mother?" Harry asked her coldly as he glared at the two girls who both shrank away from his look.

"I didn't but that doesn't mean I want to watch you go down a path of no return, just be careful." Daphne replied in a quiet voice, Harry however just looked at her uncaringly causing her to sigh in defeat.

"So do you know who attacked Weasley? Tracy asked after a few minutes silence in which Harry had gone back to reading his book.

"No." Harry replied not looking up from his book as he turned a page.

"Want a game of chess?" Daphne asked.

"No." Was Harry's reply not looking up.

"Want a game of exploding snap?" Tracy asked.

"No." Was the reply.

"Want to play any game?" Daphne asked hopefully.

"No." Harry replied as he continued to read his book.

"Want to see my naked bum." Tracy asked with a giggle thinking that Harry was not really listening to them and just answering the same to every question.

"Not right now, maybe when we're a little older." Harry replied with a smirk as he looked up at Tracy's now bright red face. His smirk grew larger as Tracy stood up and ran up to her dorm in embarrassment.

"See you later." Daphne giggled as she stood from her chair to follow her friend, giggling all the way as she did so.

Harry was able to read another two chapters before someone else dropped into a seat beside him, looking up Harry saw Marcus Flint sitting beside him.

"Potter, as you no doubt know by now I am the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, well this coming Wednesday we are holding trails as we need a new chaser and seeker and unlike the other three houses we encourage all years of our house to try out for the team should they wish to join, so if you wish to try out be on the Quidditch pitch no later than 7pm on Wednesday." Flint informed him as he glanced at the book Harry was reading, unlike Daphne and Tracy however, Flint didn't seem to care what he was reading about.

"I'll think about it." Harry said after a moment's thought.

"That's all I ask." Flint said with a nod before he stood to leave.

"Hey Flint." Harry called before the older boy could leave causing the boy to turn back and look at him. "Want to earn some money for an hour's work, five nights a week?" Harry asked causing the older boy to raise his eyebrows.

"I'm listening." Flint said as he dropped back into the seat beside Harry. For the next five Minutes Harry explained what he wanted from Flint before they worked out a price.

"We have a deal then young Harry, I'll see you tomorrow night, outside the common room at ten to six sharp." Flint said with a smile as he and Harry shook hands sealing the deal.

"I'll be there Marcus." Harry nodded with a smirk. His path to greatness would begin tomorrow night, nothing and no one would stand in his was as he became the greatest sorcerer to ever walk the face of the earth. He did not wish to conquer the world, oh no he wanted to be known as the absolute best to ever walk it and if he had to go through Voldemort and yes even Dumbledore to do so, then so be it.

Over the next month Harry continued to outperform all of the other 1st year students in class, always the first to 'master' a spell, always giving very detailed answers when asked a question, his home work was always at least twenty inches longer than what the Professor's had asked for whilst being nearly twice as detailed than the other students. Not a class went by where he didn't earn at least ten points for Slytherin. He had yet too loose a single point or get a single detention, he had not being caught out in the castle after curfew. Too Professors and students, Harry James Potter was the role model that all the students should strive to be like.

Of course the professors and students only saw what Harry wanted them to see, the polite, well mannered, always helpful first year student who all professor's sung their praises to each other. Behind the scenes was another story all together, Harry was very cold , uncaring and completely ruthless and remorseless. Just last week he had put Draco Malfoy's head through a window when he caught the boy alone on the 6th floor. The whelp had called Harry's mother a Mudblood whore. Well now the blonde idiot had a long scar running down the side of his face that would never fade completely, his father had had the Auror's in to do an investigation but Harry had gotten away with it yet again as he once more paid older students to say he'd been near them all afternoon.

If he had learned anything from Vernon Dursley it was that money is a power all its own and Harry had millions of it in his grasp. As well as presenting a mask to the rest of the school, Harry had begun duelling lessons with Marcus Flint for an hour a night, 5 nights a week. He paid the 7th year 10 Galleons a lesson, 50 a week, 200 a month and for the next 9 months it would cost Harry 1'800 in total, money well spent in Harry's opinion as Flint was really taking to the lessons as he had already taught Harry how to disarm an opponent, blast an opponent with the Reducto curse along with another 10 offensive spells. He had also begun to practice some of the mild Dark spells, so far he had managed to master 5, they were a lot harder to master than the spells taught at Hogwarts, but Harry knew that with practise they would become easier to master.

Great Hall, Halloween

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins flicker. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet. Harry sat talking quietly to Daphne, Tracy and Theodore as they tucked into the feast.

"So did any of your families get an invite to the Ministries Christmas ball?" Theodore asked as he tucked into his plate of food. He was looking at Daphne and Tracy as he asked this.

"Yes my father already replied that we would be attending." Tracy replied once she had swallowed her mouthful of food.

"My father replied that he would go if my mother, sister and I could go but Lucius Malfoy got all the other Purebloods to block my mother from being able to attend due to her been a Muggleborn though the official reason was because my family are a so called dark family." Daphne replied with disgust; her family had been labelled dark because they refused to choose a side in the war against You-Know-Who.

"Bigoted git." Theodore spat as he glared over at Draco Malfoy who was sat arguing with Ron Weasley as per usual.

"I relied that I would be most honoured to attend the Ministry Christmas ball." Harry spoke up causing three heads to whip round and look at him in surprise.

"I mean no disrespect but who invited you?" Tracy asked in surprise as she had never heard of an eleven year old boy been invited to anything at the ministry unless he was with his family.

"Minister Fudge invited me and a guest of my choosing to be a guest at his table at the Ministry ball." Harry replied with a smirk as three jaws dropped in shock.

"Wow the Minister invited you to be a guest at his table during the ball, that's the highest show of respect you can be given during the ball." Theodore said in shock as he stared at Harry who smirked at him as he continued eating.

"So who are you going to take?" Tracy asked curiously as she too continued eating her food.

"Who said I wanted to take anyone?" Harry asked his smirk growing ever so slightly.

"You're going to go by yourself." Theodore said slightly shocked, and yet he was not really all that shocked since this was the cold, uncaring Harry Potter after all.

"Oh I'll be taking someone and I know just who to take to rile up the Malfoy's." Harry answered with a full blown smirk as he turned to face Daphne who was not paying attention to him as she tucked into a slice of toffee apple crumble.

"Ms. Greengrass." Harry called to Daphne in a formal tone as Theo and Tracy stared in shock. "Would you do me the honour of being my date to the Ministry ball this coming Christmas." He asked her causing her to stare at him in surprise.

"You want me to be your date for the ball?" Daphne asked in surprise to be sure she had heard him right.

"As acquaintances Ms. Greengrass if you would be so kind as to accompany me." Harry replied in that same formal tone, not a hint of a smirk on his face even though he was only asking her so as to try get under the Malfoy's skins, well mainly Draco's.

"I would be delighted to accompany you Mr. Potter." Daphne replied in a formal tone before a bright smile burst onto her face to which Harry merely gave her a nod of thanks.

"Well if you will all excuse me a moment I must use the restroom." Harry said politely as he stood from his seat before he left the hall not even waiting for a reply.

Theodore was just helping himself to another baked potato when 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 an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Miles Bletchley sprang from his seat in the middle of the Slytherin table. "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!" And he bodily picked up a third year Ravenclaw before placing the surprised girl to the side out of his way before he continued leading the Slytherin's out of the great hall.

Suddenly Daphne stopped as she grabbed Tracy and Theodore by the arms and pulled them off to the side away from the crowds.

"Harry, he doesn't know." She gasped breathlessly as Tracy and Theodore went pale at the thoughts now running through their minds.

"Let's go find him." Theo said bravely as he turned to do just that. Tracy, however yanked him back by his collar.

"Don't be thick, the troll could be anywhere in the castle by now, we'll go inform a prefect who will then inform Snape." Tracy ordered them logically before she turned round and the three of them began sprinting towards a nearby prefect.

"Excuse me but Harry Potter went to the toilet before we found out about the troll so he doesn't know about it." Tracy informed sixth year Ravenclaw prefect Amanda Turpin.

"Right, I'll inform the Professor's you three get to your common room, quickly now." Amanda watched the three sprint towards the dungeon stairs before she turned around and began sprinting towards where she had last seen Flitwick heading.

Up on the third floor, Harry had just left the boy's bathroom and was making his way back towards the great hall when he heard a high pitched terrified scream that came from down the hall causing him to freeze in mid-step before he slowly turned around to look down the hall but it was empty. However Harry quickly began making his way down the hall. As he reached the door leading to the girl's bathroom a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean. And that's when he heard it, a girls terrified whimpers and a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Slowly and as quietly as he could Harry opened the door to the girl's bathroom before he peaked his head round the door, the sight that met his eyes caused his jaw to go slack and hang open.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, 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 holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

Hermione Granger and Susan Bones were shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if they were about to faint. The troll was advancing on them, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Confuse it." Harry thought to himself as he pulled his wand out and pointed it at the wall to the left of the troll. "Reducto.'" He whispered. The wall next to the troll exploded loudly causing the troll to pause before it turned too stare stupidly at the wall that now had a medium sized hole in the middle.

As quietly as he could Harry snuck up behind the troll before he pointed his wand at the wall on the right and he let loose another Reducto curse causing another loud explosion and the troll to once more turn and stare at the wall in confusion, Harry moved with the troll as it moved keeping himself behind the troll. He then fired another Reducto at the corner opposite Hermione and Susan, as the troll moved to look over there Harry turned to the two girls and put his finger to his lips before pointing at the door leading out of the bathroom.

Susan Bones nodded her understanding and began to quietly drag Hermione towards the exit as the troll continued to stare stupidly at the corner of the bathroom, unfortunately as the two girls reached the exit the troll spotted them and roared in anger causing the girls to turn and stare in fear as the troll advanced towards them.

"OI pee-brain." Harry yelled as he fired a Reducto at the back of the troll's head, it did not do any damage but it did get the troll's attention as its head snapped forward slightly. Turning round the troll finally spotted Harry and began advancing towards him leaving the girls alone who were still watching the troll in fear.

"RUN YOU FOOLS." Harry shouted at the girls before he dropped to the floor to avoid being hit with the troll's club, as he hit the floor Harry rolled to his left as fast as he could avoiding the club that smashed into the floor where he had been a moment before. Jumping back to his feet Harry pointed his wand at the club that was once more speeding towards his head.

"Reducto." Harry shouted. BANG! The curse struck the club exploding it in a shower of thousands of shards of wood. The troll brought the stump of it club to its face and stared at it in confusion.

Harry meanwhile ran towards the exit only to find Susan and Hermione still stood there blocking his way out.

"Run." He shouted at them as he grabbed their arms and turned them towards the exit shoving them out the door, a roar behind him told him that the troll had spotted them. As the three students began running down the hall towards the marble stairs leading to the rest of the castle the ground shook under the running feet of the troll as it chased them down the hall.

As they raced around the corner at the end of the hall, Harry pressed himself flat against the wall as Hermione and Susan began running down the marble stairs, seconds later the troll lumbered around the corner and began making its way towards the staircase, missing Harry as it did so.

"REDUCTO." Harry roared putting all the power he could behind the spell, his wand aimed at the back of the trolls' knee, the troll roared as its knee was taken out from under it and it fell towards the stairs, however, instead of falling down the stairs as Harry had hoped the troll smashed into the banister before seconds later it fell out of sight.

BOOM! The entire castle seemed to shake with the force of the troll hitting the floor moments later. Harry made his way towards the broken banister before carefully looking over the edge, there three floors down, in the entrance hall was the unmoving body of the troll that had seconds before been chasing him and the two girls who were now looking over the banister one floor down. From his vantage point Harry could see that the ground around the body of the troll was badly cracked and a dark red pool was seeping out from under the trolls face.

Down in the entrance Hall, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore stared in complete shock at the body of the huge mountain troll that had seconds before smashed head first into the ground mere feet from him, five seconds later and the troll would have landed on him as he had been making his way towards the marble stairs.

Slowly Dumbledore lifted his head to look up towards the stairs, there standing on the second floor looking over the banister was Susan Bones and Hermione Granger, but the two girls were not the ones to draws his eyes, it was the messy haired boy standing one floor above the girls that drew his attention, one Harry Potter.

As their eyes met, Dumbledore knew that the boy didn't not care that the troll was dead, the troll had been trying to kill him and Harry had responded by taking the trolls life. Dumbledore beckoned to Harry, who nodded before he began making his way down the stairs towards him, pausing only to get Susan and Hermione to follow him.

"What Happened Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked the boy minutes later when Harry and the two girls stood before him. And so Harry began the tale, from leaving the feast to use the bathroom right up to the point of the troll falling to its death.

Once Harry had finished his tale, it was clear to Dumbledore that Harry had not set out to kill the troll, when he had fired the Reducto curse at the back of the trolls knee he had intended for the troll to tumble down the stairs, giving himself and the two girls a chance to put as much distance between themselves and the troll as they could and hopefully draw the attention of the professors.

However as he looked into Harry's cold, emerald eyes he knew the boy was remorseless over the death of the troll and yet he still had to ask.

"Do you regret that you caused another being's death?" He asked Harry hoping for some kind of remorse from the boy.

"No the beast was trying to kill me and the ladies here, while I didn't set out to kill it, I will not lose sleep over its death either." Harry responded coldly causing the two girls to look at him in shock whilst Dumbledore looked at him sadly.

"Very well." Dumbledore said sadly.

"Headmaster, I take no pleasure from causing the death of the troll, but as I said it was trying to kill us." Harry informed Dumbledore who nodded his understanding.

Dumbledore wanted to condemn the boy for taking another's life but he found that he would have taken the trolls life in an instant if he had been in Harry's shoes. Of course he would have been full of remorse unlike Harry but he found that if he had to choose between his life and two of his students lives over the trolls then he would take the trolls every time.

"Very well Mr. Potter, for your act of bravery in saving the lives of Ms. Bones and Ms. Granger and dealing with a very real threat on the residents of Hogwarts, you shall receive an award for services to the school and let's see, 150 points to Slytherin." Dumbledore gave the boy a small smile.

"Thank you headmaster Dumbledore." Harry replied formally as he bowed his head towards Dumbledore in a show a respect.

"You are very welcome Mr. Potter and I thank you for saving the school from the troll." Dumbledore replied as he bowed his head towards Harry returning the boys show of respect.

"You're welcome sir, may I be excused to my common room if you don't need me?" Harry asked politely keeping his public mask of politeness up.

"Of course my boy." Said Dumbledore with a nod of his head.

"Good night headmaster, ladies." Harry said with a nod to the three before he turned and began making his way across the hall towards the stairs leading into the dungeons.

"Harry." a feminine voice called from behind him causing him to pause in his steps as he turned back to find Susan Bones racing towards him, Hermione not far behind her.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving our lives tonight, I doubt we would have gotten out of there alive if not for you, so I thank you for that." Susan said with a small smile as she looked Harry in the eyes.

"You're welcome Ms. Bones, think nothing of it but some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me but until that day consider my help this evening a gift." Harry replied with a slight smirk as he quoted Don Corleone from the Godfather film that he had watched before he had learned about Hogwarts, when the Dursley's had been out for the day, he'd waited months for an opportunity to quote that phrase to someone.

"Sure thing Harry, I'll see you around." Susan smiled showing her ignorance of the Muggle world before she turned and began making her way towards Hufflepuff house.

"Yes, thank you for your help tonight Don Corleone." Hermione Granger smiled at Harry who snorted in reply.

"Your welcome Ms. Granger, good night." Harry replied with a small smile on his face before he turned back towards the stairs leading into the dungeons, he waited for it.

"Good night Godfather." Hermione called to him before she too began making her way towards Gryffindor house.

"I knew she'd call me that." Harry mumbled to himself with a small smile and a shake of his head as he began walking down the stairs into the dungeons.

End of chapter

AN: so what do you all think? Was the wait worth it? Am I right in thinking that that was a different way of dealing with the troll? Please review.