37 Halloween
A few weeks have passed now since Oz's second year started at Hogwarts. Oz kept himself preoccupied in these weeks by keeping to a simple schedule.
He'd wake up, exercise, go to lessons, meet up with friends then at night would head to the RoR to brush up on potion making for a few hours. When he was bored of potion making he'd switch to brushing up on magic. He decided this year to focus some more on wandless magic as well as its benefits in the long run were great. During all this though, his core was showing no signs of immediate growth, sticking around the lower/middle level of step 2. His core not growing didn't bother him though, such things sometimes need to have time to develop. After all back when he forced his first magical maturity he was playing a very dangerous game, one where a wrong step could have actually harmed him fatally. Looking back at that time, Oz realised how incredibly lucky he had been.
Besides keeping to this schedule, Oz also kept and eye on both Quirrell and Harry. Nothing out of the ordinary was spotted by Oz though surprising him greatly. After all, with Salazar out in the castle somewhere he half expected something to happen. The longer the Old Snake was gone the more anxious Oz felt, however since he couldn't do anything about it at this point in time he decided to just let it be. The only thing he could do now was to be as prepared as possible for anything.
As for Harry he seemed to be enjoying his life in Hogwarts. One thing that did change though was that Harry wasn't drafted into the quidditch team this time around. His talent was still recognised in a flying lesson, however when Snape was approached with the idea of making the young boy seeker he refused, allegedly stating "A first year has no right being in the quidditch team".
Such a scenario wasn't a bad change though in Oz's eyes, As a matter of fact thinking on the subject he realised that Harry never really had the best of luck in the quidditch team anyway. Although he was gifted at being a seeker he always managed to get himself into danger when playing. In his first year he gets jinxed and nearly chokes on the snitch, in his second year he shatters his arm and finally in his third year he faints and falls down from the sky almost dying. He might actually be safer not being on the quidditch team as enemies always seemed to use it as a way to mess with him...
The last thing of note to happen in the past few weeks was Oz's identity becoming more publicised. After most of the students got a hand on the information it was bound to spread to the Daily Prophet and other media outlets eventually. A few days is all it took after Oz's initial reveal for his identity to become public knowledge in the whole wizarding world and while his reputation rose rapidly he also realised the hurdles he would have to overcome now...
'A single man in a household that is legendary with a bloodline thats connected to one of the greatest wizards of all time... Huuuu... I guess this response is only natural...'.
Throughout the weeks since his identity was publicised Oz received countless marriage proposals from a myriad of different families. The amount of proposals reached such a ridiculous degree at some point that Oz had to issue out a statement stating he wasn't looking for marriage until he was at least out of Hogwarts. The amount of proposals then dwindled down, however some still snuck in during from time to time. It was a given this would happen though as any family would love to be connected to the Ambrosius lineage. Such a situation however caused Oz to be extremely exasperated.
Finally after all these different events, a certain night arrived. One that Oz was highly anticipating for a while as it was the tipping point in the first book/film.
That night being Halloween.
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On Halloween night, Oz and Harry were both sat at the end of the Slytherin table chatting about various things. To the side of them was Daphne who would sometimes join in on the conversation when possible. While chatting though Oz's mind was elsewhere.
'So tonight's the night where Quirrellmort releases a troll into the school... I wonder if that will still happen...'.
Due to Oz's interference in the canon a lot of things had changed. The main noticeable change at this point was Harrys placement in Slytherin. The more hidden yet still important change was Salazar now sneaking around the castle. With such factors in play, Oz had no clue where the story would go. There's even a chance at this point that Quirrell may not even act on the plan to release the troll.
As Oz was brooding over all this he looked over to the Gryffindor table. Looking towards where most of the first years sat, he realised that Hermione was missing.
'Shit she's still missing? Does that mean Ron and the others still picked fun at her?'
To be honest this scenario wasn't exactly impossible to believe, Hermione was still a teachers pet character due to her drive for knowledge. With her still being that way she's bound to have some kids pick on her due to how she acts. After seeing this all Oz went to turn towards Harry to confirm if something did happen, however as he was about to speak Quirrell burst in.
"Troll! In the dungeon! Troll in the dungeon.... Thought you oughta know..."
Quirrell then fainted causing the whole hall to fall into a great uproar. Oz looked at Quirrell lying on the floor and thought to himself.
'For once the canon is going in the normal direction... this is far too suspicious...'
Just as Oz was about to turn to Harry to ask him again about the Hermione situation he noticed that the boy had vanished along with Daphne. Seeing this Oz sighed to himself.
'That boy is far too nice for his own good...'.
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A/N - This chapter almost became a different beast entirely. I was initially planning on having Quirrellmort release the Basilisk. However when thinking of the long term effects of such an idea, I couldn't bring myself to do it, it was too world breaking.
