Chapter 128: "Halloween Trouble"

It was Halloween, and Harry couldn't believe how fast time had flown by. In what felt like a blink of an eye, Halloween had arrived. Everything was happening just like in the original story, which made Harry feel oddly comforted.

A few weeks earlier, Neville had told Harry about a midnight duel trap set up by Malfoy. Neville, along with Charles, Ron, and Hermione, had gone to the specified place expecting Malfoy and his friends but had instead run into Filch and his cat. While running and hiding from Filch to escape punishment and precious point loss, they ended up in the forbidden third-floor corridor, where they discovered a three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor.

Neville told Harry everything and mentioned that Charles was curious about the trapdoor. After hearing about the events, Harry gave Neville a gentle scolding, telling him not to wander around at night. He used the attacks in his first year with Professor Fletcher to scare Neville into staying in the dorm after curfew. Hogwarts was going to be dangerous these few years, and Harry didn't want Neville to get involved.

Harry then reassured Neville not to worry about whatever the dog was guarding, explaining that it was Dumbledore's personal matter and had nothing to do with the school.

Seeing that even this small incident went according to the original story reassured Harry that the other major events would also play out the same way if he did not get involved directly. The only changes from the original story were where Harry himself was involved. Harry was very happy to learn this.

Despite the various changes in the world due to his presence and the Potters being alive, the major events were still following the original timeline. This consistency gave Harry a sense of stability and the assurance that he still had the prophetic advantage against Voldemort and his other enemies.

For now, Harry was happy about this, but he knew that in the future, when he was strong enough, he wanted to break this cycle of events and change the timeline. He wanted to keep Sirius and Amelia alive and prevent many unfortunate things from happening.

Tonight was going to be interesting, but Harry didn't plan to interfere with the night's events. He was sure Dumbledore would be keeping a close watch, and Harry preferred to play innocent. This year, Dumbledore had been watching him more closely, so Harry decided to stay out of trouble and avoid any of Dumbledore's possible plans for his prophesied golden boy.

As always, Harry did not go to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. The students and his friends were used to this by now, and his absence didn't affect the festive mood of the feast.

Inside the Great Hall, a thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling, while a thousand more swooped over the tables, making the candles in the pumpkins flicker. With the signal from the Headmaster, the feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, just like at the start-of-term banquet.

Students eagerly dug into the feast, having a great time. Meanwhile, Harry was enjoying his own feast down in the Hogwarts kitchens. He had the Marauder's Map open in front of him to monitor the events of the night. It was like watching a good movie while having a meal—his idea of fun.

Harry saw on the map Quirrell coming from outside the castle and then running to the Great Hall. He knew the drama was about to begin. He had checked, and Hermione was in the first-floor girls' bathroom. Everyone else was in the Great Hall. Everything was proceeding according to the canon.

Back in the Great Hall, the doors suddenly burst open, and Professor Quirrell came sprinting in, 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, making sure to fall forward so he didn't injure Voldemort on the back of his head. This would have seemed odd if anyone had paid close attention.

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!"

All the house prefects stood up and started giving instructions to form lines and lead groups of students to their respective common rooms.

"A foolish decision," Harry mumbled while happily eating his meal.

He could guess what was happening from the steps he saw on the Marauder's Map and could see the faults in Dumbledore's decision. Quirrell had already said there was a troll in the dungeons, yet Dumbledore told the students to go to the dorms. The Hufflepuff and Slytherin dorms were in the dungeons.

"Maybe Dumbledore already knows where the troll is. He couldn't be so mad as to risk his career by leading students of two houses into danger," Harry thought.

Back in the Great Hall, as Charles and Ron followed the other students, Charles suddenly remembered something and grabbed Ron's arm.

"I've just thought—Hermione," Charles said urgently.

"What about her?" Ron asked, confused.

"She doesn't know about the troll," Charles explained.

Ron bit his lip. "It's too dangerous. Let's just inform Percy. He'll tell the professors."

"No, let's go inform her ourselves. I don't want the professors to know we bullied her into hiding in the toilet. My mom will be mad. Mom heard about Hermione from Professor McGonagall and for some reason is very fond of her. She told me Hermione is just like her and to take good care of her."

"Oh, all right," Ron snapped. "But Percy better not see us."

So they ducked down and made their way to the first-floor girls' bathroom, hiding from the other students and professors along the way.

Back in the kitchens, Harry saw this on the Marauder's Map and felt a bit happy. At least his younger brother wasn't all bad. Trying to save a classmate was a good thing, even if going to Hermione during a dangerous situation without an adult's help was a dumb decision.

This also assured Harry that Hermione would be safe. With Charles, even if the three couldn't handle the troll in the same way as in the books, the professors would reach them in time to save the day. Harry trusted Dumbledore to care for the safety of his brother.

Harry was about to resume his meal when he saw another group of students splitting off from their house lines and meeting together. The group then went in a different direction, as if searching for something.

This discovery wiped the happy smile from Harry's face. He quickly stopped eating and made his way out of the kitchen, thanking the house-elves on his way out.

He needed to hurry to this group of students. It looked like Harry might have to meddle in this troll situation after all.