Bloodline chapter 12

Chapter 12 -

"So, how was the potion's class?" Terry Boot asked Dan as the two walked to herbology class. The two first years had started up a tentative friendship, much to Dan's delight as he had never really had another friend outside of his brother and sister.

"It was pretty neat," Dan grinned. "Professor Tonks is really nice and the subject is really interesting, what about you? How was potion's with Snape?"

"A nightmare," Terry said straight away with a groan. "I have no idea which imbecile thought it was a good idea to hire him but they should try experiencing one of his lessons."

"That imbecile is Dumbledore," Dan informed him in a factual voice. "My brother doesn't like him," He added in the same tone.

"Snape or Dumbledore?" Terry couldn't help but ask.

"Yes," Was Dan's answer. "Anyway, what happened in the lesson?"

"He pretty much came in and yelled 'The instructions are on the board, get to work'," Terry revealed.

"He didn't make you go over any of the safety procedures?" Dan gaped at him. "That's what Professor Tonks did,"

"Safety instructions? Those would have been nice," Terry snorted humorlessly. "Anthony ended up getting covered in boils, if that wasn't bad enough then he nearly made one of the Hufflepuffs cry in front of the whole class," Terry said just before the sound of crying was heard, they both looked forward and saw Hermione Granger rushing through the halls with tears dripping down her face. "Huh, didn't know the Gryffindors had potions class?"

"They don't," Dan frowned. "They should have just finished charms class by now."

"So why was she crying then?" Terry asked thoughtfully.

"Maybe Professor Flitwick made her cry," Dan said before the two exchanged disbelieving looks with each other.

"Dan," A voice called and the two looked forward in time to see Iris walk up to them. "Have either of you two seen Hermione?"

"She went that way," Terry pointed in the direction that Hermione had gone in.

"She was crying as well," Dan added. "What happened to her?"

"Ronald Weasley decided to badmouth her and she ended up hearing," Iris huffed. "He called her a 'know-it-all' who doesn't have any friends,"

"That doesn't make sense," Dan frowned. "She's your friend and she's a 'know-it-most' at best,"

"Dan," Iris gave him a small smile that seemed a mix of fondness and exasperation. "Never ever change, okay," She told him, patting him on the shoulder before walking off.

"Why would I change?" He called after her but didn't get an answer.

"Come on," Terry said. "We've got to get to herbology soon, then the Halloween feast." He grinned.

"I've never done Halloween," Dan admitted.

"Really?"

"The muggles I live with aren't fans of it," Dan shrugged. "Neither is my brother,"

"Why not?" Terry couldn't help but ask.

"What happened on this night around ten years ago?" Dan asked patiently.

"What? Well...oh!" Terry winced. "Sorry, that was insensitive of me,"

"Don't worry about it," Dan waved him off. "I'm not sensitive, that's what my sister is for."

(.)

"Are you feeling better now?" Iris said in the library as she sat opposite Hermione.

It had taken a while for Iris to calm Hermione down and assure her that she wasn't a friendless know-it-all. Eventually, Iris managed to bring Hermione to her favourite place in the castle and from there the two girls buried their noses into books to pass the time.

"I...yeah," Hermione sighed as she placed her book down on the table. "I think so. I...I want to say thank you, Iris, for being so nice to me,"

"What are friends for?" Iris smiled at her, earning a grin from Hermione.

"Oh no!" Hermione suddenly gasped. "The Halloween feast! We're going to miss it!"

"Oh yeah, well...we can probably make it if we hurry," Iris suggested.

"Let's go then," Hermione decided, standing up. "I'm not having you miss your first Halloween feast for me," She said in a mock-stern voice, Iris giggled and the two girls quickly placed their books away before making their way out of the library. "I heard some of the upperclassmen say very nice things about the feast, the food is apparently delicious. More than normal at least,"

"I never pass up good food," Iris grinned as the two continued walking.

The two continued to idly chat along the way until they heard what sounded like a large crash coming from behind them, causing the two of them to freeze. The pair blinked and then looked at each other before slowly looking back and freezing when they saw what had just made the crash. Coming out from around the corner was a very, very large creature. Standing at around twelve feet tall, it was hard to miss even without its horrible appearance. It had grey skin, a lumpy body, and flat, giant two-toed feet. It exuded a powerfully awful smell that reminded Iris of that one time Harry had made Dudley crap himself. Its nose was full of what looked like lumpy, grey glue, presumably, it was the creature's boogies. Under the nose was a pair of thick whiskers that reminded her of her Uncle Vernon. It had pot-belly and sharp fingernails while wearing nothing but a brown loincloth and open jacket, both of which appeared to be horribly made from some sort of animal.

"Geez, and I thought that Uncle Vernon had a fat butt," Iris whispered to herself before turning to Hermione. "What the hell is that?" She asked quietly.

"I...I think that's a mountain troll," Hermione gulped, slowly backing away whilst keeping her eyes on the troll, Iris did the same and so far the two of them managed to stay unnoticed by the creature which was currently examining a bit of knight armour that it had smashed with the massive brown club in its hand. "They're supposed to be the biggest and meanest of all troll species, not very bright but very strong and unfortunately aggressive."

"So...what do we do?" Iris asked, pulling out her wand.

"Very, very quietly make our way out of here and quickly find a teacher," Hermione said nervously.

"ACCCHOOO!" The girl's gaze snapped to their left to look at the embarrassed face of one portrait where a woman was holding a baby with the face of a man for some reason, the sneezing baby-man had apparently just woken up and stared up at the woman. "I want me mi-luk," He grunted out in an Irish accent.

"I am so terribly sorry about him," The woman in the portrait said in a highly embarrassed and apologetic tone. "By the way, you two should probably start running now," She added while gesturing up the hallway to the troll which was now staring at the two girls with narrowed eyes before roaring loudly.

"Fuck your baby," Iris told the woman bluntly before the girls turned and ran.

"That was a bit rude!" Hermione couldn't help but comment as they ran while listening to the horrifying sounds of a troll chasing them, neither of them looked back but they could hear large footsteps, angry roars, loud smashing, screaming portraits and there was a constant smell in the air that all painted a terrifying picture of a twelve-foot monster charging after them with murderous intent.

"I don't care!" Iris said as they ran a corner. Iris was no stranger to running, having to do it a few times when living at the Dursleys. Hermione on the other hand was clearly not as used to it as Iris was, as Iris noticed the girl was slowing down slightly as they got near the moving stairs. Iris flicked her wand and a large web shot out and blocked the hallway behind them, the troll slammed into the web, ripping it into pieces and continued charging with webs all over it.

"That didn't work!" Hermione cried.

"This will!" Iris hoped as she shot a fireball at the troll, lighting up the webs and causing the troll to scream as it frantically tried to slap the fire off of itself.

"Nice!"

"Thanks!" Iris said as they got to the stairs and hopped onto the first flight of stairs they could which was leading down.

They barely made it halfway down when a large roar was heard and the troll had leapt over them and landed on the next set of stairs, causing the girls to scream as they scrambled to stop while the troll took a moment to look appreciative for the stairs not breaking under his weight. He looked at the girls again and suddenly remembered why he had jumped in the first place. He raised his club high in the air, ready to smash them to paste when the stairs they were on started moving. The troll blinked and tried to smash them but only managed to smash a bit of the stair railing, causing the staircase to shake and the girls to fall on their butts. The staircase stopped at another flight that was heading upwards, the girls quickly got to their feet and ran up it, not wanting to stay behind for the troll.

Once they had gotten to the top of the steps they quickly booked it down the first available hallway while listening to the troll following behind him.

"He's not slowing down!" Hermione screamed, chancing a look behind her shoulder.

"You do the same!" Iris yelled as they rounded a corner and skidded to a stop, falling on their butts once more as they found yet another troll, one that looked almost like an exact copy of the previous one. Though this troll was about a foot or two smaller than the other one, it was no less terrifying, especially when the other troll had caught up to them.

Hermione and Iris stared in horror as they found themselves between two trolls, the taller troll grunted and pointed at the pair of girls angrily before pointing at himself with another grunt. The other troll snorted loudly and beat his chest twice with his free hand before tapping his club on the floor, then he turned his beady eyes onto the girls and reached for them with a horrifying grin. His hand had almost reached them when the first troll surged forward and smashed his club in the face of the other troll, sending him flying several feet back before landing on his back, his face looked to be nothing more than a bright red mess as blood poured out of it.

Hermione looked like she was ready to be sick while Iris gaped at the scene, realising that the taller troll had basically just said that he wanted herself and Hermione. If he was willing to kill another troll for the chance to get them then what was he going to do to them? The answer soon became clear when the troll growled at them and then raised his club so high that it actually hit the ceiling above them, with a roar he swung it downwards. Hermione screamed as Iris leapt over her, covering her with her body and closing her eyes, waiting for her impending doom.

A ringing noise followed and Iris opened her eyes, face full of confusion as she slowly began to realise that she was very much not dead, she gingerly got off of Hermione and looked up, freezing as she saw a pair of calm emerald eyes staring down at her.

"So, I can't help but wonder what the pair of you are doing here when there's a perfectly good feast downstairs in the great hall?" He asked calmly. Iris stared at him for a moment before seeing the troll standing behind Harry, it raised its club once more and swung it down. Iris was about to scream for him to move when suddenly the club bounced off an invisible shield behind Harry who hadn't even reacted and just continued to stand there with his wand casually in his hand. "Well?" He asked, giving her a questioning look. Iris stared at Harry, then the confused-looking troll and then her shaken and red-faced friend, did the whole thing one more time and then finally opened her mouth.

"Her...Hermione was upset," She said with great difficulty, not quite sure if she was primarily tired or confused. "So we stayed in the library and we were about to come down when the troll found us."

"Hmm," Harry hummed thoughtfully as the troll made another attempt to smash him, only to be thwarted once more by an invisible shield. "Well, I'm going to take care of our little friend over here," He said, earning a glare from Iris that quite plainly said 'you know damn well that the thing behind you is not little at all'. "Why don't the two of you head over to the Great Hall? Try and see if you can get some food for yourselves," Harry suggested.

"You...you can fight a troll by yourself?" Hermione asked shakily. Harry turned to look at the troll which tried and failed once more to smash him into paste.

"Let's find out," A small grin appeared as he stepped forward and stared up at the troll.

The troll tried to smash him with his club when suddenly an invisible force pulled Harry to the right so that the troll's club smashed into the ground instead of him, for Iris it looked like the floor itself had moved Harry out of the way as his body hadn't moved at all the same way someone would if they had been pulled. The confused troll stared at the club with a bewildered expression before lifting it up and trying to smash Harry again. This time Harry was pulled to the left and the troll club once more smashed into the ground, damaging the floor. Harry raised his wand and shot seven spells at the troll in under two seconds, causing it to scream in pain as it stepped back and unintentionally slapped its head off the wall behind it. Harry raised his wand and pointed it at the closest arm of the troll, the arm raised up in the air before Harry spun around and faced the wall, Harry pulled his own arm down with a grunt and the troll flew forward like it had been judo-thrown by another troll and ended up crashing back-first through the wall that Harry had faced. The sound of the tall troll breaking through the wall had likely been heard throughout half the castle.

"You're going to want to leave," Harry told the girls calmly, Iris gaped at him for several moments before grabbing a shocked Hermione and legging it out of there. Once they were gone, Harry turned to the hole where the troll had been sent, the creature slowly climbed out of it with a dazed expression, it shook its head before glaring at Harry and standing up. It beat its chest before roaring into the air, it stared down Harry and snarled at him, the challenge it was issuing was clear as day. "I suppose I must thank you," Harry told the troll genuinely as he waved his wand and froze all the portraits so they wouldn't see or report what was going to happen next. "I know it's likely that you don't comprehend what I am telling you but I'd like to say it anyway. It's been far, far too long since I have been gifted the chance to genuinely fight someone. Humans are unfortunately fragile and I've got enough rage in me to drown a dragon. Anger and rage that has boiled up over a decade. It's nice...nice to have someone to share it with," Harry smiled softly as the tip of his glowed a bright red and his eyes glowed green. "Allow me to share with you my anger, allow me to share with you my hate, allow me to share with you my rage!"

(.)

"Troll!" Iris yelled urgently as she and Hermione burst into the great hall, everyone turned to look at her and she quickly yelled again. "Trolls! Harry's fighting a troll right now!" She yelled, silencing everyone.

"Potter!" Snape barked. "This is not the time for -"

"It's true, Professor!" Hermione said quickly, hands on her knees as she took in big deep breaths. "A troll...a troll tried to kill us!" She said loudly. "Harry Potter is fighting it right now! They're on the fifth floor!" The students quickly began whispering to each other while the teachers all exchanged looks before standing up.

"Students will remain here, teachers follow me," Dumbledore ordered before waving his wand, the door to the Great Hall closed and a locking sound was heard. With that done, Dumbledore and the other teachers made their way out through the side entrance near the teacher's table and another locking sound followed. The whole hall had fallen into silence, nearly everyone stared at Iris and Hermione, most of which hadn't even noticed Dan get up until he had gotten close to the girls.

"Yoink," Dan said, breaking the silence as he picked up Iris from the waist and carried her over to the nearest corner of the great hall before putting her down. He opened his mouth to say something before pausing and looking back at the rest of the hall. "Don't you have anything else to do, you noisy, idle sods?" He asked the entire student population in a casual voice, and most of them started looking away with various degrees of mumbling. "Are you alright?" He asked Iris in a quiet voice.

"I'm fine," Iris insisted. "Scared to shit but I'm fine, physically."

"Physically?"

"I just saw a troll smash another troll," Iris said, looking a bit green. "Like I said, I'm physically fine. But Harry's alone with the troll,"

"Poor troll," Dan said sympathetically.

(.)

"This is an absolute waste of all of our time," Snape complained loudly as the teachers made their way to the fifth floor. "It's incredibly unlikely for a troll to enter Hogwarts, let alone for a brat like Potter to fight one."

"You know damn well that you're the only teacher here that is not impressed with Harry Potter and that's only because you haven't gotten over a decade-old grudge with a dead man!" Flitwick glared at him.

"Severus," Dumbledore said at once before any more could be said. "Perhaps you should head over to the third floor, and make sure that there are no nasty surprises there if you don't mind," Snape took a moment to glare at Flitwick before giving Dumbledore a stiff nod and walking away from the rest of the group.

"To this day, I still don't know why you hired that man," Professor Sprout frowned.

"Severus has my complete trust," Dumbledore said automatically just before reaching the fifth floor.

"Up ahead and on your left, Headmaster," One portrait said instantly. "That's where the noise is coming from,"

"Thank you," Dumbledore said appreciatively before walking forward according to the directions given with the teachers following behind him, they all turned a corner and froze at the sight in front of them. Lying on the floor, was an unmoving troll body covered in various cuts and bruises. They couldn't see the head of the troll as that was currently being engulfed by a large wooden snake that was twisting the troll's neck violently. There was a hole in a nearby wall, a large metal spike sticking out of the troll's left hand, and various scorch marks were scattered around the hall. Meanwhile, Harry Potter stood in front of the troll, looking more disappointed than anything else.

'Damn thing barely lasted a minute,' He thought in an irritated voice before turning to the Professors. "Ah hello," He said in a pleasant voice as he stared at them. "So sorry about the mess, but our guest was less than pleasant, to say the least,"

"What is that?" Professor Flitwick asked, gesturing to the giant snake.

"What? Oh, the troll had a big club which transfigured into a snake and then animated it to attack the troll," Harry said casually before waving his wand and turning the snake back into a club, revealing the troll's head. Its neck was covered in one large bruise, blood poured out of its mouth as it appeared to be missing a tooth and its open eyes were soulless and unmoving. "I wouldn't worry about it," Harry said, staring at the troll. "Based on what I heard earlier, I'm pretty sure its neck has been snapped. I am sorry for the mess once again, but the troll was a danger to the students, I take my duties as a prefect quite seriously as you can see." He said, staring at the teachers, ignoring the penetrating look he was getting from Dumbledore.