Passing mention of intent to harm ones self, and attempted murder a-la troll.

Thankfully, the rest of September and the entirety of October pasted quietly.

Harry's essays and classwork were interesting, and he speculated that if his housemates weren't so obviously against his presence when out of sight of the rest of school, he might have even enjoyed it. The rest of his year was much better at hiding it then most of the older students, Millicent and Theo even managed to be almost friendly to him.

Still, as used to being thrown hateful glances as Harry was, having so many people do it in furtive, broken increments was a bit too much, and he found himself preferring the safety of the library, which was one of the few neutral areas in the castle, where no one really cared that you were there, as long as you kept to yourself.

Oddly enough, one of the Gryffindors in his year started to sit with him whenever she noticed him there, never saying anything, but always joining him at whatever table he'd managed to find empty. This became so normal to him, Harry started joining her as well, whenever he saw her there before him. They never spoke, but he vaguely remembered her name was Granger.

Today, however, Harry kept as much to himself as possible. Halloween had never been a happy experience for him. The Dursleys always threw him darker then normal looks, and just this summer, Hagrid had told him it was the day his parents had been killed. Somehow that small change in the narrative made the day so much worse. Thinking his parents had died in a drunken crash was bad enough, finding out someone had sought them out, had chosen that day out of the year to kill them...

The fact that all of the whispers that had finally died down had started again, with everyone throwing pitying glances at him, didn't help.

After classes that day, Harry's yearmates headed back to the dormitories to put away their bags before heading to the feast.

Harry slipped away to an out of the way bathroom on the first floor, desperately needing to get away from all of the stares and whispers. Harry went into one of the stalls, locking it behind him. He set his bag on the back of the toilet, digging around for the small knife in his Potions kit. He'd have to sanitize it later, but he didn't have anything else sharp with him.

Rolling up his sleeves, Harry carefully unwrapped the bandages. He'd found a spell that conjured bandages, which helped immensely, since it meant he didn't have to wash the makeshift ones as often. The spell could also wrap the wounds for him, but he didn't quite have the hang of that part.

Using the same spell Snape would use on failed potions, Harry made the bloodied bandages mostly vanish. A few arrant threads stubbornly remained.

The small cuts he had made throughout the day had already stopped bleeding. And he was about to add more.

As he griped the knife, Harry felt a wash of shame.

He really was pathetic, wasn't he?

}-{|>

Theo looked around the great hall from where he sat at the Slytherin table. He couldn't see any sign of Harry.

Sighing quietly, he wondered if Harry was hiding in the dormitory. After all, today was the ten year anniversary of his parents deaths. And the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Which was a stupid thing to call him. Theo decided he would call the fallen Dark Lord, Lord...

His eyes roamed the table as he idly pushed food around his plate.

Lord Frosted Cheese-Bagel, he decided. Only the most evil of men, or wizard, would try to frost a cheese bagel. The perfect name for incarnate evil.

Smiling, Theo almost wished Harry was here, just so he could tell him about his new name for the most feared dark wizard in recent memory.

He was distracted from his amusing idea, by the doors of the great hall bursting open, admitting Professor Quirrell, who ran up the center of the hall between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, straight to the head table.

Panting and clearly out of breath, Quirrell managed to gasp into the suddenly silent hall;

"T-troll! In-in the dun-dungeons!"

Still gasping for air, Quirrell collapsed, faint to the floor.

The silence lasted a half moment longer before hell broke loose.

Students were screaming, prefects were yelling, teachers jumped to their feet. Dumbledore had to yell above the crowd for silence.

And Theo suddenly hoped that Harry was anywhere but in the dungeons.

}-{|>

Hermione wiped her eyes on her sleeve, sniffling to herself, as she slowly opened the stall door.

She had missed nearly all of her classes today.

Part of her knew she shouldn't be quite so upset about what Ron had said, after all, she wasn't close to any of her housemates. But she had only been trying to help. She hadn't meant to sound like a know-it-all.

Using her sleeve to once more wipe away the tears that were falling despite her best efforts, Hermione trudged slowly towards the door, set on going straight to bed and pretending that today never happened.

She had just reached it when it swung open, letting the most foul of odors fill the bathroom.
Frozen to the spot, Hermione slowly raised her eyes from the floor, and took in the monstrous sight before her.

Twelve feet tall, its hide a thick, leathery gray armor. A rotten looking, moldy burlap loincloth and threadbare animal pelt vest were the only things covering its massive body. Spikeish scales stuck out from its legs, looking like some horrible thorn bush, and in its massive hand it dragged a huge club the size of a small tree.

Hermione had read many different books since coming to Hogwarts, and she knew right away what this monster was. Knew, from the number of spikes splayed on its legs, from its immense height, from the color and tone of its skin; this was a mountain troll.

A fully grown, mountain troll.

Nearly paralyzed with fear, Hermione back away and to the side, watching in horror as the troll lumbered further into the bathroom, oblivious to her existence for the moment. Its boulder shaped head swung around from side to side, as if searching for something, its squashed, pigish face scrunched in concentration.

"Where? Where Har? Where Har? Where Har?" It almost chanted, making Hermione jump in fright.

Hair? Hair what? Why was it looking for Hair...? 

Hermione's eyes widened as she made the connection. Harry! The troll was looking for Harry! But why?

She shook her head. Not the time to question a troll's motives! She had to find Harry, or a teacher, before the troll did!

Doing her best to remain unnoticed, Hermione edged closer to the door, watching the troll intently, as it searched the bathroom. She had just reached the doorway, when it suddenly wheeled around, apparently having given up on finding Harry here.

Hermione and the troll both froze, as its beady little eyes fell on her, noticing her presence for the first time.

It seemed to squint at her wild mane of curls, clearly thinking.

"Har. Har? You har?"

Hermione swallowed thickly, backing out of the still open door.

"Har!" The troll yelled, apparently having decided she was who it was looking for. It started forward, intent on catching her. Hermione turned around and ran for it.

She fled down the corridor, listening to it crashing after her, it's club slamming into the walls, and knocking over sets of armor. Hermione spotted a large door to her left, and ran in, throwing it open, and slamming it shut behind her.

Turning to the room at large, Hermione locked eyes with Harry, who was just coming out of one of the stalls.

She'd apparently run into the boys' bathroom.

Hearing the troll's thunderous footfalls coming closer, Hermione ran over to Harry, pushing him back into the stall he'd been coming out of. She slammed the door shut, locking it, just as the door into the corridor fell inward, the thick wood splintering to pieces.

Hermione and Harry stared at each other, barely daring to breath, as they listened to the troll stomping into the bathroom.

"Har. Har. Where?" The troll grunted, back to searching.

There was a whoosh of displaced air, followed by the sound of shattering porcelain and crumpling aluminium.

Harry and Hermione both jumped in fright, Hermione clutching Harry's robes, and Harry hugging her close.

The troll let out a disgruntled snort, and stomped closer to where they hid. Another whoosh, and crash!

More angry snorting.

Whoosh! Crash!

An angry bellow.

Whoosh! Crash!

This time closer.

Hermione buried her face in Harry's shoulder, trembling in terror. With each crash, the entire room shook, nearly knocking them over.

The troll let out its angriest yell yet, which was quickly followed by the successive sounds of multiple things shattering.

Harry pushed Hermione to the floor, dropping over her just as the massive wood club smashed through the side of the stall they had hidden in.

Harry wasn't fast enough, and the troll's club dealt him a glancing blow to the back of his head as it passed. With a pained grunt, Harry fell to the floor next to Hermione, and lay there completely still.

Hermione screamed, throwing herself protectively over Harry, as the troll slammed its club into the wall above them, having not noticed them before.

Debris rained down on Hermione, a particularly large block smacking into her shoulder, sending pain shooting through her.

The troll raised its club again, intent on bringing it down on them, when a voice suddenly yelled,

"Sectumsempra!"

Out of nowhere, slashes appeared across the troll's thick skin, very quickly growing in number, and thick, congealed brownish liquid burst out, showering the entire bathroom in its blood.

Footsteps hurried towards Hermione and Harry, the debris trapping them there lifting away, and piling along the one wall.

Hermione looked up and found Professors Snape and Mcgonagall hurrying forward, Flitwick and Quirrell standing near the destroyed doorway. Snape reached them first, and knelt next to them, glancing between Hermione and the still unconscious Harry.

"What happened, miss Granger?" Mcgonagall asked softly, as Snape gently pulled her off of Harry, waving his wand over them both.

Hermione tried to wipe away the tears that were starting to fall down her face, as Mcgonagall helped her to her feet.

"I-I-" she took a shuddering breath, glanced at the now dead troll, and burst into sobs.

"It st-started ch-cha-chasing m-m-me!" Hermione cried, allowing Mcgonagall to gently pull her into a hug. Burying her face in the front of Mcgonogall's robes, as she took great, shuddering breaths.

"I-I did-di-didn't re-re-realize Ha-Harry was in h-he-h-here!"

With that, she broke down completely, her left arm hanging limply by her side, as she clung to her head of house with the other.

Mcgonagall looked up at Snape, who was still kneeling next to Harry. Snape shook his head slightly, as puzzled as the Transfiguration teacher was.

Carefully lifting Harry off of the floor, Snape stood up, cradling his injured student in his arms.

"They need the Hospital wing." He said unusually softly, "we'll come back to this later."

Mcgonagall nodded, and gently steered Hermione towards the door behind Snape.

Flitwick and Quirrell stayed behind to wait for the headmaster, both wondering what could have happened.

Don't question Snape cuddli- I mean, Carrying Harry to the hospital wing. What is magic for again?

Idk why Theo is offhandedly insulting the Dark Lord. (And cheese bagels)

I'll leave it in, since he is only eleven. Eleven year olds have weird sense of humor.

As always, hope you enjoyed!

Bakeku67