Hi! I know this is waayyyyyy later than I said I would have this chapter up...I unexpectedly ended up being more busy than I thought I'd be...

But I've got your latest chapter right here so Enjoy!

Without further ado...

Let's Get On With It!

Chapter 11

'First The Dog and Now There's a Dirty Great Troll!'

The morning after their unfortunate run-in with the three headed dog, Harry found himself so preoccupied with wondering what exactly it was guarding and whether it was in fact the same package Hagrid had removed from Gringotts, that he barely noticed Ron gleefully pointing out Malfoy's look of shock when they both appeared at breakfast. He, feeling a twinge of guilt, told Ron about his theory of what the the dog was guarding over their meal, despite his mother's warning to keep the package a secret. He trusted Ron not to tell anyone else about it, after all, neither of them were meant to have even been anywhere near the dog and whatever it was guarding. Both boys agreed that, whatever the item was, it had to be something very valuable but as they knew nothing more about it, their discussion of it's nature died down quickly.

Even if Harry and Ron had wanted to consult Hermione Granger on her thoughts about what they had seen the night before they would not have received a response. The girl had taken to glaring at them at every chance and refused to speak a word to them at all. Neville, on the other hand, seemed to want to pretend that the whole midnight adventure had simply been a vivid nightmare and had practically run away as Harry and Ron approached to talk to him about it.

"Well, they won't be any help," Ron said as they returned to their seats at the Gryffindor table after their failed attempt to talk to Neville.

Harry ran his fork absently through the leftover scrambled eggs on his plate. He wondered if they ought to be trying to find out more about the package. It was obviously something of great importance and secrecy since his parents seemed to know what it was but wouldn't tell him. Perhaps, it was some dangerous, magical weapon or maybe the words of a wicked dark curse that was forgotten through history and needed to be kept away from people who would use it for evil.

The screech of an owl distracted Harry from his musings. Owl post had arrived. Harry quickly scanned the incoming birds for Hedwig's distinct white feathers. When he found her he was surprised to see that she, along with his parent's owl Midnight, Sirius's owl Shadow and another owl he didn't recognize, was carrying a long thin package wrapped in brown paper. The owls dropped it right across his plate and Ron's, almost knocking over their pumpkin juice. Hedwig nipped his fingers, and then they were off again, soaring out of the Great Hall.

"What is it?" Ron asked peering over Harry's shoulder as he ripped an envelope off of the package and tore it open.

The letter inside read:

Dear Harry,

Your mother and I can't say how proud we are of you for making the Gryffindor Quidditch team in your first ever year at Hogwarts. Looks like you've inherited all of your old dad's talent after all. Oh alright, you'll probably make an even better player than I was, even I didn't make the team first year. I can't wait to see you play, your mother and I will of course be coming to your first match and we're extremely excited for you. I know I'll be bragging to everyone at work about you being the youngest seeker in a century.

Remember, if you ever need any advice you can ask me. I know I was a chaser but I played for Gryffindor too in my day (you can go look for my trophies) so I'm sure I'll be of priceless aid to you.

Oh, but your mother's telling me I've been rambling on too much and you're probably wondering what's in the package. Well, you can't be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team without a quality broom can you? Open it up in your dormitory, Professor McGonagall has already told me she doesn't want too many people knowing about this yet.

Have fun with your new broom. We know you'll make the team just as proud as you've already made us.

Love,

Mum and Dad

PS- Though I'm extremely proud of you for making the team, please don't go putting yourself in danger like that again Harry. I almost had a heart attack reading Professor McGonagall's letter. Love you sweetheart. Mum.

"It's a broom," Harry whispered excitedly as he finished reading the letter. Ron was already gaping at the package longingly.

"Well?" He said. "Aren't you gonna open it?"

"Come on," Harry said, snatching up the package and hurrying towards the stairs leading up to Gryffindor tower. However, he and Ron found their way barred by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy immediately stretched out his hand before Harry could move away and felt the package.

"That's obviously a broom," He said. "Don't know the rules Potter?"

"Actually, I do," Harry said smoothly. "But sometimes, if you're brave enough, you've just got to break them, don't you Malfoy?"

Then he and Ron slid past Malfoy and headed up the stairs leaving him fuming at the bottom and shouting, "Don't think I won't tell anyone Potter!"

oOo

"Merlin...it's a Nimbus Two Thousand," Ron gawked at the broom now lying across Harry's bed. Harry himself was speechless as he stared at the polished handle of the broom where the glinting gold letters spelt out the name of the fastest racing broom on the market. He had studied the details of the broom in Quidditch magazines for months, and fantasized about what it would be like to fly on a broomstick that had been used only by professional Quidditch players, but had never imagined he would actually own one.

"I can't wait to fly on it," Harry said a few minutes later after he and Ron reluctantly packed away the broom and left for their first lesson of the day.

Thoughts of the Nimbus Two Thousand hidden away in the dormitory occupied his thoughts so much that he could barely concentrate in his classes and Ron was hardly any better as he continually asked Harry to repeat his promise to let him have a turn on the Nimbus. That evening, after dinner, the two were finally able to get down to the Quidditch pitch to give the racing broom a try. As soon as Harry kicked up off the ground he knew exactly why the broom was considered the best in the world. It moved swiftly at the slightest bend of his wrists and its' speed far surpassed the brooms he had ridden before.

The next morning, Lily and James Potter received one of the longest and most heartfelt letters of thanks either of them had ever received.

oOo

In a rush of Quidditch practice, lessons, and homework Harry found that his first two months at Hogwarts had flown by. Although he still missed his parents and his home at Potter House deeply, the castle had become much more familiar to him and had already begun to feel like a home away from home. He was even enjoying his classes, Potions excluded, which were becoming more and more interesting as their first year progressed. Now, as October came to a close, the castle had been fully decorated for Halloween and live bats and floating carved pumpkins could be seen hovering over the four House tables in the Great Hall.

"I can almost smell the feast already," Ron sighed wistfully sniffing the air as he and Harry passed the Great Hall on the way to Charms.

Professor Flitwick was already seated on the tall stack of books behind his desk and as the first years filtered into the classroom he waved his wand and dozens of white feathers zoomed across the room, one landing before each student.

"What're the feathers for Professor?" Parvati Patil asked, already twirling hers between her fingers.

"An excellent question miss Patil," Flitwick said animatedly. "Today you will be practicing the charm to make objects fly which you all learned about in last week's class. I trust you all have done your homework in practicing the incantation and wand movements."

"Of course, Professor!" Hermione Granger said, practically bouncing in anticipation.

Next to Harry, Ron groaned and muttered, "Show off."

Harry grinned and shook his head but he too was quite excited to try the levitation charm charm. He considered it to be something so elementary to magic that he felt he could hardly be considered a wizard if he could not make an object fly up with just a spell. He pulled out his wand and focused on memorising the pronunciation of the charm that Flitwick's chalk was writing phonetically across the board.

Forty minutes later they all left the classroom feeling rather frustrated. Most people were unable to affect any change in their feather at all. Harry had only just managed to make his wiggle slightly when the class ended and by that time Seamus Finnigan had managed to set his on fire. Only Hermione Granger was successful and Flitwick's praise for her followed them out of the classroom.

"Honestly, it's just not normal," Ron complained. "Do you think she's cheating somehow?"

"Actually," A voice sounded testily from behind them. They swung around to see Hermione Granger glaring at Ron. "You were pronouncing the charm wrong. It's Levi-O-sa not Levi-OSA. May be if you actually studied, instead of playing wizards chess and exploding snap every night you might have been able to make your feather hover too.

Ron's face went almost as red as his hair. "Oh yeah?" He said angrily. "Well may be if you weren't such a poncey know it all you'd actually have some friends."

Hermione's eyes widened and her lips thinned. Her knuckles whitened on the straps of her backpack as she immediately rushed past them, her face turned away. Harry still saw the tears glistening in her eyes.

"Hermione wait!" He called after her but she had already ducked into the crowd of students heading to their next classes. Harry turned to Ron who was now looking sheepish.

"Well, it's true," He said defensively. "She hasn't got any friends and that's why."

Harry frowned. "You didn't need to be horrid to her about it. When we see her next class you should apologise."

However, Hermione wasn't in History of Magic or Transfiguration and when they went up to the common room to drop their school bags off before dinner she wasn't there either.

"She's probably up in her room studying," Ron said shrugging it off uncomfortably when Harry expressed some concern.

Once they had arrived in the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast he scanned the table for Hermione's bushy hair and not seeing her he tapped Lavender Brown on the shoulder.

"Oh, Harry!" She said surprised as she turned away from her conversation with Parvati. Both girls promptly began giggling and Harry suppressed the desire to roll his eyes.

"Hi Lavender," He said, "Have you seen Hermione Granger anywhere?"

She and Parvati exchanged glances and then giggled again slightly more nervously. "Well, I don't know if I should say," Lavender said glancing about before lowering her voice. "But we saw her just now in the bathroom and it looks as though she's been crying all day. I asked her what was wrong but she said to leave her alone. Why? Do you know why she's upset?"

"Er, yeah probably," Harry said cryptically as he turned to Ron whose expression was now one of guilt.

"Alright, alright Harry," He muttered at Harry's raised brow. "I'll tell her sorry as soon I see her."

Just as he spoke however, the feast appeared before them and Ron fell on the food ravenously, all thoughts of Hermione fleeing his mind. Harry, really rolling his eyes this time, made up his mind to apologise to Hermione on Ron's behalf if his friend's careless behaviour continued, before he too tucked into the food.

Halfway through the feast Professor Quirrell suddenly burst into the Great Hall. Sprinting into the centre of the room he shouted, "Troll! Troll in the Dungeon!" before promptly fainting. The Great Hall erupted into screams as students scrambled over one another all trying to get up at the same time. Dumbledore raised his wand and a sound like thunder booming echoed through the Great Hall.

"Everyone remain calm," His voice rang out powerfully. "Prefects lead your houses back to your common rooms, all teachers will come with me to the dungeons to investigate."

Harry and Ron allowed themselves to be swept into the tide of Gryffindors being led out of the Great Hall by Ron's brother Percy. They had made it almost all the way to Gryffindor tower when Harry suddenly froze.

"What is it?" Ron asked miserably, annoyed the feast had been interrupted.

"Hermione!" Harry gasped. "She's still in the girl's bathroom. We've got to warn her about the Troll!"

With stricken expressions, both boys dashed away from the other students and down another corridor towards the toilets.

oOo

"Do you think there's actually a troll?" Ron whispered as he and Harry crept down a dimly lit corridor. "I mean Quirrel is afraid of his own shadow. And he was down in the dungeons, maybe he just ran into Snape."

"Snape was at the feast though," Harry snorted. "Anyway, stop worrying about it. Quirrel said the troll was down in the dungeons and we're miles away from them."

"So why are we going to rescue Granger then?" Ron mumbled and Harry glared at him.

"Because," He said firmly. "If the troll does manage to get up here she might be in trouble so we've got to get her back to the common room with everyone else. Besides it's your fault she wasn't at the feast. It's the least you could do."

"She's only going to lecture us about rule breaking again," Ron said but continued to follow Harry anyway, edging along the corridor with their wands at the ready.

"Ugh! Is that the girl's lavatory?" Ron asked wrinkling his nose against the smell that was suddenly filling the air. "Bloody Hell, that's foul!"

"I don't think it's the bathroom," Harry said pointing down to the end of the corrider. There, an enormous, hulking shadow was cast against the wall. The sound of huge, heavy footsteps echoed in the silence, then the troll was in the view. It was about twelve feet tall with grey, mottled skin and a lumpy body that looked as though it had been formed out of misshapen clay. It's head was peculiarly small in comparison to the rest of it, and it's two beady black eyes glinted dully in the light of the moon streaming through the window above it's head. Harry felt his breath catch in his throat as the troll glanced around slowly. He had left to find Hermione but now he had run into the very creature he was aiming to help her avoid. What would his parents say when they heard he had been mangled by a twelve foot troll? Behind him, Ron was actually whimpering.

The troll grunted and turned it's face away from where they stood, hidden by the shadows. It continued on then, and Harry noticed for the first time that it carried a heavy wooden club with it.

"Alright," Ron hissed, "first the dog and now there's a dirty great troll! What sort of school is this?"

"We should go get help," Harry said already stepping back the way the came. A scream pierced the air.

"Hermione!" Both boys exchanged a determined glance and bolted down the corrider the troll had taken. The first thing they saw was that the door to the girl's toilets was hanging out of it's frame and that water had flooded out of the bathroom and onto the stone beneath their feet. A loud crash came from within the bathroom, followed by another terrified scream and the boys rushed in. The troll was swinging it's club angrily, smashing into stalls and shattering sinks, as Hermione dashed around the bathroom trying to avoid it.

"Oi!" Harry shouted trying to get it's attention away from Hermione. It swung around stupidly and Harry almost found himself frozen with fear but, suddenly struck by inspiration, he fired a stinging jinx at one of it's beady eyes causing it to clamp one of its hands to it's face and stumble backwards. Then Harry lunged at it and clung to one of it's knobbly arms. Swinging himself onto it's sholders, he poked it in the other eye with his wand and hung on for dear life as the beast roared in pain and tried to buck him off.

"Harry!" Ron shouted and Hermione screamed again.

"Do something!" Harry yelled as the troll twisted round and round trying to reach him with it's club.

"Umm..." Ron dithered hopping up and down.

"The club!" Hermione shrieked suddenly as the Troll almost managed to strike Harry.

"Ah, right," Ron said and took a deep breath. "WINGARDIUM LEVI-O-SA!"

The troll swung it's arm aiming once more for Harry and found that it's hand was empty. It let out a puzzled sounding grumble and looked up only to find the club falling straight into it's face, knocking it out cold. It's knees buckled and Harry managed to throw himself off it's shoulders before it slammed to the ground, a cloud of dust rising around it. The three of them stared in silence at the troll for a long moment.

"I can't believe I did it," Ron said stunned. Then a smug grin lit his expression. "Said it right then, didn't I?" And Hermione simultaneously burst into laughter and tears.

When a group of teachers turned up a few moments later they found all three students shaking hands and congratulating eachother on the defeat of the troll which was still as stone on the bathroom floor.

"What on earth is the meaning of this?" Professor McGonagall demanded in alarm.

As Hermione commandeered the explanation why she had been absent from the feast and how he and Ron had felt compelled to go warn her of the danger of the troll in the castle, Harry found his eyes noticing the blood dripping from the torn edges of one of the teacher's robes. Glancing upwards, he realised it was Snape. As the sneering man caught his eye, his gaze narrowed and he swept his cloak forward to cover the wound on his leg.

"Right, well," McGonagall said as Hermione finished her tale. "I never could have imagined such recklessness from first years such as yourselves. Still, it's not many your age who could take down a mountain troll. I'm taking five points from Gryffindor for your stupidity."

Ron looked about ready to protest but McGonagall shot him a stern look.

"And five points will be awarded to each of you." She added. "Professor Dumbledore will be made aware of this and as you three very well may have died tonight I will be forced to write to your parents."

At this, Ron let out a loud groan and Harry felt his shoulders sagging. When his Dad and Sirius had told him to have aventures at Hogwarts he very much doubted they meant chasing after mountain trolls and his mother would definitely not appreciate this turn of events. Still as he, Ron and Hermione were escorted up to Gryffindor tower by McGonagall he couldn't shake the feeling that something had shifted irrevocably between them. After all, being attacked by a mountain troll would make any girl less uptight, especially towards her rescuers.

Ah...the sweet formation of the Golden Trio! (Who knows the origin of this term for Harry, Ron and Hermione btw? I do find it funny)

Please leave a review if you liked this chapter!

I'm afraid I can't promise when the next will be out, I tried to last time and see where that got me?

But I'll try my best to get it out asap for you lot to read!

Til the next!