His Hogwarts Adventures

Behind the closed door of one of the stalls in the girl's bathroom, Hermione Granger sat on the toilet, sobbing.
This was not what she had in mind when she received her Hogwarts Letter. She had been so thrilled about going to Hogwarts and so passionate about learning magics, but somehow she managed to mess it up so spectacularly. Ron Weasley was right that she had no friends. Nobody here liked her. The girls talked to her only because they didn't want to be mean, and Neville, Neville probably hated her guts as well, but was just too shy to say anything.
She wiped away tears with the back of her hand furiously, and tried to calm herself by breathing slowly, but her breath was shaky and the tears kept raining down. She couldn't stop think about those boys, Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean...the whole lot of them. She thought she was doing the right thing, admonishing them for constantly losing points in potions and for losing that twenty points from fighting with the Slytherins. But how come nobody ever took her side? How come she ended up all alone, crying in the bathroom? All this time she thought she was right...she was just making a fool of herself. 4cansofpepsi Her stomach hurt from hunger, and she missed her parents. She would give anything to be home with them right now.
A horrible stench suddenly filled the air, and Hermione crinkled her nose in disgust.

What is that smell?

Revolted, she cracked the stall door open. She heard footsteps. They were slow but heavy, like an old man carrying a cumbersome weight.

"Who's there?" She asked in a timid voice.
No reply came, but the footsteps were getting closer.

"Go back, I don't want to see anyone!"

A thick, grey colored arm appeared in front of the bathroom door, then the grotesque creature revealed itself. It was at least twelve feet high, with legs as thick as tree trunks, and it reeked of rotten corpses.
Hermione stared into its cloudy eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs.
That thing sniffed at her with its ugly pig snout, and raised the wooden club in its hand high into the air.

Move

Hermione willed her petrified body to do something, anything, instead of frozen there like a deer in the headlight.

She spun around and run back into the stall just in time to for the blow to miss, and bolted the door shut. The loud clash of the club hitting the wall made her squirm. It's not going to hold. There was one long, dreadful second, when everything was still. Then the wooden door broke into a hundred pieces before her eyes. Splinters cut deep into her face, though she felt no pain.

I'm going to die here. She thought. Large brown eyes widened in fear, as if seeing the very face of death.

"Thud" Something metal hit the monster's head.

"Oy, peabrain!" A voice yelled. The monster turned its head stupidly, and slowly, moved away.

Hermione was able to breathe relief washing over her was so strong, she almost collapsed on the floor. Turning to face the entrance of the bathroom, she looked for her savior, and saw the most fantastical thing. It was a group of pirates!

There were four of them, standing in the entrance. The one on the left had a black eye patch and a silver hook. He picked up another piece of rubble from the floor and threw it at the monster. "Over here!"

The monster made a feral groan and charged. The group of pirates quickly scattered to dodge the blow. Its club sunk deep into the floor, making a huge dent.
"What do we do now?" The one pirate with a ridiculous hat asked.
"Run!" Black eye patch yelled.
Before he could move, though, the monster took another swing, this time aimed directly at him. He dodged out of the way quickly, the club narrowly missing his head. But the monster had cornered him. His back was against the wall and there was no room to dodge its next attack.
"Harry!" The ridiculous hat shouted.
He called him Harry. Somewhere in Hermione's fear ridden brain she recognized who they were.

"Leave him alone!" The one pirate with a wooden leg bent down, picked up a large rubble with both hands, and swung it at the monster.
The stone barely made a scratch on the troll, but it was going berserk and swinging the club wildly from these pestering attacks. The walls around them broke under its brute force like paper, and shattered tiles and glass flew everywhere.
Hermione knew that it was only a matter of time before someone got badly injured.. or killed.
"It's a mountain troll" She suddenly remembered "Hit it on the head! Its head is vulnerable!"
Harry cursed loudly, and drove the silver hook on his right hand into the troll's leg. It penetrated its tough skin and produced a trickle of blood. The troll stopped in its crazed club swinging and aimed a kick at Harry's head, putting all its terrible force into it. But Harry was way faster. He abandoned the hook and jumped onto the troll, grabbing its arm. The troll started flailing violently, trying to shake him off. Harry was swinging in the air ungracefully, with his pirate boots on the verge of falling off, but his grip was tight and he held on.

Hermione and the boys stared in horror at the scene. Potter must be losing his mind!
Harry reached the troll's shoulder and pulled himself up. He was within arms reach to the troll's head. As quick as a flash, he pulled a wand from his robes and stabbed it into the troll's eye. His wand plunged deep into its eyeball. Blood gushed out of its socket.

The troll screamed in agony, Hermione screamed, and Harry shouted.

Amid this chaos, a white light erupted from the troll's socket and the next second, its head exploded, bones cracked open and brains splattered all over the walls.

The troll took one more staggering step, and fell face down into the floor. A thundering thud, followed by a long silence.
"Merlin's socks" The pirate with the wooden leg was the first to break the silence. It was Ron.
It was one of the rare occasions, when Hermione agreed with what Ron had to said wholeheartedly, for nothing else could express her feelings adequately right now, except maybe throwing up from the stench of troll blood.

Harry clambered up from the troll's fallen body with his face caked in blood and gagged.

"I think I'm going to throw up." He said weakly.
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made all of them look up. What they saw was more frightening than ten trolls combined-Professor McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell stood in the entrance.
Quirrell whimpered at the sight of the mutilated troll and clutched his heart. Snape was more interested in the suspicious condition of the troll, but McGonagall looked like she was going to rain justice upon them in the form of fireballs any moment. "What on earth happened here?" She demanded. Hermione carried herself out of the stall on trembling legs.

"Please, Professor, they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

"We were trying to save her, Professor. " Harry said, wiping the blood from his face "Patil told us she was in the bathroom and didn't know about the troll. We didn't really have time to get an adult before it was too late."
Professor McGonagall looked slightly pacified, but only slightly.
"And what blew the troll's head off?"

"Harry offed it." Ron said.
"He was hanging on the troll like Spider-Man" Seamus added, his ridiculous hat lopsided "And bang! its head exploded like a watermelon."
The professors looked confused at what a Spider-Man was, but more importantly, shocked to hear Harry blew off the head of a troll. As if confirming Seamus's story, Harry reached down and pulled out his wand from the troll's socket. His wand made a "plop" sound and came out with brain matter sticking on it.

"Very destructive magic performed inside the skull." Snape observed.
McGonagall fumed "Do I need to remind you how dangerous it is to practice spells ahead of yourself?"

"I didn't use a spell" Harry said innocently "It just happened."
Snape narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Five points will be taken from Grynffindor for your recklessness." McGonagall said, looking around the room as if daring them to object. Hermione lowered her head in shame. McGonagall went on "But, not many people are willing to fight a troll to save a fellow housemate, or successfully defeat it in that matter. You each win five points for your bravery and luck."
The boys exchanged looks and grinned.
"A quick wand check will certainly tell us which spell Mister Potter here casted" Snape said "for the investigation of the death of a magical creature, of course."

All eyes were on Harry now, who suddenly smiled, though it was hard to tell with the blood all over his face."-How do you like our costumes, professor? " He asked McGonagall "We dressed up as pirates."
Snape looked like he wanted to curse Harry until his brains fell out, but couldn't do anything with the Gryffindor Head of House right next to him. McGonagall remained stern but her mouth twitched in the ghost of a smile. "Be grateful you are still alive" She said "The Headmaster will be informed of this and he will decide how to proceed. Now you'd better get back to the Gryffindor tower. They're continuing the feast in there."
The boys slowly filed out of the room. Hermione just realized how hungry she was, and followed behind.

"I need a shower." Harry said gloomily.

"Cheer up, we won twenty points." Ron said.
"Fifteen if we subtract the five." Dean added.
"And we messed up our costumes." Seamus said with a sour face "My dad's not gonna like this."
"Forget about it, we'll get better ones next Halloween."
"What's that magic you did in there?" Hermione cut in, not being able to hold back her raging curiosity. Harry blinked, and Hermione blushed.

God, I must sound so rude. She mentally kicked herself.

"I don't know" Harry said simply.
Hermione tried desperately to come up with something to say. "Thank you for saving me" she said.
"You're welcome." Harry said.

Hermione was out of things to say now, her brilliant mind coming up blank for funny and polite conversation starters, so she kept quiet and trailed behind. Soon they arrived at the Gryffindor tower. Hermione grabbed a quick bite at the table, and feeling exhausted, headed to her dormitory. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Next day, and the day after, and the day after that, Hermione tried to find an opportunity to talk with the boys about what happened, especially with Harry. But she was finding that much more difficult than she expected. They were definitely not hostile to her anymore, but their interactions were limited to friendly daily exchanges. The boys were a strangely tight knit group, and they shared things like inside jokes-she could never fit in. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but deep down she was a bit disappointed. She thought people were supposed to bond after surviving a near death experience together. Time passed quickly, soon Christmas break came, and she went back home to her family, meaning that she didn't see any of them for the entire holiday.
Now, it may sound like she paid a lot of special attention to them, but her life mostly revolved around other things like classes, books and homework. The troll accident had taught her things, and she was not hammering everyone with scores and house points anymore, meaning she made some very nice friends of her own.

After a happy Christmas break, she almost put the boys completely behind her. But then, something happened that put her in a very difficult was in the library looking for some light reading materials, when she heard talking voices coming from behind the bookshelf .

"Are you going again tonight?" Ron's voice asked.

Hermione was alarmed to hear how worried he sounded, so she held her breath and listened.

"Probably." Harry's voice answered.

"But it's dangerous, you could get caught." There was a small pause "Seamus woke up last night and noticed you were not in your bed."

"Did you tell them?" Harry asked coldly.
"Of course not! I just acted like I didn't know anything when they asked me."
"Good. "
"Why are you so obsessed with it anyway? I bet that mirror has some freaky magic on it. I still don't think it's a good idea to go."
"I'm not obsessed. That mirror was the only spotless thing in a dirt covered room. Someone put it there recently for a reason and I want to know. Don't worry about me, ok? I've got the Cloak. I'll be fine."
"Whatever you say, mate."
Ron sounded defeated, and the conversation ended in silence.

Hermione snuck away, careful not to be seen. Harry was sneaking out at night! It took her only a second to make up her mind. There was only one thing she could do.

At night, after everyone in her dorm was sound asleep, Hermione tiptoed out of her bed and into the common room. It was cold and dark, but Hermione prided herself in being prepared. The coldness was nothing against her determination to stop Harry Potter. Fully covered in the warm robe and shoes she brought, she sat on the sofa, waiting. An hour passed, and Hermione had recited the constellations they learned in astronomy eight times. Nothing happened.

Be patient. She told herself. Consider it prep work for the finals.

Next she moved on to potions ingredients, names and functions, history and frequent misuses. Next to the plants from Herbology. Her head was dizzy by the time she got to the Goblin Wars from Magical History. She was stifling a yawn, when she caught something strange from the corner of her eyes. The trap door flap opened!
She rubbed away the sleepiness in her eyes and blinked. It was real, something was going through the trap door.
"Wait!" She said, jumping out of the armchair to chase after it. She pushed the trap door open, and shuddered from the cold air outside. Before her were the familiar corridors and stairs. She couldn't find anything moving, even the portraits were asleep.

"What is it with children nowadays?" The Fat Lady said grumpily.
"Did you see anyone go through?" Hermione asked.
"Nobody besides you" she said "A gust of wind woke me, I think, can't be sure. Get back to your room, my dear, and let an old portrait get some sleep."

The Fat Lady wasn't helpful at all, but Hermione thanked her anyway. She trudged back into her dorm, going over everything she knew in her head. It wasn't all for nothing. She comforted herself. Now I know that Harry Potter has a cloak that makes him invisible.

Harry, on the other hand, was well on his way to the Mirror. Protected by his invisibility, he slipped through the castle expertly, without waking a single portrait-he didn't get called a slippery bastard by the Dursleys for nothing.
He made a mental note to deal with Granger later. For now his mind was occupied with the Mirror, emotions of longing and self-disgust stirring up a whirlwind in his chest. True, he wanted to know who put the Mirror there. It was also a convenient lie to feed Ron, who discovered the Mirror with him their first time out together. The real reason for his obsession was something he didn't want to admit. This was going to be the last time. He was going to say goodbye and walk away. Harry swear he will hang himself on the chandelier in the Great Hall if he ever goes to the Mirror again.
He was almost there. Standing outside the abandoned classroom that housed the Mirror, Harry pushed the door open without a second thought.
In the dimly-lit room, the Mirror stood facing him. James and Lily Potter smiled and waved, extending to him their welcoming arms. But something else forcefully took away Harry's attention.
A silver bearded man sat on one of the desks, smiling fondly at him.
For a brief moment Harry considered running away, but he quickly realized that would be the wrong move. The Headmaster was looking directly at him, making him feel vulnerable despite his invisibility. He must be waiting for him.

Like a hunter next to a trap. The metaphor popped into Harry's head. "I was hoping you wouldn't return, Harry."
Harry pulled the Cloak off his head.
"Professor Dumbledore."
"So, you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised." He said, motioning Harry to come in.

Harry walked in and shut the door behind them. "It didn't feel like a delight, sir."
"Indeed" The Headmaster nodded at him "It is torturous to be shown what one wants so desperately, but could not have. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they had seen, or be driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible. I have thought you smarter than this, Harry."

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi

The carvings on the Mirror said.

I show not your face but your hearts desire.

"I was coming to smash it, actually." Harry said with a smile.
Blue eyes twinkled at him behind half moon spectacles "To kill your deepest desire yourself, that is easier said than done.
Harry took another look at the mirror. The green eyed woman and the messy haired man smiled warmly at him. The perfect, flawless family, as fake as the mannequins in the display window of a family clothing stores. Harry felt another surge of hatred at himself for wanting something he could never have, for his sole wish in the world was an impossible fantasy.

"Oh Trust me it can be done, if you hate it as much as I do." He thought.
"Wanna see me try?" He asked in a light hearted tone.
"As much as I would enjoy seeing you overcome its lure, this is the only Mirror of Erised left in Europe, and I intend to keep it in one piece" Dumbledore said with a soft chuckle "I didn't believe it when told that you have a tendency for smashing thing, but it appears that I was wrong."
Harry mentally sighed. He knew he had a talk with the Headmaster coming his way.

"Is this about the troll or the owl's stable?"
"Both, I'm afraid" Dumbledore said "And Mr. Malfoy's cauldron, too."
"All of them are accidents, sir."
"Including Mr. Malfoy's cauldron?"
"Especially Malfoy's cauldron."
Harry said, observing the old man carefully. McGonagall or Snape would be furious at his cheek right now, but Dumbledore looked rather calm. In fact, Harry couldn't tell what he was thinking at all.
"I stay out of children's business as much as I can, but practicing powerful spells on your own is much more serious than peer rivalry."

"I didn't use a spell on the troll-it just happened." Pretty sure the Headmaster had a hundred ways to test his lies, Harry answered honestly "I have been practicing some third year spells. After what happened with the troll, I figured they would come in handy, but they aren't powerful enough to hurt anyone."

"I'm glad to hear that, Harry" Dumbledore smiled like a gentle therapist "However, there are many better ways to deal with our problems other than violence, Harry. This Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow. If you ever run across if again, remember, it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed."
Harry nodded and covered himself with the cloak. Before he left, though, he asked "Can I ask you something, sir?"
"Obviously, you've just done so" Dumbledore smiled "You may ask me one more thing, however."
Under the cloak, Harry could roll his eyes freely. This old man was having too much fun talking to him.

"Are you the one who sent me the cloak?"

"Yes, but it hardly matters. It belonged to your father, and now it belongs to you. "
"Thank you, Professor. Have a good night" Harry said politely before leaving.
As soon as he was away from the Headmaster's presence, he let out a sigh of relief. Harry did not enjoy talking to someone he could not read. He would even prefer the combination of a Snape and a troll over the kind Headmaster.

Did he sit there all night waiting for me? Why the special attention, just because he was the Boy Who Lived?Did he have eyes everywhere in the school? And most importantly What does he want from me?
Burdened with these questions with no answers, Harry climbed back to bed.