Chapter VI: Rising Worries

Moony,

I need help. For some reason there was a troll released into the school on Halloween. No one was injured, but it could have been ugly. I need to talk.

Harry

Harry walked up to Hedwig and cleared all the tracking charms before attaching the letter and sending her on her way. Once that was done, all he could do was wait. Harry joined Hermione and Neville in time to go to breakfast and tried to remain calm.

He knew his mother would come, she was the only one who could. Harry was nervous, mostly because he was now placing his family in jeopardy because his instincts were telling him something was up. Harry decided to try and find out what could possible be worth putting the whole student body in danger to guard.

Classes went as they usually did, Snape was still a prat, McGonagall was still strict, and Flitwick was as odd as ever. What seemed off to Harry was the way Quirrell was acting, or more that he wasn't acting. Harry had noticed on a few occasions that Quirrell had seemed to be completely competent, moving to dodge a student that would have barreled into him.

Harry felt uncomfortable around Quirrell, but he ignored it as not liking that he was being taught by someone who was afraid of his own shadow. Now, he wasn't so sure that Quirrell was as innocent as he acted. Harry was taught that sometimes the best way to hide was in plain sight. Harry began to keep a closer eye on Quirrell, but neglected to inform Neville and Hermione as to why.

Harry waited three days, three days in which he was becoming surer that Quirrell was either up to something, or involved in something that had him in over his head. That morning his mother arrived in raven form with a brief letter.

Harry,

We understand. Same time and place. We have something for you.

Harry nodded and Lily took off so as not to arouse suspicion. Unfortunately, Dumbledore seemed to have noticed the raven, but there was no way he could know that it was Harry's mother. Herbology found Harry thinking about what he would say tonight. For better or worse, Harry had been noticed by Hermione and Neville mostly because he was barely saying more than was absolutely necessary to convey what he needed to say.

Confronting him after classes that day, Hermione started things off, "What is with you Harry? Why have you suddenly pulled away from us?"

Harry had the good grace to look surprised, "I'm sorry, I didn't even realize that I was acting that way."

Neville, seeing that Harry wasn't being defensive, said "so what has have you been concentrating so hard on?"

Harry leaned back slightly and pulled out his wand. A couple of quick flicks later he relaxed. "Right now I don't have all the information I need to prove or disprove my theory. I would rather keep it to myself for the moment."

Hermione looked curious, and slightly annoyed. "We could help you Harry, you don't have to do it all yourself." Harry looked intrigued, which prompted her to continue. "We could do research, or whatever you need us to do."

Harry shook his head, which relieved Neville. "Sorry Hermione, but you are not at the level necessary to be able to help me. I don't have any research that I need done, so that's out the window as well." Harry smiled at her, "I understand about being left out of the loop, but when I know what's really going on, I don't want you to be distracted by a false lead."

This appeased Hermione, who nodded that she would agree. A couple of flicks and suddenly the noise of the common room became louder. As soon as Neville and Hermione left to collect some extra books for their homework, Fred and George walked up to Harry.

They leaned on either side of the chair he was sitting in. "Tell me my friend," one began.

"How is it that you,"

"a first year,"

"are able to cast a silencing ward?"

Harry looked at them amused but just shrugged, "I had some good tutors when I was younger. After all, eleven is simply the age that you start Hogwarts, not the age magical education can start." The two of them looked at him with weighing expressions, but didn't continue any farther.

Harry waited till an hour before curfew, and quickly made his way to the Owlery. As soon as he was there, he used a scanning charm and turned up no one that was not supposed to be there. Next he raised various warning and silencing charms. He would take no risk with his family's safety.

Once he was sure that not even the headmaster could come without him noticing it, Harry called to his mother. He smiled when she turned back into herself. Lily started things off, "we got your message, but right now we don't know what could be worth bringing a troll into the school."

Harry nodded, he doubted that they would have all the answers, that would be too easy. He explained about his observations about Quirrell, since Harry had basically eliminated Snape as someone who would use a troll as a means to get something. He also told her about the details of what he knew about the third floor corridor, as he had yet been there himself.

Lily looked at her son in mock annoyance, "you've spent to much time around Padfoot and Moony. You're as paranoid as Padfoot, and as observant as Moony."

Harry smiled sweetly, "and I got your sweet disposition." This brought a laugh from Lily, who rarely had much to laugh at.

Calming, she told Harry about the hunt for Pettigrew. They knew that he didn't leave the country, but were unsure as to his location. All they knew was that for the most part so far, he had been in a location they couldn't pin down. Finally she handed him a wrapped package. "Seeing as you might need to contact us safely, we decided that you could use this."

Harry unwrapped the package to reveal a mirror. Looking to his mother for an explanation, she said, "Sirius has the other one. Simply speak into it and one of us will try and be available to talk. Try and avoid using at night during the full moon."

Harry nodded, happy that he would have a way to be undetected in contacting his family. Saying goodbye and lowering the spells, Harry rushed to get back to the common room before curfew. Making it with a couple minutes to spare, he caught his breath before saying the password and walking in as calmly as he could, considering he had just run through half the castle.

The next few months showed a rise in the intensity of the studies for Harry and his friends. Harry was constantly struggling to keep an eye on Quirrell and keep up with his class work, but he managed to do so without brining Hermione or Neville in. Whenever Harry wanted to ask them for help, he held back.

Harry's surveillance skills, which Padfoot had taught him, were not up to keeping needs when, divided between two separate subjects, so Harry toned it down a large amount. It was a lot easier to keep up with the, in his opinion, ridiculous amount of essays that he had to do.

Harry constantly talked to his family everyday before bed, except on nights of the full moon. Those nights he usually stared at the moon, saddened by the fact that a member of his family was going through so much pain. Though he rarely said it, he was closer to Remus than Sirius. Sirius was more the type to crack jokes to lighten the mood, while Remus was inclined to work through whatever was before him. Sirius was more like his older brother than an adult, while Remus was what he thought a father figure should be like.

Harry recognized that Remus and his mom had something between them but it was something that was not discussed, even though they all knew about it. Harry figured that they didn't think he knew that there was something they weren't saying, so he thought it best that they explain it in their own time.

Shaking himself out of his mental wanderings, Harry turned his mind back to the task at hand, trying to figure out what was so important that someone would harm students. So far Harry only had his instincts and no discernable way to actual say that anyone had an ulterior motive to releasing a troll.

A few days later, Fred, George, and a boy he recognized as the Quidditch Captain approached Harry. One of the twins said, "Harry, we need to ask you a favor."

"You see we have a slight problem," the other continued.

The captain looked annoyed, "listen, we have heard that you're really skilled on a broom and we need you to be the seeker for our next game."

Harry looked interested, "why me, there should be plenty of people who are more skilled. Also, I'm a first year, are you sure that you want to bet your hopes on me?"

The twins nodded, "we figure that the other team will underestimate you, which will give you an edge."

The captain, Oliver Wood, also nodded, "the guy we had has managed to get rather beat up trying a move that he wasn't really up to, as a result Pomfrey won't fix him up." He leveled a look that was obviously supposed to intimidate Harry, "you do want Gryffindor to win the Quidditch cup don't you?"

Harry tried not to laugh at the blatant attempt to pressure him into helping, "so where do I get a broom to use?"

Wood showed his relief visibly and explained that Harry would use Falcore's broom, a brand new Nimbus Two-Thousand that his parents got for him when he made the team. Harry practiced for the following week so that he would be able to take it to up to speed, and found that he was quite good at being a seeker, even though he wanted to be a chaser.

Harry had told Hermione and Neville about his playing for the team, which got mixed reactions. Neville thought it was cool that he would be able to play as a first year, Hermione said, "they should get one of the older students to play, not ask you."

He just gave her a bemused look, "according to Madam Hooch, I'm a natural. They picked me because I have the skill to play." He shook his head, "besides, it's not like I will be in danger, it's only Quidditch."

Hermione still thought they should have gotten one of the older students, but she slowly relented. Soon enough the game arrived, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin.