“What is that?” Harry asked urgently. He had never seen something like that before.

“It must be a troll,” Hermione answered in a slightly panicked voice. “Yes, probably a Mountain Troll,” she added.

“Disgusting,” Draco mumbled, wrinkling his nose at the hideous smell, before he started to think if they had to panic or not.

‘What are we going to do?’ Harry thought, terrified. He was on the verge of running away, but he couldn’t really let the troll attack the Great Hall when there were so many students in it, now, could he?

“Hurry back into the Great Hall and alarm the teachers, Hermione,” Harry instructed his friend firmly and gripped his wand.

“No, Harry! You have to come with me. You don’t think that the two of you can take on a Mountain Troll, do you? Do you know how dangerous that is?” Hermione contradicted severely.

“Hermione, go! We don’t have time for that,” Harry urged her and turned to Draco. “Let’s attack him together with ‘Expelliamus’ and ‘Stupefy’,” he urgently whispered to Draco, while Hermione ran to get help from the teachers.

Harry summoned all his magic and cried, “Stupefy”, while Draco shouted, “Expelliarmus” at the same time. However, the magic of two eleven-year-olds was nothing compared to the power of a full grown Mountain Troll. The Troll trembled a bit, and the stick he was holding fell down onto the floor; however, he still managed to stand upright.

What could they do now? They had to keep the troll in check at least until help arrived. Who knew where the troll would go otherwise? Harry once again summoned all his magic and concentrated on wishing the troll’s stick to float over the troll and hit the troll in the head full force. He had a hard time concentrating on his wish as the troll was making a horrible noise and was drooling disgustingly. However, Harry managed to concentrate, and this time, he was efficient. The troll collapsed onto the floor, where he was hit by an additional Stunning spell Draco had cast at him.

At the same time as the troll landed on the floor, Harry collapsed as well, due to the use of too much magic. Only a few seconds later, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived, followed by several other teachers.

“Enervate.” Dumbledore woke Harry up, who hurriedly stumbled off the floor and tried to remember what had happened. He couldn’t recall until he saw the troll only a few metres away. Dumbledore looked sternly at the two boys. However, his look was nothing compared to the glare McGonagall gave the two students.

“What do you think you were doing?” she shouted. “You can call yourselves very lucky to have survived a duel with a Mountain Troll. 20 points each from Slytherin and Gryffindor for your foolishness.”

Harry tried hard not to let his disappointment show in his face. He had tried so hard to save the other students from the troll – just to get points taken off his Houses?

“Now, now, Minerva,” Dumbledore said calmingly. “First of all, let us hear what the boys have to say.”

Harry and Draco told them the whole story, that they thought it would be the best, if Hermione went to get help, and then they had tried to keep the troll in check until help arrived, so that the troll couldn’t attack the Great Hall with so many students in it.

“Yes, my boys; that was very reasonable and you have done very well. 50 points each to Slytherin and Gryffindor. Now, let us return to the feast. As Professor Quirrell is our specialist in Defence against the Dark Arts, he will take care of the troll.”

By now, Professor Snape had arrived as well, and when everyone except for Quirrell turned back to the direction of the Great Hall, he came over to Harry and Draco.

“Is everything okay with you? You are not hurt, are you?”

Harry shook his head, but Draco told him that Harry had collapsed after the fight with the troll. Severus eyed Harry worriedly and suggested Draco should go back to the Great Hall, while he would take Harry to the Hospital Wing; however, Harry protested vehemently. After explaining that he had only used too much magic and would be fine in the morning, he could finally convince the professor to just let him go to bed.

Later in the evening, Severus came to check on Harry, as he had missed not only dinner, but also the House meeting, which always took place on Fridays before curfew. Harry, who had woken up by a cool hand on his forehead, noticed that Severus’ leg was hurt badly.

“What happened to your leg, Professor?” he asked hesitantly.

“Nothing of your concern, Harry. Now, you have used too much magic today, which is not good. Your magical resources are at a level of 50 percent, which is much too low. Please do not use any magic at all during the next few days, until Pomfrey allows you to use magic again. Do you understand me?”

Harry nodded solemnly. “What about lessons, Professor? I have to use magic in class.”

“No, Harry,” Severus answered. “You may go to your classes and follow the lesson without doing magic. I will talk to your other teachers so that they will know. Please let Pomfrey check on you before breakfast tomorrow. Good night, Harry.”

“Good night, Professor.”

As the next day was Saturday, nobody woke Harry up, and when he finally opened his eyes, it was nearly lunchtime. He quickly took a shower, went to see Poppy, and entered the Great Hall with the intention to have lunch at the Gryffindor table.

However, when he noticed that Ron and Hermione sat far away from each other, he went over to Ron and told him to wait for him at the entrance door after lunch. Then he passed behind Hermione’s seat and told her the same, before he turned around and walked over to the Slytherin table to sit down next to Blaise.

As he hadn’t eaten anything in exactly 24 hours, he was quite hungry, and when he finally finished eating, he noticed that Hermione and Ron had already left their seats. He quickly stood up and went to the entrance door, where Hermione and Ron were waiting next to each other. Both of them seemed quite uncomfortable.

“Hi,” Harry greeted them as if nothing had happened. “I would like to go and visit Hagrid. What do you think?” Harry asked.

Hermione visibly relaxed. “Oh, yes, that’s a good idea.”

Ron nodded his agreement. “Why not? It’s better than doing homework anyway.”

“Ronald!” Hermione immediately started to scold him but shut up when she remembered the events of the day before.

Harry groaned inwardly. He hated people fighting, and he didn’t want to stand between his friends while they were fighting either. Hopefully, they would come to reason soon. Until then, he was glad that Hermione had enough sense to choose her battles.

Hagrid seemed to be very pleased to see them. “Oh, Harry, good to see you. I thought you’d never come to visit me. Ron and Hermione have told me everything of course, and I know you couldn’t come, but…”

“Let him breathe, Hagrid,” Hermione admonished him sternly, noticing that Harry could hardly breathe under the strong hug Hagrid had pulled him into.

“Oh, sorry, Harry,” Hagrid said, releasing him immediately. “Now, sit down there. I was just about to make tea.”

While they were fighting with one of the rock cakes Hagrid had put on the table for them, Ron suddenly asked, “Hagrid, do you know something about the three-headed dog?”

Hagrid watched him astonished. “Fluffy? How do you know about Fluffy?”

“Oh, I just heard someone talking about the dog,” Harry lied quickly, trying to cover for Ron’s lack of tact. “I haven’t seen him but I can imagine that I would be very scared if I met him.”

“Ah, no, Fluffy is a really nice one,” Hagrid told him. “You just have to know how to keep him asleep, and then you can do anything around him.”

“We heard the dog was guarding a trap door,” Hermione threw in. “Do you know what he is guarding?”

Hagrid coughed a few times, before he cleared his throat and said, “I’m sorry, I cannot tell you what he’s guarding. That only concerns Professor Dumbledore and, his friend, Flamel.”

“Who is Flamel?” Harry asked curiously.

But before Hagrid could answer, Ron said, “But whatever he is guarding, I think that Snape is trying to get it.”

Hagrid snorted. “No, Ron, Professor Snape is one of the people who guard the… Oops,” he interrupted himself.

“No, Ron, Professor Snape would never do that,” Harry contradicted firmly. He was slowly getting angry at Ron for suggesting such a thing about his favourite professor. How many times had they already had a similar discussion?

“Look, Harry, yesterday evening, when all the teachers went to look after the troll, Snape left the Great Hall through a back door, and I bet he tried to get into the trap door. That’s where he got the wound on his leg from.”

Harry tried to remember details of the day before. Professor Snape had indeed joined them very late; in fact, he had only seen the professor just before he went to bed. In the meantime, the teacher could have gone to the third floor, but why would he? And had Quirrell been there yesterday, when Dumbledore scolded them about their fight with the troll? As he had passed them just minutes before the troll showed up, it seemed to be obvious that he had let the troll in, didn’t it?

“Maybe he wanted to make sure that nobody else could use the chance to get past the dog while everyone else was busy with the troll?” he guessed. ‘Maybe I should try to talk to Severus about this matter,’ he thought.

“Now, Harry, how is life in Slytherin?” Hagrid asked. “Is it very different from Gryffindor?”

Harry sighed. “Yes, it is very different. The Slytherins are more like a family. Our Head of House comes to talk to us every evening, and once a week we have a family meeting, where everything that has occurred in the house is talked about. And Professor Snape is really nice to us. If I am not in the common room when he is there, he always comes in my dormitory to check on me, because he knows that my health is not so good. When I have any problems, he is very easy to talk to.

“I like Professor McGonagall very much, too, but she is completely different. She wouldn’t come into the House, let alone the dormitory to check on me without reason, and I wouldn’t dare go to her office and disturb her just because I want to ask a stupid question. However, next Sunday, I’m hopefully going to have my first private lesson with her, and I’m looking forward to it very much. Maybe I can get to know her better then. The students are very nice in both houses. So I am quite happy to belong to two houses.”

Two weeks later, on Saturday morning, Harry was sitting at the Slytherin table, and Severus watched Blaise and Draco trying to coax the boy into eating a few bites from his spot at the Head table. Why couldn’t they stop fussing over him? He just couldn’t eat because he was much too nervous. His first Quidditch match was today, and his nerves were stretched thin. Why weren’t they able to understand that? And would he be able to catch the Snitch in time, or would he play so poorly that he would be laughed about by his House mates?

When Professor Snape suddenly called Harry from behind, he nearly jumped out of his seat. He hadn’t noticed the professor leaving his place at the Head table.

“Mr. Potter, please accompany me to the Headmaster’s office for a moment,” he said in the stern, silky voice he used in front of his Slytherin students.

Harry was flabbergasted as he always was when the professor didn’t use his soft voice he normally spoke to Harry with when they were alone. He stood up quickly and followed the teacher out of the hall.

When they were walking up the stairs that led to the Gargoyle, Severus put a calming hand on Harry’s shoulder, who even managed not to flinch noticeably at the touch, and said, “Don’t worry, Harry, you will be very pleased about what the Headmaster wants.”

Harry threw him a questioning glance but calmed down a little.

After the Headmaster had greeted them in his usual ‘lemon-drop way’, Severus sat down and motioned Harry to sit between him and Minerva, who, to Harry’s surprise, was here as well.

“Congratulations Harry, on making it to the Quidditch team – moreover, on making it to two Quidditch teams,” Dumbledore beamed at Harry, who gave Severus a slight glance, before he looked back at the Headmaster.

“Thank you, Professor,” was his automatic reply. It was an hour before the start of his first match, and he was too excited to make small-talk with anyone.

“Together, all your teachers,” the Headmaster continued, “have organized a broom for you. As first years are not allowed to have their own brooms, you may use your broom only for Quidditch practise and matches. At all other times, it has to stay in your Head of House’s office. Let’s say, in Professor Snape’s office, as the dungeons are nearer to the Quidditch pitch as Professor McGonagall’s office.” Dumbledore held out a Nimbus 2000 to Harry, who was so shocked his face turned white.

“You mean… for me?” he stammered helplessly. Nobody had ever given him a present except for Hagrid, who had bought him Hedwig for his birthday. Tears welled in his eyes. Why would the teachers do this for him?

Professor McGonagall said calmingly, “Yes, Harry, the broom is for you. Please be careful not to get injured again.”

Harry beamed at his teachers and said, “Thank you, Professors. I am very happy, and yes, I will be careful in the match.” He quickly excused himself in order to test his new broom before the match and soon noticed that the old, school brooms had no comparison to it. The teachers had given him a very good broom.

Fortunately, it was a bright, sunny day, and considering that it was the third Saturday in November, it was still quite warm – the ideal conditions for a Quidditch game. Harry was glad: When the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game had been played a week before, the weather had been horrible, and it had taken the Gryffindor Seeker four hours to catch the Snitch.

Harry circled above the other players, always keeping the Ravenclaw Seeker in view. Once he managed to bluff the other Seeker by going down so fast that the other Seeker thought he had spotted the Snitch and followed him quickly, only to nearly crash into the ground while Harry was pulling up again as fast as he could. After twenty minutes, he spotted the Snitch for the first time, but had to evade a Bludger, and after that, it had vanished from sight.

But now, after nearly two hours of playing he spotted it again near the goal on the Ravenclaw side. He dove to just a few meters over the ground again, always with the Ravenclaw Seeker shortly behind him, then shot upwards and aimed for the small golden ball. As soon as he held the Snitch in his hands, he descended to where he spotted Madam Hooch, who blew the whistle and ended the game immediately.

"240 – 60, Slytherin wins!" He could hear the announcement.

A moment later Hermione pulled him into a fierce hug, whispering, "Don’t you ever do such crazy stunts like that again! I was so worried."

It had taken a lot out of Harry not to flinch under her hug, but fortunately she released him quickly, and before he knew what happened, he was surrounded by his team-mates.

"Harry!" Draco approached him urgently. "You have to tell whomever you have to tell that you will stay in Slytherin tonight as we will have a victory party tonight." Harry obliged and immediately went to talk to his two Heads of House and Ron. He was very happy – he had done it! He had managed to catch the Snitch in time. The thought ‘Would my Dad be proud of me now?’ kept popping up in his head, but fortunately, his Slytherin friends managed to keep him out of deep thoughts for the rest of the day.

The Gryffindor - Hufflepuff match took place exactly a week later and was a whole success for Gryffindor. Harry managed to catch the Snitch only fifteen minutes into the game. However, the instant he closed his hand around the struggling, little ball, something hit him in the head at full force.