kbinnz - Harry's New Home

Harry couldn't hide his smile. The professor was so hopeless at making stern threats. Here he had just promised not to do anything really awful to Harry, no matter what.

Snape glowered as the brat merely grinned cheekily at him. All right. It was time to use one of the Big Punishments. "Mr Potter, you will march yourself down to our quarters, where we will continue this talk. I am very disappointed in you."

Harry lost his smile and nearly his lunch. Snape's words had hit like a slap in the face. "Very disappointed"? No! That's what he had wanted to avoid. Harry's face crumpled, and he prepared to make his way down to the dungeons. "I don't know why you're so mad at me," he mumbled unhappily as he brushed by his professor.

Snape caught him by the shoulder. "Do not mutter to yourself in that disrespectful fashion," he reprimanded. "If you have something to say, say it."

"I don't know why you're so mad at me," Harry repeated loudly, his eyes shiny with tears. "It's not my fault a troll got into the castle. You should be mad at the Headmaster."

The adults' faces showed their shock. "Me, Harry?" Dumbledore repeated incredulously.

"Yeah," Harry stuck by his guns, though he did inch closer to Snape. He hadn't forgotten who had sent him to the Dursleys in the first place. "Isn't it your job to make sure the school is a safe place? How'd the troll even get into Hogwarts?"

"Where do trolls come from?" Hermione asked suddenly. "I mean, is there a troll colony somewhere nearby, or did one wander in looking for food?"

"She's right," Ron chimed in. "I thought that it was really rare for trolls to approach large buildings or gatherings of humans. Didn't the book say they mostly try to pick off single travelers who stumble into their territory?"

"An' besides," Harry continued, "if Professor Quirrell saw the troll and warned you all about him, then why didn't he fight it? Isn't he supposed to be good at fighting trolls and werewolves and stuff like that?"

The professors exchanged guarded looks. "That is none of your concern, young man," Snape finally scolded. "We are not here to discuss the Headmaster's shortcomings, nor Professor Quirrell's, nor even why a troll was able to get inside the castle тАУ though you may rest assured that I plan to address all of these topics eventually," he added with a pointed look at Dumbledore. "However, here and now the issue is your misbehavior, including why you were not where you were supposed to be, why you saw fit to lie about your whereabouts, and why when you were informed that a troll was wandering the halls, you did not stay in the library and wait to be rescued!" Of course, if the troll were not intended as a distraction to allow someone to try to access the Stone, then could it have been sent after Harry? If that were the case, and the troll were tracking the boy, then hiding in the library wouldn't have done any goodтАж Snape was more determined than ever to have a confrontation with Quirrell in the very near term, no matter what Albus might say.

"We just thought we should get to the Tower like the Headmaster said everyone should do," Harry protested. "Why are you mad that we did what we were told?"

Snape folded his arms. "Very well, Mr Potter, if you are telling me that you and your friends actually had a plan and did not merely race down troll-infested corridors, heading to the Gryffindor dormitory like a bunch of mindless ninnies, then I will waive your punishment."

There was a moment of silence, then Harry sighed and, with drooping shoulders, headed for the dungeon. "I thought not," Snape said with satisfaction and started after his ward, only to be yanked back by a fist tightly gripping his robes.

"Me too," Ron argued, looking from his Head of House to Professor Snape and back again. "I'm 'sposed to get punished by Professor Snape."

Snape opened his mouth to set the little fiend straight, but Professor McGonagall beat him to it. "Oh, yes, Mr Weasley, I got the note from your mother. Very well, then, off you go with your uncle," she smiled sweetly at Severus, "and we'll see you back at the tower tomorrow."

Ron grinned and ran to catch up with Harry. Flitwick was trying to hide his snickers behind a large handkerchief while Sprout politely pretended to have gone deaf, but Dumbledore had no such compunctions. He twinkled madly at Snape. "You didn't tell me you were an honorary uncle, my boy."

Snape was fully prepared to say something extremely rude to Minerva, but he caught a glint in her eye and recalled the mouth soaping spell she had used on him in his second year. Instead: "I'm appalled to see you find the near obliteration of three of your students so amusing," he said acerbically. "Perhaps the duties of Deputy Headmistress are too onerous to combine with those of Head of House?"

Minerva went white with outrage, and he smirked at her, "I'm speaking as a concerned parent, of course." Ha! Being in charge of a Gryffindor might be rather amusing after all. He turned in a swirl of robes and stalked away before McGonagall could come up with an effective riposte.

"Erm, would you like me to take Miss Granger to the Infirmary?" Dumbledore asked meekly, as Minerva stared furiously after Snape's departing form.

"Are you suggesting I cannot fulfill my duties as Gryffindor Head of House?" She spun on him like one of the furies.

"No, no, no!" he said hastily, raising both hands in surrender. "Merely wondering if you would care to assist in the relocation of the panda. If so, I would be happy to take Miss Granger to see Poppy." The girl was watching all this with wide eyes, but she had proved her intelligence by remaining silent through the whole thing.

"I will leave that to you and the rest of the staff," Minerva replied sharply. "I have an injured child to look after!" She turned with a snap of her robes and ushering Hermione in front of her, she marched off, her back radiating stiff disapproval.

Albus sighed. He hadn't reached his advanced age by not recognizing the danger signals, and he wondered how much effort it was going to take to bring two of his Heads back from the brink of open war. The next day's Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match would only add more fuel to the fire.

TBCтАж

*Chapter 23*: Chapter 23

As the three walked down to the dungeons, Harry glanced over at Ron, who was limping a bit, one hand to his bum. "I'm sorry about your wand," he offered softly.

Ron gave a big sigh. "Yeah, I dunno what my mum and dad are gonna do when they find out. I mean, we really don't have any extra money for me to get a new one."

"Where'd you get your old one?"

"It belonged to my great-great uncle Hieronymus, and Charlie used it when he was here at Hogwarts," Ron explained. "In a lot of old families, wands are handed down to the next generation, yeah? So when it's time for each of us kids to get a wand, we always go to the family collection first. This one was the only one that fizzed even a little for me," he sighed.

"But I thought Mr Ollivander said that the wand chooses the wizard," Harry offered.

"Yeah, well, he's trying to sell you a new wand, isn't he? I mean, you can use pretty much any wand, so long as it's not cursed or protected or anything, but if you don't have a good connection to it, you're not going to get good results." Ron sighed. "I guess I'll just have to do the best I can with Great-grandma Millie's wand. I thought it might have got warm when I touched it."

"I'm really sorry," Harry repeated guiltily.

"Hey, mate тАУ it wasn't your fault. It was that stupid troll, yeah?"

Harry glanced back to Professor Snape. "It was partly my fault," he admitted. "It was a really stupid idea not to tell anyone and I'm sorry I asked you to lie."

Ron shrugged. "Won't be the first time I'm in trouble, and I'd still rather catch it from your professor than Percy or McGonagall." He leaned close and whispered, "Think he'll still whack me, even though I've already got a sore arse?"