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Immediately after Neville's dramatic announcement, he was escorted to the Headmaster's Office, while McGonagall accompanied Hermione to Gryffindor tower and Snape grudgingly led Harry back to the Slytherin dungeon. The Potions Master seemed quite annoyed with the young Snake and also seemed to be experiencing some pain in his leg.
"Of all the unmitigated Gryffindorish tomfoolery! And you were awarded fifteen points for it! You are fortunate that I don't deduct thirty for your actions!"
"Sir, as I explained, we had no idea that the troll would be on the First Floor and merely intended to find Mr. Longbottom and see that he got to safety. I had to make a split second decision with no time to plan or investigate, and I made the best decision I could under the circumstances."
"Exactly! And you made exactly the sort of rash decision I'd expect from a Gryffindor rather than a Slytherin!"
"Well, sir, respectfully, if that's what you think, then you should probably change how Sorting is done here at Hogwarts. Because all the Hat said to me was that Slytherin was the house of cunning and ambition where I'd have the best chance to prove myself. I might have asked to go somewhere else if it had warned me that Slytherin was also the house of selfish prats who abandon their friends when things get tough."
Snape's head snapped around furiously. "And what is THAT supposed to mean, POTTER!?"
Harry looked up at Snape, somewhat surprised at his anger. "Merely that, as I said, Neville Longbottom is a close friend, and I don't accept that it is a Slytherin characteristic to abandon valued friends to their fate without trying your best to help them," he said honestly.
Snape relaxed, mollified. For an instant, he had thought that the boy was referring to how his friendship with Lily came to an end all those years before. "Still, five points deducted for defying your prefect's orders," he snapped irritably.
Harry sighed. "Yes sir." They walked on in silence for a few seconds. "Mind you, even if I were a selfish prat, I still would have gone after Neville. I've put a lot of effort on forming a relationship with the Heir Presumptive of an Ancient and Noble House. It would have been foolish to ignore the opportunity to ingratiate myself with him further when I genuinely believed the risk was minimal."
Snape glanced back down at the boy as they walked. "Well, that's better, I suppose." Then, he winced in pain again.
"Sir, the infirmary isn't far if you want to stop in there for a bit. If I may say so, that does look like a very painful Cerberus bite."
Snape stopped and looked down at the boy in a mix of amazement and fury. "Oh no. No, no, NO! Tell me that you are not so much a Gryffindor that you ..."
"Of course not!" Harry interrupted indignantly. "What kind of idiot do you take me for?" Then, he changed to an almost cheerful expression. "Speaking of idiots, though, I am reliably informed that the Git-Who-Lived and his pet Weasel have been to see the Cerberus, and also that they have noticed the trap door it's guarding. I gather they see it as some sort of ... adventure."
Snape all but groaned at the news, as the two resumed their walk towards the dungeons. "Please keep me informed of anything you hear about the matter and do not approach that room yourself."
"Yes sir. Should I also keep an eye on Professor Quirrell?"
Snape's head snapped around again in surprise. Then, he became annoyed at himself for his lack of discretion. Unfortunately, his normally rigid self-control was rather impaired by the intense pain in his leg inflicted by Hagrid's infernal beast. "Why would you think Quirrell is worthy of your suspicion? He is a Hogwarts professor, after all."
"Well, you yourself just said he claims to be an expert on trolls. But when he actually encounters a troll, he doesn't try to capture or kill it. Instead, he runs to the Great Hall, announces that the troll is in the dungeons, and faints dead away. It turns out, however, that the troll is not in the dungeons but on the First Floor, and some distance away from any staircases big enough for it to fit through easily. And as I'm sneaking out of the Great Hall, I notice that Quirrell is already recovered from his supposed faint and has disappeared completely. So it occurs to me that maybe Quirrell deliberately let the troll into the castle onto the First Floor and merely said it was in the dungeon so that all the professors will run off and start searching the castle floor by floor from the dungeon up, thereby giving him time to go straight to the third floor and try to get past the Cerberus. Luckily, the Head of Slytherin House is clever enough to see that the troll is merely a diversion and goes to the Third Floor corridor himself to secure it which, unfortunately, is when the Cerberus got a piece of him."
Snape looked down at the boy appraisingly. "Hmm. Have you considered the possibility that the cunning Head of Slytherin is actually the one trying to steal ... that which lies beyond the Cerberus ... and merely used the troll as a distraction?"
Harry shook his head. "That theory would not explain how the troll got in, unless the cunning Head of Slytherin let it in and then just blindly trusted that Professor Quirrell would find it and then act appropriately. And it still doesn't explain Professor Quirrell's own suspicious actions. And if the troll getting in was just a coincidence which the cunning Head of Slytherin took advantage of, well, that's just wildly out of character, I think, to rush off like that without any sort of advanced planning. Practically ... Gryffindorish."
The corner of Snape's mouth twitched. "Perhaps the cunning Head of Slytherin and Quirrell are in it together," he suggested idly.
"I refuse to believe that the cunning Head of Slytherin would ever work with a man who wears a turban," said Harry drily.
"How is it possible that you are the child of James Potter?!"
"As I recall, nurture over nature was the theory you proposed. Oh, and by the way, this may be completely unrelated, but whenever we're anywhere near Quirrell, both Jim and I get strange headaches. I just thought it was generic weirdness before, but after this troll business, it seems like it might be important."
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