One of the few facts that Harry had learned from his relatives was his parent's date of death. Since then, he had mixed feelings about Halloween. While he liked the festive parts, he couldn't forget that it was on this date that he'd lost his parents. That was certainly not a cause for festivities. He hoped that this Halloween could change his view a bit.
They were just going to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast when Hermione paled.
"What is it?" Harry asked her worriedly.
"My stomach. I think that something I ate doesn't agree with me. I suddenly need the loo really badly."
Harry looked around, noticing a girls' toilet room nearby. "You can go there. Do you want me to wait outside?"
Hermione grimaced. It was evident that she was fighting to control her body long enough to reach the toilets. "No, you may go to the feast. I'll join you as soon as I can."
She didn't even wait for his answer, as she rushed to the toilet room, closing the door behind her. Harry looked reluctantly in that direction until his grumbling stomach reminded him to join the feast.
He could sense Hermione's relief even before reaching the Great Hall. He saved her a seat at his side and started filling his plate. 'Aren't you coming?' he asked a moment later.
'No, I feel quite exhausted now, and I can't even think of food. I'll just sit here until you finish eating and then join you on the way back.'
He barely started to eat, when Professor Quirrell came running, stopping in front of the headmaster. "Troll… in the dungeons… thought you should know…"
The headmaster ordered everybody back to their dorms. Harry didn't think this was wise. He already knew that the Slytherin dorms were in the dungeons. Besides, the troll could go anywhere. Weren't the students safer staying in the Great Hall, with all the teachers there to protect them?
He then thought of Hermione. 'There's a troll roaming the school. Stay where you are until I come to take you.'
He could sense her giggle. 'That's probably just a prank, but I like the way you think of protecting me.'
With all the confusion, as the prefects tried herding the students to the dorms, it was quite easy for Harry to slip out and run as fast as he could to fetch Hermione. As he approached the toilets, he saw the troll knocking down the door and going in. 'Hermione!' he thought in panic.
A moment later he was at her side, inside the toilet cubicle. Hermione was already dressed, yet even paler than before, probably because of the troll. Harry wasn't sure if she could use fading in her condition.
He then heard the noise that the troll made when it started demolishing everything it could see. Harry opened the door slightly, noticing there was only one stall still standing, besides the one he was in. Using Elf magic, he tried to stun the troll, pouring as much magic as he dared into it. The troll seemed to be affected immediately, yet it seemed to be falling in the wrong direction, towards Harry. He didn't know how heavy a troll might be, but judging by its size, he could certainly be too heavy for the two children to hold. It even looked as solid as a rock, so if it fell on them they would surely get hurt or worse.
Without giving it any additional thought, Harry grabbed Hermione and faded with her in his arms to the Gryffindor common room, where all Gryffindor students were being led. He tenderly laid Hermione on the sofa before collapsing at her side. Their breathing calmed slowly, but they stayed silent, contemplating what had just happened.
It took a few minutes before the rest of their housemates arrived. They were surprised to see the two first-years resting on the sofa as if they'd been there for quite a while.
"Didn't you go to the great hall for dinner?" one of the sixth-year prefects asked them.
"I had a sudden stomach ache, so I didn't go. I don't feel too well even now," Hermione said.
The prefect seemed to understand that Harry stayed with her and didn't ask any more.
This didn't mean that Harry escaped interrogation. Neville came to his side first. "I was worried when you suddenly disappeared from the Great Hall. What happened?"
Harry sighed internally. He wanted their ability to fade to stay secret and wasn't sure if he could still keep it. "I hurried to Hermione. She was alone in that toilet and didn't know about the troll. We then used some shortcuts to come here." That was close enough, he thought.
"Shortcuts? I'd really like to learn about them. Will you be able to show me?" Neville got interested.
"Some other time. It looks like we need to stay here for the evening." That wasn't even an excuse. The house elves were already popping in, rearranging the common room and bringing the food that nobody had a chance to eat in the Great Hall.
Neville left, only for Ron to take his place. Harry grimaced inside, hearing Ron's tone. "Where did you suddenly go? Didn't you know we had to stay together with the prefects?"
"What about those who didn't hear about the troll? Hermione wasn't feeling well and was in the toilets. I had to inform her and lead her to safety, you know." He didn't even try to hide his annoyance.
"You should have left that for the teachers to handle," Ron said, reciting what his brother Percy would have replied.
Harry shook his head in disgust. "The way the teachers act, she could have been dead way before anybody would have noticed she was even missing. With Dumbledore as their leader, I don't trust any of the teachers either."
"But Dumbledore is a great wizard, the greatest one alive, my mother says."
"Good for her. I've yet to find something positive to say about that man. This is a school for children, you know. It shouldn't contain anything that promises painful death, or allow trolls in. A great headmaster would have insured it and not tell children about dangers that shouldn't be there to start with."
Ron seemed confused by this reply. Harry thought it was mainly because that boy didn't understand most of it. At least Ron left him alone.
Once the food was ready, Harry helped Hermione to the table, although she only wanted some tea. He ate heartily, though. He felt like he had used a lot of energy when encountering the troll, although he didn't want to think of it. That was a too-close encounter with death.
Professor McGonagall came in before he finished his meal. "I'm glad to inform you all that the troll has been dealt with. By the time the teachers found the troll, it was well stunned, lying in the remains of the girls' toilet. We don't yet know who stunned it, but the stunning was so deep that it would take the troll a few days to wake up. The headmaster banished it back to where its kind lives. Does anybody know who stunned the troll?"
Nobody seemed to know. Neville looked inquiringly at Harry who just shrugged.
Later, after the teacher left, Neville took Harry aside to ask him, "Wasn't it something you did when helping Hermione?"
Harry didn't like lying but didn't want to advertise his deed either. "We managed to run away when it was approaching. Luckily, it didn't notice us, or we would have been in much greater danger."
Neville didn't look convinced but didn't press either.
–..–
Two days later, both Hermione and Harry were called to the headmaster's office.
"Make sure to strengthen your Occlumency shields and don't look into his eyes," Harry reminded his bond mate.
She smiled nervously and tightened her hold on his hand.
Dumbledore seemed to be in a good mood. He invited the children to sit down and offered some lemon drops but both declined. He then reached the main subject. "As you both know, a mountain troll found its way into Hogwarts on Halloween. I've been informed that neither of you joined the group of Gryffindors headed back to your tower. Care to explain?"
'Let me talk to him,' Harry felt Hermione urge him.
'Alright,' he replied.
Hermione looked bashful and lowered her eyes. "It's all because of me, sir. I got a serious stomachache on the way to the feast and needed the loo badly. Harry offered to wait for me, but I thought he should go, especially since I didn't know how long it would take me."
She glanced momentarily at the headmaster and noticed that he was listening attentively. "It didn't take me as long as I feared, but I didn't feel like going to the feast, so I waited there for Harry to come, as agreed. He came much sooner than expected, yelling at me that there was a troll in the corridor and that we should run to our dorms. We ran as fast as we could, and it was just in time. We barely moved to another corridor when we heard the door being broken, probably by the troll. We then used the shortest route to the tower, arriving there before the other students, who evidently took a different route."
Dumbledore contemplated her answer. He was sure she didn't tell the truth, but there was nothing he could point at. He had even tried some subtle Legilimency, coming out with nothing. That was actually more disturbing than her story. Such a young child, especially a muggle-born, should not be able to erect any mind shields, certainly not ones that could stop him, the greatest wizard alive. Was he losing his touch, or was this girl a very special case? He hoped he could soon find out.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. I believe it was a very unpleasant experience."
She nodded vigorously. "It was really frightening. Luckily, we were far enough before the troll could notice us."
Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Can you add anything? Maybe you can tell the story from your point of view?"
Harry shrugged non-committally. "When she said she didn't feel well I wanted to stay near, but she said I should go on and she would wait for me on my way back since she didn't think she could eat after feeling that way. Indeed, once we were served dinner in the common room, Hermione only drank tea. Luckily, her stomach settled by the next morning."
This wasn't what Dumbledore wanted to hear, not at all. "What about the troll? Did you see it?"
Harry shook his head. "While going to fetch Hermione, I heard it approaching from another corridor. We were lucky to be able to escape before it saw us."
It was evident to Dumbledore that this was not what had happened, but he had no way to find the truth. The brat was just as immune to Legilimency as his friend. Something wasn't right about that, he felt. The way he had made sure that brat was raised, he should have had no chance to learn anything about Magic, certainly not how to protect his mind from intrusion, yet that was exactly what he was doing. Well, the boy had spent the last month before school on his own. It was still much too short a time to gain much knowledge, not to mention such formidable mind shields.
He had to keep his benevolent mask, though. "It was still very brave of you to go and warn your friend of the troll. I believe ten points to Gryffindor for thinking of others would be just right. Now, don't you have some homework to do?"
A few minutes later, when they were cocooned in the library, they finally talked. "He tried to use Legilimency on me," Hermione said.
"On me too. He got nothing, as expected."
"From me neither." She then started thinking. "Shouldn't we teach Occlumency to Neville, at least? It feels wrong to lie to him, but without mind shields, it would be like telling it straight to Dumbledore."
Indeed, they noticed that he was also called to Dumbledore a few times.
"We should, I believe. If nothing else, it may improve his memory quite a bit."
"Sure! Occlumency can help in that too. Let's try this weekend!"
Harry just smiled at her enthusiasm. He really liked seeing her in that mood