More to Life

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Chapter Fifteen - The Forbidden Corridor.

Lucky for Harry, the ground was only a little over six feet below him. The drop stung the bottom of his feet a little, but that was the last thing he was thinking about since he had a seven foot Troll after him.

He knew the last thing he should do was stand still, common sense told him that, but he'd never seen a troll in his life. Quite frankly, he would be glad if he didn't see one ever again.

It had to be one of the ugliest creatures, ever. The picture in the book he was studying from in Defence Against the Dark Arts really didn't do it justice. It was even uglier. It had rough grey skin which was wrinkly in places, especially around its neck. This Troll had deep red eyes that Harry swore grew brighter and brighter the longer it was chasing him.

Since when did Trolls have glowing red eyes?

Of course, Harry couldn't exactly sit down and ponder that for the moment.

The club came crashing down on the spot Harry was stood just moments before. The Troll shrieked again and raised the club to try and hit Harry again. The raven haired Slytherin silently wondered if any of the teachers had heard the screeching. Several detentions would definitely be better than getting killed.

Annoyingly enough, there weren't any stairs on this level to the floor above. Harry really wanted to curse the founders at this point. He couldn't understand why someone would build a corridor no one could get to in a conventional way.

Harry ducked just in time to see the club whistle past the top of his head.

Duh, Harry said to himself, use magic you... you... self-absorbed prick. Great, now he was calling himself names.

Pointing the wand at his feet he said the first spell he could think of. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He didn't move from the spot. He growled at his feet, shoved the wand in his pocket and pointed his palm towards his feet instead. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He said it with more enthusiasm this time around.

He lifted a few feet off the ground. Now if only he could direct himself to the ledge he had fallen from...

Before he could, the club came swinging at him once more. Seeing nothing else he could do, Harry waited until it was close enough and grabbed hold of the wooden log.

The Troll looked confused for a few minutes, trying in vain to figure out where the person he was chasing had gone. It soon found Harry and gave his club a good shake. The Slytherin muttered under his breath to cancel the spell he had used on himself before and fished his wand out of his pocket again.

Pointing the piece of wood at the Troll he shouted, "Stupefy!" Unfortunately, his spell wasn't strong enough to have the effect he wanted. The Troll just looked confused for a few seconds and scratched its head.

Harry glared at the Troll. "Great, just great. He's me thinking I was going to get murdered by Voldemort but no, all it took was a Mountain Troll!"

The Troll picked the boy up by his ankle and shook him about a little. It gave him a sniff and shrieked some more.

Harry closed his eyes slowly. Maybe I can knock it out or something, he though. He snapped his eyes back open and spotted a large piece of rock that had fallen from the floor above. Once again he pointed his palm forward and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The rock hovered off the floor slowly. Harry blocked out the shrieking the Troll was making and floated the rock over the Troll's head. He then cancelled the spell. The rock hit the Troll on the head with an almighty crack. It blinked a few times then its eyes rolled to the back of its head and it collapsed to the floor, dropping Harry with it.

Harry turned himself in the air so he landed on all fours instead of on his head. "Ow," he muttered, pushing himself up to his knees. "When Dumbledore says not to go down a corridor, don't go down it Harry," he berated himself.

After working out a way to climb back up to the floor above, Harry stumbled back to the Slytherin Common Room. He was a little worse for wear. His hands and knees were a little scuffed up, his black hair was dusted with little pieces of stone and his robe had a huge rip at the front.

The raven haired Slytherin noticed Draco sat in one of the chairs in the Common Room. The blonde stood up and walked towards his friend.

"Where've you been?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I know what's down that corridor now," Harry mumbled. He noticed his hands were shaking a little.

A faint flicker of concern crossed Draco's face. "You look like crap."

"Thanks," Harry said sarcastically. "Next time I run into a Troll I'll ask it not to rip my cloak."

Draco paled slightly. "A Troll? Dumbledore let a Troll in Hogwarts?"

"Well it certainly wasn't a Niffler," Harry mumbled, letting himself fall into a chair. "It had red eyes too."

"Trolls don't have red eyes," Draco told him.

"Try telling the Troll that." Harry paused. "Scratch that. It's kind of knocked out at the moment."

Draco was impressed. "You knocked it out?"

Harry nodded. "Hmm. I don't think I'll go looking for a Troll in the near future though. They're as ugly as Malkin is."

This caused Draco to grin. "That's pretty ugly then." Harry didn't answer him. Draco looked at his friend to find him sleeping peacefully in the chair. Draco just shook his head with amusement and returned to reading the book he had been looking at before Harry had walked in.

*~*~*

Harry awoke a few hours later to someone poking him in his ribs. He rubbed his eyes wearily and blinked a few times until his vision cleared. Draco was sat in the chair next to him, an amused look on his face.

"Know anything about the broken banister near the staircases?" he asked, knowing full well that Harry did know.

The raven haired Slytherin groaned.

"Dumbledore reckons the Troll just went bonkers during the night so you're in the clear," the blonde reassured his friend.

"He actually said in front of the school that there was a Troll down there then?" Harry asked.

"Well... No, I eavesdropped. He was talking to McGonagall. At breakfast he said that it was really old anyway, must have fallen away during the night."

Harry scoffed. "That's the worst excuse ever."

"I know that, you know that, but Dumbledore thinks students don't ever question him," Draco said.

"Except Slytherins," Harry grinned.

"Except Slytherins."

The pair were silent for a few minutes before Harry spoke again. "I wonder what the Troll is guarding?" he mumbled.

Draco paled. "No way are we going to have a look."

"Aww c'mon! Where's you sense of adventure?" Harry complained.

"I left it in my other robe," Draco muttered as he began to walk off.

"Well put your other robe on then!"

Draco just rolled his eyes and left his friend in the Common Room.

"Know any ways to kill a Troll?" Harry shouted to Draco to see if the other boy would reply. He didn't. He spoke more quietly to himself, "I wonder if eavesdropping will do any good?"

*~*~*

Later on that night, Draco found himself under the invisibility cloak once more with Harry. Of course the blonde Slytherin was doing nothing but moan about being dragged along, but Harry was used to it by now. You don't grow up with someone for over two years and not know what they are like.

"Why are you so set on knowing anyway?" Draco asked after he had ceased his mumbling.

"Wouldn't you want to know if it was something that Voldemort needed to bring himself back?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Good point," Draco grudgingly agreed, "but I swear, you get more and more Gryffindor-like each day."

Harry stopped walking. "I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," he asked clearly amused.

"Insult, definitely an insult," Draco said with a grin.

"Git," Harry said half-heartedly. "Now-"

"Shush! I can hear someone coming," Draco said in a loud whisper.

The two boys pressed themselves into the wall so no one would walk into them and waited for the person to walk past.

As the footsteps neared, Harry could tell there were two sets instead of one. He peered around the corner and saw Professor McGonagall walking with the Headmaster himself. Harry nearly grinned. The exact person he was looking for was nearby and talking for that matter.

"Whatever do you think made that Troll go out of control last night, Headmaster?" McGonagall began.

"Probably just restless, Minerva," Dumbledore said quietly. It was said in such a way that Harry thought Dumbledore doubted his own words. "There was no sign of anyone being down there and no one could venture down there accidentally in any case."

"Are you sure it's safe to keep," McGonagall paused and looked around her briefly, as if to see if anyone was eavesdropping. "That thing here in the school?"

"I couldn't think of a safer place, Minerva." Dumbledore came to a stop just before the corner. Harry, feeling slightly self-conscious pressed himself against the wall a little more. He really didn't feel invisible at the moment and he didn't like that feeling. "Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain."

"Yes, but is it safe enough Headmaster?"

"Couldn't tell you," Dumbledore said before smiling and beginning his walking once more. They turned down the corridor opposite the one Harry and Draco were standing in. "We just have to hope that the Death Eaters or Voldemort himself do not attack Hogwarts for it."

"What makes you think he won't?" Minerva asked.

"It's not an essential item that he needs. There are other ways to go around what he wants to achieve, that item is just one of the five in which he requires three." The Headmaster answered as they moved out of hearing range.

As soon as they were gone, Harry pulled the cloak away from himself and Draco. "So it's either Voldemort's birth charm or a precious item of his," Harry said coming to a conclusion.

Draco nodded. "Well it can't be your blood, because that would be gross.-" Harry interrupted with a 'Hey!' "-I doubt they'd have a bone from his parents and they really can't have the flesh of all of his Death Eaters down there; that would be gross too."

"I think that's definitely enough information to stop us going down that corridor to find out," Harry murmured.

Draco grinned. "Where's that Gryffindor courage you had gone?" he said with a laugh.

"It took off when I remembered what that Troll was like and I will be a very happy chappie if I never ever see it again," Harry mumbled.

*~*~*

The Christmas Holidays were soon over and all the children that were away for the break were arriving back on the train. Harry and Draco were sat in the Slytherin Common room when Blaise and Millicent came into the room via the sliding wall. They both looked happy to be back.

Blaise fell onto the only sofa in the room and put a hand over his forehead. "I hate Christmas," he proclaimed.

"Had to visit your Mother then?" Draco asked.

"Yes, the cow had the nerve to be all happy and dandy, like nothing had ever happened."

Harry was very confused at this point and it showed on his face. Blaise caught the look.

"Oh, you have no idea what I'm going on about, do you?" he said. Harry just shook his head and Blaise continued. "My Mother was a... DE but my Dad wasn't. She left when I was only a few months old without a word to Dad. He didn't agree with her being one." He gave a shrugged. "She never saw me again until a few years before Hogwarts. Once my Dad told me what she did, I hated her. My Dad died a few months before we started Hogwarts so I ended up living with my older Brother who's twenty. Suddenly she wants to be in my life again." He then folded his arms in a sulk.

It took Harry a few seconds to realise that Blaise had shorten Death Eater to DE in case anyone was listening in. Harry didn't know exactly what to say so he didn't say anything.

"What about you Millicent?" Draco said a few minutes later. "What did you do?"

Millicent just shrugged. "Nothing really. Mother and Father were snapping at each other like always, especially on Christmas Day. I spent a lot of it with my cousin, which wasn't that fun. There's only so much you can do with a five year old."

"So we all had crappy Christmases then?" Blaise said.

"I wouldn't say crap," Harry said with a grin and proceeded to tell them everything he and Draco had done over the holidays, leaving nothing out.

When Harry had finished, Draco butting in when Harry had missed a little out of his story, Blaise made a low whistle. "You found out what you wanted to then," he stated.

"So he needs you..." Millicent trailed off.

"Yeah," Harry replied. "He can't do anything without me."

"Dumbledore won't let him get you," Blaise said.

"Didn't stop him on Halloween, did it?" Harry said a little sarcastically.

"He obviously didn't know then," Draco added. "Blaise is right. No matter what you do, Dumbledore will always protect you. He won't want the Dark Lord to win, will he?"

Harry didn't answer, but he knew Draco was right. If Dumbledore didn't protect him because of who he was, he would protect him to stop Voldemort from winning a war which hadn't even started yet.

"It's time for dinner," Blaise said breaking the silence. "Anyone coming?"

Draco stood up to leave. Just as Harry made to do so, he took a glance at Millicent. She was sat staring into space. He silently wondered what had happened over Christmas to make her like this. He had never known Millicent to be the kind of person that spaced out.

"I'll follow you in a bit," Harry said. Millicent didn't even react to any of the talking so Harry safely assumed that she wasn't listening.

Draco took one look at Harry, shrugged and made for the sliding wall. Blaise followed.

"Millie?" Harry asked making the girl jump from her retrieve.

"Harry?" she said in a toneless voice.

"What happened over Christmas?"

She froze, staring at the fireplace they were sat in front of. "Nothing," she answered after a while.

"Something must have happened. You don't normally space out like you have been doing most of the time you've been sat in here."

Millicent turned to look at him. "Nothing happened," she said sternly.

"Except you're parents bickering. What were they fighting about?" he asked.

"Nothing just stupid petty things like who's going to set the table."

"I thought you had house-elves?" Harry asked.

Millicent cringed sensing her mistake. She stood up and glared at Harry. "It's none of your business!"

"I just want to help Mill. I don't like it when you're not happy because you're my friend," he explained.

Millicent sat back down again. "Mother is thinking of leaving," she said hesitantly once again staring back at the fireplace. "I want to go with my Mother, but my Father won't let me. They've been arguing about it all holiday." She said all this in a dull tone, which made Harry wonder if she was telling him everything. He didn't push her for anymore information though. He didn't want to ruin her trust for him.

"When is she leaving?" Harry asked, thinking of nothing else he could say.

Millicent shrugged. "I hate my Father, you know. I really want to go with Mum, but I'm frightened of... that my Father will stop me."

Harry put a hand on her shoulder. "If you keep thinking about this all term you'll become a state. You won't see them again till summer now, will you?" he asked.

"No."

"Try not to worry about it," Harry said with a smile. "You'll only see them about two months of the year for the next seven years and then you can leave home anyway."

Millicent smiled. "You're right."

"I'm always right," Harry said with a slight chuckle.

"Draco's rubbing off on you," she teased.

"Great," Harry said sarcastically. "Just what I need."

"I think I need that dinner now," Millicent said standing up. She smiled a little and started walking to the sliding wall. "Coming?"

"Yeah, just hang on a minute. "Harry quickly packed all his books away into his bag, ran to the door of his dorm and threw the book bag to the bottom of his bed. He left the room before he even saw it land. He held his arm out to Millicent. "Would you care to be assorted to dinner?"

"Of course kind sir," Millicent said playing the part. She took hold of Harry's arm and they both walked out the Common room.

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~Leatrix Malfoy - 15^th January 2004