Harry Silver

“RUN!” Fred cried out as he turned and tried to herd the first years away from the troll.

They didn’t need to be told twice as everybody turned heel and ran, unfortunately they had already spent a good ten minutes running around the school trying to find the twins. Harry and Harrison quickly took off ahead but Tonks and Hermione didn’t have the stamina.

The troll might not have been smart and it might have had a belly the size of a small country but its legs were still the size of a tree and it quickly thundered forward. 

They might have made it had Tonks not predictably tripped on her own feet.

“TONKS!” Hermione screamed and quickly ran over to help the girl to her feet.

Unfortunately this had the side effect of allowing the troll to catch up to the pair and it raised its huge club above them.

“Look out!” The twins shouted as they slid under the legs of the troll grabbing both girls and yanking them out of the way moments before the trolls club slammed onto the ground.

The floor shook and cracked under the blow, chunks of rock and debris flying into the air. The troll let out a grunt of frustration at the failed attack and turned to find where the students had got to.

George and Tonks scrambled back as the troll spotted them, letting out a roar of frustration.

“Hey asshole!” Harry cried out as he ran forward, waving his arms to get the trolls attention, “Look at me! I’m a much healthier snack than those two!”

The troll turned, distracted by Harry's outburst and licked its lips.

“Hey don’t look at him, look at me!” Harrison shouted, making a scene on the other side to Harry, “I bet I’m the tastiest person here!”

Both boys continued to shout and wave, the troll seemingly confused by the commotion as it snapped its gaze between the two. The distraction allowed the twins and the girls to quickly run out of its range.

Eventually however the troll grew bored of the game and lashed out, swinging it’s club in a wide berth. Harrison ducked back, the club missing him by inches. Harry dove to the ground as the club flew over him, smashing into the wall. Chunks of stone reigned down on Harry as he covered his head and he hissed as he felt his robe tear and skin bruise.

The troll roared in frustration at another miss, it yanked its club out of the wall, causing more destruction before lifting it above its head. Unfortunately it underestimated how tall the ceiling was and promptly collided with it, causing another set of debris and dust to collapse.

Harry used the dust as cover and jumped to his feet, running back from the troll next to Harrison who was leaning against his knees and breathing heavily.

“Do we run?” He asked Harry.

Harry opened his mouth to respond when the corridor was filled with an inhuman growl. The troll pushed through the smoke, identifying the two boys with a scowl. It charged forward, swaying like a drunk but its sheer size meant every step it took was the equivalent of a small sprint for Harry and Harrison.

Before either could fully react the troll was upon them. It appeared to be using its minimal intelligence to change up its attack. Rather than swing its club it reached out to grab Harrison in its hand.

“Harrison!” Harry shouted and moved without thinking, shoving Harrison out of the way.

A moment later he felt his torso be gripped by the meaty fingers of the troll and he was lifted off the ground. The troll looked him up and down as it slowly started to squeeze down on his ribs.

“Ah shit!” Harry cried as he tried to pry the troll's hands open with little success, his wand was trapped in his pocket and he was of course far too weak compared to the troll, “Uh… A little help here!”

As the troll inspected Harry it’s back lit up with colour as spells slammed into it. Down the corridor Fred and George were trying to let loose every spell they knew while Tonks and Hermione threw chunks of stone at it. Sadly however they did little more than bounce off the troll's skin.

It turned back to the group of four, letting out a low growl as it raised Harry in front of it. The wizard was quickly pelted with stinging jinxes and stones.

“Hey! Hey guys! STOP HITTING ME! AND WHO THE HELL USES STINGING JINXES AGAINST A TROLL!?”

“That's all we know!” George shouted out with an apology as the troll swung its club at the group, causing them to duck and scatter.

Harry was thrown around like a rag doll in the troll's hand as it stumbled along, trying to hit anyone it could with its club. It was a good job he had a quidditch stomach or the corridor would have been covered in the remains of several treacle tarts. 

Everyone ran around the troll, trying to confuse it with their numbers, the twins letting off the odd spell with Harrison, Tonks and Hermione trying to throw rocks without hitting Harry. With each failed club swing the troll grew more and more agitated, its grip on Harry slowly getting tighter.

“Come on!” Harry gasped out as he clawed at the troll's fingers, desperate to loosen its grip.

“Harry!” Tonks cried from where she ducked under a swing, “Don’t you have any friends that could help!?”

Harry looked at her like she’d sprouted wings, “You are my friends!?”

Somehow Tonks managed to roll her eyes even as she dived to the left, “No! I mean friends only you can talk to!”

Harry’s eyes widened as he realised what she was getting at. He glanced around quickly, in all the chaos he should be safe about anybody overhearing him.

“Is anybody out there!? I need aid!”

Harry's friends might not have heard him but the troll certainly did. Its head snapped its attention to Harry with wide eyes. It seemed that nobody liked hearing parseltongue. 

Harry just hoped the idea worked, Athena and Ares had told him all kinds of snakes secretly lived within Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin's own personal army, but they only responded to those they respected. Knowing Harry's luck the troll was about to be attacked by a grass snake.

The troll turned with a roar and slammed Harry into the wall. Luckily most of its own hand took the brunt of the blow but Harry was still pushed through the wall as it crumbled around him.

“HARRY!” Hermione screamed as Harry groaned.

He looked up at the troll, spells and rocks pelted its back but it paid them no mind as it started to squeeze Harry.

“I am here, speaker!”

A voice hissed from behind Harry from the pipes and vents he’d been smashed into. A moment later a large python shot over his shoulder, quickly using the troll's outstretched arm to slither around. The troll only had time to look at the creature in confusion before it opened its mouth and launched itself at the troll's face.

The pythons' teeth sink into the trolls' flesh, rancid blood spurting from the wounds. It let out an ear shattering roar of pain as it staggered back, mercifully dropping Harry in the process.

As the python wrapped itself around the troll's throat Tonks ran over to Harry. She propped him over her shoulder and guided him to his feet.

“Good job snake guy.”

“Piece of cake,” Harry groaned as his chest throbbed in pain.

The rest of the group quickly ran up to the two of them.

“We need to get out of here!” Hermione hissed.

“Merlin that snake was a piece of luck!” Fred said, staring at the flailing troll.

“The hell is a python doing in Hogwarts anyway!?” George cried.

“Who cares!?” Tonks snapped, “Let's just get out of-”

Tonks was interrupted by a great crash. The troll had apparently tried to smash his own face with his club to hit the snake but had missed and smashed the ceiling instead. It wasn’t deterred however and did it two more times. Above it the ceiling started to crack and fall away.

“Move!” George shouted, pushing everyone forward.

Behind them there was an almighty crash and ceiling caved in. The troll and snake were buried under a pile of stone as dust swept over the students. Tonks and Harry fell to the ground as everyone started to cough up in the storm.

“Harry!” Fred cried as he ran over to where Harry lay on the ground, “Are you ok!?”

“Honestly? One of my better Halloweens to be honest.”

Fred and Harrison helped Harry get to his knees as the students all dusted themselves off.

“Is it dead?” Tonks asked as she looked towards the now unmoving pile of rubble.

“Lets not stick around to find out,” Harrison said.

Before they could move a clatter of footsteps appeared behind them and Dumbledore followed by The Head of Houses and Quirrell appeared around the corner.

“What on earth is going on!?” McGonagall screeched as she took the sight of the dust bruised and battered students.

“Reckless students!” Snape hissed as he glared at them all, “Don’t you realises there’s a-”

Behind everyone the pile of rubble shifted and fell apart, revealing the troll slumped up against the wall, eyes rolled in the back of its head, unmoving.

“-troll… about…” 

The teachers all looked between the troll and students with shocked expressions.

McGonagall was the first to recover and turned to the students with a bright red face, “You better have a perfect explanation for this!”

Hermione looked to be on the verge of tears while Tonks shuffled nervously on her feet. Harry stepped forward to weave some kind of lie together but the twins beat him to it.

“It’s our fault, Professor.” George said, stepping in front of the first years as Fred nodded his head.

“We thought it would be a funny prank to get these four caught in the corridors during the feast and persuaded them to come with us before we knew about the troll.”

Snape narrowed his eyes at the group, no doubt well aware that the first years had been present throughout the entire meal. He held his tongue however.

Sprout did not.

“YOU IMBECILES!” She roared, “HOW COULD YOU BE SO RECKLESSLY FOOLISH!? PUTTING FOUR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN DANGER, I HAVE A MIND TO-”

“Pomona,” Dumbledore said softly and the woman's mouth immediately snapped shut, “While your anger is understandable perhaps now is not the best time. We should get these students back to their common rooms and focus on getting the troll out of the castle.”

“Yes of course, my apologies Albus,” Sprout said though she maintained her glare at the twins.

“Now as for you two,” Dumbledore said and looked over his spectacles at the twins, “Ten points each will be taken from Gryffindor.”

“Ten!?” Snape hissed, “That’s it!?”

Dumbledore nodded, “And of course we’ll have to write home to your mother.”

The twins' faces paled considerably and Snape allowed a soft smirk to appear on his lips. The loss of points was nothing compared to the wrath of Molly Weasley.

“And for our first years,” Dumbeldore continued, turning to them with a soft smile, “Five points each, taking down a troll is a rather impressive feat for your age.”

“B-But sir?” Hermione squeaked, looking nearly as pale as the twins, “We broke the rules?”

“That you did, Miss Granger,” Dumbledore said with a nod, “But sometimes doing good is more important than following rules.”

Harry avoided rolling his eyes, it was a miracle the headteacher hadn’t mentioned the greater good.

“Is that really the lesson we want to be implementing here?” Snap said with a slight frown.

Dumbledore chuckled, “Have you ever heard the old saying rules are meant to be broken Severus?”

“Albus!?” McGonagall hissed, “Rules were in fact made for the complete opposite!”

Flitwick just sighed, “Enough of this, come with me Hermione, let's get back.”

Hermione (who appeared to be having an internal crisis at Dumbledore's casual dismissal of rules) slowly nodded her head and shot everyone a weak smile. The group quickly dispersed with each head of house taking ownership of their respective students while Dumbledore stayed to deal with the troll. Harry was glad he wasn’t going with the Gryffindor’s, he’d rarely seen McGonagall so angry.

He and Snape walked through the dungeons in silence, Harry eyed the teacher several times, expecting a lecture or something similar. It wasn’t until they reached the entrance to the common room Snape turned and spoke to him.

“For the record, what I’m about to say doesn’t condone whatever happened back there. I’m sure whatever the reason you encountered that troll was down to recklessness and stupidity.” Snape said before sighing, “However, loathed as I am to admit it, taking down a troll is no small feat, something nearly every pureblood will be aware of.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, “What's your point?”

Snape rolled his eyes, “You’re a Slytherin Silver. Work it out.”

With that he turned on his heels and marched down the hall towards his quarters. Harry watched him go until he disappeared round a corner.

With a shrug Harry turned back to the common room door, “Hello Francis.”

“Harry!” The snake statue that guarded the door said, “You have no idea how worried we all were when you did not return with the other students! I’m glad to see you’re safe.”

“Yeah… Actually it was a snake that saved me though… I don’t think they survived…” Harry said with a sudden lurch of guilt.

“Do not fret about it young one, it would be considered an honour for any snake to die defending a noble speaker. Whoever it was achieved a dream held by all the snakes of Hogwarts.”

Harry smiled slightly as the snake shifted and revealed the common room door. Inside the entire house stood around tables that had been set up with various deserts stacked upon them allowing the students to finish up their feast. Harry’s well trained eyes zoned in on a treacle tart near the fire but before he could make any progress towards it he was interrupted.

“Harry!” Tracey cried as she ran towards him, arms outstretched for a hug, she caught the way he flinched though and paused before grabbing him, “Where did you go!? We were so worried!”

Blaise and Daphne walked up behind her and though they didn’t have such stricken looks Harry could see the creases of worry in their face.

Harry shrugged, “Got lost on the way back.”

“Idiot,” Daphne responded with a frown, “What would have happened if you ran into the troll?”

“I did.”

Blaise actually managed to do a rather well timed spit take, “You what!?”

Harry shrugged, “I ran into the troll, well me and few others. It swung its club at us, it grabbed me, we killed it.”

Daphne scowled at him, “There’s no need to lie Harry.”

“I’m not,” Harry said with a frown.

“Really Harry,” She said with an eye roll, “You really think a first year could take down a fully grown troll?”

“I mean, I wasn’t on my own… and it kind of took itself down.”

“Uhh I think he’s telling the truth.” Tracey said slowly.

“Pfft please,” A snide voice said from their side and Malfoy appeared out of the crowd, “Trying to gain a little bit of clout Silver? Nobody in their right mind would think you could survive a troll, personally I was hoping you’d been killed.”

Harry elected to ignore him and pushed past towards the dorms, “Believe me or not, I’m going to bed.”

As they watched him go Tracey turned to Malfoy with a glare, “You’re a real asshole you know that?”

Malfoy simply turned his nose up at her, “He doesn’t belong here.”

“Isn’t he beating you in every subject and earning more house points than you?” Daphne pointed out.

A slight blush appeared on Malfoy’s face, “Th-That’s not the point, his blood-”

“Is probably full of a lot less hair gel than yours is,” Blaise pointed out, “Just leave it Malfoy.”

Malfoy opened his mouth to argue back but a slight glare from Daphne caused it to snap shut and he vanished back into the crowd. The three friends watched Harry disappear into the dorms and Blaise sighed.

“Do you guys ever get the feeling that we really have no idea who Harry is?”

If there had been any doubt about Harry's troll claim it was put down the next morning when the entire Great Hall was silenced during breakfast by a howler from Mrs Weasley. The rant far exceeded the one Ron had received in his second year. Though she didn’t outright say it, the letter made it more than obvious who the four first years had been. Reaction to this largely depended on the house. Tonks seemed to receive a welling of pride from Gryffindor while Harrison spent the next few weeks being smothered by Hufflepuff and always being surrounded by a protective bubble of students. Harry and Hermione had less favourable reactions.

Ravenclaw's generally preferred to fly under the radar, not bringing too much attention to their house other than their grades. So Hermione's very public battle with a troll was received with mixed feelings, though for many it seemed to break away her snobbish exterior and people visibly relaxed more around her. 

Slytherin was predictably the most complex house when it came to these stunts. On the one hand taking down a troll was no small thing and Harry gained some mediocre respect, combined with his strong grade performance and even the pureblood fanatics had to admit he was an asset to the house. Unfortunately, like Hermione in Ravenclaw, many of said fanatics probably wished he was an asset in quiet because having a muggleborn excel in the house where half the students believed in blood purity made it difficult to defend the argument.

Harry's life became a little tense as a result but it wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to. On the bright side the encounter had brought the four first years closer together. Harry still spent a lot of time with Blaise, Daphne and Tracey but he would spend at least an hour a day with Tonks, Hermione and Harrison. Tonks and Hermione in particular seemed to be pleased to have friends outside their own house. 

All in all life was pretty good for Harry, he tried not to compare his current timeline to his old one for fear of going insane but compared to his first time around his grades were better, he had more friends and less dark lords going after him. Sure, he missed Ron, Hagrid and various other people he had been closer to but that was life he supposed.

The only thing Harry really yearned for was quidditch. Without his stunt saving Neville’s ball in front of McGonagall Harry had no such luck in getting booted to the team a year early. So instead he was able to relax a little and watch the games from the stands and as an added bonus without Harrison out in the field Quirrell made no attempt to kill the chosen one. 

As it were, Harry's mind very nearly forgot that there was an entire evil plot going on behind closed doors that he needed to deal with. It wasn’t until a few weeks before Christmas that Harry was faced with the truth.

It was one of the rare days they managed to drag Hermione out of the library, it was a bright sunny day, a rarity for the time of year, and Harrison and Tonks were determined to make the most of it. 

“I still think it’s silly,” Hermione said with a frown as the group shuffled along the corridor, “I mean a single catch worth 150 points? It pretty much makes everything else obsolete.”

“You’re looking at it the wrong way,” Tonks tried to explain, “Without the snitch the game just becomes boring, but with the snitch it means the rest of the team really have to push, remember the game doesn't end until the snitch is caught so if the gap is wide enough the snitch becomes irrelevant no matter who catches it.”

Harry opted not to get involved in the argument between them as he hummed to himself, people watching as they made their way outside. The Harrison Potter awe was just starting to die out but people still stopped and stared at the group when they sighted him. At least Harrison seemed to be getting used to it.

“Uh Harry?” Said Boy-Who-Lived asked.

“Mmm?”

“Where are we going?”

Harry paused mid step and frowned, “To the great hall to head outside.”

“Isn’t the great hall that way?” Harrison said and pointed behind them.

“Um… Maybe?” Harry said frowning, trying to recall if they’d turned right or left after walking past the entrance to Ravenclaw tower.

“For the love of Merlin are we lost AGAIN!?” Tonks cried out, throwing her arms up in the air.

Despite having technically spent more time in the castle than every other student Harry still found navigating the place difficult at times.

“In my defence Harrison brought up treacle tart and we were doomed from that point onwards.”

“Hey! Don’t pin this on me!” Harrison complained while glaring at Harry, “Just because you can’t control your stomach!”

“Oh! Says the one who never fails to have half a pig's worth of bacon at breakfast every morning.”

“H-How do you know that!?”

“I see you eating it!”

“You’re halfway across the hall!?”

“I have perfect vision.”

“You have glasses!?”

“Oi!”

Tonks’ shout ripped the boys' attention from each other, Hermione was giving them an amused look as Tonks rolled her eyes, “If you two ladies are quite done arguing maybe we can actually go the right way for a change?”

Both boys huffed as Hermione looked around, “I think it’s this way.”

“Why not cut though here?” Tonks asked, reaching for a door.

Hermione’s eyes widened and in an uncharacteristic move she lashed out and yanked Tonks back by the wrist.

“Ah! Hermione!”

“That’s the third floor corridor!” Hermione hissed, “The one we’re banned from!”

“Oh,” Tonks said, wincing slightly.

“Yeah, let's not get involved there.” Harrison said, turning on his feet, “Lead the way Hermione.”

Hermione nodded and turned around, everyone making their way back.

Except for Harry.

Harry had been fixated on the door ever since Hermione had mentioned it. Behind that door lay a variety of traps and puzzles in defence of The Philosophers Stone. Meanwhile Voldermort lay under a turban somewhere in the school plotting and scheming. Not just for the stone but for all subsequent years. Planning to make Harrison’s life a living hell.

Memories flashed past Harry, visions of Quirrell turning to ash, of fighting for Ginny's life against the Basilisk. Endless curses thrown at him, bodies of Cederic, Sirius, Fred and dozens of others lying on the ground. Laughing Death Eaters who jeered at the screams of his friends, monsters who took pleasure in pain all while Voldemort tortured and killed every person he ever cared about in his never ending quest to get to Harry.

Harry’s thoughts continued to spiral until she felt a hand on his shoulder. Instincts kicked in and he grabbed the wrist of the person, twisting it and throwing them against the wall. His wand appeared in his hand and he pressed it into the throat of his attacker.

“Harry!”

Hermione’s shout immediately cleared Harry’s head and he found himself staring back into eyes near identical to his own.

“Harry,” Harrison said carefully, “It’s me, Harrison.”

Harry's mind caught up with the situation and he stumbled back, letting go of Harrison.

“I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t…”

“Hey, woah!” Harrison said as he stepped forward, carefully grabbing Harry by the shoulders, “It’s fine, no harm done. I should’ve known not to grab you but you didn't respond to me.”

“Sorry,” Harry said as he took a few calming breaths, “I just got lost in thought.”

Harrison shrugged, “No harm done. Come on, I want to see if we can spot this so-called Giant Squid.”

Hermione and Tonks gave Harry concerned glances before following behind Harrison, easily striking up a distracting conversation.

Harry trailed behind slightly, clearing his mind while watching them. He saw how Harrison laughed at a joke Tonks made, how he smiled when Hermione asked about homework and how he teasingly rolled his eyes when the girls argued slightly. It was the actions of a carefree child, who had the whole world in front of him. It was so far from Harry, who had been beaten and bruised by war.

It was then that Harry made his decision. He might not be able to keep Harrison from everything, but he was determined to stop his counterpart from seeing the same nightmares he had. And it started with the philosopher's stone.

Harry was going to take down Quirrell himself.