One Day They'll Know Your Name

Whos name is that?

After Harry and Sirius finished talking, Professor Snape took Harry back to Hogwarts, but this time by Apparition. Since you couldn't Apparate into Hogwarts grounds, they got to the front gates and had to walk the remainder of the distance. Professor Snape made a white doe appear out of his wand by saying something that sounded like Expecto Patronum and told it to tell the professors at the feast that the two were back and that they would be headed directly to the Slytherin dorms and getting dinner there. Harry stopped by a bathroom on the way there and Professor Snape continued on.

As Harry continued down to the dungeons after he finished his business, he heard a strange snuffling sound. Assuming it was some weird creature Hagrid had lost track of, Harry cautiously looked around the corner the sound had come from. He would have screamed if he hadn't slammed his fist into his mouth. It was a troll. Harry had read about them. They were extremely dangerous, even if they weren't very intelligent. Harry slowly backed away from the corner and back towards the bathroom. He didn't want to be in an enclosed space with one, but hopefully it wouldn't be a problem. Suddenly the troll lumbered around the corner and spotted Harry, who quickly turned around and saw that this was one of the few hallways that ended in a dead end. He quickly ran into the bathroom next to him, not particularly caring which bathroom he was in. He closed the door as quickly as he could without slamming it and making more noise, hoping that if the troll thought he'd just vanished it would go away. Just in case, he also went into one of the stalls and crouched on the toilet, so that nothing of him showed. His hopes were dashed a moment later as the troll slammed in, breaking the door down with its cudgel. The troll snuffled around a bit, and Harry didn't move a muscle, not even breathing. Suddenly he heard a bang and he flinched. The troll had destroyed one of the sinks. Harry remained still, not knowing how to get help, and too terrified to move in any case. Another bang came, and another sink met its doom to the troll. Harry could hear water spurting everywhere and the troll getting closer. Suddenly, the stall on the other end of the row was destroyed, sending up a spray of water as the cudgel went through the toilet. The next stall met the same fate a few seconds later. There was only one stall between Harry and the troll. He let out a terrified shriek as the troll smashed the last stall before Harry's. That ended up being his saving grace, as a moment later, four first years burst in, apparently having been looking for him.

"Harry!" Hermione's voice screamed.

A voice from a different side of the room yelled, "Hey ugly! Over here!" It was Ron.

Draco slid under the door of the last stall and saw Harry crying as silently as he could while still being hysterical. Draco quickly grabbed him by his hands and pulled him into a tight hug for just a moment, then quickly pulled him out of the stall into the chaos that waited outside. Hermione and Ron were yelling insults at the troll from opposite sides of the room, confusing it, while Neville was standing near the door, not making any noise but clearly watching for a professor. He turned as Draco got there with Harry, though, and quickly and quietly got Hermione and Ron's attention. One at a time, they slowly inched their way to the door, sending loud popping sounds out of their wands at random intervals to keep confusing the monster. As soon as they all reached the door, they took off at a sprint, Hermione sending one last loud pop
towards the troll.

They quickly found a teacher, luckily Professor Snape, and Harry burst into more tears and threw himself at the professor.

Professor Snape suddenly found himself with an armful of hysterical eleven year old and four more first years also looking terrified but much less so than Harry. "What happened?" He asked softly, not wanting to snap at the children when they were already so terrified.

"Professor Snape! Oh thank goodness we found you!" Draco cried. "The troll was in the bathroom with Harry! When he wasn't in the common room or our dorm room when we all got there I tried to find a prefect but they all told me to bugger off. Then I tried to find you, but you were already long gone. I knew I couldn't do anything alone, and there were no other teachers and all the prefects were so busy that I quickly told Ron, Neville, and Hermione, and we quickly made a plan. We knew the route you and Harry would take from the front doors to the dungeons so we started there. We saw the bathroom door had been knocked down and the sinks and the stalls were all destroyed but one. Then Harry screamed, and we had to do SOMETHING or he would have DIED! Ron and Herm distracted the troll by yelling at it from opposite sides of the room while Neville watched at the door for a teacher and I snuck in to get Harry. As soon as we got Harry Ron and Herm inched their way slowly back to the door while casting spells that made popping sounds to distract it and as soon as everyone was back at the door we ran until we found you."

The group had been walking away from the bathroom quickly as Draco explained, with Harry still in Professor Snape's arms. The professor took in the information that Draco dumped on him. "You did the right
thing, Dragon," he said, using the term of endearment he had often heard Narcissa Malfoy use when the child was scared. "You tried to get an adult or a prefect, and when that didn't work, you didn't go barreling in by yourself. You found friends, you made a plan, and you didn't actively try to attack the troll. You were all very lucky, and the situation should have never occurred, but that's hardly your fault."

The more he spoke with the soft soothing voice, the more the five children calmed down. Harry's sobs were now only hiccups, and the other four didn't look nearly as terrified anymore. Harry still clung to Professor Snape's robes, but the professor knew that was to be expected. The child had nearly died only a few moments ago. He found an empty classroom and transfigured a large couch from one of the chairs, then sat in the middle of it, Harry still in his lap, and motioned for the other four to sit with them. As he expected they would, they cuddled as close as they could. Less terrified, but still very frightened.

He continued to talk softly to them, not saying much of importance, and sent a patronus to Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore. After a few minutes, plenty of time for the patronus to have reached at least one of the two professors, he summoned another and let it prance around the room, the innate calming magic helping the still slightly hysterical child on his lap greatly. The doe walked up behind the couch and nudged Harry with her muzzle, making the child giggle a little bit. He carefully reached out a hand and touched the doe, surprised when it was more solid than he expected. He began to pet the beautiful animal and slowly began to uncurl from his tight ball, even giggling a few times as the deer nuzzled him on the cheek.

The door opened then, and Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout entered the room. Professor McGonagall saw the doe and gasped quietly. She wasn't really surprised to see the children all huddled together with Professor Snape, as he knew he was actually quite the gentle person and would never terrify children more than to put the fear of exploding potions in them, especially if they were already terrified of something that he had not done on purpose.

"Did you dispatch of the troll?" he asked softly, letting his patronus disappear. Harry looked sad for a moment, then noticed the other professors in the room. Thoroughly embarrassed, he slid out of the professor's lap and next to Draco on the couch.

"Yes. We got rid of it," Professor Sprout said in a no nonsense tone that instantly put the children at ease. "We also closed off the bathroom until it can be repaired. Luckily there are plenty of bathrooms elsewhere that can be used." As she spoke she had bustled over to the children and was now fussing over them, making sure none of them were hurt. "Come now, you lot, let's get you to Madam Pomfrey. I daresay you could all use a Calming Draught. Severus, you should get one too, although I don't doubt that you can get your own or that you would protest wildly if I tried to make you come with us, so I'll let you explain everything to Minerva, Filius, and Albus. Someone can fill me in later." With that the dumpy woman herded the children to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey was a lovely older woman who reminded Harry of a mixture of Professors Sprout and McGonagall. She was stern, but very gentle. She cast a quick diagnostic spell to make absolute sure none of them were hurt, making the spell look at the last two years of the lives of Hermione and Harry, just in case there was something that she should be aware of in their home lives. The other three were purebloods, so she had all their records on file. Harry's list was promising to be longer, so she folded it discretely as it grew to make it look about the same length to the children in front of her. She saw none of them suffered from anything except terror, so she gave them all Calming Draughts and sent them to bed. She then sent a copy of Harry's scan to Professor Snape with a note that it would be alright to leave it until morning and that it was best to just go to bed now.

The five first years quickly agreed to sit together at breakfast and split to head to their dorms. Draco led Harry to the dorm and they sat together on Harry's bed. Draco intended to get up soon, but they both fell asleep before he could get to his own bed.