Halloween at Hogwarts was a production.
Floating jack-o'-lanterns drifted under the enchanted ceiling.
Tables groaned with sweets, pies, and roasted meats.
Even Peeves was temporarily distracted by toffee, leaving chaos levels at "manageable."
Ron leaned over his plate. "Best holiday ever. The Great Hall smells like Mum's kitchen times ten."
Hermione smiled faintly from across the table. No tears, no storm off like canon.
Ron wasn't mean here, just clumsy with words sometimes, not malicious.
I smirked. Already diverging from canon. Butterfly effect, baby.
The double doors slammed open. Quirrell stumbled in, turban askew, face pale.
"T-TROLL! In the d-dungeons! Th-thought you ought to know!"
He collapsed in a heap.
The Hall exploded into shrieks.
Dumbledore rose, his voice booming magically. "SILENCE!"
The chaos stilled. "Prefects, lead your houses back to the dormitories. Teachers, follow me to the dungeons."
The students surged toward the doors in nervous clusters.
I frowned. Canon moment. Troll isn't in the dungeons, it's planted to distract.
My eyes flicked to Quirrell's prone body. His breathing was too steady. Too calm.
Nice performance, Voldy. Ten out of ten drama score.
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The Gryffindor first years were huddled together, Percy Weasley barking orders like a nervous sergeant.
"This way! Keep together, quickly now!"
We rounded a corner toward the tower stairs when the stench hit first. Damp stone, sweat, and something rotten. Then came the rumble, deep, guttural, shaking the walls.
And then it appeared.
The troll.
Ten feet of grey, warty flesh, dragging a massive club across the flagstones.
Its tiny eyes squinted against the torchlight.
Why is it here instead of girl bathroom?
Did voldy deliberately put him in the girl bathroom in the canon?
The entire group froze. Screams erupted.
Percy paled, voice cracking. "B-back! Everyone, back!"
The troll bellowed, club slamming into the wall, spraying chunks of stone.
Kids panicked, shoving to retreat.
I stepped forward. Time to flex.
"Potter, what are you doing?!" Percy shouted.
I raised my wand calmly. "Winning."
The troll roared and swung.
"Protego Maxima."
The translucent shield snapped into existence, the club slamming into it with a thunderous crack.
Sparks flew, but the barrier held. Gasps erupted behind me.
Note to self: shield durability test? Passed.
The troll reeled back, confused. I flicked my wand. "Lumos Maxima!"
A blinding flash burst forth, lighting the entire corridor like a camera flash.
The troll shrieked, clutching its eyes.
"Ron," I said coolly, not turning around, "throw something."
Ron blinked, grabbed a suit of armor's helmet, and hurled it.
The metal clanged against the troll's forehead with a satisfying BONK.
It stumbled, dazed.
I stepped closer, wand raised, voice dropping into a whisper. an arc layered over Confundus, sharp and sibilant.
The troll froze. Its thick brow furrowed, drool dripping as it swayed.
Then it dropped its club entirely, blinking dumbly like someone had unplugged its brain.
Silence.
Then gasps. Dozens of Gryffindors stared at me like I'd just pulled a rabbit out of Voldemort's hat.
I lowered my wand. "And that," I said lightly, "is how you uninstall a troll."
A few students actually laughed, nervous and relieved.
Percy was speechless, which was its own kind of victory.
McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell arrived seconds later, wands raised.
They froze at the sight: the corridor filled with Gryffindors, and me standing calmly before a dazed, disarmed troll.
McGonagall's eyes widened. "Potter…?"
I shrugged. "It was blocking the way to our dormitory. Figured we shouldn't miss curfew."
Snape's face twisted. "Reckless—dangerously reckless—"
"But effective," McGonagall cut in sharply. "He saved half his House, Severus."
Quirrell twitched visibly, pale as parchment.
Yeah, Voldy, didn't expect me to patch this one, did you?
Back in the common room, the story spread like Fiendfyre.
Gryffindor first years couldn't stop retelling it: Harry standing against the troll, Harry shielding the whole corridor, Harry making it drop its club like a trained puppy.
Ron clapped me on the shoulder. "Mate… that was mental. But brilliant."
Hermione nodded slowly, eyes still wide. "You didn't just stop it. You controlled it."
I leaned back in the chair, smirking. And just like that, the legend grows.
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The staffroom was dim, warmed by a roaring fire. Candles floated overhead, parchment stacks littered the table.
The troll incident had pulled nearly every professor into Dumbledore's quiet summons.
Dumbledore sat at the head, serene, fingers laced. Fawkes dozed on a perch in the corner, tail feathers glowing faintly.
"Thank you for coming," Dumbledore said gently. "It seems our Halloween feast came with… additional theatrics."
McGonagall, still pale from the sight of a subdued troll, spoke first.
"Albus, he shielded all of them. A first year, standing between an enraged mountain of a troll and thirty terrified children, and he held the line. Then blinded it, confused it, and disarmed it."
Her lips tightened. "I would scarcely believe it had I not seen the aftermath myself."
She hesitated, then added with the faintest twitch of her mouth. "And apparently, he declared afterward that he had… 'uninstalled the troll.'"
A cough escaped Flitwick that sounded suspiciously like laughter.
"Reckless," Snape hissed in his monotone voice, robes swishing as he stood. "He flaunts power like a showman. Mocking even in crisis. He could have gotten dozens killed, himself included."
"He didn't," McGonagall snapped back.
"By sheer arrogance!" Snape shot. "That boy has his father's insufferable strut, his same need to perform—"
"Severus," Dumbledore interrupted softly, his gaze piercing. "You are not entirely wrong. But you are not entirely right, either."
Flitwick adjusted his spectacles, voice squeaky but sharp.
"I saw Potter in Charms. His control is extraordinary. His humor? A mask, perhaps. But masks can be useful. He doesn't flail about in panic like most children. He calculates."
He chuckled softly. "Though I admit, the idea of 'uninstalling a troll'… inventive phrasing."
Even Sprout hid a smile behind her teacup.
Dumbledore stroked his beard, the firelight glinting in his eyes.
"You see bravado," he murmured. "I see strategy. Harry has endured much. Children adapt strangely to suffering. Some break. Some grow harder. And some… learn to laugh, to hide their truth in jest."
He leaned forward. "He is not James. Nor Lily. He is his own. We must remember this."
Snape glared but said nothing.
McGonagall folded her arms. "Regardless, he saved his peers. Gryffindor is alive tonight because he chose to act. That cannot be ignored."
Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed. Let us keep watch, but let us not clip his wings too soon. Power grows best when guided with trust, not fear."
He twinkled, though his voice was still grave. "Still… I suspect Harry Potter is going to make this year far more interesting than any of us anticipated."
There was a ripple of reluctant agreement, and even a few smiles.
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After the troll fiasco, the Gryffindor common room wouldn't shut up about me.
I was now officially "the kid who uninstalled a troll" and, apparently, had a spell named after me.
Dean Thomas swore he saw me ride the troll like a horse.
Lavender insisted I made it cry. And Seamus?
He was selling "Uninstallus Maximus" as a joke curse to second years.
I didn't bother correcting them.
Never interrupt when you're being upgraded to myth.
Two days later, McGonagall called me into her office. Her expression was tight, but her eyes sparkled like she was hiding something.
"Potter," she began crisply, "your… performance at the flying lesson has not gone unnoticed. And now, with your… ah, encounter with the troll, I believe it is time you had the proper equipment for your new responsibilities."
She gestured, and there it was: long, sleek, polished to perfection. The Nimbus 2000.
"Seeker of the Century deserves more than a school broom," she said, lips twitching almost into a smile.
My jaw dropped. Oh damn. Canon reward unlocked.
"Thank you, Professor," I managed, reverently running my hand down the broom's shaft.
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Do try not to crash it into a wall, Potter. Gryffindor needs you alive."
The week before the match flew by. Gryffindor treated me like a celebrity, students whispering whenever I walked by.
At meals, Fred and George kept chanting "Seeker! Seeker!" until even Percy cracked a grin.
Ron was my personal hype man. "Mate, once you catch that Snitch, Slytherin won't know what hit 'em."
Hermione, ever the realist, countered: "Don't get cocky. Remember, tactics win matches, not just speed."
I smirked. "Relax, Hermione. I'll uninstall them too."
She groaned.
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The stands were a sea of scarlet and green. The commentary box boomed with Lee Jordan's voice:
"And here come the Gryffindor team! And there's Harry Potter, first-year, youngest Seeker in a century!"
The Slytherin stands booed, led by Malfoy, who cupped his hands and yelled: "Try not to fall, Scarhead!"
I smirked back. "Try not to be irrelevant, Blondie!"
The Gryffindor section roared with laughter. Even some Hufflepuffs cracked up. Malfoy's face turned the color of sour milk.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and we shot upward.
Wind howled past, the pitch spinning below.
The Quaffle zipped between Chasers, Bludgers cracked like cannonballs, and the crowd roared.
But my eyes scanned for only one thing.
There, a flicker of gold.
I dove, Nimbus tilting like an arrow. The Snitch darted low, weaving between players.
I cut across, inches from a Bludger, felt its shockwave rattle my broom.
Malfoy's heckling echoed from the stands: "Fall, Potter, fall!"
Instead, I pulled up in a perfect climb, rolling into the Snitch's path. My hand snapped out—
Snap.
The Snitch struggled in my palm, wings flaring.
'Heh eat shivoldy' I thought laughing. Catching the snitch before the sabotage.
Lee Jordan's voice cracked with excitement: "POTTER'S GOT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
The stadium erupted. Gryffindors stormed the pitch, hoisting me into the air.
Fred shouted, "First troll, now Snitch! Potter's uninstalling everything!"
The chant caught. "Uninstall! Uninstall! Uninstall!"
I held up the Snitch like a trophy, grinning ear to ear. Seeker of the Century unlocked.
Troll slayer title stacked. Reputation: secured.
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