"Mr Crow, while I applaud your actions in defending your friends, I can't condone your conduct in attacking another student. I would have been there within seconds and dealt with the problem."
Harry nodded in acknowledgement, "Your pardon professor, but my only other experience of Hogwarts discipline didn't fill me with confidence. You are correct though, and I will accept whatever punishment you wish."
Minerva almost smiled at that answer. "There will be no Ravenclaw points deducted and I was thinking along the lines of a single detention. I will speak to your head of house before confirming this, does that sound fair?"
"Certainly fairer than 'ten points from Slytherin' professor."
"Good, then let us both head for lunch."
Minerva found the boy to be polite, courteous and somewhat skilful at avoiding answering questions. What she did learn was certainly interesting, Harry had been working with tutors for years and his knife was one of a kind. That his knife had been commissioned and presented to him by the director of Gringotts clearly meant a great deal to the young lad. In terms of importance to him, Harry probably placed it above the sword that had never left his hip since the sorting.
Their cozy chat ended as they entered the great hall. Interrupted would probably have been a better description but both were too focused on the defence professor who just barged passed them to worry about semantics.
"TROLL! There's a troll lose in the dungeons, I just thought you should know..." Quirrell promptly fainted but Harry was already moving before the professor's body hit the ground.
-oOoOo- He didn't care about the mayhem left behind him, there was somewhere he needed to be. Harry shouted at the first portrait. "I need the quickest way to the infirmary."
Sound travels faster than Harry could run so at every staircase or junction, there would be someone in the nearest portrait to guide the Hogwarts champion to his destination. Harry burst through the infirmary doors and it was testament to his frequent training that he still had the breath to speak clearly.
The three girls and the school nurse may have been surprised by his dramatic entrance, his revelations afterwards had them scared. "There's a troll lose in the castle, we needed to get to somewhere safe." Poppy Pomfrey stared intently at the lad. "Young man, I remember your father when he attended Hogwarts. If this is a prank..."
"Goblins don't do pranks ma'am. There is currently a ten foot high ton of muscle, with spell resistant skin and a brain the size of a peanut, wandering about a school full of kids. We need to get behind a strong door that locks..."
At that, the doors of the infirmary crashed open once more, this time with considerably greater force than Harry had used. The troll actually took one of the doors right off its hinges as it entered the infirmary.
Poppy immediately placed herself between the children and the troll. She was a healer though, not a fighter, and her spells were doing nothing more than enraging the beast further.
"Ma'am stop, I'll try and lead it back out of here." Harry pushed past her and raced to the side of the beast. "Hey pea-brain - over here!"
The smelly troll wielded a club that was as thick around as Harry's waist, and that club was soon whistling in his direction. Harry had expected nothing else and had ducked under the club, his knife cutting a gash in the troll's thigh as he dodged past and behind it.
Harry now had the doors at his back and was trying to get the troll to chase him out them, the troll though had four easier targets already in the large room. As it once more made its way toward the girls, Harry slashed the back of its leg. "Hey smelly, don't turn your back on me. Didn't you know that was rude? Chase me, c'mon, try and catch me!"
The troll took a half-hearted swing at him before once more focusing on the girls. They were now huddled together against the back wall with the healer still standing in front of them, this was a much more attractive target than one who moved and fought back.
Harry had one last slash across the base of its back, targeting the gap between its loincloth and vest. The troll let out a roar of anger while preparing to vent its rage on the target in front of it. Harry wasn't about to let that happen, he returned his knife to its wrist sheath and drew Godric's sword. The troll's next sound was a shriek of pain as it toppled to the floor, Harry's sword had sliced through the back of its right knee. It had still kept hold of its club though, and the troll was now within striking distance of its target. Lying on the ground, the enraged troll pulled its arm back to side swipe the now screaming girls.
The sword of Gryffindor in Harry's hands was so much faster, slicing clean through the troll's arm just below the wrist. It had never been Harry's intention to kill the creature, just lead it from here so it could be captured. In this confined corner of the infirmary, and it now being so close to the girls, Harry really didn't have any other option. He jumped on the prostrate troll's back as his sword flashed down and bit deeply into its neck, severing one of the main arteries to its brain as well as its spine. It was a killing blow as the troll's life blood spilled out and covered the infirmary floor.
Harry now had time to look at the girls, what he saw there froze his insides. The healer was still in front of them, wand ready to defend as best she could. It was the girls though who Harry couldn't take his eyes off. They were all staring at him but it was the emotions displayed on their faces that told the story. Their fear was understandable but the revulsion and even loathing cut Harry as deeply as any blade.
Before they got a chance to say anything, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Sprout rushed through the destroyed doors. Harry was wiping his sword on the troll's waistcoat, more to give him something to do until his mind caught up with what had just happened.
While the two witches were looking around at the devastation wrought in Poppy's usually immaculate domain, Albus only had eyes for the boy. "What have you done Harry?"
Poppy jumped all over the headmaster. "This young man just saved four lives. How the hell did this thing get into the school - and what kept you?"
Harry turned and gave a deep bow to the healer. "Thank you Ma'am. May I say your actions here were exemplary, and I would also like to hear an answer to those questions." Pomona was puzzled so asked what may be considered a stupid question. "Mr Crow, why did you immediately rush here? The troll was supposedly in the dungeons."
"No offence professor, but I wouldn't believe Professor Quirrell if he told me today was Thursday - not without checking first anyway. I wanted to make sure my friends were safe."