4 Chapter 4: Chicken in a Basket

Hermione was sitting at breakfast, contemplating over her sausage, egg and bacon how anyone's life could change as much as hers had in the space of just a few days. Of course, to say the boy sitting next to her played a part in that would be a massive understatement. The more she got to know Harry, the more of an enigma he became.

Even his owl had to be different. Not only was it a beautiful snowy owl, Harry claimed Eargit was a free spirit that would never allow herself to be placed in a cage. She'd flown ahead to Hogwarts and just arrived on his shoulder whenever he wanted to send a letter to his father. The graceful bird of prey had also taken Hermione's first letter home to Crawley.

That this beautiful bird was named after a goblin Harry had read about in a history book was something she approved of. That was until she discovered the goblin's full name was Eargit the Ugly, and the goblin was male. Harry shrugged it off as goblin humour but Hermione felt an involuntary shudder travel down her spine, she suddenly had this image of Harry naming one of his children Albus Severus. That just wasn't funny no matter what culture you ran it through, both men gave Hermione the creeps.

For some reason, the headmaster seemed to embody everything her parents had continually warned their little girl about as she grew up. 'Don't talk to strangers' and 'Never accept sweets from strangers' had been recurring themes from her mum and dad. Perhaps it was because Hermione couldn't think of anyone she'd ever met being stranger than the headmaster. He tried hard to portray himself as a jovial grandfather figure but, every time he looked at Harry, his eyes betrayed him. This put Albus Dumbledore near the top of Hermione's shit list.

Top spot was already taken though, the school's resident potions professor was way out in front. When Dumbledore looked at Harry, it was more covetous. Like Harry had something the headmaster really wanted. With Snape, it was pure, unadulterated and undisguised hatred. She was very grateful that they wouldn't have to take any strolls down to his dungeon lair. Snape just screamed 'black and white horror movie creep' to the young witch. Give him a moustache he could twirl the ends of and he would be the perfect archetypal villain. Suddenly she had this image of him as Dick Dastardly, with Malfoy starring as Muttley!

Harry drew Hermione out of her daydreaming by offering a knut for her thoughts. "Oh I was just wondering about today's lessons. We've got transfiguration this morning, you and Professor McGonagall didn't exactly hit it off at the sorting."

Harry laughed at her last comment, "Well, that's certainly one way of putting it. Our lessons so far have been a really mixed bag. Herbology was great and Professor Sprout really knows her stuff, History of Magic was a joke!"

"Harry, with your goblin sense of humour, that last remark could mean anything."

"We were learning about famous wizards and the impact they'd left on the world - how could anyone possibly make that sound boring? Even a goblin wouldn't think a class of children being taught by a ghost was something to laugh about. Speaking of laughable, that's really the only word I can think of to describe our defence professor. That loud redheaded Gryffindor broke wind as Quirrell walked past his desk, and our brave defence professor almost jumped six feet in the air with fright."

Hermione was trying not to laugh at that memory, the defence professor appeared as nervous as a stray kitten in a dog pound. She agreed with Harry and added her own critique of the Hogwarts curriculum. "Charms looks really interesting but I just wish we had gotten to try a few of them. Hopefully I'll get to use my wand in transfiguration."

They were interrupted by Eargit swooping down with a letter for Harry, and a parcel for Hermione. Harry's questioning raised eyebrow had Hermione blushing. "I asked my mum to send me some exercise clothes, I was hoping I could join you for a bit of training in the morning?"

This had Harry smiling. "Okay, but I think we should wait until Saturday morning before beginning. That will give you a couple of days to get used to the training without having to attend classes too."

He then opened his own note, nodding as the news was expected. "My father is coming to Hogwarts tomorrow, we have a meeting with Dumbledore. I wonder if Master Flitwick knows? Father can decide tomorrow if we want him in there with us. We better head off to class"

Harry was either stuck in some chivalrous period, or that goblin sense of humour was having a laugh at her expense. Either way, wherever they went, Harry offered his arm and she gratefully took it. She didn't know if this increased the whispering that followed Harry wherever he went, and didn't really care. Last night she was on his arm under the stars. It may have only been their astronomy lesson but that's not the way Hermione chose to remember it, it was easily the most romantic night of her young life.

They began walking toward the transfiguration class, with all the portraits making sure the Hogwarts champion knew exactly where he was going. Quite a number of the other first years had sussed this out so they tended to have an entourage between classes. Padma usually stuck quite close to them and all three were fine with that, it was the rest that were now becoming ridiculous. Not all of them were content to just follow on to class.

Parvati and that other Gryffindor girl were desperately trying to attach themselves like limpets to Harry. The Gryffindor boys though were becoming even more pushy, especially the redheaded one.

"Hey Harry mate, you must get fed-up hanging around with the bookworms. Anytime you want a break, the Griffindor guys will make you more than welcome."

Harry just looked at him, "and you are?"

"Oh sorry, I'm Ron."

Harry's stare never wavered, "and who are you?"

He didn't appear to get what Harry was asking. "I'm Ron, this is Dean and Seamus and he's Neville..."

"Well, Mr Ron Ron, thanks for introducing you and your friends. Now, if you will excuse me."

Harry pushed past him toward the boy hanging at the back, since Hermione still had Harry's arm she followed on.

"Well met Neville Longbottom, I'm Harry Crow and, since you are practically family, please call me Harry. The young lady on my arm is Hermione Granger and this is our friend Padma Patil - her twin sister is in Gryffindor with you."

Neville stared unbelievingly at Harry's offered hand before nervously shaking it. "Hi everybody, eh family?"

"Did you know my mum was your godmother?" This was clearly news to Neville, but not as shocking as the next bit. "Your mother is also my godmother." The boy appeared ready to cry at that but Harry now had his hand comfortingly on Neville's shoulder and Hermione had moved by his side.

"Voldemort cost both of us Neville, but I think you got the worst of the deal. There is no way you should now have to put up with a death eater teaching you. I would like to offer you the opportunity to join us for separate potion lessons."

"Are you sure?"

The pleading nature of Neville's demeanour at Harry's offer was heartbreaking to watch. He clearly had no self-esteem and couldn't work out why anyone would make such an offer to him. Harry responded the only way he knew how, honestly.

"I'm very sure Neville. Both the offers of private lessons and friendship are genuine, this is not some sick prank. Had things been different, we would have grown up together and I'm certain been best friends. We may have lost years but I would like us both to start down that road now."

The smile now on Neville's face was all the answer Harry needed and the four resumed their journey to transfiguration. Neville gave the impression of someone who'd just had the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders, he explained this as they walked.

"Snape terrifies me, and we've heard he saves his worst behaviour for Gryffindors. Ron's been trying to catch your eye all week, we're all desperate to get out of Snape's class."

"I've had the people in my own house dropping subtle hints all week too. The problem is that, when my father arranged this, it was supposed to be for me and hopefully a few friends. I can't really turn up with three quarters of first year without talking to my father again. He's coming to Hogwarts tomorrow so I might be able to help a few more out then, but I think I should offer places to my own house first. I would appreciate it if you could let slip to Ron Ron that I don't like pushy."

"Ah!" It was plain to see that the penny had dropped for Neville so he blushingly offered an explanation. "Parvati was moaning about how you appeared friends with Padma but practically ignored her, she couldn't understand it..."

The musical laughter coming from Padma cut Neville off. "Oh pushy is a good description of Pav, there's a few other words I could use as well."

"So you're not identical then?"

"Physically yes, but we're definitely two different witches."

They chatted all the way to transfiguration before doing their usual and sitting at the front of the class. Harry's bag was charmed weightless and bottomless and he insisted that both girls put their book bags in there too. He handed Hermione hers and was about to do the same with Padma when the redhead Gryffindor stepped over the line. He'd just pushed Neville out the way so he could claim the seat on the other side of Harry.

"What are you playing at?"

Ron was unrepentant. "The boy-who-lived needs proper Gryffindor friends, not to be hanging about with Ravenclaw girls and Neville. The way you took down Malfoy was bloody brilliant! What quidditch team to you support?"

Harry's gaze would have had anyone else in the class moving seats, Ron was too stupid to know he was in any trouble. Harry had to quickly decide the best way to play this. "I paid Malfoy the compliment of at least admitting he could be dangerous. You, on the other hand, are an idiot!"

Padma and Hermione were already on their feet, guiding Neville to their new seats. Harry then joined them, leaving behind a livid Ron who was now stuck sitting at the front of the class. The reason he was stuck there was that a certain cat had just watched the entire incident, transforming into Professor McGonagall before Ron could move or even reply to the insult.

Minerva decided that no action needed to be taken, she was actually delighted to see three Ravenclaws standing up for one of her cubs. That the youngest Weasley possessed the social skills of a troll was something that other members of staff had actually commented on.

McGonagall's transformation from her cat form led the professor neatly into her introductory remarks about how transfiguration was some of the hardest magic they would learn. Transfiguring her desk into a pig was always something that caught and held the new first years' attention. McGonagall was continuing her well honed introduction before noticing she didn't have the entire class' full attention, one of them actually appeared bored. This had never happened before so she cut short her talk to discover what the problem was.

"Is there something you don't understand Mr Crow?"

"Basically, all of it Professor."

McGonagall's lips tightened at this. "Could you please be a trifle more specific Mr Crow?"

Ron couldn't resist a jibe. "It's because he's an idiot!"

The sniggering this caused was all the invitation Harry needed to shut them up. "Well, I understood changing your desk into a pig was purely a demonstration, though not very practical one since you couldn't actually eat it!" McGonagall didn't seem too pleased with that analysis but could hardly refute the facts, she grudgingly nodded in acceptance so Harry continued. "It's all the different spell incantations and wand movements that confuse me. Since transfiguration is basically changing one thing into another, why do you need a different spell for every occasion? Transfiguration is one of the easiest branches of magic to master, you're just asking your magic to perform the same function over and over again."

In all her years teaching, McGonagall had never came across this argument before. She could now see how someone who wasn't raised in their community could struggle with the concept. "What you have failed to grasp Mr Crow is the different types and complexities of transfiguration. We'll be starting off today attempting to turn matches into needles. Since they are approximately the same size, the spell has merely to tweak the shape and transfigure wood into metal. As we progress through the courses, we eventually move to configuring living material - which is much more complicated and taxing."

"That is where we are having the trouble professor, I've been taught the exact opposite. The only limitations governing the spell are the power and experience of the caster - and the mass of the initial object. Transforming your desk into a fly or an elephant is practically impossible because you are limited by the mass of material you start with. Whether that material is living or not is immaterial. I could probably transfigure my book into a pigeon but not a turkey - unless you know of a miniature variety?"

McGonagall was gobsmacked. If this boy was speaking the truth then everything she'd been taught - and in turn had taught others - was wrong. Minerva didn't know how she would deal with that. If this was a prank, Mr Crow was going to find himself in detention to at least third year. There was one easy way to find out.

Minerva had taught the marauders and now the Weasley twins, she had no intentions of being caught by any prank book. "Mr Crow, I'm going to give you one of my books. If you can transfigure it into a chicken, I will give you an 'O' - not for today but the entire year."

She placed a rather large tome in front of him and fixed her beady eyes on it. The boy removed his knife and began to wave it over the book. Minerva watched in astonishment as the leather binding started to grow feathers before a head and neck appeared as the chicken took shape. McGonagall was speechless as the chicken bobbed its head and strutted over the desk, it was left to Hermione to ask Harry the questions.

"You never said any incantations or performed a recognised wand movement, how is this possible?"

"Hermione, I speak English, Spanish, French and a smarttering of Italian - do you think it makes a difference what you say, or what language you say it in, to your magic as it does what you want? Oh I of course speak goblin, though I refuse to use the derogatory terms wizards refer to that language as."

Hermione had never heard about this before so asked. "What do wizards call it?"

it was Neville who answered her. "Gobbledegook!"

Hermione's sense of injustice sprang to the fore. "What! That means talking gibberish - and is very insulting..."

McGonagall had found her voice again and didn't want the issue sidetracked. "Leaving goblin/wizard relations aside for the moment, I would like to hear a fuller answer to Miss Granger's initial question."

Harry waved his knife over the chicken and it slowly transformed into a basket.

"Chicken in a basket? I suppose this is more of the fabled goblin humour?"

Harry couldn't help but smile at Hermione's friendly jibe. He once more performed the goblin equivalent of the transformation spell and the basket became the cutest ginger kitten he could visualise. A tiny miaow and the kitten sauntered over to Hermione, it was soon on her knee and receiving the cuddles and petting it deserved.

Hermione thought this was her idea of heaven. A kitten she could play with that would eventually turn back into a book - it didn't get any better than that. "Harry, you have so got to teach me how to do that."

Harry now gave McGonagall, and the rest of the class the answer they were waiting for. "Once you master the basic transfiguration spell, it's then all about being able to visualise what you want the item to transform into and practice - lots and lots of practice. I can transfigure items up to about the size of a medium dog. The bigger the item though, the slower my transfiguration will be. It will get quicker with practice and larger items will come as I get older."

Minerva had been a transfiguration prodigy and now held a mastery in the subject, an eleven year old goblin-trained wizard had just totally destroyed everything she held to be true. She was a powerful witch but couldn't even contemplate repeating the feat this boy just achieved when she was the same age. It wasn't just that though, Harry Crow just threw the transfiguration rulebook out the window. Where the hell did they go from here?

"Your method makes no concessions to the initial item or the finished product?"

"Oh some things are definitely harder to transfigure, usually because of the visualisation. A chicken is a lot more complicated an item than the book was, again it's down to practice and more practice. It's taken me a few years to get to this stage, and it will take a lot more to get where I want to go. I won't have to learn different spell incantations or wand movements for every change though."

Draco was livid that once more Crow was the centre of attention, he was a Slytherin though and had learned from his last experience. It was time to get someone else to fight the battle. "Professor, I thought the law prevented goblins possessing wands? Crow is surely breaking that law?"

Harry passed the knife over his original book a few times and it transformed into a pumpkin. This was certainly a miss-shaped pumpkin - it was a fair likeness for the head of Draco Malfoy. A couple of slashes with his knife and Harry had cut himself a slice of pumpkin, right down the centre of 'Draco's' face.

"Anytime Mr Malfoy wants a demonstration that this is a knife, I will be more than happy to oblige. It's obviously not made of wood and doesn't have a recognised wand core running through it - therefore, according to official ministry definition, it is not a wand. Before you quote the law, can I suggest that you at least look it up first."

Minerva thought that might be all the prescribed first year transfiguration book was good for now, as a demonstration tool. She placed the spell incantation on the blackboard, along with diagrams of the wand movements needed, before handing out the matches. Minerva then sat at her desk to see how this played out. As she expected, Miss Granger and the Ravenclaw Patil sister both looked to Harry, wanting to try his method. Minerva couldn't miss that the other Ravenclaws and Mr Longbottom were also hanging on his every word, totally ignoring her instructions on the board.

That five of this group, not including Mr Crow, had successfully transformed their match before the lesson ended meant that she would have to take this to the headmaster. In her thirty five years teaching, her previous best result was three students performing the transformation before the end of their first period. Usually, Minerva was lucky to get one. That none of the students who had stuck to the method on the board got anything like a needle just compounded the issue. She dismissed the excited class without moving from her desk.

McGonagall had never lost control of a class before but who would want to continue with the prescribed instructions when the goblin method had just been proven to be clearly superior? She would have to approach Filius for access to Mr Crow, Minerva desperately wanted to learn this different method of performing her craft. Her ears picked up at an altercation happening outside her class and the professor was moving before she even realised it.

Ron was raging, he'd been called an idiot in front of the entire class. If that wasn't bad enough, all he'd managed to do was set his match on fire while Neville produced a needle. Watching the boy-who-lived working with Neville had his jealously meter off the scale, especially after overhearing that Neville would be joining them for potions lessons tomorrow. He just had to say something.

"Think your pretty special now - showing the professors how to do magic!"

Hermione was on Harry's arm and tried to steer him away from another confrontation. "Ignore him Harry..."

"I wasn't talking to you bookworm. You knew who he was on the train but kept quiet about it, it's probably your fault he got stuck in Ravenclaw. The-boy-who-lived should be in Gryffindor - everybody knows that!"

Hermione couldn't believe the nerve of this clown. "You were right Harry, he's an idiot."

Ron wasn't about to take that from a girl, his wand was out and a curse fired before anyone realised what was going on.

Harry jerked Hermione out of the curse's path, but that just saw it hit Padma. Harry then flew at Ron, slamming him into the wall and snapping his wand before he could fire off another curse. Harry was just about to start pounding on him when McGonagall's voice boomed out along the corridor.

"Mr Crow, stop this at once. What do you think you are doing?"

"I think I'm stopping this idiot firing off any more curses in the corridor, please check on Padma professor. He cast a curse at Hermione but hit Padma instead." Harry didn't release his grip on Ron, waiting to hear what the spell was first before deciding if beating him up was worth the detentions that were sure to follow if he did.

Padma had trouble answering the enquiries after her health. Every time she opened her mouth, a large slug would slide over her lips and down her chin. She wasn't in any physical pain but being disgusted and mortified at the same time was certainly painful enough.

"Miss Granger, could you and her sister help the injured Miss Patil to the infirmary. Weasley and Crow, my classroom now. The rest of you, get to lunch."

Parviti and Hermione helped Padma off in the direction they'd been pointed while Harry practically threw Ron back into the classroom.

The Gryffindor decided that he who got in first would be believed and didn't even wait to be questioned. "Professor, he just attacked me for no reason, broke my wand too. I tried to stop him but the curse hit that other girl, that was an accident."

Harry sat calmly on the seat the professor had indicated, saying nothing before being asked a question. McGonagall duly obliged. "Well Mr Crow, can I hear your version of events?"

"Weasley here began shouting at us the instant we left the class," As this was what had alerted Minerva that something was going on, Harry was already being believed.

"He then made some ludicrous accusations against Miss Granger, who responded by pointing out he was an idiot. He took offence to the truth being spoken and fired a curse at her, I only just got Hermione out of its path. I then grabbed the idiot and pushed him against the wall, this must be what broke his wand. I was just about to punch him when you yelled for me to stop, so I reluctantly did."

"He's lying professor, I..."

Ron stopped in mid flow because Harry was now on his feet, it was his hand on the sword hilt that terrified him though. "Calling me a liar is not something I will ever accept. Do you want to change your mind or do we need to take this further?"

Ron then proved he wasn't a complete idiot by changing his story to the truth. "I'm sorry professor, it was all my fault. I lost my temper."

"You also just lost fifty points from Gryffindor and will begin two weeks of detentions tonight, now get out of my sight." Ron shot out of there as McGonagall now turned her attention to Harry.

"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."

Albus was not for being distracted. "Was it necessary to kill the poor creature?"

"I was trying to lead it back out the doors but it had locked on a target and wasn't for being shifted from that course. Hogwarts, your champion needs assistance."

All eyes now watched Harry, wondering just what he was up to. They didn't have long to wait as the Bloody Baron came up through the floor.

"How can Hogwarts assist its champion?"

"I need to know how this troll got into the school."

"Quirrell had observed how the headmaster got the other troll into the school and simply copied the procedure."

Harry was glaring at Dumbledore while asking the next question. "Where is Quirrell now?"

The Bloody Baron was now joined by the Fat Friar who answered that question. "Quirrell is attempting to break into the third floor corridor that is currently out of bounds."

"It would seem I owe Quirrell an apology." Harry's glare never left Dumbledore. "Letting a troll into the castle, then sending the staff in the opposite direction is rather clever. Why did he need a diversion headmaster? Is this something the staff will deal with or must I head up there too?"

McGonagall grabbed Dumbledore and practically threw him out the infirmary. "This is something the staff will deal with Mr Crow." Sprout quickly followed them out.

In the moment of silence that followed their departure, Harry too started to leave the wrecked infirmary . "Mr Crow, where are you going?"

Harry didn't turn around, nor stop. "I am sorely in need of a shower Ma'am." He then walked out the infirmary, leaving more than a dead troll behind.