The Corpse That Lived.

Chapter 30

After depositing the boys at their dorm, Severus quickly made towards the Headmasters office.

A troll, a fucking troll, he thought irately. Gee, I wonder who could have let it in.

Quirrell, with all his dramatics, had recovered quickly enough from his fainting spell once Severus cornered him outside the entrance for the third floor corridor.

'I d-d-don't know what you're i-i-insinuating Severus," he had mumbled. 'I th-th-thought the t-t-troll was m-m-maybe a diversion so I came to ch-ch-check.'

The mans stutter gave Severus a migraine. After the amount of time he'd spent around Potter in one of her timid moods, he was beginning to suspect Quirrells stutter was as fake as his excuses.

Although, what blasted reason would someone have to sound like an idiot? At least Potter only made an appearance when she was feeling vulnerable or threatened.

Thank Merlin for small mercies.

When he arrived at the Headmasters office he saw that Minerva had beaten him there. Her and Albus had similar grim looks on their face.

"Severus," Albus said solemnly, "how are your charges?"

"They are as well as can be expected," he informed him. "Potter was still quite shaken and Weasley was consoling her when I left."

He was stretching the truth until it nearly broke, but it wouldn't hurt for the Headmaster and Deputy to hear of vulnerability from Potter. He would be lying if he said he was only helping Potter out of the goodness of his own heart. Half of it was because of Lily.

This was the least he could.

"Ah, yes, Ronald comes from an excellent family," Albus mused. "I believe it wouldn't hurt to speak with Molly about his progress here."

Severus kept his face emotionless while he seethed internally at the blatant manipulation. He could imagine what Albus planned on telling Molly. Would it be instructions to have the young Weasley drag Potter to 'Team Dumbledore' or a blunt directive to have her son sever his acquaintance with the other girl?

"Albus I am telling you, the bathroom was utterly destroyed! Potter was standing there glaring at the troll as if it had personally offended her somehow- and it was dead! Its face was sliced right open! The girl was standing beside it with cold eyes, covered in blood. It was chilling!"

Minerva sounded hysterical.

Severus absolutely loved it.

"Potter was suffering from shock. You witnessed her needing assistance to fight her way back through a panic attack," he jeered at the witch. "And I believe the troll did offend her when it attempted to smash her and her friends' heads in with a club."

Albus held his hand up, silencing Severus' rant.

Insufferable coot.

"Do you believe the child purposefully killed the troll Severus?" He asked softly, studying Severus closely.

"I do not," he replied, lying through his teeth. "I believe that she intentionally blew apart the club then got an incredibly lucky throw in with a busted pipe." He attempted a sneer, as it would do neither him nor Potter any favours to appear too fond of the child. "She was clearly terrified, as her anxiety indicates. The child was all but in tears on the walk back to the Slytherin dorms."

He mentally apologized to the child for making her sound so weak and playing up her mental illnesses, but this could very well be the difference between life and death.

Albus sat back in his chair and stared at the ceiling contemplatively with his hands steepled.

"Very well," he eventually said. "We will say no more on this matter."