Hallowe'en
When Malfoy saw Corey in the hallway that morning, he had a weird look on his face, and he immediately walked the other direction. Corey was walking with Blaise, who Corey seemed to consider a friend. At least he thought they were friends. There were a lot of whispers when they came to the Great Hall. It seemed that about everybody knew what happened yesterday.
Whatever, Corey just hoped none of it reached the teachers. As they were heading toward the Slytherin table Corey saw Neville at the Gryffindor table. Corey stopped walking.
‘I’m going to be back, Blaise.’ Corey didn’t really stay for an answer, but it’s not like Blaise was going to be mad about it. As Corey reached the Gryffindor, he saw that Neville was sitting next to Hermione. As he thought about it, he hadn’t actually talked to her since the train, which probably wasn’t great, but what could he do now.
‘Hi Neville. Is your wrist doing better?’ Corey said shyly.
‘Hey Corey. Yeah, Madam Pomfrey fixed it right up.’ Neville held up his wrist which did indeed not look broken anymore. Corey took the Remembrall out of his pocket and held it out to Neville.
‘Here, you dropped it yesterday.’
‘Thank you! I had been wondering where it had gone. I had figured I had lost it.’ Neville took the Remembrall from Coreys hand and as he did the Remembrall turned a deep red.
‘What did I forget this time?’ Neville mumbled.
‘Oh! Hi Corey.’ Hermione said seemingly only now noticing he had been there the whole time. She seemed engrossed in a book about Charms.
‘Hi.’ Corey said awkwardly not really knowing what to say.
‘What are you doing here? You’re a Slytherin, go back to your own table snake!’ It was Ron yelling, who was on the other side of the Gryffindor table and a little down.
‘I know that’s supposed to be an insult. But snakes are actually really beautiful creatures, so I’ll take it.’ Corey said putting his hand in his pocket, the opposite of the one where the Remembrall had been in. The one where Rex was in. He was awake for a change, and he wrapped around Coreys hand lovingly.
‘Of course, a Slytherin would take it as a complement.’ Ron said, he seemed to be really bad at insulting people.
‘Ron, I think that’s enough.’ It was one of the Gryffindor Prefects, Percy, Rons brother. Ron still seemed mad, but he finally shut up.
‘Well, bye Neville and Hermione I’ll see you later. I’m going to go back to the Slytherin table and get some breakfast.’ Corey said and gave a short sort of waving motion and walked away.
After classes he was walking down the halls heading towards the library. He hadn’t been there much if at all. I wanted to see what kind of books they had here. He thought that if it was about magic at least some of the books had to be interesting. He hoped they had some about snakes or perhaps just reptiles in general. At the library he saw Neville and Hermione! They seemed to be studying together.
‘Hello.’ Corey said waving.
‘Oh, hello Corey.’ Hermione said smiling. Corey found himself a book about magical reptiles like dragons and some others he hadn’t heard of before. It sounded interesting. He then sat down next to Neville who sat across from Hermione. Hermione and Neville talked amongst themselves about what seemed to be Potions. Hermione looked to be helping Neville with studying it. Corey didn’t care enough about Potions for that. Professor Snape had made sure to squash any hope to be interested in the subject. So, Corey just sat silently reading the book he had found. It was very exciting to learn about all the different reptiles there was about dragons, basilisks and many more.
‘Corey?’ He looked up to see Neville, the one who asked the question.
‘Yes?’ Corey asked head slightly tilted.
‘Me and Hermione are done studying, so uh bye.’ Neville said, he looked nervous? No, that couldn’t be it, why would he be nervous? Never mind Corey was too bad at reading people’s emotions.
‘Okay bye I’ll see you around.’ Corey said waving slightly.
‘Bye!’ Hermione said quickly trying to balance multiple books at once. Corey wondered slightly how she would get all the way back to the Gryffindors dorms without dropping the, since it seemed to be difficult for her to carry. As Neville and Hermione walked off, he looked at the time. He had been here for 2 hours, and he was done with his book anyway so, he got up and put the book back. He put his hand down to Rex who was sleeping. It seemed his sleep routine had flipped for today at least. Corey sighed, guess no talking to Rex before sleep for tonight.
On Hallowe’en morning there was a delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafted through the corridors. In Charms Professor Flitwick announced that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly. It sounded fun. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Corey’s partner was Blaise which was a relief since he didn’t really know anyone else, or he hated them. Like Malfoy who he was happy was on the other side of the classroom.
‘Now, don’t forget that nice wrist movement we’ve been practicing!’ squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. ‘Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said “s” instead of “f” and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest.’
Corey didn’t get it. But he tried none the less. Blaise wasn’t having much luck with making their feather float. ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ Corey said trying to duplicate the hand movement, brow furrowed unsure of what he was doing, but he apparently did something right. The feather floated up a good 20cm. Which surprised Corey as much as it seemed to surprise Blaise.
‘Oh, well done!’ cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. ‘Everyone see here, Mister Potter’s done it!’ Corey felt everyone’s eyes on him. He redirected his eyes to the desk in front of him. It was loud. Too loud. He hated it. He wished class would just be over already. Why can’t he just go to one single class without it feeling suffocating? Why was he like this?
‘Corey?’ He looked to Blaise who was looking at him. Coreys throat felt like a wall with spikes that wouldn’t let any words even attempt to make it out. ‘Are you okay?’ Blaise asked with his head tilted slightly to the side. He seemed worried. Or maybe not. Who knows. Corey nodded. Blaise didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push it.
Corey was relieved when class was over. Charms wasn’t even half as bad as Potions. Why couldn’t he just tough it out? Why did he have to be so pathetic to not even be able to do something so simple? Corey and Blaise were walking to the Great Hall. Corey put his hand in his pocket to Rex who was sleeping. The Great Hall was pretty with Hallowe’en decorations. A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter.
Corey wished he could pet one of the bats, but every time he tried, they just flew away making him frown. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet. Corey had just noticed that he couldn’t find Hermione anywhere at the Gryffindor table when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Hall, his turban askew and looking scared. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore’s chair, slumped against the table and gasped,
‘Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know.’ He then sank to the floor in what seemed to have been a dead faint, but it looked so fake to Corey. Then there was an uproar making Corey cover his ears feeling like his head was splitting in 2. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore’s wand to bring silence.
‘Prefects,’ he rumbled, ‘lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!’ Coreys brow furrowed.
‘Uh, what about us?’ Corey asked the nearest Slytherin Prefect.
‘We’ll find a classroom somewhere to go instead since we obviously can’t go to our dormitories’ The Prefect said not looking especially pleased at, Corey guessed, Professor Dumbledore. Which made sense, because did he just not think about those who had dormitory in the dungeons? Like at all? As they started walking Corey wondered how a troll could get into the school if Hogwarts was supposed to be the safest place in England or whatever. Like that doesn’t seem very safe. Corey lagged behind so he could catch Neville before they all went different ways.
‘Uh hi Corey can I help you?’ Neville asked he looked confused maybe scared Corey wasn’t sure.
‘Where’s Hermione?’ Corey asked worried he still hadn’t seen Hermione anywhere.
‘Oh, Ron made fun of her in Charms, so she started crying and hasn’t gone out of the girl’s bathroom since.’ Neville said quickly.
‘Well, looks like I’m going to go find her.’ Corey said determined, Hermione didn’t know about the troll, which could be dangerous. Even though, sure, the troll is in the dungeon NOT the girl’s bathroom, but still Corey had a bad feeling about it.
‘What?! Alone?’ Neville asked looking shocked.
‘Well yeah Hermione doesn’t know about the troll.’ Corey said, ‘well, you’re allowed to come with if you want, we should get going though.’ Corey started walking away. Neville hesitated but ended up going with.
‘Don’t you think maybe we should tell a teacher? Or a Prefect?’ Neville asked looking around nervously.
‘No, it won’t take long, I hope. People might not even notice.’ Ducking down they turned a corner no other house was heading toward and hid until they saw everyone had gone past. Then they slipped down another deserted corridor and hurried toward the girl’s toilet. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.
‘Shit!’ Corey hissed, pulling Neville behind a large stone griffin. Peering around it, they saw Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view. Corey wondered shortly what he was doing since he was supposed to be checking the dungeons, but then he remembered that he doesn’t care about Snape. They headed down the corridor after Snapes footsteps were far enough away.
As they were walking though a foul stench reached their nostrils. A mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean. And then they heard it - a low grunting and shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Corey could see that at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight. It was so ugly. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was horrible. It was holding a wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its mind, then slouched slowly into the room. Corey walked over to the door. The key was in the lock, why? Corey didn’t know. Neville was following behind slowly. Corey didn’t even know why the troll was here.
It was supposed to be in the dungeons, wasn’t it? Or did Professor Quirrell lie? But why would he do that? Then he saw that the door the troll had gone in was the girl’s toilet. Damn it, that wasn’t good. Coreys thoughts were rapid and there were a lot of them at the same time some contradicting each other of what to do. He opened the door.
‘You’re going in there?’ Neville whispered eyes wide.
‘Hermione’s in there I can’t just leave her to die!’ Corey said going into the room. There was a high-pitched scream. Hermione had noticed the troll It seemed. Well, you had to be blind not to. Hermione was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking terrified. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went. What to do, what to do.
Corey needed to find a way to confuse it. Corey found a tap and threw it at the wall as hard as he could. The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. It saw Corey. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
‘Oy, uh, pea brain!’ yelled Neville from the other side of the chamber surprising Corey. Neville then threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn’t even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its snout towards Neville instead, giving Corey time to run around it.
‘Come on, run, run!’ Corey yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her towards the door, but she couldn’t move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror. The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started towards Neville, who was nearest and had no way of escaping. Corey then decided, well what the heck and then did a great running jump and fastened his arms around the troll’s neck from behind. The troll didn’t notice Corey hanging there, at first, but when Corey jammed his wand into one of its eyes it seemed to notice. Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Corey clinging on.
Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright, Neville pulled out his wand - not knowing what he was going to do he said the first spell that came to mind, ‘Wingardium Leviosa!’ Which went wrong or right depending on how you look at it. The club flew right out of the troll’s hand and exploded. Thankfully none of the wood hit Corey.
The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble. Corey got to his feet. He was shacking and out of breath. Neville was standing there just looking at the troll, who was all bloody. It was Hermione who spoke first. ‘Is it - dead?’ Corey studied the troll.
‘No, its chest is still moving, so it just seems to be knocked out.’ Corey bent down and took his wand out of the troll’s eye. His wand was now covered in troll’s blood.
‘Gross.’ Neville mumbled looking at the wand disgusted. Corey wiped it on the troll’s trousers. A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn’t realised what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll’s roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a weird noise and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart. He looked to be pretending, but Corey didn’t have time to think about that. Snape bent down over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Neville and Corey. Professor McGonagall looked pretty angry.
‘What on earth were you thinking of?’ said Professor McGonagall, loudly, too loud making Corey want to cover his ears, but he was afraid Professor McGonagall would yell at him if he did. Well, more than she already was.
‘You’re lucky you weren’t killed. Why aren’t all of you in your separate dormitories?’ Corey didn’t like Professor McGonagall’s tone, but he tried to refrain from letting his face show that.
‘Well, I hadn’t seen Hermione at the feast which was weird. So, when we heard about the troll in the dungeon, I found out Hermione had been well here because Ron had been making fun of her. So, I wanted to go and find her and Neville came along, because he didn’t want me to go alone, but when we found the troll here already walking into the girl’s toilet and we couldn’t just leave her to die here. So, all of this happened.’ Corey rambled. Corey could see everyone was starring at him.
‘And why didn’t you just get a Prefect or a teacher?’ Snape said eyebrow raised for some reason.
‘Well, the troll was supposed to be in the dungeon. Which it obviously wasn’t, but I didn’t it find that necessary because of that. And also, if we had waited to get a teacher, we would have gotten here too late.’ Corey explained, since it was obvious and logical to do this right? He knew it was dangerous, but that didn’t really matter if it saved Hermione.
‘Well…’ Professor McGonagall looked like she didn’t really know what to do about that answer. ‘Uhm Neville and Corey 5 points will be taken from Gryffindor and Slytherin each. You should have gotten a teacher instead of wandering around putting your lives in danger. But for taking down a mountain troll on your own, while being first years you get awarded 5 points for Gryffindor and Slytherin each.’ Professor McGonagall then looked at Hermione, ‘and I think we should speak about what happened with Ron earlier.’ Hermione nodded looking unsure. They were finally able to walk out, Corey and Neville, but Hermione had to talk to Professor McGonagall.
‘Why did you say exactly what happened?’ Neville asked while they were walking towards the Gryffindor dormitories, since Neville didn’t want to walk there alone after what just happened.
‘Well, I didn’t see a reason to lie. If we got in trouble for what happened then I feel like the rules are stupid, because I don’t think we did anything wrong. Bye Neville.’ Corey said as they had reached the painting in front of the Gryffindor dormitories. People usually called her the Fat Lady, but Corey was pretty sure her real name was Laura Rose, and that people were just being mean.
‘Bye.’ Neville called back to Corey as he was walking away.