The Troll Incident
The Halloween Feast was tacky. Too many sweets, not enough meat and vegetables. Fortunately, Titania did not taste it. She was otherwise occupied.
Earlier that day, the ginger loudmouth in Gryffindor said something hurtful after Hermione tried to help him during the Charms lessons. Titania, albeit a few feet behind, heard it all. She rolled her eyes when her twin hightailed out of here and bumped intentionally into the ginger menace.
“Well done, Weasley. Very mature. Why don’t you alienate the only one with a brain in Gryffindor? If you want to be worst than mediocre all your life, at least be polite about it,” she said with disdain, looking at him with a sneer. She turned her gaze to Potter, next. “And you, Holy Savior… Ha! You can’t even be anything other than a poor example of celebrity! “Oh, Ron, I think she heard you…” No shit, Sherlock! Not even a “That was mean Ron, maybe you should apologise?”! You’re really… Ugh… Infuriating.”
She took off after a last look of utter contempt for the two boys, following what she hoped was the path her sister took.
She was right, and she found her in the second floor’s bathroom. The haunted one, of course.
“Hey, Mi,” she breathed, seeing her sister’s schoolbag underneath the cubicle’s door.
“Don’t call me that,” Hermione wailed, not opening the door.
“It’s alright, sister. You know, I will always have your back, yes? So, when you ran, I gave a tongue-lashing to Weasley and Potter. They are so… So dumb! Almost as dumb as the Malfoy prat.”
She heard a sniff, a little laugh being covered with a cough, and she smiled.
“Don’t worry, you can take all the time you want. I will stand guard here. No one will bother you; I swear.”
More sniffling. Silence. Then...
“Thanks, I guess?”
“You’re welcome, little sister!”
Almost immediately, she heard an indignant spluttering.
“You were born just two minutes before me! It’s hardly enough to be the little or big sister!”
“So you said. But from where I stand, I’m the oldest. Therefore, you are my little sister.”
“I’m not!”
“You are.”
“Ugh… Whatever.”
Titania smiled when she heard Hermione blow her nose. The sniffling was less intense now. True to her word, she stood guard all day, shooing two first-year Gryffindors girls away when they came. She stood guard, occasionally talking with her sister. She stood guard, until a foul odour came in, followed by a really foul creature.
“Oh, crap! Mi, time to go!” She whispered, praying for the monster to not get too close of the bathroom.
“What? Why? Is it already curfew? Eew, what is this stench?” The shrill voice of her sister resonated in the almost empty bathroom, and the beast turned her way.
“Mi, get out of here, now!” Titania shrieked as the creature lumbered inside the doors, swinging is club wildly.
The door opened and Hermione took a look outside, freezing fearfully when seeing the beast.
“T-T-Tr-Tr-Troll!” She finally shrieked, taking her sister’s hand with a strong grip.
“I KNOW!” Bellowed her twin, trying to tug Hermione with her.
When that did not work, she tackled her to the floor as the club came destroying the cubicle where she previously was. Hermione’s scream got shrilly and terrified. Titania fumbled with her robes, trying to hold her wand when the two Gryffindors boys came in.
“Hey, Ugly!” Shouted one, trying to distract the enormous troll.
The other one, Potter, tried to help Hermione to get up and out, without much success.
Finally, Titania got a good grip on her wand, and -after warning them to close their eyes- shot an overpowered Lumos, blinding the troll. With her eyes closed, she pushed Potter and Hermione to the direction of the exit, praying to have enough time before the troll seeing them again.
When she extinguished her Lumos, and opened her eyes, she saw Potter about to jump on the troll’s back. Gnawing on her lips, she looked at Weasley trying to tug Hermione outside. Turning to Potter, who now had his wand in the troll’s nose, she sighed. The troll had his club brandished and was trying to hit Potter on his back. It gave her an idea.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” She shrieked, aiming at the club.
When the troll lost his weapon, she yelled at Potter to climb down quickly if he didn’t want to be smashed with the beast’s weight. When he obliged, she then released her hold on the spell, and the club fell down hard on the head of the beast. She cast again, levitating the club higher, before letting it go another time. The troll fell and smashed his head against the white wet and cold tiles.
Scurrying outside, Titania took hold of her sister hand, tugging her close to hug her.
“Is it dead?” She asked.
“Most certainly,” affirmed Titania, at the same time when Potter said, “Just knocked out, I think”.
She glared at the raven-haired boy.
“It is dead. See, the dark-red in the water? That’s it’s blood. And see, the greenish matters bolting out of it’s head? That’s it’s brain. It most certainly looks dead to me.”
“Ten points to Slytherin for an astute observation,” said a cold voice behind them.
Titania tightened her grip on Hermione, before slowly turning to the voice.
“Professors,” she greeted, seeing Professor Snape, McGonagall, Quirrell and Dumbledore. “What a lovely evening.”
“Spare me your cheek, Granger. Tell me: What are you all doing here instead of in your Common Rooms?”
“I was comforting my sister, Professor. You see, earlier this day, some people let their big mouth run away from them and said some hurtful things about her.”
Weasley looked sheepish when she glared at him.
“We came to apologize and to warn Hermione of the troll, Professor,” said Potter earnestly. “And then, Granger told us to help Hermione out, and she summoned this blinding Lumos! And when she tried to push us through the door, I… uh… I jumped onto the troll back? To keep distracting him, see… And then, she used the levitation charm on the club, and she hit it with it after telling me to jump down.”
Snape and McGonagall looked at each other, and she rolled her eyes.
“Ten points from Gryffindor for badmouthing a fellow lion. Fifteen more for rushing headlong into danger without seeking a staff member. Thirty points to Gryffindor for sheer dumb luck. Severus?”
“I think fifteen points to Slytherin to reach out, outside of House boundary, and comfort another student. And fifty points to Slytherin to take down a full-grown mountain troll with a clear methodology behind rash actions.”
Titania watched as Weasley’s mouth fall open, and then he seems to be indignant.
“Hey! We helped too! We distracted it when we first arrived!”
“A point to Gryffindor for uselessly trying to distract a mountain troll,” was the laconic response of the potion master. “Now, Granger, come. Time to go back to the Common Room. I let you deal with your lions, Minerva. And I let you deal with the remains of the troll, Quirinus, Albus.”
Without waiting for a response, he turned around and walked toward the dungeons. Titania, after a last hug to her sister, followed suit.
This night was the first time that she earned a modicum of respect in the Snake’s Den. Not from everyone, of course, but enough that she felt it all during the week following this night.