Angsty Trolls
Charles
Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Charles and Ron were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by the next morning, the two boys thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one. In the meantime, Charles filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection.
"It's either really valuable or really dangerous," said Ron.
"Or both."
But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues.
Neither Neville nor Hermione showed the slightest interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again. Hermione was now refusing to speak to Charles and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus.
She evidently told Lyra all about what had happened, because the next day said girl found them outside on the grounds in a rage. "You fools!" she hissed at them. "What could possibly make you go there?"
She continued to tear them a new one for fifteen more minutes before leaving in a huff. Ron was annoyed, but Charles felt a bit foolish. Still, the past was in the past.
Harry
Harry grinned as he caught the snitch with practiced ease. He was enjoying a pick-up Quidditch game with himself and Tracey Davis as chasers, Cedric as seeker, Terrence as keeper, and the twins as beaters on one team. On the other team was Cho Chang as seeker, Jéricho and Riley McGregor as beaters, Roger and Graham Montague as chasers, and Cassius as the keeper.
Tracey was a Slytherin in second year, and Jéricho's crush. Cho was a year younger, too. Graham was also a Slytherin Chaser and a friend, but he didn't much tag along with their group, sticking with Cassius and Terrence usually. Riley was a fellow fourth-year Hufflepuff who just joined them for the fun of it.
"Oh!" Cedric exclaimed. Cho had beaten him to the snitch. Their teams had now won two games each, tying them.
"Can we go back inside now? It's almost dinner." Tracey frowned.
And agreeing, they all flew to the ground and hurried back to the castle.
It was Halloween today, a day that the world celebrated as the Dark Lord's fall. Harry's family, however, mourned the loss of Aunt Mela with the Blacks and Remus. Sirius, especially, got depressed. Harry had already decided that he'd force Jéricho to come down to the feast to eat a bit, and then they'd spend the rest of the day in silence.
So he did just that. After bathing, Harry barged in the Ravenclaw common room. Jéricho protested at first, but gave in after ten minutes, recognizing a losing battle when he saw one. Harry all but dragged him out of the dorm.
They arrived at the Great Hall mid-feast, earning curious looks that were promptly ignored. Harry spotted Charles sitting alone at the Gryffindor table, with three empty spots around him.
Jéricho frowned and inquired loudly, "Where's Lyra?"
Charles sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, well... she's gone to find Hermione. I heard she's in the girl's bathroom, crying."
Harry sighed. "What did you do now?"
"Nothing!" Charles quickly shook his head, seeming offended. "I didn't do anything! Ron insulted Hermione after Charms today, and she heard it and got upset. I and Nev told him he was wrong, and he promised to apologize tonight. Lyra ripped him a new one once she heard, too, and went after her."
Jéricho rolled his eyes. "Great."
Harry started making his plate, and was just helping himself to a baked potato when the door banged open, admitting Professor Quirell who came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. 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 a dead faint.
There was an uproar. 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!"
Percy was in his element. "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"
"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Ron as he panted behind them. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."
Jéricho suddenly grabbed Harry's and Charles' arms, who reflexively caught Ron. "Lyra! She doesn't know about the troll."
"Oh, no." Harry slapped a hand to his forehead. "Come on. Percy'd better not see us, though."
Ducking down, they joined some Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.
"Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling them behind a large stone griffin.
Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"
"Search me." Jéricho snapped, in a very foul mood.
Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.
"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Charles held up his hand.
"Can you smell something?"
Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his 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 the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Charles pointed -- at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.
It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, 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 incredible. It was holding a huge 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 tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.
"The keys in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."
"Good idea," answered Charles nervously.
They edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it. "Yes!"
Flushed with their victory, they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop -- a high, petrified scream and another voice shouting expletives -- and it was coming from the chamber they'd just chained up.
"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.
"It's the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.
"Oh, no!" they cried together.
It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around, the four of them sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic. Jéricho pulled the door open and they ran inside.
Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. Lyra was lying in the corner, clutching her ankle which looked broken. The troll was advancing on them, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.
"Confuse it!" Charles said desperately to the others, and, seizing a tap, Harry threw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from the girls. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw the Potter brothers. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he 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 ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Charles time to run around it.
"Come on, run, run!" Charles yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.
"Oh, fuck!" Jéricho yelled and ran to Lyra, helping her up. She leaned heavily on him as he passed her to Charles, and told them to run for it. Charles didn't hesitate with an injured Lyra on his arm, and did as told.
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.
Harry and Jéricho threw Stunners at the troll to slow it down, and it sort of worked. The troll changed course again, and Ron ran toward the exit on Harry's command, taking Lyra's other side and helping her move faster.
Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a pipe in its nose. Harry then, in a desperate moment, stabbed his wand in the beast's right eye, chanting Lumos, and blinding it.
Meanwhile, Jéricho stabbed a piece of wood in the troll's side with all his strength, which he had in spades being a beater. Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club. Harry jumped off its back and collided with Jéricho, who steadied him. Hermione unfroze at the right time, chanting Wingardium Leviosa on its club. She hit the troll with it on the head, making it fall.
There was ringing silence for a minute, broken by Hermione. "Is it... dead?"
"No," said Harry, "Just knocked out."
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn't realized 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 came bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape and Flitwick, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.
Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Jéricho and Harry in such anger that he felt a bit scared. Not even when they'd transformed all the food into kittens one dinner last year, and glued them to her side. Her lips were completely white with rage.
"What on earth were you thinking?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Jéricho, who gulped nervously. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitories?"
Snape gave them a swift, piercing look. Harry sighed. "Please, Professor McGonagall - we were looking for Lyra and Miss Granger. We'd heard they were in the bathroom, and they wouldn't've known about the troll."
Jéricho continued, "I figured it'd take a minute, so we didn't see it too important to tell a prefect or a teacher. Charles and Ron tagged along with us, and then we saw the troll heading in this direction."
"There wasn't any time." Harry said, "So we just barged in the bathroom and found Hermione petrified and Lyra's ankle broken. Ron and Charles got Lyra out of here, while I stuck a pipe in its nose and blinded it."
"I, then, stabbed it with a piece of wood," Jéricho added. "And Hermione knocked it out with its own club."
"Well, in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them, "I still think it was foolish not to tell a teacher, but I understand your reasoning and emotions in going to find Misses Black and Granger. Five points off Gryffindor and Ravenclaw."
"However," said Professor McGonagall. "Your courage and resourcefulness must be rewarded. Ten points to each of you, including Messers Potter and Weasely for helping an in injured classmate. Five more points to you all for not losing your heads. Does that sound fair, Filius?"
Flitwick nodded. "Absolutely."
"Please, ma'am," Jéricho said, "What happened to Lyra and the boys?"
"We found them on our way here, and they've already been taken to Poppy. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to your towers. Students are finishing the feast in their common rooms."