Chapter 12- “TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!”
Chapter 12- “TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!”
The school year went by relatively smooth, at least until Samhain.
His students were quick learners and the younger years took to his lessons with ease. His older years had a slightly harder time, mostly because Mike had to catch them up with the new information. But, the student body liked him well enough, he even had a few younger years ask him questions. One little Muggleborn first year by the name of Hermione Granger would come and chat with him quite often. She was a Gryffindor, although many of her housemates would say she should have been a Ravenclaw.
His furniture had come in on the third day of school, and he had the students help him move stuff around in exchange for some snacks. Now he had circle tables around the room with some more comfortable beanbags scattered around. He even got a couch in the back. He had been tinkering with the lights as well, enlisting the help of a few older kids looking for extra credit. They hadn’t quite figured it out yet, but it was fun none the less.
Then it was Samhain, or Halloween as the headmaster made them celebrate. It honestly made Michael a bit uncomfortable. He may not have grown up in the magical world, but that didn’t mean he didn’t celebrate the Sabbats. Hell, he knew a few muggles in school who celebrated Samhain and Yuletide. He made sure to teach so in his lesson that day.
“Today’s lesson is on Muggle religion.” He started. “Can anyone give me an example of religion?” A muggleborn student raised their hand, Mike pointed at them.
“Christianity.”
“Yes, good job.” He tossed them a piece of candy from the bowl on his desk. He used the sweets as a reward system instead of house points, it made for a surprisingly good motivator. He felt like Pavlov figuring out classical conditioning. “Anyone else?”
Nothing. A few muggleborn’s seemed like they wanted to answer, but were hesitant to do so. Michael sighed.
“Muggle’s have many other religions besides Christianity. There is Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism. Honestly, there are too many to name. Each religion has it’s own values, deities, and holidays.” The class was writing down his every word. The notebooks were a hit, helping everyone keep their notes much more organized.
“Christianity, for example, has one (1) God and celebrates holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and Palm Sunday. Most forms of Paganism have multiple Gods and or Goddesses, and commonly celebrate Samhain, Yule, and Beltane.” The lesson continued, teaching his students the differences in muggle religions hoping to show them that everyone has different beliefs.
At the end of class he announced a project.
“Alright, I’m assigning a research project. You will each pick a religion to research and create a presentation about it. It can be any belief system. You may work in groups, as long as everyone contributes. Think about it tonight then come and let me know which religion you will be researching as well as who you are working with. I will also write all of you passes to the restricted section once you choose.” He waved his hand and many copies of the same book floated off one of the book shelves into stacks on his desk. “If you need any help deciding, come pick up a copy of the book on my desk. It has a brief, mostly unbiased overview of a number of religions, some of which were not mentioned in class.”
Soon enough the kids broke into groups, most grabbing a copy of the book, and then had to go to their next class. The rest of the day went similarly.
Lunch wasn’t anything note-worthy. Although Mike did notice Quirrell was a little more nervous than he usually portrayed, almost like it was genuine. The man hadn’t been looking the best lately. While the potions he took slowed down the decline of his body, it wouldn’t stop completely. Michael ignored it as he started a conversation with Severus.
The first years were giving him a hard time, and Mike was grateful that he didn’t have to teach them. As much as he enjoyed his chats with Hermione, he knew the girl could get pretty intense with her studies. She would sometimes do certain projects of his in her free time and hand them in. He was a little worried for her, but as long as she was getting her actual work done he didn’t see the harm. He still made sure to check in on her.
Dinner was a different story. Quirrell was notably missing, which unnerved him, and so was Hermione. He had noticed some of the Gryffindor’s, especially the girls, seemingly scolding a certain redhead. Hermione had mentioned that some of her housemates had been giving her trouble.
Then Quirrell ran in.
“TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS! Thought you ‘ot to know!” He screamed then promptly fainted. The Hall devolved into chaos, children screaming and crying in fright.
“SILENCE!” The headmaster screamed, stopping the madness. “Prefects, please lead the students back to their dorms.”
Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were quick to obey, but the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs waited as the headmaster conveniently forgot that their dorms were in the dungeons.
“Stay here.” Severus ordered his snakes.
“Severus, Hermione Granger is missing.” Mike told the man. He nodded then lead Michael over to Minerva.
“Professor, it seems one of your lions wasn’t with the rest of the Pride.”
“What! Oh dear!” She startled.
Just then, a couple of Gryffindor girls ran up to them.
“Professor! Hermione ran off after class!” One exclaimed.
“Yeah, Ron was being rude to her again and she ran off crying. She was going in the direction of the bathroom in the dungeons!” The other exclaimed, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Mike exchanged some looks with the other teachers before hurrying out of The Hall with Severus in tow.
“Michael. I need you to go get Granger.”
“What?”
“Please, I need to check on something very important. I will explain after the troll is delt with, but right now a student is in danger.” The man almost pleaded.
“Fine. But you better fucking explain yourself.” Mike glared, and took off towards the dungeons.
He quickly found the bathroom the girls had mentioned, as he could hear the troll inside. As well as multiple voices yelling.
The hell?
Michael wasted no time blasting the door open. Inside was not only Hermione and a gigantic mountain troll, but also a two (2) first year boys. He recognized the redhead as the Ron Weasley that had been picking on Hermione, although he couldn’t place the chubbier Gryf who immediately ran over to him.
“Professor!”
“Go to the Hospital Wing, if you run into any other teacher on the way send them here!” He told the boy. As soon as he was out the door, Mike jumped into action. He had never come in contact with a troll before, but he did know a thing or two (2).
“I’ll create an opening, both of you need to run out as fast as possible!” He addressed them. He cast a levitation spell on the troll’s club, lifting in the air. As the troll paused, not quite understanding what happened to its weapon, and Ron ran over. Hermione didn’t. The poor girl was frozen in fear. Mike cursed under his breath. As stupid as trolls were, they still had some intelligence. The troll eventually figured out that the club was in the air and began something akin to a tantrum, although much more destructive. Michael had no other choice. He positioned the club and dropped it right in the trolls head, hopefully only knocking it out. Once the troll stopped moving Mike ran to Hermione.
“Hermione, it’s me Professor Afton. We need to get out of here, can you stand?” The girl slowly nodded. Michael helped her off the broken tile flooring and lead her out of the destroyed room. Ron was waiting outside the door.
“Is she ok!?” He exclaimed.
“She should be. Come, we are all going to see Madame Pomfrey.” The boy looked like he was about to argue, but quickly closed his mouth after receiving a look from the Professor. On their way they ran into Professor Flitwick.
“Oh my!” The Half-Goblin exclaimed.
“The troll is unconscious in the girls restroom, the three (3) of us will be seeing Pomfrey.” He explained quickly, then immediately continued on his way with the students following.
“That was quite rude Professor.” The bushy haired girl whispered. Michael smiled.
“I just want to make sure you two (2) are ok, that’s all.”
Minerva was already there with the other boy when they arrived.
“What do you have to say for yourselves!” The emerald clad woman yelled.
“Minerva please. Let Pomfrey look them over then we can get the full story.” Michael said, handing the students over to the medi-witch.
Michael sat with his coworker, trying to help calm her down. He knew how rashly the woman could react, her worry often manifesting as anger. But he knew that she cared about her lions.
Once the students were examined and cleared, the worst of the injuries being a few scrapes and bruises, Michael asked the questions he knew their Head of House wanted answered. The only reason he was asking and not the other woman was because they both agreed he was the most likely to get truthful answers.
“Hello, I’m Professor Afton. I already know Hermione, but I don’t think I have ever met either of you. What are your names?” He started.
“Ron Weasley, my brothers take your class.” The redhead replied.
“Yes they do, they are wonderful students.” The boy huffed.
“Not many teachers say that about the twins.”
“I find them delightful. They make my job much more entertaining.” Michael laughed lightly. The other didn’t seem to have anything else to say, although he seemed to relax and even cracked a small smile. He then shifted his gaze to the other boy, the one who ran up to him.
“My name Neville Longbottom, sir.” He said softly.
“Well it’s nice to meet you Neville, although I wish the circumstances were different.” They all seemed to tense up. Michael sighed. “Hermione, I know that you were only in the wrong place at the wrong time and you are not in any trouble for that. As for you boys, how much trouble you two (2) will be in will depend on how you answer my questions, so I hope that you’ll answer honestly.” They nodded, heads hanging in guilt. Hermione raised her hand. He nodded to her.
“If I’m not in any trouble, why am I here?” She asked.
“You are here to help us understand exactly what happened. To, in other words, help construct a timeline of the events.” She nodded in understanding.
“Now, we know that Hermione was unaware of the troll, but were the two (2) of you aware?”
“Yes sir.” Neville answered immediately. Ron looked at him, almost upset that he answered so quickly.
“Ron, is this true for you as well?” The other boy hesitated, but ultimately nodded. “Ok, why did you go to the dungeons then?” He continued softly. The boys shared a look, but in the end Neville was the one to answer.
“Ron felt bad about making Hermione cry, so I told him he should apologize. Then the troll happened and we were worried about her, so we went to go get her. We didn’t expect to actually fight the troll, honest.” The poor kid looked about scared to tears.
“It was my idea.” Ron spoke up. Michael nodded.
“Why didn’t you come tell a teacher?” The boys seemed to pause.
“We… Honestly just didn’t think about it.”
“I understand.” Mike smiled at the three. “Now, the headmaster should be coming to collect your full statements, I assume an Auror will be with him to make sure nothing like this happens again.” He stood. “I’ll leave you all to rest now, and I’ll talk to Professor McGonagall about an appropriate punishment for you boys. Good night, try to get some rest.” The students bid him good night in return as he left.
He relayed the information to Minerva, who had calmed down significantly and with a much clearer head gave the boys a detention and took 5 points each. Once the matter was settled, Michael went to visit a certain Potions Master who owed him an explanation.