When knowledge becomes power

by soniassj2

English version of my first story, that follows the kick in the arse of the wizarding world challenge by Alrissa. Starts on Halloween 1981 with Hermione reacting differently to the bullying and isolation form her peers with the help of an unexpected ally that helps her stand up for herself and change her life and everyone else's forever. Ron bashing!. Please review!

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Qualified to fight

19.22

In Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, chaos reigned. News of a greatly powerful and mean Mountain Troll lurking on the dungeons of the castle were just given, causing a wave of panic amongst the students, whom were frantic not only for the knowledge of the nearby presence of such a beast but for the fact that Quirinus Quirrel, DADA teacher and "professional expert" whose job is to get rid of the threat, fainted when he finished telling everyone about the monster.

Even in the midst of massive Hysteria, Dumbledore was able to calm everyone down enough to have the Head Boy, Head Girl and Prefects escort the rest of the student body to their respective common rooms by the time he and the teachers formed a search party for the intruder. Such was the haste of all to go, that no one noticed that Quirrel was still sprawled in the floor, not even the kids, whom stepped on him in their desperation to put themselves out of harm's way. Had anyone stayed to help, this person would have freaked out with the sight of the man crying pathetically and apologising over and over again with his hand touching the back of his head while a strange, almost imperceptible voice whispered obscenities and death threats.

Once out of the Great Hall, students began to spread to their respective common rooms, until one of the first years suddenly stopped, as if remembering something. One of his classmates came to a halt besides him, took him by the arm and said:

-Hurry up Harry! We'll be left behind if we don't move!

Harry yanked his arm from the other boy, exasperated

Ron we can't go back yet! Hermione is still in the bathroom and no one warned her about the troll!

The ginger blanched at the news and, seeing that Harry would not go back to the common room and that they had already been left behind, decided to take another course of action

- Well then let's go find Percy, he went with the Head Boy in the way of the girl's bathroom- said Weasley, resigned to his fate

-Ok lead the way then- was the answer of the black haired boy, following his friend down the moving staircases.

They ran for several minutes without finding traces of the prefect, until a foul stench made them stop in their tracks. Before they could hold their noses and pinpoint where the smell came from, they where alerted of its location by the sound of things breaking and someone grunting with a voice so deep and intimidating that paralyzed them with fear. After a few seconds in which neither moved a muscle, Harry snapped out of his stupor and started running toward a broken door from which the noise seemed to be originating from until he was stopped by strong arms that held him from behind.

-Ron! The girl's bathroom is nearby! We have to go there!- cried the dark haired boy while trying to wriggle out of his friend's grasp.

-Are you mental Harry? If that thing sees us it will kill us! - Weasley replied, incredulous

- But what about Hermione? She's still in the bathroom and we need to warn her!

-And why are we going to do that? There is no way we can go past the troll without it hearing us because his kind has very sensitive ears! Besides, we don't even know if Hermione really is in that bathroom or just made the other girls tell us that she was crying there to make us look bad!- shot back Ron, his face red from anger.

-Hermione is too much of a bookworm to skip class and dinner for something like that Ron. Besides, everyone in our year including Hermione still have trouble to be in class on time without getting lost. I bet that's why she wakes up before everyone else! Where else can the girl be? - was the black haired boy's angry reply.

The redhead opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing what to say. They just stood there, looking at each other's eyes, as if trying to convince the other party in how to proceed until the troll's mighty roar and the sound of a wall crumbling reverberated trough the entire hall made the decision for them. Both first years ran as fast as they could toward the bathroom mentally preparing themselves for any situation they could find. Any situation except the one they found once in the room

Girl'sBathroom

19.01 PM

Hermione finally managed to extricate herself from the floor and made her way to the stalls. All those hours crying, reading and admiring her new "presents" left her a bit hungry and in the mood of using the room for its real purposes. She was beginning feel tired and knowing what she had to face but not having idea of what to do with her grandmother's "gift", the item that was supposed to make things easier for her, didn't raise her spirits much. The brunette vowed to herself that if she made it out of the mess she was in alive she would give the woman a piece of her mind.

"Honestly, of all the things she could have sent me for my birthday, why did she think the statue of a Greek goddess my size was a good idea? Was my future self wrong with the gift advice? Did she deliberately omit telling me what our grandma sent because she knew her letter would alter some things in my time frame if it was successfully sent?- this thoughts and others crossed the little witch's mind while she steeped out of the stall and went toward her things.

Once there, the brunette took the –now empty- jar of sharpening potion and stuffed the grey sheet in it, sealed the top and hid it in the inner pocket of her robes. She then proceeded to take the little eagle made of gold and diamonds that came with the potion and put it in its box, that shrunk automatically for the girl to secure it in her other pocket. Just when she was approaching the Greek goddess statue a disgusting stench assaulted her nose so suddenly she almost threw up her breakfast right there.

After a few moments, her body recovered almost completely from the unexpected attack and the young witch was finally able to tear her gaze from the floor, she froze with fear when she realized that before her, just a couple feet away an enormous, robust and barely clothed Troll covered with stone and rubble – It had entered the room breaking the wall- was staring down at her.

Neither girl nor beast moved for a moment until the troll, curious of the strange creature in front of him, decided to use his club on it to see the how it reacted.

Hermione, seeing the club approach in slow motion, waited until the last moment to jump out of the wooden weapon's reach. Realizing she couldn't afford to lose energy running in what she was sure would be a long fight, she began to avoid the blows her enemy delivered by jumping to the sides and rolling on the floor just before the club reached her. After minutes of keeping the same tactic to stay out of the way, Hermione found herself cornered and seeing she had no other choice, she pulled out her wand and shouted:

-Protego!

A transparent energy shield appeared before the girl just in time for the club to crash against. The Troll, frustrated, began to hit the barrier more fiercely, getting angrier and angrier every time the shield cracked with a blow only to be replaced with another seconds later.

While casting, Hermione noted that her shields disappeared after the third or fourth consecutive blow, that the impact of said blows were so powerful they made the troll's arm bounce back and the club hit the great pillar behind them, leaving more and more cracks with each failed attempt to kill her and that both the force of impact and damage done were higher when a shield was formed just before the club reached her.

This interaction between physical strength and magical power gave her an idea that would free her from the beast if done correctly and would at least give her some precious seconds to run away if the plan backfired. "This is risky and can get me badly injured in the worst case scenario but al least I'm sure I won't end up dead or owing my life to someone else" the little witch reasoned before taking a deep breath and casting another shield that was willed to disappear just when the club's first hit rebounded .To the girl's delight, the resulting impact against the pillar was strong enough to send flying little pieces of masonry everywhere.

After repeating her strategy a couple more times, the giant column began to give way and soon it was a couple of hits away from collapsing , or it would have collapsed if a boy hadn't stopped the fight:

_ Hermione! You must go to the common room with us now! We were told that a troll was set… loose- shouted Harry entering the room, the words dying in his mouth as he watched his classmate cast a shield to fend off the monster.

Ron crashed against his friend, who had instantly stopped running when he spotted the chestnut haired girl hold her own without help. The boys fell to the floor and the ginger in the room began to stand asking:

-Harry! Why the hell did you sto-

The boy wasn't able to finish the sentence, for he too was left speechless with amazement and the realization that not only Hermione was in the girl's bathroom, but that she was fighting with the troll and was winning!

The troll -who was until that moment staring confused between the girl it was trying to smash and the newcomers- understood it now had in its reach more, possibly easier to hunt prey and went to attack the boys, who were so scared they seemed to be unable to react to the threat looming over them.

The troll was glancing stupidly from the girl it was trying to smash and the new comers, until it understood that now there was more, possibly easier to hunt prey and ran toward the boys, who were too shocked with fear to escape.

Noticing her classmate's state, Hermione did the first thing that crossed her mind in that moment: she took a deep breath and, praying to God her hastily made plan worked, she screamed with the shrillest voice she could manage:

-MOVE OUT OF THE WAY YO IDIOTS!

Her tone of voice was shrill enough to get the Troll's attention, which clutched its ear with its free hand and charged towards her again without realising that was exactly what the witch wanted. The little brunette ran until she ended up in front of the sinks, turned to face the Troll, and threw herself to the floor with a mighty jump, successfully avoiding the blow she knew the beast was going to throw in her direction.

Just when she landed, the sound of stone breaking and water flowing confirmed her prediction: the troll was too slow to follow her sudden movement and ended up destroying one of the sinks, from which an enormous jet of water sprouted forth and hit Hermione's intended target full in the face.

The Gryffindor sighed in relief when she saw the Troll forgot about her and was now trying to stop the jet of water only to stare horror when the Troll turned and she spotted a flaw in her plan. The moment she saw how scared her classmates were, she discarded team work as an option to get rid of the beast and thought that a distraction would be the only thing she could use if she wanted the three of them to escape that bathroom with their lives.

Imagine her surprise upon realizing that not only was Harry Potter able to get out of his stupor and follow the Troll to try to help; he even jumped to the monster's back just before she jumped away in a desperate attempt to save her!

The little lioness stood there, trying to find a way to take the black haired boy from the Troll's back while the beast was shaking the water-that ran out- and the kid off of its body until a stone connected with the beast's arm. Humans and Troll looked the way the stone came from, only to see more were heading towards the monster.

Ron began to flee form the enraged giant when it headed his way. Hermione followed her attacker in hopes of being able to guide Harry to the ground with a levitation charm, but the beast's long legs and hurried steps made it harder for her to get close enough to have a clear shot.

Ron ended up in front of the wall opposite from the exit when he turned to go back the Troll was already almost behind him. He was barely able to jump toward the closest corner and avoid the first hit, only to realize he was now between two walls and didn't have space to escape.

While this happened, Hermione tried to levitate Harry to safety again but stopped upon discovering the Troll stopped because it had trapped Ron and the boy was about to be attacked.

While the redhead avoided the monster's club, the witch tried to think a good way to intervene, but nothing seemed safe enough: it would be impossible for her to cast a shield charm strong enough to withstand the troll's strength without hurting Weasley at some degree. Brilliant mind or not, she was still a first year and that limited the extent of her magical ability.

The brunette began looking everywhere for something that would help her stall the beast until she spotted the debris of the pillar the Troll was hitting before and, almost without thinking, went running to the place she was crying hours ago, picked the pebbles up and threw them to the thing's back, just below Potter's bum.

The black haired boy noted how the stones hit home but didn't get the monster's attention so he got closer to the Troll's face and took his wand of his pocket with the intention of sticking it in its eye, but ended up stuffing the long stick up its nose.

That got the desired effect and made the beast stop the attack on the redhead to try and shake Harry off its shoulders again but the kid held on so hard the monster only succeeded in making the diminutive wizard take his wand out of its nostril, full of snot.

The enraged beast decided the ginger human still was easier to hunt so it went towards the boy but turned around in the last moment, pressing its back against the wall, immobilizing Harry. With a speed that contradicted its great bulk, the Troll turned its head and the arm that had the club in the direction of Weasley, wanting to strike again.

-Ron, duck! - a feminine voice warned.

Driven by adrenaline and fear, Hermione threw the first thing she had within her reach towards the space between boy and beast the moment she saw the Troll moving to attack her classmate again.

Her eyes grew comically upon realizing that, in her desperation, she had thrown the statue her grandmother had given her as a present, an objet that was her size and at had least three times her weight!

When the marble Greek Goddess struck the descending arm of the Troll, it broke into a thousand pieces, among which a large and heavy sword came out and fell right in front of a terrified Ron, who was fortunate enough to dive in the right moment and avoid injury.

The Troll wasn't so lucky and ended up with a bruised arm and its club on the floor.

The monster stared confused between its injured limb and the shocked girl that was still staring at the sword. It took a few moments for the beast to process and comprehend what had happened and, when everything finally clicked, its face became purple with rage. With an almighty roar, the monster jumped towards Hermione, taking the three wizards by surprise. It landed right in front of the girl and kicked her in a swift and fast movement that sent her flying toward the stalls where she broke through the wooden door, crashed against the wall and fell to the floor, spitting

blood.

-HERMIONE!- cried the horrified boys

Their noisy voices affected the monster's ears and confused it. Enraged and dazed, the beast began to smash the stalls adjacent to Hermione's until the sound of someone struggling and cursing perked its attention again and. What it saw made it flex his knees to gain impulse again: Ron was trying and failing to pull out the sword from the ground, making his lack of success and patience known by muttering profanities. Only Harry's quick decision to stick his wand in the troll's eye and hitting his mark in the attempt prevented the foul creature from jumping toward the imprudent redhead.

-GRAHHHH!- howled the Troll, covering his injured eye and charging toward the sinks

-Ron! Knock him out with the club!

The other boy whipped out his wand, pointed it to the club and in a strong and clear voice, he intoned:

-Wingardium Leviosa

While her classmates were fighting with the Troll, Hermione was fighting to stay conscious.

" I can't… faint now… I have to... keep on fighting..''

After a few moments, the little witch was finally able to sit, touching her head with a hand to stop the pain of moving so brusquely. Once the headache began to fade, the girl summoned her strength and stood up slowly, breathing deeply with her nose and mouth to alleviate the dizziness that expanded through her entire body. Just when she began to feel better, a loud roar put her on alert again, adrenaline running through her veins as she made her towards the now destroyed wooden door thanks to her fright.

The sight that greeted her once she reached the stall's entrance almost made her heart stop: Potter, who was still sitting on the monster's shoulders, gripping an ear with one hand and using the other to stab his wand in the troll's eyes whenever it tried to go towards Weasley, who was slowly levitating the beast's club with great difficulty, gripping his wand tightly with both hands to guide the large object in the right direction.

Time came to a halt for Hermione. Many emotions started to stir inside her: fear, denial, pain, sorrow and finally, rage. The same fury she felt hours ago came back full force, running trough her veins like liquid fire that filled her body without stopping this time, not that the girl was planning to. She felt like nothing mattered anymore because her only consolation had always been that her future would be better, that as a grown up she wouldn't have to put up with anyone's abuse anymore.

Realizing that was not going to happen, that she was doomed to be mistreated and misunderstood for the rest of her life, that she had failed in her only chance to change everything and the fact that her horrible destiny was mockingly projecting itself in front of her eyes was too much for the young witch to handle. So, she lost control.

For the first time in her memory, Hermione Granger let her emotions control her. This attracted the attention of her most instinctive side that seized the chance and took control of the body and mind while her rational side had her guard down.

A new wave of heat invaded her along with an indescribable feeling that spread trough her body and made her muscles tense up, her pupils dilated, her heart began to beat wildly and the last remains of her coherence vanished when Ron's control over the club began to waver. That the Troll had finally managed to grab Potter by the ankles and was about to use him as a replacement of its weapon to hit the other boy didn't help matters either. Once in total control of the girl, the mind began to work with a different intent, and soon new thoughts began manifesting in the girl's head:

" .Kill"

She wanted to act on her instincts, to lunge towards them and show them she was te supreme predator, that she was the alpha there. Wanting tem to know of her presence, she screamed and what began as a shrill sound slowly became a terrifying roar,

-AAAAAAAAARGHHHHHGRRROOOOOOOOOOARRRRR!

By the time the other occupants of the room turned their heads in her direction, she was already charging towards them, with the lower half of the door she had previously crushed in one hand and ready to fight. The Troll couldn't move out of the way fast enough and ended up being hit right in the face so hard the wood broke in pieces that

dug in the beast's skin. Howling in pain, the monster easily took the splinters off its face and began to make its way to the girl with kicks and punches -made by the hand that wasn't holding Harry- while the black haired tried to free his feet from the beasts grip.

The rest of the fight only lasted a couple of minutes, in which the troll managed to get close enough to throw a descending punch to Hermione who, even in her wild state of mind, understood she wasn't fast enough to escape the attack.

The possessed girl extended her arms up in a blocking manner and began to concentrate, trying to control the raw and uncontrollable energy that coursed trough her body and manifested itself in the form of warm air around her small frame. She vaguely noticed that while her efforts in directing some of the energy toward her hands was mildly successful and that the more she managed to conduct to the right direction, the hotter became the air surrounding her. Then the impact came, and her whereabouts ceased to matter, survival making its way to the forefront of her primitive mind.

Harry and Ron watched in awe how the Troll applied more strength and shifted to add more of its weight onto Hermione in an effort to crush her under the pressure while the brunette screamed from the unbearable heat and the physical changes her body

was experimenting in order to endure the onslaught.

The boy's couldn't help but stare at the rapidly growing muscles on the girl's arms and legs, the way her skin hardened more and more and the ever increasing number of cracks the ground beneath witch and beast was presenting. The brunette instinctively knew she had to get the Troll off of her or risk fainting from exhaustion and being smothered to death from the pressure the beast was creating, so she crouched down al low as she could without moving her arms, concentrated some of her energy on her legs and used it to jump upward with all her might. The monster's hand moved all the way with the girl and while the former looked on bewildered, the latter took the chance to lunge back in the air and land out of her attacker's reach.

The little witch ran to the exit when her feet barely touched the ground, narrowly avoiding the gargantuan club that fell after Ron's charm faded, the object too big and heavy to be levitated for long by the wand of a first year, let alone to the distance and height needed to hit the Troll.

The brunette came to a halt in front of Weasley, took hold of the sword's handle and started pulling it out. Bit by bit, the weapon began to give out, but the more she freed the long blade, the more her strength waned. Determined not to lose what she knew was her last chance to defeat the monster, the girl kept tugging even when she felt most of the crazy energy that surrounded her started to disappear. She didn't want to waste the distraction Potter gave her before, or the one Weasley is offering now with his frenetic flight towards the door.

The smelly being realized the boy was trying to escape and, with a few quick strides, caught up with him, jumped ahead to bock his path, clenched its hands together above its head and forced the down –with Potter still hanging by the ankle-towards its victim.

The gravity of the situation was palpable, even for Hermione's wild side. Her whole body tensed, her heartbeat thumped loudly against her now more sensitive ears and her eyes began to see the attack on Weasley in slow motion. Scared and desperate, she made another effort to control her energy and found out it was easier and less painful if she just directed everything to her stomach. Once she believed she had gathered enough, the being let the energy flow through her veins to the rest of her body, trying to ignore the heat and pain that still accompanied the task. The closer al the power got of coming out , the harder directing it became, but this time the girl just continued pushing through despite her hunger, her tiredness, her fear of dying and even her soul-consuming pain until she felt something inside of her break. Something behind her heart faded and suddenly, the pressure that was hindering her was gone, her pain reached a new height, making her fall to her knees and scream:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!-

Her howl began to fade as adrenaline consumed her one more time. A couple heartbeats later she felt better and opened her eyes to take in her surroundings and discovered everyone still moving slowly. Even though she wasn't able to think rationally, she was still a predator and if there was something predators know is when to take advantage of a situation. Determined, she pulled the sword again and this time it came out almost without effort. Without wasting what only for her was a second, she charged towards the Troll as fast as she could and moved the sword towards the beast's hands which were less than four feet away from Ron's head and hoped she could reach them in time.

They were hers to hunt after all.

A/N; I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I'm not going to abandon this story, I just had a particularly hard time translating this. And things get more complicated when you have a five year old brother that's learning to write, practices on every archive he finds and SAVES EVERYTHING! Hope you like this chap I made. Please don't forget to follow and favourite this if you want more soon. You are my reason to keep on writing when I feel like stopping.