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Draco couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry, Ron, and Levina were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking drained but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by the next morning, the trio thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure, and they were quite keen to have another one. In the meantime, Harry filled Ron and Levina 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," said Harry.

"Or maybe it's guarding some secret passageway," Levina suggested.

"Levina, I told you, it's got to be whatever Hagrid got from Gringotts that day."

"It was just a suggestion," Levina mumbled, spreading jam onto her slice of toast.

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 Harry, Levina, and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus. All they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived in the mail about a week later.

As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. Levina was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel, and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of Harry, knocking his bacon to the floor. They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.

Harry ripped open the letter first, and Levina stuffed the last corner of her toast into her mouth, leaning forward to read the scrawled message.

DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.

It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch field at seven o'clock for your first training session.

Professor McGonagall

"Pfft," Levina scoffed."What's it matter if we open it or not? It's a broomstick-shaped package. Gee, I

"But it's not just any broom—it's a Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."

"Well, now's your chance," said Levina.

They left the hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first class, but halfway across the entrance hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it.

"That's a broomstick ("Correct, Master of the Obvious," said Levina)," he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be in for it this time, Potter, first years aren't allowed them."

The urge to blurt out everything nearly came out of Levina's mouth, but Ron beat her to the punch.

"It's not any old broomstick," he said, "it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?" Ron grinned at Harry and Levina. "Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."

"What would you know about it, Weasley, you couldn't afford half the handle," Malfoy snapped back. "I suppose you and your brothers have to save up twig by twig."

Before anyone could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow.

"Not arguing, I hope, boys?" he squeaked.

"I'm a girl," Levina reminded him.

"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Draco quickly.

"Yes, yes, that's right," said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. "Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand, sit," said Harry, obviously fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy's face. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it," he added.

The three of them headed upstairs, smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.

"Well, it's true," Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase, "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouln't be on the team..."

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" came an angry voice from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs, looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand.

"I certainly think so," said Levina.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry.

"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good."

Hermione marched away with her nose in the air.

…

Perhaps it was because she was now so busy, what with the mountain of homework flowing in from her professors, but the past few months at Hogwarts just flew by. The castle felt more like home than her apartment with Anna ever had. For the first time in her life, she felt as though she truly belonged somewhere, like she had a real family. After all of those years spent in bitter silence, with only the company of her pet cat and the nearest library, Levina hardly knew what to do with all of the friendship and love thrust her way.

On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Levina's Octobers as a child were spent cooped up indoors. Anna never wanted to take her trick-or-treating, but she was allowed to eat any left-over candy that they passed out. She'd never tasted (or smelled, for that matter) pumpkin before, but she found herself beginning to really enjoy it.

Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan, Levina's was Neville Longbottom (who constantly asked her for assistance, which she did not have much of, seeing as she was doing no better). She couldn't complain, though, seeing as Ron had been paired with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. She hadn't spoken to either of them since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived.

"W-Wingardiuuum Leviosa!" Neville stammered, and the feather that sat on his desk blew up, sending black soot all over both of their clothing. "S-sorry Levina!"

"Erm...that's ok, Neville," said Levina, dusting ashes from her shirt front. "Stop saying 'sorry.'"

"S…sorry," said Neville.

"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."

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Levina commanded, but her feather remained idle. "Please?" she added, hoping that since that had worked with her broomstick, the same rules might apply. Still, the feather sat immobile on her desk, mocking her.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted from a few seats down, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Levina heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone running by knocked into Harry, who, as a domino effect, staggered into Levina, causing her to stumble to the ground. It was Hermione. Levina only saw her face for a second, but could've sworn she caught sight of streaks of glimmering tears staining her cheeks.

"I think she heard you," said Harry, crouching down to help Levina to her feet.

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"Yeah, but couldn't you have said it a little quieter?" Levina reasoned, thanking Harry as she brushed grass off of her stained knees. "It looks like you really hurt her feelings."

Ron disgruntledly mumbled something incoherent in reply, but he did seem rather guilty about it.

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Levina overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds.

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. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.

"Wow!" Levina seated herself immediately, spooning heaps of mashed potatoes, green beans, ham, and various other foods onto her plate.

"How do you eat so much?" Harry remarked, watching her tear into a slice of ham.

Levina shrugged, peeling back the paper on a black-and-orange cupcake. "Just never had the chance to stuff myself before, I guess."

Ron, too, was helping himself to every conceivable food in sight, but they weren't even halfway through their meal when Professor Quirrell 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. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

"It's sort of cool, though, considering we'll be safe in our common room," Levina pointed out, but inside, she felt her stomach doing flips. She began to imagine a humongous troll leaping out from behind one of the corners, going straight for her in full-attack mode with its meaty hands. What were the odds, though? She had a black spiral lollipop hanging out of the side of her mouth, and was still kind of sour that they hadn't had time for official dessert.

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron and Levina by the arms.

"I've just thought—Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll."

Levina swore under her breath and Ron bit his lip.

"We've got to warn her!" said Levina. "C'mon, Ron—she doesn't deserve to die, y'know."

"Oh, all right," Ron snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."

Ducking down, they joined the 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 the other two 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," said Ron.

Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.

"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said.

"The three-headed dog!" Levina whispered, clasping a hand to her mouth.

"You're right, Levina, what if—?"

Whatever Harry was about to say she didn't know, because Ron interrupted.

"Can you smell something?"

"Yeah, your breath," Levina half-joked, but then she smelled it too: A foul stench of a combination between rotten socks and a dirty public toilet. "Oh gross! What is that?"

And then they heard it—a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron 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 made Levina dry heave and cover her nose and mouth with her robe sleeve. 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 murmured. "We could lock it in."

"Uh, guys?" said Levina.

"Good idea," said Ron nervously, ignoring Levina.

"Guys?" Levina repeated, but Harry leapt forward and managed to grab the key, slamming the door and locking it.

"Yes!"

Flushed with victory, the boys had just begun heading back up the passage when Levina seized them both by the back of their collars, fuming.

"GUYS!" she shouted angrily.

"What?" Harry and Ron snapped in sync.

"That was the girls'—" Levina began, but she didn't have to finish: A high, petrified scream came from the chamber they'd just chained up.

"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.

"It's the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.

"Yes, that's what I was—ugh, forget it!" Levina huffed; there was no time to argue.

"Hermione!"

It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around, they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic. Harry pulled the door open and they ran inside.

Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately, and, seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. 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 Harry time to run around it.

"Was your mum as ugly as you?" Levina called from the right. She blew a raspberry, then lifted up a broken hunk of wood from the stalls and thrust it at him. Looking a combination of confused and angry, unsure of which one of them to go after, he troll advanced on Levina now.

"Come on, run, run!" Harry 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.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again, taking a swipe at Levina, who lunged out of the way, only to find herself trapped up against the nearest wall. "Guys?" she whimpered. "I don't mean to be a damsel in distress right now, but—help!"

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 apparently couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped—it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.

Levina dove again, narrowly avoiding the swinging club, crawling on her hands and knees as fast as she could manage. She felt so helpless, so useless, but her mind was too scrambled up to think of any of the spells she had learned. She grabbed a rusty pipe from the floor and chucked it at the back of the troll's head, but it was too invested in its endeavor to kill Harry to even notice.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand and bellowed, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over—and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.

Feeling as though she might puke, Levina ambled over to where Ron and Harry were, clutching her ribs. She was trembling from head to toe, still not believing what had just happened.

"N-nice one, Ron," she hiccupped.

"T-thanks," Ron gasped, catching his breath.

"Is it—dead?" Hermione squeaked.

I don't think so," said Harry, I think it's just been knocked out."

He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh—troll boogers."

He wiped it on the troll's trousers.

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 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 faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron, Levina, and Harry, not even bothering to accuse Hermione. Levina had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. She couldn't possibly punish them for going to save Hermione, though, could she?

"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall—they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last. Levina gawked at her, not believing her own eyes. She was actually sticking up for them?

"I went looking for the troll because I—I thought I could deal with it on my own—you know, because I've read all about them."

Ron dropped his wand, and Harry was staring open-mouthed. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher? "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose, Ron knocked it out with its own club, and Levina hit it with a pipe." Levina hardly thought that warranted mentioning, seeing as it had had virtually no effect on the troll, but remained silent. "They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

Harry, Levina, and Ron tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them.

"Well—in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head, and Levina opened her mouth to say something, but then decided against it. They'd be in even more trouble for lying if she told the truth. Ron and Harry were simply speechless, and with good reason; Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione left.

Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.

"We should have gotten more than fifteen points," Ron grumbled.

"Ten, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's."

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Harry reminded him.

"As I tried to tell you," Levina mumbled, casting them both a hostile look. "But no, you never listen to Levina, do you?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well...you should have made yourself clearer."

They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pig snout," they said together and entered.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks," and hurried off to get plates.

Nothing like a twelve-foot troll to bring people together, Levina thought, and from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend.

DimensionTraveller: Thank you so much! I'm really glad you've stuck around. I've been meaning to continue/finish the story, but I just couldn't bring myself to unless I make some changes to the original plot. So thanks so much, and I really hope you continue to enjoy! (: