On Halloween morning they all woke up to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. All the students were excited about the feast, especially the young first year students, as it was their first Halloween at Hogwarts and they were excited to see how Hogwarts celebrated the day. All were happy, well all except one, Viola Potter. How could she be happy on such a dreadful day of her life, the day when her life had gone to hell. The day when her parents had died, the day when her soulmate had lost his body, the day when they became enemies. How could she be happy on a day like this? So when all the Slytherin students went to feast, she excused herself saying that she had an essay to complete. Theo and Draco didn't argue, they knew very well why their friend had been upset since morning. So they also stayed with Viola to give her company. Viola had protested at first, but gave up after a while, seeing no way to convince them otherwise.

So here they were, sitting near the fireplace, each working on their own essays.

"I'm done." Draco said in relieved voice.

"Let's go to Great Hall, then." Theo had finished his work some time ago and was just waiting for his friends to finish. "I'm hungry."

"No need to go there." Viola said slowly as she closed her essay and putting them carefully on her bag. "I know a better place. The kitchens are on second corridor, let's go there. We will be all alone except the house elves."

"Lead the way, then."

They walked lazily through the dungeons on their way to the second floor corridor when they detected a horrible, putrid smell, stopping them in their tracks.

"Do you smell something?" Draco asked, sniffling as the foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the stench of an unclean public toilet.

Theo put his hands over his nose in an attempt to stop the smell from reaching his nostrils. "It smells like a toilet," he answered as Draco nodded his head in agreement.

But Viola stood frozen in fear, unable to answer, as dread consumed her. 'Stupid, stupid Viola.' She cursed herself in her mind, 'how could you just forget that today is the day when your precious soulmate had set a troll lose free to create a distraction?'

She looked at the boys, "Guys, I think we should head back to our common room." She said in a low and deliberate voice.

"Why?" questioned Draco.

But Viola didn't have to explain any further. Both boys watched as Viola's eyes widened and a frightened look appeared across her face as her eyes fixed on something ahead of them. The boys followed her gaze and nearly fainted as they saw the source of the incredible stench. In all their lives they never had witnessed something so horrible, as a twelve foot tall troll came into their view. It's skin was a dull, granite gray, it's great lumpy body like a boulder with it's small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs, thick as a tree trunks, and flat horny feet. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor as it's arms were so long.

"Is that what I think it is?" whispered Draco in a low voice with full of dread. His face was so twisted as if he was going to cry or scream at any moment.

"Yes." Viola replied matching his tone.

The troll stopped walking and turned it's ugly face towards the three young first years as it suddenly sensed their presence. The troll stared at them stupidly for few seconds but than it seemed to tire of staring and quickly shuffled closer to the trio while raising its club to strike.

Draco screamed like a little girl as the troll began to advance towards them.

The troll seemed to be intrigued by the tasty odor of human flesh coming from the noisy little creatures. "Food!" it exclaimed and hurried after the young three firsties.

"RUN!" Viola yelled and they ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction, as if a demon from hell was after them. As they ran for their lives the portraits along the corridor shouted words of encouragement, advice, and warnings to the young firsties. "He's coming closer! Run faster! Run faster!"

They ran so quickly that they weren't paying attention to where they were going, and soon they came to a dead end.

"In here." Theo shouted as he found a door on his left and held it open for his friends to go inside. After they were inside Theo shut the door and stood as far away from the door as possible. Thuds echoed through the corridor, as the troll got closer. The young Slytherins shrank back against the wall of the abandoned classroom in fright, praying their best hope to the heavens that the weak, wooden door would be able to hold back that monstrous thing preventing it from getting inside.

But their prayers seemed to all be in vain as the troll broke the door with a single bang. The troll's eyes lit up as it saw little human creatures crowded together in the corner of the room. "Urrrrr! Food!" It stumbled forward, lifting its club.

"We are dead." Draco whimpered.

Viola swore and cursed herself for fiftieth times for forgetting this day. She raised her wand as the troll come towards them with its club raised high, Viola yelled the spell she always used whenever she came face-to-face with death. "Expelliarmus."

Though it was just a simple disarming spell, this spell had always been lucky for her. She had escaped near death all her life with just this spell. So, she quickly decided it would not hurt to try it again, perhaps with some miracle this spell might save their lives, as it has never failed her in the past. Well, never failed her until now. Because the spell had no effect on the troll.

"That's the best you can come up with?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Why don't you do something then if you think you know better." Viola snapped.

He opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by Theo's angry voice, "Stop arguing. Do something. EVERTE STATUM. " Theo yelled, even though the spell was a good one it was not powerful enough to throw the troll backward.

As a result the troll just seemed to become irritated. The troll ran at him and smashed its club into the wall where he stood, if he hadn't lowered his head at just the right time he would have been dead and his brains would have spilled all over the wall. The troll grabbed Theo by his neck with his other hand and lifted him up, opening its mouth wider and wider as if to swallow Theo alive. But before that thing could do anything worse to her friend, Viola pointed her wand at the beast and yelled the first curse that came into her head.

"SECTUMSEMPRA." Putting as much magic into it as she could. That did the trick, as soon as the curse hit the troll's back a deep cut appeared and blood started to fall from the wounds like waterfall. The troll howled in pain and dropped Theo and the club at the same time.

"Locomotor Mortis." Draco cast the spell making the troll legs locked together. Unable to move his legs the troll fell backward, hitting his head on the wall in the process. The troll fell to the floor with a thud causing the whole room tremble. After the fall the room was eerily quiet as the unconscious troll lay where he fell, blood pooling from its wounds onto the floor.

Viola ran toward Theo, helping him to stand. "You alright?" He nodded his head.

"Is it... dead?" Asked Theo, shaking and breathing heavily. He looked as pale as a ghost. Draco stood there with his wand still raised, staring at the fallen mountain troll. "Who cares."

Theo sucked in a shaky breath, "For a moment when that troll grabbed my neck and lifted me up, I was so bloody scared, I thought I was going to die."

"Can't blame you there mate." Draco said.

The young Slytherins stood there for a moment, staring at the fallen troll in silence. Escaping from near death was nothing new for Viola. Since she had arrived at Hogwarts all she had been doing was escaping death. There hadn't been a year at Hogwarts when someone hadn't tried to kill her, after all those attempts on her life, it was truly a miracle that she was still living. So you can say, having nearly been killed by a troll wasn't all that surprising for her. But the same could not be said for the young boys whom she had come to care for. She wouldn't be surprised if it was the first time they had experienced such a horrible event. She squeezed Theo's hand.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps broke the silence. They hadn't realized the racket they had made battle the troll. Of course, someone would have heard the crash and the troll's roars, or maybe even they had been summoned by those hysterical portraits the trio came across while they were running.

"Now they come." Draco muttered to himself.

A moment later, Professors McGonagall, Quirrell and Snape had come bursting into the room through the broken wall were the door used to be. One look at the fallen troll and Quirrell bent over its body to see if it was alive.

Professor McGonagall looked at the three Slytherins angrily. "What on earth were you thinking of?" Professor McGonagall began with cold fury in her voice, but the instant Draco saw Professor Snape, he threw himself at the tall man, clinging to his robes. Draco sobbed that the beast had nearly killed them and that it had almost swallowed Theo alive. Viola glanced at Theo, who seemed like he wanted to sob too but instead he simply grabbed Viola's hand.

Snape held Draco close and patted his back."It's alright now, it's over. Are you hurt?" Holding Draco out at arm's length to look for any injury. Draco sniffled and shook his head. "It was just so scary."

Viola was not surprise by the affection Snape was showing, she had known Snape cared for Draco, so much so that he had even given his life to protect the boy. Draco was the only person she had ever seen Snape to show genuine affection for. While he had protected Viola out of obligation or out of guilt, he had protected Draco because he loved the blond boy like his own son. She remembered how angry Snape was when she cursed Draco in her sixth year in girl's bathroom. He had been so angry, she was sure he would have used Avada Kedavra right there if only she had not been Lily Evans child. She turned her eyes from them and noticed Tom was looking her over so intently, almost as if he was looking into her soul, which made her nervous.

Was he angry at her for ruining his plan again? 'Of course, he is, you idiot.' She thought to herself, scowling in her mind. But no matter she would soon make up for it, she promised, by stealing the stone for him herself.

"Why aren't you in your dormitory?" Professor Snape asked in a stern voice while glaring at the trio.

It was Theo who answered. "We stayed behind in common room to do our homework. We were on our way to the Great Hall when we came across that thing. " He pointed to the troll still lying motionless on the stone floor.

"You didn't know there was a troll in dungeons?" Asked McGonagall. The trio shook their heads in unison.

Professor Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "You three go back to dormitory, the remaining feast will be in common room, and don't you dare wander off anywhere else. Straight back to the dormitory, understand?" He instructed with a glare, the trio again nodded their heads in unison. "And 20 points to Slytherins each for defeating a mountain troll by sheer luck." His lips turned upward a little at that. "You may go."

They hurried out of the room and didn't speak at all on their way. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else. Both boys were still shaken, Theo still had not let go of Viola's hand, and Draco walked so closely on Viola's left side that their shoulders brushed against one another as they walked. They had reached the blank wall of their common room. "Parselmouth," they said and entered.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent. As they entered Daphne, Pansy and Blaise appeared in front of them. They seem to be annoyed.

"Where were you three? We were looking for you lot." Daphne started questioning.

"You weren't in the feast or down here, do you know a troll has gotten into Hogwarts? And what happened to you three? You look like you have been dragged through hell." Blaise asked, as his eyes narrowed at them.

"Troll happened, it had nearly kill us all."

"What?" The other Slytherins questioned at the same time.

"And you are still amongst the living?"

"What does it look like?" Draco snapped.

"How did you all escape?"

Others started questioning them all at once. While Draco explained everything to the rest of the Slytherins, Viola and Theo hurried off to get some food. As they ate they listened as Draco puffed out his chest and told everyone how bravely he had fought with the troll and his amazing spell casting which made the troll fall. Theo and Viola shared an amused look, but did not correct Draco. Soon they forgot about the horrible event and chatted merrily together.

Viola Potter, the bane of his existence, had again thwarted his well formed plan. How She kept infuriating him. He scowled as he stared into the fireplace in his quarters. It would have been better if the troll had just killed the girl, a lot of his problems would have solved. But no, instead the troll himself had almost died while the Potter brat stood there unharmed, without even a single scratch.

The fates must hate him. He had no idea how Potter and her little friends had defeated a fully grown mountain troll. What powerful magic had Dumbledore being teaching her? He had to get rid of that brat soon. It also seemed Severus suspected him of seeking the stone, as he had expressed his desire to help him. However, he had refused Severus's offer and denied that he wanted the stone for himself. Tom wasn't sure about Severus's motives, all these years staying with Dumbledore may have change his loyalty. No, he couldn't take any risks. He sighed, he had to form a new plan.