Cassia's POV
Today was Halloween, and my last class of the day was Charms, with Professor Flitwick, and I'm just gonna say it: he was SO short! He had to stand on top of a stack of books just to see us. "One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation, the ability to make objects fly," he informed us, "Now, do you have your feathers?" Hermione and I held up ours. "Good," he said, "Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing. The swish and flick. Everyone?" We all did the wrist movement with him. "Good. Oh, and enunciate: Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go, then," he instructed.
Everyone tried to make their feathers fly, and they didn't seem to be having much luck.
"Wingardrium Leviosar," Ron recited. He started shaking his wand at the feather.
"No. Stop, stop, stop, stop," Hermione interrupted, stopping him. "You're going to take someone's eye out. Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's levi-o-sa, not leviosar."
"You do it then, if you're so clever. Go on, go on," Ron encouraged.
Hermione and I looked at each other and recited, "Wingardium Leviosa." We did the wrist movement - properly - as we said it, and both of our feathers rose up into the air.
"Oh, well done!" Flitwick praised us. "See here, everyone, Miss Granger and Miss Potter have done it! Splendid!"
"Wingard Leviosa!" Seamus recited, waving his wand the wrong way. He said the spell again and the feather exploded, burning him again. Some people - *cough* the Slytherins *cough* - laughed at his misfortune.
"I think we're going to need another feather over here, Professor," Harry said, not taking his eyes off the feather.
I walked with my brother, Ron, and Seamus as we left the classroom, heading back to Gryffindor Tower so we could start on our homework before dinner.
"It's levi-o-sa, not leviosar," Ron mocked Hermione. "She's a nightmare, honestly. No wonder she hasn't got any friends." Just then, Hermione rushed past us. I saw she had tears in her eyes as she walked.
"I think she heard you," Harry said to Ron.
I smacked Ron in the arm. "Ow! Cass, that's not nice!"
"Neither is you insulting Hermione!" I retaliated, before running after Hermione. "Hermione!" I called out, "Hermione, wait!" She headed into the girls' bathroom, and I immediately followed her inside. I could hear her sobs coming from the very last cubicle. She was definitely very hurt by what Ron had said. To say I was mad at him would be an understatement.
I knocked on the door. "'Mione? It's me, Cassia."
"Go away," Hermione sobbed.
Giving the door a gentle push, I saw it was unlocked, and I went inside. Hermione was sitting on the toilet, her face buried in her hands. I came closer to her and got down on my knees, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Mione, don't listen to Ron. He doesn't mean all that stuff he said about you," I assured her.
"No...no, he did. And he's right. My being a know-it-all is the reason why no one likes me," she whimpered.
"That's not true, Mione. Harry and I think you're a wonderful person," I said.
Hermione sniffled. "Really?" she asked, looking up at me with puffy, red eyes, and tear-stained cheeks.
"Really," I replied, giving her a hug. "Ron's just jealous of you..."
"You think so?" Hermione asked.
I shook my head. "I know so. No guy wants to get beat by a girl."
She giggled a little at that, wiping a tear from her eyes. But then she frowned again. "Cass, I feel bad. You're missing dinner because of me," she said.
"Who cares about that? You're my friend. Friends always come first," I told her, giving her another hug.
Harry's POV
The last time I saw either of them was when Ron was making fun of them, and then we saw Hermione speed past us, in tears. And then Cassia noticed and ran after her. Where? I can't even guess. And now that we're at dinner, I'm starting to get a little worried. I hope they're okay. "Where's Hermione and Cassia?" I asked Neville.
"Parvati Patil said she wouldn't come out of the girls' bathroom," Neville replied, whispering so no one else could hear him. "She said she's been in there all afternoon, crying. Cassia's in there, comforting her."
I nodded and went back to eating. I'd go check on them after dinner.
The doors to the Great Hall suddenly burst open.
"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!" Quirrell yelled as he ran in, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" He stopped halfway through. "Thought you ought to know..." He passed out.
We all started panicking and rushing to the door.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore yelled, making us all freeze in our tracks. "If everyone would please NOT panic," he said. "Now, prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."
We all hurried out, us Gryffindors following Percy.
"Gryffindors, keep up please, and stay alert!" Percy ordered.
"How could a troll get in?" I asked Ron.
"Not on its own. Trolls are really stupid. Probably people playing jokes," Ron replied. I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "What?"
"Hermione and Cassia- they don't know!" I whispered.
We headed to the girls' bathroom, but stopped and hid behind a column when we heard a groaning noise. Before I knew it, we saw a huge shadow walking across the hall in front of us.
"I think the troll's left the dungeon," Ron muttered.
My heart raced as we saw where it was going. "It's going to the girls' bathroom!" I whispered.
Ron and I looked at each other and raced after the troll. We got there just in time to see the troll swing its club at multiple cubicles.
Cassia's POV
"Come on, we'd better get to the Great Hall before Ron eats all the candy for dessert," I said.
Hermione laughed. "What is it with Ron always eating?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Beats me..."
We started to walk towards, but I stopped short when I saw a pair of huge feet. I looked up and saw a giant troll staring down at us.
Terrified, we both backed away as the troll slowly advanced closer to us. With our backs against the door of the cubicle, we had nowhere else to go, so we locked ourselves in the cubicle. That didn't work, though, because the troll swung its club at all the stalls. Hermione and I screamed and ducked down, covering our heads to protect ourselves from falling debris.
"Hermione, Cassia, move!" I heard Harry shout at us. I looked up from underneath the debris, and saw Harry and Ron had just come in. Hermione and I tried to crawl out from underneath the rubble, but the troll swung its club again, and more debris fell over us. While Hermione screamed "Help!" nonstop, I heard some clunking noises to my left, and I looked up to see Ron and Harry throwing rubble at the troll to distract it.
"Hey! Peabrain!" Ron called up to it. Hermione and I took the chance and crawled over to the sink. Unfortunately, the troll saw us and just nearly missed us with his club. It hit part of the sink, and a leak sprung.
"Help!" Hermione and I yelled at the same time.
Harry charged at the troll, grabbing onto its club. He was flung onto the troll's head and the troll shook him like a rag doll. Harry accidentally got his wand stuck up the thing's nose! I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Then he was being held by only one leg as the troll tried to nail him with the club. "Do something!" he shouted.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Anything!" Harry said, ducking again to avoid getting hit. "Hurry up!"
Ron took out his wand.
"Swish and flick!" Hermione called out.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron said.
The club slipped out of the troll's hand, floating in midair for a moment. Then it hit him right on the head. Harry was dropped to the floor as the troll staggered about before toppling to the bathroom floor.
Shaking, Hermione and I slowly came out from our hiding spot under the sink, advancing closer to Ron and Harry.
"Is it...dead?" Hermione asked.
"I don't think so. It's just knocked out," Harry reported. He pulled his wand out of the troll's nostril and we all made sick faces. "Ugh...troll bogies," Harry muttered, wiping his wand on his robes.
Quirrell, McGonagall, and Snape rushed into the bathroom. They looked absolutely shocked at the unconscious troll.
"Oh my goodness! E-Explain yourselves, both of you!" McGonagall cried, looking at Ron and Harry.
The two of them started to blabber about what had happened, but they couldn't get all the details out.
"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall," Hermione said, cutting them off.
We all looked at her in shock.
"Miss Granger?" McGonagall questioned.
"I went looking for the troll," Hermione lied, "I'd read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. Cassia tried to talk me out of it. She said I'd be killed if I went alone. Apparently, she was correct. If she, Harry and Ron hadn't come and found me...I'd probably be dead."
"Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do. I'd have expected much more rational behavior on your part. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor...for your serious lack of judgment," McGonagall scolded her as best as she could, though it was clearly hard for her, being she was still in shock over seeing the knocked-out troll. She looked at Harry and Ron. "As for you two gentlemen...I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first-year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll, and live to tell the tale. Five points...will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck." With that, she left, with Snape limping out behind her. That's odd. Why's he limping?
"P-Perhaps you ought to go. M-Might wake up," Quirrell stuttered. Somehow, I got the feeling that Quirrell wasn't who he seemed to be. But I shrugged it off as we left. I'm probably just imagining things.
