J. owns Harry Potter.
A/N: The long awaited Halloween special! Enjoy, and there will be a longer Author note at the bottom. BTW this is 3000 words! Remember to follow/favourite and REVIEW! I like reviews :D
Chapter 10
Hadrian silently fumed, glaring at his empty plate. He had noticed more than a few odd looks in his direction, but at this point, he couldn't care less. His emerald eyes glowered at the porcelain, he could see his reflection quite clearly. He must have been hallucinating, for inside of his emerald irises he swore, he could make out a glint of icy blue.
Tom's blue.
He growled, frustrated. Insolent, stubborn Tom who had even infected his eyes with his contagious disease! He sniffed his nose, it was all Tom's fault. Tom had started the shouting match, he obliterated any thoughts that said otherwise. The blame clearly belonged to Tom!
'Didn't it?' Hadrian sighed. He admitted to himself that maybe, just maybe he was also a little accountable for the yawning chasm that seemed to stretch between him and Tom. But hell if he was the one to apologise first!
After all, it's not like he actually cared about what Tom thought. Tom's opinion wasn't that important.
Suddenly, Professor Quirrell with tremendous force, hurled the doors open, shaking Hadrian from his thoughts. "TROLL!" He hollered, causing lots of panic, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" Hadrian dully noted that this was the first time that the Professor had spoken without a stutter. Ironically, it had disappeared in what must have been the most terrifying situation in the Professor's scarce history of terrifying situations. Hadrian sighed, it wasn't even all that scary. The teachers would take care of it, he was sure. Hadrian turned away ignoring all the scrambling sheeple and went back to his brooding.
Neville assessed the situation, there was a troll in the dungeons. 'Okay, just don't go into the dungeons' he thought. Bang! Multi-coloured streamers erupted from Dumbledore's wand, every head in the Hall swivelled from the entrance of the Hall, towards his direction at the opposite end of the Hall, the Staff table.
"Attention students! Do not panic. The teachers will deal with this, I daresay, smelly problem." Dumbledore started chuckling at his own joke and a few Gryffindors smiled weakly.
"Ahem! Anyway, prefects will lead you back to your houses! DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COMMON ROOMS!" Dumbledore seemed to be staring at Harry Potter, a very reclusive Harry Potter who seemed distracted and unfocused.
Neville stared at the Headmaster thinking about his last sentence. "Wait a second! The Slytherin Common Rooms are IN THE DUNGEONS!" He yelled at Dumbledore who was shaken out of his stalker trance.
Immediately, every Slytherin, most Ravenclaws and even a few Hufflepuffs began shouting at the staff, the Gryffindors predictably, sniggered and remarked 'Who cares?'
'So much for the chivalrous,' Neville thought with a snort, 'so hypocritical.'
Dumbledore gave his best 'Listen-To-Me-Very-Carefully-Young-Man' look at young Harry. He internally smiled, grateful that he had picked up that muggle book on reverse phycology, it really worked! 'Hmmm, Harry didn't seem to be looking at him.'
Dumbledore was about to leave the Hall and hunt down the blasted beast that had interrupted his delicious dessert, when a Slytherin stopped him and started a riot! A riot! So what if the Slytherin Common Rooms were in the dungeons? That just meant there would be less Light opposition in the Wizarding World! All the better for him.
Unfortunately, due to all the effort he had put into his public image as a protector, he couldn't just order them to go there, people might actually protest. Anyways, being the independent monsters that they were, they would most likely defect and lead a rebellion against him!
Changing his orders he decided to make the Slytherins suffer for their attempted uprising. Let's see how defiant the brats are when they've spent the night in a freezing cold Hall without any warm blankets.
Trolls, grotesque monsters. With mouldy green skin, needle sharp claws, rotten teeth, a stench to match even the most silent of farts, generally, trolls were depicted as evil as well as primitive. Amazingly, this is not the case with all trolls. Despite what many wizards and witches have recorded about them, the truth is, trolls weren't inherently bad nor, were they entirely stupid.
Really, the only reason trolls are hostile is because wizards tended to intrude upon their homes, as well as attack without provocation. Wizards always like to fight and usually kill trolls because of their misguided perceptions of the generally passive creatures.
So, when a Belgium Break-Neck Troll, which is, surprisingly, one of the most docile species of troll, imposed over a frightened wizard (Definitely more passive compared to a Tussle-Tusk Troll). The troll decided to - since the wizard wasn't showing aggression towards him- give the wizard a chance to live. Non-attacking wizards was rare these days, and generally, these friendly wizards were good wizards who were caring and often undermined by their peers. Well, that or they were just too scared to move, but the troll didn't think about that, after all, he was an optimist.
Plan set in stone, the troll decided to jump start the paralysed wizard with a good old fashioned roar.
With one raw and animalistic sound, Ronald Weasley's life flashed before his eyes. His ingenious attention seeking plans (The-throw-a-tantrum-plan being the most fondly remembered), his brilliant inventions (The chocolate centipede, amongst others), his average friends who would despair over his painful doom and his annoying, good-for-nothing siblings who had gotten him into this situation in the first place.
All his adventures, swirled through his mind. His treasured memories bursting fourth and contrasting against each other.
The most prominent of them all was the befriending of Harry Potter.
Harry was his ticket to a life of fame, where people would look at him as more than just the youngest Weasley son. His chance to be popular for once, and actually have friends who would bring him along on all their crazy escapades instead of sidelining him. His window of opportunity. A way to stand out from his brothers, after all, if Harry, the great Harry Potter, whom his parents always raved on, and on about, became his friend then maybe, his mother would remember he wasn't Percy or Charlie. Maybe, his dad would come out of the 'muggle' shed and play some Quidditch with him. His whole family would hail him as their saviour and worship him as they should.
"ROAR!" The troll roared again.
Ron snapped out of his daze. Franticly, he fumbled around for his wand. Clutching it, he almost snapped the wood. Desperately, his arm rammed his wand in front of him in a defensive position. Right into the troll's left nostril. The beast recoiled and stumbled into the toilet stalls taking Ronald's wand with it. Feeling a burst of Gryffindor bravery, Ron yelled for help while running towards the door. His voice, thankfully, did not break.
With swiftness that would rival a leopard's, Ron dashed through the door just as the troll swung its claws at him.
Professor Snape was having an unhappy day. Tomorrow, the brats that he was forced to 'teach' would enter his class, having forgotten everything he had taught them and start disrupting his peace. He sighed, his blissful peace that had been mostly Potter-free.
He was just about to eat his simply scrumptious looking pudding when, the doors slammed open. His beady black orbs swivelled towards the culprit. Quirrell. The buffoon who Dumbledore had for some bloody reason chosen over HIM as the DADA Professor! HIM! Severus Snape who HAD EVERY qualification imaginable!
Well, there goes his desert, nothing would make him happy now. Except for Lily, but that was a simply ridiculous thought that was best left untouched and forgotten.
He stayed stoically silent as Dumbledore sentenced his Slytherins to a cold, cold doom. He didn't really care, lately, the Slytherin house had been lowered in status on the 'Respect Ladder' that Snape had in his mind. This was due to the influence of a certain insufferable Potter.
Oh, look, one of his new snakes had openly defied Dumbledore. Longbottom. 'Booooooring', Snape wanted some action. 'Argh', in the corner of the Hall was Harry –Disrespectful, Irritating, Pest- Potter. 'It would be quite fun to annoy him' A malicious voice in his head whispered. Snape smirked, indeed it would be rather amusing to watch him get a few more detentions for existing.
It would be certainly brighten up his day, especially one that would be ruined by the impending troll hunt that would most likely only end at midnight.
He looked around him, vibrant plants of all kinds burst forth from the dead sandy ground. An oasis. 'Interesting,' he mused, carefully picking his way through the vegetation he entered a clearing. In the middle was a sparkling clear pool, next to it was Blaise and Daphne.
Confused, Neville opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly, a black mist descended upon the oasis. Blanketing everything in a fog that was pitch black. Panicking, Neville tried to call out, only to have the mist enter his throat, choking him. The mist wrapped around him, slowly suffocating him.
Strangely, instead of worrying about himself, Neville was desperately thinking about his friends. 'This is certainly a first,' he acknowledged as the dark vapour clogged his lungs eventually killing him.
Neville woke with a strangled cry. He looked around him, it was still night, and the Hall was populated by sleeping Slytherins. He closed his eyes and steadied his erratic breathing. Suddenly, the doors of the Hall burst open. Neville's eyes fell out as he beheld the figure that slumped at the doorway.
Ron dashed past hallways, running for his life. As the troll lumbered after him with ferocious speed that seemed out of place on the clunky creature. Ron mindlessly moved, ignoring everything except for what was in front of him and the gaining troll.
As such, Ronald Weasley of eleven years, ran straight into a door. He cried out as his nose spurted blood, his heart beat erratically in his chest, begging to break free of his ribcage's confines. He pounded his fists on the doors but, with his depleted stamina his hits made no effect. Faced with and unmoveable mountain, Ron gave one last desperate scream. The troll lifted its claws prepared to crush the beaten wizard.
Just as he felt his knees give out, the doors slammed open, hitting his face and sending his body flying down the corridor, the troll's claws slamming into the floor where he had been kneeling.
Dumbledore stepped towards the troll, "Aha! Here's the beast who has been ravaging my school! I shall slay it where it stands!" He raised his wand and twirled it seemingly meaninglessly, "Aqusica!"
A blinding pure white light emitted from the tip of Dumbledore's wand, it split into five different beams of the same light, and it shot straight at the poor troll's head.
With a massive boom, the troll's unfortunate head was blasted into thousands of little pieces of gory flesh, wand shards and brains. The monster's now headless body fell to the ground with a great thud! Dumbledore examined the area for the student's whose screams he had heard, 'Hopefully it's a Slytherin' He thought, crossing his fingers.
But no! At the end of the hallway was Ronald Weasley, his face covered in blood and his mouth forming a crooked smile that was missing a few teeth.
"Dhar was aresome Hermasder!" (That was awesome Headmaster!), he shouted excitedly before passing out.
Dumbledore sighed, and dramatically cast a levitation charm on the unconscious Gryffindor. Leaving the corridor he muttered under his breath, "Filch is going to love this!"
Hadrian stared absolutely shocked, because there in front of him was a- 'No it couldn't be!'
'What happened to the bloody teachers!?' He wailed, 'Oh wait, maybe, Snape got eaten/killed…' Hadrian crossed his fingers, 'Please say he's dead. Please say-' His thoughts came to a screeching halt when the troll let out a roar.
"Oh, bother." He muttered to himself, as he whipped out his wand, with the incantation for the Blasting curse on his lips.
"Confringo!"
Neville watched frozen, as the troll simply deflected the spell with it's oh, so, very sharp claws. Harry cursed underneath his breath and lifted his wand to fire off another spell, when the troll flung itself at the unfortunate boy.
Neville's jaw dropped when Harry Potter, esteemed saviour of the Wizarding World was crushed under the weight of the troll's foot. Shocked into action, Neville grabbed his wand and sent an Expulso curse at the now fallen beast, "EXPULSO!" From his wand's tip a ball of blue light burst out and flew towards the troll.
Unfortunately, for Neville, Harry Potter chose that exact time to jump up from his resting place and re-enter the fight. The Expulso flew right into his unguarded back even as Neville shouted, "Watch out!" Harry flew right into the troll who tried once more to attack him with its monstrous claws.
Hadrian looked around dizzily, 'Where am I?' There was a jabbing pain in his right leg and his chest. He blearily opened his eyes to see putrid green skin in front of him. "GRRR!" the creature growled. 'Uh, oh.' Hadrian thought. He slowly lifted his head to find a mottled head glaring at him. He yelped, scrambling back and ignoring the excruciating pain that flared from his joints at the movement, only to press himself against the wall. 'Double bad'.
The troll lifted its claws over its head and prepared to launch them at the trapped wizard. Everything slowed down, Hadrian heard in the back of his head a voice yelling. He closed his eyes, feeling his heart beat faster and faster, as his death was fast approaching.
Suddenly, he felt his disabled body shoot upwards, confused, he opened his eyes to see his legs dangling high above the floor and the troll hitting the space where he had been lying.
Then, just as quickly he felt himself fall through the air, crashing into the floor. It was at that point that Hadrian could no longer think because he was being overwhelmed with agony. He promptly fell unconscious.
Blaise sighed in relief as he saw Potter fall to the ground mostly unharmed, with maybe a broken bone or two. His eyes turned to the other side of the Hall where he saw Daphne put down her wand and let her arm fall to her side. He saw her turn around and signal to the older Slytherin students who had been, just like the rest of the house, transfixed with the fight.
The older students began using the levitation charm to lift chairs, the long house tables and even the Headmaster's long throne. They then gathered the furniture together into a massive ball, and aimed it at the now angry troll.
Crash! Buried under the shrapnel and rubble was the dead troll, its body limp and lifeless. A cheer rang out from every student as they had all been terrified and helpless.
He looked hopelessly at Daphne to catch her eye, but she had already turned away and was now talking to Draco Malfoy. He turned back and walked up to Neville, "We should probably help him." Neville gestured towards Harry Potter.
"Yeah, sure. Let's go." Blaise said detachedly.
Blaise sprinted with Neville over to the dozing Potter who had fought with Gryffindor levels of bravery and stupidity, everyone knew that trolls were impervious to all but a few select spells. Such as, Fiendfyre, Aqusica, the Killing curse and depending on the level at which it was cast an Exploding curse can occasionally help. But then again, fighting a fully-fledged troll, one which looked like a Tussle-Tusk was a hard job.
He reached down and put two fingers on Potter's neck, "He's alive, but we should probably get him to Madame Pomfrey." He told Neville. Together they supported Harry whose body acted like ragdoll, they shuffled out of the Hall and towards the Infirmary.
Professor Snape looked around the corridor three, but it was completely empty, 'Hmm, I could have sworn I heard a noise around here.' Just in case, Snape decided to check the Cerberus. Because it was dark, his unseeing eyes skimmed over two similar sets of footprints that were outside the door, one pair leisurely entering the room and the other a hasty jog out of the room.
Opening the heavy door with a simple unlocking spell, Snape cautiously entered the room. As quietly as he could, he observed the room, the big mutt was snoring in the corner of the room, and the trapdoor that led to the Devil's Snare was wide open.
Eyes widening, Snape hurriedly scrambled towards the trapdoor, all wariness forgotten in the face of the crisis before him. Snape drew his wand, deciding to cast a warning signal to Dumbledore. In his haste, Snape forgot about the massive beast lounging near the trapdoor, he realised too late.
Bang! A red light streamed from his wand and disappeared into a portal. Unfortunately, the noise had woken the beast.
Dumbledore was about to leave the Infirmary when the door burst open. Two Slytherin students and Harry entered. Harry was supported by the Slytherins, he seemed to be bleeding heavily. "What happened?" Madam Pomfrey shrieked always the caring nurse. Dumbledore was about to use Legillimency on the kids but he remembered that they probably knew Occlumency and would use it against him. That would be bad for his reputation.
Instead, he calmly waited for an explanation.
"So, essentially, the troll attacked the Hall and Potter fought the blasted beast whilst, everyone else formulated a counter strike." The chubby one summarised, 'Longbottom? Oh, yeah, that disappointment.'
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, "I have already defeated the troll." His sentence loaded with accusation.
Neville furrowed his eyebrows, ignoring Dumbledore's suspicion, "Well, there was definitely a troll, a Tussle-Tusk I would say. Perhaps, there were two?" He suggested missing the disbelieving stare of his Headmaster, something that Blaise had easily seen.
Suddenly, a mini-explosion erupted in front of Dumbledore's face, "CORRIDOR THREE! THERE'S BEEN A BREACH, HURRY!" Dumbledore jumped into action, surprising for someone so old. He sprinted away, towards the aforementioned corridor three.
Crimson eyes stared at him with tremendous hunger. Snape cursed. "Stupid oaf, couldn't even feed the mutt?" The Cerberus licked its lips in anticipation and stood up from its resting position. Snape bent his knees, preparing to dive into the Devil's Snare.
Lighting quick, he jumped towards the trapdoor, but the Cerberus was just as fast. Its jaws snapped shut on Snape's right leg. Snape let loose a scream of torment. The Cerberus let go of his leg, tossing Snape into the air. Its gleaming teeth were illuminated by the ceiling light.
Just as Snape was about to fall into his inevitable death, the doors slammed open admitting the Vanquisher of the Dark lord Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore! Distracted, the Cerberus shifted its head to face the out of breath Headmaster.
Dumbledore moved swiftly, still extravagantly waving his wand, he used a Summoning Charm on the still screaming bloody Potions master. Zoom! Snape landed in Dumbledore's arms, bridal style. The Cerberus charged at Dumbledore following its missing prey. But by the time the Cerberus had made its way across the room, the teachers were missing. The door shut once more.
A/N: So, I changed the chapter titles (Except for the Artemis Fowl joke, but I like it so who cares?)... Okay, okay, fine, sorry, but Ron's not dying just yet... Hmmm, I wonder... What was that voice Hadrian heard when the troll attacked? Well, did y'all like the action? I have to admit most of this was pretty rushed :D Most of the spells except for Aqusica and the 'warning' spell are real. And I sort of gave Dumbledore a fighting 'style' he's very show-offy. Anyway, as per usual, if you like what you see and want more then rate, like and subscribe... Oh, wait.