Episode 10: "Hogwarts Halloween (Part 2)"
Hogwarts Great Hall
October 31st
Halloween Feast
"Trolls! In the dungeon! ...Thought you ought to know..."
Harry was on his feet before Quirrell had even finished fainting to the floor. He grabbed the rest of the rolls, stuffed them in his mouth and swallowed before grabbing the remains of one of the steaks on his plate and did the same, using his ki to help mulch the food that much faster and using his magic to burn the fuel into usable energy even quicker. Gohan had done the same, only he'd actually cleaned his plate rather than leave things behind like Harry did. Stupid Saiyan stomach!
Reaching out with his senses, he quickly detected not one, not two, but dozens of unfamiliar non-human life signs! Two were expected, having met the troll down in the dungeon on guard duty, but all these new ones... they felt different even from him!
'Must be a different species or sub-species,' Harry thought to himself as he looked to Gohan.
"I count forty-eight, maybe fifty," he said. Harry nodded, quickly sorting what his senses told him into individuals and discerning what and where.
"Let's go!" he said, turning to leave.
Everywhere else in the Great Hall, however, there was an uproar that was progressively getting louder with each passing moment. Just as Harry and Gohan turned to leave, Professor Dumbledore unleashed a series of very loud purple firecrackers from the end of his wand. The hall was quickly silenced after that. Except for Harry and Gohan that is, who did nothing more than glance back over their shoulders at the Headmaster even as they continued to make their way for the exit.
"Prefects," Professor Dumbledore rumbled, "lead your Houses back to their dormitories immediately! Professors..."
That stopped the Son brothers in their tracks, even as the Hall descended once more into a more controlled uproar. "Is he crazy, or just panicking like everybody else?" Gohan asked his brother.
"I'm hoping the latter more than the former, because if he is crazy, we've still got the rest of the year of him doing stupid things like this. Come on, no time to be subtle about this."
With that said, both of them ignited their ki flames and took to the air, reaching the large doors leading into the hall before anyone else could. People were surprised, but the Prefects were still trying to organize the Houses into evacuating the Hall, so nobody tried to stop them or even looked twice at them. That is until Harry and Gohan slammed both of the giant doors shut with a resounding crash. An uneasy silence, more absolute than what had followed after the Headmaster's firecrackers, fell across the student body. Then, one by one, those that had been trained by Harry in using ki and learned from Gohan himself gained determined expressions and began to step forward. Gohan turned on them and cowed them with a glare, but their own expressions remained.
"Lock the door behind us, and guard everybody else. Don't let anybody out until we've got them all." Harry ordered with a reluctant sigh, seeing all those that were prepared to follow them into danger. Then he opened just one of the doors and slipped through, Gohan following behind. The door closed automatically behind them.
Just before it shut this final time though, three boys from the crowd moved faster than any had expected and slipped through the closing crack. Before any others could try it, a few from the crowd jumped to the doors and with glows and small ki flames around them, lowered the bars to lock the doors.
Harry and Gohan sped off for the nearest 'troll' signature they could sense the moment they were through the doors. It was actually the blow back from their wake that slammed the doors shut rather than them intentionally closing them again. Therefore they didn't notice the three that slipped through, or how two made to follow them while the third planted himself in front of the doors, intending on protecting his fellow students no matter what.
As the brothers came closer to their target, they slowed down, taking the time to be sure of where they were and where they were going. When they reached the corridor the troll was in, they landed, keeping tense and their ki flames up, just in case. They couldn't see anything, but they could certainly smell it. Harry snorted, partly to rid the smell from his nostrils, partly in amusement as he shared, "I'm suddenly real glad I got those hygiene products for that Security Troll down there under Fluffy's trapdoor."
"Yeah," Gohan laughed, but it was cut short as they heard a guttural growl come from behind the only closed doorway in the corridor. "Oh man, the girls bathroom?"
There was a scream after the growl got louder. A very familiar scream!
"Hermione!" Gohan and Harry yelled, racing forward, propriety be damned.
The growl turned into a roar and the scream changed its tone. Before either of them could do anything more, the whole wall alongside the door exploded outwards! Harry and Gohan raised their shields, defending against the flying debris, and then just stood there, stunned. Idly, they noted two ki signatures come up behind them, which soon revealed themselves to be Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy when they rounded the corner. The two from the Hall stopped, even more stunned than the more experienced ki fighters who'd witnessed the explosion. Because the explosion wasn't the only thing coming out of the wall from the girl's bathroom. Another scream echoed out into the corridor and the troll's roar became more of a groan as the smelly gray-skinned beast came flying out of the hole in the wall, and hit quite painfully into the opposing wall, which was thankfully still whole and quite sturdy. The beast did not get back up.
Stepping almost gracefully through the hole she'd put there, Hermione came out of the bathroom, her hair straight and flowing like a model's, both fists clenched, but around her left was the yellow-golden glow of her ki, readying an energy attack, and around her right fist was the solid, steady, body-hugging blue glow of her mana, also readying an energy attack. Seeing the troll lying there, she glared down at it, her chest heaving with each breath. Suddenly, and without warning, the troll opened its eyes and roared, diving for the young witch.
Snarling at it disdainfully, Hermione brought her hands together and then mixed her mana and ki together! The end result was a solid blue sphere with a wild golden aura around it, and what could have been bubbles, green, inside where the two were actually somehow mixing and interacting. With a primal scream, she fired the mana/ki (ki/mana?) attack into the troll's face and what wasn't instantly vaporized, splattered against the wall in front of her, along with the remaining energy, leaving scorch marks all the way to the ceiling and as far down the hall as the eye could see.
"Don't you know it is rude to interrupt a lady when she is making herself presentable?" she said to the troll's very dead remains.
"Bloody hell," Ron couldn't stop himself from commenting in the background.
Hermione turned at the voice, as did Harry and Gohan. Draco rounded on Ron and commented in his usual derisive tone, "You really are a moron, aren't you Weasley? Even I know not to annoy somebody that can do something like that to a full grown mountain troll!"
Ron looked back and forth between Draco, Hermione and the remains of the troll, before focusing back on Hermione and gulping audibly. Harry laughed, letting out some of the tension that had built up. Turning to Hermione, he grinned and said, "Nice job, Hermione. I knew you would get it eventually. Mind me asking what let it click for you?"
"Yeah, uh," Ron's voice squeaked, "Uh, yeah, we didn't see you in class all afternoon, uh... sorry."
"I'm sorry, what was that, Ronald?" Hermione spoke, her voice hard.
"Uh... I'm... sorry? I am sorry for, for what I said earlier, Hermione. I'm just... sorry," his shoulders slouched as he hung his head.
"Hmph!" Hermione turned her nose up at him, arms crossed. That was when the boys noticed she wasn't in her school robes, but the outfit she usually trained in; spandex leotard, trainers, and an oversized t-sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off.
"Wait a minute here!" Harry exclaimed. "Hermione Granger skipped classes to spend the afternoon training?! Is the world coming to an end sooner that we thought?"
"Oh honestly!" Hermione rolled her eyes, but she was finally smiling.
"What was it you said to her, Ron?" Gohan asked. He was not smiling.
Blushing red, Ron refused to meet anyone's gaze.
"He basically accused me of not working hard enough," Hermione spoke, her gaze settled firmly on the red Weasley. "And since I accomplished my goal of the past two months in just a few hours, I can't say he was entirely wrong. As for the rest, I don't really remember. He was being an idiot and I don't listen to idiots."
Harry snorted and shot Ron a dirty look. "You are so lucky there are nearly fifty trolls still left wandering the castle right now, otherwise you would be joining Malfoy in the Hospital Wing this weekend. And yes, I'm aware that it is only Thursday."
"What are trolls doing in the school in the first place?" Hermione asked.
The boys all shrugged, but Gohan answered, "We're not sure. Professor Quirrell came running into the Hall just after the Feast got started, screaming about trolls in the dungeon."
"Well, needless to say, I think they're out of the dungeons by now," Hermione kicked the decimated body further away from her.
"Some of them are," Harry agreed. "But there are plenty more still down there. I can sense it."
"Harry, there are too many, scattered all over for the two of us alone," said Gohan.
"Yeah. We'll have to split up then. Since we're the only ones that can actually sense them accurately, and it is stupid to go with no backup, you take Malfoy and Weasley, yeah Ron—you!, down to the dungeons. Malfoy, you know the dungeons well enough to get around there?" Harry asked the blonde Slytherin.
"Of course!" said Draco.
"I'll take Hermione and we'll cover all the floors above ground floor. Between the two of us, we should be able to handle them, no problem."
"Why do I have to go with them? Why can't I go with you?" Ron whined.
The scathing looks he received from both Harry and Hermione were answer enough and he backed down, saying, "Never mind. I'm sorry. I'll just... go with Gohan then."
"That's probably a good idea," Gohan said, still frowning. "What are you two doing out of the Hall in the first place? We told you to stay behind and lock the doors."
"I wasn't about to let Harry do this alone! I don't abandon my friends!" Ron exclaimed.
"And I wasn't about to let Son, er either of you, take all the credit for defending the school. I'm just making sure Slytherin gets the points it deserves for this little... escapade," Draco replied.
"My, how noble both of you are," Hermione scoffed. "Let's go Harry. I don't think I was the only one late to the Feast."
"Right," Gohan turned to his two partners, as Harry acknowledged the girl with a nod. "Come on you two. Drain-o, what is the fastest way to the dungeons from here?"
"It's Draco! And I did not give you permission to use my first name! And... there's a secret passage down here that some of the Fifth Years use to get to Herbology quicker," he pointed and lead the way.
"Let's start from the Grand Staircase," Harry suggested as he and Hermione took to the air.
"Lead the way," she said, following along behind him.
Hogwarts Dungeons
Draco lead the other two through the dungeons, while Gohan focused on finding the trolls there. Ron kept quiet. It wasn't long before they found what they were looking for.
"Rrraaawwwrrr!" the troll came screaming around the corner, wooden club raised and already swinging down.
"Ahhh!" Draco and Ron both cried out, jumping back.
Gohan vanished in a blur of motion, and then once the troll's club smashed into the stone floor, chips and splinters flying everywhere, the boy reappeared just behind the monster's head, leg already in motion to kick the back of its skull. There was a sound of a heavy impact, and the next thing the two wizards knew, the eight-foot gray smelly creature was falling to the ground, unconscious.
They both stared, having stopped shouting only after it had fully collapsed, and then kept doing double-takes between the unconscious troll, and Gohan, the boy that knocked it unconscious with one blow!
"Blimey," Ron muttered, in awe.
Draco, on the other hand, bristled and turned his nose up, partly out of habit but mostly to try and keep the smell further away from it. "Well, I could have done that. It's just a stupid troll, after all. Not like it takes much cunning to outwit them," he snootily commented.
"Oh good," Gohan grinned at them. "For a bit there I was worried I'd have to take these things on all by myself. You can have the next one, and if you're as good as you say, we can probably split up, get this done faster."
"On the other hand, there is strength in numbers, and besides," Draco quickly scrambled to cover for his blundering, "I doubt Weasley here could handle a flobberworm, let alone a full grown mountain troll!"
"Oh yeah, we'll just see about that!" Ron growled at the pretentious blonde, fist clenched.
"Huh," Gohan grunted from further down the corridor. "Two of them. You guys want one each, or you want me to take that one and you two can team up on the other one?"
"Wait, what?" both young wizards exclaimed, but by that point the pair of trolls had noticed them and were already charging. After that, they cut down on the chatter, a bit too busy trying to survive the fight to one-up each other.
Gohan raced forward and slammed the one on the right with a flying kick, knocking it back down the corridor, but leaving the other one to keep charging forward. Draco and Ron shot panicked looks at each other and then the troll, which hadn't even noticed losing its battle companion, and they both screamed out loud and started to power up. Ron shoved everything he had and could gather into his body's muscles, causing them to bulk up slightly as his robes and hair fluttered from the energy coming off of him. Draco, as a counter point, gathered and focused his energy and then channeled it to only parts of his body and the rest of it to his hands in order to use for energy attacks. Both charged the troll at the same time, just as it'd begun swinging its weapon at them.
Ron dodged to the side and then flash stepped in order to flank the creature. Draco fired a single, concentrated ki blast and vaporized the tree branch club, and then another three rapid-fired to its hanging gut, chest and face right as Ron lashed out with a spinning kick to its side. The blasts exploded with a flash of light, concussive force and a whole lot of smoke, while the force behind Ron's kick slammed it into the wall of the corridor. Stunned, the troll bounced off the wall and fell to the floor.
"Yeah! We did it! Awesome!" Ron yelled, arms raised.
"What do you mean, 'we'?" Draco snarled, already powering down.
The smoke cleared, and the troll slowly lumbered to its feet, growling.
"Uh, we... didn't... beat it?" Ron squeaked.
Angered, the troll shook its bald head and roared at them.
"You made it angry!" Draco accused, desperately trying to gather and channel his power once again, as quickly as he could.
"Me?! You're the one that shot it in the face!" Ron screamed at the Slytherin, jumping to the ceiling and using it as a brief platform to bounce off of. Thankfully, he hadn't powered down.
"AHH!" Draco screamed as he began rapid-firing at the creature with both hands.
Now behind the troll, Ron started looking it over, trying to find some kind of weakness to take advantage of. It was covering itself with its massive arms in the face of Draco's wild attacks, its growls getting more intense, but at least it wasn't attacking them yet. Thinking back on Harry's lessons and advice, Ron tried to figure out what to do. Harry always said to go for the weak spots, places on the body that were not and could not be easily defended. Then strike hard, strike fast, and don't hold back without meaning to. That last part never made much sense, but the rest did.
Facing the troll's back, he had five options; the back of the knees, the kidneys, or the back of the neck. Seeing that even with it crouched down like it was, he couldn't begin to reach the back of the neck even with a running start, he decided to work his way up. Moving forward as fast as he could will himself to, he slid and kicked out at the back of the troll's left knee, then using his hands to help with the rotation, spun around on the floor to build up momentum before kicking out the back of the right knee. Knowing the thing was going down after that, having felt both give way, Ron flash-stepped from beneath it and further down the corridor.
Unfortunately, just because it was down did not mean it was out. It had fallen to the floor, but it was still conscious and Draco's attacks seemed to be annoying it more than hurting it.
"Grr! If Granger can do it, why can't I?!" Draco growled, abandoning the rapid-fire for shooting a straight and continuous energy beam at the thing. It actually blocked the beam with its right hand the same way anyone else might have tried to block a stream of water blasting at them.
"Bloody Slytherin still doesn't know how not to hold back," Ron grumbled, moving quickly, he focused all the power he had into punching the thing on the crown of its exposed head.
There was a dull thump at the moment of impact, and then Ron pulled his hand away and started waving it up and down while screaming in pain. Draco stopped firing, having gotten out of breath and was sweating now from using all that energy. The troll... uh, well the troll was now unconscious and snoring rather loudly. Apparently, while not as quick or effective as Gohan's method, Ron's punch to its head did managed to knock it out.
"Ow," Ron whimpered, still holding his bruised hand.
"Nice job guys," Gohan complimented them. He was at the end of the corridor, along with three more unconscious troll that had shown up alongside the first one he'd tackled. "Come on, there are more down here that we need to take care of. I'll let you guys take the next one though. I don't want to be too greedy like my dad and brother."
"Greedy? GREEDY?!" Draco yelled. "That thing is a bloody monster! I can't even make a scratch on it! It could have killed us! Me! It could have killed me!"
"Nice to know you care, Malfoy," Ron sarcastically remarked, wrapping up his injured hand with the cloth belt from his robe. It helped with the pain a little, and he hoped it might provide what little protection it could from further injury.
"Well, it was a good plan," Gohan said, already on the lookout for the next troll. "You distracted it while Ron went around and got behind it to knock it out. If trolls are really as dumb as you say, you might try it again, see if it will work."
"Heh," Ron quietly teased the blonde Slytherin as Gohan moved on ahead. "You're the distraction. Hahaha!"
"Shut up!" Draco snapped at him. "Next time you get to be the distraction. We can't go that way, it's a dead end. Supposedly the portrait at the end is supposed to be the end point for some secret passageway out of the school, but nobody knows the password for it."
"Good," Gohan grinned, cracking his knuckles. "There are about a dozen or so of the things down here. That should thin their ranks quite nicely, and with it being a dead end, they'll be trapped down there."
"Trapped?" both boys gulped nervously.
"I'll go ahead and scatter them, you two take any stragglers that get by me," he ordered and then raced down the dead end corridor. Draco and Ron both hoped that the phrase would not soon become a self-fulfilling prophecy for them. They followed along behind.
Hogwarts Upper Floors
Harry and Hermione did not find or come across another troll for the next two floors up from where the first one had been... taken care of. And because of the fun house nature of the corridors, it was rather difficult to get to where they sensed them, even when using the Grand Staircase to get to the requisite floors. Although to save time, they bypassed the stairs and just flew to the platforms.
"I did not expect this to take as long as it has," Harry admitted to her once they started along the Charms corridor on the third floor. "They're close, but none of the passages take us even close to them."
"I know," Hermione agreed. "I mean, that one stumbled into the girls bathroom while I was in there, so I expected them to be swarming everywhere else if they've actually made it out of the dungeons. Do you think that they're only attracted to where humans are?"
"Then there are probably some trying to get into the Great Hall, but we left the doors shut and locked. So long as nobody has done anything stupid and opened it to get everybody back to their dorms again, they should be fine. Let's try down... wait!"
Harry stopped and Hermione came up short. "What is it?" she asked.
Silent, he pointed around the corner. There was the sound of quick footsteps coming closer.
"Who is it?" Hermione whispered, once she recognized the sound. Harry just shook his head, frowning slightly.
Before she could ask again, the person came into view and hurried past them down the passage opposite. It was Snape! He crossed the open corridor, looking neither right nor left, focused on his goal, and was soon gone from view.
"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he in the Great Hall with the rest of them? I'm sure I would have sensed if they'd spread out..."
"I don't know," she admitted. "He's... Harry! He's heading for the forbidden corridor!"
"Yeah," he said, distracted, already slipping around to the passage Snape had come from. "I'm a bit more concerned with him getting out on his own, than him going to play with Fluffy."
"Well, yes, but... wait?" she stopped and stared at him. "Fluffy?"
"The dog's name," he answered, not stopping. "Cousin Hagrid raised him. When I introduced Gohan to him, I decided to make a family thing out of it and Hagrid told us all about him. Hey! I think I might have found one!"
"But... Professor Snape..." Hermione pointed, but Harry had already gone ahead. "Oh! Boys!"
With nothing else to do, she hurried after her friend, powering up with every step as she went, since they were planning on facing off against a whole lot of trolls, she knew she at least ought to be prepared for it. It took her a few twists and turns, but she soon caught up with him, right as he bumped into Professor Quirrell!
"Professor Quirrell!" she exclaimed, setting him on the floor while Harry was blushing, looking down at their Defense teacher, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "What are you doing here?"
"And how did you get out of the Great Hall?" Harry asked. "Did anybody else get out? It is dangerous out here. Oh, and what are you doing out here anyway? The Hall is far more defensible in a situation like this."
Having picked himself up off the floor, the stuttering Professor proceeded with dusting himself off while trying to answer. "Well, I-I-I, I was, I was... I was t-t-try-trying to-to-to..." he suddenly stopped talking altogether as his eyes went wide and making the same sound over and over again. "T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-tr-tr-tr-tr-tr-tro-tro-tro..."
"Yeah, trolls," Harry nodded. "I know. That's why it is so dangerous out here."
"Um, Harry?" Hermione tugged on his sleeve. "I think he means these trolls."
Harry glanced behind them and saw three mountain trolls, each bigger than the last one, two holding one tree root/branch club each, and the other wielding a stone axe.
"Hm," Harry acknowledged before turning back to the Professor. "You really should have stayed in the Great Hall, sir. I need you to stay here and please don't move. This shouldn't take us too long. Want to help Hermione?"
Smirking, her hands already beginning to glow as she gathered energy, she nodded and replied, "Of course. I'll take the two on the ends. You can take the ugly one in the middle there. And why are you so concerned about people getting out of the Great Hall all of a sudden?"
"If everyone that can't properly defend themselves is in one spot, that makes it easier for those that can defend them to defend them. If over a thousand people are running around creating moving targets for these things, that makes it harder to protect them. With them in the Great Hall, all we have to do is keep the trolls away from the Great Hall. Wow, these things have no patience, do they," he said as the lead troll apparently lost patience and swung its stone axe at him, forcing him to duck and dodge back quickly.
Thankfully, while trolls appeared to be plenty strong and tough, they were as slow as a slug on sedatives compared to the ki fighters, so it was easy to dodge. So long as they were paying attention that is. After all, even the fastest man alive can get distracted and surprised.
Hermione shot a ki and mana blast at each of the two trolls, knocking them back and further down the corridor. She then took to the air and actually ran along the ceiling to avoid Harry and his fight before blasting back down to take them on anew, ki and eldritch energy gathering around her hands as she went.
Harry kept ducking and dodging the troll's swings, making sure to keep in mind the position of himself, Professor Quirrell, and the troll at all times so that the bystander would not get in the path of the threat. After another dozen or so swings, finally, what Harry had been waiting for, the troll's breathing hitched a bit heavier and it was hefting its axe just a bit slower than initially. Grinning, he ducked under another wide swing one last time before moving in like a striking snake, and landed a solid kick to the side of the troll's right knee. There was an audible CRACK! in the corridor, indicating the bone had at the very least been dislocated, broken at the worst. The troll let out a mighty yell, and then, ignoring its injury, threw its axe right at Harry... only to have the weapon sail right through the after-image and embed itself quite deeply into the wall behind it.
The troll swung around, trying to find its prey, determined to unleash its fury on anything nearby, growls erupting from its throat like thunder from a storm. When it had spun all the way around with no sign of its target, it stopped and focused on the fight taking place further down the corridor.
Hermione may not have been the most obvious when it came to her training, but it was clear that the little she had done could be applied to a lot! She was able to use ki blasts of varying strengths, and maintain the beams for several minutes if necessary! She had also managed to make significant progress in understanding her magic that afternoon, enough that she could now draw on it to create mana attacks and even a stable sphere like what Harry had already demonstrated for her. She couldn't create spells with those spheres yet, couldn't even get them to change color and the shape had taken her all day to get right, but still it was progress.
The ki/mana attack she'd used against the first troll had been the fruitful conclusion to the days training. Not that she'd actually constructed the attack or fired it at anything as part of her training, no that part had been made up on the fly when faced with the troll attacking her in the girls bathroom. All she'd done in training was sit there with a ki ball in one hand, and a mana ball in the other and then tried to figure out ways of putting them together. It was like oil and water, didn't truly mix, but it made for a nice pre-step to getting fire-water, so to speak. All she was doing was surrounding a spark of ki with a mana ball and then surrounding that with extra ki to provide propulsion for the attack. Three explosions for the price of two.
The downside of course was the time it took her to gather the energy and prep the attack. With the way she'd put herself in the middle of the two trolls like this, she no longer had that time and it was all she could do to gather energy for standard ki and mana attacks!
That was all she'd been doing with them, running around, jumping and dodging, while firing blasts of golden light with her left hand and blue orbs shooting out of her right hand! Unfortunately, the most this seemed to be doing was knocking the beasts around for a bit, doing little real damage, let alone knocking them out. At this rate, she realized, she would run out of energy before either of them got so much as a bruise!
"Oi," a young voice called from right in front for the troll watching. Surprised, startled, it looked down at its feet, and saw Harry impatiently waiting there. "You going to make me wait all day?"
Growling, the troll lunged for him. He smirked and slammed a blindingly fast uppercut on it, snapping its head back like it was a bobble-head. He was not, however, prepared for when the troll, entirely on instinct, lashed out with its arms, backhanding him into the wall hard enough that he bounced off it.
"Ow," Harry shook his head and grinned savagely at the troll that had landed a hit on him. "So that's how you want to play it, huh?"
He flew forward, inches from the ground, flipping over to slam his feet into the thing's face just as it was getting back up. The force from the blow, while visually disproportionate, was apparently enough to knock the troll back into the opposing wall, but rather than bounce off it, a spider-web crack/crater formed at the point of impact and it stayed there, dazed.
"Maybe I should have spent more time training in how to fight," Hermione said to herself as she dodged one of the trolls wild punches, without attacking back in return. She needed all her remaining energy to keep moving ahead of the things, she could no longer afford firing constant low-level energy blasts at them.
Running around as fast as she could move, the trolls tried to attack in any way they could, mostly with their fists and feet as she'd already destroyed their clubs earlier. One tried a clothesline punch, she slid under it, almost running under the raised foot of the other one just as it was coming down. She narrowly rolled out of the way in time, just as it impacted with the floor. She used the knock-back from the blow to build up momentum in swinging around the other troll and then bouncing off the wall behind it to rocket back up to the ceiling, which she ricocheted off to land a kick against the first one's face, flipping off and kicking the other one too. The trolls roared in mounting anger and frustration and both tried to grab her at the same time. Landing in a three-point stance, she flashed away at the last possible instant, causing the trolls to slam into one another and fall down in a heap.
"On the other hand, there's something to brains over brawn after all," Hermione smirked, enjoying her handiwork.
"Aaarrraaagh!" Harry screamed, punching his troll across the jaw, having to jump up to do it. It took a couple of steps back before managing to catch itself and gave a scream of its own before retaliating with a left cross or two.
He managed to duck under the first one and side-step the next, but the follow-up right uppercut caught him in the chest, sending him flying into the ceiling, the wall, and the the floor. Getting to his knees, Harry tried to shake out the cobwebs that last hit had given him. The troll didn't feel like letting him, so it kicked him while he was still down, sending him flying into the stone wall right next to where Professor Quirrell was cowering.
Quirrell then watched as the boy, not even 12 years old, dug himself out of the wall and brush himself off. He then removed his school robes, which he'd been wearing the whole fight so far, and also unbutton and roll up the sleeves of his uniform shirt. From what he could see with his (twice over) experienced eye, the boy had nothing more severe than some bruising as far as injury went. He looked back at the five inch deep body crater etched into the wall, and then back at the troll that had put the boy there with a single kick, and finally back to the boy, who'd just finished rolling his sleeves up to just under his shoulders. The stuttering professor made a quick decision, after a few moments to argue it over with 'himself', to 'faint' and maybe observe the outcome from the relatively safe sidelines, rather than risk being discovered.
Harry ignored Professor Quirrell fainting in the corner, instead focusing on his quarry. Rolling his neck and shoulders to loosen up a bit, he bounced on his feet a couple times and by the third time had flash stepped forward to resume his fight with the great big ugly brute. The troll, despite having seen Harry get back up from its kick, was still surprised when his fist came into contact with its sternum with sufficient force to shatter even troll bones. It dropped to its knees, struggling to breathe, glaring hatefully at the small creature that had injured it so. Lashing out in spite of the pain, it missed the little human, who ducked under the sloppy attack with contemptuous ease. Growling, the troll launched itself forward from its knees, intending on smothering or just plain smashing him with its sheer bulk.
Harry flash-stepped back, avoiding most of the fast moving smelly creature, but he miscalculated where exactly it would end up. The thing wound up headbutting him back into the wall. Unfortunately that wasn't enough for the enraged troll and it kept trying to get back to its feet and resume the attack, though it was still struggling to get its breath back.
"Oh, that is it," Harry wiped down his front. "HAAAH!" he screamed, powering up, ki flame igniting around him as his uncovered muscles bulged noticeably.
At the same moment, just down the hall, Hermione was powering up an even stronger mana/ki attack. That it was flashier than the boy it was trying to body slam was the only reason it drew the troll's attention. What really got its attention, however, was when the big ball of light landed on its brethren, they vanished in an explosion of gore and ash. Feeling fear for the first time since entering the castle unopposed, the troll turned back to face Harry just as he blazed forward in a streak of light.
Harry hit the troll with an uppercut that actually sent it into the ceiling, the only reasoning for why it didn't go through was only magic had somehow reinforced said ceiling to the point it was impossible for the troll to go through it all the way. As it started to fall back down, Harry met it partway in mid-air with a kick that sent it into the opposing wall, but again it didn't go all the way through. By this time though, Harry had started to hold back a bit. He grabbed the troll by the skull, pulled it out of the stone wall, and then started spinning about while holding onto the skull. Soon he and the troll were spinning with a great deal of centrifugal force as Harry executed his father's signature grapple maneuver called the Dragon Throw. Screaming now, the troll was helpless to do anything at this point, the forces at work strong enough that it couldn't even pull its arms up to its head, let alone try and get out of the throw. Not until it was let go at any rate, which Harry finally did, sending the troll shooting down the corridor, just in time to collide with the dozen other trolls that had gathered after hearing the shouts of the rest of the tribe here. While they softened the blow, all that really did was keep it conscious long enough for it to realize it had been used to kill or injure its brethren before it passed out and would eventually die from swelling of the brain inside its abused skull.
"Oh good," Harry cheerfully shared with Hermione. "The plan worked. All the rest of them came running when they heard us fighting."
Hermione just sighed and tried not to snip. Instead she walked forward, and looked down at the spot where she'd seen Professor Quirrell faint, to find the only thing there was a scrap of purple cloth. Where had he disappeared to? And if he'd regained consciousness, why didn't he help with the trolls? He was supposed to be the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, wasn't he? Not to mention, how had he and Professor Snape gotten out of the Great Hall if Harry had locked it like he'd said? The whole thing was making her suspicious, and that made her... frustrated.
"Why don't you deal with those, Harry?" she asked, looking around now for any trace of the Professor. "I've already taken care of three and you've only taken out one. You are supposed to be the stronger of us, and I have spent the whole day training. I'll sit this one out and take a break. Have your fun."
Harry smiled and lowered himself to just a foot off the ground. He patted her head and said in a mothering voice, "That's OK. You go ahead and rest. Uncle Harry will take care of the big, ugly, smelly monsters."
Batting his hand away, she struggled to contain her laughter, saying, "Just go already!"
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" he snapped off a mocking salute and then reignited his ki flame and flashed down the corridor to meet the remaining trolls head on.
Great Hall
"What is the meaning of this, Mister Weasley?" Professor McGonagall demanded of her Fifth Year Prefect. He and all the other Gryffindor Prefects, to say nothing of the Prefects of the other Houses, were standing in front of the still barred doors to the Great Hall, and some of them had physically prevented the teachers from opening those doors.
"We are defending the students and the Great Hall, Professor," the newly appointed Prefect informed his Head of House, with no small amount of trepidation. He feared he would be losing his coveted Prefect Badge come the morrow, but until then, he had a job to do and he would do it with all of his ability.
"By preventing us from getting to safety?" she argued back with well thought out logic.
"By preventing the trolls outside from getting in," he replied, just as the doors were slammed from the outside with enough force to rattle them on their hinges.
"What...?" Professor McGonagall paled and back stepped, all logic gone from her mind.
"The sensors among us have said there are roughly between twenty and twenty-five mountain trolls out there, trying to get in. If we let the students out, some would be lost. So we've decided, all of us, to make our stand here and wait for Harry and Gohan to take out the threat." Percy explained their reasoning.
"Trolls did that?" the Transfiguration teacher gasped.
"Oh, that?" he said as the doors were slammed again, splintering but not breaking one of the beams keeping them closed. "No, that is Hufflepuff First Year, Justin Finch-Fletchley. He's out there to keep them from amassing a true attack on our defense."
"A First Year is out there with over twenty trolls?!" she screeched, her Scottish brogue breaking through her accent. "Mister Weasley, you will let me out of this Hall at once or I promise you, you will not enjoy the consequences!"
Percy gulped and looked back at all the others guarding the door with him. Penelope Clearwater, the Ravenclaw Prefect, was speaking with Professor Flitwick the same as Professor McGonagall was doing with him and apparently had come to the same conclusion. The door slammed one final time and then things got oddly quiet on the other side. Percy, Penelope, and the others all nodded at each other and the Gryffindor signalled while shouting out, "Open it up! Power up your strongest attacks to drive them back!" He then followed his own advice and took to the air, charging energy in both hands, preparing a ki beam.
Everyone else likewise prepared for facing off against a hoard of angry trolls the moment the doors would be opened up. Some took to the air and prepared energy attacks like Percy. Others that excelled at the more physical enhancements of ki stayed on the ground and prepared to have to use their fists and feet to beat them back. The adults in the crowd, also the only ones holding wands, prepared for the sight of a dead child, torn limb from limb by the crazed beasts. Professor Dumbledore forced himself to the front of the group, regardless of either of it all, holding his wand before him with clear intention of protecting those under his charge. The students, while powerful in their own right, let him, knowing their limitations.
"Mister Diggory, Miss Tonks, if you'd please open the doors," he commanded. Reluctantly, the two Hufflepuff Prefects, acknowledged the request and lifted the bars holding it closed and then pulled the doors open in a rush, letting in the god awful stench that had accumulated just outside them. Instinctively, everyone recoiled and covered their mouths and faces, squinting as their eyes teared up.
When he could finally stand to look, Dumbledore had fully prepared himself for the absolute worst, but he could honestly say that nothing could have prepared him for what actually was there waiting just outside the Great Hall. There, in the Foyer, amidst a pile of burned, broken, and bleeding troll corpses was Justin Finch-Fletchley, First Year Hufflepuff, one of Harry Son's closest friends, and average student who'd originally planned on going to Eton, it was said. He stood there, his school robes torn, bloody, burned and hanging off him as was the rest of his school uniform beneath them. His face and hands were dirty, smeared with troll blood and black streaks nobody wanted to guess at. Other than that, he did not appear to be injured in any way, quite the opposite as his eyes and expression told Dumbledore that he was feeling quite good, excited even.
Dumbledore had seen people, wizards, friends and enemies both, fall into the lust for battle during the many conflicts he'd been apart of during his long life. What he was seeing in young Justin's eyes was nothing so... simple. Rather, the boy's eyes and face, minus the filth that had accumulated there, reminded him of the many students that had passed through these halls, when they had been working hard and tirelessly to master the skills they endeavored to teach here at Hogwarts, and then when it finally sunk in and they performed it flawlessly for the first time. That is what Dumbledore saw on young Mister Finch-Fletchley's face there in the Foyer amidst a literal battlefield of troll casualties.
"Hey everybody!" he called, smiling, voice calm and even, though somewhat surprised. "What gives? Harry said to keep the doors shut till he got back. I was just keeping busy until he, Malfoy and Ron got back from getting Hermione."
Dumbledore didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't even begin to think of a valid reply.
Thankfully, he didn't have to as Professor Sprout stepped forward to address her wayward badger. "Mister Finch-Fletchley!" she called. "Where is Mister Son and the others now?"
Hogwarts Dungeons
"Why! Won't! It! GO! DOWN!" Draco screamed, unleashing blast after blast with every word.
"Because you keep bloody holding back on it!" Ron yelled back, dodging between the explosions of Draco's blasts and hitting every weak spot on the troll they were fighting that he could reach. So far their tally for the evening was three between the two of them, and three dozen for Gohan. This was, or would be their fourth. If they could actually take it down!
"I! AM! NOT! HOLDING! BACK!" Draco cried out, actually succeeding in pushing the beast back a step with each concussive blast.
"Well, then that's just sad," Ron commented as he jumped up from behind the troll and launched a flying spin kick at the base of the creature's neck. Its eyes comically bulged out briefly, but then rolled up in its head and it collapsed face forward, unconscious.
"OK," Gohan said, clapping his hands clean. "I think that was the last one down here. Let's go check on Harry and see if there are any others. If not, I think we can let everybody out of the Great Hall to go back to their dorms. The dungeons are clear anyway."
"What? But I thought you said there were another twenty or more!" Draco protested, out of breath from using his energy.
"Yeah, there were," Gohan shrugged. "You guys were fighting that one for like, five or six minutes I think. The rest sort of came running when they heard all the noise you were making, so I didn't have to go searching for them like before. You guys OK? You need a minute to rest?"
"Nah, we're good," Ron answered for both, coming down off his own high of being powered up for so long. He was reaching his limit, but he hadn't hit the wall like last time yet. Although he knew it was coming, he just hoped he could eat something before it happened. "Hope there's still some food left at the feast when we get there. Eh, Malfoy?" No answer, or rather no derisive retort, which was odd in and of itself. "Malfoy?"
The boys turned to find the blonde paler than usual and leaning up against the wall for support.
"Malfoy!" they both called, rushing to help him.
"G-get offfff, off of me, st-ssst-stu..." he couldn't talk.
"We need to get some food into him," Ron said, thinking it was what he'd been worried about for himself. It made sense to him, since Draco had been using energy attacks non-stop since this whole little adventure had begun.
"No, it's not that," Gohan said, concerned. "We need to get him to the Hospital Wing. This isn't energy loss, or even exhaustion. He's too cold, and his life force... Ron! Follow after us!"
Hurried, Gohan grabbed the Slytherin in a cradle-hold and then started flying through the dungeon corridors at an accelerated speed. Soon, despite the sharp corners that they were taking, Ron began falling behind, but he raced to at least keep them in sight. He still wasn't that good at sensing energy, unless it was a targeted attack aimed at him, but he trusted his instincts above whatever his brain told him, so even after he eventually lost sight of them, he somehow knew which turns they'd taken and soon enough, about thirty seconds after Draco and Gohan had emerged there, Ron came out at the entrance to the dungeons at the base of the Grand Staircase.
Sure that Gohan had the Draco situation well in hand, Ron instead turned and made his way to the Great Hall, where he was sure everyone else was waiting, or at least would be gathering. He was right in that at least, as he saw the doors open and the students and teachers piling out amidst a whole lot of dead or knocked out troll bodies. Not as surprising, Justin was standing in the middle of said bodies.
"Hey mate!" Ron called as he ran/flew/jumped to his friend. "I take it from the open doors that Harry cleared out all the ones up here?"
"Mister Weasley!" Professor McGonagall shouted, causing the young red haired boy to flinch. "Where on earth have you been? How is it you were out here with-with-with Mister Finch-Fletchley? Have you been injured? Where did all these trolls come from anyway? Professor Quirrell only mentioned the one!"
"Minerva," Professor Dumbledore interrupted with his calming influence of authority. "Give the boy a chance to speak. Mister Weasley?"
"Uh, yes sir?" Ron unconsciously snapped to attention when addressed by the Headmaster.
"Perhaps you might provide us with some answers?" the old wizard gestured to the bodies.
"Oh, right, I mean, yes sir," Ron stopped himself from rambling further and tried to remember his Head of House's questions and to answer them in the proper order. "I wasn't out here with Justin, he decided to stay behind and guard the door from the outside. I went after Harry and Gohan and we found Hermione, uh, Granger, sir. Then we split up, Harry and Hermione taking the upper floors, while me, Gohan and Malfoy, uh... Draco Malfoy, sir, went down to the dungeons to take care of the trolls there."
"Really," the Headmaster made some 'hm' noises while stroking his beard. Ron wasn't sure if it was a comment, a question, or a statement indicating he should continue. Then he remembered the part about them asking if he was hurt.
"Oh," Ron held up his wrapped hand, "I'm not hurt too bad, just my hand when I knocked out a troll. And I'm not sure where all of them came from. Harry and Gohan said there were nearly fifty already in the castle by the time we caught up with them. Where are they anyway?"
"How'd you knock it out?" Justin asked, trying to be quiet.
"Knock what out?" Ron shot him a confused look. When the Hufflepuff pointed at his hand, his eyes lit up. "Oh! I, uh, I hit it on the head. With my fist. Did manage to knock it out, but it hurt like a... uh, it really hurt."
"Yeah, always go for the eyes or the throat on these things. Or the back of the neck. Learned the hard way myself that the top part of their skulls might be mostly empty, but they're the hardest part on them." Justin commented, showing off his own injuries.
"How many did you bag?" he asked, smirking at the pile of bodies around them.
Ron grimaced and had to admit the Hufflepuff was pretty awesome for the feat he'd performed in defending the Great Hall that night. "Only four. But then I was working with Malfoy at the time, so it was shared bagging. Not that he'll admit it. Probably say he bagged all of'em while I cowered in the corner or something. Gohan did most of the heavy lifting. Took out what had to be half of them just by himself."
"You know... you could have lied and said you got at least one on your own," Justin said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, like he'd been gloating.
Ron shrugged. "Why bother? Just means I have to train harder either way. How did you take all these out yourself anyway?"
"Well I..." Justin started to say, but was interrupted.
"If I may interrupt," the Headmaster spoke. "Gentlemen, where would the young Mister Sons be, by any chance? I see neither Harry nor Gohan present here. And you are the only ones to have seen them last. For that matter, where is Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy?"
"Oh, Malfoy collapsed from using too much energy, so Gohan flew him up to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomphrey should take care of him, no problem," Ron shrugged off their concerns.
"Except, Mister Weasley," Professor McGonagall said, losing patience, "that Madam Pomphrey is down here with the rest of us because we've been locked in the Great Hall by Mister Finch-Fletchley!"
"Well, how did Professors Snape and Quirrell get out then?" Hermione asked as she floated down from the level above them, Harry right above her.
"Miss Granger!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed. "Where have you been? What's going on?"
"I'm sorry Professor," the young Raven apologized, "but it is a rather long story. We only just finished with the last of the mountain trolls upstairs. While dealing with them, we came across both Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell. Didn't they return here?"
"No, it would appear they have not," Professor Flitwick commented after looking around.
"Mister Son, what is the meaning of superseding our authority in such a manor?" Professor McGonagall demanded of the worn, bloody and bruised young man. The only part of him unmarked was his pants, but that was only because they were black and nobody could see the dirt and stains.
"No offence, Professor, or to you Headmaster," Harry said tiredly, rubbing the back of his neck, "but you were going to have all the students go through the castle to each of their dorms, am I correct in this assumption?"
"That is the standard procedure for if there is ever a threat to the school or student body," Professor Sprout spoke up.
"The threat in this case being a troll. In the dungeons," Harry continued.
"Yes," all the Professors agreed.
"Where the Slytherin dorms are," he added.
They each, even Dumbledore, opened their mouths to say something, but the seconds continued to pass and none of them were saying anything. Harry nodded and smiled patronizingly at them.
"Also, as you can see," he gestured to the killed and/or knocked out trolls around them still, "there was in fact more than just one single, solitary troll. And your plan was to, after putting the students in harms way, to split up and each of you search a different part of the dungeon, after the trolls had made their way up the Grand Staircase and were in fact all over the castle grounds? Question, how many of you can take on a fully grown mountain troll with no difficulty whatsoever?"
Ironically, the hands that were raised came from the students, and Professors Dumbledore, Flitwick and McGonagall only.
"How many of those that raised their hands, could handle fifty of those same trolls? Not necessarily all at once," he clarified.
His own hand, Hermione's, and Justin's hands were the only ones still in the air.
"Professors," Harry spoke, his tone serious and no longer light. "Take whatever points you want to. Hand out whatever punishments you need to. My actions, the actions of my brother and our friends... they were to save lives and protect the people of this school. I choose to believe, Headmaster, that you were acting out of fear and based on existing protocol and that was the reason for your choices. And that is perfectly OK. Everybody gets scared, fear is a part of life. I was afraid plenty when facing these trolls, albeit my fear was aimed at the fact that they had gotten into the Great Hall and were hurting people and I wasn't there to stop it."
"My reason for superseding your authority, Professor, was that you reacting out of fear would have gotten people killed, at the very least hurt," Harry turned away from them. "I chose to take action, not out of fear, but from experience and knowledge. I knew what was out there, how many there were, and where they were. And I know it is easier to protect one defensible location than it is to run around all over the place trying to protect multiple targets. Now."
Harry turned and faced Ron and asked him, "What is this I hear about Malfoy collapsing?"
"Not to worry, bro!" Gohan's voice came from behind them. "I picked up Madam Pomphrey on my way to the Hospital Wing. She's taking a look at him now. His energy seemed to be crashing, but it was different. Like... like his magic and his ki were fighting each other all of a sudden. So, did we get them all?"
"Yep," Harry answered. "Thanks in no small part to Justin here for watching the Great Hall."
"Aw guys, I-I wasn't exactly alone. The others were all on the inside, keeping the trolls from getting in behind me is all," Justin tried to downplay his role.
"Well," Professor Dumbledore said, breaking the mood somewhat. "All's well that ends well, I always say. Yes, perhaps there is truth in what you were saying, Mister Son, but best not to, er, not to dwell on the past, merely learn from it. Nevertheless, I do hope that in any future altercations such as these, that you might perhaps take the time to at least discuss any needed actions before taking them, with either myself or other nearby Professors."
"I would be happy to, Professor," Harry replied honestly, Gohan also nodding along and saying, "Right!"
"Just so long as all the Professors keep in mind that I personally knocked out or killed over two dozen mountain trolls this evening, and I wasn't even being serious about it," he continued smiling, but it was clear that he wasn't just blindly accepting Dumbledore's word to let the Professors handle him from that statement.
"Of course," Professor Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. "I sincerely doubt that any of us will forget that any time soon. And to ensure that, I believe some points need to be reallocated."
"N-now Albus, surely you can't mean to punish every student in the castle for the actions of a few!" Professor Sprout stepped forward, seeing as it had been one of her Hufflepuffs blocking the door and would undoubtedly receive some of the blame as she saw it.
"Punish? My dear Pomona, it is fully my intention to award ten points each to every student that acted to protect those in the Great Hall, whether that action was to merely sit and wait calmly, or to actually lock the door and prevent it from being opened unnecessarily. As for Mister Finch-Fletchley, Mister Weasley, Mister Malfoy, and Miss Granger. Fifty points each, for special service to the school. Mister Son, Mister Son, since you are absentia from the Point System, permit me to just say, thank you. Thank you both very much for what you have done and preventing what could have been a major disaster. Thank you."
"Uh," both boys were blushing now, scratching the back of their heads in embarrassment. "Your welcome," they both mumbled, eyes lowered.
"Now then, I believe we still have a feast to get back to!" he called to the amassed student body. Amidst the cheers, he leaned over and whispered to a still stunned McGonagall, "Minerva, please have the House Elves... clean all this up, would you? Thank you my dear."
With that said, Professor Dumbledore actually lead the way back into the Great Hall to resume their interrupted Halloween Feast. The man was an absolute party animal by reputation, and it was a reputation well deserved the students all discovered that evening.
END "Episode 10: Hogwarts Halloween(Part 2)"
AN: OK, its my own fault, for naming names and replying in an Author's Note in the first place, but honestly people! If you *want* a reply to the Reviews you leave me for this story, you need To Sign IN! Otherwise, I can't Reply! PMing works too! Promise! Also, some of the more recent, er... 'ideas' that have been leaving for me? Absolutely NOT related to *this* Story. Rather seems like a Fic-Request for a whole *Other* Story. Given the requests, I'll see what I can do in regards to a minor "Slayers" cross/tie-in. I've got the "Nanoha" tie-in already written, but in a later chapter. As for the requests regarding "styles" of magic... *shrug* It's Hogwarts. May as well assume that it is all part of the Education. In particular the "Ancient Runes", "Arithmancy", "Charms" and "History of Magic" portions. As far as Harry performing any "rituals" on himself...? We'll see, but definitely not in this "*First*" Story here. Maybe by the latter half of the Second or Third, which will cover the events of "The Chamber of Secrets" and "The Prisoner of Azkaban" respectively. Anyway...
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