Harry's POV
I haven't known Ezra for very long, but it seemed like she cared strongly about Ron making fun of Hermione, and she wasn't at dinner with the rest of us. The last time I saw her was when she was running after Hermione, but it's been hours. I was starting to get a bit worried. "Where's Ezra or Hermione?" I asked Neville. "Parvati Patil said that Hermione wouldn't come out of the girls' bathroom. Said that she had been in there, all afternoon, crying. Ezra went to go try and make her feel better." He said. Ron looked at me and shrugged, and we went back to eating.
The Professor Quirrell suddenly burst through the doors and started yelling, "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" He stopped running and said, "Thought you ought to know…" before passing out. We all started panicking and made a break for the doors. "SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice rang out, making us stop and look at him. "If everyone would please not panic. Prefects, lead the students to their dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons." We followed Percy and hurried out. "Gryffindors, keep up please, and stay alert!" he commanded. I asked Ron, "How could a troll get in?" "Not on their own; trolls are really stupid. Probably people playing jokes." he said, walking back to follow Percy. I took him by the arm to the side before any could notice. "What?" "Hermione and Ezra – they don't know!" I whispered. We ran straight for the girls' bathroom to warn them. We stopped and hid behind a pillar when we saw a humungous shadow and heard a groaning noise. The shadow walked across the hall in front of us. "I think the troll's left the dungeon" Ron commented. I soon realized where it was headed and said, "It's going to the girls' bathroom!" We dashed to the girls' bathroom and saw it swing its club at the cubicles.
Ezra's POV
That…little, arrogant prick! Who does he think he is? Mockin' Hermione like that! Ugh! I thought on my way to Gryffindor tower to try and find Hermione. I passed by the girls' bathroom when I heard sniffling. I stood in front of the only stall that was locked and knocked. "Hermione, it's me, Ezra." "Leave me alone!" "…Girl, don't pay no mind to what Ron said. I bet he didn't really mean it." That got her to stop crying, but she still wouldn't come out. "How can you be sure?" "Because he looked a little bit guilty before I went lookin' for you. He probably was upset that you showed him up in class. Besides, name one guy that's okay with getting upstaged by a girl in anything." "Ron, guilty?" "I know, it sounds crazy. And if makes ya feel any better, I smacked him upside the head and called him a jagoff for good measure. Bet he learned his lesson then." That got her to laugh and finally come out. "Feel better?" "Yes, thank you Ezra." "No problem. It's what friends do." We were just about to leave, when we heard a loud thud and saw a pair of giant green feet in front of us. Our eyes traveled up to see a mean-lookin' troll staring at us. We rushed to hide in the stall Hermione used to cry in, but the troll swung its club and broke all of the stalls. Hermione and I screamed and ducked our heads to avoid getting hurt.
"Hermione, Ezra, move!" Harry shouted at us. Don't need to tell us twice! We crawled out from under the broken wood and tried to move out to the troll's line of vision so he wouldn't swing his club at us again. While we were moving, Ron and Harry were throwing broken pieces of wood at the troll to distract it. "Hey, peabrain!" Ron taunted as his piece hit the troll squarely on the head. Hermione almost made it when the troll spotted her and broke one of the sinks, almost hitting her. "HELP!" she yelled. I screamed when it set its sights on me and was about to swing down on me, when Harry ran up to the club and hung on for dear life until he landed on the troll's head. It tried to shake him off, but Harry somehow got his wand stuck up its nostril. Then he was held by the ankle and the troll tried to knock him out, but he ducked in time to avoid getting hit. "Do something!" he yelled. "But what?" Ron asked. "Anything! Hurry up!" Harry replied avoiding the club again. Ron took out his wand and Hermione hinted on the levitation wand movement, "Swish and flick!" "Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron chanted and the troll's club suddenly hung in midair. It then fell back down and bonked the troll on its head, dazing it. "Cool." "You did it, Ron!" I cheered. Harry then started to back away because the troll staggered a bit before falling to the floor, unconscious in front of the boys. We all hesitated until Hermione finally spoke up, "Is it…dead?" "No, I think it's just knocked out." Harry replied. Then there was the issue of Harry's wand up its nose, making us all grossed out. "Ugh! Troll bogies." He wiped his wand against his robes as best as he could.
Then Snape, McGonagall, and Quirrell ran into the bathroom, with stunned faces. McGonagall looked pale as she saw the troll. "Oh, my goodness! Explain yourself, both of you!" she said to the boys. Harry and Ron stuttered and couldn't coherently explain, so Hermione stepped in for all of us. "It's my fault, Professor McGonagall." "Miss Granger?" "I went looking for the troll. I read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. Ezra told me that it was a bad idea for me to face it alone. If she, Ron, and Harry hadn't found me…I'd probably be dead" she said, covering for us. "Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do, and I'm very disappointed in you. Five points will be taken from you, for serious lack of judgment" McGonagall scolded. "As for you two," looking at Ron and Harry, "I hope you realized how fortunate you are. Not many first years can take on a mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points…will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck." And with that, she turned and left with Snape following and us carefully walking around the troll. Quirrell followed us after saying, "Y-you ought to go; it m-might wake up."
We were dismissed to go back to our common room. As we walked down the hall, Harry decided to cut the tension, "Good of you to get us out of trouble like that." "Mind you, we did save her life, as well as Ezra's," Ron retorted. "Uh, Ron, I am grateful about that, but don't forget, we wouldn't have been in that mess if you hadn't insulted her in the first place" I shot back. "Well what are friends for?" he asked sarcastically, but there was a smile on his and Hermione's faces, indicating that it was all in the past.