Chapter 2: The Frost Giant

The Hall stood in shock as a giant was at the entrance of the Great Hall, no one dared to make a single move or even take a breath. Because of its mere size they were obviously dealing with a giant, but unlike the giants that were shown in library books with their grey skin and their humanoid features this one's skin was a light blue, like that of a corpse, its eyes looked bloodshot yet it had no pupils, and it had white long hair and a beard that reached its chest. While giants usually wore simple loincloths made of boar leather or animal skin, these ones were made of something resembling dragon skin, it had a chest plate armor that looked to be made of frozen silver and it handled a large wooden club.

"Odinson" it growled before he sniffed."I can smell you Odinson." Its gaze was boring into everyone's eyes, giving them the feeling of dread. There was an ear-piercing scream from Romilda Vane as the giant went to pick up Dennis Creevey, its attempt was quickly stopped by Neville who used the Fire Charm on the giant's fingers making it stop its attempt to approach the Gryffindor Second Year. He quickly made his way outside the giant's reach, who seemed completely unaffected by Neville's attack, it looked as if he was wondering the reason behind Neville's action.

There was a sudden movement and the doors to the Great Hall became shut, the House tables started barricading the entrance, everyone looked back to see Professor Dumbledore pointing his wand at the creature. "All students locate yourselves behind the Professors' table. The crowds of students were rapidly moving as the tables kept piling up at the entrance. Ron and Hermione along with the other prefects were helping the first and second year students get away from the entrance of the Great Hall. Many people were shoving and pushing each other desperate to get away from the seemingly dangerous giant. It seemed as though everyone was safe when there was a second scream, everyone looked at its origin and saw a first year Slytherin girl who was clutching at her ankle. At the same time the tables started slightly moving. Panic set in everyone's eyes yet it would've seemed an eternity before there was a sudden flash of red hair jumping across the Professors' table with clear intentions of going towards the small girl.

Ron was running with all his might ignoring the protests from both his teachers and relatives, a clear goal in mind: Get the girl safe. He didn't know what had taken over him, but he was as glad as he was terrified that it had. What were the professors thinking? Standing still when a monster was right outside ready to probably eat the poor girl? Nutters the whole lot of them. He reached the Slytherin girl faster than he'd thought. "Are you alright?" Ron asked, the small girl clenched her ankle tightly against her body, tears forming in her eyes, she shook her head.

BANG!

Another hit against the doors, more and more tables were quickly collapsing and the barricade was becoming weaker.

"I'm going to pick you up OK?" asked Ron who wanted nothing more than to get them both back to safety. She nodded, and Ron carefully picked her up in his arms, she wrapped her arms around Ron's neck. Her ankle, dangling by Ron's side, was bent weirdly. "What happened?" Ron asked as he trotted back to the Professors' table not too quickly as to keep her ankle from damaging even more.

"I was trying to head with the others, but someone stepped on my foot." the little girl said as she looked up at Ron with wide glassy eyes. "I fell and someone else ended up stepping on my ankle."

BANG!

"It's fine." Ron said. "Everything'll be fine." He finished praying to be right, when he arrived he was received with a thankful 3rd year Hufflepuff who was the brother of the small Slytherin, as well as scolding from his mother, Professor McGonagall and Hermione. "Nothing happened." Said Ron, irritated when Hermione proceeded to call him irresponsible.

"It doesn't matter what happened, but what could've! Ron, you might've-"

"Blimey, Hermione! Can you leave me be for two sec-"

BANG!

One final bang and the doors of the Great Hall erupted, the tables now turned to simple debris. The giant made its appearance and growled, out of his mouth what looked like white mist came out and the Great Hall was slowly freezing from the floor to the ceiling. The puddles of pumpkin juice and other drinks that lay forgotten were beginning to freeze, the food had gone hard as a stone and the windows became fogged.

Dumbledore pointed his wand towards the window behind the students. It quickly transfigured into a doorway. "Auror Tonks" spoke Dumbledore, his wand now pointed straight at the giant. "Get the students to safety. And make sure the right people come and help" She nodded as she made her way to take the first and second years outside when suddenly the giant, who was now in the middle of the Great Hall having made his way towards the group of people, punched the wall of the Great Hall with mighty force. The doorway that Dumbledore created came tumbling down confiding everyone inside. "It seems there's no other way, but to fight." spoke Dumbledore softly. "Auror Tonks, Mrs. Weasley, and Professor Sprout make sure the students remain safe." all three women nodded.

"Professor McGonagall, and Snape, I will be in need of your assistance. Arthur, you and any of your sons of age are welcome to help as well, those who are NOT still attending Hogwarts." added Dumbledore when he saw Fred and George's eager faces. "Auror Tonks, make sure that Alastor gets here as soon as possible, and tell him to bring as many allies as he can." as he finished speaking the giant seemed to grow tired of not being paid attention. It roared showing yellow tusks hidden behind his white beard, he seemed to inhale all of the air for far longer than any human could. He blew the air out and it'd seemed as a blizzard had come out of his mouth, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Charlie responded by a streak of fire, the two forces collided and the giant only seemed to grow angrier by their attempts to defend themselves.

Umbridge had even joined the fight, but every spell that had gone the giant's way seemed to be nothing to the humongous beast. She along with Flitwick, Bill, Arthur and Percy were attacking the giant's lower half spell after spell, yet nothing was happening to the giant, Tonks used Umbridge's focus on the giant to quickly send a Patronus to the Order. It stopped its relentless attack against the Headmaster and focused on the tiny figures that were attacking him from far below. It went to swing its massive club towards Umbridge, fortunately for her Arthur pushed her out of the way. She did not look pleased.

The giant snarled, it looked at its club and blew on it, covering it all in ice, it looked directly into the eyes of Dumbledore and struck the club to the ground sending sharp shards of ice in every direction. Tonks, Molly and Sprout managed to cast a shield charm strong enough to protect most of the students. Bill, Arthur and Umbridge too were protected, but Percy wasn't as quick. A large shard encrusted itself into his leg, making him scream out in pain. The giant's head turned in the direction of Percy's misfortune, something between a sneer and a smile upon its face. The grasp on his club only became tighter.

Dumbledore saw through his intentions, he along with Percy's family threw curse after curse. The giant simply raised his palm and used it as a shield, he blew onto Percy's lower body freezing him in place, he could only watch his family's desperate attempts as the giant went to swing at Percy. He tried using some type of heating spell, but it was already too late, he was moments away from his death. He closed his eyes and could only hope that his death was quick and painless. He expected pain, he expected nothingness, he didn't expect to be shoved out of the way. He opened his eyes to see the flash of his youngest brother pushing him out of harm's way, and letting himself be hurt by the monster. Everything was suddenly slow, Percy wanted nothing more than to go back in time and yell at Ron to stay in his place, to not to do anything stupid, to know that his older brother loved him very much, yet there he was looking as his baby brother, one of the siblings he had the responsibility of protecting, raised his arms trying to achieve some type of protection as the giant swung his club and struck him.

"NO!" bellowed Percy, his own throat almost breaking from the strain.

Ron went flying, fast as a snitch. A splatter of blood behind his flying body. He hit the wall creating a barrier of dust around him. No one could've survived that. Behind the dust people could see what was left of his broken body. Everyone stood in horror, silent tears escaped Hermione's eyes. Harry's face could only be described as horror struck. Ginny looked like she had been hit in the gut by a bludger. George had dropped to his knees, Fred almost following him, their pain seeming almost physical. Mrs. Weasley's pain was clear on her face as well as Mr. Weasley's. Bill and Charlie looked like they didn't believe what'd just happened, like this was one of the twins' pranks.

But, Percy, who always reprimanded Ron for his short temper. Percy, who was always trying to calm everybody down. Percy, who always managed to calm down Ginny from her tantrums and crying when she had been no more than 6 years old. Percy, who had just witnessed his baby brother die. His face looked dead, as if a dementor had just come down and snatched away all of the happiness in his world. He looked at the giant and saw as its face wore a smirk of satisfaction, almost pleasure. Suddenly, the void that was Percy's heart was filled by something else, rage, blind blood lusted rage. His face contorted into a mask of his heart. And all he saw was red.

"You Bastard!" he yelled as he threw some of the most dark curses he knew, even some that he couldn't fully cast, he didn't care that they wouldn't work, he didn't care that the giant might kill him now leaving his poor mother with two dead sons. The only thing he wanted was to hurt the monster that had taken his baby brother from him, but even that was a lie because the thing that he truly wanted above anything else was for Ron to be fine.

Percy had not been the only one who had seemingly lost control, Charlie, who everyone knew as the calmest Weasley sibling, looked as if he had just gone mad, he accompanied Percy on his goal to kill the giant. He was casting curses that were not even effective, the slug vomiting hex being one of them, which Charlie himself had taught Ron.

'Stop!' Charlie thought. 'Don't think about Ron! Focus on the fight! Focus on killing this monster! Don't focus on Ronnie!' But even as he thought the last part tears started trailing down his cheek.

Fred and George went next ignoring McGonagall's calls and brandishing their wands, their eyes bloodshot still shedding tears.

'All those pranks' thought Fred. 'Please forgive George, Ronnie. Please. It was all me. I'm sorry for turning your teddy bear into a spider'

'I love you Ronnie' thought George. 'Please don't leave us. We promise to stop pranking you. Please, for the love of Merlin, don't die'

Ginny had fallen to her knees, her head in her hands. She felt useless, inept, like that little girl who had been taken down to the Chamber of Secrets many years ago. Thinking about the Chamber had only brought even more tears to her eyes, but not because of the fear she had felt as she laid ready to die or of the guilt as she thought of every single student she had helped petrify. No, she felt even more miserable, because the first truly friendly face that she had seen outside that horrible face had been Ron's. Sure, Harry was the one that seemingly killed a bloody basilisk to stop Tom, yet it was Ron, who constantly told her how much of an annoying little sister she was, the one who waited outside looking miserable, covered in dusts and sewer waste, looking at her and Harry like they were the House Cup. It was Ron who had let her stay in his bed when she kept having nightmares, he was the one who made sure to wake her up and remind her that they were just that... nightmares.

What Harry was feeling couldn't even begin to be described, the anger, the sorrow, the misery. He once thought that Sirius was the only family he had left, the last trace of a life he yearned for so much. But losing Ron? It was like losing a brother, a part of himself, the joy, the happiness, the fun. All of it felt suddenly gone. His sorrow was suddenly replaced by wrath, rage, he could care less which one of them had taken over him. He tried to take his wand out of his robes, but as soon as it was outside the grasp on his wand relented. His wand flew straight into Snape's hand, who although looked irritated by Harry's action could not hide the sympathy from his eyes. Harry went to get his wand back from Snape only to be pulled back by Cedric.

"Let me go!" shouted Harry. "Now, Cedric! Or I swear to Merlin I'll-"

"You stupid boy!" yelled Snape. "Stay out of this!"

"I'm sorry, Harry." Cedric whispered, his own voice sounding remorseful like he wasn't in control of his own actions.

The Weasleys were unrelenting in their attack against the giant, yet none of the curses that they were throwing the giant's way seemed to even face it. It seemed amused by their attempts, not even Dumbledore seemed to be able to hurt the giant.

Then from behind the professors table, the sobbing of a person had quieted down. Hermione stood still looking at Ron's mangled body, his leg bent the other way, while blood was pouring down his face. She felt a strange emptiness, and regret. She brandished her wand and pointed it at the giant.

"Sagitta Oppugno" she shouted as a barrage of arrows was conjured out of the end of her wand. Unfortunately for the giant it chose that precise moment to look at Hermione, an arrow had shot right into its eyes making it yell out in pain. It took the arrow out with its fingers, a string of blood following its path. Its right eye, which was already bloodshot, had gone completely red, its iris remaining the only white part of his eyeball. It looked at Hermione in rage, soon after he blew on the ceiling of the Great Hall causing hail in the form of shards to fall down upon everybody. Experienced students and every adult managed to create themselves a shield big enough for themselves and others. The giant took its opportunity and grabbed Hermione by the waist entrapping her and her wand in its clutch.

"NO!" screamed Harry, he couldn't lose both Ron and Hermione. He rushed to take his wand away from Snape only to fall down on the ground. The giant had punched the floor making it seem as if a small earthquake had occurred inside the Great Hall, making everyone stumble on their feet. It looked at Hermione with its eyes, irritation clear on its face. Hermione was pounding on the giant's fingers trying to escape its grasp on her. The giant simply smirked at her weak attempts, it snarled before sniffing Hermione, causing a shiver to run down her spine. It licked its lips before raising Hermione in the air and opening his mouth. She shrieked as the giant started squeezing her to keep her from moving.

The ceiling of the Great Hall changed, the clouds growing bigger and darker as a dark grey color overtook them and lighting ran through the clouds like veins on an arm. Hermione came closer and closer to the giant's mouth, she was nearly by its yellow teeth when something hit the giant square on the face releasing Hermione from its grasp. Everyone watched confused as they saw someone leap into the air, catching Hermione and... Mjolnir? The eyes of everyone in the Great Hall widened as they saw Ron carrying Hermione with Mjolnir in his right hand.

Ron's body was bruised, yet it looked better than it did before. His leg although still clearly bruised, was no longer bent weirdly. The cut on the side of his head seemed to heal itself, and little lightning sparks seemed to be stitching up every other injury on his body. Hermione' eyes widened at the sight before her, Ron let her down gently on the ground yet she herself wasn't so sure if she could stand on her own.

"Are you alright?" asked Ron.

She could not even speak, just moments ago she thought she'd lost Ron and now he was standing there wielding a mythological hammer and being healed by electricity itself. What could she say?

'Oh yes, just brilliant.' she thought heatedly. 'I was just nearly eaten by a giant, because I thought you were dead.'

Ron turned his head looking at the giant, not waiting for Hermione's answer. The giant held its jaw in its hand, an expression which could only be described as psychotic upon its face. The giant roared at Ron, it stood up and broke into a run completely forgetting his club in the process. Ron responded by running straight into him, there were many protests, Mrs. Weasley yelled at Ron to come back to the barricade that the Professors' table was serving as. As they met Ron jumped and swung Mjolnir right into the giant's head. It seemed more prepared now, because instead of falling down it quickly recovered, grabbed Ron in the middle of air and threw him onto the ground.

Ron looked as if he had simply been hit with a normal punch, he threw Mjolnir right at the giant's stomach, who simply moved out of its way. The giant turned to look at Mjolnir now out of Ron's reach before looking back at Ron and being received with a punch to the nose. It stumbled with its ginormous feet and didn't look as Ron reached his hand out and summoned the hammer back into his grasp, hitting the back of the giant's head while doing so. It fell face first with a loud thud. It looked like it was struggling to reach its club, and Ron saw it. He raised Mjolnir determined to knock out the giant once and for all. When the doors of the Great Hall were banged open once more.

Mad-Eye Moody stood by the entrance of the Great Hall, wand in hand. Behind him were Remus Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt, the latter had been given the day off to report back to the Minister about the hammer's process. His arrival brought a slight air of relief for some of the students. Moody's magical eye immediately directed itself to Ron who was standing over the giant with a magical hammer in hand. But Ron had stopped to look up in Moody's direction momentarily giving the giant the opportunity to blow on Ron with a strong wind that sent him flying towards other students.

"Ron!" exclaimed Lupin, worried about his former student's wellbeing.

Ron simply stood up, cleaning the dust off himself, irritation clear on his face. "I'm getting tired of that git throwing me around like a bloody Quaffle!" he yelled. Lupin, and Shacklebolt looked awestruck. Moody's eyes seemed to widen before narrowing, looking at Ron with caution. The giant had time to stand up and pick the club back up, it broke into a full sprint once more. To which Ron responded by leaping with all his might, leaving a small crater where he took off, into the giant hitting him right in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "About time you stopped blowing." Ron said. "I was getting tired of your foul breath. You ever heard of a mint?" he finished asking between pants, the battle had taken its toll on Ron, yet a smirk was planted on his face. The giant stirred, it raised its head with the last of its energy and he sent Ron a murderous look that all but said 'this isn't over'.

Ron raised Mjolnir once more, and as if summoned by Ron's actions the lighting that ran through the clouds of the Great Hall struck Mjolnir. Ron's eyes glowed a bright blue, and his hair seemed to be unaffected by gravity, as he lowered Mjolnir with force, pointing it towards the giant as if he was wielding a wand. The lightning struck the giant's body and it convulsed on the ground, before dropping its head, its eyes rolling to the back of its head, leaving it unconscious.

A light appeared from the ceiling similar to the one that delivered Mjolnir to Hogwarts. And with a colorful flashing light, the giant's body, now bruised from its battle with Ron, disappeared without leaving a trace. The snow and ice that covered the walls and floor of the Great Hall started to melt, and students were left to wonder what the bloody hell happened.

The eyes that were once gazing at the giant's unconscious body, a simple empty space in the deserted hall curently, were now looking at Ron. His eyes had stopped glowing, his hair ha stopped floating, his body was clearly bruised and damaged, his eyelids looked too heavy for him. He dropped Mjolnir making small bang noise. He looked back into everyone's eyes. "Blimey... that was hard..." he said with a tired voice, before collapsing head first into the ground.

That's it for chapter 2. Sorry if I you waited I have a lot of IRL things going on.

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