The weeks passed by quickly for Victoria. The next thing she knew, Halloween time had rolled around. After telling the twins about her altercation with Draco, Fred and George made sure to prank him every chance that they got.
Victoria was walking out of class with Ron and Harry, they had just finished a Charms lesson, and Ron was complaining about what he usually seemed to complain about these days: Hermione Granger.
"She's a right nightmare!" He complained in a loud voice, not seeming to care who heard him. "It's no wonder that she doesn't have any friends!"
Hearing a sniffle, Victoria turned around just as Hermione pushed her way past the boys, and Victoria could see the tears going down the girl's cheeks.
"Ron, you are such an arse!" Victoria said, smacking him hard on the back of his head before she took off running after Hermione, her leather book bag hitting her thigh. "Hermione, wait!"
Hermione was a fast runner, and Victoria couldn't catch up to her until she had reached the girl's bathroom.
"Hermione?" Victoria said softly as she entered the bathroom.
"Leave me alone!" The bushy-haired girl snapped. "What do you want, anyway?! Do you want to tell me what a horror I am?! How I'm nothing but a know-it-all?! I heard it from your brother, I don't need to hear it from you as well!"
"Hermione, I'm not here to say any of that, I followed you to make sure that you were alright."
Hermione sniffled, wiping some of her tears away. "You are?"
"Of course, I would never say things like that. I know what it's like to be made fun of and mocked. If you have to be made fun of, I would rather it be because I was smart and not because my parents were Death Eaters."
"So you don't think that I'm a know-it-all then?"
"Hermione, you're a Muggle that has been thrown into a world full of magic, full of witches and wizards. I think that maybe you're just trying to learn as much as possible about this new world of yours. And maybe, you're also trying to prove something?"
Hermione blushed bashfully at that. "Am I really that open of a book?"
"Every student here is trying to prove something. Ron is trying to prove that he's just as good as his brothers, I'm trying to prove that I'm nothing like my parents, and Malfoy is trying to prove just how much of a prick he is."
Hermione couldn't help but laugh. "He seems to be doing a good job at that, doesn't he?"
"Oh most definitely. If he says anything to you, just ignore him. He thinks that he's better than anyone else, but he didn't make it onto the Quidditch team like Harry did."
"I heard that first years never get accepted onto the team."
"Harry must have real talent then. I've never been that great at Quidditch, myself."
"From everything that I've read, it seems like it can be very dangerous at times. And long too. I mean, if no one catches the Snitch, then the game would never end."
"Yet another reason why I will never play Quidditch." Victoria winced a bit. "Spending hours riding around on a broom? No thank you, I would much rather not have a sore bum."
Hermione laughed again. "I'm sorry for shouting at you."
"Don't worry about it, I understand why you did it. And don't worry, I made sure to hit Ron hard for those comments he made, and I'm going to make sure that he apologizes as well. It's not your fault that you study and he just lays about."
"I can't help it. It's probably why I don't have any friends."
"Look, I know what it's like, not having someone that you can count on, someone that you can call a friend. But, if you'd like...you and I could be friends."
"Really? Oh, I would love that Victoria-" Hermione stopped as what sounded like booming sounded through the hall. "What is that?"
"I don't know...stay here." Victoria peeked out of the door. "Oh my Merlin...it's a bloody troll."
"A what?"
"Ssh, we don't want it to hear us! It's a troll. I can't tell if it's a mountain troll or a cave troll though."
"Does that really matter?!"
"Of course it does, one is far more vicious then the other. It's coming this way, get back!"
The booming stopped right in front of the door as the girls scurried to the back of the room. Victoria had her wand out, motioning for Hermione not to make a sound.
With a roar, the troll ripped the door from its hinges, and Hermione let out a scream as the creature sent the door hurling at them.
"Perdere Ostium!" Victoria shouted, and a purple light came out of her wand, shattering the door into harmless splinters. With a roar of rage, the troll lumbered forward, grabbing Victoria before throwing her viciously. Victoria hit the wall hard, some of the tiles tumbling down. The girl crumbled to the ground, her world quickly sinking into darkness.
