I own nothing, except my laptop, my Xbox, and my car…oh, and nothing to do with this story either. Except…um, some of the magic words, the secret passage, everything I claimed ownership of before, and Lumpy, the old house-elf. That having been said, enjoy!
Secrets of Hogwarts 2 Adventures in Hogsmeade Part 2
Peering down the main street, Harry could see a large shape coming out of the forest. It slowly resolved itself into many large shapes. Harry immediately identified them.
"Trolls!" he telepathically yelled to Ron. "There's a huge army of trolls coming!"
The villagers could see just as well who was coming. One of them stepped forward and raised his wand.
"MODISHRINKIUM!" he yelled. A jet of orange light shot from the tip of his wand straight to the nearest troll…and incredibly enough, ricocheted off, smacking into a nearby tree in the forest and shrinking it to the size of a shrub. All the villagers stared in shock before screaming and running every which way.
"How d'you suppose those trolls are doing that?" Ron asked from the ground.
"No idea, Lionheart. We've got to stop them!" Harry launched himself into the air, screeching out a loud battle cry as he headed for the troll army. The troll closest to him swung the large club he was holding. Harry dodged easily, heading straight for the troll's face with his claws extended. He was as surprised as anyone when he himself bounced off whatever protective shield the trolls had. Luckily, the troll had swung his club again, intending to crush Harry with it; when he fell, the club connected with the troll's nose and knocked him senseless (not that there was any sense to begin with, but you get the idea). Harry righted himself mid-fall and just managed to get out of the way of the collapsing troll.
"That shield repels everything, even physical attacks!" he said to Ron, who was recovering nicely as one of the villagers healed his wing. "Now what do we do?"
"I don't know, Beaky…wait for Dumbledore?" Harry would have smacked his forehead if doing so with his claws wouldn't slice the top of his head off.
"Of course…I forgot that he's coming! Wait, is he coming?" Harry wheeled around in the direction of Hogwarts and spied a small group of people moving towards Hogsmeade.
"Ok, so he is coming…with help, no less. Now how do I keep the trolls from attacking the town?"
"Levitation?" Ron asked. Harry had a small flashback to their first year and smiled.
"It's a good thought, Lionheart, but we can't implement it like this…and there's no saying that the spell won't bounce again." He thought and thought in despair as the trolls ranged closer. Finally, it hit him. I can't do this myself, he thought. I need someone a lot smarter than me…
"FEATHERS!" he yelled as well as one can yell telepathically.
"What is it Beaky?" Hermione asked from roughly a quarter-mile off.
"I need a way to stop an army of trolls that are magically shielded from everything, including physical attacks!" Hermione went silent for a while. Harry, rather uncharacteristically, panicked.
"QUICKLY! They're advancing on the village!"
"Don't rush me!" Hermione snapped. "Wait! I've got it!" She explained quickly to Harry exactly what to do.
"Absolutely brilliant, Feathers! Get here as soon as you can!" He turned and saw Ron right behind him.
"You heard her too, right Lionheart?" Harry asked. Ron simply nodded agreement.
"Good…we have to tell the villagers what to do. Quick!" The two immediately started telepathically broadcasting Hermione's plan to the villagers.
The trolls were coming closer, clubs raised in triumph. They knew nothing could stop them. Of course, they knew nothing at all really. Trolls are, in the wizarding world, the real-life equivalent of the expression "his brains are in his biceps": very strong and very stupid. They even laughed as well as creatures with no discernible language can laugh at the hastily assembled line of witches and wizards at the edge of town with their wands raised. Harry and Ron flew back and forth over the line, making sure every one of the villagers knew the spell they were about to cast.
"I hope you know what you're talking about, Feathers," he thought under his breath. Ron still picked up on it.
"When doesn't she, Beaky?" Harry gave the closest impression to grinning that he could with a beak.
"Good point, Lionheart…Villagers!" he broadcast to the villagers. "NOW!" The villagers opened their mouths at once.
"TROLLICUS MARRODERMIS ENCLOSIUM RADIUS!"
For a second, nothing happened. Then, the ground began to rumble. Large white bones rose in front of the trolls. And behind them. And, in fact, all around them. The trolls were trapped in a circle of bones. Out of nowhere, more bones sprang from one of the vertical bones, spreading around the circle horizontally. When they were done, strips of some sort of light-greenish fabric appeared at the intersections of the horizontal and vertical bones, tying them together.
This of course, perplexed the trolls. It should be noted, however, that trolls are usually perplexed by the sun rising each morning. It seemed like they decided all at once that they wouldn't be fenced in by some old bones. Their clubs came down hard on the cage they were in…and bounced off. The trolls managed to break one of the laws of nature at this point: the one stating that trolls can't get any more confused than they are on a regular basis. They just kept whacking away at their new cage and not causing a single bit of damage. Harry, Ron, and the villagers of Hogsmeade watched as they tried and tried.
"Since I know you can't resist bragging, Feathers, and I'm dying to know anyway…how did you know that would work?" Ron asked. Hermione rolled her eyes, which was a strange expression for an owl to make.
"Simple, Lionheart. The only creature that's as tough as an troll is another troll." The bones were troll's bones, tied together with troll skin. "Although ogre's bones may have had the same effect…they're tougher, after all…"
"Anyway" Ron interrupted as Hermione trailed off, "they're well restrained until we can figure out how to get them out of here, right?"
"Correct, Mr. Weasley," said a voice that made the Marauders jump. (No small feat, considering they were all airborne.) Harry and Ron turned away from the trapped trolls and saw Hermione, gazing down in surprise at the owner of the voice: Professor Dumbledore. He simply smiled up at them, apparently also using a Telepathy Charm.
"Quite an impressive idea, Miss Granger…oh, and you're right. Ogre's bones would have the same effect, as they are tougher than trolls." Hermione was probably smiling and blushing, but no one could tell, since she was an owl at the time.
"I think that the four of us ought to have a talk" Dumbledore continued. "I trust you can fly back to Hogwarts and transform back without being seen?" The Marauders nodded and took off for Hogwarts. They circled around to the far end of the castle, dropping down to the ground out of sight of everyone. Quickly enough, they transformed back to their human forms.
"Now" Harry said, rubbing his hands, "where is the closest passage into the castle?" "Straight ahead, if I remember correctly" Ron replied, pointing to one of the Great Hall's windows. "Just under that window."
"Right in one, Lionheart." Harry said. He pulled out his wand and counted five bricks down from the middle of the window. Tapping the brick, he said "Go Lions!"
The brick seemed to quiver slightly and slip out of position; then, as if it was a signal, all the bricks under the window jumped to one side, opening up the passage for the Marauders. They walked through and sat down quick as the floor sloped down and away.
The Marauders popped out in the kitchens, nearly flattening a couple of house-elves. "Harry Potter!" a cry rang out.
"Duck, Beaky" Ron and Hermione advised. Harry was about to comply when he was blindsided by a greenish missile with large brown eyes. Harry groaned very loudly.
"Hello, Dobby."
"Oh, Harry Potter! It is good to see you again, sir!" Dobby exclaimed. Harry winced as he got up, feeling his stomach and the back of his head where he had hit the floor.
"It's good to see you too, Dobby. I'm sorry we can't stay…" Harry trailed off and watched smiling as Ron immediately got all the food he could carry. He was suddenly struck by a thought.
"Dobby, who's the oldest elf here?" Dobby thought and then pointed.
"Him, sir! That's Lumpy! He was born here, sir! His family has served the teachers and students of Hogwarts since it was founded, sir!" Harry covered Hermione's mouth before she could rant.
"Not now, Feathers" he whispered to her. Hermione flushed but didn't say anything. Harry uncovered her mouth and walked over to Lumpy.
"Excuse me…Lumpy, is it?" he asked. The elf responded in a voice much like Dobby's, except not as loud and reedier.
"Indeed, sir! I is Lumpy! 'Tis a great honor to meet Harry Potter, sir!"
"Thank you, Lumpy…now, I need to know something. Were you here when my father and his friends had the idea of pulling a prank on Professor Dumbledore?" Lumpy jumped to his feet. His old, tired eyes seemed to blaze with anger.
"Indeed I was, sir! Never has Lumpy been so angry! Professor Dumbledore is the greatest wizard ever! No one should play tricks on him! I personally threw sir's father back to Gryffindor House, sir!" Harry smiled wide.
"That's perfect, Lumpy. I wonder…could you do a favor for me?" The house-elf seemed to be taken aback.
"Favor, sir? Like the favor you asked of Dobby? I won't let sir trick Professor Dumbledore again!" He raised his hands as if to use his magic.
"No, Lumpy!" Harry said quickly. "See, we have an appointment with Professor Dumbledore, and I was wondering if you could…throw us up to his study?"
"Are you out of your mind Beaky?" Ron and Hermione asked together (Hermione indignantly, Ron with a mouthful of pastry) Harry turned to them.
"Well, he'd get us up there quicker than we could go ourselves, wouldn't he?" Before they could argue, he turned back. "How about it, Lumpy?"
"For Professor Dumbledore, I will, sir!" Ron and Hermione's eyes widened in shock. That was the last thing Harry saw before landing very hard on the floor in front of the stone gargoyle that blocked the entrance to Dumbledore's study. He looked around and saw Hermione leaning against the wall for support, and Ron covered in a small layer of the food he had gotten from the house-elves.
"I do not believe that just happened" Ron said, wide-eyed. Hermione tutted and pulled out her wand, tapping Ron's clothes clean. Then she rounded on Harry in anger.
"Why did you do that, Beaky? Do you know where I'm going to have bruises because of that?" "Where?" Harry and Ron asked together. Hermione blushed slightly.
"It's not important…what's the password?" she said, focusing on the gargoyle. Ron and Harry stood up behind her.
"Sugar Quill?" Harry said. The gargoyle didn't move.
"Cockroach Cluster?" Ron suggested. Nothing.
"Um…maybe…Chocolate Frog?" Hermione said. Still nothing.
"I believe the password you're looking for is 'Fawkes'" Dumbledore said behind them. The Marauders and the gargoyle jumped. Dumbledore simply smiled his usual smile at them.
"Well, I can't keep using candies as my passwords, can I? People could simply keep reeling off candy names until they got lucky." He swept past them and up the stairs to his study. The Marauders simply followed him slowly, not knowing where the conversation would lead.
(A/N: This is where I've decided to stop for now. I'm still not sure whether or not they're going to be punished. Any ideas for future chapters are appreciated! Read and review!)