Chapter 6 - In which there is a troll

The days began to pass quickly for Willow, Hermione and Sam. They had each settled into their daily routine and were now eagerly awaiting the Halloween feast. The morning of the feast the girls woke up to the smell of baked pumpkin wafting through the castle.

"Oh no," Sam moaned. "Not pumpkins."

Willow and Hermione were bustling around getting ready for breakfast while Sam was in bed complaining. "What's wrong with pumpkins?" Willow asked as she packed her school bag for the day.

"I don't like pumpkins," Sam replied as she finally pulled herself out of bed.

"But how can you not like pumpkins?" asked Hermione. "You're a witch. You drink pumpkin juice."

"I don't. I only drink water and orange juice. Sometimes Coke and lemonade."

"Weird."

Willow and Hermione picked up their bags and headed for the door. "Sam, be quick or we'll miss breakfast," Willow called to Sam in the bathroom. "We'll meet you in the common room."

By the time they reached the Great Hall Willow, Sam and Hermione only had time for a quick plate of eggs and toast before they left again to get to class. "What do we have?" asked Willow.

"Double Charms," Sam replied through a yawn.

"Ah. Let's go."

When Willow, Hermione and Sam arrived in Charms, tiny Professor Flitwick announced that he thought the class was ready to attempt the Levitation Charm and put the class into pairs. Willow and Sam were happy as they were together but they felt sorry for Hermione who had been forced to work with Ron Weasley. It was hard to tell which was angrier about the situation but Willow and Sam personally believed it to be Hermione.

"Now don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Willow and Sam were doing reasonably well. They had almost gotten their feathers to float when they heard Weasley shouting behind them, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

"You're saying it wrong," they heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Weasley snarled.

Sam and Willow turned to watch their friend. 'Stupid git,' Willow thought as Hermione rolled up her sleeves. 'Just because Hermione's right and you're wrong doesn't mean you have to act like an idiot.'

Hermione flicked her wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa." The feather hovered about four feet above their heads and Hermione grinned at Willow and Sam.

"Oh well done!" called Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it."

By the end of the class Willow and Sam were also able to levitate their feathers. As they pushed their way into the crowded hall Willow, Sam and Hermione heard Weasley talking to Potter. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes and she pushed past the boys and disappeared. "I think she heard you," commented Potter.

"So?" replied Weasley. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

Sam and Willow finally got over their shock at the orange-haired boy's words and anger set in. "How dare you?" Sam asked angrily through gritted teeth.

"How dare I what?" Weasley looked confused.

"Say Hermione has no friends." Willow was furious.

"But it's true."

"Yeah? Then what are we? Non-existent?"

"You'll leave Hermione alone if you know what's good for you," Sam threatened as she and Willow went to find Hermione.

They finally found her sitting at a sink in the girl's toilets on the first floor. When Sam and Willow walked in they saw that Hermione was hunched over and sniffling, obviously still crying. "Oh sweetie don't cry," Willow said as she sat down next to Hermione. Sam didn't say anything, simply sat down and pulled her friend into a hug.

"Hermione don't listen to that stupid idiot Weasley," Sam said quietly a few minutes later as Hermione's sobs began to slowly stop.

"Sam's right you know Mione," Willow chimed in.

"Well what did you expect? I'm right about everything," Sam joked. Hermione had stopped crying and she gave a slight smile at Sam's comment.

"Was that a smile?" Willow grinned.

"I think it was," replied Sam.

"Why Sam I do believe the girl is smiling."

Hermione began laughing at the silliness of her two friends. Willow and Sam joined in and the three girls decided to skip afternoon classes as a way to keep Hermione in her present cheery mood.

That night as the feast got closer Hermione said that she didn't want to go down so the three girls began searching through their bags and found some chocolate, lollies and drinks. They held their own mini feast and enjoyed every minute of it.

Hermione, Willow and Sam had finished eating, packed up and were ready to go when a huge troll walked into the girl's toilets. Their eyes widened and they stayed hidden from sight. As the troll moved towards the end of the toilets, Willow motioned towards the door and Sam and Hermione nodded their agreement.

They moved cautiously towards the door so as not to alert the troll of their presence in the room. Sam kept an eye on the troll as Hermione reached out to turn the doorknob. Hermione turned the handle but nothing happened. She turned it again, more frantically this time but the door still wouldn't open. "It's locked," Hermione whispered in alarm.

Sam glanced back at the troll and saw that it was staring at them. "Guys we have a problem," she said, not taking her eyes off the troll.

"What is it?" asked Willow.

"The troll knows we're here."

Hermione and Willow spun around and barely stopped themselves from screaming. "You two work out a way to knock the troll out," said Sam. "I'll distract it."

Sam ran around the troll and began yelling insults at it. Willow and Hermione took out their wands as the troll lumbered towards Sam. "Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione called out. The troll stopped momentarily then shook the spell off and continued towards Sam.

Willow noticed that the troll was swinging a club around. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she yelled. The club flew out of the troll's hand and hovered above its head.

"Drop it!" Sam screamed. Willow ended the spell. The troll looked up as the club hit it in the head. It swayed on its feet then fell to the ground unconscious. It was at that moment that Potter and Weasley burst in.

"Was there something you two wanted?" Willow asked coldly as all three girls glared at Potter and Weasley.

Before they had a chance to reply Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell came in. Quirrell saw the knocked out troll and quickly sat down. Snape took a look at the troll as McGonagall turned to the five Gryffindors.

"Why aren't the five of you in your common room?" McGonagall asked, fury in her voice.

"Well you see Professor," said Sam, "we skipped the feast because Hermione was upset so we were in here trying to cheer her up."

"Why was Miss Granger upset?" Snape interrupted.

"Ask them," Hermione said angrily as she glared at Potter and Weasley.

"Hey what did we do?" Weasley asked indignantly.

"What did you do? You called Hermione a nightmare and said she had no friends," Willow exclaimed.

"Five points from Gryffindor Weasley for name-calling and obviously lying," Snape said smoothly.

"If we could get back to the point here," McGonagall commented. "Please continue girls."

Willow picked up where Sam had left off. "So we were trying to comfort Hermione when this troll came in. It didn't notice us at first so we edged towards the door to find that we had been locked in. By this time the troll had noticed we were there."

"Then the troll started attacking us," Hermione continued, "so we had to defend ourselves as best we could. Sam distracted it while Willow and I cast spells at it. Eventually it got so dizzy that it knocked itself out. And that's when Potter and Weasley came in."

McGonagall turned to Potter and Weasley. "Do you two have a reason why you're in a girl's bathroom when you should be in the Gryffindor common room?"

They glanced at each other nervously then Potter said, "We knew that Hermione, Willow and Sam weren't at the feast so we came looking for them to warn them about the troll. We saw the troll come in here so we locked the door not realizing the girls were in here. Then we heard yelling and a loud thump so we came in here to," he hesitated and gulped, "save them."

McGonagall's expression darkened. "Ten points from both of you for disobeying orders and acting so foolish. Go back to the common room." They left and McGonagall turned to the girls. "What you three did was an incredible thing to manage as first years. You each receive twenty points. Now head up to the common room so you can have your feast."

Willow, Hermione and Sam walked into the common room and immediately spotted Potter and Weasley. They glared at the boys and grabbed some drinks. Sam, Willow and Hermione moved to the stairs and went up to their dormitory. The girls weren't in the mood for socializing.

They got ready for bed and hopped in. Sam picked up her book while Hermione and Willow both turned out their lights. They were all thinking the same thing but none wanted to voice the question. Finally Willow couldn't take it anymore and said, "How could a troll get into Hogwarts?"

Sam sighed and put down her book. She hadn't been able to concentrate on it anyway. Hermione turned her lamp back on and sat up. "I wouldn't have thought it was possible," she said. "From what I've read they're too stupid to have been able to get in by itself."

Sam frowned as she tried to process things in her mind. "So you think someone let it in?" Willow asked.

"I don't know. Maybe," replied Hermione.

Sam finally spoke. "But if someone did let the troll in then who was it? And why?"