Can't think of anything to say here, so... Chapter 18: Halloween and Trolls

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Vanella walked over to the table, a frown in place. She plopped down next to Harry. "I know where Hermione went."

Harry's eye's widened. "Where?"

"Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She's been crying in there all afternoon."

"How did you hear this?"

"It's going around in the girl's dorms."

"Where's Moaning Myrtle's-"

Quirrell interrupted their peaceful Halloween feast.

He came in gasping and finally came to a halt in the middle of the Hall. "Troll! T-t-troll in the dungeons!" Then he fainted.

The Great Hall became bustling with activity again, whispers and shouts going around.

Dumbledore stood. "Prefects and Heads! Take your House members to your dorms until further notice! Teachers, with me!"

Dumbledore and the majority of the staff left the great hall, and the prefects began to make attempts at leading their Houses out of the Great Hall. The Head Boy and Head Girl were trying fruitlessly to help the prefects.

Harry shot Vanella a look, and Draco caught it. "You guys don't think you can take the troll, do you? You're better off just going to the dorms."

"No, Malfoy, that's not it."

Harry met eyes with Ron from across the room, and the look between the two boys was like an entire conversation.

'Hermione doesn't know about the troll. She could be in danger.'

'There's nothing we can do.'

'Go to the bathroom and get her safely to the dorms.'

Ron mentally obliged, and sneaked away from the Gryffindors.

"Hey, I don't know what you guys are planning, but don't be idiots." Malfoy again. He was following them.

Ron, Harry, and Vanella managed to get into an empty hallway; Vanella leading the two boys to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Malfoy never left their heels.

When they were in the hallway of Myrtle's bathroom, they heard a scream from the direction of the bathroom.

"Bloody hell!" Harry shouted.

Draco stopped and turned. "On second thought, I'm sure you guys can handle it." And he ran off, heading towards the Slytherin Common Room.

Harry, Vanella, and Ron entered Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, shocked by the sight inside.

A very large, very ugly troll had cornered a still-teary Hermione against a stall door.

All three had wands out in no time at all.

Ron: "Spectare nihil!"

The troll began to swing his club aimlessly, destroying most of the bathroom. Vanella gaped at him. "Oh, brilliant, Ron!" she said sarcastically. Harry and Vanella yelled spells simultaneously.

Harry: "Deligavi!"

Vanella: "Obdormio!"

The troll was bound up in ropes seconds before crashing to the floor, sleeping. Harry thought for a minute before finishing the troll with "Immotum!"

The troll became stiff under his ties, even while sleeping.

Ron ran over to Hermione, apologizing endlessly.

Hermione stood, brushed herself off and thanked the three of them, forgiving Ron afterwards.

Then the door banged open and three Professors walked in. The four students groaned. Of course, it just had to be those three Professors.

Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore stood, frowning at them from the doorway.

"Oh, hell," Harry offered.

"'Oh, hell' indeed, Mr. Potter," McGonagall started. "This will be even more detention for you, as I'm guessing that you were the ringleader. Now how did you get poor Ron and Hermione into this mess?"

"Of course your Gryffindors are innocent," muttered Vanella.

"Excuse me, Miss Incendie?"

Vanella's eyes widened. She feigned an innocent look. "Nothing, Professor."

"Minerva," Severus sang in his cold, sarcastic tone. "I believe that I am in control of the punishment of my Slytherins."

She scowled. "Well, humph."

Severus smirked. "Who took down the troll?"

Hermione pointed to the other three students. "They did, Professor. Ron cast a spell that made it destroy the bathroom, er... the Blindness spell, I think, then Harry cast the Binding spell, and Vanella cast the Sleeping spell, and Harry cast the Immobilize spell." She put her nose in the air. "Teamwork, they call it."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "50 points to Gryffindor, and 100 each for Vanella and Harry."

McGonagall's mouth formed a thin line, much to Severus's pleasure. "Why less for Gryffindor?"

"Because, Minerva," Severus explained in a sweet voice, "The damage done to the bathroom has subtracted points from Mr. Weasley's earnings."

McGonagall scowled.

"Careful, Minerva. You don't want wrinkles for that."

She scowled deeper.

Professor Dumbledore excused the students to their homerooms, assigning detention with their Heads of House for three days each. The Headmaster was not keen on letting the students listen to the arguments of the Slytherin and Gryffindor Heads of House.

"Silentium vox," the Headmaster mumbled, getting the two arguing adults with one charm.

They turned to him, mouths moving with no sound coming out.

"Ah," Albus started, "Now that I have your attention, what are we to do with this troll?"

Minerva and Severus yelled at him soundlessly.

Albus shrugged his shoulders and twinkled.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry and Vanella walked silently to the Slytherin common room.

"Well, that was... interesting," Harry said, plopping down in his seat in the corner.

Vanella nodded, slouching back in her chair.

Draco strutted over from across the room.

Harry turned to Vanella before he arrived and said, "You'll have to remind me to get him to teach me the Malfoy-Strut. So proud, stuck-up. I love it."

Vanella snorted with laughter.

Draco approached, a question in his eyes. "How'd it go with Granger, Harry?"

"She has a first name, Draco."

Draco shrugged. "Yea, I know. I'm just not on a first-name-basis with the Mudblood."

Harry clenched his teeth and stood. "Do not call her that, Malfoy," Harry growled.

Draco feigned terror and backed away, holding his hands in front of his body shaking them. "Oh, no, I don't think so. I'm terrified of your curses."

Harry's wand was out before Draco knew it. "Timui!"

Malfoy's eyes filled with real terror and he backed away.

Harry smirked. "You are now, aren't you?" Harry asked in a sweet tone. Innocently, almost.

Draco's eyes widened in true fear.

Harry pursed his lips and shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Finite incantem," he said, flicking his wand. "Better, Draco?"

Malfoy scowled at him, and, rather hesitantly, strutted up to the first year boys' dorm.

Harry shrugged while Vanella grinned.

Then Snape walked in. Harry noticed that he had a certain strut as well. Graceful, it made his robes billow about his ankles much like Harry's did; with a grin, Harry realized he had a strut, too.

"Potter, Incendie, and Malfoy! Tomorrow night is your detention with Filch. Your detentions with me will be made up on another time. For now, be ready to meet Filch in the entryway tomorrow evening. Ah, and Mr. Potter? Come with me."

Snape's announcement's reaction changed at his last sentence. It went from surprise to laughter.

With a roll of his eyes, Harry followed Snape out of the dorm.

"You know that conversation we had about Quidditch, Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"Well, Quidditch practice starts soon. Do you know what that means?"

Harry shook his head, no.

"It means," Snape said, with a glare, "That you need to stop getting detention. You cannot make practices with all of your detentions lined up, therefore you need to stop getting them. Either stop causing trouble or get caught less. Now run along. I'd hate for the Slytherins to miss you."

Harry nodded, a bit afraid of his tall, dark Potions Professor, no matter how much time he'd spent with the man. Then he retreated back into the Common Room.

All eyes followed him crossing the room. Before sitting, he announced, "I'm not in trouble, idiots!" He plopped heavily into the seat across from Vanella, then added, "Much."

She smiled. After catching her raised eyebrow, he told her what Severus told him, and retreated to bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The next night, Harry, Ron, Vanella, and Malfoy found themselves waiting for Filch in the Castle's large entrance hall.

Malfoy looked a bit uneasy. "We're going into the forest?"

Ron was leaning against the wall impatiently. "Yea, you have a problem with it, Rich-Boy?"

Malfoy scowled. "Was that supposed to be an insult? Because I love being rich, so it really isn't. Although a word for your money supply would be an insult." Malfoy blew on his nails and brushed them against his robes.

Harry rolled his eyes, exasperated. Vitesse hissed quietly from her position around his waist, muttering something about 'bloody rich kids,' causing a chuckle from Vanella.

Filch rounded the corner, Mrs. Norris on his heels. "Stay here sweetie, while I lead these students to their doom."

Malfoy shuddered, expelling a laugh from Harry.

Filch shot Harry a cold look, and began leading them outside the castle. "If it was up to me, you four would be hanging from your ankles in my office. Unfortunately, my methods are considering inhumane nowadays. Ridiculous. Whips and maces aren't inhumane! They're justice!"

After an eternity they reached Hagrid's hut. Filch knocked twice.

A prodigiously large man appeared in the open doorway.

"Ah," Filch said, "Rubeus. Wonderful to see you again."

"Hello, Argus." Hagrid looked over the four cowering kids behind Filch. "These are my helpers?"

Filch nodded his ugly head. "They are. Remember to torture them, big friend."

Hagrid nodded with a smile. "O' course, Argus."

Filch left and Hagrid faced the four students. "Ah wone really torture you all. Just sayin' tha' cause it makes 'im happy. Now. Ah know who y'all are, so let's start this. Incendie and Weasley, here will come with me. Malfoy and Potter-"Hagrid's eyes darted up to Harry's forehead for a mere millisecond "-will go with Fang. Questions?"

Malfoy let out some air. "At least we get Fang."

Hagrid smiled a lopsided smile. "Fang's a big coward."

Malfoy shuddered.

Harry looked at the large dog-resembling a bloodhound, only larger-and smiled. This would be torture for Malfoy. But Harry liked animals. Harry's smile morphed into a grin.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Note: Third update of the day. I'm proud. Anyway, Chapter 16 was boring and/or event-less, according to some, so I hope 17 and 18 were better. I should update tomorrow, or later tonight, although tonight is less likely because 'Tru Calling' is on, and I want to watch it. Ah, anyways, I'm sorry if Hagrid's accent isn't right; I'm not good at that. Honestly.

Alright, anyone who knows the name of the Slytherin Quidditch captain, send it to me and give yourself a cookie. I can't find it, and I need it. Moving on...

Translations:

"Spectare nihil": 'Vision of nothing'

"Deligavi": 'Bind, tie up' (accents on 'a' and second 'i')

"Obdormio": 'Fall asleep'

"Immotum": 'Motionless'

"Silentium vox": 'Silence voice'

"Timui": 'Be afraid, fear'

"Finite incantem": 'End incantation/spell'

Review answers (oh, how I love this):

starangel2106: Thanks! 5 more points, the count is...95, I think? Ah, anyways... I'm not sure it's possible to be a better procrastinator than me. I'm horrible, honestly. Anyway, (I say that a lot, don't I?) I don't think it matter's when you update as long as you're consistent... which I'm not. Like... I know some who update once a week, then there are others who update once every two weeks, and so on. But oh, well. Thank you again! I know, nothing much happened in that chapter, but I had to do something to get myself moving again. And I am! I'm very proud of myself now... Harry is going to have quite a time in the forest, that's for sure... and I'm sure he had fun cursing Malfoy into Jell-O also. Harry doesn't lead such a bad life, now does he? Ah, for the second review: thank you! Ah, but I believe I included this 5 points with my aforementioned count. (On purpose, I swear!) I love Dumbledore. He's hilarious. Socks! Who'd have thought? Moving on, I didn't say how much he sleeped after those little trips, but I bet it was a lot. I would have slept for two days after that. Anyway, thanks for the reviews!

Hakkai - Gojyo - Goku - Sanzo: Nah, he's not that much out of character, but he is a little. My guess is that this is how he would act to Harry if the boy was in Slytherin. Severus is, after all, somewhat (heh, somewhat. change that to wicked) prejudicial towards the House members. Oh, well. I like my Severus! Anyways, thanks for the review!

And, I'm sorry to say, that's it. I repeat, I don't know if the next update will be later tonight or tomorrow. But I'm trying. I need something to fill up my time; it does get boring during vacation, although I'm applying for a job at the local Dunkin' Donuts. Okay, my rambling is done. I'm off.