In this chapter, there's going to be a troll in the dungeon!
One can only hope that it can be stopped.
People could get hurt.
Chapter 6: Troll in the Dungeons
It was only a matter of time before Mary ended up in a Defence against the Dark Arts class.
According to Ron, there had been a lot of Defense of the Dark Art teachers over the years.
Mary thought that was odd, for every other position was stable.
Professor Quirrell was teaching.
"Why does the classroom smell like garlic?" asked the girl.
She was covering her nose.
"He's afraid of vampires." answered Hermione.
"Maybe I should tell him about the bats hanging out outside the castle." pointed out Mary.
You never knew. They might be bats in disguise.
Oh wait, it seemed Hedwig had scared them off.
Seemed she was feeling well, peckish.
Mary made sure to feed her though.
After Defense against the Dark Arts, she learned about the history of Hogwarts.
Apparently, each of the four houses has been named after one of the school's founders.
They were Godric Gryffindor, Helga Huffpuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin.
Each of the four houses represented the traits that each founder had as well.
So apparently, she would get along with Godric Gryffindor, but probably not Salazar Slytherin.
Not long after Mary arrived in Hogwarts, she found out it was going to be Halloween.
She let out a sigh.
"What's wrong?" asked Ron.
"Halloween was the night my mom and dad died." explained Mary.
"Ohh…" acknowledged the boy.
That made sense.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I can offer you some chocolate frogs." noted Ron.
Mary nodded.
Ironically enough, the two cards she got were dedicated more or less to the memory of her parents, because they were James and Lily Potter.
"I feel a lot better now." noted the girl.
Her parents might not be returning to her, but at least she had a memory to remember them by.
Coincidentally, Hermione was looking at a picture of her parents.
Neville found it peculiar.
"I don't get it. Shouldn't they be moving?" questioned the boy.
"They only move if they're magical." explained Hermione.
"Oh. To me they look like statues." remarked Neville.
"I personally found it fascinating that the pictures move when I first read a magical newspaper." noted Granger.
It almost made the pictures seem alive.
Mary noticed that the ghosts all seemed particularly excited around Halloween.
It didn't surprise her.
"You think I should show people what's left of my neck?" asked Nearly Headless Nick. It would be a good way to scare them.
"Not if they have full stomachs." answered Mary.
She wondered what kind of lunatic would do that to Nick. She felt sorry for the poor man…though he didn't seem to mind being a ghost.
Unfortunately, not all would be well that Halloween.
As they were all having their banquet, something bad happened.
Something which Professor Quirell explained.
"There's a troll in the dungeons!" exclaimed the professor.
However, Mary did not understand.
"Yeah, I know. His name is Draco Malfoy. Nobody born from Muggles likes him." remarked Mary.
She knew where the Slytherin hung out when they weren't in class.
"Not that kind of troll! A mountain troll!" bellowed Quirrell.
"Mountain…troll?" asked the girl.
"They're dangerous! We need to stay together!" exclaimed Ron.
The first-years nodded.
It seemed the dormitories were the safest place.
Likewise, the teachers would handle the situation.
"Wait…where's Hermione?" asked Mary.
"She's in the girl's restroom." explained Ron.
She was upset about getting a bad grade on a test.
McGonagall's test, to be precise.
Had her studying been in vain? Her memory was pretty good.
"We need to find her!" exclaimed the girl.
Our two heroes looked for the girl's restroom, only to discover the troll.
He was huge. And ugly. And he was also wearing a vest. Perhaps even trolls had a sense of modesty.
As it turned out, he was on his way to the girl's bathroom himself.
It was lucky that he did not notice them, for he was carrying a massive club. Being hit by that would hurt. A lot.
"Oh no! It's heading straight towards the girl's bathroom!" whispered Ron.
"What a pervert!" murmured Mary.
"Mary, Hermione's in there!" reminded the boy.
"You're right! She's in danger!" muttered the girl with glasses. She had let herself be momentarily distracted by the troll's apparent lust.
It looked as if they were going to have to try to be heroes…however foolish that might be.
After all, were they not part of Gryffindor?
Hermione decided to read the newspaper to see if it would cheer her up.
Unfortunately, it did not.
Seemed there had been a break-in at Gringotts.
Although, you didn't see that every day. Generally, people knew better than to rob the place. Why did they think they had that slogan?
Suddenly, the troll burst into the bathroom.
Hermione screamed.
The vicious monster then began to stomp towards her.
The Muggle-born curled into a ball.
"Hey, ugly! Over here!" exclaimed Mary.
The troll turned around.
He decided he would change targets.
The monster approached Mary with his club…
…only to suddenly be pelted with water.
Mary had caused the sink to splash him.
This irritated the troll, who smashed the sink in retaliation.
He then let out a roar.
"Got any more ideas?" asked Ron. It took more than that to stop a troll.
"Unfortunately, no I do-"
Mary then remembered the time that Petunia had scolded Dudley for trying to bring a stereo with him to the bathtub.
She then had an idea.
Casting another spell, she zapped the troll with electricity.
As the troll was dripping wet, this did not end well for him.
He shrieked as he was electrocuted.
However, he was not down for the count.
Now the troll was angry.
He prepared to swing his club at Mary for causing him pain.
Realizing that Mary and Ron were risking their lives to save her, she decided to return the favor.
Conveniently, there was a metal pipe nearby.
She threw it at the troll's head.
The mountain troll turned around to discover who had thrown that…
…only for Hermione to cast Lumos right into his eyes.
Blinded by the spell, the troll swung his club wildly…
…only to break the bathroom mirror, causing him to be pierced by several shards of glass.
The troll, now wounded, let out another roar.
In the process, he dropped his club.
Unfortunately, the blindness wore off.
It looked as if the troll was planning to finish the three of them.
He was simply furious.
Luckily, Ron remembered the Levitation Charm he learned in Flitwick's class.
Using the charm, he hit the troll with his own club. On his head.
He was knocked out cold.
"Did we just…take down a troll?" asked Mary.
"I guess teamwork really pays off." noted Ron.
"I suggest we head back to our dorms. Something tells me that's what the teachers would want us to do in a situation like this." said Hermione.
"Granger! Potter! Weasley! There you are!" exclaimed McGonagall.
"Um, hi?" asked Mary.
She noticed the troll lying on the floor, to her surprise.
"Did you do this?" questioned Minerva.
Mary nodded.
"Don't you know it's dangerous for first years to take on trolls? You could have all been hurt. We have an infirmary, but it's still not worth the risk." explained the head of Gryffindor.
"Hermione was in danger, so we worked together to take him down. Hermione included." explained Ron.
She didn't receive the memo about the troll.
"In that case, I suppose your actions were justified. Twenty points for each of you." answered McGonagall.
The three of them were excited to hear that. Though taking on the troll has been scary.
Mary knew that she was going to have to be brave if she wanted to defeat Voldemort though. So maybe a troll was good practice.
Understandably, her house was happy with her and her friends for taking down the troll.
They would be talking about that for a while.
They said it was a small wonder given that Mary Potter defeated You-Know-Who.
A mountain troll would be a cakewalk after that.
Hagrid congratulated Mary as well.
"Congratulations, Mary. If it weren't fer ye Hermione coulda ended up like Moanin' Myrtle." said Hagrid.
Of course, if he saw that the troll was endangering Mary, Hagrid would have beaten him with his own bare hands until he stopped moving.
"Who's Moaning Myrtle?" asked Mary.
She hadn't heard of her, so perhaps she wasn't in Gryffindor.
"I don't talk about her much. Her tale is a sad one." spoke the man.
"Oh." answered the girl.
"By the way, did ye hear about the attempted break in at Gringotts? I had ter pick up the Sorceror's Stone ter make sure it didn't end up in the wrong hands." noted Hagrid.
"I thought you said you'd have to be crazy to rob Gringotts." remarked Mary.
"This wizard or witch got surprisingly far. That's why we decided ter move it to Hogwarts. It'd be even safer tha' way." explained the half giant.
"I guess you're right. I suppose you're not going to tell me where you put it, are you." noted the girl.
"I'm afraid tha's classified information. But I can tell yeh I am helping with guarding it." answered the bearded man.
"By the way, what's the Sorcerer's Stone? It is a rock wizards use to enhance their powers?" asked Mary.
"Not exactly. If ye use the Sorceror's Stone, ye can basically live forever." noted Hagrid.
"Live forever? I'm not sure I would want that." noted the girl.
Being a ghost actually sounded exciting. Though she found Nearly-Headless Nick to be a tad disturbing.
She would wait until natural causes set in though. Her parents would want that. Though being reunited with them would be a good feeling.
"Well, there are some people tha' do. Tha's why Nicholas Flamel is careful to keep it safe. He's the holder of the stone." explained Hagrid.
"I see." noted Mary.
After talking to Hagrid, Mary decided to talk to Ron.
He was in Gryffindor Tower.
She was surprised that the portrait guarding the entrance to the tower could talk.
Though considering that she had seen ghosts, she shouldn't be so surprised.
"So what's your family like?" asked the girl.
"I have five brothers and one sister." explained Ron.
"Wow! That's one big family." remarked Mary.
"I know. Though my two brothers Fred and George might as well be the same person." spoke the boy.
"Are they a lot alike?" asked the girl.
"Sure are! They both like practical jokes." explained Ron.
Mary nodded.
"They've cost Gryffindor a lot of points though." admitted the boy.
"Alright class, turn your books over to page 20. I will not say so ag-"
Suddenly, Snape's cauldron exploded.
"What was that?!" exclaimed Severus.
Fred and George snickered.
At once, he knew who he was responsible.
He decided he was going to throw the books at them.
Or should he say the schoolbooks?
"1000 points from Gryffindor and ten trips to the forbidden forest!" bellowed Snape.
"1000 points from Gryffindor?! I seriously doubt our house won the House Cup that year." remarked Mary.
"Luckily, Dumbledore persuaded Snape to give them a much more reasonable punishment. But still, I don't think they should have made Snape angry." noted Ron.
Mary nodded.
"My other brothers are more serious though. My brother Bill works at Gringotts, my brother Charlie studies dragons, and my brother Percy Weasley works at the Ministry of Magic. They all have one thing in common though. They've all earned hundreds of points for Gryffindor." continued the boy.
"Wow! Your family is amazing!" exclaimed the girl.
"You flatter me." answered Ron.
Of course, it was ironic that Mary Lily Potter was complimenting him.
"Wait, you mentioned something about the Ministry of Magic?" asked Mary.
"They're our government." explained the Weasley.
"Oh." answered the girl.
It was good to know that somebody was keeping law and order in the world of wizards.
"I wish my foster parents told me my parents were wizards." explained Mary.
"Why didn't they?" asked Ron.
"My uncle thinks magic is evil, and my aunt didn't get on with my mother." answered the girl.
"Your uncle thinks magic is evil? I don't think you sold your soul to obtain magic. Did you?" asked the boy.
"Nope." answered Mary. Her parents wouldn't want that.
If she did, she probably would have horns on her scalp. Not just a lightning bolt scar on her forehead.
"Then I don't see what's the problem." answered Ron.
"If only they could be more understanding." nodded Mary.
"By the way, is Hermione feeling better about her paper?" asked the girl.
"Actually, there was a mix-up with the papers. Even wizards make mistakes." explained Ron.
"Oh really?" questioned Mary.
Ron nodded.
Hermione was ecstatic. Seemed she had aced the test after all. Her studying had paid off.
"I wonder who flunked the test then." answered Mary.
"I flunked the test? My parents are going to kill me!" exclaimed Draco.
"You're welcome to hang out with me when that happens." answered the Bloody Baron.
Although, he might not have meant that literally.
Neville found it to be mildly amusing.
After Halloween was over, Mary went to sleep in her dorm.
She actually had fun this Halloween, though chances are it would continue to remind her of her parents' death.
Christmas wouldn't though.
What would Christmas at Hogwarts be like?
She would have to wait and see.
It's a good thing that crisis has been resolved.
In the next chapter, flying class will begin.
The Quidditch season is coming up.
So now would be a good time to start practicing.
If you've read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, you'll probably know who