A/N:Hi! I'm sorry for taking so long with an update. It's been a bit of a hectic couple of months for me... But I'm finally back and I very much intend to see this story through (rather sooner than later, I hope).

I had some questions about this fiction from several people about whether this fiction would be a Dremione fic, and I got the answer for you ― It's not. In terms of romantic pairings, this fiction won't diverge that much from the canon. So, for those of you who prefer Dremione, I'm sorry to disappoint you :( But I intend to make them great friends, so I hope you enjoy their journey.

With that said, here's the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Chapter 05

Monsters in Hogwarts

A month may have been enough time to get used to classes, but it was not a sufficient amount of time for the first years to fully remember what was where in which part of the castle. To be fair, it was a big, big castle. And the fact that there were hidden paths and secret passages everywhere or that everything from doors to stairs seemed to be enchanted did not help them in any way. If anything, it even seemed like a wonder that they found themselves in the right classrooms each day.

In that aspect, Draco wasn't too surprised that he did not recognize just where he was, although he may have been a little frustrated.

"Where do you reckon we are?" Draco asked.

"How should I know?" Ron replied. He sounded both nervous and irritated.

"We should have just taken the usual way," said Harry.

"But this was supposed to be a shortcut," Draco said defensively. He had to admit that he was mostly responsible for being lost, for he was the one that suggested this little "adventure".

"I knew this was a bad idea," said Hermione exasperatedly.

"Then why are you here in the first place?" Ron said snappily. "Nobody asked you to come."

"Well, you said you were going to look for a shortcut to the library," she said. She looked at Draco. "You sounded so sure, I thought you knew what you were doing!"

Draco frowned.

"How am I supposed to know for sure? I only heard about it once! And we didn't even ask you to come. You just followed us on your own!"

"Stop it!" Harry interrupted. "Fight over it later! Right now, we should at least get out of here."

Harry was right. Although none of them knew where they were, Draco had a strong feeling that they were not supposed to be there. The place looked completely deserted and even forbidden.

Forbidden?

"Oh no." Draco couldn't stop himself as a thought dawned on him. His heart began to beat so hard and fast.

"What? What is it?" Ron asked sharply.

Draco turned to look at the others, who were nervously looking at him.

"Do you―" He gulped. "You don't suppose this is―"

Hermione frowned in confusion. But it didn't take too long for her to realize it as well.

"Oh no," she said. Her face turned white and her eyes wide. "This― this is the third floor! It's forbidden!"

It was Ron's and Harry's turn to be horrified.

"We have to go. Now," Harry said.

No one said a word as they all turned back and hurried toward the door that they had just come in through. Before they could reach it, however, someone popped through a nearby tapestry.

It was Peeves the Poltergeist.

"Well, well, well," he said with a wicked grin. "What do we have here?"

"Peeves," Harry muttered. It was only a thin whisper ― a kind of whisper that would only come out when one was truly absolutely terrified.

"Sticking your nose into where you're not supposed to, eh?" Peeves sneered. "Naughty, naughty little firsties."

"No, we just― we got lost!" Harry pleaded.

But Draco knew there was no way that it would stop Peeves. Peeves inhaled a long and deep breath in an exaggerated motion. Then, a second later―

"INTRUDERS! INTRUDERS ON THE THIRD FLOOR!"

"Run!" Ron squealed.

All four of them turned around right away and sprinted off. They didn't care that they were going away from the only door they knew of. At that moment, all that mattered was to hide from the darned cat and, most importantly, her unpleasant owner.

They ran and ran until they reached the end of the hallway. It was blocked with a door. Draco was the first to reach it. He desperately grabbed the handle and tried pulling the door open. However, it didn't even budge.

"It's locked!" He cried.

"This is it," Ron muttered. "We're done for!"

"Oh, move over!" Hermione pushed through the three boys, pulling her wand out. She aimed it at the keyhole of the door and said, "Alohomora!"

With a click, the door swung open. Hermione was the first to enter followed by Draco, Harry, and Ron. For the first time ever, Draco was grateful that Hermione was with them. Once they were all inside, they hurriedly closed the door.

"'Alohomora'?" Ron said, looking at Hermione.

"Standard Book of Spells, chapter seven," she answered.

"Shh!" Harry shushed them as he and Draco put their ears against the door to listen.

"Where are they? Where did they go?" Filch's voice echoed from a distance.

Draco tried to calm his beating heart. If Filch was to find them…. If he was to be expelled from Hogwarts…. He didn't even want to think about having to return home after leaving there for not even a month.

"Peeves!" Filch's angry voice ranged even through the closed door. "Quick, tell me!"

They didn't stand a chance. Peeves had seen them where they headed, and if Draco remembered correctly, there was only one way available, leading straight up to the door they were hiding behind.

"Say 'please'!" Peeves sang in a taunting voice.

"Don't mess with me, Peeves! Where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say it!"

Filch grunted. "All right ― please."

"NOTHING!" Peeve's high laughter pierced through the hallway. "Told you! Told you I wouldn't say 'nothing' if you didn't say 'please'!"

The way his voice faltered indicated that he was leaving the place. Filch was left to curse in rage.

"PEEEVES!" He yelled. Then a series of footsteps also faded. He was chasing after Peeves and away from the corridor.

Draco had never thought that he would be thanking Peeves for anything in his life. He leaned his back against the door and sighed in relief.

"Filch's gone," he said. "I think we're safe for now."

"He thinks this door is locked." Harry took a step away from the door.

"It was locked," said Hermione, following him.

"And for a good reason," said Ron. He sounded even more terrified than he did before the locked door.

Draco learned why soon enough when he saw what Ron was looking at. The moment he did, he forgot all about the library, homework, and even Filch. Harry and Hermione also froze still beside him.

They were looking at an enormous dog, of which the body filled the entire space from the floor to the ceiling. Its head was also big enough to fit such a huge body, but the bigger issue was that there was not one, nor two, but three heads on a single body. Six glowering eyes stared back at the four of them. A few seconds passed in silence as they all just stood still, looking at each other in confusion and shock. That was before three monstrous jaws began to snarl.

"AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

As if on a promised cue, the four Gryffindors screamed at once. Of course, it didn't truly help as it only triggered the dog to bark along. Just as its size, the dog's barking boomed loudly that it could have been heard from everywhere in the castle.

Harry was the first to turn back. Draco quickly followed him and grabbed the doorknob. The two of them pushed the door open and everyone ― except the dog ― piled out. Not even caring just how much noise they were making, Harry, Draco, Ron, and Hermione pushed the door shut and started to run. They didn't know where they were heading, but they didn't have the slightest mind to spare on the matter as they ran and ran. They were soon back in the brightly lit corridor full of other students. Some of them gaped as the frightened first-years burst through one door to another. Yet, they sprinted down the hallways and did not stop until they reached the most familiar sight of the Fat Lady's portrait. Only when they were back inside the safety of their warm and cozy common room, they were able to slow down. The four of them collapsed either on their knees or in a nearby chair. A few students that had been inside gave them a strange look, but soon returned to their respective work.

It took a while for the four of them to catch their breath and collect their thoughts. Draco was still trembling. His body was sweating from all the running, but for some reason, he couldn't feel any heat. The image of the glinting eyes and thick fangs had become engraved in his head.

"What― What do you think they're doing?" Ron panted. "Keeping a thing like that, locked up in a school?"

Hermione, who had been bent over and catching her breath, looked up with the usual obnoxious and condescending look on her face.

"You don't use your eyes, do you?" She said. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry added from where he was sprawled on an armchair. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy looking at its heads."

"Yeah, in case you didn't notice, there were three!" Ron said.

"No, not the floor!" Hermione said as if she was repeating the most obvious thing several times. She looked around as if she was fearing that someone might listen in before leaning forward with a slightly lowered voice. "There was a trapdoor. It's guarding something."

Draco frowned as he looked at her. A trapdoor? Guarding something?"

"Guarding something?" Harry asked.

Hermione gave him a look that looked like she was both proud of noticing something that none of the others did and so done dealing with the boys' stupidity. She stood up.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves." She crossed her arms. "Now, if you three don't mind, I'm going to bed, before any of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed ― or worse, expelled."

Not waiting for another word, she walked away from them and headed straight up to the girls' dormitories. Ron stared at her with an open mouth. Once they heard the sound of the door closing, Ron turned toward Harry and Draco.

"She needs to sort out her priorities," he said, shaking his head. "And you'd think that we'd dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

Draco scoffed and shook his head as well. But Harry didn't answer. His eyes were empty as they stared at nothing before him as if he was lost somewhere within his thoughts.

It was quite funny how one's perspective could shift completely overnight. By the next morning, Draco, Harry, and Ron came to think that the encounter with a three-headed dog was in fact quite an exciting adventure. Just how many young witches and wizards would have met a giant beast like that and survived? Draco even began to slightly long for a chance for a new one, thinking of all the spells (that he never had the experience of using) he could cast if he were to run into another deadly beast. Then again, the reality was that the only thing that was the closest to a 'beast-like' opponent was a pile of schoolwork. That was until Harry fed Draco and Ron a piece of attention-grabbing information about the trapdoor.

"Do you remember the news about the Gringotts break-in?" Harry began in a hushed tone one morning at breakfast.

"Of course," said Ron. "Someone broke into a vault but they said nothing was taken."

"Didn't you say that you were there on that day?" Draco said.

Harry nodded. "It was on my birthday. Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley to get my things for Hogwarts. And that's the thing." He stopped for a moment to glimpse around. He leaned even more forward than he already had. "When we were at Gringotts, Hagrid and I stopped by another vault, and Hagrid took something out of it. He said Dumbledore wanted it."

"Are you saying," Draco jumped in, "that that's what the dog's guarding?"

"If that's true," said Ron, "then it must be really valuable. Or really dangerous."

"Or both," said Harry. "But whatever it is, it's not that big. I think it was about two or three inches long."

From there, they proceeded to come up with any and all speculations about what the small package might be. Yet, when the only thing they knew about it was that it was about the size of their hand, there was only so much they could come up with.

Just then, owls started to flood into the Great Hall, and something appeared to take away the three boys' minds. In fact, everyone in the Great Hall turned to look as a group of six large screech owls flew in, carrying a large thin package. Draco wondered just what it might be and who it might belong to, the package dropped right between him and Harry, making him flinch in surprise. It was shortly followed by another owl, who dropped a letter right in front of Harry. Draco and Ron looked from the package to Harry, who picked up the small letter and opened it, with astounded faces. Harry quickly read the letter, and as he did so, his lips wiggled in what Draco suspected to be a contained smile. He then passed it to Ron and Draco.

Draco's eyes widened while Ron's mouth fell open.

"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron exclaimed in a whisper. "I never even touched one!"

Draco couldn't say a word. He was just too shocked. Harry's got a broomstick ― and not just any broomstick but a Nimbus Two Thousand! And it was none other than Professor McGonagall herself that had sent it, which meant that the rules of no broomsticks for the first-years most likely didn't affect Harry.

"Come on," Ron said as he got up. He pulled Draco's arm. "Draco, come on!"

Draco hadn't even realized Harry had left his seat with the unopened broomstick. Still in a daze, he bemusedly followed the two of them and headed out the Great Hall. Yet, halfway across the entrance hall, two large Slytherin boys blocked their way.

"What you got there?" Crabbe grunted with an unpleasant look. He snatched the parcel from Harry's hand and frowned. "Isn't this a broomstick, Potter?"

"It's not just any broomstick," Ron said from the side. He sounded excited as if he was the one that owned it. "It's a Nimbus Two Thousand."

"First-years are not allowed to have broomsticks," said Crabbe. "You'll be in trouble for this, Potter."

Before anyone could respond, Professor Flitwick decided to appear.

"Not arguing, I hope, boys?" He said in his usual high voice.

"Potter's got a broomstick," Goyle said. Crabbe held the package in his hand out toward Professor Flitwick.

To their surprise, Professor Flitwick grinned at Harry.

"Yes, yes," he said. "Professor McGonagall told me about it. Which model was it?"

"Nimbus Two Thousand, sir," Harry said as he took back his broomstick. "And it's really thanks to them that I've got it." He jolted his head toward the two Slytherins, whose frowns just deepened with confusion.

Draco couldn't help a laugh, either, as he followed Harry and Ron, past Crabbe and Goyle. The three of them smoldered their laughter as they headed for the Gryffindor Tower.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" said Harry, once they were out of the earshot of Crabbe and Goyle. "If they hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall, I wouldn't be on the team―"

"So do you suppose that's a reward for breaking rules?"

Hermione's snappy voice came from behind them. She looked disapprovingly at the package Harry was holding.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry. It was true, for ever since their trip to the third-floor corridor, Hermione refused to even look at any of them.

"Yeah, don't stop now," said Ron. "It's doing us so much good."

Hermione scoffed as she held her head high and brushed past them.

"Hurry, we don't have much time until the class starts," Ron reminded.

Harry, Ron, and Draco headed straight up to their dormitory gathered around Harry's bed. Harry placed the package on it and began to take the wrappings off. Underneath all the covers, a sleek and shiny mahogany broomstick revealed itself. It looked very new and expensive that even someone that did not know anything about broomsticks would be able to tell its quality and worth. Ron was simply mesmerized and Harry looked elated, but Draco felt none of them. Sure, he was a bit excited that he was looking at one of the best broomsticks in the world. Yet, looking at it stung him more than anything. He had always wanted to have his own broomstick, and he was the one that always dreamed of playing Quidditch. But neither of the two was his but Harry's.

"Wow," Ron sighed. "Just wow."

Draco couldn't say a word. Something inside him seemed to drag him down. He just couldn't bear to look at the glowing broomstick anymore. He quietly turned around and headed to his own bed to pick up his books for their first class.

For the entire day, Draco couldn't concentrate on anything. He tried to forget about everything that had happened that morning, but he just couldn't. All he could think about was what he didn't get to have. It just hurt. He didn't know why, but it was just painful.

"Are you all right?" Harry and Ron asked him occasionally, but Draco couldn't say anything in response. Because he simply was not all right.

His mood only worsened that evening as he watched Harry leave the Gryffindor common room for his first Quidditch practice with his new broom. Once the Fat Lady's portrait closed, Draco slightly pouted and stomped toward a table in the corner and opened his schoolbook rather aggressively. He began to read the necessary part for his Transfiguration homework, but nothing seemed to enter his mind.

Ron sat down quietly and cautiously in the chair across from Draco. Draco frustratedly put his quill back down and leaned back against his chair.

"It's just unfair," he complained.

"Well," Ron said with a shrug of his shoulders. "You saw that he was really good."

"But I also wanted to be on the team," whined Draco. "And I've always wanted to have a broomstick."

"Who hasn't?" Ron said with a sigh.

"I thought McGonagall wasn't one to favor someone," Draco groaned. "If she's so eager for a Quidditch cup, why doesn't she make an exception for all Gryffindors?"

"Um, I think the 'rule' would be meaningless then," said Ron. "I didn't know you were that serious about playing Quidditch. First-years are usually not on house teams, anyway."

"Not anymore," Draco pouted.

Ron sighed.

"Cheer up, mate," he said. "You can try out for the team next year."

"But I won't be a seeker then."

Ron paused.

"At least if Harry does well, we get a shot at the Quidditch cup," he offered. "We'll be beating Slytherin for the first time in ages!"

But I won't be a part of it, Draco thought. He almost said it, but he managed to stop himself at the last moment. He didn't want to be too whiny.

"Well, I also love Quidditch and would like to make the house team, but you don't see me complaining so much," grumbled Ron. "I get it that you're envious, but it won't change anything."

Draco sighed. As much as he didn't like to admit it, Ron was right. Complaining about it wasn't going to make any difference other than making him become a childish prick.

"Let's just forget about it," he said, returning to the homework before him.

Fortunately, Draco's jealously slowly but surely faded over time. Of course, he did hold a bit of grudge toward Harry for the first few days, but by the end of the week, he was able to accept the sore truth. After all, he had much more important things to worry about ― such as surviving all the schoolwork ― than owning a broomstick. Things moved on so fast that Draco was hardly able to realize that the entirety of two months had passed since the start of the term.

By the day of Halloween, the first-years were done learning the basics of everything and moving on to something more interesting. In Charms, specifically, everyone was excited to hear that they would be making things fly ― at least until Professor Flitwick put all the students into pairs. Ron was greatly dismayed when he was paired up with Hermione Granger, although it wasn't clear which of the two were angrier about it. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan while Draco's was Lavender Brown. Each pair was given a feather to practice on.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The classroom boomed with numerous voices chanting the spell. Everyone waved their wands in a "swish and flick" motion as Professor Flitwick had emphasized, but not a single feather left the surface of the desks.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron's irritated voice caught Draco's ears. He shook his hand frantically above the feather as if he was trying to whip it.

"Stop!" Hermione said in a nearly shrieking manner. "Are you trying to take someone's eye out?"

Ron slowly turned and glared at her.

"You're saying it wrong." Hermione's voice sounded snobbish. "It's Win-garr-dium, make the 'gar' nice and long, and Levi-o-sa, not Levio-sarr."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snapped.

Hermione held her nose high as she looked at her feather. She pointed her wand at it and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

At her command, the feather slowly began to rise. It soared through the air higher and higher. Ron looked at it in disbelief.

"Well done!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed. "Well done, Ms. Granger! See here, everyone! Ms. Granger's done it!"

Hermione seemed very pleased with herself as she raised the feather even higher. Ron, on the other hand, was fuming.

By the end of the class, Hermione was the only one to have succeeded in a full levitation. But Draco could swear that he managed to make his feather flinch.

When Professor Flitwick dismissed them, Ron was the first to get up from his seat. Harry and Draco had to hurry after him.

"It's Levi-o-sa, not Levio-sarr," Ron exaggerated his intonation as he imitated Hermione. "She's a nightmare, honestly. It's no wonder she doesn't have any friend, no one can stand her."

Just then, someone brushed past Draco rather roughly from behind him. He immediately recognized the bushy brown hair. Hermione strode hastily away from them.

"I think she heard you," Harry said.

Ron simply shrugged, trying to appear unaffected, but he was clearly uncomfortable.

It was the last time Draco saw Hermione that day. She didn't turn up to the next class, and she couldn't be seen at the Halloween feast that evening. Harry, Ron, and Draco only heard about her when they overheard the Gryffindor girls talking about her.

"She just won't come out of the bathroom," Parvati Patil told her friends. "She's been crying all afternoon in there."

Harry and Draco looked at each other while Ron consciously paid attention to his food. However, he had visibly slowed down in eating.

The feast was well into its peak when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Great Hall.

"Troll! In the Dungeon―" His cry echoed above all the chatters of the students. "Troll in the Dungeons!"

Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. Professor Quirrell ran all the way up to the High Tables.

"Thought you ought to know," he said.

Then he dropped to the floor and didn't move.

Screams rang out everywhere. An uproar of students shook the entire hall as they all sprang up from the tables. Professors began to try to calm them down, but there was no way that any of the young students would listen to them.

"SILENCE!" Professor Dumbledore's amplified voice rumbled.

For the first time that night, there was complete silence in the Great Hall.

"Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories. Immediately!" His voice was thundering, but he sounded rather calm.

It switched on Percy's prefect side.

"Everyone, follow me!" He yelled, trying to gain the attention of the uncontrollable crowd of students. "Stick together! First-years! No need to fear! Follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way! Make way! First years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

Harry, Ron, and Draco stayed close as they blended in with the other Gryffindors. They left the Great Hall quickly and were climbing up the stairs.

"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked.

"Dunno," said Ron. "But not on its own, that's for sure. They're really stupid."

"Probably some stupid people playing jokes," said Draco.

Suddenly, Harry grabbed Ron and Draco by their arms.

"Wait," he said. "Hermione!"

"What about her?" said Ron, confused.

"She doesn't know!"

Before either Draco or Ron could say anything, Harry began to run in the opposite direction. Ron and Draco looked at each other, baffled, but followed him. They passed against the streams of students, heading for the girls' lavatory. They had just turned around the corner when they heard footsteps from behind.

"Percy!" Ron exclaimed. He pulled Harry and Draco toward a nearby griffin statue and hid in the shadow.

It was, however, not Percy that trotted through the hallway. It was Snape.

"What's he doing here?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he with the other teachers in the Dungeons?"

They quietly came out of their hiding spot and followed him in the distance.

"That leads to the third floor," Draco said. "He's heading to the third floor."

Just then, a foul stench disturbed his nostrils.

"Can you smell something?" Ron said, pinching his nose shut.

Then there came a low grunting and a booming noise of gigantic feet. Something huge was coming closer to them. They hurriedly hid away from the moonlight once again and watched.

A twelve-foot-tall, sluggish body with disgusting-looking gray skin slowly emerged into their sight. Its short legs slowly took one step after another while its long arms drooped to its either side, dragging a large wooden club against the floor. It didn't even know where it was going ― not that Draco expected much from such an unintelligent creature. It headed to a nearby room and peered inside.

"The key's in the lock," Harry said, watching the troll slowly enter the room. "We should lock it in there."

"Good idea," Ron said, although he sounded nervous.

Taking a deep breath, Draco followed Harry. He crept toward the open door. In a quick motion, Harry grabbed the key. Then Draco slammed the door right away. He and Ron pushed against the door while Harry locked it.

"Yes!" They all exclaimed victoriously and turned around.

They had just taken off to run back to the Common Room when a high, petrified scream pierced their ears. They froze and looked at one another.

"Oh, no," said Ron. Draco was sure that it wasn't the moonlight that made him look so pale.

Harry gasped.

"That's the girl's bathroom!" Draco said.

Without thinking much, they went and grabbed the doorknob. Just as they were about to pull it, a sound of something large crashing came through, followed by another scream. Harry hastily unlocked the door and the three boys pulled open the door.

The troll was standing right before their eyes, looking down at the pieces of toilet stalls it had just completely demolished. Hermione's face peered through from beneath the wreckage.

"Hermione, move!" Harry yelled as he ran into the bathroom.

"Confuse it!" Draco yelled, picking up a broken tap from the floor. He threw it at the troll's enormous body, but it was like throwing a twig at a brick wall.

"Oy, Pea-brain!" Ron roared and threw a large piece of what used to be a wooden stall. It flew right into the troll's head.

The troll slowly turned around. Hermione took the opportunity to crawl out. But the troll had better reflexes than Draco had thought. It spotted her running and swung its club. Hermione shrieked and hid under the sinks. She barely managed to avoid the club as it broke straight through the sinks and land just beside her.

"Run, Hermione!" Draco yelled.

However, Hermione was looking at the troll in fear. The only way she could move her body was to tremble in her spot. Draco and Ron looked at each other. Just what were they supposed to do?

Harry ran forward. The troll was about to swing its club at Hermione once again. Yet, this time, Harry grabbed onto the giant club and got dragged up along with it.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed.

Draco and Ron couldn't do anything but merely watch. Harry landed right on top of the troll's shoulders. It distracted the troll enough to miss its shot. Baffled, the troll stupidly looked around its shoulders before it began to rock itself in every direction. Harry was mercilessly thrown this way and that. Then, for some unknown reason, Harry just decided to stick his want right up the troll's nose.

"Ugh!" Ron groaned loudly.

Draco also scrunched up his nose.

The troll went still in shock. But it didn't last long as it began to shake even more violently. Harry could only hold on to its ears ― until the troll managed to grab his ankle. It held him upside down by the ankle, readying his club.

Draco snapped his head and looked at Ron.

"The levitation spell!" He cried.

Ron's eyes widened before he pulled out his wand. As if he had known just what he should do all along, he pointed it toward the club and yelled, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

It sounded exactly like the one Hermione cast in Charms class.

The club left the troll's hand and flew straight up. The troll dumbly looked at it as it rose above its head. Then it fell right into the troll's face.

"Cool!" Ron said with a smirk.

Harry fell to the ground as the troll began to sway. It fell right into the floor, making the entire bathroom shake. Everyone remained still for a few seconds. Only then did Hermione slowly come out from underneath the sinks.

"Is it― dead?" She asked quietly.

"Probably not," said Draco. "Just knocked out."

Harry walked over to the troll's face and pulled his wand out of its nose.

"Urgh― troll boogers."

He bent down to wipe his wand with the troll's trousers. However, a sudden burst of footsteps interrupted him. Harry, Ron, Draco, and Hermione all looked to the door to find Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell, and Professor Snape staring at the unconscious troll.

"What an earth were you thinking of?" Professor McGonagall sounded furious. "Explain yourselves, all of you!"

Harry, Ron, and Draco looked at one another. There was no denying that they had broken away from their prefect's order. Draco only just then realized just how much mess they had made.

"Please, Professor, they were― they were looking for me."

All eyes turned to Hermione.

"Miss Granger!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed.

Hermione kept her eyes cast down.

"It's my fault," she said. "I went looking for the troll. I've read all about them, so I thought I could handle it on my own."

Draco couldn't believe his ears. Hermione Granger was lying to take their blame? She, of all people, was lying to a professor?

"But I was wrong. If they hadn't come and found me, I'd be dead now. They didn't have time to fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they got here."

Professor McGonagall looked at Harry, Ron, and Draco as if she was trying to determine the truth. Draco tried his best to appear innocent ― well, as innocent as he could be.

"Be that as it may," she said, "it was an extremely foolish thing to do. Miss Granger, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own? I expected more rational behaviour, and I am very disappointed in you. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor― for your serious lack of judgment."

Then she turned toward the three boys. Draco nearly flinched at her gaze.

"As for you three gentlemen…" she began. "I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first-years could take on a fully-grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale."

She paused. Draco hung his head as he braced himself for what was about to come.

"Five points― will be awarded to each of you."

Draco snapped his head up and looked at her in disbelief. Harry and Ron also were looking at her in shock.

"For sheer dumb luck."

Despite all that had happened, Draco couldn't help the excitement within him. It was the first time he had gained the House Points.

"Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this," Professor McGonagall said. "Now, if you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses. Off you go."

Before anyone could change anything, the four of them hurried out of the half-destroyed lavatory. They didn't speak a word until they reached the entrance to the Gryffindor house ― out of both awkwardness and thrill of the event. Just before they were about to say the password and go in through the portrait hole, Hermione cleared her throat. Harry, Ron, and Draco looked at her.

"Thanks," she said. She was hardly looking at any of their eyes.

"Uh― me, too," said Harry. He was also looking at somewhere on the floor.

"Yeah, thanks for― you know," Ron added awkwardly.

"Thanks," Draco joined as well.

They stood there in uncomfortable silence for a short moment. Then Hermione hastily walked past between Draco and Ron and up to the Fat Lady. Once the Fat Lady received the password from Hermione, she opened up her portrait and let them in. Harry, Ron, and Draco glanced at one another before they also entered the hole.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading the story!

I know it's a little late, but I still want to wish you a happy new year and the best of luck for this new year!

I would love to hear what you thought, what you think can be better, and just about anything!

I hope you all stay safe and healthy and wish you a very good day, wherever you are!

Best,
Lisa :)