A/N: And here we are: Troll incoming. Hope you like it…I really have problems getting the images out of my head…ah well can't help it. Next chapter won't be a real chapter but an omake "Loki's ways of dealing with a troll". There will be all the ideas I got regarding the troll but which didn't make it into the actual story. I don't want to withhold them from you.

So now onwards with the story.

Chapter 9: Halloween

It was finally Halloween and Loki was eagerly awaiting the feast in the evening but for now they were stuck in the charms lesson with professor Flitwick. Said Professor had reminded them how important the correct pronunciation was to get the right result and not a buffalo on your chest like some idiot seemed to have done once, before letting them practise the levitation spell.

Everyone tried hard to get it right but the feather they were supposed to levitate didn't move one inch. Loki watched Harry's and Neville's attempts when he heard Hermione correcting Ron's pronunciation. He mentally shook his head, this would only lead into a catastrophe but it wasn't his problem.

A few minutes later Neville was quite frustrated and depressed. It had been ever since that his spell work was horrible and rarely worked at all. That was when Loki intervened.

"Neville might I see your wand please?" he asked.

"Sure, it isn't that it's working at all."

Loki took the wand Neville hold out and inspected it closely before he frowned.

"Say Neville is that originally your wand?"

"Huh? No it belonged to my father, granny said that it was a powerful wand and that I should be proud…"

"Sorry and no offense, but to be honest your granny is an idiot. Everybody knows that a wizard should never use the wand of someone else if it can be avoided. A wand and its owner form some kind of bond so that most of the time only the original owner can use it properly. The only exception to this are elder wands who only respond to the most powerful magical around, hence why they are so rare."

"So you mean I only do so poorly because it's not my wand?" Neville perked up upon hearing that.

Loki looked straight at Neville or better it was more that he looked through him. In reality he took a good look at the boy's soul.

"Yes and no, while that is a deciding factor, there seems to be something else" he couldn't exactly pinpoint it but it seemed that Neville didn't really channel his magic through the wand but on an entirely different way.

"Would you mind trying something?" Loki asked and Neville looked at him quizzically.

Loki showed him some hand movements and repeated them a few times so that he would remember them.

"Now I would like to ask you to imagine what you want the feather to do while you make the movement with your hand, alright?" Neville nodded.

Neville took a try but nothing happened and Loki corrected some minor mistakes. It took a few more tries but in the end the feather floated in front of him. Harry who also tried it out of curiosity quickly also had his feather floating.

"As I thought, you both are more proficient in hand magic than wand magic…" he explained.

"Hand magic?" Harry was confused.

Loki grinned before he started to explain. "There are three ways of channelling ones magic. Focus based magic, hand magic and mind magic.

Normal wand magic belongs to the first category and is the easiest and most common way now a days. But there are not only wands, but also staffs, voodoo dolls, well everything you can name to channel your magic through. The upside of it is that, depending on the focus, it can boost the power of the spell, but should you lose your focus you have a problem.

Then there is hand magic, it's like you have seen based on special movements of your hands. Now you might think that this form is less powerful than focus magic since you have no focus to boost it, but that is wrong. In this case the movement of your hand is the focus, so the more accurate our movement is the more power has the spell. The upside is that there is no focus you could lose in the heat of a battle for example but the problem is that this form is harder to master since you have to be far more precise and the aiming can be a bitch and a half.

The third form is the mind magic or as most wizards would call it wandless magic. In this case you force the effect to take place through sheer willpower and there are very few who ever really master it. The upside is that you are only limited through your imagination but the huge downside is that it needs a lot of concentration and willpower.

Normally a wizard is inclined to the focus based magic and rarely comes across the other forms and if then only in very basic forms like some minor spells they can do wandlessly. But from time to time there are wizards like you two who are naturally inclined to one of the other forms and have problems with the ones they are not inclined to. Though I have to admit that you Harry perform both focus and hand magic quite well."

Again he managed to silence the entire class with his explanation before Flitwick remembered that they originally were supposed to practise the spell. So he get them back to work. Harry and Neville in the meantime continued practising with only the hand movement and without their wand. At the end of the lesson they were quite good at it and Harry even managed to let the feather slightly dance in the air.

When the bell ran Flitwick asked the three to stay behind.

"Mr. Laufeyson might I ask where you got such deep knowledge?" Flitwick asked curiously.

"I'm sorry but that will stay my secret" Loki answered with a grin.

"You should know that I'm aware of who you really are."

The grin on Loki's face vanished in an instant and what was left was a shell shocked expression.

Flitwick on the other hand smiled now. "There is a reason why I'm head of Ravenclaw and to be frankly speaking your name is a dead giveaway. Though I have no idea what you're doing here despite producing chaos."

Loki sighed. "Okay, okay, I admit defeat. To your question about who told me about the three different types of magic channelling that was Morgana."

"Morgana le Fay?" Neville asked quite shocked. "But she was a dark witch."

Now Loki frowned. "Only because she used blood rituals and the like she isn't automatically dark or evil. She was first and foremost a healer. It always depends on how you use your magic that makes you light or dark not what magic you use."

"I have to agree. Most dark spells aren't dark per se but a matter of how you use them. For example a healing spell can casted under the right circumstances also kill a person while a Reductor Curse also can be used to destroy solid objects to bulldoze land for building purpose. It's only because the first is a defence and the second an offense spell why one is considered light and the other dark."

"Hmm when you put it that way…" Neville mused.

"I wonder what kind of magic channelling you usually use…" Harry mused.

"Think about what I told you and how I normally perform my magic and you get your answer" Loki replied with a grin.

Harry thought about it before his face brightened up.

"You normally only snap your finger and things happen, but that movement is too simple for hand magic when I think about the movement we did to let the feather hover. So I think it's only for show…mind magic."

"Bing, Bing, Bing, the candidate wins a candy!" with that he hold out one that just appeared in his hand.

Harry took it before hitting Loki on the arm.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"For you being a jerk" he replied with a smile.

"So is there anything else to discuss because I get hungry…" Loki asked.

"No you can go. Oh and five points for Gryffindor" Flitwick waved them out.

"Loki you are always hungry…especially when it comes to sweets" Harry said on the way to lunch while snapping away the candy cane Loki just popped up.

"Hey, you are pretty brash today, stealing other kids' candy" he replied mock hurt.

Harry started to laugh. "You sound like you couldn't handle it."

"Oh, you dare" Loki snapped with his fingers and Harry sported Slytherin colours all over.

"Nice, green fits my eyes" he walked onwards as if nothing was wrong at all.

When they entered the great hall everyone at the Gryffindor table stared at him curiously.

"What happened to you?" Dean asked the question all of them were anticipating.

"Loki's revenge for Harry snatching his candy" Neville supplied.

"Wait, what? You dared to snatch Loki's candy? No wonder you look like that" Sean chuckled.

Yes Loki was pretty vindictive when it came to his candy, a fact some of the fellow Gryffindors learned the hard way. Steal some and you suddenly sport some fancy new colours, temper with them in a prank, well that depends on the prank and should come someone to the idea to do something potentially harmful to them, said person should pray to never ever meet the trickster god again. The one and only unforgivable thing you could do.

Harry shrugged. "I think it pretty funny and I like green so what's the problem?" he said with a smile.

"Dude you are sporting Slytherin colours, I'd find it embarrassing…" Dean shook his head.

The rest of the school day went by unspectacularly. Now it was evening and the friends were anticipating the Halloween feast. So they where on the way to the great hall after they stored their bags in the dorm. When they arrived they were astonished by the view they got. Pumpkin lanterns replaced the normal candles and life bats flew in crowds between them while animated skeletons danced everywhere. The tables bent under tons of food and candies. Even Loki was baffled and he had seen a lot in his life.

"Wow I never thought that something could surprise me anymore but this is fantastic" he mused.

Harry and Neville only stood there with open mouth unable to say anything.

They went to their places and started to eat when Harry asked a question.

"Hey, where is Hermione? I can't see her anywhere and now that I think about it she hadn't been in the afternoon classes as well."

Lavender who heard that duck her head and looked sheepishly at her plate.

"What is it Lavender?" Loki wanted to know.

She cringed. "Parvati told me that she is hiding in the girl's toilet crying, why…I don't know…"She whispered.

Now it was upon Loki to flinch.

"Want to get there and check how she is?" Harry asked in anticipation knowing Loki quite well up to now.

Loki nodded and stood up, Harry and Neville following him. Normally he wouldn't leave behind such a feast to look after some crying girl, but he had a damned good idea about the reason and should it prove true, to say he would be pissed would be an understatement. So the friends went to the bathroom and found Hermione there like Lavender told them.

"Hermione?" Harry called out.

He could clearly hear her gasping. "H-Harry, what are you doing here? This is a girl's bathroom" she said between sobs.

"We are here to see how you are and to get you down to the feast. It is wonderful and it surely will cheer you up" Loki told her.

"I-I don't want to, please leave me alone."

Loki sighed. "Hermione what's the problem? Did that Weasel insult you again?"

Hermione took another gasp but she calmed down a bit. "H-how do you know?"

"Guessed, but it seems I'm right. I told you to come to me when it happens again…"

"I didn't want to be a burden and despite that you were in a conversation with Flitwick that time" her sobbing stopped completely now.

"Putting bullies in their borders is never a burden. Now, want to come out and down to the feast with us? You really miss something."

Hermione took a last deep breath. "Okay but I'd ask you to wait outside…"

"No problem."

With that the friends went out and leaned right next to the door.

"Ron is clearly becoming a problem" Neville mused. "Hurting a girl like that."

"You are right and he will have to explain himself when I get a hold on him this evening" Loki growled.

They waited a few minutes when they heard a rumbling approaching them. It was accompanied by a very strange smell that grew stronger with every second passing by. When Hermione finally came out of the toilette, looking a bit read around the eyes but all in all quite good, they saw it coming around the corner. A monster as high as the corridor with thick grey leathery hide, two legs like trunks and very long and strong looking arms. Behind it pulled a club of the size of a log.

"Is that…?" Hermione asked a bit hoarse, eyes wide in shock.

"From the look of it, must be a relative of either Crab or Goyle" Loki chuckled and even Harry grinned, while Hermione looked at him in disbelieve wondering how he could make jokes about the imminent danger.

"It's a mountain troll" Neville stated slightly shivering.

"Well yes that too. I wonder what one is doing here though, they shouldn't even be able to enter, or someone let it in."

"Aren't we going to do something…like running away?" now there was a slight panic in Hermione's voice, the troll now was the half way through the corridor and still heading their way.

"Nah, why?" Loki answered with a broad grin on his face before snapping with his fingers.

The troll now hadn't a club anymore but an umbrella in the hand while wearing a grey suite and some hat. Adding to that suddenly music started to play.

"I'm singing in the rain
Just singin' in the rain
What a glorious feeling"

Shortly after the music started the troll started to dance through the corridor. Everyone stared at it with wide eyes.

"W-what?" Harry didn't know what to say.

"Never heard of Gene Kelly? Oh wait there is something missing here…" he again snapped with his fingers and in the entire corridor it started to rain except where they were standing.

In the meantime the troll continued his dance. It looked pretty silly that a multi tons heavy troll tried to dance gracefully but it grew even worth when he started to tap dance. It was like thunder rolling through the halls and the ground was shaking heavily, the entire castle must feel this.

"Let the stormy clouds chase
Everyone from the place"

Well the clouds wouldn't accomplish that but the dancing troll definitely did. Harry now was howling with laugher trying to stay on his feet because of the shaking ground, while Neville didn't have such luck and now sat next to them staring at the Troll in disbelieve. Hermione on the other hand didn't know what to think or do. On the one hand she knew form books she read, that mountain trolls were extremely dangerous creatures and so her brain constantly told her to get as far away from it as possible but on the other the spectacle the troll made with his dancing and spinning his umbrella…it was to unique to leave and not watch. Loki smirked and swayed to the music.

It was when the troll attempted to spin on the spot that he slipped, hit his head and was knocked out cold, that the teachers arrived. Loki quickly snapped his fingers to vanish the water that pooled in the floor because of the rain.

McGonagall came rushing down the corridor followed by Snape and Quirrell. Quirrell winced when he saw the troll while Snape just sneered. McGonagall looked like she swallowed an especially sour drop when she approached the four children.

"What on earth were you doing here? And why aren't you in your common room as ordered?" she demanded to know.

"First of all we didn't know we were supposed to return to our common room, since we weren't even at the great hall at that time to begin with. We were looking for Hermione who didn't feel well before the feast and went to the toilette. The entire time we have been here until the big fella over there appeared and blocked our way. We then had a bit of fun with it and that was it" Loki explained because Harry and Neville were still unable to speak because of their giggling and yes they were giggling like girls.

"Is that correct Miss Granger?"

Hermione just nodded glad that Loki found an explanation without giving away why she really was here.

"Okay" McGonagall said when her brain caught up with what Loki just said. "Wait, did you just say you had some fun with the troll? A full grown mountain troll none the less?"

"Tap dancing trolls are a really funny sight" he just grinned.

Snape took a sharp gasp before turning around and looking at the troll. McGonagall's eyes in the meantime went wide before she pinched the bridge of her nose swearing under her breath in a way a seasoned sailor would blush upon.

"So I assume that this was what let the entire castle shake? Okay, okay, I don't really want to know. Five points for each of you three for helping a fellow student and now go to your common room. Mr. Laufeyson I want you to meet me in my office."

With that they all were dismissed.

A/N: So I hope you survived the troll attack and are able to read the next chapter where I'll do more crazy things to the troll. 'til next chapter.