Chapter 17: The Hallowe'en feast
After class, Hermione walked behind Harry and his friends until she heard Weasley say something so cruel it broke her heart.
"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Weasley said to Harry as they were pushing their way into the crowded corridor. "She's a nightmare honestly."
Hermione knocked into Harry as she ran hurriedly past him and his friends, her eyes filled with tears. She ran across the corridor and towards the girls' bathroom putting as much distance between them as possible. She had been so happy to earn her house 10 points but now that was ruined.
In the corridor, Harry looked at Ron and said quietly, "I think she heard you."
"So?" said Ron, "She must've noticed she has got no friends."
"I am her friend," Harry stated coldly.
"You?!" Ron cried out, "But- But she is in Slytherin! And she is a know-it-all! This is betrayal! How dare you?! I thought we were friends!"
Harry was taken aback by Ron's words. He couldn't believe his friend would be this narrow-minded and mean. "What are you talking about, Ron?" he asked trying to keep his voice steady.
"I mean," Ron said, his face turning red, "She's in Slytherin! And she is always showing off her knowledge like she's better than the rest of us. How could you be friends with someone like that? You were sorted in Gryffindor, you can't just go and hang around Slytherins."
Harry could feel his own anger rising, "That's exactly the problem, Ron. You and your chronics are so quick to judge and bully others based on their house, intelligence, or looks, but you don't take time to actually get to know them. Hermione hasn't done anything to you. And she deserves better than what we have done to her."
"What is wrong with you, Harry?" Ron said, his voice rising in anger. "Are you mental or something? She is not worth it!"
"You don't even know her, Ron," Harry said finding himself growing more and more frustrated with his friend's narrow-mindedness, "How can you say Malfoy is so awful if you act just the same way?!"
Ron's face darkened at Harry's comment about Malfoy, "Don't you dare compare me to that slimy git, Harry! I can't believe you're friends with a Slytherin, let alone defending one! You are just as bad as her, acting like you're better than the rest of us."
Harry tried to reason with Ron, "That's not what this is about, Ron. Hermione is nice, maybe a bit socially awkward but she doesn't deserve to be treated like this."
But Ron wasn't having any of it, "Whatever. I can't be friends with someone who's going against everything that Gryffindor stands for. You're on your own, Potter," he spat before storming off with Seamus and Neville, leaving Harry feeling angry and disappointed. This was not the boy he had thought he had befriended in the Hogwarts Express.
Harry sat alone at the end of the Gryffindor table, Ron had unfriended him and obviously told everyone that he, Harry was a traitor. A few hours ago he had been popular amongst the other Gryffindor boys but now all of them looked at him like he carried a disease that might kill if they were anywhere near him. Only the girls from his house seemed to not care if Harry had befriended a Slytherin girl and they were discussing excitedly about the various activities that were to take place that night.
However, Harry's mind was not on the festivities; he was worried about Hermione. She hadn't turned up to the History of Magic lesson and hadn't been seen all afternoon. Harry had tried to get a look at the Slytherin table to see if Hermione had gone there but she was nowhere to be seen.
Harry approached a group of Gryffindor girls and asked, "Excuse me, have any of you seen Hermione? The muggleborn girl from Slytherin?"
"I think she is still in the girls' toilets. When we, Lavender and I, went there we heard someone crying and asked if they were alright, she said she wants to be left alone," Parvati explained.
Harry felt awful and was about to ask something else, but before he could open his mouth, the door of the Great Hall burst open, and Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair slumped against the table and gasped, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you might want to know," he then sank to the floor in a dead faint.
There was uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence. "Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
Gryffindor's prefect Percy was in his element. "Follow me! Stick together, first-years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first-years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a Prefect!"
Harry wondered how a troll could get into the castle without help, as it was trolls were stupid. Maybe peeves had let it in for a Hallowe'en joke. As Harry was deep in thought he suddenly remembered something. Hermione. In girls' toilets. Alone. Not knowing about the troll. Harry knew he couldn't ask Ron for help as they weren't friends no more so Harry chose to risk it. Harry turned around and ran after the Slytherins. He reached them in the dungeon stairs and saw Malfoy at the back of the line.
"Malfoy," Harry whispered next to Malfoy, who jumped and looked around. When he saw Harry he scowled. "Pottah," he spat quietly, "aren't you supposed to be going to your common room?"
Harry ignored the question and said urgently, "Hermione, she is in the girls' bathroom. She doesn't know about the troll!"
Malfoy scoffed, "Why should I care what happens to her?"
Hary was infuriated by Malfoy's callousness, "Because she's a person, Malfoy. She is also a Slytherin. You know that trolls are dangerous. And she our help. We need to warn her."
"Why do you care?" Malfoy asked suspicious of why Potter might care what happened to a Slytherin.
"Because she is my friend. Are you coming or not?" Potter asked impatiently.
Malfoy hesitated for a second, looking conflicted. Then he said, "Fine. I will come, but if we get caught or hurt, it's your fault."
Draco and Harry ran as fast as they could, along the way they joined the Hufflepuffs going towards their common room and slipped down to a deserted side corridor, and hurried towards the girls' toilets. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.
"Must be one of the prefects," hissed Malfoy, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin. Peering around it, however, they saw not a prefect but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"What is he doing?" Harry whispered, "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"
"I don't know, maybe the troll left the dungeon?" Draco suggested as it was it was his head of house they were speaking about.
Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.
"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said, but Draco had held up his hand.
"Can you smell something?" Draco asked. Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.
And then they head it - a low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Malfoy pointed: at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. Harry and Malfoy shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.
It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. The troll was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.
"The key's in the lock," Harry pointed out quietly, "We could lock it in."
"Good idea," Draco said his voice shaking.
Harry and Malfoy edged towards the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.
"Well done, Pottah," Draco said smirking.
"Err- thanks," Harry replied awkwardly. He hadn't expected them to be able to work so well together.
Flushed with their victory they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts to - a high, petrified scream - and it was coming from the chamber they'd just locked up.
"Oh no," Harry and Draco moaned in unison.
"It's the girls' toilets!" Harry gasped.
"Hermione!" they said together.
Both Draco and Harry wheeled around and sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling as they panicked - Harry pulled the door open - and they ran inside. Hermione was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.
"We have to confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Malfoy, seizing a tap he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
"Oy, asshole!" Malfoy yelled from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout towards Draco instead, giving Harry time to run around it.
"Come on, RUN! RUN!" Harry yelled at Hermione and tried to pull her towards the door, but Hermione couldn't move, she was flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror. She had never been this scared in her life as she was now. The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll crazy. It roared again and started towards Draco, who was nearest and had no way to escape.
Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: he had taken a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but when Harry accidentally stuck his wand into its nose the troll noticed Harry. Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second now the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.
"Do something!" Harry yelled.
"Like what?!" Draco panicked.
"Anything!" Harry pleaded.
Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright and was obviously unable to do anything. Draco pulled out his own wand - not knowing what he was going to say he heard himself cry the first spell that came to his mind, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over - and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.
Harry got slowly back to his feet. He was shaking all over and was out of breath. Draco on the other hand was standing there with his wand still in his hand looking unbelievably proud of what he had just done.
They all looked at each other, but it was Hermione who managed to speak first.
"Is- is it - dead?" she asked uncertainly.
"No? I don't think so," Harry replied, "Just er- unconscious."
Harry bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like thick grey glue. "Urgh - troll bogies," Harry whined disgusted and wiped his wand on the troll's trousers. Harry's back was turned away from the door and when he stood up and looked from Draco to Hermione, Harry noticed their faces had turned slightly green.
"What is going on in here?" a deep silky voice asked.
The silence was deafening. Harry and Draco had their mouths open obviously trying to find the words to explain what had just happened. Hermione looked like she would rather face the troll again than face very very angry Snape.
Severus looked from the troll to the trio standing in front of him and back again, his lip curling in disgust. "What is the meaning of this?" he boomed, his eyes piercing each of them in turn.
"I- I- it is my fault professor," Hermione said weakly, "They- they were looking for me, I was-"
"Miss Granger, I am deeply disappointed to see a student of Slytherin disregarding the rules of the school and not following the instructions when you most definitely knew there was a troll on the loose," Severus interrupted his voice low and dangerous, "You of all people, should know better. This is not the behavior expected of a member of my house."
Hermione hung her head in shame and muttered a weak apology, which Snape barely acknowledged. Hermione knew she should have said that she didn't know about the troll as she hadn't been at the Hallowe'en feast with the other students but she wasn't brave enough to start arguing against angry Snape.
"As for you Mr. Malfoy," Snape continued, his gaze moving to Draco. "I had hoped that you would be above this sort of foolishness. You're from a long line of distinguished wizards and should know better. Instead, you have chosen to follow in Potter's footsteps and drag yourself down to the level of Gryffindor troublemakers."
Draco bristled at the comment, feeling the sting of Snape's chastisement.
"But sir," Draco protested, "I was only there because Potter-"
"I don't want to hear your excuses, Malfoy," Snape interrupted his voice low dripping with anger. "You knew better than to involve yourself in such reckless behavior."
Severus' gaze was piercing Hermione again, "Twenty points will be taken from Slytherin and both of you will serve detention with me for the rest of the month. Consider yourself lucky it isn't more than twenty points and detention."
As Snape finished scolding Draco and Hermione, his eyes settled on Harry. "Potter," he sneered, his lip curling in disgust, "I should have known that you would find a way to get yourself into trouble and even worse convince two other students to join you. What were you thinking?"
Harry bristled at Snape's tone, feeling anger begin to simmer just under his skin. Oh, how, he hated that greasy git. "I was- we- Malfoy and I were doing it because Hermione wasn't at the-"
"Silence!" Severus spat his eyes narrowing. Taking a step forward, his voice dropped dangerously low, "Save your excuses, Potter, I have no interest in them. Gryffindor will lose ten points and you will serve detention with your classmates for the rest of the month."
"My father will hear about this," Draco muttered quietly.
"Save it, Malfoy. Yes, he definitely will, I'm going to write to him personally myself," Severus said coolly.
Draco was now deathly pale, his father was going to kill him. Now even he was too scared to argue with Snape.
"Go back to your dormitories," Severus ordered, "If I find you wandering around the castle or breaking any more rules after I told you off, you will find yourself a ticket straight home."
Harry, Hermione, and Draco quickly scurried off, feeling the full weight of Snape's disappointment and anger settling on their shoulders. But all of them agreed that it had been unfair not to listen to what they had to say for themselves. Draco, Harry, and Hermione somehow managed to get over their shared hatred of each other and became friends. If they had been told before that they would become friends they would have laughed at the person who told them so. But there are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them
Sometimes friendship can be found in the weirdest of places and from people you don't expect it from.
A/n: Bloody hell ain't this chapter long af. Sadly no points were given for knocking out the troll. But our new trio is born. Sadly Sevvie Debbie Snapedy Doo Snape won't like it much lol
Wingardium Leviosa indeed