Chapter 16

Troll!

For the next few weeks, I did not bring up Lenora's incident with Pansy. She never mentioned it again either. The only sign that it ever happened was the Pansy now rarely spoke to Lenora or even me for that matter. I suppose that could be considered a good thing. Still, I want to ask Lenora more about what her father is like. Questions such as why people say these things about him yet clearly she still believes he is a good father. Also, what happened to her mother? Was she really a muggle, as Pansy once gossiped about? If that were the case, perhaps I could tell Lenora the truth about my parents and we could keep each other's secrets together. My secret was really starting to become a burden. Slytherins kept asking me for details about what my father was like. All I had to go by was what Uncle Richard told me about him, which was not much. Fortunately since he died when I was only an infant, I could get away with my lack of knowledge.

Tonight just happened to be a big night at Hogwarts, Halloween. There was an extra grand feast in the Great Hall for us to attend. Both Aunt Becky and Mrs. Malfoy sent out various candies for us to enjoy. Since Lenora's father did not send her any, I shared mine with her. She defended him by saying he was likely just overworked and forgot or did not have time. All I could do was smile and nod, not wanting to say anything negative about Mr. Lane.

At the Slytherin table, I sat directly across from Draco and Crabbe, with Lenora on one side of me, and Goyle on the other, thankfully separating me from Pansy.

"So have you two had any luck getting into the forest?" Draco asked as he ate.

I shook my head. "No, that gamekeeper keeps catching us before we can get in."

Draco snorted as Crabbe and Goyle both grunted in agreement. "Great big oaf! I don't even see why he's at Hogwarts in the first place. It's not like he does anything important."

I just shrugged. "I guess Hogwarts needs a keeper of keys."

"Draco's right," Lenora chimed in. "We don't need him here. Especially if all he does is stop us from going in the forest."

"I bet I could sneak past him," Draco boasted.

"Yeah, maybe next time we try, you can come with us," I suggested, eagerly.

Lenora, however, chuckled. "Yeah right, Draco. You would be too scared to go in the forest."

Draco pounded his fist on the table. "I most certainly would not. Nothing frightens me!"

At that very moment, there was a loud bang. Simultaneously, we all turned our heads to the door to see Professor Quirrell rushing down the tall, screaming, 'Troll escaped from the dungeon' at the top of his lungs before passing out. There was a brief moment of utter silence, before cries of panic filled the room. Despite Draco's last comment, I'm pretty certain he was the first to start screaming.

As Dumbledore ordered us to remain calm and follow our prefects to our dormitories, Lenora looked at me eagerly. "Want to go see the troll?"

Beads of sweat formed on my head, my heart beating heavily, but I still managed a nod.

Draco just gaped at us, bewildered. "Are you two mental! That thing will smash both of you!"

"I though nothing frightened you, Draco," Lenora sneered before heading to one of the side doors to sneak off.

As I started to follow, Draco hollered, "Goyle, grab her!"

The next thing I knew, I had been thrown over Goyle's shoulder as we followed the other Slytherins.

"Goyle, put me down!" I demanded, uselessly, as I turned my eyes to Lenora and screamed, "Lenora, don't you dare go without me!"

She turned around to grin, slyly, before disappearing behind the door. We were soon led out doors down the hall towards the Slytherin dormitory. I still dangled over Goyle's shoulder. Struggling seemed to do me no good. He was just too big, not to mention quite strong.

As soon as we came to a stop to reform our line, I said, "Goyle, let me down. I promise I won't run away."

"Okay," he muttered before dropping me to the ground.

The moment my feet hit the floor, I made a mad dash away from the line, ducking low so the prefects would not spot me.

"Goyle, you dim-wit!" I heard Draco's voice stammer. "Why did you listen to her?"

Fortunately, no one followed me. The castle hallways appeared empty, now. It was dead silent in a spooky sort of way. My breath grew short and rapid with anxiety. Where exactly is this troll?

"Lenora!" I called our desperately. "Lenora, where are you?"

It suddenly seemed to dawn on me the seriousness of this situation. What if the troll already got hold of Lenora? I don't even want to think of the state she could be in now. Why couldn't Goyle have grabbed Lenora instead of me? I wouldn't have gone in to see the troll without her.

I heard loud footsteps so I hustled into the girl's restroom, running into Hermione Granger, who appeared to be in tears.

"Why are you crying," I asked breathing heavily. "Did you see it?"

She wiped her eyes, looking at me oddly. "Did I see what?"

"There's a, uh… there's a…" As I watched her face turn sheer white, my heart dropped down to my stomach. "It's right behind me, isn't it?"

Her eyes wide in shock, Granger barely managed a nod. I anxiously turned my head to see this hideous dull skinned creature, standing with its head to the ceiling, holding I giant wooden club.

The troll clumsily swung its club at us. I ran into the bathroom stall, while Hermione hid underneath one of the sinks.

"Do you know any spells that might help?" I called out from the stall.

The troll swung the club, slamming in on the sink. Fortunately, it was slow enough to give Granger the opportunity to quickly crawl under another one.

"There's expelliarmus, a disarming charm," Granger panted. "You could try it to get rid of his club."

"Alright then." I stepped out of the stall, and pointed my wand at the troll. "Expelliarmus!"

Nothing happened.

"Expelliarmus!" I bellowed even louder but did not have any more luck.

Unable to think of anything else, I jabbed my wand into the troll's foot in hopes of causing it pain. The troll did not even flinch. It seemed all I did was make it angry. The next thing I knew, the club slammed right into my gut, sending me flying across the bathroom, landing hard on my back.

"Okay, that was really stupid," I muttered to myself, my hand on my stomach, as I tried to sit up.

The troll slowly trudged right up to me, swinging its club back for another swing. I tried to move but my body had not yet recovered from my hard landing.

Just as I thought both Granger and I were doomed, I heard the bathroom door burst open and in came Potter and Weasley. They tried to distract it, calling it names and throwing various items on the floor at the troll's head. The troll, unresponsive to this, still slowly prepared its attack. Potter then somehow managed to leap up and wrap his arms around the troll's neck, sticking his wand up its nostrils. Then Weasley used the spell we had just learned in Charms, Wingardium Leviosa, to raise the club from the troll's hand. It dangled up in the air a few seconds, before dropping down on the troll's head, knocking it to the ground, unconscious.

I shifted my eyes between the three of them unsure of what to say. Should I thank Potter and Weasley? They did just save my life though I pretty certain they came here for Granger. I bet they would not have bothered if it was just me.

Potter came up to me, still shaken, but asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." I nodded, breathing heavily. "Um, tha…"

The bathroom door burst open yet again. This time it was Lenora.

Lenora's face fell, as she observed the unconscious troll on the ground. "Ah, man! What did I miss?"

I gaped at her in disbelief. "Where were you this whole time? I came in here looking for you! I thought the troll had already smashed you, or something like that!"

Lenora opened her mouth but before she could reply, the door once again came open, and this time, Professor McGonagall rushed in followed by Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell.

"Explain yourselves, all of you," Professor McGonagall demanded in rage. "What on earth were you thinking, going up against the troll? Why are you not in your dormitories?"

Both Potter and Weasley both opened their mouths, but Granger took the blame, saying she went up against the troll on her own, thinking she could stop it and Potter and Weasley came to her rescue. I have to admit, I am impressed. I didn't think Granger had it in her to lie to a teacher.

Professor McGonagall looked at me, curiously. "You came here, too Miss Chamberson, looking for Miss Granger?"

I briefly looked at Granger, who just shrugged and nodded. "Um, yes, sure. I noticed she wasn't in the Great Hall and remembered seeing her come in here earlier, so I came here to warn her."

McGonagall raised her brow, unsure whether or not to believe me, but there was no proving otherwise. She then took five points from Granger, but awarded Potter and Weasley each five points. At Professor's Snape's reminder, she gave me five points for Slytherin even though I really did not do much to help against the troll.

We were then ordered to return to our dormitories. Lenora demanded the details of our encounter with the troll. As I became engrossed in my own story, my annoyance with Lenora had quite evaporated. At least this would make an interesting story to tell my fellow Slytherins were we return to our common room.