Romania had overheard Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter talking unkindly about Hermione Granger. When he heard them, a frown graced his pale vampiric features and he was about to scold them harshly when he was nearly knocked over by Draco Malfoy.
"Heh. What is it now, Vampire Boy? Standing in out way to protect your poor, wimpy friend?" Draco taunted, smirking. Before coming to this school, he didn't think he would hate anyone more than he hated Hungary. But-surprise, surprise!-Draco proved him wrong.
Romania bit back a malicious reply- literally. Chomping down on his bottom lip as hard as he could, he turned away and stomped off, planning to yell at Harry and Ron later. This took immense amount of self control, which was quite the achievement for him.
Norway would be proud.
Speaking of Norway, he had suddenly appeared next to Romania. "Ignore him," the blue-eyed nation muttered. "He's a jerk. "
Was it his imagination, or did Romania see Norway twitch slightly?
No. It wasn't. Norway had twitched again.
"Something wrong?" the almost-albino boy asked, concerned. Norway eyed him skeptically, then, as if making a mental decision- maybe he was- he nodded and pulled the other boy close and whispered, "I'm sensing something unusual... But not unfamiliar. It's been... Bothering me," he admitted.
Hm... Something unusual, but not unfamiliar? It didn't ring a bell. Maybe a spirit Norway knew that had taken a solid form? Romania voiced out this suggestion, and Norway nodded thoughtfully and replied with a 'Might be'. They started talking in old Norse, so, even if there were people who knew Norwegian, they would not be able to understand a word.
Romania was so absorbed in the conversation that he didn't notice that he was about to walk straight into someone until he actually did it. Stumbling a little, he managed to right himself and pulled the person whom he had knocked down up. He apologized profusely, only shopping when Norway smacked the back of his head, annoyed.
The girl whom he had knocked down shyly introduced herself as Luna Arco, and she had unusual red eyes- like Romania's!
"You're Vladimir, right? The Romanian transfer student?" she asked, and Romania nodded. "I'm from Romania too."
Coincidence? I think not, the nation thought to himself. He grabbed Norway's shoulders and pushed him in front of him, and the blue-eyed nation whipped around and elbowed him in the ribs. Romania howled dramatically, clutching the place where Norway had hit him, and started to sob. "Lukas, how could you do this to me?! I thought you were my friend! I should have known!"
Norway stared at him coldly. "Yes, you should have known," he agreed, his face serious, and he stretched out his arm and helped Romania up. The girl, Luna, was staring at them, slightly shocked, before she (probably) realized they were just acting.
"U-um..." she stuttered shyly. "Do you have any idea where Phoenix went? I have to apologize to her..."
Romania shook his head slightly regretfully, and she sighed a little and walked away.
Speaking of Phoenix, she was currently at Liesl Zwingli's house, writing a letter. In another room, Liesl Zwingli herself was sending a recording to a certain blonde Slytherin.
Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girl's bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds.
A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stuffed, The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.
Harry was just helping himself to a baked potato when Professor Quarrel came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared at he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll- in the dungeons- thought you ought to know."
Then he sank to the floor in a dead faint.
There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence. Alfred had been unusually silent and pale, and Arthur's green eyes were wide. He had locked eyes with the Romanian transfer student.
"Prefects," Dumbledore rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
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! "
"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Don't ask me! Well, ask me, but I have no idea! Wait... I do! Hey, guys, where's Artie?" Alfred replied, looking around. Tino prodded him and whispered into his ear, his face anxious. Alfred's face turned from confusion to shock to horror, but before he could say anything, Tino raised a finger to his lips and shook his head.
They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs (Matthew included), Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.
His head jerked to face Ron's his green eyes wide. "I've just thought- Hermione."
This statement made Alfred and Tino stop in their tracks, and a few people accidentally bumped into them.
Ron was mystified. "What about her?"
"She doesn't know about the troll."
Ron bit his lip, apparently thinking it out. Alfred and Tino exchanged worried glances.
"U-Um... Harry, it's alright! She's be fine! Trolls are really stupid," Tino winced as if saying that physically hurt him, "So she won't get hurt. P-plus Lukas is handling the situation so there's really no need to-"
"How can we trust a Slytherin to save a Gryffindor?!" Ron snapped, and Tino fell silent, glaring at Ron. Alfred just looked confused and said that he would join them in their 'Quest To Save The Damsel Named Hermione'.
Ducking down, the three (Tino wasn't going along) joined the Hufflepuffs gong the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girl's bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they head quick footsteps behind them.
Ron thought it was Percy and immediately pulled Harry and Alfred behind a large stone griffin. Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"What's he doing?" Harry hissed. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"
"Search me," Ron replied in a painful whisper.
Quietly as possible, the trio crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps. Alfred told the other two that he was heading for the third floor, so they probably would not be caught. Ron held up his hand to his nose and flapped it, asking if they smelled something.
Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seemed to clean. He heard Alfred mutter something about 'Singapore's public toilets' (1) .
And then they heart it- a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed- at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows- which Alfred did surprisingly well- and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.
It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was dull granite gray, it's great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on to like a coconut. It had short legs as thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It 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 it's long ears, making up its tiny wind, then slouched slowly into the room.
"The key's in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."
"Good idea," Alfred said nervously. "I'll do it."
He edged towards the open door, looking like he was praying the that the troll would not come out of it. With one great leap, Alfred managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it. He punched the air and flashed them a 'V'.
Flushed with their victory, the trio started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop- a high, petrified scream. And it was coming from the chamber they'd just chain up.
"Oh no!" said Ron, as pale as the Bloody Baron.
"It's the girl's bathroom!" Harry gasped, his eyes as wide as saucers. Alfred, whose mind worked much faster than them, was already running when Ron and Harry both understood what that meant-
"Hermione!"
Wheeling around, they sprinted back to the door and flung it open, then they ran inside. Hermione Granger 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.
Harry desperately told Ron to confuse the troll, and he obeyed, seizing a tap and throwing it against the wall as hard as he could. The troll stopped a few feet away from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. It's mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
"Oy! Pea-brain! Snot skin!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he was about to throw a metal pipe at it when a hoarse voice shouted, "STOP!"
The door slammed off it's hinges and landed with a thud on the floor. Harry, Hermione, Ron and Alfred (who was in the process of pulling out a toilet seat from the bowl) was stunned as Lukas Bondevik, the Slytherin transfer, rushed in, panting. Behind him was Arthur Kirkland and Vladimir Lupei.
"Oh, here to get the troll to beat us up, huh?" Ron said snidely, but Lukas paid him no attention. He turned to the troll and looked at it sternly, as if he were a mother and the troll was his naughty, six year old son.
"What have I told you about going on rampages?" he asked, wagging his finger at it.
Everyone except the new arrival's jaw hit the ground. Arthur simply looked amused while trying to catch his breath, and Vladimir looked at the broken sinks with concern.
Lukas started to speak in another language, which sounded a lot like English, yet not. Harry assumed it was Norse, since Lukas was from Norway. His green eyes went bigger when he saw Lukas fold his arms and cock an eyebrow, as if challenging the troll to reply.
Ron looked at him in awe. Just who was this guy?
Harry suddenly remembered about Hermione. He spun around to help her up, but Alfred was already doing just that. He resorted to saying, "What's happening?" as dumbly as possible. Vladimir winked and lifted a finger to his lips.
Suddenly, a thud made Harry's head jerk towards the troll. Massaging his neck, he was both shocked and amused to find the troll sitting down, looking guilty, as if mumbled back in some unusual words. Lukas said something in a threatening tone, and the troll looked horrified. "Nei! Ikke Danmark!" it pleaded.
At this, Harry heard Arthur chuckle quietly to himself.
A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made all of them look up. The troll gave a mighty roar, but Lukas said something and the 'mighty beast' was reduced to a huge, sniffling pile of guilty cells. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrel bringing up the rear. Quirrel took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.
Snape and McGonagall looked shocked. Harry knew that, if he were them, he would have worse reactions. Now, Lukas was almost lovingly (was that even possible for that guy?) stroking the troll, who had bent down.
"L-Lukas Bondevik, what is this?!" McGonagall spluttered, her eyes wide with shock. Snape looked surprised as well... but there was a hint of pride(?) in his eyes. But it vanished so quickly Harry wasn't sure it was there in the first place. Lukas turned to Professor McGonagall with slightly cold eyes, and lifted his fingers to his lips.
"If you talk to loudly, he will be startled and scared," he said calmly.
McGonagall apparently decided it was useless to interrogate him and rounded on Arthur and Vladimir. "I would like an explanation!" she demanded, making sure her voice was lowered.
Vladimir coughed a little and started explaining that "Lukie is friends with a troll spirit and apparently mister Troll knows this Troll, who isn't quite bright, so he decided to interfere before the others could hurt him".
Wait. What?!
Before Harry could think about the subject any longer, though, Snape had approached him. "I would like you to explain why exactly you were here, in the first place," he said coldly, his black eyes flashing, his tone unlike Lukas' had been. Harry suddenly felt small and vulnerable. He looked around, only to see Ron looking as guilty as he felt and... Alfred wasn't there.
That traitor! Leaving them to face punishment?!
"Please, Professor Snape- they were looking for me," a small voice came out of the shadows. At this, everyone (even the troll) turned to look at the small figure in the corner of the room.
McGonagall looked both surprised and furious. "Miss Granger!"
Hermione lowered her eyes. "I-I went looking for the troll because I-I thought I could deal with it on my own- you know, because I've read all about them."
Ron dropped his wand. Harry couldn't believe his ears. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?
"I-if they hadn't found me, I'd be dead by now. They arrived just before it was about to finish me off. They distracted it long enough for Lukas, Arthur and Vladimir to get here. Lukas dealt with the troll just as you got here. Really, the only reason that I am alive is because of them," the brown-haired girl said earnestly.
McGonagall seemed to buy the lie, though, because she hesitated slightly. "Well... in that case..." she looked around everyone in the room. "Miss Granger, you are a foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"
Hermione hung her hair. Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.
"And you three!" the woman rounded on the transfers. "Do you know how dangerous it was?! Friend or not, it could have hurt you. Trolls are not very intelligent. You are lucky you were able to soothe it."
Lukas' face was almost angelic in the light, his face expressionless like a doll's. "It is also possible for you to communicate with him in Norse, Professor McGonagall. You could have just discovered that he was lost."
The two, student and teacher, were locked in an intense staring contest, and Lukas, surprisingly, won. Harry was shocked to think that a Slytherin of all people would help them.
McGonagall sighed, surprisingly admitting defeat. She dismissed them, taking ten points from Gryffindor then adding fifteen points. She also added 5 points to Slytherin (for Lukas) and 5 points to Ravenclaw (for Vladimir). When Harry and Ron reached the portrait, they were surprised to see Alfred and Tino there.
'I told you so,' Tino mouthed, and Alfred smirked. Harry glared at him, but Alfred only laughed The American skipped-yes, skipper-over to Harry and whispered, "Today I felt like letting you be the hero. Don't thank me."
Harry gave Alfred the evil eye, but nonetheless accepted his explanation. The common room was very noisy, however, so Harry had to shout to be heard. Harry noticed a figure standing in a corner- Hermione. Harry and Ron cautiously approached her. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said, "Thanks," and hurried off to get plates.
However, Harry and Ron did not see Alfred send Hermione a broad grin and a wink.
Minerva McGonagall shivered. She was now in her office, alone, like always, and she was running over the past events in her head. How could Lukas Bondevik have a troll, much less a troll spirit as a friend? Trolls were known for their wild, unintelligent, untameable behaviour, yet he had...
Maybe... they taught that in Norway...?
No. Impossible. That boy was a first-year. But still... Minerva shivered, remembering his cold gaze and intense, deep blue eyes which both seemed so dull yet so alive. She had heard a saying before. 'A creature's true age shows in its eyes,' it went. And Lukas Bondevik's eyes looked hundreds of years old.
What exactly was he...? A better question- who were the transfer students? Why were they so... mysterious?
Whatever the case was, Minerva was determined to find out. They could be a threat to the school. A threat to Dumbledore.
Oh. And Minerva had yet to find out where that Hufflepuff girl, Phoenix or whatever her name was, went. It was impossible to apparate in and out of the school grounds. So how did she...? More questions seemed to pile up the more she looked into it. Suddenly, she concluded that some matters were simply not meant to be looked into. She knew this.
Because if they were, one would always end up regretting it.
Omg! 3000+ words! I hope you're satisfied after the long, long, long, long break! My exams are over! YOO HOOOOOOOOOO~ HAPPY HETALIA DAY EVERYONEEEEEEE! IT'S TOMORROWWWWWW! :DDDDDDDDDDD
(1): Some of Singapore's public toilets are extremely dirty and smelly. I should know. I'm been to plenty of them. Eugh!
The troll said 'Nei! Ikke Danmark!' which I believe is Norwegian for 'No! Not Denmark!" Norway threatened him to send him to Denmark, if you wanted to know.
Oh, and I have to thank Verity of Paradise-chan and ithefantasticfanatic-senpai for all their lovely comments! Thank you so much! Sorry, no Singa in this chappie :( I hope everyone likes her, and that no one feels that she's useless or too Mary-sue.
Luna Arcos belongs to AnimeGmr101 who has kindly allowed me to include her OCs in this story! Check out hers- I'm beta-ing it! Her story is called 'Black Magic In The House!'
And, as always, review! There's currently 63 reviews, and there's only 10 chapters (well 11, including this one)! You guys are awesome! :D