With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.
Letting out a sharp exhale as he and Ron exchanged relieved looks, they backed away from the door and turned to leave, Harry wondering if they should split up to try find the girl's bathroom - and Hermione - faster.
Shrugging the idea off, he started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner Harry heard something that made his heart stop in his chest - a high pitched, petrified scream - coming from the chamber they'd just locked up.
"Oh no," Ron said beside him, looking pale and terrified.
"Hermione," Harry finished weakly.
He wanted nothing more than to run back to Gryffindor Tower and hide in his dormitory, but Harry still turned and sprinted back down the corridor, hearing Ron's footsteps behind him as his momentum slammed him into the bathroom door. Scrambling to twist the key back, he threw the door open and darted into the room, freezing as he took in the cowering Hermione and the advancing troll.
Looking to Ron, who was standing paralyzed in the doorway, Harry snatched up a broken tap and hurled it at the troll with a shout of "CONFUSE IT!"
The troll faltered as the tap hit the wall, Harry grabbing a metal pipe and throwing it just as the troll turned to blink its mean little eyes at him. They stared each other down for a moment before the troll let out a roar and raised the club in its hands, shambling towards Harry as he grabbed more rubble from the ground and threw it at the troll.
"COME ON HERMIONE! RUN!" Harry yelled as he threw another pipe that bounced off the troll's thick skull uselessly. "RUN!" he repeated as he spotted the bushy-haired girl between the troll's legs, only for her to keep mouthing the same words over and over again as she hid in the corner.
As the troll brought down its club, Harry shot forward, sliding beneath its legs and rushing towards Hermione. "Come on!" he hissed as he grabbed two handfuls of her robes, trying to pull her out of the corner and towards the door, "We can make it!"
"Ha- Harry?" Ron's voice squeaked out, making him glance over his shoulder to see the troll looking between his club and the redhead still standing in the doorway. "A li- a little help mate?" the boy whimpered, standing frozen in place as the troll started towards him.
Not having the time to come up with a proper plan, Harry did something incredibly brave yet stupid.
Releasing Hermione, he sprinted across the bathroom and jumped, praying with all his might that the wind might catch him again, relief flooding him as he felt himself being lifted into the air and thrown at the troll's back. Wrapping his arms around its neck as the breath was knocked from his lungs; Harry hung on tight as the troll was rocked forward with the force of the throw, beginning to flail its arms and club in an effort to knock Harry off its back.
As Harry clung to the troll as tightly as he could, he found himself asking a very important question…
What now?
Catching quick glimpses of Ron pulling his wand out, Harry barely had time to react before the troll threw itself into the wall, the shock of the move knocking Harry off its back and dropping him onto the sinks below them. Yelping out a shout as he felt pain flaring sharply in his arm, bouncing off the sinks and hitting the ground, Harry clutched at his limp arm as Hermione materialized out of nowhere to pull him away from the still flailing troll.
To Harry, the world began to slow down. He could hear the roars of the troll as it swung its club around and destroyed sinks and cubicles in its anger, he could even see the troll moving slower than it should have been, as if in slow motion. He could hear the panicked screams of Ron, the boy's wand still held out in front of him, even though the boy hadn't moved an inch from where'd he'd been standing the whole time. He could hear Hermione speaking rapidly, the words blurring as she shook him, tears streaming down her face as he tried to translate what she was saying.
Raising his working hand at the warm feeling on the side of his face, Harry touched his cheek and pulled his hand away to peer at it, not reacting at all to the sight of the blood coating his fingers.
Oh…
He was in shock then… he should have recognized it, he'd gone into shock a couple of times before Hogwarts, back when his Uncle or Dudley and his gang would hit him in the head a lot.
Harry could feel his heartbeat… slow and calm despite the carnage around him, slow and calm despite the way the troll was turning to face them, slow and calm despite the way the troll's eyes narrowed at them and it roared.
Whoa… Harry was really wet… looking down at the blood dripping from his face and into the water flooding the bathroom floor, pouring from the broken sinks and toilets, Harry watched as the drops swirled and faded in the water as they were diluted.
He could feel something familiar beginning to bubble in his chest…
The troll was raising its club in both hands, lifting it above its head to bring it down on them. Hermione and Ron were screaming, the bushy-haired girl standing between him and the troll as if she could stop it.
Pressure was building up beneath his skin, like something was just bursting to get free…
A new voice had joined in the screaming, Harry's eyes flicking from the troll to the horrified looking Professor McGonagall standing too far away to help them. And then Harry could hear nothing, nothing beyond the rumbling roar that was echoing around the violently shaking room. And all he could see, was nothing beyond the club that was coming down on him and Hermione
Harry's hand reached out, a single drop of water falling from the ceiling to land in his palm…
And then everything stopped, Harry staring up at the frozen club for a moment before the pressure within his body exploded outwards.
White filled Harry's vision for a moment as porcelain went everywhere, water pulling at his body as his hand remained stretched out. The troll letting out a shocked bellow as its own club was thrown back into its chest, the power dancing around the room following instructions Harry didn't even realise he was giving, pushing the troll away from him as wave after wave of power surged from Harry's body and formed a faintly visible wall of energy between him and the troll.
Barely hearing the angry noises the troll was letting out, Harry focused his full attention upon the wall, somehow aware of everything his power was coming in contact with as if it were an additional limb that he could control not only at will, but without conscious thought.
Pushing the wall forward as Hermione collapsed against his chest, Harry heard someone shouting behind the wall as it slowly moved towards the troll, the rippling power resisting the beasts attempts to move through it as though the troll was trying to push through flowing water.
A flash of light almost blinded him, his control of the wall faltering for a moment as he stared at the glowing silver-blue cat that was running towards him.
"Harry".
Performing a double take as he tried to regain his slipping control, Harry stared at the cat as it continued to speak with the voice of Professor McGonagall.
"Listen to me Harry. You need to keep the wall up for as long as you can. The other Professors and I are subduing the troll, but we can't do that if you're at risk," Professor McGonagall's voice explained through the cat, "Keep the wall up, at full power, for as long as can. Get yourself and Hermione into a corner, and then give the wall all you have".
Despite the way Harry was still trying to juggle the shield and processing what McGonagall had said, Hermione was able to leap into action automatically, beginning to drag him into the opposite corner from the troll's majorly blurred form by the back of his robes. Taking care not to either lower his arm or bump his injured one, Harry allowed her to move him and tuck herself against his chest, as he closed his eyes and began to concentrate.
He didn't know how to keep the wall up or how to keep it at full power, all he could do was keep it as the wall his accidental magic had shaped it into.
Suddenly, Harry was remembering something Professor McGonagall had told him. That he needed to 'will' the transfiguration to happen a little less and to focus on what the 'way' was. She had explained that if a wizard had the will, the magical power to transfigure something, and they had the way, the mental image of it turning from one form to another, then they could transfigure anything. With transfiguration, a wizard needed to get the exact right amount of will and the exact process of the way to make something transform. The better one got at transfiguration, and the better they got at instinctively controlling their will and their way.
After all, according to Professor McGonagall, 'If there's a will, there's a way'.
Keeping his eyes closed, Harry focused on the image of a wall of thick rippling blurred energy, building it up in his mind as strong as he could. Then he poured all of his will into it, believing with everything he had that the wall would prot- a sharp gasp of pain exploded from his mouth as something slammed into the wall, his eyes snapping open to see flashes of spell-light through the wall, as the troll threw itself at the shield in an effort to get away from the magic.
As a whimper burst from Hermione's lips, Harry's concentration faltered for a split second as he focused on her before he could stop himself, the troll letting out a victorious noise as the wall of power weakened enough for it to start pulling itself through. The sight of the troll tearing through his wall made Harry's concentration get even worse, the troll able to get halfway through before he heard the echoes of his name being shouted from the other half of the bathroom.
Snapping himself out of his fearful daze, Harry brought every inch of concentration he had down upon the troll, his hands spreading before he brought them in together, the power copying his hands and rolling in to engulf the troll in a pillar of power.
As the troll thrashed about and tried to escape, Harry concentrated on solidifying the power, hardening it so the troll wouldn't be able to move, let alone to fight. If he could just freeze the troll in place for a second, then the teachers could-
Harry let out a strangled choking gasp as an electrifying trickle of energy surged through his body, not needing to open his eyes as he felt the troll freezing in place before a sickening crunch filled the air, Harry's power collapsing in on itself and taking the troll with it.
As Hermione let out a shocked gasp, Harry slowly opened his eyes to stare at the troll as his power withdrew back into his body, the troll's lifeless body falling forward and hitting the floor limply.
"Huh," Harry exhaled weakly, his head falling to the side to land on Hermione's shoulder despite his best efforts to keep it upright. His eyelids drooping shut, Harry barely heard Professor McGonagall's voice giving orders before he passed out, willingly surrendering himself to the realm of sleep.
KINESIS
Based off DZ2's World in Motion challenge.
I'm not going to lie to you all, I'm a little hesitant about stories like this. Even though I was a bit of a late bloomer, I mentally matured a lot faster than the other kids in my year at school. Because of this, I don't really know how to write a child's POV without making them too mature, which is why I tend to avoid writing stories that beginning during/before 3rd year.
Unfortunately this idea hit me and wouldn't go away, so here it is!
I don't own Harry Potter.