With all important questions regarding Fluffy and the corridor answered, it wasn't long until detentions were over as the repairs to the castle were finished. Much to the entire group's pleasure, this meant that they were free of detentions with plenty of time to get all their work done ahead of time so they could relax and enjoy as the Halloween Feast approached. Harry and Penny's tendency to wander between tables at meal times led to rather large groups gathering for study and practice wherever there was space, meaning that Harry, Ron, and Neville were easily keeping up in terms of spell practice, as well as leading to the entire group being familiar with three of the four common rooms. While the Ravenclaw common room had its own library to aid in studying, this actually caused problems for the group as Hermione - among others - was easily distracted by the siren call of 'new books'. As a result, most of the work got done during study sessions in the Hufflepuff common room, as it was relatively easy to find a quiet spot there, and the older years were always happy to answer questions even if they weren't directly related to work. As a result of all this, Charms class Halloween morning passed without incident as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville were all able to pull off the levitation charm...as was the entire rest of the class. Professor Flitwick had been so pleased at this result that he had declared the evening free of homework, encouraging them all to enjoy the Halloween Feast.
On entering the Great Hall for the feast, the entire group were startled as swarms of live bats fluttered about, swirling around students and squeaking excitedly to add to the ambience, easily dodging floating candles and pursuing jack-o-lanterns. Taking their seats with their Houses, they waited for the feast to begin...at which point Penny repeated her antics from the Sorting Feast, though this time to amusement rather than shock. Some of the students even actively moved dishes and the like back and forth as she raced across the table, whether to give her an extra challenge or because they were already that blase about such things was impossible to determine. Once she plopped herself into Harry's lap for snuggles, however, the laughter of all gathered slowly shifted to discussion of the foods available as everyone tried a bit of everything, eager to enjoy themselves.
Halfway through the first course, however, Penny started squirming in Harry's lap. "Something wrong, Penny?" he asked worriedly.
Penny blushed brightly. "Gotta run," she offered quickly. "I probably should have stayed away from the gumbo. As good as it was, I think I drank too much." With that said, she gave Harry a quick nuzzle before leaping from his lap and dashing out the doors, the noise of her passage drawing attention and indulgent laughter.
"...what?" Harry asked, turning to Ron, Hermione, and Neville, hoping one of them could explain.
"Guess her heightened metabolism from being a squirrel cuts both ways," Ron allowed with a serious seeming nod, his attitude somewhat marred by the mouthful of food he talked through.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Boys," she grumbled under her breath.
She was about to say more, but the doors to the Great Hall once more burst open. "Troll!" Professor Quirrel screamed out as he raced up to the High Table. "Troll...in the dungeons...thought you ought to know..." On his last word, his eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped to the floor.
As the Hall began to go into an uproar, Harry shot to his feet. "Penny," he stated worriedly, his eyes wide. While the noise was still loud, he turned and dashed for the doors. Realizing his concern, Ron and Neville quickly chased after. Hermione stopped long enough to tell Fred and George as she raced by them, only for them to tell the other members of the Quidditch Team before following...
As Dumbledore fired off bursts of firecrackers from his wand to get silence, he stared at the much reduced numbers in the Hall. "Prefects! Where are the first years?" he demanded worriedly.
"Penny Wyrm went to the bathroom before the announcement about the troll!" Percy called out as he skidded to a halt at the doors. "Harry went to warn her, and just about everyone else did too, just in case she went to a different bathroom. I'll be right back as soon as I'm certain my brothers haven't gotten themselves killed, Headmaster!" With that, he dashed out as well...soon followed by several Hufflepuff upper years led by Cedric Diggory.
By the time Dumbledore had his mouth open to object, the rest of the students had followed along, though whether from continued panic about the troll or the desire to help was impossible to determine. "...bugger..." he muttered instead before racing for the doors himself, the rest of the teachers following behind him.
Penny idly hummed a tune to herself as she finished her business, flushing the toilet once she'd fixed her robes. She'd have to take the time to wash her hands before rushing back to Harry to give him more hugs, but that shouldn't take too long. She'd still be thorough, and she'd wait to start racing on all fours until she was out of the bathroom. It was only sanitary, after all.
Hearing noise outside her stall, she shrugged. "Guess I wasn't the only one who needed the loo?" she asked as she opened her stall. Before she had a chance to look up, instincts kicked in and she went full squirrel, dashing out of her robes with her wand clutched in her teeth just before the troll's club smashed down on top of her, instead breaking the toilet and stall and spattering her robes with all manner of nasty. "*Great!*" she chittered angrily in squirrel, not being human enough to speak English at the moment. "*Now I'm going to have to get a new set of robes before I can go give Harry more cuddles! Do you have any idea-*" Whatever she'd meant to squeak at the troll stopped as she ducked another swing of the club, focusing instead on keeping from being squashed.
"Penny!" Harry yelled out as he dashed into the bathroom, slipping as he caught sight of the troll and sliding forward between its legs as it turned towards the sound. As the troll leaned forward to try and grab him, Harry pointed his wand up desperately. Magic shot out...and the troll's eyes shot open wide as he - apparently - dropped his club and grasped at the area the magic struck, hopping up and down on both feet and whimpering.
"So that's how the Bludgeoning Hex works..." Harry marveled as he stared at his wand from his new position upside down against the back wall. Before he could say or do more, the troll rounded on him with murder in its eyes. Grabbing the club, the beast spun and charged, club pulled back to reduce Harry to a bloody smear.
Penny shifted just human enough to be able to hold her wand in one paw and speak while still keeping her full fur coat - she was less than half Harry's size like this - before dropping to land lightly over him, her wand raised. "Repente!" she cried out, thrusting her wand so the tip struck the swinging club just as she spoke.
With a sound like a spring, the club violently swung back the other way with an equal and opposite force to the initial swing, causing the troll to scream in pain as his shoulder was wrenched. Before he could do more, Fred and George could be heard shouting, "Bombarda!" The wall around the door blasted inward, revealing what looked like nearly the entire student body.
The resulting barrage of spells was deafening, both from the eruptions of magic and from the intermingled shouted incantations. It was impossible to tell what anyone was saying or casting, and any one spell would likely have not been enough to overwhelm a troll's magic resistance...but over 100 of them hitting all over in rapid succession was more than enough to send the troll flipping end over end to slam into the ceiling and slump into unconsciousness...and stay on the ceiling. Apparently, a good dozen or so of the spells were Levitation charms.
With all the racket, it wasn't long before the teachers arrived. While several stared at the gathered students and the blasted wall, Professor Snape moved to take in the entire situation before sighing and rubbing his brow. "I was under the impression her name was Penny Wyrm," he muttered under his breath, "not George Bailey." He pretended not to be pleased when several nearby Muggleborn and half-blood students rushed to suppress giggles.
Professor Sprout glanced towards Dumbledore. "Still not punishing students for demonstrating the qualities of their Houses?" she asked tartly, indicating the mess.
"I fail to see the benefit in consigning the entirety of several years of students to detention all at once," he grumbled as he rubbed his face with both hands. "We haven't enough staff to oversee them, for one thing."
"And for another, they're liable to take the wrong message from it," Professor Flitwick observed dryly. "Still, we can't let this go completely...can we?"
"Mebe just have them all clean up the mess together before goin' back to the Feast?" Hagrid offered uncertainly. "If'n we can't teach 'em not ta make a mess helpin' each other...teach 'em to clean up afterwards?"
"It will have to do," Dumbledore sighed, straightening himself as he prepared to straighten out the situation.