...
It didn't take him long to catch up to the girl. The girl herself had turned around on the spot as she blinked at the sight of him.
"Rodrick?"
"Uhh-" His mouth started, practically on instinct as his gaze turned around, taking in their surroundings. Just ahead of them, he could make out the aforementioned bathroom, though nothing else in sight. "Hello," His mouth eventually settled on, a sheepish expression on his face, though his eyes continued scouring their current location.
"...Hello?" Daphne remarked amused as she continued on her way. "I wasn't aware I needed a companion for this journey," The girl's attempt at a joke fell on deaf ears. Rodrick either not noticing it, or simply preoccupied.
"Well... You did say we were sharing a birthday?"
Daphne blinked at his response.
"...That's not at all what I meant when-"
Rodrick snorted, shaking his head in the process as he cut off whatever she'd been about to say.
"Just... Humor me?"
Daphne's head tilted the slightest at the words before the girl settled on for a shrug.
"Fine, but you might want to come up with an excuse for any wandering Professors,"
"Right... I'd go with needing the bathroom myself, but I am not sure I am actually allowed in that one," He eventually settled on replying as the two reached the entrance to the cubicles.
"...I shouldn't be long," Daphne stated sheepishly as she made to go inside, while he made to start pacing.
He idly considered the fact that whatever his nightmare had shown him, also could've come from inside the bathroom itself- as opposed to outside.
Either that, or he was overthinking everything in the first place.
...
His footsteps echoes were the only thing that filled the empty hallway. Every few minutes he'd find himself starting to pace, almost uncontrollably. His mind wandering back towards the fleeting nightmare he'd had. Every second of thought on the matter only causing his headache to grow further.
As it were right now, he could feel a steady, consistent, migraine growing.
Reflexively, he rolled the wand clasped inside his arm as he made another turn. his gaze once again taking in the blank hallway.
When the number of minutes he'd been waiting dredged into the double digits, he practically felt the weight slowly building. His senses, almost tingling, as if he was certain something was about to-
He almost jumped on his feet the moment he heard the bathroom door open, his gaze rapidly turning to stare at the girl responsible. Her peeking face the only thing in view, the rest of her hidden by the door.
"Rodrick? I... think you should go back to the hall, this might take a while..."
He blinked in response, somewhat flatfooted.
"You haven't broken the bathroom have you?" He deadpanned in response, earning a remarkable shade of red on the girl's face.
"Of course not! It's-" Daphne stopped herself for a moment, his own bemusement rising as he watched her rapidly look back into the room itself. "I am not sure I am at liberty to say..."
Before he could react to the words, he watched as the girl's face took on a more resolute expression.
"Look, I'll be at the hall soon, really, there's no need to wait up!"
He blinked again, this time accompanying the action by crossing his arms and raising one eyebrow.
"...You're going to be stubborn about this aren't you?" Daphne questioned, a single sigh escaping her mouth.
"Probably,"
"Great," Daphne muttered, mostly to herself. "Well, two heads are better than one I suppose," she added on, with another sigh to show for it. "Alright, give me a second. I'll see if she's willing to come outside,"
Before he could ask her to clarify what she meant, he watched as the girl promptly disappeared back inside the bathroom.
'She?' He couldn't help the thought, his mind wandering if the supposed stranger was the reason the girl was taking so long.
Idly turning around, and once again noting the empty hallway. He found himself pacing around, only this time his mind started wandering if the other girl in question was perhaps the reason Daphne lost an eye?
He really hoped that wasn't the case/
Still, it didn't take long for the girl's head to peek out the door, his own gaze turning towards and taking in her own irritated? Annoyed? Expression. He wasn't entirely sure what that crease was supposed to represent-
He watched as whatever the girl had been about to say disappeared. As instead of words, the girl's passive expression rapidly changed to shock and horror-
Before he could open his mouth, he suddenly found himself getting bodily pushed away from the door in general.
"Look out!" Daphne's frantic scream followed him as he found his gaze rapidly going upwards as his body fell backward. His eyes widened further as he took in the giant wooden club that had swept across where his head been moments earlier.
His heart beating faster by the second, his mind screaming at itself as it wondered where on earth a god's damn mountain troll had come from, Rodrick raised himself up to his full height. His gaze landing onto the girl currently frozen in fright, practically sitting right before him, his mind idly remembering the fact it was due to her pushing him out of the way-
Spinning on his heel, his body to the side of the massive troll's left. Rodrick shakily pointed his wand and-
"Expulso!" He cast off.
The spell, to his shock, on contact with the troll's skin, promptly backfired onto him. His back practically crashing into the wall to his left. Hurriedly, and with a groan, he silently cast off a Protego. His gaze once again widened as he watched the troll, instead of go for him, immediately aim its club at the frozen Daphne.
"Daph-" his mouth locked for a moment as he instinctively winced.
In the midst of having forgotten the resident magic resistance a troll was born with, he'd bit his tongue.
With perhaps seconds on the figurative clock, his gaze minutely taking how close the club was from hitting the girl directly-
Rodrick inwardly cursed as he raised his wand and cast off what, he was certain, was probably considered a very advanced piece of Transfiguration.
...
Daphne watched, frozen as she was, as the club meant for her promptly vanished, the force behind the blow knocking her hair back as her gaze took in the sudden hundreds of butterflies that filled and went past her vision. The troll's club, no longer in sight.
Before she could react to that, her gaze idly noting the troll's own sheer bemusement as it made to stare at its weapon-free hand. Daphne suddenly found Rodrick's hand holding onto her as he pulled her off the ground.
"Run!" He echoed out, her own body moving in sync as the two of them, to her shock, somehow ran past the troll before them without issue. Yet she couldn't help turning her gaze backward, Rodrick himself slowing down marginally as they made some distance between them and the troll.
Her heart beating rapidly, she found herself transfixed as she watched the troll's head slowly, almost mechanically, turn around. It's gaze scouring the hallway as it searched for them.
"Is- is it blind?" She whispered as the two of them came to a stop, not even halfway through the hallway.
"No," Rodrick's voice, despite his shaking arms, was surprisingly calm. The boy was currently just ahead of her, having turned back around to face the confused troll still searching for them.
"Ho-"
"Disillusionment charm," Rodrick answered her question, not even giving her the chance to ask. Her mind was admittedly too panicked to wonder how he knew such a thing in the first place. "It shouldn't be able to hear us either, there's no need to whisper."
She nodded at the words, relief filling her in the process.
"I can only hold one silencing charm, but unlike the Disillusionment charm, I can do it over distance, without contact."
Her eyes widened as her mind wondered if Rodrick was really planning to-
"Butterflies?" A third voice suddenly filled the hallway, the word coming out of the barely closed bathroom door. The sound immediately grabbing the giant, oversized troll's attention.
"Damn, was really hoping it wouldn't notice," The words, only cementing what she'd thought beforehand, promptly filled her with dread. "Stay here, or run, just don't follow," Rodrick stated, her own disagreement practically on the edge of escaping only to watch as he immediately made to run back inside.
For a complete stranger, given she hadn't actually told him who was crying inside that stall.
"Hey, you big brute! Over here!" Rodrick called out as his wand threw a reddish blur of magic towards it, earning the troll's attention in the process.
Daphne watched, her shaking hand finally reaching for the wand in her holster, as Rodrick ran directly towards the beast. With an intake of breath, she watched the troll pull one moss-covered arm back as it made for a punch- Her breath releasing as she watched Rodrick practically duck and slide to avoid the punch, his body slipping underneath its reach as he went into the bathroom itself. The barest hint of magic filtering her view as she realized he'd used a spell of sorts to speed himself up- Or rather modify the floor itself.
When the troll made to ram through the rapidly closing door- another spell thrown by Rodrick at that, Daphne raised her own wand and let loose a Flipendo at the beast. The whiff of air hitting the troll on its head before ricocheting into the ceiling above. The spell not so much as shifting the beast's attention.
...
Hermione blinked as she stared outside her stall, her mind idly wondering where the girl she'd been speaking to had gone. Her whimper had long since disappeared, the only evidence of any of it being the red-puffy eyes she was currently sporting.
Yet, just as soon as she'd made to check on the girl herself, she suddenly found her gaze filled with wandering butterflies.
That had somehow gotten into the girl's bathroom. In one of the furthest corners from any entrance to the outdoors.
"Butterflies?" She questioned, almost obliviously as she watched them flutter around the room.
Leaving her stall, she idly watched as the butterflies merely flew around in circles near one of the sinks. Her body practically piloting itself towards the creatures. Her gaze taking in the flurry of colour-
"Hey, Granger!"
Hermione blinked, almost jumping in the process as she watched a boy slip and slide into the bathroom he was not allowed in.
Embarrassed, angry, and somewhat wary. The girl's eyes briefly closed as she felt a storm of words ready to come out- Only for her words to get stuck in her throat as she watched the boy run towards her, and without a by your leave, promptly put his hand over her mouth, while his wand arm came up in a gesture for quiet.
Under normal circumstances, she would've of course slapped his hand off. Unfortunately, due to her mixed emotions, her earlier utterly terrible mood, and the loud banging noise that came from outside the door, well.
Needless to say, she nodded her head.
The boy thankfully immediately removed his hand, instead electing to grab hold of her left wrist as he waved his wand in an unfamiliar pattern, to clearly no avail as nothing seemed to happen. Just in time too for the cause of the door's rumbling sound to make itself shown. The massive bathroom door blew off its hinges as it fell.
She, on the sight of the giant, tree-like creature, was rightfully stunned.
And speechless for that matter, given she couldn't exactly speak.
To her surprise, however, despite the ceiling reaching troll before them, Rodrick felt it prudent for them to start moving towards it.
With a mild whimper, she tentatively followed in his footsteps.
She had of course considered outright slapping his hold off and letting him make the suicidal journey outside, but in light of the fact he probably wouldn't have even been there in the first place if not for her- and the fact the troll seemingly couldn't see them- She figured giving him the benefit of doubt would probably help them both survive until dinner.
It took her another moment to notice the fact her tears were free-falling down her face again, despite the lack of any obvious sadness filling her.
In hindsight, a lack of friends wasn't nearly as important as a lack of life.
Staring at the boy who'd evidently risked his life for hers, she idly wondered why it had never occurred to her to try to befriend the Slytherin.
...
He wasn't sure if he'd call it pure luck, or blame the troll's general simplicity. Either way, aside from a few close calls that wound in him having to use a few scent-free spells to get past the overgrown ogre. the two of them somehow found themselves out of reach and away from the troll's general vicinity.
The moment he'd so much as gotten past the blasted thing, he'd immediately started running. Granger, thankfully, following his lead without a moment missed.
His three, consecutive spells, immediately wore off as Daphne's sigh of relief was made evident on the sight of them. The three of them not wasting a beat as they continued their dash as far away from the beast as possible. Albeit after he covered the three of them in another disillusionment charm.
Just in case there was another troll around the corner or some other magical nonsense. The castle was certainly full of it.
He was starting to see why his grandfather had suggested he go Durmstrang in the first place.
"Is there any way-" Granger heaved, her red-eyes rescinding in their unhealthiness as a smile slowly made it's way on to her face. "-I can thank-"
Whatever the girl had been about to say however died down, as staring ahead of them, they found their gazes locked onto two first years running towards the danger. When Granger's worried gaze latched behind them onto the two as they passed them, Rodrick found himself inwardly cursing.
Just behind him, the two Gryffindor's coming to a freeze on the sight of the lumbering troll, Rodrick promptly stopped on his feet and undid the invisibility charm surrounding them. Daphne and Hermione a few steps late in copying.
Harry Potter was the first to react to his sudden reappearance, his worry for his fellow Gryffindor the first thing on the Dark Lord killer's mind given his shouting of her name-
His gaze snapped towards the troll in question, his eyes widening as he watched the giant promptly bend its legs at the knee-
"Have your reunion later! Run, goddammit!" He yelled out, to surprising success, given the two had quickly decided to listen.
He felt a tug on his sleeve, coming from Daphne. Yet, his own gaze and wand arm was pointed towards the troll about to make a leap.
Pouring as much magic as he could, he promptly cast off the spell in sync with the troll's leap. The magnified Expulso, not directly hitting it in the chest, but rather it's feet, rebounded off the ground and helped push it even further into the air with a veritable gust of air.
Instead of jumping over them, or onto them, the troll suddenly found it's head cracking the ceiling itself. It's body tilting the slightest backward as the lumbering brute crash-landed onto the floor, hard.
Not giving it a chance for a reprieve, despite the girl currently clamoring him to leave. Rodrick raised his wand again and cast off two more successive spells.
"Incarecerous!" The legion of ropes summoned out thin air promptly wrapped themselves tightly around the dazed troll. And, before it could attempt to rip through them, with ease. The second spell, a Transfiguration one at that, promptly crashed into them.
The ropes quickly transformed into magically hardened steel chains.
It took him a moment further before he noticed his ragged breathing. And a firm tug from his fellow Slytherin after that before he started moving again. The sounds of applause, and cheer from one of the late-arrivals ignored.
His mind idly noting the fact Granger had resorted to the same technique to get her housemates away from the scene as well.
Turning his gaze back ahead- his eyes widened at the brilliant flash of white light that rocketed towards him, visible distortions of light that showed a hidden caster briefly filled his peripheral, striking him on his stomach.
He cursed out loud, his uncontrolled yelp practically ignored as he felt the literal wind get knocked out of him. It took him a moment to even realize his body had been thrown backward with force, directly towards the troll itself.
Blinking his eyes open, his gaze landing on the troll right above him. He idly noted the fact the chains surrounding it had been magically broken, particularly obvious due to the disintegrating aspect the chains had suddenly taken up.
While he hadn't expected them to hold the beast for long... He was certain the only avenue it had for breaking them was through sheer force.
Not the Dark Arts.
Time itself, for a moment, seemed to slow down as he watched the troll raise its hands upwards in an attempt to crush him.
Making an attempt to move his body, his gaze widened as he found it almost too stiff to manage. His movements slowed long enough for the troll to connect.
All things considered, he felt it prudent not to hold back in that particular situation.
Forcing his wand to aim for the troll's face, just as its fists made their downward swipe, Rodrick shakily whispered the only spell he knew for certain would get past the troll's unbelievably tough hide.
"Imperio!"
It was admittedly telling that the moment the spell hit the troll, instead of taking over the beast's mind, he'd freed it.
His breath hitched as he watched the realization dawn on its face, while its trunk-sized hands stopped, mere inches from his own.
...
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