Chapter 3

Can there be girl trolls too?

Apologizing to someone for almost getting them killed was, as it turned out, quite a peculiar task to perform. Marley had been waiting patiently for a week now, never quite sure when she should say something. It seemed that Harry was never on his own, always followed by a flock of other Gryffindors, or just Ron, who had, at the very least, stopped giving the Slytherin girl weird looks whenever he passed by her. That's something. Thinking of her potions lessons, Marley had begun applying her calm, precise modus operandi in other facets of her life, one being the quest to talk to Harry.

At last, her endurance would be rewarded.

Flitwick's class was about as organized as a teenage bedroom, and about as smelly. Any spot not taken by chairs and tables was covered in stacks of mouldy books and/or loose parchment. The professor himself was in the process of building himself a podium, making use of his wand, of course. As this was occurring, the kids were exchanging sleepy chatter as they scavenged for seating options. The young witch wasn't sure why the boy sat so far removed from his friends, though it could not have been more convenient.

"Hi, Harry", she greeted him in a chipper tone as she sniped the empty spot next to his person.

"Marley.", he responded, sounding quite baffled, "Uh... when did you come in?"

"I came in with everyone else, silly.", she answered with a smile. An infectious expression, as Harry found himself smirking back.

"Listen...", Marley's tone shifted to a more serious expression, "I wanted to say sorry for... you know... the other night..."

Not at liberty to finish the story, Harry was thankfully smart enough to figure it out on his own, his eyes widening as he did so.

"Oh. You mean the...", he stopped himself mid-sentence. Rather than describing the three-headed-dog with words, Harry instead imitated it visually via using his own head and two hands, making a rather goofy expression. He did not notice it as such, reacting pretty embarrassed once he spotted Marley trying to hide a giggle under her hand. After most eyes in the room turned to the girl, she now too expressed embarrassment.

"I'm... sorry.", Marley whispered. The attention subsiding, the girl turned her focus back towards the boy. "But I mean it, Harry. Without me, we wouldn't have been in that... situation. I hope you're not mad at me."

To her shock, Harry's response was one of supreme befuddlement.

"Marley that was... not your fault.", he began, adjusting his glasses. "The stairs were moving either way. Please don't think I'm mad at you."

Marley sparkled with joy as his words reached her. Before she could give a bright-eyed answer, Flitwick actually had the genius idea to start his lesson.

"One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation, or just simply, the ability to make objects fly.", the Professor spoke with a clear voice, "Uh, do you have your feathers?"

Hermione raised hers in a quick jolt, annoying Ron next to her.

"Good. Now, uh, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practising, hm? The swish and flick. Everyone..."

"Swish and flick.", the room spoke in unison.

"Wonderful", the eccentric man proclaimed, "Now, remember to enunciate properly – Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go, children!"

With that, the practical part of their lesson commenced, everyone grabbing their wands with varying levels of confidence. The spell sounded through the room over and over, the two words overlapping on top of each other on repeat, until their class was filled to the ceiling with the levitation spell.

"Wingardium Leviosa!", Harry spoke amongst the crowd, his arm movement seeming rather rusty and stilted. Accordingly, his feather remained on the desk.

"Wingardium Leviosa.", escaped Marley's mouth, the words spoken clearly, but not coldly. Her hand moved with a certain kind of grace and elegance that Harry didn't expect to see from her, let alone anyone his age. Yet, despite his expectations, the feather drifted slowly upwards, as if lifted by an invisible hand. Rather than noticing the act itself, Harry's focus was magnetically angled towards Marley, whose joyful grin could not have been more luminous.

Flitwick suddenly appeared similarly excited, though not nearly as much as Harry or Marley.

"Well done!", exploded from his person, "Look everyone, Miss Verpe has done it!"

The rest of the class seemed to accept the revelation with varying levels of excitement, some clearly showing their distain, Draco Malfoy one of them.

"Wingardium Leviosar!", Ron blasted next to Hermione, cutting through the air with his magic tool as if attempting to swat a fly.

"Stop it, Ron!" she barked at him, utilizing a lot more anger than she had wanted to draw from. "You're going to poke someone's eye out. Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's pronounced 'Levio-sa' not 'Levio-sar'."

The boy quickly crossed his arms in a show of fury, Harry and Marley directing their attention at the two, the girl having allowed her feather to hover back down again.

"If you're so clever, why don't you do it?", he remarked in a muffled tone. Sparked by his provocative remark, the Gryffindor girl cleared her throat loudly before raising her wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

And with two simple words spoken, Hermione's feather too rose above her desk, the rest of the class enthralled once again.

"Uh!", Flitwick gasped, "And another one, right there! Very good job, Miss Granger! You and Miss Verpe ought to feel proud of yourselves."

Her hands fiddling with her wand, Marley shared a smile with Harry. Ron and Hermione did no such thing. The Weasley boy instead looked even more mad.

"I can show you if you want, Ron.", Marley threw across the classroom in an attempt to make herself useful, "You simply need to-"

"No thanks.", he shot back at her. Marley went quiet. Harry eventually got a hang of the spell himself, Marley's input more than useful.

"You're a great teacher.", he complimented her, forcing the girl to hide a blush in an eye-roll.

Ron himself found no such luck for the rest of the lesson.

All of Marley's quarrels seemed completely ridiculous now in hindsight. On their way to Professor McGonagall's class she would stick closely next to Harry, whom had his Gryffindor posse on the other side, the boys chattering as the two could not stop babbling with each other. Ron was a great friend, but it felt somehow reassuring to have someone to share things from the Muggle world with. The Weasley boy was also fortunately occupied with complaining about a myriad of things.

"You've never heard of Jackson Five?", popped out of Marley's mouth.

"I don't think so.", Harry responded with a hint of shame, "I only know Michael Jackson."

Marley let out a very obnoxious grunt that made the boy smile.

"Everyone knows Michael Jackson, Harry.", she coughed, "That doesn't make you special."

"I think Ron doesn't know him."

"That's not true. Ron?"

"What?", the boy gave back, not quite letting all of his anger out on her.

"You know who Michael Jackson is, right?"

Ron furrowed his brow alongside the others.

"No? Should I?"

Marley's jaw dropped rather comically, as Harry shrugged towards her with a 'I told you so'-look.

"That is just...", she stammered, "...that feels... odd."

With Ron scoffing at her comment, Marley sensed conflict brewing.

"Are you still mad at me?", she inquired softly. To her surprise, Ron reacted with something akin to offense.

"No. I'm not mad at you, Marley. I'm mad at Hermione."

The girl and Harry shared a quick look.

"Hermione? I thought you two are friends."

Ron scoffed in protest once more.

"No, we're not friends. She doesn't have friends. Probably because she's an annoying know-it-all, who can't help herself but to be better than everybody. She's dreadful."

Just as his rant subsided, someone else bumped into Marley as they passed by. The girl wanted to complain, but abandoned the idea quickly as she saw who it was.

"I think she heard you.", Harry surmised in a dour tone.

There in front of them, Hermione tried her best to hide the tears that had begun erupting, though accompanied by sniffles and quiet cries it was impossible not to catch. As she got further away, Harry and friends stopped briefly.

"You should apologize, Ron.", Marley demanded quietly. This time around Ron did get angry.

"That's none of your business.", he barked at her, "You're not a Gryffindor."

Despite her timid exterior, the girl cast a rather sinister frown at him.

"It wasn't nice.", she exploded, frightening even Harry. "And just because I'm Slytherin, doesn't mean I can't get involved when you're being mean to someone!"

He glared right back at her.

"I thought Slytherins talked less."

"And I thought Gryffindors aren't twats!"

Judging by his slight flinch, Ron was not used to hearing swear words from other students. Marley let out a disappointed sigh before she turned to the Boy who lived.

"I'm sorry, Harry."

Right after, to their surprise, Marley left.

Halloween rolled around pretty fast, and Harry's encounters with both Hermione and Marley became rarer and rarer, much to his dislike. Now he and the Weasley boy (and everyone else) sat at a marvellous array of all kinds of sweets that would probably give every single student a stomach-ache. The irony of it all was that Harry didn't feel like eating a single thing in front of him. Ron was stuffing his face as usual, though he had admitted to feeling guilty about the whole thing, having promised to apologize to Hermione today. Unfortunately, they didn't see her in class at all, which was a more than alarming circumstance when talking about Miss Granger.

"Harry, can I talk to you?", Marley blurted out behind him all of a sudden, having walked over to the Gryffindor table. The boy turned around, Ron doing so with a sad frown.

"Marley.", he began awkwardly, "How are you? I haven't heard from you in so long."

Though she found it more than pleasant, the witch did try to stay on topic.

"I'm doing fine, thanks. I wanted to ask you if you've seen Hermione today. She didn't show up to class earlier."

Harry and Ron shared an uneasy glance of equal concern.

"No. We haven't seen her either.", Harry responded.

"I know where she is.", a shrill voice sounded from the other side of the Gryffindor table. It took Neville a few seconds to finally talk to the girl. "Parvati Patil said that she wouldn't come out of the girl's bathroom. She'd been in there all afternoon, apparently. Crying."

An aura more potent than sour drops spread across them.

"The one of the ground floor?", Marley inquired. Neville nodded with an unsure expression, returning to his dining right after.

"I'll go ahead and see if she's okay.", the girl spoke to Harry, "Thank you."

Marley also gave Ron a quick look, not communicating anger, but more so disappointed. A shudder crept down his spine as he was reminded of his mother.

A short commute through dark hallways, illuminated briefly by dramatic thunder, which gave Marley the chills. Eventually, she would reach the fancy lavatory, finding it deserted at first glance. Perhaps she felt better and went back up to the common room.

"Hermione?", Marley softly spoke, hoping not to get a response.

"Go away.", sounded a weak voice from one of the stalls. Marley fiddled with her fingers as she stepped closer, hesitation looming over the young witch.

"Are you okay? I didn't see you in class today."

A haunting silence engulfed the room.

"No. Leave me alone..."

The pain in her voice apparent, Marley did the exact opposite. She would never abandon someone like this. She knew the feeling all too well.

"Is it okay if I sit down right here?", Marley spoke with courage in her heart. "I- I won't come in if you don't want me to."

After a short pause, Marley sat down regardless, quietly hugging her legs as she awaited Hermione's response.

"You can come in if you like.", the girl finally declared in defeat. Marley rose to the occasion, gently opening the bathroom stall door. Hermione cowered in the corner, hugging her legs as well. Her eyes were swollen, and her voice sounded raspy and dry.

"Hey.", Marley greeted her softly, fiddling with her hands again before sitting down on the floor, her legs crossed. She adjusted her skirt as Hermione finally turned her head.

"You should not sit down there.", Hermione criticized the other girl, "It's not very clean."

Marley shrugged in a nonchalant fashion, reassuring the young witch.

"Why are you here?", Hermione spoke up timidly.

"I could ask you the same question.", Marley responded with an empathetic smile.

"Because I don't have any friends. Didn't you hear the news?"

"Strange.", Marley commented, "And I always thought Harry and Ron were your friends."

Hermione's features darkened at that.

"I don't think they are.", the girl gave back. Right after, her brow furrowed. "Shouldn't you know? Aren't they your friends?"

"Well..." Marley started, "Harry and I get along well. I like him a lot. I don't know if we're... officially friends. Ron's a real piece of...", she cut off herself from using another swear word, "...work."

Hermione smiled though her sorrow at that.

"But I think he feels bad about it. Looked rather spooked when he saw me earlier.", she added.

"Do you think he'll apologize?", Hermione inquired with a hint of fear.

"I think so.", Marley answered. Right after, her face became slightly more focused. "But it doesn't matter if he apologizes or not."

Hermione appeared intrigued at this.

"Why are you hiding in the girl's bathroom just because Ron was a git to you? Why are you letting him hurt you so easily?"

The Gryffindor girl took a deep, shaky breath.

"Because he's right. I... I don't have any friends.", she paused, lacking the tears to adequately express her discomfort, "I was never really popular back in Muggle school. I thought Hogwarts would be different. But I'm still just a nerdy, annoying... know-it-all..."

As her depressing thoughts emerged, a deep sense of compassion overcame Marley.

"That's not true."

"Am I not trying to be better than everybody?"

"I mean...", Marley stumbled, "...maybe. But you are better than most people. I think you should be proud of yourself for that."

A bright smile slowly washed away Hermione's misery.

"And...", that's when a stroke of genius hit Marley, "...and you do have friends."

Now Hermione glared at her with scepticism.

"We can be friends.", Marley suggested with enthusiasm, "If... if you'd like to be my friend that is."

The brightest of reactions came from the young witch as she looked over to Marley.

"I'd love to be your friend.", Hermione spoke simply.

"That's great.", Marley gave back with an equally ecstatic smile, "How about we go back and get some of that Halloween deliciousness before Ron devours it all?"

The two girls finally got back up from the bathroom floor, exiting the stall hand in hand, having found that glimmer of hope that both needed-

As they exited and lightning struck, both stopped. A set of stumpy blue legs lied ahead. Moving their eyes upwards slowly, they found themselves staring at a horrendous creature, massive in size, standing upright with a large, wooden club grasped tightly in its hand. As it stared down both girls with empty eyes, Hermione and her new friend moved back slowly in unison.

"We need to distract it.", Marley whispered without moving her head. Hermione seemed less than convinced at the idea, dragging the both of them back inside the stall.

With a bloated growl, the troll swung its club, relieving almost all bathroom stalls of their wooden walls. Thankfully the girls were smart enough to duck, though not brave enough to not screech.

With a slamming sound, two set of feet dashed into the room.

"Marley! Hermione!", Harry howled, Ron appearing rather frightened to his right. Briefly, the Boy who lived met Marley's gaze as she tightly grabbed onto Hermione's arm.

"Come on!", she winced, both girls crawling away from the stalls as the troll smashed the rest of them. As both reached the sinks, Marley took out her wand, trying desperately to remember any spell – any at all – that might help them out. Meanwhile, as the troll stood over them with violent intent, is was abruptly bombarded by a barrage of wooden splinters thrown by Harry and Ron.

"Hey, pea brain!", Ron spoke like a battle cry, a particularly large piece hitting the troll in its face.

"Does the levitation spell work on living things?", Marley pleaded in desperation.

"I don't know if it does on creatures that are this big.", Hermione answered, before quickly shrieking in horror, the two girls separating as the troll's club demolished two sets of bathroom sinks. Harry, overwhelmed by his fear at seeing the two endangered, charged the troll at once, hanging onto its club as it pulled him upwards, the boy subsequently landing on its head, confusing the creature.

"Use a spell Harry!", Marley roared, having lost her own wand moments earlier.

"Which one?", the boy managed to yell before getting shaken back and forth by the massive being trying to remove him from its head.

"I don't know.", Marley admitted in shame.

A brief victory was achieved when the boy managed to stick his wand into its nose, though he was removed shortly after once the troll got enough brains to simply pick Harry up, holding him like a piñata as it tried to smash him with his club.

"Ron, do something!", he cried. Ronald had been, throughout the whole ordeal, just kind of been standing there.

"Like what?", the Weasley boy pondered.

"Anything!", came shouting from Harry and Marley simultaneously. Eventually he took out his wand, focusing on the troll's club as the ingeniously simple plan formed in his head.

"Swish and flick!", Hermione shouted, giving him the necessary confidence required.

"Wingardium Leviosa!", he pronounced. Correctly, mind you, as the next swing from the troll's club now failed as the weapon began hovering above its weirdly slim skull. Very shortly after, it fell, heavy side first into the creature's head with a concerning, mushy sound.

"Cool.", Ron mumbled, moronic smile attached.

It let go Harry right after. Marley reached the boy quickly, the two crawling back over to the sinks as they allowed the troll to take a few stumbling steps, finally watching it drop in a loud thud as it blew up a cover of dust.

Soon after, as all but Ron got back up, Harry removed his wand from the troll's nose, a line of snot attached to it.

"Eww...", Marley groaned loudly.

"Is it dead?", Hermione asked, concern woven into her voice.

"I don't think so. Ron just knocked it out.", Harry gave as his answer.

"You're welcome", Ron smirked. Their banter was cut short though by the arrival of more footsteps.

"Oh! Oh, my goodness!", Professor McGonagall screeched, Snape and Quirrell in tow, "Explain yourselves, all of you!"

"Well... we...", Harry and Ron began to stammer.

"It's not our fault, Professor.", Marley interrupted. Hermione seemed to have prepared an excuse as well, though now the girl grew quiet.

"Can you elaborate, Miss Verpe?", McGonagall inquired critically.

"You see... Hermione wasn't feeling well, something with her stomach.", Marley began, "I came to check on her. That's when this... thing shows up. Almost squashed us! We're lucky to have had Harry and Ron. They saved our lives!"

She shared a glance with them as the boys' eyes screamed gratitude.

"And why is it...", Snape added after hiding his leg injury from a curious Harry, "...that you two were not in the common room like ordered, but instead chose to go to the women's bathroom?"

Harry kept up a stern glare as Ron gulped in fear.

"They didn't know about the troll.", Harry started, "We wanted to warn them. That's when we saw it enter the same bathroom. We couldn't just leave them alone."

"They're our friends, Professor!", Ron howled nervously, shocking everyone to their core as he gave reassuring looks to Hermione and Marley respectively. "We had to help them. You don't leave your friends when they're in danger!"

A warm sensation curled up in Hermione's stomach as Marley let out a sigh of relief.

"Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do.", McGonagall shot them down, "In light of the circumstances, you can consider yourselves lucky to be alive."

Her anger adequately expressed, McGonagall appeared to power down.

"How exactly did you manage to take it down?"

"Ron did it.", Marley snapped, pointing obnoxiously at the boy, "I mean, we all helped, but he Wingardium Leviosa'd it."

All three teachers stared at the baffled youngster.

"Using a spell in adequate correspondence with a threat...", the old woman began, "...is indeed impressive. I believe ten points for Gryffindor are more than justified."

She looked to Snape for reassurance while all of the kids rejoiced quietly, Ron's jaw dangling like a loose hatch.

"Quite impressive, truthfully.", Snape slashed at them. Despite his joy, Harry remained more than a little sceptical whenever the man spoke. "I do however believe that all four of these students are best to return to their dormitory at once."

All of them nodded, attempting to play down their joy in the presence of their faculty.

"Bye, Marley!", Hermione spoke first, a warm smile attached.

"Bye, Marley.", Ron added next, the girl gifting him a joyful smirk that she wasn't sure he'd ever receive.

"See you, Marley.", Harry said at last. Their shared expression turned out to be the brightest between all of them.