I didn't see Hermione for the rest of the afternoon, and by the time darkness fell, I was really worried.

"Have either of you seen Hermione?" I asked Parvati and Lavender, as we were making our way down to the Halloween feast. "I went to see her after Charms, but she told me to leave her alone — and I haven't seen her since."

"She's crying in the girls' toilets," Parvati said. "Fay and Sophie went to check if she was ok about half an hour ago, but she still wanted to be left alone. Probably best to wait till tonight before you try talking to her again."

I gave a quiet sigh. "Thanks."

We walked into the Great Hall, and I gave a slight gasp at the Halloween decorations. A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling, while thousands more swooped over the tables in low, black clouds, making the candles in the enormous pumpkins stutter. As I sat down, the feast appeared suddenly on golden plates, just as it had done at the start-of-term feast.

I was just putting a ridiculous number of Yorkshire puddings — easily my favourite food — onto my plate, when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Great Hall, his turban askew, and terror on his face.

Something's wrong. Something bad's happened. And Quirrell's acting weirdly again! Why wasn't he at the feast before now?

Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll — in the dungeons — thought you ought to know."

He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

A troll?! How could a troll get in?! I thought, as people started screaming and running about in a panic. Then, I frowned as I realised something odd. And where was Quirrell's stutter? If he was so scared, it'd surely have been worse, not gone away completely.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore yelled, purple firecrackers exploding from the end of his wand. "Everyone will please not panic!"

The room went completely silent.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your houses back to their common rooms immediately. Teachers, follow me to the dungeons."

"The Slytherin common room's in the dungeons, sir," I called out, glancing over at Draco.

"Ah yes," he said, nodding at me. "Slytherins may go with the Hufflepuffs."

Draco sent me a grateful look as Percy Weasley bustled myself and the rest of the first-year Gryffindors away, clearly in his element.

"Follow me! Stay 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 from behind me, as we climbed the stairs.

"Don't ask me," Ron said, "they're supposed to be really stupid. Maybe Peeves let it in as a Halloween joke."

I passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As I jostled my way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, I suddenly stopped still, my breath catching in my throat. There was a lot of angry grumbling as people were forced to walk around me.

"What's wrong, Pandora?" Harry asked, and I spun around, my face pale.

"Hermione," I said, my voice shaking a little. "She doesn't know about the troll."

Harry's eyes widened slightly, and he looked at Ron.

"Oh, alright," Ron snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."

Ducking down, we joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off the the girls' toilets. We'd just turned the corner when I heard quick footsteps behind us.

"Percy!" Ron hissed, pulling Harry and me behind a large stone Griffin.

Peering around it, however, I saw not Percy, but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"Search me," Ron whispered back.

"He's heading for the third floor," I whispered, but Ron held up his hand.

"Can you smell something?"

I sniffed, and a foul stench reached my nostrils — a mix of old socks, and the sort of Muggle public toilet that nobody seems to clean. And then I heard it — a low grunting, and the shuffling footsteps of gigantic feet. At the end of the passage to the left, something was moving towards us. We shrank into the shadows, and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder, with a small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs as thick as tree trunks, with flat, knobbled feet. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. The smell coming from it was incredible, almost overwhelming.

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

"That's the girls' bathroom!" I hissed, my voice full of anxiety.

And then, I heard a sound that made my heart stop — a high, petrified scream.

"Hermione!"

I threw caution to the wind and sprinted into the room. Hermione was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking sinks off the wall as it went.

"Hermione!" I yelled again, running to try and pull her towards the door. But my yell had alerted the troll to my presence — I had to dive to one side as it brought its club down, smashing the stall right behind where I'd just been standing.

"Pandora!" Harry called, and I heard two pairs of footsteps running towards the room.

I scrambled to my feet and stumbled backwards as the troll started advancing on me, desperately trying to find my wand in my pocket — though what I wanted to do with it, I wasn't sure.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, seizing a tap and throwing it as hard as he could against the wall.

The troll stopped a few feet away from me, then it lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry; it hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.

"Oi, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it.

The troll didn't seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell, and paused again, turning its ugly snout towards Ron.

Using this distraction, I ran around the troll and over to Hermione.

"Come on, run, run!" I yelled, trying to pull her towards the door. But Hermione couldn't move; she was standing frozen against the wall, her mouth open in terror.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron, who was nearest, and had no way to escape.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid. He took a great running jump, and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind, accidentally sticking his wand up its nose as he did so. Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or give him a terrible blow with the club, I was sure of it.

I tried once again to pull Hermione to the door, but she just sunk to the floor in fright. Ron pulled out his own wand; I could tell he didn't know what he was going to do, but then there was a slight change in his face, and he cried, "Wingardium leviosa!"

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over — and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot, and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

I gave a slight, amazed chuckle as I realised that we'd all just fought a twelve foot mountain troll, and lived to tell the tale.

***
A/N: oop sorry, forgot to post this chapter yesterday :/

Also, tysm for 7k reads!! 😊🖤

Word count: 1387