Because You Love Me

25. Troll in the Dungeon

Hermione didn't get over it. 

Harry and Ron were sitting together at dinner later that night and she was nowhere to be found. The seat next to him was empty. He stared down at it. Neville noticed. When Harry looked up, they made eye contact.

"Where is Hermione?" Harry questioned.

"Patty Patil said that she spent all afternoon in the girl's bathroom. She won't come out. She's been crying," Neville answered.

Harry threw a dirty look at Ron. Ron shrugged his shoulders. He felt bad about it, but the deed had been done. There was nothing he could do about it now.

Suddenly the doors to the Great Hall burst open. Harry looked up along with every other person inside. Professor Quirrell came running in like a madman.

"Troll! In the Dungeon! Troll in the Dungeon!"

The room got so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Severus glanced at Alaina, who was sitting beside of him, and then back at Quirrell.

"Thought you ought to know." Quirrell passed out right there in the middle of the Great Hall.

Screams rang out around the room. Students started to panic.

"What do we do?" Alaina asked.

Before Severus could answer, Dumbledore stood. "Silence!" He yelled. He then proceeded to tell the prefects they were to take the studenst back to their dormitories and the teachers were to follow him to the Dungeons.

Severus looked at Alaina. "We head him off at the pass."

"Should we head to the Dungeons then?"

His answer surprised her. "No."

"What? Why?"

He took her hand. "Come on. We'll run faster together. I'll explain on the way."

Alaina didn't protest. She gripped his hand tightly and they disappeared through a door behind the staff table.

Harry and Ron both watched them leave from the crowd.

"Where are they going?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. He looked all around him. Suddenly a thought hit him and he gasped.

"What is it, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Hermione! She doesn't know. We have to warn her."

Ron groaned loudly as he and Harry broke away from the crowd. Even he had to admit they had to warn her. If not, she might get stomped by a fully grown troll.

Severus and Alaina thundered down the corridor together, but they weren't heading toward the Dungeons. Alaina noticed it right away, but she didn't say anything. She assumed Severus knew what he was doing until he started heading toward the third floor.

"Why are we going to the third floor?" she asked breathlessly.

"Quirrell isn't fooling me. He's the one who let the troll in as a distraction. He's going to try and get the Sorcerer's Stone."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

They finally made it onto the third floor and Severus lead Alaina down to the door where he knew the stone was being held. They walked in. Quirrell was standing there in front of a the big dog with three heads, dodging bites from each of them. Alaina cupped her hands over her mouth and gasped. She had never seen anything like it in her whole life.