A Different Story

Chapter 9

31st Of October 1991

On Halloween morning we woke up to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry’s partner was Seamus Finnigan. And Arcturus's partner was Dean Thomas Hermione, however, was to be working with Ron Weasley. It was hard to tell whether Hermione or Ron was angrier about this.

It was a month and a half after the incident on the third floor, we have not talked much about it. But over the next few days, we made many friends, but Hermione and Daphne were the closest to the group.

“Now, don’t forget that nice wrist movement we’ve been practicing!” squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual.

And so everyone started trying, but Weasley was just waving his wand and saying the incarnation was all wrong. "No, no, you're going to take someone's eye out if you keep waving your wand that way, and it’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the ‘gar’ nice and long." Hermione said, trying to help him with a small frown on her face.

“You do it, then, if you’re so clever,” Ron snarled. Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said, “Wingardium Leviosa!”

Her feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads. “Oh, well done!” cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. “Everyone see here, Miss Granger’s done it!”

**********

Harry, Arcturus and Daphne overheard a conversation between a group of Gryffindor boys as they were making their way to their next class.

"Honestly, she's a nightmare. No wonder she doesn't have any friends," Weasley said, while the other boy, Seamus Finnigan, laughed. It seemed like Hermione had heard him because she shoved past him with tears in her eyes.

"How dare you talk about her like that?" Arcturus said, his gray eyes glowing with fury.

"Oh please Potter, why do you care so much? Didn't your parents teach you how to treat a mudblood? " Malfoy mockingly asked as he tried to participate in the conversation.

It was really a strange sight to see because it was the first time a Malfoy was supporting a Weasley in any way.

This time it was Harry who got mad, and he punched Malfoy in the face. "Don't ever talk to my family like that again." He sneered, then walked away with his friends.

But before they cross the corner, Arcturus stops.  "And for your kind information, Weasley, she has friends," Arcturus said.

**********

That evening at dinner, Arcturus noticed Hermione hadn't come to dinner, so he asked some of the people.

"She was crying in the girls' bathroom. I tried to talk to her but she wouldn't listen to me." Parvati Patil answered with a sad voice.

Just when Arcturus was about to say something, the doors of the Great Hall burst open and Professor Quirrel came in running.

Everyone stared as he reached the middle of the hall and screamed, “TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS! thought you ought to know.” He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

For the first five seconds, there was complete silence until the hall exploded in panic with everyone running around.

It took several firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore’s wand to bring silence.

"The prefects will lead their houses back to their common rooms, except Slytherin. They will be escorted to the library while the professors and I will go and deal with the troll." Dumbledore said calmly, and everyone began to follow their house prefects.

Everyone started doing what the headmaster had instructed, but Arcturus suddenly froze and started running in the opposite direction. Nobody noticed him except Damian, Daphne, and Harry, and like the good friends they were, they ran after him.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Damian yelled after Arcturus. "Hermione, she doesn't know." That was all he said, and he continued to run. When they got to the hallway, they heard a scream and ran towards it.

When they entered the bathroom, the first thing they noticed was the horrible smell and the horrifying sight. Hermione, with tears in her eyes, was trying to get away from the fully grown mountain troll.

In a sudden burst of Gryffindor courage, Arcturus, not knowing what to do, threw a piece of a pipe at the troll.

When the troll looked over, Hermione tried to make a run for it, but the troll saw her and tried to hit her with its club, and it barely missed her by an inch, and instead of her, it destroyed the sinks and floor.

Arcturus took his wand out and did the first spell that came to his mind. "Wingardium leviosa." And the spell lifted the troll's club over its head and dropped it on its head. The troll fell down, knocked out.

Hermione ran, sobbing uncontrollably, and nearly collapsed upon Arcturus, hugging the life out of him and thanking the four of them. She wouldn't let go of Arcturus. The said boy hugged her closer while speaking encouraging words into her ear.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn’t realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll’s roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from Harry’s mind. “What on earth were you thinking of?” said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. “You’re lucky you weren’t killed. Why aren’t you in your dormitory?”

Just before anyone could say anything, Hermione started speaking. "Please, Professor McGonagall they were looking for me.”

“Miss Granger!” McGonagall asked, shocked.

“I went looking for the troll because I thought I could deal with it on my own you know, because I’ve read all about them.”

"If Arcturus, Daphne,Harry, and Damian hadn't come looking after me, I think I might have died. So if you want to blame someone, Professor, blame me." Her friends just looked shocked that Hermione had just lied to an authority figure. "Well, I hope you know just how lucky you are. Not many first-years could go up against a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Miss Granger, 5 points from Gryffindor for a serious lack of judgement." Hermione sadly looks down.

"As for you four, 5 points to each of you for sheer dumb luck." Harry looked happy, then he turned towards Snape. He noticed a cut on his leg and when Snape saw him looking at his leg, he quickly covered it, making Harry curious about what happened to his least favourite teacher.

And with that, they were told to go to beds.