❝ Monsters Or Feast? ❞

            On Halloween everyone woke up to the smell of baking pumpkin, but me because I never slept to wake up. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought we were ready to start making objects fly, something we had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. My partner was Alan. The others were paired as well.

"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.

"Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too — never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

"Wingardium Leviosa!" I chanted the spell. My white feather started floating. It worked well on my first attempt, good.

"Miss Scott has done it, well done Miss Scott!" everyone turned their heads towards me. Some of them looked frustrated because they could not make their feathers fly. " Five points to Ravenclaw!" squeaked Professor Flitwick.

Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop.

Seamus got so impatient that he prodded it with his wand and set fire to it — Harry had to put it out with his hat.

Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," I heard Hermione snap. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long."

"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!"

Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above our heads.

"Oh, well done! Miss Granger's done it!"

Alan managed to levitate his feather after a few failed attempts. He had my help.

Ron was in a foul mood by the end of the class.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as we pushed our way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly," Ron said.

"Ron, just because she has a brain doesn't mean you should say that," I expressed, annoyed.

Someone knocked into Harry and Ron as they hurried past him. It was Hermione.

I caught a glimpse of her face — and was startled to see that she was in tears.

"I think she heard you."

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"And who do you think I am?" Though Hermione wasn't like super close to me except for the fact we had been studying together for a month. I couldn't leave someone out.

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon.

On my way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Harry informed me that he and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later I entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of our minds.

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.

I did not feel like eating when Hermione was crying in the bathroom it wouldn't be any use if I tried to convince her to come to the Halloween feast. Suddenly Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. 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.

There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

"Everyone!, Follow me straight to the Ravenclaw tower," Roger said.

"How could a troll get in?" Harry asked as we climbed. The Gryffindor Tower was next to the Ravenclaw Tower.

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

How can a troll come in? especially when Hogwarts is the safest place. We passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions.

As we jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, realization struck me, I grabbed Harry's hand.

"I've just thought — Hermione."

"What about her?" Ron asked.

"She doesn't know about the troll." I snapped.

Ron bit his lip.

"Oh, all right," he snapped. "But Percy'd better not see us."

Ducking down, we joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, but Alan caught me.

"Oye! Where are you going? After the troll!?"

"Hermione doesn't know, we have to Inform her!" I didn't give him a chance to answer. We slipped through a deserted side corridor and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. We had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.

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

Peering around it, however, we 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?"

Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.

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

"Can you smell something?" he asked.

I sniffed and a foul stench reached my nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.

And then we heard it — a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed — at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward 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 gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.

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.

"The keys in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in." if I were in a different situation I would've just unsheathed my sword and stabbed it in its egg brain, but having Ron and Harry around, I couldn't do that.

"Good idea," said Ron nervously.

We edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, Slam the door, and lock it.

"Yes!"

Flushed with their victory, they started to run back up the passage, but something was wrong, as we reached the corner we heard something that made their hearts stop — a high, petrified scream — and it was coming from the chamber we'd just chained up.

"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.

"It's the girls' bathroom!" Harry gasped.

"Hermione!" We said together.

It was the last thing we wanted to do, but what choice did we have? Wheeling around, we sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in panic. Harry pulled the door open and we ran inside.

Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.

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

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. 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.

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.

"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth opened with terror.

I was trying to think of a good spell....yes!

"Flipendo!" I shouted. The troll crashed into the ground but regained its position sooner than expected. But I could cast the spell again, it advanced towards me and swung its arm. I was knocked off my feet and hit my head against something hard. I let out a pained yelp as water blurred my vision.

I heard mild ringing and my eyes were searching for some clarity. I swear I heard someone yell at me to move, I followed my instinct and did as told. I barely rolled away as the troll smashed the previous spot I was in with its club.

The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward 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. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped – it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.

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 catch him a terrible blow with the club.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his wand — not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "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.

Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done. I tried to stand but failed miserably my ears were still ringing slightly and I felt as though I had my head split open.

It was Hermione who spoke first.

"Is it — dead?"

"I don't think so," said Harry, I think it's just been knocked out."

He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh — troll boogers."

He wiped it on the troll's trousers.

Ron helped me back to my feet. I was barely conscious but I managed to keep my eyes open.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the four of us look up.

We hadn't realized what a racket we had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall came 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, me, and Harry. I had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. I'm gonna lose all the house points I've earned so far.

"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?"

Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry looked at the floor. I wished Ron would put his wand down.

Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall — they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.

"I went looking for the troll because I — I thought I could deal with it on my own — you know because I've read all about them."

Ron dropped his wand in shock. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher? What the-?

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Aquila disarmed the troll with a spell but it wasn't enough Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

I tried to look as though this story wasn't new to me, and so did Harry and Ron.

"Well — in that case ..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of us, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head. I was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get us out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to your common room. Students are finishing the feast in their houses." Hermione left.

Professor McGonagall turned to us.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor and Ravenclaw five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

We hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until we had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.

"We should have gotten more than ten points," Ron grumbled.

"Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's."

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."

"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," Harry reminded him.

"None of this would've happened if Ron kept his mouth shut," I said. Ron glared at me.

We split our ways and I reached the Ravenclaw tower "What disappears when you call out its name?" the entrance eagle asked. Of course, I knew the answer.

"Silence," I muttered. It opened, and the common room was lively filled with people eating out their worries. I couldn't bring myself to eat. Party because I needed rest and partly because of seeing those trolls. yuck. Eww! I gagged at the thought.

I welcomed sleep that night, or maybe I went unconscious. But I needed the rest.