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48% Harry Potter and the Fourth Member / Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Halloween Troll

Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Halloween Troll

Draco could not believe that Argus, Harry, and Ron were still in school the next day. Ron and Harry started to discuss about the "secret package" that was moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts.

"It's either extremely dangerous or extremely valuable," Ron said.

"Or both," Harry said. "What do you think Argus?"

"Oh, I don't know. It seems rather confusing. It's only about 2 inches after all," Argus said still feeling a bit down from Hermione's outburst yesterday.

Hermione still wouldn't talk to the three of them. While Ron and Harry saw it as a good thing, Argus did not as every time he would see her at the library, she would simply ignore him. Even during Snape's potion class where they were paired together, she would barely talk to him about the most basic things and if Argus tried to say anything else, she would harrumph and face the other way.

Around a week later, Harry got a mail carried by 6 owls.

Harry read it and smiled. He then showed it to Argus and Ron who read what was inside.

"A Nimbus 2000! I've never even touched one," Ron said.

"Nimbus 2000, I really do wonder when Father is releasing his new broom," Argus said quietly.

While the three of them were going somewhere private to open up the broom, they were stopped by Crabbe and Goyle. Draco stole Harry's package and felt it.

"That's a broomstick. You're definitely going to get in trouble this time Potter," Draco said as he was starting to go green with envy.

Ron couldn't help but to hit back.

"That's not just any broom. It's the Nimbus 2000. What do you have Malfoy? A Comet 260?" Ron said with a smirk on his face. "Comets are alright, but they don't hold a candle to a Nimbus,"

"Weasley, stop acting like you can afford a Comet 260. You can't even buy half the handle. I suppose you and you poor brothers have to save up Knut by Knut to buy a single Cleansweep One,"

"Hmph, Draco, you're talking about wealth so pick on someone your own size," Argus said. "To me, you're as poor as the homeless Muggles that I happened to see when I was young. Don't show off the wealth that you have right now. You're simply a big fish in a pond. Compared to the big animals outside, you're nothing," Argus said coldly.

Draco's mouth was open, but he could not say anything, Professor Flitwick appeared.

"I hope you're not arguing there boys," Professor Flitwick said.

"Potter has a broomstick, Professor," Draco said with a smirk.

"Oh yes, I did hear about it from Professor McGonagall. So Potter what model is it?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Nimbus 2000, sir," Harry answered while trying to hold back laughing from Draco's rage-filled face. "And it was because of Malfoy here that I was able to obtain one,"

Harry, Ron, and Argus went up to laugh at Draco's face.

"Ahhh no matter how much I know about this, seeing Draco's arrogant face become angry is one of the best things I can see," Argus thought as they were walking up the stairs.

"Well, it is true isn't it?" Harry asked with a chuckle. "If Malfoy hadn't stole that Remembrall, I wouldn't have gotten on the Quidditch team,"

"So I suppose breaking the rule is bad," A girl's voice said from behind them. When the three of them looked back, they saw Hermione stomping up the stairs.

"I thought you weren't going to speak to us," Harry said.

"Yes, don't stop now. It's working great for us," Ron said.

Hermione walked away which made Argus follow her.

"Hermione wait!" Argus cried out, but Hermione simply ignored him. He ran and eventually caught up with her.

"Hermione please wait,"

"Oh so you're not going to be with those two rule breakers right now. I thought you hated me just like they do," Hermione said with a pout.

"No, it's not like that alright. They'll understand your good points. They'll understand that you're just doing this for the sake of the bigger picture," Argus said.

"Save it Argus. You're with them. You've gotten lucky with both the broomstick riding and the whole "duel" that you three were so excited about. However, luck doesn't last forever and I'm not going to be part of your group when you guys are expelled from doing idiotic things such as leaving the dorm after curfew," Hermione said as she quickly left Argus alone.

"This is the worst," Argus thought as he sighed.

Argus could barely concentrate in class and when Professor McGonagall asked him a basic Transfiguration question he could normally answer, he just stared into space and only answered the question vaguely after Professor McGonagall called his name again.

It was now dinner time and Argus noticed Harry and Ron eating as fast as they could without even noticing what they were eating. On the other hand, he didn't have much of an appetite so when Harry and Ron were done with their food, he gloomily followed them up to see Harry open his new Nimbus 2000.

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed as he was observing every inch of the broomstick.

Argus was simply not interested and looked out the window and sighed once more. Harry noticed Argus sighing and went up to him.

"Hey Argus what's wrong? Is it Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Yeah kind of. She just blew me off I guess," Argus said with a weak smile.

"So what? She's just a bossy girl after all. Don't worry about her. Here want to touch the Nimbus 2000?" Harry asked.

"No it's alright. Look it's getting close to 7, you should be going to Quidditch practice Harry," Argus said.

"Oh yes, I should go," Harry said and he quickly left the room for his first practice.

Argus was with only Ron now.

"Argus, you and Harry are my best friends and I don't like it when you're feeling so down. You're always so excited to learn and just do things. If there's any way I can help..."

"It's alright Ron. Thanks for caring though. I'm just going to go to the library to read some more," Argus said and he too quickly left the room.

When he got to the library, he sighed. However, he saw Hermione sitting down reading another book once more and quickly sat down next to her.

"Hermione, I-"

"Shh, can't you see I'm reading a book," Hermione said not even looking at Argus.

"Hermione if this is about me breaking the rules, I'm sorry. I was careless and I should not have done it,"

"This isn't about that Argus. Because right now, I could care less whether you're expelled or hurt since like you said Madam Pomfrey could fix you up in a minute," Hermione said finally looking at him.

"However-" She continued. "You and your friends' actions have potentially destroyed all the work that the rest of the House put in so that we can win the House Cup. Neville, I understand. He had problems remembering the password. However, you, Harry, and that dingus Ron are not excusable. Now please leave me I want to finish reading my book for class tomorrow," Hermione said.

"Hermione, but-"

"Argus, I'm starting to get really mad at you right now. Please leave me alone before I do something that'll make you regret talking to me," Hermione said.

Argus quickly left and found a book to read silently far away from Hermione.

It was soon Halloween and Argus was even gloomier than before. Harry and Ron tried all kinds of ways to make him a bit happier, but it all failed. The most they did was getting a slight chuckle out of him. However, what made Argus feel even worse was Charms class where he was paired up with Neville to practice the Levitating Spell.

"Remember kids to do the swish and flick," Professor Flitwick said while on top of a pile of books. "Also remember to say the incantation,"

"It's nice to work with you Argus," Neville said.

Argus sighed and put his head down.

Professor Flitwick saw this.

"Mr. Nidma, why don't you try it?" Professor Flitwick said.

Argus did not bother putting his head back up, but he simply took out his wand and flicked his wrist.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Argus said lazily. The feather on the table started to float and Argus simply moved around his wrist and just like how Professor Flitwick made Neville's toad zoom around, the feather also started to zoom around at fast speed.

"Oh..." Professor Flitwick alongside the rest of the students were shocked. Professor Flitwick soon snapped out of it and started to clap. "Everyone look here. Mr. Nidma has done it,"

Argus did not even bother to put his head back up and put his wand away. He said a couple of words to help Neville with his incantations. However, he put his head up when he heard Hermione nag at Ron.

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

"You do it then since you're sooo clever," Ron snarled.

Hermione then flicked her wand and chanted, "Wingardium Leviosa,"

Their feather rose and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done Miss Granger," Professor Flitwick said while clapping again. "Everyone look here, Miss Granger has also done it!"

Ron put his head down like Argus and was similarly in a terrible mood at the end of class.

"She's a nightmare," Ron said at the end of class. "It's no wonder why no one can stand her,"

Someone bumped into Argus and he saw that it was Hermione full of tears. He glared at Ron.

"What?" Ron asked nervously. "She must have noticed she has no friends,"

"No, Ron I'm her friend," Argus said as he ran to Hermione.

"Hermione wait," Argus cried out once more, but like last time, she completely ignored him.

Hermione did not show up for the next class. Argus knew where she was, but he couldn't do anything as it wasn't a place where he could go. As they were going to the Great Hall, the three of them heard Parvarti tell Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girl's bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Argus felt a slight pain in his stomach, but he decided to ignore it.

When the three of them entered the Great Hall, there were thousands of bats flying around and pumpkins with a candle lit inside of them. Food appeared on the golden plates signalling that the Feast had begun.

Argus was playing around with his food until he heard Quirrell come screaming with terror in his face.

"Troll in the dungeon! Thought you ought to know," Quirrell said and fainted soon after.

"What a great actor," Argus thought with hostility as he knew that Quirrell aiming for the stone was the sole reason why Hermione hated him so much right now.

Everyone was silent for a moment, but immediately started to panic and tried to leave the Great Hall.

"QUIET!" Dumbledore shouted which made the students freeze.

"Prefects, please lead the students back to the dormitory while teachers please come with me to the dungeon," Dumbledore said calmly. As the prefects started to lead the students into the dormitory, Argus sprung into action.

"Guys, we have to save Hermione. She doesn't know about the troll," Argus said.

Harry immediately nodded while Ron was a bit hesitant. Argus once again glared at Ron and he agreed. They hurried to the girl's bathroom.

"Guys," Ron said as he pulled both the rushing Argus and Harry behind a large stone griffin.

The three of them saw Snape who crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing here and not with the rest of the teachers?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Argus said.

"Wait, can you smell something?" Ron asked. The three sniffed and almost threw up. It smelled like old socks and a public toilet that no one cleans.

Then they heard the footsteps. When it got closer, the three of them saw the troll. It was twelve feet tall with gray skin. It had a huge fat body with a small head on top. Its leg was short, but thick and it was dragging along a huge wooden club. It looked at an open room and decided to go inside.

"The key is in the lock. We can lock it in," Harry said.

"Good idea," Ron said.

"Wait gu-" Before Argus could tell them it was the girl's bathroom, Harry had already locked the door.

You idiots! That was the-" Once again before Argus could finish his sentence, they heard a high pitched scream inside the room.

"It's the girl's bathroom!" Argus said. He quickly took out his wand and chanted, "Alohomora!"

The door opened and Hermione was pitifully crawling under the sinks while the troll was swinging. One swing almost hit Hermione which terrified Argus a bit.

"Distract it!" Harry said as he threw a tap on the wall as hard as he can.

The troll looked away from Hermione.

"Good job Harry! Alright guys close your eyes!" Argus shouted. "Diffindo!"

He swiped his wand and there was now a huge cut on the right side of the troll's chest. The troll fell down with green blood spurting out.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Harry asked.

"Face the other way when you do so. It's not a pretty picture to look at. Hermione stand up and walk forward for a little bit," Hermione followed his orders and Argus grabbed her. He turned her the other way.

"Alright open your eyes Hermione, but don't turn around or else you'll retch," Argus said.

Soon, there was footsteps coming close to the girl's bathroom and when it stopped Argus saw Professor McGonagall came with Snape and Quirrell.


Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Suspicion of Snape

Professor McGonagall looked at the four there with Argus looking at the dead troll and the 3 other kids looking at the other way. It was truly a frightening, but an odd sight.

"What in the world happened here?!" Professor McGonagall asked furiously. "Why aren't you guys in your dormitory?!"

"I'm sorry Professor McGonagall. I was trying to look for the troll to defeat it. I was confident since I read some books on it. If it wasn't for Argus, Ron, and Harry, I would have been dead by now,"

"Hermione, how could you do such a dangerous thing like trying to fight a mountain troll. I thought you knew better. I'm deducting 5 points for such dangerous act. Go back to Gryffindor Tower if you are not hurt. The students are finishing their feast there,"

"Harry and Ron, you guys will be awarded 5 points for your bravery in trying to save your fellow student. Now you two go on as well,"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione left the bathroom.

"Professor Snape, can you please see if the troll is still alive?"

Snape went to the troll and pressed his finger onto his neck to check for vital signs.

"It's dead," Snape said. "From the cut used, it seems to be the Severing Charm,"

"Mr. Nidma, is this your doing?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yes ma'am, I was thinking about using Wingardium Leviosa to make the club fly and hit him, but it was too risky as I have a decent chance of missing the troll. However, by using the Severing Charm, I could have a relatively high chance of defeating or even killing it like I did right now," Argus said in a calm manner.

"Well, I have to say. You have done an excellent job in defeating the troll and also using a charm that is taught in your second year. Although you did kill it, I will award you 50 points for both using an advanced spell for your age and being the person to save your house member's life," Professor McGonagall said.

"But Professor McGonagall, this is way too much points for a student to have," Snape said trying to make sure that he can get Gryffindor the least amount of points from this.

"No, I think 50 points is sufficient for this achievement. I think you and I would have both been shaking if we were facing a mountain troll at his age let alone kill it like Argus. What do you think Professor Quirrell?"

"I-I-I t-think i-it's f-fine," Professor Quirrell said.

"Yes, so 50 points will be awarded to Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall said. "And Professor Snape, do not think I'm awarding extra points because it's my house. If it was Mr. Malfoy standing right here in this position, I would have awarded him 50 points as well for his achievement. Now Mr. Nidma, you can leave now. I will report to Professor Dumbledore about your achievement,"

Argus left the bathroom to see Harry, and Ron waiting for him.

"Nice job Argus. 50 points! Even with Hermione losing 5 points, we still got a 55 point increase which might actually have us be above Slytherin right now," Ron said.

"Yeah Argus. Nice job!" Harry said.

"It was nice of Hermione to get us out of trouble even though we did technically save her," Ron said.

"Yeah, but she wouldn't have needed that saving if we hadn't locked her in," Harry said.

The three of them got to the portrait and said the password and went in. They saw everybody eagerly eating their food except for Hermione who was waiting for them at the door.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione would not talk to each other. They only said thanks and went to go get their plates.

Argus didn't really want to eat and when he saw that Hermione sat down, he went straight to her.

"Hey Hermione are you alright?" Argus asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing well. Thank you for saving me. Also, Severing Charm you did there. That's a second year charm isn't it?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I started reading the The Standard Books of Spells Grade 2. That's one of the spells that I learned so far," Argus said. "Although it does need a little practice though. I could have been a lot more thorough with the cut,"

"No, I think you did quite well considering we're barely in our second month of school," Hermione said with a smile.

"Thanks Hermione. And by the way, you're quite strong to not immediately faint at the smell of that troll. It was quite disgusting and we were quite far away from it too. Even I almost fainted when we were about to fight it,"

Hermione laughed and the two of them talked a lot until meal time was over. However, even though Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't talk at all tonight, Argus knew that it was a start of a beautiful friendship that would last their entire lifetime.

...

As October has now turned into November, the temperature got extremely cold. The mountains have become gray and even the lake has frozen up. The ground was now chilled and Hagrid had to go defrost the brooms while wearing extremely thick clothings.

Furthermore, Quidditch season has begun and it so happened that Harry got found out for being the Seeker of the Gryffindor team. His popularity has grown so much that people were willing to carry him to his classes if he so wished which Harry promptly declined.

However, Argus' popularity has also grown due to the new Nidma family broom: the Hermes 500. The previous broom Hermes 250 was a bit slower than the Nimbus 2000, but now the Hermes 500 could reach 110 miles per hour in 10 seconds which was slightly faster than the Nimbus 2000. Furthermore, it had the exact same features as the Nimbus 2000 so the Hermes 500 was essentially a faster version of the Nimbus 2000. As for price, it was the same amount as the Nimbus 2000. This shocked the entire Wizarding World as one could imagine how much profit this could bring to the Nidma family.

However, Argus did not really care about this. He cared more about the fact that Hermione started to talk to him again. Furthermore, it was better now that he wouldn't have to choose between Hermione and Harry and Ron. The only bad part was that before he would just stay in the library, but now that Hermione was here, she would help Harry with his homework while he would help Ron with his. Honestly, it was like doing two sets of homework.

"Hey Argus, you have to let me try one of your broom," Ron said when they were at the courtyard during break. It was freezing so Hermione put a bluebell flame into a jam jar so that they could warm up.

"I'll talk to my father about it. I'm sure he'll gift you guys a broom or 2. My words are not a promise so don't you say that I guaranteed you guys brooms. They cost a couple hundred Galleons each," Argus said jokingly.

"You know I knew that your family is rich, but just how rich are you?" Hermione asked. "I mean I did research about your family, but all it really said was that in terms of wealth, it surpassed that of the Malfoy Family's wealth,"

"Hermione, the amount of wealth his family has is no joke," Ron said. "His father owns so many companies that even he gave his broom company to our family, it won't even make a dent into their yearly salary,"

"Well enough about my family. There's nothing interesting about them. More importantly, is that Snape over there?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all huddled up closer so that he wouldn't see the fire. However, Snape started to walk slowly towards them. While he didn't see the fire, he did see the book in Harry's hands.

"Potter what is that in your hands?"

"Quidditch Through the Ages... sir," Harry said.

"No library books are to be taken outside the school. Minus 5 points from Gryffindor. Hand that book over Potter," Snape said.

"He probably just created that rule to hurt me," Harry said. "I wonder what hurt his leg,"

"I don't know, but I hope it's permanent," Ron said.

In the Gryffindor Common Room that evening, Hermione and Argus was helping Ron and Harry with their charms homework. While he was basically giving them the answers, Argus noticed Harry seemed a bit nervous.

"What? Nervous about your match tomorrow?" Argus asked.

"Yeah, it's my first one and it had to be against Slytherin too. Also, we have to win if we want to push ahead further in the house championship so I'm feeling a bit pressured. You know what I'm going to ask Snape for my book back," Harry said.

"Alright," Ron said.

"Better you than any of us," Hermione added in.

Harry left.

Argus just continued helping Ron with his Charms homework while Hermione just fiddled with her wand. However, in about 5 minutes, Argus saw Harry back disheveled and worn out.

"What in the world happened to you?" Argus asked not remembering this in the film.

"Snape started talking about trying to get the thing that Dumbledore tried to protect. He said he didn't know how to avoid all three heads. You know what that means? It means that he also let that troll in," Harry said.

"Not that it was that bad of a thing," Argus muttered under his breath. Fortunately no one heard it.

"There's no way that Snape would do that. He's not a very kind person, but he wouldn't betray Dumbledore,"

"Honestly Hermione, not all teachers are good. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. I'm starting to wonder even more on what that package is," Ron said.

"Well instead of worrying about something we can't really do anything about, how about you guys fix your charms homework because it's a hot mess right now from what I'm seeing," Argus said while holding up Ron and Harry's homework.

That night Argus saw that Harry was tossing and turning and unable to sleep.


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