บท 44: Chapter 44. A Nasty Surprise
Avery would not be giving out information to The Daily Prophet anymore but she had been so easy to recruit, there was no telling if another student just like her would take up the duty.
More importantly, would there be another attack, and when next it would happen?
After leaving the Great Hall, I got ready for my first class of the day which was Defense of the Dark Arts.
Whenever I asked Avery a question back in the Great Hall, I used Legilimency to fact-check. She wasn't lying.
I wish she was though because then that would give me something to work with.
I was too deep in thought to get bored in Professor Faringray's class, absently watching my charmed quill take notes for me.
After Defense of the Dark Arts, I went on a break for lunch, and then it was Potions and finally, Care of Magical Creatures.
On my way to Potions, I bumped into Roxana in the dungeon corridor. I hadn't gotten the chance to speak to her in a while.
I had been distracted so I didn't notice her stopping in front of me to get my attention, not till I nearly mowed her down.
I caught her wrist reflexively to stop her from falling down, pulling her a little bit too close in my haste.
"Sorry about that." I apologized, scratching my hair. "I was distracted."
Roxana shook her head with a smile. "I noticed, are you going to Professor Slughorn's class?" She asked curiously.
"Yeah, I have Potions next."
"Uh sure, you can let go of my hand now." She pointed out with a nervous chuckle.
I looked down in confusion, only to realize that I was still holding her hand. "Sh… Sorry." I apologized again, biting back a curse.
"It's fine, you just seemed like you had a lot on your mind so I had to…"
A loud crash interrupted her and I barely grabbed her and jumped out of the way before the wall beside us came crashing down.
We hit the ground rather hard and in the resulting scramble when I drew Roxana close and jumped to safety, Roxana grabbed my mom's necklace around my neck when she was trying to find a hold.
The resulting snap when we hit the ground made me wince because the silver chain had dug into my neck before the necklace broke.
There was no time to address it though because a large stick was poking out of the hole in the wall.
The hole led to an empty classroom but it was hard to see past the falling debris and dust.
The stick was pulled back causing more damage, large bricks falling down a dangerous distance from us.
I got to my feet and helped Roxana up, pulling her behind me as I put quick distance between us and whatever was breaking through the wall.
A handful of students had gotten attracted by the noise, including Hazel and Witter.
"Audric? What's going on?" Hazel pushed her way forward, Witter keeping close beside her.
I still held Roxana's hand, watching the crack in the wall with the rest of the students.
"No idea." I shook my head. "We were just standing in the hallway and the next thing we heard was a loud bang."
"I…" Witter started to say only to cut himself short.
An overpowering smell swept over us, causing some people to gag. It stank so bad that it stung my eyes.
"Mountain Troll." Hazel whispered fearfully.
The smell preceded it but the rest of the wall was coming down not long after, an outraged troll bursting true.
"Run!" Someone shouted and chaos ensued, the students that had gathered dispersing just as quickly.
The Troll stepped out fully from the broken wall of the classroom and it seemed befuddled, looking around itself in confusion, its large, spiked wooden club hanging lazily beside its large hideous feet.
There were just four of us left and it didn't seem to have noticed our presence yet, it was best to attack while it was still distracted.
"Ebublio!" I chanted, holding out my wand.
Blue light shot out of the tip which caught the Troll's attention but it was too late, it was trapped in a large bubble.
Battling the Troll might not be so difficult a task with so many of us but I didn't want any more destruction of school property.
I stepped forward when it was evident that the Troll couldn't break free of the spell. It also prevented it from causing any more damage as the bubble caused it to bounce lightly against the walls.
It eventually lost its balance and fell over but even the impact was absorbed by the bubble.
Hazel and Witter stepped forward as well and we all shared a look.
The Troll was still struggling a few feet away, frantically trying to break free.
"That's quite handy." Hazel cracked a small smile, breaking the silence.
The attack had been so sudden and unexpected, that even though I knew that there wasn't a fixed wait time between attacks, I hadn't been expecting another one so soon.
Roxana stepped forward as well. "Where did the Troll come from?"
I looked up at the classroom that it had tumbled out from. "There, I think."
The Troll was incapacitated for now so there was no reason to worry about it attacking.
The rest followed me as I made for the door, uninterested in following through the ragged hole that the Troll had created.
I tried the door handle, but it was locked so I unlocked it with Magic.
The classroom was dim and seemed unused, it smelled musty, like aged paper and dust. There was also the residual smell of the now downed Troll.
"Lumos." Hazel whispered beside me, the classroom brightening as the tip of her wand produced light.
Roxana mimicked her actions, casting the wand-lighting spell as well.
Hazel stuck to me while Roxana checked out the classroom with Witter.
"There's no damage done to the room." Witter said when we met up at the hole in the wall.
"Except for that." Hazel murmured looking out the hole.
Through it, we could see the jinxed Troll still struggling to break free.
"There were traces of what looked like fingerprints on a dusty shelf but that's all there is." I added what tidbit of information I found. "It could also be anything else."
That was all of it for clues though, there was nothing else to show that a Troll had come from this classroom.
It almost looked like the Troll had simply spawned right in front of the wall where it started its attack.
"Isn't it a little odd that no one has come to check on us?" Roxana finally spoke up, her lighted wand making her features pop.
We all made our way out of the classroom and just as Roxana pointed out, the dungeons were eerily quiet.
"Can we leave this Troll here?" Hazel worried, the light she had conjured going out.
I thought about it, I doubted that the Troll could break free but I also had to take into consideration that someone else could come along and release it.
"Hiding it would be the best option, I'm not about to drag that monster around with me." Witter bluntly said.
I levitated it back through the hole where it came from and when it was out of sight, I then transfigured it into a dusty book which I placed in between similar dusty books on the bookshelf.
Before we could start our journey out of the dungeons, Roxana drifted closer to me, catching Hazel's attention.
"Here." She whispered to me in a soft voice, offering up my broken necklace. "I'm really sorry about this."
I folded her hand over it. "Hold onto it a while for me, will you?"
Her light eyes brightened further. "Sure!" She agreed, grasping the necklace like she had no plans to give it to me in the first place.
"We should hurry up." Hazel muttered stiffly, increasing her pace.
It was best we did, the corridors being so empty was eerie. We went up the stairs and as we got closer to the top we heard sounds of a commotion.
There was no time to gauge each other's reaction and there wasn't much space for that on the stairs either.
We stepped out into the Viaduct Entrance only to find another Troll chasing students around while a couple tried to cast spells.
It would explain why no one could get down to the dungeons, although I doubted that any sane student would be heading for the dungeons at a time like this.
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