Before long, the group reached the third-floor corridor and located the troll in the girls’ bathroom by the sound.
Harry kicked the door open.
A wave of foul air—a sickening mix of cheap perfume, dust, and an indescribable rotten stench—slammed into them full force.
Rayleigh almost threw up on the spot.
“Holy shit, that smell is intense!
It’s worse than the sickest patient in my dad’s hospital!” Complaining bitterly, he was dragged inside by Harry and Ron.
The bathroom was an absolute disaster.
The wooden stall doors were smashed to bits, splinters littering the floor everywhere.
Burst pipes gushed water across the stone floor, turning the dust into murky mud.
Hermione was curled up under a row of intact sinks, trembling violently, her small face deathly pale.
And looming right before her, blocking the exit, was a massive creature.
The troll was far more terrifying than any movie could portray.
It stood fully twelve feet tall, its skin a granite-like dull gray.
Its bloated body resembled a giant boulder, perched atop two short, stubby legs that swayed awkwardly as it walked.
Worst of all was the massive wooden club dragged in its hand, slathered in a foul, blackish goo that left a nauseating streak across the floor with every scrape.
“Hermione!
Run!” Harry yelled, scrambling with Ron to pick up wood splinters from the floor and pelt them at the troll.
To the troll, such an attack was no different from a tickle.
It turned its head sluggishly, its tiny eyes filled with dull confusion, utterly unable to comprehend why two tiny creatures were provoking it.
Rayleigh immediately slipped into a corner, keeping a low profile.
No way was he putting his head on the line.
Even if he had been dragged along, it was better to lie low, toss a couple of stones like the other two, and slack off.
He had originally planned to follow the original storyline—watch Ron knock the troll unconscious with a Levitation Charm, then cheer along and clap.
But the scene unfolding before him made his heart sink.
Looking at the troll’s sheer size and dense, rock-solid muscle, there was no way a freely falling wooden club could knock it cold.
Even if that club weighed two hundred pounds, dropping it from two or three meters onto this mountain of flesh would at best make it stagger slightly.
*Damn it, that old bumblebee set us up!* Rayleigh cursed inwardly.
This wasn’t some beginner-zone trash mob; this was an elite monster!
That old geezer Dumbledore had definitely amped up the difficulty on purpose!
Enraged, the troll let out a roar, swung its heavy wooden club high, and smashed it down toward Harry!
*BOOM!* The club slammed into the terrazzo floor, shaking the whole room and sending stone splinters flying.
Harry scrambled and rolled away in desperation, looking thoroughly disheveled.
“Ron!
Use the Levitation Charm!
Use magic!” Harry shouted at Ron, who was frozen in terror.
Ron snapped out of his daze, tremblingly raised his wand, and shouted at the club held above the troll’s head: “*Wingardium Leviosa!*” The club gave a slight twitch.
And that was it.
The troll didn’t even notice anything unusual overhead; it simply found the red-haired kid annoying and raised its club again.
*We’re screwed!
The original books really were full of lies!
(Ugh, how did that song go again?)* Rayleigh’s heart sank.
Ron’s magic power was nowhere near enough to lift such a heavy club, let alone knock out a troll.
If no one stepped up right now, three kids were going to die here today!
He didn’t want to wake up tomorrow to read a headline in the *Daily Prophet*: “Hogwarts Tragedy: Three First-Years Slain Under Troll’s Club,” with him as the lone survivor.
If that happened, wouldn’t Albus Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic investigate him top to bottom?
Hiding his true strength was essential, but staying alive was far more important!
Besides, who knew if the old bumblebee had sent someone to watch the scene?
Look at the portrait on the wall—wasn’t the figure inside watching the show with relish, looking like it was calling over friends to enjoy the spectacle together?
He had to act!
But he had to hold back.
Time to put his acting skills to the test!
With that thought, Rayleigh charged out of the corner, looking panicked yet desperate to save the day.
“Ron, you idiot!
You mispronounced the incantation!
Watch me!” He shouted as he mimicked Ron, flailing his wand around wildly.
Harry and Ron were both stunned.
What was Rayleigh doing losing his mind like this?
Was he really that reckless?
Hermione poked her head out from under the sink, completely baffled.
The troll, seeing this tiny human charging toward it, understood even less.
But thoroughly annoyed by these little bugs, it decided to kill this one first.
It lumbered forward on its short, stubby legs, charging straight at Rayleigh.
Rayleigh took a deep breath.
If not for his recent training in *Diablo*, he really might have turned and bolted right now.
The troll barreled toward him like a speeding dump truck.
*Time it right: cast the spell, then roll!* In his mind, Rayleigh quickly ran through his combat practice and monster-slaying scenes from *Diablo*, fixing his focus on that fleeting window of opportunity!
Then, he poured all his magic into the butchered incantation he had practiced countless times.
And right now, he had to act like a desperate rookie who mispronounced his spell!
“*Win-gar-dee-an La-vee-ah-sah!*” A familiar muffled boom exploded near the ceiling.
The next instant, a massive dark shape materialized out of thin air, positioned with pinpoint accuracy directly above the troll.
A plump, muscular bull plummeted out of a magical portal, a bewildered look in its eyes as it accelerated downward in freefall.
“*Moo?*” The bull hadn’t quite grasped what was happening.
Nor had the troll.
It simply sensed the darkness above and instinctively looked up.
And then, that multi-hundred-kilogram living meat bomb slammed dead center onto the top of its skull.
*THUD!* The noise was duller than the club hitting the floor—and infinitely more gruesome.
The sheer impact forced the troll’s stupid head straight down into its chest cavity.
Its massive body didn’t even wobble.
Its legs buckled, it dropped straight to its knees, and then it pitched forward flat on its face.
The floor shuddered violently once more.
Having fulfilled its destiny, the bull dissolved into glittering specks of light and vanished.
Dead silence enveloped the room.
Harry’s jaw hung open wide enough to fit an egg.
Ron’s wand fell from his hand with a clatter onto the floor.
Hermione clapped both hands over her mouth, trying desperately not to scream.
All three stared at Rayleigh as if he were a monster.
Rayleigh let his legs give out and collapsed onto the floor with a thud, panting heavily, forcing a look of lingering dread and utter exhaustion onto his face.
“I…
I don’t know what happened…” he stammered out.
“I just tried to copy Ron…
but I messed up the words…
and it…
it just appeared…” *Commit to the performance!* Just then, hurried footsteps echoed down the hall.
Professor McGonagall burst in first, followed closely by Severus Snape and a stammering Quirrell.
When they saw the scene inside, all three froze.
A troll, stone-dead, lay sprawled on the floor, flanked by three thoroughly rattled young wizards and one slumped on the ground.
“Oh, Merlin’s beard…” Professor McGonagall gasped, clutching her chest.
Snape’s gaze swept across the room, finally locking onto Harry with deep suspicion and scrutiny.
“Can any of you explain what on earth happened here?” Professor McGonagall’s sharp, angry voice echoed in the bathroom.
Before Harry or Ron could speak, Hermione abruptly stood up and blurted out, “It’s my fault, Professor.” “Miss Granger?” “I…
I read some books about trolls and thought I could handle one on my own, so I came looking for it.” Hermione kept her head down, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.
“If they hadn’t come for me, I’d probably be dead.
Harry and Ron were just trying to save me, and Rayleigh…
Rayleigh saved all of us!
He just…
mispronounced the spell.” Rayleigh mentally gave Hermione a massive thumbs-up.
*What a teammate!
Taking the fall like a total pro!* Professor McGonagall’s expression flickered rapidly before settling into strict severity.
“Miss Granger, I am astounded by your recklessness!
Five points will be taken from Gryffindor!” She then turned to Harry and Ron.
“You two were foolish, but lucky.
To reward such rare courage, five points will be awarded to Gryffindor each.” Five lost, ten gained—a net profit of five points.
Finally, her gaze landed on Rayleigh, turning thoroughly complex.
“As for you, Mr.
Stark…
your actions…
I hardly know what to say.
Accidental summoning of a bull that crushed a troll to death…
this will likely be Hogwarts news for centuries.
Given that you saved everyone, ten points to Gryffindor.
However, given that you recklessly cast magic you do not understand, ten points are deducted!” Net zero.
Rayleigh’s mouth twitched.
*Fair enough—didn’t gain anything, didn’t lose anything.* Just then, Albus Dumbledore unhurriedly arrived at the scene.
He glanced at the dead troll, then at the students, and finally, his eyes piercing through his half-moon spectacles with all-seeing sharp intelligence, rested upon Rayleigh.
A sudden chill ran down Rayleigh’s spine, making the hairs on his neck stand straight up.
*What does this old geezer want?!* Dumbledore didn’t say a word.
He simply turned around and strolled away.
Yet in that final glance before turning, his meaningful gaze made Rayleigh feel as though he had been stripped naked and dumped in the snow.
*This is definitely not a good sign!* Getting targeted by the old bumblebee never ended well!
The death-seeking protagonist squad used to be three, but including him, it was four!
Except he didn’t have protagonist armor!
At the thought of facing Voldemort’s remnant soul in his first year and dealing with that deadly, gaze-killing Basilisk in his second year, Rayleigh felt his scalp go numb.
*No!
I have to level up as fast as possible!* And while at school, he also had to master “normal” magic properly.
Otherwise, if another emergency arose and he busted out *Diablo* spells again, the old bumblebee lurking in the shadows might order him a Legilimency special right on the spot!
Tonight!
It had to be tonight!
He had to go kill that mini-boss Corpsefire!
No more stalling!
Rayleigh scrambled up from the floor, dusted himself off, feeling an unprecedented sense of urgency weighing on his heart.