Harry was just about to turn around and warn Ron and Hermione when a frantic Ron collided head-on with him.
Hermione, following close behind, finally spotted the terrifying troll.
She hurriedly raised her wand, pointing it at the beast.
“Locomotor Mortis!”
Hermione cast the spell with great proficiency, but trolls were famous for their high magic resistance.
The blue light of the spell hit the monster’s body without causing so much as a ripple.
Seeing the spell fail, Hermione grabbed Harry and Ron by their collars to flee, but she lost her footing.
The three of them tumbled down the steps together.
By then, the troll had reached where they had just been standing.
Harry picked up his wand from the floor, desperately trying to think of a spell to block it, but his mind went completely blank; he couldn’t remember a single spell he had learned over the past few months.
The troll swung its massive wooden club downward.
The three of them rolled in different directions, narrowly escaping being crushed.
Gritting his teeth, Harry charged forward instead of retreating.
He leaped onto the neck of the bending troll, locking his arms tightly around its snout, and yelled to Ron and Hermione, “Run!
Quick, run!
Go find a professor!”
Just as Ron and Hermione got to their feet, the troll ripped Harry off its neck and flung him at them.
The three went crashing into the corridor floor again, completely dazed.
The troll raised its club high, bringing it down toward them.
“We’re done for,” Ron muttered beneath the pile, closing his eyes.
“Mom,” Harry thought, hearing the rushing wind behind his head as he remembered the person he missed most.
“Linus!” Hermione cried out.
“Impedimenta!”
The troll, frozen mid-swing, felt an overwhelming, irresistible force slam into its front.
Its entire body, along with the wooden club in its grip, was thrown high into the air, crashing violently against the stone wall behind it.
The impact rattled the corridor, making a sound loud enough to be heard across half the castle.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked up to see Linus standing before them, hands resting on his knees, panting heavily.
“Linus, you’re my god!” Ron said, scrambling to his feet and showering him with unreserved praise.
“Just in time, mate,” Harry said, wearing a relieved, post-disaster smile.
“You took your sweet time, Linus,” Hermione said as she stood up, pouting slightly at him.
“Alright, everyone,” Linus said, catching his breath.
“Step back a bit.
I still have a hard battle to fight!”
Only then did Harry and the others notice that the fallen troll was already sitting up.
It rubbed its bald head, then reached out to pick up its club again.
Harry and Ron scrambled to hide behind Linus.
“Are you sure about this, mate?” Ron asked, hiding most of his body behind Linus.
“If you’d stop clutching my robes, I probably wouldn’t lose,” Linus hinted for Ron to let go.
Ron quickly let go, but desperately needing something to hold on to, he grabbed his own robes instead.
“I—I can help too,” Harry said, pressing himself close to Ron to boost his own sense of security.
Hermione summoned her courage and stood beside Linus, keeping her eyes locked on the troll as it slowly advanced toward the four of them. This chapter was copied from novelping . com without permission.
Having just taken a hit, it seemed to think the air itself had attacked it, making its movements rather cautious.
“How should we deal with it?”
“Leave out the ‘we’ and get behind me.
This next part isn’t suitable for children,” Linus said, extending his left arm to shield Hermione behind him.
Hermione puffed out her cheeks and glared at him.
“Don’t underestimate me!
I’m actually very good.”
Beside them, Ron let out a snicker.
“Come off it, mate.
Before Linus showed up, the two of us were flat on the floor together.”
Linus simply answered Hermione patiently, “There will be a time for us to fight side by side, but not today.
You’re still too young.”
“You aren’t very old either.”
“Whose voice was that?
Saying exactly what I wanted to say,” Ron muttered.
He looked up, only to find Professor McGonagall standing beside them, glaring furiously at the four of them.
It seemed the massive crash from earlier had drawn her here.
The troll, oblivious to the change in numbers before it, raised its heavy club to attack again.
This was perfect timing.
Professor McGonagall could finally unleash the fury of finding young wizards in an unexpectedly dangerous area.
“Petrificus Totalus!” she shouted.
A jet of yellow light shot from the tip of her wand, striking the troll’s arm.
It quickly spread from that single point to its entire body, and in moments, the troll was turned into a massive stone statue.
“Now, would you mind telling me why you four are here?” Professor McGonagall demanded, glaring at Linus.
Behind her, several other professors arrived one after another: Flitwick, Snape, and Quirrell, who was pretending to look panicked.
Harry and Ron’s minds were racing with thoughts like, *We’ve broken school rules again, will we be expelled?* They didn’t dare look Professor McGonagall in the eye.
Linus spoke up.
“I’m sorry, Professor.
I rashly wanted to challenge the troll on my own, and it was Harry, Ron, and Hermione who came here to save me.
Ron shouted to distract the troll, Harry fought with it, and Hermione cast a spell on it.
That gave me the chance to disrupt its attack, which is how we managed to hold out until you arrived.”
Harry looked at Linus in astonishment.
Linus had arrived like a god descending from heaven to rescue them, yet he was lying to make them look heroic.
Harry anxiously opened his mouth to explain.
Linus stamped hard on his foot.
Snape spoke up at just the right moment.
“So, our newly crowned top-of-the-class student cannot even handle a minor troll on his own?
How very surprising.” Knowing Linus’s actual strength, he didn’t believe a word of that clumsy lie.
Professor McGonagall shot Snape a look.
“A troll is not something a low-year student should be dealing with in the first place.
Mr.
Sangwood, for putting everyone in danger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor.”
She turned back to Harry and the other two. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“The three of you are lucky.
Trolls are far more dangerous than you realize.
For your brave actions in helping a classmate, five points are awarded to Gryffindor for each of you.
Now, return to your dormitory.”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurriedly scrambled away, and Linus quietly tried to slip away with them.
“I believe Mr.
Sangwood still needs to stay,” Professor McGonagall said coldly.
Linus immediately froze.
Shortly after, Professor McGonagall led a crestfallen Linus straight to the Headmaster’s office on the third floor.
Along the way, Professor McGonagall walked ahead with a tense expression, leaving Linus completely in the dark about her intentions.
The moment they saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, Professor McGonagall said urgently, “Headmaster, I would like you to examine this boy.
The power of his spells is far too great—not at all the level a young wizard his age should possess.
I suspect…”
*I suspect the sheer volume of magic in his body might have expanded to the point of forming an Obscurus.* Professor McGonagall didn’t say these words directly in front of Linus, but merely hinted at her suspicion to Dumbledore with a look.
Linus instantly realized that the deep crater the troll had left on the corridor wall had drawn the professor’s attention.
Dumbledore smiled and gestured for Linus to offer his hand.
After examining him, he said to McGonagall, “I believe Mr.
Sangwood is in perfectly good health, with no hidden issues.
As for the concern regarding his magical capacity, Minerva, Mr.
Sangwood’s current magic reserve is roughly comparable to a second-year student’s.
It is entirely within a reasonable range, so there is no need to worry.”
“But you didn’t see the deep crater in the second-floor corridor.
Before I even arrived, that troll looked as though it had suffered a concussion from the impact,” Professor McGonagall said, still uneasy.
“It’s hard to say if a troll even has a brain,” Linus muttered under his breath.
“Don’t interrupt,” Professor McGonagall snapped, glaring at Linus, who immediately stood up straight.
Dumbledore smiled at Linus.
“I am quite certain that Linus’s magic reserve is perfectly safe and well within his control.
As for why his spells are so powerful, why don’t we ask him ourselves?”
Meeting Professor McGonagall’s questioning gaze, Linus thought for a moment.
“Because I practice very hard?”
“Now, use your best spell and attack me,” Professor McGonagall said, drawing her wand.
“Let me test your strength.”
Linus looked to Dumbledore for help.
The old headmaster replied with a look that said, *I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave today unless you show off a bit.*
So, without drawing his wand, Linus looked at Professor McGonagall.
*Expelliarmus,* he cast silently in his mind.
Professor McGonagall’s wand flew out of her hand with a snap, spinning through the air and landing on the rug a short distance away.
Although Linus’s current power was still two or three levels below Professor McGonagall’s, he was able to knock her wand away so easily only because she had never expected a first-year student who hadn’t even finished his first term to have mastered a silent, wandless Disarming Charm.
She had been waiting for the boy to draw his wand so she could teach him a lesson.
“Well, superb technique can indeed enhance a spell’s power.” Professor McGonagall bent down to retrieve her wand and said gently, “Go back to the tower, child.
Halloween isn’t over yet!”