The spell Draca had learned while playing around with Severus as a child flashed through her mind.
Just as Harry was about to be hurled straight into the stone wall, his body suddenly twisted unnaturally and flipped upside down.
He ended up suspended head-down in midair, but at least the troll’s throw no longer carried him into the wall hard enough to injure him.
A moment later, the troll collapsed with a tremendous crash, shaking the bathroom floor.
The four of them remained frozen in shock until Harry and Hermione spoke almost at the same time.
“Is…
is it dead?”
“Can you let me down?”
Hermione and Ron both looked at Draca.
Only then did Draca realize that she and Hermione were still tightly holding hands.
Both girls flushed awkwardly and let go.
Draca braced one trembling hand against the wall and slowly stood.
She raised her wand, struggling to control how violently her hand was still shaking, and pointed it toward Harry.
“Liberacorpus.”
A flash of light followed, and Harry floated gently back down to the floor.
He walked over to the troll and laboriously pulled his wand out of its nostril.
Gagging as he did so, he said,
“I think it’s only knocked out.”
“Ugh…
troll bogeys.”
After wiping his wand clean, Harry stood up.
He looked directly at Draca, an awkward light in his eyes.
Draca pressed her lips together and stubbornly stared back, refusing to give an inch.
Harry opened his mouth slightly, but before he could say anything, a sharp burst of light flashed through the bathroom entrance, followed by the arrival of a tall, slender figure.
“Miss Granger!
Miss Malfoy!”
Professor McGonagall rushed in with her wand raised, visibly anxious.
Then she saw the unconscious troll and stopped dead in shock.
“What exactly were you thinking?”
The five of them stared at each other for several moments before Professor McGonagall turned on Harry and Ron and shouted.
“The fact that you weren’t killed is nothing more than luck!”
“Why weren’t you in your dormitory?”
Draca and Hermione exchanged confused looks.
Neither understood why Professor McGonagall wasn’t angry with them.
“Professor…?”
Hermione spoke first, clearly intimidated by McGonagall’s fury.
Professor McGonagall merely waved a hand.
“Miss Granger, Miss Malfoy, I know you two were here because…
something urgent came up.”
Hermione looked confused.
Draca, however, began to suspect why Professor McGonagall wasn’t angry with them.
“Professor Snape is already on his way.
He was the one who sent me here.”
“He said that as soon as word came that a troll had gotten into the castle, Miss Parkinson and Miss Greengrass went straight to find him—”
As Professor McGonagall’s tone gradually calmed, pride rose in Draca’s chest.
Just as she’d expected, Daphne and Pansy had stepped in to help.
While Draca was thinking that, Professor McGonagall turned back toward Harry and Ron, and her anger flared again.
“That is what you should have done!
I’m sorry to say it was the Slytherin students who showed better judgment.”
“Not the two of you from Gryffindor!”
Her scolding was still echoing when two more figures entered.
Professor Quirrell came first, with Professor Snape behind him.
For some reason, Snape looked guarded.
The moment Quirrell saw the troll, he let out a miserable cry, grabbed the wall for support, and slowly sank onto one of the broken toilets.
Snape continued staring coldly at him.
Draca looked toward Professor Snape and felt uneasy when he never once looked back at her.
At the same time, Hermione had managed to steady herself and spoke quietly.
“Please…
please listen, Professor McGonagall.
They came here because they were looking for me.”
“Miss Granger?”
Professor McGonagall looked surprised.
Draca turned as well and stared at Hermione.
“I came here because I wanted to ambush the troll.
Because I—”
Hermione paused.
Her eyes flicked almost imperceptibly toward Draca.
“I made a bet with Malfoy to see which of us could bring down the troll first.”
Ignoring Draca’s furious stare and Harry and Ron’s stunned expressions, Hermione continued lying.
“You know we’ve both been earning a lot of points for our Houses.”
“So we wanted to see which of us was really the best first-year.”
“We both thought we could handle it by ourselves…”
Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow and stared at Hermione and Draca.
Even Snape narrowed his eyes as he looked at Gryffindor’s solitary little genius.
Then Hermione suddenly started crying.
“If they hadn’t found us, we’d probably be dead.”
“Malfoy’s spells and mine weren’t working at all.”
“When they arrived, the troll was just about to kill us.
They didn’t have time to go find anyone else for help—”
“Harry stuck his wand up the troll’s nose, and Ron used the Levitation Charm to make its club knock it unconscious.”
“Miss Malfoy?”
After hearing Hermione’s explanation, Professor McGonagall turned a cold, demanding gaze on Draca.
Draca drew in a deep breath, rolled her eyes, and answered in an utterly flat voice.
“Yes.
That’s exactly what happened.”
“But Pansy and Daphne had nothing to do with it.
I only asked them beforehand to keep it secret.”
“Apparently they were too worried, so they hurried to tell Professor Snape where we were.”
Draca joining in so smoothly made Ron’s wand slip from his hand and hit the floor with a thud.
Harry merely stared at Draca, looking completely bewildered.
“Honestly…”
Professor McGonagall suddenly let out a long sigh and slowly looked over the four students.
“Good students can become overconfident too.
Miss Granger, Miss Malfoy—”
“For your reckless and irresponsible behavior, Gryffindor and Slytherin will each lose five points.”
“I hope both of you learn from this.”
Then she looked toward Harry and Ron.
“You were extremely fortunate.
Still, there aren’t many first-years who could subdue a fully grown troll.”
“I think each of you has earned five points for Gryffindor.”
“I’ll report the matter to Professor Dumbledore.”
“Now go back to your Houses at once.
Everyone else is enjoying the Halloween feast in their common rooms.”
The four of them fled the girls’ bathroom in relief.
As Draca hurried away, she could still faintly hear Professor McGonagall exercising her authority as Deputy Headmistress and giving instructions to Quirrell and Snape.
“Professor Quirrell, please deal with this troll properly.”
“Professor Snape, Miss Parkinson and Miss Greengrass deserve recognition for their warning and courage.”
“They’re students from your House.
Would you please award them points yourself?”
The moment Draca escaped the troll’s stench, she ignored her soaked hair and hurried away without looking back.
The three Gryffindors followed silently behind her.
Only when they reached the entrance hall and were about to split off toward their respective common rooms did Hermione call out.
“Wait, Malfoy.”
Draca stopped but didn’t turn around.
“Thank you for covering for us—”
Before Hermione could finish, Draca cut her off.
“I only told the truth.”
After a short pause, she added as though trying to explain herself,
“Don’t misunderstand, Granger.”
“I only did it because a pure-blood noble witch would never betray a comrade.”
“I’m still going to settle which of us is better.”
Then she lifted her foot, her hair swaying behind her as she prepared to leave.
Harry called out as well.
“Malfoy!”
This time, Draca glanced back.
His expression was just as stubborn as hers, full of obvious reluctance.
“Tha—”
Before Harry could finish thanking her, Draca pouted and spoke awkwardly.
“You too, troll-bogey boy.”
The moment the words left her mouth, her graceful figure slipped away down the staircase.
It wasn’t until Harry reached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room that he finally realized why the strange feeling in his chest had lingered.
When Draca had spoken, there had been a faint blush on her pale cheeks.
It really helps the fic grow!