The group of four followed the stairs down to the Great Hall, and except for Will, the three young Wizards felt that something was amiss; despite it being Halloween eve, the entire Castle was filled with an eerie silence.
Aside from the occasional flapping of bats, it was difficult to hear any other sounds in the enormous Castle.
Will personally attributed this to Hogwarts’ Castle having excellent soundproofing.
He had now also recalled the plot: the students from the four Houses should have already returned to their dormitories.
In this eerie quiet atmosphere, Sylvia and the other two followed closely behind Will, as if afraid of encountering something terrifying, until they reached a lower floor and suddenly heard a commotion from below the stairs.
The group looked in the direction of the sound.
Below the spiral staircase, two young Wizards were running.
“Harry, slow down, I can’t keep up!” Ron panted, “Watch out for that staircase, it’s moving!”
Harry gasped and jumped a step, sweat on his face making his glasses slide down halfway: “If we don’t hurry, Hermione will be in danger! It’s a Troll in the dungeons, Ron, a Troll!! If you hadn’t said those things, Hermione wouldn’t be crying in the girls’ bathroom right now!”
His stamina was better than Ron’s, probably from being chased by Dudley and others when he was younger.
On the upper level of the spiral staircase, the group exchanged glances.
“There’s a Troll in the dungeons? They’re coming to save me?” Hermione was so clever that she quickly figured things out.
Although she didn’t know how the Troll got there, she easily understood that the two boys still thought she was crying in the girls’ bathroom and were preparing to rescue her.
“Ignore them, let’s go straight to the Great Hall.” Sylvia hooked Hermione’s arm, looking as if she were standing up for her sister.
“Let those two fools spend Halloween with the Troll.”
“But, but that’s a Troll!” Neville seemed to recall something terrifying: “Trolls eat children!”
“Trolls, XXXX-level magical creatures, although I can’t quite understand what’s so magical about them. They are described as terrifying creatures, standing up to 12 feet tall and weighing a ton; powerful, stupid, and unpredictable, with violent tendencies.” Hermione, truly deserving her title as a walking encyclopedia, recited the information about Trolls directly.
If Will remembered correctly, this should be from ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.
“Oh dear, they’ll be smashed into Halloween meat pies by the Troll!” Hermione said anxiously, “We have to warn them.”
She wasn’t a hard-hearted young Witch herself; she merely used arrogance to hide her fear of falling behind.
“You’re right, Hermione! I’m going to warn Harry.” Neville also became worried.
Although he and Ron were just ordinary friends, Harry had always looked out for him, even clashing with Malfoy in class over his Remembrall earlier.
Hermione pulled away from Sylvia’s arm and ran down with Neville.
“Hermione!” Sylvia called out, a little worried.
Will shrugged and pulled Sylvia along, “Come on, unless you want to watch them both get smashed into Halloween meat pies by the Troll? And then we’ll have to scoop them up.”
When the group reached the corridor downstairs, Will saw Harry and Ron sprinting towards them, with the Troll chasing them from behind, wielding a large club.
Although Harry and Ron were running fast, one step from the Troll covered several of their steps.
It smashed things as it went, making the entire corridor a mess, like how you might swat a cockroach at home.
Only here, the “cockroach” was the savior of the magic world, Mr. Harry.
Amidst the loud crash of the Troll knocking over armor, Harry yelled for Ron to speed up.
“Ron, run faster!”
“Easy for you to say!!” Ron’s face was as red as his hair, panting behind Harry.
It seemed the two hadn’t foolishly fought the Troll after discovering Hermione wasn’t in the girls’ bathroom, but the Troll apparently had no intention of letting them go.
“That’s Hermione!” Harry suddenly spotted Hermione and Neville running down the stairs.
“And Neville!”
“Run! You two, run!” Ron felt like his lungs were about to burst.
The thing behind them was not only fast but also stank; even worse, Hermione, whom he was trying to save, was at the stairwell, once again on the edge of danger.
“Neville! Take Hermione and run!”
At that moment, Sylvia and Will had just descended the stairs and happened to hear Ron’s words.
Harry, seeing two more people coming down, was so anxious he almost vomited: “Everyone run up! Hurry!”
But Will seemed not to hear him, actually walking in front of the group, which made Harry even more anxious.
Although Will was a Slytherin, Harry never thought Will was a bad person, and coupled with rumors that Will was unpopular in Slytherin, he still had a good impression of Will.
“Harry, don’t forget, you are a Wizard.”
Then Harry seemed to see Will’s silver-grey eyes light up.
Will activated his Wizard’s Eye.
He clearly saw the magic on the Troll’s body, a strange sight, like large, scattered thick lines enveloping a tiny core.
The source of the thick lines was the Troll’s skin, Will realized.
The books said this creature was classified as a magical beast precisely because of this layer of skin.
This skin, containing “thick-lined magic,” possessed extremely high magic resistance; using magic on the Troll would significantly reduce its effectiveness.
Then he would use magic to create some physical reactions.
He instantly figured out how to deal with the Troll and brandished his wand.
In that moment, Harry felt he somewhat understood what Slytherin meant by “elegance.”
“Aguamenti!”
With a flick of Will’s wand, a large gush of clear water erupted.
A water jet as thick as an arm surged forward, striking the Troll’s chest.
The splashing water instantly obscured the Troll’s tiny head.
The Troll, whose head was only the size of a cocoa bean, instantly didn’t know which direction to charge, and its speed immediately slowed down.
Poor Ron, who was running slower, got soaked over half his body by the splashing water.
It was October 31st, after all, and Ron, who had been sweating profusely moments before, instantly shivered.
However, seeing the Troll obstructed, Harry and Ron rejoiced, gathering their strength and panting as they ran to the others.
The vision-impaired Troll wildly swung the club in its hand, constantly knocking over surrounding armor and statues, causing a rumbling sound in the corridor.
Will, seeing the time was right, stopped the Aguamenti.
“Freezing Charm!”
A pale blue cold mist erupted from the tip of Will’s wand, hitting the thoroughly soaked Troll.
In just a few breaths, large layers of ice formed on the Troll’s body.
Especially the Troll’s head, which Will had specifically targeted; that cocoa-bean-like head was now encased in a thick layer of ice.
Even so, the Troll hadn’t been knocked down, which spoke volumes about its robust physique.
Fortunately, the Troll was indeed incredibly stupid.
Because of the ice, its breathing became increasingly difficult, and then the Troll actually slammed its head into the corridor wall.
Will saw it clearly: the Troll’s head was almost completely squeezed into its chest cavity by the powerful impact.
Then the Troll fell onto the ice, and almost the entire corridor was covered with a thin layer of ice.
“Hoo… hoo… Let’s go quickly, this, this place is too dangerous.” Harry still felt intensely hot all over, his exhaled breath seemingly carrying scorching flames; only the cold air he inhaled into his lungs could make him feel slightly better.
Ron, meanwhile, was shaking like a sieve, his teeth chattering, and he spoke as if possessed by Quirrell: “Ye… yes, this place is too… too cold, I… we… let’s go… go back quickly.”
“Perhaps, we’ll have to wait a bit before we can go back.” Neville tugged at Will’s robe.
Did Will need him to tug?
He had already heard footsteps on the stairs.
He turned his head and saw Professor McGonagall at the front of the group; her face was pale, but she was clearly furious—