This proud little witch who always competed with her in class was currently in a terrible state: her eyes were swollen from crying, the tip of her nose bright red from wringing, and her body hiccuping rhythmically—she had clearly cried herself out of breath.
Ariana looked at the poor little creature in front of her with hesitation.
The words of threat she intended to say were now impossible to utter.
She paused, handing over a handkerchief.
“Did someone bully you?
Want me to beat them up for you?” Hermione accepted the handkerchief while sniffling.
“Nobody likes me.
No one wants to be my friend.” Ariana fell into a weird silence for a moment.
Such a familiar thought.
If Hermione had confided in her like this last night, she probably wouldn’t have been able to hold back from hugging her and crying together.
*#Ladies and gentlemen, the program presented to you now is Two Little Witches Flooding the Dormitory with Tears#* Ariana quickly shook the wild thoughts out of her head.
Fortunately, she had already sorted herself out now.
Alright, now let the strong and kind Great Goddess Ariana help this lost little lamb.
Ariana patted Hermione’s head with forced maturity.
“I don’t have friends either.” “But—they all hate me!” Hermione’s tears welled up again.
“Oh, they hate me too.
Look at Malfoy, he looks like he wants to bite me to death every single day.” Ariana brought out a prime example.
Hermione paused, but quickly reacted: “But that’s different!
You and Malfoy don’t get along, you two fight every day.
It’s normal he doesn’t like you.” “But…
but I clearly try to help everyone all the time!
I work hard to answer questions in class to earn house points, teach them spells they don’t know, and tell them not to break school rules so they won’t get expelled—I’ve done so much, and they still hate me!” As she spoke, her voice choked up again.
“They’re blind,” Ariana concluded cleanly, her words so sharp that Hermione froze for a second.
“They don’t know what’s good for them.” “I taught Ron a charm, and he said I was a nightmare,” Hermione tested the waters—for some reason, she suddenly wanted to tell Ariana this sentence that had made her miserable all afternoon.
“Oh, Ron’s blind.
An ungrateful little brat.” Ariana offered her fiercely aggressive commentary.
“Dean had errors in his essay, and when I pointed them out to him, he mocked me for being nosy.” “He’s an ungrateful brat too.” “Before the Flying lesson, I explained the flying techniques I read from books to everyone, and they all found me annoying.” “A whole bunch of ungrateful brats.” “Earlier, I told you not to break school rules.
You didn’t listen, and you mocked me.” Hermione wasn’t sad anymore.
She stared intently at Ariana.
“I’m an ungrateful brat too.” Ariana replied without thinking, then suddenly snapped to her senses, “Hey hey hey—wait, something’s not right.” Hermione crossed her arms and stared firmly at her, as if saying—*Ha, I knew you were just fooling me.* “Fine, fine, I really am not a good person,” Ariana admitted while pinching her nose.
“But I didn’t mock you.” Hermione shuffled two small steps toward her, looking at her expectantly.
Ariana’s brain spun at top speed: “I didn’t mock you.
Um, I just didn’t listen to you.” Hermione’s expectant face instantly turned cold.
She sniffled and let out a loud, cold hmph.
Ariana said with utmost sincerity, “I know breaking school rules is bad, and what you said was right—of course, under those circumstances, even if I had to do it again, I couldn’t refrain from going just to let Malfoy think I backed down—but I know you were right.
I’ve never hated you for it.
I know you meant well.” Hermione looked a bit unpersuaded, yet also a bit bashful from Ariana’s words.
Ariana asked in return, “So, Miss Granger, do you think your actions were wrong?” “Of course not!” Hermione said firmly.
“I think so too.” Ariana smiled.
“So you see, you didn’t do anything wrong, nor do you believe you were wrong.
But some people will think you’re a nightmare, while others think your ideas are right…” “So I should choose people who think the same as me?” Hermione asked urgently.
“Choose yourself.” Ariana’s voice slowed down, almost as if talking to herself: “Just make choices that you believe are right and that align with your own heart.
The person who understands you best in this world will only ever be yourself.
Your joys, sorrows, and happiness—only you can feel them most truly.” Her tone grew firmer, her speaking pace quickening: “Why compromise yourself for others?
Even if everyone in the world dislikes me, I will still love myself the most—my love for myself is more genuine and intense than anyone else’s!” Hermione looked at the girl making her resolute declaration before her.
Standing there confident and resolute, she resembled a proud little swan.
Suddenly, the little swan wrinkled her nose.
“Sorry, Hermione, pardon me for asking, but were you in such a hurry just now that you forgot to flush the toilet?” She glanced suspiciously at Hermione, taking a tiny, slightly disgusted step backward.
When Hermione realized what she meant, her face instantly flushed bright red.
“What nonsense are you talking about?!
I’ve been crying in here all afternoon, I didn’t use the toilet!” She now felt that secretly crying over having no friends wasn’t humiliating at all—at least compared to being accused of not flushing the toilet!
Ariana felt the odor growing stronger and stronger.
She picked her eyebrows and looked around with a frown.
“If it’s not you—then who’s eavesdropping on people without any manners, and even took a crap in here…
OH MY GOD!!!” She made terrifying eye contact with a dark, ugly, stinky, and towering granite mountain creature.
“T…
Troll!” Hermione’s voice trembled violently.
The troll spotted them as well.
Dragging a long wooden club, it took steps that shook the entire floor, lumbering toward them—and even more despairingly, its massive body almost completely blocked the only door out.
Damn it all, the bathroom door was nearly as tall as the ceiling—and something this big could still block it!
The smile on Ariana’s face looked worse than crying.
“Nobody told me that Halloween in the wizarding world involved the real deal—do you guys not do cosplay?” She struggled to draw her wand, its tip pointing at the potato-sized head atop the troll’s massive body.
“Run further inside, Hermione.” “After I perish together with this troll, tell Professor Snape that if he’s willing to visit my grave, please stop calling me a little troll.
This creature is way too ugly—if I get classified as the same species, I won’t be able to rest in peace.” After heroically and rapidly delivering her last words, Ariana mustered all her strength, channeled all her magic, and let out a shrill scream: *”Confringo!”* A blinding, brilliant ball of light erupted from the tip of her wand.
At that exact moment, the troll raised its club high in the air.
The sheer force smashed the light fixtures on the ceiling into tens of thousands of shards.
Seeing the wooden club about to come crashing down on Ariana, Hermione screamed, “No!” She lunged forward, shielding Ariana beneath her body while trembling uncontrollably.
Bumped like this by Hermione, Ariana’s hand aiming at the troll’s head jolted, causing the launched ball of light to veer off course…
downward, aiming directly below the troll’s belly button, right between its legs.
The massive light ball exploded violently.
The troll’s stance went from an ‘A’ shape to an inverted ‘V’—the bottom-center region practically blown through.
“AWOOOOOOOGH!!!!!” An agonizing, deafening howl—Ariana had never known a living creature could produce a roar so miserable.
The heavy wooden club dropped from the troll’s grip with a loud *thud*, rolling past right beside their ears.
Hands clutching its crotch, the troll pitched straight forward and crashed down.
Ariana originally wanted to pass out.
This immensely powerful spell had nearly drained all her magic and energy, and being tackled from behind by Hermione—though this girl’s intention was to shield her with her life, and Ariana could feel the mortal terror in her body’s trembling—it was nonetheless a sudden, heavy blow to someone who was already teetering on the edge.
She slammed her head right into the toilet with a loud *clack*.
She really was about to pass out—before noticing that the troll was falling straight toward the two of them.
“I will NEVER—let my cause of death be—GETTING CRUSHED TO DEATH BY A TROLL’S ASS!” Sustained by her absolute last breath, Ariana bore the trembling, tight-eyed Hermione on her back and crawled frantically toward the wall.
“Hermione!
Ariana!” Gasps came from the doorway, and the terrified faces of Harry and Ron appeared.
—Reinforcements had arrived!
Ariana suddenly felt a surge of strength flood her body.
She shouted excitedly at them, “Help me up!
Let me at him—we’re gonna beat this troll to death together!”