Ron and Harry stared agape at the scene before them.
They had heard Hermione’s bloodcurdling scream and the deafening clatter of the troll destroying the bathroom, and had charged in with solemn, heroically grim determination to save her.
Before rushing through the door, they had pictured what they might find: a ferocious troll, an injured Hermione, a wrecked bathroom.
They had even imagined the possibility of failing miserably and getting pummeled by the raging beast…
They thought they were prepared.
Yet when they actually laid eyes on the bathroom, they realized they hadn’t imagined half of it.
The room looked as though it had suffered a direct missile strike.
Shattered brick, cracked tiles, and broken glass littered the floor, glinting coldly.
The mountain of a troll lay sprawled on the ground, a hole blasted clean through a very specific part of its lower body.
A pooling puddle of grayish-green blood expanded beneath it.
Against the wall, Hermione was shielding Ariana with her own body, covering her tightly.
Ariana poked her head out from under Hermione’s arm with great difficulty and shuffled across the floor with Hermione still weighed down on her back, looking remarkably like a small turtle with a long neck stuck under a heavy rock.
Once the two boys realized exactly *where* the troll had been pierced, they both gasped sharply.
Though they belonged to a completely different species, they instinctively clutched their groins and backed up two steps in phantom agony.
“Is…
is this troll still alive?” Ron asked, his voice trembling as he took in Ariana’s battle declaration.
“Honestly, it’s almost pitiful—” “ROAR!!!” As if responding to his words, the troll let out a bellow on the ground.
Swaying unsteadily, it tried to push itself up, clearly consumed by a berserk fury.
One hand clutched its lower abdomen, shivering violently from the pain, but its usually dull, stupid eyes burned with vengeance as it reached for the wooden club dropped on the floor.
Harry charged forward bravely.
“Hermione, get up!
Run!” Yelling at the top of his lungs, he scrambled onto the troll’s back.
Normally, a giant creature like this wouldn’t even notice a first-year, but this was a mountain whose foundation had just been obliterated.
Harry’s momentum caused the troll to lurch forward.
Seizing the moment, Harry shoved his wand straight up the troll’s nostril.
Suffering agonizing pain from both ends, the troll roared and writhed frantically.
Its long arms flailed wildly, slamming into the walls until the whole room seemed to shake.
Snapping back to reality, Hermione hoisted the exhausted Ariana up and tried to dodge the frenzy to flee the room.
But as soon as the troll caught sight of Ariana moving, it ignored Harry on its back entirely, howling in rage as it lunged to crush her.
Hermione helped Ariana scramble out of the way just in time, shattered porcelain flying past their ears.
“Help us!” Hermione cried out to Ron.
Leaning most of her weight against Hermione, Ariana raised her wand with the last threads of her strength.
Her voice rang out simultaneously with Ron’s: “Wingardium Leviosa!” The wooden club in the troll’s hand shot up high into the air, swung upside down, and landed with a heavy *thud* right on its head.
After taking blow upon devastating blow, the troll finally collapsed.
In truth, it had been finished the moment its lower body was blasted open, driven purely by sheer, unadulterated rage until now.
It crumpled heavily to the floor.
“Is…
is it dead?” Ron asked.
“Probably not yet, but once it bleeds out lying here unconscious, it will be,” Ariana said, weak but chillingly cold.
“We need to hurry up and burn the corpse to destroy the evidence…
I’m out of strength, Hermione—” Hermione seemed startled by her words, yet she pulled out her wand anyway.
Harry and Ron stared at the two girls in sheer shock, as if watching two human-sized venomous scorpions plotting murder aloud.
Ron in particular looked like he wanted to slap his own mouth for asking.
“What do you think you are doing?!” Loud footsteps thundered down the corridor, growing closer as a group of people sprinted toward them.
Then, a series of dreaded faces appeared before their eyes—McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell.
Professor McGonagall looked as though she were about to faint from fury.
“Why are you here?!
We explicitly stated that all students were to return to their dormitories!
Did it not occur to you that you could have been killed by a troll?!” “I harbor certain doubts regarding that last point.” Professor Snape, who was examining the troll, interjected in a strange, drawling tone.
“What a remarkably exquisite Blasting Curse.
I dare say many upperclassmen couldn’t produce such an effect.
Perhaps this gave a certain genius young lady the arrogance to believe she could take on a mountain troll single-handedly, hmmm?” Rising from beside the troll, his piercing gaze carved through Harry, Ron, and Hermione before coming to rest on Ariana.
“And so she led her little companions into a heroic battle…
It certainly looks like it was intense.” He closed in on Ariana menacingly.
Professor McGonagall paused in thought for a second, seemingly finding his logic sound, and turned her furious gaze back onto Ariana as well.
Half-dead and leaning on Hermione, Ariana suddenly felt a massive black cauldron flying right toward her head to take the blame.
*Wait, what??* Was she insane?
Why would she solo a troll?
Did defeating a troll drop gold coins?
What kind of glory was there to gain?
One wrong move and the only thing she’d be raising was her own tombstone!
*Even if you’re my favorite professor, you can’t dump this pile of garbage on my head!* Ariana immediately opened her mouth to plead her innocence, but a voice beat her to it.
“N-No, that’s not how it was!” Hermione stepped forward abruptly, shielding Ariana behind her.
“It was me—I read about trolls in a book and thought I could handle them on my own.
They came to save me!” *Good girl!
Loyal friend!* *But when you stepped forward, did you forget that I’m a half-paralyzed lump leaning on you?!* Deprived of her support, Ariana pitched sideways with a hard *thud*.
As she fell helplessly toward the floor, her peripheral vision caught Snape watching them with a sneer.
Rage flared in her heart, bold and desperate.
Mid-fall, she forced her waist to twist—and slammed her face right into Snape’s leg!
Ariana knew this maneuver dealt zero damage to him while inflicting eight hundred self-inflicted damage, but she just wanted to vent her frustration.
To her surprise, when her face hit his leg, Snape hissed in a sharp breath of cold air, and a faint metallic tang of blood drifted into her nostrils.
*Did I smash out my own nosebleed?* *As expected of Professor Snape—he can deal massive recoil damage without even moving.
Impressive.* Before she could ponder further, the world spun wildly before her eyes, and she felt herself lifted into the air.
Professor McGonagall was lecturing Hermione with heartbroken yet softened reasoning, deducting five points from Gryffindor before awarding five points each to the three boys and girls for their bravery—though right now, Ariana couldn’t feel a shred of joy over the points.
Dangling in the air by her collar, she shrank her neck in and locked eyes with Professor Snape’s dangerous glare.
She bared her tiny canine teeth in an attempt at a flattering smile.
The King of Snakes wasn’t buying it for a second.
Sneering, he hissed venomously, “Well now, our brave and fearless Miss Ritchie…” Ariana, who had been holding on by a thread, gave up entirely.
Her eyes rolled back.
“P-Professor Snape!
Ariana looks kind of dead!” Ron, who had been darting glances over here ever since Snape approached, let out a high-pitched shriek.
Snape: ???
She blew a troll open completely unscathed without a single scratch on her, and the moment he opened his mouth to scold her, she fainted?
*Is she faking it?* Instinctively, he lifted his hand and gave her a gentle shake; Ariana’s limp head nodded along helplessly with his movement.
*She really fainted?* Professor McGonagall rushed over with quick, hurried footsteps.
“Severus!” “She is a poor child who just faced a mountain troll!” she said disapprovingly.
“She is injured!” “Yes, yes,” Snape cleared his throat and nonchalantly scooped her up instead of dangling her by the collar.
Ariana’s arms and legs drooped limply in the air, resembling a puppy scooped up around the belly into an ‘o-n’ shape.
“I was just about to take her to the Hospital Wing.”