Chapter 30
Chapter 30
The shadow quickly smothered the patch of moonlight.
Suddenly, an enormous foot appeared before Suer and Hermione. It was caked in black mud, cracked and hard with calluses. Harsh breathing and low mutters accompanied it, along with a revolting stench that clung to their noses.
Hermione huddled against Suer. Suer pressed himself flat to the wall. The two looked almost fused with the stone.
Under other circumstances, the scene might have seemed intimate.
To hell with intimacy. Look at that club–it was thicker than both of them put together.
One blow from that thing would turn them into two-dimensional creatures.
The young wizards crouched in the corner, breath held, as the troll came fully into view: short, thick legs; a grey body like rough granite; and a tiny head grotesquely out of proportion with its enormous, clumsy frame.
It did not seem to notice the two tasty young wizards tucked in the corner, ready to fill its empty stomach. It merely lumbered down the corridor, its giant club held upside down and scraping noisily over the marble tiles.
Only after a long while did Suer remove his hand from Hermione’s mouth.
The smell remained. It was as if someone with atrociously smelly feet had worn the same socks for days, then left them for several more days inside a bathroom no one had cleaned in years.
Moonlight still lay peacefully over the corridor, silent as water.
“Hah… hah… ugh… hah…”
Hermione bent over and gulped air, gagging at the lingering stench.
“Why is there a troll down here?” She swallowed with difficulty.
Suer drew his wand and murmured an incantation. A fresh breeze swept through the corridor. Only when most of the suffocating odour had dispersed did he answer.
“I don’t know. But I think we should find a professor.”
“You’re right.” Hermione straightened, breathing quickly, her face still pale.
Just as they were about to leave the corner, a piercing scream came rushing toward them from farther down the corridor.
“Oh no. Is there someone else down here?” Hermione asked. “That voice sounds familiar.”
Suer said nothing.
He suddenly remembered that the Boy Who Lived and his sidekick were also supposed to appear here at this point.
“That’s Ron Weasley,” he said.
“What do we do?” Hermione froze, uncertainty crossing her face.
She desperately did not want to face the enormous troll again after escaping it by sheer luck. But the person in danger was her classmate.
Even if that classmate was habitually sarcastic and thoroughly irritating.
Suer looked at Hermione, sighed, and drew his wand again. His grip tightened.
“Come on. Let’s see whether we can help.”
He made the decision for her.
They could not possibly defeat the thick-skinned troll head-on. Trolls, however, were famous for having tiny brains and very little intelligence. Slowing it down ought to be possible.
The two hurried toward the sound. Suer’s thoughts raced as he planned what to do when they reached the creature.
The situation was dreadful. Mr. Filch would probably jump up and down with fury afterward.
Dust from shattered stone hung in the air. Craters covered the floor. The enraged troll was chasing two young wizards with its club raised, and a wand protruded from one nostril.
Harry and Ron were streaked black and white with grime. Brown earth stained their robes, and both looked utterly wretched.
Crash!
The berserk troll smashed its club into the floor. Harry and Ron dived forward and rolled, narrowly avoiding the blow. The poor floor gained yet another hole.
Did these two idiots not know how to split up?
“Remember the Swamp Spell we saw in the book, Hermione?” Suer had settled on a plan.
The troll’s thick defences were what allowed it to survive in the forest. First-years with their pitiful reserves of magic could not hope to injure it.
But they did not need to defeat it directly. They only had to restrict its movement, and there were many ways to do that.
“I remember.” Hermione nodded. “You want to turn the floor into a swamp?”
She immediately understood his idea, but hesitation followed.
“We’ve never cast that spell before. What if it fails?”
“It won’t. We don’t need the actual spell. We only have to transform the floor enough to make it fall hard.” Suer calmly explained his plan. “If we lead the target properly, it will work.”
“Then…” Hermione swallowed. Harry and Ron threw themselves into another desperate roll. She gripped her wand and nodded. “Let’s try.”
“Good.”
Together, they faced the troll as it chased the two boys in circles around the room. Harry and Ron had probably not even noticed their arrival. Suer needed to warn them, but shouting loudly would inevitably attract the troll’s attention.
There was no other choice.
Suer took a deep breath and charged forward. Hermione could not suppress a cry.
The troll paused. Confusion flickered in its bean-sized eyes.
Where had this extra one come from?
It quickly threw the question out of its tiny mind. Never mind. Another fragrant piece of meat could only be a good thing.
During the brief pause, Suer managed to explain everything.
Harry and Ron looked delighted to see him. Suer gave them the plan in the fewest words possible.
“When we run, listen for my signal. When I shout jump, leap forward with all your strength. Understood?”
They had no time to nod. The troll was already moving again, a deep, excited growl rising from its ugly head.
Suer ran ahead with Harry and Ron. When the pounding vibration behind them became strong enough, he shouted, “Now! Jump!”
Harry and Ron hurled themselves forward.
Suer spun around at once and pointed his wand at the club raised high over the troll’s head.
“Wingardium Leviosa!”
The massive club tore itself from the troll’s hand and floated into the air.
The creature stood dumbfounded. Suer maintained the club’s levitation and shouted, “Now, Hermione!”
“Hurrh?”
The loss of its weapon bewildered the troll for only a moment. With delicious prey before it, it immediately changed tactics. It opened a hand as broad as a fan, flexed its fingers, bent its clumsy body, and reached out.
At that instant, Hermione’s spell took effect.
Suer felt the floor begin to change. Still holding his wand aloft, he leapt as hard as he could toward Harry and Ron.
“Oof!”
Ron had the good fortune to become Suer’s landing cushion.
The troll strained to lift its feet, but its stupid, heavy body and the floor it had trusted now worked against it. Three fragrant lumps of meat lay just before it. The troll released a furious, unwilling roar.
Suer cancelled the Levitation Charm.
The club fell from above with a tremendous whistle.
Thud.
After one deep impact, the troll’s resentful eyes slid shut.
Its body swayed several times, then collapsed with an enormous crash, throwing up a cloud of dust.
“Hah… hah…”
Panting and quick footsteps came through the dust. Hermione approached Suer, casting one frightened glance at the troll.
“Are you all right, Suer?”
Suer took her hand and stood.
“I’m fine, but Weasley may be in some pain.”
When Suer landed on Ron, he had heard a crisp crack.
Ron Weasley lay on the floor, pale and sucking air through his teeth.
“I think one of my ribs might be broken… ow…”
Poor Ron. He had escaped being flattened into a pancake beneath the troll’s club, only to fall victim to Suer’s crushing descent from Mount Tai.
“Madam Pomfrey is very good. An injury like that will be healed overnight.” Hermione glanced at him and gave a quiet hmph. “Harry, are you hurt?”
“I’m all right.”
Harry climbed to his feet, dusted off his clothes, and walked breathlessly to the unconscious troll.
He bent over and pulled his wand from its nostril. A large mass of grey slime clung to it. Harry grimaced and wiped the mess on the troll’s trousers.
“Thank you for saving us.” Holding his wand between two fingers, he endured the awful smell and thanked Suer.
“It’s nothing.” Suer shook his head. “But why were you two down here?”
“We…” Harry looked at Hermione. “We heard Hermione was here, so…”
Suer nodded in understanding. “I came to find Hermione too.”
Hermione looked blankly between them.
What?
Why had every one of them come looking for her?