The Snake, the eagle and the troll

"Wow!" Hermione stared around the Slytherin's common room.

Compared to Ravenclaw's that was on a tower, deserted and airier space than she had seen in all of Hogwarts, Slytherin's had more of a cozy vibe to it.

Hermione looked around the elegant carvings on the furniture, the windows which were tainted green due to the lake as some fish swimmed by.

"I assume it's not quite the same as having the best view of the surrounding mountains, but I hope you find it pleasant enough." Draco told her.

"It's beautiful, with the aura of a mysterious, underwater shipwreck." She described it to him. "And very elegant."

"I see." Draco smiled, noticing her imagining how different the days in the Slytherin common room were compared to Ravenclaw's. "Glad you liked it. So, feeling any better?"

"A little bit." She gave him a faint smile. "Won't you get in trouble for bringing me here?"

"Don't worry." He assured her. "The seniors have their classes and the first years won't be troubling us either. Besides, perhaps one day you can bring me to your house's common room as well."

Truth be told, with his house elves that were currently keeping them alone and his magical map, there were close to zero places that were beyond his reach and influence.

Though Hermione didn't know about it.

So she nodded awkwardly, already thinking of ways about how she would manage to bring him with her to the Ravenclaw common room without getting in trouble.

"So, instead of spending your time alone in the bathroom, will you stay in this nice place, sit and chat with me for a while?" Draco proposed. "I'm sure you still have some questions you would like to ask me. And so do I."

Hermione didn't say anything at first and looked down, she didn't want Draco to see her blushing face. "S-sure."

The Slytherin common room always had some pastry and biscuits for snacks, and tea that could be prepared at any time.

So the two kids took their time and chatted for a few hours. Sharing laughs and some stories about themselves.

After noticing how much time had passed, Draco decided to walk Hermione back towards her house common room.

"I'm sorry for making you miss out on the Hallowen feast." Hermione said, she felt bad he had missed the feast because of her.

"Like I said before, don't worry about it." Draco assured her. "There will be plenty of opportunities in the years to come."

As they were walking by, they suddenly heard a loud-pitch scream.

"What was that?" Hermione looked towards the source of the voice.

'Probably the troll Quirrell had released.' Draco thought to himself. 'I didn't get rid of it so Harriet could continue to connect the dots.'

There was another scream.

"Hey, let's go check!" Hermione said.

Draco nodded in agreement. "Agreed, someone might be in trouble."

BAM! GRRRRR! GRRRR! ME KILL YOU!

They heard a loud crashing noise followed by growls that didn't sound human.

From the corner, two people came running.

One was Theodore and the other… a beaten up Ronald Weasley.

"Draco!" Theodore shouted as he saw them and came rushing, dragging Ron with him. "A Troll is roaming around the school! Crabbe and Golye are fighting to stun it."

"Worse than I thought then." Draco replied, maintaining a calm voice. "Hermione, you go back with Ron and call the teachers, we will distract it until then."

"No, I'm not going to leave you guys here." Hermione protested, ignoring the shaking Weasley apologies as he grasped her robe.

"Now it's not time to argue." Draco said seriously. "The quicker you leave and reach the teachers, the earlier we will be safe."

Theodore assumed that stubborn girls like Hermione wouldn't leave in these kinds of situations, rather choosing to stay around and be a bother.

But to his surprise, Draco's words had managed to convince her.

As the two left, Theodore turned to face Draco with a grin. "So, Ms. Granger?"

"Let's go Nott!" Draco ordered, ignoring his friend's tease.

The two turned the corridor corner and saw both Crabbe and Goyle struggling to face a mountain troll.

The beast reached a height of about twelve feet and seemed to weigh up to a ton. And from his lackey appearances, it was dangerously violent and incredibly aggressive.

A Troll was a magical beast of prodigious strength and immense stupidity.

In fact, they were so synonymous with stupidity that they actually had a wizarding exam failing grade named after them.

Trolls were grouped in the taxonomic genus Troglodytarum. From his studies, Draco recalled that trolls possessed rudimentary magic, but he did not know how they applied it.

It swung its huge bat around, missing Vincent but smashing a whole on the wall behind him.

"Draco!" Both underlings noticed his arrival.

"So, what's the plan?" Theodore asked, aiming his wand at the Troll.

"This is a mountain troll, the largest and strongest of its kind." Draco pointed, taking his wand out and blasting a mere light spell straight to its head, blinding until Crabbe and Goyle repositioned themselves. "However, it is also the stupidest of them."

"It's heavy and bulky enough to shrug off simple stunning spells." Theodore remarked, recalling how their spells weren't effective against it. "And that bat is hard as hell to avoid. Weasley almost got crushed when it surprised us."

ARGH! ME HATE LIGHT!

The troll roared as it regained its sights.

"Did it just speak?" Draco questioned, but his friends were blocking their ears in pain.

"What did you say?" Theodore questioned, still a little deaf from the cacophonous roar.

"Make the ground under its feet slippery." Draco ordered. "CRABBE! STAY ON ITS RIGHT! GOYLE! STAY ON ITS LEFT!"

"AGUAMENTI!" The tree boys followed his command by shooting blasts of water at the troll, drenching it completely.

"At least it took care of its awful smell." Theodore commented.

"GLACIUS!" Draco shouted while flicking his wand and the water rapidly froze, slowing the troll in place and covering the nearby ground with a thick layer of ice. He then followed through with two other jinxes. "IMPEDIMENTA! ARRESTO MOMENTUM!"

The troll finally came to a complete halt, though everyone knew it wasn't for long.

"Is everyone ok?" Draco asked his underlings. "You two look like you have taken quite the beating."

Both boys shook their heads.

"Nothing severe." Gregory replied.

"Thankfully, that thing was simple minded enough to keep its moves predictable enough." Vincent said.

They began hearing the ice encasing the troll beginning to crack.

"Where are the damn teachers?" Theodore ranted. "They were incompetent enough to allow such thing to roam around Hogwarts, now they are fooling around while we deal with this thing?"

"You better get used to it." Draco said, confusing Theodore.

As the Troll finally released itself, it slipped thanks to the thick layer of ice under it.

"Quick, aim to destroy its weapon." Draco ordered.

The four of them aimed and shot several destructive spells at its huge bat.

But the weapon simply ignored the attacks, only being pushed a few meters away from the troll.

"It's no use Draco!" Theodore pointed.

"I can see that. Time for plan B." The young Malfoy replied. "Locomotor."

The huge bat of the troll was magically lifted up in the air.

Due to its heavy weight, Wingardium Leviosa shouldn't be enough to levitate it.

He swung his wand towards the troll, as soon as he did that the huge bat went flying with a lot of speed.

The troll was still struggling to get up, so it was caught by surprise when its own weapon came towards its neck and everyone heard a loud crack.

The bat fell to the ground alongside the mountain troll.

As they approached to inspect it, they confirmed it was dead. Its neck was completely broken, but due to its thick hide it was still in place.

Just the bone could be seen poking out.

It was then that Harriet arrived. "Are you all okay?"

"Yes, just a little tired." Draco replied, turning to both Grabbe and Goyle. "And a little bruised."

After nearly a minute, a sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the others turn their heads.

Draco instead decided to crouch down and retrieve some whiskers from the troll.

Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the place, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell behind both Witches.

He clearly wasn't expecting to find the troll he had released dead on the floor, surrounded by kids.

McGonagall looked at them with an angry look. "What on earth were you thinking?" She said with cold fury in her voice. "You're lucky you didn't die. Mr. Weasley certainly almost did. Why aren't you all in your dormitories?"

Snape gave a swift, piercing look at Harriet, before glaring at her godson.

Before anyone could take the blame, Draco stepped forward. "It wasn't our fault, after all, we had not been informed that a troll roamed the school."

Harriet noticed he was telling the truth about him and the other boys, since she hadn't seen them during the feast.

Although she was about to warn Hermione about the troll, she met her carrying Ron away and heading to warn the teachers.

"Everyone, follow me." Snape ordered. "Professor McGonagall, I will interrogate them further and punish them if they are to blame."

"Sure, they are children from your house, Professor Snape, but I will have to report to the headmaster about their involvement here."

Snape gave a stiff smile and nodded a little. She turned back, flipping her cape back and walking away.

Draco glanced at Quirrell, who was staring at Harriet as she rubbed her forehead in discomfort.

—————————————————————

"Are you okay?" Snape questioned coldly.

"I'm fine." Draco told his godmother. "I'm just not used to fighting magical beasts."

"Understandable. Killing a XXXX magical beast would certainly trouble even a fully grown skilled wizard." She turned to face Theodore, Gregory and Vincent. "And what were you three doing?"

"Completing a task for me." Draco spoke for them. Noticing Snape's glare, he added. "Teaching some manners to Weasley."

"Must've been tiresome." Snape sighed as she walked past the trio. "And you… Potter."

"I-I…" Harriet began with a mutter. "... I was looking for Hermione. I haven't seen her since charms class and decided to warn her about the troll."

The grim looking woman narrowed her eyes and hummed. "How noble of you, Potter." They exchanged looks for a moment before the older woman said. "Mr. Nott, take Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle to the infirmary. Mr. Malfoy, take Ms. Potter back to Slytherin common room. It's already late."

As everyone nodded and moved to leave, Snape added.

"I would recommend you to prepare better stories for the headmaster."

They nodded again and left her office.

Both Draco and Harriet went to their respective rooms after saying good night to one another, and fell asleep quickly since they were tired.

—————————————————————

Next morning, in the Slytherin common room.

Draco was sitting on the sofa, getting soothed by 2 girls from both sides.

"Everything is alright." Pansy said with a worried voice as she ruffled his hair.

"You must be really powerful to face a beast that most wizards and witches wouldn't be brave enough to." Daphne said excitedly as she laid her head over his shoulder. "I won't say it was prudent, but it was definitely impressive."

"I was lucky." Draco said. "That it was too dumb and that I wasn't." He waited after both girls chuckled and added. "Plus, I wasn't alone facing it."

"Yeah! Give us some credit too." Theodore said relaxing on another sofa. "We were handling it before he arrived." He winked at Draco, teasing him about not mentioning Hermione.

"But you were still struggling until Draco got there." Pansy snickered.

"I haven't seen Gregory and Vincent complaining about not receiving credit." Daphne remarked, glancing at both boys standing stoically with their arms crossed. "And what happened to Weasley? He seems to be more behaved than usual since yesterday."

Both Draco and Theodore shrugged their shoulders while Crabbe and Goyle kept silent.

Seeing that they weren't going to say anything else, both girls didn't continue to argue.

"Okay, since our little drama is now over." Theodore said. "How did you know we fought the troll?"

"Oh! Everyone knows about it." Daphne replied. "Rumors like those spread like wildfire here in Hogwarts."

"Yeah, I've heard that Professor Dumbledore was impressed by the story of first years fighting a troll." Pansy said. "Even Professor Quirrell ran away shouting instead of facing it."

"I see." Draco concluded before getting up. "See you guys around."

The group found it weird for a moment, but since he didn't ask for them to accompany him, they just hang out for a while in the common room.

—————————————————————

Today was Friday again.

Which meant that Hermione would be waiting for him in the library for their studying section.

"Oh! Are you heading to the library, Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco didn't actually need to turn his head to guess who was speaking to him. Especially after he last checked his map and noticed that someone was roaming nearby.

Probably expecting to find him alone.

'Creepy old man.' Draco thought before faking ignorance and turning around. "Good afternoon, Headmaster."

"No need to fret, Mr. Malloy." Dumbledore said, mistaking his timid behavior for anxiety. "You are not in trouble."

The young boy acted by releasing a breath of release before asking. "Are you here to talk about yesterday, headmaster?"

The old man smiled and began walking slowly, signaling for Draco to follow him. "Would you mind telling me about your version of the facts?"

"Nothing much different than everyone else, I was walking my friend back to her dorm when I met my friends being attacked by a troll. Since I wasn't willing to risk their lives to save mine, and considering the fact that the beast could outpace us if we all ran away, we were left with no choice other than fight the beast." Draco said casually, though not too casually. "However, we weren't expecting it to die so easily."

Dumbledore took a glance at Draco. "I can't imagine killing a troll to be an easy task."

"Don't get me wrong, headmaster." Draco replied. "My friends almost died yesterday before I got there."

"Now I believe it's you that got me wrong, Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore told him with a chuckle. "I'm not here to decide if you should be punished or not. That verdict has already been made after careful investigation, you and your friends were found innocent."

"I see." Draco said. "That's a relief."

"Indeed. My reason to speak to you personally was to inform you that your house has earned 50 points due to your resourcefulness while facing a dangerous beast and service to the entire school by neutralizing such a threat to everyone else."

Draco stopped in his tracks. He wasn't expecting to be rewarded like that.

But after quick thinking, he reasoned Dumbledore was mainly using this as an excuse to favor Harriet.

This time, without looking like he favored her.

"Headmaster…" Draco began. "I don't know what to say."

"And you don't need to." He said, somehow sounding wise by doing so. But before he left Draco alone, Dumbledore turned and added. "Oh, after informing your father of your impressive feat, he sounded very proud of you. And even demanded that the body of the troll that almost took your life was sent to him."

"I'm sure he has already wrote a letter to me, but I thank you anyway for informing me." Draco said.

Dumbledore nodded and left.

After that, before Draco managed to walk into the library to see Hermione, he noticed that someone else was expecting him.

Draco sighed before finally asking. "What do you want, Mr. Weasley?"

The redhead was momentarily startled but eventually spoke. "I-I've come to apologize for my past behavior."

That prompted Draco to raise an eyebrow at the meek Weasley. "And?"

Ron cleared his throat and continued. "And for slandering your family."

Draco noticed he didn't say 'lying', but decided to ignore it for now. By keeping himself silent, he made Ron understand that he expected more.

"And for making Hermione cry." He finished.

"Good for you, Mr. Weasley." Draco told him coldly. "Recognizing one's mistakes improves one's character. But I'm afraid that your apologies do little to fix the harm you've caused."

"B-b…but…" Ron wanted to argue, but he gave up. "I understand."

As the redhead was about to leave, Draco stopped him. "Words alone are meaningless without the proper actions to back them up."

"I-I see." The Slytherin Weasley said, though his expression betrayed how little he actually understood.

"I'm here for a study section with Hermione." Draco informed him. "You are welcome to join us, but only if you behave. Am I understood, Mr. Weasley?"

"Absolutely." Ron quickly replied, before noticing Draco's expression. "I mean… yes… Mr. Malfoy."

—————————————————————

Inside the library, Draco and Ron found Hermione doing her homework.

Draco casually sat in front of her, with Ron taking a seat beside him.

Hermione was a little confused about why Ron was accompanying him, but she trusted Draco. "You are a little late, aren't you? Is everything ok with you?"

"I'm doing just fine, it takes more than a troll to ruin my week. Though I owe you apologies for my delay." Draco smiled. "Dumbledore wanted to talk to me and I had this gentleman approaching me asking for forgiveness."

"I see." Hermione replied coldly as she stared at Ron.

"So?" Draco asked, turning to him.

After a brief moment, he finally noticed what they were expecting of him. "I-I wanted to apologize to you too, Hermione. I was trying so hard to get people to hate Draco that I didn't care how bad my words would make you feel."

"Apologies accepted." She replied shortly, but noticed he hadn't left. "Is there something else I can help you with?"

"I-I…" Ron stuttered.

"I invited him to accompany us in our study section. With the condition that he will behave appropriately." Draco spoke first. "Of course, if you don't feel comfortable, I will send him away."

Hermione pondered for a moment before replying. "If you believe he won't bother us, I believe too." She handed a few books to Draco. "So, what should we begin studying first?"

Draco smiled. "Actually, I was planning on having a different approach today. Ron here will be of tremendous help for us."

"How so?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron's surprise expression.

"We've already covered everything we will be having until the end of the year." Draco pointed. "How about we test how much we were able to absorb by teaching Weasley?"

"I'm sorry… but why me?" Ron asked respectfully.

"Because, from what I've heard, you've been failing so miserably with your grades that you might repeat the year." Draco said, which made Ron incredibly red in shame. "I wasn't planning on intervening, but since you finally came to your senses, I decided to help."

What Draco didn't mention was that Ron was harming Slytherin's reputation by being the worst student of their year.

How Ron managed to be worse than he was in canon was beyond Draco's logic. Even the original Gregory and Vincent didn't fail that miserably.

Perhaps Ron's isolation in the Slytherin house hit him harder than one might've thought.

"But why should we spend our time teaching him? Especially me, since we aren't even from the same house." Hermione asked.

Giving her his usual smile, Draco said. "I thought the simple challenge would be enough. You see, from my experience of teaching Gregory and Vincent, there's no better way of mastering a subject than to teach it to someone who doesn't understand it at all."

Hermione got his point and sighed. "Alright. We should begin already then." She got up and went to pick all the books she had read that year.

Ron gulped, noticing where he got himself into. "Bloody hell."

Draco simply grinned at him and went to help Hermione.

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(10/06/2021)

*Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is of your liking. I tried depicting the troll incident in favorable way for the MC while also advancing his relationship with Hermione. And there is also the matter of Ron Weasley.

Sorry if you expected more of it. 😅

Any ideas for powers, adventure arcs and girls are more than welcomed. I might not use anything, but you will have my gratitude for trying.

If this chapter is a mess of grammatical errors, please wait that I'll promptly try to fix it. But for that I need your feedback.

Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.

Bye.