Chapter 28: The Bathroom and the Troll

The Troll In the Great Hall, a thousand bats fluttered on the walls and ceiling, and another thousand flew like low dark clouds above the dining table, causing the candle flames in the pumpkins to flicker.

  Delicious food suddenly appeared on golden plates, just like at the banquet at the beginning of the term.

  However, Hermione was not there.

  Not only Hermione, but also Damon was not there, which made Harry and Ron a little confused.

  "No way, today is a festival, is Damon going to practice spells today too?"

  The two already knew that Damon would concentrate on practicing spells in his free time, but they did not ask to join.

  First, they thought it was unnecessary to work so hard.

  Second, they were embarrassed to ask Damon this request - it would be too embarrassing if they couldn't hold on and gave up halfway.

  For example, now, of course, they wanted to enjoy the festive atmosphere, not practice spells alone in a place where no one was.

  But with Professor Quirrell rushing into the restaurant, the festive atmosphere disappeared immediately.

  His scarf was tilted on his head, and his face was full of fear. Everyone stared at him. He walked to Professor Dumbledore's chair, leaned on the table, and panted:

  "The troll is in the dungeon. I think I should inform you."

  After that, he fell to the floor and fainted.

  No one knew who started it, but with shrill screams, the whole restaurant was in chaos.

  "Quiet!" Dumbledore used his wand to make several shrill fireworks explosions. "Please ask the prefects of each college to take the students of your college to the dormitory immediately!"

  Soon, under the leadership of the four prefects, the chaotic order returned to stability. At this time, Harry suddenly whispered to Ron:

  "Ron - Hermione!"

  "What's wrong with her?"

  "She doesn't know about the troll yet! And Damon, he's not here either. Did he really go to practice spells?"

  Ron bit his lip and quickly made a decision:

  "We'll know if we go and take a look? But it's best not to let Percy see us."

  The two of them lowered their bodies, mixed in the crowd of Hufflepuffs, and walked in another direction.

  What they failed to notice was that Dumbledore was quietly watching them from above the teacher's seat.

  On the second floor of the castle, in the girls' bathroom.

  Hermione sat in the abandoned toilet cubicle, wiping her tears, her eyes red.

  "Tap-tap-tap."

  Steady footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, which made Hermione wipe away the tears on her face immediately, but her eyes were still red, and with her conspicuous big buck teeth, she looked more like a rabbit.

  "Hermione, are you there?"

  Damon's voice sounded outside the bathroom.

  "Damon? Why are you here!"

  Hermione was in a state of confusion. If she was asked to choose a person who least wanted to see her in this predicament, it would not be Harry or Ron, but Damon!

  Even if Ron laughed at her crying, she did not want to let her recognized opponent see her in such an embarrassed state.

  But at this moment, she could no longer control her emotions. The already dried hot tears were like a broken dam in Damon's caring words, and they flowed out again.   

  "Damon - I beg you - can you please let me be alone for a while?"

  Hermione's voice was filled with frustration and self-abandonment.

  "Don't worry, Hermione, I won't go in, but as a friend, please let me stay with you, okay? I'll just stand outside the bathroom, neither looking in nor eavesdropping on your movements."

  Damon's voice was still gentle and stable, which made Hermione feel a little more powerful. Moreover, the tendency revealed in Damon's words made her heart tremble violently!

  "Friends. You mean, we are friends?"

  "Isn't it? Am I being too sentimental?"

  "No - that's not what I mean -" Hermione wiped the tears on her face again, "I mean - I didn't expect - you thought so, you never mentioned it to me before."

  Hermione stood up quietly from the cubicle and quietly tidied the folds of her clothes - she felt much better.

  "Look, you're always reading, and I'm always practicing spells. We don't have much time to chat, right?"

  "Well, but I think, in the future..." Hermione's brows suddenly knitted together, "Damon, do you smell anything bad?"

  At this moment, a smell of stinky socks and a public toilet that no one has ever cleaned came from far away, getting stronger and stronger, filling the noses of the two.

  "Dong-dong-dong!"

  Unlike Damon's steady footsteps before, extremely heavy footsteps suddenly sounded outside the bathroom, as if some giant creature was approaching!

  "Hermione, come out."

  Damon's voice was still calm, but Hermione felt that there seemed to be a subtle tremor in it.

  This discovery made Hermione's face change slightly-is Damon afraid?

  She quickly walked out of the bathroom door and suddenly saw a huge shadow disappear into the bathroom!

  "Creaky."

  With the sound of the door being locked, the owner of the huge shadow showed its hideous true appearance-a giant monster that was twelve feet tall and had a bald head like a coconut appeared in front of the two.

  Its short legs were as thick as tree stumps, and underneath were flat, rough, calloused feet. The smell it exuded was disgusting!

  At this time, it was dragging a thick wooden stick on the ground, and its eyes were already looking at Hermione.

  "Ah--!!!"

  Hermione screamed in terror!

  In fact, if Damon hadn't been here at the moment, her voice would have been several times more shrill!

  "Hermione, relax!" Damon tried to make his voice cover hers, "Hide in the corner, you'll be fine!"

  He didn't turn his head to see Hermione's situation, but focused all his attention on the huge creature in front of him.

  Giant monster, danger level XXXX, in the classification of the Ministry of Magic, 4X is dangerous/requires special knowledge/skilled wizards can deal with it.

  This is just the most dangerous mountain giant monster among the three giant monsters. It has a huge physique and amazing strength, and also has hard skin and high magic resistance.

  The only disadvantage is that it has a relatively low intelligence, but it can still cast some low-level spells.

  Even for adult wizards, it would take the combined efforts of many people to defeat a mountain troll.

  In the original book, not only was this powerful and difficult creature stabbed in the nose by Harry after he climbed on top of it and poked it with his wand, but it was also easily knocked unconscious by Ron using a levitation spell to manipulate a wooden stick.

  How is this possible?

  If Dumbledore hadn't been watching from the sidelines, he couldn't think of any other reasonable explanation.

  Damon had an excited smile on his face. Although he had been practicing on the target day after day for the past two months, and it was still interesting, he didn't mind finding a subject who could go all out - in fact, that's what he came for!

  "Well, let's have some fun."

  Before

the troll could act, Damon looked at the behemoth in front of him and quickly waved his wand:

  "Vera Verto!"

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 (End of this chapter)