Chapter 46 - Troll Incident and Aftermath

The troll incident happened as it did in the canon. After Quirrell came running into the great hall screaming about the Troll, we were asked by Dumbledore to go to our respective common rooms. A foolish decision since the Troll was sighted in the dungeons and Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms were near the dungeons. Most probably Dumbledore knew the location of the troll due to the Hogwarts wards and since it was not near any common room he decided it was safe for us to leave the great hall. He then allowed the troll to move around the castle freely by not going to its location directly and take care of it to know about the plan of Voldemort.

I used my invisibility cloak to slip out of the crowd unnoticed so that I could watch the fight. I was not going to do anything else. I did not care if anything happened to anyone due to the troll.

When I reached the girls bathroom the fight had already started. The troll was huge. The unpleasant odor forced me to use the bubble-head charm so that I could breathe properly. After performing the charm I turned my attention towards the fight. The troll was just blindly swinging it's club around and hoping it would hit the kids. Harry and Ron handled the troll as it was written in the books. I was amazed at the numerous times they escaped certain death during the fight. Somehow their foolish plan worked and they were successful in knocking out the troll. I started envying Harry's plot armor. It was a wonderful thing to own. I did not wait for the professors and went to my room. Since I was gone for only a short period of time, my absence did not cause any problems or suspicion.

When I saw that there was no clarification about the incident the next day I decided to do something about it.

The next day during lunch Leo and Slyde appeared again.

Leo "Professor Dumbledore, can you explain to me how a troll was able to enter the castle last night? From what I know, there are no troll tribes near Hogwarts or in the Forbidden forest. So how do you explain a dumb creature like troll coming inside the castle undetected in spite of Hogwarts having wards that would detect them."

Dumbledore "We are investigating last night's incident. We don't know how the troll was transported here. We will have a satisfactory response for everyone here after the investigation is concluded."

Slyde "I hope you can give us a satisfactory explanation for the incident and the aurors are involved in it. Trolls are magically resistant and if the troll had attacked a group of students, it would have led to many casualties as even ȧduŀts find it difficult to take it down."

Dumbledore "I am also glad that the troll was taken care of swiftly without causing harm to any student."

Leo "Yes coming to that. Why did you not praise the efforts of Harry Potter in swiftly taking down the troll and saving his class mate Hermione Granger from death in front of the school? I thought you would have given him an award for knocking it down. That was brilliant and funny strategy which I think should be shared so that others can use it too to take a troll down easily. Climbing up on the troll and then plunging your wand into its nose which made it disoriented. Then a simple use of levitation charm on its club to control it and using the club to knock it down. Ingenious."

Many students started looking at Harry with awe and started thanking him. I avoided mentioning Ron because I wanted him to get jealous. It would lead him to become angry at Harry and ruining their friendship.

Slyde "You proved you were a true Gryffindor by the foolish and brave effort which surprisingly worked."

Dumbledore was not happy but still smiled and said " I was going to praise him after Ms. Granger came out of the infirmory. He did a great thing for the school and his efforts avoided any causalities but I am sorry to say we cannot give away any award for it. The feat did not meet the criteria for the school award. Professor McGonagall did give Gryffindor points but I think they deserve more. Take 100 points for Gryffindor."

Leo "Yes. Gryffindor are now leading in points. Now Ronald Weasley, I am withdrawing my support from you. Everyone is free to prank him without any retaliation from me. It was due to your harsh words that the girl was crying in the bathroom where she nearly met her death. She would have died had Harry not found her and fought the troll."

Ron shouted angrily "I helped fight the troll too. I should be praised for it and not scolded."

Slyde "And it was because of you that she was in danger in the first place. It seems we need to teach you a lesson and also some table manners. If I didn't know from the other Wealseys that your mother cooks good food and feeds you well, I would have thought that you were starved at home after seeing you eat. I am putting a curse on you that would make every food item you touch escape your reach unless you use proper table manners. So no more use of two hands while eating and no talking while eating."

After saying that they disappeared. Ron was very angry after testing the curse and finding it impossible to eat in his usual method. He was also mad that he got only the blame and no praise for the troll incident.

Ron was given glares by almost everyone in the coming days and was slowly becoming a pariah due to his manners and actions. He was frequently pranked and I think the main perpetrators were the twins. I don't know why but Harry was still sticking with him and his friendship with Ron helped Ron avoid a lot of the hate. I don't know what's the matter with him. He should not like bullies due to his childhood but still sticks with Ron who is very similar to Dudley. It made me rethink my decision to help him. It may be because of his young age so I am going to give him time till 4th year and if he does not change, I am going to leave him and not care what happens to him.

When Hermione came out of the infirmary after a few days she had gained a few friends out of sympathy. The Golden trio was formed and the three of them were seen together all the time. Her bossy know-it-all attitude did not change. Maybe I should leave some books that talked about the future of muggleborns to destroy her spirits. I will leave that for her 4th year too and let her strive for her impossible dreams for a few years.

After the troll incident, I started using all my free time at night for hunting. I would fly high above the forest and looked for small groups of Acromantula using my mage sight. I was not foolish enough to directly attack their nest. Acromantula were dangerous only when fought at close range due to their large number of legs. They use their webs and their huge numbers to close the distance between their opponent and then use their legs to pierce the prey, killing the prey. I killed the small groups of Acromantula easily using long range cutting curses. Sherry would clean up after me. Since I had to wait for small groups of Acromantula, the number of Acromantula I killed were not large. To attack the main nest, I think I would need more power which I would gain only on my majority. So I was not in a hurry to eradicate the Acromantula.