The worry that had been etched on Hermione's brow finally vanished. Just as Kevin Goldsmith was about to leave, he smelled a musty, fermenting odour from socks.
"Do you notice any smell around you? Like..."
"No, and this is the girls' bathroom. How did you find this place?" Hermione suddenly realised the problem.
"I used a minor object location spell to locate you; it's nothing out of the ordinary for me."
"The point is, why were you in the girls' bathroom? It's so common, I should assume you just hang out in the girls' bathroom all the time?" Hermione's voice was as cold as frost, delivering a fatal blow.
"What's that sound?" Kevin gestured for Hermione to be quiet.
"You think you can use that distraction tactic on me twice?" Hermione grumbled, but then she heard a deep grumbling and the sound of huge feet dragging on the floor. Hermione noticed that a massive figure was moving towards them from the entrance to the girls' washroom.
The scene was like something out of a B-movie horror film. The Troll was as tall as two people, with dull, grey skin like granite. Its enormous, clumsy body resembled a huge pile of pebbles, topped with a small head the size of a cocoa bean. Its short legs were as thick as tree stumps, and below them were nine large, flat, calloused feet. The stench emanating from its body was nauseating. It held a thick wooden stick in its hand, which dragged on the ground because of its long arms.
"What should we do?" Hermione screamed, nearly fainting.
"Of course, it's about fighting monsters and levelling up, but you should step back behind me first." Kevin Goldsmith first cast a Cleverness Spell on himself, then unleashed a Burning Ray. Flames rolled across the Troll but didn't cause any real damage.
The Troll continued its charge, smashing the sink so hard it detached from the wall.
Hermione drew her wand, but didn't know what spell to cast. She had never anticipated needing magic to escape mortal danger. She hadn't even considered using magic outside of class.
Classroom exercises and real-life situations are two different things. Imagine you suddenly need to calculate how long it would take a car with an initial velocity of zero, an acceleration of six metres per second squared, and a maximum speed of eighty kilometres per hour to catch up with a train travelling at sixty kilometres per hour that departs forty-five minutes earlier... to save your own life and the lives of your classmates.
The Troll swept across the top of Kevin Goldsmith's head as he quickly ducked down, shattering the wall.
Kevin unleashed his Grease Spell, and the Troll lost its balance the moment it stepped into the oil puddle. It slid forward two steps, a comically surprised expression appearing on its ugly face. Then it crashed backward onto the hard floor, the wooden stick sliding to the side. This wasn't enough to cause any real damage, but it was enough to buy some time.
Just then, two boys burst in from the other end of the toilets, shouting and banging on the pipes. The shouts and echoes seemed to confuse the Troll. It roared and began to scramble to its feet, charging towards Harry and the others.
"Ron!" Harry narrowly avoided a boulder. "What spells do we know?" The boulder, thrown by the Troll, shattered against the wall behind him.
"Uh, let's make our wands glow and shoot sparks," Ron tried to recall. "And transform into a teapot. Should we conjure one?"
"What about the Levitation Charm?" Harry suggested.
"I'm not sure," Ron said sceptically. "That Troll seemed to be a little heavier than a feather."
"Not the Troll, the stone!" Harry shouted.
In desperation, they tried to float everything around them—broken bricks, detached pipes, and even the Troll's own stick—onto the Troll's head and then throw it down. This seemed to have little effect; the Troll's thick skull was much harder than the ancient bricks of Hogwarts.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kevin took the sack of flour from his Dimensional Belt, ripped it open, and frantically scattered it. Hermione quickly realised Kevin's intention, tapped her wand, and summoned a gust of wind that filled the entire space with flour.
"Get back, Burning Hand!" Kevin used the last spell he had prepared for the day.
The massive explosion sent the four flying, and Hermione's painful groan echoed from the rubble. "You broke about a thousand school rules, and maybe my rib too. But it was really clever to use airborne dust to create the explosion. It would have been even better if it had been further away from us."
"We heard from Professor Quirrell that a troll had escaped, so we came to inform you. We might be a little late."
Ron shouted from the other side as he and Harry limped over. "That Explosion Charm was really cool, though. We actually defeated a troll."
Kevin, not having received any experience points, immediately realised the battle was still ongoing. "Don't come any closer!"
A huge, ugly, charred hand wielding a wooden stick swung at Hermione from the smoke. Kevin Goldsmith instinctively stepped in front of Hermione, taking the full force of the blow. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
Hannah strolled alone by the lake. Although it wasn't yet the appointed time, she wanted to arrive a little earlier than her partner. Hannah adjusted her skirt armour once more, contemplating how she could jump out and startle her partner with her paladin attire when they met. A burst of flame shot out from a high window, leaving a bright spot in Hannah's field of vision, as the windows of the castle seemed to have blown open.
"They really went all out for Halloween. It was probably the Weasley brothers who did it. They always thought that carrying around fireworks that were difficult to pull out was a sign of a naughty kid's good manners."
Time continued to pass, and Hannah suddenly had a thought: what if Kevin Goldsmith didn't come? This thought made her feel a chill on her exposed thighs.
But once the thought entered her mind, it wouldn't leave, and it grew stronger as it swirled. Most likely, it was because something Hermione did had him in the way; Hermione always had the audacity to boss others around.
Would she ask Kevin to stay in the classroom after school? Hannah couldn't help but imagine Kevin and Hermione in the empty classroom, and the details became more and more vivid as time went by.
When Hannah imagined Hermione groaning (although Hermione was indeed groaning in pain at that moment), Hannah felt as if her heart was being clenched.
"I can't wait any longer, I have to go back to the castle now," she told herself.
On the way back to the castle, Hannah made up her mind that if Kevin really stood her up because of Hermione's request, she would never speak to him again.
Chaos reigned in the castle as prefects led the younger students in evacuation.
"Hannah, come this way!" Percy shouted, straightening his posture. (As if that would help fight off the fleeing Troll.)
"What happened?"
"A Troll has escaped, and students have reportedly been attacked. I must ensure your safety," Percy said, his face serious—more serious than usual.
Then Hannah saw Kevin Goldsmith, his eyes closed and his face covered in blood, being carried out.