Chapter 60: Killing the Troll
"Hagrid!" When Ethan Jones arrived, Hagrid was putting pumpkins as tall as half a person onto a cart, preparing to send them to the castle.
"Oh, you're here. Look at these pumpkins; they grew so well!" Hagrid was cheerful, chopping off the pumpkin vines and lifting the pumpkins onto the cart with both hands.
"I'll help you." He cast the Wingardium Leviosa charm, lifting the pumpkins from the ground into the cart.
"The Levitation Charm is really good." Hagrid gave him a thumbs up amidst his busyness.
No longer needing to carry them, he began to concentrate on chopping pumpkin vines.
Soon a cart was full, and Hagrid pulled the cart towards the castle.
Ethan Jones followed behind him, surrounded by five floating large pumpkins.
Entering the Great Hall, this scene happened to be seen by Professor Flitwick who was decorating the hall.
The diminutive professor applauded: "Beautiful application of the Levitation Charm! Mr. Jones, five points to Slytherin!"
In the hourglass belonging to Slytherin in the entrance hall, some emeralds leaked down, contributing to Slytherin's fight for the House Cup.
"Thank you, Professor. I wonder if I can help you decorate the Great Hall together?" Ethan Jones took the opportunity to request to help.
"Hmm, well, yes." Professor Flitwick pondered for a moment and agreed to his request.
Although Ethan Jones didn't have authority and couldn't do many things, he thought this excellent student could probably complete the application of some simple spells like the Levitation Charm.
Under the professor's guidance, Ethan Jones constantly used spells like Wingardium Leviosa and Engorgio to make decorations larger or smaller, float them to suitable positions, and then the professor fixed them through authority.
After the busy work of Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall, the Great Hall finally completed all decoration work before the start of the banquet.
Ethan Jones also learned a lot of application techniques of charms and Transfiguration in the process.
Students had already begun to enter one after another.
Seeing the colorful Halloween decorations, the older students were accustomed to it and began to comment on which year's decorations were better compared to last year.
The new students appeared very excited. Besides the opening feast, this was their first holiday at Hogwarts. The decoration of the Great Hall at this time was completely different from the start of the term.
Bats, dark clouds, jack-o'-lanterns were also very different from the Halloween they usually celebrated.
The banquet was about to start, but Ethan Jones still didn't see Hermione. He found it a bit strange.
"Why hasn't Hermione come?" He went to the Gryffindor table again.
Hermione's other roommate, Lavender, glanced at Ron's position:
"In Herbology class, Hermione was called 'Miss Know-It-All'. After class, she ran to the bathroom to cry again. No matter how we comforted her, she wouldn't stop."
"Damn it!" Ethan Jones was very angry. After thanking her hurriedly, he ran towards the bathroom on the third floor of the Castle.
"Lavender, did you not tell him that Hermione is in the bathroom in the dungeons?" Patil whispered to her.
Lavender was a little proud: "I did it on purpose. Think about it, if she knows he searched the bathrooms one by one, wouldn't Hermione be even more touched?"
"You're right." Patil felt her idea was incredibly correct, accurately grasping a girl's mind.
"Hermione! Hermione! Come out quickly, don't be sad!" No sound came from inside.
He listened carefully; there was no sobbing sound inside either.
"F*ck! Not here. Where did the Troll come out from again? First floor?"
Ethan Jones, who couldn't remember clearly, immediately hurried downstairs.
Just reaching the second floor, he heard a sound of crying. He was delighted: "Found her!"
"Hermione! Hermione!" He shouted at the door.
Soon, a crying ghost floated out.
"Wuwuwu, there is no Hermione! This is Myrtle's toilet! No one cares about Myrtle! Wuwuwu."
"Sorry, I still have to find someone. I'll go first." His heart sank instantly.
"Wuwuwu, bad person! Bad person!" The crying sound behind him grew louder.
Ethan Jones was burning with anxiety. He ran quickly to the first-floor bathroom, took two deep breaths, and listened carefully for movement inside.
"Not here. Is it in the dungeons?" He buried his head and ran towards the dungeons.
On the other side, while Ethan Jones was running down from the third floor, Quirrell also began his performance.
Pretending to be terrified, Quirrell shouted a sentence and fainted on the floor.
"Troll in the dungeons?! Oh my god!" Lavender and Patil exclaimed. They prayed Ethan Jones had already found Hermione and hadn't been discovered by the Troll.
Harry and Ron also heard this exclamation. When Dumbledore asked the Prefects to lead them back to the dormitory, Harry suddenly woke up and grabbed Ron.
"Ron, there's something very important. Hermione is also in the dungeons. She doesn't know about the Troll yet. We have to go find her."
"Hasn't her close friend already gone?" Ron was a bit reluctant.
"Ron, you made Hermione cry, which led to her potentially facing the Troll. Ethan Jones going to find her is not a reason for us not to go." Harry looked at him seriously.
Ron felt guilty and nodded in agreement: "Okay, let's go quietly. Don't let Percy see."
After they avoided Snape, who walked hurriedly past behind them, they smelled a strong stench and observed a colossal figure walking towards them.
A twelve-foot-tall Troll, its gray body like granite, huge and bloated, but its head was tiny. It held a thick wooden club in its hand, dragging it on the ground as it walked.
The two took the opportunity when the Troll entered a room to lock the Troll inside. Just as they were celebrating successfully trapping the Troll, they heard Hermione's scream.
At this time, Ethan Jones had just arrived in the dungeons from the first floor.
"Hermione!" He also heard this piercing scream. He roared and ran towards the location where the sound came from.
The sudden appearance of the Troll made Hermione forget her identity as a witch and all the magic she had learned. Like an ordinary little girl, she curled up into a ball, watching helplessly as the Troll approached.
Knowing they had made a mistake, Harry and Ron turned and rushed into the bathroom, constantly making some noise, trying to attract the Troll's attention.
They heard Ethan Jones's shout and warned him: "Careful, the Troll is here!"
Ethan Jones's heart was already filled with rage. He strode to the door of the girls' bathroom.
Looking at Harry who had fallen to the ground, his heart tightened, but seeing Hermione was still safe and sound, his anger dissipated a little.
"Get out of the way!" He roughly pulled Ron aside.
"Confringo!" (Blazing Fire!) A spell cast with rage brought a huge increase in power.
The orange fireball, already the size of a wheel, expanded to half the height of a person, rushing towards the Troll who stood still after Ethan Jones appeared, its eyes filled with fear.
"Boom!" The Troll's body was blown apart, the scattered body parts still carrying the stench of burnt flesh and fur.