Perseus goes to Hogwarts

Chapter 10- Troll Hunting

As our two Houses mounted the staircases heading toward the tower common rooms, I gently eased our group through a tapestry. A moment later, we were across the castle on the second floor.

I turned toward Leo, "What do you have?"

Leo reached into his pocket and pulled out a large piece of parchment.

Harry looked at him bewildered, "How did that fit in there?"

Leo laughs as he reached back in and pulled out a sizeable celestial bronze hammer, "Well, magic, duh."

I rolled my eyes at his antics. Of course, Hecate allowed Leo to keep his tool belt. But she also showed him how to transform it into other things. Leo's new favorite form was to keep it as a pouch attached to his robe's inside, where he could easily reach into his pocket and pull out any item.

Leo grabbed a nail and easily nailed the parchment into the stone wall with one tap. It was a map. Leo had insisted on charming the piece of parchment to map out everywhere he steps to learn the secrets of Hogwarts.

"It would be helpful if we could see the people too," I muttered as I inspect the map.

Leo laughed, "It would, wouldn't it. But that's a nasty bit of charm work. And it would be quite a dangerous thing to fall into the wrong hands."

I shrugged, "Okay, the dungeons let up to the main level here and here. The Slytherin dormitories are said to be by the front entrance, so I assume the troll would be toward the back entrance. The teachers also went down the front entrance, so they will have to make haste to the back to find the troll.

"The third-floor corridor is accessed by these stairs in the tower of shifting stairs and by this corridor here, which is where you all entered it previously. I would assume the culprit would try this direction to avoid detection by anyone climbing the stairs to the dormitories."

Leo nodded, "So do we help Snape catch the culprit or worry about the troll?"

"Both, Leo, Cal, you can go aid Severus. He's not known to despise Ravenclaws, so he won't take House points for you being away from your dormitories. And if no other teachers catch you, you won't be reprimanded at all. I'm sure he'd appreciate the help.

"Us four will patrol the upper floors here in case the troll escapes the dungeons and alludes the teachers." I dragged my finger across our current corridor and to the rear dungeon entrance.

Leo nodded as he removed the parchment from the wall, slipping it back into his pocket. He hefted his hammer to his shoulder and drew his wand. "Leo and Calypso, to the rescue." He gave a ridiculous salute and turned as he and Calypso hurried out of sight to go aid Severus.

"Blimey," Ron sputtered from behind me, "you sound like a general."

I smirked, "Ever play capture the flag? Reigning champion here,"

He looked at me dumbfounded as Harry and Hermione laughed.

We walked down the corridor in the opposite direction of where Leo and Calypso had vanished.

Before reaching a turn in the corridor, Ron stopped walking and held up his hand, "Can you smell something?"

A foul stench wafted from the passage ahead to the left. Footfalls of gigantic feet and a low grunting sound came from the same passage. Harry quickly grabbed our arms and pulled us into the shadows of a column.

The troll peered through a large doorway at the end of the passage before slouching inside.

"The key's in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in."

"Good Idea," Ron answered.

Harry lunged forward, slammed the door, and locked it, "Yes!"

A petrified scream filled the air.

"Oh, no!" Ron whispered.

I quickly unlocked the door and swung it wide. It was a girl's bathroom. The troll was standing over a stall peering through the top at a girl, cowering on the ground.

"Lavender!' Ron yelled.

Her head shot in our direction with a face full of terror.

"Confuse it!" I yelled as I pulled out my pen, "Trolls are not intelligent. They can only focus on one thing at a time!"

Harry and Ron picked up pieces of broken wood and sink parts and began chucking them at the troll's head.

I uncapped Riptide, and the celestial bronze sword grew to full length. Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of it, "Try to get Lavender away from the troll and out into the corridor. We'll take it from here." She nodded and edged along the wall of the room.

"Oy, pea-brain!" Ron yelled as he threw a metal pipe at the troll's head. The troll turned at Ron's insult and stopped his advance on Harry.

Hermione had reached Lavender and was trying to pry her from her hiding place. Harry then jumped forward and lept onto the troll's back. I used this moment to slice the back of its legs. It collapsed to its knees as it tried to get Harry off its back.

As Harry was being thrown around, his wand lodged itself in the troll's nose. I quickly knocked the club from the trolls grasp and it came to rest at Ron's feet.

Ron looked bewildered from me to the club, then cried the first spell that came to mind, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The club lifted into the air and found itself above the troll's head. It tottered for a moment before it turned over and dropped onto the troll's head with a loud crack. The troll fell forward and threw Harry to the floor.

"Is it dead?" Lavender asked from behind Hermione's shoulder.

I capped riptide as Harry crawled over to the slumped form.

"I don't think so," he said as he reached to pluck his wand from the troll's nose. The troll snorted as the wand was extracted, "It's just been knocked out."

The sudden bang of the door brought all of our attention to the threshold. Professor McGonagall and Snape stood surveying the scene. Professor Quirrel gulped loudly at the sight of the troll and sat down hurriedly.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" Professor McGonagall asked, eyeing each of us. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Hermione, the quick thinking girl she was, stepped forward, "Lavender had excused herself to the bathroom before the food had arrived. We knew she would be alone in the corridor, unaware of the danger down in the dungeons. The boys wouldn't let me retrieve her by myself, so they acted as my guard. We never though the troll would make us way up here and only appeared just in time as the troll was above Lavender when we entered."

Lavender sniffed from behind Hermione and nodded her head in agreement, "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now." She broke into sobs.

"Hey, it's okay, you're alright," Ron said as he stepped forward to hug Lavender awkwardly.

"Well, in that case..." Professor McGonagall started, staring at all of us, "Well, I say you were lucky; not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses."

We quickly exit the room, earning a small grin from Severus. We walked in silence to the Gryffindor common room, with the occasional sob from Lavender. Ron would gently pat her back, and she would momentarily stop.

"Pig snout," Harry said as we reached the common room. We quickly found seats and grabbed plates.

"Hermione, can you pass me the potatoes?" Ron asked politely.

Hermione grinned at him as she offered him the platter. And just like that, Ron now approved of Hermione.