Avacyn Lily Potter

Some Truth

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room. Harry muttered, "The key's in the lock, We could lock it in." Ron said "Good idea," we edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it. we said "Yes!" and started to run back up the passage, but as we reached the corner we heard something that made our hearts stop... a high, petrified scream... and it was coming from the chamber we'd just chained up. Ron said "Oh, no," Harry gasped "It's the girls' bathroom!" we all three said "Hermione!" Wheeling around, we sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in panic. Harry pulled the door open and we ran inside. Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went. I said, "Confuse it!" Harry seized a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall. The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went. Ron yelled "Oy, pea-brain!" from the other side of the chamber and threw a metal pipe at it.

The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry and I time to run around it. We yelled "Come on, run, run!" trying to pull her toward the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror. The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape. Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped... it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils. Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll would rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club. I yelled at it trying to get its attention but it ignored me, Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand, not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: "Wingardium Leviosa!" The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over... and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

I pulled Harry to his feet and hugged him for dear life. He was shaking and out of breath but still hugged me nonetheless. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done. It was Hermione who spoke first. "Is it... dead?" I said, "I don't think so, I think it's just been knocked out." Harry bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue. He said "Urgh... troll boogers." He wiped it on the troll's trousers before hugging me again. A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the four of us look up. We hadn't realized what a racket we had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart. Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at us. I had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from my mind. she said "What on earth were you thinking of? You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Snape gave us a swift, piercing look. We looked at the floor. Then a small voice came out of the shadows. "Please, Professor McGonagall... they were looking for me." Professor McGonagall said "Miss Granger!" Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last. "I went looking for the troll because I... I thought I could deal with it on my own... you know, because I've read all about them." Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher? "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Ava guarded me while Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived." she said "Well... in that case... Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" Hermione hung her head. I was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get us out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets. She said "Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this, I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses." Hermione left and Professor McGonagall turned to us "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

We hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until we had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else. Ron grumbled "We should have gotten more than fifteen points," I said, "Ten, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's." Ron admitted, "Good of her to get us out of trouble like that, Mind you, we did save her." Harry reminded him "She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her," we had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Pig snout," we said and entered. The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for us. There was a very embarrassed pause so I went to sit with Fred and George. George handed me a plate they saved for me and Fred said "What happened?" I said "We went to find Hermione because she didn't know about the troll, well we found her... and the troll. Harry jumped it and Ron knocked it out, with its own club. Percy sat next to me and said "You went up against a troll and you're still alive?" I said "The plan we had was to distract it long enough to get Hermione away, but the damn thing didn't want anything to do with me. It didn't matter what I did or yelled it ignored me and went after the boys and Hermione."

Percy said, "That's strange." I said, "What is?" Fred sighed "Just that rumor has it, you-know-who didn't even try to go after you that day, and now the troll didn't care you were there..." Percy said, "Evil things tend to avoid you, it's strange Ava, very strange." I said, "He didn't?" George said "Nope, rumor has it that he went there that night to kill Harry, he killed your parents because they were protecting him, but to get to Harry he had to go past you, and according to the story you were wide awake the whole time. Even when Hagrid grabbed you both and took you to the Dursleys. Professor McGonagall didn't want to leave you there but Dumbledor insisted." by now the common room had pretty much cleared up and Harry leaned over the couch "Avs maybe you're untouchable." I scoffed "I wish I was untouchable to Uncle Vernon." as I headed for the stairs Harry said "Ava..." but I ignored him and headed to my bed. Only Hermione was in there but I ignored her too and laid down. Fred came in a few minutes later and said "Give us a moment please." Hermione left the room, he laid next to me. "Ava, that was a little dramatic, what prompted it? What did your uncle do to you?" Harry came in next "I tried to protect her, but Uncle Vernon hated her the most." Fred said, "Why?" I said "Because his wife did, my aunt Petunia was my mom's sister, and she hated my mother. Then got saddled with raising me, I looked identical to my mom except for my eyes, those come from my dad. So Uncle Vernon adopted her hate for me and... beat me all the time. Harry stood up for me and protected me as much as he could. But he couldn't protect me from everything." Fred said, "If I ever meet your uncle I know a good curse spell." I said, "Oh you are never meeting him." Percy came in and said, "Fred time for the girls to go to bed." Fred kissed my head and left the room and I went to sleep.