Like A Flower Blooming

Chapter 13

When it was time for the feast, all of us scrambled down to the Great Hall with the hundreds of other excited students. When we came into the Great Hall, all of us gasped at the giant floating pumpkins replacing the candles and the food that was making the tables groan in pain. 

I sat between Ron and Hermione who were gasping at a giant turkey in front of us. On either side of the turkey was a gigantic bowl full to the brim with All-Flavor Beans, Ever-Lasting Bubble Gum and other delicious treats. Ron was looking like Christmas had come early and Hermione looked flabbergasted at how much food there was on the table. 

“ Alright, students. Calm down. I’m sure you can wait until everyone has had a seat,” said Dumbledore.

When everyone was sitting down, everyone started grabbing for food. I grabbed a turkey leg and a handful of candy and threw them on my plate. I grabbed a Butterbeer and started to eat as fast as I could. 

After everyone could eat enough of the food, the desserts appeared. I spooned cake and ice cream on my plate and laughed at Ron who had his mouth covered in chocolate ice cream. 

Everything went well until Fred and George decided to enchant the food to bombard the Slytherins. That erupted a silent but furious food fight. I used Wingardium Leviosa on Malfoy’s pie and got him right in the face. He tried with a nearby pie but it fell down after reaching two feet and splattered Hermione completely. 

“ Hey. You okay?” I asked as she wiped her face off. 

“ I’m going to the bathroom.... to clean up. And devise a way to get Malfoy back,” Hermione answered. 

“ Need any help?” I asked. 

“ Nope, I’ll be fine,” she answered, flicking her bushy, pie-filled hair back. 

She walked out of the hall and Ron finally noticed, his blue eyes full of concern as he watched Hermione turn the corner to the nearest girls’ bathroom. 

“ Where’s Hermione going?” asked Ron.

“ She’s cleaning up and I’m going to avenge...” I trailed off as Quirrell ran in with a look of pure terror on his face, his turban lopsided. 

Dumbledore stood up as Quirrell opened his mouth to speak but was too scared or nervous that nothing came out.

He tried again and after the third try, he stammered,” T-Troll! I-In the d-dungeon! T-Thought you sh-should know.” 

He fell to the ground in a faint. The whole school immediately reacted with a panic. Malfoy’s eyes bulged and he stood up, screaming. But you couldn’t hear it because of the noise that the panicking students were making as they tried to stampede out of the hall. 

Ron grabbed my arm and dragged me into the mass as Dumbledore yelled,” QUIET!!!” The school went immediately quiet and every face in the hall stared at the aged, amazingly calm face. 

“ Prefects, take your Houses to their common rooms. Do a head count. Teachers, come with me!” 

Percy was in his element. “ Gryffindor House, to me, please! Gryffindor.... excuse me, I’m a prefect!!” 

Ron set off towards his brother but I grabbed his arm.

“ What??” he asked.

“ Hermione, she doesn’t know!!” I answered. He huffed and rolled his eyes. We snuck into a group of Ravenclaws and ran towards the girls’ bathroom. 

“ How did a troll get in the school?” yelled Ron behind me.

“ Hello... you’re the one raised by wizards. You tell me,” I answered.

“ Well, trolls are really dumb. Someone probably let it in as a joke,” said Ron, furrowing his eyebrows to think. He gave me a good impression of Goyle for some reason. 

Ron grabbed my arm. “ That smell....” he said, slowly. 

He dragged me behind a column as a seven-foot troll walked into the hallway and into a nearby room. 

“ We can lock it in,” I answered. Ron ran towards the door and turned the lock. We turned around when we heard a high-pitched scream. 

“ Oh no!” Ron went green and I dashed towards the door. 

“ You go in. I’ll wait out here,” said Ron. 

“ No way. You’re coming with me!!” I answered, dragging him into the bathroom. 

Hermione was shrieking, pinned to the sinks as the mountain troll stared at her with a dumb look on his face that reminded me of Goyle. 

I started throwing shattered wood from the stalls at his head. One hit his head with a crack and he growled at Hermione. Me and Ron took out our wands at the exact same time. Before he could attack her, I made a brainless move. Running towards the troll, I caught the club as it went up and hung on. The club brought me up high in the air and I crashed onto the troll’s head. 

My wand was in my hand and, as the troll jumbled around and I clung on, the wand shoved itself into his nostril. 

“ Ron!!!” I screamed.

“ Wingardium Leviosa!” he said, doing the swish and flick. The club stayed where it was: above the troll’s head and then it came crashing down and hit him. I jumped before it hit his head and hit the ground hard. Ron pulled me away and the troll hit the ground. Hermione came out from under the sink where she’d hidden.

“ Is it dead?” she asked.

I approached it and drew out my wand. He growled. 

“ No, just unconscious. Let’s get out of here before McGona...” 

McGonagall, Snape,and Quirrell all swept in and McGonagall screamed and clung to her heart. 

“ What are you three doing here? And you, Ron! You’re a boy!” 

“ Uh...” me and Ron said, looking at each other.

“ It’s my fault. I was in the bathroom and Ari and Ron noticed I was missing and went to look for me,” Hermione spoke up.

“ Yea. When we realized it, there weren’t any teachers around so we hurried to the bathroom and saw the troll going in. There wasn’t any time to get a teacher otherwise Hermione would have been dead,” I lied smoothly. 

“ Well, five points from Gryffindor for sneaking away from the teachers and the Prefects and ten points for bravery and dumb luck. Now go up to Gryffindor Common Room. The feast has been sent up there.”

We nodded and walked as fast as we could out of there. “ Thank God we’re out of there. Are you guys alright?’ 

“ Fine.” “ Ditto that.”

We ate the feast in the common room and went to bed.