The Stone

Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN ALREADY! WOO!

(I'm not doing bad to say my eye is messed up...eh?)

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Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps. 

"He's heading for the third floor," Harry said but Ron held up his hand. 

"Can you smell something?"

"Okay, I tend to let go when I'm nervous but I swear, this time isn't me." Bella held her hands up defensively and they both glanced at her. "What? It's a natural thing to do! Don't judge!"

"I don't think this time was you, Bella," Harry said gagging.

Bella sniffed and a foul stench reached her nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet that no one seems to clean. She also gagged. "Nope, that's defiantly not me!"

And then they heard it - a low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed: at the edge of the passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight. 

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. 

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. 

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

"Good idea," said Ron nervously. 

They edged towards 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. 

"Yes!"

Flushed with their victory they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop. A high, petrified scream and it was coming from the chamber they'd just locked up.

"Oh, no," said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.

"It's the girl's toilets!" Harry gasped.

"Hermione!" they said together.

It was the last thing any of them wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic -Bella pulled the door open - they ran inside. 

Hermione was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking sinks off the walls as it went. 

"Confuse it!" Bella said desperately to Ron and Harry, and seizing a tap she threw it as hard as she 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 Bella. It hesitated, then made for her instead, lifting its club as it went. 

Bella backed up. "Anytime now would be great guys!" she looked back at the troll as it advanced on her. "Nice little troll, you don't want to kill me, right?"

Harry kept throwing bits of objects at it trying to divert its course but nothing was working. The troll was still walking towards Bella, and Bella was running out of room to back into.