Mary Smith and The Three-Headed Dog

19. Rounding Up The Troops

"The dead can scream through Hellgates, and they often try to. They want to pass messages to the living. But it all sort of comes out in these loud high-pitched wails that'll burst your eardrums if you're in tuned enough to the other side to hear them cry."

--Cho Chang

Chapter 19: Rounding Up The Troops

"Well out with it. We're missing the great feast," Daphne huffed with crossed arms, foot tapping in impatience.

I wrung my fingers together. I had waited outside the Great Hall until I spotted Dean and Daphne both separately making their way inside the Great Hall. I grabbed them both and had them follow me into a nearby Elf broom closet.

Time really wasn't on my side here, but I didn't know exactly how to ask them for help. Or if I even had the right to. At the very least, I needed information that only they may be able to give me. If Cedric found out what I intended to do, he'd definitely not let me go. "Well?" Dean asked after his stomach growled embarrassingly loud.

"I need help," I blurted out before cocking my head in thought. "Well not specifically me. But I need help to help someone. I need to know...um...anything you may know about Trolls." They both blinked up at me and I suddenly yellow-bellied out of asking them to come with me. I mean, how do you ask your advisors to complete advisor duties if they didn't even know they were advisors yet? "I'm not asking either of you to risk anything for me! I just, there's someone that might get really hurt. She might be hurt right now. And I want to know how I can help her before she goes and gets herself-um...before she..." I wrung my hands nervously again, bouncing on my toes. I was torn between bolting out the closet door after Leanne and staying to possibly hear if either of them had any sensible solution to how to sub...submit? Subdue a troll. Subdue.

"Mary," Dean started slowly. "What have you gotten yourself mixed up in?"

If only you knew. "I. Um." I felt my throat close around my words.

"Dean's right, Mary," Daphne said in the same tone. She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, as if she was trying to calm an excited baby. "Whatever it is, you don't want anything to do with Trolls. They're extremely dangerous. You should tell the headmaster-"

"NO!" I panicked. I could feel a burning behind my eyes. The thought of telling someone about this or explaining any of this to anyone else, made me feel sick. And the thought of Leanne out there all alone, trying to claw her way from the bottom of the ranking, made me want to cry. "No, I can't do that. And I can't answer any of your questions. I really just...CAN'T."

"Mary-"

"I mean it, Dean!"

Just then, I heard my name. I jumped up and yanked on the metal beaded light switch and peaked out into the hall. It was Cedric. "MARY!!!" He shouted, the loudest I had ever heard him. He took off away from the Great Hall, down the corridor. "MARY!!!!!"

My breath hitched in my chest. The panic in Cedric's eyes when he whipped around. There was only one explanation. He knew.

"Mary," Daphne whispered. "Why are we hiding from Cedric?"

With a sigh, I turned the light to the closet back on. I was running out of time. Every minute wasted was a minute more danger Leanne was in, out there by herself.

"One of you is going to die before the school year is out."

"I can't let Cedric stop me," I said now, more determined than ever. "And I can't let either of you stop me. And I'm running out of time so, I need to know now." I squared my shoulders and looked them in the eye. "Are you going to help me or not?"

They were staring again. Just when I was going to turn around and leave them here, determined to go it alone, Dean spoke up. "You have a necklace. The one with the cross on it."

I nodded. "Yes. It's back in my room. Why?"

"I read somewhere that trolls fear symbols of Christianity. Many years ago, Christian muggle Crusaders would hunt them down and kill them, driving them deep into the mountains."

Daphne nodded. "That's true. But that's also part of the reason why they are so violent. They're really, very stupid creatures. But they know people think they are stupid and so, to make themselves feel important, they like to make deals. You can try reasoning with a troll, but they're very impatient and become extremely violent when you go back on your word." Daphne sighed, pulling down one of her elaborate top knots in frustration. "That's if they haven't already eaten you before you can get a word in edgewise."

I nodded, soaking this all in and wondering if Leanne knew any of these things either.

Cedric talked to me about the seven Acts, but he only briefly mentioned tasks. And he never mentioned they'd be anything like what Maxwell Creevey shared. He'd given his task to Leanne and, if completed, would show Helga Hufflepuff that Leanne was a strong contender for the crown. Stronger than any of us.

"Thank you, guys," I said with a forced smile. "I appreciate the help, now I have to go."

Dean snorted and opened the closet door. "Lead the way. I'm not letting you go confront a troll alone."

"Dean-"

"That's it," he frowned, pulling his wand out from his robes. "Now let's go before someone sees us."

We were just about to step out of the closet before stopping to look at Daphne. She seemed to be having an internal conversation with herself. "Daphne," I grimaced. Gryffindor were brave, foolish, and extremely loyal. It wasn't a complete stretch that Dean would follow. Especially since my time in the nurse's office. He seemed to suddenly prefer my company more than Seamus', much to my cousin's...dis...dis...what was the word?...Oh, he don't like it much. "It's okay. You don't have to come with."

She closed her eyes and scrunched her nose before groaning and storming out of the closet. "Just consider us even after this! Where are we going anyway?"

"First, Hufflepuff house. I need to get my cross. Then, the west bank of the Deep Lake."

Daphne was confused, and for good reason. "Okay, we can't ask why we're doing all of this. Can I at least ask what you need to do so bad?"

"On the west bank, there's a family of trolls that have settled in there. They're migrating closer and closer to the school. The Task is to drive them back to the mountains by any means, and before any other students get hurt." I hesitated to share the next bit but if they were coming, they deserved to know. "Leanne has run off to do this alone. And if I don't stop her, or help her, she might get herself killed."