Nick secretly followed the two of course since if canon events didn't play out correctly he would step in and save them. This ended up becoming necessary as what they found themselves confronting was so far beyond them that it wasn't even funny. Standing at 15 feet tall and looking like a tusk less humanoid elephant was the foul scented troll starting to get angry in the girls restroom. Nick wasn't a hundred percent sure but the "club" it was using may in fact have been a whole tree with no branches or roots.-

The fact that the troll was swinging such a thing around like it was light meant that getting hit with it would likely place ones name on the obituaries the next day. While Harry and Ron proved willing to give it their all to rescue Hermione a can do attitude meant nothing in the face of a literal tree flying towards you fast enough to displace a large portion of air. Left with either seeing Ron get turned into a red smear or interfering Nick quickly waved his wand and from a distance shrunk the "club" enough that it would just so happen to not reach Ron.-

No one noticed this in the heat of the moment however and Ron via a moment that can only be described as "plot armor" levitated the club over the trolls head before dropping it right on top of it's skull. Nick was sure that the only reason the thing hadn't died was because of the frankly scary amount of durability the trolls had innately. Before he got caught by anyone Nick quickly left the area via a nearby shortcut. It was quite the piece of gossip the next day when the story was passed around the school since Ron couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut.-

Nick of course played his part as a supportive friend and didn't mention that Ron would be dead right now without his intervention. It wasn't an instant change in Hermione but she slowly let go of some of her uptightness over the next couple days. She was still not happy with Nick but she didn't actively seem to have an issue with him which was good progress in his opinion. Things got quite awkward when she joined Nick's little group of friends without an invitation but most of them simply followed Nick's lead by not minding all that much.-

Stolen story; please report.

The day after Halloween Ron and Harry noticed Snape limping and thought that he may have had something to do with the troll the night before. "That ridiculous! why would he?" Tracy said in disbelief. "I'm telling you he was fine yesterday and now he's limping about the place , it can't be a coincidence." Ron argued sure about his idea. "You have to admit it's kinda suspicious." Harry said backing Ron up. Even Hermione looked convinced at the argument as all the facts seemed to line up.-

Nick decisively stayed out of it and acted like he was far more interested in the architecture than the conversation. This was of course noticed since Ron couldn't understand social cues to save his life and he asked Nick what he thought. "I think I have enough problems to worry about that occupy my thought than to be trying to gossip about everyone's most hated professor." Nick said with a shrug. Ron gaped at him for a moment before nodding his head in agreement and dropping the conversation in favor of the up coming Quidditch game. Harry had a couple months to adjust to the game so he was now going to be sent into his first real game in a couple days.-

He was rather nervous of course and hoped he wouldn't get stage fright since the whole school will be watching. "You'll do great mate , just you wait." Nick encouraged and the rest joined in which brought a smile to the boys face. "Best part is that I know of a trick that may help you out in a pinch." Nick said with a grin. Harry tilted his head slightly in confusion "But I can't use my wand in the match , it's against the rules." he said seriously.-

Nick scoffed " You think I don't know that? No the trick is a Quidditch exclusive known as a launching boom." he said and both Tracy's and Ron's eyes grew huge. "Are you trying to get him killed !?" Ron exclaimed in horror. "What's a launching boom?" Harry asked not understanding the reference. "Okay so basically if at any point in the game you need to suddenly go much faster for a moment you lean forward ever so slightly on your broom but not enough to actually move. Then you will feel the energy building up in the broom and the moment you fully push the broom to actually accelerate it will instead go extremely fast from the built up energy." Nick explained seriously.

_____________________________________

my patrons can read at least twelve chapters ahead along with using the site as a way to directly contact myself rather than needing to hope i respond to your comments.

pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro