Today was Halloween and Sol was talking with the Weasley twins out in the courtyard. He had just finished his classes and looked forward to relaxing for the day. Sol never understood the purpose of Halloween nor did his mother know. She just told him that it was a muggle holiday and children were going to come and take chocolates from them. And just as she said, every year kids of ages under 11-12 would knock on their doors and yell ‘Trick or Treat' indicating that they wanted chocolate. He never understood this phrase. He knew what the ‘treat’ part of the phrase was but wondered why no one ever tricked. Although he didn’t understand the reasoning behind this holiday, he knew that it was a great time to eat chocolate. He would stea- I mean, respectfully borrow chocolate from the bag of chocolate his mother bought every Halloween. Though after coming to Hogwarts, he never had the chance. But the menu at Hogwarts would drastically change with an increase in candy and other chocolates.
As Sol was listening to the Weasley twins plan their Halloween prank, the three of them saw Hermione walking past them. Though the twins didn’t see anything wrong with this, Sol saw that her red eyes and her subtle motion of wiping them.
Not knowing what was wrong, Sol called out, “Oi~ Hermione, what’s wro-“
But Hermione ignored him and speed-walked out of there.
“Wonder what’s wrong with her?”, the two asked
“Seems like something's happened to her,” he told the other two.
He understood she was sad but didn’t know why. But he soon got the answer as he saw Harry and Ron walk towards them with a few of their friends. Ron had a look as if someone caught him doing something wrong.
Sol grinned at the twins and quickly said, “Bet you five sickles that Ron said something to her.”
“Aw, come on, anyone can see that,” George retorted.
“Fine, I’ll raise the stakes. Ten sickles that Ron got caught talking smack about her.”
“Fine, ten sickles says that Ron spilled something on her,” wagered Fred.
“Ten sickles says that Ron accidentally tore a page from her book,” guessed George.
“Oh that's a good one,” both Fred and Sol acknowledge.
“Since the bets are in place, let’s find out. Shall we, gentlemen?”, Sol asks, eager to earn his twenty sickles.
“Let’s.” With the go-ahead of the twins, Sol called the perpetrator and his friends over, “Oi~ Ron, you numpty. Get over here.”
Harry, Ron, and the others turn to face Sol and the twins before walking over. As soon as they get there, Harry asks, “What’s up, Sol?”
“We just saw Hermione speed walking out of here and wiping her eyes. I’ll be blunt, what did this wally here do?”
“I-I…”, one could see Ron's mind going a million miles an hour trying to find an excuse.
“Ron was mocking her and Hermione heard him,” Harry confesses.
“Wow, this red-headed git actually did that to our sweet Hermione.”, Fred started teasing.
“Ronald Weasley is the scum of the earth. If you were gonna do it, do it without her knowing.”, George joins in.
Hearing George's ‘advice’, Sol stops him, “Wait, no, what are you teaching him? Don’t do that to anyone, especially a girl like her.”
“But she was a nightmare in Charms class. She kept going ‘LeviOsa not LevioSA' through the entire class.”, Ron tried to explain.
“So, you broke her heart because she tried to teach you magic. The hell is wrong with you?! You should be grateful. With your attitude towards magic, you’d be the one blowing yourself up if Seamus here hadn’t taken up the job before you.”, Sol gestures towards the Irish boy who was in their group.
“Why you gotta bring me in this?”, Seamus said with an Irish accent.
“Doesn’t matter. Ron, you should apologize to her.”
“Why do I have to do that? It’s her fault tha-“
But he couldn’t finish as he was intimidated by Sol's cold look. With a low voice, Sol asked, “What did you say?”
“N-Nothing. I’ll apologize to her,” Ron scampered away with a scared look on his face.
“Harry do me a favor and keep him on a leash.”
“Sure thing, Sol.” Harry agreed to his request before chasing after Ron.
After they left, Sol turned around only to see the twins trying to sneak away.
“Oi! Where are you going without paying up?!”
“Ah damnit, it looks like we got caught, George,” said Fred with a surprised expression.
“It seems we did Fred,” George was the same.
“Yeah, yeah, enough joking around and give me my twenty sickles.”
“Fine…”, the twins reluctantly rummaged around their pockets before handing me my money.
“Haha! Easy money!”, Sol waved his money pouch in their faces as he stored the money.
“You know if this goes on-“
“-you're going to traumatize Ron.”
“If he gets trauma from this much, then I’ll really have to doubt whether or not he should be in Gryffindor,” Sol snorted.
“You know, he’s always been like this.”
“He’d whine and cry about everything,” the twins started reminiscing.
“Is there like a pact between the Weasleys and Hogwarts? Every generation of you guys gets into Gryffindor. Isn’t it because he's a Weasley that Ron's in Gryffindor. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was in Hufflepuff,” Sol bluntly said.
“That’s…”, the twins couldn’t refute his words.
“Speechless now, aren’t we? Now, shouldn’t you guys be heading off? Filch isn’t going to prank himself.”
“You're absolutely right! Later Sol!”, the twins bade him goodbye and left.
“Yeah, later!”, Sol turned around and when to his usual sleeping spot in the garden.
All he was going to do today was laze around and do nothing. After all, it was a holiday.
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Sol had just woken up in time for dinner. He got up from the ground and stretched. He covered his mouth before letting out a long yawn. He trudged along the halls, a bit groggy from waking up. He rubbed his eyes and made his way towards the great hall.
He soon came in front of the doors to the great hall and opened them. What awaited him was a great hall filled with students and empty plates in front of them. He walked in, making his way towards the Gryffindor's table. As he looked around, he saw Katie waving at him and pointing to the empty seat next to her. As Sol walked towards her, he shot a glance at the front of the Hall where all the professors were sitting.
Hmm~ that’s odd. Where's Professor Quirrell? All the professors usually take their seats before the feast.
He then shifts his gaze back to the table. He sits down only to find that Hermione isn’t there. Harry is sitting beside an empty seat with Ron opposite to him.
“Huh? Where's Hermione?”, Sol gestured towards the empty seat.
“Parvati Patel said that she wouldn’t come out of the girl's bathroom. She said that she’d been in there all afternoon, crying.”, Neville revealed with a quiet voice.
Who the hell spends all afterno-
Sol’s eyes widen at a revelation. He snapped his head back to the professors' table. Professor Quirrell is still not there.
Oh『Creator』, I don’t think she's crying anymore.
“Excuse me, guys. I need to go to the loo for a bit.”, Sol hastily got up and made his way to the door.
Looking at his action, Katie who was beside him frowns. But then she turns her head back to the table as the food had already been delivered. She seemed a bit displeased.
Looking at how Sol was hurrying off, Cormac shrugged, “He must've really needed the loo.”
Sol pushed the doors and went out. After walking a few steps, he saw professor Quirrell running towards him. No rather, it looked like he was running away from something as he had a scared look on his face. As he kept running towards him, Sol side-stepped, and the professor passed him by only to open the doors and start screaming, “TROLL!! IN THE DUNGEON!! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!!”
Hearing the professor scream, Sol's eyes narrowed before his brows jumped. He was absolutely speechless.
E-Excuse me?! I was right here! Why didn’t you tell me?! Shit, if you’re going to act, do it well. Goddamn amateurs.
At this moment, screams full of panic and fright emerged from the great hall. To calm them down, Dumbledore boomed, “SILENCE!!” which indeed calmed them down. As for Sol, he was running full speed towards the girl's bathroom.
I swear to the『Creator』if this incident in any way happens to shut the school down, I’ll beat Quirell up. No need for evidence. If I repeat a year because a troll killed a girl, I’ll raze his family to the ground.
As Sol came to the turn before the bathroom, he noticed a huge shadow coming closer from the corridor opposite the one with the girl's bathroom.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Looks like I found the troll. Let’s kill it and be done with it.
As Sol ran into the corridor from where the shadow was coming from, he saw a huge humanoid carrying a club half its size. It had green skin and had bumps all over its legs. It’s had a flat nose, large ears and no hair on its lumpy head. It was wearing a brown vest over its fat belly.
Sol didn’t say anything as he looked at the 3 and a half meter long troll and quickly got out his wand.
Jesus Christ, looks like trolls are ugly bastards no matter which world you go to.
The troll approached Sol without any reservations and stood in front of him. His eyes glowing with a glint as he had caught his prey. He lifted his club, preparing to swing and kill this tiny human so he could snack on him later. But before he could swing, Sol had already cast a spell.
Wingardium Leviosa!
The troll swung his hands only to hit nothing as the club had left his hands with the spell and was now floating in the air, above his head. The troll looked at the club above his with a puzzled expression then looked back at Sol only to get hit with a face full of pale-blue flames.
Frigidus Ignis!
The flames encased the troll's head before solidifying into ice a few seconds later. The troll started scraping at the ice trying to break it open as the flames had also solidified within his nostrils, suffocating him. However, he never got the chance as another spell was cast.
Oppugno!
The club floating in the air came flying down with considerable force. With its weight and acceleration, it could break open cinder blocks not to mention a troll's head. The club broke open the troll's head lodging itself inside the neck as there was no head there now. The pieces of ice and troll head were now everywhere. Green blood now spewing from the neck with the club lodged in it, only revealing the part the troll used to grab.
THUD!
The troll fell on its knees before falling on the floor. Sol started hurrying as there was no doubt that the loud sound just now would attract attention. He quickly checked his clothes to see if any blood got on him.
Thank God I’m clean. I should’ve used the Impervious charm beforehand to make sure I didn’t get any blood on me.
He then absorbed the residual mana in the air which was created from the spells. He had no idea if magic could be tracked from spells but he sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around and find out.
He ran through the corridor from where the troll came from as it loops back around. As he turned the corner, he used the Disillusionment charm to become invisible to not get caught by the paintings. He bolted towards the common room. He practically dived into the common room. He was especially relieved when he saw no one was inside. But as soon as he was about to let out a sigh of relief, the doors opened as Percy and the Gryffindor students came in. Katie dashed from the crowd and headed towards Sol.
“Are you okay?!”, she started to frantically check him.
“Why wouldn’t I be? Is something wrong?”
“Of course there’s something wrong! A troll go into the castle!”
Sol put on a shocked expression, “Really?! What happened?”
Katie started relaying to him the events that happened in the great hall. Sol was a bit happy today. It had felt like ages since he last fought even if it was against a measly troll.
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Hermione had been cooped up in the bathroom for a long time. She had tried to hold back her sobs but to no avail. She just wanted to teach Ron the right spell so that he wouldn’t hurt himself by casting wrong spells. She had seen Seamus and didn’t want that to happen to Ron. But what did Ron do? He called her a ‘nightmare’.
She had been heartbroken. She did not know how long she had been in the stall.
Thud!
She suddenly heard a loud noise coming from outside. Curiosity got the better of her and she went out of the stall to investigate. She rubbed her red eyes which had gone puffy from crying and made her way out of the girl's bathroom. She turned around only to see a figure standing in front of something on the ground. But the corridors were dark and she couldn’t see properly. The figure which had been standing started running by the downed object and when it came to a turn, vanished like it was never there.
Hermione rubbed her eyes to check if she wasn’t seeing things. But the thing on the floor was still there. She approached it. When she saw what it was, she didn’t understand. However, as she got closer she started gagging when she saw what it was.
Hurk!
She had to keep a hand over her mouth to stop vomiting. It was a large green monster. It had bumps on its legs and was wearing something brown over its body. It had no head rather its head had been smashed in and had something sticking out of it.
Harry and Ron were rushing towards her. They had broken away from the group to warn Hermione.
“Hermione! Where are y-“, but before he could finish he caught sight of the monster and let out a scream, “AAHHH!!”
Harry had also seen it. His eyes narrowed as his face scrunched up before he looked away and rushed towards Hermione.
He came in front of Hermione who was holding her mouth and stomach. She was slouching in front of a puddle of unknown substance.
“Hermione! Are you alright?”, Harry started to check if she was injured anywhere.
But Hermione didn’t give a reply. She just kept holding her mouth and gagging. However, she didn’t vomit anymore as her guts were already empty after vomiting the first time.
Over there Ron had frozen. He didn’t move an inch and kept looking at the dead troll with a scared look.
“Hermione, get a hold of yourself! Did you kill the troll?!”, Harry shook her shoulders which seemed to break her out of her trance.
“N-No, it was like this before I got here.”, Hermione kept trembling as she averted her eyes from the troll.
Harry was going to ask Hermione something else but a voice rang out, “What’s happeni- oh my GOD!!”
Harry and Hermione turned around only to see Professor McGonagall gasping with Snape and professor Quirrell behind them.
They didn’t notice that Quirrell's expression had turned incredibly ugly for an instant before returning back to normal. Snape had a shocked expression before becoming expressionless again. Professor McGonagall rushed over to their side to check if anything had gone wrong.
“Mr. Potter! What is the meaning of this?!”
“Professor, I-I…”, Harry struggled with his words, unable to comprehend the situation.
“Potter, did you kill the troll?”, Snape asked with his trademark nasally, low voice.
Harry worked up the courage to explain, “I didn’t, professor. The troll was already dead when we came here.”
“Then, Miss Granger, were you the one who killed the troll? As I recall, I didn’t see you at the great hall.”
Hermione was still trembling from the shock, “I-I…”
At this moment, Professor McGonagall stepped forward, “Oh hush, Severus! It is evident that neither of the three have anything to do with the troll. Look at her, the poor thing is still shaking.”
“Yes. It certainly can’t be Weasley who defeated the troll. He’s still frozen in fear. It’s a miracle he hasn’t soiled himself.”, Snape agreed.
Harry looked over to Snape only to see his left leg covered in blood and the cloth there torn. Feeling Harry's gaze, professor Snape covered his legs with his robe before glaring at him. Harry squinted then turned away.
“Come now, dears. Let’s get you back to the common room. Severus stay here with Quirinus, we’ll get Albus after I come back.”, Professor McGonagall took the three kids and left for the Gryffindor common room.
Professor McGonagall accompanied them to the common room all the while comforting them. As they entered the common room, only one person was sitting in front of the fireplace. His face looking a bit malevolent dyed in the orange light of the flames. As soon as he saw the professor with the kids, he stood up, “Ah, professor. What brings you here? Why are you with them?”
“I found them near the troll, Mr. Balor.” They seemed to be out of it, so I brought them here.”
“Near the troll?!” Sol put on a shocked expression and rushed over to them, “Are you guys hurt anywhere?”
The three shook their head in a daze as they were still trying to make sense of what happened.
Sol shifted his gaze to Professor McGonagall, “Professor, did you subdue the troll?”
Professor McGonagall shook her head, “No, Mr. Balor. The troll was already dead before we got there.”
“Dead?! How did it die?!”, Sol had an expression as if he heard that Queen Elizabeth died.
“It was killed. Quite viciously,” the professor shuddered.
Sol looked quite flustered at the news, “T-That's… do you suppose the headmaster killed it?”
“No, the headmaster isn’t one to employ such methods. Now, enough chit-chat Mr. Balor. Please take them to sleep and do so yourself.”, Professor stopped him before leaving.
“Gladly, professor.” Sol bade her goodbye before shifting his attention towards the three.
“Come on, guys! It’s been an undoubtedly long night for you and you could make do with some rest.”, Sol tried to get their attention and take them away.
Harry and Ron followed him. Ron looked dazed. Sol chalked it up to be fear of seeing the troll. However, when he turned around, he saw Hermione still rooted to her spot. Her eyes were glued to the ground.
“Hermione. Hermione!”, but she was unresponsive.
Sol looked at Harry, “What happened to her?”
Harry confessed, “Uh… we found her near the dead troll. She had kept her mouth covered next to a puddle, other than that I don’t know.”
When he heard that, a flicker of remorse flashed over Sol's eyes for an instant. He looked over at her and saw some wet patches on the front of her robe with some bits hanging. It was evident she had vomited, “Ah, jeez…”
He grabbed Hermione by the wrist and led her to the sofa and sat her down.
He took out his wand and tried to console her, “I don’t know if you can hear me but right now, all I can promise you is a happy dream.” He then waved his wand in front of her.
Bewitching Sleep.
He cast the spell with a whisper and lit her to sleep. He then grabbed her forehead and closed his eyes.
Harry watched the entire process, not understanding what was going on. All he saw was Sol grabbing her forehead and closing his eyes as if he was thinking. After a while, Sol opened his eyes with a relieved expression. He then waved his wand again.
Aguamenti.
A thin stream of water flowed from the tip of his wand and went through all the wet patches of her robes, cleaning out the bits. He then cast a Hot Air charm and dried her off.
“That should about do it,” he said with a satisfied smile.
“What did you do?”, Harry asked.
“Not much. I put her to sleep and cast a spell to give her happy dreams. It’s the only relief I can give her for now.”
“Can’t you… you know, remove her memories or something. She told me that there was a spell for that.”
Sol was surprised but still explained, “ You mean Obliviate. No, that’s not viable right now.”
“Why not?”, Harry didn’t understand him. If you could make her forget everything, wouldn’t that make things much easier?
As if Sol had read his mind, he answered, “No. Obliviate doesn’t work that way. Even if you remove the memory, the trauma still stays. She might not be able to recall it at will but once she comes into contact with a similar situation, she will still freeze or have other symptoms of trauma.”
“How does th-“
“I'll explain it sometime later but now as the professor said enough chit-chat. Let’s get you al- do you think I need to do the same with Ron?”
They both turn to look at Ron who’s just staring out into nowhere.
“I think it's best…”
“Yeah…”
After putting Ron to sleep, Harry asked, “How're you going to take Hermione to bed?”
“Oh right,” Sol whistled and after a while, a snowy owl came out of the slightly ajar door of the boys sleeping quarters. Elaine flew around the common room before landing on Sol's shoulder.
“I’ll just call Kate and take Ron upstairs myself.”
“Oh, thanks.”
Sol turned to Elaine and stroked her neck with his finger. She closed her eyes and lifted her head upwards, asking him for more. He stopped, “Would you be a dear and call Kate for me, love?”
Elaine looked at him and then flew out the window.
“While she's gone, I’ll just say thanks.”
“For what?”, Harry was confused as Sol was the one taking care of them.
“You know, for letting Hedwig play with Elaine. She seems to enjoy it.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Rather I should be the one thanking you for doing all of this.”, Harry's impression of Sol kept rising.
“You guys are my juniors, no? This is just what I’m supposed to do.”, Sol responded with a smile.
Soon, Katie came out of the girl's sleeping quarters with Elaine on her shoulders. She rubbed her eyes and looked a bit groggy.
“What do you want Sol? I had just fallen asleep, you nitwit.”, it seemed Katie was a bit angry.
“Oh sorry, it’s a bit like this…”, as Sol relayed to her the events that transpired, Katie went from being shocked to pitying them.
“Ah, you should've told me earlier.”
Sol was a bit flabbergasted, “W-What?”
He then shook his head and said, “She seemed to have vomited a bit and got it on her clothes but don’t worry I cleaned it out.”
“Good work. Now all I have to do is take her up, right?”
“I think changing her clothes as well would be better.”
Katie immediately landed a jab on his arm, “What’s wrong with you?!”
“Stop shouting,” Sol warned in a low voice. “I'm just saying. She wouldn’t want to sleep in dirtied robes even if it's cleaned off.”
“That’s… you’re right.”, Katie agreed.
“So take her up and change her.”
“Okay!”
Katie took out her wand and cast Wingardium Leviosa on Hermione. As she was taking the now levitating Hermione away with her, Harry chimed in, “Thank you, Katie.”
Katie turned around and smiled at him, “You guys are our juniors. It’s the least we could do.” She then entered the girl's sleeping quarters with her and closed the door behind her.
“Come on let’s go,” Sol beckoned and the two with Sol carrying Ron in a princess carry entered the boy's sleeping quarters. But before they entered Sol requested, “Harry, I think tonight’s events rattled Hermione a bit. I’d like to ask you to become friends with her. The『Creator』knows she could do with some friends.”
Harry assured him, “Don't worry. Even if you hadn’t said it, I would’ve done it anyways.”
Sol would’ve ruffled his hair if he had his hands free, “There’s a good chap.” Then he gestured towards Ron with his chin, “Oh, and get this wally to apologize to her and accompany her with you.”
“Sure thing.”
After they put Ron to bed and Harry got changed, both Harry and Sol fell asleep as soon as they hit the hay.
Tonight was really hectic.