~ I have added this Fanfic to my Patreon. If you'd like to read advanced chapters, feel free to check it out!
~ I'm planning to increase the number of advanced chapters to +18 this weekend!
~ I've edited some of the previous chapters to remove anything you might consider "cringe" or "unnecessary." I'll continue reviewing them from time to time!
~ Very soon, we'll return to releasing two chapters daily, including bonus privileges for Power Stone contributions!
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Suddenly, the two were stopped by a noxious stench that almost made them both gag. From around the corner, they could hear a growl, the sound of smashing stonework, and Neville yelling of terror. Harry muttered bitterly under his breath. "'Troll in the dungeon. Thought you ought to know.'"
A few seconds earlier...
Neville washed his face for several minutes, splashing his eyes with the cool water to wipe away the redness where he'd been crying. Then, he stared at himself in the mirror for a long time, as if wondering whether the reflection in the mirror was one he still recognized. Emotionally drained, he headed for the door and opened it, only to find himself staring into the face (well, actually the stomach) of a twelve-foot-tall troll armed with a club. The monster snarled at him.
"Yeah, I guess it's just been that sort of day," Neville thought with a strange mixture of amazement, annoyance and resignation. Then, he dropped down to the floor with a yell of fright, ducking just as the troll reached a meaty hand out for him. The boy scrambled away until his back was against the far wall as he desperately tried to remember any spells he could actually perform that might work against a troll, while the great beast squeezed into the room, ripping out part of the door frame with its huge body as it entered. Neville tried Hermione's fireworks spell, but nothing came out of his wand except a soft pop and two lonely sparks. The troll reached down towards him hungrily ... and then suddenly roared as a blast of fireworks struck its posterior. Angrily, it turned to face its new quarry, Harry and Hermione.
"WINDGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" yelled Harry, and the troll's club flew up over its head and swept around to smash its face. Unfortunately, the troll was surprisingly fast when it needed to be. It threw up an arm and batted the club away and towards Harry and Hermione, who had to duck quickly to avoid it and then were knocked down by falling masonry when it shattered against the wall. Hermione recovered first and started back in with her fireworks. Harry shook off the impact and quickly joined her with fireworks of his own.
Across the room, Neville was shocked at the sight of his two friends who he had so rudely spurned earlier but who were now risking their very lives to save him. Still trying to think of a spell, he looked down at his wand, and he suddenly felt hatred for the useless stick in his hand, the wand that had never chosen him and that he'd never chosen as his own. Then, he looked up at the back of the troll that threatened his friends, and something burned in young Neville Longbottom's eyes that no one would have ever expected to see there. Rage.
Harry and Hermione were still trying to harm the troll or at least frighten it away with fireworks, but the beast was barely slowed down by them. Harry vaguely recalled that trolls had magic resistant skin and didn't think there were any spells remotely possible for a First Year that could harm it. Then, to his amazement, he saw Neville climb up onto a sink and then leap onto the creature's back! With one hand, he grabbed hold of the iron collar around the troll's neck and hoisted himself up over its shoulder. His other hand still held his wand, which, with loud grunt, he jammed up the troll's left nostril. Then, still barely hanging on to the struggling troll with one hand, Neville shifted his grip, and with a scream like a furious berserker in the midst of battle, he shoved the wand another three inches up the monster's nose with an audible "squick."
With that, the troll screamed in agony, and a thin trail of green blood trickled out of the nostril where the wand had been lodged. The troll's thrashings increased, and Neville finally lost his hold, falling hard onto the floor behind the monster. Quickly, Harry flicked his own wand towards the protruding butt of Neville's wand. "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" He pushed with all his magical might and the wand slid another few inches up towards the troll's brain. There was resistance, though – Harry could almost feel the tip of the wand snap and crack against the troll's brain pan. The creature started pounding on the sides of its head in pain.
"HERMIONE! TOGETHER!" he yelled. The young witch raised her wand, and the two cried out in unison. "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" With the sharp sound of cracking bone, Neville's wand shot up the troll's nostril and penetrated its brain. There was a spray of green ichor from the beast's nose. The bellowing stopped instantly, and the monster's eyes rolled back up into its head. Then, the half-ton creature wobbled before falling backwards, straight towards where Neville had landed. In a flash, Harry repositioned himself and cast. "ACCIO NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM!" The other boy slid right through the wobbling troll's legs and into Harry and Hermione's waiting arms. The troll collapsed and crashed to the floor with an enormous thud.
Neville then pulled both Hermione and Harry into a bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry I was such a prat to you two," sobbed Neville. "You two are the best friends a guy could ever have." At that, Harry's eyes got a bit misty as well. He'd never really had friends himself before Hogwarts thanks to the Dursleys, and now, between Hermione, Neville and Theo, he had more and better friends than he'd ever imagined possible.
The bonding session was cut short, however, by a loud shriek in a Scottish brogue. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Behind McGonagall were Snape, Flitwick and a nervous looking Quirrell.
"Well, um," said Harry nervously, "there was this troll. And ... I think we killed it."
Hermione gasped. "Oh, we did, didn't we! I mean, I know we didn't have a choice, but it was still a semi-sentient being!"
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