Harry Potter And The Lord Of Darkness - Chapter 12

“What is that smell?” Hermione asked furrowing her brows.

“Broken toilet?”

“I can’t be that, I was in the bathroom for. . . . Anyways, I didn’t smell anything while I was in there.”

Arth frowned. “Then it must be coming from somewhere down the hallway.”

“I’ll go check.”

Hermione got up and walked down the hallway before looking to her left. “Nothing on the left, nothing’s there. And I don’t think there is anything on the right as well-”

Hermione froze before slowly backing away. She continued this until she was past Arth and in the girls bathroom.

“What are you doing Hermione-”

“Shhhhh! Stay quiet! Just trust me and come inside.”

Arth made a face, “I’m not going into the girls bathroom-”

And then he heard a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Arth turned around and at the end of a hallway, something huge had just entered his sight.

It was 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 when it had completely walked out of the corner and peered towards Arth.

Arth opened his mouth but not a word came out. “. . . . On second thought, I think a journey into the girls bathroom can’t hurt one bit.

Arth slowly entered the girls bathroom while the troll gazed at him dumbly. Once he was fully inside, he shut the door quietly, before immediately proceeding to talk to Hermione.

“Why the bloody hell is there a troll in the building?”

“How am I supposed to know? I was with you.”

“Do you reckon the teachers know about this?”

Hermione shuddered, “I sure hope they do.”

There was a boom as the girls bathroom door started to shake. Hermione whimpered before turning to Arth. “Do you reckon she can break the door?”

Another boom and the sound of something slowly breaking answered her question. “I believe it would be wise to hide.”

However, it was too late. The door gave away with a sad groan before falling to the floor. The troll entered the bathroom with a grunt and stared at Arth and Hermione with dull eyes.

Hermione tugged at Arth’s clothes, “do you think we should make a run for it? Before it. . . . Attacks us?”

Arth shook his head. “That would just aggravate it more. The best thing to do is to not make any sudden movements. Maybe it’s a friendly troll-”

The troll let out a ferocious roar before lifting its club and smashing one of the sinks.

“I guess it’s a slightly angry troll.”

“Arth, duck!” Hermione pushed Arth out of the way as the club was swung over their heads. Arth and Hermione immediately hid in one of the stalls.

“Can we escape?”

“Unlikely, the troll is quite big after all while the door is a bit small for two people and a troll to get through.”

“Should we fight back then Arth?”

There was a loud crash as one of the cubicles were obliterated.

“It’s possible if we could somehow manage to get rid of that club the troll is holding.”

Hermione’s face lit up. “I think I can do that!”

“Great, let’s go face the troll then shall we?”

However, the troll had got tired of searching for them and swung its club horizontally, destroying all of the cubicles at once.

Arth grabbed Hermione and pushed her down, shielding her from the debris. “Mr. Ugly sure isn’t happy today. You ok Hermione?”

“I’m fine I think.”

“That’s good, I’ll go distract him so you get rid of the-”

Arth felt something grab his leg before being lifted out of the pile of broken stalls and toilets. The troll had Arth dangling by the leg and was currently poking him.

“Ah, I’ve been caught. Hermione, it would be nice if you did the thing you said you could do.”

The troll raised its club aiming at Arth’s face.

“Hermione, the troll is a lot stronger than me so it would be appreciated if you could help me down or get rid of the club that is about to hit my face.”

“W-Wait a bit-”

Arth saw the troll prepare itself for a massive swing and sighed. “Tel my mom and dad that I loved them-”

“Wingardium Leviosa!”

The troll attempted to swing its club downwards but was magically stopped by a mysterious force. It was quite the comical scene, a troll with a confused look on its face as it held a club up in the air while dangling a boy by his leg.

“You have earned me an extra minute of life, Hermione. Now, it would be nice if you could help me get down before this troll kills me so I can live another seventy years.”

“I-I’m working on it!”

Fortunately, Arth didn’t have to rely on Hermione for survival. There was a flurry of feet as several teachers entered the bathroom.

“My goodness! What is happening- stupefy!”

There was a burst of red light as one of the teachers sent a spell at the troll. The troll stumbled a bit when it got hit by the spell and turned its view towards the teachers. However, before it could retaliate, another two spells hit the troll in the face.

The troll let out a groan before slowly falling to the floor, with Arth still in its hands. As the troll hit the floor, Arth was dragged along with it, and got unintentionally slammed to the floor head first.

Arth felt a sense of relief from the fact that Corvus was not on his head, but sleeping soundly in his basket up at the dorms.

A sharp twang of pain invaded his head before the entire world blacked out.