After the Troll
Flitwick entered after her and almost fell backwards when he saw the decapitated troll. Quirrell, who came in with some footprints on his robes, was also in shock; his mouth was so wide open that he looked completely astonished, terrified and confused all at the same time.
Snape entered behind them and, for the first time, his usual expression shifted into genuine surprise as he fixed his gaze on Harry and Percy for a moment.
"By Merlin… what in the world happened here?" Professor McGonagall finally asked, managing to organize all the questions running through her mind.
"If I tell you the roasted pumpkins made my stomach hurt and I had to run to the bathroom, and we found the troll like this… would you believe me?" Percy asked softly, as if that were a perfectly reasonable explanation.
"What?" McGonagall said, staring at him in disbelief.
"And you went to the bathroom? The girls' bathroom?" Snape asked, narrowing his eyes, dripping with suspicion.
"When you have to go to the bathroom, you have to go" Percy replied without losing his calm.
Harry obviously wasn't going to let that continue. Percy could make things worse without meaning to.
"Professor, the truth is…" Harry began to say.
But Hermione spoke first.
"It was my fault" she said quickly.
Everyone turned to look at her immediately.
"What are you talking about?" Harry said, staring at Hermione. "Obviously it was our fault" he added right away. "Professor, we stopped the troll because—"
"No… no, that's not how it happened. I attracted the troll and put my life in danger. It's my fault because I read something and I thought I could…" Hermione tried to say.
"That's not true. It was us" Harry insisted, not allowing her to take the blame alone. After all, it wouldn't be chivalrous. Even if Luther and Arthur sometimes said nonsense, he had learned the concept of honor. He always saw stories of knights risking their lives to protect the innocent; he wasn't about to let Hermione lie to protect them.
"I-I…" Hermione tried to speak again.
"Alright, let us stop here" said a voice that caught everyone's attention.
Dumbledore had arrived.
The headmaster observed the troll carefully for a moment; in his eyes there was attention and even a spark of academic interest. Then he looked toward Harry and Percy. Hermione, Ron and Neville instantly tensed, even more nervous than before.
"This is not the fault of any student" Dumbledore said calmly. "It is the fault of the school for not having better security and allowing a troll to enter the grounds. Besides, it was supposed to be in the dungeons… the fact that it reached this far is a serious error on our part. If Miss Granger was here, it makes perfect sense that her friends came to warn her."
He gave them another gentle smile.
The professors stayed silent at those words.
"Furthermore, you did a very good job" Dumbledore continued. "But you disobeyed orders… therefore, five points will be deducted from each of you."
All of them lowered their heads; Hermione seemed close to tears.
"But you also saved a classmate and stopped a threat to the entire school. For that, each of you will receive ten points. Now please return to your rooms; we will take care of everything here."
Percy was about to blurt out a comment that would definitely make things worse, but Harry quickly covered his mouth and motioned for the others to leave.
Thus, all of them ran out of the bathroom quickly.
Once outside, they let out a collective sigh.
"That was… incredible" Ron finally said, unable to hold it in anymore. "You two are really amazing. How…? Percy with his sword, then Harry with his magic… it was incredible."
"Yeah, you were really amazing. I've never seen anything like that" Neville said, visibly excited.
Harry and Percy smiled with a bit of pride. They had trained for a very long time to reach that level. Percy woke up every morning to run until he was exhausted and endure a few beatings from Einjard and then from Dred. Harry studied the Mist, which wasn't as easy as it looked, and practiced every day with his magic tome while trying to discover new spells; he trained so much that his illusions could become completely real. Then he joined Percy to fight Dred and grow stronger together.
Not to mention the strange and dangerous missions they did with their aunt Mor.
They were proud of their achievements. Maybe not comparable to the Pendragon knights, or to their mother's work, or to Mor herself, but for them it was a beginning.
Behind them, Hermione walked in silence. Percy and Harry both noticed, and they each gave Ron the classic judging look he already knew very well.
"Ahem…" Ron muttered as he stopped and cleared his throat. "Um… I'm sorry for what I said earlier today" he added, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.
"I-it's okay" Hermione said. And Ron, seeing his apology accepted, rushed toward the portrait of the Fat Lady to escape the uncomfortable conversation. "Pig snout."
"What? They changed it again?" Percy said instantly, shifting the mood. Then he looked at Neville. "Did you know that?"
"Yes. They announced it this morning" Neville replied with a shy smile. "You had gone out to train."
"Oh, I see. How troublesome it is to be so disciplined" Percy said with a grin as Neville climbed through the portrait hole.
Percy was about to enter as well, but Hermione suddenly spoke.
"W-wait" she said, addressing both Percy and Harry.
They both turned toward her.
"T-thank you so much for saving me" she said, now a little embarrassed.
"You're welcome" the brothers answered in unison, smiling calmly.
Percy was about to go inside, but Hermione's next words froze him completely.
"But that magic… I've never seen anything like it. The illusions… it's like when Percy used the match and Professor McGonagall saw a needle, or like the Lumus spell you cast, which was different from the real spell."
Percy stopped immediately.
He turned toward Hermione with wide eyes, then at Harry, who had a slightly amused smile.
"It was you!" Percy said, pointing at Hermione. "This whole time you were the Seer. I kept trying to figure out who it was so they wouldn't catch me… and it was always you!" he added, running a hand through his hair while still glancing suspiciously at the students around them, as if he still believed someone might discover he was cheating.
And judging by Harry's face, it was obvious he had known for a long time and had simply been enjoying watching his brother act paranoid.
"You damn pig Potter, why didn't you tell me!" Percy yelled, glaring at his brother.
"Shut up, sea-cucumber brain. Why should I tell you anything? You're the idiot who didn't notice," Harry replied, already irritated by the nickname Percy had brought back after so long.
"Sea cucumber? Learn to insult properly, four-eyes," Percy shot back, barely affected by the strange insult he'd just received. He narrowed his eyes. "And where did that nickname even come from?"
"Aunt Mor said it suited you better," Harry replied with total calm. "Or maybe… hedgehog face, turtle head, algae cheeks…"
Percy's eyes widened in outrage.
"Pig Potter, now you've done it. Let's duel right now! I'll give you a beating of deception for the last time!" Percy said quickly, furious over the nicknames.
"I don't want to, whale face," Harry replied childishly.
"Learn to insult!" Percy yelled again. Though, to be fair, those silly insults did work.
Meanwhile, Hermione froze at the sudden fight between the brothers. She had always thought they got along extraordinarily well… but apparently they had been holding back their arguments for quite some time. And well, the limit had finally been reached.
Hermione, confused by the entire scene, tried to intervene.
"Wait… can you stop?" she said, noticing Percy was seconds away from drawing his sword and Harry was reaching for his strange tome.
"What is a 'Seer'?" she asked. "And why am I one? What are you talking about? Why can't the professors see that magic? And why can you use it? Could I use it? What kind of magic is that?" Hermione asked, firing questions one after another, stopping the fight through sheer overwhelming curiosity.
Percy looked at Hermione, raised a finger… and pointed directly at Harry.
"Your turn," he said, and sprinted toward the portrait hole. He dove into the common room as if escaping the responsibility of explaining something so complicated. On the other side, he performed an exaggerated spin before landing on his feet and raising both arms as if giving a theatrical performance.
The students inside saw him while eating the food delivered by the school's house-elves. Some applauded, and the Weasley twins even asked him to do more tricks.
Meanwhile, outside, Harry sighed and looked at Hermione, who was waiting for answers with absolute focus.
"It's called Mist," Harry began calmly. "And it's existed in the world since… I don't know, maybe since the beginning. According to my aunt Mor, who's also my magic teacher, wizards and witches use tiny particles expelled by the Mist to perform magic. They manipulate it without realizing it, but the Mist is actually much more powerful than they think."
Hermione's eyes grew wider, fascinated.
"My aunt said that what they call ancient magic was actually wizards who could access the Mist's magic to a greater degree. Seers are people who can see the illusions of the Mist without wanting to. Not everyone is a Seer. In this entire school, you're the only one… I think. And possibly there's another, but I'm not sure yet. Seeing through the Mist, feeling it, and using it are different things. And I don't know if you can use it; honestly, you probably can't. According to my aunt, Percy and I are special. I don't know how."
Hermione opened her mouth again. More questions.
"And how do you know I can't use it if I don't even know if I can feel it? What does a Mist feel like? Did you do special training? Does it have anything to do with that strange tome you have, the one with no writing but you're always reading it?" Hermione continued, growing more and more curious.
Harry glanced slightly toward where Percy had escaped.
Yes, his brother had good reflexes… he had run away at the perfect moment.
But well.
Despite the completely chaotic day… Harry had gained a new friend.
And Hermione felt like her entire world of rules and books was rearranging itself inside her head.
…
"Dumbledore, I couldn't help noticing something strange. Two students defeated a troll… and its head ended up like that," Snape said with a voice dripping in suspicion as he pointed at the corpse the headmaster was moving with magic.
"What's so strange about it, Severus?" Dumbledore asked calmly. "You seem to forget who their acquaintances and family are. Their mother works surrounded by knights who could do this even more easily. And I'm quite sure the woman they call Aunt is far more powerful than I ever could have been."
Snape's frown deepened even further.
"And is that alright? For them to be connected to those knights? And to that woman?" he asked uneasily.
After all, the knights had never interfered with the wizarding world before, but lately they had been making themselves rather noticeable. In their desire to protect Muggles, they didn't hesitate to clash with the Ministry itself to stop guilty wizards.
"Those people are only protecting their own, just as we would protect ours. They aren't enemies… unless you make them your enemies yourself. At first, I was also concerned about that woman, but so many years have passed and nothing has happened, correct?" Dumbledore said with absolute serenity. "They're just two children with powerful family members. Thanks to that, they'll grow up strong. Isn't it the same with some of your students?"
Snape pressed his lips together tightly.
"It's not the same," he said coldly.
"I believe it is," Dumbledore replied with a peaceful smile. "And I'm glad they're growing up with good values. If the knights still uphold the values of the past, then even better."
With that, he ended the conversation.
"If you'll excuse me, Severus, it's best if I ask Hagrid to take care of this body," he added, leaving the bathroom and walking away, leaving Snape behind.
Snape could only remain there with a deeply annoyed expression before turning to walk away… not without feeling a sharp pain in his ankle.