She realised after a moment of stupor it was her own voice. BLAM. BLAM. The floor was shaking, warning of the sign a thing really heavy was coming in their direction. Alexandra was still hidden behind the griffin, but Sykes was still screaming and crying "My eyes!", attracting the thing approaching.
To the end of a passage situated to her right, a colossal form was advancing. BLAM. BLAM. It was in the shadows, so she could not see as clearly as she wanted, but it was huge. Bigger than the gatekeeper Hagrid for sure.
And then the huge being passed near a torch. Alexandra did her best not to scream but it was hard. Twelve feet high, a darker and putrid grey as skin. A great and large body with a small bald head on top of it. Short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was horrible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. Mountain troll. Alexandra had never seen one, of course, but she read a lot of books about magical creatures in the library. Classed a creature on the XXXX level, the mountain trolls had extremely heavy skins resistant to magical attacks and a very limited intelligence. Only the most powerful spells could take apart their natural protection. Spells that Alexandra didn't know and wouldn't have had the power to cast anyway.
"WHAT IS THIS? POTTER!"
Alexandra snarled. Alex Sykes had chosen the worst moment to recover his sight. Worse, he had walked in direction of the griffin where she was hidden, and judging by the guttural groan of the troll, both of them had been noticed by the monster. Her chances to vanquish a troll were so low it would take a miracle. She did the only sane thing she could. She ran.
"RUN! SYKES! RUN!" She shouted as she rushed towards the end of the corridor. Of course the fourth-year wanted her dead, but she figured she could wait one hour or two before demanding Flitwick to lambast the imbecile for another unsuccessful assassination attempt.
"BOMBARDA!" Or not. She turned in her race to see what had Sykes had decided to do.
Just in time to see the troll taking a full dose of the Blasting Charm in his torso. It had no effect whatsoever, apart from the obvious one of angering further the troll. Sykes was planted in the middle of the corridor, looking stupefied, as if couldn't believe his magic had failed him. And then the troll raised the club, before smashing the head and the rest of Sykes body into a bloody pulp.
"No..." Alexandra whispered, staying open-mouthed for a few seconds. BLAM. BLAM. BLAM. The troll accelerated in her direction, apparently not satisfied by having scored his first kill of the day. She ran, but she realised rapidly it was futile. At each turn of the corridor, she managed to gain a bit of time, but the troll was faster than her in straight lines. The beast had almost caught already, being far faster than it looked.
She saw an opened door on her right, and threw herself inside before closing the door.
"Alexandra? What are you doing here?"
At this moment, Alexandra remarked three things. One, the key for the door had been left outside. Two, she had entered a girl's toilets. Three, she was face to face with Hermione Granger, who by her look had been busy crying in said place for the best part of the day.
CRAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The door almost fell from the first assault of the troll.
"Granger, there's a mountain troll outside this room who wants every human in this castle dead!" Alexandra knew her tone was full of panic and despair but she simply didn't care. "Is there another door where we can escape?"
"What ? No, no..." Hermione Granger was in the verge of panic and Alexandra took her by the arm and led her in the back of the toilets. The girl was terrified and already emotionally unstable from the morning classes. She would not be of any help.
CRAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!
This time the door of the toilets didn't resist the new assault of brute force. It exploded in a cloud of debris, creating a cloud of dust where noting was visible for an instant. The troll had to slouch slowly by the passage it had just created to come into the room, but it managed to enter the toilets, in all its ugly splendour.
And then it roared. The smell was incredibly nauseating, and Alexandra heard Hermione behind her softly crying. In a large movement of his club, the troll demolished a dozen of sinks, forcing her to jump.
"Granger, close your eyes!" Alexandra ordered. "LUMOS!"
Reopening her eyes after three seconds, Alexandra saw the troll pulverising the mirrors and the toilets near him, blinded by the explosion of sunlight she had just generated. It had enraged the troll beyond measure, but it had worked. The troll was evidently blind and howling in pain from her spell. So indirect attacks against the trolls had a chance to work.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Alexandra incanted the spell they had just learnt the morning before, as it was obvious her hexes and jinxes were useless against the creature. And then she threw everything she had at her disposition in the room in the direction of the troll, funnelling all her rage, frustration and anger she had in her. Four sinks, nine toilets, and three pipes were sent hurling towards the troll in close succession.
The last toilet was the good one: the troll took it directly in the head, his head was slammed against the wall and the troll fell on the floor in an impact that shook Hogwarts to its foundations. Closing the distance, she saw the toll had impaled its head on one of the pipes she had just thrown, creating an explosion of blood, brain and gore.
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