October 31st, 1991, Hogwarts, The Great Hall, 8:20 AM.
It was a rather cheerful Thursday morning, the entire place was bathing in warm sunlight, and the aroma permeated everywhere, satisfying every hungers of all those who were present.
It was a rowdy morning, and everyone was excited for Halloween tonight. Decorations were in the air, as were talks and other preparations for the old-aged festival, which could be seen everywhere.
For a certain red-haired boy, it was over the moon.
For the first-time, Ron got to see the ugly face of Theodore as he tasted a bitter and humiliating defeat for cowardly not showing up for the duel.
With Ron's natural boasting character, it was certain that the boy'd take the proof—the picture Harry took - to every single Hogwarts student he came across the next morning.
It's practically Ron's badge of honour by now; no doubt the red-haired boy would have framed it onto his wall for years to come.
Therefore, Ron had been grinning non-stop every since, even forgetting the quartet's little mishaps near the end of their journey.
On the other side, now fuming with anger and humiliation, Theodore for sure, would repay all of it, but not for now.
*Womp Womp*
"Oh, the manners..." Hermione's usual "slight reading" was once again disrupted by Ron, who was chomping on his food enthusiastically, replenishing from Wood's arduous training.
"Mmph, 's H'llween f'r M'rlin's H'm'n'e!" (It's Halloween for Merlin's sake! Hermione!) Despite looking like a chipmunk due to food flooding his mouth, Ron's managed to deliver his words under the disgrace look of Hermione sitting beside him while Harry and Draco shared a slight chuckle at the situation.
"First of all... this is disgusting, so please swallow before you talk or else all those food crumbs are going to fly out everywhere." Hermione leaned back as she rolled her eyes at Ron.
Harry also nodded while sipping chamomile tea for breakfast. Should Ethan were here, he would have said the same, and Harry practically copied Ethan's manners.
"Gulp... Sorry. Anyway, like I said, it's Halloween; where's your spirit!?" Ron directed his eyes at Hermione's "slight reading" book.
"May I remind you that we still have morning and afternoon classes? Secondly, the festival will be held in the evening, so... I recommend you save some energy for the classes lest you waste it on chomping all those foods." Her words managed to put the "over the moon" Ron back to reality.
"Tsk!" Ron mumbled incoherently.
"On top of that, you shouldn't be this lax. Theodore wouldn't leave this easily; he might already be scheming up his next trap." Draco teased as he darted an eye towards the mentioned Slytherin, sitting in a corner of Slytherin's table; his complexion was grim.
Following Draco's gaze, Ron replied with a snort. "Ha! Let see what that swine can do? What to worry about when I got such best friends besides me." Ron declared it sincerely with his chin up.
Rendering Draco's eyes widened in surprise, Harry on the side couldn't help but smile brightly as he passed Ron a glass of chamomile tea. Even Hermione shook her head bemusedly yet it couldn't hide her happiness as her mouth curled up into a gentle smile.
The breakfast went on as the four resumed chatting about everything or doing their own stuff, enjoying each other's company.
Suddenly, Ron spotted a particular owl flying towards their table, carrying something wrapped in paper like a broom.
The creature dropped the package perfectly in Ron's hands, avoiding any mishaps to his foods.
Harry could feel dozens of curious gazes pouring over their table.
"Wow, a bit familiar, isn't it?" Hermione's swept over the package.
"A b-broomstick?" Judging by the obvious shape of the package, Harry could tell what it was. Draco on the side also acknowledged it.
"Let's open it." Ron said it eagerly. "Merlin! It's not just a broomstick, Harry. It's a Nimbus 2000!" Ron's eyes dilated, sparking like fireworks.
"But who could have sent me-" Following where the snow owl landed, Ron was even more surprised to see that it was Professor McGonagall's owl.
The old lady replied with a gentle smile yet the moment Ron laid his eyes back on the Nimbus 2000, his grin slowly faded, and the enthusiasm in those eyes dimmed.
Noticing his friend's sudden change in attitude, Harry enquired concerningly. " W-what wrong?"
Scratching his head, Ron let out a sigh. "The sender was Professor McGonagall."
"So?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Ah, I think Ronald meant that with the professor's expectance, support also comes with her supervision regarding his studies... even more." Draco acutely captured the implicitness.
"Urgh, she really has an overwhelming passion for Quidditch, even rival Wood." Ron exclaimed exhaustedly with another long sigh...
Just then, smirk found its way to Ron's mouth as his eyes seemed to curled upward, directing at the nonchalant Draco.
Of course, how could the Slytherin boy not notice such obvious intensity exuding directly across the table?
"Hm? Has the pressure really gotten to you, Ronald?" Draco narrowed his eyes.
"Ohoho, no, Dray, no..." Ron's smirking seemed to have gotten wider, which even startled Hermione as she had never seen the rowdy boy this... sly.
'Dray!?' Draco raised an eyebrow at such a cheesy nickname, nonetheless; it was a sign that Ron's was despite him as much as before.
"What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty? Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus."
The gloating expression in Ron's eyes was as bright as the Runic Lamp, Harry commented inwardly.
"Ohoho, oh Ronald, but it's still just a broom, a tool; I'd say the rider's skill is the deciding or else such a well-crafted broom would only befit to... sweep the floor's dust." Draco smiled coldly.
"Hmph! Then let us see it at the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match!" Ron raised his chin up high.
"Looking forward to it..." Draco also retorted swiftly.
October 31st, 1991, Hogwarts, The Great Hall, 8:10 PM.
The entirety of the place was redecorated into a jubilant Halloween theme... Floating Pumpkin Halloween, pressing various scary faces whilst brightening up the hall, the starry sky was recasted into clouds of thunder coupled with the enchanted instruments playing Halloween theme, thus creating a splendid atmosphere to celebrate the festival.
"Blimey, look at all these dishes. It just so... YUMMY!" Ron's eyes were sparkling like stars while his mouth couldn't stop drooling.
Harry on the side was a little bit uncomfortable as this evening was more crowded than usual because of the festival, but with Ron here it was much more bearable.
"Come on, Harry, let's diggin'."
"W-wait Ron, w-where is Hermione?" Harry hadn't seen her anywhere since the festival started 10 minutes ago.
"Oh, she is in the girl's bathroom. Apparently, Pati and her got into a small debate as to why pump juice was so unpopular with the student. Hermione decided to drink the juice with another dish to see if it was any better. Well, then... she got a pretty nasty stomachache." Neville reply.
"Pumpkin juice one, Hermione zero." Ron shrugged as he began chomping on the food.
Suddenly, amid the cheerful atmosphere of the evening, the large iron double door of the Great Hall was busted open.
Followed by a long, loud creak and... the frightening voice of Professor Quirrell as he was shouting at the top of his lung.
"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON! TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!" The professor came running with all his might, his face pale by fear, and his body was shaking uncontrollably.
Then, there was silence as the professor stopped in his tracks to catch a breath. "Thought you want to know." With that said, the lanky man fell unconscious.
Soon, chaos erupted; screams and panic replaced the cheerful evening.
"SILENCE!" Seemingly amplified with magic, the Headmaster's voice resounded the place, setting the chaos as soon as it erupted. Afterwards, he directed the Prefects to lead their houses back to the dormitories while the staff would resolve the situation.
Standing amid Chaos, Harry was puzzled, as couldn't grasp the severity of such a situation. Still, The boy knew one thing: Hermione was still out there, highly unaware of the situation.
"How could a troll get in! Merlin's, they're stupid. Must be someone playing jokes—a really bad bloody joke!" Ron kept on complaining as the to shoo away the fear.
"Ron!" Harry pulled him aside as he told his thought, seeing that Hermione was still nowhere to be since.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron puzzled.
"Hermione, she doesn't know!" Harry said with a shaky hand.
"Bloody hell, she's still in the girls bathroom. And the Dungeon..."
With a nod, the two boys marched towards where Hermione could be. On the way, the two meet up with Draco, who came after as he noticed how they weren't heading with the Prefect as well as how Hermione wasn't with them.
...
Soon the three lads, head-loud footstep echoing along the hallway, were followed by a towering, ugly troll, dragging his large stone cub.
"Bloody-"
Sensing the Troll's gaze was about to look at their direction, Draco quickly pulled all of them to the side, hiding among the shadow of the corridor. The three only sighed relief as they heard the troll continue walking.
"Oh no, that's the girl's bathroom's direction." Draco said grimly.
Patting his seat, Harry urge to go to Hemione. "Come on!"
...
On the other side, it was such rotten luck that right before the girl was about to step out of the girl's bathroom, the troll was right outside with his cub held high.
Hermione's eyes widened in fear; her breathing started to quicken, yet she didn't scream but rather dashed back into one of the rooms, locked the door, and crouch down, avoiding the troll's sight.
She did learn that such creatures were very dull, so with this she could temporarily avoid being located and smashed into pieces.
With an angry roar, the troll began to swing his cub side to side, smashing everything on its way.
Hermione screamed as he felt the cub pass by a strand of her hair.
"HELP!"
"Hey Ugly Bastard!" Ron was the first to barge in. Looking at the debris, the boy quickly grabbed pieces of it and threw at the creature.
"Pick someone you're side." Followed by Draco, the two successfully garnered it's attention.
Catching the moment it focused on the two boys, Hermione swiftly changed her position, avoiding another smash.
Only Harry was shaking uncontrollably at the back, his breathing was heavy, and and his eyes trembled in fear as he watched Draco and Ron playing a game of tag and run with the creature, trying to get Hermione of the corner.
However, as creature got angrier as it couldn't follow the movement of the two, it began to swing its fist uncontrollably, knocking Ron flying back in the process.
*THUD*
"Ron!" Harry exclaimed as he rushed to Ron's side.
"Dammit!" Draco also came to the boy's side and immediately checked his injury.
"I-it's hurt so bad. I-i think my bones are broken." Ron uttered it horrifyingly.
Seeing this, Harry on the side also became much more panicky, the boy was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Oh, shut it; your bones are fine, but still, that was quite a heavy beating." Draco assured the boy, "And Harry, pull yourself together! Do something!"
Draco's urge managed to reach the boy as Harry began to steady his breathing. Using cogitation to calm his mind.
"Here Draco!" Reaching into his satchel, Harry tossed Draco a bottle of Essence of Dittany, a fairly simple potion he made long ago under the guidance of Ethan.
"This..." Draco nodded towards Harry.
Then Harry quickly pulled out his Holly Wood Wand and pointed it at the Troll's cub while imagine his magic core began to spin once more.
"Hurry up!" Hermione, right now, was breathing heavily as she had been dodging the troll's smashes from time to time. Her stamina was spent.
Yet another smash was coming.
However. "Wingardium Leviosa..." Harry whispered the spell as, in his mental vision, the threads from his magic core began extending outward from the tips of the wand, coiling around the stone cub, seizing the control.
With a calm expression and determined eyes, Harry waved the wand repeatedly in small motions, guiding the cub to smash the troll's head repeatedly.
Soon, the stupid creature fell down with a loud thud. Knocked out.