"Wingardium Leviosa~"
As the troll lumbered closer, Evan whispered the incantation for the Levitation Charm, causing the rock cakes on the ground to gently rise, ensuring the troll could see them without its diminutive head missing them entirely.
Yet Evan's heart was still fluttering with trepidation, fearing the troll might not be as dim-witted as the books described and might see through the trap.
Fortunately for Evan, the troll proved to be even more foolish than he had anticipated, lacking even the basic instinct to be wary of the mysteriously appearing food. It grabbed the cakes and shoved them into its mouth without a second thought.
To facilitate its feast, the troll even tossed aside its club, resembling a true glutton. Evan couldn't help but wonder if Quirrell had been skimping on the troll's meals, pocketing the saved Galleons for himself.
After a mental tirade, Evan's tension eased. He lightly touched the pocket of his wizard's robe, realizing he wouldn't need the escape plan he had so carefully prepared.
Unexpectedly, minutes after swallowing the cakes, the troll showed no signs of collapsing. Instead, it sniffed around, searching for more food. Evan was baffled; he had used enough potion to knock out several grown wizards, yet the troll was unaffected.
This was utterly unmagical!
Could his potion-making skills be at fault? Evan glanced at his Level 3 Potions status, uncertain.
"Ah~"
While Evan debated whether to take action, a shrill scream shattered the already precarious situation.
Peeking from his hiding spot, Evan saw Hermione appear at the corridor's corner, and the troll, now reinvigorated, excitedly picked up its club and charged toward her.
Evan realized Hermione must have been drawn by the sound of the club hitting the ground.
Internally cursing, he wished he had set the trap further away, although he knew the troll might not have passed that way.
Meanwhile, Hermione was paralyzed by the oncoming threat of the troll, her mind screaming to flee, but her legs were too weak to stand, let alone run.
Just as Evan had thought, Hermione's curiosity had been piqued by the vibrations and the loud noise from the club, which drew her from the lavatory where she had been crying.
She had never imagined encountering such a terrifying creature in the halls of Hogwarts.
Just as Hermione thought her end was near, a timely voice called out.
"Horror descend!"
A bright purple glow shot from the opposite direction, hitting the massive troll, which had little chance to evade. The Fear Spell froze it in place, and Evan emerged from his hiding spot.
"Evan!" Hermione lunged at him like a drowning person grasping for a lifeline, her eyes still wet with tears.
"Shh..." Evan didn't relax his guard, gently pushing Hermione away with his free hand while strengthening the Fear Spell with his wand.
Her face flushed, but Hermione quickly sensed something was amiss with the troll, which she had assumed Evan had subdued with a single spell. Now it seemed not so simple.
"What's wrong with it?" she whispered.
Evan didn't reply, signaling her to be quiet, his gaze never leaving the troll. He had never seen such a reaction to the Fear Spell before.
To instill enough fear in the troll, Evan had conjured the image of Fluffy, the three-headed dog, magnifying it and placing it where Hermione had been.
The troll, confused by the Fear Spell, couldn't comprehend how the oddly-dressed dwarf in front of it had transformed into a gigantic, three-headed dog, vaguely familiar yet suspiciously plumper. Had it been sneaking extra meals?
"What do we do now?" Hermione's eyes asked, voice silent.
Evan pondered, unwilling to miss this chance. Professors could arrive at any moment.
If he let this opportunity slip, defeating the troll next time would mean facing Fluffy beneath the trapdoor.
He indicated to Hermione through gestures to use the Levitation Charm to take the troll's club and then bash it on its head.
Yes, it was the method Harry and Ron used to defeat the troll in the original story. Even if it didn't work, at least they could disarm the creature.
Hermione was skeptical of Evan's whimsical plan but went along with it out of trust.
However, faster than Hermione's spellcasting was the troll's swinging club!
With little brain to speak of, the troll, having failed to communicate, chose to lash out in frustration. Its monstrous strength, paired with a club thicker than a grown man's waist, made Evan feel the threat of death for the first time in a while.
In a split second, Evan played his last card. The academic points in the system panel plummeted to single digits, and the next instant, his thought speed increased a hundredfold.
The trajectory of the club and the troll's potential follow-up moves flashed through Evan's mind. He grabbed Hermione, rolling awkwardly on the ground to dodge the blow.
Behind them, a massive crash followed; the once-solid corner of the wall crumbled under the troll's strike, dust and debris scattering everywhere.
The Fear Spell Evan had cast was broken, and even the dim-witted troll realized it had been duped. It raised its club to pursue them, but after a few steps, it staggered, finally succumbing to the powerful sleeping potion.
Seizing the moment of the troll's confusion, Evan sprang up, pulling Hermione away to create a distance of several meters. The troll, somewhat resistant to the potion, regained its senses, clearly infuriated.
Unsure of why it had felt disoriented but certain that crushing the two "dwarfs" on the floor was the right choice, the troll charged at them with fiery anger.
For the troll, a mere dozen meters was a short distance, quickly traversed in seconds. But for Evan, those seconds were all he needed!
Tips:
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