"Professor Quirrell's two trolls have always been locked in the third basement level. They were originally planned to be put in along with the traps set by Dumbledore himself..." Professor McGonagall said. "It's strange that this happened. They were chained up, and I have no idea how they managed to break free."
"You mean, there were two trolls?" Murphy was stunned.
His crows were spread all across the school, allowing him to observe many secrets within.
Most of the tasks in Tom's Guidebook came from this. Murphy didn't have prophetic abilities; he just exploited information asymmetry.
However, there aren't many windows in the basement, and the crows don't like going there, so there weren't many. If not for Professor McGonagall's words, he wouldn't have known about the two trolls down there.
Speaking of which, there indeed were two trolls in the original story. One was defeated by the three young wizards today, and the other was the one guarding the Philosopher's Stone, killed by Quirrell himself.
But since only one troll appeared today in the original story, he hadn't considered this possibility.
"Yes, one is smaller, not yet fully grown, while the other is fully grown, extremely strong, and very ferocious. We must control it immediately, or there's no telling what damage it might cause."
Murphy frowned, preparing to remind Tom through the Guidebook when suddenly, he received an image.
Tom, it seemed, was thrown off?
...
"No!!"
"Tom!"
Harry watched in horror as his friend was flung by the troll right before his eyes, furious. Without hesitation, he drew his wand and instinctively cast the spell Tom had used, "Expelliarmus!"
However, he had hardly practiced the Disarming Charm before, and his spell only produced a tiny red spark that hit the large body, barely tickling the opponent.
But, it did catch the troll's attention.
The troll bent down, looking at the three young wizards.
"Meat," it said, drooling.
"Harry, run, run! This guy is hungry!" Hermione shouted.
The troll reached out a hand towards Harry, who rolled away, narrowly escaping its grasp.
He reached the corridor and saw Tom in a corner.
"I'll distract it! Go save Tom!" Harry shouted, picking up a tap that had fallen on the ground and hurling it at the troll. "Come on! You big oaf! Try to catch me, you dummy!"
The troll didn't understand what Harry was saying, but it felt provoked and angrily grunted, turning to chase after Harry.
"Harry!" Hermione cried out in fear, unsure of what to do.
"Quick, check on Tom!" Ron said, pulling Hermione towards the corner.
Tom felt like he was about to die.
Even though he instinctively used the Shield Charm he had learned from a task reward at the last moment, his hasty spell wasn't very effective against the much stronger second troll that ambushed him.
He felt like all his bones were shattered.
"Tom!" Hermione and Ron ran over, relieved. "You're still alive!"
They helped him up. "Can you walk?"
Tom stood up, realizing his leg seemed broken, but strangely, he didn't feel much pain. "Where's Harry?"
"He's distracting the troll. We need to get a professor, he won't last long..."
Tom looked towards the end of the corridor. Harry, thanks to his Quidditch training, was agilely dodging the troll's attacks, but it wasn't a sustainable situation; the troll's club wasn't a Bludger, and a direct hit would be deadly.
"We have to help him..." Tom said.
He couldn't move. By the time they found a professor, it would be too late for Harry.
"Give me your wands," he suddenly said.
"What?"
But Hermione and Ron handed their wands to Tom, who clenched them along with his own.
Wands are like antennas; the more you have, the stronger the signal.
Murphy, I hope you're right.
"Harry! Run this way!" Tom shouted.
Magic is like a stream of water; the closer the target, the stronger the force.
Hearing Tom's shout, Harry, completely exhausted and sweating profusely, didn't know what Tom was planning, but in that moment, he decided to trust his smart friend.
He rolled under the troll's swing and ran towards the trio, with the troll turning to chase him.
60 feet, 50 feet, 40 feet...
Suddenly, two hands joined theirs on the wands. "Tom, what spell?"
Tom looked at his two friends, his eyes lighting up.
Wizards are like power sources; the more you have, the stronger the power!
"Wingardium Leviosa, we've all learned it!"
Tom instantly thought of the spell they had recently learned in class together. All three of them knew it and were quite proficient.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"Wingardium Leviosa!!!"
As Harry passed them, three voices shouted simultaneously.
In an instant, a surge of magical power burst out. The combined magic of three young wizards and four wands resonated, shaking the entire third-floor corridor. Suddenly, not only did the troll's club escape its grip, but even the troll itself was lifted by the levitation spell.
"Ow! Ow!"
The troll, like an overturned turtle, flailed helplessly in mid-air, unable to touch the ground. It screamed in terror, unable to move even an inch.
"We did it!" Hermione exclaimed, "Look! We levitated the troll!"
Ron's hand still pressed on the wand. "My God."
He seemed to be reliving the spell, then said, "It turned into a troll balloon."
"Troll balloon..." Harry, panting, joined them. "I almost got turned into a Quaffle!"
"Ha ha ha... Quaffle..." Ron laughed, "Weren't you the Golden Snitch just now?"
Even Tom couldn't help but relax and smile.
Quaffle, huh.
"Oh, mate, you finally smiled!" Ron suddenly said.
"Although you usually smile, it's like a Slytherin," Ron laughed, placing his hand on Tom's shoulder for the first time, "But now, it's different."
"What do I look like now?" Tom asked, curious. "A Gryffindor?"
"Now... well..." Ron thought.
"Like a friend."
...
Tom's Guidebook suddenly vibrated.
"Side Quest: Make a Friend! Completed!"
"Task Progress: 3/2. Exceeded!"
"Task Reward: Love Potion Recipe."
"Excess Reward: Petrificus Totalus!"
"Congratulations, congratulations."
Dumbledore's Mirror of Erised was outside during Christmas, so Dumbledore's trap was only placed behind the trapdoor after Christmas. Quirrell's trolls are also strange. If Quirrell had arranged for the trolls to be behind the trapdoor and then let them escape, they would have to pass through several professors' traps and climb from deep underground to the fourth floor, then sneak past Fluffy and run to the underground classroom - this isn't a troll, it's more skilled than Quirrell who couldn't pass Fluffy's challenge. Thus, it can be inferred that during Halloween, the troll wasn't placed behind the trapdoor as a trap but was just locked somewhere underground. This way, their escape isn't too strange; otherwise, the professors would surely have suspected an insider, and Quirrell could have been easily exposed. This is also why Murphy could still participate in the Philosopher's Stone plan after school started. At that time, several professors' traps weren't even finished. In fact, at the beginning of the school year, the only certain completed trap should have been Hagrid's Fluffy. After all, Dumbledore's trap was the innermost, and other teachers couldn't set their traps without his being in place. But, there should have been some traps at that time, otherwise Snape wouldn't have been so anxious to confirm the situation of the traps. This is a contradiction in the original story. To avoid conflict with readers, I let the protagonist participate in setting the traps early on. As for when the other professors set their traps, since the original story doesn't say, I don't know either, and to avoid contradictions, I simply skip over it.
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