"Pignose." After leaving the scene, Hermione whispered the password in front of the Fat Lady's portrait.
The portrait spun, revealing the entrance, and the festive atmosphere in the Gryffindor Common Room immediately surrounded Hermione.
Everywhere she looked, students were holding mugs of butterbeer, wearing all kinds of strange hats, and chatting loudly while carrying plates between the sofas and the fireplace. On the tables, there were various pumpkin pies, small cakes, jam, and chocolate spread.
Thinking about everything that had happened today, Hermione suddenly felt extremely hungry.
"Hermione..."
Just as she was about to join the crowd and indulge in the feast, a voice came from behind—Ron, with Harry standing anxiously beside him.
"Sorry," Ron apologized softly. "I shouldn't have said that... I mean, are you alright?"
"Because you didn't come to the feast. When Professor Quirrell burst in and said there was a troll in the basement, everyone was terrified." Harry added, "We wanted to come find you, but when we ran out of the group, Percy caught us."
"So... we ended up going to see Professor McGonagall," Ron said, unable to look Hermione in the eye, as though confessing to a grave mistake.
"You didn't run into the troll, did you, Hermione?" Harry asked, finally.
Hermione didn't know how to answer. Should she tell them that she had fused the 12-foot troll with a wall?
"You... didn't get any points deducted from Professor McGonagall, did you?" Hermione thought for a moment before asking that instead.
Ron and Harry exchanged a confused look, not understanding what was going on in Hermione's mind.
"Of course not! Miss Know-it-All!" Fred and George suddenly popped up from somewhere, surrounding Hermione and answering the question for their younger brother.
"Miss Know-it-All?" Hermione had a bad feeling. "Who are you talking about?"
"Of course, we're talking about Hermione Granger, who used a single spell to blast apart a mountain-sized troll!" George and Fred grabbed Hermione's arm and lifted her, starting to run around the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Gryffindor! Gryffindor!" Fred happily began singing.
"Come and welcome your queen!" George joined in harmonizing.
"One spell and she destroyed the entire corridor!" The two sang together, their voices resembling two bald crows.
"Mountain-sized troll!"
"And twelve metal suits of armor!"
"Put me down!" Hermione screamed.
Fred and George, ever obedient, dropped her into the biggest, most comfortable chair in the Common Room. Percy, who had been sitting there, was quickly yanked out of his seat by the brothers.
"Boom!" Lee Jordan playfully pulled off a firework, sending golden confetti falling into Hermione's hair.
Fred or George, Hermione wasn't sure which, found a crown, seemingly made of some gold-foil chocolate, and placed it carefully on her messy hair.
The other Weasley used chocolate to make her a sword, and kneeling dramatically before Hermione, as if performing a coronation ceremony.
"Is it true?" Angelina asked. "Hermione used a single spell to take down the troll?"
"Of course!" The Weasley who had placed the crown on her said in a slightly hurt tone, "We overheard Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick discussing—"
"'I really can't believe what I just saw, Filius,'" the Weasley holding the chocolate sword mimicked, his voice high-pitched.
"'Could there be a troll in the basement?'" The other Weasley, standing behind Hermione's chair, pitched his voice even higher.
"'There is, but it's not in the basement; it's in the third-floor corridor,'" the Weasley shoved the sticky chocolate sword into Hermione's hands.
"'Oh... that's going to be a mess,'" the Weasley mimicked Flitwick's expression of regret.
"'Worse than you think, our Granger used some unknown spell to fuse the troll with the corridor wall. When I saw it, I didn't know whether to be angry or amazed.'" The Weasley mimicked Professor McGonagall, pushing nonexistent glasses up his nose.
"'Which Granger?'" The Weasley mimicking Flitwick perfectly captured his shock.
"'The one you're thinking of now. Luckily, Dumbledore showed up, or I wouldn't have known how to fix that corridor.'" The Weasleys finished mimicking McGonagall's speech.
"Whoa—!" Everyone in the Gryffindor Common Room gasped. Hermione blushed deeply, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"Now! Gryffindors!" The Weasley brothers called out together in a solemn tone. "Let's welcome Miss Know-it-All!"
"It's Queen Miss Know-it-All!" The Weasley brothers disagreed for a second, but quickly agreed on the title of "Queen."
The Gryffindor Common Room erupted in applause and cheers, and everyone crowded around Hermione, asking what the troll looked like, some wanting to know the spell Hermione used to fuse the troll with the wall, but most were loudly celebrating the great moment.
All the questions overwhelmed Hermione, and for a moment, she didn't know which one to answer first.
But soon, she didn't have to worry about it anymore. She heard someone call out, "Professor McGonagall!"
The room fell silent, like an infection, and the mood quickly shifted to one of unease.
Professor McGonagall stood there, her green robes almost blending into the shadows of the room. Her serious and stern expression made everyone in the room hold their breath, and even the Weasley brothers didn't dare speak.
Hermione felt Professor McGonagall's eyes sweep over her head several times, so she quickly removed the chocolate crown from her head and took the golden confetti off her hair.
"Keep that crown, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said, her voice slightly softened. "It's Halloween night, and I won't deduct points from anyone. But remember, once the lights go out, you must go to bed quickly, or else be cautious."
Professor McGonagall didn't elaborate on what they should be cautious about, but everyone understood without needing her to say more. They exchanged glances, surprised that even Professor McGonagall, usually so stern, would say such things.
"We love you, Professor McGonagall!" one of the Weasley brothers shouted.
And then, everyone saw the faint, almost imperceptible smile on Professor McGonagall's lips.
"Tell your mother when you get home, Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall said. "Unfortunately, I've already written her about the toilet seat incident. Otherwise, I might have let you off the hook."
"Oh—no!" The Weasley brothers wailed, and with that, Professor McGonagall turned and left the Gryffindor Common Room.