Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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The professors searched the castle all night, opening every room door and checking every secret passage, practically turning Hogwarts upside down, but by dawn, they still hadn't found any trace of the troll.
Quirrell became the target of their accusations.
Facing the professors' questioning gazes, Quirrell shrank into a corner, sobbing, "I might... have seen wrong.
You know... the underground classrooms are very dark... that might have been armor... or a statue or something..."
"There are no such things in the underground classrooms!" Snape said coldly, his face grim. "Besides, I don't think any normal person would mistake armor for a troll."
"But... but I... I don't..." Quirrell stammered, unable to speak.
He truly didn't know what had happened. He had released the troll himself; how could it suddenly disappear!
A troll over ten feet tall had vanished into thin air without a sound... Had Hogwarts become this dangerous?
"Perhaps you've had too many things to think about lately, and you're hallucinating," Snape suddenly said in a sinister tone. "I suggest you drink some potion. How about tomorrow? I'll personally deliver it to you, and I guarantee it'll make you feel refreshed."
"No... Severus... no need..."
Quirrell shook his head repeatedly. "I have potions... I won't trouble... you..."
He dared not drink the potion Snape gave him; who knew if it contained anything like truth serum?
"It's alright, just a stimulant, nothing troublesome," Snape said again, not intending to let Quirrell off so easily.
It seemed he simply enjoyed helping others.
"Really...no need..."
Quirrell broke out in a cold sweat looking at Snape's gloomy face, fearing he would force-feed him the drug.
Fortunately, Professor Flitwick suddenly spoke up, asking, "Minerva, what do we do now?"
Quirrell felt like he'd been granted a reprieve and immediately shrank back to the back of the crowd.
Professor McGonagall gave him an unpleasant look before saying, "Notify the prefects and have all the students come to the Great Hall. This farce should end now."
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Soon afterward, the students arrived at the Great Hall, led by their prefects.
The professors were already waiting there, except for Snape.
He'd been bitten by Fluffy the night before and had only managed to wander around the castle overnight thanks to a little bit of Essence of Dittany; he was already back in his office.
In the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall stood at the front, telling everyone that the troll was no longer in the castle.
The crisis was over.
The young wizards immediately cheered.
"I told you… there's no troll."
Ron exclaimed excitedly at the Gryffindor table. "Honestly, I experience these kinds of scams at least twice a week, and you guys still don't believe me!"
But everyone was busy celebrating, and no one paid any attention to what he said.
Only Harry patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, "I have to apologize."
Although Hermione heard him, she didn't tell them the truth. Instead, she stood on tiptoe, trying to see where Hufflepuff was.
There, Kyle was clapping along with everyone else, showing no sign of anything amiss.
"Is this really the youngest recipient of the Special Contribution to the School Award?" Hermione fell into self-doubt again.
Kyle, of course, didn't know what Hermione was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.
As long as Hermione kept it a secret.
For a while afterward, Kyle would spend some time each day in the box trying to tame the troll.
Although the troll was stupid and clumsy and couldn't use magic, it was still quite powerful in combat. With its thick skin and brute strength, it would definitely be a good front-line tank.
And being slow-witted has its advantages; it means it doesn't have many ideas, making it easy to command.
For Kyle, this wasn't difficult.
Every time he came, if the troll showed any aggressive behavior, he would beat it up without hesitation.
Kyle was careful with his blows, not too hard, but enough to make the troll feel pain, and then give it some food before leaving.
With this combination of punishment and reward, the troll quickly became docile, and afterwards, it showed no aggression when it saw Kyle, only grinning foolishly.
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Someone spread the word, and within a few days, everyone knew that Professor Quirrell was too timid and mistook the shadow of some unknown thing for a troll, causing the farce at the Halloween dinner.
This made the already unpopular Professor Quirrell the laughingstock of everyone.
It was the first time they had ever seen a professor so timid, and they didn't know how he dared to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Fred and George even made a bet to guess when Professor Quirrell would leave Hogwarts and what his final fate would be.
They had only intended to have some fun, but the number of participants was unexpectedly high. The young wizards didn't seem to mind spending a few knuts or sickles to amuse themselves.
Over the next few days, they had collected a dozen galleons.
This unexpected success quickly made the twins a little carried away. During a meal, they excitedly told Kyle, "This is way faster than selling things!"
Fred patted his jingling money bag. "It's like picking up money off the ground."
Kyle looked up and asked, "How many people are involved now?"
"Currently, one hundred and twenty-nine people," George blurted out. "People from all four houses."
"So many..." Cedric exclaimed incredulously.
He had thought there would be at most twenty or thirty people.
"Professor Quirrell is all the rage right now..." Fred said. "Anything related to him always attracts attention."
"What about you guys? Want to join in?" Fred asked, shaking his money bag.
Cedric and Kanna both shook their heads; they weren't interested in such things.
However, Kyle thoughtfully stroked his chin.
"Sounds interesting." He asked, "What are the rules?"
"It's simple…" Seeing Kyle's interest, Fred smiled even more broadly.
"Two choices: the time Professor Quirrell leaves Hogwarts, and his final fate. If you guess correctly, we'll refund double the money."
"How about that? Pretty generous, right?" Kyle nodded.
"Right? Which one do you want to guess?"
"I'll guess both." Kyle pulled out a handful of Galleons and slammed them on the table.
"Here are twenty Galleons. Do you dare to take it?"
(End of Chapter)