On Victor's side, Hermione had finally started to calm down.
She wiped her face with the sleeve of her robe, looking embarrassed more than upset now.
"I'm… fine," she muttered. "Really."
Victor nodded. "Good. Then let's get you to the Great Hall before you miss everything."
That was when he noticed it.
A smell.
Not just bad—foul. Like something rotten mixed with damp stone and unwashed socks left in a dungeon for years.
Victor's expression shifted instantly.
"…That's not normal," he muttered.
Hermione sniffed the air, her face scrunching up. "What is that smell?"
Before Victor could answer, the floor trembled.
Thump.
Another heavy step followed, slow and deliberate.
Thump.
The sound echoed down the corridor, growing louder with each step. Whatever it was, it was big. Very big.
Victor's eyes narrowed as he instinctively moved slightly in front of Hermione.
"Don't move," he said quietly.
He immediately took out his wand. It was clear he couldn't avoid the confrontation with the troll—not that he was scared. He was prepared for it.
"Hermione," he said calmly, without taking his eyes off the corridor, "you're about to see something very ugly. So stay calm. And whatever you do—don't scream."
"What?" Hermione asked, confused, barely having time to process his tone.
Then the air shifted.
A heavy shadow fell across the entrance of the girls' bathroom, blocking the torchlight. The floor trembled again.
Thump.
Out of the doorway lumbered a massive figure.
The troll ducked slightly as it entered, grey skin rough and mottled, its tiny eyes blinking stupidly. In one enormous hand it carried a wooden club nearly as thick as Hermione's waist, the end scraping loudly against the stone floor.
Hermione froze.
Victor stepped forward half a pace, placing himself squarely between her and the troll.
"See?" he said evenly. "Ugly."
The troll's tiny eyes fixed on them at once.
It let out a dull grunt and lifted its massive club high over its head, muscles bulging as it prepared to bring it crashing down on both of them.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Victor shouted.
His wand snapped upward.
The club jerked violently out of the troll's hand, soaring into the air as if yanked by an invisible rope. The troll froze mid-swing, staring at its suddenly empty grip.
It scratched its head slowly, eyes crossing as it watched its own weapon float above it, turning lazily in the air.
"Urgh…?" the troll muttered, deeply confused.
Victor didn't give it time to think.
"Flipendo!"
A burst of force slammed into the troll's chest. The massive creature staggered backward, arms flailing as it lost balance.
The troll let out an angry roar, stumbling sideways and crashing into the sinks. Porcelain shattered, water spraying everywhere as pipes burst.
Hermione gasped but clamped a hand over her mouth, remembering Victor's warning.
Victor kept his stance steady, eyes sharp.
'Big, slow, and stupid, just like the book said—but still dangerous.'
"Roarrrrrrrr!!!!"
The troll roared again, enraged now, and lurched forward through the wreckage, slipping on water but still coming.
Victor tightened his grip on his wand.
"Alright," he muttered under his breath. "Round two."
With a sharp motion, he snapped his wand forward.
The floating club shot through the air and smashed straight into the troll's head with a heavy crack.
The troll staggered, eyes crossing as it swayed on its feet, utterly confused by the sudden betrayal of its own weapon. It let out a dull, pained groan and shook its head violently, as if trying to knock the sense back into place.
Victor didn't give it the chance.
He swept his wand in a wide arc.
The wreckage around them responded instantly.
Broken sinks, shattered tiles, chunks of porcelain and stone ripped free from the floor and walls, rising into the air. Water dripped from jagged edges as the debris hovered, sharp points all angled toward the troll.
The troll finally realised something was very wrong.
It raised its arms clumsily, roaring in panic—
Too late.
With a flick of Victor's wrist, the debris slammed forward.
Not lethal—but brutal.
The shards struck the troll's head and shoulders, knocking it backward. It howled, stumbled, and then tripped over its own feet, crashing onto its back with a thunderous boom that shook the entire bathroom.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The troll groaned weakly, eyes rolling, limbs twitching as it failed to get back up.
Then he smiled.
"You're screwed," Victor said calmly.
With a final flick of his wand, the floating club dropped out of the air and crashed down onto the troll's head with a heavy, echoing thud.
The troll let out a low, pitiful grunt, its eyes rolling back.
A second later, Victor lowered his wand and finally let out a long breath.
Only then did he realise his heart was pounding. Fast.
It had gone well—too well—but that didn't change the fact that this was the first time he'd fought something like that. A real monster.
One mistake, one spell going wrong, and things could've spiralled badly. If that had happened, his Animagus form would've been his only option.
Good thing it didn't come to that, he thought.
"Victor."
The voice came from behind him.
He turned—
And Hermione suddenly stepped forward and hugged him from behind, arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
Victor froze for a heartbeat, caught off guard.
She was shaking.
"I—I thought…" Hermione's voice shook as she pressed her face against his chest. "If you hadn't been here…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
She didn't need to.
Victor let out a quiet breath and awkwardly patted her shoulder. "Hey," he said softly. "It's over. You're fine."
And she knew it.
If she'd been alone in that bathroom, there was no way she could've faced a troll by herself. That thought alone made her grip tighten for a moment.
Then hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor.
Two figures burst into the bathroom.
"Hermione, are you—?"
Harry cut himself off mid-sentence. Ron skidded to a stop beside him.
Both of them stared.
The troll lay sprawled on the floor, unconscious, its club resting uselessly beside it. Sinks were shattered, tiles cracked, and water flooded across the stone floor like a miniature lake.
And right in the middle of it all—
Victor was there.
Hermione was hugging him, arms wrapped around him normally.
For a moment, neither Harry nor Ron said a word.
"…Blimey," Ron finally managed.
Harry's eyes darted from the fallen troll to the wrecked bathroom, then back to Victor. "Did we… miss something?"
Hermione startled, realising they were there. She quickly stepped back, cheeks flushing red. Victor coughed lightly, straightening his robes.
"We heard about the troll," Harry said slowly. "We thought—"
"That you'd need help," Ron finished.
Victor glanced at the unconscious troll, then back at them. "Looks like you were a bit late."
Ron stared at the troll again, then at Victor. "But… how did you—"
He waved his hand helplessly at the destruction.
Victor shrugged. "It attacked. I responded."
He glanced toward the corridor. "We should leave. Before the teachers arrive and start asking questions. Lots of questions."
Unfortunately, they were already too late.
"Oh, Merlin—what happened here?"
Professor Minerva McGonagall swept into the bathroom, her sharp eyes taking in the scene in a single glance—the unconscious troll, the shattered sinks, water flooding the floor, and four first-years standing far too close to the mess.
*****
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Currently updated up to Chapter 33.
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