Kyle sat in the common room, eyes fixed on the Marauder's Map. After about ten minutes, Quirrell's name finally appeared.
His eyes lit up as he rose and left the common room. On the map, Quirrell bypassed the Great Hall, instead making a large loop around the castle.
Kyle followed behind, maintaining exactly one corridor's distance to avoid detection. With the Marauder's Map in hand, he had no fear of losing his target.
After wandering for some time, Quirrell finally stopped. Kyle quickly found an empty classroom nearby and concealed himself.
A few minutes later, Quirrell's name began moving rapidly toward the Great Hall.
After ensuring Quirrell had gone far enough, Kyle slipped out of the classroom, crossed through a side corridor, and hurried to the spot where the professor had lingered.
As he turned the corner, a foul stench assaulted his nostrils. The smell, worse than Michael's brewing potions, made Kyle dizzy despite his mental preparation.
Then came a deep grunting sound and the unmistakable noise of huge feet dragging across the floor. Not far ahead, a massive creature — nearly twelve feet tall — lumbered toward him.
Its skin was dull gray like granite. A small walnut-sized head perched atop its body gave it a distinctly stupid appearance. Its short legs, thick as tree trunks, ended in flat, horny, calloused feet. This creature was the source of the nauseating odor.
Kyle recognized it immediately — this enormous being was the troll he had been searching for.
And not just any troll — it was a Mountain Troll, the largest type.
"Jackpot!" Kyle excitedly stepped forward.
The movement caught the troll's attention. It roared and quickened its pace. With both moving toward each other, Kyle and the troll soon stood face to face.
The troll roared again and raised its wooden club, clearly intending to smash the ant-like obstacle in its path.
"Wait, I can take you to get food!" Kyle shouted.
His words proved effective — the troll immediately halted. It tilted its walnut-sized head, visibly struggling to comprehend what it had just heard.
"You're hungry, I'll take you to get food!" Kyle repeated.
"Eat! Food!"
This time, understanding dawned on the troll. It lowered its club and responded with unintelligible grunting sounds.
"Yes, food!" Kyle, fighting through the terrible stench, put on his friendliest expression and enunciated clearly, "Follow me, I'll take you there!"
He took a tentative step backward, and the troll immediately followed.
"It worked!" Kyle was delighted. He quickly took out a box and placed it open on the ground.
Now he just needed to maneuver the troll into stepping into the box. Holding his breath, he stepped backward again.
But then, something unexpected happened.
"Ah!"
A piercing scream made the troll freeze mid-step. It clumsily turned around, blinking stupidly, trying to locate the source of the sound.
Within moments, it spotted the cause: a small brown figure.
"Ah!!"
Seeing that the troll had discovered her, Hermione's screams grew louder.
The troll pounded its head with its palm as if in pain. In its ugly little eyes, the human girl's image transformed into something like a round, evil hag-bird.
In an instant, the troll's rationality vanished. It forgot Kyle existed and began walking toward Hermione.
"I... fuck!" Kyle stood completely dumbfounded.
One step — just one final step — and the troll would have been his. Who would have thought Hermione would appear out of nowhere and ruin his plan?
Wasn't she supposed to be in the bathroom? Why did she come out? Couldn't she have cried a bit longer?!
Kyle punched the wall in frustration, then chased after the troll, shouting "eat" and "food" in an attempt to recapture its attention.
He certainly couldn't just watch Hermione die. But the troll seemed fixated on her; no matter what he said, it wouldn't listen.
Worse still, Hermione's legs gave way as she tried to escape. She fell to the ground and cowered against the wall, looking like she might faint at any moment.
The troll approached step by step, raising its club as it walked.
"What a mess!" Kyle sighed and raised his wand.
✭ Wingardium Leviosa ➜ Levitation Charm ✭
The club suddenly flew out of the troll's hand, rose high into the air, then slowly turned over and crashed down onto its owner's head.
Bang!
With a loud crash, the troll swayed on the spot before collapsing face-down with a thud that shook the entire corridor.
Hermione sat there, dumbfounded, and asked, "Is it... dead?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, why so ungrateful!" Kyle quickly walked over to check the troll's condition.
Fortunately, it still had a heartbeat.
He breathed a sigh of relief. He'd really hoped to avoid using this method.
Though the troll was stupid, it had at least understood his words. Who knew if this blow to the head might have knocked out what little intelligence it possessed? That wasn't the outcome he wanted.
But it was too late to worry about that now.
Kyle summoned the box from the ground, preparing to stuff the troll inside, but after some thought, he first took out his wand.
✭ Scourgify ➜ Scouring Charm ✭
✭ Tergeo ➜ Wiping Charm ✭
After casting several cleaning spells, the troll became much cleaner, and the foul smell greatly diminished.
Kyle wanted to continue, but the sound of hurried footsteps in the distance made him abandon the idea. He hastily stuffed the troll into the box.
"Remember, you didn't see anything." Kyle said to Hermione with a serious expression, "There was no troll; you fell by accident. Understand?"
Hermione stared wide-eyed and nodded numbly.
"Good." Kyle picked up the box and helped her to her feet as if nothing had happened.
"Hermione!"
"Thank goodness you're here!"
From the other end of the corridor, Harry and Ron came running.
"There's a troll in the dungeon!" Harry panted, "Professor Dumbledore told us all to return to our dormitories. You... huh? Kyle, you're here too?"
"Yes, I was on my way to the Great Hall and happened to run into Miss Granger here." Kyle smiled and asked, "Did you just say there's a troll in the dungeon? What's going on? How could a creature like a troll possibly appear in Hogwarts?"
"Yes, I promise I'm not joking." Ron said rapidly, "Professor Quirrell told us during the Halloween feast, then he fainted."
"Is that so... that's very dangerous." Kyle said with a serious expression, "Trolls are not something we can handle. I'll be going now; you all should hurry back to the tower as well."
Hermione didn't say a word throughout. She stared at him, completely shocked.
That calm expression, that composed tone... If she hadn't personally experienced everything that had just happened, she would absolutely have believed Kyle was telling the truth.
Why was he so practiced at this? Was this person really the top student in their year?
✭✭✭
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