Chapter 19
At this moment, the Halloween feast was about to begin.
Apart from the professors seated at the high table, the young witches and wizards below were whispering among themselves. After finishing the creation of his storage ring and practicing some new tactics, Aisen had come to the Great Hall to help with the preparations.
"Professor Aisen, have you encountered any difficulties in your classes recently?" Dumbledore turned toward Aisen beside him.
Aisen hadn't expected Dumbledore to speak so soon after he sat down.
"Oh, of course not. Astronomy is relatively straightforward, and the students have been performing quite well. Especially Miss Hermione Granger—you know, she's an exceptionally gifted young witch." Aisen paused for a moment, then gave a perfectly polite and conventional reply, taking the opportunity to praise one of the students.
Indeed, for Aisen, teaching Astronomy really was simple; he hadn't run into any real difficulties. He didn't even pay much attention to the homework he assigned the students.
After all, how exactly wizards could land on the moon was hardly a straightforward question. Quite a few students hadn't completed the assignment at all. Hermione, however, had actually submitted a full essay on the topic—though her final conclusion was that wizards were incapable of reaching the moon.
"Hermione Granger?" Dumbledore's expression showed genuine admiration.
"Exactly. Astronomy doesn't require the use of magic, yet Hermione's performance is impressive enough on its own!" Yes—since Astronomy had nothing to do with spellcasting, all Aisen could really praise was her academic ability.
But… wasn't Hermione here right now? While speaking, Aisen swept his gaze around the hall. He saw Harry and Ron stuffing their faces enthusiastically; even Neville, Seamus, and the others were present—but Hermione was nowhere to be found.
Could she be crying in the bathroom? The thought suddenly popped into Aisen's mind. Right—he had been so caught up in his own affairs that he had completely forgotten about the famous falling-out among the Golden Trio.
Before Professor Dumbledore could ask anything more, the doors of the Great Hall burst open. Professor Quirrell stumbled inside, rushed straight up to Dumbledore, leaned crookedly against the table, and gasped out in a panic:
"Troll—in the dungeons—I thought you ought to know—"
Then his head lolled to one side, and he collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
For a moment the students below sat in stunned silence. Then, as though a switch had been flipped, screams erupted everywhere. Young witches and wizards leaped to their feet and began running in every direction in blind panic, plunging the hall into chaos.
"Silence—" Dumbledore, seeing the situation, no longer had time to chat with Aisen. He rose to his feet, cast a Sonorous charm on himself, and shouted in a voice that boomed through the hall.
The instant Dumbledore's voice fell, the students froze. The chaos subsided, and everyone stood rooted to the spot, not daring to move.
"Please remain calm! Now—Prefects, lead your house students back to their dormitories immediately! Teachers, follow me to the dungeons." Since something had happened, the Halloween feast was clearly over.
Under Dumbledore's instructions, the students of each house began filing out in orderly fashion behind their Prefects, heading toward their common rooms.
"How could a troll get into Hogwarts?"
"No idea. Trolls are supposed to be unbelievably stupid—maybe Peeves let it in."
"Or maybe it was just to liven up the Halloween feast!"
All along the corridors the young students whispered among themselves. But Aisen noticed that Snape had quietly slipped away to the side. He knew Snape was heading to the forbidden corridor on the third floor—the one with the three-headed dog—to check whether this was Quirrell's diversion tactic. Of course, he would end up getting bitten.
Naturally, since Aisen already knew the original storyline, he had no intention of following Dumbledore and the others to the dungeons. Instead, midway there, he blended into the crowd and quietly made his way toward the girls' bathroom on the second floor.
Yes—Professor Quirrell had told everyone the troll was in the dungeons, but in reality, in the short time since then, the troll had already lumbered its way up to the second-floor girls' bathroom.
Before he even reached the bathroom, Aisen could hear the startled cries and screams coming from inside—Hermione's shriek and Harry's alarmed shout.
"Run, Hermione!" Harry's voice was thick with urgency.
Not daring to delay, Aisen's wand flashed out from his ring and into his hand. He strode quickly toward the wide-open door of the girls' bathroom.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw Hermione crouched beneath one of the sinks in the corner, clearly trying to hide from the troll's pursuit, while Harry had his arms wrapped around the troll's thick neck and was jamming his wand straight up one of its nostrils.
In this life-or-death moment, Aisen had no time for hesitation. Afraid that the plot might deviate from the original and cause unexpected casualties, he immediately pointed his wand at the wooden planks the troll had smashed across the floor.
In the stunned gazes of Hermione and Ron, the shattered pieces of wood rapidly twisted and reshaped, turning into gleaming iron chains that coiled tightly around the troll's massive body—binding even its wildly swinging arms in an unbreakable grip.
"Get down, Harry—now!" Seeing the three of them gaping in shock, Aisen felt a small surge of satisfaction. But when he noticed Harry still clinging to the troll's neck, his expression darkened slightly, and he hurriedly called out again.
The moment Harry scrambled over to Ron, Aisen flicked his wand once more. The enormous club in the troll's hand flew upward, transformed mid-air into a solid iron bar, and slammed down hard onto the troll's forehead. With a dull thud, the troll collapsed unconscious.
Before Aisen could say anything, footsteps echoed from the corridor outside. He turned and, sure enough, Professor McGonagall had arrived—followed closely by Professor Snape, who had somehow returned, and Professor Quirrell, who had apparently regained consciousness at some point.
"You—oh, Professor Aisen, would you care to explain what is going on here?" McGonagall had been about to reprimand Harry and the others, but upon seeing Aisen standing there, she swallowed her anger and turned to him instead.
"Well, I was in the corridor earlier when I suddenly heard heavy, thudding footsteps, so I followed them. When I got close to the girls' bathroom, I heard cries for help coming from inside.
By the time I rushed in, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were doing their best to fend off the troll. In such a dangerous situation, I knocked it unconscious." Aisen gave a concise account of why he had come and what had happened.
McGonagall and Snape crouched down to examine the troll. Both of them paused for a moment, their eyes lingering on the steel chains wrapped tightly around its body.
"Well, Professor Aisen, that is some truly excellent Transfiguration," McGonagall said as she stood up, nodding as though accepting the explanation. She even took a moment to compliment Aisen's Transfiguration skill.
Snape rose as well. Though he said nothing, he shot Harry a particularly venomous glare.
"But why were the three of you not in your dormitory?" McGonagall turned sharply toward the young students, her tone still edged with anger.
"Because of this incident, Gryffindor will lose fifteen points. Now—back to the Gryffindor common room at once!" Without giving them any chance to explain, McGonagall continued.
Harry and Ron walked out looking utterly innocent, while Hermione pressed her lips together, clearly wanting to speak up but ultimately staying silent.
Aisen merely shrugged. He had no objections to McGonagall's handling of the situation. Because of his interference, the three young students had lost any opportunity to defend themselves. Not only had Gryffindor been docked points, but the moment where Harry and Ron would have been awarded points for heroically defeating the troll had also vanished.
"Well then, I'll take my leave!" Once the three students had gone, Aisen felt there was nothing more for him to do. As for what would happen to the unconscious troll, that was now McGonagall and the others' problem.
Meanwhile, in the crowded Gryffindor common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were stuffing themselves with food. Although Ron had lost his chance to play the hero who saved the girl, in the end it had been Harry and Ron's actions that delayed the troll long enough for Aisen to arrive and rescue them.
Because of this shared experience, the tension between Harry, Ron, and Hermione had eased considerably.
"Thanks, you two," Hermione said quietly. Then, plate in hand, she hurried off.
Harry and Ron, mouths full of food, exchanged a glance, shrugged, and said nothing. All around them came the laughter and chatter of the other students. They knew the troll incident was finally over.
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