Halloween Night Comes to an End

Hermione cried softly. In this kind of environment, even her crying was muffled.

Harry's scar prickled faintly, and his pupils dilated slightly.

It felt as though his ears had sunk into the sea. Hermione's sobs and the Troll's footsteps became distant, like hearing the sound of waves underwater. The world fell quiet, and everyone else's movements slowed.

He looked at Ron curled up by the wall and remembered seeing his family at the Train station. A whole family, noisy and boisterous, all with red hair. How interesting.

He watched the Troll slowly raise its club. The texture of the muscles on its forearm, the gaps beneath its nails, the black grime on its club—every detail seemed to be imprinted on his mind.

What a huge monster.

Am I as big as its thumb?

I should be, right?

The Troll's slow approach reminded Harry of being chased and beaten by Dudley and his gang at Muggle school.

Every time, I ran. Every time, I ran. Actually, I didn't really want to run away.

Harry felt the muscles throughout his body stop tensing so tightly and relax.

He bent slightly, crouched, and sprinted.

He couldn't think of any spell that could solve the situation. He could only do what he had always wanted to try whenever people chased and beat him—rush right at their faces!

Before Harry's mind could figure out what he would do in front of the Troll, his body had already given him the answer.

Like a Bowtruckle climbing a giant tree, Harry darted across the gray-green hill. He nimbly climbed up the Troll's body, dodged its hands, dodged its swinging club, and mounted its head.

He saw panic in the Troll's crimson eyes.

Harry drew back his shoulder, bent his arm, clenched his fist, and did what he had always wanted to do to so many people—he punched it hard in the nose.

"Roar!!" The Troll howled. The punch clearly did little damage, but the Troll felt as though something inside it had shattered, and immense terror rose within it.

The Troll was enraged by the little thing on its head. It wanted to crush the little thing and smash it into pulp. One hand grabbed Harry's leg and held him up before it, while the other was about to slam down on him.

"Do something!" Harry shouted. Hanging upside down, blood rushed to his head, making his voice somewhat muffled.

Shadows stirred in Loren's eyes. Blue light rose from his pupils and spread across his entire irises.

In his vision, the Troll's skin emitted a faint brown glow. On its nose, where Harry had punched it, was a mottled black mark.

That was its weakness!

"Whoo..." Loren controlled himself and stilled his trembling breath. "Do something."

In his mind, the spell that had been corrected by Colloportus and had remained indistinct all this time became clear. He squeezed every bit of strength from his body and poured it into his wand.

Loren heard his own voice ring out:

"Piercing Bolt."

A blazing red light burst from the tip of his wand and shot straight at the black mark on the Troll's nose.

Bang!

The red light entered through its nose and shot out through the back of its head with a violent explosion.

A fist-sized black hole had been blasted through the Troll's brain. Its body swayed twice, then stiffly fell backward.

Harry hit the ground with a cry of pain, but he seemed fine.

A satisfied smile tugged at Loren's lips. After casting the spell, he could not move even a finger. His head throbbed as though he had not slept for three days and nights, and his eyes felt as if medicated oil had been dripped into them, chilling and stinging them. Unable to hold on any longer, he collapsed.

Lying on the ground, he vaguely saw Dumbledore and the others enter. Hermione threw herself into Professor McGonagall's arms, crying, while Percy walked toward Ron, who was curled up...

The world plunged into darkness.

Ron's voice: "Run!"

Harry's voice: "Do something!"

And finally Hermione's voice: "Loren, Loren!"

The voices seemed to be beside his ears, yet also in a dream. Loren felt soft all over and did not want to wake up.

When he opened his eyes, he saw bright lights that made them sting a little.

There were three beds in this Hospital Wing room, with white sheets and cabinets, all so neat they gleamed.

Loren lay in the middle. Ron was asleep in the innermost bed, while Harry was closest to the door.

Harry was counting the panes in the window. "788, 789, 781..."

Loren sat upright. "Did you notice you counted wrong?" His voice was hoarse.

Harry cried out in delight, "Thank goodness, I'm finally not alone."

Loren ignored him, picked up the water jug from the bedside table, and poured himself a drink. His throat felt as though it were stuffed with grit.

Harry cheerfully told Loren what he knew. He had woken early the next morning, while Loren had slept for a day and a night. Ron had broken several ribs and suffered internal injuries, but Madam Pomfrey said he would recover after a week of rest.

"But Ron still hasn't woken up." Harry's voice lowered somewhat.

Harry had spent the entire day in bed with nothing to do. He felt completely recovered, but Madam Pomfrey would not allow him to be Discharged from hospital or even let him get out of bed to move around.

Harry kept chattering:

"Hermione will come by after class. Madam Pomfrey said talking to you might wake you up sooner. Hermione's called your name thousands of times already."

"Professor Dumbledore will come by tonight. He needs to ask you about what happened again."

"That spell of yours was so cool! It actually pierced through the Troll's head!"

At this point, Harry asked, "Why didn't you use it earlier?"

Loren could tell there was no blame in his words, only simple confusion.

Loren looked at Harry. "Because of you, my spell was able to work."

"Me?" Harry recalled the scene. "I was in a strange state then. I rushed up without thinking about anything."

"That's strange. Why did I rush up there?"

Only then did Harry notice how unusual things had been. "And Ron too. He seemed a little strange at the time."

Before the two could figure it out, Madam Pomfrey pushed the door open and came in.

"Lie down! No talking!" she roared at Harry.

Harry did not dare resist. He obediently shut his mouth and lay down.

Madam Pomfrey fed Loren a Mint Flavor potion.

After drinking it, Loren felt his mind turn cool and comfortable, while his body became warm and comfortable as well.

"You nearly drained all your Magic Power!" Madam Pomfrey looked at Loren sternly. "That is an extremely serious matter for a young wizard!"

Though her tone was severe, Madam Pomfrey's eyes held gentle concern.

Without giving Loren time to answer, she continued, "If you had not been at Hogwarts, it might have caused your Magic Power to go out of control, leaving you unable to cast magic ever again."

"Get plenty of rest. No noise!" Madam Pomfrey said before leaving.

Watching the doctor close the door, Harry sat up. "I think we've already—"

"Quiet!" Madam Pomfrey's roar came from outside.

Harry pursed his lips and slowly began counting the window panes again. "1, 2, 3..."

That evening, Hermione and Dumbledore came together.

The little witch had changed into a clean, neat Gryffindor robe. Her long white socks and little leather shoes made her look so adorable that no one would have guessed she had once brandished her wand to hold back a Troll.

When Hermione entered and saw Loren already sitting up, she grinned widely, revealing two white front teeth. Her eyes sparkled with joy.

"Loren!" Hermione called happily, then rummaged through her bag for a notebook. "I wrote down the notes from these classes in here. You can study from my notes, and if there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me."

"Thank you." Loren accepted the notebook, rather speechless, and looked at Dumbledore behind Hermione.

Dumbledore had worn a gentle smile all along. He did not interrupt the friends' meeting, only speaking when Loren looked at him. "You can always see things others cannot. I would like to see things from your perspective."

The white-bearded headmaster took out a bag of candy from the wide sleeve of his white robes. "Surely no one would refuse a friend visiting a patient with candy."

"Yes!" Harry cheered, and Loren began sharing what he had experienced from his perspective that night.

...Just as Harry was about to be struck, Loren's Talent Vision activated. He saw the Troll's entire body covered by a brown barrier, with only the black mark Harry had left on its nose. Loren cast his spell at that mark...

"Also, I vaguely saw red light on both Harry and Ron." That was what Loren had seen before losing consciousness.