The proud little witch who was always butting heads with her in class looked a wreck. Her eyes were swollen from crying, her nose was rubbed red, and her body kept hitching as though she'd cried herself breathless.
Eliana hesitated as she looked at the pitiful girl before her. The threat she'd been about to make stuck in her throat. After a pause, she offered her a handkerchief. "Did someone bully you? Want me to beat him up?"
Hermione took the handkerchief with a sniffle. "Nobody likes me. Nobody wants to be my friend."
Eliana fell into an awkward silence.
That sounded painfully familiar. If Hermione had poured her heart out to her last night, Eliana probably would have broken down and cried right alongside her.
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's performance: two little witches flood their dormitory with tears.
Eliana hurriedly shook the nonsense out of her head.
Luckily, she'd already pulled herself together.
Right, then. Time for the strong, kindhearted Eliana to guide this lost little lamb.
Trying to look mature, Eliana patted Hermione on the head. "I don't have any friends either."
"But they all hate me!" Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes again.
"Oh, they hate me too. Look at Malfoy. He'd bite my head off every day if he could." Eliana offered her a prime example.
Hermione paused, but quickly caught on. "That's different. You and Malfoy don't get along. You fight every day. Of course he doesn't like you."
"But I've always tried to help everyone! I answer questions in class to earn House Points, teach them spells they don't know, and tell them not to break school rules or they might get expelled. I've done so much, and they still hate me!"
Her voice choked up again as she spoke.
"They're blind," Eliana declared without hesitation. Her bluntness stunned Hermione. "They don't know a good thing when they see it."
"I taught Ron a spell, and he called me a nightmare," Hermione ventured. For some reason, she suddenly wanted to tell Eliana the words that had hurt her all afternoon.
"Oh, Ron's blind. Ungrateful little git."
Eliana's verdict was merciless.
"There was a mistake in Dean's essay. I pointed it out, and he mocked me for being a busybody."
"He's an ungrateful little git too."
"Before Flying Class, I told everyone about some flying techniques I'd read about. They all said I was annoying."
"A whole bunch of ungrateful little gits."
"I told you not to break school rules before. You didn't listen, and you mocked me."
Hermione wasn't upset anymore. She fixed Eliana with an intent stare.
"I'm an ungrateful little git too."
Eliana answered without thinking, then abruptly realized what she'd said. "Hey, hey, hey—wait. Something's not right."
Hermione folded her arms and stared at her, as if to say, Ha. I knew you were just humoring me.
"Fine, fine. I was a little git," Eliana admitted reluctantly. "But I didn't mock you."
Hermione shuffled two small steps toward her and looked up at her expectantly.
Eliana's mind raced. "I didn't mock you. I just, um, didn't listen to you."
The hope vanished from Hermione's face. She sniffed and gave a loud, icy huff.
Eliana said with complete sincerity, "I know breaking school rules is bad. You were right. Of course, if I had to do it again, I'd still go. I couldn't let Malfoy think I was scared. But I know you were right, and I've never hated you for saying it. I know you meant well."
Hermione looked a little unconvinced, but also a little shy after hearing that.
Eliana asked, "So, Miss Granger, do you think any of those things you did were wrong?"
"Of course not!" Hermione said firmly.
"I don't think so either." Eliana smiled. "See? You didn't do anything wrong, and you don't believe you did. But some people will think you're a nightmare, while others will think you're right..."
"So I should choose people who think the same way I do?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"Choose yourself."
Eliana spoke slowly, as though she were talking to herself too. "Just do what you believe is right. Follow your own heart. No one in the world understands you better than you do. Whether you're happy or sad, whether your life feels good or not—you're the one who truly feels it."
Her voice grew firmer, her words coming faster. "Why make yourself miserable for other people? Even if everyone in the world disliked me, I'd still like myself best. No one could love me more sincerely or fiercely than I do!"
Hermione watched the girl make her fierce declaration. With that confident, unwavering look, Eliana resembled a proud little swan.
Then the little swan wrinkled her nose. "Sorry, Hermione, but can I ask you something? Were you in such a hurry earlier that you forgot to flush?"
She shot Hermione a suspicious glance, then took a small, disgusted step back.
Hermione's face turned scarlet. "What are you talking about? I've been crying all afternoon! I haven't used the toilet!"
She no longer thought secretly crying over having no friends was embarrassing. Not compared to being accused of using the toilet and failing to flush.
The smell was getting stronger. Eliana frowned and looked around. "If it wasn't you, then who—hey, whoever's sneaking around listening to us, have you got no manners? And you left your—oh my God!"
She found herself staring straight at a granite mountain sprite that was dark, ugly, smelly, and enormous.
"A... a Troll!" Hermione's voice trembled.
The Troll spotted them too. Dragging the long club in its hand, it lumbered toward them with steps that seemed to shake the entire floor. Worse, its massive body all but blocked the only door they could use to escape.
Damn it. The bathroom door reached nearly to the ceiling—and it could still block the whole thing!
Eliana's smile looked more miserable than tears. "Nobody told me Halloween in the magical world used the real thing. What, you don't do costumes?"
She struggled to draw her wand and aimed its tip at the potato-sized head atop the Troll's enormous body. "Move farther inside, Hermione."
"After the Troll and I take each other down, tell Professor Snape that if he visits my grave, he mustn't call me a little Troll anymore. They're far too ugly. I couldn't rest in peace knowing he'd lumped me in with them."
Having delivered her last words with heroic speed, Eliana poured every ounce of strength and magic she had into a piercing shout. "Confringo!"
A searing ball of light was about to burst from her wand tip.
At the same moment, the Troll raised its club high. Its tremendous force smashed the ceiling lights into thousands of shards, and the club was about to come crashing down on her. Hermione screamed, "No!"
She lunged forward and threw herself over Eliana, trembling all over as she shielded her.
The impact jolted Eliana's arm. The spell she'd aimed at the Troll's head veered downward instead, straight toward the spot below its navel and between its legs.
The huge ball of light exploded. The Troll's silhouette changed from one bulky mass to something like a figure with its legs spread—the lower middle of its body had nearly been blown clean through.
"Aaaaargh!"
The scream was so agonized and deafening that Eliana had never imagined a living creature could make such a sound. The club dropped from the Troll's hand with a bang and rolled past their ears.
Clutching its groin with both hands, the Troll toppled straight forward.
Eliana had been about to pass out.
The powerful spell had drained almost all her magic and strength, and Hermione had crashed into her from behind. Eliana knew the girl had meant to shield her—she could feel Hermione trembling above her as though she'd been ready to die—but for someone already on the verge of collapse, it was a crushing blow she hadn't seen coming.
Her head struck the toilet in front of her with a clang.
She really would have passed out—if she hadn't seen the Troll falling toward them.
"No way—am I dying—because a Troll sat on me!"
Clinging to her last scrap of strength, Eliana dragged herself toward the wall with Hermione on her back, eyes squeezed shut and body shaking.
"Hermione! Eliana!" came a cry from the doorway. Harry and Ron appeared there, their faces stricken.
Reinforcements had arrived!
Eliana suddenly felt strength surge through her. She shouted at them, "Help me up! Let's take this Troll down together!"
Before you continue