This Is the Right Way to Deal with a Troll / Potion Deduction Needs Pictures of the Actual Ingredients

"Done~" Harry drew the Obscurus back into himself and raised his eyebrows at Hermione with a grin~

"I... I want to hex your head off right now, you know?!"

Hermione angrily stomped on Harry's foot, then marched into the next room by herself, fuming.

She wanted nothing more than to slap that smug, supposedly handsome face of his!

I was practically batting my eyelashes at you, and this is what you give me?

How are you going to make it up to my poor, helpless girlish heart, huh?!

"Oops, looks like I took the joke a little too far~" Harry scratched his head awkwardly, then hurriedly grabbed a broomstick and chased after her.

He'd actually caught a glimpse of Hermione's expression. He'd only been teasing her.

Besides, they could still use the broomsticks in the next challenge.

The next room along the corridor was already brightly lit, since Hermione had arrived ahead of him.

A gigantic Wizard's Chessboard covered almost the entire room. The black and white pieces stood in neat ranks on opposite sides, all of them faceless and surrounded by a fierce, murderous aura.

The taller pieces, like bishops and rooks, nearly reached the ceiling, and each gripped a heavy weapon in its hands.

"This is bad... You don't think we'll have to play a game of Wizard's Chess like the Weasleys, do you?"

The grim, murderous atmosphere made Hermione instinctively afraid. She couldn't help thinking of Ron playing chess... Honestly, she'd always thought Wizard's Chess was a barbaric game.

Harry thought she had a point. In the original story, the trio had made it through this room safely because Ron directed the pieces and sacrificed himself.

That boy really did love Wizard's Chess. Harry remembered giving him a new chess set, and Ron had even played with it during Quirrell's class... Wait!

Why Quirrell again?

Harry suddenly realized that, if he counted Fluffy, all four challenges he'd faced in a row seemed to have some connection to Quirrell!

(p.s. A quick note in advance: the way we see the characters in the original story often isn't how they were from the beginning. Our understanding of them changes as the plot unfolds.

Take Snape, for example. Before he died, few people thought he was especially great. At most, they considered him a good teacher.

Dumbledore was similar. It was only after the Order of the Phoenix, when he personally went looking for Horcruxes for Harry and was gravely wounded, that he truly became someone who was especially good to Harry and particularly great. Back in Sorcerer's Stone... well, he cared about Harry, but he was also using him.

Finally, there's Voldemort. He really was an arrogant, conceited man, but that arrogance and conceit only returned once his power and forces were fully restored. In books six and seven, Voldemort was determined to kill Harry himself because he could afford to be arrogant. But when he'd only just returned in his weakened state, as in Sorcerer's Stone, he wouldn't have been so stupid as to insist on personally killing Harry, a Boy Who Lived who posed a serious threat to him. So he chose to face Harry alone to keep the professors from interfering, but he also kept all the obstacles in place to weaken Harry as much as possible.

In short, everyone's personality, choices, and state of mind vary at different points in the story. Characters aren't cardboard cutouts; they change over time and with their circumstances. That's all~)

The Real Way to Deal with a Troll

As he thought back over the four challenges they'd faced, Harry grew more and more certain that something was wrong.

Quirrell had tricked Hagrid into revealing Fluffy's weakness: music made him sleepy. In the end, Harry had figured out the truth.

Quirrell had also used Devil's Snare, like the one Professor Sprout had set up, when he'd fought Harry in the Forbidden Forest.

Professor Flitwick's challenge had instantly brought Quidditch to mind, and Quirrell had happened to attack Harry on the Quidditch pitch.

And there were the giant chess pieces, clearly enchanted with a Transfiguration Spell. Quirrell had joined Ron and Seamus Finnigan in fooling around during Defense Against the Dark Arts Class, and Harry had been sitting close by!

If none of this was a coincidence...

"Never mind... Let's keep going. There's a way through this challenge without playing chess." Harry gave a small shake of his head to clear his thoughts, then climbed onto his Flying Broomstick. "We'll use the broomsticks from the last room and fly straight through!"

They'd made it this far. No matter what, he had to keep going!

Whether it was all a coincidence or a trail of clues left by Quirrell, he'd find out when he reached the end!

"Hey, aren't you only supposed to be able to wander around slowly below the third floor? Are you sure you'll be all right?" Hermione asked, pretending to be worried.

"Guess we'll find out~" Harry patted the front of his broom, making his meaning clear.

"Then let's find out!" Hermione wasn't about to turn down a chance to ride a Flying Broomstick with Harry.

She quickly sat sideways on the front of his broom, twisted around, and wrapped both arms around his neck. Her little face was alight with excitement.

"Hold on tight. Let's go!"

Once he was sure Hermione was settled, Harry kicked off with both feet. The broom shot upward like an arrow loosed from a bow, carrying them straight toward the formation of white chess pieces!

They moved like lightning. The white pawns at the front line hadn't even drawn their weapons before Harry's Flying Broomstick swept past them and vanished into the distance!

The enemy formation fell into chaos. The chess pieces, which had been standing like statues, sprang to life and attacked. But whether they wielded lances, scepters, or swords, their every move looked like a frame-skipping image to Harry. Their openings were obvious!

Under Harry's control, the Flying Broomstick darted and weaved with agility, tracing intricate, unpredictable paths through the air. They slipped through the encirclement with hardly any effort!

Harry even found the time to use Diffindo to twist off the white king's head. Riding his broom, he pulled off a daring strike through enemy ranks and shattered the Transfigured Wizard's Chessboard Professor McGonagall had set up!

"How was that? Not bad, right~" After getting through the chessboard, Harry let out a long breath and smiled at Hermione, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Mhm, not bad at all~" Hermione couldn't hide her smile. "You really do have it in your family. If you played Quidditch, Professor Flitwick would be grinning from ear to ear."

"Quidditch's not for me. I'm really not interested in it." Harry shrugged. When he noticed Hermione's slightly disappointed look, he casually added, "Of course, if you're interested, I wouldn't mind taking you for another ride sometime~"

"Then it's a promise... Mmph!" At Harry's words, Hermione nearly fell off the broom in her excitement. She quickly clung tightly to him.

"Mm... As long as we get through the remaining challenges, we'll definitely get a chance to do whatever we want!"

Harry knew he had to be on his guard from here on out.

The movie plot he knew so well had come to a complete end!

Before they faced Voldemort, there should still be challenges set up by Quirrell and Snape, neither of which had appeared in the movie.

Fortunately, Harry had already pieced together a rough idea from the clues they'd found along the way.

If the final two challenges were like the earlier ones, with Quirrell having "helpfully" hinted at what lay ahead, then Harry thought he might be able to work out what was coming.

They continued down the corridor. Before they even opened the door to the next room, they smelled that familiar, nauseating stench.

"It's a troll. Quick, put on the Invisibility Cloak!"

At last, Harry's Invisibility Cloak came in handy again. At least, after he carefully pushed open the door, the enormous creature on the other side didn't attack right away.

This had to be one of Quirrell's challenges. Sure enough, it was something Harry had encountered before.

A hulking creature like a small mountain filled the room. It stood five meters tall, almost brushing the ceiling, and the club in its hand was as thick as a tree trunk. Compared with this thing, the troll Harry and Hermione had faced at Halloween was little more than an undergrown runt.

What worried Harry even more was that the troll's eyes were red, and the muscles all over its body bulged and shifted like basalt under pressure. It was visibly berserk!

Taking down such a terrifying creature wouldn't be easy, so Harry and Hermione had no intention of taking it head-on. Hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, they moved forward carefully, keeping their footsteps and breathing as quiet as possible, afraid of making even the slightest sound.

"Uh-oh!"

But sometimes things went wrong anyway. When Hermione felt her ankle catch on a thread and snap it, she knew at once that they were in trouble!

Ring!!

A piercing bell rang through the room. To prevent Harry from sneaking past, Quirrell had laid a trap on the floor using threads as fine as hair!

"Roar!!" The already-frenzied troll let out a savage bellow and swung the thick tree trunk in its hands blindly at the space in front of it!

"Get out of the way!!" Harry saw what was coming and abandoned all thought of staying hidden. He grabbed Hermione and threw himself sideways. The two of them rolled across the floor together.

The enormous tree trunk smashed into the floor, leaving a terrifying web of cracks. Harry's expression turned grim.

If that thing hit a person, it would turn them into a puddle on the spot!

"Stupefy... No good! The spell's not working on it!" Hermione drew her wand and swiftly cast a sleeping spell, but the troll wasn't affected at all. It thundered toward them, stomping with its enormous feet!

"This is the only way! Norbert, I'm counting on you!!" Harry's eyes widened. He took the tiny dragon from his pocket, woke him up, and hurled him forward with all his might!

"Finite Incantatem!!" Hermione reacted at once, waving her wand to cancel the Shrinking Charm on Norbert!

"Roar!!"

This was the first enemy the young dragon had faced since hatching. His body rapidly grew as he flew through the air, and he opened his mouth toward the troll, breathing out a terrifying stream of fire!

Then, wreathed in blazing dragon fire, Norbert lunged at the troll!

(p.s. The movie doesn't have this scene, though the book does have a troll challenge set up by Quirrell. But in order to let Harry and Hermione get through the challenges reasonably and set up the plot to kill Voldemort, Quirrell played the troll himself... In this story, Voldemort clearly wants Harry dead, so he's not going to be kind enough to clear the challenge for him.

Also, Harry looks a bit too big in the scene where he flies over the Wizard's Chessboard. There wasn't much I could do since I couldn't find another picture. Crying about it, that's all~)

The Potions Puzzle Needs Pictures

Boom!

The terrifying collision made the floor groan. Norbert's tooth-lined jaws clamped down hard on the troll's shoulder, while his newly grown wings slashed into its arm, sending the tree trunk it held crashing to the floor!

But the troll, already roused to a fury, refused to back down. It raised its stone-hammer fists and hammered them down again and again on the dragon's body at close range!

The Norwegian Ridgeback, over four meters long, faced off against the terrifying troll, which stood a full five meters tall. A battle between two beasts erupted without warning in the already rather cramped room!

The dragon roared, the troll bellowed, and smoke filled the room. Continuous, thunderous crashes reverberated through the space, nearly knocking Harry and Hermione off their feet!

But what worried them more was that... Norbert was gradually losing ground.

There was no helping it. A Norwegian Ridgeback's strength was far beyond a troll's, but Norbert was still only a hatchling. He'd been alive for barely two months.

What's more, dragons needed real combat to hone their fighting skills. The Room of Requirement could give Norbert space to fly and pounce, but it couldn't provide him with the most important thing: an opponent.

"We have to help Norbert... I've got it!" Harry spotted the thick wooden beam lying on the ground beside the troll and immediately came up with a plan.

"Hermione, set the troll's feet on fire with everything you've got!"

"Incendio!!"

Following Harry's instructions, Hermione waved her wand, conjuring one blazing fireball after another beneath the troll's feet!

At the same time, Harry unleashed the full force of his Obscurus, turning it into gusts of razor-sharp wind. He shattered the wooden beam on the ground, then swept its pieces around the troll!

The wind fanned the flames. The fire beneath the troll surged upward, and even the surrounding air began to warp from the heat.

"Roar!" Taking advantage of the flames, Norbert, who'd been on the back foot moments earlier, suddenly bellowed and used sheer force to knock the troll off balance!

Norbert was a fire dragon born in Harry's magical flames. Fire didn't harm him; if anything, it only fueled his fighting spirit!

"Norbert, knock it down!"

Harry shouted from the sidelines as the raging Obscurus focused its attacks on the troll's feet, making the enormous creature sway more and more unsteadily!

Boom!!

At last, thanks to Harry and Norbert working together, the troll's feet slipped out from beneath it, and it crashed backward!

"Hermione!!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Harry didn't need to explain. Hermione knew she had to keep casting the Full Body-Bind Curse to stop the troll from getting back up. She lashed her wand through the air, casting one spell after another on the creature.

"We did it!!" Seeing the troll's struggles grow weaker, Hermione's face lit up with delight.

"Roar!!"

"One last blow!!"

Seizing the chance while the troll couldn't fight back, Norbert and Harry roared together. The dragon's sharp teeth clamped down on the troll's throat, while the howling Obscurus formed two spikes that drove straight into its eyes. Working together, they tore the troll's head apart!!

"Ugh... Blegh!"

At the sight, Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth and turned away, retching. She nearly threw up her dinner.

"Are you all right...?" Harry hurried over and gently rubbed her back, then offered her the water he'd prepared earlier.

"I'm feeling better..." After a few sips of water, Hermione's complexion improved a little, though she still didn't dare look at the mess on the floor.

"That was really close..." Hermione panted, patting her chest. "But why did it suddenly fall over?"

The studious girl couldn't understand it. The troll's enormous feet were incredibly strong. Norbert shouldn't have been able to shake it.

"It was because the floor got too hot, so it lost its footing," Harry explained. "Trolls are generally divided into mountain trolls, forest trolls, and water trolls. Their habitats are obviously mostly damp. So even if their skin has excellent resistance to magic, their feet definitely can't take increasingly high temperatures."

"I see... Uh!" Hermione's face suddenly froze as she nodded.