A troll? Why was the plot wrong again?!

The pumpkin lanterns in the Great Hall lit up one after another.

The Halloween Feast was about to begin.

"Harry, that lantern of yours really did look pretty just now."

Ron sat down beside him, glancing first above the Great Hall, then at the Slytherin table.

Goyle and Crabbe had already returned to their seats, but Malfoy's place was still empty.

He thought for a moment, then added something after all.

"Of course, I mean the lantern."

"I know."

Harry smiled and picked up his cup.

Once they returned the two lenses and checked the numbers, it shouldn't take too long.

People were still clearing away the exhibition items in the Great Hall, so there was nothing strange about Hermione and Malfoy returning a little later.

Beneath the pumpkin lanterns, the plates on the tables suddenly filled with food.

Roast potatoes, pies, and steaming meat quickly drew Ron's attention.

Harry, however, glanced at the High Table first.

Quirrell sat there, his head still wrapped in that enormous scarf, speaking to the professor beside him with his head lowered.

He was a little too far away for Harry to make out his expression, but his movements looked no different from usual.

Halloween. Harry certainly remembered this date.

The troll, Quirrell, and the professors temporarily drawn away by the chaos.

That incident in the original novel had also begun with this feast.

All this time, he had been keeping an eye on Quirrell, but had found no suitable opportunity to expose him outright.

The man was an adult wizard, with an even more troublesome fellow hidden behind his scarf.

Having just trained Lumos to proficiency hardly meant Harry could march up and pull off his scarf.

He would protect himself first, and if anything really happened, notify a professor as quickly as possible.

As for Hermione, today's circumstances were different from what he remembered.

She hadn't hidden in a bathroom to cry over Ron's words.

Instead, after the lantern exhibition ended, she had volunteered to help Professor Flitwick sort the materials.

Harry lowered his head and moved his wand somewhere easier to reach, then looked toward the Great Hall's side door again.

Still not back.

He was just about to stand when he heard hurried footsteps.

At the High Table, Quirrell's seat had emptied at some point. Immediately afterward, the Great Hall's doors were flung open.

"Troll!"

Quirrell stumbled inside, his scarf slightly askew, his pale face filled with terror.

He ran into the middle of the aisle, his voice shaking, still struggling to catch his breath.

"In the dungeons! A troll... in the dungeons!"

The sounds in the Great Hall abruptly stopped for a moment.

The next instant, cups were knocked over and chairs pushed back.

Some people stood, others craned their necks toward the doors, and several younger students were already instinctively crowding to the side.

As though he had finally exhausted his strength, Quirrell went limp and collapsed.

Harry gripped his wand.

Here it comes.

The timing, the feast, and this collapsing professor were all much as he remembered from the story.

But he quickly looked beside him. Hermione's seat was still empty.

He looked toward the Slytherin table again. Goyle and Crabbe had already stood up and were peering toward the doors in alarm, but that familiar head of long platinum hair still hadn't appeared.

Harry's expression finally changed.

What's going on?

How have they still not come back from returning two lenses?

"Silence!"

Dumbledore's voice rang out, drowning out the growing uproar in the Great Hall.

He stood, his gaze sweeping over the long tables, his tone as steady as ever.

"Prefects, lead the students of your respective houses back to their common rooms. Professors, follow me."

Percy quickly stepped forward, calling the Gryffindor students together.

Professor McGonagall was already striding toward the doors, while Snape put down his napkin and left the High Table.

Harry's eyes, however, remained fixed on that side door.

According to what Quirrell had just said, the troll should be in the dungeons.

The exhibition room, however, was on the same floor as the Great Hall. Returning the materials normally would give the two of them no reason to go underground.

But returning materials normally shouldn't take this long, either.

Harry set down his cup and stood.

He had been thinking that, since Hermione hadn't gone to the bathroom, there was at least one less thing to worry about.

Only now did he realize that a change in destination didn't necessarily mean the trouble would disappear along with it.

And this time, there was Malfoy too.

They had made the lantern together, and those extra lenses had only been borrowed because of that lantern.

Her involvement in this was inseparable from him.

"Harry?"

Ron had already risen from his seat, wand in hand.

He followed Harry's gaze, then looked at Hermione's empty seat, and his expression changed a little too.

"Hermione's still not back?"

"She and Malfoy went to the exhibition room to return the materials."

"Now?"

"They went after the exhibition ended."

Ron opened his mouth, about to speak, but Harry had already reached out and pressed a hand against his shoulder.

"Tell Percy for me, then find Professor Flitwick. Tell him those two are still over by the exhibition room and haven't come back to the Great Hall."

"What about you?"

"I'll check through the side door and get them to come back first."

Ron looked toward the door. It wasn't far from them, but that cry of "troll" just now seemed to have suddenly transformed the entire castle.

"Harry, I think it'd be best to go with a professor..."

"Tell him as quickly as you can. He knows what materials they borrowed."

Harry's tone was serious, without his usual hint of a smile.

Ron looked at him, then at Hermione's empty seat, and finally gritted his teeth and turned to squeeze toward Percy, who was gathering the students.

"Percy! Hermione and Malfoy haven't come back!"

Percy whipped his head around.

"What?"

"They went to the exhibition room to return materials! Harry's gone to find them. Hurry and tell Professor Flitwick!"

Ron spoke quickly, and as soon as the words were out, he turned back around. He hurriedly tightened his grip on his wand and chased after Harry.

"Harry! I'm going to help you!"

Harry paused and looked back at him.

"One more person can always do a bit more." Ron caught his breath, his voice gradually gaining confidence. "What if you go alone and really run into the troll?"

Harry looked at him and nodded. "Then stay close. Don't split up."

"Got it!"

The two walked briskly along the long table toward the side door.

As they passed the Slytherins, Goyle spotted Harry and immediately stepped forward.

"Potter, where's the young lady?"

"I'm going to find her. Tell your prefect too: she and Granger are in the exhibition room."

Crabbe hurriedly nodded, while Goyle had already turned to grab the prefect who was calling the students to leave.

Harry pushed open the side door, and Ron followed close behind.

The noise of the Great Hall was immediately shut away behind them.

Ron glanced at the quiet corridor ahead, his throat bobbing, then moved a little closer to Harry.

The corridor was much quieter than before.

The torches on the walls were still burning, and a wooden crate of materials stood to one side.

He had come to collect things during the day. Along this corridor and around the corner was the entrance to the exhibition room.

It was clearly a very familiar stretch of corridor, yet looking at it now made something feel a little wrong.

Harry softened his footsteps and raised his wand.

"Lumos."

A steady white light shone, illuminating the floor ahead.

He kept the brightness under control first, without rashly letting the light spill around the corner.

Then a peculiar smell drifted over. Harry suddenly stopped.

It stank, and the smell was growing increasingly distinct.

He raised his head, his hand slowly tightening around his wand.

The dungeons? This smell doesn't seem to have drifted up through several floors.

In the exhibition room, Hermione was checking the numbers on the lenses.

There were more items in the cabinet than the register listed.

A few students had put materials in the wrong compartments earlier, and she had searched for a while before finding where they belonged.

Malfoy stood beside her, still holding the little box.

She had originally thought they could put it down and leave.

But this Granger actually wanted to check everything one by one?!!

"These two." Hermione pointed at the cabinet. "They go here."

The girl took out the lenses and put them back in their places, then checked them again to make sure they hadn't knocked against any edges.

Hermione closed the register, her gaze falling on the plans in Malfoy's hand.

"The final effect of your lantern was very good. But staying clear even after being enlarged must have had something to do with the angles of the lenses too."

"Of course it did."

Draco lifted her chin. She had already heard several compliments today, and still had a fair amount of patience for this topic.

"I adjusted them over and over."

"So, if you only make the light brighter..."

"The light has to be steady too," the girl immediately added. "Potter tried it before. If it spreads too much, the edges blur. If it wobbles when you turn it, the pattern wobbles too."

Hermione looked at her, a little surprised.

Malfoy herself paused too. Why was she talking about Potter again?

She gave a soft huff and put the plans away.

"Anyway, you have to get both right."

"I know." Hermione hugged the register tighter. "I just wanted to ask, when you turned the lenses at the end..."

The two walked out of the exhibition room as they talked.

The sounds from the Great Hall were somewhat muffled through the walls.

Malfoy was just about to answer when a faint tremor suddenly came from beneath her feet.

Thud.

The girl stopped. Hermione stopped too and looked toward the other end of the corridor.

"Did you hear that?"

Another sound came.

Thud.

Closer than before, and heavier.

The torches on the walls flickered slightly, and then a stench that made them wrinkle their noses slowly rolled toward them.

Malfoy's hand was already reaching for the wand inside her robes.

That didn't sound like a student moving things.

At the corner, an enormous shadow first loomed across the wall. Then a large gray foot stepped into the torchlight.

Hermione's fingers abruptly tightened around the register.

The girl's chin finally began to lower, little by little.

A massive figure slowly rounded the corner.

It had dull gray skin and an absurdly thick body, yet a pitifully small head sat atop its shoulders by comparison.

It dragged a heavy wooden club in its hand, the head scraping across the floor with an unnerving sound.

A troll.

It stood right in the corridor leading back to the Great Hall.

Just moments ago, they had thought they only needed to round the corner to head back for dinner. Now that corner was completely blocked.

Malfoy gripped his wand and slowly took a step back.

"Granger."

Her voice was much lower than before.

"Back away first."

Hermione did not argue. Hugging the register, she followed him half a step back.

But just then, the Troll's small eyes suddenly swiveled.

And settled on the two of them.