golden quartet | ron weasley

year 1 | chapter 5

"No, he's wrong!" I insisted, trying to keep up with Hermione's fast pace. "I'm your friend! I love being your friend!"

Soon we made it into the girls' bathroom and I followed Hermione into a stall and locked it. Once the door closed Hermione's sobs got louder and I wrapped my arms around Hermione to comfort her. She leaned against me and I held her up while running my fingers through her hair to calm her down. We stayed like that for a while before we sat down on the bathroom floor, talking about anything and everything. At this point, we knew we were missing dinner but we didn't care. Hermione didn't want to leave yet, and I wasn't going to leave her.

"Ron's a real prick for what he said," I said after a silence.

"A prick that you fancy," Hermione teased.

"Do not!" I insisted, looking at her like she was crazy.

"I see the way you guys look at each other," she said softly.

"I don't, I'm not, I—" I stuttered. Lying was never my strong suit.

"It's fine," Hermione shrugged, "I think it's cute."

"Really?" I asked, looking over at her. Hermione nodded her head. "I'm still upset with him for saying what he did. He better apologize to you," I added in a firmer tone. Hermione smiled at that, glad that I was sticking up for her, even if I might have a crush on the boy.

Finally, Hermione and I agreed to get up and leave the stall. We opened the door before coming out to something terrifying. A super-tall creature almost reached the high ceiling. He was green with thick and crooked toenails and covered in spots and lumps. His ears were huge and he was drooling all over. He was chubby and only wearing a vest and was also holding a massive bat as well. We gulped. "Is that...?" I started, the fear taking my voice away.

"A troll," Hermione finished as we stared up at the creature. He began walking forward and we stepped backward, too scared to make any sudden movements. The storm and lightning outside created a flashing light in the bathroom, making the scene even scarier.

We quickly turned around and locked ourselves in the stall again before crouching down to hide. That's when the beast swung the bat, destroying all of the bathroom stalls. We laid on the ground with bits of the stall doors covering us, screaming for help. I was certain I was going to die. That's when I heard the bathroom door open.

"Harper! Hermione!" Harry shouted.

"Move!" Ron and Harry shouted in sync just as the troll continued smashing more stalls. The boys ran in and began throwing pieces of the broken stall at the troll to distract him.

"Help!" Hermione and I shouted desperately, trying to crawl away.

"Hey! Pea brain!" Ron shouted before hitting him in the face with a particularly large piece. If it weren't for the circumstances, I probably would've laughed. Hermione and I took the chance to crawl under the sinks, but the troll spotted us and immediately hit the sink we were under. Luckily, we had time to move before getting crushed.

"Help!" Hermione screamed out as I screamed loudly in fear. Harry pulled out his wand before grabbing onto the troll's bat and then being thrown up onto the troll's shoulders. Confused, it jerked around, trying to knock Harry off. Hermione and I pushed against each other tightly, absolutely terrified. Somehow, Harry's wand landed up the troll's nose.

"Ew!" Ron shouted, grimacing in disgust. This only aggravated the troll further, so he grabbed Harry's leg, holding him upside down. He was attempting to hit Harry with the bat, but Harry kept moving out of the way, and the troll wasn't very bright.

"Do something!" he shouted.

"What?" Ron asked, desperately looking around. I began looking around too, trying to find anything I could use to help.