DISLCAIMER
I do not own Harry Potter ... but if I did TROLL IN THE DUNGEON (thought you ought to know)
__________<>__________
The next morning, Bel had noticed a couple of things.
Firstly, she noticed that she hadn't had time to tell Dumbledore about the mysterious note she had received.
With all the new information she had about herself and her wand, she simply forgot about it completely.
Secondly, that she has promised to tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione what her lessons would be about.
There was absolutely no way she was going to reveal that she had an evil wand in her possession that could turn her into a murderer ... or worse.
She would be a total outcast.
Everyone in her house would hate her.
The only people she could think that would be accepting of her then would be the Slytherins ... and Draco Malfoy.
She shuddered at the thought.
No way would that be her life here. Especially since she didn't have a way out.
A rejected Hufflepuff who people feared.
A secret, she had decided.
But just how long she could keep it a secret was yet to be seen.
And one of the indicators that it wouldn't be for long came during her first charms class.
"Bel, are you listening?" Ollie whispered to the dazed-out girl whilst simultaneously nudging her back into her surroundings.
"Sorry, I'm a bit distracted", Bel replied.
"Has it got to do with your lesson with Dumbledore?" Riley asked from her other side.
The tone she used was gentle.
The reason for this was because of the lie Bel used to cover up the real reason for her lessons with Dumbledore.
She had said it was a search for her family.
It was a subject that people naturally believed to be sensitive for the girl considering her parents were dead and no other family had yet presented themselves, and so no one would press further.
And that's exactly how Ollie, Riley, and Tia had reacted when she told them over breakfast.
"It might do", Bel replied in a saddened whisper, resulting in Riley rubbing her back in comfort and Ollie giving her a sympathetic smile.
"One of a wizards most rudimentary skills is levitation or the ability to make objects fly", Professor Flitwick explained just as Bel focused back in on the charms lesson.
She had made a point of avoiding the Gryffindor trio (now sitting on the other end of the classroom to her) that morning to test out her lie on her Hufflepuff friends.
They bought it.
But she didn't think Gryffindors would be as easy to persuade.
Opposite her was the once again glaring eyes of Draco Malfoy, sandwiched in between his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle.
"Uh, do you all have your feathers? Good. Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement that we practiced. The swish and flick. Everyone ..." Professor Flitwick continued from where he was stood up on a stack of books.
The class all picked up their wands and practiced the movement along with the Professor's demonstration.
Bel felt almost scared as she held her wand in her hand now that she knew just what it was.
"Oh and enunciate. Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go then", Professor Flitwick uttered.
Each student began repeating the enchantment and moving their wands just as they had been taught, aiming them at the feathers on the desks.
The aim, of course, being to make them fly.
"Wingardium Leviosa", Ollie and Riley both said at the same time, but there was a third voice that distracted Bel.
This spell is rather boring, don't you think?
Bel rolled her eyes and tried to silence the voice in her head.
She hadn't yet started her actual lessons with Dumbledore for control.
She hoped she would learn how to shut the voice up.
It's well beneath your ability. Sorry, our ability. I can show you something that will impress the others to no end.
I don't want to do that. Bel thought.
Why not? It'll be fun. And it will show everyone what your made of. Don't you want to show them the greatness that lies within you?
No. Bel thought.
"Aren't you even going to try?" Riley asked her, taking notice of Bel's hesitation with the spell.
They think you're weak. Give it a go. It'll be fun.
Bel took in a deep breath.
"Wingardium Leviosa", she stated and pointed her wand at the feather.
It suddenly rose up into the air, moving in the direction that Bel's wand moved in.
"Well, look at that! See here everyone, Miss Whitlock's done it! Five points to Hufflepuff! Well done, dear", Professor Flitwick exclaimed with glee as he watched Bel's feather float around the room.
Ollie and Riley both looked at Bel with glowing faces and large grins, which she couldn't help but return.
"What a show off. Just because the stupid hat said she had power, the freak thinks she knows everything", Bel heard Draco say across the room.
Bel locked eyes with Draco and felt the familiar feeling that she experienced so often in the orphanages.
Rage.
Incendio.
Before she knew it, the feather burst into flames in the air.
Everyone in the classroom looked up at the feather which was burnt to a crisp and drifting back down, where it landed in front of Draco.
Malfoy looked back up at Bel who was glowering at him across the room.
"Over did it a bit there, Miss Whitlock", Professor Flitwick exclaimed.
Luckily, he didn't take much notice as crazier things had happened in first-year classes where the students were learning magic.
Bel snapped out of her glare towards Draco and looked around the room where she was met with multiple eyes on her.
Some were fearful, but most were shocked.
What did I tell you?
Bel placed her wand back onto the table before tilting her head down to the ground.
Moments like these had happened back at the orphanages.
But she had the escape of running off to her room.
Getting up in the middle of the class and leaving would not only put her in trouble, but rouse suspicion.
All she needed to do was hope everyone believed it to be an accident.
An accident.
Things really hadn't changed.
"And Miss Granger has also managed it! Well done!" Professor Flitwick called out and Bel raised her eyes to see Hermione pointing her wand at a feather floating up in the air with a very disapproving Ron sat beside her.
That was when she had an idea.
If someone else's feather caught alight, no one would single her out.
Bel closed her eyes and focused on the feather up in the air.
She wouldn't dare risk using her wand.
Firstly, she didn't want to give it the satisfaction.
Secondly, she knew she could light something on fire without a wand due to her experiences at the orphanages.
Suddenly, an explosion went off at one of the tables across the classroom.
Bel snapped her eyes open to see Seamus once again covered in soot, his own feather turned to ash.
"I think Bel isn't the only one who needs another feather, Professor", Harry said.
In truth, Bel didn't know if she had simply misdirected her own spell or if it was the work of Seamus himself.
But knowing the boy's history with exploding things, she expected the latter.
Either way, it solved her problem for her.
A problem that wouldn't be so easy to manage in the near future.
__________<>__________
Bel had told Ollie and Riley that she would see them later for dinner as Hermione had quickly approached her after the Charms class to interrogate her about Dumbledore's lesson.
Harry and Ron had already walked off with some other Gryffindor students.
"So, what did Dumbledore want?" Hermione asked as the duo walked through the hallways.
"Nothing that important. To anyone else, that is. He simply told me that in those lessons he would be filling me in on the search for my family. Hopefully by the end of the year he will have found someone", Bel replied in as much of a convincing tone as she could muster.
"That's great! I'm so happy for you! I will admit, though, it is rather odd that the headmaster is doing it. Your family must have been quite important", Hermione responded, already showing that Gryffindors were much less easy to deceive.
"It's not that. It's just ... I don't have a home outside of Hogwarts. When summer comes Dumbledore wants to make sure I have somewhere to go", Bel said, having rehearsed the answers in her head already.
The truth was, that answer wasn't a lie.
Bel wasn't going back to the orphanages.
If she didn't have any family, she was homeless when school ended for the year.
"Well, with Dumbledore on the case I'm sure you won't have to worry about that. If worst does come to worst, I'm sure you'd be more than welcome at my house for the summer", Hermione said calmly.
Bel was immediately taken aback by her offer.
"Really? I wouldn't want to impose. Your parents surely wouldn't like me to –", Bel started.
"My parents would love it if you came. It would be rather fun, really. We could spend the summer going through all sorts of spells. Especially considering we were the only two to succeed in Charms today", Hermione replied.
If it wasn't for her stomach dropping at the reminder of what happened in Charms class, Bel would have felt like she was floating on a cloud.
She focused on the latter feeling. She needed it.
"I would love that. Speaking of charms, I saw the look on Ron's face ...", Bel started as the two of them turned around a corner to the entrance of the courtyard.
In front of them was Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Dean.
"Speak of the devil", Bel added.
Unfortunately for the two girls, they managed to hear what the boys were talking about.
"It's LeviOsa not LevioSAR. She's a nightmare, honestly, no wonder she hasn't got any friends", Ron said.
Bel turned to face Hermione who had started to develop tears in her eyes.
"Hermione don't –", Bel started but it was too late.
Hermione quickened her pace and rushed off, pushing past the boys as her tears finally fell.
"I think she heard you", Harry said.
"Yes, she did. Nice going, Ron", Bel said in a cold tone as she also pushed past the boys and chased after the distraught girl.
She chased after her friend.
Because Hermione was just like her.
And they needed each other.
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It took Bel a while to track down Hermione.
Eventually, she heard weeping coming from one of the girl's bathrooms.
It was starting to get dark, and dinner was approaching quickly.
But instead of thinking about Ollie and Riley waiting for her in the common room, she only thought of checking that Hermione was alright.
"Hermione?" Bel called out softly as she entered the bathroom.
The weeping quickly stopped as if Hermione didn't want her to know she was there.
"It's just me. Bel. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Don't listen to Ron. He's just jealous", Bel said as she slowly approached the turquoise stalls.
"Maybe. But he was right", a small, sad voice spoke out from the middle stall.
"What do you mean?"
"He was right when he said I don't have any friends."
"No he wasn't. You have me, don't you?"
The door to the stall Hermione was in swung open and Bel walked up to see her sat with her legs up on the closed toilet, her eyes red and puffy.
"You're ... you're my friend?" Hermione asked in a small voice.
Bel gave her a small smile as she walked into the stall, closing the door behind her and taking a seat on the floor in front of Hermione.
"Of course I am. I knew we'd be good friends the second you fixed Harry's glasses on the train. I'd need someone smart around to help me keep up. Not to mention, boys are stupid. Take it from me. I was raised around dozens of them. Only one ever showed me any kindness", Bel admitted.
"Did they ever tease you?" Hermione said with a sniffle as she wiped her eyes.
"All the time", Bel replied after taking a deep breath.
She wasn't a fan of the multitude of memories rising in her mind right now.
Each nasty word, each time they pulled her hair, each time they pushed her or kicked her.
"What did you do?"
The true answer was that she would get angry and have one of her 'accidents' resulting in a very harsh punishment of beatings, starvation or isolation for something that she didn't start.
But Hermione didn't need to know that.
"I ignored them. As much as I could, of course. They don't deserve your attention, Hermione. So don't give it to them. You're much better than they are. You're smart, you're funny, you're kind. Letting Ron Weasley make you upset isn't worth your time."
Hermione let a small smile creep onto her face.
"You should take your own advice. I saw the way you were glaring at Draco Malfoy in Charms class. I thought he was going to set on fire, not the feather", Hermione said with a small giggle.
"I'll be honest, I kind of hoped he would. But you see, I hoped he would. Sure, he might call me a freak, but I'll never waste my tears on a Malfoy", Bel replied as the two girls giggled together.
Little did she know just how many tears she would shed over the blond boy in the years to come.
"I'm glad you're my friend", Hermione said with another small sniffle.
"I'm glad you're my friend too. I didn't have many back at the ... where I'm from", Bel replied.
Once again, stopping herself.
"But you have plenty now. Harry and Ron seem to like you. And your friends in Hufflepuff seem nice. I kind of wish I was sorted into Hufflepuff with you now."
"Well, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you joined us at dinner. We can go there now if you like?" Bel offered.
"I don't think houses are allowed to sit with each other at dinner. Besides, I'd rather stay here ... with you. But if you want to go back to your friends then I understand."
"I'd rather stay here until you're okay."
The two girls shared a smile.
A smile that would soon be replaced with screams.
Joy soon to be replaced with fear.
As a certain creature was making their way towards them as they spoke.
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At dinner, Ollie and Riley had been confused by the absence of their friend.
But they had learnt that Bel had a tendency to get distracted.
So they had left their common room earlier without another thought.
Across at the Gryffindor table, two boys had also taken notice of her absence, as well as the absence of Hermione.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, noticing the seat next to him was empty.
"Parvati Patil said she saw her and Bel run into the girl's bathroom. They haven't come out all afternoon", Neville replied.
Harry and Ron both looked across to the Hufflepuff table and saw the empty seat beside the brown-curly haired boy that Bel would sit with in class.
Before another word could be exchanged, the entrance doors to the Great Hall swung open and the Professor with the purple turban Bel had run into earlier that week bolted in, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Troll in the dungeon! Troll in the dungeon!"
The entire hall went silent as the Professor stopped in the middle of the hall, Dumbledore rising out of his seat.
"Thought you ought to know", the Professor added before passing out.
What followed was utter chaos.
Children screaming and throwing their food down, getting to their feet and preparing to run.
"Silence!" the booming voice of Albus Dumbledore called out, throwing the hall into a still silence.
"Everyone will please not panic! Now, prefects will lead their house back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."
With those instructions, everyone came back to life.
Prefects instructing their houses to follow them out of the Great Hall and teachers dashing out from behind their table.
On their way to the Gryffindor common room, whilst listening to Ron complain about someone playing a joke, Harry suddenly realised something.
He grabbed Ron by the arm and dragged him away from the group of students heading to the dormitory.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Bel and Hermione. They don't know!"
With those words, the two boys set off towards the girl's bathroom to warn their friends, hoping it wasn't too late.
__________<>__________
Bel and Hermione had spent the next hour talking about all manner of things until Hermione finally decided she was ready to leave.
The two girls made their way out of the stall, Bel holding the door open for Hermione to get out first.
When Bel exited the stall herself, she saw Hermione standing perfectly still, her eyes planted towards the entrance.
She followed Hermione's eyeline until her own eyes fell upon a monster.
It was about triple her height, green and lumpy, with a large wooden bat, which was more like a tree trunk, hanging in its right hand.
Bel and Hermione both slowly moved backwards towards the stalls, not taking their eyes off the monster, their breathing sporadic as their hearts raced at a thousand miles an hour.
But with each step they took back, the monster took one forward and as their backs hit the door to the stalls, it raised its bat up into the air, bringing it down in their direction.
"Move!" Bel yelled as she pulled open the nearest stall door and rushed inside with Hermione.
The two girls held onto each other tightly on the floor as the monster destroyed the wooden stalls right above their heads, screaming in fear.
"What is that thing?" Bel yelled to Hermione over the sound of cracking wood.
"It's a troll", Hermione yelled back.
"What do we do?" Bel cried.
"Bel, Hermione, move!"
Bel recognised Harry's voice yelling at them from somewhere in the bathroom.
The two girls pushed off the broken wooden fragments off their bodies and attempted to shuffle under the gaps of the stalls as the troll took another swing at them.
"Help!" both girls screamed at the same time.
"Hey! Pea brain!" Bel recognised Ron's voice yell out.
The smashing stopped and Bel watched Hermione as she quickly crawled across the floor to the sinks, taking cover underneath them.
But she wasn't the only one watching, as the troll lifted its bat into the air, bringing it down right next to where Hermione was hiding, smashing one of the sinks.
"Help!" Hermione screamed out as Bel got to her feet, pushing off all the wood covering her.
What she saw was Harry running up to the troll, grabbing onto the bat and being raised into the air.
"Harry!" Bel yelled out.
The troll went to swing its bat once again, releasing Harry who straddled around the back of its neck.
In response, the troll started shaking itself around frantically to get him off.
Amongst the commotion, Harry's wand found itself sticking into the troll's nose, causing disgusted faces to form on Bel, Ron, and Hermione's faces.
Eventually, the troll got a hold of Harrys leg, holding him upside down in the air.
"Do something!" Harry yelled out as he dodged a swing from the troll's bat.
I can help.
The voice spoke out to Bel.
Oddly, the voice sounded more like a relief to her in this moment than an annoyance.
The group of four was currently about to be killed by a troll.
Her friends needed her.
"What?" Ron yelled out in response to Harry's cries.
I know.
"Anything!" Harry yelled, dodging another swing.
Bel and Ron both pulled out their wands at the same time.
"Bel, you take the troll. I'll take the bat", Ron shouted across the room.
"I can't take a troll down!" Bel screamed.
Yes, you can. We can. Very easily.
"Just try!" Harry yelled, dodging the trolls third swing.
"Swish and flick", Hermione called out to Ron.
"Wingardium Leviosa", Ron called out and as the troll went for a fourth swing, the bat flew out of its hand, levitating mid-air.
"Bel!" Ron yelled once his job was done.
Bel took in a deep breath and decided that she could listen to her wand this one time.
It was their lives at hand, after all.
She didn't have a choice.
What do I do? She thought to herself.
Now you're seeing reason.
Tell me! Bel screamed in her mind as the troll moved its hand closer to Harry.
We can kill it if you like.
No. Bel immediately thought.
Like Dumbledore had mentioned, her nature prevented her from wrongdoing.
Killing anything was something Bel would never do.
She couldn't.
It's either kill or be killed.
The voice was right.
There was no way out.
That's when Bel had another idea.
Ron could drop the bat down onto the troll's head.
That would knock it out.
She didn't need her wand.
But just as she was about to yell out to Ron, the voice called out at her once more.
Fine! Petrificus Totalus. That will achieve what you desire.
Instantly, Bel pointed her wand towards the troll.
"Petrificus Totalus", she yelled, and a burst of white light flew out of her wand, hitting the troll square on the back of its head.
The huge monster dropped Harry as its entire body froze up.
Bel lowered her wand, taking in deep breaths as the troll started to lean forward, unable to move.
Harry pushed himself back along the floor and out of the way as the troll came crashing down.
"Cool", Ron whispered as the four regrouped where he was standing.
"Is it dead?" Hermione asked.
Bel wasn't sure if her wand had tricked her or not.
But as the four looked down at the troll, its back raised to the ceiling, they saw its eyes were still wide open.
"I don't think so. Just ... frozen", Harry replied as he reached forward to grab his wand from the troll's nose.
In doing so, the wand bought with it a sticky long string of green goo.
"Ugh. Troll boogers", Harry exclaimed as the other three watched on in disgust.
As he wiped his wand clean on his robe, staff members came running into the bathroom.
"Ah! Oh my goodness. Explain yourselves, all of you!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed in shock as she glanced between the four children and the troll.
"Well, what it is –", Harry started.
"It was an accident –", Ron said simultaneously.
"I was in here with –", Bel also spoke over the two boys.
"It was my fault, Professor McGonagall", Hermione announced in a louder voice than the other three, cutting them off.
Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and the professor Bel recognised from the other day with the purple turban all looked at Hermione in total disbelief.
"Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall uttered as Harry, Ron, and Bel all shared looks.
"I went looking for the troll. I've read about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. If Harry and Ron hadn't come and found me, and if Bel hadn't taken the troll down ... I'd probably be dead", Hermione lied.
Bel tried to keep on an expressionless face as to not give away Hermione's false tale.
"Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do. I expected more rational behaviour on your part and am very disappointed in you, Miss Granger. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor for your serious lack of judgement", Professor McGonagall scolded as Hermione hung her head in shame.
Bel couldn't help but feel guilty.
She was also in the bathroom with Hermione.
She couldn't allow her to take all the blame.
"As for you two gentlemen ... I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. And the same goes for you, Miss Whitlock. Not many first-year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale. Five points ...", Professor McGonagall said as she turned to the other three.
Bel awaited her punishment with a held breath.
Tia was a very competitive Hufflepuff.
She was sure to get an earful when she had lost their house points.
"... will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck", Professor McGonagall concluded.
Harry, Ron, and Bel all shared matching grins.
"And finally, Miss Whitlock. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will want to hear just how you were able to take down this troll", Professor McGonagall added before turning on her heel and walking out.
Bel nodded her head as she made eye contact with the terrifying Professor Snape.
She couldn't quite tell what was lurking behind his eyes, what he was thinking.
But it couldn't have been anything good.
He quickly followed after Professor McGonagall.
"P-perhaps you ought to go. It m-m-might wake up", the third Professor instructed them.
The four made their way past the stuttering Professor and left to go back to their dorms.
On the way back, the questions began.
"Okay, I have to ask. How on earth did you know that spell to take down the troll?" Ron asked.
Bel froze.
These were three of her closest friends.
They had almost all just died.
Surely, she could tell them the truth.
But she still didn't know anything about what was really going on.
She would tell them.
Just not today.
"Hermione isn't the only one that reads, you know. I read about the spell in one of the books in the library", Bel lied.
"She's right. I read about the petrifying spell too. But to take down a troll it must have been very powerful. Much more powerful than something a first year could achieve", Hermione both backed her up and put her in a tricky spot.
"Like what the hat said", Harry chimed in.
"It doesn't matter what the hat said, or what I did. We didn't die. That's all that matters", Bel said, shutting down the conversation.
"It was good of you to get us out of trouble like that", Harry said to Hermione after a brief silence.
"Mind you, we did save her life!" Ron argued back.
"Mind you, we saved our lives, and it wouldn't have happened at all if you hadn't insulted her", Bel spat back.
Hermione gave Bel a small nod and a smile.
"Well, what are friends for?" Ron added.
That sentence put a smile on each one of their faces.
But speaking of faces, the one Bel neglected to pay attention to was the one of the odd Professor.
If she had been, she would have seen him watching her and Harry very closely.
The reason?
One that she would soon come to learn.
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I hate this entire chapter y'all don't come for me pls
Bel and Hermiones friendship is already so pure ... I love them sm <3