Chapter 39: Bad Feeling (Edited)

Tom was stopped by Padma on his way back to the Common Room, and he couldn't say no to a very pretty girl with a cup of steaming milk tea, so Tom thanked her as he should and took the cup.

The tea was hot and creamy, and seemed to live up to its name, but Tom had a bad feeling, and he couldn't figure out why for a while. Padma was looking at him expectantly, though, and he had to give the caramel-colored milk tea in his cup a little taste. Not to mention that it tasted really good!

"Wow, it's really good!" Tom complimented, then drank the tea from the cup, and found the reason for his uncertainty: today seemed to be Halloween.... And a Troll would enter the castle, wouldn't it? Well, as long as he kept an eye on Hermione and didn't leave her alone, everything would be fine. With this in mind, Tom's suspicions were dispelled and he left after a brief chat with Padma.

This afternoon Ravenclaw had Transfiguration class from Professor McGonagall, followed by the long-awaited Halloween dinner. But as they left the Transfiguration classroom, Tom made a quizzical face and said to Hermione, "You go to the Great Dining Room, I'm going to the bathroom."

Hermione thought nothing of it, and the colorful Halloween decorations in the Great Dining Hall caught her eye and made her put Tom out of her mind for a moment.

The Hogwarts staff thought hard about Halloween and did their best to decorate the entire Great Dining Hall with Halloween features: thousands of bats fluttered across the walls and ceiling, and thousands of low, dark clouds hovered over the tables, the gusts of wind flickering the candles inside the pumpkins. All the candles in the Great Dining Hall were enchanted and turned blue, except for the pumpkin lamps. The armors in the castle were also enchanted by Professor McGonagall, so that when passersby walked by, they would randomly emit a spooky howl.

And what's a festival like this without a Peeves? Either he hides in a lantern and comes out of nowhere to scare little wizards as they walk by, or he controls the armor and makes it lunge at passersby with a sinister howl. The worst, of course, was when he blew out all the candles in the classroom and locked a single student in the classroom while playing sneaky pranks on him. By the time his friends found him, the unfortunate was already in a daze.

Hermione had been watching and eating with great gusto, but when she was halfway through the party and hadn't seen Tom anywhere, she began to get a little nervous.

'He doesn't look like he has a normal upset stomach,' Hermione thought, 'I'd better pack him something to eat.' Just as Hermione was trying to stuff a kebab into a loaf of bread, Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Dining Hall, his hood disheveled and his face pale as he stumbled over to Dumbledore's chair and stammered, 'Troll, in the dungeons...I thought you should know.' After delivering the message, he rolled his eyes and fainted.

The entire Great Dining Hall was in an uproar, but Professor Dumbledore quickly took control of the situation, ordering the Prefects to take the students from their respective houses back to the Common Room, and then he and the professors split up to find the Troll and expel it, or kill it.

The Prefects, who seemed to be very experienced, methodically gathered the students of their own House, and left the Great Dining Hall in turn.

Hermione saw no sign of Tom until everyone was on their way. She made her way to the front of the group and said to the Prefect, "Sir! Tom's gone, he's probably in the toilets!"

The Prefect frowned, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I'll take you to the Common Room first and then I'll find a way to notify Professor Flitwick!"

There was no way the Prefect was going to stop and wait for Tom, nor could he leave the young wizards and look for Professor Flitwick, nor could he line up anyone to contact him, there were people everywhere now, and if they got out they wouldn't get back in. At this point, if he only knew Professor Flitwick's paper crane magic, that would be great, but the Prefect didn't. She had to head to the Common Room, then head out to find Professor Flitwick after dropping off the younger students in the Common Room.

Hermione's face paled at this response, and she slowed to a stop, letting her companions pass her one by one, torn between leaving Tom behind or breaking the rules and looking for Tom herself.

Hermione's mind was now in a state of war. A voice told her that the castle was too big for Tom to meet a Troll, and she had no proof that he was in the bathroom. Besides, Professor Flitwick would be very angry if she left the group at this point, wouldn't he? Professor Dumbledore had insisted on the need for the students to follow their Prefect back to the Common Room, and breaking school rules at a time like this would probably get him expelled, wouldn't it? Hermione shuddered at the thought of expulsion and took a few quick steps to follow the group.

But...

There was no one in the dungeons. Since the candles had turned to blue flames, it looked extremely gloomy. Hermione didn't know why she was here.

She had decided to go back to the Common Room, but her feet had unconsciously taken her to the dungeons as a favor to Tom on the day of the opening, she thought to herself.

Hermione shivered at the blue light around her and her long shadow on the wall, and couldn't help but pick up her pace. She hurried into the boys' washroom downstairs, which was dark and silent except for the sound of water dripping into the sink.

It was empty.

Hermione shuddered and shouted, "Tom! Are you in there? where are you? there's a Troll in the castle and Professor Dumbledore wants us to go back to the Common Room!"

No one answered, only her own echoes.

At that moment, Hermione felt really stupid, but a little relieved, and ran as fast as she could upstairs; since Tom wasn't in the bathroom closest to the Transfiguration classroom, he must have gone back to the Common Room.

She ran as fast as she could, from the dungeons to the First Floor, and then, at the corner of the First Floor stairs, a figure appeared in front of her, and Hermione didn't slow down, she hit him directly, and they both fell to the floor.