12 Chapter 12: Halloween Troll

Draco could not believe that Argus, Harry, and Ron were still in school the next day. Ron and Harry started to discuss about the "secret package" that was moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts.

"It's either extremely dangerous or extremely valuable," Ron said.

"Or both," Harry said. "What do you think Argus?"

"Oh, I don't know. It seems rather confusing. It's only about 2 inches after all," Argus said still feeling a bit down from Hermione's outburst yesterday.

Hermione still wouldn't talk to the three of them. While Ron and Harry saw it as a good thing, Argus did not as every time he would see her at the library, she would simply ignore him. Even during Snape's potion class where they were paired together, she would barely talk to him about the most basic things and if Argus tried to say anything else, she would harrumph and face the other way.

Around a week later, Harry got a mail carried by 6 owls.

Harry read it and smiled. He then showed it to Argus and Ron who read what was inside.

"A Nimbus 2000! I've never even touched one," Ron said.

"Nimbus 2000, I really do wonder when Father is releasing his new broom," Argus said quietly.

While the three of them were going somewhere private to open up the broom, they were stopped by Crabbe and Goyle. Draco stole Harry's package and felt it.

"That's a broomstick. You're definitely going to get in trouble this time Potter," Draco said as he was starting to go green with envy.

Ron couldn't help but to hit back.

"That's not just any broom. It's the Nimbus 2000. What do you have Malfoy? A Comet 260?" Ron said with a smirk on his face. "Comets are alright, but they don't hold a candle to a Nimbus,"

"Weasley, stop acting like you can afford a Comet 260. You can't even buy half the handle. I suppose you and you poor brothers have to save up Knut by Knut to buy a single Cleansweep One,"

"Hmph, Draco, you're talking about wealth so pick on someone your own size," Argus said. "To me, you're as poor as the homeless Muggles that I happened to see when I was young. Don't show off the wealth that you have right now. You're simply a big fish in a pond. Compared to the big animals outside, you're nothing," Argus said coldly.

Draco's mouth was open, but he could not say anything, Professor Flitwick appeared.

"I hope you're not arguing there boys," Professor Flitwick said.

"Potter has a broomstick, Professor," Draco said with a smirk.

"Oh yes, I did hear about it from Professor McGonagall. So Potter what model is it?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Nimbus 2000, sir," Harry answered while trying to hold back laughing from Draco's rage-filled face. "And it was because of Malfoy here that I was able to obtain one,"

Harry, Ron, and Argus went up to laugh at Draco's face.

"Ahhh no matter how much I know about this, seeing Draco's arrogant face become angry is one of the best things I can see," Argus thought as they were walking up the stairs.

"Well, it is true isn't it?" Harry asked with a chuckle. "If Malfoy hadn't stole that Remembrall, I wouldn't have gotten on the Quidditch team,"

"So I suppose breaking the rule is bad," A girl's voice said from behind them. When the three of them looked back, they saw Hermione stomping up the stairs.

"I thought you weren't going to speak to us," Harry said.

"Yes, don't stop now. It's working great for us," Ron said.

Hermione walked away which made Argus follow her.

"Hermione wait!" Argus cried out, but Hermione simply ignored him. He ran and eventually caught up with her.

"Hermione please wait,"

"Oh so you're not going to be with those two rule breakers right now. I thought you hated me just like they do," Hermione said with a pout.

"No, it's not like that alright. They'll understand your good points. They'll understand that you're just doing this for the sake of the bigger picture," Argus said.

"Save it Argus. You're with them. You've gotten lucky with both the broomstick riding and the whole "duel" that you three were so excited about. However, luck doesn't last forever and I'm not going to be part of your group when you guys are expelled from doing idiotic things such as leaving the dorm after curfew," Hermione said as she quickly left Argus alone.

"This is the worst," Argus thought as he sighed.

Argus could barely concentrate in class and when Professor McGonagall asked him a basic Transfiguration question he could normally answer, he just stared into space and only answered the question vaguely after Professor McGonagall called his name again.

It was now dinner time and Argus noticed Harry and Ron eating as fast as they could without even noticing what they were eating. On the other hand, he didn't have much of an appetite so when Harry and Ron were done with their food, he gloomily followed them up to see Harry open his new Nimbus 2000.

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed as he was observing every inch of the broomstick.

Argus was simply not interested and looked out the window and sighed once more. Harry noticed Argus sighing and went up to him.

"Hey Argus what's wrong? Is it Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Yeah kind of. She just blew me off I guess," Argus said with a weak smile.

"So what? She's just a bossy girl after all. Don't worry about her. Here want to touch the Nimbus 2000?" Harry asked.

"No it's alright. Look it's getting close to 7, you should be going to Quidditch practice Harry," Argus said.

"Oh yes, I should go," Harry said and he quickly left the room for his first practice.

Argus was with only Ron now.

"Argus, you and Harry are my best friends and I don't like it when you're feeling so down. You're always so excited to learn and just do things. If there's any way I can help..."

"It's alright Ron. Thanks for caring though. I'm just going to go to the library to read some more," Argus said and he too quickly left the room.

When he got to the library, he sighed. However, he saw Hermione sitting down reading another book once more and quickly sat down next to her.

"Hermione, I-"

"Shh, can't you see I'm reading a book," Hermione said not even looking at Argus.

"Hermione if this is about me breaking the rules, I'm sorry. I was careless and I should not have done it,"

"This isn't about that Argus. Because right now, I could care less whether you're expelled or hurt since like you said Madam Pomfrey could fix you up in a minute," Hermione said finally looking at him.

"However-" She continued. "You and your friends' actions have potentially destroyed all the work that the rest of the House put in so that we can win the House Cup. Neville, I understand. He had problems remembering the password. However, you, Harry, and that dingus Ron are not excusable. Now please leave me I want to finish reading my book for class tomorrow," Hermione said.

"Hermione, but-"

"Argus, I'm starting to get really mad at you right now. Please leave me alone before I do something that'll make you regret talking to me," Hermione said.

Argus quickly left and found a book to read silently far away from Hermione.

It was soon Halloween and Argus was even gloomier than before. Harry and Ron tried all kinds of ways to make him a bit happier, but it all failed. The most they did was getting a slight chuckle out of him. However, what made Argus feel even worse was Charms class where he was paired up with Neville to practice the Levitating Spell.

"Remember kids to do the swish and flick," Professor Flitwick said while on top of a pile of books. "Also remember to say the incantation,"

"It's nice to work with you Argus," Neville said.

Argus sighed and put his head down.

Professor Flitwick saw this.

"Mr. Nidma, why don't you try it?" Professor Flitwick said.

Argus did not bother putting his head back up, but he simply took out his wand and flicked his wrist.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Argus said lazily. The feather on the table started to float and Argus simply moved around his wrist and just like how Professor Flitwick made Neville's toad zoom around, the feather also started to zoom around at fast speed.

"Oh..." Professor Flitwick alongside the rest of the students were shocked. Professor Flitwick soon snapped out of it and started to clap. "Everyone look here. Mr. Nidma has done it,"

Argus did not even bother to put his head back up and put his wand away. He said a couple of words to help Neville with his incantations. However, he put his head up when he heard Hermione nag at Ron.

"You're saying it wrong," Hermione said. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long,"

"You do it then since you're sooo clever," Ron snarled.

Hermione then flicked her wand and chanted, "Wingardium Leviosa,"

Their feather rose and hovered about four feet above their heads.

"Oh, well done Miss Granger," Professor Flitwick said while clapping again. "Everyone look here, Miss Granger has also done it!"

Ron put his head down like Argus and was similarly in a terrible mood at the end of class.

"She's a nightmare," Ron said at the end of class. "It's no wonder why no one can stand her,"

Someone bumped into Argus and he saw that it was Hermione full of tears. He glared at Ron.

"What?" Ron asked nervously. "She must have noticed she has no friends,"

"No, Ron I'm her friend," Argus said as he ran to Hermione.

"Hermione wait," Argus cried out once more, but like last time, she completely ignored him.

Hermione did not show up for the next class. Argus knew where she was, but he couldn't do anything as it wasn't a place where he could go. As they were going to the Great Hall, the three of them heard Parvarti tell Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girl's bathroom and wanted to be left alone. Argus felt a slight pain in his stomach, but he decided to ignore it.

When the three of them entered the Great Hall, there were thousands of bats flying around and pumpkins with a candle lit inside of them. Food appeared on the golden plates signalling that the Feast had begun.

Argus was playing around with his food until he heard Quirrell come screaming with terror in his face.

"Troll in the dungeon! Thought you ought to know," Quirrell said and fainted soon after.

"What a great actor," Argus thought with hostility as he knew that Quirrell aiming for the stone was the sole reason why Hermione hated him so much right now.

Everyone was silent for a moment, but immediately started to panic and tried to leave the Great Hall.

"QUIET!" Dumbledore shouted which made the students freeze.

"Prefects, please lead the students back to the dormitory while teachers please come with me to the dungeon," Dumbledore said calmly. As the prefects started to lead the students into the dormitory, Argus sprung into action.

"Guys, we have to save Hermione. She doesn't know about the troll," Argus said.

Harry immediately nodded while Ron was a bit hesitant. Argus once again glared at Ron and he agreed. They hurried to the girl's bathroom.

"Guys," Ron said as he pulled both the rushing Argus and Harry behind a large stone griffin.

The three of them saw Snape who crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.

"What's he doing here and not with the rest of the teachers?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Argus said.

"Wait, can you smell something?" Ron asked. The three sniffed and almost threw up. It smelled like old socks and a public toilet that no one cleans.

Then they heard the footsteps. When it got closer, the three of them saw the troll. It was twelve feet tall with gray skin. It had a huge fat body with a small head on top. Its leg was short, but thick and it was dragging along a huge wooden club. It looked at an open room and decided to go inside.

"The key is in the lock. We can lock it in," Harry said.

"Good idea," Ron said.

"Wait gu-" Before Argus could tell them it was the girl's bathroom, Harry had already locked the door.

You idiots! That was the-" Once again before Argus could finish his sentence, they heard a high pitched scream inside the room.

"It's the girl's bathroom!" Argus said. He quickly took out his wand and chanted, "Alohomora!"

The door opened and Hermione was pitifully crawling under the sinks while the troll was swinging. One swing almost hit Hermione which terrified Argus a bit.

"Distract it!" Harry said as he threw a tap on the wall as hard as he can.

The troll looked away from Hermione.

"Good job Harry! Alright guys close your eyes!" Argus shouted. "Diffindo!"

He swiped his wand and there was now a huge cut on the right side of the troll's chest. The troll fell down with green blood spurting out.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Harry asked.

"Face the other way when you do so. It's not a pretty picture to look at. Hermione stand up and walk forward for a little bit," Hermione followed his orders and Argus grabbed her. He turned her the other way.

"Alright open your eyes Hermione, but don't turn around or else you'll retch," Argus said.

Soon, there was footsteps coming close to the girl's bathroom and when it stopped Argus saw Professor McGonagall came with Snape and Quirrell.