Rose's Best Day Ever

Trock was a simple troll, who enjoyed simple pleasures. He liked to smash things, and watch them explode when he smashed them. Rocks were a lot of fun to smash, but Humans were even better. They just blew apart into little bits when he smashed them with his club. Afterwards, you could just pick up the little bits left behind and plop them in your mouth. Smashed Humans tasted really good.

But now Trock's head hurt a lot after the Purple Head Man zapped Trock with his funny Human magic. Trock was looking forward to smashing the Purple Head Man's purple head. Would it explode purple? Trock hoped so; that sounded cool.

For the moment, all Trock had were these two Humans in front of him, and he was hungry. Maybe after he smashed them, he could help himself to a small snack. Trock liked that idea, so he lifted his club to smash them.

Sally-Anne's brain finally started functioning, and she began to move. She grabbed Hermione, and, with a burst of strength she never would have guessed she had, dragged the other Gryffindor out of the way of the troll's club.

The club crashed into the floor where they had been less than a second ago, sending rubble flying everywhere. A cloud of dust and debris exploded from the point of impact.

Hermione quickly covered her face to lessen the damage and keep dust out of her eyes, but that didn't stop her from getting hit with what was effectively shrapnel. Chunks of rock went flying past her face, buffeting her hands and getting caught in her hair. Despite everything else that was going on, Hermione groaned a little. It was a nightmare getting anything out of her hair. She shoved that to the back of her mind for the moment. Survival first, annoyingly bushy hair later. If they survived.

If. Why was there even an 'if'? This was a school! Not even some sort of military school, a regular, magical school! There shouldn't have even been a question about whether they would survive! If creatures this dangerous existed, why was the school not protected?! Was it protected? Had the protections failed somehow? What was going on?!

The other Gryffindor was just as panicked as Hermione, but Sally-Anne was finding it in herself to keep moving. Unfortunately, she was not as quick as Hermione, mostly due to the dirty-blonde trying to drag Hermione across the floor. Dust flew into Sally-Anne's eyes, temporarily blinding her. She instinctively brought one hand to her face, trying to get the dust out of her eyes. Even as she cleared her eyes, she tried to keep moving Hermione across the floor, a feat that was much more difficult with only one hand.

When Sally-Anne's sight finally returned to her, and thus freeing up her other hand, she put Hermione's right arm over her back, and tried to hoist Hermione up off the floor. As her luck would have it, Sally-Anne's legs weren't strong enough to carry both of them.

When Hermione realized what Sally-Anne was trying to do, she tried to get her own legs to help. Unfortunately, due to Malfoy's curse, Hermione couldn't get her legs in a position where they could support her body. By the time the girls realized that their plan wasn't going to work, it was too late. The troll was upon them.

It swung its club again, falling just short of the two girls. The ground exploded around them again, sending both girls sprawling. Sally-Anne looked up, and saw the troll raising its club again. She tried again to pick up Hermione, but it was no use. Sally-Anne couldn't get away without leaving Hermione defenceless, and she couldn't think of any spells that she could actually use.

Hermione frantically felt around her for anything she could use. There weren't any good sized chunks of rubble near her, and her brain didn't want to work. She could think of over a dozen different spells, but none of them would even phase a mountain troll. Hermione frantically went through her pockets for anything. She had a few pencils, her wand, and… what was that? Her hand closed around something small, and after a second she realized what it was.

It was the seashell that Rose had given her earlier that week. Hermione had kept it on her person, just in case. She wasn't sure that it would work, but with the success that she had had with the bracelet, she figured that she might as well keep it with her.

If you ever need anything, just hold it, concentrate on me, and think.

Hermione grasped the blue seashell as tightly as she could, squeezed her eyes shut, and concentrated on Rose. She envisioned the crimson-haired girl standing up to Malfoy when Hermione had been trapped in the Dungeons. Rose wasn't afraid of anything.

The troll raised its club again.

<Help us!>

"Troooooolll!"

Everyone in the Great Hall stopped eating and looked up at the blonde boy running into the Great Hall. The normally calm Slytherin looked absolutely terrified. A few Gryffindors snickered at seeing the smug Slytherin so distraught. Among them, three of the four Weasleys at Hogwarts.

"Troll in the castle!"

"He isn't serious, is he?" whispered Harry to Ron.

"Nah, it's probably just some prank," Ron replied, eyeing Malfoy as he ran straight to the front of the Hall.

"Shh!" hissed both Alex and Percy from down the table.

Draco panted as he stopped in front of the Teachers' Table.

"Mr. Malfoy, if this is some sort of a joke," Professor McGonagall began.

"No… joke," he panted. The look on his face said it all; there was no way an eleven-year-old could fake being that terrified. "There's… a… troll."

"Where?!" demanded Professor Snape.

"It's…"

Draco pointed behind him. He was starting to feel faint. Wait, where were Crabbe and Goyle? Wasn't one of their jobs to catch him if he passed out? Oh, right, they tripped somewhere on the way to the Great Hall. Lazy gits. And why was the room spinning? When his father heard about this…

There were a few seconds of eerie silence as Malfoy collapsed. Once it sank in that there was a troll in the castle, the entire Hall erupted into noise. Students began panicking, prefects called for their students to calm down, but one voice was heard over the chaos.

"SILENCE!"

A clap of thunder accompanied the booming voice, and the ceiling, which was once covered in a black, starlit sky, became enveloped in dark storm clouds.

Everyone looked up towards the teacher's table, where Albus Dumbledore had risen to his feet. He looked furious. Harry had seen his Uncle Vernon when he was angry, something that happened frequently. It was a little funny, the shades of red that his uncle took on when he was angry. Harry had made the mistake of laughing at him once.

Once.

But this was nothing like Uncle Vernon. One look at the storm clouds on the ceiling and everyone knew that it was time to close their mouths and open their ears.

"Prefects, escort your students back to your common rooms!" he ordered. "No one is to leave until the all-clear is sounded! Anyone caught outside of their rooms before that will receive a 50 point penalty and a month of detention! Staff, with me!"

He stepped down from his place and began to move, with or without his staff. Albus had at least one contingency for any type of attack. He had spent whole summers coming up with different possible attacks on his school and different ways of counteracting them.

"Atrien!"

A loud POP was heard, and the Head Elf appeared beside the Headmaster.

"Yes, Headmaster? You is calling Atrien?"

"Atrien, give warning to all house-elves that there is a troll somewhere in the castle. All house-elves are to drop what they're doing and find it. If any of them come across a student not in their rooms, I want to know about it that second, unless that student is in danger. If that's the case, get the student out of harm's way, then tell me about it."

"Yes, Sir!"

As Atrien vanished with a CRACK, Albus turned to his staff.

"Each of you, spread out and search the castle. Find the troll, and alert the portraits to its location. If you see a house-elf afterwards, inform them as well. Students are to be kept away from it, and it must be contained." He turned to Septima Vector and Bathsheda Babbling. "Septima, Bathsheda, go and check the wards. If one troll got in, then it's possible that there could be more. Verify that the wards are secured, and report back to me."

Both women nodded and sped off towards the Main Hall. As the Arithmancy and Ancient Runes Professors, Albus knew he could count on Septima and Bathsheda to find any problems with their defences. Not only that, but between the two women, they could easily come up with several clever solutions to the problem.

"Albus, the Package!" Severus exclaimed.

Speaking of clever solutions.

"Go! Make sure it's safe, then check the rest of the third floor!"

Severus ran off towards the third floor.

Albus watched his staff disperse, then made his way through the ground floor. With the sole exception of his Defence Professor, each member of his staff was hand picked by Albus because they were the best in their field, and their first priority was their students.

Even Severus, with his constant glowering and sourness (Heh, Sour Severus. Albus would have to remember that one), held his students' safety in high regards. He just really hated Gryffindors. Not all that surprising, considering that a particularly troublesome group of Gryffindors had nearly killed Severus while they had all been in attendance at Hogwarts.

Albus continued to scan the ground floor. Nothing, not even Voldemort himself, would harm his students.

When the ground started shaking, Poppy Pomfrey immediately looked around for the source of it. Earthquakes weren't unheard of in the area, but the structure of Hogwarts neutralized them, so no one would ever feel them. That meant whatever was happening was coming from inside the castle.

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum, are you alright?" Poppy asked her solitary charge.

"I'm okay," the crimson-haired girl said from her bed. "Does the ground shake like that a lot?"

"No," Poppy replied. "It doesn't."

Poppy approached the door, and could've sworn she heard something down the hallway. When the ground shook again, she was certain she could hear rocks being smashed.

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum, I think we should–" she began, but saw that the Gryffindor girl was gone.

Poppy looked around the Hospital Wing, but it wasn't that easy to hide. She checked under the beds, but saw no one.

"Where'd she go?" she asked the empty room.

The tears got worse in Hermione's eyes. It had been a bad week. It had been a bad month. If she survived this (There was that 'if' again), then she was going to transfer. No doubt about it anymore. She was going to tell her parents to get the paperwork for Beauxbatons started tonight. If she survived. Would she ever see them again? Would her parents ever even know what happened to her? Or would their last memory of her be a letter informing them how horrible Hogwarts was becoming?

Even worse was the fact that the last thing Hermione would ever see was this troll. Not her mum or her dad, but this large, gray-skinned monstrosity. It was going to kill her, and she couldn't so much as try to run away. She was fairly certain she had had nightmares about this as a little girl. Hermione wasn't entirely convinced that she wasn't about to wake up, and find that this whole thing had been one long nightmare.

Maybe she would. Maybe she would wake up to find that there was no such thing as Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, and that she was just a normal girl.

The troll swung its club down on the two girls.

Both girls squeezed their eyes shut and waited for the end. Sally-Anne held Hermione's hand in an effort to comfort herself, a sentiment which Hermione reciprocated. It was better than dying alone.

THUNK!

Not feeling a sensation of pain, and being distinctly not dead, Hermione slowly opened one of her eyes. When Hermione saw what had stopped the club, she opened the other one.

Standing in front of them was Rose, her hood pulled over her head. Her cloak flapped in a non-existent wind; small licks of flame flew off of the end of it. Rose had a firm grasp on the business end of the club with her left hand. It didn't even look like she was trying.

"Rose?" Sally-Anne asked.

"I just can't leave you two alone for even a round, can I?" asked Rose. "PCs, always getting themselves into trouble. And then it's all 'Save me, Ms. Super Special Awesome Artificer!' Honestly, how do you lot even level up without dying?"

Hermione became aware of a dull pain in her left hand, then realized that that was Sally-Anne's hand which was gripping hers tightly.

Rose released the troll's club, at the same time pulling her picnic basket off of her bracelet. From it, she produced a small, green-brown egg. She hurled it at the troll, and it exploded on impact, covering the troll's head with what looked like black flour. Quick as a flash, Rose's wand appeared in her hand as her little ferret thing flew out of her picnic basket.

"Int, I need you to go fetch Professor Dumbledore. Tell him where we are and what's happening, then lead him here!"

Her ferret thing, Intelligencer, Hermione thought his name was, gave what appeared to be a nod and flew off back towards the Great Hall.

Rose spun around to face the girls.

"Well, move!"

"I can't!" Hermione replied, indicating her legs as Sally-Anne let go of her hand. "Malfoy hit me with a leg-locker curse."

Rose rolled her eyes as the troll dropped its club. It began to stumble around, clawing at its eyes.

Sally-Anne stood up and stared at the troll in amazement. With one move, Rose had neutralized the troll. She didn't shoot at it, she didn't use a spell, but an egg filled with dust. That was it. She didn't even hurt it; she blinded it.

Rose muttered something Hermione didn't quite understand and touched her wand to Hermione's legs. The instant the cherry-red wand touched her, Hermione felt her legs relax. She tried moving them. They were a little stiff, but Hermione was pretty sure she could move them again.

Rose offered her hand to Hermione.

"Like I said: I'm always here for you, Hermione."

Hermione took Rose's hand and slowly climbed to her feet.

Rose burned another charge on Serendipity to cast discern location, getting the exact location of Professor Dumbledore.

<Int, he's close, near the kitchens. Eom.>

Rose turned to look at the large creature in front of her.

"We're faced with what looks like some sort of hill giant, so I'm guessing it's a CR 7," Rose said. "Seems a little out of your league, but you'll get XP all the same for participating." She tilted her head. "Actually, thinking about it, the three of us constitute a seventh-level party, so that actually makes sense."

"Rose, come on," Sally-Anne said. "Let's just go and let the professors handle this."

"You two go," Rose said, smirking. "I've got this."

"Are you going to be alright?" asked Sally-Anne.

"Don't worry, girls," Rose said, grinning.

Rose began to walk towards the troll and held out her right hand. A ruby red metal baton appeared in her hand. The object was no more than a foot in length, and etched runes decorated its surface. It was finely polished, sparkling as it reflected the torchlight of the corridor.

"Like I said, it's only a CR 7, and I'm level 20."

After taking one last look at Ron, Hermione and Sally-Anne took off in about the same direction as Rose's ferret had gone, not questioning what their crimson-haired friend had meant by that.

Having finally gotten all the dust out of his eyes, Trock picked up his club. He looked around and saw a Human in a red cloak. That Human was probably the one that threw something at him. Trock decided that he was going to smash this human into little red bits.

Rose pressed a button on the small device in her hand, and it began to unfold. Both ends extended out a few inches, and a pair of prongs popped out of each end. A series of clicks echoed around her as a hundred small parts clicked and slid into place. With a loud "SHINK!" a pair of crimson red blades shot out of both ends. She twirled the double-bladed sword over her head and slammed one end into the ground.

Crimson Thorn was a +5 keen, merciful, ghost touch, wounding feycrafted two-bladed sword. As a mirror clasp, Reflectesalon had acquired the feats that allowed Rose to use Crimson Thorn, up through and including Weapon Supremacy. He was Rose's masterpiece, and her primary weapon.

Rose grinned and watched the giant, waiting for the moment her prey gave her an opening to go in for the kill.

The giant swung its club at her, but she responded by swinging Crimson Thorn in an arc over her head.

THUNK!

The giant's club dropped to the ground, along with its forearm and hand, which still had a firm grip on the club. Rose spun in place, sweeping her double-bladed sword around, catching the giant's feet with the edge. The giant fell to the ground as its feet were knocked out from under it. The sound of the giant collapsing echoed down the hallways, and a small crater formed in the ground where it fell.

Rose allowed her momentum to carry her as she spun around. She lept up into the air, tumbling over in midair, and landing squarely on the giant's stomach. Still moving with her momentum, she brought Crimson Thorn down onto the giant's head, right between its eyes.

Critical hit!

Rose withdrew her blade from the dead creature's head, and folded him back up. As Crimson Thorn disappeared into her glove, Rose hopped down from the giant's corpse and looked over her shoulder.

The girls had gone. That was good; her friends were safe now.

"Professor Dumbledore!"

Hearing a Scottish voice behind him, Albus turned around. That sounded like a student. In fact, if he knew his students as well as he thought he did, that was Rose Peta-Lorrum.

"Rose, you should–"

He stopped when he found himself facing not the quirky crimson-haired girl, but a blue, winged ferret.

Albus blinked. That was new.

"Professor Dumbledore, there's a giant just outside of the Hospital Wing."

Of course one of the Gryffindors had gotten themselves right in the middle of it. Not the Hufflepuffs, nor Ravenclaws, nor even the Slytherins. No, the Gryffindors. How did they always manage to do that?

"Take me to it!"

Albus had seen a lot of odd creatures, including flying ferrets, but never one that could carry messages in the caster's voice. As he followed the creature, he wondered if it was some variation of the patronus charm. Although, from what information he had gathered about Rose, she wasn't actually from this world. Perhaps the world from which she originated had different magic. That certainly explained a lot. It could be rather interesting to talk to her about it sometime.

Harry and Ron ran at a full sprint through the halls to the Hospital Wing. It had occurred to Harry that Rose, Hermione, and Sally-Anne didn't know about the troll. That being the case, he had convinced Ron to accompany him to find the girls and get them to safety. So the two of them ran off during the panic in the Great Hall. Hermione had mentioned in Flight Class earlier that day that Rose was in the Hospital Wing, so Ron reasoned that that was the best place to start their search.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Harry asked Ron.

The two of them saw a small ferret shoot past them.

"What was that?" Ron asked, watching the ferret fly off.

Not looking where he was going, Ron ran straight into Hermione and Sally-Anne. The three Gryffindors collided and collapsed in a small heap.

"Hermione!" Harry said. "Sally-Anne, are you two alright?"

"Troll," panted Hermione, climbing to her feet. "Malfoy… troll… Rose…"

"Where?" asked Harry, as he helped Sally-Anne up.

"You aren't seriously… thinking of… going after it," Hermione panted. "Are you?"

"You're mad, mate," Ron muttered.

"Rose is in trouble–"

"I highly doubt that," Hermione said, finally catching her breath. "She… She held the troll's club with one arm."

"What?!" asked Ron.

"I think the best thing we can do right now," she continued, "is to find a teacher."

From up ahead of them, they heard a low hissing sound.

"What was that?" asked Sally-Anne.

"I really hope that's just Snape practicing for tomorrow," Ron said.

Rounding the corner, they found the source of the noise. When they saw it, the four Gryffindors screamed.

It was at least 20 feet long, and covered in shimmering, emerald scales. Towards the end of its body were a pair of long, thin legs that both ended in wicked looking claws. Past its legs was a long tail that resembled the end of a snake. Part way up its body were a large pair of bat wings, the scales of which were darker than the rest of its body. It appeared to be balancing on them, along with its legs. Its head was long and gnarled. As it growled and hissed, a forked tongue flicked in and out of its mouth, protected by dozens of sharp fangs. The creature glared at the four of them with snake's eyes.

It opened its maw and released a blast of fire. Harry ducked out of the way, pulling Ron with him. The boys hit the floor as flames washed over the air just above their heads.

"What is that thing?!" Sally-Anne cried.

"Some sort of dragon," Hermione said.

"There aren't dragons like that," Ron said. "My brother works with them. That looks too much like a snake."

"That doesn't make you an expert, Ronald!"

"Now's not the time!" Harry shouted. "Me and Ron will distract it while you two run!"

"Are you mad?!" Ron and Hermione shouted.

The dragon-snake spun around, swinging its tail at them. It struck the wall just to their right, throwing rubble around the junction.

"Perfect," Harry said, picking up one of the chunks of stone. "Hey!"

He hurled it at the monster, hitting it in the side.

Not wanting to be shown up, Ron grabbed another piece of rock and followed suit.

"Over here!" he shouted.

As the dragon-snake was pelted with rocks, Hermione and Sally-Anne took one last look at their housemates, then began to make a break for it. They didn't know where they'd go, especially if the troll were still down the corridor, but they had no other choice.

Just as they began to run, the dragon-snake shot another blast of flame at them. Hermione grabbed Sally-Anne and hauled her back, keeping her away from the fire.

"What do we do?" Sally-Anne asked.

"I don't know," Hermione said.

"You must know," Sally-Anne said. "You're the most clever girl in this school!"

"I'm sorry, Sally-Anne, but I just don't know!" Hermione shouted, tears in her eyes.

Ron glanced over at the girls, then at Harry. They were running out of rocks to throw, and this thing wasn't letting up. What would Charlie do? He'd told Ron all about dragons, but Ron couldn't remember most of it. Even then, this didn't look like any dragon that Charlie had shown Ron.

I know what he'd do, Ron thought. He'd come up with the maddest plan he could, and it'd work because he's Charlie.

"I've got an idea," Ron said.

Both girls turned to watch Ron and Harry each throw their last stone.

"Get ready to make a break for it," Ron said.

"Ron, what are you–" Sally-Anne began, but before she could get an answer, Ron did the single most dangerous thing he could: he ran straight at the beast.

"Ron, no!" Harry shouted, taking off after his friend.

The dragon-snake took one look at the charging Gryffindors, then smashed the closer one into the wall with its tail.

Harry was knocked backwards, landing on the hard rock of the corridor.

"Ron!" Harry shouted, climbing to his feet.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm before he could try anything else.

"Come on!" she shouted. "We've got to get out of here! He'll be fine once Rose catches up to us!"

The dragon-snake began to lumber towards them, setting its sights on the three conscious Gryffindors.

"We can get out of here," Hermione said.

"Not without Ron!" Harry shouted. "He's my only friend! I'm not leaving him behind!"

"That was his plan!" Hermione shouted at him. "He was buying us time to get out of here!"

"Too late!" Sally-Anne shouted.

The three of them were literally backed into a corner, with no escape. Just as the creature was about to close in on them, it stopped. It stared at them, but there was obviously something wrong with it.

In a flash of crimson, the beast's wing fell to the ground, and it began to cry out in pain.

On the ground beside it was Rose, holding a long, red, double-bladed sword. She swung the weapon around again, cutting the beast's tail clean off.

Harry just stared at the crimson-haired girl as she began to tear into the dragon-snake. He really didn't know what to think at this point. His chest was a little sore from where the dragon-snake had hit him, but he was alright. Ron was making groaning sounds, which probably meant he was just injured, and not dying. At least, Harry hoped that his best mate wasn't dying.

Harry's mind was still reeling. He had convinced Ron to go out and find their three housemates to ensure that the girls were alright after Malfoy had run into the Great Hall screaming about a troll. Had Hermione and Sally-Anne not insisted that there was in fact a troll in the castle, Harry wouldn't have believed it. Now, instead of a troll, there was this lizard thing that had already breathed fire, narrowly missing the four Gryffindors.

To top it all off, the strange girl with the oddly coloured hair had pulled some sort of double sword from out of nowhere, and wielded it with just a little too much expertise for Harry's taste. Harry's first impression of Rose had been "Why is this girl dressed like Little Red Riding Hood?" He still wanted to know why, but now his question was "What is that thing she's got?"

"Hermione," he whispered. "What is that thing?"

"The dragon, Rose, or that sword she's got?"

"Any of the above."

"No idea… no idea… and… no idea."

Rose twirled the weapon around as if it were a baton, spinning it around her back, only to bring it around front again to cut through the reptile. She finally brought her blade up to her shoulder, then jabbed it into the creature's neck. With one final twirl of her entire body, she decapitated the beast.

As she finally stopped, Rose's hair, cloak, and skirt all settled into place at once. A second later, as if they were all in a film, the dragon fell to the ground. It was then that Harry noticed that Rose was trembling.

Not only that, but Harry also noticed that Rose's normally rosy-pink goggles were blood red, and there was something wrong with the crimson-haired girl's face. It didn't look wrong, it just felt wrong.

Rose lifted Crimson Thorn up, and began to stab the abomination. She stabbed it over and over again. Blood flew onto Rose as the dragon slumped over. Its body was lifted up and down a few inches off the ground as Rose cut into it with her weapon.

"Stop it!" Hermione shouted.

Rose snapped out of her frenzy and looked over at the other Gryffindors. She saw that all of her housemates, save Ronald, who was unconscious, looked horrified. She looked back over at the dragon and folded up Crimson Thorn. The creature was dead, and anything past that was just brutality.

No good comes from revenge, Rose.

Remembering Carolina's words relaxed Rose, but it was still a dragon, and when dealing with dragons, Rose never took any chances. She raised her hand, produced Serendipity, and expended another charge from the "wand". A green ray lanced out of Serendipity, striking the dragon's corpse. Before the Gryffindors' eyes, what remained of the dragon evaporated into dust.

Rose spun around to face the other Gryffindors.

"Job done!" she panted, a smile finding its way to her face.

As the other first-years gaped at her, Rose pulled out her efficient quiver, grabbing her infinite wand of prestidigitation from within. She quickly got to work cleaning up the blood from both herself and the walls. No sense in giving Mr. Filch more work than he already had, after all.

Rose was just finishing up when Professor Dumbledore arrived on the scene, accompanied by Intelligencer.

"Salutations, Professor Dumbledore!"

"What happened?" he asked. "Where's the troll?"

Rose took a deep breath. It was going to take a while to explain this.