"Ahhh! We're going to die! A troll's gotten in!"
"The sky's falling! The sky's falling!"
"Help! I don't want to die yet!"
In an instant, the students erupted into chaos, scurrying around like ants crackling in a hot pan.
Dumbledore had to shoot off several massive bursts of purple fireworks from the tip of his wand before the young wizards in the Great Hall finally quieted down.
"Prefects," Dumbledore said in a deep, commanding voice, "immediately lead the students from each house back to their dormitories!"
Percy, with practiced ease, gathered the Gryffindor first-years and led them out in an orderly fashion.
Well, mostly orderly—there were three exceptions in the group who weren't quite so disciplined.
"How could a troll even get into the school?" Harry asked, turning to Cohen and Ron.
How else could it have gotten in?
Cohen, the mastermind behind it all, slipped between the two of them with a perfectly straight face, not a hint of guilt showing.
"Where's Hermione?" Cohen prompted, nudging Harry to remember—surely he couldn't expect Cohen to go save Hermione all by himself, could he? What would that make these two "useless guys next to Hermione" in the future?
[Ding! Kindness Points +10]
"She hasn't shown up all afternoon—wait a second." Harry started to explain, but then something clicked. He grabbed Cohen and Ron, lowering his voice to a whisper: "Hermione!"
"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked.
"Remember? On our way to the feast, Parvati told Lavender that Hermione's been crying in the girls' bathroom all afternoon…"
"Then let's go be her heroes!" Cohen said encouragingly. "Otherwise, who's going to handle your homework this week?"
"Ron said something to her earlier today," Harry explained to Cohen.
"Alright…" Ron gritted his teeth, quickly making up his mind. "But don't let Percy see us—"
They slipped into the Hufflepuff crowd like thieves, successfully sneaking off toward the girls' bathroom.
Cohen had a feeling this mission might go smoother than the original plot—after all, those two trolls were probably busy fighting each other in the dungeon classroom right now.
Unfortunately, the plot didn't seem to cooperate so easily.
Through the door, Cohen faintly heard muffled shouts, a low growl rumbling from something's throat, and a series of rapid, heavy thuds.
By the time Cohen tried to stop Harry, it was already too late.
Harry had flung the door open.
Harry and Ron were met with the most unforgettable sight of their lives.
There were two trolls in the bathroom.
One was taller, the other shorter, but both stood at least twelve feet high, their dull, granite-like skin gleaming faintly.
Their massive, clumsy bodies were stacked atop one another, like two hillsides pressed together at an angle.
The giant wooden clubs they used as weapons had been carelessly tossed aside—they didn't need them anymore. They had more pressing business to attend to.
"I tried to stop you guys when I heard something weird," Cohen said, the corner of his mouth twitching. "But it looks like I was a little too late…"
Why were the trolls he and Quirrell had brought here a male and a female?!
No—why did they start doing *that* the moment they met?!
Was this some kind of twisted, heavy-metal horror game?
Cohen felt like God owed him compensation for having to witness this.
"Sorry," Harry whispered to the trolls.
"We'll leave right now," Ron added, his face feeling like it had been hit with a Petrificus Totalus spell.
The two of them stepped back in unison, aligning themselves with Cohen.
Harry slammed the bathroom door shut—but the trolls inside had already noticed them.
Now, the trolls' roars were loud enough to pierce through the door.
Hermione's scream rang out, accompanied by the sound of a bursting pipe.
The trolls' limited brains—fueled by their heated state—must have shifted their aggression to the nearest living thing.
"Hermione!" Harry and Ron shouted in unison.
Cohen, momentarily distracted by the explosive scene, had forgotten they were here to save Hermione. In his defense, the topic of trolls (and goblins) was just too captivating—he'd even been wondering how to record this and send it to the *Daily Prophet*…
The two frantic boys fumbled awkwardly, but Cohen yanked them aside—
The lock clicked open, and Harry and Ron hurriedly squeezed inside, with Cohen following close behind.
These two trolls were far weaker than an adult Acromantula—whether judged by their souls or their intelligence.
Dealing with them now felt as easy to Cohen as slurping up Jell-O.
But Cohen gagged preemptively—just the thought of consuming these creatures' souls made his stomach turn, especially with the trolls' stench still lingering in the air, amplifying the nausea.
Harry grabbed a faucet and smashed it against the wall with all his might.
The two trolls lazily turned toward the noise, their clubs now less than a foot away from Hermione.
"Hey, you big idiots!" Ron darted to the other side, hurling a rock at one of the trolls' heads.
"Bombarda!" Cohen lobbed an explosive spell at the other troll's skull.
Normally, two quick Avada Kedavras would've settled this, but with witnesses around, he had to take the scenic route.
Cohen planned to use "Diffindo" to tear down the ceiling above the trolls' heads, letting Hogwarts' bricks knock them out.
Their souls were useless to him anyway—his soul strength was stuck at 20, and only something like a mature Acromantula with 10+ points could boost it further.
Plus, it'd save him from gagging all day after eating the souls of these school-defiling trolls.
"Hermione! Get over here!" Harry urged, now that the trolls' attention was on Ron and Cohen.
But Hermione, just an eleven-year-old girl, was frozen in terror, pressed tightly against the wall.
Cohen aimed his wand at the ceiling—he was waiting for the trolls to get a bit closer.
That way, the falling bricks wouldn't accidentally hit anyone else.
But Harry's next move forced Cohen to scrap Plan A—he leapt onto one of the trolls' backs and jammed his wand up its nostril.
The next second, the other troll swung its club toward its newly chosen mate's head—or rather, toward Harry perched on top of it.
"Did it have to be ?!" Cohen groaned, rubbing his forehead.
Panicked, Ron raised his wand, at a loss, before casting the only spell he knew.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The swinging troll's club missed its mark.
But one club wasn't enough to knock out two trolls—especially since this swing was horizontal. Even if Ron's spell wore off, the club would just hit the floor, not a troll's head.
No choice—he'd have to go a little off-script.
Cohen aimed the spell not at a troll, but at Harry on the troll's head.
"Arresto Momentum." He quickly followed with a cushioning charm on Harry, just to avoid accidentally becoming the murderer of the Chosen One.
With the nuisance out of the way, the two trolls were easier to handle—
Cohen's final spell struck the ceiling, and a massive, jagged chunk of stone crashed down, knocking both trolls unconscious in one blow.
[Ding! Kindness Points +100]
[Ding! Kindness Points +100]
[Current Kindness Points (2000/2000) achieved, Kindness Side Quest unlocked, Inventory System activated]
Cohen didn't even know how to process his emotions.
So Kindness Points and Sin Points… were they freaking meant to be hoarded to unlock side quests?!