On Halloween morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. 

Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan (which was a relief, because Neville had been trying to catch his eye). Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. 

Calysta was partnered up with Raymond, and she didn't mind this as much as she would have before she got to know him. Jeff was working with Regulus, and they were both already arguing before the lesson had already started. Felix was stuck with Neville, which he didn't mind. As he'd put it earlier, "at least I'm not working with Hermione."

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too — never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest." 

It was fairly easy for Calysta, but Harry was finding it more difficult. Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skyward just lay on the desktop. Until Seamus prodded it with his wand and ended up setting fire to it.

Calysta first practiced her swish and flick movement, without saying the words. When Professor Flitwick approved of her wand movement, she said the words, loud and clear, and the feather levitated a few inches off the table. Professor Flitwick was very pleased, but deemed that she needed to concentrate harder to actually control the feather's movement. So she was still practicing.

Ron, at the opposite table, wasn't having much more luck.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.

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

"Golly gosh, I'm glad I'm not working with her," sighed Felix, who was still struggling with his wrist movements. "I'd have lost it by now."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled at Hermione.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand, and said,"Wingardium Leviosa!"

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

"Oh, well done!" cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it! Miss Potter did it first, but it wasn't nearly as perfect... Keep practicing, everyone."  

Calysta actually didn't care. She was having a good time with Avery, who proved to be very good at drawing. Currently, Raymond was drawing a picture of Hermione with her hand up. He had exaggerated her large teeth and bushy hair, and once he passed to to Calysta, she couldn't stop laughing.

Raymond passed his drawing down to Regulus, Felix and Jeff, who couldn't stop shaking with silent laughter.

Ron was in a very bad mood at the end of the class.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry and Calysta as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly." 

"I agree there," added Regulus. "I'm just glad she wasn't my partner."

Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Calysta caught a glimpse of her face — and was startled to see that she was in tears.

"Uh oh, I think she heard you guys," said Calysta, imitating Peeves' singsong voice. 

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

A piece of crumpled parchment rolled out from Hermione's bag. Felix bent down to investigate what exactly it was. When he opened up the parchment, his jaw dropped out in horror. Calysta leant over his shoulder to see, and gasped.

It was Raymond's drawing.

"How the hell did she see that?" hissed Felix. 

"I thought you disposed of it," said Jeff, turning to Regulus.

"Disposed of what?" asked Harry. 

Felix showed the drawn picture of Hermione to Harry and Ron. Harry's lips twitched, while Ron couldn't fight of his laughter, and snorted, despite the grave situation they'd landed in.

"This isn't good," gulped Jeff. "You had it last," he turned to Regulus.

"I erm... left it on our table by accident..." Regulus said sheepishly.

"We need to fix it," Felix said. "As much as I don't like her, it's not fair on her."

The others said nothing, but silently agreed.

Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, Calysta overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' bathroom and wanted to be left alone. She reported this to Harry and Ron. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Halloween decorations put Hermione out of their minds. 

A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet. 

Calysta was seated in her usual place, opposite Harry and Ron, in between Felix and Jeff. Raymond sat on the other side of Felix, while Regulus took the seat next to Jeff.

Calysta was helping herself to a baked potato, when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Hall, his turban askew, and terror on his pale face. Everyone watched as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table, and gasped, "Troll... in the dungeons... Thought you ought to know."

And then he fell down into a dead faint.

There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Percy puffed up his chest. "Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!"

"Good for you, Percy," Calysta muttered to herself. "Prefects are boring." Jeff heard her, and snorted as they followed Harry and Ron, who were following Percy.

"How could a troll get in?" Calysta asked as they climbed the stairs.

 "Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid," said Regulus. "Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke."

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions.As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harrysuddenly grabbed Ron's arm. The two looked to be arguing, and then, they left the line of Gryffindors following Percy, and ducked behind a tapestry.

Calysta pointed this out to her friends. 

"Where do you think they're going?" Jeff whispered.

Calysta shrugged. "I don't know, but let's follow them."

"All of us?" asked Regulus, raising a brow.

"No," said Raymond. "You two go," he pointed at Felix and Calysta. "We'll distract Percy by doing something so he doesn't realize you're gone."

"Good idea."

Felix and Calysta waited for a moment before joining Harry and Ron. "Where are you going?" Calysta whispered, as she jogged to keep up to where Harry and Ron were.

"Hermione doesn't know about the troll," Harry whispered.

"Oh, we'll come with you," Felix decided.

Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side corridor, and hurried off toward the girls' bathroom. They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.

"Percy!" hissed Ron, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin. Calysta and Felix hid behind a suit of armor nearby.

Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view. 

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?"

"I don't know," Calysta whispered. "Maybe he's gone to take Quirrell to the hospital wing.."

"I doubt it," Felix muttered. "I don't think Snape and Quirrell are very friendly, I saw them arguing earlier."

Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape'sfading footsteps.

"He's heading for the third floor," Calysta said, but Felix held up her hand. 

"He's up to something," Harry concluded.

"Can you smell something?" Ron asked.

Calysta sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of oldsocks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean. 

And then they heard it — a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed — at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving toward them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.

It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite gray, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long. 

The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its longears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.

"The key's in the lock," Harry muttered. "We could lock it in." 

"No, don't do that," Calysta whispered shaking her head. That was the girls' bathroom, and Hermione was definitively there. 

"Why?" asked Felix. 

But it was too late. Before Calysta could even answer, Harry and Ron had already edged toward the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door, and lock it.

"No!" Calysta shouted, as they began running up the corridor. "That's the girls' bathroom!"

As if on cue, a high-pitched scream filled everyone's eardrums. Ron went as pale as the Bloody Baron, and Calysta swallowed, gulping as she unlocked the door.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron said together.

The four of them bolted as they slammed the door open, barging into the bathroom.

Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as ifshe was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinksoff the walls as it went.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately.

"Distract it," said Calysta at the same time.

Seizing a tap, Harry threw it as hard as he could on the opposing wall. 

The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinkingstupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. Ithesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went. 

Calysta had meanwhile taken off her socks, and had used her wand to set fire to them, hurling them at the troll, who grunted as the fire burned him before dying out.

Distracted by this, the troll looked in between Harry and Calysta, debating on who to go for. 

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and hethrew a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hittingits shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snouttoward Ron instead, giving Harry and Calysta time to run around it. 

"Hermione!" Felix urged to Hermione. "Get out of here, we'll handle it!"

But Hermione was terrified, her back glued to the wall as she stared at the troll in shock.

"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her towardthe door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, hermouth open with terror.

Calysta, who noticed that the shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk, opened her mouth and began yelling and screaming, banging the fallen stones against the wall. The troll roared again and started toward Ron, who was nearest and had no way toescape. 

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: Hetook a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll'sneck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even atroll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry'swand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped — it had gone straight upone of the troll's nostrils.

"HARRY!" Calysta screamed, her eyes wide as she glanced at her twin's stupid idea. "NO!"

She decided to do something equally stupid, to save Harry who was clinging onto the troll's back for life as it flailed and twisted. Taking Felix's tie, and her own, she tied them together, then tied them around the troll's legs, while it was preoccupied with trying to get Harry's wand out of its nose.

"Harry, JUMP!" Calysta yelled, when Harry was close to the ground. 

As soon as Harry landed on the ground, and rolled over in the debris of the smashed sinks, Calysta gave the remaining edge of the tie a firm tug. "Felix, help me pull," she told her friend, who helped her tug. 

The troll groaned, and fell backwards, falling to the ground with a thud that made the whole room tremble. The troll was getting up, and he had his gaze focused on Calysta, nearly about to destroy her.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand— not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spellthat came into his head: "Wingardium Leviosa!" 

The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into theair, turned slowly over — and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto itsowner's head. The troll didn't make a single sound after that.

Calysta got to her feet, shaking, and out of breath. Harry helped her up, giving her a hug. "You saved my life," he muttered.

She shook her head. "We did it together," she said quietly, hugging her twin tightly.

Ron wasstanding there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done. 

"Is it— dead?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think so," said Harry, "I think it's just been knocked out."

He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was coveredin what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh – troll boogers."

He wiped it on the troll's trousers. 

Felix grimaced, dusting the dust off his robes.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up.They hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course,someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. Amoment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room,closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell tookone look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on atoilet, clutching his heart.

As soon as the teachers entered, Felix doubled up, clutching his stomach, his face becoming paler than it already was. He'd closed his nose, and his face was getting redder. 

Felix had become pale all of a sudden, and Calysta managed to convince him to stop blocking his nose. He looked very, very ill. "Breathe," she said softly. "Are you alright?"

"Can't.. breathe," Felix wheezed, shutting his eyes tight.

"Why? Do you have asthma?" Calysta asked.

Felix shook his head, muttering something incoherently under his breath, before moving to stand near the door. Professor Quirrell looked at Felix and squeaked fearfully.

Calysta would have thought this very odd behavior. It seemed as if Professor Quirrell was afraid of Felix. Professor McGonagall's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. 

"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Calysta looked at Harry, who looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down.

Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall — they were looking for me." 

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last. "I went looking for the troll because I — I thought I could deal with it onmy own — you know, because I've read all about them." 

Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?

 "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Calysta set her socks on fire to distract it, Harry stuck his wand up its nose, then Felix and Calysta used their ties to make a rope that they pulled to make the troll fall on the floor and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived." 

Harry, Calysta and Ron tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them. Felix was by the bathroom door, looking paler by the minute, coughing as he clutched his chest. Calysta was highly concerned for him.

"Well — in that case . . ." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the five of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?" 

Hermione hung her head. Calysta was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets. 

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their Houses."

Hermione left.

Professor McGonagall turned to Calysta, Felix, Harry and Ron. 

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

Harry and Ron hurried out of the chamber, and Calysta was about to follow, when she noticed Felix was coughing hard, his lips turning purplish. She bent down, trying to look him in the eye and get him to listen to her. But he didn't seem to be hearing her.

"Miss Potter," Snape's voice interrupted her actions. "I do know of a potion that will help Mr. Sanguini," he said in his usual monotone. "If you would assist me to lead him to the dungeons, I would be able to restore him back to health."

Calysta nodded, helping Felix get up and leading him out into the corridor. He seemed to get a bit better. His coughing had slowed down, but his lips were still purplish, and his pale skin was tinged blue.

Following Snape to the dungeons, Calysta noticed Snape was walking a bit slowly. It was like he had a limp in his step. 

Maybe he got hurt, she thought.

When they reached the dungeons, Snape told Calysta to wait outside his storeroom with Felix. 

"Felix, are you alright?" 

The boy had sealed his lips tightly, shaking his head, his face still blue. A moment later, Snape arrived with a small bottle of clear, yellow liquid. The Professor pulled out the cork stop, and slowly urged Felix to drink it.

It was only when the blonde boy had drunk it, that he returned back to normal, breathing heavily.

"How do you feel?" asked Professor Snape. "Better?"

Felix nodded, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Thank you Professor."

"Very well," Snape concluded. "Miss Potter, kindly escort Mr. Sanguini back to the common room."

The brunette nodded, leading Felix back to the common room.

"What happened?" she asked, wildly concerned for her friend.

"I just have this illness," Felix muttered. "Since birth. And I'd appreciate if you don't tell anyone else about this."

Calysta nodded. "Promise," she said solemnly.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the foodthat had been sent up. Hermione, surprisingly, was with Harry and Ron, and they were all laughing and talking together. 

Calysta was quite shocked to see this, but she guessed that an unlikely friendship had bloomed, much like her own friendship between Regulus, Felix and Raymond. 

They enjoyed each others company, and between them all, they were balanced. That made them stronger together.

{ who can guess what's wrong with felix? i won't say more. above is the picture that raymond avery drew of hermione. it's not colored when raymond drew it, but i hope it gives you a general idea of what he sketched. hope you enjoyed this chapter. please comment, vote and follow, but most importantly, share. thanks. love, jasmine. }