Cassia's POV

Today was Halloween, and my last class of the day was Charms, with Professor Flitwick. Did I mention how short he was? No? Well, in case I didn't, I'll say it again: he had to stand on BOOKS just to see us. "One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation, the ability to make objects fly. Now, do you have your feathers?" he asked.

Hermione and I held up ours.

"Good," Professor Flitwick said, "Now, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing. The swish and flick. Everyone?"

We all did the wrist movement with him. "Good. Oh, and enunciate: Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go, then," he instructed.

Everyone tried to make their feathers fly, and they didn't seem to be having much luck.

"Wingardrium Leviosar," Ron recited. He started shaking his wand at the feather.

"No. Stop, stop, stop, stop," Hermione interrupted, stopping him. "You're going to take someone's eye out. Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's levi-o-sa, not leviosar."

"You do it then, if you're so clever. Go on, go on," Ron encouraged.

Hermione and I looked at each other and recited, "Wingardium Leviosa." We did the wrist movement -- properly -- as we said it, and both of our feathers rose up into the air.

"Oh, well done!" Flitwick praised us. "See here, everyone, Miss Granger and Miss Potter have done it! Splendid!"

"Wingard Leviosa!" Seamus recited, waving his wand the wrong way. He said the spell again and the feather exploded, burning him again. Some people -- *cough* the Slytherins *cough* -- laughed at his misfortune.

"I think we're going to need another feather over here, Professor," Harry said, not taking his eyes off the feather.

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I walked with my brother, Ron, and Seamus as we left the classroom, heading back to Gryffindor Tower so we could start on our homework before dinner.

"It's levi-o-sa, not leviosar," Ron mocked Hermione. "She's a nightmare, honestly. No wonder she hasn't got any friends."

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

"I think she heard you," Harry said to Ron.

I smacked Ron in the arm. "Ow! Cass, that's not nice!" he scolded me.

"Neither is you insulting Hermione!" I retaliated, before running after Hermione. "Hermione!" I called out, "Hermione, wait!" She headed into the girls' bathroom, and I immediately followed her inside. I could hear her sobs coming from the very last cubicle. She was definitely very hurt by what Ron had said. To say I was mad at him would be an understatement.

I knocked on the door. "'Mione? It's me, Cassia."

"Go away," Hermione sobbed.

Giving the door a gentle pull, I saw it was unlocked, and I went inside. Hermione was sitting on the toilet, her face buried in her hands. I came closer to her and got down on my knees, placing a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Mione, don't listen to Ron. He doesn't mean all that stuff he said about you," I assured her.

"No...no, he did. And he's right. My being a know-it-all is the reason why no one likes me," she whimpered.

"That's not true, Mione. Harry and I think you're a wonderful person," I said.

Hermione sniffled. "Really?" she asked, looking up at me with puffy, red eyes, and tear-stained cheeks.

"Really," I replied, giving her a hug. "Ron's just jealous of you..."

"You think so?" Hermione asked.

I shook my head. "I know so. No guy wants to get beat by a girl."

She giggled a little at that, wiping a tear from her eyes. But then she frowned again. "Cass, I feel bad. You're missing dinner because of me," she said.

"Who cares about that? You're my friend. Friends always come first," I told her, giving her another hug.

Harry's POV

It's dinner now, and there's no sign of Hermione OR Cassia anywhere. The last time I saw either of them was when Ron was making fun of them, and then we saw Hermione speed past us, in tears. Cassia noticed and ran after her. They've been gone an awful long time now, and I'm starting to get a little worried. "W-Where's Hermione and Cassia?" I asked.

"Parvati Patil said she wouldn't come out of the girls' bathroom," Neville whispered to me, "She said she'd been in there all afternoon, crying. Cassia's in there as well." I nodded and went back to eating. I'd go get the girls after dinner. Then we heard the doors open.

"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!" Quirrell yelled as he ran into the hall, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" He stopped halfway through and added, "Thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

Everyone started panicking and rushing to the door.

"SILENCE!" Dumbledore's voice boomed. We all stopped. "If everyone would please NOT panic," Dumbledore ordered, "Now, prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons." We all hurried out, us Gryffindors following Percy.

"Gryffindors, keep up please, and stay alert!" Percy ordered, not turning back to us.

"How could a troll get in?" I asked Ron.

"Not on its own. Trolls are really stupid. Probably people playing jokes," Ron replied. I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "What?"

"Hermione and Cassia -- they don't know!" I whispered.

We headed to the girls' bathroom, but stopped and hid behind a column when we heard a groaning noise. Before I knew it, we saw a huge shadow walking across the hall in front of us.

"I think the troll's left the dungeon," Ron muttered.

My heart raced as we saw where it was going. "It's going to the girls' bathroom!" I whispered. Ron and I looked at each other and raced after the troll. We got there just in time to see the troll swing its club at multiple cubicles.

Cassia's POV

We started toward the door, but I stopped short when I saw a pair of huge feet. I grasped Hermione's arm as I looked up and saw a giant troll staring down at us. We both backed away as the troll slowly advanced closer to us. With our backs against the door of the cubicle, we had no more room, so we locked ourselves in the cubicle. That didn't work, though, because the troll swung its club at all the stalls. Hermione and I screamed and ducked down, covering our heads to protect ourselves from falling debris.

"Hermione, Cassia, move!" I heard Harry shout at us. Hermione and I tried to crawl out from underneath the rubble, but the troll swung its club again, and more debris fell over us. Hermione was screaming for help. I heard some clunking noises to my left, and I looked up to see Ron and Harry throwing rubble at the troll to distract it.

"Hey! Peabrain!" Ron called up to it. Hermione and I took the chance and crawled over to the sink. Unfortunately, the troll saw us and just nearly missed us with his club. It hit part of the sink, and a leak sprung.

"Help!" Hermione and I yelled at the same time.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: he took a great running leap and jumped, only to grab hold of the club. The troll pulled the club up in one swift motion, sending Harry skyward before landing on the troll's shoulders.

The troll shook him like a rag doll. Harry accidentally got his wand stuck up the thing's nose! I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Then he was being held by only one leg as the troll tried to nail him with the club.

"Do something!" Harry shouted.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Anything!" Harry said, ducking. "Hurry up!" Ron took out his wand.

"Swish and flick!" Hermione called out.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron said.

The club suddenly flew out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up onto the air, turned slowly over -- and dropped, with a sickening crack, onto its owner's head.

"Cool," I heard Ron mutter.

The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Shaking, Hermione and I slowly came out from our hiding spot under the sink, advancing closer to Ron and Harry.

"Is it...dead?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think so. It's just knocked out," Harry reported. He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy grey glue. "Ugh...troll bogies," he muttered, wiping his wand on his robes. Just then, we heard footsteps coming our way. This time, it was some of the teachers.

"Oh my goodness! E-Explain yourselves, both of you!" McGonagall cried, glancing at the troll and then at Ron and Harry.

The two of them started to blabber about what had happened, but they couldn't get all the details out.

"It's my fault, Professor McGonagall," Hermione said, cutting them off.

"Miss Granger...?" McGonagall questioned, looking at her in disbelief.

"I went looking for the troll because I -- I thought I could deal with it on my own...you know, because I've read all about them," Hermione fibbed.

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

"Cassia tried to talk me out of it. She said I'd be killed if I went alone. Apparently, she was correct. If she, Harry and Ron hadn't come and found me, I'd probably be dead," Hermione continued.

"Be that as it may, it was an extremely foolish thing to do. I'd have expected much more rational behavior on your part. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor...for your serious lack of judgment," McGonagall stuttered.

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

McGonagall made eye contact with Harry and Ron. "As for you two gentlemen...I just hope you realize how fortunate you are. Not many first-year students could take on a fully grown mountain troll, and live to tell the tale. Five points...will be awarded to each of you. For sheer dumb luck." With that, she left, with Snape limping out behind her. That's odd. Why's he limping?

"P-Perhaps you ought to go. M-Might wake up," Quirrell suggested, stammering. Somehow, I got the feeling that Quirrell wasn't who he seemed to be, but I shrugged it off as we left.

We hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until we had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.

"Good of you to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her life."

"She might not have needed saving if you hadn't insulted her," Harry reminded him.

But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became our friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other afterward, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.