Hogwarts: Becoming the White Lord from Breathing

Chapter 28: The Bathroom and the Giant

In the hall, a thousand bats fluttered on the walls and ceiling, and another thousand flew in low, dark clouds over the dining table, causing the candle flame in the pumpkin to flicker.

Delicious food suddenly appeared on golden plates, just like at the banquet at the beginning of the term.

However, Hermione was not there.

Not only Hermione, but even Damon was absent, which made Harry and Ron a little confused.

"No way, today is a holiday. Is Damon going to practice spells today as well?"

The two already knew that Daemon would concentrate on practicing spells in his free time, but they did not ask to join.

Firstly, they think there is no need to work so hard.

Secondly, they were embarrassed to ask Damon for this - it would be too embarrassing if they couldn't hold on and gave up halfway.

For example, now, they certainly want to enjoy the festive atmosphere instead of practicing spells alone in a place where no one is around.

But the festive atmosphere suddenly disappeared as Professor Quirrell rushed into the restaurant.

He had his great scarf askew on his head and a look of terror on his face. Everyone was staring at him as he walked over to Professor Dumbledore's chair and leaned over the table, gasping for breath.

"The troll is in the dungeon. I thought I should inform you."

After saying this, he fell headfirst to the floor and fainted.

No one knew who started it, but the whole restaurant was in chaos, accompanied by shrill screams.

"Silence!" Dumbledore sent several sharp fireworks explosions from his wand. "Prefects of each house, please take the students of your house to their dormitories immediately!"

Soon, under the leadership of the four prefects, the chaotic order was restored. However, Harry suddenly whispered to Ron:

"Ron—Hermione!"

"What's wrong with her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll yet! And Daemon, he's not here either. Did he really go to practice spells?"

Ron bit his lip and quickly made a decision:
"Why don't we go and take a look? But it's best not to let Percy see us."

The two of them lowered themselves down, blending into the Hufflepuff crowd and heading in another direction.

What they failed to notice was that above the teachers' seats, Dumbledore was quietly watching them.

Girls' bathroom on the second floor of the castle.

Hermione sat in the abandoned toilet stall wiping her tears, her eyes red.

"Tap-tap-tap."

Suddenly, steady footsteps were heard outside the door, which made Hermione wipe away the tears on her face immediately. However, her eyes were still red, and with her conspicuous big teeth, she looked more like a rabbit.

"Hermione, are you there?"

Damon's voice rang out from outside the bathroom.

"Damon? Why are you here?!"

Hermione was in a state of panic. If she had to choose the person who least wanted to see her in this predicament, it would not be Harry, nor Ron, but Damon!

Even if Ron laughed at her crying, she was unwilling to let her recognized opponent see her in such a miserable state.

But at this moment, she could no longer control her emotions. Damon's caring words were like a dam bursting, and her tears, which had already dried up, burst out again. "Damon—I beg you—please leave me alone for a while, okay?"

There was frustration in Hermione's voice, and a hint of self-abandonment.

"Don't worry, Hermione, I won't go in, but as a friend, please let me stay with you, okay? I'll just stand outside the bathroom and won't look in or eavesdrop on you."

Damon's voice was still gentle and steady, which made Hermione feel a little stronger. Moreover, the tendency revealed in Damon's words made her heart tremble violently!
"Friends. You mean, we are friends?"

"Isn't it? Am I being too sentimental?"

"No - that's not what I meant -" Hermione wiped the tears from her face again, "I meant - I didn't expect - that's what you thought. You never mentioned it to me before."

Hermione quietly stood up from the cubicle and quietly straightened the wrinkles of her clothes - she felt much better.

"Look, you're always reading, and I'm always practicing spells. We don't have much time for small talk, do we?"

"Well, but I think, in the future..." Hermione's brows suddenly frowned tightly together, "Damon, do you smell anything bad?"

At this moment, the smell of smelly socks mixed with a public toilet that no one ever cleaned came from far away, becoming stronger and stronger, filling the nostrils of both of them.

"Boom--boom--boom!"

Unlike Damon's previous steady footsteps, extremely heavy footsteps suddenly sounded outside the bathroom, as if some giant creature was approaching!
"Hermione, come out."

Damon's voice remained calm, but Hermione felt that there seemed to be a subtle tremor in it.

This discovery made Hermione's face change slightly - was Damon afraid?

She quickly walked out of the bathroom door and suddenly saw a huge shadow disappear into the bathroom!

"Squeak."

Along with the sound of the door being locked, the owner of the huge shadow revealed its hideous true appearance - a giant monster that was twelve feet tall and had a bald head as big as a coconut appeared in front of the two.

Its short legs were as thick as tree stumps, and underneath were flat, rough, calloused feet. The smell it emitted was so bad that it was disgusting!
At this moment, it was dragging a thick wooden stick on the ground, and its eyes had already met Hermione's.

"what--!!!"

Hermione let out a terrified scream!
In fact, if Damon hadn't been here right now, her voice would have been several times more shrill!
"Hermione, relax!" Damon tried to drown out her voice. "Just stay in the corner. You'll be fine!"

He didn't turn his head to see what was happening to Hermione, instead focusing all his attention on the giant creature in front of him.

Troll, danger level XXXX. In the Ministry of Magic's classification, 4X is dangerous/requires specialized knowledge/skilled wizards to deal with.

The one in front of you is the most dangerous mountain giant among the three types of giants. It has a huge physique and amazing strength. It also has hard skin and high magic resistance.

Its only shortcoming is its relatively low intelligence, but it can still cast some low-level spells.

Even an adult wizard would need the combined efforts of multiple people to defeat a mountain monster.

In the original book, this powerful and troublesome creature was not only attacked by Harry who climbed on it and poked its nose with his wand, but was also easily knocked unconscious by Ron who used a levitation spell to control a wooden stick.

How is this possible?
If Dumbledore hadn't been watching him constantly, he couldn't think of any other reasonable explanation.

An excited smile appeared on Damon's face. He had been practicing on the target day after day for the past two months. Although it was still interesting, he didn't mind finding a test subject who could use his full strength - in fact, this was exactly why he came here!
"Well, let's have some fun."

Before the giant monster could act, Damon looked at the behemoth in front of him and quickly waved his wand:
"Vera Verto!"

(End of this chapter)