New Rivalry?
After that night, the four Gryffindors had agreed not to mention the three headed dog or the trap door until it was necessary.
Nicholas' was currently exploring the castle while Harry Harry was getting a Quidditch lesson from Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, while Ron was off somewhere with his siblings.
Nicholas knew he should study and practice, but he couldn't find the right motivation right now. He was stuck exploring the castle with no clear goal in mind. Because of that, he had been running late to Charms with Professor Flitwick. He rushed to the classroom before opening the door quietly, in hopes that no one would notice.
"Ah Mr. Ward," Professor Flitwick said in a disappointed tone, "Nice of you to join us."
The stormy eyed boy watched everyone in the room turn to where he was standing. Charlie looked at Ron and Harry in their desks and shrugged since they were silently wondering where he'd been.
"I'm sorry Profess-" The boy began, but Flitwick cut him off.
"It's alright Mr. Ward, please just take your seat."
The moved to the desk in between Ron and Harry and sat down. He looked down and saw a feather. It was then where Flitwick told the students to use the swish and flick technique to perform the levitation charm, Wingardium Leviosa.
As he was trying his best to get the spell right, he overheard Ron and Hermione fighting;
"Look, stop! Stop! Stop! You're going to take someone's eye out! besides, you're saying it wrong! It's LeviOsa, not LeviosAAA."
"You do it then if you're so cleve, go on!"
"Wingardium leviosa!"
And with that Hermione's feather levitated without hesitation, which left Ron a bit cross.
Listening into their conversation, Nicholas tried it the way Hermione said to and surprise, surprise, it worked out for him.
'Again!? I can't keep letting her pull ahead of me!' he was furiously thinking of a solution to his current dilemma.
Then there was an explosion, which made Nicholas turn his head. To no ones surprise, Seamus had blown himself up again somehow.
Harry laughed, "I think he's gonna need another feather over here Professor."
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As Harry, Ron, and Nicholas walked out of class, Nicholas quickly told them, "I'll meet you guys later at the feast alright? I gotta do something right now!" With that, he left them and dashed off to his Head of House' office.
The door to McGonagall's office burst open.
"Professor McGonagall! I need your advice about something important!" Nicholas rushed into the room while McGonagall had a surprised look on her face.
"What's the problem Mr. Ward?" she questioned.
"Well...There's a person who I am not in good terms with since we argue a lot and all, but this she seems to be better than me at everything! It's really frustrating me to the point where I was late to Charms the other day." Nicholas ranted while McGonagall had a knowing look on her face.
"Ah...Would this person that you're talking about happen to be Ms. Granger?"
Nicholas was shocked at the professor's fast answer. "How did you figure that out so quickly?"
McGonagall answered him, "Well, it is quite known that Ms. Granger is adept in many of the classes taught as of right now. Also, I have seen you and her argue quite a few times."
Nicholas sighs, "So you've seen that...So is there anyway for me to catch up? For me not to keep being in her shadow? It might not look like it to other people, but it feels like when I tease her or something, it doesn't really matter because of how much of a better person she seems to be."
"Now now Nicholas, just being smart doesn't mean that Ms. Granger is a better person. If you want to stand on an equal platform as her, then you work just as hard, or maybe even more. If your determination is strong enough, there is little stopping you." McGonagall was explaining but Nicholas interrupted her.
"Even if I work hard, I know that I don't have the talent for studying. Does that mean I have work that much harder?" he asks.
"If it means that much to you it should. Also, the professors here at Hogwarts are always here to help you. If you need any help you can always know that my doors are always open."
Nicholas was touched by this. McGonagall can now see a determined look in Nicholas' eyes. Satisfied by this conversation, Nicholas headed back to the Great Hall. As he entered, he walked down the middle of the room and met his Gryffindor friends at the table.
As he sat down, Harry spoke, "There you are! Where's Hermione? Is she alright?"
Nicholas was confused. Why would Hermione not be alright?
"What do you mean is she alright? Why wouldn't she be?"
Ron Weasley just sat there with a guilty look on his face and said, "I may have insulted her causing her to run off. Probably to the girls bathroom."
Nicholas just shrugged it off before grabbing a piece of food and eating for the first time today. Nicholas was thinking about how he was going to work hard and ask the professors some questions when he was pulled from his thoughts as Professor Quirrell entered the Hall with a scream, "Troll!" He yelled, "Troll in the dungeon!"
Nicholas watched the students around him panic before looking at the Headmaster. Dumbledore quickly silenced the whole room and told everyone to remain calm. He instructed the Prefects to escort the students back to the dormitories while the Professors would deal with the troll issue.
Ron, Harry, and Nicholas began to walk back to the dorm before Nicholas pulled the two of them back, "Wait! We can't!"
Ron and Harry looked at him confused before Ron spoke, "Uh, why not?"
"Didn't you say Hermione is in the girl's bathroom?" Nicholas explained, "She doesn't know about the troll. We have to warn her."
Ron and Harry looked confused at the thought of Nicholas caring about what happened to Hermione. It was simple, he couldn't let his new motivation die by a troll. So he raced down to where the girl's bathroom was.
Without a second thought, Ron and Harry ran down the hall towards the girls lavatories. It was then that they saw the giant mountain troll enter the exact location where they had been heading.
Ron and harry kept asking what they should do. Nicholas was furiously thinking of a solution they could do. Within a few moments, the three boys heard a high pitched scream coming from Hermione.
Nicholas without hesitating rushed straight into the bathroom with Ron and Harry following close behind him and came face to face with the mountain troll. Nicholas kept running as the troll destroyed the bathroom while Harry shouted, "Hermione move!"
Ron started picking up rubble from the ground and chucked it at the troll's head to distract him so she could get away and take its attention away from Nicholas.
"Hey! Pea brain!" Ron yelled, and threw a piece of wood directly at the trolls face causing it to look angrily in the boys direction, which caused it to see Nicholas running in its direction.
'Thanks Ron. I really needed it to look at me!' Nicholas thought sarcastically as he saw a club appearing right before his face. He cursed and ducked and kept running towards Hermione not before shouting a "LUMOS!" to blind the troll.
The troll roared in pain because of the light which made Harry run towards the troll jumping on its head. The boy repeatedly tried to hit it to slow it down but Harry clearly didn't think this plan through as it wasn't long before he was being thrown around like a rag doll.
While this was happening Nicholas went to Hermione and got her up. Trying to move around the troll towards the exit of the bathroom.
"Ron," Harry yelled while being held upside down, "Do something!"
"What?" Ron asked confused and looked around for something to use.
Nicholas was getting frustrated as he could see the blood rushing to Harry's head, "For goodness sake! Literally do anything!"
It was then that Ron took out his wand and used the levitation charm that Hermione had critiqued earlier in the day. The charm levitated the troll's wooden club and let it fall directly on his head, knocking the troll out which caused the release of Harry.
Unfortunately, the troll was falling towards Nicholas and Hermione's way. Quickly thinking, he shoved Hermione out of the way before he saw a huge mass coming down on him.
"Nicholas!" was all he heard before everything went black.
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He awoke on a bed in the Hospital Wing where he could see three figures standing above him.
"Oof!" he groaned when Harry ran forward and hugged him.
"Still injured! Which means it hurts you know!" he told Harry thankfully allowing Harry to release him.
"So what happened?" Nicholas questioned while Ron, Harry, and Hermione started explaining everything that happened after they knocked out the troll. Apparently, the professors came in right after the troll attacked. While McGonagall was furious at Hermione for thinking she could take on the troll. She took away points while she gave points to the three boys for dumb luck. Now, they were all friends. Hermione then looked at Nicholas and asked, "Thank you first. For not letting the troll fall on me. Secondly, are we now friends?"
Nicholas looked at her and said bluntly, "No." At this Hermione looked sad and the two boys next to her seemed shocked.
"Not right now. Not until I catch up to you. I don't mind getting along with you and hanging out. But I could never really consider myself as your friend until I beat you or at least stand as an equal to you." At this it was now Hermione's turn to looked shocked while Harry and Ron looked confused. Hermione then smiled and put out her hand which caused Nicholas to smile lightly as well and took it.
"Wait what? You want to catch up to Hermione? That's gonna take lifetimes! Better just to quit now mate." Ron commented while Harry nodded approvingly at Nicholas before elbowing Ron.
'Maybe, but the road taking this path sure is going to be hard, but I know there's gonna be a lot of fun with it.' Nicholas thought.
With that another day at Hogwarts was over and the four Gryffindors went off to bed. Everyone can agree that this night's sleep was very well deserved.