12 Chapter 12 : A troll in the dungeons

Dumbledore stood up and shot red sparks from his wand.

- SILENCE!

The Great Hall fell silent.

- Everyone follow the prefects of their respective houses and return to their dormitories. The teachers follow me.

Gemma Farley, Slytherin prefect, hailed them to follow her to the dungeon, the site of their common room.

- Cover me," Adam told Theodore.

- Adam... began Theodore but he had already run off.

"I know the canonical events, but I'm not one hundred percent sure everything's going the way I know it, so we'd better go and check."

He rushed to the girls' bathroom, wand in hand, it emitting a more intense, epic melody like a battle tune. Adam finally arrived at his destination and knew that the troll was there, a stench and a somewhat unpleasant melody, disordered and foreshadowing nothing good, sounded like a concert to the young boy.

It was an appalling sight, nearly four meters tall, its skin dull and gray as stone, its body covered in warts, it looked like a huge boulder with a small bald head the size of a coconut stuck on top. The creature had short legs, as thick as tree trunks, with spiky feet.

He saw the troll raise his huge club above his head, below him Hermione Granger, tetanized with fear and shock.

"Damn if I wasn't here, she'd be dead."

- Flipendo Duo!" he shouted.

A more powerful version of the normal Flipendo, normally taught in second year at Hogwarts, emerged from Adam's wand, striking the troll's club with precision. Deflected from its normal trajectory, the club narrowly missed the young girl, but shattered the ground and a piece of stone struck her square in the head. Hermione fell to the ground, blood spurting from her wound.

- Shit!

The troll was now enraged and turned his attention to Adam before charging him. 

The young boy concentrated on the stone floor of the corridor, raised his wand and mobilized his power. With all the strength of his will, he transfigured the melody of the stone and its shape changed.

A steel spike suddenly emerged from the ground and rushed at rapid speed towards the chest of the still charging troll. 

Too late to stop his run, the troll impaled himself on it and let out a roar that shook the walls.

Adam felt his strength leave him as his magical reserves were almost empty, putting him under great physical and mental stress, but he had to finish off the troll before he fainted.

- Levioso," he said, pointing his wand at the troll's enormous club.

He felt his last reserves being drained and concentrated all his willpower to maintain his concentration and power.

Hermione seemed to have awakened from her stupor, but she was still terrified and her cheeks were filled with tears.

Adam raised the club high above the troll's head and let it swoop down.

The club slammed into the troll's head and he exploded like an overripe watermelon, ending his roar.

- You'll never become a great witch if you stay this cowardly, get out of your books it will help you, Adam told Hermione before his body collapsed and he fainted.

The teachers arrived shortly afterwards, accompanied by Harry and Ron, who this time, instead of coming to Hermione's rescue, had gone to warn the teachers directly.

If Adam hadn't been there, she would have died because of it. Adam's arrival in her world had already begun to change history.

- But what happened here ????? McGonagall asked, seeing the horror before her. 

She rushed over to Adam when she saw him lying on the floor and sighed with relief when she felt his pulse. 

Even if she didn't really like him, she cherished every Hogwarts student.

- It was... It was Adam who saved me...Hermione said between tears.

- The real question, Granger, is why were you and Mr. Potter here?? asked Snape with his piercing gaze.

Dumbledore gazed deeply into the troll's corpse in front of him, particularly at the steel spikes that pierced the troll's body. He reached out his wrinkled hand and touched them, staining his fingers with viscous blood.

- Albus! McGonagall exclaimed when she saw him do it, diverting Snape's attention. 

Dumbledore didn't say anything but his gaze towards Adam had changed, he'd understood something but didn't say anything about it.

- 'Go back to your dormitory young Granger, we'll look after Potter,' he told her and she nodded briskly, wiping away her tears. Severus, take young Adam to Poppy, she'll look after him.

Snape nodded and picked up the boy in his arms to take him back to the infirmary.

- A masterpiece of transfiguration," admired McGonagall as she began to study the spikes.

- It would seem so," said Dumbledore, destroying them before Minerva could discover anything more.

He repaired the damage and they both left to announce the news. 

[Scene break]

Adam awoke with a start.

- Where am I?

He looked around and saw that he was in the infirmary. He recalled his last memories and sighed.

- I screwed up," he said.

He'd exposed some of his powers and he knew Dumbledore wasn't a fool, a first-year student was incapable of such a spell and he was an alchemist himself, the change from stone to steel permanently must not have escaped him.

He'd panicked when he'd seen the troll charge it, and his earlier stress of seeing Hermione die, which would change all his knowledge of the future, had made him make rash decisions.

- Never again, he said to himself. It's time to play smarter.

Voices suddenly rang out in the infirmary.

- He needs rest!" said a voice that sounded like Madam Pomfrey.

- He's my friend and I need to know how he's doing, so I promise I won't stay long. begged a voice Adam recognized all too well.

He didn't know why Theodore had worked so hard to build their friendship, they'd never met and yet he came to him as if they were already brothers.

Adam then saw him appear from behind the white curtains.

- How are you? he asked.

Adam smiled, a genuine smile for once.

- I'll get over it.

- It's a relief, you're a star now at Hogwarts. Everyone knows your name and the feat you pulled off killing the troll. Nobody likes you, but now they fear you and you shouldn't have any more problems for a long time.

Adam was a little worried; sometimes fear drove people to do stupid and inconsiderate things.

He sighed, however, his program had not changed despite some complications.