Phase one - part 1

Standing here, I realised…

… that the troll, for however terrifying it is in stature, looked incredibly dopey. Oh sure, it was a gigantic juggernaut with strength enough to shatter solid stone and a heavy stench of decaying flesh, so strong that I could smell even from my hiding spot around the corner.

But all I could really thing about, after looking at the thing, was the sheer hilarity of it having such a tiny head, relatively speaking. Which was good because I really did not need to miss my throw, especially since I had only three of my magic grenades and they weren't exactly accurate.

Soon though I could hear the troll's heavy steps and so I took a deep breath and, after taking a quick look around the corner, confirmed that it was almost within range. Poised to run, and with a magical grenade in hand, I was ready to act.

*thud*… …

*Thud*…

Every muscle in my body tensed for but a moment.

*THUD*

I exploded into action, shooting out into the corridor in front of the troll. There was a split second as the troll and my eyes made contact, but it was over well before the troll had time to react as I twisted the cap and lobbed the glass bottle with all the force I could put behind it.

Then, without a shred of hesitation, I turned and bolted.

There was a rush of air, both from the speed of my running and the air flowing back into the implosion, followed shortly by a roar that sounded like a cross between that of a lions and a man. Upon hearing the roar I allowed myself to slow down and finally gulp down a deep breath, before finally taking a look behind me…

… before immediately pulling out and screwing another bottle as a, now armless, troll ran after me.

But another bottle and another heart pumping seconds of sprinting put an end to that as, with one final roar, all that was left of the troll was a ball of flesh, bone, viscera and whatever disgusting fluids were leaking from it.

But despite the danger being gone, and my hands shaking from the adrenaline, I had no time to rest. Instead, I pulled out the new and improved ECA, which now looked like a funnel but without the hole on the narrow side, and approached the ball of meat, only to gag as the bloated fleshy parts began leaking a foul-smelling fluid.

But eventually, after a few fortifying breaths to get used to the smell, I managed to reach the thing and stab the narrow end into a particularly soft looking part.

The change in the ball was immediate, as it first began to stop leaking as red essence began to flow out the open end of the ECA, right into the potions bottle waiting underneath.

The flow of red essence was slow at first, being barely a trickle, but eventually it sped up to a proper trickle and then a full on flow as the ball began to shrink. It actually got to the point that the bottle I held underneath was almost full, making me temporarily pull it out so I could cork and swap the bottle with another one from my school bag.

This process was repeated a couple more times until only bones were left and I moved onto the ball left by the arm, that had been ripped off with the first throw, till even that was reduced to bones.

Putting away the last corked bottle, I then pulled out another bottle, this one filled, and began pouring the liquid over the bones, which began dissolving while letting off an acrid smoke.

It was something I learned from Snape of all people, seeing as he was more than happy to tell us about how our potions could fuck us up, that an improperly brewed skelegrow potion would dissolve bones instead.

It was ironic, that a potion meant to grow bones would dissolve them when improperly brewed.

It was also incredibly useful, since I not only didn't have the skills nor time to make a bone dissolving potion but also because it let me mess around with the volume of ingredients to increase the amount of faulty potion I'd get, since I was going for an improper potion anyways.

Not that that really mattered, seeing as only half the potion I had was enough to melt all the bones into a viscous white liquid. A liquid that I vanished, along with the rest of the leaked fluid, with a simple Scourgify.

Then, once I was sure that I'd cleaned up after myself and the bottles of essence were safe in my bag, I hurriedly went towards the stairs…

… only to be intercepted by the Weasley twins.