34 Chp 34: T-t-troll
Location: Hogwarts
Date: 31st of October (16:55)
Although Adam was sat in his final class of the day, his mind was somewhere else, not that he ever actually paid attention to the professor whose monotone narration made even a goblin rebellion, seem less interesting than watching paint dry for six hundred and seven minutes straight.
Adam had returned earlier in the day with more questions than he had answers. He didn't know anything; why those items were left there or who, no ... what spoke to him and what crucially the message it left meant. He didn't even know who the garish suit, mask and belt belonged to or how to use them'.
'You can always go scare children with the suit if this magic thing doesn't work out for you' chuckled Calcifer.
'Not helpful'.
'Adam, relax, we know what one item is ... not that we know how to use it, but don't let that get you down buddy'.
'A friend ....a friend' he thought he didn't have any friends that were unaccounted for, none of the students at Hogwarts had disappeared he'd seen Morag in Transfiguration this morning and despite his initial annoyance he had kind of learnt to cope with Earnie and the other Hufflepuff boys who were insufferably friendly'.
'Kaldor isn't a friend he's more like a father figure or teacher ... then who'.
'Adam...Adam class is over' said Morag who was sat next to him.
"Yeah yeah coming" said Adam still away with his thoughts that were spiralling depressingly.
----
Halloween Feast
The great hall was swinging with the Halloween spirit, festooned with confectionery-filled pumpkins, apples, black cauldrons of big lollipops, carrot cake, bats, orange streamers, goblets of coloured sweets, Pumpkin juice, and all sorts of Hallowe'en-related decorations flying between the rafters, the ghosts putting on acrobatic displays above.
Woooah
A chorus of exclamations rose from the raven claw table as nearly headless Nick did a fly by one side of the table as part of a larger ghostly aerial performance.
Distracted Morag looked around trying to see Adam to send him a wave, only to see him get to his feet eyes wide and empty, leaving the hall moments after a Gryffindor girl had left the hall holding back tears.
Morag worried for her friend got up to follow him.
----
As Adam sat down to eat the riddle-like message had finally clicked, making the food look bland and unimportant as he reminisced about the meals he had shared with the kin who had in essence given their lives for him.
'...Kôrv'.
Adam stood up from the table needing to clear his head. Having left he wandered past the grand staircase, bumping into Professor Quirrell who if he had been paying attention, would have been noticeably ragged and out of breath, but Adam completely in his own world wondered on deciding in the end to go to the library to see if he could find any mention of a dark city in its historied tomes.
Thud thud thud -sniff- -sniff-
Looking up Adam saw something he hadn't been expecting to see. Twelve feet tall stood a giant troll-like thing its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was particularly overwhelming for Adam's nose. It was holding a huge wooden club, which it dragged along the floor.
Adam did a double take, thinking he was seeing things.
'Calcifer are you seeing this'.
'That I am'.
'Ah'
'Why do you think it's here'.
'No idea'.
'Me neither, do you think we should just leave it maybe it's just like a pet they let out from time to time'.
The beast leant down entering the nearby girl's toilet.
'Well it can't be that dangerous it didn't even see us it must pretty blind'.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh".
A sudden scream erupted from the toilet.
Adam's features hardened, pawing at his wand.
Another scream burst out as the sound of wood splintering was heard.
'Not a pet'.
Adam not wasting any more time burst into a sprint lightly drawing on the warp to speed up his perception of time passing warp lightning through his nerves, whilst simultaneously reinforcing his muscles and ligaments.
Crossing the long corridor in a matter of seconds, whilst grunting from the pain Adam skidded to a halt as he turned to the right only to hear another scream, followed by the picture of the club flashing past the doorway as it was pulled back over the thing's head.
'Not another, I shall not suffer another' thought Adam his anger bubbling which had been swelling since his realisation about the note.
Kicking off the inside of the doorway, Adam catapulted himself into the girl's toilet, though it was missing all of its toilet stalls, which had been standing tall seconds earlier. A terrified girl cowered under the last intact basin the rest having been beaten into ceramic shards, water spouting out of their eviscerated aerators.
The water droplets fell in slow motion as Adams processed the situation, he wasn't sure he could move fast enough, the club falling centimetres from the basin a second from crushing the girl.
Drawing his wand, he cast green light burst from his wand, striking the club as it was kissing the top of the spout.
Depulso
The troll's club shot sideways wrenched free from its grip.
The troll looked confused for a second, staring at its empty hand.
"Move" shouted Adam at the girl, but she only cried and shook harder.
But with this shout, the troll noticed him, its goofy ass expression turning violent as its toy was suddenly taken away from it, promptly charging him as its spittle flew everywhere.
Waiting for the last possible moment Adam spun to the side the car-sized troll thundering into the wall causing spiderweb-like crack marks to dissipate from where the troll had struck.
The pain from enhancing his nervous system and the girl being entirely useless flipped Adam's 'violence switch' to the max, his eyes cold, yet backed with the ghostly illusion of a thunderstorm growing deep within his retina.
With a look that verged on contempt and derision, Adam channelled the biological lightning passing through his nerves into the hand holding his wand in a reverse grip, which began to crackle with lightning, letting out a relieved sigh as the pain diminished somewhat.
Time returned to normal his nerves having lost their enhancement.
Counter-charging the troll Adam leapt into the air; wand prepped to nail the troll in the head.
Much faster than it should have been able to, the troll's arm swung up right hooking him into the wall. Adam slapped the wall hard bouncing off it, but somehow his ribs barely creaked despite having been hit with the force of four or five horses. Nonetheless, the breath was driven out of him causing him to gasp as he bounced off the floor tumbling right up to the crying girl. Looking up he realised who it was, the girl's head having been hidden in her hands and robes.
'Oh it's Hermione' he thought, before the troll grabbed him by the leg wrenching him up and into the air. Using his core he stabbed down cutting off the tips of the fingers holding him. Adam fell on his face bursting his lip, as his teeth bit into them.
The troll losing its fingers gave Adam a second to recover, reigniting the lightning flickering around his blade-like wand.
"Twat" said Adam spitting blood, channelling near dangerous levels of the warp as he exploded at the troll smashing his wand, like a spear into the troll's head which it quickly became as a purple lightning strike burst from its tip with a flash of light.
Adam lost his sight, and his ears burst, as a clap of thunder reverberated around the room. Adam rode the troll down as it staggered over thudding heavily to the ground. Stabbing blindly, again and again with his wand like a man from 'endz'.
Adam's vision returned some twenty seconds later to the sight of a troll missing its head, with innumerable stab wounds snaking from its neck to its chest.
'Now it's dead' said Adam to Calcifer, getting up and turning to Hermione who's panic attack had turned to one of both gratitude and revulsion, her thankful eyes morphing into more shock as she looked around and threw up into the one remaining sink.
Turning around, Adam asked, "You okay".
"... ..... ..., ... ... ... .. ...." replied Hermione.
"Sorry what did you say" asked Adam confused that he could see Hermione's mouth moving, despite not being able to hear her.
"... .... .... .." Hermione said something but then walked up to him and pointed at the side of his head.
"What" said Adam putting his hand to his head and feeling something wet. Returning it to his eye level he saw his blood, almost a neon red.
"I think my ears are burst!" said Adam over-enunciating and shouting loud enough that Hermione covered her own ears which were still tender from her own proximity to the thunderclap.
"Sorry!".
Hermione's face suddenly became serious only to point behind Adam.
