Chapter 16: Hermione and the Giant

As he hurried downstairs again, Macka saw Chirac stumbling towards the cafeteria. Chirac ran up from the stairs leading to the basement, then disappeared at the corner at an extremely fast speed, apparently not noticing Macka on the second-floor staircase.

"Hail to the Prince of Shadows." Macka saluted as he ran, keeping his body straight, and continued running until he reached the corridor of the basement.

As soon as he got there, he smelled a mixture of two months' unwashed socks and the stale odor of an old toilet.

"This smell mixed with the pumpkin flavor filling the entire castle is really deadly."

Macka looked up and saw the giant in the corridor, but the other party seemed not to notice him.

"Stupefy!" Macka drew his wand and cast a spell at it.

"Bang!"

The giant fell down in response, which made Macka stunned for a moment— he remembered that the giant's resistance to magic was quite good, so it shouldn't just faint like that, right?

Just as Macka was pondering, the giant struggled to get up again. It seemed that Macka remembered correctly— this thing's resistant skin was indeed a major characteristic inherited from giants.

Next, Macka witnessed the giant's second major characteristic— its brain wasn't functioning properly.

It looked around, probably because the corridor in the basement was too dark, and it hadn't noticed its enemy who had attacked it. Instead, as if hearing something, it forcibly squeezed through the door next to it.

Immediately, Macka heard a piercing, terrified scream.

"The intelligence is lower than I imagined. It seems that 'Monsters and Their Habitats' needs to be revised. The descriptions inside are too vague." Macka muttered as he ran towards the sound.

"Hermione!"

Arriving at the door, Macka immediately saw Hermione curled up under the sink, trembling with fear while looking at the angry giant!

The giant obviously hadn't noticed the extra person behind it, as it approached Hermione with large strides, its large wooden club almost about to hit Hermione. The situation was obviously critical, and there was no time for a Stunning Spell or anything like that.

"Expelliarmus!" Hastily, Macka aimed at the wooden club in its hand and cast a Disarming Charm.

The large wooden club slipped out of the giant's hand, almost brushing Hermione's hair as it flew past her, bouncing off the wall corner and landing in the toilet cubicle, knocking down a large section of the partition.

"Reducto!"

While the giant was still stunned by the loss of its club, Macka aimed at the back of its neck and struck with all his might.

With a loud "bang," a bowl-sized hole appeared in the back of the giant's neck, with bloody mess inside, faintly visible were the shattered vertebrae.

The giant's huge body swayed, then collapsed heavily to the ground, its body twitching a few times.

"Phew..." Macka couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at the sight, "If it had hit somewhere else, it would probably just be a chunk of flesh missing, no wonder this big guy is known for his thick skin!"

"Ugh... Macka!" Hermione seemed to be frightened, she suddenly pounced into Macka's arms.

He felt the warmth of her embrace, but his mind was murmuring, "This little girl, did she start developing from first year?"

"Cough, it's okay, it's okay now." Feeling the girl trembling in his arms, he had to temporarily suppress his random thoughts and comfort her.

In fact, Macka didn't have any special feelings towards this know-it-all miss, even when she grew up. But who would refuse a proactive embrace from the female lead? Although it was for a reason now, it still made Macka feel a bit floaty.

To calm his agitated mood, Macka began to mutter something under his breath, and faintly words like "three years," "death penalty" could be heard, inexplicably.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of footsteps, and the two people huddled together looked up. Hermione paused for a moment, then pushed Macka's chest hard, trying to keep herself as far away as possible.

Obviously, the noise just now was too loud, attracting someone's attention.

"Hermione!" "Macka?"

It was Ron and Harry, they looked surprised at everything here, and didn't notice Hermione's blushing face.

But before they could say anything else, Professor McGonagall rushed into the bathroom, followed by Snape, with Chirac at the end. Chirac glanced at the giant and let out a weak sob, sitting on a toilet, clutching his chest tightly.

Snape walked over to look at the giant. Professor McGonagall looked at everyone present, her lips pale, her eyes wide open, obviously quite angry.

"What kind of game are you playing?" Professor McGonagall said, her voice cold and angry.

Harry and Ron glanced at Macka, who was still holding his wand, standing there.

"You're lucky you weren't killed by it! Why didn't you stay in the dormitory obediently?" Professor McGonagall scolded loudly, Macka thought she looked just like the lion on the Gryffindor badge when she was angry.

"Oh..." "Please, Professor McGonagall, he was looking for me."

Macka was about to speak, but was interrupted by Hermione.

"Miss Granger!" Professor McGonagall said somewhat surprised, in her impression, Hermione Granger was an extremely rule-abiding good student.

Hermione finally got up with the support of her weak knees.

"I came to find the giant because I... I thought I could deal with it alone— you know, because I've read about them in books and I know a lot about them."

"Oh, Hermione, you don't have to..." Macka shook his head, he had just gotten up.

"Professor, I heard on my way to the cafeteria that Miss Granger was in the bathroom." Macka explained, "She had encountered something that upset her, so she has been here instead of going to the cafeteria."

"I just wanted to come and comfort her, you know, she's my friend." Maca shrugged, with an innocent expression on his face, "But who knew there would be a giant rampaging around Hogwarts?"

"I think this should be investigated." Maca glanced meaningfully at Quirrel, but Quirrel was sobbing loudly, continuing his dramatic performance!

"Oh— if that's the case..." Professor McGonagall looked at them, pondering.

"Mr. Maclean, did you use the Smashing Hex to shatter the giant's vertebrae?" Snape asked coldly, glancing at Harry before turning to Maca.

Maca immediately felt a sense of unease, but he kept a straight face and nodded.

"I believe so."

"Hmph, quite a powerful spell. But can you explain where you learned it?" Snape stared at Maca with a dark expression, "I don't think first-year textbooks contain spells of the 'curse' category, do they?"

McGonagall glanced back at the giant's wound, which was still gushing blood at this point!

"...I taught myself." Maca had to admit the truth.

The situation just now was too urgent, and he didn't have time to think too much, just subconsciously chose a suitable spell. At this point, he could only be thankful that he was far from mastering the Unforgivable Curses! Otherwise, if he had inadvertently cast a Killing Curse, he would probably have to deal with Dementors in Azkaban!

"Good heavens! You're just a first-year!" McGonagall seemed to have just come to her senses. She hurried over to inspect Maca, seemingly more concerned about her student's physical condition than the spell.

"...Maca."

Hermione looked at Maca with a worried expression. She knew the classification of curses very well. Curses were all dark magic, which required strong negative emotions to successfully cast. Even the three Unforgivable Curses were in this category!

However, unlike other curses, the reason the Unforgivable Curses were "unforgivable" was precisely because the Killing Curse and the Cruciatus Curse had no corresponding counter-curses, while the Imperius Curse had an extremely disruptive effect — it could completely control a person's body and mind.

"Thank goodness you're okay, just a little tired—I mean, Mr. Maclean, you must provide a reasonable explanation for your actions!" McGonagall seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, immediately putting on a stern face after realizing the situation was inappropriate.

"Uh, I think I might have progressed a bit too fast—I mean, I love studying, and..." At this point, Maca deliberately glanced at Hermione, "I hope I can protect those I care about."

Hermione blushed at the words, while Harry and Ron, who were next to McGonagall, had no reaction at all. It seemed that girls matured earlier than boys, which made sense with the saying that "the library can help."

McGonagall looked at Maca, her mouth involuntarily curling upwards. In her eyes, Maca's appearance as a little adult was quite amusing.

Snape, on the other hand, looked back and forth between Maca and Hermione without saying a word, his thoughts unknown.

"Professor McGonagall, if it weren't for Maca saving me, I would probably have been eaten by the giant by now." Hermione pleaded.

"I think we need to discuss the matter of the Smashing Hex with Dumbledore," McGonagall said, "But, I don't think there has ever been a first-year student who could defeat a giant alone. You've earned ten points for Hufflepuff."

"Now, come with me to the Headmaster's office. As for the rest of you," McGonagall glanced at the others, "you may leave."

Maca glanced at the three of them, seemingly calmly following McGonagall as she turned and walked away, leaving the washroom through the shattered and broken doorframe.

"Oh—I'll, I'll deal with this, uh, this big fellow." Quirrel stuttered as he wiped his face.

Snape looked coldly at Harry, then turned and followed.

Hermione looked worriedly at Maca's back, but she had no doubt in her mind that Maca would be expelled or anything.

Harry and Ron, however, didn't have such worries, or perhaps they simply didn't think too much.

"What's a 'curse'? Sounds really cool!" Ron looked at the motionless giant on the ground; the large wound looked a bit frightening.

"Yeah! Even that only-damage big bat said 'not bad'! I can't believe it." Harry also nodded.

"He's just mocking Maca!" Hermione exclaimed loudly.