"AHHH! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"
"A troll! A giant troll!"
"HELP!"
"What's a troll?!"
The Great Hall exploded into instant chaos.
Students screamed, benches overturned, and the younger children scattered like terrified ants on a burning pan.
Dumbledore finally raised his wand and launched several enormous purple fireworks into the air before the hall quieted enough for anyone to hear him.
"Prefects," Dumbledore said calmly, though his voice carried across the entire room, "escort your houses back to the dormitories immediately."
Percy Weasley instantly gathered the Gryffindors together with the exhausted determination of someone already imagining disciplinary paperwork.
The line moved quickly toward the exit.
Unfortunately, three particularly disorderly first-years soon disappeared from formation.
"How did a troll even get into the school?" Harry whispered while hurrying alongside Ron and Ethan.
The culprit himself remained perfectly calm.
What a mystery indeed.
"Wait," Ethan suddenly said. "Where's Hermione?"
Harry froze instantly.
"She skipped dinner," he realised. "Parvati said she was crying in the girls' bathroom all afternoon…"
Ron looked horrified.
Then guilty.
Then horrified again.
"Well," Ethan said encouragingly, "go rescue the distressed heroine."
He paused thoughtfully.
"Otherwise who's going to let us copy homework this week?"
Harry and Ron stared at him.
"I mean emotionally," Ethan corrected immediately.
"Ron upset her earlier," Harry explained quickly while they hurried away from the others. "If she doesn't know about the troll—"
"Don't let Percy see us," Ron muttered.
The three successfully blended into a passing group of Hufflepuffs and slipped away unnoticed toward the girls' bathroom.
Honestly, Ethan originally expected this part to proceed smoothly.
After all, both trolls should have been busy destroying underground classrooms right now.
Unfortunately, reality had developed severe problems.
Even before reaching the bathroom door, Ethan heard strange noises inside.
Heavy breathing.
Deep growling.
Loud impacts.
Somehow… wet sounds.
Ethan's expression changed immediately.
He tried to stop Harry from opening the door.
Too late.
Creak.
Harry and Ron stared inside.
Then both froze permanently.
There were two trolls in the bathroom.
One large.
One slightly smaller.
Both at least twelve feet tall.
Their grey skin resembled cracked stone, and their massive club weapons had been discarded carelessly nearby because the trolls were currently focused on significantly more important activities.
"…I did try to stop you," Ethan said weakly while covering his face. "Unfortunately I was slightly too late."
Why had the two trolls he and Quirrell brought into the castle turned out to be male and female?
More importantly—
Why had they immediately started mating?
What horrifying biological instinct caused this?
Ethan genuinely felt someone should financially compensate him for witnessing this scene.
"I'm sorry," Harry whispered instinctively to the trolls.
"We should leave," Ron croaked. "Immediately."
All three boys slowly stepped backward in perfect synchronisation.
Click.
Harry quietly shut the bathroom door again.
Unfortunately, the trolls had already noticed them.
A furious roar exploded from inside.
Then came Hermione's terrified scream alongside the sound of exploding pipes and shattered sinks.
Apparently the trolls had redirected their attention toward the nearest living creature.
"Hermione!" Harry and Ron shouted together.
Ethan briefly forgot why they were even here because his brain still struggled to process the troll mating situation.
Honestly, this deserved front-page coverage in the Daily Prophet.
But before he could continue traumatising himself mentally, Harry and Ron charged forward toward the door.
Ethan grabbed both immediately.
"Alohomora!"
The lock clicked open.
Harry and Ron rushed inside first while Ethan followed behind them.
[Soul Strength: 7]
[Soul Strength: 8]
Pathetically weak.
Compared to adult Acromantulas, the trolls barely qualified as threats at all.
Ethan could probably consume both souls effortlessly.
Unfortunately, the smell hit him first.
"Blegh—"
He gagged immediately.
The bathroom now contained the combined stench of trolls, sewer water, and deeply disturbing troll intimacy.
Ethan nearly reconsidered existing.
"HEY!"
Harry smashed a loose tap against the wall.
Both trolls turned slowly toward the noise, their clubs stopping barely inches away from Hermione's head.
"HEY! UGLY!" Ron shouted from the opposite side while throwing a broken pipe fragment at one troll.
"Confringo!"
Ethan launched an explosive curse directly into the second troll's forehead.
Honestly, two Killing Curses would solve everything instantly.
Unfortunately, several people nearby would definitely notice.
Ethan's original plan involved collapsing the bathroom ceiling using Severing Charms and simply burying the trolls beneath several tons of Hogwarts masonry.
Efficient.
Safe.
Minimal direct involvement.
And most importantly, Ethan absolutely refused to eat troll souls after what he had just witnessed.
"Hermione!" Harry shouted desperately. "Get over here!"
But Hermione was still only an eleven-year-old girl.
She remained frozen against the wall in absolute terror.
Ethan quietly raised his wand toward the ceiling while waiting for the trolls to move into proper position.
Then Harry ruined everything.
The idiot suddenly leapt directly onto one troll's back and shoved his wand into the creature's nostril.
The second troll immediately raised its club toward Harry.
"…Does it have to be like this every single time?" Ethan groaned.
Ron panicked beside him and instinctively cast the only spell he fully remembered.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The troll's club floated upward awkwardly.
Unfortunately, the swing missed completely.
And because the club was moving horizontally instead of vertically, even losing magical control now would merely cause it to crash harmlessly into the floor.
Wonderful.
Plan A officially dead.
"Flipendo!"
Ethan immediately changed targets.
Instead of attacking the troll, he blasted Harry directly off its shoulders.
"Arresto Momentum."
A cushioning charm caught Harry safely before impact.
Excellent.
Crisis avoided.
Now Ethan could finally end this disaster properly.
"Tear apart."
His final severing spell sliced directly into the ceiling overhead.
A massive chunk of stone collapsed downward instantly, smashing both trolls flat beneath the debris.
Silence.
Then the system notifications arrived.
[Ding! Goodwill Value +100]
[Ding! Goodwill Value +100]
[Current Goodwill Value (2000/2000) has reached required threshold.]
[Kindness Branch Quest unlocked.]
[Backpack System activated.]
"…What?"
Ethan genuinely did not know how to describe his emotions anymore.
....
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