Chapter 52 Coincidence
"Huh?" Hermione's pale face suddenly regained color. She looked at Basil, "Two boats? When did you get girlfriends? And two?"
She took a step forward as if possessed, her voice so loud it seemed it would shatter the water tank, "Padma and Parvati?"
Ron and Harry's voices were drowned out by Hermione's high-pitched shout.
"You're not his girlfriend?"
"Could it be a misunderstanding?"
What the hell!
He's still a budding, innocent boy!
Even Ding Zhen isn't as innocent as him!
"In this world, I've never had a girlfriend!" Basil looked at Hermione defiantly, "Are you confused? If it were true, Parvati would say, 'If she weren't in the way, Basil would already be ours'?"
"Huh?" Hermione's height seemed to shrink suddenly.
Ron, standing to the side, finally understood the whole thing, "You're not doing this because of me, but because of Parvati?"
Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes at Ron.
A sweet spring seemed to well up in her heart.
Coming to her senses, she realized that Basil had been willing to embarrass himself in front of the girls' restroom and forgo the Halloween feast just to see her.
She must be special to Basil.
Besides, didn't Basil's conversation with Professor McGonagall while waiting for the Sorting prove everything?
Ron's little offense was nothing!
So she excitedly tiptoed and said almost singingly, "Shall we go back to the feast?"
Basil shook his head. "It's too late."
In his mind, Hogwarts had just been conjured up by Quirrell.
Quirrell didn't Apparate.
Only Basil and Dumbledore had that authority over the castle.
But for the sake of convenience, Dumbledore had compromised,
adding FlooNet to the whitelist and integrating it into Hogwarts' magnetic field.
And Voldemort, or rather Quirrell...
Having somehow obtained access to the Floo Network,
Quirrell secretly connected a line in the basement, to a room next to Snape's office.
However, this line seemed to be disposable.
Then, Quirrell emerged from the green flames carrying a brown leather suitcase.
Snape, who was waiting in Quirrell's office, sensed something was wrong and prepared to go downstairs.
But it was too late.
The line was destroyed, the green flames went out, and
the suitcase, also disposable,
exploded with a crackling sound after the space jump.
Quirrell quickly threw it out of the room
, scattered a cloud of powder in Snape's office, and then ran towards the Great Hall on the first floor.
In the corridor,
the suitcase was shattered, leaving no trace.
In its place stood a gigantic troll and a ten-foot-long wooden club.
This wasn't a rhetorical question;
it was truly enormous.
Trolls typically stood twelve feet tall and weighed over a ton. A small head the size of a coconut sat atop its massive body. Its legs were incredibly thick, with flat, calloused feet. Its arms were long, and its body emitted a nauseating stench.
Depending on its habitat, it was classified into three types: mountain trolls, forest trolls, and river trolls.
The one before them, judging by its granite-like gray skin and bald head,
was undoubtedly the most dangerous of the trolls—a mountain troll.
Moreover, it was much larger and stronger than a typical mountain troll, standing sixteen feet tall and weighing at least three tons.
Compared to the troll in the movie, that troll was only a six or seven-year-old child.
"Why is it too late?" Ron, still not full, rubbed his stomach in confusion.
"It told me there's something dangerous in the basement," Basil said, as the Devil's Web extended its tendrils, revealing itself to everyone. "My family has the ability to manipulate and communicate with plants."
"But isn't the Devil's Web afraid of light?" Hermione insisted, momentarily forgetting which compartment the tendrils had come from.
Quirrell had already informed them of the troll in the basement.
Dumbledore was arranging for the students to leave the Great Hall in an orderly fashion, under the protection of the professors.
The enormous troll
, after leaving the box, hesitated for about a minute
before casually picking up a wooden club and smashing it towards Snape's office next door.
Fortunately, the castle was sturdy enough, and Snape himself knew he was unpopular, so his office was protected by many protective spells.
Thus, the dimly lit, sticky plant and animal specimens floating in colorful potions in hundreds of glass bottles were preserved.
Then the troll followed the smell of food and climbed upstairs.
The aroma of delicious food in the Great Hall perfectly masked the lingering smell of leftover food hidden in the magical paintings.
The Slytherin snakes returned safely to their dormitories, just missing each other.
It's hard not to think this was Voldemort's deliberate arrangement.
The professors, who rushed to the basement to search for the troll, also missed it.
They all assumed Snape was in his office, and whoever released the troll would have chosen a place far from the office.
Meanwhile, the troll, too short to enter the Great Hall but seeing no food inside through its small head,
was drawn to the smell of the second-best 'delicacy'—Olive—from the second-floor restrooms.
The staircase, which likes to move, didn't cause any trouble this time,
safely bringing it up.
Just then, Basil finished explaining everything to Hermione and the others.
Hermione's questions gave the troll time for its series of actions.
It was all too coincidental.
Basil checked the Headmaster's office, and Dumbledore, as expected, had activated the condenser again, observing them in the girls' restroom.
The silver mirror was also on the table.
Snape and the other professors met in front of the cracked door to his office.
Quirrell was now facing the three-headed dog.
All of this was revealed in the smoke from the condenser.
Dumbledore's azure eyes were filled with curiosity.
He paid no attention to Quirrell, controlled by Voldemort, casting spell after spell at the three-headed dog.
Nor did he notice Snape's gloomy face, which was being stared at strangely by his colleagues.
His gaze was entirely focused on Basil's face, so similar to Grindelwald's, and the strange, light-proof Devil's Web that had completely moved its 'body' out of the cubicle.
"Basil Granger, let me see what kind of power you, as a great wizard, possess,"
a voice came from the silver mirror. "This boy is unlucky to be the subject of your attention."
Dumbledore, you bastard!
In the bathroom, Basil also shivered.
"What should we do?" Hermione began reciting the incantation.
Ron was filled with regret. "I should have known better than to pester Basil with all those questions!"
Harry sniffed. "I smell it! Like Dudley's stinky socks mixed with a filthy public toilet!"
Then he shut his mouth abruptly.
A low grumbling and the sound of massive feet dragging on the ground were growing louder.
Basil drew his wand, and [Dragon Rider] appeared.
He wasn't flustered at all, even having the leisure to complain inwardly, "Honestly, I was going to use [True Word Appraiser] and the Killing Curse. Looks like I'll have to change my plans. [Dragon Rider] with a troll's beard core might be more suitable."
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(End of Chapter)