It turned out that when Professor Quirrell experimented on the troll, he had infused it with the blood of an unknown magical reptile, causing an unexpected mutation.
This particular troll had developed a translucent nictitating membrane over its eyes—a detail Quirrell had dismissed as a harmless anomaly.
He assumed it was just an extra layer for protection against wind and water.
But in reality, this membrane gave the troll an unusual ability—it could see traces of magic.
Any active spell left a faint blue glow on its vision, a detail that had gone unnoticed simply because the troll had never reacted to Quirrell's magic.
It had been conditioned to his presence.
Ted's mistake was casting spells while still too close.
The moment he used two consecutive spells to retrieve the key fragment, the flickering blue aura reflected in the troll's eyes, snapping it out of its drowsy state. Its groggy mind may not have grasped the situation fully, but one thing was clear—something was glowing, and it wasn't supposed to be there.
A deep, guttural roar shook the chamber.
The sound alone sent a cold shiver down Ted's spine. Worse, the other trolls stirred at the noise.
The fish-like troll groaned groggily, shifting as if trying to resist sleep.
Even the salt-armored one, the most heavily affected by the Draught of Living Death, twitched as its eyelids fluttered.
Ted's instincts screamed at him to move. Without hesitation, he threw himself into a roll, narrowly avoiding a massive club that slammed into the ground behind him with an earth-shattering thud. Stone cracked under the impact, sending debris flying.
His heart pounded. That would have splattered him across the chamber like a poorly cast Transfiguration spell.
"Damn it!" He scrambled to his feet, glancing at his hand. His wand was still there, but his invisibility had broken from the rough landing.
But there was good news—Harley and Jerry had retrieved their key fragments too.
"You guys go first! I'll hold them off!" Ted shouted, tossing his piece of the key toward them.
He then flicked his wand at his own feet. "Grease!"
Immediately, the ground beneath him turned slick, and he slid out of the way just as the troll's club came swinging down again.
The sheer force of the swing sent a gust of wind rushing past him. If that had connected—
No time to think about it.
"Impedimenta!" Harley shouted, trying to slow the beast. The spell hit, but the troll only flinched before shaking it off, barely affected.
Hermione was quicker. "Glisseo!"
The moment the spell hit the troll's feet, it slipped. The massive creature teetered, arms flailing, before crashing onto its back with a thunderous boom that shook the entire room.
Its oversized club went flying, landing far out of reach.
But the spell had an unintended side effect—it broke Hermione's own invisibility.
"Jerry! Get the door open!" Neville yelled, stepping forward. With one hand, he held his wand; with the other, he gripped the short sword Ted had Transfigured for him. His grip tightened as he stood in front of Ted, refusing to retreat.
"We're not leaving you behind!" Neville said firmly. "Stopping Voldemort is important, but I won't abandon my friends!"
Ted blinked before smirking. "You really are the bravest of us, huh?"
"I'll handle the crocodile troll!" Hermione called out, raising her wand. "Avis!"
A flock of magical birds erupted from her wand, screeching as they swarmed the troll's face, pecking and flapping wildly.
The troll growled in frustration, swiping at them with its massive hands.
Jerry, meanwhile, had finally slotted the three key fragments into the stone door's lock. The ancient mechanism groaned as the massive door began to shift open.
But then, a deep growl rumbled through the chamber.
The salt-armored troll, the strongest of the three, was waking up.
Despite consuming the largest portion of the Draught of Living Death, it wasn't fully subdued.
It groaned, rolling onto its side, struggling to lift itself up. Its movements were sluggish, almost like a drunken giant, but it was getting up nonetheless.
"Ted, we need to go, NOW!" Ron shouted, stepping through the now-open door.
Ted hesitated for only a second. Then, gritting his teeth, he raised his wand.
"I hope this works…"
He took a deep breath and moved his free hand in a circular motion around his wand, gathering magic.
For six whole seconds, a tiny ember flickered at the wand's tip.
Then, it expanded—rapidly—growing into a swirling, volatile fireball larger than a human head.
"Take this!"
With a flick of his wand, Ted hurled the fireball directly at the trolls.
He didn't stick around to watch. The moment the fire left his wand, he dived through the doorway.
The stone door slammed shut behind him just as an explosion rocked the chamber.
A muffled BOOM echoed through the walls, shaking the ground beneath their feet. The shockwave sent dust and debris falling from the ceiling.
The group lay sprawled on the floor, wide-eyed and panting from adrenaline.
Ron was the first to break the silence. "Ted… did you just blow up Hogwarts?"
Harley rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. That was strong, sure, but Hogwarts is way tougher than that."
Hermione, however, looked worried. "Do you think that blast will alert the professors?"
Jerry, still catching his breath, rolled his eyes. "Would that really be a bad thing?"
Ted and the others took a quick look around the room. It was small, built from cold stone, with a heavy door on the opposite side sealed by eerie purple flames.
In front of them, a long wooden table held a neat row of glass bottles, each filled with a different liquid.
After confirming there were no immediate threats, they pressed their ears against the wall, listening carefully to the sounds from the previous chamber.
The trolls were still alive. For now.
The dull crashes and the clanking of shifting debris continued for nearly thirty seconds before Ted suddenly received a system notification:
[Ding~ You have slain the Giant Fish Troll. +750 XP!]
[Ding~ You have slain the Giant Crocodile Troll. +800 XP!]
[Ding~ You have slain the Salt-Skinned Troll. +950 XP!]
Triple kill.
Dead. All of them.
Ted's eyebrows shot up. The experience gain was huge—far more than what he'd received from previous fights.
Maybe because these trolls had been tough enemies, the system had rewarded him accordingly.
But the best part? His plan had worked.
The series of Grease spells he'd cast earlier wasn't just to stop the trolls from standing back up—it was to create fuel.
The final Fireball he launched had done its job, not just incinerating them, but spreading the flames through the entire chamber.
The trolls hadn't just been fighting to get back on their feet; they had been fighting for their lives in a sea of fire.
Ted exhaled, his shoulders relaxing.
'Good.'
However… How was he supposed to retrieve his cards from the charred remains?
For a few more seconds, the group exchanged uneasy glances. No sound came from the other side. The trolls were well and truly dead.
Ted straightened. "Alright, we need to confirm. If even one of them is still alive, we could be in trouble. I'll check. You guys focus on this puzzle."
Before anyone could argue, he cast an Invisibility Charm on himself and approached the heavy stone door. "Alohomora."
The door creaked open, and a wave of intense heat blasted him in the face.
Ted winced, shielding his eyes from the rising smoke. The chamber was nearly unrecognizable.
Thick black soot clung to the walls, and wisps of smoke curled up from the ground, where pockets of fire still flickered among the wreckage.
The three trolls lay sprawled, motionless. They had been reduced to smoldering husks, their massive bodies charred beyond recognition.
Ted wrinkled his nose at the acrid stench of burnt flesh.
He quickly stepped inside, walking lightly across the hot stone, pretending to check the bodies while discreetly retrieving his cards.
His fingers tingled as he stashed them away—
Too hot. If he stood here any longer, he'd end up roasted, too.
He hurried back to the others. "Trolls are dead. We're clear."
The tension broke instantly. Ron, still leaning against the wall, let out a breath of relief. "Merlin's beard… That was three trolls. And we actually won."
The others weren't paying attention to Ron, though.
They had gathered around the table, where Hermione was already deep in thought, eyes scanning a piece of parchment.
Ron frowned. "What are you all looking at?"
Hermione muttered, "It's a logic puzzle… similar to ones I've seen in Muggle newspapers."
She pointed at the parchment. "There are seven bottles, but only one contains the potion to pass through the flames. Four are just nettle wine, two are poison. We have to figure out which one is safe to drink."
Harley raised an eyebrow. "And?"
Hermione's eyes flicked between the bottles and the parchment. After a few moments, her lips curled into a triumphant smile. "Got it!"
She reached for the second bottle on the left. "This is the one."
The group stared at the tiny vial in her hand. It was small—barely enough for a single sip.
"That's it?" Harley asked.
Silence stretched between them. Nobody spoke.
Then Ron cleared his throat. "Okay, hear me out… What if Voldemort hasn't even made it this far yet? We could just wait here."
Jerry nodded quickly. "Yeah! The professors are bound to notice something's wrong and come looking for us soon, right?"
But before anyone else could weigh in, Neville stepped forward and plucked the bottle from Hermione's grasp. "People always say I'm just lucky to still be here. Maybe it's time I prove them wrong."
"Neville, wait—!" Harley reached for him, but too late.
Neville uncorked the bottle and, without hesitation, downed the potion in one gulp.
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Word count: 1647
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