Five year and above were to help...fourth and below were to stay back.

Alright, Benny supposed he could do that, Angel was already clinging to him as a shield so he supposed he was already working on keeping back and keeping others there as well. Assisting Adi and the other prefects who had been called in to keep charge over the younger students. He moved backwards with Angel when Culloden took charge and spells began flying in attempts to sway the speaking troll from his plans to gobble them all up.

Spells...desks...other things like the shoe from Miss Head Girl.

"Zeke...!!" he said as the first year lion stayed where he was and raised his wand. An explosive spell coming from the tip a moment or so later. "Zeke you should leave it to the others and stay back..." he instructed. Miss-placed spells could hurt those students and professor already on the forefront of the action.

Another threat from the troll and then some spells must have hit their mark. For said troll went down...and VANISHED! Oh things were very...very weird. Was everyone okay?

Blah blah blah was all he heard from Ben. Because seriously he was NOT going to sit back like a little kid when there was work to be done. They were ALLLLL in danger, so he had the RIGHT to HELP as he saw fit. Yeppp... just helping.

"Dun wanna," he muttered in reply, though his gaze was focused on the troll.

And... wow...

The TROOOLLLL... was... about to flop!

Zeke took a teensy tiny step back. He didn't fancy being thwacked by it. Not like this. It would be worse than being dived on by a kid his own size. And those hurt. But then...

Poooooof?

PPOOOOOOOOOFFFF?

The troll was, gone?

"What just happened? I don't get it. Do trolls normally do that?" He had questions, and these were two of the million swimming around in his head.

A lot was going on. A LOT.

Ethan absent-mindedly nodded at Culloden’s instruction and snatched, rather roughly the stray LITTLE people who are still cemented in place due to shock. Merlin’s beard, were they asking for a DEATH WISH?! The Slytherin stopped from his tracks when he saw a blue light emanating from his left side, and side-stepped immediately to duck the stray spell. CUTTY?! What? And why was he tossing HIS wand to Lex? Fine. FINE it was the Head Girl, sure, BUT his cousin would be unarmed! What was he even THINKING?! Ethan was about to snap at the other Mordaunt, when he saw Sophie got hit by the spell. Marigold came to her rescue, then Culloden shouting at her telling to drag Sophie to safety. Making sure that ALL of his Snakes were safe, Ethan rushed to Sophie’s side. “Sophie!” he said as he eyed the frozen Ravenclaw. “Diffindo!”

CRACK.

“Come on, Sophs. Break out of the ice!” The crack was there, so it’ll be easier for her to get out. Merlin’s soiled clothes. Ethan winced as the troll crashed to the floor, and covered the still frozen Sophie. After all the banging and the growling, everything went silent. The freaking troll was gone! WHAT?! Ethan’s mind raced, but he’s got Sophie to get out of the ice. “Diffindo!” CRACK. “Come on! Move, Sophs!” She has got to move out of it. “TOBIAS!” Err…boyfriend person? Yeah, we need your help.

Ian was watching all that was going on. So much activity and Ian had already messed stuff up once. He wasn't going to put anyone else in danger. He watched as the stupefy spells weren't doing anything. He saw Zeke trying to get into it and then he saw the professor and another student or two trying to attack the thing with desks. For a moment, Ian didn't think that would work either, but finally it went down. And then as it hit the floor, knocked out...it poofed away. That was strange. Ian turned his face to the professor. Ummmm....excellent spell? Never seen anyone poof away something that big before.

Annabeth looked at the place where the troll was a few moments ago. She still had her wand pointed towards the empty place. Could it come back the same way it had gone? In a blink? She shook her head. Then a thought more devasting than a troll popped in her mind: Cosgrach wasn't the hero she had dreamt of. She stared at him.
"You've asked us to deal with a troll! Why?" The experience had made her bitter. Tears stared to fall from her eyes.

Adi cast all joking aside. He grabbed AJ by the arm and dragged her towards Benny and Angel. "Stay with them,'' he told his stubborn girlfriend. He knew very well she was itching to jump into the action. "Whatever Benny says to do, do it.'' Now he had to go find other stubborn kids.

ZEKE! That little dude was refusing to listen. "Zeke! Come on! I wouldn't mind dragging you out of the way." Or using magic if he had to. So what's it going to be?
....................

There was another LOUD noise and the troll went bye bye. O_O Do trolls do that? Was it like Disapparating? Did that mean it would appear somewhere else in the Castle?

"Oh come on! Let us help too!" The Gryffindor yelled as he was being pushed back to the stupid wall by Marigold. He tried to get past her but she seemed really determined and couldn't. He could only watch in jealousy as the older students used spells on the troll. UNFAIR!

Then Sophie got hit, Zeke ignoring commands (Like a real Gryffindor) and more and more chaos. And then....poof... the troll was gone. He wasn't smart but he did know a thing or two about trolls and they didn't vanish. "What happened? Was this a test?!" whaaaat?

...........

Did that just... did the troll just... did... whAT?

Toby blinked at the space where the troll had gone, feeling veeeeeeeeeeeery much like he was just in some kind of weird dream. Sure, it FELT like it was all real, but didn't dreams always feel like that? But... no, no, this was DEFINITELY REAL. If anything, it was best to treat it like it was, right?

Someone was calling his na- SOPHIE.

The weirdness with the troll had distracted Toby for only a couple of seconds. At the cry of his name he was suddenly snapped back to his senses. The Hufflepuff turned and barged toward his girlfriend-cicle stood, not bothering to duck in and out of the desks and preferring to just slide over them.

"Sophie!" he yelled urgently, knowing that THAT would draw Culloden's attention to the situation if he wasn't already aware. Toby raised his wand and aimed it at Soph. "FINITE!" he all but bellowed, anxious to unfreeze her but not knowing the best way to undo it. Had Romanos taught them a specific counter-charm?

Toby was breathing heavily, still running on pure adrenaline from the troll, and now feeling real ANGER (which was... unfamiliar, and not good). Kids had been setting off spells when the troll had barged in, without waiting for Culloden to tell them what to do. There were so many people in here that someone was likely to get caught in the crossfire.

"This is why you DON'T cast random spells at a time like this," he said aloud to no-one in particular, though also whoever cast this. "Everyone should have waited." For Culloden. THE GUY IN CHARGE.

They must have SEEN where their spell had hit. SOMEONE must have seen it happen. Toby looked around wildly, as if expecting to see the person who'd cast the spell. He was still worried but... confident (or at least hoping so hard that he FELT confident) that there'd be no lasting ill-effects. And... still breathing heavily, and feeling very, very protective.

It worked.

IT WORKED!


ZAHRA BEGAN AN IMMEDIATE VICTORY DANCE! She ran over to that OTHER RAVENCLAW that had SMASHED A DESK on the troll's head and gave her a HUG! JASMINE CLAW GIRL. YEAH!

V I C T O R Y D A N C E T I M E! OoooOooOooo yeeeeeeeeeah!


"Man, Professor C DID YOU SEE THAT?!?? The troll was all GRROOOOOWWWWLLLL and we were all ahhhhhhh and then you were all GET BACK and we were all BOOM BAM SMASH YOUR FACE IN...." Oh man, COOLEST DAY EVER! Zahra was VIBRATING with excitement. BRING ON ANOTHER TROLL! BRING IT! TROLL BOGEY SOUP FOR DINNER!

"But for real, where'd that troll go? I wanted my picture taken with it." To send to Mikey Toussaint WHO WOULD NEVER BELIEVE THIS REALLY HAPPENED!!!!!!!!

Fifth years and above only? But he was a big kid now. He was a FOURTH year. That had to count for something. And he wanted to help tooo!!! 'Cept, if he could help while staying near the group that'd be nice too. But all the other Gryffindors were doing something and he could be a Gryffindor too. Even if he didn't really say anything, y'know? He still kinda wanted to help get rid of it because that meant that there wouldn't be a mean troll around anymore. Anything to make that happen.

So Zander took a step forward to stand next to Kevin. Yeah, he wouldn't let his fellow goober go into this alone.

........

Poof?

?????

"Uh.... Are trolls meant to just... Poof?" Confused Zander was confused again.

Troll down! Thank Merlin. Jasmine breathed a huge sigh of relief. The troll was subdued and they were all safe. Then it went poof and disappeared. What? Was that even possible? Could things be any more bizarre?

The next thing Jasmine knew, she was getting a hug from Zahra the Troll Slayer. "You did it. That was great thinking." Zahra had really come through and saved the day.......and off she went doing her dance. Jasmine looked around to make sure that all of her Claws were safe. Then she saw Sophie......frozen. What happened?

Marigold stared at the spot where the troll had vanished, wiping the slightly clumpy strands of hair out of her face, breathing out her nose. Yeah, trolls weren't meant to disappear into thin air, but they also weren't supposed to be talking like they were in a fairy tale, and Flamsteed wasn't supposed to be throwing rocks around, so she wasn't that concerned about that at the moment. Instead, she turned her attention back to the younger students. "Everyone okay?" She looked especially at Kevin, who had protested pretty hard when she pushed him back, so she didn't want him to feel bad. She then hurried over to Ethan and Toby, who were trying to get Sophie Brown out of the ice block. "Finite," she also said, pointing her wand at Sophie Brown's midsection. She caught her breath for a second, then glanced around at the other students. Someone froze Sophie Brown, and she was sure that they were feeling and looking guilty. Or, they better be.

Gabriel DID NOT understand anything at the moment. NOTHING WAS RIGHT ABOUT THIS SITUATION. Nothing....made any real LOGICAL sense. Loud noises. Commotion. A TROLL BASHING A CLUB AROUND.

He. Had. QUESTIONS.

Firstly, WHY..........was the troll talking?!

SECONDLY, WHY..........was the troll HERE, in the first place?!

...and lastly....WHY..........had it just..............VANISHED?!?!

Still clutching at his sister's hand with a vice grip, he turned his focus purely on Zahra Kettleburn...awed. Yes. AWED...and shocked at her actions. Everyone had...wanted a piece of the large beast, STUPIDLY...but it had been Zahra...and...the Jasmine girl to bash it in the the head. He'd....actually read that in a book somewhere...now that he wasn't so paralyzed with fear...NOT THAT HE WASN'T STILL TOO TERRIFIED TO MOVE....because he was...but...yea...

She'd..........been smart. Zahra could be smart. Gabriel didn't like this development.

....not that he liked anything about this classroom currently. HE'D BEEN GETTING COMFORTABLE....and now....Well, he needed out...or he'd be painting the dungeon floor with more vomit...

Hand still grasping Ruby's...because he was too tense to let go...he inched towards the door....

WHYYYYY was everyone dogging on him!? HUHHHH?! All he did was HELP.

Hmph.

"I was just PARTICIPATING," he said sullenly to his Badger Prefect buddy... who was not being very buddy like right now. "I like helping, I want to be useful, I don't like being squished into small spaces with other people, I neeeded to DOOOOO something, it was my butt that was in trouble too you know." And looooooook at what happened. The troll was gone and he hadn't hit anybody, just the troll. He was a HERO. Or at least half a hero, considering he didn't charm the desk to do anything and that's what did the troll in, in the end.

There was a squeaking sound, where was it coming from. Oh wait. She was doing that? Puck realized and closed her mouth. She had been so startled into her seat. After all of these weird classes and things…would Durmstrang have been a safer school? She wondered and gaped at the spot where the troll had vanished from.

”is the troll…related to whats going on with Professor Flamsteed?” she questioned and glanced around the room…because really, there was something in the water at this school.

Sophie, in her popsicle form, was DRAGGED against the wall to safety by MARIGOLD MCALISTOR. OF ALL PEOPLE. Though... Sophie hadn't REALLY been much in harm's way standing RIGHT next to the professor, she would've thought, so... how in the world had she gotten hit by a spell? No one was dense enough to miss the troll that much - people wouldn't have gone shooting spells in her direction for any reason. There was absolutely no way and she KNEW that.

Someone had frozen her on purpose.

Or, at least, they'd had it out for someone NEAR her and she just got the blast of it. Either way, Sophie Brown was not a happy camper even when people tried to HELP her and get her OUT of her iced form because she had been in there TOO LONG AS IT WAS - she had been encased in ice for at LEAST two minutes, she was sure, and she was freezing. Literally, obviously, but as soon as the first gush of room-temperature classroom air made contact with her skin through the cracks, she realized just how cold she was. Her whole body was numb and wet as the ice melted against her skin and she heard people calling to her and urging her to break out of the ice - it was a boy's voice, but not her boy's voice, and she was a little disoriented and dizzy all at once and wished they'd hurry to make more cracks in it - but then she heard his voice, and a jolt of electricity shot through her as she tried to make her freezing limbs move, hoping to wiggle enough to break through the ice as people shot more spells at it.

Slowly but surely, she made progress, but her breath was quickening in panic - she wanted out right now - and in one great angry burst of energy, Soph broke from the mold of ice and promptly flopped on the ground, shivering and shaking and not looking at anyone at all. Cold. Coooooooooooooooold.

"Tobes." Her voice was shaky and unsteady through chattering teeth and the word hardly came out at all, but she wanted him. She also wanted to not be cold anymore. Was that a thing someone could make happen? Shiiiiiiiiiverrrrrrr.

It was hard to not hide a smirk as he witnessed Alexa cast. Oooh, Confringo. It was a good one too!

Guidry and Kettleburn had apparently been the ones to take it out though. And take it out they did! Like, out of existence. It was simply gone. Could someone have silently casted Evanescoe that strongly? There had to be an explanation for that anyway.




Slowly and calmly, Cutty eased away from the door and moved over to Lex, but not before seeing his ...cousin move Sophie's frozen form behind him. And begin chipping away at her. "Good aim!" Really. I mean if Ethan were a poor shot he might've diffindo'd off Sophie's elbow or something. "If yew have a moment, Ethan I want to talk to yer lateh." But he was sort of upbeat. Like, nothing bad. Maybe, though juicey news?

Guiltlessly easing his way over to Lex and passed a crying Annabeth. He wanted his wand back.

Agatha stayed behind everybody as the professor yelled instructions. She was a fourth year, so there, no need to do anything. No need to feel guilty for not doing anything either. Perfect.

The girl tried to see what was happening anyway, but whenever she felt like her head was showing too much to the point the troll might see her, she would duck behind her classmates again. Just making sure she would be alive, as you do.

Hm. Seemed like Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were not that useless after all. Agatha would never admit that, but she was glad that mental red girl and the blue girl knocked the creature out and then the thing poofed. Huh. Weird. But Agatha thought maybe that should be expected. Or not? Oh well, what did she know?

The Slytherin decided to stay quiet and not try to run through the door and into the safety of her Common Room just yet because who knew what was outside waiting for them to rush out? Another troll, maybe? She wasn't willing to risk it. She'd wait until all of them walked out together.

Having watched the pandemonium from the side of the class that was furthest away from the door and upon attempting to create some damage to the troll using the stunning spell, Layla was inching closer to the wall upon its every thump,

She wasn’t a wuss by no means but she wasn’t reckless either and the fifteen-year-old knew her limits and being squashed by the trolls club was one situation she was very unlikely to get out of. Only the troll kept on going for the Professor and although she had only been there a short while she did feel some form of affiliation towards her teachers. They were, well SOME of them were doing their job and well and the Ravenclaw didn’t particularly want to see someone die before her.

However, after a lot of bellowing and spell casting and in between dodging flying desks and whatever the troll seemed to fall forward with a very loud thud. It caused her to jump slightly until it mysteriously vanished before her eyes. She glanced around at her fellow students wide eyed before blinking the fear away.

“Can someone tell me why and HOW this school ain’t been closed down yet?” She really wanted to know. They seemed to be constantly endangering their pupils.

With her back to the wall Hady watched the ensuing chaos unfold around her. Her Professor and fellow older students were AWESOME! Taking down a troll like they had. Was everyone alright though?

One moment she was behind one of the older kids as spells went flying and then desks. She could hear one of her friends (Zeke) speaking and moving forward to help. Was he insane?! The next moment the troll poofed away. Like gone!

Where had something that huge gone to? Slowly inching forward she looked around to make sure no one had gotten really hurt. What was going on in this school lately?

All SORTS of conflicting emotions were running through Toby's head right now, like how he was relieved Soph was okay but also still worried that she wasn't. Her voice was so small and shaky and NOT Soph that the anger in him directed towards whoEVER had cast that spell was reignited... but instead of focusing on that he instantly dropped down to sit on the ground with Sophie, not even needing to make the conscious decision to do so.

"It's okay," he said firmly, pulling his Hufflepuff outer robes off and leaving himself in the much more muggle-esque part of his school uniform. He draped them around Soph and put his arms around her, rubbing her arms and back to try and warm her up some. "You're okay. I'm here. Culloden's here. Troll's gone, too."

Toby finally noticed he was still holding his wand. He blinked at it for a moment before leaning back and trying to cast the hot air charm on Soph's robes, but he wasn't sure it was working; he was still shaking. From worry. Also anger.

"Can someone... conjure a blanket? Or a towel?" Culloden would.

Very matter-of-fact, Toby was being. Appearing calmer than he might usually have been in any normal situation. But... too calm? Not smiling at all, Toby's jaw was set, and blue eyes ablaze. He sat beside Soph with and arm around her, just trying to keep her warm. She was very cold, and he could feel it, which made him all the more determined.

...

"... Did anyone see anything?"

Angel was totally scared and was clinging to Benny and now she had to figure out what she was doing next. "This isn't good." Angel hoped that things would get back to normal soon.

O_______________________o

Angel was totally confused now the Troll had disappeared. "What is going on?" Angel hoped the Troll would have just been knocked out. "Do trolls normally just disappear?"

What had just happened? As fast as the troll had appeared, it just disappeared like that...poof! Gone! Vanished! Not a trace to be seen! The worst part was Aladdin wasn't the hero! Now all people would think of him would be some ordinary street rat. Sighing Aladdin looked down at his feet ashamed. He should've done something about this troll other than shoot frozen water at it. If only that kid didn't pull him back besides the others.

Thinking about it Aladdin wasn't only sad, but he was also really angry! Why would he do that!? This couldn't be acceptable! Not at all to Aladdin! He wouldn't stand for this! Rolling up his sleeves he was about ready to punch the kid. Holstering the wand again he raised his fist in the air as he was standing behind him (Ethan). Aladdin began to bring his fist down-

Blink

Blink

Blink

Gregoire stopped himself from almost punching his own house prefect! He didn't know how or why he almost did it! Gregoire doesn't even know why he's in the potions room! Did he black out? What was going on? Looking at Ethan he asked "Monsieur Ethan? What happened?" His French accent was thick, and somehow he knew more English? Gregoire's accent was still there, but the English- he didn't know that- well he did but, he would've had trouble!

What happened last since he remembered reading that book!?

As Kace was done aiming the spells at the troll, he felt him land with a heavy thud. He was breathing heavily due to the excitement and fear of the troll trying to get to them. But then he disappeared? What in the bloody name of merlin was that about? Troll's don't just disappear!? He was standing there flabberghasted. He shook his head and opened his eyes again. This was getting too weird. He looked over to the professor for an explanation.

......grandmotherrrrrr???

Had this troll REALLY eaten Dot's grandmother?

Cosgrach hit the desk with MORE force than he normally would, although he didn't even KNOW how that could have happened. Didn't matter. Maybe a troll DID kill Dot's grandmother, and the girl was taking it out on this one.

DIE TROLL DIE -


- LIVE TROLL LIVE! LONG LIVE TROLL! Cosgrach might have SHRIEKED a little. He took a step backwards to LIVE. He had a wedding to attend to. He couldn't die now! His face got as pale as a ghost and he stopped fighting and just accepted his fate... but then, upon seeing this, a few of the students started hitting the thing with desks and other spells too. HE MUGHT LIVE YET! He had never been so grateful, then, and might have hugged these students if he knew who they were. His previous anger was all forgotten, GOOD STUDENTS FIGHTING FOR HIM. He was sure he'd said only five years and above were allowed to fight, but if they saved his life -

THE TROLL FAINTED. Right by Cosgrach too, mind you, but it did in the end and -

It vanished? WHO was capable of such a strong vanishing spell? He quickly scanned their faces in his own confusion, and everyone seemed to be as confused as he was... but only HE had been close to death twice, so he had every right to just flop down on his chair, his body all shaking, take his head in his hands and try to calm down.


"I don't know," he murmured more to himself as he lifted his head to look at them, but it was still audible, "I don't know what happened. But trolls certainly don't vanish on their own." So it was either someone's work or there was someone invisible in the room. He moved his wand to cast a revealing spell, but someone was accusing him. He frowned and turned his head to the voice.



.....WHY?

His tone was as cold as ice. "Because I alone cannot defeat it, it's too strong. I took you as able students and we all saved us." Didn't she see how many spells it took the thing to fall?

Annabeth wasn't among his favourite anymore. Zahra, Zeke and all those who acted quickly could fill her spot alright.


Cosgrach bitterly laughed. "I am not that cruel or crazy. It was an unexpected troll, and keen on eating me too." By the looks of it. Annie had to rise his salary if she wished to keep him here after this. Wait till he had a talk with her.


Cosgrach couldn't help but laugh shortly as he felt much better with this explanation of Zahra. The girl feared almost nothing, it seemed, and she had a talent for words - excited ones. It helped with his fright, for sure, and calmed him down a little.

"I suppose I owe you a 'thanks' for responsibly fighting it." Actually, he wasn't sure who had been responsible and who reckless, but he wasn't going to scold them for saving his life all the same.

As for her next question, he simply shrugged. He had no idea where it went.


His call DID draw Cosgrach's attention, and his head turned towards them. He urged his legs to get up and carry him there, but they wouldn't listen to his brain, and it looked like she was getting good treatment too. He focused on what Toby said next, and his cold eyes scanned the students again.

"Twenty points from Slytherin and ten from Hufflepuff." He looked at Cutty, Gregoire and Ian. "For acting out of your turn and without my permission. You," his hands pointed at the boys (Ian, Cutty and Gregoire) as he made eyecontact with them, "will report to me tomorrow sharply at nine. Understood?"


Cosgrach didn't know, but he didn't think so. It made much more sense for some dark wizard to wander around messing with them, though Cosgrach couldn't yet see WHY. They would, soon. For now, he just shrugged and tried to ignore his throbbing head.


.......to that, Cosgrach had no answer. He wanted to snap at her, but the cold last year, and the old age the previous one... a voice inside him whispered she might be right, but he was far too passionate to recognise it, so he gave his silence instead.


His eyes were on his two favourite students again and upon Toby's request, with the strength Zahra gave him, Cosgrach got up. He walked to them and instead of a blanket, he cast hot-air charm to warm her up.

"When did it happen?" he asked. Based on that, he would go on hunting and find the idiot that did this.

......................

"Any that is hurt stay here for me to accompany you to the healer. The rest can go only if you aren't the one that hexed Sophie Brown. If that person comes forward now, I promise I'll be merciful." If not, a lengthy detention was on its way. His eyes looked at them while they left the classroom, examining them, trying to see who might have done this.