Mamie frowned as her professor responded to everyone's ideas. It seemed at least that nobody thought of something Professor Williamson hadn't already considered, so...at least he hadn't been outwitted by a bunch of kids. Just by the trolls.

She gasped as one of the trolls made a weird troll-yodeling noise and then a bunch more trolls came along. The memory version of the professor was in a bad spot here.

When memory professor tripped over his own shoes and started rolling though, Mamie had to stifle a giggle. Maybe wizards weren't as up-to-date on all the Muggle hiking gear. Maybe a different pair of shoes could've saved the memory professor's life! Oh wait...he clearly didn't lose his life. Mamie didn't feel so bad about giggling when she realized that obviously, Williamson had gotten out of this situation somehow. Though...it really did look like those trolls were going to eat memory Williamson, as present/future Williamson had said.

"Pro-professor, maybe at this point you should try some Muggle tactics to get untied," she suggested helpfully. "Like a...like a pocket-knife?! OOOH, or the spearhead" Yeah, she had good ideas. Or had someone said that already? She couldn't remember.

Claudine found herself wanting to laugh at the answers given by others; some of them were so funny but there wer serious ones in the mix, some of which Claudine agreed with. Oh, how she loved CoMC lessons. She really did and apparently, it wasn't just for the creatures. A chuckle escaped her as Williamson started to blush. Luckily, Claudine managed to turn it into a cough. Hey, at least Williamson hadn’t died from this encounter.

She pulled on her straightest face and shrugged nonchalantly. “I mean… that could have been a possibility, couldn’t it? Possibly you didn’t realise it at the time that you reeked in a bad way, Professor.’’ Naturally, Claudine had no idea what Williamson was planning. Let’s just say that she was going to be super horrified tomorrow when she arrived at the barn.

Her attention was diverted as she watched the incident between trolls and younger Williamson unfold. She watched with interest as he walked backwards towards one of the trolls. Whatever the plan was, one could say that it was an epic fail. The girl winced at the horrible cry which attracted more trolls. Young and silly Williamson seemed to be of the opinion that he’d escape from the single troll and she thought that she too, in a desperate attempt to escape trolls, would have done the same. What she’d have aimed to have done though, was to not fall on her face or on any other body part. Claudine stared horrified as Williamson rolled and rolled and wondered how the man did not wind up dead from this situation. It was too dramatic for her to tear her eyes away from the scenes that had happened hundreds of years ago. Merlin. Claudine winced again as the man rolled through the trolls and into a tree.

The girl craned her neck this way and that in an attempt to see what was going on but it wasn’t until a while later that she realised: Williamson was on his way to becoming a buffet for the trolls. Or so it seemed at the time.

Ashley didn't get why the professor was so grumpy. After all, he had asked for their opinion. She did not see how he could survive this at this point without cutting the ropes. Maybe he would. "Ooo, how did you even get out of that?"

WHERE WAS THE POPCORN!

This was like watching a movie, but cooler. She watched Williamson struggling and bit the inside of her lip trying not to laugh at some of the things. He looked so weird young. Did her mum look weird too young? She had seen pictures but seeing them like this was very different.

"Wait, oh no"

Getting so roped up in the scene she forgot about it being a memory and was creeping closer towards them. When Williamson started to roll she started jumping in place. "NOoooo, get up, GET UP!" She took off towards the trolls. "LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU GROSS TROoooo"

She turned back and looked at the group, "Whoops, I forgot this isn't real." She giggled a bit before moving a few steps back.

Okay. This was a brilliant lesson. Not only did Valencia love pensieves and just the concept of memory in general, but witnesses this was magnificent.

Her eyes widened excitedly with each and every grunt. "Organized and commutative." she said, mostly to herself, because YES theory proven. She kept her (slightly watery, thanks smell) eyes on the trolls so much so she barely registered the Professor's predicament.

What was she supposed to be doing again? Having input on getting out of this situation? All she wanted to do was make notes on Troll behavior.

Oh. So, well, now he knew that Professor Williamson was not a reader of the classics. And by that he did not mean Shakespeare who most considered classics and great reads and whatever (looking at you, Fiona), but the classics like Tolkien or Eddings or Le Guin. Josh wasn't exactly well read, but he did have his little secret niche for fantasy novels. He had to actually look like he was reading something every time pops handed him Quidditch Through the Ages, you vibe? Slipping cover sleeves over different books was easy enough to accomplish. "Gandalf, uh...a wizard from fiction. He distracted a group of trolls all night until sun up to spare his travel companions from being eaten," he explained to the professor, glazing over the finer details that he COULD have rambled on about but he was still trying to spare his reputation a little. Still just dipping his toes into not putting on a certain kind of persona. "Of course...in the world trolls turned to stone when struck by sunlight so...bit different an end game there."

Though not the distraction.

And yes, he had noticed the shoes and didn't mind them much. They looked comfy though also a bit questionable for taking a walk in.

The news that the professor no longer whistled while going out was...depressing. Even after seeing all this he still had no real intention of NOT whistling while walking around so...oops?

And speaking of the man's shoes...yikes. See? YIKES. But there went his theory about them being distracted by a thrown shoe...oh well.

It was...really surreal to see the man in such mortal peril at the moment and yet have him standing right beside them, so at least he knew this story had a happy ending in terms of Professor Williamson keeping his life and all. Which was a good thing because so far it seemed like the man was mostly along for the ride and the trolls were in full klunky control of the situation. But also...that was entirely too many trolls and one small human. Not nearly enough on Professor Williamson to appease all those mouths - not to be morbid or anything.

Glancing over at Aboli again, he gave her another nudge with the elbow. "Bet you lunch in Hogsmeade that the trolls end up fighting with one another on who gets the first bite and they end up knocking each other out so he gets away."

While the students started giving their answers for THIS round part of the show memory, Williamson led the way behind the bulbous troll and across the trollbridge. All the trolls now were walking with them, kids included.

"I sincerely doubt even you would be able to tolerate the stench of a troll long enough to hug it, James," he replied to the girl behind him. "Plus, how would I get myself untied right now?"

Aha, the Hufflepuff had answers. "Well said, Turov," the tall Creatures teacher sighed as he reached the other side of the bridge and turned around to wait for the others. "Any one of those would have been helpful, but alas, I did not do any of those things to break free."

Oooh, this Ravenclaw kid. The first years were really testing him this year and it was, what, still the first week of school?! "Guess you'll have to find out, won'tcha." For once she DIDN'T know all the answers. HAH.

He pinched his brow as little Gemma got REALLY into the memory, cheering and everything. Well, at least he had one fan, right? "It's all right," he encouraged her. "I survived." And with all his limbs still attached. "Come on then, let's see where the trolls lead us."

And he motioned for the class to continue on the trollpath through the forest. Since they were a memory, they didn't have to worry about being quiet or anything. Well, that and ANYONE could follow THESE trolls. They were making so much nosie and knocking out so many branches and so much undergrowth that the path was widening by the minute.

Good to see SOMEONE was observing the trolls and not just Williamson's follies. He nodded, hearing Valencia, but leaving her be for now since she seemed absorbed and on task. Who would chime in next? Josh? His answer just made Williamson chuckle as they watched the scene finally unfold…

__________________

The trolls carried their prize through a winding path, but like trolls, had forgotten to really adequately secure said prize. Unlike a soon-to-be-roasted hog, there was no apple stuffed in young Williamson’s mouth. And so he was using this wide mouth to SCREAM and SCREECH and do his best damsel-in-distress impression in the hopes that one of his friends would hear him over this din.

Friends, yes. He had FRIENDS who were expecting him in their camp ANY MINUTE NOW! “OLIVER! WAYLON?!” he took turns alternating their names, even though he knew he’d have better luck getting Oliver’s attention than clueless Waylon’s. “WAYLONNNNNN!!!! MURDOCH!!!!!!!!!!!!” He couldn’t just roll over and become dinner! HE HAD to put up a fight!

No one immediately came crashing through the forest to intercept the trolls and their meal, however, and soon they were arriving in trolland, a camp or village or hideout of sorts, with a large cave at the edge and little stump chairs gathered around campfires gently smoldering here and there. Some trolls were napping in hollowed-out logs on the forest floor; others were wrestling over some scrap of Muggle paraphenalia; and even baby trolls could be spotted banging rudimentary rattles on the ground or trailing their parents around and imitating them by picking their bogies and eating them. One harmless group of troll ‘children’ had even found a Muggle mirror, and had propped it up against a mossy boulder that turned out to be a massive, gently snoring grandfather troll. These three were modeling and trying on various shoes they had found, and ROARED with delight when an arriving hunter troll tossed them one of Williamson’s loafers. Naturally they had no idea how to properly wear shoes, and were mostly trying to stuff them on their hands.

The victim, or rather, hero of this memory, was transported to the center of the camp. The spear he was tied to was propped up between two Y sticks that were already firmly placed in the ground. Below him, he could see a bit of hollowed out ground, with ashes and bones marking where the previous fire had been. “So we’re right on schedule, then? I’m your dinner guest?” He tried flashing a nervous smile to a troll wearing human earrings (somehow), and only received a grunt and a poke with a stick in reply.

Then the trolls began to get busy with activity, seemingly forgetting about him while several started a fight over his backpack, one attempted to eat the loafer that hadn’t been given to the babies, and a few more set off to gather firewood. He was, surprisingly, unattended, though he was also still tied to a stake and ready to be roasted.

Suddenly, a commotion on the edge of the camp drew the attention of most of the adult trolls in the space. “HUHUHH?” The troll with the necklace was popping up in the edge of Williamson’s vision, pointing and gesturing for the part of their clearing nearest the cave. “HURR DE DURRRRRRRRR! HUR! HUR HUR!!!” Oh no, was it an attack?!

Several of the trolls, ones wielding clubs, stakes, and one with a hammer, were drawn away to the commotion, whatever it was. Williamson couldn’t see much besides red sparks flying up from the treeline; his vantage point was really very upside down, so those observing this memory should be grateful that it’s now viewable from a third person perspective and not a nauseating first person vantage point. While most of the adult trolls (excluding the mossy oak grandpa) were off at the edge of the forest, the child trolls wandered forward to poke at Williamson and giggle.

“Pantoofel!” the littlest one tittered, pointing at Williamson with his own loafer. The troll had no horns coming in yet, and had almost soft round features, yet still reeked like a can of expired sardines. But since it was just a baby, Williamson pulled a face for it and made it laugh.

“Hey,” he got an idea, since he had their attention. “How about YOU just… untie me, and we can be friends!” The troll tilted its head at him, not understanding a bit. He tried again, grunting in an impression of the chief troll that was going around telling all the other trolls what to do: “Hurrdedurr? Mer mer GRRR?! ….PANTOOFEL!” Williamson SHOOK his tightly bound wrists at the troll, begging them to PLEASE untie at least his hands.

Pantoofel, it seemed, was the magic word. It almost looked like a lightbulb went on in the troll’s head. “PANTOOFEL!” the trolly baby agreed, biting down on the loafer to hold it firmly in its mouth so its hands were free to untie Williamson. Another troll baby came up and started tickling the first baby, then attempting to get the loafer from its mouth, but was unsuccessful. Williamson’s hands and front half of his torso was free by the time the helpful troll baby turned around and started smacking the other baby with his shoe.

Carefully, and hurriedly, he was able to crunch himself up to untie his legs and feet. Then he fell roughly to the floor of the forest, knocking the stake off its Y hooks, and eliciting a loud SNORT from the sleeping grandfather troll. “Oh Merlin, sweet Merlin, just let me get away now,” he muttered to himself, standing up and frightening the troll babies with his height. Naturally, they ran away screaaaaaaaaaaaming bloody murder and attracting the attention of the other trolls. ”Not this again!” Williamson yelped, casting a quick and half-successful disillusionment charm on himself, even as he began running for the edge of the forest where he’d seen the red sparks. That had to be his friends, right?

__________________


Ah, good times. The memory began to swirl as students could see the last few glimpses of his younger self indeed finding his friends in the forest, for they were the ones using the sparks to create a diversion for him. With the memory ending, everyone was gently transported back to the classroom area, and Williamson was able to stand there, looking slightly embarrassed, but also a bit misty-eyed and eager to hear what they thought.

"So, what did you learn?"

Again, Kizzy was right. A hug might have made them less cranky then maybe they'd have let him go. Of course, the professor didn't see it like that. He was too busy watching himself die.

"They're going to have a feast!" Emm chirped, bouncing once in place as she watched them tie up her professor like a pig for the roast. "Not much on you, they'll have a hard time sharing--boy, I bet you're glad you weren't this big back then, huh?" He probably wasn't trying to feed the whole troll tribe.

Oh but oh this was unfortunate.

Very unfortunate. Poor Professor. Emm may truly have felt worse if the real professor wasn't standing right there. He was alright, whatever happened in the past. The suspense wasn't there at all. Entertainment, though, it still had that--

"Baaaaaabbbbyyyyyyyyy!!!!" Emmerson gushed. "Baby troll, baby troll baby troll! Kizzy LOOK!! Professor, Professor can we get baby trolls??? You can keep them in the barn and we can come by and feed them--awwwwwwwwww, baaaaabbbbyyyyyyy!!!"

She wanted ten.

"SO CUTE! Why didn't you take one with him? He helped you live! You could've introduced him to high society and taught him people speak and and and BATHED him!"

As to what she learned?

"I learned even though trolls are big and dumb, they make cute little babies."

"Troll babies are less grumpy than regular trolls. And they're kinda cute. Smart move to get them to release you." But after the professor was untied, she wasn't sure if he should be running towards the sparks. Guess she would have to find out.

Naya was really getting into this whole Williamson in the forest scene. She almost wished she had a bucket of popcorn for the occasion. Anxious to see what would happen next, she watched intently. When more trolls arrived, she gasped. This was not looking good. When the professor slipped, Naya shook her head. ”Dude, who wears loafers for a walk in the forest?” Whoops! Did she just say that out loud? My bad. “Sorry Professor”.

Naya thought Williamson might have had a chance when he began to roll down the bridge. Alas, it was not to be. Oh OH! Now the trolls had tied him to a spear. Naya knew where this was headed. The professor was about to be rotisseried for a nice troll bbq. She had no idea how he was going to get out of this mess. Obviously he did because he was currently alive, but how did he do it?

Naya kind of forgot about the fact that she was supposed to be commenting on the scene. She was so engrossed. The Gryffindor almost laughed when Williamson started screaming like a girl. It wasn’t funny..........yes it was, especially since she knew he had survived the incident. Oh, he was trying to call for his friends. That made sense. Following along with the group, they entered the troll camp. There were a lot of the creatures there, apparently of all ages. This was definitely not good.

The professor seemed to be tied very tightly and couldn’t reach his wand. How could he get loose? When a commotion started and the trolls ran to investigate, Naya knew that this was probably his only chance to escape. And then.........the troll kids happened. Brilliant. Professor Williamson coaxed the kids into untying him. “Good thinking Professor, getting the children to untie you.” Naya didn’t really see any other options at that point. He got away. Thank Merlin. So what did she learn. “I learned that we need to be vigilant at all times. Of course you couldn’t have known that you would run into trolls that day, but I guess we should expect the unexpected. Have our wands at the ready and pay attention to our surrounding so maybe we can be ahead of the game.” That and wear proper attire for whatever activity we are undertaking. Just saying.

Valentina looked bewildered as the events unfolded in front of her. She couldn’t believe professor Williamson had gone through all this!! How exciting!! Scary and terrifying too but also, how thrilling. She hoped her life was as exciting as this too, someday.

But, also,

BABY TROLLS BABY TROLLS!! The eleven year old bounced on her feet happily, the biggest grin on her face. Those were the cutest and the MOST adorable looking trolls ever. They didn’t even have horns yet, AWWW. But soon enough, the professor had escaped and they were back in the boring old classroom. She sighed dramatically before raising her hand.

“I learnt that...” Wait, what had she learnt?? Ohhhh. Oh, yes. “... that it’s possible to get out of any situation as long as one can think quickly on their feet.

This was so interesting and she just wanted to jump into the action. Plus she still wanted to reach out and put her hand through it if she could. Walking with the group she looked up and found her chance with a troll walking near her. She bit her lip and glanced around the group before she reached out and tried to touch the memory troll. It was so weird not to be able to feel something right in front of her.

As they made it to the camp she watched as the professor got free and wanted to see what all happened when they were back in the room. That was disappointing, she wanted to see more.

"That mistakes happen and you shouldn't just give up, you should always keep trying. You screwed up quite a bit and everyone pointed that out, but you didn't give up and yelling for your friends was an amazing idea. Good thing you had friends with you professor."

Cole stood with his peers and observed the unfolding memory of how the young Professor W walked up on the bridge and got cornered and tied up by 4 river trolls in a matter of minutes. He was momentarily taken aback by the super awful troll stench that filled his nose and made him want to gag. It reeked like dirty socks even in a pensieve memory. Why didn’t Professor WWW not try to fight getting restrained? Trolls weren’t supposed to be very bright, but these took orders from the big ogly bullfrog one. Raising his hand Cole asked "Professor, why didn’t you try to fight the trolls from restraining you by hitting them with slaps and kicks if you couldn’t reach for your wand?"

Then the memory continued on and Cole stood with an opened and slightly shocked mouth as he looked on what happened next. Poor Professor WWW tried to escape by doing a dance number but lost both his shoes and then his balance. Next thing he had fallen off the bridge and down into a group of more river trolls. Cole started to bite nervously on his bottom lip as he watched Professor WWW get tied up to the bullfrog leader’s spear like a pig waiting to be roasted over a fire for dinner. "Oh no.. but I didn’t think trolls ate people?"

As they were transported back to the classroom clearing Cole stretched, blinked and considered before he answered with a raised hand. "I learned that you shouldn’t always rely on just your wand to get you out of dangerous situations, but also your wits and what you have on hand. In this case you used your shoes to entice the baby trolls to untie you, if you hadn’t then you might have ended up as grilled river troll food."

Avalon clasped a hand over her mouth as the drama unfolded in front of her. Were they going to watch Professor Williamson die today? She had to remind herself that this was just a memory. But things were not working his his favor. It was almost like a comedy, how much rotten luck he was having with the trolls. Every little thing he did backfired. And where were the trolls going to take him?

She followed the memory, somewhat tentatively, worried about what was going to happen next. Williamson wouldn't show them anything too disturbing, like him getting his legs broken or anything, right? Avalon didn't know if she could stomach seeing a protruding bone. She was already feeling slightly nauseous from the putrid odor.

Aha, so that was what troll society was like. It was.....strange. Avalon had expected them to live in some dark cave dripping with mucus or something. They seemed to be quite interested in Muggle items, which was a bit puzzling. And shoes. "Do you think they are so fascinated with shoes because of the smell?" she asked, noticing the troll children trying on the loafers.

Every time Professor Williamson opened his mouth to speak in the memory, Avalon wanted to shake her head in disappointment. Did he not notice that talking was making the trolls even more angry? He needed some sort of distraction! As if on cue, the trolls were drawn to some commotion on the edge of the village. And then, thanks to the baby trolls, Williamson was set free. The Ravenclaw let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. That was intense.

Once she was back in the classroom, she waited a few moments to collect her thoughts before answering. "I learned that talking your way out of a situation with trolls is basically impossible. Not only do they not understand our language, but they seemed to just get more mad at you every time you said something. Causing a distraction is probably a better way to get out of it." What that distraction would be though, she had no idea. If she was the one getting tied up by a bunch of trolls, she would probably be paralyzed in fear.

SPOILER!!: catching up

Heath blinked. Why was Professor Williamson rubbing his neck? Was he okay? Then it dawned on him that the professor might be embarrassed, and that made Heath feel a little sheepish himself. He hadn't meant to be harsh in his feedback! That was just the first thing that jumped out at him, mainly because he had learned at a very young age to never draw undue attention to himself.

He kept watching the scene unfold, momentarily startled by the call from the troll with the spear. Was he hearing things, or did that call sound just like the Tusken Raiders' yell? Heath was hardly surprised when, like the Sand People, the trolls appeared in greater numbers. He wondered if they were also just as easily startled. Probably not, if what happened next was any indication…

Heath could only look on in shock and horror as the younger Williamson ran, then slipped and rolled into the group of trolls at the far end of the bridge like a human bowling ball. He visibly flinched when the young professor crashed into a pine tree, a rare sign of emotion from the outwardly stoic Ravenclaw. Ooh, that had to hurt! His eyes shifted from the past version of Williamson to the present one with a sympathetic look.

Now what was happening? Heath couldn't see; that troll was in the way! And was that… screaming he heard? Great galloping Gungans, what were they doing to him?! The next thing he knew, the trolls had the younger Williamson tied to a spear and were carrying him through the forest and.. singing? Grunting? Grunt-singing? Heath shook his head. This reminded him a lot of a scene from The Return of the Jedi, and that gave him an idea! "What if you tried communicating with them in their language?" he suggested. "Mimic the sounds they're making, and they might see you as one of them - or at least that you're a friend. Then you could maybe convince them to let you go?" In short, act his way out. That's what Heath would've done!

Heath followed the rest of the group across the bridge and down the trollpath, observing his surroundings as he went. The troll village was about what he expected… simple, rough, a sort of thrown-together appearance. It was the troll children that captured his attention. He almost smiled at the group modeling in front of the mirror; they strangely reminded him of a similar game his younger cousins played.

Heath was soon distracted by an unexpected voice, and his eyes shifted to a different troll child, the one pointing a shoe at the younger version of Williamson. He watched the memory professor do exactly what he suggested and try to communicate with the baby troll, and… Wow, that actually worked! Although he knew the professor would get out of his predicament somehow - otherwise they wouldn't be watching this memory unfold - he couldn't help but feel a huge wave of relief when the baby troll untied him, allowing him to escape and find his friends.

So what had he learned? Heath thought for a moment as he listened to his classmates' answers. The image of the troll children and the mirror was still stuck in his mind. "I learned that trolls are not so different from us in some ways," he said. "Their children also play, and they're also curious about the world around them. That troll baby who untied you seemed awfully curious about your shoe, for example."

What did he learn??? Who cared what Kale had learned?????????????? He couldn't believe it was over already. The lil lion wasn't ready for it to be done. It was, like, the best Soap he'd ever seen. And that bit at the end? Truly inspired, Williamson.

When they were transported back to class, Kale gave the thesis of what he had learned from this exercise. "You were, like, super limber, Professor." A proper adventurer. Wow.

Charlie was enthralled with the good looks of the younger version of her professor and his ridiculous shoe choice. Who wore loafers when possibly going about a troll bridge. She was genuinely shocked. Wow.

Glancing at the situation now she was surprised to see that he had shimmied himself out of the ropes and made it out of there. “It wasn’t all bad Professor. Poor shoe choice.” She shrugged a shoulder. Even she wore sensible shoes when dealing with animals like today.

There was a lot happening. She was glad to have Josh with her because he tended to make things more interesting. He was commentary gold. She smirked over at him. "Sorrry....." sheeeeeepish shrug. "I'm actually not bad with scary movies because I like guts and gore and - " OKAY but things were HAPPENING. Williamson was tripping, falling - ROLLING - and Aboli was just blinking a whooooole lot at the utter stupidity of it all. She would not have expected the man to be so dumb as a younger fellow.

Those were nice shoes, too. Aboli actually loved them. She raised her hand. "Professor W, did you ever get your shoes back?" she asked curiously. Maybe it would be revealed as the scene went on...

Sheesh. This guy had the worst luck. She glanced back at Josh. "Okay. Cool. If that doesn't happen, though...prepare your gold, Miller," she winked at her friend. The baby trolls were not that cute. Had she just heard someone say they were? It was hard to listen to her classmates AND watch all this at the same time. Plus the smell was still horrendous, and Aboli was feeling lightheaded. YUCK. Josh explained who Gandalf was, and Aboli thought he sounded vaguely familiar - wait what - PANTOOFEL? What could that mean in TROLL?

and WHAT HAD THEY LEARNED?

Ummmm.

"Well, to reassess what I said earlier...they seem more able to live in groups than I had previously thought. Perhaps they ARE violent, but they do have communication and relationships with each other beyond aggression, reproduction, and basic needs," she said as she more thought aloud than answered him. "i thought they were much more...." What was the nice word for savage? "Inhumane? Than that."

She stared at the first year saying they made cute babies...did she had working optical organs? Aboli just blinked at her as if she were stupid.

ALSO ALSO - "Does this mean I win, Joshie?" she nudged him and SMIRKED.

Poor young Williamson.

Claudien felt so sorry for him as she watched him being carted away. But gosh, talk about the noise pollution that was created by the man’s screeching and screaming. The girl winced yet again. Yes, that hurt her ears. As more trolls came into view, she stared around at them all in disbelief and in fascination. Claudine was fascinated at the trolls’ fascination with Muggle artifacts. There was disbelief as there were so many of them. But how exactly had Williamson gotten out of this? All seemed lost with him being a part of that spit…

Then all the things were happening and suddenly young Williamson was left with just the smaller trolls. The fourth year sort of found it funny how he was being pointed at with his own loafer. Aside from that, she was sort of in awe at how the baby troll had actually helped to free the man. He was just lucky that the sleeping troll hadn’t woken when he made that commotion.

Okay, so it had been mainly thanks to Williamson’s friends that he’d been saved. Claudine was glad that they had. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she loved her mentor. It was kind of difficult not to when he had helped her so much. Then they were back at Hogwarts and Claudine was trying to figure out what she’d learnt.

“It’s good to have friends who have your back,’’ the Snakette said, her hand up. And yes, she was thinking of Bernadette. There were times when she hated the girl or times when she missed her. This was one of those times where she missed the ex bestie. Claudine avoided looking around at the others in case she happened to find Bernadette. Instead, she continued speaking. “Kids are easy to trick.”

Mamie's hand came down from pinching her nose once they got to trolland. There was too much to see! The....society? family group? seemed almost human- or at least like the cavemen she had learned about in her Muggle school. She would have awwwwed when the baby came up to memory Williamson if there wasn't just so much else to look at. How many eleven-year-olds get to see a troll hideout?

She took a deep breath when the memory finally ended and the troll smell was cleared out of her nostrils. What had they learned? Mamie raised her hand.

"Don't go hiking without proper shoes and supplies," she said. "And-and-and the trolls seemed to collect things from all the humans they had eaten!" It was also best not to go hiking alone, but she didn't want to rub it in that she knew more about hiking than the professor. Maybe wizards just didn't hike much.

"Suuuuuure you are," he mused a bit, practically humming his words. Probably had to do with how in scary movies you were expecting that sort of thing to happen, maybe, but he still would not put it past her to blast out his ear drums. Probably still be fun though but that had more to do with Aboli being a good time.

His eyes fixed themselves back on the scene and, well, it kind of seemed more like it was sheer dumb luck that Professor Williamson got out of this one. Along with a bit of a deus ex machina in that his friends (Maddox and Murdoch?) had created just the right distraction. He had somehow forgotten about the smell by this point too - which maybe said something about the various stenches on and off the quidditch pitch, especially locker rooms - which made his observation skills better...only problem was that now he wasn't sure that he could entirely put to words what he had learned and observed. There was a LOT, you know? But also confirmation for a lot of what he had suspected from the get-go.

"You ever figure out what pantoofel meant, professor?" Was it obvious based on the scene that had just played out? Because...oops, sorry, maybe not as observant as he thought he was. "But...er...besides social groups and family units and all that...trolls also have a sort of hierarchy within their communities so...maybe also have a form of troll government...possibly." OH! Another thought. "And trolls like shoes."

Which was probably super primitive by their standards but there sure was something there.

Glancing back at Aboli again he chuckled and nodded his head. "It means you win, Abolini, and I owe you a Hogsmeade date," he sighed dramatically, teasing a bit, and offered his fist for a fist bump. Hey, if she was going to call him Joshie he was going to call her something...sort of cutesy and potentially irritating right back. The two-way street of friendship.

Kinsay didn’t see the problem here. Of course she may not be able to tolerate the stench, but didn’t Mr. Williamson work with stinky creatures all the time? You’d think he’d be immune by now. So she just sort of gave him a disbelieving look. ”Well you were supposed to hug them before you got tied.” If he tried now it would look insincere. Never mind the fact that he couldn’t hug anyone while being tied up like that. He really should have thought this through.

THE BABIES. THE BABIES!

Kizzy shared the same level of excitement as Emmerson did (though MUCH quieter excitement). But she nodded all the same and tried to pull the CUTEST begging face ever (she was really good at these and they worked ALL the time for sleepovers). Could they keep one? Please, pleASE, PLEASE?

Anyway. What did Kizzy learn?

She learned that baby trolls were nice and probably liked hugs, but everyone else had said that already. Kind of. You know what else this story solidified though? The most important lesson of all that she already knew. ”You shouldn’t go anywhere without your best friend because then you might get captured by trolls and you won’t have anyone to help you escape." It was the golden rule. "My best friend is Emm.” FYI.

Valencia was sad when the memory ended. She had enjoyed this.

What did she learn? That he suspicions were correct about them being more intelligent than wizards gave them credit for.

Also... "there are more reasons than I realized why you shouldn't go anywhere without company. It's very fortunate you were out with others." Camping maybe? Had he been out camping?

Ivy had been silently watching the whole time, completely engrossed and not really paying that much attention to what people were saying at different parts. It was just SO cool being able to see all this in action with something that really happened, not just coming up with theoretical situations. Especially since she didn't have to actually worry that the trolls were going to eat the professor because, well, he was here, so obviously he'd made it out somehow.

The smell WAS absolutely horrid, but it was still worth it!

The only bad thing was that she couldn't take any photos of it. This would be such an amazing way to get some dynamic and up close shots of trolls in action. But even if she had brought her camera to class, she doubted it'd work inside a pensieve memory. Alas.

Of course it had to come to an end eventually, so...what had she learned? The other students had mentioned some good things already. Hm... "It's important to take everything around you into account," she said, raising her hand. "You need to be resourceful and use everything to your advantage, even something small that might not seem useful at first. You could've ignored the baby trolls and assumed they wouldn't help, but instead you did what you could to get them to like you and help you. So that was smart." Sometimes it was the little things that mattered the most in the end, y'know? It was important not to overlook anything.

Oh Merlin, never trust a first year around an infant creature, especially not at the beginning of their first year. Williamson shook his head at Cambridge, Fox, AND James. The three of 'em. "Merlin have mercy," he said aloud. "No matter how cute an infant creature is, PLEASE still exercise caution around it. These river troll babies helped me, but I'm sure mountain troll babies would have taken a bite of me first." Heck, these ones might have thought of doing that if they hadn't been so distracted by his shoe.

He nodded in appreciation to Naya and Valentina, and frankly anyone else who wasn't judging his stupidty from back in the day (out loud). "Good points."

Gemma, at least, wasn't a first year, and had a positive attitude toward the whole thing. He appreciated that, he did. "Yes, they've saved my as...hwinder eggs more times than I can count, and I've done the same for them a few times too." See why it was important to not go out in the wild alone, kids?

Yeah, no kidding, Cole. "I'm not a violent person, so that's why I didn't slap them around on the bridge," he stated plainly. Uh, also? These trolls were huge. Bigger than he was, even. He nodded to the second half of Cole's answer. Uh huh, yeah, sure, for sure he'd deliberately caused a distraction with his shoe. He definitely got all the credit for that.

"I do think the smell interested these babies, and also, it seems that this group of trolls had an obsession with Muggle clothing." Williamson shrugged re: Avalon. It was kind of difficult to interview/communicate with a troll, had she noticed? "Good." She had noticed.

Props to Heath for remembering one of the purposes of this activity, which was to observe troll society. "Well said," he replied to the 'Claw. "Ultimately those shoes were both my savior and my downfall, huh?" Needless to say... he didn't own slides OR loafers anymore, and had never bought anything even remotely close to those shoes again.

Uh, Lil Trent was more of a creative thinker than his old man, huh? "Yeah, I had abs of steel back then, what can I say." He patted his current midsection with a wistful smile that said those were the days. And there was a little more positivity from the Gryffindors! "Thanks, Charlie." Wow, maybe the kids were feeling bad for him now. At least his blush from earlier had mostly gone away...

"I did not ever get my shoes back, noooo," he answered Aboli. He'd had to conjure up and then purchase some new ones. "Great answer." Seriously, she'd gotten the point of the activity, and that had been all he could hope for, really.

It is good to have friends, and he considered Jenkins and Murdoch to still be two of his closest. He noticed Claudine looking around and wondered who she was thinking about? Heath, maybe? "You sure are." Cue a smirk from this professor, who hadn't forgotten about his hippogriff idea, by the way...

Ah, "I won't," he replied with a smile to Margaret, "and yeah, humans they'd either eaten or come across somehow. They LOVE collecting things. I didn't go back to this clearing, but I'll bet you anything they had an even bigger stash in their cave."

"I think a troll government is pushing it," he informed Josh. Also... eww? "Don't plan dates in my class, mate." He'd been tolerating his and Aboli's back-and-forth chit-chat for the whole lesson, but this? Mention of a DATE? That was too far.

NO HUGS. Williamson made a cutthroat motion to Kinsay so she'd get the point. "No hugs, and, fine, I'll allow your answer about gluing yourself to your best friend." Because honestly, he thought the first years this year definitely needed the buddy system. "Just take Valencia's advice, will ya?" Good answer from her.

Alright, anyone else wanna chime in? "Thanks, Ivy. That's a good summary of the point of this all. I'm glad you got it." And hopefully they all also learned not to underestimate trolls just because they were of a lower intelligence.

Now then, it was time for the final activity. Williamson picked the pensieve up off the ground and set it back on its table. "We're moving on to the practical portion of class. Wands out, then spread out in a line." He motioned for them to stand about three feet apart from each other as though they were forming up for a battle. Which, well... they kind of were.

"Today you're going to get the opportunity to meet your own troll. Sorta. Now I know I said it's BEST to travel with a buddy, but sometimes, you're on your own. And you'll be on your own for your OWLs and NEWTs, so you might as well practice this now.

"You'll be in a daydream simulation, so you can't actually get hurt, and your magic will work, but I want to point out that we're here to CARE for creatures, not kill them, so you should only use magic as a last resort in this practical." Did they grasp that? He looked around, making eye contact here and there with certain squirrelly individuals, then lifted his own wand to start the daydream charm. Trent had suggested it and Fuller had reviewed it with him, so he was confident that even though wandwork wasn't his strong suit, THIS spell would work.

The mist that had been coming from the forest now rose gently off the ground, until each student was seemingly enveloped in their own misty cubicle. It was so thick and noise-deafening that they couldn't see or hear the person next to them. Instead, each heard a few thudding footsteps coming their way, just as the sun started to go down on them all, and a misty bridge over a step riverbank popped up in front of them... funnily enough, it looked similar to the one they'd seen in the pensieve. There was a copse on the other side of the bridge, and now, if their ears could be trusted, the rumbling sound of heavy footsteps seemed to be doubling from behind them...

Better make for the bridge, eh?

OOC: Welcome to the main activity! You are now in a simulation where you'll face your own troll capture... or avoid it, if you can think and act fast. I'll try to reply as quickly as I can to your posts. Just think of my responses as "the narrator" for ya. Any questions, hmu!