The Slytherin Magus

"Weston!" Hazel screamed, her voice cracking. She threw another more powerful Knock-back jinx at the Troll, running for a downed Weston.

Behind her, Audric finally shook off the after-effects of his hit. He stood by himself and went for stunning the Troll, Roxana assisting him.

As they both worked together to put the Troll out of commission, Audric suddenly remembered the dragon attack and he realized something.

The reason that he had been able to bring down that dragon was that Roxana had already tried stunning it.

The Troll was soon out cold and Audric contained it with the 'Ebublio jinx' just to be sure, he was confident that the Troll wouldn't be able to break through his spell even if it was conscious.

If the first Troll was any indication.

They hurried over to Hazel's side who was cradling Weston's upper body on her legs.

Blood seeped out the side of his robes where the Troll had landed a hit, his outfit there was torn and ragged, dyed a fearful red.

He had also slammed into the wall which caused blood to trail down his head, bruises down the side of his face.

"Don't move him too much, we have to get him to Madam Pomfrey." Audric said in a quiet voice so as not to startle Hazel.

Hazel looked up with wide tear-filled gray eyes like she had a hard time processing Audric's words, she looked past him to Roxana who had apprehension written all over her face.

She looked down at Weston, her hands trembling.

"Let me help." Audric offered gently.

Roxana started to say something but thought better of it, looking worriedly from Audric to Weston.

Audric had hit his head really hard too but she didn't want to be the one to say it.

Hazel's brow furrowed as she stared up at him. "Someone has to watch out for Trolls, you can't do that if you're carrying West." She decided, surprisingly logical even though her eyes were filled with pain.

Audric felt responsible even though it wasn't his fault. It was evident a long time ago that Hazel and Witter had chosen to stay out of their own volition.

Right from the start when they had chosen to follow him when he went looking for the Boggart-Basilisk. He hadn't asked them to tag along then, nor all the times after.

Hazel used a levitating charm on Weston's unconscious body and then wrapped her arms around him to anchor him to her.

Audric took the lead, quickly wiping blood from a small cut on his head so that Hazel and Roxana wouldn't see it and worry. They already had enough on their hands.

Roxana drew up the rear, her beautiful face set into one of solemn determination.

Previously, they had no specific direction, merely going where the screams of students called them to.

But now, they had a goal and it was getting to the Hospital Wing as quickly as possible.

They ran past fleeing students who seemed to not know what they were running from or where they were running to.

There was no other jumpscare though and they didn't bump into another Troll.

Maybe the rest of the Trolls had already been dealt with, it would explain why they were yet to run into a Professor.

On the fifth floor, however, just a couple of hallways away from their destination, their luck ran out.

A rather pissed and smelly Troll blocked off their path like it had been waiting there for someone to show up.

All three of them froze to a stop, the Troll in front of them readying to charge.

Audric immediately tried the Ebublio charm, it was awfully handy when it came to dealing with Trolls as long as it was done properly. 

He didn't calculate the Troll ducking to dodge the spell, it was so unexpected that he had a hard time recovering quickly enough to defend against the Troll.

From behind. Roxana cast the Knock-back jinx but even that didn't seem enough of an attack, it barely pushed the creature backwards and only served to infuriate it further.

Audric's expression was set in stone, Trolls could use rudimentary magic but they were so dumb that the chances of them consciously or subconsciously using what magic they had was quite rare.

This particular Troll would be a bit difficult to fight back.

They had just gotten lucky with the past two, it was the reason why they were able to defeat them so quickly.

The first one had seemed disoriented so it was easy for Audric to easily entrap it.

The second they met in the Viaduct Entrance, even though they had no hand in defeating it, that Troll had been clearly outnumbered.

The third Troll hadn't even been using magic, just its extraordinary strength and even then, Weston ended up in such a dire state.

Audric knocked back the Troll with a spell, its effect much more visible than when Roxana tried it. The Troll fell over with loud, displeased grunts. 

While it was getting to its feet to resume its attack,  Audric turned to Hazel and Roxana with a serious expression. "You two should get going, I'll handle the Troll."

Roxana immediately looked fearful. "All by yourself? You can't…"

The Troll got to its feet at that moment. "Aqua Eructo!" Audric chanted, a powerful jet of water shot out of the tip of his wand, slamming the Troll high up against the wall.

"Go!" He directed them. 

Hazel nodded seriously, running past the drops of falling water, Weston still cradled carefully against her.

Roxana looked torn but she didn't waste too much time thinking about her decision either, there was no time to. She ran right after Hazel, their figures disappearing around the next turn.

Audric heaved a sigh of relief when they left, barely jumping away in time when the Troll came charging for him, its club smashed into the wall where he had been standing and the wall broke in revealing the music classroom.

He needed to minimize the destruction that the Troll was causing. "Petrificus Totalus!"

As with the Ebublio jinx and the Knock-back jinx used on the Troll, the spell didn't have its full effect but as it was Audric casting it, it still packed a punch.

The Troll fell over backwards but before then, it threw its spiked club at Audric.

Audric wasn't expecting this attack and if it were anyone else, the large club would have hit them dead on the face.

He managed to evade it but not entirely, the club caught his left arm. The impact hurt, even worse than when he slammed into the wall to escape from the fake Troll.

The spikes in the club also tore into his flesh, the pain made him dizzy.

The partially successful full body-bind spell slowed it down enough to give him time to regroup even though it had cost him an arm.

Audric cast the spell a couple more times to make sure that the Troll would not be getting up anytime soon. 

Trolls were somewhat resistant to magic, after all, it never hurt to reinforce one's attack.

A couple of hallways down, the girls were almost at the Hospital Wing. Roxana found herself looking behind her more often than not and it wasn't because she was worried about another Troll showing up.

They got to the Hospital Wing in one piece and Madam Pomfrey immediately took over.

Roxana remained outside, it was really busy in the Infirmary and she didn't want to get in the way. She was distracted enough for that to be a hazard.

They had left Audric behind all by himself to fight off a Troll, would he be okay?

Inside the Infirmary, Hazel remained right beside Weston's bed. "Cou-Could I stay p-please, Madam Pomfrey?" She asked in a shaky voice.

Madam Pomfrey took pity on her and let her stay. "Only for the meantime, he has to rest after, you see."

Hazel nodded, she would take whatever she got. Madam Pomfrey worked quickly, it was merely a head injury and the nasty deal with his side where the Troll had hit him with his club.

Hazel could finally breathe easier for the first time since it happened.

Weston had always been by her side, they had been friends ever since she could remember, practically growing up together as their mothers were close friends.

She couldn't imagine how it would be living without Weston by her side.

She kept her distance when Madam Pomfrey was working, only moving closer after the bustling witch was all done.

Hazel knelt beside Weston's bed, his eyes were closed like he was merely fast asleep. She put her head on the space beside him and closed her eyes as well.