The Fool in Hogwarts

The Great Hall.

The enchanted ceiling reflected the storm raging above the castle, with lightning flashing through the night sky. Jack-o’-lanterns floated in mid-air, joining thousands of bats in creating the perfect Halloween atmosphere.

Vade ate the food on the table while examining the Card of Blasphemy in his mind.

He had Professor Quirrell and Voldemort to thank. Because of them, his Clown potion digestion progress had already exceeded ninety per cent.

With one final push, he would be able to unlock the Sequence 7 potion formula.

However, one problem remained. The Sequence 7 potion formula cost one hundred Galleons, while he had fewer than ninety on hand. He was still ten Galleons short.

The next Hogwarts holiday was Christmas, which meant he would have to wait nearly two months before he could visit Gringotts and withdraw more money.

So... did he need to earn some Galleons as soon as possible?

That required planning. Divination was currently his only legal source of income, but lowering his price was out of the question.

"Vade, have you noticed anyone missing from the Gryffindor table?" Daphne asked meaningfully while eating an apple.

Vade glanced towards the Gryffindor table. "Hermione isn’t there."

"Do you know where she went?"

"You should ask a Gryffindor that question, not me.

"Come to think of it, when did you start caring about her?"

"Because you keep telling me that a certain someone is a genius. It’s rather difficult not to notice her. It seems this genius has run into something upsetting."

"Really? You wouldn’t mind telling me about it, would you?"

"Not at all. When I went to the bathroom, I heard her crying inside. It sounded as though she had been there for quite a while."

Vade paused for several seconds, then nodded to show that he understood.

"That’s all? Your reaction is far too calm."

"How am I supposed to react? Go and comfort her?

"What right would a Slytherin have to comfort a Gryffindor? Besides, I don’t even know what happened."

"That’s true."

Bang!

The doors of the Great Hall suddenly burst open. Professor Quirrell stumbled inside in a panic, his face filled with terror.

"Troll, in the dungeons.

"There’s a troll in the dungeons..."

The entire Great Hall fell silent. Everyone stared at Quirrell while processing what his words meant.

"Thought you ought to know."

After saying this, Quirrell’s eyes rolled back and he fainted.

Rumble!

A sudden crash of thunder rang out, and many students screamed in fright.

They dropped their food and surged towards the doors.

"Silence."

Dumbledore amplified his voice with magic. The students stopped in unison and looked quietly towards the Headmaster, who gave them a sense of safety.

"Please do not panic. Prefects, lead the students of your Houses back to their dormitories. The professors will come with me to the dungeons."

The prefects immediately sprang into action, restoring order and organising the students of their Houses for the return to their dormitories.

"What an exciting Halloween." Vade took out a Galleon and flicked it into the air.

The coin spun upwards, then dropped back into his palm.

Vade glanced at the dragon engraved on the coin, breathed a sigh of relief, and put it away.

"What are you doing?" Daphne asked.

"Divination. The result was favourable. We won’t encounter the troll on our way back.

"Otherwise, I would need to consider another route. Even an adult wizard might not be able to defeat a troll. What would happen if our prefect couldn’t handle it?"

"Let’s go. This route should be safe." Vade followed the Slytherin group as he spoke.

"You performed a divination with only a single Galleon. Isn’t that rather careless?"

"It would be for an ordinary person, but I’m a professional Seer.

"I know many forms of divination. As long as the subject is not too outrageous, I can receive guidance from fate," Vade explained earnestly.

Then something suddenly occurred to him, and his steps faltered. "I nearly forgot. Hermione Granger wasn’t in the Great Hall. She doesn’t know that a troll is loose."

"She’s in the girls’ bathroom," Daphne said hesitantly. "The troll is in the dungeons. Surely the coincidence can’t be that terrible."

Vade took out the Galleon and performed another divination. This time, the wizard’s portrait faced upwards.

"It may be exactly that terrible. She’s in danger."

Daphne’s expression changed, and she immediately blurted out, "No, you can’t go. Have you forgotten that you just said even an adult wizard might not be able to defeat a troll?"

"When did I say I was going to face it myself?" Vade asked in exasperation. "Go back to the common room with the others. I’ll find a professor."

"I... I’ll come with you."

"Listen to me. Go back."

Daphne opened her mouth. She wanted to ask why she should listen to him, but the words would not come out.

Vade removed the necklace from around his neck, suspended it from his left hand, and used pendulum divination to determine the correct direction.

He crossed two empty corridors and ran into Snape, who was walking quickly.

"Professor Snape, this doesn’t appear to be the way to the dungeons."

"Mr Moria, this is not the way to your common room either," Snape said darkly. "I have something else to attend to, so I will not punish you for now. You had better return..."

"Professor, Hermione wasn’t in the Great Hall. She doesn’t know that a troll is loose," Vade interrupted directly. "And unless something changes, the troll will find her."

Snape stared deeply at Vade. Vade Moria was a half-blood Slytherin, while Hermione Granger was a Muggle-born Gryffindor. The situation inevitably made him think of many things.

"How do you know?"

"Divination. I saw that she might be in danger, and I also divined that I would meet someone capable of resolving that danger along this route.

"Professor, there is still time."

Snape silently glanced at the staircase leading to the fourth floor. "Where is she?"

"The girls’ bathroom."

Snape immediately turned and strode towards the second floor.

Vade followed silently behind him.

They moved quickly and soon detected an indescribable stench, like rotting food left to ferment in a public lavatory.

After turning another corner, they saw a massive creature at the far end of the long corridor, dragging a thick wooden club behind it as it lumbered forwards.

The troll was between three and four metres tall, with greyish-white skin, a huge, clumsy body, thick short legs, and a tiny head grotesquely out of proportion with the rest of it.

"Professor, that corridor leads to the girls’ bathroom."

"I know."

They unconsciously quickened their pace. Snape drew his wand as he advanced, while Vade quietly touched the tarot cards concealed inside his sleeve.

Click!

Less than half a minute later, they reached the end of the corridor.

However, when they looked to the right, the troll was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Harry and Ron were excitedly locking the bathroom door.

"This should... count as murder, shouldn’t it?" Vade whispered in disbelief.

Did the three of them really hate each other this much in their first year?

Letting the troll inside was already bad enough, but they had even locked the door. Had they deliberately made sure Hermione had no way to escape?

When Snape saw the two Gryffindors, the tension immediately vanished from his face, and the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth became almost impossible to suppress.

(To be continued.)