HALLOWEEN
sage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that
made their hearts stop — a high, petrified scream — and it was
coming from the chamber they’d just chained up.
“Oh, no,” said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.
“It’s the girls’ bathroom!” Harry gasped.
“Hermione!” they said together.
It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they
have? Wheeling around, they sprinted back to the door and turned
the key, fumbling in their panic. Harry pulled the door open and
they ran inside.
Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite,
looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her,
knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.
“Confuse it!” Harry said desperately to Ron, and, seizing a tap,
he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered
around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its
mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead,
lifting its club as it went.
“Oy, pea-brain!” yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber,
and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn’t even seem to notice
the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again,
turning its ugly snout toward Ron instead, giving Harry time to
run around it.
“Come on, run, run !” Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull
her toward the door, but s he couldn’t move, she was still flat against
the wall, her mouth open with terror.
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll
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