Jason stared at the hulking mass of flesh before him vigilantly. Even if he was usually very lazy, and never seemed to take things seriously, he knew when to set his priorities straight. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake now, it wasn’t just him alone after all. Jason could feel two dainty hands gripping his left arm, he shot a glance behind him and met a pair of big brown eyes.

Staring into Hermione’s usually lively eyes – now filled with only fear – Jason suddenly had a shot of confidence. He had just wanted to say something reassuring to her, when suddenly he saw her eyes widen even further. Jason’s neck hairs suddenly stood on end, and without even turning his head back he immediately ducked, pulling Hermione with him. He could feel a sudden breeze blow over his head, which made his messy hair even messier, the troll – while he wasn’t paying attention – had suddenly swung his club, knocking over a few cubicles and missing their heads by only a few inches.

Seeing the damage done by one swing, Jason had cold sweat running down his back.

“Shit, could you at least grunt before you swing next time!” Jason shouted, all he got in return was a loud and awful roar, blasting him and Hermione with the putrid smell of troll breath.

“No English then.”

“Jason stop playing around!” Hermione said anxiously, “We need to get out of here!”

“Don’t worry OK,” He said, swiftly looking around, “I have a plan.”

“You do?” She looked at him hopefully. He didn’t answer her though, as his gaze had suddenly locked onto the sink taps. He pointed his wand at it and with a bang, the tap furthest from them got knocked off, shooting water into the air behind the troll.

Jason pointed his wand again, though this time at the troll.

"I hope this works." He muttered, under his breath, then he shouted, "Confingo."

With a fiery blast, the troll was sent straight into the wall behind it, it wobbled on its feet – evidently the blast had packed quite a punch, though not enough to knock it out – stepping unsteadily into the water lying on the ground.

Jason, making sure the water hadn’t gotten to him or Hermione yet, smiled and muttered, “Game over.”

And pointing his wand at the wet floor underneath the troll, he cast another spell.

“Baubilluos” a bright, yellow-white bolt of lightning shot out of his wand, hitting the water accurately.

The troll still groggy, immediately felt the effects of a few thousand volts of electricity coursing through its body. It shook and shivered madly, lightning snaking chaotically over its now partly burnt skin. Jason cut off the spell, the troll stood still for a few seconds – which felt like minutes to Jason and Hermione – and then, with a large thud that shook the whole bathroom, it fell, its head inches away from Jason’s nose.

Jason breathed a large sigh of relief, he wasn’t sure if his Confringo curse would work, after all, it was a pretty advanced spell – he had seen it in one of Percy’s handbooks and memorized it. And he was sure that even if it did work, it wouldn’t quite pack the punch it should, so the lightning was a backup. If those two didn’t work, he’d have to use his severing spell, no matter how gory it was, though only as a last resort – And dropping its club on its head? Jason had forgotten all that in the heat of the moment, even if he did remember, he would think it too inelegant.

He turned his head and gave Hermione who was lying next to him a big toothy grin.

“See, a plan.”

He was expecting a smile in return, and if he got lucky, maybe a hug. But all he got was a scowl. Hermione stood up suddenly and gave Jason a hard knock on his head.

“Ow, are you mad! What was that for?” Jason looked up at her, cross and confused at her unexpected reaction.

“Are you an idiot!” She bellowed, “Shooting lightning when the floors wet! And casting such a dangerous spell, you could’ve killed us!”

“Better than death by troll,” he muttered, standing up and patting the dust from his robes, “Besides, it worked didn’t it?”

She just stared at him, and after a few seconds, suddenly burst into tears. Jason was flabbergasted, had he said something wrong? He started panicking, previously she was crying behind a stall, so he hadn’t felt as much pressure as he did now, but now seeing her shoulders shaking, and her hands in front of her eyes, he didn’t know what to do.

“Hey, hey don’t cry,” he said, nervously walking towards her, “I won’t put you in danger like that again, promise.”

Her shoulders shook even more after hearing that, which made Jason even more anxious. Just when he wanted to break into song again, he heard her say something, he had to strain his ears to make out what she said.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault, I - I put you in danger.” She said between hics and sobs.

Jason suddenly felt relieved when he heard that, she was crying for him and not because of him, which made a world of difference.

“It’s not your fault OK, who could have predicted a troll suddenly appearing in the castle,” he softly consoled her, “Besides, all turned out swell didn’t it, look, not even a scratch.” He pointed towards his dusty robes, and seeing her looking, gave another toothy grin.

“But… you could’ve gotten killed.” She said softly, looking up to his eyes now, which shone a splendid brown under the light, just like hers.

“Better me than you.” Jason said, grin still on his face. Hermione suddenly dashed forward though, catching Jason off guard. She threw her arms around his waist and put her head right into his shoulder, sobbing again. His hands were stupidly up in the air, but after a while he slowly lowered them, and gingerly stroked her back.

“Don’t cry, the big ugly troll can’t hurt you anymore – wow your hair smells really nice.” He said, faintly sniffing her hair, which made her pinch his waist out of embarrassment.

Just then, Harry and Ron came storming into the bathroom.

“Hermione, we’ve got to go, there’s a troll in th – whoa!” Harry exclaimed.

They both had come in too fast, Harry had just narrowly missed the troll, but Ron wasn’t so lucky. He tripped over it and fell face first into the wet ground, almost breaking his nose.

“Blimey, who leaves a troll just lying there?“ He cursed, rubbing his sore nose, and then looking up at Jason and Hermione still embracing, “Are we interrupting something?”

Hermione, who had lifted her head to see where the noise was coming from, immediately jumped away from Jason, as if he were a hot plate on a stove.

“Yes, you ar – ow!” Jason, who had wanted to answer Ron, got a heavy stomp on his foot. He looked up and saw Hermione – who was wiping her eyes – smiling slyly.

Urgent footsteps could be heard from the door, a few seconds later, Professor McGonagall came bursting in, followed closely by Snape and Professor Quirrell – who was bending over and clutching his heart as soon as he set eyes on the troll, Jason marveled at his good acting skills – Snape was bent over the troll, examining it.

“What on earth has gone on here?” Professor McGonagall hissed, with unmasked fury in her voice. She looked at the four at them, the fire in her eyes not affected at all by the water still shooting from the broken tap – which Snape, now done examining the troll, swiftly stopped with a wave of his wand.

“You could’ve gotten yourselves killed! Why aren’t you in your common rooms?” She questioned.

“Well we - ” Harry had wanted to answer, but was interrupted by someone he and Ron never expected.

“It was my fault Professor.” Hermione said, with her head hung low, “I had wanted to defeat the troll myself because I read all about them you see, so – so I went looking for it.”

“Miss Granger!”

Harry and Ron were just as shocked, Hermione Granger, lying to a teacher, they turned towards the window to see if a storm was coming.

“But it nearly killed me, Jason had noticed what I was up to though and he got here just in time. He defeated the troll and saved me, Ron and Harry came after him with the same thought in mind… so, it wasn’t their fault.” When she finished, her shoulders immediately sagged.

“Miss Granger, I can’t even begin to say how disappointed I am in you, five points will be deducted from Gryffindor!” Hermione’s head couldn’t sink any lower now, “Now, if you’re not injured, you better get to Gryffindor tower, the feast will be finished there.”

Hermione went off.

Professor McGonagall turned her head to Jason, Harry and Ron.

“Now you three, you should have called for help as soon as you knew what Miss Granger was up to, especially you Mr. Riley. Going off to fight a mountain troll by yourself, for someone so smart,you're quite stupidly reckless.” She turned her sharp eyes to Jason, who suddenly found the troll very fascinating.

“Five points will be awarded to each of you, Jason for his defeat of the troll – out of sheer dumb luck mind you – and you two for bravely venturing forward for fellow Gryffindors. You may leave now, and make sure you get to your common rooms this time.”

All three of them nodded at the same time, and made off. Though before they could exit the door Professor McGonagall asked a question that made everyone in the room turn their heads to Jason.

“By the way Mr. Riley, how did you defeat the troll?”

“It Tripped and fell.” Jason answered, without missing a beat. “Clumsy creatures, trolls.”

Professor McGonagall gave a cold snort, and waved him off, like she would a fly.

Harry and Ron just smiled wryly at each other, and quickly hurried after Jason, who was quite a distance already.

Harry and Ron had a much better impression of Hermione thereafter, so much so that they didn’t even question when she started hanging out with them, they had seen her as more than a stranger now. They had charged forward for her, and they were sure that if matters were reversed she would now surely do the same for them.

And Jason, well he never had a problem with her to begin with.