On Halloween morning, I woke to the bizarre smell of pumpkins in the corridors. In Charms, Professor Flitwick announced that we were ready to start making objects fly. I had been dying to do that ever since he made Neville's toad zoom around the classroom.

Professor Flitwick put us all into pairs, and I was with Terry. Harry was with Seamus, and Ron was with Hermione.

The pair didn't seem too happy with this arrangement, something that Terry and I giggled about for the rest of the class. Hermione hadn't been speaking to any of us.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, who was perched on top of his stack of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the words properly is important too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

"Well, that must have been pretty bizarre." I commented to Terry, sniggering, and he fell off his chair, letting out peals of laughter.

It wasn't that hard. But I think that Hermione and I were the only ones that got it. Terry kept getting distracted with all the 'Swish-and-Flick' jokes we were making. Seamus, at the next table, got so impatient that he prodded the feather he had that he was supposed to be sending skywards with his wand and set fire to it. Harry and I had to put it out with our hats.

Ron, at another table, wasn't having any luck at all.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" He was always shouting, waving his long arms like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong!" Hermione snapped. "It's Wing-GAR-dium Levi-O-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long." 

"You do it, then, if you're so clever." Ron snarled.

Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" at the same time my feather decided to rise. Our feathers hovered about four feet in the air above us, and Hermione and I grinned at each other.

"Oh, well done!" Professor Flitwick cried, clapping. "Look here, everyone, Miss Potter and Miss Granger have done it!" 

Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.

"It's no wonder nobody can stand her." Ron said to Harry and me and the end of class. "She's a nightmare, honestly." 

"No she isn't!" I said, as someone pushed past Harry. It was Hermione. I caught a glimpse of her face - and I was startled to see that she was in tears.

"I think she heard you." Harry said. He was also gazing after her with an expression that told me that he'd seen her face too.

"Well, no shit!" I said. I turned to Ron. "How could you be so insensitive! Now look what you've done!"

Ron looked uncomfortable. "Well, she must've noticed she's got no friends." I heard him mutter to Harry as I charged after Hermione.

It tore my heart into shreds to see Hermione cry. That was my one and only weakness, aside from loved ones and friends. People who are weaker than me, or showing weakness. I don't like it, and I try everything in my power to stop it.

I followed her to a girl's bathroom. I met Lavender and Parvati on the way.

"Hermione's crying." I told them quietly.

We entered the bathroom. I heard sobbing coming from the end cubicle. "Hermione." I sighed, walking over to it.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Lavender asked softly.

More sobbing.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Parvati whispered.

A choked sob. "Leave me alone!"

"Look, you girls go on to class. I'll stay here." I said to them. They nodded and left.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the cubicle next to Hermione's, telling her about how boys are insensitive and how they never care about girls' feeling when they're eleven, and all that jazz. After a while, she stopped sobbing.

"That's it, Mynee. There's nothing to cry about. Ron and Harry are just a pair of insensitive boys." I comforted.

Then I heard a creak, and Hermione's cubicle door opened. I stood up, and hugged her. She started sobbing again, into my shoulder.

"I have no friends." She cried. "I'm a know-it-all. Everyone hates me. And I'm so ugly. My hair is so bushy, and I have rabbit-teeth..."

"Hermione." I told her softly. "Everyone wants to have brains like yours. I envy your cleverness! I'm sure Ronald does too, you know, that's why he acts like this, because he's infuriated that he's not as smart as you. No one hates you, Hermione, not really. The Slytherins obviously do, but they hate all of Gryffindor, don't they? And you are SO not ugly. Your hair is so pretty, and I'm sure magic could sort out your teeth, if they really bother you. They don't bother me, or Ron, or anybody else. And they shouldn't bother anyone, anyway. They're YOUR teeth, not theirs. You can look however you want to look. And you know what, Mynee?" She lifted her head slightly. "I'm your friend." 

She laughed, and hugged me tighter, then let go and wiped her eyes. "You're such a good friend, Daze." 

"So those are our nicknames, then!" I laughed. "Mynee and Daze!"

Hermione laughed.

"Well, we'd better get to the feast. Thank you so much, Daisy." We hugged again, before walking to the door.

But halfway to it, we smelt a really bad smell. It was so gross!

Then something thundered in, dragging a mouldy club behind it. 

A troll! For some reason, the meme troll face popped up in my mind, and I snorted. So not the time, Daisy!

"Why'd you laugh? This isn't funny!" Hermione wailed.

"I just thought of a meme." I sniggered.

The troll then suddenly spotted us.

"Run!" I shrieked, and we darted around the troll and to the door. But someone had locked it! WTF -

The troll turned towards us again. Hermione screamed and darted around it again. I followed.

It took a swing at us with its club, and I shrieked as it nearly hit me. It skimmed along the ground, and I jumped over it as it went to hit me, like a skipping rope.

Hermione and I flattened ourselves against the wall. Hermione looked as if she was about to faint.

And I did what I always did in situations where I was scared or panicked. I did what was familiar to me.

I made puns.

"Hey, Hermione!" I called to her. "This troll really trolled us, eh? EH?" 

I burst out in breathy and somewhat panicked laughter.

Hermione just stared at me with a look that was basically saying, 'Weirdo'.

Then the door banged open. Harry and Ron, who were both extremely pale, sprinted towards the troll, as I made another pun.

"This situation stinks! EH?"

Harry looked at me with understanding. He knows how I am in these sort of situations. But Ron facepalmed.

"What the heck are you gonna do?!" I screamed across to them. 

"Confuse it!" Harry shouted desperately. "Hold on, Daisy!"

Harry seized a tap and threw it hard against the wall.

The troll stopped. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. It hesitated, then started towards Harry, raising its club as it went.

"Harry!" I yelled. I sprinted towards Ron, who was at the other end of the chamber, and clutching a metal pipe. "Do something with it, goddamn it!" 

"Oy, pea-brain!" Ron yelled, and threw the pipe at it. 

The troll didn't seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout towards Ron and me instead, giving Harry and Hermione time to run around it.

"Come on, run, RUN!" Harry shouted.

The yells seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron and me, who had no way to escape.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid. He took a running leap and managed to fasten his arms around the trolls neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll would notice if you stick a long piece of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped.

"Harry, you stupid bastard!" I yelled, as the troll flailed around in pain.

Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron then shouted next to me. What the hell was he- oh.

The troll's club rose up into the air as the door banged open for the second time.

Terry, Fred, George, and, bizarrely, Draco and Blaise Zabini, burst in.

"Terry heard Harry and Ron say that you and Hermione didn't know about the troll, and he told us, and we figured that we should go and find you, and these two dorks tagged along as well, for some reason. I thought you were enemies!" Fred said all in one breath.

"This is quite a BIG problem!" I punned again, gesturing at the troll.

"Are you alright?!" Terry gasped, and threw himself at me. He threw his arms around my neck and hugged me, and I patted him on the back, saying, "Why so emotional?" 

Terry drew back and looked into my eyes, looking as if he was about to say something, when there was a loud thud. Ron had dropped the club on top of the troll's head. The troll was falling over ... and I was right underneath it!

"Daisy!" Draco yelled, and a solid force knocked into me, sending me to the floor, and away from the falling troll. I rolled like a ninja as soon as I hit the ground. It was my Dragon. 

He helped me up, and embraced me. "You okay?" He asked, staring into my eyes.

"Of course." I scoffed, but hugged back. "Though I might be deafened by that thud. It was as loud as a troll falling!"

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Terry standing to the side, staring at Draco and I with a disgruntled expression. 

Was he ... jealous? Really? Or maybe he was just fed up with my dumbass puns.

"Look, about what I said on the train ... and about anything else I've said to you, your brother, and your friends, and about what my cousin did," he grimaced, "I'm really sorry. Okay? I am so, so, so sorry that I did and said those things, and that I have an absolutely foul cousin, who I will forbid to go anywhere near you again. I'm sorry."

He looked me in the eye again. He had wonderful eyes. Grey with a hint of blue ...

"I forgive you." I smiled softly. His gaze flickered down a few inches, then back up again ...

Then a loud bang made us look up. The others, who had all been talking amongst themselves, looked up too.

Professor McGonagall burst into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat down on one of the toilets, clutching his heart.

"Quirrell looks like he's been trolled!" I punned.

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at me, Harry, Ron, Draco, Terry, Blaise, and the twins.

I had never seen her so angry ... not even when I had pranked her!

"What on earth were you thinking of?" She said, cold fury in her voice. Harry, George and I looked over at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. He hadn't put it down, not even when the others came in.

"You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?" 

Snape gave Harry and I swift, piercing looks. Harry looked at the ground, whereas I stood up straighter, and looked back.

Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall - they were looking for me." 

"Miss Granger!" 

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.

"I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I've read all about them." 

Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

"Well - in that case..." Professor McGonagall said, staring at us all. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think you could tackle a mountain troll on your own? Five points will be taken from Gryffindor House. I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses." 

Hermione left.

Professor McGonagall turned to the rest of us.

"Well, I still say you were all lucky, but not many first and third years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win your houses five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

We all hurried out of the chamber. 

"Bye." I said quietly to Draco and Blaise, who waved and disappeared around the corner, not before Draco had given me yet another of those wistful looks of his.

Then Terry broke off from us on the way up to his tower.

"You sure you're alright? You're really pale." Terry asked me quietly.

"Obvs." I told him. "Now, off you go!" I grinned.

He smiled and headed off down a corridor, stopping at the corner to give me another smile and a wave.

Then we all set off for Gryffindor Tower.

Fred and George purposely hung back from Harry and Ron to fall into step beside me.

"We saw the way you were looking at Malfoy, Daisy-" Fred said.

"Do you like him?"

"Or do you love him?" 

"But what about Terry?"

"And the way he was looking at you?" 

"Malfoy was looking at you like that too-"

"And you were looking like that at both of them!"

"So we think there's a bit of a love triangle going on here." George finished.

"No - guys - we're just friends -" They both grinned at me. "Oh, shut up. Pig snout." I said as we reached the Fat Lady.

We all climbed through the portrait hole. There were sweets EVERYWHERE!

"SWEEEEEETS!" I screamed. Everyone looked up, and started laughing as I dove for the humongous piles of sweets.

Hermione joined our group as I strode back over to them with a huge armful of sweets. 

"Thanks." Us four all said to one another.

From then on, Hermione became a part of our group. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them. Another is comforting someone in the girl's toilets.

And also, for the rest of the night, I was extremely hyper. I had had too many e-numbers. It was so much fun.