There are some things you do without a plan, without thinking, and only while doing them do you realise how utterly stupid they are.

Which was the precise conclusion Jay came to as he erupted from behind the corner, straight into the troll's line of sight, while making a variety of loud and unpleasant noises.

"What are you doing, Potter, get back here!" Blaise hissed, grabbing at him, but his hand slid off Jay's arm. The troll had come to a halt, blinking in shock at him. He could see Hermione's shocked and slowly-turning-to-terror face behind the troll, framed in the doorway of the bathroom, and he jerked his head at her, trying with all his might to get her to stay in the damned room. It seemed to work, because the next glance he threw in that direction revealed nothing but an empty doorway.

Slowly, the troll began to lumber toward him as he jogged backwards, raising its club in one moss-infested hand. Thin, grimy lips peeled back from broken, yellowed teeth as the troll did its best to grin at him. Of course. He must seem a veritable treat, running around like this. Blaise and Theo were still pressed against the wall. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying went, and even as the troll went past them, it didn't notice the two first years. Only Jay. Of course.

"Oi, fuckface! Come on," Jay taunted. He tossed a quick glance over his shoulder, seeing the wall coming up fast. When he turned back around, the troll's club was headed right for his face. Shit, he thought and dodged to one side, crashing into the wall as the club just missed him. Chips of stone peppered his face and neck, dirtying his robes with grey dust. The troll stopped for a moment, seemingly baffled at the fact the heavy club had not smashed in a noisy human's skull, then tugged it free from the masonry.

Jay pelted back down the hallway he'd just jogged down, making his way straight for the girls' loo, where Blaise, Theo, and Granger had all clustered. Hermione looked ready to faint, and Theo didn't look much better. Blaise just looked angry, and Jay knew he'd been in for it when this was over. Well, if they were all alive by then.

"Quick, in, in!" Jay panted, and shoved past them into the lavatory as they slammed and locked the door behind him. It wasn't much of a barrier, but it should provide at least a small hindrance to the small-brained mountain troll.

"Now what?" Hermione hissed at him. Her face was so pale, it was a miracle she hadn't keeled over already, but at least her wand was held in a minimally-shaking hand. "We're trapped in here now! With that-that thing out there!"

"But he's not in here yet, that's the point," Blaise informed her, terse. "And maybe he won't be able to come in here..." His eyes darted around the relatively small room. "Here. D'you know how to rip a door off?"

"What?" Hermione blinked. Jay knew at once what Blaise was getting at and with the rest of the system's help, managed to unscrew one of the stall doors and jammed it up against the door. Makeshift barricade, at your service.

The troll's bellow echoed down the corridor outside, and the foursome mutually blanched. Despite Jay's daredevil stupidity out there, he did not want to face a full-grown mountain troll any longer than he had to.

"Hurry!" Theo gasped. Sweat rolled down his face in large, shiny droplets as he and Hermione struggled to pull off another stall door. It clattered to the floor, and they could almost hear the troll renew its interest in this room. Shit.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione whispered, flicking her wand at the door, which rose up unsteadily and stacked itself against the entrance. Just in time, since the club smashed through the top half of the door not ten seconds later.

Hermione screamed and backed up, nearly smashing her head on the exposed hinges of one of the stalls. The others didn't scream, but looked just about as petrified. Jay stood out in front of the other three, feeling utterly stupid as he held up his wand. The troll's face briefly shoved itself through the top bit of the splintered door, snarling as wooden fragments pattered down around it.

Oh, this has gone far enough, Tom snarled, and pushed his way out. Lifting up his wand, he murmured, "Stupefy!" and red light blasted the troll in the face. It disappeared with a ground-shaking thud, and the rest of the door pushed itself in a bit with the impact.

"What was that?" Blaise blinked in surprise.

"I read ahead in Defense," Tom shrugged and sat down on abruptly shaky legs. Outside, they could hear a lot of noise, as the teachers had apparently finally realised where the troll had gone off to, and were doing their best to put the corridor to rights. Finally, the door was heaved out of its frame, and Professor Snape filled it. He looked impossibly angry.

"And just what do you think you all were doing?" he snapped.

"Looking for Hermione," Tom spoke up. "She didn't know about the troll, you'd all left, none of the prefects would have been able to listen in that din. Weren't expecting the troll to come up here, though!"

Blaise and Theo nodded, while Hermione flushed a startlingly red colour.

"That was...unbelievably foolish, Potter," Snape said in scathing tones. "However-I suppose most first years, when trying to assist a friend, could not have come up with better. And you are all still alive." His dark eyes scanned the room, surprisingly clean for the near-battle it had just endured. "Fifteen points from Slytherin, five from Ravenclaw, and all of you are to go to to the Hospital Wing at once for a check-up."

"Yes, sir," all four chorused, relief brightening their voices. Snape nodded once at them and then turned to leave.

"Is he...limping?" Theo whispered, pointing at the man's dragging leg. His robes swirled around them the wrong way just once, and they all saw a rather bloodied gash down the front.

"I wonder what that's from," Hermione murmured, her curiousity coming back full force now that she wasn't ready to be smashed into the nearest wall by a mountain troll.

"We'll find out sooner or later," Tom said, and led the way out of the room, straight for Madam Pomfrey. Another hospital visit, another expenditure of magic to hide their overall condition. That at least was easy. Far easier than considering why their Head of House looked like he'd been in a fight with a bear and lost.

And even more easy compared to trying to explain away their flinches and personality changes and vocal differences to their ever-sharp-eyed friends.