Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

No one knew how much time had passed...

Inside the Great Hall, the young wizards of the four houses had all gathered together, sitting at their respective long tables and beginning to enjoy the sumptuous dishes prepared especially for them.

The skin of the roast chicken was brushed with a honey-mixed sauce, making it bright and glossy.

After being roasted, the oil overflowed from the crispy skin.

At the same time, the aroma of the tender chicken, marinated in a mixture of herbs, red wine, lemon juice, and rosemary, filled the air, permeating the entire hall.

The steaks were pan-fried to lock in their juicy flavor.

When cut open, the juices flowed freely with just a slight press of the knife.

In addition, there were golden-brown fries, cream cakes adorned with bright red cherries, mashed potatoes covered in thick cheese, and sweet juices and cheeses, and so on...

However, facing the dazzling array of delicacies before her, Hermione had no appetite at all.

She subconsciously turned her head and glanced at the empty seat beside her—the place where Ron usually sat.

For some reason, the annoying voice that used to chatter incessantly in her ear at every meal had now disappeared, and she felt strangely unaccustomed to it.

Then, Hermione raised her head again, her gaze passing over the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, and toward the Slytherin table farthest away.

Sure enough, the seats where Harry and Draco usually sat were also empty.

Among the rows of neatly seated young wizards, the two adjacent empty seats looked particularly conspicuous, and she could easily find them without much effort...

Just as Hermione was feeling a little empty-hearted, seeing that several of her familiar friends were all absent, suddenly, Parvati Patil, her roommate, called out to her.

"Hermione... are you okay?"

Seeming to notice Hermione's unusual behavior, Parvati Patil put down the cake in her hand and softly asked, while casting a concerned look at her.

"Ah..."

Hermione was startled by the sudden voice and hurriedly pulled her thoughts back to the present, turning her head to look at Parvati.

"No... it's just that I don't have much of an appetite."

She forced a smile and simply replied, without saying anything more.

"Okay... well, you can call me if you need anything."

Parvati raised her eyebrows, returned a smile, and then refocused her attention on the food in front of her, ignoring Hermione beside her.

Having lost her appetite, Hermione didn't stay at the table for too long.

After casually eating a few mouthfuls of mashed potatoes and salad to fill her stomach, she silently got up, took a few pieces of cake prepared for the three of them, and left the seat, silently walking out of the Great Hall.

The lively young wizards naturally didn't notice when one of them had left.

Everyone continued to eat, play, and make noise, enjoying the remaining time of the Halloween feast.

However, from the seat at the head of the hall, Dumbledore saw the little girl's departure clearly.

However, he didn't say anything, just smiled slightly, and continued to lower his eyelids, diligently dealing with the steak in front of him...

...........................................

"I bet the Great Hall is lively right now..."

With a "clang," Ron, out of energy, threw the tool in his hand aside, panting heavily, and wiped his sweaty cheeks with his rolled-up sleeves.

At this time, their original robes had been taken off, and they were sweating profusely, so they could only hang them casually in a relatively clean place and ignore everything else.

Seeing that the cleaning was almost done, Draco also put down the tool in his hand, taking a deep breath, listening to Ron's resentful complaint.

He lowered his head, looked at the stains on his once-tidy pants, and then looked at his reddened palms.

For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Of the three, only Harry hadn't changed much from the beginning.

Even though he had been doing the cleaning for so long, his breathing was still steady as usual, and he hadn't even dropped a few drops of sweat.

"Thank you for your hard work. Take a break, and I'll take care of the rest."

Seeing that Draco and Ron were both tired and had stopped, he just smiled, and while saying this easily, he continued to skillfully operate the mop and deal with the remaining work.

"Good heavens... Harry, aren't you tired? Stop and take a break! It doesn't matter if it's just for a little while!"

Ron leaned against the freshly cleaned wall, his eyelids fluttering, and exclaimed.

Even Draco cast an inquiring look, nodding in rare agreement with what Ron had said.

"Ha... actually, when I was at home, I was already used to it.

The current workload is actually okay for me, and it's not particularly tiring."

Hearing Ron's obstruction, Harry stopped, supported the end of the broom handle with his arm, scratched his nose, and said a little embarrassed.

"You did all these things at home?"

An incredible expression appeared in Draco's eyes... As a child of the Malfoy family, he really couldn't imagine what kind of family could make a child "accustomed" to such a large workload.

Then, he subconsciously glanced at Ron beside him, and seeing that Ron also had an indescribable expression, Draco truly confirmed that this was indeed not a normal phenomenon.

"Well... when I was still at my aunt and uncle's house, I would get up early every day to clean the house, and sometimes I would prepare lunch or dinner for them..."

"You never told us that your aunt and uncle were so abusive to you!"

Ron suddenly perked up, stood up abruptly, his eyes widened, and even his fists clenched, as if expressing his anger for Harry...

However, Harry shook his head, just wanting to explain something to the two of them, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was suddenly interrupted by a "boom" that shook the ground.

"Boom—"

The tremor and sound seemed to come from not far away, and sounded somewhat hollow due to the propagation through the corridor... But it still hadn't stopped, and seemed to be continuing constantly, following a certain special rhythm.

"Boom—"

"Boom—"

"What's that sound?"

Draco first glanced at the water in the sink, which was rippling slightly with the tremor, and then glanced out of the toilet, in the direction of the hallway.

The corridor was still pitch black… Only a few dim candle lamps released a faint glow. However, these were not enough to pierce the darkness of the corridor, nor could they allow them to see what was making such a sound.

“That sound seems to be getting closer—is it footsteps!?”

Harry also seemed to notice something, his eyes fixed on the darkness at the other end of the corridor, swallowing hard.

“Don’t scare me… What thing walks and makes that kind of sound, Hagrid?!?”

Ron looked left and right, and seeing that Draco and Harry's expressions had become increasingly tense and serious, his heart couldn't help but beat faster.

“Boom—”

“Boom—”

Sure enough, the sound of footsteps became clearer and clearer. The vibration at this point had become extremely obvious, carrying a great sense of oppression, slowly approaching the three of them.

“Take out your wands!”

Draco said, the fatigue in his eyes swept away in an instant, and he took out his wand from his pocket, his entire demeanor changing.

Hearing his words, the two who had been frightened finally reacted, hurriedly returning to their coats they had just taken off, taking out their respective wands, and clutching them tightly in their hands.

After a few more steps… a blurry figure finally appeared in the dark corridor.

Its head almost touched the ceiling, its body was burly, its arms were long and thick, and it held a vaguely shaped club…

“It’s a troll!!!”

The moment it revealed its figure, Ron was the first to recognize the other party's identity. His eyes widened, his legs trembling violently, and he couldn't help but let out a shrill scream.

“Damn it! Shut up, Ron!!!”

Draco felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed his heart and squeezed it hard, causing it to contract violently.

He hurriedly scrambled to cover Ron's mouth, while cursing inwardly.

He had actually seen a troll before, when his uncle visited Malfoy Manor for a rest.

Uncle Black had demonstrated his superb Transfiguration skills, turning a peacock raised in the manor into the appearance of a troll in front of him.

At that time, the ferocious, ugly, and foul-smelling image of the huge monster rushing towards him was deeply imprinted in his mind.

He never expected that the second time he encountered a real troll would be inside the school!!!

It was even stronger than the troll his uncle had conjured!!!

This was the only thought in Draco's mind at this moment.

However, even though Draco covered Ron's mouth at the first moment, there was no doubt that the commotion still attracted its attention.

The huge troll on the other side of the corridor stopped and paused.

Then, in the next second, as if it had identified its target, it let out a loud roar of rage.

“Roar!!!!!”

Immediately, it moved its steps, and as in the Forbidden Forest, it waved its huge wooden club and ran towards the toilet where the three were.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

“Roar!!!!!!”

The troll's roar was like a thunderclap, exploding in Hogwarts Castle.

For a time, even the surrounding portraits couldn't help but show a look of fear, quickly moving along the frames to a safe place, so as not to be affected by the terrifying wooden club in its hand…

“Hmm?”

Outside the Great Hall, Hermione, who had just escaped the noisy and crowded crowd, and returned to the calm outside the door, seemed to vaguely hear some noise.

She held three cakes in her hand, and looked to the side with some doubt, but after seeing that the surroundings were silent, she couldn't help but wonder if she had heard wrong.

… … … …

“Serpensortia!!!”

Faced with the sudden crisis, Draco's reaction was still faster than that of ordinary young wizards of the same age.

His wand trembled rapidly in his hand, and with the smoke that burst out, he transformed into two jet-black snakes in the first moment, fearlessly straightening their bodies, opening their mouths, and roaring at the approaching troll, while rushing towards its direction.

It must be said that in just half a year, Draco's mastery of the spell that Professor Charlie gave him can be said to be more and more proficient. Not only can he guarantee the success rate of use, but he can even double the size of the two black snakes originally summoned by Transfiguration!

However, when facing the thick-skinned troll who didn't refuse fangs at all, Draco's progress was immediately useless.

“Hooch!”

Facing the attack of the two snakes, the troll would naturally not make any concessions or compromises.

A puff of rough air spewed out of its nostrils, and the wooden club in its hand was weighed twice, as if looking for a suitable feel.

In the next moment, only a “Boom!!!” sound was heard—the wooden club was raised high above its shoulder, and then suddenly exerted force, cutting through the air, and swept diagonally towards the obstacles in front of it.

“Puchi…”

Like the sound of a wooden stick smashing flesh and blood, in the blink of an eye, only the tail end of the two snakes remained, and the remaining head and most of the body had instantly turned into minced meat, disappearing without a trace.

At the same time, it also gave the three people who had not yet confronted it head-on a good warning: If they were hit by it, then they, I am afraid, would not be much better…

The dead snakes quickly gathered again in the smoke, shrunk back into Draco's wand, and turned back into the tip of the wand.

“Gudong… Run!!!”

Swallowing the saliva in his mouth, without the slightest hesitation, Draco grabbed one person with one hand, turned his head and rushed into the toilet, only hoping that in the narrow and closed space, he could effectively prevent the activities of that huge body.

After all, if they really wanted to escape, the spacious corridor, according to the speed at which the troll had just crossed the corridor to approach them, the three of them would undoubtedly not be able to compare… Rather than sending themselves to death so easily, it is better to find a way to break the situation under the seemingly most dangerous environment.

Taking a deep breath, barely making his spirit calm down, comforting his beating heart, he turned his head and looked at Harry and Ron, who were already at a loss on both sides… It seemed that they had both been frightened by the blow when the troll killed the two snakes.

“Wake up!!!”

Time was tight, so he couldn't think too much. He could only try to wake the two of them up, while grabbing the two of them by the collar, and issuing orders word by word.

“Now… if you don’t want to die, you two better be more spirited!”