Chapter 22: The Skull's Resonance, Halloween's Final Verdict (Patreon)

The severed log club slammed into the stone pillar, throwing up a thick cloud of acrid rubble and dust.

The half-charred, smooth cut surface gave off the scorched smell of hot air.

The twelve-foot mountain troll froze for half a second. Its barren, muddled brain clearly couldn't grasp how the unbreakable weapon in its hand had snapped in two out of nowhere.

Then those bloodshot, murky yellow eyes filled completely with rage!

It threw away the stump of wood still in its grip and flailed its arms, thick as ancient stone pillars. Trailing a nauseating, rank gust of wind, it charged forward with a roar!

"Raven! Get out of the way!!"

At the corner of the corridor, Harry and Ron screamed. Even Hermione, slumped in the doorway of the girls' lavatory, shut her eyes on instinct.

Raven, standing in front of them, didn't move so much as half an inch.

Under the insight of [Magic Circuit Analysis Vision], every node where magical currents flowed through the troll's rock-hard keratin hide lay in plain view.

That thick skin could shrug off an ordinary Knockback Jinx or Stunning Spell, and it could deflect broad elemental impacts. But it had one fatal blind spot against the transmission of physical vibration:

the cochlear recess where the brainstem met the central nervous system, protected by less than half an inch of bone directly behind the skull.

"Spell-resistant hide can block a surge of magic, but it can't stand against the deep resonance of kinetic force." Raven's voice was cold and even, perfectly clear over the howling stench-laden wind.

The ebony wand didn't even thrust forward. Its tip merely traced one tiny, exact arc in the air, counterclockwise.

It wasn't the firing gesture of any modern spell. It was a "rhythm loop" from medieval ancient runic script!

[Ancient Concussion Art: Cranial Resonance]!

"Hmmmmmm—"

No dazzling sparks burst from the void. A tightly compressed infrasonic hammer, thin as a blade's edge and invisible, blasted out from the wand tip. It passed straight through the thick layer of fat between the troll's brows and pierced the nerve center of its entire skull with perfect precision!

"Thud!!"

A muffled boom, like a heavy bronze bell deep underground struck by a massive timber, exploded inside the troll's head!

The air around it rippled with a faint, transparent ring of shockwave.

The twelve-foot behemoth, mid-lunge, went rigid.

Those brutal, murky yellow eyes lost their focus at once. The pupils slackened and rolled upward, and it couldn't even manage a groan of pain—

"Rumble!!"

Like a granite hill collapsing, the troll's heavy body smashed face-first onto the marble floor in the middle of the corridor!

The solid flagstones split into spiderweb cracks. The whole corridor shuddered violently, kicking up choking clouds of dust and grit.

The troll lay utterly limp. Only the heavy, ragged breaths wheezing from its nose and mouth showed that its consciousness had been completely crushed.

One second. Clean and decisive.

The entire second-floor corridor fell into a silence close to suffocating.

At the far end, Harry and Ron stood rooted to the spot, mouths hanging open. They couldn't make the elegant black-haired boy calmly sheathing his wand match the figure who had just taken down a troll alone.

Hermione, sprawled by the door, had gone deathly pale. Her hands clutched the doorframe, and her big eyes were full of a shock she had never felt before.

"Tap, tap." Raven turned and slipped his wand back into his sleeve. His gaze landed on Draconia beside him.

The young lady was still plastered against the cold wall, her small face white as paper, a faint sheen of cold sweat at her temple.

Raven looked her over for a moment, a trace of teasing curling the corner of his lips. "It seems Miss Malfoy's lung capacity when facing dangerous creatures is even better than when she's nitpicking in the Great Hall."

Draconia, still caught up in her pounding heart, stalled.

His offhand remark hit like a stimulant, instantly rousing the young lady's instinctive pride and defenses.

Heat crept back up her snow-white earlobes at a visible pace. She drew a deep breath and hurriedly let go of Raven's sleeve, which she'd been clutching in her panic without realizing it.

"Stop... stop being so smug, Capet!"

She forced her chest out and crossed her arms, her misty gray-blue eyes flashing with the fury of someone caught out. "I was just sick from that disgusting stench! And besides, even if you hadn't acted, I was about to hit its eyes with a Full Body-Bind Curse!"

For all the iron in her words, her trembling fingers and tousled hair laid bare how hard she was straining to keep up the act.

Raven smiled faintly and didn't pierce her thin disguise. He simply reached out and brushed a small splinter of wood from the shoulder of her cloak with the pad of his finger. "Is that so? Then I suppose I meddled for nothing, Miss Malfoy."

The warm touch of his fingertip grazed the fabric. A faint tingle ran through Draconia, and her heart skipped a beat. The retort she'd prepared stuck in her throat. All she could do was turn her flushed face away and pretend to study the reliefs on the ceiling.

"Thump-thump-thump-thump!!"

A chaotic, frantic clatter of footsteps tore through the silence at the end of the corridor.

Black robes billowed like a bat's wings in the night as Severus Snape swept in. His sallow face, perpetually grave and cold, now wore a rarely seen look of alarm.

Close behind him came Professor McGonagall, pale as paper, her pointed hat knocked askew from running. At the very back, Quirrell, swaddled in his thick purple turban, hunched his shoulders and peeked out with half his head, trembling.

"Nia!!" Snape's voice was low and urgent. Lucius had long ago entrusted his goddaughter to him. If anything happened to Draconia at Hogwarts, he couldn't begin to imagine the consequences!

But the instant he took in the scene, the Potions master stopped dead.

Professor McGonagall caught hold of a stone pillar beside her and sucked in a sharp breath. "Merlin's beard... what... what on earth happened here?!"

A twelve-foot troll sprawled on the floor, the smooth, neatly severed cross-section of a log, and two Slytherin first-years standing there without a scratch. For the two veteran professors, the sight was no less jarring than a troll dancing ballet in the Great Hall.

By the door, Hermione, breathing quickly, was just working up the courage to step forward and take the blame for leaving the group. But Draconia, standing beside Raven, stepped out half a pace ahead of her.

The young lady drew a deep breath. Her fingertips still trembled slightly, but she raised her chin proudly and met the scrutinizing gazes of Snape and Professor McGonagall with flawless aristocratic poise, every word crisp:

"Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape."

Draconia's voice was steady. "The troll was never in the dungeons. It had slipped into the second-floor corridor. I left the group to look for a lost family hairpin and was cornered by the troll here. Miss Granger was trapped in the lavatory, and Potter and Weasley came at great risk to warn her."

She turned her eyes slightly and, as discreetly as she could, glanced at the calm black-haired boy beside her. Then she straightened her back and said gravely, "As for bringing down the troll... the others had nothing to do with it. Mr. Raven Capet cut through its weapon with a precise wind blade and knocked it out at the last possible moment. That is the truth."

The young lady might be stubborn and proud, but the backbone the Malfoy family had passed down for a hundred years would never let her claim or bury a debt for saving a life.

She laid out exactly what had happened and even cleared the trio of the suspicion of leaving their group without permission.

Professor McGonagall gave the usually lofty pure-blood heiress a startled look, then turned to the troll's carcass and the broken edge of the log.

The Transfiguration mistress pushed up her glasses. Her gaze rested on Raven for a full few seconds, and her tightly drawn face finally eased into an expression of unspeakable admiration.

"To show Auror-level composure and astonishing skill in the face of mortal danger... and to keep every one of your schoolmates safe besides."

Professor McGonagall's voice rang out, strong and solemn. "For this, thirty points to Slytherin! Mr. Capet, your conduct deserves any praise!"

Then she looked to Harry and Ron, tense by the door. "As for Potter and Weasley... in light of the courage you showed in warning a fellow student despite the danger, five points each to Gryffindor. Now, everyone, return to your common rooms with the prefects at once. The professors will take over here!"

"Potter, Weasley, and you, Miss Granger, come with me."

McGonagall gave a sharp wave of her hand and led the trio quickly away.

Before leaving, Harry slipped Raven a thumbs-up. Hermione looked at him deeply for a long moment, a kind of indescribable reverence in her eyes.

Snape strode forward, his black robes snapping in the wind.

He checked carefully over his goddaughter Draconia and found no scratch on her. Only then did his clenched jaw ease a fraction.

Then those narrow, cold black eyes shot like blades at Quirrell, cowering and shivering at the corner.

"Professor Quirrell... as to how a troll that was supposed to be in the 'basement' quietly wandered up to the second floor, I imagine the Headmaster's office is in need of a most thorough explanation from you."

Quirrell shook violently and stammered his assent. But as he lowered his head, in the depths of the shadow beneath that purple turban, a flicker of venomous resentment and deep wariness toward Raven's strength flashed across his face.

…

As night deepened, the commotion in the stone corridors finally died away.

On the spiral staircase leading down, Raven and Draconia walked side by side on their way back to the dungeons.

The faint light of the torches stretched their overlapping shadows across the damp, ancient stone walls.

Draconia tucked her hands into the sleeves of her dark green cloak and walked in her little leather boots, head down, not saying a word.

As she stepped off the last stair, the young lady couldn't hold back any longer. She turned her face slightly and broke the silence, a little stiffly:

"Hey, Capet. Don't think I said those things in front of Professor McGonagall to curry favor with you." She lifted her small pointed chin, her misty gray-blue eyes glinting with stubborn light. "I simply don't like owing anyone a favor... and besides, a Malfoy never lies."

Raven glanced at her, a warm, unhurried curve touching his lips. "I know. Miss Malfoy's account was fair, and her honesty is admirable."

The whole stomach of rebuttals Draconia had prepared was shut down on the spot.

The boy's candor and gentleness set ripples through the defenses she'd barely managed to build back up.

She bit her lower lip, turned away in some confusion, and gave a small huff. "...Smooth talker. Hurry up, the dungeon door's about to close."

Deep in his mind, the System's notification sounded, calm and well-timed:

[Ding. Main storyline incident 'Halloween Troll Riot' successfully quelled.]

[Original victim node rewritten. Zero casualties. Plot deviation rating: extremely high.]

[Causality Reversal Points +450.]

[Total Causality Reversal Points remaining: 2700.]

Listening to the crisp chime in his ear, Raven stayed composed. The storm the troll had kicked up was finally over. But the flash of killing intent in Quirrell's eyes, and the blizzards that would soon sweep Hogwarts in deep winter, were only just beginning.

Raven raised his eyes and looked toward the heavy pure-blood stone door at the far end of the dungeon. The corners of his lips curled into a cold, fathomless smile.