Chapter 046 Birthday Gift (Part I)

"Is it dead?" Hermione asked, trembling.

"I think—not yet!" Harry replied in a trance.

"What kind of monster is this, how did it end up here." Catherine asks the initial question.

"It's a troll, but Professor Quirrell says it's in the basement classroom." Ron had just come to his senses.

"Professor Quirrell!" Catherine frowned slightly.

A flurry of footsteps sounded outside the door, and all four children looked at the door.

The first to appear was Professor McGonagall, who exclaimed, "How dare you—" when she saw the four of them, but when she saw the troll hanging from the ceiling, her voice stopped suddenly, her lips rolled back, and she almost hit Snape, who was following her.

Snape looked at Catherine at first sight, and when he saw her bloody right hand, his already pale face immediately turned gray.

"Catherine!" Snape screamed, grabbed Catherine's hand and examined it.

"It's fine!" Catherine hurriedly said, "My wand exploded, and the sawdust pierced my hand, so it looks horrible, but it didn't hurt my bones at all. ”

Snape and Professor McGonagall immediately stared at her with wide eyes, as if she were dead.

The last to come in was Quirrell, who, at the sight of the troll hanging in mid-air, let out a feeble sob, and sat down on a flush toilet, clutching his chest tightly.

"What the hell are you guys up to?" Professor McGonagall said, her voice tinged with cold anger and uneasy horror, "Lucky you didn't get killed by it." Why don't you stay in the dorm honestly? ”

The two boys opened their mouths to explain, but suddenly, a voice was heard.

"Please don't do that, Professor McGonagall—they're looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione was finally able to stand on her feet.

"I came to the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it alone - you know, because I read about them in books and know them well."

The two boys looked at Hermione, wondering why she was panicking.

"If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead by now. Catherine disarmed it, Harry and Ron worked together to make it float with a levitation charm, and Catherine crashed it through the ceiling. They didn't have time to find someone. When they arrived, the trolls were about to swallow me in one gulp. ”

The boys tried their best to make an expression as if it was what it was, and Catherine looked at her right hand, as if she hadn't heard what Hermione had just said.

"Oh—if that's the case...... Professor McGonagall muttered, as she looked at them, "Miss Granger, you silly girl, how can you think you can deal with a mountain of trolls on your own?"

Hermione hung her head.

The lie paled in comparison, especially from Hermione, who had always been disciplined, but no one debunked it.

"Miss Granger, Gryffindor will be deducted five points for this." Professor McGonagall said, "I'm disappointed in you. ”

She then turned to the other three first-graders.

"I'd say lucky for you, there aren't many first-year students who can take on an adult troll. Especially you! Miss Catherine! Never—" she paused before continuing, "each of you has earned five points for your respective houses. Now, you three, get me back to the Gryffindor common room at once! Professor McGonagall chased away three Gryffindor students.

"Catherine, you need to go to Madam Pomfrey and get dressed." Professor McGonagall's voice softened.

"I'll take her!" Snape took Catherine's hand and straightened up.

"Alright," Professor McGonagall nodded, "I'll talk to Professor Dumbledore about wands." ”

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall." After Catherine said this, she was pulled away by Snape.

"What the hell is going on?" Halfway through, Snape asked suddenly.

Catherine told the truth, she didn't think she could hide it from him, Snape was scrutinizing her injuries, holding her wrist all the time, and her heart beat noticeably faster when she heard Hermione lie.

"Who released the trolls?" Catherine looked at Snape.

"That's not what you should care about." Snape said without looking back.

"In the case where I almost died." Catherine was angry.

Snape paused, looked into Catherine's face and said, "It was an accident, he didn't expect that there were other students in the Great Hall at the banquet." ”

"He, isn't Professor Quirrell?" Catherine couldn't help but voice her suspicions.

Snape stopped talking, and pulled her to the entrance of the school hospital.

"Go inside, Madam Pomfrey will help you bandage it."

"Don't you have to bandage?" Catherine asked suddenly.

Snape looked at her quizzically.

"I smell blood, coming from your right leg." Catherine looked down at Snape's right leg, though it didn't look much different than usual.

"No, you don't." Snape let out a low sigh and turned to leave.

Catherine frowned and stared at the tumbling back of his black robe.

Madam Pomfrey quickly bandaged Catherine's right hand, and as soon as she left the hospital she ran to the eighth floor, where Hermione was waiting for her at the door of the Gryffindor common room, along with Harry and Ron.

"How's the hand?" As soon as she saw Catherine, Hermione ran over and asked.

"It's all right, Madam Pomfrey bandaged it for me, you, they're ......," Catherine looked at the two boys.

"They took the initiative to follow, and I didn't object, after all, today is your birthday." Hermione smiled as she shoved a gift into her hand, "Happy birthday!" Catherine! ”

"Happy Birthday!" Ron's expression was awkward.

"Happy Birthday! We just found out, so we didn't have a gift. Harry explained in embarrassment.

"It's okay, I'm glad you guys came, I'm ......" Catherine didn't know what to say for a moment.

"I'm sorry!"

The three of them said at the same time, and then, looking at each other, laughed.

"Alright, Catherine, are you going to call us here to blow the wind," said Hermione, "and I'm hungry right now?" ”

"Don't worry, I'll eat it right away." Catherine said as she led them to the tapestry where the troll batted Barnabas.

"Stand here and wait a minute." Catherine said, and then she began to walk along the white wall opposite the tapestry, to the window at one end of the white wall and turn back, to the other end of the one-man vase and back again.

When she turned for the third time, a beautiful wooden door appeared on the wall.

The three Gryffindors looked at it in amazement, and Catherine pushed the door open and beckoned them in.

It was a enchanted room, with walls and ceilings turned into starry skies and grass floors. In the center of the room is a large round table surrounded by four fluffy armchairs.

"Sit." Catherine sat down in one of the chairs, and when they were seated, she snapped her fingers, and a fragrant meal appeared on the round table.

"Wow, that's hearty." Ron shouted.

Harry swallowed.

"What are you waiting for, let's go."

The five of them devoured it.

Harry and Ron didn't eat enough at all because of the trolls, while Catherine and Hermione didn't eat anything.

After the main meal was eaten, as at the long table in the auditorium, the leftovers disappeared immediately, and then a cake and many desserts appeared. Once they had settled that, the table was as clean as it had been at the beginning.

"Oh my God, I've never been so full as I am today." Hermione slumped in her chair.

"I'm skeptical I'll ever be able to walk back to Gryffindor Tower later." Harry said.

"Then don't go back!" Catherine said.

"Not going back? Do we sleep here? Ron asked.

"That's right." Catherine clapped her hands, and four doors appeared on the walls on either side, with signs on them with the names of the four of them.

"What's going on?"

"It's the 'Room of Requirement', just walk up and down the wall three times and concentrate on what you need, and it will appear and change into what you need."

"Can it really conjure anything?" Ron asked curiously.

"No, not like food, and I haven't found anything else."

"And that table?" Hermione looked at Catherine in surprise.

"I made it in the kitchen and asked them to bring it over."

"Can I try it?" Harry looked eager to try.

"Of course, you'll have to set up your own room."

They went to bed until late, and for the first time that night, Catherine did not have the nightmares she had all the time, so she overslept the next morning and forgot to get up for morning exercises.

By the time Catherine was woken up by her pet, it was almost seven o'clock, and she didn't understand how she could forget to get up, but she was immediately caught by a letter from Tracy's mouth.

She opened the letter, and there was only one sentence inside: "After breakfast, my office - S.S."

Thinking of Snape's patience, Catherine got up, freshened up and ran out of the room, and when she saw that the others had not yet gotten up, she left a note on the round table and hurried to the Great Hall.

As soon as breakfast was over, Catherine went to Snape's office, but as soon as she entered, she found that she seemed to be early, for the breakfast tray in front of him had not yet been taken away.

"Sit!" After Snape pointed out her location, he looked at the high-backed couch with his back to Catherine, "Go back and rest, remember to take your medicine!" ”

"Yes!" The man sitting there stood up at the call, and Catherine realized that it was Draco, and to her bewilderment, his face was paler than ever.

Catherine wanted to ask, but Snape had already spoken.

"You didn't go back to Slytherin last night." Snape wasn't asking, he was stating.

"Yes." Catherine looked at Snape, "Yesterday was my 'birthday'. ”

Draco's footsteps paused, and when he saw Snape's stern eyes, he hurriedly closed the door and left.

"So-you can just ignore whether you're going to 'almost die' again." Snape sneered.

"Professor," Catherine suddenly smiled at him, "that troll was there last night on purpose, right?" ”

Snape paused for a moment, and looked at Catherine without speaking.

"To be honest, I did get a little flustered last night, after all, it was my first encounter with a magical creature, and I've been so relaxed lately that I have ignored the weirdness of that troll, and I have forgotten what I am best at the moment." Catherine sat down across from Snape, "until my wand explodes." ”