Harry Potter: I Cast

"I can't wait to dissect it."

The words slipped out before I could stop them. The massive troll towered before us, its grey-green skin glistening with a sheen of slime under the classroom's torchlight. The stench of rotting flesh filled my nostrils, making my eyes water.

For something so large, it moved with surprising speed, its club dragging against the floor with a horrible scraping sound, that looked straight out of a horror movie.

"Felix, are you mental?" Drake hissed beside me, his face pale. "We can't fight that thing!"

"Who said anything about we?"

I felt a grin spread across my face as I raised my wand. The familiar tingle of magic coursed through my veins, different from the structured flow of traditional spells. This was raw, wild, like a river breaking through a dam.

"I Cast Fireball!"

A sphere of flames erupted from my wand's tip, growing larger as I poured more magic into it. The heat was intense enough that several students backed away, pressing themselves against the walls. The troll's beady eyes fixed on the light, and it let out a thunderous roar that shook the windows.

"RAAAWGGH!!"

It charged, surprisingly fast for something so massive. Its club swung in a deadly arc, but I held my ground, waiting for the perfect moment. When it was just a few feet away, I released the fireball directly at its face. The spell struck perfectly, engulfing its head in flames.

"See it wasn't that hard," I said smiling at Drake who was gaping at my side.

The troll howled in pain, dropping its club and clawing at its eyes.

"Uhmm Felix."

"Yeah Drake."

"I wouldn't count our chickens before they hatch," he said turning my head to the mountain troll.

I began to feel dread, for the first time since the Louise vision.

The flames died down, and my heart sank even further. Apart from some singed eyebrows and temporarily blinded eyes, and a blackened face like soot had been smudged across it the creature seemed largely unaffected. Of course - trolls were naturally resistant to magic. I should have remembered that from the books, I just thought that my own magic could overcome that, guess not.

The beast's nostrils flared, and it sniffed the air. Even without sight, it could still track us by scent. It charged again, this time with surprising accuracy. If Drake hadn't yanked me aside at the last second, I would have been paste on the wall.

"Any other brilliant ideas?" Drake asked, his voice shaking slightly as we scrambled away.

My mind raced. Traditional spells might not work directly on the troll, but perhaps we could use the environment to our advantage. I glanced around the classroom - desks, chairs, various magical instruments on shelves. Professor Blackwood still lounged at his desk, that infuriating piece of straw bobbing as he watched us with obvious amusement.

"I Cast Gravity Upheaval!"

I poured my magic into the air around the troll, trying to lift it as I had done with the furniture in my room. For a moment, I felt it working - the massive creature's feet left the ground by an inch. Then, like a soap bubble popping, the magical connection snapped. The troll dropped back down with a thunderous impact that made the floor shake.

From across the room, I saw Rebecca and two other Ravenclaws raise their wands in unison. A desk went flying through the air, striking the troll's head with a resounding crack. The creature spun toward the sound, but another desk hit it from behind where some Slytherins had gathered.

That's when it clicked. "Drake!" I called out. "Get the Slytherins who can cast Wingardium Leviosa! Position them on the opposite side from the Ravenclaws!"

As Drake rushed to organize the Slytherins, I saw understanding dawn on Rebecca's face. She quickly gathered more Ravenclaws, and soon we had two groups on opposite sides of the room. The troll stood between them, its head swiveling back and forth as desks and chairs flew at it from alternating directions.

It was like a deadly game of magical tennis, with the troll as the confused ball. Every time it turned to charge one group, the other would pelt it with furniture. The beast grew increasingly frustrated, its movements becoming more erratic.

But we couldn't keep this up forever. Already, I could see the strain on some students' faces as they maintained the levitation charms and we were running out of things to throw at it. We needed to end this quickly.

That's when I remembered something crucial about troll anatomy from my reading - their magic resistance was primarily in their skin, but internal damage could still affect them. If my "I Cast" magic wasn't working from a distance, maybe...

"Keep it distracted!" I shouted, darting forward as the troll faced away from me.

"Felix, don't be stupid!" Drake yelled, but I was already moving.

The troll's stench grew overwhelming as I approached. It sensed me, spinning around with the now not-so-surprising speed, its club whistling through the air. A desk flew in from the side, catching the club mid-swing and giving me the opening I needed.

I pressed my wand directly against its leathery skin, my mind flashing back to that night with Louise, to her open head with glass filling her cranium, blood pooling under her head. The magic surged through me, different from before - not a fireball or levitation, but something more precise.

"I Cast Internal Trauma!"

The effect was immediate. The troll's eyes widened, its massive form shuddering. The club slipped from its fingers, crashing to the floor with a boom that made several students jump. Blood began to trickle from its mouth as it swayed, then crashed forward. I barely managed to dive out of the way as it collapsed, the impact making the entire room shake.

Silence fell, broken only by our heavy breathing and the slow drip of troll blood onto the floor. I stared at the fallen creature, my excitement at studying a real troll warring with my exhaustion. The theoretical applications of internal magical damage on magically resistant creatures were fascinating, but my legs felt like jelly, and my head was starting to pound.

Professor Blackwood's slow clap cut through the quiet. "Well, well," he drawled, that infuriating piece of straw still bobbing between his teeth. "Looks like you lot might not be total disappointments after all. Especially you, Mr. Serendipity - interesting spellwork, though I'd advise against getting quite so close to a troll's club next time, they are as pesty as the actual pest most of the time."

I wanted to respond with something witty or just cast zip it on him so he would shut up, but the room was starting to spin slightly. Drake caught my arm as I swayed, and I noticed several other students looking equally exhausted from maintaining the levitation charms.

"Class dismissed," Blackwood announced cheerfully. "Write me two feet on troll anatomy and magical resistance by next week. Oh, and ten points each to Ravenclaw and Slytherin for actually working together instead of running around like headless chickens."

As we filed out of the classroom on shaky legs, I couldn't help but look back at the fallen troll. Despite my exhaustion, my mind was already racing with questions about magical resistance and how the troll's internal system worked, how their whiskers channeled the little magic they could handle and how had my spell actually affected the troll from the inside.

"You're completely mental," Drake muttered as we headed toward the Great Hall. "Brilliant, but mental."

I grinned, though it probably looked more like a grimace. "Just wait until we learn about dragons."

The look of horror on his face was almost worth the headache.

Augustus Blackwood POV

After the students filed out, I approached the fallen troll, my boots clicking against the stone floor. The beast lay motionless, its grey-green skin already taking on a waxy sheen. Not bad for a bunch of first-years - especially that Serendipity boy. Most adults would have run screaming from a mountain troll, let alone devise a proper strategy to take one down.

Of course, I'd had protective charms ready. Wasn't about to let any students get squashed on my first day - the paperwork alone would've been a nightmare, not to mention the salary deduction. Still, they hadn't needed my help in the end.

I crouched next to the troll's massive form, studying it with professional interest. Without warning, the creature's gut suddenly imploded, spraying viscera across the floor with a sickening squelch. The stench was immediate and overwhelming, like a combination of rotting eggs and that unfortunate summer I spent hunting hags in the sewers of Prague.

"Merlin's pants," I muttered, stepping back from the expanding pool of troll innards. "What kind of magic did that boy use?"

The damage was unlike anything I'd seen before - not Dark Arts, exactly, but something different. Something new. Should probably mention it to Dumbledore, but... well, the old man had his ways of knowing things. If the boy's magic was worth investigating, I had no doubt the Headmaster would notice sooner rather than later.

Better deal with this mess before the smell attracted Filch. That man could sniff out trouble faster than a Niffler could find gold. I drew my wand, aiming it at the gory remains.

"Incendio."

Flames erupted from within the troll's cavity, quickly consuming the creature from the inside out. The smell, impossibly, got worse - a combination of burning hair, rotting flesh, and whatever that mountain troll had last eaten, which now that I thought was a large cup of pudding if I remember correctly. I pulled the brim of my hat down, trying to filter the stench through my sleeve.

"For the love of Morgana," I gagged, "how is there not a spell for this? We can regrow bones, turn teacups into toads, but we can't deal with the smell of burning troll?"

The flames continued their work, reducing the massive creature to ash. Another day of teaching at Hogwarts - and to think, some people called this job boring. Just wait until I introduced them to Red Caps next week.

Note to self: maybe start with something smaller next time. Though the looks on their faces when that cage opened... worth every Knut of the salary cut I'd have gotten if things had gone wrong.

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