Glenn quickly caught up with Hermione, who was st away angrily. The path they were taking didn't seem to lead back to the dormitory.

  He grabbed Hermione's hand, but she didn't turn around. Glenn spoke calmly, "There's o be upset about this. You know their words are nonsehout any logic, just to save face."

  "I, your roommates, we're all your friends. Dumbledore, Snape, Professonagall are also your friends. You're not alone. You have us, you have me." He early and firmly reassured Hermione.

  Glenn wasn't sure how to sole others, so he simply stated what he believed to be facts to the angry young girl.

  Feeling Glenn's hand tightly holding hers and the warmth from it, Hermione's steps gradually slowed. Now, hearing Glenn's f words, her anger slowly subsided, but the hurt deep in her heart suddenly became untrolble.

  Ron had precisely attacked what Hermione cared about most, which was also what the little girl feared most.

  Deep inside Hermiohere still lived a little girl who was afraid of loneliness and somewhat insecure.

  Even after years of Glenn's prote and influehis little girl hadn't pletely disappeared.

  This was the most vulnerable part of the strong little girl that Hermione was.

  The little girl who had always maintained her fidend pride finally felt like g.

  And this emotion, she would only show in front of Glenn.

  "Mm..." Hermione pressed her lips tightly, making a whimpering sound. She lowered her head, trying hard not to cry out. Her eyes gradually turned red, and Gle her hand tightly gripping his.

  Finally, tears fell onto the carpet, leaving small wet marks.

  Gle very distressed. He felt something tighten in his chest, making it hard to breathe, but he wasn't clear about what this emotion was. He wao tinue f Hermione, who was l her head and silently g while holding back her sobs, but he didn't know what to say.

  He could only follow his instincts, silently pulling the upset little girl into a tight embrace. He casually tossed aside his e, which fell to the ground. Glely stroked Hermione's head, his hand moving down to pat her back rhythmically.

  Hermione hugged Glenn tightly, burying her head in his shoulder and g silently (Hermione was still taller than Glenn at this point). Glenn listeo Hermione's soft g o his ear, feeling his shoulder getti and his robe being tightly gripped by the little girl in his arms. He felt extremely heartbroken.

  What exactly was this feeling? Gle helpless for the first time. With his owional deficies, he couldn't and didn't know how to help the g Hermione.

  What should I do?

  The two of them just stood there embrag in the empty corridor, with only faint sobbing sounds in the silent space.

  Allowing Hermioo vent her hurt feelings for a while, she gradually stopped g. She wiped her tears on Glenn's clothes and pined softly, "When will you grow taller? It's not fortable hugging like this at all." Despite saying this, she still showed no iion of lifting her head from Glenn's shoulder.

  "It will be soon," Glenn replied softly.

  ...

  The css was History of Magic, but Glenn directly skipped it, pulling Hermione along.

  Even though Hermione was somewhat relut, Glenn's attitude was uedly firm. He insisted on taking Hermione for a walk to clear her mind.

  To be ho, there wasn't much point in attending History of Magiot to mention that Professor Binns wouldn't deliberately call on students, Hermione had almost memorized the entire History of Magic textbook.

  After the earlier sotion, the emotions in Hermione's heart had beeed, and her mood was slowly returning to normal. The two held hands and spent the eernoon leisurely wandering around Hogwarts castle.

  After an afternoon of refle, Hermione pletely abahe idea to make those boys who kept losing points behave properly to avoid poiions.

  To hell with them! Let them do whatever they want, I don't care anymore!

  W about so many trivial matters only makes oneself feel bad, and points still get deducted anyway. Hmph!

  As they wahe two came to the first-floor corridor. Without realizing it, the sky had gradually darkened. It was almost time for the Hallowee. After walking for aire afternoon, both Glenn and Hermione were hungry. They were preparing to head to the Great Hall to enjoy a sumptuous dinner.

  At that moment, a slight movement was captured by Glenn's perception. He raised his hand, quickly stopping Hermione. She uood immediately, drawing her wand and being alert, standing back-to-back with Glenn.

  "It's Quirrell's footsteps, ing from the dungeon, seemingly in a hurry... There's also another sound, several times rger, heavy, slow, occasionally rubbing against the walls," he quickly dised the information ing from their surroundings, his super-sensory ability amplified several times.

  His brain ached slightly, and waves of crisis awareness rapidly came over him.

  "Let's go into the first," he decided promptly, proteg Hermione as they retreated into a nearby empty . At this time, the lights in the had already beeinguished. In the dark night and with the Halloween atmosphere, it seemed particurly eerie and scary.

  But the darkness enveloped the two, hiding them well.

  "Glenn, what's the situation outside now?" Hermione asked softly, sounding slightly nervous. She unsciously moved closer to Glenn. After all, she was still a young girl and was quite scared at the moment.

  Glenn replied quietly, "Quirrell is about to e out from the dungeon. His footsteps sound urgent. And behind him, there's another very heavy set of footsteps..."

  "Could it be a troll? I heard a rumor earlier that Professor Quirrell brought two trolls to the school. They say it's to be used as teag material in Defense Against the Dark Arts css," Hermione's face ged as she shared her guess.

  Glenn nodded slightly. If it was a troll, it matched the information he had collected very closely. It could be assumed so, but there was one question: why would Quirrell release the troll? He couldn't possibly not know the huge impact releasing a troll outside the dungeon would cause.

  Glenn, who had already been suspicious of Quirrell due to the soul energy he detected during the S Ceremony, now felt even more strongly that there was something very wrong with Quirrell.

  Would a normal professor release such a dangerous creature as a troll?

  Uhat professor's brain was even less funal than a troll's.

  But they couldn't act rashly yet. They o firm, and also to avoid alerting the enemy prematurely.

  Silently p, the two quietly hid in a er of the , waiting for Quirrell to leave.

  After the information geed by Quirrell disappeared up the stairs, Glenn made a gesture, signaling Hermioo be alert to their surroundings and follow behind him.

  The two cautiously walked out of the , carefully on guard.

  "The troll is about to e out," Glenn informed based on the information he received, tellihe troll's location, which was in the corridor behind where Quirrell had passed.

  "We must deal with it! If it gets to the Great Hall, it will surely cause great damage," Hermione assessed the situation, believing they couldn't let the troll reach the Great Hall.

  Moreover, their current skill level was already suffit to elimihe troll.

  But there was still risk. They couldn't allow themselves to be attacked by the troll, or it would be certaih.

  Although trolls are stupid and clumsy, their destructive power is not to be uimated.

  The club in its hand was rger than four or five Glenns bined, yet the troll could swing it with great force.

  "Quirrell has ill iions. We don't o hold back. To prevent acts, let's kill it directly. Hermione, assist me," Glenn decisively gave the order, casting the Shield Charm on himself and Hermiohen immediately began to set up Sileng Charms for this se of the corridor.

  Too muoise might alert Quirrell, who had already left, to return. They must be careful ahis quickly.

  "Trolls have high magic resistanagi't kill it quickly. We must trol it first," Hermione didn't stay idle while Glenn was setting up the Sileng Charms. She quickly analyzed the situation and what she should dlenn uood. He multitasked, activating both the Sileng Charm and alchemy simultaneously.

  The ground in front of the troll slowly separated into fist-sized pieces of rubble, c the entire area.

  The troll, which had already crawled out of the dungeon, discovered the two at the same time. It roared angrily, swinging its giant club and starting to charge. Its speed wasn't fast, but the otion was enormous.

  "Sileng Charm is plete," Glenn had just finished his work. The wand in his sleeve sprang out, and he began casting enha spells on himself.

  With Hermioill present, Glenn didn't dare to be careless at all. He brought out his best dition.

  The firearms in his backpack that could cause fatal damage to the troll had too much recoil for him now. There was o trade injuries just to face a troll.

  "Sinking ground," Hermione used a simple Transfiguratioo make a se of the corridor in front of the troll extremely fragile. As soon as the heavy troll stepped on that se of ground, its big foot sank right in, and the eroll fell with a huge crash due to iia, causing a tremendous noise.

  "Stone cage!" Hermione held her breath and used Transfiguration again, turning all the stones Glenn had created through alchemy into thick stone pilrs. They intersected with each other, pinning the troll down on the colpsed ground.

  The troll, stunned from the fall, came to its senses and began tle angrily. The stone pilrs restraining its movements started to crack.

  "Close your eyes," Glenn had finished enhang himself with spells. He told the little girl to close her eyes, then rushed to the troll's front at aremely fast speed.

  Then, Hermione, with her eyes closed, heard a disgusting "ssh" sound, followed by the sound of a heavy object falling. Her face turned a few shades paler.

  She khat was the sound of the troll's life fading away.

  Glenn swiftly cut off the troll's head, shook the blood off his dagger, auro Hermione's side.

  He took the slightly trembling hand of the little girl and turned her around, indig that she could open her eyes now.

  "Let's go. We o report what happened here to Dumbledore," Glenn looked ahead. He o call for backup now.