Bang!
Accompanied by the troll's body exploding like a water bag that had been inflated to the extreme, countless bits of flesh and blood plasma also splashed out, directly smearing Link and the entire corridor into a nauseating, disgusting color.
"Urgh!"
Such a disgusting scene, plus the troll's unique stench, made Link immediately start vomiting.
At this moment, Hermione finally caught up. She was stunned for a moment upon seeing this tragic scene, but she still gritted her teeth and rushed to Link's side.
"Link! Are you okay? It's all my fault! This is all my fault!"
Hermione choked as she spoke. Link was covered in blood plasma, looking quite scary, which made Hermione completely unable to determine his injury status.
"Urgh! I'm fine! Quickly, give me a Scourgify! Urgh! This is so disgusting!"
"Oh! Oh! Scourgify!"
With a flash of light, the blood filth on Link disappeared instantly. But that strange smell unique to trolls couldn't be removed no matter what.
However, that wasn't a big problem. The sense of smell could be said to be the most adaptable human sense. As long as it wasn't a toxic or irritating smell, normal people could adapt quickly.
Link was the same. He wiped the remaining filth from his mouth and finally stood up straight.
At this time, Hermione was still nervously sweeping her gaze across Link, checking his physical condition. Only after confirming that Link truly wasn't hurt did she finally breathe a sigh of relief and sob as she said, "Thank you, Link! Thank you for coming to save me!"
"Uh…"
Hearing this, Link's expression instantly turned subtle. He knew Hermione had misunderstood, but he couldn't tell her the truth, the secret of the Basilisk absolutely couldn't be leaked.
After thinking for a moment, Link still decided to make up a random reason to fool Hermione.
Even though this would undoubtedly make her sad, there was no other choice. He really didn't want to get involved in the main storyline's giant pit.
"Actually, I just…"
Thinking this, Link opened his mouth to speak. But before he could finish, a series of footsteps suddenly came from behind them.
Link turned his head to look, only to find that Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Sprout, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, Cedric, Emily, Harry, Ron, and a whole group of people had come over.
"Link! Hermione! Are you two okay… Oh! Merlin's beard! What happened here!?"
Professor Sprout rarely cursed. The horrific scene before her, like a hell of flesh and blood, had truly frightened her.
The others beside her mostly had similar reactions, especially Harry and Ron, the legs of those two had gone soft.
"Ah! Professor Sprout! We're okay."
Link waved to the approaching crowd, though a trace of bitterness rose in his heart.
Those lies he made up might work on a little girl like Hermione, but to deceive these professors?
At this moment, Professor McGonagall came back to her senses, straightened her face, and first swept Hermione and Link with a harsh gaze. Then she suppressed her anger and said, "What exactly happened!? Why were you absent from the feast? If anything had happened to you, I… I…"
As she spoke, Professor McGonagall clutched her chest, looking as if she couldn't breathe.
Seeing this, Dumbledore quickly stepped forward and supported her, saying, "Minerva, don't worry too much. The children are safe, aren't they? And they didn't know about the troll sneaking into Hogwarts, so this can't be blamed on them."
At the same time, Cedric ignored the filth on the floor, came to Link's side, and explained in a low voice, "Link, just when the feast was halfway through, Professor Quirrell rushed into the hall shouting that there was a troll in the castle. That's when we noticed you and that Gryffindor girl were missing. Ugh! You really should've told us before leaving, we were worried sick!"
"I'm sorry, Cedric, and professors. This matter was my fault, I just…"
Hearing this, Link immediately began apologizing. He thought that if he could get past this incident, that would be best.
But upon hearing Link take the blame, Hermione next to him wasn't happy.
"No! This was all my fault! Link only risked his life to save me!"
As soon as she said that, the corridor fell into silence.
Link widened his eyes in disbelief and looked at Hermione. 'Good grief! I kindly saved you, and you backstab me like this?'
For a moment, Link began to question life.
"You said Link came to save you? What's going on?"
As he spoke, Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, and his expression became particularly serious.
Hermione's body trembled slightly. Clearly, she could also feel the powerful pressure from Dumbledore. She glanced helplessly at Harry and Ron in the distance, then finally raised her head slightly and said stubbornly, "I thought the magic I had learned was enough to deal with the troll, so I went! Link only came to find me after discovering I wasn't in the Great Hall!"
"You!"
Just recovered, Professor McGonagall nearly exploded again. She struggled to raise her hand and pointed at Hermione, her voice trembling, "Gryffindor, minus 20 points!"
Hearing this, Hermione bit her lower lip at once, her eyes filled with mist, but she stubbornly raised her face, refusing to let the tears fall.
And McGonagall wasn't the only one angry on the scene.
Emily, who had been standing behind, also stepped forward. Her eyes were red, as if she had just cried.
"So, you risked your life just to save her?" Emily said coldly, and her words made everyone's attention shift back from Hermione.
"Ah, this…"
Link scratched his head awkwardly. But under the crowd's questioning gazes, he finally gritted his teeth and said, "Yes! That's exactly what happened!"
Emily's body froze. She clenched her fists and glared at Link and Hermione for a long time before stomping her foot and scolding, "Idiot!"
With that, Emily turned and walked away without looking back, leaving Link standing there, somewhat at a loss.
All of this fell into Dumbledore's eyes. He chuckled, spread his arms, and cheerfully said, "Alright, don't blame the children anymore. The ones who should apologize are us. If we had done a better job with the school's security measures, this kind of thing wouldn't have happened."
"You speak too highly, Headmaster Dumbledore." Link quickly replied.
In his mind, since the headmaster had already made the judgment on the matter, it should be over.
But at this moment, Snape's voice suddenly rang out again.
"Wait!"
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