//------------------------------// // A Troll in the Dungeon // Story: A Hogwarts Overtale // by Tums Festival //------------------------------// "Frisk, have you seen Hermione anywhere?" Sunset asked, taking a seat next to her at the Hufflepuff dinner table, Luna sitting across from them.  "Huh?" Frisk said. "No. I haven't seen her since we got here yesterday. Why? Is everything okay?" "We're not sure," Sunset said. "She wasn't in her afternoon classes." "Hah!" Flowey cackled. "A know-it-all like her not showing up to show off? Yeah, I don't think so." "Seriously?" Sunset said, shooting him a glare. "He does have… somewhat of a point," Luna said. "Like I said, this is very unusual for her." "Could she have gotten sick?" Frisk asked. "She didn't look sick this morning," Sunset said, before letting out an embarrassed sigh. "Though… honestly, it could be that. Could be a bunch of different things. What if we’re worrying over nothing?" "Do you have classes with her tomorrow?" Frisk asked. "Yeah, Potions," Sunset nodded. "What do you think, Luna? Should we call off the search until then?" Before she could open her mouth, she was interrupted by Saggitarius of all people, just now coming to the dinner table. "My apologies for the intrusion. But are you speaking of the female Gryffindor prefect?"  "Well… yeah," Sunset blinked. "Have you seen her?" "Indeed I have," he said. "She happened to be upon the same tower I had chosen for my nightly communion with the stars. Not that I minded the company, of course.” “What was Hermione doing up there?” Frisk wondered. “At first I thought she was stargazing,” Sagittarius continued. “But upon further inspection… no, I don’t believe so. Before she knew I was there, she held a morose posture, and appeared to be in deep contemplation. Since her gaze was downward, I don’t believe it involved the constellations.” “What are you, a friggin’ poet?” Flowey groaned. “Or do all centaurs talk like that?”  “Many of us do, demon flower,” Sagittarius said, agitated. “But what was I saying again? Oh yes. Hermione. I... found the sight of her in such a state so poignant that I did not wish to interrupt it. However, she must have heard my hoof-falls when I turned to leave. And when she faced me…” He cleared his throat. “Mmm… it's possibly something she would like to remain private.”  “That’s alright, Sagittarius,” Luna consoled. “We just want to know where she went.” “She never told me,” Saggatarius continued. "She simply said hello then left. It was quite… awkward. That being said, I do remember hearing her speak to someone at the base of the tower. Headmistress McGonnegal, I believe." "About prefect stuff?" Frisk asked. "No, Headmistress McGonnegal isn't the head of Gryffindor anymore," Luna said. "I don't know why they'd be talking about that." "I'm not sure what the exact topic was," Saggitarius continued. "Though I remembered hearing the headmistress saying something about ‘not needing more eyes in the dungeon', and then Hermione saying something about, ‘using Harry’s cloak'." Saggitarius raised his eyebrows. "I wonder… was she referring to Harry Potter? He who brought the Dark Lord’s requiem?" "Hey, didn't Hermione say you and her were close with him?" Frisk asked, looking to Luna. Luna smiled warmly. "He was my first real friend. A wonderful soul all around. And he did own a cloak. A Cloak of Invisibility, in fact - one of the Deathly Hallows." "What's a Deathly Hallow?" Frisk asked. "Sounds like some kind of vampiric jazz band," Flowey snarked.  "It would take a while to explain," Luna said. "I'll have to find a copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard for you." "But the main point is it can make you invisible, right?" Sunset asked. "Mhm," Luna nodded. “And I’m sure he would have let Hermione use it if she asked.” Sunset furrowed her brow. "Then it sounds like Hermione wanted to help spy on something in the dungeon.” "Wasn't the Federation doing something down there?" Frisk asked. "Magical research or whatever?" "That must be it," Sunset exclaimed. "Though why would Hermione want to spy on them?" "Because she's obviously smarter than you idiots and doesn't trust the Federation," Flowey groaned. "Or their weirdo representative." "Just because Professor Who is different doesn't make her a bad person," Luna said, her voice once more losing its dreamy quality. "And the Federation hasn't done anything evil yet," Frisk said in a scolding tone. "You and I both know that, Flowey." “That we know about,” Flowey said, rolling his beady little eyes. "And you just said earlier Professor Who might be worth looking into. Yet you're sticking up for her employers?" "Well, I--" "As always: great logic, Frisk," Flowey sighed. "Ten out of ten." "Why would you think Professor Who should be looked into, Frisk?" Luna asked in a slightly hurt tone. "She didn't exactly," Sunset said. "Mr. Talking Weed did." "Oof," Flowey said in a mockingly hurt tone. "Trying hard but still haven't even hit the board, Knife Ears." He then looked at Luna with a wicked grin. "Yeah, I said your new idol's got something up with her. And I had a good reason…" As he had earlier with Sunset, he explained Missy's soul had been altered, most likely by her herself.  After he finished, Luna gazed at him skeptically, her arms folded. "I may have an open mind most of the time, but considering the source of this…" "Yeah, yeah, you don’t trust me, I get it," Flowey laughed. "Whatever. Who has no thumbs and doesn't give a crap? Flowey the Flower. How ya' doin'?" "If you don't care what we think, why bother 'warning' us?" Sunset asked. "I have my reasons," Flowey huffed, glancing at Frisk briefly. "One of them being you'll feel all the dumber when I'm proven right." He gave another wicked grin. "And by the way, if I am right, which I probably am, you better hope Missy doesn't do any SOUL magic when Hermione is spying on her or whatever. Cus invisible to the naked eye or not, there's no hiding from that.” In a sing song tone, he finished with: “She might just spot her." "Oh come on,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes. “Now you’re just trying to scare us.” Frisk, however, didn’t seem to agree. She gazed at Sunset warily. “I… I don’t know about that. I don’t know why Missy would be looking at SOULs all the time, but if the timing’s right...” Sunset raised her eyebrows. “Then there is a chance she might be in trouble?” “Uh huh,” Frisk nodded.  Sunset shuddered. Her and her friends could very easily go looking for Hermione and warn her. Frisk did know SOUL magic, and could spot her, after all. However, if they were caught trespassing in an area restricted by the Federation, with her being an unofficial representative of Equestria, it could jeopardize the relationship she had just gotten done starting to build between them. ‘But what would happen to Hermione if she was caught spying?’ Sunset asked herself. ‘If Missy is as bad as Flowey thinks, she could be capable of… anything.’ Swallowing hard, she looked towards Saggitarius. “How long ago did she leave the observation tower?” “But a moment ago,” he said. She then looked towards Frisk. “Alright, what’s say we go try to warn her?”  “An adventure into the dungeon?” Frisk said, smiling broadly. “I’m down!”  “Luna?” she asked.  “I don’t believe Professor Who would do anything bad to Hermione if she found her,” Luna said, as if reading Sunset’s previous thoughts. “Though I still wouldn’t want her to get in trouble.” “Then it’s settled!” Frisk said enthusiastically, before lightly pounding her fists on the table. “Dungeon adventure! Dungeon adventure! Oh yeah!”  “I’m going to pretend I heard nothing of this,” Sagittarius said, turning away from them. “The Federation has been nothing but good to my people. We would not have equal rights with you humans without their support. I do not wish to trample on our relationship.” “I sort of know how you feel, believe it or not,” Sunset said. “It’s alright. It’s not your ‘fight’, anyway.”  Sagittarius nodded. “Thank you. Though nonetheless, I wish you luck.”  “Thanks!” Frisk said, glancing down at Flowey. “Flowey, you wanna come?”  “Guess this is sort of my fault you’re going, not that I care,” he sighed loudly. “So fine, whatever. It’ll be funny to watch you all screw this up, anyway.” Frisk gave a thumbs up. “That’s a yes, then! Come on, let’s go.” -- With the help of Hogwarts’s famous moving staircases, it didn’t take them long to navigate to the twisting, stone corridors of the dungeons. While fairly dark and eerie, they were surprisingly clean and clear of what you’d expect from them: wall fungus and heavy humidity. Nonetheless, it didn’t take Flowey long to find a way to make them horrible. “How many people do you think they used to torture down here back in the day?” Flowey asked. “I bet that Salazar Slytherin guy used to have a ball! Boilings and scalpings and stretchings, oh my!”  Sunset gave him a look, before gazing up at Frisk. “No offense, but did we really have to bring him?” “If I had left him alone with Saggitarius, he might not have been there when I got back,” Frisk said. “And that’s a bad thing?” Frisk gave her a prominent frown. “Right, right,” Sunset sighed. “Sorry.”  “Pffft” Flowey chuckled. “You believe that crap? Frisk is just too stupid not to love me. That’s why I’m here.” Luna gazed at Frisk pensively. “I do wonder how a kind person like yourself and Flowey became so close.” “It’s… complicated,” Frisk said, taking a deep, solemn breath. “Let’s just say the story about how I ‘freed the monsters’ leaves out a lot of important parts…” “Parts that are ours alone to know,” Flowey smirked.  “I can’t remember if I brought this up before,” Frisk continued, a haunted look across her. “But Flowey literally can’t sympathize with other people.” “Wait, you’re saying he’s a straight-up sociopath?” Sunset asked. “I’m shocked. Shocked!” Flowey raised his eyebrows as if to say, ‘Really?’ “Okay, not that shocked,” Sunset said.  “Yet sociopathy is more of a mental illness,” Luna said. “This is something different, isn’t it?” Frisk gazed at her, surprised. “W-Well, yes, but just like with people with that sort of illness, it’s not really his fault.” “Stop trying to make me pitiable, Frisk,” Flowey groaned, folding two of his leaves like a pair of arms. “I don’t want any of it.” Frisk ignored him. “And none of that means he doesn’t have it in him to do good. I’ve seen him do it before! He just can’t… feel anything when he does it.” “He doesn’t gain joy from it,” Luna said, understandingly. “There’s no ‘reward’.” “Exactly,” Frisk said.  “Shut up, already,” Flowey moaned. Frisk, again, ignored him. “But doesn’t that make him all the, well, gooder when he does do good? Since he has absolutely no reward for it?” “Shut. Up!” “That’s… a really good point, Frisk,” Sunset said. ‘I can’t believe I’m actually starting to feel… empathy for this thing.’ Frisk smiled. “That’s why I have faith in him. Everyone can be a good person, if they just try.” “For all that is holy, shut up!” Flowey hissed, halting the conversation. “No matter what this idiot thinks, I’m not gonna be helping grannies across the street any time… ever. All of you would do well to get that through your thick skulls now.”  He glared up at Frisk. “And don’t look down on me, by the way. You’re not any better, Ms. ‘Where Are The Knives?’I know you don’t want to remember what happened, but I do. And I don’t care if Chara had a helping hand, I don’t care if those things technically ‘never really happened’. They were still real to both you and me and you know it.” Frisk’s face sank faster than a rock into a deep pit.  “Frisk?” Sunset said, concerned. “What is he talking about? Who’s Chara?” “The demon who comes when you call its name,” Luna answered darkly, gaining a look of shock from the group, particularly from Flowey and Frisk.  “How did you…” Frisk said, her mouth gaping open.  “What are you, some sort of freakin’ mind reader?!” Flowey snapped. “If that’s the case, you better get away from me. My mind isn’t a pleasant place to be.”  “I can’t read minds,” Luna said quietly. “She was from a story daddy and I heard.” “Heard where?” Frisk asked. “Remember when I said we visited Mt. Ebbott a few summers ago?” she explained. “A kindly old monster - Gerson, I think was his name - told it to us. He believed we’d ‘get a kick out of it’.” Sunset raised her eyebrows. “A kick out of a story about some creepy demon?” “We were asking around about local legends at the time,” Luna said. “Monsters, as it turns out, don’t have any less than any other culture. However, we had never heard any as fascinating as theirs. Speaking of which: Frisk, have you ever heard of someone called ‘Gaster?’” Frisk and Flowey looked at each other, an odd, almost confused look in their eyes, then looked back at Luna. “Sounds familiar, but… I can’t place my finger on it,” Frisk said. Flowey merely grunted. Luna sighed. “Oh well.” Sunset, now slightly wary at what she had heard, decided to bring the conversation back on track. Just like something bad seemed to be haunting Hermione, something equally bad seemed to be haunting Frisk. “What did you hear about Chara, though?” “I can’t remember much,” Luna said. “Just that she was, well, a demon, or something like a demon, that was drawn to people whose SOULs had turned sour. I think that’s what he meant by ‘she comes when you call her name’.” “You… never encountered anyone like her in the Underground, did you, Frisk?” Sunset asked suspiciously.  The question seemed to turn her as pale as a ghost.  “Did you, Flowey?” Sunset asked. Flowey looked at her coyly, before smiling wickedly. “That’s not my story to tell.”  “H-Hey!,” Frisk suddenly said, relief filling her tone as she pointed ahead. “Maybe we should talk about this some other time, huh? Look at that!” “Huh…? Oh!” Sunset said, screeching to a halt. Stretching across the hall ahead of them was a transparent, shimmering ‘wall’ of red energy. In the center of it was a series of churning, lightning-white text, spelling out: ‘Danger Ahead: United Federation of Species Magical Research Zone. Authorized Officials Only.’ Sunset had almost walked right into it. “Hm,” Luna said, gazing at it ponderously. “Does anyone have a stick?”