A/N: It appears to me that we keep finding ourselves in the Great Hall, having breakfast or dinner. A magical place, that one. Now, Halloween being practically a must when it comes to Harry Potter fiction, here goes...


Chapter 8 – Halloween

The first Quidditch-match of the season, Ravenclaw versus Slytherin, took place at the end of October. The air had already lost the warmth of summer, even though the sun was doing its best and shone so brightly that the players had to wear sunglasses to be able to avoid the Bludgers. Remus was shivering violently under his cloak, his teeth chattering, wishing desperately for a cup of hot chocolate as James bounced up and down beside him, excitedly explaining the rules of the game for him with the occasional help of Peter and Sirius, who had Anu sitting on his lap. With a small smile Remus acknowledged that James had obviously gotten over the shock of not having been admitted to the Gryffindor Quidditch team despite all his efforts and his friendship with the team captain Finbar Quigley. Thanks to Sirius, who had gleefully observed that Remus was a complete Quidditch-virgin (and promptly gone to crow that fact from every roof), James had bullied Remus into reading all kinds of Quidditch-related books and articles, quizzing him about them afterwards. Once he'd actually woken Remus in the dead of night to ask him, who'd won the world cup in 1409. Sirius had happily joined him in beating James up with his pillow.

Sitting there with his friends, his cheeks painted Ravenclaw-blue by Peter, Remus finally understood James's passion for the game. It was very hard not to get sucked into it as the chasers skilfully passed the Quaffle to each other, the keepers hovered tensely in front of their goal hoops, the beaters flung their clubs at the canon-ball like Bludgers with all their strength and the seekers darted across the pitch like arrows in search of the Golden Snitch. Remus thought that he could probably really enjoy the game if it weren't for the cold.


Halloween came in a flash – literally.

The thunderstorm that had sprung up last night had successfully kept Sirius from sleeping at all. Of course he would never admit it to any of his friends, but he was positively terrified of thunderstorms and the fact that he slept high up in a tower didn't particularly help the matter. Rain still pounded heavily against the windows when he got up at the break of dawn, dressed silently and tiptoed over to James's bed. He pulled the scarlet hangings open, carefully avoiding making any sound. He watched James for a moment, shaking his head in amusement at the sight of him being wrapped in his bed sheet like a straight jacket – James was a very active sleeper – his face completely at peace. Sirius cautiously reached out and grabbed hold of James's pillow and with a loud, bloodcurdling screech he pulled it out from under his head.

James jumped up, startled, and reflexively slapped Sirius hard in the face, who fell over and knocked his head on Peter's bed frame, who, in turn, fell out of his bed and started to scream something about James having stolen his secret supply of Butter Toffee at the top of his voice. Anu bounced happily around the room, thinking this was all a game, playfully biting Peter's toe.

A few moments of very confused yelling and screaming later, in which all of them got bitten by Anu at least once, Sirius was helping Peter to his feet, rubbing the back of his head, while James tried to catch Anu who had his teddy by the neck.

"What did you have to slap me for, you twit?" Sirius whined, chucking an abandoned sock at James who chose to answer by throwing him a very dirty look.

"Much as I hate to miss the sunrise, Sirius, I'd prefer a gentler rousing next time, please" Peter yawned, collecting his pillow and blanket from the floor and throwing them onto his bed.

A soft knock on the door made them all look up in surprise. It gave a very soft creak as it opened to reveal Remus standing in the doorframe, fully dressed, his red and gold Gryffindor scarf wound around his neck and the lower half of his face.

"Sorry" he said in a muffled voice. "I hope I didn't wake you up." His gaze fell on the chaos they'd managed to produce a few minutes ago and Sirius could see his eyes twinkle, assuming that he must smile underneath the scarf.

"Where've you been?" James asked sternly, as Remus made his way around the slaughtered teddy to his own bed, sitting down on his covers and slowly pulling off his shoes.

"Me? Home. I told you my mum was ill, didn't I?" he answered shortly, avoiding their eyes.

"Yeah, you did alright. But you conveniently forgot to mention when you'd be back" Sirius said sharply, checking his friend's appearance, half expecting to find a limb missing this time.

"So how is she?" Peter asked, sitting down on his own bed, looking at Remus in concern.

"How is who?" Remus asked distractedly, continuously shooting Sirius furtive looks.

"Your mother" Sirius said icily, his cold gaze fixing Remus's.

"Better, I guess" he muttered, the half of his face that was visible reddening somewhat. "Now, if you excuse me? I've been up all night. I need to catch on some sleep before the feast tonight."

Without another word he pulled his hangings shut and disappeared from view, not bothering to undress.


Remus joined them in the common room late that afternoon, a book tucked under his arm and a large chocolate bar dangling from his mouth by its wrapper. He flopped down on one of the large armchairs next to where Sirius, Peter and James sat on the floor, playing a heated game of exploding snap. Sirius noted, with a disgruntled look at him, that he had his collar closed up to the top, his scarf still wound rather tightly around his neck.

"I think I might have caught a cold" Remus answered his unspoken question, hiding his face behind Alice in Wonderland.

"It's a shame you missed Defence Against the Dark Arts yesterday, Remus" Peter said, holding out his hand to receive a chunk of Remus's chocolate. "We did Boggarts as a Halloween treat. Know what they are, them Boggarts? They can-"

"-change into the worst fear of whoever stands before it. Their true shape is unknown and they prefer to live in deserted furniture." Remus recited, stifling a yawn. Sirius had to admit that his voice really did sound extremely hoarse, even more that usual.

"Oh" Peter said, somewhat putout. "Of course you know."

Sirius grinned to himself, stroking Anu who lay on her back between his outstretched legs. Remus and his books. Why he bothered with them, Sirius really couldn't guess. Remus was a good student, almost as good as himself or James. But then again, magic came to Sirius naturally, almost like breathing. He didn't have to think about it, much less read about it in some old books. Maybe it had something to do with being a Purebloo-

Sirius flinched so badly that Anu jumped in surprise. He couldn't believe what he had just been about to think. As if blood had anything to do with…anything! Just look at Peter, for example. Peter was a Pureblood Wizard, just like himself, and Sirius was sure that Peter wouldn't even know which way to hold his wand if it wasn't thicker on one side. Yes, he could totally see the point of books and studying when he looked at Peter. That boy really could use all the help he could get.

He looked up to see four pairs of eyes looking at him, all wearing different expressions: James looked amused, Peter curious, Remus concerned and Anu expectant. He shrugged the awkward moment off with a grin and leaned back on the armchair Remus was sitting in, his chocolate halfway to his mouth. Sirius fixed Anu with an intent stare, willing her to read his thoughts. Anu looked back at him, her head tilted to one side, one ear erect. She gave a short bark that sounded like a "Got it" and hopped onto Remus's chest, snatched the chocolate out of his hand and jumped off again, dropping the candy onto Sirius's lap.

"Hey!" Remus howled as Sirius popped a large piece of chocolate into his mouth, smiling hugely to himself.

Peter, laughing shamelessly, now held out his hand to Sirius. "Nope," Sirius said, shaking his head dramatically. "All mine now."

"Anyway" Peter said, staring longingly at the chocolate Sirius was now feeding Anu with. "You missed a really good lesson yesterday, Remus."

"Yeah. Highly entertaining" James said tartly.

"What's with him?" Remus asked over the top of his book.

"He's just sulking because everybody laughed at his Boggart" Sirius said offhandedly, stroking Anu behind her ears.

"Yeah" Peter sniggered, his enthusiasm flaming up again. "It was brilliant. You'll never guess what James's greatest fear is-" his laughs were muffled by the hand James was pressing to his mouth to make him shut up.

"It was a cabbage" Sirius said, grinning wickedly.


They proceeded down the marble staircase that led to the Great Hall at sundown, still talking animatedly about the memorable Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. Peter pompously recounted over and over again how he had successfully managed to fight off his Boggart – which had resumed the shape of a circus clown – by making its red nose elongate, causing it to trip over it. Thankfully he didn't realise that James and Sirius were laughing more about the fact that Peter was afraid of clowns in the first place.

Remus trudged behind them in complete silence, anxious not to let them see him limping slightly, for he had broken his leg last night and although the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, had mended it in no time, it was still very sore. The scarf was still in place too, concealing the three vicious gashes that ran from his jaw all the way down to his collarbone.

"…and Sirius fancies May, did you realise, Remus?" Peter said suddenly, elbowing Remus playfully in the ribs. Remus gasped in pain as Peter's elbow hit an enormous bruise he had there.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you" Peter said shocked, clasping his hands over his mouth.

"I just bit my lip. Really, it's nothing" he said, forcing a smile.

He felt his friends' gazes in his back as he slipped past them and entered the Great Hall, hardly noticing the festive decoration and the huge cloud of bats that soared over the house-tables. They still stared at him suspiciously as they'd found themselves empty seats.

"So, you fancy Professor Lollop, Sirius?" he said in a brave attempt to make conversation.

"Oh, he totally does" Peter guffawed, happily jumping on the train of thought. "Stares at her all the time and yesterday I caught him doodling her name all over the front page of his textbook."

"I did not" Sirius said indignantly, kicking Peter in the shins under the table.

Remus couldn't blame him. Professor Lollop – May – was hardly older than themselves, clearly freshly out of school. She had a very pretty round face and eyes the colour of a mountain stream – no, blue, her eyes were blue. She always wore jeans and t-shirts with all kinds of different Muggle rock bands on them. There was always a braided pink bracelet around her wrist and she usually wore her hair in a ponytail. It had the colour of a cornfield at the end of summer – no, her hair was blond! Remus gave himself a mental slap around the head to pull himself together. And just in time!

The festively decorated table suddenly groaned with the weight of heaps of grilled chicken and mounds of baked potatoes, piles of roast beef and pyramids of crisp, fuming rolls that appeared practically out of thin air. It was only when he smelled the mouth watering odour of lasagne, one of his favourite dishes, that Remus realised how hungry he was and he piled his plate with a bit of almost everything he could reach, avoiding steak tartar though.

Meanwhile the conversation got back to the starting point. James told Remus approvingly, over a mouthful of corned beef, how well Lily Evans had dealt with her Boggart – an enormous demon with goat-like horns sticking out of its head, flaming red skin, a viciously swishing tail and a hoof instead of its right foot, clad in nothing more than a filthy, furry loincloth.

"I wish Remus would have been there, yesterday" Remus overheard Peter saying to Sirius, who had his wand out, changing his spinach from green to red. "Wonder what his Boggart would have looked like, don't you?"

Sirius didn't answer but merely looked at Remus ponderingly, who hastily busied himself with his lasagne.

The large wooden doors of the Great Hall suddenly creaked open and Remus looked up curiously, along with almost everyone else. Silence fell as a hunchbacked figure in a long, dirty cloak limped in, his face hidden beneath his hood. For a moment the hunchback just stood there, his gaze travelling over each of the house-tables in turn, before he trudged down the narrow aisle between the Ravenclaw and the Hufflepuff table towards the teachers table. As he approached Professor Dumbledore, who looked at him enquiringly over his half-moon spectacles, he bowed low and then started to whisper in his ear.

A yelp, a small cry of pain and a curse pulled Remus's attention away from the cloaked figure.

"That's what you get for not obeying the rules, mate" James said, snickering. "You know you aren't supposed to bring Anu to dinner."

Sirius glowered at him, his index finger in his mouth, trying to push Anu's head back under the table. "She bit me! That ungrateful, insatiable brat" he hissed.

"Oh, poor girl" Peter crooned.

"Poor girl?" Sirius spluttered incredulously. "Look at what she did to my finger!" he held it under Peter's nose. There were two tiny red dots, marking the spot.

"Yeah, she almost chewed your arm off there" James laughed.

"Looks like a vampire bite, don't you think?" Sirius said, his head cocked to one side, an eyebrow raised.

"Poor girl" Peter repeated affectionately. "You must be starving" and he speared his half-finished piece of chicken on his fork and passed it to Anu, who almost swallowed it whole.

"Err, Sirius?" Remus said hesitantly. "You don't happen to know that guy who was just talking to Professor Dumbledore, do you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, because he's standing right behind you!"