New chapter!

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Chapter 9: Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?

Ah, Halloween: The festival of ghosts, werewolves and mysterious things in the night, bloodstained walls and mummies in coffins. Lyanna liked Halloween. She, Anne and some of the kids at the orphanage used to go trick or treat sometimes at Halloween, but that was a long time ago.

Halloween occurred a Thursday this year. Lyanna thought it would be wicked to have Astronomy at midnight when everyone would feel nervous and afraid of the dark.

. . . .

". . . . Miss Riddle, I was not aware that turtles have noses like that", McGonagall said and looked down at Lyanna's turtle.

It looked exactly as a turtle should, except that it had a teapots snout. The task was to turn a teapot into a turtle.

"Well, professor, you should be happy that you've got to witness this particularly moment", Lyanna said seriously, trying to keep a straight face. "It seems as though I've invented a new turtle specie."

McGonagall didn't look impressed. Her lips were thin and her brows furrowed. Lyanna bowed her head in defeat.

"Sorry, professor", she said humbly. "I will try again."

"You do that, Miss Riddle", McGonagall suggested and went to check on some Ravenclaws.

" 'A new turtle specie' ", Lily repeated faintly while Mary shook her head, used to Lyanna's peculiarities. "You should be glad she didn't dock points."

"Trust me, I am", assured Lyanna and waved her wand again, saying the incantation.

The snout disappeared, but the turtle started to sneeze tea all over the desk. Lyanna didn't even know that turtles could sneeze.

The bell rang. The students gathered their stuff while McGonagall said loudly:

"Please leave your turtles or teapots on my desk with a nametag with your name on. That's all for today."

Lily was first to reach the desk and then she waited for Lyanna, Mary, Desideria and Tanya. Lyanna said goodbye to Maria and her Ravenclaw friends.

"How do you think the Great Hall will look tonight?" Desideria asked and rearranged her ponytail.

"I hope it will be pumpkins", Lily said excitedly and her green eyes sparkled. "I love pumpkins."

"Well, I can assure you, ladies, that this feast will be remembered", Sirius said as he and the other boys passed them in the corridor.

"Oh, really Black", Tanya said and looked suspiciously at Sirius. "How so?"

"That would be telling, Fawley", he said and smiled charmingly at her.

Tanya's cheeks turned pink, but Lyanna guessed it wasn't just of irritation. Lyanna looked at the four boys: Sirius looked to have not a care in the world, James smirked and his eyes were mischievous, Remus looked happy, but his eyes seemed nervous and Peter smiled brightly and looked expectant.

Lyanna felt that they had planned something.

"What will you do?" she asked carefully, her eyes narrowed.

"What makes you think we will do anything?" asked James innocently and all four of them walked away, looking pleased with themselves.

"I have a bad feeling about this", Lily said as they climbed the stairs up to the sixth floor.

"Don't worry", Mary comforted. "I'm sure they won't do anything bad."

"It's Halloween", Lyanna pointed out. "Strange and bad things are bound to happen."

None of the other girls answered her, only sighed and wondered what would happen at the Halloween feast.

. . . .

The five girls made their way down to the Great Hall around six o'clock. They had taking it easy during the afternoon, so they would be somewhat alert during their Astronomy lesson at midnight.

"This looks amazing", Lily said breathlessly as they entered the Great Hall.

The ceiling was black as the sky outside was. Mary had told them that it was enchanted to look like the sky outside. Lily said she had read it in Hogwarts: A history too. Live bats were flying around the hall, enormous pumpkins with funny faces was lining up against the walls, the ghosts were entertaining whoever who would listen about death, scary music played and the golden plates shone almost alarmingly in the light from the flying candles.

"I don't see the boys", muttered Lily and looked anxiously up and down the Gryffindor table.

"They will surely be here soon", Mary said and sat down on the bench.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Loosen up, it's only Halloween once a year", Desideria said as she took a chicken wing and started to eat.

"If they do something, you can always poison them later", Lyanna said before taking a sip of her pumpkin juice. "Potion is one of your strongest subjects after all."

"Don't be silly, Lyanna", laughed Tanya, a high giggling sound.

Suddenly, the boys came walking in, looking excited, happy and triumphant.

"Sorry if we kept you waiting", James said as he slouched down on the bench.

"We've managed", said Lyanna and crushed her potatoes with her fork.

Lily glared at James and Sirius like she expected them to take out their wands and shoot spells or something. They didn't do anything of the sort.

"Remus, would you like to join me, Mary, Alice and some of her friends tomorrow at a study session about Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Lyanna asked out of the blue. "You can join too, Pettigrew, if you want to."

"Why aren't James and I invited as well?"

"Because we will study and somehow I can't see you and Potter do that."

"I would like that", Remus interrupted before Sirius could answer. "Why aren't the rest of you coming?"

He looked at Lily, Desideria and Tanya. Desideria and Tanya explained that they had a meeting with their chess club and Lily told him that she would spend some time with Snape.

"Snivellus!" James said loudly and shocked. "Why would you hang out with him instead of your friends?"

Lily got red in the face and her eyes were dangerously narrowed.

"His name is Severus, Potter", she hissed, "and he's as much my friend as any of the girls here."

"Then you don't have a very high friend standard", commented Sirius lightly and James and Peter laughed.

"Sirius!" Remus hissed, looking apologetically at the girls.

They ignored him and Lyanna felt like hurting all of them. What right did they have to say things like that and how could they? After giving them an icy glare full of contempt, she turned away and tried to strike a conversation with Desideria and Mary who sat closest to her.

The dinner passed on without any more talking between the two groups. The girls talked about classes, holiday plans and just trying to get to know each other better. The boys were talking in hushed voices and Lyanna couldn't help but feel as though Lily was right: they were up to something.

The dessert had been served when they first noticed something.

". . . . so my mother told me that I had to act like a lady and then. . . ."

Tanya's voice trailed off and she looked at her hand, the one she used to cut a chocolate cake. It had a stain on it. A red stain that looked strangely like. . . .

"Blood", Desideria whispered.

Just as she said that, it started to rain red drops from the ceiling. Someone screamed. A lot of people stood up and pointed around. The teachers stood up to and tried to calm everybody down.

Lyanna looked up to the ceiling. The candles were not wax colored anymore. They were a blood red and they dripped. The drops weren't hot, but they were still warm, so you could easily mistake it for real blood. She got drops in her face and one was slowly making its way to her eye.

"What's this?" She said as she tried to wipe it away.

It left a big red mark. Suddenly, the pumpkins rose into the air and started to dance around. Their faces turned to evil grimaces and danced around people's faces. More screams and cries aroused around the hall. The students tried to hit the pumpkins away. The teachers shoot spells at them, but the pumpkins just laughed.

Mary and Tanya was close to tears, Desideria tried to chase away a particularly nasty pumpkin and Lily, with her red hair, looked as though her whole head was bleeding. Lyanna looked around and saw the four Gryffindor boys. They were also covered in 'blood', but they were no pumpkins in sight.

The pumpkins flew higher in the air and formed the words:

Happy Halloween Hogwarts!

Then, they flied back to their previously positions against the walls. The candles turned back to their normal colors and stopped dropping. People still screamed, cried and shouted. It took a few loud 'booms' from Dumbledore's wand to quiet all down.

"Thank you", he said and his voice was calm.

His robe had stains and his long silver beard and hair looked badly looped with red loops.

"That was some impressive magic and I believe we all got quite the scare. An excellent Halloween prank. However", he continued and though his voice was grave, his eyes still twinkled. "I must ask the culprit to step forward and face his or hers punishment."

Nobody moved. They looked at each other, glanced at the other tables. A livid looking McGonagall came walking to the Gryffindor table and stopped in front of the four first-year boys.

"Black! Potter! Lupin! Pettigrew! My office now!" she thundered, looking almost like a banshee were she stood.

James and Sirius took on politely puzzled expressions, Remus looked as though he would either cry or laugh and Peter looked terrified.

"Why professor?" Sirius asked, keeping his tone light.

"Yes, why? You can't suggest that we have. . . ."

"My office", McGonagall said, pretending not to hear James. "Now."

The boys looked at each other. James shrugged his shoulders and stood up first. Sirius was closely second. Remus and Peter obeyed but it looked as though they rather would be anywhere else. The four boys left the Great Hall with McGonagall furiously following them.

"Well, I think this will be all for tonight", Dumbledore said. "Students back to your dormitories."

The sound of benches moving and a lot of talking filled the Great Hall.

"I can't believe them!" Lily said, gritting her teeth. "They're so. . . ."

The other girls agreed on whatever Lily was saying, but Lyanna didn't listen. She looked around the Great Hall. The walls, tables and floor were covered in the red liquid that looked like blood. It looked as though a massacre had occurred. All of the students and teachers were also covered in it and Lyanna thought that all of them looked like living dead, some worse than others. It made her slightly sick and she wondered why. She usually didn't have a problem with blood, but this scene gave her shivers. She turned her head around and hurried out of the hall with her friends.

. . . .

The whole Gryffindor tower was talking about the prank that evening. Some thought I cool, others it was horrible. Some thought the magic was impressive and some wondered how many points Gryffindor would lose.

Lyanna thought of none of that where she sat in an armchair, alone, at the window in the common room. She had offered to shower and change robes last, seeing as though Lily and Tanya needed to shower most. Lyanna tried to close her eyes a few times, but the scene downstairs came up before her eyes every time.

"Nice done!" a sixth year yelled and Lyanna turned around.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter came climbing in from the portrait hole. Many people agreed and some shot the four younger boys dirty looks.

"Really, we haven't seen a prank like that in ages!"

"Did you use 'wingardium leviosa' on the pumpkins or did you. . . .?"

"I think we should leave them alone" said one of the prefects loudly over all the talking. "They must be exhausting and we all have classes tomorrow, so everyone should go to bed."

Someone snorted, but they all obeyed all the same. It would be quiet that way. All the boys looked happy, perhaps smug. Lyanna looked at them, one by one and the expression in her eyes was hard to read. As though Remus sensed someone was looking at him, he turned around. When he saw her, sitting alone and with all red blotches, he actually had the decency to look ashamed. He walked towards her, his friends following him. He sat down with her.

"Lyanna are you okay? You look. . . ."

"It was brilliant, wasn't it?" James boasted and threw himself on the couch.

"It looked like a massacre", was Lyanna's answer and she looked away.

All four looked as though they didn't thought of that.

"Still, it's only Halloween once a year, right?" Peter said in a squeaky voice and looked around for approval.

"Yes", Sirius eventually said and looked carefree again. "Don't be such a spoilsport."

"We all looked as walking dead", she said and turned to face them. "Doesn't that bother you?"

James ran a hand through his untidy hair, making it even worse.

"Well, it's Halloween so I think it was appropriate."

"Besides, red isn't a bad color on you", Sirius added.

When he got some odd stares and awkward silence he hurried to say:

"I mean, we could have chosen a slimy green or something or a brown color looking like mud and what's coming out from the behind, but instead. . . ."

"Instead you chose the noble color red", Lyanna finished sarcastically.

She looked at the clock. It showed a quarter past nine. She stood up and yawned.

"Well, I'm off to bed. I might as well try to get some sleep before Astronomy class. And I need to shower off this."

She was about to walk away when Remus said:

"We've got a week's detention and we lost thirty points. McGonagall went easy on us and said if we ever did something like this again, the consequences would be much worse."

"And I suppose this won't stop you?"

"Nope."

"Never."

"Probably not."

"No."

They laughed and Lyanna couldn't help a small smile escape from her as she walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.


How was that as a prank?

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