"Honestly, how can you two leave something as important as asking Professor McGonagall for permission to leave the castle until the very last minute and still expect it to work out in your favour," said Hermione, as the four friends walked along to their Transfiguration class that morning. "You should have asked her weeks ago."

Harry and Neville just cringed, while Susan hid her laugh behind her hand.

Both boys had told their friends about their plan to ask for permission to go home for the holidays, and the two girls had immediately supported it. They had even offered to ask for Professor McGonagall permission for them, but Harry and Neville had told them they'd handle it – something they'd failed to do.

Now they had one day to figure out their situation.

Hermione and Susan had already written home to tell the parents about their plans, and they were quick to respond with Hedwig with how enthusiastic they were to see them again and have them home for the holiday.

All that was left now, was to get permission from their Head of House.

"We'll figure something out," said Harry as he shifted the weight of his book bag on his back.

"Trust us, we'll have an answer by the end of class today," said Neville confidently, though Harry could see that he was just as nervous as he felt. They really should have asked McGonagall about this weeks ago. It was not as if they thought she'd refuse or anything, after all, she was good friends with their family, they just simply hadn't done so yet. They both felt that Hermione and Susan had every reason to be upset with them, but for some reason, they still held out hope that things would work out for them in the end.

When they got to Transfiguration class, they were early as normal, and quickly sat down in their usual seats in the front row. Professor McGonagall was already there waiting for them with the notes for today's lecture on the board.

They were going to be continuing the same spell they'd been working on last week, transfiguring blocks of wood into marble, something that all four of them could do easily.

Rather than moving them ahead of the rest of the class and having them working with a more challenging material like metal, McGonagall had them trying to transfigure their stones into small statues.

Each of them had already picked the thing they were going to try and sculpt that day in class and had been practising on the spell over the weekend to improve their results.

Susan had decided to make a sculpture of a centaur out of her rock, and although the hair wasn't as defined as it probably should have been, McGonagall still deemed it well deserving of an O.

Hermione earned herself another O for her perfect sculpture of a house elf, while Neville also received an O for his sculpture of Fluffy, although he forgot to add the dog's tail.

By the time McGonagall got around to his desk to observe his sculpture, Harry was starting to become aware of all the envious and hateful looks he was receiving from the Slytherins, and was quickly realizing that while McGonagall was just trying to provide them with a little bit more challenging material, it wasn't coming off very well with the rest of the class. Even some of the Gryffindors were glaring at him and his friends for showing off.

"Merlin's beard Harry! This is phenomenal," said McGonagall as she picked up the sculpture on his desk and began turning it over in her hands, admiring it from all angles.

Harry had chosen to go with a miniature replica of the Hogwarts castle, and while he was quite proud of his work - it was so flawless that Neville had actually offered to pay him 5 galleons to make him another as a present for Matthew and Joshua's upcoming birthday's – he didn't want anyone else to feel worse about themselves.

With a quick wave of his hand from underneath the desk, Harry vanished the little thing before anyone could see what he'd done.

While Professor McGonagall was obviously a little shocked at seeing the flawless sculpture crumble into dust and disappear in her hands, it was more so the seeing the look of indifference on Potter's face that really surprised her.

"I guess I'm not as good at that spell as I thought Professor," said Harry meekly as some of the Slytherin's snickered behind him, and his friend's looked at him in confusion.

Professor McGonagall looked at him curiously as she knew that he could recreate an exact replica of the sculpture with ease, but Harry just looked back at her, his eyes begging her to go along with what he'd said and not make a big deal of it.

"Very well, Mr Potter, I'm afraid I'll have to give you an acceptable for today's work, please see me after class so we can discuss what you can work on to improve your technique," said McGonagall as she turned around and walked back to the Slytherin side of the room, where Crabbe and Goyle had both failed to achieve anything with their blocks of wood.

"Harry what was that all about?" whispered Neville.

Harry just shook his head and muttered a single word, "later."

Thankfully after only a quick hesitation, Neville accepted this and left him alone for the rest of class.

As Harry stayed behind to talk to Professor McGonagall, his three friends packed up their bags and left the classroom, planning to head down to lunch, promising to wait up for him in the Great Hall.

Unfortunately, Neville, Hermione, and Susan didn't get more than five steps outside of the classroom before Draco Malfoy and his two cronies intercepted them.

"Well, well, well if it isn't the three show-offs," said Draco, as he looked down his nose at them. "What's wrong, did scarhead abandon you? I bet he's in there right now begging McGonagall to teach him how to maintain that spell, he probably can't live without knowing that he's the best at everything…"

"Shove off Malfoy, we don't have time for your petty insecurity complex, " said Neville as he walked past the boy, Hermione and Susan hot on his heels.

While Neville was bigger than Draco and therefore easily able to get past him without the young Malfoy scion impeding his progress, he made the mistake of forgetting about Crabbe and Goyle, both of whom were much larger than him and were easily able to pin him up against the wall.

Thankfully, before any of the three Slytherins could do or say anything, Hermione and Susan had their wands out and pointed threateningly at Draco's throat.

"Let him go," growled Susan, as she adjusted her grip on her wand and stared threateningly into Malfoy's grey eyes. Surprisingly though, he showed no fear at the situation. If anything, he almost seemed amused.

"Look, Neville, your two little girlfriends are here to defend you," said Malfoy gleefully, causing Crabbe and Goyle to start laughing.

"Let him go Malfoy," repeated Hermione, her wand still pointed directly at Malfoy's throat.

"Oh, and what's a little mudblood like you going to do to stop me?" said Malfoy, as Crabbe and Goyle once again began laughing.

Susan's wand arm started shaking, desperate to unleash some kind of hex on Malfoy for calling her best friend that horrible word, but if it did have any impact on Hermione, she certainly wasn't showing it, as once again she kept a level head.

"We're not the one with two wands pointed at our neck. If I wanted to I could easily get back at you for that insult, but thankfully for you, I'm prepared to be the bigger person. Now let Neville go and we can all walk away unharmed," said Hermione, not taking her eyes off Malfoy.

Draco didn't move nor did he say anything, he just continued to stare back at Hermione with absolute loathing in his eyes.

Behind him, Neville managed to elbow Crabbe in the gut, but Goyle was able to quickly pin him back up against the wall before he could make an escape.

"You know this is a fight you can't win," said Hermione. "Even if you're under the delusion that you stand a chance of beating us when we've got both of our wands pointed at your neck and yours is in your pocket, you forget that Harry can walk through that door at any minute, and we both know what happened the last time you aggravated him."

The two goons just shifted, waiting for Draco's command.

It took a little while, but ever so slowly Draco signalled for them to release Neville, his eyes never ceasing to glare at Hermione.

"Potter won't always be there to protect you, and when he's not... I will get you," he sneered at Hermione and Susan before he turned and walked down the hallway, Crabbe and Goyle following behind him, though not before he stopped to spit on Neville's shoe.

Neville looked like he was ready to hex Draco into next week, and Susan was probably just as angry but Hermione's hand on his shoulder calmed him down.

"Come on Neville, let's just go to lunch, he's not worth getting detention over," said the bushy haired brunette.

"But Hermione, he called you a you-know-what," said Susan.

"Yes but it's not worth getting in detention over. If we react, we risk not being able to go home for Halloween," explained Hermione, as she started walking off down the hallway.

Grumbling, Susan and Neville fell into step behind her. They both knew she was right, and they were thankful that she'd kept them from doing anything they'd later regret, but that didn't change how they felt about the whole thing.

They were still furious with Malfoy, and neither of them could wait for the chance to get back at him.

They were all confident that they were more than up to the task of taking on the boy in a one on one fight, as they were three of the top students in their year.

However, they were very aware of the fact that if Malfoy did retaliate, it wouldn't be a fair fight, as he'd use every advantage he'd have available to him, even if that meant hitting them in the back, or ganging up on them when they were alone.

Still, they felt as if they could handle themselves, especially if they stuck together.

"So tell me, Mr Potter, is there a reason you vanished your sculpture in class today?" asked McGonagall as she put up a silencing charm on the door as soon as the last student left the room.

"Well um… while I appreciate you trying to challenge my friends and me in class, I don't think today was the right way to go about it… A lot of the other kids looked like they were getting quite fed up with us for showing off when they still struggling with the spell… I thought maybe if I tried to make it look like I couldn't maintain the transformation, they wouldn't be so resentful towards us."

McGonagall sighed, realising the truth in his words. Perhaps she could've gone about working this whole thing out differently.

"Very well, I'll refrain from doing that in the future. While I agree with what you said, I'll still have to boost your grade back up to an Outstanding – you can't just go through life hiding your own abilities because you're worried what other people will think – we both know that you could have maintained that transformation for another hour if I'd asked you."

Harry just blushed and nodded his head slightly, not being able to look his Professor in the eyes.

"Good, in that case, you may join your classmates for lunch," said McGonagall as she turned around and began packing up her things.

Behind her, Harry nodded his head, getting all the way to the door before he still had another matter to discuss with her.

"Uh actually Professor," said Harry nervously. Professor McGonagall stopped what she was doing and turned back around to look at the little boy that was standing in front of the door. "I was wondering if you'd give permission for Hermione, Susan, Neville, and I to celebrate Halloween at the Manor instead of in the castle. We'd just prefer to be together as a family and all given everything that's happened you know."

McGonagall just stared at him a small smile forming on her lips, as she waited for Harry to finish his explanation as to why he wanted to leave the castle on October 31st.

By the time Harry was done stating his cause, he was extremely nervous. He wasn't sure if Hermione was right and McGonagall would be more inclined to refuse because he'd left in so late, and that tight-lipped smile on her face was making him second guess why he even went through with this.

Putting and end to his worries, Professor McGonagall spoke up. "I was wondering how late you'd leave it to ask me for permission about this Harry."

Harry just stared back at her confusion. How could she have known I wanted to ask her that?

"Your mother wrote to me on Sunday asking for permission on your behalf. For some reason she must've thought you'd forget to do it or something," said Professor McGonagall, smiling affectionately at Harry's look of embarrassment.

"I have no problem granting the request for you and your friends to return home for the holiday, all I ask is that you try and work on your planning skills."

Harry immediately sighed in relief, a huge smile popping up on his face as he nodded his agreement to his Professors words. He quickly thanked her for everything and excused himself from the room, rushing down to the Great Hall to tell his friends the good news.

Neville, Hermione, and Susan were all waiting for Harry in their usual seats at the Gryffindor table when he arrived at the Great Hall.

Without hesitation, he quickly made his way over to them and told them about the good news.

Hermione and Neville were both just relieved that they'd been granted permission; while Susan found it quite funny that Lily had assumed the boys would leave it too late and had gone to the trouble of asking on their behalf.

Shaking his head at Susan's ability to find humour in everything, Harry helped himself to a plate of shepherd's pie, gravy, and mixed vegetables.

They continued talking about various things while they ate, though most of the discussion was focused on going home to the Manor for Halloween.

By prior agreement, Hermione, Susan, and Neville decided to dull down the story of their little exchange with Malfoy in the hallway after class, as they knew that there would be nothing to stop Harry from hexing the bastard in front of everyone in the Great Hall if he found out what he'd really said to them.

Still, Harry was clearly angry about the whole thing, as he wasn't there to help them.

"Harry you know we can take care of ourselves," said Hermione, knowing that Harry was likely working himself into a state because he hadn't been there to protect them or something.

Harry just swallowed his food and sighed. "I know that Hermione, I just can't help feeling that Malfoy only provoked you three because of what I did to him on the Quidditch pitch a few weeks back."

"Well you can't blame yourself for him acting like a coward," said Hermione, as she buttered a roll on her plate. "If Malfoy wants to retaliate in a dirty fashion then let him, with any luck, it'll only bring us closer to finding out about this threat he has."

Harry just clenched his teeth together and nodded his head as he looked over to the Slytherin house table, where Draco was currently talking with Pansy Parkinson.

"Good, now can you three hurry up and finish your food, I want to get to the library and start our homework before Charms," said Hermione.

Susan and Neville just rolled their eyes and shovelled more food onto their forks, while Harry continued to stare at the Slytherin table.

Hermione could tell Harry was working himself into yet another one of those moods. She had long since deemed it his saving-people-thing, and while she was quite happy that he was so protective of her and everyone else, she worried that one day he'd put himself in serious danger as a result.

Putting down her cutlery, Hermione reached across the table and gently took his hand in hers. "Harry, promise me you won't go after Malfoy," said Hermione gently, as she looked into his eyes. "Let him slip up and try to retaliate, that's how we're going to find out what this threat is. Please don't go rampaging off and attack him or something just because he confronted us three in a hallway."

Harry could only stare back into her eyes and nod his head, seeing the compassion she held for him in her gaze, he knew he could never do anything to upset her, not when she looked at him like that.

"I promise you, Hermione, I won't do anything stupid to provoke Malfoy," said Harry, as he squeezed her hand gently.

Hermione just flashed him a brilliant smile, as Harry went back to the food on his plate.

"Remind me why we had to come here again," said Neville as he followed Hermione and Susan into the library, Harry walking beside him.

"I already told you, Neville, we have to get our homework done now so that it's not looming over our heads when we're back at the Manor this evening," said Hermione, as she dropped her bag down onto their usual table.

"Yea but couldn't we just do it in our trunks, or the Gryffindor Common Room?" said Neville.

"What's the matter Neville, scared of the librarian," mocked Susan in a sweet condescending tone.

Neville just glared at her. "She gives me the creeps okay, it's not natural the way she pops out from behind bookshelves every time you breathe too loudly."

Susan and Harry just laughed, while Hermione reached over and smacked Harry on the arm and told him to be quiet, making Susan laugh even harder as he was the only one to be told off.

"Ow Hermione, that hurt!" whispered Harry as he rubbed his shoulder.

Hermione just smiled at him. "Well maybe the next time you're off breaking the rules or doing something dangerous, you'll remember, Hermione Granger has a vicious right arm."

Neville and Susan just chuckled quietly as they pulled their books out of their bags, while Harry grumbled and scooted his chair further away from the bushy haired witch beside him, making her smile even larger and his other two friends laugh's a little louder.

"Careful, a little louder and you'll have Madame Pince breathing down your necks," said a friendly voice from behind them.

Turning around, the four were greeted with the sight of a smiling Penelope Clearwater.

"Oh hey Penny, what are you up to?" said Susan.

"I'm on library duty, just here to tell you to keep the noise level to a minimum," said the sixth-year prefect.

Harry just grumbled something unintelligible while Hermione smoothly talked to Penny.

As soon as the older witch left them alone, Harry turned back to his bushy-haired best friend.

"You know it never ceases to amaze me that you never get in trouble for anything."

Hermione just smiled and flicked through the pages of her book, causing Harry to shake his head and pull out his own book from his bag, Neville and Susan grinning at him the whole time.

After over an hour of studying, in which Susan had purposely made enough noise to draw the attention of the school librarian in order to scare Neville – she had given both him and Neville a warning as she simply assumed that the boys were the ones causing trouble - the four friends had finished their History of Magic homework, meaning they were free to celebrate the holiday with their family without having to worry about the burden of schoolwork.

"We'll I'm going to head back to the common room," said Neville as he packed up his things. "Anybody else going to join me?"

"Yea, wait up," said Harry as he quickly shoved his books back into his bag. "You two coming or are you staying here?"

"We'll stay here," said Hermione and Susan in unison, causing both Harry and Neville to look at them suspiciously.

While Hermione looked down to avoid their gaze, Susan piped up and came up with an excuse about them wanting to do a bit more reading on house elves so they could prepare themselves for the next S.P.H.E.R.E meeting.

Thankfully Harry and Neville accepted this reason at face value and got up to leave, though not before Hermione could remind them that they had class in less than an hour.

As soon as they were gone, Hermione and Susan packed up their things and went to find a certain Ravenclaw. They had a lot of questions for the older girl, and they wanted to make sure she wasn't messing with their best friends feelings.

It didn't take them long to find her, she was reading by herself at one of the desks on the left side of the room, and they quickly sat down on either side of her.

Looking over at the two young witches, Penelope had to stifle a laugh as she felt an interrogation coming up. She had been assuming something like this would happen ever since the day of the Hogsmeade trip, as she knew that the two young girls would want to exercise caution when it came to their best friends.

Responding in a friendly understanding tone, Penny answered Susan's first question about her intentions towards Harry and Neville. "Harry and Neville are like little brothers to me, I would never lead them on or intentionally hurt them. I might flirt with them a little but it's all meant in good fun, I wasn't doing it to make them uncomfortable or anything."

Hermione and Susan just looked at her suspiciously, clearly not fully understanding what Penelope was going on about. To them, flirting with someone you had no desire to be romantically involved with was leading them on, but from what they'd observed in living in a castle for a year and a half with hundreds of older witches and wizards, apparently, this logic didn't carry over into the later teen years.

Closing up her book, Penny attempted to explain the situation a little bit better to the two second-years so that she could alleviate their concerns. "Look, forget what I said about flirting, it's something you'll understand when you get older. All you need to know is that there's nothing go on between me and either Neville or Harry. They're both very nice boys and I'm sure they'll have most of the female population of this place eating out of their hands someday, but I'm five years older than them. There's nothing romantic about our relationship."

Susan and Hermione just frowned but nodded their heads in acceptance, feeling quite silly for thinking that the older witch was making plans to become the next Mrs Potter or Mrs Longbottom.

Thanking the older girl for her time, both girls got ready to leave, but Penny called out for them to wait, she just couldn't resist letting them go without trying to give the two a little advice on what was troubling them. She'd been a pre-pubescent teen before, and knew how hard it was for a young girl, if she could help these two in dealing with their feelings in any way, it would be a reward in itself, as she knew how much she would've appreciated somebody in her situation to talk to when she was their age.

"I know you two are at the age where you're developing these kinds of feelings, but take it from me, you shouldn't be falling for a guy just because he's good looking or he's great at Quidditch. Relationships based on those qualities are doomed to fail. It's a boys character that counts, anything else is just additional. Those who have a desirable character and also possess good looks or a high intelligence, or whatever quality tickles your fancy, they're the total package. Those are the boys that are true keepers because you know that they're going to treat you right, and I can already tell that one day, Harry and Neville will certainly be keepers."

Neither Hermione or Susan said anything, they just nodded their heads slowly and left the library, leaving behind a reminiscing Penelope.

The early parts of teenage years were certainly not easy on young witches, but she was fairly confident that both Hermione and Susan would come through just fine. They both had strong heads on their shoulders, and they didn't seem like the type to completely lose themselves over a boy. She just hoped they ended up with someone worthy of them.

Harry or Neville would never understand why, but when they greeted Hermione and Susan outside of the Charms class later that afternoon; both girls had a slight pink tinge to their cheeks and refused to look at them.

Shrugging their shoulders, Harry and Neville followed them into their last class of the day.

Professor Flitwick was in his usual chipper mood, though whether it was for the material they'd be covering in class today or the Halloween feast that the school would be enjoying later that day, the kids weren't sure.

The class was enjoyable as always, though it was slightly less productive than normal.

Even Hermione would admit she found it hard to focus entirely on the task at hand with the anticipation of what was to come that evening looming just around the corner.

As soon as Professor Flitwick dismissed them, the kids were running out of the classroom to collect their things from their dormitories.

The plan was to have Hedwig transport them to Hogsmeade where they were supposed to meet the parents outside of the Three Broomsticks, they just had to make a quick stop to visit Professor McGonagall to let her know they were leaving first.

With that done, they took turns grabbing hold of Hedwig's tail feathers, the marvellous white phoenix transporting them one by one outside the school wards.

Harry was the last one to arrive in the wizarding village, and as soon as he did, his mother wrapped him in a hug.

Through her bright auburn hair, Harry could see the Marauders standing behind her, each of them grinning at him in welcome, with his three friends standing beside them.

"It's good to see you to mum," said Harry as he squeezed her shoulders.

Smiling Lily pulled back to look her son up and down. "No injuries?"

Harry just smiled and shook his head, as his mother once more embraced him in a hug.

"Blimey Lily, a couple more years and he's going to be taller than you," said Sirius jokingly. Beside him, Remus and James looked at Harry thoughtfully, as if trying to decide whether or not he'd grown since September.

Pulling away from his mother, Harry just looked back at the Marauders and grinned.

"Well, what do you expect we're entering our teenage years now, we're not little kids anymore."

The parents just smiled as they looked over the four kids. Both Susan and Hermione were starting to show the first glimpse of their developing curves, while Harry and Neville had probably each grown an inch, maybe an inch and a half since they'd sent them off to school.

"No one's denying that Harry," said Remus chuckling.

Smiling, the kids each partnered up with one of the adults, who side-along apparated them back to the Manor.

It was time to see the rest of the family.

Matthew, Joshua, Sarah, and Clarissa were waiting anxiously by the gate of the Manor for the adults to return with their older brothers and sisters.

When they had heard they'd be coming back for Halloween, they immediately began counting down the days until they'd see them again. Being separated from them while they were away at Hogwarts was pretty tough, so anytime they got when they were at home, they wanted to use to the fullest.

This year would be no different, considering the surprise they had up their sleeves for their older siblings.

When they heard the tell-tale apparation pops, they didn't even wait for them to regain their footing, let alone walk onto the property before they flung themselves at their older brothers and sisters.

Laughing, the adults helped pull the kids to their feet, each of them having a younger sister or brother hanging onto them.

"Blimey, what have you been eating Josh?" said Neville as he shifted the weight of his younger brother so that it was his shoulders holding him up, not his neck.

Clarissa just giggled from her spot in Harry's arms, while Matthew, who was pinning Susan to the ground, laughed, although that may have been because the strawberry blonde was now tickling him ferociously.

Joshua just grinned at his older brother, proud that he was already growing up to be big and strong.

"Come on, let's get you guys inside," said James, as he led them back to the Manor. "We've got a surprise that you're going to want to see…"

Immediately, the four youngest kids grew even more excited and quickly scampered out of the arms of their older siblings and ran up to the house, leaving the adults chuckling at their behaviour.

"Show's how much we mean to them," said Susan, smiling as she watched them burst through the Manor's doors.

"Yea, not even back for half a minute and they've already forgotten us," said Harry in amusement, causing the adults to once again start laughing.

By the time they made it inside the house, they were greeted by the image of Dan, Emma, Alice, Frank, Matthew, Joshua, Sarah, and Clarissa all dressed in costumes.

Hermione, being the smartest of the four and having grown up in the muggle world, immediately knew what this meant, and launched herself into her parent's arms, but the other three just stood in the doorway, wondering what was going on.

Seeing their confused faces, the adults decided to put them out of their misery.

"This year, we'd thought we'd do something special so we're taking you all trick or treating in our old muggle neighbourhood," explained Dan, earning himself another squeeze from his daughter.

The other three Hogwarts students still didn't really understand what this meant, as they'd never heard of the tradition before, so they needed a little bit more of an explanation.

"Well, as a special surprise for you guys, we thought we'd take you kids to participate in a muggle tradition where you dress up in costumes and go door to door collecting candy," said Emma.

Harry, Neville, and Susan just looked at each other in excitement.

"So all we have to do is dress up and go door to door, and people just give us candy?" asked Harry almost disbelievingly.

When the others all nodded their heads in confirmation, Harry's smile only grew bigger.

"But we don't have costumes," said Neville, looking dejectedly at what the others were wearing.

The others just smiled at him.

"I'm sure you'll find that we've got everything planned out," said Frank as he and his wife stepped forward to greet their oldest son, with Amelia doing the same to Susan.

"We're having a costume contest," exclaimed Clarissa excitedly, who was wearing what looked like a very large parrot costume.

"We've already organised the groups and everything. We even made costumes for you guys," said Matthew with equal enthusiasm. He was wearing what was obviously a pirate costume.

"We're going to be in three teams of five, and each team has to dress up in a group themed costume," said Joshua, who was dressed like a scarecrow.

"The teams are completely random, we drew from a hat and everything, and the adults that aren't dressing up are going to decide who wins," said Sarah, who was smiling brilliantly in her cyclops costume.

"Wait, all the adults aren't coming," asked Hermione.

"No I'm afraid it's too close to the full moon for me, and Sirius has agreed to stay behind and keep me company," said Remus a sad smile on his face.

The four Hogwarts kids nodded their heads in understanding before turning back to the others and trying to determine who was in a group with whom based off of their costumes.

They recognised Franks tin man costume and Joshua's scarecrow costume from the Wizard of Oz, and upon further speculation, they saw that Emma was dressed as Dorothy and Amelia as the wicked witch. That meant that one of them would probably have to play the role of the cowardly lion, something that the parents had no doubt intentionally planned for.

Dan, on the other hand, was dressed like a large blue man, and Alice was wearing a costume that made her look very intimidating, which combined with Clarissa's parrot costume, was enough for them to clue in that they were going for an Aladdin type theme, with Dan being the genie and Alice being the evil wizard Jafar.

However, they had no clue what the last group's theme was as James and Lily weren't wearing their costume yet, and Matthew's and Sarah's weren't enough to figure it out.

Giving up on guessing who was with whom for the time being, they let the parents usher them to the dining hall to eat.

The food was excellent; probably better than what they were served at Hogwarts and that was certainly saying something considering how much the elves spoiled them.

The conversation was kept light, with more serious topics like Snape, Voldemort, Michael Wood, the Malfoy's, or anything else like that left out. Instead, most of the discussion was either focused on the costume contest or discussing what had become of the younger kids swimming lessons.

After they were done eating, they were finally told which group they were part of and given their costume.

Being the only kid in their group that was aware of the situation, Clarissa had clearly had her choice when it came to deciding what her group's costume was. Dan had no qualms with being the genie, and Alice didn't mind playing the villain, meaning that Susan had to go as Princess Jasmine, and Neville as Aladdin (they both received quite a bit of teasing from the others).

Hermione's costume was a mermaid, and she was secretly quite proud of it, while Harry's was the cowardly lion (thus ensuring that he received a fair share of teasing too).

After Lily and James had changed into their costumes - James wore a toga and knee high sandals, while Lily was dressed in metallic armour - they were ready to go trick-or-treating.

"I've never even seen so much candy in my life," said Joshua, excitedly as he dumped his pillowcase full of sweets onto the ground the moment their group arrived back at the Manor.

"Well you better remember to brush your teeth after eating all of that," said Emma fondly, as she watched him digging through his pile. She was really glad they finally got to experience the tradition that she had enjoyed so much as a kid, even if she knew the effects it would have on the children's teeth.

Harry just smiled as he watched the enthusiasm of the younger boy before he turned to find Sirius and Remus. He'd had a grand time trick or treating and had probably racked up a large enough haul of candy to last him until the Christmas holidays. His group had taken the north side of the Grangers old Kensington neighbourhood, following the creekside as they travelled door to door. He knew that Hermione's group was supposed to be taking the West side, where their old school was located, and Neville and Susan's group was taking the South side, as the East side was mostly industrial.

Walking into the next room, he found Remus and Sirius sitting together with Dan and Alice at the dining room table, each with a hot beverage in their hands.

"So how did it go, pup?" asked Sirius as soon as he saw him.

Harry just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty good, we got a whole tonne of candy and we didn't run into any wizards or anything so it was rather enjoyable, Joshua's still rolling around in his collection at the moment."

The parents just smiled. "That's good to hear," said Alice, glad that the kids had enjoyed themselves. "Why don't you go see how Neville and Susan are? They're in the kitchens at the moment. We'll wait here for James and Lily to return with the last group."

Harry just nodded his head and walked off to find his friends, as the adults resumed their conversation.

He found them arguing over something or rather, probably about trading candies. He could only shake his head and roll his eyes as he went to find Clarissa, not bothering himself with another one of his friend's petty arguments.

He couldn't wait for Hermione to get back, she was always the one that broke it up whenever Neville and Susan started arguing about something, which was really quite often. It was never about something big, and neither ever actually seemed to be legitimately angry with the other, but they still bickered quite a lot, almost as if they were constantly trying to get the upper hand over the other.

There were times when Harry found it amusing, and others when he found it annoying, but for the most part, he chose to simply stay out of it as he didn't really like interfering and having to choose sides. He preferred to let Hermione do that if he could, as she was always able to get them to stop without upsetting either of them.

Yes, the sooner Hermione got back the better.

Unfortunately, the last group had gotten themselves into a rather ugly scenario that would ensure they didn't return to the manor anytime soon.

It all started nearly halfway through their trip when Matthew had run ahead on his own, determined to visit as many houses as possible so that he could collect the most candy.

Worried that he might be taken by some old creep or get lost or something, James and Lily had searched high and low trying to find him, with Sarah and Hermione helping too.

It took them nearly fifteen minutes, but eventually, they did find him, and while they were quite ready to go home immediately after that, they soon realised that their night was far from over.

Matthew was lying on the ground with a few bruises on his face and a swollen eye, and an elderly woman trying to treat his injuries. His pillow sack of candy was ripped, and its contents were scattered all across the lawn of the home they'd found him in front of. At his feet, were two boys also lying on the grass that neither parents recognised, though Hermione thought they were vaguely familiar. However, it was the last body that allowed them to clearly picture the scene that must've happened there. They immediately recognised the last boy who was currently being held by the ear by the apparent owner of the home. It was none other than Dudley Dursley, Hermione's one-time public school bully and Lily's nephew.

Hermione blanched at the sight of him, as Lily stiffened. She knew that wherever Dudley was his parents probably weren't very far behind, and Lily hadn't seen her sister since she married Vernon Dursley.

They had once been as close as any sisters, but things between the two had long since gone south. It wasn't because of a lack of trying on Lily's part either, as she'd sent numerous Christmas cards and invitations to her and her family, but Petunia had never accepted. She hadn't even shown up to her wedding with James. Eventually Lily had given up, and even though it hurt her considerably to accept it, she recognised that her sister wanted nothing to do with her ever since she had accepted the magical world as her own. Now though, it looked like Lily would be having the encounter she'd been dreading. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to see her sister, it was more so that she was afraid of how far they'd drifted apart. She wondered if Petunia would even recognise her it had been so long.

"What are you doing with my son," bellowed a very large man as he waddled his way up the cobblestone driveway and shoved the elderly man away from Dudley.

James, who was currently on the ground helping Matthew with the elderly woman, immediately hopped to his feet to defend the man that was clearly too old to engage in a physical confrontation with the much larger man.

Lily and the girls could only stare and wait for the inevitable confrontation that would take place as Petunia Dursley made her appearance.

She was tall, brown-haired, with a very long neck, almost exactly as Lily had last remembered seeing her. She wasn't wearing a costume, and she seemed to be making a point of ignoring them as she wouldn't even glance over in their direction.

While James and Vernon started arguing, Lily walked over to try and engage her sister in conversation, but even then, Petunia chose to ignore her. Lily pleaded with her to speak to her, but Petunia only gazed at her in disdain.

Her first and only words to Lily were anything but pleasant and expressed just how awful things had become between the two. "You're no sister of mine, freak."

Lily felt like she'd been stabbed in the chest with those words. She couldn't hear anything else that went on around her, her feet rooted to the spot as those words repeated themselves over and over again in her mind.

She didn't move when Petunia walked away from her, nor did she move when Hermione and Sarah brought Matthew back to her, or when the elderly man threatened to call the authorities, or even when James and Vernon started duking it out on the front lawn.

It was like she was paralysed. She felt utterly hopeless to control her own body, as she watched her sister pull her son to his feet. The whole scene played out in front of her, with Lily unable to move let alone intervene.

She watched Vernon lung at James as her husband dodged to the left and brought his knee up smashing it into the man's jaw probably breaking it before knocking him to the ground and holding him there. She watched Petunia yell and screech at the elderly man when he announced that the cops were on their way and even saw Dudley trying to attack James.

She still couldn't speak when the authorities arrived on the scene and questioned them. Thankfully, the elderly man and woman were able to provide an account of the whole story that ensured that the Dursley's would be the only one's facing charges that night. They cited that it was Dudley and his two friends that made an unprovoked attack on Matthew and that Vernon was the one who started the confrontation with James, who had simply stepped in to defend their honour.

Realising just how late they now were on account of everything that had happened, the group left as soon as the authorities said they were clear to go, though not before Vernon got in one last thing to say to them before they left.

"Don't let me ever see your family again Potter, we want nothing to do with your freakishness. As far as we're concerned, you're all dead to us."

James' face didn't portray any emotion as he watched the large man escorted into the back of the cop car, while Lily looked on utterly crushed at the sight of her sister, and the two girls glared at Dudley.

Maybe it would be the best for both sides if they didn't see each other again for a very, very long time. The animosity between the two was simply so high that it was unlikely that any encounter would occur without the involvement of the authorities. No, the Potters and Dursleys may still be connected through Lily Potter nee Evans and Petunia Dursley nee Evans, but they were certainly not family, at least not anymore.

"There you guys are, what took you so long, we're due back at the castle in less than ten minutes," said Susan as soon as the last group made it back to the Manor.

"We uh... we got held up with something," said James pathetically as he tried to cover up his bloody knuckles. Immediately, Sirius's face broke into a grin and Remus shook his head in disappointment. It was obvious that both Marauders were fairly certain as to what had kept James busy.

The kids only stared at them curiously waiting for a more informative explanation but it soon became apparent that they weren't receiving one, or at least not at that very moment.

"Okay, well we've got to get going, we're supposed to sign back in with McGonagall, and if we don't leave now we're going to be late," said Harry.

The parents just nodded and said their last goodbye to the kids.

With everything that had happened, they were still quite happy with the evening and getting to be together again, even if it wasn't as peaceful a night as they would've hoped for. They thought that for once they could have escaped the apparent curse of October 31st by all being home together again, but apparently, they couldn't have been more wrong. Little did they know that the excitement was still far from over.

"So what kind of trouble kept you guys out so long?" Neville questioned as the four friends hurried their way up to the castle after the parents had apparated them to the front gates of the school. Hagrid had been there waiting for them to let them in, and after a quick conversation with the gentle giant, they were now even later.

"We uh... We met the Dursley's," said Hermione.

Harry and Neville immediately stopped walking to turn and look at their friend, prompting Susan who was still walking briskly towards the castle to turn around and look at her friends in confusion as she didn't know anything about the Dursley's.

"What do you mean you met the Dursley's?" questioned Harry.

"Who's the Dursley's?" questioned Susan.

Hermione just sighed and started walking back up to the castle again as she explained. She told Susan about how Dudley use to bully her at school before she'd met Harry and Neville, and how he had apparently beaten Matthew up in an attempt to steal his candy.

"Wait what do you mean tried?" questioned Susan. "You're telling me three twelve-year-olds couldn't even take on an eight-year-old?"

"Well Matthew does have the Longbottom genes in him," said Neville proudly, causing Susan to swat him on the arm.

"Look do you want me to finish the story or would you rather bicker amongst yourselves?" snapped Hermione, causing both Susan and Neville to blush and apologise. "Good now as I was saying, Matthew apparently had a case of accidental magic and that's what allowed him to knock the three boys off of him. Dudley, the largest of them, was just coming round again when we got there and that's when the parents started fighting and the cops got involved. We had to stay and answer questions and everything so that's why we were late."

The three friends nodded their heads in acceptance as they hurried inside of the Entrance Hall.

"You don't think McGonagall would still be waiting up for us up in her office do you?" asked Hermione.

"I doubt it," said Neville. "She's probably enjoying the feast like everybody else."

"Well do you think she wants us to go in than to show her that we made it back," said Susan, as the three pondered what they were supposed to do now that they were back at the castle.

But Harry was no longer listening to his friends. He was focusing on the voice he could hear off in the distance. It didn't sound like the noises coming from the Great Hall, no it sounded differently as if it was coming from somewhere else, but where, Harry didn't know.

"…rip…tear…kill…"

Immediately, Harry stumbled to a halt, clutching the stonewall, listening with all his might, as he squinted up and down the dimly lit passageway.

"Harry, what're you doing?" asked Hermione.

"It's that voice again – shut up a minute –"

"…so hungry… for so long…"

"Listen, " said Harry urgently, but none of the other three could hear anything, so they simply stood there watching him with matching expressions of worry written across their faces.

"…kill…time to kill…"

The voice was growing fainter. Harry was sure it was moving away – moving upwards. A mixture of fear and excitement gripped him as he stared at the dark ceiling; how could it be moving upwards?

"This way," he shouted, and he began to run, up the stairs.

"Harry, what are we –"

"SHH!"

Harry strained his ears. He could only just hear the voice over the sounds of the Great Hall behind them. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, he heard the voice: "…I smell blood… I SMELL BLOOD!"

His stomach lurched. "It's going to kill someone!" he shouted, and ignoring their bewildered faces, he ran up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to listen over his own pounding footsteps.

Harry hurtled around the whole 2nd floor his constant Quidditch practices proving their worth as he effortlessly sprinted ahead of Hermione, Susan and Neville, who were panting behind him, unable to keep up.

Harry didn't stop until he turned a corner into the last, deserted passage. Something was shining on the wall ahead. Foot high letters had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

As he edged nearer, Harry almost slipped over: there was a large puddle of water on the floor.

When Neville, Susan, and Hermione finally caught up, they were greeted with the ugly sight of Harry standing in front of a blood-written message, with Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, hanging by her tail from the torch bracket beside him.

For a few seconds, none of them moved. They just stared at the message and the petrified cat.

"We better get out of here," said Neville, "we don't want to get caught anywhere near here."

But it was too late.

A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the Feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people.

"Next time, we're staying the night at the Manor," said Susan in a slightly panicky voice.

As quick as he could Harry cast silencing and disillusionment charms on his friends, but was unable to cast the charm on himself before students were crashing into the passage from both ends.

The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat, the written message, and Harry Potter standing alone in front of the two.

Someone shouted through the quiet. It was Draco Malfoy. "Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next mudbloods!" He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cloudy eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.

Harry could only glare at him, knowing that this whole thing must've been Malfoy's doing.

He was sure that the writing on the wall was the first warning of the threat he planned on unleashing on the school, and if his last words meant anything, he now knew his target too.