Many students at Hogwarts regarded Halloween as the beginning of the best time of year. On the last day of October ominous grey clouds hung overhead as golden, brown, and orange leaves danced chaotically on the crisp autumn breeze. For witches and wizards, the Wheel of the Year had once again come to an end, meaning communication with spirits and connection to magic was at its strongest in everybody. This year the day was even more special; it was a Saturday. That meant an entire day of enjoying the extravagant decorations and feast without worrying about courses, and a trip to Hogsmeade for the older students. Festively, everyone had dressed in black, some adding in typical fall colors, and it seemed the entire school was at breakfast early in their excitement to get to the nearby wizarding village.
Peeves was being particularly reckless, setting so many traps that a few students had been knocked unconscious or needed to stop by the Hospital Wing. The school ghosts had even cheerily made an appearance at breakfast, and Harry wondered if they had done it in order to make unsuspecting first-year students feel safe in the castle before they began the evening haunt that night.
Though Professor McGonagall had followed through with making a schedule for Harry and his friends to supervise dueling hours for younger students, it had been postponed until after the holiday. Harry was thankful for the leniency, as he was looking forward to his last few Hogsmeade trips with the class before graduating. By now he knew well what the town was like, and because of the secret tunnel leaving wasn't difficult to do. As that made Hogsmeade weekends less special, Harry had put together what he thought would be the perfect Halloween plan. He could hardly eat his breakfast, as he felt both nervous and excited for the day ahead. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, who had happily agreed to come along with him, knew exactly why. When they reached Hogsmeade an hour later, they continued through the town without stopping at any of their usual favorite spots. Finding a discreet alleyway at the edge of the village, the four joined hands and Apparated away.
They found themselves on Church Lane, at the end of which sat Saint Jerome's Church, old and modest. The four friends walked quietly down the leaf-covered lane and around the stone building to the cemetery behind it. Winding his way through the headstones, it took Harry a moment to find his parents; when they last visited at Christmas it had been dark and snowing. His eyes finally took in the names of Lily and James Potter, along with the familiar words that followed.
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death," he whispered, his friends all close enough to hear.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron, who had not seen it when Harry and Hermione had the year before, was always confused by anything remotely resembling a riddle.
"They didn't fear Death," Harry replied simply, "Not enough to keep them from supporting the Order's cause, anyway. So it couldn't be an enemy to them. That's what made them strong enough to fight Voldemort when they didn't have to. That's why they saved me." He stepped forward and kneeled in front of the fading stone. Reaching out his hand, he traced the letters of each name slowly. "Seventeen years ago today," he realized as he placed his palm in the center of the headstone and silently thanked his parents for their help.
When Harry stood up and rejoined the others, Hermione conjured snowdrops around the grave. The little white flowers stood out strikingly against the brown of the grass and leaves around them, and the way they drooped over made them appear to be in a delicate mourning of their own. As they stood in silence, gazing over the final resting point of Lily and James, Harry felt his friends hug him from either side. His loss didn't feel so great when he still had people like them with him. As he turned to leave the grave, a warm breeze swept past him and he could have sworn he heard it whisper 'Harry.'
On their way from the cemetery through to Harry's old home at the end of the street, they ran into quite a few people with bundles of flowers in their arms on their way to place them either at the Potter's grave or underneath the sign which marked Harry's first home. Each one seemed excited to see the war heroes in their town, though not exactly surprised, and many gave Harry thankful hugs. He was relieved when nobody made a scene over having run into him, instead only greeting the group warmly.
"Harry, this town is so cute," Ginny said breathlessly as they strolled past the handful of old shops, the post office, and the pub lining the cobblestone streets.
"It really is," Hermione agreed. "I didn't quite notice last time." She hadn't meant to be funny, but sounded as though she couldn't believe she hadn't taken in the sights while they were there at night and on the run from Voldemort while hunting for Horcruxes. Harry laughed, and he noticed Hermione roll her eyes in response.
"I'd live here, it seems nice," Ron decided. The two others agreed, and Harry found himself feeling touched.
"You should, Harry!" Ginny said enthusiastically. "Godric Gryffindor, Dumbledore, and your parents all lived here. It's like it was meant for you."
"Yeah," Harry could see their point, though he didn't feel the same. "But I'm never going to leave Sirius' house behind."
"You could have two houses," Ron suggested. Harry was taken aback by the realization that Ron was actually right, and he grinned at the idea of ten-year-old Harry ever daring to imagine he would have anything more than a coat closet, let alone two homes.
"I could…" he agreed aloud, not because he intended to, but because he rather fancied hearing himself say it. "I think I'd rather live at Grimmauld Place and have a friend to visit here, though."
He and Ginny both noticed the way Ron and Hermione exchanged a hesitant but optimistic look and smiled at each other. Things must be getting pretty serious between the two.
After standing in front of his parent's house for a few minutes, once again taking in the almost haunted look of the place, Harry decided he didn't want to try to go inside after all. Instead, he looked over the messages of encouragement that had been graffitied on the plaque at the end of the walkway to find a few new additions, which put a smile on his face. Cutting their visit short, they strolled around the charming streets of the town for an hour or so before settling on stopping at the pub on the main street for lunch.
Similar to the reactions of the witches and wizards who noticed Harry in the streets, a few of the people in the pub recognized the group of students and greeted them enthusiastically. They had ended up not being allowed to pay for their food, and had their hands shaken vigorously. It was almost otherworldly, the treatment reminding them of the reality of the previous year and how starkly it contrasted with their lives now.
Around one in the afternoon, they finished their meal and thanked the older couple who had paid for them. Quickly giving the statue of Harry's parents holding him as a baby one last look, they ducked into a side road to Disapparate. When they hit the ground again they were immediately greeted by the comical noises and flashy lights of a familiar joke shop. Suiting the season, jack-o-lanterns made to spontaneously burst into harmless flames, exploding toy bats, and classic trick candies filled the windows of Number 93 Diagon Alley. Pushing their way into the store through the crowd and past shelves which could barely be stocked quickly enough to keep up with demand, the four eventually found George Weasley. He appeared to have just finished explaining one of his products to a pair of identical girls, who shrieked with laughter as they grabbed each other's hands and ran off to find their parents. The store owner's face fell into a look of longing as he watched the sisters giggle while they climbed the stairs side-by-side.
"George!" Ginny caught his attention quickly, and the one-eared man threw an excited expression on quickly and convincingly. Harry wasn't able to tell if the lone twin was getting much better at dealing with his grief, or if he simply learned how to fake happiness for the sake of his family and business.
"You lot looking to get up to trouble again?" George teased as he came over to greet his family.
"Sort of, actually," Harry replied. "We were hoping you could get the afternoon off and join us."
"Feeling a little restless this Halloween?" the older boy asked with a smile, this time looking convincingly genuine.
"We're sort of commemorating the past today," Hermione explained. "We visited Harry's parents this morning, and we want you to come with us for the fun bit."
"I'll tell Lee he's in charge," George agreed and headed to the back to find the shop's co-owner. Lee had been almost equally devastated by Fred's death, and had quickly asked to step in and work at the joke shop in Fred's place. Everyone had been relieved to know George wouldn't be by himself, as Lee Jordan had always been up to no good right alongside the Weasley twins during his time at Hogwarts. It had been a rather natural transition, and the two boys continued to share their passion for pranks and their love for Fred. Jordan had even moved into the flat above the shop after helping the family sort through Fred's belongings.
When Fred came back the group Apparated to Hogsmeade again and stopped at The Three Broomsticks to grab warm drinks for the walk back to the castle through the chilly fall breeze. Dark and heavy clouds loomed overhead and suggested rain may be on the way, but they ignored that and set off at a casual walk. When they approached the Whomping Willow, for the first time the four friends could remember, George seemed hesitant.
"Freddie and I tried to find the secret tunnel here hundreds of times and never got past this monster of a tree," he warned them.
"No worries, we've been through before." Harry reassured him.
"Yeah," Ron scoffed, "we found it when the dog version of Sirius bit me and dragged me through by the leg!"
Harry should have felt bad for his friend and remembered how terrified they had all been, but he only laughed at how in character for his godfather it had been. Ignoring the rotten look Ron gave him in return, Harry levitated a stick from the ground and directed it to press the knot at the base of the Willow. It stopped swaying, and Hermione took the lead.
"That's it?" George was astonished.
"That's it," Harry replied, wondering if perhaps he should have told the twins how to get to the secret passage back when they both would have been alive to enjoy it.
Shaking the thought out of his head, he followed behind the others and was surprised at how much he needed to hunch over as they passed through the underground tunnel. Last time he had been only thirteen years old, and knew so little about the world. Part of him wished he could go back to the night he had learned the wanted criminal was really his misunderstood godfather, who had offered to give Harry his first real home.
After the long, cramped walk, they had all spilled a fair amount of their drinks and felt their backs giving up on them, but were no less happy. Coming back up above ground and climbing the old wooden stairs of the Shrieking Shack, the five sat in a circle on the floor of the highest room in the tall, rickety building. Peering out the tiny top window, they could see students of Hogwarts meandering through the streets below.
Harry explained to Fred and Ginny, not able to remember if they had ever been told the story, that the house had been Lupin's hiding place during his transformations every full moon. George grinned as though he thought what their old friend and professor had done out of necessity was somehow also a genius prank.
"So what are we doing here, exactly?" George asked.
"Shrieking," Ginny laughed at her own joke, providing the simplest answer.
Harry gestured through the window, "Figured we would keep the legend going in his honor."
"Brilliant," the long-time prankster approved, clearly having hoped that's what they'd be up to.
"I'll go first," Ginny volunteered eagerly.
All five of them crouched low at the window, and Hermione cast a spell to help distort anything people might be able to see inside from the street. A group of small, likely first- or second-year, students was passing by the gated yard outside of the house. Taking a deep breath, the red-haired girl let out an impossibly loud, shrill scream. The other four flinched in surprise, and the group of students exchanged panicked looks before taking off running down the sloping street.
"Bloody Hell!" Ron exclaimed. "Someone check and see if my ears are bleeding."
Hermione and Harry laughed, impressed. They were all pleased to see George laughing as well, clearly very happy to be pranking people again. The rest of the afternoon passed in a similar way, as they took turns screaming and scaring each group of passers-by. Hermione sat out, which Harry and Ron were almost thankful for, as any agonized screaming coming from her would have brought back incredibly dark memories. Instead, she served as the judge and ranked their performances. In the end, George and Ginny had tied for most terrifying, Ron had been labeled 'girliest,' and Harry had only managed to confuse the people outside, as he kept laughing halfway through his screams.
Having brought his bag along as always, Harry had at one point pulled out his invisibility cloak. He had given it to George, who -after looking at it as though it were made of gold- wrapped himself in it before heading outside into the yard. As small groups passed by, he would stick his head out and scream, wearing a terrified or haunted expression. While their shouts from the top of the Shrieking Shack had gotten good reactions, they were nothing compared to students seeing a floating head with one mangled ear appear, groaning, just feet away from them.
A half hour later George had come back into the room breathless with laughter, and they knew Fred had to be laughing somewhere far away after watching his twin pull off such a great Halloween joke. They sat together for a while as they reviewed some of the better performances of the evening and carried on with some of their earlier conversations.
"Fancy not being scared of death," George mused as the phrase on the Potter's headstone in Godric's Hollow came up again.
"I'm not," Harry replied honestly.
"Are you serious?" Ron asked incredulously. The three others looked at him just as curiously.
"Yeah," Harry said, aware that he sounded crazy. "Well, er… I guess what I mean is I don't feel like I can die. Not from magic, anyway."
"Really?" Ginny questioned, unconvinced. "But I thought your mom saved you the first time and being the master of the Deathly Hallows saved you the second. What's going to save you this time?"
"I don't know, really," he answered after a moment's thought. "When that part of Voldemort's soul left me, I thought it would feel like I was finally fully present. But I still feel like I only have ninety-nine percent of myself. Like another part of me is out there somewhere, keeping me here. It's not Voldemort this time, but…"
The silence in the Shack and the confused stares he was getting from his friends reminded him too much of their reactions to some of his explanations of his premonitions during the war, and he almost wished he hadn't brought it up.
"Never mind," he sighed. "It's probably nothing. I'm probably just thinking too much."
"Harry," Hermione said comfortingly, "you'll adjust to everything. You just need time to settle into being yourself."
"I know how you feel, Harry." George said with a grave and somber expression on his face, meeting the eyes of his friends with reluctance. "I've never mentioned it before, but I feel the same way."
"You do?" Harry asked, hopeful.
"Yeah," George's expression melted away and was replaced by a mock wistful stare out of the crooked little window. "My soulmate is out there, somewhere. I just know it! I can't wait until the day we meet and fall in love!"
Harry, despite his serious confession having been turned to a joke, couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else. George nudged Harry's arm with his elbow from where he was sitting at Harry's side in a very brotherly way, and Harry was oddly touched by the gesture.
The conversation soon drifted to fond memories and future plans, and by the time Hermione checked Ron's watch it was already half past five and approaching sunset. Harry offered to loan George the invisibility cloak so he could sneak into the castle with them and stir up some trouble at the Halloween Feast with Peeves. The older Weasley boy had decided against it, though was appreciative of the thoughtful offer.
"I always shared my pranks there with Fred," he explained. "It's the only place left I don't have any memories of being by myself."
The remaining four arrived at the Great Hall just in time for the six o'clock start to the meal, and the selection of food was incredible as always. Harry ate happily, occasionally watching Thea from across the hall as she appeared to be bombarding all the ghosts that dared stick around for too long with hundreds of questions. He was thrilled with how his day had gone, feeling close to his parents, Sirius, and Lupin once again, and thanked his friends for coming with him.
"Nah, thank you, mate," Ron had cut him off. "Really, I think that's the first time I've seen him properly happy since it happened."
Harry didn't have to ask what he was talking about.