Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 18: Halloween Fun
When Halloween came around, Harry was feeling a little better since the nightmares had gone away for a while and he managed to get some more Quidditch practice in. Hermione was still doing research for her S.P.E.W campaign it seems since she started wearing her S.P.E.W badge again and went back to bugging them about their O.W.L.s, at which Ron would always remark that they aren't until the end of the year. "Exactly why you need to start studying now," she would always reply.
Professor Sepet had been gone for a while, and Harry had started getting his hopes up that Sepet had gone for good. Unfortunately for him, however, Sepet returned the week before Halloween and went back to tormenting Harry in his duelling class. They still weren't able to figure out how to get past Professor Sepet's shield and Dumbledore's request for additional aurors to be posted at the school was denied since Fudge was reluctant to send him anything that would help him. To compensate for this, Walter was able to provide some of his skeleton warriors to help with the additional security at night, which was very helpful to the staff since the undead do not require rest.
That afternoon, Harry, Hermione and Ron were in the common room. They had to endure Snape in potions, where they were learning how to make a sleeping potion, but they were happy that they had the rest of the day off so that they could get ready for the Halloween feast that evening. Harry and Ron were playing a game of wizard's chess while Hermione was reading Harry's copy of 'Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them' since Neville had borrowed hers.
"Checkmate," Ron said triumphantly.
Harry groaned and starting to put away the pieces. "I'm getting tired of losing to you, Ron. Things are going to change soon."
"I don't think you'll ever beat me in a game of Wizard's chess," Ron smirked.
"Well, I'm going to go for a walk," Harry said. "I need to think."
"Can I come?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book. "I have something to do also."
"Sure, why not," Harry replied.
Ron, not wanting to get left behind again, decided to join them as well, "Fine, I'll come too. I just hope she's not planning to go to the library."
"As a matter of fact, I'm not," Hermione stated. "I'm going to the dungeons for a while."
"Why the dungeons?" Ron asked curiously.
"I want to check out Sepet's office. It's in the dungeons, next to Walter's office I think," she explained.
"Alright, but you're not going down there alone. If Sepet decides to do something to you, you'll need us with you," Harry said, not thinking.
Hermione blushed at his statement, "Thanks you two."
With that, the trio made their way out of the common room and down to the dungeons. They ran into a few of Walter's skeleton warriors, each carrying a sword, along the way, but were left alone. When they got to Walter's office, they saw that he was just exiting it and they quickly tried to turn the other way, but Walter wasn't one not to notice three students in the dungeons alone.
"May I do something for you three?" Walter asked as he locked the door to his office.
"We were going for a walk," Hermione lied.
"I'm sure you can tell me the truth Miss Granger, don't worry, I won't tell anyone what you're up to," Walter said to the surprise of Hermione and Ron. "But, I'm being a bad host. Please come into my office and maybe I can help you."
So Walter unlocked his office again and he opened the door to allow them to enter. Ron made an attempt to walk in first, but Walter stopped him.
"Mr. Weasley, you must show some manners to Miss Granger. Ladies always enter first," Walter said, holding him back and chuckling to himself a bit.
Hermione blushed slightly, but entered first, followed by Harry and Ron with Walter entering last. Walter's office was fairly dark, except for a few lighted candles in various places around the wall. There was a desk on the far wall and a table with various bones and potions to the right of the door as they entered. A bookshelf took up the entire right wall, and a large mirror, which Harry and Hermione recognized as the mirror of Malikith was located on the left wall.
Walter conjured some chairs and allowed them to sit down.
"Now, what may I do for you?" Walter asked once they had sat down.
"We were looking for Professor Sepet and we were wondering where he is," Hermione explained.
"He's in his office down the hall," Walter said. "Shall I inform him that you will be seeing him?"
"No, that's alright," Hermione said. "We'll just walk there."
"Very well, but may I ask you one question Miss Granger?" questioned Walter.
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"That badge you're wearing, what is it?" Walter inquired, pointing to the S.P.E.W. badge.
"Oh, that's part of her attempt to free the house elves," Ron explained. "I don't think she'll ever get it done though."
"Be quiet Ron, you're not helping my campaign," Hermione said, elbowing him in the stomach.
"Ow - Hermione, give it up. You'll never get them to understand. They like work, don't you get it?" Ron insisted.
"That's enough you two," Harry cut in, sensing that another argument was coming.
"I believe I could help you on that one - Miss Granger," Walter said. "Would you be happy if the house elves got the day off, let's say, today?"
"Oh, I would be so happy," said Hermione, delighted as the prospect of having the house elves not doing work for a day. "But do they get paid for their day off?"
"I may not be able to do much about that, but I should be able to do something about the vacation," Walter said.
"What about the Halloween feast?" Ron asked. "If the house elves get the day off, how will we get our food?"
"Honestly Ron, can't you think of anything but food?" Hermione scolded.
"You could do something about that right Walter?" Harry asked, knowing very well what Walter had in mind.
"Yes, I could - I will see to it personally that you get your feast this evening, Mr. Weasley," Walter said with a grin.
"That'd be great, if there were something that could be done but we don't have anyone who could cook up so much food for everyone, except for the house elves," Ron pointed out.
"Trust me, Mr. Weasley, you will get your feast. In fact, I will see to it right now," Walter said and he got up and walked to the mirror.
At the mirror, he waved his hand over it while muttering something that sounded foreign to the trio sitting in the chairs at his desk. Moments later, the mirror displayed an image of Professor Sepet who was dressed in his black quilted attire and carrying a sword, however, he wasn't wearing his hooded robe.
"Yes Walter?" the image said.
"My lord, I have a request to make on behalf of Miss Granger," Walter said to the mirror.
"Let's hear it then," the Count replied, looking unamused.
"She wishes to give the house elves a break from their work this evening and I was wondering if there was any way that they could get paid for their work," Walter said.
"Very well, I shall take this up to Professor Dumbledore and see if he will pay them. If not, I will see that they are paid out of my own pocket. I do pay my servants contrary to rumours," the Count said to Hermione's delight. "Do you have arrangements for the Halloween feast this evening then?"
"Yes I do my lord. Everything will be taken care of," Walter said reassuringly.
"Good. Now I must return to my work and find a way to trick the house elves into going on their vacation," the Count said and the image disappeared.
Hermione couldn't restrain her excitement anymore once she heard what the Count had said.
"Thank you sooo much Walter," she squealed in delight.
"You're welcome Miss Granger. I hope that you will be pleased with the result this evening," Walter said with a smile. "Now I must make preparations for this evening."
"Of course, we'll leave you to your work," Hermione said. "Bye Walter."
"Good bye Miss Granger - Mr. Potter - Mr. Weasley," Walter called back as they exited his office. "I'll see you at the feast."
Once they were outside, Hermione once again squealed in delight. "I'm so happy. Finally, two people who want to free the house elves like I do and Professors no less."
"I don't care, I'll just be happy when I get to eat something at the feast later," Ron commented.
"Ron, all you care about is food," Harry joked.
"So? It's not like you weren't jumping for joy either," Ron defended.
"Well, let's head back to the common room," Harry said. "I want to grab my broom so that I can get some flying in while I can."
"I'll join you," Ron added. "I haven't gone flying in ages. There's been so much work with my prefect's duties added to it."
"I think I'll go to the library. I'll see you later in the common room," Hermione said, walking in the direction of the library.
"Bye Hermione," Ron and Harry called after her.
Harry and Ron then made their way back to the common room and ran up to get their brooms before going out to the Quidditch pitch for some practice.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Later that evening, Harry and Ron returned to the common room to find that everyone was gathered there. They found Hermione was waiting for them in a corner and Professor McGonagall was addressing everyone.
"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Weasley - Mr. Potter," McGonagall said sternly.
"We didn't know," they replied.
"That will be enough you two. Now as I was saying, we will head over to the Great Hall now for the Halloween Feast. Professor Dumbledore has a surprised planned so we are heading there earlier than usual. No one is to be left behind, so prefects first, and then everyone will follow. I will take up the rear with Mr. Potter," McGonagall commanded. "Let's go."
Ron and Hermione went out of the portrait with the two sixth year prefects followed by the other students, Harry and Professor McGonagall. Once she made sure there weren't any stragglers, the group made their way to the Great Hall, but along the way, they encountered Peeves.
"Oooh, what do we have here?" Peeves screeched. "Ickle students heading to the Halloween Feast? Why don't you try one of these?"
Peeves then lobbed a water balloon at a group of girls who screamed and jumped out of the way.
"PEEVES!" McGonagall roared. "If you don't get out of here. I will make sure you regret it."
"MAKE ME!" Peeves challenged, sticking his tongue out at McGonagall, laughing. But he wasn't laughing for long as a red ghost like apparition hit him and caused Peeves to scream in pain.
"STOP IT! IT HURTS! IT BURNS!!" Peeves screeched as he flew away in pain.
Everyone looked to see who it was that managed to get rid of Peeves only to see that Professor Sepet was standing behind them, one of his hands raised.
"That should take care of that poltergeist for the rest of the evening. They really are a nuisance," Sepet said, lowering his hand down to his side. "I'll see all of you at the Feast."
With that, Sepet walked ahead, turning a corner and the group continued walking towards the Great Hall. Looking around, Harry could see that the castle was decorated with pumpkin candles lining the corridors and spider webs were placed in several places for added effect.
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Harry saw that all the professors were present, with the exception of Professor Sepet. Dumbledore was chatting merrily with Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall went over to join them at the teacher's table once the students had sat down. Harry sat down in between Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table, which the students were chattering loudly as to why they were there so early. There was also a quill and a piece of parchment in front of each person.
After the students had settled down a bit, Professor Dumbledore stood up and called for their attention.
"You are all probably wondering why we have brought you here earlier than usual, but I believe Professor Laikov has a little surprise for everyone - however, I will let him explain that to you," Dumbledore said and sat down again.
Walter then stood up and Harry noticed that he was dressed differently this time. He was wearing black dress pants, a white dress shirt, a red tie, and a black vest with black robes over that, but he was still carrying his dagger at his side.
"Earlier this afternoon," Walter began. "A student called to my attention that the house elves were being treated unfairly due to their status of servitude without pay. I must say that I agree, so today, Professor Sepet and I arranged it so that they would get the rest of the day off."
The students in the hall groaned at that comment, and Malfoy stood up to object.
"HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO EAT THEN?" he yelled. "SACRIFICING OUR WELFARE JUST SO THAT YOU CAN SATISFY THE WHIM OF ONE STUDENT?"
The other Slytherins along with several students from the other tables angrily murmured in agreement.
"Mr. Malfoy, please allow me to finish," Walter said calmly, but his tone quickly changed to one that wasn't going to tolerate nonsense. "TAKE YOUR SEAT!"
Malfoy sat down, cowering in fear at Walter's outburst and sat down, before Walter continued calmly once again.
"If you look in front of you, you will notice that there is a piece of parchment and a quill in front of you. Please write down what you would like to eat this evening and it will be brought out," Walter explained.
Harry now realised that Walter wasn't playing games with them earlier. He really kept his promise to Hermione, meaning that he probably wouldn't deceive him now. So he took the quill and wrote down what he wanted for the feast on the piece of parchment before looking around at everyone else.
"What did you order?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione.
"I ordered some roast beef and some butterbeer with some biscuits," Ron said.
"I settled for roast chicken and pumpkin juice with some roast potatoes," said Hermione, finishing writing down her order, neatly. "What about you?"
"I'm having a steak, roast potatoes, and butterbeer," Harry replied as Walter spoke once again.
"Now that you're all finished writing down your orders. They will be taken to the kitchen so that they can be prepared," Walter said and clapped his hands twice.
Nothing happened at first, but soon the students could hear the flapping of wings and screeching. It sounded like there were many winged creatures coming towards the Great Hall and some of the students starting reaching for their wands in panic. Eventually, they saw the doors to the Great Hall open and hundreds of bats came flying in.
"Please don't be alarmed," Walter said reassuringly. "They will just take your orders to the kitchen."
Each of the bats flew over to each piece of parchment and picked it up before flying out the door again.
"Alright, now that the orders are taken care of, I will be providing some entertainment for you while you wait," Walter announced.
At that moment, four skeletons entered the Great Hall. The students were still somewhat scared of them, even though they had seen them around the halls at night and in their Dark Arts class, because they weren't quite used to seeing them around yet, but Harry didn't think anything of it.
The skeletons walked up to the front of the Hall and faced each other in pairs of two. The hands of each of the skeletons started glowing. Each skeleton had a different colour to the glow. The first skeleton on the left had a red glow while the one next to it had a blue glow. The two skeletons across from them had a green and orange glow to their hands.
Then the red glow on the first skeleton subsided and in its place were two red fireballs. The skeleton threw them to the skeleton with the green glow, across from it and the fireball changed to a green coloured fireball once it hit the other skeleton's hands. That skeleton then threw it to the skeleton with the blue glow on its hands and the fireball changed colours once again upon hitting its hands, to blue.
Finally, the first skeleton conjured up two more fireballs and threw one to the one with the orange glow and skeleton next to him. It repeated the process once again and soon there were 6 multi-coloured fireballs being thrown in the air by the four skeletons.
"How's that for juggling?" Walter laughed as the students applauded the show. "How about six more?"
Some of the students shouted in approval and the first skeleton conjured six more fireballs to make twelve fireballs being thrown in between the four skeletons. The entertainment was somewhat amusing to Harry, though Nearly Headless Nick, who was sitting at the end of the table, appeared to be enjoying himself.
"I haven't had this much fun since my DeathDay Party," he remarked delightfully to the students next to him. Harry, Ron and Hermione had attended one DeathDay Party in their second year at Hogwarts, however, they found that it was less than pleasant, unless you were a ghost.
After a while, three of the skeletons stopped throwing the fireballs to the skeleton with the blue coloured hands and that skeleton walked to the middle of the group as the fireballs continued to fly over its head. Then the skeleton fired blue bolts at each of the fireballs as it passed over its head, freezing the fireballs as they passed overhead. The other skeletons stopped catching them as the fireballs froze, and they fell to the floor, shattering into pieces before disappearing.
The students applauded again and Walter dismissed the four skeletons. The four skeletons started to leave, but then they did something unexpected. One of the skeletons jumped into the air and landed on the shoulders of one of the other skeletons. The other two skeletons then followed suit and the four skeletons walked out of the Great Hall, balancing on each other's shoulders.
Once again cheering and applause broke out as the skeletons left the room.
"Now for final act before dinner is served, I believe Professor Sepet wanted to demonstrate his talent in transfiguration," Walter announced.
The students heard the bats return again, only this time, they flew around in circles around the Great Hall for a while. The bats eventually dived, and some students screamed in fear since they thought that the bats were diving on them. However the bats flew to the front of the teacher's table and gathered. As the bats massed, the students could see them eventually form the outline of a man. The form solidified and soon, instead of a mass of bats, Professor Sepet was standing in front of the teacher's table in his usual attire. The only thing missing was his sword.
Then two more bats then flew in, carrying a sheathed sword in their mouths. The bats dropped the sword as they came towards Sepet and he caught it as the two bats flew out.
The students cheered and applauded at Sepet's grand entrance and Fred and George who were sitting across from Harry remarked smiling mischievously, "If nothing else, Professor Sepet sure knows how to make an entrance. We should try that one sometime. It would sure scare the hell out of some people."
"I am glad that you appreciated the entertainment," Sepet said, standing in front of the teacher's table. "But I'm sure that you are all starving. So by all means, let the feast commence."
Sepet then clapped his hands twice as Walter had done and to the horror of most of the students, about sixty skeletons entered the room, each carrying a tray full of food. The skeletons placed the trays at each of the tables and exited. Next, a group of about seventy imps entered the room with plates, goblets and silverware. Some of the imps were also carrying pitchers full of butterbeer and pumpkin juice. They placed a plate, goblet and the silverware in front of each of the students, while the imps with pitchers filled their goblets with drink.
Once they were done, the imps walked out and Professor Sepet spoke up once again.
"I hope that the skeletons didn't ruin your appetite, but I assure you the food is completely safe," he said. "Now, enjoy yourselves."
Professor Sepet then walked to his seat in between a rather amused Professor McGonagall and Walter, who was pouring some pumpkin juice for an apathetic Snape. The hall broke into chatter as the students started eating, though some of the students were looking somewhat pale from having their food brought in by skeletons. Among them were Ron and Hermione, though Harry was unaffected by the experience since he had seen the same thing at the Count's castle during the summer.
"How can you manage to eat this?" Ron asked Harry, who was eating his food normally. "It might be poisoned or something."
"I'm surprised Ron, normally you're the one who doesn't hesitate to taste any food," Harry teased. "Back at the Count's castle, his servants served the food in the same manner, so I'm not bothered by the fact that I have undead creatures serving my meal."
"I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Hermione remarked, looking disgustedly at her food.
"Come now Hermione. You're the one who asked that the house elves get the rest of the day off, so stop complaining and eat. If no one else is dropping dead, then you won't either," Harry pointed out.
"I guess you're right," Hermione said, cautiously taking a bit out of some of the roast potatoes.
"Hey, you're right this isn't too bad," Hermione finally agreed.
"I told you," said Harry triumphantly. "What do you think Ron?"
"The food still tastes as good as the food the house elves make," Ron said with his mouth full. "Maybe Hermione will finally get her way, now that we have some replacement cooks, though I wonder if everyone else would appreciate skeletons serving up their meals."
The rest of the Halloween feast continued normally and everyone was in good spirits. Fred and George slipped some ageing potion into Alicia's drink causing her to grow slightly older. The twins had a good laugh at that, until Alicia decided to chase them out of the Great Hall.
"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS WEASLEY!" Alicia screamed, running after them while some of the students laughed.
To Harry, it seemed that everyone was in good spirits, even Walter had decided to play a prank on Snape, to the amusement of some of the staff members. Walter had added some confusion potion to Snape's goblet when he poured it at the beginning of the feast so that when Snape got up to talk to Professor Dumbledore about some business, he immediately stumbled on his own chair. The loud noise that accompanied it caused all the students in the Hall to look at him.
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?" Snape yelled in anger.
Walter was laughing merrily, while the other professors were trying their best to hold in their laughter, including Sepet who was smirking at Snape's misfortune. The students however, couldn't hold it in and so they burst out laughing and Snape ended up storming out of the Hall in disgust, but not before he had tripped over another two stools and slammed into the wall.
The students were still laughing for a while after Snape left, but soon the laughter died down as Professor Sepet got up all of a sudden and walked out of the hall.
"Harry," Hermione said. "Why is Sepet leaving before everyone else?"
"I don't know," Harry said, "maybe he's just tired."
"Let's go follow him," Hermione suggested and Harry nudged Ron.
"Ron - we're leaving," Harry said with a tone of urgency.
"What's this about? I was starting to enjoy the evening," Ron said, reluctantly getting up.
"Sepet just left - we're going to see what he's up to," Harry explained quickly as the trio left the hall to chase after Sepet. However, Lee Jordan questioned them as to where they were going before they could go anywhere.
"Where are you three going?" Lee asked.
"We're just heading back to the common room. We're tired already," Hermione lied.
"Oh, in that case, good night," Lee said.
"Good night Lee," they all echoed and they quickly made their way out of the Great Hall.
"Where could they be?" Harry said thoughtfully.
"Oh, he could be anywhere," said Hermione with a tone of desperation as they ran through the halls looking for Sepet.
"We only need to find Sepet in order to stop him from doing something horrible," Harry pointed out.
"What about his shield?" Ron asked.
"Don't worry, we'll find a way to stop him. He's not completely invulnerable," said Harry encouragingly.
"Whatever you say H-" Ron was about to say when they heard a bloodcurdling scream nearby causing them to run quickly in the direction of the scream.
When they got there, they saw Alicia lying on the floor, barely alive with blood oozing out from what looked like a cut in her neck. The ageing potion that Fred and George put in her potion also appeared to have worn off since she was back to normal, though the effects of such a potion should have lasted for a couple hours.
"What do we do?" Ron asked in shock as Alicia's blood continued to spread on the floor. "We're too late."
"Stop panicking," Harry said, snapping Ron out of his shocked state. "We need to stop the bleeding first. We'll take care of Sepet later."
"Here, let me try," Hermione said and she tore part of her robe so that she could wrap it around the cut in Alicia's neck. "We need to apply pressure to the wound so that the bleeding will stop. She's fortunate to be alive after such a deep cut."
"Don't bother wrapping that around her neck Miss Granger," said a voice from behind them. "You'll only kill her that way."
They turned around and saw that Walter, Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall and several students were behind them.
"Why not? We need to stop the bleeding," Hermione insisted.
"Very well," Walter said, walking towards them as Professor McGonagall ordered the students to head back to their dorms, which they did reluctantly. "Let me help you with dressing her wound."
Walter got down next to Hermione and reached for the piece of her robe in her hand, but when Hermione offered it to him, Walter quickly snatched her dagger from its sheath at her waist and thrust it into Alicia's neck, causing more blood to flow onto the floor.
"YOU MURDERER!" Hermione screamed, lunging at Walter in an attempt to get him away from Alicia's body. "YOU KILLED HER!"
"No Miss Granger," Walter said calmly, while Harry and Ron watched frozen in shock. "I just saved her."
Walter had pushed Hermione away from him and was now restraining her. Hot tears fell down her cheek as she continued to struggle in Walter's grasp.
"Minerva," Dumbledore finally said. "Please take these three back to their tower. I will take care of this."
"As you wish Albus," McGonagall replied and she quickly ushered Harry, Ron, and a defeated Hermione back to the common room, leaving Dumbledore behind with Walter.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got back to the common room, Hermione immediately ran up to her dorm while Ron and Harry sat in stunned silence in the armchairs by the fire. The other students in the common room were looking at them strangely, but they said nothing as they too were shocked by what had happened to Alicia. Fred and George were sitting on the floor with guilty looks on their faces and Katie Bell was making an attempt to comfort them. This Halloween was starting to turn sour for the Gryffindors as they mourned for their loss.
A/N: What'd you think? This chapter was more for fun rather than advancing the story, until the end that is.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 18: Halloween Fun
When Halloween came around, Harry was feeling a little better since the nightmares had gone away for a while and he managed to get some more Quidditch practice in. Hermione was still doing research for her S.P.E.W campaign it seems since she started wearing her S.P.E.W badge again and went back to bugging them about their O.W.L.s, at which Ron would always remark that they aren't until the end of the year. "Exactly why you need to start studying now," she would always reply.
Professor Sepet had been gone for a while, and Harry had started getting his hopes up that Sepet had gone for good. Unfortunately for him, however, Sepet returned the week before Halloween and went back to tormenting Harry in his duelling class. They still weren't able to figure out how to get past Professor Sepet's shield and Dumbledore's request for additional aurors to be posted at the school was denied since Fudge was reluctant to send him anything that would help him. To compensate for this, Walter was able to provide some of his skeleton warriors to help with the additional security at night, which was very helpful to the staff since the undead do not require rest.
That afternoon, Harry, Hermione and Ron were in the common room. They had to endure Snape in potions, where they were learning how to make a sleeping potion, but they were happy that they had the rest of the day off so that they could get ready for the Halloween feast that evening. Harry and Ron were playing a game of wizard's chess while Hermione was reading Harry's copy of 'Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them' since Neville had borrowed hers.
"Checkmate," Ron said triumphantly.
Harry groaned and starting to put away the pieces. "I'm getting tired of losing to you, Ron. Things are going to change soon."
"I don't think you'll ever beat me in a game of Wizard's chess," Ron smirked.
"Well, I'm going to go for a walk," Harry said. "I need to think."
"Can I come?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book. "I have something to do also."
"Sure, why not," Harry replied.
Ron, not wanting to get left behind again, decided to join them as well, "Fine, I'll come too. I just hope she's not planning to go to the library."
"As a matter of fact, I'm not," Hermione stated. "I'm going to the dungeons for a while."
"Why the dungeons?" Ron asked curiously.
"I want to check out Sepet's office. It's in the dungeons, next to Walter's office I think," she explained.
"Alright, but you're not going down there alone. If Sepet decides to do something to you, you'll need us with you," Harry said, not thinking.
Hermione blushed at his statement, "Thanks you two."
With that, the trio made their way out of the common room and down to the dungeons. They ran into a few of Walter's skeleton warriors, each carrying a sword, along the way, but were left alone. When they got to Walter's office, they saw that he was just exiting it and they quickly tried to turn the other way, but Walter wasn't one not to notice three students in the dungeons alone.
"May I do something for you three?" Walter asked as he locked the door to his office.
"We were going for a walk," Hermione lied.
"I'm sure you can tell me the truth Miss Granger, don't worry, I won't tell anyone what you're up to," Walter said to the surprise of Hermione and Ron. "But, I'm being a bad host. Please come into my office and maybe I can help you."
So Walter unlocked his office again and he opened the door to allow them to enter. Ron made an attempt to walk in first, but Walter stopped him.
"Mr. Weasley, you must show some manners to Miss Granger. Ladies always enter first," Walter said, holding him back and chuckling to himself a bit.
Hermione blushed slightly, but entered first, followed by Harry and Ron with Walter entering last. Walter's office was fairly dark, except for a few lighted candles in various places around the wall. There was a desk on the far wall and a table with various bones and potions to the right of the door as they entered. A bookshelf took up the entire right wall, and a large mirror, which Harry and Hermione recognized as the mirror of Malikith was located on the left wall.
Walter conjured some chairs and allowed them to sit down.
"Now, what may I do for you?" Walter asked once they had sat down.
"We were looking for Professor Sepet and we were wondering where he is," Hermione explained.
"He's in his office down the hall," Walter said. "Shall I inform him that you will be seeing him?"
"No, that's alright," Hermione said. "We'll just walk there."
"Very well, but may I ask you one question Miss Granger?" questioned Walter.
"What's that?" Hermione asked.
"That badge you're wearing, what is it?" Walter inquired, pointing to the S.P.E.W. badge.
"Oh, that's part of her attempt to free the house elves," Ron explained. "I don't think she'll ever get it done though."
"Be quiet Ron, you're not helping my campaign," Hermione said, elbowing him in the stomach.
"Ow - Hermione, give it up. You'll never get them to understand. They like work, don't you get it?" Ron insisted.
"That's enough you two," Harry cut in, sensing that another argument was coming.
"I believe I could help you on that one - Miss Granger," Walter said. "Would you be happy if the house elves got the day off, let's say, today?"
"Oh, I would be so happy," said Hermione, delighted as the prospect of having the house elves not doing work for a day. "But do they get paid for their day off?"
"I may not be able to do much about that, but I should be able to do something about the vacation," Walter said.
"What about the Halloween feast?" Ron asked. "If the house elves get the day off, how will we get our food?"
"Honestly Ron, can't you think of anything but food?" Hermione scolded.
"You could do something about that right Walter?" Harry asked, knowing very well what Walter had in mind.
"Yes, I could - I will see to it personally that you get your feast this evening, Mr. Weasley," Walter said with a grin.
"That'd be great, if there were something that could be done but we don't have anyone who could cook up so much food for everyone, except for the house elves," Ron pointed out.
"Trust me, Mr. Weasley, you will get your feast. In fact, I will see to it right now," Walter said and he got up and walked to the mirror.
At the mirror, he waved his hand over it while muttering something that sounded foreign to the trio sitting in the chairs at his desk. Moments later, the mirror displayed an image of Professor Sepet who was dressed in his black quilted attire and carrying a sword, however, he wasn't wearing his hooded robe.
"Yes Walter?" the image said.
"My lord, I have a request to make on behalf of Miss Granger," Walter said to the mirror.
"Let's hear it then," the Count replied, looking unamused.
"She wishes to give the house elves a break from their work this evening and I was wondering if there was any way that they could get paid for their work," Walter said.
"Very well, I shall take this up to Professor Dumbledore and see if he will pay them. If not, I will see that they are paid out of my own pocket. I do pay my servants contrary to rumours," the Count said to Hermione's delight. "Do you have arrangements for the Halloween feast this evening then?"
"Yes I do my lord. Everything will be taken care of," Walter said reassuringly.
"Good. Now I must return to my work and find a way to trick the house elves into going on their vacation," the Count said and the image disappeared.
Hermione couldn't restrain her excitement anymore once she heard what the Count had said.
"Thank you sooo much Walter," she squealed in delight.
"You're welcome Miss Granger. I hope that you will be pleased with the result this evening," Walter said with a smile. "Now I must make preparations for this evening."
"Of course, we'll leave you to your work," Hermione said. "Bye Walter."
"Good bye Miss Granger - Mr. Potter - Mr. Weasley," Walter called back as they exited his office. "I'll see you at the feast."
Once they were outside, Hermione once again squealed in delight. "I'm so happy. Finally, two people who want to free the house elves like I do and Professors no less."
"I don't care, I'll just be happy when I get to eat something at the feast later," Ron commented.
"Ron, all you care about is food," Harry joked.
"So? It's not like you weren't jumping for joy either," Ron defended.
"Well, let's head back to the common room," Harry said. "I want to grab my broom so that I can get some flying in while I can."
"I'll join you," Ron added. "I haven't gone flying in ages. There's been so much work with my prefect's duties added to it."
"I think I'll go to the library. I'll see you later in the common room," Hermione said, walking in the direction of the library.
"Bye Hermione," Ron and Harry called after her.
Harry and Ron then made their way back to the common room and ran up to get their brooms before going out to the Quidditch pitch for some practice.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Later that evening, Harry and Ron returned to the common room to find that everyone was gathered there. They found Hermione was waiting for them in a corner and Professor McGonagall was addressing everyone.
"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Weasley - Mr. Potter," McGonagall said sternly.
"We didn't know," they replied.
"That will be enough you two. Now as I was saying, we will head over to the Great Hall now for the Halloween Feast. Professor Dumbledore has a surprised planned so we are heading there earlier than usual. No one is to be left behind, so prefects first, and then everyone will follow. I will take up the rear with Mr. Potter," McGonagall commanded. "Let's go."
Ron and Hermione went out of the portrait with the two sixth year prefects followed by the other students, Harry and Professor McGonagall. Once she made sure there weren't any stragglers, the group made their way to the Great Hall, but along the way, they encountered Peeves.
"Oooh, what do we have here?" Peeves screeched. "Ickle students heading to the Halloween Feast? Why don't you try one of these?"
Peeves then lobbed a water balloon at a group of girls who screamed and jumped out of the way.
"PEEVES!" McGonagall roared. "If you don't get out of here. I will make sure you regret it."
"MAKE ME!" Peeves challenged, sticking his tongue out at McGonagall, laughing. But he wasn't laughing for long as a red ghost like apparition hit him and caused Peeves to scream in pain.
"STOP IT! IT HURTS! IT BURNS!!" Peeves screeched as he flew away in pain.
Everyone looked to see who it was that managed to get rid of Peeves only to see that Professor Sepet was standing behind them, one of his hands raised.
"That should take care of that poltergeist for the rest of the evening. They really are a nuisance," Sepet said, lowering his hand down to his side. "I'll see all of you at the Feast."
With that, Sepet walked ahead, turning a corner and the group continued walking towards the Great Hall. Looking around, Harry could see that the castle was decorated with pumpkin candles lining the corridors and spider webs were placed in several places for added effect.
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Harry saw that all the professors were present, with the exception of Professor Sepet. Dumbledore was chatting merrily with Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall went over to join them at the teacher's table once the students had sat down. Harry sat down in between Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table, which the students were chattering loudly as to why they were there so early. There was also a quill and a piece of parchment in front of each person.
After the students had settled down a bit, Professor Dumbledore stood up and called for their attention.
"You are all probably wondering why we have brought you here earlier than usual, but I believe Professor Laikov has a little surprise for everyone - however, I will let him explain that to you," Dumbledore said and sat down again.
Walter then stood up and Harry noticed that he was dressed differently this time. He was wearing black dress pants, a white dress shirt, a red tie, and a black vest with black robes over that, but he was still carrying his dagger at his side.
"Earlier this afternoon," Walter began. "A student called to my attention that the house elves were being treated unfairly due to their status of servitude without pay. I must say that I agree, so today, Professor Sepet and I arranged it so that they would get the rest of the day off."
The students in the hall groaned at that comment, and Malfoy stood up to object.
"HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO EAT THEN?" he yelled. "SACRIFICING OUR WELFARE JUST SO THAT YOU CAN SATISFY THE WHIM OF ONE STUDENT?"
The other Slytherins along with several students from the other tables angrily murmured in agreement.
"Mr. Malfoy, please allow me to finish," Walter said calmly, but his tone quickly changed to one that wasn't going to tolerate nonsense. "TAKE YOUR SEAT!"
Malfoy sat down, cowering in fear at Walter's outburst and sat down, before Walter continued calmly once again.
"If you look in front of you, you will notice that there is a piece of parchment and a quill in front of you. Please write down what you would like to eat this evening and it will be brought out," Walter explained.
Harry now realised that Walter wasn't playing games with them earlier. He really kept his promise to Hermione, meaning that he probably wouldn't deceive him now. So he took the quill and wrote down what he wanted for the feast on the piece of parchment before looking around at everyone else.
"What did you order?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione.
"I ordered some roast beef and some butterbeer with some biscuits," Ron said.
"I settled for roast chicken and pumpkin juice with some roast potatoes," said Hermione, finishing writing down her order, neatly. "What about you?"
"I'm having a steak, roast potatoes, and butterbeer," Harry replied as Walter spoke once again.
"Now that you're all finished writing down your orders. They will be taken to the kitchen so that they can be prepared," Walter said and clapped his hands twice.
Nothing happened at first, but soon the students could hear the flapping of wings and screeching. It sounded like there were many winged creatures coming towards the Great Hall and some of the students starting reaching for their wands in panic. Eventually, they saw the doors to the Great Hall open and hundreds of bats came flying in.
"Please don't be alarmed," Walter said reassuringly. "They will just take your orders to the kitchen."
Each of the bats flew over to each piece of parchment and picked it up before flying out the door again.
"Alright, now that the orders are taken care of, I will be providing some entertainment for you while you wait," Walter announced.
At that moment, four skeletons entered the Great Hall. The students were still somewhat scared of them, even though they had seen them around the halls at night and in their Dark Arts class, because they weren't quite used to seeing them around yet, but Harry didn't think anything of it.
The skeletons walked up to the front of the Hall and faced each other in pairs of two. The hands of each of the skeletons started glowing. Each skeleton had a different colour to the glow. The first skeleton on the left had a red glow while the one next to it had a blue glow. The two skeletons across from them had a green and orange glow to their hands.
Then the red glow on the first skeleton subsided and in its place were two red fireballs. The skeleton threw them to the skeleton with the green glow, across from it and the fireball changed to a green coloured fireball once it hit the other skeleton's hands. That skeleton then threw it to the skeleton with the blue glow on its hands and the fireball changed colours once again upon hitting its hands, to blue.
Finally, the first skeleton conjured up two more fireballs and threw one to the one with the orange glow and skeleton next to him. It repeated the process once again and soon there were 6 multi-coloured fireballs being thrown in the air by the four skeletons.
"How's that for juggling?" Walter laughed as the students applauded the show. "How about six more?"
Some of the students shouted in approval and the first skeleton conjured six more fireballs to make twelve fireballs being thrown in between the four skeletons. The entertainment was somewhat amusing to Harry, though Nearly Headless Nick, who was sitting at the end of the table, appeared to be enjoying himself.
"I haven't had this much fun since my DeathDay Party," he remarked delightfully to the students next to him. Harry, Ron and Hermione had attended one DeathDay Party in their second year at Hogwarts, however, they found that it was less than pleasant, unless you were a ghost.
After a while, three of the skeletons stopped throwing the fireballs to the skeleton with the blue coloured hands and that skeleton walked to the middle of the group as the fireballs continued to fly over its head. Then the skeleton fired blue bolts at each of the fireballs as it passed over its head, freezing the fireballs as they passed overhead. The other skeletons stopped catching them as the fireballs froze, and they fell to the floor, shattering into pieces before disappearing.
The students applauded again and Walter dismissed the four skeletons. The four skeletons started to leave, but then they did something unexpected. One of the skeletons jumped into the air and landed on the shoulders of one of the other skeletons. The other two skeletons then followed suit and the four skeletons walked out of the Great Hall, balancing on each other's shoulders.
Once again cheering and applause broke out as the skeletons left the room.
"Now for final act before dinner is served, I believe Professor Sepet wanted to demonstrate his talent in transfiguration," Walter announced.
The students heard the bats return again, only this time, they flew around in circles around the Great Hall for a while. The bats eventually dived, and some students screamed in fear since they thought that the bats were diving on them. However the bats flew to the front of the teacher's table and gathered. As the bats massed, the students could see them eventually form the outline of a man. The form solidified and soon, instead of a mass of bats, Professor Sepet was standing in front of the teacher's table in his usual attire. The only thing missing was his sword.
Then two more bats then flew in, carrying a sheathed sword in their mouths. The bats dropped the sword as they came towards Sepet and he caught it as the two bats flew out.
The students cheered and applauded at Sepet's grand entrance and Fred and George who were sitting across from Harry remarked smiling mischievously, "If nothing else, Professor Sepet sure knows how to make an entrance. We should try that one sometime. It would sure scare the hell out of some people."
"I am glad that you appreciated the entertainment," Sepet said, standing in front of the teacher's table. "But I'm sure that you are all starving. So by all means, let the feast commence."
Sepet then clapped his hands twice as Walter had done and to the horror of most of the students, about sixty skeletons entered the room, each carrying a tray full of food. The skeletons placed the trays at each of the tables and exited. Next, a group of about seventy imps entered the room with plates, goblets and silverware. Some of the imps were also carrying pitchers full of butterbeer and pumpkin juice. They placed a plate, goblet and the silverware in front of each of the students, while the imps with pitchers filled their goblets with drink.
Once they were done, the imps walked out and Professor Sepet spoke up once again.
"I hope that the skeletons didn't ruin your appetite, but I assure you the food is completely safe," he said. "Now, enjoy yourselves."
Professor Sepet then walked to his seat in between a rather amused Professor McGonagall and Walter, who was pouring some pumpkin juice for an apathetic Snape. The hall broke into chatter as the students started eating, though some of the students were looking somewhat pale from having their food brought in by skeletons. Among them were Ron and Hermione, though Harry was unaffected by the experience since he had seen the same thing at the Count's castle during the summer.
"How can you manage to eat this?" Ron asked Harry, who was eating his food normally. "It might be poisoned or something."
"I'm surprised Ron, normally you're the one who doesn't hesitate to taste any food," Harry teased. "Back at the Count's castle, his servants served the food in the same manner, so I'm not bothered by the fact that I have undead creatures serving my meal."
"I don't think I'll ever get used to it," Hermione remarked, looking disgustedly at her food.
"Come now Hermione. You're the one who asked that the house elves get the rest of the day off, so stop complaining and eat. If no one else is dropping dead, then you won't either," Harry pointed out.
"I guess you're right," Hermione said, cautiously taking a bit out of some of the roast potatoes.
"Hey, you're right this isn't too bad," Hermione finally agreed.
"I told you," said Harry triumphantly. "What do you think Ron?"
"The food still tastes as good as the food the house elves make," Ron said with his mouth full. "Maybe Hermione will finally get her way, now that we have some replacement cooks, though I wonder if everyone else would appreciate skeletons serving up their meals."
The rest of the Halloween feast continued normally and everyone was in good spirits. Fred and George slipped some ageing potion into Alicia's drink causing her to grow slightly older. The twins had a good laugh at that, until Alicia decided to chase them out of the Great Hall.
"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS WEASLEY!" Alicia screamed, running after them while some of the students laughed.
To Harry, it seemed that everyone was in good spirits, even Walter had decided to play a prank on Snape, to the amusement of some of the staff members. Walter had added some confusion potion to Snape's goblet when he poured it at the beginning of the feast so that when Snape got up to talk to Professor Dumbledore about some business, he immediately stumbled on his own chair. The loud noise that accompanied it caused all the students in the Hall to look at him.
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?" Snape yelled in anger.
Walter was laughing merrily, while the other professors were trying their best to hold in their laughter, including Sepet who was smirking at Snape's misfortune. The students however, couldn't hold it in and so they burst out laughing and Snape ended up storming out of the Hall in disgust, but not before he had tripped over another two stools and slammed into the wall.
The students were still laughing for a while after Snape left, but soon the laughter died down as Professor Sepet got up all of a sudden and walked out of the hall.
"Harry," Hermione said. "Why is Sepet leaving before everyone else?"
"I don't know," Harry said, "maybe he's just tired."
"Let's go follow him," Hermione suggested and Harry nudged Ron.
"Ron - we're leaving," Harry said with a tone of urgency.
"What's this about? I was starting to enjoy the evening," Ron said, reluctantly getting up.
"Sepet just left - we're going to see what he's up to," Harry explained quickly as the trio left the hall to chase after Sepet. However, Lee Jordan questioned them as to where they were going before they could go anywhere.
"Where are you three going?" Lee asked.
"We're just heading back to the common room. We're tired already," Hermione lied.
"Oh, in that case, good night," Lee said.
"Good night Lee," they all echoed and they quickly made their way out of the Great Hall.
"Where could they be?" Harry said thoughtfully.
"Oh, he could be anywhere," said Hermione with a tone of desperation as they ran through the halls looking for Sepet.
"We only need to find Sepet in order to stop him from doing something horrible," Harry pointed out.
"What about his shield?" Ron asked.
"Don't worry, we'll find a way to stop him. He's not completely invulnerable," said Harry encouragingly.
"Whatever you say H-" Ron was about to say when they heard a bloodcurdling scream nearby causing them to run quickly in the direction of the scream.
When they got there, they saw Alicia lying on the floor, barely alive with blood oozing out from what looked like a cut in her neck. The ageing potion that Fred and George put in her potion also appeared to have worn off since she was back to normal, though the effects of such a potion should have lasted for a couple hours.
"What do we do?" Ron asked in shock as Alicia's blood continued to spread on the floor. "We're too late."
"Stop panicking," Harry said, snapping Ron out of his shocked state. "We need to stop the bleeding first. We'll take care of Sepet later."
"Here, let me try," Hermione said and she tore part of her robe so that she could wrap it around the cut in Alicia's neck. "We need to apply pressure to the wound so that the bleeding will stop. She's fortunate to be alive after such a deep cut."
"Don't bother wrapping that around her neck Miss Granger," said a voice from behind them. "You'll only kill her that way."
They turned around and saw that Walter, Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall and several students were behind them.
"Why not? We need to stop the bleeding," Hermione insisted.
"Very well," Walter said, walking towards them as Professor McGonagall ordered the students to head back to their dorms, which they did reluctantly. "Let me help you with dressing her wound."
Walter got down next to Hermione and reached for the piece of her robe in her hand, but when Hermione offered it to him, Walter quickly snatched her dagger from its sheath at her waist and thrust it into Alicia's neck, causing more blood to flow onto the floor.
"YOU MURDERER!" Hermione screamed, lunging at Walter in an attempt to get him away from Alicia's body. "YOU KILLED HER!"
"No Miss Granger," Walter said calmly, while Harry and Ron watched frozen in shock. "I just saved her."
Walter had pushed Hermione away from him and was now restraining her. Hot tears fell down her cheek as she continued to struggle in Walter's grasp.
"Minerva," Dumbledore finally said. "Please take these three back to their tower. I will take care of this."
"As you wish Albus," McGonagall replied and she quickly ushered Harry, Ron, and a defeated Hermione back to the common room, leaving Dumbledore behind with Walter.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got back to the common room, Hermione immediately ran up to her dorm while Ron and Harry sat in stunned silence in the armchairs by the fire. The other students in the common room were looking at them strangely, but they said nothing as they too were shocked by what had happened to Alicia. Fred and George were sitting on the floor with guilty looks on their faces and Katie Bell was making an attempt to comfort them. This Halloween was starting to turn sour for the Gryffindors as they mourned for their loss.
A/N: What'd you think? This chapter was more for fun rather than advancing the story, until the end that is.