Please do note that all HP characters are property of JK Rowling. The
characters of Nyx, Brenna, Thursday, Wolfe, Syke, and any other
unrecognized names are property of Denise G., and ME (excluding any
Hogwarts student only mentioned once in the real story)!!!!!
A/N: This chapter, for the most part, is in Ron's POV.
Chapter Nine
A New Point of View
In the two weeks they had to prepare, Brenna and Ron worked hard on their assignment. During the homework breaks, they sat at a table with books open in front of them, and getting to know each other. Most of the time Ron spent making Brenna laugh. They found out that they had a lot in common. Neither would admit it outright, but they liked each other a great deal.
It was now the day of the Halloween feast. Everyone had finished transfiguring their costume and had received a grade on it earlier that day. McGonagall complimented Ron and Brenna on their clever use of the Cinderella Charm and they received high marks, as well as Harry, Hermione, Nyx, Thursday, and Cho. It brings tears of laughter to Brenna and Padma's eyes everytime they remind themselves on the day they learned the charm. On her first go, as was told to Ron, Brenna had managed to turn Professor Flitwick's robes into a glittery pink ball gown, complete with wings and matching crown. Flitwick kindly reminded to imagine herself as a faerie godmother, not her subject.
Ron waited nervously in the Gryffindor commonroom. Even though he'd managed to make a nearly flawless costume, McGonagall commented that his gold trim looked more yellow than gold, he was pacing the floor anxiously. He'd transfigured a very old pair of robes into a white tunic with short sleeves and gold like trim. The blue and gold like headdress looked so real he'd fooled many of his classmates.
Harry was just as nervous a Ron, except he was sitting in a chair by the fireplace. He transfigured some gloves to resemble the scabbed, decaying hands of a dementor, but the gray dementor robes concealed them for now. "Will you stop pacing?" asked Harry, "You're making me dizzy."
"I'm too nervous," mumbled Ron.
"Nervous? What would you have to be nervous about? I thought you didn't like Brenna that way."
"I don't. Besides, you look just as nervous as I do," Ron pointed out.
Harry blushed. "Oh, I'm just worried about Nyx. She wasn't feeling well at lunch today." "Did you see how pale she was?"
"Are you guys ready?" asked a familiar voice from afar. Ron and Harry looked towards the stairway to the boys and girls dormitories. Hermione stood at the top of the stairs wearing a gown to represent all of the forty- seven disguises Wendlin the Weird wore during her lifetime of witch burnings. Nyx was leaning against the wall and wearing red haori pants and a white kosode shirt. She'd managed to pile all her dull black hair onto her head, and stationed it there with two well-placed chopsticks. Unfortunately she looked weaker and paler than ever; even her scars seemed invisible against her skin. The effect of the two girls was absolutely ravishing. Harry and Ron stood open mouth staring at the two. Hermione uncharacteristically giggled at them.
"Your costumes look great," said Hermione.
"Thanks," said Ron, "So do yours."
"Well, let's not just stand around here, we've got a feast to attend," said Nyx as she came down the staircase.
"Are you sure you want to go?" asked Harry, "I mean, if you're not feeling well you should rest . . . ."
"I'm fine," said Nyx.
"Ok," said Harry uncertainly. He offered his arm to her and she seemed to perk up a little. He led Nyx out of the commonroom.
Ron did the same thing for Hermione as she descended the staircase.
"Well, shall we?" asked Ron.
Hermione smiled and nodded and took hold of Ron's arm. Ron and Hermione walked out of Gryffindor Tower and on to the Great Hall.
Large crowds of students blocking the entrance greeted Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall. They had to push their way through the crowd just to get in, but they were met by even more people just standing around.
"Ugh, it's so crowded in here!" exclaimed Hermione.
"I know," said Ron, "How am I going to find Brenna?"
"How about I go and look for her, while you go find the others," suggested Hermione.
"Good idea," said Ron.
With that being said, Ron and Hermione then split apart to find the others. As Ron wove through the crowds of people, he met up with fellow housemates and complemented their costumes. Finally he met up with Wolfe and Thursday, who were wearing colour coded Renaissance garb, who led him to where Harry and Nyx had planted themselves.
"Hey guys," said Ron, "Have you seen Brenna?"
"No," said Nyx pitifully. She had placed her head on the table so that her face could no longer be seen. Her hands, however, had almost become translucent in colour.
"Nyx!" exclaimed Thursday, "Your hands!"
Nyx then hastily slipped her hands within the large sleeves of her kosode shirt. "I'm fine," she repeated.
"You don't look fine, you look -" started Harry. Unfortunately he was interrupted by the arrival of Hermione, Cho, Padma, and Brenna.
"Hello everyone," said Cho. Ron and the others saw that she had managed to beautifully recreate the costume in the photograph she'd shown them all during their first library visit. Padma was dressed as the American witch Annie Sullivan, complete with smoked glasses and red hair. Then everyone got a look at Brenna, and everyone's jaw dropped to the ground.
Brenna was wearing a very simple, white silk, strapless tunic, with an imitation gold chain as a belt. The tunic hugged her features showing off the curves no had seen before. The simplicity of the dress equaled out the extravagant jewelry she wore; lots of thick gold like bracelets with blue and red glass mosaic inlays, a snake cuff on her upper arm, and earrings in the shape of ankhs. A thin band of gold like metal, bearing the miniscule statue of a serpent, wrapped around a wig of delicate shoulder length braids. Somehow, she had also managed to colour her skin, making it deeply tan against her black eyeliner and gold tinted lips.
Ron was particularly astonished, for no one expected what they saw. Not that Brenna wasn't beautiful, it was just that she was one of those people who would wear shorts only if it got to 110ยบ, and getting her into a dress would have been about as impossible as Nyx being nice to everyone all the time. Ron had found himself staring open mouth at her. Brenna giggled at him. As Ron stared, he vaguely heard Cho whisper to Hermione, "She's been so excited about tonight that I don't even think she's eaten all day!"
"Hey, Brenn, looks like your partner is a bit tongue tied," said Padma. Everyone, except Nyx who still had her head buried in her arms, laughed as Ron shook his head and came back to reality.
"Er, hi," said Ron.
Brenna giggled again. "Hi yourself."
"Guess you just can't get enough of us Ravenclaw women, eh, Ron!" said Padma, as she nudged Ron.
Ron still didn't answer.
"I guess not," said Wolfe.
By now, everyone in the school had found a seat at one of the four long tables, since the house tables had been disregarded for the evening.
"Why don't we all sit down?" suggested Cho, just as a magnificent meal sprouted onto the table. Wolfe, Thursday, Brenna, and Padma all nodded as they sat down. Ron was still staring at Brenna when he slipped into his seat. He seemed incapable of speech. All he could think about was how beautiful Brenna looked.
"It looks like everyone did an excellent job on their costumes," said Harry, eyeing Cho.
Ron finally regained his senses entirely, although he said nothing.
Wolfe leaned in and tried to look at Nyx. Apparently he noticed the lack of colour in her skin and said, "How'd you get you skin to look like that?" Obviously that's the wrong thing to say to a half demon, half werewolf because Wolfe soon had landed on the floor.
"Speaking of skin colour, how did you get your skin to look like that?" Ron asked Brenna as Wolfe wearily picked himself up off the ground.
"I found the recipe for a potion that alters the melanin content of human skin," she replied, pulling out a hip flask. "I brought some for you if you want it."
"Sure," said Ron. He accepted the flask and took a swig. Instantly Ron's skin began to darken, evening out his skin tone and making his freckles disappear.
"Wow! That was pretty cool!" said Wolfe as Ron handed the hip flask back to Brenna.
"Thanks," said Brenna, "I made it yesterday in Potions. I made sure Nyx was no where around when I made it!" Everyone laughed, except for Nyx.
"I resent that!" replied Nyx. Brenna looked down and saw Nyx with her head down on the table.
"Nyx are you okay?" asked Brenna worriedly.
"I'M FINE!" came Nyx's muffled yell.
"She was been like this since we got here," Ron whispered to Brenna, "This might get her to say something."
Ron straightened up in his seat. "No one knows what's wrong with her," he said loudly, "She probably just wants attention."
Nyx quickly jerked her head up off the table. "SHUT UP! You don't know what you're talking about!"
Everyone gasped. Nyx paused for a moment before giving a short moan and covering her face with her hands, but unfortunately the damage was done. Everyone had seen the change and they were all shocked. Harry reached up and gently pulled Nyx's hands away from her face, just to confirm what he saw. What they saw was real. Nyx had turned normal.
Ron looked and saw that her skin was now translucent instead of tan and her scars had faded away. Her ears that were once pointed were now rounded like normal human ears, and they could only guess that her fangs had disappeared. Reluctantly she looked up and met Harry's gaze. He could see that her eyes had changed from ice blue to an inky black, no doubt connecting her genetically to his godfather Sirius Black.
"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Hermione "What happened!"
"What's the commotion over here!" Snape hissed. Snape had just arrive to see what everyone was gaping at.
"Great! Now I have an audience!" Nyx groaned as she slid under the table. Snape was now looking at a dark figure, Nyx, that sat underneath the table.
"Miss Black, will you for once act normally and sit in your seat!" sighed Snape lazily.
Nyx reluctantly complied and came out from underneath the table. "God's sakes when I said to act normal, I didn't expect you to try and look it! Stop fooling around." With that, Snape headed back to the high table to finish his meal.
"This isn't a joke," said Nyx angrily to his retreating back.
"You know, I've heard this kind of thing happens to demons who are not fully demon," said Wolfe, poking at Nyx's now rounded ears, "It happens a lot during the new moon." As soon as that had been said, he poked his fingers in her mouth and gasped. "No fangs!"
Wolfe quickly ended up on the floor again.
"Well, maybe we should get started in on this food," said Harry, "Maybe you'll even feel better."
There was a chorus of agreements as they all piled food onto their plates. Thursday was close to tears when she saw her dinner.
"They ruined it!" she wailed, "It's medium rare!"
"Don't worry," said Wolfe, "you'll have the real thing soon." No one found this statement to be weird because they were too busy eating.
Harry looked over at Nyx and noticed she had yet to eat anything. "Nyx, you really need to eat something," he said. He picked up a caramel apple and set it down on her plate. "Eat this, or else," he said defiantly.
Nyx smirked at him. "Normally I'm the one who threatens you with 'or else'," she said, "I'm surprised you've become so brave even though you know what I am."
"Well, for right now you don't exactly fit your normal personality so I'll take the chance," said Harry, "Now eat!"
Nyx picked up the apple and raised it to her mouth as if to eat it. Harry turned his attention back to his own plate, seemingly convinced Nyx was actually going to eat. Nyx, however, simply laid the apple on the plate of the person sitting next to her (That person just happened to be Lee Jordan. He was pleasantly surprised at the newfound desert and began eating it without questioning where it came from.).
When the meal had been consumed and the deserts demolished, it was around eleven o'clock and the entire school was still stationed in their seats and talking happily. No one had any intention of moving until Fred and George Weasley ran back into the Great Hall.
"Hey everyone!" yelled George, "Come outside!"
"Yeah, there's a festival set up out here on the grounds!" exclaimed Fred.
An excited murmur fell on the Great Hall as the students all quickly filed out. Ron unconsciously grabbed Brenna's hand and led her out of the Great Hall.
The normally short journey to the front lawn was lengthened by the amount of students trying to push through. But when Ron and Brenna finally got outside, it was an amazing sight that greeted them. Games of many kinds where set up in a semi circle as well as candy booths. Just as a handful of tickets were crammed into Ron's hands, he recognized a booth displaying several candies that were sold at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. Already Wolfe and Thursday were there, and Wolfe was handing her a Blood Lollipop as Thursday barely contained her excitement. All of this was contained within a boundary that went out to just twenty feet in front of the Forbidden Forest.
"What should we do first?" said Brenna.
It was then that he realized he was holding her hand. After looking deeply into her chestnut eyes, Ron gave her hand a squeeze. "How 'bout bobbing for apples?" he said. Brenna smiled and nodded as they both briskly walked over to the first game booth and began to play.
Just as Brenna placed a water-repellent charm on her face and hair, Ron heard the sound of music floating over to him. He looked over and saw that a dance floor had been set up and that quite a few people had already taken advantage of it. "Hey, Brenna. Want to dance?" he asked. He turned and faced Brenna and was met with a startling surprise. She had an overly large red apple in her mouth. Quickly she pulled it out and nodded sheepishly. This time she grabbed his hand and took him all the way to the dance floor.
The music appeared to be coming from nowhere in particular. Each note just floated over them like a waterfall or in this case a raging rapid. They quickly fell into beat and danced to the upbeat tune. They continued to dance for nearly half an hour until a much slower song came on. Flushed and somewhat tired, they moved in close and began to sway in time to the music.
"Tonight's been really fun," said Brenna and she leaned against Ron's shoulder. Ron felt his face turn red all the way to the tips of his ears.
"Yeah," he replied, "Your costume really does look amazing."
"Thank you."
They had been dancing in silence for a moment when they saw Nyx and Harry enter the dance floor. For some reason this gave Ron an idea. He wanted to ask his partner a very daring question, but he was afraid. He pondered on it a moment longer before taking a deep breath. "Er, Brenna?" he said. Brenna slowly lifted her head and met his gaze. "Er, I was wondering . . . I was wondering if you'd -"
"Ah, hello Weasley!" said a familiar drawling voice. Ron felt Brenna shudder in his arms as he turned to face Malfoy, who was dancing with Pansy Parkinson. Both he and Pansy were dressed like vampires.
"Malfoy," growled Ron.
"Good evening, Brenna," he said hauntingly.
"Hello," squeaked Brenna as she attempted to hide from Malfoy's view.
"So, having fun with your girlfriend, Weasley? You're quite lucky that these game ticket were free, or else you'd be sitting alone in your room, unable to take Ollivander here on a date." Pansy giggled at Malfoy's insult.
Ron released Brenna and hid her from view. "Shut it, Malfoy."
"Well, have it your way then," drawled Malfoy. Then strangely, without another word, he maneuvered Pansy away from Ron and Brenna.
"Oh, I just hate him so much!" whispered Brenna and Ron turned back towards her. She still appeared to be shaking a bit.
"It's not really that hard to hate him," said Ron, "but any way-"
"Students, please return to your dormitories," came McGonagall's magnified voice," It's getting quite late."
A load groan fell over the students as they reluctantly made their way back to the castle.
As Ron and Brenna made their way to the castle doors, they met up with Hermione, Harry, and Nyx.
"Tonight was a genuinely brilliant night!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Yeah," said Harry, "You know this is probably the first Halloween since I've been here that nothing bad has happened to me or the school."
At that very moment, the howl of a lone wolf sounded from the forest. Nyx suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"What's wrong, Nyx?" asked Brenna.
"Isis . . . alone?" said Nyx. She seemed rather confused by her own statement.
"That was Isis, your wolf right?" asked Harry, "What's wrong?"
"Isis . . . Isis and Ka always howl together," said Nyx weakly, "Ka wasn't . . . he wasn't howling tonight. Something must be wrong." Immediately she turned and bolted for the forest. But before she had a chance to even move, Snape intercepted her.
"Where do you think you're going?" Snape hissed, "You know perfectly well you are not allowed into the forest."
"LET ME GO!" growled Nyx.
"I will not! You are purposefully trying to cause mayhem - HEY! GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" Nyx had wiggled her self out of Snape's hands and was now on her way to the forest. Instinctively, Ron and the others started in after her, but they too were intercepted by Snape. "I hope you don't think you four are going in after her!" he snarled.
"But, sir, Nyx is in trouble!" exclaimed Harry.
"We have to help her!" said Hermione.
"Oh really," Snape said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "And how do you suppose you are going to help her? By getting killed yourself?!"
"But-"
"No buts! All of you go back to your commonrooms. I'll go and get Hagrid. If I find that any of you have disobeyed my orders, you'll have detention for a month." With that said, Snape turned and waded through the crowd to Hagrid's cabin.
As soon as Snape was out of earshot, Harry began to speak. "Ok, this is what we do -"
"Wait a minute!" interrupted Hermione," What do you think you are doing?"
"Looks like he's got a plan to help Nyx," said Ron lazily.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Wolfe. Ron turned and watched as Wolfe and Thursday approached. "We just saw Snape mumbling something about 'those annoying students trying to get into the forest' and we figured it had something to do with Nyx."
"Yeah," said Thursday worriedly, "is it true?"
"Unfortunately," said Harry. Then suddenly, Harry's eyes widen and he looked as though a brilliant idea had struck him. "Hey, you're a werewolf, right!" Harry said in a tone a little louder than it should have been.
"Shhh!" said Wolfe worriedly, looking around to see if anyone had heard.
"Yeah! You can transform and go into the forest after Nyx!" encouraged Ron.
"You are all insane!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Why haven't you gone?" said Wolfe irritably.
"Divine intervention," snarled Ron.
"You're a werewolf too?" asked Brenna quietly.
"You didn't get that from the pointy ears?" Ron whispered to Brenna. She just shook her head.
"Nevermind that," Wolfe said, "Harry, you make sure that Thursday gets her beater stick it could come in handy." Soon he had transforming into the silver grey werewolf and ran into the forest.
"You all are completely mad!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Why? He just want to see that Nyx doesn't get hurt, you know how vulnerable she is right now," said Harry.
"Well, yes, but we should still wait for Hagrid."
A low moan was heard and Ron felt a set of fingernails being driven into his skin. "Ow!" he exclaimed, not quite realizing whom it was. When Ron looked over a second late, he saw that Brenna was doubled over and clutching her sides. She appeared to be in a great deal of pain.
"Brenna? What's wrong?" asked Harry worriedly.
"Nothing," she grimaced in a barely audible whisper.
Ron bent down to her. "Then why are you -"
Brenna cut off Ron's last words by tearing off into the forest.
"Brenna!" yelled Ron after her.
"On no," moaned Hermione.
"Accio Beater Stick!" yelled Thursday. Seconds later the wooden club zoomed across the grounds and into Thursday's hand. Without a moments thought, she sped off into the forest as well. Ron and the others ran after her, with Ron saying to Harry, "I think you spoke too soon, mate."
Whoa. FINGER CRAMPS! To save the pain in my joints, kudos to Denise for the inspiration for the happenings in this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!
A/N: This chapter, for the most part, is in Ron's POV.
Chapter Nine
A New Point of View
In the two weeks they had to prepare, Brenna and Ron worked hard on their assignment. During the homework breaks, they sat at a table with books open in front of them, and getting to know each other. Most of the time Ron spent making Brenna laugh. They found out that they had a lot in common. Neither would admit it outright, but they liked each other a great deal.
It was now the day of the Halloween feast. Everyone had finished transfiguring their costume and had received a grade on it earlier that day. McGonagall complimented Ron and Brenna on their clever use of the Cinderella Charm and they received high marks, as well as Harry, Hermione, Nyx, Thursday, and Cho. It brings tears of laughter to Brenna and Padma's eyes everytime they remind themselves on the day they learned the charm. On her first go, as was told to Ron, Brenna had managed to turn Professor Flitwick's robes into a glittery pink ball gown, complete with wings and matching crown. Flitwick kindly reminded to imagine herself as a faerie godmother, not her subject.
Ron waited nervously in the Gryffindor commonroom. Even though he'd managed to make a nearly flawless costume, McGonagall commented that his gold trim looked more yellow than gold, he was pacing the floor anxiously. He'd transfigured a very old pair of robes into a white tunic with short sleeves and gold like trim. The blue and gold like headdress looked so real he'd fooled many of his classmates.
Harry was just as nervous a Ron, except he was sitting in a chair by the fireplace. He transfigured some gloves to resemble the scabbed, decaying hands of a dementor, but the gray dementor robes concealed them for now. "Will you stop pacing?" asked Harry, "You're making me dizzy."
"I'm too nervous," mumbled Ron.
"Nervous? What would you have to be nervous about? I thought you didn't like Brenna that way."
"I don't. Besides, you look just as nervous as I do," Ron pointed out.
Harry blushed. "Oh, I'm just worried about Nyx. She wasn't feeling well at lunch today." "Did you see how pale she was?"
"Are you guys ready?" asked a familiar voice from afar. Ron and Harry looked towards the stairway to the boys and girls dormitories. Hermione stood at the top of the stairs wearing a gown to represent all of the forty- seven disguises Wendlin the Weird wore during her lifetime of witch burnings. Nyx was leaning against the wall and wearing red haori pants and a white kosode shirt. She'd managed to pile all her dull black hair onto her head, and stationed it there with two well-placed chopsticks. Unfortunately she looked weaker and paler than ever; even her scars seemed invisible against her skin. The effect of the two girls was absolutely ravishing. Harry and Ron stood open mouth staring at the two. Hermione uncharacteristically giggled at them.
"Your costumes look great," said Hermione.
"Thanks," said Ron, "So do yours."
"Well, let's not just stand around here, we've got a feast to attend," said Nyx as she came down the staircase.
"Are you sure you want to go?" asked Harry, "I mean, if you're not feeling well you should rest . . . ."
"I'm fine," said Nyx.
"Ok," said Harry uncertainly. He offered his arm to her and she seemed to perk up a little. He led Nyx out of the commonroom.
Ron did the same thing for Hermione as she descended the staircase.
"Well, shall we?" asked Ron.
Hermione smiled and nodded and took hold of Ron's arm. Ron and Hermione walked out of Gryffindor Tower and on to the Great Hall.
Large crowds of students blocking the entrance greeted Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall. They had to push their way through the crowd just to get in, but they were met by even more people just standing around.
"Ugh, it's so crowded in here!" exclaimed Hermione.
"I know," said Ron, "How am I going to find Brenna?"
"How about I go and look for her, while you go find the others," suggested Hermione.
"Good idea," said Ron.
With that being said, Ron and Hermione then split apart to find the others. As Ron wove through the crowds of people, he met up with fellow housemates and complemented their costumes. Finally he met up with Wolfe and Thursday, who were wearing colour coded Renaissance garb, who led him to where Harry and Nyx had planted themselves.
"Hey guys," said Ron, "Have you seen Brenna?"
"No," said Nyx pitifully. She had placed her head on the table so that her face could no longer be seen. Her hands, however, had almost become translucent in colour.
"Nyx!" exclaimed Thursday, "Your hands!"
Nyx then hastily slipped her hands within the large sleeves of her kosode shirt. "I'm fine," she repeated.
"You don't look fine, you look -" started Harry. Unfortunately he was interrupted by the arrival of Hermione, Cho, Padma, and Brenna.
"Hello everyone," said Cho. Ron and the others saw that she had managed to beautifully recreate the costume in the photograph she'd shown them all during their first library visit. Padma was dressed as the American witch Annie Sullivan, complete with smoked glasses and red hair. Then everyone got a look at Brenna, and everyone's jaw dropped to the ground.
Brenna was wearing a very simple, white silk, strapless tunic, with an imitation gold chain as a belt. The tunic hugged her features showing off the curves no had seen before. The simplicity of the dress equaled out the extravagant jewelry she wore; lots of thick gold like bracelets with blue and red glass mosaic inlays, a snake cuff on her upper arm, and earrings in the shape of ankhs. A thin band of gold like metal, bearing the miniscule statue of a serpent, wrapped around a wig of delicate shoulder length braids. Somehow, she had also managed to colour her skin, making it deeply tan against her black eyeliner and gold tinted lips.
Ron was particularly astonished, for no one expected what they saw. Not that Brenna wasn't beautiful, it was just that she was one of those people who would wear shorts only if it got to 110ยบ, and getting her into a dress would have been about as impossible as Nyx being nice to everyone all the time. Ron had found himself staring open mouth at her. Brenna giggled at him. As Ron stared, he vaguely heard Cho whisper to Hermione, "She's been so excited about tonight that I don't even think she's eaten all day!"
"Hey, Brenn, looks like your partner is a bit tongue tied," said Padma. Everyone, except Nyx who still had her head buried in her arms, laughed as Ron shook his head and came back to reality.
"Er, hi," said Ron.
Brenna giggled again. "Hi yourself."
"Guess you just can't get enough of us Ravenclaw women, eh, Ron!" said Padma, as she nudged Ron.
Ron still didn't answer.
"I guess not," said Wolfe.
By now, everyone in the school had found a seat at one of the four long tables, since the house tables had been disregarded for the evening.
"Why don't we all sit down?" suggested Cho, just as a magnificent meal sprouted onto the table. Wolfe, Thursday, Brenna, and Padma all nodded as they sat down. Ron was still staring at Brenna when he slipped into his seat. He seemed incapable of speech. All he could think about was how beautiful Brenna looked.
"It looks like everyone did an excellent job on their costumes," said Harry, eyeing Cho.
Ron finally regained his senses entirely, although he said nothing.
Wolfe leaned in and tried to look at Nyx. Apparently he noticed the lack of colour in her skin and said, "How'd you get you skin to look like that?" Obviously that's the wrong thing to say to a half demon, half werewolf because Wolfe soon had landed on the floor.
"Speaking of skin colour, how did you get your skin to look like that?" Ron asked Brenna as Wolfe wearily picked himself up off the ground.
"I found the recipe for a potion that alters the melanin content of human skin," she replied, pulling out a hip flask. "I brought some for you if you want it."
"Sure," said Ron. He accepted the flask and took a swig. Instantly Ron's skin began to darken, evening out his skin tone and making his freckles disappear.
"Wow! That was pretty cool!" said Wolfe as Ron handed the hip flask back to Brenna.
"Thanks," said Brenna, "I made it yesterday in Potions. I made sure Nyx was no where around when I made it!" Everyone laughed, except for Nyx.
"I resent that!" replied Nyx. Brenna looked down and saw Nyx with her head down on the table.
"Nyx are you okay?" asked Brenna worriedly.
"I'M FINE!" came Nyx's muffled yell.
"She was been like this since we got here," Ron whispered to Brenna, "This might get her to say something."
Ron straightened up in his seat. "No one knows what's wrong with her," he said loudly, "She probably just wants attention."
Nyx quickly jerked her head up off the table. "SHUT UP! You don't know what you're talking about!"
Everyone gasped. Nyx paused for a moment before giving a short moan and covering her face with her hands, but unfortunately the damage was done. Everyone had seen the change and they were all shocked. Harry reached up and gently pulled Nyx's hands away from her face, just to confirm what he saw. What they saw was real. Nyx had turned normal.
Ron looked and saw that her skin was now translucent instead of tan and her scars had faded away. Her ears that were once pointed were now rounded like normal human ears, and they could only guess that her fangs had disappeared. Reluctantly she looked up and met Harry's gaze. He could see that her eyes had changed from ice blue to an inky black, no doubt connecting her genetically to his godfather Sirius Black.
"Oh my goodness!" exclaimed Hermione "What happened!"
"What's the commotion over here!" Snape hissed. Snape had just arrive to see what everyone was gaping at.
"Great! Now I have an audience!" Nyx groaned as she slid under the table. Snape was now looking at a dark figure, Nyx, that sat underneath the table.
"Miss Black, will you for once act normally and sit in your seat!" sighed Snape lazily.
Nyx reluctantly complied and came out from underneath the table. "God's sakes when I said to act normal, I didn't expect you to try and look it! Stop fooling around." With that, Snape headed back to the high table to finish his meal.
"This isn't a joke," said Nyx angrily to his retreating back.
"You know, I've heard this kind of thing happens to demons who are not fully demon," said Wolfe, poking at Nyx's now rounded ears, "It happens a lot during the new moon." As soon as that had been said, he poked his fingers in her mouth and gasped. "No fangs!"
Wolfe quickly ended up on the floor again.
"Well, maybe we should get started in on this food," said Harry, "Maybe you'll even feel better."
There was a chorus of agreements as they all piled food onto their plates. Thursday was close to tears when she saw her dinner.
"They ruined it!" she wailed, "It's medium rare!"
"Don't worry," said Wolfe, "you'll have the real thing soon." No one found this statement to be weird because they were too busy eating.
Harry looked over at Nyx and noticed she had yet to eat anything. "Nyx, you really need to eat something," he said. He picked up a caramel apple and set it down on her plate. "Eat this, or else," he said defiantly.
Nyx smirked at him. "Normally I'm the one who threatens you with 'or else'," she said, "I'm surprised you've become so brave even though you know what I am."
"Well, for right now you don't exactly fit your normal personality so I'll take the chance," said Harry, "Now eat!"
Nyx picked up the apple and raised it to her mouth as if to eat it. Harry turned his attention back to his own plate, seemingly convinced Nyx was actually going to eat. Nyx, however, simply laid the apple on the plate of the person sitting next to her (That person just happened to be Lee Jordan. He was pleasantly surprised at the newfound desert and began eating it without questioning where it came from.).
When the meal had been consumed and the deserts demolished, it was around eleven o'clock and the entire school was still stationed in their seats and talking happily. No one had any intention of moving until Fred and George Weasley ran back into the Great Hall.
"Hey everyone!" yelled George, "Come outside!"
"Yeah, there's a festival set up out here on the grounds!" exclaimed Fred.
An excited murmur fell on the Great Hall as the students all quickly filed out. Ron unconsciously grabbed Brenna's hand and led her out of the Great Hall.
The normally short journey to the front lawn was lengthened by the amount of students trying to push through. But when Ron and Brenna finally got outside, it was an amazing sight that greeted them. Games of many kinds where set up in a semi circle as well as candy booths. Just as a handful of tickets were crammed into Ron's hands, he recognized a booth displaying several candies that were sold at Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. Already Wolfe and Thursday were there, and Wolfe was handing her a Blood Lollipop as Thursday barely contained her excitement. All of this was contained within a boundary that went out to just twenty feet in front of the Forbidden Forest.
"What should we do first?" said Brenna.
It was then that he realized he was holding her hand. After looking deeply into her chestnut eyes, Ron gave her hand a squeeze. "How 'bout bobbing for apples?" he said. Brenna smiled and nodded as they both briskly walked over to the first game booth and began to play.
Just as Brenna placed a water-repellent charm on her face and hair, Ron heard the sound of music floating over to him. He looked over and saw that a dance floor had been set up and that quite a few people had already taken advantage of it. "Hey, Brenna. Want to dance?" he asked. He turned and faced Brenna and was met with a startling surprise. She had an overly large red apple in her mouth. Quickly she pulled it out and nodded sheepishly. This time she grabbed his hand and took him all the way to the dance floor.
The music appeared to be coming from nowhere in particular. Each note just floated over them like a waterfall or in this case a raging rapid. They quickly fell into beat and danced to the upbeat tune. They continued to dance for nearly half an hour until a much slower song came on. Flushed and somewhat tired, they moved in close and began to sway in time to the music.
"Tonight's been really fun," said Brenna and she leaned against Ron's shoulder. Ron felt his face turn red all the way to the tips of his ears.
"Yeah," he replied, "Your costume really does look amazing."
"Thank you."
They had been dancing in silence for a moment when they saw Nyx and Harry enter the dance floor. For some reason this gave Ron an idea. He wanted to ask his partner a very daring question, but he was afraid. He pondered on it a moment longer before taking a deep breath. "Er, Brenna?" he said. Brenna slowly lifted her head and met his gaze. "Er, I was wondering . . . I was wondering if you'd -"
"Ah, hello Weasley!" said a familiar drawling voice. Ron felt Brenna shudder in his arms as he turned to face Malfoy, who was dancing with Pansy Parkinson. Both he and Pansy were dressed like vampires.
"Malfoy," growled Ron.
"Good evening, Brenna," he said hauntingly.
"Hello," squeaked Brenna as she attempted to hide from Malfoy's view.
"So, having fun with your girlfriend, Weasley? You're quite lucky that these game ticket were free, or else you'd be sitting alone in your room, unable to take Ollivander here on a date." Pansy giggled at Malfoy's insult.
Ron released Brenna and hid her from view. "Shut it, Malfoy."
"Well, have it your way then," drawled Malfoy. Then strangely, without another word, he maneuvered Pansy away from Ron and Brenna.
"Oh, I just hate him so much!" whispered Brenna and Ron turned back towards her. She still appeared to be shaking a bit.
"It's not really that hard to hate him," said Ron, "but any way-"
"Students, please return to your dormitories," came McGonagall's magnified voice," It's getting quite late."
A load groan fell over the students as they reluctantly made their way back to the castle.
As Ron and Brenna made their way to the castle doors, they met up with Hermione, Harry, and Nyx.
"Tonight was a genuinely brilliant night!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Yeah," said Harry, "You know this is probably the first Halloween since I've been here that nothing bad has happened to me or the school."
At that very moment, the howl of a lone wolf sounded from the forest. Nyx suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"What's wrong, Nyx?" asked Brenna.
"Isis . . . alone?" said Nyx. She seemed rather confused by her own statement.
"That was Isis, your wolf right?" asked Harry, "What's wrong?"
"Isis . . . Isis and Ka always howl together," said Nyx weakly, "Ka wasn't . . . he wasn't howling tonight. Something must be wrong." Immediately she turned and bolted for the forest. But before she had a chance to even move, Snape intercepted her.
"Where do you think you're going?" Snape hissed, "You know perfectly well you are not allowed into the forest."
"LET ME GO!" growled Nyx.
"I will not! You are purposefully trying to cause mayhem - HEY! GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" Nyx had wiggled her self out of Snape's hands and was now on her way to the forest. Instinctively, Ron and the others started in after her, but they too were intercepted by Snape. "I hope you don't think you four are going in after her!" he snarled.
"But, sir, Nyx is in trouble!" exclaimed Harry.
"We have to help her!" said Hermione.
"Oh really," Snape said, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "And how do you suppose you are going to help her? By getting killed yourself?!"
"But-"
"No buts! All of you go back to your commonrooms. I'll go and get Hagrid. If I find that any of you have disobeyed my orders, you'll have detention for a month." With that said, Snape turned and waded through the crowd to Hagrid's cabin.
As soon as Snape was out of earshot, Harry began to speak. "Ok, this is what we do -"
"Wait a minute!" interrupted Hermione," What do you think you are doing?"
"Looks like he's got a plan to help Nyx," said Ron lazily.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Wolfe. Ron turned and watched as Wolfe and Thursday approached. "We just saw Snape mumbling something about 'those annoying students trying to get into the forest' and we figured it had something to do with Nyx."
"Yeah," said Thursday worriedly, "is it true?"
"Unfortunately," said Harry. Then suddenly, Harry's eyes widen and he looked as though a brilliant idea had struck him. "Hey, you're a werewolf, right!" Harry said in a tone a little louder than it should have been.
"Shhh!" said Wolfe worriedly, looking around to see if anyone had heard.
"Yeah! You can transform and go into the forest after Nyx!" encouraged Ron.
"You are all insane!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Why haven't you gone?" said Wolfe irritably.
"Divine intervention," snarled Ron.
"You're a werewolf too?" asked Brenna quietly.
"You didn't get that from the pointy ears?" Ron whispered to Brenna. She just shook her head.
"Nevermind that," Wolfe said, "Harry, you make sure that Thursday gets her beater stick it could come in handy." Soon he had transforming into the silver grey werewolf and ran into the forest.
"You all are completely mad!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Why? He just want to see that Nyx doesn't get hurt, you know how vulnerable she is right now," said Harry.
"Well, yes, but we should still wait for Hagrid."
A low moan was heard and Ron felt a set of fingernails being driven into his skin. "Ow!" he exclaimed, not quite realizing whom it was. When Ron looked over a second late, he saw that Brenna was doubled over and clutching her sides. She appeared to be in a great deal of pain.
"Brenna? What's wrong?" asked Harry worriedly.
"Nothing," she grimaced in a barely audible whisper.
Ron bent down to her. "Then why are you -"
Brenna cut off Ron's last words by tearing off into the forest.
"Brenna!" yelled Ron after her.
"On no," moaned Hermione.
"Accio Beater Stick!" yelled Thursday. Seconds later the wooden club zoomed across the grounds and into Thursday's hand. Without a moments thought, she sped off into the forest as well. Ron and the others ran after her, with Ron saying to Harry, "I think you spoke too soon, mate."
Whoa. FINGER CRAMPS! To save the pain in my joints, kudos to Denise for the inspiration for the happenings in this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!