Disclaimer: Don't sue me. Lots of other people own the rights to HP…I'm not one of them. I just like using the characters.
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Angela grew very excited in the week leading up to Halloween. It had been years since she had celebrated Halloween, though it had always been one of her favorite holidays. She knew that Hogwarts celebrated in high fashion and she could hardly wait.
"You know," She said while talking to Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the common room one afternoon a few days before Halloween, "I never dressed as a witch for Halloween. I was everything from a clown to a serial killer, but never a witch."
Hermione got a thoughtful look on her face and said "You know what? I don't think I ever did, either."
Harry looked slightly embarrassed. Angela was somewhat sure that he had never even been given the chance to dress as anything for Halloween. Ron just looked completely confused. "Dress up? What would you dress up for?"
Angela explained the Muggle customs that came with Halloween. Ron seemed to understand everything, but still had a questioning look on his face as Angela finished.
"And, why exactly would you dress as a serial killer?"
"Nothing better to be." Angela said with a shrug, "My brothers and I forgot about it and didn't get costumes ready in time, and we wanted some candy so we went out in our normal clothes and claimed to be serial killers."
It slightly dampened her spirits that Harry wouldn't let her go on any walks alone anymore. She knew that he was just protecting her and that he was doing it because he loved her, but she had never been real big on obeying people who didn't have any real authority over her. She did what he asked though, mostly to avoid a fight. She watched the Gryffindors practice Quidditch instead, alternating between studying and marveling at how attractive Harry was in his Quidditch robes.
Often she would feel left out. She remembered the freedom that she had always felt when she was flying through the air that summer and she wished that she could feel that again. Finally, she got the nerve to ask Harry if he would let her fly his broom one day after practice.
Harry looked dubiously at the darkening sky and then back at Angela. She was giving him her best puppy dog eyes and he sighed and handed his broom over.
"Five minutes, then we go in."
"Deal. Thanks, Harry!" She flashed him a smile and gave him a quick kiss before mounting the broom and kicking off from the ground.
Angela marveled in the familiar freedom that she felt when she was flying. She knew that flying did something for her that nothing else ever could. She didn't worry about anything while she was flying and she loved that. She flew around for two minutes before she felt his eyes on her. She went a hundred yards up, looking around for where he was. Sure enough, in his normal spot, looking right at her, was Draco Malfoy. She didn't know how she could feel him watching her, all she knew was that she could, and the thought made her feel safe. She flew in circles for her final three minutes trying to take her eyes off of Malfoy as little as possible. She finally saw Harry waving for her to come down, but when she glanced back at Malfoy for one last glimpse, he was gone. She aimed towards the ground and landed softly right in front of Harry.
"Thanks. I needed that," she said to him, breathlessly.
"No problem. What were you looking at up there?"
"Huh? Oh, I was just looking at the grounds. I had forgotten how beautiful they were from up there." She put her arm around Harry's waist as they started for the castle.
Harry put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. "So are you," he said in a quiet voice before kissing the top of her head.
* * *
The day of Halloween seemed to drag on into what seemed like forever. In Herbology they were replanting Devil's Snare, which was taking forever because it kept wrapping itself around their arms. Thankfully Hermione kept a fire going while Angela, Ron, and Harry repotted them. They spent the class period reminiscing about their first year, reminded of it by the Devil's Snare, which they had had to get past to stop Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer's Stone.
Care of Magical Creatures also felt like it would never end. They had finished Phoenix's and were studying Acromantula. Hagrid had convinced his 'friend' Aragog to allow one of his children to come and be studied. Many of the guys in the class had found it wonderful while the girls did not. Most went up to it though, just out of curiosity. Ron, Harry, and Angela stayed as far away from it as possible.
"Oh, my God…" Angela said when Hagrid walked out of the Forest followed by the giant spider. Ron had nearly turned and run. Harry was just looking at it with wide eyes, as if remembering the spiders that nearly killed him once before. Hagrid strolled over to talk to them after the rest of the class (excluding Malfoy, who Angela noticed was keeping horrified distance) was looking at the spider.
"Hey, guys. Are ya alright Ron?" He could see the ashen color of Ron's face. Ron just looked up at him, trying to speak.
Harry finally piped in "He's afraid of spiders Hagrid."
"How can ya be afraid o' spiders? They're 'armless creatures!"
At this Ron seemed to find his voice. "Harmless? You call that thing harmless? That…that…creature and its millions of siblings tried to kill us once! That thing isn't harmless!" Ron was nearly screaming. Hermione rushed over to see what the problem was. Ron continued screaming his protests to Hagrid's comment about the harmlessness of the creatures until Hermione came and put a hand on his arm, which stopped him, mid-sentence.
"Ron," she said softly, "he didn't mean anything by it." Ron studied her for a bit, and then looked back at Hagrid, who was looking slightly hurt by Ron's verbal onslaught. He ran a hand through his hair and then looked up, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry 'bout that Hagrid. It's just that…I don't like spiders. At all." He chanced one last look at the Acromantula before he turned and faced the castle.
Angela also had a deep-rooted fear of spiders, though it wasn't because they had nearly killed her. Hers was just a normal, irrational arachnophobia. She held tight to Harry for the entire class and didn't let go until they were back in the castle. Lunch was a tense affair with both Angela and Ron glancing around for spiders everywhere. Suddenly a thought came to Angela.
"Hey, you said they have live bats as decorations. They don't have live…spiders do they?" she asked with a gulp.
"No, thank God." Ron had quickly answered, looking around again at the mention of spiders.
After the spider incident the last place Angela wanted to go was potions, but that's where they had to go right after lunch. As they walked in and looked around Angela noticed Malfoy looking at her for just a second before turning and saying something to Crabbe and Goyle, who laughed dumbly.
Angela smiled to herself and began getting her ingredients out. Snape had taken to writing the instructions on the board before class began, which Angela suspected was to prevent her from starting before he finished talking again. He was not a man who liked to be toyed with, though it was fun. Not as fun as toying with Voldemort, but fun nonetheless.
The period went uneventfully for once, with Snape only asking Angela about ten questions, all of which she answered correctly. He had taken ten points from Gryffindor for being a know it all but grudgingly gave them 20 points for her correctly answered questions. Angela couldn't believe her good luck and looked up at Snape, incredulous. He glared back at her and she had quickly turned back to her potion, not wanting to test his patience and lose some of the precious few points Snape had ever given to Gryffindor.
As they walked out of the class Ron voiced his disbelief as well. "Did Snape just give us points??"
"I think so," was all Angela could say.
Ron's eyes narrowed and he said, "I don't think that was really Professor Snape. I think he's been…possessed or something!"
"Abducted by aliens?" Angela offered up. Ron gave her a confused look and she laughed. "I'll let you explain that one Hermione." Hermione launched herself into an explanation about aliens and UFOs and how they were completely unreal. Angela and Harry rolled their eyes as they began climbing the stairs to Gryffindor tower.
It seemed like the time of the feast would never get there. When seven o'clock finally rolled around Angela was more than eager to leave.
"I've never seen someone this excited about Halloween! I mean, it's just a feast!" Ron said. Then he thought about what he had said. "Then again, it is a feast."
Hermione punched him in the arm. "Don't you ever think about anything but food, Ron?"
Ron looked down at her and ran a finger down the side of her face. "Sometimes," he said, smiling. He gave her a kiss and they both continued down the stairs
Angela and Harry smiled at each other and followed them. They were about halfway down the marble staircase leading to the entrance hall when Angela stopped. She felt a slight tingling in her fingers and before she knew it her eyelids were closing.
She could see a small room, somewhere in Hogwarts it looked like. A rat crept through a crack in an open window before transforming into a grown man. Angela saw his silver hand flashing in the moonlight and he laughed. "Now, time to get the last Potter." He muttered to himself, before leaving the room.
Angela's eyes snapped open and she saw Harry there, looking at her, concerned. She looked at him and grabbed his arm, pulling him down the stairs and into the Great Hall. She didn't even take time to look at the magnificent decorations all around the Hall. She looked at the staff table and saw that Dumbledore was deep in conversation with Professor McGonagall. She began dragging Harry towards the table. Harry looked at her, bewildered, but followed as quickly as he could, to prevent his arm from getting pulled out of socket.
They reached the staff table and Angela interrupted the conversation between McGonagall and Dumbledore. "Albus, I have to talk to you." She didn't even notice that she had called him by his first name until McGonagall and Harry gasped. She paused for a second and then decided that it was too late to correct, and looked back at Dumbledore, pleading with her eyes. He looked at her quickly and then nodded.
"Minerva, if you could begin the feast." He said quickly before standing and motioning for Angela to follow. Harry pulled his arm out of her grasp and she looked back impatiently.
"He doesn't want me to come. You're the one he's got to talk to."
"Harry, you have to come. Trust me, please?"
Harry sighed and looked back at Ron and Hermione who were looking concerned. "Alright."
They both turned and followed Dumbledore. He led them to a small chamber off of the Great Hall and quickly locked and soundproofed the room.
"What did you see?" He asked Angela, concern and what looked like a trace of fear etched in his face.
Angela explained her vision in the stairwell. Dumbledore looked concerned and Harry looked downright scared.
"Wormtail," he said, in no more than a whisper, looking wide-eyed at Angela.
Harry had told her about Wormtail and his connection to Voldemort that summer. She suddenly grew scared, but then rationalized with herself. He couldn't be a better wizard than Voldemort, who Angela had twice beaten. She quickly formed a plan and was about to ask Dumbledore if she could go when Dumbledore spoke up.
"Well, we have to find him before he finds any students. I remember that Peter was never a very good student, but I know that he can perform Avada Kedavra." Harry nodded at that. "How we will find him is a different story."
Harry looked as if he had a great idea suddenly, but it quickly turned to a frown as he remembered something.
"What was it, Harry?" Angela asked him.
"Well, I was going to say, I have the Marauder's Map, but I don't. I let Lupin borrow it this summer, and I never got it back. We could have found him with that."
Suddenly Angela gave a start. "Wait! I have a map! I'll go get it real quick!" She ran to the door, but stopped when she remembered that it was locked.
"We shall all go, Miss Harte. I do not want either of you to have to deal with him on your own."
Angela nodded and they quickly made their way out of the Great Hall. Several students looked at them, but they were in too much of a hurry to notice. They got up to Gryffindor Tower in record time and Angela ran up the stairs to get the envelope that contained the map. She held it in one hand and touched it saying, "Spatior Illac," before going down the stairs. She didn't want Dumbledore or Harry to know the secret way to read her map. She looked at it as lines crossed each other and a complete map of Hogwart's appeared on the parchment. She scanned it quickly to see if she could see Peter Pettigrew anywhere on it and sure enough she saw him. She ran down the stairs and looked at Dumbledore.
"He's almost to the Great Hall." Dumbledore nodded and then motioned to the fireplace.
"It'll be faster if we go this way. He took a small bag out of his robes and threw a small bit in. He motioned for Angela to go first and she stepped in and was suddenly spinning. It was like traveling by Floo Powder, but much shorter. A few seconds later she found herself landing just outside the Great Hall. She stepped away from the fireplace studying the map, as Harry and then Dumbledore himself came through. Angela looked towards a door on the right and tucked the map away in her robes. She pointed her fingers at the door and said quietly, "He'll come through that door in about ten seconds." Dumbledore pulled out his wand and stepped in front of Harry in a protective way.
Just as Angela predicted Pettigrew stepped through the door a few seconds later. He looked around wildly but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Dumbledore and Angela. He looked at them, frightened but looked excited when Harry stepped around Dumbledore, his wand also drawn. Angela saw Pettigrew's eyes light up as he saw Harry and could tell what he was thinking. She saw he was pointing his wand slightly at Harry.
"Don't even think about it," she said, walking towards him, never lowering her hand. "Expelliarmus!" Pettigrew's wand flew out of his hand and he flew back against the wall. Angela caught the wand deftly with her other hand and tossed it back to Dumbledore. She walked over to Pettigrew and looked down on him. He was cringing and she could see that he was shaking with fear.
"What do you want with Harry?"
He looked up at her and smiled an ugly yellow smile. "What do you think? My master wants him. Dead."
"Yeah, well, I know your master and I don't think he will be very happy that you have failed him yet again. But then again, I don't think you'll be seeing your 'master' for a very long time." With that Angela sent cords from her fingers and bound Pettigrew tightly, so he couldn't move. She squatted and said in a quiet voice, "Don't worry, you'll see him in Hell someday." She quickly performed a spell on the cords so that they would instantly adjust to the size of what they were containing. Now, even if Pettigrew transformed he wouldn't be able to get away.
Dumbledore walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up into his eyes and saw the smile that wasn't on his face in them. "I will handle this from here. You two go and join the feast." He turned his gaze to Pettigrew and she saw no trace of a smile anywhere on his face.
Angela nodded and was looking back at Harry to see if he was leaving. She could see Harry looking at Peter with a loathing she had seen him never look at anyone with. "It was you…you killed them all," he said, his voice trembling with anger.
"Harry!" Dumbledore said threateningly. "Go to the feast. There is no more you can do here."
Harry opened his mouth as if to say something, but he thought better of it and stalked past Angela angrily. Angela turned to go and was almost to the door when Dumbledore spoke, "Thank you, Angela."
She smiled slightly back at him before answering, "Anytime, professor."
She walked into the Great Hall, but stopped just inside the doors. It was amazing. There were Jack-O-Lanterns and candles floating around the Hall, making the lighting lower than usual and slightly eerie. Thousands of live bats fluttered around and there were orange and black streamers draped all over the room. She recovered after a few seconds and walked over to the Gryffindor table, sitting in the seat Harry had saved for her next to him.
"It's wonderful!" she said, looking all around still.
Harry had other things on his mind. "What is?" he asked broodingly.
Angela was confused for a second before she realized what he was upset about. "Harry…he's no longer out there. They caught him and he'll be punished for his crimes. There's nothing more that you could want from this."
"How about my parents back? Or Sirius. Him being 'punished for his crimes' doesn't mean that the people I love will come back."
"Of course not, Harry. But if you brood, if you dwell on it, you'll be no better than him, or Voldemort for that matter. I love you…I don't want you to be unhappy, and I don't want you to become what I know you hate. Please, Harry, let it go."
Harry seemed to think about this, the angry look still on his face. A couple of times he looked as though he were going to say something, but he didn't and he eventually let out a long sigh, the look on his face softening. "You're right, of course. I'm sorry. Thank you, Angela." He leaned over and gave her a long, passionate kiss.
Angela's head was swimming when he broke it off and when she was able to string more than three words together she said, "I was just doing what I had to do. You know."
Harry kissed her lightly again, then frowned again. He looked at her apologetically for a second before he spoke again. "I'm sorry I wasn't much help back there," he said, looking down.
"Are you kidding? I would have never thought of that map if you hadn't been there. Then where would we be?"
" I suppose. Speaking of that map, where did you get it from?"
"It was in the package from my parents vault. They made it while they were here and left it for me. I forgot all about it. I never thought that I would need to use it. I think your father copied it…well, sort of, when he made the Marauder's Map."
At this point Ron spoke up, "Um, guys? What in the bloody hell is going on?"
Harry looked at him and chuckled. "We'll tell you about it all later. Right now I'm starved."
Angela thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the feast. The food was delicious and she ate much more than she normally did. Dumbledore didn't return to the feast and Angela hoped that he hadn't had any problems with Pettigrew, but even that thought couldn't ruin her jovial mood. She laughed more than she had in a while and when the feast ended she felt very satisfied. They all trouped up the marble staircase to the common room. Angela and Harry collapsed on a couch while people around them talked. Hermione and Ron took the couch across from them as Angela looked around.
"They have no idea, do they? They think that everything's all hunky dory, don't they?" she asked Harry.
He looked at her and said, "If they knew, it would scare the shit out of them."
Angela had to laugh, but knew that he was right. Most normal people would freak out if they had experienced half of what Angela had this year, but then Angela had never been normal. She and Harry explained to Ron and Hermione what had happened, from the stairs to going back into the Great Hall, skirting around the details about the map and her parents.
They both nodded and they all talked about it late into the night before going to bed. Angela had her first dreamless sleep since she had found out that she was a witch.