Kora woke up the next morning to the girls in her dorm whispering excitedly about something. She was almost positive it was about her, but when she opened the hangings of her bed, they didn't stop. There were no awkward silences as Kora walked over to the bathroom. The girls didn't stare at her like she was from a different planet. In fact, they didn't even look at her at all! She wasn't sure if this was a good change, or if they had just no longer cared whether Kora heard them talking about her.

She changed in the bathroom and walked back out, still fixing her hair into a messy bun, trying to catch some of the words that the girls were saying. The only things she could make out were "I can't wait!", "Is he really!", and something else about boys.

'Is that all they think about, boys?' she scoffed silently to herself, picking up her bag and walking down to the Common Room. As soon as she entered, she saw that almost everybody was crowded around the bulletin board, the younger kids walking away solemnly, and the older kids erupting into animated conversation.

Kora set her bag down by the couch, and curiously walked over to the bulletin board, standing on her tiptoes in a feeble attempt to see over the taller people's heads. She noticed there was a new poster tacked onto it, but the only word she could see was "Halloween". This drew her attention in more, seeing as her favorite holiday always had been Halloween.

She managed to squeeze through the crowd and make it to the front, now being able to see the poster as a whole.

"Halloween Ball!" It read, "For 5th, 6th, and 7th years only. Please wear your most creative costume."

Kora sighed. She never thought anyone could ever come up with a way to ruin her favorite holiday. She knew she would be the lonely upperclassmen sitting in the Common Room bombarded with annoying 2nd years asking her why she didn't go, because she would probably either not have a date, or not have a really cool costume to show off.

'Probably the latter.' She thought, sighing.

She squeezed back out of the crowd, trudged over to her bag on the couch, and picked it up, placing it on her shoulder. She dragged herself all the way to the Great Hall, plopping down on the bench and grabbed a bagel. She ripped off a piece and stuffed it in her mouth, staring around at all the excited girls debating on who they thought would ask who. Everyone knew Ron would be going with Hermione, Harry would be going with Ginny, Draco would be going with Pansy, and Kora would be going alone. That is, if she even went at all.

Sighing deeply, she picked up her bag, slung it on her shoulder once more, and stuffed the last of her bagel in her mouth. She started towards her Charms class, silently watching everybody she passed, and inwardly holding in her jealousy. She stepped out of the Great Hall and into the Entrance Hall, making her way silently to the Charms classroom.

She hadn't really much time to take a good look around the castle since she had been back, and noticed how beautiful, yet so familiar it all looked. She had to admit, she missed most of the scenery in the castle while at ST. Mungo's. there were portraits lining every inch of the stone walls. Some of the intricately detailed pictures reminded her of the old Kings and Queens, with those big ruffles flaring out from their necks. Others made her mind wander off to the deepest jungles in Africa. There was one extraordinarily tall one just outside the Gryffindor Tower, taking up most of the wall space from the floor to the ceiling, which depicted a giraffe feeding on an ancient tree. Although none of the portraits' inhabitants tended to stay in their own frame (they usually got bored and wandered off to visit people in other frames), they were still beautiful to look at.

Then there were the suits of armor. They had to be from a long, long time ago. Kora's best guess was the Renaissance. Whenever they moved a stiffened limb, their joints creaked. It was nearly impossible for Filch to keep up with which suits needed re-oiling, and which suits had just been oiled. But no matter how loud and annoying they were, they were always polished to perfection. They often served as a hideaway for the school's poltergeist, Peeves.

Peeves was another thing Filch always had trouble keeping up with. He was always tossing around dungbombs, or throwing vases at students' heads. Kora was extremely grateful she had yet to be thrown, literally, a welcome back anything from Peeved. In fact, she didn't think she had even seen the annoying ghoul yet.

- - - -:- - - -- - - -:- - - -

Harry's P.O.V.

Harry Potter had woken up at the normal time, 7 o'clock, and, as usual, before Ron had. He stretched for a second before picking up his pillow, silently pulling back the hangings on his best friend's bed, and chucked the pillow at his face.

"Get up Ron!" he laughed, "It's time for breakfast."

The redheaded boy in the bed next to him groaned, but sat up nonetheless, feebly throwing the pillow back at Harry, narrowly missing his head by an inch. Harry laughed again, walking over to his trunk, pulling off his nightshirt, and pulling on his school shirt.

It was clearly evident that Harry had grown into his lanky body, throughout the years. His shoulders had become much broader, his abdominal muscles had indeed flourished, as well as his arms. He had quidditch training to thank for that. His face had also, in many ways, lost that goofy look teenage boys tended to get, and he looked more like his father, James, then ever.

The 17 year old boy, now also the quidditch caption for his 7th and final year, turned to his best friend, who was now putting on his scarlet and gold Gryffindor tie.

"You almost ready, mate?"

"Yeah, yeah .. just let me get this .. okay!" he grinned, straightening the necktie, "Let's eat!"

The two boys climbed down the stairs only to see that the few stragglers who hadn't gone down to breakfast yet were peering at something on the bulletin board..

"Hey, Ron!" Harry nudged his best friend in the side, "Dumbledore's throwing a Halloween Ball!" The two boys laughed a bit at the thought of actually having to dance, but also grateful that dress robes weren't required.

Both boys eager to eat, they stepped out of the Common Room and headed toward the Great Hall.

"So, who're you going to ask to the ball?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, well, I was sort of thinking about asking Hermi—" but before Ron could even finish saying her name, Harry interrupted him.

"Knew it." He laughed, poking fun at his best friend.

Everyone knew Ron and Hermione were 'involved' somehow, even if they weren't technically dating.

"What about you? Who are you thinking of asking?"

"I don't know, my first thought was Ginny.." he said, earning his a scowl from Ron's direction, "But then I thought, I don't know. Maybe I should ask Kora."

Ron stopped in his tracks and looked at Harry,

"You cannot be serious, mate!"

"What? Why not? What's so bad about her?"

"Well, nothing, but, nothing is very spectacular either."

"Well, maybe you're right, but there's something about her that makes her intriguing."

Ron just shrugged, patting his friend on the back,

"Come on, let's just go get some breakfast."