LMDG1UVR4EVA: I have checked them out and they are great! That's a idea, I'll think about it, ok:) Thanks for the review, I'm continuing!
Krys: I can't say if you're right or wrong so I'm staying quiet. LoL! If Harry did, I'm suresome fan girlwill take care of him. LOL. Have you updated your story, cause I want MORE!
Countingsheep123: Haha suspense! Mwaahaa. ;)
Chapter 14: Halloween Season
"I am telling you, Halloween is cursed for us!" cried out Ron.
The trio was on their way to Charms class when the discussion popped up, originating from the Weasly boy's mouth.
Hermione said briskly, "Don't be silly Ronald. Halloween is not cursed for us." Harry spoke up, "I think he may be onto something." She raised an eyebrow and Ron continued, "Thank you Harry. Hermione, think about it. The first Halloween for us at Hogwarts, we all nearly got killed by a mountain troll!"
"May I point out that it was your carelessness that caused that?"
The red head made a face at her cheekiness and Harry said with a nervous smile, "Did we mention how sorry we were for that?" She smiled back, "I know that Harry, it was a big coincidence."
Ron fumed, "Coincidence, my arse! What about second year?"
"What about second year," contradicted Hermione.
"When we went to the Deathday party for Nearly-Headless Nick and got caught with a frozen Mrs. Norris, Filch was about to kill Harry!"
Harry frowned, "True...but it didn't really involve us all..."
Ron looked at him crossly, "Who's side are you on?" The raven haired boy moved away from him and Hermione made a exasperated noise in her throat, "What else?"
The red head made a excited grunt, "Hmm...how about in third year when Sirius nearly scared the shit out of everyone, I thought he was going to stab me with his knife." Ron was careful to say Sirius's name in Harry's presence. The other boy argued, "But Sirius wasn't trying to kill you."
Ron nodded, "Right, but that was still scary. Anyway, fourth year Harry's name got pulled out of the Goblet of Fire and led to the events where his life was at stake! What about that Hermione?"
She shook her bushy head and rolled her eyes.
"In fifth year...well, ok, Umbridge was there the entire time but it made Halloween worse."
This time, Hermione and Harry rolled their eyes.
The red headed boy insisted, "And sixth year? That incident with Harry and the giant squid?" Harry grinned, "Oh yeah, I remember that." Hermione looked at him appalled, "You were nearly drowned!"
Harry shrugged innocently, "I got out of the lake alive, didn't I?" Ron smirked, "Hermione wouldn't move from your side in till your temperature was back to 98 degrees." She gave him a funny look, that clearly said for him to back off the subject.
To ease the tension, Harry joked, "Ron, instead of saying Halloween's cursed for all of us, it should be Halloween's cursed for Harry."
That got a laugh out of them and soon they were sitting at their desk in the Charm's classroom, in all smiles. But soon, the smiles were disturbed by the project partner choosing of one Professor Flitwick. It wasn't Ron and Hermione's although they did have quite a shouting match during the class period. No, it was the pairing of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter.
The Gryffindors and Slytherin prepared for war to erupt.
Draco, of course, asked impatiently for a new partner but the poor naive teacher refused his request. Harry tried the same thing and was threatened to have House points taken away.
So started the class project, and the tempers rising. Draco complained as Harry tried the spell, "Potter, you're doing it wrong."
The raven haired boy muttered, "Shove it Malfoy."
"What did you say Mudblood lover?"
Harry threw down his wand, "I said, shove it. Less you forgot that I'm Headboy and can take away ALL of your House points." Draco smirked evilly, "MgGonagall wouldn't let you. You'd be abusing your privilege." Harry wanted to yak, how did he know what she said?
Damn, that boy pissed him off.
"I don't care, 50 points from Slytherin."
Silvery eyes glared coldly, "You'll pay for that Potter."
"100 points from Slytherin."
Draco Malfoy clutched him by the robe collar, "That's it, I'm sick of you. Tonight, third floor corridor, I challenge you to a Wizarding Duel. And I'll be the one who walks out of there alive."
Driven by pure anger, Harry pushed him away, "I accept." Malfoy clenched his teeth and the rest of the time they worked separately.
By the time everyone left the room, Ron and Hermione asked Harry, "What happened?" He answered, "Nothing, just the same fights with Malfoy." Ron mumbled under his breath, "Damn Ferret."
The red head reached into his robe pocket and pulled out some wands, Hermione questioned, "What on Earth? What are you doing with those?" Ron burrowed his brows, "I didn't steal them Mione, if that's what you're thinking. Their fake wands from Fred and George's shop, I want Harry to have one."
He handed one over and Harry pocketed it, "Thanks mate."
As they made their way to the Great Hall, the Gryffindor ghost Nearly Headless Nick passed by happily, "Hello Harry, Ron, Hermione."
They chorused in unison, "Hello Nick."
Ron said suddenly, "Nick, since we'll be leaving soon enough, would you mind telling us a little story?" The ghost frowned suspiciously, "What kind of story Ron?"
"Maybe...about why ghosts exist here?"
Harry looked up interested, and Hermione looked suddenly perky at the idea of learning something new. Ron used that moment to beg, "Come on Nick, please!" The ghost man looked uneasily at them and let out a exhausted sigh, "Just don't go around saying who you heard it from."
Nearly Headless Nick gestured them away from the front doors and began speaking, "Over time, lots of wizards have wondered and tried to understand why ghosts stayed behind after they died. Mostly, the only who understand are ghosts themselves. There is a lot of causes, one of them is to seek revenge, another is to do a task they didn't get to finish when they were alive. But, all of those causes have a common goal. For some reason, ghosts like myself are bound to Earth in till they have been deemed worthy over moving on into the afterlife, that is, if they want to."
Hermione questioned, "Who decides who goes and who stays?"
Nick grinned widely, "Ah, that is the true mystery Hermione Granger. No one knows for sure who is in control."
Harry spoke up, "But, why aren't the ghosts in Hogwarts moved on?"
"Every one of us has our reasons. Moaning Myrtle needs to seek her revenge on bullies, which she hasn't exactly accomplished, I'm not even sure that she is aware of what her task is. The Friar and I is still here for one very simple reason," he smiled, "Because we like it here. I enjoy seeing the older students grow up and seeing the new bright faces."
Ron frowned, "What about Peeves?"
"Peeves is a poltergeist, and he too, decided to stay at Hogwarts. He enjoys his time here very much."
The red haired boy muttered, "Torturing the rest of us." Hermione nodded, "Thank you Sir Nicholas." The ghost took a short bow and they all stepped into the Halloween Feast.
Harry was distracted greatly and hardly ate anything, but spent his time thinking of spells to use against Malfoy for right after dinner and glancing down at the Slytherin table. His friends didn't notice and Harry did notice that the Gryffindors were giving him looks of encouragement and shooting glares at the Slytherins who were returning them. They must have knew about the duel, he just hoped none of them blabbed to his friends.
The Feast was pleasant, nothing exciting happened and Dumbledore had made a short speech about staying careful in the corridors. He made a keen look at Harry, Ron, and Hermione who looked away.
Soon, it ended and everyone made to leave to their Common Rooms.
Hermione said immediately to Harry, "Alright, we're suppose to meet the Prefects--"
He interrupted her, "Um, I have something to do right now. Go on without me." She grabbed his arm, squeezing it tightly, "No, Harry, we have to do our job." He looked down the way, saying, "Hermione...j-just take Ron or something."
Harry left her standing by the doors and walked upstairs to the third floor corridor, to his unnerved surprise, there was a great crowd of all of the Houses standing around to watch the battle. A small roar of approval rose when he appeared and some boos erupted. Inside the audience ring, was Draco Malfoy; waiting patiently.
Harry withdrew his wand from his robe and walked over, his face set as stone. Everyone backed away a safe distance as the two rivals stepped in front of each other.
"You ready Potter?"
He nodded and they continued staring each other down in till their backs were turned and they strode out several feet from where they stood.
Draco was the first one to face around and yelled, his voice echoing, "Petrificus Totalus!" Harry dodged it quite easily and the fight began. They tossed simple yet effective spells at each other. When Harry had fallen, Malfoy was pointing his wand at his back and the raven-haired boy spun around, slamming a fist into his pale cheek. Draco stared amazed a moment then tackled him, both boys were kicking and punching each other with ferocity. Some of the crowd cheered and others stared in horror.
They ran to the opposite sides of the circle to get their thrown wands and Harry couldn't find his, he reached into his robe pocket and found that his wand was there.
Draco scrambled for us and Harry had time to defeat him, he cried out, "Incarcerous!"
The wand turned into a bouquet of flowers.
Harry gaped at the fake wand from Ron and said, "Damn you Fred and George."
His bright green eyes widened when he heard his name being shouted and a red spell flying straight at him. Still on the floor, he rolled over to his side as it sped to the crowd which decided to scatter. Harry got to his feet quickly and was defenseless.
Draco Malfoy's silvery eyes shined joyfully, "Crucio!"
As the word left his mouth, shrieks filled the corridor from the people who stayed and the spell sped from his wand.
A shudder ran up Harry's spine and he couldn't see; something had swelled up in his stomach, it was about to burst. Harry could hear screaming everywhere and he felt himself fall into his chest on the cold hard ground.
Everything was growing a little black and it seemed like a long time before he heard someone calling to him, Harry awoke in the arms of his best friends. Ron let a sigh escape his lips, his face was ashen, "You're ok." Hermione touched Harry's hand, "You gave us a scare Harry." He asked, confused, "Why am I on the floor?"
"Hermione and I heard that you were fighting Malfoy andcameinwhen your wand turned into flowers.Ferret said one of the Unforgivable Curses and you sort of froze up, your eyes got really big and the spell kinda bounced off you and went back to Malfoy. The Ferret didn't get hit by it and you fell down, and everyone ran for it. We haven't seen any teachers come by here yet, so we better get out of here before someone tells on us."
Hermione squealed, "Ron, Harry's in no condition to be running! He just did wandless magic for heaven's sake!"
Harry sat up, despite what his body was telling him, "Is that what I did?"
She dismissed his question, "But Ron is right, we should go before someone comes along. Ron, help me." Gently, they helped Harry to his feet and wrapped a firm arm around his waist, making their way out of the third floor corridor.
-
The Head Dorm was deathly silent that evening. All the doors and windows were shut securely and the stars outside shined softly. A door opened and a figure from the Head Boy Dorm crept down the staircase, with an armful of things.
Harry Potter made sure that the paintings were asleep as he passed through the castle, up to the Astronomy Tower.
Called him crazy, but every year, on Halloween night, he held a candlelight ceremony for his parents and their death. It was sort of a ritual in their memory.
Harry closed the trap door and set down the candles, blue for his father because he had a fond memory of James Potter in blue robes and the times when his father would take him out in a stroller on a clear day when Harry was a baby. Then, there was red for his mother because of her sparkling crimson head that had been seen so vividly in pictures.
Harry sat watching the flames jump as he went on his knees and bowed his head a moment, light washed over the darkened tower.
His eyes raised to the ceiling, "Hi Mum. Hi Dad. It's Harry, you probably thought I had grown out of this habit by now. I didn't. I hope you both are happy wherever you are. . ." He couldn't control the tear that had slipped free from his eye and smiled, "Don't be too hard on Sirius, he did his best and I couldn't have ask more out of him. I miss you all and wish you were here to help me---"
The boy sighed, more clear tears rolling down his cheeks, "But you can't. No matter how hard I wish it."
Harry picked up his parent's wedding picture as they waved cheerfully at him and blew kisses, a young Sirius in a tuxedo popped up behind James and pied him in the face. The slightly enraged bridegroom chased the troublemaker and Lily rolled her eyes to the camera, but was smiling amused.
This was his favorite picture out of all of them.
He placed it down and picked up a purple candle, that mixed both colors of his parents and whispered, "To you guys."
Before Harry could blow it out, suddenly, several Hogwarts professors burst into the tower with Dumbledore. They raised their wands and stared down at him perplexed.
MgGonagall in her lavender nightrobe barked, "Potter, what are you doing here?" Snape stood beside her, looking dismayed.
"I..I..."
They looked down at the candles and the pictures scattered on the floor and the Head of the Slytherin House drawled, "What twisted sacrifice are you planning Potter?" He said a little louder and tilted up his chin, "It's not a sacrifice, I do this every year for my parents. I light a few candles in their memory and say a few words. You have something against a orphan wanting to speak to their dead family again?"
MgGonagall, Flitwick, and a few other professors became teary-eyed and Snape made a snorting sound, storming out.
The Deputy Headmistress said, brushing her eyes, making it seem like she had an inch, "Potter, I want you to finish this up and get to your Dorm." He nodded and as they shuffled out, Harry picked up his purple candle and felt a strange tingling going to his fingers.
Movement from the corner of his eyes caused him to turn around and saw a figure shrouded with red hair fall to her knees, covering her face. Harry jolted and blinked, it was gone.
Becoming extremely unnerved, he blew out the candle and picked up his things, sprinting all the way back to his room.
