Chapter Eleven
The Pumpkin Hunt
Over the next week, Ethan adjusted to his new notoriety. Although he remained the subject of much finger-pointing, whispering and dark speculation, he learned to ignore most of those who took part. Only Brocklebank and his circle openly taunted Ethan. The support of his housemates gave him strength. Several upper-year students Ethan hadn't even known before made a point of letting him know they didn't believe the Sentinel's rumors. It helped that Edwin and some other Harrisons had begun to let their favorable opinions of Ethan be known more openly.
Classes gradually returned to normal for Ethan as well, for better and for worse. In Charms, O'Loughlin taught them to reveal invisible ink using the aparecium charm. She had the students working in pairs; each wrote a message in invisible ink and their partner cast the charm to make the writing appear.
"Remember, the motion is that of a large 'A'," O'Loughlin barked as everyone tried to reveal their partner's message.
Ethan mastered it before anyone else, waving his wand at the bit of scroll Marcus had used for his message and pronouncing "Aparecium!"
Instantly, Marcus' handwriting emerged on the scroll. Ethan read it, and then scowled at Marcus in mock annoyance. Tim leaned over and read aloud: "'This writing can only be revealed by a seriously evil wizard!' Uh-oh, better keep your eyes on Lloyd; he'll curse you as soon as he'll say hello!"
O'Loughlin simply said, "Well done, Mr. Lloyd! I trust you all saw that nice fluid motion Mr. Lloyd employed and heard his enunciation. Come on now, let's get to work! We'll start levitation by the end of the week if you can master this today."
And by the end of class, everyone had managed to use aparecium correctly.
"Excellent!" Anne exclaimed on the way out of the classroom. "I can't wait to start on levitation. That could be so useful."
The next morning, owls poured in through the upper windows as usual. Many deposited copies of the Daily Sentinel before their owners before swooping away.
Marcus unrolled his copy and scanned the front page. After a moment, he passed the newspaper to Ethan, who was just finishing his oatmeal.
"Here you go, Ethan!" Marcus said. "Looks like the next phase of the smear campaign's in today."
There on the front page were his parents again, this time under the headline, Heroes, Fools or Villains? What You Don't Know about Griffin and Diana Lloyd.
Ethan eagerly read the article, but despite the title he saw little in the way of new rumor or accusation. He was interested to see some alleged information about his parents' families. For example, the article stated,
Diana Bones, of course, is descended from a Hudson Valley family well-known for muggle-baiting activities 200 years ago.
A bit further on, he read,
Griffin Lloyd's ancestor, Llewellyn L. Lloyd was an eccentric instructor at Kaaterskill Academy of Magic at the beginning of the 20th century.
Ethan was somewhat alarmed, however, by the paper's assertion that
Sources tell The Sentinel that Griffin Lloyd has sunken to such a low level that he now works as a librarian in a muggle university.
"How could they have found out that dad's a librarian?" he wondered aloud.
"Well, you haven't exactly kept it a secret," Anne reminded him. "Not that any of us here would think it worth spreading around, but someone could have heard you talking about them."
Ethan thought about that for a moment and wondered whether he'd accidentally been a source for his parents' enemies. But then he reached the main point of the article, further speculation on the events at Table Mountain.
Many have wondered how two inexperienced aurors were assigned to the team sent to Table Mountain. The Sentinel has learned that the Lloyds begged their supervisor to participate in the mission, despite his misgivings.
Why were the Lloyds so eager to take this risky assignment? Was youthful bravado the reason, or could there have been a more sinister motive?
Later investigations at Table Mountain indicate that powerful magic was unleashed there by unknown persons. The nature of the magic involved remains uncertain, but the survival of the Lloyds suggests that they could well have had a hand in the release of a fatal magical power.
It has also been suggested that the Lloyds' may yet possess one or more magical objects used at Table Mountain. Perhaps they fled the Wizarding World to avoid having to turn these items over to the Department of Magic for investigation and safekeeping, as required by law.
"No more facts, just more suggestions and suspicions," Ethan sighed, handing the paper back to Marcus. "I don't know that I should have expected anything else."
On the way in to Potions class, Ethan listened in spite of himself as Brocklebank talked about the article with some of his circle.
"How much of that do you think is true?" Lew Van Nort asked.
"Well who really knows?" Simon answered. "But one thing I'll tell you...Uncle Lothar really knew how to turn the screws on Lloyd's parents."
Back in the common room later that evening, Ethan was sitting with Tim, Anne and Kenny.
"Uncle Lothar, he said!" Ethan said.
"So Brocklebank's related to Barghest, the little weasel!" Tim exclaimed. "That could explain quite a bit."
"I'm starting to think so," Ethan agreed. "And I think reading the half-truths in the articles give some big clues to what he's up to."
"Care to enlighten us?" the proctor prodded.
"I know I can trust you three to keep this to yourselves, but I'd rather not say out in the open."
"Well, why don't you come into the proctors' lounge?" Kenny suggested. "No one will hear you in there."
The four of them adjourned to the lounge and sat down around the table.
"I think the paper is right about one thing. Like I said before, I think Mom and Dad did bring something important from Table Mountain. But I still don't think they took it with them to Madison," Ethan resumed.
"Well, what happened to this thing?" Anne asked. "The Department of Magic doesn't seem to have it."
"No, they don't," Tim said. "Hold on though, Ethan, didn't Bancroft tell you that your parents stopped here to see Flyte sometime after the battle?"
"Exactly! And what safer place could there be for something that's...well, dangerously magical? So now, there's something here at school that You-Know-Who wants," Ethan said urgently. "Something that my parents brought here fourteen years ago so that he couldn't get it. And now someone--maybe Hafgan--is trying to find it for You-Know Who again."
"That would explain a lot," Anne said. "And it's just too convenient that the papers have everyone believing that You-Know-Who's return is just the crazy raving of a lunatic boy."
"If Flyte says V-V-Voldemort's back, that's good enough for me," Kenny said. "But you're right. It's hard to get people worked up about a plot to get him a great weapon when they think he's either dead or powerless."
"But the question is," Anne added, "do they--whoever they are--really know that it's here?"
"I don't know, but..." Ethan began, then stopped and looked at Kenny. He decided to plunge ahead. "We know that something is being guarded very well here in the school."
And he proceeded to tell Kenny all about their discovery of the sphinx in the room with the lightning bolt rune.
Kenny listened intently to Ethan's story, resting his head on his hands and rocking slightly. When Ethan had finished, the older boy said, "Well, that is news, no doubt about that. Quite a coincidence, you of all people getting lost down that particular corridor."
"Well, we didn't go looking for it," Anne said. "I mean none of us would have been there if Ethan hadn't needed to post his letter late."
"I'll grant you that," Kenny agreed. "But in my experience very little that happens in this building is really a coincidence."
"Well, coincidence or not," Ethan added, "We know that there's something that needs to be guarded by that sphinx. And we know, or can guess, that my parents left something here to keep it away from You-Know-Who. And suddenly there's a lot of interest in my parents and Table Mountain and You-Know-Who's back. Put two and two together...all we need to know is what exactly it is."
"OK, let's assume you're right. Whoever's trying to get this weapon, whatever it is, has to be here at school," Tim speculated. "It can't be a stranger or visitor; they'd stick out like a sore thumb."
"Well, we know Barghest is involved somehow," Anne said. "And now we know his nephew is a student."
"But surely it can't be Brocklebank!" Tim objected. "He may be pureblood back fifty generations, and evil to boot, but he's also a complete idiot!"
"No, it's no first-year, you can rest assured," Kenny asserted. "I doubt very much if it's any student, though there might be some upper-form students who'd be capable if they're so inclined. But I think you're looking for an adult."
"But that means a teacher, or someone on the staff," Tim said doubtfully. "Surely none of them are on You-Know-Who's side."
"Oh, I don't know," Ethan said, half-seriously. "Anyone who makes life as hard as Crockett does could be in league with the devil."
"Come off it, Ethan," Anne said dismissively. "Just because you're having trouble with a class doesn't mean the professor's a Death Eater. I mean, Bancroft's class is killing me, but you won't see me blaming You-Know-Who."
"If you want to find out who's a likely suspect," Kenny said. "You need to look at all the possibilities objectively. And don't forget to consider that someone could be controlled by an Imperius Curse."
"Well, Ang Hsu knows more about the Dark Arts than anyone here," Anne offered. "It's his job, of course, but there are times he does it so well he scares me. I'll bet he could do a fine Imperius Curse."
"Yeah, but the reason he's so good at that stuff," Ethan countered, "is he's been fighting Death Eaters --and worse-- for 90 years. I mean, he was in the fight against Grindelwald and someone said that dark wizards killed his brother back in China. I don't think he's got a motive to help You-Know-Who."
"What about Tiverton?" Tim asked. The others said nothing for a moment, but looked thoughtful.
"You might have something, Tim," Anne offered. "Didn't you say that it was his trip to Europe that made him so nervous and strange, Kenny?"
"Well, yeah, that's what I've heard," the proctor said. "Of course that was the year before I started, so I've only seen him this way. But the older students said he went to do some fieldwork in Romania--or was it Bulgaria? I think the story was that he went with a teacher from Hogwarts, some sort of joint research project."
"What if they ran into You-Know-Who?" Anne continued breathlessly. "He could have used Imperius or worse on Tiverton. Or maybe just corrupted him and turned him to the dark side."
"There's only one problem with that theory, Anne," Ethan interjected. "Six years ago, Voldemort had no body; according to everything I've read. So he couldn't have been using curses on anyone."
"Still, I think we should find out more about Professor Tiverton," Tim said.
"Well, be careful," Kenny admonished them. "Don't get yourselves in trouble nosing about."
The others promised they'd be cautious, but all four went to bed imagining what could be beyond the sphinx--and who might wish to obtain it for Voldemort.
Soon, nearly everyone stopped worrying about classes, whether the Lloyds were sinister turncoats and even Quidditch practice. The cause, Ethan learned, was the approach of the annual Pumpkin Hunt. At the Wednesday school assembly, Flyte announced the ground rules and explained the contest for the benefit of the new students.
"As our more mature students will remember," the headmaster began, "classes will be suspended Monday in recognition of Halloween."
Flyte paused as the student body cheered raucously. He held up his hand for silence, and then continued, "Instead, the faculty and staff have again arranged for an intramural Pumpkin Hunt. I am informed by Professor Bancroft that this will be the one-hundred-twenty-fifth Kaaterskill Pumpkin Hunt."
Sitting at the Bradbury table, Tim nudged Ethan and whispered, "Pumpkin Hunt? Easter egg hunts I can understand, but how hard can it be to find pumpkins?"
Ethan shrugged and said, "I don't know, but I'm sure the teachers could make it as hard as they want."
"Our new students may not know that the Hunt holds such an honorable place in the annals of the school," Flyte said. "I am sure that your proctors will do their part to educate you. But now, some details: there will 200 pumpkins hidden throughout the school building and grounds. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Standish, we have a bumper crop this year."
Flyte nodded to the groundskeeper standing behind the faculty table, a stocky, gray-haired man with a face that Ethan thought remarkably like gnomes he'd seen in paintings. Ethan had rarely seen Standish before and never inside the school buildings.
"Now each of these exemplary cucurbitae will be charmed by our esteemed faculty. The charms employed may change the appearance of the pumpkin or give it other qualities that will make finding and collecting it a worthy challenge. As always, none of the charms will render the pumpkins dangerous to the contestants," Flyte assured them.
"Beginning at 10:00 Halloween morning, the four houses will begin the search for pumpkins," he explained. "Students may use any charms they feel could help reveal the location or allow the capture of a pumpkin, but may not use any charms, spells or hexes on their competitors. One point will be awarded for each pumpkin collected and brought to the check-in station. Also, the house that collects the most pumpkins will be awarded 75 additional points."
"The contest will end at 4:00 p.m.," Flyte concluded. "Professor Tiverton will keep the official score with the assistance of Professors Skryme and Mickelson. I will announce the results during the Halloween feast, which will begin at 6:00 sharp."
After dinner that evening, each house held a meeting to discuss the Hunt. For the first time since his arrival at school, all the Bradburys--three score and ten--crowded into the common room at the same time. The first-years sat on the floor, along with most everyone below fifth year. The senior proctors, Melinda Dewin (the older sister of Danny, the Bradbury keeper) and Cam Trumbull, led the meeting.
"Now, I don't need to tell most of you that Bradbury needs a good showing in the Hunt this year," Melinda said. "It's been five years since the house took first. Last year we came in dead last. I know we can do better this time around."
"Melinda's right," Cam agreed. He was a tall, studious looking boy with short brown hair, sideburns and glasses. "For one thing, the new first years have shown a lot of promise in charms and that's really the key to grabbing the pumpkins. Of course, the older students have more charms experience, so we'll be teaming the first-years with two proctors, Kenny Sturtevant and Eileen Peltier."
"Now remember the rules," Melinda admonished them. "As the old man said, no spells of any kind are to be used on members of the other houses!"
"Which is not to say that you can't do your best to hinder them," Cam added. "Just make sure any spells you use aren't aimed at them. If you can lock a door and slow them down, by all means do it...but not at the cost of missing a pumpkin yourself!"
"In my experience, most of the pumpkins will have simply been transfigured, but some will be able to move on their own," he continued. "So the most important charms are those that counter transfiguration and stop movement. But remember, don't try to stupefy them!"
"That's right!" Melinda concurred. "First of all, you can't stupefy something without a brain of its own. Second, you might hit someone with it. But most of all, you don't want to see what happens to a pumpkin that's been hit with that spell. There was a Tituba who tried that my first year and it took several days to get all of the pumpkin goo off him."
The students thought of little else over the four days that remained until Halloween. Most of the teachers seemed resigned to accomplishing little in class on Thursday and Friday.
Crockett grumbled, "It will be good when this foolishness has passed. Pumpkins, indeed! Hardly even a useful plant!"
But O'Loughlin had promised the Bradburys and Titubas would get to start practicing levitation that Friday and she was as good as her word. As the students filed in--Titubas to the left, Bradburys to the right--they saw that a large white feather rested on each desk.
"Now, it's time to work on one of the most basic charms in the wizard's repertoire," she announced. "Levitation can be a most useful tool once mastered. We'll begin with something small, but the same charm may be used with all sorts of objects."
First, Professor O'Loughlin demonstrated the proper wand movement for the levitation charm--a swishing motion in the form of an "L" then a quick flick at the object to be moved.
"Now it's important that you combine the incantation with the wand action, like so," she continued, aiming at a vase on her desk. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Swish, flick went O'Loughlin's wand as she said the words. The vase rose from the desk slowly. O'Loughlin kept her wand pointed at the vase, which rose as she gradually moved the wand up. Then she slowly lowered the wand, bringing the vase back down safely to the desk top.
"Now remember, it's Win-GAR-di-um Lev-i-O-sa," the teacher reiterated. "Give it a try now."
Everyone picked up their wands and attempted to raise their feathers, with very little success. O'Loughlin walked about, correcting bad wand form in several cases, and pronouncing the spell correctly again and again.
When she reached Ethan's side of the room, she immediately stopped Anne, whose swish was evidently not swishy enough and who was practically shouting something that sounded like "Wingardriam Levyosaw!"
"Do stop a moment, Miss Findlay!" O'Loughlin ordered. "A bit more flourish with the wand, please. And say it with me, it's Win-GAR-di-um Lev-i-O-sa! It's a pity you didn't learn your Latin early!"
Anne flushed with embarrassment. O'Loughlin turned to continue down the line of Bradburys, only to find herself face to face with Ethan's feather, floating perfectly above his desk. She looked from the feather to Ethan, allowing herself a small smile, then called out.
"Now see here, Mr. Lloyd has got it! That will be five points to Bradbury. I'm sure the rest of you can do it too. I want to see more feathers in the air! Swish, flick, Win-GAR-di-um Lev-i-O-sa!"
Ethan beamed happily, and then lowered his wand slowly as O'Loughlin had and brought the feather back down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anne glaring at him.
By the end of the hour several other students had managed to float their feathers. O'Loughlin had Ethan move on to somewhat heavier objects such as textbooks and candlesticks.
On the way out, Anne brushed by Ethan and Tim and muttered "Oh, sorry, Mr. Always Perfect Charm Lloyd. Or should I say it in Latin?"
"Anne, what's the matter?" Ethan asked, but she was already down the hallway.
"What got into her?" Tim wondered.
"I guess she's upset that O'Loughlin corrected her and then made a big deal that I had my feather floating," Ethan replied.
"Well, I can't see how that's your fault," Tim declared. "And besides, no one else was faster than you, either."
"So are the rest of you mad at me, too?" Ethan asked.
"Nope, not me anyway," Tim answered.
"Nor me!" Marcus chimed in from behind them. He'd obviously picked up what they were discussing. "Anne'll get over it. From what she says, her brothers were always top students here and she wants to keep up with them. You heard her; she's been talking about that charm all week."
The remaining classes flew by that Friday. The first-years spent several hours over the weekend being coached by Kenny and Eileen for the Pumpkin Hunt.
Sunday afternoon, rainy and cool, found them lounging in the common room. Tim was pretending to do homework, but no one could really concentrate on school work. Marcus had gotten the latest installment of his favorite comic book, The Squibs Next Door; he was chortling to himself, stretched out in an overstuffed armchair.
Peter was idly practicing levitating a pair of Chocolate Frogs at one table, and Kyle was flipping through North American Quidditch Annual 1995.
Maddie Morrigan had prevailed upon Ethan to play Wizard Chess. He agreed, although he knew Maddie was the best player in the class. Despite his best efforts, Ethan was watching his white pieces being knocked into small bits by Maddie's black ones. His mind wasn't really in the game, as one of his knights pointed out just before having its mount cut out from under it by Maddie's king-side bishop.
Anne was sitting in an armchair in front of the fire, as far away as possible from her classmates. She'd been avoiding them, especially Ethan, all weekend. Even when they'd all met as a group to prepare for the Hunt, Anne had stayed aloof. She seemed withdrawn, not at all the outgoing, self-assured girl Ethan had come to know since their first meeting on the wharf in Hoboken.
"Now you've done it!" Ethan's king muttered with disgust. Indeed, moments later, Maddie called out, "Checkmate!"
Ethan decided to walk up to the owl roost to send a letter back to his parents. He'd assured them that he was getting on fine despite the Sentinel articles. He wanted to ask them about Table Mountain and its aftermath, but he decided they wouldn't trust the answers he wanted to Owl Post.
Out the door of the common room he went, down the Disconcerting Stair, then down to the second floor, which he crossed to get to the north side of the school. Ethan saw just a few students wandering the halls; it seemed most were keeping to their dorms. The faculty, Ethan supposed, were busy somewhere transfiguring pumpkins for the hunt.
He soon found himself entering the spiral stair that led to the owl roost. He imagined that one of the gargoyles winked at him on the way up--at least he supposed it was imagination. Before long he'd reached the roost and Bucky had flown down to perch on his shoulder.
"Ready for a trip, Buck?" Ethan asked as he stroked the bird's soft feathers. "Another one for Mom and Dad."
Bucky hooted once and headed up towards the window. Ethan watched him fly off, and then turned to make his way back down from the tower. As he passed the second landing on the way down, he heard voices--one somewhat agitated--in the nearby hallway.
He thought both voices sounded familiar, but couldn't immediately place them. He stopped just below the landing to listen and realized that the excited voice belonged to Professor Tiverton.
"So have you figured out how to get past that b-beast?" Tiverton asked. Ethan could visualize the facial tic that accompanied the occasional stutter that plagued the Transfiguration teacher when he was agitated.
"Why would you be asking me, Terence?" the other voice replied. "I'm no expert at riddles, you know!"
"No, of course not," Tiverton replied blandly. "Still, l-l-let me kn-know if you have any luck, eh, Roscoe...if you know what's good for you."
Ethan realized that Tiverton was speaking to Professor Skryme.
"Are you threatening me?" the artist asked in a trembling voice.
"Whatever would make you think that, Professor?" Tiverton asked in reply. "B-but by all means go to the Headmaster and d-discuss it with him, if you wish!"
"I'll be on my way now, if you don't mind!" Skryme muttered, and he headed down the side corridor.
"See you at the j-judging, Roscoe!" Tiverton called after him.
Ethan quickly made his way down to the next landing and slipped into the main hallway before Tiverton came down the stairs.
Ethan took no chances. He didn't look back as he hurried directly back to the Bradbury common room. As the Dutchman swung open, Ethan made a beeline for the table at which Tim was still working.
"I think you're right!" Ethan whispered breathlessly.
"Right about what, Ethan?" Tim asked, looking bewildered. "What's up? You look like you've been running from a vampire!"
Ethan caught his breath and thought better of telling Tim in the midst of the common room.
"Come up to the room," he said quietly. "I can't talk here."
"OK, if you say so," Tim agreed, still confused.
The two of them climbed the stairs to the first-year dorm. Ethan thought he saw Anne flash the two of them a quizzical look as they went up, but she quickly looked back at the magazine she was reading.
Ethan sat down on his bed and Tim stood looking at him curiously.
"OK, what is it, Ethan?"
"Tiverton!" he blurted out. "You know, you wondered if he might be the one trying to steal...whatever it is."
"Yeah, I remember," Tim replied.
Ethan quickly told his story.
"And Professor Skryme told him he wasn't good at riddles," he concluded. "That was the clincher...Tiverton obviously knows there's a sphinx..."
"Well, don't you think the whole faculty would know that?" Tim asked calmly.
"..and he wants to get past it but he doesn't know the answer to the riddle," Ethan continued, ignoring his friend's comment. "And he was threatening poor Professor Skryme."
"But how could Tiverton go around bullying the other teachers like that?" Tim wondered. "They'd suspect him immediately and either get rid of him or change the way they're protecting...the whatchamacallit."
"Well, maybe he's not bullying all of them," Ethan suggested. "Skryme's new; maybe Tiverton has him too frightened to go to Flyte. Maybe he said he'll change him into a newt or something..."
"Are you two still talking about that sphinx?" a voice came from the other side of the room.
Ethan and Tim started, and then relaxed a bit when they saw who was speaking.
"Hi Peter, didn't see you there!" Ethan said. "Yeah, actually we are."
"So you think you know why it's there, eh?" Peter asked curiously.
"Well, maybe," Ethan continued. "Hold on, why are you interested? I thought you never wanted to hear about it again."
"Well...I don't think I want to see it, that's true," Peter said. "But I guess it is the most interesting thing I've seen around school."
"It sure beats the time a steer managed to wander into my school back home when I was in 3rd grade," Tim laughed.
Peter and Ethan gave Tim odd looks. Ethan tried to imagine a steer roaming the halls of Marquette Elementary School.
"Bit of a mess, that's all," Tim shrugged.
Peter giggled again, and Ethan explained his theory about the sphinx.
"Well, if you need any help, let me know," Peter offered. "So long as it doesn't involve visiting the sphinx again."
"Thanks, Peter," Ethan said.
The rest of Sunday passed uneventfully. Halloween morning dawned clear and warm, the warmth of the last bit of Indian summer, a wistful interlude before the onslaught of winter.
Ethan made his way down to breakfast with the rest of the Bradburys. Just before nine, everyone made their way out through the entry hall and assembled on the circle of lawn before the main doors.
Kenny Sturtevant and Eileen Peltier marshaled the ten Bradbury first-years together. As Ethan looked over the crowd, he saw that each house had divided itself into a number of teams. He noticed that the Tenskwatawas were gathered around a banner that proclaimed them "Defending Champions" in letters that glowed in emerald and yellow.
A stage had appeared to the left of the main entry, covered in a material that looked like lurid orange marble. Atop the stage were four large stalls in the house colors. The Bradbury mountain lion, Harrison wolf, Tenskwatawa lizard and the otter of Tituba were emblazoned on banners floated above the stage on the autumn breeze.
"Who can tell me the charm to reverse a transfigured pumpkin?" Kenny asked the first-years as they waited for the hunt to begin.
"Restitue Cucurbita?" Ethan volunteered quickly.
"That's right, Lloyd," the proctor replied. "Now that will take care of most of the pumpkins, but there may be some that need a more advanced spell. Leave those to Eileen or me. Look sharp, it looks like we're ready to start."
Cyrus Flyte had mounted the stage, and Professors Tiverton, Skryme and Mickelson stood behind him.
"Good morning, all!" Flyte said in greeting. "And welcome to the Pumpkin Hunt! It looks to be a fine day for hunting pumpkins. Remember, you must return pumpkins to your house's stall here on the stage to receive credit for your captures. Professor Tiverton will keep the official score, as he has done so ably for the past few years."
At this Ethan nudged Tim and muttered, "That will explain why Tenskwatawa's the defending champion."
Flyte continued, "Now, I know you will all conduct a fair, safe contest. Remember, all the pumpkins are either inside the school or on the grounds. Don't stray beyond the boundaries! May the best house win! Off you go, then!"
Students surged away in every direction, in a much more orderly fashion than Ethan could have imagined possible. Some headed back into the school, some fanned out around the exterior and others headed for the Quidditch pitch and the greenhouses.
Kenny and Eileen led their charges around the south side of the school building, with the lake visible in the distance.
"I'm still not sure what we're looking for," Peter said as they approached the exterior of Bradbury Tower. "Do we just try the spell on everything we see?"
"No, you'll see," Kenny told him. "Once you've seen one or two of them, you'll get the hang of it. Keep your eyes out for things that seem unusual or out of place."
Kenny turned back to the first-years as he said this. Because of this, he walked straight into an overturned wheelbarrow in his path and nearly tripped.
"Like this, you mean, Kenny?" Eileen Peltier laughed. In the next instant, she waved her wand at the wheelbarrow, and called out "Restitue Cucurbita!"
The battered old wheelbarrow transformed into a large orange pumpkin, about two feet high and very squat.
"Here, Powles, run this back to the judges' platform," Kenny said, having recovered his balance.
Peter lifted the pumpkin with some difficulty and trundled off in the direction from which they'd come.
"I wish I had a wheelbarrow!" Ethan heard Peter grumble as he trudged away.
"Let's split up now so we can cover more ground," Eileen ordered. "Boys, go with Kenny...you stick to the building and the gardens. Girls with me, we'll go around the Quidditch fields and out the Falls trail aways."
"OK, when we get to the front of the school, we'll come out along the edge of the cliff," Kenny agreed. "Then we'll swing in and meet up with you on the trail. Then we can come back along the lake shore."
So Eileen marched toward the playing fields, followed by the five first-year girls. Maddie waved to the boys as she headed off, but Anne didn't look back.
Just as Kenny was about to continue along the school walls, Peter hurried up, out of breath.
"How's everything going, Powles?" the proctor asked.
"Bradbury's got four so far," he answered wheezily. "Danny Dewin got one that had been turned into a house elf! Harrison's got four as well, Tituba's got six."
"And the Prophet's House?" Tim asked.
"Ummm, they've got nine," Peter replied glumly. "They almost got mine too. Harding tried to trip me up by casting a rope across the path, but instead the rope bound itself around Lew Van Nort's legs."
"I see they're learning their house traditions well," Kenny snorted. "Stay vigilant, all of you! We can't afford to lose any pumpkins once we've transfigured them."
The boys fanned out as they moved along the school building. Ethan looked warily from side to side. The truth was he hadn't spent much time on this side of the grounds, so he wasn't sure what might be out of place.
As they neared the front corner of the school, though, he saw a bunch of broccoli leaning against the wall. Not just any bunch of broccoli. No, this one looked to be about three feet tall and it was translucent purple.
Ethan quickly flicked his wand at the broccoli and called out, "Restitue Cucurbita!"
The broccoli transformed back into a jack-o-lantern, carved with the face of a vampire.
"Good going, Lloyd!" Kenny exclaimed. "Now, run that to the stall and get back as fast as you can!"
Ethan grabbed the pumpkin, which was quite light because it had been carved already and fairly flew back along the building to the Bradbury stall. Professor Mickelson examined the pumpkin and called out, "That's one more to Bradbury, Professor Tiverton."
Ethan saw that there were now numbers on each house banner. The Bradbury banner's number changed to ten. As Ethan hurried away again, he saw that the Harrison's had eight, Tituba twelve, and Tenskwatawa sixteen.
"It's not even going to be close, Lloyd! Might as well go pick wildflowers!"
Ethan barely glanced over his shoulder. He recognized Simon Brocklebank's shrill voice. Ethan headed back to his group at a run. On his way he passed Marcus, who was balancing two pumpkins in his arms.
"One was a flowering shrub. The other was a broomstick--a Firebolt SE, just stuck in the ground," Marcus told Ethan. "I asked Kenny if I could ride the Firebolt in and then change it back to a pumpkin, but he wasn't sure it would work right."
"Just hurry in and get them counted!" Ethan urged him. "Tenskwatawa's still way ahead."
When Ethan got back to the group, they'd just reached the cliff's edge. The school's portico stretched out to the left, but they turned to the right. Ethan was always awed by the view from Kaaterskill's high perch. The late morning sun lit up the countryside below for miles, to the Hudson some 12 miles away and far beyond.
"Be careful along here," Kenny cautioned them. "There's no way--magic or otherwise--for me to catch you if you fall."
Ethan looked down as they headed up the cliff walk. He'd really never noticed before just how sharply the land fell away. Nothing grew along the long, steep slope, which was strewn here and there with jagged boulders.
To the south of the school lay a meadow, dotted with many small groves of trees and shrubs. Ethan had heard that a great waterfall cascaded down from the mountain at the southern edge of the school grounds, but he'd never seen it.
"I wonder how the girls are doing," Kyle said, just as Marcus found them again.
"Well, I just saw Anne bring one in," he informed them. "Said it was a bludger."
As the others discussed disguised Quidditch equipment, Ethan thought he glimpsed movement behind some shrubs to his right. When he looked more carefully, he saw nothing. He moved closer to the line of bushes, away from the others.
He still saw nothing unusual, but he heard a raspy voice exclaim, "Stupid wizard spawn!"
Ethan shook his head as if he thought he might be dreaming, but then heard something scrabbling in the bushes again.
He looked over at the other boys, who were continuing to walk south, but were paying him no attention.
"Four-eyed idiot boy!" called the derisive voice again. "You can't see me, pea brain!"
Through a gap in the bushes, Ethan did see something moving, but what he saw made no sense to him. A brown furry animal dashed by on all fours. Ethan wondered whether it could be a raccoon, but it seemed too big. A badger, maybe, he wondered. He'd seen a few of them in the Madison zoo, but this seemed browner.
As Ethan puzzled over this, Kenny came up beside him.
"Is there something in there?" he asked.
"It's some sort of animal," Ethan replied. "But I could swear there's something talking, too. Nothing but insults, either; called me 'wizard spawn.'
"Brilliant you nincompoop!" the voice burst out again. The others had finally noticed something was up. As they gathered around, the voice piped up again, shouting, "Bedwetting dunces the lot of you!"
Kenny turned quickly to his crew and whispered, "This may be a tricky pumpkin. You three"--he gestured at Kyle, Tim and Peter--"double around behind the shrub and come up quickly from behind. Ethan, you keep walking along with it. Marcus, come up with me and we'll try to head it off."
"But what if it's not a pumpkin?" Peter asked in a slightly shaky voice.
"Well I've never heard of a jarvey on school grounds, but that's what it sounds like," the proctor said quietly.
"Is it dangerous?" Kyle asked.
"Nah, just very irritating, I think," Kenny said. "Now let's go."
As the others moved away, Ethan kept his eyes on the hedgerow. He heard the animal on the other side and followed the sounds. This wasn't too hard, as the creature was now spitting insults in a nearly constant stream.
"Brainless chump! Tree-hugging twit! Your daddy's a hamster!"
After a few minutes, Ethan heard confused voices, growls and grunts from the other side of the shrubs. His housemates had evidently converged on the beast, but with what result Ethan couldn't tell through the bushes.
"There it goes," he heard Marcus shout.
"Jarvey all right..." came Kenny's voice.
"Boil your bottoms!" the creature shrieked furiously.
"Restitu...ergh!" Ethan heard Tim start to cast the pumpkin reversing spell, then stop with a choking sound.
"Look out!" Peter squeaked.
Suddenly what appeared to be the largest ferret Ethan had ever seen bounced out of the shrubs straight at him.
"Gets off us, blondy!" the jarvey shouted as it launched itself at Ethan. As the cackling creature tackled him, Ethan's wand and glasses flew in opposite directions and he toppled over onto his back. A musky stench filled Ethan's nose as the overgrown rodent landed on top of him.
"So long, simpleton!" the animal roared as it sprang away.
His vision fuzzy, Ethan groped for his glasses. As he did, he heard someone burst through the bushes and run past him.
"Immobulus!" Kenny's voice called out firmly.
The scrabbling of the jarvey ceased instantly. Ethan felt his glasses with his right hand. When he put them on and looked around he saw Kenny standing over the jarvey, which seemed to have been petrified in its tracks.
"You OK, Ethan?" Tim asked breathlessly as he and the other first-years came through the hedge.
"Yeah, I think so, how about you?" Ethan replied as he looked around for his wand.
"Not bad," Tim answered, brushing grass and twigs from his robes.
"Looking for this?" Marcus asked as he held up the familiar yew wood wand.
"Thanks, man," Ethan said, as he got to his feet.
Everyone gathered around the frozen jarvey curiously.
"What a foul-mouthed creature!" Kyle exclaimed to the general nods of his companions.
"So is it a real jarvey, or a pumpkin?" Peter asked.
"Let's find out," Kenny said. "Everyone together now!"
Six wands were raised and six voices spoke the pumpkin reversing charm in unison. In an instant the jarvey was gone, replaced by the largest pumpkin Ethan had ever seen.
"Whew! It's a good thing I didn't stupefy it!" the proctor said. "It's going to be a good job getting this back to the judges. Can anyone of you do a decent levitation charm yet?"
"Ethan's got it down," Tim said quickly.
Ethan blushed and said, "But only in the classroom..."
But Kenny interrupted, "Let's see how you do, we don't have much time."
Ethan swished his wand and flicked it at the pumpkin and spoke the levitation charm. Keeping his wand steady, he raised the giant squash into the air.
"Looks good to me!" Kenny said. "Tim, you go along just in case. And then both of you get back as quick as you can."
So off they went, Ethan using his wand to keep the pumpkin floating along.
"Only in the classroom, eh?" Tim said, looking on in admiration.
"Well, I didn't know I'd be able to do it with something this big," Ethan told him. "Besides, I don't want anyone to think I'm showing off."
"Unless we see Anne, I wouldn't worry," Tim replied as they reached the front of the school again. Ethan kept the pumpkin moving along effortlessly right into the Bradbury bin.
"Nicely done, Mr. Lloyd," Professor Mickelson congratulated him. "That's one more for Bradbury, Professor Tiverton."
"What? Oh, of course," the transfiguration teacher said sourly. "Where is Skryme? He should be back from his s-s-silly investigation by now."
Ethan and Tim checked the pumpkin totals on the house banners. Tituba now had 40, Harrison 44, Bradbury 54, and Tenskwatawa 55.
"We're just one behind now!" Tim said excitedly.
"But only a few pumpkins are left," Ethan added. "Let's get back to the group right away!"
As they turned to go, Professor Skryme ran up to the judges' platform. He'd lost his usual smooth demeanor; his colorful robes were splashed with mud and he had a frantic look on his face. For a moment, he stood there, sweating and out of breath.
"What is it, Roscoe?" Mickelson asked in alarm.
"Sasquatch!" Skryme managed to mutter. "Couldn't believe it...much too far south...but there's no doubt. There's a Sasquatch loose on the grounds!"
Tiverton and Mickelson exchanged worried looks. Some of the other teachers who'd been observing hurried over to the judges' platform.
"I'll g-g-go tell the Headmaster," Tiverton stuttered. "Professor Mickelson, you keep an eye on things."
"I'll come with you," Skryme gasped, clutching his chest. The two of them dashed into the school.
Tim, Ethan and a few other students who'd been in the area when Skryme ran up stood as if rooted to the spot.
"What's a Sasquatch doing here?" Ethan asked. "I thought they were from out West."
"I didn't know they really existed," Tim said weakly. "People used to claim they'd see them up in the Rockies in Jasper Park, but they could never prove it."
A moment later, Cyrus Flyte strode out the main door.
"The Pumpkin Hunt must be suspended at once," he commanded in a stern voice. "Teachers will please fan out and recall all of the outside hunting parties. Proctors will lead the students back to their houses."
"We'd better go in now," Tim said dejectedly.
"But what about the others? We know exactly where to find them," Ethan said urgently. "It would take longer for a teacher to get to them."
He turned immediately and ran back out towards the South Meadow. Tim started to call after him, then reluctantly followed. When they reached the thicket where they'd caught the jarvey, they saw no sign of Kenny and the other boys.
"Great!" Tim said, "Now what do we do?"
"They probably went to meet the girls," Ethan said, thinking hard. "Over by the lake, right? Look, the grass is all trampled over that way. Let's just follow the trail."
Ethan led the way, quickly but not too hastily as they had to be sure not to lose the trail. In a few minutes they'd reached the southern end of the lake, where a small but swift stream ran out towards the falls. To their relief they spotted the Bradbury first-years gathered around Kenny and Eileen.
Kenny greeted them as they ran up.
"There you are! We wondered whether you were on the way back when word got out about the Sasquatch."
"You know already?" Ethan asked, crestfallen.
"Yeah, Bancroft sent an owl out as soon as he heard," Kenny explained. "Bad luck, I hear we were only one pumpkin behind at the time."
"Yeah, that's right," Tim confirmed glumly.
"Well, let's head in then," Eileen ordered. As they walked along, Ethan looked over the group and noticed that Anne Findlay wasn't with them.
He pointed this out to Tim, who glanced about and then asked Melissa Murthin where she was.
"Oh my, that's right," she gasped. "She'd just gone up the hill across the stream when Kenny and the boys arrived. We hadn't looked up there for pumpkins yet. Eileen must have forgotten!"
"Then she doesn't know about the Sasquatch?" Ethan asked in alarm.
"No, we didn't find out until just before you got back."
"We've got to go get her!" Ethan exclaimed. "Come on, Tim!"
"But, shouldn't we tell Kenny?" Tim started. He stopped and turned to Melissa. "You're sure she went up the hill there?"
Melissa nodded.
"OK, if we're not back in half an hour, make sure Kenny knows!" Ethan heard Tim tell Melissa. A moment later, Tim had splashed across the stream and caught up with Ethan, who was already clambering up the wooded slope beyond.
The ground gradually rose from the lakeside. Maples, pines and birches were scattered on the slope, with clumps of laurel between them.
The boys stopped when the ground leveled off. Looking back, Ethan could see they'd gone just a few hundred yards. He scanned the woods ahead but saw nothing moving, save an occasional squirrel or bird.
"All right, where do we start?" Tim asked.
"Let me think," Ethan answered. "If we went to the left, we'd eventually get to the falls, but that's off the grounds. I've no idea what's straight ahead, but the grounds don't go on forever. But if we bear to the right, we'd probably come right around the other side of the lake and end up..."
"Either in Standish's cottage or the Haunted Swamp," Tim completed the thought. "At least we know that also leads back to the school. But do we know Anne would be thinking about that?"
Suddenly, a short, sharp scream startled them.
"Anne!" Ethan called out.
"It came from over there," Tim said, pointing to the right.
The two boys dashed off again. Ethan had no idea what they were going to do if they found themselves face to face with a Sasquatch. He still wasn't really sure what to expect, as he'd only read about such creatures in rather unreliable muggle books.
The leaves crunched under their feet as they ran in the direction of the scream. After a while, they slowed down and tried to listen again.
"Stay back!" This time they recognized Anne's voice, though she sounded more shrill and scared than they'd ever heard her.
"Just up there," Ethan whispered to Tim, pointing ahead to an area where several pine trees encircled a small hollow. As they got closer, they could see Anne Findlay, her red hair disheveled, standing at the bottom of the hollow.
As they moved forward, a terrible rank odor filled Ethan's nose. Suddenly Tim grabbed Ethan's shoulder to hold him back. What Ethan had thought was a tree trunk moved in front of them. They looked up and saw that the tree trunk was the left leg of the tallest creature they'd ever seen. Ethan guessed it was over ten feet tall. The creature was covered with thick auburn fur, and long red hair fell limply around its shoulders.
"I think we found the Sasquatch," Tim whispered.
"Yeah," was all Ethan could say in reply.
"Now what?" Tim asked.
At that moment the Sasquatch grunted and began heading down into the hollow. Anne screamed again and started up the other side.
"Try to distract it!" Ethan shouted.
"How?"
"Do anything! Here, throw something!"
With that Ethan grabbed a large stick and threw it against the creature's back. Tim had found a good-sized rock, which he sent sailing at the Sasquatch's shoulder.
Now, the Sasquatch is not the most sensitive of creatures, but this one eventually realized that someone was throwing things at it. He stopped his pursuit of Anne and turned to see what it was. As he did so, Ethan and Tim nearly swooned from the stench of Sasquatch breath.
"Apparently it doesn't brush regularly," Ethan said as he scrambled away.
"A pity!" Tim rejoined. "Um, I think we've drawn it away from Anne all right."
Ethan held his nose and looked up. He soon wished he hadn't. His eyes met the befuddled gaze of the gigantic creature as it blinked its red eyes in search of its tormentors.
Now had Ethan and Tim kept quite still when the Sasquatch turned towards them, it might not have seen them at all. But it could hardly have missed Ethan, shaking with fright, one hand over his nose and staring straight into the Sasquatch's eyes.
The creature took one ungainly step towards Ethan, and then stopped as it caught sight of Tim, who was scrambling backwards through the twigs and dried leaves.
A thought suddenly came to Ethan, and apparently a quite different thought came to the Sasquatch at the same instant. So it was that the creature lifted one massive arm and broke a long branch off a nearby pine tree, just as Ethan pulled his wand out of his robes.
The Sasquatch started to swing the branch in Tim's direction, ignoring Ethan for the moment. Ethan took this chance to aim his wand at the big footed beast and shout, "Restitue Cucurbita!"
Ethan looked expectantly at the Sasquatch. Nothing happened. Tim jumped out of the way just as the tree branch swept down towards him.
"Darn it!" Ethan yelled in frustration. "I thought maybe..."
"It was worth a try, anyway," Tim called out.
Before either of the boys could come up with another plan, Ethan felt himself being scooped up in the Sasquatch's free hand.
"No! Get off!" he yelled. Ethan kicked and flailed his arms, but it was no use. He found himself firmly held in the beast's fist, the musky stench filling his senses.
The Sasquatch continued to lumber after Tim, who kept backing away from it. The boys had quite forgotten about Anne until Ethan caught a glimpse of her red hair off to the left from his perch in the Sasquatch's leathery hand. She was following them but apparently trying to keep out of the creature's sight.
Tim looked as though his worst nightmare had come alive. Ethan saw the fear in his friend's eyes and wondered why he didn't simply turn around and run away. Then he realized that neither Anne nor Tim would abandon him while he remained in the Sasquatch's grip. On the other hand, it seemed clear neither had any idea how to rescue him yet.
This thought distracted Ethan for a few seconds, but the sight of Tim tripping over a fallen branch brought him back to their hopeless situation.
Trying to get back up, Tim managed to slip on wet leaves and get tangled up in some vines that had grown along the ground. The Sasquatch was nearly atop him and raised his arm to strike.
"Do something, Anne!" Ethan yelled as he again caught a glimpse of the girl's red hair somewhere below him on the left.
"Like what?" she called back.
"ANYTHING!" Ethan answered. The beast had loosened his grip on Ethan a bit as it concentrated on swinging the branch at Tim. Ethan renewed his flailing attempts to free himself, but only succeeded in sliding his wand into the Sasquatch's ear, where it stuck.
The Sasquatch grunted and looked straight at Ethan again, then shook its head violently in an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the wand from its ear.
Tim was still flat on his back looking up at the Sasquatch and Ethan. While the beast was worrying about its ear, Anne stepped out in front of it, wand in hand. As Ethan had earlier, she shouted the first spell she could remember: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The tree branch floated upwards out of the grasp of the Sasquatch. The beast looked slowly up, as did Ethan and Tim. For a moment, Ethan thought the branch would float right out of the woods. But just as it reached the tree tops, it fell back down and caught the Sasquatch squarely on the back of the neck.
The red eyes opened wide, then shut. The Sasquatch wobbled back and forth, and then fell straight forward into the leaf mold. Tim managed to roll away just in time as the creature's head came to rest against the fallen branch. Ethan clambered out of the Sasquatch's hand and pulled his wand out of the gigantic ear, only to find it caked in some greyish substance.
"Yuk! Bigfoot earwax!" he exclaimed as he wiped the wand off in the creature's fur.
"Is it dead then?" Tim asked as he stood next to Ethan.
"No, look...it's still breathing," Anne said from the other side of the Sasquatch's head. "Let's get out of here!"
"Yeah!" the boys fervently agreed.
But before they could take two steps, they heard many footsteps crunching through the woods towards them. Ethan looked up and saw that Professor Bancroft had nearly reached them, looking very grim indeed. Close behind him strode Tiverton, his nervous tic very much in evidence. Next came Roscoe Skryme, looking even more mussed and rumpled than he had earlier. Bringing up the rear was Kenny Sturtevant, whose face was white as a sheet.
Tiverton leaned down to examine the Sasquatch. Skryme stayed back, surveying the creature nervously. Bancroft was looking at the three first-years with a cold fury Ethan had never before seen in his eyes.
"I don't know what could have possessed you!" Bancroft said angrily. "You're all lucky to be alive. If Miss Murthin hadn't alerted your proctors..."
Ethan looked down at the ground and he sensed that the others had also hung their heads.
"It's my fault, Professor," Anne said, her wand still out. "When I heard about the Sasquatch, I was so sure it was a transfigured pumpkin I just had to go and find it. Ethan and Tim just came to my rescue. If they hadn't come when they did, I wouldn't be standing here now."
"No, really it was my fault, Professor Bancroft," Tim insisted. "I thought I could handle the Sasquatch, because we have them in Canada and I'd read all about them. I, ah, I didn't think we had time to go for help."
Ethan could hardly believe his ears. Anne, who'd been mad at him all week, and Tim, who always followed the rules, were both taking the blame when it had been he--Ethan--who'd run into the woods without telling Kenny.
Bancroft raised one eyebrow and turned to Ethan.
"Well, Mr. Lloyd, do you have anything to add?"
"Ah, no, sir, except that Anne was the one who knocked the Sasquatch out by levitating the branch it had grabbed to attack Tim."
"Well, I don't know how any of you thought for a moment that you could handle a creature like a Sasquatch on your own!" Bancroft admonished them. "I ought to take fifty points from each of you for such foolhardy behavior!"
"But, Professor..." Ethan started to protest, but Bancroft held up his hand.
"However, I really must take into account the fact that the three of you are standing here, not too much the worse for wear," he continued. "And that there's an unconscious Sasquatch on the ground over there. So I will take five points from each of you for your miserable judgment. But I'll award twenty points to you, Miss Findlay, for your quick recall of spells."
"We'd best run along now, don't you think, Herodotus?" Skryme asked nervously. "It might wake up, after all."
"Very well, Roscoe," Bancroft answered. "You take the students along with you. Professor Tiverton and I will finish dealing with the creature."
"Come along, then," Skryme directed the students as he led the way back towards the school.
Skryme hurried them into the school as if he was being chased by a Sasquatch.
On the way back to Bradbury Tower, Kenny tried to scold them.
"Bancroft is right," he told the three first-years. "There's no reason in the world why you aren't dead. You should have told me and Eileen and we could have gotten the teachers out there."
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was going," Ethan told the proctor. "But if we'd waited any longer, we might not have found Anne in time."
"Ethan's right about that," Anne admitted. "I wouldn't have lasted much longer."
"Well, you may be right," Kenny said. "But it was a huge gamble. You can be sure that Flyte will hear about it."
They'd reached the Bradbury common room door. Kenny gave the password--it had been changed to "deerslayer" the week before--and the Dutchman swung open. The room was noisy with boisterous students, talking about the hunt, the Sasquatch and the coming feast. The proctor stepped into the room.
Ethan was about to follow when Anne said, "Wait a minute, both of you."
Ethan and Tim hung back and looked over at Anne. A few seconds of embarrassing silence followed.
"I'm sorry," she began sheepishly. "The way I acted the past few days was totally bogus. I'm surprised you even wanted to rescue me from that thing. Thanks."
"Ah, don't worry about it," Ethan said. "I know you would have done the same thing if either of us had been out there."
"Yeah," Tim agreed. "Besides, if we hadn't come looking for you, we wouldn't have seen you knock a Sasquatch on its face...that was wicked! Oh, and thanks for saving me, too."
Ethan nodded fervently and said, "Thanks, Anne!"
With that, the three of them entered the hubbub of the common room. Marcus, Melissa and the others besieged them with questions and congratulations. Evidently the tale of their adventure had already spread throughout the house. And from that moment on, Ethan, Tim and Anne became firm friends. When you find that you can count on someone to help you bring down a ten-foot Sasquatch, perhaps you can't help liking them.
And later at the Halloween Feast, the afterglow of their adventure helped make up for Flyte's announcement that Tenskwatawa had won the Pumpkin Hunt and a total of 130 house points.