Harry took one look at his schedule and groaned. He showed it to Ron, who tried to commit suicide by drowning in his bowl of milk and cereal.

"Potions first thing… And last! What. The. Hell?" Harry stabbed an egg savagely.

All Ron could manage as a response was weak bubbling sounds.

"Get your face out of your breakfast, Ron. Stop being such a drama queen."

Ron lifted his head, dripping milk and corn flakes. "Well excuuuuuuse me, Miss I'm-Going-To-Be-A-Wench-For-No-Reason. I thought the first day of school was your favorite?"

Hermione determinedly filled her mouth with bagel and didn't answer.

Harry studied the schedule again. "Hey, guess who with, though: Slytherins. We can meet that new girl."

Hermione tried to laugh sarcastically and choked on bagel instead. "I can hardly wait," she gasped, substituting a scathing tone for volume.

Now Harry stared at Hermione. "What's your problem? You're the one who's always telling Ron and me to just ignore them."

"He does have a point, Hermione."

"I don't need this." Hermione threw everything into her book bag, including a pot of jam. "I'm going to Potions early." And with that, she stalked off. Ron looked at Harry, mystified.

"Potions early," he mused. "What happened with her?"

Rory was waiting for her schedule when a screech filled the Great Hall. It set her teeth on edge, and she nearly threw up her hands to cover her head when Pansy screamed, "Mail call!"

Then she felt like a fool and quickly dropped her half-raised hands. Mail. Owls. Oh yeah.

A collective shriek, consisting mostly of girls voices, washed over the room. Among the downy grays and browns of the owls was a mahogany streak that most definitely did not belong; fibrous wings slapped at the air, an inhuman squeaking preceded the furry blur.

Comprehending, Rory jumped up onto her chair and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"ANGUS!"

The blur wheeled toward her, gaining speed, then just as quickly slowed and perched upside down on her outstretched arm.

Everyone looking could see now it was not a i bat /i . It was a flying fox, with large ears and golden eyes. It really did look like a fox, only sans bushy tail and plus wings. It gazed at Rory adoringly, whimpering happiness. "Angus," Rory cooed at it, giving it a piece of fruit. It, or rather, he, ate it while she untied the letter from his foot, then flapped out the window.

Rory was oblivious to the gawks she was getting. She opened the letter—not a scroll of parchment, but an envelope containing computer paper. Written on it in an untidy ballpoint scrawl was:

i Dear Ro—

You must be at that fancy British bording school by now. I can't beleive you left me! Dude, fucking England? What the fuck?

Well, I suppose I can forgive you… for now lol. But anyway, now that I've finally started this thing, I have absolutly no idea what to say… Except that your gone!

Well, guess who's in my math class? Fucking Anna Peterson. Seriously. I'll catch a STD just from thinking about her. And guess whose going out with her? Brett! I know; I cannot believe a foxy bastard (but still a bastard) like your ex would go out with her… Dude, I want to tell you good news after that, but I don't got none!

Well, see you over Xmas. Keep the real.

Love

Naima

PS, why do I have to send these thru your mom?

/i

Rory stuck the letter in her pocket. After all of the excitement of moving, of leaving, of coming here… She'd forgotten about her best friend. Rory felt a guilty weight in her gut. She knew even if she did seeNaima during Christmas, chances were by that time they'd be on their way to being polite strangers, nice to each other for reasons neither could remember.

How quickly things change right under your nose.

"Anything wrong, Fish?"

Rory looked up. Draco was holding out her schedule. She cleared her throat, willing any embarrassing emotions away, and said, "No, fine. Just got a letter from a friend."

"Oh. RANDOM SEXUAL ASSAULT!" he shouted, and pinched Pansy's unsuspecting ass and ran. Pansy squealed and took off after him.

One thing Rory could say for Draco: never a dull moment. She looked at the first thing on the schedule. Potions. Yay.

On the way to the dungeons, Rory found that the Random Sexual Assault had evolved into a game of Spank Tag that all of the Slytherins were participating in. Rory kept finding herself spanked by random people as they stood outside of the Potions class, and things only quieted down because she yelled, "What grab-assery is this?"

It was either that, or because she accidentally screamed it with Snape standing right behind her.

Oops.

Time passed.

The attention paid to Rory for her newness shrank a little, and the small respite Harry had been given began to end. It was as if they were on a scale: on one side, Rory, with her tie-dye and accent screeching for notice wherever she went. On the other side, Harry, winner of the Triwizard Tournament (by default, some were quick to point out) and witness to You-Know-Who's supposed return. Rory and Harry were slowly, but most surely, coming to a balance.

Speaking of the two, they'd yet to talk to each other. Hermione had resolutely ignored her, and Harry found it hard to introduce himself with Hermione dragging him away in the opposite direction. Rory was busy adapting: a process which was easier than she'd expected but still a tad time-consuming.

As October came closer to its end, Draco noticed two differences in the new girl.

One: she wasn't a nervous wreck anymore. It hadn't dwindled or gradually disappeared; rather, it left all at once on the sixteenth, when she came to class without jumping at anything and half an hour late. Draco found this an improvement.

Second: she seemed overly excited about Halloween.

"I can't wait, man," Rory said at lunch, eating a turkey sandwich in the common room. "Halloween is my favorite holiday."

"Really. What's so good about it?"

"Are you kidding, Pansy? You guys don't throw a party or anything?"

"Well, if by party you mean pilfer some Jim Beam… yeah, we party."

"No costume parties?"

Blank eyes.

Draco decided it was time for a good old fashioned drawl. "No, but I suppose if we all dress like you, that should be enough…"

He had to duck an incoming turkey sandwich on sourdough, the lettuce clipping his carefully looked-after hair.

"Ha ha, very funny, smart ass."

"You wench! That almost ruined my hair!"

"So no costumes?" Rory asked Pansy, suddenly ignoring Malfoy's abuses. Pansy stifled some snorts of laughter.

"Sorry my little yoof; I don't know why you think we dress up just for Halloween."

"Muggles do it. It's fun." Rory looked in the fireplace, thinking. Draco caught himself wondering exactly i how /i pure her blood was and realized they'd never been told.

"Sure, whatever."

Rory smiled. "Well, seeing as none of you have costume parties, then maybe I'll just throw one."

This is what the letters said: i

You Have Been Invited

to:

The Monster Mash!

When: Halloween, half an hour after the Feast

Where: 7th floor… follow the leader!

Here are my rules:

Any member of any House can come

Sorry, but you 1st-3rd years… no party for you!

It's a COSTUME party. No costume, no entrance.

If you're having trouble with a costume, talk to a Muggle-born

See Ya There, MOTHAFUCKAS!

—Rory

/i

"How lewd," sniffed Hermione, reading over Harry's shoulder. A Ravenclaw named Erin something was passing out the invitations randomly at the Gryffindor table. Harry could see Rory Evans at the end of the Hufflepuffs', just finishing up.

"Oh, what's so lewd, Hermione?" Ron snatched the paper and reread it. "What does she mean, costumes? Like at the Yule Ball? Because I burned those damned dress robes…"

"No." Harry took a last bite of custard and stretched. "Muggles dress up as scary stuff on Halloween. Like witches and goblins or whatever you want."

"It has to be scary?"

"Nah, doesn't have to be. That's just kinda the general idea Muggles have."

"Oh." Ron studied the invitation, thinking. "Well, what should I be?"

"You're not actually thinking of i going, /i are you?" Hermione asked, incredulous, as the last of supper disappeared.

"Why not, Hermione?"

"Because… we… have work to do!"

"Halloween falls on a Saturday this year; we don't have classes Sunday. We can finish everything then."

"You'll fall behind!"

"Hermione, what's the big deal?" Harry had never seen Hermione set against another person for no reason.

"I just don't like her. If you were smart, you wouldn't go." She stormed off. Harry had a sneaking suspicion she might be crying, but he certainly didn't want to get involved in i that, /i so he hurriedly began discussing costumes with Ron.