20
The Forbidden Halloween
The year progressed further. They were all beginning to not only settle into our routines but they were somehow managing to find time to the massive amount of work that was always being assigned.
As October came and passed, the air got chillier. On the morning of Halloween, a cold wind blew through the corridors of the castle from the open doors.
Doe sat down in the great hall, and noticed that someone, presumably Hagrid had placed tons of massive Jack-o-Lanterns all over the great hall and had strung large cobwebs across every corner.
It looked like something out of a book.
" Aw the Great Hall looks wonderful!" Lily said staring at all of the decorations.
Doe sat down and put a slice of toast on her plate, she was starving.
" It really does" Alice said sitting down next to her friend Molly, the seventh year.
" I'm so hungry" Mary said scooping a pile of eggs onto her plate. Marlene sat quietly, she had been woken up earlier than she had wanted so she was practically asleep at the table.
" What do you think that they're doing over there?" Lily asked.
" Who?" Doe asked turning to see where she was looking. She was pointing further down the table. All four marauders sat, heads close together deep in whispered conversation.
" They're planning something" Lily said unblinking.
" A prank, I'm sure" Doe said to her.
Lily continued to stare at them. Doe couldn't help it, she looked back at them too, insanely curious.
Remus looked up for a second and caught her eye. He winked quickly and turned back to Sirius who had started whispering quickly.
A few minutes later, a loud noise made them all seem to turn around. Some of the Slytherins at their table and began coughing loudly.
" Ew, what is in this?" Bellatrix asked holding her pumpkin juice.
" It tastes disgusting!" Elizabeth said pushing hers away. All of the other Slytherins were coughing and pushing their pumpkin juice away.
" Pepper in their pumpkin juice?" Arthur Weasley asked James with a smile.
James smiled widely, " Happy Halloween from the Gryffindors"
All of the Slytherins had gotten up from their table and left the Great Hall, obviously thinking all of their food had been tampered with.
" Brilliant you guys" a third year said walking by clapping Sirius on the back.
Sirius stood up on his chair.
A few of the teachers, McGonagall included, eyed him curiously.
" Members of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw" Sirius began, " we now have a Slytherin free breakfast, Enjoy."
The rest of the great hall burst into loud appreciation, as no one particularly enjoyed the Slytherin's presence.
" They can be so thick" Lily said shaking her head.
" I mean it was kind of funny" Marlene pointed out.
" Rude" Lily corrected," and it had to have broken a least a dozen school rules"
Doe ignored Lily's musings. As much as she sometimes hated to admit it, the Marauders pranks we often needed to bring levity to the situation.
While most of the students had turned back to their food, the owls came swarming in to deliver the morning post.
A set of sleek brown prophet owls dropped prophets in front of those who subscribed. One fell onto my Doe's lap. She unrolled it carefully and almost gasped when she saw the front page.
Mass Ministry Murders: You-Know-Who Suspected
5 Ministry officials have been found murdered in their homes last night. All five were found murdered by the unforgivable killing curse. Each home had a Dark Mark in the sky above the murder and only had one casualty. Among the dead were heads of five ministry departments including Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, Regulation of Magical Creatures, Magical Cooperation, Mysteries, and International Affairs. It is suspected that the deaths were caused by You-know-who and his followers. Readers are advised to be cautious.
There were many shocked expressions across the room suggested that everyone was reading the cover story. Murders of ministry officials meant that You-Know-Who was gaining even more power than Doe had thought. If even the ministry was being attacked than the situation was proving to be even more serious than she had thought.
Up at the teacher's high table, the article had obviously sparked conversation. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall hurried from the hall.
" Well this isn't good" Sirius said taking the prophet from Doe to read the headline.
" If he's attacking the ministry, You-Know-Who must be getting stronger" James said reading the paper and running his hand through his hair.
" I'm sure it's being investigated" Remus said, noticing Doe's worried expression.
" Hopefully" James said, looking less sure of the statement.
The rest of the day passed by slowly. In charms they learned how to do a festive spell which instantly carved pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.
By the time they got to Potions they were very tired, and bored with the day.
Potions was the only class they shared with the Slytherins, and it usually put a damper on their day.
Today they were working on a new potion that Slughorn had deemed appropriate only for 6th years and above.
" It's quite challenging" Slughorn had said, " so I'll be pairing all of you up"
Doe listened as he paired up the groups, they had an uneven amount of students so the final group had three people in it, and Doe sighed when she heard who her group consisted of,
" Sirius, Doe, and Severus"
She saw Sirius set his jaw together, and Severus had an almost murderous grin.
She couldn't imagine a worse collection of people to put together. Severus and Doe had maintained a casual friendship since last year, often studying together, but she was the only Gryffindor who still talked to him, and Sirius seemed to have a particular hatred for him.
It made it quite uncomfortable for Doe since she was friends with both of them.
Sirius was very tense as they walked over to Severus' table.
" I hate him" he whispered to her quickly before they got there.
" Be nice" she snapped back.
Sirius narrowed his eyes and said " It couldn't of been you, me and James or Remus? No that would've been too easy", he rolled his eyes.
" Hey Severus," Doe said walking over to the table he sat with a cauldron.
" Hello Doe" he said and his eyes landed on Sirius, scowling.
" Okay" she said loudly standing in between them, " Let's start making this okay? It looks difficult"
She opened the book to the correct page, there were a lot of very specific directions that had to be followed precisely.
Mainly, she just talked to both Sirius and Severus separately and only to have them hand her something or stir the potion.
" Sirius, can you hand me 12 beetles?" she asked.
Sirius reached for the the container of beetles.
" It needs thirteen beetles" Severus said.
" The book says twelve" Sirius snapped.
" Well it needs thirteen" Severus said angrily.
" Oh you think you know more than the book do you?" Sirius asked.
" It needs thirteen, If you studied you would know that" Severus snapped back at him.
Sirius stood up from the chair. Severus rolled his eyes.
" Okay let's just put twelve because that's what the book says, okay?" Doe told Severus trying to diffuse the tension.
" Doe, it needs thirteen, it's just like when we had to edit the veritaserum recipe-" Severus started.
" She just said we're doing twelve" Sirius said cutting him off.
" Will you shut it, Black" Severus snapped.
" Me? Why don't you shut it, Snivellus" Sirius snapped.
" I swear I'll-" Severus started.
" What? What will you do?" Sirius asked. Both of them were standing wands drawn.
" Stop it, both of you" Doe demanded, " will you both just calm down?"
Many of the other groups were looking at them now. James and Remus looked like they were about to step in, and over by the Slytherin table Yaxley and Lucius Malfoy were scowling at Sirius.
" Any trouble over here?" Professor Slughorn asked, an eyebrow raised.
" No, Sir" Doe told him with a small smile.
" Okay, Ms. Meadowes" Slughorn said slightly warningly and walked away.
Doe eyed both Sirius and Severus dangerously and they both quieted. They sat in silence for the rest of the class, while she added the rest of the ingredients.
By the end, the potion worked but not effectively. Only Mary and Lily's group had produced an effective potion.
" That was not nice" Doe told Sirius as they were leaving.
Sirius rolled his eyes, " I never said I'd be nice"
" It looked like you were having fun" Remus said smiling as they walked towards the common room.
" Oh yes, loads" she said sarcastically.
" Slughorn threw you into the lions cage with that group" Remus commented.
" Well someone didn't behave themselves" she said loudly enough for Sirius, who was walking a little ahead with James, to hear.
Sirius turned around, " Sorry beautiful, but I couldn't take five more minutes of that Snivelling git"
Doe turned back to Remus, " He made it worse"
" It's not my fault that you sympathize with it" Sirius said scowling.
" I don't really understand that either" Lily said from the other side of her.
Doe turned to Remus, " I'm being attacked".
" Don't worry" he said reassuringly, " I still like you".
" Oh I like her" Lily said, " just not the company she keeps"
Doe rolled her eyes, " Alright enough, let's talk about something else"
They all crawled through the portrait hole and into the common room.
Marlene complained loudly that she was exhausted, so Mary, Lily and Doe went upstairs with her and just sat on their beds, talking until it was time for the feast.
Hours later, the four of them decided to head down to the Great Hall for the feast. The Halloween feast was one of the things that Doe most looked forward to at Hogwarts, it was always such a great celebration.
When they walked into the great hall, music was pouring in from some large ornate looking player in the corner and the tables were covered in the most delicious looking food, that I had ever seen.
" Oh look caramel apples" Mary said as they sat down.
They all began eating, the topic of discussion amongst the older students drifted towards a new relationship that had developed in Slytherin.
" Yeah Bellatrix was all over Rodolphus Lestrange this morning" Emmeline said surely.
" Really? Bellatrix?" Otto Bagman asked, looking shocked, " She's so.."
" Skanky" Marlene offered.
" Damn, settle down Marlene" James said watching her face contort with anger.
" I don't like her" Marlene said taking a bite of the delicious food in front of her.
" You've made that quite apparent" Mary assured her.
" Well, she's awful" Marlene said, " and Doe hates her even more than me"
" Yes, but I'm not as blatant about it" Doe told her.
" I'm sure that I hate her more than both of you" Sirius told them.
" You win" she told him, accepting defeat.
All around the hall the houses were engaged in cheery conversation. It was very hard not to be festive with so much going on. Even at the high table, the teachers were all looking quite joyous. Except for Professor Weasley who was staring at the Divination teacher with a particularly strange look, he had just told him that he had seen the grim in his tea leaves.
Someone let out a quick laugh. A few people had figure out that if you touched your wand to the skeleton head centerpieces that were placed up and down the table, they made jokes and would cough out a small trinket. All over the hall, students were fascinated by the cheerful bit of magic and adorned with wizarding chess pieces, and witches hats that had come out of the mouth.
When they finished eating and we all headed out of the great hall.
" Guys come here" James said to Lily, Mary, Marlene, and Doe.
He was standing with the Marauders near one of the exits to the grounds.
" What, why?" Marlene asked.
" A little Halloween surprise" Sirius said with a wink.
Marlene grinned, " I'm in. What is it?"
" It's in the forbidden forest" James said.
Lily crossed her arms " No way, it's forbidden, Potter"
" It's Halloween, we're supposed to be scared" Peter pointed out.
" It's going to be fun" Sirius said, " who's in?"
" Not me," Lily said quickly, " I am not breaking school rules. You lot can go".
She cast one last irritated glance and stomped off.
" Lily" Doe called after her, but she just kept walking.
" Well, Meadowes? McDonald? What do you say?" Sirius asked.
Doe looked at Remus, " Are you going?".
" I was forced into it, but yes" he said.
" Come on Doe, Mary" Marlene said practically jumping up and down.
" Fine" Mary said agreeing. Peter smiled widely.
" Doe?" Remus asked.
" Alright" she said.
Sirius looked up and down the Hallway, it had cleared. The crowd from the Great Hall had dispersed.
" Come on, be quiet" Sirius said pushing the door to the grounds open. They all filed out the door.
They were breaking ten school rules. The forbidden forest was, after all forbidden.
As they walked down the grounds and approached the thick opening of the forest, Doe began to get nervous.
" I don't know if we should be doing this" she said stopping right in front of it.
" Moony, please talk to her" James said looking to Remus.
" If you don't want to go, we can go to back up to the school" Remus said reassuringly. He took her hand, stroking it with his thumb.
" No" she said taking a deep breath, " let's go".
Remus smiled and kept holding her hand. He squeezed it slightly.
The forest was darker than she had imagined, as they walked into it, they were immediately enveloped in a thick cluster of dark trees and underbrush. James, Sirius and Remus all had their wands lighted in front of them. Mary and Marlene were right next to them, practically clinging to each other. Doe held Remus' hand tighter. Every tiny sound in here scared her.
" So what kind of things live in here?" Marlene asked Sirius, her voice faltering a little.
" Lots of different kinds of things, I don't know them all" Sirius said.
" How many times have you been in here?" Doe asked Remus. Remus looked down.
" We've been in here a few times" James answered quickly for him.
They walked into the forest further. The clearer path that was there closer to the entrance was slowly disappearing and they kept having to duck underneath large branches.
They were walking straight ahead when something unidentifiable ran in front of them. It was a massive black shape and it passed so close to them, It almost touched them.
Marlene, Mary and Doe all screamed. Doe clung to Remus, her chest rising and falling in fear. He wrapped an arm around her.
" What the hell was that?" she asked.
" I dunno" he said staring in front of him.
" I'm a little scared" Mary admitted.
" It's not much further" James said.
" What isn't" Doe asked, but she didn't have too.
In front of them was a massive tree, almost the size of the Whomping Willow, but severely less vicious. Hanging from a few of the branches were small wooden swings.
" Wow" Doe said coming over to it.
" Did you guys do this?" Marlene asked plopping herself down onto one of the swings.
James shook his head, " We just found it".
Both Mary and Marlene sat down on one of the swings and began pumping their legs. Doe watched as they both began flying through the air, laughing as they did.
" Not a fan of heights?" Remus asked watching her worried expression.
She shrugged, " It's a little frightening".
" Do you want to walk a little, not too far?" he asked.
" Yeah, why not" she told him.
" We'll be right back" Remus called to the others and they drifted a little, walking deeper into the forest.
Remus stopped every so often to point to a place where he and the marauders had previously done something. The anecdotes were certainly interesting.
They kept walking, until it became so dark that even the light from the wand was only delivering a small light of exposed ground in front of them.
" You want to sit for a minute?" Doe asked him, stopping at a tree that's base was wide enough for both of them to lean against.
They sat down and stared at the dark expanse in front of them. There was a slight fog above them.
" You know, Doe, I don't know if I tell you this enough, but I'm really glad I have you" Remus said running his hand over hers.
She smiled, " Rem,"
" Sorry," he said quickly, " was that too sappy?"
" Not at all" she told him. She leaned over and pulled him closer to her. He held her face and began kissing her.
There was a loud noise that sounded like footsteps. She and Remus broke apart getting to our feet.
" Did you hear that?" she asked.
Remus nodded. She turned to look behind the tree and froze.
" Remus don't move" she said quickly.
He didn't.
" What is it?" he asked.
She didn't respond right away. Behind the tree was what looked like hundreds of spiders, twenty times the size of normal ones. Their eyes were black and they stared back at her with a ferocious look of hunger.
" Spiders, very big ones" Doe told him.
Remus slowly turned to see them too, and froze when he did.
He grabbed her hand and leaned in to whisper " run" in her ear. They took off quickly, running as fast as they could through the dark expanse of trees. She could hear them behind them running quickly.
Doe turned around wand pointed and shouted " stupefy!".
The stunning spell only hit the ones closest to them. They kept running, but she didn't see the stump in front of them. She stupidly tripped over it and fell to her knees. Remus stopped, helping her back to her feet. The spiders were inches from them. Their pincers clicking viciously. Remus stood in front of her, wand drawn.
But there were so many of them, more than either of them could handle. Remus' was breathing heavily, he still had his wand out, ready to try and fight them off.
Suddenly, something burst through the crowd of spiders, something white.
Very fearful, the spiders began to retreat, fleeing back into the deep forest.
Remus and Doe looked up at the creature that had stopped them. It had the body of white horse, but the the top half of a young man, about 18, with long dark hair.
A centaur.
" Thank you for saving us" Remus said quickly, " we didn't know what to do"
" Are you from the school?" The centaur asked.
Doe nodded, " Yes, we are"
" You should go" the centaur replied, " the forest is not safe for you".
" Well thank you again," Remus said extending his hand out to him.
He looked at it for a second, eyeing warily before shaking it.
" You should go" he said again, " they might come back" and with one fleeting look he took off, back into the deep of the forest from which he came.
Doe turned to Remus and he pulled her into a tight hug.
" You okay?" he asked.
She nodded quickly, " Are you?" she asked, holding his arm where his shirt had ripped.
" I'm fine," he assured me, " Let's go find the others"
They walked more quickly this time, back to the tree, where everyone else was, still chatting cheerfully. Sirius had his arm thrown casually around Marlene's shoulders.
" Bloody hell, what happened to you two" Sirius asked looking at their disheveled appearance. Doe ran her hand through her hair and pulled out a clump of leaves.
" Arachnids" Remus told him while he grabbed another twig from Doe's hair, " hundreds of them. They attacked us"
" How'd you make it out?" Peter asked, a look of intense fear on his face.
" A centaur saved us" Doe told them.
" A centaur!" James said loudly, " what're they like?"
" Later" Remus said looking behind him, " we should probably get out of here"
Sighing, everyone followed Remus down the path towards the school. The experience had scared her out of ever going back into the forest again. If those spiders were in there, who knew what else was.
They were approaching the school, they could see the light from the grounds. As they left the darkness of the forest and walked back onto the grounds, she felt a sense of relief.
The relief was short-lived.
Standing at the edge of the grounds, clutching the foul kitten, was Filch.
" My, we are in trouble, aren't we?" he said, a cold smile stretched on his face.
In the end, Filch had dragged all seven of them to Professor McGonagall who practically screamed at them.
" SEVEN GRYFFINDORS OUT OF BED AFTER HOURS AND IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST. REALLY? WHY IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING SO UNSAFE. And really Ms. Meadowes, Mr. Lupin, you are prefects, I expected more from you"
McGonagall's shrill voice rang out loudly, and all of the Sixth years didn't look up from the floor.
She had given them all detention for the following night cleaning all of the trophies in the trophy room without magic, and taken a hundred points from Gryffindor.
When they told Lily all of this next morning in Charms, she looked very proud.
" You shouldn't have gone, you could have died" Lily said.
" It was fun though," Marlene told her.
" Less fun for me" Doe said darkly.
" She and Lupin went off to get all snuggly and they almost got eaten by spiders" Marlene told Lily.
Doe blushed deeply, and looked back down at the essay she was supposed to be writing.
" You were both okay though, right?" Lily asked.
" Yeah, we were fine" Doe told her, " we were saved by a centaur"
" I love centaurs" Lily said.
Amos Diggory looked over at her, from his table in the corner and smiled brightly.
Lily smiled back and color rose to her cheeks.
" You should just ask him out, Lily" Mary told her, "he's practically drooling"
Lily turned back to look at him again and then turned back to them, shaking her head.
The rest of the day went by very quickly and after dinner, the six of them waited outside the trophy room, Remus had gotten sick and couldn't go, for Filch. Who came over looking far too pleased to be observing.
" Don't you have something better to do?" Sirius asked him darkly.
Filch was sitting on a stool in the middle of the trophy room watching them scrub the trophies.
" I miss the old punishments" Filch said softly, " The old headmaster let me hang the rulebreakers by their ankles in the dungeons"
" What a cheery thought" James said sarcastically reaching for a large trophy to begin cleaning.
" Too bad Remus isn't here" Doe said to Sirius while they scrubbed one of the trophies.
" Yeah, but too bad his mom got sick" Sirius said.
Doe stopped wiping the trophy, " I thought he was sick"
James' eyes widened, " He is" he said, " Sirius must be mistaken"
Sirius nodded, " Come to think of it, it was Remus who was sick. I must've gotten confused"
Slightly confused herself, she turned back to the trophy that she was cleaning.
It was dull work. Really dull work. Without magic, it took several hours and they were only halfway through all the trophies.
It was one in the morning and they had just started on the other half of the room when Professor McGonagall walked by the open door.
" ARGUS!" She shouted angrily entering the room, " I told you not to keep them past midnight"
" Oh," Filch said in false confusion, " Is it past midnight already?"
McGonagall narrowed her eyes, " You can all go to bed now, I hope you've learned your lesson".
Excited that they were let off earlier than they had thought, they all scrambled out of the room and headed back to the common room, and dragged themselves off to bed.