Chapter Ten: Halloween
October 31, 2011/1775
Some say that Athena Washington-Potter hated Halloween.
Correction: Athena Washington-Potter loathed Halloween, with a burning passion. Why, you may ask? Well, Halloween was hailed as the day Athena "defeated" the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort, but the sheep of the Wizarding World forgot that it was also the day that Athena lost her parents. Instead of treating it as a day of ceremony and loss, they treated it like they treated the muggle holiday. (Athena had read up on the muggle worlds before coming to Hogwarts, so she wouldn't seem so out of place if she ever went to Muggle America or London.)
Today's halloween was spent going about her day to day business, and Athena thought today would go perfectly normal. That was, until charms class earlier today.
~XXXXXX~
Athena Washington-Potter and her best friends, Flora Franklin, Hermione Granger, Anthony Goldstein, and Draco Malfoy, were walking to charms class that day. They were currently debating about who they wanted to win the 2012 American Presidential election happening next year. (Hermione, Flora, and Anthony's parents had lived in America before they moved to England, and so the kids educated their wizarding-raised on how the U.S. government worked.) Their debate carried them all the way into the classroom, where their fellow muggleborns that had some knowledge of how the American government worked joined in the debate as well, offering their own views.
Before the debate could get too heated, however, Professor Flitwick arrived and began the class just as the bell rang. Grumbling amongst themselves, those who had been participating in the debate sat down in their respective seats. Flitwick started the class, as any good teacher would, by calling attendance. Then, he put them into partners for the day.
"Hmm," He muttered, moving his long index finger down a piece of parchment. "Let's see here. Today, we will have Miss Granger working with Mr Weasley, followed by Miss Washington working with Miss Franklin…"
Finally, everyone was paired up. Most of the class were pretty happy with their partners, except for Hermione. She DID NOT want to be paired with the red-headed weasel. She could just tell that this day was NOT going to go well. Sympathetically, Athena patted her on the shoulder.
"You'll be fine, 'Mione. Don't let him get to you."
That day, they worked on the Levitation charm, Wingardium Leviosa. Athena managed it first once again, followed quickly by Flora. Flora and Athena then proceeded to charm their feathers to attack each other, much to the amusement of everyone not named Ronald Weasley. After she won the "battle" Athena glanced over to see how her other best friend was doing.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Weasley shouted, waving his arms around like a windmill. Hermione looked at him with narrowed eyes and began to try to teach him how to pronounce it.
"Stop it, Weasley! You're going to take someone's eye out! Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's Levi-OH-sa, not LevioSAH! Make the 'gar' nice and long."
Athena smirked to herself at that.
"You do it then, if you're so clever. Go on, go on!" sneered Weasley, folding his arms and putting them down on his pile of textbooks.
Hermione glanced quickly at Athena, and winked. Athena winked back, and Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her robes. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The feather went up in the air, much to Athena's happiness and Ronald's disappointment.
After class that day, Ronald could be heard shouting, "She's a bloody nightmare if you ask me. No wonder she doesn't have any real friends!"
Athena couldn't decide who or what she hated more: Ronald bloody Weasley or Halloween. It was a tough choice.
The Halloween Feast, a few hours later
"Hey Flora, where's Hermione?" Athena asked as she began munching on a small serving of mashed potatoes. Flora, however, was still chewing on a bite of steak, so it was Anthony that answered in her stead.
"Rumor has it that Hermione is in the girl's toilet, crying about what Weasley said to her after charms today. She told me to tell you guys to leave her alo-"
The doors to the Great Hall burst open, cutting off Anthony mid-sentence as Professor Quirrell stumbled inside, terror written all over his face. Over at the staff table, Dumbles stood up.
"TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!"
After Quirrel finished his sentence, he fainted, and there was a moment of dead silence as everyone processed what they just heard.
Anthony, Athena, Flora, and Draco, who was sitting with them at the Ravenclaw table, all looked at each other with pale faces, each thinking the same thing. Hermione doesn't know about the troll! All around them, chaos erupted as Dumbledore tried to keep everyone calm.
"SILENCE! All members of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw will follow their Prefects to their respective towers. Slytherins, since your dormitories are in the dungeons, you will go to the library. The feast will be continued there. You are now dismissed."
"Come on!" Whispered Draco quietly, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the bathroom. "We have to warn Hermione!"
Athena nodded, and led the group off in the direction of the Girl's bathroom, weaving unnoticed through the crowd of panicked students.
When they were about halfway through the corridor that held the bathroom, a terrible, obnoxious odor filled their nostrils, and Athena noticed a towering shadow moving on the wall. Ah, crap, she thought. That must be the troll. Hope it doesn't notice us. Wait a minute… is it headed toward the Girl's bathroom?! "IT'S HEADED TOWARDS THE GIRL'S BATHROOM!"
Her friends whirled around, panic on their faces. It was Draco who summed up their thoughts. "Well, shit. We are in deep trouble."
~XXXXXXXX~
Well, Athena thought as she climbed into bed a few hours later, that was certainly an interesting night, to say the least.
After she had told them that the troll was in the girl's bathroom, they had a little run in with said troll, but all worked together to bring it down, with success. Thank god for George's combat training, eh? Athena chuckled. However, they had gotten caught, and after telling their story, Ravenclaw gained twenty-five points. All in all, a pretty good day, except for it being Halloween. Now, to write a letter to George about the attack…
END OF CHAPTER
