Chapter 8

The only real complaints about the honky-tonk flagstones were from Antti Laakkonen; but as Antti was guaranteed to complain about anything that was out of the sanctioned order of things, nobody took the blindest bit of notice; and it may be said that Blaise Paddock, who had thought the musical accompaniment to walking a little over the top, became an enthusiast about the ingenuity of the first year marauders.

"It's not half bad" remarked Rory Staines to Severus "Are you going to bring them in as supporters for the big Yule Chant? It's not like two of them aren't blooded already."

"I probably shall" said Severus "Drop the word that they need to show especial industry in doing things for the good of others as well as japes; stuff for the orphanage say. Besides if they put their creative talents to combining on something like that, they won't be driving me grey with whatever else they get up to; I have a feeling that Wilhelm and Serrick might be quite as bad in combination as James Potter and Sirius Black."

"Oy" said the portrait of James.

"Doesn't it do your heart good to have little German counterparts?" said Severus.

"I suppose" said James. "And if they're ready to be blooded, go for it, Scales mate; Albus always was cautious."

"You'd be surprised how much difference it makes being in loco parentis for them" said Severus mildly. "But I want this to work; those who feed us power will be at little risk but having more may make a difference to the health of those chanting. I certainly hope to blood them in – if they are willing. Alrik and Fyra shall tell them about it."

oOoOo

"Well, you know we were at Durmstrang" said Fyra to the other marauders in the first "And we took part in a ritual that helped protect us; so if anyone tried to hurt us the others would know. And that's why we knew we were destined to be marauders; because it's a ritual marauders do."

"Will we do it then?" asked Serrik.

"It's not something people do unless they want to" said Alrik "we were ASKED even though we were only nine. All true marauders do it and some people who support marauders; and because of it, any one who is part of it can be a focus of the magic of all the others. It's blood magic."

"It doesn't hurt very much" said Fyra "You cut your palm and say 'we be of one blood, ye and I' as you share blood with people and then you know Parseltongue and can feel all the others; it's not reading thoughts, but you're aware of all the other blooded like – like you're aware of your big toe. You know it's there but you don't think much about it unless someone stands on it. And then if someone DOES hurt one of the blooded, the rest can share it around so the pain is nothing. It's how they work the killing curse. You don't use it to cheat in exams and competitions; that's not done. But you can draw on people for important stuff. And there's going to be an important ritual to stop house elves punishing themselves in all of Europe. And Alrik and me can support people and if you want to be proper marauders you'll do it some day so we thought we'd tell you now. In case you want to help the other marauders."

"What are we waiting for?" said Wilhelm.

"For Professor Snape to give permission" said Alrik.

"He knows about it?" asked Wilhelm.

"Silly" said Fyra "HE was one of the very first Marauders like James Potter whose portrait is in the study."

"Oh. Sorry" said Wilhelm. "I guess if you have that sort of ritual going on the head almost has to know about it; or he's a pretty poor specimen. Which Professor Snape isn't" he added.

"Exactly" said Fyra. "Only if anyone has funny ideas about blood magic I guess it's better to back out now before you get too used to expecting to be a marauder."

"Is it always started in new years by someone who's been brought in early?" asked Bruno.

"No I don't think so" said Alrik. "The first ones who were brought in early were Jade and Lydia Snape; so they knew what was what when they started school. And people like Lilith Snape were born in it; so they kinda start it when they go to school. She's our age but she's a genius so she's two years up on us."

"So mostly people start to maraud and when big marauders think they're ready they let them in on the big secret?" asked Zhenga.

"I think that's the way it is" said Fyra. "And it isn't even every year either. Siegfried's blooded in the second but that's because he's adopted by Professor Snape; the next ones up are in two years but work together. In Durmstrang, the first ever marauders there were two sets of twins in two years. And Irmi is blooded but she's not a marauder, she's a supporter. Are you all up for it?"

"I have to say it sounds jolly efficient, being able to help anybody out with problems" said Bruno. "Are my sisters in?"

Fyra shook her head.

"No; I think Roseli decided she didn't want to Maraud and I don't think your biggest sister was invited."

"Well I can see why" said Bruno. "I'm in."

"Me too" said Zhenga nodding her red mop.

"Well OBVIOUSLY" said Wilhelm, with Serrik nodding.

"Good" said Fyra "I will then tell the oldest ones that you are ready when they feel it proper. It will be then before Yule because the ritual takes place on the Solstice. And having us all ready helps out."

"What will happen?" asked Wilhelm.

"Oh you will go home as usual and when they are chanting you will lend some of your strength; it will feel as though you are doing strenuous work all day, like going for a brisk walk, or digging or shifting stuff about; and you will be tired. But it means the chanters won't half kill themselves. It is said" said Fyra "That even Professor Snape was exhausted for days the time they did this ritual just for elves in England; and that now there are more blooded he dares risk the group to do all Europe."

"It's a jolly good idea" said Wilhelm "Eduard's elves aren't especially subservient; and I've never seen them punish themselves, but I made a remark about how one of his guests treated HIS elf and the poor little thing banged its head on the floor. It was gruesome; I'd do anything to see that get stopped. I told Eduard and he shrugged and said it was the way it had always been and he did not think it could be changed; and that there would always be boors who did not treat their slaves well. And I said I bet Professor Snape knew a way and he said if he did, then good luck to him."

"Well he does and we are" said Alrik. "And Jade Von Luytens was always finding errands for the elves at Durmstrang to go to England so they crossed the line that broke the compulsion; and now we get to stop it in LOADS of elves!"

oOoOo

The first year marauders, having had it hinted to them that it behoved them to come up with something clever to help people decided between them to make a dolls' house for the orphanage because playing with a family of dolls would help the orphans to see what families were supposed to be; which project grew to two dolls' houses, one human and one goblin and the teenage children of each could then be walking out together.

Zhenga was NOT pleased at the idea of being relegated, with Fyra to the sewing; Fyra sewed well as she had been the woman of the family but Zhenga was definitely a tomboy.

Fortunately Bruno was happy to sew – his mother believed all boys should know at least the basics to avoid being the brunt of bachelor jokes – and he was happy enough with his self image not to mind. Zhenga quickly learned how to use a lathe to turn Grudenthal type dolls and happily turned her transfigurational skills to make individual faces and to alter the nature of the wood for joints at elbows and knees rather than joint them in the crude muggle fashion. It took a bit more work to get the shoulders and hips to mould together and articulate, but Zhenga was stubborn and was not about to give in!

They used their metalwork classes to make the tiny metal utensils necessary; Lydia considered an actual project far more sensible than abstract exercises. And they would learn good skills in care when working in miniature.

And Serrik, with some help, made a clockwork flying horse by sabotaging a swooping curser; and Wilhelm crafted a wood carriage for it to draw.

It would take all term; but it would be a splendid Christmas gift to some of the children in the orphanage.

oOoOo

Someone else who was enjoying metalwork was Jöran Ulvaeus; and Paul grinned at him and said that he was in the same boat then as Werner Wasner in the second year. Werner was about a quarter goblin; and as Paul said, one of the criticisms that Professor Prince had of his work was that it was too tight because he got confused between working drawings – that needed to be tight – and pure artwork. As Jöran was also good at Arithmancy, Lydia, or rather, Professor Krumm as she was known here and not to be confused with Coach Krumm, took him for extra engineering drawing too, so he might have a skill to fall back on as say an architect. Jöran was rather torn here. He had never known how much he was going to enjoy metalwork and was decidedly drawn to taking his art into three dimensions. On Paul's advice he spoke – rather nervously – to Professor Prince; and found the red haired professor definitely supportive.

Callum took his art class on a field trip to see the Palais Stoclet in Belguim, borrowing Lydia to help side along apparate them all; and confunded the muggles living in it thoroughly and unscrupulously to show them the rich – and uncomfortable looking – interiors, explaining that this building was an example of gesmptkunstwerk or total art work, everything designed to be a part of that house; even the clothes of the original owners. The Atlantes or Telamones that were on the tower were a forerunner to the very art deco heroic art adopted by the Nazis; but the idea of combining bronze statuary and applied bronze decoration were what he wanted to show to Jöran; and the idea that knives and forks and chairs in the dining room could all be a part of a design, not just objects made for utility. He took them the next week to the Wiener Werkstatte to see more of the work of Hoffman and of his friend Karl Moser, who was less obsessed with squares; and explained that Hoffman was nicknamed by his friends 'Quadratl' for his love of straight lines.

Jöran was blown away; and Callum negotiated that he should do part of his year's work as a project on the Wiener Werkstatte and what influenced it, and that he should use metalworking as a part of his artistic endeavour. And Jöran's parents, who had been worrying about his long letters saying how much he missed them were able to stop worrying when they started getting fitful scrawls with a lot of detail about art and metalwork and very little about how their son missed them; and 'Professor Prince says' or 'Professor Krumm says' started to be something of a mantra.

And Callum heaved a private sigh of relief that the boy's interest had been engaged past his foolish belief in his own ability and he had settled down. Parents should NEVER be allowed to rear artistic children if they could not make realistic critique!

oOoOo

Werner was also much struck by the work Callum had shown them; and begged to be permitted to produce a similar project, and use his metalwork in class. Callum was delighted; it gave two different artistic endeavours because Werner was definitely more interested in the jewellery and filigree end of the work where Jöran was drawn to the architectural and sculptural. And that was good.

And having found out that many of the upper form had an animagus form of wolf, Jöran joined the MSHG to observe them, and was sculpting wolves in clay with a view to making life size bronze castings in future years, that would snarl at intruders; after learning first with small castings. He would have to negotiate what part was art and what metalwork when he came to offer up pieces for OWL; but in the meantime he was learning, combining, and having no end of fun.

"One day" said Jöran to Paul "I'm going to do a group of statuary that represent the five core subjects of magic, as supporting columns for a school; and I'll know enough to have a bronze guinea pig in the hands of the one representing Transfiguration turn into a guinea fowl and back; and whoever represents charms will have some object hovering. And some metallic vapour will rise constantly and return in the cauldron of the potioneer."

"That's jolly good; you ARE a visionary now you've found what you're best at" said Paul "It'd be dandy for the portico of a brand new, purpose built school; and I say, I know there are people who want to get a school going in Scandinavia so perhaps you'll get the commission to build it!"

"I would LOVE that!" said Jöran.

Paul passed the conversation on to Severus.

After all, most people setting up new schools seemed to go through his guardian one way or another.

oOoOo

Jöran might be a bit of a parents' baby and rather a prig in some ways, but his enthusiasm was rubbing off those corners; and he was by no means as much of a prig as Antti Laakkonen; and indeed had improved visibly when Blaise Paddock made an off the cuff comment that maybe it was something about Scandinavians as the Swedish kid in the first was a bit of a mutt too; and Jöran did NOT want to be taken as anything like Antti, who whined.

Being given the gift of learning that Antti and he were considered alike was enough to effect a cure of squealing that he was being bullied and threatening to report people.

The first years responded by being warmer towards him; and that was its own reward.

Poor Antti had never learned; and Severus for one felt sincerely sorry for him, for the boy was kind hearted and well meaning. He was also entirely humourless and had a deep belief in his duty to prevent his classmates from doing anything mischievous.

If he had been a swot who was good at classwork and was uninterested in anything outside of it, they would probably have taken it better; but poor Antti was a slapdash worker that he had only barely improved upon over three years in school and was inclined to actually bend his efforts into finding out what worrying thing the Bee Marauders might be up to next.

He spent a lot of time in magically induced slumber since the others had not the heart to jinx him into a ball as one might with the normal sneak. And while he was asleep he was not worrying his sanctimonious little self what devilment the rest might be up to, as Yrdl put it.

oOoOo

All the first now belonged to the MSHG and were in general in good odour with the staff too.

Gabiden, Paul and Alrik might be poor at Arithmancy; but the rest were above average with Zhenga and Jöran definitely the sort that would usually please Hermione's heart had not even they been surpassed by Fyra and Bruno. And even the three who were poor were not dire; so Hermione was extremely happy and held forth about what a contrast they were to the second whose bright spot was Evadne Horrocks who occasionally aspired to an 'E' grade where the rest were lucky to creep out of the depths of 'T'. It was not an entirely unfair assessment since Werner, for all his brilliance in artistic endeavour could scarcely add up, which as Hermione said crossly was preposterous for someone of goblin blood, like an elf that couldn't do charms. As Solange and Conrad had returned homework in which they variously made seven factorial – the number of feet in a wizarding mile – some decimal number less than one in Solange's case and around eleven thousand in Conrad's, and Werner had returned the brilliant answer 'more than seven' Hermione was a little snippy with the second. Solange had divided seven by each of the preceding numbers; Conrad was, Hermione said, awa' with the fairies; and Werner was just innumerate and could care less.

The first had a good record all round; Gabiden and Reaz had problems with potions and Bertha had trouble getting her beetle to become a button; and fortunately Krait was having a good pregnancy and was not too snippy with it. Of others with performance problems there was only Serrik who had trouble with Latin never mind learning Greek letters. But to balance that Zhenga was a brilliant potioneer and none of the rest poor; Wilhelm was a star with charms and none of them had trouble; Reaz was a natural with transfigurations and Alrik good in the field too, and Zhenga not far behind; and the whole class, to the delight of Heather Burns Tuthill, had taken to Geomancy like they were born to it, especially Wilhelm and Fyra both of whom she suspected of having the talent of place sense, which was a rare enough skill to nurture and to have two in one class was fantastic, especially as both were good enough at Arithmancy – especially the brilliant Fyra – to exploit it.

Wilhelm and Zhenga vied for overall top place in the class; and Fyra fighting up behind, and Lydia Grant in there too for being a fair all rounder and an 'E' average student.

Ron considered it a down point that apart from Wilhelm, who was competent, and Lydia Grant who was like all her siblings in being good at quidditch, the rest might as well be riding, as Ron put it, ruddy muggle vacuum cleaners. And Serrik had actually asked if they couldn't play quidpolo instead.

"Never mind Ron" said Severus "At least the Quidditch OWL has been approved and you can start to teach it as an exam subject for NEXT year's OWLs."

"And after a couple of years we shan't have anyone to take it at this rate" said Ron in disgust "Will we, Viktor?"

"Oh next year might well irritate Hermiowininny again and be good at quidditch; who can say?" said Viktor equably.

The Quidditch OWL was enough to permit the recipient to skip half of the written test for a referee, or to be accepted directly as an official; and was a way of giving a qualification in something with some pretensions of academe to those with few skills off a broom. It was also a way for those who loved the game but who were not good enough to be scouted to demonstrate that interest when applying for jobs as coaches or officials. And though Fred Visick and George Ingate did not feel able to take it alongside their other OWLs for the coming academic year they planned to take it – as well as a metalworking OWL – alongside their NEWTS, or possibly in their lower sixth year, when Arbrek and Reinulf would also take it as part of their other OWLs. Arbek took the exam because he loved the game and meant to play professionally; Reinulf because he loved the game and was not good enough to play professionally but had no real goal in mind yet as a career.

What exams were taken in any one year would depend on the talents in that year; and that could never be predicted. And so far only the second had managed to produce a full range with two musicians, an artist and a pair of quidditch geniuses; and more important in Severus' mind, a true potioneer.

And the first likely to make an overall better academic showing even if, of the new exams, they could but boast just two artists and a good quidditch player.

oOoOo

The next excitement of the term – unless one counted Silvina Snape and Julian Finch working out how to play 'Popcorn' with carefully timed jumps between them on the musical flagstones – was provided by the third.

Zoë Gesler was never the world's best transfigurationist; but she managed to keep up in class, especially with the encouragement of her friend Sarah Elliot who had been sidetracked by the study of the Wiener Werkstatte into looking into the Glasgow School and who now had everything decorated with Glasgow Roses. Zoë thought her friend very clever; and too very clever about telling her how to manage difficult parents who had been causing Zoë some trouble with their bickering until Sarah had told her how to make them feel guilty enough to stop. Zoë's grades had risen and although she was never going to be a high flyer academically, whatever she could achieve on a broom, she was able to keep up with the class. Zoë was one of those hoping to study for the quidditch OWL with her electives; and Sarah was as admiring of her friend's ability on a broom as Zoë was of Sarah's art. As Zoë was pure blood and Sarah was muggleborn it was an attraction of opposites; save that one might, as Krait said, usually expect the athlete to be hearty and outgoing and the artist to be introverted and quiet when in fact this pair were the other way round. Sarah had learned, as a diplomat's daughter, to deal in a cheerful friendly way with anyone; Zoë kept herself to herself for fear of disloyalty to either of her parents by saying anything that might disparage them. She was learning to lose some of her reticence but was still quiet and inclined to be a loner bar her friendship with Sarah.

All of which being so, Zoë was the last person in the world that anyone might expect to make a disturbance.

The third were busy doing cross species switches; Krait believed that a little theory early on helped tremendously with practical applications, and though it was usually a fourth year skill she had had a great deal of success in introducing – without the terminology being used – the concept of assimilative correlation from an early stage.

Consequently Krait had set the class to consider what animal they felt was closest to their own familiar; and to research that animal with the blanket ban on anything larger than a medium sized dog. None of the third were really awkward – even the Breuer twins – but Krait had heard of Bella Black's suggestion in Hogwarts that Owl to cat to tiger was quite feasible. Which it was, unless you took into account the amount of disruption a large Bengal tiger might cause in a classroom. Bella had a tiger obsession.

Most of the class possessed owls for communicating with their family; Beta, Rudi and Lucy had cats that had been previous years' NEWT level transfiguration results; Sylvana had a nightingale to go with her surname; Vava had a guinea pig and Hette had a hamster.

Hette had been vetoed turning her hamster into an elephant via Hannibal and taking into account a children's story she had once read about the travels of a small boy and his pet hamster and baby elephant; and was instead turning her pet into a pig via ham and because hamsters were not that different to guinea pigs anyway; and Krait allowed that since assimilative correlation was a very personal business and so long as the association worked for the transfigurationist, it was all good.

Vava's guinea pig was going by its other name, cavie, through the German for raven, rabe; which sounded close enough if said fast, declared Vava. Again if it worked for her, Krait had no problems.

The rest were being more or less conventional, even Sylvana, the class star, whose nightingale was going through the correlation of martingale into a martin, another small brown bird; and because Sylvana was ambitious, thence into a marten to transfigure from bird to mammal. Krait had every expectation that she would succeed.

All of the owls were to become Persian cats for the appearance of the big eyes; Beta's cat was to go bilingually from korschka, cat in Russian, to korora, the fairy penguin as named by the Maori and discovered by Beta in a dictionary when looking for something a bit more interesting to turn her cat into than an owl. Rudi was sticking with cat to owl and Lucy was going via Puss to Puss Moth.

And all went very well except that Zoë levelled her wand at her owl and miaowed loudly as she turned not her familiar but herself into a cat.

Krait rescued her quickly.

"Did you lose your intellect or were you fully aware of what you had done?" she asked.

"I was aware; it was scary but I say, don't cats have good hearing?" said Zoë.

"They do; and perhaps it means you may wish to become a cat animagus some day" said Krait. "See if you can't do it the right way this time."

Zoë had no more trouble; but it had been a bit of a departure. And maybe worth thinking about being a cat animagus at that; one had, they said, attributes like one's animagus form and being a quidditch player, having reflexes like a cat might not come amiss!

The twins had to gently tease of course; but Zoë smiled.

"Well I learned more than you from that" she said. "I found out that being a cat feels good. And I had a better sense of smell than I might have liked from Hette's offering."

"Well good on you then" said Vava, whose Guinea Pig was sulking slightly after having disliked being a raven. And Hette was storing up a new spell – evanesco – which Professor Malfoy had used when her hamster, overcome at being a pig, had made a mess on the floor, which smell Zoë had mentioned.

"All experiences are learning experiences" agreed Hette cheerfully.

The third Marauder in this year, Johanna, wished perhaps that she might have been a little less pedestrian than in turning her owl into a cat and had been more adventurous like her fellow marauders; but though she was not behind at transfigurations, it was charms in which SHE shone.

oOoOo

Zoë was gaining a lot of confidence as she had been promoted this year to the first team in Quidditch; she was playing keeper, a departure from her second team placement as chaser, since the first team chasers all worked well together; but she found she enjoyed the position even more.

They played a couple of fixtures against Swiss and Austrian teams; the Lucerne Longbrooms were interested in Arbrek and glad to get the chance to play against him to see how well he did; and though the school team lost it was only after a long hard battle and Arbrek's grab for the snitch only really for pride's sake as the Longbrooms were very good in offence. Zoë was most upset that she had failed to keep out so many goals; but Fred and Peter Lowther slapped her on the back and Fred said,

"Cheer up kid; we lost to a better team. You did sterling work; hey, we'll work on your broomsurfing too because that really makes sense to know as a keeper."

Zoë was comforted; the beater twins did not give false praise.

"Their keeper was three parts acromantula I swear" said Kate Grant "All legs and arms and if he was under six foot four I'm a lemon."

"Which she isn't" said her sister Emily. "I'd seriously think about signing with them, Arbrek, if they offer it to you; they take it seriously and they don't seem to skimp on any position, and play as a real team."

"I certainly shall be considering it" said Arbrek. "To play for my own country would be nice, even though I have been offered a job too by the Luxemburg team. I should not want to play for the Berne Bears; they are thugs."

oOoOo

They got in a game against the Vienna Vampires before the weather broke; and this was a quicker game, and Arbrek snatched the snitch before the professional team had had much chance to outscore the school team; and Emily Grant was also quick to point out that two saves that Zoë made had made the difference between winning and drawing. The Vampires were wont to be a little sulky at being beaten by a bunch of kids; and George Ingate said loudly 'sour er, blood' about the attitude.

The Vampires retired in what they believed was dignified silence and what the Prince Peak team privately thought resembled more nearly a fit of the sulks.

And then the snow came.

It was almost Halloween and half term in any case; so the school applied itself to work instead of quidditch to bring them up to the short holiday.

The blood group assisted of course as Krait gave birth to her seventh child; he arrived in time, as Krait put it, for her to have breakfast on the twenty-fifth of October, looking no more like a pickled pumpkin than any baby and as blonde as any Malfoy like his sister Merope. Merope, rising four, was invited to admire another baby with her colouring, was unimpressed and suggested swapping him for a pony. Baby was to be named David Augustus, as a nod to the choice of name Krait's mother had made for her, though as Krait said, Augustus was a better name for a boy than Augusta was for a girl so long as one did not recall what a little tick Octavian had been before he changed his name as Emperor.

David subsequently turned out to have black eyes, not the Malfoy violet as Merope had; it would be a stunning combination and possibly rather compelling.

oOoOo

This year's Halloween half term would be a midweek holiday, Wednesday and Thursday. Which being so, the school had the previous weekend as well to consider the competition; which was this year to be the best or most ingeniously dressed or decorated broomstick.

This was a competition that might appeal to the wilder imaginations as well as to the more pedestrian who made paper flowers to adorn their broomsticks – those without their own broom being permitted to use a school one of course – with streamers and ribbon bows as their fancy took them.

The muggle marauders, who had heard Professor Ron on the subject of the first years, used cardboard and folded paper joined carefully to make a long corrugated tube to turn their brooms into vacuum cleaners, each of the four being a different make, from Hoover to Henry, Hotpoint to Dyson. Randolph got lumbered with the Dyson for being the hardest; and being Randolph he managed to fit the twig end with a cylinder of cellophane off chocolate frogs with charmed paper wrappers whirling about inside.

The Muggle Marauders won a special prize for ingenuity and humour if not keeping strictly within the bounds of the competition.

Sarah and Zoë decided to interpret rather freely the term 'dress' and added balloon heads to their broomsticks and dress them in robes with the sleeves stuffed with underwear and the hands made of gloves stuffed with hankies.

They solemnly waltzed in with their broomstick partners.

Zhenga had not used a school flying broom.

She had instead borrowed a brush such as the castle elves used with a dustpan, enchanted it to fly, and trailed from its rear a banner that read 'when I grow up I want to be a Firebolt'.

Siegfried had dressed a broomstick as the ride for a chess king, complete with cardboard white king; George Ingate had made a broom to carry the Queen of the May and had borrowed small Ismenia Snape to be the said queen. Silvina had added pipes and ocarinas to hers to play random and wailing melodies as it flew, the airflow activating the instruments; and Werner had added spurious gears and cogs to his, made of cardboard covered with foil, and flapping foil wings .

Wilhelm, Serrik, Bruno and Alrik combined to turn their brooms into kayaks and flew in, facing the wrong way, rowing like mad on cardboard oars; and Fyra made a howdah for hers.

Yrdl draped hers with muslin with a papier-mâché head and sleeves wafting by charm and declared it to be Zalmoxes or some other constipated ghost; and BaHH was foolhardy enough to enlist Spassmacher, the castle poltergeist, to make a broom that was reminiscent of a circus caravan, complete with circus music, which was about his limit to enchant. Spassmacher enjoyed clowning about on the broom and taking risks BaHH reckoned even he would be loath to do and so having a mad volunteer came in handy.

As AHHa and the Jorkins twins had been liberal in the use of fireworks to decorate their brooms, Severus remarked to Krait that the Hallow-Hellibores were certainly on form; but what sort of form he preferred not to say.

Most of the rest stuck to prettying their brooms up; and some of the effects were very pretty indeed, especially Rose Hubble's which also included an arrangement of fairies.

Fortunately the staff had laid in a good supply of chocolate as prizes since there were several first prizes for ingenuity at least.

And then there were the usual party games and a feast; and Rory declared that Halloween got better every year!