Before William could really believe it the school was transformed for the upcoming Halloween festivities. Everywhere he looked there were floating pumpkins and skeletons moving about. The trees had turned into the fiery array of colors that signified autumn was in full swing. Students were already starting to bundle up against the onset of cold New England weather and William was no different as he made his way to the campus kitchens in the last few days leading up to the holiday.
William wore his thick school scarf, potion gloves for their warmth, and he was actually wearing two sets of robes to keep the surprising bitter chill of the wind off of him. The students had the Monday after Halloween off and so plenty of teachers had made a majority of work due that Tuesday thinking the students could use the three day weekend to do it all. Because William had spent the past several hours in the library finishing up an assignment for Charms and a paper for History he had missed the standard weekend lunch hours in the dining hall. Luckily the kitchens were open if you knew where they were, and William knew that if he were to get his Wards paper for Tall Elk done before Halloween he'd probably have to work through dinner.
Entering through the main hall William ducked down one of the steep stone stair cases that lead into the basements where the kitchen was. He slowly unwound his scarf as he made his way into the oppressive warmth with the countless fires burning and pots boiling. House elves were scurrying to and fro as they prepared not only for dinner tonight but the feast tomorrow evening. The smells of the kitchen were tantalizing as William stood there soaking them in before ordering a sandwich for later and whatever leftovers they had from lunch. As he stood back awaiting the arrival of his food, he felt a tap on his shoulder, William turned to see Franklin Perry standing next to him.
"How have you been William?" The older student asked. William realized that he too was waiting for the House Elves to serve him a late meal.
"I'm, uh alright," William responded to the older boy.
"Working hard I take it?" Franklin asked gesturing to William's presence in the kitchens, there weren't many other middle schoolers about, mostly upperclassmen.
William nodded, "Trying to get all of my work done before Halloween."
Franklin chuckled, "Aren't we all?" He then patted William on the shoulder, "At least you have a better chance of getting it done."
William looked at him, "You don't think you'll be able to?"
"Probably not," He responded, "I have more work due on Tuesday than I'd really like to think about. It's just what happens to upperclassmen." William gulped trying to imagine what his workload would look like in a few years. The older student laughed as his bag of food arrived and he said, "Don't worry about it William, you'll be able to deal with it when the day comes." He then left, whistling a jaunty tune as he ascended the stairs.
William's bag came next and he quickly shuffled up the stairs and back out into the bitter cold. He quickly made his way for Corey Hall, at least happy that he didn't need to do much research for his Defense paper. He smiled knowing that he at least wouldn't have to spend the rest of the day in the library.
As he returned to his dormitory, he spotted a letter in the small box affixed on the door that operated as his and Chris' mailbox for anything sent through the muggle post office. William was used to it being empty and so was surprised to see the small white envelope sticking up out of it. He swiped it up and carried it inside. Chris was gone, presumably off practicing his quodpot skills or doing work himself, William was never quite sure where Chris was most days and had begun to even stop noticing his roommate's absence.
William opened the letter as he began to eat his lunch, and was somewhat surprised to see that it was from Megan back home. They had exchanged a few emails since the day they hung out together over the summer, but he started to assume that they were just slowly starting to drift apart. He smiled as she wrote about how her school year was going, and she continued to discuss her new life as a middle school mathlete. She told him that she had started playing something called a role playing game with the other mathletes, apparently Megan was a sorceress who fought goblins. William laughed, surprised how in only a little more than a year his appreciation for muggle fantasy had nearly completely disappeared. He had always enjoyed science fiction more anyway, but now that he had money in a bank run by goblins, and was a wizard himself the concept of pretending to fight goblins for their gold with magic just seemed preposterous. Besides, as he had finally finished some of his History homework he began to wonder if it really could ever be a good idea to fight a goblin, they apparently were more dangerous than their small frames would suggest. He then frowned as the letter briefly described that since their meeting over the summer, Eric Grossman did still enjoy singling out Megan for teasing and bullying though it was nowhere near the extent that he had once bullied William. William sighed as he finished the letter, even after he was gone Eric Grossman still somehow was able to cast a shadow over his life. William then set the letter aside, he'd write a reply on Monday before that though he had to do his work.
The next day William was able to awaken late because he had gotten all of his work done the previous night. The whole school was already in a festive mood, Chris was gone as William got up and ready for the day. The dormitory had a pair of skeletons dancing through them tossing candy at the students and several floating jack-o-lanterns. A few students were flicking hexes jokingly at each other, as William turned into the bathroom though he was hit with a spell that had started to become familiar to him, the purple nurple charm that Henry had started favoring. William looked down the hallway to see the large boy smirking from outside of his room. William rubbed his chest and entered the bathroom, hoping that his indifference to the bully might help somewhat in alleviating the problem.
After showering William made his way out onto campus, happy that the weather had improved somewhat that he didn't need more than his scarf as he walked amidst the amber leaves falling about. People were playing pick-up games of quodpot and quidditch around the campus, and other students were sneaking off into the relatively untouched parts of campus. William wound his way around the campus just enjoying the fact that he had no work to do, though he began to wonder what exactly his friends were doing as he made a full circuit of the grounds without ever spotting Nick, Chris, or Sarah.
Finally as he ducked into the main building prowling past where tables and booths were being magically set up by house elves, teachers, and students, he spotted Alexandria on the second floor. The pureblood girl was merely standing on the balcony overlooking the entrance hall with her standard bemused look on her face. William waved as he ascended the stairs and joined her on the balcony. He looked over the entrance hall and then turned to her, "What're you watching?"
She shrugged, "Nothing in particular, I was actually thinking about the Halloween gala my family goes to every year."
"Oh," William responded, unsure of what he could really say.
She then just frowned, "It's a tad more elaborate than this but I think the celebrations here at the school are a little more exciting." She then smiled at him, "How are you occupying yourself this Halloween?"
William shrugged, "I've just been walking around campus, I did all my work yesterday and I haven't seen anyone around till just now."
Alexandria nodded and then stared off into space for a moment before saying, "I'm fairly certain Sarah is at one of the random games of quidditch that have burst out across campus. I think at least one of them had an actual snitch and I'm fairly certain she's a seeker."
"She is?" William responded, turning his head to watch Alexandria.
"I think so, there's a fairly easy way to check though." The small girl then turned on heel, her dark hair and rich navy blue robes flowing about her as she moved. Despite her small strides she moved quickly and with a purpose, William quickly moved to follow her and fall in step beside her.
The small girl then paused at a door William barely noticed. She then looked around the hallway, craning her neck all about. With a swift movement a smoothly polished golden wand slipped out of her robe sleeve and she then murmured, "Alohamora," and the door lock clicked softly. Alexandria then opened the door, and gestured for William to slip in before her as she then closed the door behind them, murmuring another spell and the lock clicked back into place.
William only stared at her as she then lead him up a staircase toward the roof. "Did you really just?" William asked as they made their way upstairs.
"What?" Alexandria replied, "Do you think that you are one of the only people at this school who does things they're not supposed to?" She giggled as she came to a door in the ceiling that she unlocked and opened like the door into the staircase.
William clambered up onto the roof after her. They were standing on a flat part of the roof, there was no one else around except for a few owls that were resting on the school roof. All around them people were flying about on broomsticks playing a variety of aerial games across the campus.
Alexandria then pointed to a game not that far from the roof of the school, "There she is." William spotted a small blond haired form in a game only a few dozen yards from the roof they were standing on. Then William noticed the blond haired form move quickly through a grouping of players and come out of it with a smooth red ball. "Oh, I suppose she is a chaser then," Alexandria responded with one of her short quiet laughs, "It's so hard to keep quidditch straight."
William shrugged, "I don't know it's all pretty weird to me." Alexandria nodded, and then William asked, "So how did you know how to get up here?"
Alexandria smirked, "As I told you, do you really think you're the only one who does things they're not supposed to on campus? I know my fair share of passages on campus. There's a set of underground tunnels beneath the school you know. Lots of older students spend time down there."
"Really?" William asked, he suddenly wondered why if there were tunnels that the dark wizards last year hadn't used them.
"Yes," Alexandria replied with a slight cold edge to her voice.
"Have you ever been down into them?" William found himself asking.
Alexandria only smiled in response and headed back down the open portal back into the school building, William followed after her. When they got back out of the stair case Alexandria only said, "I need to get ready for tonight, I'll see you this evening William." William nodded as he watched the small pureblood girl depart.
The daylight quickly dissipated and the sky grew dark, the number of jack-o-lanterns floating across campus increased, and Halloween entered into full swing. William was once more in the entrance hall, moving about playing various games, and eating a wide variety of food and sweets. With a plate piled high he settled in at the table that Chris, and Sarah had grabbed earlier in the evening. A few other students had come and stopped by at various points to eat or talk though William had only recognized them from classes and the like. At the moment it was just Sarah and Chris sitting down as William settled in.
As he slowly began to eat his dinner, William looked around, and then looked up at his companions before asking, "Have you guys seen Nick around today?"
Chris shrugged, "I think I saw him earlier."
Sarah shook her head, "Now that you mention it I haven't seem him at all tonight." She now began to crane her head about and look around for some sign of the other boy.
William shook his head, and then stood up, "I think I'm going to go look for him."
"Alright," Chris responded, "I'll ask around see if anyone's seen him."
William nodded as he walked off from the entrance hall and the revelry of the Halloween party. He slowly combed through the entirety of the main academic building, earning more than a few dirty looks when he entered rooms unannounced and a couple of minor jinxes from older students who had wandered off looking for a certain amount of privacy. Eventually he came out onto the grounds themselves walking around looking for anything in particular. Slowly as he started maneuvering around some of the less traveled parts of campus he heard voices, and they didn't sound very friendly.
"Why do you even think you're good enough to be here?" Called the voice of someone definitely older than William.
Someone then made a noise, it sounded like 'a-roo', like they were trying to sound like a dog howling. William crept up on an older unused building on one of the edges of campus, amidst a stand of trees. Standing in a clearing in front of the old building were several upperclassmen and at their center was none other than Nick. Most of the students had wands pointed at them, and in the flicker of the moonlight William spotted that one of them had a leash wrapped around Nick's neck. William frowned as the older students continued to speak.
"You were probably in on the whole thing last year," Cawed one of the older girls.
The person holding the leash yanked it and Nick stumbled down, "What did the plan backfire and you got bit by the terrorist?"
Nick coughed, and in a hoarse voice said, "I'm not..."
"Shut up!" Shouted one of the older students as they cast a quick hex on Nick causing the seventh grade boy to whimper in pain. "You're a Werewolf, a dark and dangerous beast, of course you were in on it."
"Yeah," Shouted the one with the leash as she yanked it again, "Now get up dog."
William stood and watched for a few more moments. He didn't know when his wand had gotten into his hand, or why he was shaking so hard, but William wasn't really sure what was about to happen. As the girl who had Nick leashed once more yanked on him again, William called out, "Diffindo!" The leash snapped with a loud crack and the older students paused.
William stood in the half-shadows of the trees and moonlight and then started lashing out with any jinx or spell that came to mind. He realized as he shot out the spells that each one was accompanied by a shower of sparks bursting out of his wand. William had never quite felt so angry before, and he didn't stop calling out spells until after the last of the older students had run away. Finally he stepped into the clearing, and then ran over to Nick.
"Nick," He said as he knelt down to help his friend up, "Are you ok?"
"Why..." Nick coughed as he slowly came up to his hands and knees.
"I don't know, they're..." William grasped for the right word, "Bigoted assholes or something..."
Nick coughed again, and then asked, "No...why...why are you here?"
William helped Nick to stand up and he said, "Because I was wondering where you were, and I've been looking for you." Nick shook his head backing away to half-stand a few feet from William, "Nick, seriously, are you ok?"
Nick shrugged, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, whatever."
William shook his head, "Nick you're not fine, you were just being beaten up by older kids. Come on, let's go to the nurse or something."
Nick shook his head and said, "No I'm alright."
"Nick, come on, I'm your friend, and I'm worried about you," William said as he stepped forward, "You're not ok."
Nick then let loose a bitter laugh, and William stopped in his tracks, "How the hell would you know, William?" William stared at his taller friend, and in the moonlight through the torn robes he could see that Nick was thin as a rail, gaunt almost, and there were plenty of scars lining his body up and down. "You've been off trying to be a straight A student or whatever it is you spend half you're time doing. Sure you have lunch with me, but you're more busy in the library or going to quodpot games to know how I'm doing. What were you doing before you realized I was gone? Enjoying the party?" William's mouth just hung open as he stared at his friend. Nick continued, "If you were my friend, you would've sent me more letters over summer break, you would've been here every day. Hell, do you even know when the next full moon is William? How can you be a werewolf's friend and not know the next time I'm not going to be around is?" William tried to speak but Nick just cut him off, "Whatever, we're not really friends William. I can't really have friends anymore." Nick then just threw his hands up into the air and stormed off in a random direction.
William just stood there and watched the boy who he had always thought of as his best friend at school walk away. William finally shook it off, and started walking away. It had just been the whole night talking, Nick didn't really think that, did he? William returned to Corey Hall, surprised by the late hour as he came into his room, Chris was dead asleep in his bed. William just fell back into his own bed, and stared at the ceiling for a while, unsure of exactly what had just happened or why he felt so suddenly empty.