Title: TBWLtbPK
Chapter: Saving Halloween part 1
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: TAKES PLACE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND WEEK OF SEMPTEMBER!
Sometime later we took our leave so we could make it in time for dinner. As we walked to the castle, I sensed something in the Forbidden Forest. There was a cry and before I even thought of a plan I was racing towards the forest, leaving Harry and Ron to continue towards the large building, the former lost in his own questions and Weasley caring to much for his stomach.
Lock ran as fast as his legs would take him towards the Forest. At the edge however he hesitated. A heavy sense of Halloween Town saturated the air, but Jack wouldn't seem the type to come from the forest.
"Hey! What yeh doin' by the Forest!" Hagrid yelled as he came towards Lock with a lantern. Lock began to panic, and tore into the Forest blindly following the sense of his home. Lock felt a tingling sensation in his body and almost tripped as his body grew back to it's original height. He cried out in agony as his small fangs bit down on his tongue. Looking back, he saw his tail swinging wildly, then he ran straight into something, or more accurately, someone.
Jack grabbed Lock's wrist to prevent him from falling backwards. After helping the boy correct himself, he spoke.
"Halloween Town needs help. Take me to him." Jack stated somberly.
"But- you're not allowed to tell him! He has to be called!" Lock exclaimed.
"I'm not going to tell him Lock, we just need his help. Along with the help of anyone else."
"Why what's wrong?" Jack looked towards the castle.
"I'll tell you once we get to the castle." Lock nodded and started to lead the way.
. , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
"Ron," Harry asked stopping abruptly, "Where's Faust?"
Ron looked around before shrugging, "I don't know. Who cares?" Harry's hands curled into fists.
"Who cares? Who cares! I bloody well care! He's my friend, and we left him outside! And you aren't being a really good friend!" Harry shouted in frustration.
"Woah! Okay, we'll go look for him." Ron said, staring longingly at the Great Hall. "Let's go, maybe we'll make it back in time for the end of dinner."
Harry and Ron pushed open the front doors and were met with the sight of a teenage boy...and a skeleton in a suit.
"AAAAHHHH!"
, . , . , . , . , . , , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
"Calm down, everyone, calm down. Jack has promised to return soon, with help." The Mayor called out.
"What if he's to late!"
"The portal is bending to their pressure!"
"We need the new King!"
"Jack will save us! You should trust in him. The new King will save us! All we must do is call! Call him! Call from the bottom of your souls!" The Mayor announced.
. , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
Oogie Boogie snuck off as the Town started to sing. Sneering, Oogie crept towards the Cottage. Raising an arm, Oogie prepared to turn the handle and enter, however, a horrible burning centered on the left forearm prevented it. Oogie cursed and fled to the portal that was always open.
. , . , . , . , . , . , , . . , . , . , . , . , . , , . . , .
"Harry calm down," Lock said, trying to get Harry to stop gibbering. "This is Jack, remember, my guardian."
"He's a skeleton!" Harry exclaimed. "And who are you? Did you see Faust when you came in?" Harry asked. Lock sighed.
"Harry, I am Faust."
"Oh my gods, what did he do to you?" Harry asked, eyes wide.
"Nothing Harry. Please, just talk to Jack, please." Harry nodded hesitantly, and the 13-year-old Faust helped him to his feet.
"Why are you older?" Harry whispered. He felt as though one of his best friends was being taken from him.
"I uh accidentally fell into a puddle of aging potion."
"Oh." Jack turned around with a wide grin on his face.
"Harold, I presume?" Harry nodded mutely. "Excellent! Now I need you to go get some of your friends, we have a serious issue that needs to be addressed. We need to save Halloween."
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . ,
Oogie quickly transformed into a white Grimm before entering the secret portal. Appearing on the other side the Grimm trotted to the throne room. Sitting there was a figure hidden in shadows, but two red eyes looked out of the gloom sadistically.
"I have found a body, and with Halloween Town soon coming to an end, I will seize the stone. Your job, is to make sure he dies during the Halloween Town battle."
"Yes, my Lord."
. , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
"Me? Save Halloween? Is that even possible?" Harry asked in disbelief.
"You will have the help of your friends of course." Jack said. Lock turned towards the skeleton in shock, letting Harry catch view of his tail.
"Faust!" Harry squeaked, "you have a tail!"
Lock spun around to face Harry again. The boy was pale as porridge, and his green eyes were impossibly wide. Lock looked at Harry with calculating blue eyes. 'What lie will he believe?' Lock thought.
"Jack accidentally did it, because he is part of Halloween, and I had a magical potion on me, so they reacted weird giving me a tail." Harry looked dubious for a minute before nodding in acceptance.
"Harold please gather a few people that you deem acceptable for this task." Jack told the 1st year. Harry nodded and went to get Ron from the corner.
. , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , , , . , . , .
"Mayor the song isn't carrying!" Someone from the crowd called out. Mayor looked confused, before turning to Sally.
"Do you know what's going on?" He asked softly. Sally observed the sky first then the rest of town square. The orb in the central monument wasn't on.
"We have to wait." She said.
"Wait!"
"They'll be no time!"
"We'll all be destroyed."
"QUIET!" Mayor yelled, "Sally please continue.
"We'll have to wait until either Jack or Harold touches the door, or comes in. As soon as the globe is glowing once more, we'll start singing. It will carry then."
. , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
"Password?" The portrait asked.
"Caput Draconis." Harry stated. The portrait swung open and Harry quickly scrambled in, followed by Ron. Looking around the common room Harry quickly spotted Neville. Ron seemed to notice this and said,
"Oh, not that doofus. He can't do anything." Harry glared at Ron and walked over to Neville. He leaned down to whisper,
"Neville, we need your help, go wait outside the portrait and stay there with Ron, no matter what, until I get there." Neville nodded mutely, completely trusting Harry. He stood and exited followed by Ron. Harry looked around nervously, trying to decide whom else to bring.
Fred and George watched as ickle firstie Harry went to speak with Seamus. The Irish boy nodded and left the portrait hole.
"Seems as though-" Fred began.
"-the Firsties-"
"-are up to something." They chorused, then communicating in a way that only they knew, they stood and headed towards the portrait hole after Harry.
"We're coming with." They said simultaneously, as the exited. The three first years froze.
"We-we're not going anywhere." Ron stuttered.
"Y-yeah, nowhere at all." Neville agreed. Fred and George raised their left eyebrows before looking at each other and crossing their arms.
"They're going on an adventure-"
"-and don't want to bring us along-" the two looked back at the first year boys.
"Must be exciting." They said.
"Fine, you can come." Harry sighed finally.
"Can I come too?" Piped a voice from behind Fred and George. The twins whirled around and there stood Hermione.
"No! Not you." Ron said instantly. Hermione was unphased and kept her gaze locked on Harry.
"I know a lot of spells that could maybe help on your adventure." She stated easily.
"She's coming too." Harry confirmed. Ron stared at him mouth agape.
"We should go get Eric, too, he's the top student of Hufflepuff." Hermione said. Harry nodded instantly and told her to go get him, then to meet up with them in the front hall.
. , . , . , . , ., ., . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . ,
Lock stood in the doorway of the First Year's Boys' Dorm. He needed two of the occupants, Draco Malfoy, as much as he loathed the boy, and Blaise Zabini. Drawing his wand he conjured two small pieces of paper with the same general message. 'Meet me in the Common room.' He quickly threw one at each boy and went downstairs to the common room. Lock was surprised that no one had questioned who he was, they had all simply looked up, observed him for a minute, and then looked back down. Of course he had had the sense to make his tail invisible once more.
Blaise came down the stairs a few moments later, trailing behind him was Draco. They scanned the room subtly and seemed to notice Lock who was hiding in the shadows. Lock smirked, most of his House were good Slytherins, but none were as sharp as these two First years. Blaise casually walked out of the portal as Draco walked over to Lock.
"State your name and business." The blond boy said coolly.
"Faust, and I need your help." Before Lock had even blinked, Draco had the tip of his wand on the older boy's neck.
"Do I. Look. Stupid?" Draco said chillingly. Faust opened his mouth and revealed his fangs. Draco didn't waver.
"I am Faust, I just fell into some aging potion." The wand dug deeper into his throat. "Okay, this is my real age I was using a glamour before, but we don't have the time for this." Lock grabbed the wand from Draco and flipped the small boy over his shoulder.
"Hey, put me down!" Draco shouted, causing several students to stand and point their wands at Lock. Lock raised a red eyebrow.
"Professor Snape wishes to see him, he's refusing." No one moved so Lock just walked out.
Blaise looked up as Lock came out of the portal. He took in the shouting Draco, the self-assured red-head, and Draco's lack of wand.
"Where to?" Lock smirked at him and placed Draco on the ground.
"First convince him to come with." Blaise looked at Draco with something akin to glee.
"Come with, or I'll tell your father that you lost the journal he gave you." Draco glared at the black boy. Before crossing his arms and looking at Lock. Lock motioned for them to follow.
The trekked over to Ravenclaw Tower, making no conversation on the way. The trio finally arrived at the Tower and looked at the bronze-knocker eagle. It came to life and looked Lock in the eye.
"To change the nature of a man,
You need neither love, hate or a life span.
You require only a letter,
And the clothes of a tree, absent in winter.
What can change the nature of a man?"
'You need only a letter...and the clothes of a tree...absent in winter. That'd be a leaf! A leaf? No B-leaf. Belief!' Lock looked at the eagle with a smirk on his face.
"That which can change the nature of a man is belief." Lock told the knocker. The knocker became inanimate again and the door swung open.
Lock entered the common room and looked around. He spotted Shock in the corner talking with the same blonde girl from the morning. Walking over swiftly he tapped Shock on the shoulder. The young witch looked up and shot to her feet.
"Lock what happened?" She whispered.
"No time to explain. We need your help to save Halloween Town."
"Luna's coming with." Shock told him. Lock looked over at the blonde who was playing with a feather.
"Fine, just hurry up."
. , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
There was a long creak as the gate of Halloween Town seemed to bend inward. The cat alarm was cranked so that it yowled for everyone's attention.
"Everyone proceed to your houses! Protect your loved ones! Defend yourself! Halloween Town is coming to an end!" The Mayor called. Everyone scuttled off towards their homes, talking their children with them.
"No! Stay here! Jack won't let Halloween Town be destroyed! We have to stay and watch the orb!" Some of the towns people seemed conflicted, but stayed none-the-less. If they're town was to be destroyed, they would be destroyed with it.
. , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
Jack stood in the front hall pacing, as Harry arrived with his group of friends. Everyone's reaction was quite different. Neville went a pale as Jack before gibbering, Seamus looked up at the skeleton before whimpering in fear, Fred and George attached themselves to each of Jack's legs and started to babble like mad, Ron wouldn't come within 10 feet of the skeleton and Harry just stood their watching everyone's reaction.
Lock and his group came a few moments later. Lock grinned at Jack as Shock ran to give him a hug. Luna made a cryptic comment and the two Slytherins wavered uncertainly behind Lock.
Jack stopped and looked down at all of them, giving a deep laugh. He stopped when he noticed Hermione and Barrel come walking around the corner. Hermione looked up at him, studied his clothes and then his face. Then, she fainted. Barrel looked down at her with concern and tried to wake her up. He finally succeeded and Hermione sat up, eyes wide.
"Who are you?"
"I am Jack, the Pumpkin King, and current ruler of Halloween Town. However that is not important right now. Tonight, you will fight holidays. You will protect Halloween, and you will not hesitate. Understood?" Everyone nodded, except Hermione.
"We have to save Halloween. Why? What are the other holidays do to with this?" She questioned. Everyone looked at Jack expectantly, however it was Lock who answered.
"When a holiday figure reaches the end of their leadership the holiday becomes weak. Now each holiday figure as the 'animalistic' urge to destroy the other holidays, because in the days of beyond old there was only one holiday. There has been a fued for over a thousand years as to which holiday it was. Ultimately there can only be one. Now the last Holiday Battle was 500 years ago where Valentines day was nearly destroyed. Now that Jack is going to retire and the new King hasn't come Halloween Town grows weak."
"And we can save it." Hermione questioned.
"It shouldn't be too hard, the swatzers ate Earth's second moon before anyone noticed it." Everyone looked at the blonde girl, before looking back at Jack.
"Follow me." The skeleton commanded. Jack started to walk swiftly towards the Forest. Draco looked up at Lock dubiously, but Lock ignored him and kept following Jack. The eventually made it to a small niche of trees where there was a mysterious glowing white orb the size of a hula hoop. Jack stepped in and disappeared. Lock, Shock and Barrel followed. All the Hogwarts students looked at each other uncertainly.
"GERONIMO!" Shouted the Weasley twins as the ran into the portal. Draco and Blaise entered afterwards followed by Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Luna. Hermione cast one glance around before stepping through, followed lastly by Harry.
They appeared in another forest, however this one was more scarcely populated, and had a soft orange scheme to it. Walking behind Jack like ducklings they came to a ring of trees. Just inside they could see all of the popular holiday figures. The Easter Bunny, the St. Patrick's day leprechaun,Cupid, the Thanksgiving Turkey, Santa Clause, and Uncle Sam. All of them fighting to get into Halloween Town.
"What are we going to do?" Harry asked, terrified at the crazed expressions of the holiday figures.
"We have to get them away from the tree and back into their own worlds," Jack said over the noise. "Someone needs to create a plan, I must say mine always backfire." Ron seemed to perk up at the word plan and immediately went to stand by Jack.
"I have a plan." He said. Draco sneered and crossed his arms. Jack nodded.
"I have to keep Harold by the tree, he has a special job." Ron nodded.
"First, everyone has to blast away the other holidays somehow-"
"Expelliamus." Hermione said looking at the plan Ron had drawn. Ron scowled.
"Anyway, then GRANGER will make a shield around the tree," Ron stared pointedly at Hermione so she wouldn't interrupt him. "George, you will then blast Santa away then go out at try to get him to his tree. Then at two minute intervals everyone will take their assigned figure, blast them away and get them back. Fred, you take the Turkey, Neville and Luna take Cupid, Melissa and Faust take Easter, Seamus and Eric the leprechaun-"
"This is because I'm Irish ain't it?" Seamus interrupted.
"AND the Slytherins will take old Sam, while I try to open the doors on time and help anyone." Everyone nodded in determination.
"Let's do this." Fred crowed. Everyone raised there wands and cast Expelliamus towards the holiday figures.
A/N Don't hate me! My sister is literally about to beat me with a dictionary because I am cutting into her time!
*I gave her the idea.*
And I of course THANK you for that.
*...*
Review.