Vega winced as he sat down in a chair in the Slytherin common room, closing his eyes and blowing out a long sigh. Another Quidditch practice he had managed to somehow survive. For their team's captain, just trying to go after the Golden Snitch wasn't enough of a challenge to focus on all on its own. Instead, Vega had to constantly dodge Bludgers being smashed his way for the entirety of his practice time. It was an exhausting ordeal to undergo, but he had to admit, it was doing what Danielson had told him it would. It was helping him sharpen his reflexes considerably, as he obviously didn't want to land in Madam Pomfrey's care with broken bones.

They had already had their first real match of the year, against Hufflepuff, and they had come out on top of that one. But not by a close enough margin. Vega finally had to bite the bullet and push himself farther than he wanted to steal the victory from Elisa Haque's outstretched hands. He had jolted ahead at the last moment, moved forward on his Lightwing, and plucked the Snitch out of the sky just as Haque lunged for it as well. Her hand had actually closed over his for a moment before she glared and spun away, looking sour over her loss. Vega was just happy that he could push himself and not black out, which had done wonders for his confidence.

His good mood didn't seem to spread to much of the staff, however. Halloween was less than a week away, and all of the teachers seemed to be on-edge for some reason. Hydrus had reminded him of what their parents had to face while they were at the school. A few incidents had occurred since Harry and his friends had left, but none of it had been noteworthy. And now that Vega and his friends had arrived, obviously they were expecting things to suddenly change.

Vega had tried arguing this with Hydrus, asking why that would happen. Hydrus had reminded him of the incidents still plaguing England. Finding out that the children of the Potters and Malfoys had started at Hogwarts wouldn't be difficult. And with whispers of a cult starting to gain popularity among the wizarding public, to think that someone might try something wasn't a very big stretch. But Vega had insisted that they were all just being paranoid. Halloween would come and pass without incident and that would be that.

Lapis Eskander seemed back to his old, cockier self. This seemed to fall just slightly after the Slytherin versus Hufflepuff match, after seeing Vega rocket forward to snatch the win away from the taller Haque. The two were back to barely speaking and only occasionally crossed paths during their daily schedules. And whenever Lapis was around, so were his two female friends. Vega still wasn't convinced that the two girls weren't secretly fighting over Lapis. Sometimes they acted decidedly strange around him. It was a mystery that Vega had resolved to at least try to work out by the end of the year. He hadn't decided to open a betting pool on which would win their apparent battle over Lapis, but if it escalated, he was certainly considering it.

Cracking open an eye to see more Slytherins filtering into the room, Vega stretched. He had tried not going back to the Pit for anything. It still felt off down there, and he still wasn't sure why. He had spent the better part of one of his Sundays searching all of the rooms for anything that might be causing the feeling in him, but he came up empty. He had even shoved the couch back temporarily and used it to get closer to the hole in the ceiling. But without a way to seal it up properly or see down the numerous tunnels dug by the beholder that had lived there, it was impossible to tell if anything was there.

That day had also been used to acquaint himself with Dobby the house elf, who was exactly as his father had described. Energetic and very eager to meet Vega finally, Dobby had eaten up almost two hours of his time before bowing and teleporting back down to the kitchens to resume work on the day's dinner. Vega had told him that he wasn't sure how often he'd be down there that year, and asked if Dobby knew why he had felt watched. Dobby had frowned, saying that he wasn't sure, though sometimes he also felt strange while in the room. The fact that neither could place why was something of a bother. He hadn't written to his parents about it, however. Harry was out almost daily now, helping the Aurors track down whoever was causing the isolated attacks on wizarding England. Hydrus and Viola's father had also taken to working with the Aurors, stating that he felt like an old man sitting around while Harry had all the 'fun.'

Groaning, Vega shoved himself up and out of the chair, heading for the stairs. The common room was getting too full and noisy now. And while he had skipped dinner due to practice taking up most of his evening, he didn't feel hungry yet. He rather wanted to get an early start to sleep before he relaxed enough that it did. He knew he could kip off to the Pit and get anything he wanted at whatever hour he needed it, but that would require losing Hydrus and Viola, who had taken a sharp interest in trying to follow him. He still just wasn't ready to talk to them about it.

Trudging up the stairs and into the first years' dorm, he shuffled over to his bed and keeled over face-first onto it, muttering darkly into his blanket about wanting to smash a Bludger at Danielson's head sometimes. With a scowl, he crawled up so he was on the bed a bit more properly and promptly sprawled back out, not caring that he was planning to sleep in his Quidditch robes. His shower and a change could wait until the following day.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Do you really think it'll be like it was back then, ma'am?" Asked Neville Longbottom in an undertone, watching the students file in to eat breakfast.

The headmistress snorted quietly. "If it isn't, I'll eat my hat. But as long as we keep a close watch on the students today, we might be alright. Everyone will be back in their common rooms before sundown. Anyone caught outside will risk being expelled."

"Isn't that a little... extreme?"

"I'd rather come off as being overly strict than to let them come to any harm. And it's just a temporary measure of caution, besides. Halloween seems to dredge up the worst things, sending them all here. But then, I'm sure you of all people don't need help remembering how it can be. And with what the Aurors have been letting us in on and with those children here, I really would prefer to come across as paranoid just this once. As deputy headmistress, it was bad enough to watch things unfold. I'm not sure how Albus put up with the stress sometimes, to be honest."

"Lots and lots of patience." Neville said, shaking his head. "It's a shame, though. Halloween should be a night where we turn a bit of a blind eye to pranks and sneaking out at night."

"The castle is very old." Said Professor Flitwick, speaking up. "Even if you thought you had a perfect knowledge of it, it's impossible to watch every way in at once. The dungeons run deep and tunnels go out in all directions. It's got good, sound warding on it, of course, but that doesn't necessarily mean something can't slip in undetected! The Chamber of Secrets was hidden for ages before Harry ran across it. Who knows what else is sleeping in the darkness?"

Neville shuddered at that. "Oh, stop, you'll give me nightmares..."

Tadyggbo let out a laugh at that. "Now now, Neville, don't let it get to you. While I may not know Hogwarts as well as some of you, I've certainly spent my fair share of time going on walks about the place. And in that time, I've only noticed a few suspicious things that might hold a secret passage in some form or another. And some of them are simply hiding spots that former heads of the school put their private quarters. I found myself on the sixth floor one time, around nine at night, and ended up in something of a garden way up at the top of a flight of stairs. A section of the wall had looked odd, and when I leaned in to check, I saw that it could be magically removed. Spent a good hour trying various things out, and finally found a spell that did the trick. Nothing but well-kept flowers in a circular room, though. Damnedest thing."

Leaning in so that she could still be heard over the students, Professor Sinistra added, "He left out the part where he had to spend a week in bed due to being allergic to everything that was up there."

Tadyggbo gave the woman a withering glance, causing her to grin sweetly at him.

"Whatever the case." McGonagall said, rolling her eyes, "I'll make the announcement over lunch. We'll have the Prefects helping round their House's students up and assisting the staff with transporting them to and from classes."

"Is Crowley going to stay holed up in his office, then?" Asked Sinistra, making a face.

Albert Crowley was the man who had come along to replace the aging Argus Filch. And while Crowley was less uptight about every little rule being maintained, he was also incredibly anti-social, preferring to remain in his quarters and read. Even during meals, it was rare to see him eating when everyone else was. Sometimes, it seemed as though the old man could pop out of nowhere, which had unnerved more than a few of the younger students. He wasn't much for talking, instead choosing to simply level an unblinking gaze at whoever had caused any trouble. When he did speak, it was typically in clipped sentences that got straight to the point and let him go about his business.

"He is." McGonagall confirmed. "Though he said he would keep an ear out, should anything happen to roam outside of it."

"He's better than Filch was." Neville muttered. "At least Crowley never carries on about chaining students to the walls or dipping them in boiling oil. You know, I always thought Mrs. Norris was weird. Like not really a cat, if that makes sense..."

"She did give off a strange aura at times." Flitwick said, tilting his head. "But if there was anything different about her other than that, it got past me. And Argus couldn't have spelled her himself, after all. Why would anyone put spells on someone else's pet?"

"Can't imagine Filch ever asking someone to do a thing like that, anyway." Neville said, frowning.

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Sinistra asked. "The food's going to be here soon, and I'd rather not have our breakfast conversation be about gargoyles absconding with students and who's the creepier caretaker."

Tadyggbo laughed again. "I'll second the motion. On to merrier topics, then?"

"Such as how Slytherin is doing rather well for itself this year." Sinistra said, a sly grin on her face. "How's Miss Haque doing, Neville?"

Neville made a face. "We've all learned to stay away from the subject. She gets rather... cranky, shall we say, if anyone brings up our loss."

"It was quite a performance. Good to see Danielson's found us a good set of replacements this year! I'll be honest, I was worried that we might end up with a sub-par team." Sinistra said, shaking her head slowly.

"Hopefully Vega doesn't have any more incidents, though." Neville said, glancing out across the room towards the Slytherin boy in question. He was sitting near the Malfoys and talking animatedly about something. "Has he been doing okay? Anything strange that you've noticed?"

"Blackout aside? Not really. He's still struggling in his studies a bit, but he's starting to get the hang of it all. He doesn't seem to be the natural his father was." Said Sinistra, following Neville's gaze. "Honestly, what are the odds Slytherin would get the lot of them? I was expecting Draco and Pansy's children to get in, but nabbing Potter's, too?"

"Too much energy between them." Came a voice from next to Flitwick. Sevastian Fedorov, current Potions professor at Hogwarts, was looking out across the room as well. "I'm not sure I've ever seen the Malfoy girl in anything but an upbeat mood. Her brother's almost the opposite. A little too quiet and reserved, but constantly thinking. And somewhere in the middle is the Potter boy..."

"He always seems nervous." Tadyggbo said, nodding. "Seems to 'get' my stuff, but that's probably because I've been over-explaining things a bit much, I think. The kappa likes him, though, so I guess that's something!"

"Probably just nerves." Said Fedorov. "He seems to slowly be opening up. I'm sure Quidditch is doing something for that. The win must have been good for him."

"It was the happiest he's looked since he got here." Sinistra said, smirking. "He got to be the hero for his House that day. That it was his very first match only makes it better. Didn't you say he actually raised his hand in your class the other day, Filius?"

Flitwick nodded, smiling. "And he got the answer correct, as well. Miss Malfoy was teasing him about it after class was over, but he looked rather pleased about it all."

"We're still missing a few." Tadyggbo said, glancing at the empty spots still remaining at the staff table. "Where are the others?"

"Rosalind's trying to figure out what Mr. Neale did to his chair. Transfigured it into something resembling an open iron maiden, I hear." Sinistra said, making a face. "Dom's grading his fifth and sixth years' tests at the moment, I think. Hewitt's probably still asleep, and I thought I saw Hagrid out dealing with the pumpkins."

"Wright's giving tests this early into the year?" Tadyggbo said, his tone slightly higher.

"You're about the only one who hasn't given one, actually." Fedorov said.

"Tests will come once we're done with the kappa." Tadyggbo stated. "Still don't much understand the way Wright lays his tests out, either. Went to ask him if he wanted to go down to the pub not long ago and he was picking questions to put on it. Didn't recognize half the words on it..."

Sinistra patted him on the back. "You aren't the only one. Though I suppose it's our own fault that we're so ignorant of Muggle ways. I remember in staff meetings how Albus used to drop not-so-subtle hints that he wouldn't mind updating the castle a bit. But can you imagine? Just thinking about it gives me a headache..."

"Maybe in the future." Tadyggbo said, grinning. As the food finally appeared on plates around the room, his eyes lit up. "Ah, finally!"

Neville picked up a fork and started to stab a sausage, but paused at the strange look on McGonagall's face. She was still staring across the room, her gaze focused like a laser on Vega Potter. Her eyes were just slightly narrowed and very calculating. She was lost in thought about something or another. Neville had only seen that expression a few times, though he couldn't imagine what she could be thinking so hard about. Hopefully, he thought as he started eating, the day would pass without incident.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

"I wish they'd decorate the castle sooner than on Halloween day." Viola said as the three were heading to the Great Hall that night. "It'd help set the mood, ya know?"

"With how big those pumpkins of Hagrid's are, I'm not sure I want to see how they've decorated." Vega stated, eyebrows raised.

"What's the worst they could do? They're just pumpkins." Said Hydrus.

"Oh, don't say that..." Vega whined. "You'll jinx it and cause something to happen."

"Nonsense. Jinxes don't work that way." Hydrus stated.

"Vega, stop worrying. Hydrus, stop being a mood killer." Viola ordered, whirling around to face the two boys. Walking backwards, she continued, "I'm gonna make the two of you have fun tonight one way or another!"

"Yeah, well. Your dad didn't have things start chasing after him until he started hanging around my dad." Vega muttered. "And my dad was dealing with crazy stuff on Halloween right from the start..."

"Weren't you the one who was saying everyone was being paranoid?" Asked Hydrus. "Why the sudden change in heart, Potter?"

"The castle is very large and there are many places something could skulk in the shadows." Vega said. "And I don't think I could beat a troll like dad did..."

"He didn't beat it, Dumbledore did." Hydrus corrected. "He just escaped from it."

"Same difference." Vega scowled. "I don't think I could escape from a troll like dad did. Happy now?"

"Would you two cut it out?!" Viola barked, moving to slug the two boys in the shoulders. As they winced at the attack, she stepped between them and grabbed at their robes. "No arguing! No being paranoid! No thinking the day's a bland, ordinary day. It's Halloween you jerks, start having fun!"

"If we start having fun, will you stop tormenting us?" Asked Vega, trying to yank his robes out of Viola's vice-like grip.

"Depends on how convincing an actor you are." Viola said, smiling sweetly.

The three continued arguing off and on until they arrived in the Great Hall, which the staff had, as usual, gone slightly overboard in making festive. Hagrid's jumbo-sized pumpkins were lined up on either side of the double doors leading into the room and had been enchanted to greet anyone coming in. What looked to be real skeletons were inside the Great Hall, dancing with one another in the corners of the room, and haunting music was softly playing. Overhead, instead of properly reflecting the actual weather, the ceiling showed a stormy night's sky, complete with occasional burst of lightning and crack of thunder. The benches that lined the four House tables alternated orange and black colors, and small bowls filled with various candies floated around the room lazily.

A good many people had already gotten to the room and were animatedly talking. A group of older Hufflepuff girls seemed to be hosting something of a ghost-telling story. A few of the students near her seemed mildly confused by this practice, as they kept pointing toward the actual ghosts that were in attendance. Vega and the twins took up their usual spot at the end of the Slytherin table, with Vega eyeballing one of the floating candy dishes.

"Just a little lower..." He murmured, eyes trained on it. "Come on, get down here..."

"Do you want me to summon it?" Viola asked, sounding amused.

The candy dish hovered overhead for a few seconds longer, then went into a divebomb, candy spilling over the sides as it tried to crash into Vega's head. For his part, Vega let out a cry and pushed back from the table, barely avoiding falling off the bench entirely. The candy dish circled like a vulture once gaining a bit of height, then began to float off across the room. Propping himself back upright, Vega glared at the dish as he swiped a piece of fallen candy off to the table.

"Cute." He groused, unwrapping the candy and popping it into his mouth. He spat it out a second later, making a gagging noise.

"What was it?" Hydrus asked.

Vega pointed accusingly at another piece of the candy, which had landed near Hydrus. Hydrus looked from Vega to the candy and then back again before replying, "After seeing you do that, I'd have to be out of my mind to taste for myself."

"Vivi, get him!" Vega choked.

"Roger that!" Chimed Viola who, in one swift motion, had grabbed and opened the candy, pulled her brother's head to one side, and shoved the candy into his mouth as he tried protesting. His eyes widened almost instantly as he also spit the piece of candy out.

"Why would you do that?!" Hydrus yelled, trying to wipe the taste off of his tongue. "Why would you make candy that tastes like that?!"

"And why would the staff buy it?!" Vega whimpered, looking rather miserable.

"Okay, now you have me curious. What the heck was it?" Asked Viola. "And if either of you try lobbing a piece of the stuff into my mouth, I'll hex your bits off."

"You know when you were six and you had that frog?" Vega asked.

"Yeah... what about it?" Viola replied, looking outright confused.

"You remember when it got sick all over your new dress? Remember the smell?" Vega continued.

Viola frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, but wh-- oh. Ohhh." She paused, looking from Vega to Hydrus. "...Oh god! I'm sorry, Hydrus!"

"Apology not accepted!" Hydrus choked out, looking a bit green. Grabbing for a goblet that thankfully filled itself as he touched it, he gulped a few mouthfuls of pumpkin juice. "...Ugh, the taste isn't going away. Thanks for that, Potter."

"You could've tried it without me needing to sic Vivi on you." Vega said, trying to drink the flavor away as well. From his expression, he was getting the same results that Hydrus was.

"Who in their right mind would have willingly done that after seeing you make that face?!" Hydrus asked, his face still in a grimace. "I hope the food gets here soon."

"Dunno why, the food'll probably taste tainted, too!" Vega said. "Right. First thing tomorrow, we're going to figure out what jerk bought those and put them into these candy dishes!"

"And then what?" Viola asked. "Bet whoever got them thinks they taste good."

"I... what? Who would think that stuff tastes good? Seriously, you don't know how awful this is! This isn't different tastes coming into play. This tastes like the smell of the mess that frog made!"

"I think we should just try to forget this ever happened." Hydrus said.

Vega nodded quickly at this suggestion. "I agree. I very much agree. And if I can keep from having nightmares about having to eat more of those things, I'll be more than happy to never think about this again."

The foul-tasting candy ended up getting taste-tested by several more students as the night went on, with every one of them having the same horrified response. One boy rushed from the room after spitting his piece out, having made the dire mistake of having it right after eating a large meal. The food, blissfully, did have some effect on dimming the dreadful aftertaste that was attempting to haunt the mouths of anyone who had tried the candy. Around the end of dinner, Vega was nursing a bit of chocolate, which seemed to help the most out of everything that had popped onto the table for dinner.

"I think that stuff coated my tongue." Vega said, sounding just short of outright miserable. "I'm going to be a little old man and I'll still be tasting it..."

"Oh, stop exaggerating." Viola said. "It can't still be hanging around."

"Can and is." Hydrus said. "Potter, break me off a piece of that thing, would you?"

Nodding, Vega snapped a piece of the chocolate bar off and tossed it to Hydrus, who bite off a piece. "Helps, huh?"

Hydrus simply nodded, letting the chocolate slowly melt in his mouth.

"Hey, look on the bright side." Viola said, leaning against the table. "The candy got your minds off your dumb argument from earlier. And neither of you have worried about it since."

"Guess you're right." Vega said, smiling crookedly. "It was kinda silly to think that something would happen just because we're here, right?"

"Exactly." Hydrus murmured, biting off another piece of the chocolate bar.

"Then again, that candy was pretty terrifying. Maybe that was our big 'oh no!' moment of the year or something." Vega said, looking thoughtful.

"If that's the worst thing that happens this year, I'll be satisfied." Hydrus said, taking a quick sip of his pumpkin juice before cringing. "Note to self, these flavors do not mix well..."

"Better than pumpkin juice and frog sick." Vega said.

"Agreed. Though not by much... maybe one terrible aftertaste will cancel the other one out." Hydrus pondered, frowning.

"Come on, you two. Looks like the Prefects are about ready to start rounding us up." Viola said, glancing up the table. "Let's get back to the common room and just try and forget this little event, shall we?"

"Spoken by someone not traumatized by it." Vega said. "But I'm taking the rest of this chocolate with me. Surely they won't have a problem with that. Not after seeing so many of us fall victim to that stuff..."

The headmistress stood up a few minutes later and was about to address the students when one of the doors to the room flew open. The Prefects, to their credit, had whirled around, wands aimed at whoever or whatever had thrown it open. But it wasn't a monster, it was simply a Gryffindor fifth year, looking just on the verge of having a complete nervous breakdown. Her clothes and hair were messed up slightly, and her robes had a large tear on the back. She barely slowed down as she flew into the room, making a dash for the staff table, where the teachers suddenly looked tense.

"Miss Weatherly, what's wrong? Where have you been?" McGonagall asked, moving around the staff table to be on even ground with the girl.

"She's... she's been hurt!" Cried the girl, grasping McGonagall's robes and looking up at the headmistress through terrified eyes. "She's bleeding, I don't know how bad it got her!"

"Calm down, Miss Weatherly. Who has been hurt and where?" Asked McGonagall, putting her hands on the Gryffindor's shoulders.

"M-my friend Annie! Up near the second floor girls' toilets! I... I don't know what happened. She was feeling ill... when we came out, something slammed into us and dragged her off! She... I ran after her and when I came around the corner it was standing over her and she was bleeding and it looked like it was going to eat her and I didn't know what to do so I ran and..."

"BREATHE, Miss Weatherly! What was it? What attacked your friend?"

"It... it was a chimaera!" The girl whimpered, tears spilling down her face. "It was huge and I don't know how it didn't kill the both of us right there, but I ran... I don't even know if she's okay. I don't..."

"Gareth, Filius, Sevastian, get up there as fast as you can. If the girl is still there, take her to Poppy at once." Ordered McGonagall.

Professors Tadyggbo, Flitwick, and Fedorov got up and swiftly left the room, closing the door behind them as they went. McGonagall helped the shaking girl over to the Gryffindor table before turning back toward the staff table. "We're going to search the school. A large chimaera isn't going to be able to easily avoid us. Rubeus, I want you to stay here and keep by the door. If you hear anything that sounds like growling..."

"I'll keep 'em safe, Professor." Hagrid said, getting up from his seat.

As the rest of the staff got to their feet, McGonagall turned to face the students. "Everyone is to remain here for now. Prefects, while we are away, I would like you to move the students from your House towards the front of the room and away from the doors. The side room may be used if needed, but it isn't big enough to hold everyone. Keep your wands out and on the door. If anything bursts in and Hagrid isn't able to stop it, I want you to open fire."

McGonagall drew her wand and led the staff, minus Hagrid, out of the Great Hall. Hagrid closed the doors this time, after glancing around the Entrance Hall for a moment. He turned away from them and leaned back. "Ain't nothin' gonna budge these doors so long as I'm here." He gruffed. "Don't you all be worryin' none. If there's a chimaera around, they'll be able to deal with it."

The Prefects began to move students from the House tables up toward the staff table. Some students were more than happy to stand against the wall behind the staff table, as it kept them as far from the doors as they could possibly be. Others sat at the front end of the four tables, and some sat on the floor in front of the staff table, knees drawn up to their chests. Some of the sixth and seventh year students had also drawn their wands, just in case. The Prefects were doing their best to calm those who looked like they were panicking, with one of Gryffindor's sitting with the friend of the girl who had been attacked.

Vega, Hydrus, and Viola were sitting along the wall near the Slytherin table. Vega looked like he was just shy of panicking himself, and Viola seemed to sense this, as she was trying to say comforting things about how this would pass without any more incident. She didn't sound too sure of herself, however, and she soon fell back on simply throwing an arm around Vega's shoulders. Hydrus was listening as the Slytherin Prefects talked with some of the older students about what would be best to throw at a chimaera, should the worst case scenario occur.

When a knock came on the door, it startled almost everyone. Hagrid turned his head and asked, "Who's there?!"

"It's us!" Came the familiar voice of Professor Flitwick. "Let us in, we have news!"

Hagrid pushed away from the two doors and opened one up. The three professors who had left to rescue the injured girl stepped back in. Fedorov and Tadyggbo turned to talk to Hagrid and mind the Entrance Hall as Flitwick got up on the Ravenclaw table to be seen better.

"Miss Weatherly, your friend is going to be alright! She was indeed bleeding rather badly, but it's nothing Madam Pomfrey can't fix!" Flitwick said, sounding rather relieved himself. "She might have a rather nasty scar on her leg, but she's quite lucky!"

"And so are you, for that matter." Tadyggbo said, glancing across the room. "Not sure how you managed to escape that thing, but we saw a mark on a wall where it must have taken a slash at you. I've not seen chimaera claws that large in my life. We ran into Sinistra and Harper while coming back, and they said they hadn't found anything yet. It had to've been over ten feet tall if its claws were that large. How the devil it's keeping itself out of sight is beyond me..."

"Maybe it's got a lair it's returning to." Said Fedorov. "We should call the Aurors in tomorrow if they can spare a few men. Get them down into the Chamber of Secrets, just to see if it's lurking there."

"Worth a shot. It's as good a guess as anything." Tadyggbo said, shaking his head. "Anyway, we need to get back out there, Rubeus. We just wanted to pass on the news."

"Be careful out there, you three." Hagrid said, stepping back to allow the three back out of the room. "Haven't heard anything around here yet, though. Hopin' it stays that way."

"As do we." Fedorov stated.

"We'll check back in once we've made a sweep of this floor and the first." Flitwick said. "Stay safe!"

Hagrid nodded, once more closing the doors behind the trio as they left. "...Ten feet tall?" He said, blowing out a low sigh. "Can't imagine where somethin' that big could be..."

"The question isn't so much where it's hiding..." Hydrus said, his voice quiet. "It's how it got in. Chimaeras aren't native here. It had to have come in from elsewhere... which means there's a very good chance that someone let it into the school..."

"Oh god, don't say that." Vega whimpered. "...Do you think it's those lunatics who've been causing the attacks around the country?"

"Could be." Hydrus murmured. "I'm sure they'll know soon enough anyway, but it couldn't hurt writing to our parents first chance we get."

"If they'll let anyone up to the owlery on their own." Viola said.

"They'll probably ask for any letters to be set on the staff table at the end of a meal so that they can send the school owls off." Hydrus said.

"Now what?" Vega asked, hugging his knees and looking at the twins.

"All we can do - we wait." Hydrus said, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. "And we try not to let this get under our skin. If there's anything that big roaming the halls, they'll find it."

"And if they don't?" Asked Viola.

"Then we can start worrying."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Author's Notes: Well, kids, you knew the peace couldn't last. So how does a ten foot tall chimaera hide in Hogwarts? I guess you'll just have to wait and see. Things are finally picking up, which should mean that barring Christmas, the next chapter will be written and up before the end of 2009! That's the plan, anyway. As expected, once things start picking up, so does my desire to write more often. I can't keep it action-y all the time, though, or I (and everyone else) would get sick of it pretty quick.

Crummy way to spend Halloween, if you ask me. But you gotta admit - it's the perfect atmosphere. And slightly comedic if you think about the fact that those dancing skeletons and enchanted pumpkins and things are still moving around.

Next chapter is the one I've been waiting all this time to write. We've seen a taste of it already, but that was merely the beginning. It may just be the start down a very bloody road indeed...