"C'mon, Kurt!"

"Coming, Mom!", Kurt called, hurrying to catch up with his mom as she walked into the woods behind their house. He eventually caught up with her, taking her hand, and they walked for a few minutes like that before they came to a clearing. Kurt sprinted excitedly over to the brooms leaning against a tree, while his mom walked over at a more sedate pace. By the time she got to the tree, Kurt had already mounted his broom. She quickly mounted hers, looked at Kurt with a smile, and they kicked off.
Kurt *loved* flying. He loved the exhilarating rush, the wind in his hair, the views of plants and animals spread out below him. He soared, then flew higher and higher, the sun growing warmer and the wind picking up and-

Kurt woke with a start, sitting upright in his bed, his heart racing from the excitement he felt in the dream. As his heart slowed down, he felt some sadness steal over
him. He always had this dream on Halloween- it was fitting, because he'd always felt that Halloween was about remembering the dead, and that memory was the last good memory he'd had of his mom, before she became too sick to do much, let alone fly with him.

He looked around his dorm room. Derek and Jack were still asleep, but Loki was sitting up in his bed, looking at Kurt with concern. Kurt inclined his head towards the bathroom, and went in, Loki following him.

"Bad dream?", asked Loki.

Kurt sighed. "It's the last good memory I have of my mom."

"What happened to her?" said Loki curiously

Kurt looked at Loki for a minute, before answering, "She died of cancer 3 years ago."

"Oh," said Loki. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Kurt said. "Let's go get dressed, I'm hungry."

When Kurt and Loki entered the Great Hall, they were momentarily astounded by what they saw. The candles that usually floated above the tables had been replaced by jack-o-lanterns, and live bats flitted about between them. Once they were done taking in the room, they made their way over to where Blaine was sitting with Cooper at the Hufflepuff table.

"So what do you guys think?", said Cooper.

"It looks nice," replied Kurt, "but if those bats get droppings on my clothes, someone is going to pay to clean them."
Cooper laughed at Kurt's response for a minute, before quieting down. "I'm pretty sure there's a spell that'll keep that from happening, so you probably don't have to worry about that," he said. "Anyway, if you're thinking about not coming to the feast tonight, stop that train of thought. The food is absolutely amazing."

"Sure, Coop," said Blaine. Cooper got up and walked back to the Gryffindor table, and Kurt and Loki sat down to eat.

Kurt's day was fine until lunch. In Charms, Flitwick was making them levitate feathers, and Kurt was the first person to get his feather in the air. At the end of the period, Flitwick gave him a sugar quill, which Kurt accepted with a smile, then hurried off to the dungeons for potions. He met Blaine outside the dungeons and they split the quill. In Potions, they were working on a cure for boils, which Professor Slughorn eventually said they all did a pretty good job on.

Lunch, which was kinda the worst part of Kurt's day, didn't actually start too badly. However, about halfway through lunch, Peeves decided it would be a brilliant idea to drop a bunch of live spiders on a student. The student in question- a Hufflepuff second year- was so scared that she actually made the spiders explode, spattering several students, including Kurt, with spider remains.

"Peeves!" Kurt yelled. The poltergeist, who was sneaking out of the room, paused and turned around. When he saw the expression on Kurt's face, he quickly exited the hall, followed closely by an angry Kurt.

A few minutes later, Kurt returned to the Great Hall, wearing the same clothes, but without the stains that had been on them before. Blaine asked Kurt incredulously, "What on earth did you do to Peeves?"

"Oh, we just had a nice little talk," said Kurt with a smile, and went back to eating his lunch.