Chapter 39: Halloween

'No more questions Potter, I need to get back to teaching class now, if you need me I'll be in my office after 7' McGonagall started walking

'Oh and Potter, you and Miss Basu should go and see Miss Phoenix and Sid in the hospital wing' McGonagall added before she left

After McGonagall had left James looked at Rhea who was wiping her tears and asked 'Who's Voldemort?'

'I dont know, but he sounds scary!' Sighed Rhea

'I think I might ask my dad about him at Christmas…' Sighed James

'I'll be there to ask as well, and Ash and Sid… I think' Rhea said

James and Rhea then left for the hospital wing and then when they entered they saw Sid on one bed, he was still unconcious and was laying on the bed peacefully, on the other bed was Ash sitting up, she was wide awake, there were scratches all over her, one was on the side of her face, and there was a big one on her arm which was quite noticable… James saw Ash and ran up to her, but as for Rhea she looked at Sid and slowly started getting closer to him…

'Hey Ash, are you okay?' James asked

'Do I look okay?' Asked Ash smiling

'Yeah, you look fine to me' Winked James

'Seriously… Look at me, my scratches, their terrible' Ash looked down

Rhea approached Sid and sat on the side of the bed and loooked at Sid.

'Sid… I warned you Priya wasnt right but you didnt listen to me… Sometimes boys do need to listen to girls' Smiled Rhea

'You probably wont even be able to hear me, but I know somehow you'll be able to in the end… Just cant believe someone would do something like that… Taking away your powers' Rhea looked down and saw Sid's hand starting to move a little…

'You look fine Ash… You dont have a bad mark on your face or anything, and you can easily use your hair to cover your scratch on the side of your face' James sighed and gently touched the side of her cheek where the scratch was

'Ouch…' Ash was uncomfortable

'Oh… I'm sorry' James said as he moved his hand away

'Sid?' Rhea said as she heard a little groan from Sid

'Priya?' Sid said quietly

'What the?' Rhea said

'Oh hey Rhea' Sid said as his eyes opened a little

'You seriously say Priya's name as soon as you wake up?!' Rhea stood up

'I'm sorry! I didnt mean to, it was the last thing I was going to say before something happened so it just came out!' Sid said

'Oh… Okay' Sighed Rhea as she sat back down

'Look Rhea…' Sid stopped

'No… Dont be sorry, its all good' Smiled Ash

'Sure?' James asked

'Positive…' Ash replied

James nodded and gently placed his hand on the side of her cheek again and looked into her eyes deeply… Ash looked back into his green eyes and smiled… To Ash his touch was helping the burning in the scar to stop…

'What?' Asked Rhea

'I'm really sorry about going off with Priya, also for neglecting you' Sid held Rhea's hand

'Its fine… As long as you dont go off with her again, its all good' Rhea smiled

'I promise I wont, pinky promise!' Sid held out his pinky

James moved Ash's hair out of her face as it came in the way and started leaning up from where he was kneeling, his face and Ash's face got closer and closer and they both closed their eyes…

Rhea smiled and wrapped her pinky around Sid's and it was a promise made… Then Rhea and Sid turned to Ash and James…

Before anything else could happen James leaned in properly and he held Ash close and his lips touched hers before anything could happen, Ash being nervous pulled away…

'Oh… I'm sorry' James held Ash's hand tightly

'Its… Its fine' Laughed Ash

James smiled back and turned to look behind him and saw Rhea and Sid looking, then all of a sudden all of them started laughing together…

It became a while and with everything that happened, they were worried about getting home, but before home they had to get through Halloween.

31st October came very quickly and it was already Halloween, it was becoming evening for Hogwarts and there was rain pouring outside as well as thunder and lightning… It was time for dinner and Ash, James, Sid and Rhea went down to have their Halloween meal. When they got to the table there was too much food to choose out of, Hogwarts' special baked pumpkin, steak and kidney pie, fried sausages, vegetables, CARROTS, chips (french fries), gravy, yorkshire pudding, chicken, beef, lamb, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, steak, pork chops, sandwiches, cornish pasties, beef casserole. With the desserts apple pie, chocolate eclairs, chocolate gateau, custard tard, ice cream, jelly, jam doughnut, rice pudding, mini humbugs and trifle.

Everyone picked what they wanted and started talking for a while, they were eating peacefully but there was still the sound of thunder and the flashes of lightning coming from outside. Even the night sky in the hall wasnt looking too good with the weather and of course the occasion. The house ghosts started coming out, the bloody baron, nearly headless nick and other well known ghosts. Everyone was eating and enjoying themselves until… There was a crash of thunder and lightning and the lights went out, every candle in the room had gone out and then all of a sudden there was a scream and the lights went back on… Everyone in the hall looked around to see what had happened, but then they were even more worried when McGonagall got out of her chair… All of a sudden there was some screaming coming from the Hufflepuff table…

Everyone started running and more people started running back as soon as they had found out what had happened, Ash stood up and wanted to see what was happening… She got closer and closer and screamed at the sight on the floor…

There was a girl on the floor, a second year in fact, her eyes were opened and her face was covered in blood, there was blood around her dead body, her face was blue in some parts… But someone had killed her right there, right now… And then there was another crash of thunder and lightning and everyone screamed as they knew what was going to happen… By the time you knew it, someone else was dead on the floor.

'Everyone, return to your dormitories immediately!' McGonagall was worried

Everyone rushed out of the hall before they could get murdered… Rhea was holding Sid's hand tightly and running to the common room and Ash was right at the back as she had been pushed there, with her bad arm, she stopped for a moment as it was hurting so much…

'Guys wheres Ash?' James asked Sid and Rhea

'I thought she was with you!' Sid said

'Come on, we have to go and see where she is before she…' James stopped and there was a crash of thunder and lightning and the lights went out, there was a scream and then the lights went back on…

'QUICKLY!' James ran with Sid and Rhea behind him

They ran and ran as fast as they could to the hall, there was no one there… Not one single person was to be seen except McGonagall who was running up to Sid, Rhea and James.

'Professor, have you seen Ash?' James asked

'I have some bad news for you… For all of you!' McGonagall took them out of the hall to talk to them….

'She's taken Miss Phoenix…' McGonagall said in disappointment

'She? Who's she?' Sid asked

'Xing…' McGonagall whispered

'Who's that?' Rhea asked

'She comes every Halloween and takes someone away from here… We've tried our best getting rid of her, but its not possible…' McGonagall said

'Well… How are we going to save Ash?' James asked

'Usually… She takes people and their never seen again' McGonagall said

'Professor… I dont care, I'm going to rescue Ash' James said confidently

'NO JAMES. We are' Sid said

'And me' Smiled Rhea

'Potter, its too dangerous… Please dont go looking for trouble just like your father…' McGonagall said

'I dont look for trouble, its trouble that looks for me' Sighed James 'Come on guys…'

James, Sid and Rhea quickly left for the common room and they sat by the fireplace…

'We are going to save Ash, I dont care if we break 10000 school rules, we have to save her' Sighed James as he looked into the fire

'How though? We dont even know where this Xing ghost is or how to summon her' Rhea said

'The lightning seemed like it was aritificial, coming from the courtyard… If it was real lightning… Then it would've been seen in the ceiling as well' Sid said

'Exactly!' James said

'So 10 minutes… We'll meet here again and go to the courtyard?' Rhea said

'Deal' James and Sid said