Chapter 16: Halloween
October 31, 1992
Buffy woke up the morning of Halloween excited. She had always loved the holiday since she was old enough to go trick or treating. This year though like last year she wouldn't be able to go trick or treating as it was not something the wizarding world did. Still she was excited as the day had fallen on a Saturday this year and was looking forward to spending time with her friends.
Buffy had even managed to talk Professor McGonagall into allowing her to carve a pumpkin, something she always loved to do, as long as it was done in the Professor's office with McGonagall supervising.
"I don't know," Buffy said, "I was going for ferocious scary, but it's coming out more dryly sardonic."
"It does appear to be mocking you with its eye-holes," Dawn said. "Yet its nose-hole seems sad and full of self-loathing."
Buffy laughed, "What do you think, Harry?"
Harry, pensive, lying on his side. His hand was feeling around in the bowl of pumpkin pulp. "Just thinking about the life of a pumpkin. Grow up in the sun, happily entwined with others… Then somebody comes along, cuts you open and rips your guts out." He pulled out a handful of pulp. The others warily share a look.
Buffy poked her brother. "I know you never had a good Halloween living with our aunt and uncle," she said. "So, I plan to make it up to you, Harry. Don't know how yet but I will."
Harry smiled, "Thanks, Bells."
"Hey aren't we doing the Ravenclaw's thing?" Dawn asked. "The scary house? It sounds a little lame. I mean come on we know vampires, werewolves, and such exist."
"It sounds fun," Harry said. "The other muggleborn are putting it together. You have to go through the whole scary house maze to get to the party, I hear their having the party in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."
Buffy sighed. "Who would anyone want to party in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," she asked. "I mean no offense to Moaning Myrtle but that's not someplace I would think of having a party."
They looked at Professor McGonagall who shrugged, "I'm not ruining the surprise. And yes, I did approve of them using that lavatory, with Myrtle's permission."
Buffy finished the pumpkin and handed the knife to Professor McGonagall, "Thanks Professor for letting me carve this. It's something I missed doing since I haven't been able to participate in a muggle Halloween now in two years."
Professor McGonagall smiled, "It's quite alright. You all run along back to your common room and get changed, I believe the Halloween Feast will be starting shortly."
The group nodded and left the professor's office.
"So, we on for the Ravenclaw's party?" Dawn asked.
"Sounds like fun," Harry said.
"I'll join you all in a bit, I have to stop by the library," Buffy said. A gentle wind blew through the corridor causing her to look up. She saw Dawn and Harry standing in front of her. She was confused how they got in front of her when they had been heading in a different direction. "Dang guys you gave me quite a scare there. How did you get ahead of me?"
Harry looked up at his sister and she could tell his gaze was vacant and lifeless. "You didn't protect us, Buffy," he said. "Why didn't you protect us? How could you let us die?"
As Dawn looked up at Buffy, Buffy could see that Dawn's gaze was also vacant and lifeless. "You let me die, why, Buffy. I thought we were sisters, and you let me die."
Buffy shook her head to clear it and when she looked back up, she saw Dawn and Harry were gone. She stood there waiting as if for someone to jump out and tell her it was all a Halloween joke. A moment later Giles literally bumped in to her. "There you are, Buffy, I thought you were going to meet me in the library?"
Buffy looked up at her watcher, "Giles, I think my mind is playing tricks on me. I just saw Dawn and Harry, and I think they were dead," she said as he looked at her a worried expression on his face. "I'm sure it was just my mind playing tricks on me, or Harry and Dawn's idea of an elaborate Halloween joke. I'm sure their likely back in the common room laughing right now."
Giles nodded looking reassured. "What was it you wanted to see me for anyways?"
"Oh, I was just wondering do vampires and demons and what not come out on Halloween. I would think this would be a prime time for them because they could blend in and people would think they are simply wearing masks."
Giles shook his head, "I promise you, there's little chance of any supernatural activity tonight. Halloween actually has been a day when the forces of darkness stay inside. I don't really know why, but tonight is like dead for them."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Myrtle watched as her bathroom was decorated for the Halloween party. She saw Tara Maclay standing near a makeshift stage.
One of Tara's fellow Gryffindor's smiled at her. "So, you're singing tonight, right?" he asked.
Tara sighed. She wished she knew how everyone knew she could sing. "I-I-I guess," she stuttered.
The boy looked at the symbol that his friend Josh was painting on the floor, "That looks cool don't you think?"
Tara shrugged. "If I am going to have to sing, I guess I ought to go change." She walked out of the bathroom and towards the Gryffindor tower.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In another corridor Dawn was just now returning to the Gryffindor tower to get changed when she saw Glory step out of the shadows in front of her. "Ah my Key," Glory said. "Now it's time for me to go home."
Dawn let out a scream as Buffy and Giles came up behind her, "Dawnie, what's wrong?" Buffy asked.
Dawn turned and buried her face in Buffy's robes, "I saw, Glory."
Buffy frowned as she looked at Giles, "Something is definitely going on here. First, I see… well you know and now she sees Glory, who is supposed to be dead."
"Do you think you can get her back to your common room," Giles said. "I will go back to the library and see what I can find out about manifestation of fears."
Buffy nodded and led Dawn towards the portrait hole for the Gryffindor common room.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In Moaning Myrtle's bathroom Josh stood next to a girl who he had blindfolded. She was reaching into a bowl. He smiled at her. "Okay, Rach. What's in the next one?"
"You guys are sick," Rachel said. "This is so gross!"
Josh smirked. "Here. Give me your hand," he said as he took her hand and directed it into another bowl. "They're eyeballs, Rachel! Eyeballs! Ahhahaha!"
Rachel shrieked playfully as she lifted the blindfold from her eyes and brought up a fistful of real eyeballs. She let out a scream in fear.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy and Dawn enter the common room and spotted Harry, Ron, Hermione and Willow in front of the fireplace. They turn and saw Buffy holding Dawn who was still clearly upset at what she had seen.
Harry stood and walked over to his sisters. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Buffy shook her head and whispered. "Not here, upstairs," she said.
Harry nodded and led Buffy and Dawn up the stairs to his dormitory. Once there he shut the door to the second-year dormitory before turning to face his sisters, "What's wrong?"
Buffy sighed as she helped Dawn to sit on Harry's bed, "Something is going on. I saw you and Dawn earlier as if you were both dead just before Giles came looking for me. Then we were heading for the common room and heard Dawn scream. When we got to her, she said she saw Glory. But as far as we know Glory is dead."
"This is weird," Harry agreed as Ron, Willow and Hermione came running in to the dormitory.
"Buffy, Professor Giles would like to see you in Professor Dumbledore's office," Willow said.
Buffy nodded and left them to watch over Dawn. Moments later she walked in to the headmaster's office "Professor, Giles," she said.
"Miss Potter, have a seat," Dumbledore said. "We were just discussing what you and Dawn saw."
"Any idea what is causing it?" Buffy asked.
"I think I may know," Giles said. "One of my books is missing from my private collection. It had information on a fear demon."
"And I assume you don't know how to stop this without the book?" she asked.
"Rightly, so," Giles agreed.
"Then we better get on it, Professor might I suggest that all the students be confined to their dormitories while I search for this book," Buffy said.
Dumbledore shook his head. "The professors will search for the book; you will go back to your common room as well."
"Albus," Giles said. "I mean no offense, but Buffy is the Slayer. Even though she is not fully trained, this would be her job. When it comes to demons, the other professors would not have the abilities to deal with the demon once the book is found."
"I am reluctant to send a second-year student against anything," Dumbledore said. "But I do have to say sadly you are correct. A Slayer, even an untrained one, is a better match for a demon than a wizard or witch fully trained. I will agree only as long as you are with her."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In the Gryffindor common room Voldemort smiled, his plan was working perfectly. Everyone was distracted, he was glad that the Watcher was here. And that the Hufflepuff boy was susceptible to suggestion. Now no one would be around when the Basilisk attacked its first victim tonight.
Buffy frowned as she made her way through the castle, next to her was Giles. "Things are going from bad to worse rather quickly," she said as Giles nodded in agreement. She spotted something on the floor and knelt down. She ran her fingers through the fluid she found and brought her hand up before her eyes.
"What is it?" Giles asked.
"Blood," Buffy said and then sniffed it to see if it was ketchup or something other than real blood. "Real blood."
Giles frowned. "This is getting bad."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In the boys dormitory Hermione sat next to Dawn trying to comfort her when she heard squeaking. "Do you hear that?" she asked. "Sounds like squeaking."
Willow, Ron and Harry looked around before looking at the ceiling. There they saw hanging three feet above their heads was a cluster of bats. The bats emit high-pitched squeak as they descend upon the group. Everyone swatted at them, trying to beat them away. One flew into Hermione's hair, she pulled it off, and threw it to the ground as the rest flew off.
Harry looked at the downed bat, then picked it up.
"Harry don't. It might be—" Hermione said when she saw Harry pick up the bat.
"Rubber," Harry said. "It's made of rubber. But how did it get in here. No decorations for the party were hung in here. What the heck's going on? First Buffy's seeing dead us. Then Dawn sees Glory and now bats that were alive one minute and rubber the next."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy and Giles entered Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. They saw the painted symbol on the floor, next to Giles missing book. Just as they heard a voice, that obviously did not belong to Moaning Myrtle come out of nowhere. "REEELEEEASE MEEE!"
Wherever the voice came from it was accompanied by loud banging and pounding coming from everywhere around them. Giles picked up the book and started to read the page on the demon. "Okay. The symbol's called the Mark of Gachnar. This is a summoning spell for something called Gachnar. It appears the spell was the trigger and Gachnar's trying to manifest itself. To come into being."
"How?" Buffy asked.
"It feeds on… fear," Giles said.
"That explains why I saw Dawn and Harry as if they were dead and why Dawn saw Glory," Buffy realized. "It's feeding on our fears. So how do we stop it?"
"I have it," Giles said. "The summoning spell for Gachnar can be shut down in one of two ways. Destroying the Mark of Gachnar…"
Without warning, Buffy got down on one knee, punched through the floor, and pried up the broken tiles, bisecting the symbol, destroying it. The sounds around them abruptly stopped as she smiled.
Giles' tone became quite peevish. "… is not one of them and will, in fact, immediately bring forth the Fear Demon, itself." He looked at the desecrated symbol and then glared at Buffy just as a deep rumbling sound began.
Gachnar, the Fear Demon, climbed out of the small hole in the floor. It flexed its muscles, feeling the power that coursed through them. Suddenly, it hesitated as it looked up at the gigantic forms of Buffy and Giles standing over it.
Buffy laughed. "This… is Gachnar? Big overture, little show."
"I am the Dark Lord of nightmares, the bringer of terror… Tremble before me! Fear me!" Gachnar said as it shook its fist at them.
Buffy looked at Giles and smiled. "He's so cute," she said before turning back to Gachnar. "Who's a little fear demon? C'mon, who's a lit—tle fear demon?"
"Don't taunt the fear demon," Giles said as he tried to control his amusement.
"Why?" Buffy asked as she looked at Giles. "Can he hurt me?"
"No, it's just… tacky," Giles answered. "Be that as it may, Buffy, when it comes to slaying…"
"Size doesn't matter?" Buffy said in understanding.
"They're all going to abandon you, you know," Gachnar said as it tried to sound intimidating. It watched as Buffy brought her foot down squashing him.
"Oh, bloody Hell - The inscription!" Giles said looking back at the book.
Buffy turned to face Giles as she wiped the dead demon off her shoe. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"I should have translated," Giles said with a bit of a laugh. He turned the book so she could see the picture of Gachnar and the inscription beneath it. "The Gaelic inscription under the illustration of Gachnar."
"What does it say?" Buffy asked.
"Actual size," he said as he and Buffy laughed.
They turned and left the bathroom and headed down the corridor heading toward the Gryffindor tower. About half way there they noticed something shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN
OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE
"What's that thing — hanging underneath?" said Buffy.
As they get nearer, Buffy almost slipped — there was a large puddle of water on the floor; Giles grabbed her, and they inched toward the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. Both of them realized what it was at once. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.
Argus Filch came up beside them. "What's going on here? What's going on?" Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked. And his popping eyes fell on Buffy.
"You! "he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll —"
"Argus!"
Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Buffy and Giles and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Miss. Potter, Rupert."
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly. "My office is nearest, Headmaster — just upstairs — please feel free —"
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.
The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so, did Professors McGonagall and Snape.
As they entered Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of movement across the walls; Buffy saw several of the Lockharts in the pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers. The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back. Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her.
Buffy looked to Giles. "It makes me wonder if Gachnar was meant as diversion for this," she said.
Giles nodded and motioned for her to be quiet.
The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris's fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking.
Professor McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape loomed behind them, half in shadow, wearing a most peculiar expression: It was as though he was trying hard not to smile.
And Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions. "It was definitely a curse that killed her — probably the Transmogrifian Torture — I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her.…"
Lockhart's comments were punctuated by Filch's dry, racking sobs. He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris, his face in his hands. Much as she detested Filch,
Buffy couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him.
Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand but nothing happened. She continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.
"…I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," said Lockhart, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once.…"
The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement as he talked. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair net.
At last Dumbledore straightened up. "She's not dead, Argus," he said softly.
Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.
"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all — all stiff and frozen?"
"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore ("Ah! I thought so!" said Lockhart). "But how, I cannot say…"
"Ask her!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Buffy.
"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "it would take Dark Magic of the most advanced —"
"She did it, she did it!" Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. "You saw what she wrote on the wall! Her brother found — in my office — and he told her, so she knows I'm a — I'm a —" Filch's face worked horribly. "She knows I'm a Squib!" he finished.
"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Buffy said loudly, uncomfortably aware of everyone looking at her, including all the Lockharts on the walls. "And I don't even know what a Squib is."
"Rubbish!" snarled Filch. "Her brother told her about my Kwikspell letter!"
"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape from the shadows. "Potter may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was she in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't she in her common room to begin with, with the rest of the students?"
Buffy sighed, "Giles, I think they should know."
"It's up to you, Buffy, but I agree that they should be told," Giles agreed. Normally he would not have agreed in case the truth reached the supernatural community. But he knew none of those present would tell.
"I'm the Slayer," Buffy said. "Giles here is my Watcher. We were investigating the instances that had the rest of the students confined to their dormitories."
Snape frowned, "I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he said. "It might be a good idea if she were deprived of certain privileges until she is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel she should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until she is ready to be honest."
"Really, Severus," said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to stop the girl playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong."
"I can attest to what Buffy says is true, as can Professor Dumbledore. Till tonight only five," Giles said as Buffy indicated she had told Ron and Hermione, "seven people in the castle knew of Buffy being the Slayer; myself, Albus, Buffy's siblings – Harry and Dawn, two of Buffy's friends and Buffy herself of course."
"Rupert is of course correct," Dumbledore said. He then looked at Snape. "Innocent until proven guilty, Severus."
Snape looked furious. So did Filch. "My cat has been Petrified!" Filch shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."
"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep —"
"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."
There was a very awkward pause.
"You may go," Dumbledore said to Buffy.
"I will accompany her back to her dormitory," Giles said as he and Buffy left.