Moments later, the suspended jack o'lanterns flickered and the mess hall was fully illuminated again. Hundreds of students were huddled on the floor, and when they realized that they could see again, they slowly returned to their seats. Fear could be seen on nearly all of their faces; indeed, some were whimpering and sobbing. Others were quaking where they sat; a luxurious banquet had all of a sudden become the least of their worries.
At the faculty table, multiple professors threw accusatory glares at Professor Fontaine. He nodded silently at his staff, and stood to his feet to address the mess hall. His countenance and posture indicated that he fully intended to restore order. "May I have your attention please," he called out. "I assume full responsibility for the fly-over which happened a few minutes ago. You see, I had arranged for one of my South American friends to send one of his Patagonian Frostscale dragons as part of this evening's festivities. Unfortunately, I did not anticipate the dragon flying as close to the castle as it did, and for that, I am truly sorry."
He bowed his head shamefully. "You are all excused for the evening. Our Pukwudgie Helpers will provide victuals to each common room momentarily, so you may enjoy your dinner in the comforts of your personal clothes."
Harry, Othniel, and Tallulah followed their housemates upstairs to the Horned Serpent tower. They wasted no time getting changed out of their formal robes, and met up in their common room just a few minutes later. They were soon joined by most of the rest of their housemates, but few – if any – of them were in particularly jovial spirits. Some of the upperclassmen were openly discussing the repercussions of the mishap – could Professor Fontaine actually lose his job over a mismanaged celebration?
"I've gone and lost my appetite," moaned Tallulah. Her eyes were red and puffy – it was apparent that the incident shook her to her core. "What in tarnation was Professor Fontaine thinking?"
"My ears are still ringing," grumbled Othniel. "Didja hear how loud that thing was? Goodness gracious…"
"The only thing louder are your burps," Harry said, trying to lighten the mood somewhat. Both he and Othniel laughed, while Tallulah let out an uneasy giggle.
"If there is a silver lining to us being excused early, at least you don't have to embarrass your housemates at the dinner table tonight," cracked Tallulah. "Your table manners are disgraceful, Othniel."
Othniel groaned. "So I'm told."
"One of these days I'm going to teach you how to eat like a gentleman," promised Tallulah. She threw him a sneaky grin. "When I'm through, you'll even know the difference between a salad and a dinner fork, and where to position them when setting the table."
"Really, Tallulah?" whined Othniel. "I'm not that bad… am I?" Both Harry and Tallulah gave him strange looks.
"I'm dead serious," confirmed Tallulah. She gave him a small, thin smile. "You'll thank me for it later." Harry even gently nudged Othniel in the elbow, nodding his approval at Tallulah's offer.
Before Othniel could muster a word of complaint, a table appeared in the center of the common room, complete with plates, goblets, napkins, and silverware. Missy the trustee then spoke up. "Attention, everyone! When I call your year, you will come up and take a plate, a goblet of juice, a napkin, and a set of silverware. Once you take your seat, you will place the napkin on your lap. Once you do that, the napkin will read your mind and serve whatever you want. When you are finished, I want you all to neatly stack your empty plates, goblets, and silverware on the table and place your napkins in the adjacent box." She started with the seventh years, and made her way down. Although Tallulah didn't seem to care, Othniel and Harry were still quite famished and couldn't wait for their turn.
Ten minutes later, Harry, Othniel and Tallulah returned to their places. Once Harry placed his napkin on his lap, two slices of pepperoni pizza instantly appeared on his plate. Othniel got a sizable helping of spaghetti, while Tallulah had a modest chef salad.
Shortly after they finished eating, the three friends heard a familiar soprano greeting. "Hey there, firstie friends!"
"Ana!" Harry, Othniel and Tallulah cried out.
Anastasia, to her credit, looked no worse for the wear, following the frightening episode in the mess hall less than an hour earlier. She managed a friendly smile, though she couldn't hide the notes of concern in her voice or bags of worry around her eyes. "How are you guys?"
Tallulah shrugged. "I'unno, all right, I s'pose… a little shaken still…"
Ana nodded. "Same here, girlfriend. Same here." She tilted her head. "I hope the lot of you managed to eat at least a little something…"
"We did," confirmed Harry. "I was worried that Tallulah was going to go without, but she had a bit of salad a few minutes ago."
"That's good," murmured Ana. "Now considering that all three of you are together, would you want to head to the library in a few minutes and work on…" She scanned the room to make sure there were no eavesdroppers before continuing. "N-O-V-A's card?"
The three younger children nodded. Tallulah, though, appeared to have certain reservations as she spoke up with a timid squeak. "Erm, Ana, are we even allowed to leave the tower this evening?"
Ana covered her mouth with a hand as she giggled. "Of course we do. I even took the precaution of asking Missy right before I went looking for you guys."
"Count me in then," replied Tallulah.
"Me too," added Harry.
"Me three," chimed in Othniel.
About a half hour later, the four young Horned Serpents met up in the school library as planned. Ana was drawing a picture of a quidditch scene on makeshift cardstock, ostensibly of a chaser hucking a quaffle in one of three goal hoops.
"Is that supposed to be Nova?" asked Othniel, pointing at the card. "I didn't even know she liked quiznitch…"
"That's quidditch, Othniel," giggled Ana. "And yes, Nova is very much into quidditch… she's one of the reserve chasers on the Horned Serpent team, in fact."
Harry stroked his chin. "Will we get to see a quidditch game anytime soon?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," replied Ana. "Nova's been practicing for a few weeks already. The first game of the season is less than two weeks away, if memory serves."
"So, who do the Horned Serpents play first?" asked Tallulah. "Does the whole school show up like they do for the Quiz Bowl?"
Ana shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted. "You'll have to ask Nova tomorrow. And yes, you can expect a big turnout on the quidditch pitch. The atmosphere is vastly different than the Quiz Bowl – it gets about as loud as that dragon, and it can stretch for hours."
Ana continued sketching out her design, and then handed the card to Harry, Othniel, and Tallulah to sign once she was finished. The three returned to the Horned Serpent tower a few minutes after nine, which allowed them just enough time to get in a couple rounds of Egyptian Rat Screw.
Harry tapped Ana on the shoulder just before she headed to her dormitory to retire for the evening. "I'm curious, when's your birthday?" he asked, whispering in her ear.
Ana blushed, and smiled. "June 5th, she replied softly. "When's yours?"
"I can remember that… I'll do something nice for your birthday. And mine's July 31st," replied Harry with a grin of his own.
"Yours'll be easy to remember. And I'll do the same for you," promised Ana.
The next morning, Ana, Harry, Othniel and Tallulah all surprised Nova at the Horned Serpent breakfast table by presenting her the card and singing 'Happy Birthday'. Nova's cheeks flushed scarlet with embarrassment, but she still thanked her friends for remembering her.
"How's it feel to be fourteen, Nova?" asked Tallulah.
Nova shrugged. "Honestly? Not much different than thirteen."
"I heard there's a quiznitch game coming up," added Othniel. "D'you think you might play?"
"Quidditch, you git. Quidditch," replied Nova with a giggle. "As a matter of fact, yes, there is a game coming up in exactly two weeks. We play Wampus." She looked upward in thought. "I might play a little bit, but only if the game drags on for more than a half hour or so. I only relieve one of our starting chasers if they get banged up or tired."
"Do we have a good team this year?" asked Harry.
"Only time will tell," murmured Nova. "Mitch Huber is captain this year… he's pretty relentless when running his practices. They're definitely more intense than how Gareth Capshaw ran them last term."
"Tougher practices can be helpful," Harry noted. "But if the chemistry isn't there, then the results aren't going to be any better."
"There's definitely better chemistry this time," Nova said. "Huber was very up-front during the very first practice of the season. He said that if anyone didn't like how he conducted practices, they can leave at any point. Capshaw was rather… lackadaisical in how he ran the team last year, and it almost led to a mutiny. Huber's a natural leader… we've been desperate to have someone that can bring everyone under the same banner. He's been nothing short of a godsend."
"How did the Horned Serpents finish last year?" asked Tallulah.
"We came in third in the Quidditch Cup standings, and we were lucky to finish as high was we did," sighed Nova. "We haven't finished higher than third in five years… and we haven't won the Quidditch Cup since before I was born. All the other houses have won at least once since then. It's embarrassing, really."
"We're scholars, not athletes," huffed Ana. "We're expected to be the house to beat at the Quiz Bowl, not quidditch."
"It's that very attitude that has kept us from being any good," retorted Nova. "And while we pride ourselves in our Quiz Bowl prowess, it's not like we win every single year. Shoot, we finished in fourth place in both events during my first year. I'm still trying to wash that nasty taste out of my mouth." She shuddered at the unpleasant memory. She then smiled at her friends. "Thank you for the birthday card, by the way. It's lovely."
"You're welcome," replied Harry. "I s'pose Ana should take most of the credit, as she's the one who designed it…"
"And the three of you signed it and wrote sweet little notes," countered Nova. "It wasn't all Ana, you know."
Harry shrugged. "We just wanted to let you know that we've been thinking about you is all… I wish I had an actual gift to give you, but physical gifts are rather hard to come by at the castle…"
"Pshaw," spat Nova. "The lot of you have already given me the gift of friendship. That's the gift that keeps on giving."
Harry turned toward Tallulah. "I don't think I asked you when your birthday was," he asked with a sheepish expression on his face. "I know everyone else's…"
"Not too far from now, actually," replied Tallulah. "December 10th."
"Almost a Christmas baby then," added Ana. "Did you get your Christmas and birthday presents all at once, or separately?"
"Usually separately," replied Tallulah. "Some of my relatives send presents all at once out of convenience – those that live too far away to visit me in person, at least."
"That's totally understandable," Ana said with a nod. "My older sister's a December baby too. Her birthday is even closer to Christmas – the 17th. Some of our relatives do the same thing for her."
Othniel smiled wanly at Tallulah. "I don't think we can promise you anything other than a card for your birthday, 'Lu, but at least you won't hop on the train home thinking you've been forgotten!"
"A card's plenty, Othniel," giggled Tallulah. "I don't want y'all to feel like you've gotta bend over backwards just for me…"
"Well, maybe after we've learned a bit more magic we can think of more unique ways to show our appreciation," Othniel replied with a chuckle.