Lillies and Nightshades

Samhain

Date: October 31st, 1991 / Samhain (Saw-wn)/ All Hallows Eve
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This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

-"The Guest House", Rumi
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Tonight was the night of the ritual . Each member who was going to participate, was to bring a little bit of what they ate at dinner to the celebration, as an offering to those they lost. A meal to share with the dead. Then, they would perform a cleansing rite to wipe clean anything that would cause harm to their minds and spirits. They had arranged to meet at the entrance of one of the secret passages, courtesy of the twins, and from there go into the Forbidden Forest- away from the prying eyes of Dumbledore of course- to a secluded clearing and set up. 

Hadrian had witnessed this particular ritual done by his mother several times, but had only done the cleansing part once before. Both Draco and Blaise had performed the full ritual themselves with their families. He was confident that with their help, this would go off perfectly. 

But, that didn’t stop a little trickle of worry about what would happen if they did this wrong.

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“Are you ready for this, Harry?” Ron asked, as they walked towards the Forbidden Forest. They stuck to the shadows and placed a Silencing Charm on themselves, to keep their footsteps quiet. They thanked Hermione profusely after she taught them how to do it. 

“I’m ready. It’ll be a good thing for me, I think.” He replied with a sigh. Ron just patted him on the back and nodded. 

There wasn’t any need for words or conversations tonight. 

As the trees began to loom over them, they were joined by Draco, Blaise, Marcus, and Theo. The four boys were wearing dark cloaks and carrying their own bags of salts, candles, and communion food. They grinned as they fell into line with Harry and Ron, a sort of giddy comradery passing through all of them. Marcus lit up the path with a bright Lumos as he led them to the clearing they chose. Hermione joined them with a quiet ‘Hello’, walking next to Draco and Theo. 

When they reached the clearing, they all broke off to set up for the ritual. Marcus shrugged off his cloak, hanging it on a low branch of a nearby tree before gathering wood for the fire. Ron, Blaise, and Hermione began to line out circles with the salts, Theo followed them with candles, placing them around the circles. Harry and Draco prepared white clay and herbs to write runes on everyone. Marcus returned shortly with a large bundle of sticks with three more people following him. It was Daphne and the twins. 

“Pansy decided to go home to do the ritual with her family.” Daphne greeted, shrugged off her own cloak. 

"That's alright, ten's a good number still." Hermione replied, finishing up her circle. Blaise and Ron weren't far behind her and helped Marcus with the fire after they were done. 

Draco collected everyone's cloaks, using his magic to fold them all up neatly on a log before taking his place in one of the circles. One by one they surrounded the fire, each within a circle of salt and ash, facing one another and holding hands. Harry stood between Draco and Ron, with Hermione and Blaise on the other sides of them and Theo, Marcus, and Daphne rounding them out. The oldest boy stood across from Harry and sent him a small smile as they began the ritual. He smiled back.