chapter 23

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Halloween at Hogwarts is upon us. For reasons I'll never understand, Halloween gets everyone rather excited. People find joy in the season of candy and spooking others. I've never liked Halloween, it's far too dark spirited for my taste. The only consistently good thing about the day is the copious amounts of candy that is handed out and then consumed by yours truly. Other than that I rather dread it. This year though, after hearing about my dictate for the holiday, the boys have taken it upon themselves to cheer me up with yet another prank.

"I don't care for Halloween either." James admits as we sit cross-legged in the girls dormitories surrounding a boiling cauldron in-which purple steam flows over. "Something about the holiday has never settled right in my stomach."

"How could you not enjoy Halloween?!" Lily exclaims as she enters our dorm with her arms crossed and a sharp eyebrow raised.

James rises from his seated position as soon as her voice enters his ears and he ruffles a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. "What's to like?" It isn't his usual cocky voice that he puts on when she's around, he actually sounds curious about the matter.

Lily's hard demeanour softens and her eyes actually gain a brightness to them instead of the usual hardness they usually reflect in James' presence. She plops down onto her bed and begins animatedly explaining the concepts to him. "There's trick-or-treating, for starters! How it works is you go up to anyone's house, even if you don't know them, and you knock on their door!"

"What then?" James asks, excitedly moving to sit in front of Lily on his knees, mimicking her seated position on her bed.

"And then they just know to give you free candy, Potter! It's a given during Halloween. And of course there's also the fun in picking a costume. It's the one day of the entire year you can dress up as whatever crazy thing your mind can conceive!"

"Blimey! I had no idea the Muggle world could make it so exciting! You'd have to take me sometime, I'd love to witness this all taking place in person."

At that, Lily's excitement comes to an end and her smile falters as she realizes who she's been sharing a friendly chat with. "Yes, well, maybe someday." It isn't a complete shut down which James does not take lightly as a very dorky smile covers half his face and his glasses slide down to the tip of his nose whilst he stares off at her in a complete daze. Lily slips off the bed and moves from the overjoyed boy and towards where the other boys and I sit around a cauldron.

"Hey lover," She reaches out to twirl a piece of my hair between her fingers. "what are you five working on back here? Is that a potion?" Lily peeks over me at the skeleton transformation potion, curiosity-piqued. This potion is similar to that of Polyjuice but Remus and I managed to tweak it for the occasion. "Merlin's beard! That smells wretched! What the bloody Hell is it for?!" She gasps, pinching her nose with the tips of her fingers.

"It's nothing to worry about, my dearest of flowers. A mere surprise for tonight." I say not-so-discretely covering the top away from view with a cauldron cover.

"I don't trust you." Lily states.

"As you shouldn't." I smile happily and the boys snicker around me. With a last shake of her head, Lily grabs a stack of books off her bedside table before swiftly leaving.

As soon as the door comes to a close, James bounds towards us, jumping on top of Sirius and engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug. "Guys, can you believe Evans had a heartfelt conversation with me? I love Halloween, hands down my favourite holiday." James and Peter exchange a high five, Pete grinning for his friend's fortune.

*

The Great Hall echoes in chatter, not the normal friendly chatter that's usually heard however. This one is made up of fear. Everyone knows something's up and if they don't they'd be downright thick. I sit at the long Gryffindor table, smiling largely. No, largely is too much of an understatement. My smile is downright maniacal and bloody scary. I don't blame the few who ran away to avoid dinner.

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