When Myths Meet Magic || 6

Extra || Halloween

It was Halloween again. Hermione Granger clutched her pillowcase and straightened her vest and smiled as the camera flashed.

"Oh, look at you adorable children!" sighed Hermione's Aunt Beth. She ruffled her daughter's hair. "I miss being ten."

"Mum, stop~" complained Wendy, fixing the Princess Leia wig that had gone askew.

Jeanette Granter laughed. "C'mon, Beth, let's let them go before all the good candy is gone."

The children yelled in excitement and ran out the door with Uncle Joel close behind them.

"Hey! Slow down!" he laughed.

"Okay," said Alfie through his Darth Vader mask. He took out the map rolled in the handle of his lightsaber. "Aronia Street first, they always have the king-size bars. Then Calluna Ave, Privet Drive, Oleander Ave, and then to Ginnala Road. That's where the Grove Haunted House is."

Hermione, Wendy, Alastair, and Arlo nodded. Alfie, being twelve and the oldest out of all of them, brandished his lightsaber fiercely. "Let's go!"

Despite the brilliant five-street plan, Princess Leia-Wendy's six year old legs got too tired at the end of Calluna Ave and had to be carried by Uncle Joel, and five-year-old C-3PO Alastair was sharing R2D2 Arlo's wheelchair. Uncle Michael took the three littleuns back, leaving Uncle Joel with Hermione and Darth Vader Alfie.

"Onward!" said Alfie fiercely, fired with the adrenaline of a twelve year old. They continued onto Privet Drive.

"I hate Privet Drive," Alfie said as they headed away from house #3. "All the adults here are singed."

"You mean stingy," corrected Hermione.

"Yeah, yeah. Oh, score!"

Alfie ran up to the next house and grabbed a handful of candy from the bowl left outside.

"But it only says to take one!" Hermione shouted after her cousin. Alfie ignored her and bolted down the street. Uncle Joel chases after the cape trailing in the darkness.

Hermione was about to follow when something caught her eye. A head was stuck out the window, but it wasn't decoration. This head blinked from behind a pair of broken glasses and flushed when it realized it had been caught.

"Hello!" said Hermione, smiling brightly.

"Hi," said the head. It was a boy, probably her age. As he waved, an oversized sleeve flopped in the moonlight.

"Why aren't you out?" said Hermione.

"I'm not allowed to," said the boy.

"But don't you want candy? Oh, I suppose you can take from the bowl—"

The boy laughed. "Uncle Vernon would have my head. He's got a camera on the porch."

"Oh," said Hermione. She looked at her sack of candy.

"I think you'd better get going," said the boy.

"Hold on," said Hermione. She dug through her bag and quickly pulled out a king sized Snickers. "Catch."

The boy flinched in surprise as it came whistling towards him.

"Thanks," he began, when an ear piercing yell split the air.

"Hermione!" shouted Uncle Joel. "Where are you?"

"Gotta go," said Hermione, clutching her pillowcase and sprinting away.

>>>•Present day•<<

Hermione straightened her pillow on her freshly made bed and sighed.

"What's up?" said Annabeth.

"It's Halloween," replied Hermione. "I used to go trick-or-treating every year with my cousins. I wonder how they're doing."

"Cousins?" said Annabeth, thinking about the little celebrations everyone at Camp Half-Blood that they'd have on Halloween night.

"Yeah, Alfie was a bit of an arse when he was a kid... and then there was Arlo and Alastair, and Wendy, and we'd always coordinate our costumes..." Hermione trailed off, looking nostalgic. "I hope they're safe. Last time I saw Alfie was seven years ago..."

"What happened?" asked Annabeth.

"Oh, Alfie got too excited last year and ran into the street," said Hermione. "Some teens were speeding around in a truck, I think they were splashing truck-or-treaters with water... anyway, he got hit. I think he's still in a coma."

"Oh," said Annabeth, completely unprepared for the morbid turn of events. "I'm so sorry, Hermione."

Hermione shook herself out of her trance and smiled. "I'm starving," she said. "Let's get breakfast."