The Brothers Black

Chapter 14

"EVERYONE UP!" The sound blared through the walls of the Gryffindor dorm. It sounded like someone was shouting at us through a megaphone.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned. The bright light of the full moon shone rays through the windows, but the black sky made it clear it was the middle of the night.

"EVERYONE UP! EVERYONE UP!" The sound screeched again, this time louder.

Shirley, Mandy, Katie, and I slowly rolled out of bed, grumbling to each other. It was apparent the screeching was not going to stop.

I slid my feet into my fuzzy slippers and cracked the door open. To my surprise, the Gryffindor Tower was bustling with movement. Students were screaming and running around.

Everyone quieted as the voice began to speak again. It didn't repeat the message this time, but it instead shouted, "It's officially midnight, which means it's Halloween! Make your way to the Great Hall for the most memorable Halloween of your life!"

I had forgotten it was Halloween today. I smiled and ran down the stairs with my three roommates as we joined the throng of Gryffindors exiting the tower.

We followed masses of students of all houses through the massive doors of the Great Hall, all of us wide-eyed with anticipation for whatever could possibly be within the room.

And...

Nothing was there.

Everything looked the same as before. The ceiling reflected the outdoor sky: black with a pure white moon.

"Help me!" yelled a familiar high pitched scream, interrupting the confused silence. I looked up to the source of the noise, only to find a distraught Peeves clinging to the chandelier. Students started yelling up to him, telling him to get down. He could fly, after all.

"No!" Peeves wailed. "No flying! Too scary!"

A chattering noise started, and out of the owl post hatch, hordes of little black animals started dive-bombing the Great Hall. I thought they were baby owls, but they were even smaller.

They were bats.

Everyone screamed and took cover. I ducked under the Hufflepuff table, which I was standing closest to. There must have been thousands of bats, filling up the sky from what seemed like every direction. Peeves's chandelier started to shake and his wails became even louder.

The Great Hall doors opened again and the Hogwarts ghosts filed into the room. Nearly Headless Nick floated over right next to me.

"Are those b... ba... bats?" he whimpered.

I nodded.

"AH!" He screamed and floated away, as fast as one could possibly float away. His reaction scared all the other ghosts, who started moving about the Great Hall in a frenzy, trying to escape the bat attacks. The only ghost who didn't seem bothered was the Bloody Baron, who was reclined in a corner by the Slytherin table. Almost every student was laughing their head off, watching the events take place.

"What is this?" yelled a scraggly voice. Filch had entered the hall. In his boxers. Ew.

We all stayed silent, looking around to see if anyone would take credit for this scheme.

"Oh, I'll get every one of you!" Filch cried, but I didn't know if he meant the students or the bats. He ran back out the door and emerged a few seconds later with a net (and, thankfully, pants). He started flinging it around, hoping to catch a bat, but it wasn't working.

The bats finally cleared away on their own, exiting through the owl post hole, where they emerged from.

Before Filch even had a chance to calm down, the door behind him opened once more.