Phoenix

The Halloween Hauntings of Hogwarts

     The weeks flew by, Elaine doing little other than attending her classes and doing her homework.  She was very nearly at the top of her class; she was beginning to see why the Sorting Hat had contemplated placing her in Ravenclaw.  But for the moment, Elaine closed her transfiguration text with a smile and climbed the stairs to her dormitory.  The Gryffindor common room was emptying fast as everybody made for the Great Hall, and the feast.  It was Halloween, after all.

     "Ginny, do you want to head down to the feast, now?"

     Silence.  Putting the book on her bed, Elaine's stomach knotted; she couldn't help but notice Ginny's strange behaviour these past weeks.  At first, she thought it was just a reaction to the adjustment of coming to school.  Now, however, she suspected that there was something else going on.  Although, she knew that Ginny would be the last person to admit it.  

     So, Elaine strode alone from Gryffindor Tower.  What with Ginny, she did this more often than not these days.  The Great Hall was always abuzz with activity, but tonight, Elaine could hear it from several corridors further away than usual.  And when she approached, she understood what all the fuss was about.

     Hagrid's giant pumpkins sat around the hall, carved into jack-o-lanterns that she could easily fit inside.  Bats flew around the inky blue twilight sky above them.  Elaine would guess that they were real, not just part of the enchanted ceiling.  Around the room, skeletons danced around the tables.  Elaine nearly bumped into one as she made to take her seat.  There was still no sign of Ginny.  Dumbledore stood.

     "Good evening, pupils," he began.  His voice boomed over the festivities, sudden quiet washing out the noise.  

     He continued, "Tonight is recognized as a night of haunting, and of the paranormal.  However, my fellow witches and warlocks, here at Hogwarts, we know it as one of the most magical nights of the year.  Halloween is a time to celebrate the strange, the peculiar, and the very special abilities that set us apart from the world."  At this, Dumbledore raised his glass of pumpkin juice.  "A toast, to all our strangeness, and all our peculiarities."

     A collective 'here here!' resonated in the Great Hall as hundreds of students raised their glasses.

     "Let the festivities commence!"

     At Dumbledore's command - just like Elaine's first Hogwarts feast - the platters were suddenly filled with food.  From end to end, the tables displayed every kind of Halloween treat one could imagine.  Elaine hardly knew where to begin.  She'd never celebrated Halloween before; the LaChances didn't believe in the pagan holiday.

     Now, she was faced with enough of it to make up for every single Halloween she'd ever missed.  She knew she'd never be able to eat it all, yet still she piled her plate high for the first time.  Even at Hogwarts Elaine practiced small portions - being raised on modest meals, she wasn't much of an eater - but not tonight on this, Hallow's Eve.  

     The skeletons continued to dance, and Elaine realized that the pumpkins had been enchanted when their facial expressions began to change; it may have been the general commotion, but she wasn't entirely unconvinced that one of them had talked.  She couldn't tell where the music was coming from.  

     She shoveled down her pumpkin pasties, determined to finish everything.  Tonight, she wanted to go to bed so full it made her feel sick.  But, she froze with her fork halfway in her mouth; suddenly it seemed as if all the noise in the Great Hall faded away, replaced by the low rumble echoing in her head.  She'd almost forgotten it, but as the cold crept through her once more, she remembered all too vividly.