Fred and George and the Toilers of Trouble (Year 1) ✔

Chapter 12:6

Sneaking in beside the twins came their fellow Gryffindor, Benjamin Nettles. He was holding an empty platter to his chest and wearing a disappointed expression.

"Food disappear again, Benji?" Fred inquired.

"Must stop trying to sneak it up to the common room, mate."

Their housemate shrugged, his cheeks tinged pink, and together the three of them entered the Great Hall. Their initial reaction to the Halloween Feast was one of complete wonder. Nearly all the tables were removed, save the one overflowing with all manner of ghastly snacks and treats.

A choir of house-elves sang a haunting tune about the goblin rebellion, and at the back of the hall was a gigantic mill wheel controlled by Professor Kettleburn, whose armature had been retrofitted with gears to rotate the wheel so the buckets could be dipped into a copper pool of steaming hot cocoa. Standing with the students who were waiting in a queue with empty goblets, Hagrid managed the many levers and pulleys while avoiding eye contact with Professor Kettleburn. Apparently, he was still cross with Hagrid over the incident with Angelina Johnson and the Scythe Ravens.

Down the center of the hall stretched three bowling lanes, with games of tenpin hosted by their headmaster. Peeves the poltergeist enjoyed sweeping up through the floor to knock the pins down, until Dumbledore flattened him into a towel and used his new ghostly form to wipe the bowling ball clean. Spotting the twins, Cedric managed to sneak away from the Hufflepuff game long enough to congratulate them on making the Quidditch team, before Morvin Ashbury pulled him back with a lecture on the dangers of associating with known troublemakers.

Near one of the fireplaces, the house ghosts were reenacting the partial beheading of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. When his head toppled onto his translucent shoulder, hanging by no more than a flap of sinewy neck skin, his plumed hat remarkably still attached, the stunned first years stared in disgust while the older students begged for an encore. Lee and Angelina, having seen Nearly Headless Nick's performance at the Gryffindor house table many times at the request of the twins, joined them at the front of the bustling hall.

"Back from another visit to the Shrieking Shack?" It was Angelina Johnson, and she looked warier of them than usual. "You should have told me about your, so called, initiation. Issue two hundred and fifteen of Dark Force Defense League was all about haunted dwellings. Wrath Wand and Necromancer traveled across Britain with The Interloper, who is a ghost...if you didn't know...well, they heard a rumor that the Shrieking Shack was —"

"Lee! Happy Halloween," said George, completely ignoring her presence.

"Why are you always late?" asked Angelina reprovingly, narrowing in on her suspicions.

"We had detention," said Fred.

Lee smirked, his mouth sticky with caramel. "I thought you were with the Quidditch team."

"We meant to say Detention Team, we got picked for that as well —"

"— only Filch is the one doing the beating."

Madam Pomfrey made her way over to them with a full dinner plate in hand. "Angelina, dear. Please eat. I've yet to see you eating."

"Oh, thank you," said Angelina, reluctantly taking the golden plate from the nurse.

"You're my first patient of the year. You won't be my last, but I can't help wanting to keep you healthy."

On her right, Professor Moira Mulligan, the sweet Ancient Runes teacher, added a velvet green pouch to the wobbling plate. "Some Leprechaun gold for the Irish girl. It'll only work for a day, so don't go paying off debts. And did I hear correctly? You found four-leaf clovers on the castle grounds? That's quite a lucky find."