Clover Hawkings and the Triwizard Tournament

12. A Halloween Plan That's Not Actually Much of a Plan

I had plopped onto the arm of the chair to talk to Artemis, and now she leaned closer. I could see every eyelash, every tiny freckle, every shade of her green eyes, every line of her cracked lips. I wondered if they were kissable. They were probably very much so, but that didn't matter because we were just friends, I didn't like her, and even if I did, everyone I love gets hurt. So what's the point, really? This is what I have always told myself-

But it's true! Myself protested.

"ARTEMIS!" Someone bellowed- Alura. "ARTEMIS, LET US IN, CUZ CLOVER'S MISSING! SCARLET, DO THE THING!"

"You don't need to yell, I'm right here!" A high voice complained, and a second later the door was smashed down by Scarlet's foot.

"ARTEMIS, DO YOU KNOW WHERE CLOV-oh."

"You didn't need to yell," Artemis said, turning away at once- the spell was broken, the magic ended.

"I told you, if Artemis knew Clover was missing, there would already be a search team out," Scarlet sniffed.

"So, what's up?" Scarlet asked. "Clover, how are you feeling?"

"Great, actually," I said, looking down at my hands. "Thank you all for taking such good care of me." The words felt odd in my mouth, but I meant them.

"Of course," Alura smiled.

Scarlet just beamed. "That's what friends are for."

Artemis took my hand and gave it a squeeze. My hand lit on fire, burning and sparkling and humming like a thousand bees were beneath the surface. I needed a distraction, or I might explode.

"Hey, have you guys heard of Halloween?" I asked quickly. There was a rumbling in the back of my brain, light, tickly, and growing stronger. An idea.

"What?" Alura said. A mirror had appeared for her and now she was re-doing her hair.

"Duh, it's in, like, a week from now, right?" Scarlet asked. "If today is the twenty first.." 

"Have you heard of what Muggles do? With the costumes and candy and stuff?"

"Oh, that Muggle thing," Scarlet said vaguely.

"Who cares what Muggles do?" Alura said.

"There's candy."

So I explained what Halloween was, how my aunt had given me both a magical and Muggle education, and my idea to dress up.

"Since it was Clover's idea," Artemis added, "she gets to chose what we dress up as, and it is....."

"As-as-" my mind went blank. "Animals?"

"Um," Alura announced. "What?"

"I'll be a wolf," I declared. "We'll get ears and a tail and a fur cloak or something- the room can provide everything."

"I wanna be a bunny," Scarlet sighed blissfully.

"Fox," Artemis said immediately.

Alura thought. "A pine marten. They're violent. But Clover, are you sure about...that? Where will we go? Why would we do that? Who gives us candy?"

I considered this. "I dunno."

"I'm in," Alura declared. "Where do we get the costume-y stuff?"

I considered this, too. "The Room will provide it."

"I'm in, too," Scarlet piped.

"Me too," Alura added. "Where do we begin?"

I gestured to a wall, where doors were slowly forming.