Halloween at Hogwarts was always a fun time. The great hall was decorated with floating pumpkins and conjured bat flew around the roof. But I had to admit that there was one thing missing...
"Why don't you guys ever have costume parties for Halloween or even trick or treating or something," Cassy said as we walked through the courtyard with the Cedric and the twins.
"I don't know, but I wouldn't mind having a costume party one year," Fred said, clearly thinking about all the mischief the George and him could get up to.
"Yeah! Can you imagine how many kids would dress up as Snape. I mean the costumes are meant to be scary, right?" George said, making us all laugh.
"I don't think he would be too happy about that," Cedric commented as we walked in to the entry hall.
"I can just see his face now...ooow," I said, immediately slipping as I walked on the stone floor.
Thankfully Cedric's seeker instincts kicked in and grabbed me before I hit the floor. Looking around I saw that the entire floor was flooded and Peeves was floating above the staircase throwing water balloons at everyone.
"Happy Halloweenie," he yelled out as he continued to chuck the water balloons at everyone.
"This isn't going to end well," I said, eyeing the poltergeist who was cackling away in the corner he was hovering in.
"PEEVES! What is the meaning of this," Loki hollered at him, walking in and noticing that I had almost slipped over in the mess that the poltergeist had made.
"Halloween is the meaning. There isn't any treats so I'm giving everyone tricks. I thought YOU of all people would like a little trickery on this day of all days," Peeves said, aiming another balloon at a Ravenclaw first year.
"Not when it puts students at risk Peeves. Stop what you are doing this instant," Loki demanded, striding over to Peeves and slipping on the wet floors.
I quickly ran to steady my uncle, freezing the water discreetly under my feet so I wouldn't slip again. When I grabbed his arm, Loki smiled down at me and briefly squeezed my hand to say thank you before turning to face the poltergeist who was now laughing at him.
"If you do not stop this instant Peeves, I will call the Bloody Barron and then HE can deal with you."
"Oh, you wouldn't do that to lil' ole me now, would you?"
"Don't test me Peeves, you will not like what will happen if you choose to do so," Loki warned him in a voice so cold I'm surprised that the whole entry hall didn't freeze over.
Noticing how deadly serious Loki was, Peeve disappeared with a loud pop. Leaving a room full of half drenched students and a very angry care taker who was cursing everyone and everything under his breath.
"Are you ok Professor?" I asked Loki, trying to keep a straight face while using his formal title.
"I am, thank you for asking Miss Rogers. Now you and your friends should head off to your next class. Wouldn't want to be late now, would we?" Loki said a small smirk on his face.
"No, Sir. We wouldn't," I said smiling at him as I walked back over to my friends and heading up to my next class.
"Where's Danny?" I asked, sitting down next to Cedric once we walked into the transfiguration classroom.
"I swear, I had nothing to do with it," Cassy laughed, sitting down behind me with Fred.
"We know, Cassy. We have been with you the whole time," Cedric laughed as Maggie walked in and sat in the row in front of us.
"Where's Danny?" she asked, looking at the empty seat next to her where Danny normally sat.
"That's what I was just asking," I told her as Professor McGonagall walked into the classroom.
"Good afternoon class, now I know it's the last lesson before the Halloween feast but let's try to keep the distractions to a minimum."
The whole class jumped when the door slammed open suddenly and Danny came running in.
"Mr. Odinson, how is it you manage to be late to every lesson? It truly is astonishing your lack of time awareness," Professor McGonagall said, looking over the rim of her glasses at my cousin.
"I don't know. It's a talent Professor," Danny said taking his seat next to Maggie who was trying not to laugh.
Smooth cousin, really smooth. I'll be surprised if you DON'T get detention.
Don't be stupid, she won't give me detention.
"Detention, Mr. Odinson. Tomorrow after dinner. Don't be late."
I told you so.
Oh, shut up.
"Dude, Professor McGonagall really had it out for you the whole lesson," Henry said as we walked out of class and headed down to the great hall.
"She wouldn't have if he was wasn't such a smart ass," I said, linking arms with my cousin.
"What can I say, being late continuously is a talent," he laughed, making Maggie roll her eyes.
"I'm surprised that you only got one day of detention," Cedric added, shaking his head.
"One of my talents is also being loveable," Danny joked.
The hall was done up as usual with piles of food stacked up on the tables. Like with most of the special occasion feasts, students had got to the great hall early so they could eat as much food as they possibly could. The food was always amazing at Hogwarts but there was always something extra on holidays.
"Dose Ron ever stop eating? I laughed, watching the little brother of three of my closest friends eat almost everything in sight.
"I don't think so. Whenever I see him in town over the break he is always eating," Cedric told me as we all started to eat.
The night seemed to be going just like every other night. That was until Professor Quirrell came running into the great hall like he had just witnessed a murder.
"TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!" he yelled running down the middle of the hall until he reached the teacher's table.
"Thought you ought to know."
With his last statement, Professor Quirrell fainted and the whole hall went crazy. I grabbed hold of Cedric's hand so I didn't lose him in the madness and watched Danny do the same with Maggie. Looking over at Henry, he was as calm as anything and I couldn't help but wonder if anything fazed him. As students started pushing each other to get out of the hall, Professor Dumbledore stood up to get the halls attention.
"SILENCE!" he yelled at the top of his voice, making the whole hall fall silent, "Everyone, please do not panic. Now, prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories. Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."
"Hufflepuff, this way!" one of the prefects called out from the bench she had climbed on to get everyone's attention.
Cedric pulled me closer as we made our way out of the halls and down to the dormitories. No one said a word as we made our way down, even though our dormitories were underground they weren't near the dungeons but that didn't stop anyone worrying that the creature would make its way over to us.
Even when we were all back in the common room, not many people said anything. Instead, we all sat in our little groups waiting for someone to come and tell us the troll was gone. Freya had come down out of my room, still with Freddie on her back and curled up on my lap completely unaware of what was happing in the dungeons.
"How do you think it got in," I asked as Freddie climbed up the arm of my robes to sit on his favourite place on my shoulder.
"I don't know. Dad always told me they weren't very smart which would mean someone had to let it in. But why would you want to let a troll in?" Cedric said, absentmindedly reaching over to pat Freya on the head.
"Maybe it was meant to be some sort of Halloween joke," Danny said, worriedly glancing over at the common room door.
"Yeah, I mean Peeves was pelting everyone with water balloons earlier," Henry added as he stretched out on the arm chair he was sitting on.
"But dose Peeves have the ability to actually trap a troll and lead it in to the dungeons," Maggie asked.
"I don't know. But I do know he was already on edge from Professor Alden threatening to call the Bloody Barron on him earlier. So, I can't see him wanting to anger him anymore," I told them, "I guess we will just have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully someone will tell us what happened."
The next day the troll was the only thing that people were talking about. So, it was probably a good thing it was only a half day of lessons because of the Gryffindor vs Slytherin quidditch match that afternoon. Especially since no one was actually paying attention to a word Professor Quirrell said at all.
"Do you reckon the troll looked like Hulk?" Cassy asked me, straddling her seat backwards so she could see me.
"I don't think so. I mean, at his basis, Hulk is Bruce which means he's still somewhat human. I really don't think you can say that about a troll."
"Yeah, but the one thing they both have in common is they love to smash things," Danny said, laughing.
"You are so right about that one, Odinson," Cassy said, holding her hand up to give Danny a high-five.
"You guys better watch out otherwise I'll tell Bruce that you guys called him a troll. Something tells me the other guy won't be too happy about that," I laughed.
"It's so cool that you guys live with the avengers!" Lee Jordan said.
"Not when you have them arguing over the last pop tart," I laughed.
"Yeah, remember that time Thor was back for a couple of days. 'Who to took thy pop tarts! I demand to know so they can meet the justice they are deserving from Mjolnir! Man of Iron, was it you?'" Cassy laughed as she tried to imitate my other uncle.
"No-now, cl-class that's enough. Y-you need to pay at-attention to what I am say," Professor Quirrell said, trying to control the class but failing.
"But come on, Sir. We're talking about trolls and superheroes! That has to be somewhere in defense against the dark arts," Henry called out.
"N-now, n-now children. I-I don't want to he-hear about any su-superheroes or tro-trolls in class," Professor Quirrell replied, but no one was listening, "Fi-fine then. Cl-class dismissed."
As soon as the words were out of Professor Quirrell's mouth, the class was on their feet and out of the room. Not wanting to spend another second in the unnerving room.
"The more time I spend around Professor Quirrell, the more he freaks me out," I said to my friends as we took our seats in the quidditch pitch.
"You know what I heard. That he ran in to a group of vampires during the break and that's why he started wearing the turban. Because he stuffs it full of garlic," Henry said, completely serious.
"And who told you that?" Cedric asked, laughing.
"Fred and George."
"And everything they say is always true," I said, laughing at the crazy stories that the twins came up with.
"Be quiet! The games starting," Cassy yelled excitedly as Lee started his commenting.
"Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts' first quidditch game of the season! Today's game, Slytherin versus Gryffindor!"
The crowd started to cheer the minute the teams walked out on to the pitch. Harry looked tiny next to the other players, barely reaching Olivers shoulder. Even from a distance you could see how nervous he was, not knowing what to expect.
"The players take their positions as Madam Hooch steps out onto the field to begin the games. The bludgers are up... followed by the golden snitch. Remember the snitch is worth 150 points. The seeker who catches the snitch ends the game. The quaffle is released... and the game begins."
Angelia was first to get the quaffle and quickly made her way towards the Slytherin goal posts. Dodging the Slytherin teams' players the whole way, Angelina scored the first points of the games.
"Angelina Johnson scores! 1o points to Gryffindor! Now Slytherin takes possession of the quaffle. Bletchley passes to captain Marcus Flint."
The game continued to go on as normal, but as Gryffindor got the lead, Slytherin started\7 to play dirty. Flint grabbed a bat off one of the beaters and hit a bludger directly at Oliver. The whole crowd gasp as he falls to the ground unconscious, taking the unfair advantage they the quaffle and score.
The underhanded play continued but that wasn't what had got my attention. Hovering above the rest of the players was Harry, where it looked like he had just spotted the snitch. But second, he started to chase after it, his broom started bucking like an angry horse. The more Harry tried to control is broom the worse it got to the point where he almost completely fell off it and was holding by one hand.
"Cedric! Something's wrong with Harry's broom," I cried out as I grabbed on to Cedric's arm.
We both watched in horror as Harry desperately tried to climb his way back on to his broom. I felt helpless as I watched the 11-year-old boy struggle and knew I had to try to do something. When the wind started to pick up, I decided to use it to my advantage. My powers started to build as I got ready to give the wind an icy boost, helping Harry get the lift he needed to get back on his broom.
"Elsa, are you sure?" Cedric asked as he held my hand which had just got icy cold from my powers.
Elsa, what if people notice that something seems off about the change in the breeze, Danny ask, realising what I was about to do at the same time that Cassy did.
"I can't let him fall," I said quietly so that only my three friends could hear.
The three of them moved closer to me, blocking anyone from seeing me or what I was about to do. Raising my hands ever so slightly, I made the already existing wind stronger and a lot icier than it already was. Moving my hands, I lifted the wind up and helped Harry get the edge he needed to get back his broom. After few seconds, not only did I ease the icy breeze but Harry regained control of his broom. I breathed a sigh of release when I noticed that everyone was to focused on Harry to notice the sudden change in the breeze which meant that no one would know about my powers.
Suddenly both Harry and the Slytherin seeker spotted the snitch at the same time, but the Slytherin had a head start as Harry tried to get steady on his broom again. As soon as he was back on his broom properly, Harry speed towards the snitch. The two seekers both dived towards the ground, chasing the snitch. Just feet above the ground, the Slytherin seeker back out not wanting to crash on to the hard ground that was rapidity getting closer. The crowd watched as Harry pulled up and shakily stood up on his broom. Harry slowly moved forward, his outstretched hand reaching for the snitch. But he went a little too far and toppled off his broom. There was a collective gasp from the crowd as soon as Harry hit the ground.
"Is it me or dose Harry look like he's going to be sick," Henry asked, leaning forward to get a better look.
All of a sudden Harry coughed something up in to his hands. When I looked closer at Harry, he was holding the snitch in his hand. Everyone other than Slytherin cheered when they realised that the youngest seeker in a century had just caught the snitch.
"Hey, Cedric. Promise me something," I called out to him over the crowd.
"Anything."
"Never try to catch the snitch like Harry did."