On the day before Halloween, the castle looked even more breathtaking than usual. Decorations have been put up around, most of them bewitched to move, like enchanted bats and floating candles. With the ghosts roaming around with a great level of energy at this time of the year, Hogwarts also held a more eerie yet majestic vibe.
During the free period Jessica shared with Alista and Bethany, the three of them were relaxing in the Transfiguration Courtyard. While Alista and Bethany were gossiping about Marcus Flint's escapades, Jessica gave her input once in a while as she practiced various charms.
"Are you sure it's true?" Bethany said in disbelief. "How can he possibly do that? He looks like a troll."
"It's partially true," Alista clarified. "I'm from his house, remember?"
"Accio."
"How does that make the rumor any more true?"
"Well... okay, I don't know. But nobody said he shagged exactly five girls and if they enjoyed it."
"Can we talk about someone less... gross?" Jessica cringed, catching the fallen flower she summoned. "Beth's right: he looks like a troll and couldn't possibly have done all that."
"Don't you mean: done all of them?"
"Ew!"
The girls laughed, playfully hitting Alista. Thankfully, they changed the topic, the image of Marcus Flint shagging five poor girls slowly fading away.
After constantly practicing the Summoning Charm, Jessica began on the Banishing Charm. With a flick of her wand, the flower zoomed away, but instead of landing on the patch of grass nearby, it lightly hit a small boy's face, giving him a face full of petals.
"Sorry!" Jessica exclaimed as the boy coughed out the flower, revealing his bespectacled face. She immediately recognized the Boy Who Lived. "Potter?"
"Uh, yeah," the boy in glasses replied.
"Are you okay?" Jessica stood up, walking a few steps to meet him.
"I'm fine."
"Sorry again. I'm Jessica Hawthorne, fourth-year Gryffindor."
"I'm —"
"Harry Potter," Alista finished with a smile from where she sat. "We know. I'm Alista Greene, Slytherin."
"And I'm Bethany Faye, Gryffindor," the last girl in their little trio said. "Nice to meet you."
"Where are you headed?" Jessica asked the young boy curiously. After all, he was in such a rush that he just popped out of nowhere, causing her to accidentally banish the flower right at his face. He's lucky it wasn't a more dangerous object.
"The Quidditch Pitch." Jessica narrowed her eyes. The Quidditch Pitch? Why would a first year be going there? Did it have something to do with what Alista and her saw the other day when he was with Professor McGonagall?
"Oh, okay then," Alista said, not thinking twice about why he'd go there. "See you around, Potter."
Harry nodded in acknowledgment before continuing on his way.
"Why would he be going to the pitch?" Jessica asked once he was far gone.
"Maybe he's like you," said Beth. "You know, maybe he wants to watch the Quidditch practices?"
"How does he even know there'll be a practice today? I don't even know."
"Or maybe he just likes it there, too," Alista said. "Or he could be meeting up with friends."
Jessica frowned. Alista didn't seem to connect this to when they saw McGonagall standing outside the Charms classroom with Harry Potter holding a broomstick, asking Flitwick if they could speak to Wood for a moment. She was sure there was some connection to it all.
The three returned to what they were doing before they met the famous Harry Potter. Alista and Bethany were now analyzing which of the following would make a better boyfriend: Adrian Pucey, a fourth year Slytherin on the Quidditch Team, or Percy Weasley, a fifth year Gryffindor Prefect.
"What kind of comparison is this?" Jessica said with a small laugh. "They're nothing alike."
"Exactly," Alista said. "Now, let's weigh our options: Adrian — since I'm with him in a lot of my classes — is actually a decent guy. He hasn't been corrupted by Flint's cheating and unfair ways in Quidditch, and he isn't like that in class either. He's a Slytherin, so people think he's a bad person, but it's only because he can be a bit mischievous at times. So, I honestly don't know if he'll make a good boyfriend because he isn't the most mature guy there is."
"Sounds like a good person, though."
"Then there's Percy Weasley," Bethany said. "Since Jess and I are from his house, we can vouch for him."
"Well, he's a very responsible student," Jessica began. "He's a prefect, so plus points for him."
"And he's a nice person in general, so he can be a gentleman. However, he can be very uptight sometimes, too."
"True. Ever since the Weasley twins entered Hogwarts, he's been extra uptight."
"So, who's the winner here?" Alista said. Cue the debate.
In Jessica's mind, there was no winner. Adrain Pucey didn't seem that mature and Percy Weasley acted as if being a prefect was the best thing in the world. So, she let her friends do the talking, going back to summoning and banishing objects. She hoped nobody would suddenly appear like Harry did since she was now making use of a rock, but luck wasn't on her side. When she banished the rock, which was only just a bit smaller than a Quaffle, Oliver Wood stepped out into the courtyard.
"Watch out!"
Oliver was lucky he was a Keeper. The moment somebody called his attention, he spotted the rock flying his way, using his right hand to catch it. It was slightly sharp and rough and catching it was definitely a bit more painful than catching a simple Quaffle, but he managed.
"Wood," Jessica said, getting up from her comfortable position on the grass for the second time in a few minutes and jogging towards the boy. "Are you alright?"
"Could've destroyed my face, but I'm okay," Oliver said, dropping the rock. "Was that your intention?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, as payback for that time at the pitch."
"What? No, no, no," Jessica insisted, flushing at the mention of that incident. "Not at all. I was just practicing some charms."
"Good. I would hate to be injured before seeing Potter play Quidd — oh, good Godric. Forget I said anything."
"Potter playing Quidditch?" Jessica repeated, things finally falling into place. "Harry Potter? He just passed by on his way to the pitch. Is that why you're going there?"
Oliver closed his eyes, cursing himself for being so careless and because Jessica Hawthorne had so easily guessed the situation.
"Please don't tell anyone," Oliver begged, lowering his voices so that Jessica's friends wouldn't hear. "We couldn't find a Seeker and McGonagall saw Potter during his first flying lesson and according to her, he's remarkable."
"So that's why she asked for you during Charms," Jessica said thoughtfully.
"How'd you know that?"
"Oh, um, Alista and I so happened to pass by the corridor that Potter and McGonagall were in," she explained in a rush, turning beet red when she realized she sounded creepy for knowing so much.
"Oh," Oliver nodded. "Well, you're the only one aside from us who knows about this, then. Don't spread it. I'm planning on using him as our secret weapon to win the cup this year."
Jessica admired his determination. Maybe she really should try out for the Quidditch team next school year with a bit more practice. Oliver seemed like a very competent captain, and she would hate to miss out on being part of his team. However, she knew that now just wasn't the time. They already had a full team and were well into the school year.
"I won't," Jessica promised him.
Oliver looked wary but chose to believe her nonetheless. "Thanks, Hawthorne. I'll see you around."
After giving her a curt nod, he walked away to meet up with Harry Potter in the field.
★ ★ ★
Halloween at Hogwarts always looked like something out of a movie. As Jessica entered the Great Hall for the feast, she couldn't help but admire the castle's beauty. Every year, she would be left in awe at how the school looked during this season. She couldn't wait until Christmas arrived — it truly felt magical at that time of the year.
Alista parted ways with her friends, having to go to the Slytherin table for this special occasion. Jessica and Bethany settled themselves at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table, conversing with their other friends and classmates around them while waiting for the hall to fill up. When the students began to settle down, Dumbledore stood up, signaling the hall to silence.
The headmaster was a man of few words. They were either extremely wise or extremely simple. In this case, all he said with opened arms was, "Let the feast begin."
The hall burst into cheers and more chatter. The mood was lively, and ironically, the ghosts contributed to the merriness. Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpington would show off his hanging head to new and old students alike, scaring the younger ones and amusing the others, hence the nickname "Nearly Headless Nick." The house ghosts and the others that resided in the castle floated around, making small talk with the students. They certainly had a lot of interesting stories to tell.
Currently, Sir Nick was complaining about once again not being able to join the Headless Hunt. According to him, the head of the hunt, Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore (although Sir Nick gave him quite a funny nickname), always rejected him.
"What an unfair man, he is," Sir Nick huffed. "One day, I'll show Sir Properly-Decapitated Podmore I deserve to be part of the hunt."
When Jessica finished her last course before dessert, she had the sudden need to go to the bathroom.
"Hurry up or all the dessert will be gone when you get back," Bethany warned her.
"I know, I know, but I gotta pee."
"Gross."
"As if you don't do it. Save me a treacle tart."
Jessica left the Great Hall, missing a frantic and running Professor Quirell by only a few seconds. She went to the nearest girl's bathroom, did her business quickly, and washed her hands once she was finished. She probably only took up five minutes both from her walk and doing her business, so she couldn't have missed much, right?
Wrong. The moment she stepped out of the bathroom, she thought she was watching a stampede. In reality, it was just Hogwarts students being led by the prefects to who-knows-where and for who-knows-what reason.
"Bloody hell," she said, her eyes scanning the sea of students. She had no idea what was going on, but the smartest thing to do was find people from her house and follow them from there. But with the speed they were going at and all the bumping and pushing happening, it was a difficult thing to do.
"Jessica?" the person cleared his throat. "Er, Hawthorne?"
Jessica couldn't be any more relieved when she heard that Scottish accent and locked eyes with the fifth year.
"Wood," she said in relief. "What in Merlin's name is going on?"
"There's a troll in the dungeons," he explained.
"A mountain troll?" What in the world happened in the past five minutes she was gone?
"Move it!"
"Get in line, everyone!"
"Follow me!"
The prefects and Head Boy and Head Girl were forcing them to move. Oliver realized that he had caused traffic for a moment when he stopped to talk to Jessica. He hurriedly grabbed her wrist, pulling the two of them back into the crowd of Gryffindors.
"Oh, thanks," she said in mild surprise.
He shrugged and lightly pushed her so that she was in front of him in the line as they went up the stairs.
"Now, what is a troll doing here?" she continued. "Was Marcus Flint not enough?"
Oliver didn't expect her to crack a joke and ended up laughing, even almost snorting at her remark.
"Guess not."
Jessica decided not to dwell on why there was a mountain troll inside Hogwarts. For now, she should head back to the dorms with her house mates where it would be safe. There, she could discuss the possibilities, and tomorrow, the teachers could hopefully explain this unusual situation.
As they neared the Gryffindor Tower, Jessica remembered one other thing that caused her to become extremely disappointed and ignore the fact that there was still a troll in the castle: she never got to eat her dessert.