With Halloween approaching, Milo felt the same pang of sorrow that hit him every year, the painful reminder of his parents' death that had left the Potter family quite the mess. Harry didn't really show any signs of pain and for that, Milo was grateful. Perhaps his brother wasn't aware of the significance behind the date and that was fine. For other students, Halloween was a time of fun and mischief, especially for the Weasley twins. They had taken it upon themselves to convince a few third years to plaster frog brains over the walls for Filch to clean up. Yet, they were always so confused as to why Filch looked at them with such a bitter expression.
Unfortunately, Milo learned early on from his mother that Filch was a Squib and if muggle-borns were frowned upon in the wizarding world, Squibs were a step below. Even the kindest of families did not want to be "plagued" by a squib in their family. It was frowned upon as they possessed no form of magic, they were only able to witness it and live in the wizarding world. But it was quite awkward for most, considering the way the wizarding world viewed them and their lack of magic. Many of them transitioned into muggle schools early on and later on in life, fully transitioned to living life as a muggle.
Filch was a unique case, as he was a squib living and working in the castle, which seemed like a horrible idea. He couldn't really use magic to clean, making it a million times harder for him to clean any prank than it would for anyone else in the castle. Why Filch remained at the castle, Milo wasn't sure, but the man had certainly made it a mission to catch every student along with his cat, Mrs Norris, in order to get them in trouble.
Fortunately, for the Weasley twins, the third years getting caught had given them the perfect distraction in order to "rescue" a salamander from Professor Kettleburn's class so they could test out their firework theory. Milo took no part in it but he did get to hold onto the map for the time being. It was how he noticed Nearly Headless Nick, the house ghost of Gryffindor approaching him in the corridors one afternoon. He definitely seemed to be in a bright mood which led Milo to be confused considering they were coming upon the ghost's death day.
"Sir Nicholas," Milo greeted the ghost with a respectful nod of his head, " you seem to be in a good mood."
"Oh, but I am, you see, I just asked your brother to attend my Deathday party and he agreed! I'll be having company from all over the country and I'll be able to say that the Boy-Who-Lived decided to attend by five hundredth deathday party!"
People really knew how to hit Milo where it hurt and ghosts were no exception. Once again, it was certainly a pleasure to be Harry as it was an honour to be around the boy, but when it came to Milo, they merely brushed by him. No, he wasn't the boy who lived, but that didn't mean that he didn't have feelings. He didn't need people trying to make him feel inferior to his younger brother without trying, he could do that all by himself, thank you very much.
"Oh, would you like to attend?" Sir Nicholas offered after a few moments of passing silence. "You're free-"
"I've already made plans, but thank you," Milo said hotly before walking off and pulling the map out of his sleeves again.
Paden could sense Milo getting worked up and let out a few comforting chirps. After all, Milo would always be the number one Potter in his life. With Paden's excessive chirping, Milo couldn't help but laugh as he picked the bowtruckle from his hair and held Paden in his hand.
"I'm fine, Paden," he reassured his little friend. "I couldn't go to the deathday party even if I wanted to. I made special plans with Mum for Halloween and they matter so much more than celebrating someone's death with a bunch of other ghosts. You'll see..."
They travelled to the Owlery to see if Milo had any letters waiting for him, but it seemed he wasn't the only Potter that decided to visit the Owlery. Harry arrived shortly after Milo to spend some time with Hedwig, his snowy owl, who was still holding a bit of a grudge after the trip to the school.
"'Arry!" Milo greeted him, before glancing down at the letter in his hands from Remus. He wondered for a second if he should just come clean about communicating with their uncle, but was it really the appropriate time? Apparently, it was not as Milo tucked the letter into the pocket of the robes along with the map. "What brings you up here?"
"Trying to get Hedwig to forgive me," Harry confessed. "She's been pretty upset with me since we arrived, not that I blame her, but I'm slowly making my way back into her good graces."
"If you really want to get back into her good graces at a faster pace, I might suggest bringing a couple of mice with you next time. Plump ones preferably."
"I-I'll keep that in mind," Harry said with a smile before he looked down at his shoes. Milo watched him and wondered what was going on with him. Something seemed to be bothering the boy but Harry didn't look sure if he should say anything.
"Something on your mind?"
The two brothers sat on the steps with Paden and Hedwig in their company, although Paden attempted to make threatening gestures and noises towards the owl to keep the predator at bay.
"Well, I don't think it's anything, but during that detention with Lockhart, I think...I think I heard a voice while I was in his office."
Milo started at him for a moment before he realised that Harry was waiting for him to say something. "A voice and it didn't belong to anyone like Lockhart? The man tends to talk to himself quite a bit, I think he enjoys the sound of his own voice."
"It wasn't Lockhart's voice and it wasn't mine...it was saying something about kill...I don't remember all of it, but Lockhart said he didn't hear it. Do you think it's something I should be concerned about?"
Thinking it over, Milo looked at him and then shook his head slightly. " Have you heard since that night?"
"No."
"Then I think you're fine," Milo reassured his brother, " if anything you were probably under a great deal of stress being around Lockhart for more than a few seconds. It's understandable, so don't worry about it. But if it happens again, then we'll talk about it. Merlin knows I've been thinking terrible things about him too. Like tying him to a tree in the Forbidden Forest and see how he handles himself out there with the creatures."
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Dear Milo,
I suppose the term "active nanny" has left a poor impression of me being a capable adult. I assure you that I can function quite well on my own, but Elspeth feels better when she keeps me company during her free time. I don't have to pay her as she makes a great living with her own work, so she does it out of the kindness of her heart, free of charge.
Milo noticed there was something scribbled off to the side.
Don't let him fool you, Milo,
he enjoys my company too much
that he would pay me to stick around.
The boy chuckled to himself at the antics of his godparents before a voice startled him from behind the sofa. He turned around to see Cedric, the boy's hair still damp from his recent shower as he came out of the dorms into the common area. Cedric leapt over the back of the sofa and landed beside Milo in a sitting position.
"What's got you giggling?" Cedric said, " after a Lockhart day, I could definitely use a laugh."
"I was just reading a letter, I don't think anyone else would find it really funny without context," Milo informed him, " but I do know of a joke that could make you laugh."
"I'm waiting."
"Alright, what's orange and sounds like a parrot?" Milo asked him. Cedric gave him an odd look but decided to think it over but after a few moments, he couldn't really think of an answer.
"I don't know."
Milo leaned into him with a bright grin. "A carrot."
Cedric didn't find the joke funny, in fact, it was incredibly silly but the fact that Milo found it so hilarious, it brought him to share in the laughter. He must have really enjoyed the joke as he giggled to the point where he was red in the face and fell off the sofa, causing Cedric to laugh even harder.
Heidi and Max came down from the girls' dorm and found the two laughing uncontrollably before they looked at one another.
Max shook her head. "Those two are total dorks."
"Yes," Heidi sighed, " but they're our dorks and we must protect them."
Milo completely forgot about reading the rest of his letter for the time being as he was left in the company of his friends. They began discussing the Halloween feast that the majority looked forward to every year, but they realised that Milo had become awfully quiet.
"Come on, Milo," Max said nudging him with her shoulder, " I know you above everyone look forward to all the pumpkin recipes that are brought out."
"Yeah well, before the feast, I have some plans with Mum, so I'll probably showing up a bit late."
"Where are you going to be?" Cedric asked as the other two looked at him, equally as curious. Milo glanced over at the fireplace for a few moments quietly before clearing his throat.
"Visiting my parents for the day."
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On the day of Halloween, students were in a cheery mood, running about with the festivities and feast running rampant in the minds. There was even the rumour that Dumbledore had booked a troupe of dancing skeletons. The castle was decorated with live bats and the massive pumpkins that Hagrid smiled proudly upon as students marvelled at them. But Milo and Minerva were not on castle grounds that day as they had made a special trip by Milo's request.
He wasn't sure what it was that drove him to want to visit Godric's Hollow, the place where he had lived with his parents and brother before the death of Lily and James. Perhaps it was the lack of closure surrounding the whole matter, his parents had been so young and he and Harry had lost so much in just one night. Minerva seemed hesitant about the idea at first but she couldn't bring herself to deny the request. After all, the boy had every right to come and pay respects to his parents' names.
Arriving in Godric's Hollows, there were muggles around but there was something incredibly special about the Potter Memorial that had put in place. To muggles, it just appeared as an obelisk, carved with names of muggle casualties from their own war and it would look the same to wizards and witches until they grew closer. Then the memorial would change and turn into the form of statues of the family. There would sit the statues of Lily and James, Lily holding onto a baby Harry in her arms while Milo hung off his father's shoulders as a toddler. The family looked immensely happy and it brought a smile to Milo's face to see that the happiness of his parents along with himself and his brother would be forever externalised in stone.
But it appeared he wasn't the only one who arrived that day to pay his respects to his parents, as he and his mother walked closer, he recognised Elspeth standing in front of the memorial. The woman quickly wiped eyes under her glasses as she heard someone approach before turning around. She gasped and clapped her hand to her chest upon seeing the two, but mainly because she had mistaken Milo for an old face of a dear friend or rather a "deer" friend.