Ghosts Just Want To Have Fun … And Get A Little Revenge

Never in a million years did Draco Malfoy ever think he would actually find himself in complete agreement with Ronald Ridiculous-Middle-Name Weaslebee. However, the crude exclamation made by the so-called underachieving Weasley voiced everyone's sentiments – including Draco's – rather aptly. Indeed, Vincent, Gregory, Daphne and Pansy were close to short-circuiting at what they had just witnessed. Theo was actively arguing with Thomas, Finnegan, Finch-Fletchley and the Weaslette about who was responsible for summoning their new, spectral guests. It was safe to say the room positively echoed with the petty squabbling. Meanwhile, Longbottom and Lovegood were checking on Blaise and Millie; Draco was still attempting to wriggle free from his bindings. Weaslebee and the Know-It-All Granger set about trying to free the still captured Snakes, deliberately not beginning with Draco, while Boy Wonder kept staring at the ghosts in a near catatonic state.

"You didn't think that something like this could happen? Really, Nott?! I thought that there was a reason people called you smart!"

"No! Frankly, Thomas, no I did not! None of us could have seen this happen, even if we were blessed with the fucking Sight!"

"Oooooo Nott swore!"

"Shut it, Finch-Fletchley!"

"I can't believe it wasn't Harry who caused this shite but a bunch of stupid Snakes."

"No one asked you, Finnegan!"

"Ya have to admit that this is a very Harry thing to do, Nott!"

"I think it is safe to say Zabini and Bulstrode aren't taking a nap for fun so they clearly had something to do with this."

"Clever, aren't you, Weasley?"

Ginny smirked. "Yes, I think I am, rather. Luna and I are neck-and-neck in many classes."

"It was a rhetorical question, Weasley!"

"I know it was, which is why I deliberately answered it!"

Draco grumbled to himself as he felt his head pounding. This was already shaping up to be categorically the worst Halloween he had in years and that was saying something!

Indeed, he would take the mountain troll during first year over this nonsense!

As for the summoned spectres, they watched the freak-out with undisguised amusement. Cedric and Lily Potter did make themselves a little useful by assisting Longbottom and Lovegood in attempting to wake Blaise and Millicent from their enchantment-induced nap. Perhaps this was needed, because their eyes had shot open and both Snakes were more than a little perturbed to not only see Longbottom and Lovegood hovering over them, but also the very recognisable faces of Cedric Diggory and Lily Potter. They sat up bolt upright in shock; however, both went through the forms of Cedric and Lily in their haste and shock.

This action caused Blaise and Millicent to involuntarily shiver while Cedric and Lily both pulled a face.

"Well, that was unpleasant to say the least," Lily commented.

"That was worse than being tickled," Cedric could only agree.

Blaise and Millicent were in pure shock for a moment longer; soon their eyes bugged completely out of their sockets and they screamed at the top of their lungs as they scuttled backwards towards Draco while the ghosts observed in amusement.

"Good news, children! They're in perfect working condition after all!" one of the unidentifiable ghosts announced gleefully, clearly bathing in the pure fear of the Snakes.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Blaise wailed. "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!"

"You two fucked up majorly, that's what happened!" Theo snapped at him.

"And for once we had nothing to do with it," Harry was all too happy to add.

"Nothing to do with it?!" Draco could not help but round on his rival in seconds. "It's your damn fault that Blaise and Millicent started this ridiculous enterprise in the bloody first place, Potter! You sent those blasted spray cans!"

"Pffft," the Boy-Who-Had-The-Sheer-Audacity-To-Sound-Dismissive huffed. "True, but we are not directly responsible, that is what counts, Drakey-poo!"

That caused a good chuckle to run around the ghosts at hearing this. Lily Potter was amongst the only ones who did not look as entertained as the others. Even Regulus Black had a sliver of a smile on his spectral countenance. The eyes of Sirius Black and James Potter held Harry with undisguised pride and affection that Draco felt almost like looking away from. They, followed by Cedric and Lily, joined Harry.

"Your antics have been a constant source of amusement, Harry," Sirius commented. "So much so that a few of us have been given divine permission to wreak a little havoc-"

"-and get a little revenge while we're at it," James Potter smirked. "And that is all because of you, son. I have no idea whether to be proud or worried or ask McGonagall to get you to clean out her kitty litter box!"

Harry flushed a little with embarrassment as Lily whacked her husband around the head for that comment.

Cedric chuckled and shook his head despondently at Harry. "I am glad very little has changed with you regarding your ability to never be boring," the deceased Hufflepuff stated. "I was worried that perhaps my death and then Sirius's may have killed the best part of you."

Draco had no idea how to react to this; neither did the rest of the Snakes and Lions in the room. Only Finch-Fletchley and Lovegood had these sad, knowing smiles on their faces. The Boy-Who-Wished-For-Once-He-Could-Hug-A-Ghost's face was positively beetroot at this point and he allowed himself to chuckle mirthlessly.

"It was touch and go for a while," he finally managed to confess as he finally allowed himself to look at Cedric. "You and Siri … you both died because of my own stupidity. My own inability to see a trap when it was obvious to others."

Neither Cedric nor Sirius liked hearing that, but it was Lily who gave her son a stern talking to. "Harry, that is nonsense. Cedric made his choice to allow you to share your title; he chose to follow you to the Cup and to the graveyard. Sirius made his choice to save you-"

"-and don't regret it for a single moment," Sirus Black finished firmly. "Would do it again even if it meant the same outcome."

Draco never thought he would ever see Harry I-Make-Dark-Wizards-Pray-For-One-Quiet-Evening-Without-Muggle-Shit Potter absolutely speechless. James Potter took the opportunity to introduce some of the ghosts with them.

"Harry, we would like you to meet some unlikely allies who will help us make this Halloween the best we have had since … well, a long time," James grinned. "First, we have Sirius's kid brother, Regulus."

Regulus Black bowed his head solemnly in greeting. "Blessed Samhain, Lord Black," he greeted as formally as Draco had expected from a pureblood Nobleman. "I'm pleased to meet your acquaintance."

"Pleasure is mine," Harry answered back in a daze.
"Over there we have Marlene McKinnon," James continued and Draco felt his own eyes widen at the raven-haired ghost with stormy grey eyes. Everyone knew what happened to House McKinnon during the war – completely wiped out due to their innate mastering of the Sight and an uncanny ability to master different branches of Transformation magics. Marlene had a lopsided smirk on her face – she had noted Draco's reaction all too well – and gave a simple wave. "And two unlikely allies: Evan Rosier and Xander Mulciber."
Cue several mouths dropping to the ground in seconds, including Draco's own. Evan Rosier, a Marked follower of the Dark Lord and Xander, the music prodigy who lost his life in some Mordred-forsaken alley due to an Order ambush. Draco kicked himself for not seeing it before. Evan had the same dark, curly short hair and knowing smirk on his face as he did in several photos Draco had seen before.

What he also found interesting was the way Lovegood looked at Balthazar Mulciber's son. Like she had just come face-to-face with some long-lost relative. What was more, Xander looked at Luna with no certain amount of recognition and gratitude.

Interesting …

"Evan Rosier," Harry repeated out loud. His eyes widened a little. "The Death Muncher, Evan Rosier?"

"The very same," Evan was more than happy to conform, giving a small flourishing bow. "I must say, I have never wanted to be alive more in order to suffer the ignominy of being gifted Muggle garbage!"

Xander chuckled at this heartily. "You say that now, but you would have wanted to hex the boy into the next century to begin with, Evan."

The introductions were interrupted by Millicent suddenly begin to have another existential crisis, putting her head in her hands. "WE ARE SO FUCKED! PROFESSOR SNAPE IS GOING TO HAVE OUR HIDES FOR THIS!"

Blaise was as white as snow at this realisation while Pansy, Daphne and Theo looked utterly ready to hex them. The ghosts all frowned a little.

"So it really isn't a joke? Snape is a teacher?" Marlene McKinnon snorted. "Wow! I genuinely didn't think that was real. It's a good thing I didn't bet any money on that or I would have lost hard."

"Unfortunately," Ronald answered solemnly. "He can't teach for toffee, favours the Snakes, hates it when people get his questions correct, he picks on Neville, Harry-"

Lily Potter's countenance turned stormy in seconds. "What?" she demanded.

Harry started to shuffle his feet nervously. "Really, Mum, it's nothing-"

"It's not nothing!" Harry's friends were all too happy to contradict.

"He hates Harry's guts," Finnegan explained with almost sadistic glee. "He can't stand the bloody sight of him. Literally!"

"The fact Harry breathes is almost like an insult to him," Thomas added. "The smallest mistake, and Harry loses at least ten points."

"He scares Neville," Lovegood also threw in, which made Longbottom bow his head in shame.

Sirius was giving James and Lily a pointed look as if to say, 'I did tell you'. Marlene McKinnon was also shaking her head. "I never did understand why you were friends with the guy, Lils," she commented. "The guy has always hated company."

"Severus is definitely not teacher material," Regulus Black found himself concurring.

"Snape has saved my life several times," Draco was surprised to hear Harry defend Uncle Severus a little. "He mostly did it as repayment for when Dad saved his life but Dumbledore left me on Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's doorstep when I was a baby so I think-"

"DUMBLEDORE DID WHAT?!"

The room started to shake rather violently as Lily Potter exploded in rage. Draco found himself flinching as the Potter woman's red hair turned into pure orange fire, her eyes glowing with green flames. "NEVER MIND VOLDEMORT, I AM GOING TO GIVE THE PAIR OF THEM A PIECE OF MY MIND!"

"Lily, I think that-" James tried to reason with his wife but she was not having it.

"I AM GOING TO TEACH THAT OLD COOT A LESSON HE WILL NOT FORGET ANY TIME SOON!"

The Boy-Who-Really-Needed-To-Learn-To-Curb-His-Tounge knew he had just accidentally released the Kraken hidden inside Lily Potter. James and Sirius looked resigned as Lily already started to float out of the room at an alarming speed, spitting bile as she went. Draco pinched the bridge of his nose.

By the end of this, he suspected they all would be faced with a Severus Snape more hellbent on revenge than normal.

For a moment the room went eerily quiet.

"Errr … shouldn't we try and stop her or …" the Weaslette asked carefully.

"Nope!" James Potter answered, popping his 'p' in almost the exact same way that the Boy-Who-Must-Have-Cursed-Samhain-With-His-Mere-Presence did. "When Lily is like this, it is better to not get in her way!"

"Severus is fucked," Evan grinned, eyes gleaming evilly and appeared to be tempted to follow Lily in order to witness the carnage first hand. "As is Dumbledore."

"So, what are you going to do then?" Longbottom had the spine to ask. "Lily mentioned You-Know-Who-"

"For good reason! We are going to pay him and his little friends a little visit," Cedric informed with a grin. A similar look spread itself onto the countenances of the rest of the ghosts. Draco immediately felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.

His father's drinking problem was about to get much, much worse …

"A little visit?" Granger repeated, her already snow-white countenance going to a white that made these ghosts look a whole lot healthier than her. "But … why?"

Now that was not something that came out of Hermione Granger's mouth often and it made the Snakes and her own friends look at her as though she had spontaneously started to grow a second head and had pink hair. Draco made a note to himself to remember this exact moment and tease Granger about it at a later date.

But then, Draco remembered something else. The reason the ghosts were here – havoc and revenge …

Oh no.

Yep, his father's drinking problem was definitely going to get much, much worse from now on! Draco turned ashen just as the ghosts all started smirking and chuckling evilly.

"We are going to give the lot of them a Samhain they are not going to forget in a long while," Sirius Black stated simply.

"But a few of us will be back before the psychopomps are sent to get us back," Marlene reassured, mostly gesturing to James, Sirius, Cedric and – to Draco's surprise – Xander.

Before anyone could ask any more questions, the spirits had disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving terrified, discombobulated and resigned Gryffindors, Slytherins, one Hufflepuff and one Ravenclaw behind. Weaslebee and Granger had just managed to free Theo and Daphne at this point and promptly, both normally even-tempered Slytherins drew their wands and subjected Blaise and Millicent to Tickle Charms.

Team Prank started chortling as Blaise and Millicent started to roll around on the floor, clutching their sides. Draco wanted the floor to swallow him whole as his normally well-composed friends gave in to their inner Gryffindor.

"T-T-Theo –hehehehehehehehe – p-p-please s-s-s-stop – hahahahahahahahahhaa!" Blaise pleaded for his ability to breathe through a web of laughing-induced tears.

"I'll stop when you've learned your lesson!" Theo thundered at him.

Millicent was not in a much better state. "D-D-Da-a-a-aph! S-s-s-s-to-o-o-o-p! Can't bre-e-e-e-eathe!"

"This is the least of what you deserve for what you have done, Millie!" Daphne scolded in a manner that made Draco actually flinch and feel only a sliver of sympathy for Millicent. "Did the pair of you even stop to think before you started painting those statues?!"

"Y-y-yes …"

"Apparently not well enough!"

"B-B-Blaise d-d-d-dared me…!"

Millie probably should not have said that. Cue both Blaise and Millicent practically scream-laughing as Theo and Daphne both upped the ante on their Tickling Charms.

"Damn. I think Greengrass and Nott are genuinely trying to kill their own mates," Weaslebee commented dryly, shaking his head despondently.

"And we are the witnesses they will try to kill in order to get away with it," Finch-Fletchley added with a smirk.

Harry My-Family-Is-Not-Normal-Even-When-They-Are-Dead Potter grinned evilly. "Grandpa Tom has failed to kill me up until now, what makes you think these idiots can do any better?"

Draco could not help himself – he snorted inelegantly at the utterly impertinent statement of the Boy-Who-Has-Absolutely-Zero-Respect-For-Scary-Dark-Lords. His friends also could not help but bark out short laughter, for which they all looked suitably guilty once they realised that they had laughed indirectly in the Dark Lord's face. But it had saved Blaise and Millicent from a possible Death by Tickling because Theo and Daphne had lost their concentration long enough for their spells to break.

"Is that a challenge, Potter?" Gregory, who was amongst the first to recover from their giggle fit, asked with a grin.

"Well, you could certainly try! Show Voldie how it's done!"

Potter sounded waaaaaaaaay too happy for Draco's liking!

"Hey, I don't want to sound like a whiner, but could you please get us all out of these bloody binds?" Pansy huffed impatiently.

To their minor credit, Granger and Weaslebee set about trying to free her and Vincent. Then, Draco saw Finnegan smirk to himself and drew his wand, looking at Gregory's binds. "Let's see if these things are immune to magic-"

The reaction was immediate. After all, everyone in the room knew what happened whenever Seamus I-Set-Things-Alight-By-Sneezing Finnegan did remotely ANTYHING magical.

"NOOOOO!" came the unanimous cry.

Finnegan had the raw audacity to blink in shock. "Ya sure?"

"FINNEGAN, DON'T YOU DARE!"

"SEAMUS, DON'T YOU SO MUCH AS WAVE THAT WAND!"

Finnegan had the raw nerve to simply smirk. "Awwww, spoil sports."

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Severus Snape had hoped to any benevolent divine entity left that he would be permitted to just have a quiet Samhain that would only involve hot chocolate, a few inane games with Albus and Minerva to keep Albus happy and then a few relaxing hours of reading. However, the gods really were not interested in being good, and Merlin, Morgana and Mordred also had no intention of being nice.

Either that, or every single one of them were absolutely terrified of Lily Rose Potter and did not want to get in front of her Undead rage.

Unfortunately, Snape had not a single inclination of what was about to happen. If he had, he would have likely fled Albus Dumbledore's office, let Minerva win for the umpteenth time in their umpteenth game of wizard's chess and would have sought the safety of his chambers. But Snape was blissfully unaware of the spectral retribution heading for him.

Minerva's smug countenance made Severus itch to take his remote out as her Queen decapitated his bishop and backed his King into a checkmate.

"Ah! Wonderful, Minerva wins again!" Albus stated happily as he gave the cupcake plate to Minerva; Severus was really tempted at this point to hex his friend when she had taken the cute dancing skeleton cupcake.

That was the one he wanted!

Severus tried to keep his countenance as best he was able to at this point.

Albus saw his pouty expression and tried to cheer him up. "Cheer up, Severus! You were closer than you normally are! Perhaps you can ask Mr. Weasley for some strategy tips? Now, shall we play the new extended edition of Exploding Snap? I have been waiting all year for the new set!"

I want to go to bed, Snape complained internally.

At this point, he even hoped that the Dark Lord would be in a mopey mood and summon him just to start ranting at him that Nagini and Thalia were 'trick-or-treating' too much and driving him mad.

Then again, did Nagini and Thalia even know what trick-or-treating was?

Severus continued to drink his hot chocolate and took the cupcake he wanted after the skeleton one – the grazing Thestral – and chomped into it with quite a bit of aggression while Minerva hummed Samhain's Night, Moonlight Bright happily and with a very smug undertone. Fawkes, who was for some reason dressed up as the Headless Horseman with a pumpkin head, gave Severus a judgy look that made the Potions Master raise an eyebrow at the phoenix.

"Yes?" he drawled sassily. "Got something to say?"

Fawkes trilled back with just as much sass. Severus sneered at the firebird for a moment; that cheeky buzzard was in dire need of discipline!

"At least I am not the one dressed up in a ridiculous costume."

Fawkes spluttered, squawking indignantly and puffing his chest out angrily. Minerva gave Severus a stern look, which momentarily made him glad that she could no longer put him into detention with Filch.

"Severus, that was unnecessary," she scolded lightly.

"You were thinking the exact same thing, Minerva, do not lie," Severus responded with a cold smirk.

The Head of Gryffindor House was about to make a snarky comment when suddenly, a cold blast of wind swept through Dumbledore's chambers, snuffing out all of the candles in seconds. The portraits of the Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts let out cries of surprise.

"Well, I say!"

"Who turned off the lights?"

"Did Albus sneeze while working on runes again?"

"No, muggins, he's getting his ridiculous game!"

Minerva and Severus ignored the petty squabbles that arose amongst the portrait residents. They both drew their wands and with a flourish, the candles were lit once more; both of them looked about them wearily, tensing up quite a lot.

A window was not open, nor was the door to Albus's office even ajar. Thus, it could not have been any mere old gust of wind.

"Do you think it is Peeves up to old mischief?" Severus wondered out loud.

"If it had been, he would have announced his presence," Minerva pointed out. "It cannot be the Headless Hunt, for they are out guarding the Hogwarts borders against any potential malignant Fae entities. It is also not what they do."

"Moaning Myrtle?" Severus could not believe he was even considering the option. However, given what has happened until now, it would not have been the most astounding thing to happen all year and thus could not be ruled out entirely.

"No," Minerva answered quite solemnly. "No, I daresay we would have all heard Myrtle coming if it was her."

"Then … who …?"

Right on cue, as though whatever entity it was wished to answer Severus directly, an eerie blue light appeared in the room that caused many of Albus's ridiculous baubles and trinkets to begin vibrating on their shelves. For a moment both Heads of House thought that once more Lord Voldemort had thrown a hissy fit, but they did not hear the banshee screams from the Dark Lord.

No, this was something else entirely.

"W-what … What is the meaning of this?!" the Sorting Hat was quite displeased as he started vibrating closer and closer to the edge of the shelf where he was already precariously perched. "This is not funny!"

The vibrating stopped almost at that exact moment. Seconds later, Dumbledore's tower echoed with the sound of a spooky, feminine laugh. One that was scarily familiar to both Severus and Minerva's ears, and they exchanged a wide-eyed look between them. The playfulness, the teasing undertone – they had both heard it somewhere before.

But it couldn't be her … she was dead.

How was it possible?

Had Team Prank done something in preparation for Samhain?

While the Sorting Hat kept grumbling incoherently and the portraits started whispering amongst themselves, Severus and Minerva both suddenly felt that it was too quiet. Indeed, not even the sound of Albus in the distance, muttering to himself about where he had put 'that blasted expansion pack', gave the pair any reassurances at all.

"Who's there?" Minerva called out, the tone of authority back only an octave. "Show yourself!"

No verbal answer came initially. However, the ghost in question made her presence known once more – by levitating the Headmaster's mysterious and odd knickknacks and a few of Fawkes's favourite toys and sending them straight at Severus. To the shock of the mortals, the objects were coated by blue and white fire.

Soul fire.

Soul fire!

While Severus was forced to dodge, shield himself and run for cover, the Head of Gryffindor House attempted to try and force the spectre to reveal herself. Which the ghost really did not appreciate. Ergo, Minerva was soon forced to focus on defending herself from flame-coated projectiles.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT, SHADE?!" Severus found himself shouting as one of Albus's Order of Merlins narrowly missed his head.

Perhaps he should have minded his tongue …

"SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE!"

The words echoed around the room, causing everyone to become gorgonised to the spot. The moment Minerva's and Severus's ears registered the intonations of the voice, they both became dangerously pale. They also both received a couple of blows from some metal baubles because they were not quick enough to deflect them.

It seemed that their funny feeling that was not really so funny at all, had been right on the money.

"No …" Minerva whispered to herself.

"Lily," Severus breathed out in disbelief, his eyes widening to the point where many of the Headmasters were genuinely concerned that his eyes would fall out of his sockets.
Of course, he should have known – Lily was as powerful in death as she was in life.

But why was she here? How was she here …?

Did someone open the Veil?

Did Potter and his friends try an Ouija session and did it go very badly wrong? At this point, Severus would be happy to put money on that wager.

"Lily, calm down!" Minerva attempted to scold as a few more artefacts bounced off the powerful Shield Charm she had put around herself. "What are you doing here?"

"GIVING SEVERUS A PIECE OF MY MIND!"

Uh oh.

It was at this point that Severus made vampires look sun-tanned. He really had force himself not to gulp as the ominous winds that had blown into the room picked up again. Lily's beautiful red hair whipped up into orange flames and her green eyes were like spine-chilling lanterns one could imagine on the barge of Charon the ferryman. The Potions Master knew he was in more trouble than he ever had been whenever the Dark Lord summoned him for any Order updates or potions that the man needed to have brewed.

Between Lily's wrath and Voldemort's, Severus always feared Lily's more, as did many of his friends. There was a reason the Dark Lord had tried to recruit James and Lily three times to his side.

"About what?" Severus dared to ask. No, his voice did not squeak, what are you talking about?!

Severus Snape did not squeak …

"I THOUGHT YOU HAD GOTTEN OVER THIS JUVENILE NONSENSE!"

The Head of Slytherin House ducked as Fawkes's favourite squeaky bat went flying over his head and collided with a nearby column, the soul fire leaving a palpable burn mark that was going to be very difficult to explain.

"I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION YOU HAD GROWN UP AND LEARNED TO LET GO OF PAST RESENTMENTS, AND NOW, I FIND OUT THAT YOU HAVE NOT! IN FACT, THEY TELL ME YOU HAVE THE GUMPTION TO TAKE WHATEVER LEFT OVER GRUDGE YOU HAVE AND TAKE IT OUT ON THE CHILDREN! NOT JUST HARRY, BUT POOR ALICE'S BOY TOO! WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!?"

In this moment, Severus Snape knew he had fucked up. Minerva gave him a pointed look, warning him silently to not try and justify his actions. Not only because the Head of Gryffindor House believed that there was no justification for Severus's actions, but because it would only result in the Potions Master digging his grave even further.
For the first time in years, Severus audibly gulped and Fawkes gave him an unbearably smug look.

Lily was not finished, however. Not by a long shot.

"NOTHING?! GOOD! MAYBE YOU ARE FINALLY LEARNING YOUR LESSON. YOU MAKE ME REGRET EVER CONSIDERING MAKING YOU THE GODFATHER OF MY SECOND CHILD CONSIDERING HOW YOU TREAT THEIR ELDER BROTHER! WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE TO THEM, I WONDER?!"

Stunned was an understatement that Severus and Minerva were at this revelation. No, neither had realised that Lily Potter had been with child the night she and James … died.

"What?" Severus definitely squeaked this time.

"HATING THEIR EXISTENCE, BULLYING THEM IN CLASS – JAMES WANTED REMUS TO BE THEIR GODFATHER BUT RELENTED WHEN I SAID IT WOULD SIGNIFY, HE AGREED THAT BY-GONES ARE BY-GONES AND A GOOD APOLOGY! NOW, I FIND MYSELF HAVING A REGRET BEYOND THE GRAVE AND I DON'T LIKE IT! I REFUSE TO STAY HERE AND WATCH AS DEATH MUNCHERS TREAT THESE CHILDREN WITH MORE RESPECT!"

It was safe to say that by this point, the spy felt well and truly winded. Like he had been sucker-punched directly in the stomach and gut more than a couple of times. Well, one could say that he had been in a manner of speaking.

Emotionally.

Which made Fawkes trill with gleeful laughter as Lily Potter roasted Severus quite thoroughly and for once, the dower man had no comeback or snide remark in his arsenal, which made it even better. At least in Fawkes's mind!

It was at this point, that Albus returned. For a moment, Albus I-Have-Tunnel-Vision-When-It-Comes-To-Card-Games Dumbledore did not register their spectral visitor, beaming triumphantly and holding up the Exploding Snap boxes. "My apologies; I have found them! I had accidentally put my knitting box on top of them-"

"Albus, you have a bigger problem at the moment!" Phineas Nigellus Black stopped the Headmaster before he could start babbling.

"How did you not hear the commotion?!" Elizabeth Burke could not help but thunder, shaking her head in severe disappointment at him.

Albus did not answer them because his eyes landed on the furious ghost of Lily Potter. He blinked three times rapidly as though he was attempting to determine if he was seeing things or not. The Headmaster was about to smile brightly at the spectre, until he truly noticed how terrified both Severus and Minerva were, the sheer panic of the portraits and of course, the fearsome anger coursing through the late Lady Potter.

Albus had been on the verge of saying something but Lily soon beat him to it.

"BRIAAAAAN! I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU AS WELL!"

As well?!

Oh no … this was not good. Not good at all.

Albus Dumbledore gulped. Lily Potter was one of the very few people who had ever addressed him by one of his other names. Ariana had always called him Wulfi and Bathilda Bagshot had called him Perci in the past, as Percival had been the name of her dead familiar and had some traits in common with Albus.

He had never decided whether or not it was a good thing or a bad thing.

As for Lily Potter, she had taken to calling him Brian whenever he had truly overstepped the mark or made the mistake of truly unleashing her ire. And it seemed it was definitely both or the latter, in this case.

"Ah, Lily! Wonderful to see you," Albus tried desperately not to sound as nervous as he suddenly felt. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

Minerva shot him a look that clearly translated to 'are kidding me right now, Albus? Please keep your mouth shut', but the Headmaster unfortunately didn't notice. The fire in Lily's eyes and hair only strengthened, soul fire beginning to dance between her fingers.

"YOU LEFT MY SON OUT IN THE COLD OCTOBER AIR ON THE DOORSTEP OF MY MAGIC-HATING SISTER AND THE BIGOTED LANDWHALE SHE MARRIED – DO YOU DENY IT?!"

Albus paled considerably; Minerva pinched the bridge of her nose. She always suspected that their actions would come back to haunt them eventually. Severus's eyes widened in shock at hearing this.

Petunia had the boy …?

Petunia?

Who in their right mind thought that was a good idea?!

Oh wait …

"Now, listen Lily-" Albus made the mistake of trying to reason with her, which was a rather grotesque miscalculation on his part.

"DO NOT PATRONISE OR ATTEMPT TO REASON YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS, BRIAN! YOU KNEW AS WELL AS ANYONE THAT WE WOULD HAVE RATHER SENT HARRY TO LIVE WITH THE MALFOYS THAN WITH MY SISTER! WE LEFT SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS IN THE WILL – THE SAME WILL YOU WITNESSED!"

"But the wards needed-"

"AND LUCRETIA PREWETT WAS A SKILLED WARDSMITH WHO WOULD HAVE DONE JUST AS WELL, IF NOT BETTER!"

For the first time in quite a long while, Albus I-May-Have-Perhaps-Overreached-Myself Dumbledore fell silent as he could no longer find the words to defend his actions. Not ones that would satisfy Lily, anyway. He found himself looking at his shoes like a chastised schoolboy for a moment before looking up.

Albus had been set to apologise when suddenly both he and Severus found themselves facing an impromptu shower of spectral gunk that had a worryingly pungent odour. Once Lily Potter had finished barfing on the both of them, she sneered as them, the ominous winds blowing out the candles once more.

"IF YOU BOTH EVER FAIL IN YOUR DUTIES TO HARRY AND HIS FRIENDS AGAIN, I WILL MAKE YOU RUE THE DAY YOU WERE BORN!"

With that not so veiled threat hanging in the air, Lily disappeared as quickly as she came, leaving a tense, chilling silence hanging over the Headmaster's office. No one dared to speak, nor move. No one dared to even breathe too loudly. Only after about a minute did Minerva relight the candles and give her ectoplasm-covered friends a stern look.

"Well," Albus cleared his throat. "That was highly unexpected…"

"Oh? Do you think so?" Minerva could not help but sass a little. "I think we should check on the students and see as to whom has been messing with the Veil."

"Yes, I think that would be wise," Albus concurred grimly and pulled a bit of a face. "After a good long shower, however. Severus and I should not wander the castle smelling of spirit vomit."

Whoever has opened the Veil will have detention with me until they're eighty, Severus promised himself internally as he caught wind of just how bad he actually stank. It was worse than familiar droppings, the Quidditch changing room lockers and the lavatories combined!

It was Lily truly at her most vengeful.

The Potions Master sighed in resignation. Why could he not have one simple, quiet Sabbath without facing literal ghosts of his past?

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Night descended upon Malfoy Manor with surprisingly very little fuss; at least, for the Dark side's doing. Of course, there were arguments between the usual culprits – Amycus, Antonin, Walden, Alecto and Lysander – about who costed the Death Munchers the win of the paintball fight with Alice Ferrars and Tonks smugly peacocking that the Order Team had won by a hair.

Team Ghostbusters had fought valiantly with the boy named Piers being the last one to be taken out. That boy had been a slippery little sneak and Rodolphus had to practically be frog-marched to where everyone who was out had been sitting and waiting to stop him from hexing the kid and risking Muggle witnesses.
Mostly because Piers had been spied grinning like he had won the Quidditch World Cup when he had managed to splatter the eldest Lestrange on the side of the noggin, making Rodolphus look like he had been hit by around seven pumpkins.

Not even Augustus, whose skills as a sniper had taken everyone by surprise including himself, had been able to get a single shot on the irritatingly skilled Muggle teenager. Nope, the boy had been taken out by Alice.

Which was probably why the blow was lessened slightly and no one really protested when Alice joined the Death Munchers at Malfoy Manor. Naturally, Voldemort had made her take about three different oaths to make sure that she didn't accidentally spill the beans on where he and his followers were hiding and the Dark Lord had been ever so slightly concerned when the Ferrars girl took them without so much as questioning the kind of oaths she was taking.

Apparently, the oaths were worth it in order to spend extra time with Avior.

Icky.

Of course, Voldemort did not say that out loud. He did not want to blow Avior's chances before they had even begun – he may be evil, but he wasn't a cockblocker – and he really, really did not want to give Nagini and Thalia any more ammunition than they already had. He could already hear their sassy sniping and how 'he was jealous Avior had a pretty mate like Alice'.

Nope, he could not deal with their nonsense on Samhain's Eve.

Indeed, no one could deal with extra nonsense. Which was why no one raised an eyebrow at Avior, Lysander and Alice having evening tea and Corban Yaxley taking Tonks on a moonlit walk with Bella and Mr. Mupples along as 'necessary chaperones'. There were a few very brave idiots amongst the Outer Circle of the Death Munchers who had looked like they were set to protest but Balthazar himself had put a stopper in their protests before any of them could utter a word with one well aimed cold stare.
Fortunately they had taken the hint and retired to their chambers. An action many in the Inner Circle had decided to imitate. After all, it was Samhain's Eve and no one wanted to risk being the one to accidentally slice an opening into the Veil because they accidentally sneezed on one of their spells. Fenrir too ordered his pack to bed, with the promise that they would go early for a hunt before taking the children trick-or-treating on Samhain.

A concept foreign to many of the purebloods; Izzy and her friends were all too happy to tell the wizards about the tricks and treats one collected at Halloween. Of course, Antonin, Rabastan and Augustus looked the most interested at the concept, especially the trick part. The children had giggled when Tyler Reed looked excited at the prospect of Rabastan joining the trick-or-treating. The teasing was soon forgotten and replaced by the children singing This is Halloween as they were all ushered into the bathroom for their evening baths and showers.

One of the people who was not happy at hearing about trick-or-treating, was Voldemort. Of course, Izzy just had to talk at the top of her bloody voice again and had given Thalia a free pun armoury.

*Hey Nagini, what is white, black and dead all over?*

*No idea, Thalia! Tell Nagini!*

*A skeleton in a cloak trick-or-treating!*

That had made Voldemort pour himself some Firewhiskey.

*Nagini, do you know what a ghost puts on before they go trick-or-treating?*

*No, Thalia, what do they wear?*

*Vanishing cream.*

Voldemort had cried into his favourite conjured pillow at that one before taking another swig of Firewhiskey.
Unfortunately Thalia had another one lined up.

*Nagini, did you know that baby ghosts don't like trick-or-treating?*

*Really, Thalia? What do they like doing then?*

*Peek-a-boo.*

The Dark Lord officially decided that this was much worse than the time that a cheeky, impudent Muggle brat in Godric's Hollow had mistaken his face and clothes for a 'costume'.

In order to try and distract himself from his annoying snakes and his own pulsing headache – Voldemort would never willingly admit it, but he was a bloody lightweight when it came to alcohol – by burying himself into books and research and trying not to let the gears in his head run wild. Voldemort could not get rid of this very funny feeling that he was having about Team Ghostbusters. Those strange Muggle boys; the moment Rabastan had pointed out that they had bumped into them before, the Dark Lord could not shake the feeling that it had not been a coincidence.

After all, coincidences did not exist. That was one of the few useful lessons that ever came out of his Divination lessons. Yes, if there was anything that Voldemort did regret in his life, it was taking Divination instead of Arithmancy. Not necessarily because it was useless, it had not been in his time, but it was due to the creepy teacher. It was not every day that Lord Voldemort could say he had been scared of someone, but Professor Apollon had put the fear of the Fates into the Dark Lord. He also had not helped ease the Dark Lord's fear of death.

Voldemort unconsciously shivered as the memories of the one hundred witch's mirrors around the classroom and the images in the vision readers started flashing before his eyes. Not to mention the vacant look Professor Apollon got every time he got a vision …

But yes, now and again this teacher taught a valuable lesson or two.

For a while, the distraction tactics Voldemort employed indeed worked and it came close to making the Dark Lord feeling content for the first time that day. But of course, as we all know, Tom Marvolo Riddle was not allowed to have nice things.
Especially on Samhain.

Voldemort had just finished reading an article on Runic to Latin code-switching in early medieval spells by Tonks's friend Asteria Snyde-Hallow when suddenly the clock struck twelve, announcing the arrival of Samhain. It was not long after this that a cold, eerie wind blew into the room. A wind that did not come in via an open window, an open door or even the chimney. One that actually sent a chill up the Dark Lord's spine and made the flames of the candles begin to shiver in fear.
Voldemort froze for a fraction of a minute. There was a moment where the Dark Lord thought he had perhaps imagined it and that the usual heightened atmosphere was getting to him for once. But then, he heard callings and grumblings from his followers in their rooms.

Thalia and Nagini also indicated that indeed, he had not imagined it.

*Thalia, Nagini thinks Wormtail left the back door open again!*

*That was no normal wind, Nagini. There is a disturbance in the Force! We are all being watched!*

*What do you mean, Thalia?*

*You do not see them, Nagini …? They are everywhere … They are reading us …*

Voldemort promised himself internally to curb Thalia's Star Wars time before she got too many new jokes. It was bad enough that Palpatine and Darth Vader jokes were too easy at this point.

The Dark Lord was set to start trying to solve the new Runic puzzle in the Samhain edition of The Quibbler when suddenly that same wind blew out all the candles in the room and snuffed out the fire in the hearth with one full gust. For a moment, the Dark Lord blinked in shock before recovering. Voldemort sighed with irritation and waved his hand lazily, relighting all his candles and the fire, and settling back to continue his puzzles while muttering in Parseltongue.

Mere seconds later – they were snuffed out again.

Voldemort raised his eyes at the candles and the hearth as though they had done him a great personal wrong and that he wished he was able to subject them to the Cruciatus. Whilst keeping a beady eye out on the room for anything that could be the source of his growing vexation, the Heir of Slytherin waved his hand once more.
Candles alight; fireplace a-burning.

Then, candles snuffed; fireplace full of smoke and cindering ash.

Voldemort's jaw clenched angrily and he shot up onto his feet and marched over to the fireplace to study it for a moment before he began running different variants of Revelio over his chambers. Dark, Light, Grey – no matter which spell the Dark Lord used over his rooms, nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Whatever it was, was immune to his spells.

How rude …

How positively unfair!

It was due to his growing pettiness and petulance that Voldemort could not resist relighting his room again. As one could predict at this point, seconds later the candles and fire were snuffed out. Yes, this went on for quite some time. Enough time, in fact, for Thalia and Nagini to notice.

*Tom, stop playing with your lights! You are not a hatchling anymore,* Nagini had the gumption to scold him like a mother hen.

*They're all laughing at you, Tom!* Thalia added creepily. *They have been for a while now…*

Voldemort, at this point, had had enough of whatever it was that was going on. Ignoring his snakes, with his eyes glowing blood red, the Dark Lord sneered as he looked about his own chambers.

"You think that this is a game?"

Deadly silence.

The vein in Voldemort's forehead started to pulse.

"Do you find this amusing?"

Even then, no answer came. Well, not for a good long while. That is, until ethereal, otherworldly tones started to ring around the room.

# Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble,
Double, double, toil and trouble, something wicked this way comes … #

Voldemort did not recognise the voice at all, though it did sound only vaguely familiar. All he knew for certain was that the voice was male, and quite young. For a moment, the Dark Lord thought that perhaps his nemesis had found a way to start astral projecting and was just testing out his new skills by bullying Voldemort as he normally did.
Except, Voldemort knew from first hand experience that Harry I-Have-Cursed-Halloween-For-Poor-Innocent-Murderous-Dark-Lords Potter could sing about as well as Antonin's father had been while taking a shower.

Every time Vasili Dolohov went in the showers, there were Silencing Charms put on the bathroom door for very good reason and that was for the safety of everyone's ears!

No. Whoever this was, had a talent for music and an annoyingly good vocal range.

"Who's there? Show yourself! Lord Voldemort commands you!"

# Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's folk and blind worm's sting, lizard's leg and howlet's wing … #

As the singing continued, the candles and the fireplace relit themselves and snuffed themselves out again, rapidly and almost in time with the music. Wide-eyed, Voldemort found himself backing away towards the bathroom.

# Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble,
Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble … #

It was at this point that the Dark Lord believed that he was perhaps in trouble. Along with the aria was the sound of a haunting symphonic melody that was played by unseen instruments. Even ones that he knew the Malfoys did not possess. More and more Voldemort backed into his bathroom, for once utterly at a loss what he could do combat this.

Louder and louder the music became until Lord Voldemort was certain the rest of the Manor could hear it also …

# Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's folk and blind worm's sting, lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble,
Double, double, toil and trouble, something wicked this way comes … #

Voldemort slammed his bathroom door shut as hard as he could, as if he was under the illusion that it would be able to keep whatever entity it was tormenting out and far away from him. The singing and the music continued until the voice had hit its high note and then all of a sudden, the music died away. In its wake was left a cold, chilling silence that made the heart of the Dark Lord race faster than he had ever felt before.

One could have heard a feather drop on the immaculately polished black marble; it would have cut the tension like a well-sharpened knife.

Then, a gnarly feeling started to dance on the back of Voldemort's neck. The kind he always got when he knew that he was being watched. Forcing himself not to gulp like an adolescent in one of those ridiculous horror movies his followers adored so much, the Dark Lord pulled himself together and forced himself to turn around.

Immediately, the eyes of the Dark Lord met those of his own reflection, except it was distorted. It was the face of the man whose glamour he used; Ralph Fiennes. Blood dripped and flowed from Mr. Fiennes' eyes and it almost appeared that his own countenance was blending into that of the Muggle. The rosy pink dripped off like mercury, revealing the pasty white and grey that belonged to Voldemort underneath.

The reflection then seemed to claw at the side of the mirror, hissing.

"Kill the spare …"

It was at this precise moment that Tom Marvolo Riddle did something that he had not done since Gwenllian Sallow had dropped a worm down his neck during second year Herbology.

The Dark Lord legged it out of his chambers, screaming at the top of his lungs and faster than Nagini or Thalia had ever seen him. Both did not even have time to make a remark before Voldemort had fled deeper into Malfoy Manor. However, soon they were both distracted by the figure they witnessed emerging from Tom's rooms.
Both serpentine sets of eyes widened in horror and shock at the grotesque figure and watched in fascination as slowly the creature of pure nightmare morphed itself into something entirely different. Better still, someone entirely different; someone neither had seen before. Where there had been a Mr. Ralph Fiennes who had looked as though he had been put through Rabastan's smoothie blender, there soon stood a young man dressed in yellow and black with curly, styled brown hair and pleasant face.
One that positively shone with the smile etched on his lips, the laughter ringing out around the corridor and the gleeful mirth in his eyes. Both Nagini and Thalia did not know it, but they had just become acquainted with one Cedric Diggory.

"That was for rubbing your foot fungus on my face after killing me, you prick!" Cedric Diggory shouted after the retreating figure of Lord Voldemort before following at a leisurely pace, disappearing into one of the walls.

For the first time in a long while, Nagini and Thalia were rendered speechless, only able to exchange a look between them through the glass of their homes. The two snakes did not need to voice their thoughts on this matter, for it was quite clear what was happening.

Tom and his friends were going to get the haunting of their lives!

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Mr. Mupples was on the verge of a full nervous breakdown. Naturally the plushie Death Muncher had felt the opening of the Veil, the infiltration of several spectral beings into the walls of Malfoy Manor and heard the music Cedric Diggory used in order to lower his Lord's defences before giving Voldemort the scare of his life. The problem was, while Mr. Mupples was trying to get the attention of Mama Bella, his cousin or Corban, none of them were paying him any attention at all.

No, because apparently Mama Bella's embarrassing stories about the time Corban sneezed out different Charms by accident during a bad case of the flu when she first got to know him in her first year in the service of their Lord was far more important! Yes, bonding time between Mama Bella and Tonks was also important but Mr. Mupples thought that, in his not-so-humble opinion, spectral invaders were more of a priority.

Hence, he continued his desperate attempts to try and inform his family and Corban that it was probably a good idea to go back inside and help their Lord against the ghosts that were about to cause a great degree of havoc. Which meant Mr. Mupples continued to wriggle in Bella's arms in an attempt to communicate that they had a major spectral infestation at present.

Eventually he managed to get their attention; though, it did irk Mama Bella a little.

"Mr. Mupples! I am trying to listen to Dora; stop interrupting her. It's rude!" she scolded him lightly, giving him a pointed and disapproving look. "Do I need to put you on time out?"

Mr. Mupples scowled and was about to throw a temper tantrum about him not wanting to interrupt and that communicating without his etch-a-sketch wasn't easy anymore when he soon found himself being lifted out of his mama's arms by Tonks, who was cooing at him fondly.

"Awwww, come on, Aunt Bella, he's probably just bored. After all, he didn't get to play much today. Poor Mr. Mupples was an easy target during paintballing."

Mr. Mupples wanted to splutter at that but the head pats he got from his cousin soon put a stop to that. He was very weak to them, and it seemed Cousin Dora had made of note that.

"There you go, cousin. We don't want Aunt Bella grumpy, now do we? No we do not, especially on Halloween," Tonks continued.

If only I could drink, was all Mr. Mupples thought in response. And people wonder why the Hogwarts Divination professor has a drinking problem … I am never laughing at Lucius again.

The My Pet Monster deflated into his cousin's arms, folding his arms petulantly and pouted as best as he was able to.

Corban had the nerve to chuckle at this point. "Well, well. I never thought I would see Mr. Mupples listen to anyone save for Bella. Careful before Bella ropes you in as a nanny for any child, she and Rodolphus get from that fertility treatment."

Bella scowled at Corban for stealing her thunder; she had wanted to tell her niece that! Tonks's countenance brightened even more; her hair suddenly turned a bright sunshine yellow.

"Are you kidding me? I would love to be my cousin's nanny! It means I can make sure that they have a rounded education."

"Rounded education?" Corban repeated, amused while Bella looked like she wanted to splutter in protest.

"Yes. Trips to see Dippy, trips to see Nessie, trips to Switzerland for some proper chocolate-"

"As if Dolph and I won't do those things!" Bella pouted.

"I can trust you to do it, Aunt Bella, but not Uncle Dolph," Tonks could not help but point out with a smirk. "I also want to take them to the carnival and the strawberry fair."
"And you plan to do the same with your own children, niece, or do you simply wish to torture mine?"

"Of course my kids will experience it too! Mum and Dad did it with me."

Mr. Mupples couldn't help but giggle at Corban's very beetroot face when Mama Bella mentioned Tonks's children. For a moment, he had forgotten the ongoing problem, and then suddenly, a cold blast of wind that did not feel natural knocked Mr. Mupples back to Earth.

Oh no.

Finally, it appeared that Corban, Tonks and Mama Bella seemed to catch on to what was happening. All three of them slowed their pace, halting in their tracks, their brows furrowing in confusion.

"Did you feel that?" Tonks asked. "The wind … it feels strange …"

"It was not this cold this morning," Corban could only agree.

Bella of course started to giggle maniacally, eyes dancing with manic glee. # Have you got your lantern, child? Hope it burns bright tonight, lest the Veil's creatures give you a lethal fright … #

"Bella, you are not helping!" Corban snapped, though he hated to admit that the opera lessons that the Rinaldis had given her had improved Bella's vocal control by quite a margin.

SNAP!

All three of them whirled around, wands drawn. Mr. Mupples could hear Tonks's heart begin to pick up pace as the adrenaline started to make its rounds through her body. The sound had been of a stick snapping, but there was – seemingly – no one there. There was only the fountain with a carving of the red and white dragon of legend fighting, its water flowing, and hedges swaying in the sudden October wind.

Nothing; no one was there. At least, no one that they were able to see …

It was quiet … too quiet.

Mr. Mupples tensed up in Tonks's arms, preparing himself for the storm that was about to come. He had no idea which of the spectres had come to torment them, but he knew that their trick was not to be trifled with.

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

The sounds were now too overt to be missed and the manner in which the wind blew – the unnatural howling from within and making the hedges and trees sway as though they were set to come alive – told Bella, Tonks and Corban that they were most certainly not alone anymore.

"Who's there?" Corban called out. "Come out and state your business!"

Tonks grinned. "Are you always so polite to your intruders?" she could not help tease.

"I have my moments," Corban grinned wryly.

"Come out and plaaaaaay!" Bella was less polite but that took no one by surprise.

However, it seemed that whoever or whatever it was took the sentiment to heart. For, a mere two seconds after Bella threw down her metaphorical gauntlet the source of the disturbance revealed themselves and it was safe to say that not even Mr. Mupples had foreseen what it was.

Flamingos.

More specifically, the very same pink plastic flamingos that had been planted around the Malfoy grounds. They were marching towards the Metamorphagus, the Dark Lieutenant, the plushie Death Muncher and the Dark legislator at the pace of a hoard of zombies, their blue painted-on orbs glowing with a ghostly blue-silver light.

"Shit," Tonks commented bluntly as she wildly looked from left to right to ahead of her. "How many of these things are there?!"

"You can blame your Boy Wonder for that," Corban grumbled. "The Brat has no concept of self-restraint."

While Tonks and Corban were distracted, Bella's smirk turned down right vicious as she sent a brutal, non-verbal Blasting Curse at several of the approaching flamingos closest to her. She started to cackle, under the usually correct assumption that her spell had blasted the accursed pink abominations into smithereens. However, once the dust had settled, her eyes almost bugged out of her sockets once she registered that the creatures had survived her spell.

More than that, they had come out completely unscathed. The curse had done zero damage to them. They just kept marching straight for their four targets.

"That's not fair!" Bella pouted.

Corban and Tonks were next to attempt to slow the flock of enchanted garden ornaments. They used the Leg-Locker Curse and the Jelly-Legs Curse respectively. However, even with their legs locked together, the flamingos attempted to continue their advance by hopping and those whose legs had collapsed, crawled with unnerving determination on the ground.

Tonks, out of curiosity, hit several of them with a nonverbal Colour Changing Charm to turn them pumpkin orange to see if the things were immune to Charms; they were not.

"What was that good for, niece?!" Bella demanded.

"Testing something," Tonks responded simply. "They are immune to taking any kind of damage, nothing else."

"Which means, we are only able to slow them down, not destroy them," Corban grumbled. "Fantastic."

Once more, the manic, mischievous glint returned in Bella's eyes. Mr. Mupples started to bounce in Tonks's arms excitedly. Both Corban and Tonks frowned and exchanged a look between them. Before either could question Bella on what she clearly had planned, Bella sunk to her knees and put the palm of one hand on the ground and then the tip of her wand.

Almost as soon as she did so, ice started to form and started to spread itself over the earth. It seemed that whatever had enchanted these things did not even bother to give them any kind of strategic thinking because the flamingos kept going … with predictable results.

The pink birds flailed about on the ice and those whose legs had collapsed soon found themselves slipping and sliding on the ice erratically. The hopping birds fell beak first onto the ice. Tonks could not help but roar with laughter as she watched.

"Well done, Aunt Bella!" she cheered.

Mr. Mupples clapped enthusiastically.

"Yes, yes, well done, Bella – now can we please go back inside and warn everyone that we are in our own version of a very bad horror movie?" Corban huffed.

Mr. Mupples really wanted to strangle Corban at this point and shout, THAT IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO WARN YOU ABOUT, but the plushie knew there was a time and place. He could always torture Corban later.

Tonks and Bella did not argue either. All four of them rushed back towards Malfoy Manor, utterly unaware as to the havoc that was being wrought inside.

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Unbelievably, the Averys and Alice had not noticed the sound of unearthly music, nor the distant sound of spells being fired outside. Avior and Lysander were too focused on the horror movie marathon they were doing with Alice. When Alice had told them she and her brother Benjamin enjoyed having a horror movie marathon at Samhain, the Averys were all too happy to put theirs on for her.

Though, admittedly, it had more diverged into a discussion between the three of them about the characters, the 'effects' the Muggles had used in the movies and what makes a good horror monster due to the fact Alice knew most of the movies already.

"Freddie is literally a creature of nightmare, but I have always thought there was a danger of him becoming slapstick or a protagonist. For example, Benji once did a series of paintings of Freddie for his Art class but he was trapped in the nightmares of people with post-traumatic stress syndrome and the like," Alice grimaced a little. "I almost pitied Freddie. But there are plenty of people who sympathise with Frankenstein's monster so I suppose the phenomenon is not a new one."

"Frankenstein? Why does that name sound familiar?" Avior asked, frowning.

"Because it is one of the best-known Gothic Horror stories. It is up there with Dracula," Alice explained with a grin. "Did you know that Mary Shelley wrote it when she was nineteen for a Gothic Horror competition with her friends?"

Avior and Lysander raised an eyebrow. Alice took this as a sign to continue.

"Mary Shelley went with her husband, John Polidori, Lord Byron and a female fan of Byron's on holiday. On this trip, there was this all-mighty storm – frankly, it could be a movie all on its own – and it was during this storm that a competition was set up between them: who could write the scariest Gothic Horror story," Alice explained. "Frankenstein was Mary's contribution. John Polidori wrote The Vampyre, which many people at first attributed to Lord Byron until he vehemently denied it."

"Fascinating," Lysander hated to admit it.

A thought then struck him like lightning.

"Is there a Samhain movie with a monster that could be classified as cute?" he asked curiously.

"Benji says so. Gremlins and Gremlins II," Alice answered. "But I have always said that it's more of a Yule movie, especially Gremlins. I will bring you them at some point and you will see what I mean."

"And a copy of Frankenstein and The Vampyre?" Avior asked eagerly.

"Father, we may already have one! I have lost count how many books we now all have," Lysander huffed.

Alice chuckled. "I don't mind bringing extra copies," she reassured. "I know you and some of your friends still struggle around Muggle objects but in my opinion, to know Gothic Horror is a must when it comes to Muggle culture. The creativity of the non-magic folk is without equal. After all, they can't rely on magic as we can. Indeed, some of my favourite spells that I made myself were all suggestions from my young Muggle cousin."

"Your cousin knows about your magic?" Avior could not hide his surprise. The Statute of Secrecy only allowed for Muggle parents or guardians to be allowed in on the secret, not the extended family.

"Oh no. Gina knows nothing for certain; she just thinks I am a magician who works in an antique shop," Alice grinned.

Before Avior or Lysander could say anything else, the television started to crackle. Static started to blanket the haunting image of Michael Myers. All three of them frowned at this. Alice huffed and got up and slapped the top of the TV set a couple of times to try and fix the problem, which amused Avior and Lysander greatly.

"Alice, I don't think that is helping," Lysander commented after the fifth slap.

"I forgot how much I do not miss the goddamn television set!" Alice grumbled as she delivered a sixth blow.

The television seemed to have a degree of self-preservation, because soon they were back to watching silly teenagers being hunted down. Alice shook her head at the device and settled back next to Avior once more. However that did not last very long.

Two minutes later, purple and black static took over the television once more.

Alice looked set to enter the boxing ring with the thing again, so Lysander saved the appliance by sending a few minor Tempest Jinxes into it. Not enough to short circuit the thing but to give it some more electricity; that seemed to help usually. Only this time, it did not.

Lysander's brow furrowed, as did Avior's.

That was odd. Very odd, indeed.

Before any of them could react, the static suddenly started to change. Right before their very eyes, within the purple and black static, the image of a smirking skull began to form and electricity started to come out of the television set. Avior, Alice and Lysander's eyes widened; they shot to their feet and drew their wands just as the candles around the parlour flicked out and alight again at an otherworldly pace.

"What in Merlin's name …?" Avior hissed. "If this is one of Antonin, Thorfinn or Walden's tricks I will make sure they rue the day they were born!"

The television started to crackle even more at this point. Almost as though it were … laughing.

"Father, I doubt they had anything to do with this. Thorfinn can't keep his experiments hidden for long, Antonin is a blabbermouth and Walden has zero talent and patience for Galvanism or spell creation," Lysander pointed out. "No … this is someone else's work."

The television started to laugh again.

Before either Avior or Alice could answer the doors burst open, causing Alice to scream at the very top of her lungs and jump almost ten feet into the air. Avior and Lysander had their wands on the intruder in seconds, but lowered them when they realised it was Voldemort.

A very pale, wide-eyed Voldemort who looked like he had just seen his Boggart.

"My Lord? Whatever is the matter?" Avior asked urgently as Lysander rushed to the Dark Lord's side.

"Reading – puzzle – the candles – music – it wouldn't stop – the mirror – it had my face – not my face – it was me but not me!" was all they got out of the Dark Lord as Lysander gently guided him into a nearby armchair.

"What's happened to him?" Lysander fretted. "He's babbling …"

"More than that," Alice shook her head in disbelief at what she was seeing. This image was one that she thought she would never see and knew if that the papers knew about this, photographers would pay a handsome price for the photographs. "He's in shock."

Lord Voldemort, in shock.

Nope, Avior had not seen that image in decades and Lysander had never seen his Lord in such a state before. It was disconcerting to say the least.

"Kill the spare – kill the spare …"

The television started to cackle almost with glee at this point. Alice frowned suspiciously and was about to round onto it when Corban, Tonks – who was carrying Mr. Mupples – and Bellatrix came speeding into the parlour.

"Guys, we have a problem!" Tonks announced.

Avior rolled his eyes. "Understatement," he drawled.

Tonks frowned. "Something weird happened here too? Because we were just in the middle of the Night of the Living Garden Flamingos!"

"Excuse me?" Alice blinked in shock.

"We were accosted by the pink plastic flamingos we put in Lucy's garden," Corban helpfully clarified. "Bella has put down an ice rink and I have put a barrier on the doors but I have no idea if it will hold them back."

Avior and Alice looked set to answer when Bellatrix cried out. "My Lord! Merlin and Morgana, what has happened to you? My Lord, it is Bella. My Lord!"

Bellatrix had joined Lysander, trying to knock the Dark Lord back to Earth but it didn't work. It was almost as though Voldemort's shock had practically made him deaf to the world around him. Corban paled at the sight in front of him while Mr. Mupples wiggled erratically, clearly just as concerned.

Tonks, though, had no idea what to think. Here was the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time, looking like he needed to be rolled up in a blanket and made to drink some hot chocolate with marshmallows to calm him down. The Metamorphagus could not help herself – she snorted with laughter.

That did not sit well with everyone in the room, Alice included.

"Really, Tonks?" Alice shook her head.

"I'm sorry," Tonks managed to answer between giggles. "It's just … He's scared! He looks so … human …"

The Metamorphagus continued to have a cackle fit until Bellatrix sent a slight Stinging Jinx at her niece. "That's enough, Nymphadora!" she scolded.

That was sufficient to knock Tonks out of her fit and huffed but did not say anything against the use of her hated name. "Sorry, Aunt Bella."

Bellatrix simply gave a curt nod but before anyone else could do or say anything else, the doors to the parlour swung shut as the eerie, goosebump-inducing wind blew into the room, the candles flickering out and then alight once more. Immediately, Corban, Tonks and Bellatrix readied their wands; Avior, Alice and Lysander followed suit just as otherworldly laughter started to ring around the room. A few tones sounded so familiar to Bellatrix that her eyes widened.

The television crackled madly and then fell silent as blue and silver mist started to come from it. Alice frowned in confusion as she watched this and soon her mouth hung open in realisation.

Oh no.

The blue and silver rose up and started to coagulate, slowly taking up the form of a young man who could have been no older than her, perhaps even younger. Very soon, the countenance of the man became discernible and Alice felt her heart skip several beats in horror. The face, the brown eyes and the dark, styled hair were famous in the wizarding world.

James Potter.

Before Alice's brain, or anyone else's for that matter, had time to recover, James was joined by two other spirits.
The first, was Cedric Diggory. Alice would never forget seeing the photograph of the seventh year Hufflepuff who was murdered during the Triwizard Tournament in the papers. It was he who walked through one of the walls at an almost prowl, a satisfied smirk etched on that handsome countenance of his at seeing the state Voldemort was in.

Alice quickly surmised that Cedric was the cause of the Dark Lord's current state, despite the fact James Potter looked quite smug himself.

As for the second spirit, Alice thought she had had enough surprises for one day but apparently the Fates had other ideas. Sitting on the sofa where she, Avior and Lysander had been moments earlier, was Sirius Black. The man who had been a suspected Death Eater and mass murderer of Muggles. A man whose face was gentile, his eyes gleaming with mirth and sat with the posture of a nobleman even in death.

"All of you in one place. How convenient," it was James Potter who spoke first, grin only growing.

"You," Bellatrix hissed in a manner akin to an irate cat. "You did this to us?! To our Lord?"

"Well, I did ruin your friends' movie," James confessed easily, folding his arms. "But as for the rest-"

"The flamingos were my idea," Sirius Black piped up casually, smirking. "They needed to stretch their legs a little."

Bellatrix sneered at him. "I should have known. It had your juvenile little mind all over it, Siri."

Sirius Black chuckled. "Oh come on, cousin. You have missed it. Don't lie."

Bellatrix scowled at him, but there was no malice in her gaze.

"And I paid your beloved Lord a little visit," Cedric added smugly. "He was getting a little bit too comfortable for my liking."

"You have some nerve, boy," Corban hissed, keeping his wand raised.

Cedric raised an eyebrow, completely unimpressed. "Do not imagine that your magic can harm me anymore, Yaxley."

Corban's lips curdled up into an ugly sneer. Tonks sensed the danger; ghosts were not to be trifled with. In both the magical and Muggle context. Cedric, James and Sirius were far more dangerous now and Tonks did not want a duel to break out.

"Corban, don't," Tonks stated in a voice full of warning.

Before her suitor could answer or react, Sirius's laughter ran around the room again. "So, it is true. You have a Dark suitor," he shook his head at Tonks. "I take it Remus did not take my advice then. Typical."

"Remus was never good at taking advice when it came to the matters of the heart," James pointed out and looked from Alice to Tonks, and then to Avior and Corban. "We could point out that these girls could do better, but I don't think we need to."

Scowls ran around the room at that.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Lysander demanded. "Don't you have a son to haunt?"

"Oh, Lily's with him," James responded far too nonchalantly. "I will see him a little later." He smirked. "I have unfinished business to attend to first."

Uh oh.

No one liked the sound of that at all.

"What do you three want?" Lysander hissed.

That question only made James, Sirius and Cedric laugh once more, the room echoing eerily.

"Oh Avery … whoever said that it was just us three here?" Sirius asked with a purr and a knowing look. One that made everyone in the room exchange a look of alarm. "As for what we want. Well, I think you know exactly what."

That was true, and Lysander did not like the fact he already knew.

The ghosts happily took advantage of the silence and hesitation exhibited around the room. James Potter, Cedric Diggory and Sirius Black gave the Death Munchers, the now glaring Dark Lord, Tonks and Alice a parting smirk before turning into a ball of blue and silver soul fire and zooming out of the parlour to get up to some other kind of mischief. Quietly, the Munchers knew exactly as to whom the three of them were after this time and none of them could find it in their hearts to pity the man.

After all, Wormtail actually deserved the treatment he was about to receive.

But in the silence that the spirits left, everyone was left to stew on as to whom had accompanied Potter, Diggory and Black to the Manor. They did not have to ponder for very long because soon, Malfoy Manor echoed with banshee screaming and shouting.

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

"MY FAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE! THEY TOOK MY FAAAAAAAAACE! MY FACE! WHERE IS MY FACE?!"

Alecto's bed shook rather violently as the witch jumped about fifteen feet into the air, while clawing at her own face, sending her Maleficent duvet flying a good way across the room, narrowly missing three of Alecto's Boglins. How she managed to stay up right while thrashing in the manner she did, it boggles the mind.

Unsurprisingly, her shrill cries caused enough of a ruckus to have Hannah, Lydia and Crystal, whose rooms were closest to Alecto's, to come and check on her. While Hannah rushed forth to restrain the Death Muncher, Crystal and Lydia hung back whilst looking none too amused.

"Alecto! Alecto!" Hannah cried out as she started to wrench Alecto's hands away from her face as she noticed red streaking beginning to form on the witch's countenance from where she was clawing. "Alecto, listen to me. It's Hannah. You were having a nightmare. Do you hear me? A nightmare. It's not real! You have your face. Alecto!"

"Who in their right mind would want to take her face anyway?" Crystal sassed before letting out a jaw-breaking yawn.

Hannah gave the young wolf a stern look as Alecto started to slowly settle, still whimpering. "If you have nothing useful to say, Crystal, I suggest you go back to bed," the Alpha female stated cooly.

Crystal raised an eyebrow but did as she was told, opting to return to her chambers before her tongue got her into any more trouble. Lydia, however, chose to remain and observed in silence as Hannah gently guided her least liked Death Eater back to her bed while rubbing Alecto's back soothingly.

"There we go. Deep breaths," Hannah coaxed gently.

"'M fine," Alecto mumbled into her hands, now hiding away her face out of pure shame.

Hannah hummed noncommittally. "That did not sound like it to the rest of us."

"It was just a stupid dream," Alecto tried to insist. "Leave me. I'm fine."

Neither Hannah nor Lydia looked convinced at all. But before they could say or do anything, Amycus came running into his sister's room, followed by Jugson and Travers. All of whom in their sleeping shirts and trousers, which made all three Death Munchers look eerily normal, which Hannah and Lydia found disconcerting to see. As for Alecto, she groaned out loud in embarrassment.

"Lect, are you OK? We heard screams," Hannah had never heard Amycus Carrow sound so vulnerable.

"Morgana's ill-sewn petticoat, I am fine!" Alecto wailed, flinging her arms up towards the canopy of her four-poster bed. "It was just a stupid nightmare! That is it!"

"Let me guess: your face disappeared," Jugson gauged grimly. "Willow-o-wisps."

Alecto's face went red in seconds; that was all the affirmation Amycus, Jugson and Travers needed. This made Hannah and Lydia both frown and look at the Death Munchers with a great degree of assessment. The werewolves had now lived long enough with these people to know their tells.

These three knew something.

Travers turned to Lydia. "What about you, wolf? Any nightmares?"

Lydia was taken aback by the question. "No, none. I am a light sleeper, though. Alecto's screams woke me up."

Travers nodded to himself as Jugson looked at Hannah. "What about you, Druid wolf?"

"None what so ever," Hannah answered easily. "Why?"

For a moment, Amycus, Jugson and Travers exchanged another look between them. Alecto too watched them in quiet anticipation. It was Lydia who reached the limit of her patience with whatever game the men were playing.

"Out with it," she ordered them, glaring them down. "What do you know?"

Amycus's eyes darkened. "I saw myself being thrown out of the Black Lake by the Giant Squid," he eventually confessed.

"I dreamt I had spikes growing out of my body," Jugson added gruffly.

"And I dreamt about the day my sister died of Dragon Pox," Travers put in, refusing to meet any of the eyes in the room. "I can still hear her fiery coughing ringing in my ears and the scales all over her face."

Hannah paled at hearing this. "What are you trying to say?"

"They had nightmares too," Lydia answered easily. "As did Alecto, and each of them … are of their greatest fears."

"Except mine," Amycus corrected. "I am not scared of the Giant Squid. I am afraid of … snakes."

This confession ensured that the Death Muncher went bright pink in the face. Indeed, neither Hannah nor Lydia had seen that confession coming and had blinked in shock at Amycus for a solid minute.

"And we are not the only ones," Jugson decided to move things along. "Others have been having nightmares and visions too."

"How many?" Lydia wanted to know, her eyes widening.

Travers beckoned with his head for her to follow, which surprised her. Lydia didn't waste time following him though, Jugson, Amycus and Hannah following closely behind. Alecto opted to remain in bed, opening a book to try and calm her mind. Travers led the way down to the rooms that housed most of the Death Munchers.
To her surprise a good number of the Dark wizards were up and whispering amongst themselves. The werewolf noted that Yaxley, Bellatrix, both Averys, Rowle, Augustus, both Malfoys and Rabastan were not amongst the group that was gathered. Now Lydia was fairly certain Yaxley had not gone to bed yet and that Bellatrix and Mr. Mupples were still chaperoning. Plus, both Averys were deep into a movie marathon with Alice the last time Lydia saw them.

That accounted for four who had not gone to sleep yet.

But why the other five were not awake, Lydia found this odd. Something in her gut told her that this wasn't right.

Antonin, Walden and Rodolphus were amongst the first of the group to notice their arrival.

"Been seeing things too, wolf?" Walden wasted in no time in asking.

Lydia shook her head as Travers added, "the werewolves were woken by Alecto. Neither had visions or nightmares."

"Was Alecto's nightmare about her face vanishing?" Antonin questioned with a wry smirk.

"Yes," Amycus responded coldly, giving the Russian a cold look.

"Which means none of this a coincidence anymore," Balthazar Mulciber sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "None of the children are awake. We would have heard them-"

"Which means whatever this is, it's targeting specific people," Lydia found that she could not keep her mouth shut as her own brain started whirring.

"Or we all just ate too many fries after paintballing," Rodolphus responded. "Or too many sweets."

"Rabastan had three ice creams and I don't see him awake," Lydia couldn't help answer back easily. "Rowle didn't have anything to eat. Augustus barely touches fast food and doesn't like sweets that much. Nor the Malfoys. Plus, Narcissa had quite a bit of caffeine and she isn't awake."

"She has a point, Dolph," Walden backed her up. "I don't think food or drink is to blame for this."

"I still standby that all of this feels familiar," Antonin added.

"How?" Hannah asked as expressions around her darkened.

"Nothing. Antonin is being ridiculous," Travers replied dismissively.

The Russian Death Muncher snorted and gave his colleague a judgemental look. "No I am not. Derrick is just too much of a coward to consider the possibility that it could be him."

"Could be who?" Lydia pressed.

"No one," Jugson snapped, glaring at Antonin.

"Not no one," Walden argued back immediately. The Executioner looked at the werewolf grimly. "We had a friend once. A good friend. His name was Evan Rosier."

Lydia frowned a little. Antonin continued. "Evan followed us into the service of our Lord after Hogwarts, and very soon afterwards, our Lord took a shine to him. You see, Evan had a talent for Mind Magicks but specifically, dream creation and manipulation. Next to our Lord, Evan could create potent nightmares and put them into someone's head."

"He enjoyed making them out of your greatest fears and horrors," Walden put in grimly.

"Yes, and he has been dead for over a decade!" Amycus snapped. "The Order of the Flaming Chickens knew how dangerous Evan was and that blasted Moody made it his mission to hunt Evan down and kill him. He succeeded too – we all saw the body and we all went to the funeral!"

Lydia's eyes widened while Hannah shook her head despondently. "You are aware that someone being dead doesn't stop them from being a likely suspect? The Veil is currently at its thinnest! Any cut in it and the dead are free to roam our realm."

The Death Munchers did not look happy at all.

"I hate Samhain," Rodolphus growled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

It was at this precise moment that more unholy screams echoed down the corridors, this time coming from the wing that housed the Outer Circle of Death Munchers. Almost at the exact same moment, the sound of haunting harpsicord music reached their ears, creating a bone-chilling aria with the screams.

"Shit," Travers paled. "I'm almost tempted to go back to bed."

"What do we do?" Jugson asked, turning quite ghostly himself.

"We investigate, of course," Balthazar gave them both a cold look. "We split up; one group follow the music and the others, check the screaming."

"Did I mention that I hate Samhain?" Rodolphus growled.

"If I had a Knut for every single thing you hate, Dolph, I would have another private library," Balthazar stated crisply. He huffed. "I will be amongst the group to investigate the music. Who will join me?"

"I will. Ralston and Derrick have no taste in music and Amy hates anything too joyous," Antonin volunteered brightly.

Jugson and Travers glared at him while Amycus scowled. Lydia cleared her throat and stepped forward. "I will come with you too, sir."

"Me too," Hannah added.

"I will go to the screaming since someone has to be an adult," Walden volunteered.

"Someone has to babysit Walden so I will go with him," Rodolphus added.

Jugson, Travers and Amycus really did not wish to go anywhere near the screams, but they also couldn't stomach anymore of Antonin's teasing at present so they opted to go for the lesser of two evils, which in this case was Walden Macnair. As the two groups split up, they did not notice the ghostly breeze that was left in their wake. They certainly did not notice the shapes that formed behind them from the shadows.

Once they knew the coast was clear, Evan Rosier and Marlene McKinnon laughed heartily.

"And here I thought I was getting rusty," Evan puffed up proudly.

Marlene rolled her eyes at her former enemy. "Drama queen," she commented fondly.

Evan snorted, eyes flashing dangerously. "Excuse you! I have been waiting years to get back at Amy and Alecto for their cowardice. The bastards left me for dead and saved their own hides! The others were just an extra bonus. Thank you for those extra visions."

Marlene bowed her head in acknowledgment. "It was my pleasure, I assure you."

Evan grinned and offered his spectral arm to his companion. "May I have the pleasure of escorting you to the next dream Realm, my Lady?" he asked whilst making his already posh undertones sound even posher.

Marlene giggled, taking his arm. "You may, sir."

The both of them disappeared into the shadows, ready to torment their next target.

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Little did his fellow Death Munchers and allies realise that Rabastan was not awake, because he was experiencing neither a nightmare nor a vision. No indeed, the youngest Lestrange had found himself at a place he had not thought of in years. The small earthy, tree-guarded hollow besides the Black Lake that he used to frequent when he wished to have some alone time with a special someone.

A special someone he had tried to keep secret from everyone around him.

Rabastan could not have forgotten this spot even if his memory had been wiped. He saw the sun reflected on the lake, the merpeople and kelpies leaping from the depths beneath. Their laughter filled his ears and he could not resist smiling even if he wanted to. The rays of the sun felt warmer than they should do for autumn. Rabastan barely dared to breathe, confusion rushing through him.

It had been a good few years since he had dreamt of this place. Why was he here of all places …?

"You remember our spot. Well, I suppose that has to count for something."

Rabastan froze; his heart skipped several beats and sunk at the exact same time. That voice. That gentle, angelic voice; of course he recognised that anywhere. The young Lestrange closed his eyes for a moment before he gathered what little courage he possessed to turn around and face the man he had once loved.

"Reggie."

Regulus Black was leant against a nearby willow, a soft smile on his lips. He looked exactly as Rabastan had always remembered: an irritatingly youthful face with the perfect posture of a scion of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. Regulus was dressed from head to toe in black with only a splash of green.

"Hello, Basti. You look well, if not a little older."

The young Lestrange felt his heart go mad; it seemed that Regulus had the exact same effect on him even in death. Rabastan never had the ability to look away from Regulus's eyes. They were hooks for the soul, and his in particular.

"I wish I could say the same about you," Rabastan answered once he regained control over his ability to speak.

Regulus chuckled at that. "Yes. I have had my better days," he agreed as a cold glint entered into his eyes and drew closer to his former lover. "I suppose in that regard you made the right choice in turning your back on me, Basti. You can now do all the aging and living for the both of us."

That statement stung, just as Regulus likely intended. Rabastan's hurt was very clear to see on his countenance. "That's not fair," he could only answer softly. "I did not turn my back on you."

"You do not think so?" Regulus raised an eyebrow. "What would you call pretending to believe your partner when they tell you the man they believe in is not only a dangerous fraud but has committed sins against magic and nature, promising to help them in finding the piece of the man's soul and then abandoning you in your hour of need, then?"

With each word, Rabastan felt the atmosphere around them turn colder and colder. He felt the bindings that imprisoned his guilt – ones that had been reinforced over many years – suddenly start to weaken. He swallowed as he tried to hold Regulus's gaze.

"I didn't want to," Rabastan answered. "I did believe you; I still believe you! I wanted to help but … Barty got suspicious of me. He kept an annoyingly close watch on me and the night I was supposed to meet you, he cornered me! He demanded to know what was going on between us and no, it wasn't about our relationship. Apparently, we weren't as careful as we thought …"

Rabastan swallowed again. "I made up a bullshit story that we were having a disagreement about how serious we were but it didn't entirely throw Barty off the scent. That evening our Lord summoned Barty, Dolph, Bella, Walden and me for a mission and I couldn't make an excuse!"

For the first time since this meeting, the youngest Lestrange looked upon Regulus with anger. "You could have waited for me, Reggie. It was you who insisted it had to be that evening. It was you who decided to do it alone!"

Regulus smiled coldly. "Had it been anyone else, perhaps I would believe you. But, I could have waited a day, a week, a month or a year, and it would never have been the right time for you, Basti. Because by then, you were in too deep, along with the rest of them."

Once more, Rabastan looked like he had been slapped in the face. Regulus simply continued to smile and reached up to gently caress the youngest Lestrange's cheek with one finger. "I was furious at you. I took Kreacher with me in that blind anger. I made sure to leave a note for the Dark Lord to find, gloating that it was me who figured out his secret. I hated that I loved and trusted you, but it was as I was drowned by the Inferi that I realised the truth."

Rabastan almost didn't feel his eyes begin to well up. "And what is that?" he demanded, trying to keep his voice steady.

"That I asked you to choose between me and your family," Regulus replied. "By choosing me you would have been branded traitor in the eyes of Barty, the Dark Lord and more importantly, Rodolphus. I should have known that any affection you had for me would be second to yours for them because they saved you from the monster that dared to call himself your father."

A singular tear escaped Rabastan's cheek and rolled down his cheek. "Stop," he begged softly.

Regulus was not interested in listening. "I realise now how lucky I was with Siri as my brother. I had an example I could follow when it came to free will and my only regret is that I did not see it sooner. But better late than never. You never had that in your life, until now. All because of a child who was bored."

"Harry Potter has nothing to do with this," Rabastan tried.

Regulus this time barked out a laugh. "And here I thought you were a Ravenclaw, Basti! You know as well as I do that, he has had everything to do with this. Not the cutting of the Veil, mind you. He had nothing to do with it. But the changes in you – in all of you. Oh yes, he has."

"He's the enemy," Rabastan tried weakly.

Regulus's grin only grew. "Your arguments are getting weaker, my dear. You have not viewed the boy as your enemy in months. An irritant, absolutely, but you never have been consumed with hatred for him, nor his friends. After all, it was you who went easy on Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger in the Department of Mysteries – you could have wiped the floor with them but all you did was deflect their Stunners – and you who suggested you negotiate for the prophecy! It was you who knew Harry and his friends were in Gringotts disguised and you said nothing!"

The youngest Lestrange was paler than freshly fallen snow at this point. Regulus shook his head knowingly at his former lover. "I very much doubt you could kill Harry Potter even if the Dark Lord ordered it. Indeed, I doubt you would ever raise your wand at Neville Longbottom and subject that boy to the same fate as his parents."

At the mention of Frank and Alice Longbottom, Rabastan's guilty suddenly stirred harder and harder. His jaw set and he glared at Regulus with undisguised contempt. "We are finished here!" he snapped.

With that, Rabastan fought to free himself from the Realm of Hypnos, shooting awake in a cold sweat, his eyes and cheeks still wet from the tears that had brewed. The young Lestrange felt his heart beating wildly and he looked about his dark room rapidly. His ears picked up the faint hint of screaming and music in the distance.

But there was no sign of Regulus.

This made Rabastan exhale deeply in relief and lie back, closing his eyes momentarily in an attempt to compose himself.

Damn Regulus … He still knew how to haunt him and now even more so.

Then, Rabastan felt an eerie wind blow into his room and suddenly his room was alight with the glow of candlelight and his heart skipped once more and he lay gorgonised for a good minute.

No …

"Did you think you could escape me that easily, Rabastan? We are not finished. Not by a long shot."

Rabastan's jaw set as he forced himself to sit bolt upright and forced himself to glare steely at Regulus, who had the nerve to sit in his favourite armchair as regally as a King, with a cold smile. "You can make whatever excuses you wish for why you did what you did to the Longbottoms but the truth is, it eats at you that you did it."

Rabastan's hands curled into his silk sheets. "I forgot how arrogant you could be, Regulus, thinking you still know me after so many years a shade!"

"Except I do know you; I know your heart and soul, which are two things you will never be able to change!" Regulus shot back, eyes suddenly blazing with soul fire. "You – a boy who lost his mother, whose father might as well be dead for that is what he was on the inside, a boy who craved familial love … took another boy's family from him and sentenced him to a power-hungry grandmother who only sees the boy as part of his father and whose Great-Uncle threw him from a cliff to trigger his magic!"

Rabastan's eyes widened in shock. Regulus continued. "You sentenced a boy who was meant to be trained a Druid and not a wizard to unyielding, unforgiving family members who do not see him for him. An orphan in all but name. Sound familiar?"

Still, Rabastan remained motionless, his heartbeat echoing in his ears. The guilt freeing itself, piece by piece. His eyes watered once more and this time, the tears flowed freely.

After what felt like an eternity, the youngest Lestrange swallowed. "I did not want it to … end like that …" he whispered but, in the silence, it sounded more like a shout. "They didn't know anything … Bella didn't believe them … I was angry and scared; I didn't say anything …"

Rabastan scoffed quietly. "Barty wanted to torture the Neville boy as an incentive to them … I dissuaded him from it." His eyes hardened a little. "What good does this do, Reggie? I cannot give Neville his parents back. I don't know how to undo the damage on Frank and Alice."

Regulus smiled softly. "You don't need to. What you need to do, is reconcile yourself with who you are now. Those self-help books will only get you so far. You need to do some soul searching."

"Is that what you came here to do? To give me a lecture that I need a Mind Healer?" Rabastan huffed.

"No. I had intended on making you feel the pain I felt as I drowned," Regulus confessed easily. Rabastan's eyes widened at this. "I wanted you to feel every ounce of agony you had given me. I was set on revenge, but then I saw you and I realised that revenge would do no good with you. That is not how you learn your lessons."

The youngest Lestrange was lost for words.

"So, tell me – how serious are you regarding Tyler Reed?"

A flush took to Rabastan's cheeks immediately. "Are you seriously asking about him?"

"Of course. I not only want you happy, but I want to know if you'd make the same mistake a second time," Regulus grinned wryly. "Because I would have a frank conversation about where you both stand with each other, seeing as Reed has his pack and you your family."

Rabastan was tempted to tell his former lover to bugger off and mind his own business but he knew that Regulus had a point. The youngest Lestrange huffed. "I will," he promised. "I won't make the same mistake."

Regulus nodded to himself and held his gaze on Rabastan for a little while longer. "Before I go, there is something I think you should know," he turned serious once more. "Dumbledore knows about the Dark Lord's secret. Or at least, suspects."

Rabastan's eyes bugged out of their sockets. "Bugger."

"Quite," Regulus chuckled. "I advise you to keep an eye on Harry and the Dark Lord. Just in case."

Rabastan nodded unequivocally. He closed his eyes as he processed the information. But when he did so, he could have sworn he felt a pair of cold lips against his forehead. Rabastan's eyes flew open in shock and when he did so, he saw that he was once again alone in his chambers. His heart sank and tears continued to flow down his cheek.

"Goodbye Reggie," he whispered.

Then, about ten seconds later, his door flew open, giving Rabastan a little bit of a fright. He only relaxed when he saw Tyler in the doorway, looking quite ashen. "Basti, are you OK? Did you have a nightmare?" he asked urgently as he came over. "The whole house is in pandemonium-"

Tyler didn't get to finish his sentence because seconds later Rabastan had pulled him into a tight hug. For a moment, Tyler froze in shock; hugs were not usually Rabastan's thing. But soon the werewolf happily returned the hug and nuzzled Rabastan lovingly. The pair embraced long enough for Regulus to see and smile broadly before taking his leave and returning to Hogwarts to spend a little more time with his god-nephew and his friends.

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

Music had always been a symbol of peace and love in Balthazar's life, and for the first time, he felt nothing but apprehension as he, Antonin, Lydia and Hannah continued to follow the sound of the haunting melody. For some reason, Balthazar felt his heart race and his hand never moved too far away from his wand holster. He knew his magic would have very little effect on whatever spectral entity was responsible for the noise but old habits die hard.

It felt like an eternity before they got closer to source of the music. More than once, Balthazar could have sworn that they were taking corridor after corridor that looked like the clone of the one previously. Either their fatigue was getting to them, or this was as a result of some kind of vertigo conjured by their impromptu spectral guests.
Antonin seemed to agree silently with Balthazar's assessment. "I think our otherworldly friend likes their games," he commented. "I swear we have gone down this particular corridor at least three times."

"Is this normal? For ghosts?" Lydia asked.

"Depends how powerful the ghost was when they were alive," Balthazar replied. "Hogwarts has plenty of ghosts, but none have exhibited abilities such as this."

"Moaning Myrtle was a kid, the Fat Friar was a friend to the first Head of Hufflepuff House after Helga Hufflepuff, the Bloody Baron had been on Salazar Slytherin's Blood Guard but had very little magical abilities," Antonin was all too happy to give some examples. "Peeves is a poltergeist, which means causing mischief and mayhem is his power but vertigo – no. Nearly Headless Nick was more Muggle than wizard at times and the Grey Lady … well, I don't know actually."

"I get the gist," Lydia reassured. "The more magic someone had in life, the more boosted it becomes in death."

"Ghosts can also be given power," Hannah added. "Especially if they are bound to a place by Ancient magic."

"That as well," Balthazar confirmed easily. "Fortunately those cases are very rare indeed."

"Really?" Lydia raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. There is only one known place in the whole of England who has bound ghosts to it," Balthazar stated grimly. "The Tower of London."

For some reason, Lydia had not seen that coming; her eyes bugged out a little. She would have pressed the issue a little further – after all curiosity did kill the werewolf in this instance – but it was at this point that the group had gotten as close to the source of the music. So close that the notes were ringing in their ears.

The four of them had come to a halt in front of a room that rarely anyone at Malfoy Manor entered anymore. The music room; Balthazar and Antonin were all too familiar with it. They both had numerous visits to it in the past and now they were amongst those who avoided the room like the plague in order to avoid the metaphorical ghosts that lurked within.

Now, they were forced to confront a literal one inside. Balthazar almost wanted to laugh at the irony of the situation. Carefully, cautiously, he reached out towards the well-polished bronze knob of the door. He took a fortifying breath, turned the knob and pushed the door open as he felt Antonin draw his wand just in case.
The music room itself had changed very little. It was a stunning chamber with 17th century French influences – the Malfoys of the past had taken it upon themselves to honour their French roots as much as possible – and the marble floors were practically mirrors; the elves maintained their duty in keeping it in pristine condition. The silver curtains danced in a non-existent breeze and the only light in the room was from the beams of moonlight that flooded in from the four grand windows.

The lone occupant, seated before the grand harpsichord that had been a wedding present from Armand Malfoy II to his wife Hylla Macnair, made Balthazar's heart very nearly forget to do its job and Antonin pale to almost the same shade of white as the moonlight. Lydia and Hannah, concerned by the reactions of these powerful wizards, took to studying this ghost a little more closely.

He was in his twenties, early twenties at the most. He was dressed in a suit; the kind one would wear to the opera. His hair was well styled and his face had almost the exact same aristocratic features that the werewolves saw in Balthazar's face. It was when the ghost raised his eyes and finally acknowledged their presences that Lydia and Hannah saw his eyes were almost a carbon copy of Balthazar's.

A playful smile appeared on the spirit's face. "Good evening, Father," he stated, addressing Balthazar directly. "Antonin, Lydia, Hannah. I hope that my music did not cause too much of a fright."

"Xander," Balthazar sounded almost breathless.

Lydia and Hannah were soon gathering their mouths from off the floor. Xander Mulciber, the son never mentioned by his father, started chuckling good-naturedly, not relenting in his playing all the while.

"Should I be hurt that you're this surprised, dear Papa?" Xander teased. "Surely you realise that I haunt you more than Mama does? She was a little put out when Melinoë insisted that I could do the job for the both of us rather well. That's why she's also not here." Xander clicked his tongue. "She does wish for me to ask you why you haven't tried to find someone again, like Avior. She doesn't like seeing you so alone."

Balthazar's words were caught in his throat. He shook his head despondently, looking at his son with an unblinking gaze. Almost as though he were afraid Xander would disappear in the blink of an eye. Xander reached the crescendo of his piece and then sat back with a satisfied smile.

"Why are you here?" it was Antonin who managed to regain his ability to speak, though it did come out more as a whisper than anything else.

"Oh, I think you know perfectly well why, old friend," Xander rose elegantly to his feet and walked around the instrument as though he was not incorporeal. He met Antonin's gaze straight on. "Because I haunt you as well as my father."

"Me?" Antonin tried to sound shocked. "Why would I be haunted by you? Should you not be haunting Gideon and Fabian's sister for what those two bastards did to you?"

Antonin's hands curled into fists as he said it. Or perhaps it was not because of his anger at the Prewetts, but at the fact Xander started to laugh, eyes dancing with undisguised mirth. "You did that well enough on my behalf," came the easy-going answer from the ghost. "I have better things to do than waste my time on Molly Prewett. Well, Molly Weasley now."

"What is your business then, son?" Lydia had never heard Balthazar sound so vulnerable.

"To answer some questions, and helping someone finish a quest."

That was not the answer Lydia or Hannah had expected; Balthazar and Antonin were less surprised. Xander nonchalantly folded his arms and looked at his father and best friend rather expectantly.

"So, who would like to go first?"

Looks were exchanged between Balthazar and Antonin; Hannah and Lydia exchanged one of their own. Xander sighed. "If you are worried about eavesdroppers, you shouldn't be. Evan and Marlene have made sure no one will disturb us."

Antonin's eyes widened. "Marlene? You mean … Marlene McKinnon?!"

"The very same," Xander grinned. "As it turns out, those two work rather well together. I really do regret putting that one under the Imperius when I did. Had I known she could be so entertaining I would never have tried to make her walk off the Astronomy Tower."

Antonin and Balthazar blinked in shock. Xander waited patiently for the pair to recover. When they did so, it was Balthazar who stepped closer to his son. "What … What happened that night, Xander?" he asked quietly.

Xander smiled lopsidedly, a knowing look in his eyes. "I assume you wish to know what happened down that alley, since you know most of the details already."

The silence that followed was affirmation enough. Xander nodded despondently. He avoided all of their eyes for a moment before looking between all four of them. "I had Disillusioned myself too soon. I thought it had been Antonin and Evan who decided to follow me but it was the twins' irritating habit of finishing each other's sentences that gave them away."

Xander swallowed. "They demanded to know where I was going and that if I refused to comply, they would detain me and take me back to the Order of the Flaming Chickens. I told them they could hang themselves from the nearest tree." He chuckled coldly. "Fabian fired a Body Bind at me, but I blocked it. I mocked them, told them that Dumbledore would not want his prize damaged. The two of them didn't answer, only started to break out into a sweat. It was only then I realised … they had not been given orders. They had gone rogue."

"What?" Antonin could not believe his ears.

"They were not following orders; they did this spur of the moment," Xander was happy to clarify. "I laughed at them, called them pet dogs who finally escaped their tight leash. They called me a dirty Death Eater so I had no leg to stand on. I wanted to wipe their smirks off their faces at this point, and told them I had never been Marked." Xander sighed. "They called me a liar and drew their wands. I drew my own and … part of me knew I was not coming out alive. Not without some miracle."

A vacant look entered Xander's eyes as the memory flashed before them. He cleared his throat, pulling himself out of it a little. "Gideon fired a Blasting Curse, Fabian a Confundus; I parried them both but only just," he swallowed a little. "From there it was a blur of colour. They kept coming and I kept blocking and firing back when I could. But, as you know, I have never been useful as a duellist."

Xander laughed coldly. "I got tired, which means I grew sloppy. I caught Gideon's fiery knives … but Fabian had sent a curse that flung me back into a wall. I lay there … my wand far away and they came over. Heard them call me weak, said I could take my secrets to my grave and then … flash of green …"

"Did you see who it was?" Balthazar's voice was dangerously quiet.

Xander's soft smile returned as he looked at his father. "It does not matter. Not anymore."

"It matters to me," Balthazar insisted.

Xander held his tongue for a good minute. "It was Gideon."

Balthazar closed his eyes in an effort to keep himself composed. It was Antonin who stepped up next, eyes bathed in a cold determination. "Why were you down there in the bloody first place?" he demanded. "What were you doing that you could not have told your own friends? We would have helped you!"

Xander's eyes grew sad. "I feared that you would never have understood," he confessed.

"Understood what?" Antonin hissed. "No, really, Xander, understood what exactly? Because I have seen enough shit in my life to understand quite a lot so what exactly happened that I would not have understood? Or Evan?"

Xander studied his friend for a moment, eyes softening when he spied the rare presence of tears beginning to form in the eyes of Antonin Dolohov. "Do you remember the letters I received and wrote during our seventh year?" he asked carefully.

"Of course. Bunch of us thought they were a bunch of courting letters," Antonin answered. "We thought you were seeing some girl your father wouldn't approve of."
Balthazar looked a little shocked by that.

Xander sighed. "I was writing to a girl, but I had no interest in her romantically," the spirit confessed. He hung his head for a moment before looking at his father and then back at Antonin. "I was writing to my cousin."

Both Antonin and Balthazar looked like they had just been sucker-punched right in the gut. Xander continued. "My maternal cousin. Her name was Ellenora, the daughter of Mama's disowned twin sister," his eyes landed coolly on his father. "You see, you refused to talk about Mama. It was sometimes like she had never existed, like you had never loved her. Almost like you wanted to erase all trace of her, so I wrote to Grandmother and Grandfather, asking for information. Only they never answered; Uncle Nicholas did. And he confessed by accident what had happened to Ursula, Mama's twin sister."

By this point, Balthazar was paler than his son.

Xander sneered. "She was a Squib. By the age of ten, Grandmother and Grandfather realised she would never have magic and thus, they brought her to some Merlin-forsaken Muggle home for discarded children. They never spoke of her again and forbade both Mama and Nicholas from ever mentioning her again."

"Xander," Balthazar attempted to reason.

"Ursula never forgot or forgave what happened to her. She was clever enough to keep her mouth shut about magic but then when she was older, she took to drink and ended up with some low life. Then when she had Ellenora, it got worse. Because she soon realised that her daughter … was a witch," Xander continued, eyes bathed in anger. "Ellenora's name was never put down for Hogwarts because her mother was disowned from the family but that didn't stop Ursula from abusing her. Nora ran away to Diagon Alley at sixteen, an Obscurial lurking inside her. One she fortunately had control over, but eventually she thought it would be the end of her. Which was when she sought me out. Not to ask for help; she wished to know me before she died."

By this point, both Antonin and Balthazar had to take a seat, looking like they were set to faint.

"I had taken to visiting her often after Hogwarts. She looked so much like Mama and Ursula did in old pictures it scared me." Xander chuckled. "The night I died, I was going to see Ellenora and tell her about the performance. She loved music too, like me, but she couldn't leave her bed. She had been ill."

Antonin swore in Russian before he lifted his head out his hands and looked at his friend in disbelief. "You think I wouldn't have helped you?" he stated in disbelief. "Would not have wanted to meet her?"

"You would have told Evan," Xander responded simply. "You told Evan everything and Evan wasn't a big fan of Obscurials."

"You really thought that low of me?" Antonin's hurt was all too evident.

The answer hung in the silence.

"You should have told me," Balthazar told Xander quietly.

"Why? Would you actually have listened?" Xander sneered. "You were always too wrapped up in your political ambitions to care about what was going on with me. I still remember the look in your eyes when I told you I would not be taking the Mark. Disappointment, as I always was to you."

Balthazar spluttered with quiet indignation.

"More to the point, I wanted Ellenora as far away from the war as I could keep her," Xander continued. "I was not going to allow her to be used by the Dark Lord or the Order in any way shape or form."

"What happened to her?" Lydia found herself wanting to know.

Xander looked up at her with a lost look in his eyes. "I have no idea," he confessed softly. "I can't find her on the Otherside. I don't know …"

"Xander."

The ghost looked at his father when he registered the commanding tone. Balthazar looked at him seriously. "Yes, I was disappointed you didn't join our Lord's service, I admit it. But you were never a disappointment to me. Never! You could never disappoint me. I love you, son. Always have, and I always will."

Those three conjured a blanket of silence over the room. Xander had been stunned; Lydia and Hannah suspected those three words had hardly been uttered by Balthazar before. Judging by the tears shedded by the spirt, that was indeed the case.

"And I would have kept my mouth shut," Antonin added simply. "Because that is what friends do, Xander. Besides, you did more for me than I can ever repay you for."
Xander's tears continued to roll silently. He looked like he wanted to reach for a hug but he stopped himself.

"What quest are you assisting on, son?" Balthazar asked, trying to save his son's pride and to move the topic onto something potentially more pleasant.
It did the trick, because Xander grinned and sniffed. "Well, Papa, that would ruin the surprise."

Oh boy.

"Please tell me you are not helping Harry with some kind of prank," Antonin huffed.

Xander chuckled heartily. "I am not. I am assisting his friend, Luna," he answered before turning towards the windows.

"Are we permitted a clue?" Balthazar asked eagerly.

"Nope!" came the bright answer from the ghost before he turned into a ball of silver and blue fire, did a small affectionate dance around his father and best friend before flying out of the Manor and into the inky skies above.

Balthazar and Antonin rushed to watch him disappear, their silent tears finishing with flowing. They both wiped them away as fast as possible, which made Lydia do something potentially suicidal. She hugged them both, fiercely.

For a moment, she thought the Death Munchers would push her away, but they didn't. The two men froze for moment in shock, clearly not used to physical contact. But they soon calmed and relaxed and let her hug them. Antonin even returned the hug with one arm. Lydia knew not to push it, though, quickly releasing them.

Balthazar smiled at her gratefully. Antonin gave her a curt nod.

It was at precisely this moment that footsteps could be heard rapidly approaching the music room.

"I could have sworn that we already ran down this blasted corridor!"

*Walden, you are not using your eyes properly! Thalia's telling Tom you need glasses!*

Balthazar, Antonin, Lydia and Hannah braced themselves as Walden rushed in with Thalia, who was still wearing an adorable orange sleeping cap with pumpkins on it, coiled on his arm. "Balthazar, Antonin! Wolves, you need to see this! You are not going to believe what has happened."

*Wormtail got haunted!* Thalia was all too happy to add.

Now this they needed to see! The group followed the ecstatic Executioner and the babbling ball python back into the main body of Malfoy Manor, with no strange twists and turns this time. It would appear that Evan and Marlene wanted them to get to their goal as quickly as possible. They all soon saw why: Wormtail's chambers had been painted an offensively yellow colour decorated by a substance that Balthazar and Antonin could only guess was ectoplasm. Words such as SNEAK, COWARD, RAT, TRAITOR and CHILD KILLER covered the walls from top to bottom.

What put the icing on the cake, however, was Wormtail himself. The grotesque man had been cleaned – his hands and face no longer had those disgusting boils and dry patches. His mousy hair had been washed, cut and styled to the point it looked offensively normal.

Horrifically normal.

"Ewwwwww!" Lydia and Hannah found themselves exclaiming while Balthazar blinked in shock and Antonin joined many others in dying due to a lack of oxygen because he was laughing so hard.

*Yaaaaay! The wolves have a new Boggart!* Thalia cheered.

"THEY DID THIS TO ME!" Wormtail wailed. "JAMES, SIRIUS AND THE DIGGORY BOY! THEY DID THIS!"

"Well, I would say that you deserved it," Balthazar sneered at him distastefully. "You betrayed your own friend, killed the Diggory boy and Black has wanted to kill you since your betrayal."

Wormtail continued to sniffle and sob pathetically.

"That just about sums it all up," Antonin agreed once he had managed to compose him. "In fact I think they went rather easy on you."

"DON'T SAY THAT! THEY MIGHT HEAR YOU!"

"Good!"

It was at this point that Bellatrix entered the room, Mr. Mupples in her arms and Tonks with her. At seeing the result of James, Sirius and Cedric's last haunting, Tonks could only smirk with cold satisfaction. The ones who saw it shivered when they noted how much like Bellatrix's smile it was.

"Wormtail, stop your snivelling! Everyone else, out!" Bellatrix ordered, her tone eerily balanced and authoritarian. "Our Lord has demanded we all go to bed. Everything will be dealt with in the morning."

"And what of the nightmares?" someone had the nerve to ask.

Bellatrix sneered at the unfortunate. "Do you need a cup of warm milk to help you settle, Stanhope? Go and get one, and do as you are told. Deal with the nightmare; you are supposedly a big boy now."

Stanhope scowled but did not dare to argue.

"So you wish for us to dance to Evan's tune?" Walden did not look to happy at this prospect either.

Bellatrix glared at him. "Those are our orders! Talk to the Dark Lord if you have a problem with it," she snapped before turning on her heel and heading to bed, Tonks hot on her heels.

Thalia giggled. *It seems Evan Rosier might have a new name.*

Uh oh.

*Fear the great Nightmare Bringer!*

"Easy for you to say," Antonin gave the ball python a pointed look. "You do not get nightmares."

*Oh yes, Thalia does!* Thalia contradicted primly. *Thalia dreamt that Nagini ate all her food last night.* She sighed dreamily. *I hope our new friends can stay for a long time …*

There were more than a few face palms that went around at that as well as many creeped-out expressions. But Voldemort's order was followed; no one had any energy for a Cruciatus or a Boglin extra and thus went to brave the nightmare field that Evan Rosier had waiting for many of them. Frankly, a good few of the Death Munchers had already decided that they would have preferred to deal with Freddie and his nonsense than Evan Rosier.

It was safe to say that, come Samhain morning, the children of Fenrir's pack were thoroughly confused when they, Augustus, the Malfoys, Rabastan and a few of their own adults were the only ones at breakfast, that Malfoy Manor had been 'decorated' by 'weird gooey stuff' and were questioning why the pink plastic flamingos lay on ice and at the patio door.

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

"Woooohooo! Another awesome haul this year, boys!" Piers cheered as he, Dudley, Malcolm and Dennis made it rain sweets. For the first time in a few years, the boys had actually gone out Trick-or-Treating instead of stealing the sweets from unsuspecting children. Piers had dressed up as a werewolf, Malcolm a zombie, Dennis had gone as Freddie and Dudley had attempted to dress like a Death Muncher.

Very soon, Dudley found his bed drowned in sweets and his friends diving into the Mountain St. Sweetie Haul with gusto. He chuckled a little before grabbing a few for himself before they all got gobbled in seconds. Especially the Freddos and the Drumstick lollies.

"Yeah, I thought this year it might be boring," Dennis grinned. "Glad I got proven wrong!"

Malcolm popped a jelly skull or two into his mouth and chewed with a pensive face for a moment before looking at Dudley. "You speak to your cousin today, Big D?"

Dudley shook his head. "Nah, he hates Halloween. Tries to avoid if he can help it," he admitted carefully. "Why?"

"I had an idea for one of his targets. My little brother is getting into this new thing called Pokémon. Some kind of Japanese game with these cute monsters," Malcolm answered with a grin. "Thought it might make a good prank."

Dudley smirked. "Sounds good to me. I don't think Harry will mind if we do some shopping he doesn't know about. Plus, it's one of the target's birthdays again soon so we can send it as a present!"

Dudley was soon at his computer, booting it up and rather impatient to boot Amazon up to see if he could find anything relating to this Pokémon stuff. Piers said something about needing to get a drink that he did not really pay much attention to. Dudley was soon too distracted with filling the shopping cart with what Pokémon merchandise he could find.

He had just loaded up a bunch of Charizard plushies as they were called – they looked like orange dragons – when Piers's voice drifted upstairs.

"DUD! THERE IS A PACKAGE HERE FOR YOU! AND FOR YOUR MA AND PA!"

Dudley frowned. Odd; he had not expected anything today and his parents would have said something if they were expecting mail too.

Wait … did Harry finally send him a prank?

Curiosity killed the cat; Dudley was up on his feet in seconds, followed by Dennis and Malcolm. They practically thundered down the stairs and came rushing through the door into the conjoined living and dining room area. They found Piers with two parcels, one addressed to him with a note.

Piers handed him the note almost immediately and Dudley opened it.

Happy Halloween and enjoy!

That was all it said; Dudley did not recognise the hand at all. It definitely wasn't Harry's writing. Strange … very strange …

"What could it be?" Dennis wondered out loud.

Probably against his better judgement, Dudley put the letter down and proceeded to open it. Piers and Malcolm, however, had a little bit more sense because they got a broom and a frying pan respectively and readied themselves in case they needed to squash anything that moved.

Clearly, they too thought that this was some kind of prank.

Dudley felt the adrenaline begin to rush through his body as he unpacked. With a deep breath, he finally opened it and revealed inside … a cake.

A round, orange, pumpkin shaped cake with a funny jack-o-lantern carving in it. He blinked; it was rather cute. Next to him, Piers and Malcolm relaxed, beginning to laugh at themselves.

"I feel like an idiot," Malcolm grumbled.

"Hey! We know Potter; it's only natural we're on edge," Piers smirked. "I'll get the plates."

Dudley didn't object but he was still a little apprehensive about eating it. However, once cake was involved, Piers was unstoppable. Dudley watched carefully as his friend cut into the cake. No bugs came crawling out at the very least. He still held his breath as the cake was passed out. Dudley waited for his friends to take a bite of theirs before he followed suit.

At least it didn't have some kind of potion or poison so it wasn't from the Death Munchers either.

In fact, the cake was very good. Nice and fluffy. Which was why Piers happily took it upstairs with them; Malcolm had suggested a Halloween movie marathon in Dudley's room. There was a discussion between Piers and Dennis if Gremlins should be included, which allowed Dudley to finish his shopping.

Just as he did so, he felt a cold wind blow into the room, which made his mates protest and immediately rush around the house for extra blankets. Dudley, though, frowned. All of the windows were closed as was the front door. He had made sure of it himself. The house also had an electric fireplace for years so it wasn't from the chimney.

I'm being an idiot, he scolded himself.

But something told him that he had to go to the window. Against his better judgement, Dudley did just that and his eyes were soon bugged out of his sockets and his mouth hung open. Standing at the edge of his garden, was a woman. A woman he had never seen before but judging the way she smiled, she knew him. Though it was dark, the street lights revealed she had hair like fire and eyes that were eerily familiar.

No way ….

"Aunt Lily," he whispered.

His dead aunt was somehow here and somehow had arranged a cake. Dudley had officially seen it all. Lily seemed to have noted his disbelief because she giggled. She raised her finger to her lips and winked at him.

It was then that Malcolm, Piers and Dennis came hurrying back in.

"One of the only shit things about Halloween – the cold!" Piers grumbled as he resumed his spot.

Dudley rolled his eyes. "Put your werewolf suit on then again, mate!"

"It's itchy!"

Dudley huffed and turned back to look at where he had seen his aunt.

Gone.

Typical.

He tried to put his phantom aunt out of his mind as Nightmare on Elm Street started to play. He and his friends happily devoured their hoard and the cake all the while. About half way through the movie, Dudley heard the door open and his mother and father call up to him that they were home from the Halloween party that Vernon's boss had thrown. Dudley only called back a quick hello before turning his attention back onto the movie.

However, the peace did not last for very long and in hindsight, he probably should not have been too surprised. Not even a minute or two later …

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The banshee shrill of his mother travelled quickly up the stairs and in seconds, the boys sprang into action and raced down to see what had happened to have Petunia Dursley scream the house down.

The answer: bats.

About twenty bats were flapping frantically in the living, screeching as Petunia cowered beneath the kitchen table while Vernon attempted to shoo the bats away towards the open conservatory door while cursing the 'flying rodents'. Dudley, Piers, Malcolm and Dennis stood there, watching in shock. None of them moved, not wishing to risk possibly antagonising the creatures further.

Dudley soon sighed in realisation.

This was Aunt Lily's work. Of course it was!

"Happy Halloween, Aunt Lily," he found himself saying softly as finally the bats were being herded out of the house.

####################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################

I know, I know! I know what you're thinking – "Umbreon, should you not have updated the Guile of the Traveller before this one?"

Yes, I should have but it is Samhain's month and this is a Samhain chapter! I cannot resist. Sabbath chapters are the best, you have got to admit that! Plus, I have been dying to get this particular chapter out for ages. This is one of the chapters that has been brewing in my head for months and finally I was able to write it.

To everyone still giving suggestions, keep them coming! I do read them all and consider them. To the one called Silver Wolf, all I will say is this: hold that thought! Muhahahahahaha … Seriously, though; try to not read my mind in the future please before you end up giving spoilers …

Anyway, Blessed Samhain to my Siblings and Happy Halloween to everyone else! I hope it has made spoopy season at least a little bit funny!

Kingmaker'sUmbreon

Oh and before I forget, I don't own the fandom or world of this story; I am building a castle of madness in Rowling's sandbox! And of course, Double Trouble is a creation by the Bard and not me. I also don't own Pokémon, unfortunately. I haven't done a disclaimer to cover my derriere in a while.