Halloween

The two of them did not wear themselves out. After all, it was Halloween, and tonight's Halloween feast was the main event. Will was looking forward to eating his fill. He had to admit that, while English food was nothing special, the food at Hogwarts was excellent, largely because the house-elves' repertoire was not limited to English dishes.

Will had recently offered the kitchen's house-elves a few suggestions and bought several American and Asian cookbooks himself. He was confident that before long, he would be able to enjoy the cuisines he craved.

Just as the two of them were about to head to the dining hall—

"Will, Will!" Sylvia pushed open the door to the Room of Requirement. Behind her stood Hermione, her eyes red and swollen, tears still glistening on her face. "I just found Hermione in the bathroom by the Underground Classroom. It took me ages to persuade her to come up here."

Will realized that Hermione had been crying because of the hurtful things Ron had said behind her back. Ron really did have plenty of unlikable moments in the early and middle parts of the story.

"What happened?" Will asked Hermione with concern. "Who's been bullying you?"

Sylvia turned her gaze toward Neville, who looked utterly bewildered.

Then again, that made sense. Hermione had been the only one to overhear Ron whispering to Harry, so it was perfectly understandable that Neville knew nothing about it.

Will had never had much experience comforting girls. That difficult task would have to be left to Sylvia.

Hogwarts was bustling with excitement on Halloween night.

The entire castle looked as though it had undergone a complete renovation, brimming with festive cheer. Over a thousand bats fluttered along the walls and ceiling, while another thousand circled above the tables like banks of low-hanging dark clouds, making the candle flames inside the pumpkins flicker.

The floating candles had been replaced with jack-o'-lanterns. Candlelight shone through their carved openings, casting comical patches of light.

The Halloween feast was extraordinarily lavish, with an even greater variety of dishes than the start-of-term feast. All manner of pumpkin treats covered the tables.

Harry and Ron headed downstairs toward the dining hall. Harry had just suffered a crushing defeat at chess against Ron, and they were now on their way to the feast. Ron animatedly explained the finer points of wizard's chess to Harry as two Gryffindor girls walked past them. Harry recognized Patil and Lavender.

Patil was chattering to Lavender. "Granger's been crying in the Girls’ Bathroom all afternoon, and she won't even let anyone comfort her..."

Harry felt uncomfortable, and he noticed that Ron was beginning to look rather uneasy too.

Still, the festive atmosphere soon swept them both up. Harry had never attended such a grand feast in his life.

Laughter and cheerful chatter filled the Hogwarts dining hall, with a few students occasionally chasing one another between the tables. Dumbledore wore robes patterned with jack-o'-lanterns and was busily attacking the Pumpkin Pasty before him.

Quirrell burst into the dining hall in his purple turban, bringing news of a troll. The announcement shattered the festive atmosphere, and the students descended into chaos. Dumbledore waved his wand, making it emit sharp bangs, while saying something to the other professors.

The other professors immediately instructed the prefects to lead the young wizards back to their respective houses' common rooms.

Harry looked appalled. He grabbed Ron.

"I've just remembered—Hermione."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll."

Ron bit his lip. "Let her Slytherin friends help her."

"Don't talk rubbish, Ron!" Harry looked furious, his emerald-green eyes glaring at Ron.

For the first time, Ron found Harry truly intimidating. An involuntary thought crossed his mind: Blimey, no wonder Harry could defeat You-Know-Who.

But at the look on Harry's face, he nodded. "All right, fine. But we can't let Percy see us."

Meanwhile, in the Room of Requirement, Hermione had finally calmed down. Put simply, Ron and Hermione had clashed in class, and afterward Ron had nastily remarked, "No wonder nobody can stand her. Honestly, she's like a nightmare. I reckon only Slytherin dark wizards would want to be friends with her."

Will and Sylvia had somehow been caught in the crossfire.

"Don't listen to that penniless Weasley. He's as stupid as a gnome. Remember last Potions class? The antidote he made nearly burned a hole through his own tongue." Sylvia comforted Hermione while disparaging Ron.

"Hermione, you're the cleverest witch I've ever met. And lots of people in Gryffindor like you. You're always earning us loads of points." Neville came over to comfort her too.

"The wise are always shunned by fools. Cattle and sheep gather in herds, but predators walk alone." Will also hoped to help his classmate regain her spirits.

"So, 'Mr. Berens, the great wizard,' do we gather in herds or walk alone?" Sylvia asked, looking straight into Will's eyes.

At that title, Will's mouth twitched uncontrollably. Whenever he sought Snape's guidance, he was frequently subjected to sarcastic remarks such as:

"To think that Mr. Berens, the great wizard, cannot even prepare dittany properly. It seems Mr. Berens, the great wizard, has never been injured in a duel."

"Look at how expertly the great wizard Berens extracts blood from an Indian Yellow-Spotted Snake. Is Mr. Berens afraid that taking too much blood will prevent this dead snake from coming back to life?"

Later, Sylvia had once overheard Snape calling Will "Mr. Berens, the great wizard," and had begun using the title to tease him herself.

"You can all follow me as I walk alone."

They could all tell that Will was setting himself up as their leader, but only Sylvia rolled her eyes.

Neville gave it some thought, then asked in confusion, "Does that make me a predator too?"

"Of course. You're following 'Mr. Berens, the great wizard,' aren't you? How could you not be a predator?"

Will was utterly exasperated. "All right, the Halloween feast should have started by now. Let's hurry over."

Hermione had yet to catch on. She eyed Will suspiciously. "What's this 'great wizard Berens' business? I don't understand."

With a dark expression, Will walked toward the door of the Room of Requirement, Sylvia's bright laughter ringing out behind him.

Suddenly, Will felt that this was not so bad. His strength was steadily growing, he got along well with his friends, and even Dumbledore, whom so many people described as kindly on the surface but scheming underneath, was easy to deal with.

Perhaps this was compensation for grinding away for over twenty years and then hitting the jackpot?