The Outsider (1)

James had been searching the library to find out what name he should use, and it wasn't until Halloween itself that he belatedly realized he had originally wanted to discuss what we should do for Halloween with us.

"If you and Sirius hadn't fallen out, I wouldn't have forgotten what I wanted to talk about while trying to change the subject!" Since it was the weekend, he spent the entire day grumbling in my and Sirius's ears, and he still wouldn't let up even as we headed to the Halloween Feast. "Halloween only comes once a year!"

"James, I've always wanted to be friends with Black. He's the one who doesn't want to." I really couldn't take it anymore. "You should talk to him."

James immediately looked at Sirius, but Sirius was much better at dealing with him than I was. With his hands in his pockets, he walked straight through the doors as though he hadn't seen a thing, completely ignoring James.

"See?" I draped an arm over his shoulders, taking pleasure in his misfortune. "He won't even listen to his good friend. What can I do about it?"

"So why does he hate you so much?" James looked troubled. "I can't figure it out."

"A man's heart is as hard to fathom as a needle at the bottom of the sea." I shook my head. "Maybe people from big families just have different brains."

[Sirius's affection -1]

Oh my god, he was already so far away. He could still hear me?

"Besides, James, I was planning to prepare a Halloween prank that night too, but you interrupted me, so I didn't have time to get it ready either." I had gone to the house-elves afterward, but time was short and I only managed to make a few, so in the end I had to give up. "We're even."

I hadn't expected James's expression to change when I said that. He stared at me in disbelief, as though I'd betrayed him, and even clutched his chest and staggered back two steps.

"You actually... pulled a prank behind my back..." He looked ready to collapse; anyone who didn't know better would have thought he'd been banned from going out at night forever. "Merlin, I was wrong about you!"

Thanks to Sirius, I had now learned how to deal with James too.

I put my hands in my pockets and walked straight through the doors as though I hadn't seen a thing, completely ignoring James.

Hogwarts was hung with all kinds of pumpkins and decorations like bats and spiderwebs for Halloween. There were nearly twice as many pumpkin-related foods on the tables, and Headmaster Dumbledore's hat had turned into a pumpkin head, bobbing back and forth whenever he moved.

When I found Lily and walked into the hall with her, I saw Sirius sitting there looking very impatient, with a huge pile of letters of all sorts in front of him. Quite a few students still seemed to be trying to talk to him, but he kept his head down and stared at the food on the table. Then, without any warning, he suddenly looked at me.

He was a little too far away for me to make out the expression in his eyes, but given the situation, it surely couldn't be anything good. My hand paused as I pulled out a chair. Before I could react, he looked away.

"Come to think of it, James is good-looking and gets good grades too, so why don't many people confess to him?" I didn't dwell on that little incident. Once I sat down, I started chatting with the people around me. "I thought someone like him would be really popular."

"James is pretty popular, but isn't he pursuing Lily?" Mary shrugged. "So naturally, not many people confess to him."

"Can what he's doing really be called pursuing her?" Black lines filled my face. "I feel like he's friendlier to strangers than he is to Lily. At least strangers don't want to beat him to death every day."

Lily, who was sitting beside us, snorted when she heard the conversation. Knowing she didn't like the topic, we quickly dropped it.

I didn't particularly like pumpkin, but the Pumpkin Pasties at Hogwarts tasted so good that I reluctantly stopped only after eating three and realizing I really shouldn't eat any more.

"You can really eat." James gave me an approving look.

"Pig." By comparison, Sirius was downright unfriendly.

Lily frowned, but before she could get angry, I had already fired back.

"Young Master Black doesn't seem to have eaten much at all. Could it be that you're watching your figure? You're so young, yet you already care so much about your looks..." I shrugged. "Eat so little and you might not grow tall."

I actually felt rather guilty saying that. After all, Sirius would be really tall in the future, and he'd start shooting up in his third year... Hopefully he wouldn't remember what I'd said when the time came.

[Sirius's affection -5]

After losing affection for so long, I'd noticed a pattern. Everyday jabs were always -1, unless I touched on something that made him very angry, in which case it was -5. But I really couldn't figure out what about that remark had made him so angry. Could he really care that much about his height?!

"Actually, he's been eating the whole time." James held a hand beside his face, looking as though he were whispering to me, but he hadn't lowered his voice at all. "You just didn't notice."

Huh? Why did Sirius look even angrier?

Sirius glared fiercely at James and me and turned away. James was still muttering in my and Remus's ears about wanting to ask Lily out tonight when I yawned and got up to return to the dormitory. The moment I stood, several options appeared before my eyes, different from the usual ones and tinged with pink. There was even background music!

[Halloween romance event activated. Who will you spend tonight with?]

[1. Lily]

[2. Snape]

[3. Remus]

[4. James]

[5. Sirius]

System, you really know how to ruin a good mood.

I stared at the pink-tinged options box in silence for a long time, only coming back to my senses when it began urging me to choose.

For an option like this, it was definitely Lily, no thought required. I was just about to choose her when I suddenly remembered how James had spent the whole evening talking in my ear about wanting to ask her out.

Things between James and Lily had been going from bad to worse lately. Perhaps this was a chance for them to make up?

In that case, it seemed I should choose Snape instead and pull him away so Lily and James could meet. But while Snape and I weren't quite strangers now, we were at least on nodding terms, and each of the Romance System's forced romance event options was more outrageous than the last. I could hardly imagine whether it would pull some earth-shattering stunt on a holiday like Halloween—I had absolutely no faith in it now.

Seeing that the system had already started counting down, I hurriedly chose Remus.

No choice. I've decided on you, Remus!

Once I'd made my choice, the dialogue box vanished, and everything returned to how it had been. Noise clamored around me. James was still talking about his Halloween plans, while Remus responded now and then. Sirius was already laughing and chatting with the students around him, and Lily put several pieces of chocolate in front of me.

It seemed like nothing had happened?

I anxiously drank a glass of juice, and when I stood up, Remus was still sitting there listening to James go on and on. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief. I said something to Lily, declined her offer to come with me, and got up to leave.

The Halloween Feast wasn't over yet, and the hall was still noisy. Most students were still eating, while a few who had finished wandered around with candy, playing "trick or treat." I yawned as I made my way through the crowd, but after walking through the doors, I unexpectedly spotted a slight figure.

That person was crouched in the empty corridor. Behind the open doors, the feast was lively, but he was alone, lonely and out of place. With his arms wrapped around himself, all I could see was his shoulders trembling continuously. From this distance, I could clearly see the Pumpkin Juice staining his school robes.

Someone had splashed Pumpkin Juice on him.

I rummaged all over myself but couldn't find anything like a tissue. I could help him clean his clothes with Scourgify, though, so I approached and tried to speak to him.

"Hey?" Since the person had his head buried, I couldn't even tell whether he was a boy or a girl, so I used a neutral word. "If you don't mind, can I help you?"

His shoulders stopped trembling, but the next moment he hugged himself even tighter, curling up completely.

"No, d-don't mind me, I, I-I-I can be by myself..."

His voice was hoarse and dry, trembling with panic, and it made my outstretched hand stop in midair.

It was Peter.

[Author's note]

★Tip★

Before entering a route, every major holiday has a forced romance event. These are also the only choice events you don't have to actively trigger. Once you've made your choice, you've already entered the romance event storyline for the person you chose.

On the other hand, although "A History of Romance at Hogwarts: 1971" is a romance game, it also has plenty of non-romance storylines, so please enjoy them!

★Side story reminder★

*Congratulations on unlocking Peter's main storyline-[The Outsider · 1]