Halloween

Lavender and Parvati returned to their dormitory to put away their textbooks. Aya didn't need to, so she wandered over to the kitchen, intending to have an early taste of the feast on behalf of everyone at school.

Duoduo had told her where the kitchen was. Since Duoduo rarely showed herself after coming to the school, Aya could only find her by calling her name or going to the kitchen.

Of the two options, Aya thought the latter was more convenient—she could get a meal while she was at it.

Aya managed to open the kitchen door, and she had only just stepped inside when the busy House-elves spotted her. "Duoduo! Miss Hawthorne is here!" squeaked an elf near the door.

Duoduo immediately ran over from the ovens. "Aya, sit down! We're so busy-"

Aya followed Duoduo to where she was working and watched her use magic to put plump chickens into the ovens, then brush honey over them at just the right time.

"Want to try a chicken leg?" Duoduo picked the most perfect one from a pile of roasted chicken legs that had already been prepared and placed under a Warming Charm, then handed it to Aya.

Aya took it and bit straight into it. "Delicious."

"Are you hungry? Actually, pumpkins are supposed to be the star today," Duoduo said softly. "Hagrid sent quite a few pumpkins to the kitchen. We hollowed out a lot of them to make jack-o'-lanterns, and the rest have to be made into all kinds of pumpkin dishes, but I'm not in charge of that part."

"I'm not very hungry. I just wanted to see you," Aya said honestly.

"Oh-" Duoduo's large eyes immediately grew moist. "I missed Aya too, but we've been so busy."

"Doesn't Headmaster Dumbledore give you time off?" Aya asked, still unwilling to give up.

"Keep your voice down!" Duoduo hurriedly tugged at Aya's sleeve. "House-elves don't get holidays. They make us feel uncomfortable and empty. Things are fine just like this."

Aya pouted. She'd said it before: Dumbledore had to be a red name. He didn't even give them holidays. The players used to complain bitterly that their bosses gave them only one day off a week. She really didn't know how Dumbledore had convinced so many House-elves to work like beasts of burden.

The illiterate Aya had no idea this was a problem left over from history. After all, she slept through History of Magic.

After running around the kitchen touching sparkles and getting in quite a few House-elves' way, Aya only managed to find a few pumpkin pies, which she put in her inventory for a late-night snack. Then she said goodbye to Duoduo and left.

When she came out of the kitchen, she saw that some students were already heading for the Great Hall, so she followed the crowd there.

The Great Hall looked a little different from usual, with extra decorations especially for the feast.

Aya tipped her head back to watch the swarms of bats flying back and forth overhead, and even considered reaching up to grab one.

There were plenty of jack-o'-lanterns in the corners and on the tables, lit by candles that flickered in the drafts from the passing bats. A lavish spread, like the one at the opening feast, lay on the tables in golden dishes. Aya quickly found a seat. Although she had just eaten a chicken leg, she still had plenty of room in her stomach!

"You're here." When Lavender saw Aya arrive, she handed her a pumpkin-flavored biscuit. "This one's good. I just had several."

Aya took it, popped it into her mouth, and chewed and chewed. Then she nodded emphatically in approval of its flavor.

"This is good too." Parvati spooned out a small piece of pumpkin pudding. "It's a dessert, but it's rare to get one that tastes like pumpkin."

Aya slurped it up and narrowed her eyes in satisfaction.

"Want to try this?" Alicia, who was sitting nearby, put a small pumpkin-flavored cake on Aya's plate. Aya turned nothing down and began bobbing her head as she ate the soft cake.

"This one?" Angelina joined in too, giving the gluttonous first-year two pumpkin cookies.

Aya couldn't think of any other way to show her satisfaction. She swallowed the cookies and happily said they were delicious.

Everyone around them laughed at the sight of Aya's little expressionless face.

"You really should try smiling," Fred said, resting his chin on his hand and looking at her as if she were a Fantastic Beast. "I can't believe someone actually doesn't know how to smile."

"Maybe you could try pushing up the corners of your mouth yourself-like this!" George reached out with both hands, pressed his index fingers against the corners of Aya's mouth, and pushed them upward.

Aya frowned. He was interrupting her biscuit eating. She opened her mouth to bite his finger, but he quickly dodged.

"Merlin! I'm a person," George said, startled. "I don't taste as good as all the delicious food on this table."

"Good heavens, Aya, do you beastfolk have humans on your menu?" Fred asked after making fun of George, eager to stir things up.

"I've never eaten one." Aya thought back and answered in all seriousness. Seeing that her answer had startled her two roommates beside her, she thought for a moment and added, "I really haven't."

Great. Lavender and Parvati went even paler.

Several older students nearby were laughing too hard to eat.

Hermione hadn't come to the feast. Since everyone knew Aya had a storage item, Parvati and Lavender had her put away some food that would still taste good cold, intending to take it back to Hermione.

Halfway through the feast, Professor Quirrell suddenly rushed into the Great Hall. Aya saw that his clothes were disheveled and his usually immaculate turban was crooked as he shouted that a Troll had entered the castle.

For once, Aya reacted quickly, raising her hands to cover her cat ears just as screams rang through the Great Hall.

Aya guessed that the Troll from the fourth-floor dungeon might have escaped. Otherwise, how could it have come so far into the castle without being noticed?

As the students were being organized to return to their dormitories, Aya didn't forget to stuff a few cakes into her inventory. When she hurried to catch up a step behind the group, she saw Ron and Harry sneak away from it.

She had to go see what they were up to!

Stuffing a pie into her mouth, Aya hurried after the two boys on her short little legs and watched them hide behind a stone statue of a hippogriff.

"What's he doing?" Harry whispered to Ron. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the other teachers?"

"How should I know?" Ron replied.

"Maybe he's patrolling?" Aya answered indistinctly.

"Ah-!" Only a short squeak of Ron's scream escaped before Harry clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Aya, what are you doing here?" Harry was still a little shaken. They had been watching Snape so closely that they hadn't noticed someone standing behind them at all.

"If you can be here, why can't I?" Aya swallowed her pie. "What are you going to do? Fight the Troll? I want to come too!"

"Who said anything about fighting the Troll?" Ron pulled Harry's hand away and said angrily, "Are we going to serve ourselves up as food for it? We're going to find Hermione. That little nuisance probably doesn't know there's a Troll in the castle!"

"Oh, right-" Only then did Aya remember. "I know where Hermione is, then. Let's go. Not fighting the Troll is a really bad decision."

"What decision could be worse than running into you here?" Ron had practically lost the energy to be angry at Aya's obliviousness.

"How should I know? I think you're lucky you ran into me here." Aya led the two toward the bathroom where Hermione was. "You know, I've fought a Troll before-"

"As if," Ron said scornfully, rolling his eyes. "If you've fought a Troll, I'll take Troll as my surname. You'll say anything!"

"Can you smell that?" Harry frowned and sniffed the air. "It smells a bit bad."

"More than a bit. That's the smell of a Troll." Aya put her pie away. A bathroom was no place to eat.

"A Troll?!" Ron clutched his head. "How did it get up from the dungeons?"

"We have to hurry!" Harry said anxiously.

The three reached an intersection and saw the Troll coming toward their corridor.

"Aya!" Harry quickly grabbed the back of her collar. She had just been about to walk straight into the corridor!

"What are you doing?" Aya pulled free. "The Troll's already here." She looked down the corridor again. "Oh, the Troll's gone into the bathroom where Hermione is."

"...What?!" Ron screamed. "Hurry, let's go-"

Ron and Harry immediately charged out. Aya straightened her collar and followed, complaining, "I told you not to pull me-"

The two boys ahead were already shouting to draw the Troll's attention, and Hermione's terrified screams came from inside the bathroom.

Harry and Ron tore out taps and pipes and threw them at the Troll, buying a little time, but they also enraged it. By the time Aya reached the door, Harry had his arms around the Troll's neck, trying to strangle it.

"Hmph, looks like it's up to me after all!" Aya stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

"Stop going 'hmph'! Are you a pig? Do something, quick!" Ron was at his breaking point.

"Xiaohua!" Aya summoned the magical kitty. Xiaohua grew larger and charged in with the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. Harry was unceremoniously thrown off, landing beside Hermione. Before he had time to feel the pain, he pulled Hermione along the wall toward the exit, grabbed Ron, who was standing there like an idiot, with his other hand, and knocked Aya straight out of the doorway.

"Ow!" Aya was nearly sent flying. Once the three were out of the bathroom, they turned to lock the door, only to see that the Troll no longer had an uninjured patch of skin. Blood poured from it, staining the entire bathroom floor red.

"Ah!!" Hermione screamed, covering her eyes and turning away, unable to look. Harry backed away several steps in fear, and the only thought in his head burst out of his mouth. "'Ron Troll'-you'll probably have to call yourself that from now on, Ron."

"I-is it dead?" Hermione asked tremulously.

"Obviously not. It's still bleeding," Aya replied, watching Xiaohua whittle down its health bar with great interest. "Do you still want to watch? It's a bit bloody, though. I want to find somewhere I can eat. I'm still not full."

"Please, could you not say inappropriate things at inappropriate times-" Ron slumped to the corridor floor, feeling a little sick from the smell of blood. By comparison, he thought he was quite the master of tact.

As soon as he finished speaking, hurried footsteps came from the other end of the corridor. The four first-years looked over and saw the professors approaching.

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape." As the two grim-faced professors at the front drew closer, Aya noticed Quirrell behind them. She immediately covered her nose and said in a muffled voice, "Hello to you too, Professor Quirrell."

"What on earth! What on earth do you think you're playing at?!" McGonagall ignored the little beastfolk girl's greeting. She was nearly mad with anger. "Where's the Troll? Don't tell me you got rid of it!"

"I-in there-" Frightened by McGonagall's stern expression, Harry and Ron looked like little quails as they cautiously pointed into the bathroom.

Snape stepped forward and saw the Troll struggling and bleeding beneath a giant cat in the girls' bathroom. "...Ha, wonderful. Our very own Miss Hawthorne again. What are you doing? Proving that youth knows no limits? Have you moved on from attacking professors to attacking Trolls?"

The moment Quirrell saw the scene, he collapsed to the floor in fright.

"I never attacked you," Aya said, a little displeased. Then she recalled their first meeting and added a qualification: "After I knew you were a professor."

The three first-years beside her stared so hard their eyes nearly popped out, not even noticing how Professor McGonagall's face had gone white with anger.

"It-it was my fault, Professor McGonagall," Hermione hurriedly said, seeing Snape's face darken further.

"Miss Granger!"

"They were looking for me-"

"That's right," Aya cut in. "Hermione didn't even come to the feast. She was hiding in the bathroom, feeling sad. Harry and Ron thought she didn't know about it, so they came to find her. I came along with them."

Aya's blunt answer stunned Hermione, who had been planning to lie. She had just been about to take all the blame herself.

"'Came along with them'?!" Snape couldn't help roaring. "Did you reckless Gryffindors leave your brains behind when you came out?! Or are you the same species as that Troll in there?!"

"Ron is. His surname's even 'Troll' now," Aya pointed out happily.

"...Don't force me to take matters into my own hands." Snape's face was dark, and he had already drawn his wand from his waist.

Aya wanted to say more, but the three behind her clutched her robes so tightly that she felt as if she were being strangled, and the words wouldn't come out.

"Ahem, ahem. All right, I understand what happened now." McGonagall had been amused by Snape and Aya's exchange, and it took her quite a while to suppress her laughter. Her anger was gone too; after all, she knew Aya had ventured into the forbidden area on the fourth floor.

"But I must criticize you. When something happens, I believe you should tell a professor. We would never allow any student to fall into danger!" McGonagall steadied herself before continuing. "I'm sorry to tell you that, because you acted on your own, I think I must take ten points from Gryffindor."

She paused, looking at the three dejected students and at Aya, who was gazing up at her expressionlessly. "However, considering that your intentions were good, that you bravely helped a fellow student, and that you successfully knocked out the Troll, I will award you fifteen points. I'll inform Headmaster Dumbledore. You may return to Gryffindor Tower. Everyone is enjoying the Halloween Feast in the common room."

"Yay, thank you, Professor!" Aya replied happily. McGonagall looked at her expressionless face, the corner of her mouth twitching, then turned and went in with the other two professors to "collect the Troll's corpse."