It was the day of Hallowe'en and the indoors of Hogwarts contrasted the cold, grey weather outside. The great hall was the bright orange shade of pumpkins, and thousands of pumpkins floated around the ceiling. Many of the students were talking about the kind of candy they were going to buy at Hogsmeade or trying to scare each other. These pranks however, came no where near Peeves'. Peeves had somehow gotten a hold of small pumpkins from the kitchens and was throwing them on students heads which resulted in a pumpkin gut splattered hallway. That is until Professor McGonagall came in.
"Peeves, no. GET AWAY FROM THE STUDENTS! IF I CATCH WIND OF THIS AGAIN YOU WILL WISH YOU NEVER CAME TO THIS SCHOOL. GET AWAY FROM THE STUDENTS! NOW!" She yelled over the crowd. Peeves zoomed away swiftly.
"Scourgify" I whisper and the pumpkin on my robes vanishes. Maya and Peter do the same. We show our signed permission slips to McGonagall and she lets us pass. A cold wind flies through the air and sends a chill through me. I decide it is a perfect reason to put on my Hufflepuff beanie. It covers my fawn colored hair and warms my ears. On the way to Hogsmeade, we end up talking about Patronuses. A Patronus is a highly difficult charm used against dementors. It acts as a sort of guardian animal. Peter says he read about it in a Defense Against the Dark Arts book.
"And I want to know which book you found it in. Peter was the book in the restricted section?" I ask.
"Maybe" he says reluctantly. Then, he changes the subject and says
"What do you think your Patronus would be?"
"I don't know' Maya says then continues "But Juniper, your is probably a piece of homework" I smile then say
"Ooh and Maya yours is a Mandrake" Then she starts into giggling fits. I swear she will literally laugh at anything. Then Maya and I are looking at each other, trying to contemplate what Peter's should be.
"Oh Peter, I bet your is a Dung beetle." Now we are all laughing, even Peter. I love to hear Peter's laugh, it is smooth but loud and when he laughs he smiles and shows his dimples. When we arrive at Hogsmeade, we immediately walk into Honeydukes. Honeydukes is the Candy shop that has every Wizarding Candy you can imagine. The shop was small but brightly colored with a range from Green to Hot pink. Almost all the students were in this shop, especially on Hallowe'en. I grabbed a Bertie's Botts Every Flavour Beans, a Chocolate frog, a jar of Pepper imps, and a box of cauldron cakes. After I payed for them, I dropped the sweets into the small bag I carried. The bag was about the size of a wallet but I put an extension charm on it and now I can fit plenty of things in it. Then, we walked to Peter's favorite store (Zonko's Joke Shop) and stride in. There are thousands of prank items in this store, and that is why Peter loves it so. He buys a pack of Fillibuster's Heat Free Fireworks and claims he is going to save them for "The perfect moment." Maya buys a nose biting teacup and claims she is also going to save it for the "perfect moment." I just buy a Sugar Quill and stuff it inside my bag.
"You're such a stickler for the rules." Peter complains when he sees my Sugar Quill.
"Well I just don't want detention from Filch, and I am a Prefect and you would do well to remember it" I snap. Maya sighs, then says,
"For once in my life, I agree with Peter. You have to live. And, living sometimes means breaking the rules." I see Peter's mouth open then close then say, "For Once in your life?" Maya snickers quietly. Then Peter continues,
" I thought you actually were nice, you know like a Hufflepuff. We Hufflepuff's have to be nice to one another." Maya bursts out giggling (Again.) Peter tries to act serious then says
"Silencio" Maya is stunned yet again when she can't hear herself laugh. Peter undos the spell and laughs. Maya looks frustrated. Then she says "It isn't fair to use it on us because we can't do it yet. Professor Flitwick said he won't even teach us in two weeks."
"Is two weeks really too long to wait Maya" I say. Then Peter interupts
"Yeah, Practice makes perfect" Maya says something under her breath about how only Peter is perfect at it.
"Come on the both of you, get in The Three Broomsticks and I'll pay for Butterbeer." I say, dragging them through the wooden doors. We sit down at our favorite table, the one near the window and the spiral stair case. I order Three Butterbeers and Maya orders two Chicken Pot pies and one Shepherds pie. Peter just sits there and doesn't order. Maya kicks him in the shin. Then he looks startled and says
"What is the age for drinking Firewhiskey" and looks disappointed when he learns it is eighteen. After our food arrives Maya kicks him again. "You forgot to order anything. Remember we each buy something and you forgot to order dessert." She states. He replies
"I figured that since we would have so many sweets tonight that we would not need any." Both Maya and know this a lie almost immediately, Peter never turns down sugar. He could probably eat a pound of candy for lunch then have dessert after dinner.
"What is it really." I ask. He answers,
"Well, those Fillibuster Fireworks were not exactly cheap and, well, I spent all but two galleons that I brought today."
"It's okay, we all overspend." I say. Maya says,
"I'm sorry I kicked you, but it felt really good" Peter starts laughing then he mimics
"But it felt really good" and we all start laughing. It was a good day. For all of us. I will remember it forever.