(A/N: Sorry for no upload yesterday. Here is one now and the next one will be coming later today.)
The Great Hall was a glowing marvel of floating pumpkins and flickering candlelight. The ceiling mirrored the stormy night above the castle, dark clouds swirling with occasional flashes of lightning illuminating the room. Enchanted bats swooped lazily across the rafters, and the tables were lined with enough food to satisfy a small army.
Ethan sat at the Ravenclaw table with a generous helping of roast chicken on his plate and a goblet of chilled pumpkin juice at his elbow. He didn't usually eat much, but the scent of spiced meats, sugary pastries, and warm buttered rolls made it hard to resist. Across from him, a fifth-year was describing the time he'd supposedly seen a Grindylow in the Black Lake.
"I'm telling you, its eyes were this big," the boy said, making a wide circle with both hands. "It looked right at me."
"That was probably your reflection," muttered a second-year nearby, earning a few quiet snickers.
Ethan smiled faintly and kept eating. This was his first Halloween at Hogwarts, and even after two months, the wonder of it still hadn't faded. The castle had a way of constantly surprising him. The decorations, the food, the sheer size of the celebration, it was hard not to be impressed.
He reached for a pumpkin pasty just as Helena sat down beside him. Her long dark braid was slightly damp from the rain outside, and she brushed a few drops off her sleeve as she took her seat.
"Late again?" Ethan asked.
"Library," she said, not bothering to elaborate further. "You're already on dessert?"
"Technically I'm circling back."
Helena gave a brief smirk and began helping herself to some treacle tart. "I saw Peeves near the girls' staircase," she added. "He was stuffing dungbombs into someone's cauldron."
"Whose?"
"Didn't stick around to find out," she replied. "But I hope it's Frobisher. That guy's been bragging about his 'potion genius' all week."
Ethan chuckled, though his eyes wandered across the hall for a moment. Gryffindor's table was unusually rowdy, even more than normal. Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnigan appeared to be trying to outdo each other in piling food into their mouths, while Harry Potter watched with a half-amused, half-appalled expression.
"Did you hear about Hermione Granger?" Helena asked, following his gaze.
Ethan shook his head. "No. What about her?"
"She was crying in Charms earlier. Apparently Ron said something awful about her not having friends. She ran off."
Before Helena could say more, the doors to the Great Hall suddenly burst open.
Every head turned as Professor Quirrell stumbled through, his turban askew and his face pale with panic.
"T-T-TROLL!" he stammered, stumbling forward. "IN THE DUNGEON!"
There was a stunned silence.
Quirrell's eyes rolled back. "Thought you ought to know," he gasped, and then collapsed onto the floor with a dramatic thud.
The silence broke in a wave of chaos. Screams erupted as students jumped to their feet. A few knocked over goblets in their panic. Someone shrieked from the Hufflepuff table, and a group of first-years ducked under the table as if the troll might walk right in.
"SILENCE!" boomed Dumbledore's voice, louder than thunder, and the noise vanished instantly.
The headmaster rose to his feet, eyes sweeping across the Great Hall like twin beams of calm in the storm.
"Prefects," he said with commanding clarity, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
The teachers were already in motion. McGonagall barked an order at a group of frightened second-years, and Flitwick leapt down from his chair, wand drawn. Snape disappeared through a side door without a word, likely off to where Fluffy was.
Ethan stood along with the rest of Ravenclaw. He wasn't afraid, but the energy in the room was infectious, charged and electric.
The prefects guided them out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. The older students tried to act collected, but even they looked tense. The younger ones clung to their friends, whispering about where the troll might be now. Some joked nervously. Others didn't say a word.
Ethan found himself walking beside Helena again. She kept glancing behind them, as though the troll might suddenly come lumbering up the stairs.
"Do you think it's really in the dungeon?" she asked under her breath.
"Quirrell seemed convinced," Ethan said. "But he also fainted, so..."
Helena snorted. "He'd faint if a pixie flew at him."
The corridor turned, and they passed a tapestry depicting trolls dancing around a cauldron. One of them burped smoke, perfectly timed with a roll of thunder from outside.
"I still can't believe this is happening," Helena murmured. "A troll? In the dungeon?"
"Of all days too," Ethan said. "Halloween. It's like the castle has a sense of drama."
"I'd like less drama and more locked doors."
They finally reached the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. The bronze eagle knocker asked its riddle: "What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?"
"Easy," someone muttered. "The letter M."
The door swung open, and they stepped inside.
The common room was warm and inviting, round as a tower and filled with blue and bronze hangings. A fire crackled in the hearth, and the windows were streaked with rain.
Some students immediately went to the windows, trying to see if they could spot anything happening outside. Others collapsed onto the couches or gathered in anxious groups, chattering about what they'd just witnessed.
Ethan claimed a seat near the fireplace. Helena sat beside him again, both of them staring into the flames for a moment.
"Think we'll hear anything more tonight?" she asked.
"If something goes wrong," he said, "we'll hear it."
"That's comforting," she muttered.
Ethan didn't say anything and just shrugged back.
A few minutes passed in relative silence. Then a first-year burst into the common room breathless, having just arrived behind the rest.
"Someone said a troll got into the upper floors," the boy said. "A girl was trapped in a bathroom!"
The common room erupted in new whispers. Ethan looked up sharply.
"Did they say who?" Helena asked.
"No, just that some Gryffindors ran after it!"
Ethan exhaled slowly, staring into the fire again.
"Brave," Helena said. "Or stupid. Or both."
"Usually both," Ethan replied, lips twitching in a smile.
The storm outside continued to rumble, but within the Ravenclaw tower, the fire glowed steadily, and the students waited, curious, nervous, but safe for the night.