"Someone stole our food!"
As William walked down the corridor after class, he was intercepted by the Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick.
"I don't think anyone in their right mind would steal what you call 'food,'" William said, shaking his head.
That stuff wasn't food, it was practically slop. Who would eat that?
In fact, William didn't even want to go near Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. A single stroll through it would leave him reeking of a suffocating stench that no amount of washing could remove.
"But the food is definitely missing! The rotten sheep's stomach from the faucet is gone, and the food in the sink was thrown on the floor.
"Most importantly, the maggots in the bathroom are gone! Someone must have eaten them," Nick insisted indignantly.
"Maybe they… 'transformed' and flew away as butterflies?"
"Of course not! I counted everything at noon. Someone definitely stole it!" Nick said angrily.
"Could it have been Peeves?"
"No, I promised Peeves he could come to my Deathday Party. He wouldn't cause trouble."
"If you checked at noon, then the theft must have happened between the afternoon and now."
William rested his chin in his hand and analyzed the situation seriously.
This was a peculiar case. The thief threw the food on the floor, took the most disgusting item (the sheep's stomach), and even cleaned up all the maggots…
This thief was a mystery. William couldn't fathom their motives.
Could it have been Dumbledore preparing a Halloween surprise?
Or perhaps Snape gathering ingredients for some obscure potion?
"It's just some food missing. Does it really matter?" William asked.
"Of course, it matters! 108 dishes, that's the royal banquet standard! If there's not enough, I'll lose face. Especially without maggots, everyone will think the food is fresh!"
"Enough!" William suppressed his disgust, using Occlumency to clear his mind so the mental images wouldn't linger.
After discussing it for a bit, Nick decided to ask Hagrid for some caterpillars to fill the void.
It was the ghost equivalent of slapping on a fresh coat of paint before an inspection.
"William, will you come to my Deathday Party? It's my 500th Deathday—having you attend would be such an honor," Nick said, extending an invitation.
William bet that Nick had repeated that same line to countless others.
A wide-cast net, hoping for a big catch, it was the same old trick.
"But I'm attending the school's Halloween Feast tonight. Annie said Dumbledore invited the Red Skull Dance Troupe.
"Maybe they'll even bring the League of Sorrowful Fathers."
"A bunch of skeletonsm, what's so interesting about that?" Nick scoffed.
"Hey, Cedric! Are you really going with Moaning Myrtle as your date?" Nick suddenly shouted.
In the distance, Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang were walking down the hallway together.
"Myrtle's date? Really?" Cho looked at Cedric with a meaningful expression.
"It's not true!" Cedric said angrily, "I don't even know who gave Myrtle the idea to choose me as her partner. She's been pestering me every night.
"She even told me that Ollivander's grandfather would be attending… but his grandfather didn't even become a ghost! She's trying to trick me.
"Someone must've given her the idea—otherwise, why would she even mention Ollivander?"
William scratched his head and coughed awkwardly. "Cedric, maybe it was a Gryffindor student's prank—they're known for this sort of thing."
Cedric nodded and immediately shifted his suspicion to the Weasley twins.
Seeing that Cedric wasn't attending, Nick looked disappointed. He turned to Cho instead.
Cho quickly changed the subject. "William, Professor Trelawney made another prediction about you today. She said that if you keep skipping her class, something bad will happen this term."
"..." Was that a threat?
The group entered the Great Hall, where they saw Harry and Hermione, who seemed to be searching for something.
"Hey, Harry, don't forget, 7 PM in the dungeons. Don't be late," Nick reminded him.
When Nick floated away, Harry sighed. "I forgot all about the Deathday Party."
It turned out Harry was the only fool who had fallen for Nick's persuasion.
"Can't I skip it? I'll say I have a stomachache," Harry muttered regretfully.
He was already regretting agreeing to go.
The thought of spending Halloween night in a cold, dark dungeon with a bunch of ghosts made his skin crawl.
Wasn't the food made by the house-elves delicious enough? Weren't Dumbledore's corny jokes cold enough already?
Most importantly, he could have spent the evening catching glimpses of Cho in the Great Hall, that was true happiness.
"Harry, you made a promise and you have to keep it," Hermione reminded him.
"Easy for you to say, you're not the one going," Harry grumbled.
"We didn't make any promises!" Hermione laughed as she took William's arm, "Isn't that right?"
William nodded. "By the way, what were you two looking for?"
"Ron," Harry said worriedly. "He said he was going to the bathroom, but he's been gone for nearly an hour. I'm afraid he fell in."
Harry figured dragging Ron to the party would make things more bearable.
"You don't need to look for Ron."
At that moment, the Weasley twins approached from the distance.
"We just saw Filch drag him off. He was soaking wet, looked like he fell into the Black Lake," Fred said.
"Wasn't Ron just going to the bathroom? How did he end up in the Black Lake?" Cho asked, puzzled.
Everyone was bewildered. Could Ron really have gone to relieve himself in the reeds by the Black Lake?
With Ron captured by Filch, Harry had no choice but to attend the Deathday Party alone.
William and the others cheerfully headed to the Great Hall.
Hagrid's giant pumpkins hung in the air, looking like private booths.
It was obvious Hagrid had secretly used an Engorgement Charm to make the pumpkins so enormous.
Annie popped her head out of one pumpkin's mouth, waving excitedly.
"Big brother, come up here!"
Luna and Ginny peeked out as well, wearing matching pumpkin hats like Annie's.
The Pumpkin Hat Trio!
"So, we're spending Halloween in a pumpkin this year?" George whistled.
"Sounds fun!" Fred said excitedly.
He planned to release his Niffler under the Slytherins' pumpkin booth to cause some mischief trouble.
Cedric, meanwhile, scanned the pumpkins, searching for a smaller one—one just big enough for two.
Alas, Hagrid clearly hadn't considered such accommodations.
Goodbye, romantic private booth dreams!
As night fell, Hogwarts' Halloween Feast officially began.
Dumbledore and the professors climbed into the largest pumpkin, while the students grouped up and found their own.
As Dumbledore declared the start of the feast, a ghostly pirate ship, tattered and spectral, sailed in through the castle walls.
Suddenly, Professor Kettleburn released a fire salamander.
The creature shot into the air, spinning wildly, releasing a cascade of crackling sparks and bursts of orange-red stars from its mouth. The dazzling display was mesmerizing.
Hermione peeled an orange, placing one slice into her mouth and feeding another to William.
She tilted her head up and smiled softly. "Halloween feasts are more fun than I thought."
William smiled back.
Two years ago, Professor Snape had been arrested by the Ministry of Magic; last year, a troll had invaded Hogwarts…
A peaceful feast like this was the kind of school life William had always longed for.
He bit into the orange slice… Who knew where the house-elves had gotten this fruit?
It was so sweet!
Hermione gazed at William, entranced. She reached out and gently brushed her fingers across his arched brow as he laughed.
He really was beautiful.