Dark Hogwarts

A guttural sound, resembling both a growl and a grunt at the same time, echoed throughout the Great Hall. The parno hoofed animal looked around the rows of Hogwarts students, and became more and more nervous.

- Mooooooooooooo," the buffalo scuffed its hooves on the stone floor and rammed straight into the center of the room.

- Look out! - I flew to the other side of the table, scattering the dishes with the leftover food on the floor.

The monster flew between the center tables, smashing the benches with its carcass and making a real mess. The rest of the students followed my example, as the only way to avoid the animal was to move to another row, separated from the angry buffalo by a table.

- Run! Quickly! - I rushed towards the exit from the other row, while the buffalo was making its dash to reach the center of the hall.

The air was filled with dozens of spells cast by the students, most of which flew straight at the rushing beast. Red, green, and purple flashes and beams created a real laser show that made the Great Hall look more like a modern disco than a place for young wizards to eat.

The buffalo roared and scurried about as the first spells began to reach their target. Some beams bounced off the animal, some did not bring any visible changes, disappearing into the thick brown fur, but all the rest left behind a variety of effects. In a matter of seconds, the monster was scorched or iced in several places, suffered numerous lacerations, and staggered in all directions from the casting spells. Its hooves began to slip unhurriedly into the stone tiles, and its movements became slow.

The beast took on a whole bunch of spells from dozens of students, and, unable to endure such abuse, let out a deathly guttural wheeze and collapsed on its side, causing another bench at the claw table to break.

Many of the students hurrying out of the Great Hall stopped. I was right by the doorway, ready to jump out of the way if there was any new danger, or to run away with the first year Gryffindor class if the rabid buffalo somehow came to life or something else happened in the hall.

- Is he, uh, dead? - Lavender asked hysterically.

- Look, something's happening to him! - Seamus saw the dead carcass transform.

It seemed to melt before his eyes, and drops of blood disappeared from the floor. In a couple of seconds, instead of a huge buffalo, there was an ordinary pile of rocks of various sizes lying almost in the center of the Great Hall.

- It had been transfigured! - I shot out a hunch, saying it too loudly. So much so that almost everyone in the Great Hall heard me.

The sounds of some sort of commotion began to rise rapidly. The dishes on the tables shook, the tables and benches vibrated, and it was happening all over the hall.

Suddenly, the teachers' table cracked, sharply, with a crunch, folded in half in the air and turned into a giant polar bear. At the same time, the teachers' chairs did the same thing, and became dogs. Only Dumbledore's throne remained unchanged.

All inanimate things within the Great Hall began to transform into a variety of fauna at an astonishing rate. Plates became rodents, forks became lizards, glasses became spiders, and soaring pumpkins became birds. One by one, tables and benches were transformed into a variety of larger animals that looked back at the frightened students standing nearby with interest.

Ten seconds had passed since the buffalo had been killed, and now the Great Hall was a zoo without cages.

The students were stunned at the rapid change. When the bear was the first to become aggressive, growling viciously, I finally took action.

- First year, Gryffindor! Run to the living room! - I shouted, and I was the first to rush out of the Great Hall, flooded with transfigured animals.

The first year had only a few moments before there would be a deadly crush in the aisle. It was to our advantage that we were sitting closer to the exit than anyone else, and we'd already been at the door at the first attack.

I quickly moved away from the Great Hall toward the main marble staircase, glancing back at the students running out. And in a few seconds, the Great Hall turned into a branch of hell. The shrieks and growls of the animals were intertwined in a terrifying noise with the screams of the students who were fiercely defending themselves as they moved closer to the exit.

I decided to wait for the rest of the Gryffindors from my course before going up to the first floor. Right behind me ran Ron, Harry, and Seamus, with Dean, Neville, Lavender, Parvati, and Hermione catching up with them. The last to run was a low Sally-Anne along with Faye and Riona.

Phew, everyone seemed to have managed to get out of this meat grinder.

Along with us, other students from different courses were running as well. The Slytherins and Puffenduys hurriedly entered their doors leading to the dungeons, and the Ravenclaws, like us, hurriedly made their way up the stairs to their living room.

As we gathered together, the flaps of the doors to the Great Hall suddenly broke away from their hinges, and transformed into actual kangaroos! These creatures were instantly enraged by the appearance of the students in the crowd, and began to pummel the hapless students with their fists, heads, and bouncy legs, scattering them in all directions. The first spells flew at the created beasts, as they were blocking the only way out of the hall with their bodies.

- Enough gawking, this place is going to be jammed! Let's go! - I commanded my classmates, and we all headed up the stairs together.

The beast invasion, as it turned out, was not limited to the Great Hall, which was logical - where did the buffalo come from? In the corridor of the first floor we saw a real crocodile, which was hastily approaching in our direction with short wobbly jerks. We were lucky and he was far enough away, and a ladder-in-motion was docked to the nearest platform rather quickly. Luck was not smiling that way on the Clawmen, so they had to run away from the amphibious creature in the other direction at pace.

Incredibly, being up in the air, on a staircase with all sorts of traps that could activate at any moment, we felt much safer than we did in the corridors of the castle.

- Get your wands out, everyone. If you see an aggressive beast, hit it with everything you can, even jinxes, even throw your wand at it, if it succeeds! Me, Seamus, Harry and Hermione will use Depulso if necessary. But our first priority is to avoid collisions with animals and get to the living room," I instructed the children, who were on the verge of a breakdown because of all these events. And my whole plan, in fact, was that in the living room things would not be transformed into monsters.

If danger awaited us there as well, a safe place in Hogwarts was unlikely to even exist today.

With small journeys through the passages, we climbed higher and higher, floor by floor. Downstairs, meanwhile, the glare of spells, shouts, scuffles, and the sounds of various animals were becoming more and more active by the minute. Thanks to my quick reaction to what was going on, we managed to avoid taking part in the bacchanalia going on below, and all my companions understood it very well, so they obeyed my orders without question.

Standing on every ledge of the new floor and waiting for the next staircase, we listened with bated breath to what was happening in the corridors. Somewhere it was pristine silence, on the fourth floor we could hear clucking, and on the fifth floor some sniffing.

So we got to the seventh floor without any problems. And it turned out that it had been folly to suppose that we could escape so easily. The living room was off-limits.

Why? Because there was a huge fucking lion lying right by the Full Lady's portrait! The symbol of our faculty was guarding the Gryffindor tower!

- Okay, quiet, quiet, back up," I commanded nervously to the others as soon as I spotted the lion, "the living room is canceled, plan B. We need to get to our classroom in thirds. We need to get to our classroom on the third floor. If we lock ourselves in the classroom, we might survive the massacre.

Our path began to repeat in the opposite direction. As we began to descend again, there was a loud cawing sound from the Ravenclaw Lounge, and from there, frightened clawed Ravenclaws came running, scattering all over the seventh floor.

- Stay away from the Gryffindor common room! There's a lion in there! - I shouted to the boys. Hopefully they heard me.

The lower we went down, the louder the sounds of fighting got, and the more students fled upstairs.

- Attention! The living rooms are off-limits! - I shouted down to the students, my voice breaking, "They are guarded by the same beasts! Hide in the classrooms! - Maybe my clues wouldn't help the students on the lower floors, but at least it should have cut down on the flow of people wanting to get to the seventh floor.

Through the sparse groups of fleeing students, we managed to get to the right wing of the third floor.

- Hey, freshmen! Stop right there!" they shouted to us from a lower floor.

We turned around and saw the seniors from our faculty. Among them were Olivia, and Dylan, who had beaten her up on the first day, and a dozen other students. They were in varying degrees of dishevelment, and glumly floated up the next staircase straight toward us.

- Who was told to come looking for us?! You want to die!? - one of them, who seemed to be the oldest of the bunch, was snapping at us.

Each senior student approached his protégé from the first year, examined him for wounds and reprimanded him for disobeying orders.

- What were we supposed to do when it got really bad out there, and you were all in the middle of it? - I answered for all the seniors, "That's why we were the first to run for the exit.

- Okay, guys, Golden's right," Olivia stood up for me, "did you make it to the living room? Is the entrance closed?

- Yeah, we made it. It's not, it's guarded by a freakin' lion that's lying right up the stairs.

The seniors looked at each other.

- Well, I think we can handle one lion, even if it's enchanted to the max," one of the seniors suggested.

- Right, let's move toward the living room, and you," the oldest of them pointed his finger at the freshmen, "walk beside us and don't even think about moving away. Got it?

We agreed, as we realized that this unusual concern for our safety was a good thing. For some reason, this group of seniors was eager to protect us, and if that was the case, there was no point in preventing it.

- Wait, do you hear that? - One of the seniors tensed, causing us all to stop.

The quiet sounds of slapping and sniffling became more and more distinct. And then we were attacked.

Right from the corner a whole bunch of monkeys jumped out at us! As soon as they noticed our company, they rushed into battle with their mouths grinning, biting the students, throwing them to the floor with their bodies, beating them with their strong furry hands.

And I was in the thick of it at the moment of the attack. I was on the periphery of their attack. I didn't even manage to conjure a single "Depulso" as one of the monkeys took me by the scruff of the neck with a single hand and threw me into the corridor. The animal slammed my childish body into the stone wall, knocking the spirit out of me.

- Kyle! Kyle, are you okay? Can you stand up? - Hermione shook my shoulder as I came to my senses and tried to catch my breath.

- What... What's going on.

- They're fighting, Kyle. They might see us. Riona's been thrown down, I saw-- Ron's arm was ripped off. We have to go to the room, do you still have the key?

I, trying to comprehend everything the girl had said, fumbled for the key to the study in my pocket.

- Yes...

- Get up, - the girl helped me to get upright, - we have to hurry.

We began to walk away from the battle with the primates. Out of the corner of my eye, I looked at the platform where the Hogwarts students were fighting the apes, and it was some kind of brutality. The upperclassmen were trying to break the distance to use their wands, and their opponents were actively preventing them from doing so. There was blood on the floor, and some of the students and primates were fighting on the stairs, which had begun to move away, bringing some of the scuffle to a higher floor. I couldn't see any faces, but I did notice one of the apes break away from the battle and see us, clearly interested in the retreating ones.

- Hermione, wait, we've been spotted... We need to... We need to repel it, come on, repulsors.

We turned around and pointed our wands at the monkey coming towards us. Standing still wasn't easy, but I was doing my best to be able to cast the spell.

- Depulso! - We shouted our spells together, and two white clots hit the enemy.

The monkey flew a few meters away, tumbled, but got up quite sharply.

- Ooo-ah, ooo-ah, r-ya-ya!" she let out her battle cry and rushed toward us at breakneck speed.

- Let's do it again," I shouted to Hermione, "Depulso!

The monkey dodged one of the beams, but the second one hit her in the left arm, causing her to flip over and fall, only to get up again and start rapidly closing the distance.

- Depulso! Depulso!

- Kyle, she's getting closer!

- Pull back!

The closer the monkey got, the easier it was to hit. But each time it got closer and closer to us, we were too slow to get into the room.

It was like I was in slo-mo watching her final jump. Bared monkey jaws with sharp protruding teeth headed straight for my face.

- Impedimenta! Incarcero! - The monkey slowed down and ropes were formed around it, binding it tightly by the arms and legs.

Thanks to the deceleration, we managed to bounce sideways, and the enemy landed on an empty space, desperately trying to get out of the restraints. One of the ropes gagged the monkey, so at least those nasty squeals were silenced.

- Golden, are you okay? - Olivia Riley ran up to me and examined me for injuries.

He looked a little ragged: his robe was torn in several places, his left sleeve was stained with blood, and there were a couple of bruises on his face.

- Yeah, I'm fine. Hit a wall, but nothing critical.

- I'm fine too, thanks for asking," Hermione grumbled resentfully, but the older girl ignored it.

I tapped the girl's shoulder and gave her an expressive look.

- Thank you for saving us.

- Yes, yes... Were you headed somewhere in particular?

- We have a rented office nearby, key available. We thought it would be best to wait there, since the stairs are so chaotic," Hermione answered Hermione's question, though I was the one asking it.

- 'Go on then, lead the way. Finite Incantatem," the girl said, pointing her wand in the direction of the kicking monkey. The animal promptly turned into a metal stand.

Seeing our bewildered faces, the headmistress condescended to explain:

- Cancellation charms. They only work when these beasts are fixed. Transfiguration combined with enchantment is a terrible thing. The entire teaching staff must have worked on these beasts....

- How are the others? How did it end? - I asked Olivia questions as we walked down the deserted corridor.

- It's over. It's not over. Some of us went to the fourth floor with the ladder, and the rest of us retreated downstairs. Good thing those things didn't kill the wounded and stunned, or half the school would have died from such an ordeal.

- And ours? The freshmen, did you happen to see if they're okay?

- Golden, the situation didn't really lend itself to looking at other students. I barely escaped, and it's a good thing I saw you get thrown into the hallway. This one? - She pointed to the door labeled "315."

- Yeah," I pulled out the key, turned the lock, and we were finally safe. At least the objects in the classroom weren't turning into aggressive fauna just yet.

- S-s-s-s," Olivia pulled the cloak off her bloody arm, pulled up the sleeve of her shirt, and began casting healing spells.

We settled right at our desks, giving our tired bodies a welcome respite. How long had it been since dinner? Thirty minutes? We were dead tired in that time, and Hermione was the only one of us who didn't look injured.

- So, what's this, then? Are you here to save me? - I started a conversation with the Head Girl, or did you just get separated from the others?

- You're so smart. Yes, Golden, your carcass is the most valuable thing in the castle to me right now.

- But why? No, thank you, but you have a reason to help me, don't you?

- Did you know that you have an incredible curiosity? - Olivia sighed," Okay, I'll tell it like it is, especially since you're already in the process of getting to know these quirks....

Hermione and I scooted closer and perked up our ears.

- This kind of thing happens every Halloween. I don't know how long this tradition has been going on, but it's been going on for about two decades. The idea is that the teachers come up with some sort of challenge and we pass it. They can be pretty tough, but honestly, to be honest," she nodded toward the door, "that's the first time I've ever seen it. So, during this challenge, the best students of the faculty are given the name of a freshman, whom they must protect with all their might - you're still green and untrained. As you can guess, I got you, Golden.

- What happens if you can't defend? Points taken off? Or worse?

- Ha ha," the girl laughed nervously, "points. I wouldn't give a damn about the points then, even if they took away a hundred, I'd earn more. If a freshman is injured enough to end up in the hospital wing, they'll provide some unpleasant punishment, they're really good at their inventions. And if the guarded student dies, imagine, his guard dies too. So you're not supposed to die today, Golden. I'm gonna live a little longer.

From such information I was not weakly shocked, but I decided to use the revelations of the tired girl, continuing to pester her with questions. I'll have time to reflect later, when this "festive" day is finally over.

- And what is the essence of this test? Survive the monsters? Wait for the dawn? What's the goal?

- Who knows? There is a purpose. Except that they forgot to tell us, so we have to figure it out for ourselves... Or wait for someone else to figure it out.

- What was your challenge last year? What was the challenge?

- Okay, I'll tell you, but don't tell the others," Olivia waited for us to agree. "They put sleeping pills in our food at the feast. We ate and passed out, and woke up in the middle of nowhere in one of the neighboring mountains. We found ourselves in one place, and the goal was to get to the castle. In the cold, in the dark.

So that's why the seniors didn't want to touch the food!

- Doesn't look too hard, with warming spells and Lumos? They left you wands, didn't they?

- They did, yes. Except they took something else. A quarter of the students woke up blind, a quarter deaf, a quarter dumb, and the rest couldn't move their legs. It's not hard, is it? When you get an arrow from the centaurs or bitten by a huge spider, then you can tell me how easy it was for you. We had to work together to get to the castle alive. Only unity and mutual help saved us from dying on the way.

- I'm sorry, it seems really hard now.

- That's okay, you're a freshman, you're forgiven. A pretty promising freshman, by the way. I don't remember freshman managing to not only rent a classroom for classes, but to figure out points and their possibilities so quickly. You'll go a long way.

- If I live, I know. You're not the first person to tell me that thought in different interpretations.

- Uh-huh, also true. But your class has yet to experience Dumbledore's plan, so yeah, it's going to take a lot of effort to survive.... I shouldn't have said that, damn it.

- Dumbledore's plan? Can you please tell me what you mean? We won't tell anyone, we promise. Does it have to do with the third floor corridor?

- Oh, okay," the girl waved her hand at us, "I told you anyway. But just don't tell anyone, not even your classmates, that you got it from someone, okay? Just make it up like you overheard or something.

- Sure, we'll do that," I nodded, speaking for both of us.

- Anyway, besides the Halloween challenge, there's a personal tradition of Dumbledore's. At the beginning of the year, he chooses a course, a faculty, a student or a group of students-always different-and prepares a special task for them. A deadly one, of course. If they do it, he'll reward them with a bunch of points and maybe something else. The Weasley twins last year, for example, were rewarded with some sort of special Hogwarts map. I haven't looked into it, but they say it's pretty cool. Well, if they don't fulfill it, there'll be some kind of sanctions. And something tells me it's better to die trying than to displease the Headmaster.

- How did you know that-- Right, his acceptance speech.

- Bingo! Why do you think we seniors breathed a sigh of relief then? Because Dumbledore said that only first year students are allowed into the closed section, so we won't be affected by his plans this year. It's either all of you or one of the lucky ones. All right, let me catch my breath and figure out how to pass this damn test.

So we sat in the classroom for a while, immersed in silence and minding our own business. Hermione had dug out a book of some sort and even at this hour she decided to do some reading. I was kneading my bruised body and feeling the bruises on my shoulder blades. Riley was healing her wounds, taking the swelling down and getting her appearance back in order.

- What? I'm actually going to take sixth year witch doctoring. Pomfrey has her quirks, and don't ask me what they are, but healing is considered a prestigious profession, so I won't be lost.

I couldn't help but wonder what Dumbledore had in store for us. We're not going to get to the Philosopher's Stone, are we? It's not even a threat to him - Quirrell's different, he's not possessed. Potter hasn't said anything of the sort, and he hasn't visited Hagrid, showing that he has no desire to be friends with the giant.

What's in store for us, then? Did the Headmaster give us a clue? I remember, I assumed that his words about the melody refer to the three-headed Cannon, which means that he must be sitting there and guarding something.... Maybe there were more hints? Wait a minute... What was his full line?

"Ordinary beasts are overcome by the stars and the strongest by melody."

Common beasts. Is that what he means about Halloween?!? That's the goal!? The stars win.

- I got it! - I jumped up from my seat, which scared Hermione and Olivia.

- You're good, but why do you have to be so scary?

- I'm sorry, it just came out of nowhere.

- Never mind. So what did you learn? What to do with your free time here?

- No. I figured out what I need to do to end this ordeal.

Olivia gave me a questioning look:

- Well, tell me, don't keep me in suspense.

- His acceptance speech. Or rather, his last words before the feast began. Ordinary beasts will triumph over the stars! He meant this day, it was a clue to all of us! The stars! Well? Do you get it?

- I don't remember what he said. Wait, how do we use the stars to defeat animals? That doesn't make any sense.

- Tell me something, Olivia. Where's the best place to look at the stars at Hogwarts?

- The Astronomy Tower! - shouted Riley at the same time as Hermione.

- Bingo! That's apparently where you have to go to end this whole thing. I'm pretty sure of it.

- It does sound logical. Except we're not going anywhere, and don't even think about it. Crossing the entire castle with two freshmen at our backs. Your Depulso's aren't bad, but they're not enough to handle the threat. And I might not be able to do it alone, so I'm not taking any chances on this venture.

- I'm afraid you don't have a choice, Olivia.

- I'm sorry? Are you threatening me like that? - The girl frowned, "Are you strong enough to make me?

- I won't have to, and I wasn't going to threaten you. Look over there," I pointed to the dusty teacher's desk at the far end of the room, "I just noticed it, really.

The upright book on that desk was vibrating faintly, and the pages were flipping back and forth.

- Your... Transformation in the offices... There's no safe place? Shit," Olivia shouted, stomping her foot forcefully, 'Looks like we're going to have to take that risk,' she acknowledged my point, "Pack up, let's get out of here before any hippos show up...

We pulled out our wands and prepared to head back into the corridors of the school.

- All right, I'll go first, you watch my back. If you see any danger, you let me know. In a mass attack, try to push off other targets while I deal with mine. And no unnecessary chatter, so as not to attract unwanted attention. Ready? Let's go!

The third floor was quiet. We sneaked along the wall, reacting warily to every rustle. The platform greeted us with bodies that were wrapped in some sort of cocoon, so we couldn't see their faces.

- Strong stasis charms," Olivia whispered, "I guess there were too many victims, and the teachers are helping the outliers to stay alive and make it to the hospital wing when this is over. Moving on.

If we encountered any students along the way, they were either stunned or injured, or were too far away from us to cooperate with.

Aggressive animals were nowhere to be seen. It was as if they had evaporated, or gathered all in one place. I only hoped that the astronomy tower was not their gathering point.

We'd successfully made it to the seventh floor, and we could still see the lion guarding the entrance to our living room. Turning down another empty corridor, we managed to reach the spiral staircase leading to the telescope observation deck without any obstacles. And on that staircase lay a student bleeding to death.

- Diggory? Fourth year Puffendu? - Olivia recognized him. What happened? Are you okay?

The boy was holding his bloody stomach, but he was still conscious:

- Panther. She was guarding the entrance. I took her down, but I couldn't get any further up. I took a pretty good beating. The stars. There must be an end. Come up. It's safe.

- Hush, hush," Olivia began to cast various spells on Cedric as he closed his eyes, "I don't want him to die, so I'll have to tend to his wounds. Either wait for me or go yourself, it's up to you.

- We'll go," I answered for me and Hermione, who nodded affirmatively, "if there's any danger, we'll yell.

- Yeah... Just don't die in there, Golden, okay?

- You got it, Headmistress Riley," I nodded at her to lighten the mood - the sight of Diggory was really spoiling the mood, "Come on, Hermione. Let's finish this whole horror.

When we got to the top of the astronomy tower, we saw a giant owl standing right by the observation balcony.

Right in front of her was a large lever that glowed with different bright colored flashes.

- Just like that? - I asked aloud, "You're not going to suddenly attack us, are you, owl?

The animal looked at me without blinking, but did not take any aggressive action.

- So, if I turn this lever," I stepped closer to it and grabbed the handle, "it's all over? No catch?

- That's right, Mr. Golden," a stern female voice answered me from the shadows, a voice I'd never confuse with anyone else.

- Professor McGonagall," I stretched, not expecting to hear a transfiguration teacher here, "what are you doing here?

- Waiting for the most agile students, of course. Gryffindor," a faint smile lit up her face, "perfect score, first year. Which one of you guessed it?

- It was Kyle, the professor. He was able to figure it out," Hermione replied.

- And Olivia Riley, Professor," I hastened to mention my savior, "we got here together. And Cedric Diggory, he defeated the protector but didn't make it here.

- It's commendable that you don't intend to take all the glory for yourself, Mr. Golden. However, it is you who stands before me, not anyone else, not counting Ms. Granger. Come on, pull the lever.

I complied with McGonagall's wishes, and pulled the handle the other way. A wave of energy came out of the mechanism, and a rapidly expanding ball of energy covered the entire Hogwarts grounds. The giant owl, in contact with the energy, turned into a large telescope.

- Fifty points, Mr. Golden. 'Congratulations on ending Halloween,' McGonagall said, 'go down and help the injured to the Hospital Wing. And you, Ms. Granger, stay for a few minutes, I need to talk to you.

What on earth could McGonagall possibly want with Hermione?

I was coming down from the astronomy tower, overtaken by a withdrawal. I'd managed to cope. Guess. But just how many lives had this bloody Halloween harvest harvested on this day? And are my friends safe?