Chapter 7 - The Halloween Feast 1

"Wingardium Leviosa." Arth stared at his feather as it started to fly up high into the air.

"Excellently done, Mr. Kingscrown. Excellently done. 5 points to Gryffindor." Exclaimed Professor Flitwick with a very excited smile.

As Arth's feather slowly fell to the floor, Alice whipped out her wand and pointed at the slowly descending feather. "How did you do that? Whenever I try to do it, all that happens is.... Wingardium Leviosa!"

Th feather started to float upwards but also burst into flame.

Arth took a look at her wand movement before replying. "You are putting to much power into the swish and flick. Imagine the feather rising in a calm manner, and reveal that through your movement. Be calm and have the feather float, not burst upwards."

"I see, thanks.... Wingardium Leviosa."

The feather now slowly floated upwards but also burned fiercer.

"Hmmmm...." Arth said as he watched what remained of his feather turned to ash. "Professor Flitwick, I think we are going to need a new feather."

Professor Flitwick laughed. "No worries,it's a common occurrence. More common that one would think that is.... just a decades back, I had one student electrify a feather mid air.... went to become one of the finest elemental wizards I have ever seen before he dueled Grindelwald and perished...."

Professor Flitwick's face went sad for a moment before going back to his original happy attitude. "Here is your new feather. Do not be deterred by failure. Make sure that you are saying the magic words properly. Never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Arth could tell that Professor Flitwick was forcing himself to sound upbeat but chose not to call him out.

After about half of the students had managed to successfully cause their feathers to rise about a foot off the ground, the bell rang signaling them to leave their classes.

Arth and Alice packed up their stuff and met up in the hallway.

"Hey Arth, what class do we have next?"

"Defense against the dark arts, and then we have lunch."

"I'm hungry already though."

"You can wait."

Before Alice could retort at Arth, Lily cane over and grabbed her arm. "Alice, come on, let's go to DADA quickly, I want to go ask the professor some questions."

"Can't you got by yourself? Or with Severus?"

"Severus just had DADA and needs to go to History of Magic. I don't want to bother him."

Arth gave a smirk and gave a gentle push on Alice's back. "Go on then Alice. Go assist Ms. Evans and leave me alone."

"Oh be quiet Arth." Responded Alice while rolling her eyes. "I was going to go anyways. Let's leave this bookworm behind, Lily."

"By Alice, bye Lily."

"Bye Arth."

"See you at DADA."

Just as the two girls left, Arth's shoulder was attacked by two different arms. "How's it going Arth?"

Arth frowned and rubbed his shoulders before letting out a sigh. "It's going good James."

"Did you see how I made my feather go around in circles? Wasn't I brilliant?"

"I say this with great pity that I was unable to see your brilliance in action."

"Come on James, all you did was make it go around in a few circles. I made mine tickle Remus's nose." Smirked Sirius. "You should've seen how Remus sneezed. It was hilarious."

Remus rolled his eyes. "You seem to be forgetting the part where you failed to make the feather rise in the first twenty minutes."

"Be quite, Remus." Said Sirius lazily. "You didn't do much better than me."

"But I still did better."

James rubbed his stomach before letting out a grin. "Do any of you know what we are having for the Halloween Feast? I'm already ready for some pumpkin pie."

Arth furrowed his brows. "I think we are having cakes, turkey legs, an assortment of pies, and more of the usual stuff."

"So basically a normal dinner but grander, happier, and in larger amounts?"

"Basically," replied Arth while nodding.

"Sweet, I can't wait."

James ruffles his already messy hair before starting to strut around the castle to their class. "Do you three want to come over to my house during the summer? My parents are pretty cool. They will most likely let you three stay with us for a month."

Sirius jumped at the suggestion eagerly. "Sounds great mate, my family isn't that warm or welcoming. I would be glad to get rid of them for a month or two, and I know they feel the same about me."

Arty shrugged. "I guess. As long as my parents agree, I'll go."

"How about you Remus," said James with a cheeky grin. I have two yes's, let's make it three."

Remus gave them all a glum look. "I can't, sorry. My parents won't ever agree to that, and I have to agree with them."

"And why is that?"

".... My mum is sick. They say it's a very strong case of dragon pox."

Sirius and James gave Remus a pat on the back. "That sucks mate, I hope your mother gets better."

"You are welcome to come over when your mother gets better, Remus.

Arth gave Remus a sympathetic look before taking out a book from his bag. "Gunhilda created a cure for dragon pox but most likely the cure won't work. Let's hope that your mother endures through this."

"....yeah." Said Remus looking very uncomfortable.

"Is this also the reason why you always disappear one time a month?"

Remus flinched before slowly nodding his head. "Dumbledore gave me permission to go home to see my mother."

"Good man, Dumbledore," said James. "A good wizard as well. I see him as admirable."

"My family thinks he is an old crackpot." Said Sirius sourly. "As if some crackpot could defeat Grindelwald."

Arth nodded his head. "He is a respectable man. I read a few of his books and discoveries and he seems to be proud."

"But he has the right to be proud doesn't he? He's a genius. A mad lad as well, no one can deny that, but still a genius."

"Indeed."