the grim and the halloween

October 10th, 1993

AFTER A LONG day of multiple tests with Ms. Sloan, followed by a quick trip to drop off some muffins at the Burrow, Daisy found herself sitting on the swing, swaying along to the soft breeze, with a piece of paper and a pen in her hands. She had written the first sentence (Dear FGW) and wondered what to write next.

"Are you writing a love letter to your boyfriend in boarding school?" Lucy asked. She was petting a black, furry, gigantic but very friendly stray dog that had somehow found its way to the Allen's yard. Its ears perked for a second before lowering again as it purred under her rhythmic caresses.

"What boyfriend?"

"Young Miss, you talk about our next door neighbour all the time, and I am a pretty good listener, so I do notice that you talk about one person more intently than the others."

Daisy scrunched up her eyebrows and let the gears in her brain whirred into motion. She was utterly, and genuinely, clueless, "Who?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. She playfully scratched behind the dog's ears and cooed, "Look at her! How is she so smart yet so dense at the same time? Right? Right? Right?"

"Really, though. Who?"

The dog whined, as if repeating Daisy's inquiry, then went after the stick that Lucy had thrown. The older girl merely shook her head and chuckled.

"Lucy!"

"No, I'm not telling you! Figure it out on your own!"

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October 24th, 1993

CONTRARY TO HIS youngest brother, Fred mentioned numerous times that he and George had been having a great time these past months.

Especially when they could tease the hell out of the Golden Trio's Divination classes.

"Hey, Ronniekins."

"What?" Ron replied sharply.

"Have you start reading orbs with Professor Trelawney?"

Ron frowned, "No."

"Ah..." George nodded. His grin blossomed from ear to ear, "That's why..."

"Why what?"

"Why you're such a loser. You got no balls."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Seriously! That's a horrible pun!"

"Wait a second. You're taking Divination, too?" Ginny asked, raising her eyebrows, "But... Don't you also take Muggle Studies? They're overlapping, right?"

"Would you look at the time! Come on Ron, Harry, it's Charms." Hermione exclaimed, jolting in her seat. She scurried off with her huge sack of books thrown over her shoulder before the other two boys could groan and drag their feet away from the table.

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October 31st, 1993

"WHO'S H. GRANGER?"

Daisy blinked as she felt her body tensed, "I'm sorry?"

"I found a packaging box in the recycling center, addressed to you from an H. Granger," Mr. Allen said, "Who's that?"

"Ah... She's, uh... a friend, Father, a pen pal. We met online." The fact that she could lie that smoothly and easily scared Daisy a little bit. "She just sent me some books to exchange opinions about."

"Good, good..." Mr. Allen nodded. He had the last of his trunks ready to be shipped and he stopped on his tracks as they reached the door, "I trust you to run our house well throughout my trip."

Daisy folded her hands behind her back and smiled, "Of course, Father."

He nodded.

She nodded back.

He nodded again, awkwardly, "Alright then. Good bye."

"Good bye, Father."

Daisy politely waited for her father to enter the cab and took off towards the airport. Before she could turn around and reenter her house, though, a boy called out to her name. "Jane!"

It was Atlas, followed by Dominic. They were mounted on their bicycle, halting right beside the huge decorative fountain, which was the centerpiece of the Allen's garden. The older one waved at her and hollered, "What are you doing tonight? We're throwing a Halloween party! You should come!"

"I don't think I can," Daisy replied as loud as she could, "But thank you again for the invite!"

"Ouch, come on! You're never available! Are you throwing one here yourself?"

Daisy merely smiled and the two boys, now already quite familiar with her reclusive antiques, went on with their journey.

"Tell me the truth. Why not?" Lucy asked, crossing her arms, "It's a charming offer, Dais."

"I'm heading over to the Weasleys. It's been a while."

"Didn't you say the kids are all off to school? What are you doing there? Hanging out with two elderlies? How about going to the party tonight so I can tag along, then I'll leave you to ditch us for the Weasleys tomorrow?"

"You know, Luce, you should go to Atlas' party. Take one of my dresses."

"But—"

"See you!"

Lucy watched Daisy skipped happily towards her room and wondered in amusement... Just what kind of power did the Weasleys had to be so loathed by the entire neighborhood and, at the same time, loved by her so much?

She had a sudden idea.

With no other task in hand, Lucy hurried back into her sleeping quarter and pulled out her notebook. She jotted down: WESLEYS? WEESLEYS? (OUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR)

She didn't know how to write their names properly.

Then she racked her brain, trying to retrieve facts from her poor memories about the mysterious neighboring family.

Reclusive, odd, never mingle with the others. Unable to socialize, keep to themselves (except Daisy).

Daisy said no visiting them at all, and no one can know that she goes there nearly every day. Why? Why is Mr. Allen particularly against them?

Kind (helps with Daisy's injuries), good with herbs and ointments.

Likes Daisy's baked goods.

Six sons, one daughter. I think two or three is out of school? Someone named Fred, most likely her age.

Children goes to an exclusive boarding school. Only comes back in the Summer. Send letters instead of telephone calls. Old fashioned?

Lucy paused scribbling, then added one last sentence.

Hidden album titled MAGIC but I can't exactly rummage through her stuff, geez...

Contrary to her expectation, the night was still very young when her door was knocked and the person in question herself appeared, looking abashed.

"Young Miss! What..." Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Are you doing back here so fast?"

"Um... Well," Daisy shifted her weight from one toe to another, pursing her lips, "I got kicked out."

"By the Weasleys?"

"Once they heard that I turned down a Halloween party for them, they scolded me and told me to go," she admitted, running her fingers down her loose blonde strands, "So, will you... Will you—"

Lucy closed her book with a loud thud, "Yes. Let's get you some DIY costume."

"Us," Daisy corrected, and the two girls smiled. Lucy grabbed Daisy's hand and pulled her along as she dashed upstairs towards the latter's room.

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October 31st, 1993

THE HALLOWEEN FEAST was, as usual, brilliant.

The fact that it coincided with a Hogsmeade visit made it a hundred times better. Fred and George, with the help of their friends, managed to snuck in loads of Honeydukes sweets and Zonko's products.

"We need these to develop our own inventions, as inspiration," George said, gesturing to the latter.

"And we need these to keep our minds alert at night, as we invent," Fred added, gesturing to the former.

They stashed everything in their dorm room and went down to the Great Hall, which had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, clouds of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant water snakes.

Fred helped himself with at least two portions of everything. He couldn't wait to send a letter along with some sugar quills and chocolate wands for Daisy, maybe tomorrow morning, and tell her how wonderful the feast was here in Hogwarts.

An entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts finished the festivity and much too soon, they had to return to bed. The twins and their three best friends strutted along their fellow Gryffindors, but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" Lee asked curiously.

Fred peered over the crowd, silently thanking the fact that he was born tall, and told his shorter friends, "The portrait... Fat Lady's nowhere in sight."

Percy came bustling importantly through the crowd, bumping shoulders with Fred as he passed by. "Let me through, please. What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password. Excuse me, I'm Head Boy—"

Fred exchanged glances with George and scoffed.

And then an eerie silence fell over the crowd. He heard Percy said sharply, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

People's heads turned. Those at the back were standing on tiptoe. They could see Ron, Hermione, and Harry, looking as lost as everyone else, and Ginny, who had just arrived with her Second Year friends.

A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, and as the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through, they could finally see what the trouble was: the Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor. Great chunks of it had been torn away completely.

"We need to find her," said Professor Dumbledore, "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search for every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" Peeves cackled, floating over their heads, "Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess, crying something dreadful. Poor thing."

"What do you mean, Peeves?" said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeves's grin faded a little. He didn't dare to taunt Dumbledore.

"Did she say who did it?" Professor Dumbledore asked in a low voice.

"Oh yes, Professorhead," said Peeves, "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see. Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."