Scarlet Lion

Chapter Two: Snake Charming

Spike moved cautiously through the crowds in Diagon Alley. He had already gone to Gringotts and withdrawn some money from his account (the goblins never asked questions such as why it had been inactive for 120 years) and was making his way to Flourish and Blotts, hoping to catch up on the latest wizarding news. Books were good, too, he liked books.

He entered the musty old shop and just browsed for a while, picking up random titles that looked interesting and flipping through them lazily. 'Boy, would Giles kill to come here,' he thought as he scanned through a book about various types of demons and the apocalypses they might bring about. 'I wonder if he has this one?'

Just then the bell at the door tinkled as someone entered. Spike looked up as a boy with white-blond hair passed him, headed towards a shelf in the back. He looked familiar for some reason that Spike couldn't place, so he did a mental shrug and went back to his reading.

A few minuets later the bell tinkled again as Harry, Ron, and Hermione came in, laughing happily at something Ron had just said. They seemed in high spirits, not noticing Spike at his table near the wall. Hermione took out her list of required books and started scanning the shelves near the cashier's desk, the two boys following closely behind. She was busy pulling material down to look through when Ron spotted the blond boy who had come in earlier. He jabbed Harry in the ribs, who grunted in protest, then looked to where Ron was pointing. He, in turn, whispered something into Hermione's ear and she turned to look as well. They had all turned to try and move quietly toward the door when the blond kid finally looked up and noticed them.

"Well, well. If it isn't Perfect Potter and the Weasel," he sneered, heading over to them. Something about the kid bothered Spike, but he wasn't sure what is was.

"Malfoy," Harry said curtly, hardly even turning to look over his shoulder at the blond. "We were just leaving, weren't we?" he asked Hermione.

"Yes," she replied and turned to leave.

"And you too, Mudblood, how could I have forgotten?" the blond identified as Malfoy said with a sneer. "Here to pollute more blood streams, are you?"

At that, Spike had stood up and was making his way over. He didn't like the way this kid was talking to his charges. Harry and Hermione were busy holding onto Ron to make sure he didn't jump on the kid when Spike stood right behind the boy and leaned over so he could talk into his ear.

"That's some rough language, that is. Wouldn't want to offend anybody, now, would you?" he said in a sugary sweet voice.

Malfoy visibly blanched and turned around quickly, while Harry, Ron and Hermione were giving Spike appreciative looks.

"Who're you?" Malfoy demanded, his cocky air returning, but his eyes still looked worried.

"Name's Spike, Sir. Now, when I heard you say the term 'Mudblood,' you wouldn't have been talking to my young friend Miss Granger, would you?" he asked, stepping a little closer to the kid.

"So what if I was?" Malfoy replied with a snarl, but stepped back a little.

"Oh, because if you had, then certain unpleasant things might have to happen to the party involved in said commentary. Do you comprendez?"

"I..." Draco said, his voice wavering a little.

"Now run along to your mommy before someone gets hurt."

Malfoy looked extremely indignant, his eyes flashing with just barely controlled malice. "You're going to rue the day you messed with me, you annoying twat." Then he turned with a swirl of his robes and made his way toward the exit, but not before stopping and hissing in Harry's ear, "You still won't get away with what you did to my father. You will pay dearly, and the wrath of the great Lord of Darkness will fall upon you. Got it?" With that he stormed out.

With the tinkle of the bell, Ron burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Did you see the look on the slimy git's face? It's like all my Christmases and Birthdays have come at once!" he fell to the floor in peals of laughter. Harry was smiling widely as well, watching his friend roll around in mirth, but Hermione looked worried.

"This is going to come back to haunt you, you know. Malfoy's not one to mess with," she said, her hands twisting in front of her.

Spike just smiled with a slight sneer and said, "I haven't felt that good in a long time. It was nice to get some of that pent up stress off my chest." He looked at Hermione's worried face. "Oh, cheer up, bit. It's not the end of the world. Trust me, I've seen my share of apocalypses."

She just looked at him quizzically, then her eyes flicked to his neck. "Where'd you get that necklace?" she asked.

Spike looked down at the Rowan necklace and shrugged. "Old girlfriend."

"You weren't wearing it at breakfast," she stated.

"Just found it in one of my boxes before we left," he replied, tucking it into his shirt. She still looked unconvinced, but said nothing more.

The rest of the day was spent roaming around Diagon Alley. He followed the Gryffindor trio to various stops, including the Quidditch supply shop. He had to admit that the one aspect of the wizarding world he had missed the most was Quidditch.

They had stopped for ice cream, Spike enjoying a peanut-chocolate triple fudge swirl, when he suddenly felt a slight stinging on the back of his neck. He put his hand on it to investigate and that started stinging too. He looked up to find the sun directly behind him. Checking his watch he realized it had been just over three hours since he had put the necklace on. The protective effects had started to wear off.

Panicking a little, he stood up quickly, unbalancing his ice cream which splattered on the ground. Muttering a quick excuse to the three confused teens, he dashed toward the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. Making it through the wall and into the safety of the pub he sat down and ordered a whiskey, deciding that from then on he'd be more careful about keeping track of the time. He removed the necklace and stuffed it into his pocket, then settled in to wait for the others to finish shopping and filter in.

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Harry watched in confusion as Spike ran away toward the pub, not noticing the fact that his ice-cream was starting to drip down his hands.

"That was odd," Hermione said, licking her own cone in thought. "He seemed almost panicked." Then she turned to Harry. "Your ice cream is melting by the way." He quickly licked it up so it wouldn't drip onto his clothes.

"I knew he was screwy," Ron said, as if that solved everything. Hermione just shot him an annoyed look.

"We should probably be heading back to meet up with the others soon, anyway. We can see what's going on then," she suggested. The other two agreed and they all stood up, making their way through the crowds.

Harry stopped suddenly. "I forgot my bag!" he said, then turned around and ran back for it. Calling over his shoulder he said, "Go on, I'll catch up!"

Hermione and Ron just shrugged at each other and went on.

Harry skidded to a stop next to the table, almost knocking over a chair. He quickly located his bag, threw it over his shoulder and hurried to catch up. As he ran by a shop he suddenly heard a voice down an alley way, softly talking to itself. "Oh, they wouldn't listen to me. They just had to go and do it. Small, insignificant worms! They'll get theirs soon, oh yes. They'll all see. They'll all pay."

Harry looked around to see if anyone else heard it, but all the other people in the street continued to walk by, completely oblivious. He cautiously entered the small alley way, not sure what to expect.

"Hello?" he called softly, hoping that whomever it was wasn't going to be a chainsaw killer or something. When he didn't see anyone he turned to leave, but just as he reached the opening into Diagon Alley he was grabbed by the neck of his robes and drug back into the shadows.

He was lifted up and slammed against the wall, finding himself looking into the face of a strange, obviously magical, creature. It looked almost human from the waist up except for dark green hair, yellow cat-like eyes, and the scales running from its wrists to its shoulders. From the waist down she, for it apparently was a she, had the long tail of a snake. It twisted around agitatedly on the pavement, pushing aside old bottles of butter beer and parchment papers. When she opened her mouth and hissed, Harry heard words in it. That's why he was the only one who had heard the voice.

"What have we here? A wizard who has wandered away from the herd?" She asked, forked tongue slipping out between her fangs.

"Please, I don't mean any harm." Harry found himself replying in Parseltongue, his wind pipe feeling crushed in her powerful grip. She looked a little startled, obviously not expecting him to respond.

"You speak the snake language?" she hissed, eyes narrowing.

"Yes, I'm a Parselmouth."

"Why are you here? Did THEY send you?"

"I don't know who you mean, but I can't breathe," he choked out, the edge of his vision beginning to go black. He was greatly relieved when her grip loosened, allowing him to put his feet back on the ground, but she still held him fast against the wall, not allowing him to go for his wand.

"Why are you here?" she asked again, still looking at him suspiciously.

"I heard you talking to yourself and I came to investigate," he replied, hoping she didn't think he was lying. Apparently she believed him because her grip loosened even more.

"I am usually ignored by the magic folk when I'm like thi..."

"HARRY! OH MY GOD!"

Harry whipped his head around to see Hermione rushing towards him down the alley way. With a hiss and a rustle, the snake-creature vanished around a corner near the end of the alley, moving extremely fast. When Hermione reached him she flung her arms around his neck and started babbling.

"Oh Harry, what was that thing? Are you all right? Do we need to take you to a doctor? Should I..."

"Calm down, Hermione! Let me talk!" he said, putting a hand over her mouth. She looked at him with wide eyes, but became quiet. "Yes, I'm all right. I don't know what or who she was, but she was about to tell me when you came running in here."

"Well, what else was I supposed to do? Just stand there and let that thing rip my friend's insides out?" She paused then said, "What do you mean 'she?'"

"We were talking in Parseltongue, and she was a girl. That's what I mean."

"So, she wasn't about to rip your insides out?"

"No, Hermione, she wasn't."

"Then why was she holding you up against the wall?"

"At first she thought I was a threat, but can we wait and talk about this later? The others are probably getting worried," he said, trying to come up with an excuse to get her to calm down and think rationally before they talked about anything.

She took a deep breath before replying, "Yes, of course. You're right, Harry. Let's go."

They both turned and exited into Diagon Alley, but not before Harry turned his head to look over his shoulder to the end of the alley where the snake-woman had disappeared.

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Mrs. Weasley was busy in the kitchen again, buzzing about in order to get things ready for Harry's birthday dinner that would take place that evening. Charlie and Bill were out back, having Table Wars (as they called it) like the summer before Harry's fourth year.

The twins had apparated to the house earlier that evening in a burst of Filibuster's wet-start fireworks that had caused Mrs. Weasley to chase them around the house with her frying pan. Now they were out in the back with their older brothers, cheering as one of the tables broke in half with a crunch. Spike had, once again, disappeared into his room and Ginny was to arrive a later that evening after spending the previous two weeks at a friend's house.

Percy still wasn't quite on friendly terms with his parents yet, but he had sent them an owl with an apology letter, albeit a short one. He wasn't coming tonight because of the slight tension that was still between him and his father.

Mrs. Weasley hollered out the kitchen window when she heard the sound of the table breaking, "Boys! What on earth are you doing?! Put those tables down and come get the silverware!" They reluctantly set them down, cast a quick charm to mend the tables, and trudged into the house. Fred and George immediately whipped out their own wands and continued the battle, yelling insults at each other in good sport.

The trio were in the living room once again with Hermione poring over her school books and the two boys playing chess. It seemed as if she had finally stopped pestering them about the importance of summer work and decided to let them fail if they wanted to.

Harry shouted happily as his rook took Ron's Queen, dragging her kicking and screaming off the board. Hermione glared at them over the top of her book, apparently annoyed at being disturbed, but her eyes said that she was just barely stopping herself from rushing over to Harry and demanding what happened in the alley earlier. So Harry leaned back in his chair and asked, "Would you like something, Hermione?" Ron looked up, confused.

"Well, yes," she replied, closing her book slowly. "Can we go upstairs and talk about it?"

"Sure," he replied, motioning for Ron to follow. They quickly made their way up to Ron's room where they shut the door and sat down on the bed.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"Harry was attacked in an alley today," Hermione stated bluntly.

"WHAT?!" Ron cried, jumping off the bed. The attic ghoul made a loud bang at that and rattled around in some crates.

"Shush! Sit down, Ron!" Hermione whispered urgently. He did so reluctantly. When he was quiet she said, "You know when I went back to look for Harry when he was taking too long?" Ron nodded silently. "Well, I found him in an alley, pinned up against the wall by a snake-creature. She was hissing at him, but it didn't register at the time that they were talking to each other. So I yelled and ran at them, startling her. She let go of him and ran around a corner, and that's all I know." She turned and looked at Harry expectantly, who had just been sitting quietly through the whole thing. She obviously wanted to know more. He sighed and proceeded to tell them what happened.

When he finished talking Ron was gaping at him, eyes and mouth wide. When the redhead finally found words he said, "You must ask for bad luck, or something. Are you sure there isn't a long standing curse on your family?" Harry just glared.

"But why was she in the alley to begin with? And with all those wizards and witches around, too?" Hermione said, pulling them back onto the subject. Harry and Ron just shook their heads, unknowing. "She must have been there for a reason, I just wonder what it is. Also, how did she get there in the first place? You'd think that since it's common knowledge about You-Know-Who being back there would be heightened security, or something?"

"There is," Ron said, leaning against his head board. "There were Ministry officials crawling all over that place. I saw a few that work with dad. They were just wearing normal robes so they wouldn't draw attention to themselves."

"Then why didn't they see her?" Hermione asked. Once again neither Harry nor Ron had an answer. Hermione got off the bed and made her way over to her trunk, opened the lid and started to rummage around in it. When she came up she had her arms full of books and parchments which she deposited on the bed.

"Does this mean research?" Ron asked with a groan.

"Yep," Harry replied. "This means research." He reluctantly reached forward and grabbed a book, settling back and hoping his neck wouldn't get a crick in it like it usually did when he read.

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Spike lay peacefully in his bed, snoring lightly. He always came up to his room in the middle of the day to sleep because it didn't seem like anybody was doing anything during that time anyway. Mr. Weasley was away at the Ministry while the kids were either de-gnoming the lawn, playing Quidditch, or sitting in the living room playing chess and reading. He didn't think that the Dark Lord or his servants would risk attacking in the middle of the day, it wasn't their style. He didn't care what anybody said, the whole lot of them were drama queens and loved the air of mystery around attacking at night.

He woke with a jolt when a loud, ear-splitting whistle sounded from downstairs. Getting up groggily he pushed his feet into his boots and shrugged on his jacket. Experience told him that it was better to sleep in your clothes incase of being attacked. He didn't exactly fancy the idea of having to fight a slime demon in the buff. Yech.

He slicked back his hair with a bit of mousse, thankful for muscle memory. He couldn't exactly look in the mirror to see if he looked all right, could he?

Opening his door he looked out into the narrow hall way, but quickly pulled his head back in when another Filibuster's firework went whizzing by, nearly singing his eyebrows in the process. 'So that's what the whistle was,' he thought, muttering a few choice profanities as he cautiously exited his room and made his way down the stairs. Making sure to jump the second stair down on the third floor, the one which Fred had booby trapped the previous evening, he passed through the kitchen (saying a quick hello to Molly) and went out the back door.

He was greeted by the sight of everyone mingling around in the backyard, Mrs. Weasley had apparently kicked everyone out of the house after that last firecracker had been set off. The whole area was lit by a wide-range Lumos charm, decreasing the need to burn candles, and he saw Specks, Ron, and Hermione sitting at one of the tables that had been set up, quietly poring over some books. He raised one eyebrow, wondering what had initiated the sudden need to study after days of vegetating, but decided not to say anything.

Mr. Weasley had come home and was trying not to look too obvious as he fiddled around with a set of pink hair curlers. Fred and George were nowhere in immediate sight, and that was kind of worrisome. Spike knew that they were somewhere nearby due to the distinct chemical odor that always clung to their clothing and tended to give him a headache. Bill and Charlie had taken to flying around, trying to knock each other off their respective broomstick in the most brutal ways possible. Several hexes and curses barely missed the people who were still on the ground.

In all it was a very strange sight, one that would have made Buffy and the Scoobies rushing in with weapons at the ready and yelling about the end of the world.

Spike's brain came to an immediate halt, the thought of Buffy making him frown in something akin to disgust. It just figured that when he was having a good time she had to go and invade his thoughts. She always ruined everything.

He was standing there, content in brooding on the past, when someone came up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He spun around to see a girl with bright orange hair, obviously the youngest Weasley, staring up at him with a bemused look on her face.

"What?" he demanded moodily, annoyed at being dragged out of his thoughts.

"You're blocking the doorway. Could you move?" she asked, a slight bit of sarcasm creeping into her voice. He moved to the side and let her exit, following her down the steps and onto the grass of the Weasleys' yard.

She flung a look at him over her shoulder that said, 'You're a weird one, but I think you're hot.' He just scowled and she laughed in reply. She stopped and turned around, sticking her hand out to him. "My name's Ginny, and your name must be Bleach, right?"

He frowned, reluctantly grasping her hand to shake it. "Actually, it's Spike. You can remember that, right?"

"Sure, Bleach. Nice to meet you."

He was noticing quite a few similarities between this girl and another certain young Summers girl whom he had known back in Sunnyhell. That was a little disconcerting and he wasn't sure how he felt about it yet. He just looked at her skeptically as she removed her hand from his and bowed, indicating for him to go before her.

"Chivalry never died, you know," she said.

He rolled his eyes in response as her passed her, but couldn't help smiling a little. 'I think I'm going to like this girl,' he thought, sitting down at one of the tables. She soon followed suit after grabbing a chair from one of the twins who had miraculously reappeared. They had started Tables Wars the Second Generation, using the seats as obstacles for the tables to fly around. Mrs. Weasley was yelling out the window at them, but they pretended that they couldn't hear her over the sound of crunching wood.

Soon the food appeared on the tables, piping hot and ready to eat. There was fresh pumpkin juice, chicken pies, sweet potatoes, pork ribs, and many other varieties of things that made Spike's mouth water. It was times like this that made him wish that he could still appreciate good food like he used to. Molly came up to him and placed a pitcher down on the table next to his plate.

"There's your wine, William. Hope you like it." She gave him a little wink as she made her way over to the table where Arthur was quickly shoving the hair curlers out of sight under the table.

Bill and Charlie soon joined their parents at their table while the twins sat down across from Spike and Ginny.

"How ya doing, Spike? Would you like a pastry?" Fred held out a purple colored sweet in offering. Ginny swatted it out of his hand.

"Mom will kill you if you pull that at the table. Besides, Mr. Bleach here doesn't exactly want to turn into an eggplant right now, do you?" She directed this last bit at Spike who was grinning widely. The twins snickered at his nickname.

"An eggplant?" he asked, briefly thinking that just perhaps he didn't want to know.

"Yeah, this is a Patisserie Violet. That's French, you know. Makes it sound elegant," George said, indicating the sweet roll in Fred's hand. "They're our newest item for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezies. Selling like hot cakes, they are." Both of the twins looked very proud. They had moved to Hogsmeade after they left school, buying a house in town which they converted into a lab of sorts. They were able to sell their jokes directly to Zonkos, which was just down he street.

Ginny explained this all to Spike with a mixture of pride for her brothers' achievement and jealousy that she couldn't go and work with them. Molly would probably have a heart attack if her only daughter went into the joke business as well.

The tables soon were cleared with a flick of Mrs. Weasley's wand, and the chocolate birthday cake that Hagrid had sent Harry appeared on the table where the trio were. Everyone gathered around, Arthur lighting the candles with a quick charm, and they all sang Happy Birthday to Specs, who was quickly trying to hide the fact that he was blushing. Spike stood away from everyone else, taking in the happy air that surrounded the group. Once again he felt a slight amount of longing, knowing that he could never really fit in with these truly nice people. But, he was a Big Bad after all, and Big Bads didn't want to fit in anyway.

'Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that,' said an annoying little voice in the back of his mind. He sighed and removed himself from the party, going back up to his room. Nobody would notice his absence anyway.

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The morning of their return to Hogwarts was always a hectic one. Harry and Ron had been woken up early by Spike pounding on their locked door and demanding they get their 'lazy arses' out of bed. He had been sent by Mrs. Weasley to make sure everyone in the house got up and stayed up because she was determined to NOT be late for the train this year. When all Harry did was complain and roll over, having every intention of going back to sleep, the door was suddenly torn of its hinges and thrown to the floor.

Spike stomped in, looking very irritated. "I said up, and I mean up! Now get up!" he grabbed the mattress and over turned the whole thing, sending both Ron and Harry to the floor with the mattress over them and the covers wound around their legs. They hastily untangled themselves from the mess and went about getting their stuff together. Spike did a quick charm on the door to put it back in place, then left them to deal with the bedding on the floor.

They put the mattress back on the bed with only a little trouble, which was caused by Crookshanks darting in and knocking Ron off his feet. This also resulted in both him and Harry dropping the whole mess back onto their heads again.

After that ordeal was over they finished packing their trunks without mishap, then dragged their stuff down the stairs to the front stoop where an official Ministry car was parked. They then went back inside and had a quick meal where there were plenty of spills and clothes getting stained, but they all managed to get out the door in a reasonable frame of time. Before any one got into the car, Mr. Weasley stated that they would not be turning around for any reason. If any one had forgotten anything it could be mailed to them once they all got to school.

With that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Spike all piled into the Ministry-provided vehicle and took off towards Kings Cross Station in London.

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Platform 9 ¾ was as crowded as usual on September 1^st, witches and wizards of all kinds ushering their children onto the smoking train. There were many new first years trying not to look terrified as they handed their trunks and belonging up to the conductors who swung them with practiced ease onto the train. Harry supposed that he had been just as nervous as any of them at the beginning of his first year, being immersed into the wizarding world for the first time. Many of them even came from wizarding families, but still didn't know what to expect.

He and his friends pushed their trolleys over to the train, Spike trailing closely behind. The bond easily hefted all of their stuff into the car, not waiting for the conductor to come over and help him. Ginny muttered something about him having a high testosterone level, but looked away innocently when he shot her a glare. Soon they were all comfortable in a compartment, waving out the window at Spike and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harry turned around and sat down as the train left the station, so he didn't see when Spike pulled out his wand and disapperated, leaving the Weasleys together on the platform.

The witch with the food trolley soon came along and Harry treated them all to at least one of everything. He and Ron quickly tore into the chocolate frogs, chewing them happily while looking at their new cards. Hermione huffed and said that they would ruin their appetite for the feast, but Ron caught her eating a few Every Flavored Beans and called her a hypocrite. When she expressed her surprise that he even knew that word his ears turned red and he just continued to eat, quietly fuming.

They were happily eating away when the compartment door slid open to reveal Malfoy with his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, lurking ominously behind him.

"Potter, Weasley, Granger." He nodded to each of them with a sneer. "Nice to see you again so soon."

"What do you want, Malfoy" Hermione demanded while Harry carefully reached for his wand in his back pocket.

"What's it to you, Mudblood? Going to go hide behind your body guard again? Oh, silly me. He isn't here, is he? What ever shall you do now?"

Ron stood up quickly, a few empty sweets wrappers rustled to the ground around his feet. "I think you'd better leave, Malfoy."

"Oh, has the Weasel finally grown a backbone?"

"Being a weasel is better than being a rat, Ferret Boy." Ron shot back. Malfoy turned livid.

"You think you're all high and mighty, Potter," he said, turning to Harry, "but someday your little reign of heroism is going to be dethroned. We'll see who's laughing then." With that he turned and left. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles menacingly then followed him out of the compartment, the door sliding shut behind them.

Harry sighed, collapsing back against his seat. Why did Malfoy always have to be so difficult? He turned to look at Ron who was still slightly pink around the face, but was calming down, and Hermione who was thoughtfully chewing on a Cauldron Cake. They were both obviously shaken, but trying their hardest to not show it. The rest of the trip was spent in silence, only broken by the sounds of the train moving down the track.

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As Harry stepped off the train, closely followed by Ron and Hermione, he easily picked out the giant form of Hagrid across the platform hollering out for the first years to follow him. He picked his way through the crowd until he stood next to his friend and anxiously pulled on the fur-pelt coat that the half-giant always wore. Hagrid turned around and looked down at Harry, his face splitting into a wide smile with recognition.

"'Arry! Good to see yeh!" he enveloped the teen in a crushing hug. "Did yeh get my package?"

"Yes, I did. I loved the cake, it was great," Harry replied with a smile.

"Good, good. Ah! Ron and Hermione too, I see. Nice to see you all well and back here again! Come aroun' my house sometime fer tea! We can have a chat then. But right now I need to get these new 'uns up to the castle. See you around!"

"Bye Hagrid!" the three of them called, watching as he bellowed for the first years to keep up, everything but his lantern quickly disappeared into the darkness.

They then turned to make their way to the Thestral-drawn carriages that would take them and the other students up to Hogwarts.

Just as Harry was sitting down in his seat he saw a brief flash of silver through the window, but when he looked again it was already gone, disappearing into the night like a shadow. He blamed it on an overactive imagination and quietly settled in for the ride.

Looking out through the window again at the sky he saw the crescent moon hanging over the silhouette of the castle on the horizon. He smiled and dreamt happily of being back in his dorm again.