She felt the warm breeze brushing her left cheek fade a little.
"If you turn the old runes upside down, you can see they're actually spells that turn your enemy's ears into kumquats."
Luna was holding "The Quibbler" upside down as usual, staring dreamily at Sean.
"You come to watch the grounds snore every day? It must be really happy because you take such good care of it. That's why it always purrs."
Sean gave a small nod.
In a way, Luna wasn't wrong.
At the same time, he noticed the radish-like earrings she usually wore were gone.
That made him frown.
"Oh, don't worry. The Nargles took them. They'll show up again soon," Luna said in her sing-song voice.
Her eyes were a little protuberant, but they didn't ruin her face at all; they just gave her an elfin look.
"The magical mistletoe kind?" Sean asked.
He lifted his wand, and a bunch of missing objects drifted back and hovered behind her.
"Yeah…" Luna answered, still sounding like she was half-asleep.
She tilted her head, spotted the floating stuff, and smiled.
"See? The Nargles brought everything back… Looks like you tamed them. Did you use mistletoe juice?"
"Wand," Sean corrected.
He gave a soft whistle, and Bai Yi (pure white owl with gorgeous feathers) swooped down and landed on his shoulder.
Luna stared at him without blinking, then at Tila, who was poking his little head out of Sean's pocket.
At the edge of the Black Lake, Sean paused before leaving.
He looked out over the pale-blue water. Right now it was like a giant mirror, reflecting flocks of birds overhead.
To wizards, the surface of this lake was like the Mirror of Erised: some people never saw the malice aimed at them because all they ever noticed was the calm, clear water.
"If you lose anything else, come find me. I'll help," Sean said.
Then he walked away from the lakeshore.
He headed up the sloping lawn to the pumpkin patch behind Hagrid's hut, where twelve enormous pumpkins were growing.
In the Muggle world, nobody had ever seen pumpkins this big; each one was already taller than a man's waist.
"You came! Come in, come in; fresh treacle toffee, just out of the pan!" Hagrid greeted him with his usual huge grin.
He'd gone to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes a couple days ago. The place had been packed; wizards were practically dueling over the last Cauldron Cake.
Lucky for Hagrid, he had VIP treatment. Professor Quirrell had snuck him in the back door, completely ignoring the fact that Hagrid alone could block the whole front entrance.
"Look at my beauties! Growing nicely, eh?" Hagrid said proudly when he noticed Sean eyeing the pumpkins.
"For the Halloween feast. They'll be perfect by then. Wanna carve jack-o'-lanterns with me? I'll give you a few extras. Imagine one of these in the common room or your dorm; it'll glow all term without going out!"
Sean nodded. For a wizard, that wasn't hard.
…
Treacle toffee is murder on the teeth. Sean barely ate any and still almost choked.
He glanced over at Fang, who was spinning in circles, panting and drooling. Yeah, Sean was doing better than the dog.
The sun slowly sank over the Forbidden Forest, sliding down until it balanced on the tips of the beech trees.
Eventually Sean left Hagrid's hut with the last ten points of mastery progress for the day.
Ever since he'd started seriously practicing transfiguration, he rarely flew a broom back to the castle anymore. Walking gave him extra time to turn rocks and hills into whatever he felt like.
[You have practiced Material Transfiguration at the introductory level of the Master domain. Master-level proficiency +3]
The ground rose and fell; stones warped and twisted into new shapes.
The whole Forbidden Forest seemed to come alive around him.
Suddenly something burned against his chest. Sean yanked out the planning map.
The dots labeled "Basilisk" and "Alchemical Toad" were moving fast.
Sean's brow creased.
He flicked his fingers, and a broom shot into his hand like lightning.
The Soul Artifact had already weakened Voldemort enormously.
What was happening now?
The broom streaked across the sky like a meteor while the castle below stayed loud and lively.
On the second floor, in the girls' bathroom, a figure shimmered into view as though someone had just taken off an Invisibility Cloak.
On the map, Ginny's dot was still up in Gryffindor Tower, but the Basilisk and the Alchemical Toad were now almost on top of Sean.
Without Parseltongue controlling it, how was the Basilisk moving?
Or… had the Basilisk never gone fully back to sleep after being awakened?
It had to eat. Anything could happen while it hunted.
Sean slipped on his magical refracting glasses and stared at the perfectly ordinary-looking sink.
"Mr. Green!"
A voice floated over.
"Oh… um… I've been thinking. If you ever die, you're totally welcome to share my toilet."
Moaning Myrtle blushed silver.
Ghosts don't have to make sense, so nothing they say is weird.
"I still can't believe you made Peeves behave! Only really important people can do that; people like Professor Dumbledore…"
Myrtle babbled on beside him while Sean quietly studied the map.
The Basilisk was prowling just a short distance away, hunting nearby before turning and slithering off again.
The Chamber was huge, but for a creature that size, a diet of rats probably wasn't enough to survive long-term.
It would have to surface eventually.
"Preparations… are pretty much ready," Sean murmured.
He turned and left the bathroom. Next stop: the Sorting Hat.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the corridor…
Harry jerked to a halt.
"…rip you… tear you… kill you…"
That voice again; cold, murderous, the same one he'd heard in Lockhart's office.
He stumbled, grabbed the wall, and strained to listen, eyes darting up and down the dimly lit hallway.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ron asked, confused.
"The voice is back; shh—"
"…so hungry… for so long…"
"Listen!" Harry hissed urgently.
Ron and Hermione froze, staring at him.
The voice was getting fainter.
Harry was sure it was moving… upward.
He stared at the dark ceiling, a mix of fear and excitement rushing through him.
How could it move upward? Was it a ghost that could pass straight through stone?
While he was still wondering, a figure hurried past them in the corridor.