The First Night of Halloween PV Madison Bennett Finished

"What's going on in that brain of yours Ori? You're not comparing me to your sister are you? Either that or I have food around my mouth but i can't feel any."

"Yes, you actually have something right here", he said and pointed to the corner of his mouth. That was a lie. As Madison licked around her mouth he added: "Gotcha!"

Simon took a Fudge Fly. Actually, if he had been home alone, watching a movie, he would not have hesitated to literally shove candy into his mouth. His hunger and appetite was not bound to food only. When sweets were on the table, he ate it impatiently. But in front of Madison, he tried to behave and show some kind of class at least, despite knowing that she would not mind.

"What's that supposed to mean? Am i being too typical of someone like me?"

"No, not at all", said Simon, chuckling.

"I'm glad to be your friend too, Si, and you're welcome, thank you for being you too", she said while resting her head on his shoulder.

Simon was not entirely prepared for the physical contact and froze for a short moment, before relaxing. It was not that he did not enjoy being near her, but he sometimes forgot that Madison was quite physical as a friend. He had never had a female friend like that before so it was all a bit new to him. With Madison's head against his shoulder, he opened his mouth to speak but got interrupted as a noise was heard from outside the cubby house. Almost like someone had bumped into one of the chairs in the classroom. Simon listened intently. Was there somebody else in here?

"Everything ok, Ori?"

"Hush!", he whispered. "Listen. What's that noise?"

It sounded like something was approaching them, but no foot steps were heard.

"We locked the door, right?"

"Yeah I locked it, but there is something we didn't take into account, something that can go through walls and doors, something that Hogwarts has lots of."

Of course. Maybe one of the ghosts. Peeves? He really hoped it was not the poltergeist and just some of the less confrontational ghosts passing by. He did not want their Halloween kickoff to be ruined or interrupted, although he knew they were probably not allowed to make a cubby house in a classroom like this.

Madison crawled over him to peek out of the opening. "Ouch!", he whispered when she put her knee in his thigh. "What is it? Do you see anything?"

Madison stood up and looked around for a couple of second before crawling back inside the cubby house again.

"Well that was weird. When I was out there, I didn't see any ghost, but I saw footprints, big ones and they were muddy, but neither of our shoes are muddy. Can ghosts leave footprints?"

"Really? No, I'd think not. Let me see", he said and gently pushed Madi to the side while peeking out of the opening.

There was indeed a couple of muddy footprints in the room. Were they here before? Simon could not remember. He did not pay much attention when he prepared the classroom and put out the lanterns. It was possible that the footprints were already in the classroom when he arrived, but what then had made the noises they both had heard?

"Hmm... That is weird. I don't know. Maybe the footprints were already here... It's probably nothing", he said with a small smile to reassure the both of them that they need not worry.

He closed the opening, sat down in a comfortable position and looked at Madison. Another rumbling thunder filled the silence and the flickering candlelight from the jack-o'-lantern caused shadows to dance on the other half of her face. The candlelight was a bit more dim now, as if it were about to go out.