𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓂'𝓈 𝒜 𝐵𝓇𝑒𝓌𝒾𝓃'

October 31st, 1994

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒮𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃

That blue-white fire sat so undisturbed. No movement in the air at that late hour to stir it. So calm that it could have been a painting; no fire could ever be that controlled. But it was, casting its faint blue glow into the void that otherwise would have been that night... the enchanted ceiling lost to the thick, stormy clouds that readied for the approaching late night storm.

The fire did a poor job at lighting the room; the faint silver emitting off the ring on the ground had done a poorer job... the shadows in the room were deep... the furthest corners could have housed any horror that night. Still, as one adjusted to the dark, one could see The Great Hall take shape.

The tables were replaced with wooden bleachers, lining the two side walls to provide easy viewing for the spectacle that watching that blue fire would become come morning. The teacher's table went untouched, but just before it was a table that nearly spanned the whole width of the hall, on it serving platers and pitchers... one side was a table filled with plates and goblets and cutlery to grab... a buffet set up. It wouldn't be a day for balanced meals but a special occasion as students lingered around all day.

The Great Hall was readied the moment everyone had left for bed, waiting for its most trafficked day. And it had already had two visitors that night, one a figure that stirred the fire... the other a shadow that had yet to leave.

That blue-white fire didn't reach far... but it did brush at the figure sitting hunched over centered on the bleachers. A blue glow reflected in their dark eyes, sitting just as still, just as undisturbed as the fire they watched... could have been a painting.

But, unlike the fire, they were far from calm. The dark circles sitting just beneath those eyes... the deep frown sitting on their lips... the hand clenched so tightly around a necklace it really should have shattered.

It should have been a painting. The emptiness of the room, sitting in that strange silence just before a storm. A fire casting the faintest of glows on a ghost of a figure. A figure that could only be seen in small amounts, eyes a void as they reflected that fire, eyes such a juxtaposition to every other hint of what they were feeling.

And as the storm began to beat away at the castle, the painting would hold still. Neither the shadow nor fire made any move.

Just dark eyes reflecting that motionless flame.

.

.

.

The flame reflecting in Iris's eyes flickered.

She almost blinked back to life, everything happening at once. Back straightening out, frown fading as her face fixed to something more neutral, hand dropping from where it clasped around that moon-like pendant.

The only thing that couldn't be changed were the dark circles under her eyes... faint... but there.

She looked down, catching the questioning expression on Theodore's face... but he never asked. By the way, she looked as if she hadn't slept and was still neatly dressed in her clothes from the day before... the answer to his unasked question was quite obvious.

Iris had been in the Great Hall just about the entire night.

He didn't say anything. Just turned and walked over to the buffet table, leaving Iris to really come back. Taking in the whole hall.

The enchanted ceiling showed a bright blue sky, a few grey clouds swirling but calm for the early morning. The candles and torches had been lit, that blue fire nothing more than a cool feature in the light of the room. A few students lingered around, eating and talking amongst themselves, discussing their theories on who would be entering their names.