Harry Potter: Heart Of A Mystic Soul

Chapter Fifty-One: Reunion

When the time came for the All Hallows' Eve feast, Harry was ready for the sacred holiday. Ever since he had first entered the magical world, he had wanted to learn everything he could about it. It was the world he was now a part of as well as the world his parents had been a part of. But yet, he could never really learn anything fundamental about the magical world.

Everything he did learn about it was not the actual historical facts about it. All he learned was the superficial stuff that probably had not been an actual part of the magical world, such as the blood purity nonsense that was such a big part of magical Britain. And it was not like History of Magic was a lot of help given that Binns has been "teaching" about nothing other than goblin rebellions for years.

Being at Crystal Rose just got better and better by the second. He never thought a magic school could teach so much. But, then again, his only example of a magic school's teachings was Hogwarts, which already set the bar very low.

Being able to experience a magical holiday, a sabbath, was just the cherry on top of the magical sundae. All Hallows' Eve had sounded amazing from everything he heard from Krinos, Melody, T'challa, Hawk, and Hestia. He could hardly wait to get the whole experience of the Sabbath. 

When the feast was announced and all of the students were gathering in the Main Gallery, they all got to see just how decked out the hall had been made. All of the house banners were still over the house tables, but they were no longer the main decoration of the hall.

The simplest way that Harry could say it was that the Main Gallery was beautiful. The entire hall was covered with an incredible display of Autumn plants. Not just the common plants, such as red, orange, yellow, and brown leaves, but also Autumn flowers like hydrangeas, goldenrod, Autumn crocus, and Russian sage. Through the center of each table were lines of what Harry could only describe as small altars. Made out of small pumpkins, apples, maple leaves, bunches of cranberries, and some small crystals, the entire middle of each table was covered by the alters. Hovering above the tables, floating in the air, were shining crystals that glowed with peaceful Autumn colors. Orange, red, yellow, brown, and some green as well.

It was all very different from how the Great Hall at Hogwarts looked during Halloween. There were no floating jack-o-lanterns, no tables full of candy, and Harry hoped that there would also be no life-threatening situation. After all, Halloween has never been good luck for him. Every year, something bad happened. In his first, Quirrell let the troll into the castle. In his second, the Chamber of Secrets was opened and Mrs.Norris was petrified. In his third, Sirius slashed the Fat Lady's portrait to try and get into Gryffindor Tower. And he did not even want to think about his name coming out of the Goblet of Fire the previous Halloween.

Everyone sat down at their own house tables this time. Since it was an important feast, they all had to sit at their house tables rather than sitting wherever they wanted like they usually did. Once everyone was seated, Headmistress Jiwe stood up from her seat. All the students instantly were paying attention to her. She smiled at them all as she made her speech.

"All Hallows' Eve has always been the most special time of year to everyone in the magical world," she says. "From witches and wizards to fairies and gnomes. Every magical person celebrates this sacred day to honor Lady Magic and the gifts that she has granted us. And every year we make sure to spend this sacred day giving thanks while also honoring our ancestors. It is also thanks to this sacred day that our hearts and souls are filled by reuniting with the loved ones that have passed on. For those of you that are new to our sabbath, we welcome you all to experience the greatest gift that Lady Magic has ever given us. The gift of love and family."

Harry had already liked Headmistress Jiwe a lot more than Dumbledore, but her speech was making him like her even more. Dumbledore's speeches usually were either complete nonsense, vague warnings, or poorly disguised recruitment strategies where he was trying to get students to fight for him in the war against Voldemort. Jiwe was warm, welcoming, and actually spoke in a way that showed she respects her students rather than seeing them as pawns like Dumbledore does.