Antithesis

Chapter 19: Legend

October drew nearer and the dampness around the Slytherin dungeons seemed ever more present. Even within the common room, with the sight of the great lake above them, the humidity and condensation seemed that much more present. The hissing green hearth-fires couldn’t quite stave off the bite of the chill, made all the worse by the tiny collections of icicles adhered to the edges of the enchanted ceiling.

Madam Pomfrey began handing out potions to any student who succumbed to a chill or cold. The elder Slytherin’s able to brew the potions themselves rented out the NEWT potions lab to brew them in mass production. Soon the entire common room was a fair trade of billowing steam from student’s ears and the sharp spice of pepper.

The most interesting commotion in Adrian’s venture to find the hissing voice was nearly being crushed by Peeves, the resident Poltergeist, who managed to drop a large cabinet and smash it just short of crushing students.

Lutain took to late night treks across the castle in search for the voice, allowing Adrian to stay up late into the night practicing his Occlumency, in which he was becoming quite proficient. His new night owl status caused Theo to become desperate-- he had resorted to conjuring bluebirds to wake him for classes.

The others discovered that Adrian’s dark hair, almost blue hued in the light, sported a massive bed head when he didn’t have time for vanity. A cowlick large enough for a crow to roost on.

The Halloween feast came around and once more the tall thestrals stood guard over the pumpkins, nearly the size of a garden shed. Lockhart seemed oblivious to the creatures and instead told an exaggerated story with a large turkey drumstick as a prop. The skeletal creatures watched the meat hungrily and followed it with their heads. It seemed odd that a man who had experienced so much, had yet to witness death firsthand.

Pansy noticed that the entire golden trio seemed to be missing from the table, something she announced loudly for everyone to hear.

The others were quickly distracted by the Weasley Twin’s contest of how many pumpkin pasties they could stuff into their mouth at one time.

“Disgusting,” Draco grunted, sipping his grape juice with exaggerated daintiness to emphasise that at least he had class. The obvious reference to sipping Pureblood chilled wine was quickly abandoned in favor of the spiced pumpkin juice.

The feast ended with a loud choir formed of enchanted jack-o-lanterns, with bats billowing out from the orange faces to fly tornados above the student’s heads. Theatrics were always pleasant; it reminded Adrian of the time Bellatrix had a bat become entangled in her wild hair.

The students filed out once the last of the entertainment ended. With the low rumble of hundreds of footsteps on stone and the hubbub of voices echoing off the hallway, they walked in small groups through the halls. Theo was entertaining the group of Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and Adrian himself with a tale of when his owl retrieved a real vampire bat and left it in his bedroom.

With little warning or little logic, the hoard suddenly stopped and grew quiet. Draco frowned and started to jump, attempting to see up over the heads of taller students and find out why the crowd had stopped and was now dead quiet.

Adrian sighed and spotted a nearby stocky Slytherin; the boy in question cleared a path and allowed the group to squeeze between tightly packed bodies.

There was blood on the wall. Glittering and shimmering in the haunted lighting. It had been written-- arced sloppily into bold letters--