Hidden Wings - Part I

Halloween

Time passed quickly and before Jessamine knew it, September had passed and Halloween was coming up.

Her usual spot in the Great Hall was at the end of the Slytherin table close to the High Table where the teachers sat. Daphne had been sitting with Draco and Pansy since their disagreement, but Jessamine did not mind.

Better alone then pretending to be somebody else, she thought to herself.

Besides, she wasn't exactly alone.
Almost every meal, her little blackbird came to visit though the opening in the ceiling where the owls usually flew through.
Esma would nibble a bit at Jessamine's toast before taking off again.

Most people had gotten used to it, but some still couldn't stop staring at the little blackbird perched on Jessamine's shoulder.
The bird would sit there as often as possible, landing on Jessamine in between classes and during meals. She seemed to have taken a liking to Hagrid too. Esma liked to flutter to his seat at lunch, beg for a crum of food before returning to Jessamine.
Hagrid laughed his booming laugh every time it happened.

Harry and Hermione had started coming over to her table when they would finish their lunch, often bringing Ron and sometimes Neville, who had to overcome his fear of Professor Snape to get near the Slytherin table.

Most of the Gryffindors started getting less hostile towards the little first year, especially after Fred and George declared that Jessamine was their favorite Slytherin.

No one wanted to mess with the twins.

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Luna and Jessamine were walking together from History of Magic to the Great Hall.

"I hope they have dancing skeletons tonight", Luna mentioned dreamily, her earrings dancing around her head.
She was wearing earrings that she had made out of black beads and a piece of silver string.

Jessamine had asked if she could make her a pair too, and Luna had been thrilled by her request.

"Can skeletons do that?", Jessamine wondered.

Luna smiled secretively. "We'll see."

Jessamine could not wait for Halloween to come, and she was not the only one.

On the 31st of October, the Great Hall was buzzing with excitement in the evening. The Hall had been decorated with flying pumpkins, and live bats kept flapping through the air.
There was pumpkin pie, meat loaf with pumpkin and several other dishes with pumpkins, some of which Jessamine eyed warily.

Esma stayed on her shoulder and hissed every time a bat got near her.
Meanwhile, Jessamine enjoyed herself quite immensely.

That was until Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall with his turban, yelling his head off about a troll.
And then fainting dead on the floor.

It was only by accident that Jessamine saw Ron and Harry run down a dark corridor and, trusting her instincts, she followed.

The most violent and disgusting smell she had ever come across warned her of the troll before she even came close to the bathroom. And it was utter mayhem in there.

Hermione was trying to hide under a sink, Ron was throwing pieces of wood at the troll and Harry had somehow managed to land on the trolls head.

The troll grunted and got ahold of Harry with his free hand. He lifted his club menacingly.

Without thinking, Jessamine jumped onto the troll's club and grabbed it, trying to stop it from hitting Harry. The troll growled in surprise at the little girl clinging to his club. His eyes narrowed perplexed.