Between sessions with Dumbledore and the extra tutoring Brian was receiving from Leighanne, his schoolwork didn’t seem so threatening to him anymore. While he would never be the student Howmione was, he was doing well enough in class now that he didn’t stand out. He was perfectly happy with that average status.

November crept by slowly. The newness of the school year had worn off, but they weren’t yet to the holidays. When Brian asked about Thanksgiving, Nick wasn’t kidding this time about not knowing of it. Brian smacked his forehead, remembering that it involved American Indians and Pilgrims. He couldn’t imagine that the English would care, much less the wizarding community.

Brian was deep in thought at the Gryffindor table when Nick sat down with a mouthful of food.

“You gudda fiddish dat?”

“What?” Brian snapped back into reality.

Nick swallowed. “You going to finish that?”

Brian pushed his place towards him, and Nick grabbed the roll and scooped up some peach cobbler.

Nick looked at him questioningly, noticing his mood. Brian didn’t want to explain the fact that he was a little homesick, so he changed the subject. “How do you think you did on that Potions test?”

“Well, considering my potion burned through the cauldron... I’d say my grade was pretty abysmal.”

Brian’s had been only a shade lighter than the green it was supposed to, but Brian didn’t want to brag.

There was a shuffling of papers next to Nick. Howmione was reading The Daily Prophet. Now that Howmione had lifted it up, Brian could see the front page. There, silently screaming at him, was that man he’d seen on Halloween.

“Is there any more news on that guy?” His picture gave Brian the creeps.

“Who?” Howmione turned the paper and looked at the front. “Oh, Sirius? There was a sighting in Hogsmeade.”

Nick spit his pumpkin juice all over the table.

“Hogsmeade?” Brian asked. “We were just there two weeks ago!”

“He was sneaking some food out of Hogs Head,” Howmione continued, not missing a beat as he handed Nick a napkin. “Officials are still looking for other leads, but they did a search of Hogsmeade and came up empty handed.”

“I can’t believe they haven’t caught him yet,” Brian said. “Can’t they use... magic?”

Howmione rolled his eyes. “Do you think Sirius doesn’t have magic, too?”

Sirius. Even his name sounded mean. “Well...”

“Let’s talk about something else,” Nick said with a forced cheerfulness.

Brian glanced at him.

“What? This is depressing. Where’s the sports section? I want to see how the Quidditch teams are doing...”

Howmione passed him one of the papers and Brian simply watched them read for a few moments. His mind was still on Sirius. Wasn’t anyone else worried that a convicted felon with magical powers was running lose and could be nearby? Howmione had discussed the topic so calmly, without much interest, and Nick didn’t think of worthy of talking about.

Just then, a fellow Gryffindor seventh year walked by. When she saw Nick, she smiled and paused. He was too into the Quidditch article to notice, so she had to give a small “a-hem.”

Nick finally looked up. “Oh, hi Lavender.”

“Ni Nick,” she giggled. “Is it true?” she lowered her voice conspiratorially.

“Is what true?”

“Alex and AJ were telling everyone in the Common Room this morning that you guys snuck out on Halloween.”

Brian looked horrified, wondering which one of the twins hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut. Or if it was just both like Lavender was saying. If that news reached the staff and it was taken seriously, they could be in serious trouble.

Nick, however, didn’t seem to realize that particular predicament. “Oh, yeah. We faked IDs and went to a party.”

Howmione gave a “hmmph” and hurried away from the table. Brian had the impression that if Howmione’d had long hair, he would’ve given it a quick “swish” over his shoulder like girls did when they were storming off. He still hadn’t quite forgiven them for putting a spell on him. Brian wasn’t sure if he was angrier over the principal of the situation or the fact that someone had outsmarted him.

Lavender giggled again. “And you tricked Draco Timberlake?”

Nick, sensing a willing audience, told her the story. In his version, he and Timberlake had dueled, and they had carried Nick on their shoulders back to the Common Room pronouncing him their hero.

Brian had to raise his goblet and pretend to take a sip in order to hide his smirk. He could’ve easily set Nick’s story right, but it was rather entertaining this way. Although he would still have a talk with everyone about not letting their Halloween escapades become known to everyone. The Common Room was one thing, but the other houses didn’t need to get word of it.

To Brian’s surprise, Lavender walked to class with them. She was still standing by Nick’s desk when McGonagall walked in.

“Miss Hilton, kindly go to your own seat,” she instructed as she used her wand to write the day’s lesson one the chalkboard.

Nick glanced at Brian, looking pretty smug with himself.

“That was a pretty impressive duel you and Timberlake had,” Brian raised an eyebrow. “Gosh, we got back so late that I don’t even remember singing ‘For Nick’s a Jolly Old Wizard.’”

Nick shrugged with a sheepish grin on his face.

When Thanksgiving week did arrive, Brian found himself getting even more homesick. His family would be gathering in Kentucky in a few days, surrounding a turkey and pumpkin pie. They’d spend the afternoon watching football. The Christmas holiday was only a month away, so he would see everyone then, but this was still the longest he’d ever been away from home.

Since there were no telephones at Hogwarts, at least that he was aware of, he spent some time after classes that day writing his parents a letter. He cheated and used a regular pen instead of a quill. Brian’s parents certainly wouldn’t mind. While he’d written a letter soon after arriving, he hadn’t made much time since then. Trying to ignore the guilt, he thought about the reply he’d gotten from that first letter. Brian’s parents had been horrified when an owl had flown threw an open window and landed on the dining room table. He wished he could’ve seen the surprised looks on their faces! Especially since they’d had company over. The neighbors wouldn’t forget that visit anytime soon.

“Where’s the owlery?” Brian asked when he was finished. The castle was so huge that he still didn’t feel like he’d toured half of it. He’d had someone else mail the other letter, but he wanted to learn how to do it himself.

“Come on, I need to go, too,” Nick said. “I’ve got a letter for my... uh, mum. Her birthday’s next week.”

Nick seemed to be sending and receiving a lot of letters lately. Before recently, he hadn’t thought of Nick as much of a letter writer. Maybe he was also getting a little homesick.

They bundled up in cloaks and scarves and headed outside. Soon, they were climbing a winding staircase and Brian could hear wings flapping. After finding their owls and Brian getting bitten by Nick’s, they decided to head back to the castle.

“Let’s just play Wizards Chess by the fire or something,” Nick said. Brian could hear his teeth chattering.

Brian agreed. They descended the stairs. The grass was covered in leaves. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Brian didn’t know why, but suddenly he felt as if they weren’t alone. “Nick, stop for a second.”

“What?”

“Shh.”

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Brian looked towards the Forbidden Forest, the edge of which was nearby. Two dark eyes were staring back at him. “Nick do you see that?”

Brian was a little scared, but also curious. From the height of the gaze, it seemed to be some sort of animal.

Nick, however, suddenly freaked. “Run! Now!”

“What? Why?”

Instead of answering, Nick grabbed Brian and pulled him around the castle towards the entrance.

“Hurry!”

Brian ran as fast as he could. He’d never seen Nick genuinely scared before, so he didn’t doubt that there was something to be afraid of. Even if Brian wasn’t sure what it was.

Once inside, they stopped to catch a breath. Brian put his hands on his knees and waited for his heart to stop beating so quickly.

“What... was... that?” he asked in between breathes.

Nick avoided his eyes. “It’s the Forbidden Forest. It’s forbidden for a reason.”

This was technically true, but Brian doubted that people were generally in danger on the castle grounds. Even first years were allowed to go to the owlery. This couldn’t have been something that occurred often.

“But those eyes we saw. You have to know what it was. Why’d you freak out?”

“Listen, Brian, you just have to trust me,” Nick said.

Brian started to press for more information.

But Nick would only say one more thing. “Be careful.”