It was a crisp autumn morning, and Halloween was just around the corner. Atlas, like any other Thursday, started his day with charms class. Professor Flitwick had a surprise in store for them — they would be learning the locking charm colloportus! Each student had a lock in front of them and had to use the charms colloportus and alohomora in alternating order to lock and unlock the locks. It was a spell that Atlas had only heard of theoretically, as it wasn't named in the books or movies, but it was still used to close doors. He realized that it was one of the few holes in his skillset that he wasn't even aware of. As it was only a subtopic under the alohomora spell, he had skipped that chapter in his first-grade book. After all, alohomora was a spell he had seen in the movies, and it practically required no wand movement, only a point at the lock.
Hermione was basically ignoring Ron, and no conflict seemed to happen. Ron was actually trying to better himself and actually learn something in the lessons. He seemed to have realized that his friends were distancing themselves from him more and more because he always played around and never contributed anything useful. As a result, he started to pay attention in class. The class ended with a happy Professor Flitwick as all students managed to cast the spell at least once.
The next lesson was transfiguration. Today they learned the avifors spell that turned small objects into birds. Atlas, as always, got the transfiguration right on the first try. To everyone's surprise, Hermione did it too. In the last few weeks, the time it took to get the transfigurations right shortened every time. Her progress was astonishing, but it seemed that at the moment it wasn’t enough for Professor McGonagall to invite her to the extra lessons too. Professor McGonagall then gave the Duo the task of casting the spell a few more times, but this time they should use the same spell to only transfigure the objects into eggs. Then change the eggs into birds and then back. To say that Hermione struggled would be an overstatement, as she got it right on her third try, which earned her points for Gryffindor. Atlas and Professor McGonagall had a silent agreement that he wouldn’t get any points in class, but she generously gave him points in their extra lessons.
After lunch, they had herbology class, where they learned about the Devil’s snare. Professor Sprout apparently thought it was an interesting lesson for a class on Halloween. Most of the class didn’t seem to share her excitement, as they weren’t too enthusiastic about a plant that wanted to kill them. They were also preoccupied with talking about the feast in the evening and the Halloween party that should happen afterwards. Atlas was a bit surprised when he heard about that, but he thought that after the troll incident, the party was cancelled in the original. The question was, would there really be a party this time? Would Quirrell still bring a troll into the castle?
When the feast finally arrived, everyone was excited and happy. The hall was decorated with flying, moving jack-o-lanterns, and the ceiling was enchanted to show a dark night with a heavy storm. Lighting flashed through the black clouds from time to time, but no thunder could be heard. The new students were in awe, and even the older students couldn’t help but comment on the decoration. Dumbledore, who looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, gave a small and quirky speech about enjoying one's youth before the food appeared. Atlas soon realized that there would be no troll incident this time, as Professor Quirrell was enjoying a conversation with Professor Aurora Sinistra while eating with the other teachers. It seemed like a peaceful and happy Halloween at Hogwarts.
Suddenly, Mr. Filch burst into the great hall, his eyes wide with an intense, focused look on his face as he ran to the teacher's table. Ignoring the curious gazes of the students and the other teachers, he made a beeline straight for the potion master.
"Severus!" he cried out, "I can no longer hide my feelings from you! My heart beats only for you, and it has been that way for years!"
Snape, caught off guard, looked at Filch with a mixture of surprise and disgust. "Filch, what on earth are you talking about?" he sneered.
But Mr. Filch was not deterred. "I love you, Severus! I love everything about you! Your silky black hair, your sharp wit, your beautiful sneer...I can't live without you!"
The other teachers were now staring in amazement at the strange scene unfolding before them. The hall fell into a great silence, and every word could be heard. Several Slytherin students, noticing the commotion, stood up to try and push Filch away. But as soon as they got close, they too began expressing their undying devotion for Snape.
Within minutes, almost the entire Slytherin table was empty as the students struggled to win Snape's favor.
Snape stood up from his seat, his face growing darker with each passing second. "This is preposterous," he said, his voice laced with anger. "I will not tolerate this behavior from any of you, especially you, Filch."
But Filch was not listening. He had fallen to his knees and was pleading with Snape to accept his love. "Please, Professor, I beg of you! Give me a chance to prove my love for you!"
Snape's lips curled into a sneer. "You are under the influence of a love potion, Filch," he said coldly. "Your feelings are not your own."
At the mention of the love potion, the other teachers began to murmur amongst themselves. Dumbledore, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. "Severus is right," he said gently. "This is not real love. It is merely an illusion created by a potion."
But the Slytherin students were not deterred. They continued to express their undying love for Snape, their voices growing louder with each passing moment. One of them even went as far as to kiss Snape's hand, causing him to recoil in disgust.
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"This is enough!" Snape exclaimed, his voice booming through the hall. "All of you, return to your seats at once!"
Some Slytherin students reluctantly obeyed, their faces filled with disappointment and longing. Some others burst into tears at Snape's rejection, and some hadn’t given up yet. Filch, however, continued to plead with Snape, his eyes filled with tears.
"Please, Professor," he begged. "I know that I am under the influence of a potion, but my feelings for you are real. I have loved you for years, and I will continue to love you until the end of my days."
Snape looked at Filch with a mixture of pity, disdain, and anger. "I will not tolerate this behavior any longer, Filch," he said firmly. "You will report to Madam Pomfrey immediately and have the potion removed from your system."
Filch answered in bliss as he got Snape's attention, “Anything for you, my love.” Before he left the great hall, he was jumping around like a happy child.
Professor McGonagall suggested that Snape should bring all the students to Madam Pomfrey and have them healed.
“Not as annoying as it is. The effect will only last for at most two hours. The potion was weak, or none of the students would have gone back to their places," explained Snape, as his voice was overshadowed by a few Slytherins that were complimenting his genius and his ability as a potion master.
The other houses were sobbing with laughter after the initial shock. Especially the Gryffindor table was having a blast. Slytherin wasn’t liked by any other house, but they had the most enmity with Gryffindor. As a result, the Gryffindors took the greatest joy in their blight. The Weasley Twins were the greatest comedians of the evening as they added one joke after another about the Slytherins' behavior. Atlas now knew that most of them had been prepared beforehand, but he still had to admit that some of them were absolutely brilliant. But no joke could contend with Goyle, who tried to recite a poem of love to Snape. The other teachers were helpless as well, but no one questioned Snape’s expertise on the topic.
Snape bellowed through the hall that he would find whoever was responsible for this and have them thrown out of Hogwarts. After Malfoy announced his willingness to elope with Snape, Snape began to cast silencio charms on the students and a few immobilus charms on the students that wanted to strip themselves or him. Quirrell seemed to be the only teacher who thought the situation was funny, as he too was laughing at Snape's misfortune. This earned him a few disapproving looks from the other teachers, but no one said anything to him.
Like Snape predicted, the effect of the potion soon lessened, and the Slytherins were able to at least listen to reason and wait on their places. Atlas could see a few Slytherins, mostly girls, run away crying in shame after the potion’s effect ended completely. The boys, on the other hand, swore vengeance, and Atlas could see Malfoy running away, yelling that his father would learn of this.
The rest of the students enjoyed their feast, but the prank was still the main topic at every table. The great question of who the pranksters were was not really discussed in the open, as no one wanted to give Snape any hints, but it was still discussed as to how someone did it.
After the feast, the students went back to the common rooms to get their costumes and give the teachers and a few older students time to prepare the hall for the party.
Most first-year Muggleborns wanted to wear costumes until Percy explained to them that in the magical world, Halloween is a time where one can openly show that one is a wizard or a witch, and for that reason, it is normally expected that people dress like that.
That didn’t stop people from running around in their costumes, trying to scare other people. Fred and George made fun of a few people with the Melofors jinx. As Atlas learned that day, it was a spell that encased the head in a pumpkin. For some reason, the twins were eager to mess with all the first years, but Atlas used the pieces of the broken pumpkin to transfigure them into birds and chase after the twins. Hermione joined in the fun, but for her, it was more of a revenge as the pumpkin pieces and juice had ruined her hair, which she worked on for half an hour.
The twins tried to convince Neville that he should wear their custom-made Snape costume and Ron should play Goyle and replay the scene from the great hall, but Neville was adamant that he wouldn’t pretend to be Snape. The thought alone scared him to no end.
The Gryffindors went to the great hall for the party, most more or less clean and in clothes that wouldn’t bring shame on the wizarding community. All except Atlas, who waited for Hermione, as she insisted that she wouldn’t go out with her hair sticky and ruined like that.
After about half an extra hour, Hermione came down the stairs again. She wore a black cape and a classical witch hat that looked like it was two sizes too big for her. When she looked around and realized they were alone, she asked in a shy voice, “How do I look?” For Atlas, this was a difficult moment. He already suspected that Hermione liked him more than just as a friend, but he wasn’t sure if he should be bland and reject her. All this time, he only hoped that he had imagined it, but the way she asked him and looked at him was quite obvious. If he was honest, he would say that she was a cute little girl. But if he couldn’t say that without sounding like an old man. He wasn’t even that old, but he was still far too old for an eleven-year-old girl. In a few years, he would be fine with it, but now he didn’t know how to react or how to even approach this situation. He wasn’t even sure if Hermione knew how she felt or how she acted. A million more things went through his head, but he knew he had to answer her and not waste any time.
He decided to take a neutral route and refrained from using words like "beautiful", “pretty” or "cute." “You look great! Fantastic even!” he answered, and he hoped he hadn’t taken too long to answer.
Hermione beamed with happiness, took his hand, and pulled him towards the exit “Great, thank you. We should hurry now, or the party will be over before we are there.
Atlas followed her, a bit confused by the sudden change of tempo. The party itself was great. The Weird Sisters, the band that also played on the yule balls in the movies, played at the party. The atmosphere was great, and even the Slytherins came back from their common room to attend the party, even though their mood was still a bit down.
Hermione and Atlas arrived when the Weird Sisters were playing one of their greatest hits, “This is the Night.” Atlas and Hermione went to the large flog of Gryffindors and started to dance with them. Atlas could see that a few teachers were also there. To everyone’s surprise, Dumbledore was there too, toasting people here and there. Quirrell, on the other hand, was amidst the students, telling horror stories from his adventures. The only person who wasn’t there was Snape. His absence was commented on with lots of ridicule from the students.
The party went on for a few more hours. The music went from metal to wrock (wizard rock) to romantic ballads. Myron Wagtail, the lead singer of the Weird Sisters, announced their last song“How magic Works” at two a clock. “This one's going out to all the lovers out there. Hold each other tight, and keep each other warm. And dance your final dance.”