Absolutely anything can go wrong on Halloween in Hogwarts, Spencer reflected as he got the details about the night's events.

The day had just been too good to last. Spencer had gone out to Hogsmeade, promising to bring back some Honeydukes for Luna, and had enjoyed himself more than he'd expected. Avery had even bought Spencer a new pair of trousers to replace the ones Spencer had given him, despite all of Spencer's protests that it was unnecessary.

"Consider it a late birthday present if it makes you feel better," Avery had told him. "You've been a great friend and a lot more supportive than people I've known a lot longer than I've known you, and I don't know how else to thank you, so take the trousers and shut up."

Spencer walked around with a bit more pep in his step than usual for the rest of the day. Not because of the thank you/late birthday gift, but because of the fact that Avery considered them friends. All of Spencer's time in muggle schools had almost convinced him he would never have friends and though he had a fair amount of people he spent time with and was friendly with he always hesitated to call those people friends, too afraid of their rejection to take that step.

But then the good day had gone to shit.

Sirius Black breaking in hadn't been expected, but Spencer couldn't find it in himself to be surprised. Halloween, Spencer's favorite holiday for many years, which had started off so well this year, was swiftly becoming a night to dread. After the Feast had ended and everyone returned to their dorms, Dumbledore's voice sounded through the castle, commanding prefects to lead their houses back to the Great Hall. Once there, the Ravenclaws had all spotted a crowd surrounding the Gryffindor students and assumed that the commotion was their fault, only to find out that the notorious and escaped mass murderer had tried to break into Gryffindor Tower.

Hermione and her friends, Harry and Ron, claimed to be as confused as anyone about why Black had broken in, but Spencer noticed the furtive looks that the trio shared. And, judging by the stories he'd heard about how they were always caught up in the middle of everything, they had to know something, Spencer was positive.

That was the first time that Spencer really interacted with Hermione's friends. He'd seen them all together, maybe said hello once or twice, but never spent any significant amount of time with them as the two tended to avoid academia like the plague, always making themselves scarce when Hermione went to the library for her frequent study sessions with Spencer and the others. That night was also the first time in years that Spencer lost at chess to someone anywhere near his own age; he lost three games in a row to Ron Weasley and could barely believe it. Admittedly, though, he managed to put up a much better fight during the third match than he had during the first.

It was a learning experience and, Spencer had to admit, it was good for his ego to be taken down a bit.

I could probably stand to practice more than I do, he realized. Maybe Weasley will want to play again sometime?

Black managed to escape, and life settled back into its usual rhythm in the castle. However, people were more cautious than they'd been before, at least for a little while. Spencer definitely was, and he encouraged Luna to be; he was worried that her tendency to be lost in her own head would make her an easy target for a man like Black.

But the escaped murderer seemed to be gone, for the time being at least, and life had to go on.