Disclaimer : JKR thought of it first. Story of my life. She owns all of them.

Author's note : I envisage this as being set in the 4th year, but it has no connection with GOF.

Third time unlucky

Hermione walked slowly through the wood, keenly aware of rustlings and scurryings all around her. Screeches high in the trees made her shiver. The wind moaned. A crash of a falling branch made her jump. She shuddered - why am I doing this? Hallows' Eve, the most powerfully magical night of the year, and I'm alone in the dark in Lake Wood.

A stupid bet, made with Ron and Harry in the common room that morning, had started it.

"Better stay in your room tonight and hide under the bed covers" Ron had told her, chuckling.

"Why?"

"It's Halloween. Evil things walk the Earth tonight. Things that don't normally show their faces."

"Ron's right" added Harry, looking serious. "Not a night for girls to be out and about. We'll understand if you don't want to stay too late in the common room this evening. I suspect Ginny will be turning in early as well."

That had done it of course. As they'd no doubt intended. After a brief shouting match about the relative merits of female caution and pig-headed macho stupidity, she'd accepted a bet to walk through the wood that skirted the western edge of the Great Lake. In the dark. By herself. Without her wand. She had to reach the newly fallen tree and stay there until seven o'clock that evening.

"You can come back once it's seven" said Harry. "We'll trust you."

"If you don't get back, we'll come and look for your remains tomorrow morning" said Ron cheerfully.

"In the morning?" said Hermione crossly.

"You don't think we're going out there tonight do you?" said Ron. He shivered. "Not when there's … well you've heard about that black hissing thing that's been seen on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. That's too near Lake Wood for my liking."

"Perhaps she ought to take her wand" said Harry, looking worried. "I mean she's only a …"

"I don't need my wand thank-you" interrupted Hermione. Only a girl indeed. "Do you think stupid stories scare me? The teachers just start them to keep us away from the parts of the grounds they don't want us in."

"But why don't they want us there?" said Ron quietly. "There must be a good reason."

"Scrub the bet" said Harry.

"No!" said Hermione. "I am not frightened."

But she was now. Swaying bushes and branches took on strange animated shapes. Dangling strands of wet honeysuckle and wild clematis brushed against her face making her jump. A wild bird, disturbed by her footsteps, shot up in front of her squawking furiously. She realised her heart was tap-dancing against her ribs. She stopped and took slow deep breaths, trying to regain her composure.

I wish Harry was here, she thought. We could walk together. And I could slip my arm through his. He'd hate it but he'd be too polite to do anything about it. He's not afraid of anything - except girls! Why do boys always get everything back to front? A pleasant tingle ran through her and she felt a lot calmer. Thank-you Harry she whispered.

She strode on, confident now, ignoring the noises around her. She soon reached the fallen tree. It was a massive oak, hundreds of years old, and a few days ago it had crashed to the ground for no good reason. No storm. No rot. It just fell down. Spooky. Still she was here. Six o'clock. Not too long to wait she suspected. She found a comfortable leaf-filled hollow among the broken roots and settled down, pulling her cloak tightly around her.

It was a clear, moonless night. The squeaks and squeals didn't bother her any more. It was quite pleasant lying there watching the stars move slowly across the sky. And then a new sound intruded, a low baleful moaning. A grey shape, indistinct, but tall, was moving slowly towards her. It had a sickly yellow-green glow where its head should be. The shape came closer. The moaning grew louder.

"Oh, help, help, Harry, help me! Save me!" she cried, in what she hoped was a convincing damsel-in-distress voice. She threw in a scream for good measure. And then clapped her hands over her mouth. It was all she could do not to laugh.

The grey shape stopped and became two smaller grey shapes. The light vanished.

"Hermione it's us" came a familiar, though anxious voice.

"Wh-wh-who's there?" she trembled. Better give them their money's worth!

"It's me" said Harry. "And Ron. We didn't mean to scare you. Well we did, but we didn't. If that makes sense." They emerged from the gloom and sat down either side of her. Their wands flared and a soft light lit their faces up. Ron was grinning broadly. Harry looked concerned.

"I was so frightened" lied Hermione. Honestly, couldn't they tell? She had a feeling Ron knew, but Harry seemed genuinely upset.

"Sorry" said Harry. "It was just a stupid joke - I got on Ron's shoulders and used my wand to generate a sort of evil glow. Ron did the moaning. I think it's seven o'clock. I guess you win the bet. We get to fetch and carry for you."

"Oh no" groaned Ron, "every day for a week, you're kidding. She said she was frightened, can't we call it a draw?" He looked pleadingly at Hermione.

"All right - draw" said Hermione feeling generous, though it was more than they deserved. But Harry's concern was touching. "Anyway it's not the sort of thing we should joke about. This is Samhain's night you know." She lowered her eyes.

"Who?" said Ron.

"Samhain. I - I don't want to talk about him. Not out here anyway. Hagrid told me all about him, but it's horrid. Let's wait until we're safely back in the castle. In the light." She shivered and hugged herself.

"Aw come on Hermione, tell us" said Ron.

"Don't if you don't want to" said Harry. He touched Hermione gently on the arm and smiled at her.

Ron pulled a face at him. "Harry, this is just to frighten the kiddies. Come on Hermione. He probably doesn't exist anyway."

"Voldemort exists - why not this Samhain?" said Harry sharply.

"Who is he?" demanded Ron.

"The Lord of Death. A Celtic God" said Hermione. "Hallows' Eve is the end of the Celtic year, the night when the barrier between the living and the dead is at its weakest. Samhain comes to collect evil souls tonight. Those who have repented may finally get into Heaven, but the unrepentant are doomed to wander the Earth as evil spirits for another year. Sometimes they're imprisoned in animal's bodies."

"He sounds a barrel of laughs" said Ron. "Do you think he'd take Snape in part-exchange for a banshee or something? We could offer to pay the difference."

"Don't joke Ron" said Hermione shivering again. "It's too scary to joke about." She looked around worriedly.

"It's OK Hermione" said Harry quickly. "Nobody's going to hurt you. Ron's right. Samhain probably doesn't exist - it's just a silly story."

"How do you know?" asked Hermione.

"Well I've never heard of him and if he was real I'm sure somebody would have mentioned him."

"I bet you've never heard of Nudd either" whispered Hermione, her eyes wide.

"No - what does he do?"

"He collects souls too - only from living people. He's so scared of Samhain that he just rips up anybody he comes across, good or bad. He gives their souls to Samhain to try to please him. He has two huge glaring red eyes - if you look too deeply into them, you die screaming …" Her words hung in the air.

"Maybe we better get back" said Ron, sounding a little worried. "Not that I'm frightened or anything. Honestly." He grinned weakly.

"We're probably safe here" continued Hermione. "Nudd can't come near an ash tree, even a fallen one. They're instant death to him. Oaks are his thing - he sort of lives under them."

"This is an oak" said Harry, looking around nervously.

"It's an ash silly."

"Oak" said Ron. "McGonagall said so. It fell down for no good reason."

Hermione gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

"What?" said Ron, his heart starting to pound.

"After Nudd has given the stolen souls to Samhain, Samhain imprisons him under an oak tree as a punishment. Nudd struggles all year to get free. He usually manages to get out just before the next Hallows' Eve. Then he takes revenge on the tree." She looked at them, shaking. "He brings it down."

Ron swallowed hard and stared at Harry. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Harry nodded and stood up. "And Hermione hasn't got her wand. We'd better get back, now." He held out his hand and pulled Hermione up.

They took a few steps and then …"Stop" cried Hermione. "What's that noise? Put your wand lights out. Quick."

There was a low hissing sound a little way in front of them - and whatever was making it was getting closer. Ron and Harry levelled their wands, killing the light from them at the same time.

"Get behind us Hermione" ordered Harry.

"Harry I'm frightened. Nudd is supposed to hiss whenever he smells human souls."

"Stay back" shouted Harry, pushing Hermione behind him. His heart was performing somersaults. "He's not getting you. If he gets us just run like crazy."

"Harry, Ron - look" squealed Hermione. A pair of huge red eyes had appeared in front of them.

"Don't stare into them, don't" she trembled. "It's certain death."

Harry and Ron looked away. The eyes inched closer, the hissing grew louder.

"On three" said Ron, "one, two, three!" Their wands blazed and the eyes vanished in a shower of debris. The hissing turned into a spluttering sound. And then a curious thing happened. A mass of blue and gold sparks shot into the air and rearranged themselves to form the words … 'Happy Halloween'.

Hermione collapsed laughing. Sounds of merriment came from over to their left.

"What?" said Ron. "Lumo maximus." His wand shone brightly. Lying on the ground in front of them were a pair of shattered red lanterns and a kettle, still belching steam. Their wand blasts had blown a hole in its side. The light from Ron's wand picked out a small figure, giggling helplessly, emerging from behind a bush.

"Ginny" exclaimed Harry. "What the …" He turned to look at Hermione who was on the ground, crying with laughter.

"Oh, your faces" she said. "Honestly, it's just too much. I wish I had a camera."

"I think we've been stitched" said Ron, grinning. He fired a few feeble sparks at Hermione who rolled out of the way, still laughing.

Ginny skipped down in front of them, twirling her wand in her fingers. "Evening boys. Seen any good soul-stealers lately? Or perhaps a bewitched kettle and a couple of floating red lamps?"

"Right" said Ron, "you're mincemeat." He flung his arms up and started moaning and groaning. Ginny shrieked, then laughed and shot off into the bushes. Ron dashed off after her, doing his best to impersonate an evil moaning and groaning thing.

Harry flopped down beside Hermione, who was giggling behind her hands.

"You made all that Samhain and Nudd stuff up didn't you?" said Harry.

Hermione shook her head. "It's real - well it's a myth obviously - but it's what Hagrid told me when I went to ask him what made the tree fall. He still doesn't know why it came down. I knew it was an oak of course. I tell a good story don't I?"

"I guess you got us back."

"Sorry" said Hermione gently, seeing how dejected he looked. "I thought you'd try something, so I cooked up this scheme with Ginny. I told her to watch you and follow you if you left just after me. You planned your evil creature earlier on didn't you?"

"Not exactly" said Harry. "I was, er, worried about you being out here alone, so I said I'd follow you. Just in case. Ron decided to come too. And then we sort of thought up the moaning-beast idea as we crept along behind you." He looked embarrassed.

"Oh" said Hermione. "It was nice of you to come after me - it is spooky out here." She realised why she liked him so much - he cared about other people. She edged closer to him. And then shivered. Deliberately.

"Are you cold?"

"A little." She slipped her arm through his and shuffled up against him. Harry quickly looked away from her.

"This is a good way to get warm Harry. You don't mind do you?"

"No."

She knew he did, but she squeezed his arm anyway, wondering if she should lay her head against his shoulder.

"I brought you this" said Harry, rummaging in his pocket. He produced a chocolate frog and handed it to her.

She smiled her thanks, unwrapped it, bit off its head and handed the rest back to him.

"Ta" said Harry, swallowing it in one gulp. "I wonder where Ron and Gin have got to?"

"I expect Ron's chased her all the way back to the castle. They'll be fine. It's nice here under the stars isn't it?"

"I thought it was spooky?"

"Only when you're … alone. When you're … with someone, it's … romantic."

"Oh."

He is shy thought Hermione. I hope he doesn't mind my trick. I'd better make sure Ginny doesn't tell anyone. Though I suppose Ron will have told everybody by now. He'll think it hilarious. And then everybody will tease Harry something rotten. She sighed to herself.

Harry pulled his arm out of hers. Oh, she thought sadly. He turned and smiled at her - and then put his arm around her. Oh! she thought.

"Don't want you getting cold" he said, grinning.

"No Harry." It seemed like a good moment to lay her head against his chest, so she did. Harry's arm tightened around her. Not quite so shy as she'd imagined, but still too shy to kiss her she decided. Still, this was very nice. She wriggled her arm around his waist and lay there contentedly as his fingers rubbed gently against the back of her hand. The stars turned slowly above them.

"What's that?" said Harry suddenly.

"What?"

"Listen."

A low hissing noise could just be heard, mingling with the rustling sound made by swaying trees. As they listened the noise got louder, the hissing more pronounced. And then a crashing sound joined in. It sounded as something big was pushing through the bushes.

"Ron! And Ginny" said Harry. "They're trying to spook us. Again!" He took his arm away from her, smiling apologetically.

"Well they're doing a good job" said Hermione. "That's big. And heavy."

"Ron must have talked Hagrid into joining in. Ginny's whipped up some spell to make the hissing."

"It sounds more than that" said Hermione, edgily. She stood.

Harry got up, smiling and shaking his head. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

A scream pierced the night, a scream of someone in terrible pain. Hermione flung her arms around Harry.

"It's only to scare us" said Harry, laughing. "Or Hagrid trod on somebody's toes." She was trembling. He hugged her, enjoying her warmth, wondering why he'd never done this before.

Something large flew through the air and crashed into the side of the fallen oak, landing a few feet away from them. Harry turned his wand light on it. And froze in horror. Hermione screamed hysterically and buried her head on his chest. The something was Ginny. Or most of her. Her arms had been ripped off and her rib-cage torn apart, revealing a bloody pulp where her heart should have been. Her face was contorted in agony.

Harry watched in terror as the bushes and trees in front of them splintered and fell. A large red-eyed, hissing shape was bearing down on them. And this time there was no pretence. Nudd had come. And he was hungry for human souls.

T H E E N D