The entire castle was alive. Not in some eerie, cursed sort of way—though ghosts did tend to drift more freely this time of year—but in the way that footsteps echoed endlessly down stone corridors, laughter spilled from every staircase, and students ran wild between common rooms like it was their last night on earth.

All of it, of course, for bloody Halloween. Ghosts returning from the dead for the night, as if the castle didn’t already host enough of them.

Like the entire castle isn’t already crawling with poltergeists and ghosts, Remus had muttered—though that had been a year or two ago, bitter from a looming full moon and the noise rattling in his skull.

James, on the other hand, loved it. He loved the floating pumpkins, the low-lit chaos, the professors letting curfews bend ever so slightly. But most of all, he loved the costumes. Dressing up had always been fun—loud, attention-catching, and just theatrical enough to suit him perfectly.

This year, he’d gone all in: cowboy hat tipped low, wand tucked neatly into mock leather holsters, boots with an unnecessary but satisfying click, and—perhaps most regrettably—the woolly sheep chaps that were already clinging to his legs with heat.

He was sweating. Between the fireplace, the crowd, the drinks, and the buzz under his skin, he needed to step out before he melted.

And that’s when he saw you. Again.

Not for the first time tonight—more like the fourth, at least. You’d been slipping in and out of common rooms like you were on some secret mission. Or just bored. Or looking for something. James had a hunch it might be him.

That grin on your face? The one that said you’d lost your friends somewhere between Ravenclaw’s tower and the Slytherin dungeons? That was new.

James leaned a little against the wall, trying to play it cool despite the sweat clinging to his back.

“Hey,” he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, cheeks warm. “Still upright? I thought you’d have tripped over your own feet by now.”