Evening is coming fast, so gather along the sides of the streets as Diagon Alley's Parade of Lights begins!

The first float makes its way down the street, lined around its edges with lights. In the middle of the float you can see the wizard's son, curled up as if trying to hide and protect himself from the main focal point of this float - the Hopping Pot itself.

It is large, golden, very shiny, and very active. The pot hops randomly around the float on its brass foot, but instead of sprouting warts and various other illnesses like it does in the story, numerous types of candy and sweets fly out in all directions as it leaps around. Catch as many treats as you can!

Jorge had stopped into the loo of the prophet to do a quick change from his pirate costume to his knight costume. As much as he looked good in the pirate costume and matched Mariel he knew hew as looking just as good in the knight. Now he had to find his float mates. How he ever got talked into this. What he didn't do for a pretty smile. They needed a knight to save the day float and here he was. Standing next to the one he was to be on the man looked around the crowd. Was Mariel there watching yet?

His brown eyes moved to watch the first float go by. So they were to just wave at the kids, he could handle that. Half wondering if they could possibly throw out candy, he had seen that before, but maybe for safety reasons with it getting dark they would just wave as it went by.

--people watching---

It was starting to get dark so it was certainly parade time. Though the sleepy baby resting on her husbands shoulder might not see the lights if his eyes fell anymore heavy. "The parade is about to start bubba, you don't want to miss it." She figured if his eyes were even a little open they would be as soon as he saw the first trickle of light, which seemed to be happening very soon since she saw something moving down the street.

"Oh Gunnar look." She pointed as the first float seemed to be coming near. "Look at the pretty lights." Putting her arm around Ethan she got comfy in their spot to watch the lights go by.

Victoria had pushed the girls all over for their first real trick or treating event. Both seeming to have lost of fun once Alana decided to stop crying at every new thing she saw with her little eyes. Pushing the stroller to an open spot she stopped and wondered if it would be long before the parade would start. She hoped not knowing it was close to bed time and even thought maybe just skipping the event and going home, but they were there so why not stay.

Bending down near the stroller she smiled at the girls. [b] "Are you ready to see pretty lights?" Smiling as she saw Elisa sleeping already and Alana yawning. Maybe they wouldn't be seeing the lights, but as soon as the first float came she noticed her daughters eyes open a little more wide.

"YAAAWWWN" It was a big yawn for little Alana. She was tired, it had been a long day with so many things to see. So stressful she had been crying a lot with all the strangers and mommy just letting them come near her, but she had gotten yummy things so she wasn't too upset anymore. As the stroller stopped she looked around and saw mommy. Giving her sleepy babbles she just closed her eyes when she heard a noise that made her little brown eyes widen. With a little lip wibble she stopped seeing pretty lights. Pointing and babbling, did mommy see the pretty lights? Could she touch them?

Valerie was kiiiind of excited for this. Though Halloween wasn't exactly her favorite holiday, she did enjoy dressing up and wearing costumes. It was probably part of the reason she enjoyed acting. Not the only reason, of course, but part of it. That aspect of the job was usually fun, even if it wasn't always glamorous.

Grinning as she watched the Hopping Pot start making its way down the street, she hurried over to her own to get in place. It seemed only their knight was here so far though. Hopefully the two other ladies would be there soon.

"Hey there, Sir Luckless," she said with a grin. "Ready to get this show on the road?"

Arya had LOST Treyen? How do you LOSE a best friend? By chasing after an almost two year old through a crowd of much older children all hyped up on candy, that's how. The Lady Dakest had scooped up the baby when she managed to get a hold of her, and was wandering the street with a bag full of candy looking for the actor now.

He couldn't have gone too far, right? Right. The street was only so big, and his legs didn't move any faster than hers even with a baby on board, so she walked all of it and came up on the parade that was looking to begin.

"We'll search for him here, Em." She set the squirmy girl on her feet, keeping hold of one hand while looking for both Treyen and a good spot to watch the parade.

Emma was SUPER HELPFUL in calling out her uncles name repeatedly every time after her mama had called it out. But she didn't SEE him? Where was he? Was he getting juice? Or fruit? Emma liked fruit, she wanted some now and almoooooost had some at one point but was pulled away before it could be gobbled up.

Sad.

But lights! She forgot all about her uncle and his absence when she saw all the floats and their pretty lights, making grabby hands with the one free little hand she had.

Jorge so someone coming towards him and smiled as the costumed beauty came closer. One of the three ladies he was riding on the float with. They needed a knight last minute and he was their guy Of course. Seeing more and more people coming to watch the parade and the first float moving along he grinned at her. "Hello" His thick Spanish accent coming out in his greeting.

"Which of the lovely ladies are you?" He moved closer to her and did a knightly bow. Since he was dressed as one he figured he could act the part. "Jorge Cristo De La Garza" In case she wanted his name. Brown eyes scanned the area again. He was looking for a certain someone, but also when they should be going. "Yes I am ready to get this show on the road as you say, it's been a long day with passing out the candy and now doing this, but it's been fun." He really had enjoyed passing out the candy and tormenting his boss a bit.

Casey Tate had lost Geneva. Merlin knew she hadn't gone far, and she couldn't leave without him, but he was here and she was not and if Cari ever heard about this, he'd probably lose a limb to her wrath. So he listened hard for her loud little voice and watched puffy sleeves and eyepatches for his pirate queen.

But no, she just appearing, and there was low gauge anxiety churning in his usually rock solid stomach. He didn't really do safe work, and this wasn't a totally safe place, and what if someone came after him through the sprog? It was a good thing she knew how to kick-and-bite-and-scream when some stranger got too close.

He was still looking when he nearly ran over a young woman in front of him. "Excuse... Arya." A familiar face. Really, there were loads of familiar faces, but hey, a really familiar one. "Have you seen a pirate queen around here anywhere?"

The one night he was free to roam and grace humankind with his presence, the one night the new master Alley Keeper granted him in exchange for... well, it doesn't matter now that he was out finally!

The crowd was awfully tacky in the streets, though, it made him look with somewhat a haughty expression on his face. He floated easily between the floats, didn't mind going through them if necessary too.

They called this a parade? Korpsit had seen better. He had hosted better. This was disappointing.

The goblin easily wove his way through the crowd and into the street, hopping onto the first float; the candy dispenser. How original. From this new vantage point he peered off into the crowd wondering when the others would get there. Couldn't start without the main attractions and you couldn't swipe little things that didn't belong to you without chaos and distractions.

This night wasn't ending. No matter how many times he checked his watch the time seemed to be crawling and rather than tired, the children were getting louder and bouncier. Who's brilliant idea was it to give children candy so close to what he'd been hoping was BEDTIME. If nothing else, Avery would be up for hours. The candy and the fright had her properly awake. Something about a ghost and a bloody woman. The things people did these days.

Thankfully they'd managed to find Zeke and Ashley without anything serious happening. Losing one was enough. They'd proven responsibility and had almost gained his faith in...them...again....

"Is that a goblin on the float?" He asked, squinting as it passed along. "I don't remember that being a part of the story." Or the ghost....weird.

Ashley would have been disappointed that they never got to sneak down to Knockturn Alley but then her Uncle told them about the parade and everything was alright again. Ashley elbowed her way to the front, not that far from her uncle and Emily but necessary because unlike Avery, she wasn't sitting on her uncle's shoulders and couldn't SEE.

"WHOA! D'YOU SEE THAT?!" She asked, eyes widening at the ghost that was going through the floats. "Do you think they needed a spell or potion to make them able to go through like that?" Was there even such a potion? She wanted some!!! Ashley got on her toes, trying to get a proper look. It was SO cool!! And not a part of the story but WHO CARED???

This had to be the safest place in the entire Alley. Nothing bad could happen to her while she was sitting on her Uncle's shoulders, getting the best seat for the parade. No mean ladies, no ghos--

The 7 year old's eyes widened at the ghost slipping through the float, her grip tightening dramatically as she STARED. It was the same one from the newspaper place and she could feel a scream building in her throat but it didn't quite make it out her lips.

When did Halloween get this scary??? >.<

Valerie couldn't help grinning at the bow and she curtsied in return. So in-character they were, hehe. "Asha in the story, but my name's Valerie Soler-Hensley. Nice to meet you, Jorge." And good, he was ready. Hopefully that meant the others would be ready and here soon. She glanced around to see if she could spot them and then turned her attention back to Jorge. "That's good to hear. I take it the trick-or-treating went very well then?" No crazy incidents or anything, that was good. You never really knew what could happen when you gathered a bunch of kids together - especially magical ones.

Looking around again, she noticed the ghost and the goblin that hopped up onto the Hopping Pot float. Should...they do something about that? Was that okay? She wasn't sure. But then she also noticed their float fidget a little - could floats fidget? - which probably meant they should get on. "Guess we should get ready to start moving," she suggested.

Anika Duke was running a little behind due to wig malfunctions. BUT with some assistance from her mother, the now blond-haired Amata was finally gracefully gliding down the streets of Diagon Alley.

While she hadn't included herself in the Trick or Treating portion, Anika couldn't find it in her to care much. That sort of chaos went against her zen nature...Besides, sitting on the parade float promised to be a more mellow affair. Something she could really get behind.

Oh, was that Valerie?

Carefully walking over (and trying not to tatter the hem of her dress), she curtsied to Val, her coworker, and the knight with whom she stood. Surely this was meant to be Sir Luckless. "Greetings, good sir and lady." She went for a melodic tone, something not too difficult to achieve thanks to her father.

This was going to be so much fun.

This was taking too long, and she was beginning to think that it might have have been alright letting Zeke come by himself. He hadn't died yet, he hadn't run off to KA again, all was well. Even stealing some of his candy hadn't given her much joy, she would have happily traded all the sugar in the world if it meant she could go home and never see so many children in one place ever again. Of course, she pitied Gavin more. He had two of them under his care, and Avery looked like she wouldn't be sleeping for weeks at this rate.

The float parade thing, was nothing more than a finale to the horrible night, and it wasn't one she was particularly interested in admiring or celebrating. Gavin was right though... there was a Goblin on the float, and she didn't recall it being part of the story either. "Mmmm...." she mused. That Goblin, did not sit well with her. At least Zeke was still in view. "I can't imagine that being by design, but if it is, the person responsible is an idiot." Those things happened, and she wouldn't excuse herself for being judgmental. If you were going to do something, then you'd best do it right... no modern interpretations of this or that.

Emily spared Avery a look, the girl was... not coping with this. "You're safe," she reminded the girl. The only thing she might not be safe from was tooth decay.

Lame. It was lame that Gavin and Emily found them before they could go adventuring. They could have had KA all to themselves because he was sure that everyone would be HERE with the candy and pretty lights. It sounded legit.

Either way, he had gotten around to reading the Beedle Bard book thing that Emily had raved about, so now his childhood had not been lost on him -- or something to that effect, so at least he could follow along with the parade and understand the references. Having pushed his way to the front with Ashley, he gawked not at the lights and the floats but the Goblin and Ghost. Yeaaaaaahhhh Ashley, yeaaaaaahhhhh!!! "They're dead, and like, not here anymore... they don't NEEED a potion or anything to do that stuff, it's what they do, cause they're not physically here." Or something like that. Yes? No? He didn't know, but it made sense to him. Ghosts were glorified air for the most part, but they were cool in that they could talk and stuff.

He was fixating on the Goblin, it looked cool. Was it one of the ones from Gringotts? Was it here to throw them money? WAS IT?! They were ugly cool, and the long nose looked ace for flicking... could he have one? A Goblin? Was that a done thing in the wizarding world? Like a pet? Or a caretaker pet? COULD IT BE HIS BUTLER FOR WHEN EMILY WAS TOO BUSY WITH WORK?!
"I want one of them," he told Ashley, pointing directly to the Goblin.

The Death Eater leaned forward a bit, his eyes glued to the moving floats, and the Goblin.

She was pretty sure that Vic's girls were done with trick or treating as it was getting pretty late and they looked quite tired - and Mariel was fairly sure the parade was going to start. She was looking forward to that, knowing that Jorge was going to be on one of the floats. As much as she enjoyed him dressed as a pirate, especially matching her, she knew he'd be a perfect knight.

"Thanks for staying for the parade," she said to Vic as they found a place to stop and watch. Mariel knew it was probably past the girls' bedtime and if they needed to leave, they could, but she was thankful for the company. Standing up a bit more on her toes, she craned her neck a bit trying to look at the floats yet to come as the parade seemed to start. "Do you see him yet?" She wasn't too worried about the candy.

After the brief encounter with the goblin at Eeylops, Ethan felt a little better keeping a hold of Gunnar himself or having Min hold him. And so he let Min push the empty stroller towards the viewing area for the parade as he carried their very sleepy son. "I don't think he's going to make it," he chuckled at Min as he glanced down at Gunnar whose little body seemed far too relaxed in his arm, telling him he was very near sleep. It had been a long day and was past the boy's bedtime. It wouldn't surprise him.

Still, Min tried to get Gunnar to try to look at the lights. Nit that he blamed her - this would be a fascinating sight for their young child if he could stay awake long enough. He shifted the almost one year old in his arms just slightly so he could get a better view, still allowing him to keep his head on his shoulder in case he couldn't keep his eyes open, and he put his arm around his wife as they settled in to watch the parade. He squinted a bit as the first float came into view. "That's not that same goblin, is it?" And what was he doing on that float?

Gunnar was so sleepy. Mommy and Daddy took him to lots of places and showed him lots of things, but they all wore him out and he was ready for sleep. Daddy's arms were cozy too. His eyelids growing increasingly heavy, blue eyes drifted towards Mommy as he heard her say his name. What, Mommy? Ohhh.. look at the pretty li-- YAAAWWNN.

Aliceara never had liked running late for anything, even when people had expected her to be ‘fashionably late’ for events. She wasn’t in that environment anymore, and she’d put too much work into the float and helping organize everything to be late and miss it all. At least she had thought ahead and simply worn her costume while she had been overseeing the trick-or-treaters at her shop. There hadn’t seemed to be many of them, which she attributed to the idea that a robe shop might not have had the best treats when there were options like ice cream. She didn’t mind, although she’d left Angelina at the shop in case there were any stragglers as she’d finally decided to slip out and head for the starting point for the parade.

Either way, she knew she was late when she’d arrived and seen that the first float had already started off, and the rest of the volunteers for her own were already standing nearby. She’d rushed over, carefully holding the hem of her costume up so it wouldn’t risk dragging on the cobblestones and tearing. There wouldn’t be time to fix it if anything happened, even though she had needle and thread hidden inside the bag at her waist, underneath a few sprigs of herbs and foliage she’d picked from her garden. “Good evening ladies. And Sir Luckless, I presume,” she said as she stopped near the small group, dropping into a slight curtsy. It appeared she’d just made it, considering she could almost sense the float nearby getting ready to start moving. At least they hadn’t had a goblin hitch a ride.

THERE was the goblin, there he was! Davie had managed to chase him allllllll the way down the length of Diagon Alley, from the North End through the middle and all the way down to the South, dodging little kids and big adults in his pursuit. "I SEE YOU!" he was shouting as he pushed through the crowd, popping right out behind the goblin onto the street.

Ooooooooop. The dark-haired boy put on the brakes. Uh-oh, what was this? A PARADE? A PARADE WITH CANDY?!!

Young Truebridge quickly dropped to his knees and started scooping up the treats scattered everywhere, tossing them all into the pumpkin candy holder still on his arm. FREE CANDY, THIS WAS AWESOME!!!!!! He had definitely left his manners in the North End of the street as he collected as many pieces as possible and then stepped back into the front of the crowd watching the parade.

Where were Genny and Summer? HEY LOOK, THE GOBLIN WAS ON THE FLOAT NOW!! Aw man, that was cool. Davie wished he'd thought to climb a float. Was that a ghost, too? He got a pleasant chill seeing the man float through the float (HEHE A PUN), but it was a cool chill of admiration.

Cool. This was all really, really cool, and his shining and excited little face said as much.

Genny was game for goblin-stalking, even if it wasn't particularly piratey. Or maybe it was. Goblins worked at Gringott's, which was chock-full of treasure. Basically, goblins had treasure, and pirates wanted treasure, so a proper pirate would be very interested in the coming and going of goblins. And Genny was a proper pirate.

They weren't very subtle, now, were they? What with Davie shouting at the goblin and Summer-girl being a fluttery fairy thing, the goblin wasn't going to be taking them to treasure. EXCEPT HE DID. HE DID DID DID. "Arr, candy booty," Genny wished she had a hook hand, so she could pokepoke DAvie with it, but then she wouldn't have two hands available for gathering up all the candy and stuffing it into her expanded pillowcase. Could she make Davie give over his candy too? For pirate booty reasons?

"Arr. Davie. I can hold all the candy in my big bag. If you want." AND SHE SAW DADDY. There he was! Genny plopped down on her bum and used her arms AND legs to collect candy while well out of sight of her father.

Jorge grinned more as the woman said who she’d be from the story as well as her actual name. “The pleasure is all mine.” She was cute in her little costume so this wasn’t going to be all that bad. “Trick or treating went very well. The children were very excited.” Some a bit scared from Tori, but he felt it all went very nicely. As he nodded to her saying about getting ready he heard yet another voice. His brown eyes moved to see not just one, but two other beautiful women joining him. Yep he picked the best float to get roped into doing. “Hello ladies, I’ll be your knight for this evening.” His Spanish accent thick with his words.

Thankfully he missed the Goblin getting on the first float. His run in with the creature in Knockturn Alley would have made him either hex it quickly, but he hadn’t seen it so he just smiled at the ladies for a moment more before turning to their float. “May I help you all up, I think it’s time for us to start moving.” He stuck out his hand to help them on the float. The rough life of Sir Luckless, heh.




Victoria checked on her girls again grinning at Alana as she pointed, “Yes dear floats” How she was still awake the woman would never know. Her sister on the other hand was fast asleep and she wasn’t surprised. So many things to see she had to be over stimulated. “Oh don’t worry about it. I’m here and why not stay for it. I live so close it would be silly not to.” She knew Bart was getting older, but she still wished her son could have joined them. Though he was probably having fun doing whatever at the castle. She really hoped he was behaving. Her brown eyes looked around, “Oh yes, over there.” She pointed, “Is he being a knight?” Seemed like he was surrounded by three ladies so it made sense.

Alana yawned and stretched out her arms. It was tiring crying and seeing so much, but she didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to keep her little eyes open to see what was going on. This was interesting. The pretty lights. Her eyes widened as the first float went by and she pointed. What was that clear person doing? Did he just go through a float? “WHAAAA WHAAAA WHAAAAA” her little lip wibbled as she started to cry louder watching the ghost.

Minerva smiled at her handsome boys and shook her head, “No I don’t think he is, but it’s still fun to see.” She moved a bit closer as Ethan put his arm around her. This had been the perfect day minus the Goblin. “I think he had fun, don’t you?” What a great way to spend his first Halloween though. She looked around. “Isn’t that Mariel’s boyfriend near that one float?” It looked like him at least, but he wasn’t a pirate like she said he was. She figured he could have changed though.

Her eyes were on Gunnar watching him and smiling. Such a tired boy, “It’s okay little man if you want to sleep go ahead.” Leaning and giving him a kiss on his cheek. “You had such a big day.” Leaning her own head against her husband she looked to the first float. “I don’t know.” Why would he be on a float? That was just very

Another float is ready to make its slow journey down the street, even if its people are not yet on it.

Your eyes are instantly drawn to the very large replica of the legendary Fountain of Fair Fortune. The edges of the fountain glitter with golden lights, and it looks as if it was actually flowing with water, though that's just the magic of the smaller transparent lights flickering in a way that mimics the movement of water.

Around the edges of the float rests a smaller depiction of the white worm, the hill, and the river the characters had to overcome to get to the fountain. These are lit with slightly softer lighting, as the main focus is on the fountain.

Ah, Anika was here! And so was their Altheda. Excellent! They were all here now! She was also pleased to hear the trick or treating had gone well - and now it was time for the parade to continue to go well too!

And their float really WAS ready to move apparently since it was starting to go Thankfully their knight was there to help them on. "Of course, thank you." She smiled and took his hand, releasing it once she'd climbed onto the float. Thank Merlin these things didn't go very fast so it wasn't too hard to get on.

It wasn't easy to walk when you had a toddler clinging to your leg and swaying as if she were ACTUALLY the sock monkey she was dressed as, but it was easy to stand with her doing that, with practice. And Arya had plenty of practice. Her dark eyes flickered from the parade to the crowd, still searching for Treyen and not so concerned about Emma so long as she was physically attached to her.

He probably went to get more candy. Not that they needed it since she had enough for her and Emma and juuuuust enough leftover for Ellie to have. This night had been planned and the plan had been immediately aborted when they arrived and who was running into her?

"Tate!" She looked both surprised to see him and pleased. Who would have thought he of all people would be out on this night. "Pirate queen?" Arya searched around before shaking her head. "Not one that stood out. Missing one?" Did he want help searching? Because they could team up.

"Tate! Tatetatetate...." Emma rambled off the first word she'd heard her mum say that wasn't her uncle's name until it became of little interest to her and went back to her incoherent mumbles, matching eyes fixated on the parade as she continued to swing from her leg. What WERE they? She wanted to know.

She wanted to move closer too, but the hand lost in her curly hair and practically attached to her skull prevented such movement.

"Yeah, she's about this tall, really needs a haircut, wears an eyepatch?" Tate gestured appropriately to let Arya know he was looking for a LITTLE pirate queen. "Answers to Genny, Genny Wren, and Captain Genny. Mostly only Captain Genny lately, though."

She was deep in character, y'know? Tate glanced down at the little one who was chanting his name, and he made the universal sign for 'can I pick up your baby?' with his big hands. His own child had made it to the ripe old age of 8, so obviously he could be trusted with littler ones. Teenage girls, now... that was going to be a problem for him. He still had Neptune Bott related nightmares.

"Nevermind, I see her. She's the one doing snow angels in the candy." And she would probably get run over by a float at some point. He was a terrible father. So give us your baby, Arya?

Summer had fallen behind. She was too busy staring at another kid's costume that was REALLY cool, but when she turned her head and saw her two new friends running away, she quickly followed behind to see what they were looking at and chasing after. Oh, LOOK, a goblin! Summer couldn't remember if she had seen a goblin in real life before.

She could only pay attention to the goblin for so long though because candy was falling from the SKY. Summer quickly joined Davie and the Tater girl and started to gather as much candy into her little basket as she could.

"Do you think the goblin has candy, too?" she asked. Maybe if they said hi, he would give her some!

The next float that comes by pictures a scene from the darkest of the fairy tales. Seated upon a lighted gold throne is a smirking warlock. He is surrounded by piles of gold. Occasionally the handsome warlock can be seen playing with the gold unaware of his loneliness.

On the other side of the float, cast in darkness, is a glass aquarium. In an effort to lighten the mood, a dark Puffskein was placed inside instead of a hairy shriveled heart.

In the front corner, seemingly out of place, sits someone with a bucket of gold coins. Occasionally he'll throw these coins out to the crowd watching the parade. On closer inspection, however, they are not gold coins, but foil wrapped homemade chocolate coins. One might question why this man, obviously not part of the story, is seated on the float, but the chocolate is meant to distract from that.

Gavin wasn't about to correct Emily when she was perfectly right. He must have been forced to read that story a million times by now and not once was there a goblin. Whoever designed that float had done a shoddy job of it, or was possibly running low on sleep. "I guess it's of no real consequence." He said, noting the reactions of the children nearby. In this moment where candy was sprouting from float after float, did they even remember the story?? "I get the feeling they don't mind having their children muddled with so long as there's sugar involved?"

And there it was, the tight grip his niece now had him. She'd been jittery all evening but he thought it would have been all the candy getting to her. Evidently it was not. He couldn't see the look on her face but Emily having to remind her she was safe gave him a fair idea of what he was dealing with. "It's just pretend." He offered. "Like Ashley pretending to be a sickly, dead inferi. Nothing more." Some back up would be nice.

Also...Gavin leaned a bit closer to Emily. "Doesn't he look like the goblin we ran into down in Knockturn Alley?" He asked, in a low voice meant only for her ears, though with people this close, there was no telling what people would hear.

What was Zeke TALKING about? Ashley pried her eyes away from the goblin and the floats to look at her obviously confused brother who did not understand what Halloween WAS. "They aren't real. That's the point. It's pretend and dress up. What would they be doing with a real goblin and a real ghost?" Sometimes she wished he'd think more. Of all the fake stuff they'd seen he chooses to believe this. Sigh. He had a lot to learn. "They could have gotten a goblin from Gringotts but the ghost is probably a spell--an illusion spell like the ones Maman tells me about."

That had to be how they did it and the girl wanted to get a closer look, she just didn't know how well her uncle would take it if she and Zeke suddenly sprinted out into the middle of the street. 'Sides, she didn't wanna get smushed if the floats didn't stop. It was dark, they might not SEE her.

She'd only been distracted for a moment more before he said he wanted a goblin. "Pourquoi??--I mean, why? You could have a house elf instead. They're nicer and make better food if it's a pet your looking for." Unless it wasn't but then why else would he want one if not to make it his play thing? That would be her reason for wanting it.

Why was everyone so excited about the goblin and the ghost? Looking around she could hear what they were saying and honestly she thought they'd all lost their minds. Didn't goblins eat children? Ashley said they did and her sister was always right about everything. That made her even less likely to be willing to get off her Uncle's shoulders. It just wouldn't happen.

She heard Emily say she was safe and of course she believed her but that didn't make things any less scary than they were looking right now.

The 7 year old took a moment to consider her Uncle's words. Nothing was real? Everything was for pretend? Like the lady back at the Daily Prophet that got her extra treats? No. Non. She pointed. "The ghost is REAL. I saw him go through a wall."