A Surprisingly Normal Hallowe'en

Patiently, I wait, staring down below for the pray of which mine own soul adheres towards their will. The chattering noises each of them makes, unknowing of the fate that will befall them.

I swing down, legs wrapped around the support beam, and screech. "ARGHGLEBARGLE!!!"

The sound of me choking on my own spit thankfully has my wanted outcome. "AHHHH!!!" The two Gryffindor girls trip over themselves as they sprint back up their dormitory stairs, blabbering about monsters in the castle.

Releasing a baritone chuckle, I heave my body around, spinning in the few seconds I'm in air before I land. Jaw proportions and limb configuration going back to the circle of 'human possibility with only a few genetic anomalies' and retracing of tusks. Discarding of the extra fifty mammalian eyes, I mop up the ooze and spittle on the floor with a spongy tentacle.

"Happy Hallowe'en!" I cheer, cupping my hands for volume. I think the two girls are out of earshot… Ehh, whatever. I'll make sure they have nightmares tonight, or my name isn't Dreamer!

The lovely Tori peeks around the base of the stairs; her expression morphing from slight fear to gentle confusion. "Dreamer," she says without pause nor stutter, "what are you doing here?" She looks around, making sure that the glamourous gold and red decorations are still here. "This is the Gryffindor common room." While that last one was an observation, it was still stated as a question.

"Haha!" I rest my hands on my hips, laughing towards the sky with wide pupils. "Tori, there is no door that is a match for me!" Calming down, I descend the stairs. "Seriously though, the windows are a much easier access point."

She opens her mouth, gaping for a moment, mouthing out words but never saying anything. Pursing her lips, she contemplates for a moment more. "Okay. Noted." We take each other, hand in hand, and head for the exit portrait.

As we walk through, I ask, "Are you still working on that stutter?" She's silent for a moment, choosing her words carefully, mulling over each in her mind as she figures out her train of thought.

"Yes." She licks her lips. "I am. My prefect has been helping me, with what she can…It only seems like I'm capable of talking…like everyone else when I'm with you."

Dang it! Now it's my turn to think about wordy stuff. And that's hard! "I'm cheating slightly. I'm not human, in the slightest." No reaction, obvious, everyone knows. I don't even remember who I've told at this point. I don't bother hiding it anyway. "Every time you had to talk and you were near me, I would…mess with your body—just a little bit—so you wouldn't have a…How do I word this? Panic attack."

"Panic…attack? I've had those before. I don't think conversation is giving me a panic attack."

Round the corner. "Mmm. Different degrees of severity. Whether conscious or unconscious, your body seems to respond to social stuff like, well, talking rather poorly. As in, you can be a minute away from fainting and not realize it."

"So…what? You've been messing with my body this whole time?" She inches slightly away at the notion. For some reason, my cold, unfeeling heart that I mask at each and every point in time pulses, hurting slightly. An unknown beat within the collective billions of hearts I have opening a new emotion to me.

Not good. Emotions are already difficult for humans. Something of my scale? Catastrophic. Usually lots of collateral damage and involvement with those around me. The only people around me for the last forever had been the other Rulers: Yuki, Thomas, Cassandra, and Revian.

When I figured out how to be angry, Thomas died fifteen times.

Revian reverted to being a mute, even after all the emotional therapy she went through to say five words to another person.

Yuki died an uncountable number of times and remembered all of them. He hated that. Revian and Thomas erased a millennia worth of deaths.

Cassandra…got off fine. She was on vacation at the time.

Figuring out my emotional spectrum is always a mess.

"—ay?" Snapping back to this reality, I find a petite hand waving in front of my face. "Dreamer?" Tori asks, concerned.

"Yeah—sorry," I apologize, rubbing this body's temples, even though it can't get aches and pains. "Lost in thought. Uhh, where were we? Right, body stuff. Hmm, well, I honestly think you're too young for this, but here we go. So when a man and a woman love each other very much—"

"No. No! NO!" She yells, shaking my shoulders with a plead in her eyes. "I already know that! I don't want to hear it again! We were talking about how you modified my body."

"Ohhhhh…" Crossing my arms and nodding, I continue, "Okay. Yeah. What I did was essentially backwards coffee, where instead of making you energetic, I made you tired."

She blinks. Once. Twice. "That's the worst explanation I've ever heard for…anything."

I shrug. "I'm not good at specifics. Just ask my adoptive dad for better details. He lives for this stuff. Science and numbers. He's a real mushroom man."

She sputters, trying to parse that, but we must split as we have arrived at the Great Hall. Jack-o'-lanterns replacing, or rather encompassing, the usual floating candles. I sit down, notably next to an uncomfortable Cedric Diggory. Probably due to what happened earlier…

The buzzing chatter of the hall quiets down as Headmaster Dumbles takes the stand. His eyes trace over the crowd with their almost unanimous attention. "I welcome everyone to our annual Hallowe'en feast! This year, I've noticed that some have embraced the spirit of the holiday."

A noticeable third of the crowd turn to face me, all giving me stink eyes.

"Disregarding how some of you may feel about others' love for Hallowe'en, keep in mind that it is all in good fun. Now eat!" With that announcement, everyone begins digging into the...the…

PUMPKIN!!!