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"I'm a dragon!" Rave peeped at every opportunity as they dodged masked students throwing hexes around the corridors. "Look at me! Dragons are real!"

Curious heads turned, mutters of amusement and astonishment followed them:

"Is that actually a dragon? Is it a prop? Did you make that in Arcane Craft? You've dressed up a familiar, right?"

Rave swooped around, his long, spade-tipped tail glimmering in the lamplight. His scales shimmered in rainbow. Every colour imaginable - and a few that weren't - shone and sparkled. His wings were broad and speckled, tipped with itty bitty claws.

"Rave is a feral creature, therefore I believe this is a feral dragon form. I do wonder if anthro dragons would be much different? Maybe I could take more of your blood, Anar, and find out?"

It seemed the scientist was hellbent on taking more of Anar's precious essence, but for now he simply grunted in reply, not daring to commit.

"I'm not sure people are convinced," Meredith shook her head, "they think it's a prank. I mean, everything is a prank on Hallowe'en. Even I'm not convinced, and I saw it happen."

"Not when I have proof!" the teacher cawed, "my screens, the DNA results, they cannot lie. Dragons will be studied seriously now, like all the other magical creatures of this world. I can't believe it's taken this long..."

The small door inched open. Madam Shay was clearly not partaking in any holiday celebrations further than those she was contractly obliged to. Her emerald lizard face lit up upon seeing her little aardvark boy and she flashed him a pretty smile, straightening her black dress. "Well, hello again, my lovely! I've missed you. Are you boys keeping him safe? Wait, where's the other one?" she opened the door fully now, looking alarmed. "What happened to the big one? Doctor Core, what are you doing here? What," she blinked, noticing the small colourful dragon fluttering around, "is that?!"

"It's a dragon," Anar declared proudly, "the big dinosaur drank a potion with some of my dragon magic in and turned himself into a dragon."

For a moment she stammered, her head twitching between the group stood at her door and the small creature loop-de-looping gaily in the air beyond. "It's a trick, isn't it? You just want lollipops, don't you?" her gaze settled on Anar, "you can have something extra special if you come back later by yourself, my lovely," she winked.

He could hear Meredith's sharp intake of air between her teeth.

"No, no, we're quite serious..."

"So am I," the archivist purred.

"Rave is really a dragon!" he blurted desperately, trying to turn the lizard lady's attention away from kissing him. He turned and gestured to his small, flying friend.

Madam Shay pursed her plump lips, "well, that was a silly thing to do! If you're not pulling my leg. Dragons are dangerous."

"That's what I said!" Meredith agreed, still scowling at the member of staff distrustfully. She held Anar's hand boldly to claim him in case Shay got any ideas.

"You know about dragons, Madam Shay?" The crow asked, flipping his pad open again at the ready.

"Not here. Come... inside."

A fresh layer of dust settled on the clutter around them from the activity on higher floors as they cleared off flat spaces to perch upon.

"He's smaller than we expected," Rap announced. "And he hasn't breathed any fire yet."

"Dragons are beings comprised entirely of magical energy," Shay explained, "so, although your friend has drunk a potion, he's not completely a dragon, that would be impossible. There's still an organic element to him. He's very different to Anar, though, because unlike the aardvark who has a tiny spark of dragon within, this one is a dragon with a tiny spark of..."

"Velociraptor," Rap nodded.

"Yes. That. You're really dinosaurs?"

"Brilliant, isn't it?" the small raptor grinned.

"I must say this year's intake is the wackiest yet."

Core tapped his pen noisily, "lots of experiments I'd like to do on you two. When Rave comes back, anyway."

"I'm right here!" he squeaked.

"When all of you comes back, I mean."

"Anyway, what I wanted to say was: dragon magic is the oldest form of magic we could imagine; it's primitive. Rough. Wild. Not like the magic we use."

"Right! I told Anar how dangerous it was. He used it on Aleister Crowley earlier when the old demon cornered us on the way to the theatre."

"Did you really?" Shay gasped. "How did it feel?"

"Pretty awesome, actually. I didn't want to stop."

Meredith gave him a small shove, "see? It has a will of its own, Anar!"

"So... it will take control of itself if you don't make efforts to stop it. Rave is not in command of that form right now, he's being used like a remote control toy."

"I'm flying!" Rave flapped.

"Did you want to fly?" Shay asked.

"What? I suppose so. That's what dragons do, yeah? And - and they breathe fire... and they're big and dangerous and..."

"Stop!" Shay waved her hands in front of the multicoloured dragon. "Belief will feed it! You're small, you're happy being small and flapping about, it's nice, it will all be over soon..."

But Rave was beginning to glow from within now, "belief? I guess... everyone believes in fantasy dragons like Smaug and Tiermat, don't they? From films and TV. Violent 'n dangerous beasts. I'm good at being violent. An' dangerous. I've been violent all my life..."

"You wanted to be cute, Rave!" Meredith squealed as the small dragon began to grow larger and larger in size, his long, sharp talons stretching down from massive scaly feet, broad wings crumpling noisily as the room could no longer contain his bulk.

"Godzilla?" he asked, sharp teeth grinning, his burning eyes looking at Rap, who was craning his slender neck to see all of his now monstrous partner.

"No, Rave!" he begged. "No Godzilla!"

"Get out! Everyone out!" Shay snapped, flinging open the old wooden door to her hiding hole as they rushed into the display area.

With a rear of his long, horned head and a blazing stream of intense flame, Rave roared and brought a foot down upon the flimsy walls, collapsing the museum.

"Oi! We're still down here, you know, you big oaf!" Anar yelled. "I'll remember this next time you want to watch Shark Week!"

"The dragon power has taken him over," Shay warned, "until the potion wears off he's a danger to everything. Even demons!"

The ground shook and the sound of screams filled the air as the building began to crumble.

Rave roared again, heating up the air with another furnace blast. His wings blotted out the sky. He'd completely broken out of the confines of the ancient building now.

"What are we going to do??"

"Surely the teachers will help, I mean, that's their job, right?" Meredith said.

A white glow creeped upon the scene of destruction as the Underworld link sprang into action again.

"Or maybe not. They're all buggering off Downstairs!"

"We don't get paid enough to handle things like dragons," Core squawked.

"Rave! Behave yourself! Think of all the trouble you'll get Anar in," Rap tutted.

"Don't encourage him," Anar moaned, ducking a shower of splinters spraying over them from an obliterated door.

Students scattered, traffic screeched to a halt, horns blared, werewolves howled and a few faint trails of magic sparked into the night from security.

Rave turned his massive body and made to step out across the building boundary, lifting up a taloned foot the size of a London double-decker bus.

"We've got to stop him!" Meredith panicked.

"Rap? Any ideas?"

The small raptor shook his head, "he's having the time of his life right now. Not even Haribo Starmix can fix this."

Core resumed writing on his notepad. "Larger than anything a test subject has ever changed into..."

"He's no help! Shay?"

"I told you to keep all this dragon stuff a secret," she huffed, crossly.

"Oh sure, this is MY fault!" Anar objected. "Everyone wanted my blood. I was happy keeping it in my veins, but noooo!"

The ground shook, it was like a disaster movie earthquake in outer London, with it a pale blue aura spread out from the crumbling remains of the Infernal Holy College, washing every building, every bystander, every leafless tree with its mystical hue.

"Good job you said you didn't care about getting kicked out, Anar, I think this will do it. Wonder if Crowley got off his wheel or if he's in the rubble somewhere?" Rap asked.

"Why aren't the angels doing anything?" Meredith scowled, "surely they can see this is a genuine emergency?"

A glittery shroud covered the other half of the academic institution. The angels had put up a shield. They were probably used to this, to be honest.

With a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning in the sky, the group watched from amid their shelter of broken slabs of stone as a heaped pile of dusty bricks that was once a classroom was struck with a bolt of energy. In an explosion of masonry, they sparked and scattered, revealing a buried mass of spines and horns. Suddenly a huge, scaly hand emerged, slapping upon the foundations as something large pulled itself up from within the fallen ceilings and dropped flooring.

"Holy crap, it's another dragon!" Meredith gasped.

"What? How?" Shay's eyes widened as a set of ivory jaws parted, spilling shards of stone, a glowing orange eye opening and rolling, blinking away dust until the whole scaly head shook itself and a spiny back arched, silhouetted by the spooky full moon.

Rave paused, mid-stomp. His long, draconish face momentarily puzzled as before him straightened up another massive winged, horned lizard.

"Look what you've done to my College!" it bellowed, reaching out with wide hands for Rave's windpipe.

Rave stumbled backwards, not so bold now in the face of ancient terror. Even Rave couldn't get to this size, belief or not!

"Master Leviathan..." Madam Shay wiped grit from her face. "I've heard rumours, of course I have, taking an interest in dragons for so long. But I never imagined..."

Leviathan's grip was vice-like as he shook Rave and dashed him down to the broken ground in a sprawl, bringing a great foot down upon his exposed belly, pinning him with a terrible roar; "I should kill you! Look at this mess I have to clean up! Hundreds of years this building has stood, and you've brought it down in one night... how dare you enter my territory! Where did you come from?"

Rave frothed at the mouth from the pressure upon his abdomen and his limited lung capacity. "It's a Hallowe'en outfit..." he wheezed, "I'm not really a dragon. Just... jolly japes."

Leviathan's deep, muscular black jaw brushed dangerously close to Rave's exposed neck, "you smell like a dragon. You look like a dragon. Do not mock me!"

Anar cupped his hands around his mouth. "It's true!" he yelled as loud as he could.

The amber eye rolled back and Leviathan groaned. "You..."

Anar flinched under the shadow of the fantastic beast moving above them, "Hallowe'en salutations!"

Meredith gave him a look, a look that said he was a dead aardvark walking.

"Scared everyone, right?" Anar continued, "terrified the teachers, too. Pretty impressive for a first term student. Got to be worth extra marks? We might have squashed Alexis, with a bit of luck. Everyone hates him. Proper annoying git." He paused. "Got you out of the office for a bit, didn't it? Fresh air. Stretch your wings. Do you a world of good."

The dragon rumbled, his voice taking time to be heard from within his cavernous frame, "I told you... you were stuck here no matter what. You have caused willful destruction and mischief, true, but that is what our unholy holiday is all about. So... you will be merited accordingly." He breathed deeply, still pinning Rave down, smiling to himself. "Maybe we are ready to be seen. The time for dragons to hide in the shadows is over. So few things strike fear into the hearts of mortals in these new-fangled, digital times..." he trailed off and lifted his weight from poor Rave who doubled over immediately, wheezing and cussing.

"Should have stuck to being a bloody squirrel!" he groaned, painfully, feeling himself shrinking gradually as the potion wore off and his old sauropod body solidified, dark green and wingless and comfortable.

Rap burst into a tirade of scolding, "you flipping plonker, Rave! I told you no Godzilla! What were you thinking? You could have squashed us, you could have trampled innocent onlookers, you could have got Anar kicked out, you could have been stuck as a dragon forever..."

Doctor Core scurried up, too, pen at the ready, "could you see through time? Could you smell colours? Did you have any heartburn from the flames?"

"I'm gonna eat you in a minute," Rave snarled. "I'll get heartburn then, from all the feathers..."

Leviathan spread his thick arms wide, a giant soap bubble spreading between them, slowly enveloping everything in sight, wrapping the group of students and teachers and the collected rubble and half of the London suburb within its swirling shell.

The air was still. Sounds muted. A shimmer settled around them, twinkling like glitter, slowly fading away and revealing the old scenery and building as if nothing had happened.

Deep rumbling from Master Leviathan meant he was about to speak and they respectfully listened, "enjoy the rest of your Hallowe'en celebrations. I have... had fun. Maybe next year, I will cause a little havoc of my own... show those silly demons who's really in charge."

The chill October night air whipped around them and they stood, blinking and cold in the street outside the Infernal Holy College.

"That was... interesting. I saw a dragon; did you see a dragon?" Meredith asked, slowly.

"yeah," Anar nodded, "I did. Big one. Lots of spikes. The College... fell down, didn't it?"

Rave stared at his claws, "I feel funny. Did someone slip something in the spooky punch?"

"Possibly," Rap nodded, "it's the night for tricks and mischief, isn't it?."

"Yeah," they all agreed.

"Wanna go the Happy Shopper?"

Doctor Core fluttered his wings, "what's a Happy Shopper?"

"Ohhh you gotta come with us, you'll love it at the Happy Shopper, they got everything! Wait 'til you try a Push Pop," Rap grinned.

Anar flicked the gold credit card between his grey fingers, "it's on Crowley, too. I'm getting Maltesers." He popped it back in his pocket and pulled out the last of his Marlboro cigarettes. "Huh. Good timing."

"Excuse me, but did we really see a dragon?' Madam Shay was still looking around in case it was hiding behind the public payphone.

"Yeah. Dragons are a thing now, I guess. Makes sense, if mermaids and unicorns are real. Why not dragons, right?"

"I can publish my book," she gasped, walking with the group towards the happy smiley face logo of the mini market.

"And I can publish my scientific journal," Core puffed out his chest proudly. "When I've turned these notes into something legible, at least."

They got many glances of approval as they travelled; the mad scientist crow with his stethoscope and blood-splattered lab coat, Rap with his witchy hat and patchwork cloak, Anar with his horns and wings and hooded cloak, Rave as a dangerous wild velociraptor, Meredith in her sumptuous low-cut velvet dress and heeled boots, Madam Shay in her short, layered lacy dress studded with rare stones, complete with magical amulet sat on her glossy scales.

Cries of 'Trick or treat!' bounced off the concrete and traffic. Snaps and bangers thudded in alleyways, as off-licences had November 5th fireworks in them already and nobody checked for ID.

Across the full moon the shapes of witches zipped, and the howl of werewolves carried out into the low fog.

Anar stubbed his cigarette out under his trainer and exhaled a noxious cloud; he'd come a long way from just a few weeks ago; when he'd been holed up in his room, sweating over studious swatting and putting up with Crowley's bullying. Now, he had friends, and a successful rivalry, and secret dragon magic. And Meredith. Who probably, almost certainly, hadn't eaten any of his soul. Crowley would be furious at his extra merit for their Hallowe'en shenanigans and he allowed himself a rare chuckle.

"Big ears has lost it, he's laughing at himself, always knew he was a few fish short of an aquarium..."

"Of course I've lost it, I'm hanging out with you two. By choice!"

"You love us," Rap purred, "think how dull your life would be without us crashing through it on the regular? Can I get some Wotsits?"

"Anything you want."

"Anything? Even the big bag?"

"Even the big bag."

The little raptor gave his mammal friend a squeeze, "maaaaate, you're the best!"

"You rescued me from Hell, it's the least Crowley can do," he winked.

Rave wheezed, "he's gonna be so pissed! I can't wait to see his ugly face. Maybe there is something in this rivalry business, after all. It cheers me up, anyway."

"He's at his swanky party now, probably forgotten all about me for a while."

"Oh I don't think so, mate, you sent Aleister packing, remember? You better be ready for when he comes for you, because he will come spoiling for a fight, family honour and all that jazz."

"Yeah," Anar agreed, touching his amulet and feeling the bubbling in his blood. His dragon blood. From his great ancestor, the powerful Warlock mage. "Family honour. I know all about that one. I'll be ready for Lex. Or Aleister. Or anyone that messes with my friends. Demons or dragons, even my own father, I'll be ready for them all."

"With us, of course, your trusty familiars."

"Oh, now you're my trusty familiar, Rave?"

"Well, as long as there's Shark Week..."