Ford laughed. "My whole life is kind of inherently spectral," he pointed out. Maybe that wasn't strictly true, but he did spend a lot more time with ghosts than the average person did, and didn't tend to associate them only with a particular time of year. And there wasn't any proof that Muggle theories about spirits being closer to the world of the living, or the veil being thinner, or ghosts being stronger was true — interesting though all those theories were.

"It said the masks were provided for this masquerade," he continued. "I'm using that as an excuse not to have a costume this year." The event wasn't actually on Halloween, but Halloween was also a Tuesday, which meant he could get out of events that were scheduled that day and make Noble take them instead on the excuse that he needed to sleep so he could work early the next morning.

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