Choosing her favourite Leia Organa outfit had been quite a difficult task for (Y/n) as, of course, there was nothing wrong with going for the classic white gown look as she would at least be recognizable then. But then she wasn't sure she wanted to wear all white considering the activities of the Fall Festival. So, she narrowed it down to Leia's brown Cloud City outfit and the military uniform. Dean had it quite easy as, depending on what (Y/n) wore, all he would have to do was switch out a black vest for a black jacket. (Y/n) ultimately decided on wearing the military uniform as she got to make a super cute green poncho to go with the look.
(Y/n)'s costume consisted of light blue pants that had a yellow stripe, a khaki-coloured shirt beneath an olive green vest, and a camouflaged poncho with a black belt that could easily be taken off if she got hot, or vice versa if she got cold. Of the costumes she had seen so far variants of Cher Horowitz, casual wear of girls who were saying they were recreating Sailor Moon outfits, and group costumes that weren't even related to media. She encouraged students and teachers alike to participate in the two costume contests going on.
(Y/n) was very amused with the Pumpkin Decorating Contest (judged by Professors Sprout and Flitwick). Some had taken it really seriously and really let their artistic colours fly. Others had gone for the more silly approach, such as cartoonish little monsters or the one that she saw which looked vaguely like Elton John if not for the lack of face. (Y/n) and Padma had taken the artistic route— Padma had done the carving, (Y/n) had done the painting. Their pumpkin was meant to look like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, and (Y/n) was quite proud of how it turned out. (Y/n) mentally mused that decorating a watermelon would have been more fitting for Audrey II, but they would not have been qualified had they brought a carved watermelon.
"(Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n)!" Ginny hollered as she ran over with a timid Neville and a dancing Luna in tow. "Vote for Snape for the teachers' costume contest."
"Huh? He's wearing one?"
"No. But that's exactly the point of voting for him," Ginny said. "He'll have to wear that pumpkin hat up there and it would be really humbling."
"All right. I will vote for him," (Y/n) said. She was going to vote for Professor Sinistra due to really liking the fact that she wore a belt around her waist that had planets that were rotating around her as though she was the sun. But she supposed voting for Professor Sinistra would also mean she would have to take off her star-patterned witch's hat. (Y/n) was highly amused by the three's group costumes. Luna wore a black spiky dress with large googly eyes, mimicking Soot Spirites; Ginny wore a tan and brown striped sweater with matching cat ears and a tail, mimicking Catbus; And Neville wore a gray sweater with a white stomach and grey ears that looked somewhat like a bunny's.
"What's that smile about?" Ginny asked, raising an eyebrow.
"My Neighbor Totoro?" (Y/n) smiled.
"Luna's idea," Neville nodded.
"May I?" (Y/n) asked, holding up her Polaroid camera with a pleasant grin. The three nodded, moving closer together to be in the picture. There was a short flash and (Y/n) waited for the photo to come out before she started fanning it around in an attempt to get it to develop faster.
"Oh, they dressed up as doxies..." Luna commented, pointing out a trio of girls, whose faces immediately turned into scowls as they seemed to have clearly heard Luna's comment.
"Fairies I think, Luna," Neville said hastily. Ginny tried to not laugh directly in front of the three.
"D-Did you already run into Dean already?" Ginny asked shakily, her sentence interrupted by a brief giggle.
"Yeah, we got pictures," (Y/n) nodded. "He went to the haunted house with Seamus a bit ago. I wonder if the line has died down by now."
"Probably not. It's, like, peak hour, I bet," Ginny said. "What's playing for the movie tonight?" she asked as the four slowly slinked over toward the game booths.
"'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,'" (Y/n) answered. Ginny stared at her in disbelief. "Kidding— But seriously, I have no clue. Professor Burbage is the one who got the final say. I just know I recommended Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, and IT... I doubt IT is going to get chosen because of the younger students, though." Ginny crinkled her nose.
"Can't get actual horror around with them, can you?" Ginny sighed.
"It's not them, it's the parents that would be a problem," (Y/n) said. "'My child is not old enough to watch that sort of thing!'" she mocked.
"How many tickets is the haunted house?" Neville asked.
"Oh, are you going to do it, Nev?" (Y/n) asked, surprised.
"Ginny wanted to," Neville answered.
"Well, it's eight," (Y/n) said. Neville nodded, counting how many tickets he had— While tickets could have been bought with currency, they could have also been earned for doing good in your classes: Participating, getting good marks, and actually turning in your homework were all various ways that tickets could be freely earned. Those who were not satisfied with their earned number resorted to just spending money.
(Y/n)'s eyes roamed the area as Ginny played a fishing game. She hummed along to the time of Monster Mash. Her eyes soon fell onto the Golden Three and quite an odd memory came to mind— One of their first Halloween, but (Y/n)'s second Halloween at Hogwarts. She remembered Hermione judging her Halloween costume but still going on to comfort the crying girl— Their moment was only ruined by a troll coming their way. Neither of the trio wore costumes, but they did wear Halloween-themed jumpers. She took her gaze off the three right as Ginny was accepting the small plushy she won.
"You should play, Nev. Everyone wins with that game," Ginny said.
"That is so back-handed," (Y/n) laughed.
"Are you settling back in well enough?" Neville ventured to ask as the four walked around in search of something that caught their eye.
"Yeah. Probably because it's all still in there in the first place," (Y/n) said, tapping the side of her head. She opted to leave out just how well she was settling back into magic as she had always liked having a surprise element. One day, she would completely terrorize or completely amaze them. Though, she supposed their was no completely surprising anyone who knew her as well as they claimed to. "I hope I do not have to have meetings with Dumbledore for the whole year. That would be bothersome."
"Never understood your dislike for him," Ginny mused. "He's just a funny guy, isn't he?" (Y/n), truthfully, didn't fully understand her own dislike for Dumbledore either. She just based her opinions on him from her own journal entries— And surely no one's opinion was better than her own. (Y/n) wound up playing a couple of games, but she didn't have much interest in playing in them due to knowing she was supporting one club or another. The four eventually joined the queue for the haunted house. There was a screen in the hallway that was showing the reactions of those who were currently in the haunted house. Ginny took great amusement but Neville seemed to grow more and more dreadful as they got closer to the front.
"(Y/n)!" Colin Creevey shouted. "Have you seen Dean? I'd like to get a picture of you two!"
"I have not," (Y/n) said apologetically. "But if I run into him, I will come find you."
"All right, thanks!" Colin said cheerfully, walking fox with his younger brother, Dennis, in tow.
"This has been a pretty successful event so far," (Y/n) said proudly. "Perhaps my other ideas for festivals will be accepted."
"You sure stepped up as Head Girl quite quickly for someone who wanted nothing to do with it," Neville commented. (Y/n)'s lips turned up.
"I guess if you guys— the students, I mean— will have me as your Head Girl, I will stay as such," (Y/n) sighed. Professor McGonagall's neutral face turned up into a proud smile as she passed the four. As they reached the front of the line, they got out their eight tickets and were told to step forward as a group. The sixth-year running the ticket box was keeping an eye on the screen before finally waving them inside now that the next group was ahead enough.
Neville stayed glued to the walls, sticking to the back of the group to avoid getting jump scared— This, however- failed as the actors would often scare him on the group's way out of the room. Luna seemed rather unfazed, even complimenting the actors' makeup. None of them broke character, though. Despite being on the decorating committee and the theatre club, (Y/n) was still immensely jumpy with any and all actors that would pop out due to the surprise factor. Ginny couldn't take anything seriously because she was fascinated with the makeup or she was too amused with Neville and (Y/n)'s constant flinching or yelping.
"Holy hell!" Ginny gasped, jumping back as a zombified student came running at them on all four. It took an abrupt turn to their left in the small maze they were in. It was the first jump scare of the night that got the entire group. Neville and (Y/n) were trying not to grin as, for once, they would not be on the receiving end of Ginny's teasing. Once they were out of the maze, they finally reached the end of the haunted house, which led them back into a side room off the Great Hall. By now, the booths had been disassembled and seating was prepared for the movie.
"I still have tickets left. Want to use them on the photo booth?" Ginny suggested, pointing out the booth in the corner of the room that would not be gone until after the movie. The others nodded and jogged over, getting in quite quickly and getting two sets of photo strips through Ginny's tickets. (Y/n) duplicated them for the other two before needing to excuse herself to find Padma, Parvati, Lavender, and Cho to watch the movie with. Upon finding them, they too wished to take pictures, which again got duplicated.
"I think Dean and Collin were looking for you," Cho said, smiling at her copy of the photo strips. (Y/n) glanced around, quickly spotting the two. She approached them and Collin's face lit up as he raised his camera toward Dean and (Y/n), who smiled and posed.
"It'd be better if we had guns," Dean sighed. (Y/n) shook her head scoldingly, returning to where her girls were seated. Leanne had joined the group and was cheerfully greeted. (Y/n) and Leanne offered to go get snacks for the group. By the time they were back, however, they discovered they missed the wonders of the students' costume contest. They did get to see that Snape won the teachers' contest and was forced by Professor McGonagall to wear the pumpkin hat. For the pumpkin-decorating contests, students entered anonymously to avoid biased picks from the judges— Professors Sprout and Flitwick.
"Let's go!" Padma cheered proudly as hers and (Y/n)'s pumpkin was brought up and announced as the winner. They walked up to the front of the room to the sound of applause and gladly accepted the pumpkin antennae headbands they were awarded. Professor Burbage complimented (Y/n)'s costume as they returned to their seats. The movie that Professor Burbage wound up playing was Ghostbusters and (Y/n) most certainly had no complaints considering she was among the few that recommended it.
"You know, I am pretty surprised there were no Ghostbusters this year," (Y/n) said to Leanne as she scanned the room. "Oh— Never mind." She nodded her chin at a group of third-years dressed as Ghostbusters. She couldn't tell who they were dressed specifically as, but she could see nameplates on their costumes. "Hey, who won the student costume contest?" she asked no one in particular.
"Jack Skellington and Sally over there," Leanne answered, pointing at a fifth-year couple.
"Oh. Yeah, I see why," (Y/n) nodded. "Indiana Jones could have won too, I think."
"For sure," Leanne agreed. "And Leia Organa and Han Solo too," she added. (Y/n) snickered and bumped arms with her.
"I didn't dress up to win."