Halloween at Hogwarts is upon us. For reasons I'll never understand, Halloween gets everyone rather excited. People find joy in the season of candy and spooking others. I've never liked Halloween, it's far too dark spirited for my taste. The only consistently good thing about the day is the copious amounts of candy that is handed out and then consumed by yours truly. Other than that I rather dread it. This year though, after hearing about my dictate for the holiday, the boys have taken it upon themselves to cheer me up with yet another prank.
"I don't care for Halloween either." James admits as we sit cross-legged in the girls dormitories surrounding a boiling cauldron in-which purple steam flows over. "Something about the holiday has never settled right in my stomach."
"How could you not enjoy Halloween?!" Lily exclaims as she enters our dorm with her arms crossed and a sharp eyebrow raised.
James rises from his seated position as soon as her voice enters his ears and he ruffles a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. "What's to like?" It isn't his usual cocky voice that he puts on when she's around, he actually sounds curious about the matter.
Lily's hard demeanour softens and her eyes actually gain a brightness to them instead of the usual hardness they usually reflect in James' presence. She plops down onto her bed and begins animatedly explaining the concepts to him. "There's trick-or-treating, for starters! How it works is you go up to anyone's house, even if you don't know them, and you knock on their door!"
"What then?" James asks, excitedly moving to sit in front of Lily on his knees, mimicking her seated position on her bed.
"And then they just know to give you free candy, Potter! It's a given during Halloween. And of course there's also the fun in picking a costume. It's the one day of the entire year you can dress up as whatever crazy thing your mind can conceive!"
"Blimey! I had no idea the Muggle world could make it so exciting! You'd have to take me sometime, I'd love to witness this all taking place in person."
At that, Lily's excitement comes to an end and her smile falters as she realizes who she's been sharing a friendly chat with. "Yes, well, maybe someday." It isn't a complete shut down which James does not take lightly as a very dorky smile covers half his face and his glasses slide down to the tip of his nose whilst he stares off at her in a complete daze. Lily slips off the bed and moves from the overjoyed boy and towards where the other boys and I sit around a cauldron.
"Hey lover," She reaches out to twirl a piece of my hair between her fingers. "what are you five working on back here? Is that a potion?" Lily peeks over me at the skeleton transformation potion, curiosity-piqued. This potion is similar to that of Polyjuice but Remus and I managed to tweak it for the occasion. "Merlin's beard! That smells wretched! What the bloody Hell is it for?!" She gasps, pinching her nose with the tips of her fingers.
"It's nothing to worry about, my dearest of flowers. A mere surprise for tonight." I say not-so-discretely covering the top away from view with a cauldron cover.
"I don't trust you." Lily states.
"As you shouldn't." I smile happily and the boys snicker around me. With a last shake of her head, Lily grabs a stack of books off her bedside table before swiftly leaving.
As soon as the door comes to a close, James bounds towards us, jumping on top of Sirius and engulfing him in a bone-crushing hug. "Guys, can you believe Evans had a heartfelt conversation with me? I love Halloween, hands down my favourite holiday." James and Peter exchange a high five, Pete grinning for his friend's fortune.
*
The Great Hall echoes in chatter, not the normal friendly chatter that's usually heard however. This one is made up of fear. Everyone knows something's up and if they don't they'd be downright thick. I sit at the long Gryffindor table, smiling largely. No, largely is too much of an understatement. My smile is downright maniacal and bloody scary. I don't blame the few who ran away to avoid dinner.
Everyone is on edge and it's a beautiful sight. Tonight's prank will only take place once pudding starts, so as to catch everyone off guard. After Dumbledore's waves his hands and the feast appears, no one dares take a bite. It's as if someone froze time. No one says anything as we all look at one another waiting for someone brave to take one for the team. I play along, refusing to try any of the food. It's when one hungry Hufflepuff shrugs her shoulders and grabs a piece of chicken that others around her do the same. And soon, everyone is taking careful bites of whatever they long to devour. When nothing happens, the friendly chatter engulfs the Great Hall and I smile in accomplishment. No one suspects a thing.
It's when all different types of pudding replace the feast and everyone begins digging in that I send Sirius the signal, which is three taps to my nose and a flick to Peter's ear. "Ouch." Pete yelps as I flick him a little too forcefully. "Sorry!"
Sirius swishes his wand underneath the table, muttering an incantation of sorts.
Suddenly, the double doors bust open and zombies come racing into the hall. To say people took the intrusion well would be far too kind. Some faint, some yell, some run and some sit there in shock. Though throughout the ongoing chaos, Professor Dumbledore watches the scene with a smile.
The zombies were given careful instruction not to touch the students, however being close enough to merely make them uncomfortable and afraid.
The potion takes thirty seconds to develop into the consumer. Remus counts down the seconds on his watch. "Ten seconds, Keeks, you're up."
I don't need to be told twice as I raise my wand and continue listening to Remus count down the seconds. When he reaches one, I drain the room of light. Everything is pitch black and even more screams are heard.
I give the process a couple seconds before turning the lights back on.
The screaming goes on as every student in here notices their friends, as well as themselves, are skeletons. This along with the chaos of the zombies still running around, causes me to let out a long joyous laugh. "We did it again, boys. Another successful prank."
Sirius' arms find my waist and he picks me up with ease and twirls me around in the air. I laugh while being spun about and wrap my legs around his torso, clinging onto him. "Put Ms Holland down this instant!" The shrill Scottish sound of McGonagall's voice booms from behind us. I turn my head to face her, still holding onto Sirius with my arms and legs wrapped around him. "Awe, Minnie, do you wanna carry me instead?" I bat my eyelashes at the woman innocently.
She ignores me and her right eye twitches. As much as I like to egg her on, she is still one of my favourite professors whom I have the utmost respect for. "You all have detention this whole week for your shenanigans."
"What a pleasant word. Shenanigans." James chuckles. "Permission to use it sometime, eh Minnie?"
"I suggest you lot stop making snide remarks before I double your punishment."
"What's a shenanigan?" Peter cluelessly asks.
"Two weeks detention!"
*
"I must say, well done." Violet's calm voice sounds from behind me and I flip around to come face-to-face with her bright smile. "All of you. I am quite impressed with your magical capabilities. Brilliant job." She tips her invisible hat at us.
Before anyone else gets even a breath in, a very bashful Remus Lupin says. "Thanks, you too." He squeezes his eyes shut and immediately regrets his word choice. I snort in amusement at the boy's flustered state. "I-I mean, you do good too. You would do good if you helped...I mean –"
Someone should save the poor boy before he digs himself any deeper into this hole. And I suppose I have to be the someone. "What this teddy bear over here means to say is that you are very sharp yourself and he thinks you look beautiful today." I grin. Now it's time for both of them to blush crimson.
James clears his throat with a smirk. "Lettie, are we still on for practice tomorrow morning? I'll bring the Quaffle so you've only got to worry about bringing yourself."
"What's this now?" I probe.
Violet tucks a strand over straight blonde hair behind her ear and clutches the book in her arms. "We wanted to get some more practice in before the Quidditch season officially starts."
"And why weren't Sirius and I invited?"
"You specifically told, no sorry, yelled at me that if I were to ever wake you up that early to do any physical activity of any kind, that you'd remove my head from my shoulders." James replies with raised eyebrows and a knowing look on his face.
"Oh yeah! You should really stop trying to get me to go with you, it's not going to happen, Jamie." I say and Sirius chuckles from my side before throwing an arm around my shoulders and saying, "Anyhow, laddies, this is where Chiara and I part from you all. We've got some private business to take care of."
"Hold the phone!" Violet exclaims. "You are dating Sirius?! I knew it wasn't James!"
"No, I am not." I laugh heartily and once again, Violet flushes red. "But he and I do have something to do, so we will meet back with you lot later! And you, Violet, we will see you tomorrow. Ta!"
And with that, Sirius and I turn around with his arm still around me, and strut out of the common room and into the dark halls. "Did we have plans that I wasn't aware of?" I ask Sirius after a beat of deafening silence.
"No," Sirius smiles a bit. "I just thought we could use to time just spent with each other. We don't get much time to ourselves, just you and me."
"Awe, well, what do you have in mind?"
"We could get some food."
"You know me too well."
We greet the house-elves with childish grins and spend the night talking about anything and everything.
On the walk back to the Common Room, I admit through the dark. "I miss you, you know. I like you and me time. We should make it a thing to sneak out after dark to get, say, a midnight snack together."
"I'd love that." He whispers back with a smile.
"Every Monday and Friday. Monday to give us something to look forward to at the beginning of the week, and Friday to end it just the same."
"I like the way you think, Holland." Sirius grins, slipping his hand into mine. I glance down at our clasped hands and can't help but ponder about how perfectly they fit together, like pieces of a puzzle. The common room is empty when we enter. I follow him in and we stop in front of the entrance to the boys dorms.
"Sirius?" I ask quietly, as if afraid to break the peace. He hums in reply, his eyes examining mine closely. "I don't want to go back to my dorm tonight."
His breath hitches and for a second I swear he blushes like a madman but it's hard to tell in the dimly lit room. "You can sleep in my bed with me."
When we get up to the boys dorms, we find James awake yet again. "Where have you been?" He's got a knowing look on his face and something about the way he's looking between me and Sirius makes me blush, hard.
"We just went to get food." Sirius says, also blushing furiously and casting his eyes downwards. It's then that I notice we're still holding hands, and Sirius seems to take the same knowledge to mind as we both let go too quickly to be inconspicuous.
"Uhuh. Mhm." James continues eyeing us in that same annoyingly knowing way. "Anyhow, it's four in the morning and we've got classes tomorrow so I say we skip."
"Sounds good." Sirius says, walking away from my side and beginning to pull off his robes. "Chiara, you can borrow something of mine to sleep in so you won't have to walk all the way back to your dorm."
"Keeks is sleeping here?" James asks.
"Yes she is." I say, searching Sirius' trunk for a shirt to wear. I settle for a plain black jumper that is big enough to fall down to my knees.
"You'll sleep in my bed then." As soon as James says it, Sirius whips his head in my direction and for a second I swear he looks sad about the new sleeping arrangements. But that look is gone just as quick as it arrived, instead replaced by a smile that I see right through.
After changing in the bathroom, I exit wearing the soft material that smells of Sirius, which I secretly relish in, and skip over to James' bed. I let go of the robes clutched in my arms and they fall into a pile on the ground. "Jamie-pie, I must warn you that I am a mega-cuddler. I say mega because I will not let you go."
"It's a good thing I am too." He grins, lifting the comforter for me to climb under. I do just that and he wraps his arms around my waist tightly and protectively. "I'm the big spoon."
"I always thought you'd be the little spoon." I laugh and I feel him laugh behind me.
"We can switch later." James whispers only loud enough for me to hear and I once again let out a light chuckle. "Goodnight!"