"Happy Halloween!" Rosaline cheered, her eyes bright and full of excitement. She waltzed around the table in the Great Hall, scurrying to take a seat next to Lily, who was opposite of Belle and Eileen. It was only breakfast, and Rose was already too energetic for the rest of the girls.
"Whoopie." Belle rolled her eyes, taking a piece of toast. Rose looked mildly offended at the brunette's tone.
"What can you possibly be upset about? It's the best holiday of the year!" The blonde narrowed her eyes, grabbing an apple. She took a bite out of it, a tiny bit of juice trailing down her chin. Lily scrunched her nose before handing the girl a napkin.
"I hate Halloween." Belle shrugged, causing Rose to drop her apple. It hit the table, an then the bench, rolling once it got to the floor. It continued to roll until it hit the foot of none other than James Potter. Behind him was his gang, all weary of sitting next to the girl who looked as mad as a giant right now.
"What do you mean you hate Halloween?" Rose screeched, causing some of the surrounding students to glare in their direction.
"I mean I hate Halloween. I get scared easily, so it's not fun for me. My Dad always used to scare me when I was little, jumping out around corners and stuff. I think it scarred me." Belle shuddered, buttering the toast. She gave Remus a smile when he took the seat next to her, grabbing a waffle from the pile. Sirius and James sat next to Lily who glared at them, Peter taking a seat on the opposite side of Eileen. Eileen shot the boy a look, before turning back to her own waffle.
"You are no longer my friend Brielle Roux." Rose hissed, crossing her arms.
"Geez, Belle, you hate like everything!" James laughed, "Do you like anything at all?"
"I like reading," Belle took a bite of the toast. "Oh! And roses, I absolutely love roses!"
"Well I don't love you back!" Rose hissed, still fuming over the fact Belle hated Halloween. Belle rolled her eyes at the girl, turning to Lily who had begun to ask her a question.
"Roses? Why?"
"My uncle goes on business trips a lot, and he asks me if I want anything from different countries- ya know, like souvenirs. When I was little, I asked for a flower- for my hair- and Maurice brought me back an actual rose from Italy; it was beautiful. But, flowers die, so I asked him to keep bringing home flowers, and he always brings me a rose. Don't know why, to be honest."
"That's sweet." Lily said.
"Yea, it is." Belle smiled, before opening her book and blocking out the rest of the conversation. The rest of the kids stared at her for a moment, before continuing to talk. It was not unusual for Belle to suddenly drop a conversation to read.
"So, which one of you lucky ladies wants to help us with the History of Magic essay?" James grinned, glancing around at the girls.
"By us he means himself and Sirius; Peter and I already finished." Remus smirked taking a bite from his waffle.
"Do it yourself, Potter, it's not that hard." Lily glanced around the Great Hall, turing to find Serverus before classes started. She found him and waved to him, with a smile on her face, but he didn't wave back. Belle, who had glanced up from her book for just a split second, spotted this interaction and frowned. She thought Snape was friends with Lily, why the cold shoulder?
"Whatever, Evans," James peered around Remus to see who Lily was waving at before barking a laugh. "You're friends with Snivellus?"
"What did you call him?" Lily growled, her head whipping towards James, some of her hair hitting Rose in the face.
"Ouch!" The girl complained, but no-one seemed to hear her.
"Don't tell me you fancy him, the slimy snake!" James spoke, brows raised in disbelief. Lily's face quickly morphed into rage, and Eileen took this as the time to drag Lily away before she rips off their heads. Rose quickly followed the two, leaving Belle alone at the table with the boys. Remus tapped the girl on the shoulder, causing to look up from her book and see her friends quickly exiting the Great Hall.
"What happened?" She asked Remus, noticing the impish grins on Sirius and James' faces.
"Snape got brought up." Belle eyes widened, knowing that Lily and James had very different opinions on Serverus Snape.
"Oh no."
"Yea, Lily looked livid."
"I would be too if I were her! They need to control what they say around people, or it could end them up in Azkaban one day," Belle shook her head, rising from her spot. She bid Peter and Remus goodbye, before turning to Sirius and James.
"You two need to learn common sense." Was all she said before leaving, her book tucked under one arm, her bag around the other.
"More like Lily needs to learn how to control her temper." James huffed, crossing his arms on the table.
"I don't know, James, that was pretty rude." Remus tried to reason, shrugging.
"Who's side are you on, Rem?" James raised a brow, "Don't act all innocent over there, you call him that too."
"Not in front of his friend- who's actually quite nice."
"Oh, you fancy Evans now then?" Remus rolled his eyes, rubbing his hand down his face.
"No."
"Sure." James scoffed, standing from his spot and leaving, shaking his head the whole way out of the Great Hall.
"He quite the dramatic, isn't he?" Peter asked.
"Yes. Yes he is." Sirius chuckled, before standing to follow his friend, swaggering.
-- -- -- --
All day Rosaline decided to share her excitement with everyone about the Halloween feast, and Belle was on her last nerve. She'd gotten scared out of her wits three times today, twice from people she didn't know, and once from the Hufflepuffs by accident. Now, Belle found herself jumpy and anxious anytime they go anywhere.
"I heard there was going to be real bats!"
"I hope not, I hate bats." Eileen shivered, flipping a page in her herbology book.
"Why? They're adorable." Lily smiled as she scribbled onto her paper. The group had decided to spend the remaining time between the feats and classes in the common room. Lily and Eileen both decided to do homework, but Rose and Belle chose to spend the holiday doing things they actually enjoyed, meaning Belle was yet again reading.
"Are we talking about the same thing here? Bats are not adorable, Lily. Bunnies. Bunnies are adorable, kittens are adorable -heck! Butterflies are adorable! Not bloody bats."
"They sleep upside down though."
"So do vampires."
"That's a stereotype!"
"Says who?"
Belle groaned, as the voices of her friends kept distracting her from reading. Just as she was about to stand up, hands came over her eyes, as did Rose's eyes, making both the girls scream. Joyous laughter sounded, alerting everyone at who had done it.
"Boys!" The two girls growled, causing James and Sirius to bolt up to their dorm, still laughing. Everyone in the group, even Remus and Lily, who normally never laughed at the boys' shenanigans, were laughing, causing Belle to crack a smile before falling back onto the couch out of exhaustion.
"I hate Halloween."
The Halloween feast was magical, Belle had to admit. The teachers were adorned in dark colors, even Professor Dumbledore, who always was wearing something bright, and the Great Hall was decorated with pumpkins and bats, which luckily stuck to the ceiling of the Great Hall. Most of the ghosts were present, except for Peeves, who was known to be quite disruptive. Everyone had smiles on their face, which was rare for half of the students at Hogwarts.
"Isn't this amazing, Belle?" Rose gushed, the smile growing wider as she glanced around the Hall.
"I have to admit, it is quite magical."
"I told you. Oh, they have pumpkin pie!" Rose giggled, rushing ahead of them to take the seat closest to the pie, which just so happened to be right next to the Marauders.
"Hello, ladies, lovely evening, isn't it?" Sirius smiled, placing his head in his palms.
"Hullo, Sirius." The girls chorused, all sitting down next to them.
"Get scared again since we saw you?" Remus joked, lowering his voice as the others begun a conversation.
"No, which worries me." The two both cracked a smile at that, turning to collect their food. Belle had started to enjoy the company of Remus more often, and had actually turned to talk to him in classes when she wasn't reading. He was kind to her, and they had similar interests.
"Wonder what Peeves is gonna do..." James trailed off, looking between the group with a devilish look. Belle tensed, looking up at James so fast that she was sure she got whiplash.
"What do you mean?" She asked shakily, causing the boys to chuckle to themselves.
"Peeves, the poltergeist. We heard some of the older kids talking about a yearly prank Peeves does during Halloween. The Professors have given up on trying to stop him." Sirius explained, taking a bite of his roast.
"You don't think he'll go for the younger years, right?" Belle whispered to the group, her face draining of color. Belle hated pranks.
"Belle, down't be silly, they're just trying to psych you out." Lily nudged her friend, rolling her eyes. The smirks never left the boys' faces. Even Peter seems utterly confident.
"No, it's gonna happen, just you wait." James spoke, crossing his arms on the table.
And so they did, they waited the whole feast, and when it came time for dessert, the prank still hadn't come. James was looking less confident, and Sirius was downright crushed.
"Damn," The shaggy boy shook his head, "I was really hoping for a laugh."
"There will be one." James reassured, frowning.
"Give it up mate, he's not gonna do it. There's like fifteen minutes left of the feast." Sirius patted his friend on the back, who sighed, nodding. When the pies appeared, followed by all other sorts of desserts from different cultures, everyone rushed to grab some.
"Everyone's confused." Rose commented after everyone had gone quiet. The group looked up, noticing the older students who all looked anxious. "Even the Professors are worried." It was true, the Professors were looking up and down each table, not touching the desserts.They all looked on the verge of yelling out.
"Well I'm glad it didn't, because I don't know if I- AHHH!"
Belle let out a shrill scream as her fork turned into a bat, which smacked her in the face before flying above their heads. That seemed to be the trigger for all the other utensils to turn into flying bats, everyone ducking to avoid getting one caught in their hair. The professors, who all looked mildly relieved, jumped up in an instant, drawing their wands and beginning to herd the bats up with the rest of them near the ceiling. Everything was chaos for a moment before Professor Dumbledore drew his wand and froze the bats, letting the remaining screams die out before wishing everyone a Happy Halloween and a Good Night. The students begun to speed-walk towards the exit, wanting to get away from the flying beasts.
Rose was the first to notice Belle's absence.
"Where's Belle?" She asked, making everyone glance to where Belle had been sitting. Remus spotted the girls leg jutting out from under the table, making him bend his head to see her. She was indeed crouched under the table clutching her book, her face pale and her eyes wide.
"I. Hate. Halloween."