Written for Zombie Reine's Halloween Competition. I was afraid, at first, I might not get it done but I am very pleased with the end result.
The Masquerade was proposed as an idea to the teachers in passing by Luna Lovegood. She hadn't meant it to actually happen. It was more of an offhanded comment about how it would be interesting to see who became friends if no one. Well things continued, and it turned into a reality. Fourth through seventh years were invited to the great hall for a masquerade. The other students had things to do themselves, both muggle and wizard Halloween traditions were being honored.
Because of this, not only were they forced to wear a mask, but also a costume. The theory was that no one was supposed to know who anyone else was, but they could tell. The costumes were varying, and some were surprising.
They all ignored the fact that Ginevra Weasley's bloody red hair was unmistakeable, even among the crowd. They ignored the fact that the man she was dancing with had one of a kind platinum blonde hair.
They ignored the fact that the simple sparkling butterfly mask that was on Ginevra's face complimented the deep green of her dress in a way that was eerily similar to the colors that were so often seen among her rival house.
They ignored that, while Draco wore only a black set of dress robes, his mask was and ornate red and gold phoenix mask. His tie also was the color of his rival house's own colors.
They ignored what most certainly had to be Luna Lovegood dancing with Blaise Zabini to the first couple's right. Ignoring that her own silver dress looked beautiful with the greens of her peacock mask. They ignored the navy blue of Blaise Zabini's dress robes, and the silver of his tie. They ignored the silver and blue markings over the plain white mask he was wearing.
They ignored the odd couple to the first's left as well. Those who were so obviously Pansy Parkinson and George Weasley dancing together. Pansy's scarlet ball gown and gold mask were overlooked, and so were George's silver tie and green mask.
For now they ignored these little details, and they would for the rest of the night. It was a night meant to be fun and light hearted. Then entire point was so that people would spend time with people they normally wouldn't, so they ignored the fact that these outfits most definitely had to be planned between the six of them. That they would have had to have spoken to each other prior to this whole experience. That they were laughing and talking as if they had been friends for a long time.
They ignored the serpent necklace clasped around Ginny's throat that all of them noticed Draco fiddling with for the last two weeks. Come the next morning questions would be asked and people would be confused, but as for now, they ignored all of these things.
"You know, Blaise, you never told me if you liked my dress." Luna said dreamily, as she stared at the starts that were magicked to hang above their heads.
"I think you look beautiful in it, but I know you look infinitely better out of it Luna." Blaise answered.
"Maybe we should just join a nudist colony then, if you always think I look better naked" Luna said, one almost had to laugh at the seriousness in her voice.
"Haven't you seen the people who join nudist colonies? Believe me, it's never the people who should actually walk around naked all them time."George commented, shuddering.
"I do not want to know why you would know that." Ginevra said, rolling her eyes.
"You know...I wonder how nudist colonies would celebrate Halloween?" Pansy announced, making the rest of the group laugh. "I was being serious!"
"Maybe they practice the old ways. Y'know smearing blood over their faces so Samhain won't get them in their sleep." Draco offered.
They didn't care that in the morning their lives would be hell. They were relieved to finally be able to show themselves in public. They were making a statement. It was Halloween, the only night that they could be the people they truly wanted to be. For most people it was a time to put on a silly mask and be people that they're not. For them it's a time when they can take off their masks and be the people they were without fear of ridicule.
"That bitch is wearing my dress!" Pansy growled. Black gloves were being pulled off and gold earrings were being handed to George. "This is a one of a kind! I sent instructions to my mother to have it custom made to my exact specifications! I'm going to kill her, and then the dirty rotten designer that sold my dress!"
No, Pansy's attitude never made any drastic changes. She was still top bitch of Slytherin. But somehow, between George's goofball attitude and her general meanness attitude they made it work. Their personalities balanced each other out. It was funny to think their relationship begun because of a stupid binder. It set off a sort of domino effect, apparently.
She barely made it halfway across the Great hall when they were stopped by a shriek of terror and a little first year, tripping over his bag of Trick or Treat candy as he ran into the great hall. He was stopped by a Professor as soon as he entered, but the room went silent as he explained.
"T..there's a m..m..m..mad scientist and he's got some sort of zombie following him around and and and..."He wasn't able to finish before a bunch more screams came from the direction. After that, all the lights in Hogwarts instantly went out, causing another set of screams to be heard, this time it ran through the older students rather than the younger ones.
After it had quieted down an scream that could only belong to one Lavender Brown filled the room again. A loud cackling came from the other end of the room, where a light now shown up from the floor on a seemingly hunch-backed man. He was wearing a white lab coat and his hair was gray and white sticking up in all directions. His pants were white as were his shoes.
The Zombie was now stalking towards the strange group.
"Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. Am I right?" Ginny asked.
"You would be right." George said snickering.
"What has you so jolly?" Blaise asked.
"I did this to them," George answered.
"You mean they are students?" Luna asked curiously.
"Yeah. It's a new joke shop item. That's George and That's Lee." He explained. "It's a new product I made without telling Fred. It's a hard candy that changes the user into the costume they are wearing. Of course, it'll be a seasonal item but this is just epic." George announced.
"How do you change them back?" Pansy asked. George pulled two candies out and tossed them out to the two 'scary' monsters. Both ate the candy and were shown back into their actual forms.
"Like that." He snickered.
"Dude you are so dead! Still, I have to give you props that was awesome! How did you do that? Why wasn't I informed? How long did it take you?" Fred asked, all in rapid fire. He was wearing a mask, the eyes were angry, but the lab coat and hairstyle were still in tact, though the gray was gone from his hair.
"It was a transfiguration spell that reacts to what the user is wearing. It was a surprise. It took me about a month." George explained.
"This is going to be amazing. Do you know how many kids would kill to get their hands on this stuff?" Lee announced.
The night went on as it should have. Even Fred, George's own brother, ignored the company his twin was keeping. Even it Everyone had a good time, but it was needless to say that the next day taunting, yelling, and even some crying happened. Friendships were broken, and forged. Needless to say after this Halloween none of the houses were ever the same.
Ok, so I am seriously thinking about creating a sequel to this that is totally unrelated to the challenge, because I like where it could go. But for the purposes of this challenge it is complete ;)
I've made a reference to one of my previous challenge entries, I could not resist. Dunno if any of you caught it.
