A/N I don't own Harry Potter
Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) Arithmancy Class (Assignment 6)
Prompt: Write a story either set in the future (Next-Gen) or in the past (Marauders, Founders era etc). Min. word count 700. (Mine's something like 1,775)
Extra Credit;
10 extra house points are up for grabs for using the prompt: Halloween
Lily was waiting impatiently by the fireplace.
"Mum! Can I go now?"
"Calm down Lily, you look like a demented bunny rabbit."
"James! Be nice to your little sister."
"I'm not little!"
This year the whole Weasley clan (And Potter family and assorted friends) were having a proper muggle Halloween. Lily was dressed as a cat, ready to go Trick-or-Treating with Hugo. Almost everyone else was coming round to the Potter's for a party. The adults were all going out for drinks.
With a whoosh Rose appeared and stepped out of the fireplace.
"Hey Lily. Hi Ginny.
"Rose! How are you?"
"I'm good thanks. Hugo's ready for you if you want to floo to ours Lily."
"Thanks Rose!" Lily waved goodbye and jumped into the green flames.
"Hey Al" Rose smiled at her cousin. I've got decorations here, and mum made us some cauldron cakes."
"Ugh you two are so childish."
"Shut up James. This is going to be a great party."
Ding Dong.
Rose rushed to get the front door.
"Hey Roxanne! Come in."
Roxanne was dressed like a pirate, outfit complete with a deadly looking cutlass.
Despite James' earlier scoffing about the decorations the house did look good. It was dark, and the only light came from floating candles. There were a lot of pumpkins (Rose had got a little carried away when carving them) and the whole house looked quite spooky. Roxanne flopped down net to James on the sofa.
"Hey little cuz, sorry I'm early."
James cowled. "I'm only three months younger than you Roxi, that's hardly anything."
"But I am older than you." She smiled smugly.
"Whatever."
Rose ran upstairs to get changed and Harry came into the living room.
"Now you guys are sure you'll be okay?"
"Yes Dad."
"Don't fuss Harry, I'm sure they'll be fine. You'll cal me if anything happens James." Ginny grabbed her cloak, waved goodbye to the boys and dragged Harry out of the room.
Soon after that, Lorcan and Lysander appeared and retreated upstairs with James. A rather pompous Percy dropped off Molly, and Saun Finnegan and Peter Thomas, Al's best friends arrived. Rose came back downstairs, dressed as an angel and Albus put a movie on (Harry had insisted that his children learn to use muggle technology when they were little) and they all settled down.
Dominique and Louis turned up half an hour late with Esmerelda Zabini and her brother Danté. Dominique was dressed as a traditional muggle vampire and Louis appeared to have come as a muggle, complete with designer clothes and sunglasses. No one was quite sure what Em was wearing, other than the fact that she wasn't wearing very much. Her brother was wearing a werewolf mask which he promptly removed on arrival. They were followed moments later by Scorpius Malfoy and Lavender Nott. Lavender squealed as soon as she saw Rose.
"Ohmymerlin that's so cute! You and Scorp match!" Scorpius smirked and Rose smiled, looking at Scorpius' devil costume which perfectly complemented her own. Al scowled and began reproaching Rose for inviting them.
"Al they're my friends! You don't get to act like you and your friends are superior to mine just because we're not in Gryffindor like the rest of you! James accepts that Dom and Roxi are in Slytherin and he gets on with Em!" Here James looked a little guilty as the real reason James was cool with his cousins being in Slytherin was that the Slytherin girls were by far the hottest in the school. Esmerelda was no exception, she had inherited her father's dark, handsome features and had a great figure, which James was eyeing up. "I'm in Slytherin Albus! You can't just deny that every time you see my friends!"
Scorpius looked smugly at Albus, who responded with a scowl.
"I don't mind that you're in Slytherin but did you have to pick such scumbags for friends?"
Rose looked furious at that but Dominique grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room.
The movie continued but the room was full of awkward tension.
Eventually Roxanne put on some music, grabbed James and started to dance. Dominique spun both Lorcan and Lysander up and danced around them while Louis and Esmerelda joined in. Shaun shot a guilty look at Albus and asked Lavender for a dance. Peter and Albus stood around the food table and Al occasionally shot Rose embarrassed looks. Rose and Scorpius meanwhile, were ignoring the music and playing a game of Wizarding Chess while Danté watched. Molly wistfully watched the dancing, desperately hoping someone would ask her for a dance.
Once everyone had tired of dancing they collapsed onto the sofas. Lavender suggested they play a game. James, f course, was immediately against the idea.
"I don't want to play with all you little kids."
"Don't be a spoil sport James."
Danté stared at James challengingly.
"Truth or Dare Potter. You playing or are you too chicken?"
"I'll play Zabini. Give me a dare."
"Fine. I dare you to play the rest of this game in nothing but your underwear."
James blushed a little but began to remove his clothes.
"Whatever you're into Zabini."
Roxanne grinned at the younger Slytherin. "Truth or Dare Danté?"
"Dare."
"Um... I dare you to kiss Scorpius' feet."
"Urgh." Danté groaned as Scorpius began to remove his shoes. The young Malfoy smirked at Roxanne. "Kinky Roxi."
Feet kissed, Scorpius reclined on the sofa and slung an arm casually around Rose. Albus scowled at this and looked away. Danté looked at Molly. "Little Molly Weasley. Truth or Dare?"
Molly looked positively terrified. Louis tried to reassure her. "You don't have to do it."
"I can do it. Truth."
"Hm..." Danté looked thoughtful. "Who does Molly Weasley fancy?"
Molly blushed. "Um HenryWoodinmypotionsclass."
James laughed at her but Dominique scowled at him and he quickly shut up. The dares continued until Lavender turned to Rose.
"Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Rose stuck her chin up proudly and waited to hear what awful thing her best friend would make her do.
"Hm" Lavender shot Rose an evil smile. "I dare you to kiss Scorpius."
Rose blushed and glanced at Scorpius who winked at her.
"What are you waiting for sweetheart."
Rose blushed even more and hesitated. Yes, she maybe had a teeny tiny crush on Scorpius... but he was also one of her best friends and the biggest flirt she knew. And practically her whole family was watching.
"Get on with it Rose! Or are you scared!" Albus jeered meanly at her from across the room. He couldn't stand watching them, it made him sick. Sick with envy and fury and jealousy.
Rose went as red as her hair but Scorpius stood up and pulled her to him. While Danté wolf-whistled and Lavender clapped she kissed him. When Albus ran out of the room, no-one but Roxanne noticed. She followed him upstairs, where he flung himself down onto his bed with his fists tightly balled at his side. He made no noise as Roxanne sat down beside him.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine. I just hate seeing her with that j-jerk."
"C'mon Al, we both know that's not how you really feel."
He sat up. "You know?"
"Oh please. You're not exactly subtle."
He groaned and put his head in his hands. "Is it that obvious? Does he know? ARe they all down there laughing at me?"
"You know Rose would never do that to you Al. But if you don't get back down there, they're going to know something's wrong.
He got up and followed Roxanne downstairs. The Truth or Dare game had stopped and another movie had been put on. Rose was snuggled up to Scorpius, and Al refused to let himself look at them. James had run off with Esmerelda to his room, and they spent the rest of the night snogging up there.
Various people began flooing home as it got later. Shaun and Peter were the first to leave, abandoning Al. The others invited him to join their game of Never Have I Ever but he declined. Lorcan and Lysander left when it became apparent that James had no intention of coming back down. Percy came to pick Molly up, muttering disapprovingly about how late it was.
Roxanne finally went up to James' room and dragged Esmerelda home with her and Dominique. Louis flooed home, which left only the four Slytherins. Rose said goodbye to Al, who was acting strangely and then they also left.
A few minutes later everything was quiet. James had left Albus to do all the tidying up and he was sitting down with a butterbeer, zooming things back to their rightful places with his wand. Suddenly someone stumbled out of the fireplace, causing him to jump up and spill the drink all over himself.
"Scorpius! What are you doing here?"
"Oh hi Albus. I was just looking for my jacket, I thought I might have left it here."
"Oh right. Um yeah, I'll er just go- go look for it." Albus stumbled out of the room. When he came back, Scorpius was leaning against the wall, with another butterbeer.
"Here. I found it. Um yeah..."
"Thanks. Oh, and there was something else I wanted to talk to you about."
Albus fiddled nervously with his hands. "Yeah?"
"Well I noticed you seemed to have a bit of a problem with me and Rose being... friends."
Albus tried to force the words out in an expressionless tone. "I don't have a problem."
"Okay." Scorpius drawled with raised eyebrows, clearly not believing him. "So it's okay if I ask her to Hogsmeade next week?"
Albus felt like his throat was constricting, suffocating himself. Perhaps that would be a good thing.
"I-I don't care."
"Cool. Maybe we could hang out a bit more then? I know Rose really hates that we fight so much."
"Sure."
"Great! I'll see you around." Scorpius grabbed his jacket and jumped back into the fireplace, leaving a speechless Albus standing in the middle of the lounge, wondering why it was so unfair, why he had to fall for the guy who had perfect blonde hair and gorgeous eyes, the guy who would never care about him, never even know that he cared, the guy who liked his cousin. Why did he have to have this stupid crush on Scorpius Malfoy?