Written for Rei's Halloween Competition.

Prompt: "Is that slime all over you?"

Object: Fishsticks

Monster: Giant Squid

edit: I've been recently informed that some British do, in fact, celebrate Halloween, I don't actually know any that do, sorry, but either way, claiming creative license, hehe (:

Hermione should have known that it was a stupid idea to tell the twin's about the American holiday, Halloween. She should have realized that they would take it as yet another excuse to play pranks on people. The unfortunate factor was that this time, she couldn't say it wasn't her fault. Because she had been silly to mention anything about the holiday to them.

And on the thirty-first of October, Hermione couldn't help but wonder whether a Memory Charm would be such a bad idea, after all, because it turned out that Fred and George had taken the Halloween spirit just a bit too far.

"Is that..." Hermione trailed off with a disgusted look on her face as she peered at her redheaded best friend. "Is that slime all over you?"

In reply, Ron glared up at her, the green goo dripping from his chin to the fake blood stained carpet below. With a cringe, Hermione bit her lip, debating whether to offer to clean up or not. She decided on the latter, figuring that Ron wouldn't need her help anyway. And even if did, he ought to learn to take care of himself.

Walking into the next room proved to be a trial as she maneuvered herself through numerous hanging white sheets that she supposed to be ghosts of some sort. Needless to say, she was rather pleased to see Harry, looking perfectly normal and untouched by that horrid goo, sitting on the living room couch with a somewhat content look on his face. She wasn't, however, impressed by pumpkin scattered across the floor and streamers that hung from the ceiling.

"Where are they?" Hermione asked, exasperated, and picking up a craft knife that had been left for some poor soul, probably Ron, to stand on.

Harry grinned at her. "In their room. Though I wouldn't go up the stairs."

"Thanks, Harry."

His words rang in her mind. And it wasn't until she'd reached the bottom of the stairs till she really understood what he'd meant. The once brown and perfectly safe-looking stairs were replaced with little steps that looked as if they couldn't hold a mouse, let alone a human. As for the colour... Hermione shuddered as she tentatively dipped a toe onto the dark liquid, praying that it wasn't actually anything horrible.

Creak.

On second thoughts... "FRED! GEORGE!"

"Yes, Granger?"

Hermione jumped with a squeak as the two appeared with a small pop on either side of her. The two seemed to smirk at her squeal, and in order to regain her dignity, she said in a very demanding tone, "Do you have any idea what your mother is going to say when she sees this?"

"Don't worry so much," the first twin said, mockingly placing his arm her shoulder. Placing a bowl of food in front of her, he continued, "How about some jelly, Granger? Or if you don't like that..."

"Candy floss, perhaps?"

"Or some toffee apples."

"These marshmallows are quite nice."

"More a candy girl, are you Granger?"

"No, no, I'm sure she'd rather have an orange, like a good little Prefect."

Fred snickered, removing his arm and shaking his head at his twin. "That's a bit boring, don't you think?"

"Well, we might have fishsticks left..." George muttered, feigning annoyance. "You know, because the whole Giant Squid thing didn't work."

Before Fred had a chance to reply, Hermione cut in quickly, "What Giant Squid thing?" For the most part, she didn't really want to know the answer - she figured it would scar her for life. It's a Giant Squid, after all. How much can you with that that doesn't haunt your memory forever?

To her surprise, she didn't receive an immediate response, and when looked up, she found that both boys were blushing. Fred and George Weasley... blushing! Maybe the story would scar her for life, but this part was definitely a moment worth remembering.

"Uh," Fred rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "You remember that Transfiguration lesson on changing animals into objects and then back again, yeah?"

"You turned the Giant Squid into a fishstick?" Hermione gasped. "That's horrible of you. And I'll bet it was just because you wanted a monster for Halloween. Am I right? Of course I'm right. Merlin, I never should've told you about Halloween. What's Molly going to say? The house... it's a -"

"Shut up, Granger!"

George shot a disbelieving look at his twin. "What he means, Granger, is that you really ought to stop worrying..." he trailed off, nodding at Fred to hold out the bowl once more. "... and have a fishstick."

"I refuse to eat the Giant Squid," Hermione replied, looking rather scandalized. "And besides, don't you think that someone will notice that it's missing?"

With an indignant huff, she sauntered off, trying to look as proud as she could whilst walking through a house covered in slime. Calling over her shoulder, she added, "And for Merlin's sake, clean this up!"

As she left, the two boys looked at each other. Finally, Fred spoke, "Don't suppose we ought to tell her that we were going to lure the Giant Squid in with them, then turn him into a pencil or something?"

The two thought for several moments before chorusing, "Nah!"