Halloween Kiss
The Forbidden Forest looked marvelous. Or at least, the part of the forest that Luna, Parvati, Ginny, and Hermione had gotten their wands on did. They'd cleared a space big enough for the 16-and-overs to dance the night away, as this night intended. The forest floor had been cleaned of dead leaves, fallen branches and other scuttling things, and they had convinced Professor Sprout to put in place a temporary enchantment of elfin thyme as a soft dance floor. Overhead floated fat black candles with orange flames and a mixture of different sized pumpkins that Hermione had put hovering charms on; some of which were carved into Jack-o-lanterns. On the outskirts of the dance floor were several long tables, outfitted with long bench seating and orange tablecloths trimmed in black. Platters of food, pitchers of pumpkin juice, and specially made Halloween treats delivered from the castle kitchens weighed heavily on the tables. Dark gnarled forest trees and giant pumpkins from Hagrid's prized pumpkin patch encircled the outskirts of the dance floor, giving the venue a true feeling of Halloween. Occasionally, a ghost or bat floated above the enchanting Autumn party.
"We did this, you guys. We really did this," gushed Parvati to the group of girls. Her long fluttery black and orange eyelashes glittered with white specks in the candlelight as she surveyed their handiwork. A lover of all things butterflies, Parvati had come to the Halloween costume party as a Monarch butterfly, complete with a little black dress and wings that fluttered in a magically realistic way.
"I know. I still can't believe we convinced Professor McGonagall to go along with it," Ginny said with an impish grin, wearing her – surprise, surprise – quidditch robes. They were her Gryffindor quidditch uniform, but in a testament to Molly Weasley's magical skills at the request of her daughter, she'd been able to charm them to look like Hollyhead Harpies robes for the evening. When Hermione had seen the dark green robes with a gold talon emblazoned on them she'd dryly joked that it was Halloween, not future career day. But the jest was only in good fun (and maybe a little bit of jealousy that Ginny had gotten out of Parvati's fashion clutches and had worn something comfortable to this party).
"Professor McGonagall is a good headmistress," Luna stated dreamily, her voluminous pink bubble dress bumping into anyone who stood within a meter radius of her. "It's obvious that after all the grief and sorrow we've experienced, she just wants to make us happy," she said with a smile as bubbly as her outfit. "And Voldemort's dead, so now there's nothing to worry about in this forest…except the tree-horned bliggasaurs, of course," she added matter-of-factly, her rubber duck earrings swinging with her solemn nod.
There was a moment of silence at Luna's uncomfortable truths…and one bafflingly wrong statement. Hermione opened her mouth a few times before she began to explain, "There's not—" …but then thought better of it. "You're right, Luna. Professor McGonagall is a lovely headmistress. We're very lucky to have her and that she let us have this party. Oh, look, there's Lee Jordan."
The wizard came towards them with an antique radio beneath one arm and his wand tucked behind one ear. "Hiya, ladies," he said, grinning in amusement at their outfits. Hermione couldn't help but notice that he did a double-take when he saw her costume, his eyes going wide. Hermione blushed fiercely, silently cursing herself for letting Parvati talk her into such a revealing outfit, even if it was historically accurate to what ancient Egyptian royal women wore.
"What are you supposed to be?" Parvati asked Lee dubiously, her heavy-lashed gaze sweeping over his entirely black outfit.
"Here, hold these for a tick," he said to Ginny, handing her the antique radio and his wand. He then pulled out a black mask from a concealed pocket and pulled it over his short dreads and face. "I'm a ninja, see?"
"A what?" asked Parvati, Ginny, and Luna all together.
Hermione patiently let Lee explain to the other girls what a ninja was. Ginny and Parvati looked quizzical at his explanation, but Luna seemed to nod in complete understanding, her rubber duck earrings swaying madly. "Oh, yes, like the ones that watch my house at night."
"Sure… right," Lee said in bemusement. "So anyways, where do you want me to set this up?" he asked, taking his antique radio and wand back from Ginny.
"Over at that table that's smaller, there," said Ginny, pointing him in the right direction.
"Are you sure you've got the music covered?" questioned Parvati waspishly, following him as he made his way over to set his antique radio on the table. "This night has to be perfect. No lame lulls in music, or playing anything that's too ancient. Our reputations as party planners depends on you providing good music, since we didn't have the time to hire a live act."
"Relax, relax, mon papillon, DJ Ninja has got you covered. Trust me." And as he said this, he swished his wand and a rush of a haunting but up-tempo remix of a Weird Sisters song came on the radio.
Luna started twirling to the beat. After watching Luna for a moment, Ginny grinned and swayed to the beat as well. "Nice one, mate."
"See? Told you I've got you covered."
"Well, I suppose it's alright," said Parvati, but a small smile betrayed her true enjoyment of the remix.
"High praise from the beautiful butterfly… Hey, save me a dance tonight, Patil, yeah?"
This time it was Parvati's turn to blush. "Maybe," she spluttered, as a long shimmering mass of students and professors held their lumos-infused wands up to light their way. "Oh! They're here!"
It was like a tidal wave of garish green skin, horns, feathers, skimpy outfits, and many more types of costumes. There was a buzz of excitement in the air. Unsurprisingly, no one came to the Halloween party dressed as a witch or wizard – except for Professor McGonagall; but even she had replaced her usual horn-rimmed glasses with a festive pair of glasses shaped like cats. Other than that, her bun and robes were just as severe as usual.
As the crowd of sixteen-and-overs were ushered into the venue, Professor McGonagall pivoted on her heel and signaled for the party planners to come over to her. Lee turned the music down as Professor McGonagall began to speak. "Now as you all can tell," she stated, "there's been a bit of a change this year. You can thank these students for their hard work and steadfast determination to throw you all a Halloween party this year. I will keep this short and to the point, this party is meant only for those who are sixteen and older, as I do not believe younger students should be out frolicking past midnight in the forest. So, if any such students who are under sixteen would like to voluntarily be ushered off the premises for sneaking out of the castle, now is the time to do so." Once she saw there were no volunteers, she continued, "Right. So, without further delay I will say… have a happy Halloween."
There was a flash of gold sparks and then four students were propelled out of the venue to the edge where the giant pumpkins were. "Of course, there always must be some," Professor McGonagall said gravely. "Hagrid, could you please escort these underage students back to the castle? And that will be a month's detention each for the lot of you."
"'O course, Headmistress McGonagall," said Hagrid, who wore a bright red clown nose, a garishly colored clown suit, and shoes even comically big for his half-giant feet. He ushered the glum students down the path out of the Forbidden Forest.
"Now that the youngsters are out of here, let's get this party started!" Lee Jordan's amplified voice rang out from his wand.
There were shouts of delight and then the music was up full force again with spooky and enchanting tunes. Parvati was immediately swallowed up by the crowd as she played the perfect party hostess. Luna was bylined by some of her Ravenclaw peers who were impressed with her bubble dress. The dreamy blonde demonstrated to them that if she popped a bubble, another one would appear. The Ravenclaws all giggled in delight and took turns popping the pink suds.
Ginny turned to Hermione but her eyes searched the crowd. "He'll be here soon," Hermione promised.
The redhead looked bashful. "Is it that obvious?"
"Not really," Hermione assured her. "I just know that it's been two months since we've last seen them… So of course, you'd miss your boyfriend."
Now Ginny's gaze turned fully to take Hermione in. "Hermione, are you going to be ok seeing him tonight? I know Parvati and I sort of pressured you into planning this party with us, but I've been daft not thinking about the fact that he and Harry are glued at the hip and where one goes, the other follows."
"I'll be fine," Hermione said, but she worried the words felt stilted and frail even to her own ears. "Even though Ronald and I didn't work out, we're still friends. Of course, I want to see my best mates… Maybe this will be our chance to patch things up tonight."
Ginny looked hopeful. "Yes, this is a wonderful time for you two to get on again. Ron loves Halloween, so he should be in a good mood… And once he sees you in that dress I think he'll go mad with—"
But she stopped herself when she saw the stricken look on Hermione's face. She followed Hermione's gaze and there Harry and Ron were—but they weren't alone. Linked on Ron's arm was a young woman with shoulder length black hair and a cat costume on.
"Oh, Merlin," Ginny said under her breath.
Harry spotted Ginny and Hermione in the crowd, and gave Ron and his date an uneasy smile before he gestured for them to follow him. Ron looked in the direction Harry pointed to and his gaze went straight to Hermione. His expression grew stony but he followed along.
"Look at you two. My future star Hollyhead Harpies quidditch player and…Cleopatra?" Harry guessed with a grin as he greeted first Ginny with a fierce hug and a sweet kiss on the lips and then a hug for Hermione.
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of a young Hatshepsut. She had a long and prosperous reign as Pharaoh, instead of reigning during the tumultuous end of the ancient Egyptian era."
Ron snorted in derision. "Like anyone's gonna get all that from that getup," he mumbled under his breath.
"You're a brilliant young Hatshepsut," Harry said, talking over Ron.
Ginny gave Ron a dirty look and then turned her softening gaze back to Harry, who had put his arm over her shoulders. "And you both came as Aurors. That's not costumes, those are your day jobs," she said playfully to Harry.
Harry, whose untidy black hair was grown out long and shaggy now gave his girlfriend a bashful smile. "Yeah, well, we'd been in training over the summer when you'd last seen us and we hadn't had our uniforms yet. I wanted you to see the end results."
"Wanted to show off, more like," said Ginny, nudging him.
"Yeah, ok, you got me." From the happy grin on his face, it was obvious that he was more than happy to be back in his girlfriend's graces, being gently ribbed by her.
Ron cleared his throat loudly. "My date, Desdemona, and I are gonna go get something to eat. See you."
"It was nice meeting you," Ginny called out, annoyed. "…Prat," she added quietly, directed at her brother.
She and Harry turned to Hermione as soon as he left. "I'm so sorry about him," Ginny said.
"Don't worry about it," Hermione said, brushing it off. But inside it was like something solid, like an outer crusting of rock, had formed around her heart when it came to him turning his back on her once again. It felt final.
Luna came twirling their way, this time with Neville in tow. "Harry Potter," she greeted, in her happy dreamy way. "It's nice to see you."
"Yeah, mate, really nice to see you. Glad you came," said Neville, grinning. He was dressed as a pirate and spinning Luna round and round, making pink bubbles pop and reappear.
"Thanks, guys. It's nice to see you too," Harry said genuinely.
"Let's not spare a second thought on my prat of a brother," Ginny whispered to Hermione. Out loud she said, "Luna and Neville have got the right spirit. Come on, let's dance with them!" She pulled Harry and Hermione into the dancing crowd and for a time Hermione forgot her worries.
They danced under the stars and candle lights as the pulsating music stirred up the crowd. Hermione was having a great time doing twirls with Luna and Neville and shimmying with Harry and Ginny. Through the pack of dancing costumed bodies, she could see that at some point George Weasley had even made a late appearance as a zombie and was splitting his time between DJing the antique radio with Lee Jordan, and dancing with Angelina Johnson, who was dressed as a ladybug and must have come as his date. For the first time that night, as she danced, Hermione realized why Ginny and Parvati had been so adamant about having this Halloween dance party. Like Luna had said, they had been through so much grief and loss. It was nice to cut loose for a change to nice music with good mates. Ginny started laughing and pointed at the sight of clown-Hagrid, who had made his way back from the castle, and cat-bespectacled-Professor McGonagall dancing together, and soon the whole group of friends were laughing in delight as they continued to dance.
It was only when Lee Jordan finally played a slow song that Hermione gradually stopped dancing. Harry paired off with Ginny, Luna with Neville, George with Angelina, Ron with his date, and dozens of other couples as well. Even Lee finally got Parvati to dance with him. They were cheek to cheek as they slowly rotated, with pleased little smiles on both of their faces.
Hermione quietly led herself off the dance floor to get something to drink. Once her pumpkin juice was in hand, she walked over to a quiet spot by a large gnarled tree and sat against a giant pumpkin. Here it was low-lit because the candles didn't extend this far. She drank her juice as she watched the couples dance to the haunted crooning. Some ghosts had paired off and were gently floating in a slow dance above the dancing couples.
"He's a fool. But, of course, I've always known that," came a low, aloof voice from behind her on the right.
The familiarity of the voice instantly made Hermione's back stiffen. Slowly, she turned on the giant pumpkin so she was facing him. The white blond wizard was leaning against the tree, his piercing silver eyes instantly connecting with hers. He looked like an avenging Roman general with a golden laurel crown glinting in his pale hair. Authentic-looking armor detailed in gold covered his body. She sharply turned her face away and resettled in her previous position on the pumpkin. "Go away. I don't know what you are talking about."
"Sure, you don't, Head Girl. My apologies."
But he didn't go away. She heard him exhale loudly and she could feel his closeness as he stayed lent against the gnarled tree.
"Why are you even here?"
"Mother somehow thinks I can turn my life around and make friends at this Halloween party. A little too hopeful, maybe? What do you think?" he asked sardonically.
"I don't know. Why don't you go out there and we'll see what happens," Hermione suggested rudely.
He gave a dark laugh, impressed with her bite. "We both know none of them want to be near me."
"And yet, here you are, bothering me with your presence."
"I'm stung, Head Girl. Isn't it your duty to have compassion for your fellow students in their time of need? Like you did for me two weeks ago?"
Hermione felt gooseflesh break out on her skin. She had known as soon as she'd heard his voice that somehow it would be brought up. She stood and turned towards him. He grinned and looked her up and down. "Two weeks ago, I did what any prefect would have done in my situation," she said. "I heard screaming so I followed it to the locked broom closet. The fact that it was jinxed and trapped me in there with you was unfortunate."
"Unfortunate?" he mused, looming over her. "I'd say it was more of an awakening."
"We were trapped in there for hours. Tensions were high—"
"Bodies were close—" he interrupted.
"—and then Professor Flitwick found us and let us out."
"We almost kissed," he said.
The words were heavy, like a sticky bind between them. Hermione staggered backwards, her back hitting the trunk of the gnarled tree. "N-no we didn't." But she was lying. She felt a shiver go through her. Because it was cold. Yes, over here in the quiet, away from the dancing bodies, it was cold. The forest mists were dancing at the edge of this tree. That's why she was shivering. It had nothing to do with the tall, angular wizard standing so close to her.
Cautiously, he placed the tips of his fingers on her side, brushing the blue-green faience beads of her dress. She had the intrusive thought that if she weren't wearing a slip beneath the dress, that he would be able to brush her skin through the little holes in the delicate beadwork. The heat of him was affecting her anyway.
"No," she choked, panicked that they could be seen. "Not here."
"Then where?" He looked crestfallen that she made him stop—until in her panic he realized that she'd slipped round the tree, where she wasn't in view of the dancing crowd anymore. "Here?" With two quick strides, he followed her to her hiding place.
"I-I—Do you realize who you are talking to?" She could hardly talk. She could hardly breathe.
"The girl who tried to save me from the evil broom closet," he quipped. "The girl who was vulnerable and who told me she's been lonely too. The only person who's given a damn about me since I've come back to this forsaken school. Is that a good enough answer for you, Granger? It's you I'm talking to. It's you, Hermione Grange—"
It was like that magnetic pull that night they'd been in the dark. But this time she gave in. Before she knew it, she'd tugged him flush to her by the plate of his armor and that's all the answer he needed. Suddenly they were kissing. His lips were warm and pliant and she gasped when she felt his tongue slide against the seam of her lips. He took her gasp as an opportunity and slid his tongue into her mouth as his hand slipped into her long curly brown hair and tugged in hot base need before softening into cradling the back of her head from the tree.
In her head were their voices on that night they were trapped in the dark. Malfoy had told her that he'd never stopped hearing her screams or the noises of death from the Manor. She'd told him that Ron had pulled away from her after the war when she'd begged him to come back to Hogwarts with her and he'd said he didn't need her bossing him around like a second mum. Malfoy had told her that the Dark Mark on his arm was cursed permanently to his flesh. She'd admitted that the 'Mudblood' carved into her arm was a permanent curse as well. They both admitted they were back in Hogwarts because they weren't ready for the outside world yet.
Hermione pulled her kiss-swollen lips away when she was starved for breath.
"I knew it," Malfoy exhaled, dragging in breath.
"Wh-what?" Hermione asked in shock, her body rampaging with staggering feelings.
"That kissing you would be the smartest thing I've ever done."
Hermione choked out a laugh, feeling shocked, pleased, and half-crazed. "Really? Because this might be the daftest thing I've ever done."
He kissed her quiet again. Slower. Sweeter. It made her ache even more. By the time they needed to come up for air again she was lifted against the tree with her legs wrapped around his waist. One of her delicate beaded straps had fallen down her brown shoulder and exposed one of her breasts. He dipped his head down and sucked her nipple, his hardness grinding against her core.
"Malfoy," she moaned in lust. "I'm not ready."
He let her nipple slip from his mouth, exposing it to the cool night air and gave it one last delicate kiss. "I know," he whispered. He slipped the strap back up her shoulder and lent his forehead against hers. Breathing deeply, he stayed trapping her against the tree for a few more long moments, kissing her sweetly. Slowly her legs slid down and her beaded dress fell back into place.
"This was a nice party, Granger," he said with a grin, leaning against the tree once more. "Looking forward to the next one."
And if she was being honest with herself, she was as well. She made a mental note to get with Parvati, Ginny, and Luna to see about planning a Christmas party.
Fin.