With thanks to AgiVega who set the Halloween fic challenge, and to the other nice people at the Green Flame Torch who gave me nice comments.

To End All Halloweens

"All Hallow's eve is nearly upon us," he sighed to me, a slight sibilance on his voice. I laughed delightedly, my mirth bubbling through me like champagne, and drunk with it, I steadied myself on him. He clasped me forward, and thrust his long tongue inside my mouth. I gasped, and then melted, flopping forward and letting it wind, snake-like, around my own. Tiny explosions seemed to be going off all over my body, his silken lips against mine and his tongue caressing my tongue. I could barely move, barely breathe, barely do anything but grasp clumsily at his shoulders and let him continue.

An eternity later, his lips parted, and I stood back, panting, exhausted, as he watched me easily, with a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Do you like it?" he asked politely, raising my hand and kissing it.

"Oh… yes." It was all I could say.

"I'll do more than that on Halloween," he hissed. His fingers gently caressed my back. "Right after I let you see the greatest Halloween trick Hogwarts has seen."

He would not tell me more. I didn't want him to. His incredible dark eyes were walls of mystery, exotic, enchanting and everything I was hungry for. He promised me the most thrilling night of my life. He promised me the Halloween to end all Halloweens.

He turned, and left in a swish, seeming to go so quickly I wondered if he had apparated. Weakly I stumbled back to my common room, my heart floating and my mind in a haze. I longed for Halloween.

I dreamed and hungered and obsessed for the night. I worried and fretted and chewed my quills to shreds when I thought no one was looking. I was clumsy and useless. I found it almost impossible to eat. My friends wondered what was wrong with me. They knew it was he I loved, but they didn't know of the promise. They didn't understand the power he had over me, filling my veins like a potion and possessing me. I was his slave and would do anything for him, for I loved him.

On the day of All Hallow's Eve, the girls of my house gathered in a dormitory, and we painted ourselves into hideous creatures. I took off my glasses, as I always did before I saw him, and allowed them to turn my face into Morgan la Faye's. Although I was blurred in the mirror, I knew I looked just right, and the other girls assured me I looked perfect. When we were all ready, we processed to the Great Hall, a host of monsters and creatures of the night.

Near the entrance I felt a hand clasp my arm. Him. He was not costumed, but his black inscrutable eyes granted him all the disguise he needed.

"Where do you think you're going?" He was amused.

"Where would you like me to go?" I asked, for all he needed to do was bid me.

"Come with me." He led me down a dark, winding staircase, into a hall lit by torches, and full of people who were enigmas like him. "A private party," he said, and handed me a goblet, which I sipped. It was red wine.

Ghostly apparitions provided the music, which was elegant and stately but somehow grating… Everyone else was dancing but I was ill at ease as he drove me into a waltz. I finished my goblet and someone handed me another… I was beginning to feel numb and the room was spinning.

"When is the trick?" I asked him hazily.

"Soon, soon…" he murmured, and kissed my forehead. I felt sick. As we danced further, the nausea sank deeper and churned up my stomach. Finally I could not hold it in, and shuddering back, the vomit poured from my mouth. He recoiled, and people turned to look. Some laughed. There was vomit on his robes, and he looked disgusted as he pulled his wand and cleaned it. He did not bother cleaning me. He pushed me out of the door.

"I – I'm sorry," I squeaked. "It was an accident."

"You fool," he hissed, concentrated anger seeping through his voice. "I thought you were different. You might not be a Slytherin but that doesn't give you the right to humiliate me with your bumbling."

"I'm sorry – I…" Nothing I could say would calm him down. Was this the end? "I – I love you," I murmured, knowing it was true and I had nothing else to say. He stood back as if I'd said something horrible and vulgar, as if my very words had contaminated him.

"Do you honestly think I'd ever love someone as pathetic as you?" At this, the tears came, and his face only hardened. I ran. In one of the bathrooms I cleaned myself up, washing off the make-up, putting my glasses back on, and even changing the Morgan la Faye dress for school robes from wear I knew the House Elves stored dry laundry. I didn't deserve to be Morgan la Faye anymore. A cruel anti-climax had befallen me. The most thrilling night was the most terrible. He hated me. My world was falling apart.

I would never tell anyone why I was crying. Later on, I would make up a story about a girl who'd mocked me, and turn this night into bitter humour. But not now. After about an hour, the tears hadn't ceased. I hid myself in a cubicle, and heard voices outside. Then the door opened.

"Are you in here?" It was him. Him. Relief washed through me. His voice wasn't harsh. But I was a mess. I wouldn't come out now.

Strange noises sounded outside. There was a clunking and a cracking and a smooth swish. And some hissing.

"Come on, you know I was just angry." His voice sounded too gentle to be true. He never forgot his anger.

More hissing. It sounded like… Like he was hissing. Why would he be hissing?

"Trick or treat, Myrtle," he murmured. Was he going to let me see his trick after all? Cautiously, I opened the door.

"Over here," he said, and I turned around. I saw nothing but a huge pair of great glowing eyes, but the life poured from my body, and I fell. Plunging into blackness, I fought against the hands that pulled me, beckoned me beyond. I wouldn't go.

For my love turned to bitterness, and then to hate. He had to return, and I would be waiting for him. I vowed it, and my vow is eternal. One day I would work revenge on the boy I had once loved, he who had been known as Tom Riddle.