"Well? What are you going to be?" Laura whined.

"I told you! I don't know what you're talking about!" Ginny had had enough, Laura had been badgering her for days about some costume for Halloween. She had just today finally realized that there had to have been some Muggle/Wizard miscommunication as Laura had grown up in a muggle family.

"I'm going to be a princess!" Laura chatted at Ginny, ignoring her lack of enthusiam on the subject.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I think you're going to look pretty stupid dressed up like a princess considering everyone else will be dressed up as, well, a Hogwarts student."

"What are you talking about?" Did she seriously not get it?

"Laura," Ginny breathed deeply, and gaining some patience, put her book down as she sat up on the edge of her bed, "Did you by chance notice last year what everyone else went to the Halloween feast as?"

"What? Well, no. I do know that I DID happen to have the best costume at the Gryffindor table though!"

"That's because you had the ONLY costume at the Gryffindor table."

"Huh?" Silence. "Oh." Laura's face fell as she finally put the pieces together. "Is this like the time when you told me you couldn't give me your phone number because you didn't have one?"

"Yes. Exactly like that." Ginny breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh. I just thought you told me that so that I couldn't call you over the summer."

"No, I told you that because wizard homes don't have those...call...boxes."

"Phones?"

"Yeah. And we don't wear costumes for Halloween either." Laura looked a bit hurt.

"Not that it's a bad idea. It does sound kind of fun." Laura still looked like she was going to cry. "Tell you what," Ginny sighed and urged herself to smile, "If we ever find ourselves out in the muggle world on Halloween, I will happily dress up with you."

"Really? Great!" Laura giggled, immediately forgetting her momentary sadness. Ginny really wished that it hadn't been a Hogsmeade day. Or, she wished she had been a third year too so that she could have gone with Ron and Hermione. But with Hermione away for the day, she had to settle for Laura. All day.

"I'm going to head down to lunch, you coming?" Ginny asked as she stood up.

"I'll be down in a minute, I've just got to, uh, get these glitter streaks out of my hair." Ginny stifled a laugh, Laura's hair had already been princessified for the evening.

"Okay, see you later." She said as she trotted out the door.

The Great Hall was depressingly empty. She stood for a moment, noting that there wasn't really anyone of interest to eat lunch with. She settled at a deserted chunk of the table and filled her plate. She pulled out her book as her arm was bumped. She swivled around.

"Hi Ginny," Harry said awkwardly as he looked up and down the table. "Um...do you mind if I eat lunch with you? Ron and Hermione are in Hogsme--"

"Yeah!" she shouted, maybe a bit too enthusiastically, "Of...Of course."

"Thanks." He settled in next to her. "So, uh, how have you been?" He asked, ruffling his mop of hair, a small look of strain on his face.

"Okay. I, uh" say something interesting! "I beat Ron at Wizard chess last night." she said feebly.

"I saw that! I didn't know it was possible."

"Well, I was playing with Fred's chess set, and they play really dirty. But they like me, see, Fred talked me up to them. Plus, Fred's set has never liked Ron's set. So it was actually a pretty easy win." She smiled, Harry laughed.

"I should ask Fred if I can borrow his set sometime. I'm miserable at Wizard chess."

"Yeah, you are pretty bad."

He laughed again, "Thanks." he said, nudging her, making her drop her fork in surprise. She smiled.

I made him laugh!

"So-" She started, but wasn't able to finish as she saw Laura bounding over to them. Despite her disappointment that her lunch with Harry was destined to be interrupted, Ginny couldn't help but bust into a laugh. Laura's hair, which had been a mousy brown just fifteen minutes prior, was now the starkest blonde.

Laura stopped short, noticing that Ginny was with Harry, but then jumped into the seat on the other side of Ginny. "The charm I used backfired a bit. But I kind of like this! What do you think?" She leaned over the table to Harry. Harry stared at her, having no idea who the girl even was or what she was talking about.

"It's...nice." he muttered.

Laura shoveled food onto her plate as she blabbered on about this and that, leaving no room for either of them to get a word in edgewise. Not that Harry wanted to, he was entranced that someone could even have that many words in their head. Ginny, on the other hand, was trying at the end of every other sentence to jump in. Ginny was starting to get increasingly nervous about Laura's never ending monologue. She was used to it, but Harry, not so much.

"--But all in all, that's why I LOVE Halloween! Don't you guys? Well, really, I love all Holidays. Christmas is my favorite of course, and then maybe Easter. But Ooh! Valentine's Day is great too! We had a great Valentine's Day last year, didn't we Gin? What with sending Harry that Valen--" But she was cut off as Ginny's head slammed into the table, not once, but three times in a row.

"What?" Laura asked, and then turned white as a sheet in the realization of what she had done. It was hard to tell who had turned more red, Ginny or Harry. If it had been a contest to see who's face was brighter, Ginny would have only won due to the big red welt that was forming on her forehead from banging it into the table. She stared at her food in the silence.

"Um..thanks for letting me eat lunch with you Ginny. I'll, uh, talk to you later." Harry stammered as he got up from the table and slunk away.

After an eternity of silence, Ginny turned her head in a slow burn to Laura. Laura bit her lip.

"You are so lucky I left my wand upstairs."