9. Halloween
It didn't take too long for the novelty of learning magic wore off and Avery realized that school was still hard. Her new classes were more difficult to get the hang of than anything she had ever taken before, but luckily her new friends were able to help her. She talked to Carly whenever they had class together, and noticed that after the first few weeks, Carly was in fact a better student than what she led everyone to think. She worked quickly and spent the remainder of class drawing, but only because sleeping had been largely discouraged by many of the teachers.
Dev was also quicker than Avery when it came to working. She often had to reexplain things to Avery after she messed up a few times. It made Avery feel foolish to need so much help, but she was glad she didn't have to ask the teachers every time.
Potions was the most frustrating subject. Avery made sure she talked to both Harry and Ron, so that Dev could see that she clearly had no favorites with the two of them. The boys were easy to talk to and Avery could relate to both of them fairly well. Something they all agreed on was their shared dislike of Malfoy, who had enemies in every house it seemed. Avery showed them the pictures she and Dev had drawn of him before, and they all had a laugh before being silenced by Snape.
Time slipped by, and before Avery knew it, October was almost over. Students seemed excited about the Halloween feast, which Avery thought sounded good as well. She tried to start a discussion one day about it in Charms, as they were festively shrinking pumpkins.
"I don't like sweets." Carly said sullenly as Avery brought up the candy she hoped would be at the feast. "I like sour things though."
"I saw you eating Chocolate Frogs like crazy." Dev said accusingly.
"That's different." Carly insisted. "Sometimes I like chocolate, even though it's gross. I'll eat a lot of it but I don't know why."
"Maybe it's because you secretly love chocolate." Dev suggested.
"I hate chocolate." Carly said, examining her tiny pumpkin. "I know I'm the only person in the world who does, though."
Dev grumbled something that sounded like "stubborn brat", but Avery pretended not to hear.
"Well, I bet they'll be sour candy too." She tried suggesting.
Carly sighed. "Maybe."
"It'll be fun!" Avery continued, "I heard the decorations will be cool, too!"
"Oh, that'll be nice." Carly said, somewhat happily. "You know, Halloween was always my favorite holiday. I like dressing up sometimes."
"You went to fancy dress parties?" Avery asked.
"Sometimes, when my mom wanted to go to one." Carly sighed. "She used to dress me up in stupid pink fairy costumes..."
Dev tried to conceal a snigger. Carly glared at her.
"Hrmmm." She growled.
"I'm sure it looked cute!" Avery forced a smile.
"I looked stupid." Carly huffed. "And I had blond hair, too..."
"You had BLOND hair?" Dev looked surprised.
"Yes." Carly snapped. "And blond hair is ugly, hideous, and DISGUSTING."
Avery frowned and stared at Carly.
"Oh." Carly realized what she had said and turned pink. "It looks good on some people though... like you..."
"Sure..." Avery said nervously.
"Erm... I mean... some people pull it off nicely..." Carly continued to backtrack. "There's this nice girl, Luna, who has nice hair... and umm... you know, that Malfoy kid's hair is nice too..."
"Malfoy?" Avery looked disgusted. "He's a jerk."
"Yes, but he's a pretty jerk, you know?" Carly added on.
"No." Avery insisted.
Carly sighed. "Just because someone is an awful person, doesn't make them ugly."
"Malfoy is an UGLY BUTT-FACE." Avery nearly shouted. Some people heard her and looked at her with a mix of confusion and amusement. Malfoy looked particularly offended.
"Miss Liddell?" Squeaked Prof. Flitwick, looking concerned.
"Nothing, professor." Avery put her head down.
"Nice." Carly commented. Avery blushed hard.
"Is he looking at me?"
"Who?"
"Malfoy!" Avery hissed.
"No." Carly said. "He's not paying attention anymore." Avery lifted her head.
"I mean it." She finished, trying to look serious.
"I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do."
"Hmph." Avery tried to change the subject. "You know what I can't wait for? Christmas."
"I hate Christmas." Carly said simply.
"Oh of course you do..." Dev mumbled. Carly clenched a fist but said nothing.
Avery wanted to be dismissed already.
Halloween came, and the Great Hall was lavishly decorated for the occasion. There were several huge jack-o-lanterns, which creeped out Avery so much that Carly had started to taunt her for it. The feast was just as delicious as the one at the start of term, and deserts included a large selection of sweets, pastries, and puddings. It was a perfect treat for Avery's sweet-tooth.
Carly sneaked over to the Slytherin table, dressed in Slytherin robes. Dev gave her a look of contempt.
"Where did you get those?" She asked accusingly. Carly smirked.
"It's Halloween, and I'm dressed as a Slytherin." She said smugly, as if this were a loophole. Dev scowled. "I think I ought to play the part."
"Don't think you're coming to the common room later." Dev reminded her.
"Shut up, quit trying to boss me around." Carly snapped.
Avery coughed. "Well, where did you get them?"
"I stole them from some girl." Carly said proudly.
"That's... nice."
Avery tried not to continue the subject by helping herself to more candy. There were so many kinds she wanted to sample!
She did not have long to get to them, however. The Great Hall doors were swung open by a very panicked and fearful Quirrell.
"TROOLLLLL!" He screamed wildly, "TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!" He stopped running, and looked meaningfully up at the staff table. "Thought you ought to know." He added, before fainting.
Screams filled the Great Hall so suddenly that Avery barely had time to register what had just happened.
"SILENCE!" Prof. Dumbledore commanded, and immediately the screams deadened. "I want the Heads of Houses to lead the students back to their dormitories."
Dev looked at Avery with a fearful expression. "But our dormitories are in the dungeons!" She gasped. "What are they thinking?"
"Your dormitories are in the dungeons?" Carly asked, lighting up.
"Yes!" Hissed Dev. "This is no time to think of sneaking in! The troll is probably in our common room!"
"As if I care." Carly said. "I'm not afraid of a troll."
"You will be, once it starts clubbing in your skull!" Dev snapped angrily. "C'mon, we gotta get away from the troll..."
Dev began to lead Avery and Carly away from the rest of the Slytherins, who seemed to be being led to an untimely death with an untamed beast. Their escape was not unnoticed.
"Where are you off to?" Asked Malfoy nosily.
"Far away from the troll!" Avery replied. "You can go get killed if you want to."
"You're all paranoid." Malfoy shouted. Fortunately, he went to follow the other Slytherins, and did not try to bother them more.
"Good riddance." Avery muttered. The three girls snuck out of the castle, and Dev lead them to the lake, where it looked more serene in the moonlight.
"It looks peaceful here." Dev judged, sitting down. "And we can see a troll coming from a long ways away."
"How will we know when to go back in?" Avery asked, shivering.
"Hm. Didn't think of that." Dev admitted. "I guess we can just stay up all night... we did have all that candy."
"I got some in my pockets." Carly said. She turned them out to show that before the troll had invaded the castle, she had stuffed her pockets with sweets.
"I thought you hated sweets." Dev said.
"I do. I eat them anyway when I'm bored." Carly replied. "You can have them though, if you can't stay awake. I can stay up all night though."
"Thanks." Avery said, taking a toffee. Dev sighed.
"Not now, when you're tired!" She reminded her. Avery looked frustrated.
"Sorry."
They watched the lake, which was incredibly beautiful at night. It reminded Avery of the dormitory, listening to the water at her window. She wondered how Boots was doing, being down there with the troll. It made her anxious to think of what might happen to her...
"Well, well, well." The girls turned around to see Argus Filch, the caretaker, had crept behind them. "What have we here? Thought you'd be wandering around..."
"Sir, I can explain!" Dev said quickly. "We were just avoiding the troll!"
"The troll was on a second floor bathroom, not your common room." Filch said.
"The bathroom? But we heard-"
"It's a good thing Mr. Malfoy tipped me off." Filch continued. Avery felt a burn of anger for Malfoy again. He had ratted them out! "He seemed so worried... thought you'd wind up running into the troll... looks like you haven't though... you ought to thank Mr. Malfoy for his concern..."
Filch had them walk back up to the castle, where they were greeted by McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape.
"Here they are, caught 'em by the lake." Filch said proudly. "Punish them as you will..." He gave a satisfied grin to them.
Avery and Dev lost 20 points each, for disobeying the headmaster's instructions and sneaking out of the castle at night. Carly lost 40 points, 20 for following Dev and Avery's actions, and another 20 for impersonating a Slytherin and theft. They were each sent to their common rooms, and Avery and Dev complained loudly about Malfoy the entire way there.
"That slimy git!" Dev fumed. "Concerned, my arse!"
They entered the common room and found Malfoy sitting on a chair, grinning smugly.
"Enjoy your moonlight walk, girls?" He asked smugly. "Teach you to talk wrongly of your superiors, Liddell."
"I hope you don't mean yourself." Avery growled, throwing Malfoy a dirty look.
"I do." Malfoy grinned. "And you better watch your tongue, Liddell, because I can do other things as well..."
Avery finally lost her temper. She stormed over to where Malfoy sat, and before he could stand up, she had grabbed him by his robes and started yanking his hair.
"OWOWOWOWOW!" Malfoy yelped. He tried to reach for his wand, but Avery pinned him to the chair instead, and began to beat into him senselessly. "CRAZY MUDBLOOD! GET OFF OF ME!"
"Yeah!" Dev looked devilishly delighted. "This is all your stupid fault!" She sounded excited. "Avery, can I hit him?"
Avery pulled Malfoy up by the hair, and held him firmly so that Dev could take a few punches. Malfoy squirmed and struggled, but without Crabbe and Goyle he was utterly useless.
"MY FATHER WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!" He screamed angrily.
"Yeah Malfoy, go on and tell your dad you got beat up by two girls." Dev laughed coldly. "He'll be proud of you."
Malfoy scowled, and slammed himself against another chair, which shook Avery's grip and gave him the opportunity to break free. He clasped his wand now, and brandished it at them both, looking furious.
"You're both mad!" He was angry, but shaking with fear. "I'll have you both expelled, Mudbloods!"
"I'm not Muggle-born, you stupid git." Dev corrected him. Malfoy could not care less, and shook his wand at her.
"You're still a worthless excuse of a witch! Both of you!" His eyes flashed. "Attacking me like wild Muggles!"
Avery took a step towards Malfoy, and he screamed. A bang errupted from his wand, and knocked something over that shattered. When Avery and Dev quickly looked to see what had broken, Malfoy ran as quickly as he could to his dormitory, which they heard slam shut.
"Maybe that taught HIM a lesson." Dev growled. "Malfoy's such a coward."
They both went back to their dormitory, where a few other girls waited for them, still awake.
"What was that?" One of them asked.
"Malfoy getting beaten by a girl." Avery said proudly. A girl with black hair crinkled her nose.
"You're such a savage." She sneered.
"You want yours next, Pansy?" Dev asked. Pansy glared at her and ignored them both. Avery crawled into bed, with Boots already snuggled into the blankets. Sleep was hard as she relived her outburst, and when morning came Malfoy avoided them both with all his effort. Dev seemed pleased. Avery was proud of herself at first, but eventually the feeling wore off. How could she have lost control like that? Malfoy was an unpleasant person, but Avery felt ashamed for hurting him like that. She knew she would pay dearly for it sooner or later.