AN: I only own my OCs. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Samhain Fun

I'm in a dark hallway with no exits or entrances. I'm not surprised as I should be, Hogwarts has many rooms after all. What's interesting about this hallway is the silhouettes dancing along the walls. It's almost hypnotizing how they move. Without realizing, I move closer to them. I reach out a shaking hand, but the moment I touch them, they start to move off the wall. I back into the opposite wall as the shadow takes form. It's my parents. But how did they get here? They're muggles, they shouldn't be here.

"You impertinent brat!" My father snaps before I can say anything.

"You've wasted our time long enough!" My mother spits out quite venomously.

"Not only are you a freak," My father takes over again.

"You've turned our dear Shawn into one as well." My mother continues.

"We wish you never came into our lives." My father's voice sounds more like a growl at this point.

"Ma, Pa! Why are you saying this?" I cry out.

"Don't interrupt your betters, freak!" My father yells while reaching for me, only to dissipate before he can touch me. My mother sneers as she too disappears.

"What was that about?" I whisper, shaken from the encounter. I feel the wall pushing from behind me, so I continue forward, despite my instinct to turn and run. I graze against another shadow as I'm pressed forward, this one takes the shape of Blaise and Theo.

"Remind me why we gave the freak the time of day?" Blaise asks Theo, ignoring my presence.

"We felt pity for it, Blaise." Theo answers with a laugh.

"Of course, but now we see it for what it is." Blaise responds without his usual theatricality.

"A pathetic, little mudblood, who can't survive without attention." Theo finally turns to me as he says this.

"No- You're- I'm-" I realize I'm hyperventilating when I try to speak, their words cutting my heart into pieces.

"Can't even defend itself, it's so worthless." Blaise laughs at my pain-filled expression.

"Come, Blaise, let's leave it to wallow in its own uselessness." Theo says over his shoulder as he and Blaise walk away into the shadows of the hallway. I fall to the floor, sobbing, as they disappear. The walls close in on me once more as a new figure emerges from the shadows.

"Look at you, can't even stand up to your own friends." Hermione scoffs at my pitiful form. "It's because you know it's true. You know that you're a worthless, pathetic, freak of a witch. You know that no one could love someone such as you, not even your own parents."

"S-stop," I mutter as I sit up.

"You can barely even speak, you're so pathetic." Hermione continues without acknowledging my request. "How are you supposed to be able to protect your friends when you can't even protect yourself?"

"I won't let anyone hurt them," I finally catch my breath enough to speak.

"How are you going to do that?" Hermione asks with a smirk, knowing I don't have an answer. "That's what I thought, freak." She turns to go back into the shadows, but looks back at me as she does so, "Have fun with your brother while it lasts."

"Finally!" The woman with pale skin and curly black hair comes through a doorway. "We've been waiting for our turn."

"To tell you how you failed us." The tall dark-skinned man says from behind her.

"I don't even know you!" I say with as much confidence I can muster.

"You should." The woman scowls at me.

"You're the reason we're dead." The man's face looks unnatural sneering.

"If it wasn't for you, we would still be alive and happy." The woman continues.

"How?" I cry out as they get closer to me.

"Your existence put us in danger," The man grabs me and slams me against the wall.

"We should've lived long lives." The woman's nails dig into my arm.

"But you cut our lives short."

"And now, you're going to pay."

"NO!" I wake up crying, still sweating from my nightmare. This one was different than all the other ones I've had, and it seemed more real. Maybe because it's Samhain, maybe because I'm stressed, I don't know. I fell asleep right after the feast and it's only 11;45pm now. Not even midnight yet, and I'm already wake again. Cosmo must've woken up at my distress because he crawls up onto my chest to nuzzle my face. "Thanks, Cosmo." I mutter, he responds with his usual chirps before curling up on my stomach and going back to sleep.

I contemplate what to do for the next few hours since I won't be sleeping anytime soon. No matter what I do, my thoughts keep circling back to who the people, who look oddly familiar, from my dreams might be. The woman is lean, short, and pale with long, curly dark hair and high cheekbones. The man is tall, dark-skinned, and has a sharp jawline. When I let their images combine in my mind, I might as well be their spitting image, which is absurd. I should not look so much like two imaginary people from my dreams. By morning, I conclude that I must've imagined them as substitutes for my real parents, who have been treating me horribly as of late. That's the only reasonable explanation behind this.

I walk into the Great Hall with my head held high, despite the ache in my bones as I walk. That nightmare took a lot out of me. There's barely anyone in the Great Hall this early, not that I can blame them. I wouldn't be here at 7am on a Saturday either, if I had a choice. Despite the early hour, Susan is already sitting at the Hufflepuff table, so I sit next to her, causing her to jump in surprise.

"You're up early," She comments before continuing to eat her breakfast.

"Couldn't sleep," I mutter while leaning my head on her shoulder. She's understandably surprised by this action; I'm not usually an affectionate person.

"You okay?" Of course, because something has to be wrong for me to be touchy.

"Mhm," I mumble, "Just tired, and you're comfy."

"Okay then," She tries to muffle a laugh, but I feel her shoulders shake. I promptly swat at her arm.

"Stop moving, it's sleep time." I words are muffled by me turning my face into her shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry." She goes still as I start to drift off.

"What's wrong with her?" Blaise asks loudly as he plops down across from us. That's a no to sleeping then.

"Shut up!" Susan hisses. "You'll wake her."

"Too late," I interject with a yawn, sitting up as I talk.

"Oh, sorry." Blaise answers sheepishly. "Did you not sleep again?"

"I slept!" I protest, "Just only for two hours."

"That's the third time this week," Susan frowns.

"That you know of," I mutter which earns me a scowl from Susan. "Kidding, kidding."

"You better be." She pokes my shoulder with her fork.

"Yeah, we need you intact so you can tutor us in Transfiguration when Hermione loses her patience with us." Blaise jokes.

"I do not lose my patience with you." Hermione says firmly from behind Blaise. "You are just too impatient."

"You're doing it right now," Blaise turns with a grin.

"You're insufferable," Hermione sighs while sitting next to him. "Are we talking about Aria's poor sleep schedule?"

"She was sleeping on Susan when I came in." Blaise answers helpfully.

"Last night was just a bad one," I protest. "I'm sure I'll be fine tonight."

"I hope so," Hermione looks at me in concern. She's the only one who knows about the nightmares, but I try not to worry her too much. "You don't want to get detention from sleeping in class."

"Yes, that's what we should be worried about, not her passing out from exhaustion." Susan says with a smirk.

"We need to sort out your priorities." Blaise dodges the bit of toast Hermione throws at him.

"My priorities are just fine, thank you very much." Hermione turns up her nose at us, only to smile when we laugh. "Harry doesn't complain about my priorities."

"That's cause he knows you won't help him with his homework if he does," I snicker at Susan's remark.

"No, he doesn't complain because Weasley does it enough for him." Blaise adds to the increased laughter of all of us, including Hermione.

"Okay, I can't argue with that." Hermione says through her laughter.

"What did we miss?" Theo asks with his trademark smirk while sitting down on Blaise's other side, Hannah sitting beside Susan at the same time.

"We were making fun of Hermione but that quickly turned into making fun of Weasley." I say calmly, having got my laughter under control before the rest of them.

"Don't forget us trying to keep you alive," Susan adds to my explanation.

"Of course," Hannah smiles, "We shouldn't have expected anything less."
"What was Aria in danger of?" Theo asks curiously. "Wait no, let me guess… Lack of sleep?"

"Hole in one!" Blaise high-fives Theo.

"Yeah, yeah. Very impressive," I comment dryly. The rest of breakfast goes similarly until Hannah suggests we go outside to continue our conversation. We end up in a circle beside a tree at the edge of the lake. Hermione sits against the tree with Blaise and Susan on either side of her, my head in her lap and my legs across Susan's, and Theo and Hannah completing the circle by their respective close friend. Conversation wanders from subject to subject until Blaise starts discussing charmed objects with Hermione.

"We should get matching charmed pendants," I suggest out of nowhere. "We could find a way to allow us to communicate through it, and it'd make a great OWL project in a few years."

"What brought this is on?" Susan asks.

"I don't know. It's just that… you guys have become like family to me, and I want a way for us to be able to always be with each other." I say shyly, sitting up from Hermione's lap.

"I think it's a great idea," Hermione says after a moment of silence. The others quickly agree with the idea, though we decide to leave the practical experiments until we're at least in fourth year. After that, the day seems to go so perfectly, I almost forget about my nightmare. Almost.