AN:
Must Mention:
-- Shellsea Summer
-- Hagrid in a Care Bear costume
-- A bat
-- Punch thrown
A Character Must Say:
-- 'She shoots, she scores!'
-- 'Poor woobie.'
-- 'Oy vey.'
SHOUT OUT TO: The great and wonderful title maker of OZ, Ms. Prongs!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything else that looks remotely familiar in this story. Or in the author notes for that matter. No suing.
A Tale of Two Houses By Wyltk
Draco turned a corner to see a ghost ahead of him. The ghost had red hair, or atleast that was what he thought it was, it was so hard to tell with ghosts, and a dark blue dress on. She turned slightly as if she had heard him but before he could see her face, she was off and running around the next corner.
"I hate Halloween." he muttered evilly as he rounded the corner to see the ghost gone. He walked over to the Slytherin common room wall saying the password and slipping in careful to watch for the ghost he had seen. For some reason she seemed so familiar if only he could remember from where.
He didn't notice the ghost reappear right as he walked in to his common room. But he did notice as the moaning started up. The moaning that got louder the more he walked away. Shrugging away the noise as Peeves trying to play a trick he continued up the long staircase.
He thought that until he heard the loud scream, that was definitely human, sound from outside the common room. Rushing down the steps he ran straight for the Entrance along with all the other Slytherin's that had heard the scream.
Draco was out of the common room first and watched as the same girl ghosts hands pressed into the stone before she disappeared totally from sight leaving a large red blotch of something, which Draco thought looked suspiciously like blood, on the wall.
The first year Slytherin, who they found was the one who had screamed, screamed again his pitch rising as one of the sixth year girls went over and hugged him bringing him away from the spot the girl had disappeared and into the common room.
When Draco looked back the bloody spot had disappeared and Snape was running towards them down the hallway leading to his office. An unpleasant shiver ran down his spine at the thought of the blood. He had never seen a ghost do that. Slowly he explained what he had seen and Snape went into the common room to talk to the first year.
Draco walked behind him followed by most of his house mates. A pair of brown eye's watched his retreat with uncontained amusement.
~*~
Ginny sat on her bed flipping through a book of costumes. For some strange reason, known only to Dumbledore, their esteemed headmaster had decided they would have a costume contest on Halloween. Not only that but the best out of the teachers and four houses were going to be given prizes for the best.
And if that wasn't enough there was also a maze that took up the entire dungeon. And the maze had small gifts and even some slightly large gifts. There were to be spooks and all kinds of things in the maze. Half of the dungeon's doors had been enchanted to remain invisible so that no one could get completely lost in the maze and then, from what she understood, there were emergency exits throughout the thing incase anyone got in trouble. And all this just because Halloween was set on a Saturday.
It was an all day event starting at eight o'clock and ending at four o'clock. Though at noon it was being shortened, that is some of the door disappearing, so it wouldn't take so long to get through.
Even some of the paintings had dressed up and had been placed in some of the rooms to scare you. At least that's what Sir Nicholas had told her. He was going to be one of the spooks in the maze. Already he had teamed up with The Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw ghost, and they had been planning everything of their spook down to the last detail.
She closed her eyes ready to take a small nap but the moment her eyes became blurry she thought she saw someone in front of her. Feeling a cold draft she opened her eyes with a start and stared around expecting one of her dorm mates but found no one. Maybe it was a local ghost or something.
Hmmm. That wasn't a bad ideal. If she only had-wait! Rushing to her trunk at the end of her bed she flung it open and started to dig to the bottom of it. Finally finding what she wanted she ran to the adjacent bathroom and locked the door.
She quickly put the dress on, followed by the Cancan, smiling as it fit almost perfectly. It had been one of her costumes when she had been younger but it still fit, mostly because the dress had been too big when they had gotten it. The only thing it needed was a waist line and a charm to make it just a tad bit longer by letting down the hem.
Slowly she waved her wand at the hem around her dress and watched as it lowered swiftly. Smiling at the dark blue fabric she brought out the gold ribbon she had got long ago. She put it in her hair when they had Quidditch matches. This time however she changed the color only slightly and placed it around her waist slowly using a gluing charm. She stopped when it got to the bow part and swiftly tied one not putting a gluing charm on the bow so he could redo it if needed.
Now all she needed to do was to sucker Colin into asking his girlfriend, Shellsea Summer, if she would do up her hair in one of the older styles. Shellsea was a sweet girl and one of the most fashionable in the entire sixth year. And she wasn't stuck up at all.
She slowly undid the dress and placed it back in her trunk putting a complicated locking spell on the trunk. She hurriedly slid back into her jeans and placed a long sleeved shirt on. Grabbing her robe she slipped it on and started off to find Sir Nicholas.
~*~
Ginny shook her head as she passed by some first years who we're yelling about something. Rolling her eyes as she heard the word "ghost" in their conversation she walked past. It was odd to think she had once been just like them.
Not watching where she was going and thinking about first years instead did have problems though. Like the fact she just walked straight through Sir Nicholas, commonly known as Nearly-Headless Nick, and was now freezing.
"Sorry, Sir Nicholas. I wasn't watching where I was going." she said shaking her head. Sir Nicholas had been friends with her since her first year. They had made a small nonverbal agreement. Since they were friends she refused to call him Nearly-Headless nick and he refused to call her Ginny, saying it didn't suit her, and called her Miss Virginia instead.
"Sir Nicholas I need some information about Ghosts. See I'm going to be one for Halloween. I've already tried out my costume. I even have a person that I'm modeling my ghost self after. So I though maybe you could tell me if their was anything I needed to know so I don't offend any of you."
Nicholas looked thoughtfully at her and shook his head slightly. "Nothing really important, Miss Virginia. You should offend any ghost. Just keep to your own morals and you'll pass wonderfully. But if you would like to make it more authentic we do say "Poor Woobie" to the first years. It's a source of amusement for us to see their faces."
"Thank you Sir Nicholas. I hope to see you in the maze tomorrow."
"I hope to see you as well. The Grey Lady and I have worked up quite a routine. Speaking of The Grey Lady I promised to finish up today on our own room. Is that all you needed Miss Virginia?"
"Yes, thanks Sir Nicholas!"
He nodded at her bowing formally as he turned and walked through a wall. Smiling to herself she headed towards the Library. She had no desire to head back up to the Common room yet.
~*~
Later that night, during dinner, Dumbledore stood up in front of the Great Hall and the excited chatter about the next night died down. After Dumbledore cleared his throat and caught the last talking student's attention.
"May I remind you that tomorrow is the Halloween maze. For the early birds your lunches will be set up in from of the head table. Please only take one I assure you the House elfs have packed more then enough. Don't forget you have to sign in to get into the maze. And also remember the costume contest before dinner. Slytherin perfects please stay after to see me. Alright now, the rest of you, off to bed! Don't let the pillow's bite."
Draco, being the closest Slytherin to the head table, could have sworn he heard Dumbledore mumble about something about a prankster and what they would come up with next.
He shook his head at the weird Headmaster that everyone seemed to respect, even with his strange tendencies. Getting up from his seat he headed towards the door Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. As they always were. It had become more natural for them to be by his side. It was actually nice to have such close friends. Prior to contrary belief they had become his friends, he hadn't forced them to.
They weren't as dumb as the pretended to be either. Well maybe when it came to food but otherwise they weren't. Their average when it comes to grades sometimes a little below but that was just because they didn't study unless they had to. And they know immediately if there is something wrong in our small gang.
I've even heard them lie to my father about something I did sometimes when I invite them over during the summer. I've never asked them to they just do. I would do the same for them to.
~*~
Ginny moaned as her alarm went off and sleepily flipped the switch to turn the annoying machine off. She turned over about to fall asleep again when the reason her alarm went off suddenly crept into her mind and she jumped up.
She slipped her feet out of the warm covers she placed them on the floor and nearly jumped out of her skin at the cold second wake up call. Whining softly, as to not wake her dorm mates who were going later in the afternoon, she tried getting out of bed again this time making sure her feet hit the rug by her bed.
She grabbed her clothes and quickly ran into the bathroom and hurried to finish getting ready. The faster she hurried the more it seemed she had to do. Glancing at her watch expecting one minute to get all the way downstairs she was surprised to see she had twenty minutes left.
But that couldn't be right. She had set her alarm for seven forty giving her ten minutes to get ready and ten minutes to get to the Great Hall eat and go to the maze to meet Colin. So how did she wake up and finish getting dressed in less then a minute. Staring at her watch suspiciously she headed into the dorm and saw eight o'clock flashing back at her.
She moved over to her friend's bed quietly and noticed hers and the rest of the alarms all said seven forty-one. Colin. It had to be Colin. Oh when she got her hands around the neck of his.
Grabbing her satchel, which Dumbledore had recommended taking for anything you might find down there, and her pocket knife she started down the stairs. Opening the portrait hole she hoped out of the small ledge and ran down the hall and down the next flight of steps in a mad rush to kill one of her best friends.
As she slid in front of the Great Hall the first thing she noticed was Colin coming out with her favorite type of bagel, his camera bag, satchel, and two lunch bags. He handed her one of the lunch bags, that happened to be purple, and she stuffed it into her bag. He then handed her the Bagel and stuffed his own lunch bag in his satchel.
"Thank you."
"Your welcome."
"You set my alarm forward." she accused giving him an evil stare.
"Yes, and we have a busy day so eat that." he smiled at her sweetly.
"How can you be so cheery in the mornings?"
"Same as you can."
"You are so sarcastic."
"I do try." he checked his camera and smirked at her.
"How does Shellsea stand you again?"
"She doesn't have to. I can stand up for myself."
She cast him an evil glare and he shrugged sweetly. She reached the Dungeon entrance first and signed her name watching as a door opened when she had finished. She stepped through the door and waited impatiently for Colin to sign his name to get in.
~*~
Draco got up leisurely slowly getting dressed and grabbing his satchel. Crabbe and Goyle he already stated their intent to stay in bed and no go into the maze early like everyone else. It surprised him considering there was candy involved with the maze.
Even if he didn't like Halloween that well the maze seemed to interest him. From what he had heard the teachers had asked the Weasley twin to help with a bit of it. And, though he was loath to admit it, the Weasley twins had some of the wildest ideals he had heard of. It was no wonder their joke shop was already beating Junko's out of business.
Shaking his head he climbed the steps up to the trap door. Since they were using the Dungeon as a maze they had asked the Slytherin perfects to tell everyone that they would be using a trap door to the classroom above. And that it would disappear when the maze was finished.
Making it to the Great Hall he grabbed a lunch bag and sighed at the purple. For some reason he couldn't stand the color purple. It was really pretty on some girls but on anything else it grated on his nerves. Shrugging off his thoughts he grabbed a hash brown off the Slytherin table and walked out.
He made quick time to the maze entrance, writing his name down carefully. He jumped as the wall suddenly banged open as if it didn't really want to open for him. Surprised he stepped inside and the wall smashed shut behind him almost catching the back of his foot.
Shaking his head at the crazy wall he walked towards the nearest room and opened the door confidently. For all his confidence, that the maze could do him no harm, he was rewarded with a face full of Fruit Punch that had been thrown from a spring in the center of the room. (See? See! Punch was thrown! *wild giggles*)
He closed the door and fished out his wand casting a cleaning spell and then a drying spell over his robes and satchel. Checking himself over to make sure he was rid of the mess, he walked to the next door. When he opened it to a huge spider that was slowly turning towards him he slammed it shut again.
Slowly he began to wonder if it would have been infinitely better if he turned around and walked straight back out of the maze. And that's when he saw the weird ghost who had scared the first year right in front of him disappearing around a corner.
~*~
"Split up?" her voice betrayed her fear of the concept as she looked at the two ways left to go.
"Yea, come on. You'll be fine. I doubt very much if there are any human eating snakes down here. I don't even see why you are afraid of them." Colin said crossing his arms stubbornly.
She glared at him for bringing that up. She had, had a phobia of snakes ever since the Chamber of Secrets. With good reason! Though, she had never told Colin, nor anyone else, that particular story. It's not that she though Colin wouldn't understand, oh no he would understand perfectly and probably never bring it up again, she just didn't want to. Or to be more correct it scared her to tell him, even if they were close friends.
"Alright. Fine I'll go this way then." she said walking towards the left entrance.
"That's my girl! If you don't see me when you get out, remember Shellsea and I are meeting you in the class room by the library at five. And you have to bring your make up stuff."
"Right, Colin. This is just the tenth time you reminded me."
"Really? Only the tenth and here I thought I was up to twenty-two."
She glared at him and marched down the hallway. He smiled at her back happy that he had gotten her riled enough to forget that she was going alone. Smiling brightly he started down the other hallway whistling.
Ginny, meanwhile, was already opening the doors down the hallway she was in. In fact she had already frond a room stuffed with chocolate frogs, and another room which had been full of small little figurines of animals.
They all moved and when you felt them they felt like real animals. She had picked a small baby duckling figurine and had watched as it opened it's eyes and peeped at her before cuddling back into it's feathers and falling back asleep. She placed the small toy in her satchel with a small smile.
She had ran into Sir Nicholas and the Grey Lady when she was halfway down the halls. Their spook had consisted of flying around the person who entered their room causing cold blast of air fall around her. The corners to their room we're filled with chains that one of them rattled. It made your head spin as their moans and clanks and small air bounced around her. However, they stopped and appeared to tell her a quick hello before she had had a chance to run out screaming.
And that's how she found herself in an empty room opening up her lunch and laying it out on her satchel.
~*~
Draco walked into another room ready for a spook to jump out of him at any second. Relaxing his stance when he didn't feel anything he looked around and saw Virginia Weasley sitting their staring up at him with wide brown eyes. How funny it was she looked so much like the ghost who went down this very hall.
Blinking in surprise he sat down placing his satchel on the ground and taking out his lunch. He placed his lunch on his satchel in a similar way to Virginias.
"Hello Vin." he said with a small smirk.
He knew she hated the name but it was fun to call her that. And sometimes he had the feeling she only protested the name only for the sake of the argument. He didn't have any ideal where the name even came from. Actually he could sorta see the connection to her name but how he ever thought up the name was beyond him.
"Malfoy. Don't call me that!" she said in aggravation. Watching as he smiled and took a bite out of his sandwitch. She took a bite as well staring at him suspiciously.
"Did you find anything interesting in here?" he asked nodding towards her slightly bulging pack.
"Well yea two things that are worth mentioning. A small stuffed animal and a Coffee cup that changes quotes with the mood of the person holding it, at least that's what the tag says." she said taking out the two objects and holding them up for him to see.
"Nice." he spoke up watching as she placed the objects back into her bag.
"What about you? Did you find anything good?"
"I found a scarf that changes to your favorite color, again with the tags." he smiled and took out the scarf. Right now the scarf was a black with small threads of green showing up in off places.
He held out the scarf for her and she took it from him in surprise smiling as it turned from black and green to white with navy blue trimming. She smiled and folded it carefully handing the scarf back to him.
"Thank you for letting me see it. It's really nice. Good for Quidditch games." she said blushing under his gaze. She finished her sandwitch quickly and smiled at Draco when she noticed he had been done for a while.
"So do you want to finish the maze together?" he asked curiously. Why he was even asking was beyond him. Maybe it was that small surprised smile she had given him when he had handed her the scarf.
"Yea, I would like some company."
"Let's go then, Vin."
~*~
Ginny walked into the classroom by the library later that afternoon smiling to herself. She had actually had fun going through the maze with Draco. He had even picked her up when a snake had come streaking towards them and she had frozen.
Ginny had actually been early to meeting Shellsea and Colin. So she hurried and slipped into her dress and then began to set up her make up on one of the stray tables. She had just finished when Colin and Shellsea walked into the room laughing at something. She smiled as Colin finally noticed her and faked a heart attack yelling, "SHE'S EARLY! SHE'S EARLY!" as he fell.
She ignored him and smiled at Shellsea. "Is that your costume?" she asked, motioning to the mermaid tail over her arm.
"Yep! Your still going to do my make up right?" she asked hopefully.
"As long as you'll do my hair!" she said giggling.
Both of them smiled and Colin stood up tired of being ignored. "Will you do my make up too?" he asked with a puppy dog face.
"Oy Vey." Ginny rolled her eyes and motioned for him to come over to her. She waved her wand and his face was turned blood red so he could be the button on a camera, his costume. He smiled brightly at her.
"Thanks Ginny. I'll leave you girls to finish your costumes." he said waving and disappearing out the door. Ginny and Shellsea laughed and Ginny took out Shellsea's stuff on her request as she got her costume on.
When they had finally finished everything Shellsea smiled at Ginny. "If you don't win something it's going to be a shame, girl."
Ginny blushed.
~*~
Ginny stepped into the Great Hall slowly as Shellsea opened the door and walked in behind her. She walked softly her slippers not making any noise giving the farce that she was floating. Fierce whispers broke out around the hall and she sat down at the Gryffindor table softly. The dressed up Gryffindor's drew back and she smiled to herself. She over did herself really if even her own brother couldn't recognize her.
Not feeling the need to enlighten anyone that she was Virginia Weasley, was not a ghost, and that this was her costume. Keeping her face perfectly impassive she stayed quietly at her end of the table only Shellsea and Colin sitting next to her.
She looked up as Dumbledore stood up he was dressed as a mime and had even fit his beard into the outfit by giving it black stripes. Snape was the next to catch her attention as Dumbledore started talking. Snape looked like he had pinned his cloak to his sleeves to make himself into a bat. Some how he fit better as a bat then he did as a human.
McGonagall was the second to catch her wandering eyes. She was dressed as a Muggle looking fortune teller, Ginny's personal opinion was that McGonagall was making fun of Trelawney. Hagrid was at the end of the table in a Care Bear out fit that looked like it had met Edward Scissor Hands sometime in the past few minutes. The rest of the teachers weren't anything to special and her wondering attention was turned back towards Dumbledore as he finished up his speech.
"Please pick one teacher and one person from your house and place them on the paper in front of you. And they will be collected."
The papers appeared in front of her and she blinked looking around at the people from her own house and from others as well. She was surprised to see Draco as a vampire. It seemed to fit him however. And then there was his body guards who seemed to have gotten a personality of their own and were dressed as Robin Hood and Prince Charming. Both some very scary sights. And then Hannah Abbot at the Hufflepuff table, she seemed to be dressed as a drowned rat.
Shaking her head she turned her attention back to the Gryffindor table, she had already written down McGonagall as her teacher, looking at everyone carefully. Ron had decided to come as a turkey, which, Ginny decided, fit him. Hermione had dressed as a genie and Harry was dressed as a pirate his eye patch and wild hair adding to the rugged look a five o'clock shadow had left him. After studying her house mates carefully she wrote down a name and folded the paper.
"Has everyone finished?" Dumbledore asked and when no one responded to the negative the ballots in front of them disappeared.
"The ballots have been placed into the Sorting Hat who has counted them and is now ready to announce the winners."
McGonagall placed the stool down in front of the tables and put the Sorting Hat on it. The Sorting Hat bowed and did a little hop to turn towards the students.
"For your esteemed professor's a tie has been made, Severus Snape as a bat and Minerva McGonagall as a Muggle Fortune Teller."
Thunderous applause sounded from the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables while Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw clapped politely. The Sorting Hat then turned towards the Hufflepuff table and the claps died until everyone was again silent.
"Hufflepuff, Tina Mouse as a clock!" The Hufflepuff's cheered as the second year came up to stand beside professor McGonagall, blushing brightly.
"Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson as an Alligator." The Slytherin's congratulated her and clapped as she headed to stand next to Snape.
"Ravenclaw, Peach Aking as a tree." The Ravenclaw's smiled and clapped as the girl walked up confidently.
"Gryffindor, Serena McKay as Sailor Moon, a Muggle Anime." The Gryffindor's were by far the loudest, as Serena went up to the platform, tripped on the step, and went tumbling flat on her face. Blushing brighter then the Gryffindor colors she stood up and stood beside Pansy.
As Ginny cheered the bitter taste of disappointment settled in her stomach like a thick stew. The people received their prizes and the food was sat in front of everyone else. She uncast the see through charm and everyone stared at her. It was obvious that they had thought she was a real ghost.
Ignoring the whispers flooding the room she ate a little bit of the food and then pushed her plate away excusing herself from her friends and walking out of the Great Hall. She had no real desire to be around the festivities that revolved around Halloween.
She walked out of the castle and around to the back of Hogwarts. Continuing her steps she looked at the setting sun that was blending in with the Forbidden Forest. Smiling at the beautiful site she laid her head back against the castle's wall.
A cold wind swept over her and she shivered wishing she had thought enough to bring her cloak. However, ignoring the cold she continued to look out at the Sunset as it slowly began to take away all light left in the sky.
She jumped when a cloak was laid gently around her and a body flopped down on the grass beside her. She looked over to find Draco his blonde hair escaping from the intricate braids that it had been put in to make the vampire look more real.
"Why did you do it Vin?" he asked finally the silence getting to loud for the both of them.
"Do what?" she asked softly turning slightly to face him head on.
"Why did you scare that first year?"
"What first year? What are you talking about?"
"You honestly don't know."
"No."
"A Slytherin first year saw you, or someone just like you, disappear into a wall and leave a pretty big spot of blood."
"It couldn't have been me. I may have looked see through but I was perfectly solid."
"Oh... Sorry you didn't win. I loved your costume."
"I liked yours as well. It fit."
"Yea, I like to get all the girls alone and suck their blood, Vin."
"You know what I meant."
"Perhaps. But maybe we should test and make sure I'm not a Vampire." he smiled, his magically enlarged canines showing.
"Why are you this nice to me and not my brother?"
"Your brother's a prat. While you my dear are a beautiful prat."
"Thanks a lot." she said her tone sarcastic but her smile betraying her.
"Your welcome." he whispered and leaned down pressing his lips to hers.
~*~
"She shoots, she scores!" Colin said in a whisper to Shellsea as he glanced around the corner at the kissing couple.
Shellsea smiled standing beside him as she watched them kiss. Sighing she moved to lean against the wall with a dreamy smile. "That's so romantic." she said dreamily and then sent a glare towards Colin.
"What?!" he asked giving her a confused look as the evil glare became a bit to much to shrug off.
"You make me go through doing both of their hair, not that I minded, and then make me give subtle remarks about the both of them. You plan all that and yet you can't even tell when I want a kiss! MEN!"
"But-" Colin gave her an open mouthed stare.
Rolling her eyes at him she grabbed his face in between her hands and kissed him. She then preceded to push him into a large mud puddle and storm off leaving a brown, mud spotted Colin on the ground to say one thing.
"Woah."
~*~
Rowena Ravenclaw, or to be more correct, the ghost of Rowena Ravenclaw stared down at the sixteen year old who was the bloody image of her when she was younger. Right now her double was kissing the heck out of someone she had heard was named Draco. Somehow they reminded her of her younger days with Salazar.
She turned at the sound of soft voices and turned just in time to hear the part Ginny's two friends played in this odd matchmaking game. She had played her part to. When Draco saw her disappearing into the wall and that small ghost trick she had used to make them think blood had been left. And visiting Ginny while she was trying to figure out what costume to use helped to. Made Draco seek Ginny out when she left the Great Hall.
Laughing lightly to herself she went back through the castle wall to find where Salazar had hidden himself. He was probably talking to Dumbledore or Snape again. It was good that he had changed from years before. No longer did Muggle-born bother him.
But she had something that would annoy him to no end. A Slytherin being wrapped around the finger of a Gryffindor without either guy even knowing. Oh yes life was wonderful.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed this! Please ignore my mistakes and the parts that weren't quite clear.
Wyltk
Must Mention:
-- Shellsea Summer
-- Hagrid in a Care Bear costume
-- A bat
-- Punch thrown
A Character Must Say:
-- 'She shoots, she scores!'
-- 'Poor woobie.'
-- 'Oy vey.'
SHOUT OUT TO: The great and wonderful title maker of OZ, Ms. Prongs!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or anything else that looks remotely familiar in this story. Or in the author notes for that matter. No suing.
A Tale of Two Houses By Wyltk
Draco turned a corner to see a ghost ahead of him. The ghost had red hair, or atleast that was what he thought it was, it was so hard to tell with ghosts, and a dark blue dress on. She turned slightly as if she had heard him but before he could see her face, she was off and running around the next corner.
"I hate Halloween." he muttered evilly as he rounded the corner to see the ghost gone. He walked over to the Slytherin common room wall saying the password and slipping in careful to watch for the ghost he had seen. For some reason she seemed so familiar if only he could remember from where.
He didn't notice the ghost reappear right as he walked in to his common room. But he did notice as the moaning started up. The moaning that got louder the more he walked away. Shrugging away the noise as Peeves trying to play a trick he continued up the long staircase.
He thought that until he heard the loud scream, that was definitely human, sound from outside the common room. Rushing down the steps he ran straight for the Entrance along with all the other Slytherin's that had heard the scream.
Draco was out of the common room first and watched as the same girl ghosts hands pressed into the stone before she disappeared totally from sight leaving a large red blotch of something, which Draco thought looked suspiciously like blood, on the wall.
The first year Slytherin, who they found was the one who had screamed, screamed again his pitch rising as one of the sixth year girls went over and hugged him bringing him away from the spot the girl had disappeared and into the common room.
When Draco looked back the bloody spot had disappeared and Snape was running towards them down the hallway leading to his office. An unpleasant shiver ran down his spine at the thought of the blood. He had never seen a ghost do that. Slowly he explained what he had seen and Snape went into the common room to talk to the first year.
Draco walked behind him followed by most of his house mates. A pair of brown eye's watched his retreat with uncontained amusement.
~*~
Ginny sat on her bed flipping through a book of costumes. For some strange reason, known only to Dumbledore, their esteemed headmaster had decided they would have a costume contest on Halloween. Not only that but the best out of the teachers and four houses were going to be given prizes for the best.
And if that wasn't enough there was also a maze that took up the entire dungeon. And the maze had small gifts and even some slightly large gifts. There were to be spooks and all kinds of things in the maze. Half of the dungeon's doors had been enchanted to remain invisible so that no one could get completely lost in the maze and then, from what she understood, there were emergency exits throughout the thing incase anyone got in trouble. And all this just because Halloween was set on a Saturday.
It was an all day event starting at eight o'clock and ending at four o'clock. Though at noon it was being shortened, that is some of the door disappearing, so it wouldn't take so long to get through.
Even some of the paintings had dressed up and had been placed in some of the rooms to scare you. At least that's what Sir Nicholas had told her. He was going to be one of the spooks in the maze. Already he had teamed up with The Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw ghost, and they had been planning everything of their spook down to the last detail.
She closed her eyes ready to take a small nap but the moment her eyes became blurry she thought she saw someone in front of her. Feeling a cold draft she opened her eyes with a start and stared around expecting one of her dorm mates but found no one. Maybe it was a local ghost or something.
Hmmm. That wasn't a bad ideal. If she only had-wait! Rushing to her trunk at the end of her bed she flung it open and started to dig to the bottom of it. Finally finding what she wanted she ran to the adjacent bathroom and locked the door.
She quickly put the dress on, followed by the Cancan, smiling as it fit almost perfectly. It had been one of her costumes when she had been younger but it still fit, mostly because the dress had been too big when they had gotten it. The only thing it needed was a waist line and a charm to make it just a tad bit longer by letting down the hem.
Slowly she waved her wand at the hem around her dress and watched as it lowered swiftly. Smiling at the dark blue fabric she brought out the gold ribbon she had got long ago. She put it in her hair when they had Quidditch matches. This time however she changed the color only slightly and placed it around her waist slowly using a gluing charm. She stopped when it got to the bow part and swiftly tied one not putting a gluing charm on the bow so he could redo it if needed.
Now all she needed to do was to sucker Colin into asking his girlfriend, Shellsea Summer, if she would do up her hair in one of the older styles. Shellsea was a sweet girl and one of the most fashionable in the entire sixth year. And she wasn't stuck up at all.
She slowly undid the dress and placed it back in her trunk putting a complicated locking spell on the trunk. She hurriedly slid back into her jeans and placed a long sleeved shirt on. Grabbing her robe she slipped it on and started off to find Sir Nicholas.
~*~
Ginny shook her head as she passed by some first years who we're yelling about something. Rolling her eyes as she heard the word "ghost" in their conversation she walked past. It was odd to think she had once been just like them.
Not watching where she was going and thinking about first years instead did have problems though. Like the fact she just walked straight through Sir Nicholas, commonly known as Nearly-Headless Nick, and was now freezing.
"Sorry, Sir Nicholas. I wasn't watching where I was going." she said shaking her head. Sir Nicholas had been friends with her since her first year. They had made a small nonverbal agreement. Since they were friends she refused to call him Nearly-Headless nick and he refused to call her Ginny, saying it didn't suit her, and called her Miss Virginia instead.
"Sir Nicholas I need some information about Ghosts. See I'm going to be one for Halloween. I've already tried out my costume. I even have a person that I'm modeling my ghost self after. So I though maybe you could tell me if their was anything I needed to know so I don't offend any of you."
Nicholas looked thoughtfully at her and shook his head slightly. "Nothing really important, Miss Virginia. You should offend any ghost. Just keep to your own morals and you'll pass wonderfully. But if you would like to make it more authentic we do say "Poor Woobie" to the first years. It's a source of amusement for us to see their faces."
"Thank you Sir Nicholas. I hope to see you in the maze tomorrow."
"I hope to see you as well. The Grey Lady and I have worked up quite a routine. Speaking of The Grey Lady I promised to finish up today on our own room. Is that all you needed Miss Virginia?"
"Yes, thanks Sir Nicholas!"
He nodded at her bowing formally as he turned and walked through a wall. Smiling to herself she headed towards the Library. She had no desire to head back up to the Common room yet.
~*~
Later that night, during dinner, Dumbledore stood up in front of the Great Hall and the excited chatter about the next night died down. After Dumbledore cleared his throat and caught the last talking student's attention.
"May I remind you that tomorrow is the Halloween maze. For the early birds your lunches will be set up in from of the head table. Please only take one I assure you the House elfs have packed more then enough. Don't forget you have to sign in to get into the maze. And also remember the costume contest before dinner. Slytherin perfects please stay after to see me. Alright now, the rest of you, off to bed! Don't let the pillow's bite."
Draco, being the closest Slytherin to the head table, could have sworn he heard Dumbledore mumble about something about a prankster and what they would come up with next.
He shook his head at the weird Headmaster that everyone seemed to respect, even with his strange tendencies. Getting up from his seat he headed towards the door Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. As they always were. It had become more natural for them to be by his side. It was actually nice to have such close friends. Prior to contrary belief they had become his friends, he hadn't forced them to.
They weren't as dumb as the pretended to be either. Well maybe when it came to food but otherwise they weren't. Their average when it comes to grades sometimes a little below but that was just because they didn't study unless they had to. And they know immediately if there is something wrong in our small gang.
I've even heard them lie to my father about something I did sometimes when I invite them over during the summer. I've never asked them to they just do. I would do the same for them to.
~*~
Ginny moaned as her alarm went off and sleepily flipped the switch to turn the annoying machine off. She turned over about to fall asleep again when the reason her alarm went off suddenly crept into her mind and she jumped up.
She slipped her feet out of the warm covers she placed them on the floor and nearly jumped out of her skin at the cold second wake up call. Whining softly, as to not wake her dorm mates who were going later in the afternoon, she tried getting out of bed again this time making sure her feet hit the rug by her bed.
She grabbed her clothes and quickly ran into the bathroom and hurried to finish getting ready. The faster she hurried the more it seemed she had to do. Glancing at her watch expecting one minute to get all the way downstairs she was surprised to see she had twenty minutes left.
But that couldn't be right. She had set her alarm for seven forty giving her ten minutes to get ready and ten minutes to get to the Great Hall eat and go to the maze to meet Colin. So how did she wake up and finish getting dressed in less then a minute. Staring at her watch suspiciously she headed into the dorm and saw eight o'clock flashing back at her.
She moved over to her friend's bed quietly and noticed hers and the rest of the alarms all said seven forty-one. Colin. It had to be Colin. Oh when she got her hands around the neck of his.
Grabbing her satchel, which Dumbledore had recommended taking for anything you might find down there, and her pocket knife she started down the stairs. Opening the portrait hole she hoped out of the small ledge and ran down the hall and down the next flight of steps in a mad rush to kill one of her best friends.
As she slid in front of the Great Hall the first thing she noticed was Colin coming out with her favorite type of bagel, his camera bag, satchel, and two lunch bags. He handed her one of the lunch bags, that happened to be purple, and she stuffed it into her bag. He then handed her the Bagel and stuffed his own lunch bag in his satchel.
"Thank you."
"Your welcome."
"You set my alarm forward." she accused giving him an evil stare.
"Yes, and we have a busy day so eat that." he smiled at her sweetly.
"How can you be so cheery in the mornings?"
"Same as you can."
"You are so sarcastic."
"I do try." he checked his camera and smirked at her.
"How does Shellsea stand you again?"
"She doesn't have to. I can stand up for myself."
She cast him an evil glare and he shrugged sweetly. She reached the Dungeon entrance first and signed her name watching as a door opened when she had finished. She stepped through the door and waited impatiently for Colin to sign his name to get in.
~*~
Draco got up leisurely slowly getting dressed and grabbing his satchel. Crabbe and Goyle he already stated their intent to stay in bed and no go into the maze early like everyone else. It surprised him considering there was candy involved with the maze.
Even if he didn't like Halloween that well the maze seemed to interest him. From what he had heard the teachers had asked the Weasley twin to help with a bit of it. And, though he was loath to admit it, the Weasley twins had some of the wildest ideals he had heard of. It was no wonder their joke shop was already beating Junko's out of business.
Shaking his head he climbed the steps up to the trap door. Since they were using the Dungeon as a maze they had asked the Slytherin perfects to tell everyone that they would be using a trap door to the classroom above. And that it would disappear when the maze was finished.
Making it to the Great Hall he grabbed a lunch bag and sighed at the purple. For some reason he couldn't stand the color purple. It was really pretty on some girls but on anything else it grated on his nerves. Shrugging off his thoughts he grabbed a hash brown off the Slytherin table and walked out.
He made quick time to the maze entrance, writing his name down carefully. He jumped as the wall suddenly banged open as if it didn't really want to open for him. Surprised he stepped inside and the wall smashed shut behind him almost catching the back of his foot.
Shaking his head at the crazy wall he walked towards the nearest room and opened the door confidently. For all his confidence, that the maze could do him no harm, he was rewarded with a face full of Fruit Punch that had been thrown from a spring in the center of the room. (See? See! Punch was thrown! *wild giggles*)
He closed the door and fished out his wand casting a cleaning spell and then a drying spell over his robes and satchel. Checking himself over to make sure he was rid of the mess, he walked to the next door. When he opened it to a huge spider that was slowly turning towards him he slammed it shut again.
Slowly he began to wonder if it would have been infinitely better if he turned around and walked straight back out of the maze. And that's when he saw the weird ghost who had scared the first year right in front of him disappearing around a corner.
~*~
"Split up?" her voice betrayed her fear of the concept as she looked at the two ways left to go.
"Yea, come on. You'll be fine. I doubt very much if there are any human eating snakes down here. I don't even see why you are afraid of them." Colin said crossing his arms stubbornly.
She glared at him for bringing that up. She had, had a phobia of snakes ever since the Chamber of Secrets. With good reason! Though, she had never told Colin, nor anyone else, that particular story. It's not that she though Colin wouldn't understand, oh no he would understand perfectly and probably never bring it up again, she just didn't want to. Or to be more correct it scared her to tell him, even if they were close friends.
"Alright. Fine I'll go this way then." she said walking towards the left entrance.
"That's my girl! If you don't see me when you get out, remember Shellsea and I are meeting you in the class room by the library at five. And you have to bring your make up stuff."
"Right, Colin. This is just the tenth time you reminded me."
"Really? Only the tenth and here I thought I was up to twenty-two."
She glared at him and marched down the hallway. He smiled at her back happy that he had gotten her riled enough to forget that she was going alone. Smiling brightly he started down the other hallway whistling.
Ginny, meanwhile, was already opening the doors down the hallway she was in. In fact she had already frond a room stuffed with chocolate frogs, and another room which had been full of small little figurines of animals.
They all moved and when you felt them they felt like real animals. She had picked a small baby duckling figurine and had watched as it opened it's eyes and peeped at her before cuddling back into it's feathers and falling back asleep. She placed the small toy in her satchel with a small smile.
She had ran into Sir Nicholas and the Grey Lady when she was halfway down the halls. Their spook had consisted of flying around the person who entered their room causing cold blast of air fall around her. The corners to their room we're filled with chains that one of them rattled. It made your head spin as their moans and clanks and small air bounced around her. However, they stopped and appeared to tell her a quick hello before she had had a chance to run out screaming.
And that's how she found herself in an empty room opening up her lunch and laying it out on her satchel.
~*~
Draco walked into another room ready for a spook to jump out of him at any second. Relaxing his stance when he didn't feel anything he looked around and saw Virginia Weasley sitting their staring up at him with wide brown eyes. How funny it was she looked so much like the ghost who went down this very hall.
Blinking in surprise he sat down placing his satchel on the ground and taking out his lunch. He placed his lunch on his satchel in a similar way to Virginias.
"Hello Vin." he said with a small smirk.
He knew she hated the name but it was fun to call her that. And sometimes he had the feeling she only protested the name only for the sake of the argument. He didn't have any ideal where the name even came from. Actually he could sorta see the connection to her name but how he ever thought up the name was beyond him.
"Malfoy. Don't call me that!" she said in aggravation. Watching as he smiled and took a bite out of his sandwitch. She took a bite as well staring at him suspiciously.
"Did you find anything interesting in here?" he asked nodding towards her slightly bulging pack.
"Well yea two things that are worth mentioning. A small stuffed animal and a Coffee cup that changes quotes with the mood of the person holding it, at least that's what the tag says." she said taking out the two objects and holding them up for him to see.
"Nice." he spoke up watching as she placed the objects back into her bag.
"What about you? Did you find anything good?"
"I found a scarf that changes to your favorite color, again with the tags." he smiled and took out the scarf. Right now the scarf was a black with small threads of green showing up in off places.
He held out the scarf for her and she took it from him in surprise smiling as it turned from black and green to white with navy blue trimming. She smiled and folded it carefully handing the scarf back to him.
"Thank you for letting me see it. It's really nice. Good for Quidditch games." she said blushing under his gaze. She finished her sandwitch quickly and smiled at Draco when she noticed he had been done for a while.
"So do you want to finish the maze together?" he asked curiously. Why he was even asking was beyond him. Maybe it was that small surprised smile she had given him when he had handed her the scarf.
"Yea, I would like some company."
"Let's go then, Vin."
~*~
Ginny walked into the classroom by the library later that afternoon smiling to herself. She had actually had fun going through the maze with Draco. He had even picked her up when a snake had come streaking towards them and she had frozen.
Ginny had actually been early to meeting Shellsea and Colin. So she hurried and slipped into her dress and then began to set up her make up on one of the stray tables. She had just finished when Colin and Shellsea walked into the room laughing at something. She smiled as Colin finally noticed her and faked a heart attack yelling, "SHE'S EARLY! SHE'S EARLY!" as he fell.
She ignored him and smiled at Shellsea. "Is that your costume?" she asked, motioning to the mermaid tail over her arm.
"Yep! Your still going to do my make up right?" she asked hopefully.
"As long as you'll do my hair!" she said giggling.
Both of them smiled and Colin stood up tired of being ignored. "Will you do my make up too?" he asked with a puppy dog face.
"Oy Vey." Ginny rolled her eyes and motioned for him to come over to her. She waved her wand and his face was turned blood red so he could be the button on a camera, his costume. He smiled brightly at her.
"Thanks Ginny. I'll leave you girls to finish your costumes." he said waving and disappearing out the door. Ginny and Shellsea laughed and Ginny took out Shellsea's stuff on her request as she got her costume on.
When they had finally finished everything Shellsea smiled at Ginny. "If you don't win something it's going to be a shame, girl."
Ginny blushed.
~*~
Ginny stepped into the Great Hall slowly as Shellsea opened the door and walked in behind her. She walked softly her slippers not making any noise giving the farce that she was floating. Fierce whispers broke out around the hall and she sat down at the Gryffindor table softly. The dressed up Gryffindor's drew back and she smiled to herself. She over did herself really if even her own brother couldn't recognize her.
Not feeling the need to enlighten anyone that she was Virginia Weasley, was not a ghost, and that this was her costume. Keeping her face perfectly impassive she stayed quietly at her end of the table only Shellsea and Colin sitting next to her.
She looked up as Dumbledore stood up he was dressed as a mime and had even fit his beard into the outfit by giving it black stripes. Snape was the next to catch her attention as Dumbledore started talking. Snape looked like he had pinned his cloak to his sleeves to make himself into a bat. Some how he fit better as a bat then he did as a human.
McGonagall was the second to catch her wandering eyes. She was dressed as a Muggle looking fortune teller, Ginny's personal opinion was that McGonagall was making fun of Trelawney. Hagrid was at the end of the table in a Care Bear out fit that looked like it had met Edward Scissor Hands sometime in the past few minutes. The rest of the teachers weren't anything to special and her wondering attention was turned back towards Dumbledore as he finished up his speech.
"Please pick one teacher and one person from your house and place them on the paper in front of you. And they will be collected."
The papers appeared in front of her and she blinked looking around at the people from her own house and from others as well. She was surprised to see Draco as a vampire. It seemed to fit him however. And then there was his body guards who seemed to have gotten a personality of their own and were dressed as Robin Hood and Prince Charming. Both some very scary sights. And then Hannah Abbot at the Hufflepuff table, she seemed to be dressed as a drowned rat.
Shaking her head she turned her attention back to the Gryffindor table, she had already written down McGonagall as her teacher, looking at everyone carefully. Ron had decided to come as a turkey, which, Ginny decided, fit him. Hermione had dressed as a genie and Harry was dressed as a pirate his eye patch and wild hair adding to the rugged look a five o'clock shadow had left him. After studying her house mates carefully she wrote down a name and folded the paper.
"Has everyone finished?" Dumbledore asked and when no one responded to the negative the ballots in front of them disappeared.
"The ballots have been placed into the Sorting Hat who has counted them and is now ready to announce the winners."
McGonagall placed the stool down in front of the tables and put the Sorting Hat on it. The Sorting Hat bowed and did a little hop to turn towards the students.
"For your esteemed professor's a tie has been made, Severus Snape as a bat and Minerva McGonagall as a Muggle Fortune Teller."
Thunderous applause sounded from the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables while Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw clapped politely. The Sorting Hat then turned towards the Hufflepuff table and the claps died until everyone was again silent.
"Hufflepuff, Tina Mouse as a clock!" The Hufflepuff's cheered as the second year came up to stand beside professor McGonagall, blushing brightly.
"Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson as an Alligator." The Slytherin's congratulated her and clapped as she headed to stand next to Snape.
"Ravenclaw, Peach Aking as a tree." The Ravenclaw's smiled and clapped as the girl walked up confidently.
"Gryffindor, Serena McKay as Sailor Moon, a Muggle Anime." The Gryffindor's were by far the loudest, as Serena went up to the platform, tripped on the step, and went tumbling flat on her face. Blushing brighter then the Gryffindor colors she stood up and stood beside Pansy.
As Ginny cheered the bitter taste of disappointment settled in her stomach like a thick stew. The people received their prizes and the food was sat in front of everyone else. She uncast the see through charm and everyone stared at her. It was obvious that they had thought she was a real ghost.
Ignoring the whispers flooding the room she ate a little bit of the food and then pushed her plate away excusing herself from her friends and walking out of the Great Hall. She had no real desire to be around the festivities that revolved around Halloween.
She walked out of the castle and around to the back of Hogwarts. Continuing her steps she looked at the setting sun that was blending in with the Forbidden Forest. Smiling at the beautiful site she laid her head back against the castle's wall.
A cold wind swept over her and she shivered wishing she had thought enough to bring her cloak. However, ignoring the cold she continued to look out at the Sunset as it slowly began to take away all light left in the sky.
She jumped when a cloak was laid gently around her and a body flopped down on the grass beside her. She looked over to find Draco his blonde hair escaping from the intricate braids that it had been put in to make the vampire look more real.
"Why did you do it Vin?" he asked finally the silence getting to loud for the both of them.
"Do what?" she asked softly turning slightly to face him head on.
"Why did you scare that first year?"
"What first year? What are you talking about?"
"You honestly don't know."
"No."
"A Slytherin first year saw you, or someone just like you, disappear into a wall and leave a pretty big spot of blood."
"It couldn't have been me. I may have looked see through but I was perfectly solid."
"Oh... Sorry you didn't win. I loved your costume."
"I liked yours as well. It fit."
"Yea, I like to get all the girls alone and suck their blood, Vin."
"You know what I meant."
"Perhaps. But maybe we should test and make sure I'm not a Vampire." he smiled, his magically enlarged canines showing.
"Why are you this nice to me and not my brother?"
"Your brother's a prat. While you my dear are a beautiful prat."
"Thanks a lot." she said her tone sarcastic but her smile betraying her.
"Your welcome." he whispered and leaned down pressing his lips to hers.
~*~
"She shoots, she scores!" Colin said in a whisper to Shellsea as he glanced around the corner at the kissing couple.
Shellsea smiled standing beside him as she watched them kiss. Sighing she moved to lean against the wall with a dreamy smile. "That's so romantic." she said dreamily and then sent a glare towards Colin.
"What?!" he asked giving her a confused look as the evil glare became a bit to much to shrug off.
"You make me go through doing both of their hair, not that I minded, and then make me give subtle remarks about the both of them. You plan all that and yet you can't even tell when I want a kiss! MEN!"
"But-" Colin gave her an open mouthed stare.
Rolling her eyes at him she grabbed his face in between her hands and kissed him. She then preceded to push him into a large mud puddle and storm off leaving a brown, mud spotted Colin on the ground to say one thing.
"Woah."
~*~
Rowena Ravenclaw, or to be more correct, the ghost of Rowena Ravenclaw stared down at the sixteen year old who was the bloody image of her when she was younger. Right now her double was kissing the heck out of someone she had heard was named Draco. Somehow they reminded her of her younger days with Salazar.
She turned at the sound of soft voices and turned just in time to hear the part Ginny's two friends played in this odd matchmaking game. She had played her part to. When Draco saw her disappearing into the wall and that small ghost trick she had used to make them think blood had been left. And visiting Ginny while she was trying to figure out what costume to use helped to. Made Draco seek Ginny out when she left the Great Hall.
Laughing lightly to herself she went back through the castle wall to find where Salazar had hidden himself. He was probably talking to Dumbledore or Snape again. It was good that he had changed from years before. No longer did Muggle-born bother him.
But she had something that would annoy him to no end. A Slytherin being wrapped around the finger of a Gryffindor without either guy even knowing. Oh yes life was wonderful.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed this! Please ignore my mistakes and the parts that weren't quite clear.
Wyltk