Halloween
Halloween at Hogwarts was always all out, the great hall was decorated in stacks of pumpkins and bewitched spiders webs. The ghosts of the castle loved it more than some students. Peeves particularly loved this holiday as he could make so much mischief and other castle ghosts would join in too! The house elves put on a feast of dreams with everything any young witch or wizard could want for the weekend leading up to Halloween.
Students didn't go trick or treating as muggles did, but they did have tricks and treats in lessons and some hunting of sweets on Halloween night. Each house also had a bowl of treats with a bewitched hand on so you could only take a few. Lily and her friends had decided not to dress up that night but were going to hunt for some sweets and then play some games to celebrate. She always thought it was such a fun time of year and the decorations made her feel at home.
The group, comprising of Lily, Annabelle, Jess, Rose, Albus and Scorpius headed up towards the astronomy tower for their first hunt for sweets. It was always hidden well but she figured not many would go up there hunting.
"C'mon, guys! We need to get there before anyone else!" Lily exclaimed as she ran up the stairs.
"Speak for yourself, Lils but these stairs are not for running up" Jess panted as she and the rest of the group followed up the stairs to the astronomy tower.
"Fine, I'll wait for you at the door". But Lily couldn't contain her excitement and began to open the door and enter the astronomy tower classroom. The view of the school grounds was beautiful and one Lily never tired of. As she stood admiring the view, the rest of her friends entered the classroom.
"Thought you were gonna wait for us?" said Albus "Did you find anything yet?"
"No, nothing yet but check under the desks. Professor will try and trick us by hiding them under there"
The group split up as they worked their way around the classroom systematically to try and be the first to find some sweets. Scorpius being the most Slytherin of the group kept to the shadows knowing some students didn't like to be in them, so he had better chances of finding treats than the other.
"Gotcha! Guess I get first pick of the treats" he said slyly. "Every flavour beans for me!" he winked at Lily as she walked over to try and find some of her favourite sweets. Lily thought it was just playful banter between friends but from onlooking eyes of Annabelle and Jess it was clear Scorpius had a huge crush on Lily. They exchanged a knowing look but said nothing as they picked their favourite sweets out of the bowl.
"Where to next? I'm thinking Greenhouses. Professor Longbottom said he was going to do something, so we'd struggle to get them. But I think I'll be able to take the challenge easily." Said Rose, rounding everyone up. She was bold and opinionated but always did what she was told. Definitely her mum's daughter, Lily thought.
Everyone agreed next challenge would be herbology, it was one of Lily's favourite lessons so she knew this task would be easy. Naturally, Lily was right and she found the bowl of treats and got past the vines with ease. She grabbed herself some chocolate frogs before Jess could take them all. Jess was the chocoholic of the friendship group.
Slowly they made their way through more and more departments, Albus being the best at solving the task in the DADA classroom, Jess and Annabelle solving the charms task before Lily even knew what the task was and Rose solving the ancient runes task with divisive logic that none of the rest really understood, but it got them treats so they really didn't mind much. All were very pleased they'd managed to solve one task that night and had plenty of sweets to show for it.
"Dno about you guys but I'm gonna head up to my dorm to hide all this. I think I'll be sick if I eat all this now but it could keep me going until Christmas before the holiday chocolate arrives." Said Lily
"Us too to be honest. And were not sharing our treats." Annabelle said with Jess nodding in agreement.
"Rose, have you found a room for the truth or dare tonight?" questioned Lily, it was her favourite game to play on Halloween as very little was off limits between this set of friends. So many secrets had been revealed last time, including Rose's crush on a Hufflepuff girl in her year.
Rose pondered for a second "I'm thinking astronomy tower, no one really goes up there and we've been taught 'notice me not' in charms and I'm quite good at it now so we don't need to worry about getting caught this year"
The other girls squealed in excitement while Albus and Scorpius rolled their eyes at their reaction. Secretly they loved the game as much, but they'd never show that kind of reaction.
"What time do you all want to meet? I think Albus needs a shower first" Rose stuck her tongue out at her cousin.
"Hey, don't judge me, I had quidditch practice earlier!" Albus exclaimed.
"Whatever you say cousin! Shall we say 9.30 at the astronomy tower?" the group nodded in agreement "Cool, see you then. Albus please shower. Laters!" Rose shouted as she headed off to the Ravenclaw tower.
The rest headed to their separate towers, Lily, Annabelle and Jess to the Gryffindor tower and Scorpius and Albus to the Slytherin dungeons.
"Chuck us a Bertie Bots Belles." Lily asked, these were her favourite out of all. It was always a game of chance and she loved a bit of risk.
"Well swap for a mini frog" Annabelle bargained, she wasn't giving her sweets up easily.
Lily rolled her eyes "Eugh, fine". Lily and her friends continued to chat and swap sweets all the way back to the Gryffindor Tower.
"Are we going pretty or comfy tonight? I can't do both" Joked Jess as she opened the door to their dormitory. "My mum sent me an oodie and some Disney joggers for the cold winter that Scotland forever brings. Why can't we be somewhere warm?" she moaned.
Lily pulled her trunk from under her bed looking for something warm, she always felt the cold more than most "I'm going warm, the astronomy tower is always freezing!" She continued to rummage through her trunk until finding the perfect set of joggers and jumper. They were comfies that felt like pyjamas, all fluffy on the inside.
"What kind of dares will we get this year?" Annabelle chimed curiously. "There is so much more we can ask now were a bit older. The old truths of who cheated on homework or who is most like their house is just too tame."
"I don't know but no in-depth detail please. I don't want to know about who's the biggest you've slept with. That type crosses the line a bit for me." Sighed Lily pulling her comfiest clothes out of her trunk with a look of satisfaction.
"Okay so can I ask about bases?"
"Sure" Jess and Lily said in unison.
"Just to clarify, what are the bases again?"
Lily rolled her eyes again at her friend, she was so smart but when it came to this kind of girls and relationship gossip she was incredibly forgetful. "Make out, fondle, finger, fuck"
"Oh yeah" Annabelle laughed as she left the dorm to go take a shower, she wanted to smell and look her best for tonight. Even if it was in comfy clothes she could still look amazing.
Jess looked over at Lily "Will she ever learn that stuff or are we going to be teaching her that when she's 40?"
"Christ, I hope not" said Lily as they both laughed at their friends forgetfulness.
In the Slytherin dungeons the lads were laughing about their quidditch training from earlier in the day.
"Hey Scor, did you see that dive I did for the snitch?" Albus taunted.
Scorpius laughed "Of course, but you need to be more agile to beat Lily. She's like a ballerina on her broom" Scorpius wasn't going to out his crush to his best friend about his best friends sister but he couldn't help notice Lily's talent at quidditch. She was so elegant when she flew that Scorpius frequently had to scold himself while on the pitch as he easily got distracted by her.
"Fine, I'll do some drills on that over the weekend. There is no way my little sister is beating me, James wouldn't let me live it down! You coming for a shower?" Albus prompted.
"Shit yeah" Scorpius wanted to look and smell his best this evening. If he got any dares to do with Lily he needed to make a good impression. He wasn't sure on her feelings but was sure about his and needed to make sure he didn't fuck it up. Last years he got a reputation as a player after dating five girls in course of the school year. Scorpius grabbed his stuff and headed to the showers. Once showered and ready the lads took a slow walk up to the astronomy tower. They had to duck to avoid some prefects but after two detours they made it.
Lily, Annabelle, and Jess had already arrived at the astronomy tower. They brought the large truth or dare dice ready for their other friends to arrive. Next to arrive was Albus and Scorpius. "You brought the dice Lils? I have so many good ideas of dares for tonight." Albus said excitedly.
Lily rolled her eyes, her brother was always the most creative with his dares out of his family. It must be the Fred and George in him. "Of course. You better be ready to spill some secrets too though brother!"
"Fine, but we can't start yet because Rose isn't here. Where is she? Her dorm is literally like a five-minute walk from here" Just as Albus was finishing his sentence Rose crept into the tower.
"Sorry guys! I got stuck with the door on the way into the Ravenclaw tower." Rose panted.
The rest of the group shared a look, "Rose aren't you supposed to be the smartest one of us?" Jess braved to question.
"Yeah, yeah laugh it up. Anyway, are we playing or not? I can't wait to hear some of these secrets"
"Good point. Dice Lily?" Lily passed the dice to Jess as they all sat down to play.
They all sat in a circle starting with Annabelle then Jess, Rose, Lily, Scorpius then Albus between his best friend and Annabelle. The backdrop of the astronomy tower's view of the Black Lake gave a stunning moonlight into the centre of the group. Albus threw first, landing on truth.
Rose was the quickest with her truth "Albus, have you cheated on your homework yet this year?"
"Tame Rosie! Of course, I have, Scor here helped me write my potions homework. I was busy writing my essay for DADA and ran out of time!"
Rose rolled her eyes. She always stuck by the rules but knew her cousin felt they were more flexible. Rose threw the dice next, truth.
"Ooh! Who is your crush this year?" Annabelle squealed
"Okay, so there's this guy in my ancient runes class called Matt. He's muggle-born, has this fluffy dirty blonde quiff and tells the most interesting stories." Rose responded excitedly.
"Do you think he's interested in you Rose?"
"I hope so, he always chooses to sit next to me in runes and stays behind on an evening to chat in the common room so he's showing interest. I'll let you know if anything goes further" smiled Rose while winking to Annabelle and the other girls of the group.
"My turn!" Lily shouted with excitement, the first to roll dare.
"10 press ups!" Albus blurted "I want to see what kind of competition we've got for quidditch next week."
"Easy!" Lily did 10 full press ups with ease and not so much as a puff.
Jess rolled next, truth.
"Which guy did you reach fourth base with?" Lily giggled, she knew Jess wasn't bothered about sharing this information as she had said in second year that sex and relationships shouldn't be taboo. She was right, it gave their friendship more openness and rather than bottling things up this group shared it all. Especially in truth or dare.
"George."
"Slytherin George?"
"Yes, he was surprisingly good." She said cheekily.
Albus looked dumbfounded at the phrase 'surprisingly' "what do you mean surprisingly?"
"Oh Albus" she said batting her eyelids "Some guys can have all the equipment and not know what to do with it"
This stunned both Albus and Scorpius, they thought that most guys knew somewhat of what they were doing. It isn't difficult to know, they both thought.
The game continued with various dares staying fairly tame but the truths pulled all the gossip out of the group; Scorpius and Albus pretended they didn't want to know some of the secrets but they were actually really intrigued. They all laughed and smiled as the night went on. When it reached 11:30pm some yawns were creeping on faces.
"Shall we have one final round? I'm shattered!" Said Lily sleepily.
They all nodded; none were trying to show their tiredness on their face but internally were all feeling the time of night.
Albus rolled a dare and had to take his shirt off. Rose rolled a truth and had to tell the whole group which base she'd reached with any relationship. Jess rolled a dare and had to shout her crushes name across the Black Lake. She shouted the name of a Hufflepuff girl that none of the group knew.
"My turn" squealed Annabelle tiredly. "Please please please for a truth" She was tired after so many sporting dares. Truth. "Yay!" she squealed.
Lily giggled with glee. She has the perfect truth to find out exactly what she wanted to know. "Which position does your crush play in their quidditch team?" She had her suspicions Annabelle had a crush on Albus.
Annabelle hid behind her hands knowing he was in the room; shirtless "Seeker"
"I knew it!" Lily and Jess shouted while Rose, Albus and Scorpius looked around confused.
"This secret will be outed by the end of the year, but I'm no kiss and tell" Lily continued. She hoped her big brother would catch the hint now it was confirmed. They all knew Annabelle was straight and Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had female seekers so it would put it between Albus and the Hufflepuff seeker. The Hufflepuff seeker was gay so that only left Albus as the one she could possibly like, having said that boys were oblivious so Lily could only hope.
There were only two turns left, Lily and Scorpius. "Which would you rather Scorpius?" Lily taunted.
Scorpius smiled "Dare"
"Brave choice Malfoy" Lily winked as she rolled the dice revealing truth.
Rose bounced her own truth back on Lily "Which base have you reached Lils?"
"Second" she stated "No one has been serious enough to get any further and I'm really glad because they would 100% not have been worth it if it had"
This caught a thought on Scorpius, not that he'd show it. He didn't want to be happy that no other guy had been worthy of her. He wanted to be the first to show her a true gent.
Scorpius rolled his turn landing on dare, smiled his sly smile at Lily showing he got what he wanted.
Annabelle knew she had to in the moment. "Kiss the most beautiful person in the room"
Without giving himself much chance to think Scorpius turn and place a tender kiss on Lily's lips.