A/N: Not JK, but I love the way she describes Halloween at Hogwarts. Hope you consider this chap a treat too!


Chapter 19 - Halloween

Adding a minute amount of fine powder to the potion he was testing, Severus Snape begrudgingly noted and marked the solution as successful. Thankfully, it was the last flagon to be examined, and now he was free to enjoy the Halloween weekend. How strange that sounded...free to enjoy...for the longest time, Severus hadn't felt entitled to enjoy anything. He'd been too consumed with making reparation on a debt he could never repay. The saturnine man was still determined to continue his efforts to right the wrongs he had committed, but it was no longer an unhealthy obsession.

Snape permitted his lips to curve at the thought of the woman who had replaced his former passion with one much healthier and satisfying. Lorelei had mentioned something about a contest this evening. If she'd told him at any other time than right after this morning's...well, he might've remembered better. Deciding to go find the siren and demand a thorough explanation, the Potions Master left his classroom and headed for the dungeon stairway.

Outside on the school steps, he saw his lover chatting with Harry-Bloody-Nuisance-Potter. The woman could delude herself into thinking the boy regarded her as a maternal figure, but he knew better. Severus' obsidian gaze flickered possessively over the body clad in an outfit that hugged every curve. Her eyes met his. His arched eyebrow was all the invitation she needed to leave the boy and eagerly move towards her man. She reached his side and smiled,

"Where are we headed?"

"Pumpkin patch."

Gratifying how Lorelei's face lit up at his words. The siren had been attempting to cajole him into viewing the suspiciously massive gourds for weeks. He suspected the hairy oaf had somehow used magic to enhance growth, but simply didn't care enough to prove it. The soft light produced by the tip of Snape's wand illumined the grin on his companion's face as they entered the patch. He almost smiled upon hearing her soft laughter.

"What's so amusing?"

Leaning against the gourd, Lorelei giggled and answered, "When I taught in the States, I learned a Muggle story about children who let a friend convince them to wait in a patch...nowhere near as impressive as this one...for the Great Pumpkin to come and give them candy on Halloween."

"How absurd...does it?"

Spiral curls shook,

"No. The children who believed the boy become quite put out."

He'd have been more than put out, he'd have given the delusional idiot a hex never to be forgotten. Severus frowned, "What the blazes is so amusing about that?"

Melodic laughter filled the air. His lips curved- slightly.

"One boy...Charlie Brown...has a brilliant beagle named Snoopy who comes through the patch tossing candy and restoring the imaginative boy's...Linus's...belief in the Great Pumpkin." Noticing his scowl, she smiled, "Maybe it's one of those 'you had to be there' things."

"Apparently" Gliding to her side, he trailed a finger down her soft cheek, smirking at the accelerated breath and heavy eyed look the caress engendered. Lorelei turned her head, as if admiring another pumpkin, but he knew the true reason behind the exposing of that elegant neck. Amused, Snape catered to his lover's 'vampire fixation' by opening his cape, enveloping her in his embrace and lowering his mouth to her sensitive skin. The soft moans brought about by the movement of his lips and tongue changed the lean man's mood. Entangling long fingers in raven spirals, he turned her face toward his and ravaged her mouth with passionate kisses.


Standing with Hagrid watching students carve garden-shed sized pumpkins, Nymphadora Tonks ran a hand over her orange colored hair tipped in black and grinned,

"Good idea, huh?"

Her friend Lorelei had proposed that every House assemble a team of fourteen- the two best wand carvers from each year- to design and carve one of Hagrid's huge gourds in a competition for a trophy the woman designated, 'The Great Pumpkin'. The daft woman even enchanted the trophy to act as a Disco Ball that the winning House would get to keep and use until the next October. Surprisingly, Dumbledore had eagerly endorsed this House competition and the students had been planning and talking about it for weeks.

Personally, Tonks had never been too keen on jack-o-lanterns...those carved faces were spooky... Remus had told her that Muggles hacked their pumpkins with knives- even scarier... Looking at the nice stars and moons the Hufflepuffs were carving with the spells cast by their wands, the DADA professor thought these efforts a big bloody improvement on those grinning blighters floating about the Great Hall.

"Lookit the Gryffindor pumpkin- ruddy good, that!"

Tonks followed Hagrid's gaze and saw Ron and Ginny Weasley amongst the group carving a rampant lion into the side of a massive pumpkin. She nodded her agreement- the lion looked almost real.

"Wanna go lookit the Ravenclaw and Slytherin jobs up close? I bin asked to judge...s'ppose I gotta look everythin' over b'fore votin' for Gryffindor."

Laughing at the big man's bias, the metamorphmagus accompanied the Magical Creatures Professor to a huge gourd encircled with carvings of ravens and eagles in flight.

"Good evening professors...your hair is looking especially lovely tonight, ma'am."

Tonks shook her head fondly at the golden haired, blue eyed Ravenclaw currently flashing a charming smile complete with dimples, "Sorry, Wesley, No use buttering me up...I'm not a judge."

"And don' go tellin' me I'm luvly neither, Roberts...sweet talkin' won' get you my vote."

Unabashed, Wesley Roberts grinned and returned the teachers waves of farewell. As the pair walked toward the last House's entry, the DADA professor heard the naughty boy tell his friend,

"I wouldn't have stooped to calling Hagrid lovely...although I was prepared to admire his beard."

The Slytherin pumpkin was a work of art. Tonks felt sorry for Hagrid- she could tell by his expression that he knew Gryffindor would have to try for the 'Great Pumpkin' again next year. This immense pumpkin almost finished being carved had bands of intricate Celtic knotwork designs circling the top and bottom. Every side had the complicated interlace pattern of loops and knots as a giant circle in which a diamond with a Celtic representation of a Serpent, Gryphon, Badger, or Eagle was carved in brilliant detail. The gourd was beautiful...which was why the half-giant looked ready to cry.

"Hi Professors! Isn't it amazing...Draco and I really went all out on the design...do you think we'll win?"

Blaise Zabini stood looking expectantly at her teachers, big brown eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. Draco Malfoy came up and slung an arm around her shoulder. They were a striking pair, light and dark. Tonks had heard rumors that the two were more than friends, but she didn't put much stock in gossip...Merlin knew she'd been the target of it while at Hogwarts. School was hard on those suffering from the inability to behave themselves...just look at Fred and George Weasley. Insolent as ever, Malfoy sneered,

"I expect Hagrid will vote Gryffindor even if theirs is worst of the lot."

"No he wouldn't, you cynic...would you Professor Hagrid?"

Poor Rubeus- backed into a corner. A big hand tugged his bushy beard, dislodging a bit of birds' nest. His bright black eyes looked sheepish as he admitted,

"Aw, now...iffen the jobs done was close, then aye, I wouldnae vote again' Gryffindor...but this lass...chust brilliant it is...hurts to say, but yer got my vote."

Zabini jumped up and down with joy. Her scowling friend looked as though Hogsmeade Weekend had just been canceled. What was a nice girl like Blaise doing with the spawn of a Death Eater...? Didn't she have a boyfriend? Why didn't he object to her choice in friends? It was like Remus saying, 'Gee, Tonks- go right ahead and be best mates with Lucius Malfoy...really, I don't mind...' Inconceivable! Shrugging off her thoughts, the bright orange haired woman ignored the Prefect to tell the girl beside him 'congratulations'.

Steering her large friend away from Gryffindor House's coming defeat, Tonks suggested he show her the biggest pumpkin in his patch. Hagrid perked right up...he was awfully proud of his garden that he helped along with a bit of magic done on the sly. Reaching the patch, the two friends stopped as they heard something make a soft sound. Raising her wand, the metamorphmagus said, "Lumos" and promptly dropped the glowing tipped rod on the ground. Hagrid saw enough to demand,

"Alrigh' you two...no snoggin' in me patch ye hear? I'll be takin' ye to yer Heads of House iffen ye don' take yerselves outta there right this here minute!"

Stifled giggling was heard, and then a familiar voice said,

"Er...Hagrid...uhm...we...I...was just about to...erm...go watch the award."

"Lorelei?"

Hagrid looked, to use one of his favorite terms, gobsmacked. If he had an idea who the professor's partner was, it was apparent he abso-bloody-lutely did not want to know for sure. Smart man, he'd be able to sleep at night.

Tonks warned, "Hagrid and I will be waiting at the entrance steps...the award will be given soon, and if you're not there...I'm sending McGonagall!"

The gasp of horror that the pronouncement engendered caused Hagrid to chuckle all the way back to the castle. After a few moments, Tonks joined him. Smiling, they waited on the steps and looked round for Minerva...just in case.


Walking briskly toward the castle entrance as she cooled down from her morning run, Lorelei stopped beside the boy who was standing by the Slytherin pumpkin. After tracing the Gryphon carved in gripping detail, a bespectacled face turned to the woman and asked,

"How can a prat like Malfoy be able to carve something like this?"

"It's a talent, like any other...I'm sure you could do as well if you put the same time and effort into it."

Black hair looking more unruly than ever shook as Harry frowned,

"No I couldn't...I've never carved a pumpkin before."

Hands that had been tucking an errant spiral back into a high pony tail stilled.

"Never?"

Hunching his shoulders into a handmade blue jumper, the teen smiled wryly,

"Halloween is for Cousin Dudley to go to parties and get as much candy as he can. My Aunt Petunia calls Jack-O-Lanterns 'messy wastes of money'."

Darn those Muggles...how dare they treat Harry so badly! The urge to hug the poor, sweet boy had to be firmly subdued...the professor didn't want to give the teen any wrong ideas and Merlin only knew what Severus would say... Well, if she couldn't squeeze the stuffing out of the darling to show she cared...and she really couldn't, no matter how much she wanted to. Lorelei decided something else would do almost as well.

Linking her arm through his, with a mental V...not victory...sign to anyone who might see and be scandalized, the determined woman said briskly,

"Well, then, no time like the present to learn. Come along, we're going to the kitchen. Dobby will find us a pumpkin and you, Harry, will finally carve a Jack-o-lantern. Wizard style, of course...had you known Muggles use knives?"

The eyes behind round glasses were smiling now. The only persons to see them walk arm in arm to the kitchen were Granger and Weasley. When the red head gaped at the track suit clad professor and his friend and asked where they were going, Harry grinned,

"Professor Lorelei's going to teach me to carve a pumpkin...no, you can't come along...see you at breakfast Ron, Hermione..."

In the kitchen, Dobby was overjoyed to see two of his favorite people.

"Lorelei and Harry Potter is coming to Dobby's kitchen! How is Dobby to be serving you today?"

Nodding toward the jean clad boy, Lorelei said, "We need a nice big pumpkin for Harry to carve into a Jack-O-Lantern, Dobby...any left around here?"

"Yes, yes! Slytherin was getting a wagon full delivered so they could practice for the contest. There is some left. I will go get one right after I make Dobby's friends cocoa...Harry Potter's hands is cold!"

Ironically sitting at the same table she'd sat with Severus over that memorable lunch, the professor and student chatted about Harry's Hogsmeade weekend plans and the upcoming Halloween feast. The cocoa was warm, and the kitchen full of bustling elves was even warmer. Standing as Dobby plunked a gourd the size of one of Hagrid's "runts" on the table, Lorelei took off the jacket to her track suit and slung it over the back of her chair. Raising her wand...which she carried everywhere, just in case...she noticed the direction of an intent green gaze… Glancing down, she saw the writing across the chest of her tee and laughed, relieved,

"An Irish friend gave me this shirt. Is fear rith maith na droch sheasmh. It means, 'A good run is better than a bad stand."

"Cool"

Smiling uncertainly, Lorelei showed Harry how to engage the Concisus charm with his wand and watched approvingly as he rapidly grasped the Delicate and then the deeper, Profundus spell as well. In ten minutes time, a uniquely carved pumpkin sat upon the table.

"Excellent, Harry, I love it! It's so adorable...the brows, the nose, that smile...its perfection!"

The teen gave her an incredulous look,

"It's not adorable, it's ugly! I made it look like Snape!"

The long pony-tail tilted as the professor examined the gourd more closely. "Wow...it does look like Professor Snape." Not about to re-state her firm belief in the adorability of the pumpkin, Lorelei felt no compunction about directing Harry's attention elsewhere, "Slytherin better watch out, because next year Gryffindor will give them stiff competition if you're on the team."

Harry's wide grin warmed her heart. Giving the youth permission to levitate the gourd down the corridors to the Great Hall so he could place it above his House table, the siren waved goodbye to the student and jogged to her chambers.

"Where have you been?"

Severus was sitting and drumming his fingers on the arm of a chair in the lounge. An empty cup of coffee and a Daily Prophet littered the low table in front of him. Smiling at the man glaring like a jealous lover, Lorelei blithely went into her bedroom and began removing her shoes and socks. Her saturnine sweetie stood raising a demanding brow in the doorway. She smiled, "You know very well I was teaching Harry to carve a Jack-O-Lantern in the kitchen. I saw that little snoop Slinky run off to tell you the moment we entered." Lorelei put her hands on her hips at the sour expression on her lover's face. "What about it?"

"Do you feel sorry for the little orphan boy...is that why you continually give Potter unwarranted attention?"

Rolling her dark eyes, the woman raised a delicate eyebrow and waited for him to tell her what his problem was. It was hard to keep a straight face. His supercilious expression was so endearing. Harry had captured it perfectly... Snape pursed his lips before saying petulantly,

"I'm an orphan...and I've never carved a bloody pumpkin..."

Laughing eyes detracted from her sympathetic expression.

"Oh, poor baby...why don't you let me give you some warranted attention..."

Against her mouth, she felt his lips curve.


Strolling through Hogsmeade that night, Lorelei admired how the stars glittered like diamonds against the black velvet sky. A bonfire was burning in a field adjacent to the village, and she looked forward to dancing around it later...if a certain someone could be persuaded...Her gold peasant top, long tapestry skirt with petticoats and black shawl were drawing curious looks. Perhaps she was a bit overdressed for a village Fire Festival, but the event spanning the final three days of summer were important to the friend she was meeting at the Hog's Head Tavern. Happily, the siren only had to use the Irresistible Voice twice to discourage would-be suitors. Or as Tonks would say, 'blokes looking to get their leg over anything in a skirt'.

The weathered sign creaking in its rusty bracket depicted a wild boar's head dripping blood. The small inn and tavern looked as dodgy as the customer now staggering out the door. The drunk swayed and began to make his way home, leaning against buildings from time to time. What a charming place Piper had chosen. Of course, it wasn't her friend's fault that no other inn would permit Goblins on the premises. Pushing open the battered door, the dark haired woman looked around the dusty, dirty pub. It smelled of some kind of animal... At a large round table in the back, a boisterous group was laughing and talking loudly. Raising her skirts off the filthy floor, the professor made her way to the group and called, "Piper! Ciamar a tha thu?"

The goblin's swarthy, clever face broke into a grin, "Tha mi gu math."

Reaching down to hug the considerably shorter man, Lorelei teased, "What do you mean, you're well...seeing me should add uamhasach math to that..."

Sharp teeth flashed in a wide smile that had curious patrons blanching and hurriedly returning their attention to their ale.

"You're right, I'm awfully good, seeing you all decked out...beautiful as ever...for a human..."

"Dinnae fash yerself, beauty...the rest of us appreciate a fine bird, and bitterly regret the day you left our merry band."

"An then yer arse fell off..."

Laughing as the ginger haired MacManus brothers, Ian and Angus, equally talented with small pipes, fiddle and viola rose to hug their former band-mate, Lorelei sat down between Piper and another Goblin. Sticks smiled shyly, his nimble drummer's fingers twirling the items that gave him his name. The quiet drummer hardly ever used more than his hands for drumming, but once he'd seen a heavy metal rock concert, and he'd had dreams ever since. The last person at the table looked coolly at the woman receiving so much attention. Meeting the rude stare, the professor drawled in Scots Gaelic, "Co sibhse?"

"S mise Mairi, co sibhse?"

"S mise Lorelei, former singer, but forever friend...got a problem with that?"

The woman shook her head before smiling hesitantly. Long, straight brown hair framed a thin face. Lorelei noticed how close Mairi's chair was to Ian MacManus's. If the other woman thought a siren was going after her man, she'd soon learn differently. Lorelei and Ian had dated for a week seven years ago...the charmer was sweet, but he had the attention span of a puppy always begging to go, go, can we go? They had both been relieved to stop trying to be more than friends.

The group talked in Gaelic, to the great disgust of the old warlocks nearby who were trying to eavesdrop on the conversation. Lorelei knew the grumpy old men would imagine something much more intriguing than a chat about tour dates and best places to caravan amidst Piper's curious questions about teaching at Hogwarts. The group thought her 'pure mental' to prefer students to singing. Declining a butterbeer- the thought of having to use a toilet there taking away any remote thirst- Lorelei accompanied the group to the field where the village council had paid 'Gaelic Uprising' to perform for the rapidly enlarging crowd. Piper smiled,

"I've sent you a new tee...says Suas Leis a' Ghaidhlig!"

"Up with Gaelic...I'll love it."

Lorelei sat with the band and listened with pleasure to their repertoire of ancient and modern Scottish and Irish Gaelic songs. Ian had always teased that Irish only had dance, not work songs, because of course drunken Irishmen didn't know the meaning of a hard day's work. As if an oft drunken Scot like himself did... The Puirt a Beul, or mouth music songs, were her favorites.

Written to accompany dancing and to amuse children, the tunes were traditionally meant for a vocalist without accompaniment. Lorelei preferred the group's use of percussion and rhythmic guitar to keep the rhythm constantly driving without a hesitation in the beat. Mairi was a fine singer, never losing the fast paced words or rhythm. The siren found she was instinctively breathing at the end of a verse or chorus along with the other woman.

"Want to sing a song or two, for old times' sake?"

Listening to the merry Gaelic verses, Lorelei nodded. She wondered how many people knew the song, when translated into English went, "I like him, I like him, he doesn't drink.' The words were doubly ironic when sung to Ian...who was 'takin' a wee nip o' firewhisky' as his partner sang.

Mairi sang a duet with the siren about a laddie sent to traverse the moors, and then gladly sat out while the other woman took a turn making music for the dancers around the bonfire. The merry tune 'Haidh O' was a favorite, for many sang the chorus, even if they didn't know what the words meant. If Professor McGonagall had heard the tune, she would have disapproved the silliness of it, for the words in English said, "The black cocks will reel, the ducks will dance..."

Swaying to the lilting melody, Lorelei watched the dancers twirl by. Wishing Tonks and Remus weren't spending the weekend in London; a familiar looking couple...students...caught the professor's eye. She watched them dance together and kiss as the song ended. During the band's break, Lorelei said goodbye to the group after making arrangements to meet Piper for a picnic the next day. The warmth of the soft shawl felt wonderful as she left the heat of the bonfire to walk into the shadows where a dark figure waited.

Reaching him, she said, "I know this is one of the nights when those inhabiting the lands of the living and the dead can journey from one world to the other...but I didn't expect to see a couple of our underworld students dancing around the bonfire..."

Severus' face was wreathed in shadows as he said thoughtfully,

"Yes...I saw Malfoy and Zabini also...I had not thought them so...close...after..."

Frowning, the woman whose skin gleamed pale in the darkness stated, "I don't think it was Zabini...I think it was someone else, using Glamour..."

"Glamour- and you would know this because..."

Funny how you could hear a sardonic brow being raised...Lorelei explained, "Well, Sirens have always had a kind of Glamour they've used..."

"Show me...Lumos..."

Dark eyes closed against the sudden light, then opened to look ruefully at the waiting man, "Alright, but I'm not doing this every night, so don't even ask." With an embarrassed, "I can't believe I'm doing this." the siren covered her face with her hands bent forward and then removed her hands in a way that tossed spiraled curls and revealed a face now...glowing...with sex appeal.

"Hmm..."

Was that a good Hmm? Severus' eyes were gleaming oddly. Backing up a step, Lorelei said nervously, "You're not Hades tonight."

"Who am I?"

Oh, how that dark, seductive voice did lovely things to her insides... Answering the question, she licked her lips and backed up another step. "The Holly King of the winter forest."

"Doesn't he capture the Spring Maiden and...ravish her?"

Breathing rapidly, the woman feeling every inch a maiden of spring saw a path into the nearby section of the Forbidden Forest and ran, calling over her shoulder, "He has to catch her first!"

Rushing down the dim path through dense underbrush and trees, an incredible rush of exhilaration swept over the fleeing maiden. She could hear the Holly King's footsteps behind her...gaining on her... Bursting into a clearing, the sight of a small circle stopped her in her tracks. Spinning away from the night flower bedecked grassy area; the sudden tug by strong fingers unbalanced Lorelei and caused her to fall into the circle, pulling her pursuer in also.

Time seemed to shift and slow. The air was warm. The grass had transformed into a soft pile of tiny, white sweet-smelling flowers. Above her, Severus looked at the flowers appearing like fireworks in the darkness and drifting down with an expression that was hard to define. It was wonder, and disbelief mingled together. Looking into her face, illuminated by the softly radiating orbs now drifting around the circle, he asked,

"Are those...and are we…actually lying in a faerie ring?"

The darling man...he was almost speechless...Sliding fingers into his silky hair, Lorelei smiled dreamily and said while she brought his lips to hers, "Yes, to everything...it's a gift from the Fair Folk...you wouldn't refuse a giftwould you?"

The smile that meant so much because it was so rare lit Severus' clever, beloved face. His answer was given with his lips and hands and body. When the first rays of dawn broke across the Fairy Ring, he said the words that she knew, for him, were easy to feel, but so difficult to say. Somehow, he didn't find it so hard when looking into her loving eyes...and speaking Gaelic...

"Tha gaol agam ort"


A/N: How Snape to say I Love You in Gaelic! Can't have our sardonic sweetie getting OOC and waxing poetic...tell me how you liked my compromise.

Fun thing about writing two stories that intertwine timelines and characters is getting to do a lot of research that you can use for both stories! My Wesley Roberts/ Princess Bride inspired character was invented for my D/G fic, but it was inconceivable I not put him here too- sucker for dimples, me! Also, my fairy stuff was originally done for chap 8 of my other fic, but got used here too, as well as all the summer's end & Celtic music & culture bits that I planned for dual use from the get go. So go read the other story if you want different POVs on Halloween at Hogwarts, and to discover who Draco's really dancing round the bonfire with! Yeah, you know...but you don't know...except you wonderful lot already reading both fics. LOL!

Hope your Summer's End is wonderful, and you get loads of treats and no tricks! Treat your author to a Review!