As October started its end, the Potter house became quite lively. Though there was a problem. Kira awoke each night screaming. It wasn't a new event; from the night she had came back she'd had nightmares. At first, it was what told James and Lily that she could still talk. When she had started speaking again, they asked her about them, but she just shook her head and curled up in their arms, it was too hard to talk about. However, one member of the group was determined to bring out the holiday spirit and liven things up. Cota had taken to wearing a different costume every day of the week. Not only did he wear it, he acted as if it was an everyday thing. He'd go to work with James and didn't even seem to realize he was dressed up. Kira thought this was the funniest thing in the world. After about four days of it, James came to breakfast in full costume.

Lily tried to discourage it, but then was a queen a few days later. Kira dressed as a ballerina, and James prompted Lily into buying Harry an extremely tinny quiditch robe. They followed Cota in acting as if they wore their outfits every single day. Sirius stopped by and about died, then showed up as an escaped convict. This costume did not turn out as well as the others. But after James bailed Sirius out of prison, and laughed about it for a full two hours, Sirius had fun with it. Lily made list of everything she wanted done and Cota was more then happy to break out his tools and start construction, now that his shoulder was completely healed.

He was building something strange in the barn, some kind of an addition. Then one day James came home late. That day was in the lab records that James had been reading. It was a holiday the Volucris celebrated. In their world, the moons changed colors one day out of the whole year. The moons were normally blue, and the other was purplish pink. Then once a year they turned to denim and red. When the children of the royal family reached a certain age, the report did not say what age, they would start a quest. James could not find much information on the quest. However, when they showed they were worthy a being would come to them and ask them what they needed most in the world. They had to think the answers in their minds and if it was something, they needed with out a doubt it would shine bright enough for the creature to see. The creature, in James' opinion was like a magical creature that he had heard about at school. The creature was like the room of requirements, only it came to you in a moment of crisis and answered a wish you needed most; sometimes it answered two wishes, but that depended on how powerful it was.

Anyway, James had decided that Kira should celebrate this even for it was part of her culture. Kira's day was playing out as usual, that was until she heard a strange noise and then James called for her. She ran to go see what her father wanted and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her eyes. There was a snow-white pony with a light blue bow around its neck standing in the yard. However, that was not the best part; it had a tag on it that said 'for Kira.' THAT was the best part. Kira could not explain the emotion she felt right then, all she knew is that her body felt very warm and she could not stop smiling. Something in her chest felt like it was going to burst, yet it felt good. Kira ran over as James waved her over, grinning and eager to see how happy she was. Kira did not know exactly how to react; she just threw her arms around the pony and giggled with pure ecstasy.

James had a discussion with Lily about it, but Lily agreed to the pony after it nuzzled Kira, who erupted with joy. Then, before James could even blink, Lily was outside admiring the pony. James explained that it was not really a pony it was a miniature horse. Kira said she did not care, it was cute. Too cute, unbelievably cute... Now Cota was petting the pony. (Mike: Miniature horse! It is a miniature horse. Eve: Shut up, pony is easier and it's sooooo cute!. Mike: I'm not denying that. *looks at the picture* awww, it is cute... I mean...whatever... it's a horse. *trying to act all cool. Eve isn't buying it) That night, after Kira lost the debate about having the pony sleep in her room, the house was fully decorated, the candy was ready, everything was perfect. The next morning was Halloween.

"Kira-Kira, wake up, or you shall miss the day"

"I'll miss you day" Kira responded groggily.

"Come on little ballerina. You don't want everything to pass you by. What would the morning be like with out you?"

"Lets wait and find out" Kira rolled over and saw Trinidy smiling at her, hands behind back.

"I can't do that. I already miss your sparkle. Come on lilac eyes" Cota continued, debating the use of the word amethyst instead of lilac.

Kira reluctantly go up. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned. "You're a prince with a sparkle of your own" She stated, pulling on a shirt. Kira got dressed and opened the door to see... a prince. "Wha?"

"You're bubbly when you're tired" Cota smiled, kneeling down. "Happy Halloween"

Kira's eyes widened as she remembered, Cota knew she'd forget and held her costume out to her. Kira jumped back in her room and Cota closed the door. She scowled at Trinidy, who was putting on a costume of her own.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kira asked the fairy.

"'Cause I liked his way better" Trinidy smiled. Kira came out again in a princess costume, complete with decorated shoes, her locket, and a pointy hat that confused her for not having a wide brim. Lily explained that a witch's hat was a princess's hat is disguise. Cota and Kira raced down the hall, past the dumbwaiter, and down the stairs. The dumbwaiter had been build by Cota and James. It was designed so that if he was upstairs, where the closet with all the baby supplies was, and Lily called that she needed something the person upstairs didn't need to rush down the stairs making more noise and taking more time then necessary; all that person needed to do was open the door and pull a rope. Thereby lowering whatever item it was, down the stairs and into the lower hall. Kira was on the last step and Cota leapt over her, landing gracefully with his cape sweeping behind him in an effect that made Kira stop in amazement. Cota stood up and made an 'I rule, we all know it' gesture like bow; Kira smiled and bolted.

"No fair!" Cota called after her, laughing slightly.

That was when James realized he had made a fatal error. He had expected Cota to come down, help Lily with Harry, then go wake Kira up. James had often offered to wake up Kira, but Cota liked doing it. However, Cota had never came to help Lily this morning. Now James realized it was because he knew Kira would forget her costume. James bolted from the room and started his speech. You see Sirius and him had rigged a little Halloween scare for Cota, one a bit too scary for Kira. Having a bloody severed head thrown at you, followed by being squirted with blood as crawling spiders and web fell on you; all the wile haunting sounds and flashed of light interrupted any rational thought, was excessively scary for a little girl.

That was the ritual that Lily dealt with, Sirius and James' annual who can scare the crap out of whom, the most marathon. Cota had been introduced to it last year when a skeleton attacked him with an axe. Now, it was just a hologram type thing that James had made for Sirius, but it was quite daunting. Sirius awoke to a scream and smiled slightly as he remembered helping James set up that trap. They had called a truce this year to get Cota back for the Snow incident. However, Remus and Peter refused to help due to that fact that they did not want to be mean to the surviving hero. Then another thought struck Sirius; that was a little girl's voice, not Cota. He jumped to his feet and threw on clothes as the screaming continued. James burst through the hall way and Sirius ducked to avoid hitting him, James leapt up and over. Then they both tore in the direction of the kitchen.

"Kira, sweaty, baby it's okay!" James yelled his heart thumping as the scream turned into a trembling whine of terror.

"I'll kill it! I will kill it! Don't be afraid!" Sirius howled as the crying started. They felt like the worst human beings on earth and were terrified that she might be hurt. The crying became louder; James hurled to the kitchen door and-

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Nope, that was not Kira. That was James. Where is Sirius, you ask?

"Holy hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Right there.

The two marauders had a bloody head thrown at them and their exact prank was repeated... on THEM!! When the affect ended, James wiped the fake blood away from his eyes and opened them to see Kira with her back to him. She was playing a game called close your eyes and imagine your worse fear. James had taught Kira that as a way for her not to be afraid of the dark. Close your eyes and imagine what scares you, scream at it, let it scare you, imagine it in full effect, then open your eyes, it's not there anymore. It worked and he never thought it'd come back to hit him in the face. Cota was leaning cockily against the wall with a sneer on his face. The back door was unlocked.

"I took her out back to feed her pony," Cota explained, his voice princely and majestic, yet held a distinct 'ha, ha' tone to the core. It explained the entire situation, had come in through the back and seen the little set up, told Kira to play a game and poof, out smarted the two marauders.

'I'll kill you' Sirius mouthed to Cota as Kira opened her eyes and turned to look at her father.

"Good morning, Lord James, Mr. Black" Cota saluted and bowed politely. Then he smiled slightly, his eyes seemed to glow slightly and capture the last of the blue from the night's sky as his own, then let the reds and oranges and purples take over the sunrise. "Happy Halloween"

Sirius looked over at James as fake blood dripped off his ear; oh yeah, it was on.

* (Oh no you don't! You little starry things don't get to end the chapter yet!)

About two hours later, everyone had eaten and de-blooded themselves. Lily was adding candy to the candy bowl. The bowl was being held up by a skeletal hand that kept drumming its fingers impatiently whenever Lily paused to debate Cota's candy choice. Kira stood next to her hoping to exterminate any rejects.

"No candy" Lily laughed as Kira tried, yet again, for the snickers bar. The skeleton hand had, had enough; it put the candy dish down and began slapping Lily's hand when she tried to remove something.

"Lily dear, I'll never understand your food rules" James sighed, strolling down the stairs in a marauder's outfit. He was going for bold this evening. "You work at a bakery, with a tremendously well respected law firm above it, but you regulate sugar here"

"If the parents want their kids to be obese, hyperactive, sick, and have bad teeth, then that is not my problem. However, I know when to draw the line. Besides I give Kira a cookie every day after her ballet class," Lily stated, being smacked again by the hand.

"Yes, but it's Halloween" James argued, receiving an encouraging smile from Kira.

"My sister had a baby, as you know" Lily turned the argument, guaranteeing a win.

"Dudley, I believe, charming name" James forced the words out and smiled as best he could. "Of course it could be dudlkins and we'd never know. She called him that more then she called him Dudley," He said, lightly. "My favorite was duddlebunns" James grinned. "Won't THAT be the hit at his 16th birthday party?"

"Yeah... I really loved Harry's name after I heard all of Dudley's nicknames. Do you know we used to plan out names for our children? She wanted something original, I wanted something meaningful. She said she would name her kid that and I laughed and said never in a million years. Yet he's alive and... Well, and Dudley" Lily smiled. "Anyway, do you know he weighs twenty-nine pounds now?"

"You're joking! He's what, a year old now?" James' jaw dropped.

"He's closer to Harry's age," Lily stated, winner!

"That's worse!" James' eyes were very wide. They usually did not make fun of Lily's sister, but James was in shock at the moment. "Kira doesn't weigh that much!"

Kira pondered for a while. Had she met Dudley?... then she remembered him. He was a very fussy baby and really slow. Kira tried everything to talk to him, but he just blew spit bubbles and cried. He did not even seem to be able to think out sentences! Kira knew, because Lily told her, that babies never really remembered their childhood up to the age of three. They remembered some details of the age of two, but mostly memory came after three. Everything just melted together so you remembered important things at the age of two, but it didn't seem like a memory, it seemed more like common knowledge.

Dudley didn't seem to have very much common knowledge. Of course, with a father like that, who could blame him? The mom looked so incredibly not like Lily it was amazing. Lily was vibrant; Petunia was snobbish. Lily's hair flared with her personality and seemed to make the sun jealous of its radiant glow. Petunia... well Petunia had evolved a giraffe like neck in order to ease drop. Lily was fit; Petunia was boney. Vernon was fat and stubborn, James was lean and out going. Vernon had a mustache; James would die before he let himself grow one. Vernon wasn't a romantic at all; James enjoyed sweeping Lily off her feet. Vernon liked sitting; James liked flying. Vernon was stupid; James accepted that fact. They were as diffrent as cockroaches and unicorns. While both are animals, they never would meet if not for the amazingly awful fact that they were related. Kira put down the snickers bar and made a hasty retreat into Harry's room. James took the opportunity to snatch up the snickers bar.

"What? I'm over 30, I'm allowed," He stated as Lily raised an eyebrow at him, and then guiltily took a piece for herself.

"What?" She asked as James grinned at her. "Cota isn't going to scare all the Trick-or-Treaters away! We might not have candy left over this year" Lily defended her guilty pleasure with that explanation.

"Yes, but Kira is going trick-or-treating, and if I've taught that girl right she'll smile slightly, make those puppy dog eyes she keeps giving me everytime I'm trying to eat a fudge brownie with out giving her some, blink enough to make her eyes water, and say in a sweet voice 'this if my first Halloween and I really hope I can get a lot of candy" James said, turning on his own puppy dog eyes and leaning close to Lily as he mocked a little girl voice. "We'll get a lot of candy"

"Goofball" Lily giggled as she pushed him gently. "So, what are the marauders doing from four till six?" Lily asked.

"Well, we were going to try and give Sirius's mum a heart attack, but I think she'd find a way to yell at us about it from the grave" James stated in a regretful voice. "You know the term 'they ran like bats out of hell?'" James asked.

"Yes" Lily laughed.

"They only go that fast because his relatives drive them mad" James started. Lily regretted that Sirius wasn't here to hear it; he enjoyed a good Mrs. Black insult-athon. "Satan himself has frozen hell over, only to see if he could get something colder then that woman! It is no longer an eternal pit of fire, it is a very dark place decorated with the finest heirlooms, burned family trees, and there is non-stop insults and nagging. I'm afraid of being screamed at from the very gates of he-"

"Lion is asleep," Kira stated, sadly.

"Lo Kira" James covered. Kira was dragging her feet and looked ready to go back to bed. Cota was gone with Derek and Oweiry. Remus and Sirius were helping Hagrid. Peter... enough said. Lily and James were preparing the house for the quick and casual O.P. meeting. "Sorry, go play with your pony" James grinned.

Kira immediately perked up and shot out the door as if the entire pony had been nothing but an amazing dream until right then. James chuckled as he followed her out side and watched her squeal with glee, and hug the pony. Two hours later the house was set, the food was ready, Derek had brought a new Halloween pizza, the pepperonis were dyed black, the cheese was enchanted to be more orange, and the sauce looked like blood. The gauntlets were full of butterbeer, there was a kettle filled with dry ice and water, making fog, and Lily had spent the two hours making a variety of Halloween goodies.

Trinidy had dyed her hair blond and was going as Tinkerbelle. Kira was inside helping Lily with some last minute cleaning, while desperately wanting to be with her pony. The doorbell rang and Cota slid down the stairs in a vampire out fit, complete with fangs. It wasn't a Dracula costume; it was medieval, with fangs and a cape. He'd used some face paint to whiten his face a bit, and other then that looked perfectly normal. Also, his normal gold earring had been replaced by a silver one Kira had picked out. There was a blood drop in the center.

"Happy Halloween" Remus said, raising an eyebrow at Cota.

"Good evening" Cota responded in a spooky voice, taking care to expose the fangs as casually as possible. He moved so Remus could step inside and then re-closed the door.

"Nice costume, you're taking Kira trick-or-treating in that I take it?" Remus asked.

"That's the plan" Cota responded, nodding, and taking Remus' cloak.

"What is she going at?" Remus asked.

"There was a debate on that earlier," Cota explained. "She wants to go as a vampire-"

"Wonder why" Remus laughed.

"She wanted a costume that matched mine, yes" Cota nodded and smiled his famous smile. He thought it was cool that Kira wanted to have a costume that matched his. Truth be told she looked cute with her little, Victorian, black dress with a big crimson ribbon for a belt, dyed black hair, pale white face, ruby red lips, fangs, bat wings, skull bracelet, silver necklace that looked like it had a big drop of blood on the end, shinny black boots, and pigtails. She loved the costume and had gotten dark sunglasses to go with it, but she took them off because Harry cried when she entered the room. That had not done too much for her ego. "Lily is not a fan of her costume choice, though," Cota admitted. "She wanted her to go as a ballerina; Kira said she'd been one already, lots of times. Lily agreed and wanted her to dress up like Rainbowbrite. Kira hadn't said anything, but I saw her cheer when Lily announced the store was out of those costumes"

That was when Kira entered the room. Remus had to admit that the costume was very mystical, vampire like, and a bit eerie. "Hello" She greeted, smiling wide enough to still be able to conceal her fangs.

"Hello Kira. Almost didn't recognize you, scary" Remus stated, acting amazed to hear her voice. "I wanted to stop by and give you this" He handed Kira a paper bag.

"...Thank you" She smiled awkwardly and Remus laughed.

"Look in the bag" He explained. Kira opened the bad and took out the long silver cone. It was very strange and well decorated. She held it up and looked at it in confusion. "Do you want a unicorn for Halloween?" Remus asked, grinning.