Ron's Halloween

The rest of that day was not near as surprising as their Defense Against the Dark Arts had been. Ron and Harry were discussing their homework for their other classes when Ron cut around a corner too close and ran flat into somebody. Books, pens, and ink went everywhere. Ron sat up and looked in front of him, and his eyes began to look as surprised as Luna's. Carla Grace was gathering her spilled items from the floor. Ron immediately leaned over to help. Harry decided not to interfere in case Ron wanted to talk to her; so he backed off a ways.

"I'm really sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going," explained Ron.

"That's all right; I knew I wasn't going to be able to avoid you," she said quickly, and with her things back in her bag she hurried on past him. As Harry approached Ron, he could see that Ron was a little put off because she left so quickly. Ron stared after her hopefully until she was out of sight.

"What'd she mean by avoiding me," Ron said awestruck.

"I'm sure it has something to do with her being a Seer... supposedly," said Hermione coming up from behind to join them.

"What?" asked Ron.

"Well, she makes top grades in Astronomy, Divination, and Arithmancy," she said.

"That's all we need, another Trelawny," Harry added rolling his eyes.

"Hey! She is not like that old fraud!" retorted Ron and muttered, "She's amazing."

"I highly doubt she's for real, and how would you know she's not a fraud?" she asked.

"Because some things I just know," stated Ron with a firm nod, and he walked off.

"Blinded by love," Hermione said smartly to Harry.

"Hey, Harry," called Hermione the next day, "did you know there's going to be a Halloween dance? "

"We don't have to ask for dates do we?" Harry asked immediately.

"No, nothing like that. You just go and have fun." She seemed to be thrilled.

"I think I'll pass," Harry said.

"I don't think you will. I mean, what else do you have to do that day?" she inquired.

"I'll just relax and have the day off," he replied.

"Sure..." she nodded and walked on ahead. He really didn't want to go to the dance at all. He remembered the last time all to well, and it had been rather boring. But maybe he'd just go for refreshments or something he thought.

The two weeks to Halloween swept by with the wind that had been blowing a cold dampness through castle. A couple more people, including a girl, asked him if he would be going, and all he said was maybe. But as that evening was drawing nearer, he began to wonder if he would. He didn't have hardly any homework for some reason, and that left him with nothing to do. He met Ron in the common room and asked if he had thought of going.

"Oh, I dunno," he muttered. Then he looked up at Harry hopefully. "I was hoping Carla would be there, though."

"Let's go, then. I am bored flat anyway," Harry said.

Upon arriving at the Great Hall, they were stunned. Not only be the number of students talking and dancing, but by all the lights and decorations. Hogwarts had never looked quite this brilliant before. There was a band playing on a stage where the teacher's tables would have been. And to the right of the Hall was a long table of food. Harry and Ron pushed and shoved their way over to that table. They ate a few pieces of candy and some cake. All of a sudden Ron pointed.

"Er ee ish!" he tried to yell, but his mouth was full of cake. He took a big gulp. "There she is, Harry, over there!"

"Hi, I knew I'd see you here," said Hermione joining them at the food table. She looked where Ron was pointing; then she rolled her eyes and began to fill her plate.

"Go ask her to dance," said Hermione.

"What? No, I can't," he replied.

"Why not? You can dance... fairly well," Harry encouraged. Ron shook his head. "Look," Hermione demanded, "walk up there real smooth and just ask if she wants this dance. No one will laugh. That's what you do at dances. You ask people to dance."

"What if she hates me?" said Ron in a horrified voice.

"Then she'll say no, and you'll finally know whether she's worthy or not," she said simply.

"You try it first," bargained Ron. She looked at him.

"Fine," she looked around and spotted a lonely Ravenclaw. She walked over to him. She was out of hearing range, but they could see her talking to him. He took her hand, and they walked onto the dance floor. Ron moaned and took another glance at Carla.

"Better get her before someone else does," Harry informed. Ron slowly began to walk towards her. He was very stiff as he made his way to her side. He cleared his throat.

"May I have this dance?" his voice shook slightly, but he had managed to spit it out. She looked at him with an odd expression on her face. It was somewhat of shock mixed with confusion, but she was also surveying him carefully with a slight look of distrust.

"Um, okay," she said softly. Somehow, Harry felt that she thought Ron had asked her to dance because they were on the same Quidditch team when that really had nothing to do with it. But at least they were now dancing. Harry ended up dancing with Hermione, Ginny, and Lavender Brown. He had been there almost an hour now. The band stopped playing, and the singer took the microphone. "Does anybody have any requests?" he asked.

"Yeah, I have one, Mike," called the bass player. "I request a student come up and play a song."

"Well, anyone feel up to it?" asked the singer to the crowd. He looked around the crowd. Then the Slytherins started pushing Sarah towards the stage.

"Yeah, get up here," the singer gestured for her to climb onstage. She jumped up and talked to the singer for a moment. Then the lead guitarist unstrapped his guitar and gave it to her. She took it and a few moments passed.

"All right, let's go," said the singer. And Sarah started with a catchy riff before the rest of the band got in a hard-hitting rock song. Harry was quite surprised; she was incredibly talented with a guitar. She played two numbers before handing the guitar back and jumping offstage. The Slytherins were very proud, and they patted her on the back as she drifted over to the food table. Seeing this, Harry moved away and into the crowd.

"You're trying to avoid me, Harry," she remarked not looking at him but tasting a reddish pudding. He stopped.

"That was pretty cool," he said turning back to her. "How long have you played?"

"Before I knew the term 'magic'," she replied simply.

"You do a variety of things," he said still wishing he weren't there.

"Not really. Besides that, art, Quidditch, and school subjects there's not much more I'm good at."

"There's not much else at all after those things," he reminded. She looked up and thought about that for a moment. She shrugged the thought off and turned to Harry.

"Wanna dance?" she asked. He looked at her, surprised. "You're the only one who's not afraid of me." She smiled a rather dark grin.

"Actually, I am," but he took her arm and went to the dance floor. He only hoped she wouldn't try anything that hurt him for a week. They didn't talk while they danced; it seemed like a very serious, but it was all right. As a new song was striking up, Draco came up between them.

"You don't mind, do you?" asked Draco. And he and Sarah walked away to dance. Harry went and sat down. All of a sudden he noticed Slytherins and Gryffindors watching him curiously. Now that he thought of it, it must have seemed odd for him to dance with a Slytherin; and he didn't really know why he had danced with her, he just had. He wondered if he'd get any nasty comments about it, and something told him he would. Ron came to sit by him.

"Hey, how was Carla?" Harry asked.

"Very... interesting. She's a little bit peculiar, but I think she was just nervous," he said.

"Good," was all he said. He was getting tired now, and his eyes began to droop.

"Did Evans ask you to dance?" he asked with a little frustration. Harry knew that Ron did not like anything that had to do with her. He nodded still keeling towards sleep.

"Why?" he said next.

"Ron, I don't know! Can we head back to our dormitory? I'm so tired," he said yawning. Ron's question was not answered, and he wanted to ask more questions. But since Harry was getting frustrated, Ron decided it best to go on to bed. And so they said goodnight to Hermione and headed off to Gryffindor tower.

"What were you thinking dancing with Potter?" inquired Draco rather calmly of Sarah while they danced.

"Well, I don't know. Just because he's in Gryffindor doesn't mean I'm prohibited from talking to him," she retorted. "He's quite nice really."

"That's not the point. You shouldn't mix with them," he indicated the Gryffindors.

"None of you are going to hate me for it because you need me," she replied.

"Need you?" he asked.

"Sure, before I arrived, you Slytherins were suffering losses: Quidditch, the House Cup, and even embarrassments from other students, like Harry, who got you turned into a ferret once, I heard." She smiled and stifled a giggle. Draco didn't say anything to this.

"But the question is, will you achieve all of those things?" Draco asked trickily.

"Probably. I've already dealt with the other students, and I think I've got Quidditch wrapped up. But the House Cup is team work, so you'll have to try harder also."

"You think a bloody lot of yourself," he complimented with narrowed eyes.

"No, I'm just honest," she smiled and walked away as the song ended.

As Harry sat in front of the fire before he went to bed, he began to think about Ron's question, "Why?" Maybe she was working up to him to use him in the future. Maybe it was for a prank, or, being in Slytherin, she could get information from him and pass it on to her side. He'd have to be careful around her and make sure he didn't give away anything important. But there was something peculiar about her; Harry felt as if he had known her before. And somehow, he figured that she felt the same way. But Harry had no answers, and Hermione still could not find anything additional about her. He went upstairs and pulled out one of Julie's poems. All of the tiredness that had been in him earlier had gone away, and he was left finding it hard to sleep even after reading one of her poems. But as he awoke the next morning, he figured somehow he had slept.