Chapter 14- Happy Hallowe'en!
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Luna stood on the front steps of Hogwarts, watching students use spells to carve Hagrid's giant pumpkins. She was relieved that the rain had finally departed. The lake had risen dramatically and certain love-birds meeting under the Dragon Claw Willow had feared their 'nest' would be flooded. She smiled, imagining the couples making out in a boat floating under the tree.
"Good idea, this contest."
Nodding her agreement, Luna's smile grew dreamier as she gazed at the boy who'd made the comment. Of course Harry would think so. His favourite professor had suggested it!
Lorelei had proposed to an enthusiastic Dumbledore that teams from each house carve a giant gourd in a school contest. Individual house teams consisted of the two best carvers from each year...which gave Gryffindor and the others fourteen able bodies each to execute their designs.
The four Heads of houses, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Professor Lorelei would judge the results. The winning house would have their name emblazoned on the trophy as champions of the event, and would win the right to keep the 'Great Pumpkin' until the following year. The trophy was charmed to act as a disco ball, so the stakes were high and competition was fierce.
"Hello Harry, Luna...the pumpkins are going to look amazing, aren't they?"
Professor Lorelei stood beside Harry, left hand slightly raised, as though she were fighting the urge to smooth down unruly black hair. Luna didn't blame her. She felt similar urges all the time.
The sight of Snape's rippling black robes drew the attractive woman's attention away from the students. Bidding them farewell, Lorelei floated over to the Potions Master like a moth to a dark flame. Harry watched her go, not even trying to hide his admiration of the curves displayed by the woman's clinging black trousers and tunic.
It made Luna tetchy. Really, just because it was late Friday afternoon on Halloween weekend...did that mean teachers should traipse about looking like sirens instead of educators?
"Want to go round and see how the carving's going?" Harry asked.
Not one to hold a grudge, especially after seeing Snape and Lorelei wander in the direction of Hagrid's pumpkin patch, Luna smiled and nodded. The teens headed for the Gryffindor pumpkin.
Ron and Ginny, both chosen to compete in the carving competition, were hard at work carving a rampant lion into the gourd. Other Gryffindor students were carving fleur de lis into the other three sides. The work was very impressive.
When Harry and Luna praised the work, Ron said, "Thanks. Gin and I must've carved hundreds of pumpkins over the years. Fred and George would make mum buy loads so they could scare Muggles with them on Halloween."
Ginny grinned at her brother. "Remember that Muggle tale Dad read every year...Legend of Sleepy Hollow? The boys loved playing headless horseman and throwing the burning charmed pumpkin at retreating Muggles. I miss those idiots."
"Yeah," Ron said. "We'll dedicate the trophy to them; do a victory-dance at the House party tomorrow in their honour."
"We haven't won yet, looby." Red hair fanned as Ginny shook her head in exasperation.
Luna agreed that Ron seemed to be counting his chickens before they hatched. She imagined him watching eggs intently and smiled at the thought as the brother and sister returned to their carving.
Harry and Luna strolled on, past the Hufflepuffs' mundane stars and moons design, to stop beside the immense Ravenclaw gourd. Ravens and eagles in flight encircled the pumpkin, and the artistry was every bit as good as the Gryffindor effort.
"Look Terry, they're rendered speechless by our genius." Wesley Roberts lowered his wand to flash a charming smile Luna's way. Harry didn't seem to find the rascal very amusing. He frowned during the entire conversation with the flirtatious boy.
"Don't waste your talent on non-judges, mate. Save the charm for McGonagall and Sprout. They're going to be tough to sway from house loyalty."
Terry had pulled his hair back, which brought attention to his masculine features. Harry's stony expression disapproved of him too. How delightful. Luna smiled as she gently teased, "It must be tough to concentrate when your girlfriend's the competition."
The boy's jaw tightened while his eyes darkened. "It isn't Blaise I want to beat, it's that bastard Malfoy." He smiled slightly. "Pardon the language, Luna...shouldn't say Malfoy in the presence of a nice girl like you."
Harry was smiling now. Nothing like the enemy of your enemy... He added his own thoughts, "I don't care who wins as long as it's not that arrogant prat. Git thinks Slytherin's so superior."
That meant no double dates with Ginny and Draco in the future, she supposed. Oh well, Terry and Blaise would be excellent company too. Luna was in the midst of imagining such a date when she became aware all three boys were staring at her. She had no clue why.
Wesley's blue eyes gleamed mischievously as he repeated, "Come back and let us know if there's anything we can do to one-up the competition, okay Luna?"
"Sorry, you're on your own," she said smilingly. Luna hadn't meant to smile so widely- Roberts' dimples made her do it. They also enticed her fingers to waggle goodbye as she followed Harry toward the final pumpkin.
Harry's sharply indrawn breath and sudden halt brought her gaze to the work of beauty in front of them. Luna sighed. It was a masterpiece.
The Slytherin team had just finished carving. Blaise hugged Draco and then saw her friend, bounding over to say, "Hey Luna...Potter...Let me give you the first look at the winning pumpkin." When the way was blocked, the girl snapped, "Move it, firsties." They jumped out of the way. Blaise said, "Draco and I spent hours on the design. Isn't it amazing? C'mon, Luna, tell me what you think."
"It's brilliant."
Luna smiled as Blaise laughed happily and squeezed the breath out of her with an enthusiastic hug. She listened to the girl's chatter about how fiddly a design, and how this and that had been done, admiring the sight before her.
The Slytherins had chosen to carve a band of Celtic knotwork - patterns alternating over and under in an intricate design - to encircle the gourd at the top and bottom. On each side, a complicated interlace of knotwork pattern formed a circle. Inside each circle was a diamond. Each one of the four diamonds contained a carving of a Celtic beast...one for every House. The front panel's diamond contained a Celtic serpent. One side depicted the Gryphon and the other a Badger. The back knotwork-encircled diamond had a Celtic eagle carved into the pumpkin flesh.
When the sky darkened, the illuminated gourd would make the gripping beasts appear to come to life. Luna lightly ran her fingers over loops and knots and complimented her friend. Poor Harry was silent. There was nothing to say except 'congratulations', and he'd kiss You-Know-Who before praising anything Slytherin.
Harry told Luna goodbye and walked back to his fellow Gryffindors. She watched him go with a sympathetic smile. An hour later, the student body thronged the area, admiring the pumpkins glowing softly in the twilight.
Luna noticed Harry standing in a group with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Colin, and Neville. She glided over to join them as they listened to Dumbledore award the 'Great Pumpkin' to Slytherin House. Draco held up the trophy and grinned triumphantly as his housemates cheered. Blaise and two friends did a victory dance around him.
"Merlin, its worth losing just to see those girls move like pagan priestesses."
Wesley's irreverent laughter as he and Terry walked up brought reluctant smiles to Gryffindor faces. His fellow Ravenclaw said grimly, "If Snake-Boy wants to stay healthy; he'd better keep his hands off my priestess."
Terry's menacing words were followed by Hermione's sharp ones. "All that writhing and undulating is indecent! Dumbledore should put a stop to it this minute!"
Luna thought Hermione sounded a lot like McGonagall sometimes. She idly wondered if the girl ever wore tartan.
Ron, as usual, added pyrotechnic powder to the fire of Hermione's indignation. "Yeah, they should stop shaking their...you know...too. It's not right for girls to be that sexy."
"Sexy? Did you just call those Slytherins sexy, Ronald?"
Only half of Luna's attention was concentrating on listening to Ron's frantic back-pedalling as he assured Hermione that he didn't find sleazy, erotic, dancing at all 'hot...er...attractive...erm...anything...' The other half focused on Harry's eyes, gleaming with amusement behind glasses that reflected light from the giant pumpkins nearby.
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Draco stood with his hands resting on either side of the 'Great Pumpkin' trophy on the Slytherin fireplace mantel, feeling the same sense of victory he had the night before. He and Blaise had worked like house elves over the design for that bloody contest. It was only fitting they should win.
His friend was always nattering on about Celtic traditions, and had sketched out her idea before presenting and asking him to draw the plans to implement it. The moment he'd seen the drawings, Draco knew Slytherin would win. They spent the hours outside Quidditch practice, the library, and her social life disguised as detention finalizing plans, looking over housemates' drawings and choosing the most talented to help.
Students had practiced carving the complicated turning and contorting patterns and creatures on more normal-sized pumpkins than he cared to count. Good thing Mr. Zabini came through with the wagon-load of pumpkins. Those weeks of effort and practice had made perfect.
Ginny had certainly thought so.
Sometime after the award ceremony, she stayed behind to look at his work up close. Draco had given his lioness a personal tour. After explaining the exterior carvings, he'd taken her inside through a concealed panel and shown her the initials he had carved on the interior wall. Her fingertips had traced the letters D M, G W, and the heart around them. Then she'd turned and pounced, pressing him into the pumpkin wall.
"Oh my gods, Draco- that's so sweet- kiss me..."
Blaise had smirked while picking pieces of stringy pumpkin off his back during dinner. Malfoy had smirked returning the favour. He'd seen the other heart filled with letters on the opposite side of the gourd. Terry-Boy must've carried her off immediately after the award ceremony- Zabini's little happy dance obviously brought out Boot's animalistic, you my woman, tendencies. Forget Romeo and Juliet. Those two were Tarzan and Jane.
"Still gloating over our triumph?"
Blaise was sitting on the middle cushion of a nearby sofa, leaning forward to fix him a cup of tea. He accepted it, sinking down beside her. She had just drizzled honey over a bowl of porridge taken from the loaded breakfast tray, just the way he liked it, when Crabbe and Goyle bumbled down the boys' staircase. Snatching the bowl before one of the trolls could inhale it, Draco listened to the boys effusively thank the girl for inadvertently starting the Saturday breakfast tradition weeks ago.
Fiona and Morrigan pranced down the girls' staircase and squeezed onto the sofa. Blaise conjured more tea, and a plate of croissants. Fiona pinched off a piece of flaky bread and asked, "What are you going to do while we all go to Hogsmeade, Blaise?"
"Spend some time in the library and, you know, do stuff."
Yeah, right...he knew what kind of stuff. The chit made a decent effort to keep the innocent act going, but in the end she caved and gave a wicked smirk. Blaise was Slytherin, after all. He told everyone his plans to accompany the boys to Zonko's and then wander around on his own. Big dark eyes sparkled. Cheeky knew he wouldn't be alone for long.
"Want me to get Slinky to pack a picnic...and a blanket?" Blaise asked.
He graciously allowed his friend the honour of doing him the favour. The witches she called roommates cackled over his 'chauvinist piggery'. Malfoy ignored the wenches. He expected they were jealous.
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Ginny met him at the Shrieking Shack where he showed her a secret entrance. Inside, the shack was dusty and grimy...except in the room where he had used charms to clean and soften the hard wooden floor. Romance was good, but romance in comfort was better. Magicked candles floated over the large blanket, and his girlfriend's pretty face lit up as she unpacked the food. Draco prudently took the credit for everything. Lying with his head in her lap, feeling pleasantly satisfied, he looked up and tried to say casually, "I suppose you'll be dancing with Potter tonight."
Why those lovely lips curved into a smile was beyond him. He wasn't jealous. He was concerned for her feet. Potty was bound to step on them.
"I suppose you'll be dancing with Zabini tonight."
Ha! He had her there. "No I won't, Terry-Boy finally got goolies and asked her to his party."
"Good for him. So, who will you dance with now...every girl who asks?"
No, only the pretty ones, but somehow he knew that wouldn't bring her face down to smother him with kisses. Draco realized it would be worth depriving Slytherin girls if he could also deny Gryffindor boys. Looking down to conceal his sly trap, he said offhand, "If you don't like the thought of me dancing with other girls, we could make a deal." Soft brown eyes narrowed while pink lips curved. He had a feeling that his clever gambit had been more transparent than opaque.
"I like the thought of you with another girl just as much as you like the thought of me with Harry. So let's not dance with anyone else- deal?"
Lips that had been compared to a god's...pick a god, any god...except the ugly ones...pursed in consideration. "Fine, if it makes you happy, but I need an act of good faith from you to finalize..."
Demanding lips gave him what he hadn't finished asking for. Bold Gryffindor... Well, two could revert to house type. Rising and twisting in a sinuous motion, Draco pinned Ginny and settled down to thoroughly enjoy his dessert.
Later, the boy whistled cheerfully while returning to his House. Reaching the painted lady in the Slytherin House Portrait, he winked. She looked especially pretty in the late afternoon sunlight. The woman smiled back over a bare shoulder as the serpent under the apple tree hissed, "Who goesss there?"
"Echis."
The portrait swung up to reveal the House entrance. Inside, her friends were asking Blaise, "Please sing the chorus just once so Fiona can get the hang of it." Draco hung back, wanting to hear what she would sing. It was some song about a 'Baby Boy'.
He hadn't heard that particular phrase for a long time. It brought back memories. Something was in her voice- an undercurrent of tension. Moving further into the room, Draco could see Blaise's controlled expression. She looked as though she were trying to hurry up and get out of there. Her eyes met his as she sang Baby Boy again.
She broke eye contact, telling her friends to spin an orb if they wanted to hear the words again. Smiling briefly, Blaise told him Snape sent word for them to meet him in the Headmaster's office. Surprise held Draco immobile just long enough for Blaise to start up her staircase. He decided to do an experiment, calling, "Baby Girl."
Blaise froze, and then turned sideways to ask, "What?"
"Baby Girl."
This time, instead of freezing, she just stood and said, "Why are you calling me that?"
"Don't you know?"
"No, and I don't have time to play games. I need to change clothes before I see the Headmaster. If you don't need to change, go on ahead and I'll meet you there."
"I'll wait."
"Fine."
Draco watched his friend walk up the stairs, unsure how to read her response. Did she remember? It was impossible. Shaking off the unsettled feeling, he sat down to wait.
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After a change of clothes, a mental pep talk, and several deep breaths, Blaise descended the girls' staircase and accompanied her best mate to the Headmaster's office.
"Sure you're okay?"
She smiled reassuringly. "Yes, I'm fine."
Speaking the password, 'Everlasting Gobstoppers' the pair entered the secret stairway and waited for the stairs to rise to Dumbledore's office before stepping onto the landing and knocking. The moment Blaise stepped inside; she knew something was terribly wrong.
"Oh sweetie, oh darling, oh gods sweetie, sweetie, sweetie!"
Dressed in the most expensively atrocious outfit money and bad taste could buy, Edina Zabini hugged her daughter. Frizzy reddish-brown curls shaking with every breathy word, Eddy greeted her while exclaiming over her daughter's 'finally fashionable' new clothes.
Overwhelmed by her mother's effusive welcome and the stench of too much designer perfume, Blaise stepped back to see Draco getting a more reserved greeting from his parent.
"You look gorgeous, darling, if a little careless in your attire. Denim and Malfoy don't mix, sweetie. Give your mother a kiss." Dutifully, the tall youth pecked the icily attractive cheek his mother took such care to maintain. White-blonde hair piled high; Narcissa Malfoy impassively admired the face she saw as a masculine version of her own.
Blaise thought her friend looked as taken aback as she was. What in the name of Merlin was going on here? Dumbledore, the twinkling old blighter, was waving them into chairs, interrupting Eddy's exclamation of "What a day I've had sweetie, darling, darling, darling sweetie!"
"Your parents have petitioned for you to be allowed to attend the Fire Festival in Hogsmeade this evening." All eyes turned to the dark corner and Professor Snape. He continued in a voice that made the silly women shiver, although his cold drawl dripped with sarcasm, "The Headmaster and I concede that it would be...unduly punitive...to deprive mothers of their children's company. You are hereby allowed off school grounds until midnight."
"I can't. I have detention until the end of the month! I don't deserve to go!" Desperately, Blaise tried her darnedest to make her eyes big, like something soft, cuddly...something he wouldn't want to kick... It only made the Potions Master smile. Oh what an evil smile Snape had! Inside, he must be laughing his arse off!
Dumbledore interjected, "Professor Lorelei has given such a glowing report of your helpfulness, my dear, that detention is now considered served. Go enjoy the evening with your mother with our blessing."
No imprecation was low enough for that wily old so and so! He knew- damn his merry eyes- that she and Draco would rather scrub tubeworms off desks with their fingernails and sort stinky Jobberknoll feathers with their teeth!
Her mother chose that moment, when 'darling girl's' hand twitched with the urge to blast someone with her wand, to make the farce complete. Tilting her head like a curious bird at her daughter's mutinous expression, she waved her hands in an ineffectual attempt to remember something she'd forgotten.
"Cissy, doesn't Blaise's face remind you of their first year at Hogwarts, that first Yule we spent together? Do you remember what we called our little sweetie darlings?"
"Do I..." Narcissa sneered; her upper lip the only muscle in her face not immobilised by years of 'beauty treatments'. "Baby Girl gave you that bitch troll from Hades look when we caught her and Baby Boy playing Healer after their birthday party. Malfoys have always been precocious."
Gripping her short curls with both hands, Blaise jumped to her feet and shouted, "Oh my gods that was years ago...and if either of you says one more bloody word about it, Mother, I'm owling Drinky and having him make a bonfire out of your shoes!" Ignoring Eddy's sputters of horror, Blaise threatened, "Manolo Blahniks, Jimmy Choos, Chanels, Fendis...gone forever, I swear it!"
Snape and Dumbledore were making suspicious choking noises. If only they'd do it for real! Unable to look at Draco, Blaise headed for the door.
Behind her, Narcissa said coolly, "I thought you took away Baby Girl's memory of that naughtiness with a charm, Eddy."
Glaring back at her wide eyed, silent parent, Blaise said venomously, "She was too bloody pissed to steer the broomstick home, much less put a charm on me. Mumsie passed out on the neighbour's lawn and didn't remember a damn thing the next day." She sneered at both women. "You want to go to dinner, we'll go. Meet us at the Three Broomsticks in two hours. Remember Mother dear, not one-bloody-word..."
As the door closed behind her, Blaise could hear her mother gush in an attempt to smooth everything over, "Oh dear, my dear, dear, distraught daughter takes after her father's family. Dangerously passionate people...unwise mixture of Spanish conquistadors and Borgia's...very scary actually...poor darling."
"I preferred her quiet and frumpy." Narcissa's contempt travelled down to the girl rapidly descending the stone stairway.
The sound of footsteps soon echoed. Draco caught up to Blaise in the outer corridor and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. "You let me think you didn't remember all this time, Baby Girl...why?"
Her eyes filled with tears and spilled over. "C'mon, Baby Boy...We weren't playing Healer and you know it. That's just what you told our mothers because the truth would've really freaked them out. I let you think I'd forgotten because all I wanted was to be your friend."
"You are my friend." Strong arms encircled her shaking body and hugged her tight. She returned the hug.
"Oh look, Cissy, our Baby Girl and Boy are having a touching moment."
"Yeah, right, c'mon Eddy, let's leave before Blaise goes after your handbags. I need a drink."
Blaise stepped away from Draco, laughing shakily as she asked, "Are they the worst mothers in the world, or does it only seem like it?"
"They do their pitiful best, I suppose." Draco's silvery eyes ruefully followed the departure of the women who would have several drinks before their children arrived for dinner. He slipped a companionable arm around Blaise's shoulder. "So, mate, how're we going to get you from Hogsmeade to Terry-Boy?"
After a moment's thought, a brilliant, Slytherin, idea formed. Smirking up into the handsome face smiling down at her in anticipation, Blaise whispered, "First, we go to the library and sneak into the restricted section, and then I send a package to a certain redhead. Following dinner with Eddy and Cissy..."
Draco grinned like a fallen angel while she explained in detail. The bout of rule breaking lifted their spirits as they made their side trip to the library and prepared for the night ahead.
Later, returning to the castle beneath a cloak of invisibility, Blaise smiled in expectation. Her note to Ginny, along with the dress and the challenge, had worked like a charm. The other girl had 'borrowed' the cloak, met her in the village, and traded places without a hitch. Eddy and Cissy would be happy their darling children were enjoying the Fire Festival together, and their 'darlings' would be happy too.
Blaise giggled as she snuck into her chamber where her friends were waiting. Fiona took the cloak and ran downstairs. The house elf Slinky was waiting to spirit it back into Potter's trunk.
After trying on a dress she thought would be appropriate; Blaise modelled it for Morrigan and Fiona.
"Oh, oh no, hell no, girlfriend...you got to represent, and no Slytherin girl is gonna be seen in that!"
Fiona laughed. "What Morrigan means is, that dress is nice, demure, and boring...and not going to be worn tonight!" She tossed an outfit into Blaise's arms, commanding, "Go change!"
The midriff baring sleeveless top in Ravenclaw blue went with a short black wrap skirt splashed with streaks of the same colour as the blouse. Blaise slipped into heels charmed for comfort and safety- however did Muggles dance in mundane shoes- and was ready to go.
"Don't forget these!"
Morrigan held out bronze hoop earrings. After a last check of hair and makeup, the girls walked their friend around the throng of partying Slytherins to the entrance.
"You could come with me, dance with Wesley," Blaise tempted Fiona.
"Maybe next time, if he keeps up the sweet talk. Maybe."
Waving goodbye, Blaise ignored advice not to do anything they wouldn't do. What was that? Swinging from a chandelier? The nervous girl made her way to the Ravenclaw Portrait. "Once upon a midnight dreary," Blaise told the shadowy man in the painting.
Inside, the room looked very different from before. The tables and chairs had been removed, and boys and girls were doing some kind of line dance on the centre dance floor. Across the room, Terry was preparing to spin another orb. A girl was smiling at him and flipping her shoulder length tresses back flirtatiously. The 'Orpheus' didn't seem to notice as he leaned over to check how much playing time was left on the currently spinning orb.
Terry's eyes met hers across the room. Her guy's wolfish smile flashed white in the dimmed chamber, and Blaise was suddenly very, very, glad she wasn't wearing something nice and boring...like that witch trying to chat up someone else's man.
Disregarding curious stares, including the blonde's, Blaise sashayed over and melted into her boyfriend's arms. Silence broke the kiss. The song had ended while the Orpheus was occupied, and now everyone was staring. Terry hurriedly spun an orb and told her, "I'm on for another half hour, then Wesley's taking over. Can you dance to this kind of music?"
Recognizing the opening to one of her mother's favourite disco songs, Dancing Queen, Blaise said, "Watch me." Lovegood and a friend of hers, Brocklehurst, were standing nearby, so she grabbed their hands and pulled them onto the floor. They stared at her dubiously.
Blaise spoke loudly, so they would hear over the music, "Look...Bindy...you and Luna just follow my lead. It's easy. Step back right, left, right, touch left next to right and clap...good...now forward."
By the end of the next song, Night Fever she had the girls doing disco points, and the hustle. After leaving the floor, Blaise stood behind Terry and slid her hands around to stroke his chest. She rested her cheek against his warm back. It felt like she was sinking into his skin. He felt so good, swaying back and forth, that her lids began to close.
"I think you put Eurydice to sleep, Orpheus old pal."
Blinking sleepily, she smiled at Wesley, who shooed them off after asking about Fiona. While Terry led her onto the floor, Wesley's droll voice filled the silence between songs by announcing the next tune would be a dedication from a Slytherin to a Ravenclaw.
Familiar music started to play. Blaise smiled, knowing her friends had sent Wesley the orb. She swayed close to brush fine brown strands away from Terry's face, moving her body to the beat.
"How do I dance to this?" Terry said, as the singer asked how his girl got so 'fly'. He caressed her back and swayed, watching Blaise drop and pivot her hips. Her sinuous upwards and downwards half turns achieved the desired result. He pulled her tight against him. She smiled when the words of the song made him laugh. He asked, "Are you my Superfly chick?"
"Yeah, baby"
After the music ended, Wesley's facetiously sexy tone described the next song as being a dedication from a Ravenclaw to a Slytherin. Dreamy music filled the air.
"How do I dance to this?" Terry's hair brushed her face when he moved her arms around his neck and started to sway. Leaning into his body, Blaise moved with him and listened to Yellow, a dreamy, romantic tune. Their swaying grew slower and slower until they were in an unashamed embrace. Softly, Terry said along with the singer, "I love you so." She silenced him with an expression of love that went beyond words.
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The rustling of leaves, hooting of owls, and scraping of one tree branch against another were normal sounds, but as Ginny walked the path to Hogsmeade, she reflected that this was no ordinary night. It was one of the three nights at the end of summer, a time of transition between one season and another, when night became longer than day and the veil between the world she knew and the fabled Otherworld became thin.
In-between times, like twilight and this time at summer's end, seemed to belong to neither world and yet somehow remained in both. She knew her Gran's stories of Faery mischief were responsible for her startling at shadows and rustling in the underbrush. Ever since they'd seen real Faeries, Ginny had wondered what other stories told by her beloved Gran had been true as well.
She felt the same feelings, walking into Hogsmeade, as farmers in days gone by must have felt about the coming winter- a mixture of anticipation and dread. She anticipated seeing Draco, feeling the rush of attraction, and yet she dreaded becoming more emotionally involved. Where could this relationship lead?
Ginny wended her way through the Fire Festival celebrated by the village, determined to throw off questions and doubts like the trees shedding their leaves. She reached the meeting place. In the alley beside the robe shop, a Slytherin couple sat on a cloak, quietly talking. The sight of Blaise's dark head leaning against Draco's shoulder gave Ginny a pang, until she threw off her Invisibility Cloak and saw how eagerly the other girl greeted her.
"About time you got here! I've got to change out of this ridiculous dress and get my party started, if you know what I mean."
Not really. But it sounded fun. The girls exchanged cloaks and Blaise hurriedly explained, "Draco and I snatched up Olde and Beste Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms from the restricted section. I remembered using a spell from that once." She grinned. "Don't ask, and I won't tell. Anyway, it's a simple blood magic glamour charm. As long as you wear my cloak, people will think you're me, except Malfoy, who gave blood for immunity."
Blaise put on the cloak. "Be good, and don't let our mums catch you snogging. They'll start sending out invitations to the wedding. Dress looks fabulous on you by the way...keep it...Oooh, I'm invisible..." The girls' voice drifted softly from the entrance to the alley, "Bye sweetie darlings..."
"Sweetie Darlings?"
"A favourite expression of Blaise's mum. She's a...unique...person, which is probably why she and my mother are best mates." Draco shrugged.
Curving masculine lips were too tempting to resist. Ginny backed Draco against the shop wall, kissing him with the pent-up emotion she was afraid to express in words.
He slid wickedly clever fingers through her hair and did that wonderful sliding; shifting move that fluidly changed their positions. Now he was pressing her against the wall and moving in a way that had her gripping his shoulders and gasping.
"Lovely, sweetie darlings...sin is in. Against a building, though…not really what purebloods should do, is it? I am sorry, sweeties, but I must insist you go get a room."
About to tell the frizzy-headed hag to go to Hades, Ginny was grateful Draco read her face and quickly said, "We were just about to look around the Festival, Mrs. Zabini- sorry you misunderstood our little kiss."
"Misunderstood, eh? I'll be the judge of that. I say our Baby Girl and Boy were about to play..."
Draco interrupted the icy blonde who joined her shorter, reddish haired friend, "Mother, I'm in the mood to buy...Blaise...some obsidian at one of the booths. Care to help me pick it out?"
Immediately distracted by the thought of shopping, the two older women led the couple from booth to booth, from one end of the Festival to the other, sneering and dismissing all the wares of inferior quality.
Zabini jewelers had shops around the Wizarding World, so Mrs. Zabini knew what she was about. A vendor selling from a rickety table under a tattered awning caught the women's eyes.
"Come try this necklace on sweetie, it's almost without flaw, just like you."
Blaise's mum was horribly funny or funnily horrible. It was hard to decide which. Draco's mother was just awful. Telling vendors they could drop the attitude, pick up better merchandise out of Muggle skips or Goblin rubbish bins, and so on. Sneering at everyone and everything except her Baby Boy...and what was that about, calling a sixteen-year-old 'Baby'?
Ginny was starting to wish she'd never come. The witches were leeching all the magic out of the evening with their demands and complaints.
Perceptive as ever, Draco manoeuvred the women back to the Three Broomsticks, ordered them a bottle of 'something that will knock them out' and pulled Ginny out of the pub. They walked until the inn and the mothers were far behind.
"Thank you for the necklace. It's beautiful," Ginny said softly.
A short laugh burst forth. "It's small payment for putting up with those two."
"It was nice of Blaise to give me a dress."
Draco smiled. "You look lovely in it. Black velvet makes your skin glow, makes your hair shine brighter than that bonfire." The talented fingers that had drawn the plans for the Slytherin pumpkin now moved over her features, making Ginny forget his mother and his friend...everything but him.
"Look." His finger pointed to the bonfire in a nearby field. Young men were lighting torches from the flames and running away in all different directions. Amused grey eyes studied her dreamy smile. "Do you know what they're doing?"
Ginny nodded. "My Gran told me fire-running the village boundaries protect the people in it from mischievous Faeries and malevolent forces that roam at night during the end of summer."
Smirking, Draco assured her that he was all the protection she needed tonight. He slid an arm around her waist and together they walked toward the bonfire. A Goblin band was playing a tune. A woman's voice sung in Gaelic. It was Lorelei. The professor swayed as she sang, and around the fire, couples danced.
A lone figure off in shadow watched the proceedings, arms crossed and impassive. It was Professor Snape.
She asked, "Should we go?"
Draco shook his head slowly. "No, I want to dance with you...celebrate the end of summer like the Celts did...hold you in my arms as the old year dies and the new year begins again."
Touched by the sincerity in his compelling voice, Ginny held Draco's hand and led him to the outer edge of those dancing around the fire. Circling and twirling, first in a dignified waltz, and then in a more and more free-spirited movement filled with laughter and delight in each other, the couple ended up spinning together as the song ended.
Kisses and caresses celebrated each other as well as the magic of music and dance and life. Hand in hand, they walked back to the castle, with the faint chime of Faery laughter drifting upon the night air.
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If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended.
That you have but slumb'red here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream
A/N: Thanks to NazgulGirl for quoting that in a Review...seemed perfect to use here. Had to give a long chap treat for Halloween. A short chap would have been a trick worthy of a flaming Review. Did you like the 'Great Pumpkin', Charlie Brown? lol. Found loads and loads of interesting Celtic Summer's End beliefs and traditions online and paraphrased and pieced together all the ones I liked to use in the chap. Celtic interlace knotwork is really amazing, and any pumpkin carved in that style would win my vote!
Yes darlings, the Snape/Lorelei bits throughout was a more 'transparent than opaque' bid to entice you over to read my other fic...don't you find the thought of Snape Lorelei at Halloween 'Simply Irresistible'? lol
Also, did indeed have ABFAB girls return as Blaise and Draco's mums. They'll show up again at Christmas Holiday...you'll be looking forward to Yule with Eddy and Cissy, won't you? lol. Remember to be a sweetie darling and treat your author to a REVIEW!