Disclaimer: I finally understand what that word means. You need to DIS the CLAIMER. So how should I dis JK?

A/N: Well, I guess some of you liked that last chapter, and some... Didn't. Well, this is getting back into the story for y'all.

Delayed Start: 12. The Idea

"So, Aileen, what are you going to wear for Halloween?"

"Huh?" Aileen replied, falling out of her trance.

"What are you going to wear for Halloween?" Hermione repeated, resting her head on her arms.

"Oh-I... Don't know yet. Why? It's still a ways off, right?"

"Are you kidding? The party's in two days!"

"What?" Aileen bolted out of bed, and ran over to her calendar. Sure enough, there was a shiny red 'X' on every single day before the 29th. "Oh, man," Aileen groaned, "I have no clue!" She rubbed her temples in frustration.

"I'll help you think of something, don't worry."

"No, no. I can't have you do that. Every year, I always think of something off the wall to dress up as, all by myself. I can't change it now, it's like a tradition to me," Aileen said, looking over towards Hermione.

"Well, try to think of something quickly, okay?"

"Well, duh, obviously I'm going to do that. Who do you think I am?"

"A maniac, of course."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Next Morning

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Charlie, give me some ideas."

"But I thought you told Hermione that you got your ideas all by yourself," said Charlie as he wrapped himself around Aileen's arm. It was Sunday, so there weren't any classes. Hermione was at the library as usual, Harry and Ron were out practicing Quiddich, and everyone else just seemed to have disappeared.

"But I'm having too much trouble! I can't think of a thing!" Aileen pulled Charlie off of her arm and held him in the air. "Help me, please."

"Put me down, 'please'."

"Say you'll help me."

"Say you'll put me down."

"Charlie!"

"Aileen!"

"Fine. Thanks for the help." Aileen dropped Charlie, and he fell onto the couch.

"Hey, didn't you ever hear of being gentle?" Charlie groaned while shaking his head.

"Oh, I'll show you gentle." Aileen pulled out her wand.

"Ah-never mind. I feel fine! See?" Charlie shook his tail at Aileen to prove his point.

Aileen sighed, and put her wand away. "It's just difficult. I never have this much trouble thinking of something good!"

"Well, lets walk around. Maybe you can see something."

"I guess." Aileen looked downwards, frowning.

"That's the spirit! Now pick me up and lets get out of here."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"How about a ghost?" Charlie asked as they passed Nearly Headless Nick.

"Nope, transparency spell is way too dangerous. Could become invisible forever."

"So," Charlie sniped.

"Charlie!"

"Just kidding, sheesh. How about... a trashcan?"

"A trashcan."

"Yeah, you know, the stuff you put trash in."

"I know what it is, dummy. You didn't need to tell me that."

"So you like the idea?"

"NO, I do NOT like that idea-" Aileen was cut off as she turned the corner and ran smack into Malfoy.

"What in bloody hell do you think you're doing?" He growled after getting off of the floor.

"I'm walking around the school, what are you doing?" she snapped back.

"I'm going back to my common room, not like it's any of your business, you filthy mudblood."

"What?" Aileen glowered at him and pulled out her wand.

"Filthy Mudblood," he sneered, drawing out his own wand.

"Incendio!" A red stream of fire flew out of Aileen's wand and narrowly missed Malfoy.

"Petrificus Totalus!" he whipped back at her. It hit her right arm and she dropped her wand, which skittered off in front of her.

"Accio wand!" Aileen called out, lifting her left arm. The wand flew towards her, and she snatched it out of the air.

"What, you think you can beat me using your left hand? Don't make me laugh." Draco lifted his own arm towards her. "Confundus!"

Aileen slammed backward into the wall, stunned. She raised her wand, but couldn't think of a spell. Once one finally arose into her mind, she screamed it out before thinking of what she was doing. "Avis!" A flock of birds appeared out of nowhere and blocked Malfoy's view of Aileen just long enough for her to regain her composure.

"Immobulus!" From the grunt she heard, she knew that she had hit him. The flock of birds flew off, and she could see him struggling to move. "What was that about me not being able to beat you?" She grinned, moving towards him.

Malfoy smirked. "Accio vase!"

Aileen spun around just in time to see a vase heading straight towards her head, right before she blacked out.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X (A/N: I was going to stop there, but that wouldn't have been very nice of me. Way too short.)

"Aileen!" a voice cried out.

"Aileen, where are you?" a second, deeper voice shouted.

Aileen slowly regained consciousness to hear another shout.

"Aileen!"

"I'm over here!" Aileen called back. Her throat was dry and she couldn't see a thing. "I'm here guys!" She began to feel around only to find a wall on all four sides of her. "Help!" she cried.

"We're coming, just one minute Aileen!" She heard footsteps coming close to her.

"Alohamora!" There was a click and one of the walls opened up to reveal Hermione putting away her wand. Harry helped her out of the closet, and wiped some of the dirt off of her robe for her.

"What happened?" Ron asked; steadying her after Harry let go.

"I got into a fight with Malfoy. He got me with a vase when I wasn't expecting it." she stumbled forward and Harry caught her. "Thanks. Ugh, my head kills."

"You should see Madam Pomfrey and get that checked out." Hermione said to her, looking concerned.

Harry looked angry. "Malfoy will pay for this," he growled under his breath.

Aileen stopped him. "Harry, you'll get in trouble. Don't."

"You're sounding too much like Hermione." Harry replied as Hermione humphed.

"Let's just get her to the Hospital wing, she looks like she really got hit hard."

"Yes, lets." They helped Aileen walk slowly to the Hospital wing. She stumbled a few times, but other than that didn't have any trouble.

Madam Pomfrey looked her over for a few minutes. "She's fine," she said after her checkup was done. "She'll have a nasty headache for a while, but there's no real bad damage. You should consider yourself lucky, Aileen. That could have caused major head trauma, but it didn't."

"Thank you." Aileen smiled. "Can I go back now?"

"Yes, of course. Just watch your head from now on, okay?"

"Okay, I'll try." She nodded, and then left with the trio, feeling much better.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back in the Common Room

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Are you sure you're okay?" Hermione asked, as Aileen shook her head to relieve her dizziness.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I need a shower. I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay, see you." Hermione said, as Harry and Ron waved to her in their game of chess.

Aileen stepped out of the shower a while later, feeling much more refreshed. "Ah," she said to herself, "Much better." She rubbed her hair to get rid of the excess water, and then brushed it back with a comb in front of her mirror.

Stupid Malfoy, she thought, glaring at the mirror. What a jerk. I didn't realize that he would go that low, as to lock me in a closet. Grar! She punched the wall next to the mirror, and then looked up at her angry reflection. That's kind of weird, I almost look like him when I'm like this. The only real difference is the hair, eye, and skin color. And all that gel he uses, of course. Aileen's eyes widened.

"That's it," she whispered. "That's it!" She grinned. "I finally have it!" She quickly brushed out her short hair and pulled on some clothes.

Aileen whipped into the dorm a few minutes later. "Charlie! I figured it out! I know what I'm going as for Halloween!"

A/N: I've been thinking a lot lately, about the story. Every time I look at it, it seems to be worse and worse. I personally might just need to take a break from writing for a while. I'm not sure yet. Well, anyway, the reviews.

Wildphire: I'd eat the Pumpkin Pie if I could... Ah well.
littleblackdove: Sorry. I know that was kind of bad. I've been having a lot of trouble with this lately. (sigh)
Swordmasterk14: Nice try. I'm not telling you. You're going to have to wait just like everyone else.
Caitlyn: What's that supposed to mean? What does it depend on? O.o Anyways, thanks.
Sir Fuzzalot: I'm guessing you meant 6,000 wpc. Well, that's like impossible for me. 2k max. I can't do more than that. That in itself is really difficult. Putting it on a different website is an interesting idea, I might just do that. :)
Wilwarin Bluemoon: Thanks! Wow, I never thought of that. That might just end up happening in the future, not sure when. Hmmmmm... Pumpkins are awesome.
Dracos-naughty-lil-girl: Yeah, I know. But I needed to do it. Well, actually, I just wanted to do it. Heh. Yeah...

I don't know, I might take a month off or something. I don't know. Depends on what happens in the next couple of weeks.

Kyogera