Chapter Seven
Halloween

By Pence Auryion

"Pence! You're going to the dance!" shouted Maj after Pence refused the Halloween costume Maj had made her.
"You're going." said James throwing a sheet over her head, "Ghostly!"
"You mean…ghastly!" said Sirius. Pence just glared at him and said,
"You're one to talk Miss Hawaii!" Pence took off the sheet and threw it back to James, "I don't see why I have to dress up at all…" she muttered. Sirius smiled and said,
"You know…you could always go as a werewolf…" Pence punched him in the arm,
"Smart ass." she said as Sirius, Maj, James, and Peter laughed. Just then, Remus came down the stairs wearing all black. Pence and Maj had persuaded him to go as a goth.
"Whoa," said Peter looking up, "Never seen Moony in all black before."
"You look awesome!" said Maj pulling out her wand, "But we're not done."
"What are you doing?" asked Remus, a little scared. Maj grinned and pointed her wand at Remus's hair, which turned a shiny black. Pence walked over to him,
"Damn that looks cool…" she sat him down in a chair, "Now…I get to put eyeliner on you, so hold still and don't blink."
"What!" Remus said as Maj forced him back in the chair. James and Sirius were laughing as Pence pulled out a stick of black eyeliner.
"Oh Remus! You're so manly!" said Sirius in a high-pitched voice.
"Shut up or I'm going to end up poking him in the eye." Pence muttered as she finished the first eye. James just shook his head,
"Whatever, I'm gonna go change, it's almost time to go down."
"Same here," said Sirius going after James. Peter sighed,
"I might as well…"

As Pence finished with Remus, Maj asked,
"So what are you going as? Cause I'm not leaving until you choose something."
"Fine, I'll just go as a goth too." Pence said hugging Remus, "Let's go get ready."

The two girls climbed up the stairs, as they reached their room, the door to another one opened. Lily Evans came out wearing a short green dress and grey wings. She smiled at them,
"Hey guys! What are you going as?"
"I'm a Japanese Quidditch player," answered Maj.
"I guess I'm going as a goth…" said Pence before adding, "What are you anyways?"
"Oh," said Lily looking down at her dress, "I'm a nymph. I couldn't think of anything else…well, I'll say you downstairs!"
Pence and Maj entered their room and started getting ready. Pence came down first,
"Yes…she's still fixing her hair." she said as Sirius opened his mouth to ask about Maj. Pence sat down to actually get a good look at the boy's costumes. Sirius had no shirt on, but did have coconut shells. He was wearing a pink lei and a grass skirt. Sirius…was a Hula Girl. Pence shook her head and looked over at James and Peter. James was a super-hero; dressed in a rubbery spandex-looking costume that he had before Halloween. Peter was guitar. Originally, Sirius suggested it when he was drunk.

Remus glanced up from the book he was reading to look at Pence. Maj had charmed her hair black as well, she was wearing a lot of black eye-makeup and a long black dress with fishnet sleeves. Remus sighed as Maj came down the stairs in her Japanese Quidditch player outfit. She had on dark blue pants and a green shirt under white robes with red and green trim. She had put her hair in pigtails and charmed the tips red.

As the six made their way to the Great Hall, they got some stares…especially Sirius. But he didn't mind, he just started dancing when people laughed. When they got to the Hall, the found that the house tables were gone, replaced by smaller ones on each side of the room; the center was cleared for dancing. Immediately, Sirius grabbed Maj and pulled her to the dance floor, leaving the others sitting at a table.

After a few hours, James went over to Sirius, who was standing with Maj. Sirius looked at James who was wet and sticky looking.
"What happened? Did you fall in the punch bowel like you did in fourth year?" James glared,
"She dumped her drink on me. I didn't even do anything…"
"Looking up her dress is considered 'doing something' back in Brazil…but I guess I don't know about here." Maj said grinning.
"Whatever," James said looking at Sirius, "Are we going soon?" Sirius smiled,
"Of course! Let's go now," Maj looked at Sirius,
"Astronomy Tower?"
"Nope. Halloween is one of the only holidays we don't go up there. On Halloween, we spend the night in the Shrieking Shack." Sirius, James, and Maj made their way towards Pence, Remus and Peter.

Peter was eating canapés as Pence was trying to get Remus to drink the vodka she'd smuggled down.
"Drink it! You know you want to…"
"No! God, that smells like rubbing alcohol. Fnglermuble." Remus said as Pence finally shoved the bottle into his mouth.
"Stop playing drinking games and c'mon. We're heading to the Shack." said James pulling the vodka away from Pence.

As they walked through the tunnel, Maj asked,
"What exactly are we doing tonight?"
"Well," Remus said trying to ignore the grin on Sirius's face, "We usually tell stories, talk…dare Padfoot to do stupid things…"

When they got there, they levitated an old sofa and several armchairs into the bedroom upstairs. They all just sat around joking and talking until Maj informed them that they were playing Truth or Dare.
"Feminine…but never the less…" James muttered as Maj thought of who should go first.
"Okay, Pence, Truth or Dare?"
"Oh, lovely…"Pence said sarcastically, "I'll take truth for now."
"Alright, this is something I've been meaning to ask you anyways. Have you ever attempted to kill yourself? Cause you look like you have." Pence sat there for a moment before answering,
"Yea, when I was in the Kennel. I'd been breaking off rocks from my cell wall and sharpening them. The only thing that got me was three weeks in a padded room with my arms bound…" she trailed off as Remus put his arm around her.

Pence then dared Sirius to say absolutely nothing for five minutes…he failed. Then they learned that James once ate nothing but ham for a week and a half when he was nine. It went on like this until everyone had done at least one dare…except for Remus.
"Fine…dare." Remus sighed when Pence asked him. Pence thought for a moment before smiling and saying,
"I dare you to let me pierce your ear. Right here, right now."
"What! No, I-" Sirius cut him off,
"You chose dare Moony. Now let there girl who was kept from sharp objects for three weeks stick a needle through your ear!" They all laughed, including Pence who was taking a pack of needles from her pocket.
"Scourgify," she said pointing her wand at the needle to assure Remus he wouldn't get an infection.
"I don't like needles…" Remus said as James looked at him,
"You're a bloody werewolf, and you're afraid of needles?" He said incredulously.
"It doesn't hurt." said Maj, recalling when she got her ears pierced.
"Yea," Pence said examining Remus's ear, "I've got mine done twice…three in the left ear."
"So do you have any extra earrings with you?" Peter asked as he watched Pence dig through her pockets.
"Yea," she said pulling out a silver hoop. Maj went over and put her hands firmly on Remus's shoulders incase he tried to get up.
"One, two, three!" Pence said sticking the needle through his ear.
"Ahh! Ow! Damn." Remus said blinking as Pence put in the earring. Maj pulled a pocket mirror out of her purse and handed it to Remus,
"Hm. It's actually not too bad…" he muttered.
"I WANT ONE!" Sirius screamed jumping up. So Pence and Maj spent some time trying to get him to sit still so they could pierce his ear. Eventually, he stayed put long enough to get a silver skull in his ear.
"I see what's going on here," James said jokingly, "There's tracking spells on the earrings…you two are just trying to keep track of them!"
"That's actually not a bad idea!" said Maj sitting down next to Sirius.
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After more hours of stories and watching Sirius be, well…Sirius, the boys fell asleep. Pence and Maj whispered to each other in the dark as they lay up against their sleeping boyfriends.
"I love it here." Maj whispered.
"You just love Padfoot," Pence pointed out.
"Well duh! But it's no difference with you and Moony!"
"You're right," Pence said looking at Remus, "Dunno what I'd have done without him." They sat in silence for a moment before Maj had an idea,
"Let's charm everyone's hair!" she said noticing the charm on Pence's and Remus's had worn out.
"Kay," said Pence standing up.

The two girls charmed each boy's hair a color, leaving Sirius with pink, James with green, Peter with red, and Remus with blue. They both lay back against their boyfriends and fell asleep, thinking of the pictures they would take in the morning.
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That took forever to type. I didn't realize I'd written so much! .