Prompt: Halloween

Any time period/pairing/era

Word count: 500-5000

Note: The following story is a submission to the facebook group Platform 9 3/4. All stories on this profile are works submitted by multiple authors through means of the group. Contestants will remain anonymous until voting is completed. Only the author and moderators of the challenge are aware of identities.

Disclaimer: the author of this story did not create these characters and will in no way claim ownership therein. All things Harry Potter related belong to JK Rolling.


Story: The Uninvited Lion

Rating: T

Genre: Comedy

Pen name: -Undisclosed at this time-

Pairings: Dramione and Hansy

OC: None

Summary: The Slytherin House Halloween party is happening and two thirds of the "Golden Trio" are going, leaving one uninvited lion.


The Uninvited Lion


The Uninvited Lion

It was a week before Halloween, so what, that came around every year. What made this particular Halloween different, well this year two thirds of the Gryffindor "Golden Trio" were invited to the Slytherin house exclusive invitation only Halloween Party. That's right, both Hermione Granger and Harry Potter were busy preparing for the big event while their friend Ron Weasley was left out, a fact which irked the redhead to no end. He didn't understand why they couldn't get him an invite too. It didn't matter how often he asked, and how he worded it, his friends wouldn't budge and so here it was a week before the party, on a Hogsmeade weekend and he was left to his own devices while they ignored his pouting and went about their business.

Ron sat alone in The Three Broomsticks thinking of how everything had gone wrong this year. This was their seventh and final year at Hogwarts, they were supposed to rule the school. The year started off bad and went downhill from there. He noticed that something had changed that first day on the train, Harry and Hermione sat with him as they always did, or at least they did until Hermione was expected to go attend to her Head Girl duties. She left to go deal with his least favorite person, Malfoy. When he found out the week before school that while he was still a prefect, the Head Boy honors went to Draco Malfoy, his longtime enemy. He was so frustrated when he had to sit there and listen to Hermione prattle on about how "the position always goes to the top student of each sex, no matter the house. Honestly Ron, this isn't new information. Like it or not Draco has been second in our class, behind me, since first year." He got more frustrated thinking of it now because he could hear it in her know it all voice. Yes, that was the beginning of his bad year.

It got much worse when he found out that Harry had made it so that every student trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team would need to try out in order to keep their positions, even those returning from last years team. He went into the trials with the cocky belief that he would have no real competition, I mean he was the winning Keeper from last year. They would be foolish to replace him, and he was also the Captain's best friend, He walked in knowing he had this in the bag, except he didn't take into account that there may have been a more qualified candidate, namely Cormac McLaggen. Honestly he wouldn't have even known to think of the git, he was supposed to have graduated last year, how was he to know that wasn't going to happen. He didn't even know how to describe that day, he felt off, and McLaggen had capitalized on his weakness. He must have cheated! Ron spent the next few days trying to convince Harry, that as his best friend he should have a second chance, but Harry wouldn't listen and as such the awful year continued.

Ron decided at that point that with not having to worry about Head Boy duties, and not having to practice on Quidditch for the year could be a good thing. He would get a girlfriend and spend his time on more romantic endeavors. Once again, things hadn't gone according to plan. He thought that as much as she annoyed him he would be able to start back up with Lavender Brown, his on again off again girl from last year. He really didn't much care for her, but he decided that he would be the better man and tolerate her annoying ways in order to get snogged. Well it turns out that Lavender's earlier claims of wanting to be with him forever hadn't actually been that concrete, as she was now seeing Seamus Finnigan. Oh well, good riddance to her, he didn't really want her anyways, she was mostly a convenience. Ron was nothing if not charitable and thought that maybe it was time to stop stringing Hermione along. He knew of her long time crush on him and realized that now that she had gotten her wild mane under control she wasn't half bad to look at. Yes, she would do nicely for his last year, they were already friends after all so as long as she could keep her swotty behavior under wraps, and continue to "help" him with his assignments this could be great. Well apparently Hermione had decided that three years of waiting was too long. She went and got herself a boyfriend, and not just any boy, no she had to get herself a Slytherin, Malfoy to be exact.

Just thinking about the day he found out still makes him angry, in fact, right here and now he decided to blame his current predicament on tha damn day. He had resolved to tell Hermione the good news, that they were now an item, her acknowledging it was just a formality really. He headed to the library with a purpose knowing that that is where she would be, as she was always at the library. His confident stride came to a screeching halt when he heard what sounded a lot like snogging. He figured a quick peek couldn't hurt, after all it would make for good gossip this evening with Harry and Hermione as they celebrated them finally becoming a...well them. He saw a flash of distinctive platinum hair and knew immediately it was Malfoy and some Slytherin slag in the stacks. He prepared to walk away determined to find Hermione, and then he heard the two words that rocked his world and sent him reeling. "Honestly Draco," that's all he heard before the blood rushed to his head and he felt like vomiting. The girl in Malfoy's arms was none other than Hermione Granger. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to get away from there. He misjudged how close he was to the nearest shelf and knocked three books to the floor. The noise was enough to separate the two and grab Hermione's attention.

"Ron, what's wrong? You look pale and sweaty?" Hermione asked with concern.

"I'm, I'm fine." he stuttered his response. "What are you doing with Malfoy? You hate him, hell, we all bloody hate him! He has done nothing but make you miserable for years, you don't want him. Back away from him, I came to tell you that I've decided we can be together now, isn't that great?" He rambled on in his flustered state until he was interrupted, and it wasn't the voice he wanted to her answering him.

"Listen here Weasel, you need to back off...now. Hermione has made her decision, she chose me!" Draco sneered at Ron with something akin to disgust, arrogance and a touch of pity on his face.

"Shove off Ferret! You don't know what you're bloody talking about! Hermione has loved me for years and it's high time I put her out of her misery." The next thing he was aware of was being slapped...hard.

"You listen to me Ronald Weasley, I am not some consolation, you had your chance, you had two bloody years! I had to sit there and watch you fawn all over Lavender, knowing you didn't even enjoy her company! Furthermore I did love you, but times move on and we change, I am with Draco and you need to accept that and be happy for me, or leave me alone." Hermione finished her rant by grabbing Malfoy's hand and dragging him from the library, he didn't want to picture them continuing their earlier exploits.

Ron figured it was best to leave Hermione be to calm down and get over her unnecessary anger at him. He wouldn't admit it, but that slap really hurt. He couldn't help but wonder if her attitude had something to do with her cycle. He thought it better to keep that to himself, he might mention it to Harry later considering they both knew how mental a girl can get then. With this in mind he headed down to the quidditch pitch in the hopes of catching Harry finishing up practice, they could play a few games of Wizard's Chess or Exploding Snaps to get his mind off what he had just witnessed. He picked up his pace as he knew how closely his best friend liked to keep to the schedule when it came to quidditch, nothing else really, just quidditch. He reached the stands in time to be stopped in his tracks for the second time in one day. There, sitting in the stands, cheering on Harry was the Slytherin Ice Princess, Pansy Parkinson. By this point in his day Ron was pretty sure he might have fallen through some wormhole into a crazy time and space where his friends were all clearly different and most likely suffering from memory loss or brain damage.

Ron Sat down at the other end of the Gryffindor stand, as far as he could get from Parkinson. It was then that he noticed she was wearing a red and gold scarf showing that some poor lion had given their scarf to the enemy, a snake. He sat and wondered which of his housemates would be that stupid, and couldn't quite believe his eyes when Harry himself came up into the stands and sat by Parkinson and apparently hadn't even noticed his presence. Ron didn't know what to think when in the next moment Harry grabbed his scarf from around Parkinson's neck and brought her in for a drawn out kiss. Having seen more than enough Ron stood up and made his way towards Harry, it seemed that both of his friends needed a talking to, what was the muggle thing he'd heard Hermione blather on about, an intervention, that's what he was going to do for Harry and Hermione both. They would thank him for it, he was sure of it. He sat down very loudly hoping to get the attention of the wizard next to him.

"Hey mate, lets wrap this up so we can head back to the room, I need to talk to you about something."

Separating from Pansy Harry looked over to see his best friend sitting there looking put out. "Hey Ron, I didn't think we had plans tonight. I kind of already made plans to hang out with Pansy here."

"Well we didn't have anything set up, but when has that ever mattered. Ditch the snake and let's go do something fun." Ron couldn't understand why Harry was hesitating and what he had to say or do in order to get him to come back to the room so he could make his case and get this bloody year back on track.

"Listen mate, unless it's really important I'm going to follow through on my plans with my girlfriend, you understand." Harry said and turned his attention back to Pansy.

"Hold up! You just called Parkinson your bloody girlfriend. First Hermione was snogging the Ferret and now you are calling Pansy Parkinson your girlfriend! I just can't right now!" with that he stood up and walked away.

That was three weeks ago. Since then Ron has sulked, pouted and fumed around the castle, he just couldn't believe the nerve of his so called best friends. He became even more disgruntled when the invitations to the Slytherin Party were handed out. The party was intended for snakes and their dates, he was neither. It wasn't that he wanted to go to the stupid thing, it was that he didn't want to be the only one not going. In the last three weeks that's been all he's heard about in the halls, whispered conversations about what would be worn, and the all important question about who was taking who. Frankly he was sick of the whole thing, and was ready to scream. It was this thought that brought him back to the present, to him sitting alone in the pub, while his friends had fun without him. Harry and Parkinson, he refused to call her Pansy, even though both she and Harry had asked him to, had gone off to have lunch and plan their day together. Hermione had barely said two words to him since their encounter in the library, apparently she really meant what she said about accepting or getting lost. The thought of her with Malfoy really bothered him, he couldn't put his finger on why, it wasn't that he wanted her for himself, not really anyway, he just didn't want her with bloody, sodding Malfoy. He was so distracted by his thoughts of how everything had gone so wrong that he missed his friends returning to the pub with their dates. It was Malfoy's voice that brought Ron back to his surroundings, only to realize that he was in fact surrounded.

"So Pansy, what did you find for the party? But more importantly will it top last year? Hermione and I are going in a couples costume as-"

Ron interrupted, "Would you shove off Malfoy! Nobody sodding cares what you and your awful friends are doing for Halloween, and what you're going as and who you plan on taking!" Pointing at Harry and Hermione he continued with his angry tirade. "And you two, you've changed, I can barely recognize you, what with your own mutant growths attached to you all the bloody time, it's disgusting! You are Lions, they are Snakes, it's not natural!" He was cut off by the falling chair beside him.

"That's enough!" Hermione shouted you don't get it Ron, nobody cares which house we are in right now, everyone at this table has changed this year, everyone except you! You have some nerve to stand there and go off on people for no good reason, cut the crap and stop being a right arse Ronald Weasley! Harry and I have been your friends for six years, we have been through everything together and yet you stand there with nothing to grasp at and talk about what is and isn't natural? Sorry, but I am done. Come on Draco. Harry, Pansy would you like to continue our discussion elsewhere? Because from where I'm standing, all I see is an uninvited lion. Let's go."

The End


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