Happy Hallowéen, various freaks. However you choose to spend it, remember to get lots of sweeties! I'm high on trick or treating sweets at the moment, aren't we all. Well, actually... never mind. Onwards and upwards!

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The Death Eaters on Hallowéen

Voldemort turned to the others.

"AAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!"

"I'm not in my costume yet, fools," Voldemort snapped.

"Oh."

"Sorry, my lord."

"Isn't trick or treating supposed to be for muggle children?" Rodolphus asked.

"Who cares," Voldemort said dismissively. "It involves sweets, and I like sweets."

"You know," Dolohov said. "Hallowéen is not just about trick or treating."

"Oh really?" Voldemort sneered.

"Yes," Dolohov continued. "It is a tradition that dates back hundreds of years ago, based on a pagan festival; the one night of the year where the dead were supposed to rise from their graves and cause mischief. Trick or treating derives from when the peasants went around on Hallowéen, asking the rich for sweet pastries and bread. It became popular again when people emmigrated over to America from eastern Europe, bringing their ancient traditions with them. The Americans then made it seem slightly less gruesome by making the day a holiday, and in the evenings, let children dress up as ghosties and ghoulies and whatever, and go around knocking on doors and asking for sweets."

They all stared at him.

"How do you know all that?" Rodolphus asked.

Dolohov shrugged.

"Well," Voldemort said. "I hope you are all in your costumes."

The Death Eaters took a minute to regard each others costumes. Rodolphus was dressed as a vampire, or it could have been Snape, nobody was really sure, either way it was scary. Rabastan was wrapped in what seemed to be several roll's worth of toilet paper. Dolohov had a strange mask on, Wormtail was a pumpkin, and had a large, fake pumpkin around his middle and a little pumpkin top hat to top it off, and Voldemort was wearing a sheet on his head, with small eyeholes cut where his eyes should be.

"Bellatrix!" Voldemort yelled from under his sheet, voice slightly muffled. "Come on!"

"Coming!" Came a voice from upstairs, as Bellatrix came downstairs, pretty much the same except for pointier, more lethal looking heels, more make up and a witches hat on her head.

"What are you?" Rabastan asked.

"A witch?" Bellatrix suggested.

"Really?" Rabastan said.

"What do you think this is?" She asked him, gesturing to her hat. Rabastan shrugged. She sighed. "Are we going or not?"

"Yes," Voldemort said. "Enough fooling around. Is the pumpkin there?"

"Carved and lit," Dolohov confirmed.

"Smashing," Voldemort grinned though his sheet. "Everyone out, then."

The Death Eaters filed out of the house and into the street outside. The night outside was cold and dark, the only light coming from the pumpkins in people's windows and the stars and moon above them.

There were not that many little children about to annoy, so the Death Eaters made their way to the first house, and knocked on the door.

"Trick or treat!" They said, as the woman opened a door with a baby in her arms. The youngster took one look at the Death Eaters and began to cry.

"Oh, it's all right," the mother cooed. She turned to the Death Eaters. "Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?"

"Never too old," Voldemort said cheerily.

"Yes," the woman said uncertainly. "Well, hang on, I think I have some mars bars." She disappeared into the house, and reappeared with some chocolate bars.

"Thank you," Rodolphus said, as Voldemort certainly was not about to say anything.

The woman sniffed and closed the door rather briskly.

Several houses later, and the Death Eaters were ready to walk back home.

"Ha ha!" Voldemort said as they wandered back down the road, plastic bags full of sweets. "We have sweets! Now all we need to do is walk home, and-" Voldemort froze in the middle of his sentence, and the Death Eaters followed his gaze, and gasped as they saw someone who they had dearly hoped they would not encounter again.

"Hello Mr Riddle," Stewart Mallory said, trademark evil glint in his eye as he regarded the Death Eaters with disdain.

"I like your costume, Rabastan," he nodded to the Death Eater wrapped in toilet paper.

"Thank you," Rabastan said, slightly muffled.

"Where's Barty?" Stewart asked, after giving the small group the once over.

"He's at Ho-" Rabastan began, but Rodolphus stopped in.

"He's in 'Ho-' where?" Stewart asked.

"Ho... spital," Dolohov said slowly. "He broke his... nose?"

"What happened?" Stewart asked. "Someone hit him?"

"Yes, that was Rodolphus," Dolohov said. Rodolphus glared at him. "Barty took his hairbrush."

The others gave Dolohov a withering look.

"He'll be fine," Bellatrix finished. "Anyway, we really must be going..."

"What are you supposed to be anyway?" Voldemort asked the six year old.

"Me."

"Oh, of course."

The group tried to walk away, but Stewart stepped into their path.

"You know," Stewart said, advancing towards the Death Eaters, who retreated in terror. "I didn't get any sweets. A lot of the people who answered the door said that I did not have a costume on, so did not deserve any." He stopped, and tilted his head to one side, not removing his eerie unblinking gaze from them. "Of course, I dealt with them."

The Death Eaters turned slowly to the house across the road, and saw the door ajar, and a pumpkin blown out and upside down.

"AARGGHHHHHH!!!" The Death Eaters fled off down the street as fast as they could go. They sped around the corner and screeched to a halt in horror as they saw Stewart blocking the road.

"I want your sweets, Mr Riddle," he said.

The Death Eaters turned the other way and ran off again, still yelling at the top of their lungs.

Wormtail suddenly collapsed.

"Go on without me!" He said, as the others turned around. "I'll be all right!"

"No, Wormtail!" Voldemort cried. "We can't leave you!"

Wormtail looked up at his master for a minute as he knelt down, still in his sheet, beside him. "You have our sweets!"

He grabbed the plastic bag from Wormtail, gave a cry as he realised Stewart was standing just behind them, gave Wormtail a hefty kick for good measure, and took off again with the others.

Unfortunately, the shape and size of Wormtail's pumpkin costume meant that he didn't feel the kick, but it sent him rolling down the road towards Stewart, who stepped neatly aside as Wormtail as an orange blur went spinning off down the hill.

SLAM!

Voldemort slammed the front door as they reached the house, and locked it firmly.

"Do you think we lost him?" Dolohov asked, panting.

"I don't know," Voldemort said. "Turn on the lights."

Rodolphus flicked the light switch but nothing happened.

Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning.

"I thought it was clear!" Dolohov pointed out.

"Where's Rabastan?" Bellatrix asked suddenly.

They turned.

"Rabastan?" Rodolphus called into the dark.

There was no reply.

Suddenly there was a crash of thunder, the front door creaked open, even though Voldemort was sure he had locked it, and four sillhouettes appeared in the door.

"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!"

The lightening subsided, the lights flickered back on, and the four terrified Death Eaters realised that the figures in the door were not frightening at all, well, one of them was, but two of them were Rabastan and Wormtail, one was Stewart's mother and one was Stewart himself.

"Hello, Tom," Mrs Mallory said, smiling at Voldemort, who was beginning to wonder how anyone could tell who he was if he had a sheet over his head. "I managed to rescue one of your friends from the bottom of the hill, and one tangled up in Mrs Gregory's hedge.

Anyway, little Stewart didn't get any sweets, and you seem to have a rather large supply, probably for all the little children? So, we'll just take those."

She took the six bags and stepped out of the door.

"Happy Hallowéen, Mr Riddle!" She said cheerily, and walked off.

Stewart grinned evilly at them, they stared back at him. Voldemort realised, so he really wasn't an evil demon child! He just wanted sweets, like any other boy his age. He was perfectly ordinary!

Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning, and, when it flickered away, Stewart had gone.

The Death Eaters looked at each other, and then...

"AAARRRRRGGGHHH!!"

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Hmm, I don't think that chapter was very good, myself, but hey, you win some, you lose some!

Reddy.