The night of Halloween Ball filled the air with excitement as the student donned their costumes and hoarded themselves into the Great Hall. The Hall was decorated with orange and black decorations floating in midair. Instead of the usually foods on the buffet table, the whole table was lined with hundreds of kinds of candy and sweet drinks. A big band was singing and playing music on the stage. Even the Aurors who'd been called on standby were dressed up in simple costumes and masks. The whole air in the room seemed to be filled with a type of positive mischief and frivolity. It thrilled the students to be there.

Of course, the majority of the Slytherins stayed on one side of the Hall, and the Gryffindors remained on the other. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw danced carefully in the middle. Once the music got going, the crowd seemed to mesh a little more, but both houses still kept peaceful and distant. Scorpius and Albus were dancing with their Slytherin mates towards the back of the crowd, while Castora and Rose danced with James Potter and his mates towards the front. For a good hour, much to the relief of Scorpius, the dance was a lot of fun. Dressed as a medieval Romanian Warlock, Scorpius never looked so dashing.

"Hey, Scorps, glad you decided to come?" asked A-Sev, his arm around a sixth-year Ravenclaw girl with jet black hair, wearing what looked suspiciously like a tight cat costume, both young people looking like they'd dipped too deeply into the butterbeer stash they'd brought.

"It's fun, I guess," Scorpius shrugged, wanting to get away from Albus, his breath smelling of alcohol.

"You guess? Aww, common, man! Have a firewhiskey!" Albus said, thrusting a shot glass out at Scorpius. Shaking his head, laughing, and pushing it away, he decided that a getaway would be a good time, NOW more than later. Lucky for him, a slow song was coming over the room, and couples were beginning to latch onto each other. Since Scorpius was a happily single man, this was his excuse.

"I have to take a leak, A-Sev," Scorpius shrugged. Albus rolled his eyes and downed the shot. "And be careful, man, you're going to be wasted so far off your ass you'll be flying around the room!"

"Don't fall in the toilet, you douche!" Albus laughed drunkedly. Scorpius rolled his eyes and laughed lightly, headed as far away from Albus as he could get. Not that he was annoyed, but Albus did have a reputation for being a bit of a partier…a reputation neither of his professors or parents knew about, no doubt. Being the son of Harry Potter, Albus no doubt was glorified by every professor he had. The lucky bastard.

While thinking heavily of this, Scorpius lost track of where he was stepping, and he fell over James Potter, pouring himself a glass of pumpkin punch. The drink spilled all over James. James whipped around and growled. The look in his eyes was scary and fierce, the flames in them setting off his golden-red hair.

"You clumsy little Slytherin monkey!" he yelled, whipping out his wand and pointing it at Scorpius. Luckily, the quick action of two Aurors held James back while Scorpius ducked out of his way. This little bit of chaos was hardly recognized by the rest of the room, which went on dancing as the lovely romantic ballad continued.

"I'll get him for this one…" James muttered maliciously after the Aurors holding him back shoved him in the direction of the stairwell leading back to Gryffindor Tower.


Scorpius, wanting to lie low after nearly dodging that bullet with James Potter, stayed on the edge of the Great Hall, just watching people dance. He looked down only for a moment to adjust the belt of his costume. When he looked up again, he eyes flew automatically to focus on a young girl he'd never seen before. He didn't even know what attracted his eye to her…but he was glad it did. Dressed in a white gossamer gown that made her kinky red hair stand out, the girl wasn't dancing either, but leaning against a column, seemingly satisfied just to watch the other dancers have fun. Her eyes were a very brutally intense blue, and her smile was enough to make Scorpius want to get his own teeth whitened just so they looked half as radiant as hers. Squinting to get a better look, Scorpius could see now that the girl was rounder, not thin or fat, but right in the middle. Just right. Seeing her made the rest of the world fade away, and it made his chest pound so hard it hurt. How old was she? She didn't look to be older than he, but if she was younger, it was only by a year or two…

The girl turned her head of a brief moment, and she caught sight of him staring at her, a smile curling on his lip. She turned a little red from the sudden attention, but she didn't turn away. Instead, she giggled and looked at her feet, then back up at Scorpius.

The girl finally tore her gaze away from the cute young man. Scorpius took this as a sign to come over to her. He gently eased his way around the outskirts of the crowd, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"How come I've never seen you before?" he asked.

"I wouldn't know. I've never seen you, either," answered the girl. "But I am glad I am now."

"So am I," smiled Scorpius. Her voice was strong, not airy, but not unfeminine either. The girl blushed. "What year are you?"

"Fifth," she answered. So she WAS in his year!

"Your eyes keep drawing me in…I'm in orbit around you and I can't get away…" Scorpius said, all too truthfully. He leaned down towards the girl for a kiss, but she leaned away.

"What was that? I don't do it on purpose!" she protested.

"You say that like it's a bad thing! You're not a witch, you're a goddess."

The girl blushed even redder, embarrassed by the fancy poetic talk and the attention of this handsome young stranger.

"You must be, to have such power in your eyes…" said Scorpius.

"Are you a writer? You're talking like a poet!" the girl said, a hint of delight in her voice. It was one of Scorpius' strongest talents. He secretly had a poetic/writer/artsy side.

"Do you want me to stop?" asked Scorpius. The girl thought a moment.

"No. To find a man who talks like a poet is such a rare treasure nowadays!" said the redhead. "It makes me feel, well, like a phoenix, radiant and young."

"See? Now YOU'RE doing it!" Scorpius said. This made both young people laugh.

"I mean, today, boys write poetry consisting entirely of burping, breasts, drinking and talking about fat asses. At least you don't smell like firewhiskey while you recite you poetry," said the girl.

"I'm being inspired by the alcohol in your eyes, my lady," said Scorpius. He didn't sound like a flirt at all, but more like an obsessive lover who's intentions were pure and honorable.

The ballad sang sweetly through the air as the world melted away around the pair. Scorpius held out his hand. "Do you dance?"

The girl shook her head. "Not very well. I'm pretty clumsy," she warned.

"I don't care," Scorpius whispered. He took her hand and guided her onto the dance floor, where dating couples slow danced. Scorpius guided the flattered (and embarrassed) girl in a waltz step. She caught on quickly. She didn't need to look at her feet to see where she was going. Scorpius' eyes said all she needed to know.

They swirled and turned around on the ballroom floor without a care in the world.

Before either of them could a say anything, Rose Weasley came running at the girl. She gasped and abruptly stopped the dance to shove Scorpius behind the column where they had previously been leaning. Rose didn't see them, and continued looking. Scorpius peered behind the column.

"What was—"

But he was abruptly interrupted by the kiss the girl laid upon his lips. Scorpius relished the beautiful feeling all of a sudden. He kissed her back with twice as much passion before she let go, her cheek even redder (how red did they get?).

"You ever kiss a girl before?" she asked.

"No, and I still haven't. Tonight I kissed a goddess," Scorpius muttered. The girl's heart was pounding against her ribcage, stopping her breath.

"What's your name?" Scorpius asked.

Rose called out the answer in her desperate search for the girl. "CASTORA! CAS?!"

The girl nodded at the sound. "Castora. Castora Dursley." she answered.

"I'm Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius introduced. The expression on Castora's face changed almost instantly and dramatically from one of lovesickness to one of pure terror.

"M…Malfoy? You said Malfoy?" she asked suddenly. Scorpius nodded, wondering what was wrong.

"Yes, I did, but what does that—"

"CASTORA, THERE YOU—" Rose Weasley found the two young people behind the column. She grabbed Castora's arm, but when her eyes fell upon Scorpius, her expressed changed to match Castora's. Suddenly, Scorpius understood it all. For Rose Weasley was a Gryffindor.

And apparently, so was Castora.


After having dragged Castora away from Scorpius, Rose sternly sat Castora down at a table and sat beside her, looking about ready to smack her. Meanwhile, Castora was still red from kissing Scorpius Malfoy. He was a Malfoy! A Slytherin! She's just fallen in love with her enemy.

But why didn't she care? Castora watched fondly as Scorpius, seemingly upset, bounded up the stairs and out of the Great Hall and out of sight. Rose roughly tugged on Castora's shoulder so that she would have her mate's attention again.

"Are you mental, Cas?" asked Rose. "Why were you behind that column with HIM? He's a SLYTHERIN! And not just ANY Slytherin…oh, that boy is about as snakelike as you get!"

"Not a snake. A charmer," muttered a lovestruck Castora.

Rose lightly smacked Castora to get her to come back to earth. "He's not for you, so STAY AWAY if you know what's good for you! Couldn't you see the evil snakelike glare he's bound to have in his eye?"

"No, I only saw him," Castora said.

"He's your enemy! He's a pureblooded bigot! You're HIS enemy too as a Muggle-born!" Rose advised.

"Rosie…you know what…?"

"What?" Rose said angrily. Castora then saw Rose give her "the pout." Rose got it no doubt from her mother Hermione. She would purse her lips, knit her eyebrows, cross her arms, and cock her head to one side at a certain angle. When Rose gave anyone "the pout" they knew they would lose the fight.

"I need to go to bed, I'm tired," lied Castora, getting up to go.

"You do that. I'm saying out a while longer. Get to sleep…and forget about men! They all suck anyways!" Rose advised, smiling after the last phrase. Castora turned back, not smiling, but annoyingly rolling her eyes and heading upstairs in the opposite direction that Scorpius had just gone.