Chapter Ten: Halloween
They had gotten special permission from Dumbledore to take the boys to the States for Halloween, to take them trick-or-treating. The Tennyson clan fawned over Harry and Draco, acting as if this were the first time they had met Harry. It was in fact the first time they had met Draco but he was taken in quite quickly.
So, that night they were preparing to take the boys door to door. Ben had already plotted out the route that promised the most candy; they had made sure the city was clear of alien criminals for the night at least; they had covered the rules with their charges.
The day of Halloween really got started at noon exactly when Gwen began to be poisoned by her own power. She was tucked into her case and handed over to Grandpa Max for safe keeping.
This of course meant Kevin was not the greatest person to be around so it fell to Ben and Julie to take care of the boys; it took only two hours for them to realize they needed help and so they flooed in Hermione and Cedric. (Hermione was a Muggleborn of course and could be trusted not to blow the magical cover. And Cedric, in spite of being a Pureblood and thus having been raised with magic, had taken several years worth of Muggle Studies and aced each year.) Each brought a pile of candy, Cedric's from Honeyduke's and Hermione's from Muggle Britain, for the boys.
"Okay," Ben stated, starting up a projector with slides, "This's the route we'll be using, we'll be staying together of course but just in case someone lags behind here's the route…We will be acting like normal muggles, unless of course something attacks. In the event of an attack you'll each have a small bag of Floo powder with you. You are to find the nearest fireplace and get them back to Hogwarts. It doesn't matter which fireplace as the entirety of Bellwood has been connected to the Hogwarts Floo network, ask for Dumbledore's fireplace. Do not try to help us; we'll handle the fighting, you get the boys. We'll be leaving tonight at seven-forty-five and we'll be done by nine. Understand the plan?"
"Yes," Hermione nodded.
"Uh-huh." Cedric nodded as well.
"Good. Now we've got a few hours to go so just chill out."
Four hours later they were putting the last touches on their costumes. Draco was a cowboy, with Evander done up in a conjured horse costume, with a custom made saddle to use. Harry was going as a normal boy, a tiny ID mask letting him have his face without the scar. Cedric had conjured his own suit of armour, the shield displaying both the insignia of Hufflepuff House and the Diggory House, the plume from his helmet stark yellow. Hermione was going as an American high school cheerleader, pom-poms and all and she was using the Gryffindor colors.
Julie was going as a Slayer (a la Buffy: the Vampire Slayer), weapons and all while Ben had taken the villain approach and had chosen to go as the Joker (a la Batman: the Animated Series with hints of The Dark Knight movie). His reason, "I'm a hero right? So I gotta be bad sometimes to even out…" he then pouted, completely destroying any hope of scaring anyone that night.
They then began work on Kevin, who was not quite willing to leave the house without his redhead. Since getting Gwen was not an option they tried bribing him.
"Twenty?" Ben offered. He was not talking twenty dollars, he was talking twenty hundred (two thousand) dollars. When you were bribing Kevin E. Levin you had to talk big money and you had to be able to make good on the bribe. Ben was quite rich, already a millionaire, because of all the deals that went with being an alien hero celebrity.
"No." Kevin told them. His voice was tired and depressed, a voice he only used when Gwen was mad at him or when he couldn't be around her for whatever reason for an extended time. He was sitting on the couch, his eyes dead and dull and staring blankly at a wall.
"Thirty? Forty? Fifty?!"
"Back off Ben," Julie told her boyfriend, "lemme try something." She dragged a chair to sit in front of the ex-convict, turning it to be backwards and sitting down, "Go get the boys ready." Ben sighed but nodded and left.
"Okay Kevin," she said, "What do we need to do to get you to go?"
"Nothing. 'm not goin'." He mumbled.
"Bull." She spoke angrily, "Those boys are waiting for you. You're actually scaring them. They want you to come with and you're just sitting here moping. You're going!"
"They've got you guys."
"Not the same; they want their parents, which now means you and Gwen. Gwen can't come and you're being a jackass!"
"Don't care."
"What're you gonna do when you and Gwen have kids huh? Every time she goes on a trip without you you check out! What're are you gonna do if she dies and you don't?!"
"I will." He growled and she realized what he meant. Thinking quickly she tried a different approach, "Gwen wants you to take the boys out tonight." She said softly, "She'll be pretty mad if you don't, pissed even. Imagine what she'll do to you if you make them go without you."
Kevin paled, coming back to life and jumping up to go throw on his costume. Julie sighed, resting for a few minutes.
From up in the ether Gwen sighed, having watched the entire thing. She resolved to trail after the group. Only after a half hour the group headed out (Cedric had even transfigured an old rocking horse into a real white steed).
They had a good time; the boys earned much more candy than usual just for being 'cute'. The teens of course sorted through the candy when they got home just as a precaution but then handed it over. By six am the next morning they were back at Hogwarts and ready to eat even more candy at the Halloween feast (Britain was a day behind America). But this of course meant that Gwen got to spend extra time in her case and Kevin was mopey again. Add in Ben getting a serious sugar rush and Harry getting injured enough to be brought to the Hospital Wing (the first that year for an injury!) it was a busy busy day.
Good news was that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff houses had all but merged, Harry and Draco providing the connection needed, and each member of the other house had been declared unofficial honorary members of a house (meaning the Gryffindors were honorary Hufflepuffs and vice versa.) Special passwords had already been set up with the Houses' entrance portraits to allow members of the other to enter un-hassled by anyone. (Plus Luna had been given honorary member status for both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff houses and had her own personal password for the portraits).
If the staff disapproved of the idea they weren't saying anything. Indeed Dumbledore watched with twinkling eyes when, as soon as he was done with his Halloween Feast Speech, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs began crisscrossing the hall to sit at each other's table. And, instead of being silent and awkward, many very animated conversations were to be heard emitting from both now intermingled tables.
"Isn't it beautiful Minerva?" Albus asked contently.
"Yes," the transfiguration professor nodded, before frowning and whispering worriedly, "do you believe we should allow this to continue though?"
"Most definitely," the Headmaster spoke.
"Yes," tiny professor Flitwick nodded, squeaking, "This is a wonderful step forward!"
"Yes, yes it is, I see many wonderful results from this." Trelawney spoke. (McGonagall rolled her eyes).
"I agree," Lupin, still the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and alive, by some miracle, agreed, "It's a good sign, this never would have happened during my school years…"
"Because Gryffindors were attempting to feed other students to magical creatures," Snape replied dryly. Remus frowned but did not reply.
"I think this is a smashing idea," Professor Sprout squeaked, "and the students took the lead. We didn't have to force them at all."
One by one the entire staff agreed, except Snape of course but he was outnumbered, and students' idea was allowed to continue, uninterrupted. As the days went on it became clear that a new era was beginning, at least for half the school.