Chapter 16

Halloween

Halloween had finally arrived, and today was also the first Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and I was nervous for two reasons. First, because I didn't know who to root for. Secondly, seven of my best friends were going to be riding around on brooms, trying to kill each other, and I didn't want anyone to fall off and die, or get seriously hurt. Harry was seeker, Ron was keeper, and Fred and George were beaters for the Gryffindor team. For the Slytherin team Draco was seeker, and Crabbe and Goyle were the beaters. The guys had just came into the great hall yelling playful insults at each other, but that was not helping my nerves at all. Apparently Slytherin was Gryffindors biggest rival, and their matches were so legendary, that almost everyone's families were here today. To keep the rival spirit alive, the Gryffindors were at their table, and we were at ours. Even though I was nervous, I couldn't help playing along, and started shouting my own insults at the Gryffindors. Besides, it gave me an excuse for not eating breakfast!

"You're going down Potter!" Draco shouted. "Everyone knows that I'm the best seeker at this school!"

"Shove off Malfoy!" Ron shouted back grinning. "Everyone knows you're a slimy git!"

I laughed and jumped up onto the table. It was time for me to 'curse' Harry.

"According to Salazar this should work! Harry Potter you are now blind!" I shouted, waving my wand in a sarcastic and chaotic way at him.

He jumped and clutched at his eyes. "There're melting! My eyeballs are melting!" Then he grinned at me, and jumped onto his own table. "Just kidding! Old Salazar seems to have lost his touch! You have not succeeded in cursing me!" He shouted, laughing evilly, and the great hall burst into laughter.

I playfully hissed at him, and jumped down. Elijah, on the other hand, flashed over to the other side of the room, and grabbed Hermione around the waist. "How dare you insult the great Salazar Slytherin!" He shouted. "Because of your insults, I shall now capture this beautiful Gryffindor maiden, and hold her hostage unless you forfeit the game!"

"Don't listen to him Harry!" She laughed, barely able to get the words out, because Elijah had started to tickle her. "Go on and play without me! Show Slytherin that Gryffindor can do anything!" She sarcastically flopped around in Elijah's arms, and pretended to faint.

Elijah grinned down at her, gave her a kiss, and helped her to stand up.

"Get away from her evil doer!" Fred shouted, jumping up, and pretending to fight him. Suddenly he let out a yell, because he had grown bat wings. He flapped into a wall and stuck there like a giant fly.

"How dare you!" George shouted, shaking his fist in Damon's direction. He started to run toward us, and immediately found himself in the same predicament as his brother.

"Do tell us how Gryffindor plans on winning the game with no beaters." Damon said standing up. "Because I believe it can't be done!"

"You will pay for this vampire!" George laughed, as they both struggled to get free.

"It's sad that the Slytherins have to resort to such underhanded things to win a simple Quidditch match!" Sirius shouted from the head table. "This just proves that Gryffindor is the better team!" And the Gryffindor table burst into cheers.

Damon grinned at Sirius, and flicked his wand at him. Sirius let out a yell and found himself stuck to the wall beside the twins. The Slytherins cheered, and the Gryffindors hissed and booed.

"This just proves my point!" Sirius laughed, and flicked his wand at Damon, who found himself dangling in the air by his feet.

Snape nearly spit out his pumpkin juice, but Damon waved his wand in the air. The entire room flipped upside down, and now everyone was looking up at the tables above us, and we were sitting on the enchanted ceiling.

"The world looks right to me!" He cried still dangling upside down.

"Wicked!" Draco yelled.

"You have got to…."

"…Show us how to do this!" The twins yelled.

"Please don't! I don't want to walk in and find the whole house in this condition!" Mrs. Weasley cried.

"Damon please show us how you did that!" Ron yelled, and ducked his Mother's playful pop in the head.

"Is this limbo mist?" A seventh year Ravenclaw asked, grinning at him

Damon shook his head. "No, limbo mist has a golden glow to it, and will make you walk upside down. This is a topsy-turvy spell I created."

"It's brilliant!" The twins cried, looking down at him.

"Well I do believe that it is time for the match." Dumbledore said, standing up with a twinkle in his eye. "Damon I must ask you to give the Gryffindor team back their beaters, and Sirius please set Damon down."

They a both groaned, but grinned at the other. Damon landed with a thud on the enchanted ceiling, and stood up.

"You'll have to stop yourself from falling, so are you ready?" He asked, and they nodded. He flicked his wand at them and the wings vanished. They pointed their wands at the ground and landed safely on their feet.

"Hey Professor Dumbledore, can we leave the great hall like this? I think it adds a bit of character to the room." Harry laughed.

Dumbledore laughed, but shook his head no, so Damon recited the non-verbal counter spell and the room flipped right side up. The entire school and their families filed out of the great hall. Everyone was talking and laughing as we made our way to the Quidditch pitch. Great now my nervousness was back!

The game lasted for a few hours, but we ended up losing to Gryffindor by 60 points. Harry caught the snitch by doing some crazy flying stunt that involved dive bombing the ground, and I thought he was going to smack into the dirt, and splatter himself everywhere. Draco saw him dive for it and went after him, but he just wasn't fast enough. I nearly clawed Klaus's arm to pieces during the whole ordeal. Thankfully he has a high tolerance for pain and, of course, fast healing, so he didn't mind. I cringed every time a bludger flew at someone's head, and nearly had a heart attack when Crabbe almost fell off his broom, but thankfully no one was seriously hurt or killed. The Gryffindor supporters were sitting across the pitch from us and I could see Hermione, Lavender, and Carling going through the same thing I was. Ginny however, had turned into something like a football coach and was shouting instructions at the guys during the whole game. The boys had a great time though, and cheered when someone did something that they called awesome. Damon kept telling me to lighten up. Stefan and Elijah just kept laughing at me, but I just shook my head the whole time, and hoped no one died. I agree with Madam Pomfrey. Quidditch is a dangerous game.

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon and we were all congregating in my common room. We were going to get dressed up before the big feast soon, so we were just hanging around and talking.

I spotted Carling, and walked over to her. "So how do you like living with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?"

Her face lit up in a big smile. "It's been wonderful! Molly and Arthur have been helping us so much. Arthur even got Stephen a job at the Ministry, and he is helping him in the Muggle artifacts office. It doesn't pay much, but then we don't need much either. It makes Stephen feel good though, knowing that we can help them too."

I smiled at her. "And how about the blood situation?"

"Your family has helped us with that. We don't have to drink animal blood anymore. Klaus and Damon have taken Stephen to all the places they get blood, and showed him how to get in and out. I haven't felt this good in so long. Drinking animal blood makes us weak, and that's why Greyback was able to corner us so easily. Human blood keeps us strong, but we could never bring ourselves to hurt anyone. I am so thankful to everyone. We have family again, and we don't have to hurt anyone to drink human blood."

"I'm glad you're doing so well." I said giving her a hug.

"We are, and we are really happy." She said, drying her eyes. "Stephen laughs at me, because I cry every day. We were living in an old abandoned cottage in the woods, drinking animal blood, and trying to avoid the sunlight. Now I feel like a princess in a muggle fairy tale. I can walk in the daylight now, drink human blood, and I live in a real house. It almost seems like a dream."

"Well it's not a dream, I assure you. Speaking of princess though, you get to dress up in a Viking princess costume." I said with a grin.

"I know I'm so excited!" She grinned. "Stefan sent me a note when Klaus sent our costumes, and said that he thinks I'll look beautiful." She blushed. "He is so sweet."

I looked over at Stefan. He was standing there talking to Mr. Malfoy, and I saw him glance in our direction. He's listening.

"Yeah well Stefan is a big pain in the butt. Even more so than Damon. He's a horrible person, and should be avoided." I said as seriously as I could.

Carling looked confused, and I snuck another glance a Stefan. He was glaring at me.

I grinned at him, then turned to her. "He was, and still is, listening. I wanted to make him squirm a little." I said laughing, and she laughed too. "Truth is Stefan is a great guy. He is very sweet, and I say if you're interested in him, then go for it."

She looked at me, grinned, and mouthed the words. "I might." And I grinned back at her. She's sneaky. I like it!

I winked at her, and checked the time. It was getting close to 4, so I needed to have the males clear out so we females could take our time to get ready for the feast at 6.

"Hey guys!" I shouted over the hum of everyone's conversation. "I need all of you to clear out. You know how females can be when we gotta do our hair, make-up, ect., ect. So shoo, out, all of you."

Klaus grinned and said, "But what if you all need help with something. I'm thinking I should stay behind just in case."

"OUT!" I cried, pointing to the door, as everyone burst into laughter.

"So what's the plan Princess?" Damon asked. "Where are we supposed to get ready?"

"Draco's dorm." I said. "I'll send a patronus when we are ready."

"It's not fair!" Klaus protested. "Salazar gets to stay."

Salazar laughed. "Yes well, I have a feeling I won't see anything I'm not supposed too."

"That would be correct sir." I said, then turned to the others who were grinning. "OUT!"

There was a bunch of playful grumbling as they all grabbed their costumes that were laying about in the room, but I knew that some of them were going to need help with the muggle zippers and things of that sort, so that's one of the reasons I had the boys bring their stuff. Salazar was a good sport and let me tack up my bed sheet in front of his painting, and as for the open doorway, that was fixed by a simple protection charm. Now the guys couldn't see in, if they tried to sneak down the corridor to spy on us. Which I knew they would try!

"Ok girls." I said rubbing my hands together. "Who here, besides Lavender and I, is good at hair and make-up?"

Mrs. Malfoy raised her hand. "I can help with that."

"Are you dressing up too?" Carling asked.

She shook her head. "No, but I did buy a set of brand new robes for the occasion." She said, pointing to her robes hanging up in a corner. "Lucius and I decided to not dress up."

"I was wondering if those were yours." I said. "They are very beautiful."

Her robes were made of sliver satin, with emerald green accents.

She smiled at me and nodded. "Thank you very much."

"Ok what's first?" Carling asked.

"Well we should get dressed first. That way we don't mess up our hair and make-up when we go to put our costumes on." I replied.

"Makes sense." Lavender said, pulling out her Fairy Queen gown.

So the chaos began. Mrs. Malfoy conjured up a large floor length mirror, and leaned it against the wall. I pulled out my satin black and red full length ball gown. It had a lace bodice with bats to accent it, which I charmed to flutter. Mrs. Weasley was good at shrinking and enlarging certain areas of our costumes to give us a perfect fit, though some of us needed to add lace to our bodice areas, because she thought it showed too much skin. After an hour we were still tucking, shrinking, and enlarging when Damon's voice floated through the protection spell.

"Are you girls ready yet? We are ready and waiting on you."

"Well you're just going to have to wait some more, because we haven't even got to our hair yet." I replied, adjusting my gown for the millionth time. "But while you're waiting, you boys can fill my blood necklace with your blood."

"All of us?" Ron asked nervously.

I laughed. "No, just my boys and Remus." I replied, sticking my arm out of the door and handing them the three inch vile. It had a short black leather cord tied around it. "Oh, Damon can you put a permanent cooling charm on it too?"

"What's the magic word?"

"Now."

"That's not the magic word." He laughed.

"Pretty please." I said, with a sing-song voice.

"Ok. Since you asked so nicely." He sighed.

"Lynn." Hermione called out. "You know what Cleopatra looked like, so can you help me with my hair?"

"You want me to turn it black?"

"Yes please."

"Oh just in case Hermione hadn't told you." Draco said. "She came up with an idea at the prefects meeting, so there is going to be a Halloween costume contest."

"I'm totally winning that!" Ginny cried.

"That sounds like fun!" I said grinning at her.

"I figured why not? Besides, loads of people from all the houses are dressing up. There is going to be different categories to judge." She said.

"Yes, and all the Professors are judges." Sirius laughed. "I think it's a fun idea. The winner of each category gets 5 galleons."

"But it's only for students though. No adults allowed." Remus replied.

"Can I pretend to be a student?" Stephen asked, and we all laughed.

"Ok Princess…"

"Queen." I corrected, with a smirk.

"Princess, your necklace is done."

I laughed and stuck my arm out of the door. "Thank you my subjects."

"Whatever!" Stefan shouted. "See I told you Damon. You started calling her Princess when she was a baby, and I said that one day she would want to be Queen. You didn't listen." We all laughed again.

About 30 minutes later, the girls and I were finally finished. I looked around at all of us and smiled.

"Oh, everyone looks so lovely!" Mrs. Weasley cried.

"So do you Molly." Mrs. Malfoy said smiling at her.

"I have you to thank for that Narcissa. Thank you for helping me with my hair. I didn't know it could look like this."

"It was my pleasure." She said.

I looked myself over in the mirror. My fake vampire teeth were the perfect touch to my outfit. They were caps that fit over my regular teeth, so they didn't affect my speech at all. I had put sticking charms on them, so that I could eat with them in though. I had arranged my hair in a lose bun with curls, and placed my black crown on my head.

"Ok is everyone ready?" I asked looking at the girls, and they nodded. "Well since Salazar has had to put up with all of our squabbling and noise, I think it's only fair that he sees us first."

Salazar laughed. "I agree!" Came his muffled cry.

"I don't think that's fair!" Klaus shouted.

"Too bad!" I shouted back, and I yanked down the bed sheet. "Ta-da!"

He beamed down at us. "It was worth the wait. You all look beautiful."

We grinned at him. "Ok now for them." I said waving my hand at the door.

"Wait!" Ginny cried. "I think we should go out one by one."

"Oh I like that idea!" Carling said.

"Ok then." I said grinning at her. "Alright boys back away so you can't see the door."

"Ok." Came a chorus of replies.

I removed the protection spell, and started the introductions. "Ok first off, I give you the Queen of Slytherin, Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy."

She grinned at me and walked out. "You look wonderful Dear." Mr. Malfoy said, taking her arm.

"Up next is the Nobel Lady of Gryffindor, Mrs. Molly Weasley."

There was stunned silence, and Mr. Weasley took his wife's hand. "Molly you're so beautiful."

She dabbed at her eyes and giggled.

"Next is the Woodland Fairy Queen, Miss Lavender Brown."

All the guys clapped as she walked out.

"Next we have the beautiful Viking Princess, Miss Carling Weasley."

More clapping and Stefan took her hand and kissed it with a grin.

"Next we have the fierce and beautiful pirate Angelica, Miss Ginny Weasley."

She walked out with a grin, and I think Harry gave her a cat call whistle.

"Now I give you The Queen of Egypt, Miss Hermione Granger."

"Ah, so beautiful my Queen." Elijah said. He took her hand and kissed it.

"Wow, Hermione is that really you?" Draco asked.

She giggled, and looked at him. "Yes, it's really me."She turned around and said, "Now I would like to present to you the beautiful Queen of the Undead, Miss Lynn Salvatore."

"I compelled her to say that." I said, as I walked out.

I saw the stunned look in Klaus eyes, and gave him a large smile.

"You look so wonderful Love." He whispered, giving me a kiss. "I'm a lucky man."

"Thank you." I said. And for the first time in my life, I blushed.

"Queen it is then." Damon said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks." I said smiling up at him. "Ok are we all ready?"

"Yep!" they all cried, and we headed off toward the great hall.

The guys looked great too!

Damon caused quite a stir when we walked in. His handsome Devil costume was a big hit with the ladies. It had a red cape, with a high collar that fastened around his neck. It came with a red velvet vest, and fake devil horns, and he was wearing black slacks to go with it. Sirius got a lot of laughs because of his pimp costume. It was a loud lime green color, and he had a hat to match. Klaus looked funny too, his cowboy hat made his ears stick out a little, and I couldn't help but giggle. He did go full rustic American Cowboy though, his costume had come with chaps and everything.

"How's your fake fangs working Harry?" I asked, as we all sat down at the Slytherin table.

"They're working out great! I put sticking charms on them so I can eat, without them falling out." He said flashing them at me.

I laughed. "Me too!" I cried, flashing mine back at him.

"Well it looks like I'm not the only one who can bite." Klaus said, giving me a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, I can bite back now." I laughed, playfully hissing at him.

"Klaus, don't beat me up when I say this, but Lynn, you look every beautiful tonight. I mean it, you really do."

"Aw, thank you Draco." I said, leaning over the table and kissing him on the cheek.

"Ack woman! Are you trying to get me killed?!" He grinned, as Klaus playfully flashed his wolf eyes at him, and growled.

We all laughed at him. "Well if someone here doesn't win a costume award, I'm going to be upset." I said, looking at all my friends.

"Yeah cause we are the best dressed." Ron said, waving his Knight's sword around.

"We concur!" the twins cried, brandishing their own.

"What are the categories for the costume contest Hermione?" I asked.

"Well there is best dressed, funniest, and most original." She said grinning at Elijah. "But it's done by year, then we have the main one. The over all."

"Holy crap! Is that Professor Snape!?" Ginny cried, pointing at a man, who didn't look like Snape at all, but was just now sitting down in Snape's place at the head table.

We all stared at him, not just my friends and I, but everyone in the great hall. Remus and Sirius, who were already at the head table, stopped in mid-sentence to look at him. He was dressed in a vertical black and white striped suit, and had changed his hair color to a grayish white, and it stuck out at all kinds of crazy angles from his head.

"Is-is he dressed up like Beetlejuice?" I asked, looking at my boys, Hermione, and Harry in shock.

"From the movie Beetlejuice." Hermione said. "I've seen it, and I think you might be right."

Hermione and I looked at each other and grinned. We jumped up at the same time and shouted at the top of our lungs, in the still silent great hall. "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beeeetlllllejuice!"

Professor Snape looked at us and grinned. Yes he GRINNED! "I was wondering if anyone would guess my costume choice." He said standing up. "Yes, it is I, Beetlejuice! Five points to both Slytherin and Gryffindor!" He cried, and waved his hand toward the giant hourglasses that held the house points. Sure enough, five rubies fell into Gryffindor's and five emeralds into Slytherin's.

"There is something foul afoot here!" Cried a fourth year Half-blood Ravenclaw, who was dressed up as Sherlock Holmes. "Watson! We must find the real Professor Snape! This is an imposter! The real Professor Snape would NEVER award points to a Gryffindor!" And the entire great hall burst into laughter.

Professor Dumbledore came into the great hall, and everyone stared at him. His log white beard was tied in front as it usually was, but he had on red and white striped PJ's with a matching night cap on his head.

"Who are you, Professor Dumbledore?" Harry shouted, and he looked over at us with a twinkle in his eye.

"Why, I'm Rip Van Winkle, of course." He said with a smile.

All of us who knew of the muggle story stood up and clapped, as he took his place at the head table.

"Thank you very much." He said with a slight bow. "Although I think Professor Snape, if it's really him, has out done us all." And the great hall burst into laughter again. "Just a few announcements first. We will have our feast, then a presentation by our wonderful Hogwarts Ghosts, and then, for all students who wish to enter, a first ever Hogwarts Halloween Costume Contest!" And all of us who dressed up cheered. "May the feast begin!"

"I'm trying to figure out Hagrid's costume." I said piling food onto my plate. "I can't seem to place it."

Stefan looked at him and laughed. "Paul Bunyan."

I face palmed my forehead. "Of course!"

I looked around the great hall as I ate. Hermione wasn't kidding when she said loads of people were dressing up from all the houses. Even a bunch of my fellow Slytherins had done it. Though there were those very few who were scowling and tossing dirty looks at everyone. That's ok, Pansy and her friends will get over it.

After the feast and the ghosts, who flew around the great hall in formation and sang us a song, the costume contest began. The first years went first and so on. From my group of friends, Fred and George, who of course entered together as a single entry, won most original for their Zorro Style bandit costumes for seventh year, and Lavender won best dressed for our fifth year class. Then came the overall categories. For last category, best dressed, it came down to myself and seventh year Gryffindor Angelina Johnson, who was also dressed up like a Queen, though not evil like me.

Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Well it seems that the other judges and I," He said gesturing to the other Professors, "have reach a tie. So the tie must be broken by a school wide vote, and before you ask, no you cannot vote twice."

"That means you Fred and George!" Sirius yelled, and the twins stood up with cries of protest, but quickly sat down, and put their heads together.

Professor Dumbledore smiled. "All those who wish to vote for Miss Johnson, please make a lot of noise."

Chaos reigned for a few moments. The Gryffindor table exploded, which was to be expected, a lot of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws also cheered, but at the Slytherin table, Hermione, Ginny, Lavender, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Fred (or George), stood up to cheer.

"Very good, very good." Professor Dumbledore said raising his hand for silence. "Now all those who wish to vote for Miss…."

He couldn't finish, because the entire Slytherin table cut him off by exploding into cheers. Klaus, Damon, Elijah, Stefan, Stephen, Carling, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy cheered. Also Harry, Ron, and Fred (or George) cheered. Lots more Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws cheered, and it was loud in the great hall.

Angelina turned to me, and grinned. "It looks like you won." She said giving me a hug. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." I said smiling at her. "You look beautiful too."

"Thanks." She said grinning, and went to sit at the Gryffindor table.

"Well it looks like we have a winner." Professor Dumbledore said. "Congratulations Miss Salvatore."

"SPEECH! SPEECH!" Sirius yelled, and my friends quickly followed suit.

The great hall quieted down, and looked at me.

"Have you all lost your minds!?" I cried, looking at everyone and grinning. "An evil Queen of the Undead does not make speeches."

"So what!" Draco yelled. "SPEECH!"

"Ok then, I'd like to think my mother's, father's, great aunt's, troubled chimpanzee, and the goldfish for this award." And the great hall burst into laughter. "No seriously thank you all so much. I really am thankful." I said, and waved to everyone. "NOW BOW BEFORE YOUR EVIL QUEEN, PEOPLE OF HOGWARTS!" I screamed, as evilly as I could and laughed, as did everyone else.

I started to head back to the table, and I stopped dead still, as I caught a lone figure in the back take a bow. Everyone got quite as they watched me.

"It can't be." I whispered. "It can't be."

The figure tilted his head and smiled at me, and I ran to him. My mind did NOT want to believe what I was seeing. I stopped right in front of him and touched his face.

"It can't be." I repeated, staring into his face, trying to take it all in.

"It is." He said, in that oh so familiar, gravelly voice.

"Salazar?"

"Yes Lynn. It's really me."

It can't be!

*A/N* I need you to tell me what you think about this chapter! What do you think is going to happen next? If anyone has any suggestions, or something you would like to see, let me know! I will consider all of them! Thank you to those who have followed, fav'ed and reviewed! I try to respond to all reviews, so please tell me what you think. Thank you for reading!**