Author's Note: Okay, first of all: Dang, you guys really liked the baby Devon chapter! I really didn't think it would get such a positive response, but I'm super grateful for it! Guess I'm probably gonna have to bring the little smunchkin back at some point. If I do, it probably won't be until after the Ignihyde arc since there are certain developments that I'd like to have happen first. I'd really like to have her interact with more characters next time or maybe BS some way for her brothers to get themselves temporarily summoned to Twisted Wonderland and de-aged too.

"Hey, hey!" Devon greeted as she and Grim arrived in the Heartslabyul garden. "How's my favorite dorm doin'?"

Cater gasped dramatically as he shot up from making decorations for their Halloween venue and bolted over to Devon, wrapping her up in a hug as Grim hopped off her shoulder to avoid getting crushed. "Awww~! We're really your favorite, Dev-Dev~?

Devon laughed as she returned the hug. "I mean, obviously. I've got more friends in Heartslabyul than I do in any other dorm."

"Really? Not even in Savanaclaw?" Trey asked. "I have to say, I'm a little surprised. I figured they'd be hangin' around more often after Leona's Overblot, like our residents have been doing since you brought Riddle out of his."

Deuce gave Devon a concerned look. "They aren't still trying to pick fights with you, are they?"

Trey, Cater, and Riddle were all focused on Devon; Trey and Cater shared Deuce's look of concern while Riddle gave Devon an expectant look, silently urging her to come clean. Devon sighed inwardly. She appreciated the concern, but there was no reason to get all of Heartslabyul-especially Riddle- up in arms about something that she was more or less managing to handle on her own.

"Alright, fine. I haven't really told anyone about this, but ever since Leona's Overblot, some of the Savanaclaw students have been under the impression that I somehow…I dunno, "cheated" in the battle to snap Leona out of it," Devon explained. "I'm not really sure what the logic behind that is, but a lot of them keep trying to challenge me to fights to restore the dorm's honor or whatever." She shot a glare off to the side as she grumbled lowly. "Nevermind that I whatever "cheating" they think I did brought their dorm leader back to sanity and kept him from dying."

"Why haven't you said anything until now?" Riddle asked. "I can understand your reluctance to take this matter to the headmaster, but surely you could've told someone on the staff."

Devon shrugged. "I really didn't think it was that big a deal. The ones picking a fight weren't at the actual battle, so I can kind of understand why they find it so hard to believe that someone who, as far as they know, can't use magic was somehow able to stop their rampaging dorm leader. It doesn't help that my power can only work under certain conditions, either." She smiled and shook her head. "Either way, I'm not worried. The students that saw the fight with Leona are pretty quick to step if something happens when I'm by myself, but Jack and Ruggiford have been hangin' around pretty frequently lately too."

"Yeah," Deuce agreed with a nod. "Jack's intimidating enough to get even some of the upperclassmen to back off without too much of a fuss and nobody wants to get on Ruggie's bad side since he reports directly to Leona."

"I still can't believe Ruggie lets you call him "Ruggiford"," Ace said with a laugh. "Then again, something tells me he'd let you call him whatever you wanted as long as you keep feeding him."

"Hey, I'm just glad he appreciates my cooking," Devon replied. "I like experimenting with the spiciness in some of my dishes, so having him around basically gives me an on-the-spot taste-tester. He finishes everything I give him too, so nothing goes to waste."

"Didn't you tell me Leona stepped in himself to get his boys to back off?" Deuce asked.

Cater raised his eyebrows. "For real? Now that's a surprise. I figured he would've just sent Ruggie to handle it, if he thought to intervene at all."

Devon waved a hand dismissively. "Eh, it wasn't like it was some bold, chivalrous gesture or anything. I was just gathering some potion ingredients from the botanical garden when a couple of guys tried to corner me. Leona roared and scared 'em off before anything could happen, which was good because Zephyr's starting to lose patience with all the challenges. Anyway, I went to thank Leona, but he told me he just happened to be napping nearby and those guys bein' so loud woke him up. Said not to worry about it since he didn't do it for me anyway, so I just let it drop."

"Mmhmm~" Cater hummed knowingly. "Just outta curiosity, what part of the garden were you in when this happened, Dev-Dev?"

"Umm…I think it was the subtropical zone," Devon replied.

"Gotcha…," Cater said, sharing a look with Trey as a thought occurred to them both. Neither of them was especially close with the lion prince, but they both knew his habits well enough to know that Leona never napped in the subtropical zone of the garden due to the preprogrammed squalls that occurred in that section every day; his preferred napping spot was the temperate zone and he was very territorial of it. It was entirely possible that Leona was in the same area as Devon by pure happenstance, but it didn't explain why he'd go to the trouble of lying to her about why he was there, let alone stepping in to help her out at all.

"So, do you guys need help getting stuff ready?" Devon asked as she sat down beside Ace and Deuce. "It makes me feel a little weird not having anything to do since Ramshackle's not doing a stamp rally location."

"I guess it doesn't help that Diasomnia swooped in and used your dorm for their own venue, huh?" Deuce asked, passing Devon some supplies so she could start helping them with the Styrofoam tombstones.

"Seriously. Talk about swerve," Devon said. "I mean, what they're planning looks awesome but I wasn't expecting to run into Lilia and have him be like, "We claim your dorm in the name of Diasomnia and Prince Malleus"…even though I've still yet to see Malleus through all the prep work they've been doing."

"In fairness, it's not like you really have enough people to put together a whole venue anyway," Ace pointed out. "But you're at least decorating the inside, right?"

Devon nodded. "Yep. The inside already kinda looks like a haunted house to begin with, so we've got the vibe nailed. The ghosts and I have been working on making some decorations out of fabric scraps we've found and I've been stockpilin' pumpkins for that pumpkin carving party."

Ace quirked a brow. "You were serious about that?"

"Obviously," Devon replied. "I'm thinkin' about holding it next weekend since, Ace, you've got a basketball game and, Deuce, you and Jack have that meet for Track and Field this weekend. Ortho's been helping me gather up a ton of good-lookin' pumpkins from Sam's shop since he can give himself access to all the school's computer systems. He lets me know when Sam gets some fresh stock so I can get myself in line."

"Perks of having a robot bestie, I guess," Ace commented.

A silence fell over the group for a moment as they continued working, Grim settling back beside Devon when it became clear he wasn't going to be able to make off with an armload of Trey's sweets.

"I can't wait for you to see our costumes, Dev-Dev~!" Cater said. "You're gonna love them!"

"Y'all are doing skeletons this year, right?" Devon recalled.

"Mmm. And we're turning the botanical garden into a haunted graveyard," Riddle said.

"Ya know, I've probably already said this, but I think this is the most involved school-wide Halloween I've ever been involved in," Devon commented. "It's celebrated in my world too, but I don't think I've ever heard of a week-long celebration. Certainly not one this elaborate, at least."

"Doesn't your family do a multi-day holiday celebration around this time of year, too?" Trey asked. "I think you said it was called…Day of the Dead?"

"You got it," Devon confirmed. "The 'day' part is a little bit misleading, though, since Dia de los Muertos is a multi-day holiday. My family celebrates it from November 1st-2nd, but I've heard of some people celebrating all the way to November 6th."

"Day of the Dead, huh? Sounds pretty foreboding for a holiday," Ace said.

"I know the name makes it sound intense, but it's actually pretty laid back," Devon explained. "The whole point is to take time to remember loved ones that have passed away. We place their pictures on special alters called ofrendas so they can cross back over to our world for the holiday. Some people take their loved ones favorite foods and drinks to their graves to celebrate with them, but since most of the family members my family is remembering are buried in Mexico, we gather at my house and celebrate there."

"Does your family always gather at your place?" Deuce asked.

Devon nodded. "Most years, yeah. Our house is enormous. Papa wanted a house that was big enough for the whole extended family to come and stay at once, if they really wanted to. We have gone to Mexico to celebrate with my Papa's family before-just last year, in fact-but between school and our parents' jobs, it's not really feasible to travel there every year. We still video call with everyone during the holiday, though."

Devon went on to explain more of the holiday traditions, from the sugar skulls and sweetbreads made for the celebration to the traditional makeup and costumes.

"Hang on… Am I hearing "Lopez triplets in matching outfits"?" Cater asked eagerly.

Devon laughed and nodded. "Yep, ya sure are. I'm not sure why you're so obsessed with seeing me and my brothers match, though."

"Because everyone knows that multiples matching is the height of adorableness," Cater said matter-of-factly.

"Jade and Floyd match all the time and I've yet to hear you say anything about them," Ace pointed out.

"The Leech twins are anything but adorable, especially after they chased us that one time," Cater stated bluntly. "Devon and her brothers are too cute for words and nothing will change my mind."

"Especially not after he got to see Dev after she was de-aged," Trey commented.

Cater reached over to Devon and gently squished her cheeks. "I know you can't remember, but you were the most precious bean~! I was dangerously close to kidnapping you and bringing you back to Heartslabyul. I was about to physically fight Kalim when he kept insisting on taking you back to Scarabia with him, but then Lilia swooped in and brought you back to Diasomnia before I could." He nuzzled his cheek against Devon's. "If you ever get reverted back to your younger self again, there might actually be a campus-wide war. The cuteness is too powerful!"

Devon rubbed the back of her head with a bashful look on her face. "I guess I'd better be careful not to let that happen. Even so, I'm not worth all that." Eager to change the subject, she pulled out her phone and began scrolling. "If it's matching Dia de los Muertos outfits you wanna see, though, I'm pretty sure I've got a few pictures from last year."

"Oooohh, yes please~!" Cater replied eagerly, making grabby hands at Devon's phone.

Devon rolled her eyes playfully, scrolling through her pictures until she found the one she was looking for. She and her brothers wore matching black and red ensembles, along with Calaveras makeup. Another selfie showed Devon and her mother with matching flower crowns made of marigolds and chrysanthemums. The smile slowly faded from Devon's face as she scrolled through the pictures, some of them selfies taken with her family members, some of them candid shots of the celebration. 'Crowley doesn't seem to be any closer to finding me a way home… This might be the first year that I don't get to celebrate Dia de los Muertos with my family…' She could feel that same unpleasant feeling of homesickness from when she thought about missing the Halloween party she and her brothers threw every year begin to take root in her chest again.

Thankfully, Cater spoke up before she could get too lost in her thoughts. "You good, Dev-Dev?" His expression was a cheerful as it always was, but Devon could see the concern in his green eyes.

She nodded with a smile as she passed Cater the phone. "Yeah, I'm good. Sorry about that; I didn't mean to space out."

Cater accepted the phone from Devon, but kept his eyes locked on hers with a searching expression on his face.

"I promise I'm fine, really," Devon assured him. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

'That's right. Just smile through it,' Devon told herself. 'So long as you smile through it, it'll be fine. You'll be okay. Everything's okay.'

It's okay.

It's fine.

I'm fine.

…Right?

"I don't see why you're botherin' with decoratin' the inside of this place," Grim said as he watched Devon from one of the couches in the Ramshackle lounge. "What's even the point if hardly anybody's gonna see the inside except us?"

"Because I love me some Halloween decorations, Grim," Devon told him as she used a marker to draw a face on the bedsheet ghost she'd made. "As much as I'd love to put a stamp rally venue together, Ace and Lilia were spot-on when they said we wouldn't have enough people to run it. Even if the ghosts help out, the Wisps can't communicate with organic beings besides me-" She sent him a dry look. "-and we all know you aren't gonna do diddly-squat."

"I didn't take you on as a minion so I could do grunt work myself," Grim dismissed.

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. Devon and Grim sent each other a confused look; neither of them had been expecting anyone. Devon glanced up toward the ceiling, silently asking Regina who was at the door. The large Wisp had passed a message along from Horns after Devon returned to her proper age that Azul and the Leech twins had been eying Ramshackle recently, leaving her more on edge than she would've cared to admit. Regina had become even more vigilant ever since, using magic to scare away anyone who got too close to the property that they deemed suspicious (which mostly just meant anyone from Octavinelle). Zephyr had become even more protective that usual as well, refusing to leave Devon's side for even a moment in or out of the dorm.

Regina pulsed an answer to Devon's silent question, causing her to blink in confusion. "Leona?" She stood up from her spot on the floor and dusted herself off. "Huh. Wonder what he's doin' here…" She checked the time on her phone. "According to Ruggiford, this is usually his pre-dinner naptime."

"Not to be confused with his morning nap, mid-morning nap, pre-lunchtime nap, afternoon nap, and pre-bedtime nap," Grim snarked as Devon walked toward the door with Zephyr following.

Devon opened the door and, sure enough, said lion was standing on the other side. Her lips quirked into a teasing smile on their own. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Your Highness~? It's not often I see you out and about this time of day."

"There's a reason for that," Leona replied. "I'm lookin' for a change of scenery for my nap, so I've decided to grace your dorm with my presence. You should feel honored, herbivore."

"Mhmm…and what exactly does the scenery have to do with anything if you're just gonna be takin' a nap, anyway?" Devon asked, but she still moved aside to let him in. "You could've just admitted you wanted to see me."

"Ha. Don't flatter yourself," Leona scoffed. He took a look around. "Huh. This place isn't nearly as much of a hole as I thought it would be."

"High praise coming from you," Devon replied. "I know it's no royal palace, but we've done what we can to fix it up."

"We?" Leona repeated as he followed Devon toward the lounge. "I know that furball of yours isn't good for anything but causin' trouble."

"Excuse you?!" Grim protested as they walked into the room. "I'll have you know that you're in the presence of someone who's gonna be known as the greatest mage who ever lived! Besides, this is our dorm, not yours. Why are you even here?"

"Needed a place to crash for a bit," Leona replied simply.

"Hmmm…," Grim hummed as he tapped a paw to his chin. "I suppose I could be persuaded to let you stay if you give me a hundred cans of tuna in exchange."

"I wasn't askin' for your permission. You're not the dorm leader here," Leona retorted, leaving Grim sputtering for a response as he turned back to Devon.

"Technically, you didn't ask for my permission at all; you just said you were crashing here," Devon pointed out. "But that's fine with me. You're welcome to nap on one of the sofas in the lounge, but our room tends to be quieter."

"Hang on! Why're you offerin' up our room?!" Grim exclaimed.

"It's not like we're gonna be up there any time soon," Devon replied. "Besides, the only other rooms besides ours that are cleaned up enough to be slept in are the ones Ace and Deuce use when they stay over."

Leona quirked a brow. "You rentin' out rooms here or somethin'?"

"Not exactly. Those two stay over here pretty often, so I figured I'd just give 'em both their own rooms," Devon explained. "It's not like we don't have plenty to spare and those two live in a four-person dorm room back at Heartslabyul. Sometimes it's nice just to have your own space to decompress. It works out in my favor too; if they want to keep those rooms, they've gotta pick up after themselves. Ultimately, it's two less rooms for me to worry about cleaning."

"But ever since you did that, Ace has practically moved in!" Grim complained. "I told ya we should've charged 'em to stay!"

Devon shook her head before turning back to Leona. "Point is, stayin' in our room is probably the best option if you really are planning on takin' a nap. I'll keep an eye on Grim to make sure he doesn't bother ya, but I'm pretty sure he knows better."

"So long as I can sleep, I'll be satisfied," Leona said. He blinked when a blue Wisp suddenly appeared in front of him and pulsed. "Is this one of yours?"

"Mmhmm, that's Marina," Devon replied with a giggle, falling silent as the Wisp pulsed before speaking up again to translate. "They're offering to show you the way to our room, so if you follow them, you should be good."

"Meanwhile, you'll be…?" Leona asked.

"Getting dinner ready. You're welcome to stay for that too if you want," Devon offered. "We usually always have at least one unexpected guest, so I've gotten in the habit of making a lot of food. Whatever we don't finish, I can just save as leftovers." She paused as she processed what she'd just said. "Holy crap, I sound like my mom." She shook her head to get herself back on track. "It'll be ready in a couple hours."

Leona nodded before turning and following Marina toward the stairs. "Got it. I'll stay if I'm interested."

Leona heaved a sigh as he fell back onto Devon's bed. He rested his head against her pillow, only for his brow to furrow as the strong scent of strawberries reached his nose. 'Hmm…probably her shampoo.' He'd caught the scent from Devon before, but it was nowhere near as strong as it was now. It made sense that the scent was so strong here given that it was where Devon rested her head every night. It wasn't a bad scent, either-he knew people without the keen scent of smell that beastmen had likely wouldn't pick up on it-but to him it was almost overpowering.

He flipped the pillow over to the other side. The strawberry scent wasn't nearly as strong on this side and Devon's natural scent nearly overtook it. He guessed from the scent distribution that she typically slept on her stomach with one arm underneath her pillow. He couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image; he almost found it cute.

Leona hadn't been lying when he said he was looking for a place to crash for a bit. Due to certain…circumstances, the botanical garden wasn't a safe place for him for the time being and Ramshackle was one of the closest buildings to it. However…he'd be lying if he said that the opportunity to take in her scent wasn't a draw for him. The truth of it was that he had indeed been keeping an eye on her ever since his Overblot. He was well aware of what several of his dorm members thought; that there was no way she could have brought him out of his Overblot without some sort of trick. He guessed they weren't exactly wrong; that magic of hers certainly wasn't something anyone else at the school could pull off.

Honestly, his dormmates attempts to "reclaim Savanaclaw's honor" by fighting her were more annoying to him than anything. Did they really think he was that incapable? And even if he was, what would fighting Devon prove? The girl wasn't even capable of using magic outside of one extremely niche ability and even then, there were conditions that had to be met to make it work at all. So he'd taken to watching over her-or using Ruggie and/or Jack as a proxy when he couldn't be bothered to do it himself-to prevent his idiot underclassmen from embarrassing their dorm even further. He told himself it was just repaying Devon for what she'd done for him; a prince couldn't be indebted to some herbivore, after all. That might have been true at first, but somewhere along the way-between watching her parkour through the rope bridge walkways and rocky ledges of the Savanaclaw dorm while Jack tried to hide how worried he was that she'd hurt herself to dozing near her as she studied in the botanical garden-he found that he was starting to genuinely enjoy her company. He would sooner pull all his teeth out than admit it out loud, but he could pick her voice out of pretty much any crowd and he could feel himself relax whenever he caught her scent on the air. The thought of something happening to her, especially something his own dormmates caused, made him unsettled and…almost, almost concerned.

Leona closed his eyes as a wave of fatigue washed over him. There was no reason to worry about worst case scenarios now. Devon was nearby, safe and sound, and he was surrounded by her scent. Satisfied that she was alright and he was nearby should anything happen, Leona let himself drift off.

Leona woke to the smell of cooked pork coming from somewhere in the dorm. After shaking his head to clear away any remaining drowsiness and stretching, he began to follow the scent to the kitchen. He'd slept much better than he thought he would've, given his surroundings; Devon's scent must have been more calming than he thought.

"There you are!" Devon greeted as Leona walked into the kitchen. "Perfect timing. I was just about to come get you." She gestured to a nearby slow-cooker. "Food's ready if you want some."

"What'd you make?" Leona asked as he looked inside the slow-cooker. "I could smell the pork from upstairs."

"It's called feijoada," Devon supplied. "It's a stew from my world made with pork and black beans. My uncle makes this all the time. Guess I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately." 'Sure. That's one word for it, I guess.' "I made some rice to go with it too, but I'll leave it up to you if you wanna include it. There's plenty there, so help yourself to as much as you want."

Leona glanced toward the small stack of plates and raised a brow in confusion. "Hang on. It's just you, me, and the furball here, right? Why do you set out four plates? I thought the ghosts and Wisps don't actually eat."

"They don't. I set that extra plate out because…" She trailed off and glanced at the time on her phone, then turned her gaze toward the doorway to the kitchen. Leona did the same. "3…2…1…"

The front door could be heard opening as soon as Devon reached 'one', followed by the sound of the floorboards moving. A familiar beastman appeared in the kitchen doorway a moment later.

"Hey, hey, Dev!" Ruggie greeted. "Whatever you're cookin' smells amaz-aaaahh! Leona?! What are you doin' here?!"

"Well, I guess that explains where you've been sneakin' off to every evening," Leona said. "Should've figured you'd be bummin' a free meal off someone."

"Hey, cafeteria meals are expensive and money's tight this month," Ruggie replied. "It's not my fault Devon's an absolute goddess and chooses to take pity on hyenas in need."

Devon rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "C'mon, Ruggie, it's not that big a deal."

"I respectfully beg to differ, my friend," Ruggie argued. "Where I'm from, there's not much food to go around. Generosity like yours is a huge deal, especially since you never really ask me for anything in return." He shifted his weight from foot to foot awkwardly. "It…actually makes me a little uneasy sometimes. I feel like I should be paying you back."

"I'm not feeding you so you'll owe me something, Ruggie," Devon said.

"You can say that all you want, but it still feels weird to me," Ruggie replied before turning back to Leona. "Ya know, I was wonderin' why you weren't nappin' in the botanical garden, but then I had an interesting run-in with Vil. You were supposed to be fillin' in for the garden's caretaker while they're away on vacation as punishment for skipping class, weren't you? Apparently the plants aren't in great shape."

"Yeah? And?" Leona asked, crossing his arms nonchalantly. "You'd think a school as prestigious as this one would invest in an automatic sprinkler system."

"Not the point!" Ruggie exclaimed. "I just spent the past few hours bein' chased down by Vil tryin' to get me to tell him where you were! He wouldn't back off when I said I honestly didn't know. I knew the guy was relentless, but man, he's way scarier than he looks."

"Ah, so that's your real motive for coming here," Devon commented with a smirk. "I was wonderin' why you just decided to drop by."

"Interesting that you chose Ramshackle of all places," Ruggie added with a sly grin of his own. "There are plenty of other places on the main campus to hide, yet you picked this one."

"Don't read too much into it," Leona said, though both Devon and Ruggie noticed with no small amount of amusement that Leona refused to meet Devon's eyes. "And since you're here, you can fix me a plate, Ruggie."

"Shishishishi! Whatever you say, Leona," Ruggie agreed.

Ending Notes: Ah, everyone's favorite grumpy lion man. His feelings aren't quite romantic yet, but he's at least able to admit that Devon isn't just some herbivore to him anymore. He personally strikes me as more of a "silent guardian" love interest; he worries over and looks out for Devon but he never really verbally expresses how much he cares for her. To him, actions speak louder than words.

Next up we've got our Jamil chapter, then the pumpkin carving party, then it's back to the actual event story!

Thank you all so much for reading! As always feedback and constructive criticism are welcome. Geekinthepink, out!