HALLOWEEN COMPETITION 4: FANFICTION CHALLENGE

**UPDATE** The fanfiction challenge will now have an extended deadline! Entries can still be posted, and a closing date will be posted closer to the time.

This is the fourth in our series of Halloween Competitions, the fanfiction challenge!

The theme of the challenge is Halloween at Hogwarts. Your challenge is to write a story with that theme.

Rules:

-All entries must be no less than 800 and no more than 4,000 words long.
-Must fall under the theme Halloween at Hogwarts in some way. It is up to you how you interpret this, and as such can be any genre and any ship. The story does not have to follow current canon.
-The challenge will close on All Hallows Eve, and as such, all entries must be posted by then.

Housepoints Available:

The first place winner will receive 100 housepoints
Second place will receive 80 housepoints
Third place will receive 50 housepoints
All who participate will receive 30 housepoints

Bonus Phrases!

Bonus phrases for extra creativity are the following. Using any or all of them is not required. You will not necessarily receive extra housepoints for using them!

- "I'm not letting you do that here!"
- "Are those Filch's underpants?"
- "How in the world did THAT get up THERE?"
- "If looks could kill, you'd be dead as a dodo right now."
- "If I didn't know better, I'd say you had feelings for him/her!"
- "The day _____ does that will be the day Snape washes his hair!"

Good Luck everyone!

16 year old Ginny Wesley awoke on Halloween day. She sat up smiling, she absolutely adored Halloween. You never knew what was going to happen, and that’s why she loved it so much. She quickly brushed her teeth and hair, threw on her uniform and was ready to go. She walked down into the Gryffindor Common Room and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione waiting for her.

Harry had come back to Hogwarts. Actually he was more forced then anything, but he wasn’t the only student to return that didn’t want to. All the Slytherin’s that had helped the Death Eaters in the year before had been brought back, too. Harry and Hermione had been named Head Boy and Head Girl. Ron was still a prefect, and co-captain of the Quidditch team. The effects of everything that Harry, Ron and Hermione were going through had began to show.

As for Harry and Ginny, after they split they had never gotten back together. Both of them had decided that it was better if they just stay split up. There were no hard feelings and both had moved on. Harry was actually now dating Hermione, which didn’t settle well with Ron, at first anyway.

When Ron found out he was devastated. He had always had a thing for Hermione and right after Harry and Hermione got together he told her. She politely explained that she didn’t return his feelings. Ron of coarse took the blow pretty hard, but he did find someone else. Someone who had been a surprise to everyone including her.

Luna Lovegood was the someone that had been spoken about. She helped Ron to get over Hermione and at the same time they fell in love themselves. Since then they had been a very happy, and slightly odd couple.

“Morning!” She said cheerfully.

“Morning,” came the tired reply from all three.

“Are you ready for breakfast?” Ginny asked.

“Yes,” Ron replied.

“Then lets go!” exclaimed Ginny, who in the trio’s eyes was just a little hyper for this time of morning.

They headed out of the common room, and down the many stairs until they were in front of the Great Hall. However, there was a huge crowd gathered around for some reason. Everyone was pointing at something that seemed to be stuck to the ceiling.

“What is that?” Asked a tiny 1st year Ravenclaw.

“How in the world did that get up there ?” asked a 4th year Hufflepuff in amazement.

“Are those Filch’s underpants?” snickered a 3rd year Slytherin.

It turned out that the object stuck to the ceiling was in fact Filch’s underpants. Some students had thought it might be a funny Halloween prank. Filch however did not feel the same way.

“WHO DID THIS?” Filch thundered. “I want to know!”

McGonagall, who had taken Dumbledore’s place as head of the school, came out of the hall and stopped Filch. After several minutes of convincing Filch that the students would be punished and several more minutes of very serious threats finally they were aloud into the hall.

************************************************************

Draco Malfoy, was standing at the back of the crowd staring at Ginny. Lately, she was the subject of his dreams. Thoughts stirred in his head, maybe he had feelings for her. It seemed both unlikely and likely, for some reason. However all that thinking had cut into his sleeping and it was beginning to show. As Goyle had pointed out so bluntly. Draco in turn just glared at him.

“If looks could kill you’d be dead as dodo right now,” Crabbe said to Goyle.

Draco ignored them both and kept watching Ginny. He sighed confused. Why in the world would this little Weaselette be in his dreams of all places. It wasn’t even nightmares when she was in them they were dreams. As in the good things that he wanted.

Goyle caught were Draco’s eyes were looking. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you have feelings for her!”

Draco turned to Goyle. “Good thing you know better then,” his voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed him. He was afraid they would figure it out. That he might actually have feelings for Ginny, if anyone ever found out that he even had such thoughts, who knows what would happen.

************************************************************

Ginny sat down eating breakfast. I’m so excited about the ball tonight!” she said happily.

The ball Ginny was referring to was the first annual Halloween Ball that Harry and Hermione had set up for the students. Everyone was to dress up in costumes, there would be a live band and plenty of refreshments. The whole school was excited and couldn’t wait at all.

Ron rolled his eyes. “I don’t see why you don’t even have a date!”

Luna, who had just arrived, sat down next to Ron. “Maybe she’ll meet her prince Eric,”

“Don’t you mean Prince Charming?” Hermione asked.

“Oh no, I’m going as Ariel so it would be my Prince Eric.” Ginny replied munching on some toast.

Harry shrugged. “Who knows, after all with all we’ve seen anything is possible.”

“True,” Hermione replied. “So Ginny what are you going to do for the whole time before the ball?”

“I don’t know I’ll find something, but its going to take me a couple of hours to get ready,” Ginny said. “I mean there’s a lot of preparation that’s going to go into this.”

“I don’t see why you girls have to spend so much time getting ready,” Ron grumbled.

“What ever,” Ginny replied. “I think I’ll go fly around.”

She headed up to her dorm and got her broom. Walking back down she went to the Quidditch pitch. She kicked off the ground and flew around happy that no one else was there to disrupt her. She didn’t flew for hours just thinking an enjoying being alone. When she finally went back inside she looked at the clock and saw that there were still about 4 more hours until the ball at 7.

“Just enough time to put my broom away, head down to the kitchen’s, eat and go get ready.” She said aloud.

************************************************************

4 hours later, Ginny walked down the stairs alone heading to the Great Hall. She had her hair down, and it was filled with glitter. She had one a purple tube top that also had a bit of glitter on it and finally a long green skirt that looked like a tail. She opened the doors to the Hall and was amazed at the sights.

The band was playing on a stage, that wasn’t there before. The decorations were over the top with pumpkins and confetti everywhere. There were tables scattered around the side lines and many people already dancing in the middle of the floor.

“Well well it looks like I’ve found my Ariel,” Said a voice in her ear. She recognized it but couldn’t seem to figure out who it was.

She turned to the guy and saw that he was indeed dressed as prince Eric, only he was wearing a masquerade style mask, it was obvious that he didn’t want her to know who he was. She looked up at his eyes and saw they were a shocking sliver gray. Once more she knew she had seen them somewhere before but couldn’t place them.

“It would seem you have,” Ginny replied smoothly.

“Would you like to dance?” He asked.

Ginny nodded. “Sure.”

He led her onto the dance floor, where she discovered he was an amazing dancer. They danced around weaving through the many other couples. It was like a dream and she was floating along on a cloud. Nothing in the world could bring her down.

************************************************************

Harry and Hermione danced watching Ginny and her masked man. They were stirring up quite a bit of attention, but neither seemed to care. Hermione smiled. “She looks like she’s having the time of her life,”

“Yeah she does,” Harry commented. “I wonder who it is behind the mask though.”

Ron and Luna walked over to Harry and Hermione. Ron was glaring at Ginny and her partner. “I swear there is something fishy about him!”

“Ron you should really leave Ginny alone.” Luna commented in a tone that lead Harry to believe that she had said it more then once.

“Yes Ron listen to Luna you never like anyone that Ginny dates so leave out of it!” Hermione snapped at him.

“Well I’m going to find out who it is!” Ron said before heading off after Ginny.

“Oh no!” Luna said. “This is bound to be a disaster.”

Hermione buried her head in Harry’s chest. “Tell me when its over,” she said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to watch?” Harry asked. “Ron might get his butt kicked.”

“You know what I think I may just watch this after all,” Hermione said turning to see the secene that had the whole hall silent.

************************************************************

Ron had just caught up to Ginny. He pulled them apart without saying a word.

Ginny glared at her brother. “What do you think you are doing?” She demanded putting her hands on her hips.

“Do you know who this is?” Ron snapped. Neither noticed that ‘Prince Eric’ looked a tad apprehensive.

“No,” Ginny replied. “But that’s no reason to come over here and break up a perfectly fine dance!”

“Well I’m going to find out,” Ron said. “You remove your mask unless of coarse you have something to hide in which case I’m not afraid to use magic on you.”

“No need for threats Weasel,” none other but Draco Malfoy himself stood there with the mask in his hand.

“M-M-Malfoy?” Ginny stammered.

“That’s right Weaselette,” Draco replied. “If you’ll excuse me.”

The hall stood in shock watching Draco leave. Whispers broke out all around Ginny, but they seemed to be a million miles away. Had she really been flirting and dancing with Malfoy of all people? Was it even possible that he would dance with her. It couldn’t have been on accident after all everyone could tell it was her. So did that mean he wanted to dance with her? Slowly she felt herself brought back into reality.

Ron was still standing right next to her but Harry, Hermione and Luna had made their way over next to her while she was thinking. “Do you think that she will go after him?” Ginny heard Luna asked.

“The day Ginny does that is the day Snape washes his hair!” Ron exclaimed.

Ginny decided that she should go see what this was all about she still had a lot of questions that needed answers. So she walked right out the door ignoring the gawking and the whispers it was something she had to know. Walking outside she found Draco sitting on the stairs.

“Hey,” she said to him.

“What do you want?” Draco asked not even bothering to look up, knowing who it was.

“I wanted to ask you something,” She replied.

“Go ahead,” he mumbled.

“Why did you dance with me?” she asked. “I know you knew it was me.”

“Because I wanted to okay!” He snapped back.

“You did?” Ginny asked softly.

Draco looked up at her. There was something different in her voice that had caused him to look up. She actually seemed to care. “Yeah I did.” he replied.

She sat down next to him and smiled. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He asked confused.

“For dancing with me, it’s the most fun I’ve had in a while.” She answered. “Do you want to go back inside?”

“You seriously want to go back inside with me?” He asked her.

She smiled. “Yes,”

He didn’t know why but he leaned in to kiss her, but she stopped him. “I’m not letting you do that here!”

Draco looked down. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have-” he stopped cut off.

“No its perfectly fine just follow me,” She said leading him back into the hall.

Everyone gasped, whispered and pointed as the couple walked back in. The school gossips loving every moment and the rest of the students stood almost in shock. Not daring to believe what they were seeing, was it all a big Halloween joke? It didn’t seem likely, but still some people seemed to be waiting for them to say it was, they were going to be severely disappointed.

Ginny kept leading Draco until they reached the middle of the Hall. She ignored everyone and their actions it wasn’t their lives let them think what they wanted. “Kiss me.”

“Here?” He asked with wide eyes.

“Here,” She replied.

“But everyone is watching,” He said.

“Well then I guess I’m just going to have to be the one to kiss you,” She smiled.

“Not if I kiss you first,” He smirked and then he kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her thin waist kissing her with passion that he didn’t know he had left in him. He felt her hands go around her neck, and couldn’t help thinking how perfect it was.

Finally they broke the kiss and a slow song came on, everyone was still whispering but it didn’t matter. Not now, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow it would but right now nothing in the world mattered, but each other. Ginny rested her head on Draco’s chest dancing gently.

I knew Halloween was full of surprises, She thought. especially a Halloween at Hogwarts.

************************************************************
End

Alright so It wasn't the best but there ya go XD

Happy Halloween

It was the night before Halloween at 11:45 and Traci was running down the corriders from the red lights that barly missed her everytime. She could hear Snape breath hastly as she ran. Quidditch had done her well athlectliclly wise. She was running because she had been with her boyfriend Harry Potter. She entercrossed with Amber who had more then likely been with Draco.
"Don't go that way." she yelled after her.
"Thamks" Amber yelled back as she took a short cutt to the Ravenclaw common room.
Out of breath and tired she made it to the common room and up the stairs before she heard snape come in and yell. She smirked and when he left and went back down downstairs and saw Malfoy siting infront of the fire, with an almost conffused expresion on his pointed face.
"Whats up you Draco." she asked as she sat down infront of him.
He jumped and looked like he got more confused as he saw her but answered quite rudely all the same "Nothing!"
"Fine I wont worry about how you feel anymore." she snapped as she went upstairs and went to bed. She could feel his eyes following her all the way up. She didnt care nor will she ever.
Draco was still sitting there confused and wishing he was not so mean to people he might actually like.
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Traci woke up and showered, dressed then walked sown to see Draco sleeping in the same chair he was before. She smacked him upside the head and ran down to breakfest as fast as she could. when she got there she and Harry were the only ones there. She sat by him and he leaned to give her a kiss but his hand roamed and she broke the kiss.
"I'm not letting you do that here!" she snapped before returning to her breakfast. She shook her head as Harry tried to mumble an I'm sorry. Draco walked in with Amber and Traci watched them almost jealosly.
Enough for Harry to notice anyways.
"You know if I didn't know better, I'd say you had feelings for him." Harry said refearing to Draco.
"Well I dont!" she snapped. She stormed out of the hall to see a weird thing hanging from the chandelier. "Are those Flitche's undeerpants?" she asked what she thought was thin air.
"How did that get up there!" came Fliches rather embrassed voice.
Traci snickered before continuing on her way to class. As she got there, she saw a notice that all classes were canceled on account of there was a dance later. It also said costume required. Traci skipped all the way to her common room but as she got there she saw a horibble site Amber was kissing Harry,
"HARRY!" Traci excalimed. "WE ARE DONE!" she obviously raised enough racket cause Draco walked out and saw what Traci had saw.
"AMBER I CANT BELIEVE YOU AND WITH POTTER NON THE LESS!" He yelled before storming inside. Traci followed.
"If he says sorry your going to take him back arn't you." Draco sneered from a corner.
"Puh-lease the day I do that is the day Snape washes his hair!" Traci snapped walking past him but not before glaring at him as hard as she could.
"If looks could kill, you'd be as dead as dodo right now." Goyle said stupidly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the dace Traci was having fun dancing with whoever asked and not caring who it was until Draco asked. Her head said no but her mouth said yes. She had fun more then what she had in a long time. About midnitght that night Draco led her out into the garden where a new romance started with a single kiss that will more then likly last a life time. Mean while Harry and Amber were haveing a nice time also.


A/N it's bad I know oh well.

Eighteen Years Since

“Ginny, do you think you could help me with some Transfiguration homework later? I just can’t get the hang of it, and I know you’re great at that class, and well, you know, I thought I’d ask for your help, if you don’t mind that is…”

Ginny smiled down at her plate, before she looked up and saw John O’Neill, a sixth year Ravenclaw who was gazing at her expectantly.

“I don’t mind John,” Ginny replied, “how about if we meet in the library at eight o’ clock tonight? I’ll do my best to help you.”

“That’s great Ginny, thanks!” He smiled shyly, and paused before speaking again. “I, erm, guess I’ll see you later then?”

Ginny nodded and smiled, and John took that as his cue to leave, making his way towards the Ravenclaw table. She watched him sit down with his friends, who grinned and patted him on the back, and Ginny couldn’t help but wonder what they were talking about.

She knew that John liked her – he’d been finding excuses to talk to her since the start of the term, and he wasn’t particularly subtle. But so far, she’d spurned his advances, not wanting to get into a relationship with anyone.

Now that’s a lie, she thought, you know that if Harry came walking in right now and asked you to be his girlfriend again, you wouldn’t hesitate in saying no!

She frowned at her bowl of cereal, trying to stop those traitorous thoughts before they began. She hadn’t seen Harry since last Christmas, when he, along with Ron and Hermione, had turned up at The Burrow after a five-month absence. Then they’d left again, on Boxing Day, leaving only a small scribbled note “we’ll be in touch”.

But they hadn’t. At least, not with any of the Weasley’s. Ginny suspected that Harry reported back to Remus Lupin occasionally, but the werewolf refused to say anything on the matter.

And now it was Halloween morning, and she was in her Seventh Year at Hogwarts. Despite many protestations to the contrary, the school had remained open, although the number of students dwindled every month. Ginny was one of only twenty or so seventh years, and the rest of the years weren’t much better off.

But Ginny had stayed, despite being of-age, because in between the classes and the homework, Hogwarts had become a sort of safe house for the people who had been injured in the war. St. Mungo’s had collapsed in November last year, falling prey to Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and the injured had nowhere else to go.

Ginny helped Madam Pomfrey and the other Healers in the infirmary as often as she could, and they were fully appreciative of her help. She enjoyed the work – it was methodical and kept her mind off other things, like Harry.

Once again, she pushed the thoughts of Harry out of her mind. Dwelling on his whereabouts wouldn’t do her any good, but she did it anyway. When she worked in the hospital wing, she was always wondering if the next person to be brought in would be Harry, and if it was would he be glad to see her? Her feelings for him hadn’t abated in the time they’d been apart – if anything, they’d intensified, and not a day went by when she didn’t think about him in some way.

She thought of Ron and Hermione too. Last Christmas she’d seen secret glances and ‘accidental’ touches, and she’d guessed that they’d finally realised their feelings for each other and were together.

She sighed, and pushed her empty bowl away, and suddenly felt very weary. Weary of the war, weary of not knowing if her family were safe, weary of Voldemort controlling everything. And she wanted it to be over.

***

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you had feelings for him!”

“Oh hush, Helen. He’s just a friend, I’ve told you that hundreds of times.”

“A friend who you’re going to the library with, to study,” Helen replied, a teasing tone to her voice.

“Do you have to find innuendo in everything?” Ginny asked exasperatedly, pulling out a sheet of parchment and attempting to follow what Professor Binns was saying.

“Yes,” Helen grinned, “I’ve got a dirty mind, I can’t help it.”

“Well anyway, there’s nothing going on between John and I. You know how I…well, you know.” Ginny trailed off uncomfortably. She’d confessed several months ago to Helen that she still had feelings for Harry, but she still didn’t like saying it out loud.

“I know,” Helen nodded, before squeezing her friend’s arm.

***

Ginny had a free period after History, and so she headed up to the Hospital Wing. When she arrived, Madam Pomfrey told her that no new patients had been admitted, and all that needed to be done was to administer some restorative potions to the ones already there.

The patients liked Ginny. She was chatty and refused to let them dwell on their injuries, and whatever had caused them. As soon as she’d given all the patients their potions, she helped Madam Pomfrey tidy up a bit, and then left to go down to the Great Hall for lunch, stopping to fetch Helen from the common room on the way.

They arrived in the entrance hall to find a crowd of students standing around the closed doors of the Great Hall, a hum of conversation in the air. Ginny spotted John standing with his friends, and so she pulled Helen over to them.

“What’s going on?” She asked, cringing slightly when she saw the way John’s eyes lit up when she spoke to him.

“Dunno,” replied one of John’s friends – Adam, Ginny thought his name was, “the doors were locked when we got here about five minutes ago.”

Ginny frowned, hoping nothing bad was happening, and was about to suggest they fetched Professor McGonagall, when the transfiguration professor suddenly appeared in the crowd.

“What’s happening?” She demanded in her harsh Scottish brogue, “Why are you all waiting out here?”

“The doors won’t open, Professor,” someone called, “Alohomora won’t work either.”

Ginny saw Professor McGonagall frown, as she stood before the great oak doors, and ran her hands over them. She then took out her wand and muttered a spell, causing a web of lights to encase the door, thrumming and humming. It was magic, Ginny knew, and it was amazing to look at, different threads interweaving every which way. But as she watched, and as Professor McGonagall whispered another spell, the golden, shimmering lights shivered and a thread of blackish-green wound itself up the centre of the door, and around the frame.

Ginny felt the blood in her veins run cold. Something wasn’t right. She could see the Dark Magic pulsating around the door, and could tell from the look on McGonagall’s face that that was very wrong.

“What’s going on, Professor?” Called a third year, “Can we eat lunch yet?”

“Not yet, Mr Andrews,” Professor McGonagall replied wryly, before turning her attention back to the doors of the Great Hall. She raised her wand, and whispered what sounded like the counter-curse to the silencing spell, and all of a sudden, voices could be heard emanating from within the Great Hall. Voices, followed by crashing and the sound of hexes and curses being thrown.

A horrified look crossed McGonagall’s face, and she whipped around.

“Prefects! Take your houses to your common rooms immediately. Do not leave them under any circumstances.”

The students, perhaps hearing the slight panic in their usually stoic professor’s voice hurried to obey her, running up the stairs towards their towers. But Ginny didn’t move. She had a horrible feeling that this was it, that if she could see through walls she’d see Harry and Voldemort duelling in the Great Hall. It seemed the sort of thing Voldemort would do – orchestrate an attack on Halloween, eighteen years to the day that he had killed the Potters, and to bring it to Hogwarts, the only place Harry had ever truly felt at home.

A thrill of fear ran through her body, as she met the gaze of Professor McGonagall.

“Miss Weasley, go to your common room.”

“No, Professor. I’m staying.”

“Me too,” Helen spoke from behind, making Ginny jump, as she thought that her friend had gone with the others. And then other voices – John’s, Colin Creevey’s, Luna’s echoing her sentiment.

Professor McGonagall continued to look at Ginny, and then she nodded, a resigned look on her face, and turned back to the doors of the Great Hall, wand outstretched. Ginny and the students formed a half-circle around their professor. Ginny tried not to feel afraid, but it was difficult. Harry and Ron and Hermione could be in there, with Death Eaters. With Voldemort.

McGonagall was passing her wand over the lines of magic on the door, and a few muttered spells later, it clicked open, and the shouts and crashes they had heard before suddenly became louder.

Ginny gasped as she saw the inside of the Great Hall. That morning it had been resplendent in orange and black, jack o’ lanterns lining the walls, and clusters of bats hovering near the ceiling. Now, it was a battleground. Overturned chairs and broken candlesticks, flashes of hexes and curses flying through the air. The scent of sweat and blood and the cries of battle.

It didn’t seem as though anyone inside had noticed the doors opening, for McGonagall and the small group of students were able to slip inside, unobserved. And then they were caught up in the fray.

Ginny had been right in thinking that Voldemort would be here, along with Harry, Ron and Hermione, but she hadn’t been prepared to see other members of her family. She caught glimpses of red hair – that was Fred, and over there was Bill, and Ron, ducking from a stinging hex. There were Order members too – Moody and Tonks, Lupin and Hestia Jones amongst them, and they were all fighting the Death Eaters.

And then she saw Harry, duelling with Voldemort behind the teacher’s table. He seemed to be holding his own, sending spell after spell at Voldemort, who blocked all but a few. She watched as Voldemort sent a jet of red light towards Harry, and when it hit him, he reeled back in pain.

“Well, well, well…the youngest Weasley,” Ginny turned, hearing the familiar, smooth voice of Lucius Malfoy.

Before she could gather her wits about her, Malfoy sent a hex towards her, and then she found it hard to breathe. Her eyes seared and her lungs felt as though they were on fire. Trying to take deep calming breaths, she raised her wand and attempted to send a spell back towards Malfoy, who was watching her, smirking.

But she couldn’t speak, her chest felt tight and constricted, black dots were swimming before her eyes. She was going to pass out, she could feel it. She staggered backwards, and her legs hit against the bench at what had been the Gryffindor table. Through the pain she remembered that it was just that morning that John had asked her for help with his Transfiguration. It seemed a lifetime ago.

She leaned against the bench now, and lifted her eyes to meet the gaze of Lucius Malfoy, who was still watching her, his damned smirk still in place. He raised his wand to her, and she knew that it would be the end, that she would die on this Halloween night, that Malfoy was going to kill her.

Her eyes were still watering, and she desperately wanted to close them, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. And then, he was lifting his wand, opening his mouth, and she waited for the fatal curse to hit.

But it never came. Instead, she heard a bellowed “Stupefy!” and Malfoy went flying across the room, landing with a sickening crack against one of the stone walls, his head grotesquely lolling to one side. He was dead, without a doubt.

She looked over to Ron, the person who had shouted the stupefy curse, and saw him staring open-mouthed at Malfoy’s body.

“Ron,” she said, and he turned to look at her. The pain in her chest was easing slightly, and she could breathe a little better, though it was still sore.

“Ginny! What the hell are you doing here?”

“Same as you,” she replied, before standing up, “fighting.”

Ron’s mouth set in a grim smile, and they both looked around them. It was difficult to see at first, but the Order and everyone on the side of good seemed to be…winning. There were definitely fewer Death Eaters battling than there had been only moments before.

Ginny glanced to the top end of the Hall, and saw Harry still locked in combat with Voldemort. He was bleeding profusely from a wound on his head, and his left arm was hanging at an awkward angle. But Voldemort didn’t look much better, he too was covered in blood, and he moved with a slight limp.

Ginny wasn’t sure exactly of what happened next, but she glanced away from Harry and Voldemort for one moment, to help Ron restrain a struggling Death Eater, and the next thing she heard was a loud bang, followed by a flash of blindingly white light, and when she looked back across at Harry, he was standing alone. Voldemort was gone.

***

continued in next post...

...continued

Ginny ached. There was a dull pain in her chest, and every time she took a breath it felt as though something was stabbing her. She tried to open her eyes, but was met with a blinding whiteness. Somehow, this comforted her. It meant she was in the hospital wing, and it was over. She fell asleep.

The next time she awoke, the whiteness had dulled to a grey, and she could see from looking out the window that it must be late afternoon or early evening. If this was the case, then she had slept around the clock at least once.

She tried to sit up, ignoring the burning in her chest, and her movements caught the attention of her Mother, sitting in a chair next to her bed.

“Ginny! Oh, Ginny!”

Molly rushed to hug her daughter, squeezing her tight. Ginny didn’t have the heart to tell her that it hurt, and eventually Molly let go, tears shining in her eyes.

“Is he gone?” Was the first thing she asked, and then, “Is Harry all right?”

“Yes, and yes,” her Mother replied, smiling slightly, “Harry’s still unconscious, but Madam Pomfrey says he’ll recover.”

Ginny felt as though a weight had been lifted, and was surprised to feel the pain in her chest lessen slightly.

“And…everyone else? Are they all right?”

“Mostly,” Molly replied, looking downwards for a moment, “your brother’s are all alive. Fred’s damaged his leg and the Healers think they may have to amputate.” Her voice wavered on the last word, and her eyes filled with tears again. “But he’s alive. And your Father too. Poor Hestia Jones wasn’t so lucky, she died. And it’s touch and go for several others too.”

Ginny sighed, wishing that Hestia Jones could have lived, she had been a nice person. And then she realised that her Mum hadn’t mentioned Hermione.

“Mum, you didn’t say anything about Hermione.”

Her Mum looked away, and Ginny began to dread what she was going to say next. “She’s…she’s not…”

“No…she’s alive. But the Healer’s don’t know if she’ll make it,” Molly’s voice wavered again, “she was hit by three slashing curses on her chest and stomach. It’s touch and go.”

Ginny sank back against her pillow, feeling numb. Hermione couldn’t die. Not when everyone else was alive. It wouldn’t be right. And it was with these thoughts that she slipped back into an uneasy sleep.

***

Someone was shaking her gently, whispering her name, trying to break through her consciousness barrier.

She blearily opened her eyes, and saw that same half-light that she’d awoken to last. She blinked away the last vestiges of sleep, and shocked; saw that it was Harry who had awoken her.

“Harry?” She said, her voice cracking slightly. He sent her a lopsided smile, and reached out to take her hand.

“Are you all right?” He asked.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” She replied, and then she remembered, “Harry! How’s Hermione? Is she-”

“She’s fine,” Harry interrupted, “you’ve been asleep longer than you think.”

“How long since I was last awake?”

“Three days,” he replied, “Hermione woke up this afternoon.”

Ginny smiled, as a strange sensation flooded he veins. Was it happiness? Relief? She didn’t know, but it felt better than the worry of before.

“So is it really over then?” She asked, biting her lip.

“If you mean, did I kill Voldemort, then yes, I did.”

“And the Death Eaters?”

“Azkaban.”

“Okay. What happened exactly? How did you all end up in the Great Hall?”

“Voldemort broke through the wards,” Harry sighed, looking at his hands, “and he made sure I knew that he had. We – Hermione, Ron and I – fetched as many members of the Order as we could and then apparated into the Great Hall. They were waiting for us. And well…you know the rest.”

“Do I?” Ginny replied, in a half whisper, before sighing.

They fell silent, Ginny staring at her quilt covers, her hand nervously plucking at the white linen.

“Ginny,” his voice broke the silence, several minutes later, “I need to tell you something.”

“Oh?” She didn’t look up.

“When I was…when I was fighting Voldemort, I thought that I was getting close to the point where I would have to give up. He was winning. But then, well I heard Ron stupefy someone, then I thought I heard him say your name, and I looked over and I saw you, and you looked so beautiful, even in the middle of the battle, and well…I think seeing you gave me strength, made me realise that I didn’t want to give up, made me certain that I had to carry on. And then I was just concentrating on all those feelings, and he…disappeared. You must have seen the white light?”

“Yes,” Ginny replied quietly, still looking down at the quilt.

“Do you remember in my fifth year, when he possessed me at the Ministry? When I thought of Sirius, it hurt Voldemort, forced him out of my mind, and I think something similar happened on Halloween. I was concentrating on how much I…how much I love you Ginny, and I guess I was thinking of Ron and Hermione and all your family too, but I think it hurt him. I think it hurt him so much that he died.”

Ginny’s hand had stilled halfway through what Harry had been saying, and she finally lifted her gaze to his face. His brilliant green eyes were the same as always, even if the face that surrounded them was covered in cuts and bruises. He stared at her, unblinking, a strange look on his face, a sort of half-nervous, half-happy look.

When Ginny didn’t say anything, Harry took her hand again, and leaned a little bit closer to the side of her bed.

“Ginny, I know it’s been over a year since we last saw each other properly, but…I still…”

His words were cut off as Ginny closed the gap between them and softly kissed him. His eyes slid closed, and he kissed her back, slipping one of his hands into her hair whilst the other moved to cup the side of her face.

When they broke apart, Harry had a slight grin on his face, and Ginny knew that his expression was mirrored with her own. She reached out for his hand, and squeezed it, smiling.

And at that moment, she knew that everything was going to be all right.

***

“Hurry up Katie!” called Alicia impatiently, “we’re going to miss the feast!”

“I’m coming I’m coming!” replied Katie buttoning her black robes. They still had five minutes to go and in her opinion that was plenty of time. “Okay let’s go,” she said as she stepped out of her dormitory and into the nearly empty common room.

The girls hopped out from behind the portrait of the Fat Lady and continued toward the great hall. Already they could smell pumpkin pie and warm turkey that made their mouths water uncontrollably.

As they reached the Great Hall they noticed more noise than usual even if they were late.

“I wonder what’ going on in there,” said Katie a smile looming on her lightly freckled face.

“Let’s find out,” said Alicia with a slight frown of disapproval on her lips. Cautiously they opened the grand doors to the hall and looked immeditaly up and the staff table to see if Dumbledore had arrived yet. He hadn’t.

Quickly, they made there way across the hall to the Gryffindor table where they were greeted by Fred and George Weasly, and Angelina Johnson. “What’s going on in here?” Alicia shouted over the roaring of the school.

“Yea, we could hear the noise from the common room. Fred, George what did you do?” Katie asked her voice filled with suspicion.

“Look up there!” said Angelina in between fits of giggles.

Slowly Alicia and Katie lifted there heads to where Angelina was pointing. When they saw hanging there on the rafters a pair of disgusting gray underwhere.

“Is that Filch’s underwear?” said Katie laughing uncontrollably at the sight she had just seen.

“Yup. Fred got it out of the laundry during dentention and I got down here early after causing a distraction of coarse and hung it up using a simple sticking charm.’ George explained with a malicious grin.

“Wow” said Katie in amazement. Fred and George’s tricks had always fascinated her and Angelina.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you like him!” said Alicia in response to Katie’s admiring face looking a George.

“Oh shut-up!” Katie exclaimed embarrassed. So it was true but she couldn’t help it he was one hell of a beater.

“I’m going to take them down!” yelled Alicia and anger, “Filch and the teacher could be here any minute.”

“I’m not letting you do that here!” said Fred, “maybe if we did it the common room but now the whole school can enjoy it. And besides they won’t be back soon, I set off another portable swamp on Filch and he’s drowning. So they have to save him (if possible) and then take care of the swamp.”

“You didn’t!” said Angelina Johnson who’s shoulders were shaking with laughter remembering the one they set off on Mrs. Norris just weeks before.

“We did” the twins said in unisin, “and it will proably cost us another 3 weeks of dentention for it. But it will be worth it.”

By now the whole school had come down and the feast should of started five minutes ago. The twins little brother Ron came over along with his friends Hermione Granger and Harry Potter who Katie thought was an awesome seeker. They squeezed in and helped themselves to snacks that were already on the table.

“So what’s taking the staff so long” said Hermione curiously. Katie was surprised she hadn’t noticed, after all she was a genius.

“That!” spat Alicia in disgust pointing at the sight where Filch’s underwear was hanging.

“Whoa…” said Harry and Ron in amazement with their mouths wide open in shock.

“How did you, when did you,” said Ron who had dropped the handful of chips he was about to eat.

“Portable swamp on Filch Little Bro” explained George with his voice ina tone of boredom.

“How come the teachers aren’t here though?” asked Harry, who was still clearly amazed. This made Katie laugh even though the twins hadn’t explained it again yet. The thought just bought tears to her eyes.

“Peeves saw and casued a raquet trying to make Filch drown which got the teachers attention.” said Fred in the same tone as his brother.

“Yea but how did you get the underwear?” said Hermione barely containing her own set of giggles.

“Well when Fred had to wash the staff laundry with no magic for detention earlier he grabbed it.” explained George, “it took him a while to get it to me though because Filch kept him longer than 2 hours the filthy squib.”

“SILENCE!!!!” boomed Dumbledore as he entered the Great Hall. “Now somebody please tell me who set off a portable swamp on Mr. Filch.”

The hall remained silent as everybody looked around muffling their giggles. Alicia sent a dirty look straight at Fred and George who were both grinning.

Before they could raise their hands however the rest of the teachers filed in accompanied by Filch who was drenched. At this the hall exploded and the Heads of Houses had to regain order while Dumbledore dried off Filch with a wave of his wand. Thinking they had gotten away with the underwear Fred and George slapped high fives laughing.

However their celebration was short lived. McGonagall had spotted the panties.

Quickly she pointed them out to Dumbledore who demended in no more than a whisper who had done it.

The smiles till plastered on their heavly freckled faces Fred and George stood up and waved at the crowd now looking at them. Katie was laughing as hard as Ron who had choked on a pretzel but Alicia was still frowning.

“Weasley’s!” cried McGonagall her voice filled with shock. ”I suspected Peeves!”

Filch was shooting terrible looks at the twins which Angelina noticed and that made her laugh even harder. “If looks could kill, you’d be as dead as a dodo right now” she told the beaming twins.

“Fred, George! Get over here right now!” Said Dumbledore his voice filled with disappointment. “Mr. Filch take them to my office where you can punish them, I will be up in a moment.”

“Hey maybe Filch will let them get of easy,” said Angelina with no real conviction in her voice.

“The day Filch does that is the day Snape washes his hair!” said Katie.


*smiles and winks*
Griffyndor Girl

A/N: This is sort of AU I haven’t actually read Harry Potter lately so I’m not too fab on the dates, so I’ll be making some up. Do not take any note of them, seriously.
By the way, this is Severitus for Elfie, a bit of Angst too.

<b>What Halloween brings</b>

~~*~~

Harry was staring out his dorm window to the frosted quidditch pitch, a nose print embedded in the mist hovering on the glass. His glasses were pushed right up to the ridge of his nose leaving a red imprint, if they were hurting Harry didn’t realize.
Ron and Hermione had gone off to snog by the fireplace in the common room and Ginny was cuddling up somewhere with Michael Corner in, ironically, a corner.
Harry felt an ebbing loneliness rising from his heart, through his chest and up to form a lump in his throat. Everyone was coupled up with at least someone who loved them and was willing to go to the Halloween dance with them.
Of course many girls wanted to go with Harry, but not anyone he preferred. He was beginning to think he was indebted to loneliness like Sirius had been before his death. He was sick of being the boy-who-lived, the Golden boy, whatever!

He wanted a life; he wanted to have a life the Weasley’s, like Hermione’s maybe even like Draco’s. He wanted a life of his own.

He didn’t know what had brought this flood gate opening, to release a torrent of strong feelings. He walked over to his bed and lay down on his stomach at the end going through his trunk. He picked the album out carefully and looked away as Sirius and his parents waved simultaneously. He felt a tear leaking over his well of green eyes and swiftly wiped it away. This isn’t what they were being wasted for, he thought. I’m being childish, they’re gone and I couldn’t do anything about it.

But then he began crying so hard and as he tried to force the flood gates to slam shut , then Ron and Hermione walked into the room.

“Harry?” Hermione said softly, attentively standing at the door, her hand grasped in Ron’s.

Harry stopped sobbing and wiped away his tears,

“I can’t do this anymore” He said quietly and stood up, running out of the Gryffindor rooms. Heading for the Astronomy tower.

He left his bewildered friends behind and ran down the corridors; he’d had his release now he needed to contemplate.

His friend’s respected his need of peace but still sat worriedly by the fire, waiting for him to come back no matter how late.

~~*~~

As Harry sat on the ledge of the open tower, his mind was blurred, a flurry of thoughts awash inside his overcome mind. Soon he was so immersed in his thoughts he didn’t realize the time was running away from him. He built his mind shields up high and shut the door to his thoughts behind him.

Just as he turned to get up, he noticed a particularly bright star outshining the rest in the open night sky. He looked at it for a moment, just thinking how beautiful this world was. Harry felt a presence behind him at the tower door and turned around swiftly,

“Snape” He uttered softly, forgetting his anger for the man he supposedly hated so much. For once Snape nodded in contentment and understanding,

“Mr Potter” He said nearly just as quiet then turned to look at the open night sky too.

“I could get you expelled for breaking curfew, but Mr Potter I have watched you today and I know how your feeling” He said out of the blue and turned his obsidian eyes to look right into the emerald ones.

“For years we have harboured this farce hate, but I want to tell you something and maybe we could forget it all. Just for tonight, just for Halloween”

Harry nodded numbly and couldn’t bring himself to look away from Snape’s gaze.

“I know your father, godfather and I never got along. But just maybe we also held a false hate and harboured it for no reason. I was always going to be Snivellous to them and Potter was always going to be the arrogant ass to me”

He paused and looked back over the sky,

“But you know one Halloween night, not much unlike this one, James and I ran into each other in the corridors. Prowling on Prefect duty, both of us. For a moment we understood each other perfectly and walked down to the kitchens and shared a hot chocolate. That night I’m never going to forget Harry, because for once two known enemies felt human towards each other”

“That’s what I want to give to you, it’s what Halloween brings”

Then he nodded once again to Harry and swiftly turned back and went out the door. Leaving Harry numbed in his shock.

Just that night, just that Halloween, Harry felt his feelings continue down the stream and never come back. For once he knew, he knew someone understood him.

The end!

I hope you liked Elfie!!!

Yun

THE HOGWARTS HALLOWEEN COSTUME PARTY

It was Halloween. Ron, Hermione and Harry were sitting in the Gryffindor commonroom trying to figure out what they were going to dress like for the big party in the Great Hall that evening. Hermione wanted to do a spell to transfigure herself but their homework in Muggle studies was to make their own costumes the muggle way.

"What about just throwing a sheet over us and cutting out slits for the eyes?" Ron asked. "Harry laughed. Well Ron, we all know that ghosts don't really look like that, so I don't think that would be a great idea." Hermione shot a sarcastic look over at Ron. "We can't just go as something stupid. There are going to be points awarded to the house with the best costumes. We need the house points. Slytherin is leading us." Harry stood up and began pacing around the room. "Hey, I know what we can do!" Harry said excitedly. "Let's go get some feathers from the owlrey. We can stick them to our old robes and be owls!" Hermione thought about this for a moment and then smiled. "You know Harry, that's not half bad. Let's do it!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione reached the owlrey. "Look at all the feathers!" Ron shouted. "Lets get them and head back to the commonroom." Hermione had a puzzled look on her face. "What's wrong now Hermione?" Ron asked impatiently. "Well incase you hadn't noticed Ronald, there are feathers here, yes, but they are all a mess. White, brown, grey and black. We will never be able to seperate them in time." Ron frowned at Hermione. "Honestly Hermione, we can just go as multi-colored owls, a new breed!" Harry laughed. "Ron, I think she's right. We will have to think of something else."

The three friends headed back to the commonroom and all just sat there by the fireplace in deep thought. Ron looked over at Hermione and Harry. "OK, this may be a weird one, but it might work!" Harry and Hermione looked up at him nervously. "Alright, we go into the muggle studies classroom and get some black material. They did say we could use whatever we liked, right. Well, we can make dementor costumes." Harry fell of his chair onto the floor. "Honestly Harry!" Hermione sid to him. "Ron, I think it's a great idea! It will be easy to do and it's definitly scary!" Hermione hugged Ron and picked Harry up from off the floor. The three of them agreed that they would be dementors.

After collecting the material they needed Harry, Ron and Hermione headed back up to the commonroom and got to work on the costumes right away. After a few hours they were done. Harry put his on and looked in the mirror. "Not exactly what I call that realistic looking, but they will do." Hermione put hers on and looked in the mirror. "Well, they are OK, I mean they don't look exact, but they are good enough. Ron, can you run down to the great hall? McGonagall wants a list of what everyone will be. You need to write our house, names and the costumes. That way she will know who to award the points to."

Ron put the names on the list and then returned to the commonroom. He put on his costume and the three headed down the corrider twards the Great Hall. On the way Peeves showed up. "OOOHHH looky looky!" The tree looked up at Peeves and just as they did he threw dung bombs on them. Harry grabbed his wand and pointed at Peeves but before he could jinx him he was gone. They could hear himm laughing all the way down the hall. "Oh, bloody hell! Now what are we gonna do? We can't go to the party dressed as dung scented dementors!" Ron said angrily. "Well, forget it. Lets go get washed up and we will throw the white sheets over us. I don't care about it now, I'm starving and I want to eat!" Hermione said to the boys.

The great hall was packed with students in all kinds of different costumes. Malfoy, Crabbe and goyle were all squeezed into one costume and looked like the giant squid, Luna Lovegood was a giant Quibbler magazine made out of cardboard and Neville was dressed like Snape. All of a sudden three dementors swooped into the castle and into the great hall. Everyone started screaming and running trying to get away from them. Snape ran over to where they were, he was a little wobbly and smelled of firewhiskey, "Great costumes you three! How did you manage to create them so lifelike? I read the list of who was going to be dressed like what and when I saw that you were going as dementors, I had no idea they would be this great! 100 points to Gryffindor!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione got cleaned up and threw their sheets on and headed over to the Great hall. They opened the door and couldn't believe what they saw. Snape was standing there talking to three real dementors like he had known them for ages. Neville walked over to the trio dressed like ghosts and said, "Look at Harry, Ron and Hermione's costumes would ya! Amazing, and so lifelike. Snape just awarded 100 points to Gryffindor for them!" Neville walked off and went to join Snape and the dementors. Hermione looked over at Ron and Hary. "Oh no, those are real dementors! What are we going to do" Harry grabbed his wand from under his sheet, thought of the happy fact that Snape had just awarded them 100 points, pointed his wand at the dementors and yelled "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A beautiful white stag appeared in a white mist and the three dementors flew away and out the door. Harry's sheet fell off and landed on the floor. Snape came running over to Harry. "Wow Colin, that was amazing! You look just like Harry, how did you do it? Another 50 points for Gryffindor!" Snape walked away and headed in the direction of Malfoy.

"What? Colin? What? Has Snape lost his mind? First talking to dementors and now he thinks Harry is Colin." Hermione said confused. Ron laughed. "Well hermione, he obviously thought we were the dementors and when I put our name on the list of what costumes we were wearing, Colin had signed up right before me. He wrote that he was going as Harry Potter, so you see, Snape just made a few mistakes!" The three laughed. Harry put his arm around Hermione and said, "Well, those mistakes just earned us 150 points!"