A/N: I want to start this out by saying that I am deeply sorry. 2020/21 Was a horrible year for me, I fell into a deep depression and it took a year of therapy in order for me to find motivation to write again. I hope you all can forgive me. This story has truly, truly helped to remind me of how much I love this art, and remind me of the people who made me life better. Thank you.

The aesthetic is created by RobinHood37

𝕿𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖆'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

Thalia smiled as she put on a dagger's sheath, looking at herself in the mirror with a bright-eyed Lily standing behind her.

Lily had managed to drag all of the girls in the tower along with Alice, Harley (while using they/them pronouns for the day, Lily told them they "needed a break from Snape", using the skunk's last name instead of "Sev" delighted just about everyone in the room), Marlene, and Dorcas to her dorm room. Sure, there was a lot of bargaining, threatening, bribing, and fights going on, but everyone had settled into a peace treaty. If anything obscene happened they were allowed to brutally murder one another on a separate occasion.

Dorcas and Marlene had already gone off to do other things in... private. Thalia was certain they were shagging in their dorm room. Alice had gone off as well, saying that she was meeting Frank and some Hufflepuffs to get snacks from the kitchens. Thalia looked in the mirror to look behind her at the other girls, plus Harley.

Harley looked about ready to murder everyone in the room and then themself, and Thalia couldn't blame them. Between Miranda doting over how beautiful she looked in her Duchess costume to Eloire belting out the lyrics to some Queen song while thrashing her red Lily wig around on her bed, Thalia was sure she'd be planning a few murders by the next hour.

On another note, Harley undeniably stuck out with their quite horrifying costume. The others were cutesy, or beautiful. Take Olivia for example, with her bunny maid costume that was the epitome of cuteness. But then Maelyn's was kind of strange where she was just wearing a goat onesie...Thalia decided not to question it. Harley, however, had face makeup that looked like a rotting corpse (Hel had been used as an example—much to the distaste of the goddess) while their clothes were ragged and a "rib cage" was exposed. Thalia thought it was remarkable how realistic the flesh, blood, and bone were, but it was quite scary. She had briefly wondered if there was a spell to replicate the look.

Speaking of Hel, she was out on the balcony, gazing into the distance. Thalia thought her costume was quite interesting. It shifted. It literally shifted. Apparently, her father had sent a fun illusion spell (he was the god of illusions) through the mail and now Hel was shifting between costumes. One moment she was a queen whose dress and arms were soaked in blood, and the next she was a dark woodland nymph. Thalia found it fascinating and hoped to learn what the spell was. Maybe she could when she was able to go to Asgard. Her face lifted at the thought, how many godly spellbooks there were in the other realm? The one Hel had on fascinated Thalia immensely, and apparently, it was only a basic godly illusion spell! Imagine what other secrets and treasures lie in the land of the gods...

"Thalia, hat help?" Thalia heard Lily say from behind her.

Thalia focused back to the present and turned around to look at Lily, whose costume was quite interesting in. Lily was going to have two costumes for Halloween along with Eloire. Thalia wasn't quite sure if the coordination was planned...

To clarify for things down the road, it was a Monday, but the school had said that since the students had been through enough, they deserved a Monday off for Halloween. Thalia nearly snorted during that feast. A soulmate sorting in addition to an outlandish beast roaming through the forest that wants to devour you (both forest and beast)? Yes, the students had been through enough and more. But back to Lily ...

For the first half of the day, Lily was dressed as a perfume bottle. Yes, you read correctly. A perfume bottle. Bouteille de parfum. The interesting thing was that she pulled it off beautifully. Lily had told her the night before that she had a friend whose friend was a seamstress (and as a very intelligent Thalia figured out after hours of pondering, the friend was most likely Hel) and had made the costume for her as a gift. With the sunlight coming from the balcony window, Thalia saw the glimmer of the woven-in silver from the waistline down near to the bottom of the cupcake dress. The top was a silver fabric that shines equally as beautiful in the sun with its off the shoulder sleeves. Add in the silver lace stockings she had woven up her legs and the large jewel pillbox hat, she was the epitome of a perfume bottle. Thalia had also heard that it was an inside joke between Lily and Elorie. How that could be Thalia hadn't figured out yet. She was confident she would have the answer by the end of the day though.

Lily handed Thalia her jewel hat and Thalia accepted it, swapping places with Lily so that Lily was the one directly in front of the mirror. Thalia gently placed the hat on top of Lily's head and secured it with pins just in time for Eloire to fall off her bed, land on a bouncing mat, and collapse on Thalia, causing a chain reaction for Thalia to try to catch Eloire, but that made her fall over and she wasn't able to catch herself, so Lily quickly tried to catch Thalia, but they ended up as a pile of three on the floor.

Thalia heard a rude scoff come from the window of the balcony and saw Miranda with a smirk on her face as she adjusted her elbow-length silk light-lavender gloves. Miranda looked right at Thalia and sent her a sneer. Thalia replied with a sarcastic smile right back. Miranda rolled her eyes, looking out the window, brushing her gloved fingers across her large gold and diamond necklace. The price of which, Thalia was sure, could feed a large orphanage for a few months.

"Oh you three," Pandora said with a chuckle as she helped them up, dusting off their clothes lightly, despite there not being a speck of dust on their costumes. Thalia saw that Pandora's eyes quickly dart over to the small pink scratches on Elorie's head because of her red Lily wig.

"Are you alright?" Pandora asked as she reached up to examine Elorie's "wounds''. She set her red riding hood basket down for a moment as she gently held Elorie's head in her fingers. From what Thalia had heard, Remus was going to be the big bad wolf while Pandora was going to be a little red riding hood, something Thalia found adorable.

"I'm fine mum," Eloire grumbled in a mock exasperated tone. But she couldn't hide her grin as she adjusted her bright red Lily wig. She had decided to dress up as a very exaggerated Lily. She wore a giant (faux) head girl badge on her breast and a red wig with some alarmingly bright green contacts.

Pandora chortled before picking her basket up and checking the contents. "I'm going to go make sure the boys haven't killed anyone yet, does anyone care to come with me?" She asked. When no one bothered to reply (there was a fascinating swarm of birds outside apparently) Thalia spoke up.

"Why not?" Thalia said and Pandora smiled at her, opening the door for Thalia.

Apparently, one of the marauders managed to herd all the boys into one room. Thalia was hoping no one was tossed out of a window. Though, with three future death eaters, four Marauders, the Marauders' sworn enemy, and Declan all in one room, perhaps that was too much to hope for.

Though, when Thalia and Pandora arrived at James and Declan's dorm, they found that the boys had made themselves little corners. Evan, Rabastan, Regulus, and Severus were in one while James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were in another corner. Declan was sitting on his bed reading a fantasy book Thalia remembered he had checked out from the library a week ago, bumping into him during lunch.

"Are they having a staring contest?" Pandora whispered.

Thalia turned her head, watching the Marauders staring intently at the "Death Eater" group and the "Death Eater" group was staring right back.

"Oh no, they're joyously embracing one another," Thalia whispered back and she heard Pandora giggle.

"Panda! Hi!" Sirius said enthusiastically as he noticed the pair. He waved his arms a great deal from where he was sitting cross-legged on James' lap. James decided to look up from diligently glaring at Severus.

Thalia nearly snorted at James' appearance but covered up her laugh with a cough. James' long white beard looked strange with his black (utterly messy) hair. Thalia was positive Dumbledore would be jealous of James' robes, clearly meant for a senior wizard.

"I thought you were going to be a vampire, James," Pandora pointed out, to which James shrugged.

"I am!" He exclaimed then grinned wide, showing his teeth. "See! Fangs!" he said, but it sounded distorted and muffled, his top and bottom fangs rubbing against each other. "I'm vampire Dumbledore!" he added.

"Yes dear, you are," Pandora said, humouring James. Thalia could tell he was holding back a giggle. "Could I borrow Remus?" she asked.

As Remus walked away from the Marauders, Thalia looked over to where Rabastan was. Broad shoulders leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over an orange camp half-blood shirt, ever so slightly hiding the logo. Thalia and he had already planned for someone to ask why they were both wearing the same shirt. Thalia was to say, "I'm a bookworm and this is from a book, did you expect less?" though, she didn't think anybody was actually going to talk to her that day. For Rabastan, his excuse was it was a dare on account of some of his other friends. Though based on calculations of major school cliques' whereabouts, Thalia didn't suspect anybody would be suspicious or see them together. Plus Lily had shown her some lovely hidden passageways, ones she said came from a map she saw of Hogwarts at a friend's house.

Thalia sent a look to Rabastan, gently jerking her head in the direction of the door. Thalia followed Pandora and Remus out, and moments later, she found herself with Rabastan in the common room as they marvelled over each other's costumes (Pandora and Remus had gone to the kitchens).

"Well, it does suit you well doesn't it?" Thalia said as she touched Rabastan's Camp-Half Blood necklace—a gift she got for him on his birthday the day before. Her fingers treaded scarcely lower, light brushes against his chest as she pulled away.

"Of course it does, you picked it out for me after all," Rabastan said, and Thalia scoffed.

"Ah yes, I, the renowned bookworm, Thalia Carmichael, who has perhaps three friends at the most and spends her time away from society, has an impeccable fashion sense. You never cease to amaze me, Bas," Thalia dramatically declared. Rabastan chuckled, showing his white teeth.

"You know what I mean Thals," Rabastan said and Thalia smiled, looking away. Rabastan dipped to press a kiss to her lips.

When they pulled away, Thalia gently rubbed her lips together in thought. "Blueberry chapstick? Someone desires to get in character don't they?" Thalia asked, raising her eyebrow.

Rabastan let out a low laugh. "Well, who doesn't want to be Percy?" he asked causing Thalia to shrug.

"You have a--" Thalia reached into Rabastan's back pocket, pulling out a muggle ballpoint pen—a copy of Riptide. "Point there."

"Did Thalia Carmichael just make a pun?" Rabastan asked incredulously as he stared dumbfounded at Thalia's highly amused face.

"It's a book pun," Thalia explained. She gently placed the pen back in Rabastan's pocket, suggesting they go to the library. Every year, there's a Halloween section of the library with books that scream, throw goo at you, or are filled with treats. The Trick Or Treat section is what it's called, quite appropriate.

Rabastan agreed with no hesitation and the two headed off to the library together as Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.

If the two weren't so caught up in each other, they would've noticed that in the stairwell next to them, Pandora and Remus had accidentally been listening in.

𝕻𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖔𝖗𝖆'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

Pandora had her back pressed up against the wall as Remus placed kisses all along her neck before coming back up to her lips. There wasn't much she could do on the spying situation since Remus technically had her pinned. Yes, she could hear what was happening out behind her, and she did feel a little bad, but she promised herself she wouldn't tell anyone, and Remus wouldn't either.

Warm kisses trailed along Pandora's neck, hot breathy gasps escaping from her lips. The four days leading up to and after the full moon was always a wreck for Remus mentally and physically, something Pandora understood clearly after being with the Marauders for seven years. All of his emotions were heightened while some were flat out depleted—it seemed his sex drive that day had been heightened.

"You looked stunning, you know, the red cape looks nice on you," Remus whispered gruffly against Pandora's lips. His body flush against hers, one forearm pressed against the wall, his other hand supporting Pandora's neck and the back of her head.

"Why thank you," Pandora whispered back. She looked intently as Remus quickly looked up, like how a husky would cock their head at an unfamiliar sound

"Dear bleeding God, can Kelly shout insults any louder?" Remus mumbled and Pandora giggled as she very faintly heard Harley cussing out Miranda. In Pandora's experience, because of the full moon, whatever she managed to hear faintly felt like a scream in Remus' ear.

"C'mon, let's go somewhere else," Pandora mumbled as she gently pushed Remus away. Remus had a look on his face as if someone were screeching in his ear and he was trying to avoid them. Pandora reached in her basket and pulled out a small pocket watch. After clicking it open she found out that it was two hours before lunch.

Pandora hummed in thought as she adjusted her red cape. "We could go and check to make sure the pranked hallway is alright, or maybe go check on the pumpkin carving contest winner table to make sure that's alright. There's the option of baking with the house elves, or we could go visit Hagrid," Pandora said as she listed off the option of what they could do. She would've said homework if the two hadn't finished practically all of it. Most would assume a tour of the haunted section of the hallway would be fun, but the crew that had worked on it agreed that at the end they would all take a tour of the entire hallway--something that was sure to be fun. "We could also make out in the forbidden forest," Pandora added coyly, pecking the corner of Remus' mouth.

"Up to you Pan," Remus said as he brushed his hair out of his face. The clip-on ears he was wearing slightly messed up the way his hair usually sat. Pandora and the Marauders had asked Remus if he wanted to not wear the ears, it wouldn't matter since based on the rest of his costume, a competent person would assume he was the big bad wolf, but Remus had declined, declaring that it "made the costume better."

"Oooh, I have an idea!" Pandora whispered brightly with an ever so slightly mischievous smile. "How about we do that contest now? Most of the others haven't seen their soulmates all day, and to be working with them in their lovely outfits? It's going to be brilliant--especially for the ones who've'n't gotten together yet."

Remus chuckled and gently pulled Pandora to his side before guiding her up the steps "That sounds like a lovely plan, darling. One fit for a Marauder."

"Oh, and before we go..." Pandora pulled her wand out and pointed to Remus' ears, muttering a spell that would muffle all the sounds he heard to an almost normal volume.

Remus pressed a grateful kiss to the top of Pandora's head as they walked up the steps, ready to deliver the fun news to everyone.

...

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"If it's not terrifying, then you're not doing it right my love!"

"I think the animal theme would be nice."

"This is going to be soooooo good!"

"A romantic aren't you sweetheart?"

"I'm a bookworm, it's what we do."

"Oh let it be traditional, I beg of you. We're not going to do a zombie fox."

"I think traditional would be cute."

"Chicken nugget."

"This isn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Harley's only threatened to kill someone five times," Remus noted, nodding his head in approval as Pandora chuckled.

"Yes, and it looks like they're all getting along," Pandora said, eyeing the couples she wasn't sure if they were together yet. Yes, she wasn't a matchmaker, but seeing her friends get together with the people she knows they love is rewarding--especially her twin brother who she could tease later on, but that's beside the point.

"What should we do?" Remus asked, referring to their first pumpkin.

There would be two parts to this contest. One would be soulmates working with each other to make the best pumpkin (Peter and Maleyn would be judging--Pandora still wondered how that was going to go) which was free-range for ideas. Then soulmates were going to go against each other (Maleyn and Peter would still be judging) with something preferably traditional, but with the group they had, Pandora was sure that idea was going down the drain.

The rules were simple though: no maiming, no cheating, no killing, no sabotaging, and preferably not a lot of screaming. That last rule turned out to be the number one to break as soon as they started.

Pandora analyzed their pumpkin, twirling it around slightly. Remus and she had gotten a darn near perfect pumpkin. One side was practically symmetrical! Pandora would have to thank Hagrid later for growing such nice looking pumpkins.

"How about a heart with our names in it? We're going to be doing traditional things later, and no doubt we'll have different ideas on what to do then," Pandora suggested. Remus nodded in agreement.

"You gut, I sketch?" Remus asked, placing a hand on the quill, ink, and parchment laying out in front of them to plan their design.

"Deal," Pandora said as she grabbed a knife from the arsenal of tools laid in front of them. Sure most people in the tower had been a tad worried about letting some people have such an array of sharp pointy things, but it was all fun. One of the rules was no meaning or killing--not that Pandora thought anyone paid attention to the rules.

Pandora sawed into the pumpkin around the top. She and Remus had been accidentally seated in the middle of everything, so she could hear everyone. No doubt Remus was a little overwhelmed with the noise, but he didn't seem agitated, so for now Pandora thought he'd be alright. Pandora had been gutting and using pumpkins to make things for a long time--practically one or twice a week in the fall--so her body went on autopilot as she listened to everyone else. Not snooping! She was just curious as to what everyone else was doing.

She could faintly hear Hel and Sirius, so she turned her eyes and ears there to see what her "adoptive" brother was doing with Hel.

"It's got to be scary!" Hel hissed.

"But it's gotta be cool too," Sirius added.

Hel sighed before examining the pumpkin, they had already gutted the pumpkin, judging by the pumpkin guts splattered on Sirius's gloved fingers.

Hel crossed her arms, a knife in hand. Pandora couldn't tell if calculations of mathematics were floating through her mind, or creative ideas on how to kill James, who was making funny faces across from her.

Sirius slowly raised his finger, narrowing his eyes to slits as the finger rose closer and closer to Hel's cheek. He was trying to be sneaky, but Pandora could see right through him. A hair away from Hel's face and Hel, with reflexes lighting fast, had the knife pointed millimetres away from Sirius' heart.

Pandora instinctively jumped out of her seat, but calmly sat back down, waiting to see how this would all play out. Her nails were grazing the sides of an almost empty pumpkin though, so she didn't have long.

"My love, you are so obvious," Hel said haughtily. Sirius grinned sitting up to match Hel's height, the knife barely grazing the fabric of his suit. His eyes darted around the Great hall before he pressed a kiss to Hel's lips. The knife sunk further into his suit, and Pandora grew a bit weary, but she saw Hel's hand inch closer away from Sirius.

Pandora sighed softly as she met eyes with her own love, who seemed to have been looking at her.

"Remy?" Pandora questioned and Remus shook his head in reply.

"Nothing Panda, you just look gorgeous," Remus said, a soft smile on his face.

It took all of Pandora's mental and physical power to not coo out loud. He leaned down to gently kiss Remus' forehead as she sat down.

"So, design and carving?" Pandora asked.

"Design and carving," Remus agreed.

𝕸𝖆𝖊𝖑𝖞𝖓'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

Maelyn eyed the pumpkins almost suspiciously as she was judging them. She wasn't actually quite sure what body motion she was supposed to do for this, but she just ran with it.

She passed Remus and Pandora's pumpkin first. At the thought of Pandora she remembered the salted pumpkin crisps Pandora made for her and quickly pulled them out of her back pocket, which yes, she had on her goat costume. If her costume didn't have pockets everywhere, what kind of costume would that be? Maleyn'll tell you, a really really bad one.

Maelyn titled her head at Pandora and Remus' proud creation. The "lights" were off--meaning Thalia had done a funny little Thalia spell that made all the candles blow out for a certain interval of time--so she and Peter could see the jack-o'-lanterns better. Maleyn recognized the initials and the heart but kept a blank face. On the inside, she was smiling and thought it was very sweet, but it just didn't come out the right way on her face.

"It looks really good Pan!" Peter said enthusiastically, a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Peter," Pandora said, holding Remus's hands where they were wrapped around her waist.

Maelyn bounced over to James and Declan. She noticed that they were standing vaguely close to each other, James' Dumbledore robes barely brushing Declan's hand. They'd be doing that a lot more lately. Maelyn couldn't fathom why though, and Declan had been smiling a bit more recently. Most people didn't think she noticed anything, but she actually noticed a lot, she just never said it since it seemed pretty unimportant, and she never realized she noticed stuff until she pointed it out and surprised herself.

"What is that?" Maelyn asked. It came out very blunt, but she didn't mind.

"It's a bleeding Jack-O'lantern thirty-five hundred!" James announced proudly just as Delcan said, "It's a pumpkin with a potion in it."

Maelyn nodded and pretended to examine the potion carefully. She had no idea what the fuck she was doing, but she was rolling with it. She poked the murky red substance coming out of the mouth of the jack o'lantern, and out of instinct, put her finger in her mouth.

"Wait, don't do that!" James screamed, his seven-year-old demeanour disappearing completely as he leapt across the table to smack Maleyn's finger away from her mouth.

Consequently, he knocked over his own pumpkin, and Sirius and Hel's who was right next to him. Red goop splattered across his crimson robes and all over Maleyn and the table. The floor had turned to false lava, and Declan's arm was trapped beneath James' pelvis since James had jumped diagonally to smack Maelyn.

"Well that's not nice," Maleyn said, arms hanging limply at her sides.

A mumble came from underneath James' comical wizard's hat. "You should thank you, I just saved your life."

Maelyn swore she could see Delcan's face get a bit pink as he wiggled his arm, but she blinked and his cool manner came back.

"Oh for goodness sake," Pandora said as she gently pulled Remus' hands from her waist. "Come here, Prongs."

James pouted as he hung limp, splayed across the table.

"Yes I know you feel lame but come here," Pandora repeated, pulling a red handkerchief from her picnic basket. Her movements were gentle as she dragged James up, pressing the handkerchief to her tongue before wiping his face.

Declan seemed indifferent about his arm not being trapped underneath James' pelvis. His arms were crossed in front of him and not a curled hair was out of place. He looked at Maelyn and nodded in the general direction of the splattered pumpkin on the ground.

Maleyn dug in all of her pockets before finding her wand. She looked at her wand for five seconds, blinking periodically before shoving it back down her pocket. She held her hand out in front of her, "reparo." The pumpkin repaired itself and floated back to its place on the table, the red goop oozed back into the mouth of the jack o'lantern.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Thalia's jaw drop slightly, and she couldn't help but snort a bit in pride. She also saw a gleam of pride shine in Declan's eyes as the corner of his mouth tilted upward.

"It looks so cool prongs!" Pete said excitedly.

James looked up from where Pandora was patching him up. "Thanks, Wormy."

Maleyn ignored the two and went over to Hel and Sirius. She could've sworn Hel was proud of her, but she still had on her "concrete face" as Maelyn liked to call it, with her hands clasped in front of her.

Maelyn's eyebrows raised a bit as she looked at the pumpkin. It was methodically carved and looked like clockwork pieces shone through the eyes of the jack o lantern. Sirius had a proud, toothy smile on his face, his slicked-back hair making him look like a cartoon Dracula. His curls gleamed through the gel though, making it look messy, which Maleyn, a mistress of hair, thought was hilarious.

"It's really good, Pads," Peter said, kneeling in front of the pumpkin and staring right into its "eyes".

"Thanks, Pete," Sirius said, looking down at Peter.

Maleyn nodded at Hel, who gave a curt nod back before moving on.

Elorie and Lily were hiss-arguing when Maleyn came across them. Lily poked her head up though and smiled elegantly when Maelyn came over. Elorie rolled her eyes at Lily brushing faux red hair out of her eyes.

"What's that?" Maelyn asked, pointing at the pumpkin. Circles and ovals looked at her, specifically three circles, one big one with some oval eyes and two large circle things on top. Maelyn had a staring contest with the pumpkin, determined not to lose.

"It's a muggle thing," Lily said. "I saw him in books and on the telly while growing up."

"It's Micked-y Mouse, the insane mouse," Elorie said, seemingly bouncing in place. Maelyn distinctly remembered the large cup of mystery contents Elorie had gargled down in the morning and wondered if that had anything to do with Elorie's high.

"Trust me, her excitement has nothing to do with the fruit juice she had this morning," Lily quipped, leaning close and covering the side of her mouth so that Elorie would not "hear". Elorie sent a sharp glare to Lily when she heard her, but still folded her arms and held her ground.

Maleyn remembered how much Eloire and Lily argued over what to do. She distinctly remembered the conversation of "Oh for gods' sakes McFellon! I'm not drawing someone making a bloody runny nose with a pig nose! Something elegant would you," and "You have no sense of humour I swear to Texas! Cmon, we're not drawing pretty flowers on the pumpkin!", and "Who said I wanted flowers! I don't even like flowers all that much, especially after that prank you did in '74!", and "Okay that wasn't my fault all that much! And let's not forget that you play pranks too Evans! Oh wait, is that a disappearing potion?". It was interesting to see them come to a conclusion for once.

Maleyn nodded and Peter grinned at the pumpkin, seemingly saying hello with his eyes. Maleyn could've sworn she saw his ears and nose twitch while saying hello, and scooted a tad bit away from him. That was some weird rat-like behaviour.

Maelyn started to get tired and her pumpkin crisps weren't sufficient any longer. She decided that she'd seen everyone she wanted to see and Lily seemed to sense her discomfort of being around people any longer.

"Hey," Lily whispered, her voice unnoticeable if Maelyn hadn't been listening to it. "Peter can go down the rest of them, you can sit, walk down really fast and take a peek of them, you notice more than you think, and then go sit up at the judge's table. I left my purse up there, there should be some gum or something you can chew on that's sweeter."

Maelyn nodded in appreciation and briskly walked past all of the pumpkins. Her hair was pushed back at the speed she was walking, and she gnawed on the inside of her cheek. Marlene and Dorcas, Hogwarts crest, Frank and Alice, Silly Jack, Olivia and Evan, Cat, Thalia and Rabastan, Book, Harley and Severus, satan. That's all she needs. She practically flew up to the table and reached down, feeling the cool tile. She patted her fingers, the blood rushing down her arm until she felt Lily's familiar purse. Setting the cool silver on her lap, she dug through it before finding gum and happily unwrapped it, popping the minty gum into her mouth. She saw a note on the packaging.

Try holding your nose to try not to smell anything -- the smell of pumpkins is really strong.

Maleyn furrowed her brow and tried what Lily said while chewing the gum.

"So, what do you think?" Peter asked from beside her.

Maelyn would've jumped if she had a reaction. "Hel and Sirius and Harley and Sniv- Severus." "I really liked Lily and Elorie's," Peter said shyly.

Maleyn stared at Peter for a long time until he got uncomfortable enough to agree with her. She laughed and looked at Harley and Sirius really hard to see if she would get what she wanted. She also looked really hard at Lily every now and then.

She could faintly hear Hel telling Harley to bring their pumpkin up, and she walked to the table and set the pumpkin down gently.

"Intricate," Maleyn said blankly, pointing from Hel and Sirius' pumpkin and then to Harley and Severus' pumpkin.

A couple of moments passed as she looked at the pumpkins before pointing to Harley's."Scary."

"Aw hell yes motherfucker, twelve years of this shit really pays off," Harley said.

Maleyn nodded. The only reason she was sad was that that meant Severus won too, not something she was entirely pleased by. But a pumpkin was a pumpkin.

She stuck around for the person versus person pumpkin challenge. She could see Hel and Sirius staring daggers at each other. She could've sworn that she actually saw Hel with a dagger in her hand and Sirius with his wand in his as they were carving. She could've sworn there was some sabotage too as Sirius smudged part of Hel's sketch and Hel painted something on Sirius' pumpkin.

Maelyn directed her eyes to where Pandora and Remus were. They didn't look like they were doing anything other than being childish and throwing goop at each other. Maleyn cringed slightly at the pumpkin guts on Remus' false fur and Pandora's red dress, but her mouth titled up after seeing them giggle and laugh, collapsing on top of each other.

Main tilted her head and wrinkled her forehead, seeing Rabstan and Thalia working together. She didn't know the two did that. She was sure that they hated each other's guts. Since when did they work together? Or had Maleyn not been paying attention...

Another pumpkin gut fight was occurring with Olivia and Evan, another what he fuck moment for Maelyn, granted, she expected this on a bit more seeing as Evan was known as a softie in the Slytherin dorm, but still. Maleyn was going to get permanent wrinkles and break her neck from the tilting.

And then happy couple #3, or Miranda and Regulus, being...a couple.

Eventually, Maleyn and Peter gave on picking winners, but Maelyn was really tempted to pick Hartley, who had carved a middle finger and "Fuck you Umbitch" on their pumpkin.

𝕰𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖊'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

Elorie hopped through the halls humming some random tune she made up in her mind. She took a peek at all the corners of the hallways before meeting back up with the Marauders.

Familiar excitement ran through her veins, filling her with adrenaline and joy. They hadn't had much time for this lately, with the whole "Oh dear we could die any moment" thing. But the rush of endorphins going through her body was better than any drug out there (not that she'd ever try).

"Coast is clear," she whispered, an illuminating grin on her face as she huddled close to the others. She could practically smell the excitement--or maybe Peter had wet himself.

"You know I don't approve of this, correct?" Pandora whispered, her slightly curled hair bouncing a bit as she spoke. Elorie recalled the conversation Pandora had with Maleyn about not attempting to burn Miranda's hair off with curling iron as she curled her hair for the authentic little red riding hood look.

"Yes ma'am," the rest of the marauders replied, Elorie included.

"But what I don't see, I can't have an opinion of, yes?" Pandora asked, tilting her head down slightly and looking at the Marauders with her eyes pointed slightly upwards. The Marauders snickered as Pandora winked, "forgetting" her basket on the floor of the hall and giving Remus a kiss, walking away until she disappeared through a secret corridor. 

"Operation, freak out the firsties," Sirius whispered, his slicked-back hair falling out, it was barely the afternoon and his hair was already not cooperating with the funny thing called "structure".

With adrenaline coursing through her head--and red fruit juice--Eloire nodded, picking up the basket and feeling around. She felt a cool can, another cool can, a smaller cool can, and three foldable broomsticks. She felt around, making sure there were enough spray paint cans, hairspray cans, and some ogre pheromones. The familiar crumple of the Marauder's map was not there, and Elorie grinned at the thought of Pandora doing her part.

"You ready?" Elorie asked, her voice barely contained over a whisper.

The boys nodded and Eloire pulled out the snot coloured spray paint can, a can of hairspray, a bottle of pheromones, and a condensed broomstick before tossing the basket in James' arms--luckily he was a chaser, sadly he was not wearing his wraparound glasses.

"Good luck boys!" she whispered before unfolding the broomsticks and zooming away at the speed of James when he put a fart cushion on Lily's chair.

She flew practically at the speed of light towards the hallway Pandora was in. Pandora had been tasked with finding the best, most secretive way to the haunted hallway. A line of smoke followed her, a spell Maeyn had allowed the Marauders to use just this once. Eloire shook spray paint hard before slowing down, writing in sloppy lettering on the walls, meant to look like ogre snot. "Come if you dare" it spelt out. She sealed the deal with\ hairspray (courtesy of Sleakey's hair potions and maladies), snot paint forever tacky. It'd take some magic to get it off. The bottle of pheromones (taken from Declan) was sprayed everywhere. While it had only a little bit of smell, it left you feeling on edge and curious.

Elorie kept on doing this until her bottle ran out. She felt a wisp of air flow beside her, Sirius, she let out a whoop and flew high, pumping her fist in the air. She flew around Sirius to get to the pranked hallway as fast as she could.

James had given the invisibility cloak to Remus and Peter, the two were currently walking around Hogwarts. One a very exhausted teenager and one a rat. Jame had managed to get Delcan to make them a potion that would activate three hours after it was created. They had mixed a smoke solution with the ogre pheromones, along with a spell that made a smell that was ever so familiar, but you just couldn't quite place it (Declan's design, Elorie hadn't been paying too much attention, very much preoccupied with holding back the giggles as Sirius dramatically acted out whatever Declan was saying, but she did remember something about modifying amortentia?).

Elorie dropped her cans into a lily-shaped purse and held her wig on, giving up halfway and taking that off too, shoving it into her bag. With a scratchy wig off, she could feel the air rushing through her hair, a feeling so refreshing it was addicting. She took her hands off of the broom, ruffling her hair, throwing her arms up high, feeling the wind race between her fingers. She flew in circles before spotting an open window and flying out.

'Let's take the shortcut,' she thought and she flew out and around the castle, finding the open door Pandora had let out near the end of the hallway.

Elorie flew through, spotting two blurs of blue and red. She flew through the window and came to a screeching halt. Her nose, two inches away from Pandora's and Declan looking very unimpressed off to the side.

"Whatcha looking at DecDec?" Elorie asked, her face stuck in a wind-swept look, her hair, no doubt, sticking up in every which way. "Jealous?" she teased, patting her rambunctious hair down. She really should've braided it before smashing on a wig cap but she was far too impatient.

"Yeah yeah, Coaleye," Declan said.

"You got it done?" Pandora asked, raising an eyebrow. Only people with great power could raise their eyebrow, Elorie decided as she attempted to fiddle with her own.

"Sure did, Sirius now, he might make a pit stop to Hel in the haunted section, but he's got it. Not too sure about James--" Before Elorie could finish she felt a swish of air next to her.

"Miss me?" James asked, his glasses crooked on his face.

"Oh, deer," Pandora said as she reached up to fix James' glasses.

Elorie chortled as Declan rolled his eyes.

Moments later Sirius burst through, landing on top of James' shoulders. James, who was not expecting this sudden disaster, flailed his arms wildly trying to keep his balance. Sirius wasn't helping matters he shook, cackling.

Elorie laughed and clutched her stomach as she pointed to where Sirius was King of the Mountain on top of a lump of James.

"Alright children, come along. Let's age up about ten years and help me set up the cookies and cupcakes for the end of the hallway." Pandora said, shaking her head lightly.

"Cookies?!" Someone yelled happily from the doorway.

"Peter! Where's Remus?" Pandora asked. She wiped Peter's chocolate-covered cheek with a handkerchief before placing it in Peter's hands.

"He was right behind me?" Peter asked, turning over to look behind him. Both he and Pandora furrowed their brows as they searched for Remus. He was never too hard to find, his tall stature usually giving him away.

Elorie blinked rapidly as she stared really hard at the doorway, still no sign of Remus. At this point, she was ready to get up and call the whole school to search for him, before she saw Pandora being swept off her feet.

A little yelp escaped Pandora's lips before she fell into a fit of giggles as something seemingly pressed her cheek and neck rapidly.

"Remus!" Pandora gasped in between giggles. She was gently dropped and Remus poked his head out from underneath the invisibility cloak. His ear clips had almost completely fallen off, held precariously by two bobby pins.

"What?" he asked innocently, pressing another kiss to Pandora's cheek.

Elorie cooed softly at the couple before she noticed a flash of silver go by. Her eyes lit up without her realizing it as she saw Lily walk with Marlene and Dorcas. She shook her head and snapped out of it though, the hatred she had for the girl filling up her body again as she thought about her snooty attitude of her rocking hips. Damn it.

Elorie shook her head harder and she felt a pop in her head as she looked around, suddenly she could see everyone's ankles. She tilted her head up to see everyone blinking down at her. She looked at the first pair of heels she found and made a run for it. Latching her tiny teeth on the ankle.

She could hear a surprised yelp and felt herself flailing around and around. She made sure to loosen her grip on the ankle and grab onto the sock to not hurt anyone. She was determined to get the nickname ankle-biter by the end of the school year. Sirius had bet her 50 quid that she couldn't and the accidental animagus mode was a perfect time.

𝕯𝖊𝖈𝖑𝖆𝖓'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

Decan was about three seconds away from going the good ol muggle way of throwing Elorie right out the window once she turned back.

"WHAT IN FUCK'S SAKE ELORIE MCFELLON!" James screeched as he leapt to grab a flailing Elorie. Disturbing laughing children noises flew from Elorie's mouth and she clung on tight.

Declan was doing a brilliant, absolutely elegant chicken dance as he attempted to rid himself of ankle-biter Elorie.

"Look, I know about the ankle-biter thing Coals, but let's not grab Declan? He might turn you into a salamander! It is not worth fifty quid!" James shrieked.

Now Declan was fuming, she bit him over fifty quid! What if he got rabies!? Granted, wouldn't get rabies from Elorie--actually that was false, she hung around Sirius and James, of course, she had rabies. Well, it was next to impossible for a human to get rabies from a fox, but still!.

"What on bloody Midgard is all of this commotion!" Someone sternly said, Declan heard the clicks of stilettos and had to bite back a laugh as James' face paled.

"Well fucking shit mate, you've managed to invoke the wrath of the mighty queen," James muttered, a slightly sarcastic tone in his voice as Elorie snickered.

"Invoke such an advanced word for your limited vocabulary, Potter," Another voice said from beside Hel.

"Well fuck mate, you've got the book nerd on your ass," Sirius mumbled softly, barely loud enough to hear.

Given Sirius and James' history of book nerds, that was just about as scary as saying "you've got satan on your ass".

Declan had "accidentally" managed to kick hard enough to send Elorie flying...right out the window. His eyes widened barely but it was Elorie, she was as invincible as a diamond.

"Declan!" Pandora said, clearly a bit louder than she had meant to. She rushed to the window and looked down.

"DecDec knows I'm fine, dontcha Dec?" Elorie said as she gently flew up with a broomstick.

"Don't call me DecDec," Declan replied.

"Alrighty-daises."

Declan narrowed his eyes at Elorie. Sometimes he wondered where she got her flamboyant vocabulary, and some days he thought better than to try and understand the mind of the great McFellon.

Declan flexed his ankle slightly. Slightly bruised, nothing that wouldn't heal with a drop of potion. "I'm going to go with the 'book nerds' thank you very much."

"Hey, speaking of, why are you hanging out with Carmichael?" Sirius asked, his head tilted to the side.

He had been staring right at Hel, and she shrugged, the tendons on her dead side moving like rubber bands on a toy aeroplane. "Questions need to be answered. Curiosity may kill the cat, but satisfaction never fails to bring it back," she said. Declan turned his head to see Sirius nodding very, very slowly, making Hel roll her eyes. "I had an audience with Apollo," she explained simply and Sirius started nodding faster.

"Onwards?" Hel looks to Delcan.

He nodded and put his hand in his pockets, but just then a short, bouncing wad of strawberry blonde hair came barrelling towards him.

'Why me?' he asked himself as he groaned softly. Abigail had barreled her head right into his gut, not exactly the most pleasing feeling in the world.

"You're the one with pretty hair." She said looking up.

Declan's eyes widened and he could do nothing but nod his head. He could deal with Annalise, intelligent, adorable, beautiful vocabulary for her young age, exciting, but calm at the best times. Abigail? She was like a bomb, a bomb precariously placed at th edge of a cliff with history's largest civilization at the bottom.

Abigail gasped loudly as she looked from Hel and Thalia to Delcan. "Are you guys answering cool questions?" she inquired.

Decan kept his mouth shut, waiting for Hel to answer.

"Yes we are Abigail, you may accompany us if you'd like," She said, and Abigail looked like she sharted rainbows.

She happily ran up to Hel and started rapid firing questions.

"How do you breathe? Is Asgard real? When's the world gonna end? Is Harley gonna kill me? What's it like being a goddess? Miss Carmichael, what's the best book you've ever read? Declan, what was that noise coming from your window a week ago? Did something explode?"

Declan furrowed his eyebrows. "How on earth?.." he mumbled

"I was going to the forbidden forest with everyone else," Her eyes widened and her hand clasped around her mouth. "I didn't say that," she whispered, "I didn't say that. Pretend you didn't hear that!"

Hel looked like she was contemplating what to do. In the end, she took Abigail's hand and walked out the door. Declan put his hand in his pockets, following. As he was leaving, he pressed two fingers to his brow and swept them away in the air, he had seen someone do that in a book a couple times. He didn't turn back, leaving the Marauders to soak up all the information just given to them. Granted, he knew Sirius and James were glass when coming to soaking things up, but eventually, it may seep through.

When he caught up to Abigail, Hel, and Thalia, Abigail was standing between Hel and Thalia, having her questions answered. Consequentially, Thalia was probably having a few of her questions answered, and Declan had his suspicions confirmed.

"I breathe just as you all do, luckily because I am a goddess, I don't need to breathe as much as the average mortal or being." Abigail nodded, eyes wide. "Yes Asgard is real, I grew up there. The world is going to end when winter lasts four years, and my brothers break their bonds, don't worry though, that is nowhere close to soon, though, in around fifty years, the world is going to see quite a bit of hardship." Declan was taking mental notes. "No, they will not kill you, I think they're fascinated by your fiend, Beau, perhaps he'll carry on their legacy. As for being a goddess, it's a gift and a curse. While I live for almost forever, my future is not certain, and while some details will carry on forever, nothing is truly set in stone. I've no idea what's to happen to me, if I wither old and forgotten or if I will reign powerful forever. I live long enough to see all I love perish, but I have powers beyond imagination. With those powers come knowledge, and in order to use my powers, I require knowledge. Which is why you see me attending Hogwarts. I am nowhere near my full capacity, and perhaps only a little bit more powerful than you."

Thalia and Abigail looked saddened by that, and Delcan could feel maybe a speck of what was pity for the goddess.

"I can't choose a favourite book, there are just countless I 've read that are all simply phenomenal," Thalia said. Delcan could see the library of her mind pictured before her. "Books that I've cried to, books that have captured my fascination faster than a hare, books that are just repulsive, and books such as the hobbit that I'd recommend in a heartbeat."

Her eloquent vocabulary made Declan wonder if she read dictionaries for fun.

With the silence came Delcan's realization that it was his turn to answer the question now.

"Everything's fine, nothing's exploded. James sleeps like a dead rock."

"Simple, elegant, potent, articulate, truly a wonder," Thalia commented.

Declan rolled his eyes.

They came to a stop right outside the entrance of the haunted mansion. Declan was quickly reminded that he wanted to hang out in the pranked hallway to see the firsties yelp.

"I've gotta go," he said. He watched as Hel turned around and nodded, and Thalia waved at him.

"Bye, Declan!" Abigail yelled, waving rapidly.

Declan couldn't help but smile fondly at the girl; curiosity radiating from her eyes.

𝕳𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖊𝖞'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

"Fuckin' suckers!" Harley yelled from a tunnel at the top of the hallway.

They had managed to convince (bribe) Maleyn into charming them a soundproof tunnel running along the top of the hallway. While Maley could drop the spell any time, at least it would be a grand ass death.

After dinner, the ogre's pheromones dragged practically everyone to the hallways.

First off, classic, dead bride. Harley squinted real hard, watching as Beau moved silently through the hallway, making sure that all of the props worked. Harley thought it would make the little shit happy. And little shit in this sense was a good thing.

***GORE WARNING***

Smokey white waves came up around the floor, a bride walked around, her guts were spilling out of her stomach and she was slowly picking them up off the floor, but every time she did blood spilt from her mouth and tissue dropped. Fucking gory. Of course, that gave people the creeps, but the wailing was the best bit, wails of agony from the bride. Suddenly, a head dropped out of nowhere on top of a kid. Harley furrowed their brows, now that wasn't supposed to happen, but they couldn't help but burst out laughing when a firstie shrieked, setting off the alarm and making the bride fizz into existence in front of the crows. A loud bang followed as her disfigured face jumped at the students. But as the students leapt back, a dead groom came up behind them and shrieked, causing them to yelp, and most of them started running to the next section. Harley keeled over crying as she saw the firstie holding the shrunken head in front of them like a crying baby.

***NO MORE GORE***

Harley sobered up in time to stagger to the next room, the fire room. She watched as people staggered around the dimly lit room. Suddenly, an expansion of (fake) fire flew up right in front of them. Harley heard screams as the fake heat scorched them, fire gushed up randomly as people rushed out of the room, going into the next one.

Nothing goes better with fire than molten lava. Real-life the floor is (fake) lava. If you stepped in the lava, you would feel the heat, and you would see creatures so terrifying, that they even scared Harley. Halluciontation spells were a glorious invention. It seemed everyone found this out quick enough, and Harley cackled at how they looked like ducks in a line, hopping from patch of land to patch of land, desperate to not see monsters and feel the burn.

***GORE WARNING***

Then clowns. Harley loved clowns. Not really, they were fucking disturbing, but they did like how easily they scared people. Within seconds of landing in the room, clowns started jumping in every which direction. Harley had managed to snag some old photos from the library of old, victorian-era clowns; Harley's favourite. The asshats looked terrifying and they managed to make them even grosser by making the makeup they wore look like it was melting their skin off, bloody tissue and guts peeking out underneath.

***NO MORE GORE***

Next: the autopsy room. Dead people, stinky, gross, perfect. Sharp tools were everywhere (sadly, all fake) and the stiffs were just laying there. Harley wasn't surprised when Beau managed to do the spell correctly and the puppet bodies were animated. Screeches reached the top of the hallway, and Harley could feel the vibration from the amount of horror in the room, more and more people were pouring in too, drawn by the ogre pheromones and friends. No doubt the teachers were wondering where everyone was.

Next: the animal graveyard. Harley'll let you be imaginative about how that one ended up.

Then, Harley's favourite, the torture dungeon. Modelled off of hell's best. Granted the story behind it was shitty, but funny. Harley was content on summoning their own demon, but then Hel walked in cause she felt something "off". Cut to the chase, demons hate being summoned, it's annoying, and to most of them, humans are specks of bacteria in the long run, so demons don't exactly want to grant any favours. But, if you bribe them correctly, they're like fairies. They love cream. There's no cream in the underworld. It's easier to lure a demon out than you think. It's the simple things you leave as offerings, not a dead cat's skull.

Back to business, torture chamber, based on hell's best. While they weren't supposed to tell the details. The basics were people splayed out in the spread eagle position. Flesh falling in pieces onto people. Screams of agony, sharp pointy things going where sharp pointy things should never, ever go. Etc. Etc.

"DADDY?" One kid yelled in horror and Harley coudln't tell if they were about to pass out from second-hand embarrassment or shit their pants laughing.

Then, the abandoned orphanage. Harley (technically Hel) had wrangled up some ghosts telling stories of dead children, in spooky voices. Every once in a while there would be a child shrieking, and a student would echo it.

Next up is Harley's second favourite: the people zoo. Humans were treated like fucking animals, in shitty cages and food that looked like it came out of an ass. Not really a jumpscare, but it made everyone uneasy.

There was a wailing and shrieking and all-around chaos as a kid came up behind the crowd and chased them. Only, instead of seeing black hair, Halre saw light hair.

"What in the holy motherfucking shit?" Harley muttered. Beau was supposed to get dressed up by Severus to be a demon child in the next room, torturing stuffed animals and occasionally shrieking, but this kid...

Harley could hear panting coming from behind them.

"They," huff, "they're," gasp, "running," gulp, "too fast," huff.

"I got the gist Sev," Harley said, but couldn't help but feel sympathy as they ruffled their finger's through Severus's hair. Harley could have sworn that Severus had leaned into their touch, but thought nothing of it. They pulled away and resisted the slight urge to wipe their fingers on their ragged clothes before jerking their head in the direction of the next room. They saw Severus nod and hang his head, still gasping. 

"Chin up, lad," Harley said, pressing two fingers beneath Severus's chin.

Harley turned around to head onto the next room, not seeing Severus scrunch up his forehead and look wildly around the tunnel as if searching for something. Crazy butcher's shop, after that, pretty self-explanatory. Then, the one room Maelyn got full control over.

Harley wasn't entirely sure what Maelyn had done seeing as she had procrastinated for days but they were pleasantly surprised by Maelyn's creativity.

"Enter the Hall of the Spider King," a booming voice cried out. Then, an onslaught of spiders came rushing from all directions, Harley noticed though, that they fizzed in and out of existence, crawling on students, then disappearing, sometimes on them, sometimes in front of them. Some were fucking huge while others were minuscule. To get the students to run again, a gigantic-ass spider came out from behind them. Harley laughed until their sides were reduced to shreds, they could hear Sev chuckle a bit from behind them, a strange warmth coming from their chest as he did.

Then, this one was Sev's idea, but a rainforest at night setting, with every type of snake imaginable. There were trees, a foggy bottom, and wet crunching everywhere you stepped. Harley was very impressed with Sev's handiwork as it started raining snakes.

"What's that one bleeding song Black plays all the time?" Harley asked Sev, the latter looking up to the right as if asking the sky for the answer.

"Its raining men?" Severus asked. A/N: We're going to ignore that this is an 80s song, but still a bop.

"Yup, that's the one. Just thinking about it makes my ears fucking bleed," Harley grumbled.

Severus looked to Harley's ears as if checking if they were actually bleeding. He made a face Harley didn't recognize before meeting their eyes again.

"Talk much tonight Sev?" Harley asked, walking to the next room.

"Not really."

"Fine by me," Harley replied, they'd enjoy Sev's company either way.

"Hey, do you wanna go perform that ritual Hel told us not to do?" Harley asked Severus, wondering when their voice got so less harsh.

Severus nodded eagerly, and Harley could feel the strangest sensation forming at their lips.

Completely omitting the room where the illusion was of falling at high speeds, and the one where the walls were slowly "closing in" on you, Harley and Severus walked back to the entrance, and towards their room.

𝕺𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖆'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

Having a friend of a friend of the marauders really came in handy sometimes. Her tower mates (tower mates? That made sense) and she had managed to get the private "tour" of the haunted and pranked hallway (minus the Marauders, since that would only end in bloodshed). It was as if a silent pact had been made throughout the tower. I have blackmail on you, and you have blackmail on me, nothing is said, nothing will be said. While Olivia hated blackmail al and all it entailed, at least she didn't have to worry about being outed about Evan.

She and Evan hung in the back with Thalia and Rabastan, the four making small talk (and screaming every once in a while) as the rest of the group was in the front.

"Remind me to never go into a haunted house made by Harley," Olivia groaned, patting herself, making sure all of her organs were still in place after "free falling".

Evan chuckled before grazing Olivia's hand, the action making her fingers tingle. She would admit to having held his hand tightly when free falling (and screaming, but there was a lot of that happening from both) and she had felt his arm around her shoulders. She had wanted to stay like that forever--minus the losing your guts to the ceiling bit.

"Certainly," Thalia sighed as seemed to be checking off a list of her extremities, making sure none were bitten or hacked off. "Though the spells implemented! Gorgeous wouldn't you think? I must have a word with Maelyn, I truly hadn't anticipated them having such wondrous spellwork."

Rabastan nodded eagerly, clearly easily soaking up what Thalia was spilling.

.... (brief interlude because I don't know how to do pranks)...

After being chased by a troll (which was at first a puppy that had jumped on Olivia), doused in soap (Thalia was never going to attempt playing the piano again), had their finers fake cut off (Evan vowed to not drag his fingers along the wall anymore), and swung around by a trap door (Rabastan had sincerely asked Thalia to go to the library for him from now on), they had reached the end.

"I might cry," Olivia said in a joking manner, and Thalia laughed.

"Agreed."

Olivia noticed that Evan and she had migrated even closer together, their arms brushing every time they walked, and their steps in sync. She brushed sticky stray hairs out of her face and cooked soap on her cheek when Evan helped. She could faintly hear and see Thalia and Rabastan playfully bickering over some technicality, but her focus was on Evan's eyes. A dark slate grey at the point, Olivia gently took Evan's hand and laced her fingers through, she could see Evan try to hold back a smile, one appearing on her face at the sight.

Just then, she saw the room fade into a pure white out of the corner of her eye. She heard a splat and coughing coming from Thalia and Rabstan's area. Before Olivia could blink, she felt an oozing, sludgy substance fall on her and Evan.

"What on!" Olivia shouted, stepping back out of instinct, but before she could finish her sentence, another plop of substance fell on her, filling her mouth. She smacked her lips softly--honey.

With every step they took, another substance fell. She tried wiping her eyes, but she found that it only smudged substance in her eyes--strangely, it didn't burn, but hell could she taste and smell it. After wildly walking around and vowing to never--ever--eat butterscotch again, Olivia used her brain and stood completely still. Nothing.

"Hey!" Olivia shouted, chocolate syrup spilling from down her nose and into her mouth. "Is anyone there!"

"Well stop screeching and maybe I'll say yes," She heard someone say from behind her. Olivia whipped around, and she heard a guttural sound come out of Raastan's mouth.

"You just whipped me with your ears!" Rabastan yelled indignantly.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Olivia said, not genuine at all. She had detached the ears a while ago after something grabbed them in the haunted section. It had been clasped to her shoulder-- like a funny boa.

The two didn't hear anyone else.

"Well, it seems Thals figured out things fast," Rabastan grumbled.

"Are you pouting?"

"No, are you?"

Olivia rolled her eyes beneath her sockets.

"Well, Evan seemed to have figured it out too," Olivia mumbled. She took the risk and opened her eyes. Nothing fell. She breathed a deep breath of relief, heaving over and placing her hands on her thighs.

Olivia quickly whipped out her wand and cast a spell over herself, a blanching spell that would drain the colour from her, and everything on her body until she, her costume, her hair, the honey dripping from her skirts, and everything else was white as a blank canvas, she noted Rabastan doing the same. It was a spell usually meant for potion-making and artists.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Rabastan mumbled.

Second, later there was a loud hurrah and Olivia saw Thalia, a yelp of excitement flew from her mouth as she went to hug her, the mess between the two mixing into a forbidden substance. Only, there was a wall in front of them, a white wall; correction, a white wall with a great, big, red button on it.

"We have to press it don't we?" Evan asked solemnly.

"I think we do," Olivia groaned. "Who's gonna do the honours?"
Nobody dared step forward. Eventually, Olivia rolled her eyes and pressed the button, an even louder (canned) hurrah nearly broke her eardrums as the button erupted horizontally in multicoloured confetti, blasting Olivia's back multiple metres.

Evan ran to help her as Rabastan cackled, earning him a quick swat at his ear by Thalia.

She landed with a sharp thunk, pain rushing up her spine as if she fell down the stairs of the girl's common room. She swatted pink, yellow, and red, out of her face and coughed, the action making her body shake confetti in a pool around her. Forget white and black, her costume upgraded to colours.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Olivia said laughing as she allowed herself to be helped up by Evan. Standing up, the two of them were nose to nose with each other, hot breath mixed betwixt them as the tips of their shoes touched.

"Hey," Evan breathed, his face turning flush.

"Hi," Olivia squeaked in reply.

"C'mon lovebirds!" Rabastan yelled, snapping Evan and Olivia from their trance. Olivia groaned as she pulled away. Damn you Rabastan. Olivia swore that if Thalia didn't love him so, she would have been sent to Azkaban for using an unforgivable.

The wall had become soft like sheep's wool. Olivia pressed her hand on it and her hand sunk right through, like pushing your hand through suds in the bathtub. She pressed her entire body through, and her award-winning white smile appeared on her face in the realization that she was no longer covered in confetti.

"So, how was it?" James asked, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Messy," Oliva replied, summing up the ordeal in one word.

James chuckled and Olivia rolled her eyes.

RIIIIIING

Olivia looked up, the bell had rung, meaning the Halloween "dance" was about to begin. Her eyes darted to Evan who nodded with a smile. Off she went.

𝕳𝖊𝖑'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:

Hel played with the clasp upon her neck of the 1870s gown she wore. She remembered those years of mass migration to North America by the Icelanders. While attending the dance seemed fun, what was even more fun was watching the marauders make their mornings a future hell.

"Mmmm deccy dec dec dec," Jame slurred, the combination of various different alcohols he had consumed started to get to his head. His lanky arms draped over Declan's shoulders. Declan hummed in response as he pried James' arm off of him. Hel noted that he didn't stray too far from the drunk marauder though.

She had her own marauder to deal with however, Sirius seemed very content as a ginormous black puppy sleeping off the alcohol and sugar high in her lap. His breath warmed Hel's abdomen as his pink stomach faced the ceiling of the tower. His gigantic paws were curled up on his chest, and Hel had draped a blanket over his lower half for his privacy.

"Say cheese!" A drunk Peter exclaimed as a less drunk Remus and sober Pandora helped him take a photo of James and Declan, and then her and Sirius. The flash blinded Hel for a moment, leaving her with blue spots in her vision, but she soon recovered.

Elorie happily fawned over a poster of some quidditch player Hel had no idea the name of. Said poster had been hung up just minutes ago by some very drunk marauders, it was lopsided and the quidditch player seemed very distressed that she was half peeling off her post.

The fire cast a warm orange glow across everyone, making the drunk drunker and the sober dewy.

BANG

An alarm of sorts went off in Hel's head, her back went ramrod straight as her eyes widened. Sirius slowly rolled off of Hel's lap, tongue flapping out the side of his mouth and eyes happily shut. Hel shook her head. Curls fell out of her hairstyle as she breathed heavily. Something was wrong. Something was out of place. What could be out of place? What was the matter?

"Hey," Hel heard a voice soft as a lion's coat come from beside her. "What's wrong?" Pandora asked, her head titled the side slightly, her curls exposing her neck. She leaned in just enough to make you feel like she care, but not enough to intrude upon personal space.

"It's nothing," Hel dismissed.

"It's the same look Sirius has whenever he's worried that James or Remus, or Elorie, or me, is going to get hurt."

Hel sighed, closing her eyes. "Somethings wrong, I can sense it. It's like something's out of place, I just can't pinpoint it. Alarms are going off in my head, telling me to watch out."

Pandora nodded, listening intently. "Could it be the Dark Ones?" She asked, her body tensing up.

Hel turned to look at Pandora, the fire casting shadows on her face making her look tired and nervous. An understanding passed between them.

"Hold on," Pandora said, her voice quavering, "You remember the kids?"

"What about them?" Hel breathed, her eyes wide.

"I asked them to meet with us here," Pandora looked at the clock hanging above the fireplace, and her face dropped, "an hour ago."

"No," Hel whispered. Those kids rivalled the marauders when it came to eavesdropping, and they were dying to impress everyone in the room.

As if on cue, Sirius awoke from his slumber with a hefty sneeze. Hel dug into her pockets and pulled out a warm galleon, scrunching her nose at it.

"Here." She pressed the galleon in Pandora's hand. "Create a mist with your wand, then say, oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Granted you're supposed to do this with a drachma but I dated her back in the day, so this should work. Let Harley and Severus know that we need their help alright?"

"What are you going to do?" Pandora asked as Sirius rolled around happily beside her, oblivious to the conversation happening at hand.

"Get everyone to the forbidden forest?" Hel asked, avoiding Pandora's question.

"Hel, you don't have to do everything on your own you know."

"I know."

Pandora locked eyes with Remus, who nodded, not yet drunk enough to not be capable of anything. "I'm, going with you," Pandora declared, standing up. Her palm was outstretched to Rmeus, who took the galleon from her palm. He no doubt had already heard their conversation, knowing what he had to do.

"Pandora--"

"No excuses, you don't need to be alone."

Hel nodded urgently and stood up. She mumbled one of her father's spells underneath her breath and the 17th-century gown disappeared. Leaving her in comfortable clothes that she could easily run away from her doom in. She closed her eyes and gently grasped Pandora's hand, shadow-travelling to the entrance of the forbidden forest.

...

Both girls stumbled slightly as they arrived. Hel frantically shook off the shadows creeping up her leg, crap she forgot what the illusion spell took out of her. Pandora stood upright, tilting her ears toward the forbidden forest.

"They're in there," Pandora said, her voice stressed, "I can hear them calling out for help," she mumbled, her voice steely.

"I forget lions have astounding hearing abilities," Hel commented, "I'd like to attempt something. Imagine how far away the sound is, and keep that in your mind."

Pandora looked intently at the dark green trees ahead of them. The black pit seemed to be coming closer to them, threatening to swallow them whole. She nodded.

Hel gently took hold of Pandora's hand and focused her magic on Pandora's mind. The silky tendrils of shadows crept around her legs, threatening to turn her into their soft being, engulfing Hel in their milky depths, soon enveloping Pandora as well.

...

"It worked," Pandora gasped.

Hel stumbled, her knees weak. "I can tell," she said, trying not to sound like she was close to collapsing--which she was. She pressed her palm against the closest thing to her, which just so happened to be a tree. The rough bark scratched her shaking fingers as she gripped it hard.

Come let's leave this world behind

"Oh for goodness sakes shut up," Hel groaned, rubbing her temple with her free hand. She watched as Pandora feverishly searched for the stray kids.

Dance with the dark ones in your mind

"Abby," Pandora gasped in realization before turning to look at Hel, "You need to sit down, you look extremely pale, even for your normal state. I'm so sorry to ask, but can you send a message to the others? I would if I could, but..."

Come let's leave them all behind

Hel slowly nodded, feeling her energy seep out of her like a leaky sieve. She weakly fell to her bottom the once lush green grass crackling under her weight.

Dance with the dark ones

As Pandora went to Abby, who was not alone, Joyce was by her side, wailing for her to stop. Hel brought out her wand, the ebony tip shining in the light of Abby's soul. "Aguamenti," She mumbled. A feeble, puny spritz of water came from the tip, but it was enough. She plucked a ring off of her finger, the gold shimmering. "O' Izzy, goddess of the rainbow, accept this offering--it's Freya's," She declared, tossing the ring into the rainbow mist.

Dance with the dark ones

To her utter amazement, she did not see the ring fall to the other side, instead, she saw Harley's grim face staring at her.

Hush child

"I'm not gonna get used to this," They mumbled.

Open your eyes

Hel peered around Harley, the lights of the castle were far in the distance behind, they were already in the forbidden forest.

You are not alone

"I'm going to send sparkles where I am, and you're going to hear them, just follow the sound and light and you'll find us. There's Abigail and Joyce here, and if you would lend me you all's magic to save everyone here..." Hel trailed off. No need to finish that sentence and waste energy.

We are your dark ones

Harley grumbled a curse under their breath before a sound of agreement came out of his mouth.

Holding you close

"Stunning," Hel groaned. When had she acquired an ear-splitting headache? Hel swiped her hand through the mist, breaking the connection. The "augamenti" spell faded, leaving Hel's vision clear of the water. The hem of her robes was soaked, the cold creeping up her body. Wetness slowly seeped through, looking like blood pouring from a wound.

Come dance with us

"Are they coming?" Pandora asked, kneeling down beside Hel. She had already heard Pandora's futile attempts to coax Abigail from the Dark Ones. Hel looked at Abigail, squinting. She was walking slowly toward the Dark Ones, but Hel noticed something, she was fighting them, she could tell. Abigail's mind was powerful, and she was staggering, not walking, toward the Dark Ones. The glow of her soul made her face look hauntingly beautiful, like a being who knew their last moments were near but accepted the peace of it. Joyce was beside her, pulling against her arm feebly, tears streaming down her face.

Dance in the darkness

Hel could only nod at Pandora. What was wrong with her? Why wasn't she recovering as fast? That was when she saw one of the Dark Ones staring directly at her. Or, she assumed it was starring. Their dark, empty hood made Hel's stomach drop deep into the earth, seemingly sucking all light from the world. The corners of her vision blurred and she forced herself to look away. There was her answer. Her magic source too was souls, and they were making a point to take away the source of her magic.

We've been waiting for you

Hel stable the end of her wand in the ground, still grasping the midsection, she mumbled an incantation that would send sparks into the air. Pandora understood what she was doing and copied her movements. Bright orange sparks flew into the sky, loud enough for Harley and Snape to follow, but not loud enough or bright enough for those at the castle to notice--not that they would, the convenient "dance" occurring.

That world doesn't want you

Soon enough, loud cursing and arguing within shrubbery came from behind them.

Like we do

"Let's get the kid out of here. Beau came to us right after Lupin called. Fuckign frenzy the lad was in," Harley grumbled, their eyes glued to Abigail.

We see you

Hel gingerly stood up, grabbing her wand as she did. The handle of her wand was covered in dirt, but surprisingly, she didn't mind, all she cared about was getting the hell out of this dark pit. As she did, Pandora stepped up to a bottle in her hands.

For in the night

"Pray tell, is it hard bourbon?" Hel inquired.

Fire shines bright

"You wish," Pandora said good-naturedly, "Trust me it tastes like cookies, it's the only way I can get James and Sirius to take it after quidditch matches."

Come dance with us

She sighed and looked to the sky, knowing that arguing would be a battle she would lose. Hel took the bottle the size of her first finger and downed it. Her uncle Thor didn't raise a wimp, she was taking shots by the time she could walk. Warmth returned to her bones the second she swallowed the concoction. Her eyes darted to Joyce and Abigail, the former with her heels dug into the earth, and the latter eyes wide, glowing with the reflection of their soul.

Dance in the darkness

"I can walk, Pandora," Hel whispered, feeling Pandora's hand on her shoulder.

Oh how we've been waiting for you

The quartet walked up to Joyce and Abigail, who now had tears streaming down her eyes.

Why fight the night

"I've heard of how this works," Harley said. Hel tilted her head and furrowed her brows. "Remus," They explained simply before placing a hand on Joyce. They gently wiped a tear from her cheek, glaring at everyone around them. Hel remembered that they had come from an orphanage.

When the night is endless?

The other two went to copy him and Hel gave a last look to the dark ones. Her heart jumped out of her chest as she felt an aura around them. Her breathing turned ragged and her heart pumped faster as they seemed to be getting closer to her, cold faces breathing air as cold as her realm in her face. Breathing felt like inhaling a swarm of razors, incessantly cutting her working lung.

Why cling to the light

"Hel," Pandora said urgently, quite scary, her voice when she was very much down to business.

When the light always diminishes?

Hel shook her head, snapping out of her trance. She kneeled down and held Abigail's rail hands in hers, focusing on channelling energy from the others and focusing on the image of the hospital wing.

Come dance in the dark

And you will be fearless

...

"I knew it," Madame Pomfrey said, but it sounded warbled, and fuzzy. Had she managed to pop an eardrum? She was acutely aware that she was standing up, oh wait no she was falling down. Oh, dear had the floors always been this cold?

"Let's have a dance! Albus says! It will be fun for the kids! Albus says! No one will wander off, it's too fun! Albus say!"

Madame Pomfrey sounded very agitated, Hel wondered briefly why, what was that lump on her head? Blood rushed to her wound, and her vision and hearing regained clarity.

"And you! Your tower! Do you all simply spawn at areas with a concentration of great danger?"

From her spot slumped against the wall, she saw Harley shrug and cock his head to the side in a, "I mean, technically," way.

Hel took a deep breath and stood up, feeling her injuries heal. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, steadying her. Madame Pomfrey took one look at Hel and squinted her eyes.

"Only one of you magically heals, the rest of you, including you Lokidottir, need to be careful! If I'm going to lose my job over one thing, it's going to be because there is no more need of healing at this school because the students care for their own safety!"

Hel nodded, she looked to the cots. Abigail, her strawberry blond hair splayed out behind her neck, arms folded on her chest. Though Hel could feel her life force still in her body, the image was eerie. No warmth to her usually pink cheeks, no excited smile, the white interior of the hospital wing didn't helo matters, draining more colour from her young body. Joyce sat beside her, sobbing,

"Students," Madame Pomfrey said, this time her tone much softer, "I know you will keep this under wraps, but I beg of you, be careful." She turned her back on them tending to Abigail. Pandora and Hel nodded, noting that this was Madame Pomfrey's way of telling them to go away.

"Well, what a great fucking Halloween!" Harley sarcastically mumbled.

"I heard that!" Madame Pomprefy replied .

CAST:

Declan Lacey created by -starsandshadows-

Elorie McFellon created by barnaby00

Harley Kelly by HmmRavenclaw

Hel Lokidottir created by me

Maelyn Winkle created by ilikechez123

Miranda Clark created by -gerardwayismine

Olivia Tucker-James created by stormtoweather

Pandora Potter created by RobinHood37