XX: Halloween

Recap: Rose and Scorpius got into a fight and broke up because Scorpius was writing love letters to another girl called Evie, who goes to Beauxbatons. Charles may or may not like someone. Lily convinced Rose to be just friends [without benefits] with Scorpius and so, as of now, they're just friends. And that's what you missed on R&E! =D (I tried to make this sound like the way flashbacks are done on Glee :P) 

*Shabbily proofread and edited*

~&~ 

The halls of Hogwarts had glowing pumpkins at random intervals. Instead of the traditional torches lighting the hallways, there were floating candles, similar to the ones in the Great Hall. The excitement in the castle had taken every form, excepting the physical form. Rose and Scorpius were no exceptions to this level of excitement. And this excitement increased considerably when it was announced that Hufflepuff was in charge of hosting the party. And since it was a costume party, owls had been flying into the Great Hall left right and centre, carrying costumes for the sixth and seventh years of all the houses since the other years weren't allowed to come. It was two days to Halloween and even the teachers knew that something had been planned. But so far they had been unsuccessful in finding out what it was.

Rose was planning to go as a bat. So she had a black dress and black wings along with pointed ears on a headband. Scorpius was going as a risen-from-the-grave vampire. And due to this he was pacing outside Rose's room the day before the party contemplating whether or not he should knock. Finally he raised his hand but, before he could knock, Rose came running out and collided with him, making both of them fall.

"Ow!" They both exclaimed as they fell: Rose against the door of her room and Scorpius in the direction of the staircase which lead down to the common room. Rose looked up and glared at Scorpius, "What were you doing?!" 

"You collided into me."

"Well I wasn't expecting you to be standing right there!" Rose said, rolling her eyes at him. Scorpius opened his mouth to retort but then closed it, not wanting to carry this argument further. He said, "Alright. I'm sorry. I needed to ask you for something." 

"What?" She said, standing up.

"Powder." 

There was a pause. 

"What?" Rose said, her eyes widening and her lips pursing together. Scorpius realized that she was internally laughing at him and rolled his eyes. He stood up too and said, "I need it for my costume." 

"Oh." Rose said, all traces of laughter disappearing. She nodded and went back into her room, beckoning for him to follow. He entered behind her and sat down in the chair by her desk and looked around her room. It was clear that she was a generally neat person. Not a neat freak because there were clothes and books strewn across her bed but it was clear that she believed that everything had its place in her room. Her books were put carefully in a small bookshelf and there was a stack beside her nightlight too. Her cupboard had one door opened but Scorpius couldn't see inside since the cupboard was next to the desk he was sitting at. On her desk were her schoolbooks. Textbooks were stacked in one corner against the wall and there was some parchment and an ink bottle on the desk. The quills were probably inside the drawer. Rose reappeared with the powder and, handing it to him, said, "Dress rehearsal?" 

"Thanks. Yeah. You're going, aren't you?" 

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. It's tradition." 

"The brownies may be spiked." 

"What? What do you mean spiked?" 

"Well Hufflepuff does have--- you don't know." 

"What? What don't I know." 

"Nothing." Scorpius said but Rose could see that his amusement was dancing in his eyes. She scowled and said, "What don't I know, Malfoy?" 

"Nothing, Weasley. You'll find out tomorrow." 

"Tell me!" 

"You'll find out! In any case, what or who are you going as?" 

"I'm going as a bat." 

"A... bat. Interesting." 

"Don't lie to me, Scorpius. I think I know you well enough to be able to tell when you lie. What are you going as?" 

"A risen-from-grave vampire." 

"No wonder you need powder. Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow." 

"Wait, Rose." 

"Yeah?" 

"You know how we can take people with us to the party?" 

"Yeah?" Rose said, going slightly red. Scorpius was going red too.

Ask her! What are you waiting for! 

What if she says no? 

At least you tried! And are you crazy? She's obviously going to say yes! She's blushing for Merlin's sake, Scorpius! 

But what if---

JUST ASK HER, YOU IDIOT! 

"Uh, Scorpius?" Scorpius was brought out of his mental conversation by Rose, who was looking at him as if he needed help.

"Yeah? Oh, right. Sorry. I was just wondering if you were going with someone. You know, if someone had asked you." 

"Um no. Nobody has. Why?" She didn't add that people were too scared of being hexed by Scorpius to ask her.

"I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to go with me? Because of the whole vampire-bat thing of course." 

"Oh sure. I mean, it would only make sense, wouldn't it? Seeing as I'm a bat and you're a vampire. Oh but Scorpius?" 

"Yeah?" 

"We're going as just friends, aren't we?" 

There was a pause.

"Sure! Of course! After all, that's what we are, aren't we?" 

"Exactly." Rose said, feeling a slight pang of disappointment but not showing any. Scorpius nodded, said good night, and went back to his room. Rose went back into her room to find Lily looking beyond excited. She frowned and said, "What?" 

"You still like each other!" Lily exclaimed, only just refraining from jumping. Rose rolled her eyes but blushed anyway, saying nothing. Lily grinned and said, "I know you don't want to accept it but it's true. I mean he asked you to go to the Halloween party with him!" She said in the most matter-of-fact tone she could muster. 

"Still not saying anything." Rose sang, grinning at her. 

"You don't have to." Lily mimicked her tune and Rose rolled her eyes. She said, "Shut up and help me with my dress rehearsal." 

"Fine." Lily said, drawing out the "i". Rose brought out her costume and Lily's first comment was:

"You're possibly going to be the most covered up girl at the party."

"Well I am supposed to be a bat, aren't I? Hence I should be covered in black."

"Right. I forgot you were going as a bat." Lily said but they both knew that was a lie.

~The Party~

Scorpius' subconscious was giving him (Scorpius) a pep talk while he was standing outside Rose's room. Finally he raised his hand and knocked on the door thrice. It opened after two seconds to reveal a very frazzled-looking Rose. The first thing Scorpius noticed was the fact that she was dressed completely in black. So his first question was, "Why are you in all black?"

"Please, Scorpius. I must concentrate right now." Rose said, applying eye liner while waving her wand with her left hand and clearing up her room simultaneously. Scorpius nodded (even though he knew she couldn't see him and probably wouldn't care even if she could) and took the opportunity to glance around her room. It was hard considering the number of items zooming around, going back to their places. Even a broken glass repaired itself. By the time it was done, Rose was ready too. She drew herself up fully in the mirror and, smiling, said, "Ready."

Now Scorpius looked at her.

And did he look at her. While normal Rose was attractive, dressed up Rose was, for lack of better word, phenomenal. Especially in her full length black gown, she looked elegant. And the clash between the small black bat ears poking out of flaming red hair and the elegant black gown with bat wings attached to the full sleeves made her look like a cross between Maleficent and Morticia. Scorpius was too much in awe of her outfit to actually pay attention to what she had done to her face. Finally she said, "Eyes up here, Malfoy."

"Oh um sorry." He said, awkwardly and then, to move past the awkwardness, said, "You look amazing."

"You don't look too bad yourself." Rose said, beaming at him in his risen-from-the-grave vampire costume. His pale face was paler than usual and he was wearing a dusty, moth-bitten suit with some red ink coming out of the corner of his mouth. And he had fangs. He obviously hadn't put on fake fangs like muggles. Instead he had used a special potion so that his canines extended and sharpened to become real fangs. Similarly, Rose's wings actually made her fly if she extended and flapped them.

So they made their way to the Hufflepuff common room. A Hufflepuff was waiting outside to give the password to the people coming for the party. He tried to hide his surprise when he saw Scorpius coming down the stairs with Rose flying—literally—in behind him. They entered the common room and were instantly pulled apart by Gryffindors and Slytherins. Rose was pulled aside by Albus and was immediately surrounded by Gryffindor students, complimenting her outfit and asking her why she was here with Scorpius. The same exchange was happening with Scorpius on the Slytherin side.

An hour into the party, Rose found herself sitting on a sofa with a completely drunk Ravenclaw sixth year attempting to flirt. However, his words were so slurred together that they were lost in translation. It was at about this time that Scorpius arrived and, with one glare targeted at the Ravenclaw wizard, they were alone. Well, as alone as one can get at a party. Rose noted that Scorpius was about two drinks away from getting completely drunk while she, on the other hand, was not drunk at all. She sighed and said, "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"You don't look like you're having fun."

"That's because I'm not."

"See that's exactly what a person who isn't having fun would say! You need to let loose a little, Weasley! Live a little! It's Halloween!" 

"Um Scorpius, maybe you should put your wand away." 

"Why? It's not like I'm casting a spell." 

"Yes but with the elaborate hand gestures you're using, you're going to take someone's eye out. Here, give it to me." She held out her hand and Scorpius frowned at her. She nodded encouragingly and he suddenly grinned and handed her the wand. She smiled too and there was a moment of silence. It broke when Scorpius said, "Do you want to go for a walk?" 

"What?" Rose blinked, trying to wrap her head around the out-of-the-blue question that had just been presented to her. 

"Well you're bored and, frankly, I am too so let's go for a walk." 

"Together?" 

"Yeah." 

"Alone?" 

"Yeah." 

"And you're mildly drunk." 

"Yeah." 

"Sounds great." Rose muttered but stood up anyway. She had her wand up her sleeve if she needed it so she was sure that if Scorpius tried anything, she would definitely be ready for him. So they exited the Hufflepuff common room and silently went downstairs and slipped out of the Entrance Hall doors into the moonlight. Rose stretched her wings, asked Scorpius to wait, and went for a quick flight in the open air. The wings enabled her to fly but she couldn't fly very high. The tips of her feet just missed the ground. But the feeling still delighted her. She landed and Scorpius grinned saying, "Do you think if I held on, you could take me?"

"Held on to what exactly?"

"Um---"

"On second thought, I don't want to know. How about when you're more sober? And not feeling so adventurous?"

"You're right. That makes sense."  Scorpius said, making Rose smile. They continued to walk and talked about lessons, the party, their lives etc. Finally Scorpius stopped and said, "This is what I like."

"What? Stopping?"

"No. Just talking to you." He said, simply. Nonetheless, this statement made Rose blush. 

"Oh. Yes. I like it too. Talking to you, I mean."

"You do? Then we should do it more often!" 

"Talk?" 

"No. I mean, yes. But other things too. You know, I still like you." He said, now facing her. Rose's eyes widened and she felt her cheeks heating up as if she were in front of a fire. 

"Scorpius..." 

"No wait! Before you say no or that I'm drunk right now, I'm not. Crazy or drunk. I swear I'm not. And I know that everything that happened with Evie was probably not good or fair. But I swear it was all in good fun. And she knows that. We just tease each other. Plus, I don't like her, Rose. I like you. And I don't care if you still don't want to be together. I just had to tell you." He stopped and watched her expectantly. Rose, however, was completely speechless. She stared at Scorpius and his words played in her head over and over again. She couldn't think of anything to do so she did what, according to her, was the next best thing: 

She kissed him. 

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DUN DUN DUUUNNN!!!!! CLIFFHANGERS!!! 

Okay so I AM SO SORRY FOR SUCH A LATE UPDATE!!! I HAD MY TRIP (I WENT TREKKING :D IT WAS AWESOME) AND THEN I WENT OUT OF TOWN FOR A FEW DAYS AND THEN I NEEDED TO FINISH MY PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT AND THEN SCHOOL REOPENED AND I'M JUST REALLY SORRY!!! I WAS SO BUSY!!! 

AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! (It's Halloween here :P) :D I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME HALLOWEEN IF YOU CELEBRATE (I don't so... :P) :D 

Also, I'm really sorry but I don't know when I'll be able to update next :/ because my school's having a fair and my class is in charge of organizing and my class is also staging a play for the rest of the school. So I apologize in advance!! :) <3 

VOTE, FOLLOW AND PLEASE COMMENT!!! :D :D :D THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!!!! BE SURE TO CHECK THE PICTURE ON THE SIDE!!! :D XD Also Meghan Trainor <3 :') 

~RFM