A/N: now that we've had our first adventure, it's time for some fun. Enjoy it while it lasts, the cliffhangers will soon be back to say. [added a/n - Im updating as fast as I can]
Chapter 22 “ Dress Robes
By the next morning, the entire school knew about the events that had taken place on the school grounds the night before, as The Daily Prophet had run a front page story on what had happened. For this reason, Harry, Katie and Ginny were very relieved they did not have to attend classes that day “ they didn’t have to worry about being bombarded with questions from other students. They spent the day in the common room talking amongst themselves about what had happened.
“What made you go out on the grounds? You both knew Bellatrix and Lucius were out there...” Harry asked them.
“Well, the Slytherins were talking near us about their practice the night before, and one of them said they had just left the balls out on the pitch because they didn’t feel like bringing them in. We kind of interrupted and said they should bring them back in, in case they were stolen. They just told us to stuff it, so we went to get the balls ourselves. It was broad daylight, and it would only take a few minutes, so we thought it was safe,” said Ginny.
“Let me guess, it was a set-up?” said Harry.
“I’d bet 100 galleons on it,” she replied.
“Anyway,” said Katie. “We never saw Bellatrix and Lucius coming, because they had performed Disillusionment Charms on themselves, so they were almost entirely invisible. They grabbed us and started pulling us towards the forest...”
“It took them a while; we practically dug our feet into the ground, and screamed as loud as we could. Katie even managed to give Malfoy a good kick right where he deserved it...” Ginny grinned. “We don’t remember much after being taken into the forest because that’s when they put us under the Imperius Curse.”
“Sounds to me like you’ve got some Gryffindor in you after all...” Harry told Katie.
”Maybe...” She gave a small smile, but she was still pretty shook up over what she had been through. Ginny was still a little shaken too, but not as much as Katie, which was understandable “ she had faced this kind of danger twice before.
Just then, Dean came rushing in to the common room, for the sixth time since breakfast “ he had been checking on Ginny all day as though he was worried she would disappear from the common room.
“Alright Ginny?”
“As good as I’ve been the past five times you’ve asked...” she said sarcastically.
“Good,” he replied kissing her forehead; he seemed to have missed the sarcasm. Then, talking to the three of him, “Guess what?”
“What?” the asked.
“Well, Dumbledore’s decided that this year, instead of just a Halloween feast, we’re going to have an entire celebration, and we’ll do a whole load of Muggle stuff. There’ll be no class, so we can just hang out all day. At three there’ll be a scavenger hunt. Then at four, we can all get dressed up and go trick-or-treating around the school. At six there’ll be bobbing for apples and ghost stories in the Great Hall followed by the feast at seven. Then there’s a Halloween ball from nine to midnight.”
“That sounds brilliant...” said Harry. The Dursleys had never celebrated Halloween, most likely because they were afraid it would give Harry ideas. Every year they would leave the house so they didn’t have to answer the door to trick-or-treating children. They would also, of course, buy Dudley a whole load of sweets to make up for the fact he wasn’t allowed trick-or-treat. Harry was never given anything.
Katie and Ginny was confused... obviously the Muggle way of celebrating Halloween was unlike the way they had grown up celebrating the holiday.
“What’s trick-or-treating?” asked Ginny
“...and bobbing for apples?” asked Katie.
Harry and Dean explained it to them, which just confused the girls even more.
“Why would someone stick their head into water just to get an apple?” asked Katie.
“It’s a game...” said Dean
“Quidditch is a game...” said Ginny. “Sticking your head into water for fruit is mad. Honestly, I’ll never understand why dad loves Muggles so much; they seem like a whole load of weirdo’s to me...
Harry couldn’t help but laugh; he remembered when he had first entered the wizarding world “ it had seemed to him the wizards were the odd ones.
The next few weeks did not pass without incident. The Daily Prophet reported more Muggle killings. There had also been attacks on Ministry officials, none of which, however, had been fatal. Dumbledore seemed to be doing his best to make sure the students weren’t too affected by the brewing war. He had arranged a field trip to Hogsmeade, escorted by all the Professors, so the students could purchased what they needed for Halloween. The girls had all headed straight for the clothing shops to find new dress robes for the ball, and the boys had all gone to Zonko’s to buy materials for pranks they were going to pull. Harry, Ron, and Dean, who had no need for Zonko’s as they now always got their ‘materials’ at a discount from the Weasley twins, accompanied Katie, Hermione and Ginny to get their dress robes, feeling quite uncomfortable in the midst of squealing girls.
“Katie, I think you would look fantastic in this color,” said Ginny holding up a pair of satin gold dress robes to Katie.
“I don’t know, Harry what do you think?” she asked.
“Er... yeah “ they look lovely. Really bring out your...eyes.” He, of course, had no idea what he was talking about, but she seemed satisfied.
“I love this red on you, Ginny. It matches your hair brilliantly...” said Hermione.
“I s’pose. But I don’t know if they’ll go well with Dean’s robes...Dean, what color are your robes?”
“Um...black...” Dean backed against the wall, as thought this would prevent Ginny from asking him any more questions.
“Oh... Well everything goes with black, so I’ll get these then.” She said, as Hermione handed her the fluttery red robes. Dean let out a deep breath, relieved he had not been asked his opinion.
“That reminds me, Harry “ what color are your robes?” Katie said.
“Er.. Green.”
“What kind of green?”
“What do you mean?”
“Jade green, light green, grass green, emerald green, forest green...?”
She might as well have been speaking in a different language.
“Er...dark green.” Harry hoped this was specific enough; it wasn’t.
“How dark?”
“Ummm...”
“Harry’s robes are bottle green,” Hermione cut in.
“How d’you know that?” asked Ron.
“He wore them to the Yule Ball...” she said, exasperated with Ron’s lack of memory.
“Oh, well that will look nice with the gold...” said Katie.
“Ron, what do you think of these?” Hermione asked, holding up a set of flowing, silky black robes.
“Umm... They’re nice.” said Ron, sounding unsure.
“Just nice?”
“More than nice...They’re brilliant!” He answered a little too enthusiastically. Hermione looked at him skeptically.
“If you don’t like them just say so...”
“I do like them, really. Besides, you’ll look beautiful in anything.”
Hermione grinned “ that had been the answer she was looking for. As the girls went to pay for their dress robes, Harry and Dean looked at Ron, impressed.
“How long did it take you to come up with that one?” Harry asked
“Four days,” Ron answered.