This Is Halloween!

Headmistress Ellington sat shrewdly at her place in the middle of the High Table. She hated special occasions at Hogwarts. There was always so much waiting before the glorious feasts got started. At least the Halloween Feast didn’t require much of a speech. Finally, as the Hall got mostly quiet and all the students had arrived, Ellington stood up and magically magnified her voice.

“Students, may I have your attention, please,” she spoke, the question coming out as more of a demand. The Hall went silent. “A few reminders before we start -- First, the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden, in case you all have forgotten. Yes, I’m looking at you, Gryffindors.”

A group of 6th year Gryffindor boys went red in the face as she pointed them out. How she loved humiliating rule breakers.

“Second: whoever thought it funny to throw blue powder on the Hufflepuff House ghosts, they expect a written apology.”

Ellington looked over at the Hufflepuff table, where three sad looking ghosts (with no evidence of blue powder on them, mind you) shook their fingers at anyone they deemed responsible.

“And finally, toilet seats do not belong in the Hospital Wing. Thank you.”

She sat back down, and enjoyed the cheers and laughter that came from the four long tables. With a lazy wave of her wand, the banners turned bright orange; bats began flying from every corner of the ceiling; jack'o'lanterns decorated the Hall. Dishes of ham, potatoes, turkey, chicken, pies, roast vegetables, soufflés, and foods of all sorts appeared on the tables; jugs of pumpkin juice, butterbeer (as it was a special occasion), water, fizzy drinks, etc. that refilled themselves followed shortly. The wondrous feast had begun.

Arya was starving. She'd been told about the famous Hogwarts Halloween Feast, and the thought of all that food only worsened her hunger. She hoped no one could hear her stomach growl.

"Surely it'll start soon, right?" she asked her housemates. She didn't know how much longer she could hold out.

Finally, the Headmistress stood and gave her little speech, if you could really call it a speech. Arry suppressed a snort as Ellington called out the 6th years. She knew those boys; they had told her all about their little adventure into the Forbidden Forest. Frankly, Arya figured most of it was a lie. Could centaurs really exist?

She blushed deeply when the headmistress spoke of the ghosts; she had been a part of that, and while it was quite funny, she wasn't certain how she felt about a written apology. Who was going to make her? The Hufflepuff ghosts weren't very threatening with their finger wagging.

At last, the headmistress waved her wand and the feast began. Arry was appalled at the amount of food. She loaded her plate with roasted potatoes, baked chicken pot pie, cheese souffle, buttered vegetables, and filled her goblet to the brim with butterbeer.

"This is bloody magnificent!" she shouted over all the noise in the Hall.

Mitri paid no attention to the Headmistress' speech, she was too busy consoling her empty stomach. Earlier she'd missed lunch to finish a paper for Herbology, and right now her stomach was paying for it.

"It'll be okay little guy, the food will be here soon." Mitri whispered lovingly to her stomach.

The Headmistress sure did know how to be long winded, and she didn't even stop for a drink! Mitri wondered whether the Headmistress was naturally talented at public speaking or merely had a charm to help her.

One particular part of the Headmistress' speech caught Mitri's attention. The Forbidden Forest. Everyone had heard of it, but first-years weren't allowed to go in it, not until the upcoming Creature Care event anyways. Mitri had always been intrigued by unicorns, especially since she found out they were real, and wondered if the forest held any. Perhaps she'd have to find out for herself one day soon...

As soon as the Headmistress gave the go and the food appeared, Mitri dug in with gusto.

"Finally, that old bat can really spin a speech, aye Arya? I'm starving, pass the potatoes please!" Mitri asked sweetly.

Nadia noticed in disgust how the Gryffindors looked like eager vultures awaiting their next meal. The Headmistress tended to drone on when speaking, so Nadia tuned her out and turned to her housemates with a mischievous grin.

"The Gryffindors think they're so high and mighty breaking a few rules, when need to show them who the best house is at Hogwarts, you guys in?" Nadia smirked.

Devious chuckles and malicious grins answered her. Now they had to plan something, but what? Nadia saw the Gryffindors pounce on their dinner as it appeared on the table, looking like cats making sure their prey was dead.

"Animals, Gryffindors have no sense of etiquette whatsoever. We may be terrible, but at least we are civilized!" Nadia said with a chuckle.

Adelaine wasn't too keen to sit through another feast; not now, at least. She'd just gotten a letter from home today, and didn't exactly say "We love and miss you!" -- clearly her parents were still displeased that she'd been sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Was it you who stole the toilet seat, Seamus?" she quietly asked one of the older boys in her house. He grinned.

She had noticed, however, that Arya had gotten rather red in the face when the headmistress spoke of the blue powder. It didn't surprise her that her spunky friend would be involved. Her mood changed drastically when the food appeared. It all looked so stupendous that her appetite had suddenly woken up again.

"Don't you love feasts, Marigold?" she asked, piling potatoes of all kinds onto her plate.

"Of course! The food is always amazing."Marigold said, putting a turkey leg on her plate. She blushed when she noticed that Seamus was staring at her. He was the boy that helped her at the Welcoming Feast and scared her in the Common Room. But, Marigold was pretty sure that he was more interested in Adelaine, who was much smarter and prettier than her anyways.

She looked around the Great Hall. Arya was a bright red. She was the one that put powder on the ghosts. Mitri was shoveling down food. Nadia was talking to her classmates.

"So, do you like our classes so far Adele?"Marigold asked."I think that they're quite interesting."

Arya did as Mitri bid and passed the potatoes to her, but not before taking a heap for herself. She also grabbed a hot bun, slathered in butter. As a peasant from a small Muggle town, good food was difficult to come by, especially in large quantities; therefore, she had no shame about stuffing her face and filling her plate 5 times.

"Mitri, look over there." she muttered, nodding discreetly toward the Slytherin table. "Kolby looks rather suspicious, don't you think?"

She took a large swig of pumpkin juice and pondered. After the food fight (which was popularly referred to as The Great Bacon Duel of 1450) she couldn't imagine what else he'd start. It would have to be something bigger than that, unless he wanted his cronies to think he'd gone soft.

Mitri chuckled at Arya's suspicious nature, wasn't that supposed to be a Slytherin trait? Though when talking about Slytherins one could never be too sure. Mitri swallowed some pumpkin juice and wiped her face before replying.

"Slytherins always look rather suspicious to me, Arya! I wish they served bacon with dinner, my stomach is really aching for some juicy delicious pig fat. Revolting as it sounds. Maybe we should keep a close eye on Kolby, just in case he does do something." Mitri suggested and filled her mouth with potatoes, yum!

"If anything I'd say that Nadia character was suspicious, I heard she tormented a third-year. A third-year! I cringe at the idea of them every working together, lucky for us they don't seem to get along despite sharing the same house." Mitri said after swallowing some of the scrumptious food before her.

Arya shrugged and focused on her garlicky roasted potatoes. They were almost as delicious as the bacon she and Mitri had sneaked off in the night for a few weeks ago. Her thoughts turned back to the house elves, and little Jinxy.

“What’s this?” she heard the kid next to her say.

In seconds, the entire Hall had gone into a frenzy. The boy, Robb, had opened a glass bottle; it literally opened with a BANG and columns of thick red smoke rose to the ceiling. Her potatoes were red, her hands, her goblet, everything was red. She looked around and sure enough she saw streams of blue, green, and yellow smoke rising as well.

“Mitri, bloody hell,” she exclaimed with a laugh. “You're totally red!”

Adelaine had decided never to enter the Great Hall again. Really. It seemed like their eating place had been rather unlucky as of late. She had just been about to comment on the red smoke that went up, when suddenly Marigold popped open the bottle before she could be stopped.

“Marigold, what --” she tried to speak, but was coughing too much.

The Hall had dissolved into utter chaos -- again. Red, blue, yellow, and green smokes all drifted together. Adele looked at the blue table…wait, the blue table? The smoke was dying everything blue, including herself. She looked frantically around and finally spotted Marigold…….on the ground. A sixth year girl was already down there with her, dabbing her head with a wet cloth to wake her.

“Oh, this mess has Kolby written all over it!”

Kolby held back laughter as the Great Hall boiled down into chaos. Students and teachers alike were getting covered in different colored smoke. He made sure no one was looking then picked up one of his own bottles. Just so no one can pin this on me.he thought.

"Hmmm.....Nadia, what's this?"he asked, acting like a curious little boy. He opened it and green smoke covered him and Nadia. He then crawled under the table and set off Nadia's bottle that was carefully placed under her chair.

Happy Halloween every one!he thought, watching as Marigold fainted from lack of oxygen. He went over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Oh gosh! Is she alright?"he asked, acting like a concerned first year. Her face is a bit swollen. I wonder if she's allergic.he thought. Now, he really was concerned. He never meant to hurt any one.

(OOC: It's kinda weird to see Kolby concerned for another classmate. lol See? He's not all bad) (although he acts like the spawn of Satan from time to time lol)

Deirdre had shown up a bit late to dinner do to practicing her knockback jinx in her room beforehand. She saw that the seats by the girls from the common room were taken so she made her way to a seat by the wall.

She noticed a small bottle of what seemed to be pumpkin juice in a nook in the wall. One of the other students must have left it there.

Deirdre picked up the little bottle and pulled the stopper to check that it really was pumpkin juice. She was startled by the puff of yellow smoke that came from it. When she looked down, she and the table were yellow.

"The hell is going on here?" she asked aloud. She looked over at Kolby and she just knew he had a hand in it. "Cac ar oineach!"

((That last bit means Scumbag or Scoundrel. It's nothing too harsh.))

Fiona was appalled; though, she was more annoyed than anything at not being able to just enjoy her food. Why did children insist on making trouble at a perfectly joyous occasion? The ghosts hadn't even been able to begin acting out their deaths before the first column of smoke rose.

"Well then, if no one else is going to do anything," she scolded the professors next to her. She pointed her wand to her throat and amplified her voice. "ENOUGH!!!"

The Hall went completely silent; even the smoke seemed to freeze up a bit at the sound of Ellington's voice. Once every eye was on her, she began more calmly.

"This is too much. You should all know that I do not think highly of pranks, especially dangerous ones," she pointed to the several people who had passed out, or were doubled over coughing. "Now, I will give the culprit one chance to take the blame. Anyone?"

She waited with baited breath, hoping the prankster would raise a hand. She didn't want to punish the whole school for one fool's mess up.

Arya looked directly at Kolby, who was hovering over a barely conscious Marigold. If he didn't fess up, she'd kick him in the stomach. She didn't have proof he did it, she just knew it. Who else would be stupid enough to set off smoke at the Halloween Feast?

What would Ellington do if no one took the blame? Surely she wouldn't punish the whole school....maybe she'd cancel the Creature Care trip? Or....Hogsmeade? No, she couldn't cancel Hogsmeade. Arya had wanted to the village since the day Professor Renoir flew her to the carriage station. If the Great Hall hadn't been so silent, Arya would have shouted at Kolby's stupid face to come clean.

Ellington’s eyes darted around the room, and she noticed that several people were looking at Kolby Parry. Of course, she should have suspected him first. It was only a few weeks ago that the boy finished his last detention.

“Well, then, Parry,” she said when he raised his hand and confessed. “Two detentions in three weeks, are you going for a record of some sort?”

Several students and teachers chuckled. She signaled to Madam Varitz, who hustled down to the tables conjuring stretchers for some of the most serious cases. Luckily, the only people who would need to go to the Hospital Wing were a few 5th and 6th years. Fiona shook her head at the mute caretaker, Waters, who had already begun to wipe the dye off the High Table. She had always pitied the old man, who had never received a magical education (long story short, his peasant parents refused to send him to Hogwarts).With a long wave of her wand, the headmistress cleared the smoke. Another flick and wet rags and buckets appeared and set to work, to the students’ delight and confusion.

“Kolby Parry, for your punishment, I am ordering you not to partake in the school trip to Hogsmeade,” she announced, glad she didn’t have to force it on the whole school. “Now, feast over, everyone off to bed! And please do clean yourselves off.”

Adelaine couldn’t believe it. Kolby Parry actually confessed? Sure, he had come clean in the office last time, but this was in front of the entire school. Perhaps there was some decency in the snake after all….Maybe she misjudged him?

“Adele!” an older Ravenclaw girl snapped her back to reality. “Help me get her to the dorm.”

She looked to the ground and saw Marigold, still not doing so well. All good thoughts about Kolby were lost, and anger welled up inside her again. She shot one nasty glare in Kolby’s direction, then helped the girl carry Marigold to Ravenclaw Tower.

Arya was disgusted. Kolby should have been expelled, he could have killed poor Marigold, and several others. Even Adelaine was doubled over coughing from all the smoke. If it was regular smoke, it wouldn't have been so bad; but it was mixed with dye, which made it thicker and worse. Thank goodness for the headmistress.

"You go on without me, Mitri," she shouted over her shoulder. "I'll catch up."

She watched as Adele and another Ravenclaw carried Marigold between them up to their tower. There was no way she was going to let Kolby by without being scolded or sneered at by anybody. Arry picked her way through the crowd until she spotted the boy, then she bee-lined toward him.

"You'd better watch your back, snake," she said through gritted teeth, loud enough only for his ears. "People could have suffocated from your idiotic little prank, you don't deserve to be here."

It wasn't much, and it wasn't too threatening, but Arry meant every word and she hoped the message got through his thick head. He didn't deserve to be at Hogwarts, didn't deserve to learn magic with respectable people, and didn't deserve a pat on the back from his stupid cronies. With that said, Arya turned and left the Great Hall.

Kolby rolled his eyes at Arya's comment. She wasn't very scary. Adele was more scary than her. Silly Mud Blood. Trying to be intimidating. Yeah. Right.he thought. Although, what she did say hurt his feelings. He may be a Slytherin but he's not heartless. He didn't think that he would hurt people. He didn't think that people would take this prank the wrong way. He didn't think that people would start hating him. He just didn't think.