Imma Eat Your Brains

[Maya Fergusson]

Despite starting the term off on a sour note, Maya was very happy to be attending the Halloween Feast. Honestly she had put a lot of thought into her costume this year. Last year she had not attended for a number of reasons, but she was determined to attend this year. She loved Halloween after all, why wouldn't she want to attend? She did remember having a good time last year and she had really enjoyed feeling that closeness to her mother regardless of the fact that she really wasn't all that close to her at all. It didn't really matter though, she refused to dwell on things this evening, she was going to ensure that she had a good time. She was going to have a good time and nothing was going to stop her.

Stepping into the Great Hall, Maya immediately made her way to the drinks. She had taken a couple of hours to apply all of the make up to her face and now she was kind of hot underneath it all. Well, she had been running just a little to make sure that she wasn't late to the party. She didn't like being late and it was something she always went to great lengths to avoid. Still, as it turned out she wasn't late and so really she was sure that she deserved a drink. Maybe she would stay by the table for a little. It was the best vantage point to see if she would recognise anyone who was here.
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Hope you don't mind

Graeme had never been too interested in Halloween, he always tried to put together a costume but he didn't enjoy having to go out and buy one. It was expensive and he didn't really care for it if he was perfectly honest, but he knew that giving it a chance was important. So, despite all of the work that he had to do for his OWLs, the teen had decided that he would go. However since he'd left it so close to the time before deciding this he had very little to go with, it had left him staring at his clothes with no idea what to do. He just smiled slightly, when it finally occurred to him what he should go as. He picked a loose fitting white short sleeved shirt, that hung off his shoulders, puffy and smooth but barely touching his skin and a pair of old, worn and torn trousers, on these he used his magic to create more tears and splashes of paint, he then delved deeper and found something that he could use as a paint brush and something he could use a palette before getting that all on. He added a pair of simple sandal type shoes and then was ready to go.

Graeme messed up his hair, moving it to all areas, then to it, his exposed skin, and face he added flecks of paint, and then made his hands added yet more fake paint to them. It in all only took a few moments, and then he was completely ready. He left the dorm room, and walked to the great hall. He was perhaps a little early despite everything else, but he was happy to be going. He glanced around and smiled slightly happily as he realised that despite the fact he didn't like it too much overall he was enjoying watching people running around in different costumes with joyful expressions. He smiled to himself and then as he did so spotted Maya looking incredibly different, he had almost not been able to spot her had it not been for that hair, which he easily recognised. He tried to stay within the shadows and then walked round behind so that he might be able to scare her. He walked slowly and then with a smile on his face, "Boo!" he whispered quietly when he stood right behind her.
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[Maya Fergusson]

Yes, I do mind

Maya sipped her drink and watched all the other people. She laughed when she saw the dogs running around the room. She definitely thought one of them was Professor King. She remembered the dog from her first lesson. That had been a crash course in magic if ever there was one. Animaguses, or animagi? They were a foreign concept to Maya. She thought that it must be something really cool to be able to do, but she didn't think it would ever be something she was interested in. She was a fourth year now, but she still wasn't quite used to the major differences between here and home where magic was concerned. It was all still so new to her and then she had to go home and she wasn't allowed to practice magic. It was just weird, and wonderful all at the same time. She fixed her hair a little as she watched the dancers and gasped slightly when one fell over. That was going to hurt in the morning.

Maya was busy fixing her hair and so she didn't even hear the approach from behind her until it was too late. At the sound of the quiet boo, right beside her ear, Maya jumped nearly ten feet in the air, spilling her drink all over herself and anything near by. She blinked and turned around, noticing Graeme. She looked down at her now wet clothes. She waited for a moment to let the thought really set in before grinning widely. "Graeme!" She jumped at him, throwing her arms around him as she did so. He ruined her costume, the least he could do was hug her, that was her thought. "Wow, you really scared me! You were just there and then you whispered, geez!" She was laughing though, so she wasn't really that bothered by it. "I did actually like this shirt though." She looked down at it and rubbed it slightly, though she only made the drink stain worse. She laughed again and shrugged. "I'm sure zombies aren't all that clean anyway." She looked at Graeme and surveyed his costume. He looked really good in it. Really good. A light pink crawled onto Maya's cheeks and she was glad that her face was covered in make up. "Are you a painter or something?"
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Tough

Graeme chuckled lightly when she jumped slightly and then when she spilled the drink over herself. He had the decency to look a little apologetic when she turned around and he noticed that she had put a hell of a lot of effort into her costume, "Maya, wow," his words were cut off slightly when she threw her arms around him, he put his arms around her, lifting her lightly and hugging her as tightly, not even minding the juice staining his own shirt. He put her back down and then let her go, smiling brightly. He was always happy to see her, Maya was one of his closest friends. It was one of his few friends, and so he was always happy to see her, she was one of the easiest people he had to get along with. It just good, she was so friendly and Graeme was always thankful for her friendship. He laughed along with Maya, when she said he'd just appeared. He looked at the stain and gave a small sorry smile, "I'm sorry about your shirt. If you give it tae me, I can probably get the stain oot with magic, I think I have a spell for that," he offered with a small grin.

Graeme smiled and nodded, having never met any zombies he didn't know what they were really like. It was just something he didn't know. The teen nodded with a shrug, and then glanced down at his own costume, which among the paint stains was now a partial stain of whatever she was drinking. He lifted the shirt to his nose and tried to figure it out, "I am indeed," he did a small twirl, "Your costume though Maya, it looks...oft," he paused for a moment going slightly red in the cheeks, "Incredible, you must've put a lot of work in tae it," Graeme grinned at her the red tint of his cheeks gone. He was smiling brightly at her, he was glad he'd run into her, "Come on Maya, let's go dance," he began walking to the dance floor, but as he did so he turned back and held out his hand to her, "Come on now!" He was waiting for her to take his hand before heading out to the dance floor. Dancing was a good way to pass the time, and since he was here now it made sense to do so, really let his hair down.
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya had to admit it was nice that she could spend some time with Graeme. She didn't have a lot of friends really, but she was happy to be able to call Graeme one of them. Being lifted into a hug was something she used to do with her father, but she hadn't done it in a while. It was about time she found a new person to lift her. They were really her favourite kind of hugs and they just felt the best. It reminded her of being a princess. Something she used to dream of being when she was a child. She still thought about it now, her mind was just more set into reality than back then. Graeme mentioned that he could fix her shirt and Maya laughed a little at the way he had worded it. "It's okay, I'd like to keep wearing my shirt tonight." She was fourteen now, she was beginning to develop more of an understanding of these things. Hell, she'd physically matured seemingly overnight and she was still getting used to it, but there were things that still went over her head. That was okay though, she was, after all, only fourteen.

Maya smiled down at her costume when Graeme complimented it and she was reminded of their time at the Yuleball seemingly ages ago, but was really only just over a year ago. Her second year had been pretty awful and whilst she didn't think it had really gotten all that much better, she was doing well enough to know that she was learning to deal with it. Whether she wanted to or not. Graeme had been there for her then and she greatly appreciated it. "I really did, thank you for noticing!" She'd been working on it for a couple of weeks, making sure she had everything. In the end she'd had to borrow a couple of things from her roommates, but that wasn't too bad. It could have been worse. "My drink certainly helped though! I should have thought of that earlier!" She grinned up at him and laughed. Now she was just teasing. "I'm sorry, I don't really mean it, I'm just being mean." It was when Graeme asked Maya if she wanted to dance that she stopped laughing. He was holding his hand out to her and Maya didn't know whether to take his hand or just walk next to him. It was all so weird. Last year she'd just have taken his hand in a heartbeat, why was she hesitating now? She could feel her face go red again as she reached out to take his hand and turned her head away slightly. Then she thought better of it and grinned. "Race you!" She let go of his hand and rushed out to the dance floor. Yes, this was better.

I have no idea what happened.
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme just smiled at her, and chuckled lightly when she spoke, "I meant after tonight, some time when you would have clothes to change into," the teen smiled happily at her. He was just smiling brightly at her, his words coming through in short bursts. He did not have feelings for Maya, well, he was sure that he didn't. He didn't entirely believe he had feelings in that way for anyone, he hadn't even had a crush before. He liked Maya a lot, they were good friends and he was sure if they became anything else ever down the line that they'd be quite good. He smiled politely at her, as she then smiled at his compliment, Graeme did mean it, he thought it was a really pretty costume, and it was just amazingly done. She had put in a lot of work during it, that much was pretty clear. He smiled politely at her with a small nod, "It looks amazing, I'm really impressed. I would never have the patience, you outshine me," Graeme just motioned at her again and then also him, just finding it really amazingly well done. He wondered if she had used any magic to help her with the different cuts and stuff. Knowing that Maya was muggleborn made him think that perhaps she hadn't used magic.

Graeme had decided that dancing was probably a good thing to do, after all it would be good fun he was sure. He always managed to have fun with her, which was why he had held out his hand to her, thinking nothing of it, they were friends and he didn't mind holding her hand or anything like that. When he saw her hesitate he wondered if he had perhaps done the wrong thing, if they weren't as close as he was thinking they were. She was reaching out to grab it, and he didn't entirely push back, not until she turned away slightly. He had a slightly confused expression but when she then grinned happily and then run past him to go to the dance floor, calling Graeme to race her, so the teen took off running with ease back to where Maya was. He was pretty fit and active as the captain of the hufflepuff team he worked hard to be in peak physical condition. He smiled at her, overtaking her with ease, and then getting to the dance floor at around the same time, allowing himself to slow slightly. Without wasting more time, the teen began dancing, his smile and gaze lingering upon Maya as he did so.
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This is awful, I'm sorry man, I couldn't come up with anything better.

 

[Maya Fergusson]

Maya liked being around Graeme, it had always been that way. When her mum died she had often wondered whether or not she would ever be happy again. As it had turned out, yes she would be and though it didn't all have to do with Graeme, he was a big part of it, at least for her. He helped her whenever she needed it and he even showed her her very first spell. That was special. They'd been friends ever since. "I'll give you my shirt tonight back in the dorms before I go to bed. Remind me, I'll forget!" She placed the now very empty glass down on the table and fixed her hair a little before she was going to continue anything tonight. She didn't think the juice had gotten into her curls, but she couldn't be sure. She much preferred curly over straight, at least she did for her hair anyway. Though there were times when she had been teased for her blonde curls, that was behind her now and she enjoyed being able to style them. She turned back to Graeme. "I am going to disagree with you. Just coz you don't think you put much effort in, doesn't me its not good." Maya rather admired the simplicity of it, if she was being totally honest.

Maya pouted slightly when Graeme beat her to the dance floor with the ease born of an athlete. She humphed slightly before tossing her hair over her shoulder. "You're supposed to let the girl win, Graeme." She told him matter-of-factly. She didn't actually mind, but it was fun to play. After a moment she realised she wasn't really a very good actor anyway and grinned. "Oh I don't care. But next time you should let me win." She nodded at him and stepped towards him, grabbing his hands as she did so and twirling herself around. Dancing had always been fun for her, despite the fact that she wasn't actually good at it. Not that she minded. She stepped a little closer and positioned herself in a way that she could speak into his ear, as the song had suddenly loudened as they'd been dancing. "Did I get any drink in my hair?" She asked before stepping back and moving her hair around from behind her to fall over her shoulder. "I can't tell if it's sticky or not!"

So yeah, this happened.
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme just shook his head at her, he liked winning things and believed it was better to win things fairly than just let her win because that's what he was supposed to do. The boy just smiled broadly at her shrugging slightly when he did so. It was so easy to get along with Maya he couldn't believe it half the time, so when they were finally in with the others dancing, the teen just enjoyed letting loose and feeling the music. He wasn't a particularly good dancer he had all the grace of a deer on ice, uncoordinated and a little bit hopeless but he was having fun and that was the important bit, he was having the most fun that he could manage it, "If you managed to be faster than me, then I'll let you win," he told her with a smile, not one to play into the whole chivalrous act of boys or men towards won, it was polite to hold the door open, and it was good to let children win things but, he wouldn't just let her win, if she wanted to win she would have to actually win. He was however pretty surprised when she took his hands and then began dancing.

Graeme with a little bit of awkwardness attempted to dance with Maya, letting her take far more control over the situation over what to do when dancing. She was clearly far better at this than he was. Which was probably a good thing considering. Instead of just awkwardly attempting to try to dance with her, he was just letting her control it, and while he knew he likely still looked awkward he was sure that he had to look a little bit better. It was easier to dance with her there to help guide him. Graeme was surprised when she leaned into him and then began speaking in his ear, he looked at her hair as she showed it to him, he tried his best to see but then just shook his head, "Not from what I can see," he told her, unsure as to if if was or not, he didn't want to touch it, because he felt that would be impolite but he knew that he would have to at the very least say that he believed it wasn't, "Don't worry about it, any damage can be undone, just dance with me, forget about it," he told her with an encouraging smile, "You look incredible anyway," He added waiting for her to just dancing again.
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya shook her head and smiled. "Oh, fine, but you have to know that I'll never be as fit as you, so you're basically cheating." She grinned at him and then laughed. She was joking of course, well, somewhat. It was fun being around Graeme. She always had fun when he was around and she tended to not be able to be in a bad mood. It seemed that he worked hard to make sure that she was having a good time, so it was really important to her that he also had a good time. Maya didn't like having fun if someone else wasn't so she was going to try her best to make sure that Graeme had just as good a time as she was. "I have to say though, I really do like your costume. Like, I know you said that you just threw it together, but like, it really is nice. Flaky."

Graeme's dancing, according to Maya, was definitely interesting. She didn't so much laugh at him as just smile because he was having fun and that was all that she cared about. They were dancing together, no matter how odd it might've looked from the outside. She remembered that when she was a child she used to stand on her fathers feet and he would hold her close and spin her around like a ballerina doll. He hadn't done that in a long while, and probably wouldn't ever again. Maya looked down at her hair as he told her that it didn't seem sticky at all. How would he know? You couldn't see stickiness in hair, though considering her drink had been a murky brown and her hair was blonde, he probably would have been able to see it. She sighed, but she believed him. "Okay, I believe you." He complimented her yet again and another blush rose to her cheeks. She was going to have to learn to control that. One day it would happen when she's not wearing an entire layer of monster make up. That would be hard to hide. She wasn't even sure why it happened. "Well, thank you. So do you!" She shrugged and grabbed his hands again, twirling herself around and trying to show him the things her father had taught her, though she wasn't doing so well. She was used to being led, not being the leader. She laughed. "My dad is much better at this then I am!"
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme just shook his head at her, his costume was basic, and he realised that while she might like it, but he didn't want her to compliment it too much, her costume unlike his was amazingly detailed, everything was done to a perfection that Graeme knew he didn't have the patience for. He knew that it was just easier for him to just throw something together relatively last minute rather than just trying to figure out what looked best and working really hard at it. He was after all an OWL student and so he had very little time to actually spare to strange things like this. As much as the boy had always enjoyed halloween, or just dressing up. Even back at his primary school they would do a little dressing up, though instead of a party because you couldn't really have one with so few people, his teacher, or one of the few teachers would read a poem or a short story, generally about ghosts, his favourite had always been Tam O'Shanter, it just was pretty amazing. But, this place was different, he couldn't imagine the students hear gathering around to hear a poem written by a Scot in Scot.

When she asked about her hair, Graeme tried to give the best answer that he could, obviously not managing all that much. It was tricky for him, he could see her hair, but he couldn't make out enough of it to be sure, he was almost certain that he couldn't see any stickiness within her hair, but he knew with this light he could very well be wrong, and if he was he would definitely let her punch him in the face. Instead he was sure that she was going to have to do that, and was glad when they moved on. When she grabbed his hand again and then began twirling. He wasn't coordinated enough to be a good dancer, he just tried his best to copy her and those around them so that he didn't slip and fall. Instead the boy just focus his attention on doing like her. At her words he just smiled and laughed slightly, "Your dad is much better at this than the two of us," he said with a smile, "My ma, she wasnae much of a dance either, we'd just blast the tunes and go crazy, it was just us, we lived miles away from anyone else, we could just dance taw whatever tape we put in and blast it so the house was shaking," Graeme and his mother hadn't done that very often, but it had been on those days when they were both in the house with nothing much to do, and were unable to go outside really.
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