Misunderstanding Halloween

[Sianna Djordjevic]

Sianna stepped into the great hall with her floor length black formal dress and realised very quickly that she'd gotten the nature of the event wrong, they hadn't really celebrated Halloween in Serbia, she knew of it from some of the old films she'd watched but she had no idea what it really entailed and so she had assumed that it would be much like the yuleball, so she'd put on her second best formal gown and headed to the Halloween feast, adding on a pair of small heels though the dress covered her feet and the right amount of jewellery to match, she felt far more formal than anyone here, after all, she could see someone dressed as pumpkin, someone had come as a shark, there were just so many costumes and Sianna was just dressed so formally, she could see a few others in formal attire but none like her, none wearing a dress because that was supposed to be the nature of the event, there were kids stuffing their faces. Sianna felt her cheeks blush deeply and she played with the bracelet on her wrist, what could she be, what was her outfit most like, but instead of thinking of anything she just decided that as long as no one asked she didn't need to come up with anything. All she had to do was pretend like she'd gotten the event right and all would be fine.
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[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon had been walking around the Great Hall admiring how elaborate everything was. Not just the decorations, but people's costumes were elaborate as well. Some were so clever or funny, they were well thought out or executed. He felt a little silly in his own astronaut costume, but he was trying to make an effort anyway. He was growing tired of caring his helmet around though, but felt that walking around with it on would be a little too weird maybe. He couldn't decide if he wanted to wear it to keep people from seeing him, or if it would draw more attention and curiosity towards him.

The Ravenclaw boy made his way around the tables, picking more at the candy than at the food. He didn't have much of an appetite from all the candy he had eaten so it had spoiled his dinner. Then he saw a girl who was dressed so beautifully, she looked a little out of place in a hall with flying bats and people dressed as unicorns, but still nice nonetheless. He carefully approached her and said, "You look great." He felt like he had just blurted it out of nowhere, without even saying hi. "I'm sorry, hi," he added wincing at his embarrassment. "I just wanted to say that...that you look great," he repeated himself, feeling more foolish by the second. "What are you supposed to be?" he asked. It sounded rather rude, as if he was basically saying 'Whatever it is, you're not pulling it off well if I have to ask' and he immediately hated himself for asking, but he just wanted to know what she was dressed as, if it required such a nice outfit. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment and he was regretting his decision to do this. He began to shake his head saying, "I'm sorry" - sorry for asking, sorry for the whole conversation, sorry for approaching her, sorry for everything.

 

[Sianna Djordjevic]

Sianna was surprised when someone spoke, an astronaut, saying she looked nice and without even meaning to the girl just blushed deeply and smiled a little shyly at him, she glanced at the dress and brushed her hands against the material, smoothing out the beginning of the long floor length gown which was a little bit out of place at an even like this, but she had just made a mistake and the boy apologise and she felt like this was a little unjustified, he didn't need to say that about it, and then he seemed to repeat the earlier phrase and Sianna took this opportunity, "Thank you," she was able to say quickly, hints of her accent playing on the words that she was saying. The girl then felt her cheeks blush an even deeper red if this was even possible, Sianna didn't know whether to tell him the truth about the dress or tell him the lie. Her gaze looked at his face, glancing at his costume, as she let her fingers play with a small loose thread in the dress she was wearing, a clear sign of her being a little nervous, but his apology seemed to make her think that if she was truthful that he wouldn't laugh at her.

"We don't celebrate Halloween, really, where I'm from," she told him, almost blurting out the statement, she didn't particularly like lying so had she been unable to tell him she would've walked away, "I thought Halloween would be like the Yuleball, but it's not," her serbian accent laced in and out of her words as she spoke, unsure of if he would actually no laugh at her, but really hoping that he wouldn't, "But, I've decided if this needs to be a costume, I'll be Countess Dracula," she explained to him, with a little twirl of the dress, thinking that even though she lacked vampire teeth it didn't look too bad, "And you're an astronaut," she told him, she only knew this because of the old movies she'd watched to learn more english, "I'm Sianna," she told him holding out a hand to him, with a nervous smile on her face, hoping that he wouldn't mock her too much for her mistake, how was she to know that Halloween was something that was filled with costumes if they hadn't ever celebrated it this way.
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[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon was pleasantly surprised when the girl didn't immediately tell him to get lost after he had practically made a fool of himself blabbering on. He gave her a small smile when she thanked him and then when he learned the reason for her formal attire. "Ahh I see," he commented softly, understanding why someone would come to the same conclusion. He felt privileged to be able to know the truth to her attire. She could've just told him what she planned to say she was, and he would've believed her, but he liked that she was honest with him. It was endearing. "Well either way, you look great. And I think Countess Dracula is a good cover up!" he reassured her.

When she pointed out what he was, he chuckled and nodded. "Yes I am, and my name is Lennon." He took the hand she offered and shook it, smiling back reassuringly at her. It was somewhat relieving to find that he wasn't the only nervous one here. Although he was just a nervous person in general; she had probably just been nervous about being overdressed. "It's nice to meet you Sianna. What House are you in?" he asked, trying to make small talk now that he had gone out of his way to talk to the girl about her impromptu costume.

 

[Sianna Djordjevic]

Sianna felt relieved when he didn't seem to find her reasoning funny and just seemed to accept it, it was a pretty good feeling when she knew that if her brother had found out and not made the same mistake then he would've laughed at, but he was just an annoying brother, and from what she could see, he was no where to be seen, she didn't know what to expect from him, aside from killing animals he didn't really like to do anything else, what else was she supposed to expect from him. The girl smiled her thanks at him, especially given that he thought the cover up was pretty good, "Thanks," she told him with a slightly less nervous smile, feeling a little more confident smile, even if people didn't think she was telling the truth, she was wearing a dress that would've suited that character, so it really wasn't far off.

As he introduced himself, she began to recognise him from her classes, it wasn't clear who he was, but he seemed fairly familiar, but it didn't really matter to her, he had just introduced himself to her as Lennon and she repeated the name in her head as she nodded at him, "You too, Lennon," she returned honestly, since given that he hadn't really laughed about what her mistake had been, and it made her feel a little nervous about admitting that she was a ravenclaw that should've used her brain to be able to figure out or research what this event was going to be like, but she'd opted to not, going on what had been a wrong gut feeling, "Ravenclaw, so I probably shouldn't have gotten this wrong, but," she didn't finish the sentence and just shrugged at him, not really having an explanation other than the rather vulgar sh1t happens, "You?" she returned, twisting the bracelet on her wrist as she spoke, "So what exactly is Halloween," she added, asking with a vague gesture to the room, from what she could tell it was candy, music and costumes, but was there something else she was maybe missing about it, he'd been good enough to not make fun of her before, why would he now.
​

 

[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon's suspicions were confirmed when the girl said she was a Ravenclaw. He could've sworn he had seen her around before, and now that he thought about it, he saw her in his classes, which meant she must be a first year as well. He shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I feel out of place as a Ravenclaw too sometimes." He still questioned the Sorting Hat's decision to place him in this House sometimes, because he wasn't exactly the most studious, and hadn't exactly displayed his creative skills yet. Half the time he felt like the reason he knew so much sometimes was because his sister would tell him useless facts and information, and he just happened to retain it all.

When Sianna asked what Halloween was, Lennon scrunched up his face in thought. He was afraid to answer because what if he was wrong. Sometimes he felt that his doubt about his answers was why he shouldn't be a Ravenclaw, but he did have some information on the subject. He shifted his astronaut's helmet from one arm to the other and said, "Hmmm," as he thought of how to answer the question. "Well, it's supposed to be a day that all the dead spirits roam the Earth!" he said, trying (and probably failing) to be spooky.

"People would put out pumpkins with lanterns in them to ward off the evil spirits from coming into their homes," he gestured toward the floating pumpkins around the Great Hall as an example. "Then people began dressing up in costumes, usually as scary creatures, to ward off the spirits as well," he informed her. "But over time the 'scariness' factor became less important and now people just dress like anything they'd like! Some people still opt for scary, while others go for funny or cute costumes," he shrugged his shoulders, not sure why people did that. "Some people still believe that spirits do roam the Earth this day, but now people just treat Halloween like a fun holiday," he said simply. "And I'm not sure where the candy comes from honestly. I think it was something to do with offering the spirits a 'treat' or something like that, but I don't know for sure!" he added, just in case he was wrong. "I think that's where the phrase 'Trick-or-Treat' came from!" he said, mostly to himself than to her, feeling like he had just discovered some new information. "Does that help?" he asked her, wondering if this brief history lesson explained some of their silly customs on this day.

 

[Sianna Djordjevic]

Sianna wasn't too surprised when he turned out to be a Ravenclaw, it explained why she was sure that she'd seen him before, even with the costume, she wasn't overly terrible when it came to faces, it was just a matter of paying attention and she remembered what people looked like. The young Ravenclaw just smiled at Lennon, she didn't feel particularly out of place in Ravenclaw, just she had her moments where she did things that made her question whether she was smart at all, and it was just that she felt still a little frustrated at the fact that Casimir had been sorted into the same house with her, she felt like he was more out of place than her but the good thing was that she didn't actually have to spend too much time with him, even though they shared a house and all their classes, if he needed something she would happily provide it for him but that was about it, she however stopped her mind from wandering too far from the conversation at hand with the boy in front of her, listening to what he said as he explained what halloween actually was.

It was a strange thing to celebrate, but she knew All Hallows Eve, and All Saint's day, which were more common in Serbia that what he was saying, Halloween just wasn't what they did, and she thought it was rather funny that pumpkins were supposed to stave off the evil spirits from entering the home, and dressing in costumes to also ward off the spirits, which was a strange thing, she wasn't wearing a mask, Halloween, being the 31st of October had never existed in her house, perhaps largely by the fact that it was her birthday on that, her and her brothers. They'd received presents from their parents that morning, but she hadn't given it much more thought since, and with an eagerness to find out what halloween really was her birthday had been largely forgotten, "It does," she smiled at the other boy warmly, smiling more at him in thanks for the help he was providing her, she didn't think it worth bringing up that this day was her birthday, "It seems like a pretty fun holiday," she said, "At least I'll know for next year to not just dress so formally," she giggled lightly glancing down at her own costume, "Where did you get your costume?" she asked him, wondering where a person could get such things or if they could just buy one, which would be simpler.
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[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon was glad that she seemed to have followed his brief history lesson. It was all relatively simple but he was sorry that he couldn't offer more historical background other than the basic explanation for costumes and candy. "On the contrary, I think dressing formal should be a new tradition!" he said jokingly. "Maybe I'll take up the habit." He mostly said it so she wouldn't feel so bad about her dress, because although she did look more at ease, Lennon could tell she was still a bit self-conscious about it.

When she asked him where he got his costume, he looked down at his puffy astronaut's suit. "This is actually an old costume of mine from before, " he said, shifting his helmet from one arm to the other again. "We bought it at a costume shop back in Ireland," he explained. He mostly resided in England so his accent was more British, but at times his Irish heritage came out in his accent. "I'm not too creative with costumes, not like everyone else," he gestured around the Great Hall, "so I just asked my mum to owl me the same thing I wore last year," he chuckled. Coming up with creative costumes every year was kind of hard and for him but perhaps he would put more effort in next time. Perhaps he would even pull the same thing Sianna did and wear something formal and create a 'costume' around that. Although it seemed to work for her, but maybe it wouldn't work for him. "Now that you know what Halloween is like here, do you think you'll dress up in a different type of costume next year?" he wondered.

 

[Sianna Djordjevic]

Sianna laughed gratefully at his joke, she appreciated the effort he was making to try to make her feel better about the mistake she had made in her costume, and she couldn't help but wonder if he would actually do that, she wouldn't hold him to it, of course it was just a way of making her feel better about what she'd done, but it didn't matter. She just kept her gaze on him as he began explaining the origin of the costume and she took the time to really take in what he was wearing it was a good costume, it wasn't something made from what she could tell,"Recycling costumes is a good thing to do," Sianna commented with a nod. She knew that costume shops would likely have a whole variety of costumes, costumes that she would be able to pick from, the girl made a mental note about it, telling herself to remember so that she could then pick up what she needed to when the time eventually rolled around again, although she had no idea what she was going to be, it was a little bit of a strange concept and there were so many things that she could be, and it seemed that she couldn't in this moment think of anything that she actually wanted to be.

At his question she shrugged, Sianna wasn't sure what she would be, putting on a dress like this was far easier than finding a costume, a dress would be able to be used more than once, a costume could be reused but only for this kind of event, "I don't know," she told him with a small shrug, "I quite like dresses," she wasn't sure what would happen in the next year, or if she would even remember about getting a costume, it wasn't something she'd likely think about until the time came again. She quite liked the idea of always attending this event very formally, even if formal was really meant for the Yuleball, she could do double the formality, but she would have to see about it when the time came around, she wasn't sure what else to say and after glancing out to where others were dancing she glanced back at him, "Do you dance Lennon?" she asked, motioning to the dance floor.
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[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon smiled reassuringly when she said she didn't know what she would be for Halloween next year. He didn't either. He never put much thought into his costumes until the week before, whereas some people started planning way in advance. As fun as the holiday was, he didn't think he could ever take it that seriously. "Maybe you should stick to formalwear then," he said with a small chuckle. "I have to admit, the idea does sound tempting" he added, to let her know that he wasn't just teasing her. If he adopted the idea of wearing formalwear to Halloween, it would make things a lot easier. He wouldn't have to shop or think of a costume to wear that wasn't too embarrassing, and he could re-wear the outfit to the Yule Ball.

Lennon took a piece of gummy candy from a nearby table and began to chew on it, feeling a little more comfortable now. But as soon as Sianna asked him if he danced, Lennon choked on the candy he was eating. The Ravenclaw boy coughed as he tried to process her question, clearing his throat as he felt his cheeks go red. "N-no I don't d-dance," he said, stammering his way through the sentence. He stood there awkwardly, basically having shot Sianna's invitation to dance down, which only made him feel worse. Before he could let the rejection linger for too long and hurt her ego, Lennon cleared his throat. "But I can try, if you would like to dance?" he offered. Just because he didn't know how to dance didn't mean he was going to let her feel rejected by him. As a sign that he meant it, he put his astronaut's helmet down on the table and offered her his hand. He was extremely nervous and was sure his cheeks were still bright pink, but he was willing to try this.

 

[Sianna Djordjevic]

Sianna definitely did like the idea of sticking to formal wear, it was a strange thing of course, but they only got one formal dance a year, so perhaps the opportunity to have two was really something that was too good to pass up, and she liked the idea that Lennon might be there with her in a years time, kitted out in formal wear like she was, it would also mean that her mistake from this year become more of a joke than anything, she liked that, and she definitely appreciated what he was doing for her, since he really didn't have to, he was being kind when others likely weren't going to be, and were Sianna could often come across as fairly bitter and annoyed she was managing just fine, since at no point had she been required to say anything blunt. It was just easy for her to speak freely without knowing that something she was about to say might insult the boy in some manner, it was one of the easiest conversations she'd had since coming to the school, well, that and the one with Elysia, whom she did really like, although there was no sign of the girl here and now.

At her question, she noted that he cleared his throat, almost as if he'd choked and saw even in this somewhat dimmed lighting that he was blushing, she really hadn't intended to do that, and wasn't too surprised when it turned out he didn't, she did sort of want to dance, they were at this feast, there was music and other people dancing and they were in costumes, or well, he was, so perhaps it made sense to dance, even if she had only asked because she didn't want to go alone, "I didn't," she started though she was interrupted by Lennon speaking, asking if she wanted to dance and the girl looked at him curiously, as he placed down the helmet and offered his hand to her, she didn't know whether to force him into dancing since she didn't really mind if they didn't dance but sort of wanting to, this was her first halloween, and it was technically her birthday though he had no way of knowing that, "Just one," she told him, almost trying to reassure him that this didn't need to be long and it didn't need to be anything more than just the one and with a nervous little smile she took his hand, the feeling was a little odd, touching his hand, it felt different. Sianna decided that she would lead him, walking towards the dance floor slowly, "Thanks," she added as they reached an empty spot, really meaning it, this night she'd thought would be horrible was actually shaping up nicely, Lennon was pretty neat, definitely nicer than most.
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[Lennon Cohen-Knight]

Lennon was so relieved when Sianna said they would only have one dance. But he tried not to let his relief show too much because he didn't want her to think he didn't want to dance with her. The Ravenclaw was also happy that she took the lead, because he had no idea how to dance with a partner like this, he was just winging it. As soon as they found an empty spot, Lennon decided to be safe and put his other hand on her shoulder as they danced.

When she said thanks, Lennon cocked his head to the side and asked, "Thanks for what exactly?" He was a little confused why she was thanking him. If anything he should be thanking her, which now he was regretting not doing first. He had decided to take initiative and put himself out there by talking to someone he didn't know at the Halloween Feast, and to make things worse, he had even asked her to dance. He was trying to do something more than just be an observer. He had noticed this girl in his classes, and he probably would've gone his entire Hogwarts life only seeing her in the common room or in classes and never would have talked to her. But he was glad that he had just taken the plunge and decided to talk to her here at the Feast. But he was most glad that the girl hadn't ridiculed him or shooed him away for being so awkward throughout this social encounter. If anything she made him feel more comfortable, so for that he should've been thanking her instead.