Spoopy

[Cairo Savage]

Halloween was still easily Cairo's favourite holiday, though some would say differently because he and Rome were yet to dress up for the Halloween feast since they won an award for for their vampire costumes in their first year. The reason he was yet to dress up again was not because of the holiday itself, but because dressing up and not winning another award would be disappointing for everyone. Cairo felt as if he had a pair of extremely oversized shoes to fill in that regard and refused to dress up unless the costume he had planned exceeded, if not completely overshadowed the costume he wore in his first year. Regardless, Cairo was eager to celebrate his favourite holiday and strolled into the great hall for the Halloween feast in his regular clothes with a small yet noticeable smile appearing on his pale face as he took in the decorations. The hall both literally and figuratively screamed Halloween. Cairo continued to smile to himself as he approached the drinks table, picking up a glass of punch that he slowly sipped from as he made himself comfortable leaning against one of the far walls, observing the interesting and sometimes stupid costumes of his peers and making the most of the harmlessly spooky festivities. ​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Before coming to Hogwarts, Halloween hadn't really been much of a celebration in the Owens' household. Truthfully, Charlotte didn't really understand why the day was even celebrated but was still eager to join in with the fun at Hogwarts nonetheless. Not being a very creative person meant that Charlotte found it quite hard to come up with costumes but was quite determined to find something better than the usual scary costumes that everyone wore. She wanted to be different this year but not too extravagant. She asked her muggle cousin for a shirt which had a muggle band on it called ACDC and proceeded to put as much fake blood on it as she could. She also covered her face with the blood and even managed to get some in her hair, despite how reluctantly she wanted to. It was going to be hard to get out but Halloween was worth it. She wasn't quite sure what look she was going for and only hoped that no one had the same idea as her as she walked into the great hall which was buzzing with people dressed in all sorts of costumes. She even spotted a first year or second year dressed in a gingerbread man costume which she thought was quite bizarre.

Considering the amount of people moving around the great hall, Charlotte was finding it very hard to find people that she knew and eventually gave up looking for Maddie or Hemi. Instead, she walked over to the food table and took a handful of bertie bott's every flavour beans. She was sure that the sugar was going to hype her up and that was partly the point. Everyone at the party seemed so full of energy and, despite how energetic Charlotte was without the sugar, she was definitely going to need some to keep up with them if she wanted to join the party. As the Slytherin turned around, a boy leaning against the wall caught her eye. When she walked closer to him she realised that it was Cairo and beamed before making her way over to him. "Hey Cairo!" she exclaimed, raising her voice so he could hear her over the loud music. As she popped a watermelon flavoured bean in her mouth, she noticed that he wasn't dressed up and frowned at him. "Why aren't you dressed up? You should join the party! I only just got here but I'm sure it'll be fun! We can enjoy it together if you like." She smiled at him, not really sure if he would ever want to accept her offer. It was always worth a try anyway.

 

[Cairo Savage]

Cairo mindlessly stirred the red and white striped straw in his glass of punch as he people watched from the far side of the room. Many of the costumes that year were reasonable at best, with some scarier than others, and the others more lackadaisical than ever. It made Cairo wonder how on earth some students could think of their costume ideas. If it was their small minds that made their costumes so outlandish, if it was simply creativity or even just laziness. He wasn't sure which but decided either of those possibilities seemed as likely as the other in a school with such a diverse yet stupid population.

He sipped from his punch as he eyed up each costume in the room, eventually noticing who could only be Charlotte approaching him. Instead of her usual attire her face was covered in blood. She was even wearing the shirt of a muggle band he recognized that was just as bloodied up. He held his hand over his mouth as he swallowed the punch because the laughter rising in his throat threatened to make him spit it all out. When his punch was safely swallowed Cairo opened his mouth to greet his fellow Slytherin. "Evening, Charlotte." He said formally, eyeing her up and down again and trying not to smile too wide as he attempted to figure out exactly what she was supposed to be. When his mind came up with nothing his eyes met hers again. "I only dress up when I have a good idea." His answer sounded snide and he wasn't sure if it was meant to be. "Speaking of costumes. What are you meant to be, exactly?" He asked in return as he averted his gaze to the straw in his drink again as he once again began to stir it. Making proper conversation with someone who wasn't Rome was not his forte by any means and he tried not to let that fact show on his features or in his body language but he had a gut feeling that he was failing. Since his encounter with Charlotte in the Slytherin common room on an exceptionally early morning the previous school year, she had not gotten on his nerves as much as usual and he didn't exactly know how he was supposed to act towards her. All that aside, he shrugged and said "We can enjoy halloween together, if you want." as he looked away from his drink and back towards her.​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte was quite glad that Cairo was willing to talk to her but was still a bit taken aback at his reaction to her costume. The third year had actually put some thought into her costume this year and to see that Cairo most likely thought that it was a bit weird was slightly insulting. Maybe it was the fact that she was wearing a muggle t-shirt? Whatever it was, she hoped that not everyone felt the same way about it and suddenly became quite insecure of what she was wearing. Maybe she should really talk out her costume with someone before going ahead and doing it? Or maybe she should do what Cairo did and not wear a costume at all if she didn't have a good idea? But joining in the fun with everyone else was definitely something that she liked doing and so she knew that she'd just have to try harder next year, which she was sure she could do with a little bit of help.

"Oh, I don't know what I'm supposed to be." Charlotte replied, disappointed that was the only question he could ask. It was the question that Charlotte was not looking forward to because she really did not know what she was thinking when she thought it was a good idea. "I guess I look kind of like a possessed teenager in a way, but really it's a mystery." She smirked at him, trying not to look too embarrassed about her poor costume choice. Thankfully, she was quite relieved when Cairo agreed that they should enjoy the party together and resisted the urge to jump up and down. "Of course I want to! What do you want to do first? Do you want a sugary bean? They're quite nice if you don't end up getting the earwax flavour." she told him, holding her hand out to him.

 

[Cairo Savage]

Cairo nodded as Charlotte explained her costume. There was a lot he suddenly wanted to say, though held most of it behind his teeth, opting instead to humor the other Slytherin instead of verbally tearing her to pieces. No, that was more Rome's style and in the middle of an event where Cairo was clearly without his sister to back him up he wasn't about to ruin the fun time he was having with insulting someone. Especially not when he could tolerate that someone in question in the most vague sense of the word. By no means was he about to call Charlotte his friend but he did consider her more or less of an acquaintance.

"It would have been funny if you ran in here screaming, pretending like you'd been attacked by a werewolf." He said. "I wouldn't have believed you, but you could have scared someone. The blood on your face looks realistic enough." His words ended with a shrug, quickly followed another sip from the glass of punch in his hand. The punch was making a welcome distraction from how awkward Cairo felt being 'nice' to someone that wasn't Lanithro or his Rome. As she offered him sugary beans he merely shook his head, not willing to take a chance between earwax or caramel and instead tilting his precious glass of punch towards her with the words "I'm good. Don't want any beans." in as much of a simple way they could be said. "I don't know what I want to do. What would you like to do?" He asked, once again keeping his words hidden safely behind his teeth. All Cairo wanted was to stand against the wall, people watching, judging their costumes and sipping from his punch as he did so. But in the happenstance of Charlotte approaching him that suddenly wasn't as much of an attainable concept. He realized that if he wanted to spend time with Charlotte, he would need to follow with however she wanted to spend the night because he was sure she wouldn't so willingly judge the other people in the room as he always did. She was too bubbly and typically kind for such negative pastimes.
​

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte smiled at Cairo's comment about the blood looking realistic. She didn't try very hard with it and took his words as a compliment. But as for running into the great hall screaming her head off, Charlotte knew she wouldn't be able to do that successfully. For one, the third year wasn't a really good actor and her laughing would probably make it even more obvious that it wasn't real. Besides, Charlotte had never seen a werewolf before and she didn't think they lived anywhere near Hogwarts. If they did, she would be begging her parents for a transfer.

When Cairo declined Charlotte's offer with the beans, she merely frowned at him before putting a vomit flavoured one into her mouth. She froze once she realised what she did and instinctively spit it onto the floor, narrowly missing Cairo's shoe. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the chewed-up bean and the mess of her saliva. She retrieved her wand and pointed it straight at it. Hoping no one else saw it, she casted the scouring charm to get rid of the evidence. "Scourgify." she said, watching as the place on the floor where she had spit the bean cleaned itself up. She looked back up at Cairo, willing to change the subject. "Well, the reason I had come to this party was to dress up but now that I'm here I don't really know what to do." Charlotte looked around at everyone else at the party to see what they were doing before suddenly getting an idea. "We could always see if we can catch one of the black cats. Look, there's one now!" Charlotte quickly pointed towards an object that had clearly been transfigured into a black cat. It ran away into a crowd and Charlotte began jumping up and down on the spot, eager to catch the cat if Cairo was willing to join her.