When Pumpkins Glow

[Merrill Piper]

Merrill always looked forward to Halloween. Spooky things, costumes, and candy; what wasn't to love? The feasts had been amazing the last couple years after ditching the dance, and going with a more carnival vibe. This year Merrill had decided with a bit of a scarier costume than she normally would. It had taken her an entire afternoon to get the fake blood just right. Making her way down to the great hall Merrill found herself smiling at all the costumes she saw in the hallways. Growing up she had always wanted to try trick or treating, but never had the chance so now she was soaking up all the Halloween she could.

As she entered the great hall Merrill took a moment to soak it all in. She noted the bobbing for apples stand, and would have to make sure to challenge Anthony to a rematch later. After he was done hanging out with Clementine anyways. Now that she was single she realized how obnoxious all the couples could get. Realizing she was in the way Merrill made her way into the great hall, and stood by one of the many tables that lined the walls. There were so many different treats, and she wanted to try a lot of them. She quickly snagged a couple candies, and shoved them into her pockets for later in the night before grabbing a pumpkin juice. Hopefully her friends would get here soon, and the fun could really start.
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[November Albertson]

November was stepping out of her comfort zone with her outfit, sure it was one she wore all the time but not in front of this many people. She decided to do something simple this year and went to the Halloween Feast as a yoga instructor. All it required was her flowy yoga pants and a sports bra which she thought was rather simple but it also meant she was showing a lot more of her tummy than she ever had before. Usually if she went somewhere in the school to practice yoga it would be early in the morning and she'd have to wear a sweater over her outfit to stay warm. November was sure to have slightly pink cheeks the whole evening and she could only hope she wouldn't have to face her friend and crush that evening. November thought if she was brave she'd do some silly acrobatics through the Great Hall towards the pumpkin juice. Instead she walked barefoot over towards her favorite wizard drink.

Once she got there November was surprised to see a bloody nurse. The girl looked pretty scary and while November probably would have been the type to walk in the other direction she knew it was fake and decided to ask the girl about her costume. Poor November didn't even recognize who it was either, though it was Merrill a girl in her year. "Your costume is uh really scary, how'd you do it?" She asked standing in front of the nurse. If tonight was for anything it was to be someone she wasn't and the thought gave her enough courage to talk to someone she didn't even know for once.
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[Noemie Snow]

Noemie adjusted her auburn hair as she walked into the great hall for the halloween feast. She glanced about the hall and smiled at the way the place looked, it was incredible! The place was always so well decorated, she loved it. She loved this celebration, this time, she'd put in little effort with it, just picking out items she had an mixing it up a little with some other sports gear. She liked the outfit, it was easy, it was nice. It was comfortable and she liked it. The girl looked about the hall trying to find any of her friends, and it was then she spotted November who stood with a girl whom she knew a little because of quidditch and a little because the girl had just joined the monthly. She didn't what her name was but she knew of her well enough. The teen decided that she would spend the time with them, since she spotted no one else that she knew in the hall.

"November?" Noemie said brightly, "I love your costume, we've essentially come as the same thing, you look great!" she complimented before turning to the other girl, "You are an amazing keeper," The part veela smiled at her, "I'm Noemie, I don't think we've ever properly met and since you're now on the monthly too, it's definitely time we met," she held out her hand to the girl, before noting the scarier and more gory costume the girl had adorned, "I like the costume, who did the make up for the cut on the neck, that's incredible!" The ravenclaw was very impressed by it, she couldn't help but like the way it looked.
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[Merrill Piper]

Merrill was just finishing up her pumpkin juice, and wondering what was taking Anthony, and Solomon so long. All the best candy would be gone by the time they got there. She was about to leave her post to go searching when a girl she had never met before approached her. Although the two had never spoken she did look familiar. Perhaps they had a few classes together? I wonder what shes dressed as. It looks like shes just wearing her gym clothes. Merrill thought. She didn't want to ask though in case she came off as rude especially after the girl complimented her costume. At least she assumed it was a compliment anyways. "Thanks! I bought a normal nurse costume, and just kinda splattered it all over with fake blood. It's really easy to make. Basically just corn syrup, chocolate sauce, and food coloring." Merrill explained to the girl. Of course getting the right amount of each ingredient was the tricky part. You didn't want it too red, or too brown, or too thick, or thin. "I'm Merrill by the way. Don't we have some classes together?" She introduced herself to the girl.

Before she got her answer another girl came to join them. Although Merrill didn't know her name she did know her as the Ravenclaw chaser who had scored on her in the last match. The Gryffindor smiled brightly when the Ravenclaw complimented her quidditch skills. "Thanks, Noemie. I'm Merrill. You're a pretty amazing chaser too! Really had me flying all over the place in front of the hoops." She complimented the girl. "Yeah I really need to get to know the other writers. I actually did it myself. Tissue, and latex. I really really like Halloween." Merrill said with a nervous giggle.
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[November Albertson]

November was really surprised by the ingredients in the blood it sounded like you could add from flavor and make a candy out of it. She nodded along as the girl talked, very rather unlike herself talking to a complete stranger. Though Merrill wasn't really a complete stranger, they had been in classes since first year together, but never talked. November knew the girl dated Lucas but hadn't been sure when he and Evelyn split to when Merrill and him got together. November didn't pay that much attention to the Gryffindors in her year, which now seemed a shame. She could have had Merrill make blood for her to have cooler costume if they'd been friends. "November, and yeah I'm in Hufflepuff, same year," she responded back to the Gryffindor.

Not long after Noemie joined and November was glad. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Amber in a different part of the large room. She hadn't seen Flavio or really any of the other Hufflepuffs yet but she was sure they would all turn up eventually. "Yeah we both came in work out gear, funny. I'm a Yoga, uh, hippie instructor I guess," she said looking down at the elephants on her pants. "I'll show you one of my moves," the young girl said with a smile. She felt more confident around Noemie who was also showing plenty of skin like herself. Everyone would probably end up looking at the Ravenclaw or Merrill at this point so November didn't feel as worried about people looking at her now. She turned her back towards the girls and bent over into a handstand so when she did she could see their faces. Lowering her legs November kept her feet together and turned her knees out. It wasn't the easiest position to hold but November managed for nearly ten seconds before straightening her legs up and then standing back up. She turned back once standing to face the girls she was talking to wondering if any of them also did yoga. She didn't think so, but it would be cool if they did.
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[Noemie Snow]

Noemie smiled at November with ease, "I'm a sport instructor, so I brought more sports stuff to try to show that, but I'm not sure if it works," Noemie admitted a little nervous, she was a pretty self confident person, confident enough in herself to want to wear it. The part-veela looked away from November and to the other girl, Merrill, the name was certainly familiar given they'd had classes together but it was her first time really talking to her, which she was happy to do, especially if they would also be working together on the monthly. There wasn't much need for teamwork on it, but she was always happy to meet someone from that team, "I tend to write the horoscopes," and at the fact that the girl had done the make up herself Noemie couldn't help but let a surprised and impressed expression appear on her face, "Oh wow, that is so cool!" she exclaimed. The girl looked down at her own costume and chuckled lightly, "Compared to you I've barely put in any effort," she really hadn't in comparison. The thing that had taken the longest was putting her auburn her into the hairstyle it was in.

Noemie looked at Novemeber then as she showed them both a move, a very impressive yoga move. Admittedly Noemie didn't do much in terms of yoga but was sure as she could manage it, she had always been flexible and she had spent a lot of time going on runs and keep her athleticism up even before she'd joined quidditch, so Noemie felt like she could probably do it too, however she opted to not, "Oh wow, that's really cool November, I had no idea you liked yoga, I've always wanted to learn but been too busy," she replied, "Plus I always find quidditch keeps me limber enough," Noemie glanced to Merrill to see if she agreed, but mostly she was still very impressed with both November and Merrill both of whom had brought a trick of sorts to this, one in the costume and one in being able to do yoga. The part veela felt like she should've maybe prepared something, but hadn't thought it was necessary, "I don't have anything to show off unfortunately," the girl decided to make a light joke instead while looking between the two and smiling.
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[Solomon Mordaunt]

As a metamorphmagus, Halloween really should have been Solomon's forte out of the many events the wizarding school hosted throughout the year. He could look like anyone, which gave him an easy leg up when it came to taking on a spooky appearance, but his preference to keep his superior biological abilities to himself, coupled with a lack of enthusiasm for the holiday, meant he never really put any extreme amount of effort into his costumes. Last year, he'd worn some red feathers and left it at that, non-commitally arguing he was a phoenix. This year however, he at the very least subtly applied his power to his costume, and turned up to the Great Hall as Derwent Shimpling, with dark purple skin, brown hair and some old fashioned robes from the early 1900s he'd borrowed from the old and unused Conglomerated Arts room, finding something suitable in a dusty fancy dress box. If anyone asked about the skin, he'd brush it off as a spell he knew that no one else bothered to learn, as he usually did. He disliked keeping his abilities a secret. After all, he was an advanced form of wizard, an evolutionary step forward, but the fact was that keeping it to himself made it more useful to him.

Taking a moment to wander through the decorated hall, Solomon idly tapped at the small vial in his hand, a small amount of hair-raising potion he'd brewed to fit the theme of the night. He just needed the right opportunity to add some of it to a punch bowl and the students in attendance would actually have reason for their hair to stand on end. These awful costumes certainly weren't doing the job. Before he could linger by a table long enough, the Slytherin boy's attention was caught by his friend and some others she was with, probably because he and Anthony had taken too long to meet up with her. Looking at her companions more closely, one girl was doing something...odd. A dance move? A pose? Putting his plan on hold, he made his way over to Merrill, eyeing the girl in what looked like elephant pyjamas with a critical expression, before turning his attention to his friend. "Merrill! I'm loving this look of yours. Its very impressive." He greeted with a smile, not sure how she managed to pull off an open wound, but he loved it. It certainly beat those who spattered themselves with a few droplets of red paint and called it a day. The more gory approach was a huge leap from her last costume, which came across far more tame by comparison. Glancing toward the other two girls, he acknowledged them with a silent nod of his head. "I see you made some new friends?"​

 

[Merrill Piper]

Merrill was rather impressed by November's yoga display. It was always something she had thought of trying, but never really had the time. "Wow, November. That's really cool! You gotta show me how to do that sometime!" Merrill exclaimed. "Maybe if I managed to pull that off on a broom it could be a new quidditch move." She said with a laugh. Somehow she didn't think her captain, or the professors would be very happy with her if she tried something like that during a match. "You're costume is awesome. Halloween is about having fun anyways." Merrill told Noemie when she spoke about her costume. Everyone looked great tonight. Speaking of a completely purple person came walking up to them. The Gryffindor girl almost didn't even recognize him until he spoke to her. "Sol! Great costume! What are you?" She asked while throwing an arm over her best friend. "Thanks I'm thinking of incorporating it into my everyday look. Red really is my colour." She quipped. When Solomon brought it up she realized he had no idea who these two girls were. He wasn't very social, her best friend. "Oh! Sorry. This is November, and Noemie. They're both in our year. Guys, this is Solomon." She introduced all of them.
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[November Albertson]

November's face was turning red when she came up and noticed a boy was standing there now. She hadn't thought about the number of people around when she had done the pose. She knew who Solomon was, they were all in the same year yet November hadn't ever spent much time talking to any in the Slytherin house. Of course, the young teenager never spent much time talking to anyone. Noemie was one of her closer friends at the school and that was only because they often studied for finals together. "Oh sure, I could do that," she replied to Merrill glancing at the boy and Noemie. November was starting to feel more confident with who she was and it was Halloween after all, the perfect time to come out of her shell just a little bit more. She was surprised with the greeting Merrill gave the boy, that was a very confident girl. "You could do jumping jacks and other warm ups when you go up for the costume contest, Noemie," she said to her friend as a suggestion of what she could do with her sporting gear.
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