Adventures of Beatrice the Basilisk

Chapter 13: Halloween

A/N: Don't read this chapter 😪. You will get nightmares. If you do choose to continue reading... we'll keep you in our prayers (if we remember, we're praying away a lot of sins right now- we aren't even religious.)

CW! Armand Douglas "Armie" Hammer. Born August 28th. Virgo. Cannibal? Dippet wearing rings 😍

Actual TW: Blood. Graphic imagery. They see smth cursed & have slight feelings of trauma.

Halloween. In Beatrice's opinion, the best holiday of the year! Who didn't love dressing up in scary costumes and running around with sweets? Admittedly, Beatrice had never taken part in trick or treating, but that wasn't the point.

She could barely contain her excitement on the morning of October 31st, and for once, was up even before Onika. She got ready quickly, after waking Onika (and the cacklers) up, deciding last-minute to thread orange and black ribbon through her hair to match the spooky occasion.

At breakfast, there was an unusual assortment of small treats and sweet things for people to enjoy before their classes. Tom was ecstatic to find that there was an oddly high number of baguettes for some strange reason.

Classes that day were a blur. Headmaster Dippet, who also seemed to be very fond of Halloween, had arranged for the school day to end early, in preparation of the evening's festivities. Beatrice could barely concentrate in any of her classes, even in Professor Duke's class, which she usually was the most enthusiastic about. It seemed that no one else could concentrate either. They were either talking about the night's feast, which was rumoured to have actual, live bats and dancing skeletons, or talking about the party afterwards.

Earlier that week, Beatrice, Onika and Tom had been approached by Orion, who handed them small orange and black stained pieces of parchment. Invitations for a 'Halloween bash', which was to be held in the Slytherin Common Room after the Halloween feast. Beatrice was tentative about it at first, but Orion explained,

"Everyone, and I mean everyone, in the school is going to be there. It'll be weird if you aren't, especially since it's our house throwing it. We Slytherins have a knack for vaguely threatening decor."

Plus, Onika was thrilled to be invited to a party, and Tom and Beatrice could not think of a good enough reason to convince her not to go, therefore they had to go too.

Many people were also talking about the costumes that were required to be worn to the party. Beatrice had stressed over her costume quite a bit, however had come up with a decision after receiving another hate letter from the twins. She had burned it straight after reading it. She was more mature, since getting the first one, she decided.

Beatrice was going to go as a reptile. What reptile exactly? All of them. She was just a little unhinged like that, even she could admit it. Onika was going as a pink robot. And Tom was going as a zombie - Beatrice thought this was a little unoriginal.

Before the costume changes, however, was the Halloween Feast. It took place in the great hall which, according to some older students, would be almost completely transformed for the occasion.

At 2:30 in the afternoon, Beatrice was released from her last class of the day. She quickly scurried to the common room with Onika and Tom to get prepared for the party later. Once there, they gathered the materials they had collected earlier in the week, to start making their costumes. They cleared some space in their usual corner, and began to assemble their fits.

Onika, using some basic magic, was able to assemble her robot costume effectively, adding a whole tub of glitter. Tom ripped up some clothes and added red paint. Beatrice thought this was very basic. She changed the colour of her leggings and a shirt to a scaly green shade, and magically attached a tail. She thought it looked stunning.