Harry Potter: 19 Years Later

Chapter 50: The Halloween Dance

After four tiring afternoons of decorating, the Great Hall was finally Halloween-ified enough to be considered a Hogwarts-worthy party. And quite frankly, Rose was looking forward to the whole ordeal being over rather than the actual dance.

Due to their still unpredictable powers, Rose and Scorpius had to mostly help decorate using the Muggle way instead of magic, fearing a simple task such as magically hanging streamers would potentially blow up the Great Hall or something. So this made their job much more grueling. 

When Friday rolled around, Rose couldn't have been more relieved. The school day was being cut short, allowing students to go to Hogsmeade to shop for costumes for the dance. Rose hadn't even had time to think about costumes at all this week. She nearly decided on skipping the dance that night, but of course her friends wouldn't allow that. 

"You're not skipping the dance tonight!" Holly exclaimed once they arrived in Hogsmeade. Rose regretted sharing her thought. 

"I have to study tonight," Rose said, which was the first lame excuse off the top of her head.

"That's a terrible excuse," Holly said candidly, putting her hands on her hips. "Rose, please-"

"Have you ever used a stapler before, Holly? I have been using that bloody thing for four days attaching hundreds of tacky decorations to the walls. My hand is still cramping!" Rose declared, drastically changing the subject, then shoving her sore hand in Holly's face. Scorpius and Albus were shaking their heads and chuckling.

Holly's eyes suddenly lit up, the way they did when she had an idea, and she reached inside of her backpack and dug her hand inside of it, searching for something. Oddly enough, she pulled out a stapler.

I'm not even surprised, Rose thought.

"Holly, why do you have a stapler?" Scorpius asked her, glaring at the Muggle object like it was a piece of merchandise from a professional Quidditch team he despised. 

Sometimes, it was best not to question Holly on why she had and did certain things. But she always had a story to tell as an excuse. 

"I think the question is, why wouldn't I have a stapler?" Holly countered, pronouncing it stap-e-ler. Her eyebrow quirking up in satisfaction as she watch her friends sport puzzled expressions. Neither of them had a clever answer to that. Then she shrugged and skipped away to the costume shop, humming with glee.

Rose leaned in close to Albus and muttered, "You're a lucky guy, Al."

Albus didn't reply, but Rose noticed he was staring at Holly with adoration as she skipped away. Love was strange.

As the three remaining friends followed Holly into the costume shop, Scorpius leaned close to Rose and asked, with his voice laced with amusement, "So, what kind of costume are you gonna wear to the dance?"

Rose tilted her head to the side and replied, "Who said I'm going to the dance?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "You're seriously not going to skip the dance, are you?"

"That's what I'm planning on."

Scorpius rolled his eyes even more, if that was even possible. Rose attempted to dismiss the conversation by pulling the door open to the shop and entering, but Scorpius pushed the door closed again, leaning in the doorway. Sighing in defeat, Rose crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her boyfriend, knowing her evil stare would make him budge.

"That's not going to work," Scorpius told her, smirking. Damn it.

Rose sighed in frustration. "Come on, I promised Holly I would help her pick out a costume." That was just an excuse to get Scorpius to move.