[1] BoAtHouSe » DrAcO mALfoY

eight » halloween night

The Halloween Feast looked like heaven to all the students. The tables were decorated with pumpkin juice, pumpkin pie, pumpkin everything. Sweets of every sort were being indulged in. Melanie wanted to take a picture of the perfection that was this feast before diving in herself.

"So, when are you going to tell me about what happened?" A voice interrupted Melanie's admiring. It was Amelia.

"When the feast is over," Melanie replied, eyeing the pumpkin pie and trying to stop thinking about the letter. "Now let me eat!"

"Amen!" Daphne voiced from where she was seated across from the two friends.

"Hey, where's Zabini?" Melanie heard Crabbe ask.

"Probably planning his pranks," Daphne answered with her mouth full. Their conversation went on as Melanie found herself lost in her thoughts.

She was re-reading the letter in her mind, carefully analysing it. Maybe there was a way around it? Maybe she could stay at Hogwarts for Christmas Break? Maybe she could go home and pretend to be sick? Melanie didn't know what to do, but she had to come up with a plan soon.

Her thoughts were concluded when she decided not to think so much about it (she didn't want to ruin her favourite holiday) and continued eating, taking a look around the Great Hall.

At the table farthest to where she was sitting were the Hufflepuffs with kind smiles on their faces as they spoke to one another. Their house ghost, the Fat Friar was gliding around the Hufflepuff table speaking to first years about Halloween.

The only people that caught Melanie's attention at the Ravenclaw table were the two girls that were whispering about her a few weeks prior. This time, they were giggling about Luna Lovegood. Luna, however, was looking around in a dazed state, oblivious to the girls making fun of her.

Melanie's eyes trailed off to the Gryffindor table. Harry Potter wasn't there, nor was Hermione Granger. Ron Weasley was speaking to his brothers happily, they were all laughing about something. Ron caught Melanie's eye and smiled kindly, the Slytherin girl returned the smile. The smile reached her eyes, making the ginger boy smile even wider.

"Who are you smiling at?" Amelia asked from next to her, following her gaze.

"Oh, no one," Melanie looked back down at her food, leaving both Ron and Amelia confused.

"You're smiling at Ron Weasley, and he's smiling back," Amelia mused. "What's up with you two? Are you actually dating?"

"No, we're not." Melanie firmly said. "We're only friends."

"Are you sure? Because there's this rumour going around that you two are going out," Amelia informed her friend, and Melanie cringed.

"We're just friends," she said once more. "Nothing more."

"Fine, fine. But I'm sure Weasley fancies you, he's been staring at you whenever you're not looking." This information came as a surprise to Melanie.

"I don't care. I don't like him that way," she told her friend. "Can we just stop talking about it? We're just friends."

"Okay, okay." Amelia let the subject go. "Anyway, what's with Umbridge? She's acting like she's Headmistress all of a sudden. I mean, have you seen the way she speaks to McGonagall?"

This started an argument between the friend group. Melanie, Amelia, Daphne and Theodore thought it was unfair, while Pansy, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle thought the school needed it.

"It's all complete rubbish," Melanie declared. Amelia and Daphne nodded in agreement.

"And all the stupid rules she's been putting out? They're all mental!" Theodore said just as the food on the tables disappeared.

"I wish you all a very good Halloween!" Dumbledore said as most students got up, he winked at the Slytherin table. Dumbledore knew what the house was planning and he was okay with it, he loved when students had a little bit of fun.

The Slytherin students all got up at once and exited the Great Hall, talking among themselves about how exciting and fun the night was going to be.

They all walked down the stairs into the Dungeons and entered the Common Room. The Slytherin Common Room was draped in green, silver and orange ribbons, it had pumpkins and sweets in every corner. The whole Slytherin Dungeon smelled of pumpkin pie and burning parchment. The fireplace was enchanted to show Muggle horror films for the first, second and third years, the far corner had an enchanted fireplace to make s'mores on for the fifth and sixth years. The fourth, some fifth and seventh years were scaring the Gryffindors so the table was covered in Weasleys' joke products and assortments of muggle pranks. All the students of Slytherin house were exploding with excitement.

But Amelia Nott had something else on her mind, she took Melanie by the arm and wandered off into the girls' dormitory.

"You," said Amelia as she sat next to Melanie on her bed, "have some explaining to do."

"About what?" Melanie decided to play dumb.

"About what happened yesterday! Why did Snape call you into his office and why did you come back crying after your talk with Malfoy?"

"I wasn't crying," Melanie defended herself.

"Answer the question!" Amelia was curious and she was getting worried about her best friend.

"Okay, okay. But first," Melanie took out the letter from between her mattress and the bed. "You have to promise to not look at me any different after you read this."

Amelia promised solemnly. "Now give me that!" She took the letter and started reading.

"Occlumency? Why are you learning that?" Amelia was confused but Melanie just gestured for her to continue reading the letter. Amelia's eyebrows raised at some point, Melanie guessed it was the part about Christmas at Malfoy Manor.

"This is good news, Mel!" Melanie raised one eyebrow, her hands shaking as Amelia continued. "Not all of it, though. Just the part about Christmas. You never come to the dinner parties, this year will be so much fun!"

"I don't think so, Amelia." Melanie's whole body was starting to tremble. "The Dark Lord wants me to join him, I'm not sure if I want to."

Melanie's whole body was shaking and hot tears had started to run down her face. Amelia noticed and hugged her friend tightly.

"It's okay, Mel. You can find your way around this, you always do. Don't cry, it'll be okay in the end." These words seemed to calm Melanie down a bit. "This is why you're being taught Occlumency, so the Dark Lord can't read your thoughts. Your father is giving you a choice."

Melanie's mind started racing and she understood her father's intentions. He wanted her to look like a Death Eater in Voldemort's eyes, but have her own loyalties. Even if that wasn't his complete intentions, Melanie understood and started forming a plan.

"Anyway, now is not the time to think about that. Let's go and enjoy our night!" With that, the two friends walked into the Common Room.

The night passed in a blur for Melanie, but the rest of Slytherin house seemed to be enjoying themselves too much to notice.

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i stg these first few chapters are so cringe i can't handle it. i'm writing chapter thirty-one right now, and these chapters were written around september. aaandd i can tell y'all that sooo so much is going to happen in the chapters to come & i'm really excited for y'all to read them. &&& btw i changed the description of this story so please check it out and tell me what you think!

so, i hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote, comment your opinion (criticism is appreciated) and share so more people can read!! ilysm ♡