The Letters to No One - Romione

Chapter 29

'Halloween in a haunted castle is incredible,' Hermione said, unable to take her eyes of the ceiling of the great hall that had been decorated for the holiday.

'Hogwarts isn't haunted,' Ron protested, squeezing her hand as the two walked down to the great hall together, for a late night feast. Hundreds of candles had been bewitched to line the stairwell and light up the corridors. 

'My old school didn't have ghosts floating around the corridors.' 

'Good point,' Ron replied. 'But if you like this, you should wait until Christmas. The castle looks incredible at Christmas.' He wrapped his arm around her shoulder as the pair pushed through the large, wooden doors and into the great hall, which was already overflowing with students. 

'How come you never told me that?' Hermione heard Ginny say to Harry as the pair sat down on the opposite side of the table. The two had already finished their first plateful and Harry began tucking into his second plateful as the dishes in the middle of the table began to automatically refill themselves.

'Never told her what?' Ron asked picking up a chicken leg.

'That one of your teachers put a troll in the dungeon on your first Halloween here,' she replied, not giving Harry a chance to repeat what he'd just told her. 

'Oh yeah,' Ron laughed at the memory. 'I remember that, he was trying to distract everyone but it managed to escape from the dungeons and found a first year in the girls' bathrooms.'

'Was she alright?' Hermione asked, unable to think of anything worse than being trapped in the bathrooms with a troll, she shuddered at the thought.

'She was fine,' Harry reassured her. 'But if Snape or McGonagall had gotten there a few minutes later then she might not be here right now,' Harry added morbidly.

'Who was it?' Ginny asked.

'Errm...' Ron began, trying to rack his brains and remember. 'Some Hufflepuff girl I think.'

'It was Hannah Abbot,' Harry replied. 'She was pretty shaken up for the rest of the year and I don't think she leaves her common room on Halloween anymore.' He added, searching round the room for her without much look, although he hadn't expected to see her.

'Well let's hope no one puts another troll in the dungeons this year,' Hermione laughed weakly, knowing that there was at least some possibility of this happening.

'They don't need a troll in the dungeons,' Ron laughed. 'They've already got Malfoy,' he added and the whole table burst into fits of laughter, even those sat around them who were pretending not to eavesdrop couldn't help themselves.

'What was that Weasley?' A voice snarled from behind Ron and Ron rolled his eyes at his fellow Gryffindors before turning round and facing Malfoy. 

'I said that Slytherin don't need a troll this year as they've already got you,' he repeated, deciding not to let his slight fear of Malfoy get the better of him. He knew that Malfoy had power, way more power than he did, especially with certain teachers, but that didn't give Malfoy the right to treat everyone like shit and Ron wanted to make sure that he knew that.

'I'd be careful with what you say to me Weasley,' Draco said it as a threat but Ron ignored the tone of voice, pretending that he hadn't noticed.

'And why is that?' He asked. 

'Because I know your little girlfriend here,' he gestured towards Hermione, 'who looks more like a troll than I do,'  he added with a malicious smirk, 'I know that she snuck out to Hogsmeade after McGonagall told her that she couldn't go and you wouldn't want her to find out about that now would you?' He threatened and Ron's jaw tensed up.

Malfoy waited for someone to retaliated but when, after a second, no one hand he strutted away, his head held high. They all sat in silence for a few minutes not knowing what to say that could make the situation better.

'I can't believe he said that,' Ron muttered angrily under his breath.

'He's not worth it Ron,' Hermione said and gently stroked his arm, trying to calm him down before he did anything he would regret that would get them all into trouble.

'I know but I can't just sit here and let him sa...'

'Remember what happened last time,' Hermione interrupted, not wanting him to wind himself up with his thoughts. 'He's not worth it.' She repeated. 

'Have you got your Hogsmeade letter signed yet?' Ginny asked as she shuffled in her seat, purposefully moving just a few inches closer to Harry, Ron was too angry to notice. 

'Yeah, my parents sent it back a week ago,' she replied as the table completely cleared itself only to reappear a couple of seconds later with hundreds of Halloween themed desserts. 'How do they do that?' Hermione asked picking up a chocolate cupcake,

'Do what?' Ginny asked, the boys' mouths both too full of desserts to reply. 

'Make all of the food appear?' She asked. 'Is it some kind of spell?'

'No, I think it's house elves,' Ginny replied. 'They work in the kitchens preparing all of the meals.'

'But isn't that a bit like slavery?' She asked.

'Nah,' Ron replied, not feeling the same empathy towards the little creatures and instead focusing on all of the delicious food in front of him. 'They love it here.'

'How do you know that?' She asked, but nobody was properly listening to her now.

They were one of the last groups of people to leave the great hall that night, but unfortunately for them a certain blonde haired Slytherin had also waited until the last possible moment to leave the hall.

'Troll,' he muttered as he walked past them, causing Crabbe and Goyle to burst into fits of laughter at something that wasn't particularly funny. 

Three of the Gryffindors ignored Malfoy and carried on walking up the stairs, but Ron wasn't having any of it.

'What the hell is your problem Malfoy?' Ron asked, his face going bright red as he walked straight towards Malfoy, his hands balled up in fists at his side.

'I don't like your little troll, mudblood girlfriend walking around here like she owns the place,' Malfoy replied and Hermione looked at him in confusion. 

'What did you just say?' Ron snarled.

'I think you might need to get your ears tested Weasley, I said...' he began, but Ron didn't give him enough time to repeat what he'd said and swung his fist at the side of Malfoy's face. The two of them had never been the best of friends but they'd never properly fought before the start of this year. Ron wondered how many more times this would happen before the end of the year.

Draco punched back, but quickly realising that he couldn't win in a fist fight, drew out his wand and pointed it at Ron. A large crowd had gathered around the two of them and Harry, Ginny and Hermione watched from the stairs. 

'Stupefy,' Draco shouted aiming his wand at Ron, but Ron managed to jump out of the way just in time. 

'Expelliarmus,' Ron shouted back, wishing that he'd payed more attention in Defence Against the Dark Arts so that he knew more spells. Draco blocked it, pointing his wand directly at Ron with a wicked smile on his face. 

'Sectumsem...' Draco began before his wand flew out of the air and into McGonagall's outstretched hand. Ron's quickly followed suit and the two spun around to wear McGonagall stood, with Snape stood directly beside her, at the entrance of the main hall.