J.K. Rowling owns these brilliant characters! I hope to do them justice with this Halloween story. Happy Halloween everyone, and enjoy!

Author's Note (3/16/10):

Probably one of my first attempts at humor!

OOTP is one of the times that Ron and Hermione actually get along and stick together, due to Harry angsting the entire book. And for good reason. I find that the movie accurately represents this... yet they remain as loyal to him as ever!

And Halloween has always been an interesting concept for me; Hermione's culture compared to Ron's is always fun. ;D

Please enjoy, and Merlin bless that poor pumpkin!

Loligo7687

Author's Note (5/14/11):

Went through and edited grammatical and spelling errors. Edited in Word.

Minor changes in the original story. Probably would have changed sections of the story if I went to write it now. Decent for one of my first attempts at writing.

(: ~Lucy

Author's Note (8/30/12):

Story Cover added and was made in Photoshop.

~Lucy

Halloween reappeared around Hogwarts once more, filling the air with its eerie mischievousness. Everyone seemed to be in fair spirits, including the ghosts themselves. A fancy meal had been prepared that consisted of many rounds of pies and sweets, as well as the pumpkin-flavored ones. No Halloween was complete without pumpkins. Or pranks. That's why Ron and Hermione remained in the Common Room on this particular night.

Harry had tried to coerce them into leaving, but the two had remained adamant in their decision. He had gone without them to the Owlery, hoping to receive a letter (on this particular tragic night as it was) from Sirius.

"Bloody hell, Hermione! Don't scare me like that!" Ron shouted. He was startled from his daydreaming when Hermione placed a spherical object next to him.

"Sorry," she said, meekly. Hermione hadn't announced her plans to Ron before her entrance.

Ron nodded. "Is that a pumpkin? Where on earth did you get that?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Hagrid's garden. He said I could take it earlier this morning. But soon this is going to be a Jack-O'-Lantern!" she replied, clapping her hands together.

"Which is?"

"A carved pumpkin?"

"Never have I heard that."

"What? We're definitely carving this tonight! Wizarding families don't do this?"

"Right you are, Hermione!"

"Do you go trick-or-treating? Or dress up in costumes?"

"Those are Muggle traditions. We hardly recognized Halloween as a holiday. But what do you do… treat-or-tricking? Costumes?"

Hermione laughed, causing Ron to frown. "Trick-or-treating is when children dress up in costumes and go around houses to collect candy. You have to say 'trick-or-treat' though!"

It was Ron's turn to laugh. "Oh, so very fun apparently!" he insinuated. "What did you dress up as?"

"Truthfully, usually a witch," she said, with a small smile.

"Not a bat?"

"Why?"

"You're pretty batty sometimes, Hermione," joked Ron. He thought it was a joke until Hermione revealed a long, sharp knife from underneath her robes. Her grip tightened around the handle, turning her knuckles white.

"Oi, Hermione! It was just a joke!" he shouted, stumbling over his chair. Ron backed toward the fireplace. However, Hermione merely stabbed the top of the pumpkin, letting go of the handle.

"Don't be stupid, Ron," she replied, rolling her brown eyes.

"Where did you get that knife?" he asked, slowly returning to the pumpkin.

"The kitchen. The house-elves let me borrow it. Now, let's get carving!" Hermione said, with an emerging grin.

Here she applied pressure on the top of the pumpkin, causing the knife to dig into the flesh. The knife easily cut through the top of the oversized squash, letting the two peer into its depths. Ron had merely watched her do this step in amazement.

"Now, we scoop the guts!" she said, with a grimace. Her least favorite part was touching the poor entrails of the victimized pumpkin.

Ron obliged without a word, following Hermione's stride. They both held a pile of goop in their hands. Ron tried to reach the old newspaper by tossing this goop, but accidentally missed, hitting Hermione's robes.

"Ron!" she complained, taking off the robe and putting on a fresh sweatshirt over her school clothes. Ron couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, this is funny Ron? See how you like this!" she exclaimed, smashing pumpkin guts into his hair.

"Gross!" he groaned, feeling the squishiness in his hair. In retaliation, he scooped up some more and threw it at her, hitting her face.

"This is war!" she declared, throwing the pumpkin guts at Ron and ducking. He did the same.

"Suicide mission!" he shouted suddenly, grabbing a handful and headed toward her.

"No! Get away!" she squealed, only to find that she was too slow to get away by any means. Clumps of pumpkin found their way into her hair as Ron smooshed it in there.

Hermione and Ron stood up and stopped throwing the goop, finding it on them and the ground. They burst into laughter together.

"This was fun, Ron!" Hermione said, picking a clump off his shoulder.

"Same, Hermione. I sure learned how to carve a pumpkin!"

Laughter ensued as the happier Harry Potter came back through the portrait hole and into the Common Room. He saw his two best friends covered in orange – whatever it was - and he had to hide a smile. Leaving Ron and Hermione in a room together alone resulted in something different each time. Whether it be broken objects or a shouting match, this was quite extraordinary for Harry. Did they actually get along this time?

"Should I ask?" he said, stepping between goops of pumpkin.

"Sure mate!" replied Ron, trying to brush off the pumpkin bits in Hermione's hair.

"Ron and I were carving a pumpkin, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, as the trio burst into laughter together.

"That poor pumpkin!"