I do not own Harry Potter! I hope you enjoy this, it's a little short.

Halloween Spirit

I got back to the common room as fast as possible, dragging the boys along with me, and not stopping until we reached the portrait hole, where I stood jumping up and down, waiting for the Fat Lady to stop chatting and open up the damn door.

The second Potter told her the password, I pushed passed him and dashed up the stairs to a waiting, and angry looking Lily.

"Where the hell were you! You told me you had to help them real quick. That was hours ago! No one has seen any of you! How did I know you lot weren't dead in the forest somewhere! Or bleeding out in some deserted corridor!" I rolled my eyes and kicked my shoes off, pulling my jumper over my head.

"Sorry, it took a lot longer than I thought it would. But I need a shower.. Shouldn't you be getting ready or something?" I asked, looking at Lily, who has changed into sweatpants after classes that day.

"I was busy trying to track you down!" She called after me as I stepped into the bathroom, leaving the door unlocked incase Lily needed to get in there to brush her teeth or something.

"Well here I am!" I laughed, turning the water on and jumping in the shower, to wash up as quickly as possible. I listened to Lily grumble before deciding that this argument was not worth having.

I allowed hot water to rush over me, turning my pale freckly skin a pink color, and allowing it to wash away all the sweat and grime of the day. Watching the lightly tinted water pour from me hair made my hyper aware of just how dirty and dangerous, and completely and utterly stupid that entire trip was.

We snuck out of the school, down a dark, and for all I knew, unknown passage, into Hogsmeade, were we could have easily been kidnapped, and never ever seen again, because no one would know where we went, because it was a bloody unknown secret passage! And on top of the possibility of being kidnapped or killed, if we had been caught coming back, or leaving, or even in Hogsmeade, then we would have been beyond dead. Kicked out of school, our wands broken in half, or even worse so; a years worth of detention with Snape. Or Filch. God.

I shook my head wet hair falling down into my face. No. I was over reacting.. the more I thought about it, the more I realized the real dangers we could have faced.. The more I know that given the chance, I would not have changed my decision to go with the boys on our little endeavor.

I washed my hair and conditioned it well before hopping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around me. I moved to my discarded pants on the ground and took my want from my back pocket and began to use it to dry and style my hair.

I didn't do much with it, just using a charm Lily showed me in our third year that helped to soften everything up, making my curls a little more tamed. I used a small golden pin to pull some of the hair away from my face so I wouldn't be playing with it all evening, before taking my make up bag from beneath the sink and settling in.

Mid makeup, Lily came bustling in, half pushing me out of her way to get to her toothbrush.

"Honestly, you take forever, I can already hear music!" She scolded, shoving her tooth brush into her mouth and beginning to brush furiously. I watched Lily with an amused look before shaking my head and applying a light shade of lip gloss.

"You look pretty." I commented, watching her visibly become frustrated with me. Lily didn't take compliments well, and as her best friend, it was my duty to shower her with them to be both kind, and annoying. At the moment it was to be kind.

And she really did look lovely. Her hair pulled up into a high ponytail, some light blush making her cheeks rosy, and some mascara to make her naturally long lashes even longer. She was wearing a simple emerald button up dress with little white polka dots on it. I put my make up away and left Lily to continue to moodily brush her teeth.

I entered our room and quickly began to dress myself. I could hear the music downstairs, but the idea of the party starting without me wasn't that concerning anymore. It'd be going on until the middle of the night and I'd have plenty of time to enjoy myself.

I pulled on a dark blue dress, with a high collar before going to Lily's bed and borrowing a pair of black flats from under her bed.

"Lily, look who's ready, and you're still brushing your teeth. Come on." I teased in a sing song voice, crossing my arms and waiting for Lily to come back in.

She, of course, did giving me a dirty look as she put on a pair of white flats, grabbing my hand and pulling me from the room.

"Come on, before you find another reason to lock yourself in the bathroom for forty five minutes while I'm forced to do, and re do my hair over and over again to keep from dying of boredom."

"You could have come down here without me, sat with Potter or-"

"Shut up, before I lock you in a broom closet with Richard and make you talk about your feelings." I felt my cheeks tint as we reached the bottom of the steps to be met by a party in full swing.

We stood there for a moment, looking at all the Gryffindors kids, and even some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs, chatting and dancing, and eating and having a great time. I watched as Lily caught the eye of a seventh year Ravenclaw and began to blush deeply, looking away quickly, clearing her throat.

"Uh.. I think I'm going to go get a Butterbeer." She hummed, moving to fix her already perfect ponytale, "D-Do you want anything to drink?" She asked, glancing over towards the boy again.

"No. Go talk to your friend, I'm going to hunt down Black, see if I can't find Ricky on the way." I promised, watching her smile and slink off to go talk with, if I remember correctly, Thomas.

I walked off in the opposite direction, making my way across what I assumed was the makeshift dance floor. I began to crane my neck, trying to find someone I knew. I spotted Dana in the corning, sitting rather close to a fifth year Gryffindor, and Cameron on the dance floor, laughing with Alice and Frank.

I was ready to walk over and join in on Cameron, Alice, and Franks little group when I felt an arm around my shoulder.

"Looking pretty good for a gal who only had half an hour to get herself ready." I smirked and rolled my eyes, turning slightly to look up at Potter and his huge grin.

"Yeah, no thanks to you. You and Black walk like snails." I accused, watching him toss his head back and laugh.

"Yeah, we're the ones to blame. Miss. I'm Cold. My Feet Hurt. Boo Hoo." I put a hand over my heart, mocking a look of offense.

"Excuse me! Not once did I complain about my feet hurting me!" I scoffed, shaking my head at him. "The audacity!"

"The audacity!" he mocked me in a high voice causing us both to laugh. I rolled my eyes and tried to look behind him.

"Where's your side kick?" I asked, looking for Black and his ego. Potter snorted and shrug his shoulders glancing behind him.

"Eh, I dunno, last time I saw him he was putting on a show for a couple fourth years. He's probably found some girl to go snog by now anyway." I frowned slightly and Potter nudged me grinning. "Come on, you know that's how he is. He'll come back later to hang out with us." He promised.

"Where is Remus?" I asked. Potter motioned to the back corner with his free hand, his other arm still around my shoulder.

"Playing Exploding snap with Peter and a few third years I think. Teaching them our Snap ways." I laughed.

"Well that's rather kind of them, passing on your cheating ways."

"Oi! We do not cheat!" Again we both laughed, until Potter cleared his throat.

"Do you have plans for Hogsmeade tomorrow?" He asked, and I opened my mouth to reply, but he continued, "The boys and I were thinking of getting a butterbeer and then taking a walk over towards the far west side of town. Have you ever been over there? Much darker than where the students usually go. And we can hit the shrieking shack if you want. Or go-" I cut him off, smiling gently.

"As amazing as that sounds, I have a date for tomorrow.. but save that idea for the next trip, and I promise I'll spend the day with you lot." Potter's brow knitted together and he frowned in thought.

"Yeah but who are you going to Hogsmeade with, you don't have a boyfriend."

"Hey! Don't be rude!" I scolded, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'm not being- hey you know I didn't mean it that way!" He groaned slightly, as I shook my head.

"It just so happens-"

"Abby?" I was cut off by his voice behind me, sounding a bit unsure as to whether he should interrupt of not. For a moment I didn't understand why. Then it hit me. Potter still had his arm slung around my shoulder.. Jesus.

"Oh, Ricky. Hey." I smiled, pushing Potter's arm off me. Even though I knew it was merely.. a friendly gesture, I couldn't help my heart rate escalate at the idea of Ricky getting the wrong idea. Potter took his arm away but continued to stand in a defensive stance, looking down at Ricky with a stern look.

Honestly you could touch the tension with a knife. Potter glaring down at Ricky, Ricky not even attempting to hide the fact that he was glaring right back. They were sizing each other up, and the was obvious. But this little vivally went a bit past Quidditch if you asked me. Clearing my throat, I smiled, rocking and and forth slightly.

"Well Potter, uh, I will talk to you later. Ricky? Want to get a drink?" I asked, putting my hand on his elbow and guiding him away from the now sulking Potter.

I brought him over to the drink table handing him a butterbeer and smiling slightly, laughing and trying to find a topic to break into conversation.

"Uh.. so.." I started, looking down at my bottle.

"Soo..." He hummed, looking around the room. "Are you looking forward to tomorrow?" He asked leaning slightly on the table.

"Oh! Of course." I nodded, smiling at him, "What did you have in mind?" I asked taking a small sip of butterbeer.

"Well I figured we can go get a drink or something.. Go look in the shops. Take a walk or something." I nodded my head.

"That all sounds really lovely." I promised, trying not to think too hard about how much more adventurous my day would be if I went off with Potter, Black, Remus, and Pettigrew. We lapsed into a silence, both sipping our drinks and staring off into space.

"I wonder how they get all these drinks and snacks. Pack up a trunk at the start of term and keep it locked up until there is an excuse to throw a party?" He offered, chuckling slightly. Ricky's comment snapped me out of my little day dream and I did a poor job covering it up.

"Huh? Oh. Ha. I have no idea how they do it. Maybe trunks." I agreed quickly. He looked at me a moment and I looked down at my drink to keep from looking too guilty.

"Yeah.. well. How is Quidditch going?" He asked me slowly, starting to lead me over to a sofa by the fireplace, sitting down next to me.

"It's okay. I've only been to two practiced so far." I admitted.

"Two? He asked chuckling. Well have they started teaching you all the plays yet?" He asked, putting a unsure arm around me.

"Yeah some of them." I nodded, "I haven't tried all of them.. Mostly Potter uses his little diagram to try and explain them to me. But I definitely need to try them out."

"Maybe I can help you." He grinned, taking a sip of his drink. I nodded my head letting out a small giggle.

"Maybe you can." We continued to sit on the sofa and chat in low voices as we sipped our butterbeers and enjoyed sometime together.

Ricky was kind, and kind of funny, and calm, and it was a nice change to the constant tomfoolery of the Marauders. We could actually have a conversation. We were talking about Astronomy and his eyes kept flicking down to my lips. My heart began to beat harder in my chest. He was going to kiss me. God. God. His eyes flicked down again. And again, and I felt like he was slowly moving in closer to me. Maybe I was seeing things.

"Oi, Deen." Someone called, before I felt a body wedging their way between myself and Ricky, pushing him out of the way and further down the sofa.

"Jesus, Black, there is not enough room for three people on this little sofa." I scolded him, trying to push him off of us, sending him a threatening glare.

"You're right. Richard, there's an empty chair over there." He smirked, pointing to an empty armchair across the room.

"Black.." I said in a warning voice, "I swear.."

"No, it's fine, Abby. I was going to head back to my dorm soon anyway. Get a good night sleep. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Wanna meet in the Great Hall around eleven?" Ricky asked standing up and fixing his jumper slightly. I made to stand up to say goodbye, but of course, Black was sitting on my dress, pinning me to the sofa.

"Eleven sounds wonderful." I agreed, "See you then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I waved, watching him walk off and disappear into a sea of students before turning to hit Black hard in the arm.

"Ouch! Why do you always do that!" He asked, rubbing his arm. I cocked my arm back to take another swing and he grabbed my hand holding it back.

"Well why do you always have to be a complete and utter ass hat!" I shrieked. Black continued to hold onto my fist, thumb beginning to rub the back of my hand.

"Come on, calm down. You know I'm an ass. That's how I am. I didn't think you'd get this pissed off. I didn't expect him to leave." He tried to coax me, but the dumb smirk on his face was making it impossible.

"You knew exactly what you were doing you git." I snapped, pulling my hand away from him and pushing him over so I could pull my dress from beneath him before standing up. "Jerk." I muttered before stalking off away from Black. Lily was still chatting with the Ravenclaw boy, Alice and Frank were kissing in a corner. Dana and Cameron were no where to be seen. I was annoyed and frankly, reading to call it a night and head up to bed.

I spotted Remus, Potter, and Pettigrew sitting in the corner, and glanced back over to Black who was no longer on the sofa before making my decision to beeline it over to the boys in the corner, tossing myself down onto the floor next to Remus' chair and crossing my arms.

"What are you lot doing?" I asked, looking over the papers on the small table.

"What are you doing on the ground?" Potter asked, looking at me with an amused expression. I shrugged and grabbed the closest paper. Something about ingredients they needed from Snape's private cupboard before tossing it back down.

"There were no more chairs." I huffed, bringing my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around my legs. "Let's play a game of exploding snap or something. Before I die of boredom." Remus gave a nod and Potter stood up, offering me his hands.

"Yeah, but you're not going to sit on the ground like that." He decided and I allowed him to tug me up into a standing position.

"I was fine on the floor. We have surprisingly soft carpets." Remus chuckled and Potter and I switched seats, me taking his chair and him plopping down on the floor beside us.

We started up a game of exploding snap and slowly my anger at Black began to disappear. I was still annoyed with him. And he wasn't fully off the hook. But I no longer wished to strangle him in front of all of Gryffindor. Which was a good thing for him.

An hour or so past and Black surprisingly enough was no where to be found. Remus and Potter both assumed he was out snogging some girl again, and I had to agree. That was Black. Always chasing after someone new.

"I'm going to go to bed." Remus announced after we had finished one more game. "Are you coming?" He directed the question at Potter and Pettigrew. Potter shook his head right away and Pettigrew considered it a moment before answering.

"I guess. Goodnight." He nodded towards us before standing up. Remus wished us both a good night as well before following Pettigrew up to their dorm room.

After they were gone, Potter pulled himself up and plopped down into the chair next to me, leaning his face in his hands and staring at me.

"Can I help you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and trying not to laugh at his expression. "Have I got something on my face?"

"Yeah." Potter nodded smirking. "Two eyes, a nose, some lips, and probably over one hundred freckles."

"Over one hundred freckles? That's a pretty bold accusation." I laughed, rolling my eyes at him and leaning back in my chair.

"Well I'm never wrong so it must be true.. Hey do you want a drink?" He offered, standing up. I gave a small nod, "And a chocolate frog please." Potter nodded and disappeared only to return a few moments later with two butter beers and a few chocolate frogs.

"Thank you." I took the drink and one of the frogs opening it, popping the candy into my mouth and looking at the card. "Rowena Ravenclaw again. I always get her." I sighed putting the card on the table. "Let someone else have her." Potter laugh and looked over his own card making a face.

"Slytherin." He hissed tossing it into the fireplace. "Evil git." I laughed shaking my head and watching as he dug into a second one, "Dumbledore. I have a million of him." He commented, setting down his Dumbledore card with my Ravenclaw one.

We continued to sit and talk, falling into James's favorite topic; Quidditch. He was trying to explain to me some of our more intricate plays, using his butterbeer and empty frog container to try and demonstrate it. I kept laughing and nodding, watching him ramble on, not really fully paying attention to the plays. I was beginning to zone out, feeling tired from the day of classes, the long walk to Hogsmeade, and the party.

"Abby? Are you even listening to me?" He asked after I felt my eyes close for a moment. They snapped back open and I nodded my head sleepily.

"Yeah, Potter, of course." I mumbled, focusing back on him. He shook his head and laughed.

"No you're not. Go to sleep. We can talk about the plays another day." He promised me, standing up and offering me his hand, and I took it allowing myself to be pulled up. I looked around the room, noticing that the party had died down now. The people who were left downstairs were all chatting quickly in smaller groups, or couples kissing in corners.

"Goodnight." I smiled, giving Potter a pat on the arm before turning to shuffle up the stairs to my dorm.

"Night Abby." He called as I went up the stairs and into my dorm. Dana and Cameron already has their curtains pulled shut, and Alice was asleep on top of her convers, having not even made it under her blankets before she passed out.

Lily however was sitting on her bed reading one of our school books.

"Hey" I greeted her kicking off the black flats and pushing them under her bed. "Did you have fun? I saw you chatting up the Ravenclaw boy all night." I smirked, pulling on sweat pants and tugging the dress off and a jumper on.

"I did.. He was nice. He invited me to Hogsmeade tomorrow. Now I just have to hope your little friends don't find a way to ruin it for me.. I saw you talking with Ricky." She smiled setting her book down. "How's that going?"

"Good. I'm meeting him at eleven tomorrow.. That is, if Black doesn't scare him off. He came over and practically pushed Ricky off me and off the sofa. I could have died there and then." I frowned, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"I also saw you chatting with Potter for a long while there.." She hummed looking back down at her book. I bit my tongue to keep from making a comment about her being jealous that James wasn't talking to her and instead shrugged.

"Yeah we were going over some Quidditch things.. Why?"

"No reason." She shook her head, refusing to look up at me.

"Lily?" I asked gently, closing her book and forcing her to look up at me, "Are you sure you don't have a thing for Potter."

"Of course I don't." She hissed, "Abby, you know very well I don't. I never did. I never ever will. I don't care what or who Potter does. You can marry him for all I care." I snorted and patted her head before getting up and going over to my own bed shaking my head and laughing.

"Okay good to know, but I am not planning on marrying Potter, so don't worry." I promised her, flopping down onto my bed and drawing my curtains, "Goodnight, Lily."

"Goodnight Mrs. Potter." I heard her called back, smirk in her voice. I snorted and rolled my eyes, too tired to fight back with her now. But she'd pay for it later.

I cuddled up in my warm bed and pulled the covers tight around me as I closed my eyes and allowed myself to drop off into a deep sleep.

I dreamt about the tunnel to Hogsmeade. Potter, Black, and I racing down it, tripping and laughing and trying to outrun Snape. Then in faded and we were all in detention together, cleaning the trophy from for the rest of our lives. Once again it faded and became a name tag. Aberdeen Juna Potter. I shivered in my sleep and rolled over, trying to get that image out of my head, and once again found myself in the secret passage to Hogsmeade. This time I was alone, and there were extra passages leading off the main one, and noises coming from all directions. So I ran. And I kept running, but everything looked the same and I didn't know if I was close or far or anywhere at all. And then I woke up.

I laid there a moment panting slightly, a layer of sweat covering my forehead. That was one of the most.. discombobulated dreams I'd ever head. Everything kept changing. Everything was either wonderful or terrifying.

Slowly I slipped out of bed and located my watch discarded on the ground from the day before. It was early still, but there was no way I was getting back to sleep anytime soon, so I set my watch down and went to shower.

After dressing for the day, I took my book and went to go lay downstairs on the common room sofa, lazily reading and watching as students trickles down and went out of the common room for breakfast.

I was zoned out, book resting on my chest, eyes starring fixed on the wall of Gryffindor tower when I heard familiar voices approaching me.

"Oi! Deen! Aren't you coming down for breakfast? You've got a date.. Can't be hungry on a date, hm?" Black asked leaning over the sofa to look at me. "Whatcha reading?" He asked snatching the book from my hand. I grabbed it back and glared at him, setting it on the table.

"I'll go down as long as you promise to stay far away from my and Ricky."

"Oh sure, promise." He nodded, "Now come on."

Sorry for the length and quality. I've been busy and I'll be even busier this week so I wanted to get something out before I got too busy again. I hope you liked it! Please review.