Disclaimer: The OC’s in this story as well as the plot were all created by me, All other things mentioned in this chapter and this story as a whole are property of J.K Rowling and the story title comes from Taylor Swift. Thank you for reading
Chapter Forty - This is Halloween
Silence had become a usual trait of the seventh year Gryffindor girls while in their dormitory, but during the week before Halloween, little envelopes has appeared on all of their pillows (except for Shelena’s) that had them jump around their dormitory with joy.
The envelopes simply read:
You have been invited to the Marauder’s annual Halloween Party!
October 31st at 7pm until whenever in the Gryffindor Common Room, be there.
Though while some of the girls, mainly Lily and Kiki, still weren’t great friends with the Marauders, this party meant two very big things for all of them. One, they finally had a chance to let their hair down and not worry about their studies, though one or two of them- Kiki, again hadn’t really been worrying in the first place, and Two, Shelena wouldn’t be there and so, they had a chance to escape her even just for a night.
Shelena had made a habit of going for long walks around the castle from about six to ten/eleven o’clock at night, every Saturday night. And none of the girls could believe their luck- Halloween was on a Saturday that year. If it had been any day but Halloween, Coralie would have wondered if the Marauders had planned it that way but it seemed this time like they didn’t have to.
Luckily, they wouldn’t need to worry about younger Gryffindors or people in other houses telling Shelena about said party- it was strictly against Marauders rules to speak about their parties until afterwards and while some people questioned this, the ones who told would always end up in the Hospital Wing after suffering from hexes or the like. Needless to say, the girls were all excited about the party.
“I have no idea what I’m going to go as this year!” Mary exclaimed, picking the letter up from her bed and hiding it as the rest of them had done previously- they didn’t want the chances for Shelena, who was once again missing, to find them.
“I was thinking of going as a devil” Kiki exclaimed, staring at her reflection in the mirror as she pretended to have horns.
“Sure would suit you” Lily teased, poking her tongue out at Kiki who rolled her eyes before giving her a rude hand gesture.
“What about the rest of you?” Kiki asked, her eyes twinkling with excitement. “I know I’m not the only one with ideas!”
“I was thinking of perhaps a Greek goddess” Marlene answered, looking up from the page of her fashion magazine. Kiki nodded and lifted the one side of her mouth into a smirk.
“Easily done, you just need a sheet and some gold jewellery” Marlene nodded, her eyes travelling back to the page she was reading. “Alice?”
“No idea yet” She responded with a relaxed shrug of her shoulders. Kiki sat down on the edge of her bed and began to think of ideas of what the others girls would be able to wear. The girls soon fell back into silence, though it was much more comfortable than what they were used to. It didn’t however last very long, soon enough- Shelena strutted in, her head held high as she grabbed her pyjamas and went into the bathroom.
The girls all shared knowing looks, it meant Shelena was ready for bed and when Shelena was ready for bed- everyone went bed. Coralie let out a sigh, getting into her own pyjamas before crawling into bed. Within minutes the light was turned off and the dormitory was returned to its awkward state.
The rest of the week passed quickly, and Kiki had soon picked out everyone’s costumes for the Halloween party that very night. They eagerly awaited six o’clock so that Shelena would leave for her walk and they would be able to start getting ready, and though it seemed to take forever when six o’clock did come around- Shelena promptly disappeared.
“About bloody time” Kiki exclaimed, throwing the magazine she had pretended to be reading to the end of her bed before grabbing out the costumes she had found for everyone, she distributed them before letting everyone get changed into them. True to her word, she had dressed as a devil- with red horns on top of her hair, little red wings and an attachable tail at the back of a skin tight red dress that she had ‘lying in her trunk’.
She had found a Greek goddess costume for Marlene and paired it with a few pieces of gold jewellery from everyone’s trunks. She’d dressed Lily up as a Garden fairy with a green dress that matched her eyes perfectly and a pair of white wings. Alice was dressed up as ‘sexy auror’ which Kiki had promised she could keep to ‘entertain’ Frank when the holidays came, though Alice turned pink at this comment she didn’t make a fuss about the short skirt. Mary was wearing a Quidditch uniform made for little children and was carry around a plush beater’s bat to complete the costume. While Miranda had dressed herself up as a zombie bride, the other girls were trying to tease her hair which kept going back to its usual perfect self when Coralie finally made her way out of the bathroom as the last one to change.
Kiki had found her a 1920’s flapper costume, complete with a black dress which fringe’s shook every time she moved with a pair of fishnets underneath, simple black heels and a feather headband. She had tied her hair back into a messy bun too.
“Wow, Nathaniel’s going to die when he sees you in that” Kiki smirked, it was the exact thought that had played in her mind the moment she saw the dress and she had made it her personal mission to get the two of them together that night. It had made her even happy when she learnt that Nathaniel had asked Coralie to the party.
“Kiki, don’t be silly!” Coralie replied, a blush appearing on her cheeks immediately. She knew there was no point trying to hide it thought, all of her friends had already seen it.
“Oh, Peakes?” Mary asked, letting out an excited squeal.
“He’s cute” Lily mused, raising her eyebrows at Coralie slightly but did not bother to push the subject any further, nor did any of the other girls. They had all agreed not to push each other into telling their crushes, it never ended well.
“Come on then, we should get downstairs” Marlene added, the girls all following behind her. The common room had been changed into a creepy looking mansion with fake cobwebs hanging from the roof and goblets full of butterbeer that Remus had transfigured to look like blood occupied the far corner. All in all, the boys had done an amazing job in making it look all Halloween-y and the girls were more excited than ever before.
“I have to go pick up Nathaniel” Coralie grinned, turning on her heel and exiting the portrait hole while her friends watched after her.
“Ten galleons says they end up together by the end of tonight” Kiki smirked, turning to her friends who all nodded in agreement as they watched Coralie disappear. Said girl was able to catch their conversation and rolled her eyes at her friend’s actions.
She liked Nathaniel, she knew that for sure but that didn’t mean the two of them were going to end up together like her friends seemed to think. It was more complicated than that, Coralie scoffed at herself. Life itself was complicated without this stupid thing that would affect her. She’d been able to push that thought to the back of her mind since school had returned, she’d been too busy to even bother thinking about it but now that she was able to let go even just for a night, all her worries were back.
“Damn” She whispered to herself before squeezing her eyes as tightly together as she possibly could.
“You alright Cors?” Coralie blinked her eyes open, turning to stare Nathaniel in the face. He was watching her with a worried look in his eyes and she only noticed then that he had this hand on her shoulder, she turned to stare at it slightly before he awkwardly dropped it to his side.
“Yeah, I’m fine!” She said, her voice came out slightly squeaky but she covered it with a cough. “Just a little warm here” Nathaniel sent her an odd look and for a moment Coralie felt like she’d grown an extra head or something.
“Hey!” Sarah interrupted, joining the two of them in a floor length red cape with the hood pulled up and a simple black dress that reached just below her knees. Behind her, Tyler appeared wearing what looked to be a painted box.
“What exactly are you supposed to be?” Nathaniel asked, tilting his head slightly to the side as if it would help him work out what Tyler’s costume was.
“I’m a muggle aeroplane. Why don’t people see it?” He huffed, pushing past Nathaniel and Coralie with the two large wings he’d attached to either side of his box. Sarah sighed, following after her friend in an attempt to calm him down slightly, leaving Nathaniel and Coralie to tag along behind them.
“Do you see it?” Nathaniel leant in and whispered once they were a safe distance from Tyler, Coralie giggled slightly and shook her head truthfully. In her defence, she and Nathaniel were both purebloods and therefore they didn’t really know much about muggle life at all while Tyler was a half blood and had more experience then both of them put together.
“Come on then” Sarah yelled back at them though her eyes were twinkling with happiness. It made Coralie wonder whether she too believed what her Gryffindor friends thought, did Sarah think she and Nathaniel were together? She mentally shook the thought from her head, Sarah wasn’t the kind of girl to care about those things usually. Sarah loved class, books and having fun- she wasn’t some crazed fan girl. It must have been some other reason why Sarah was so happy, Coralie couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with Tyler.
Soon enough, the four of them arrived at the entrance for the Gryffindor common room, Coralie stood forward and gave the password before they all slipped inside. The party had already started, loud music was playing and a large group of people had already begun to dance.
“Have I told you I like your costume?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he leant in and whispered to her.
“No” Coralie half-chuckled, waving at Lily who was standing in the corner with Marlene and some other girl that Coralie couldn’t place, she wasn’t entirely sure what the other girl was supposed to be but she figured it was something muggle. Coralie turned her attention back to Nathaniel.
“Alright, did that count or are you expecting me to say it again?” he added, biting down on his lip nervously. Coralie shook her head, a smile gracing her lips.
“It’s fine Nathaniel” she said, lacing their hands together as they both made their way over to James who was greeting everyone as they walked in.
“Cora!” he yelled over the music as they got closer, he threw his arms around her before he checked out her costume. “Nathaniel, mate” Nathaniel looked taken aback- Coralie figured he was just as surprised in James’ attitude as she was. Before either got a chance to respond, he disappeared into the crowd again.
The two of them turned to stare at each other, before heading towards the drinks table which had been set up in the corner of the room. The other three Marauders were standing there, quietly which gave Coralie and apparently a few other guests the suspicion that they were planning something. They looked almost too solemn though, apart from James who was quite clearly completely off his face.
“What’s wrong with them?” Sarah whispered as she joined Coralie and Nathaniel at the table. All three of them stared at the boys, before looking back at each other.
“No idea” Coralie whispered in response as Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders- he didn’t really care anyway. Sarah disappeared back into the crowd with her drink and as Coralie watched her go she noticed her in the crowd- Shelena was dancing up a storm with Alex, which explained the sour look on Kiki’s face. In fact, it explained everything.
She wanted to go comfort Kiki, tell her that Shelena was just a slag and Alex didn’t deserve her but she found herself keeping even closer to Nathaniel. She wouldn’t put it past Shelena to start something in front of everyone.
“Do you want to go dance?” he asked, putting his drink down on the table and leading her onto the dance floor- far away from Shelena, which she was more than happy about. They passed Tyler who had taken his costume slightly too literally in the way he was dancing while Sarah stayed to the side and watched with wide eyes. The pair danced around to the new Weird Sisters song and the one after that until they decided to take a break.
A drink later and a few more dances, Coralie felt her head spinning around. She could hardly focus on the music anymore or who was standing next to her- she felt like she was going mad. She could somewhat see the weird looks some people were giving her and the worried looks of Nathaniel, Lily and Remus.
“Cors?” she could hear Lily say over the music but she couldn’t see where Lily was standing.
“What’s wrong with her?” Nathaniel asked, placing his cold hand on her forehead. She wanted to tell him that she felt fine, even though it was a complete lie, she didn’t want attention right now.
“Someone turn off the music!” Sirius yelled- confusing Coralie even more. What the hell was going on?
“Sirius?” she whispered, and within seconds she could roughly make out Sirius’ face.
“What is it Cors?” he asked nervously, biting down on his lip as he too placed his hand over her forehead. She scrunched her eyes closed as someone turned on the lights- it was far too bright for her.
“Where’s Nathaniel?” she asked and Sirius’ face dropped into a frown, he nodded solemnly before moving out of the way to let Nathaniel sit beside Coralie. She smiled up at him softly which he gladly returned.
“We should get her to her Hospital Wing” Lily cut in, breaking the silence of the room. Nathaniel nodded and carefully picked up Coralie bridal style- she buried her face into his cape as the entire party made room for him to fit through. Once out in the common room, Nathaniel chuckled slightly.
“You sure are one chaotic girl Cors” she sighed, squeezing his shoulder softly like she was agreeing. Neither of them said anything for the rest of the walk up to Hospital Wing, though Nathaniel constantly checked that Coralie hadn’t passed out on him. “Madam Pomfrey?” he called, pushing the big wooden doors open. The young healer appeared out of a curtain that was pulled closed, her eyes widening at the sight.
“What’s happened?” she demanded, ushering Nathaniel over to one of the spare beds where he placed Coralie. He shrugged his shoulders, not being able to find words to describe what had happened- he didn’t really know.
“She just went....weird” he started, his eyes searching the room nervously. “She was fine one minute and then the next, she was on the floor” Madam Pomfrey frowned, waving her wand to get rid of the small amount of blood that had appeared on her head when she’d hit the floor.
“Did she eat, Mr Peakes?” she asked, scribbling something down on a piece of parchment.
“I think so, I only met up with her after dinner” he answered truthfully and Madam Pomfrey smiled- she disappeared around the corner for a moment and so Nathaniel pulled up a chair to Coralie’s bedside.
“I’m taking it that she drank something” she said when she reappeared with a handful of different vials of potions. Nathaniel nodded in response and she sighed, “I thought so” she held poured out a blue coloured potion and took it to Coralie’s lips. “I fear someone was playing with her drink”
“What do you mean?” Nathaniel asked instantly, his eyes widening. In all honestly, he knew what she meant but it baffled him completely- who would want to put something in Coralie’s drink? Unless...unless, it wasn’t made for her. It could have been for him and he rising suspicion who would do exactly that. Madam Pomfrey smiled knowingly at him before tipping another potion down Coralie’s throat.
“Come back and visit her tomorrow Mr Peakes?” she said, pulling the covers over Coralie. He nodded and made to leave before Coralie grasped onto his hand, she was looking a little bit better and more like she knew what was going on than she previously had. He smiled at her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek softly.
“I’ll alert your fellow lions” she nodded, mouthing a thank-you- she still hadn’t got her voice back yet. He raised his top hat jokingly and left the Hospital Wing, leaving Coralie to turn over in her bed and smile. Sure, she’d ended up there but spending the night with Nathaniel...well, it was definitely worth it.
Authors Note: So hey guys, I became a Trusted Author this week which is so totally awesome! I actually had this chapter ready but I've been far too worried to post it, so thank you to TenthWeasley, Caomoyl, AquariaJasmyne and Giola for helping me work through that! Now that I have TA status, I am planning on updating every Friday/Saturday (depending on where you live) so I shall see you all next week! 
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