Imperium - t.r.

Chapter Nine: A Heinous Halloween

Weeks passed by until the crisp October air set in, but there was only one day left to enjoy it. In the morning of their day off, the prefects were gathered in the Great Hall. The prefects were in charge of decorating it, with a teacher's supervision, of course. Dozens of pumpkins from the harvest on the grounds were lined up on the tables, hollowed out and carved. Anastasia was there, lighting and levitating the pumpkins up to the ceiling. And unfortunately, so was Fleamont.

"Hey! Anastasia—!" he began.

"That's De Meath, to you," she snapped back. "What do you want?"

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to meet at Madam Puddifoot's for coffee this coming Sunday and—"

"Potter, are you unaware that I am already romantically involved?" Anastasia answered with a tone that could cut iron.

"Well yes, but—"

"Then leave me alone and take your silly antics to someone who'll actually give a shit," Anastasia retorted. He lingered for a moment, feeling awkward and a little hurt. "I'm waiting!"

He quickly scurried away, taking his bruised heart and ego with him. Tom took a break from telling the younger prefects how to hang streamers correctly and walked over to Anastasia who had just sent Fleamont away with his tail in between his legs.

"What did he have to say?" Tom asked, amused.

"Just another one of his advances," Anastasia sighed, levitating another pumpkin. "Don't worry, I dealt with it."

"I saw," he smirked. "Say, I wonder if I could take you to our spot in the Forest tonight."

"Sure," she replied. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

Tom smirked a bit before continuing with his duties.

"You can try to act cool-headed and indifferent to me, 'stasia," he thought to himself. "But I know you're enamored and swooning inside."

"Reid? Warthers? What are you doing up so early?" Anastasia exclaimed.

"We both got an early night and woke up early, so we decided to explore the castle before Juniper gets up," smiled Mildred.

"Jasper woke you up, didn't he," Anastasia said flatly.

"Yeah," Mildred sighed. "The girl's Gryffindor dorms have stairs that turn into slides whenever a boy tries to enter, but he just floats up."

"He always finds a way," sighed Anastasia. "I hope he isn't driving you too mad."

"No, I actually quite like it," Mildred smiled. "It keeps me on my toes and I'm never bored. His friend, Hagrid, showed me a really big spider! It was awesome!"

Tom's interest piqued at the thought. A spider? Would Hagrid really be stupid enough to take an acromantula into the castle?

"Where is it?" he inquired.

"Gryffindor dorms," Anastasia replied quickly. "He's going to be throwing it back out into the forest tomorrow, so don't try anything!"

"I wouldn't dream of it, my darling," he smirked.

"Don't call me that, you ass!" Anastasia replied irately.

"No need for such language, love," Tom answered amusedly before walking away.

"What was that about?" inquired Mildred.

"Nothing. But, for future reference, don't share information about any of Hagrid's creatures with Tom or anyone while he's around," Anastasia sighed. "He isn't very fond of Hagrid and thinks quite lowly of him."