Aunt Rose

37.

Halloween soon approached as the weeks went by. With order missions on pause and Lily and James needing to stay secure, there wasn't much for Rose or Sirius to do.

Rose made some house calls on occasion for a case of the sniffles but no one had been seriously injured in months. And all Sirius could do was walk the town and drink at the pub.

Of course Halloween was thought by muggles to be a silly holiday, many even dressed up as witches and wizards.

But for the real Wizarding world, Halloween was even more special.

On Halloween, the veil between the physical and spiritual world was at it's thinnest. It allowed for more powerful divination, ghosts could even sometimes move things in the physical world.

But it also allowed living witches and wizards to become more powerful. Magic was said to be at its most powerful on Halloween, many of the most famous spells were created on the day.

To bring fun into their lives, Sirius and Rose decided to decorate with muggle materials for Halloween. They got lanterns and spiders and skeletons and set them up in the flat.

They laughed at how stupid the skeletons looked and at the knock-off witch and wizard costumes they bought at a party store. Rose dressed up in it and sent a photo to Lily and James a week before Halloween.

She had the flimsy black pointy hat and the little black dress on and held the plastic magic wand in her hand. Sirius had his warlock costume on, the long fake beard and staff in hand.

The night before Halloween Sirius and Rose hosted a party. Part of Rose knew it was a ploy by Sirius to try and get her mind off of Marlene. Rose was thankful.

They invited all of their friends over, though only Remus and Alice were able to come. Peter said he was busy with his mom, Frank was watching Neville, and Lily and James were of course, in hiding.

Sirius and Rose set out food and drinks and had enchanted music. They took more pictures for Lily and James and all wrote them a letter, wishing they could be at the Halloween party.

It was late into the morning when the friends parted ways. Some drunk and stumbling, the two outsiders managed to make it home okay. Rose and Sirius went their separate ways into their bedrooms, sleeping late into the Halloween day.

***

Rose woke late, it was noon when she finally opened her eyes. Even in the dark, a headache was already presenting itself.

She showered and dressed, putting her ginger hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. Just like last time, Rose couldn't change her appearance. It took a special energy to be able to do that and she didn't have it with what happened to Marlene.

Sirius was already awake, his head almost in his bowl of cereal as he struggled.

"Please tell me you've got some sort of potion for this, Red," Sirius said desperately, a look of pure anguish on his face.

"Yeah. I always keep those in stock, I know you," Rose said as she walked into her potions study. She opened the cabinet and took two of her potions out, making a mental note to start on more headache potions.