Halloween gift for _hannelore (and the community)
Here is our final post for the community. dragyn_42 went above and beyond in writing his gift, so here is all three parts (part 2 was posted on the day of). Enjoy!
Title: Tricks and Treats (I, II, and III) Characters: Luna, Neville, Harry, Dumbledore, McGonagall Rating: G Summary: Luna has always loved trick-or-treating at Hogwarts. Notes:hannelore, this idea came to me from your prompts, and I couldn’t figure out when it should happen. I tried it several ways, and what developed was a sort of triptych.
Neville was rounding the corner of the hallway with Harry, both returning from finishing their homework in the library, just in time to see Luna Lovegood hold out a bucket to a blank stretch of wall.
“Trick or treat!” she cried out happily.
“Um... Luna?” asked Neville.
The blonde turned her head and noticed the two boys standing there. “Hi!” she chirped at them.
“What are you doing?” Neville asked.
“Trick-or-treating,” she responded.
“It’s... I... wha?” stuttered Neville. He looked to Harry, but his friend just shrugged. “It’s a wall.”
“It would be a trick,” she explained, turning back to the wall. “A trick and a treat. Wouldn’t that be neat?”
Two caramels popped out of the stonework and into Luna’s candy pail. He turned to Harry, wanting to check if he was seeing things, only to catch his friend palming his wand.
“Yay!” cheered Luna. “This castle has ever so many tricks to treat students with.”
She skipped off down the hall, and Neville saw Professor Dumbledore watching them bemusedly.
“Headmaster,” greeted Luna.
“Miss Lovegood,” he responded.
Luna turned to the wall with her pail, crying "Trick or treat!" and the headmaster surreptitiously pulled out his wand...
“Oh for the love of...” Professor McGonagall came around the corner to find one of her students standing eagerly, offering a very large bucket to the wall. “Miss Lovegood, what are you doing?”
“Luna!” came a shout from the opposite direction. “You said you’d wait up for.... Oh, hello, Professor.”
“Mr. Longbottom,” she responded. “What are you doing?”
“We’re, uh, you see...” he started rather ineloquently.
“We’re trick-or-treating,” Luna explained. “One year, I got caramels and lemon drops.”
“Here? At Hogwarts?” Professor McGonagall asked.
“Certainly! Harry Potter, Neville here, and Headmaster Dumbledore all saw.”
The austere professor looked to her lion for confirmation, and he gave a sheepish nod.
“I see,” she responded. “Potter and the Headmaster.”
“Yes,” continued Luna. “Although, last year, all I got was roasted pumpkin. Peeves was the only one to see. Somehow, the castle missed my bucket and got pumpkin all over the floor, so I brought a bigger bucket this year.”
With a sigh, the professor said, “Very well, enjoy your evenings, and good luck with your endeavours.”
“Thank you, Professor,” Luna chirped.
She walked away, looking back before rounding the corner, and saw the pair talking. She pulled out her wand...
Holidays were usually a special time at Hogwarts. The war had changed that. All of the students had been affected one way or another: in battle, in torture, in fear. And now Halloween was here, and all anyone felt was afraid.
During the yearly All Hallows Feast, Luna, her own faroff stare haunted by torment, yet tempered, grabbed a bowl, dumped it out, and tapped the rim, forcing a handle to appear. She then marched resolutely to the side of the hall.
Holding her makeshift container towards the stone, she announced, “Trick or treat!”
Students and teachers alike stared, and the quiet din became incredulous silence. Neville, however, pulled out his wand, and several candies fell from the castle wall into her bowl.
Luna turned and handed the bowl to a wide eyed, first year Slytherin.
Around the hall, older students were now creating pails and baskets, handing them to their juniors.
And when they faced the wall, student and teacher alike discreetly flicked their wands. Squeals of joy and merriment suffused the Great Hall.
At the head table, Luna walked up to the teary eyed headmistress and held out a bowl.