A Hogwarts Reunion

Harry clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly as he watched Bellatrix Lestrange being escorted away in shackles by Ministry officials. She had appeared before the Wizengamot, and her sentence was to be carried out in the morning. He could barely contain himself; finally she would be getting her just desserts.

She turned to give him one last hateful glare before she disappeared behind the door, and he could feel his lips curling in a very Malfoy-like smirk. It's her own damned fault for stopping in that Muggle pub, he thought. If she hadn't developed such an affinity for vodka, she might still be running from me. Maybe.

He chuckled to himself as he swept out of the courtroom. She had been very talkative during the trip back to the Ministry, telling him that he was the source of most of her nightmares. She'd chattered on endlessly until he'd put a Silencing Charm on her. He had laughed at length then - it had been very amusing to see her horrified face as she moved her mouth soundlessly.

All of her time on the run had deteriorated her mind even further than it had been when Voldemort lived. She hadn't needed to be very intelligent when she was running or hiding; she'd spent most of her time with the Dark Lord doing that, so it came almost instinctually. The marked difference in her had only created a woman who didn't know when to shut her mouth.

He disappeared with a loud crack, reapparating into the middle of a sidewalk in Hogsmeade. He walked until he found a shop with windows so dirty that it was impossible to see inside. A shrunken figure of a man approached him.

"Mister Potter! What can I do for you today?"

"Hello, Tantalus," Harry smiled. "I need some new clothes." The man glanced at Harry's tattered robes and nodded, clucking his tongue softly.

"Aye. That you do, Mister Potter. That you do. Did you have anything special in mind?"

"Well, the most pressing matter right now is to find a costume of sorts," Harry explained, feeling stupid. Tantalus raised his eyebrows.

"A costume? Heading to Hogwarts for the reunion, then?"

Harry's eyes widened slightly. "How do you know about that?"

"I've had several young men in here this afternoon to pick up their own costumes. I do, however, have one costume left. A young man ordered it and owled me to change his mind after I had already completed it." He went to the back of the store, then returned carrying a purple velvet robe with gold embroidery. The detail of the embroidery was magnificent.

"King Arthur," he murmured, reaching out to stroke the fabric reverently. Tantalus looked slightly surprised.

"You recognized it, then?" Harry nodded. "The young man who ordered it has no use for it now, so if you'd like it, it's yours." He produced a gold eye mask and a thin golden crown to go with the robe.

"It's perfect," he said, nodding. "I'll take it. How much?"

"I don't want your money, Mister Potter," Tantalus said gruffly, pushing Harry's outstretched hand away. "It will be an honor just to have you wear something I've made."

"Are you sure?" Harry took the costume and looked at the man.

"Positive. Go and have fun, and be sure to come back and tell me how it went." Harry shook the man's hand and smiled at him, before turning and leaving the store.

"Happy Halloween!" Ginny called brightly. Ron rolled his eyes.

"What's so happy about it?"

"Ron, you're going to see all of your friends again," she said, sticking out her lower lip in a mock pout. "Aren't you excited at all?"

"Well, I would like to know what in the bloody hell Harry's been up to," he admitted, running a comb through his hair. Ginny peeked in the mirror that hung on the wall.

"You look lovely, dear," it praised. She smiled.

"Did you hear that?" she asked. Ron laughed.

"You know better than to believe any of the mirrors in this place," he said, shaking his head. "Mum has them all enchanted so they can't tell her when she looks like she's gained weight."

"Actually, Ronald," he turned quickly when he heard his mother enter the room. Her hands were on her hips, making her look even more formidable than usual. "I enchanted them so they couldn't say anything negative." She moved farther into the room and smiled at her daughter.

"What do you think, Mum?" she asked, twirling. Her emerald green dress swirled around her, and she put her mask on. "Do you think anyone will recognize me?"

"Maybe if you didn't have the trademark Weasley red hair, they wouldn't," Ron muttered. "What are you, anyway? The Bird Lady of the Burrow?" Ginny plucked a pillow from the couch and lobbed it at his head, laughing.

"It's a costume party, Ron, so I dressed up. See the feathers on my mask?" she asked, pointing towards her eyes. "I'm a peacock. What are you supposed to be, as if it weren't totally obvious?"

"If it's totally obvious, then why are you asking, you twit?"

"Ronald!" Molly boomed. He sighed.

"Sorry, Gin. I just can't believe I'm taking my sister as my date."

"Why didn't you ask Hermione?" Ginny asked curiously. "Did she already have a date, or something?"

It was all Ron could do not to laugh. No, she didn't have a date. I just planned on bringing you and then ditching you once we get there, so you and Harry can be alone. If he comes, that is. He smoothed out the violent orange jumper he was wearing, and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"It had to be the Cannons, didn't it?"

"They're my favorite team," he protested, checking to make sure he had all of the uniform in place.

"At least I picked a costume with a color that compliments my hair."

"Have fun, you two," Molly said, trying not to laugh. Ginny hugged her, and Ron nodded, before disapparating with a loud crack.

Draco winced as he yanked the comb through his white-blonde hair. He'd wanted to slick it back as he always did, but for some reason, it didn't want to obey him tonight. Disgusted, he threw the comb down and went to the bathroom to wash the Sleekeazy's out of it. When he had finished washing it, the comb moved through it with ease. He left his hair down, hanging in damp waves around his shoulders. He smoothed out his crisp, white shirt and turned to the mirror.

"No one will be able to resist me," he said to himself. He grinned wickedly at the handsome reflection, certain that all of his old schoolmates would be floored when they saw him. He'd changed a great deal since his days as a student - freedom had done that for him. Ever since his father had been carted away to Azkaban, he'd had a lot more freedom to do whatever he wanted to do. He still didn't date witches that weren't pure blooded, but he spoke to them now. At least, when the mood struck him, anyway.

His chiseled features were considered by a great many witches to be perfection, and he had to admit that he quite agreed with them. His expression darkened. Only one witch had ever voiced a negative opinion about his looks - at least, to his face, anyway. He snorted as he pictured her bushy chestnut hair. Like she has any reason to ridicule my hair, with the hair she's got. Still, it nagged at him. He didn't like that anyone would think he wasn't handsome.

His blood boiled at the thought of her. She'd snubbed him since he'd come to Hogwarts to teach, sitting on the opposite end of the staff table, and going out of her way to avoid him in the hallways. He'd tried being nasty to her. He'd tried being overly sweet to her. Nothing worked - her shell was damn near impenetrable. She'd never so much as cracked a smile at him.

What the hell keeps her so damned serious all the time? He adjusted his crimson cape on his shoulders and fastened it around his neck. His mask was in place - a simple black eye mask that did nothing to cover the remarkably unique color of his eyes.

He'd been discussing vampires with a muggle-born witch he'd run into in Hogsmeade, and she'd been really fascinating when she'd explained the lore of Count Dracula to him. He'd chosen this costume for that reason. He was the muggle version of a vampire. His skin was already naturally pale enough to look the part, so he hadn't had to change much about his appearance at all. He snorted.

Muggles and their ridiculous ideas of vampires. He adjusted the fake plastic fangs that he'd purchased on a trip to muggle London, and grinned as he gave himself a final once-over in the mirror, before leaving his quarters in a flurry of his cape.