Pumpkin Juice
The Great Hall flooded with students all wearing intricate dresses and robes adorning their own unique masquerade masks, hiding most of their identities. They had just finished their feast and were now scattered across the floor, talking in groups, dancing to the music played by unmanned instruments strumming away atop the staff platform. Enoch had left his table where Poppy was now being helped by a charmed napkin dabbing away at the pollen her dress gave off during her meal. Every time she reached for her napkin while eating, more pollen would fly off, and she would sigh about how she couldn’t figure out how to control it.
Enoch eyed a lavishly decorated table near the entrance, there was a giant bowl of pumpkin juice and other snack cakes for the rest of the night’s refreshments, and he knew what he had to do. He reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out the small vial of potion Garreth had entrusted him with just before the party. He didn’t think it would have the effect Garreth intended, considering his ideas never come to fruition, but Enoch didn’t think it’d be harmful in any way. Garreth wasn’t too keen, but he never did anything to hurt anyone.
“What is that?” Asked Sebastian as he walked up beside Enoch, eyeing the potion in his hand. His mask covered half his face, and had an intricate design that weaved into small horns at the top that glistened. He sported a dark green vest over his dress shirt that seemed to sizzle and zap at odd times with his mask's horns, like a potion overbrewing.
Enoch sighed before answering. “A potion Garreth gave me. He wanted me to pour it in the juice, and said we’ll have more fun.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Weasley? You trust him to not poison us all with whatever potion he’s concocted this time? His concoctions tend to be… explosive in one way or another.”
“I don’t think it’ll be all that bad,” Enoch reassured, absent-mindedly examining the vial. “The worst it’ll do is nothing.”
“If you say so...”
Enoch approached the large bowl with Sebastian in tow before opening the vial and sneakily pouring in the dark-coloured liquid. He pocketed the empty container and grabbed a small cup from the table, letting the charmed ladle pour the now laced juice into his cup.
He turned to face Sebastian. “Well, there’s no time like the present.” He then threw his head back and took a drink from his cup, careful not to let it hit his mask that had a raven’s beak outstretched from it.
“Whatever you say,” Sebastian replied, filling up a cup of his own.
Professor Sharp leaned against one of the pillars lining the Great Hall, wishing he was back in his quarters instead of being surrounded by all the students. Professor Weasley had requested for him to help chaperone the ball, in which he was very much reluctant to agree, but decided to do so out of respect for Professor Weasley. It didn’t seem to be too much work, thankfully, he just stood to the side keeping to himself. That was, until Madame Auclair of Beauxbatons walked up to him, wearing a form-fitting blue gown with a matching cloak draped over. Her mask was dark coloured, decorated with blue and purple hydrangeas that would occasionally bloom and close back up.
“Hello, professeur ,” she sang, casting him a kind smile.
Sharp staggered a moment to stop himself leaning against the pillar at the sudden appearance of the other school’s headmistress. Once he gained his balance he nodded in return, clearing his throat. “Madame, it’s good to see you.”
“Of course, it is good to see you as well. Are you enjoying yourself all alone?”
“Oh, yes, Madame.” He cleared his throat once more, wanting to sound polite, surprised she was speaking to him instead of Professor Weasley. “I couldn’t really join the students if I wanted to.” He patted his leg, directing her attention to it. “Are you, um, also having a good time?”
She chuckled. “Oh, yes, I am. And my students are, too.” She looked over into the crowd of students, and both her and Sharp caught eye on Aloysius Belrose talking with a Slytherin student, dressed in a gaudy blue suit with a cape that imitated a peacock’s train, and was now flowing upwards in a large display. Madame Auclair chuckled again. “That one’s got a bit of an ego, I do apologise.”
“No worse than some of my students,” he replied, nodding over to Garreth Weasley in the crowd, who was showing a younger student his hair bursting into flames from his charmed ensemble.
She laughed, and they stood together in silence for a moment before she spoke up again. “Would you like a drink, professeur ?”
“Oh,” Sharp stuttered, taken aback by her offer. “No thank you, Madame. I’m already covered.” He took out a flask that was hidden inside his robe. “Thank you for your offer.”
She chuckled. “Come prepared, I see. Very well, I shall be back soon.”
Whatever the potion was, Enoch couldn’t taste it over the tanginess of the pumpkin juice, yet he felt like he couldn’t get enough of it. He had finished his first cup fairly quickly, and refilled it just as fast.
Sebastian opted to stay on the sidelines out of the crowd, but Enoch was growing restless and wanted to join the fun. And as soon as Sebastian turned away to eat a snack cake, Enoch took off, almost spilling his drink as he clumsily bumped into Poppy entering the crowd.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, Poppy!” He apologised, backing up.
She chuckled awkwardly. “It’s alright.” She patted at her dress, which was bright yellow and glittering with golden pollen at every pat. Her mask matched, which was laced black and yellow to imitate a bumble bee.
“Oh, uh, your dress looks very nice,” he stuttered, not knowing what to say. It was the first time he got to see it up close considering it was hidden by the table during their meal for the beginning of the night.
“Oh, thank you.” She looked away, and Enoch only felt more awkward.
“Would you like me to get you a drink, maybe?” He more so wanted to refill his own, as it was getting pretty low now.
“Oh, that’s alright. It seems like everything I touch gets covered in pollen. I just made Lenora sneeze just by bumping into her shoulder a minute ago.”
Enoch chuckled at the thought of that before finishing off his drink. He was enjoying himself more now, and wondered if Garreth’s potion really did work after all.
He was dragged out of his thoughts by a hand grabbing his shoulder and turned around to be faced with Sebastian.
“Are we just having a chat?” He asked.
“Oh, yes, I was just talking with Poppy about-”
“Want another drink?” Sebastian pushed on Enoch’s shoulder to turn him around and began to lead him over to the table with the snacks, leaving Poppy behind.
Over at the table stood a lonely Ominis, leaning against it with his arms crossed. His ensemble was black, save for green snakes embroidered onto his vest that moved around him, and his mask covered by silver skeleton hands that hid his eyes.
“Oh, hello, Ominis,” Enoch spoke with a smile as they approached him. “Enjoying yourself?”
“Hardly,” he responded. “It’s far too loud and I'd much rather be back in the dorms getting ready for bed.”
“Won’t you ask someone to dance with?” Enoch proposed. “I was thinking of doing the same thing.” He turned to scan the dance floor for anyone he’d be willing to waltz with before Sebastian shoved a newly filled cup in his face.
“No dancing,” Sebastian said plainly.
“Dancing is not my strong suit,” Ominis replied. “If anything I think this replacing the Halloween feast was a waste of time.”
“Have a drink, then,” Enoch said, taking a sip out of the cup Sebastian handed him. “It’s really good.”
Ominis cocked his head to the side. “It’s just pumpkin juice, is it not?”
Enoch paused in the middle of a sip and side-eyed Sebastian curiously. He then mouthed the words, Should we tell him?
No, Sebastian mouthed back dumbfoundedly. But they didn’t have to respond, as Ominis was already having the charmed ladle pour him a drink.
Professor Sharp already had to tell a Hufflepuff student to calm down as they had a small scuffle with a Ravenclaw, and he was fantasising being in his bed by now. He thought the students were acting more energetic than usual, but decided to chalk it up to them finally getting a party to distract themselves from their schoolwork and wanting to let loose a bit. Plus, they were just kids. Kids will be kids, and Sharp kept reminding himself that the night will be over eventually.
He was taken out of his thoughts by small hands grabbing onto his arm, almost making him fall over from the shock.
“Oh, professeur ,” laughed Madame Auclair as she held onto him. “Doesn’t the music sound so lovely? Don’t you want to dance with me?” She swayed back and forth, making Sharp lose his balance. He held on to the pillar beside him so as to not fall and take her down with him.
“Madame,” Sharp spoke, confused by her clumsiness. “Are you feeling alright?”
Auclair let out a small laugh and stumbled backwards. Sharp hurriedly grabbed her shoulder and rebalanced her, before awkwardly taking his hand back.
“Would you like a drink, professeur ?” She asked, looking up at him with bright, welcoming eyes.
“A drink?” He asked, trailing in thought. Was that maybe why she was acting so strange? She was just fine before, right? He looked over at the table across the hall that held the refreshments, noticing a couple students filling cups and acting very giddy with each other. There was no way, right? A student wouldn’t be so stupid as to lace the juice, not when so many teachers were around, not when they had appearances to keep up with with the two other schools being guests here. Regardless, he had to figure out what was going on, and punish whoever did so.
“Alright, sit. Sit. ” Sebastian forced Enoch to sit down at one of the dinner tables lining the sides of the hall with a huff, and Enoch pouted in return.
“But it’s not fun just sitting. Aren’t we here to have fun ?”
Sebastian sighed loudly. “First you ran into Onai and forced her to dance with you, spun her around so many times you made her sick, then you took off and danced with Poppy, and now look at you. You’re filthy, covered in that dust.”
Enoch sniffled, having inhaled a good amount of pollen from dancing with Poppy and now had a runny nose. “Oh, Poppy, where did she go?” Enoch stood up, ready to go find her. “I don’t want her to be lonely.” He started walking off before Sebastian grabbed his arm to stop him, spinning him back around.
“Stay. Away. From. Poppy,” Sebastian said through his teeth. The little horns on his mask were now sparking out of control, little bolts shooting off of them as he stared Enoch down in front of him.
Enoch chuckled at the sight and reached out to touch them, yelping in surprise when it shocked his finger. “Ouch.”
“You idiot .”
Enoch tilted his head in thought, staring at the horns. “Do they spark like that when you’re feeling angry?”
Sebastian stared back at him. “I don’t know. I don’t care.”
Enoch smirked and pointed behind Sebastian. “Look! Leander’s coming!”
“What? Where?” Sebastian jerked his head around looking for the Gryffindor boy and the horns on his mask began sparking out of control again, making Enoch laugh loudly. Sebastian realised it was a trick and glared back at Enoch, slightly embarrassed. But then he felt a tug on his sleeve, and stopped to point his attention to Ominis who was now standing beside him.
“Enoch, I need to tell you something in secret,” he spoke, and Sebastian was about to tell him he wasn’t Enoch until Ominis leaned into his ear to whisper. “Don’t tell Sebastian I told you this, but I think I am in love with Anne.”
Sebastian stood in shock and stared back at Ominis, who was now clumsily walking away. He had no idea how to respond to that, but once he turned back to Enoch he realised he had gotten away. And now his horns were sizzling and sparking so much they were creating a small fire atop his head.
Professor Sharp was getting increasingly irritated and fed up with the night. Not only was Madame Auclair getting more and more irrational, but the students were as well. He saw Garreth Weasley bursting into full flames now, and a Slytherin fourth-year letting bats out of his robe that attacked a Gryffindor student, and a... gazelle?
“ Danse avec moi, professeur,” Madame Auclair sang, trying to drag Sharp away from the pillar he was taking refuge at. “ Voudriez-vous danser avec moi plaît?”
“Madame, I do apologise,” he said as he tried to get out of her grasp. “I cannot understand what you’re trying to tell me.” She kept losing her balance and jerking him around until he finally heaved a heavy sigh and pulled over a chair that was a few feet away from them. “Please, take a seat,” he said to her, gesturing for her to sit down. She fortunately did as she was told and sat down in the chair, looking up at Sharp with a dazed look.
Once he knew that she was fine and wasn’t going to fall over and hurt herself, he trudged over to the juice bowl across the hall. He took his wand out of his inner coat pocket and began to wave it over the pumpkin juice, which started to glow and indicate that it had been tampered with after all. He lowered his head and sighed, sticking his wand back in his coat pocket. And now he just had to figure out who was the one who had done so.
But turning around, his questions were almost answered immediately. Garreth Weasley was now running across the hall on fire, laughing maniacally. He should’ve known the Weasley kid was going to do something like this, he always does, and every idea he has never goes down well. Garreth was just about to run into a small group of Hufflepuff girls until Aloysius, shining brightly with his loud, peacock plumage, took out his wand and tripped Garreth, sending him face planting the floor. He snickered loudly with the other Beauxbaton students near him afterwards.
Professor Sharp had had enough. He sped off as fast as he could to find Professor Weasley and put an end to the craziness that became of the celebration. It didn’t take long to find her, however, as she was loudly telling off a group of students from Durmstrang who decided to try and start a food fight with the snack cakes.
“Professor Weasley,” he spoke, exasperatedly. “The pumpkin juice has been tampered with. And I think the culprit is your nephew.”
“Oh, I am already aware, Professor,” she replied, sighing herself. “Do you perhaps think we should send the students back to their dormitories for the night?”
“ Very much so.”
“Very well. I’ll make an announcement.”
Sharp trudged back and found Madame Auclair still in the chair, half asleep against the wall. He sighed, knowing he’d have to make sure she got back to her quarters safely.
Professor Weasley stopped the music playing and casted the sonorous spell to give her announcement on the staff platform, catching everyone’s attention. “May I please have your attention, students. The ball will be ending now, and I advise each of you to head straight to your dormitories and retire for the night. To the prefects, I ask that you please make sure all of your students make it back safely. Thank you. You may go.”
The students began to shuffle out of the Great Hall in packs and Sebastian hurriedly searched for Enoch and Ominis. Luckily, Ominis didn’t stray too far away, but Enoch was sneaky, especially under the effects of the laced pumpkin juice. But eventually he was found, next to Poppy, covered in more pollen.
Sebastian marched through the stampede of students and grabbed onto Enoch’s arms. “Let’s go. ” He began to drag him away, and pushed Ominis out with them.
The crowd spread out more as they made their way to the grand staircase. Sebastian walked beside Enoch as Ominis trailed behind, twirling his wand in the air and clumsily walking slowly. Sebastian looked over at Enoch as he sneezed - probably from all that pollen - and noticed his cravat was missing and his shirt was opened at the top, revealing his neck and collarbone.
“Now what did you do?” Sebastian asked, pointing at his missing neck piece.
Enoch looked down dumbly and chuckled. “Oops, I must have lost it. I took it off because I got a little warm earlier.” He tried craning his neck down as far as he could to see the top of his dress shirt and tried to button it back up, but kept failing. Sebastian, now red in the face, looked away and sighed.
The two boys made it back to their dorm, Enoch getting increasingly whiny as he complained he was tired.
“Your bed is right there , Enoch. If you’re tired, sleep,” Sebastian stated irritably as he sat at the edge of his own bed and began to untie his bowtie. His mask thrown on the floor, relieved to finally have his face uncovered.
Enoch stumbled and leaned onto his bedpost, groaning. “I need to change into my night clothes,” he mumbled, unsuccessfully trying to unbutton his shirt.
“You’re going to hurt yourself. Just lay down.”
Enoch seemed to stop and try to regain his balance, but leaned too far to his left and stumbled over towards Sebastian. Sebastian was too late to catch him as Enoch fell right on top of him, causing Sebastian to fall backwards and Enoch crushing him.
Sebastian stopped breathing for a moment, absolutely panicking over Enoch being on top of him. He tried pushing him off, but he was completely dead weight, seemingly passed out already. Sebastian stopped struggling to hear silent snores coming from the boy on top of him. He didn’t want to shove Enoch off and have him fall to the floor and potentially get hurt, but at the same time he was getting uncomfortable being underneath him. His heart was beating so fast he’d be surprised if Enoch didn’t feel it.
He claimed it a losing battle and relaxed underneath him, throwing his arms beside him onto the bed and letting Enoch sleep. Maybe Enoch would get uncomfortable at some point and roll off, so Sebastian decided to leave him be for now.
And hopefully tomorrow everyone will be back to normal.