the guests included wolfman, dracula and his son [max]

[Deleted]

october 16, 2025

If anything could be said about Hogwarts, the school definitely went all-out for Halloween each year. Jamie was only a little jealous that Zombie Island hadn't been an attraction when she was in school - if it hadn't been open to adults as well, there would've been a one-wolf riot. Going to visit the island felt almost like stepping into a different world, one which was entirely consumed by Halloween decor and pumpkin-flavored things. Artificial pumpkin and real pumpkin mingled in the air, and Jamie wrinkled her nose. She'd prepared for the carnival by casting a few charms to muffle her senses, but she was still working on calibrating those so she didn't accidentally deafen herself for an indeterminate amount of time. She appeared to have done fairly well this time, though - she could hear the buzz of chatter in the air but it wasn't deafening to her, and even though she could smell the pumpkin, she had no hope of picking Max out of the crowd by scent alone. She'd have to do it the old-fashioned way - which was exactly the way Jamie liked it.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

TW/CW: Mention of past suicide attempt

October 16, 2025

Max had been fortunate that she hadn't had to do anything too stressful for her volunteering for Zombie Island. Considering that she already had prefect duties as it was, she was able—for the most part—to remain relatively relaxed. It was only the second day that the event had been going on, so she had decided to come and "float" wherever she was needed. Everything seemed to be going well enough, though, and there were actual adults on hand to help with the tasks that were too difficult or too dangerous for the students to handle on their own.

Halloween, as it was, had been a strange time of year for Max for the past two years, ever since she had tried to poison herself. Even the "murder mystery" element felt a little too raw for her, with everything that had only just happened over the summer. It felt as though the Quidditch league finals had been the day before, even if it had been months.

The carving station for the pumpkins, thankfully, was tame, aside from the knives. There were some younger kids around, so Max was careful to make sure that they had enough supervision. "Here," she urged gently to one child too small to be using anything sharp on their own, "why don't you tell me where you want me to cut it for you?"

@jamie

[Deleted]

As it turned out, Jamie didn’t have to use scent to pick Max out of the crowd, because her sister was… well, not predictable, but predictable to Jamie. Predictable in the sense that she would always be where she could help someone, which in this case meant being where she could help small children not accidentally hurt themselves carving pumpkins. Jamie wrinkled her nose when she got closer to the pumpkin carving station – even through the layer of her spells the scent of pumpkin as rather strong and not altogether pleasant – but pushed forward until she was in Max’s line of sight. It looked like her sister was busy helping the child she was talking to, and Jamie wasn’t particularly rushed. She could carve her own pumpkin, if she could think of a decent design… which probably wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t the most artistic one in the family, and all that was coming to mind was a wolf.

Jamie hummed to herself as she rounded the table. Think, Greyback. You need a better idea than a wolf. Maybe she could just steal the kid’s idea? Or carve a generic Jack-o-Lantern face. She should’ve thought about this more beforehand.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

October 16, 2025

The small child whom Max had gone to assist was receptive to the help, at least. There had been a few children—some of the older ones—who had balked at the idea of needing any sort of help and had needed a little bit more convincing that, yes, they probably did still need help with the actual carving part. Luckily, there was also a decent amount of parental supervision besides the Hogwarts volunteers, so that also helped.

"Well done," Max encouraged the child she was helping, not that the kid had actually done much. Still, they were excited about getting to rip out the insides of a pumpkin, and one of their parents soon came over to help in that process. It would have been better, Max thought, if they'd been there to help with the knife, too, but she knew that she couldn't be overly picky.

She had been given a reprieve, and it seemed that it had been just in time, because she turned to see that Jamie was there at the carving station. "Pssst, Jamie!" Max hissed in the blonde's direction, offering her half-sister a small smile.

@jamie