Hazy Shade of Winter

“Exactly.” So maybe she was a magnet for falling objects if bludgers counted. But she was still more coordinated than him. At the squeal and the feeling of her hand in his, Felix felt his cheeks flush once again. Girls didn’t really take his hand. “Okay.” He replied, before going in to change. When he came out, his costume was nearly identical to her’s, minus the t-shirt. Instead of a v-neck, it was a crew-neck. “What do you think?” He asked.

She smiled with a gasp when he was revealed. “You look vonderful!” she beamed. “I think you are a better Peeta than the movie!” She never really liked how the movie portrayed Peeta in the first one, though she admittedly liked what they did in the next two. But that didn’t matter right now; Felix looked great, and they were going to have tons of fun. “So vot do you vant to do first? I have done the mirror room, but I vill do it again if you vant!”

“I think you’d last longer than me. You’re probably more coordinated than I am.” Plus she didn’t seem to be a magnet for falling objects. When she said that she’d never done a matching costume either, part of him was surprised, but he didn’t question it. “Yeah.” He said. Considering he didn’t have any other ideas, he had no reason to not match with her. “Why not?”

“Vell, I guess you are right,” she giggled. “I do play qwidditch for a reason.” She then let out a small but clearly excited squeal, then covered her mouth at the sound. “Sorry.” She giggled before taking his hand and pulling him quickly towards the costume booth. She then let go and nodded once. “I vill vait out here.”

“Well for one, I wouldn’t last five minutes in the Hunger Games.” Although it was his bad attempt at a joke, it was also pretty true. With the fact that he was in a perpetual state of exhaustion coupled with the fact that he was clumsy, he probably would not come out on top if the Games were real. “But…” He trailed off. He hadn’t really opened up this much since the Veritaserum incident. “No one’s ever asked me to do a matching costume with them before.”

“Neither vould I,” she giggled, shaking her head. She supposed if it was a life or death situation, she could use her heritage to her advantage, but only in a life or death scenario. At his admission, her smile faded into a more shocked expression. Then she closed her mouth and nodded, her smile returning quickly. “Vell, same vith me,” she explained. “So ve can do it for the first time together, right?”

“Well, I mean you could dress up as Peeta but just say you’re a District 12 tribute.” He suggested. Probably not the best idea though. “Oh no, I don’t mind matching you. I’m just…surprised that you’d want me to be your Peeta.” His voice got lower as he spoke. 

“True, but it vould not be the same,” she explained before her jaw dropped a little. “Vhy vouldn’t I?” she asked, reaching out to grip his arm reassuringly. “I cannot think of anyvone else I vould rather have as my Peeta!” She was trying to be supportive, but she hoped she wasn’t coming off too strong with her friendship; she just wasn’t used to having someone so receptive to her friendship before.

“I guess we can.” As long as he wasn’t thrown to the crowd, he’d be okay. At her suggestion, his cheeks turned red. “You…you want me to match with you?” He’d never worn a matching costume before. Not even with his sisters. And the fact that she wanted him to be Peeta made his face flush even more.

Monika shrugged, smile on her face. “Vhy not? It vould be fun!” she explained, playing with her braid. “And he vos my favourite character, but I could not dress up as him. People vould not know who I vos if I did.” She giggled before she noticed his cheek color change. “Oh, you do not have to if you do not vant to,” she assured him, thinking the blush was out of embarrassment. “I can help you think of something else.”

“Not really. I was kind of hoping I’d be able to get out of going to this thing.” It had occurred to him that if he really wanted to, he could just say he was a vampire. But considering he’d seen someone dressed as a vampire and it had really bothered him, there was no way in hell he was doing that. “Sure I guess. What would you recommend?”

Monika nodded. “I understand, but now that you are here, ve can try to have some fun, right?” she asked, hoping she wasn’t annoying him with her optimism. She smiled wide when he said he would be open to suggestions, then she closed her mouth in a pondering expression. “Hmm…  oh! If ve are going to be together, ve could both be Hunger games people? You could be Peeta!”

Felix knew that he couldn’t exactly stay there in his pajamas, even if his pajamas looked like normal clothing. As a result, he decided to change in the costume booth and let the room pick something for him. As long as it wasn’t vampire themed, he didn’t care. At her words, he found himself blushing. His friends usually said that to him, but she was different. She and Jamie were the only friends of his that actually got how much of an introvert he was. “No idea. I’ll let the Room pick.”

“Oh, you do not have ideas?” she asked. “Can I help you think of something? You helped me vith mine, it is only fair, right?”  She then tilted her head back and forth, looking up in though. “I guess random could be fun too, but still.”

Although Felix liked Halloween because of the candy, atmosphere, and movies, there were plenty of things he didn’t like about it. Like being dragged to a Halloween themed Rory Smith party. Despite being amazed at the fact that the Room was able to create everything at the carnival, Felix still would have preferred to be in the Gryffindor common room. However, his mood brightened some at the sight of a familiar blonde. Walking up to her, he nodded in greeting. “You know how I said I wouldn’t be here unless I was dragged? Well, I was dragged.”

@monika-krum

Monika had decided against the wig the room provided for her Katniss costume, preferring to simply plat her own hair down the side. She had already gone through the mirror room and was deciding what to do next when Felix caught her attention. She couldn’t hide her smile, then felt a bit guilty about it since he clearly wasn’t here by choice. “Vell, votever reason. I am happy to see you,” she greeted before asking “Vot are you changing into?”

At the question, Felix shrugged. He wasn’t big on parties, and despite it being referred to as a carnival, it essentially was a Rory Smith party. “Probably not, unless one of my friends drags me.” And knowing his friends, one of them would.

“Oh,” Monika said, her face falling a little. “I vill not drag you. I know it is not for everyone.” She nodded once, turning back to the phone. “But if somevone does drag you, try to find me, okay?”

“Sure.” He replied with a casual shrug. He’d pulled up the food themed Netflix shows because that’s what he’d recommended to her. But if she wanted towatch something else, he was down for that. At the mention of a Halloween costume, Felix remembered the stupid Halloween party that was coming up. “’Welcome.” He said with a nod. “Are you going to that…Halloween thing?”

“Thank you!” she said again before nodding, not bothering to hide her excitement. “Yes, I am! I have never been to a Halloveen carnival, and not at school. It sounds like so much fun! You?”

Felix didn’t mind The Hunger Games. It was an interesting trilogy of books as well as series of movies, since it showed what the future could potentially look like if people (especially Muggles) weren’t careful. Plus, he could empathize with the main character. He just wanted to live his life and be left alone, and wouldn’t be very happy if he was in Katniss’s shoes either. “Would you rather we watch that instead?” He asked.

She blinked at him. “Are you okay vith that?” she asked. “I vant you to have fun too, but I love this movie. It is not as good as the books, but I still love it.” Monika smiled as an idea hit her. “Oh! That can be my Halloveen costume! I can be Katniss!” She leaned her head onto Felix’s shoulder for a second affectionately before saying “Thank you, Felix, that vas driving me crazy for a few days.”

Sitting down next to her, he pulled out his phone and pulled up Netflix. Scrolling through his list, he showed her the show he’d clicked on. “Does Nailed It work?”

Monika couldn’t help but peek at his phone as he searched, and her eyes lit up as she saw a movie she really liked. “Yes, it vorks, but remind me later to vatch Hunger Games. I love that movie, I vant to vatch it again.”

“I’m not really an outdoor person either.” Considering the sun was a constant nuisance to him, he preferred to spend as much time indoors as he could. The only exception was at night, when he wanted to watch the stars. “Astronomy is technically the only time I’m willingly outside, and even that’s a stretch.” Considering the Astronomy Tower was technically both indoors and outdoors.

“That makes sense,” she nodded before letting out a giddy laugh as she jumped to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace. “So! Vot are ve vatching first?”

“Well that’s just fucking stupid.” Just because she was half veela did not mean she was sleeping with anyone. Just like he wasn’t going to drink anyone’s blood just because he was half vampire. “Yeah. It’s a really nice color at night, plus it’s nice to just look up at the stars.”

“I think so too,” she nodded before happily jumping to the other topic. “I like looking at stars too, but I like watching from indoors. Besides qwuidditch, I am not really an outdoors person.”

“Do people actually think that?” He asked. He didn’t mean that in the context of he and Monika sleeping together. He meant the concept in general: if people switched ties that it implied they slept together. “That two people who swap ties are sleeping together.” He clarified.

“I find that hard to believe.” He stated at the mention of her repressing her dumbass instincts. He couldn’t change her mind before when she wanted to do something reckless, so he wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep that up now. “But I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

“Ouch,” she feigned a wince and pouted before resuming a grin. “To yer dismay, ‘m actually a good bit of fun.” insisted Coraline as she curled her hand into a fist and rested her chin atop her knuckles. “So. Whatcha want to get up to?”