There were a lot of things he was willing to do in the name of love. Save a book from sure and sudden death even if he hated said book. Make a fool of himself just to spark a smile or a laugh. Take a punch or throw one. Depending on the situation. But this was just...

"Bloody fucking terrible. I look like a bloody wanker!" Jaxon groaned to himself, his dorm mates getting a hearty laugh in at his expense. When Fallon had told him he would be the Mad Hatter, he had assumed the 'Mad' part meant his costume would be some form of cool. What he had ended up with on his bed was some kind of awkward mismatched clothing that he was in no way going to wear in public. Of course, he still wanted to keep his bloody testicles and Hufflepuff or not Fallon would rip his off if he didn't at least have a somewhat believable excuse for deviating from what she had picked out.

He had tried to get Potter to light it on fire so he could use that as an excuse, but the bloody Savior only shook his head and laughed at him. So grumbling, Jax had gone back to the drawing board for ideas. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out a good approach to this. He just needed to take his time and give it a bit of thought was all. Ya. That was it. An hour later, minutes were ticking by and the time when he would need to meet Fallon in the entrance hall ere ticking nearer, and he still had no clue what he was going to do. All he really knew was that he was not wearing that outfit.

Or maybe just not all of it. Some of it had to be better than none of it, right? The gryffindor's famous roguish grin presented itself as he readied himself with what he had in mind. What he didn't use of the costume Fallon had provided he vanished to never reappear again. "Let's roll mates." Jaxon told the other sixth year boys, slipping a pair of shades over his eyes and leading the way out of the dorms and down to the common room with an almost smirk on his face as the other boys laughed and chuckled but followed. He rolled through the gryffindor common room like a rockstar with an entourage and climbed out of the portrait hole and into the main castle.

He proceeded this way, strolling along with his cocky gait in nothing but his boxers and the long, blue coat that had been included in his actual costume. Jaxon had also kept the hat, and it was place precariously on his head at an angle, tilted to one side. His had no shirt, and the coat was left open to bare his naked chest, and had socks and his quidditch boots on. This was how the boy made his way to the entrance hall to meet his Hufflepuff. So maybe she wasn't his technically yet. But that was all about to change tonight. So long as she didn't murder him for showing up like this.

Sitting on her bed she did her make up with a smile. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually been so excited to go to something. Maybe it was because this time Jax was going with her or her date, or maybe it was because of her costume. The pretty blue dress fell to just below her knees. With it she had paired knee high stockings and white high heels. On her hands would be fingerless black and blue gloves to match her dress. The costume was simply amazing and she would have to thank her mother when she went home next break for helping her come up with it on such short notice. Jax's costume was amazing as well and she could not wait to see him in it.

Slipping up from the bed she pulled off her t-shirt and then pulled the dress on and down over her head. Spinning around she checked herself out in the mirror. It was hard to recognize the girl there, she was beautiful. It truly was an amazing transformation. Checking herself one last time she headed out the door tucking her wand into her stocking just in case.

As she walked through the halls she waved hello to a few younger students, smiling with a bounce to her step as her heels clicked down the hall. There was something about making yourself up that could certainly change your attitude and outlook on life. Fallon certainly looked happy that way..for now. Strolling into the Great Hall she looked around for signs of the hat that would give away his location. When she didn't see it she turned around to head back into the hall.

The sight she was met with was enough to turn her face bright red. Strolling towards her with a pack of Gryffindor's he was only wearing pieces of the costume she had picked out for him. Narrowing her eyes at him she shook her head and without waiting for him to come up with an excuse she pulled her wand out of her stocking and waved it over her costume.

If he got to walk around like that all night then she got to dress how she felt like, and now she was feeling dangerous. Suddenly her dress rose to mid thigh, conforming and becoming a bit tighter. Hitting him with a smile she turned on her heel and walked back into the Great Hall. It was going to be a night remember.

(original dress

second dress

Heheh. Fallon's reaction was more or less priceless, depending on how you looked at it. Jaxon, he liked to always see the glass half full. So even though he knew she was angry about his costume, he chose to ignore that in favor of watching the sight of her very sexy body reveal more of itself as she altered her costume with a few flicks of her wand. His face was one of surprise and nearly astonishment as the blue dress she was wearing shortened, showing off more of those perfect stems of hers, and as it tightened considerably until it was clinging to her body.

Faced with her obvious wrath in her narrowed gaze had had him coming to an abrupt halt, and his fellow Gryffindor's each collided into him and each other as Jaxon was too stunned to do more than watch the Hufflepuff that was his date. If this was punishment, Merlin, let him misbehave every second of every day. The boy silently prayed to whatever ruled the universe as the wolf whistles started behind him and his date hit him with a smile that could break hearts before turning away and walking into the great heart. At which point he clutched his chest in faux pain and fell theatrically to the floor. "Mates. Think I've gone and died and gone to heaven." He commented from his place on the floor, to which was returned laughter and giggles.

He laid there for a good moment or two before accepting the help from his still chuckling mates. He straightened out his jacket on his shoulders, placed his hat back on his head at its crooked angle, and followed Fallon into the hall, leading his pack of Gryffindors. As they passed the threshold of the doors, all the boys pulled their wands and shot off sparks, letting out whooping yells and wolf whistles along with lion roars and cat calls. Just making a scene in general to let the attendants already there know that the real party had arrived. It was to be expected from Jax and his pack of lions. There was no stage like center stage and the Gryffindor was always up for entertaining the masses and giving a good show.

He led the way through the crowd with his daring grin plastered on his face as his dark eyes took in the scene that was the Halloween Ball amidst claps and cheering for their show. The decorations were a good touch and very Halloween like. He spotted Potter in his batsuit getting a table dance from a very sexy clown who Jaxon could only hope was the other boy's witch because he didn't want to have to clean up pieces of Potter all over the place. He watched the show for a moment. Maybe two. It was a damn good one so you couldn't blame him for taking his time in looking away. There was the crazy Russian dressed in lingerie chasing after...he didn't know exactly what, to be honest. Maybe a second year wearing a potato sack as a costume? Then there was the Heads, who were apparently trying to set an example by doing real dancing.

The rest of the crew he had arrived with headed to the refreshments chattering and joking and basically being the lively bunch they were. Jaxon of course led the way but kept his eyes for his date who seemed to have disappeared on him. His grin grew to a hazardous length. She was probably off somewhere blushing like a maniac because of his entrance and costume combined. She should have known better than to expect anything less. The boy fixed himself a glass of punch, and sputtered on his first drink in surprise. Maybe he shouldn't have been surprised someone had actually managed to spike the drinks before they arrived. If he ever found out who did he would tip his hat to them.

Alas, he took to scanning the masses for his badger. But there was so many people there he couldn't see her, even though his height gave him an advantage to see over the shorter students there. Well that just wouldn't do. He couldn't be lost in wonderland without her. Jaxon did what any sane person would who couldn't find their date. He leapt up onto the stage where the band was playing and interrupted the music, grabbing the microphone from the singer, who he gave a quick once over. "Nice costume." He then took a moment to look at all the members of the band, nodding and grinning to them all. "Ya. You too. Nice theme you got going. I like it." Of course, he didn't realize that every word he said was spoken into the mic he was holding just below his mouth so the entire hall heard.

He turned his attention to the hall of students and gave his most charming of grins to the crowd. "Hey hey, you lot. Having fun in Wonderland?" He paused and grinned roguishly when the crowd yelled and cheered to his question. "Well it seems the Mad Hatter has lost Alice. So we can do this one of two ways. She can come forward now, or I'll stay up here and entertain you lot and you can tell me which witch decided to turn into a tomato with all her blushing wearing a blue dress." True to form, the Gryffindor stood center stage and waited to see what would happen. Either Fallon would come forward or he would stay up there and embarrass her further with his vocal chords and dance moves, because he was sure by now there was no doubt in anyone's mind just who was playing the Mad Hatter tonight.

As Fallon marched into the Great Hall and lost herself in the crowd she shook her head.  He never failed to amaze her, but this time he had taken it to the extreme.  She should have known that he would never take his costume seriously like she did.   Though, she was hoping just this one time he would do something exactly how she asked.  Hearing the hoopla behind her near the door way she turned to watch them all walk in and there was no denying the blush on her cheeks now.

Feeling flush she started to walk again admiring everyone's different costumes.  Most of the girls found it an excuse to dress like a complete tramp which was what she was trying to avoid but she had ended up shortening her dress a bit higher than needed.  The damage was done though and it wasn't horribly short, just shorter than anything she was used to.  

Continuing to move she paused on the far side of the room near the dance floor.  The decorations were amazing and the music was actually something they could dance to.  Speaking of dancing she should probably make her way to finding her date but she was having so much fun watching the others.  That was short lived though. Just as she started back towards the crowd she heard his voice, a bit louder than it should have been.  Then she realized where he was when he started questioning everyone.

He was up on the stage and was commanding the attention of everyone in the room.  Crossing her arms over her chest she had evety intention of ignoring him after that stunt but he did not give her that option. As he called her out in front of the entire school her entire face turned a completely different shade of red.  Ignoring the whispers of a group of girls beside her she narrowed her eyes.  She hated the attention being on her like this so she knew the sooner she got to the stage the better.

Marching over to the stage she stared up at him, willing the redness out of her cheeks though it was not happening as quickly as she would like. "Jax, get down from there right now, or I will find another wizard to spin me around the dance floor."  Recrossing her arms over her chest she gave him another seething look daring him to cross her.

Whoa ho ho, was his Hufflepuff ever angry. He wasn't entirely sure if angry even began to cover the look on Fallon's face when he spotted her in the crowd way before she even moved. He wasn't even entirely sure if he could still consider her his Hufflepuff anymore. Jaxon mentally flicked that thought away. Who's else could she be? She had been his since first year. It was just taking her a while to catch on to that and as long as she kept taking her time he was going to keep doing stupid yet hilarious things like jumping on stages to find her and even then he would still do things like this. She should expect it from the Gryffindor.

Brown eyes lit up as he spoke into the mic again, "Alice, oh Alice. Where for art thou Alice?" He did a terrible version of Shakespeare, and his grin said he knew exactly how bad it was. "Oh wait. The chick says that to Romeo doesn't she? Bloody hell. I should've paid attention when she made me read that." The boy seemed to have forgotten he had a microphone in his hand and was babbling into it again. That didn't matter though because Fallon stomped over to the stage looking like the sexiest thing alive in that short and tight dress and anger in her eyes. It didn't seem sane to enjoy a witch's fury as much he enjoyed hers but there something to be said for the daring nerve he had. Jax gave his roguish grin like the fool he was and pushed her farther than he knew was probably smart. "Right-O Fallon. Just a sec." He held a finger up to her to signal she wait a moment and turned his attention back to the crowd.

"Witches and gents! I proudly present the sexiest Alice in Wonderland you've ever seen!" He announced her to the hall of students in costumes and waved a hand in the Hufflepuff's direction as he added on, watching her with a dare in his gaze. "How about we take our first dance on stage Alice? Unless you're scared...." He trailed off calling her out again. Jaxon knew he would be paying for his balls. Probably with his balls. But it was well worth it to him if he managed to get her on stage. He soon found he would never know because at that moment all hell seemed to break loose in the great hall with giant arachnids storming in and crawling over the place in packs. His first instinct was that this was some kind of Halloween prank the Heads and Prefects were pulling on them but that lasted only until he saw actual attacking start to happen and then the Gryffindor was leaping into action.

He dropped the mic without a second though and jumped from the stage as one of the spiders got way too close to Fallon for his liking and shooting stunners repeatedly at it until it keeled over. He reached behind him and grabbed her hand pulling her along as he tried to find a good position to both keep her safe and defend against the spiders as everyone else seemed to either panic or have enough brains to use their wands. "Fallon. Two choices. Help stun them but stick with me, or help get the younger years out of the hall safely." Jax still held on to her hand with a grip tighter than was necessary as he stunned another spider. This was not what he had in mind for tonight but he wasn't going to let his witch out of his sight for a second now. He had guts and nerves but not the kind that would allow her to go off on her own in this kind of crowd.

Fallon could not remember the last time she had been so angry, possibly when her brother had pushed her in the lake causing her to ruin her new dress, but maybe even that time was not this bad. Staring up at him with her arms crossed over her chest she shook her head causing her hair to fall about her face. As he continued to ask about her, she knew her face had to be a horrible shade of beet red but she couldn't calm herself enough to let it fade.

Pointing to the floor beside her she shook her head at his horrible attempt at Shakespeare, reminding herself to not bother sharing the classics with him in the future. As he brought even more attention to her, she wish that she had a little pill that would make her shrink from sight but she was not so lucky. Shaking her head she reached out trying to get ahold of the mic cord so that she could pull it from his grasp. She needed to get him off that stage before he could embarrass her even further. With a shake of her head she reached up and brushed her hair back out of her eyes. Just as she was about to respond to his question of the dance he leapt off of the stage pulling her out of the way of a giantic spider and she nearly fainted at the sight of it.

It was huge and hideous and if there was one thing she was scared of it was spiders. Normally she would scream and throw her shoe at them, but throwing a shoe at the said spiders in this room would only piss them off more. Pulling her wand out of her stocking she tried to shoot off spells as her hand shook furiously. The other hand was currently squeezing Jax's hard enough to break it but it seemed he had no intention of letting her go.

"I need to go help the younger years Jax before something happens to them." Waving her wand again she finally managed to shoot off a stunning spell to clear out a group converging on a crying bunch of first years. "Come on now run, head to your common rooms and do not stop until you get inside safely." Looking back up at him with fear in her eyes, she tried to maintain her composure but it was quickly cracking.

Everywhere he looked there was either spiders, students running and screaming, or students like himself, taking up arms to defend. Jaxon wasn't even sure what to think anymore. Where the hell did all these things come from, and why? He was aware of Fallon, still attached to him by way of hand, helping a group of first years who looked positively terrified. The Gryffindor was sure if this had happened on Halloween his first year he would've been too. Atleast they had only gotten a bloody troll. One he hadn't even seen.

Just like all those years ago, he found himself filling with a fearful type of dread. It wasn't even just the spiders anymore. Though there was enough of the arachnids that there was no way there wouldn't be either seriously injured or casualties on both sides. That was enough to have him gripping the Hufflepuff witch's hand just that much harder, as if that alone would ensure her safety. It atleast let him know she was still with him as he switched from stunners, because it took a good few to actually stun one of the creatures, to sending strong cutting hexes at their legs.

Just as he took aim at another attacking spider, a jet of bright green light got to it first, and the massive thing keeled over. Dead. Jaxon felt a very real chill of fear crawl up his spine as he spotted the notorious mask of a Death Eater. The boy felt the blood drain from his face, and swallowed thickly as more very obviously killing curses streamed throughout the room along with the many flashes of red that he knew were stunning spells. Shit just got very real.

"Fallon, listen to me." He met her fearful eyes for a moment, speaking in an urgent tone. "You need to get out of here. Get as many of the younger years out with you, but get yourself out. Now." His tone left no room for arguments. Spiders were one thing. You-Know-Who and his merry band of Death Eaters was quite another. Jax had no intention of leaving the sudden battle, but neither did he have any intention of keeping her in danger. Fallon was a lot of things, but fearless fighter wasn't one of them, and he wasn't going to have her staying in a room full of Death Eaters shooting off killing curses.

As Fallon tried to get a grip on her emotions she kept trying to send off hexes and jinxes, anything that would keep the spiders at bay.  While she was usually cool under pressure this had shaken her to her core and she knew for the days to come she would have nightmares about the scene in front of her.  Turning slightly she tried to keep her balance as he pulled her along with him while still shooing out the first years.  

That all stopped though when she saw the Death Eaters and she froze.  She wasn't prepared for this.  All her time in DADA was not even close to what she would need to survive against the Death Eaters.  Looking up at him she nodded and leaned up to press her lips to his quickly. "Don't try to be a hero Jax, I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."  She tried to fight back the tears that danced at the corner of her eyes.

"Find me tonight, do not go to bed without letting me know you are safe." Giving him a nod she started to push a group of students towards the door refusing to let them look back or stop moving.  If they could make it to the doors and into the main hall and that was just what she did, ducking and weaving between the bodies of spiders and the broken tables and chairs.

Even when she was in the hall she did not stop, she kept running forcing the students ahead, trying to not dwell on the fact that she had just left the boy that she loved with all of her heart behind.