On All Hallows Eve......

Title: An Unconventional Halloween

By: Mrs_Helene_Snape

Warnings: Angst, Lang



Summary: Hermione is bored with the same old Halloween stuff, so she decides to do something different. What sort of surprises are in store for Draco and Hermione this Hallows Eve?



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“Tell me again why we\'re doing this Hermione.”



Hermione sighed at Draco\'s statement. “For the last time Draco. I told you that I wanted to do something different this Halloween. I don\'t want to go to the insipid University party...same people, same costumes, same boring event. This is the perfect opportunity for change. Now please hurry up. I\'ve already paid for our reservations and if we\'re late we\'ll miss the last tour.”



“Fine Hermione. I\'m coming.”



Since the fall of the Dark Lord Hermione and Draco had been attending the same wizarding university. They found it difficult to extend their animosity from Hogwarts into their new post-war lives, so they managed to develop a fast friendship once they discovered they had similar interests and career goals.



“Are you ready Draco?” He nodded before she pulled him close for side-along apparition.



They felt the travel magic squeeze their bodies together as they were transported to their intended destination.



“Fuck!” Hermione said as they stepped out of the shadows. “We\'re late. We need to hurry in order to catch up with the last guided tour of the night” Hermione said to Draco as she pulled him through the entrance to the haunted Muggle location.



“I see we have a couple of stragglers. Let me welcome you to Evanston Prison. My name is Marissa and I shall be your guide on this Hallows Eve tour. This is the Rotunda, the entryway to all sections of the prison. Looking around, you can see down each cell block, the administration wing, and the infirmary/cafeteria corridors. If you all will step over here I\'ll distribute the torches and go over some guidelines to follow while we\'re going through the various points of interest.” Marissa gave out the flashlights to the small group of twelve and she went over some of the basic safety rules. Draco tuned her out after she spoke about everyone staying with the group as he was attempting to figure out the contraption he was just given.



“Let\'s get started. Evanston Prison was built in 1864 and began housing prisoners within a year of completion. This penitentiary was established for the sole purpose of housing some of the most dangerous criminals of the time. Burglars and murderers were just a few of the types of prisoners who were incarcerated here” Marissa spoke as she led the group up the hallway. “Let\'s start off just up the corridor at the infirmary.”



Draco tightened his grip on Hermione\'s hand as the group moved toward to infirmary.



“Relax Draco. I\'m certain it\'s not nearly as scary as the hospital wing with Pomfrey in third year” Hermione whispered as she squeezed his hand in reassurance.



“This is where the inmates came whenever they were ill or injured. Around the 1920s the mortality rate became astronomical as TB ran rampant amongst the population. They didn\'t have access to proper medical care, so the infirmary carried the stigma of a death sentence. Prisoners did everything they could to avoid it. They all viewed the infirmary like this...if you go in, you won\'t come back out. No one was surprised when a morgue was added to the room off the south side during the peak of the epidemic.”



“Sound reminiscent of the Dark Forest at Hogwarts...\'Once you come in, you\'ll never come out\'” Hermione snickered in an ominous voice.



SLAM!!!



“What the fuck was that?” many in the group shouted.



Hermione tried to quell her laughter at their obvious distress.



“That sounded like the doors on the morgue\'s body drawers. Some of the restless souls like to toy with the tourists. No big deal. If no one has any questions, we\'ll continue on to the administration wing. There\'s an interesting story behind Warden Engles\' office.”



The tension amongst the group was palpable. As they moved along, Draco kept looking around, craning his neck and sweeping his flashlight at the shadows and sounds coming from the rooms they passed on their way to the warden\'s office.



Marissa pushed open the heavy wooden door marked Warden and began the history of the prison\'s thirteenth administrator. “Jacob Engles was in charge from 1919 to 1936 during one of the most violent and corrupt periods of this institution. Warden Engles became widely known for his acceptance of certain \'favours\' in exchange for prisoner privileges. He was made very wealthy by a select number of inmates\' families prior to his untimely death which took place in this very room.”



Murmurs were widespread. Draco pulled himself closer to Hermione when she spoke the question everyone wanted answered. “So Marissa, how exactly did he die?”



“That question has a very interesting answer. Jacob Engles was a very promiscuous, but a very married man. He was away from his wife for much of the week, so he took comfort in the arms some of the infirmary\'s female nurses. He was very careless and managed to impregnate three women around the same time. So the story goes, when they all confronted him about their delicate conditions he wasn\'t very receptive to the idea of fatherhood.”



“What did the ladies do about his response?” Draco asked in a tight, almost cracking voice.



“They cornered him in this office one Friday night before he went home for the long weekend. The three of them together overpowered him, tied him to his lounge chair here” she said as she gestured to the leather lounger which still had the ropes around the legs of it, “and...uh...basically made him a eunuch.”



“Ssss!” the males in the group hissed. They winced as they grabbed their crotches in defence of the morbid thought.



Marissa continued her gruesome tale “The jilted women left him tied up where he was and he bled to death. The investigators were unable to find his amputated bits, so he haunts these halls...”



Sounds similar to footsteps were heard in the hallway.



“Just the wind...just the wind” some of the more timid of the group whispered to each other.



“Actually, that is rumoured to be Engles searching for his missing...er...pieces. Suffice it to say this office was closed up and not used by subsequent administrators.”



Hermione felt Draco shiver as Marissa led the group to the next location. The group huddled up closer together as they ascended the stairs. “Welcome to the second level of cell block six. This group of solitary rooms held the most hardened criminals. This was the only section where the prisoners were segregated from the general population. These inmates ate, bathed, and exercised together. This section of cells is also where other inmates were sent for disciplinary problems. Outsiders often brought conflicts and were quickly \'handled\' by the established residents of this block.” Marissa looked around at the frightened eyes of the majority of the group. “Do any of you have any comments or questions?”



Hermione spoke up first “Were there ever any prisoners executed here as their sentence or was that taken care of by fellow inmates and illness?”



“Yes. There were 148 government sanctioned executions which took place between 1868 and 1971 when the prison was shut down for deteriorating conditions. From 1868 to 1923, 86 executions were via hanging. With the addition of the chair as an execution method the remaining 62 took a final ride on \'Old Sparky\'. If you\'d like, we can head down to death row to have a look at the death chamber and the chair which is still there. How do you all feel about that?”



Eight people, including Hermione nodded in agreement. Draco and three others shook their heads in a violent no.



“Majority says \'yea,\' so let\'s head that way. Do try to keep up. It\'s a long, intricate path to death row from here and I don\'t want to lose anyone along the way.”



Draco and Hermione lagged behind with Draco pulling her away from the tight-knit group. “Old Sparky? What the Hell is that? The death chamber? Didn\'t you see enough of that at Azkaban when the Death Eaters received the kiss?”



“Old Sparky is the nickname for the electric chair” Hermione explained to Draco\'s confused expression. “Thousands of volts of electricity are sent through the body until the person dies from the stress of it. I\'d equate it to the Crucio...unbelievable pain coursing through the body until the person wishes for death long before it finally comes. And it\'s not that I didn\'t see enough of the death chamber at Azkaban, but this is an interesting part of Muggle history. It\'s all so fascinating to me.” She saw Draco visibly shake in fear. “What\'s wrong Draco?”



“I don\'t like it here Hermione. There is true evil in this place. It\'s so apparent I can practically taste it.” The cell doors began to rattle and a gust of cold air breezed past them as Draco continued. “Do you hear that? Did you feel that? Can\'t you see that there are angry souls in this place who haven\'t moved on and don\'t want us here? I admit it. I, Draco Abraxas Malfoy am terrified and I want to go home. Please, please! If you care about me even the slightest bit, you\'ll come home with me. Right now” Draco practically begged. He did not want to remain in that obviously haunted place.



“Okay Draco. We\'ll leave. I don\'t want you to feel like I\'m forcing you to be here. We\'ve already missed the rest of the tour. There\'s no way we can catch up now, so we\'ll just leave from here.” Hermione pulled a very shaken Draco close and apparated to his flat. “Are you alright now Draco?”



“Will you stay with me Hermione? I really don\'t want to be by myself.” Draco took a shaky breath before he continued, “I have seen some unspeakably horrid things in my life and I\'ve lived in a haunted castle for seven years but for some reason that place scared the Hell out of me. I have never felt such a concentration of evil in one place in all my life. Not even when the Dark Lord took over the manor during our seventh year had I ever felt so much evil contained in one location.”



Draco was still shaking as he continued to speak “Even when I went to Azkaban to watch my father\'s kiss I didn\'t feel such a strong pulse of hatred and anger as I did in that despicable prison we just left. It unnerved me to the point where I didn\'t feel safe. Thank you for bringing me home Hermione. But I need you to stay here with me please. I just need to be around an actual person who doesn\'t intend me harm. Can you do that for me, please?”



“Of course I\'ll stay with you Draco. I care about you so much and it pains me to see you so distressed” Hermione said as she reached her hands out to caress his face, to soothe and reassure him that she would not leave.



“Hmmm” Draco whimpered at her touch. “I never realized just how much I need you in my life before tonight. I would have freaked out before I ever entered that place if you hadn\'t been there holding my hand, reassuring me that everything was going to be alright.” Draco took a deep breath before continuing. “What I\'m trying to say is...uh...” Draco stammered.



“What is it Draco? You\'re worrying me. You\'ve never been at a loss for words in all the years I\'ve known you. Please tell me what\'s on your mind. I promise I won\'t be upset or offended. You\'re really shaken up right now, so I\'ll be understanding of whatever you need to tell me.” She squeezed his hands in hers, urging him to continue.



Draco shut his eyes, not really wanting to see her reaction to what he was about to say. Before he began to speak, he changed his mind and his eyes shot open. “I love you Hermione. I\'ve loved you for a very long time.” He looked at her with trepidation in his eyes. He was so fearful of her rejection.



“I love you too Draco. I\'ve loved you since we started Uni together and discovered a commonality between us. I never thought that we could have anything beyond our comfortable friendship though. Now that I know my feelings for you aren\'t unrequited I want us to be so much more” Hermione said as she stroked his hands.



“Yes. Much, much more” Draco whispered as he pulled Hermione towards him and started to kiss her.



\'So this is what Parvati and Lavender were talking about. I never knew just kissing could feel like this\' Hermione thought as she was almost brought to her knees by the emotion behind Draco\'s kiss. Hermione slid her hands around his waist and up his back, drawing him closer still.



Draco\'s buried his hands in Hermione\'s unruly hair as he kissed her more fervently.



Oxygen deprivation forced them to separate, giving them a moment to process what just happened.



“Damn!” Hermione said finally breaking the silence. “Had I known it would be like that, I would have kissed you a long time ago.”



“Once again you have me at a loss for words. I never expected to experience all of those romantic clichés all at once.”



Hermione raised an eyebrow at his statement and asked “Clichés? What clichés are you referring to?”



“You know...the spark between two people, the butterflies in the stomach...you mean to tell me you didn\'t experience any of those things? Damn, I must be losing my touch.”



“It\'s not that I didn\'t feel all of those things too. I just wouldn\'t call them clichés. I don\'t consider them as such if those things are actually desired and haven\'t drove us to the point of vomit. As a matter of fact, I would like to add a few more to the list.”



“Really? What did you have in mind?”



“I wouldn\'t object to you and I \'making the earth move\'. Perhaps we could start with the bed and progress from there.”



“Sounds like an excellent idea, as always Hermione. I am so glad that I let you talk me into doing something unconventional this Halloween. I doubt we would have gotten together if it wasn\'t for that.”



“I\'m glad too, Draco...very grateful in fact. So, if you\'ll allow me to show you my gratitude... ” Hermione said as Draco led her to the bedroom.



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A/N: Alas, my internet connection was down for the past week so I have been unable to read the submissions since the first two (I shall remedy that over the weekend). I had to do something to keep myself sane, so this was my addition to S_G\'s great challenge. Hope you enjoyed it.