Hogwarts Host Club

The room was lit with perhaps a hundred floating candles, and jack-o-lanterns with eerie carved faces glowed from the corners of the room. There were also more on the shrouded cabinets and cupboards that stood along the walls of the large, spare classroom. As Edward’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could now recognize the students before him, but even then, he had to take a guess.

The students before him did not look like students; they had gotten into the Halloween spirit, and were dressed in a wide variety of both spooky and humorous costumes. He swallowed awkwardly as his eyes travelled over each member of the Host Club, trying not to laugh.

He started from the left. Annette and Kristie were dressed as opposite twins – Kristie in a little red devil costume with glittering horns, little red wings and a forked tail. In place of her wand she held a small trident. Annette was wearing a white dress with fluffy white wings and a halo. She held in her hand a harp. Beside them were three younger girls Edward did not know, dressed as Grim Reapers. Their faces were painted white with large dark circles around their eyes, complete with black lip paint and fingernails. One of the girls had the same eyes as Rachel; perhaps she was her sister...

Next Edward saw Lindsay and Michael, both dressed in a slightly more horror-themed get-up than the girls. Lindsay wore a torn hoodie and pants, smeared with blood. His eyes glowed red from under the hood of his jacket. And he growled menacingly at Edward. There was some sort of shooting game the Muggles liked to play, Edward was sure, that had zombie characters like that. Michael looked like a blood splattered hero from an old fairytale, yet the blood looked like it had been put there only recently, Michael looking disgruntled and Lindsay somewhat devious.
Ashley had dressed up as a corpse bride, her skin tinted pale blue, a knife wound leaking fake blood down the side of her wedding gown. The blank, faraway look in her eyes made her seem very much like she was dead. Or a ghost. Jesse was dressed in a slimming black leather dress, with killer heels and spiked bracelets. She had a long tail with a sting on the end, and dark eye makeup. Edward concluded she must be dressed as a Succubus; her costume was also very realistic. Edward then saw Brie, dressed at could only be a stereotypical witch. Her skin was a light shade of green, and her robes were ragged, torn and had stains and holes all over. She carried her wand and a broomstick, and wore a tall pointed hat with a wreath of thorns around it. Edward swallowed; he could not see Rachel anywhere. Then he spotted the coffin. Of course.

She had said she had a great interest in vampires, he should have known she would dress up as one. He inched closer to the coffin, which was leaning against the far wall. He became very aware of the soft laughter coming from the other Host Club members. He slowly opened the door to the coffin, expecting the worst.
But the coffin was empty, save for a stuffed pink bunny with an oddly cute, innocent appearance. Edward turned to look accusingly at the others, mainly Jesse, when something dark dropped on his shoulders from the roof.
“Happy Halloween, Edward...” came Rachel’s unmistakeable hiss in his ear. He had crumpled to the floor under the weight of the surprise attack, and now lay flat on his stomach with Rachel sitting leaning over him with her knees either side of his waist. He struggled to catch his breath and tried to roll over. Rachel let him up, and stepped back to stand with her fellow Hosts. They all smiled, somewhat devilishly.

“Welcome to the Hogwarts Host Club, Edward Von Rüch.” They all said in unison. Edward smiled, hoping the darkness hid the fact that he was blushing. The doors opened again, and more students filed into the room for the Grand Opening of the Host Club. Among them were the Weasley Twins, Malfoy and his gang, as well as some of the other Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Slytherins. The hosts welcomed their guests, and began separating into small groups, one or two hosts and a group of guests.

Rachel took Edward’s hand and pulled him over to a table where Brie sat with Fred and George Weasley. They were all laughing and discussing Fred and George’s inventions, and their hopes to someday open up their very own joke shop. Rachel sat Edward down in a chair, and went to fetch some tea and cakes. She came back moments later, a tray laden with sweets floating in the air alongside her, and the disturbingly cute pink bunny tucked under one arm. Now that she was standing, Edward had a proper chance to look at Rachel’s costume.
The first impression was of a gothic Lolita. The lacy, frilly black and red dress was form-fitting, and that along with the thigh-high stripy socks, large black boots and long, dark gloves edged with lace contrasted with the pale makeup that made her skin glow like the moon in the dimly lit room. She wore red contact lenses, and had a line of (he hoped) fake blood running from one corner of her mouth, and down the side of her neck. She smiled, showing her ‘fangs’, no doubt magically lengthened by Madam Pomfrey.

“You look... erm... nice...” Edward commented, not sure if ‘nice’ was the correct term. It must have been, because Rachel laughed, and set the tray on the table. Brie poured tea, her hat slipping slightly and looking lopsided. Edward felt a little more at ease, if not slightly out of place here in the Host Club. He looked around at the other members, and saw that they and their guests were having a good time. Jesse was testing her Succubus ‘powers’ on Malfoy, he looked somewhat alarmed. Michael and Lindsay were doing a little act for the swooning group of girls; Annette and Kristie were swapping stories with their guests in the far corner.

“So, what do you think Edward?” Rachel asked, sipping her tea and looking up at him with bright scarlet eyes. Edward blinked a couple of times, racking his brains for an answer. He set down his teacup, and smiled.
“The Host Club? It’s a great idea. The atmosphere here is calm, and it’s almost as if there is no rivalry between the houses. Everyone is the same. It’s... nice.” He said, gazing blankly into space. Fred and George looked at each other in disbelief. They couldn’t believe this Slytherin was such a softie. Brie looked startled too. Rachel didn’t look quite so surprised. A slight frown creased Edward’s face as a thought occurred to him.
“Where did you guys come up with the idea for a host club?”

Rachel and Brie looked at each other and laughed. Annette and Kristie laughed too, they had heard the question as well.
“We all have our ideas. I guess the original idea came from one of those anime shows that Muggles worldwide love so much. There was a host club in a school, this particular anime was about six boys and a girl who run a high school host club. We watched this anime, and decided late last year that we would start our very own host club right here at Hogwarts.”

Edward was impressed. An impulse idea brought to life by some amazing students, seemed to be a big hit. There were more and more people coming into the room all afternoon, some of them in costume, others just curious about the Host Club.

***

Eventually Michael and Lindsay had to forcefully chase the guests out of the club room so that the hosts could clean up before the Halloween feast, and the Goblet of Fire. Edward stayed behind to help, he refused to just sit and watch whilst Rachel and her friends cleaned up the teacups, plates and sweet wrappers. He also learned the names of the Ravenclaw fourth years, Rachel’s sister was Lauren, with short dark hair, and her friends Ruby and Renee. He smiled at them, but only Lauren returned the gesture, somewhat evilly.
Rachel came out of a side room, wearing a simple pink dress with a red heart on the front. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, save for a small part drawn up into a random half-ponytail on the right side of her head. She had cleaned off all the blood and makeup, and looked normal again. As did everyone else once they too came out from the side room.
“Shall we?” Rachel asked, and Edward joined her in going down to the great hall for dinner. They separated to sit at their separate house tables, and waited for the evening to begin.

***

There was great uproar after t Harry Potter was chosen as a fourth Champion. The other houses were shouting insults at the Gryffindors, only a few people, Rachel and Edward among them, were in true confusion of what was going on. They got up and left with some of the other confused Host Club members, and returned to their classroom to discuss what had transpired.

“He can’t have done it, there is no way harry could have put his own name in the Goblet of fire.”
“What if he got someone else to do it for him?”
“He wouldn’t do that. Potter’s not fame hungry; he’s got enough being who he is. Why would he need more problems like this when he has a stack of his own to deal with each and every day?”

Everyone fell silent, listening intently to Edward’s words. They didn’t say so, but they agreed. Potter didn’t need this, and from the look on his face, he certainly didn’t want it. The group continued to chatter over what was going to happen now, until Rachel screeched it was waaaay past bedtime, and no sooner had she pointed this out, Professor Snape silently opened the door and glared down at them all. He looked paler, (than usual) and livid.

“Professor! Sorry, we didn’t realise...” Edward began, but a cold look from Snape cut him short.
“I don’t want excuses, Von Rüch, I want all of you to return to your houses, right now.” He said in a low, even voice. Laced with venom. The small group of students hurried out of the room, and dashed for their common rooms. Edward waved goodbye to Rachel, and she returned it with a sheepish smile. Hopefully tomorrow would be a clear, sunny day, and Professor Snape didn’t take any points off their houses.