Death by Pumpkin Juice
Hello dear readers, I haven't put anything up in a while so I thought I'd treat you to a little drabble/ one shot I wrote many, many months ago. It was supposed to be a nonsense fic (as in, not making much sense) but it turned into a little bit more than that… Enjoy!
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny where sitting around the fire in the common room, trying to finish last minuet homework assignments. Hermione was not very impressed with their procrastination ("honestly, why do you always leave it to the last minute?!"), and was curled up on an armchair, Crookshanks in her lap, reading 'Magical cooking: to be or not to be?'
Unusually, it was quite peaceful in the common room. Most first years and second years had gone to bed, but the rest stayed up, holding quiet conversations between themselves and others.
Harry was actually quite surprised but thankful for the bittersweet silence. Surprised because it was never usually this quiet, and thankful because it was actually helping him get his homework done quicker.
"Need any help with that?" Ginny asked him.
"Ginny, Harry and I are a year above you, how could you possibly be able to help him with his astronomy homework?!" Ron argued.
"Actually, Ginny, do you know any of these?" Harry said as he scooted closer to Ginny to show her his star chart.
Ron groaned.
"That one there is Sagittarius." She advised, pointing to a constellation.
As they quietly talked, Hermione watched them from her seat on the chair, and smiled.
"DEATH BY PUMPKIN JUICE!" Dean yelled, disrupting the quiet chatter.
"Good lord." Moaned Ron.
The once silent common room was now buzzing with giggles and loud voices saying things like: "Oh god!" and "holy cricket!"
"AND MAY THE JUICE, WIN YOU TRIUMPH, POPULARITY AND MOST OF ALL, THE GRYFFINDOR PUMPKIN JUICE CHAMPION GOBLET!" Seamus yelled, holding up a plastic goblet, embedded with the Gryffindor lion.
"What the hell is going on?!" Harry asked Ginny.
She sighed, "It's something Gryffindor made up years ago, Charlie told us about it. If someone yells 'death by pumpkin juice' when the common room is basically silent, the challenge begins." She explained.
"What challenge?" Harry asked.
"It-" Ginny started
But Ron interjected, "It's a competition to see who can drink the most pumpkin juice in thirty seconds, this competition hardly ever happens because the common room is almost never silent unless no ones in it." Ron finished.
"COME JOIN THE FUN, DON'T BE SHY, ONLY ONE COMPETITIOR WILL TAKE THE PRIZE!" Fred and George yelled.
"If you yell a part of the chant, or whatever it is, you're saying that you're up to the challenge." Said Ginny.
"Oh gosh, it's started!" Hermione whispered.
Everyone watched intently as Dean, Seamus, Fred and George downed one…two…three glasses of pumpkin juice, and they were still going. Lee Jordan was time keeping,
"Ten seconds over! He cheered. "Twenty… Twenty five… Aaaaaaaaaaaand… Thirty! SEAMUS TAKES THE PRIZE!"
A great lot of cheering started, and somewhere in all the noise, Harry swore he heard Lavender yell "YES! I WIN THE BET! TWENTY GALLEONS TO ME! COUGH UP PARVATI!"
A party had erupted in the common room, music was playing, Fred and George were circling Seamus waving Gryffindor banners an every direction.
"GIVE US AN S!" They yelled.
The common room occupants replied: "S!"
"GIVE US AN E!"
"E!"
"GIVE US AN A-M-U-S!"
"A-M-U-S!"
"WHAT DOES IT SPELL?!" They roared, "TROLL!"
Harry thought he was dreaming, though when he came down to the common room the next morning, the common rooms state explained it. The madness of last night was absolutely not a dream.