There were whoops of delight from the muggle borns after Dumbledore had
finished reading the announcement. "The tournament will be organised by myself
and the heads of house. Be sure to have a counter stain charm on the robes,
Prefects can you organise that for the younger ones". He paused to let the
uproar die down "Most of all" he said looking deadly serious "Have fun!".
"What's paintball?" Ron asked as they filed out of the Great Hall towards
Gryffindor Tower. Harry and Hermione were chattering excitedly and ignored him.
"I'll check the library for special charms, there should be some on colours and
wands" Hermione said speaking quickly and quietly as they passed the
Slytherins. "Yeah" Harry added scowling at Malfoy "I can't wait to hit Malfoy
straight in his big fat smirking face, I'll...." Ron was exasperated "WHAT ARE
YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" He shouted, and instantly went red as the whole of
Gryffindor
turned to stare at him. "You haven't heard of paintball?" Hermione said looking
puzzled. Harry suddenly clapped a hand to his head. "Of course Wizards don't
play paintball" He launched into a loud and vigorous explanation, with lots of
wild gestures for emphasis.
By the end Ron was just as enthusiastic as the other two. "Of course we won't
use guns, just wands" Harry added. "We could enchant the paint to chase Malfoy"
Ron snickered. "Don't worry about that" Harry grinned "We'll deal with him
personally".
Over the next few days no one talked about anything else. Professor Flitwick
had to levitate himself so that the students would pay any attention. "It's
very frustrating" he complained later to Professor MacGonagall "to have people
talking over your head and ignoring you. I am tempted to ask Serverus for a
shrinking potion. Fred and George Weasley certainly deserve it!"
The first match was between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Ron and Harry stared
glumly out of the window in Transfiguration. "Wish I was in Ravenclaw" Harry
muttered. "Yeah" Ron grinned "You'd be closer to Cho!". "Shut up!" Harry
punched Ron gently on the arm. They went back to transfiguring a table into a
donkey, their minds still on the upcoming game. Gryffindor were going to play
the winner of this match. If they won then they would face Slytherin and Harry
badly wanted to get back at Malfoy.
Harry wandered back to the Gryffindor common room. He mentally went through the
charms they were going to use to fight the match. They had worked out a way to
get the paint to laugh when tickled so that it was much harder to hide in the
thick bushes.
Hermione came in through the portrait hole and went quickly over to Harry.
"Ravenclaw lost" she said gleefully. "We're playing Hufflepuff"