Who Will Become Hogwarts' Top Student of the Year?

by Windrises

Professor Dumbledore announces a competition, involving magic duels. He claims the winner will be claimed the year's best students and win prizes, so several students enter. Harry and Hermione try to ignore their feelings for each other, so they can focus on winning, but an old friend is after them.

Note: Harry Potter was created by J. K. Rowling and is a film series owned by Warner Bros.

Hermione Granger finished brushing her hair. She went into the hallway and saw lots of excitement and chaotic kids roaming the hallways. She raised her eyebrows, but she knew why they were excited. Professor Dumbledore had a big announcement. He claimed it would lead to a big reward and would change the history of Hogwarts. Dumbledore was infamous for being hyperbolic, but that didn't stop the students' excitement.

Hermione hoped the students wouldn't get out of control. In previous years, the students did silly and dangerous stuff, like bonk into walls and knock valuable stuff to the ground. She looked around and saw a bunch of kids running around and bumping into their fellow students.

Deep down, Hermione was much more excited about a new library opening up, a few blocks away from Hogwarts. However, her classmates seemed to care less. They thought Hogwarts had more than enough books, but Hermione thought that every city should have five or more libraries.

Dozens of textbooks were lying on the ground, because they accidentally got knocked out of students' arms. Hermione picked up one the textbooks and said, "I'm sorry that you've treated so carelessly, old friend."

Harry Potter walked up to her and asked, "Were you apologizing to a textbook?"

Hermione had an embarrassed look on her face, while saying, "Yes I was." She was expecting Harry to laugh at her, but he didn't have the heart to do that. She felt relieved, while saying, "Things sure are chaotic around here, aren't they?"

Harry answered, "Yes they are. I had to help a few students get up, because Draco accidentally pushed them to the ground."

Hermione said, "Everybody's so excited over all this announcement stuff, even though they don't know what the announcement is. Frankly, I'm not that interested in that stuff."

Harry asked, "Really? I heard it's going to be something big."

Hermione said, "I'm more excited about the new library. However, it probably won't last long, since nobody seems to care."

Harry replied, "Then we should go there, after school."

Hermione smiled and responded, "Thank you. It's hard to find somebody, who gets excited by books."

Harry replied, "Books are cool."

Hermione said, "Harry, I love you."

Harry asked, "Love?"

Hermione said, "You know what I mean."

Harry replied, "Sometimes I don't." He wondered if he was supposed to say he loved Hermione. He figured that would be too sweet, but if he said nothing, he might look like he doesn't care. He briefly got distracted by Hermione's neatly combed hair, so he blurted out, "Your hair is gorgeous!"

Hermione blushed and said, "Anyways, we'll meet up after school and go out, to the library." Harry nodded. Hermione said, "We better get to class."

Harry replied, "Okay." Harry and Hermione were unaware that Ronald Weasley had been spying on them, while looking angry and jealous.

A few minutes later, class started. Professor Dumbledore walked into the classroom, so he could make his big announcement. The students stared at him, while looking excited. Dumbledore said, "A very special event has come up. It'll greatly impact this year of Hogwarts and could impact the future."

Draco Malfoy was getting impatient, so he said, "Just announce what this is about."

Dumbledore replied, "Very well then. Today is the beginning of Hogwarts' Student of the Year contest. Whoever wins this competition will be proclaimed the best student. All of their grades will be raised by ten percent, they'll receive a basket of money, and they'll get a very powerful and stylish wand. Whether or not you enter the competition, is your own choice, but I couldn't recommend it more." The students' excitement increased.

Hermione raised her hand and asked, "What do the contestants have to do?"

Dumbledore said, "They have to blast their fellow students to the ground." Ron and Draco looked intrigued, because they both wanted to blast Harry.

Hermione replied, "No offense Professor Dumbledore, but what?!"

Dumbledore said, "The contestants have to used the magic, that they've learned this year, to knock their students to the ground, in a safe and mostly painless way. Whoever remains undefeated, will become the winner."

A few students started signing up. Harry looked at Hermione and asked, "Are you going to sign up?"

Hermione said, "It sounded like a poor idea at first, but the reward is so big and I know some painless spells, so I'm not going to pass up this opportunity."

After the students finished signing up, Dumbledore grabbed the sign-up sheet and said, "The competitors are Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Luna, Ginny, Neville, Fred, George, and a bunch of obscure students. Best of luck to all of you and remember that even though this game is about fighting, hurting other students is frowned upon."

The competitors were allowed to roam the hallways and chase after their rivals. Draco quickly blasted Neville to the ground. He had a smug smile on his face, while saying, "I already know I'm Hogwarts' best student."

Draco started blasting students. While blasting on the students, he said, "Take that, background character #1."

The student corrected him, by saying, "I'm background character #3."

Meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were blasting students, in completely painless ways. Both of them knew spells that could knock students to the ground, without hurting them. Harry looked at Hermione and asked, "How many background students have you defeated?"

Hermione answered, "Eight."

Harry replied, "Oh, I've only defeated seven."

Draco was breaking Dumbledore's rule about blasting students in painless ways. Luna Lovegood knew what he was doing, so he said, "You're naughty."

Draco rolled his eyes and asked, "Is mildly hurting them a big deal?"

Luna said, "It sure is. Dumbledore wouldn't let you compete, if he knew about this."

Draco nervously replied, "Don't tell him."

Luna said, "I won't, if you do me a favor."

Draco replied, "Okay, but what do you want?"

Luna said, "Stand around for a minute, without moving or talking."

Draco replied, "Okay then." He assumed that Luna wanted him to stand still, so she could admire his looks. However, he sure was wrong about that.

Luna blasted Draco to the ground, without hurting him, and said, "You failed the competition."

Draco replied, "You tricked me."

Luna responded, "That's what you get, for hurting a dozen background students."

Draco sighed and said, "There's no way I can win, thanks to that."

Ron stepped out of the shadows and said, "I can help you with that."

Draco looked confused, while asking, "What do you mean?"

Ron stuck his hand out, while saying, "Give me your wand."

Draco hugged his wand, while asking, "Why would I do such a thing?"

Ron said, "If I have two wands, I'll easily win the competition. If I win, I'll share the rewards with you."

Draco had a smug smile on his face, while saying, "I couldn't think of a fairer deal." He handed his wand to Ron. The two of them put on fake mustaches, which they twirled, while doing an evil laugh.

Hermione continued defeating background students, in painless ways. Fred and George walked up to her. Hermione asked, "What do you boys want?"

Fred was giggling, while saying, "We're going to defeat you."

George angrily nudged him and replied, "I told you to not laugh, until we blasted her to the ground. I'm all for being silly, but in this situation, we need to appear intimidating."

Fred laughed loudly, before saying, "We're going to defeat you, Hermione."

Hermione confidently replied, "I don't think you'll win."

Fred chuckled, while saying, "But I'm such a big threat." He was laughing so much, that he almost made himself fall to the ground.

Hermione replied, "Fred, you probably couldn't even throw coffee in somebody's face, without cracking up."

Fred responded, "But that would be funny."

Hermione said, "Eh, sounds like a book I wouldn't like." She easily blasted Fred to the ground.

George tried to cover up his snickering face, while saying, "You won't stop me. I'm not like Fred. I'm George."

Hermione replied, "If your last name was Clooney, I would be more impressed." Hermione purposely did a silly face, to distract George. George burst into laughter, while Hermione blasted him to the ground.

Meanwhile, Ron had been using his and Draco's wands to blast various students to the ground. Using more than one wand was considered cheating, so Ron hoped he wouldn't get caught.

After Ron knocked dozens of background students to the ground, Luna walked by and said, "I saw you were carrying two wands. I'm hoping you're not using both of them."

Ron replied, "Um, I'm not. I've only been using one wand, of course."

Luna asked, "Do you think I'm gullible?"

Ron answered, "No offense, but you seem like the gullible type."

Luna pointed her wand at him and said, "If you're wise and responsible, you'll tell Professor Dumbledore what you did and forfeit the competition."

Ron replied, "I may seem like the wise and responsible type, but I'm not." He used his and Draco's wands to blast Luna to the ground. He grinned and said, "You've failed the competition."

Luna replied, "And you failed at being a mature student."

Ron shrugged his shoulders and said, "Ah well." He had an sneaky smile on his face, while whispering, "It's time to get revenge on Harry, for flirting with Hermione." He did an evil laugh.

Harry looked around and saw that most the competitors had been defeated. He realized that Ginny was one of the last competitors. He waved to her and said, "Hi Ginny."

Ginny waved back and asked, "What's up, Harry?"

Harry answered, "Well, most of the students had been defeated and we're among the few remaining."

Ginny paused and asked, "Does that mean one of us has to blast the other?"

Harry said, "I'm afraid so." Harry and Ginny looked at each other, while feeling reluctant to blast each other.

After a long silence, Hermione came by and blasted Ginny to the ground. Ginny said, "Drat."

Harry nervously asked, "Are you okay?"

Ginny calmly said, "I'm totally fine."

Harry looked at Hermione and said, "You have more guts than I do." Hermione nodded in agreement. Harry asked, "How many students are left?"

Hermione answered, "Just us and Ron."

Harry replied, "Ron hasn't said anything to me today. It feels weird, because I'm used to him blabbering on."

Hermione responded, "Me too."

Ron stepped out of the shadows and said, "I have plenty to say, so don't worry about that." He pointed his wand at Harry and said, "You're history."

Harry nervously asked, "You're joking around, right?"

Luna ran by and said, "Ron's gone mad with power. He's cheating, by using both his own wand and Draco's wand, and he's hurt dozens of our fellow students. I had to delay getting band-aids, so I could warn you guys."

Hermione looked at Ron and asked, "What happened to you?"

Ron pointed his wands at Harry and said "You should be asking what happened to him."

Harry had a confused look on his face, while asking, "What did I do?"

Ron answered, "You flirted with Hermione this morning, even though you know I like her."

Harry replied, "I wasn't flirting with her."

Ron had a doubtful look on his face, while asking, "Oh really? If you say she isn't the prettiest girl at Hogwarts, I might forgive you."

Harry replied, "But I can't lie."

Ron was about to violently blast Harry, but Hermione painlessly blasted Ron to the ground. Ron didn't get hurt at all, but he sure was mad. Hermione said, "Ron, we aren't dating, so you have no right to get jealous and angry. You almost hurt your best friend."

Ron sighed and started realizing how crummy his behavior. He sighed and said, "I really messed up, didn't I?"

Luna replied, "Understatement of the year."

Ron looked at Harry and Hermione and said, "I'm really sorry. I deserved to lose."

Harry tried to make Ron feel better, by saying, "Maybe you'll win next year's competition. Just go easier on the background students and only use one wand."

Ron replied, "Good advice." He went to the restroom and flushed Draco's wand down the toilet.

Harry and Hermione were the only students left. They pointed their wands at each other, but neither of them were blasting anybody. Hermione said, "Harry, we can't be pushovers. One of us has to take action."

Harry replied, "Okay, but I don't know if we have what it takes."

Hermione tried to sound confident, but she was struggling. She wondered why she and Harry didn't have the guts to blast each other. After all, neither of them would get hurt. Despite that, they stood around, not blasting each other.

After ten minutes of standing around, Hermione said, "This is silly. How about I just forfeit?"

Harry shook his head and replied, "No, that wouldn't be fair. You've done an amazing job."

Hermione responded, "So have you." After another long period of silence, Hermione sighed and said, "Let's go."

Harry replied, "Okay."

A few minutes later, Harry and Hermione appeared in Professor Dumbledore's office. Professor Dumbledore said, "Hi kids. What's going on?"

Hermione replied, "The competition is over. Harry and I were the last two competitors."

Dumbledore looked intrigued, while asking, "Who defeated who?"

Harry said, "Hermione and I didn't have the guts to attack each other."

Dumbledore replied, "I see. This competition has gone perfectly."

Hermione had a confused look on her face, while asking, "What do you mean?"

Dumbledore explained, "The secret lesson of this competition was supposed to be, that violence should only be used in emergency situations. Winning a school contest isn't a real emergency, so you weren't supposed to hurt a single student."

Hermione replied, "We blasted a lot of our fellow students to the ground, but we didn't hurt a single one of them."

Dumbledore smiled and responded, "I'm extremely proud of you two, as usual. You both won the competition." Dumbledore gave them a basket of money. He gave Harry a purple wand and Hermione a pink wand.

Hermione said, "These are really nice and fancy wands. Where did you get them from, Professor Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore replied, "They were given to me, by Newt Scamander. He's a fantastic guy, but I don't know where to find him."

After Hermione and Harry stepped out of Dumbledore's office, several students walked up to them and congratulated them. Luna said, "We should have a celebration party."

Hermione replied, "Sorry guys, but Harry and I need to check out the new library. You're welcome to join us." Since Hermione and Harry seemed so interested about the new library, some of their classmates decided to check it out.

Hermione looked at Harry and said, "When Ron wanted you to claim that I'm not Hogwarts' prettiest girl, you said you couldn't lie. Does that mean you think I'm the prettiest."

Harry nervously sweated, while replying, "Um, I'm not sure." Harry started running.

Hermione smiled and said, "Come back." She ran after him.

A few seconds later, Harry ran out of breath. Hermione caught up to him and said, "You better tell me the truth."

Harry replied, "Okay, you're the prettiest girl at Hogwarts."

Hermione responded, "Aww, that's sweet of you to say."

Harry replied, "Wow, I can't believe I admitted that secret."

Hermione asked, "Secret? I already knew you felt that way about me."

Harry looked shocked, while asking, "How?"

Hermione answered, "Harry, your emotions are like an open book. That's one of the reasons why I like you. If my life was a book, you'd be one of the better chapters."

Harry replied, "Um, you'd be in several chapters of my book series, if I had one."

Hermione said, "Anyways, we don't have time for corny flirting. We have a library to check out." She started walking quickly, to the new library, while looking excited. Harry smiled and followed her.

Meanwhile, Draco walked up to Ron and asked, "Can I have my wand back?"

Ron answered, "I flushed it down the toilet." Draco angrily stared at Ron and shook his fist at him. Ron started running, so Draco ran after him.