Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
AN: It started as a plot bunny in the Requiem H/G forums. Just had to do it. Just had to do it. Hehe.
L.I.A.R.
"Okay Weasley siblings! And of course Harry and Hermione," Fred added as he sat on the plush seat in the living room of The Burrow. "We, that is, George and I, have developed a smashing new game from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes! George, would you mind doing the honors –"
The twins had convinced Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to come test out their new product, mostly because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had wanted nothing to do with it. It was the Christmas break after the defeat of Voldemort, and the entire family was enjoying their first peaceful Christmas in years. Harry had finally beaten Voldemort in the end, single handedly. Of course, he had the aid of Ron and Hermione when gathering the Horcruxes, but circumstances appeared, and he had to face the final battle alone. Harry, with his internal struggle to avenge his parents and save the world, and his external struggle of pain and torment, had thought it was over. Voldemort had the upper hand, and was about to fire the Killing Curse; Harry saw the tip of Voldemort's wand turn into a deadly shade of green. But Harry remembered Dumbledore's words – he thought of the ones he loved: Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, Ginny…he could not die and let them down. And so with his newfound strength, he won.
But alas, Harry did not win at everything. He lost at Wizarding Chess (especially to Ron). He lost many times at Exploding Snap. He even lost when Dudley was most gracious enough to let him be beaten at video games, when there was no one else to play with. Of course, Quidditch was an exception, but in short, Harry absolutely reeked when it came to any other games.
And so, as Harry heard the word "game", he slightly recoiled from the twins. Ginny, whom he had gotten together with again after defeating Voldemort, was sitting next to him, and so when he jumped back, she gazed at him with a strange look. Harry pretended that everything was alright and began to listen to the twins again.
"…so dear family and friends, do not forget the name! It is called L.I.A.R. – Leaving It All Revealed," George said. "In which there are at least six players."
"And, in which, the six players each have a set of five cards each," continued Fred.
"There are four types of cards. There's the Liar, Truth, Dare, and for the more fortunate ones to have this card…Force," George said maliciously.
"Force?" asked Ron. He was sitting next to Hermione. But they were still not dating for some odd reason. Ginny constantly rolled her eyes at them.
Fred nodded. "Yes little brother, but let me finish explaining the game first. Each of you shall have five cards, which will be face down on the floor. And each of you shall be assigned a number. Whoever's first (you've got to decide that yourselves of course) rolls the dice. Whoever's rolled the dice that turn is called a "flipper." Whoever's number it lands on is "it." And the person who rolled the dice has to choose a card and flip it over. Then, the card activates."
George opened his mouth to speak. "Take for example, if the card is the Truth card, and Hermione here," George motioned to Hermione, "is "it." Then, the card will activate, like my dear brother said, and Hermione will have to speak of one truth about herself that everyone who's playing doesn't know about."
Hermione looked absolutely appalled at the idea. "Th-that's insane! What if I lie?" she sputtered.
Fred grinned. "Then Hermione, you'll have to take another card from the deck. You can only get out of the game once you've run out of cards, and, Hermione," Fred said again, "if you keep lying, you'll have to keep drawing, and the game will never end for you. Better to tell the truth while you still can, am I correct?"
"But how on earth does the card know if someone in the group knows the secret?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, it knows," Fred and George said simultaneously.
"That's all nice and dandy, but you didn't explain the rest of the cards," Ron said, leaning back into the plush.
"Don't be in a rush, Ron, we're not finished yet," George started. He cleared his throat. "The Liar card is a rather strange one. In that case, the person who drew the card must tell three lies about whoever's "it." And it can't be stupid little lies either. It has to be nice, juicy ones, or else you have to draw another card. And in the event that you accidentally reveal a truth instead (highly unlikely, but it can happen), you draw two cards for each truth revealed."
"The Dare card," Fred continued for his brother, "is exactly what it is. A dare. The person who drew the card must dare the "it" person to do something he or she has never done before. Same rules as before; if "it" has already done it before, then the "flipper" draws one. And if "it" refuses the dare, then "it" draws one. This one's quite simple."
"And finally…Fred, shall I have the honors once more?" George asked Fred.
"Of course, George. But I get to do them at the official showing."
"All right…all right."
The other four in the room rolled their eyes.
George started to speak. "Finally…the card we've all been waiting for…Force card."
"I think I can just imagine what this one does…" Ron sighed.
"With the Force card, whoever's "it" is automatically forced to do the first thing that the "flipper" last thought of "it." Whether it be something along the lines of, "I wish he'd sod off," whoever's "it" will automatically walk out to the yard, grab some of the lawn and…go off sodding somewhere, whatever the hell that means. Although, we haven't tested this product fully, so I'm not sure how literally it'll take your thoughts. Just don't tell someone to go jump off a cliff. That thought should be saved for unknowing gits," George finished with a smile.
"Finally, whoever's "it" becomes the next "flipper," Fred added.
"Any questions?" the twins asked the four.
"Yes, I have one, do I have to play this game?" Ginny asked.
"Yes sister, you do. You all agreed to be our test subjects, am I right?" Fred said. He looked around at Harry, who seemed to be focusing on an object across the room. "Wotcher, Harry! You seem…er…real excited about L.I.A.R."
Harry merely stared at them with a blank look on his face.
--
The six were now halfway into their first game. Unsurprisingly, Fred and George were winning, both with only two cards left. Harry was looking downright miserable as he stared at his nine cards. That meant only one thing of course.
"The loser's next!" Fred exclaimed, who had just drawn a Dare card and asked Harry to, horrifyingly enough, kiss Ron on the lips. They said it was to make sure they weren't doing it in secret. Harry and Ron were both disgusted, but Harry did not want to gain any more cards so he closed his eyes, scrunched up his face, and chased Ron around until he was backed into a corner. There, he quickly pecked Ron, and just as quickly, made a gagging noise. Ginny and Hermione, meanwhile, were laughing hysterically.
Harry practically snatched the dice away from Fred. "I know, I know, I'm losing…" he grumbled. He rolled the dice.
"Hah! A two. Guess what, Ginny? That's you," Harry said. He hadn't gotten Ginny during the entire game and now was his chance.
He chose a card near the corner and flipped it.
"Ah, the Truth card, very nice, little sister," George said. "Now tell us that nice lil' secret of yours, Ginevra."
Ginny rolled her eyes. On the inside though, she was horrified.
'These people know everything about me! Harry's my boyfriend, Hermione's my best friend, the rest of these prats are my brothers…what should I say? The only thing I can think of is…'
She switched off her next thought with a blush and a shuddering sigh.
"C'mon Ginny, I'm curious too," Hermione said with a grin.
'Ugh, she's supposed to be on MY side!' Ginny thought again. She sighed inwardly. 'Okay…here goes…'
"I used to…when I dated…Dean…I used to…" Ginny mumbled. The others inched closer.
"What about Dean, Ginny?" Harry said, putting an emphasis on Dean's name.
Ginny sighed again. "I used to call him my…" she grimaced and whispered the next word. "…Deany-Poodles."
A roar of laughter burst out from the five who were surrounding her. The twins started to applaude.
"Good show, little sister, good show," they said. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still splitting their sides.
Ginny was becoming beet-red. "All right you guys, that's enough, it's my turn to be the "flipper!"
After a few seconds, the laughter quieted down to giggles. Ginny almost tore Harry's hand away when she grabbed the dice. And she rolled it.
"…no way! There are no rollbacks allowed! Right? Fred? George?" Harry said, after seeing his number appear yet again on the dice.
The twins shrugged. "Nowhere in the rules about that," Fred said. He smiled smugly. "Go ahead, Ginny."
"My pleasure," the girl said as she flipped one of the four cards that were left in her row. She stared hard at it in disbelief. So did everyone else.
"Brilliant! Ginny's brilliant! She's flipped over…the Force card!" George yelled in triumph, as if he were the one that flipped it.
Ron smirked. "On Harry, too."
Hermione shushed them. "Quiet, she's thinking."
Harry looked nervously at Ginny, who had closed her eyes. Ginny meanwhile, was thinking, thinking hard of one thing. She grinned to herself. 'Perfect…perfect!' she thought.
She opened her eyes just in time to watch Harry get up from the floor.
"Um, Ginny…what…" he started as his legs took him to the door of the Burrow.
"Hey, let's follow him!" Ron said, getting up.
"Good idea, Ronniekins! Let's go George!"
"Yes, you know Ginny, I'd actually be worried for Harry's safety…" Hermione said, glancing at Ginny, who was still grinning from ear to ear.
Luckily, the day was still bright, as it was just after lunch that the twins decided to show them their little game. The group followed Harry down the path of the Burrow, and on the road headed for town. Hermione kept bugging Ginny to tell her what she had thought for Harry to do, but Ginny kept her mouth shut the entire way. Harry just sighed and decided to go along with it…he couldn't do anything about it anyway.
Finally, they got to a shop in the middle of town near an alleyway, and Harry stopped there. The twins, Ron, and Hermione looked at the sign.
"Herbert's Tattoos and Light Bulbs?" Ron said out loud. Then a sudden thought came to him. "Ginny…you didn't…"
Ginny simply smiled as she opened the door for Harry and the others.
As Hermione walked in, Ginny could hear her mumbling, "Tattoos and Light Bulbs? This person almost sounds like Mr. Weasley…"
Inside, Harry felt his legs move to the counter. He sighed. He knew what Ginny was planning. "Ginny …" he said before he felt his mouth fly open again, only he didn't control it this time.
"I'd like a Hungarian Horntail tattooed on my chest, please."
Herbert, a lanky man who looked about as accident prone as Neville Longbottom, nodded. "Name please."
"Harry Potter." Harry could not stop himself from blurting out his name.
"Harry Potter? Defeater of You-Know-Who? Oh dear! Oh dear oh dear…what should I do, what should I say…it is a great honor, Mr. Harry Potter," Herbert said, giving a deep bow. "Oh! But you said you wanted a Hungarian Horntail on your chest, right? Alright, step this way Mr. Potter," Herbert said, leading him into a back room. "Quite an honor, quite an honor," Herbert kept muttering as they walked inside.
Fred and George looked as if they'd seen the best comedy ever, Ginny had quite the smug look on her face, and Ron and Hermione were still laughing about the whole situation, and the conversation that started the whole situation, back when they were in their 6th year. And then, Hermione had a sudden stroke of genius. Well, Hermione's stroke of geniuses came much too often, but this one in particular…
'It would be cute if he did…' she finished her thought.
And then, Ron suddenly stood up, almost knocking his chair over.
"Ron?" Hermione said. Ron looked just about confused as Hermione did.
He walked to the counter and waited. Harry's screams of protest, such as, "What…what are you doing? Get away! Ergh! I can't move! Ginny! Ginny I'll get you back, you hear me! Argh!" could be heard coming from the back door. Ginny sniggered.
"Oh Harry, you'll thank me for this in the future, I'm sure!" she yelled back.
"Argh!" Was Harry's reply.
Ron, meanwhile, seemed to be getting impatient. He felt his mouth fly open without opening it himself, much like Harry's did, and said, "Hey! Can't anyone get some decent service out here? Honestly!"
And once he said that, his face contorted into a look that resembled confusion, anxiety, and fear. "Fred, George…er…I'm not talking but…then I am…is this part of your game? What's going…"
But he was interrupted by a voice. "Yes, yes! Yes, sir! I'm sorry for the inconvenience sir! Yes, what can I do for you, yes?"
Ron jumped in surprised when he heard the squeakiest voice he had ever heard in his lifetime. His entire body moved on its own accord and leaned over so that Ron could see behind the counter. Behind it was a thing about the height of one of the garden gnomes at the Burrow. It had a giant nose, and rather large eyes. It's ugly face peered at him from below.
And Ron felt his mouth move again. He tried to clamp it shut, but it didn't work. "I'd like a Pygmy Puff tattooed on my…"
The next word he said was completely unexpected. The word itself made Fred, George, and Ginny roll over on the floor in laughter, and it made Hermione turn pink, but that didn't stop her from laughing incredibly loud. Ron was entirely red, but he couldn't stop himself from following the little gnome-like thing into the back, sputtering, "What in the bloody hell is going on here! Fred! George! If this is part of your game…!" And then he was cut off by Harry's screams as he walked into the room.
Ginny, who was almost crying with laughter, tried to pick herself up off of the floor, but she simply couldn't. So she just spoke from her place on the floor. "Wh…What on earth was that!"
Fred rested on the floor for a few seconds before getting up. "No clue, no clue at all."
Hermione thought for a second, trying to think of a logical solution to the situation. "Wait…didn't we just leave our cards at the Burrow…in the living room…where anyone could have accidentally moved them? What if your mum or dad or one of your brothers…activated a card?" she asked.
George stood up, dusting off his robes. "Good point, Hermione. Fred, shall we apparate home and see what the problem is?"
Fred nodded. "Alright, as amusing as this is, it may be a bug, and we may be able to fix it!"
"…AFTER Ron gets his tattoo," George added with an evil smirk.
The twins cackled as they apparated back to the Burrow. Ginny and Hermione stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter once more.
--
When the twins appeared outside of the Burrow, they practically ripped the door off its hinges as they burst in. In the living room, they saw their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, looking at the cards scattered around.
"Fred! George! I can't believe you would make a mess and just leave it here! Where in Merlin's name did you all go? Your father almost tripped over the dice, and I almost stepped on your cards! I demand you to clean this mess up right now!" Mrs. Weasley screamed.
"Calm down, mum, it was just a part of the game. We'll explain the details later, and maybe…" Fred added with a slight smirk, "You and dad can play it with us later. But now, we have a situation on our hands! Something went horribly wr –"
"Now, now Fred, it wasn't THAT horrible," George interrupted.
"All right, it wasn't horrible, but something went wrong, and George and I have got to fix it. Now, where did you say you tripped over the dice, and did you move the dice after you tripped over it?" Fred asked his father.
"Well, I was walking in from the kitchen, and suddenly I was just about to break my neck when your dear mother caught me, and she almost slipped on a card."
Fred and George tried to feign their innocence by looking in separate directions.
"And no, I didn't move it at all. It's right over there," Mr. Weasley pointed, deciding to play along with his sons.
The two boys dropped to the floor where their father had pointed, and looked at the dice. The number six showed up on top. The twins looked confused.
"That's Ron's number, is it not?" George said. Fred nodded, and they both walked to the card that Mrs. Weasley had stepped on.
"But the card mum flipped over is from Hermione's row of cards," Fred noted. And then they both noticed something.
"The Force card," the twins said, both sporting giant grins on their faces.
Their joy, however, was interrupted by an angry Mrs. Weasley. "Clean. Them. Up. NOW!"
"Yes mum," they mumbled.
--
The twins did not go back to the tattoo shop, because they wanted to fix the problem with their game as soon as possible, and later, the four who were left there had come back to the Burrow. Two were looking downright unhappy, and the other two were looking positively giddy.
Ron was walking with a slight wince, and looking absolutely miserable. Harry, meanwhile, had his arms crossed across his chest, and silently glared at the twins as he walked in.
Fred and George greeted them with enthusiasm.
"Well look at you lot," Fred said with an amused tone, "I'm sure you'll be glad to know that George and I have fixed the problem. Turns out that we'd forgotten to make it so that only the flipper could flip, and that anyone could have flipped their cards anytime and it would have activated."
Ron looked confused…and still miserable.
"So what you're saying is," Hermione started, "that any set of cards could have been activated without it being their turn? That makes absolutely no sense. Why would you forget to fix something like that?" She suddenly thought of Ron's situation and automatically knew that it was her fault.
Fred and George shrugged. "We're busy people, you know," was their excuse.
"Well I don't mind at all," said Ginny, grabbing Harry's arm. "C'mon Harry, let's go explore what the nice man Herbert did to your chest," she said happily. Her brothers had no time to protest, and Harry simply raised his eyebrows as he let her drag him up the stairs.
"Wait just a minute –" Ron started to chase after the couple, but Fred and George stopped him. "What is it, don't you two want to stop them too?"
"Well Ron, there's the matter of your tattoo." They both stared at Hermione. Hermione suddenly turned pink.
"Well! Since the game seems to be over, I think I have some extra reading I wanted to do…upstairs…" she mumbled as she practically sprinted up the steps. Ron stared after her for a moment. After thinking for a few seconds, it suddenly came to him.
"HER…MI…O…NE!" he yelled as he dashed up the stairs. A shriek was heard not long after, and then…silence.
Fred and George were left alone.
"So, you want to try the game with mum and dad?" Fred asked his brother.
"But Fred, we need six players," George said with a grin.
"Bill and Fleur are around somewhere…"
"Fred, I like the way you think."