The Grasshopper Game- Chapter 1
It was just past midnight and about fifty people had gathered in the Room of Requirement. The group was still missing a few members that made up the traditional 60, but over 30 of us left last year and we had had trouble finding replacements. Regardless, the meeting must go on and I was curious to find out who the other team had chosen for their leader of this year's Grasshopper Game.
The Grasshopper Game was a series of undercover events that the teachers and most students knew nothing of, a couple of times a term we would meet in various places around the castle to choose people to take part in our pre-planned upcoming events. The group in its entirety consisted of around 60 members, 30 in each team. Each team chose a leader at the beginning of the year and no matter what, stuck with them till the summer, this year I was leader for my team, The Bees.
I was confident. I had the likes of Bobby Wood and Olivia Finnigan on my team, star chasers and Gryffindors answer to muggle math. Because I was the oldest member, I had gotten first pick out of the remaining team members from last year, the other captain, whose identity was still unbeknown to me had only been a member for two years. Probably a well liked Ravenclaw, maybe even a Hufflepuff? The new members got divided randomly between the two teams during the handing over of one captain to the other, my cousin Fred Weasley had been The Bees captain before me, only then we were known as The Snitches. Another of my cousins; James Potter had been captain of the other team that year aswell, creating a bit of rivalry between the two best friends but nothing lasting, they were still as thick as thieves.
As the game was a secret, all members had to take a vow before entering and were now magically bound not to be able to tell another living soul, only near fatal amounts of veritiserum could drag the truth out from our mouths and that was only a precaution, we had many charms cast on locations of events and it was the job of the teams to come up with safe tasks and places to complete them every year. So as nobody could cheat or create a challenge to their strengths it was the captains of the year before us who made up our tasks, and the ones we made up would be used for the year after us and so on.
I'd never won a challenge yet and this was my last year to prove myself, I wanted to be on the winning team, to be able to hold my head high and be respected and known, not only as the 'nerd who likes to read' but also as a strong, confident leader.
The door locked itself indicating the last person had arrived and we all gathered round the stage, provided by the room. It was as if a silencing charm had been cast as everyone stood, old members waiting anxiously to see what teams they had been placed in, new ones standing nervously at the back. The sounds of creaking floorboards were the only thing standing between us and a deathly silence. Footsteps made their way up the steps to the stage, no one appeared to be there but I didn't grow up in a house full of Weasleys and Potters for nothing.
Painstaking moments later the creaking stopped and the room fell into silence again,
"AHA!" Some shouted, pulling off a silky cloak that then fell to the stage floor, most people screamed and took a step back,
This was my favourite part of every year, a past member who found half an hour out of their busy adult lives would come back to the first meeting to welcome newcomers, explain what the group was about and to deliver vital information to both captains.
Obviously Fred would be the one to volunteer to return to Hogwarts at midnight to give the load down on this year's Grasshopper Game. I waved at him slightly from my position amongst other Gryffindors,
"WELCOME TO THE ROOM OF REQUIREMENT!" he grinned, looking pleased with himself, "And more importantly, welcome to the Grasshopper Game, I do believe we have a fair few new faces this year so I can't comment on talent, but those who I do know, well let's just say to have a lot to live up to this time round.
"As you all should know, this group is a series of competitive games which has nothing to do with what house you are in, your feelings towards other houses are irrelevant in this game, if you do not comply by the rules you will find yourself facing the consequences.
"Now that the tough love is out the way, I will remind you all; this is supposed to be a fun game, devised by previous generations to take some strain off inter-house rivalry and to remind ourselves that there is nothing more important than the people around us. Along the way some of you might get lost in yourselves or the competition, I can tell you from previous experience that it isn't all fun and laughter, but if you stay true to yourself there will always be people around you that love you and will be there to help you. It wasn't designed to stress you out, each and every one of you should consider yourselves lucky, not everyone is offered the chance to find themselves and develop new bonds in the way you guys are, grasp the experience and who knows, maybe one day you'll be standing where I am giving a motivational speech to the years of Grasshoppers to come."
There were multiple cheers from the audience and a few nervous claps.
"Now I believe it is time to announce and introduce this year's team Captains. For the blue team, newly named THE BEES, we have a Miss ROSE WEASLEY!" I smiled as I slowly made my way up on stage to join him, we gave each other a brief hug before holding me at arm's length and asking how I was feeling,
"I'm okay," I grinned, "A little nervous, but I'm confident with the team I have and this is going to be the year the blue team wins." I held my arm out and people began to cheer,
"Well I'm praying for you Rosie," he smiled, "And I might be being biased as I was once a blue but, hell is that the better colour," people cheered and clapped again, it always confused me why, they didn't know what team they were going to be put in yet.
"And now, captain of the orange team we have the one and only, Mr SCORPIUS MALFOY!"
People from Slytherin clapped doted-ly as he made his way onto the stage just as I had done only minutes before, he stopped before greeting my cousin to give me one of his Malfoy smirks, they really made my blood boil and he knew it. I had managed to stay away from Malfoy for the past few years, our rivalry hidden under layers of fake smiles and 'good mornings.' We had both been on the blue team last year and therefore forced to get along, he had proved a powerful asset when he won his challenge, against one of his Slytherin friends but his conniving ways had also been the reason for my demise, or so I like to believe. But whatever, he lived to make me look bad and forgetting all the rules of the game, Scorpius Malfoy was a straight out bastard.
"So Scorpius," Fred grinned, patting the boy on his shoulder, "How are you feeling about having to take on our Rosie? You were both on the same team last year were you not? Will this be a challenge in itself?" You could see the laughter and mischief practically seeping out of Fred's mouth, after all it was him who had had to put up with endless of hours of our battles, he had always been the middleman and he was just asking these questions to stir everything up.
Malfoy took a moment before responding silkily, "Yes, er Rose," hearing my name from his lips made it sound forced, "and I were both on The Snitches last year," he paused whilst some ex teammates cheered, "and although we never were the best of friends, we definitely made some improvements in our relationship." Fred raised an eyebrow,
"Like that time when I put a week long silencing charm on her, that was definitely a huge improvement,"
People laughed,
"But as ever the gentleman and great competitor that I am, I am willing to forgive and forget all these misgivings of gentle forms of torture that we childishly threw upon each other," he paused again as the crowd began to mutter, "and accept this new found challenge of beating her hands down," and another dramatic pause, "in every fucking task they throw my way."
"Woah mate, we have some little people's ears present,"
"They won't like me as a captain unless they get used to my foul treatment of the English tongue mate,"
Fred laughed half heartedly, "My last question, we know the team name of your opposition, but have you come up with a suitable name for yourselves?"
"Well sticking with the theme of animals and insects but obviously going one up on them, I have decided to call my team, The Panthers,"
"Excellent, excellent," Fred spoke to the room, now everybody gather round, for this is the moment that will define whether you are TEAM BEE or TEAM PANTHER," he grabbed mine and Malfoy's hand and held them up to the ceiling,
"ROSE WEASLEY, CAPTAIN OF THE BEES!" A loud buzzing could be heard, causing half the group to cover their ears and the other half's shirts to change to a pastel blue colour, with a huge bee on the front,
"AND SCORPIUS MALFOY, CAPTAIN OF THE PANTHERS!" A deafening roar blew through the soundproof room causing all the Bees to duck as Malfoy's team's shirts became blood red with the words 'ROAR' written in big bold letters on the front.
The two teams separated out and began high fiving their friends and introducing themselves to their teammates.
Fred coughed loudly, "Now, it is almost time for me to leave but before I go I just need to remind your captains of a few game rules and remember everyone, enjoy yourselves, you aren't going to be young forever."
After that last line he took me and Malfoy to the side and handed us each a small envelope coloured the same as our teams, "Now you two are both old hands at this, you know the rules so I'm not going to go over them all again, you two are old enough to set an example to the young ones around you, any inappropriate behaviour and not only will I be extremely proud," he chuckled for a second before looking serious again, "but strong enforcements and maybe even expulsion from the game would be considered. Oh and both of you, good luck." He grinned before grabbing his invisibility cloak and making for the exit that had just appeared in the wall, the one that led straight to Aberforth Dumbledore's old place.
"You hear that Weasley?" he murmured in my ear, "Any foul play and you will be demoted, so buckle up and grip those lifebelts tight because babe," his left arm entwined itself around ,my waist to make it look like we were catching up on a more than friendly basis, "We are going to crush you." Then he pushed me away from him and walked towards his team who were seemingly already celebrating their victory.
A/N: Hey guys! So I haven't written practically anything for a few months and I've had this idea swimming around in my head for a while, I've tidied all my other stories up and will hopefully finish them soon but until then, what is your opinion on this? Ideas? Do you like it? Even just a smiley face would do, I really appreciate every one of your comments and criticisms after all, how else am I going to improve?
I'll update as soon as physically possible, Theressomethingaboutthemoon x