Summary:

In 1996, a group of teenagers begin a new year at Hogwarts.

Haley and Alyson are an unlikely pair of friends. Haley is a pureblood Slytherin, and Alyson is a Muggle-born Gryffindor. After a series of breakups, Haley starts to date Adam, who is a staunch supporter of You-Know-Who, while Alyson and known pureblood elitist Dustin unexpectedly begin seeing each other. These relationships cause more joy and heartache than anyone would have anticipated during and after You-Know-Know's second rise.

Meanwhile, Adam's sister Mary begins to see the true horrors of her brother's beliefs while dealing with her own affectionate feelings for people she knows their family would disapprove of, and the group's friends Lidiane and Eric deal with the consequences of their friends' actions while trying to navigate their own lives, which end up intertwining with Mary's life in unexpected ways.

What starts as typical teenage drama quickly unfolds into something far more serious. Set in a time when pureblood fanaticism was especially present, The Game follows the stories of a group of friends during adolescence and adulthood.

A/N: Hi, everybody! We hope you enjoy this story. We had a lot of fun writing it! We will update every Sunday or Monday night.

Rating: This story is rated mature for violence, language, sexual content, and drug/alcohol use. If you would like to know more details about the mature content in this story, please feel free to message us! We don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.

1 September 1996

Alyson walked on to the Hogwarts Express. She was looking for her friends. She hadn't been able to find any of them at Platform 9 ¾, which wasn't very unusual considering how the station was always filled with students and their families. After passing by multiple students in the train's corridor, she finally saw her friend Haley. She smiled. She hadn't seen Haley through the entire summer holiday. Alyson walked up to her friend, whose back was towards her, and tapped her shoulder. "Hey!" she said happily.

Haley turned around to see who it was. She smiled a bit when she saw it was Alyson. "Oh, hey! Have you seen any empty compartments? I know there are some where the Slytherins hang out, but I'm pretty sure you don't want to go up there. There's one right here too, but it has a first year in it, and he won't leave," she added with an angry glance into the compartment they were standing in front of.

Alyson was amused by Haley's annoyance towards the first year. It was so like her. "Yeah, I passed one a couple compartments back. You can invite Mary or Dustin if you want to." Eric, Alyson's boyfriend, was nowhere to be found. At this point, Alyson was hoping he'd find her.

"Yeah, when I see them I'll let them know…if I see them," Haley said as they headed towards one of the empty ones. "Anyway, how was your summer?"

"It was good. Filled with lots of family time. It was nice to get to see my parents and all of my siblings again. How was your summer?" Alyson had five siblings, three of which were out of Hogwarts already. They entered the compartment and sat down, closing the door behind them.

"Eh, it was okay, I guess. I spent most of it home alone because my parents went to Spain without me," Haley said sourly.

"That really sucks. I'm sorry," Alyson apologized. She felt bad for Haley. She knew what her parents were like.

"Dustin and Mary came over for a little while, though," Haley replied with a shrug. She was an only child whose parents started to leave her alone for long periods of time as soon as she was old enough. "Speaking of which, where is everyone? It's getting pretty late, isn't it?" She stood up and opened the door just to run into Eric.

When Alyson saw Eric, her face lit up. She didn't get to see him much over the summer because he lived two hours away, though thankfully his parents installed a Muggle phone so he could make phone calls to his friends that also had a Muggle phone. She stood up. "Hey!" she said happily. She was smiling brightly.

"Hey!" Eric replied with a small smile of his own. He gave Alyson a hug after he walked into the compartment. She gave him a quick kiss before they let go, then they sat down next to each other. Alyson grabbed his hand then laced their fingers together.

Haley sat back down and tried not to roll her eyes. She'd never been a huge fan of Eric, but she never really said anything because Alyson obviously liked him. "Hello, Eric. How are you?" she said, not very conversationally.

Eric had always known Haley wasn't particularly fond of him, though he wasn't sure why because he never did anything to her. Oh well, he wasn't very keen on her either; she seemed stuck up and a bit self-centered. "Hi, Haley. I'm good. And you?" His tone was just as lacking in fondness as Haley's.

Just then, Mary knocked on the compartment door before opening it up.

"Mary!" Haley exclaimed excitedly. She quickly stood up and hugged her best friend, ignoring Eric in the process. "I was starting to think you were going to take a year off. Have you seen Dustin anywhere?"

Alyson had to suppress the urge to sigh when Haley brought up Dustin. She had mixed feelings about him. He could be incredibly sweet and charming at times, yet at other times he could be a manipulative arse. She was kind of amazed he and Haley were still a couple, but in a way they worked together.

Mary came in to the compartment and behind her was Lidiane, who was Alyson's best friend besides Haley. "No," Mary said as an answer to Haley's question, "but I found her and she kind of tagged along to help find you."

Alyson stood up once Mary and Lidiane were in the compartment. She was happy to see them both. All thoughts of Dustin had vanished from her mind. "Hey!" she said, giving Lidiane a hug, and then Mary. "I missed you both."

Haley sat back down in a huff. It was now two minutes until time to leave, and her boyfriend still hadn't showed up yet. Mary sat next to her and said, "He'll show up. He always does." She shifted the topic. "So, Alyson, Eric, I see you two made it through the summer. Did you get to spend time together?"

Alyson nodded eagerly while Eric just nodded casually. "Yeah, we got to spend a bit of time together, which was nice. His parents also installed a Muggle phone for him, which was really sweet, because that meant we could talk to each other on the phone. How was your summer, Mary?" she asked.

"Oh, not bad. I got to see Haley and Dustin some. My mom took me to America for a couple of weeks, too. That was interesting." She made a weird face that suggested she wouldn't be going back.

"Huh. I've always wanted to go to America," Alyson commented.

At that moment, the train started to move. They all stood up and waved to their parents through the window. As their parents faded from view, the door to their compartment opened. It was Dustin. Haley all but tackled him. "I thought you were lost! What took you so long? Where were you?" she demanded. He hugged her back then sat down next to her.

"I was taking care of some things," he said dismissively.

Mary snorted. "You mean you were telling some first years horror stories about Hogwarts before we even left the station?"

He just shrugged his shoulders before looking at everyone else in the compartment. "Hey, Alyson. How are you doing? Lidiane. Eric."

"I'm good, thank you. And you?" Alyson said politely, a polite smile accompanying her tone. Eric and Lidiane just nodded in return. Alyson was by far on better terms with Dustin than either of them were, though their relationship was very strained. Really, the only people in their little group from different houses who were truly friends were Haley and Alyson. Alyson, Lidiane, and Eric were all Gryffindors and best friends. Haley, Mary, and Dustin belonged to Slytherin and were also best friends. In fact, they had been friends before Hogwarts.

Alyson's friends weren't huge fans of Haley or Dustin, but Mary was always nice. Dustin didn't like any of the Gryffindors, but his best friends did, so he tolerated their do-good attitudes.

Just then, a couple of first years slid open the compartment doors. They had been chatting and laughing, but their eyes widened when they saw the teenagers sitting in the compartment. "Sorry!" the smallest one apologized. "We thought you were some other people, sorry."

"Do we look like a bunch of brats who don't know how to knock on a door before entering?" Haley asked rudely.

"Sorry!" one of the other first years squeaked.

"It's okay," Lidiane said kindly. She gave the first year a smile. "I hope you're able to find your friends."

"Good luck!" Alyson chimed in. She remembered being a nervous little first year, but she at least had several older siblings to help her around at first.

"Yeah, it looks like you're going to need it," Dustin added with a smirk. Haley smiled under the protection of her hand.

"Don't be a jerk, Dustin," Alyson said to him with a bit of a glare.

"Thank you," the first years said, looking a little nervous. One of them started to close the compartment door.

"Did I say you could leave yet?" Dustin asked the smallest first year. Alyson's input had made him mad. They stopped in their tracks.

"I-I- "

"Are you Muggle-born?" Haley asked.

Alyson glared at Haley. Had she forgotten Alyson was Muggle-born? Unfortunately, Haley had a tendency to sometimes show the prejudices against Muggle-borns that seemed to be so commonly shared among Slytherins. Alyson was an exception in Haley's eyes for some reason.

"I am," the smallest one answered innocently.

Alyson stood up, angry with both Haley and Dustin. "That's cool, I am too." She gave the first year a smile before turning to Dustin and Haley. "I'm switching carts, I don't want to sit with some of the people here," she said coolly. She started to exit the compartment. Eric and Lidiane followed her.

Haley stood up too. "All I did was ask a question! It's not like I was going to say anything about it. You never gave me a chance! Besides, I only asked because it was kind of like a giant red bullseye in his head, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong!"

"Why does it even matter?" Alyson asked, her tone one of annoyance. She didn't believe Haley's question was innocent for a second. To an outsider it might seem she jumped to conclusions, but she knew Haley. "You weren't just asking, you were going to make some derogatory comment," Alyson snapped. The first years walked away, feeling awkward and intimidated.

Haley rolled her eyes out of disbelief. "Oh yeah? When was the last time I said anything derogatory towards you? It's been at least a couple of months! Cut me some slack, I've always thought I was better than y-" she stopped and covered her mouth, and her eyes got big. Dustin had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Mary's jaw dropped. Haley uncovered her mouth. "Alyson...that's not what I meant..."

Haley's words immediately stung Alyson. She had to use all of her will power to prevent her eyes from tearing up on the spot. "Sure it isn't," she said coldly. She walked all the way out of the compartment and slammed the door closed. She was so mad, but she was also so upset. Her lip began to tremble.

"Alyson, are you-" Eric began, but he was cut off.

"Let's just go," Alyson said sharply, though her voice was a little shaky. She began to walk down the aisle looking for another compartment, not really caring who they had to share it with.

They eventually found a compartment that had a couple of other Gryffindors they were acquainted with and joined them. Eric held Alyson's hand and tried to make her feel better. Even he was offended by what Haley had said. Alyson was appreciative of Eric's gesture. Despite the fact Haley's words were the primary focus of Alyson's thoughts, in the back of her mind she realized she usually was the one that initiated the hand-holding between her and Eric...well, all of the physical contact, really. But she was too upset about Haley to dwell on that fact for very long. She eventually began to feel a little bit better once she got into a good conversation with Eric, Lidiane, and the other Gryffindors.

While their compartment was conversing, Eric also noticed for the first time that he never initiated physical contact with Alyson. It felt kind of weird, but not really bad. They had been doing it for so long that their hands kind of fit together. Unlike Alyson, he dwelled on the topic.

After the conversation had been going on for a while and Alyson was mostly just listening, she began to think about Eric again. She wondered why she was always the one to initiate things. Maybe he was just shy...no, that didn't seem to be a good explanation. Eric was somewhat quiet, but certainly not shy. Maybe he was just shy with physical contact? She decided she'd talk to him about it sometime tonight or tomorrow, once they were back at school.

Meanwhile, Haley was mad about what had happened between her and Alyson. She was sitting with her arms crossed. Dustin had busted out laughing as soon as Alyson left, completely shocked that Haley would say something like that. Mary, on the other hand, was mad at Haley.

"A couple of months since you last called her a Mudblood? Jesus, Haley, that's not that long. Why do you think you're so much better than her?" she asked, annoyed with her best friend.

"It's been years since I called her a Mudblood! Sometimes, phrases just slip that are kind of derogatory towards Muggle-borns...and I meant to say I was raised to think a certain way. I don't think I'm better than her, although I do think I could have handled that situation better than she did, had it been reversed," Haley said haughtily. "I'll apologize when we get to school. Maybe she'll have cooled down enough to explain."

"She did overreact a bit," Mary agreed sympathetically. "Sorry for accusing you of thinking you're better than Alyson, though you have to admit, you do act that way sometimes. I'm sure she'll accept your apology. You guys are friends." She smiled a little.

The train finally came to a stop and everyone went in the direction of the thestral-drawn carriages. Haley sought Alyson out through the masses of students before she could get on one. Alyson nearly turned her back to Haley but decided against it. She wanted to see what Haley had to say.

"Look, I know what I said was stupid. It slipped out. But it really wasn't what I meant to say. I mean...you know how I was raised, and what I've been conditioned to think. I don't think I'm any better than you. You were right, though, I was about to go off on that first year. I got in the moment, and I'm sorry. For everything."

Alyson listened to Haley's apology, nodding her head a little bit. Her anger and hurt feelings began to dissolve with each passing word. "It's okay," she replied once Haley was done speaking. "I overreacted a little. I know how you were raised, and you just got back from being with your parents all summer. I should have been more understanding. I'm sorry about that. Shall we put this behind us?" She smiled a little bit.

Haley smiled back. "I was hoping you'd say that. Here, I forgot to give you this. I saw it when I went to visit Draco over the break and thought you would like it," she said with a shrug. She pulled out a gold chain with a small crystal star on the end of it. "It's supposed to be a good luck charm if you share it with your best friend," she said, as she pulled one out of her shirt.

Alyson smiled again. She felt touched that Haley would give her something intended for a best friend. "Thank you," she said as she gave Haley a hug. She took the necklace and put it on then tucked it under her shirt. "Here's to a good fifth year at Hogwarts," she declared happily.

"Cheers!" Haley added. All their friends climbed into one of the carriages that would take them up to Hogwarts.

They went to the feast, which went well as usual. Before they knew it, it was late evening. Alyson and Eric were hanging out together in an empty classroom, a suggestion Alyson had made so they could have some privacy. Lidiane had gone to bed early due to a headache.

"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" Alyson asked him, slightly nervous. They were sitting next to each other at adjacent desks with their chairs pushed back.

"Sure, anything," Eric replied, sort of relieved that she had initiated the important talk they both needed to have.

"I mean... I'm probably just imagining things, I'm sorry if this offends you," Alyson apologized in advance, looking away for a second before looking back at him, "but I... well, I feel like I put forward most of the effort into this relationship, especially with stuff like…um, like physical stuff, like holding hands and kissing, and...well, I was just wondering why?" She nervously bit her lower lip.

Now it was Eric's turn to look away. He thought about lying and saying he was just shy, but she knew better. The truth was going to hurt her, though. "Alyson... I just... we've been together for a while, and I mean, you're cool. I like hanging out and things. It's just that sometimes when we're holding hands and kissing and stuff, it just doesn't feel right. I just do it because you want to..." He kind of trailed off to gauge her reaction, hoping for the best. He was looking at her again.

Alyson felt her heart sink as Eric spoke. Deep down that had been her fear, but she had been hoping for an answer she would like more, like he was shy or something. What he said really stung. "Oh," she said quietly, looking away again. After a moment she looked back at him. Her heart still felt sunken. "Why didn't you break it off sooner?" She felt a lump starting to form in her throat. She really liked Eric. Don't you dare cry.

Eric looked down at his feet and took a deep breath. This was getting awkward. He looked back up and saw she was trying not to cry. "Oh, Alyson...don't cry…please, don't cry," he pleaded. "This is exactly why I haven't said anything before. I didn't want you to overreact. I didn't want to hurt you."

Alyson frowned a little. "I don't think I'm overreacting," she snapped. She immediately felt guilty for snapping. "Sorry," she said, shaking her head and sniffling a bit. "I'm just upset, that's all." Her voice broke a little. She realized it was probably better to break it off sooner rather than later, but she was upset he waited this long, and she was very hurt to find out the last few months had all been a lie. She stood up. "I think I'm going to go now," she said with forced indifference. She headed towards the door, a small part of her hoping that Eric would stop her. It was getting harder to hold back her tears.

Eric knew she wanted him to stop her, but he let her go, then sighed of relief. It felt nice to finally have that off his chest.

Alyson exited the classroom and shut the door behind her. The lump in her throat was very strong now. Don't start crying until you reach the bathroom, don't start crying until you reach the bathroom. She started to cry after only getting about five feet away from the classroom door, but she kept her head down and didn't stop walking until she reached another hallway, not wanting Eric to see her tears. God, why couldn't he have said something earlier?!

Dustin was walking around with some Slytherin friends of his. When Alyson walked past them with her head down, they immediately started making fun of her for crying. Dustin, however, knew better, plus he was a little intrigued; he had never seen her cry. She kept going, and Dustin stayed with his friends until he could disappear. He broke off from them and went the way she had been going.

Alyson stopped outside the nearest girls' bathroom with every intention of going in so she could cry in a stall, but she stopped for a minute outside of the bathroom and leaned against the wall. She hated how cruel the Slytherins could be. She wiped some tears from her eyes.

Dustin caught up to her, though he wasn't sure how to approach her because he didn't care about her wellbeing so much as he was just interested in knowing what had happened. "Hey, er, sorry about those guys back there. Are you okay?" he asked her, sounding authentic even though he didn't mean it at all. He was known to be a good liar.

Alyson looked up and blushed. She was embarrassed that Dustin was seeing her like this. "Not really," she answered, wiping away some more tears from her eyes before they could fall. She forced herself to keep eye contact with Dustin, who surprisingly seemed to care. "Eric just broke up with me," she explained quietly, sniffling a little.

Inside, Dustin smiled. He had never liked Eric. He was too quiet, and he was apathetic about anything he did talk about. Outside, he frowned. "Well, what did he do that for?" Dustin demanded. Jokingly, he added, "Want me to beat him up? Because I know some people who know some people, if you know what I mean."

Alyson smiled a little. She couldn't believe Dustin actually seemed to care, and she really couldn't believe that he was making her feel a little better. "He told me the feelings were never mutual," she explained, her voice a little shaky. "So the past seven months have all been a lie on his end, essentially."

"What a prick," he said. Not sure what else to say, he came and stood next to her and held an arm out for her to cry on his shoulder. "I know you really liked him, but he was never really cool anyway."

Alyson looked at him for a second. She was a bit wary of letting herself be this vulnerable around him. However, she was really sad, and so far he had been nice, so she leaned on him and began to cry on his shoulder, which was easy due to the considerable height difference between them. Her few tears turned into steady crying, and she ended up soaking the shoulder of his black robe in the process. Dustin was a little shocked that Alyson actually took the offer, but he patted her back and did his best not to be as awkward as he felt.

Alyson's crying began to calm after a few minutes, and she said, "I wish he would have ended it sooner if that was the case, you know?" There were still tears in her eyes.

Dustin didn't say much else because he didn't really know how to handle this; Haley had Mary for stuff like this. Instead, he just let her talk and cry. It was a good choice, because Alyson just appreciated him being there. She was still surprised he even stopped to ask. She lifted her head up and wiped the tears away from her eyes. She was done crying for now. "Thank you," she said, her sense of surprise slightly apparent in her tone. She gave him a hug.

Dustin let her hug him, but he didn't really reciprocate. "Don't tell anyone about this, ok? I can't let my reputation be tarnished by an act of good will," he said with a wink.

Alyson smiled a little bit. Of course he wouldn't want this to be known about, that was so typical of him, but she couldn't bring herself to get mad at him about that; he was being too kind to her. "I won't, I promise," she said.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking down at her face to see if she was still crying. "Want me to get Haley and Mary to throw you a sleep over or something?"

"I'm fine, but thank you for the offer," Alyson said, smiling again. She was touched by his kindness. She never thought he'd ever be this nice to her. Maybe there's an ulterior motive. She pushed the thought out of her mind. "I guess I'll see you around?" she asked.

Dustin nodded. "See you."

They went their separate ways. He went to the Slytherin common room and found Haley and Mary sitting in front of the fireplace gossiping. He came and plopped down on Haley's lap and kissed her in the middle of a sentence. "Hey ladies. I have some better gossip for you," he said when they broke apart. "Guess who just found a crying, newly single Mudblood next to a girls' lavatory?"

"You did not," Mary insisted knowing immediately who he meant. There weren't many Muggle-borns that Dustin would bother to talk about. "Did Eric and Alyson really break up? Did she see that you saw her?" She was very curious.

Dustin was careful to avoid details on the last question. "Yeah, apparently he's been lying to her about liking her or something. She was pretty upset. I asked her if she was okay. She kind of stopped crying and told me what happened."

Haley was a little shocked. "You stopped and asked what was wrong? Did she seem like she was okay? I thought they were happy together. I wonder what happened," she pondered.

Dustin shrugged. "She looked as okay someone can look after a break up. Like I said, she told me the feelings were never mutual. He leading her on that whole time. That's how she explained it, anyway. I have no problem believing it. Eric always seemed spineless to me."

Mary was just as surprised as Haley. "I always thought he seemed really nice," she stated.

Haley kind of laughed. "Isn't that the point? He was always just...there. He was never mean or anything, but I wouldn't say he was nice either. If you ask me, Alyson could do better anyway. She needs someone who can stick up for them self and for her."

Dustin stood up from Haley's lap and stretched out his arms before saying, "Well anyway, I just wanted to share. Thought you would be interested. I have to see a man about some things." He kissed Haley and disappeared into the boys' dormitory.

Eric was sitting alone at a table in the corner of the library, trying to keep his mind off of what just happened by studying some herbology book he actually had very little interest in studying. He really did like Alyson as a friend, and he felt terrible for what he did to her. The guilt was gnawing at him on the inside. He was thinking about what happened when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

He turned around and came face to face with a large guy whom he was fairly sure was from Slytherin. The guy looked down at Eric and quietly said, "Get your things and come with me. Act natural. Don't start any trouble in here, or you'll regret it." Eric, unsure what to do and not wanting to provoke this guy, did as he was told.

They went out of the library and into a nearby classroom. Waiting for them were two other guys, just as large, if not larger, than the one who escorted Eric. The desks had been pushed against the walls, and they were all standing in the middle of the room. Eric got a sinking feeling in his heart that something bad was going to happen. He reached for his wand, just for it to be snatched from his hand by the guy who has brought him in. "You won't be needing this," the guy insisted with an evil smirk across his face. Eric started to panic a little. He could feel his heartrate increasing.

"What am I doing here? What's going on?" he asked, trying to keep the shakiness out of his voice. He realized his hands were shaking too. The first guy pushed him closer to the other guys, who caught him and held him there. The first guy walked closer and cracked his knuckles.

"What's going on is we hear you don't know how to treat a lady," he said before he punched Eric square in the jaw. Eric didn't notice any pain, but he saw black for just a moment. Blood spewed from his mouth. "And we're here to teach you a lesson," the guy said as he punched Eric the other way. Now Eric's head was throbbing, and his feelings of panic had fully set in. The guys continued to hit him in this fashion, until someone else walked in the room. Eric's vision was too blurry to see who it was, and his ears were ringing, but the unknown person must have told them to drop him because he hit the floor. He was on his hands and knees, coughing up blood when suddenly someone grabbed his hair and pulled it back. Eric heard this part.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, pretty boy. What you did to Alyson was crueler than this, and you deserve worse. I don't have time to deal what you deserve, however, so I'm granting you mercy. Next time you think about playing with someone's emotions, remember this."

And with that, whoever it was dropped Eric's hair, and his head hit the floor, knocking him out cold.