"I hate waiting!" I exclaimed, to no one in particular.
They were all ignoring my little tantrum.
"I just want to know already!" I sighed in frustration.
Mum bustled around the kitchen, getting dinner ready, well practiced in the art of ignoring me. Dad was in the living room, also blocking me out.
I turned to Al, as he comes down the stairs.
"Al, make the letter come already!"I whined.
He rolled his eyes at me, brushing past me to get to the fridge. As he opened it, he said
"Lil, it'll come eventually. You're a shoo-in for Captain anyway; it's in your blood." He turned around to face me, leaning against the fridge, opening a butterbeer.
"But what if I don't get it? I'll be the disappointment of the family!" My voice is shrill with anxiety.
Al sighs.
"Lil, think about it. Kelsey and Callum are Prefects, they can't get it. Amber's not really the leading type. Daniel never shows up to practice, so he's unreliable. That leaves…you, Hugo and Max. Hugo's a loner, no offense to him, but he is. He has no hope. Max is unbelievably irrating, if he gets it the team would hex him within a week. It will definitely be you." He smiled at me, patting my shoulder as he left the room.
I huffed. He's right, in a way. But the fact that I'm a shoo-in only makes it worse if I don't get it. I don't think I could cope with the let down.
"Lil?" Dom calls my name down the stairs.
"What?" I yell back, slightly too sharply, but, well, I was frustrated. And anxious. And nervous. And worried.
"Come up here! The boys want to start a game!" Comes the reply.
Groaning, I heave my self up the stairs, onto the second landing. Dom's waiting for me, her face all eager.
"Come on!" She says, practically dragging me into James' room by the wrist.
Everyone's here. Rose is sitting on a couch (I swear that wasn't there earlier, but I like it! Might steal it for my room…) next to Scorpius, and they are completelly engrossed in eachother. I still can't believe they are dating, but I guess you never can tell.
Al and James are arguing over something, standing on either side of James' bed, yelling across it. Louis is chatting to Lucy, sitting on the bed, completely oblivious to the argument going on over their heads. Hugo is slouching against the wall, ignoring everyone like usual. Roxy is stretched out of the floor, sitting next to Fred. They're clearly waiting for us all to get our act together and join them in a circle for a truth or dare round.
Before I go on, I probably should explain the games a little bit.
They started the summer before 2nd year. There are three types of 'games', a task, truth or dare and, my personal favourite, pranks. Basically, anyone Hogwarts age in our family can play, and friends of the family are invited. You get scored, whoever has the most points at the end of summer wins the Weasel Pot (this massive, ugly black pot that sits in the backyard most of they year. Every winner gets their name ingraved magically).
Why create this elaborate games system, you may ask? Well, the boys were bored. That's pretty much it. This is their way of amusing themselves. Of course, they're all too old to participate now, but they can still come up with different games, ask questions in truth or dare…basically torture those of us who are still playing.
"Ah, she's here!" James exclaims, clapping his hands together.
Instantly, everyone starts getting into position. The circle takes place, and we all get ready to play.
Oh, another thing. Family friends play, like my friend Cassidy (more about her later, all I'll say is she's half-Veela and a Metamorphagus. Yeah, I hate her too.). However, they don't participate in every round, like this one, obviously. So, they get the average score from the round added to their score. Just to keep things fair, so they still have a shot of winning. I think it was Dom who thought of that. James and Fred certainly wouldn't have, they are way to insensative. Not to mention idiotic, stupid, moronic, foolhardy, impatient…you get the picture.
"Who wants to start?" Dom asks, stretching out so that she's lying on her stomach.
"I'll ask." Fred says with an evil glint in his eye.
Oh, by the way, the questioner is the person who decides whether it's truth or dare. Not the answer. Fred thought he'd like to add in a twist when we started the truth or dare rounds.
"Hugo…ever shagged anyone?" Fred asks.
Well, what a way to start a game. Hugo gapes at him, and Rose blushes. Fair enough, I wouldn't want to think about my brother's shagging people either. Oh, no, bad mental images coming…
"Uh…" Hugo hesitates, which we all take to mean yes. Fred grins in triumph.
James butts in, playing the role of gamemaker, as always.
"Well, that was a fairly tame question, by our standards…so I'll give Hugo 2 points for that." He says, a quill and parchment appearing out of thin air in front of him, recording out scores.
"Hugo, your turn.
Hugo grins, having recovered from his humiliation.
"Lily. You…have to go downstairs, tip whatever Aunt Ginny's cooking for dinner all over her, and then go into the fridge, find dessert, and hover it over Uncle Harry's head, ending by dropping it on him." He grins at me.
Evil little bastard. That is a cruel, mean, sardonic just PLAIN EVIL dare.
I better get at least ten points for this.
Without a word, I get up and determinely march downstairs. I hear the others follow me, but they stop at the door, crowding around it.
Thanks to my years of practice, I cast a muffliato charm on the kitchen for good measure, in case Dad hears something and gets suspicious. Wouldn't want to ruin the second part of my dare now, would I?
I stay in the doorway, thinking of how best to proceed. In the end I decide for the magical option, it's always easier. And it means I don't have to move, always a bonus.
"Wingardium leviosa." I whisper, my wand pointed at the pot on the stove. It floats up obediantly, and I don't waste time.
I float it forward a few inches while Mum's focused on the pile of veggies beside the stove. Slowly, I start to tip it, just as Mum turns back to the stove. Just in time to be completely coated in meat sauce.
Mum shrieks, pulling out her wand to deal with the crisis. By the time she looks around to see who caused the mess, I've grabbed the dessert (a berry pie, in case you were wondering) out of the fridge and am on my way to the living room, and Dad.
I practically bolt along the corridor, skidding to a halt when I get to the living room. Dad's sitting with his back to me (thank Merlin, that makes this ten times easier), focused on the T.V. Grinning like the evil little minx I am, I use wingardium leviosa again to hover the pie over to Dad's head.
Unfortunately, I forgot to consider the reflection in the T.V. Dad realises there's something hovering above him, and looks up.
I have a moment of panic, and the spell releases. Turns out that's the best thing I could hope for, because the pie drops, falling straight into Dad's face.
I bolt upstairs while he wipes pie off his face, laughing quietly to myself. That was fun! I haven't done a good dare in ages, or a prank, which is pretty much what that was.
"So, how did I do?" I ask as I re-enter the bedroom.
Roxy, Dom and Lucy break out into cheers, Lucy actually jumping up and hugging me.
I laugh.
"Clearly Cassidy's been teaching you a few things, Lil!" Roxy says.
"Yeah, I bet you could give her a run for Prankster Queen now." Louis says from his position on the floor.
I snorted.
"As if anyone refers to her as the 'Prankster Queen." I laugh.
Fred looks at me, completely serious.
"I would. Her pranks rival ours, and that's saying something." His voice is dead serious, making me crack up again.
Eventually we quieten down enough to score my efforts.
"So, "James starts, perched on the bed above us all, lording his status as scorer over us, "I think we all agree that that was epic."
He looks down at us, and I find myself thinking that all he needs is glasses perched on his nose, and he'd look exactly like a professor. Scary. He continues, in the same fake-serious tone.
"I think 5 points for the sauce slipping, plus an extra 5 for making it in and out without being seen."
Dom and Fred, the only other two who James considers equal status to him in these matters (something to do with them being the oldest, or some similar rubbish) nod in agreement.
"As for the second stage, well, I think 5 points, plus 2 bonus points for getting it in his face." James sniggers slightly, reliving the memory of his Dad's humiliation.
"Everyone agree?"
We all nod, though the others who are still competing look slightly put out that I scored so well.
Well, screw them. I think I just got the highest score EVER, so I don't give a damn what they think. Ha.
"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER! GET DOWN THESE STAIRS THIS INSTANT!" Mum screams up the stairs.
We all wince in unison.
There was a whole system in place to deal with these events. James was always the one who gets called downstairs to explain the prank, I don't know why; I think Mum and Dad just trust him least. Not that I'm complaining, really.
He blames Al, who then gets called. He then blames me; I blame Rose, who blames Hugo, and so on. We basically confuse the hell out of them, which usually results in all of us getting into trouble.
Usually we just get chores, which is fine because we all use magic to do them, and when I was to young to do magic, I made Dom do it for me, though I had to give her all of my Chocolate Frog cards.
Sometimes, if the dare/prank is severe enough, we all get grounded. Only problem is, most of us are over 17, so we just apparate out of here. Those who cant, well, they're stuck, but whatever. James tends to argue this with Mum and Dad, the whole 'legal adult' thing, they shouldn't be able to ground him anymore, blah blah, you know what I mean.
So, basically, we never really get into that much trouble. I reckon it's because Mum and Dad did their fair share of troublesome stuff when they were our age, but Al says it's because they 'wuv us too much to punish us'. Yeah, right.
Well, that's the games for you. Our summer entertainment, the source of Mum and Dad's frustration, a major player in my pranking education, and the thing that's going to change my seventh year.
Want to know why? Well, Cassidy and I have a pact. We're going to bring the games to Hogwarts.