It's a story of its own how Albus and Scorpius ended up chasing each other down the long, winded corridors of the Room of Requirement in its "hide something so it can never be found" form, based on their now over the course of four years well-nourished frienmity and involving a visit to the kitchen at night, a dare to bewitch a teapot, a shelfful of shattered dishes and a petrified flamingo that really needed to be hidden – but this is not that story.
This story begins after they hid the flamingo (in a large closet that looked half-molten, as if someone hadn't quite succeeded in turning it into a giant candle). "And if you wouldn't have been so clumsy," Scorpius said and punched Al friendly on the shoulder, "we needn't have come here." "Ah yeah?" Al replied, punching back – and hitting thin air, as Scorpius had set off, laughing, down the corridor. Al needed no second bidding to pursue him.
Scorpius led the way down the narrowest paths he could find, enjoying the feel of forbiddenness emanated by the long-forgotten objects around them when suddenly, Al stopped short.
"Did you hear that?"
Scorpius paused as well, turning towards Albus to see whether he was bluffing. For a moment, the room remained quite still. Then –
"Drums?"
Al nodded. For a moment, they looked at each other and silently agreed that their chase was over, then they made their way through the illegal litter of the centuries towards the sound that throbbed in the otherwise silent air.
It turned out to come from inside a grand piano with strange runes carved into its sides, apparently quite violently. However, the piano didn't make the noise.
None of the boys wanted to show a sign of fear, and Al breezily stepped forward and opened the lid, trying to look as expert at it as he could (he'd never gotten so close to a piano before). In an instant, Scorpius was by his side.
On the strings of the piano lay a wooden box. It had one word carved across the two-part lid: Jumanji. As they cast their eyes upon it, it fell silent.
Scorpius, whom Al constantly teased for not being brave enough to be in Gryffindor, quickly reached forward and picked it up before Al could beat him to it. "What is it?" Al asked, snatched the box from Scorpius, put it on the ground and opened it.
"A board game", Scorpius said, swiftly kneeled down opposite Al and picked up the dice. Al started to read the rules out but Scorpius interrupted him. "I know how to read, thank you very much!" He ran over the rules, then said, perhaps with a slight sense of discomfort he would never, ever have admitted to Albus: "Not my kind of game" and stood up, throwing the dice back upon the board.
Not really sure how to play this out in a world where magic, killer plants, giant spiders and whatnot are not all that unusual, but I want to try anyway :) And Jumanji seemed just like the kind of object someone would hide in the Room of Requirement. I plan on having Rose Weasley and Lily Potter as the other two players. Tell me what you think!