"Rose?"
"You entered? Why didn't you tell us?"
"What the hell, Rose?"
"Rose!"
I groaned inwardly as my family all apparated into my apartment, crowding into my living room, none of us paying any attention to the Magiscreen anymore.
Within a minute of my name being called, every single one of my Aunts and Uncles, from my father's side, had appeared, as well as my Grandma Molly and Grandpa Weasley, my parents, my brother Hugo, and every single Weasley/Potter cousin (including Victoire and Teddy, who were techinically Lupins, not Weasleys, along with their 3 year old son, Mattie).
"I did not enter myself!" I screamed over everyone, effectively shutting them all up, all staring wide-eyed at me.
"They," I said, pointing to Al, James (his older brother), my cousin Fred and Hugo, "did." I said, glaring at the offending party.
There was a split second of silence, before the noise started up again. Most of the females were yelling at the 'offending party' for entering me, the males not in said party were busy discussing the competition and the offenders themselves were busy trying to defend their actions.
"But, Mum, we we're only doing it to cheer Rose up! She got fired and dumped today-" Al said, but I quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, glaring at him.
The last thing I needed was for my entire family to crowd around me wanting details about the other events of today.
"Auntie Rose?"
I looked down, and saw Mattie pulling on my jeans, trying to get my attention. When he saw me looking at him, he pointed to the window.
"Owl." He said quietly, before wandering back to his parents.
I looked, and sure enough, an owl carrying an envelope stamped with the Magiscreen logo was hovering at my window.
Dear Miss Weasley,
Congratulations on being accepted to participate in the inaugral Blishwick Competition. You will be transported to the welcoming venue shortly, where you will be briefed on the competition. No luggage is necessary, except for your wand, as all other items will be provided.
Best of luck for the competition,
Serena Chilst,
Manager, MagiScreen Inc.
I'd barely read through the letter before I felt the familiar hooking sensation around my navel, and groaned inwardly. As was pulled into oblivion, the last thing I heard was the gasps of my family as they finally stopped harrassing the 'offending party' and hurriedly wished me good luck as I disappeared, clutching the letter, now glowing blue, in my hands.
I stumbled slightly as I appeared on the stage that I'd been staring at on screen only minutes before.
"The letter was a Portkey, by the way." The girl next to me said helpfully.
"I'm Callie." The girl said, her blonde girls bouncing around her head as she held her hand out.
I shook it, still taking in my surroundings.
"Rose." I replied.
There were about 15 of us on the stage, out of the 20 to be called. Mia, the girl I'd noticed earlier, was posing for photos, waving to the audience, along with another girl with long dark hair, who looked to be in her mid 20s.
Alicia, the first girl to arrive, was on Callie's other side, watching Mia and her companion in disgust.
The guys were all in a clump on the other side of the stage, a couple clearly checking out Mia. Among them I could spot Boot and Micheals, who was called just before me. I recognized a few of the others from Hogwarts, but I couldn't recall any names.
"Liam Hemody!"
The name rang out across the stage, and all us contestants looked up, waiting for the new arrival. Within the next few minutes, 'Liam Hemody', a short, brown haired man that I thought might have been a Ravenclaw in my year, 'Willa Tonington' a red headed girl who joined Mia waving at the audience, 'Eddie McGough', a guy with glasses and short hair and 'Shanae Smith', a brown haired female who looked to be roughly 25 had arrived, all clutching their letter/Portkeys.
With only one contestant left to be announced, the atmosphere in the auditorium was buzzing. Doing a quick head count, I discovered that all ten females had arrived, so the last contestant must be male.
The announcer was dragging it out deliberately, grinning at the audience whilst slowly announcing the name.
"The last contestant for the very first Blishwick Competition is a very talented young man, who I'm sure will entertain you all. The last contestant is..." The announcer trailed off, enjoying the suspenseful silence that now filled the venue.
"Scorpius Malfoy!"
The crowd screamed, the announcer grinned, stepping back from his podium, Mia and her companions resumed their waving, and I gasped for what felt like the millionth time that day, and went very, very pale.
You see, I happen to know Mr Malfoy. We were at school together, and were in constant competition from the moment we stepped onto the Hogwarts Express.
We were the complete opposite in many ways; he was blonde, I was a red-head, he was calculating and thought everything through, I acted rashly and had a temper, he was a Slytherin, I was a Gryffindor, he was good at Transfiguration and Potions whilstI was good at Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts.
However, we also had many similarites. We were both insanely competitive, achieving the equal top spot in our graduating class, both played Chaser for our house teams, we were both Prefects, and in our final year, I was Head Girl, and he was Head Boy.
The thing is, I've kind of missed our competition. In my schools years I'd been focused, always trying to beat Malfoy. In school it had given me something to aim for.
I guess it would do that now, too. Beating him was always something I enjoyed.
As Malfoy appeared on stage, his blonde hair gleaming in the light and his trademark smirk on his face, I couldn't help but cross my arms, replacing my shocked look with a similar smirk. What can I say? I'm a sucker for good competition, and this one's finally become interesting.
"Malfoy." I said, inclining my head to him as he stood a few feet away from me.
"Weasley." He replied.
We glared at each other for a moment, an unspoken agreement that this had now become a personal challenge for each of us to beat the other.
With a final smirk, he turned away from me, heading to the clump of guys, and I turned back to Callie and Alicia, who had walked over to join us.
Within an hour, the auditorium had cleared, and all of us contestants were now seated where, previously, the audience had been. The presenter, Max Caufield, was standing on the stage along with Madame Blishwick, the competition's sponsor, and Serena Chilst, MagiScreen's Manager.
It was time for the briefing.
"All right, contestants! This is just a brief detailing of the rules of the competition, which will begin tomorrow. The competition, which I'm sure you all know, runs for the entirety of this month, or, for 31 days, with this being Day No. 1. On Day 4, the first elimination will take place, and after that, only 19 of you will remain. This will continue till Day 31, where the last 2 of you will be brought back here, for the Grand Final." Max Caulfield grinned at us, and I saw a gleam of hope in many of the competitor's eyes.
"Some quick do's and don't's. Do not, under any circumstance, use Dark Magic in this competition. Anyone who does so will be disqualified and sent to the Ministry for questioning."
"Secondly, you are welcome to form alliances and such like. However, only one single person will win, not a team. Remember that."
"Thirdly, when a challenge requires you to work as a team or in pairs, you must do so. Failure to do so will hurt your chances of remaining in the game. And finally, don't go wandering into any of the forbidden areas on the island. These areas are clearly marked, and they are marked so for a reason. So, unless you want to be removed from the island in pieces, I would stay within the markers." Max grinned again, though this time many competitors looked pale, a few had a green, sickly pallor at the mention of the 'forbidden' areas.
"Now, before you all get shipped off to the island, how about we all introduce ourselves?" Max called, and began pointing at contestants, who then introduced themselves.
"Rob Micheals." One of the boys said, who had dark hair and tanned skin.
"Fiona Strall, but call me Fi." The tall, dark haired girl, sitting next to Mia, said.
"Mia Treck." Mia said, grinning widely and blinking her eyelashes it what was clearly intended to be an endearing look.
I heard Callie next to me retch a little, which caused me to giggle a little. Callie and I shared a look of mutual disgust, before turning our attention back to our fellow competitors.
"Felicity Warren." The girl next to Mia stated, her fringe hanging in her eyes.
"Willa Tonington!" The red head next to her said, leaning forward in her seat, grinning widely, before leaning back, winking at the boys in the row in front of her.
"Nicholas Plat. Just Nick, though." A boy with dirty blonde hair, part of the huddle of guys, said.
"Will Phiscoor." The boy next to him stated.
"Matt Boot". His neighbour said, winking to Willa Tonington as he did so.
The rest of the group of guys followed, which included Malfoy, 'Thomas 'Tom' Meetling' and 'Joey Dackaby'.
"Hey everyone. I'm Abelia Kapoor." The dark-skinned girl on the other side of Alicia, who was on my right, said. I vaguely recognized her as a Chaser from Gryffindor, a few years older than me.
"Alicia Pristall." Alicia said quietly, clearly not liking the spotlight.
I introduced myself, glaring at Malfoy as I did so, followed by Callie, whose full name turned out to be Calliesta Trescott. I can sort of see why she prefers Callie.
"Liam Hemody." The short guy said, looking nervous.
"Eddie McGough." The guy next to him said, smiling warmly, his eyes shining pleasantly behind his glasses.
'Taylor Roberts' came next, a girl with long, reddish brown hair who spoke in an airy voice.
"I'm Shanae Smith". The woman at the end of my row smiled to us all.
Finally there came 'Benjamin Bole', was I was certain was a Slytherin in the year above me.
"Alright, you all know each other!" The presenter said from the stage, grinning down at us.
"Follow me to your transport, competitiors! It's time to meet your playing ground!"