Pull System
"Hey every one, come on out!" Sirius yelled as he stood outside of the cabins. It was a bright and warm morning in the little clearing that they were calling home for the time being. He watched the players come out of the cabins. They were all dressed up in their team colors this time. He had to admit, it made knowing who was on what team much easier.
"How did you all sleep last night?" he asked. There were murmurs of okays and goods. "Alright, so a lot happened yesterday. There was a huge upset in the partner selection game. Astoria, have you and Ginny worked things out?"
"I mean I understand why she did what she did. She played the game the way she thinks it should be played and that's fine." Astoria responded.
"So have you worked things out with your partner?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah. We talked last night, and I think we're going to work great together." Astoria said looking to Seamus, who was standing behind her. He had put his hand on her shoulder while she spoke.
"Katie," Sirius said turning towards her. "You and Astoria are friends right? How do you feel about what happened?"
"I think it was mean and cruel," Katie replied bluntly. "But like Astoria said, if that's how she wants to play the game, then what can we all do about it? It's over and done with."
"Wow. That was direct," Sirius said. The group laughed at his response.
"I'm not one to hold back my feelings," Katie smiled.
"Okay, so later on today we will compete in our first Endurance mission. There you will have your chance to earn a puzzle piece. And speaking of, we need to award you with your first piece. So if you will follow me, I will hand them out."
The players looked ahead of the direction that Sirius was walking. A small bridge that was not bigger than a foot wide had been added along the edge of a small bank on the lake. Eight poles had been added behind it. They were colored the team colors. Each pole had numerous pegs sticking out.
"As you can see, we've added a place to store your puzzle pieces so that everyone will know who is winning." Sirius stated. He walked over to a small table that had puzzle pieces stacked on it.
"Ok, each puzzle piece represents a trait or skill that I feel you need in order to endure. We will talk about each piece as we get to them," Sirius picked up the first piece. "Green team, for you I give you the heart piece. It takes heart to continue when you want to quit." Cedric walked up to collect the piece and went back to the group.
"Grey team, for you I give the strength piece. It takes great strength to endure when you want to give up," Sirius said as Harry walked forward to claim his piece.
"Yellow team, I give you the courage piece. It takes great courage to accept things as they come, and continue on. I think this piece is perfect for you," Seamus walked up collect his piece.
"Blue, you get Friendship. Friends can help you, or hurt you in this game." Oliver walked up to grab the piece.
"Brown team, I give you luck. You need luck on your side if you want to continue," Sirius stated as Blaise walked up to obtain his piece.
"For Purple, I give you leadership. It takes a leader to break away from the pack and endure the most," Sirius said as Draco came up to collect his team's piece.
"Red team, I give you discipline. Do you have the discipline it takes to endure?" Sirius asked as Ron came to collect his piece.
"Finally, Orange team, I give you the knowledge piece. It takes knowledge to play the challenges and come out on top," Sirius said. "Okay teams, go hang your first piece up!"
The teams walked along the bridge to their colored pole and hung up their first piece together. Once they had completed that, they walked back to their previous place, waiting further instruction.
"Ok, enjoy the rest of the morning. Because when I come back, we are going to compete in the first Endurance mission!" Sirius said excitedly. He watched the teams go on their way before he turned to go to his own cabin.
"What do you think the mission is going to be like?" Katie asked. She, Astoria, Luna, and Hermione were sitting on bunks talking.
"I dunno. I hope it's not like the right to stay game." Astoria said.
"But how can it be?" Luna responded logically. "That was a single person event. We are in partners now. It has to be something we could do together."
"She has a point," Hermione said.
"Hey Hermione!" Blaise said as he walked into the girl's cabin and sat next to her.
"It's so nice out. We never have weather like this back home. Why aren't you lovely ladies out enjoying it?" he asked enthusiastically.
"I dunno, we were talking," Katie replied.
"You can't talk outside?" he asked.
"I mean we could, but then the exclusivity of our little group here would be compromised now wouldn't it," Katie countered.
Blaise chuckled. "You are quite the spitfire, Katie," he said. He turned to Hermione, "Come outside with me, let's talk strategy for today's challenge."
Blaise stood, holding out his hand. Hermione took it and followed him down the steps, past the firepit, straight to the hammocks. Blaise laid down facing one direction while Hermione laid down next to him facing the other.
"Consorting with the enemy, eh?" Blaise said mischeviously.
"No," Hermione replied, "I was chatting with Luna when Katie came up. She was followed shortly by Astoria. She's not that bad really, just a little on the emotional side."
"You aren't going back on our alliance are you?" Pansy said as she walked up with Draco in tow. They sat down in a similar fashion as Blaise and Hermione in the hammock next to theirs.
"So you are in mate?" Blaise said to Draco.
"Yeah," he responded.
"Brilliant," Blaise retorted.
"But no, Pansy, I'm not. I'm convinced she'd send anyone of us just because we're friends with Ginny. I feel like she and Katie are out for her blood," Hermione said.
"Probably," Draco said. "Harry said he overheard the two of them last night. They were plotting how they could make something look like an accident."
"We'll need to separate them well before they can put that plan into action," Hermione said.
About twenty yards away Luna walked over to the swing where Lavender was currently sitting.
"Why are you out here all by yourself?" Luna asked.
"Oh I dunno, I'm just a little homesick I guess. Felt like being alone," she responded.
"Oh. Well I'll just leave then," Luna replied.
"No!" Lavender said. "Stay. I'm sorry. I just feel really lonely here. The girls over there haven't really taken to me. And then Katie and Angelina and Astoria haven't exactly welcomed me either."
"I feel the same way," Luna said. "I mean Hermione has been nice. But nice isn't trying to forge a friendship." Luna sat down on the swing. The girls sat in silence rocking from side to side.
"Hey, maybe we should be friends. We could help each other out and try to make it to the final two." Lavender said.
"That would be lovely," Luna responded.
"And think about it. Obviously Grey, Brown, and Purple are doing the same thing we're talking about. So are Yellow, Blue, and Green. Clearly Katie and Astoria don't like Ginny. With them at each other's throats, we can slip under the radar and let them pick each other off. Then all of a sudden it's us and one or two of them," Lavender plotted.
"Ok, I'll go get Neville and Ron and we can fill them in on our idea," Luna said.
Well this is interesting. Sirius thought as he looked out his cabin window. Looks like we have super teams forming. He looked at the different groups of kids. He saw them grouped together, talking, but looking around as if not to be heard. Perfect moment to break it up and start the challenge.
He picked up a small black jar, and walked out of his cabin and walked out of the wood line. Since none of the contestants were in the cabins, he walked over to the fire pit and called everyone over.
"Are you guys ready to begin the Endurane challenge?" He asked.
"Yep!" Everyone said. Sirius could feel the nervous tension everyone was emitting.
"Alright, follow me behind the cabins where the challenge is set up," he said. He took off walking with the group closely behind. They walked up to a huge square frame. It had to have been twenty feet tall and twenty feet wide. About every two or so feet across the top was a pulley system. Each pulley had a rope with harnesses secured at each end.
"I bet you are wondering what this little black jar is. Well I will tell you. The jar had something in it that will disadvantage one team in tomorrow's Fate mission. The winner today will be awarded the jar. They in turn will get to pick which team to give it to." A gasp went through the teams as the soaked in the new information.
"Ok guys, how this challenge works is like this: One person on your team will be attached to each end of the rope. One person will run from the frame to the bucket colored with your team color over there," Sirius pointed to a spot about twenty or so yards away. "You will collect one piece and run it to your teammate. I know that's not far, but as the one teammate runs the other teammate is hoisted into the air. The teammate that goes up in the air, will have to put the puzzle piece your partner gives you into the bucket at the top of the pulley. You will go back and forth until one team has ten pieces in the bucket in the air. Does anyone have a question? No? Alright then, let's get into place."
Crew members helped each person get into the correct harnesses. Each team decided that the boy team member was going to run while the girl team member would be lifted into the air. Once everyone was ready Sirius asked again if anyone had questions.
"Alright then, on my count begin. Ready…set…GO!" Sirius yelled.
The boys all took off running. As they did so, each of the girls were lifted into the air. Cedric reached the pieces first, however he was closely followed by Harry, Ron and Draco. Neville, Seamus, Blaise, and Oliver weren't far behind though. Harry reached Ginny before Cedric reached Angelina. And He was off again. Harry reached the puzzle pieces for a second time before the last girl had put her piece into her bucket. Cedric and Draco were close behind him however.
Draco beat everyone back to his partner for the second piece. But Angelina hit the ground before the other girls, meaning Cedric already had his third piece in his hands. Draco was not far behind. Somehow he managed to beat Cedric back to Pansy before he had made it to Angelina.
Draco it seemed had reached a new level of energy. He grabbed the forth piece before any other team had three in the basket. He had piece five before anyone else had the forth piece in their hands. By the time Pansy put piece six in the basket, most of the other teams were just picking up piece number five.
"Purple is at least one piece ahead of everyone else. But Green is not far behind, and neither is Grey," Sirius said.
When Draco grabbed piece number seven, Cedric was just handing piece six to Angelina. Harry had given Ginny piece number six right after Cedric, and everyone else was still working with piece number five. At piece number eight, Draco began to slow down.
"Looks like Draco is getting tired. He's slowing down a bit. Green, this could be your chance to reclaim the lead," Sirius said.
Cedric handed Angelina piece number eight as Draco grabbed piece number nine.
"It's going to be a close one!" Sirius yelled.
Draco handed Pansy piece number nine as Cedric grabbed his piece number nine. Draco was half way back to his bucket when Cedric handed Angelina piece number nine.
"This is it, for the win. Can Draco hold on to the lead or will Cedric over take him?" Sirius commentated.
Draco grabbed piece number ten and sprinted with everything he had. Cedric did the same thing. Pansy soared into the air a second before Angelina did. Draco ran with everything thing he had. Pansy slipped her piece into the bucket a split second before Angelina did.
"Purple wins!" Sirius shouted. Draco ran back to Pansy to let her down. She jumped into his arms with excitement. "Purple wins the Perseverance piece and the black jar!"
The crew helped each team out of their harnesses and everyone formed a crowd around Sirius and the Purple Team. The Brown and Grey teams both looked happy for the Purple team. The other teams, on the other hand, looked disappointed.
"Purple, congratulations! I know you guys worked hard to earn this new piece," Sirius handed the Perseverance piece to Pansy. "And you earned the black jar. Think long and hard to who you want to give this to. It won't guarantee that the recipient will lose tomorrow, but it will make it that much more difficult. I will give you guys the afternoon to think it over, and then we will meet back at the circle of rocks, where we first met, to hand it out. See you guys then." Sirius walked away with the crew.
The Grey team and the Brown team walked over to Pansy and Draco to congratulate them. They had a group hug before walking back towards their cabins. Luna and Lavender hung back and watched everyone else follow the winners.
"Who do you think they will give it to?" Lavender asked Luna.
"The logical person would be the Green team since they were neck and neck the whole game. But you never know," Luna responded.
"You don't think they'd give it to us, do you?" Lavender asked.
"Why would they? We weren't even close to being a threat in that game," Luna said.
"Yeah, it is no wonder than Draco and Pansy won. She's one of the smallest girls out here, while Draco is definitely one of the strongest." Lavender stated.
"Let's head back before they start to miss us," Luna said.
"Who are you going to give it to?" Hermione asked.
"We haven't talked about it yet," Draco responded. The Brown, Grey, and Purple teams were swinging in the hammocks. The girls were sitting three deep on the first hammock and the boys were sitting three deep on the other.
Harry looked around to make sure no one was in ear shot before whispering, "Yellow or Blue?"
"What if we gave it to the Green team?" Pansy whispered back. Blaise looked at her like she sprouted gills. "No listen, they almost beat us today. Wouldn't it be smart to get a strong team out of the way? Well a strong team that is not in our alliance. Besides, we'd just be making it so they can't win tomorrow so one of us for sure will."
"She has a good point," Hermione said.
"But the Blue team wasn't too far behind us Harry," Ginny said. "And we don't know what's in the black jar. And someone else could still win. You never know,"
"What's your point, Ginny?" Harry asked.
"My point is I don't think anyone should be kept off the table at this point because we've only had one challenge. Who knows what the others will be and who will be strong and who will not be,"
"Ok so basically it's between Green, Blue, and Yellow," Pansy said.
"I vote yellow. Astoria is just going to cause problems. We can tackle Green later," Blaise said.
"Yeah, me too," Ginny agreed.
"But it's totally your decision, Pansy and Draco," Hermione said.
"Yeah mate, we'll leave you two so you can discuss the options," Harry said. Hermione, Ginny, and Blaise followed Harry back to the cabins.
"Do you know who Purple is giving the black jar to?" Ron asked as Harry and Blaise walked into the boys cabin.
"Not a clue," Blaise responded smoothly.
"But I doubt they'd give it to you," Harry told him.
Ron visibly relaxed at the news. He reclined back on the bottom bunk he was sitting on. "I bet its Green or Yellow," he said.
"Yeah?" Blaise responded.
"Yeah. Green because they almost beat purple, but yellow because Astoria hates Ginny and Pansy and Ginny are friends," Ron declared.
"Guess we're about to find out," Harry said elbowing Blaise slightly, then pointing out the door. "Here comes Sirius now. Might as well head on out."
The boys walked out of the door just as Sirius called everyone to meet in the circle of rocks. Two rocks had been placed on one side, and seven rocks had been placed a few feet away from the first two. Sirius took a seat on one of the two rocks set aside, and beckoned the Purple team to sit on the other. Everyone else was instructed to sit facing them on the remaining seven rocks.
"How is everyone? Recovered from the challenge?" Sirius asked. Yeps and yeahs were murmured through the group. "This is where all of the big decisions will be made. This is where we will hand out the black jar, and where we will send people to the House of Fate. So Purple team, you really dug it out and worked hard to win." Sirius said.
"Yeah," Draco responded. "I really wanted to win the first mission, so I just pushed the pain and everything out of my mind."
"You must have. Cedric, you were so close to the win. What do you think happened?" Sirius asked.
"I worked really hard the whole game, but I think I could have paced myself better. I didn't try as hard in the beginning as I could have thinking that I'd make up for it when everyone else had gotten tired. I didn't figure in Draco being a beast the whole time, however," Cedric replied. Everyone laughed at his response.
"He certainly was, wasn't he?" Sirius asked. "Alright now, Purple, have you decided who you want to give the black jar to?"
"We have," Pansy said.
"We decided to give it to the Yellow Team," Draco said.
"Alright yellow team, come up here and open it up," Sirius stated.
Seamus and Astoria walked up. Seamus grabbed the black jar from Sirius and opened it. Astoria reached in and pulled out a tape measure.
"How many feet does it say?" Sirius asked.
"Five," Seamus replied.
"That means that the Yellow team will have five extra feet in the challenge tomorrow. Alright guys, enjoy tonight, because for one team it will be their last," Sirius said. With that last comment, he dismissed the group.
Astoria had tears in her eyes as Katie walked up to hug her.
"Why us? What did I do to them?" Astoria asked through sobs.
"It's because they are being manipulated by the Grey team. Don't take it personally. Look either you or I will win tomorrow, and we will send Grey and Purple to the House of Fate.
"Promise?" Astoria asked.
"Promise," Katie replied.
The two girls were the last to leave the circle because of their exchange. They left with a renewed sense of vengeance against Purple and Grey, and couldn't wait for the Fate mission tomorrow.