DISCLAIMER: I still don't own HP.
Getting it Right.
Blurb …
Rose and Scorpius share a hate/hate relationship. So everyone thought. Even Rose and Scorpius themselves. It just took them a while to get anything right. :ScorpiusRose postDH NextGen:
CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Competitive One.
(Or Part One of Two: The Scavenger Hunt)
Quidditch is obviously the heart and soul of Hogwarts. It's what keeps the rivalry between the Houses, what keeps students wanting to kill each other on a regular basis. Everyone loves Quidditch except for those weirdoes in Seventh Year who practically live in the library.
I also love Quidditch, though I've never been a fan of playing it. So why the hell do I go to the games?
"GO JAMES!" I screamed as my cousin zoomed past on his new Laser broomstick.
He shot me a grin as he made a flip, nearly kicking a bloke in the crowd from Slytherin and punching a fist into the air. James had always been a flipping show-off (er, no pun intended), but no one really cared when it came to Quidditch, considering he was the best beater Gryffindor had had in ages. I mean, he can't be compassionate to save his life, but he's surprisingly good at bashing people.
I jumped up and down next to Bea and Libby, Al on Bea's other side and all of us waving a giant banner with the Gryffindor logo on it. My two best friends didn't like playing either, however put us together at a game and all of us got extremely competitive. We basically supported any team that was playing Slytherin. I mean today, Bea and I weren't even in Gryffindor and we wanted them to crush Slytherin like a Snargaluff pod!
"… and Potter takes a swing at the crowd!" River Jordan was yelling into the megaphone. "Bloody hell, he's asking for it, we all remember what happened last year during the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff final! I don't think anyone wants to see James Potter get his arse kicked again!"
Next to River, Professor Cushing was shaking her head in exasperation. River loved commentating as much as her Dad, the host of the 'Wizarding Today' wireless channel, liked to. River was named after her Dad's old Potterwatch code name and she said that he was over the moon when she told him she got the job as commentator. Oh, and apparently they also both had the same trucker mouth.
"Come on!" I yelled at my cousin.
"DON'T BE AN ARSE, JAMES!" Libby screamed next to me and I snorted.
James apparently heard her because I saw him roll his eyes, however that didn't stop him from smacking a Bludger as hard as he could towards the Slytherin captain, Ian Gentle (whose name really was a mistake because the bloke was anything but gentle). He yelled and dropped the Quaffle, allowing Chloe Marks of Gryffindor to catch it from underneath.
"There's no way Slytherin can catch up!" Bea cried happily as River continued to yell into the megaphone and the Gryffindor Chasers sped up the pitch.
"Hell yeah, GRYFFINDOR WILL WIN!" Al punched the air, throwing an arm around Bea's shoulders as Chloe scored once again, making the score 80-20 to Gryffindor.
"Go Chloe!"
"WOOOO!"
"Smash Slytherin!"
"GO GRYFFINDOR!"
The Slytherin's on the other side of the pitch were also screaming, however considering the rest of Ravenclaw and most of Hufflepuff too were supporting Gryffindor, we managed to drown them out completely. I caught Malfoy's eye several steps below me as he glanced around, trying to follow the players as they flew over the crowd. I gave him a smug grin. We were totally going to win this.
"Oh, and Slytherin takes a hit!" River was yelling as one of the Slytherin beaters doubled over in the air, winded. James was already flying away, a huge grin on his face. "James Potter is on bloody fire today!"
"Jordan …" Professor Cushing said in a wary voice.
"What? I didn't swear that time!"
"Rosie, your cousin is AMAZING!" Libby yelled, happily as the Gryffindor crowd cheered. "I swear, if he wins this for us, I'll snog him on the spot!"
I laughed at that – God knows I could only imagine – however there was suddenly a collective cry of outrage from the crowd as River yelled, "… Marks in possession again and – THAT WAS CHEATING, YOU FU–!"
"JORDAN!"
The Slytherin beater that wasn't currently doubled up in pain, Marcus Williams, had just intercepted the Quaffle by smashing it out of Chloe's arms with his beaters bat. It was clearly a foul however Madam Hooch, who I swear is half blind, claimed to not have seen.
"For Merlin's sake, he smashed it out of her hands!" River screamed as one of the Slytherin Chasers took possession of the Quaffle. "That's got to be a foul – OH, COME ON, MADAM HOOCH!" she added, since Madam Hooch appeared to be partially deaf as well.
River kept yelling into the megaphone, however suddenly, there was a huge income of screaming from the Slytherin end and I stared in confusion, trying to see what the hell was going on.
"THERE!" Bea yelled, pointing to where the Slytherin seeker had gone into a huge nose-dive.
"Oh hell!" I said.
"Come on, Tom!" Al roared at the Gryffindor seeker. Tom Ellis was halfway across the pitch, no where near close enough to catch up. For Merlin's sake, he may suck at singing – God knows we suffered enough of it when he played Feste during Twelfth Night practises – but come on, he was supposed to be bloody good at Quidditch!
"Catch the snitch!" Libby yelled.
"Tackle the bastard!" Fred was yelling from the step below me, waving his Gryffindor scarf like a mad man.
"Catch him up, you can do it!" Bea roared.
"CATCH THAT SNITCH, OR I SWEAR I'M NEVER SNOGGING YOU AGAIN!" screamed who I guess was Tom's girlfriend, a normally very sweet girl in our year called Michelle.
But Tom didn't make it. He didn't catch the snitch and Slytherin won, 230, to 80.
We were never hearing the end of this.
Of course we got never-ending crap about losing Quidditch at Twelfth Night practise that night.
"God, this is so annoying," Harley was saying in that irritating voice of hers, leaning against the stage, though she was giving a smug grin. "I mean, I'd much rather be at the Slytherin celebration party right now."
"I bet it's brilliant!" Tessa Bletchley bragged, swiping back her frizzy brown hair while Bea and I just scoffed.
"Our celebration parties are always the best!" Malfoy cut in, dropping to the edge of the stage next to Harley and swinging his legs over the side. She just laughed, smacking his leg affectionately.
I snorted. Affectionately my arse. Libby was looking just about ready to sink her teeth into Harley's neck, however I thankfully was just gritting mine. Professor Hanson had called a break five minutes earlier when it became clear that none of us were paying attention and would much rather analyse the earlier Quidditch game. While Professor Hanson had been irritated by this at first, she could now no longer complain, since Professor Ackerly had turned up at the Great Hall trying to find his Gryffindor flag that he'd left behind at dinner. Long story short, the two professors were now talking animatedly next to Professor Hanson's chair about the match and how Gryffindor should have won (you know, not that they were, as teachers, taking sides or anything).
"I hate them," I said, glaring at the gang of Slytherin's gathered around the stage. Leanne and Amy, our actual resident Gryffindor's, were throwing them the filthiest looks they could possibly manage as they comforted Tom himself, sat morosely on the floor. "I mean it, I honestly hate them."
"And you didn't before?" Bea asked, snorting.
"Y'know, it's not just Quidditch," Malfoy was saying loudly and I swear I wanted to throttle him. "Last year we won the House Cup and last year's Head Boy was from Slytherin too."
The Slytherin's all laughed and agreed as everyone else seethed silently.
"Yeah, but what about this year?" I cut in, my mouth speaking for itself. "Is the Head Boy a Slytherin? Oh no, he's a Gryffindor. Head Girl? Oh no wait, not only is she a Ravenclaw, but she's Lucy Weasley!" I said, since everyone in the castle knew that my cousin was wicked smart. The day she got the owl saying she was Head Girl, she was flooing from house to house screaming about it. Yeah, Molly says she's a dork, but she's our dork.
"Lucy Weasley?" Malfoy said, raising an eyebrow and Harley and Parker scoffed. "Like that's saying much."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I snarled, seriously pissed off now.
Trevor had yanked back on my shoulder since I didn't realise that I had actually stepped forward. However thankfully he didn't have to jump me or anything since my snarl seemed to remind Professor Hanson that our 'break' had been going for quite some time.
"Oh – right everyone! Back to it then! We were up to Act 2, Scene 1! Stuart, if you want those photos from the match I can just owl them to you sometime?" she added and Professor Ackerly nodded an agreement with a grin as he left the Great Hall.
Professor Hanson didn't seem to notice how close I was to ripping Malfoy's head off as she chivvied us all back onto the stage for the scene where the audience realises that Viola's twin brother, Sebastian is still alive. Bea made sure to keep a hand on my arm, y'know lest I leap and attack the nearest victim as we climbed the stairs for side stage with Libby and Geraldine.
"I don't blame you for wanting to kill them," Geraldine told me, darkly. "I'm thinking about it myself."
"You might need to calm down, Rosie," Bea said, ever the rational one as Trevor started his lines on stage. "Look, I'm not saying Slytherin's brilliant or anything!" she added when she caught my look. "But all I'm saying is that they're trying to get a reaction out of you! Making you angry is what they want–"
"And you're not angry?" I asked.
"Of course I am!" Bea said. "But let's face it, I've always been better at anger management than you have."
I might've gotten angrier at that, but that would have only proved her point. Ok, I had to admit she was right.
"Oh come on Bea," Libby said, rolling her eyes. "You're too nice. I mean sure, I've met the occasional nice person from Slytherin, but from the sounds of twenty years ago, people had it up to here with Slytherin's!" She made a gesture above her chest. "That Lord Wotzit we're supposed to learn about in History of Magic and who Peeves insults in all of his songs? He was a Slytherin and from what I've heard, pure evil!"
"Yeah, because you don't actually know anything about him from History of Magic – just from what people have told you." Geraldine said, grinning slightly.
"My Uncle Harry does say that they've gotten better over the years." I said reluctantly, rolling my eyes.
"He's Harry Potter, he has to say that," Libby said. "Y'know, trying to keep world peace and all that."
"But the point is that Slytherin's are all the same, Rosie," Geraldine said, glaring at Parker and Harley, still bragging loudly with Malfoy instead of listening for their ques. "Annoying, up themselves and lets face it, stupid."
I sighed. Uncle Harry had tried teaching me and my cousins that we had to let go of our natural prejudices and accept that Slytherin's weren't really all bad. However it was kind of made difficult for him with my Dad in the background, handing us chocolate frogs and saying, "Don't believe a word he says."
'Mixed messages' doesn't even cover it.
"But it's like Libby said, I've met some nice people from Slytherin," Bea said, frowning. "And none of them have so far turned into evil over-lords, hell-bent on killing anyone who doesn't agree with their views, so I'm pretty sure they must've gotten a little better."
"Look, Bea–" Libby pointed out the Slytherin's now all laughing together. "–that is what you get when you put a bunch of cunning and overly snarky people together!"
Bea considered. "Er yeah, ok you've got a point." she said.
Later that evening, I cracked.
We had to stop practise before dinner so we could put the tables back in place, though with half the Slytherin table empty, it became a painfully obvious reminder that the other half were still down in their common room, partying the night away at their win.
And of course because karma hates me, Bea and I had ended up jammed behind Malfoy and his stupid mates in the Entrance Hall after dinner, listening to his wonderful 'speech' about how Slytherin was basically superior to everything.
"… overall, screw the other Houses," he was saying just as there came a gap and we could move forward. "I think if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in say, Ravenclaw I'd just ask to leave right then and there."
In any other case, I may have been able to control myself and keep going. But he mentioned Ravenclaw. Oh no, he didn't.
"I'm sorry, but are Slytherin's smart?" I demanded, spinning around on my heel. "Because from here, it sounds like you have no idea how close you are to getting hexed."
"Like you could, Weasley." Malfoy snorted.
"Want to bet?" I said, hand already on my wand, however thankfully Bea was there to shove it away. I don't know where I'd be without her rational mind. Probably dead and stuffed inside a suit of armour by now. Al would be proud of her.
"You think Ravenclaw's are better, Weasley?" Malfoy asked.
Thinking that Bea was just going to try and tug me back up the Marble Staircase, I had my mouth half open to argue back when she completely surprised me by blurting out,
"I know Ravenclaw could come up with an argument far better than the rubbish you've been coming out with!"
I gave her a look. Bea hardily ever got involved in my arguments with Malfoy, just continued to hate him because I did and I loved her for that. She just gave me a shrug.
"He's bringing other House's into this," she said. "Now it's getting personal."
"What's personal?" came Al's voice and I didn't know whether to be ecstatic to see him or not. On the one hand, he was another voice on our side. On the other, from the way things were going, this was going to turn into a war of the Houses and God only knows what was going to happen then.
"Malfoy claiming Slytherin is better than Ravenclaw." Bea said, glaring at Malfoy, Harley, Nott and Parker.
"He said what?" Al said in disgust as Harley rolled her eyes at us.
"Well, she's basically saying that if it came to a fight, she'd rather stick her nose in a book trying to figure out how to win, rather than just using your head to find a safe way to run!" Malfoy sneered at us.
"That would be called 'stupidity', not being a Slytherin," Al said as Bea agreed with him. See, this was why I was mates with these guys. "Not to mention being a coward. At least Gryffindor's have the courage to do something to fight back."
Malfoy and his mates all scoffed loudly at us. "Whatever, we could take you lot on any time." he said.
"Oh yeah?" I said. "Fine then! Ever heard of a Scavenger Hunt?"
Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "I think Professor Hanson's mentioned them in class once …"
"Er, Rosie?" Al muttered under his breath at me. "What're you doing?"
I don't know, Al. My brain is speaking for itself. I thought I'd had a word with it about this, but clearly not a strong enough one because I'm still speaking. "It's a list of objects that you have to find before the other team does," I was saying. "Each of us gets together a team from whatever Houses you think are best and we hunt them down. Winner gets the glory of winning and being the best House. Do we have a deal?"
"Deal!" Malfoy said at once, causing Parker to smack his shoulder as Malfoy leaned forward to roughly shake my hand. "But we do it at night. Tonight. The professor's won't really approve of us skiving off lessons to hunt down some objects."
"It's Saturday, you idiot." I pointed out, making Malfoy go slightly red.
"Well then," he said. "All the more added to make the Hunt more interesting."
"If you think that might help you win."
"Please, you're the one who's going to need help–!"
"Save the trash talk, mate." Nott cut in, rolling his eyes as he grabbed Malfoy's arm and marched him off towards the dungeons. Just before he disappeared, I yelled after him,
"Trophy room, midnight!"
What the hell had I just gotten myself into?
"What the hell, Rosie?" Bea had said as soon as Malfoy left. "A Scavenger Hunt? You know not to get competitive with him! It only ends in tears and more likely, a trip to the Hospital Wing!"
Ok, Bea was right of course, but as much as backing out appealed to me, I knew that Malfoy would never hear the end of it. He was already gloating from winning the Quidditch match and if I pulled out of this now, I knew Malfoy would practically chew me alive with his teasing.
No, I had to do this.
"Bea, this was my idea and I'm sticking to it," I said. "Malfoy can shove it – we're winning this thing!"
Bea just sighed. "Honestly, I worry about you sometimes. I mean, a Scavenger Hunt? Where the hell did you get the idea for that?"
"I actually have no clue," I said honestly. Because really, I don't know how my brain functions half the time. "It was out before I even really registered what I was saying."
"Oh, Rosie."
I nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."
At dinner, we tracked down Al and he agreed that he would figure out all the details of the Hunt, such as the list of items we were supposed to find. Malfoy of course threw a fit when he found this out, saying that being related to me, he was bound to only put down items easy for us to find. So we had to let him appoint someone from his 'side', so to speak to be a voice in what went down on the list.
All Bea and I had to do was get together a team of as many people as possible.
To my surprise, that part wasn't very hard.
"Malfoy said what?" Libby said in outrage, exchanging glances with Jo. "Hell flipping yeah, we're in!"
"Definitely!" Geraldine said, looking up from her chess game and slapping a high five with her best mate, Jamie Henry (who was also in).
"We'll teach that git a thing or two." Toby White said, cracking his knuckles. However Trevor still wasn't really sure.
"Malfoy told me that he thinks you look like a monkey …" I put in.
"He is going down!" Trevor said, smashing a fist into his hand.
"C'mon, Lucy!" I pleaded with my 17-year-old cousin. "Ravenclaw verses Slytherin! Do it for us!"
"I'm Head Girl!" she said in outrage, turning to her friend for help. "Not that I support what Malfoy said, but if we got caught …"
Her friend shrugged. "I like it." she said.
"Katie!"
"Thank you, see!" I said as Katie grinned. I looked pointedly at Lucy. "C'mon, he said 'screw the other Houses! If they tried to put me in Ravenclaw, I'd run away screaming'!"
Lucy's eyes went wide. "He said that?"
"Er well, maybe not those exact words, but that was the gist of it, yeah."
"Right!" Lucy stood up and Bea, Katie and I glanced up in surprise. "Rosie, we're in!"
"I'm not even in Ravenclaw, but I'll do it!" Lily said, excitedly.
"Kitty? Hugo?" Bea asked the other two and they both nodded vigorously.
"Of course!" Kitty said.
"Besides, it's not just Ravenclaw," Hugo pointed out. "It's basically anything versus Slytherin. We're going to smash that guy into a pulp!"
So in the end, we had thirteen people, fourteen if you included Al. However, he claimed that he was on no one's side and was going to act as a judge. Each object we found had to be taken back to him, who would judge whether it qualified or not. Malfoy had of course appointed his own 'judge', considering that y'know, he doesn't trust us at all.
So midnight came and we all gathered in the Trophy Room.
The moonlight shone on the tall trophies and shields, all reflecting the crazy amount of people within the room. Malfoy, to my annoyance, had managed to group together quite a few people too and had even wrangled in a Hufflepuff (though she was Nott's twin sister, so I don't think she really counts). However, we were still one person above him!
Us: 1, them: 0.
(Oh, so kill me, I can't help but keep score, all right?).
Al and Malfoy's judge, a burly bloke called Anthony Carter stood side by side, both holding identical sheets of parchment. Our lists. Malfoy and I stood opposite each other, heading our lines of, er 'fighters', for the want of a better word.
Once glance down my line made it clear that everyone here meant war. Everyone had been insulted in some way by the other team and things were getting so personal, I had a feeling this was going to be even dirtier than last year's Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch opening match, where Ian Gentle had actually thrown Chloe Marks off her broom.
"Is everyone ready?" Al yelled.
"YES!" several voices coursed back. I glanced back again and saw that Libby had painted war stripes on her cheeks and Jo had tied a blue cloth with a hand-drawn eagle over her blond hair, to keep it out of the way. Lucy stood tall and menacing over the Slytherin's (and one Hufflepuff), knowing that the fact that she was Head Girl gave us a huge advantage if the Professors caught us (something that was starting to look likely). Lily had that weird, determined look that she sometimes gets as Bea was poised on the balls of her feet, looking ready to pounce.
While I was beginning to think this had perhaps, maybe gotten slightly out of hand, I exchanged a glance with Malfoy opposite me and then, all I felt was blind rage. Hell, I was winning this!
"Then go! Bloody hell!" Al yelled. We all stood there for a second before we realised what Al had said. Then suddenly, we were all racing forward, crashing into each other to grab our lists.
Ok yeah, this could get ugly.
Conclusion to Competitiveness between Houses:
-If someone insults your house, they must simply die.
-Though I don't recommend a Scavenger Hunt. Try a simple game of Quidditch or to be more creative, perhaps pushing them off the North Tower?
-There is no way Malfoy's also winning this.
-Dad would be so proud of me!
Rose: 18, Malfoy: 18.
(This'll be the time I finally get past him).
A/N: Update, 30/12/11: The Scavenger Hunt! I included this little game to further emphasise Rose and Scorpius's competitive sides. Cause nooooo, they so don't let things get out of hand at all. Now updated for spelling/crappiness/blahblahblah.
Thank you so much for the reviews so far. You're all amazing.
Until next time-
-Moon. : D
