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Last time on Let the Games Begin:

They were about to step through, when a soft cry from Neville made them twirl on the spot, wands out and ready.

The ugly Rod was glowing in Neville's hands, casting bluish-white eerie shadows on his glazed over eyes. The tall boy had a dazed look about him.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed in soft wonder.


"I can hear Malfoy!" Neville exclaimed, looking flabbergasted.

The others frowned: "I don't hear a thing..."

"No! In my head!" shouted Neville, eyes wild.

They froze and then Potter said carefully: "O-kaay... now that is disturbing." Then he blinked, disconcerted, as the Rod's glow dulled and vanished under their eyes.

"Wait, wait. Do you mean that you can hear him, but his voice is so faint that it seems to be only in your head? Or that he's actually talking in your head? Like mind-speech or something?" asked Terry authoritatively, attempting to determine the scope of the phenomenon by a rational way.

"Mind-speech!" yelled Hermione and when everybody started and turned to her abruptly, she went on quickly: "Remember what Mr. Mokuba told us? About the power of the Millennium Rod? He said that it granted the holder the power of bending the wills of others through mind control, and also let its user telepathically communicate with their brainwashed 'servants'."

"How do you remember that so precisely?" asked Terry in wonder. He had an excellent memory, but they'd only heard the explanation once and he had a strong suspicion that she had recited it verbatim!

"She remembers everything," assured him the other two Gryffindors matter-of-factly.

Hermione was going on as if she hadn't heard their comments: "Obviously, this is a lesser version, but like the Necklace and the Ring, it probably maintains some link with the original powers. Therefore it is not unthinkable that it allows the holder the faculty of mind-speech!"

"So, basically, Malfoy's talking to Neville through the power of the Rod?" clarified Potter.

Hermione started to nod but Neville cleared his throat: "I... don't think so. I mean," he went on hurriedly when they turned to him. "I don't think he's talking to me. About me, rather. Hum. He's insulting me. In his head I think..."

"Excuse me?" blinked Hermione.

Neville went red in the face and lowered his head, mumbling: "He's... was... ranting about how I'm a useless slob and he's sure I'm the one who's holding us up and the reason he's having to wait... called me a brainless squib..." he swallowed.

"That git!" hissed Potter.

"Don't listen to him, Neville!" added Hermione, scowling.

"Then he went on with something about how even that Granger... ehm... m-muggleborn..." he shot an apologetic glance at Hermione and she rolled her eyes: "I can guess he used a rather ruder epithet. Don't worry, Neville. Go on!"

The tall boy shrugged: "That's it, really. The sound of his voice was already fading when he said your name and after that, it vanished. That's also when the Rod stopped glowing," he added conscientiously.

"So I was right!" crowed Hermione. "This is connected to the power of the Rod!"

"The voice faded when he said Hermione's name?" asked Terry, an idea forming into his mind. "When did it appear? Do you remember the first thing you heard?"

"I-I'm not sure..." said Neville wide-eyed. Memory was not exactly his forte. "I-I don't... it was something like 'useless Longbottom, fat slob that he is, I bet that'..."

He trailed off, wilting under Potter's furious gaze: "That... that..." the green-eyed boy seethed.

Terry was nodding thoughtfully to himself, his agile mind working out the mechanics of the strange phenomenon.

"Don't listen to him, Neville," insisted Hermione. "He's a git!"

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy!" said Potter forcefully. "Any Malfoy. All of them together too, actually!"

Neville was slumping miserably, but he smiled at his friends a little, their indignation cheering him up. It's not like he didn't know Malfoy's opinion of him. There wasn't any need to give it any importance.

"Just ignore him!" advised Hermione dismissively.

"Not exactly easy when he's in my head," pointed out the tall Gryffindor dryly.

The girl faltered and Potter gave him a long, dark look: "I get you," he said Potter. "I totally get you."

Terry was reminded of what Potter had told them in Ryou's jungle: that he sometimes got to see what the Dark Lord was doing at the moment; that he had, in effect, a mind link to a dangerous psychopath.

"Anyway!" he said quickly, eager to change the topic. "I think I've figured it out."

He enjoyed their curious looks for a moment and then revealed: "Names are the key! It activated when Malfoy thought the name 'Longbottom' and, in a way, directed his thought-speech to Neville here... and it was interrupted when he thought of Hermione instead and started ranting at her!"

They pondered on this for a moment, then nodded. And Potter rounded on Neville, immediately making the logic leap: "Do it on purpose!"

"What?" asked Neville, startled.

"Think of Malfoy's name, then send him a mental message."

Terry and Hermione both snorted, then intercepted each other's gaze and guffawed.

"What, now?" exploded Potter, exasperated.

"Mental... message..." giggled Hermione.

Potter rolled his eyes: "You know what I mean, Hermione!" he complained. Then he smirked and gave a perfect imitation of her typical sniff: "Honestly!"

"All right, I'll try," said Neville, determined.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, curling his hands around the Rod firmly. Then his face scrunched up as if in an attempt at concentration... and then he cried out, surprised and alarmed, and let the Rod drop onto his own foot. He bit back a curse and a moan and quickly fetched it up, his nervousness nearly making him drop it again, then gave them all a very sheepish look: "Ehm... he's panicking." He shrugged, embarrassed and apologetic: "It kind of caught me off-guard, the way he started freaking out... loudly!" He winced.

Potter burst out laughing like a lunatic. "I'd be panicking too if your voice suddenly popped up in my head!" he sniggered madly. "Serves that git right..."

"Oh, dear," commented Hermione, not sounding too worried. "We really should have tried it out with one of us first, so that you could get used to it..."

Neville smiled feebly: "I'm going to try again, ok?" he said almost calmly.

A moment passed, then another, then another. The tall Gryffindor didn't give any sign of being doing anything, inside or outside of his mind.

"Neville?" asked Terry, half-cautious half-perplexed.

"Oh, I'm just waiting until he runs down his usual insults. I imagine when he gets to the part about castrating my toad he'll be ready to listen, what do you think?" he asked Potter.

"Castr-" yelped Terry, half-chocking.

"Yeah, probably," nodded Potter seriously.

Gaping at the nonchalance, Terry mouthed his horror for a moment, then gave up. He was a mere Ravenclaw. The intricacies of habitual interactions between Lions and Snakes were quite beyond him, and frankly, he was thankful for it.

"All right," said Neville suddenly. "Here we go again!"