A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Seventeen: Prim
After dinner on Friday night, the group of five move their wary bodies up to the Gryffindor common room to try and finish their Defence Against the Dark Arts essay. Prim knew that they really needed to try to finish the rest of their homework but she thought that there would be no way for them to do so. After last night – where they have stayed up the latest so far – she knew they would be taking a risk with making their essays sound like total crap. Once they made it in front of Elspeth's painting, they give her a quick hello before saying the password. After the portrait swings open, the group walks in with other Gryffindors from various years following them. "Okay, we'll meet in about three or so minutes at the table in the corner." Hallie says with a nod to the boys before they make their way up and towards their dorm rooms.
Lavender and Parvati were already in their room, sitting on Lavender's bed, talking about muggle fashion. "Hey Hallie, you probably know a lot about muggle fashion."
Hallie blushes and Prim shares a secret smile with her cousin. "Um, well, kind of… I mean, Prim knows a lot more than I do but well, since we are pretty close in size, we normally shared clothing." Prim realizes that Hallie does not tell them the real reason for them sharing clothes and she hoped Hallie never would. It's not so much that she is embarrassed that they had shared clothing but more of the fact that her dad decided it would be better to give Hallie and Harry the old clothing that Dudley and she did not want anymore.
"Oh, okay… Prim, what's the biggest thing in muggle fashion at the moment? Parvati and I are not sure." Lavender says with a sweet smile towards Prim.
Prim shoots a glare over at her cousin (which she was thankful that neither Lavender nor Parvati saw) before walking over to her trunk where her school bag rested. "Well, there are many things that are big this year. Velvet, chunky boots, aviator jackets, et cetera, but none of that is my style." She grabs her homework and supplies before looking up. "Anyways, we really need to get down to the common room. Harry and Ron are probably already sitting there waiting for us to work on our defence essay. We'll probably won't see you two until the morning, so night." Lavender, Parvati, and Ella say goodnight and the other three girls out of the six that bunk in the room make their way out of the dorm room and down to the common room. As soon as Prim steps off the last step, she sees Harry and Ron sitting at the table in the corner. She makes her way over to the boys and Hallie and Hermione follow. "Please tell me that you two have a good portion of your essay finish. I don't want to be up close to midnight again. My body won't be able to handle it."
"I have at least half of my essay finish, Prim." Harry tells her with a smirk as he pulls Hermione down to sit in the chair beside him. "Hermione, do you mind reading over my essay after I finish it?"
Hermione beams at him before nodding her head 'yes'. The two of them get to work on their essays and Prim looks over at Ron. "And what about you?"
Ron gulps before looking back and forth between Prim and Hallie. "Um… I was having a problem with a paragraph and can't figure out how to get past it… So, I might be close to halfway." Prim groans before falling into a chair. "I'm sorry, Prim. But I really have been working on it, I swear." She nods her head before pulling out her own essay.
"I can help, Ron. I've only have the conclusion left." Hallie gives him a soft smile before walking over to sit in the chair next to him. Prim watches her cousin start to read over what he has so far before she starts to work on her own essay.
An hour had gone by and Prim was finally on the conclusion for her essay. Once she was finally done, she looks up to see what everyone else was doing. Harry was still working on his essay but it looked like he was on the conclusion; Hermione had her History of Magic textbook out and was reading the pages Professor Bins had assigned them; Hallie's essay was laying open on the table and she was helping Ron with his essay again. Sighing, she pulls out her History of Magic textbook, so she could read about the Gargoyle Strike of 1911. Without realizing it, she had fallen asleep reading; and the only way she knew this was because Hallie was shaking her awake. "Hey Prim, come on. We're heading up to bed." Prim nods her head before she packs up her bag. "Night boys, see you tomorrow."
The three girls walk up the stairs and Prim asks, "So, how long was I out down there and did Ron and Harry finish their essays?"
"You were probably out for an hour to an hour and a half. And both of them finished their essays. Oh, I went over your essay and made one or two marks on it." Hermione said with a smile.
Prim gives her friend a sleepy smile before saying, "Thanks, I'll look at it sometime tomorrow or Sunday." All three of them walk into their dorm as quietly as they could before they changed out of their uniforms and into their pajamas. Before Prim even realized that her head was resting on her pillow beside Midnight, she was out. The next morning, she woke up to Midnight's scratchy tongue on her cheek. "Morning to you too, Midnight." Midnight purrs in her ear before moving away; most likely to hop down. She sits up and looks over at her cousin.
Hallie was already up and reading through her copy of History of Magic. Every so often she would pet Cleo, who was lounging beside her. "Morning Prim, Hermione already went down for breakfast but I wanted to stay up here reading until you woke up."
"Well, thank you?" Prim asks as she gets out of bed only to meet the cold air. "Merlin! Why does it have to be so cold when we wake up?" She questions as she walks over to her trunk. Before they had left for Hogwarts, Prim and Hallie had talked their Gran into taking them back to Diagon Alley for some magical trunk organizers. They had also talked Hermione's parents into letting her come as well.
The trunk organizers were boxes about maybe two by two by three and they could fit whatever you wanted in them; endless amount of space without anything ever getting lost. All of them (even Harry) had bought four organizers: shirts, jeans, pajamas, and shoes. Prim had wanted one because she didn't want to wear the same thing every single time a weekend came around. She had only packed enough outfits until the Christmas holidays when they would be heading home to spend their first Christmas with their grandparents. As she was digging through her shirt box, she asked, "So, how long have you've been up?"
Hallie looked back over towards her cousin before saying, "Maybe an hour at the most but probably only thirty minutes. Hermione only went down about ten minutes ago." Prim nodded her head before moving towards the girls' loo. "I already fed Cleo and Midnight. Midnight was just getting impatient for you to wake up."
Prim rolls her eyes before changing quickly out of her pajamas and into a pair of jeans, a white and black stripped shirt, and her pair of slip-on sneakers. She quickly brushes her teeth and hair before walking back into their dorm. "We are not going to be the only ones wearing muggle clothes, are we? I mean, what exactly do Pureblood witches and wizards were?"
"No, from what I've read in one of the books I bought when we were in Diagon Alley, present day witches and wizards have adapted to wearing muggle clothing unless they are doing something formal. That's when they wear dress robes. You might catch a few older witches and wizards still wearing everyday robes and they normally wear robes for certain jobs, like all of our Professors."
Prim lets out a deep breath before saying, "That's good. Come on, let's go down to the Great Hall." Hallie smiles before hopping off her bed and making her way towards the door with Prim. "So, have we've decided on where we are going to have this wizard chess tournament?"
"Um, I think the boys wanted to originally do it in the common room which should be fine cause everyone wants to go on outside to take advantage of this nice weather. I'm really hoping we can cream them pretty quickly, so we can hang outside a bit. We also need to write to everyone back home at some point this weekend." Hallie says as the two walk through the portrait hole with a 'goodbye' to Elspeth.
"I know, I really miss everyone. Are you and Harry planning on sending a letter to Reid?" Prim asks as they walk down the seventh-floor corridor towards the always-moving staircases.
Hallie looks over towards Prim before answering, "I'm not sure. We don't want to make him jealous or anything that we are already here but I do miss him. He was one part of Harry's and my safe haven at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's." Prim let out a sigh. She missed her parents terribly – even her father – but she was also extremely happy that Harry and Hallie were not living in permanent fear of what her dad might do to them. "Prim?" She turned towards her cousin's voice and waited for her to continue. "Are you okay? You weren't here for a few minutes. It was like you had gone away when I brought up our past."
"Oh, no, I'm fine, I guess… I just, miss my parents… Both of them and I feel two different kinds of guilt for that. I feel guilty for missing my dad because of what he did to you and Harry; and that causes me guilt because I don't think most people would find me missing him horrible." Prim sighs and runs a hand through her long blonde hair.
Hallie pulls her off to one of the school's many alcoves and made Prim look at her. "Prim, you should not ever feel guilty about missing your dad. Sure, he was dreadful to both Harry and I but he loved you so much. You have to know that Harry and I wouldn't hate you for missing him. And I'm sure you are not the only one who misses him. I would bet everything I have that Aunt Petunia and Dudley miss him too and they probably feel guilty about it as well. Maybe, the three of you should talk about it in your letters or even during the Christmas holidays."
"That doesn't make me feel completely better but thank you, Hals. You are seriously the best person ever and I love you so much." Prim says with a smile plastered on her face as she pulls her cousin into a tight hug. When they finally broke the hug, they continue their way towards the Great Hall.
As they were walking through the doorway of the Great Hall, they passed their Head Girl, Heather Stewart; and that's when something strange happened. Prim watched Hallie bring her hand up to her forehead and whimper in pain. "Hals, what's wrong? What can I do?" Her cousin looked over at her before flickering her eyes over to the Gryffindor House table. Prim followed Hallie's line of vision and saw that Harry was also rubbing his forehead. "Do you want me to go get Harry?"
Hallie shakes her head 'no' before finally saying, "No, I think, I think I'm okay now. Let's just go eat, okay?" Prim nodded her head but she wasn't a hundred percent sure that her cousin was telling the truth. She still had her hand on her forehead where her scar was but she didn't look like she was in pain anymore. I'll keep an eye on her and as long as this doesn't happen a lot, I won't go say something to Madam Pomfrey. The two Gryffindors walked over towards all of their friends and as they sat down, Seamus and Dean ran up towards them.
"Are you guys ready to be defeated during this match? I would like to say all of us men here are amazingly great at chess!" Seamus says as he forces himself in-between Hallie and Ron. Hallie rolls her eyes over at Prim and Prim giggles.
"I don't think I could believe that Mister Finnigan. I mean, you have never seen Hermione play chess before so you cannot be boasting your win because it probably won't happen." Hallie says with a smirk on her face and that caused Prim to giggle once again.
Seamus looks between Hallie, Prim, and Hermione before turning his eyes onto Harry. "Can we beat them, Harry?"
"Maybe, but I promised the girls that I wouldn't say anything about how they play chess and it will be likewise for them to say nothing to Ella about how I play. To be honest, I'm probably at a disadvantage because all three of them know exactly how I play; which means they know how to beat me." Harry says with a sigh.
"Harry, the only one out of Hermione, Hallie, and I that you can't beat is Hermione but then again, Hallie nor I can beat her." Prim tells her cousin and he sticks his tongue out at her.
Hermione finally pulls her head out of her History of Magic textbook before asking, "Do you guys really have to continue to go on and on about who might win? We have no idea who is going to be paired up with who, so why does it matter at the moment? Also, I thought this tournament was supposed to be fun?"
"Well, it was, originally, Hermione. But then Seamus kept saying over and over all week that the boys would win which meant I had to correct him a hundred times, because no, we will win. And all of that started into a girls verses boys war." Hallie tells Hermione with a wicked smile. Hermione lets out a sigh before turning back towards her book. "Anyways, where is Ella and Neville? Ella wasn't in the dorm this morning when we had left for breakfast."
Dean let out a laugh before cutting it off quickly when Harry shot him a glare. "What's going on guys? Where are they?" Prim asks, getting worried for her new friends.
"Oh, um, well, this morning as Neville, Seamus and I were walking down the stairs, Neville tripped over Scabbers and twisted his ankle. Harry and Ron were at the end of the staircase and was barely able to move in time. Ella saw the whole thing and once she made sure Neville was okay enough to walk, she and Ron's prefect brother took him to the hospital wing."
Prim and Hallie catch each other's eyes before standing up quickly. "We should go and check on Neville."
"I'm okay, Madam Pomfrey gave me some type of potion for it and whatever pain I'm in but she still wrapped my ankle." Neville says from behind Prim and she turns around quickly to face him. "I'm going to be okay, it's just sore. She basically told me not to be on it, so I'm going to have to be sitting during the tournament."
"What tournament?" Fred or George Weasley asked as they sit next to their brother.
Seamus grins at the two third years before saying, "We are having a wizard chess tournament. Girls against the boys."
"Wow, and who is all going to be in this tournament?" One of the Weasley twins asked.
Hallie smiles as she says, "Well, for the girls, its Prim, Hermione, Ella, and me; and for the boys, its Seamus, Dean, Harry, and Ron. Neville is going to be the judge. Why? Do you guys also play wizard chess?"
Fred and George smirk at each other and George says, "Everyone plays in our family but none of us can ever beat Ron. Ginny has come close a few times by checking him but Ron always has a plan to get out of her check and then go to checkmate her within one or two moves."
"Then the person who could possibly beat him is Hermione, she beats Harry, Hallie, and I every single time." Prim tells them as she takes a bite of her English breakfast.
Fred smiles at her and says, "Well, then maybe we will stay inside and watch this match. It should be interesting."
"You guys really don't have to stay and watch. I'm sure Lee or any one on the Quidditch team will want to hang out with you on the first weekend back." Ron tells them as he pushes around his breakfast.
The Weasley twins share a look before saying, "Nah, I'm sure if they want to hang out with us today, they will be cool with watching as well. Don't worry, Ronnikins, we won't embarrass you or something." Just then a boy with dreadlocks walked into the Great Hall and the twins jumped up. "Lee!"
Prim watches Fred and George run over towards their friend. She turns to look at Ron still pushing his food around his plate. "Ron, it will be okay. Obliviously you're good at wizard chess, so I'm sure everything will be okay in the end. Let's just eat and set up in the common room."
"Do we really have to play there? Can't we just, I don't know, find an empty classroom to play? I really think it would be for the best that way, don't you guy think so?" Ron asks as he stares intensely at his plate.
Seamus and Dean, without noticing how badly Ron wanted an empty classroom, said, "Absolutely not! This is going to be the biggest thing that any group of first years have ever done at this school!"
"I don't think that's true, guys, but Ron, this will be good. It shows how much we as a group are becoming friends. I still think we should ask Parvati and Lavender if they want to participate." Hallie says as she looks down the table at where the two girls in questioned were sitting. She turns back to the group and Prim raises her eyebrow at her. "I just don't want them to feel left out, is all. We would've asked Lisa if she was in the Gryffindor House with us."
Prim rolls her eyes as Hermione says from behind her textbook, "If you want to ask them, do so. You don't need any of our permission, Hals." Hermione looks up and gives Hallie a smile. "I do agree with you though. We are trying to show other houses and years how united we are and it isn't true if we don't at least offer an invitation to the last two first year Gryffindors."
"Exactly! Come on Harry, you're asking with me." Hallie tells him as she stands up and starts to walk towards the two girls.
Harry looks up from his plate before saying, "Nah, I'm cool with them joining but I'm still eating. Take Seamus or Ron or Dean." Hallie glares at him before grabbing Seamus's hand and pulling him down towards Lavender and Parvati. "She does realize that they most likely won't want to join us, right? I mean, I love my sister but she thinks everyone will want to join in this tournament."
"Don't be so cynical, Harry. We don't know anything about them, so they could very well be into chess; but we would never know because we have yet to ask them." Hermione says without looking away from her book, which Prim thought was big because of the tiny crush that Hermione had on her cousin. "If I remember correctly, when we first played chess, you had thought it would interest me since I like books."
Harry blushes a deep red before mumbling something that none of them could hear. Moments later, Hallie and Seamus walk back over and sit down. Prim was about to ask how it went when Hallie sighs. "Well, they aren't big into chess, so they decided not to play or come watch us."
"I thought so," Prim said with a smirk as she took another bite of her meal. The group of first years continue eating their breakfast until they were all finished and ready to head back up to the common room. As they walked back, they talked about who was going to play who in the tournament.
"I thought maybe we could put one of the groups' names in a hat or something and have the other group pick. Do you guys think that will work?" Neville asks as they made it up to the seventh-floor corridor.
Hallie looks over at him and answers, "I think that would work and we can flip a coin or something on which team has to choose." All nine of them were excited about their tournament and walked a tad bit faster to the common room's entrance. "Hello, Elspeth. Caput Draconis."
As the portrait was opening, Prim could hear Elspeth saying 'hello' as well. The group walks in and Seamus says, "Well, I think we only have two chess boards, but I think that's fine, right? Or do you guys think we should ask the older Gryffindors if we can use theirs?"
"I'm not really sure… So, the two that we have is yours and the Gryffindor House's board, correct?" Hallie asks and Seamus nods his head 'yes'.
Ella looks over at the two before saying, "I have my chess board up in my room, so if maybe we can find one more, than the tournament won't take all day."
"Um, I had brought mine; it used to be my brother, Charlie's, but it still works… Just not as nice looking as everyone's board." Ron says with a blush on his cheeks.
Prim glances at him before saying, "I don't think any of us would mind playing with an older version, Ron. And I'm sure it still works, right?" Ron nods his head 'yes' and she continues talking. "Well then, I don't mind if we play on an older board." She smiles at him before saying to everyone else. "Let's get this thing rolling." Prim follows Ella up the stairs to grab her chess board as the boys go to get Ron and Seamus's. "So, Ella, are you excited about this?"
Ella nods her head and smiles over at Prim. "I really am. I think this would be a great way for all of us to get over being shy around each other."
"That's true. This is a complete ice breaker in my opinion. I mean, we are all friendly with each other but I don't want my only friends to be my cousins, Hermione, and Ron, you know?" Ella nods her head in agreement as she pulls out her chess board and pieces. "Is there much difference between wizard chess and muggle chess?"
"Well, from what I can tell, there's not much of a difference. The game is still the same other than the fact that the pieces move themselves and when you take your opponents' piece, your piece will smash it. Oh, and the pieces will come back together after each game." Ella tells Prim with a shrug of her shoulders.
Prim lets out a sigh before saying, "Wow, I guess Harry, Hallie, Hermione, and I will not be able to play that version at home if we have to magically repair the pieces."
Ella lets out a giggle as she looks over at Prim. "You don't have to magically repair them. The whole board and chess pieces are enchanted with magic. Sometimes, you have to take your board and pieces to get the magic renewed; and you should never try to fix the game yourself because that will ruin your board and pieces. If anything magical ever breaks down on you, take it to a specialist because they know the proper way to fix it."
"That makes sense. I think I might ask for my own board for Christmas!" The two girls make their way down the stairs and over to where Hermione, Hallie, and Neville were standing. One of the three had found the Gryffindor House's board and had already sat it up at one of the study tables. "Hallie and Hermione, we have to get one of these at home at some point!" Both girls laugh and shake their heads at him as Ella sets up her board. Moments later the guys come down the stairs and make their way over to Prim and the others.
Seamus lays his board down before looking over to the girls and Neville. "Who is ready for a wizard chess tournament?" Prim, Hallie, Hermione, and Ella all smile and they all look over towards Neville.
"Okay, so to make the pairs random, I have put all the boys' names in a hat and the girl are going to have to pick a name. Hermione, you pick first." Neville says and Hermione sticks her hand in the hat before handing the piece of paper over to Neville. "Harry verses Hermione. Prim, you're next." Prim smiles at him before sticking her hand in and pulling out the paper. "Prim verses Ron. Sister, you're next."
Ella smiles at him before doing the same thing as both Hermione and Prim. "Seamus, you will be up against my sister. And that gives us, Hallie verses Dean. How we are going to do this? We will have multiple games going and that means I need at least three more judges for this tournament to go smoothly." At that very moment, Fred, George, and Lee Jordon walk through the portrait hole.
"Please tell me that we haven't missed the start of the tournament?" Fred asks.
Neville smiles at the three third years before saying, "No, you haven't and we actually need three more judges. Can the three of you help us out with the tournament?" Fred, George, and Lee sequel with joy before they all smirk and nod their heads 'yes'. "Great, okay, I'm going to watch over Prim's and Ron's game, the twins can take either Harry or Hallie and Lee you will watch my sister's and Seamus's game." Fred went over to Harry and George took Hallie and they were off.
Ron had allowed Prim to go first and she swore that didn't give her any type of advantage. The twins were not kidding when they said how good he was at this game. Every single time she would move one of her pieces, he had already found a way to capture it. Thankfully, she had played against Hermione a lot over the summer holiday, so she was able to hold her own for a couple of minutes longer than Harry was. Hermione was able to check him within ten minutes and checkmate at the next move. Prim went out next, then Ella and lastly Dean. "That was a good game, Ron. I can definitely see why your brothers were bragging so much about you." Ron's face got as red as a tomato and Prim gave him a soft smile.
"Um, thanks, Prim. It's one of the only things to do at my house besides chores or homework." Ron tells her as they watch his chess pieces magically repair themselves.
"That was awesome! Okay, next round will be Ron verses Hallie and Hermione verses Seamus. I will be the judge for Ron's and Hallie's match; who wants to judge Hermione's?" Neville asks as he looks over at the Weasley twins and Lee before seeing Lee walk over.
At that moment, Prim had finally noticed how they had a crowd of Gryffindors surrounding us. She had been completely in her head trying not to epically lose that she didn't even notice the older students gathered around them. Her face flushed and she moved closer to Ella, Harry, and Dean. "Did you guys notice the other students come over to watch us?" She asked the other three losers.
"I didn't notice them until Hermione checkmate me and after that I tried to see if anyone else was aware of them." Harry tells her and she nodded her head.
Ella looked over at them before saying, "Yeah, I noticed them near the end of my game. Seamus is a very good player but he's going to be creamed by Hermione."
"Hallie might be able to hold her own against Ron since she has been able to against Hermione a few times but Ron is seriously good at chess." Prim says as she pulls a chair over and gets comfortable.
The four Gryffindors watch their friends battle against each other. All four of the last round winners were holding their own until Hermione and Ron both finally beat Seamus and Hallie. "Yet again, an exciting match! Now we are down to Ron and Hermione. Who will win?" The twins, Lee, Hallie, and Seamus walk over to where Prim and the others were sitting.
"Merlin, Ron is just as good as Hermione! I was barely able to stay afloat!" Hallie grumbles as she leans her head on Prim's left shoulder.
"I know! This will probably be a long match and who actually knows if they will be able to checkmate the other." Prim tells her and all of them sigh as they get comfortable.
The game really did take forever. Prim watched as they both took minutes before calling one of their pieces to move. As the clock kept ticking closer and closer to lunch, Prim was hoping that either one of them would call checkmate, so that she could head down to the Great Hall. The whole common room was filled with almost every Gryffindor and they were also starting to get antsy as well.
Prim knew that lunch would be in about ten minutes when Neville finally said, "I think we have a draw. Both Ron and Hermione have very little pieces and cannot put the other into check. We can always try for another match but if both sides are happy with this ending, then I think we should call it a game and head down towards lunch." Prim and the other seven players nodded their heads that they agreed with the tournament ending in a tie.
Getting out of the common room was hectic, so by the time Prim and the other first years got out onto the seventh-floor corridor, lunch had already been going on for about five minutes. As the nine walked down towards the Great Hall, they were all laughing. The tournament ended up doing exactly what it was supposed to do. It brought all of them (besides Lavender and Parvati) together. Prim knew that Hallie was going to try and find a way to become friends with the other two girls. By the time that they got to the Great Hall, they had to squeeze into the very end of the table and they started to pile their plates. "That was probably the best thing ever! We had the whole house in the common room! We are probably the coolest first years ever!" Seamus tells the group and Prim rolls her eyes.
"Yeah, that could be true but how will we top that? Playing Monopoly? No one would know what we are doing and well, there are not many games people who did not grow up in the wizarding world know how to play." She says with a shrug and Neville looks at her in total confusion. "Let me guess, you don't know what Monopoly is or how to play it?"
Hallie looked up from her food before answering Prim's question. "People in the wizarding world who didn't grow up with muggles will have no idea on what the game is. They might if they took Muggle Studies but I still doubt that."
"Then we will just need to enlighten them to muggle games," Harry tells the group with a smile. "We can pick them up during the Christmas holiday, but until then, I did pack a deck of cards or two." For the rest of the lunch meal, the group of first year Gryffindors talked about having more game nights; both muggle and wizarding games.