Games Are Afoot Chapter 5
Getting Schooled
Hermione retracted her hands suddenly to her lap inadvertently knocking her quill and parchment to the ground. She realized she must have made a sound as well because suddenly all eyes in the room were on her. She glanced nervously around.
"Excuse me." She murmured barely audibly as she bent to retrieve the quill. Ginny was giving her a quizzical look as the boys left to retrieve their frog cards.
"Come on Hermione, let's go get our stuff." Ginny gently prodded.
Hermione didn't utter a sound as she meekly followed Ginny to her room. Ginny was pulling frog cards out of every possible niche in her room: from under the lampshade of the table lamp beside her bed; from behind her mirror; from taped to the underneath part of her desk; from the top drawer in her dresser; from between pages of various books. In the midst of her gathering, Ginny noticed that Hermione had not yet moved from the doorway.
"Hermione come in and close the door! Hurry! Before my nosey gits of brothers find all my best hiding spots!" Ginny implored.
Hermione silently moved in and closed the door, sighing as she leaned heavily on to it. Ginny wasn't completely sure what expression Hermione had on her face but it looked strangely like utter terror.
"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ginny questioned curiously.
Hermione looked furtively around the room as if she was expecting someone to pop out at her unexpectedly. The look of panic was taking over her eyes as she whispered, "I haven't ever played poker, and I only have ten frog cards." She held her breath after her confession looking uncomfortably at Ginny for guidance.
Ginny looked deeply into her concerned eyes before totally breaking up in laughter. Hermione scowled. "Don't laugh at me!"
Ginny tried to catch her breath and clutched her hand to her chest. "Merlin, Hermione, I thought you had a real problem!"
"But—"Hermione began before Ginny interrupted her.
"Bill and Charlie always take turns teaching the new players. You're in luck. It's Charlie's turn. He's the best."
"But—"Hermione tried to speak again but Ginny stopped her.
"I have plenty of frog cards and everyone will cough some up." Ginny said anticipating Hermione's next concern.
Hermione sighed in resignation. "But what if I'm no good?"
Ginny laughed again. "Where's your Gryfindor courage? Where's your self-confidence? Come on woman! YOU are HERMIONE GRANGER. You can do anything. Besides, I am quite looking forward to you soundly beating Ron. He fancies himself quite the card shark."
Hermione relaxed a bit and took a deep breath. "OK, Gin, let's go find Charlie."
The girls were barely exiting the room when they discovered Charlie about to knock on the door. "Good timing ladies." He said. He was grinning widely obviously excited by the new game.
"Hey Char, Hermione doesn't know how to play. I believe it's your turn to do the honors, isn't it?" Ginny blurted out cheekily causing Hermione's face to turn a most lovely shade of crimson.
"What? The lovely Miss Granger has had an appalling lapse in her education. A situation we most definitely must rectify immediately." Charlie said with mock sincerity. Ginny laughed and Hermione's face turned even redder. She couldn't look Charlie in the eye.
"Meet me in my room girls while I tell Bill to go ahead and start with the others." Charlie called as he thumped down the stairs two at a time.
While the girls waited for Charlie, Ginny sorted through her surprisingly large stack of frog cards carefully sorting them into three stacks. Noticing the confusion on Hermione's face, Ginny quickly explained, "Mum would absolutely hex us to kingdom come if we played for money so we use frog cards. We separate them into three kinds: Quidditch, academic, and ministry. Anything that doesn't fit into the first two categories automatically goes into the ministry category. One ministry card to ante. The ministry cards are like betting a knut. The academic cards are like betting a sickle, and the
quidditch cards are like betting a galleon."
"Why are quidditch cards worth the most?" Hermione asked, "and what does ante mean?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Honestly Hermione, I have six brothers. Why do you suppose Quidditch cards are considered the most valuable? You're lucky Bill helped with the rules or the academic cards would have been worth a knut." Ginny shot back dryly, amusement gracing her eyes.. Hermione just looked at her with a small "Oh." Ginny continued, "An ante is the cost of getting cards dealt. Everyone puts in one card to start the round. The different bets raise the pot. Winner of the round gets all the cards in the pot for that round."
"How do you win the round?" Hermione asked, her brow furrowed in concentration. She was determined she would not ruin a perfectly lovely afternoon by embarrassing herself in front of Ginny's brothers.
"Charlie will explain all that when he gets here." As if on cue, Charlie burst through the door.
"Gin, they need you downstairs. We'll be down as soon as I give Hermione a quick lesson. Hermione's eyebrows shot up in surprise at Charlie's comments. Her eyes darted to her friend to find a matching look in Ginny's.
"I sort of thought I would help you teach her." Ginny declared not budging an inch.
"Nope. You know the drill. One on one tutoring—no distractions." Charlie stated calmly.
"I'm hardly a distraction." Ginny muttered.
"Out with you! Go try that new strategy we practiced on Fred and see how it works." Charlie reminded her. Suddenly Ginny's eyes lit up.
"Oh, I forgot about that! See ya in a few Mione!" She yelled as she scampered out of the room.
Charlie shut the door and walked toward Hermione. "Mione, huh?"
"I hate it when they call me that." Hermione stated inadvertently taking a step back as Charlie moved toward her. Charlie's eyes glimmered with amusement.
"I'm not going to eat you Hermione. You don't have to be scared of me."
"I-I'm not. You just startled me," she stammered as she backed into the bed hard enough to knock her legs out from under her. She sat down more firmly than gracefully. She was suddenly very aware that she was sitting on a boy's bed, in a boy's room, with a boy.
Charlie chuckled and sat down beside her. "Really. Well then, we best get started."
Charlie pulled out a deck of cards. "You have played cards before right?" Charlie began.
"Of course, I am not totally ignorant." Hermione replied tersely. She did not enjoy feeling out of her element.
"I was merely trying to establish your knowledge level. No offense intended." Charlie chuckled as he shuffled expertly.
Hermione watched his ease with the cards. Separate. Blend. Arch. Tap. 'That doesn't look to hard.' She thought to herself as she watched him shuffle several times. He noticed her looking and offered her the deck. Separate. Blend. Arch. "ARGH!" she screamed as cards flew everywhere. Charlie merely accioed the deck back to his hands, straightened them and offered her the stack again.
"That looked a lot easier when you were doing it," Hermione muttered. Charlie just laughed and proceeded to shuffle very slowly so she could see each step. He carefully separated the deck into two even piles, one in each hand. He gently interlaced the two stacks like two hands intertwining fingers. He then arched the pile into a bridge and let the cards slide together back into one pile. Then he tapped the pile. Hermione looked skeptical.
"Look, Hermione. I know you are nervous about not being an expert, but this is far less difficult than the simplest spell. Let me help you a couple of times so you can get the feel of it." Hermione quirked her eyebrow. Merlin he loved it when she did that. "I won't bite, I promise." He said stoically. He offered her a hand and pulled her to the chair next to the table. "It'll be easier if you sit here," he suggested. Hermione sat down facing the table while Charlie moved behind her. He reached his arms around her and placed his hands over hers.
"Was it always this hot in this bloody house?" Hermione thought to herself. She forced herself to keep her eyes on the cards. Charlie's hands were surprisingly soft against hers. She had expected them to be rough but the callouses had sealed over to form a tough but smooth surface across his fingers and palms that created the illusion of softness. Charlie expertly manipulated her hands to divide the deck. Separate. Deep breath. Then he helped her to gently flutter the cards together. Blend. Breathe. Then he pressed her hands more firmly as he helped her arch the cards into a bridge. Arch. Breathe. Then he gently eased the pressure so the cards slid together forming a neat shuffled stack.
"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" Charlie's low voice quietly rumbled in Hermione's ear. She stiffened slightly and shook her head. "Shall we try it again?" Hermione nodded once. Again his fingers gently helped her separate the deck. The pressure was lighter and Hermione assumed he was letting her try and was merely leaving his warm soft hands there to assist. She gently fluttered the ends together. She firmly bridged the deck and the deck fluttered to a neat stack. Charlie's hands released hers as she tapped the deck. She realized she was holding her breath and let out a small gasp. "There you go. I think you've got it." Charlie said coming around to the other side of the table. He conjured another chair and sat facing her.
Charlie was all business as he quickly explained the basics to Hermione. She caught on quickly. He would lay five cards out for her and let her select the ones she thought would be best. Then, he would either agree with her or show her why that would be weak. After about ten minutes, she had made several correct plays in a row.
"Well, ma'am, I believe your ready as far as the cards go, but now we have to talk about how to read the other players." Charlie said matter-of-factly.
"I don't think I understand."
"Part of the game of poker is looking at the other players trying to determine if they are bluffing. Fred is really good at it. He has a good poker face, but he tends to shift in his chair if he thinks he's got a winner. Ginny has made the poker face an art form, but she bites her lip if she is unsure. Ron is really difficult to read I haven't figured his give away out yet. Even Bill can't tell when he bluffs. Bill plays with his earring when he thinks he's got a winner and George bluffs more often than not. Do you think you can remember all that?"
"Of course. But you forgot something Charlie." Hermione interjected with a faux innocent look.
"Oh yeah, what's that Mi?"
"Mi? Ugh. That's worse than Mione! Anyway, you forgot to tell me how I know when you are bluffing." Hermione stated simply.
"I can't make this too easy for you. You have to work some of it out on your own." Charlie teased her.
"Oh, you just want to know I'm watching your every move!" Hermione teased back without realizing how flirty she was sounding. Charlie, however, did notice and could feel the red climbing up his neck.
"Shall we?" He asked as he stood up abruptly.
"Certainly." Hermione replied scooting her chair back and standing up. Charlie opened the door and again placed his hand gently on her lower back to guide her through the door and to the stairs. Hermione wondered if age made men more chivalrous. Viktor had done the open door thing and the hand on the back thing too. 'I wonder if Ron will eventually figure that out." Hermione wondered to herself on the way down the stairs.
Charlie handed her a stack of frog cards at the bottom of the stairs. " I always keep doubles for beginners," Charlie said smiling and winking.
"Why thank you Charlie! You're a gem!" Hermione enthusiastically responded.
"Okay, then. Let's go."