Hi everyone, sorry about the late chapter. And the double post. Had a minor mishap with the previous document that was known as Chapter 27. I definitely need to double check that the content of the doc hasn't been corrupted before posting a new chapter. Thank you, NinjaGogeta and Celeste201, for bringing up the issue. Anyway, here's attempt number two - don't forget to leave a review at the end. Thanks!

Chapter 27: Game Night

July 7th, 1992 (Tuesday)
Location: Granger's House - Heathgate, Hampstead

Hermione wordlessly pass over a sheet of paper and a pen while Daphne started washing the dishes. Breakfast had passed relatively quick despite the drawn out conversation regarding the laws on wards.

"Meissa? Wouldn't you get in trouble for setting up wards on my house?"

"No - there's no laws actually citing that it's illegal to set up a ward on your own," the raven haired girl mutters distractedly. She was a little busy writing down the list of things they'd need to do - not just for the day but in general.

The list isn't in order - she'll have to fix that later - but it gives her an idea of what needs to be done.

"Wait, didn't you say that there's a law that prohibits wards on properties owned by non-magicals?"

"Yes, but this property also falls under the loophole we mentioned," Daphne points out from her place.

"So…" Hermione frowns slightly as she considers what they're saying. "This means, once I'm legal…?"

"Your parents could change the ownership of house to you," Meissa mumbles, pausing long enough to go over the list.

"Which then means the house is owned by a magical," Daphne remarks, instantly seeing the point Meissa is making.

"That's a fair point, but why does it have to be this way?"

"Easy money for the Ministry."

"She's not wrong."

Hermione shakes her head in disbelief.

"Are you done with your list?" she asks instead of continuing the conversation on wards. She could feel her temper raising at the fact the Magic of Ministry is so bias against non-magicals and first generations.

"Just about yes," she mutters, shifting slightly to support Hermione who has started to lean on her shoulder.

"Watch the movies?" Hermione reads out loud. "Meet the Tonks - oh yeah, we need to ask my parents about that."

"We forgot about that last night, didn't we?" Daphne remarks as she sets the dishes aside to dry.

"Speaking of."

The girls turn to find Meissa frowning at them.

"What exactly happened last night?"

~MJB~

Meissa frowns at the small silver colored piece in her hand. It's a rendering of a dog of some sort - it's actually rather cute.

"Go ahead and place it on this corner." Hermione taps the corner with the words 'GO' on its surface. There's already a top hat - similar in shade as the dog piece - and a car placed there. She sets her piece down and makes herself comfortable as Hermione deals out small strips of paper - plain white, bright pink, bright yellow, a bright green, a bright blue, an odd beige, and a muted orange.

She picks up one of the white strips out of curiosity, studying the printed image on the strip and the bold black one.

"So… how do we start?"

"Well… we could do youngest to oldest," Hermione suggests. "Which means I'll be going last."

"I just had my birthday so…?" Meissa glance at Daphne to confirm, "That means I'm the youngest, right?"

"Mhm. We still need to do something for your birthday."

"Wasn't that why we went to the zoo in the first place?" she accepts the two white cubes from Hermione - dice, if she remembers right.

"Well… yeah."

"So we're good."

"Except you can't remember a bloody thing about it," Hermione injects with a huff. Barely a second afterwards she looks scandalized - realizing that for the first time she has used 'bloody' in her sentence.

"True," she agrees idly as she shakes the dice. She vaguely remembers Hermione demonstrating this to her before.

Shouldn't be too hard.

She shakes them again for good measures before opening her hand to allow the dice to tumble free from her palm and onto the board. A quick clatter later and the dice settles onto a four and a three.

"Ok, so now you need to move your piece seven spaces forward."

"Mm, okay," Meissa mutters as she picks up the dog piece. Muttering under her breath she counts the spaces before settling her piece on top of a square with a pink question mark. "What now?"

"Well - that means you need to take a card." Hermione points to the stack of orange paper no bigger than the strips of paper from earlier.

"Okay."

She picks up the top card and flips it over for the others to read.

"Nice! A 'get out of jail free' card!"

"So… that means…?"

"Um, you don't go to Azkaban."

A drawn out 'oh' escapes Meissa as she takes the card to take a closer look. Humming distractedly to herself she notes the white mustached man in a black and white striped one piece is being kicked out of some place - she can only assume it's the 'jail' mentioned in the card and in the game.

"Daphne, it's your turn now," Hermione picks up the two die and hands them over to the blonde Slytherin.

Taking the cue for what it is, she mimics what Meissa has done before dropping them onto the board.

She got a two.

A quick movement of her top hat piece has her landing on the square with a chest printed on it.

"Follow instructions on top card?"

"Draw a card," Hermione taps a different stack - not at all alike the ones Meissa drew hers from.

She picks up one and reads it quickly before flipping it over to show the others.

"It's your birthday," Meissa reads out, "Collect £10 from every player."

"Wow, lucky," Hermione laughs before she snags one of the yellow strips.

It's the one with a big bold ten on its face.

Muttering to herself, Meissa does the same as she makes a mental note. Hermione had explained that five of the white notes is equivalent to the pink note. Altogether they'd equal one of the yellow notes.

She takes one of the yellow notes and hands it to Daphne, cheekily wishing her a happy birthday in the process.

"Okay so, stick that one at the bottom of the pile," Hermione instructs Daphne as she picks up the dice for herself. A quick shake and a toss gets her a six while Daphne does as bidden.

A quick count lands her car on one of the properties with a light blue bar. Meissa leans forward to take a closer look.

"Oriental Avenue?"

"It's one of the properties you can buy," Hermione explains as she considers the price. She hands over one of the beige notes to the bank and took the card representing the Oriental Avenue. "Okay, your turn now!"

A quick roll gives Meissa another seven.

"Let's see," she mutters as she grabs the dog piece. She counts the squares under her breath before setting her piece on the Virginia Avenue square.

"Do you want to buy it?" Hermione asks as Meissa studies it.

"A hundred sixty," the raven haired girl mutters before she looks at her money. "That's…" She reaches the ones she thinks is the equivalent of this. She ends up taking a beige, her only blue, and her last yellow. "Is this right?"

"Yup!"

Meissa hums to herself as she accepts the 'deed', exchanging the money for it.

"Remember to keep track of how much you have," Hermione suggests as she sorts the money neatly.

Daphne rolls her dice and lands in the jail. "Wait, am I in jail?" she asks, confused, picking up the sheet with the rules.

"No, you're only visiting right now." She takes up the dice and lands a double two.

She moves her piece into the same square as Daphne before looking at the rules to double check. "So… I rolled a double," she starts, "so I have to roll again."

"Really?"

"Mhm. But if I roll three doubles, I go to jail."

"Huh… okay," Meissa nods as she peers over Daphne's shoulder to take a look at the rules. "So, rolling three straight doubles, getting the jail card, and… landing on the 'Go to Jail' square - they all get you sent to jail."

"Yup." She rolls the dice again and gets a seven that lands her on a community chest so she draws a card. "Life insurance matures," she announces as she shows it to them. "Collect £100." She takes a £100 note and adds it to her piles.

Meissa grabs the dice for her turn and got yet another seven.

"Three sevens in a row," Daphne remarks as Meissa moves her piece. "Seems like you've incredible luck right now."

"Seems like it," she agrees as she studies the square she's on now. "Kentucky Avenue," she declares before looking at Hermione who has a better vantage point. "How much is it?"

"Two hundred twenty."

Meissa frowns thoughtfully at her notes. Muttering to herself she takes one of the £500 notes and hands it to Hermione. The Gryffindor took it and broke it down to four £100 and five £20 notes. She then takes one of the £20 notes and two of the £100 notes for the bank. She returns the rest to Meissa along with the deed to the Kentucky Avenue.

"So what's the purpose of these?" Meissa asks as Daphne takes her turn, getting a nine. She waves the newly bought deed to indicate what she means.

"Well… remember what's the objective?"

"Yup."

"By owning the cards, you can - once you're ready to - build houses on the properties you own. The more houses you build means you'll get even more money once another player - like Daphne or I - land on those properties."

"Oh, cool," Meissa mutters as she studies the deeds she has.