"Mystery at Hogwarts Redux" (inspired by the Mattel game "Mystery at Hogwarts")
"You know as well as I do that you never win these things Hermione," Ron smirked, putting the chess pieces back in their box and watching as his friend covered her face in exasperation.
"I can't BELIEVE you always win this....it's just luck, I'll get you next time, you just wait." Hermione scowled.
"Well I'll just leave the memorization of useless facts from books to you Hermione and you leave the logic of games like this to me, " Ron smiled more widely, he was enjoying this.
"Logic...you call falling in love with that floosie Fleur Delacore LOGICAL?" Hermione smiled back evilly.
Ron went red. "Need I say Lock..."
"Don't even start, " Hermione cut him off, standing up and trying to look dignified. "I'm going to my room now. Goodnight."
Ron stood up too, holding the box under his arms and staring down at Crookshanks, who nipped at his heels once and then snootily turned around with his tail in the air, following his owner. Ron just laughed and headed for the dorms himself whispering "insufferable" under his breath.
The next morning Harry, Ron and Hermione were seated at the Gryffindor table eating their breakfast when Colin Creavy ran up to them excitedly.
"Have you heard, have you heard?"
"What are you on about Colin?" Harry asked, scooping porridge in his mouth.
"The contest!"
"Oh no more Triwizard talk...I've had QUITE enough of that, "Harry said, frowing.
"No it's not THAT. This contest is open to all students and tests our detective skills."
"Oh I should be very good at that," Hermione turned, paying more attention.
Ron just snickered under his breath. "So what do we have to do?"
Colin handed them all a piece of parchment explaining the rules.
"So, based on clues strategically placed throughout Hogwarts, we have to figure out who performed what spell in what room? That sounds a bit juvenile, but simple enough," Hermione remarked.
"Yeah, and to make it even MORE difficult, Peeves is going to be blocking the way to the rooms sometimes so we have to go a roundabout way to get the clues from there!" Colin was practically jumping out of his seat. Harry wasn't sure if this was because of the game or because Colin was the one who got to tell Harry about it.
"Great, so we start after breakfast, what a way to spend a Saturday, "Ron said, stuffing sausage into his mouth.
"And the winner in each group gets 50 points for their house, I'm sure that Gryffindor will win," Colin said confidently, looking at Harry in particular.
"We'll see. So we break up in groups of 6?"
"Yeah, and one of you is the "culprit" based on clues they have picked at random," Colin said excitedly.
"Like I would ever cast a spell in an empty room without a teacher present..." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
Ron and Harry thought about the Polyjuice Potion spell among other things but decided not to say anything.
"Well good luck, "Colin said again. McGonagall has the folders with our groups over there.
After breakfast was over, Dumbledore took the opportunity to update the students on the rules of the game they'd be participating in and said he hoped it would encourage cooperation, develop logical thinking skills, and give the students a bit of a break from regular classwork.
"I'm going to cream you Ron," Hermione smiled, pulling out a spell book to familiarize herself with the intricacies of all the spells used in the game.
"Not if YOU are the culprit," Ron responded.
"If anyone is the culprit, it's you," Hermione commented, not looking up but continuing to stare at her textbook.
"Will you two stop..."Harry began, but then he noticed Malfoy and his two thugs Crabbe and Goyle headed their way.
"What do you want?" Harry asked them in a voice that was less than cordial.
"Hey, we don't like it anymore than you do, but the three of us are paired with you clowns," Malfoy said, a look of disgust on his face.
"That'll just make it even easier to win," Hermione said, looking up from her book and smiling.
"We'll see about that bookworm," Malfoy grimaced at her. "As far as I'm concerned, you ALL are my enemies until I clear you." He started to walk off with Crabbe and Goyle stumbling behind, looking like pet trolls following their master.
"Oh the nerve," Hermione said, slamming her book shut. "It's only natural that one of THEM will be the culprit."
"Well we better get going, we are supposed to meet in front of the...."
"Library!" Hermione said excitedly, looking down at her instructional parchment now. "That's our starting point, not that that is where the spell will take place or anything..that would be just...just wrong." She said, starting to head toward the Great Hall exit.
"Should be fun." Ron said sarcastically as he and Harry ran after Hermione.
Several groups of students were gathered in front of the Hogwarts Library, talking noisily amongst themselves. McGonagall was trying to keep order the best she could. "Now, please everyone listen. Each group of six will have a set of clues to find in each of the rooms, but Peeves will be on the alert to try to block your way as you go along. It is your job to gather the information and deduce the "culprit" who performed the spell and where they did it. Since one of the six is the "culprit" if you discover it is yourself, you must still keep it quiet as to not let others know. When you have figured out all the information, you must head to see Fluffy, Hagrid's three headed dog, and a teacher will be there to assist you in revealing to Fluffy the identity of the culprit. Should you be right, the teacher will play a flute that will put Fluffy to sleep and you will be rewarded 50 points, but if you are wrong, then Fluffy will be very angry and you will forfeit your turn and your other classmates will have the chance to guess. The game will end at 5 pm today for all groups. Good luck to everyone!"
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle stared at Ron and Harry and just sneered.
"We're going to get you," Malfoy said, and started off in the direction of Potions class in the dungeons.
"He's taking this WAY too seriously," Harry commented.
"So where are you guys going to go firs...." Ron began.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, but they saw the back of her bushy brown hair and flowing robes darting into the library.
"Should have known," Ron smirked. "Well I think I'll just head to Herbology first. "Good luck, although I'll beat you or....more importantly, Hermione."
Harry laughed slightly but didn't respond. "I'm off to uh...oh, the Great Hall again I suppose, there's supposed to be clues there."
And with that, the "Mystery at Hogwarts" contest had officially begun.
"You know as well as I do that you never win these things Hermione," Ron smirked, putting the chess pieces back in their box and watching as his friend covered her face in exasperation.
"I can't BELIEVE you always win this....it's just luck, I'll get you next time, you just wait." Hermione scowled.
"Well I'll just leave the memorization of useless facts from books to you Hermione and you leave the logic of games like this to me, " Ron smiled more widely, he was enjoying this.
"Logic...you call falling in love with that floosie Fleur Delacore LOGICAL?" Hermione smiled back evilly.
Ron went red. "Need I say Lock..."
"Don't even start, " Hermione cut him off, standing up and trying to look dignified. "I'm going to my room now. Goodnight."
Ron stood up too, holding the box under his arms and staring down at Crookshanks, who nipped at his heels once and then snootily turned around with his tail in the air, following his owner. Ron just laughed and headed for the dorms himself whispering "insufferable" under his breath.
The next morning Harry, Ron and Hermione were seated at the Gryffindor table eating their breakfast when Colin Creavy ran up to them excitedly.
"Have you heard, have you heard?"
"What are you on about Colin?" Harry asked, scooping porridge in his mouth.
"The contest!"
"Oh no more Triwizard talk...I've had QUITE enough of that, "Harry said, frowing.
"No it's not THAT. This contest is open to all students and tests our detective skills."
"Oh I should be very good at that," Hermione turned, paying more attention.
Ron just snickered under his breath. "So what do we have to do?"
Colin handed them all a piece of parchment explaining the rules.
"So, based on clues strategically placed throughout Hogwarts, we have to figure out who performed what spell in what room? That sounds a bit juvenile, but simple enough," Hermione remarked.
"Yeah, and to make it even MORE difficult, Peeves is going to be blocking the way to the rooms sometimes so we have to go a roundabout way to get the clues from there!" Colin was practically jumping out of his seat. Harry wasn't sure if this was because of the game or because Colin was the one who got to tell Harry about it.
"Great, so we start after breakfast, what a way to spend a Saturday, "Ron said, stuffing sausage into his mouth.
"And the winner in each group gets 50 points for their house, I'm sure that Gryffindor will win," Colin said confidently, looking at Harry in particular.
"We'll see. So we break up in groups of 6?"
"Yeah, and one of you is the "culprit" based on clues they have picked at random," Colin said excitedly.
"Like I would ever cast a spell in an empty room without a teacher present..." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.
Ron and Harry thought about the Polyjuice Potion spell among other things but decided not to say anything.
"Well good luck, "Colin said again. McGonagall has the folders with our groups over there.
After breakfast was over, Dumbledore took the opportunity to update the students on the rules of the game they'd be participating in and said he hoped it would encourage cooperation, develop logical thinking skills, and give the students a bit of a break from regular classwork.
"I'm going to cream you Ron," Hermione smiled, pulling out a spell book to familiarize herself with the intricacies of all the spells used in the game.
"Not if YOU are the culprit," Ron responded.
"If anyone is the culprit, it's you," Hermione commented, not looking up but continuing to stare at her textbook.
"Will you two stop..."Harry began, but then he noticed Malfoy and his two thugs Crabbe and Goyle headed their way.
"What do you want?" Harry asked them in a voice that was less than cordial.
"Hey, we don't like it anymore than you do, but the three of us are paired with you clowns," Malfoy said, a look of disgust on his face.
"That'll just make it even easier to win," Hermione said, looking up from her book and smiling.
"We'll see about that bookworm," Malfoy grimaced at her. "As far as I'm concerned, you ALL are my enemies until I clear you." He started to walk off with Crabbe and Goyle stumbling behind, looking like pet trolls following their master.
"Oh the nerve," Hermione said, slamming her book shut. "It's only natural that one of THEM will be the culprit."
"Well we better get going, we are supposed to meet in front of the...."
"Library!" Hermione said excitedly, looking down at her instructional parchment now. "That's our starting point, not that that is where the spell will take place or anything..that would be just...just wrong." She said, starting to head toward the Great Hall exit.
"Should be fun." Ron said sarcastically as he and Harry ran after Hermione.
Several groups of students were gathered in front of the Hogwarts Library, talking noisily amongst themselves. McGonagall was trying to keep order the best she could. "Now, please everyone listen. Each group of six will have a set of clues to find in each of the rooms, but Peeves will be on the alert to try to block your way as you go along. It is your job to gather the information and deduce the "culprit" who performed the spell and where they did it. Since one of the six is the "culprit" if you discover it is yourself, you must still keep it quiet as to not let others know. When you have figured out all the information, you must head to see Fluffy, Hagrid's three headed dog, and a teacher will be there to assist you in revealing to Fluffy the identity of the culprit. Should you be right, the teacher will play a flute that will put Fluffy to sleep and you will be rewarded 50 points, but if you are wrong, then Fluffy will be very angry and you will forfeit your turn and your other classmates will have the chance to guess. The game will end at 5 pm today for all groups. Good luck to everyone!"
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle stared at Ron and Harry and just sneered.
"We're going to get you," Malfoy said, and started off in the direction of Potions class in the dungeons.
"He's taking this WAY too seriously," Harry commented.
"So where are you guys going to go firs...." Ron began.
"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, but they saw the back of her bushy brown hair and flowing robes darting into the library.
"Should have known," Ron smirked. "Well I think I'll just head to Herbology first. "Good luck, although I'll beat you or....more importantly, Hermione."
Harry laughed slightly but didn't respond. "I'm off to uh...oh, the Great Hall again I suppose, there's supposed to be clues there."
And with that, the "Mystery at Hogwarts" contest had officially begun.