Note: The song that I say is by the Weird Sisters is from the Disney movie,
"Hocus Pocus". At least, this version is. And I'm like Adrianne; I can't
play chess worth a damn. I don't even know how. So to all you chess
addicts out there, please don't be offended.
Chapter 1: Summer Vacation Has Begun!
After all the introductions had been made, Adam led Adrianne and her friends upstairs to the guest rooms.
"Adrianne, you and Hermione can sleep in there," he said, indicating to a room that was in the middle of the hallway. "Harry, you and Ron can sleep in the room on the left side of Adrianne and Hermione's room, and Fred and George can sleep in the room that's on the right side of the girls' room." He hesitated for a moment. "Uh, where's your luggage?"
"In our pockets," replied Adrianne. She pulled a small box out of her pocket, and placed it on the floor. Then she pulled a slender stick out of her pocket as well, and pointed it at the box. "Engorgio!" The box instantly grew, and became a large trunk.
Adam stared from the box to Adrianne, his jaw hanging down. "How did you..." he started to say, but she cut him off.
"It's something we can all do," she replied, shrugging. "We learned it at school."
Adam lifted an eyebrow slightly. "You learned that at school?"
Adrianne nodded. "Yep. We go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Adam's eyes grew huge. "You mean, you didn't know?"
Adam slowly shook his head. "No, I didn't know. Do your parents know?"
"Uncle Adam, of course they know. After all, Dad's a wizard, and he had to tell Mom so that she wouldn't freak out if I started showing signs of being a witch, like falling out of a ten-story window and bouncing up in the air after hitting the ground." Adrianne grinned. "Which I did when I was four. Also, he had to be able to explain how the pictures of his friends and family were moving, and he couldn't exactly keep his wand hidden. Besides--" Adrianne let out a deep sigh. "--it was a dangerous time. For both the wizarding community and the muggle community."
She didn't say anything else, but she didn't need to. Ron, the twins, Harry, and Hermione all had grave looks on their faces, and Adam didn't bother asking what the danger was. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Also, he knew that he'd probably find out sometime in the future.
* * *
Adrianne walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair. She was wearing a long nightgown that looked like an oversized long-sleeved shirt. It was made of satin, and was bright red. She walked over to her bed, and grabbed her wand from where it rested on the nightstand. She aimed it at her hair, and said clearly, "Dryus!"
There was a blast of hot air, and a few seconds later, Adrianne's hair was completely dry. She braided it, and then went to her bed, putting her wand back on the nightstand. Hermione was already in hers, completely engrossed in a book.
"Hermione, what are you reading?" asked Adrianne curiously, and Hermione looked up.
"It's a really good fantasy," she replied. "It's called 'Lord of the Rings', by J.R.R. Tolkien."
"I've read that before," said Adrianne. She crawled under the covers. "In fact, I can even speak a bit of the language in it."
"Oh, really?" replied Hermione skeptically. "Prove it, then. How would you show gratitude to me in Sindarin?"
"Uireb lalaith na le," quoted Adrianne sleepily, and Hermione's mouth fell open in shock. "What, you think that you're the only one who reads? Now, turn off the goddamn light and go to sleep."
Hermione waved her wand, and the lights turned off. They were both asleep in a matter of minutes.
Neither of them noticed that the alarm clock next to Adrianne's bed had automatically set itself, turning the volume as high as it would go.
* * *
"I PUT A SPELL ON YOU, AND NOW YOU'RE GONE, GONE, GONE, SO LONG--" sang the Weird Sisters over the radio at the highest volume imaginable. "I PUT A SPELL ON YOU, AND IT WAS STRONG, SO STRONG, SO STRONG, SO STRONG---"
Adrianne shrieked and fell out of bed, her legs tangling in the blankets. In the other bed, Hermione sat up straight, her bushy brown hair falling into her eyes.
"What's going on?" she asked sleepily. Suddenly, there was a pounding on the other side of the wall.
"SHUT OFF THAT BUGGERING RADIO!" bellowed Fred.
Adrianne whacked the radio with her hand, but nothing happened. In desperation, she grabbed her wand from the nightstand, and aimed it at the radio.
"Explosira!"
KA-BOOM!!!
Adrianne and Hermione ducked as the radio exploded, sending pieces of wood and smoldering metal flying in every direction. Finally, the smoke cleared, and both Adrianne and Hermione stood up, surveying the damage.
Hermione turned to gape at Adrianne.
"You used the Explosive Spell?" she asked incredulously. "That's like killing a fly with a nuclear bomb!"
Adrianne flinched.
"Oops."
* * *
Adam bolted upright in bed, his eyes wide with shock. Down the hallway in the room where Adrianne and Hermione were sleeping, extremely loud music had just started playing. He sighed, and climbed out of bed. He opened his bedroom door, just as the music was cut off with a loud KA-BOOM!
Wide awake now, Adam ran down the hallway towards the girls' room, and flung the door open.
There were pieces of smoldering metal and wood everywhere, which was all that remained of the radio. Both Adrianne and Hermione were staring at the nightstand between the two girls' beds, where there was a blackened spot. Adrianne held her wand in one hand.
"What the hell happened here?" Adam demanded. Both girls spun around to look at him. There was a guilty look on Adrianne's face.
"I blew up my radio," she said. At the incredulous look on Adam's face, she added, "Whacking the stupid thing wouldn't work."
Adam took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly.
"Well, seeing as no one got hurt, I'm not going to punish you, Adrianne," he replied. "But I don't want anything else to get blown up, all right?"
Adrianne nodded.
"All right, Uncle Adam," she said. Adam hugged her, and then left the room, shutting the door behind him.
* * *
As soon as Adam left the room, Adrianne turned to Hermione, her face pale.
"What is it, Adrianne?" Hermione asked, concerned.
"Oh god, I hope Uncle Adam never finds out about the dungbombs and Filibuster's Fireworks that Fred and George have got stashed in their trunks."
* * *
An hour later, Adrianne clomped downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Morning, everyone," she said. She was wearing muggle clothing: a red tank top with a v-neck deep enough to show cleavage, baggy black pants, and black sneakers.
Ron glanced over at her. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, which was what he usually wore in the summertime anyway, and Harry was wearing a huge sweatshirt and a pair of extremely baggy jeans that were barely held up by a buckle done up all the way.
"Morning," he said, his words muffled by the muffin that he'd stuffed in his mouth. Then his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he looked behind her. Adrianne turned around, and snickered.
Shalimar had just entered the kitchen, wearing a brown leather skirt, and a matching shirt that showed a great deal of cleavage.
"Morning, everyone," she said. "What's for breakfast?"
"The usual," replied Adam, who was at the stove. "Addy, how do you want your eggs done?"
"Scrambled," she replied, taking out her wand. "Accio apple!" she said without thinking. A bright red apple zoomed towards her, and she grabbed it. But before she could take a bite, she noticed that Hermione was mouthing something at her, a look of panic on her face.
It was then that she noticed that the kitchen had suddenly gotten very, very quiet. Adrianne looked around at everyone, and saw that Jesse, Brennan, Emma, and Shalimar were all staring at her in shock.
"How the hell did you do that?" demanded Shalimar. Adrianne swallowed hard.
"Uh...I'm telekinetic?" she replied weakly. --Maybe they'll believe me-- she thought desperately.
No such luck.
Shalimar crossed her arms over her chest, giving Adrianne an icy glare.
"Why don't I believe you?" she growled. "Try again."
Without answering, Adrianne ran into the other room. She pulled out her wand again.
"Accio Firebolt!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. A moment later, her Firebolt came zooming downstairs, and without bothering to stop running, she jumped on and zoomed upwards, out of the reach of the members of Mutant X. Once she was up there, she gave them a smug look. "Nyah, nyah!" she shouted, sticking her tongue out at them. "Can't get me!"
"How did you do that?" called Emma, sounding amazed. Adrianne flew back down to the ground, and gently landed on her feet.
"Hermione and I are witches, and Harry, Ron, and the twins are wizards," she replied. "The school we go to in England is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She grinned. "Harry and I are both on the Gryffindor Quidditch team---I'll explain what Quidditch is later. Right now, I want to eat my breakfast." She went back into the kitchen, and sat down at the kitchen table.
Suddenly, Fred and George appeared in the doorway. They were both dressed in jeans and t-shirts, but fortunately, the t-shirts were different colors. Fred was wearing a yellow t-shirt, and George was wearing a red one.
"Morning, all," said Fred. Then he spotted Adrianne sitting at the kitchen table, and brightened up. "Adrianne!" he said loudly, shaking her hand as though just being introduced to her. "How splendid to see you!"
"Absolutely spiffing," added George, shaking her other hand.
Adrianne began laughing at the way the twins were acting.
"Sorry about the stupid alarm clock," she apologized. "It must have set itself last night. It does that sometimes. Or rather, it *did*. I used the Explosive Spell on it this morning, because it wouldn't shut up."
She turned slightly pink as Fred and George began applauding.
"You deserve an award," said Fred.
"What award's that?"
"The award for Most Creative Way To Shut Off Your Alarm Clock."
Adrianne snorted.
"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. The stupid thing wouldn't shut off when I whacked it, so I blew it up." She cocked an eyebrow at them. "And don't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same thing; I know you both too well."
The twins simultaneously snorted.
"How can you say such a thing?" demanded Fred, a look of mock offense on his face. "I would *never* have blown up my alarm clock with the Explosive Spell!"
"No, you would have used a dungbomb," replied Adrianne with a straight face. "Now, let's eat breakfast. I'm starving."
They sat down at the kitchen table and dug in.
* * *
A couple of hours later, Adrianne went into the living room. Harry and Ron were in there, playing chess. Adrianne walked over to them, and peered down at the board.
"So, who's winning?" she asked innocently. Harry looked up at her, and grimaced. "Never mind. I know who's winning."
Finally, Ron checked Harry's king, and grinned when his knight smashed Harry's king to tiny pieces. A moment later, the chess pieces automatically fixed themselves.
"That's it!" said Harry, jumping to his feet. "I'm not playing any more chess today."
Ron turned to Adrianne, and grinned.
"Don't suppose you'd care to play a game, would you?" he asked innocently.
"Don't suppose I would," she retorted. Ron's shoulders slumped, and he let out a huge sigh.
"Why won't anyone play with me?" he moaned, glancing at Adrianne out of the corner of his eye to see how she would react. Adrianne snorted, and went to the lab, where Adam was studying a formula.
"Uncle Adam, I know you're busy right now, but could you possibly play a game with Ron?" she begged. "He won't stop complaining."
Adam sighed, and turned towards his niece.
"What kind of game?" he asked wearily.
"Chess," she replied. "Harry won't play with him for the rest of the day because Ron's already beaten him at least half a dozen times, and I can't play worth a damn. So, can you please play a game of chess with Ron? Please?" Adam sighed, and ran a hand through his dark brown curls.
"Oh, all right," he said finally, standing up. "But I hope Ron won't be too disappointed if I beat him quickly." Adrianne rolled her eyes, and followed Adam into the living room, where Ron had set up the chess board.
"Hope you don't mind if we play with my chess set," he said cheerfully.
"That's all right," replied Adam. "It shouldn't be any different than any other chessboard."
Ron blinked, and Adrianne let out a snort of laughter. --Uncle Adam is in for one hell of a surprise-- she thought, smirking inwardly.
Adam sat down across from Ron, taking the white pieces. He started to reach for one of the pawns, but Ron stopped him.
"You don't need to touch the pieces," he informed Adam. "You just tell 'em where to go." He began looking down at the pieces. "Red pawn to white pawn," he called.
The red pawn moved to the space in front of the white pawn, and the white pawn smashed it to pieces. Adam nearly fell out of his seat in shock.
"Well, that's different," he said finally. Ron smirked at him.
"That's wizard's chess," he said smugly.
Adam looked into the teenage boy's brown eyes, and saw pure confidence reflecting out of them. He set his jaw, and looked down at the board.
He could already tell that this wasn't going to be an easy win.
* * *
Half an hour later, Adam had lost most of his pieces. He eyed the teenager sitting across from him with newfound respect. Ron was a better player than Adam had thought he'd be.
Adrianne came downstairs to the living room, and saw that they were still playing. She grinned, and dashed upstairs to tell everyone.
She practically flew into Emma's room, startling the older woman.
"Adrianne, is something wrong?" she asked, concerned. Adrianne shook her head.
"Emma, has Uncle Adam ever beaten you at chess?" she asked casually, leaning against the door. Emma rolled her eyes.
"Are you kidding?" she replied. "Every time I've played against your uncle, I've ended up getting my ass kicked. Why?" Adrianne gave her an evil grin.
"Uncle Adam's playing against Ron, and I'm pretty sure that Ron's winning," she said gleefully. Emma's jaw dropped.
"Are you sure?"
"I just saw them playing downstairs. I've never seen such a look of concentration on Uncle Adam's face. Not once."
Emma jumped to her feet, and dashed out of her room. She headed to Shalimar's room, where the blond feral was taking a nap.
"Shalimar, there's a possibility that Adam could get his ass kicked at chess by Adrianne's friend Ron," she whispered to the sleeping feral. Shalimar's eyes flew open, and she sat up as fast as she could.
"You're joking, right?" she demanded. Emma shook her head.
"Nope. Adrianne just told me. She said that she's pretty sure Ron's beating Adam at chess."
Shalimar jumped to her feet.
"Adam getting his ass kicked at chess by a fifteen year old boy? This I gotta see."
They both followed Adrianne down to the living room, just in time to hear Ron say, "Checkmate."
Emma and Shalimar started cheering, and Adrianne began laughing.
"Hey, Jesse, Brennan," yelled Emma. "Come to the top of the stairs."
"Why?" yelled Jesse from his room.
"Adam just got his ass kicked at chess."
"Say what?" came two male voices in unison. Everyone in the living room heard footsteps pounding out of Jesse and Brennan's rooms, and a few seconds later, the two of them barrelled down the stairs to the living room.
"Please tell me that you weren't kidding," said Jesse to Emma.
"Because if you were, you're gonna get a jumpstart," growled Brennan, forming a ball of electricity with one hand.
"No, I wasn't kidding. Adrianne came and told me, I told Shalimar, and the three of us came down here just in time to hear Ron say, 'Checkmate'." Emma grinned.
Brennan released the ball of electricity into thin air, and it almost immediately dissipated. Then he moved forward to shake hands with Ron. Both of them yelped as they were shocked by the static electricity.
"Sorry about that," said Brennan. "Congratulations for kicking Adam's ass at chess. I think you're probably the only one who's ever done that."
"Then you obviously don't know Ron very well," came Hermione's voice from above. She sounded slightly smug. "I can't think of anyone who's *ever* beaten Ron at chess before. He's even beaten a giant chess game where we had to be three of the pieces on the board. He nearly got killed in the process, but he still won."
"No, I didn't," Ron replied, his ears going red. "I made it possible for Harry to win."
"It was still the best played game of chess I've ever seen," Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Possibly the best played game of chess *anyone* has ever seen. Definitely the best that was ever played at Hogwarts."
"That's our Ron, all right," said Fred, coming up behind Hermione. "The best chess player in all the wizarding world."
"Maybe even the universe," said George. He and Fred gave Ron identical grins.
Ron's ears turned even redder than his hair.
to be continued...
* * *
A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this posted, but I've had major writer's cramp with this chapter. But I've finally finished it. Thank you for waiting so patiently, everyone. As always, please R&R. Flamers will be pelted with dungbombs, and then they'll get their sorry arses kicked from here to the Bog of Eternal Stench. (My old threat, to kick people's sorry arses from here to Middle Earth, wasn't very effective. I can't imagine why. *winks*)
Chapter 1: Summer Vacation Has Begun!
After all the introductions had been made, Adam led Adrianne and her friends upstairs to the guest rooms.
"Adrianne, you and Hermione can sleep in there," he said, indicating to a room that was in the middle of the hallway. "Harry, you and Ron can sleep in the room on the left side of Adrianne and Hermione's room, and Fred and George can sleep in the room that's on the right side of the girls' room." He hesitated for a moment. "Uh, where's your luggage?"
"In our pockets," replied Adrianne. She pulled a small box out of her pocket, and placed it on the floor. Then she pulled a slender stick out of her pocket as well, and pointed it at the box. "Engorgio!" The box instantly grew, and became a large trunk.
Adam stared from the box to Adrianne, his jaw hanging down. "How did you..." he started to say, but she cut him off.
"It's something we can all do," she replied, shrugging. "We learned it at school."
Adam lifted an eyebrow slightly. "You learned that at school?"
Adrianne nodded. "Yep. We go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Adam's eyes grew huge. "You mean, you didn't know?"
Adam slowly shook his head. "No, I didn't know. Do your parents know?"
"Uncle Adam, of course they know. After all, Dad's a wizard, and he had to tell Mom so that she wouldn't freak out if I started showing signs of being a witch, like falling out of a ten-story window and bouncing up in the air after hitting the ground." Adrianne grinned. "Which I did when I was four. Also, he had to be able to explain how the pictures of his friends and family were moving, and he couldn't exactly keep his wand hidden. Besides--" Adrianne let out a deep sigh. "--it was a dangerous time. For both the wizarding community and the muggle community."
She didn't say anything else, but she didn't need to. Ron, the twins, Harry, and Hermione all had grave looks on their faces, and Adam didn't bother asking what the danger was. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Also, he knew that he'd probably find out sometime in the future.
* * *
Adrianne walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair. She was wearing a long nightgown that looked like an oversized long-sleeved shirt. It was made of satin, and was bright red. She walked over to her bed, and grabbed her wand from where it rested on the nightstand. She aimed it at her hair, and said clearly, "Dryus!"
There was a blast of hot air, and a few seconds later, Adrianne's hair was completely dry. She braided it, and then went to her bed, putting her wand back on the nightstand. Hermione was already in hers, completely engrossed in a book.
"Hermione, what are you reading?" asked Adrianne curiously, and Hermione looked up.
"It's a really good fantasy," she replied. "It's called 'Lord of the Rings', by J.R.R. Tolkien."
"I've read that before," said Adrianne. She crawled under the covers. "In fact, I can even speak a bit of the language in it."
"Oh, really?" replied Hermione skeptically. "Prove it, then. How would you show gratitude to me in Sindarin?"
"Uireb lalaith na le," quoted Adrianne sleepily, and Hermione's mouth fell open in shock. "What, you think that you're the only one who reads? Now, turn off the goddamn light and go to sleep."
Hermione waved her wand, and the lights turned off. They were both asleep in a matter of minutes.
Neither of them noticed that the alarm clock next to Adrianne's bed had automatically set itself, turning the volume as high as it would go.
* * *
"I PUT A SPELL ON YOU, AND NOW YOU'RE GONE, GONE, GONE, SO LONG--" sang the Weird Sisters over the radio at the highest volume imaginable. "I PUT A SPELL ON YOU, AND IT WAS STRONG, SO STRONG, SO STRONG, SO STRONG---"
Adrianne shrieked and fell out of bed, her legs tangling in the blankets. In the other bed, Hermione sat up straight, her bushy brown hair falling into her eyes.
"What's going on?" she asked sleepily. Suddenly, there was a pounding on the other side of the wall.
"SHUT OFF THAT BUGGERING RADIO!" bellowed Fred.
Adrianne whacked the radio with her hand, but nothing happened. In desperation, she grabbed her wand from the nightstand, and aimed it at the radio.
"Explosira!"
KA-BOOM!!!
Adrianne and Hermione ducked as the radio exploded, sending pieces of wood and smoldering metal flying in every direction. Finally, the smoke cleared, and both Adrianne and Hermione stood up, surveying the damage.
Hermione turned to gape at Adrianne.
"You used the Explosive Spell?" she asked incredulously. "That's like killing a fly with a nuclear bomb!"
Adrianne flinched.
"Oops."
* * *
Adam bolted upright in bed, his eyes wide with shock. Down the hallway in the room where Adrianne and Hermione were sleeping, extremely loud music had just started playing. He sighed, and climbed out of bed. He opened his bedroom door, just as the music was cut off with a loud KA-BOOM!
Wide awake now, Adam ran down the hallway towards the girls' room, and flung the door open.
There were pieces of smoldering metal and wood everywhere, which was all that remained of the radio. Both Adrianne and Hermione were staring at the nightstand between the two girls' beds, where there was a blackened spot. Adrianne held her wand in one hand.
"What the hell happened here?" Adam demanded. Both girls spun around to look at him. There was a guilty look on Adrianne's face.
"I blew up my radio," she said. At the incredulous look on Adam's face, she added, "Whacking the stupid thing wouldn't work."
Adam took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly.
"Well, seeing as no one got hurt, I'm not going to punish you, Adrianne," he replied. "But I don't want anything else to get blown up, all right?"
Adrianne nodded.
"All right, Uncle Adam," she said. Adam hugged her, and then left the room, shutting the door behind him.
* * *
As soon as Adam left the room, Adrianne turned to Hermione, her face pale.
"What is it, Adrianne?" Hermione asked, concerned.
"Oh god, I hope Uncle Adam never finds out about the dungbombs and Filibuster's Fireworks that Fred and George have got stashed in their trunks."
* * *
An hour later, Adrianne clomped downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast.
"Morning, everyone," she said. She was wearing muggle clothing: a red tank top with a v-neck deep enough to show cleavage, baggy black pants, and black sneakers.
Ron glanced over at her. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, which was what he usually wore in the summertime anyway, and Harry was wearing a huge sweatshirt and a pair of extremely baggy jeans that were barely held up by a buckle done up all the way.
"Morning," he said, his words muffled by the muffin that he'd stuffed in his mouth. Then his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he looked behind her. Adrianne turned around, and snickered.
Shalimar had just entered the kitchen, wearing a brown leather skirt, and a matching shirt that showed a great deal of cleavage.
"Morning, everyone," she said. "What's for breakfast?"
"The usual," replied Adam, who was at the stove. "Addy, how do you want your eggs done?"
"Scrambled," she replied, taking out her wand. "Accio apple!" she said without thinking. A bright red apple zoomed towards her, and she grabbed it. But before she could take a bite, she noticed that Hermione was mouthing something at her, a look of panic on her face.
It was then that she noticed that the kitchen had suddenly gotten very, very quiet. Adrianne looked around at everyone, and saw that Jesse, Brennan, Emma, and Shalimar were all staring at her in shock.
"How the hell did you do that?" demanded Shalimar. Adrianne swallowed hard.
"Uh...I'm telekinetic?" she replied weakly. --Maybe they'll believe me-- she thought desperately.
No such luck.
Shalimar crossed her arms over her chest, giving Adrianne an icy glare.
"Why don't I believe you?" she growled. "Try again."
Without answering, Adrianne ran into the other room. She pulled out her wand again.
"Accio Firebolt!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. A moment later, her Firebolt came zooming downstairs, and without bothering to stop running, she jumped on and zoomed upwards, out of the reach of the members of Mutant X. Once she was up there, she gave them a smug look. "Nyah, nyah!" she shouted, sticking her tongue out at them. "Can't get me!"
"How did you do that?" called Emma, sounding amazed. Adrianne flew back down to the ground, and gently landed on her feet.
"Hermione and I are witches, and Harry, Ron, and the twins are wizards," she replied. "The school we go to in England is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She grinned. "Harry and I are both on the Gryffindor Quidditch team---I'll explain what Quidditch is later. Right now, I want to eat my breakfast." She went back into the kitchen, and sat down at the kitchen table.
Suddenly, Fred and George appeared in the doorway. They were both dressed in jeans and t-shirts, but fortunately, the t-shirts were different colors. Fred was wearing a yellow t-shirt, and George was wearing a red one.
"Morning, all," said Fred. Then he spotted Adrianne sitting at the kitchen table, and brightened up. "Adrianne!" he said loudly, shaking her hand as though just being introduced to her. "How splendid to see you!"
"Absolutely spiffing," added George, shaking her other hand.
Adrianne began laughing at the way the twins were acting.
"Sorry about the stupid alarm clock," she apologized. "It must have set itself last night. It does that sometimes. Or rather, it *did*. I used the Explosive Spell on it this morning, because it wouldn't shut up."
She turned slightly pink as Fred and George began applauding.
"You deserve an award," said Fred.
"What award's that?"
"The award for Most Creative Way To Shut Off Your Alarm Clock."
Adrianne snorted.
"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. The stupid thing wouldn't shut off when I whacked it, so I blew it up." She cocked an eyebrow at them. "And don't tell me that you wouldn't have done the same thing; I know you both too well."
The twins simultaneously snorted.
"How can you say such a thing?" demanded Fred, a look of mock offense on his face. "I would *never* have blown up my alarm clock with the Explosive Spell!"
"No, you would have used a dungbomb," replied Adrianne with a straight face. "Now, let's eat breakfast. I'm starving."
They sat down at the kitchen table and dug in.
* * *
A couple of hours later, Adrianne went into the living room. Harry and Ron were in there, playing chess. Adrianne walked over to them, and peered down at the board.
"So, who's winning?" she asked innocently. Harry looked up at her, and grimaced. "Never mind. I know who's winning."
Finally, Ron checked Harry's king, and grinned when his knight smashed Harry's king to tiny pieces. A moment later, the chess pieces automatically fixed themselves.
"That's it!" said Harry, jumping to his feet. "I'm not playing any more chess today."
Ron turned to Adrianne, and grinned.
"Don't suppose you'd care to play a game, would you?" he asked innocently.
"Don't suppose I would," she retorted. Ron's shoulders slumped, and he let out a huge sigh.
"Why won't anyone play with me?" he moaned, glancing at Adrianne out of the corner of his eye to see how she would react. Adrianne snorted, and went to the lab, where Adam was studying a formula.
"Uncle Adam, I know you're busy right now, but could you possibly play a game with Ron?" she begged. "He won't stop complaining."
Adam sighed, and turned towards his niece.
"What kind of game?" he asked wearily.
"Chess," she replied. "Harry won't play with him for the rest of the day because Ron's already beaten him at least half a dozen times, and I can't play worth a damn. So, can you please play a game of chess with Ron? Please?" Adam sighed, and ran a hand through his dark brown curls.
"Oh, all right," he said finally, standing up. "But I hope Ron won't be too disappointed if I beat him quickly." Adrianne rolled her eyes, and followed Adam into the living room, where Ron had set up the chess board.
"Hope you don't mind if we play with my chess set," he said cheerfully.
"That's all right," replied Adam. "It shouldn't be any different than any other chessboard."
Ron blinked, and Adrianne let out a snort of laughter. --Uncle Adam is in for one hell of a surprise-- she thought, smirking inwardly.
Adam sat down across from Ron, taking the white pieces. He started to reach for one of the pawns, but Ron stopped him.
"You don't need to touch the pieces," he informed Adam. "You just tell 'em where to go." He began looking down at the pieces. "Red pawn to white pawn," he called.
The red pawn moved to the space in front of the white pawn, and the white pawn smashed it to pieces. Adam nearly fell out of his seat in shock.
"Well, that's different," he said finally. Ron smirked at him.
"That's wizard's chess," he said smugly.
Adam looked into the teenage boy's brown eyes, and saw pure confidence reflecting out of them. He set his jaw, and looked down at the board.
He could already tell that this wasn't going to be an easy win.
* * *
Half an hour later, Adam had lost most of his pieces. He eyed the teenager sitting across from him with newfound respect. Ron was a better player than Adam had thought he'd be.
Adrianne came downstairs to the living room, and saw that they were still playing. She grinned, and dashed upstairs to tell everyone.
She practically flew into Emma's room, startling the older woman.
"Adrianne, is something wrong?" she asked, concerned. Adrianne shook her head.
"Emma, has Uncle Adam ever beaten you at chess?" she asked casually, leaning against the door. Emma rolled her eyes.
"Are you kidding?" she replied. "Every time I've played against your uncle, I've ended up getting my ass kicked. Why?" Adrianne gave her an evil grin.
"Uncle Adam's playing against Ron, and I'm pretty sure that Ron's winning," she said gleefully. Emma's jaw dropped.
"Are you sure?"
"I just saw them playing downstairs. I've never seen such a look of concentration on Uncle Adam's face. Not once."
Emma jumped to her feet, and dashed out of her room. She headed to Shalimar's room, where the blond feral was taking a nap.
"Shalimar, there's a possibility that Adam could get his ass kicked at chess by Adrianne's friend Ron," she whispered to the sleeping feral. Shalimar's eyes flew open, and she sat up as fast as she could.
"You're joking, right?" she demanded. Emma shook her head.
"Nope. Adrianne just told me. She said that she's pretty sure Ron's beating Adam at chess."
Shalimar jumped to her feet.
"Adam getting his ass kicked at chess by a fifteen year old boy? This I gotta see."
They both followed Adrianne down to the living room, just in time to hear Ron say, "Checkmate."
Emma and Shalimar started cheering, and Adrianne began laughing.
"Hey, Jesse, Brennan," yelled Emma. "Come to the top of the stairs."
"Why?" yelled Jesse from his room.
"Adam just got his ass kicked at chess."
"Say what?" came two male voices in unison. Everyone in the living room heard footsteps pounding out of Jesse and Brennan's rooms, and a few seconds later, the two of them barrelled down the stairs to the living room.
"Please tell me that you weren't kidding," said Jesse to Emma.
"Because if you were, you're gonna get a jumpstart," growled Brennan, forming a ball of electricity with one hand.
"No, I wasn't kidding. Adrianne came and told me, I told Shalimar, and the three of us came down here just in time to hear Ron say, 'Checkmate'." Emma grinned.
Brennan released the ball of electricity into thin air, and it almost immediately dissipated. Then he moved forward to shake hands with Ron. Both of them yelped as they were shocked by the static electricity.
"Sorry about that," said Brennan. "Congratulations for kicking Adam's ass at chess. I think you're probably the only one who's ever done that."
"Then you obviously don't know Ron very well," came Hermione's voice from above. She sounded slightly smug. "I can't think of anyone who's *ever* beaten Ron at chess before. He's even beaten a giant chess game where we had to be three of the pieces on the board. He nearly got killed in the process, but he still won."
"No, I didn't," Ron replied, his ears going red. "I made it possible for Harry to win."
"It was still the best played game of chess I've ever seen," Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Possibly the best played game of chess *anyone* has ever seen. Definitely the best that was ever played at Hogwarts."
"That's our Ron, all right," said Fred, coming up behind Hermione. "The best chess player in all the wizarding world."
"Maybe even the universe," said George. He and Fred gave Ron identical grins.
Ron's ears turned even redder than his hair.
to be continued...
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A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this posted, but I've had major writer's cramp with this chapter. But I've finally finished it. Thank you for waiting so patiently, everyone. As always, please R&R. Flamers will be pelted with dungbombs, and then they'll get their sorry arses kicked from here to the Bog of Eternal Stench. (My old threat, to kick people's sorry arses from here to Middle Earth, wasn't very effective. I can't imagine why. *winks*)