The Fifth House
Disclaimer: I've said I don't own most of this in every other chapter I've written so far, so if it's that important to you, check any other chapter's disclaimer, ok?
I thought so.
Author's Note: Hey people! I'm back! Sorry this chapter has taken awhile, but I put a lot of thought into this! I'm trying to bring everything in past chapters together {or at least hint where it might come together, I'm not telling everything so early in the story} and add in some new things at the same time. Plus, I have to check for errors I've made. Spell check is only so faithful.
So anyway, thanx so much for the reviews! I really appreciate them!
Read.
Review.
Results! {Sorry for the strange third R, but it makes sense to me, I'm waiting for my SAT scores}
Curtains Up!
Chapter Thirteen
The next month or so passed with nothing unbelievably out-of-the-ordinary happening. It was late October, almost Halloween, and the statistics were as follows:
Tests Aced by Hermione: 17
Potions Exploded During Class by Neville: 12
Times Fred & George Weasley Got Detention: 26
Times When A Student Almost Told a Teacher About the Secret: 0
Letters Harry Got From P.1 Rebirth: 0
Yes, it was true. This school year had so far been like any other. For Harry, at least.
The teachers, particularly Professors Snape and McGonagall, were extremely taken aback by the lack of inter-house rivalry. It had been at least a century and a half since Hufflepuff and Slytherin were on any sort of speaking terms. Usually, the Hufflepuffs were afraid of the Slytherins, so they had never had a discussion. Ravenclaws and Gryffindors always fought back against the Slytherins, since they had higher advantages.
But every house was getting along now.
It was a sight to see, Draco Malfoy helping Neville Longbottom to brew an adequate Silencing Potion. From the Divination classroom at the top of the North Tower, you could see a friendly game of Quidditch being played down on the pitch. Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw was up by 40 points.
But perhaps the most mind-boggling spectacle of all was in the library. Professor Snape had asked for a very difficult essay on the side effects of uncommon advanced potions. It needed to fill three pages of parchment. There were very few side effects, but many things that could cause them. The potions book only went so far. To get enough information, students had to resort to the library. Draco Malfoy had never taken out a book from the Hogwarts all-student library before; he would need help finding one. He asked Hermione Granger, and she helped him find several books. When he left the library, he thanked her.
Madame Pince had never been so bewildered in her life.
* * * *
Harry did get another letter. Three, actually, but none from P.1 Rebirth. The other two were from people Harry had not heard from in a very long time. One was from Hagrid. The other was from Sirius.
Harry read Hagrid's first. He noticed the scribble handwriting right away. He hadn't seen Hagrid yet this school year, Gryffindors and Slytherins were having their Care of Magical Creatures lessons in the spring instead of in the fall, Dumbledore had thought it would be easier for Hagrid to care for the animals that way.
Dear Harry,
Hello! I'm so sorry I haven't written yeh in a while, been busy over the summer, I have. Tell yeh about it later. Wanted to know if yeh wanted to come down to me hut for a bit of tea on Saturday morning. Ron and Hermione are invited too, o' course.
Hope yeh can come {I just learned how to make fudge brownies, some muggle thing. I want all of yeh to try 'em}.
Cheers,
Hagrid
Harry asked Hermione and Ron if they wanted to go, though he knew they would say yes anyway. He scrawled down a quick note and sent Hedwig off with it. Then he moved on to the next letter.
Dear Harry,
I'm so sorry that I haven't written to you in a while. I've been busy catching up with some people over the summer, so I didn't have the chance to write. Also, Dumbledore said I'd best not write letters to you for some reason, I think he said there was some sort of danger, he wouldn't explain anymore. Though I suppose we have to trust him.
Like I was saying, I've met up with some people, some that I think will interest you. Remus Lupin, as I'm sure you'll remember, has been helping me track people down all summer. One of them is Arabella Figg. You know her; she's the Dursleys' neighbor. She said you are a very bright boy, but were sometimes kind of strange towards her at times. But you never really knew her for who she is, so I'll introduce you two some day. The last may interest you the greatest. His name is Mundungus Fletcher. He is an Unspeakable. You've heard of them, I believe. He works with the Department of Mysteries. That is not the part that will interest you, I don't think. He used to play Chinese checkers with your mum. They grew up in the same neighborhood, so he might be able to tell you some things, if you get to know him well enough.
I really must go now; we've got so much work to do, and so little time to do it. Be careful, Harry.
Sirius
Harry was very happy to hear from Sirius, it had been a long time. He always thought there was a certain something about Mrs. Figg! But Sirius had been right about what would interest him the most. Harry might actually get to talk to someone who knew his mother when she was a child. Maybe he'd even find out some unknown things about the Dursleys, things that might make his next summer a bit easier.
Harry was about to show the letters to Ron and Hermione when he saw the third one. He hadn't noticed it at first. He thought he knew who it had to be from.
He was wrong.
Harry,
This may be one of the last times you are contacted by me. These letters should not even be written. There is a very important message in this letter. Did you hear that? A very important message.
You have been chosen to play. There are seven players. Seven pieces. Each piece is shaped to symbolize the player it represents. You will not know what yours looks like until the final roll. Rules are as follow:
Welcome to the Crevi Game!
I'm Crevi Quinque, that's my name!
I'll guide you as you travel the board,
To help you try to score the reward,
Is there a catch? Oh yes, indeed,
These simple rules you must heed:
Take caution when you roll the dice,
But if you forfeit, pay the price,
And if you try to jump ahead,
You'll go the other way instead,
As you play, your piece will move,
But to continue, you must prove,
You are able to: pay the tax
Complete the puzzle, fill the cracks,
These simple rules do not abuse,
They're here to help you win or lose,
So hurry, hurry, step right up!
Drop the dice out of the cup!
Hurry up, but don't be slow!
It starts right now, Ready, Set, Go!
Sincerely,
M.F., Master of Games
Harry was thoroughly confused. Never in his life had he ever gotten such a strange letter. He knew that whoever M.F., Master of Games was, they needed serious mental help. He was chosen to play? The only thing he liked playing was Quidditch, and occasionally a game of chess with Ron, even though Ron always won. There was the giant chess game in his first year, but this was entirely different. It sounded like a board game. With dice, and player pieces, and cards that tell you to skip a space or lose your next turn. It sounded muggle.
"Hey Harry, wanna play a game of chess?" asked Ron, who had just entered the boys dorm where Harry was.
"I'm not really in the mood for chess right now, Ron. Do you know anything about Chinese checkers?" asked Harry.
"I love Chinese checkers!" said someone from a corner of the room. Harry and Ron looked over to see Neville. He was sitting in a corner doing homework, and was so quiet Harry hadn't even noticed him there.
* * * *
Enna was very confused. Never in her life had such a perplexing thing come up. It had not been expected, not been planned for. Or maybe it had been planned for, but certainly not by Terces, they never planned anything so far ahead.
Enna had several problems that were making her life difficult. The first was the event that occurred was not caused by Terces, so she had to find out what did cause it before the powers discovered what had happened. If they did, they would be mad. Another problem was a letter they had gotten. It was about some sort of game. Terces was known for mastery of games, so they had received several things with the letter. They had gotten the letters that had to be sent to the other players, and they sent them out. They did not, however know who the other players were. Any school owl was supposed to be able to get the letter to someone without knowing who it was supposed to be sent to. It was a very mystifying idea for someone to create this. Enna reread part of the letter, starting in the middle.
As you are sure to know, for as long as it has existed Terces has been known {by all those who know of it} to be the master of games of all sorts. Terces has been chosen to host the game. This is a great honor, but there are also several things that must be done to have the game go smoothly. There are seven players in all, and one of the following letters must be sent out to each of them. Give any letter to any school owl, and the owl should be able to locate the player and deliver the letter successfully {even without knowing the address}. Do not read the other players letters. You have been warned. Do not be confused by this, all secrets will be revealed in time.
All secrets will be revealed in time? Now any Terces sodalis knew the meaning of a good secret, but usually it was them keeping them, not them having secrets be hidden against. Basically, there was virtually nothing about Hogwarts that Terces did not know.
But there are always exceptions.
Enna had sent out the other six letters, but she could not possibly be entirely trusting that the owls could deliver them without an address. She pondered this for a while, and then read on.
Terces will be playing as well, but Terces together is one player. This does not mean that one of the other six players could not be a Terces sodalis. Since Terces is hosting the game, Terces shall know that of all the players:
2 are in Gryffindor
1 is in Slytherin
1 is in Hufflepuff
1 is in Ravenclaw
And 2 have past graduated Hogwarts.
Yes, two players are adult wizards. This does not result in an advantage for them, however, the game has been proved fair in all ways possible. Thank you for taking the position as host involuntarily.
Sincerely,
M.F., Master of Games
It had been a most unusual letter in many ways. M.F., the master of games? Who could that be…
Enna was very tired from all this thinking. There were just too many problems. Other than the whole game thing, she had to teach Skully a thing or two. He had been practicing his magic as a Terces sodalis early in the summer, working with the power that his house controlled. Since he and Enna were in the same house, Enna had fun teaching him things. Real, sarcastic, fun. Yeah right. Skully had sent random clouds to people, wrote messed up letters, and accidentally caused the global winds to change direction {several times}. He also was very interested in learning the game of Chinese checkers. Oh yes, it had been great fun trying to get the winds of the world back to normal, but it was nothing Enna hadn't dealt with before.
Then there was the last problem. The fifth power of Terces, well, it wasn't really of Terces because it never cooperated. But now, all of a sudden, it's doing something. It takes at least two sodalises from at least two houses to complete a task given to them in order to cause the powers to work. Enna, Skully, Reelle, and Strella had been given individual tasks, but Enna didn't finish hers. She didn't start it.
So now there was this whole problem about what caused the fifth power to work. It wouldn't just decide ' Hey, I think I'll just give the whole student body some kind of pain, just because I feel in the mood'. It could have done that, but chances were very slim. It was growing stronger, and whoever was controlling it was, too.
Enna sighed. There was just nothing she could do. She couldn't consult her power, because then It would know. That would cause more complications than Enna wanted to even think about thinking about.
Of course, Enna never suspected that the Powers were trying to keep it from Terces. There had been a deal made ten thousand years ago between the two, yes, but doesn't every good deal have a loophole? Somewhere that wasn't mentioned in the contract, overlooked, for whatever the reason? Maybe no one thought that was a possibility to occur, or maybe they were just too trusting to think that one side of the agreement would dare do that. Yes, the loophole caused no problems in the beginning, but it was no longer the beginning now, was it? Of course not! That was long ago. Some of the Powers were being abused or mistreated; one was actually being avoided by its sodalis. One sodalis was scared of his own power. Now, what good does that do for anyone, or anything? Absolutely none! The fifth power had known, when Terces started out, that every deal has a loophole; every group an outcast; every day a setback; every plan a plan B. Yes, the fifth power knew. There is a reason for this, yes, because the fifth power has more of a mind than the other four. This does not mean smarter in making decisions, but that its mind was more developed, it had seen more, many people had tried to tame the fifth power before. If the fifth power had joined Terces, who would control it? Terces was the fifth house, for people who belonged nowhere else. But there were some students in the school who weren't in Terces and belonged in another house. They were everything any house prided itself for. They were brave like Gryffindor, loyal like Hufflepuff, wise like Ravenclaw and cunning like Slytherin. Terces was for people who weren't strong in any of those qualities. But the fifth power thought:
What about the people who were strong in all of those qualities?
Yes, the Power Fifth knew that one day, another circle would form. Those four students would be the only ones that could ever tame the fifth power. They alone could stop Terces from rising back to power and running the school. They could save Hogwarts.
The only problem was, they didn't know who they or each other were. And if they were to find out, they would have to play the fifth power's game, and they would play by the rules.
Curtains Close!
Author's Note: Raise your hand if you think that chapter is a little weird! I am raising my hand. I don't think I've ever written anything more peculiar. That last part was all me burning off steam, so sorry if you don't like it.
Words of Wisdom: "If you die I'll kill you!" a quote from lizzz wood, elijah's gurl.
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I love you all!
Ciao!
~Starry