02 - Bogies For Dinner, Anyone?
"Explain it once more, Harry," said George as he, Harry and Fred went down to the Great Hall. Harry sighed and explained it for the third time. 'Perhaps it was a bad idea to tell them this game,' thought Harry, but upon entering the Great Hall, he realised that it would actually be rather funny, and besides, at least he wasn't going to get into trouble for once.
When everyone was seated, and the food had been served, Fred looked up at George, who was seated opposite him, and leaned in.
"Bogies," he said quietly, appearing to anyone who might've been looking that he was having a normal conversation with George. George grinned.
"Bogies," he said, a little louder than Fred, but still not noticeable enough. The twins started giggling. This game was fun already. Harry had looked up when the twins started giggling and had guessed why. He grinned. Fred meanwhile, took another mouthful of shepherd's pie, contemplating his next move. He swallowed the food, looked around, and cleared his throat.
"Bogies," he said in a normal voice. Angelina, who was sitting next to him, turned round.
"Did you say something Fred?" she asked.
"No," said Fred innocently, whilst George collapsed in silent laughter. Angelina raised an eyebrow at Fred suspiciously, before turning back to continue her conversation with Alicia. It took George a full five minutes to recover from his giggling fit before he made his next move.
"Bogies," he said quite loudly. Fred snorted with laughter. Angelina turned round.
"What the hell did you say 'Bogies' for?" she asked, confused, whilst Fred laughed so hard that pumpkin juice came out of his nose. George pretended to be offended.
"How dare you accuse me of saying stupid words!" he cried in a mock horrified tone, whilst placing a hand over his heart in an over-dramatic gesture. "I'm outraged!" Angelina turned to Alicia and shrugged. Harry, who hadn't taken his eyes off the twins, giggled at George's drama queen act. Ron glanced up.
"What's so funny?" he asked. Harry pointed at the twins.
"They're playing Bogies," he said, and giggled even more at the puzzled expression on Ron's face. Hermione, who had been reading her Arithmancy book, sighed.
"It's a Muggle game, Ron," she explained, "And it's a childish game at that." She looked at Harry, who was staring at her.
"What? I watch Muggle TV when I'm at home you know," she said. Harry nodded.
"I'm not doubting that. It's just…well…I wouldn't expect you to watch a children's TV show," he said.
"I don't watch it. I saw one show by accident. I couldn't sleep that morning," she explained, whilst Ron and Harry exchanged glances.
"Yeah, sure you did, Hermione," said Ron, rolling his eyes. Hermione looked scandalized, and went to say something else, but at that moment Fred had his turn at the game.
"Bogies," he said, this time so loud that the Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's sitting nearest all turned to stare at him. He broke down with laughter. George was crying with mirth. He looked around and saw that everyone was waiting for him to make his next move.
"BOGIES!" he cried, before ducking his head down towards the table. The rest of the students in the Hall all looked over to the Gryffindor table, before they started muttering to each other. Even the professors noticed. They glanced at the Gryffindors. Dumbledore smiled. 'Excellent; a game of Bogies,' he thought to himself.
Back at the table, Fred was waiting for the right moment. He carried on eating for a few minutes, wondering how on earth he was going to top that. Then an idea came to his mind. He looked around, noticing that everyone was watching him, and he stood up. George gasped, then started laughing even harder. Fred stood there for a moment.
"BOOOGGGIIIEEES!" he yelled, then quickly resumed his place at the table, whilst the students in the Hall screamed with laughter. McGonagall up at the staff table, turned to Dumbledore.
"Are you going to allow this to continue, Albus?" she asked, dangerously. Dumbledore peered at her.
"And spoil such fun, Minerva?" he said gently.
George was laughing so much that for a second, he considered handing the game to Fred. But seeing the looks of eagerness on his fellow students' faces, he knew what he must do. Getting to his feet, he surveyed the Hall. Then he got up on the bench. He caught Fred's eye and almost began laughing again, but he quickly recovered. He took a deep breath.
"BOOOOGGGGIIIIEEEESSSS!" he screamed, before jumping down from the bench and running from the Hall, closely followed by Fred. Once outside, they fell to the floor, wheezing with laughter. They could hear the students inside laughing and talking about what had just happened, and this made them laugh even more.
"Did you…see…McGonagall's…face?" wheezed George.
"I thought…she was…gonna…kill us all," panted Fred.
"Are you gonna…follow that up?" asked George.
"Do you think…I should?" asked Fred. George nodded. Fred grinned. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, before heading to the Hall entrance.
"BOGIES!" he yelled into the Hall, then turned and ran back to George, who was laughing so much that his face now matched his hair colour.
"I won!" he yelled, "You didn't beat mine!"
"I know, I know," said Fred, grinning. "But for the first game, that wasn't too bad an effort." George gazed at Fred.
"The first game? You mean we're going to play it again?"
"Of course! I have to beat you now," said Fred. He stopped and listened. "Reckon they're gonna talk about that all night," he said, nodding towards the Hall.
"Reckon you're right," said George. The twins smirked at each other. Then they headed up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room to await the rest of their house.
Back in the Hall, Harry was still laughing about the twins' quick exit. All around him, people were asking each other what this game was all about. He smiled to himself and stole a glance at the staff table. Dumbledore was smiling, which surprised Harry, but he wasn't so surprised to see the rest of the staff looking angry. McGonagall looked furious; Snape, livid. Umbridge seemed to have forced herself to smile along with Dumbledore, though Harry could tell she was just as annoyed or maybe even more so, than Snape. He nudged Ron and pointed to the staff table.
"D'ya reckon they'll get in trouble for that?"
"Nah, not if Dumbledore's ok with it," Ron replied, getting up from his seat. Dinner was over, so the Gryffindor's headed back to their common room, all talking about Fred and George's little 'display' in the Hall. Upon entering the common room, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed over to the sofa in front of the fire, where the twins were explaining the game to their fellow students.
"And here's the man who introduced us to the game," announced George, pointing at Harry, whilst Fred began applauding him. Harry grinned sheepishly. Lee Jordan ran over.
"Wow Harry, that's such a good game! How did you think of that?"
"I didn't. It's a Muggle game from a TV programme," he said. Lee looked confused.
"What's 'TV'?" he asked.
"What? Oh, nevermind," Harry said quickly. He glanced over at the twins. "Well done guys."
"Thanks Harry!" they replied in unison, before turning back to their attentive audience. Harry turned to Ron and Hermione.
"Looks like they've cheered up a bit," he said, smiling. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Did you have to tell them that game? They'll be playing it all the time now and…"
"Night, Hermione," said Harry, loudly. She looked at him and crossed her arms.
"Fine! Goodnight," she replied and stormed off upstairs to her room. Ron grinned.
"Well done, mate, or she would've carried on like that all night."
Harry laughed, then headed up to his room. He got changed into his pyjamas, and snuggled down in his bed. He was glad he'd managed to cheer the twins up. The only problems now were when and where would the next game of 'Bogies' commence?
