The Houses Competition

House: Slytherin

Class: Herbology

Prompt(s): [Event] Shopping [Event] Robbery

Word Count: 2396

Beta: Aya, Hope, Ash Juillet, Ash K

During some Holiday shopping Hermione, Ron and Harry get hold up at a robbery with Harry saving the day once again.

Shopping Nightmare

Honeydukes was a wizarding sweet shop located on High Street in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade. Shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets lined every inch of the shop. It was one of the most popular shops in the village with its exploding bonbons that had a habit of exploding in your mouth when you bit down on the delicious treat, chocolate frogs which most people bought for the cards inside rather than the hopping frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, which people placed bets on what flavour they would get, good or bad, and not to mention the hundreds of other sweets that covered the walls of the shop.

And with it being the Christmas season, the shop was decorated. Giant ornaments hung from the ceiling, many the size of footballs. Tinsel lined each of the shelves along with lights that flashed red, green and silver in increments, and a Santa Claus in his sleigh with eight tiny reindeer flew around the shop, sprinkling gold and silver glitter on everyone. Christmas music could barely be heard in the background over the sea of people.

Hermione, Ron and Harry wandered around, along with the other fifty witches and wizards that filled the busy shop, buying heaps of sweets for the holiday season. The three friends agreed that this time of year wasn't the best time to go with the crowds, but it was their last chance to visit the shop before they left for the Christmas holidays, and as Ron had put it, "What would Christmas be without sweets?"

Hermione had rolled her eyes at him. Christmas wasn't about sweets or presents or even a big tree in the living room; it was about being with friends and family. Nevertheless, Hermione had agreed to go with the two boys into town. Now, Hermione felt as if she was being stuffed into a sardine can as she tried to manoeuvre through the crowd.

"You two just had to have sweets because what would Christmas be without sweets?" Hermione managed to choke out as she was pushed for the umpteenth time since entering the shop. "You do know they've upped the prices during the holidays, right?"

"They have not," Ron argued back as he pushed in between two people in an effort to get to Hermione, who had managed to get ahead of them.

"They did too," Hermione sniped back as she reached out and grabbed a pink square-shaped candy from one of the sample displays and popped it into her mouth, making a high-pitched chirping sound, similar to that of a chipmunk, a few seconds later.

"Isn't that your tenth sample?" Harry inquired, out of breath as he managed to make his way through the crowd and beside his two friends. The only good thing about the shops being filled with people was that no one even noticed that the 'Boy Who Lived' was there; no one had even done a double take even when the trio had entered the shop.

"There's no rules on how many samples you can take. It's not like I took samples from the same displays, they were ten different displays," Hermione explained, stating her case as she took another piece of candy from the display and stuffed it in her coat pocket for later, giving a small smirk towards Ron as she did.

Ron opened his mouth to say something to Hermione but was cut off by Harry.

"I'm going to go to Dervish and Banges. I'm almost out of broom wax, so I'm going to pick some up before they run out for the holidays," Harry explained.

"I don't think we should split up," Hermione said, nervously looking around.

"Ya, we won't be able to find you again, mate," Ron agreed. The streets of Hogsmeade were overflowing with people; it was a miracle that the three had managed to get to Honeydukes without being separated from each other.

"It's just down the street," Harry exclaimed, "I'll be back in five minutes."

"Oh, no, you won't,' Hermione said. "Every time you enter that shop, you look at every little Quidditch thing they have. Last time, Ron and I had to drag you out kicking and screaming."

"I...I wasn't kicking and screaming," Harry said, feeling offended.

"You were making a fuss," Ron mentioned.

"That's because I wanted to get…"

"It was a SCAM!" Hermione yelled, interrupting Harry. For what seemed to be the hundredth time, she exclaimed, "There is nothing you can rub on that bloody broom of yours that can make it go any faster, and even if there was, I'm pretty sure it would be an illegal move to use it during a Quidditch match."

"We will never know if…"

"It was a scam! I even looked it up, there is no such thing. I saved you from wasting your money, and you're welcome," Hermione once again interrupted Harry before he had a chance to finish what he was going to say.

Harry raised up a finger as if about to tell Hermione off, but before he had a chance to make a single sound, four men in ski masks came bursting into the shop, wands held high.

"Attention, everyone!" one of the men yelled, most likely the leader of the group. "No one has to get hurt today."

Everyone in the shop froze as they looked over the four men, the only sound in the shop was coming from the small Santa Claus as he was charmed to go "HO HO HO" every five seconds along with the soft Christmas music in the background.

"Now that I have everyone's attention, I would like all of you to take out your wands slowly, tips pointed to the ground and toss them over here." The leader explained "Don't anyone be a hero, you all can make it home in a jif if you just do what we say. Now, if you all please toss your wands over here, we can continue."

Everyone did what was instructed of them, taking out their wands slowly and making sure the tip of the wand was pointed to the ground before tossing it over to the four men. Harry, Ron and Hermione did the same, reaching up into the sleeves of their coats and slowly taking out their wands.

"Don't do anything stupid," Hermione whispered as she saw the look in Harry's eyes. "Four men, you can't do it. You only know three defensive spells!" She harshly said before tossing her wand into the pail along with the others.

Harry reluctantly agreed with Hermione as he tossed his wand in with Ron following suit.

The leader looked down at the growing pail of wands, using his foot to kick Harry's wand away from the others. "Nice wand, kid. What core do you have?" the leader inquired as he pointed his wand at Harry, smirking as the girl beside him flinched.

"Phoenix feather," Harry answered the man.

The leader nodded. "Nice, one of the rarest cores. Phoenix feather wands are the pickiest when it comes to owners since the creature itself is independent and detached from the world. Tell me kid, are you also independent and detached from this world?" the leader asked.

"Leave him alone," Hermione spoke as she took Harry hand in hers.

The leader chuckled. "Brave one, aren't you? No worries, kid, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, we aren't here to make anyone uncomfortable. But let me give you some advice. Phoenix feathers are capable of a great range of magic, they show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord. Treat your wand right and it will always protect you… trust me, kid," the leader explained and Harry could almost see a smile through the man's ski mask.

The leader turned back to look at his three men before turning back to face the shop. "Let's get back to it, shall we?" He signalled two of his men to go up to the front with the other going to guard the door. "Now, if you just do as we say we will be out of here in a couple of minutes and all of you can get back to your holiday shopping."

Harry watched as the two lackeys made their way up to the counter and threw a brown, worn-out bag at the lady before pointing his wand at her. "Fill it with every galleon, sickle and knut you have," the man ordered.

"The rest of you," the leader yelled, getting the attention of everyone back on him. "Up against the wall and sit down. I don't want any of you getting any ideas, we don't need any heroes here today."

"This is mad," Ron whispered as he slowly slid down the wall with Harry and Hermione.

"It should be over soon," Hermione said softly, her hands shaking slightly as she watched the leader wave his wand about without any care, afraid that the wand might go off at any moment, even without a spell being said.

"I don't think so," Harry said as the woman filled the bag up with all the galleons, sickles and knuts she had received during the day. "Why rob the place in broad daylight? It doesn't make any sense, especially with all the people that are out today. Something more is going on," Harry suspected, his eyes on the leader as the man walked around the store as if he was shopping. Harry watched as the leader picked up one of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from a sample display and threw it up into the air before catching it in his mouth. The leader took a bite before spitting the bean out on the ground a second later.

"Why can't they make only good flavours?" the leader commented as he continued his way around the store until he got to the front. "You all finished?" he asked his lackey, who was getting the money in front of the woman.

"It's all here," the man replied as he shook the bag to show that all of the money had been placed inside before doing it up and slinging it over his shoulder so the bag hung off his back.

"Alright, there's one more thing we need to do before we go," the leader announced, "Now, this part may get a bit awkward, but I'm afraid it needs to be done if our plans are going to work. I just want all of you to know that it has nothing to do with you but I am afraid that we need to kill one of you." Gasps could be heard around the shop.

"I know that this is shocking news, so let's all take a moment and soak it in,'' the leader spoke before letting the room sit in silence for a couple of seconds. The only sound was small whimpers coming from the scared people before speaking again.

"Now with that part done, I am going to need a volunteer… or I can choose, but I rather not, so if one of you will be so gracious to offer up your life I would really appreciate it."

Harry looked around the shop, noticing that everyone else was doing the same thing. Taking a quick glance at the leader, making sure that he wasn't looking, Harry reached up above his head and grabbed a pack of licorice snaps. Carefully opening up the package so it couldn't be heard, Harry dumped the licorice snaps out into his hand. They were jet black and somewhat resembled leeches as they wiggled around in his hand. Closing his hand around the licorice snaps, Harry stood up.

"Harry, no…" Hermione cried as she reached up and grabbed Harry's oversized jumper that hung over his fingers, but Harry pushed her off as he took a step forward towards the man.

"Now, that's what I am talking about," the leader spoke loudly as Harry took the step forward. "You must be detached if you are so willing to die. I gotta be honest, we didn't think we would get a volunteer for this. I guess I was wrong," the leader said with a small chuckle before looking back at his lackies. "I'm a big enough man to admit when I am wrong."

"How would you like to do this, kid?" the leader asked as he turned back to Harry. "Would you like to kneel? Turn around? Close your eyes? Say goodbye to your friends over there? Pray? It is your death, after all."

Harry took in a deep breath as he took another step towards the man and another before he was only a couple of feet away from the leader. Opening his hand up, Harry tossed the squealing licorice snaps at the man.

The leech-looking sweets latched onto the man's face with their razor sharp teeth. The leader screamed out in pain as the sweets bit down, and he stumbled back into a display of ice mice. Once the display hit the ground, the ice mice ran all over the shop, causing one of the lackeys to jump back into another display of liquorice wands, which spilled all over the floor.

Hermione, thinking quickly, lunged for her wand in the pail and sent the other two lackeys flying into a display of saltwater taffy, Shock-o-Choc, and other skeletal sweets, causing everything to fall to the floor in a big crash.

What happened next was a big blur for everyone, including Harry, Ron and Hermione. The last thing they could remember clearly was a team of Aurors coming crashing through the shop windows and arresting the four men on sight, finding out later that the shop had a silent alarm charm that signaled the Aurors if the shop was under any distress.

The reason for the robbery and the almost killing of an innocent person was still unknown. The theory that the Minister for Magic put out in the Daily Prophet was that it had something to do with mass murderer Sirius Black, and once again, Harry Potter was made a hero in the Daily Prophet.

Whatever the reason was, whatever was supposed to be achieved, wasn't, and that was a win. But the four men were right about one thing, everyone went back to their holiday shopping once they were released from the scene.