IWSC Writing School Round 1
School and Year - Ilvermorny Year 3
Techniques - Gripping opening sentence, correct use of special punctuation
Word Count - 474
The Perfect Prank
A prank (if it were to be successful) should occur when the target least expects it. For a Slytherin target, that would be on a Monday morning before they had had coffee. It was also necessary to select a prank that the target would never suspect had been possible before.
After years of watching Fred and George, Ginny had picked up a thing or two. She had thought and planned and waited, and now the time to act had come. She hunkered down behind the statue and waited.
Minutes later, Malfoy turned into the corridor, his eyes half-closed with lingering tiredness. It was perfect. Ginny gripped her wand and shot a non-verbal Diffindo at the corner of his school bag, causing the contents to litter the stone floor.
"What the—?" Malfoy turned on the spot and glared at the damage. "Salazar, that's all I need."
She watched him examine the tear in his bag and then repair the damage, his murmured spell almost inaudible.
The element of surprise and the absence of caffeine had Malfoy on the ropes and Ginny went in for the kill. When he stooped to cram his belongings; books, parchment, inkwells that were thankfully unbroken, and several quills; back into his bag, she cast another non-verbal spell. This one had been a particular favourite of Fred's. She remembered all too well when he'd cast it just last Christmas when Percy was being particularly obnoxious.
The spell was time-delayed and wouldn't actually begin to have an effect for at least half an hour. Then, over the course of an hour or so, the target's underpants would begin to shrink, millimetre by millimetre, until they were two sizes too small.
She knew it was petty; generally, she didn't go for this type of prank. In this particular case, however, Ginny felt it was the perfect prank for Malfoy. He would be so uncomfortable all day, twitching and unable to work out why he was suddenly feeling cramped in his tighty whiteys.
She watched him finish repacking his bag and walk along the corridor towards the Great Hall. Once she was certain he wouldn't double back, she stepped out from behind the statue and made her way towards the eighth year common room. The final phase of the prank - resizing all of Malfoy's underwear and trousers to two sizes smaller - was about to be begin.
That was another thing she'd learned from the twins - if a prank were to be legendary, then you had to think big. Yes, Malfoy would think he'd been pranked, but with any luck, he would think the prank was making his butt engorged. An image of a horrified Malfoy, running on the spot to reduce his enlarged backside flittered into her mind. It was perfection and she couldn't help but smile.
Special Grammar Usage
A prank (if it were to be successful) should occur when the target least expects it.
"What the—?" Malfoy turned on the spot and glared at the damage. "Salazar, that's all I need."
The final phase of the prank - resizing all of Malfoy's underwear and trousers to two sizes smaller - was about to be begin.
She knew it was petty; generally, she didn't go for this type of prank.
When he stooped to cram his belongings; books, parchment, inkwells that were thankfully unbroken, and several quills; back into his bag, she cast another non verbal spell.