IWSC Summer Camp
Weasley Cabin - DrarryMadhatter (Laura)
Summer Camp Round 7
Theme - Time for teamwork. Write about a group having to work together to solve a mystery puzzle
Word Count - 1637
Warnings - None
Author's Note - We decided to link our fictions together by using the phrase "any more bright ideas" in our dialogue.
Summary - the 8th years are being forced to participate in an inter-house-unity scavenger hunt. The teams are chosen at random, and of course, Harry and Draco are paired together. Can they work together and win the game?
The Inter-House Unity Scavenger Hunt
When Harry decided to return to Hogwarts for the eighth year, he had visions of laughing with his friends, indulging a crush or two, and maybe even studying now and then. He would get to be a normal, run of the mill teenager. Most importantly, he would finally be able to enjoy the school year without wondering just how Voldemort was going to try and kill him this time. The world, he felt, was entirely his oyster. That was until Headmistress McGonagall got the notion of forcing a series of mandatory events on the returning Newt students.
Harry could only guess where she got the idea from — maybe she was smoking gillyweed while chatting with Dumbledore's portrait — but Merlin, did she run with it! She'd started small at first, and scheduled group therapy for the eighth year students 'to help heal old wounds and bridge dangerous prejudices on both sides' or some rot. Then she decided it would be beneficial to organise educational field trips. For the life of him, Harry had no idea what he was supposed to gain from being forced to watch amateur productions of Jesus Christ Superstar with people he by rights didn't like. However, all of the events so far were nothing, nothing, compared to what he was now being forced to endure — an inter-house unity scavenger hunt!
Of course, at first, he thought it might not be that bad, that maybe he and Ron and Hermione could team up and cream the lot of them. I mean, after taking on the Horcrux hunt, this scavenger hunt had to be a piece of cake! However, he was very quickly disabused of that notion when McGonagall posted a large notice in the eighth year common room explaining that the hunt would be participated in via 6 teams of two, which had been selected apparently at random. He might have believed that, but there was no way that him being placed in a team with Malfoy was random. No, it was connived. Plotted. And there was nothing he could do about it. Which was how he now found himself standing in the middle of the entrance hall next to Malfoy arguing over who got to read out the next clue.
"Just give it here, Malfoy!"
"Why? Did Voldemort give you heightened powers of reading as well as a large dose or arsiness?"
"Fuck off," growled Harry, before suddenly feeling the annoyance drain from him. If they were going to get anywhere in this farce then they needed to at least attempt to work together. "Fine, you read it."
"I was going to, Potter, but thanks for the permission." drawled Draco, as he unrolled the scroll containing the clue with a flourish and began to read aloud, his eyebrows knotted in concentration.
"Down where it's cold and dim,
You'll find me waiting patiently.
Near where Potions are brewed within,
Behind me two secrets are hidden,
Hasten! And coax the next clue from me!"
There was silence for a couple of beats before Harry found his voice.
"Down where it's cold...do you think it's the lake?"
"She's not going to put a clue in the lake, Potter!"
"They did in fourth year!" argued Harry adamantly, "what makes you think they wouldn't do it again?"
"Cause it was Dumbledore in charge then and he was a batty old coot! As much as it pains me, McGonagall would never do something so ridiculously dangerous. She wants us to bond, not die."
As much as hearing Draco badmouth Dumbledore made Harry want to hex him into next week, he couldn't really argue with the logic. Dumbledore did have a devil may care way of doing things, and McGonagall was much more practical.
"Fine," he conceded grudgingly. "What do you think it means?"
"Not sure, maybe the kitchens?"
"The kitchens are bright, stupid!"
"I really wouldn't know, Potter. Why would I have been in the kitchens, pray tell?" The sound of Draco's regular snarky drawl made Harry want to thump him and he found himself forcing a steadying breath through his lungs in a bit for calm.
"It can't be that bloody hard, Malfoy. Cold and dim, Potions...it's got to be the dungeons!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Draco in a rather un-Malfoy-like manner, "the portrait near the Potions classroom. Elizabeth something or another!"
They both looked at each other for a second, processing that they were hopefully one more step closer out of this miserable forced event, and then took off together towards the dungeons.
Ten minutes later, sweaty and out of breath, Harry and Draco skidding to a halt in front of a large ornate portrait where an Elizabethan woman smiled grandly down at them.
"So-sorry to bother you," gasped Harry, panting from the run through the corridors, "do you have a c-clue for us?"
"A clue?" smiled the grand woman, as she fiddled with her many beaded necklaces, "I'm sure I have no idea what you mean and I would thank you for leaving me to my solitude."
"Yeah you do!" demanded Harry. He had just run like a maniac all the way down here and he'd damned if he was going to let some stuck up portrait mess him around. "You've got the next clue for us! Just hand it over, will you and then you can have solitude 'til doomsday if you bloody want!"
"Well, I must say!" huffed the woman, clearly insulted and not in the least bit impressed with Harry's manner. "If I did have a clue, you, young man, would be the last person I should divulge it to. As is it, you have insulted me and I must beg for you to leave my corridor at once."
Harry and Draco watched as the woman lifted the hem of her skirts slightly and walked towards the large ornate chair in the portrait, sitting in it facing away from the two breathless teens.
"Oh for—" Draco looked furious at Harry, which Harry thought was unfair. It wasn't his fault the stupid woman was being difficult. "Any more bright ideas? Maybe you want to set fire to the bloody portrait! Or insult her ancestors! Salazar!"
"Hey, there's no point taking it out on me! She's the one holding the bloody clue hostage!"
"Merlin, you're stupid!" Draco's words, although whispered, were no less dripping in disdain. "The clue says we need to coax it out from her! Coax, Potter! Not demand!"
"Well, how do you think we should go about it then? Since you're so high and bloody mighty and all!"
"Potter, do me a favour and keep your bloody mouth shut and let me handle this!" hissed Draco, refusing to let the former Gryffindor blunder the situation any longer. He took a moment to gather himself, straightened his robes and pushed his fringe away from his face, before arranging his face into a calm mask of aristocratic politeness.
"I apologise, my good lady, on our abrupt arrival into your corridor. We didn't mean to startle you or impose in any way." The grand lady looked up from playing with her beads and over to Draco, giving a quick nod of appreciation, indicating that Draco had leave to continue. "May I introduce myself? I am Draco Malfoy, and this is Harry Potter. We're both honoured to make your acquaintance." With that, he bent into a small formal bow, and Harry found himself trying to copy the movement. He might find the whole thing ridiculous, but it was obviously working on the daft painting.
"Charmed, young man," replied the woman as she rose from her seat and moved to the centre of the portrait once again. "I am Elizabeth and am pleased to meet you at least."
Harry felt his hackles rise at the way she said 'you' but let it go. They needed the clue and he could swallow a bit of snark from a mouldy portrait if need be.
"My dear lady, we are on a quest of sorts, and we were hoping you may be able to help us." Harry couldn't fault Draco's attempt at wooing the woman, as she seemed to blush the more he spoke. "We were led to believe there may be a clue for us here."
"What makes you think I can help you with this clue, young man?" simpered the woman, clearly enjoying the attention.
"Forgive me, I didn't mean to assume," assured Draco gravely. "We were advised that a great woman of limitless beauty and wit held our clue, and I naturally thought that you were that woman, for truly, has anyone ever seen anyone more beautiful or cunning?"
"Bless my heart," flustered the woman, as she whipped a fan from a pocket in her skirts and began to fan her flushed cheeks frantically. "I must say, you are quite the flatterer. Yes, I have your clue, young man. Please, listen carefully."
"Up where the sun and the moon can be seen,
And the ground below and all that's between,
A place to look and learn from the skies,
A haven for those with stars in their eyes.
Above the castle entrance is where your clue lies."
"I wish you luck, young man. Good day." With a last nod towards Draco, the woman glided back over to her chair and was still.
Harry and Draco looked at each other, both frantically mulling over the words they had just been told when Harry's eyes widened in realisation.
"The astronomy tower!" he exclaimed, turning on his heel and walking out of the dungeons.
"Brilliant! Run, Potter, that bloody Granger and Millicent will catch up if we're not careful!"
With that, both teens took off at a sprint, determined to win. If they needed to work together to achieve that, then so be it.