Entry fic for the Great Maze Chall/Comp.
"What," Hermione said impatiently, "are you doing with that thing in your hands?"
Ron glanced down. Glanced up again.
"I have no bloody clue," he whispered. "Luna gave it to me."
"She gave you a box," she said flatly.
"Yes, a box. She told me to take care of it for her!"
A moment of silence. Then:
"Open it. I dare you."
Ron did a double take at that. He stared at Hermione at disbelief.
"You can't do that. I won't open it."
"I dared you, so you have to."
"Stop it! What was that Muggle saying again? Cats like killing curiosity, or something?"
"It's 'curiosity killed the cat', Ron." She rolled her eyes at him. Wizards.
He rolled his eyes back at her. "Yeah, whatever."
She took advantage of his momentary distraction to snatch the thing from his hands. Ignoring his whisper-yell of, "Hey!" she shook it up and down. He made a strangled noise in the back of his throat.
Nothing.
Carelessly, she flipped back the lid and peered in.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"Nothing," she said, pursing her lips in disappointment. Ron grabbed it back from her huffily, in her not-so-modest opinion, and shoved the lid down again.
"Happy now?" he asked.
...
When he handed it back to Luna later, she carefully put her ear to the wood of the box… and sighed.
"It's gone," she said mournfully.
'It was all Hermione's fault' was on the tip of his tongue when—
"It must've been kidnapped straight out of here!"
Ron swallowed his words.
"Yeah. That's, uh, unfortunate."
He determinedly avoided her guiltily for the next couple days.