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Chapter Five: Dangerous Dares and Tricky Truths

"Um…, truth," Sirius decided. Mary thought about it for a bit.

"What's your worst fear?" Mary asked.

"That's easy!" Sirius answered, "Spiders! Their gross and creepy with too many legs!" he made a face to emphasize his point and we all laughed. Sirius pouted.

"All right then, Katie, truth or dare?"

"Er…, truth." Here we go.

"If you had to date one bloke from the entire school, who would it be?" He was having too much fun with this. Katie turned red.

"What does it matter to you, you wouldn't even know who I was talking about!" she snapped.

"Yeah, but they will." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Oh, all right! His name is Ben, Happy now?" We couldn't hear his answer over the laughter. Ben was this really stuck up reedy looking kid. He was a mega-genius and was taking so many classes that he had private classes to fit them all in, so people barely saw him.

"What on earth do you see in him?" I asked.

"He's smart, he's bound to go somewhere in life. I probably wouldn't have to worry about anything ever again." She shrugged. Wow, was that shallow or what?

"Fine then, go on." I told her.

"Rachel, truth or dare?" Katie asked, smirking. Poor Remus looked so nervous now. I think he was starting to see how badly this could go.

"…truth?" it sounded more like a question than an answer, which should have made Katie pleased, but to my surprise, she looked kind of sorry for him. Well, for Rachel at least.

"What's your favorite sweet?" she asked. Everyone stared at her, but she didn't change her mind.

"Chocolate," Remus answered, sounding relieved. I couldn't help but smile. We had discovered that similarity pretty quickly, though it was much safer for him than for me. (Because sugar makes me hyper, not because I'm allergic or anything. That would be torture.)

"Umbridge, truth or dare?" Remus asked haltingly. Maybe if he got nervous enough, he would pretend to be sick and we could all stop playing. Or maybe he would really get sick.

"Dare." She smirked like she was throwing down the gauntlet or something. Gosh I hate her.

"Oh!" Remus sounded surprised, "All right. Er…, I dare you… to…"

"Snog the first bloke you see tomorrow!" Sirius cut in.

"Si-"

"Salina, its Rachel's turn." I cut in. That was close. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if he'd said Sirius.

"Yeah, but it works." James put in. Remus sighed.

"All right then, do that." He told Umbridge. Needless to say she wasn't as amused as the rest of us. Still she agreed. She didn't pick me yet, but I had a feeling she was bidding her time. Instead, she picked James, who said dare, of course, and after that, no one could say truth. We were Gryffindors after all.

James had to jump in the lake, then he made Katie Put ice down her pants, and Katie made Sirius not talk for 10 minutes after giving his next dare (which got applause from those of us who knew who he was)

Before his 10 minutes of silence, Sirius dared Umbridge to make herself look hideous (not hard) and sing a horrible song, then she made Lily Put tape on her mouth and keep it there until her next go, after she dared Mary to Wear pants on her head for the rest of the game.

Mary then made James sneak out and stand outside alone in the dark for 3 minutes, after which James, taking pity on Lily (She was still waiting for her next turn), dared her to sing her favourite children's song, which turned out to be "Ring Around the Rosie", one even I knew.

Lily made Mary do a cartwheel, and then Mary made me Yodel (that did NOT sound good). I made Katie tell Ben she liked him, and she made Remus do a handstand.

Remus dare Sirius to sing "I'm a Little Tea Pot" with actions (he wasn't bad either) then Sirius dared me to carry him around the room. I made Mary do the can-can, and Mary made Umbridge give Lily a blind make-over.

Then Umbridge smirked and turned to me. Uh-oh.

"Emily, truth or dare?" She asked. Wow, I wonder which would be worse with her. If I said truth, I'd not only be pegged as a chicken, but I'd also have to answer any question she liked. Still, at least then it would stay in this room, unlike the humiliating dare she would likely cook up. I really had no idea why she hated me so much. Either way, I couldn't let her call me a coward.

"Dare." Gulp. She was smirking.

"I dare you to spend an entire hour in the Forbidden Forest." We all stared in shock. That wasn't just a stupid dare, it was dangerous! But I could tell that she wanted me to back down. She wanted me to give up. I was absolutely NOT going to let her think she had won.

"Fine, I'll do it." I know, I'm an idiot, but I couldn't back down. It would mark me as a coward for the rest of my time at Hogwarts. Still, as I marched down there, all I could think is that I might not make it out alive.

I went in as far as I dared, willing the other inhabitants to stay away from me. I was never a very lucky person. The only thing I can say is that I at least lasted the entire hour. Just as I was about to walk out, I heard just about the worst noise you can hear in the forest. Pincers.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHH!" was just about all I could say and think. I ran for my life. Of course, being me, I ran in the wrong direction and ended up even deeper in the forest, but I was half expecting something like that at this point, so I wasn't really surprised when I didn't come bursting out of the forest.

I don't think I've ever run like that, before or since. I was completely terrified. To this day I have no idea how I managed to get out without running into anything. I think I made a circle. It was getting close when I ran out of the trees though, still screaming.

The acromantula stayed in the forest, luckily, so I didn't set it loose on the castle, but I did run in a complete panic all the way back to the dorm, followed by a very confused Mary, who had been sent to make sure I was actually in the forest and not on the grounds.

At the very least, my bursting into the room pale and babbling about giant man-eating spiders effectively ended the game. Lily was completely furious with both Umbridge, for setting the dare, and with herself, for not stopping it. The three 'new girls' were too surprised to be angry. I don't think they expected the game to get as violent as it did. Maybe next time they would listen to their wise guides into the world of girls.

That was mostly the most exciting part of that month, I'm almost sad to say. They actually did listen to us the next time we gave them advice, so nothing else went wrong, though it was a bit awkward to explain the whole 'monthly gift' issue. Apparently, Sirius' parents never explained the birds and the bees to the poor kid, so he ran in to our blessedly empty dorm room one day in tears thinking he was dying. I couldn't even breathe for a good twenty minutes, which only set him off more, but eventually we got through to him.

It was the little things that were important in this month though. For example, the fact that James, without the testosterone drive, finally got a chance to show Lily his true colors, or the fact that we discovered a secret about Lily Evens. She was an evil GENIUS.

Lily had never put any of her plans into action before, but when a sixth year broke a fourth year's heart in front of the entire school, it was Lily who timidly suggested we try a beetle pheromone. He was terrified of beetles (don't ask me how she knew that cause I have no idea), and if we put some of the pheromones on his clothes, they would follow him around for ages. It was completely BRILLIANT!

We sat there for hours watching him scream like a little girl and talking. Turns out Lily actually enjoyed the pranks, she just opposed them being used on her friend. James and Sirius discussed this and the deal was struck. They would stop pranking Snape without permission if Lily would agree to join them in their future exploits.

And so an epic friendship was formed.