Author: Psywena
Disclaimer: If I owned any of this, I'd be rolling around in money, no sitting here writing this. But alas, nothing except for this plot is mine and no, i am not rolling around in money.
Dumbledore looked at the different student's reaction to the notice he had put up during the night. He scoffed as he saw as he saw Hermione's reaction, "I expect her to participate in this competition and keep her nose out of some books for once. She's already read 'Hogwarts A History' 2931 times already!" he yelled.
"Dumbly, we know you're awake and like looking at what the students of this school do through that seeing stone, which, might I add, no one knows about," said Phineas Nigellus, "but some of us people,"
"Portraits," corrected Dumbledore.
"portraits are still sleepy and prefer not to peek into student's personal lives!!!" declared Phineas Nigellus.
"Speak for yourself," said Fortescue, "I quite like to see what the students are doing. It's always so funny to see a student fall down the stairs or trip over a pot and look around and sigh in relief when they see that no one saw them when in fact, you've been watching all along!!" laughed Fortescue.
"The both of you have given me the most fantastic idea! Yes, yes, this ought to work, hmm, yes must get to work immediately, hmmm, yes, yes…" and so saying, Dumbledore walked away, muttering some utter nonsense about portraits and pots. The two portraits of Phineas Nigellus and Fortescue just looked at each other and shrugged.
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The next morning Dumbledore woke up very fresh and definitely very happy. He went about singing as he checked if everything was in position.
"Oh the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men,
Wait, no that's wrong, that's the muggle version. What's our version again? Ah yes, I remember now,
Oh the bad old Voldemort,
He had ten thousand hens,
He marched them to the Forbidden Forest,
And he marched them back again.
And when they were there, they were there,
And when they were back, they were back,
And when they were only halfway there,
They were given a lovely thwack!" he sang. "Yes, those were the good old days. Not like nowadays, everbody is singing 'Hit me baby, one more time'. Who knows what that is anyway. Anyways the good old days will be coming again soon. Yes, everything is in place. Time for breakfast!" he stood in from of a mirror and said, "Yes, the hat is straight, I wonder why everyone wears then a bit to the side nowadays, the blush is on and so is the mascara and the eyeliner and now all I need is my glasses. Wait! I almost forgot! I still need to use my special supply of 'Tory Tinkle's Eye Drops for Special Eye-Twinkling'. Yes, two drops should do the trick. Glasses on, there, I'm ready." And so he set out from his office for a breakfast which he knew was going to be absolutely fantastic.
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"Good morning, students and staff of Hogwarts. Today I have a special announcement to make. There will be no classes today on account of a special activity." At this, all the students cheered.
"The special activity is very important, as it is regarding the ball. When you come for the ball, it is absolutely necessary for you to have a partner. You may not choose a-or ask anyone to be your partner. And this is where another one of my splendid ideas comes in." At the last statement, all the students groaned. They all knew that when Dumbledore meant splendid, it actually was a disaster for the students.
"This idea of mine includes a game. There is a piece of paper hidden in each and every pot in this school and behind every portrait in this school. Each piece of paper has what you must wear tomorrow morning to breakfast written on it. Your partner will be wearing the same. The girls will be searching in the pots whereas the boys must search behind the portraits. Do not forget," Dumbledore added, "this includes your staff members too, so they will also be searching with you." At this there was a big uproar from the staff members.
"This is outrageous!" shouted Sprout.
"We will not play with children!" yelled McGonagall.
"I'm not getting my hands dirty!" screamed Pomfrey.
"I hate portraits!" shouted Filch, "they don't let me come anywhere near them unless its for cleaning."
"I wont get a partner short enough!" squeaked Flitwick, "I'll probably have to strap books to my talles stiletto heels!" At this he started sobbing hysterically.
"There, there now Flitwick," said Snape comfortingly as he patted Flitwick on the back, "If your partner doesn't want to dance with you because you're too short, I'll give you my heels too! They're much taller than yours anyways."
"Silence!" yelled Dumbledore and everyone settled down, "You have till five o'clock this afternoon to find a piece of paper. Remember, every pot and every portrait inside the castle. No going outside because I don't think Professor Sprout would like anyone touching any of her plants. Oh, and the pieces of paper are charmed, using advanced magic that no one here know, not even the teachers, to make sure that you cant pick up more than one and once you have touched one, you have to pick it up and cant put it back. I will be participating too and don't worry, I don't know which paper is where! However, we do have a small problem. The number of girls in this school happens to be less than the number of boys so it is necessary that some boys come as girls. Those students and staff members are:
Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Dennis Creevey from Gryffindor;
Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle from Slytherin;
Ernie Macmillan and Zacharias Smith from Hufflepuff;
Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner from Ravenclaw and from the staff we have, Professor Lupin, Professor Snape, Argus Filck and myself. There, I think I have covered everything. And remember, the students whose name I have just called have to look in the pots!!" said Dumbledore.
"Sorry Filius," said Snape to a now calm Flitwick, "I'm going to have to keep my own stiletto heels." At which, Flitwick burst into tears again while Snape handed him his handkerchief.
"And I won't have to go anywhere near those portraits!" said Filch heartily.
And so they all set off to look for the little pieces of paper which would cause so much trouble as Dumbledore knew. He stood quietly in a corner and laughed to himself. "And so it begins," he said,
"Oh the bad old Voldemort,
He had ten thousand hens,
He marched them…."
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