At first, Dean hopes that he had dreamed the odd disturbance in the previous night, in which he and Seamus had awoken to the sound of drums. But not only does Seamus confirm that the event did happen, but the two of them once more hear the pounding beats as they prepare to head off for class. Stranger still, not Harry, Ron, nor Neville notice the sound despite being mere feet from it, even when Seamus asks them, "Do you hear that?"
All three respond with confused, "Nos?" wondering if Seamus is feeling alright.
But Seamus waves it off as nothing. As the two of them linger behind on their way to breakfast, Dean says, "Why can't they hear it?"
"No idea," Seamus says.
Seamus and Dean try to put it out of their minds as they sit down at the Gryffindor table at the Great Hall. Only just about finished with their first week of classes, there's already so much going on that it's easy to forget about the mysterious drums. Looking across the Great Hall, they see Draco Malfoy with a cast covering his right arm, a reminder of when he was slashed by a hippogriff during their very first Care of Magical Creatures Class (though everyone was sure the wound was completely healed by now, thanks to Madam Pomfrey).
Meanwhile, Lavender and Parvati continue to throw worried looks at Harry every time the Daily Prophet makes mention of Sirius Black, no doubt still committed to Trelawney's prophecy regarding his impending death. The only ones who don't seem concerned at all with the prospect are Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who are busy discussing what will happen to Hagrid after the hippogriff incident. They seem most worried that he'll be sacked. Less pressing to everyone is their History of Magic Class, headed by a teacher so monotonous that he could people them to death (which many figured is how he ended up a ghost in the first place).
The days' lessons come and go, with the typical fallout from student-teacher interactions, as well as a nasty visit from Peeves as he attempted to shoot wads of wet chewing gum at students' hair. When Dean and Seamus finally make it back to Gryffindor Tower, Seamus pulls out his trunk and opens it up to reveal the wooden carved surface of the enigmatic box. He pulls it out to get a better look. "Want to bring it down into the Common Room?"
"I don't know," Dean says. "I don't want to draw any attention. What if McGonagall comes in?"
"McGonagall almost never comes into the Common Room," Seamus contends. "Come on, we'll sit in the corner by that tapestry with the unicorn. If McGonagall or anyone shows up, we'll just stow it behind the curtains. No one'll ever know."
"Hmmm…oh, alright. But remember, if we get caught-" Dean says.
"Yeah, yeah, it's all my fault, whatever, come on!" Seamus says, carrying the box downstairs to the Common Room. At the moment, there's no one else in the there apart from Lavender and Parvati, who are contemplating yet more tea leaves and trying to see what, if anything, they can divine to add to their gossip.
When Lavender catches sight of Seamus, she smiles and waves at him. Returning her smile with a somewhat awkward one of his own, Seamus waves as well. Lavender says, "Hey guys."
"Hey," both Seamus and Dean say quietly.
"What are you guys doing?" Lavender asks.
"Nothing really, just…you know, stuff," Dean says, doing his best to be vague.
"What's that?" Parvati asks, pointing to the box in Seamus' hands.
"Uh…" Seamus says, trying to think of a reasonable lie, "It's nothing. Just something I brought from home, wanted to show Dean."
"Well, what is it?" Parvati asks. She and Lavender can sense that they are hiding something, and it only makes them more curious. They both stand up and make their way toward the boys. "Come on, let me see," she says.
Seamus pulls away for a brief second before realizing how suspicious that looks. "Uhhh…..well, here let's set it down on the table first." The four of them go over to a small table by the curtains in a far corner of the tower, and Seamus sets the box down.
Lavender and Parvati both examine the cover curiously. "Jumanji?" Lavender says aloud. "What is it?"
"Well… we're not entirely sure…" Dean says.
Lavender and Parvati look at him curiously. "How can you not know what it is?" Parvati asks with a giggle.
"Oh shut up," Dean snap at her. Though Parvati doesn't appreciate the remark, Dean doesn't notice because something catches his eye. The flickering light from the fireplace shines off of a pair of golden hinges on the front and back sides of the case. Feeling them with his finger, he comes to a quick realization. He places his hands on either side of the box, away from the hinges, and pulls gently.
Something snaps softly as the top splits in half vertically down the middle, and Dean pulls apart two flaps that reveal the inside. The other three watch interested as the flaps are flattened to the sides. Both of the flaps' interiors are covered in writing, while the center is covered in four winding, crisscrossing paths, each broken up into square spaces. Each path starts in a corner before leading to the center; a perfectly black circle.
"Oooohhh," Seamus says. "It's a board game!"
Dean takes a look at the writing on the left hand flap. Reading aloud, he says:
"Jumanji: a game for those who seek to find
A way to leave their world behind
You roll the dice to move your token, doubles gets another turn, and the first player to reach the end wins."
"What about this part?" Lavender says, pointing to the opposite flap, which is written upside down compared to the other. She reads:
"Adventurers Beware: Do not begin unless you intend to finish.
The exciting consequences of the game
will vanish only once a player has reached Jumanji
And called out its name."
"'Exciting Consequences'" Seamus repeats. "What'd you reckon that means?"
"Dunno," Dean says, pondering the words to himself.
"It is magical, isn't it?" Lavender asks.
"It's definitely magic," Dean says with a nod. "It makes a drumming sound that only certain people can hear."
"Really?" Lavender says interested. "Hmm…maybe it's like gobstones, where it does something to you if you lose?"
"So, you guys wanna play?" Seamus asks.
"What?" Dean asks, surprised. "No, no way."
"Why not?" Seamus asks.
"We have no idea what this thing is!" Dean says. "What if it's dangerous?"
Lavender and Parvati giggle. "Dean, it's a board game," Lavender says.
"That second part is obviously a warning," Dean says. "What if these exciting consequences are actually really dangerous?"
"Oh come on," Parvati says. "That's just to make it more dramatic. Bertie Botts beans come with a warning too, that doesn't make them dangerous.
As Dean continues to object, Seamus rummages through a small compartment on the right flap and pulls out four tokens. "Take a look at these," he says, passing them around. The four small figures are caved in great detail, each into the shape of a different animal: an elephant, a rhinoceros, a monkey, and a crocodile. But as Seamus hands the rhinoceros to Lavender, she drops it onto the game board. Before she can reach down to pick it up, it shudders slightly and then skids toward a corner of the board, standing up straight on its base.
"Oh," Lavender says with a shrug and a smile, "That makes things easier."
Out of curiosity, Seamus and Parvati drop their tokens on the board as well – the monkey and the crocodile respectively. They do as the rhino did, bouncing slightly before skidding over to a corner of the board, standing in place. "Come on, Dean," Seamus says. "One game couldn't hurt."
Taking a deep breath, Dean drops his elephant on the game board, which assumes the final position. "Alright. But if anything happens, I blame all of you."
"Yeah, yeah, shut up and roll," Seamus says, handing him a pair of aged dice.
Dean takes the dice and casually rolls them on the board, rolling a three. The small elephant figure slides forward three spaces on its own. Noting the 'exciting consequences' mentioned on the inside flap, the four of them sit in anticipation waiting for something to happen. When it appears that nothing is going to happen, Parvati says, "Well, that's a bit disappointing. Who's going next?"
"Wait," Dean says, holding up a hand before anyone can claim the next turn. He leans forward, looking at the black circle in the center. "Look here."
They all look at the center as a greenish yellow mist begins to materialize from the darkness. It condenses to form words, which gather together to form sentences. Dean reads the text aloud:
"A tiny army's
on the path.
Beware their angry
biting wrath."
Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati all look up and exchange confused looks. "I don't get it," Lavender says.
"Maybe it's broken," Seamus muses. "God only knows how many years it was sitting in Filch's office before-"
"Seamus!" Dean says, swatting him across the back of the head.
Both Parvati and Lavender shoot them excited looks and go, "Ooooooo," like two monkeys. "What did you guys do?" Lavender asks, excited for some dirt.
Seamus look almost constipated , regretting the fact that inadvertently blabbed. "I uh….okay, listen, you guys can't tell anyone about this okay?"
"Not sure how much good that'll do…" Dean says, looking to one side.
Lavender looks affronted. "Are you saying I can't keep a secret?"
"Lavender, come on, when you get a piece of gossip, the whole castle finds out," Dean says.
Lavender is about to respond, but is interrupted when Parvati lets out a terrific scream that causes the other three to flinch. "EW EW EW EW OH MY GOD, EW EW EW…" she says, looking down and leaping out of her seat.
"What, what is it?" Dean asks.
"There's an ant!" Parvati says, her voice shaking.
"Oh my god, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew," Lavender says, mimicking Parvati without even seeing the insect in question.
"So much for 'where dwell the brave at heart,'" Dean says, rolling his eyes.
Seamus goes around to see the offending arthropod for himself. "Oi, Dean!" he says in a voice both excited and disgusted. "There's a whole bunch of them, and they're huge!"
"What?" Dean says, going over to take a look. Seamus was not exaggerating: by ant standards these are indeed huge. Each one average over an inch in length. A far cry from little picnic ants, these have wide, square-shaped heads bearing a savage pair of pincers. With no eyes to speak of, their antennae twitch frantically as they scurry from one spot to the next.
"AAHH!" Seamus shouts, hopping backwards from the ants.
"What?" Lavender asks. Seamus pulls up his pant leg to reveal one of the ants sitting on his ankle, his skin seized by the ant's jaws. Lavender backs away with her eyes covering her face, "Oh my god, that's so gross!"
"Ah, Jesus!" Dean says, feeling a sharp pain in his calf. Curling up his pants, he finds an ant biting into the skin on his leg. "Get off!" he shouts pointlessly at the ant as he tries to brush it off. The ant's jaws act as a vice-like anchor. Dean decides to pull the ant off instead. Wrapping his finger tips around its body, he pulls at it – only for the body to detach from the rest of the ant, its mouth parts still firmly in place. "Are you kidding me!?"
More painful pricks alert Dean and Seamus to more ants crawling up their legs and clamping down on their flesh. Seeing what's happening to the boys, Lavender and Parvati dash out of the Common Room through the portrait of the Fat Lady, who calls back to them, "Where's the fire?" as they hurry past.
Seamus and Dean struggle to get away as the biting agony grows more and more prominent. But they are driven on as ants continue to crawl into the Common Room by the hundreds through the gaps in the stone walls with no end in sight. As they stumble out of the portrait hole, they turn back to face the Fat Lady. "Listen," Dean says, squinting through the pain. "You can't let anyone else into Gryffindor Tower!"
"Humph," the Fat Lady says indignantly. "And why ever not?" But before they can answer her, she begins to giggle. "Oh my…sorry boys, I…oh dear…something's….something's tickling me!" As she continues to giggle like a school girl, Dean and Seamus see ants crawling through the crease between her frame and the entrance. The instant she sees the ants, she stops giggling. "Oh dear goodness!" she cries out, leaping up and down in her portrait. "Somebody stop them! Somebody stop them!"
"What on earth is going on!" the voice of Percy Weasley cries as he strides briskly toward Dean, Seamus and the Fat Lady. "Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil just ran past me shrieking to high heaven!" It doesn't take him long at all to see the procession of ants marching through the portrait. "Merlin's Beard!" he cries, backing up swiftly as the line of ants head directly toward him. He doesn't shuffle away quickly enough though, as a few ants make it onto his shoes and up his legs. "I-agh….must inform…ouch, ouch…Professor Mc-AGH!...Professor McGonagall at once!"
For several hours, the ants march through the castle in a vaguely linear path, attacking anything that gets in their way. By the time the staff are alerted to the problem, the ants have already made it down to the sixth floor, having attacked several students along the way, including Oliver Wood, two Hufflepuff first years, Pansy Parkinson, Penelope Clearwater, and Cho Chang. They all report to Madam Pomfrey, who tries everything she can think of to dislodge the decapitated ant heads. In the end, she relies on a muscle-relaxing topical cream to force the ant jaws to let go.
The first attempt to dispatch the encroaching insects comes from Professor Flitwick, who tries burning them, only for this to prove completely ineffective. After Flitwick fails, Professor Snape tries his hand at cursing the insects, slashing at the swarm with his wand, though this also does nothing to halt their progress. The last attempt is by Professor Sprout, who tries out an until-then-reliable pest-control hex.
The ants continue through the castle. By the time the last of the swarm leaves Gryffindor tower, the ghosts count roughly 50 million of them. While they storm the corridors, the staff evacuates the student body outside the castle as they wait for the ants to either be dealt with or until they leave Hogwarts of their own accord. As the situation unfolds, the students bicker and gossip about what exactly is happening, and who – or what – is responsible.
"Is this another one of Fred and George's pranks?"
"I'll be it was that oaf, Hagrid. God knows what horrible creatures he's brought into the country."
"Could it have been Sirius Black?"
Somewhere in the throngs of chattering students, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati are all unusually quiet. A few of their fellow Gryffindors try to engage them on the subject, but they simply respond with unenthused 'yeahs' and 'I know, rights?' With all of the students and staff gathered by the shores of the lake, they wonder when they'll be able to go back to their dormitories, even as the hours pass by one by one.
Finally, around 11:30, the heads of houses all approach their students. Speaking to the Gryffindors, Professor McGonagall says, "Your attention, please. The ghosts have informed us that the last of the ants have left the castle, and are now heading toward the Forbidden Forest. We will now escort you back to your dormitories, where you will all immediately go to bed. No exceptions, and no questions at this time, please. Though please note that you will still be responsible for any homework that you have due tomorrow," she finishes sternly, to many disappointed groans.
As the students begin filling back into the castle behind their heads of houses, Dean leans in very close to Seamus and says, "What do we do now?"
"Shh!" Seamus hisses, thinking he sees Percy trying to eavesdrop. After they put some distance between themselves and the head boy, Seamus says in a hushed voice, "No one will notice the game board if everyone just goes to bed. We'll wait til everyone else is asleep, and then I'll go down to the Common Room. I'll shove it into the bottom of my trunk and we'll never speak of it again."
"What about Fred and George?" Dean asks.
"I'll just tell them I lost it," Seamus says, trying to wave the concern off. "I'd rather face off against a cross Fred and George Weasley than an angry McGonagall."
"That's assuming they believe you, which they almost certainly won't," Dean hisses at him.
"Then you take it," Seamus says, growing frustrated.
"The hell I will," Dean says. "You're daft if you think I'm going anywhere near that thing again."
"You think I want to get close to it?" Seamus says resentfully.
"Oh no you don't," Dean says. "This is all on you, remember? Taking that thing was your idea."
"Damn," Seamus curses quietly, knowing full well that Dean is right. "Maybe I can try to convince Neville to hold to it for awhile."
"Yeah, and then what?" Dean asks.
"Then…then, I don't know, maybe we can toss it in the lake. Let the giant squid play with it," Seamus says.
Dean is sure the plan will change in time, but as they climb up the shifting staircase, he realizes he's too tired to object. There'd be plenty of time to figure out a better plan once the game is stowed safely in Seamus' trunk, and they get a good night's sleep. When the herd of Gryffindor students approaches the Fat Lady with Professor McGonagall at the head, she doesn't even bother waiting for the password, looking just as exhausted as all of them. Professor McGonagall turns to the students and says, "Alright everybody, off to bed," she says sternly. As she leaves them to make their way to their dormitories, Percy stands by the entrance to Gryffindor Tower looking pompous and full of himself as he barks at them all to go to sleep.
Thankfully for Seamus and Dean, it doesn't take everyone long to fall asleep since it's past midnight by the time they're ready for bed, and the whole ordeal has left everyone extremely tired. Seamus and Dean lay down in their four-posters, waiting for everyone around them to go fall unconscious. They know that it's safe when they hear loud snoring coming from both Ron and Neville's beds, but just to make sure, Seamus whispers loudly into the dormitory, "Hey…anyone still awake?"
When nobody answers, Dean says to Seamus, "Alright, now go down and get it."
Before Seamus can do anything, however, a sound fills both of their ears: a steady, deep drumming. It sends a cold prickling sensation across the surface of their skin. Once again, there's no sign that any of the other boys in the room can hear this. "I don't want to go!" Seamus whispers.
"You have to!" Dean hisses to him. "You can't just leave it there! What if someone else finds it?"
"Then let them get in trouble for it!" Seamus says.
"You're acting like a stupid, cowardly git!" Dean says harshly, his voice rising above a whisper. "If someone else finds it, then something even worse might happen. Someone might get hurt... really hurt! Besides, if someone else found it, and something bad happened, they'd turn it over to McGonagall, who would trace it back to Fred and George, who would then pass the blame on to you. Now get off your arse and get it!"
Seamus clearly looks guilty. "Well…can you come with me at least? Please?"
Dean doesn't answer immediately. He has serious apprehensions about approaching the mysterious board game, but it is for this very reason that he can sympathize with Seamus. "Alright," he says, "But I'm not touching it."
"Okay," Seamus says.
Together, the two boys descend the stairs to the Common Room and make their way to the corner where they had played. In their haste, the table and chairs were turned over, and the game board had fallen behind the curtains. Gulping, Seamus approaches the game tentatively, even as the drumming grows faster and louder. As if about to touch a hot stove, Seamus' hands hover over the upturned board. In a quick motion, he darts forward and grabs it, pulling it up and holding it upside down. The pieces are still in place, hanging in the exact same positions they had been when the ants attacked.
"Don't forget the dice," Dean says, picking up the two dice and setting them back in the small compartment. Once everything's in place, Seamus closes the game, which continues to drum even as they climb back up the stairs.
"Right," Seamus whispers harshly, "In you go!" He shoves the game inside his trunk, burying it underneath all of his other possessions. "You won't be bothering anyone else again!"