The Middle Courtyard, normally relatively open, is now packed with all the students of the school, who only just barely manage to fit inside. A low roar of voices covers the courtyard as the students all discuss what exactly is happening amongst themselves. All around them, just like the rest of the castle, dense vines and creepers cover the walls around them. All of the staff are inside as well, even teachers such as Professor Sinestra and Professor Trelawney, who usually spend their time high in the towers of the castle.
Peering around the Middle Courtyard, Snape surveys his collection of students, making sure that all are accounted for. Around him, the other heads of houses do the same with their own students. So far, as best he can tell, all of the Slytherins are here. Once he's finished making sure they're all behaving themselves well enough ("Goyle, return those chocolates or else you'll be doing lines for the next week!"), he looks across uneven surface of the sea of student heads in front of him to the opposite side of the courtyard, where Professor McGonagall is conversing with Nearly-Headless-Nick.
He scrunches his nose as if smelling something particularly odorous. He informs his Head Boy and Girl, as well as the prefects, to keep an eye on the students as he makes his way toward her, his long black cloak billowing behind him like a pair of leathery bat wings. When he reaches her, he says in a quiet, though menacing voice, "Minerva, I have been patient long enough. Now I insist that you tell me what's going on, specifically."
The small wizard, and head of Ravenclaw House, Professor Flitwick joins Snape at his side. "I'm afraid I have to agree with Severus. Now that the students are all safe, I see no reason why we can't discuss it." By his right is Professor Sprout, head of Hufflepuff, looking stern with crossed arms.
She considers both of them before saying, "Oh very well. But please, do not tell any of the students. I want the situation to be dealt with before rumors start swirling among them. The last thing I want is a load of owls going out with news before we even fully understand."
"Agreed," Snape says with a curt nod. "So…shall we begin."
Professor McGonagall takes a moment to figure out the best place to begin. "Two days ago, Fred and George Weasely-" but this alone causes the other three heads to groan and sneer. "Now enough of that!" she snaps at them. "As I was saying, two days ago Fred and George Weasely stole an unusual item from Mr. Filch's office. Of course, he informed me at once, and I searched their things immediately, but I couldn't find anything. Turns out they gave it to some other students to hide it for them."
"Which other students?" Snape asks in a cold, lethal voice.
"Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan," she says. "The item in question was apparently some kind of enchanted board game. Mr. Thomas and Mr. Finnegan though they would play a round with Miss Lavender Brown and Miss Parvati Patil. Unfortunately, they unknowingly entered into a very powerful binding magical contract.
"Now…as best as I can understand it….the game works with each of the players having their own token. They roll the dice to move the token a certain number of spaces toward center. On each turn, the game conjures a different hazard for them to face, the first of which were the ants."
"Merlin's Beard," Flitwick says, putting a hand to his temple.
"Interesting," Snape says, a fascinated glint flashing in his black eyes. "Are you telling us that a single board game was capable of conjuring all of this?"
"Yes, I am," Professor McGonagall says shortly.
"I take it they have to play the game and win in order to break the curse," Professor Sprout says.
Professor McGonagall nods. "When last I checked, Professor Dumbledore was protecting the four of them from anything the game might conjure. However, I have just been informed by Sir Nicholas that Professor Dumbledore has fallen into an enchanted sleep, and is now unable to help them."
"Well surely one of us most go to their aid!" Professor Spout says with great urgency.
"Believe me, Pamona, I would very much like to," Professor McGonagall says, her voice sounding slightly defeated. "But from what Sir Nicholas told me, Finnegan, Thomas, Brown, and Patil do not want any more assistance. Apparently they believe the game put the Headmaster to sleep because he had been trying to help them."
"Hmmm," Snape says, stroking his chin in thought. "If this game truly is capable of that kind of calculated thought, and can create all of this," he says, gesturing to the surrounding jungle, "it must be both incredibly powerful and be of an extremely dark nature. How such came to be inside Hogwarts is a matter of no small curiosity, let alone how it came into the possession of that useless squib."
"Indeed," Professor McGonagall says, "but that is a mystery for another time."
Snape continues. "More troubling, though, is that in all my years studying the dark arts, I have never encountered any mention of such an object. Minerva, did you get the chance to examine it?"
"I did," Professor McGonagall says. "From what I could tell, it was very old, using magic to preserve itself physically. I can't say how old precisely, but it looked to be within the realm of centuries old, possibly over 1000 years."
Snape looks frustrated. "How could I possibly have missed such an extraordinarily old and powerful dark artifact?" He seems to take the game's elusiveness as a personal insult. "Such an object would surely make a great impact on wizarding history."
Growing slightly uncomfortable, Professor McGonagall says, "Perhaps your studies of the dark arts were not as thorough as you thought. In any event, that is also something that we can sort out later."
"And what sort of disciplinary action have you arranged for the students in question?" Snape says, his lip curling slightly.
"Oh for Heaven's sake, Severus," Professor McGonagall says, "these students will be lucky to make it out this situation alive! I'd rather not think about punishing them until I know they are safe, if I choose to punish them at all."
Professor Flitwick's face goes slightly pale. "And…what will happen if one of them doesn't make it out alive?"
At this, Professor McGonagall freezes, the words caught in her throat. "I don't know,:" she says simply. "With any luck, that won't be something we have to worry about."
Before any of them can say anything else, a high pitched shrieking sound fills the courtyard from all sides. The students, their bodies all close, pack together even more tightly, their heads spinning around in all direction to find the source of the noise. The teachers all raise their wands as they too try to find out what it is..
As he looks up at one of the stone columns along the edge of the courtyard, Professor Flitwick sees what looks like a monkey; Not any specific kind of monkey; not a spider, not a howler monkey, not a baboon or macaque. It just looks to be a generic archetypical monkey; about his size, with long limbs, a thin, curling tail, and a face like a particularly mischievous person, save for the flat nose and sharp teeth. At first, the two of them just stare at one another, the monkey dangling from a vine high up on the stone column.
When it jumps down to the ground, Flitwick holds his wand up steadily. "Now, now," he says, facing the monkey as it stands on its hind legs. "There's no need to get any closer. Just…just stay back."
The monkey take s a few steps toward Flitwick, his wand still pointed forward. Chattering softly to itself, the monkey leans in close and sniffs the tip of Flitwick's wand, mere inches away. Though Flitwick feels anxious at how close the monkey is, he can't bring himself to jinx it.
But in a flash of brown motion, the monkey shoots out its right hand and grabs the wand, yanking it away from the little man in one swift motion. It takes Flitwick a moment to register what's just happened, but when he flexes his right fingers and feels no wand, he shouts, "Why you little furry simpleton! That's mine!"
Quite pleased with itself, the monkey shrieks and hollers as it scales the vines around the edges of the middle courtyard, brandishing the wand like a miniature sword. Dangling from high overhead, it taunts Flitwick to reclaim his wand. Seeing the thieving primate, Professor McGonagall tries to hex it, but the monkey is too fast. It clambers up another vine and out of the courtyard.
"Don't worry, Filleus," Snape says lazily, trying his best not to smile. "I'll get it for you." Snape follows the monkey as it swings on the vines growing along the ceiling.
In a wide hallway of the fourth floor, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati all sit down, finding as comfortable a seat as they can. No longer trapped against a wall, they have decided to find a more open space to play, in the quite-likely event that they need to run. Dean sets the game board down, opening it back up. All of them keep their ears strained for any signs of manic laughter, mischievous jabbering, or running footsteps in the corridors nearby. For the moment, all remains quiet.
Dean's own elephant token is nineteen spaces along, with only thirteen more spaces between the token and the center, the same number as Seamus' monkey. Lavender's rhinoceros is still nine spaces from its starting position, and Parvati's crocodile is seven. hough this is about to change as Parvati picks up the dice and gives it a roll. The dice give her a two and four for a grand total of six, bringing her total progress to thirteen. She reads the words aloud for the others.
Don't be fooled,
it isn't thunder.
Staying put
would be a blunder.
Keeping their eyes and ears peeled, and their wands at the ready, they all stand up, following the game's advice. But though they fully expect something to happen, the corridor remains calm and empty. The anticipation builds in them as they wait for the next hazard to appear. After several minutes, when nothing still makes itself known, Seamus goes, "Well where the ruddy hell is it?"
Dean isn't sure. This turn seems to be pretty standard, and the rhyme is clearly a warning, though of what he still isn't sure. Dean repeats the words aloud, "Don't be fooled, it isn't thunder…"
"I don't hear anything," Lavender says, looking worried.
"Hmmm…." Dean says, still wrapped in thought. "Maybe we should move somewhere else."
"Why?" Seamus asks.
"Because of the second part – 'staying put would be a blunder,'" Dean says.
"I don't know," Seamus says apprehensively. "I don't trust this game. Last time it had me eating…" and he can't bring himself to say it, instead preferring to make an ugly face.
"Hey that was on you," Dean says. "I'll say this much for the game – it's honest. It tells you what's coming. So to be on the safe side, I still want to get somewhere else."
"Ohh," Lavender says in an upset voice. "I don't know. What if we run into the hyenas or those cannibals again?"
Dean shrugs. "There's every chance they might find us here. No place in the castle is safe. Come on, let's get going," and he closes the game board once again.
"Stand still, you worthless creature!" Snape snarls as he slices the air again and again trying to get at the monkey. The monkey seems to delight in tormenting Snape, making nasty faces and chattering loudly every time he misses. Finally, he lands a lucky shot, his stunning spell striking the monkey in the side. Shrieking in pain, the monkey falls to the floor on its back with a hard thud dropping the wand. Snape bends over and picks it up. "That will teach you to match wits with Severus Snape," Snape says cooly, sneering at the limp body.
But in an instant, the monkey wakes back up again. Showing no interest in Snape, it cranes its neck from one side to the other, suddenly shrieking in apparent terror. It clambers back up the vines along walls before disappearing from view down a hole in the wall.
Confused at first, Snape simply waves off the silly creature as he turns back toward the middle courtyard. But as he walks he feels something odd in his feet. He can feel a sort of tingly sensation try and figure out what this might be. The more seconds pass by, the stronger the sensation feels, with the ground shaking beneath him. At first he wonders if this is an earthquake, but the more he thinks about it, the more it doesn't seem right. Earthquakes are suddenhe thinks to himself. They do not grow in strength gradually…
Another sensation joins the shaking of the earth – a sound. It is an unmistakable sound, one that causes Snape to bolt off down the corridor back toward the courtyard. He cranes his neck behind him a few times to see if it's coming toward him.
With a tremendous crash, something explodes through the solid stone wall at the end of the corridor. Charging through the dust and debris are several slate grey rhinoceros, galloping swiftly down the hall toward Snape. The walls keep the direction of the stampeding herd fairly linear as they rampage through the inside of the castle.
Professor McGonagall sees Snape first, running as if the Devil himself were behind the man. When he finally makes it back to the courtyard, before she can even say anything, Snape bellows, "SHIELD CHARMS! MAXIMUM SHIELD CHARMS! NOW!" turning around and pointing his wand I front of him.
Before she can ask what's he's talking about, it soon become all too horrifically apparent when she says the enormous horned beasts careening down the corridor in their direction. She parrots his directions to the other teachers. "Maximum shield charms, everyone!" pointing her own wand toward the herd.
Several cries of Protego maxima ring out from the courtyard as every teacher, as well as many of the older students, join together to cast the most powerful shield charm they can muster. Each one draws as much of their magical strength as they can to make the shield as solid as can be. Professor McGonagall can do nothing but stare forward, cold sweat running down her face, her heart pounding terrifically beneath her chest, knowing that if this shield charm fails, it will be the end of everyone in the courtyard.
The rhinos grow closer and closer, not slowing down a bit as they continue on their path. They swing their huge heads up and down, brandishing their long nasal horns over their wide, square-shaped lips. Just as they are about to collide head first into the stone columns separating the middle courtyard from the corridor inside, they smash into something invisible. The impact sends shocks through everyone supporting the shield charm, shocks so powerful they nearly stun everybody. The shield charm works: the courtyard is safe.
But although the stampede doesn't continue through the crowd, the shield charm doesn't manage to stop it either. Instead, the rhinos at the front of the herd change direction, veering sharply to the left, bursting effortlessly through the small stone doorframe leading to another chamber of the castle. Rhinoceros pass by the dozen, so close the McGonagall can see their small, lazy-looking eyes as they pass. As the rhinoceros continue to pass them, McGonagall and the others discover that not only rhinoceros are part of this herd. Gigantic elephants thunder by as well, each one nearly twice the size of a regular elephant. They don't run exactly, but speed-walk, still managing about 25 miles per hour. Each one as a pair of formidable tusks, and raises its trunk to let out a terrifying trumpet, like horn blown before a great battle. And lastly, as the last of the elephants and rhinoceros pass by, dozens of black and white striped zebras gallop frantically up from the back of the herd.
In less than a minute, the stampede has passed. As it leaves them behind, they can still feel the shaking of the ground under their feet, and the din of their pounding footsteps against the stone floor. Eventually, the shaking and the cacophony begin to fade, and the whole courtyard breathes a huge sigh of relief. Professor McGonagall leans forward to look at the path of destruction leading through the castle, the stampede already out of view. They leave behind tons of rubble, clouds of dust, and holes in the wall you'd think had been left by a dragon. Professor McGonagall's heart flutters as the drain of having to perform such a powerful shield charm weighs on her heart, and her head spins as she tries to fathom the sheer power of that stampeding herd of wild beast