Chapter Thirty
March of the Intelligent Maniacs
Friday evening, most of the Ravenclaws, good Slytherins, and smart Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs gathered in the auditorium.
Harry had been asked to help Lee Jordan announce for the first division. He really was struggling to learn how to say no. He and Lee met with seventh year Hufflepuff, Daffodil Daywood, who would be announcing all three events. Lee was doing the second and third divisions. That was during lunch on Friday. To Harry's dismay, Paul Nelson had had to move the Bowl into the Great Hall, because things were quickly spinning out of control. A few of the teams from the first division had gotten in trouble for hexing their rivals. It was just as big as Quidditch! Bigger, 'cause nearly all of the fifth and sixth years had ended up involved, just due to numbers. There were eight teams in the first two divisions – forty students in each division, and then five teams in the third division, due to limited numbers of fifth and sixth years.
Classes had been canceled Friday afternoon; McGonagall said it was a holiday treat, but everyone knew she was just as psyched for these Intelligence Bowls as Flitwick, Vector and Babbling were. At two pm, Harry met Daffodil in the redecorated Great Hall. All House colors had been removed and the ceiling was just a drab gray. The tables were gone, turned into eight short but straight tables, obviously designed for five students. In the back, rows and rows of bleachers had been added for other students to watch if they wished. The buzz in the school was astronomical. Harry and Daffodil would be announcing from the dais were the staff table was. Daffodil had to help Harry with his sonorus charm., but they were both in place by the time the forty first and second years arrived. There was some chaos as the midgets darted about to find the appropriate tables and hurled insults at each other.
Each of the teams had a name. Harry had to say that his favorite was Harriett's team. They were dressed in horrid, fluorescent orange, proudly declaring their name to be the "Orange Invasion." He and Daffodil shared a snicker over that as they analyzed the potential teams. The first division would be shorter than the second and third, which could easily end up lasting all day, but the seventh years had designed the challenges for first and second years to be a bit shorter. Spectators began filling the conjured bleachers at around two-fifteen and at two-thirty, Paul gave the signal to begin.
"Welcome!" Harry shouted over the din. People began settling down. "To the First Annual Open Intelligence Bowl!"
Daffodil took over. "Today, please Welcome representatives from the first and second years." Applause. She proceeded to introduce each team and the members there off. Vicky Frobisher, Emerald Zale, Ogden Wester, Andrew Kirke, Charles Loch and Jack Sloper were six of the forty competitors. This first division was the only time where there were more Ravenclaws than other students. When Daffodil finished introducing the students, Harry stepped forward to actually introduce the competition.
"Today, we'll present these students with three challenges. One will be a timed cooperative test, one a puzzle hunt that leads to one specific answer, and the third will be a head-to-head round robin of quick-fire questions. Over the course of the event, points will be given for correct answers, originality, and teamwork. I introduce to your our officials: Paul Nelson, Penelope Nelson, Adriana Sampson, Matthew Bradley, Miguel Chambers, Icarus Crane, Io Crane, Sarah Bathsheba, and Poseidon Grant! Let the games begin!"
Each table had an official, with Paul bouncing between tables. When Harry began to the games, each group was handed a set of questions to which they were supposed to record their answers to. That set of questions tested basic knowledge and facts ranging from the depths of the muggle world to the workings of Wizengamots. From pop culture references to past events. Daffodil also flashed a copy of the test on the wall behind the dais, so that spectators could read the various questions. She commented on the questions while Harry threw in observations about how the eight teams appeared to be doing. The two of them worked fairly well together, and would bounce comments and banter off of each other while the eight teams worked. They had been given forty-five minutes to handle fifty questions.
A group named the Hoggie Hoggie Heroes got in a fight over one of the questions. Daffodil and Harry laughed at it, encouraging the group to fight. The "Pixie Dust" team was a group of girls – which included Vicky and Emerald – and they did really well working together. However, the only group to finish in the given time was Melissa Ackerley's group of second years, named "Lenore, Lenore." The spectators were rooting for specific groups and the officials tallied up the scores to give to Daffodil. She got to announce the scores.
"Lenore, Lenore, with 78 points."
"Pixie Dust, with 72 points."
"Boom!, with 60 points."
"Ravenpuff, with 58 points."
"Keys of Invention, also with 58 points."
"Orange Invasion, with 56 points."
"Dragon Power, with 52 points."
"and Hoggie Hoggie Heroes with 50 points!"
It was a little Hufflepuff that Harry didn't know who cried out – "This is hard!" He got a ton of laughs.
The officials handed out the next part of the test and gave the teams two hours to complete the puzzle quest. It was mostly older Ravenclaws and Hermione who stuck around to watch this, so Harry and Daffodil didn't keep up a constant stream of comments. By the end of the puzzle quest, even the most dedicated of older students had left to go study or do something else that was more interesting than watching a bunch of midgets poor over puzzles. In the end, only Orange Invasion, Ravenpuff, and Pixie Dust managed to correctly solve the riddle. Lenore, Lenore, Boom!, and Dragon Power got over three quarters of the way to the correct answer, while Keys of Invention and the Hoggie Hoggies Heroes were left in the dust. Harry inwardly cheered for the girls of Pixie Dust. Vicky, Emerald, Astoria, Ruby and a second year Ravenclaw Eloise Midgen, apparently made a really good team.
The round robin was a series of ten questions presented to two teams. Each team member had a buzzer with which they could buzz in and answer the question. The question had to be answered by the student who buzzed, and if they incorrectly answered the question, they'd lose their team points. Pixie Dust didn't do too well in their matches, and Lenore, Lenore climbed back into first place. More people showed up to watch the end of this round, mostly because it was nearly dinner time and people were hungry. In the end, Daffodil announced the points given each team, as well as who placed where.
"With 104 points, the Hoggie Hoggie Heroes."
"With 108 points, Keys of Invention."
"With 123 points, the Dragon Power."
"With 135 points, Boom!"
"With 140 points, the Orange Invasion."
"And in third place, with 146 points, the Ravenpuff!"
"And in second place, with 152 points, the Pixie Dust!"
"And our first division champions, with 160 points, goes to Lenore, Lenore."
"Congratulations!"
It took a few minutes for the seventh years to return the Great Hall to the round tables that, while still not common, had become very popular among the Hogwarts students. It was a festive air that permeated the Great Hall during dinner. Vicky and Emerald and their team were ecstatic had having done so well against Melissa Ackerley, Lionel Daniels, Rachel Madley, Yvonne Peaks, and Miles Bulstrode, who had been the favored team from the beginning. The five girls bounced around like energizer bunnies during the whole meal.
Harry ate with Able, Eddie, Nora and Persephone. They didn't talk much. But they were ready. Tomorrow, they'd be more than ready.
o.o.o.o.o.o
Nine am found Harry already in the Great Hall. The rest of his teammates were there and already situated at their assigned table. Hermione was with Su and her teammates. The surprise on Hermione's team was Susan Bones; everyone thought that when Su dropped Elizabeth Higgs, they'd pick up Mandy Brocklehurst, but apparently that hadn't happened. Queenie, Eliza and Mary were on a team with Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecrombie. Harry knew everyone competing, if only because he knew all of the third years and a majority of the fourth years. At nine-fifteen, Paul Nelson conjured a ninth competition table. He got a bunch of weird glances.
And at nine-thirty, Lee Jordan welcomed everyone to the event. And then Daffodil introduced the teams. And then Lee jumped in and introduced a challenge team, a team with no Ravenclaws, who wanted to prove that they could beat the house of ravens. And given that the five students who walked out of wings were Selene Grant, Julius Vaisey, Katie Bell, Tracey Davis and Neville Longbottom, Harry didn't doubt that they could. He snickered at the thought of the twins taken more bets at even better odds. They'd never miss out on another money making opportunity.
They started with the written test; fifty questions in forty-five minutes. Two points for each correct answer. And it was hard. Harry and Persephone started at the bottom and worked up. Able and Nora started at the top and worked to the bottom. Eddie started around question twenty-five. Every time that someone came across a question that they didn't know the answer to, they asked the assigned specialist. Nora was muggle studies, divination and charms, Persephone was wizard culture and history and everything miscellaneous, Eddie was potions, care of magical creatures, and herbology, Able was astronomy and transfiguration, Harry was ancient runes, arithmancy, DADA, and pop culture. Their system worked so that the question that needed answering would be referred to as "Persephone, 6" and she'd go attend to question six. It was a good system. And it got them 92 points. Thing was, Su's group got 94 and Selene's group punched in an 88. The next closest group had 68 points.
The next set of questions was thirty-three questions in forty-five minutes. Three points for each correct answer. And these questions were really hard. There was more application of logic and people sense necessary for this question. Three questions were even written in Latin, but Harry could translate that one easily enough. Able struggled with the more abstract questions, but Persephone and Eddie did well. Harry and Nora just picked the questions they thought they could answer and worked on those. Able checked their solutions. They got 72 points from that round, Selene's group got 75, and Su's group to 78. Some of the other teams started griping and moaning about the difficulty of the test.
During the next hour, the teams were presented with a never ending list of questions from a variety of disciplines. Each question was worth one point and questions were presented ten at a time. When each question was answered or forfeited, a new list of questions would be presented. Harry and his teammates sped through those questions, Nora immediately looking at the first two, Eddie numbers three and four, Harry questions five and six, Able seven and eight, and Persephone the last couple of questions. It was a quick fire exchange of specialty information, but often enough, everyone but Able was well rounded enough to be able to answer the simpler questions. The older Gryffindor was quickly getting frustrated, but he shouldered on. In the end, they won 137 points. Selene's team won 131 points, and Su's team won 135 points. At the lunch break, What's HAP'ENing had 301 points, Su's team led with 307 points and Selene's group had 294. There were two other teams within fifty points of the surprise group, but that the only real competition was the three front runners.
It wasn't all that surprising. One of the teams consisted of Hannah, Daphne, Pavarti, Padma and Lisa. The two Ravenclaws could only pull that team so far. And the other team of all girls was doing depressingly awful as well. Kevin, Justin, Theo, Blaise, and Anthony were putting up a good fight, but they didn't have any of the fourth year experience. Terry, Dean, Michael, Ernie and Logan Reinhold had the fourth year, but they were still in third to last place. The Robbins sisters, Leann Hooch, Mandy Brocklehurst and Millicent Bulstrode were ranked behind Selene, with 248 points. Behind them was a group of boys consisting of Marcus Belby, Stephan Cornfoot, Wayne Hopkins, Zacharias Smith, and Franklin Stebbins, with 244 points. The lunch break lasted half an hour.
Most of the students were reaching mental exhaustion when the three hour puzzle hunt started. And it was hard. The seventh years and professors were good at linking things together and hiding things behind obscurities and trick sentences. No wands were allowed, so at one point, Harry had to put on everyone's outer robes (he was the only one who'd fit in everyone's robes) so that he'd heat up so he could release hot breath on the parchment to reveal some hidden message. It was hard, in a drafty Scottish castle near the end of December, to get anywhere near warm. And this puzzle hunt was more exhausting than any of the term exams they'd just taken. The last question related back to the previous answers, but Able had taken detailed notes about all the previous questions and answers, so they turned in their answer just five minutes before the three hours ended.
Some five minutes before Harry's group finished, Demelza's and Dakota's group could be heard – all sounding very frustrated – as they tried to remember all the previous answers. No one at Harry's table said a word, but they shared some very satisfied smirks. The last five minutes ticked away and only two other groups reached the end of the puzzle; the group of all third year girls and Selene's group. Victory was an additional hundred points. Each riddle left unsolved progressed backwards by two points. Su and Hermione's team only received 92 points.
So scores stood with Harry's team at 401, Su's team at 399, Selene's team at 394, the Robbins' sisters at 346, Stephan's team at 328, Kevin's team at 325, Terry's team at 312, Padma's group at 305, and Cho's team at 298.
And they went into head to head competitions. Everyone had four head to head matches, and the top three all had to face each other. It was nightmarish. Everyone was exhausted. Able ended up answering most of the questions posed to their team. Neville and Tracey did likewise for the challenge team. Su, Hermione, Morag, Lance and Susan fell apart as a team. Susan and Morag started screaming at each other during another team's match. It was not pretty. Pavarti Patil broke down in tears and pleaded to be let out of the competition. Horizon Zale looked like she'd felt very much like doing the same. Harry's team lost to Selene, but beat Su's, Terry's and Stephan's teams. Selene beat Harry, Su and Padma but lost to the Robbins and Leann. Su lost to both Selene and Harry, but beat Cho and Kevin. The rest of the matches were a toss out, with Demelza's group actually coming out on all four of their battles.
Each victory was worth twenty points. Which left What's HAP'ENing with 461 points, Selene's team with 454 points, Su's team with 439 points, and the Robbins' with 426. No one else came anywhere near that podium of four. Victory was theirs.
And exhausted victory, but victory nonetheless.
o.o.o.o.o.o
Harry chose to watch nearly all of the fifth and sixth year competition. It was great. Alicia, Angelina, Patricia, Fred and George had chosen to enter as a challenge group, and it was obvious to everyone that they were going to get crushed. The favorite for victory was a team of entirely sixth year boys: Cedric Diggory, Vale Kensington, Daniel Bole, Zachary Waller, and Steven Vector. The three Towlers had paired with Penelope Clearwater and Elizabeth Thorn, but no one gave them much credit; Penelope had missed too much, even if she was naturally brilliant. One of the teams was a mix of sixth and fifth year girls, all with some nobility in them; they were widely considered for second place. It was a good match up to watch.
While the five Gryffindors failed to provide any sort of challenge, the Towlers, and surprisingly, a team Jacob Dare, Chastity Regan, Declan Hopkins, Rodger Davis, and Samantha Fawcett did fairly well.
But no one could touch the sixth year boys. They aced the first test, did well on the second, racked up a score of over two hundred on the never-ending test. They had cleared the 400 point mark with only three tasks behind them. The Towler team, and Fawcett's team hovered in the mid-300s at the end of those three tests. And the puzzle hunt was great, because the seventh years had actually made it so that it required use of the whole castle. Each common room played a role and many of the other rooms as well. The seventh years had rigged giant monitors in the common room and asked everyone to attend, so that there weren't too many people in the common room and hallways. It was great. The Gryffindor team finished within two hours. No one could believe how well they did, but it did appear like the Weasley twins had some kind of map that helped them navigate the hallways. They were the only team all from one house, yet someone, they managed to hoodwink their ways into the other common rooms as well. It was crazy!
The Towlers and the sixth year boys were the only other ones to complete the puzzle hunt. They were the two teams who had members from every house. They and the twins were given a hundred points for success. The presiding body of seventh years also gave the Gryffindor group an extra fifty points for completely the hunt so quickly, but they were so far out of the running that it didn't matter.
The head to heads were really cool. Because there were only six teams, everyone had to go against everyone. In their matches with everyone but the Towlers, the Weasley twins would buzz in and give the wrong answer. They lost over a hundred points, but also prevented everyone but the Towlers from gaining points. And, besides, the head to head was where Penelope Clearwater got her revenge.
She got her revenge for falling from her position as Ravenclaw Queen. She got her revenge on Percy. She got her revenge on the staff. And she got the Towler team within ten points of the sixth year boys. They still lost, but they were far closer than most expected them to be. Harry grinned. He'd made money on them. He hadn't bet they'd come in first, but second had seemed like a good bet, and everyone was placing them right in front of the Gryffindor five… And while Harry wasn't particularly worried that he'd ever run out of money, this was just some spending cash…
o.o.o.o.o.o
Everyone scattered almost immediately after the point spread was announced. The Yule Ball would start in an hour and girls had been complaining all day that they'd never have enough time to get ready. Harry loved his and his escort's outfits for the ball. He'd had to get Julius Regan to specially make the dress robes for the look he wanted to achieve, but the overall effect would be spectacular. He'd asked Mary and she said it was school, so he could pick whichever of the bazillion girls he knew to ask to the ball. (It was Hermione was used the bazillion word). During the Hufflepuff pool party he'd asked Natalia Shacklebolt, just as friends. She'd smiled and agreed, but hinted that her father was an auror. Harry just laughed at that. She'd laughed with him. Thing was, Nat was one of the two black students in the school. And Harry planned on making her stand out even more.
Harry's dress robe for this was a pair of completely black dress robes, with Christmas green accents at cuffs, buttons, and belt. It was sleek and flashy. He had a red and white flower pinned on the side of his lapel. Before he and Nat went into the Great Hall, he'd magic his hair to be white and red, the same colors of the flowers. Nat's dress would be as striking on her as any would be on a twelve year old. It was long and blowy and perfectly white. The skirt was overlaid with a soft, nearly unnoticeable red print. She had a black and green flower pinned at the throat of her dress, and her black hair was swept back with green ties. The two of them met in one of the Charms classrooms. Aurora met them with a camera and snatched a few pictures of them with their serious attire on. Then Harry dyed his hair and Natalia conjured silver tinsel that Aurora wove into her hair and draped around Harry's arm like a silver snake. Harry, who hadn't expected the tinsel, conjured up some glitter. Aurora dove out of the way, but the two students ended up literally covered in Christmas colored glitter. Aurora snapped a few more pictures during the whole affair, they posed for a few more, and then Aurora left so that she'd arrive in time to chaperone the beginning of the dance.
After a few minutes, Harry offered his arm to Nat and the two of them began the short walk to the Great Hall. They joined a throng of other couples and groups of friends who were arriving, and they received quite a few glances. It had been quite a topic of discussion – who Harry Potter would take to the Ball. Because the excuse to hold the dance was the Intelligence Bowl, the winners of the third division had to open with the first dance. Harry and his team would get the second dance. The sixth year boys and their dates spun around the room, gracefully. People cheered and clapped and were generally in a good mood. When the first dance finished, Harry led Nat out into the dance floor. Eddie and Persephone were dancing together, and Able was escorting Katie. Nora had ended up on the arm of Vale Kensington, so the two of them danced both first and second dances. Harry and Nat received many an ooh and an aah for their striking robes, and the glitter and tinsel. But mostly how well Harry handled having white hair with red accents.
Nat stumbled a bit through the dance, but Harry had learned to lead well enough to disguise that. When their dance ended and she dragged him off to get food. There were various cheese and crackers and some other snack food spread out for the Ball's dinner. "Thanks for covering for me," Nat said, with a grin. "What with four brothers and my dad, I never got very good at dancing."
Harry grinned. "I only learned to dance this year. You've really got four brothers?"
"Yeah," Nat said, around a bite of cheese, "I'm the only girl; the eldest, too. My brothers are great, but I just know how to play better with boys."
"I've been told I'm the other way around," Harry said, with mild chagrin.
Nat laughed and the two of them headed back out to dance. They spent most of evening talking about her brothers or dancing. She got the hang of it by their fourth dance. After that, the two of them traded partners with random people and just danced around the room for a long while before sitting down at one of the few remaining tables. Somehow, Harry had ended up dancing with more girls than he cared to count during that time. And he knew most of them too… Kenneth and Hermione joined them for a little while; Harry was keenly aware that the two of them had barely been separate the entire evening.
"You two look festive," Kenneth said, smirking.
"His fault on the glitter," Nat answered.
"You started it."
"Did not."
"You probably did," Hermione said, cutting them off before they could really get going. "Having a good night, Nat?"
"The best," the younger said, literally glowing. "I mean, I love this dress, and can you get a load of Harry's hair? I could stare at it all day!" She jokingly dove her hand into his hair and started rubbing. Bits of tinsel and sparkly glitter dusted over them. Harry jerked away. Hermione and Kenneth laughed. McGonagall announced the last dance and Kenneth dragged Hermione back out for a slow dance, but Harry and Nat just decided to leave a little early. They snuck out a side door and worked their way down towards the Hufflepuff common room.
They didn't talk much until they got into the hallway right outside the Hufflepuff common room.
"Thanks for the night," Nat said, grinning. "It was great."
Harry pulled a long, thin box from within his robes. "It's your Christmas present; a little early, but I wanted to give it to you know and give you the choice to open it now or later…" He wasn't really good at the whole gift giving thing. This was the first time he'd really given gifts and it made him feel just so giddy and happy and alive.
Her eyes sparkled. "I'll open it later. Happy Christmas Harry."
"Happy Christmas." He left, waving over her shoulder as he went.
After and few seconds, it was just Natalia left in the hallway. No one was there to hear her. She started giggling.