Chapter Five: I Volunteer for Possible Death

(Hugo)

The next day at breakfast everyone was gathered in the Great Hall waiting for Professor Bryson to explain the rules of Assassin.

"Let's start with the rules of the game," she began. "In this game you'll work with people in your house and in your year. The point is to 'assassinate' all the other players. Last one standing gets their house 500 points and party next weekend in the Great Hall."

"What's the point of a party monitored by teachers," James muttered from a few seats down.

From beside him Alice smacked him over the head. "I hope you don't plan on getting drunk because I draw the line when it comes to taking care of a wasted James. You're bad enough sober."

Everyone who heard that giggled before turning our attention back to Bryson.

"In order to assassinate each other you'll be assigned a weapon. There will be someone who tags people simply by touching them, three people who will throw large bouncy balls, someone will get to use a water gun, two people who get to use fake bow and arrows, two people will get to use a nerf gun- we'll explain what that is- and then one person who will be the spell caster. The spell caster isn't allowed to assassinate anyone but they can disable people. Using harmless hexes. If we catch anyone using a hex that harms people- anything more than a leg-locker curse- your house will lose 250 points."

There were a few groans.

"A teacher will be assigned to each year to explain a bit more and answer any further questions."

Victorie was holding a sign that said third years so I followed her.

"Are you ready to lose, Weasley?" whispered Jacob beside me.

"I'm not the one who'll be running the mile," I replied.

Lucy looked at us with narrowed eyes. "Are you two up to something?"

Simultaneously we said, "Why ever would you think that?"

Lucy glared and we both grinned. Before we knew it all the third years were gathered in the charms classroom.

"Something you should know that Professor Bryson didn't mentioned is that you can't assassinate anyone you want. See, Gryffindors catch Ravenclaws, Ravenclaws catch Hufflepuffs, Hufflepuffs catch Slytherins and Slytherins catch Gryffindors. Except spell-caster who can attack anyone. You'll all be given a shirt to wear with your house on it so there's no confusion. Any questions?"

Victorie answered all the questions. I got all the answers I needed. The game would be played inside the castle. All off-limits rooms were locked.

"Okay. Gryffindors over here. Slytherins in that corner. Hufflepuffs in that back room. And Ravenclaws go out in the hall. You can meet and decide any plans you have and who'll get which weapon.

I stood in the corner with Lucy, Frank, Lily, Roxy and Jacob. There was ten weapons and since we had such a small year, six appose to the average of nine, some of those weapons would be left over.

"I want to catch people by tagging them," Jacob announced. I looked at him funny. Surely that was the hardest way. He'd get caught for sure. Did he want to get caught? What angle was he playing at?

Lily snorted. "We have six people Jacob and ten weapons. You can use something less dangerous."

Jacob put on a face of mock hurt. "Are you saying you don't think I'm capable of surviving this game?" Lily shook her head. "Tell you what, if I get caught before you, I'll do anything you want. Like anything. But if you get caught before me, you do my homework for a week."

Lily narrowed her eyes. Clearly, like me, she seemed to think this was some sort of trap but I knew Lily would never back down from a challenge. "You got yourself a deal, Jacob Cadler."

I decided I'd take the water gun as my weapon and while the others discussed strategy I pulled Jacob slightly aside.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Whatever do you mean?" Jacob said fake innocence in his voice.

I glared. "What's your game? You pick the worst weapon and then you make a bet with Lily too? Why?"

"Ah, you see that's for me to know and you to figure out on your own. If you can." He laughed and joined the group working on strategies.

"We can attack them from behind," Frank was saying.

"Absolutely not," Jacob disagreed. "We're Gryffindors we don't play like that. Unless of course they start it. Then anything goes."

"I think I should travel with you, Jacob," Lucy said. "If anyone tries to catch you I can just use some spells against them."

"No way, Luce," Jacob disagreed. "You see Lily doesn't think I can survive. And I have to prove to her that not only can I survive but I can last much longer than her."

"Yes, Lucy, I think Jacob needs to learn his lesson," Lily said watching the person in question. "You should travel with me and Frank. That way we can use some sort of spell to make people easier to hit."

"I'll stay around you guys. Just for some extra protection," Roxy decided posing with her nerf gun.

I was nodding until I realized what this meant. "You want me to travel with Jacob?" I shook my head violently. "No, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not."

Jacob titled his head to the side using the same innocent voice he'd used earlier. "Why not, Hugh? You and me. We'll catch everybody."

I gave Lily a pleading look but she just shrugged. "I guess that means we're ready to head out."

We headed back to the Great Hall where everyone was gathering. We were one of the last groups to show up.

"Okay everyone," Bryson addressed all the students. "You get ten minutes to hide and get yourself ready before you can catch each other." Bryson frowned. "Oh yeah. Ha, I forgot. Some of the teachers might give you a little surprise in the middle of the game."

Bryson just smiled at our confused looks. "Go!" she shouted and everyone ran in different directions.

I tried to ditch Jacob right away but he followed me. "Where you going, mate? I almost lost you there."

Jacob grinned because he knew he was being annoying. I glared because at the moment I hated my best friend.

It wouldn't be long before he attempted to sabotage me. That would be the only logical reason he'd want to partner with me.

We kept running, we bumped into people a few times, and then scrambled in different directions. Some Slytherins were following us for a bit but we ended up losing them. After that I insisted on hiding. Jacob disagreed.

"They said if you don't catch at least two people your disqualified," Jacob argued. "We should get that over with."

I realized he was right and so we just walked around for a bit waiting for the bell that signalized the start of the game. Just as it rang I felt a hand on my shoulder.

My first reaction was to run, but I stopped myself. It was over. Already I had been caught. Epic fail.

But then I saw a glimpse of yellow. I turned around and realized the hand belonged to Liam. Thank Merlin, a Hufflepuff not a Slytherin.

"I had an idea," Liam said. "We can work together. It'll be much more productive. If I see any Slytherins trying to catch you, I can catch them and if you see any Ravenclaws trying to catch me you can get them."

I looked at Jacob and who shook his head slightly. I knew he didn't trust anyone, but it was just a game. And if Liam really were here to sabotage us at least both me and Jacob would die at roughly the same time.

I turned back to Liam. "Sounds like a plan."

We caught a few people. A Slytherin came really close to catching us. We caught a lot of people by using Liam as bait, drawing Ravenclaws over, then I'd use my water gun to shoot them.

Once you got tagged your shirt would start flashing rainbow, so everyone knew you were out. It made me wonder how muggles played games like this without any magic involved. I mean anyone could just cheat and say they didn't get caught.

It was about midway through the game when we encountered our first real problem.

Liam had just caught a group of three Slytherins by using Jacob and I as bait. But it turns out we missed a person.

"Hello."

I spun right around and was facing Dylan Corner. He was pointing his wand at me threateningly.

I put my hands up.

"Drop the gun, Hugo," he said.

I smiled a little at how serious Dylan sounded. He was taking this game very literally.

"I said drop it!" he snapped angrily but I could see in his eyes that he didn't mean it.

I swore under my breath, mostly just to amuse Dylan. But this was the hard part of the game, the main obstacle. The spell caster was allowed to target anyone. They couldn't get you out of the game but could use magic to do pretty much anything they want. For all I know Dylan could turn me into a pink elephant.

Jacob warning came out a minute to late. I dropped the gun at my feet and using a quick summoning charm Dylan now had possession of it.

Dylan must've read the accusation on my face because he answered my unasked question. "It's not against the rules. You can't use magic to take the weapon out of their hands, but there's nothing wrong with taking it when it's on the ground."

I glanced back and forth. What did I do now? Run and hide? No, Dylan was perfectly capable of using a jelly-legs jinx. So all I could really do was stand and await my faith.

Dylan looked behind him. "We've been friends for a long time, Hugo. So I'll be nice to you this time. Go ahead and run. You probably have about ten seconds before the Slytherins and other Ravenclaws catch up."

I considered staying and fighting them with Liam but I wasn't sure how many Claws and Slytherins we coming so I bolted. And also, I couldn't imagine Liam having perfect aim with that bow and arrow when the targets were expecting it.

Liam followed but Jacob went and chased Dylan. "Jacob!" I shouted but he was already chasing the young Ravenclaw.

Unfortunately for Dylan I understood his plan. He was expecting that if he'd run, Jacob would follow him and we'd follow Jacob, leading us into a trap. But I wasn't a complete idiot and I wasn't about to fall for that.

And so we kept running. I couldn't catch people anymore, Dylan still had my weapon, so I just stood as bait while Liam caught some Slytherins.

At one point Victorie had ran by us, she smiled at me, mouthed good luck, and ran after some fourth year Slytherins. I suppose that's what Bryson meant by surprises by the teachers along the way.

It felt like it had been about two or three hours when we heard Bryson's voice ring throughout the castle.

"There is twenty competitors left. Good luck to all houses."

I vaguely wondered if Jacob had made it this far.

This thought distracted me long enough to let a Ravenclaw get really close to us. "Liam watch out!" But it was too late. A Ravenclaw girl whose name I didn't know had already caught Liam and ran off.

I decided to make a joke out of it.

"No, Liam, you can't die on me. You can't leave me here to get assassinated."

Liam caught on and smiled sadly. "I… can't hold on."

I clutched my heart and said ever so dramatically, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, mate, I'm sorry."

"Don't blame yourself…" and then with a very dramatic intake of breath Liam stuck his tongue out and pretended to be dead.

I let out a very fake sob. And then fell on my side laughing. Liam was doing the same.

"You gotta win, okay?" Liam said. "I mean, if Hufflepuff can't, I hope it's you."

When I was about to reply Liam's eyes widened. "There's some Slytherins around the corner. They're coming quick hide!"

And so I ran straight into the wall. Suddenly I was near the Gryffindor towers. I loved that secret passage way. It was what got me to Transfiguration class on time.

There was no one around me and no sign of movement. At least that's what I thought until I was tackled to the ground.

"Seriously what is wrong with you, Hugo?" said the voice of James on top of me. "I could have been a Slytherin!"

I grumbled, "I think I'd rather it have been a Slytherin."

James looked highly offended. "Well then I suppose I shouldn't give you this back." My cousin pulled out my water gun from behind is back.

"What how'd you get it?" I asked grabbing for it.

James held it out of my reach. "If you want it back you have to say 'James is the supreme lord of awesomeness and a peasant like me is lucky to have such an amazing cousin.'"

I rolled my eyes and repeated the words. I was used to James' massive ego by now. It was probably the hundredth time he'd told me to call him supreme lord of awesomeness.

With an approving nod James gave me back my water gun. He explained to me how he had beat Dylan in a duel in order to get that back.

"You're lucky, I usually don't stoop as low as fighting second years."

I snorted. "Dylan's really good. I think I'm lucky that he didn't end up beating you."

We walked for a bit, caught a two Ravenclaws and walked a bit more before James very suddenly pulled me into an unused hallway.

"What are we doing?" I hissed, feeling like I needed to be quiet for some reason.

"We're looking for something," James replied dismissively.

I knew not to argue with James when he got like this, into his sneaky trouble-maker mode, so I just followed him.

When we reached the end of the hall James tapped on the wall three times with his wand.

There where that had only been stone, was now a doorknob. James turned it and then we were entering an apartment. It didn't take me long to figure out who it belonged here.

When I did I felt very wrong about it. "James! We should not be here."

"Hugo, I brought you here because I figured you might want some answers too."

I looked around Teddy and Victorie's apartment. I didn't want to be here but I did want answers. I had an internal battle, like one of the ones where there was a devil and an angel on each of your shoulders. In the end devil won out.

I understood James' point. He wanted answers and so did I. It wasn't fair that they Grandpa Weasley was taken from us and it was even more unfair that none of the parents wanted to tell us what happened.

"I know your hurting James," I said. "I am too. But do you really think Teddy's going to have answers just lying around his house."

James shrugged. "I'm not looking for answers. I'm…"

I turned to James, looking away from the photo of the Weasley/Potter family I had been admiring. "What is it?"

I walked over to where he was standing right in front of the trash can and I saw it. How couldn't you, it was impossible to miss.

I gulped. "James, why does Victorie have an empty box labeled 'Pregnancy Test' in her trash can?"

(James)

Hugo and I left after we had made that interesting discovery.

"Where are we going now?" moaned Hugo as I swiftly navigated the halls.

"We're checking out Mr. Joe's office now," I replied curtly without looking back.

I didn't mean to be like that with my little cousin but the sight in Teddy's flat had aggravated me. How could Teddy not tell me? He trusted me enough to make me the best man at his wedding but not to tell me he had a kid?

I was starting to lose my patience with my so-called brother. It's like he was suddenly an adult and I was still a little kid. We were three years apart, not ten. Yet the second he graduates, he ditches me and decides to be mature. After witnessing the change in Teddy, Fred, Josh, and I had made a pact that we would never not be Marauders.

I had been so caught up in my thoughts I almost didn't see the two Ravenclaws who had snuck past us.

I used a spell that made the floor turn to ice and the Ravenclaws slipped and slid until they came to a stop at our feet.

Suddenly I recognized one of the two young people.

"Theo," I said in greeting.

Theodore Finnegan smiled at me. "Hi, James. Hi, Hugo."

Theo's friend looked at us innocently and gave us puppy-dog eyes. "Any chance you'll let us go?"

I smiled. "Sorry, kid, not a chance."

With an apologetic look Hugo shot both boys in the chest with his water gun. They flashed rainbow. Then there was an announcement.

"Congratulations, there are now only two houses left in the game. All Spell-Casters and remaining players please report to the Great Hall!"

Hugo and I high-fived and ran towards the Great Hall.

We arrived at the hall only a few minutes later. Standing there was the respective spell-casters 7 for each house, Luke Thomas, and another young Puff kid.

"You are the final contestants," Bryson said happily. "Good job. Right now I will award twenty points to each Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors clapped.

Bryson continued, "So now comes our final showdown. The rest of the students and staff are out at the Quidditch Pitch. There you will be doing a battle to the death. And, of course, I mean death figuratively.

"Each remaining player will pick one spell caster and they will work as a team. The spell caster is allowed to use any sort of curses now, provided they do not severely and or permanently injure the victim." She said the last part while glaring at me.

"Professor Bryson, I assure you there will be no foul play on the Gryffindor side of this game," I said in a very fake innocent voice, "These Puffs however, I dunno. They seem kind of shady to me."

"Okay, James, I'll keep my eyes on them," Bryson promised. "Anyway, players here are the rules, you are out of the battle if both the spell caster and the player are unable to continue, or player lost his weapon and doesn't get it back within two minutes. After the players chose your partner we will head out to the Quidditch pitch."

As expected Hugo chose me. It made perfect sense, after all. I was an amazing duellist and we already knew we worked well together. Luke chose Louis, and the young Hufflepuff chose some kid from his year.

"Okay, let's head out."

Bryson led us out to the Quidditch pitch and told us to shake the hands of our opponents.

Louis gave me his signature goofy grin. "I wish you luck, cuz… cuzes? Is that a word? Oh, whatever. Anyway, luck to both of you, you won't need it but I wish it to you anyway."

"We won't need it because we're going to win," I responded.

"Nope, I meant no amount of luck is going to save your sorry ass today. For once the great James Potter will be humbled.

I snorted. "Care to bet on that?"

Louis shrugged. "Three galleons."

It was only after I agreed that I realized how many best I was making. Alice hadn't believed that I would be able to stay focused enough to be spell caster so I bet her five galleons I could. Fred insisted that he'd win the game, I bet him ten galleons he wouldn't. And finally I had bet Luke three galleons that Gryffindor would win. Perhaps Alice was right, I did have a gambling problem.

I was surprised when the air-horn sounded and the game began. I really needed to stop getting lost in my thoughts.

I was even more surprised when the little Puff dudes made the first move.

"Expelliarmus!" shouted the young spell caster, whose name may or may not have been Aaron.

I easily deflected the shot. Aaron's friend, Eddie, had a nerf gun for a weapon. Good, those were easy to dodge.

Luke was armed with two balls. He gave some sort of signal to Louis and Louis began levitating one of the balls. He waved his wand around and the ball moved along with it. Louis got distracted teasing the young Puffs. I took this chance and shot a body bind hex at Louis.

I would have used a simple disarming spell but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe it was superstitious and stupid but every time I used the spell that had saved my dad on so many different occasions, bad things happened. It had almost cost Albus his life at the wedding. I wasn't prepared to risk anything like that again, based of superstition or not.

Louis focused again and threw the ball in our direction as he dodged the body bind hex.

"You'll have to do better that that Jamie!" he shouted as I dodged the ball.

"So will you," I replied. "I'm just getting warmed up!"

And that battle raged on. The bad thing about having a water gun for a weapon was that Hugo constantly had to fill up. It wasn't easy to cover him and myself against four duellists. But of course being James Potter I managed it.

For the longest time we'd been using spells, and shooting our respective weapons. This was too easy. No one was winning and no one was gaining any head-way whatsoever.

That's when an idea hit me.

"Hugo, do you trust me?" I asked my cousin as I ducked a stunner.

"Not usually when you have to ask," Hugo answered honestly as he used his water gun to hit one of Luke's balls right back at him.

"Well, kid, you're gonna half to. Follow my lead."

And with that I charged at Louis and Luke.

For a second they were just confused but it only took them a second to react. Louis shot a body bind hex at me. I ducked it. I just needed to get a little closer…

It was a good thing Aaron and Eddie were idiots. I would have been "dead" by now if they had the sense to try and shoot me from behind. Instead they were cowering behind Luke and Louis.

As I got closer to my destination I realized this plan was stupid. But too late to back out now.

"Impetus!" I shouted pointing my wand at Hugo. My cousin went flying through the air. It took him a moment but he understood the plan.

From up high he started shooting his water gun. While he did that I easily petrified Aaron, which distracted Eddie, allowing Hugo to attack him with the water gun.

The only problem with my genius plan was that Hugo was now falling at an alarming rate.

I thought fast. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Hugo was now floating. This gave Louis and Luke a chance to pelt him with the two balls. There was nothing I could do except lower Hugo towards the ground.

Luckily my cousin was a better beater than we all thought. He used his water gun as a bat again and was hitting the balls back towards our opponents quicker than they could throw them.

Once Hugo was flat on his feet I ran towards him using a shield-charm so not to get hit from behind.

"Nice job, cuz, I didn't know you had it in you."

He shrugged modestly. "I was just trying to keep us in the game. Now let's focus."

The spells kept firing back and forth for a while. Until I got another brilliant idea.

"Obscure!"

I was hoping to catch Louis off guard, hope he didn't know the spell. But the fourth year had done his homework. The blindfolds that had appeared on Luke and Louis' eyes were removed a second after they were put on.

I swore under my breath. "All out of tricks, eh, Potter?" Luke taunted.

I grinned. "Now quite yet, Thomas."

I knew a bunch of random spells, most of which would not be useful right now but a sneeze from Hugo brought something to mind.

I slowly closed the large gap between us and our opponents. Then right after Louis had sent another ball flying towards Hugo I shouted "Steleus!"

Louis definitely didn't know this spell. He had a confused look on his face, which took away time he could have used to cast a shield charm. The spell hit both Louis and Luke and they started to sneeze uncontrollably.

Louis was still shooting spells but since he kept closing his eyes to sneeze he couldn't aim very well.

I almost let them live, just to make the battle go on a little longer but before I could make the decision, Hugo shot both Louis and Luke with his water guns. Their shirts flashed rainbow. That was it they were out.

Hugo grinned broadly as the entire crowd cheered. I used the counter curse on Louis and Luke but before they could get up Hugo triumphantly put a foot on Luke I joined him and did the same to Louis.

The Gryffindors chanted our names. "Weasley, Potter! Weasley, Potter!"

Lily came down from the stands and hugged Hugo. Jacob came down and clapped Hugo on the back.

"I suppose that means I'll do the mile run?" I heard Jacob say to Hugo as I was accepting a small little trophy from Bryson.

I cocked my head to the side. Whatever a mile run was Jacob sounded a bit annoyed about having to do it. I knew I couldn't miss that.

The next morning Alice physically had to drag me out of bed.

"You're lucky I even bothered to get you up," she said as I glared at her for literally pulling me out of my bed. "I could have let you be late for the first day and get detention."

I just glared some more and Alice said, "I'm never letting you drink again, if you're this grumpy with a hangover."

I mumbled, "You never let me have any fun," under my breath but Alice still heard.

"What you don't think I can be fun?"

Because my head was pounding and I was grumpy and tired I shook my head. "You wouldn't know fun if it was dancing the Macarena in front of you while wearing fedora."

Alice seemed about to argue but instead she just looked at me. "Why a fedora?"

"Because they're fun." I grinned a little. "And you just proved my point that you know nothing about fun."

Alice rolled her eyes at me, threw my robe at me and left, muttering something about 'we'll see who knows fun.' I didn't care enough to call her back. Instead I crawled back into bed and slept.

For whatever reason teachers seem to find it rude and unacceptable when you showed up to class half way through the period.

Even when that Professor was supposedly one of your best friends.

"If you show up late for class one more time, Potter, I'll have to give you detention," Teddy said sternly.

I gave him a raised eyebrow. "Potter? Is that what you call me now, Moony?"

"James, please take your seat."

I shrugged. "If you say so, teach." I picked up the chair next to Fred and took it.

Teddy glared at me. "See me after class."

"Why because I did what you asked?" I said innocently cocking my head to the side.

The whole class was stifling giggles right now. Teddy stared me down and I stared at him back.

"Sit down, James."

I went towards my seat but made a point of standing for the entire period.

After class I hung around until the whole class emptied out.

"Why are you being such a smart-ass?" Teddy asked.

"What are you being such an ass-hole?" I countered.

"Don't talk to your Professor that way."

"Don't talk to a fellow Marauder that way." When Teddy didn't say anything I added, "Did you forget the number one rule? Once a Marauder always a Marauder?"

"James, I'm not a kid anymore," Teddy sighed.

"You're three years older than me!" I shouted, losing my temper. "Stop acting like your Dad's age. You're still a kid, and if you're not, then I'm an adult too."

"You're not of age, James."

"So what? I will be in a few months. Will you stop treating me like a child then?"

Teddy shook his head. "What I do, I only do to protect you."

"Oh yeah?" I asked narrowing my eyes at Teddy. I tried not to let sadness creep into my voice as I said the next words. "So you not telling me the truth about Grandpa Weasley's death that was protecting me? Not telling me that you're wife, my cousin, is pregnant?"

Teddy was shocked. He tried to speak but words didn't come. Very slowly he said, "James, you can't tell anyone."

I knew he was talking about the pregnancy. Finally I couldn't hold back the sadness, the betrayal. "I was the best man at your wedding, Teddy. Why didn't you tell me?"

"We only just found out," Teddy assured me. "I would have told you first." Before I could reply something dawned on Teddy. "Wait, how do you know about the pregnancy?"

I made a quick cover. "I noticed Victorie getting pregnant."

Teddy smiled. "Nice try. She's not even a month yet."

Perhaps I should have felt shame, but for a second I just felt pride. That smile, that ability to tell when I was lying, that was my Teddy. I just needed to know he was still in there. "For someone who's no longer a Marauder, you're still good at telling when I'm lying," I pointed out.

"James, just because I'm not a kid anymore, doesn't mean I'll ever stop being your brother."

That brought me back to reality. Reminded me that this wasn't really the Teddy I knew. "The old Teddy, my brother Teddy, would have told me about Grandpa Weasley."

There was sympathy in Teddy's eyes. It only made me angrier. "I don't want your sympathy. I don't want a shoulder to cry on." I paused as I gathered myself. "I just want to know why you betrayed me."

This clearly got to Teddy, as I had intended. "James… I- I couldn't tell you. You have to understand."

"There's a possibility that he's alive and you expect me to understand that you kept that from me."

Teddy shook his head. "James… he's not alive. He-"

"The body isn't discovered. That means he still has a chance."

"The body was found by one of Grandpa Weasley's co-workers. He was dead, but when he went to get other people to show them, the body was gone."

I said nothing with my mouth halfway open. I didn't know the apart about the co-worker. "You mean to say his body was discovered by a single person and seen by no one else?"

"Yes. But-"

"How do you know that person wasn't working for Code?" I exploded. "He could've been the one who killed Grandpa Weasley, or at least been a helper. You are such an idiot!"

Teddy used Reparo to fix a glass I hadn't even realized I knocked over. "The man was checked out. They used Veritaserum on him. It wasn't him James."

I sighed almost disappointed. "Hey," Teddy said putting a hand on my shoulder. "You're going to be okay. If you ever need anything you can come to me, okay?"

I didn't really intend to do that at all but I nodded.

"Now this might be a little awkward but I'm going to have to give you a detention. Saturday nine am sharp."

The day didn't really get better as it went on.

At dinner I was finally pooped. Almost too pooped to realize Fred kept giving Alice meaningful glances. Almost.

"What is going on with you two?" I asked, irritated.

Fred and Alice shared an intense glance. "Tell him," Fred insisted.

Alice shook her head slightly but Fred spoke anyway seemingly against Alice's better judgement. "Remember the Hogwarts News? Two years ago someone was gossiping and writing a school column? They're at it again."

Reluctantly Alice handed me the newspaper.

The front cover showed Hugo and I holding the trophy from the Assassins game last night. I frowned. What was so bad about that?

It wasn't until I opened the paper and read a bit about it that I got angry.

James Potter and Hugo Weasley victors of last night's school-wide assassin game. At first glance they seem like normal kids. But how much do you really know about these troubled kids?

I bet you didn't know that Hugo Weasley wet the bed until he was ten years old? Or that James Potter is still afraid of the dark?

That's right. The brave James Potter is afraid of the dark. Can you believe the Gryffindor hero is still scared that there's monsters hiding under his bed?

The great heroine who defeated Ryan Code. Yes, let's not forget that this boy protected us from the frighteningly evil fourteen year old Ryan Code.

I didn't read the rest of the article. I had whipped out my wand and burned the paper. I knew people were pointing and laughing at me. I did my best to ignore them. It wasn't easy.

"I'm not scared of the dark," I muttered.

"Anymore," Fred retorted quietly. I glared at him.

"Were you the one who told this anonymous writer about that? Are you the writer?"

I was about to lean over the table and punch my cousin but Alice held me back. "It wasn't him. Remember Code revealed that to the whole school back in our third year."

Something occurred to me. "In our third year… that mean the writer must've been at Hogwarts when that happened. So anyone from Albus' age to year seven."

Alice sighed. "Please don't tell me you intend on hunting this person down."

"I'll find them, Alice. And when I do I'll kill them."

Alice might've had something to say to that but at that moment Flitwick called our attention.

"Students, sorry to interrupt your meal but I have a very important announcement to make. Unfortunately, Quidditch will be cancelled this year-"

This was followed by a chorus of boos, especially from me and Fred.

Flitwick magically amplified his voice and spoke over the boos. "This is because we will be having a Triwizard-style tournament."

This shut everyone up and satisfied, Flitwick continued. "It is called The Hogwarts Tournament. It will pin one member of each house against the others in a series of four events.

"In order for a student to compete they must have passed an overall passing grade on their OWL test."

This resulted in another commotion from the younger kids.

Flitwick raised his voice again, "This tournament if far too dangerous for anyone who doesn't have at least an OWL level of education. So for your own safety, those who do not have that level of education cannot compete.

"If you wish to enter this competition, and meet the requirements to do so, you must put your name in this bucket here." He placed an average white bucket on a stand near the Teacher's table.

"How are the competitors getting picked?"

"I was getting to that Mr. Potter. The contestant will be picked by none other than the Sorting Hat." Everyone was confused. I myself had been sure we'd use the Goblet of Fire. Noticing the confusion Flitwick added, "The Goblet of Fire is only to be used for Triwizard Tournament. If it makes you feel any better we can call this bucket the Bucket of Mysteries."

If you have any further questions please see your head of house. Thank you."

Flitwick sat down and I jumped up, pulled a piece of paper and quill out of my pocket and wrote my name and my house on the parchment and dropped it in the bucket. There were a few cheers from the Gryffindors.

I grinned. Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

A/N: Look I actually updated on time for once! Aren't you proud of me?

1: So I'm going to give you guys a rough schedule for how this book, as in the updates, will play out. So this is chapter five. There's twenty chapters in total (or at least I'm assuming there will be) so this will take roughly 250 days to update the entire thing. ROUGHLY. I could be off by 50 days for all I know. So don't hold me to it, okay? But if I'm anywhere near right we should be done this book in July. So I'm most likely going to update two-three times a month. I'll warn you that I may take a 2-3 week break at the end of January due to exams. So yeah. Sound good? Good. Next update will be December 1st by the way.

2: So last chapter you told me what fandoms you guys were in. Now who's your favorite character, and what's your favorite book (or season if it's a TV show) of those series? No spoilers please but if I'm in the same fandom as you feel free to PM me.

3: I always enjoy reviews! If you have any question, suggestions, or comments about the story feel free to review and or PM me!

4: I apologize that this chapter isn't very... plot-filling or action packed but I figured we needed a nice little fluffy chapter after teh last one. Well, a fluffy chapter mixed with a tiny bit of intensity. Maybe fluffy isn't the word... oh well.

5: Oh by the way when I do quotes from Tv shows I'm going to put the season and the episode. So that's what the 6.10 mean if any of you were wondering.

Not really many question to ask this but anyway: When will Teddy and Victorie tell the family about the baby? Will James keep their secret? Who's writing the Hogwarts newspaper again? When will we find out who killed Grandpa Weasley (if he's even dead!)?

"I learned that from the pizza man!" Castiel, Supernatural, 6.10.

-Monkeywoman14