Hi all! Welcome to Chapter Nine of Water Worries. This is a story request from a lovely person called xxxRainLoverxxx, so credit to the idea goes to her. She is a very talented writer but unfortunately due to negative reviews she no longer likes to post her stories which is a true shame for everyone. This story is complete and is Thirteen Chapters long, updates should be weekly unless something drastic happens.
Summary: Harry has a fear of water, when his nightmares manage to get even Ron's attention Ron comes up with a plan for how to keep Harry's mind off the second task. What happens when they go too far? AU. Contains Spanking. No Slash.
Warning: Story contains parental spanking of a teenager, if this isn't your cup of tea, don't read it.
Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever, owned Harry Potter – as much as I'd like to I sadly do not. I did not make any money from this story, and I don't intend too. All characters and recognisable things belong to JK Rowling not me – as sad as that is for me.
A huge thank you to my wonderful Beta Jules Ann, who is again herself a very talented writer on here. Though she doesn't know Harry Potter, I am slowly trying to convert her.
~o~
Tuesday afternoon passed with no more mischief from Harry and Ron, the Professors were furious enough and neither of them felt like pushing their luck. Potions was particularly uncomfortable with Snape obviously in a completely foul mood. He used any excuse to take points from Gryffindor and quite gleefully vanished Harry and Ron's potion when it wasn't quite the right shade of green, maliciously giving them a zero for the day.
All the students, particularly the Gryffindor's, were quite relieved to escape back to their Common Rooms after a much quieter than usual dinner. The Professors' presence, which was usually all but ignored by the students, now felt like an almost oppressive force watching them. Conversations, if there were any, were hushed and brief, even Fred and George did not try and break the unnatural quiet.
Once back in the Common Room, Fred and George made their way over to Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Ron and Harry were playing a game of chess, Ron trouncing Harry as usual, whilst Hermione was reading a book. "Got anymore plans?" The twins asked as they flopped down on the couch opposite Ron and Harry.
Ron held up a finger to indicate quiet, after a moment thought he moved his knight, "checkmate," he grinned, leaning back in his seat.
Harry raised his hands in surrender, shaking his head, he didn't know why he continued to play against Ron, he beat him every time.
"So, got any plans?" George asked again grinning.
Hermione had to bite her lip to stop herself from saying anything, she really didn't think they should be doing more, but she understood this was helping Harry. Plus, they were going to do it anyway, at least if she assisted, she could potentially help them avoid trouble.
Harry and Ron chanced a glance at Hermione, half expecting her to jump down their throats.
"What? You didn't plan the food fight, and no one got in trouble for the broom race, so what are you planning?" Hermione asked, putting on an innocent air.
Harry and Ron shared a look, "I think we've been a bad influence on her," Ron grinned.
Fred and George laughed, "not at all little brothers, you have been the best influence on our lovely Miss Granger," they grinned.
Hermione levelled the four of them with a withering look, "I could take my approval away…" she threatened.
Ron quickly pulled out the now much abused list, there weren't a huge number of ideas left on it now, they would have to do another planning session in Divination or History of Magic soon. Though they could do a session with Fred, George, and Ginny right here in the Common Room, they were included in most of the fun and games now, and a lot of their ideas did work better with more people.
The five of them poured over the list, Ginny joining them once she saw what they were doing, "oh coming up with the next idea? Count me in," she grinned. She made herself comfortable next to Harry and helped to bat around ideas. Finally, "what about the magical pellets?" She asked.
"Hmm, might be a bit tough with just the few of us, and McGonagall will kill us if we target people who can't fight back," George pointed out.
Hermione and Harry nodded in agreement, shooting the magical pellets at people who couldn't retaliate seemed a little too much like bullying to them.
"What if we invited all of Gryffindor to join?" Ron suggested.
"Still only a very small group. I reckon after recent events less than half of them will want to join, we need a bigger group for it," Fred countered.
"Well, how do we get a bigger group to join in?" Ginny asked.
The group tossed around ideas, trying to think of a fair way to get a large number of the students involved in the game. Ron came up with the first part of the plan, George declaring it to be almost genius, with Fred suggesting it was a bit too obvious for the Professors. Ginny' suggested alteration was announced simply brilliant by Fred, and Harry provided a good line for the Professors, but Hermione's suggested change had everyone deeply impressed.
"And that is pure genius, Ron you better marry Hermione there," Fred insisted.
"We already know Ginny's managed to snag Harry, but we need Hermione in the family too," George continued.
Ron blushed a very vivid red, almost scarlet, along with Hermione flushing a deep pink.
"Well, it's not quite a Weasley blush, but it's still pretty good," Ginny laughed. She and Harry were getting slightly used to her brothers teasing them, so she was able to contain her own response to just a light blush.
Harry burst into laughter, glad that it wasn't him being teased for once, sharing a grin with Ginny when she caught his eye, glad Fred and George seemed to have found a new target.
They spent the remainder of the evening making their key supplies for the next day, deciding that Harry would approach Cedric who could involve Cho, and Ginny was going to talk to Luna and Astoria Greengrass, who could hopefully talk to her sister from Slytherin. They called Neville over and told him about their plans, giving him a badge and a box of badges and tasked him with talking to Hannah or Susan about the pellet war. That way each house had at least two people who could allow the idea to spread through everyone. Tomorrow, at dinner they would get numbers from each of the houses and task Dobby with handing out the packs of sling shots with a thousand pellets to each player for the next day.
They finally made enough badges for the whole school to have one, all of them thinking it would be amazing if they did manage to get the whole school involved and bid each other good night. Fred and George were unable to resist teasing the younger students by asking if they didn't want to give each other a goodnight kiss, high fiving each other when all four of them blushed deep red. "Ahh, that's more like it, Hermione. We'll have you blushing like a Weasley in no time," they sang as they escaped up to their own dorms.
Harry once again managed a nightmare free night and woke up feeling just excited and eager for the next day. He finished dressing and pinned the badge onto his robes.
"Oi Harry, what's The Game?" Seamus asked, reading the large bright orange badge that simply said The Game, in a lurid purple.
Harry and Ron shared a grin, "to know of The Game is to play The Game, and the first rule of The Game is to spread The Game amongst all students, but tell no Professors, do you truly wish to know of The Game?" Harry questioned.
Seamus blinked but after a moment of doubt at Harry's slightly ominous tone he nodded, "sure," he agreed.
Harry tossed Seamus a badge from his own box and told him what The Game was, reminding him he had to induct anyone else who asked about it.
Seamus laughed and, grinning, pinned the badge onto his own robes, just as Dean walked out of the shower, "Seamus, what's The Game?"
On the walk down to breakfast Harry found Cedric talking to Cho, and though the seventeen-year-old was hesitant, he agreed with the sense of fair play and accepted the box of badges, pinning one to his own robes. Cho was less keen, but didn't want her house left out either, so accepted the other box and after a look from her boyfriend, pinned a badge on herself. Both agreed to count how many badges they handed out within their own houses and to give Harry the numbers after dinner.
Just before they walked into the Great Hall, Harry and Ron saw Neville talking to Susan and Hannah and shot their nervous roommate double thumbs up each before heading in and taking their seats.
Ginny came over about five minutes later and sat next to Hermione, opposite Ron and Harry. "I spoke to Luna, and Astoria, they've both agreed to help, Astoria will speak to her sister and get her to help too," she confirmed.
Down the house tables there were whispered conversations and badges handed out as The Game spread, everyone informed of what to tell the Professors should they ask.
The Professors had taken notice of the growing number of students wearing large orange badges with the words The Game on. Minerva had a good idea of whom was behind it and approached Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the way down to lunch. "Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, what is this 'The Game' business all about?" She demanded sternly.
Harry and Ron had to take a second to make sure their expressions wouldn't give them away, "well Professor, it's a new religion that Fred and George Weasley are heading," Harry started.
Ron nodded along, "yeah, see they preach that life is a game, and should be treated like one and so enjoyed to the fullest," he continued.
"The Game is life, and life is The Game," Harry finished.
Minerva's eyes went wide at the thought of everyone wearing a badge emulating the Weasley twins and just stared in horror.
"Can we go to lunch now Professor?" Ron interrupted the thoughts going round in his Professors mind.
Minerva blinked, coming back to the present, "yes, yes, go to lunch," she insisted.
Harry and Ron hurried down the corridor where Hermione was waiting for them covering their laughter with their hands as their Head of House just stood where she was.
Hermione wanted so badly to scold the pair of them, but even she had to admit it was kind of funny seeing Professor McGonagall so very shocked. "Oh, come on now, it's not that funny," she pointed out half-heartedly.
Ron and Harry couldn't contain it any longer and just burst into hysterics as they ducked behind a tapestry hiding a stairway that would take them right down to the Great Hall.
They gleefully told Fred, George, and Ginny of the encounter as they ate lunch. A quick look around showed them just how many students were now proudly wearing The Game badges, it was looking like they'd have a huge group for their war tomorrow.
The Game continued to spread amongst the students, for the rest of the day, and several Professors received the same story of the Weasley twins' new religion. The four Weasley siblings, Harry, and Hermione were pleased to see that at dinner it was rather hard to spot any student not wearing a badge.
Cedric and Cho approached Harry once outside of the Great Hall, giving him the numbers, which Hermione wrote down, thanking the pair and explaining that a House Elf would give them the sling shots and pellets shortly. Susan and Hannah were next to approach and give their numbers, Harry thanked them and again promised Dobby would be along soon with the supplies.
Luna approached the group proudly wearing her 'The Game' badge and gave her numbers to Harry, "I'm excited to join in this one. It was so much fun pretending to be deaf with Ginny and playing Dares with you," she enthused. She skipped off before Harry could explain that Dobby would be around with the supplies soon.
Astoria approached Ginny with the numbers from the Slytherins, just nodding in acceptance when Ginny told her the supplies would be delivered via House Elf soon.
Once back in the Common Room Harry and Ron ran up to their dorm room and quickly pulled the packs of the supplies for the pellet wars out of Harry's trunk. Each pack contained a sling shot and five thousand pellets, all about the size of a pin head currently, but with a tap of a wand they would grow to the rough size of an acorn. Each pellet contained either a gallon of ice-cold water, superfine magical glitter, magical slime, paint, or feathers. If you'd been hit with the paint, water, or slime, the feathers would stick to you all the more, and if you got hit by the superfine magical glitter, you weren't getting rid of it all for a week or more! Dobby was quickly dispatched to the different houses with enough packs for each person who had ended up wearing a badge. They handed out the packs to everyone in Gryffindor, as everyone had ended up asking about The Game and getting pulled into the war.
The next morning, all the Gryffindors were gathered in the Common Room as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny were stood on the tables addressing their house mates. "Common Rooms and the Great Hall are safe zones, and no firing at each other in classrooms, remember the aim is not to get in trouble, so we can't be disturbing lessons. Corridors, secret passageways, empty classrooms, outside, basically anywhere that isn't the classrooms, the Great Hall, or Common Rooms are fair game, except the Library, unless you want to face Madame Pince and our lovely Hermione's wrath," they explained. "In the spirit of fair play and fun, no one should return to the Common Room unless they absolutely have to or it's half an hour to curfew, hmm what else? Oh yeah, only target those wearing an orange and purple armband, targeting someone who can't fight back is unfair," they finished pointing out the armbands that came in the packs.
Getting the murmured agreement of everyone Harry and Ron grinned, "well, without further ado, let's get down to breakfast so The Game can begin!" The pair declared together.
The war began the second they stepped outside the Portrait hole, with Harry and Ron targeting each other, Ron hitting Harry with a slime filled pellet, Harry hitting Ron with a feather filled pellet. Chaos ensued almost immediately as no one tried to hide, just trying to run down to the Great Hall. By the time they got to breakfast, it was clear the war had well and truly begun, each armband wearing student appeared to have been hit by at least one pellet, most had been hit by more than one. As agreed, breakfast in the Great Hall was a time for cease fire, but as the students left to head to lessons, the war continued. Each Professor was prepared to read the students the riot act should they misbehave in their classrooms, but as soon as they enter the classrooms, sling shots were quickly shoved into bags and the bags of pellets placed into the pockets of their robes.
By the time dinner time came around almost every student had been hit multiple times by all the pellets and were covered in an assortment of paint, glitter, feathers, and slime, and all very wet. After a hurried dinner it was a school wide free for all, their stashes of pellets which had been slowly dwindling during the day took a real hammering now, most students down to less than a hundred of their original five thousand pellets left. Anyone who ran out of pellets removed their armband and were able to return to their Common Room safely without being targeted.
With less than a minute until curfew Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, and Hermione finally ran into the Common Room, all covered from head to toe in glitter, slime, feathers, and paint. They were laughing hard, arms slung around each other's shoulders as they all cheerfully declared the war a rousing success.
"That was epic!" Ron declared.
"Couldn't agree more little brother, couldn't agree more," Fred grinned.
"You know this glitter is never going to come off right?" Ginny pointed out.
"I know, it'll become Hogwarts Legend," George insisted, deliberately missing the point.
Harry burst into laughter and shook his head, spraying them all with water, "even if I'll still be washing glitter of out my hair come graduation, I'll still say that was brilliant," he claimed, completely sincerely.
Hermione giggled and shook her head, "all right, I'll admit, that was actually a lot of fun," she stated.
Everyone stared at Hermione as if she'd grown an extra head for a second before just bursting into laughter.
~o~
So, there you go, that was Chapter Nine. Please review to let me know what you thought. I really hope you enjoy this story as I certainly had a lot of fun writing it! A slice of Molly Weasley's Treacle tart for those who do review!