As promised, our Anniversary Q&A!
Q1: Since the story is so focused on music, do you play instruments in real life?
A1: Not anymore, but I was a band geek for most of grade school. I started on clarinet and switched to oboe in high school. (That said, if oboes weren't so expensive I'd absolutely but one!)
Q2: Does Harry's scar still hurt in Quirrell's presence?
A2: It still does; but, like in the books, he attributes it to the garlic-infested classroom. Since Harry is at the Hufflepuff table and has already met Snape, he never got scar pain during the Welcoming Feast.
Q3: Why Hufflepuff?
A3: That was an accident! Lol! Since the Surrey Bennetts instilled the virtues of fairness and school success, and gave him his first friends, I realized that Harry has become a total Gryffinpuff. That gave me a moment of panic, followed by "Eh, let's see what happens."
Q4: Why does Year Three focus more on Harry? Shouldn't Melissa be with her friends more than him?
A4: I like to write within the confines of canon. The first two years were a free-for-all, but now I have book events to work off of, which consequently means Harry gets more POVs and screen time. I also felt that slice-of-life stuff with her friends would be filler content at this point, so there isn't much need to write about it.
Q5: Why is Melissa gatekeeping Harry from the philosopher's stone?
A5: Despite appearances, she's still disturbed by her boggart and the actions that led to that fear. She'd rather Harry have a normal school year than run into danger and potentially end up worse than canon.
After the love of Valentine's Day came the war of the Wizard Chess Tournament.
On February 29th, dozens of chess sets lined the tables of the great hall. The participants themselves stood among the crowd awaiting the start of the games. Before the eager participants, a set of student and teacher organizers stood before the group. At the centre, Professor Flitwick addressed the crowd. "Welcome, everyone, to our first annual wizard chess tournament!" A light applause met the opening line. "Wizard chess is the ultimate game of strategy. Each of you are here today to face a battlefield of the mind, where bold actions and cunning manoeuvres can lead you to victory.
"In today's matches, you will face one another in a double elimination game. Inside this bag are forty-eight tokens. Each will have a number from one to twenty-four and a colour to determine if you will play as white or black in your match. In the following round, you will select a new number and play by the opposing colour against a new opponent. Those who lose both matches will be eliminated from the competition. If the total number of winners is at an odd number, then the person who played the longest time will be dropped from the game." A few groans met with that news, but the professor moved without pause. "The following rounds will be continued in the same fashion until there are eight players remaining, at which point, we will take a break until tomorrow. Only those who reach the top eight of participants can qualify for the specialty matches. The details of those matches will be explained at the end of today's games.
"Now, participants, please line up to select your place. May the best player win!"
Harry shuffled his way through the crowd towards the participant lineup. A moment of nervousness shivered through him as he looked through the crowd. The vast majority of people in the line were in their fourth year or older. "Do you think we'll make it to tomorrow's games?" Harry quietly asked Ron.
The redhead shrugged his shoulders and glanced back at Harry. "Who knows, mate. Might as well give it our all, though."
Harry nodded, though the sense of uncertainty didn't fade. He glanced back toward the crowd. Spotting Hannah, Justin, and a few other classmates giving a wave at him, he gave a small wave back and a tight smile. Win or lose, he needed to remember that his victory isn't the main objective for today, and to try and have fun.
By some miracle, Harry made it through the first round of eliminations with two victories. In the second round of games he lost against a fifth year girl but managed against a second year boy who seemed more interested in playing against The Harry Potter than focusing on the game. Harry felt tempted to play that to his advantage for the third set, but a voice from his conscience (one that sounded like a mix between Susan and Hermione) convinced him otherwise and to simply focus on the games. When his second opponent in that round beat him in a close game, Harry tried not to be too disappointed at the double loss. That said, watching Ron, Blaise Zabini, and Anthony Goldstein make it into the fourth set did make him feel a bit envious.
As the fourth set of participants went about choosing their opponents, Draco appeared at his side. "I suppose this means we're at a stalemate once again, Potter."
"It seems so, Malfoy." Harry nodded. Then he offered an encouraging smile. "If it makes you feel better, you can just tell everyone that you taught me well enough for us to get this far."
Draco perked his head curiously, as if trying to gauge a meaning behind the words. "That's a generous offer, Potter. Though I can't see what you have to gain from it?"
"Nothing." Harry shrugged. "Maybe I just feel it would be more fun to think about all this as friends learning chess than whatever politics it is we keep playing at."
Draco furrowed his brow, puzzled. Then, haltingly, he spoke. "You're being serious, aren't you?"
"I am." Harry nodded with the twitch of a welcoming smile.
The blond beside him looked genuinely surprised by the simple reply. Slowly, though, a tentative smile etched across his face. "You know, Potter, that might not be such a bad idea."
Harry chuckled lightly at the pureblood's response. "It's Harry." He offered the boy. "Glad that I'm not so terrible a choice in a friend."
"Only partially." Draco shrugged, though the warming smile showed its teasing intent. "And you can call me Draco."
Glad at the outcome of that conversation, Harry nodded with a smile before turning back to the contenders. In a surprise turn of events, Ron was slated to face Zabini. With a nod, he gestured towards the pair. "So, Draco, any chance that you'll help me cheer on Ron in this round?"
Draco nearly stuttered in his walk. Then, after a quick scoff, he fixed himself with an amused grin. "Cheer on a Weasley? Not a chance, Harry."
In the Slytherin common room, Melissa, Adrian, Domonkos, and Amy busied themselves over their potions essay, though their discussions were interrupted by a weasel-eyed fourth-year boy with a book in hand. "The ranks are in for tomorrow's matches. Any of you want a stake in it?"
"I'll take a look." Adrian offered. With an oily smirk, the older boy handed over the book for Adrian to peruse.
Melissa did her best to sound disinterested. "I don't see the point. Jacqueline didn't qualify, we don't have much stake in the game."
"I'm sure she won't mind." Amy shrugged. "Besides, there are a couple Slytherins in the finals."
"It's not about the house," Adrian argued, "it's about playing the odds to win."
The fourth-year scoffed. "Heh, don't be saying that too loud, Pucey. What would your team say if they heard you?"
"Don't take a dive in the next match?" Adrian joked. The others didn't answer the rhetorical joke. Instead, Adrian took to silence to choose his bets for the specialty rounds and final winner.
Amy took the time to chime through the silence. "I'm surprised you're not making a bet, Melissa."
Said girl merely shrugged. "It's not like I watched the game. No use in betting on an unknown."
"Come on, Melissa," Adrian encouraged, "take a bet. I could use the extra Honeydukes coin."
"In your dreams, Adrian. I only lost to you once." That response only caused the boy to smile knowingly. This, in turn, made her sigh in defeat. "...Fine, let me take a look when you're done."
When Adrian finished with the book, Melissa took it and looked over the odds and categories. There was the biggest pot for the ultimate winner, naturally, as well as three additional categories for fastest victory, lowest casualties, and an odd one called the Battleship Round. "Okay, so I'm not the best at chess, but what's a battleship round?"
The fourth-year scoffed. "What, a mudblood don't know what a battleship is?"
"Apparently it's a new muggle chess style." Amy answered, frowning slightly towards the older boy. "From what Professor Flitwick said, players have to secretly pick five pieces ahead of time and try to keep them safe. The winner with the most secret pieces left in the game wins the award.
A battleship game. Melissa became stone-faced at the explanation. That, officially, is the least subtle thing the Greek Group has pulled so far. How did Flitwick let them get away with that?
"...Oh." Her voice had gone flat. "Guess I'm out of touch with muggle games." An urge overtook her to toss the book out, but that would only cause too much attention. Keeping her mouth shut, she went back to perusing the book. Going through the contestants, it was clear that half of the qualifiers were OWL and NEWT level Ravenclaws, no surprise there. What was a surprise, at least according to the odds listed, was a first-year Gryffindor in the top eight.
"Alright then, five sickles on Shannon Alderton for the brackets and another five to Weasley for the battleship round."
Adrian almost seemed offended by the bet. "Really? You're wasting your bet on a first year?"
"And a Gryffindor at that." The bookie grunted.
"Eh, I have to give you one win, don't I? Can't let you completely starve on the next Hogsmeade visit."
The jab was met with good-humoured laughter. Fortunately, the group then let the conversation deviate from there, and Melissa was able to move back to forgetting about the tournament.
The next day, Melissa lost her bet for Shannon Alderton. Alderton ended up losing in the semi-finals, leaving Melissa five sickles poorer. On a bittersweet note, she more than made up for it when Ron Weasley won the Battleship Round. (A victory that surprised many, and prompted his older twin brothers to parade him around the castle with a stone crown on his head. This was immediately followed by a chessboard-styled birthday cake for the boy that may or may not have been charmed for its consumers to spend the next five hours speaking only in limericks.) In the back of her mind, a voice screamed at her in warning about Ron's new connection to the Greek group. In the end, though, it was only the knowledge of Harry's ignorance to the game that kept her from any rash moves.
"Ron won the battleship game." Harry announced to Hermione, breaking the girl's focus on her levitation attempts and causing the parchment to float down to the floor.
Though disappointed at the interruption, she switched her focus firmly to her friend. The news categorized itself in her mind, and her brows furrowed. "There's no guarantee they'll ask him."
"Come on, Hermione, you promised." He stressed.
After a beat, the girl answered. "Fine," She huffed, "but we should wait a few days in case it's clear they asked someone else; and any lip from him and he's on his own!"
Harry nodded to the terms. "Don't worry, he'll listen. I'll make sure of it."
