Games People Play Answers
Did you enjoy fun and games with Severus and Hermione? Here's the answer sheet.
EDIT: This week's winner is... klschmidt1309!
We have a special Christmas Quiz posting this Friday since it is Christmas Eve! The quiz chosen by klschmidt1309 will be posted on New Year's Eve.
1. Lest the Old Traditions Fail by Quillusion
2. It's All Fun and Games Until ... by darnedchild
3. The Games People Play by madeleone
4. Checkmate by geminiscorp
5. Mission I: Get Hermione Laid! by fervesco (HG/SS/RL/SB)
6. Dice by anogete
7. The Second Time Around by Jayabear
8. Down and Dirty by Andrian
9. Strange Bedfellows by fly_chickadee
10. Bottle (Severus) by justjeanette
1. "Ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore said. "I should like to share with you, my friends, a holiday tradition from my boyhood. I know how ancient I must seem to some of you, but believe me when I tell you this tradition dates back even farther than I." He murmured something over the orange, and a moment later a cloud of fragrance drifted over the heads of the diners as cloves studded the fruit's surface, mingling citrus and spice.
"Pomanders have long been used at holiday times," Albus commented. "And the tradition of the cloven fruit is much the same. When you receive a cloven fruit, you are being given the gift of a kiss from its giver. You designate a landing spot for the kiss, and the giver takes a clove, like so-" he demonstrated, pulling a clove from the skin of the orange with strong teeth- "and chews it to freshen the breath."
"And then..." He turned and handed the fruit to Minerva, who flushed prettily and gave the Headmaster her hand, which he saluted gallantly.
"Minerva, it's your turn." He winked at her.
"Whoever takes the last clove gets the orange, of course."
Lest the Old Traditions Fail by Quillusion
2. “Since this is the last such gathering before the NEWTs, it might be a good idea for Mr. Malfoy to attend. I’m sure having the Head Boy around for the festivities could only make things more ... eh, festive.” Even though Albus’ “request” had been issued in a jovial manner, Severus could detect the steel behind it.
Still, he felt a sense of relief wash over him. If the Headmaster wanted Draco at tomorrow’s soiree, Draco would be there. Even if Severus had to put him in a full body bind and drag him there personally.
*Better Draco than me.*
“Of course, sir. I’m sure Mr. Malfoy would be delighted to attend.”
Albus settled back into his chair and gave free rein to his grin. The hairs on the back of Severus’ neck stood up.
“Esmeralda was kind enough to point out that while every other staff member has taken a turn, or two, chaperoning Fun Day, you have been unfortunate enough to miss out. I believe you had urgent matters in the dungeon the last few times?”
Albus pulled a list written on stationary clearly labeled “From the Desk of Esmeralda Sinistra” from his robes. Severus glared at the Slytherin Astronomy instructor.
*I knew that comment about the uselessness of looking for answers in the sky when the problems were down in the real world would come back to bite me in the arse.*
With a slight readjustment of his glasses, Albus began to read from the list. “Fifth year essays to mark. Detentions to cover. Emergency cauldron inspections. Rabid wombat invasion. That was my favorite, by the way.”
“Thank you, sir.” In all honesty, Severus had been just as surprised as everyone else when the wombat excuse had worked.
It's All Fun and Games Until ... by darnedchild
3. The two older wizards joined the group, while continuing to work on their bottle.
Luna challenged, “Hermione, truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Have you ever had a serious crush on a teacher?”
Hermione gave Luna a look that should have had her shaking in her boots. With a blush, she replied, “Yes, I have.”
“Who?” asked Harry, clearly curious.
“It wasn't part of the question, I'm not going to tell,” stated Hermione, deciding that in present company, she wouldn't choose truth again. She looked speculatively at the Dynamic Duo. “Hmm... Severus, truth or dare?”
The Games People Play by madeleone
4. “I’m sorry, Severus, but I told you I didn’t want to play chess with you.”
He grunted in reply.
“It’s not my fault I do so well at board games. You can blame Ron. It was self-preservation.”
He looked up.
“Months in a tent with two randy teen-aged boys.”
“Elaborate,” he said, his eyes narrowing.
“Well, when Ron got the idea that any game we played should have the word strip preceding it,” she smirked, “I never lost again.”
Checkmate by geminiscorp
5. “Forgive me for my presumption, Miss Granger, but we’re playing for money,” Snape growls at me. Bit embarrassed are we, Professor? Oh, what a pity…
“Oh. Well, I think I’ll go to bed then,” I reply, knowing full well from the look on Sirius’ face that he isn’t about to let me go anywhere.
“Now, don’t be so hasty, Severus. Miss Granger may gave something to offer,” Sirius said hopefully.
“I’m afraid Professor Snape is correct - I’m skint.” Give Sirius my best innocent smile and am rewarded by desperate look in those puppy dog eyes. A mischievous smirk quickly replaces his disappointment, and he glances at Lupin, who quickly shakes his head. Sirius thankfully doesn’t listen to his old friend.
“How about we make this game a little more interesting and up the stakes?” Sirius suggests. This time I do see Snape raise his eyebrow in interest.
Ooh, looks like strip poker might just be on the table after all…
However, what Sirius says is much more interesting.
“Audeo Poker.”
“Excuse me?” Snape says, obviously not understanding. Hm, got one up on the Potions Master there - have spent many a night at the burrow playing this with Harry, Ron and his siblings.
“Dare Poker - winner of each round gets to make any of the losers do something of their choosing.”
A smile plays at the Potions Master’s lips, and though Lupin tries to hide his own smirk, he doesn’t succeed.
“Well then,” I reply, “deal me in.”
Mission I: Get Hermione Laid! by fervesco (HG/SS/RL/SB)
6. “Right, so you’re just a fumbling third-year then? Afraid of the girls, are you?” Tonks threw the taunt out with a broad smile on her face. Hermione saw Remus place a hand on her shoulder and pull her back away from the edge of her seat. There was only a low coffee table between her and Snape, and Snape looked positively murderous.
His eyes gleamed with anger when he swallowed his tantrum to respond. “I believe that you’ve got it backwards. I’m not afraid of the girls; they are afraid of me.”
“Oh, nonsense.” Tonks cast around the room with her eyes, searching for something before noticing Hermione sitting on the edge of the alcove with them. “Hermione’s not afraid of you.”
Hermione’s eyes widened and she shook her head at Tonks. “Please don’t pull me into this argument.”
“You can’t be serious. Miss Granger is a former student. It would be highly inappropriate, not to mention disagreeable to both of us,” Snape said.
“Every available witch at this party is a former student of yours, you dolt. You need to rearrange your standards if you ever want to have some fun.” Tonks looked at Hermione again. “You want to play a little game, don’t you, Hermione?”
Hermione opened her mouth to respond with an unequivocal no, but Remus interrupted. “Darling, I don’t think either of them wants to play. Perhaps we should leave them be.”
“Hermione wants to play. She looks bored and could do with a bit of fun.”
“No, I really don’t,” Hermione said, shrinking back into the oversized chair.
Dice by anogete
7. She looked like she was caught between hexing all of her former class mates, or just yelling at them.
Apparently deciding on the latter, she flicked her wrist quickly, and then looked baffled when nothing happened. She did it again, with much the same result.
No wand.
Pulling back the sleeve, she saw the wand holster was... empty.
"Where is my wand." she asked, looking horrified.
At this signal, everyone else looked for their wands (or in Draco's case, multiple wands), and also found them missing.
Now this was ascertained, attention was turned back to Assistant Professor Granger.
She folded her arms, and sat up straight in her chair, like a Queen about to address her court. "Now, we are stuck in this room for an unidentified amount of time. What are we going to do?"
Unwillingly, everyones eyes were drawn to the mat, spinner, and magic cards.
Hermione blanched. "Oh, no. Not again." Now here eyes hardened. "Although, this time, if anything at all happens, what is said in the room, and done in the room, stays in the room."
The Second Time Around by Jayabear
8. “Now then, for the schematics of the games,” Remus said. “As I said before, it is a simple card game similar to the Muggle game of poker.” Justin’s face brightened at this, he knew how to play poker, and he often played with his cousins over the holidays. “Combinations of cards to make the highest scoring hand, pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind and so forth. Five cards will be dealt to each player followed by three cards face down. The player must decide which card to lay down and replace with one of the three to make the best hand.”
“Should be a cinch for you Sybil,” Minerva said sweetly, though her eyes flashed, “with your all seeing eye.”
Trelawney just grunted at her.
“Its really pretty simple and straightforward..” but Remus was interrupted by Snape’s drawling voice.
“Straightforward, except for the stakes.”
Justin frowned. What were the stakes? Usually his cousins played for sweets. He hoped it wasn’t money.
“Er, well yes, that’s true,” Remus said flushing.
Giggling, Rolanda encouraged him to continue. “Yes do tell us about the stakes.”
Hermione raised her eyebrows. Did she just imagine the sultry tone in Professor Hooch’s voice?
“The stakes change for each round.” Black said grinning.
The table was silent, each waiting for the other to ask the grinning Sirius. Justin finally gained the courage to ask. “Professor Black, er, Sirius, what is the stake for the first round?”
“Well,” he said, mischievously, “Have you ever heard of strip poker?”
Down and Dirty by Andrian
9. "Never mind," giggled an equally tipsy Parvati. "Let's play Truth!"
"Er, isn't it 'Truth or Dare?'," commented Ginny curiously.
"Not the way we're gonna play it!" Parvati replied.
The four girls were sitting in Hermione's room, because as Head Girl, she had the most privacy and room. Much to Hermione's chagrin, Lavender had snuck in a few bottles of Firewhiskey, even though everyone knew that she couldn't handle her liquor worth a damn. Lavender was a terribly cheap drunk, which was the reason nobody worried anymore when the other girls woke up and Lavender wasn't in her own bed. She had a tendency of staying the night with a lot of her male Gryffindor classmates. She once wandered so far she ended up in the Ravenclaw dormitory one night with Terry Boot, but that's another story.
Anyhow, Hermione had once again been dragged into one of these "girl bonding nights" by Ginny, who insisted it would be fun, even though all she accomplished was a rip-roaring hangover the next morning. Her thoughts were interrupted by a glance as a small vial filled with a clear liquid.
"Veritaserum?" Hermione gasped. "Where did you get that from?"
"Snape's private stores," Parvati bragged.
"Are you insane?" Hermione said.
Strange Bedfellows by fly_chickadee
10. “Merlin’s Balls,” Severus snarled to himself after a few moments having noted the elder of the Weasley twins-yes he could tell them apart-had a glowing bottle in hand ready for spin-the-bottle, “just what I need.” Long associating with Slytherin house had taught Severus a great many things about the Wizarding version of ‘Spin the Bottle’, none of it good. The fact that the game forced participants into acts that they otherwise would not consent to should have made it a ‘Dark Arts’ game, but everyone tended to make a joke of it; that is, everyone who hadn’t been forced beyond a little ‘slap and tickle’.
The sight of Miss Granger trying to leave the parlor barely a minute later, unsuccessfully, caused Severus’ conscience to kick him.
“Damnation,” he growled at himself. He should have seen this problem coming; he knew that parlor was so small that no matter where the girl sat, she would have found herself unwittingly caught in the spell’s trap. Knowing Miss Granger to be oblivious to the outside world when her nose was firmly planted in a book, it was unlikely she had even noticed the intrusion until it was too late. If he’d acted then he wouldn’t have to come to the rescue now. ‘Bloody conscience,’ he muttered as he strode over toward the parlor, all the while ignoring that bitter part of him that was asking just why he was going to the rescue. His conscious thought processes were so involved in ignoring that little internal argument that he didn’t have time to stop and consider the types of consequences that came from breaking in on a Wizarding Spin-the-bottle game already in progress…until it was too late.
Hearing chanting as he reached the parlor door Severus grabbed hold of the door handle and yanked it so hard that the door nearly fell of its hinges. “-Would you stop that infernal chanting?”
His deep-voiced command froze everyone in place; unfortunately it failed to stop everything in place. The bottle, which obviously had been spun by Miss Granger, was still turning, slowly, inevitability towards some poor fool who would be forced to endure close contact with the Brains of the Golden Trio. Finally it came to rest pointing straight at … Severus.
Bottle (Severus) by justjeanette
EDIT: This week's winner is... klschmidt1309!
We have a special Christmas Quiz posting this Friday since it is Christmas Eve! The quiz chosen by klschmidt1309 will be posted on New Year's Eve.
1. Lest the Old Traditions Fail by Quillusion
2. It's All Fun and Games Until ... by darnedchild
3. The Games People Play by madeleone
4. Checkmate by geminiscorp
5. Mission I: Get Hermione Laid! by fervesco (HG/SS/RL/SB)
6. Dice by anogete
7. The Second Time Around by Jayabear
8. Down and Dirty by Andrian
9. Strange Bedfellows by fly_chickadee
10. Bottle (Severus) by justjeanette
1. "Ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore said. "I should like to share with you, my friends, a holiday tradition from my boyhood. I know how ancient I must seem to some of you, but believe me when I tell you this tradition dates back even farther than I." He murmured something over the orange, and a moment later a cloud of fragrance drifted over the heads of the diners as cloves studded the fruit's surface, mingling citrus and spice.
"Pomanders have long been used at holiday times," Albus commented. "And the tradition of the cloven fruit is much the same. When you receive a cloven fruit, you are being given the gift of a kiss from its giver. You designate a landing spot for the kiss, and the giver takes a clove, like so-" he demonstrated, pulling a clove from the skin of the orange with strong teeth- "and chews it to freshen the breath."
"And then..." He turned and handed the fruit to Minerva, who flushed prettily and gave the Headmaster her hand, which he saluted gallantly.
"Minerva, it's your turn." He winked at her.
"Whoever takes the last clove gets the orange, of course."
Lest the Old Traditions Fail by Quillusion
2. “Since this is the last such gathering before the NEWTs, it might be a good idea for Mr. Malfoy to attend. I’m sure having the Head Boy around for the festivities could only make things more ... eh, festive.” Even though Albus’ “request” had been issued in a jovial manner, Severus could detect the steel behind it.
Still, he felt a sense of relief wash over him. If the Headmaster wanted Draco at tomorrow’s soiree, Draco would be there. Even if Severus had to put him in a full body bind and drag him there personally.
*Better Draco than me.*
“Of course, sir. I’m sure Mr. Malfoy would be delighted to attend.”
Albus settled back into his chair and gave free rein to his grin. The hairs on the back of Severus’ neck stood up.
“Esmeralda was kind enough to point out that while every other staff member has taken a turn, or two, chaperoning Fun Day, you have been unfortunate enough to miss out. I believe you had urgent matters in the dungeon the last few times?”
Albus pulled a list written on stationary clearly labeled “From the Desk of Esmeralda Sinistra” from his robes. Severus glared at the Slytherin Astronomy instructor.
*I knew that comment about the uselessness of looking for answers in the sky when the problems were down in the real world would come back to bite me in the arse.*
With a slight readjustment of his glasses, Albus began to read from the list. “Fifth year essays to mark. Detentions to cover. Emergency cauldron inspections. Rabid wombat invasion. That was my favorite, by the way.”
“Thank you, sir.” In all honesty, Severus had been just as surprised as everyone else when the wombat excuse had worked.
It's All Fun and Games Until ... by darnedchild
3. The two older wizards joined the group, while continuing to work on their bottle.
Luna challenged, “Hermione, truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Have you ever had a serious crush on a teacher?”
Hermione gave Luna a look that should have had her shaking in her boots. With a blush, she replied, “Yes, I have.”
“Who?” asked Harry, clearly curious.
“It wasn't part of the question, I'm not going to tell,” stated Hermione, deciding that in present company, she wouldn't choose truth again. She looked speculatively at the Dynamic Duo. “Hmm... Severus, truth or dare?”
The Games People Play by madeleone
4. “I’m sorry, Severus, but I told you I didn’t want to play chess with you.”
He grunted in reply.
“It’s not my fault I do so well at board games. You can blame Ron. It was self-preservation.”
He looked up.
“Months in a tent with two randy teen-aged boys.”
“Elaborate,” he said, his eyes narrowing.
“Well, when Ron got the idea that any game we played should have the word strip preceding it,” she smirked, “I never lost again.”
Checkmate by geminiscorp
5. “Forgive me for my presumption, Miss Granger, but we’re playing for money,” Snape growls at me. Bit embarrassed are we, Professor? Oh, what a pity…
“Oh. Well, I think I’ll go to bed then,” I reply, knowing full well from the look on Sirius’ face that he isn’t about to let me go anywhere.
“Now, don’t be so hasty, Severus. Miss Granger may gave something to offer,” Sirius said hopefully.
“I’m afraid Professor Snape is correct - I’m skint.” Give Sirius my best innocent smile and am rewarded by desperate look in those puppy dog eyes. A mischievous smirk quickly replaces his disappointment, and he glances at Lupin, who quickly shakes his head. Sirius thankfully doesn’t listen to his old friend.
“How about we make this game a little more interesting and up the stakes?” Sirius suggests. This time I do see Snape raise his eyebrow in interest.
Ooh, looks like strip poker might just be on the table after all…
However, what Sirius says is much more interesting.
“Audeo Poker.”
“Excuse me?” Snape says, obviously not understanding. Hm, got one up on the Potions Master there - have spent many a night at the burrow playing this with Harry, Ron and his siblings.
“Dare Poker - winner of each round gets to make any of the losers do something of their choosing.”
A smile plays at the Potions Master’s lips, and though Lupin tries to hide his own smirk, he doesn’t succeed.
“Well then,” I reply, “deal me in.”
Mission I: Get Hermione Laid! by fervesco (HG/SS/RL/SB)
6. “Right, so you’re just a fumbling third-year then? Afraid of the girls, are you?” Tonks threw the taunt out with a broad smile on her face. Hermione saw Remus place a hand on her shoulder and pull her back away from the edge of her seat. There was only a low coffee table between her and Snape, and Snape looked positively murderous.
His eyes gleamed with anger when he swallowed his tantrum to respond. “I believe that you’ve got it backwards. I’m not afraid of the girls; they are afraid of me.”
“Oh, nonsense.” Tonks cast around the room with her eyes, searching for something before noticing Hermione sitting on the edge of the alcove with them. “Hermione’s not afraid of you.”
Hermione’s eyes widened and she shook her head at Tonks. “Please don’t pull me into this argument.”
“You can’t be serious. Miss Granger is a former student. It would be highly inappropriate, not to mention disagreeable to both of us,” Snape said.
“Every available witch at this party is a former student of yours, you dolt. You need to rearrange your standards if you ever want to have some fun.” Tonks looked at Hermione again. “You want to play a little game, don’t you, Hermione?”
Hermione opened her mouth to respond with an unequivocal no, but Remus interrupted. “Darling, I don’t think either of them wants to play. Perhaps we should leave them be.”
“Hermione wants to play. She looks bored and could do with a bit of fun.”
“No, I really don’t,” Hermione said, shrinking back into the oversized chair.
Dice by anogete
7. She looked like she was caught between hexing all of her former class mates, or just yelling at them.
Apparently deciding on the latter, she flicked her wrist quickly, and then looked baffled when nothing happened. She did it again, with much the same result.
No wand.
Pulling back the sleeve, she saw the wand holster was... empty.
"Where is my wand." she asked, looking horrified.
At this signal, everyone else looked for their wands (or in Draco's case, multiple wands), and also found them missing.
Now this was ascertained, attention was turned back to Assistant Professor Granger.
She folded her arms, and sat up straight in her chair, like a Queen about to address her court. "Now, we are stuck in this room for an unidentified amount of time. What are we going to do?"
Unwillingly, everyones eyes were drawn to the mat, spinner, and magic cards.
Hermione blanched. "Oh, no. Not again." Now here eyes hardened. "Although, this time, if anything at all happens, what is said in the room, and done in the room, stays in the room."
The Second Time Around by Jayabear
8. “Now then, for the schematics of the games,” Remus said. “As I said before, it is a simple card game similar to the Muggle game of poker.” Justin’s face brightened at this, he knew how to play poker, and he often played with his cousins over the holidays. “Combinations of cards to make the highest scoring hand, pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind and so forth. Five cards will be dealt to each player followed by three cards face down. The player must decide which card to lay down and replace with one of the three to make the best hand.”
“Should be a cinch for you Sybil,” Minerva said sweetly, though her eyes flashed, “with your all seeing eye.”
Trelawney just grunted at her.
“Its really pretty simple and straightforward..” but Remus was interrupted by Snape’s drawling voice.
“Straightforward, except for the stakes.”
Justin frowned. What were the stakes? Usually his cousins played for sweets. He hoped it wasn’t money.
“Er, well yes, that’s true,” Remus said flushing.
Giggling, Rolanda encouraged him to continue. “Yes do tell us about the stakes.”
Hermione raised her eyebrows. Did she just imagine the sultry tone in Professor Hooch’s voice?
“The stakes change for each round.” Black said grinning.
The table was silent, each waiting for the other to ask the grinning Sirius. Justin finally gained the courage to ask. “Professor Black, er, Sirius, what is the stake for the first round?”
“Well,” he said, mischievously, “Have you ever heard of strip poker?”
Down and Dirty by Andrian
9. "Never mind," giggled an equally tipsy Parvati. "Let's play Truth!"
"Er, isn't it 'Truth or Dare?'," commented Ginny curiously.
"Not the way we're gonna play it!" Parvati replied.
The four girls were sitting in Hermione's room, because as Head Girl, she had the most privacy and room. Much to Hermione's chagrin, Lavender had snuck in a few bottles of Firewhiskey, even though everyone knew that she couldn't handle her liquor worth a damn. Lavender was a terribly cheap drunk, which was the reason nobody worried anymore when the other girls woke up and Lavender wasn't in her own bed. She had a tendency of staying the night with a lot of her male Gryffindor classmates. She once wandered so far she ended up in the Ravenclaw dormitory one night with Terry Boot, but that's another story.
Anyhow, Hermione had once again been dragged into one of these "girl bonding nights" by Ginny, who insisted it would be fun, even though all she accomplished was a rip-roaring hangover the next morning. Her thoughts were interrupted by a glance as a small vial filled with a clear liquid.
"Veritaserum?" Hermione gasped. "Where did you get that from?"
"Snape's private stores," Parvati bragged.
"Are you insane?" Hermione said.
Strange Bedfellows by fly_chickadee
10. “Merlin’s Balls,” Severus snarled to himself after a few moments having noted the elder of the Weasley twins-yes he could tell them apart-had a glowing bottle in hand ready for spin-the-bottle, “just what I need.” Long associating with Slytherin house had taught Severus a great many things about the Wizarding version of ‘Spin the Bottle’, none of it good. The fact that the game forced participants into acts that they otherwise would not consent to should have made it a ‘Dark Arts’ game, but everyone tended to make a joke of it; that is, everyone who hadn’t been forced beyond a little ‘slap and tickle’.
The sight of Miss Granger trying to leave the parlor barely a minute later, unsuccessfully, caused Severus’ conscience to kick him.
“Damnation,” he growled at himself. He should have seen this problem coming; he knew that parlor was so small that no matter where the girl sat, she would have found herself unwittingly caught in the spell’s trap. Knowing Miss Granger to be oblivious to the outside world when her nose was firmly planted in a book, it was unlikely she had even noticed the intrusion until it was too late. If he’d acted then he wouldn’t have to come to the rescue now. ‘Bloody conscience,’ he muttered as he strode over toward the parlor, all the while ignoring that bitter part of him that was asking just why he was going to the rescue. His conscious thought processes were so involved in ignoring that little internal argument that he didn’t have time to stop and consider the types of consequences that came from breaking in on a Wizarding Spin-the-bottle game already in progress…until it was too late.
Hearing chanting as he reached the parlor door Severus grabbed hold of the door handle and yanked it so hard that the door nearly fell of its hinges. “-Would you stop that infernal chanting?”
His deep-voiced command froze everyone in place; unfortunately it failed to stop everything in place. The bottle, which obviously had been spun by Miss Granger, was still turning, slowly, inevitability towards some poor fool who would be forced to endure close contact with the Brains of the Golden Trio. Finally it came to rest pointing straight at … Severus.
Bottle (Severus) by justjeanette