Chapter 9

~ After Charms ~

The moment Professor Flitwick finished the class, the Queen stood up from her seat and confidently started walking to the door, everybody who had also stood up, parted a way for her.She threw a partway glance at Linny, seeing them in their seats and still chatting. She lightly smiles and walks out of the classroom, a little bit further, and stopped to wait for Luna.

The Queen could see Priscia not knowing if she should follow her or not, it seems that for now, she won't be following. The Queen would've said something, but she wants Priscia to follow her on her own, ask for her without any hurdles, she has already laid the groundwork. Now, Pri needs to finish it.

So The Queen just waits outside the class, for everybody to move, for her Moon and her... She will think of a name for Ginny at a later date, perhaps she will discuss it with Luna, she's waiting for them to come out.

While she waits, she looks at the passing students and the robes of the school that everybody is wearing then looks down at her own... She doesn't like them... I will bring it up with the old Dumbo later. But for now?

'Multicarfors' the Queen says and changes her style of clothing and the color scheme, with some Ravenclaw colors still left in there. She isn't going to betray her own house, after all.

The, previously, loose robe, has been transfigured into a skin-tight regal dress, that's closer to the clothes that Fleur wore during the ceremony yesterday, except the Queen has no hat, she has a crown on her head. Her forming muscles can be slightly seen, if she were to pose, at least at the arm and leg regions.

And of course, the dress, white in color with royal purple undertones. And in front, in the middle, is the crest of Ravenclaw. On the back, the Crimson family emblem, a rapier held by a skeletal hand, at the tip of the blade, a king's... Queen's crown, but instead of its original colors. These were made in blue and bronze to show off that she's proud to be a Ravenclaw.

Above the crest of the house. The name of the person wearing the dress, in the fanciest, easy to read, cursive writing. In the favorite color of the Queen. Red, true to her name and appearance, but more of the reason behind it, the color of blood that she loves to see her enemies bleed. Nobody can mistake who they look at anymore. Everybody can see the name.

Luna Crimson, The Queen.

The students that see her, are stunned to their cores. For a few reasons. Nobody has ever changed the school's uniforms like that, nobody ever wore anything other than the robes. And also, that she did it openly, not caring who sees. But, also, because she looks really good in the new get-up. Way better than the old one.

While the Queen was changing her clothes. Luna and Ginny finally came out of the classroom, having a chat, but they go silent the moment they see the Queen.

Ginny's eyes go wide from the transformation... of well.. everything.

And Luna just nods, indicating that she likes it. The Queen is pleased but then looks at her Moon... not liking what she sees.

"Luna, Ginny" She starts, it gets both of their attention "Do you like my dress?"

Luna without thinking says "Yes", it takes a second for Ginny to do the same.

"Good, then this will be easier" And just like that, the Queen points her wand at them and says 'Multicarfors' again. They barely had any time to react.

Luna Lovegood is seen wearing the same clothes as the Queen, but on the back instead of a crown at the tip of the rapier, the rapier is, instead of in front an animated and shining moon, that lights over the blade, with clouds passing from time to time. And her name is written in bold letters, silver color, no title... Yet.

Ginny Weasley is seen wearing almost the exact copy, but with a Gryffindor crest, and at the back, there's only a rapier held in a skeletal hand in the colors of gold and red. Her name is written in messy writing, still easy to read. In bright brown color. The back emblem is empty because the Queen didn't know what to put there, yet.

They both look down at their new clothing. Luna is seen smiling, liking what just transpired. Ginny is more conflicted about it. She has no idea what's happening today. In one day, she lost a partner, got a new one, got 20 points that she did nothing for, she left the class and got a wardrobe change. All because of the strangest person she has ever... met? But she has no time to ponder because the Queen is asking her a question.

"Weasley" Ginny snaps out of her daze and looks up to the Queen "Could you please tell me, one of your favorite things?" This out of nowhere question confuses Ginny to such an extent that she doesn't realize that she answers it, saying "Quidditch".

And just like that, the Queen changed the previously, stale mark on the back. To a broom and the rapier crossing in an 'X' shape, with two skeletal hands holding each object, while an animated snitch flies around, darting from place to place, repeatedly.

The Queen is satisfied with her work and just nods repeatedly, checking both the girls out. Luna is also checking out both of them, while Ginny is breaking inside from the two intensely staring at her. But she also tried to look at how the two looked. All three of them thought the same thing. Perfect.

"Our name coloring, you chose them because of our eyes?" Luna asks the Queen.

"Indeed. And the writing... completely random, except for mine. If at a later date you'd want it differently, just ask" The Queen says back. Luna just nods but doesn't say anything else.

"Okay, ladies, follow me, we got ourselves something to do in the Great Hall," The Queen says and starts to lead.

Luna follows as if it was normal, while Ginny is left behind, puzzled if she should follow, but one glance from Lovegood and at her back, to see the shining moon, she follows.

Before they walk away, the Queen sees Priscia sneaking away... She thinks for a bit and then secretly points her wand at her and casts a weak 'Multicarfors' and a little-sized rapier mark appeared on her robes, right on the shoulder. A present, hope she finds it before our next class. And with that, she continues walking to her objective.

The trio is walking in silence. Ginny is the only one who feels awkward, thinking that she doesn't really belong. Plus she doesn't want to be the one to speak, for she may say something stupid.The Queen feeling the anxiety coming from Ginny saves her from it.

"Okay, so, me and Luna, here" The Queen lightly points to Luna "Had ourselves a friendly date planned out in the Great Hall, but, we are both okay with sharing it with more people. So you will be joining us. We are going to be selling my books that only a few people got for free"

"But... Why am I here?" Ginny asks, still confused about the whole ordeal. The class, the clothes and the 'date'.

"Because I said so" And that's all the Queen says.

"Uhm..."

The Queen looks at her, rolls her eyes, sighs, and elaborates.

"Fine, it will be easier to do what I want to, with more people. And because Luna chose you, I will trust you, besides... You will be a great weapon for later, so don't worry and follow us. You will get your own cut if that helps you to accept my proposal"

Ginny thinks about it, there doesn't seem to be any bad points in any of what the Queen said... except for the 'great weapon' part. What is that about? But, she can't think for long, so she agrees.

"Okay, thank you for the clothes, by the way, I actually like them, more than the robes from before" Ginny tries to express her gratitude.

"You're welcome. I really don't like the uniform of Hogwarts, it's so... Old. The clothes for old people. Anyways, you can take the new ones off, clean them, put them anywhere and in any way you want to, they will always stay like that and will always be as good as new. So you don't have to worry about a thing"

"But... The rules? We are supposed to wear the robes given by the school"

The Queen shakes her head.

"Okay, I get it. Rules are important and are made to be followed, without them there's only chaos. But I am a Queen, I don't follow rules made by others, I make them myself. And so? These new clothes are part of the rules I've made. Anybody who walks with me is required to have better and worthy clothes. Understand?"

Luna is just listening to the conversation while looking around dreamily, Sometimes glancing at Ginny's back, because she gets distracted by the fast snitch imitation flying around. Then she wonders why the Queen didn't animate her own back, she did it with hers and Ginny's...

"How can you do something like that? I don't think the teachers or Professor Dumbledore would allow it" Ginny is still trying to make sense of what she's being told. It's getting more and more bizarre by the moment.

"Honey, look, I will share a secret with you. Come closer" The Queen gestures towards her.

Ginny comes closer, her ear close to the Queen's lips, she can feel the slight breathing.

"I am a Queen, I do whatever I want if somebody wants to stand against me? Well? They can certainly try" The Queen says loud enough for Luna to hear, there was no need for Ginny to get closer... The Queen just toyed with her.

"Anyways, we are close to the Great Hall, be ready for the show. Whatever you do" She turns to Ginny and looks at her seriously, making Ginny gulp "Don't go against me, you might not like what comes later, but just don't make it harder for yourself," The Queen says mysteriously.

Luna understanding that this is about her brother, also adds her own sentence.

"Lun, you don't have to say it like that" Then turns to Ginny and says "There will be absolutely no problems, you can be yourself" Ginny appreciates the support.

The Queen looks at her Moon, then back to Ginny, and just nods. She starts to walk again. But is stopped by Luna again.

"By the way, you should know something"

"What is it?"

"You're a new student, an interesting one at that, a new target... For the twins"

The Queen turns around and raises an eyebrow at Luna.

"They will definitely try to prank you as much as they can, so just be careful"

"George and Fred Weasley, right?"

Both Ginny and Luna nod at that. The Queen ponders for a while, then smiles evilly.

Luna is already shaking her head because she realized that the Queen got another bright idea, it will only bring trouble.

"Good, good. Let's start with that" The Queen says just as they arrived at the entrance and again blasts open the door of the Great Hall, the students that were there, instantly snapped their eyes to the commotion.

Everybody stares, mouth open, wide-eyed. Three students walk in, two following the 'leader', with clothing never seen before. No robes on them. It takes a few moments for most to recognize them.

One of them is popular because she's the only Weasley child that's a girl and because of the Chamber of Secrets incident two years prior, Ginny Weasley. Looking way better than ever before, the new dress fitting her perfectly, proudly showing off the mark of Gryffindor.

The other one, blonde-haired, loner, the ever so 'weird' Loony, dubbed by those that know of her, while to others that don't know her, they have no idea who she is. Luna Lovegood, they see the name written. She too gets a couple of glances. But none can appreciate her more than the Queen.

And finally the one in front. The new student, the person that everybody's talking about, rumors spread fast after all. Talking back to Snape, insulting her own house, charming a professor, doing whatever she pleases. The Queen. For those that don't agree or remember. It's right there as a reminder, in deep bloody raw, red. Both her name and her title.

That's a trio, nobody would've ever expected to see.

As the Queen looks around, she spots her first target. She walks to it. The other two are still following. People are even more stunned when they see the back of the three. All have a rapier in a skeletal hand, that's the only thing that's the same, everything else is different.

A moon that shines moonlight upon the blade held by the bony hand.

A snitch that flies around the broom and the rapier, both in hands of a skeleton

And last, but not least, the crown worthy of a Queen, the same one that she's wearing right now, to show everybody, who's the Queen.

They just can't stop looking at the scene, some students look at the clouds drifting and making a shadow over the sword, before the light from the moon reappears shining over it, again.

Others are looking at the snitch, sometimes stopping, the bony hand moving up the broom slowly, carefully, in a try to catch it, but the snitch just dodges and flies around again, causing the hand to go down again. Then it repeats, sometimes with the hand that holds the blade and sometimes both hands try to do it. But the snitch is never caught.

But everybody is confused. There's no such thing, no such spectacle on the back of the Queen. It's just an unmoving image of the crown... They don't look at it for long. It's a boring sight to most.

Everybody is looking at them, not a single student doing anything else. They see the trio walk to the Gryffindor table. Most students are thinking that the Queen is walking towards the Golden trio. But she just passes them as if they were air, barely sparing a glance to them.

Only Hermione Granger seems to be the lucky one, the only worthy one, enough of getting one quick look and a nod when their eyes meet.

finally, the students see the Queen stop, causing the two others following her to also stop. They stopped in front of the twins, the Weasley pranksters, everybody loves them, everybody fears them, for all the same reasons.

Well then, let's play.

The twins look at the Queen and then glance behind her, to their sister. Whistling a bit because they like what they see. The Queen snaps her fingers in front of them. That brings their attention back to her.

The Queen moves her hand up to her ear, slowly taking out the wand, the twins watch her intrigued, while the others don't like where this is going. They have one thought in common, did the twins already screw with the Queen, which caused her to retaliate?

But the only thing the Queen does is point the wand at herself, near her neck. And say 'Sonorus', then points it towards the twins and does the same.

George and Fred look at each other, then back to the Queen and both raise an eyebrow at the same time.

"So... You're George and Fred, the Weasley twins, am I correct?" Finally, the first words were spoken and heard by everybody, because of the amplifying charm that the Queen cast.

"Yes," One of the twins says, the other following up with "And you're the self-proclaimed Queen" Then the other one cuts in "Are we correct?"

"You're half right," The Queen says back.

"Oh?" One says "How so?" The other finishes.

"I am not a self-proclaimed Queen, I am the real deal"

"Big" One says "Words, lady" the other finishes "So, what is it," One says, the other finishes "That the Queen wants from us?"

The Queen looks around the Great Hall, seeing that she has everybody's attention. Looks back at Ginny and Luna, Ginny seems like a lost puppy, so confused, but Luna seems more up to speed. They both smile at each other. And before continuing with her game, she quickly glances at Hermione, who's curiously staring at the scene, when their eyes meet, the Queen only playfully winks and returns her gaze to the twins. Who are still smirking teasingly.

"There's one thing, that, I, a Queen would need pranksters for. And that's for you to be my personal jesters. For one, meager, day, they get boring than they work for me for longer"Hearing that, catching interest in everybody, especially the twins.

"Oh? The Queen needs jesters?" One starts, the other finishing "We're not worthy" The other one starts again "But, we might" The other one ends "As well hear you out"

"Good. So here's what's going to happen. Only one day at the school and I already had been told a warning about you two, to stay away, be careful, that I could become a target for your dastardly deeds, am I correct in assuming that?" The Queen asks with a raised eyebrow.

Fred and George look at each other.

"Fred, you hear that?"

"I do, indeed, George"

"The Queen seems to be wary of us"

"Yes, I wonder who was it that made us"

"Known to her"

Both of the twins look back at Ginny, only seeing a slight shake of her head, knowing it wasn't their dear sister. Then they both look at the other girl, they know her of course. Loony seems to be spaced out and looking dreamily to the side. But they know that she's not at all what she seems to be like. So they know that it was her that told the Queen about them.

"Wary? Hardly"

"Forge, hear that? I think we are being underestimated"

"Gred, I think you are right"

"You are right, which is why I am here, to make out a deal with you... More of a game, really, it's right up your alley" The Queen cuts them off.

"That so?" One starts, the other ends "And what is this game?"

"Oh, everybody's going to like it. It's very simple, I challenge you to prank me to the best of your ability"

The twins look at each other, then throw a brief smile and look back at the Queen. No more words needed to be said, she understood, they are up to it.

"So, you might be wondering, where does the deal come in? Where's the game, it's just something that you would already do. Well, I challenge you to prank me in a maximum number of 5 tries, over the last years you guys have here in Hogwarts, I want you to try and get me once, you need to do it only a single time and you win the challenge. if you fail to do it in 5 times, then you become my jesters for the day"

"Oh? What's the catch?" One asks.

"Yes, this seems pretty normal, so far. The other says.

"Except for the number of tries," The first says again

"And the given time" The second chimes in.

"Okay, so you're both up to speed. Now, this is where it gets fun. I want you to bring your A-game, your best, no weak pranks, no weak jokes. You'd only bore me to death. I need you to break your limits and try to get me caught in a prank, because, I can say this right now, it will be the hardest thing you will have ever done"

"Okay... We're listening"

"Yes, yes, continue, we want to hear the whole thing"

"Oh, impatient are we? Well okay, I am not going to beat around the bush anymore, I think the crowd wants to know the game rules too"

Then Queen and the twins look around the hall and see everybody staring back at them interested.

"5 tries in total, 2 years left. Get me one time, you win, otherwise, you fail. If you fail, you become my jesters for a day and do whatever I want you to, that's the job of a jester after all"

"Sounds all good and dandy"

"But what do we get out of this?"

"You're speaking to a Queen and one thing the Queen has copious amounts of is money. You will get 30% of all of my reserved savings, that's right now, at the moment we speak, in the Gringotts bank"

Everybody is stunned, but some are thinking that it must be a joke, how much money could that actually be, they aren't silent about it either. Even the twins had that thought for a second. But the next words from the Queen shut everybody up.

"100% of my savings is more money than all 28 sacred families combined and then some"That much... so much money, 30% of it would set anybody for life, 100 times over. Everybody is staring, not believing what they are hearing. The Queen just bet insane amounts of money on a game of pranks. She is crazy, that's the common thought going through everybody's mind.

Ginny, Ron, and the Weasley Twins pale, if they had such amount of money, they could do anything.

Luna only smiles, barely stunned at the ridiculousness going around her. She did get stunned by the revelation of the Queen being so rich, but only for a moment. Then she realized, that money doesn't matter, that's why the Queen bets so much money, she herself doesn't care about it. Besides, there's no way she will ever lose. Luna just can't see that happening. She knows her only for a day... well for a week if you count the meeting on the train. But she already knows that the Queen doesn't do anything without a plan, without knowing what she wants... She does everything to perfection.

The other two of the Golden trio are also speechless, for two different reasons, Harry thought he had a lot of money, but he pales in comparison to the younger girl. While Hermione is also not that impressed, well, not anymore at least, she was when she read the book that the Queen gave her yesterday. The money amount is nothing compared to the information in that book.

"Well... George, what do you think?"

"Fred... I say we agree, we got nothing to lose"

"Yeah, jesters for a day?"

"Shouldn't be too hard"

The Queen only smiles and starts talking again.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes," Both of the twins say at the same time.

"Do you not want to hear what you'd be doing if you would fail?"

The twins look at each other, nod, and turn around to the Queen.

"Yes/No" The twins look at each other again.

"No/Yes" They try again.

They stare at each other and finally relent and say the same answer.

"Yes we want to hear it"

"Good choice. Well, your job as jesters would be, very simple. I hear that you like Quidditch, just as much as Ginny over there, I even gave her that cool back emblem, you can see a snitch flying. She looks so good"

"Oh Yeah, she does look good"

"Can we get clothing that good, too?"

"No, they are specifically for my people" The Queen shuts down the twins, immediately.

"Hey, hey, when did I become one of your people?" Ginny asks confused.

"The moment you became friends with Luna," The Queen says without turning around.

"But, we aren-"

"You are not what?" She asks without leaving a chance for Ginny to answer how she wanted.

"We are not... uh... We aren't friends. We are best friends" Ginny says smiling, trying to defuse the situation that she, herself, planted herself into.

"I thought so," The Queen says and turns back to the twins, sparing a glance at Luna, she seems to be out of it, but the Queen knows that what Ginny thought of saying, had hurt her. She will cheer her up later.

The Queen on purpose prolongs the information, for the twins to become more nervous.

"Yes, we like/love Quidditch" The twins answer the previous question before the scene that they just witnessed happened.

"Good, because your job will be to play a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw"

Everybody waits for the Queen to continue, but nothing else comes.

The twins look at each other confused then turn to the Queen to start speaking.

"That's Eas-" Both of them get cut off.

"Naked, in your birthday suit, with every single media outlet imaginable recording it and then interviewing you if you were to either win or lose"

Everything goes completely silent. The only sounds are heard from the Queen as she laughs menacingly.

"So, boys, are you up to the challenge? Or are you not real Gryffindor and are too chicken, thought it'd be an easy day to be a jester? A Queen needs real entertainment and she's going to get it"

The Queen looks at the twins as if they were prey and not worth her time.

"What's it going to be? A lifetime of luxury? Or a lifetime of embarrassment? Or is our game being called off, because Player 2 and 3 have left the field?"

~ End of Chapter 9 ~