Chapter 10

~ In the Great hall ~

"George, what do you think? Do we agree?"

"I don't know, Fred, it's a good deal and a better game"

"I know, but, the jester part isn't as fun"

"As we thought, right?"

George and Fred look at each other, thinking.

The Queen won't allow more of her time to be wasted, so she drives the bargain harder for the last time.

"This is a one-time deal, so you either decide now or never. Oh and did I mention, there's a participation award. 20000 Galleons. If you lose, you get them, if you win, you also get them. But at that point, the meager amount of 20 thousand would do nothing"

Hook, line and sinker, yet again. Too easy.

"We agree," They both say at the same time.

the Queen smiles at that "Good, any questions?"

"Yes, one"

"Anything goes?"

"Of course, no holding back, I wouldn't have it any other way... But, this is still a game, so there have to be rules"

"Of course"

"Understandable, what are they?"

"I will list them 1. 5 tries, no more, no less. 2. 2 years, until your graduation. 3. And this one's very important. No harm can be done to the people around me, the only target can be me, like in a 1v1 duel... In this case, 1v2 duel. So, if I was, for example walking with Ginny here and you decided to prank me, even if it would hit me, which is already unlikely, if it hits her, you're disqualified. And lose by default. 4. The previous rule has its exceptions. That being, it only applies to the people that I don't want being touched in any way, hurt, pranked, basically, my people. For now, that's only Luna, Ginny, and Fleur, so I will give you a head start on that, the other ones? You will have to figure it out by yourselves, so don't get a happy trigger and use your 5 tries quickly, others are of no concern to me. There's strategy involved in this game. And that's all. No other rules"

Everybody looks at the trio, surprised. This whole game is so interesting, that they are already thinking of making bets. Others are gratified by the idea of getting into the crossfire.

The twins look at the Queen and smile at her.

"Good, no other rules"

"We can do anything we want"

"Shouldn't be too har-"

"You didn't understand me, did you?" The Queen asks, making everybody confused again. What was there not to understand?

She clicks her tongue and shakes her head. Turns to Luna.

"Moon, would you be a dear and explain to them what I mean?"

"Of course," Luna says, then turns to the twins "By saying 'anything goes' and 'no other rules' she means that death also counts. So if a prank were to kill her, you'd win, if you were to die in a counter that a Queen makes to not lose, you'd lose. My advice? Make it count"

The Twins are beyond surprised, as is everybody else.

"This is..." One starts, the other finishing "A death game"

"I am glad you understand"

The Queen turns around and starts walking away, Luna instantly following, Ginny being a bit late to do the same from the information she just heard.

"Thank you, Luna"

Luna only nods.

"Let the game begin," The Queen says and disables the amplifying charm.

And now, she moves to her second target. The sale of her book, at first she thought barely anybody would buy them, but now with the impromptu game, perhaps she can strike a deal, some promotional stuff... Yeah, yeah. This could work. But first, an opinion is need from her Lovely Moon.

"Moon"

"Hmm" Luna makes a sound.

"You know how I said that nobody would buy the book because of different mindsets?"

"Yes"

"Well, I might have just cracked the case, that would assure the sale of the books"

"Are you going to sell something that revolves around the game you just made up with the twins?"

"Of course you'd already know..."

Ginny looks at the two, a little bit creeped out that none are saying anything about the 'death' part of the game. So she can't help herself and say something about it.

"So..." As she starts, silver and crimson eyes stare at her, which instantly lowers her resolve, but she continues.

"Care to explain to me about the bonus of death? You do realize that they are my brothers? Besides, we are children, what is this crazy talk about death anyway? All of this is just so weird" She finishes talking about the whole situation.

The Queen and Luna look at each other, then realization hit them... Ginny didn't understand what happened... They feel a little bit guilty about it.

"Listen, there will be no death happening" The Queen starts, it gets the attention of the Weasley."That was all just mind games"

"Eh?"

The Queen looks at Luna to indicate for her to continue, she has a stall to set up for her bookselling. Luna nods and turns to Ginny.

"You know, how Lun said that others are of no concern to her?"

Ginny slowly nods, not fully getting the situation.

"Okay, well that was a complete lie, by saying that this game involves death, the twins will be forced to actually think of what they will do, instead of jumping straight into it, that way, absolutely nobody will get involved in the pranks, except for Lun, saying that hitting her people would get them disqualified nails that idea into their head even more"

"Wait... So... The Queen wants a slow game? And no casualties?"

"Yes, the slower the game, the better it is for the Queen, she has time to adapt to the school, to the people here, their patterns, how they associate with others, she can make her own plans, defenses, and counters. And because she was the one to set the rules, because she is the game maker, she already has the upper hand in the whole thing"

Luna would've continued, but the Queen kindly interrupts her by patting her shoulder.

"My Lovely Moon is as amazing as ever, yes, you are completely right" Then she just gives her a note that reads 'final touches', Luna reads it and goes to continue the work on the stall.

"So, as Luna was saying. I have the high ground, my rules made sure of it, they will have to waste time, figuring out safe ways to target me, so first, nobody would actually 'die', I wouldn't allow that anyway, it was just a mental battle, And, that they wouldn't get disqualified. I imagine their first attempt to be a hard and strong one, but super safe and it will come in a few months. They need information about me after all. And I need that as much as they do, so I purposely set all this in the way, that would give me what I need most. Time. I don't see them understanding my thought process about it, without help from other sources and that's not happening until I beat 4 of their attempts, only at the last one will they ask for help from somebody"

Ginny hearing all of this, finally understands, that the game is all that it says... just a game, one messed up, crazy, but fun in a unique twist.

"Oh, and if it sets your mind more at ease, this is not a battle or a war, a game to death isn't a game. It's a bat-shit crazy case of stupidity, that a Queen wouldn't have part of in any situation"

"It does help a little, but that punishment for their loss... I don't think I want to see my brothers like that... I might skip it if they were to lose"

The Queen just chuckles "How are you going to miss it? They will be in the news of every kind, you will have to see it in some way or other"

Ginny has shivers run up her spine and she tries to shake them off, weakly smiling up to the Queen in defeat.

"Okay... Thank you for your time to explain it to me, it seems I am out of the loop for all of the actions that you two do"

"Heh, it's fine, by staying with Luna and on those terms with me, you will get used to it. She's just very... interesting. She figured me out way too easily, I myself can't believe it"

Ginny nods at the Queen. Not expecting the next words.

"She's an amazing girl, I've known her for one day, but I have a great judge of character and I know that she's worth everything that the world has to offer, so I hope you can stop what you're doing. Being and acting fake is worse than being mean. By being mean, other people might hate you, fear you, or try to follow you, so that they wouldn't get targeted, but they would know, but by being fake, the people that may think you are their friend, might be devastated if they somehow knew that the person they liked and thought nicely of, never liked them back and only used them. I am the first and only friend that Luna has. So, I would appreciate it if you tried to give her a chance"

Ginny listens to all that the Queen is saying and nods, then looks at Lovegood differently than before, not just by what she heard or what she first thought. Before she thought she was gentle but weird. Now, gentle, amazing, and... weird, but in a good way. So Ginny Weasley decided to try and become friends with Luna Lovegood.

Luna pats the head of the Queen to get her attention... She didn't mean to, she wanted to pat her shoulder, it just came naturally... The Queen is just too short... But Luna won't admit it or complain, it felt nice.

The Queen turns around to look at her Moon, who looks at her, and then turns around to the finished work of the stall, so the Queen can't say anything and just does the same. Weasley following their actions and doing the same.

All three of them see, three gray, bone-like thrones, all three with the overhead arch, that would have the head, but instead have their now, new, and forever to-be emblems.

On the left, Ginny's seat, broom, and rapier in hands of a skeleton, with a snitch stuck in a flying motion at the top.

On the right, Luna's seat, a rapier in front of the Moon, that shines so bright, that lights the whole stall, no other light sources needed.

In the middle, other Luna's seat, the rapier that looks the same as the one that hangs around Lovegood's neck, held in a skeletal hand, but interestingly enough, there's no crown.

The Queen holds her hands out to show that the other two should sit down, they do that and then watch as the Queen, takes off her crown and puts it atop of the rapier that previously held no crown.

By doing so, the whole stall activates, spells and charms working in conjecture, the end work of it all, transformed the shabby stall into a small room, worthy of royals, a red carpet that leads up to the thrones and a long table for all three of them, with food and refreshments, while they sell the books.

The students that were still looking at the Queen are blown away by the transformation and can't help themselves but stand up, walk to them and take a look. Which only causes them to read the message.

'The history of the Crimson family and the Queen, book sale, come buy your own copy' You can't miss it, it's right above the trio after all.

But there's additional writing, that would've not been there before.

'Everybody that buys a copy will get a token that in the future can be exchanged for mystery gifts and also, will get a charmed paper, that shows how many more attempts the Weasley twins have at pranking the Queen, with the summary written about their last made attempt'

Everybody lines up so that was forced on them so that there would be no chaos. Most of them won't even bother reading the book, they just want that paper... But the Queen doesn't care. It's just business, after all. Plus more money for future dates and gifts. Yes, she has money, but this way, she will force herself to a set amount. It's better that way.

The Queen feels a tap at her hand from her right, she looks at Luna, who's looking in front. Then she looks down at the hand that was touching her, only to see the paper she gave her before.'Final touches' she reads again, but sees an arrow to the side and down, indicating that the paper needs to be flipped. So she does, just that.

The Queen smiles.

'Thank you'

She shakes her head, quickly writes back, and sends it back to her lovely Moon with a tap of her own.

Luna takes the paper and reads the words that make her playfully roll her eyes.

'For what?'

~ End of Chapter 10 ~