Author's Note: These stories are all one-shot, 1000-word responses to the Summer Writing Series Challenge, so each one is not related to
the next.
Summer Writing Series Challenge (June 11)
Challenge: Harry and Hermione teach Ron (and Luna if you like) to play a Muggle board game
Challenge Conditions: The entire story must be nothing but dialogue
Title: A Play on Words
Word Count: 1,992
Author's Note 2: The challenge for this particular day was to write the entire story with nothing but dialogue, which meant no "she said" or "he said" or anything else that wasn't a direct quotation. So the real challenge was to include enough context clues and personality traits in each quote, or the preceding/following quote, so that the reader could figure out who was talking in each instance. Also, because of the special situation, the word count was extended to 2,000 words.
"Hermione! Ron! Are you coming? Luna and I will get started without you two if need be."
"Coming, Harry…"
"Keep your pants on, mate! I'm right here."
"Well sit down then! Hermione, do you need help?"
"No, I'm fine, thanks…just putting the last dishes away. I'll be there in a second."
"So…who picks the game tonight? I can't remember whose turn it is. Here, let me get the chair for you, Hermione."
"Thanks, Harry."
"Well, Ronald and I picked last time…"
"Ahh, yes now I remember…the most devastating night of Tiddlywinks I've ever sat through. I still can't believe that you two beat Hermione and I twelve times..."
"I did try to warn you when you agreed to play. Ronald's become quite the pro at that one. But you and Hermione can pick this time…any game you like."
"I vote for exploding snap!"
"Oh, honestly Ron! You always vote for exploding snap. Or at least ever since you finally gave up on asking to play strip poker with Fred and George's enchanted cards."
"That's not true! I…"
"She's right, Ron …you can't deny it. And if you think these two girls are ever going to agree to play that one, you really have gone mental."
"Well, we've known that for years."
"Wait a second…this isn't fair! Ever since you two started dating you've been ganging up on me. I think Hermione's had a bad influence on you, Harry."
"Maybe so, but I'm sure I've been an equally bad influence on her. After all, the old Hermione never would have…"
"Harry Potter, stop right there…before I have to hex you. Ginny has taught me the Bat Bogey Hex, you know."
"Errm, yes, love...I'm afraid I do know."
"So what do you think we should pick? Wizard game or Muggle game?"
"Definitely a Muggle game…we need to make up for our horrible loss last week."
"Well, I have a Ouija Board my cousin gave me as a joke when she found out I was a witch…"
"Oh, no…no way! Muggles may get a kick out of it, but I've had enough of communication with the dead. With my luck we'd get Voldemort's spirit…oh, calm down, Ron…and he'd have figured out a way to come back, but only if he's contacted specifically on the third Friday night of the month after…what time is it?"
"8:15."
"Right…after 8:15, and if there are four people seated at the table…"
"Alright, Harry. No Ouija Board then. What about Scrabble?"
"Hmm, you're very good at that. I'm alright, I suppose. Luna will do well, being in Ravenclaw and all. But there's no way Ron will beat us. So…yes, I think that will be perfect."
"Scrabble? What's that?"
"It's a word game. Accio Scrabble! Watch your head Ron. You draw lettered tiles and then arrange them to make words. You score based on the points for each letter and if you use any special squares on the board. It's quite fun."
"Sounds bloody exciting."
"Be nice, Ronald."
"So the letters arrange themselves then? Or can you change what letters are on the tiles?"
"Of course not!"
"Wait, you mean we just have to figure out what word they spell? Without magic?!"
"They said they were choosing a Muggle game, Ronald. And it's possible that they spell more than one word if you have seven letters to work with. You'll have to use your full vocabulary to find the word that scores the highest points."
"Vocabulary?! Hermione's the walking dictionary, not me!"
"Heh, Ron…you did catch that whole bit where Hermione picked the game, didn't you? What were you expecting?"
"Not a school lesson!"
"Come on, Ron, just try it. You'll see as we go along. Harry and I will help you out."
"We will?"
"Now Harry, you be nice, too. Just take seven letters and place them on your rack, Ron, then pass the bag to Luna."
"G, E, R -"
"Hush! Don't tell us what you have."
"Oh, sorry. Here, Luna."
"Thank you, Ronald. Ooh, I got good letters! Here you go, Harry."
"Luna, it doesn't do any good to look at them upside down…"
"Did you say seven, Hermione?"
"Yes, Harry. Alright, now that we've all got our letters, I'll go first…just to show you what to do. I think I'll put…hmm…yes, this will work. J - A - B - O - T. Double letter on the J so that's 22 points, plus a double word score…44 points."
"'Jabot'? You've just made that up! I thought we had to use real words! This'll be a lot easier than I thought…"
"It is a real word, Ron. I didn't make it up."
"Well I've never heard of it! Use it in a sentence…"
"A jabot, Ronald, is an ornamental cascade of ruffles or frills down the front of a shirt, a blouse, or a dress. Everyone knows that."
"Thank you, Luna. See, Ron?"
"Yeah, Ron, you know…kind of like your dress robes you wore in fourth year, before you used your wand…?"
"My robes didn't have a…a jabby thing!!"
"Whatever, mate. I was in the room when…"
"Oh, shut up, will you?"
"Ahem - boys! Moving right along. It's your turn, Ron. Now you have to use your letters to make a word off one of my letters. You can build off any of them, and it can be the first letter, last letter, or somewhere in the middle, but you have to use one of these that I played. And you can go horizontal or vertical, but not diagonal."
"Oh, right. Well, that made sense…if you speak 'Hermione.'"
"I think I understand. Here, let me see your letters."
"But you've never played this before, have you Luna?"
"No, but it makes perfect sense. See, you can use this S and add it at the end here to make her word plural…is that right Hermione? Or you can add these two letters to her J to make this word…"
"Hmm…alright, let me think a minute."
"Oh no, watch out everyone! Ron's thinking!"
"How'd I know you'd make some wise comment about my thinking?"
"Because you know me so well, Ron."
"And that's why I call you my best friend, Harry. Clever little git, you are. Right, so this should work. Playing on Hermione's O - I'll add G - D - E - N - S."
"Hehe…brilliant!"
"Thought you'd like that. So how many points do I get?"
"None, I'm afraid."
"None?! Why not?? 'Ogden's' is definitely a word. I see it right here on this bottle!"
"Yes, well, that may be true, but you can't use any proper nouns. So no city names, no first names …and you can't use possessive nouns, either."
"Bloody hell, Hermione! How many rules are there? I think you're just making these up!"
"Oh, of course I'm not, Ron. Just try something else."
"Fine. Umm…here: G before your A, then R - D - E - N. 'Garden'. Is that allowed?"
"Don't be such a baby; it's fine. You got…20 points for that. Now draw five more tiles to replace the ones you used."
"Argh!! So many vowels…"
"My turn then? Well, this was quite easy. Playing off the N in 'garden': A - R - G - L - E."
"'Nargle'?"
"Sixth year herbology, Ron. Honestly, didn't you ever listen in class?"
"Only to stuff I'd need to know later in life."
"Harry, do you remember that the mistletoe in the Room of Requirement…?"
"Whoa - stop right there, Luna! I do remember…ergh. I think I'd rather forget that whole night, though."
"Mistletoe? Wasn't that the night that Cho…?"
"RON! Please!! I really don't want to relive that…ever… Never again."
"Oh, don't be silly, Harry. No one's first kiss was very good. It's not a big deal. You got 13 points for 'nargle', by the way, Luna. Your turn, Harry."
"Right, well, I was a bit worried that someone was going to take my space…but here goes: T - H - W - A - and R onto the T from 'jabot'. That's double points for the H, plus eight…14 points. Nowhere near Hermione's 44, but not too bad I suppose."
"'Thwart'? Not bad at all, Harry. It looks like I got a very unfortunate draw of letters this turn, however, so you still may catch up. This is just dreadful, but it looks like the best I can do is to add I - L - L to Harry's W. Seven points, but there is that double word score…so 14 points."
"Hah! Well here's mine then. If I add this Y onto your word, Hermione, then O and U…that counts doesn't it?"
"Yes, but…Ron! W - I - L - L - Y? You spelled 'willy'??"
"Good one, Ron!"
"Actually I spelled 'you', and I attached it to 'will', so it just came out 'willy' in the end. Hey, if I can't use magic, I can at least have fun with my words!"
"I'll never understand men. Fine. Three points for that one, Ron. Are you sure you didn't have anything else to play?"
"Quit looking at my rack, Hermione! Yes, I'm sure. Go on, Luna."
"Hmm…it seems I got some duplicate letters that time. Let's see…I'll add an R to the end of 'you' to make 'your'…then M - A above it, and R - Y below it. Yes, that works. And a double letter score for the R, there…11 points."
"Good, Luna. It's a shame you couldn't get more total points for that, though. M and Y are both good letters."
"I looked at all of my options, and that seemed like the best one."
"Alright. Harry…"
"My turn? Well, I'm afraid it's rather simple, but I'm going to have to add an E to this M that Luna laid down."
"But Harry, you'll never win by adding one letter at a time. That's only…four points!"
"It may be only four points, but I have to disagree…I think I just might win."
"Hehe…well it's not as good as 'willy', but I think you've done pretty well, mate."
"Thanks, Ron!"
"Well, as long as you two are having fun…I guess it doesn't matter. But don't be surprised when Luna and I beat you both."
"I'm fully prepared for that. Aren't you, Ron?"
"Fully."
"Well, let me see. I think I'll play this O off of… Wait a second…how funny! Look what's happened… I put the word 'will' here off of Harry's W, then Ron added 'you', Luna added 'marry' and Harry's added that E, which spells out…oh… Oh!"
"So she is still the cleverest witch in our class! I was beginning to doubt it after all this time."
"Well of course she is, Ronald."
"I've never doubted her. Not even for a second. She's always helped me, and always been there for me, which may actually make her not the cleverest witch, but she's everything to me. I'm just sorry it took me so long to see it."
"Harry? Are you…? Is that…?"
"You figured it out, Hermione. That's no accident or coincidence."
"But…but how…? Did you…?"
"I'm afraid we set you up, love. Ron and Luna were in on the whole thing with me."
"Err, yeah…guilty."
"I'll explain it all later, it's really rather funny. But I suppose I should get down on one knee now and do this properly."
"Oh, Harry…"
"Hermione, I don't think I'd be here today if it weren't for you, and I don't want to be here tomorrow if I'm not with you. Will you marry me, Hermione?"
"Oooh, how sweet! Ronald, I hope you're taking notes."
"I'll get a copy from Hermione later… Hey! Wha-?"
"Hermione…you didn't answer him. Aren't you going to say something?"
"Hermione? You're making me nervous, love. I didn't think you'd have to think so long…"
"What's she doing?"
"She's putting an E…and an S…on Y… 'yes'! She said yes, Harry! Way to go, mate!"
"Harry! I can't believe it! I'm…I'm… Oh, I love you, Harry Potter!"
"I think that's our cue to leave, Ronald."
"Right. But who won the game then?"
"Looks like I did, Ron."